Everyone was silent as the surreal setting began to become fogged. It was like waking from a dream to find that the annoying siren you heard was actually your alarm clock. While asleep we see things so clearly they can be mistaken for reality only while we sleep, but reality is blurred with emotions and differing perspectives.

"Eileen," whispered Tobias, with what could be described as longing in his voice, but as suddenly as it came it was replaced with a cold look that made Voldemort's personal torture chamber seem warmer. "What the bloody hell are you doing here?"

Eileen raised an eyebrow in much the same way an adult Severus did. "Well it's good to see you again too, darling."

Tobias remained silent, merely glaring as Eileen walked closer to him and stopping inches away causing Tobias to stiffen almost unnoticeably.

After a moment of simply staring at each other, Eileen spoke with an almost imperceptibly small tremor in her voice, though she still sounded only mildly curious. "So are these my grandsons? I must say they look a lot like Severus."

"Actually," Tobias said as he crossed his arms over his chest and continued in a condescending tone, "our sons were involved in a little potions accident that deaged them to the age of ten. I would tell you not to worry, and that they'll be fine in less then two weeks, but you don't care."

With almost no emotion Eileen simply stated, "you found out about Harry."

"No thanks to you," said Tobias bitterly. "Why didn't..." Tobias stopped abruptly, remembering that Severus and Harry were in the room with them. Without taking his eyes off Eileen, he spoke to his sons in a soft tone. "Severus, Harry, put your things on the table and go clean up." Severus had discarded his backpack almost the second he entered the house, before noticing Eileen, so his backpack was left discarded against the wall next to his father's.

Without saying anything, Harry, while watching Eileen closely, began moving towards the table, but stopped after sitting his backpack down when he noticed that Severus wasn't with him.

Severus didn't move; he scarcely heard his father and all he could do was stare at his mother with a mixture of emotions fluttering in his dark eyes.

Eileen noticed this and smiled sweetly, the way someone does when they see a puppy, but not in the way a mother does when she sees her child. She stepped away from Tobias and moved gracefully towards her son. "Hello, Severus."

Severus took a step back as she approached him pressing his back against the door. He didn't want her near him. She had left him. As she started coming closer, seemingly oblivious to his distress, he uttered a single word before she was blocked from his view: "Dad."

Tobias noticed his son's anguish, and before the word was completely out of Severus's mouth, he was standing between his son and Eileen.

Severus couldn't take it any more. He was sick and didn't feel good. His stomach was clenching making him nauseous and his head felt like it might explode. Then his mother had shown up after abandoning him. He wanted his dad. He reached his hand out to grab onto his dad's shirt, but that seemed to cause his eyes to sting and he blinked the tears back furiously; after all, boys shouldn't cry. Finally, his faced scrunched up and he leaned forward to hide his face in his dad's back as he cried. He didn't even hear what his dad said or his mother's reply.

Tobias felt Severus grab the back of his shirt and burry his head in his back as he trembled. Tobias's paternal instinct went into high gear as he growled at his wife. "Get away from him."

Anger flashed in Eileen's eyes. "He's my son, I have every right to..."

Tobias's cut her off abruptly with a shout, "You gave up all your rights the second you walked out on him!"

Eileen's mouth snapped shut and she stood glaring daggers at the man she had left years before.

Tobias was breathing heavily, but he calmed down as he turned away from the spit-fire demon in front of him to look at Severus.

Severus was trembling, his face flushed with tears. As his dad turned to face him, their eyes met and Severus did the only thing he could at the moment: he raised his arms up to his dad and let out a sob.

Tobias immediately picked his boy up, his eyes flashing dangerously at Eileen as he turned back around. Harry hadn't moved from beside the table, so Tobias walked over to him and with one hand, guided the boy out of the kitchen.

Tobias first led Harry to the bathroom and gently pushed him through the door. "Go ahead and wash up, I'll make us dinner in a bit. Okay?"

Harry nodded his head, looking between his brother and father feeling confused and slightly scared. "What's going to happen?"

