Severus Snape apparated with a brief pop and smiled at the sight that greeted him; rolling fields full of vines lades down with fruits stretched for miles. He turned around to walk into the villa that stood behind him. If any pupils from Hogwarts had seen him they would have been amazed to see him in such surroundings. He walked into the white washed brick building and made his way into the huge, airy flag-stoned kitchen, and stood for several long minutes staring at the figure in front of him. A small but elegant woman stood in front of the huge table baking, her long hair braided down her back as she sang away to herself.

“Grandma?” he called out softly, not wanting to scare her

It was all in vain though as she spun around, throwing flour everywhere “Severus Snape! What on earth do you think you’re doing? I’ve told you before about sneaking up on me. You haven’t changed since you were four years old.” Even as she’d been speaking she’d been steadily advancing on him and as she finished speaking she threw her arms around him, sweeping him into a hug with a strength that belied her small stature. “I’ve missed you child. It’s been too long.”

That was all she managed before she descended into her mother tongue of Italian, pulling Severus fully into the room before she sat him down at the table and bustled around finding him food as she chattered away in Italian.

Severus just smiled, feeling completely at ease for the first time that year. The villa, set in the rolling hills of Italian Tuscany, belonged to his maternal grandparents and had been his favourite place since he was a small child. He started slightly as he felt a hand on his shoulder and craned his neck to see smiling black eyes, so like his own staring back at him.

“Grandpa”

He was promptly hauled out of his chair for one of the bear hugs that were always associated with his grandfather and Albus Dumbledore.

“You’re too thin child. Do they ever feed you at that castle or do they just work you to death? How long are you staying? Your grandma will be able to feed you up – proper food not that mass produced house elf stuff.”

“I’m here for the whole summer grandpa if you think you can bear to put up with me for that long. I’ve been invited to attend a two week potions conference in Surrey at the end of July but that is the only thing to demand my attention.”

“In that case you’d better get unpacked and out of those bloody robes haven’t you? If you want to we’ve probably got time for a ride around the vineyard before we have whatever your grandma’s cooked up for dinner.”

Severus made his way up to the first floor of the villa and into the huge sunny room that had been his since his mother had first brought him to the villa as a small child. Stripping off the heavy black robes laden with protection spells he wore whilst teaching he walked over and flung open the balcony doors, relishing the fresh air. As much as he loved Hogwarts, teaching there and its surroundings it was in Italy that he felt at home. He quickly shucked off the heavy black clothing he wore at Hogwarts in keeping with his role as the “greasy old bat of the dungeons” and showered before dressing in a light white shirt with riding boots and breeches, securing his hair back in a ponytail with a leather thong. Turning to walk out of the door a mischievous grin spread across his face; in three strides he was across the room and out onto the balcony. He swung a leg over the balcony before climbing swiftly down the creepers that covered that side of the villa and onto the roof.

He walked quickly around to the back of the villa where there was a fully working stable. He smiled as he saw his grandfather already mounted and holding the reins to Severus’ black stallion Thor. The horse had been a present from his grandparents when he was still a foal and the two of them had grown up together. He mounted swiftly and with a soft command the two were off, riding around the estate, the elder gentleman pointing out the changes since Severus had last been there. The two managed to cover the entire estate in an hour and a half before heading back to the villa where Lucrezia was waiting for them, freshly cooked pasta made with olives and tomatoes from their estate along with the wine that the Principessa estates were famous for.

Several hours later when Severus had retired to bed, exhausted from the continental apparition from Scotland to Italy, his grandparents sat outside on the patio and discussed their grandson.

“I’m worried about him Antonio. You’ve seen how exhausted he is – I know Dumbledore cares for him but he’s working him into the ground. He’s so pale and skinny and he barely spoke over dinner. You can’t deny that something’s got to be done.”

“I know Lucrezia but you’ve also got to remember that he has done a cross-continent apparition today as well as the fact that we rode around the whole of the estate this afternoon. That’s going to exhaust anyone, regardless of how much magical power they have.” He leaned the table and grasped his wife’s hand. “Let’s give him a few days to recover from the trip and if nothing’s changed then we’ll talk to him.”

Lucrezia didn’t look completely happy with that decision but finally nodded her agreement “Fine, but if he’s not back to normal in three days then we say something to him.”

Finally happy with what they had decided and, with the night air starting to grow chilly, they made their way inside and up to their room.

The next morning Severus awoke to the bright midday sun, a fact that was astonishing in itself both to him and those who knew him. It was a well known fact amongst the teaching staff at Hogwarts that the Potions Master was always up with the dawn regardless of how many hours of sleep he’d had as well as the quality of his sleep. Over his time as a Death Eater he had trained himself to wake as soon as he heard any movement in his rooms. Since the demise of Voldemort at the hands of an infant Harry Potter he had lost some of his paranoia, and he was less uptight and more relaxed anyway when he was at the Italian villa. Blinking sleepily he pulled the hangings on his bed back fully before swinging his legs out of the bed. Glancing at the clock on the bedside he walked down the corridor and down to the kitchen where he knew his grandmother would be setting out lunch. He silently made his way across the kitchen with the intent of sneaking up on his grandmother. He ruthlessly suppressed the voice that voiced the fact that he was being childish, responding that he was only 23 and therefore completely entitled to be childish. He was so intent on suppressing his little inner voice that he failed to notice that Lucrezia had turned around and noticed him, calling his name several times in an attempt to gain his attention. He let out a surprised yelp as he felt his grandmothers hand on his bare arm and looked down to see her smiling up at him, chocolate brown eyes twinkling in a way that reminded him disturbingly of Albus

“You looked as though you were away with the fairies child”

“No grandma. I think I’m just still half asleep. I don’t understand it though. I haven’t had a sleep that good for a long time”

“Well you obviously needed it and you look as though you need some food, so just sit down whilst I find you something. When was the last time that you had a proper meal?”

“I don’t know. You know what I’m like when I’m brewing, especially when I’m experimenting. I forget everything except the potion.”

“Yes, yes, I know. You take after my father in that respect. Now, sit down and eat your breakfast”

“Breakfast? Grandma it’s practically time for lunch never mind breakfast”

“Yes but you haven’t been eating properly so you’re going to be having breakfast, lunch and dinner until I say so, never mind what time you get up.”

Knowing that there was no arguing with his grandmother Severus sighed good-naturedly and let her fuss over him. Minutes later a huge plate of food was placed in front of him made up of preserves and home-made bread fresh that morning. His nostrils twitched as he caught the scent of the food and he realised that he was ravenous. He had practically inhaled half of the plate before his mother sat down at the opposite side of the table, holding two mugs of coffee and with one eyebrow raised inquisitively.

“What?”

“Are you going to tell me what you’ve been experimenting with? I may not be up to your standard of brewing but I’m fairly sure that I can cope with the theoretical side.”

“I’ve been further experimenting with the Wolfsbane potion.”

“Isn’t that the potion to ease the transformation of werewolves?”

“That is correct. A gentleman named Damocles Belby invented the Wolfsbane potion. It eases the pain of the transformation somewhat and has succeeded in suppressing the wolfish mentality. I believe I have succeeded in completely eradicating the pain of the transformation as well as, rather than suppress the wolfish mentality, my recipe allows the person to retain their human mentality. I need to do a few more tests to be one hundred percent sure and then I need to get it patented. Probably here in Italy rather than in England. I doubt they’d let a Death-Eater patent it.”

He looked down as he felt Lucrezia’s hand close over his forearm in sympathy. “You’re not a Death-Eater sweetie. I know it’s difficult but the important people know you were a spy. Now, what’s this conference you’re attending? You normally avoid anything to do with these conferences.”

“Who’s blackmailing you Sev?” came Antonio’s voice from the doorway, full of humour

“You know perfectly well who’s blackmailing me.” Severus grumbled good-naturedly “It’s Albus and Minerva as usual. It’s only because the people running the conference want me to present a paper on the potion I created to relieve the after-effects of the Cruciatus curse.”

Both Antonio and Lucrezia looked impressed at what their grandson was telling them. So many people had suffered during the war as a result of the Cruciatus curse; one only had to look at the Longbottom’s who had lost their sanity at the hands of Bellatrix Lestrange.

“Have you written your paper yet? Do you want any help with it?”

“No thank you. I might want you to check it over once I’ve written the paper Grandma. I had planned on having a couple of days rest before I start writing the paper. I brought all of my potions books and notes with me so it shouldn’t be too problematic. I just hate public speaking, always have done. There is also the stigma attached to being a Death-Eater that always clings to me whilst I’m in the UK. It is never a problem at home here in Italy but in England it’s a different matter.”

The end of the month drew closer and saw Severus packing for his trip to the Surrey potions conference. He had spent the last three weeks helping his grandfather around the estate, overseeing the picking of the crops and the exportation of the wine the Principessa estates produced. Although he'd continued brewing the fact that it was not in a dungeon laboratory meant that the oily residue that normally clung to his hair had disappeared. Three weeks of Lucrezia's cooking had allowed him to gain some much needed weight and regular sleep had enabled his face to lose it's pinched look he'd gained through the teaching year whilst the sunny climate of the Tuscan hills had given him a golden tan. A medium sized dragonhide travel bag stood packed with casual clothes and robes as well as his smartest dress robes to give his presentation in. He slung the strap of his bag over his shoulder and picked up the invitation to the conference which doubled as a portkey to London and wandered down to the kitchen where his grandparents were eating lunch.

"Grandma? Grandpa? I'm leaving now. If I leave much later Arabella will go crazy. I'll be pushed for time already as it is."

"Alright Sev. You will let us know how things go won't you? I want to hear all about what people think of your paper. Now then, when are you due back, a fortnight? Stop rolling your eyes at me Severus Aurelius Alexander Snape and get away with you. I'll expect to hear from you later."

Severus appeared with a discreet pop in the alley between Privet Drive and Wisteria Walk, a series of anti-apparition wards blocking him from going any further. Straightening the Muggle clothes he wore he walked swiftly to the home of Arabella Figg, where he would be staying for the duration of the conference. He had known Arabella for years having met through her half-brother Grigori, a friend of his cousin Andrei. Even though Arabella was a squib she had a firm grasp of the concepts of brewing and could brew many simple potions particularly the ones that did not need a wand to brew. Raising one hand he knocked sharply at the door and smiled as he saw Arabella shuffle down the hallway to open the door

"Severus! I expected you hours ago. The conference starts in a couple of hours. I thought you were going to miss it."

"You know what my grandparents are like Arabella. My grandma feels that Headmaster Dumbledore is working me too hard and is not taking adequate care of me. She's been fussing over me like a mother hen ever since I got back from Hogwarts."

"Your grandmothers a strong woman Severus. All of the Cavallo women are and they always have been - it's a trait of the line. Now, come and have a drink before we need to get to the conference."

Severus followed Arabella into the small sunny kitchen at the back of the house. Pinned onto one wall were a number of brightly coloured paintings that could have only been done by a child. Arabella caught what he was looking at and gave a small forced smile.

"Those are Harry's paintings. He did them the last time his relatives dumped him with me. The poor child looked completely bewildered when I gave him them."

Severus himself looked momentarily confused "Harry?"

"Harry Potter. He lives with his aunt, uncle and cousin down the road. Surely you remember what the Potter's did to him?"

Severus shook his head "You know they put me in Azkaban for a short while following Voldemort's demise. There is a period of about three months of which my recollection is hazy at best."

"You and your long words. Well, on Halloween last year James and Lily left the twins Marcus and Harry at home with a babysitter whilst they went out with friends taking the daughter Rose with them. Well, the Potter's secretkeeper Peter Pettigrew had betrayed them and then Lord Voldemort appeared intent on killing the whole family. The babysitter was killed immediately and he went upstairs to the boys room. No-one knows what happened exactly but he tried to kill them with Avada Kedavra except it backfired and killed him instead. Marcus had no marks on him whatsoever whereas Harry had a lightning bolt scar on his forehead. Everyone assumed Marcus had defeated Voldemort because he was unmarked. Bloody stupid if you ask me. It's patently obvious that Harry did it but I'm a squib and my opinion counts for nothing and for some reason people aren't listening to Albus or Minerva. Several days later James and Lily heard Harry speaking parseltongue to a snake in the garden. Rather than have to live with the shame of tainting the Potter line with dark magick they sent Harry to live with the Dursley's - Lily's sister. All of the papers were signed and Harry is legally the Dursley's child, the Potter's have no rights to him. It's disgraceful the way they treat him - he never gets new clothes and Petunia Dursley never takes him out with her own son Dudley. He's tiny - you'd never guess that he's nearly two years old but he's such a sweet child. Now, have you finished your tea? Good, the university where the conference is being held is about thirty minutes walk away. If we leave now, we'll be in plenty of time. Come along then." Whilst she had been talking she had got herself ready and now walked out of the front door, Severus trailing after her like a bemused puppy.

The first week of the conference passed quickly and Severus' presentation went off without a hitch. Severus had to admit to himself that he was becoming highly curious about Harry Potter; he'd seen neither hide nor hair of him since he arrived a week ago. He walked down to breakfast only to find someone there besides Arabella - a tiny figure with a mop of black hair and intense green eyes. Arabella looked up as he entered the kitchen

"Good morning Severus. I hope you don't mind but we've got a guest today. I'd like you to meet Harry. Harry, this is Severus. Say hello."

Vivid green eyes swung round to meet Severus' coal black ones as he opened his mouth to speak "Hi"

"Hello little one. It's very nice to meet you." Severus had fallen in love with the little boy at first glance and wished the child was his. He had always wanted children but he knew that it was unlikely he would ever sire children of his own blood. Instead he was a doting uncle to his cousins children. The black haired imp in front of him reminded him of a raven; ever watchful with keenly intelligent eyes. He would quite happily spend the day with the almost two year old and brushed Arabella off when she tried to apologise for the fact that they now had to factor Harry into their plans. Arabella watched in amazement as the two of them sat playing on the floor of her sitting room. She had never thought she would see the day that Severus Snape would be sat on the floor playing ball with a two year old child that was not his own. The two of them looked so happy and Harry in particular was revelling in the fact that for once all of the attention of the surrounding adults was on him. The day passed quickly and it seemed like minutes later rather than hours that Severus was sat in Arabella's armchair, Harry in his lap, reading aloud from a popular wizarding children's book ‘How the Hippogriff found his Wings', long fingers carding rhythmically through silky hair.

"I wonder where Petunia is. They're not normally this late." She was interrupted by the ringing phone and hurried out to the hall to answer it. "That was Petunia. They're having to stay at Vernon's sisters for a few extra days and wondered if I could look after Harry until Tuesday night. It works out rather well as Tuesday's Harry's second birthday. If he was still with the Dursley's I doubt they would celebrate his birthday. Now, I wonder where I put that crib. Then I need to find him somewhere to sleep for the next few nights." She smiled inwardly as Severus spoke, as she had known he would.

"Its fine Arabella, don't worry about it. He can sleep in my room and I can easily transfigure him a bed. It's no trouble."

"Thank you Severus. That would be wonderful. Would you be able to transfigure him some pyjamas as well? I don't keep any clothes here for him and I think the story you read to him has put him to sleep."

"I think you're right. I'll take him upstairs and put him to bed and then I'll probably head to bed myself. Goodnight Arabella."

"Goodnight Severus."

As the man disappeared out of sight Arabella resisted the urge to cackle with glee at the knowledge that her plan was working. As soon as she knew that Severus was safely upstairs she took a pinch of floo powder from the pot on top of the mantelpiece, threw it into the fire and stuck her head into the green flames, calling out "Minerva McGonagall" as she did so.

The Scotswoman turned around as she heard the fireplace roared to life "Arabella! To what do I owe the pleasure?"

"I believe I've come up with a solution to our problem with Harry."

"Really? And what would that be?"

"Severus"

"Severus? What do you mean by Severus?"

"Harry's aunt has left Harry with us for the day and Severus has spent the whole day playing with Harry. He's just put him to bed after reading him a story. Harry's in love with him."

"Are you suggesting that Severus adopts Harry?"

"That's exactly what I'm suggesting."

"Arabella, you're a genius. I can't believe I haven't thought of it. I'll talk to Albus and speak to you soon."

As soon as Arabella's head had disappeared from the flames Minerva rushed out of her office and made her way up to Albus' office where she burst in through the door

"Minerva? What's the matter? Is everything ok?"

"Everything's wonderful Albus. Arabella and myself believe we've come up with a solution that will mean Harry no longer has to stay with those ridiculous relatives of his."

"That's wonderful my dear. How do you propose we remove him from the Dursley's?"

"We have him adopted" Minerva stated with a smug smile on her face

"That's all very well and good but who would adopt him? The Weasley's have seven children and can't afford to have another one. I can't see any of the staunchly Slytherin families taking him in. Augusta Longbottom can't cope with more than one child and she's already got Neville. I fear we are too old to take him in otherwise I wouldn't have hesitated after last Halloween. Who else is there?"

"Severus." At Albus' raised eyebrow she carried on talking "It's perfect Albus. Severus has never hidden the fact that he wants children but he doesn't think he'll find someone to have them with. Plus, I've just had a floo call from Arabella. Severus is staying with whilst they attend that potions conference and they've had Harry with them today. Severus has spent the whole day playing with him and reading him stories. According to Arabella they've fallen in love with each other. It's perfect; Severus would make a wonderful dad, he'll have use and his grandparents as a support network. He can adopt Harry under Italian law and give him the Paternitas potion then Fudge can't challenge it."

"Minerva my dear that's fantastic. You're right of course about the support network - I'm sure Severus' grandparents would like a great-grandson. Plus if we get adoption papers filed with the Italian Ministry of Magick then the British Ministry has to formally recognise them. If we have any problems with the Ministry here then I believe Severus is still quite close friends with Lucius Malfoy - he's quite high up in the Ministry now and he can help smooth things over. Then of course the Paternitas potion. Here it's regarded as Dark Magick because of its use of blood however, I believe in Italy it's borderline and is still used on a fairly regular basis. The potion would enable Harry to take on Severus' looks, his bloodline and any of the family magicks. I believe Severus has the ability to speak parseltongue from his grandfathers line as well as a talent both for the darks arts and defence against them. From his grandmothers side I believe it's a talent for potions and mind magick. This should all work out wonderfully"

Minerva sighed in exasperation "This is all very well and good with all the planning but you've forgotten one very important thing - you haven't asked Severus whether or not he actually wants to adopt Harry. I think that's a major part of the equation."

To her satisfaction Albus had the good grace to look sheepish "Oh yes of course. Well I suppose it's a little late to floo call him now; he's probably asleep, especially if he's spent the day with Harry and if the boy's sleeping in his room. I'll floo him in the morning when I've had a chance to fine tune some details."

Whilst Albus, Minerva and Arabella had been deciding Harry's future the child in question had fallen asleep, warm and comfortable for the first time since he had lived at his aunt and uncles. Severus had transfigured his ratty hand-me-downs into a pair of soft fleecy red footie pyjamas that had little dragons chasing all over them. Harry had been entranced by his pyjamas that he hardly noticed the old fashioned wooden cradle that he was placed. The only thing that he knew was that he was warm and that someone loved him.

Contrary to what Severus had told Arabella he didn't go straight to bed. Instead he sat and read the newest potions journal he'd received, every so often looking across to check that Harry was still sleeping. Upon hearing that it was the child's birthday he was determined to buy a present and resolved to floo call his grandma the next morning for some suggestions. After an hour he heard a quiet whimper and his head shot up to locate the noise. He was momentarily confused until his eyes fell on the crib; Harry was tangled up in his blankets and moving around restlessly, whimpers escaping him every now and then. Severus was at a loss for what to do; he loved his cousins children and loved spending time with them but he could always hand them back when they got fussy or upset and their parents could look after them. Here, it was just him as he had no idea where Arabella was. Steeling himself he took a deep breath and moved over to the crib, scooping Harry into his arms as he did so. Not knowing what else he walked up and down rocking him slightly and smoothing his fingers through Harry's hair. It seemed to work as Harry settled down, curling into Severus and locking his hands into Severus' shirt. However, when Severus tried to lay Harry back in the crib he whimpered in protest and clung to Severus' shirt even more. Severus shook his head slightly and resigned himself to the fact that he would be spending the night with the child attached to his shirt front like a limpet. He changed his clothes into a pair of silky black pyjamas and slowly manoeuvred himself into bed trying not to jostle the child still attached to his front. He fell asleep soon after and that was how Arabella found them the next morning; Severus lying fast asleep on his back, Harry lying curled up on his chest one tiny fist clutching a lock of jet black hair. Seeing the two of them so relaxed and comfortable made her determined to broach the subject of adoption with Severus that day. Intending to leave them to sleep for a while longer she turned to go back downstairs but stood on a creaky floorboard. Severus' eyes shot open immediately and he turned his head towards the door

"Bella?"

"Yes Severus, it's just me. I came to see if you were awake or not but don't worry about it. You do seem to have growth on your chest that appeared over night. Go back to sleep and come down later on."

"No it's fine. I won't be able to go back to sleep now I'm awake and I want to talk to my grandparents before they start work properly at the villa for the day. So, just let me wake Harry up and we'll be downstairs for breakfast."

As soon as Arabella had headed downstairs Severus started to carefully pry Harry away from his chest. Just as he pried the tiny fingers off his hair and placed Harry on the bed he noticed that the huge green eyes were staring at him curiously

"Good morning little one. Did you have a nice sleep?" Harry smiled shyly and nodded "That's good. How about we go downstairs and see what Mrs Figg has made for breakfast? Then maybe we can play and read some more stories."

Harry grinned with glee and held his arms up in a gesture that demanded he be picked up. Severus pulled on a tank top and pair of worn jeans and then obliged him, balancing him on hip as he walked down the stairs. As he entered the kitchen he saw that Arabella had left high chair out from the previous night and he placed Harry in it and tied a bib around his neck.

"Arabella, are you okay to feed Harry whilst I speak to my grandparents?"

"Of course, I have looked after him in the past nine months without your help. The floo powders on the mantel."

Severus smiled and walked into the sitting room and took a pinch of floo powder which he threw into the flames and shouted "Villa Principessa". He blinked as he took in the sight of the familiar sunny kitchen with his grandma stood at the aga

"Grandma"

Lucrezia turned around and smiled "Severus, I wondered when we'd hear from you. How did the presentation go?"

"Really well. The reception for it was very good and everyone was very complimentary. I actually called you for some advice. What would you buy as a birthday present for a two year old boy? What did you buy me as a child?"

"Sev, is there something you're not telling me? Who is this child you're buying presents for?"

"I'll explain that in a minute. Could you please just give me some ideas. I've not got a lot of time as Arabella doesn't have a huge amount of floo powder."

"In that case, let me have a think for a few minutes and then I'll floo you back to save Arabella's floo powder."

"Ok, thanks grandma. I'll speak to you in a few minutes."

True to her word, less than five minutes later Lucrezia's head appeared in the flames "Sev? Oh there you are. Right, we got you that stuffed dragon that you carried around for years, some general toys like blocks and balls and some storybooks."

Anything else Lucrezia was going to say was cut off as Arabella entered the room holding Harry in her arms, who immediately started squirming as soon as he saw Severus.

"Severus, can you feed him please? He's been restless ever since you left the room, constantly looking for you."

Severus took the child into his arms and took the food as well "That's not a problem Arabella. Grandma, I'd like you to meet Harry Potter. Arabella's been looking after him whilst his family is away. It's Harry's second birthday on Tuesday and I want to get him something which is why I called for your advice. Now, I'm going to go and get Harry cleaned up." He'd been feeding Harry as he'd been talking and the child had breakfast all around his mouth. "I'll see you at the weekend Grandma. Come on little one, lets go and get you cleaned up."

With that Severus walked out of the room, Harry once more balanced on his hip leaving the two ladies together.

"Mrs Figg, would you please tell me why my grandson is toting a two year old child around on his hip and why you have a scheming look on your face whenever you see them together."

Lucrezia's face took on the same look of glee as Arabella explained the story to her and their plans for Harry to be adopted by Severus. "That's a wonderful idea, have you spoken to Sev yet? The two of them look so comfortable together. I've never seen him like this with any of his cousins children."

"Well, I spoke to Minerva McGonagall last night so she will have told Albus and I imagine he'll floo Severus today."

"That's wonderful. Tell Severus I'll floo him later in the week but if I don't I'll see him on Saturday by which time hopefully I'll be preparing the old nursery for a new great grandson. Oh this is wonderful. I'm going to go tell Antonio. Goodbye Mrs Figg" and with that Lucrezia cut the floo collection.

Severus came downstairs having dressed Harry and proceeded to spend the morning playing with Harry whilst Arabella completed various chores around the house. After a light lunch they put Harry down for a nap and Severus announced his intentions to go toy shopping.

"I just want to get him a little something for his birthday. Grandma gave me some suggestions and told me what she gave me as a child."

"That's fine but might I suggest that you go now whilst he's asleep. You saw what he was like this morning and that was whilst you were simply in a different room."

"I hadn't thought of that. I'll go and grab my things and then I'll go. Am I right in thinking that there was a toyshop on the way to the university campus?"

"Yes there is. Just walk the way that we have been and you'll see it."

"Thank you Arabella. I shouldn't be too long."

Fifteen minutes later saw Severus stepping into The Entertainer, a popular Muggle toy shop with no idea as to what he wanted to buy only that there was an adorable two year old that he wanted to have a special birthday. As soon as he entered the shop he was cornered by an eager young sales assistant babbling questions in a desperate attempt to assist. He was sent scurrying back to the staff room behind the counter with one well-placed and patented death glare, perfected on a years worth of potions students. He was three-quarters of the way around the shop before he spotted two things that he felt sure that Harry would love. The first was a mobile to be hung over the child's bed depicting the moon in its various phases and stars of all sizes. The second was a soft plush toy in the shape of a black panther which, coincidentally, was also Severus' animagus form. Deciding to act completely on impulse he picked up the two toys and marched up to the counter. Satisfied with his purchases he made his way back to Privet Drive with the intention of sending an owl order to Madam Malkins for some clothes similar to those he had transfigured for the child. Arabella kept an owl in order to contact her family as well as Albus and Minerva. Walking swiftly down Privet Drive he had just opened the door when he heard cries and whimpers coming from upstairs. Taking the stairs two at a time he burst through the door of the room that he and Harry were sharing only to see Harry locked in the throes of a nightmare with Arabella ineffectually trying to wake him. She looked up in relief as he opened the door.

"Severus! Thank Merlin you're back. He's been like this for the last fifteen minutes or so and he's been calling out ‘Sev' and ‘Daddy'. I can't quite work out whether they're different people or whether they're interchangeable. Regardless, please just do something, I can't wake him up."

Severus wasted no time and moved over to the crib and scooped Harry up into his arms and slowly started pacing up and down the room rocking his arms slightly and murmuring nonsense. Slowly but surely it started to work; the warmth of Severus' body heat soothed the toddler and the silky voice started to bring him back from the nightmarish dream world he'd been in. Slowly his eyes blinked sleepily and he yawned before he opened them fully

"Daddy?" he whimpered before he eyes locked onto Severus "Sev!"

Severus' eyes grew suspiciously moist at hearing his name spoken by the toddler for the first time "Hello little one. Did you have a nasty dream my little raven?" The pet name was spoken without conscious thought but seemed so right. He looked down at the head pillowed on his shoulder and saw his eyelids were drifting shut involuntarily. "I think someone still needs some sleep. Why don't we got and get you some warm milk? Hmm?"

The three of them walked down the stairs and Severus went into the sitting room whilst Arabella walked into the kitchen to heat a cup of milk.

Harry was halfway through his bottle of milk when they heard the distinctive sound of the floo system activating and Severus looked up in time to see Albus Dumbledore, Headmaster of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry step gracefully from the bright green flames.

"Albus! What are you doing here?"

"I'd heard you found a new friend my dear boy and I just had to find out whether or not it was true. Obviously it is. This must be Harry. Hello child."

Harry blinked owlishly at the twinkling blue eyes earning a quick chuckle from Severus "He's incredibly shy Albus so he probably won't talk to you. Now, what was the real reason for you coming here old man?"

"You know me too well child. I have a proposal to put to you and before you start to worry its nothing sinister. I wondered whether you'd be interested in adopting a child?"

"Adopting? You've gone completely crazy this time. Adopt whom? Some random child from an orphanage?"

"No actually. I was talking about you adopting Harry. What d you think of that?"

"I think you're barmy. I mean I'd love to but they're not going to let me adopt Harry. I've got the Dark Mark Albus. I was a Death Eater. As powerful as you are even you couldn't make this happen."

"What would you say if I told you we have a plan?"

Severus just stared gobsmacked as Albus outlined the plan that he, Minerva and Arabella had put together detailing adoption papers under Italian law and the use of the Paternitas potion. At the end he remained silent for several long moments before he shook his head and spoke

"Albus that's brilliant. So brilliant it will have to work especially with the family help I can get. We just need to get the Dursley's to sign him over which could be tricky." Something else struck him just then "But Albus, it takes months to get adoption papers. We can't leave Harry with the Muggles for that long."

He just stared as Albus produced a sheaf of papers from his robes "Courtesy of your grandmother and someone called Petra?"

Severus just laughed and spoke to Harry "How would you like a new daddy Harry?"

Harry looked up hopefully "Daddy Sev?"

"Daddy Sev" Severus confirmed with a grin

Albus spent the rest of the afternoon at Arabella's as the three, soon to be four as Minerva arrived, adults discussed the quickest way to secure Harry's future. Albus and Minerva, having previously thought that they knew the younger wizard well were amazed at what they didn't know. Finally, Albus couldn't contain his curiosity as to how quickly the Italian adoption papers had been acquired.

"Severus? Who is Petra and how did she get the adoption papers to your grandmother so quickly?"

"Finally worked out you don't know as much about me or my family as you thought?" Severus laughed before he took pity on the older wizard "Petra is married to my cousin Bellerophon Principessa."

It was now Minerva's turn to look confused "I didn't think either of your parents had siblings dear, so how do you have cousins?"

