Summary: Harry continued to study the sinister man walking down the street. It was clear that he wasn't the type to help strangers, especially beggars, but he had to try; this man was his only chance. He took a deep breath, clutched the child to his chest, stepped forward, and begged. AU

Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter or The Cure for Modern Life, which loosely inspired this story.

The Cure for Apathy: Chapter 2

By Red Kitsune Flames

Severus had certainly been surprised by the child's sudden appearance on the bridge, and had it been any other time, he probably would have told him to get lost without a moment's hesitation.

As it was, however, this was not an ordinary night. He noticed that the boy was holding a small, quivering bundle in his arms. Perhaps it was a kitten, Severus mused to himself, he did so love kittens. The thought of the small, adorable creatures caused a very uncharacteristic smile to break out on Severus's face.

"May I hold it?" he asked, pointing to the bundle.

The boy instantly tightened his arms around the bundle and pulled it to him protectively, scowling. "What? Pervert."

Severus giggled with joy. This boy was charming! "No I'm not." He sing-songed in the manner of a teasing child.

The boy regarded him suspiciously for a moment before concluding "You're drunk. Damn."

"Wrong again!" Severus exclaimed joyfully, resisting the urge to gloat. Even happy, he still had his dignity, after all. "I don't drink. Drunkeness makes one with as many secrets as I have likely to share those secrets. I wouldn't like the consequences of that!" He accentuated the last word by thrusting his finger authoritatively towards the boy, again in the manner of a child.

"Hmmm…" the boy was still studying him with those piercing green eyes, not that Severus cared. The boy could do whatever he wanted; it wasn't as if a muggle child could figure out that Severus was on a mood-enhancer. Even if he could, Severus was in no danger of discovery.

Severus watched the boy and his bundle for a moment before realizing that it wasn't a kitten. "I see; it's a little child!" he declared smugly.

The boy sighed. "Of course it is. This is my sister, Clara." He tugged on the baby blue blanket so that Severus could see her face. She was dark-haired, with big, dark, red-rimmed eyes.

She looked nothing like the boy, and Severus stated as much, comparing her bronze skin to his much paler skin. He leaned forward to look at her more closely as she began trembling and made a gurgling noise. She was no kitten, but she was adorable anyway.

Suddenly, she threw up, releasing a long stream of vomit that splashed a little on his shoes.

"She's sick." The boy informed him unrepentantly, "That's why I need help."

Severus smiled peacefully at the child. He'd been sick before too, after all, and it wasn't as if the girl had done it on purpose. "All she needs is some muscle relaxer to settle her stomach." He announced it without thinking.

The boy shifted his head slightly, looking up at him sweetly with those bright green eyes. "Where can I get some?"

Severus knew he should probably walk away before he accidentally said any more about potions that a muggle should know nothing of, but he couldn't resist his desire to help the baby.

There was no way that this muggle would be a threat, so he decided it was safe enough to take the boy to his London apartment and give the girl the muscle relaxer. He could always oblivate him if he found out too much.

Severus nodded decisively. "All right, come on then." His heart soared; he was helping that adorable little girl!

He led the children down the street at a hurried pace, and reached his apartment several minutes later. He pushed open the red-brown door and beckoned them inside, quickly closing it behind him.

"Sit." He indicated the olive green couch in the center of the room before stalking off to grab the potion from his stores. He found the dark blue flask back of the cupboard, clearly labeled.

On his way back to the living room, he downed a shimmering sleeping potion from a small, clear bottle he had grabbed on the way out. Severus knew there was no way that he would be able to sleep otherwise.

"Alright, hand her to me." He said as he re-entered the living room.

Once again, the boy glared at him suspiciously. "Why should I?" he muttered, eyeing the bottle in Snape's hand. "Is that medicine? I've never seen any that looked like that before…"

Of course the muggle had never seen a proper potion before. "Do you want my help or not?" Severus asked in a lighthearted manner, holding his arms out for the little girl.

The boy's grip tightened around his sister for a moment before he relaxed his grip in resignation. He approached Severus cautiously and deposited the child in his arms. "I'm watching you." He warned.

The weightless creature in his arms, however, distracted Severus. "Hello baby." He cooed at her, delighted when she beamed back up at him. He plopped down onto the couch.

Severus carefully put the flask to her dry lips, tilting it so only a small trickle ran into her mouth and rubbing her throat gently so that she would swallow. "There we go." He cooed at her again, pulling the bottle away as he felt her body start to relax.

He looked up at the boy, who was peering at his sister so intently that he could burn a hole right through her. He seemed to relax when he realized that she was calming down.

If Severus hadn't felt so drained, his next task would probably have been to kick the children out of his apartment. Happy or no, he knew that keeping muggle children with him was probably a bad idea.

Unfortunately for Severus, he was so tired that he had fallen asleep right there on the couch.

When he woke up the next morning with a groan, he was disoriented. Why was on the couch of this apartment that he only used during brief stays in London? Then it all came back to him.

He cast a quick tempus spell to check the time, remembering that he was set to portkey to Egypt for an HA convention that morning. He pushed himself up off of the couch and walked in to the kitchen, taking a seat on one of the dark brown kitchen chairs and conjuring up some breakfast.

That was when he heard a small intake of breath from the doorway. Looking up, Severus met the shocked green eyes of the boy from the night before. The children hadn't left yet.

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Okay, I intend to update this more frequently now that testing is over. Sorry for the initial wait after the first chapter. (Would have been here sooner if FF would let me log in...)