Harry's birthday started with Severus being summoned to Dumbledore's office. Stepping out of the fireplace, he was greeted by the sight of Sirius Black sitting on the comfortable, squishy couch. He was extremely thin, very pale and his eyes had a haunted look in them. Snape just looked at him, he wasn't glaring, but he wasn't smiling either.

"Come in Severus," smiled Dumbledore. "We have some things to talk about and I wanted to do it early so you can spend the day with your son."

Severus glanced over at Sirius, expecting an explosion but Sirius was looking at him strangely. He stood up and walked up to his old enemy and put out his hand. "Severus I owe you several apologies for several things over the years." With a wicked grin he continued, "not everything, you understand, but for some things." He sat back down with a bang.

Snape almost smiled at the confusing speech coming from the head of the pureblood Black family. He turned to Merlin and asked, "how did you free him? Does he know about Harry?"

Merlin chuckled and replied, "Oh, I just had a little talk with Minister Fudge. You know, I believe that very soon someone will call for a general election. It wouldn't surprise me one bit to see Author Weasley in the office in the very near future. But to continue, Sirius was in such a bad way that I had to take him straight to St.Mungos where he has been for all this time. And yes, he is aware that you are Harry's legal father, Severus."

Sirius stood again, "Severus, I was upset when I first heard about the situation, but I'm not as hot-headed as I used to be. Having dementors as roommates will make you grow up sooner or later, and it's mostly sooner. Everyone thought that I was never coming out of prison and Harry had to have a father. But Severus, please don't revoke my right to be his Godfather."

At this Snape turned to the two older wizards and yelled "OKAY, WHO SNITCHED MY POLYJUICE POTION? THIS CAN'T BE SIRIUS BLACK!!"

At this Albus and Merlin laughed out loud. "I assure you that it is my dear boy", laughed Albus.

After Severus told Sirius that he was indeed to remain as Godfather he went on to explain that although Harry could and did talk, it was not a frequent occurance. "Of course," he said, "you can communicate with him without spoken words. He talks to me more that way than aloud. He is an extremely bright young boy and his magic is amazing. We have not done tests on his magical core as of yet, but they will be done when he is a little older."

Sirius looked thoughtful. "You know, I don't know if Harry will remember me. It has been a long time, and he was very young. Do you think I could come to his birthday dinner this evening?" After being assured that he was welcome he was about to go to the room that Dumbledore had asked a house elf to make ready for him when the Headmaster stopped him.

"Just one more minute please Sirius. I'm calling a meeting of the Order of the Phoenix this evening after Harry's dinner. Both of you need to be there."

Snape returned to his quarters to find Harry jumping up and down with excitement. "I'm five years old Daddy," he yelled. Laughing, Severus picked him up and kissed his forehead. "I know you are, my boy. Do you want your birthday gift before or after breakfast?"

Receiving the answer he had expected he called Dobby and asked her to bring Harry's gift. She disappeared and in a moment she and Dobby both appeared and Dobby was holding a large box with a silver ribbon on top. Harry, with eyes as big as saucers, reached for the box and setting it down upon the floor he pulled off the lid. He looked down at the furry little face, and blue eyes of a pure white puppy. He squealed in delight and picked the fuzz ball up from the box. Looking up at his Father with a shining face he smiled. Severus heard a voice in his head telling him how much he loved the gift and how much he loved his Daddy.

Harry and his Dad spent the morning flying together. Harry could go higher now and loved scaring Snape with loops and tricks. Watching him the man could see James in his son and, for some reason, it didn't bother him as he had thought that it would. He found himself happy with the fact that Harry was happy, and that he was his son.

They went back inside and Harry took a nap under Daisy's watchful eye while Severus did some reading in front of the fire. They spent a quiet afternoon together and went down to the Great Hall where Harry found a huge cake and lots of presents. He noticed a man standing in the crowd of professors by the head table looking at him. He thought he had seen him somewhere, but he didn't know where. The man walked towards him and went down on one knee so that he would be on the little boy's level.

"Hello Harry, do you remember me?" When the child shook his head the man continued, "I'm your Uncle Padfoot, Harry. I'm your Godfather."

Suddenly Harry remembered, he remembered this man and his Daddy wrestling on the floor and laughing. He remembered this man turning into a big black dog and taking rides on his back. Harry smiled, nodded and threw his arms around his Godfather's neck as the others watched with lumps in their throats.