"They're technically my second cousins I believe or something similar - they are the children of my mothers cousins. We all grew up together on the Principessa estates so we're quite close."

"That's wonderful. Now, we'll need some people to witness the papers. The more powerful the better. That way we'll be able to get the papers through quicker."

"How many signatories do we need Albus?"

"I believe it's four that we need. Do we have any ideas?"

"How do the joint heads of the Italian Auror Department, the French Minister of Magick and the International Liason to the Russian Ministry of Magick sound?"

"That sounds wonderful dear boy if we could get them" he looked at Severus again suspiciously "More cousins?"

"Well, Bellerophon and Ciceron are related to me - they're the joint heads of the Italian Auror Division. Andrei Petrovich, International Liason, is related to me. He's a second cousin or something of that ilk as well. The current French Minister of Magick, Cygnus Delacour, is related to me rather distantly. I can never remember how. He married Lucius Malfoy's cousin if I remember rightly."

"At least that's the signatories sorted. They won't mind being witnesses will they?"

"No, they've been pestering me to get an heir, never mind if it's through adoption. They claim that I'm such a good uncle I'll be a wonderful father. Sophia can brew the Paternitas for me - she's a freelance Potions Mistress and yet another distant relative. Her husband Diego and Octavian can take care of all the legal side - Octavian's been working as a consiglieri for the Cosa Nostra. If he can help them he can help us."

Minerva and Arabella sat with shocked expressions on their faces "I think I'm speaking for Minerva and myself when I say we're both amazed and impressed. We never thought we would be able to sort things out this quickly. All that needs to be decided is what to do about you're teaching position and what you're going to call him."

"Call him?" Severus looked startled "What do you mean call him?"

"Well, once you've adopted him and given him the Paternitas potion he won't be a Potter anymore he'll be a Snape and Harry Snape just sounds wrong. So, what are you going to call him?"

Severus looked down at the child in question where he rested on Severus' chest as good as gold, playing with his shirt buttons. "Alexander" he stated firmly "Alexander Lucian Severus Snape after family tradition. Alexander for the Emperor, Lucian for my grandma's uncle and Severus for me."

"Well I think it's a very strong suitable name. I think Alexander will suit him."

The three of them looked indulgently at Severus who didn't seem able to take his eyes ff of Harry, one long finger stroking a soft cheek. His normally stern face had softened completely and a small smile played across his lips. He was completely oblivious to the conversation playing out over his head.

"What are you going to do about a Potions Master for the next couple of years Albus? Teaching won't be conducive to effectively being a single father to a two year old. I can't imagine Severus wanting to let house-elves look after Harry while he teaches"

"I do believe you're right Arabella. Besides after the life he's had for the last nine months I think he's going to need lots of love and reassurance and I don't think that Severus could provide that whilst teaching. On the other hand potions professors are very hard to come by let alone masters of Severus' calibre. I wonder..." she trailed off momentarily "Albus, do you think Horace Slughorn would consent to teach? He taught whilst Severus was a student and he'd be a good head of Slytherin as well."

"I think it's worth a trip to see Horace. We may be able to persuade him in person. We also need the guardianship papers - we only have adoption papers. Severus?" He had to call the younger mans name several times before he looked up and paid attention "We're leaving now child. Is there anything you need from Diagon Alley?"

"Yes there is actually. I was going to owl an order to Madam Malkins but if you don't mind it would be most helpful as long as Minerva keeps an eye on you."

"I think I can manage to keep him reigned in. What do you want - things for Harry or things for yourself?"

"Things for Harry please. Pyjamas and a blanket or something. I was going to get them for his birthday but now I think if you could get them owled as quickly as possible. He seemed to like the all-in-ones that I transfigured him."

"I think we can manage that. If we go now we can get there before the alley shuts for the evening. Come along Albus" the witch spoke briskly. She gave Arabella a brief hug before stooping to press a kiss to Harry's forehead and Severus' cheek "Congratulations Severus. You're going to have a fine son. I would advise you to make a floo call - I'm sure your grandparents would like to know that they are going to have a great-grandson. Oh for Merlin's sake Albus, will you stop pulling faces at the child. We have to go. We'll call back tomorrow."

With that Minerva chivvied her husband out of the front door and past the wards so that they could apparate. Silence reigned in the tiny house until Arabella broke it

"Right, well I'm going to go shopping. We need some food and I hadn't budgeted having Harry with us. Why don't you floo your grandparents whilst I'm out? I'm assuming that you'll be staying with them until Harry's old enough to move to Hogwarts and I'm sure they'll need some notice in order to make provisions."

"I think you're right. Come on little one, I think it's time for you to be introduced to your great-grandparents. What do you think?"

Harry said nothing, just continued looking up at the man who was going to be his new father. Making sure that there was no way for Harry to get floo powder in his face Severus took a pinch of floo powder and threw it into the flames shouting "Villa Principessa" as he did so. To his relief both Antonio and Lucrezia were in the kitchen and the two of them started at seeing their grandson in the fireplace complete with a small child.

"Sev, is there something you want to tell us lad?"

"Erm, this is Harry and erm, I guess it's just easiest to say this straight - I'm adopting Harry. I was wondering whether you would let us live at the villa with you for the next couple of years. Of course if it's too problematic we can find somewhere else."

"Well of course you're staying here. We'll need to get the old nursery ready - it's a good thing it's next to your room although I'm assuming that he'd like a crib in your room for the time being. When will you be able to bring him home?"

Severus just smiled at that phrase ‘bring him home', "Well his relatives are returning on Tuesday and we need them to sign over guardianship before I can adopt him. I can't envisage that taking too long - by Friday at the latest and then I will be able to bring him home. The adoption papers and Paternitas potion can be taken care of at the villa."

Lucrezia clapped her hands in glee "Oh this is so lovely. It will be so nice to have a child around the place again. Are you going to tell the rest of the family now or after everything has been signed and made official?"

"I'm planning on involving then in the process to make sure that things go as quickly as possible and that everything is completely legal. We were going to see if Bellerophon, Ciceron, Andrei and Cygnus would witness the adoption papers and I was going to ask Diego and Octavian to check all of the legalities and get Sophia to brew the Paternitas potion." He stopped talking as he felt a tiny hand fist into his hair "I think this little one's getting a bit fidgety so we're going to go now. I'll keep you updated with how it's going. Bye grandma, grandpa"

The two of them withdrew themselves from the fireplace, back into Arabella's sitting room. As soon as they had cleared the fireplace Harry wrinkled his nose and sneezed before looking up at Severus with a pleading look on his face

"And what's that look for little one?"

"P'ay?" the toddler enquired

"You want to play?" It took Severus a minute to decipher the toddler's speech "Well, we can play with a ball like we have been. I haven't got very many other toys here."

He broke off as he saw several owls winging their way towards them, packages attached securely to their talons. He unwrapped them swiftly, seeing that one of them was the clothing parcel he had requested from Madam Malkins. Upon unwrapping the second parcel he saw that Albus had successfully dragged Minerva into Drosselmeyer's, the wizarding toy shop in Diagon Alley. Out of the parcel came tumbling several books, some new paints and a wizarding colouring book. Severus swiftly got Harry settled down with the colouring book and paints; the toddler was completely entranced when he discovered that, once fully coloured in, the pictures moved. With Harry suitably engrossed he unpacked the clothes that Minerva had purchased and sent. There were several pairs of trousers and some little shirts, a tiny pair of black robes and three pairs of little all-in-one sleep suits; one in plain Slytherin green, another in black with dragons and a third in navy blue with fluttering golden snitches and broomsticks. There was also something else that had been wrapped further that had a hand-written note taped to it that caused Severus to gape in shock as he read it:

Dear son, I saw this and I couldn't resist it. Consider it the first gift of many to our new grandson. We'll see you tomorrow. Love Grandpa Albus and Grandma Minerva

Severus started at the tangible proof that the elder couple regarded him as a son. His relationship with his birth parents had completely deteriorated by the time he had started attending Hogwarts. He had regarded the Headmaster as a surrogate father since he had been eleven and since becoming a Death Eater and subsequently a spy, the transfiguration professor had become almost a surrogate mother. Both Poppy Pomfrey and Minerva McGonagall had looked after the younger professor many times after Death Eater meetings, healing his injuries and soothing him to sleep. He'd never felt confident enough to tell the two professors what they meant to him and to see his feelings reciprocated and in ink on parchment made him choke up slightly. Setting the note aside he opened the package to reveal a beautifully made miniature patchwork quilt. The squares were all different shades of green and black with silver edging and the Slytherin crest embroidered in the middle. Attached to this was another little note reading ‘I have no doubt that with the future Head of Slytherin as his new father that little angel will be a future snakelet' in Minerva's instantly recognisable hand.

He grinned and turned his attention back to Harry who was still happily colouring away at his feet. He tried not to laugh as he saw the tip of Harry's tongue sticking out between his teeth in concentration and he just couldn't help himself. He scooped Harry up into his lap complete with colouring book, ignoring Harry's squeal of surprise.

"Hey little one, are you enjoying the colouring? It looks wonderful" he praised

Harry looked up with surprise, a shy but pleased grin on his face

"Are you hungry? Shall we get you some supper and then I think it's time for all little ravens to be tucked up in bed hmm?"

"Stowy?" huge emerald eyes looked up pleadingly

"Yes I'll read you a story as well. Shall we go and see if Arabella's back with food yet?"

Severus transferred Harry onto his hip, the colouring book still clenched in the toddlers grasp. Upon exploration of the downstairs they discovered that Arabella had not returned from shopping.

"Arabella's not back yet so there's no food at the moment so why don't we go and get you bathed and into your pyjamas and then we'll hope that you don't get too dirty having your dinner. Once you've had dinner then we'll read a story."

It was at this point that Harry's spirit decided to show itself. "No baff daddy. Stowy now p'ease"

"I'm sorry Harry but you're having a bath. You don't want to smell do you? I promise, just a quick bath and then we'll read a story."

Harry pouted but made no more protests about having a bath. The items that had been delivered were charmed to levitate behind them as they walked up the stairs and into the moderately sized bathroom. The taps were turned on and a flick of a wand caused bubbled to start emerging from the taps in addition to the water. As the tub was filling up Severus gently undressed Harry, noticing as he did so just how slender the child was as well as the numerous bruises covering the tiny frame. He hadn't noted them previously as he had just transfigured Harry's pre-existing clothes into items that were both better fitting and in better condition. He quickly conjured a camera in order to document the injuries knowing that it would help his petition for adoption before casting a spell used predominantly by healers in the case of abused children. The spell would document any mistreatment the child had suffered to date. He sent the parchment flying back to his room and turned his attention back to Harry.

He tested the temperature of the water to make sure that it wasn't too hot before placing Harry in the water. He transfigured several pieces of soap into a couple of rubber ducks. Harry giggled, immediately distracted, and failed to notice as Severus washed his hair successfully. Once this was done however, he looked up with a mischievous look on his face. Severus barely had time to wonder at that look before his shirt was soaked through. He looked down in disbelief before looking up again at the giggle Harry had emitted.

"Ha ha, very funny little one. It's not amusing to splash Daddy. Now, I think you've been in there long enough. If I leave you in any longer you'll probably get me even wetter!"

With that he scooped Harry up and wrapped him in the fluffy towel that was lying ready. He dried him off and then dressed him in one of the new sleep suits that Minerva had owled, the one that was covered in broomsticks and snitches. He had just finished buttoning it up when he heard the front door open and Arabella come in.

"That sounds like Arabella's back. Let's go and get you some food, then we can read a story and you go to bed raven."

Harry clapped his hands in glee at the one word in the sentence that he understood and liked "Stowy!"

"Yes brat, a story. We've got quite a few for you to choose from now; How the Hippogriff found his Wings, The Baby Dragon who couldn't Breathe Fire, How the Phoenix learnt to Sing, The Pegasus who had no friends and the first in the Greco the Gryphon series".

By the time he had finished talking they were downstairs in the kitchen. Severus looked up from talking to Harry to see Arabella watching them with a fond grin on her face.

"Do you know what, you're already a father Severus. I don't think Harry could ask for anyone better."

"It's not been decided completely yet Arabella. The Dursley's still need to sign over the guardianship rights. Until I have those I can't adopt him. Although I can't see that being a problem." The last sentence was uttered so darkly that it caught Arabella's attention.

"Severus?"

"I'll tell you later once he's asleep. Is it okay to get him fed and then I can read him a story and put him to bed."

"That's not a problem. Just give me a few moments to find something and then we can get him settled down for the night."

Within ten minutes Arabella had the dinner ready and Harry was strapped into the high chair so that Severus could feed him more easily. Less than fifteen minutes later and Harry was falling asleep in his remaining dinner causing both Severus and Arabella to chuckle. Severus stood up and picked Harry up out of the high chair and toted him off upstairs where he read him a story before tucking him into his crib under the patchwork quilt that Minerva and Albus had sent. Once he was satisfied that Harry was asleep, at least for the time being, he made his way downstairs to Arabella, the parchment listing Harry's mistreatment clutched tightly in his hand. They kept the conversation light whilst they ate dinner but once they had moved into the sitting room and each had poured themselves a glass of spirits - Arabella whisky and Severus vodka, the conversation turned serious.

"What did you mean earlier Severus? When you said that it shouldn't be a problem to get guardianship of Harry?"

Severus handed her the parchment detailing all of the mistreatment that Harry had suffered at the hands of his relatives and spoke the spell that would allow the camera to print the photos he had taken.

"That parchment details the results of a spell that is primarily employed by healers in cases of abused children. It is designed to document any mistreatment, physical or emotional, to said child at the hands of their parents and/or guardians." Severus rubbed one hand over his face before he pinched the bridge of his nose "Take a look at the list Arabella."

The middle-aged squib did as he asked and gasped in shock "Severus, this is terrible. They're his family! According to this he's been half-starved since he's lived there, he's got multiple bruises, had bruised ribs, a broken wrist, concussion three times and multiple sprained ankles. He's only been with them nine months! And what they've been calling him; freak, boy, telling him that he's worthless and a burden. There's no wonder he took to you so quickly. You were probably one of the first people to show his kindness. Now, you have photographic proof yes?" At Severus' nod she continued briskly "Well that's fine then. We'll get the guardianship papers from Albus tomorrow and we can fill them out and have everything ready. Then on Tuesday Albus and Minerva will be coming for his birthday and we'll get them to bring Poppy so she can check Harry over. As soon as the Dursley's arrive home we'll get them to sign the documents, which, having seen that list, shouldn't be too problematic. And then you can take Alexander Snape home. Now, go to bed."

Grinning, Severus bade her good night and then followed her command.

As Arabella had said the next morning's owl post saw the delivery of necessary guardianship papers from the British Ministry of Magick as well as their Italian equivalent. They spent the rest of the day filling in the paperwork and organising the witnesses. An auror friend of Albus Dumbledore, Alastor Moody, had agreed to witness the signing as had Octavian Salieri, a Sicilian lawyer and Severus' second cousin by marriage. Octavian had already been briefed to inform Antonio and Lucrezia if everything went as smoothly as they were anticipating as the relative ease with which everything had been accomplished meant that Severus and Alexander would be arriving three days earlier than they had originally thought.

That night Severus went to bed with the knowledge that at the same time the next day, if all went well, Harry would legally be his son. Before he went to sleep he flicked his wand at the presents he had bought to wrap them. As much as he wanted to do it himself it had never been one of his strong points.

The next morning dawned and Severus was up earlier than normal due to the nerves that had taken residence in the pit of his stomach. He walked downstairs to find Arabella sat at the kitchen table, a pot of tea and a wrapped present in front of her.

She smiled up at him "Couldn't sleep?"

He shook his head as he pulled the teapot closer. "No. Harry's still out like a light though. I'll give him another hour and then I'll wake him up."

The two then retreated into a comfortable silence for the next hour that was only broken when Arabella stood to make breakfast. Seeing the wide variety of food that she was making Severus raised an eyebrow in question

"It's the boys birthday Severus and I think a choice of breakfast is the least he deserves"

Severus' lips quirked at her response before he moved upstairs to find Harry curled up in his blankets on his side, one hand fisted in his blankets and the thumb of the other stuck firmly in his mouth. Severus started to smooth his hand through the child's hair talking softly to him as he did so and was gradually rewarded with sleepy green eyes staring at him.

"Good morning little one. Happy birthday! Would you like to come downstairs and have some breakfast?"

The child nodded shyly and then, looking nervous, held his arms out in a childish gesture to be carried, something that Severus obliged him with, placing a soft kiss on his forehead as well.

They walked downstairs into the kitchen and Harry's eyes grew to the size of saucers at the sight of all the food laid out on the table.

Arabella smiled at him "Happy birthday child. What would you like for breakfast?"

Harry looked rather overwhelmed so, as Severus sat down with Harry on his knee, she placed a plate of boiled egg and soldiers in front of him, so that Harry could feed himself and Severus could help him if necessary.

Once Harry had finished his breakfast, smearing egg across his face in the process, Severus took him upstairs and cleaned the egg off his face before dressing him in a pair of trousers and a little white t-shirt emblazoned with a Hungarian Horntail. Just as they finished getting dressed they heard the floo activate and the voices of Albus and Minerva floated up the stairs.

"Shall we go and see Albus and Minerva little one? Then we can open your birthday presents."

Shock radiated from the tiny form perched on his hip "Pwesents? For me?"

"Yes, presents for you child. Surely you got presents at Christmas?"

Harry shook his head "Duddy gets pwesents, boy doesn't get them. Me get cupboard."

Severus clutched him tighter "Well, that's going to change little one. I know for a fact that there are lots of presents waiting for you downstairs. Let's go down and start opening them and then why don't we go to the park for a picnic?"

They walked downstairs and once again Harry's eyes grew wide at the sight of the presents that covered the sitting room. Just as they made it downstairs Poppy Pomfrey and Octavian Salieri came through the floo both bearing a present or in Octavian's case a sack of presents. He just smiled ruefully at Severus and said one word "Lucrezia" at which they both laughed. Severus sat down on the floor with Harry in his lap and summoned the two presents he had bought for Harry that were now wrapped up in Slytherin colours.

"These two are from me little one. Which one do you want to open first?"

Harry hesitated momentarily before he reached out and took hold of the slightly more solid package. Taking hold of one corner he started to carefully tear the paper. He looked back at Severus as if for a second confirmation that yes they were his presents and when Severus nodded he giggled before he shredded the paper. He gasped as he pulled out the mobile and smiled happily

"Stars!"

Severus smiled himself "Yes little one, stars. And the moon as well. It's a mobile, so we can hang it over your bed. Do you like it?" The last question was asked both hesitantly and nervously

Harry nodded furiously and threw himself at Severus, hugging the older man tightly around his neck "Thank you!"

Severus chuckled in relief "You're very welcome child. Now, sit down and open the rest of your presents"

Harry plonked himself down in Severus' lap and reached his hands out, grasping the other present wrapped in Slytherin green. Finally acting his age without hesitation he ripped off the paper to reveal a black plush panther with emerald green eyes.

"Cat! Daddy, it's a cat!"

"It's not a cat, it's a panther. What are you going to call him?"

"Blackie" came the emphatic answer from the two year old after several minutes of deliberation.

Albus and Minerva looked on indulgently as Arabella handed over a gaily wrapped present that was obvious by its shape that it was a book

Harry ripped the paper to reveal a beautifully illustrated collection of A.A. Milne's Winnie the Pooh stories. Harry grinned and said a shy "thank you" to Arabella before looking up at Severus "More stowies"

"Yes brat, more stories. Muggle ones as well." He looked up as he heard a sniff to see Poppy Pomfrey reaching for her handkerchief. "Raven, this is Poppy. She works with Grandpa Albus and Grandma Minerva and she used to, and still does look after me."

Harry smiled shyly at the middle-aged matron "Hi Poppy"

"Hello pet. You can call me Aunty Poppy if you'd like. Would you like to open this present from me and Alastor?"

"Where is Alastor Poppy?" Minerva enquired "I would have thought he would have been here by now"

"He got called into the auror headquarters for some sort of emergency. He said that he'd be along as soon as he's got things down to a controllable level so that Auror Shacklebolt can take over. Anyway, the present is from both of us - Alastor wouldn't have a clue what to buy a child"

Harry smiled as he took the brightly wrapped present and started to open it to reveal several books about the magickal world designed especially for children including one on quidditch. Harry smiled in thanks before a small nudge from Severus prompted him to speak.

"Thank you Aunty Poppy"

Poppy sniffed yet again and wiped away a stray tear "You're welcome pet"

As Harry flicked through the books pointing things out to Severus, Albus and Minerva had retrieved several presents from their cloaks and with a tap of their wands returned them to their original size. With that done they placed them in front of Harry before they sat back.

"Happy birthday child, may it be the first of many"

Harry smiled once again as Severus helped him with the first of many present from both Albus and Minerva as well as presents from Octavian's sack. Spread around them by the time they had finished were books of stories, children's toys such as balls and building blocks and various articles of clothing.

Just as they were getting ready to leave for the park they heard a car pulling up, the sound of car doors slamming and then a loud obnoxious voice

"Come on Pet, let's get Duddy inside. We can leave the freak at Mrs Figg's until later."

Severus looked down as he felt the form in his arms start to shake. He hauled Harry further up into his arms so that the child could wrap his arms around Severus' neck and bury his face in his shoulder. Severus felt hot tears start to soak into his neck and the collar of his shirt and wrapped his arms tighter as he whispered so quietly that only Harry could hear him.

"Hush baby, it's alright. Everything's going to be fine I promise. You're not going to be going back there my raven. You're mine now little one. We just have to go and see them for fifteen minutes. That's all. I'm not going to let you go once. You don't even have to look at them if you don't want to."

"Then you my daddy?" came a tiny, scared whisper in his ear

"Then I'll be your daddy" Severus confirmed with a nod "Do you think you can be a brave little boy for me?" Harry nodded and Severus pressed a kiss to his forehead "Well done little one. I'm very proud of you."

It was at that point that the front door slammed open and in stomped Alastor Moody muttering under his breath about "Bloody obnoxious muggles" and "rude, fat little pigs". He stopped mumbling as he saw everyone staring at him "Right, well are we going to go and sort this out only we've just had a huge tip-off. I've got an hour and a half before we raid Walden Macnair's manor."

With that he turned back round and stomped out of the door, followed closely by Octavian and Albus with Severus in the rear, Harry still clinging to his neck. The four wizards made their way to the Dursley residence and as Albus knocked on the door Severus pressed another reassuring kiss into the mop of hair situated on his shoulder.

Thus it was that Petunia Dursley opened her front door to the formidable sight of four fully trained adult male wizards. Alastor Moody, dressed in full auror robes and with a magickal eye, part of his nose and half a leg missing, had the ability to terrify fully fledged Death Eaters never mind a weak-willed, easily scared Muggle such as Petunia Dursley. This was without the addition of both Octavian and Albus in full wizarding robes never mind Severus, who had transfigured his Muggle clothes to resemble his teaching robes and had transfixed Petunia with one of his deathly glares.

Severus stepped forward and started to speak in a silky voice that spelt trouble to all who knew it "Mrs Dursley I presume? We're here to speak to you about your nephew. Harry Potter. Would you be so kind as to invite us in?" the latter was said in a tone that brooked no refusal

Silently Petunia stepped back and shakily directed them into the sitting room where Vernon Dursley was sprawled "Who the hell are you freaks? What are you doing in my house?"

Again it was Severus that spoke "We're here about your nephew Harry"

"You want the freak? He's yours for two hundred pounds. We want something for having to put up with him. What do you want him for anyway? Worthless freak, he's no good for anything. Useless piece of shit he is"

Severus shot a sideways glance at Octavian to make sure what was being said was being recorded "On the contrary, Harry is a very special little boy, not a useless piece of shit. As for what I want to do with him, I want to adopt him. Now, will you sign these papers?"

"Will I get 200 quid if I do sign them?"

"No Mr Dursley you will not. If you do not sign these papers I will go to the Muggle Child Protection Services where I can produce enough evidence to have your son taken away and you and your wife put in prison for child abuse, cruelty and neglect. Now, will you sign the goddamn papers."

Severus smirked as he watched first Vernon and then Petunia shakily sign the documents that would make Severus Harry's legal guardian before both he, Alastor and Octavian signed them. As the parchments disappeared in a flash of smoke to their respective departments he rose and bowed mockingly to the cowering Dursley's.

"Thank you. I am ever so much obliged to you" before stalking out.

Once outside he plucked Harry off his shoulder and spun him round in the air before clutching him close again

"You're mine now."

Once the Dursley’s had signed the guardianship papers Severus and Harry made their way to the park accompanied by Albus, Minerva, Poppy and Arabella for a birthday picnic. They spent the afternoon playing in the park and playing with some of the new presents Harry had received. By the time it came to early evening the six of them were heading back to Privet Drive; Albus, Minerva and Poppy needed to return to Hogwarts and Severus wanted to get Harry settled at the villa, which was already an hour ahead. Having said goodbye to Albus, Minerva and Poppy Severus swept up the stairs to the room that he and Harry had been sharing. Placing Harry on the bed he took hold of the dragon-hide holdall and with a flick of his wand enlarged the inside so that it was able to hold all of Harry’s belongings as well as his own. Another flick of his wand sent all of their belongings flying around them and into the holdall with the exception of Blackie the panther, whom Harry had not let go of since he had unwrapped it. Once everything was packed, Severus shrank the holdall and placed it into his pocket before scooping Harry up into his arms and proceeding down the stairs where Arabella was waiting

“Oh I’m going to miss you both. I’m so pleased things have worked out. Enjoy the rest of your birthday Harry…or I suppose it’s Alexander now?’ the latter was directed towards Severus

Harry also looked up at Severus questioningly so Severus explained it to him “When I become your new daddy legally at the end of the week then your name is going to change. We’re going to give you a potion as well so that you’ll look like me and I’ll be able to look after you better. And no-one will ever be able to take you away from me.”

“New name?”

“Yes, instead of being called Harry you’ll be called Alexander Lucian Severus Snape. How does that sound?”

“Alex?”

Severus nodded “Yes, Alex. Now, why don’t you say goodbye to Arabella and then we’ll go and see your new great-grandparents and the rest of your new family”

Harry, or Alex as he would now be known, leaned out of Severus’ arms and timidly hugged Arabella “Bye Miss Figg” before he leaned back into his fathers arms.

Once he had done so, Severus smiled at Arabella and patted his pocket to check that their luggage was still in his pocket before he took a pinch of floo powder. Making sure that Alex was firmly held in his arms he threw the powder into the flames and yelled “Villa Principessa” as he stepped into the green flames.

Severus took more care than usual stepping out of the floo, conscious of the toddler cradled in his arms. Looking around the library he noticed that the room was even more immaculate than normal; it was obvious that his grandma had been on a cleaning spree since Octavian had revealed the news that he had been granted guardianship. With Alex cradled in his arms he made his way into the kitchen, the most likely place for his grandparents to be.

He looked into the kitchen to see his grandpa sat at the table and his grandma bustling around bringing food to the table. He looked down at Alex who was taking in the scene curiously as he absently chewed Blackie’s ear. Severus smiled indulgently at Alex and as huge green eyes stared up at him hr pressed a kiss to the black hair.

“Welcome home my raven. These are your great-grandparents – my grandma and grandpa.”

“Gran’ma and gran’pa?”

“That’s right. Shall we go and meet them?”

Alex looked momentarily nervous and then nodded resolutely before replacing Blackie’s ear in his mouth. Having his sons unspoken agreement Severus stepped away from the doorframe, thus drawing attention to both himself and Alex.

Both Lucrezia and Antonio spun round as they heard the movement in the doorway and both of their faces lit up at seeing their grandson and their new great-grandson.

“Severus! And Alex! We were hoping that you’d get here soon. I’m sure you’re both exhausted but you’re just in time for dinner. Now, lets just raise this seat for you Alex and then you can sit between Severus and Antonio”

Alex plucked up his courage and spoke “Sit wiv Daddy and Gran’pa?”

Tears sprang to Antonio’s black eyes, so much like Severus’ own, at hearing himself called grandpa by the youngest scion of his family. “Yes, that’s right little man. You’re going to sit with daddy and grandpa. Is grandpa going to get a hug from you?”

Alex looked torn for a moment at the thought of leaving the shelter of his daddy’s arms but this, his new grandpa, looked so much like his daddy that he had to be nice. So, still clinging to Blackie, he allowed himself to be passed to his grandpa before eventually being placed in his own chair.

Lucrezia, Antonio and Severus watched indulgently as, having eaten his dinner, Alex proceeded to fall asleep at the dinner table, nearly falling face first into his dish of pasta. Severus scooped him into his arms as the three adults made their way onto the terrace

“Now Severus, we’ve arranged a birthday party for Alex but feel free to say no to anything we suggest.” Severus inclined his head to show Lucrezia that he was listening “Now, we’ve arranged things for Saturday which gives Alex three days to get settled in and take the Paternitas potion. Juliana and Octavian with their children will be here in the next couple of days to help sort out the finer details for the adoption, Sophia’s already sent the potion. Then Cygnus, Andrei, Bellerophon and Ciceron will arrive to merely witness the adoption papers on Friday. This way Alex will get used to people a few at a time. Goddess knows our family is big enough.”

“Thanks grandma, that sounds wonderful. Albus and Minerva will be here on Friday for when I administer the potion. The papers are all ready to be signed. Now, I’m going to get this little one ready for bed and then I’m going to got to bed myself – it’s been a tiring day for both of us. Night grandma, grandpa.”

“Night love”

“Night Severus.”

Severus slowly made his way up the stairs and into the old nursery that was, conveniently, next to his own room. Upon entering he noticed that the room had been freshly decorated; the walls depicted fantasy scenes of unicorns, dragons, enchanted forests and elves and the ceiling had been enchanted in a similar manner to the ceiling of Hogwarts Great Hall.