Tobias sighed, trying to comfort both his sons. Severus was still sobbing and clinging to his neck. "I don't know, Harry, but everything will be alright, I promise."

Harry nodded and even though he still looked unsure, he closed the bathroom door and started washing up. For some reason, which he didn't know or understand, he trusted his dad to take care of everything. It was a new feeling for Harry and he rather enjoyed it.

Tobias went to his room trying to sooth his distraught son. In his room was a rocking chair that, although it had been rarely used in the past several years, he had never had the heart to part with. It had been in his grandparents house when he was a child and he remembered his grandmother rocking him in it and telling him stories while sitting on her lap. It had come into his possession upon her passing before Severus was born. When Severus had come along, Tobias spent many nights in it holding his son. Now, with a ten year old Severus in his arms, Tobias sat down in the old rocking chair and comforted his son once again.

Eventually Severus calmed down, his face flushed and streaked with tears, as he was gently rocked by his dad. Suddenly it didn't matter that he was ten years old, and far to old to be rocked like a baby. All that mattered was that he didn't feel good and his dad was there.

"Better now?" asked Tobias softly as he continued to rock and run a hand through his son's hair.

Severus nodded, but snuggled into his father indicating he didn't want to get down yet.

Tobias held and rocked his son for a few more minutes before getting up and taking his son to the bathroom attached to his room. Setting his son down in front of the tub he said, "You can get cleaned up in here since Harry's using the other bathroom." Severus was holding on to his father's shirt still, and refused to let go when Tobias tried to leave to give his son some privacy.

Sighing, Tobias sat down on the toilet seat so he was eye level with Severus. "Do you want me to stay in here with you?"

Severus nodded, yes, afraid for some reason that if his dad left he wouldn't come back.

"Okay, but you know I'll never leave you right? I'll always be wherever you need me," said Tobias and he continued to sit on the toilet seat.

Severus nodded and leaned into his dad for another hug before he quickly but quietly got in the shower washed off and got out again.

Tobias continued to talk comfortingly, as he stared at the wall opposite the shower until Severus had a towel wrapped around himself. Taking Severus's hand, Tobias led his son to his room. "Put your night clothes on and get in bed. I need to check on Harry, but I'll be back soon, I promise."

Severus merely nodded again and went to find his nightclothes.

Tobias went to Harry's room and knocked before entering to find his youngest son sitting on his bed. Tobias offered Harry a small reassuring smile and crossed the room to sit next to his son. "Want to go play with Severus while I make dinner?"

Harry nodded happy for the opportunity not to be alone. "Yes, sir."

"Okay, but remember he's sick so he has to stay in bed. You two can play a card game or something, but no roughhousing . . . and don't get to close, I don't want you sick too."

"Yes, sir," replied Harry a small bit of impatience coloring his voice.

"Get the cards and whatever else you want to play with," said Tobias standing up from the bed and watching as his son dash around the room looking for things bring with him.

Harry opened the closet door to look for the chess set his dad had let him and Severus play with; he couldn't remember if they had put it in his closet of Severus's. Seeing it sitting on the floor in the corner, Harry went to reach for it but he stopped when he touch something unusual. Running his hand over the shimmering cloak, he knew there was something special about it. As he was studying it, it fell off the rack and over his arm, which disappeared. Removing the cloak from his arm then covering it again, he knew he was right; this cloak was very special. Pushing it aside for later use, he grabbed the chess set and got out of the closet.

Once Harry had found everything, Tobias went with him to his brother's room. Severus was in bed sitting up against several pillows looking like...well...looking like a sick child. Tobias went over what they were and were not allowed to do one more time before going back into the kitchen where Eileen was waiting at the table.

Glancing around the kitchen, Tobias noticed that their camping gear was nowhere to be seen. Seeing his confused look, Eileen, in a now calm voice, answered his unasked question. "I put them away. Believe it or not, I do remember going camping with you from time to time."

Tobias raised an eyebrow. "Thank you. That was quick."

