The cafeteria of Mabry Primary was decorated in pink and white streamers It also had little pink and white balloons and pretty paper plates with roses on them, and rosebud centerpieces in the middle of the tables, which were covered with white tablecloths. There were dozens of tissue paper flowers in every color of the rainbow, taped to the walls.

We'd spent our art class making them and drawings and cards for our mums, even me, I'd made a card for Alaina and a flower too and picture of her, Lexy, Dad, and me together in front of my house. It was one of my better pictures, I'd tried to draw everybody the way they really looked, and I colored it very carefully with my best markers and pencils. Then I made a frame for it out of cardboard and colored paper and pretty beads and glitter. Mrs. Perkins, the art teacher (she's also Stevie's mum, the same Stevie that's scared to death of shots), helped me with the frame, gluing it together and decorating it. On the back I wrote in my best printing, To Alaina

Thanks for being my mum for a day. Love, Harry

Then I put it in a special envelope with my name on it that was to go next to where Alaina and Lexy and I were going to be sitting. It was my Mother's Day gift. Lexy had made one too, so Alaina had two special gifts.

By each of the place settings, was a card with the name of the kid and her mum on it, Alaina had one with both of our names on it. Our napkins were pink and folded like roses in the center of our plates. We had three of them-a big one and two smaller ones. The smaller ones were for dessert and salad or something. It looked really nice and the mums who were there already when we showed up looked very pleased.

Dad made me wear a shirt and a tie and my good trousers and shoes for this, since it was a special breakfast. My tie was green and gold with little lions on it, since the lion was the symbol of the British crown. My trousers were a dark gray-charcoal, Dad called it- and my shirt was plain white. My shoes were black and they were sort of new and they pinched, and I wished I'd told Dad about it before we'd left, since he could've adjusted them with a spell. But it was too late now, and I was glad we could sit down for this breakfast.

Alaina and Lexy were wearing matching mother-daughter outfits of a soft lavender color. They were wearing a pretty dress with little embroidered flowers on the sleeves and around the collar, the skirt was swirly and had a ruffled edge on it and the only difference between Alaina'a outfit and Lexy's were their shoes and hair clips. Alaina had on sandals with a little heel, Lexy had plain white sandals with no heel. Their hair clips each had a different animal on it. Lexy's had a kitten, and Alaina's a flower like on her dress.

Alaina had her purse and Lexy had Misty, she took her everywhere, like I used to do to Inky till I made him alive. Dad had given Alaina a pretty purple and white orchid to wear on her wrist-a corsage, he called it. "For the most beautiful mother anywhere," he'd said, when he'd put it on her, then he'd kissed her.

They'd probably have gone on like that forever, but I cleared my throat and said, "Hey, Alaina, we're gonna be late unless we hurry."

They stopped after that, and me and Lexy got in Alaina's car and we went to the school.

When we arrived, we were greeted by Mr. Ambrose, the Headmaster, and some other teachers. They told us to find the card with our names on it and sit down. Soft music was playing in the background and a large sign hung on one wall read Welcome to the 5th Annual Mother's Day breakfast at Mabry Primary.

Alaina walked inbetween Lexy and I while we looked for the card with her name on it. Lexy and I, meanwhile looked around at all the other mothers and their kids who were there. I turned to Alaina and said, "Dad was right, you are the most beautiful mother anywhere."

"Why, thank you, Harry. You're very sweet!" Alaina smiled at me.

"She sure is and she's my mom," Lexy said, and I heard an odd note in her voice, like she was telling me Alaina was just hers and I was only borrowing her.

"Of course, Lexy, but for today I'm Harry's too," Alaina reminded her, and then we found where we were sitting and Alaina sat inbetween us, with me on the left and Lexy on the right. "What lovely place settings," Alaina said as she examined them.

I wondered when we could give Alaina the envelope with the gifts. I looked at Lexy and made a gesture to her towards the envelopes and she shook her head and mouthed, Not yet! Wait!

So I waited and then a lady that looked like a waitress came around and asked us what we would like to drink. I asked for chocolate milk, Lexy had apple juice and Alaina had tea. All the mums also got a special glass of some kind of strawberry spritzer, it had a splash of champagne in it, whatever that was. The glass had a strawberry on a little pink paper umbrella.

"Mom, can I have your strawberry when you're done?" asked Lexy.

"Yes, and Harry can have the umbrella."

Lexy pouted. "But Mom, I always get the umbrella when you have a fancy drink."

"Well, Lex, you can't have them both, so you'd better pick one, since it's not fair for you to have both things and not Harry."