Three days later, the morning after they had administered the Paternitas potion Severus woke up to tiny hands patting his face and he reluctantly started to pry his eyes open. Feeling a small weight on his chest he correctly deducted that the person patting his face was his son. He thought back to the previous days events and then his eyes sprang open of their own volition. There, perched on his chest, was a miniature version of himself. The Paternitas potion had almost completely changed the child’s physiology. The only features he had retained was the almost elfin facial structure although his cheekbones were now higher and Severus was eternally grateful for the fact that he hadn’t inherited the Snape nose, instead taking more after his great-grandmother and the Cavallo line. Instead of James and Lily Potter’s messy dark brown/black hair and emerald green eyes he now had Severus’ silky straight ebony-black hair and the deep black eyes of the Principessa family. Severus chuckled as he saw the long thin fingers, so similar to his own, “It looks like you could be a potions master just like your daddy, my raven.”

Alex looked up, his head cocked inquisitively like a little bird “Look like Daddy?”

Severus nodded through the tears that were threatening to swamp his eyes “You do look very much like daddy. Would you like to see yourself in a mirror?”

Alex nodded and then squealed in delight as Severus scooped him up and held him close to his chest, carrying him through to the en-suite bathroom. Once inside the room, he placed Alex on the counter next to the wash-hand basin in front of a large mirror allowing them to see themselves and the other in the mirror. Alex looked at himself for a few minutes and then looked up at Severus before looking back at himself before he smiled happily

“Look like Daddy. My Daddy.”

Severus turned as he felt a hand on his back to see his grandmother stood there proferring a glass of wine. His face ached from all of the smiling and greeting that he had had to do; he had forgotten just how large the Principessa side of his family was. The Snape line itself ended with him and his son, his paternal aunt having died years ago and his father having died not too long before Severus graduated from Hogwarts. His eyes shifted to where Alex was sat watching his cousins Actaeon and Leonidas play a game of Exploding Snap. He had met them several days previously and as such was more comfortable with them than the slightly older children of Diego and Sophia Ortez. He had to admit to himself that he was more than relieved there were many cousins around the same age as Alex within the family as it meant that he would not be completely isolated whilst the father and son lived in Italy. Albus had agreed to allow Severus two years away from teaching in order to spend time with Alex and allow them to grow more comfortable with each other. Alex’s social skills would be aided by the fact that his cousins Actaeon and Leonidas lived in close proximity to the Principessa estate as did Blaise Zabini. He smiled as he saw Albus and Minerva deep in conversation with Cygnus and Lyssaphra Delacour, the French couple accompanied by their five year old daughter Fleur. He was drawn out of his thoughts as a small body collided with his legs and looked down to see Alex clinging to them

“Daddy, daddy! The cards ‘sploded!”

Severus chuckled as he allowed the child to start scaling his legs before taking pity on him and scooping him into his arms. “That is the whole point with a pack of exploding snap cards. Where are Actaeon and Leonidas?”

“Went to play with Mi’uel and Gill. Want to play kidditch but I’m too little.”

Severus nodded as he understood what the child was saying after some translation. He recognised the names of Diego’s two eldest children, Miguel and Guillermo. At the ages of 10 and 8 respectively, they were old enough to play quidditch on children’s brooms as were the two Salieri children under Italian quidditch laws.

“In that case, shall we go and see grandma and grandpa for a bit my raven?”

As Alex nodded they wandered over to where Severus’ grandparents were talking to the Principessa twins Bellerophon and Ciceron, who had both acted as witnesses for the official adoption papers.

Severus sat with Alex who stared in amazement at all the people who had come to his birthday party. Alex couldn’t believe that instead of an aunt, uncle and cousin who hated him he now had a daddy, two sets of grandparents and what seemed like hundreds of aunts, uncles and cousins. He looked on in curiosity as three blonde heads came towards him and his daddy; a man, woman and a little boy who looked to be the same age as him, holding a battered stuffed unicorn.

Severus looked up and grinned at the trio of people who walked up to him and Alex and jumped up to greet them. “Luc, Narcissa, I’m so pleased you made it. And this must be Draco.”

Lucius Malfoy smiled as he watched his wife kiss his best friend on the cheek before he hugged him briefly “Indeed, this is your godson Sev and this must be Alex. We weren’t going to miss the chance to meet the new Snape family heir. Besides cousin, it’s been far too long since we’ve seen you.”

“Yes, Merlin forbid you wouldn’t want to meet your godchild as well.” Severus commented, knowing that he hadn’t formally asked the Malfoy’s to be Alex’s godparents. As such, he had the enjoyment of seeing the jaw of both the Malfoy patriarch and matriarch drop in astonishment.

“You want us to be Alex’s godparents?”

As Severus nodded Narcissa squealed in excitement “Oh Sev, we would love to be. We can sign the papers later but yes we would love to be his godparents. Besides, it looks as if Draco and Alex are already making friends.”

The three parents looked down to see their sons introduce themselves to each other and sit down to play with their stuffed toys. The two children made a striking pair, Draco looking like the spitting image of his father with his white-blonde hair and grey eyes whilst Alex had Severus’ fathomless black eyes and silky ebony-black hair.

Alex smiled shyly at the little blonde boy stood in front of him. Although the other children that he had already met were very nice they were several years older than him with the closest in age, Fleur Delacour, being three years older than him.

“Hi, I’m Alex. What’s your name?”

The blonde smiled back “I’m Dwaco. Do you want to play?”

Alex nodded happily “This is Blackie.”

Draco produced his toy unicorn and proudly announced “This is Snowy. He’s a uni’orn.”

Severus, Lucius and Narcissa sat down and started discussing the probability of the adoption being discovered within the British Ministry of Magick in low tones so that the children wouldn’t hear them, keeping a close eye on the children as they did so. They were interrupted a while later by a voice calling out “Severus!”

The three of them looked up to see the familiar figures of Niccolo and Lucia Zabini accompanied by a less familiar figure – that of what appeared to be their son. Severus and Lucius stood up and shook hands with Niccolo and kissed Lucia on the cheek as Narcissa shared kisses with the couple. Niccolo conjured several chairs and the couple joined Severus and the Malfoy’s leaving their son to introduce himself to Alex and Draco.

Alex and Draco looked up at the small dark-haired, olive skinned and dark eyed boy that clutched a toy dragon. The two of them smiled up at him and Draco spoke up for the both of them “Hi, I’m Dwaco and this is Alex. Who’re you?”

“My name’s Blaise and this is Dragon.”

The three happily sat and played with their toys as their parents talked. Lucius watched the children for a moment before turning to Severus. “I have to admit, whilst we know the truth about Alex’s parentage, his birth parents I mean, what are you going to tell the rest of the world? I mean, the Paternitas only shows you as the father doesn’t it? What are you going to say about the mother?”

Severus smirked “It’s all worked out Luc. Yes, the Paternitas potion only shows me as the father however, the birth certificate of Alexander Lucian Severus Snape also lists a pure-blood Italian witch as his mother. The story that we will be telling anyone who asks is that, after we graduated from Hogwarts, I had an affair with an Italian witch. The relationship didn’t last long but she became pregnant. Even though we had no intention of getting married there was no option to abort the foetus as we’re both pure-bloods so she carried the child to term and looked after him for the first 2 years of his life. Sadly, she died following a tragic accident leaving the child to me.”

Lucius and Niccolo both smiled before Niccolo spoke “That’s brilliant. It ties in with the unofficial pure-blood laws regarding children here in Italy and with her being an Italian no-one back in England is going to know the family. I take it that this is something that Albus came up with?”

Severus laughed and nodded “How could you tell? I have to admit, it is very clever and actually rather Slytherin for Albus.”

Several days after the party at which Alex had met his extended family on Severus’ mothers side, Severus decided to take Alex to Via Luna, the Italian equivalent of Diagon Alley. Before they had left on the Saturday Alex’s cousins Actaeon and Leonidas had been telling him how wonderful the alley was with all of the shops. Despite all of the presents Alex had received on the Saturday Severus wanted to take him as Alex was still in desperate need of clothing and Severus wanted to pay a visit to the apothecary. The villa was no longer fully stocked with potions that were suitable for a child of Alex’s age and size and even though he could easily buy the potions he wanted nothing for the best for his son. And Severus was the best, he had achieved his potions mastery in the shortest time ever and with the highest marks whilst completing his mastery in healing at the same time. He was currently in the process of studying for his Defence Against the Dark Arts mastery and hoped to have it completed before the year was over. It decided in his mind that he was going to take Alex to Via Luna, Severus dragged himself out of bed and into the shower. Having showered and dried his hair with a quick spell he dressed in a loose white shirt, trousers and knee high boots he moved next door into the nursery where Alex was sleeping. The nursery had a monitoring charm placed upon it so that if Alex had a nightmare he could hear him and go to him. Luckily though, up until this point Alex had had no nightmares although this was probably due to the fact that at the end of each day he was exhausted by all of the new things he was experiencing.

The nursery was brightly lit from the warm sunlight streaming in through the windows and so Severus was unsurprised to see Alex wide-awake and waiting for him, sat up in his cot

“Good morning my raven. Shall we go downstairs for some breakfast? Then I thought we might go shopping and buy you some clothes. How does that sound?”

Alex nodded, happy that he was now somewhere that he was loved and wasn’t simply locked in a cupboard all the time. He let Severus pick him up out of the crib but decided he wanted to show his independence and once he had Severus’ attention spoke up

“Wanna walk!”

Severus just chuckled “You want to walk Alex? Ok, I’ll just put you down”. He then proceeded to watch proudly as Alex gripped his fingers and toddled, albeit slightly unsteadily, out of the doorway and along the hall.

Once they reached the stairs Alex faced a dilemma as he was still not steady enough on his feet to manage the stairs himself but he still wanted to walk. Severus solved his problem for him

“Why don’t I carry you down the stairs and then you can walk the rest of the way to the kitchen?”

Alex seemed to think about it for a minute before he decided that he liked the idea and held his arms out in a request to be held. Severus obliged and picked him up and carried him down the stairs before setting him down to allow him to walk to the kitchen, Severus walking at a snails pace beside him.

Once they had both eaten their breakfast Severus took Alex back upstairs to wash and get dressed for the day. Thankfully, the task was achieved with relatively little fuss and the two of them were soon ready for their outing; Severus simply with a set of black robes over what he had been wearing and Alex in black trousers, a green shirt and a miniature set of black robes, almost the same as Severus’. Lucrezia entered the library to see them off and to apparently quiz Severus.

“Are you sure that you need to take Alex with you to the Ministry Sev? It’s going to be horrendously busy now that the summer holidays have started.”

“He has to come with me grandma because we’re going to file all of the necessary documentation. We filed the guardianship and adoption papers as soon as they were signed but we need to file an official birth certificate with the Ministry and establish a medical history – we’re going to have it verified by another wizarding healer that what Alex suffered was child abuse and if necessary we can have the Dursley’s prosecuted. We need to get him a Muggle passport and I need to get mine renewed and then file a birth certificate and medical history with the Muggle authorities.”

“Why go to so much trouble Sev? Why bother to involve the Muggles at all?”

“Because I am determined that no-one ever has a reason to take Alex away from me. Albus, Minerva and Arabella all believe that it was Alex who vanquished Voldemort when he attacked Godric’s Hollow rather than Marcus. That makes Alex, my son, the Boy-who-Lived. Do you honestly think that once the Potters discover the truth that they would leave him at the Dursley’s? No, they will want him back but I’m prepared. We have the documents that the Potters signed giving over any parental rights. Then the Dursley’s signed guardianship over to me. I have photographic and pensieve evidence of the abuse Alex suffered and now he’s taken the Paternitas potion it can’t be reversed.”

“Well, you seem very certain. Just be careful.” With those last words of caution she kissed them both and allowed them to step through and into the floo network.

As soon as they emerged from the floo Severus guided them to the huge white Baroque style building that housed the Italian Ministry of Magick. As they passed another similarly styled building that housed the Italian branch of Gringotts, Severus made a mental note to visit later and set up a trust fund for Alex.

Once inside the Ministry he looked around for the right department and once he had found it he wasted no time in heading straight for it. Upon entering the department he made straight for the middle-aged witch sat at the reception desk. Upon noting their arrival she looked up and smiled as she spoke

“Buongiorno Signor. How can I help you today?”

“Buongiorno Signora. My name is Signor Snape and I’m here to complete and file some paperwork regarding my son.”

“If you’d like to take a seat signor, Signor Buscetta will be with you momentarily. Can I offer you tea or coffee or juice for your son?”

“Coffee would be wonderful thank you and some apple juice for my son please.”

They had barely been sat down when a door opened to reveal a small plump dark-haired gentleman with laughing blue eyes that reminded Severus of Albus

“Signor Snape? My name is Signor Tommaso Buscetta. Please come this way. Bring your coffee – I’m so sorry to keep you waiting.” As Severus drew closer he shook hands enthusiastically before he ushered them into his office. Alex was directed to a small plush chair and several childs books whilst Severus took a seat in front of Signor Buscetta’s desk.

“So, Signor Snape, how can I help you today? I’ve been told that it is concerning your son”

“That is correct. How much do you know about my son?” Severus had a feeling that things were not as they seemed with this man.

In fact, Signor Tommaso Buscetta had a mysterious smile playing across his lips “You’d be surprised at how much I know about your case Signor. I trained as a lawyer with a gentleman named Octavian Salieri and although he went into law and I came to work for the Ministry, we both work for the same gentleman – a Don Visconti.”

Severus breathed a sigh of relief, if this gentleman was a friend of Octavian’s and he worked for the Don then he could be trusted to help them “Then you’ll help us?”

“But of course. No child deserves to be treated like that especially by blood relatives. Now, what do you need, a birth certificate that’s been doctored, I’m assuming that the guardianship and adoption papers have been signed, godparents, medical history. Do you need any muggle identification?”

Severus stared in amazement as Tommaso appeared to know everything that he needed automatically.

“Yes he needs a Muggle passport and mine needs renewing. He also needs a Muggle birth certificate and medical history. Is that going to be possible?”

“Not a problem my dear man. We’ll get things sorted as quickly as possible. Now, lets start with the godparent forms – they will probably be processed the quickest. Do you have them?”

Severus nodded in the affirmative and pulled a sheaf of papers out of his breast pocket before rifling through them to find the appropriate papers. When found, he slid them across the desk for Tommaso to check. The papers had been signed by Lucius Malfoy and Narcissa Black-Malfoy who both swore by their blood and their magick to do everything they could to protect Alex and guide him should anything happen to Severus. Severus himself had signed something similar when he had agreed to be Draco’s godfather when the Malfoy heir was born.

Tommaso checked through the papers, nodding as he verified that everything was in order. Completely satisfied that they were correct, he signed with a flourish and tapped them with his wand, making them glow golden.

“Congratulations Signor Snape. You obviously have powerful friends and allies judging from your witnesses to the adoption and your sons godparents. Now, shall we move onto the birth certificate?” As Severus nodded he continued talking, pausing only for Severus to provide the answers “Childs name please”

“Alexander Lucian Severus Snape”

“Date of birth”

“31st July 1980”

“Fathers name”

“Severus Aurelius Alexander Snape”

“Fathers date of birth and nationality”

“9th January 1958 and I hold dual nationality – Italian and English”

“Fathers profession and place of employment”

“Potions master and I am on temporary leave from Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry”

“Right, mothers name”

“Ainara Verenus”

“Date of birth and nationality”

“I’m afraid I don’t know her date of birth. However, she died on the 20th July this year and she was half-Spanish and half-Italian.”

“Wonderful,” Tommaso exclaimed as he tapped the parchment twice, once again encompassing it in a golden light. “There we go, a copy has been filed with the appropriate Muggle authorities. Of course, you and I both know that Ainara Verenus doesn’t exist but that knowledge shall remain in this office.”

Severus breathed a sigh of relief and the two men continued with the rest of their business. Just over an hour later Severus and Alex exited the Ministry in possession of 2 valid Muggle passports, 2 birth certificates – one magickal and the other muggle and the knowledge that Alex had godparents.

With the official business taken care of they continued down the street taking a slight diversion to Gringotts in order to set up a vault for Alex that would be used for Alex’s schooling and that could be used when he came of age. Whilst at Gringotts they completed the simple blood ritual that, in the eyes of the goblins, would make Alex the recognised heir of Severus and thus the heir of the Snape family. Severus’ paternal aunt, Georgiana Hyde-Pierce, a witch who had been home-tutored had died in childbirth leaving Severus as the sole surviving magickal member of the Snape family as his father, much to the families horror, had been born a squib. From Gringotts they made their way via the apothecary to the tailor, who looked positively thrilled as Severus announced in no uncertain terms that they required an entire wardrobe for Alex from underclothes through to outer-robes, dress robes and shoes. Severus had to admit that he probably did go slightly overboard when he bought Alex the clothing but the child had lived in rags for nine months and he felt that he would get great use from it. With the Malfoy’s as Alex’s godparents and the position Severus and his family held within Italian wizarding society it was likely that they would be required to attend several functions. To that end Severus bought himself a set of formal dress robes in forest green silk lined with black silk with the Snape coat of arms on the clasp. Seeing that Alex’s energy was flagging, the toddler was nearly asleep on his feet, he paid for the clothing and scooped up the clothing that had already been made, shrinking it in order to place the packages into his pockets. Having arranged for the rest of the clothing to be delivered once it was completed he scooped Alex into his arms and, concentrating on his destination, apparated both Alex and himself back to the estates.

Later that evening they ran into the first problem since Alex had become Severus’ son and he had been rescued from the Dursley’s. Well, it wasn’t a problem per se it was more an unpleasant experience for all four inhabitants of the Villa Principessa. Upon their return from Via Luna Severus and Alex had unpacked the new possessions that they had bought and, whilst Severus unpacked the ingredients he had collected from the apothecary on their way to the tailor. While he arranged the ingredients to his satisfaction and according to their usage, reactivity and properties Alex had been placed in the kitchen with Lucrezia where he was “helping” to cook the dinner. Lucrezia had given him his own miniature saucepan and ingredients that he was happily beating around spreading sauce all over him, his clothing and the surrounding areas. Severus couldn’t stop the wide grin that spread across his face at the sight of Alex sat on the counter-top, wooden spoon stuck in his mouth, sauce spread across his face, hands and clothes and an impish look on his face.

“Well raven, it looks like you’ve been having a fun time with grandma while daddy put away his potions?”

As he spoke he prised the spoon out of Alex’s hands, balanced him on his hip and carried him over to the marble sink where he used a damp cloth to wipe off the sauce “I really don’t see the purpose of this as you’re just going to be filthy by the time we’ve finished eating but at least this way there won’t be two layers of sauce and one of them won’t have dried.”

Once they had eaten their dinner, his grandmother answered her correspondence and his grandfather attended to estate business whilst Severus took Alex upstairs and bathed him before dressing him in his pyjamas and reading him a story before tucking him into bed. Before he doused the candles and left the room he pressed a kiss to Alex’s forehead and checked that the monitoring charm was still working before dousing the candles and pulling the door to as he made his way downstairs. Seeing that his grandparents were still engrossed he poured himself a glass of wine and summoned the latest potions journal that had arrived from England.

Several hours later he was roused from an essay on the latest developments in healing potions by an alarm sounding. He wondered what it was and looked puzzled for several minutes, not knowing where the sound was coming from. It was close on five minutes later when he sat up straight, flinging the potions journal out of his hands and spilling the wine in the process; the alarm was the result of the monitoring charm he had placed on the nursery, it meant that something was wrong with Alex. As soon as he realised he was up and taking the stairs three at a time in an attempt to get to his son as quickly as possible. Once up the stairs he skidded along the hallway and flung open the door to the nursery. Alex lay in the crib, feet entangled in his blankets, tears flowing from under his closed eyelids and his fists flailing as small whimpers escaped him. Not wasting any time Severus was by the crib and scooping Alex into his arms, and starting to walk up and down rocking the toddler soothingly and murmuring in his ear in an attempt to calm him down. Gradually the tension left the tiny body and he curled into Severus, his breath still hitching every so often. Severus stroked several unruly strands of hair out of tearful black eyes.

“Now then my little raven, are you going to tell me what the matter is? Did you have a bad dream?”

Alex nodded and sniffled quite pitifully but didn’t say anything so Severus prodded him a bit further

“Are you going to tell me about it little one?”

“Big dark”

“Big dark?” Severus repeated questioningly “What’s the big dark?”

Alex frowned as if he were trying to think of the word that he wanted “Cupboard. Unc’ Vewnon and Aunty Tunia lock me in. Big dark. No light. Was hungry. Were spiders.”

Severus finally understood what had caused his son to have a nightmare. He had been locked into a cupboard under the stairs with no light and filled with spiders and no food. There was no wonder the child was having nightmares although he did wonder as to why they had just started now. Shaking off his anger he hugged Alex tighter and started talking to his son

“Oh little one, I’m sorry. You’ll never have to go through that again. I promise. They’re not your aunt and uncle anymore. I’ll never lock you in a cupboard or lock you in anywhere. You’ll also never go hungry, that I can promise. Now, are you going to go to sleep or stay up with daddy for a bit?”

“Stay with daddy” was the emphatic answer and then huge black eyes locked onto Severus’ own “Sleep with daddy?” came the hopeful question

Severus was all poised to say no, knowing that the boy had to learn to sleep by himself but one look at the pleading black eyes melted all of his intentions and he found himself agreeing to his sons tearful request.

He silently conjured up a cup of milk and warmed it before wrapping Alex in his Slytherin blanket and carrying him through into Severus’ room. There, he sat on the balcony and fed Alex the milk while he rocked him to sleep, pointing out the stars that were visible from his balcony. Less than forty-five minutes later Lucrezia opened the door to see Severus fast asleep on his bed, Alex cradled in one arm, also fast asleep with one hand clutching Severus’ shirt. Smiling gently, she shut the door and silently slipped away down the corridor to her own room leaving father and son asleep.

Three months later…..

By the time the end of October came around Alex had completely settled to life in Italy. Alex had taken to learning the Italian language like a duck to water and knew as many words as he did in English. Severus had found that, in teaching Alex, his Italian had returned at a rate of knots and he was now as fluent as he ever had been. As magick wasn’t used extensively on the estate Severus would take Alex to Via Luna once a fortnight in order to further acquaint him with the concept of magick and the magickal world. He had to acknowledge that seeing the delight on the toddlers face had made him realise just how much he took magick for granted and how wondrous the wizarding world was.

Draco and Alex were well on the way to becoming firm friends and they visited each other once a week, alternating between the villa and Malfoy Manor in Wiltshire. Whilst Alex got on with his Italian cousins they were all a lot older than him and were very boisterous, Blaise being the one exception. He could cope for a few hours but after that he would retreat to the relative safety of Severus. Although Severus was nowhere near as straight-laced or as cold as his Hogwarts demeanour neither was he the most approachable member of the family and the same applied to Lucius. Severus knew that both Alex and Draco were going to be relying on he and Lucius that evening in order to provide a shield from the exuberance of the older children. They had all been invited to a party hosted by Actaeon and Leonidas Salieri in celebration of All Hallows Eve.

Severus loved the irony that a child birthed by Lily Potter was being raised by Severus Snape and was celebrating the years end as well as the demise of Voldemort by a boy who had been his brother when in all probability it was Alex who defeated Voldemort. He also found it suitably ironic that he, whom James Potter hated with a vengeance, had adopted his son and Lucius Malfoy, whom James hated almost as much, was Alex’s godfather. He smiled evilly only for Lucius to laugh as he entered the room.

“I know that look Sev. That was the look you got when you were up to something with those bloody Gryffindors.”

Severus sneered “The Marauders? Just thinking on the delicious irony of it all”

Lucius merely raised one perfect blonde eyebrow and drawled lazily “Do tell”

“I was just thinking about the look on James Potter’s face when he realised that the son he abandoned for being “dark” has been adopted by and thus become a Snape with a Malfoy both as his closest friend and as his godparents”

The two of them smirked before they caught each others eye and burst into gales of laughter, which was how Narcissa found them. The two little boys clinging to her hands looked up in bewilderment, having never seen their daddies act like that, and she smiled back at them reassuringly

“Don’t worry boys, I’m sure they’ll be back to normal in a minute.”

She was right of course because as soon as Severus and Lucius realised that they had an audience they calmed down, just in time for Narcissa to hand each man a child.

“Right, here are your sons, they are your responsibility for the next two hours. I need to go and get ready for this evening and I need to go back to the manor. Their costumes are laid out upstairs on their beds, as are your own. They’ve had a nap so I suggest your think of something to do with them. Alex has also been asking why we are celebrating All Hallows Eve Severus. I thought I’d let you answer.”

With that final comment Narcissa glided out of the room and minutes later they heard a softly spoken but clear “Malfoy Manor” followed by the sound of the floo activating

The two men looked at each other, completely at a loss for what to do until Lucius spoke up

“Why don’t we take them for a ride? We could do with the exercise and then we can explain the significance of the holiday while we get them sorted. What are they dressing as and what in Merlin’s name did Cissa mean when she said our costumes were upstairs as well?!” the blonde demanded

Severus smiled wryly as he replied “I do believe its your wife’s intention that we dress up for this party as well. Now, lets go for a ride and then we can come back and talk to them.”

Forty five minutes later the quartet returned from their ride sweaty and pleasantly exhausted. Once inside the two men took the children into separate bathrooms in order to speed up the process and also so that each man could explain the significance of the holiday to their son in their own way. Whilst Lucius took care of Draco in the guest bathroom, Severus hustled Alex into the bathroom that the two of them shared at the villa. The cream and terracotta shades the room was painted in contrasted strikingly with the two males raven black hair as Severus leant over Alex in order to wash his hair.

“I hear you were asking Narcissa about why there was a party tonight my raven”

Alex nodded “’taeon and Leon called it Halloween but Aunt Cissy called it something’ diff’rent. Sow-somethin’”

“Samhain” Severus gently corrected the pronunciation

“Sow-sow. S’wheen.” Alex looked up proudly at his slightly mangled pronunciation of the word.

Severus barely managed to keep a straight face at the still mangled pronunciation but still rather impressive attempt by a two and a half year old. “Do you know what Samhain is little one?”

Alex shook his head like a dog in reply, spraying water around the room and all over Severus.

“Well, let’s get you dried off and I’ll start explaining.” Severus swaddled Alex in a bath towel and as he towelled him off he started talking. “What most people, like Actaeon and Leonidas, refer to as Halloween some of us know as Samhain. There are eight festivals in the year as practised by the old religions. Now, your grandma and grandpa don’t celebrate these holidays but your Uncle Lucius and Aunt Cissy do and so do I, as I spent a lot of time with them when I was younger. Now, Samhain is the most important festival because it is the beginning of the new year. It is also one of the days when the veil between the worlds of the dead and the living are thinnest. This means that the spirits of the dead are able to return to their loved ones. In addition, it is the time when the Wild Hunt begins so the Horned God rides alongside his hounds to collect the souls that linger and those that are unwary. Did you understand any of that little one?”

Alex’s forehead creased in a frown “Little bit”

“Well, even understanding just a little bit is very well done. Now, shall we go and get you ready for the party and then you and Draco can play while Uncle Lucius and I change. Lets go and get you dressed.” As he spoke he was walking into the nursery and stopped when he saw the outfit laid out for Alex.

Laid out on the rocking chair was a pair of black trousers, black shirt and shoes as well as a black cape with a jagged edge and a little black hood with tiny pointed ears. The outfit was that of a tiny bat. Narcissa wanted him to dress his son as a baby bat. Merlin knows only what Narcissa had left for Draco let alone what she expected him and Lucius to wear. With a wry smile he dressed Alex and took him downstairs to meet Draco. He smiled as the vision that greeted him as he walked into the library was that of Lucius sat with Draco dressed as a kitten in grey shirt and trousers complete with tail, ears and whiskers. They deposited the two children on the floor with several books and strict instructions not to move whilst they went to go and change.

Fifteen minutes later and the two of them were back downstairs resplendent in their costumes for the party. Lucius looked elegant as ever, dressed as a vampire, in a dark grey pair of trousers and tailcoat, cream shirt, dove grey waistcoat and a cream silk cravat. The whole ensemble was topped off with Lucius’ ever-present cane, his wand hidden within the hilt, and a charm that created the illusion of a pair of vampiric fangs. Severus, by contrast, was dressed as a battle-hardened warrior, resplendent in a beaten and battered breast-plate and a huge pair of wings laid flat against his back. He wore leather trousers, dragon-hide boots with a dagger sheathed in them and a black silk shirt. Sheathed along one hip was a sword, the scabbard of which was as beaten and battered as his breast-plate. As they walked into the library, Alex and Draco looked up with shock, their faces registering their surprise at seeing their daddies dressed like that. Their jaws dropped even further as Narcissa joined them dressed in ice-blue and white satin with a white fur trim and a crystal embedded tiara. If any British witch or wizard had seen them they would have been shocked to see Narcissa Malfoy, known Pureblood, dressed as Jadis the White Witch from the Chronicles of Narnia, a distinctive Muggle creation.

Laughing slightly at the look on the two boys faces Narcissa gently urged them up and started guiding them towards the apparition point on the estate, the two older gentleman trailing behind. Once there, Severus picked up Alex whilst Lucius scooped up Draco and placed an arm around Narcissa’s waist before the pair of Snape’s and the trio of Malfoy’s apparated towards their destination.

Several hours later and Severus had finally managed to get Alex to sleep. Although the toddler was normally one of the most obedient children in the world when it came to his bedtime, that didn’t take into account the sheer volume of sugar the child had consumed in the space of the afternoon. Severus was thanking the gods that he only had to deal with Alex; he didn’t have to deal with Draco when hyper on sugar. It had taken four stories before Alex was sleepy enough to even think about laying down and trying to go to sleep. It had gotten to the stage that Severus was seriously considering summoning a mild sleeping potion in an attempt get the child to sleep. He made his way to the study and poured himself a large glass of wine and settled himself with a new potions text. The afternoon had been an extreme test of his patience as he was well-known for not tolerating parties for long periods of time.

