Work Text:
.
Five seconds. Severus leaves Harry on the back porch for five seconds while he goes inside to get them drinks and he disappears as if one with the goddamn wind.
He does not get paid enough for this (Severus does not get paid at all. In fact, he nearly blew the whole of Privet Dr off the map when he learned where Harry had been sent to live. He had then categorically refused to accept help or payment of any sort from the headmaster since stealing the boy away from his awful aunt and uncle.)
Though of course that is not the point right now. Because the reason for that catastrophic crash out was currently lost.
Usually Severus greatly enjoyed the fact that he lived in the middle of the woods with no one around for miles and miles. Now, it just meant that this four year old could be anywhere. He could be hurt, or eaten by creatures. He could be scared and Severus couldn’t find him .
Fuck.
~
Harry liked it here with Severus. His room had a soft bed, it was never too cold or too hot, he got to eat as much as he’d like, and every two nights Severus sat him down and did his hair! He really liked when Severus did his hair. Severus was doing all of these nice things for Harry, and Harry really really really wanted to do something nice for him too. It was just his luck that he was left on his own for a moment.
~
He wasn’t in the back garden, which was in and of itself rather vast. It was also the second worst place for him to be wandering alone. Severus had far too many potions ingredients growing for the four year old to go about unattended. What if he ate some of them? What if he got sick?
The only sounds he could hear were his own frantic footfalls and the occasional, “Harry!?” as he called out for him. The garden was quickly scoured and then he moved on to the woods directly at the end of the path.
~
Harry has seen Severus wear black, and black, and some more black too. But he has green blankets, and Harry thiinkksss that his pjs might be purple. Or maybe that's blue… he's not really sure. Colors are hard, why are there so many of them?
Not the point, he shakes his head and looks around. The point is that he wants to get him colorful flowers. He knows he's seen some out here when they go for their afternoon walks. And the radio said that people are giving people flowers right now. And Severus doesn't talk to anyone except for harry. So it's up to Harry to make sure that Severus gets flowers just like everyone else!
~
Severus can clearly see where the boy had wandered, it wasn't as if he was purposefully trying to hide his tracks, it was just that he was so small. He hardly left any trail at all, and it had not rained recently so the ground wasn’t wet.
He searched through the woods for 10 minutes before his brain caught up with his panic and he stopped dead in his tracks.
“I’m….I’m a wizard.” he fishes around in his pocket for his wand and then curses when he remembers he left it on the blanket when he realized that Harry was missing. He turns quickly and sprints back to the tree line. He can’t risk summoning it with all these trees in the way, it may break.
~
Harry picked a flower. And then another and another. They were all different colors, and some had little bugs on them. They were cute so he didn't bother to knock them off. He picked enough flowers for each of his fingers. He thinks that's 11. Or maybe 12. Counting was as hard as colors. He knows that he got enough flowers that his hands barely fit around it. And it's kinda heavy. And he's kinda…lost.
He looks around frantically as he realizes he has no idea how to get back to Severus and the nice house and his comfy bed. How is he going to give Severus his gift if he can't find him?
~
“Point me Harry Potter,” Severus watches his wand spin in his hand and then takes off as soon as it stills. He can’t believe he had wasted ten minutes looking for Harry without magic. Motherhood was making him stupid.
The boy had in fact wandered into the forest, Severus could just about see his little footprints as he followed the pull of his tracking spell. It wasn’t long before he could-
“Sev’rus? Where go?” And then just past another patch of trees he saw him.
Standing next to a berry bush, and holding a bunch of flowers bigger than his head, was Harry. There was a deer watching him a few paces away, squirrels running around him, birds chirping in the tree above him, and a veritable army of bugs in a swarm nearby.
Was his charge a damn Disney princess?
~
Harry turns around quickly when he hears the footsteps and his frown quickly shifts into a beaming smile, “Sev’rus! Look! For you!” He makes quick work of walking (waddling) over and thrusts the bundle of flowers against Severus’ leg, and then chest when Severus kneels down to grab at his arms and then shoulders and face.
“Harry! You cannot run off like that, you could have been hurt!” Harry suffers through Severus poking and prodding at him before he huffs and draws attention to the flowers again.
“For you!”
~
Severus pauses his inspection of Harry's person and focuses on the flowers that the boy is trying to all but shove down his throat. They are rather pretty, wild flowers and bits of greenery, a few bugs, and Harry's little fingers holding them all together.
“These are beautiful, Harry,” he looks up at the boy and lets the panic fade a little as he takes the flowers from him, “thank you. But you cannot disappear without me, I was worried about you.” He tries to get the seriousness of the situation in Harry's brain but he's quite sure it doesn't stick.
“Had to flowers for you! For today!” Severus wilts a bit in the face of harry’s excitement and he just stands up, lifting the boy onto his hip with one arm and holding the flowers in the other. He glares a bit at all the forest animals that look as if they are going to follow them, and then turns to head back to the house.
“Let’s find a vase to put these in…”