Severus didn’t like being grounded. He didn’t like it one bit!

On Sunday, Sev had politely asked for dessert after finishing his dinner. What did Harry reply?

“Sorry, cub, you’re grounded.”

Sev pouted at him, pleaded with him, and screamed at him. Nothing worked. The latter earned him a chilling glare and a time-out warning. Sev relented.

When Harry began bathing him at seven and put him to bed at seven thirty, Sev whined to stay up just a little bit longer. What did Harry reply?

“No. You’re grounded. That means bedtime’s an hour earlier. End of discussion.”  

Sev had tried his hand at crocodile tears this time. Harry merely raised an eyebrow at him until he stopped. Then, he quietly informed Severus that in addition to being a master occlumens, he was also a master ligilimens. He could tell the fake tears from the real ones. Therefore, any future attempts at winning him over with crocodile tears were both useless and inadvisable. The infant scowled at him.

Ginny managed to smooth the situation over, though, when she wordlessly strolled into the room in her nightgown, laid down next to Severus, urged Harry to lay down as well, turned out her light, and promptly settled down to sleep. Both boys stared at her in confusion. When Harry shrugged and followed his girlfriend’s example, Sev found himself between his two resting guardians in a room devoid of any light. He was asleep within five minutes.

It wasn’t until Tuesday that they had run into Remus. Harry and Sev were heading to the Entrance Hall to get their assignment for the day and they had exited their quarters at the same time Remus, Tonks, and Teddy had exited theirs, heading for breakfast.

“Peb-by!”

“Coo!”

The infant had reached towards Teddy, opening and closing his hand in plea, and what did Harry reply?

“Uh, uh, uh! Are we forgetting we’re grounded?”

Sev sat back in his carrier and frowned at his guardian. “Haweh!” He whined.

“Don’t give me that look. You know you’re grounded. That means no dessert, early bedtime, and no playtime with Teddy.” He turned back towards the trio. “I’m sorry, guys.”

Remus and Tonks just waved it off, giving them a pair of gentle smiles. “What’s he grounded for?” The werewolf asked softly.

“Mo wike!”

“Of course you don’t like it. You’re not supposed to like being grounded. Then it wouldn’t be a punishment anymore, would it? Maybe next time I try to put you in a five-minute time-out, you’ll sit quietly and not bruise my face again.” He fixed the infant with a stern look, “Because I guarantee you, the next time that happens, it’ll be a three-swat spanking and a week of grounding. Do I make myself perfectly clear?” Sev blushed and buried his face inside his sling. Harry felt his nod through the material.

Ginny showed up bright and early Wednesday morning and announced that that was the day she wanted to go shopping in London. Severus was still asleep and had stayed asleep. Harry, however, groaned and turned over on his bed, burying his head under the pillow.

“Love, it is five o’clock in the morning! I promise…” Harry yawned, “…we’ll go around nine.”

Ginny had rolled her eyes and climbed into bed next to him. The two spooned and went back to sleep until Hedwig woke them up at seven. Severus was up at eight and sitting up in his crib, screaming at the top of his lungs for somebody to get him out.

“OWD!!! OWD!!! OWD!!!”

Harry stood at the door with his arms crossed, giving the infant a stern glare, until Severus stopped talking altogether and sat back on his heels, looking attentive. 

“Thank you.” Harry said, his voice level, his tone low. “You know, Severus, you don’t need to scream at the top of your lungs for someone to hear you in the living room. The acoustics in this room are perfectly fine.” He said as he approached the crib and lowered the railings. “All you need to do is ask in a nice, calm voice for one of us to help you down.” Harry told him gently. “And we’ll be able to hear you perfectly. Now…” He gave the infant an expectant look. 

“Owd, pea.” Sev requested calmly, adding a bit of charm into the mix by giving Harry his award-winning toothless grin.

Harry smirked. “We’ve got a charmer, haven’t we?” He carried the child through his morning routine as he described the coming day. “So Ginny wants to go into London today to do some window shopping. She wants some ideas on how to design the living room, the bedrooms, and all the other rooms and whatnot. I’m going to take the pair of you to IKEA. It’s a muggle store. Have you ever heard of it?”

Severus cooed around the two fingers he was chewing and shook his head.

“Oh, come now, cub, you’re drooling everywhere.” Harry wiped up the infant’s drool and fingers before handing him his teething snitch. “IKEA is big furniture store. It’s international, the displays are brilliant, and it’s very cheap. I think it’s a brilliant store.”

“AH!” Sev used his free hand to sign, ‘S-I-G-N B-O-O-K’

“Oh, yeah.” Harry nodded. “Definitely. That was the other reason she wanted to go into London—to get you a more comprehensive baby sign book.”