Lexy crossed her arms and stared at her plate for a minute, she looked like she was mad at her mum. Then she said crossly, "Fine! Harry can have the umbrella and I'll eat the strawberry."

"That's very kind of you to share, Lexy," Alaina said quietly and sipped her drink. "Now how about giving me a smile instead of looking like a sourpuss? Because nobody like a girl that looks like this."

Alaina made a funny face at her daughter.

I laughed, but Lexy sulked for a few minutes, then said, "You're silly, Mom."

More kids and their mums were coming into the cafeteria now. They were mostly eight, seven, six, and five year olds. The bigger kids had their Mother's Day breakfast tomorrow.

Then I saw Hermione and Jane coming over to our table and also Mrs. Perkins and Stevie. It looked like they were seated at the same table we were. "Hi, Lexy! Hi, Harry!" Hermione said, waving at us.

She was wearing a cute sailor type dress, navy blue with a white collar and white stripes on the sleeves and hem with lacy socks and white shoes. Her hair was done up in a braid round her head. Jane was dressed in very nice navy blue dress with a pretty red rose pinned to her chest. She also had on some gold rose earrings.

"Hello, Jane. I'm so glad you could make it," said Alaina, they were neighbors and friends with each other.

"Yes, thank goodness the Saturday patient Wally had scheduled canceled. He forgot I was supposed to come with Mione to this breakfast." Jane shook her head. "Typical man. He never forgets a ruby match or a soccer game, but the Mother's Day breakfast? What's that, dear?"

"That sounds like my husband too," laughed Mrs. Perkins. "Hello again, Harry, Hermione, and Lexy." She was wearing a pink and white skirt set and looked very good also. Her brown hair was covered by a little pink and white hat. Stevie was also wearing a dress shirt and tie and kept tugging at it. "Stevie, say hello to everyone and leave your tie alone."

"But Mum, it's choking me!" He tugged again, pretending to gag. "See, I can't get enough air."

"Oh, Steven!" Mrs. Perkins batted his hands down and retied the blue tie. "There! I want you to at least keep the tie on until Mrs. Devon announces the breakfast is being served, then you can take it off."

"I hate ties," Stevie groaned and I flashed him a look of utter agreement. Ties and new shoes that pinched your feet sucked.

"He's such a little dramatist." Mrs. Perkins sighed. "I think he'll make a great actor one day."

Stevie said hello to us then said, in a very soft voice, "Mum, I'm not going to be an actor, I'm going to be a wizard. You know that!"

"Well, are you telling me there are no wizard actors?" whispered his mum back.

"I would suppose there are." Alaina said. "But they probably only act on stage, like the old Shakespeare companies."

Stevie and Mrs. Perkins sat opposite me and Alaina and Hermione and Jane sat next to Lexy and Stevie. I was glad they were sitting with us, so I could talk to kids I knew and not get stuck talking to some five-year-old or whatever.

"I can't wait till the end of school," said Stevie eagerly. He was a blond boy with dark brown eyes and a slightly crooked front tooth. "How come you're here with Lexy's mum, Harry?"

"‘Cause we're sharing her for today," I answered. "So for today she's my mum and Lexy's too."

"Oh. I didn't know you could do that," Stevie said. "Unless you were brother and sister, of course."

"Well, my mom is dating his dad," Lexy replied. "So that kind of makes Harry my twin brother."

"Must be nice to have twins like that, huh, Alaina," teased Jane Granger.

"Piece of cake, Jane," laughed my almost mum, and then the other two laughed as well.

I looked at Stevie and Hermione and Lexy in puzzlement. What was so funny? They looked as confused as I felt. Okay, it was a fact-grown-ups were just plain WEIRD! ALL of them!

"Are you doing anything cool for the summer, Harry?" asked Stevie.

"Um . . .I'm not sure yet. I know we haven't planned a holiday yet, ‘cause Dad needs to check his schedule."

"That's another reason I like summer," Stevie told us. "It's a whole three months till I have to get another shot from Healer Snape." He shuddered pathetically. "I really like your dad, Harry, but the shots he gave me this year for my check-up really hurt! ‘Specially that new one."

Hermione and I nodded, wincing.

"Did you cry?" asked Lexy.

"Umm . . .a little," Stevie admitted, reddening. I knew a little meant he'd bawled his head off, he just didn't want to admit it in front of the girls. "I couldn't help it. Mum says I've got a . . .phobia about shots."

"What's that?" asked Lexy.

"A phobia's when you're really afraid of something, like Ron is of spiders or I am of thunder," piped up Hermione.