He enjoyed parties, especially when they were with his family, he just couldn’t stand them when he all of the children in attendance were high on sugar. He and Lucius had spent most of the time hiding in the corner and trying to continue intelligent conversation, occasionally joined by various males of the Principessa extended family, most notably Octavian Salieri. As the afternoon had progressed they had been joined by Alex and Draco who had hidden behind the tablecloth of their fathers table and played whilst safely hidden. The older children had become more and more hyper and excitable as the afternoon had worn on and the mountains of sugar consumed had grown. The children had played a majority of games that were proving popular in muggle culture such as bobbing for apples and trick-or-treating around the nearby houses. With Alex and Draco being several years younger they tired easily despite their afternoon naps and they were very happy to sit and play with their toys.

As Severus replayed the day, exhaustion gradually caught up with him and he started to doze off in the chair, not bothering to go upstairs and into his room. Some time later he woke up with a start as he heard a sharp cry followed by muffled sobbing. He immediately realised that it was Alex and took the stairs two at a time, running down the corridor and through the open door of the nursery. Alex was sat up in the crib his black eyes pooling with moisture and silvery tear tracks trailing down his cheeks. Severus didn’t waste any time in moving across the room and scooping Alex up into his arms and taking him through into Severus’ room.

“Now, what was the nightmare about this time? Was it about your cupboard again, like last time?”

Alex shook his head and buried his face in Severus’ neck and Severus sighed before pressing a kiss into the black mop of hair

“I can’t help you if you won’t tell me what it was about my raven. Did something happen today? Did one of the older children tell you and Draco a ghost story? Is that what scared you? Is it anything to do with the Dursley’s?

Alex shook his head and simply mumbled something that Severus failed to understand. Severus sat down on his bed and pried Alex away from his shoulder, sitting him on his lap facing Severus so that he could see into his son’s eyes. He gently slid a hand underneath Alex’s chin and tilted his chin up slightly

“Come on Alex, you need to tell me what happened. What was your dream about?”

Alex sniffled slightly and then opened his mouth to start talking “There was an evil man daddy and lots of screams and light.”

Severus looked confused ‘Evil man, I’d assume that was Voldemort, lots of screams and light. I don’t understand what he could be dreaming about.’ He looked thoughtful for a moment and then spoke to Alex “Alex, I can help you but you need to let me do something. Will you let me look at the memory? It won’t hurt at all and you just need to look me in the eye. Will you do that for me?”

Alex nodded and locked his eyes onto his father. Severus reinforced his own occlumency shields before he slowly entered Alex’s mind, sliding past the already partially formed shields Alex had as a natural occlumens. The talent of occlumency and legilimency was one that was enjoyed by the Cavallo bloodline that had passed down to both Severus and Alex. Slowly, he slid through Alex’s mind, careful not to cause any harm or disturbance to his son’s mind. Then, he saw it, the memory of what had caused Alex to have his nightmare; an evil cackle that definitely belonged to Voldemort, a woman screaming, two ominous uttered words and flashes of green light. Alex was dreaming of the night that he and his twin brother had been attacked by Voldemort. Equally as slowly, he withdrew from Alex’s mind and focused on his son.

“Alex, I know that your dream was very nasty and scary but you have to understand that the man in your dreams is never going to hurt you. I will never let him and neither will your grandparents or your godparents. I promise. It was just a nasty dream. You’re safe at home and nothing is going to hurt you. Why don’t you sleep in here with daddy tonight and I’ll keep all the nasty dreams away?”

Alex nodded and Severus laid him down in the bed, drawing the tiny head onto his chest as he lay down himself. He knew that he had merely avoided the problem but he also knew it was impossible to explain to a two and a half year old that he had been killed by a crazy evil wizard that wanted to kill him. If Alex continued having the dreams then he would reconsider his decision but for the moment he would let his son continue in blissful ignorance.

Severus smiled as Alex’s mouth dropped lower and lower as he listened to his great-grandparents explain what they were going to be doing that year for Christmas. Alex’s memories of his first Christmas spent with the Potter’s were completely non-existent and his memories of last year were fuzzy but consisted of being locked in his cupboard whilst the Dursley’s celebrated the holiday noisily outside. This year, Severus was determined that things would be different. As such, Antonio and Lucrezia had rented a chalet high up in the Italian Alps for fourteen days over the Christmas period, returning to the villa in time for New Years. The air whooshed out of Severus’ lungs as Alex threw himself at him.

“And what was that for my raven?”

“We’re going Daddy? Will it snow?”

Severus just chuckled “I think it’s safe to say it will snow. It’s already been snowing there for a month already.”

By this point Alex’s face was almost incandescent with delight. Then again, having lived in England, especially in Surrey, snow would be a fairly alien concept to the toddler. Severus looked down as he felt a tug on his hand, having drifted away in his thoughts

“Sorry little one, I was just thinking. What were you trying to tell me?”

“Can we p’ay in the snow?”

“I think we can manage it. We’ll need to take you shopping though. It will be a lot colder further north and we don’t want you to freeze while you’re making your snowmen and snow angels.”

Alex looked highly puzzled for a moment then tilted his head enquiringly at his father in a manner that was endearingly like a little bird “What’s snowman daddy?”

A slight tinge of sadness entered Severus’ black eyes as he looked at Alex “You don’t know what a snowman is little one? Well, in that case we’ll just have to teach you how to make them won’t we? But, for now I think we should go to Via Luna and see about getting you some proper winter clothes. Come to think of it, I probably need some new clothing – I haven’t been that far north for a long time. Come one raven, let us go and find your cloak and then we can go shopping.”

Severus smiled as Alex ran out of the room as quickly as he could to find his cloak, rushing back minutes later. Severus wrapped it around the toddlers shoulders, adjusting the clasp around his neck. He hoisted Alex up into his arms before reaching out for the floo powder in its container on the mantelpiece. One pinch of floo powder and a shouted command and the two were stepping out of the public floo in Via Luna

“Come on little one, let’s go and get your clothes first and then we can get some fun things. I think you’re going to need a sledge at the very least. It’s a good job we’re wizards and we can use shrinking spells.”

For the next few hours Alex grimaced, pulled faces, generally fidgeted and tried not to whine as he was poked and prodded by the tailor measuring him and holding up bolts of material for Severus to affirm or veto the choice. By the end of the torture an order had been placed for several warm cloaks, robes, underclothes, hats and mittens as well as a pair of sturdy snow boots with a warm fleecy lining. All of the measurements taken and materials decided, Severus and Alex made their way to the Elios, the restaurant/pizzeria at the head of the street for an early lunch. Severus ordered a seafood ravioli and a simple tagliatelle with tomato sauce for Alex, tagliatelle that ended up smeared across Alex’s face, hands and almost down his clothes had it not been for the bib Severus had tied around his neck. Once they had eaten and Severus had paid the bill, they made their way back to the tailors to pick up the completed clothing before making their way to the toyshop to find a sledge for Alex. A short time later they were headed back to the public floo, a brightly painted emerald green wooden sledge shrunk and placed in Severus’ pocket along with a bright red, fur trimmed stocking magickally embroidered with Alex’s full name on it.

Later that evening, once they had eaten dinner Severus took Alex upstairs to have a bath and get ready for bed once he had said his goodnights to his grand-parents. The toddler was still incredibly excited and verging on the hyper, even after Severus had given him a bath and dressed him in his favourite red dragon pyjamas that Severus despaired at the thought of getting him to sleep. Alex, it seemed, was bubbling full of questions to do with Christmas, something that was practically an alien concept to him.

“Daddy, when going?”

“When are we going? Not for another three weeks yet little one”

“Oh.” Alex looked momentarily crestfallen before he perked up again “But, can I p’ay in snow?” he questioned, black eyes shining with hope

Severus chuckled, “Yes baby, you can play in the snow when we get there but there isn’t any snow here yet so we’ll have to wait a while.”

Alex seemed to accept this answer and obediently sat still so that Severus could dry his hair. However, the reprieve from questioning appeared to be only temporary as Severus discovered when Alex turned round as soon as his hair was dried.

“Daddy, what’s Chris’mas?”

Severus looked momentarily panic-stricken – how do you explain the concept of Christmas to a two and a half year old? He was then struck by a brain-wave; the ultimate get-out clause “I tell you what my raven, we’re going to see Grandpa Albus and Grandma Minnie this weekend. I’m sure Grandpa Albus would love to explain what Christmas is, why don’t you ask him?”

“M’kay” came the sleepy response

He looked down with a grin. It would appear that the warmth of Severus’ body heat, his footed pyjamas and the large hand carding through his hair had tamed Alex’s excitement.

“Do you want a story before you go to bed raven?”

Alex nodded sleepily “Yes, stowy p’ease”

“How about ‘How the Hippogriff found his wings’?” As Alex nodded his agreement Severus raised his wand and called “Accio ‘How the Hippogriff found his wings’” causing the book to come flying towards him off the small bookcase in the corner.

Just over fifteen minutes later Severus eased a sleeping Alex into his arms and carried him from the rocking chair they had been sitting in to the crib on the opposite side of the room.

Three days later, the first Saturday in December, saw Severus and Alex walking down the path to Hogwarts from Hogsmeade. Alex practically skipped along as they made the way through the school towards the Headmaster’s office. As it was a weekend none of the students had lessons and those that were brave enough or foolish enough to venture outside in the Scottish air stared in amazement at the pair as they passed. The students from second year and above were all familiar with the persona of Professor Severus Snape, potions master and head of Slytherin House who scowled and snarked not the smiling relaxed visage of Severus Aurelius Alexander Snape, potions master and devoted father to his two year old son. As they walked through the entrance of the Great Hall Severus picked Alex up and balanced him on his hip, not wanting to lose him if one of the staircases decided to move. They made it to the gargoyle in front of the office without mishap and Severus uttered the password “Chocolate frogs” causing the gargoyle to move aside. As they reached the top of the stairs the office door swung open to reveal Albus and Minerva at the formers desk discussing some parchments. Both of them looked up as they heard the door open and smiles spread across their faces as they saw the two males they regarded as their son and grandson.

Whilst Albus started to pack away the parchments Minerva swept across the room and kissed Severus on the cheek in greeting before taking Alex into her own arms

“Hello child. Are you going to give Grandma a kiss?”

Alex obliged willingly “Hi Gran’ma Minnie” giving her a sloppy baby kiss as well

“Why don’t you come and sit with me for a while and tell me what you’ve been doing with your daddy whilst Grandpa Albus finishes his work?”

Severus watched Minerva and Alex go and sit by the fire whilst Alex chattered away happily, telling her about his sledge, all the new clothes his daddy had bought him and how they were going to where it was snowy for Christmas. Whilst they did so, Severus walked over to where Albus was frowning over several parchments

“Problems Albus?”

Albus smiled and looked up briefly “You could say that dear boy. Professor Blackthorne has just informed me that he will be leaving us at the end of the school year. It means that once again I will have to start the search for a new Defence Against the Dark Arts professor. For the time being I have much pleasanter things to do, such as spend time with my son and grandson. Shall we go and join them?”

“Erm, before we do, I need to warn you about something. We’ve decided to take Alex up to the Italian Alps for Christmas so that he can experience snow and everything. However, he didn’t understand the concept and I….well, Imight’vetoldhimyou’dexplainit” his last words were said so quickly that it seemed to be one word

Albus laughed in delight both at what Severus was asking him to do and the sheepish look on the younger mans face. “It would be a pleasure my dear boy. An absolute pleasure. Now, how are you enjoying life away from Hogwarts? I must say, life in Italy certainly seems to suit you and it suits Alex as well. It’s almost as if he’s a completely different child.”

“In essence, he is a completely different child. For once he’s actually allowed to be a child and he has a family to fall back on. He’s not as shy as he was, definitely not with me, my grandparents or you and Minerva and he’s getting more comfortable all the time with other children. You should have seen him the other day when we told him we were going north for Christmas – it was like someone had turned a light on in his head. Then he asked what Christmas was.” Severus’ face fell slightly as he relayed this piece of information

Albus patted him on the shoulder “Not to worry my dear boy. We’ll sort everything. Now, I want to see my grandson.” With that statement Albus swept across the room, his speed and grace belying his age and scooped Alex into his arms, eliciting fits of giggles from the child. For the next hour and a half Severus watched in awe as his mentor and the man he loved like a father explained the concert of Christmas to his young son.

“How’s that my boy? Do you understand now?”

Alex nodded and then spoke “Santa don’ give pwesents to me. Not good nuff’.”

Alex looked at Severus, feeling that this was something that the young father had to deal with.

Severus transferred Alex from his perch next to Albus and placed him instead in his lap. “Alex, look at me baby. Now, what’s this about you not being good enough? You’re the best little boy in the world. The only reason you haven’t had presents from Santa before is because he didn’t know where you lived. But, I’ve spoken to Santa my raven, and he knows where you live now and you are going to be getting your presents this year. So, why don’t we have some lunch and after you’ve had a nap then we can write a letter to Santa to ask for some presents. How does that sound little one?”

In response Alex stood up in Severus’ lap, flung his arms around his neck and kissed his cheek “Thank you. Love you daddy.”

Severus swallowed thickly and pressed a kiss to the child’s forehead “I love you too my raven.”

Surreptitiously, so as not to disturb the pair Albus called for a house-elf and seconds later one had appeared, without the crack that normally heralded their appearance, as if understanding the request for silence. Albus smiled, “Tibby, would you mind bringing us some lunch please. It’s just the four of us so nothing too extravagant if you will. Thank you.”

“Yes Headmaster Dumbledore. Tibby will be right back.”

The little elf was true to his word and less than two minutes later the table was groaning under the weight of food that had been brought, the house-elves, as always, failing to understand the request “not too much”.

Alex turned around to watch the little elf, still fascinated by the creatures, as he always was when they visited Hogwarts. There were no house-elves on the Principessa estates, with Antonio and Lucrezia more comfortable doing things themselves. Severus remembered that he had been equally as fascinated with the creatures as his son when he had arrived at Hogwarts and discovered them at work.

Once they had finished their lunch Severus carried Alex to the bedroom that he and Alex shared when they stayed at Hogwarts so the child could have a nap. For all of Alex’s insistence that he didn’t need a nap he was out like a light as soon as he was laid in his crib. Satisfied that he would sleep for a while and having recast the monitoring charms that would alert him if there was a problem Severus made his way back to Albus’ office

“Is he asleep?” Minerva queried

“Out like a light. He’s started to complain a bit but he always goes straight to sleep so I’m not too worried.” He looked warily at the twosome as they looked at him with grins on their faces “Why are you two smiling? And why do I get the feeling that its bad news for me?”

“It’s not bad news for you Severus” Minerva scolded lightly “It just requires you to think”

“I have a two and a half year old son, Minerva, my thought processes no longer work or if they do then they’re a damn sight slower than they used to be.”

“Are you not brewing any more? I wouldn’t have thought you’d be able to give that up.”

“I haven’t given it up completely but my time is severely lacking. I tend to brew when I’ve put Alex to bed as he normally goes to bed quite early. When I’m asked to make more complex potions that require long hours of brewing grandma looks after Alex. Now, what did you want me to think about?”

“Christmas presents for Alex and yourself” came the prompt answer from Minerva making Severus groan

“Minerva, you know I hate answering that question about myself so I don’t know….surprise me. As for Alex, whatever you want. We have bought him lots of new clothes but he doesn’t appear to be growing much. Then again, I was always very small then I grew like a weed when I got to Hogwarts. Since Alex took after me so much when we administered the Paternitas potion I think its fairly safe to say that he will take after me in that in all likelihood. Erm, he loves his footed pyjamas – he loses his slippers so there’s no point buying him those and he loves the t-shirt you bought him with the Hungarian Horntail on it. He adores stories so books would probably be a good idea. I haven’t introduced him to any of the Muggle fairy-tales yet but I was intending to at some point. Beyond that I really don’t know – he likes drawing and he loves looking at the stars. That’s all I can really tell you.”

“Well, I’m sure we’ll find something. If you’re struggling so much to give us ideas have you got any ideas as to what you’re going to give him?”

Severus smiled smugly “It’s all organised. I just need to pick it up the day before we leave the villa.” Upon seeing Minerva’s look that pointedly told him to continue he carried on talking or rather elaborated on what he’d already been saying “I’ve got him a cat. Well, a kitten. By the time I pick it up it will be 12 weeks old and able to leave his mother. We went into the town just over a month ago and one of the shop cats had just had kittens. The mother was quite happy to let Alex play with them and I think he would have stayed there all day if I had let them. As it was, he fell in love with one kitten in particular, the runt of the litter, a pure black male. When I spoke to the owner she said that they were going to be selling them as soon as they were weaned so I put down the deposit there and then. The little black male is going to be Alex’s in three weeks. I just hope he likes it, I know it’ll be a surprise.”

“I’m sure he’ll love it, it’s a wonderful idea.”

Three weeks later……Christmas Eve

Severus breathed a sigh of relief as he finally put Alex to bed. The child had been incredibly hyper, something that had only been exacerbated by the huge quantities of sugar the child had consumed during the day. They had been in the alps for nine days and Severus had to admit that it had been a brilliant idea. A permanent smile had taken up residence on Alex’s face and his eyes seemed to glow with happiness. Even Severus had to admit that this was probably his favourite Christmas as well, even including those that he spent at Hogwarts as a student. He and Alex had spent the day playing in the snow with Antonio sledging and building snowmen before they trouped inside to help Lucrezia bake yet another batch of mince pies. The baking session had ended with Severus and Alex wearing almost as much flour as had been used in the pies themselves.

Once they had eaten dinner they had followed a tradition from Severus’ childhood and Alex was allowed to open one present of Severus’ choosing. Again, according to tradition, this present consisted of nightclothes so when Alex had hesitantly ripped open the parcel he revealed a set of white footed pyjamas that were decorated with reindeers, crackers, presents and sprigs of holly and mistletoe. With his present opened Severus took Alex off for his bath and, having dressed him in his new pyjamas took him back downstairs to sit in front of the fire and start a tradition of their own. Severus had been in London one day before they left for the Alps, having had to collect some ingredients from a contact in Knockturn Alley and had decided to venture into Muggle London in search of extra presents for Alex. Walking into a branch of the booksellers Waterstones he had spotted a book that immediately caught his attention; ‘The Night Before Christmas’. The book was just the kind of thing that he knew Alex would absolutely love and he had a feeling that reading the book together on Christmas Eve would become their tradition. Looking back, he saw that he had been right and Alex had loved it; the toddler had valiantly stayed awake until the end of the story and then he’d been asleep within five minutes, not even stirring as Severus carried him upstairs, tucked him in and kissed him goodnight.

“Now, I think it’s time for Santa to finally visit Alex Snape” he muttered and with that comment he made his way downstairs

The four of them had decorated the huge fir tree several days earlier but Severus and his grandparents were intent on making this Christmas a winter wonderland for Alex. As such, greenery intertwined with holly and mistletoe festooned the staircase and the mantelpieces as well as the picture frames whilst a holly wreath hung from the front door. He smiled and hummed various carols to himself as he began the enormous task of unshrinking the presents that they had brought with them. Albus and Minerva had sent over their presents before they had left Tuscany as had the Malfoy’s and the rest of the family. The resulting pile of presents was impressive to say the least and it was probably safe to say that Alex was going to be one very lucky boy come the morning. Reminding himself to bring the kitten down in the morning he bid goodnight to his grandparents and went to bed with the gut instinct that he would be woken early in the morning.

Severus woke at three am to someone tugging his blankets both insistently and nervously. Sleepily opening his eyes he saw Alex standing sleepily by the side of the bed, looking adorable in his soft Christmas footie pyjamas as he hated his slippers as he cuddled his toy panther, a hint of excitement in his coal black eyes

“Alex? Is something the matter baby? It’s still very early for little boys to be up”

“Heard noise n’ it’s snowing daddy”

Severus pulled back the curtain hangings and looked out of the floor length windows to confirm that it was indeed snowing “I think you’re right – it is snowing. Do you want to come in Daddy’s bed and we can both watch the snow where it’s warm?” At Alex’s shy nod he pushed the blankets back and, leaning over, picked up the toddler and placed him in front of him in the bed, tucking the blankets back around him “Besides, Santa will only come when you’re asleep so you need to go to sleep baby”

Alex nodded and snuggled further into the warmth of his father, sighing happily as he felt his fathers strong arms wrap around him and a kiss pressed into his hair. The steadily falling snow proved soothing and he was asleep within moments.

Severus smiled as he heard Harry’s breathing even out as he drifted back off to sleep. He pressed another kiss into the silky black hair and shut his eyes allowing himself to slip back into sleep.

He woke several hours later with the distinct feeling that someone was watching him. He opened his eyes and saw that Alex still lay cuddled up to him but that the child was now wide awake and watching Severus with unblinking eyes. He murmured a spell and the time flashed up in front of him, showing the time of eight-thirty. Just as he was about to get out of bed he heard the door open before the curtain hangings were pulled back to reveal his grandfather bearing a steaming cup of black coffee.

“It’s time to get up Severus. It’s eight thirty and I’m sure Alex wants to see what Father Christmas has brought.” With that comment Antonio wandered back out of the room and downstairs.

That statement made Severus wake up a bit more; although Alex had experienced his first Christmas with James and Lily Potter he would not remember it. His second had been whilst at the Dursley’s and thus been spent in a cupboard so this was his first real Christmas. He threw the blankets back before he reached for the warm robes that had been laid out at the foot of the bed in readiness for him and Alex waking up. Throwing the robe around his shoulders he knocked back the mug of coffee and closed his eyes in bliss as the caffeine hit him. He then leaned across and wrapped the smaller robe around Alex as he took him into his arms.

“Come on then my little raven, shall we go and see what Santa has brought you?”

“Just me? What ‘bout Daddy?”

“I’m too old to get presents from Santa but I get presents from grandma, grandpa, grandpa Albus and grandma Minerva as well as from your aunts and uncles.”

“Gran’pa Alby and Gran’ma Minnie here?” Alex perked up slightly

“No little one, they’re not. Do you remember they had to stay at Hogwarts to look after the students?”

“Yes Daddy, I ‘member”

“Good boy”

As he descended the stairs he smiled at the look of wonderment on Alex’s face as he took in the decorations. Looking around himself he had to admit that they had done a fantastic job with them. In addition to the greenery that was draped from the banisters and mantelpieces, there were icicles hanging from the doorframes and lighting fixtures. As they walked into the living room, the room was dominated by a huge six foot tall pine tree decorated with red, green, silver and gold baubles and miniature snowflakes. Even more impressive was the huge stack of presents under the tree, many of them, Severus knew, bearing Alex’s name.

He moved the two of them over to the open fire and sat the two of them down on the floor in front of the fire. Lucrezia and Antonio were already sat on the loveseat in front of the fire facing the tree, both of them with large, steaming cups of coffee in their hands. Eyeing the coffee wistfully he gratefully thanked his grandparents when they gestured to yet another huge cup of strong black coffee sat waiting for him alongside some warm milk for Alex before he summoned several presents.

“Now, why don’t we start opening some of these presents? Shall we start with the ones from Father Christmas?”

Alex stared wide-eyed and mouth open at the pile of presents before he looked back at Severus “Pwesents for me?”

“Presents for you my raven. In fact, I have it on very good authority that the majority of those presents are yours. Now, why don’t you start by opening this one?”

As he spoke he handed Alex a blue wrapped package decorated with white and silver snowflakes. The child took it tentatively, looking backwards and forwards between the present and his father who was smiling encouragingly at him. Hesitantly, he started to peel back the paper and, when he realised he wasn’t going to be hit or yelled at, he tore into unwrapping his present squealing happily as he uncovered a new book. Smiling happily, he proudly showed the new book to Severus. Severus smiled as, over the next hour, Alex was equally as delighted with every single present no matter the size or the expense. Watching, Severus was gratified to see that even after such a contrasting change in his home-life Alex was not becoming a spoilt brat. Yes, he was going to be indulged. After all, he was now a pureblood and the sole heir to three prominent pureblood families – Snape, Principessa and Cavallo.

It was the better part of two hours later before all of the presents had been opened. Alex and Severus were surrounded by piles of clothing both Muggle and magickal, books, art supplies of all kinds, more books and several stuffed toys.

Both Severus and Alex were entranced with their presents from Albus and Minerva. They had given Alex two pieces of furniture for his room at the Villa; one was a small trunk that could be used for storing his toys and art supplies whilst the second was a low sitting two-shelf bookcase that was the perfect size for a child. Both pieces of furniture were made from a very dark wood, what looked to be a dark cherry wood, ornately carved with snakes and ravens entwined with leaves and vines. Severus’ present was rather similar and contrasted of two parts. The first was a black silk photo album embroidered with silver snakes and when Severus opened it he was delighted to find pictures of him and Alex together from their very first meeting at Arabella Figg’s to their most recent visit to Hogwarts. The second was a double photo frame made of the same dark cherry wood and again carved with snakes, ravens, leaves and vines. Inside the photo frames were two pictures both of which made Severus smile; one showed Severus and Alex on the back of Thor, Severus’ black stallion, with Severus pointing out something in the distance, both of them smiling widely. The second photo showed the two of them sleeping, Alex curled up on Severus’ chest with his thumb in his mouth and the other hand fisted around a lock of Severus’ hair.

Just as Alex asked to read one of his new books Severus stopped him and took a large box filled with air holes from Lucrezia and handed it to Alex.

“This is your last present little one and it’s another one from me.”

Alex just stared as the box in his hands moved slightly of its own volition. Hesitantly, he reached out a hand and unlaced the ribbon holding the box lid on. His face lit up as the lid lifted and a tiny black face appeared. Reaching into the box he lifted out the 3month old black kitten, now proudly wearing a collar bearing a tag that read “My name is Jupiter”

Alex threw himself at Severus with a wordless cry of delight “Thank you Daddy!”

Severus smiled as both Alex and Jupiter settled in his lap, Jupiter purring madly, and summoned the book Alex had wanted to read.

For the next half an hour Alex lay in his lap clutching his toy panther and petting Jupiter as Severus read aloud to him from his new book. Upon finishing the book Severus looked down to see that Alex was fast asleep, exhausted by the excitement of the day. He couldn’t believe that Alex had been his son for nearly six months and he was loving every minute. He never thought he would enjoy being a father so much and whilst there had been several trying times it was still highly rewarding. It still gave him a thrill every time he heard Alex call him daddy and he wasn’t sure he’d ever stop getting that thrill. He was brought out of his thoughts by a gentle tug on a lock of his hair and looked down to see Alex staring at him, an innocent look on his face.

“And what was that for baby?”

“I’m hungry daddy”

“Time for breakfast I think. Shall we go and see what grandma’s made us?”

Six months later…..

Severus looked on in confusion as Alex listlessly played with Jupiter in the corner of Severus’ potions lab. Severus had had to spend the morning brewing some potions that were needed urgently at St. Mungo’s. Contrary to his usual behaviour Alex had kept close to Severus’ feet and refused to let his father out of his sight. Alex had come a long way in the eleven months that he’d been living with Severus and that was precisely the reason why Severus was so confused.

The only thing that they were doing today that was out of the ordinary was that Alex and Severus would be attending Draco Malfoy’s third birthday party that afternoon. Severus could have hit himself; that was obviously what Alex was having problems with. Shaking his head softly he added the last ingredient, stirred clockwise twelve times and then lowered the flames under the cauldron, knowing that the potion needed to be left to simmer for two hours. He tidied everything away, cleaning everything meticulously before making his way over to his son.

“Alex? Shall we go and have some lunch? Then we can go and get ready for Draco’s party.”

Alex sighed reluctantly but got up all the same. “’kay Daddy.”

“What’s the matter Alex? Do you not want to go to the party?”

Alex hesitated before he shook his head but he still refused to speak.

“What’s the matter? You normally love going to the manor and seeing Draco. Have you had an argument with Draco?”

Alex shook his head. “No daddy. Lots of people there.”

“Yes there will be lots of people there. If its one thing the Malfoy’s do well, its to throw lavish parties. Why are you worried about there being lots of people?”

“Aunt ‘Cissa said lots of Draco’s friends.”

Severus suddenly understood and could sympathise with his son’s fears. “Ah, you’re afraid that with Draco’s English friends there he will abandon you?”

Alex nodded.

“I can reassure you that that will not be the case. I have a fair notion of who will be attending and besides, you Mr Zabini will be there so you have one friend besides Draco. Are you happier now?”

Alex gave his first smile of the day. “Yes. Thank you daddy.”

“That’s quite alright. Now, let’s go and get you and Jupiter fed.”

Three hours later saw both the Snape males stood outside the wrought-iron gates of Malfoy Manor in Wiltshire. Both of them were dressed in their best robes and in the hand that wasn’t clutching Severus’ Alex carried a brightly wrapped gift. Severus placed a hand on the gates which swung open upon recognising his magickal signature and the two of them started the walk up the drive to the manor itself. When they reached the solid oak doors they swung open to reveal one of the Malfoy family house-elves wearing a pillowcase.

“Master Snape and young master Snape. If masters would follow Dobby he be taking you to Master Malfoy and Master Draco.”

Severus squeezed Alex’s hand before they followed the elf into the dark interior of Malfoy manor. Several minutes of walking later and they entered the huge and airy ballroom that was currently packed with people. Looking around, Severus was unsurprised by many of the guests. Nicholas and Peony Parkinson with their daughter Pansy, Victor and Elizabeth Crabbe with their son Vincent, Grant and Bronwyn Goyle with their son Gregory and Maeve Bulstrode with her daughter Millicent. As he watched he could see that even at the tender age of three the children had been unfortunate in the blood running through their veins. Already it was clear that none of the children had inherited their best features from their parents.

He caught sight of Cornelius Fudge, a Junior Minister at the Ministry who was trying to become the new Minister of Magick. At the sight of him Severus quickly steered Alex towards a corner where the Delacour’s and Zabini’s had gathered. Severus greeted the adults whilst Alex smiled at Fleur before gabbling away ten to the dozen with Blaise. Severus exchanged small talk with Cygnus Delacour and Niccolo Zabini only to break the conversation when they were joined by the three Malfoy’s. Severus shook hands with Lucius and kissed Narcissa on the cheek as Alex handed over the brightly wrapped present.