“I also want to pick one up with British Sign Language and American Sign Language.” Ginny continued as she walked into the bathroom and used to mirror. “British sign language is more complete than baby sign language, but I also wanted to compare that with American Sign Language to see if their signs are easier for little hands.” She walked over to the changing table and began dressing Severus in a tiny pair of blue jeans and a t-shirt that said ‘Small Fry’ on it.

“Let me guess,” Harry started, taking off his t-shirt and throwing it into the laundry basket. “I’m ‘Big Fish’.”

Ginny grinned. “It’s on the bed, Harry.”

“Mm-hmm.”

“You’re going to be in the pram or the sling for most of the day, Sev, so I won’t put your trainers on you.” Ginny said to the infant, “I will put on socks, but we’ll have your trainers in the diaper bag if we need them, okay?” The infant was too busy watching the trashcan gobble up his nappy to care about what she said.

“Hun, I’m going to transfigure the car into an SUV, just in case you want to get something at IKEA.” Harry called from the bedroom.

“What’s an SUV?”

“It’s a big car. Lots of wiggle room.”

“Don’t forget to transfigure his walker into a car seat. We’ll have to get one of those while we’re in town.” Ginny summoned several toys from all around the quarters into the bathroom and told Severus he could pick one stuffed toy and one other toy to bring for the day.

“I know.”

“And his pram!”

“I know.”

“Can you add car seat to the list I made? It’s on the table.” While Sev mentally debated on which toys he wanted to bring, Ginny transfigured the nappies in the diaper bag to look as muggle as possible. That was when she remembered something. “By the way…Harry!”

“Yeah?” A voice replied from the den.

“Fred and George invented something for you.” She pulled out plain sterling silver cuff from her pocket and fingered its smooth surface. Curious, Sev looked up from his toy-picking and studied the cuff in her hand.

“What does it do?”

“Basically…it’s a glamour that you can put on, but it doesn’t really change your appearance.”

Harry stuck his head through the bathroom door. “Run that by me again?”

Ginny waved the cuff in his face. “It changes your appearance for magical cameras only. Nothing else.” She put the cuff in Harry’s hand and the teen studied it closely. “So if someone from the Daily Prophet or Witch Weekly or Wizards Today tries to take your picture, they’ll get a picture of something else instead.”

“Something else?” Harry gave her questioning look.

“You know how Fred and George are.” Ginny smirked. “It’s quite funny, actually. They showed me a few pictures taken of the pair of them while they were wearing the bracelets. There was one where a dragon had his arm around a hippogriff, and the hippogriff was doing bunny ears on the dragon. It really is a laugh when you see the pictures.”  She took the bracelet from his hand and looked for something on the inner lining of the cuff. “Here, this one is a…dragon.” She handed the cuff back to Harry and took two more out of her pocket, looking for the same inside inscription.

“Fred and George gave you three?”

“Yeah, they were wondering about that.” Ginny replied, squinting at one of the bracelets. “They asked what I needed three for when there was only the pair of us.”

“And what’d you say?” Harry wondered anxiously.

“Nothing.” Ginny shrugged. “I was like, ‘Oh, you know…’. I shrugged it off. Didn’t really give them a reply.” She studied the cuff once again. “Ah! This one is a baby dragon. Here, Sev, this can be yours.” She shrunk the cuff and put it on his tiny wrist.

“And what’d they say when you didn’t say anything?”

“Well they didn’t ask any more questions, if that’s what you’re wondering.” She studied her cuff for a moment and grinned. “Wicked! I’m the hippogriff.” She slipped the cuff on her wrist and signaled Harry to do the same with his own cuff. “Now my mother, on the other hand, is beginning to wonder why I’m suddenly interested in all the baby books in the house.” She handed the diaper bag to Harry and picked Sev up.

“AH! AH!”

“What? What is it?”

Sev pointed to his teething snitch. “Mmma! Mmma!”

“Sorry, cub. We can’t bring that with us. It moves.” Harry said.

Sev made a disappointed sound, but then brightened up and pointed to his stuffed baby snake. “Doy.” Then he pointed to another stuffed lion cub. “Doy.”

“You want to take two stuffed animals instead of one other toy?” Sev nodded. “I’ll settle for that compromise.” Ginny handed both stuffed animals to Harry, who put them in the diaper bag. “Anyway, she actually asked me if I was pregnant the other day. Can you imagine?!”

“She did?!” Harry’s eyes widened.

“Yeah!”

“In front of your dad?!”

“No, we were alone. Thank Merlin!”

“So what’d you say?” Harry asked anxiously.