"Oh. I'm afraid of the dark. I always sleep with a night light and Misty," Lexy volunteered. "I don't like shots either, but Healer Sev gives us the coolest candy after, so I don't mind so much."

Yes, he did, and Stevie agreed with me.

"How about you, Harry? What are you afraid of?" asked Hermione.

"Killer Dobermans," I answered, recalling Butch. "And the masked men coming back again." Even though Dad had told me all the bad men had been put in Azkaban, I still had nightmares about them

Then the Headmaster was announcing a warm welcome to all the mothers and kids who had come for the breakfast. "Food will be served shortly, I hope you all brought your appetites. Now, I'm going to turn the microphone over to Mrs. Devon." He stepped down from the podium and Mrs. Devon came up and said that before the breakfast began, we needed to give our mothers the gift we had made for them.

I handed Alaina my envelope shyly. "Uh, this is for you."

Lexy gave me a scowl. "Hey! I'm supposed to be first. She's my mom, Harry!"

"Lexy, it doesn't matter who gives me what first. Now settle down and quit acting like a jealous brat," Alaina ordered sternly. Then she began to open the envelope and examine the things inside.

"Oh, Harry! It's beautiful!" She hugged me. "Thank you very much!" She showed Jane and Mrs. Perkins what I'd made her, and then the servers came around to set some covered dishes in front of us.

Alaina was still opening her present from Lexy, so we all waited until she was finished before taking the covers off the silver dishes. Underneath them were plates of bacon, scrambled eggs, sausage patties, fried potatoes, waffles and pancakes with different kinds of fruit on them, like strawberries and peaches. There was syrup and cream and a basket full of breads and muffins, butter, and mini bagels. There was even a bowl of yogurt and a dish of oatmeal with cinnamon and bananas.

"All of this looks delicious!" said Jane. "And I shouldn't eat any of it if I want to fit into my new dress for the Dental Association banquet coming up in a month."

"Oh, come on, Jane! You know you don't have to worry about gaining weight. You burn off everything you eat when you run in the morning," Alaina chuckled. "I wish I had your discipline. The only running I do is around a playground with my students when we play Duck-Duck-Goose!"

"I know what you mean," said Mrs. Perkins. "But today's our day, ladies, so the heck with diets and exercise, let's eat, drink, and be merry! And tomorrow we can go back on Slim Fast."

"I'll drink to that!" Alaina smiled, and she raised her glass and the other two mothers clinked hers. Then they drank the strawberry spritzer.

I ate a waffle and some eggs and sausage. The food was okay, not as good as Dad's, but then nothing was. Alaina chatted with Jane and Stevie's mum, they were talking about each other's job and kids, telling each other stories about dumb things their kids did when they were like two. I thanked God Alaina didn't know anything embarrassing about me. I think Stevie wanted to disappear when his mum told about how he'd shoved beads from her necklace up his nose. "He was forever doing things like that, Charles and I never figured out why. But thank goodness Healer Sev and Morgan could usually remove whatever he stuck up there with a quick Summoning Charm."

"Hermione tried to pull out her own tooth once with a pair of her grandfather's pliers. She's lucky she didn't crack the enamel on her other two teeth or get some kind of disease from putting the filthy things in her mouth," Jane said, laughing.

"Mum, please!" groaned Hermione. "Not that again!"

Lexy looked at her mother in alarm, for she was next. "Lexy got into my makeup once, and drew all over herself and our cat Snuggles with it. She had my lipstick all over her face and the blush around her eyes and the poor cat's fur looked like a rainbow. ‘Clown, Mommy! Like the circus!' she said when I discovered what she'd been up to. I started laughing, even though I probably should've scolded her first. Too bad I didn't have a camera handy."

"You mean, thank God you didn't have a camera," Lexy whispered to us. "I thought this was supposed to be the Mother's Day breakfast, not Embarrass Your Kids Day."

"It's too bad Sev's not here, I'm sure he could tell us a tale or two about Harry, who was always up to something," said Mrs. Perkins.

"No doubt, but he did tell me one funny thing."

He did?? Dad, how could you?

"Well, Sev said little Harry loved to draw on the walls. With anything and everything. Quills, markers, ink, crayons, you name it and he used it. Severus said he couldn't count how many times he had to use a spell to remove something from the wall. They even tried charming all the quills and pens so Harry couldn't use them, but then he just found something else, like lipstick. ‘No matter how many times we told him no, you draw on paper or parchment, or smacked his hand and put him in time-out, the minute we turned our back, there he was scribbling on the wall. Lily used to joke that maybe we had the next Michelangelo, once she stopped yelling about how Harry'd ruined her newest tube of lipstick, that is.'"