“Happy birthday Draco.”

“Thank you.”

Severus smiled down at his godson. “Are you enjoying your party Draco?”

“Yes Uncle Sev.” He looked imploringly at his godfather, the Zabini’s and his parents. “Can Alex ‘n Blaise come ‘n play?”

All the adults nodded their consent before Narcissa spoke. “Make sure that you play with the other children though Draco dear. You’ve avoided them all since they got here and followed me and your father around. You have to be polite.”

“But mama!” Draco whined before he was silenced by a look from his father.

“Draconis, that is not behaviour befitting a Malfoy, particularly in public” Lucius reprimanded.

Draco looked suitably chastened “Sorry father.” The reprieve only lasted momentarily. “But papa, Crabbe ‘n Goyle are boring, Millie’s alright but Pansy just follows me around.”

Lucius tried to suppress his laughter but wasn’t entirely successful. “Be that as it may child, we have appearances to maintain. It won’t be for much longer.”

With that the adults looked on indulgently as the three boys ran off into the crowds, probably to find a safe place to hide and play away from the other children. Lucius groaned as he saw Cornelius Fudge approaching the group.

“Oh wonderful, just what we need; that fool trying to ingratiate himself with us. Why did we invite him again?”

Narcissa laid a calming hand on her husbands arm. “Calm down Luc. You know why we invited him. if he becomes Minister of Magick then he is insipid and weak enough that he can be manipulated and bribed as to the best course of action.”

“You are right as always my dear. Come, let us go and meet the bumbling idiot.”

With that the blonde couple glided away, looking every inch the glamorous, aristocratic pureblood couple that they were.

Severus smirked at the sight of the Malfoy lord at work.

Lord Lucius Malfoy was a purely political animal and already wielded considerable power with the Ministry of Magick. Even when he had been a student at Hogwarts he had proved to be a charismatic and authoritative leader and had swiftly risen to the head of Slytherin house. Many of the attendees of the party that afternoon Severus recognised as being followers of Lucius from their school days, although there were several notable absences. One surprise addition however, was that of Narcissa’s older sister Andromeda with her metamorphagus daughter Nymphadora, although without her muggle husband Ted Tonks.

A short while later Severus managed to corner Lucius and drag him to the blonde’s office.

“Sev? What’s all this about?” The blonde Slytherin asked whilst pouring himself and Severus a glass of scotch. “This is my son’s birthday party.”

“Which is why there are only nine children here.” Severus sniped back sarcastically.

“Yes well, these are the children of the adults I could trust. I don’t want simply anybody hanging around my son and godson. Crabbe and Goyle do anything I say, the Parkinson’s look to me for guidance and Bulstrode senior is in Azkaban after the Dementors kiss so Maeve is head of the family and she never took the mark. Too many of our old colleagues and housemates still support the Dark Lord.”

Severus stopped dead, shocked at Lucius’ words and not knowing what to say. Instead he simply took a deep gulp of his scotch and felt his heart speed up with anxiety. Lucius’ smooth baritone broke into his thoughts sounding highly amused.

“Let me guess Sev, you were thinking that I was a nice loyal servant of the Dark Lord and was merely waiting for the best time to bring him back.” One look at Severus’ face told him everything. “You did think that. Sit down Sev and I’ll explain everything to you.”

He waited until Severus had settled himself into one of the wingback chairs before he did the same himself after pouring them both some more scotch.

“You were not Dumbledore’s only spy within the Dark Lord’s ranks Sev. I know you think you were but you weren’t. I spied for Dumbledore as well. Oh, I was not a spy for as long as you which was why I was in Azkaban for longer than you following the end of the war. Neither did I join the Dark Lord for the same reasons as you. Although I did join in accordance with my father’s wishes.”

Severus nodded here as he remembered Abraxas Malfoy before he died.

“I admit that I do still agree with the Dark Lord’s belief that magick should be limited to pure-bloods. It’s too dangerous to continue teaching muggle-borns magick. They don’t have the same exposure to magick that we do and when they graduate many of them simply retreat into the muggle world. There is also the fact that all that violence and torture is distasteful and frightfully messy. However, the last straw came when he threatened my family. Narcissa was already pregnant with Draco when we were both called. We hadn’t told the Dark Lord she was expecting but her bitch of a sister Bellatrix told him. He crucio-ed both me and her incessantly. Narcissa almost miscarried and she never completely recovered physically. Then that madman had the impudence to suggest that she could be a brood-mare for him. The gall of it! Besides, I haven’t been able to prove it but I have my suspicions that the Dark Lord, with his agenda of pureblood supremacy isn’t a pureblood after all. A Malfoy never bows to anyone, especially a mudblood. I went to Dumbledore and offered my services. Then, as you did, I did my duties and was never suspected.”

Severus momentarily lost his composure and sat looking completely gobsmacked before he tossed back the scotch, coughing and spluttering as it burned down his throat.

“I can’t believe it. I never would have suspected you.”

“Precisely. Who would ever suspect me, the epitome of a pure-blooded wizard, to be a spy for the light, for Dumbledore himself? It is for that reason alone that there are few children here. The rest of our housemates with children not yet at Hogwarts; the Flint’s, Nott’s, Avery’s and Macnair – they are all still loyal to the Dark Lord although they do not declare their allegiance openly.”

Severus smirked. “It seems there is some logic there after all. What of the others? Why people like Cornelius Fudge and other junior ministers at the ministry?”

Here Lucius’ gaze turned predatory. “With the right backing and enough funding I can put a minister in power that, for the right things, is willing to do as I wish. With him in place it will be easy to place people loyal to myself and those closest to me in positions of importance. For instance, say the Department of Child Welfare?” Here he arched an eyebrow at Severus.

The dark-haired man smiled in gratitude. “Thank you Luc. Should you ever need anything you will have my support.”

Lucius merely inclined his head. “Now, I suppose we should remove ourselves to the ballroom. With any luck most of the attendants of this infernal party will have dispersed.”

Severus just laughed and the two men went to find their wayward sons.

A month and a half later…….

Severus was woken up abnormally by a hyper toddler. Alex sat up from his perch next to Severus’ stomach wearing his snitch covered pyjamas and clutching Blackie tightly.

“Alex, what are you doing up this early? It’s six am.”

“It’s my birthday!”

“I know it’s your birthday little one, but it’s also very early. Why don’t you and Blackie come under the covers and get some more sleep?”

Alex concentrated hard for several minutes, furrows etched into his forehead, as if weighing up the pros and cons. Eventually, the appeal of getting to sleep with daddy won out and he crawled under the covers Severus was holding open for him. Even a year after his adoption, getting an adults undivided attention and unlimited affection was still a novelty. Severus tucked the blankets around the tiny body, pressed a kiss to his sons head and then curled himself around his son. As he lay there just staring at his son Severus smiled as he heard his son’s breathing even out as he fell asleep again and he just lay there for a while, not ready to fall asleep just yet.

He couldn’t believe that it had been a year since he adopted Alex. It was exactly a year to the day that the Dursley’s had signed the guardianship papers giving him guardianship over Alex, allowing him to walk away with an heir to the Snape family and leaving behind the life of Harry James Potter.

Severus, after several long discussions with Albus, Minerva and his grandparents, had decided that it was easier to leave Alex’s birthday the same as it had been when he was Harry James Potter, the 31st July. This year, after a whole year as Severus’ son, they had arranged a huge party for him at the villa. They had considered holding the party at Hogwarts but had eventually decided that Italy and the villa was the most central location. All of the family would be attending including Alex’s godparents and the two latest additions to the Principessa family; Lucretia, daughter of Ciceron and Adriana had been born on 28th October whilst Belladonna, daughter of Bellerophon and Petra had been born on 4th November. Both Blaise and Alex had been excited to hear that there would be more children in the family but had both been terribly disappointed to discover that instead of the boys they were hoping for the parents to be were both expecting girls. Severus smiled to himself as he remembered the devastation on the two boys faces when they had been told nine months ago. As he thought of the party the next day Severus grimaced slightly and shut his eyes, knowing that he needed to get some sleep so that he wasn’t a completely grumpy git the next day when surrounded by children.

He managed an extra two hours sleep before waking at eight-thirty to find Alex sleeping peacefully. Wanting to sort several things out before Alex woke up he eased himself out of the bed, moving Alex’s head from its pillow on his arm to the actual pillow and tucking him back in. he dressed swiftly but left off his robes and, slipped his wand into his holster before easing the door open and sliding the door open so that he could slip downstairs. Upon entering the kitchen he crossed over to his grandmother and kissed her on the cheek.

“Good morning. What are you making?”

“I’m just making some more bread to go with the honey Alex and I made. There’s fresh fruit and I’ll cook the hot food once Alex is awake. He is still asleep isn’t he?”

Severus nodded. “He’s still asleep. He woke me at six am but I managed to persuade him to go back to sleep. It’s lucky really as I still need to wrap a couple of presents and put up some decorations. Where should I put them?”

“Why don’t you put them up in here my boy? That way we can enjoy them whilst we eat breakfast.” With that Albus strode into the room, resplendent in his purple moon and star robes, with Minerva at his side.

Minerva moved to help Lucrezia whilst Albus spoke to Severus.

“Why don’t I start on those charms whilst you wrap those presents for my grandson?”

Even as Severus nodded and made his way out of the kitchen and down to his potions lab Albus was already waving his wand and murmuring incantations making streamers appear from his wand and a banner that proclaimed ‘Happy 3rd Birthday Alex!’

In his lab Severus drew a large box out of a heavily warded cupboard along with several books and some new pyjamas, these with tiny cauldrons and snakes on them. Setting them an even distance apart on his workbench he tapped each of the presents with his wand and incanted a short spell that Narcissa had taught him. The blonde witch had commented that if Severus was as useless as Lucius at wrapping presents then he was in great need of learning the charm. With the presents wrapped he murmured a levitation charm and made his way back to the kitchen, the presents following him in a line.

As he entered the kitchen it was as if he’d entered a completely different room; the table was almost sagging under the weight of all the food and presents, whilst there were streamers and banners everywhere in addition to the banner.

He heard movements from upstairs and knew that Alex was awake. A flick of his wand sent the line of presents to join the stack on the table. They heard the stairs creak and then the light patter of stockinged feet on the wooden floorboards followed by a slightly tousled head poking its head through the open doorway. Severus opened his arms in encouragement, smiling as his son ran across the room and practically jumper into his lap.

Severus hugged his son close and pressed a kiss into the black hair. “Happy birthday my raven. Did you sleep well?”

“Mm-hmm. Your bed’s warm and comfy but you left!” He accused, pouting excessively.

“Yes well, someone had to wrap your birthday presents. You do want presents don’t you?”

Sadly, even a year later, the eight months living with the Dursley’s had made a deep impact and Alex was still amazed when he received presents. He smiled shyly and gratefully as he received the congratulations and well-wishes from his grandparents and great-grandparents.

Following a long, leisurely breakfast attention was turned to the sizeable stack of presents. In accordance with his fathers wishes Alex opened the presents from his grandparents and great-grandparents first. As his confidence grew and he was secure in the knowledge that the presents were his and they wouldn’t be taken from him he happily tore into the stack. Within thirty minutes he had a sizeable stack of new clothes, art equipment, games and books. Among his favourites were a book of illustrated Italian fairy tales from Antonio and Lucrezia, whilst from his grandpa Albus and grandma Minerva he had received a set of robes that were green and covered in dancing baby unicorns. Once he had made the rounds of thank you’s and kisses he climbed back into Severus’ lap to discover even more presents in front of him.

“Daddy?” Alex asked, eyes wide in surprise.

“These are your birthday presents from me little one. You can open them all except these two.”

Alex nodded before he ripped into the presents, exclaiming in delight over the pyjamas and the new books he’d received. Once he’d opened them he stared at the two presents that were placed in front of him. One looked like it was a book but he was intrigued by the big box. With Severus’ encouragement he reached out and tore open the paper on the smaller present. The paper slid off to reveal a book entitled ‘My First Potions Book’. He looked wildly at his daddy; if he’d got that then was the box holding what he thought it did? He needed no further encouragement and tore off the paper to reveal a brightly coloured box. The brightly coloured letters on the side of the box proclaimed ‘My First Potions Set’.

He flung himself at Severus.

“Thank you daddy, thank you, thank you! Can we make one?”

He hardly waited for an answer before he grabbed Severus clutching his book and dragged him out of the room hardly waiting for Severus to pick up the box. Severus didn’t complain, overjoyed that the one great passion he had was shared by the most important person in his life. He was also more than grateful that he had an excuse to spend even more time with his son doing something they both enjoyed and found fascinating.

By the time that Christmas came round again the now three and a half year old Alex was looking forward to it more than ever. Unlike the previous year Severus and Alex weren’t spending Christmas in Northern Italy with Antonio and Lucrezia. Instead, whilst Antonio and Lucrezia spent Christmas with the Salieri’s and other members of the Principessa family, Severus and Alex were to journey to Scotland for Christmas with Albus and Minerva before journeying to Wiltshire to spent Twelfth Night with the Malfoy family.

Scotland had received weather reports of expected heavy snows and freezing temperatures, which had Alex highly delighted, he couldn’t wait to see the castle surrounded by and covered in snow. Severus, for his part, was relieved when he realised that Alex had barely grown that year and therefore he didn’t need to go shopping for any new winter robes. Albus had also reassured Severus that there were only a few students remaining at the school over the holidays, primarily seventh years who were more concerned with revising for their NEWT examinations. The few that were staying were going to be predominantly Ravenclaws and would therefore struggle to withdraw their heads from their books for meals let alone realise who was there.

Severus decided to put off the Christmas shopping for presents and such for as long as possible. He detested shopping all the time whether it was at Diagon Alley, Hogsmeade or Via Luna. All of the necessary shopping, with the exception of books and potions ingredients, was left to Minerva, Lucrezia and Narcissa in their roles of grandmothers and godmother.

He was also growing more and more conscious of the fact that their time of seclusion in Italy was coming to an end. Alex’s fourth birthday was only six months away and with it came the end of the two year sabbatical Severus had been granted. Come the next September he would be returning to his post of Potions Master at Hogwarts. He was also slightly worried about the question of Alex’s magick. 

Whilst there was no doubt that Alex had magick, there was plenty of evidence of that; it was only at the age of four that parents could have their child’s magick measured. By this point it had been proven that most children were showing signs of and had performed accidental magick. Therefore, registered healers could perform a complex charm that would record the child’s current magickal levels, as well as predictions for the levels when they started Hogwarts and again when they reached the age of majority and magickal maturity, which was seventeen in the Wizarding world. When Severus had been tested, his magickal levels had been incredibly high and had only increased as he grew older. As things currently stood he was one of the most powerful professors at Hogwarts; behind Albus Dumbledore but on an even standing if not more powerful than Minerva McGonagall and Filius Flitwick. He was even marginally more powerful than Lucius Malfoy, something that grated with the blonde British aristocrat.

As he thought about the magick testing process he smirked maliciously as his thoughts turned to the Potters. Despite everything that Albus and others had said they still insisted that Marcus was the Boy-Who-Lived and that he would have huge magickal reserves. He would pay good money to see the looks on their faces when they discovered the truth. Unfortunately, it was the knowledge that caused him both great delight and great anguish. As soon as the Potter’s discovered that it wasn’t Marcus who had vanquished Voldemort they would turn their attention to Alex and Severus could only hope he had taken enough precautions. 

Shaking his head to rid himself of his disturbing thoughts he turned his attention back to the parchments that littered his desk. Alex was spending some quality time with his grandmother and so Severus had holed himself up in his study to work on the theoretical basis of two experimental potions. He had been commissioned by the Italian Ministry to create a more effective form of Veritaserum as well as a potion to be administered to prisoners/suspects as soon as they were captured to show if they were an animagus so that the necessary spells could be cast. Although he didn’t need the money, if he was successful, the potions would prove to be highly lucrative business – every Ministry of Magick in the world would want to buy them. With that he turned his attention back to his work, knowing that in a few hours his peace would be shattered.

As he had thought, his peace was ruined just over two hours later when the door to his study slammed open to reveal a black blur that shot to Severus’ side and bounced up and down excitedly.

“Daddy, daddy, daddy!”

Severus wrote two more words before he lay down his quill and shut his journal “And what’s got you so excited raven?”

“I did magick Daddy.”

Alex’s proud statement was accompanied by Lucrezia’s entrance into the study. Severus looked over at his grandmother for acknowledgement and almost choked on his laughter. His grandmother’s normally white hair was a stunning bright green. She smiled ruefully at her grandson.

“Your son takes after you more and more everyday Severus.”

Severus just smirked, remembering when he had done exactly the same thing.

“I can see that you did magick little one. What made you turn grandma’s hair green?”

“Yucky beans!” Alex pulled a disgusted face. “Taste nasty!”

Severus raised an eyebrow at the child’s words and looked to Lucrezia for a full explanation.

She sat down in the spare chair after removing a stack of books from it as Severus scooped Alex onto his lap.

“We’ve had a fun day baking this morning – we made you your favourite pannettone actually. However, I made an addition to the pesto pasta at lunch and apparently Alex doesn’t like flageolet beans. My hair was the result of trying to get Alex to eat three spoonfuls. Apparently he didn’t appreciate my attempts.”

Regardless of her words Severus could tell by the tone of her voice and the smile she was trying to restrain that she wasn’t too annoyed about it. Severus himself couldn’t be too annoyed at his son when he was amused by the whole thing and he knew that it happened all the time with magickal children. 

“Now, you know that it doesn’t bother me – you did enough accidental magick as a child. The only thing that concerns me is that I can’t undo it and I have to go into the village this afternoon to do the shopping.”

Severus smiled and turned his attention to the child sat in his lap. “Alex, I know you didn’t mean to change grandma’s hair green but she needs to go shopping and she can’t go with her hair that colour. Now, do you think if you concentrate enough you can change grandma’s hair back to its normal colour?”

Alex scrunched his face up and concentrated hard for several minutes, “Can’t? How’d I do it daddy?”

“Ok, close your eyes and picture grandma’s hair green, like it is now and then imagine it turning back to its normal colour.” 

Severus was amazed as his explanation worked and Lucrezia’s hair turned back to normal. He was amazed by the phenomenal control that Alex had on his magick at such a young age. By the time he started at Hogwarts he would have even more ability and by the time he graduated he would be truly impressive.

****

Four weeks later……

Severus had capitulated to Alex’s request and they had portkeyed to King’s Cross Station in London and made their way to Platform 9¾. The students had arrived back at the station an hour earlier and the train was still there awaiting its return to Hogsmeade. Thankfully, the majority of the students had been picked up or generally dispersed so Severus was able to cross the platform with relative ease, Alex holding onto his hand with Jupiter on his shoulder and their small trunk floating behind them. Severus directed his son into the teachers compartment, stored the trunk in the luggage rack and hoisted Alex onto the seat so that he could watch as the train pulled out of the station.

Nearly five hours later the Express pulled into Hogsmeade station, Severus roused himself from his perusal of a potions text and smiled at the mop of black hair leaning against his chest. Alex had fallen asleep two hours into the journey, lulled by the feel of the engine and the rolling countryside. Severus pulled the trunk from the luggage rack and flicked his wand murmuring a levitation spell. With that done, Jupiter leapt up to his shoulder and he scooped Alex up so that he was balanced on one hip, his head resting in the crook of Severus’ neck. Exiting the station he climbed into one of the thestral drawn carriages which started moving down the path for the school. As they came up to a particular spot he started to wake Alex up knowing that the view was particularly spectacular.

“Come on Alex, wake up little one, it’s time to wake up.”

“’m sleepy Daddy. Why?”

“We’re getting close to the castle now and I thought you’d like to see Hogwarts and the grounds covered in snow. Don’t you want to see it?”

He was rewarded by the sight of sleepy black eyes that stared up at him and then looked forward.

“Snow! Looks pretty.”

“You’re right, it does look pretty.” Severus knew that he was being sincere. He’d always thought that the sight of Hogwarts was on of his favourites along with the views from the Tuscan villa but the sight of Hogwarts covered in snow was one of almost unsurpassable beauty. As they passed over the rise and the carriage passed across the grounds to the front doors they were joined by Hagrid, who shook the snow off his moleskin coat before entering the building.

“’ello Sev’rus, Alex. How’re ye? Give me yer trunk ‘n you can take Alex ‘fessor.”

Severus smiled gratefully at the half-giant “Thanks Hagrid, I appreciate it.”

Unlike many Slytherins, Severus had never had a problem with the groundskeeper. The older man had always been nothing but nice to the Slytherin. When Severus had become Hogwarts youngest professor Hagrid had been one of the first to accept him and welcome him wholeheartedly.

“You know you don’t have to call me professor Hagrid. I’m not one at the moment. You can just call me Severus,” he gently reminded the man.

“Yeh well. ‘s only temp’ry. You’ll be a prof’ssor ‘gain in no time. Blimey, is that Jupe Alex? He hasn’t grown too much.”

“Nope. Daddy said he’s a creeter.” Alex mangled the last word so much that Hagrid looked to Severus in confusion.

Severus laughed lightly. “That’s not quite what I said now, is it raven?” He directed his attention to Hagrid. “I’m starting to think that he has some creature blood in him. He hasn’t really grown and he’s immensely protective of Alex. Have you any ideas?”

Hagrid scratched his beard thoughtfully. “Well, he don’t look like anythin’ unusual. He’s prob’ly got some kneazle in him. They’re related to cats and can breed with ‘em as well. They’re protective as well.”

***

Four days later it was Christmas Eve and Severus and Alex were getting ready to go to Hogsmeade along with Albus, Minerva and Poppy. Severus had managed to get most of Alex’s presents by owl order but there were still a few that he needed to purchase in Hogsmeade. He wanted to get Alex the potions book that was the follow-up to the first one that Alex had received for his birthday. If he knew his son then he also knew that he would have to get all of the ingredients for at least the first three potions in the second book. 

All of them were well wrapped up against the cold and waited patiently at the entrance for Hagrid to arrive with the sleigh. As always, Jupiter accompanied Alex who clung tightly to Severus’ hand. Once Hagrid arrived, the group made its way swiftly across the snow in the sleigh, with Alex excitedly pointing things out. 

By the time that they made it to Hogsmeade it was mid-morning and the wizarding village was completely packed with shoppers. The group split up immediately with Albus and Severus moving off in one direction whilst Alex went off with Minerva and Poppy to buy presents for his daddy and grandpa Alby. They met up an hour later at the Hogsmeade branch of Honeyduke’s so that they could swap the groups around. In the time that had elapsed the village had become even busier and it was necessary for them to shove their way through the crowds. They were just passing the small branch of Dervish and Banges when there was a loud crack as a series of Filibuster fireworks were set off. One minute Alex was holding onto Severus’ hand and the next he had simply disappeared. Severus noticed his disappearance immediately couldn’t see his tiny raven-haired son anywhere. He panicked completely and utterly. Drawing his wand he uttered the charm that sent his panther patronus straight for Albus. Within minutes Albus, Minerva and Poppy were at his side wanting to know what the matter was.

“Severus? What’s happened?”

“Alex has disappeared. He was here one minute and then the next he was gone. Someone set off a load of Filibuster fireworks and I think he panicked. I noticed he was gone immediately but I can’t see him in the crowd anywhere.”

“He didn’t have a portkey on him did he? You hadn’t given him one as a safety precaution?”

Severus shook his head. “No, I considered it but he’s so obedient and he promised to stay close to me or if I wasn’t around then one of you three. The only thing I can think of is, well, do you think he could have apparated Albus?”

The older man stroked his beard. “I don’t know. It’s possible but the chances are incredibly small. For a child of Alex’s age to have magickal reserves that large to be able to apparate is incredibly rare. He’s done a lot of magick before hasn’t he?”

“Yes, but it’s only been small things. He’s changed my grandmother’s hair green, summoned toys and cookies and other food things but nothing major. Nothing like this. It is possible that he could have done it though; if he was scared enough?”

“Anything is possible Severus. If he was able to apparate, where would he have gone?” 

It was at this point that Minerva and Poppy reappeared, having disappeared to check around the village and ask people if they had seen Alex. “Have we got any more ideas?”

Albus turned to look at his wife. “We think that Alex may have apparated. We’re just trying to work out where he could have gone if he has apparated.”

Severus raked a hand through his hair, as he thought of places that his son could have gone to. “Well, all of my family live abroad and he wouldn’t have been able to apparate that far and everyone else that we know in the United Kingdom lives at Hogwarts. Except for Luc. He’s in Wiltshire. He’ll have gone to Malfoy Manor. Lucius and Narcissa are his godparents and Draco’s his closest friend other than Blaise. There’s also an apparition room that you can access if you’re keyed into the wards. Alex is. I’ve apparated there with him enough times that he would be able to picture it. Albus, I’ll see you later, I’m going to Wiltshire.”

Within seconds Severus had disappeared with a barely audible crack, the others presumed to the Malfoy Manor where they hoped that he would find his son.

***

Severus reappeared in the apparition room of Malfoy Manor and to his disappointment saw that the room was empty. He spun around as he heard the voice of Dorjan Malfoy, Lucius’ great-great grandfather.

“Your son is with his godmother Lord Snape. He arrived here not fifteen minutes ago. They are in the library.”

Severus bowed slightly. “My thanks Lord Dorjan.”

Severus then wasted no time and hurried through the door towards the library. He had barely entered the doors when something or rather someone slammed into his legs. He looked down to see Alex and quickly hoisted him up into his arms.

“Alex? Are you okay my raven?”

“Sorry daddy.” Came the muffled apology from Severus’ shoulder.

Severus walked over to and sat in one of the chairs, setting Alex onto his lap, having pried him away from his shoulder. 

“You don’t need to apologise for anything baby. It’s fine. You managed to get yourself to somewhere that was safe and I’ve managed to find you. Did you get scared by the fireworks?”

Alex nodded. “They were really loud and lots of people and I got scared. I’m sorry.”

“Don’t worry about it. We just need to get you back to Hogwarts so that we can reassure your grandparents and Aunty Poppy that you’re ok. Say goodbye to Draco now.”

As Alex went and chatted to the tiny blonde Malfoy heir Severus stood to speak with Narcissa.

“Severus, Alex apparated. He’s not even four yet and he apparated to here, from Hogsmeade I presume?”

Severus nodded. “I know, he got scared whilst we were shopping in Hogsmeade – someone set off some fireworks and that combined with the number of people scared him. He just panicked I think and this was the only place that he could get to or rather, the only place where he could get past the wards.”

Narcissa nodded but still looked concerned. “It still raises problems Sev. You’re not going to be able to keep his levels of power hidden for long. Especially when he’s tested.”

Severus smiled ruefully. “I know, but for the moment I’m just going to concentrate on the present.” He looked down as Alex leant against his legs. “We’ll see you on Twelfth Night Cissa. Give my regards to Lucius. Happy Christmas Draco,” he called to his godson and then made his way back to the apparition room holding tightly to Alex’s hand.

***

When they had returned to Hogwarts from the Malfoy’s, everyone they had been delighted to see Alex safe and well although they knew that they were going to have to address the issue that Alex, at the age of three and a half, had been able to apparate. Rather than have it spoil their Christmas, they decided that they would discuss it after the festive period.

The previous night, on Christmas Eve, they had spent the evening in a very similar manner to the previous year. Once again, Alex was allowed to open one present which consisted of yet another pair of footed pyjamas. He had outgrown the fashion slightly and whilst in Italy during the summer years he wore normal un-footed pyjamas but when he was at Hogwarts and even at the villa during the winter season he wore the footed pyjamas that he loved so much. This year’s pyjamas were red and green and covered in stars. When Alex started yawning Severus carried him upstairs to the Headmaster’s tower and put him to bed before reading him ‘The Night Before Christmas’ once more. 

With Alex in bed Severus unearthed the bag of presents from his luggage and restored it to its original size before levitating the stack of presents to their place underneath the fir tree that dominated Albus’ office. The presents that he had placed there were primarily from the Malfoy’s, Severus’ grandparents and Severus himself. They joined the presents already placed there by Albus and Minerva and Poppy.

Satisfied that everything was in place and ready for the following day Severus went to bed, knowing that in all probability that he would be woken up extremely early by an overly excited child.

He wasn’t wrong. He was woken up by something tugging on his blankets at 7am on Christmas morning. He blearily tried to focus his eyes and saw Alex climbing onto the bed using the blankets as a climbing apparatus. 

“Alex? What’s the matter?”

“It’s Christmas daddy! Time for presents!”

“Tempus.” Severus groaned almost silently. “It’s only 7am baby. The presents will still be there a bit later.”

“Daddy! Please! Grandpa’s got coffee…..”

“Imp. Ok, go down to grandpa’s study but be careful. I’ll be there in a moment when I’ve got my robe on.”

Within half an hour Severus was downstairs and taking the coffee that was being held out to him. Like the previous year Alex had a huge amount of presents but to Severus’ gratification Alex was just as grateful for the small relatively inexpensive presents as he was for the large expensive ones. As with his birthday, his favourite presents were the follow-up to ‘My First Potions Book’ and the necessary ingredients to make the first three potions. It was a close-run thing but Severus eventually managed to persuade Alex that the potions labs would still be there the following day to make several of the potions in his new book as well as the ingredients before they went and joined the remaining students in the Great Hall for Christmas dinner.

***

All too soon their time at Hogwarts was coming to an end and, the same day that the students returned to Hogwarts on the Express, Severus and Alex left for Malfoy Manor. The three Malfoy’s had spent the Christmas period alone although Severus knew that they had been to the Ministry ball due to Lucius’ standing within the Ministry. He was just thankful that whilst he himself was a Lord like Lucius but not such as politically minded. He was looking forward to spending several days with Lucius being able to talk politics, potions, dark arts and families. He also knew that Alex was looking forward to spending several days with Draco.

***

Three days after their return to Italy from Wiltshire it was Severus’ twenty-sixth birthday. He had managed to persuade his grandparents that he didn’t want a big fuss made and to his relief his family had agreed to that. Leaving Malfoy Manor, he had had several presents pressed into his hands from Lucius and Narcissa as well as one from Draco. He came downstairs to be greeted by an excited Alex and his grandparents.