"Magic. Remember?" said Eileen flatly.

Tobias nodded. Both were quiet for a moment before Tobias asked the question which had been bothering him since the beginning of the summer. "Why didn't you tell me?"

"Tell you what?" asked Eileen with no emotion in her voice.

Tobias sat down across from her at the table. "About Harry." Tobias's voice was thick with emotion as he looked into the deep brown eyes that he had become lost in on so many occasions.

Eileen leaned back in her chair, her nails clinking against the now empty mug which once held tea. "Because if I had come back with a child, our child, you would have done what you did with Severus and I would have been stuck here until I couldn't take it any longer and ran out on you again."

Tobias felt his anger flare up again and in a harsher voice replied. "You left our son with two people that were practically strangers because you thought that if I found out I would have convinced you to stay with me."

Eileen shrugged carelessly, "That's what happened with Severus. We had such grand plans...then he came along and you gave up. Just so you could take care of a child and for a while I gave up to." Eileen looked intently at Tobias, tilting her head slightly. "I do love them Tobias, but they aren't what I wanted out of life. I tried, for almost ten years, but I couldn't, I had to get out. But I never stopped loving you, Toby, you must believe that."

For some reason Tobias couldn't stay angry at her, he never could, and he gave her a small smile. He would never forgive her, but he would always love her.

After a couple of minutes of staring at one another, each lost in his or her own thoughts, Tobias cleared his throat and stood up from the table. "I need to make dinner."

Eileen nodded, her eyes still focused on the place were Tobias's head had once been.

Tobias moved around the kitchen hardly pausing in his movements.

Suddenly, with only mild curiosity showing through in her voice, Eileen asked, "Why didn't Severus want me near him?"

Tobias didn't stop in his graceful cooking act, not even to glance in her general direction. "You abandoned him. You walked out one day without even saying goodbye. Did you expect him to be ecstatic to see you again?"

Eileen shrugged, despite the fact that Tobias couldn't see the action with his back to her. "How'd you find out about Harry?"

Tobias sighed, his tone betraying his exhaustion. "His adopted parents died when he was a year old. Killed by Voldemort. Knowing that something like that was possible, Lily wrote a note to Albus Dumbledore informing him of the truth of Harry parentage, to be delivered two months before his fifteenth birthday, when the charms would fully degenerate. Though the letter didn't mention me at all, it mentioned you. A simple blood test between Severus and the boy proved the rest."

Eileen nodded and she continued to stare straight ahead, seemingly lost in thought. She was about to open her mouth to say something, but a voice from the archway between the living room and kitchen stopped her.

"Dad?" said Harry in a soft unsure voice.

Tobias stopped and turned his head to his son. "Yes, Harry?"

"Severus is throwing up," Harry's voice remained calm as though it were nothing out of the ordinary for his brother just to start vomiting all over the place.

Tobias began rushing out of the kitchen, but stopped beside Harry for a moment to speak to Eileen. "Eileen...don't let the house burn down," Tobias's tone conveyed doubt that she could accomplish even this, but he hurried out of the kitchen before he could see her roll her eyes.

Harry remained in the archway, looking at Eileen intently.

Eileen tilted her head and watched Harry intently in return before drawing her wand. With a few simple flicks of the wrist, dinner began cooking itself, even though she didn't break eye contact with Harry.

"Are you really our mother?" asked Harry softly, but bravely. If he had learned nothing else since he was deaged, Harry found that it was okay to ask questions. If it wasn't, then he doubted Severus could survive. His brother couldn't seem to go five minutes without wondering how something worked or what it could be used for.

"Yes," answered Eileen flatly.

They stared at each other for a silent moment.

"Are you going to stay here?" asked Harry like the innocently curious child he was at the moment.

"For the time being," replied Eileen, still no emotion in her voice.

"But not forever?" Harry's tone held a sadness and . . . something else, desperation perhaps, that would have broken any mother's heart.

Eileen, however, was not a typical mother, so even if this statement evoked any emotion at all deep within her, she didn't show it. "No, not forever."