"What did Sev end up doing to stop it?" asked Jane, once they'd stopped chuckling.

"Uh. . .Lily figured out that if she made a special wall for Harry to hang up the pictures he made, he'd quit scribbling all over the wall. She called it the art wall, Sev said, and it worked like a charm. He still has one, as a matter of fact."

Only now I put my own pictures on it for him to see and sometimes a test that I'd gotten a 100% on went up there too. Still, I wish Dad hadn't told Alaina that dumb story. Grown-ups! They just love to embarrass their kids. I'll bet he'll be telling that story when I'm twenty!

Then they started talking about their husbands, and Alaina got real quiet all of a sudden. I knew that was because her old husband had been mean and nasty to her, that's why she divorced him. "Dan was the kind of man your parents warned you to stay away from. But I didn't know that until after I married him. That was when the prince turned into a monster," Alaina said with a shudder. "I should've listened to my mother and married Max King next door."

"It's easy to say what if and I should've, Alaina, after the fact. Hindsight is always perfect," Jane told her. "The important thing is you got away from him and took your daughter away too. So many women never get up the courage to leave."

"Too true. I did a talk for a charity for abused women once I'd left Dan, trying to encourage women in abusive relationships to leave before it was too late. I don't know how much good it did."

"Some advice is better than no advice," said Mrs. Perkins.

"Do you really think so, Sally? I wish sometimes I could take my own and stop jumping at shadows. Even after nearly eight months, sometimes I think I see a man that looks like him or a car like his and I get all panicky. Silly, right?"

"You don't think he'd ever come after you?" Jane asked, alarmed.

"He did once, but then I was with my parents in Pennsylvania, and he wanted me to give him Lexy. I told him he'd get her over my dead body, and he laughed and said I can arrange it, but then the cops came and took him to jail for breaking his restraining order. Dan doesn't like to lose, in or out of the courtroom."

"Well, he lost you all right. And his loss is your gain," said Stevie's mum.

"Not to mention a certain Healer's," said Jane with a wink, and Alaina went red.

"Right on, Janie. I'd like to see the creep try anything when Sev's around. He'll make the rotter sorry he ever saw the light of day. That Snape temper's nothing to fool with, especially if you harm one of their own. Sev might be a Healer and sworn to harm none with magic, but he can throw a punch with the best of them," my art teacher said admiringly.

"While I dearly love to see Sev thrash Dan six ways to Sunday, I prefer it if it never came to that and Dan stayed where he belonged, far away from here for the rest of my life." Alaina said hopefully.

I hoped so too, for Dan sounded like a terrible man and I never wanted to meet him. I put my hand in Alaina's then and said, "Don't worry, Alaina. Dad will knock him to the moon if he ever comes back for you and Grandpa will pound what's left over into the ground. And I'll help him," I added, trying to sound brave and tough. "Cause nobody messes with a Snape."

"Oh, Harry!" Alaina cried, and then she hugged me so tightly I almost couldn't breathe.

"Looks like you're pretty well-defended, Alaina," smiled Jane.

"Yeah. If I were your ex-husband I'd start running to China," added Hermione. "Healer Sev could make a boggart wet itself and Harry's grandpa could scare the socks off of a dementor."

I grinned proudly. Yup, no doubt about it, the Snape men could be very scary if they had to be.

Before we could say anything else, Mrs. Devon came back up to the podium and announced that the school had a special gift for all the mums, since they had the toughest job of all, and got the least credit for it. "When I call your name, please come up here and get a special button and a bouquet of roses."

"Well, that's right nice of them!" exclaimed Mrs. Perkins. "They didn't do anything like this last year. Must have gotten extra money out of pinch-penny Torres." Torres was on the Board of Governors, I think, and nobody liked him.

Alaina went up and when she came back, she had a pretty bouquet of pink and peach roses and a big button that said Queen For A Day! All Day & Every Day, All Hail the Queen Mum.

"That's you, Mom!" Lexy cheered. "And I'm the princess!" She hugged Alaina.

"What about me?" I asked, feeling a bit left out.

"You can be the serving boy," Lexy said. I glared at her. Then she smirked at me. "Only kidding. You can be a prince, Harry."

"They've got a real Prince Harry here too, y'know, He's third in line for the throne, after his dad and brother," Hermione told Lexy.

"But not a wizard prince," I said softly. "My grandma's name before she married Grandpa was Prince."

"Guess you really are a prince, Harry," gasped Stevie. Then he pretended to bow to me.