As soon as his daddy was sat down with a mug of coffee Alex scrambled up into his lap and hugged his neck. “Happy birthday daddy!”

“Thank you my raven.” Severus mumbled, never fully awake until he’d had at least one mug of coffee.

He opened the presents from his grandparents and from the Malfoy’s to reveal several rare tomes based on the Dark Arts and Potions as well as some potions ingredients. He immediately started looking avidly through the potions book mentally working out which potions he could make that morning. To his annoyance, he realised that the ones he wanted to make required several ingredients that he knew he had run out of before Christmas. He looked up as he heard laughter from the opposite side of the table and then looked down at Alex. The child was holding out another messily wrapped present; one that could only have been wrapped by a child.

“Open mine now daddy.”

Severus thanked his son and started to unwrap the present. He carefully peeled apart the paper and stared in shock at what was revealed. Lying inside the paper were the carefully wrapped ingredients that he needed to make the potions that he wanted to create.

“Alex! Thank you little one. How did you know I needed these ingredients?”

Alex smiled delightedly. “’Cos I’m special.”

Severus couldn’t help but laugh as he pressed a kiss to the delighted boy’s forehead. “Yes you are. You’re very special.”

Alex slid off Severus’ lap and pulled at his hand, trying to get him to stand up and move out of the kitchen. 

“Where are we going Alex? What’s the rush?”

“Gonna make potions.”

“We’re going to make potions? Both of us?”

Alex shook his head, finally managing to get Severus to stand up. “You make potions, I’ll watch and help.”

Severus gave up his arguments at that point and let Alex drag him out of the kitchen and down to his potions lab. As normal, he was going to be spending his birthday brewing potions but he was going to be spending it, for the first time, brewing potions with his son, someone who was just as eager about brewing as he was. He couldn’t help the silly grin that spread across his face at the thought.

Albus Dumbledore looked up in surprise one morning towards the end of the summer term to see a pure black raven winging its way towards him along with the rest of the birds delivering the breakfast mail. While it was not unusual for him to receive mail from this particular bird, it was Severus’ raven Mercury, he was not expecting any news from Italy for several days. Minerva leaned over from where she sat on his right hand side

“A letter from Severus? We only heard from him a few days ago. I hope nothing’s wrong.”

Albus patted her hand in reassurance “I’m sure nothing is wrong. If it was anything serious or highly important Severus would have floo-called or used one of the two-way mirrors. I’ll read it after we’ve finished breakfast.”

As soon as breakfast was finished Albus swept out of the Great Hall with Minerva hot on his heels. As soon as they were up the stairs leading to his office Albus was breaking the seal on the letter and unrolling it

Dear Albus,

I apologise if this missive caused any concern for you or Minerva. There is truly nothing to worry about but I need to beg a favour of you. You are probably unaware but the Potions Guild conference starts in a fortnight in Madrid, and much like two years ago they have requested that I present a paper on the modifications that I’ve made to the Wolfsbane. Unfortunately, it’s the busiest time at the estate for my grandparents and I was wondering whether you and Minerva would be able to take care of Alex for the duration. As it is the end of term I fully understand that if you feel unable to do so but I’m sure that Alex would love to spend some time with you. I’ve instructed Mercury to wait for a reply.

Severus

Albus knew that he didn’t even have to discuss the request with Minerva. The witch had already disappeared to tell Poppy, murmuring excitedly about what they could do and how they could take him to Hogsmeade. Shaking his head slightly Albus drew a piece of parchment towards him and quickly penned a reply to Severus stating that they would happily look after Alex and even though it was the end of term Poppy would be able to look after him. he swiftly attached the scroll to Mercury’s talons and then turned his attention to the sizeable pile of correspondence he had received that morning.

Once again his defence professor, an auror by the name of Paul Wintergreen, had tendered his resigned. In addition, his muggle studies professor had left to have a baby and a rising number of complaints about the standard of teaching of History of Magick had led to him advertising for a new teaching post for OWL and NEWT level History of Magick. Of course, this had offended Professor Binns so much that he had walked, or rather floated, out leaving the new professor responsible for all seven years. 

Most of the correspondence Albus was receiving at the moment were job applications and many of them could be discarded without a second thought. He was half-way through the pile before he stopped in shock. There, on his desk, were applications from two people he had never expected to hear from; Lily Potter nee Evans and Remus Lupin. Remus Lupin, Hogwarts resident werewolf for seven years, along with his two best friends James Potter and Sirius Black, now both aurors at the ministry, had succeeded in making Severus’ life at Hogwarts miserable. Remus had been working deep in the heart of the werewolf community for the last three and a half years on behalf of the ministry, negotiating in an attempt to improve relations. Now that the negotiations had ground to a halt, he was looking for gainful employment, being unable to hold any other position at the ministry due to his status as a werewolf. Lily Potter, on the other hand, was simply a bored young house-wife with two children under the age of five who had enjoyed all the tutoring she had done whilst a student herself. Reluctantly, yet knowing they were some of the few suitable applicants he penned notes to them both asking them to come for interview at Hogwarts in a months time.

***

Two weeks later….

Severus sighed in exasperation as Alex ran and hid once more. The nearly four year old had been doing this for nearly two hours now and Severus was desperately close to losing his temper. Normally a sweet, tractable child, when it was announced that Severus would be attending the Potions Guild conference in Madrid whilst Alex went to stay with Grandpa Albus and Grandma Minerva at Hogwarts, the child that was normally Severus’ little angel had transformed into the spawn of the devil. He had refused to get dressed, refused to eat breakfast and then promptly run and hid. Severus gave along suffering sigh and resorted to Slytherin tactics. He pointed his wand at himself and murmured an invisibility charm. That done he placed his wand on his palm and whispered the ‘point me’ spell. The wand swung slowly and he followed its direction until he was stood in front of the wardrobe in his bedroom. Slowly he pulled open the door and, sure enough, there was Alex curled up in a ball wrapped in one of Severus’ robes with tell-tale silvery tear tracks on his face. Severus’ heart sank and he quickly muttered the counter to the invisibility charm before he reached into the wardrobe and picked up Alex. The child struggled furiously for several minutes before he gave up and just hung limply in Severus’ embrace. Severus walked over to the armchair in front of his fireplace and sat Alex in his lap, his heart breaking as he saw fresh tears making their way down slightly chubby cheeks.

“Now then Alex, are you going to tell me what’s the matter?”

Alex shook his head stubbornly “Nothings the matter”

“Now that’s not true is it little one. Something has to be the matter. This behaviour isn’t like my little raven, you never behave like this. Why don’t you tell daddy what the problem is and I’ll do my best to sort it out.”

“You’re leaving me!” Alex wailed, starting to struggle anew. 

Severus’ heart turned to ice as his son’s words sank in finally and almost dropped the boy in shock. He had thought that Alex was having no problems whatsoever with abandonment issues but then he supposed that he had never left Alex, even for an evening. Even when Alex had spent the odd evening away from the estate, Severus had spent the evening as well. Now, Alex was facing a fortnight away from his father even though he would be staying with his grandparents.

“Alex, I’m not leaving you. You’re simply going on holiday for a couple of weeks. You’re going to Hogwarts, you like spending time there with Grandpa Albus, Grandma Minnie and Aunty Poppy. I’ll be there to pick you up at the end of the holiday, I promise.”

Alex’s face had cleared slightly but he was still pouting with frown lines etched into his forehead. “I still can’t talk to you for two weeks. You’ve never left me before” he said piteously

“I know I’ve never left you before but I’m not leaving you with strangers or leaving you permanently. I tell you what, Grandpa Albus gave me a special mirror a few years ago that means he and I can talk to each other through the mirrors. How about, I take my mirror with me to Madrid and then every night I can call you on Grandpa Albus’ mirror and read you a story and say goodnight. How does that sound?”

Alex’s brow furrowed even more as he considered his fathers offer. Several minutes later he looked up at Severus and nodded “’kay. But only if you promise to talk to me every day. Promise?” his eyes looked up beseechingly at Severus.

“I promise. I’ll talk to you everyday. I’m not used to being without you either. I’m going to miss you.”

At his fathers last few words Alex’s face lit up in a huge grin “Gonna miss you too. Love you daddy.”

Severus smiled “I love you too Alex. Now, will you get dressed and pack some toys so that we can floo to Hogwarts? I have to be in Madrid tonight and I’ve got to come back and get myself ready when I’ve dropped you off at Hogwarts.”

As soon as Severus finished speaking, Alex jumped off his lap and went to get dressed and find his favourite books, the ever present Blackie and, of course, Jupiter. Just over thirty minutes later Alex was ready to go with his favourite books and blanket in his little bag along with Blackie whilst Severus held a bag containing enough clothes for the fortnight. Alex said goodbye to his grandparents and scooped Jupiter into his arms. Severus had to admit he was proud of his acquisition and was starting to become suspicious that there was more than a little creature blood running through the kittens veins. The little black cat had taken to Alex like a duck to water and followed him everywhere, more than a little protective of his young master. Severus wrapped an arm around Alex’s shoulders feeling hands tangle in his shirt and he flung the floo powder into the fireplace before stepping in and shouting

“Headmaster’s office, Hogwarts, ‘lemon drops’”

After several minutes of spinning through the floo system they arrived at the grate they needed and stepped through into the headmaster’s office where Albus, Minerva and Poppy were waiting for them. Alex was immediately swept off by Minerva and Poppy leaving Severus to talk to Albus.

“Thank you for doing this Albus. I really appreciate this, I know its not easy for you with it being the end of term.”

“I’ve told you Severus, it’s a pleasure. Alex is no trouble and Poppy will look after him when Minerva and I can’t. You just go and do us proud at that conference of yours. You’re becoming quite famous now. Am I going to have to look for a new potions master as well for next year?”

Severus laughed “No Albus, you don’t need to look for a new potions master. I will be here to take up the position come September. I’ll start thinking of curriculums when I get back from Madrid. I’ll have most of the summer to think about it.”

Albus clapped his hands in delight “That’s wonderful dear boy. Horace will be so pleased he can go back into retirement. You’ll also be taking over the head of house duties for Slytherin as well. Is that acceptable?”

“It’s an honour sir. As long as I have more than enough time for Alex that’s fine. Now, is there anything else you need?”

“Nothing I need per se but something I feel I should probably warn you of. As you know, I’m in need of a new Muggle Studies professor and a new History of Magick professor. I haven’t had many applications worth considering but there have been two; Remus Lupin and Lily Potter. I’m sorry Severus, I don’t like it anymore than you do but I have to interview them and in all likelihood I’m going to have to offer them the jobs. As much as I hate what they did to Alex he has a new life with you and he’s safe. I’m afraid I’m still the Headmaster of Hogwarts and I have to do what’s best for the school.”

Severus sighed “I might not like it Albus but I do understand. Now, before I say goodbye to Alex I nearly forgot something. We ran into a slight problem this morning. Alex thought I was abandoning him by bringing him to Hogwarts. The only way I could persuade him to come was by promising to talk to him every night using the two-way mirrors to read him a story and say goodnight. So, if you could make sure its on hand each night I’d be very grateful. Now, I need to say goodbye to Alex and get going. Thank you for everything Albus.”

“Its no bother my dear boy. Alex, come over here and say goodbye to Daddy and then we’re going to go and have lunch in the Great Hall with the other students.”

Alex slipped out of Poppy’s lap and threw himself at Severus, who only just managed to catch him. Whilst Alex had grown considerably and put on weight he had taken after Severus and was small and fairly light so Severus could still pick him up and carry him around. Alex buried his face in Severus’ shoulder and wrapped his arms around Severus’ neck so tightly that Severus started to struggle for breath. 

“Hey, shush, its fine. I’ve told you, you’re just here for a little holiday. I’m going to be back in a fortnight and I’ll talk to you everyday. I’m not leaving you Alex.”

“Promise”

“I promise Alex” Severus said solemnly

“’kay. I love you daddy.”

“I love you too my raven.” With that Severus pressed a kiss to Alex’s forehead, handed him to Albus and then stepped into the floo as quickly as possible. He knew that if he didn’t leave immediately, he wouldn’t be able to.

As soon as Severus had disappeared from the fireplace Albus walked downstairs with Alex held safely in his arms, Minerva and Poppy trailing behind. With it being so close to the end of term and being right at the end of the exam period there weren’t very many children eating lunch to stare at Alex. Instead, Alex quite happily sat in the chair that Minerva transfigured for him and ate whatever food was placed in front of him, staring in fascination at the few students also eating.

At the same time that Alex was eating his lunch in the Hogwarts Great Hall Severus was ensconced in his potions laboratory packing his notes and journals for his trip to the Potions Masters Guild conference in Madrid. Despite having a son under the age of five Severus had still managed to devote a substantial amount of time to research. As a result he had made significant modifications to the Wolfsbane potion that was created by Damocles Belby. In the year prior to adopting Alex Severus had spent a lot of time researching his modifications and had been very close to success and achieving a patent. However, the adoption of Alex had put the final tests back and it was only in the last six months that the final tests had been completed successfully and patented, in its modified form, under Severus’ name. The Wolfsbane potion, as created by Damocles Belby, was difficult enough that approximately half of potions master could make it. The Wolfsbane potion, as modified by Severus Snape, was even more complex and not even half of the potion masters guild could replicate it. As a result these modifications would make Severus incredibly rich when combined with the profits of his other patents and creations.

Walking inside and up to his room he started packing his clothes and as he did so the thought hit him how quiet the house was. His grandparents were out dealing with picking the harvest as the summer was one of the busiest times at the villa. The silence was compounded by Alex’s absence. Whilst not the noisiest four year old in the world Alex was certainly not the shy, quiet toddler that Severus had adopted nearly two years ago. Severus had got used to the childish chatter that followed him around everyday. He had to admit he was going to miss Alex as much as Alex said he was going to miss his daddy. However, he would deny it if anyone asked. With his clothes packed as well as the necessary bits of academic material he walked downstairs and pulled out the international portkey he’d been sent for Madrid.

Later that evening at Hogwarts Albus pulled out his two-way mirror before he entered a room that belonged to Alex and Severus when they stayed at Hogwarts. Alex had tired himself out trailing Hagrid around the grounds for the afternoon, Jupiter trailing Alex around keeping a protective eye on his master. After a dinner with Poppy in her office in the hospital wing so as to avoid all of the students in the Great Hall he took a bath and got dressed in his pyjamas before he crawled into bed clutching Blackie. Alex sat up straighter as Albus entered the room holding the mirror.

“Grandpa Alby is that it? The mirror?”

Albus nodded “Yes, this is the mirror. Are you already to go to bed when you’ve spoken to your daddy?”

Alex nodded and then reached his hands out eagerly and took the mirror from his grandpa. As soon as the mirror was in Alex’s hand the surface flared to life and Alex squealed in delight

“Daddy!”

Severus smiled “Hello my raven, are you being a good boy for Grandpa Albus and Grandma Minerva?”

Alex nodded enthusiastically “Yes daddy. ‘m being good.”

“Ok then, what have you done this afternoon?” Even though he had just asked a question Severus didn’t really listen to his son talk, merely catching the words “Hagrid” and “Jupiter”. He was more concerned with the animation vividly etched on the young face. Alex looked perfectly content at being left with his grandparents and honourary aunt. He was jolted back from his thoughts as he heard Alex calling out to him repeatedly and he shook his head slightly

“I’m sorry Alex, I’m a bit tired. Now, are you all tucked up and ready for your bedtime story? Ok, here we go….”

Twenty minutes later Severus cancelled the spell on the mirror and placed it on the bedside table of his hotel room. He had just enough time to shower and change before he had to attend the welcoming dinner.

***

Two weeks later the day had arrived when Remus Lupin and Lily Potter would be arriving at Hogwarts for their interviews. The school term had officially ended several days ago and Alex had been swamped under the attention of the entire teaching staff and had revelled in the attention. With the exception of his grandparents, his Aunty Poppy and Hagrid he especially loved Professor Flitwick and Professor Hooch. Severus had kept his promise of talking to Alex every night and the child looked forward to it avidly. The last two days had been spent with Rolanda Hooch, the quidditch referee and flying coach, being flown around the grounds at a slow speed just a few feet from the ground. He’d also spent a large amount of time in the dungeons with Horace Slughorn, the retiring Potions Master and head of Slytherin house. The large walrus-like man scared him slightly and reminded him of someone he couldn’t really remember but his daddy and Grandpa Alby had promised he was safe and he believed them. Besides, since he got his miniature cauldron and potions kit for his last birthday, he had been fascinated by the subject and he loved helping his daddy at home.

When he woke up that morning Alex bounded down the stairs into his grandpa’s office to see his grandpa sat at his desk looking very serious whilst reading a letter and wearing Alex’s favourite purple moon and stars robes.

“Mornin’ grandpa” he chirped as he clambered up the chair to sit in Albus’ lap.

“Good morning childing. You look very smart today. Are they the robes Aunty Poppy bought you the other day?”

“Yes. Look grandpa, they have stars an’ dragons on them. What’s your letter bout?”

“Do you remember me saying that I had to speak to some people today about working here at Hogwarts? Well, they’re bringing their children with them. They have a son called Marcus who’s the same age as you and a little girl called Rose who’s a year younger than you. They’ll be here in a couple of hours so why don’t we go down for breakfast?”

Alex nodded his agreement and obediently took hold of Albus’ hand to walk down to the Great Hall. Depositing Alex with Minerva to eat his breakfast he made his way down the staff table where Poppy was seated.

“Poppy, I need a favour. You know I’m interviewing Remus Lupin and Lily Potter today along with Minerva? I’ve had a letter from them and for some reason James and Sirius are coming as well as the children. Now, I don’t really want Alex left alone with them and neither would Severus so would you mind staying with him today? Just until Severus returns?”

Poppy nodded “I’ll do my best Albus but I won’t be able to guarantee anything, you know that”

“I know Poppy but it will be inevitable that they meet at lunch and Sirius and James will be unstoppable. They may be adults now but they’ll pester Alex horribly”

“I’ll do my best Albus.” Poppy leaned down the table “Shall we go down to Hogsmeade this morning Alex? We can go and see if that new collection of Fairy Tales you wanted has arrived and collect that book we ordered for your daddy.”

“If you’re going to Hogsmeade could you possibly pop into Honeydukes and pick me up some lemon drops for me?”

“’kay Grandpa. Aunty Poppy, can we go now?”

“Of course Alex, just let me get my cloak and then we’ll go. Do you want to find Jupiter or leave him here?”

Fifteen minutes later as Poppy and Alex took the path to Hogsmeade, Remus Lupin and Lily Potter arrived at the main gates accompanied by Sirius Black, James Potter and the two children Marcus and Rose. Whilst Remus and Lily made their way up to the headmaster’s office James and Sirius remained on the grounds with the two children.

As they reached the guardian gargoyle both Albus and Minerva were there to greet them.

“Ah, Mr Lupin, Mrs Potter, thank you for coming in today. Your letter led me to believe that you were bringing your husband and children with you today Mrs Potter?”

“Please Headmaster, call me Lily. Yes I did bring my family – James and the children are outside with Sirius. They preferred to stay outside in the sunshine.”

“Indeed. Mr Lupin, how are you? Returned from the lycan communities intact?”

“Yes Headmaster. I have to say I’m very grateful for you giving me an interview.”

“Not at all my dear boy. Please take a seat. We’re having quite a problematic year this year with teachers. We’ve just lost Professor Stonehouse and Professor Binns. Professor Blackthorne has agreed to return for a year and Severus is returned to replace Professor Slughorn.”

Remus and Lily exchanged glances before Remus spoke “Severus? As in Severus Snape? He’s a professor?”

“Yes, that’s right, Severus Snape. He’s returning after a two year sabbatical to take up the dual position of Potions Master and Head of Slytherin House. Now, if we could get down to business” and with that they continued with the important parts of the interview.

***

An hour later Poppy and Alex had completed their errands in Hogsmeade and were making their way back to Hogwarts in time for lunch.

“Aunty Poppy? Will daddy like his book?”

“I’m sure he’ll love it Alex and the chocolate as well. You’ll find out later thought, he’s due back today.”

“I know, I’ve missed him.” At the this point they entered the school grounds and spotted Hagrid down by the lake. “Hagrid!” Alex yelled excitedly and turned pleading puppy-dog eyes on Poppy

As always, she caved incredibly quickly as she always did, she even caved with Severus “Oh go on then, be careful and I’ll catch you up.” She then looked on indulgently as Alex hared off, Jupiter hot on his heels. 

Alex was so intent on reaching Hagrid that he failed to notice the three Potters and Sirius Black sat on the grounds although Poppy couldn’t fail to notice them as they stopped and stared at Alex. Whilst Alex chattered away to Hagrid about their morning in Hogsmeade Poppy drew up to the two wizards and children 

“Mr Black, Mr Potter, what brings you two miscreants to Hogwarts?”

“Madam Pomfrey! Erm, we’re here because Remy and Lils have interviews this morning and someone needed to look after the kids. Have you met the children? This is Marcus and this is Rose. Kids say hi to Madam Pomfrey” James was trying to be confident but ended up toeing the ground in embarrassment as his children simply ignored the medi-witch.

Seeing his friends embarrassment Sirius spoke up quickly “Madam Pomfrey, who’s the kid? I didn’t any of the professors had children?”

“He’s visiting the castle for a few days. You said Mr Lupin and Mrs Potter are being interviewed by Albus? Which positions are they applying for?”

“Erm, Remy’s applying for History of Magick and Lils for Muggle Studies. The kids are certainly excited about the possibility of living at Hogwarts.” Sirius looked down as his robe sleeves were tugged “Yes Marcus?”

“Who’s that Uncle Siri?”

“I don’t know who it is Marc, why don’t you go and ask him?”

“Can I dad?” Marcus failed to wait for a response before making his way over to Alex

“I’m Marcus. Who are you?” he demanded arrogantly

Alex didn’t like this boy, he was rude. He wanted his daddy and he missed his friends Draco and Blaise.

“Tell me who you are. ‘m the boy-who-lived!” Marcus demanded whilst stamping his foot petulantly.

Alex simply ignored him for the next thirty minutes whilst Poppy proceeded to do the same with Sirius and James until Remus and Lily appeared at the castle doors. As they walked down Poppy walked over and took Alex by the hand

“Come on little one, shall we go and see Grandma and Grandpa? You can show them your new book.”

Obediently Alex took the outstretched hand and they moved back up to the castle, ignoring the assembled party of Potters and friends.

“James, who was that?” Lily asked as she stared curiously after the little boy that looked strangely familiar.

“We don’t know Lils. Madame Pomfrey wouldn’t tell us and the kid wouldn’t talk to Marcus – just ignored him.”

“In that case then he’s not worth knowing. Although I wonder why he’s here with it being the holidays.”

“Pomfrey, the old witch, wouldn’t tell us” Sirius said bitterly “And she called us miscreants. From what she said I think he’s the grandson of one of the professors. So, how was the interview?”

It was Remus who spoke finally “It was surprisingly easy actually. It was just Headmaster Dumbledore and Professor McGonagall rather than the Board of Governors. The Headmaster told us something interesting actually..” Before Remus could continue talking a house-elf appeared in front of them.

“Gentleman and ladies, Headmaster wishes Missy to tell sirs and misses that lunch is served. You follow Missy please.”

Exchanging amused glances at the house-elf’s behaviour they followed it up to the Great Hall where, upon entering, they saw the young boy from earlier sat to the left of the headmaster with Poppy Pomfrey to the left of the child. Walking swiftly in they took their places in the empty seats to the right of Professor McGonagall who sat, as always, at the Headmaster’s right. Whilst Lily served the children, giving into their selfish demands and indulging their every whim all the time, she motioned to the males to keep silent so that she could listen to the headmaster’s conversation with the child.

“Did you have a nice morning in Hogsmeade with Aunty Poppy childing? Did you get the book you wanted for your daddy?”

“Yes grandpa ‘n we got you some lemon drops.”

“Thank you for that”

“Grandpa?”

“Yes child?”

“When’s daddy coming home?”

Albus’ response was delayed when Sirius jumped into the conversation, unable to hold his tongue any longer

“Headmaster, just who does the bloody brat belong to?”

“I’d be careful just who you call a bloody brat Black, it could land you in hot water” came a familiar silky yet deadly voice from the doors of the Great Hall.

With Sirius’ crass comment no-one had heard the doors open to reveal a familiar figure, or at least a familiar figure to most of the attendees. Severus stood there dressed in black breeches, dragon-hide boots and an open-necked white shirt under light-weight summer robes in deep forest green and with his non-greasy hair half pulled back from his face. Alex couldn’t help himself and slid from his seat, running across the hall to fling himself at Severus as soon as he was in range with a cry of “Daddy!”

Dumbly, his mouth hanging open unattractively, Sirius poked first James and then Remus before he spoke “Moony, Prongs, are you seeing what I’m seeing?”

James nodded weakly before he gulped loudly “Paddy, Snivellus procreated”

For his part, having caught the child, Severus swung him around in the air before hugging him close and pressing a kiss into the still baby-soft hair “Hey baby, have you had a nice time with Grandpa Albus and Grandma Minerva?”

As she watched and listened Lily Potter felt a pang of jealousy shoot through her, knowing that her own children would never let her do that. She wasn’t even sure that she could still lift either of them, especially Marcus. With that in mind she turned her attention back to the black-haired father and son

“Yes daddy but I missed you ‘n want to go home”

“I missed you too my little raven. Now, seeing as I’m here in time for lunch why don’t we sit down and you can tell me what you’ve been up to, then we can get you packed and go home in time for your birthday.”

As he’d been speaking Severus had been walking over to the table, his son balanced on his hip leaving no question as to the child’s parentage.

The Marauders were amazed at what they were seeing – a smiling, non-greasy Severus Snape who had a son. Alex refused to let go of his father for even one moment resulting in him getting slightly crushed by the enthusiastic greetings Severus received from Albus and Minerva.

Severus nodded his head towards the Potters and the Marauders “Black, Lupin, Potter, Evans” – it was the only civility he would allow himself before sitting in the seat directly to the left of Albus with Alex on his knee.

He fixed one rather large plate for the two of them and they both picked at it whilst Severus and Alex told each other of their activities over the last fortnight. The Potters, Sirius and Remus just stared in shock; unable to reconcile the now conflicting images of Severus Snape that they now possessed – the one from their time at Hogwarts and the one they were now seeing. Once they had finished eating Severus stood, lifting Alex onto his hip. He walked round the staff table before he spoke

“Say goodbye to Grandma and Grandpa Alex” before he directed his speech to Albus “We’ll see you towards the end of the week then? You are still coming aren’t you?”

“Of course we’re still coming child. We wouldn’t miss our grandson’s birthday for anything. We wouldn’t miss our grandson’s birthday for anything. We should be there either late on Thursday or Friday morning. Tell your grandfather to dust off his chess set – I intend to beat him this time.”

“Albus, you haven’t beaten my grandfather at chess once in the last two years, what makes you think you will now?”

“Grandpa said Gran’pa Alby was an ‘ternal op’mist” Alex piped up

“An eternal optimist? Yes he is that my raven. Now, wave goodbye and let’s go pack your things.”

“Can give you your present?”

“You got me a present? Let’s go then.” With that Severus turned and swept out of the room with his ever present grace, still managing to remain intimidating even without his typical glare and voluminous black robes and with a child on his hip. He was barely out of the room before Sirius piped up.

“The kid belongs to Snivellus? Who’d sleep with him voluntarily and then keep the child?” As soon as he finished speaking Sirius burst into a barking laugh reminiscent of his animagus form, swiftly followed by James Potter.

As he listened to Sirius talk the twinkle in Albus’ eye diminished steadily until it disappeared completely only to be replaced by a flash of anger, 

“Have a care as to how you speak of my son Sirius Black. I put up with your childish insults towards Severus when you were still a student hoping you would mature. It would appear that you have not, therefore I would ask that you refrain from talking about him at all.”

Sirius opened his mouth to speak but shut it again as Lily placed a warning hand on his arm. As he met her gaze he read that she would speak and in a more diplomatic method.

“Headmaster, did you just refer to Snape as your son? I didn’t realise he was related to you?”

“Severus isn’t related to me Mrs Potter but the strongest bonds are not always those that are formed by blood. Sometimes they are those formed by love and trust. As such, both Minerva and I consider Severus to be our son and therefore Alex our grandson.”

“Alex seems to be a sweet child. How old is he? I believe Severus mentioned that it was going to be his birthday at the end of the week?”

“That’s right, he will be four on Saturday which reminds me, Minerva, we need to go to Diagon Alley to buy him some presents. Have you got that list we wrote of ideas for them?”

“Yes I have the list Albus, but you know what Severus said after Alex’s second birthday – you’re not going to buy him all the presents on that list. Severus doesn’t want him to become spoilt”, the ‘not like some children we know’ remained unsaid but firmly directed towards the Potters

“Did Severus tell you what Antonio and Lucrezia were getting Alex? We don’t want to get him the same thing.”

“I believe Severus said they were giving him the foal of Severus’ stallion. Apparently Severus learnt to ride when he turns four and he wants to teach Alex.”

The two of them were now completely wrapped up in thoughts of Severus and Alex as they made their way out of the Great Hall. Remembering their guests almost as an afterthought Albus turned around and smiled

“By the way, congratulations Professor Lupin, Professor Potter and welcome to the staff of Hogwarts. I shall be in touch regarding your contracts later in the summer. The house-elves will inform you as to which fireplace you can use to floo home. Goodbye.”

“Yes Headmaster. Thank you very much. Goodbye Headmaster, professor.”

The Headmaster and Professor McGonagall were barely out of the Great Hall before Marcus turned to his parents and piped up “Mum, you said the headmaster would come to my birthday party but he’s going to that boys.”

“I’m sorry sweetie but that boy, Alex, is the headmaster’s grandson and so he’s going to go there as we’re not actually related to the headmaster”, here Lily ignored Sirius’ muttered aside that “neither is Snivellus” and continued talking, “but I’m sure you’ll have a lovely time with your friends. Neville and Susan are coming as are the Weasley’s. Besides, don’t be too nasty to Alex –you’ll start Hogwarts at the same time as each other.”