“I said ‘No, I’m not pregnant!’ and asked if she wanted proof! I can’t believe she asked me that. She raised me! She should know me by now!” Ginny handed Sev to Harry and slipped the baby sling over her shoulders. “And anyway, you were on the run and we were in hiding up until a month ago. She knew we were still going strong when you left, and throughout the year. Why would she assume I’m pregnant?! Where would we have found the time to have sex? Before the Battle, I hadn’t seen you since Bill and Fleur’s wedding; and even that ended up being raided. Honestly!”

“Well she probably assumed we did it during one of the victory parties.” Harry replied, helping Ginny put the baby in the sling.

“She shouldn’t have, Harry. That’s my point!”

“Gin, I’m pretty sure she trusts you. I mean…” Harry waved a hand and called his broom to him while Ginny thrust the transfigured car seat and folded pram into his arms. “…you said she and your dad both trust you and me.”

“They do! That’s why I’m really offended, Harry.”

Harry didn’t know what to say to that. “Well…are your parents the type who are…e—easily offended, or something, with underage sex or…sex before marriage…that kind of thing?”

Ginny paused her mental checklist for a moment, unsure about her response. “Well…not really.” She shook her head. “I mean…they’re really progressive parents and all of that.”

“So if we were actually having sex right now…they wouldn’t mind?”

Ginny frowned and put her hands on her hips. “What’re you trying to say, Harry?”

Harry’s eyes widened. “No! No, no, no, no, no, no, no!” He held his hands up in a peace gesture. “I—I—I wasn’t trying to say anything by that! I just meant uh…I was just wondering about your parents’ stands on issues like that.” He shrugged. Turning on his heel, he strolled towards his desk to retrieve the shopping list and the shrunken car. “I mean…I think she was just wondering, Gin. That’s why she asked if you were pregnant. You don’t need to be so worried about that.”

“She didn’t sound like she was just wondering.” Ginny scowled.

“Why? What’d she sound like?”

“I don’t know.” His girlfriend’s eyebrows furrowed, indicating she was in deep thought.

“Mewmew! Mewmew, pea!”

“She sounded…” The furrowed eyebrows turned into a frown as undid her shirt and pulled up her bra. “I don’t know. It’s kind of weird! She sort of sounded…excited or something.” She guided Sev’s head until she was sure he was properly latched on.

“Excited?!” Harry repeated, surprised.

“Yeah! Can you believe it?! Actually, I just noticed that right now.” She adjusted the sling so that Sev wouldn’t shift around while he nursed.

Harry headed to the kitchen. “Wait…if she was excited when she asked if you were pregnant,” his eyebrows furrowed as he opened the ice box, “how did she react when you said no?”

Ginny frowned in confusion. “Disappointed, actually.” Then her eyes widened and she gawked at Harry. “Merlin’s beard! Do you think she actually wanted me to be pregnant?!”

Harry shrugged. “Maybe.” He pulled Sev’s teething ring out of the ice box, spelled it to be perpetually cold, and stuck it in the diaper bag. “If she sounded that way, then maybe she did.” Closing the ice box, he turned back to his girlfriend. “Shall we go?”

“Breakfast?”

“IKEA. Ninety-eight pence for a full breakfast.” Harry smirked.

“Harry, I love this place already.” Ginny carried Severus out the door while Harry trailed behind them, lugging his broom, the diaper bag, the folded-up pram, the car seat, and the car along with him.

The trio flew the broom from the stone bridge on the fourth floor, around the back of the school, to the section of the riverbank that sat just outside the apparition wards of the school. There, they enlarged the SUV, packed everything in, strapped Sev’s car seat to the back seat, strapped Sev into the car seat, and climbed in. Ginny opted to sit in the back with Severus to ensure he didn’t throw up when they came out of apparition.

“Where are we apparating to?” She asked, buckling her seatbelt and checking Sev’s.

“The alley behind the Leaky Cauldron.” Harry answered, checking his mirrors. “It’s charmed with a Notice-Me-Not and a Muggle Repellant. We could pull out of there and it’d be fine.”

“And you know how to get to IKEA from there?”

“Yeah.” Harry nodded, starting the car with a wave of a hand. “I know that city like the back of my hand. Street kid, remember?” He smirked. Harry’s right hand hung onto the wheel of the car, while his left hand held Ginny’s and Ginny’s held Severus. “Ready? 1…2…3!”

The floo in Harry’s quarters flared green and a floating head emerged from within the flames.

“Harry?”

No response.

“Harry?”

Complete silence.

For a moment, the fires died down and the head disappeared. Then, suddenly, they flared green again, the flames leaping higher than before.