"Why did you leave?" asked Harry softly, sadly.

"I can not possibly explain it in a way you would understand," replied Eileen in a condescending tone, her irritation showing through her cool façade.

"Oh," said Harry quietly, then shrugged. "Severus is smart enough to understand and explain it. Just tell him, then he can explain it to me." After he said this, Harry realized it was a jab at his mother's intelligence level, causing his eyes to widen. He quickly fled the room to find his brother and father, leaving a shocked Eileen in the kitchen with her mouth hanging open slightly.

In Severus's room, the vomit covered blanket had been stripped from the bed and Severus was sitting at the desk chair with his head lying on it. Harry was standing in the doorway watching his brother when he felt something soft, but sort of heavy, hit the back of his head. Turning around, he saw his dad standing just outside the door carrying a thick blanket.

"Well don't just stand there boy, move," said Tobias, but not harshly. He had a small smile playing on his lips as he playfully hit Harry with the corner of the blanket again. Harry giggled and batted at the blanket, but moved out of his father's way.

Once Tobias remade the now-clean bed, he called a now-clean Severus over and tucked him in securely before sitting down on the edge of the bed and motioning Harry over. Harry sat next to his dad, who had one leg on the bed and the other on the floor. He was turned so that his back was towards the head board so he could run a comforting hand through Severus's hair and allow Harry to lean against his chest.

Finally, in a very small, broken, voice Severus asked, "Is she gone?"

Harry replied looking at his brother but didn't move his head from its place on his father's chest. "She was in the kitchen a minute ago."

Severus nodded and rolled over on his side closer to his father and burying his head under the man's arm. The three remained silently curled up together for several minutes before Tobias kissed them both on the tops of their matching black heads and got up from the bed.

"I have to go finish with dinner. I'll be back in a few minutes."

"Okay," said both boys together in matching tones, then playfully scowled at each other.

Tobias chuckled and left the room, going back into the kitchen once more. He wasn't too surprised to see dinner making itself. He was more surprised at the look on Eileen's face. She was staring at a spot somewhere beyond the archway, with a shock expression on her face. Tobias came up beside her, leaning over so his head was next to hers and he could see what she was staring at.

After a moment, in a serious tone said, "Yes, yes, it's definitely a wall."

This drew Eileen out of her musings and she playfully hit Tobias in the chest, a smile on her face. Tobias pretended to be hurt, placing a hand over the spot were she hit him, but also smiling. "Oww..."

Eileen rolled her eyes, but was stopped mid roll as expert fingers began dancing around her ticklish spot. She laughed and tried to move away from the tickling fingers, but only managed to slide out of the chair. Before she could hit the ground, however, she was caught by the same hands that had been tickling her. Tobias helped her to her feet, both of them still smiling as Eileen turned around and passionately kissed Tobias.

Tobias knew he shouldn't be doing this as he returned the kiss with equal passion. It's what landed them in trouble last time, but as all the blood began to rush from his brain to lower, currently more important, parts of his anatomy, he couldn't seem to think about anything other then the beautiful woman in his arms.

..................................................................

Over an hour after Tobias had left his son's in Severus's room he came in carrying a tray with two bowls of soup, a sandwich, and two glasses of juice. Truthfully, dinner had been done for a while, but had been...preoccupied with Eileen; a fact that caused him to feel a bit guilty. Setting the tray down on the nightstand, Tobias had Harry sit at the desk to eat his soup and sandwich while Severus ate his soup in bed. Tobias hadn't made Severus a sandwich, because he didn't think the boy would be able to stomach it.

Tobias couldn't figure out why he kept doing this. He should hate Eileen for leaving time and time again, but he couldn't. For some reason, every time she showed up he went right back to her. He was beginning to feel like the dog that gets kicked whenever its owner comes home for work, yet the dog continues to meet its owner at the door everyday, tail wagging in delight. Sighing, Tobias silently watched his sons eat, wondering when he was going to get kicked.