When Severus and Harry returned to their quarters they heard the puppy whining from his box in Harry's room. Harry ran to pick him up and hugged his wriggling little body. "Dad, do you think he is lonely without his brothers and sisters?" he asked.

"He could be son, but he will forget about them in a day or two," Snape replied. "He may stay in your room with you tonight, but under no circumstances are you to allow him on the bed." Transfiguring a sock into a small bed for the puppy he placed it beside the fireplace and told Harry that Blue, which is the name the boy had given the new pet, could sleep there.

After Harry was asleep in his bed with Blue asleep in his bed by the fire, Severus left and went to Dumbledore's office. Most of the members of the Order were there, as was Merlin.

Dumbledore stood and said, "All right everyone, we need to get started. There are some startling events that you all need to be aware of. I'm sure that all of you have heard that Sirius has been cleared of all charges relating to the deaths of James and Lily, and that Peter Pettigrew has been charged."

"For the past several months there has been an increasing parade of Death Eaters turning themselves in to the Ministry. They all told such a strange story that the Department of Mysteries was called in to investigate, and the results were staggering. It seems that not one of these people joined Voldermort willingly. It appears that somehow the Dark Lord placed an extremely ancient, and forgotten curse on the ones he wanted and it had an effect similar to the Imperius. It is as if the person cursed is hypnotized. When he activates the mark on their arm they change into Deatheaters. After a few hours the spell eases off and they do not have any recollection of anything they have done. As I understand it, there are a few people who cannot be affected by this curse, or by hypnosis. Severus is one, so are Bellatrix Lastrange and Lucius Malfoy. Bellatrix, Malfoy and Peter Pettigrew (everyone already knew he was still alive) are the only ones still loyal to him and Peter only stays because he knows he cannot return to our world."

"We have also discovered that Voldemort is probably in a forest in Albania. He tried to create horcruxes so that he could not die. The magic that he used to split his soul combined with the killing curse that rebounded when he tried to kill Harry, killed the pieces he split off and it is slowly killing his magical core. He is incurably insane now and when his magical core dies so will he. As his magical strength lessened so did the power of the curse placed on the ones with the dark mark. When these people discovered what had been done to them and knew what had been done to innocent people because of things they were forced to do they came to turn themselves in to the authorities. Some of them may have to go to prison for a short sentence, but most of these unfortunates will be given amnesty."

"Hopefully now that we know about where he is he will be caught. We will still have to be vigilant, the three with him are extremely dangerous, but we are not going to have to worry about Voldermort again. It is indeed a happy day for the world."

"But what of the prophecy?" called Molly Weasley, a short, stout redhead.

Merlin answered, "Nothing is set in stone, not even a prophecy. A prophecy is just a vision of what could happen if the circumstances are right. Think for a moment, if Voldermort had not been told about the prophecy he would have had no reason to attack the Potters and he would not have cast the killing curse at their son."

Seeing regret, guilt, and grief mirrored on the former potions professor's face he continued, " Severus, you were fated to tell him, just as it was Fate that led him to attempt to create horcruxes. Prophecies do not always come true but Fate will not be changed."

Everyone stayed after the meeting to talk about everything that they had been told. They were trying to comprehend the fact that they did not have to live in fear anymore and there would be no dark mark floating above some poor muggle's house again. Voldermort's reign of death and terror was finally over. Slowly they drifted apart and returned to their homes.

When Severus opened the door of Harry's room he was expecting to have to take Blue out of his master's bed and return him to his own. He walked over to the bed and saw immediately that it was empty. His heart pounding, he looked around them room and saw not one, but two puppies asleep by the fire. With shaking hands he picked up a little black puppy. When the puppy opened sleeping eyes the unbelieving man saw that they were Lily green. He looked again and noticed a white mark on the puppy's head, a white lightening bolt. This puppy was his son!

Harry looked back at his Dad and immediately he was a little boy again. "Dad, he was crying because he missed his family. You told me not to bring him into bed with me so I had to go to his bed."

Silently Severus shook his head. "Turning into animals, that was that book you were reading a few days ago. You did it from reading that book! I can see that I am going to have to keep an eye on what books you read from now on young man."

Tucking the little boy back into his own bed, this time with Blue beside him, he returned to the living area where he spent another lengthy night staring at the fire.