Sirius Black stepped in through his godson’s floo and dusted himself off on the hearth. Now that he had a complete view of the quarters, he took the opportunity to look around. “Harry?”

Still nothing.

Spying the partially open bedroom door, Sirius tiptoed around the tables and chairs of the living room, dodging the playpen, and managing to step on several squeaky toys in the process. “Merlin’s Beard, Harry!” Sirius hissed under his breath, having stepped on yet another stuffed animal. “If this is how many toys you buy for Teddy, how much are you going to splurge on your own son?”

Having finally navigated through the crucible of children’s toys, he approached the bedroom door and cleared his throat loudly, just in case. He received no response. Sirius knocked on the door, pushing it open slightly, and stuck his head inside. “Harry?” He found a neatly-made bed, a beautiful crib with a…thingy floating on top of it, and an empty bathroom, but no Harry.

“Is anybody here?” Sirius murmured to himself. His eyes rolled towards the ceiling and the loft beyond. Shuffling past the playpen, the animagus darted up the stairs and did a quick check of the other two rooms and bathroom. Nobody was home.

With a sigh, he ambled back down the stairs and towards the door. “Ginny sure knows how to decorate a place. That’s for sure.” He said under his breath. Sirius reached out a hand to push the door open but paused halfway, remembering just whose painting guarded Harry’s door. “Ahem…um…Sir Merlin?”

“Yes, Sir Sirius?” A voice boomed out of nowhere.

“Is it alright if I leave now?” The animagus asked warily.

“Certainly.” The amused voice replied, and the door swung open.

“Thank you.” Sirius quickly stepped through the doorway and crossed the hallway in two steps. “Remus?!” He hollered at the painting of the wolves before banging on the picture’s frame.

The two adult wolves stared down at him disapprovingly while the wolf cub barked, yipped, and howled at him. A few seconds later, the door swung open to reveal his favorite first cousin once removed. “Good morning, Sirius.” She smiled, her hair flaring red.

“Good morning, Dora.” Sirius gave her a kiss on the cheek before stepping past her and into the room.

“Padfoot, you have a hell of a way of announcing yourself. You know that?” Remus remarked from behind the Daily Prophet.

“And a good morning to you too, Moony.” Sirius replied, taking a seat across from his friend at the kitchen table.

“Breakfast, Siri?” Tonks offered.

“No, thank you, Dora. I just ate.” Sirius waved it off. “Hey, have either of you seen Harry this morning?” He asked.

“No, I haven’t seen them since yesterday.” Dora shook her head.

“I think I heard them leaving their quarters a few minutes ago, though.” Remus remarked, folding up the newspaper and sliding it towards Sirius. “You just missed them.”

“Ginny’s with him?”

“Ginny’s always with him nowadays.” Tonks smirked. “They’re uh…They’re playing ‘house’, you could say.” She laughed at her own joke. Remus shot her a look.

“Yeah, I know.” Sirius pointed behind him to Harry’s quarters. “I, uh…tripped over Teddy’s collection of toys in their quarters. God, I hadn’t realized how much toys Harry bought for the little guy.” Sirius turned away for a second and missed the look that passed between Remus and Tonks. “Merlin’s beard!” Sirius chuckled. “If that’s the way he splurges on his godson, how do you think he’s going to splurge on his own kid, eh?”

“Yeah, one wonders…” Tonks had to clamp her jaw shut to keep from laughing out loud. The smirk on her face, though, couldn’t be helped, especially when Remus passed her an exasperated look behind Sirius’ back.

“Maybe I should have a word with him about proper balance for a child.”

“HA!” Tonks snorted into the back of her hand.

“What?!”

“Padfoot, do you really think Harry’s going to take you seriously if you start talking to him about that now?” She asked.

“Sirius, there is not a doubt in my mind that Harry can discipline just as well as he spends.” Remus put in, remembering the mild scolding Harry was giving Severus yesterday.

“James never could.”

“Harry’s not James.”

“True.”

“Why were you looking for him anyway, Paddy?” Tonks asked, breaking apart a croissant.

“Well, I wanted to ask him and Ginny, and you two as well, if you all wanted to spend the day in London.” Sirius replied, snatching a bit of Dora’s pieced croissant and popping it in his mouth. “I already flooed Ron and Hermione. They should be at Grimmauld Place within the hour.”  

“Ooh, London!” Dora murmured, her eyes widening playfully as she turned a pleading smile towards her husband. Remus eyed her over the rim of his coffee cup and sighed.

“So how about it?” Sirius pushed excitedly. “We could take the muggle underground. Go around the sights! I’ve always wanted to do it, you know. I never could, though, considering my parents were…you know.” He shrugged.