I pretended to look all stuck-up and looked down my nose at him. "That's right, and now you have to do whatever I say."

"Not really, Harry," Hermione chimed in. "Even the royals have to obey Parliament. Otherwise they get their head chopped off, like Charles the First."

"They do?" Lexy's eyes were wide.

"Yup." Hermione nodded, in that know-it-all way she has. "Aren't I right, Mummy?"

"You are, Mione, but that happened hundreds of years ago, when we were less civilized."

"How does she know all that?" marveled Mrs. Perkins.

"She watches the History Channel," Jane said proudly.

"Aww, Merlin! I wanted to pretend to chop off Harry's head," Stevie whined.

"Steven!" scolded his mum.

"What?" he looked at her innocently. "It's just a game, Mum!"

"I don't want to be a prince anymore," I said quickly. "Too many people want to chop off your head."

"Only if you're a bad one," Lexy said then. "If you're good and help people, then you get to marry the beautiful princess and live happily ever after."

Stevie hooted. "Ooo, Harry getting married! Who are y'gonna marry? Hermione?"

"Shut up, Stevie."

"He can't marry me," objected Hermione. "I'm not a princess."

"You are for today, since your mum's a queen," pointed out Stevie. "So now you and Harry can marry each other. That means you gotta kiss her, Harry."

"No way!" I cried, horrified.

Hermione looked hurt. "Why not? Is there something wrong with me?"

I realized I'd hurt her feelings. "No. It's just you're a girl." I explained.

"Well, of course I'm a girl!"

"So . . .I don't kiss girls. Not even grown-up ones." I felt myself going redder and redder, Stevie was laughing, and Hermione was looking at me like I'd just insulted every member of her family. Uh-oh, Harry. Now you've done it. I thought fast. "But if I did kiss girls, I'd kiss you first, Hermione."

Hermione beamed. "Really? Thanks, Harry!" Then she threw her arms about me and kissed me on the cheek!

I wanted to die. Why me?

"Aww, how sweet!" cooed the other mums, who happened to see it.

Great! Now everybody would be talking about it. I struggled to keep from wiping my cheek where she'd kissed me. Girls! Why did they have to be so . . .so touchy feely? It was so embarrassing! I was very glad there was only a week left of school, because I wouldn't have to listen to all the other kids making fun of me and saying I was sweet on Hermione. Yuck!

I looked down at my shoes and wished I were somewhere else. Alaina put her arm around me. "Don't be embarrassed, Harry. You handled that like a real gentleman. Just like your dad."

I looked up at her. "I did?"

" Yes. You were polite and considerate of Hermione's feelings, like your dad is of mine. And someday, when you're older, you're going to make some woman very happy." Then she smiled at me and said, "Your dad would be very proud of you. And so am I."

I felt better then, and I hugged her. That was the kind of thing my mum would have said, I think. Alaina was a nice lady and she was a good mother. I didn't think I'd mind so much if Dad married her one day. I just hoped they didn't have a baby if they ever did get married. Because I already had Lexy as my sister and I didn't want to share my dad and grandpa or even Alaina with a baby.

The breakfast was pretty much over after that, and we headed back home. In the car, Lexy and Alaina sang silly songs, like "Pop Goes the Weasel" and "Bear Necessities" and "This Old Man". I sang along too, and we all ended up laughing.

Dad was waiting for us when we came up the drive, he'd been watering the plants on the porch. "Well, how did it go?"

"It was lovely," Alaina said, smiling at him. "Your son ws very well-behaved, Severus. A real gentleman."

"Oh?" Dad's eyebrow went up.

"He let Hermione kiss him in front of the whole school!" Lexy sang out, then she started giggling.

"I didn't want her to, Dad!" I said. "She just did it." Merlin, but I was never gonna live this down! "She's not my girlfriend."

Dad looked at me and I saw he understood perfectly. "It's all right, Harry. Your mum did the same thing to me once when we were seven, when we were in the park. I'd just chased away this other kid who was bothering her and she ran up to me and said "You're the best, Sev!" And kissed me right on the mouth!"

"What did you do?"

"I wished I could turn myself invisible," Dad admitted with a smirk. "But I didn't feel that way ten years later, when she kissed me while we were walking."

"How come?"

"Because when you get older, Harry, your feelings towards girls change. You'll see what I mean one day. Right, Alaina?"

"Yes, Sev." Then she walked into his arms and kissed him.

Lexy squealed and I just rolled my eyes. Dad had to be wrong this time. I'd never like a girl that way, never ever, not in a million years, sure as my name's Harry James Severus Potter. But it had been nice to have a mum again, even if it was only for a day.