“Yeah but Lils, Marc’s going to be in Gryffindor like us, Siri and Rem. I bet you anything the baby Snape will be a slimy Slytherin just like Snivellus.”

“I’m sure he will be in Slytherin like Snape Jamie, but what you’ve got to remember is that both Remus and I now work here and so does Snape. If we want to remain in the Headmaster’s favour we have to be nice to Snape.”

James and Sirius both looked mutinous but agreed to be on their best behaviour albeit reluctantly. It was almost a minute later that they processed what Lily had just said

“Lils, did you just say that Snivellus is teaching here? At Hogwarts?”

“Yes, he started teaching here three years ago. From what I was told he completed his potions mastery just over eighteen months after we graduated. He’s had the last two years off to look after his son but he’s back this year and he’s Head of Slytherin House as well as the Potions Master.”

As Lily had been talking they had followed a house-elf into one of the ante-chambers so that they could floo home.

“But Lils, how come he’s….”

“Sirius, shush. We’ll talk about this when we get back to the Manor. James, pick up your son and follow me.” With that Lily threw a handful of floo powder into the fireplace and yelling “Potter Manor”, stepped into the bright green flames, followed by her son and a trio of suitably chastened men.

At the same time that James, Sirius and, to a lesser extent, Remus arrived at the Potter Manor to be faced by an irate Lily Evans-Potter, Professor Minerva McGonagall was being dragged into Drosselmeyer’s, the toyshop in Diagon Alley, by an incredibly hyper Hogwarts Headmaster.

“Albus, the toyshop is not going to disappear if you slow down. Will you please slow down a little? Albus Dumbledore! Put that broomstick down now! You know perfectly well that Severus doesn’t want Alex flying until he’s five.”

“Well, what can we get him? Surely Severus wouldn’t mind too much if we gave Alex a broomstick?”

Minerva simply arched an eyebrow at him “Albus Dumbledore, are you serious enough to want to face the wrath of Severus? You know how cranky your son gets. Now, how about we get him some new art supplies and we could possibly get him a bicycle. I’m sure he’ll enjoy that.”

“Wonderful idea my dear. What would I do without you?” And with that he raced off to the section that housed the bicycles, leaving Minerva to browse through the art supplies.

Minutes later the peace was shattered by an almighty crash as a raised female voice with a distinct Scottish accent yelled two words,

“Albus Dumbledore!”

Following Alex’s mini holiday at Hogwarts and his fourth birthday Severus was highly aware of the fact that Alex needed to be submitted for his magick-testing examination. Both Blaise and Draco had already been tested, resulting in more than satisfactory results. Blaise, the oldest of the three boys had been tested in February just after his fourth birthday. Draco’s examination had been in June the day after his birthday and had produced results that were almost identical to what Lucius’ had been at the same age. That simply left Alex as the only one of the threesome still to be tested.

If Severus was completely honest with himself then he knew that he was putting it off. He knew that as soon as it was done and as soon as the Potter’s had Marcus tested then the peaceful life that he and Alex led would be over. In all probability, the Potter’s would discover that Marcus had not defeated Voldemort and would try to retrieve Alex in order to save face. Severus was grateful for one thing though. Poppy Pomfrey had agreed to conduct Alex’s exam and as she wasn’t employed by the Ministry there was no chance of the Ministry discovering the results. That was one thing that Severus was adamant about; that his son was not going to become a pawn at the hands of the wizarding world. He sighed heavily, knowing that the problem wouldn’t simply go away. He opened a drawer and drew out a sheet of parchment. Quickly, he penned a note, sealed it and attached it to Mercury’s leg telling him to take it to Poppy Pomfrey and to wait for a response.

To his relief, by that evening he had received a reply from Poppy stating that he could bring Alex to be tested the following day. He was also intrigued to know that Poppy had been approached by Lily and James who had asked her to test Marcus but she had refused out of loyalty to Severus.

The next morning Severus managed to get Alex up, dressed and fed before the child realised that something was going on.

“Daddy? Where are we going?”

“We’re going to Hogwarts to see Aunty Poppy, Alex.”

Alex’s head cocked to one side. “Why?”

Severus, for once, regretted how intelligent his son was. “Aunty Poppy just needs to run some tests baby. They’re nothing to worry about. Blaise and Draco have already had their tests and Uncle Lucius, Aunty Cissa and I had the same tests when we were your age. I promise it will all be okay.”

Alex still didn’t look completely happy. “No needles?”

Severus shook his head. “No. There aren’t any needles.”

“Okay.”

Severus raised an eyebrow. “Okay? Does this mean that we can go to Hogwarts and have these tests done?”

“Yes daddy. Can go.”

With that the two of them stepped into the fireplace as the flames turned green and Severus called out. “Hogwarts Infirmary.”

They reappeared in the infirmary to see that it was empty with the exception of Poppy.

“How’s my favourite little boy?” She cried, gathering Alex to her for a hug. “Did you have a lovely birthday?”

“Yes Aunty Poppy. Thank you for my present.”

“That’s alright sweetheart. Hello Severus. It’s just the three of us but Albus said that he’s in his office if we need him.” She held a hand out to Alex. “Are you ready for your tests sweetie? Come and sit down on this bed and we’ll get started.”

Alex took her hand and started to go with her before stopping and turning back to look at Severus.

“Daddy staying?”

Severus gave him a half smile. “Of course I’m staying raven. I’m not going anywhere.”

Satisfied that Severus was going to be staying Alex allowed Poppy to lead him over to a bed and sit on it. With Alex settled Poppy walked over to her office and returned with her wand, several sheets of parchment and a chocolate frog box.

“Now Alex, do you want your daddy to have the tests first? Just to show you that it’s not scary?”

“No. ‘m fine.”

Severus smiled proudly as Poppy patted Alex’s head. “Well done. You’re a very brave boy. All I’m going to do is cast a charm and then touch my wand to this piece of parchment. Then it will show you how much magick you’ve got.”

At this last sentence Alex bit his lip and started fidgeting slightly. Poppy turned to Severus confused, but Severus just shrugged and moved to sit next to Alex on the bed.

“Alex? What’s the matter baby? You know you can tell me anything.”

“What if I’ve got no magick?” The child mumbled.

“What if you’ve got no magick? I think I can assure you that that isn’t going to be a problem. Do you know what though? Even if you didn’t have any magick at all I would still love you and still be proud of you. Understand?”

“Promise daddy?”

“I promise. Now, are you going to let Aunty Poppy cast her charm?”

The child nodded and sat obediently whilst the witch drew a sigil in the air in front of Alex and said the necessary incantation before touching her wand to the parchment. As they waited for the results to show up on the parchment Poppy handed Alex the chocolate frog and smiled indulgently as Severus helped make sure that Alex didn’t smear chocolate all over his face. After five minutes the results were spread across the parchment and Poppy picked it up. The colour immediately drained from her face and Severus started to worry.

“Poppy?”

“If you’d just wait here with Alex for a moment and I’ll just go and get Albus. I’ll be back momentarily.”

Outwardly, Severus’ face showed nothing, but inside he was panicking. Why would Poppy need to go and fetch Albus unless something was wrong? To his relief Poppy was back within minutes accompanied by Albus and as soon as the headmaster was inside the infirmary she passed him the parchment. Severus watched as the older man’s eyebrows rose in surprise and hated the pleading tone in his voice as he spoke.

“Albus? What’s going on? Is something the matter?”

“Not at all child. Alex just has higher levels of magick than we expected. There is no doubt that it was Alex who defeated Voldemort that night rather than Marcus.”

“Just how high are his magick levels Albus?” Severus asked, cautiously holding out a hand for the parchment.

“Higher than your levels were but not by a ridiculous margin but then we expected him to test high following his demonstration of apparition at Christmas. It looks as though he will receive a large amount of his magick when he comes into his majority, perhaps even a bit earlier. He reminds me very much of my levels when I was his age.”

Severus was simply staring in shock at the parchment in his hand. His attention was drawn away from it as Alex wriggled into his lap.

“Daddy okay?”

“Yes, Daddy’s fine. You did very well this morning baby. Your magick levels are very high and I’m very proud of you.”

He looked up as Albus’ hand descended on his shoulder. “Well said dear boy. Now, if I may make a suggestion, you should take your son home and enjoy the last few weeks of Italian sunshine and I will see you back here with lesson plans ready to start the new term.”

Severus nodded and stood up, taking Alex’s hand as he did so.

“Thank you Albus, thank you Poppy. Come on raven, let’s go home. We’ll see you in a few weeks.”

One month later…..

Alex sat on Severus’ knee as the Great Hall steadily filled with the returning students. The upper school students that had been taught by Severus prior to him adopting Alex were all pointing and chattering excitedly. Severus had taken a seat next to the headmaster that allowed him a clear view of his Slytherins whilst being as far away as possible from Remus Lupin and Lily Potter. He listened to Alex who was chattering happily and pointing things out. He motioned to Alex to be silent as Professor McGonagall entered with the new first year students. Alex watched in curiosity as the fifty or so new students were led into the hall all looking absolutely and utterly petrified. He looked even more curious as Grandma Minnie produced a strange three-legged stool and a raggedy old hat.

He craned his neck so that he could Severus’ face. “Daddy? Wha’s….”

Severus shushed his son, trying not to smile. “Shush raven, just listen.”

With that the hat’s brim opened and it started to sing. By the end of the song Alex’s eyes were like golf-balls and he was so incredulous that he couldn’t speak. He watched as Grandma Minnie pulled a long scroll out and unrolled it before talking.

“When I call your name, you will put on the hat and sit on the stool to be sorted.”

She then proceeded to reel off the names of all of the new students in alphabetical order allowing them to be sorted. By the time she had reached the end of the list Alex was becoming distinctly fidgety. With much relief Severus saw Minerva putting the sorting hat and stool away for another year. He was highly relieved when the food appeared on the table and everyone became engrossed in eating and swapping gossip about what they did during their summer holidays.

When Albus stood up to give his opening speech Alex was already starting to fall asleep. The teachers all remained seated at the dais until the prefects had led all of the students back to their common rooms. It was at this point that the four heads of houses stood to go and meet their houses.

Although he refused to show it Severus was nervous about this; he had been on the receiving end of this speech from his head of house Horace Slughorn seven times but this was the first time that he was going to do it himself. When he had taught potions previously the Astronomy professor Aurora Sinistra had filled in the post temporarily as he felt that he was too young to be a suitable head of house. He settled Alex on his hip and made his way down into the dungeons and to the Slytherin common room. He stood outside the entrance for several long minutes before he held Alex closer with one hand, took a deep breath and uttered the password.

“Serpens.”

As soon as he stepped through the door all noise suddenly stopped and the entire house turned to look. Severus walked over to the fireplace and stood in front of it to make his carefully prepared speech.

“Good evening ladies and gentlemen. I am Professor Severus Snape, your new Potions Master and Head of House. Those of you in fourth year or above may remember me from two years ago when I started teaching potions here. I have been on sabbatical for the last two years looking after my son Alex. His mother is dead and as such will be living here with me. As my son I expect you to treat him with the same respect that you would show me and, as he is only four, to look after him. Treat him as an honourary Slytherin. Now, with that taken care of, let me lay out my expectations for you. You have all been sorted into Slytherin, the house of snakes, in my opinion, the greatest of the Hogwarts houses. I am sure you and all of our alumni will agree.”

Here he smirked.

“We are also the house with the worst reputation if you ask anyone outside of this room. You will be sneered at, put down and tormented by the rest of the school regardless of the claim that it doesn’t happen. For that reason, this house will become your second family. What happens within these walls stays within these walls. Outside of Slytherin house we put on a united front and support each other. I expect you to behave in a civilised manner at all times, all homework and classwork is to be done to the best of your ability on time and you are to look presentable whenever you leave this room. If you must retaliate ensure that you do not get caught. If you have any problems, my office door is open at any time. Now, if there are no questions?”

One raised eyebrow quelled any questions that there may be.

“In that case, prefects if you could show everyone to their dormitories. Ladies and gentlemen, I expect to see you at breakfast punctually tomorrow. The rest of the school will see that Slytherin house is not to be messed with. Good evening and welcome to Hogwarts.”

With that final comment Severus inclined his head and swept out of the room back to his quarters. He changed Alex into a pair of pyjamas and tucked him in bed before changing into his own nightclothes before collapsing onto his bed.

“One night down, only another nine months to go.”

*****

The next day, at the same time that Alex and Severus were preparing for their first day at Hogwarts, James and Lily Potter were at their home in Godric’s Hollow trying to wake Marcus up.

They had an appointment at St. Mungo’s Hospital with the head paediatrician Healer Fearghal O’Keane. They had written to Poppy Pomfrey, wanting her to perform the examination but she had refused for some reason. So, they had had to use one of the healers from St. Mungo’s. of course, James had only wanted the best healer for Marcus but, seeing as they left it so late to make the appointment and James’ refusal to compromise, they had had to wait over a month for an appointment. 

It took forty-five minutes for them to wake Marcus and then he proceeded to stuff himself with breakfast for nearly half an hour. This was followed by an enormous tantrum as Marcus discovered that he had to go to St. Mungo’s. Nothing was safe as Marcus thrashed his arms and legs around as well as throwing his toys and anything that was in reach.

“I don’t wanna go to Mungo’s.” The child wailed.

Truth be told, neither Lily nor James wanted to go to St. Mungo’s as they were dreading the results. Marcus’ accidental magick had been completely non-existent until four months ago. Finally, just when they were despairing that their only son was a squib he finally managed to overturn a bowl with his magick, not liking the food that was in it. Since then there hadn’t been any more incidences of accidental magick and Lily and James were now worried about just how high or low Marcus’ magick levels were.

“Marcus, we need to go to St. Mungo’s so that you can have some tests done.” James pleaded, whilst ducking the child’s set of quidditch balls that were thrown in his direction. 

“Don’t wanna!”

“You haven’t got much of a choice Marcus. You have to have these tests done.”

“No!”

“Marcus Charlus Potter!” James was rapidly losing patience.

“No!”

Seeing that the firm approach wasn’t going to work James resorted to a more primitive method; bribery.

“Marcus, if you’re a good boy and come and have the tests done then I’ll buy you that new broom that you want from Quality Quidditch Stores.”

James was just praying that this worked and was relieved when his son nodded his agreement.

They managed to herd Marcus and Rose into the flames and flooed directly into the paediatric department of St. Mungo’s in order to avoid all of the press. They were quickly ushered into a consultation room where they didn’t have to wait long for the healer to arrive. Healer Fearghal O’Keane was a 6’5” tall red-haired, blue-eyed Irishman in his mid-fifties and he was the best child healer employed by St. Mungo’s. It was for this reason that James had insisted on waiting a month for an appointment. Within five minutes the huge bear-like man walked through the door, a broad smile splitting his face.

“Good morning Auror Potter, Mrs Potter. This must be Marcus but who’s this little beauty?”

Lily smiled proudly. “This is our daughter Rose.”

O’Keane smiled. “Right, down to business. You’re here to have Marcus’ magick levels tested? In that case, I’m just going to explain what’s going to happen. Marcus, this is going to be very simple and completely painless. What I’m going to do is draw a symbol with my wand in front of you whilst I say a charm and then I’ll just tap my wand to this piece of parchment and it will tell us your magick levels. You all ready?”

Marcus looked at his father for confirmation.

James nodded his head. “You’ll get the broom Marcus. It’ll be fine.”

Marcus turned back to Fearghal and nodded. “’kay. Ready.”

Just as Poppy had done with Alex, Fearghal took his wand and inscribed the sigil in the air in front of Marcus and murmured the charm. With the sigil and the charm completed the healer tapped his wand to the parchment in order for the results to come through. While they were waiting, the healer handed chocolate frogs to both Marcus and Rose. When the parchment filled with information the healer reached out and picked it up in order to read it. as he started reading, his eyebrows rose steadily until they were practically in his hairline.

“Auror and Mrs Potter, I’m very sorry but, well, I don’t really know how to say this. Your son’s magick levels are incredibly low. I’m afraid to say that he is approaching the border line of being a squib. He has enough magickal ability to attend Hogwarts but he will never be magickally powerful.”

Here he stopped talking as the implications of what he had just said sank in. James was quick off the mark and within seconds had his wand out.

“Petrificus totalis.”

As the healer froze James just turned to Lily and spoke urgently. 

“Lily, take the kids to Diagon Alley and get Marcus that broom. I’ll see you at home in a couple of hours when I’ve taken care of things here.”

James gave Lily and the children time to exit the hospital before he turned his attention to the healer.

“Finite Incantatem.” Swiftly followed by “Obliviate!”

the healer looked dazed. “Auror Potter?”

“I’m terribly sorry to have wasted your time Healer O’Keane, my children aren’t feeling too well. We’ll rearrange the appointment.”

Back in Godric’s Hollow…..

As soon as Lily returned from Diagon Alley she packed the children off to play in the care of the house-elves before she made her way into James’ study.

“James? What happened? What did you do?”

“Sit down Lils. I obliviated him. I convinced him that the children were ill and said that we’ll rearrange.”

“James, what are we going to do? You heard what the healer said…..Marcus is practically a squib! How are we going to keep this hidden? If his magick levels are really that low then there is no way that it was Marcus that defeated Voldemort. He couldn’t have! It had to have been Harry. Do you remember him? The son that we got rid of?”

“Then we get him back.” James’ mouth was set in a grim line.

“What?”

“We get him back. We’ll go to your sisters and get him back. We can tell everyone that we sent him to the Dursley’s in order to protect him from the media frenzy and possible rogue Death-Eaters. I mean, we’re living proof that the Fidelius charm doesn’t always work.” Lily nodded her agreement. “Then, we’ll go and get Harry tomorrow."

The next morning James and Lily woke and made their way downstairs, hoping that they hadn’t been inundated with owl post regarding Marcus’ magick levels. Despite James being a well-respected and high-ranking auror they had been concerned that James’ obliviate had failed. Whilst they ate breakfast and waited for the children to wake up they made their plans for the day; they were going to retrieve their youngest son from his aunt and uncles. They had planned what they were going to tell the public but their main concern was ensuring that the knowledge Marcus wasn’t much more than a squib would be leaked. The information would remain between Lily, James and Sirius, as Marcus’ godfather. After all, Sirius was the only other person who knew the true reason why the Potters had abandoned Harry.

By the time Marcus and Rose had woken up and started eating their breakfast, Sirius had arrived through the floo from Grimmauld Place, the Black family home in London.

“So, are we ready to go and collect my other godson then?” Sirius rubbed his hands excitedly as he kissed both Lily and Rose and ruffled Marcus’ hair. 

“Nearly.” Lily said, wiping Rose’s face to remove the excess breakfast. “I need to take the children to Molly’s and then get on to Hogwarts. I have my first classes later.” Standing up, Lily kissed first her husband and then Sirius on the cheek. “Don’t do anything stupid. Try and avoid magick as much as possible. Only wear your robes if you absolutely have to. You know what Petunia and Vernon are like. Please don’t antagonise them.”

James and Sirius both promised the fiery, red-haired witch that they would be on their best behaviour and bid farewell as the trio disappeared into the fireplace. With them gone, both men transfigured their robes into Muggle suits and made their way outside to the apparition point. Once there, Sirius placed a hand on James’ shoulder so that he could apparate both of them to Little Whinging seeing as Sirius had never been there.

They appeared in a street where every single house was identical, looking like cardboard cut-outs or something from the pages of a magazine. Both men exchanged glances, unable to comprehend living in a place such as this.

“So, Prongs, where is this place that we’re going to? Does your beloved sister-in-law live down here?” Sirius teased, knowing that James hated his in-laws with a passion.

James scowled. “Shut it Padfoot. No, Petunia lives about four streets over. Something to do with Petunia refusing to have magick anywhere near her house. Plus she doesn’t want ‘freaks’ as she terms us apparating or even appearing down the street where she lives.”

“Freaks?! She calls us freaks?” Sirius gave a great bark of laughter. “That’s rich coming from someone who lives in a place like this.” He slung an arm companiably around James’ shoulder. “Come on Prongs, let’s go and get your youngest son.”

“Yes. We can get him back and then we can figure out what to do about this bloody dark talent he has.”

Sirius paused. “You don’t think Harry’s talent come from Voldemort do you?”

James shook his head. “We’re not even going to go there Siri. Let’s just get Harry and get this thing over with. I want some good news to tell Lily. For once I think she deserves some good news.”

With that the two men left the small cul-de-sac that they had appeared in and headed towards number four Privet Drive. They were even more disgusted from the neatness, order and precision in each of the houses. Each one was identical, right down to the net curtains hanging in the windows. Exchanging glances and taking a deep breath, they walked down the gravel path where James rang the doorbell.

It wasn’t long before they saw a silhouette approaching them through the frosted glass. As the door opened slowly James recognised the silhouette as that of his sister-in-law Petunia, who gasped as she saw the two men stood on her doorstep.

“You!” She gasped, trying to shut the door immediately.

James smiled smarmily. “Hello Petunia, how is my favourite sister-in-law these days?”

The blonde-haired woman shuddered violently. “Don’t you dare remind me that I’m related to you through my freak of a sister. What are you doing here? I thought we agreed when you left your brat here that we wouldn’t have to see you again.”

James inclined his head. “That was our arrangement Petunia but circumstances have changed. We’ve come to collect Harry. This doesn’t have to be difficult, just hand him over.”

“What do you want him back for? You left him here. You signed all of your rights over to me and Vernon when you left him here. What’s changed?”

James’ eyes narrowed. “You’re stalling Petunia. What’s the problem? Where’s my son?”

Petunia stuttered and stammered before trying to shut the door. It didn’t work as Sirius stuck his hand out and caught the door. He shook his head several times.

“That’s bad form Petunia. You should at least ask us in.” The dark-haired auror stepped forward, pushing the door open.

Petunia squealed in alarm and started backing away down the corridor. Her squeal of distress attracted the attention of the other occupants of the house. Vernon Dursley lumbered through from the sitting room followed closely on his heels by Dudley.

“Pet? What’s the matter?” He swung around and saw James and Sirius stood just inside the front door. “What the heel are those freaks doing here? Get out of my house!”

Sirius scowled at being referred to as a freak again. “I think not Dursley. We’re here for my godson and we’re not leaving until we’ve got him.”

Vernon Dursley started to turn purple while Petunia’s face grew whiter. Slowly, a malevolent smile spread across Vernon’s face.

“You might as well leave immediately in that case. The boy isn’t here anymore. He hasn’t been here for two years. Some other freaks came and took him away. Good riddance to bad rubbish as far as I’m concerned.”

Vernon suddenly gulped audibly as two wands were suddenly jammed against his throat by two irate wizards.

“I think you have some explaining to do Dursley.”

Both James and Sirius looked absolutely furious as they stepped inside the door and pushed their way down the corridor.

“Let’s all sit down and then you can tell us exactly what has happened.” James’ smile was pleasant but his hazel eyes were hard and not at all friendly.

They moved into the living room and James and Sirius sat on the sofa but keeping their wands trained on the Dursley’s. They had been joined by the Dursley’s son who resembled a pink beach ball with a blonde pudding bowl hair cut.

Sirius smiled evilly, looking rather like his demented cousin Bellatrix. “I think you’d better start talking Dursley. Where’s Harry?”

“I told you; he’s not here anymore. He hasn’t lived here for two years. Some other freak came and took him away. At least you dressed properly, they looked like proper freaks.”

James and Sirius exchanged glances before turning their attention back to Vernon before James started speaking.

“This is important Dursley, you’d better think about your answer carefully. We signed everything over to you when we left Harry here; guardianship, legal rights. Did you sign anything?”

Vernon thought carefully for several long minutes. The two aurors fancied that they could almost see the cogs turning. Finally he nodded but didn’t say anything.

“Well?” James demanded. “Did you sign anything?”

Vernon nodded reluctantly. “Yes we signed something.”

James looked read to tear his hair out. “I wish I had the talent of occlumency. What papers did you sign Dursley.”

“Guardianship papers.” Dursley whimpered, dreading the response his answer would receive.

“Bloody Merlin!” Sirius shouted as he jumped up and started pacing whilst James simply slumped in his chair.

Vernon had regained some of his confidence and was mumbling. “Bloody freak threatened me with Child Protection Services. The bloody cheek of it.”

James seemed to pull himself together and turned his attention to his sister-in-law. “Petunia, I suggest you think long and hard before you answer my questions. We wouldn’t want things to become unpleasant now would we?” 

James’ smile was almost sickly sweet as he turned the famous Potter charm on full blast. It was the same charm that had gotten Marauders out of countless detentions at Hogwarts and the same charm that Lily had fallen in love with. It worked within minutes and the blonde woman caved, looking more relaxed as she pulled her overweight blonde son towards her.

“Okay, what do you want to know?”

“Your charming husband said that he signed papers....guardianship papers. Did both of you sign them?”

Petunia nodded. “Yes, he stood over his while he watched us. He glared at us the whole time. Creepy old bat.” She shuddered as she said these last few words but James seemed not to notice.

“Damn!” James was on his feet now, pacing angrily. “Did any of the wizards sign the papers?”

Petunia looked thoughtful but then nodded. “Yes, the one holding your brat and then two others. Ugly looking freaks the lot of them.”

“And you’re positive that it was two years ago?” James wanted to be sure that the facts were as clear as possible.

“Of course I’m sure that it was two years ago. It was the summer after you dumped it with us. Marge was ill so we left it with Mrs Figg while we visited Vernon’s poor sister. When we got back those freaks came round, threatening us and demanding that we sign the guardianship papers.”

Sirius was looking puzzled. “Figg? I swear I recognise that name from somewhere. I have no idea where from though.”

James cut him off impatiently. “Never mind that now. We haven’t got time to worry about one old woman at the moment. Now, we’re nearly done Petunia. Don’t worry, we won’t be contaminating your house for much longer.” James sneered as he said the word contaminated. “What did these wizards look like?”

Petunia screwed up her nose in disgust. “Eugh, they were all wearing those bloody dress things you all insist on wearing.”

“Robes woman!” Sirius roared. “Damnit! They’re robes not sodding dresses.”

“Siri, just sit down and shut up. Let’s just get this over with. Now Petunia, what did these wizards look like? Hair colour, eye colour, what they were wearing. Anything. Literally anything at all that you can remember.”

The blonde’s forehead furrowed in concentration as she smoothed her son’s hair out. “The one holding your brat was sort of foreign looking. He had black hair and black eyes. He was wearing a black dress....sorry robes. Very severe. Your brat was clinging to him like a life line. There was another man – now he was definitely a foreigner. He was very dark, probably from the Mediterranean or somewhere similar. The other two were definitely freaks. One was incredibly old with long white hair and a beard. He was wearing a dress thing....oh fine those robes in a hideous garish purple with yellow stars. The other man was even more of a freak.” Here Petunia shuddered in disgust. “He had a strange eye. Part of his leg and his nose was missing. He had on bright red....robes with a strange symbol on them.”

James and Sirius exchanged glances. “Bright red robes with a symbol? They’re auror robes and that’s Alastor Moody if I’m not mistaken.”

James nodded his agreement. “Yes. Plus, the only person who wears purple robes with yellow stars is Dumbledore. Siri, go to Headquarters and get a team together. Stay out of Moody’s way as much as possible.”

Sirius bounded up from the sofa with a broad grin on his face. “Not a problem. He’s on field assignments for the next three weeks. I’ll be as quick as I can.”

Sirius disappeared as James settled back into the couch cushions.

“I’m terribly sorry, it appears as though we’re going to have to trespass on your wonderful hospitality for a bit longer. Now, just to keep the conversation going....you said that you were threatened by these wizards?”

Just over an hour later Sirius returned accompanied by two wizards and a witch, all in the familiar robes of the auror department. James nodded at them and gave them a brief rundown of the situation. The witch nodded at the end of James’ explanation.

“Right, I’m afraid that our only option is to recover the memories from the house and process them as well as question Mr and Mrs...Dursley is it? Then we can process the images and see where we go from there.”

“But....that’ll take a fortnight!” James spluttered in indignation.

The woman grimaced in sympathy. “I am sorry Auror Potter. Perhaps under different circumstances but seeing as Muggles are involved we have to follow proper protocol.”

“But...surely!” James was getting desperate now.

The woman shook her head regretfully. “I’m sorry Auror Potter. I can’t make any exceptions, not even for you. It’s probably best if you leave now. We’ll contact you with the results in a fortnight.”

Petunia shrieked in outrage. “You mean those freaks are staying here? Absolutely not! And how do they intend to get memories from the house? It’s bloody bricks and mortar.”

The witch started to explain the process even as her colleagues started to copy the imprinted memories. “Mrs Dursley, whilst we term them memories we actually refer to a series of images that have been imprinted into the building. When wizards have a strong magickal signature it leaves an image in the walls. It’s our only option where Muggles are involved.”

At this point, James and Sirius left the Dursley’s and Little Whinging, resigning themselves to the fact that when Lily returned from Hogwarts they didn’t have any good news for her. They could only hope that two weeks later the news would be very different. 

Two weeks later....

James and Sirius made their way into the office of Senior Auror Elizabeth Rudd, the auror whom Sirius had brought to the Dursley residence. She had written to inform them that all the memories from no.4 Privet Drive had been successfully processed and that there had been an unseen advancement. Lily had wanted to accompany the two men but it was one of her teaching days at Hogwarts. The two of them walked into the office, hoping for good news.

“Auror Rudd, please tell me that you have some good news.”

The normally stern woman smiled. “Indeed I do Auror Potter. We got four magickal signatures from the house memories, three of which we were able identify. This was further compounded by the fact that Mrs Dursley agreed to us copying her memories of the day in question. She allowed it on the grounds that she was disturbed no more. Now, shall we watch?”

The two men nodded and within minutes had entered the pensieve and viewed the memories. By the time they exited the stone basin both men were absolutely furious.

“Snivellus! Bloody Severus Snape took my son.”

“I can’t believe that slimy, greasy snake has my little Harry.”

James smiled evilly. “Padfoot, I think it’s time we paid a visit to Minister Fudge. Don’t you?”

Lucius glared at the elf that had dared to disturb him whilst he was in his study.

“Was there a reason for you disturbing me elf?” He demanded harshly.

“Dobby is sorry Master but Master has important visitor. Dobby is putting him in the library Master.”

Lucius nodded, dismissing the elf without words as he replaced his robes and made his way to the library. Upon entering the room he was surprised to see the newly-elected Minister of Magick Cornelius Fudge without any entourage and even without a secretary.

“Minister, what a pleasant surprise. What brings you to Wiltshire?”

“Lord Malfoy. I’m not here on an official matter, I’m here because I have information for you.”

Lucius raised a perfectly shaped blonde eyebrow. “Information Minister? Why would you be bringing me information unaccompanied? You take many risks Minister Fudge.”

The Minister blushed red. “I am not completely ignorant Lord Malfoy. I know that I’m in power due to your influence as well as that of your friends. Besides, this information may be of interest to you as it concerns your godson.”

Lucius maintained his composure, the only sign he had heard Cornelius was a slight narrowing of his eyes. “And what might this information entail?”

“I had a visit yesterday from Senior Aurors Potter and Black. It would appear that they went to retrieve Potter’s youngest son from his sister and brother-in-law. It would appear that they now want him back but when they went to collect him he was no longer there. When things were present we did not realise who we were dealing with and Scrimgeour went ahead and followed the normal protocol. The team of aurors that was dispatched collected memories from the house. The memories they collected clearly show Lord Snape leaving the premises along with a dark-haired child. Potter has filed papers that accuse Lord Snape of stealing his youngest son Harry James Potter from his guardians Vernon and Petunia Dursley. The case will be heard by the Wizengamot and Lord Snape will receive official notification soon. Now, I must return to the Ministry.”

With that Cornelius stood and after a short bow flooed back to the Ministry without another word. Lucius stared thoughtfully into the flames before turning and making his way back to his study. Sitting at his desk he pulled a piece of parchment and a quill towards him and started writing. Almost an hour later, with the parchment rolled into a scroll and sealed in wax with the Malfoy crest he called for a house-elf. Within seconds one appeared, he didn’t know it by name, only that it was infuriating, and he proceeded to give his orders.

“This needs to be delivered straight into the hands of Professor Severus Snape. He is the Potions Master and Head of Slytherin House at Hogwarts. Do you understand? It must be given to him and only to him, and it must be done as quickly as possible. Do you think you can manage that elf?”

“Yes Master. Dobby can do that, Dobby is being quick and doing Master’s wishes.”

“Just go!” Thundered Lucius.

At the same time that Severus received and read the letter from Lucius, Alex was spending some time with his grandfather in Albus’ office. It had been decided that when Alex turned five he would start to attend the wizarding primary school in Hogsmeade but until that time he was taught at Hogwarts by all of the teachers.

The timetable had been tweaked so that Severus had one morning and almost two afternoons as well as the weekends completely free to spend with his son. When Alex wasn’t with his father he spent most of his time with his Aunty Poppy or Grandpa Albus. As Poppy was treating several students in the hospital wing, Alex was happily ensconced in a corner of Albus’ office with a small selection of toys, keeping himself occupied whilst Albus dealt with the daily necessities of running a school.

The peace and tranquillity of the office was shattered when two angry men followed by a third more reasonable looking gentleman entered though the floo. Almost immediately the first two men started shouting and gesturing wildly. The sudden entrance and all of the shouting terrified Alex, reminding him of the nasty place he lived in before his daddy came to get him. Clutching Blackie tightly he slowly started edging his way around the office to the door. All he could think about was getting to the door and his daddy. As he reached the door he caught his grandfathers eyes and, without knowing what he was doing, pushed the image of his fathers classroom towards his grandfather before the old man wandlessly opened the door a crack so that he could slip out unnoticed.

Satisfied that Alex had escaped and without notice, Albus turned his attention back to the three men. He was unsurprised to see James Potter and Sirius Black but he was curious as to the presence of Christopher Hyde. If he remembered rightly, Hyde had been a Ravenclaw a few years above the two Gryffindors and if he remembered correctly he had become a lawyer upon his graduation from Hogwarts. His head snapped up at that thought and he started listening to what they were saying or rather yelling.

“What the hell gave you the right to help that Death-Eater kidnap my son Albus? Voldemort’s been dead for four years, you’re not the head of the Order of the Phoenix now – it was disbanded. You’re simply the Headmaster of Hogwarts. You had no right at all. Moody terrified my sister-in-law, her husband and my nephew.”

“You helped that Death-Eater spawn Snivellus kidnap my youngest godson. Even now you’re bloody protecting him; giving him a job here, calling him your son and my god-son your grandson.” 

Sirius paused for breath, panting heavily from his angry rant.

It was at this point that Christopher Hyde stepped forward. “Headmaster Dumbledore, I’m here in my capacity as Auror and Mrs Potter’s lawyer. They have engaged my services upon the discovery that a Professor Severus Snape, employed here, took their youngest son from his aunt and uncle and is now passing him off as his son. I am here to inform you that charges are being brought up against Professor Snape and he will be expected to appear in front of the Wizengamot. You are very lucky that my clients have decided not to press charges against you of aiding and abetting a kidnapping. If you do not comply with out wishes then things may change. Good day Headmaster.”

With that, Christopher turned and, ushering James and Sirius before him, disappeared through the floo system. 

Once they had gone, Albus slumped in his chair, wondering how he was going to break the news to Severus and also wondering about his grandsons display of mind magick.

The seventh years chattered excitedly amongst themselves as they waited for their professor to arrive. He was never late but there had been a lot of changes to the professor since he came back with his son and many of them felt that the changes were actually for the better. They did wonder though; the child was never seen at dinner, he was incredibly shy around people especially Professor Potter and Professor Lupin and whilst Professor Snape was never nasty to his son they never saw him being overly affectionate either. As they chatted the object of their conversation entered in a typical fashion, slamming the door open and walking swiftly down the gangway between the desks his robes billowing as he did so. Stepping behind his desk he flicked his hand nonchalantly causing the ingredients and brewing directions for the lesson to appear on the board before he opened his mouth and leaned over his desk.

“Now, as you can see, today you’re going to be brewing Veritaserum. I should hope the fact that you are in your seventh year means you will be able to brew it without too many difficulties although having seen the painfully pitiful attempts you have produced already this year I do not entertain much hope. Well, what are you waiting for? Get on with it!”

By the time they were hardly halfway through the double period there had already been three minor explosions, two girls in tears and one Hufflepuff sent to see Madame Pomfrey. In the ensuing confusion and amid Professor Snape berating a pair of hapless Gryffindors nobody heard the door creak open and a small figure slip in. In fact, the figure would have gone unnoticed had it not brushed past the figure of the current Head Boy Ravenclaw Robert Windsor. He quickly reached out and, upon turning the child around, realised that it was the potion masters tiny son.

“Hey kid, what are you doing down here?”

The words were softly spoken but they were heard by the always alert quick witted potions master.

“Alex?” He swept over to the desk and quickly picked up his son, settling him comfortably on his hip “What are you doing down here my raven? Why aren’t you in Grandpa’s office?”

“Scary men in grandpa’s office n I missed you”

The students stared as the potions master visibly softened especially his eye as he smiled slightly and hugged his son a little closer

“I missed you too. I tell you what, if you can stay safe and at my desk you can stay here with me. How does that sound?”

Alex nodded eagerly causing Severus to chuckle softly as he made his way to the front of the room. He raised the height of the chair and placed parchment and crayons on the desk. As he set the child down the students caught sight of the toy panther he was clutching and the majority of the girls struggled to contain their “aaaaws” as the man pressed a quick kiss into the silky black hair. That done Snape looked up and, seeing the class staring at him lost the softness, instead glaring furiously at them.

“If you’ve finished gawking ladies and gentlemen, although I use those terms lightly, kindly get back to work as my son is not a sideshow. If you would carry on with your brewing, preferably without any explosions. I believe three is a sufficient number already for a lesson.”

The students scurried to obey, unwilling to risk the man’s wrath. It was obvious that the softer, gentler Professor Snape was reserved solely for his young son.

The rest of the class passed uneventfully and it was with a sigh of relief that Severus barked at the students to bottle their potions and remove themselves from his classroom. As soon as the last student had left the room he turned back to his desk and the tiny child sat there and smiled. Alex had been a positive angel since he had entered the classroom and Severus had to admit that he looked adorable, drawing laboriously on parchment, the tip of his tongue poking out from between his teeth. He glided over to the desk and scooped Alex into his arms.

“Well, well what have got here my raven?”

“It’s home Daddy. Look there’s me and you and grandma n grandpa.”

“Of course it is! How could I have not noticed that? It was very silly of me.”

Alex nodded, hands over his mouth as he giggled quietly “Silly Daddy!”

“Well, how about we go and get some cookies and we’ll put this on the wall with the other pictures.”

Alex nodded and wrapped his arms around his fathers neck as he was shifted to a hip whilst they entered their chambers through Severus’ office.

Upon entering the chambers Severus placed Harry on the couch and walked over to the desk sat in the corner. Seconds later and the picture Alex had drawn was pinned to the wall courtesy of a swift flick of his wand and a muttered incantation joining the countless other drawings Alex had done. That done Severus walked over to the couch and quietly murmured “Tibby”. There was a faint pop as a house-elf appeared wearing a tea-towel embroidered with the Hogwarts crest.

“How can Tibby help Professor Snape?”

“I’d like some cookies, a glass of milk and some coffee please Tibby.”

“Yes Professor Snape. Tibby will be back.”

Within a minute there was a large plate of still warm cookies, a small glass of milk and a huge steaming mug of black coffee on the small table in front of the couch. By the time Alex had finished his milk he was rubbing his eyes sleepily and trying to suppress his yawns.

“I think it’s time for sleepy little boys to have a nap.”

“’m not little Daddy n ‘m not sleepy”

“Of course you’re not. In that case, shall we read a story? Is there one you want to hear?”

“Yes Daddy. The one bout the baby dragon who can’t breathe fire.”

That night in the Great Hall the house tables were rife with the gossip of what had occurred in the NEWT potions class. The students of Professor Snape’s seventh year potions class were telling anyone who’d listen about what had happened that afternoon and there were a great number of people who were interested in listening. The intrigue was heightened by the fact that the professor in question had yet to arrive. A sudden hush fell over the students seated closest to the doors and the quiet quickly spread to the rest of the students. The potions master was striding up the centre aisle of the hall looking slightly less intimidating than usual due to the fact that his son was perched on his hip, making his first appearance at dinner. The two settled into the chair to the left of the Headmaster before helping themselves from the platters of food that had just appeared on the tables. The fact that all of the students were staring at the two of them suddenly dawned on Alex and completely unnerved him. He refused the food that he was being offered and instead buried his face in his father’s chest. Severus looked confused as to Alex’s reaction before he looked up and saw all of the students staring. Immediately he understood and started t regret his decision to bring Alex to dinner in the Great Hall with the students. Albus Dumbledore realised what was going on and the twinkle in his eyes increased the students were treated to the patented death-glare number one – the same death-glare that had resulted in numerous students being sent to the hospital wing. The glare worked and the students hastily turned their full attention too the food on the tables. Severus then turned his attention to coaxing Alex out of his chest.

“Alex? Come on baby, turn around. No-one’s staring at you now and you need to eat some dinner.”

Slowly Alex started to turn around, first checking that his father was in fact telling the truth and that no-one was looking at him before turning his attention to the food on his fathers plate. He happily dug into the thick stew and mashed potatoes not noticing the fond looks he received from his father and honourary grandparents as well as the covert glances that students of all houses were giving him. Having had his main course as well as devouring a slice of his favourite treacle tart he started to feel sleepy having had a tiring day combined with the feeling of having a full stomach and the warmth of being held in Severus’ lap. He curled into a ball and stuck his thumb in his mouth, fully prepared to sleep for the night especially when his father’s hand descended into his hair, smoothing gently and rhythmically through the silky locks. Severus almost smiled as he realised Alex had fallen asleep but restrained himself just in time. The students knew he was getting softer as a result of his son but that was no reason for his reputation to be completely shot to pieces. He looked up as he felt a hand descend on his shoulder to see blue eyes twinkling down at him.

“Dinner is almost finished Severus. Why don’t you and Alex come up to my office and we can discuss what happened this afternoon?”

“Of course Albus” Severus agreed and stood, scooping Alex into his arms as smoothly as possible to avoid waking him before following the Headmaster and Professor McGonagall out of the virtually empty hall up towards the gargoyle that guarded the Headmasters office.

As soon as they were inside the office Severus headed over to the sofa in the corner where he lay Alex down and covered him with a blanket lying over the back before making his way over to the chairs in front of Albus’ desk.

“Albus, what was Alex on about this afternoon? He wandered down to my classroom and said something about there being scary men in your office. Who did he mean?”

“Please try and stay calm child, I know you don’t want to wake Alex. James Potter and Sirius Black were here as well as their lawyer Christopher Hyde. They paid a visit to Privet Drive and discovered that a certain Mr Harry Potter no longer lives there. They were able to extract several memories from the house, one of which shows you leaving with a dark-haired child. They’ve filed charges against you.”

“Shit!” Severus cursed. “I had hoped Lucius was wrong.” He looked over at Albus. “I had a letter from Luc this morning. He’d had a visit from Cornelius Fudge this morning telling him what you’ve just told me. Lucius was rather influential in Fudge’s appointment and he won’t do anything to jeopardise that. It’s rather useful actually.”

Here Severus smirked before he collapsed into panic.

“Surely there’s no way they can take him away from me. The Dursley’s signed the adoption papers and I adopted him under Italian law as well as giving him the Paternitas potion. Albus, tell me they can’t take him away from me. I can’t lose him Albus.”

“I honestly don’t know if they can take him Severus. I am truly sorry child that I cannot be of more use. We did everything we could at the time. I think that the best solution is for you to speak to a wizarding lawyer. There are several excellent lawyers I have encountered through the Order of the Phoenix; I am sure one of them will be willing to help you.”

“Thank you Albus but that will not be necessary.”

“Severus, I really think you need some help with this…”

“It is not necessary; you remember Octavian don’t you. Octavian Salieri, a Sicilian wizard, married my cousin Juliana Esposito. Both the Salieri and Esposito families have worked with the Cosa Nostra on several occasions and I have helped as well. If there’s anyone who can get us out of this mess then its Octavian. Come to think of it, Diego specialises in family law, he’ll probably help us out as well. Now, if you’ll excuse me I’ll take Alex down to his bed and write to Octavian.”

With that Severus collected Alex and made his way down to their quarters in the dungeons. Once Severus had settled Alex into bed he made his way to the desk that sat in the corner of the sitting room and, settling himself into the comfortable chair behind it, started to write.

Octavian!

I hope this letter finds you well in addition to Juliana and the children. I apologise for my bluntness but in truth I am in need of your help. James Potter and Sirius Black have discovered that a certain Mr Harry Potter is no longer residing in Surrey with his aunt and uncle. Aurors have collected imprints from the house that show myself leaving with a dark-haired child. They already know that Alexander Lucian Severus Snape is Harry James Potter. Here you see my dilemma. There is no way I will allow Alex to go back to the Potters after what they did. I know we took all the precautions and kept all of the evidence and documentation needed to fight them in court. Please, Octavian, I am not above begging. I cannot lose my son. Please help me.

Yours

Severus

With the letter written Severus rolled the parchment and sealed it with wax before moving over to the perch that housed his familiar Mercury, a pure black raven. 

“Merc, I need you to take this to Octavian Salieri. It needs to be done as soon as possible.”

As soon as the letter was firmly attached to the birds talons he gave a soft caw of understanding before setting off. That done Severus made his way into his son’s bedroom and, pulling a chair next to the bed settled himself in for the night, praying that he would be able to do this for years to come.

By the next morning Severus’ letter had reached the home of the Salieri family in Palmero, Sicily. Upon opening the letter Octavian swore viciously earning him a clip round the head from his passing wife.

“Juliana!” he whined “What was that for?”

“You know what it was for Octavian Salieri. I will not have you swearing in front of the children. Who is it from anyway?”

“It’s from Severus. He’s got a problem and he needs the help of me and the cosa nostra. Alex’s birth parents have discovered the fact that he is no longer staying with the Dursley’s. I need to get in touch with Don Visconti so that we’re as prepared as possible.”

“You don’t mean that Sev could lose Alex do you? I thought that those miserable wretches signed the guardianship papers when Sev collected Alex. You have to help him Octavian. We all adore that child. If it comes to it we’ll keep him in Italy. I’m going to contact the others. You will make sure everything is kept legal won’t you love?”

“Of course mi amato. I’m not the consigliere of Don Visconti for no reason.” He chuckled darkly as his wife hurried off to her study. Oh yes, the Potter’s were going to rue the day that they took on Severus Snape. Especially with the weight of the cosa nostra and seven of the most powerful pureblood families on the European continent at his back. They’d regret it indeed.

The next morning the Great Hall was a flurry of activity as many of the teachers had grave faces and once again the Potions Master was late for a meal. For it to happen once was something of huge curiosity but for him to be late twice was almost unconscionable. The noise disappeared as the Headmaster tapped his wand against his goblet and stood at the Head Table. 

“Good Morning ladies and gentlemen. I regret to inform you that your potions lessons will be cancelled for the rest of the week. Professor Snape has had a family emergency that needs to be dealt with immediately. As such he will be leaving the castle today for Italy. Any further questions please see your Head of House; Slytherins will have Professor Sinistra as their temporary head.”

With that he strode from the hall, Professor McGonagall trailing in his wake as they made their way to the dungeons and the quarters of the resident potions master. 

The door swung open as they approached, the wards recognising their magickal signatures. They entered the room to find it deserted but with two dragon-hide travel bags stood in readiness on the couch. Just as they were about to check the other rooms in the quarters Severus swept out of one of the bedrooms, a sleepy looking Alex cradled in his arms, one hand clutching his panther, Jupiter the kitten trailing behind them.

“Albus” the young man greeted him “you’re just in time, we were about to leave. My grandparents are expecting us.”

“You’ve spoken to them then child? They know the situation?”

“They do Albus and I believe the Potters will regret bringing this situation to the attention of that incompetent Fudge. According to Grandma, Octavian is already hard at work on the case with the Don. Diego’s tying up all the loose ends of his current cases and Luc’s fishing for information at the Ministry. Juliana’s contacted the rest of the family. There is no way in Hades I will lose this. I’ll be in touch Albus, Minerva”

With that, he shrunk the two bags, allowed Jupiter to climb onto the shoulder unoccupied by Alex and threw a pinch of floo powder into the fire. With a cry of “Villa Principessa” the three of them had disappeared from the vivid green flames.

Minutes later Severus stepped out into the large airy library of the main villa of the Principessa estates, Jupiter yowling as he scampered down Severus’ robes, having hated the floo trip. The sound of the floo activating was heard by both Lucrezia and Antonio and they came running into the library, Lucrezia heading straight for Severus and Alex, gathering them into her arms. She drew back enough to see Severus’ face and mouthed at him “Does he know?” indicating Alex as she did so. The look of despair on his face told her everything: how could he tell his son that he could be sent back to his birth parents. He had told Alex that he was adopted, however he had also promised that he would never be sent back to them. There was also the fact that he had never lied to his son and he was not going to start now.

“Alex baby, I need to talk to you about something. It’s very important baby so I need you to be quiet and listen to daddy.”
Alex nodded solemnly, his wide dark eyes fixed on Severus 

“I went to see Grandpa Albus last night after you fell asleep and he told me something that might upset you. Do you remember me telling you that you had parents before me but they gave you to your aunt and uncle?” At Alex’s nod he swallowed heavily before continuing “Well, your first parents – Auror and Professor Potter – have found out that you don’t live at your aunts anymore and they’re trying to find you because they want you back.”

He winced as Alex’s arms tightened like a vice around his neck so that he was struggling to breathe “Daddy no. You promised. Want to stay with you” the child whimpered.

Severus closed his eyes briefly against the tears that had formed and held Alex tighter “I want you to stay with me my raven, more than anything. Uncle Octavian and Uncle Diego are going to help me make sure that you never have to leave me. I promise you that we will work it out. I have no intention of letting you go baby. Do you understand me?” He pulled back slightly so that he was looking Alex straight in the eye.

As young as he was Alex could tell by the glint in his fathers eye that he would do everything in his power to keep him and that was enough to reassure the child for the time being. He loosened his grip on his fathers neck slightly but kept himself close to the man. 

Severus felt the vice like grip on his neck loosen slightly yet noted that Alex was showing no inclination of moving any further, but Severus was more than happy to indulge his son if he felt like being clingy.

***

Severus was incredibly relieved when he stepped into the sitting room of the Principessa villa to discover that Octavian was already there along with Diego Ortez and Niccolo Zabini. The two men would be instrumental along with Octavian in helping Severus to win the case against the Potter’s. Severus greeted the trio and his grandfather who appeared in the doorway with a bottle of wine and five glasses, while Lucia Zabini took Alex off to play with Blaise under the supervisory eye of Lucia and Lucrezia. When they were all comfortably seated, Octavian produced a sheet of parchment and a Quick-notes quill to record everything that they would be saying. 

“Right, Severus, I need you to tell me exactly what the Potter’s know, what they’ve said and how you know all of this.”

Severus nodded and took a deep breath. “I received a letter from Lucius Malfoy, Alex’s godfather. He had received a visit from the British Minister of Magick, Cornelius Fudge, that was both unarranged and unofficial. Fudge is not the smartest of men, I believe he was a Hufflepuff at Hogwarts, but he is aware of just how much he owes his current office to both Lucius and myself. He had received a visit from Potter and Black stating that their son/godson had been kidnapped from his aunt and uncles. As the Ministry was unaware who was involved at the time they followed the required procedure and sent a team to record the house’s memories. These memories, when analysed, show me leaving the Dursley’s property with a dark haired child.”

Severus paused to take a sip of wine and to allow the others to take in the information before he continued. “That is not all. They have filed papers with the British Ministry accusing me of kidnapping their son and the case is to be heard in front of the Wizengamot. They visited Albus at Hogwarts and informed him of the situation. They then told him that he was lucky they were not having him charged with aiding and abetting a kidnapping and that if he refused to co-operate with them then that could change. Albus informed me of this and I immediately wrote to Octavian and now we are here. What do you gentlemen think?”

The three professionals mulled over the information, before they finally exchanged glances and signalled for Octavian to speak first as he was the one primarily involved with the adoption. 

“Firstly, I believe that we have a very strong case and there is very little chance that the Wizengamot will be able to rule in favour of the Potter’s. Diego and I will represent you and Alex, it’s also probably an idea to get a child advocate for Alex, we’ll be able to recommend someone to you. Regardless of how strong a case you have, we are going to need to work fast.”
Diego nodded before he spoke out. “How long ago did the Potter’s file the charges? Do you know?”

Severus nodded after he had thought about the question for several minutes. “I would say two days, three at the maximum. They had filed the papers by yesterday afternoon when they visited Hogwarts. However, with the inept dunderheads that staff the Ministry there is no guarantee that the papers have actually been viewed yet. I haven’t received anything.”

Diego shook his head. “Even if you haven’t received anything that doesn’t mean that the papers haven’t been filed. It could just mean that it’s taking a while to get to you here in Italy. Right, first things first, we need to get copies of all of the paperwork; the guardianship papers that the Dursley’s signed, adoption papers, any medical records. We’ll need Sofia’s records of making and administering the Paternitas potion along with a copy of her license and masters certificates. Can you think of anything else Octavian?”

“I think that pensieve memories are going to be vitally important. We can get the memories from Severus, Niccolo, Arabella Figg, Poppy Pomfrey and maybe even Alex himself. Didn’t you take photographic evidence of the abuse Sev?”

The dark-haired wizard nodded. “Yes, along with several specific medical spells for abuse cases. We made written copies of the results. I have them all in my study along with the rest of the documentation.” The Potions Master was starting to feel much more relieved now that these men were taking care of the little details. “Do you think we’re going to need anything else?”

The two lawyers conversed discretely amongst themselves for several minutes. “Character witnesses would probably be a good idea. Work colleagues or friends. Lucius Malfoy will probably be a good idea and someone from Hogwarts if you can think of anyone? We’ll get written references from the others; Cygnus, the twins and Andrei. In all probability, we’ll have to call in the big guns and they’ll need to be there in person.”

At this point Niccolo, who had previously been silent, gave a devious grin as he spoke up. “Let’s face it Severus, those bloody Gryffindor’s aren’t going to know what has hit them. You have seven of the most powerful families on the European continent behind you as well as several prominent British wizarding families. None of us are going to let you lose Alex, he’s one of us now and that’s how it’s going to stay. The Potter’s are going to regret the fact that they’re even attempting this. Now, go and spend some time with your son while we sort through the finer details. If we need you we know where you are.”

The professor nodded and stood to leave the room before Octavian grabbed his arm. “Just before you leave Sev, is there anyone else who has full copies of the paperwork? What about all the paperwork showing Alex as your son, birth certificate and that sort of thing. Did you bother with any of that?”

Severus sneered slightly. “Of course I bothered with that. I was determined to do everything properly so that this could never happen. For Merlin’s sake, the abuse was confirmed by three wizarding healers including yourself and Poppy Pomfrey. I registered everything with Tommaso Buscetta at the Italian Ministry and he dealt with all of the necessary paperwork for the Muggle world as well; passport and the like. Now, if that’s all, I’m going to spend some time with my son, he was rather distraught after yesterday’s events and today’s information.”

As Severus left the room, Octavian grinned at the name he had given. “That’s just made things a hell of a lot easier if Sev has used Buscetta.” At the confused looks he received, he elaborated slightly. “I did my training alongside Tommaso and we’ve both worked for Don Visconti on occasion, as has Severus. We should bear in mind that it may be necessary for Severus and Alex to have a guard when they return to Hogwarts. They can’t remain here forever and I don’t trust the Potter’s and I especially don’t trust Black. He may be the black sheep of his family and the supposedly ‘good’ one but if you grow up in a family like that one then it’s going to affect you.”

****

Immediately after the initial conversation with Severus, Octavian had visited Buscetta and gotten two copies of every piece of paperwork he owned that dealt with Alexander Snape. The only thing that concerned the duo was the fabrication of Ainara Verenus, something that the Potter’s lawyer was bound to seize upon. Tommaso also agreed with Octavian that a guard was a useful precaution once Severus and Alex returned to Hogwarts and the two of them would approach Don Visconti to appeal for the use of one or two of his men. The Don was a senior figure within the Italian mafia as well as being a wizard. Whilst none of the Snape’s or their extended family was directly involved with the Mafia they had, on occasion, helped the Don whether it was with potions or, more likely, through legal help and as such, he was willing to aid them where possible. The majority of his men were trained both magickally and through Muggle means such as a martial arts and weapons training, both of which could come in useful protecting the Snape’s at Hogwarts.

With duplicate and triplicate copies of all of the paperwork that Tommaso and Severus had in Italy, Octavian persuaded Bellerophon to take a day’s leave from the Auror office in order to accompany him to Scotland. They needed to gain pensieve memories as well as medical reports from Poppy Pomfrey as well as a copy of Alex’s magickal tests and once they had completed those, they needed to visit Surrey and Arabella Figg in order to gain her pensieve memories. Unfortunately, they wouldn’t be able to visit the Dursley residence as it had been warded by the British Ministry and no doubt their entering the building would alert all kinds of people, something that they didn’t want. It was not ideal, as they knew that the house could yield information of vital importance to them but if necessary, they could always request an excursion during the court trial itself. The trip went without a hitch, both at Hogwarts and in Surrey, with both women willingly turning over pensieve memories and documentation without question as they were incredibly fond of both dark-haired Snape’s. The medi-witch had enquired why they were duplicating and triplicating everything including the pensieve memories, but had nodded in understanding when they informed her that they didn’t trust the British Ministry not to lose everything. All of the evidence had to be submitted to the courts before the trial began to ensure that nothing had been tampered with, another bone of contention for the Ortez-Salieri legal team. As Severus had often complained, there was still a stigma attached to him thanks to being trialled as a Death Eater, even after he had been released from Azkaban and started teaching at Hogwarts.

Whilst he had a title, manor and money, Severus wasn’t interested in politics like Lucius Malfoy, whose work in the public eye had diminished much of his stigma. Or rather, the comments had moved further underground where the blonde aristocrat was seemingly unaware of them. For this reason, Diego and Octavian were taking no chances. They were creating multiple copies of all pieces of evidence in the possibility that something could disappear or be destroyed before they had an opportunity to bring it in front of the Wizengamot. Arabella Figg hadn’t questioned anything, she had simply allowed them to take her pensieve memories and informed them that if they needed a character witness for Severus then she would be more than happy to oblige. Octavian had accepted her offer, knowing that it would be a huge boost to their case as she had been little Alex’s babysitter and privy to the results of the abuse. 

Whilst Octavian and Bellerophon were in the UK collecting evidence and Severus had, with much persuasion, taken Alex and Blaise to the Malfoy estate in Wiltshire, Diego had taken over the library of the Principessa villa. He was currently writing to Cygnus Delacour and Andrei Petrovich in order to ask if they would be willing to write references for Severus, with them being the signatories on the adoption papers. It was less than three hours later that he received the replies .... they were not only willing to write the references, but they would be there in person when the case went to court. Combining this with all of the paperwork and pensieve memories that they now had, not only those belonging to Poppy and Arabella but also to Severus, Alex himself, Alastor Moody (who had sent in his own pensieve memories) and Octavian, the photographs of Alex’s abuse and medical reports they had a rock solid case. The personal support of Cygnus Delacour, Andrei Petrovich and Lord Lucius Malfoy only added to that. 

The entire weight of the Principessa family, both immediate and extended, was going to be behind the two Snape’s and there wasn’t going to be a thing anybody could do to stop them.