“You’ve never seen Big Ben?” Tonks’ eyes widened. “Or Buckingham Palace? Or any of that?” Sirius shook his head. “Are you serious?!” A grin blossomed on Sirius’ face. “Don’t answer that!” Tonks amended, raising a finger at the animagus. Her cousin snorted.

“I haven’t seen them, either.” Remus remarked.

“Well then the pair of you are in for a treat.” Tonks pushed her croissant towards Sirius and stood up. “How about it, Remus? Fancy a nice tour of London?”

Remus sighed. “Oh…why not?”

“Brilliant!” Tonks’ hair flared hot pink. “I’ll go get Teddy ready.”

“Bring some walking shoes!” Sirius called after her. “Hermione wants to go to Oxford Street and Tottenham Court Road right after for some window shopping!” A squeal of delight emerged from behind the bedroom door. Sirius turned back to Remus. “So…I’ve gotten you two. Now all I need to do is find Harry and Ginny and convince them to come along as well.”

“Shouldn’t be too hard.” Remus smirked. “Tonks and Hermione are coming along, which means Ginny will want to come along, and where Ginny goes, Harry goes, so…” Remus took a sip of his coffee, “There you go!”

“You wouldn’t know how I could find Harry around here, would you?”

As Tonks got everything ready for the day, Remus took Sirius over to the Entrance Hall to find Harry’s current repair assignment. It said he was assigned to the Seventh Floor that day, but when the boys arrived to look for him, they only found Professor Flitwick, who assured them Harry hadn’t been there all day. Remus suggested asking Merlin if he knew where they were, but Sirius proposed they check the Great Hall before they resorted to asking the paintings. A handful of professors were at the table that morning, debating about something or another when they walked in. Professors Dumbledore, McGonagall, Slughorn, and Hagrid all hadn’t seen Harry that day, either.

“Why do you ask, dear boy?” The Headmaster questioned, his eyes twinkling.

“I was just going to ask him if he wanted to go with us into London today.” Sirius shrugged. “Well…thanks for your help.”

“Sorry we couldn’t provide you with more.” Dumbledore added.

Disappointed, Sirius turned back and headed up the moving staircase, Remus in tow. “Where could he have gone?”

“Like I said, Merlin would know. He knows everything!” Remus smirked.

Merlin did indeed know everything, but what frustrated Sirius was that he didn’t. “So they went into London already?”

“Yes, dear boy, you just missed them when you…flooed…in.” Merlin replied, the concept of a floo still quite foreign to him.

“Well, do you know where they went?”

“I believe they went to visit an IKEA.”

“An IKEA.” Sirius echoed. He turned to Remus and lowered his voice to a whisper. “What’s an IKEA?”

“I’ve no idea.”

“Oh…” Sirius cleared his throat and turned back to Merlin, “Well then…um…do you think they’ll be gone all day?”

“Looked that way to me.” The old wizard answered amicably.

“Oh…” Sirius sighed, disappointed. “Alright then. Thank you!”

“You are very welcome, dear boy!”

They turned around only to find the door to Remus’ quarters swinging open in their faces. Tonks loaded them down with Teddy’s pram and diaper bag before marching across the hall and stopping in front of Merlin. “Sweetheart, do you need anything from our quarters before we go?” She asked Remus.

“Uh…” The werewolf’s gaze moved from his quarters, to Teddy’s diaper bag, to his wife, then back to his quarters. “I don’t think so.”

“Excellent!” The witch swung the door shut and turned to Merlin, politely asking if they could use the floo before blurting out the password. The bubbly wizard replied in the affirmative, swinging the door open and amicably warning her to watch her step, as she carried some precious cargo.

“Thank you, Sir Merlin.”

“Your floo still isn’t set up yet?” Sirius murmured to Remus.

“Kingsley’s reorganizing everything at the Ministry. There’s chaos going on down there these days, from what I hear. They’re working as fast as they can.”

After wrapping Teddy up as best they could, all three of them flooed to Grimmauld Place, where Ron and Hermione were waiting for them.

“Sirius, do you realize you live within walking distance of both Buckingham Palace and Big Ben?” Hermione pointed out in her lecture voice as they stumbled out of the fireplace.

“Define ‘walking distance’.” The animagus replied, dusting himself off.

“You live within a three mile radius of both of them.” Hermione raised an eyebrow.

“Where’re Harry and Ginny?” Ron squeaked over the din of Teddy’s crying.

“Apparently, they’re already in London.” Sirius shouted over the wailing.

“What?!” Ron cried, not having heard him very well.

“Will you two shut it!” Tonks hissed, patting Teddy on the back and swaying back and forth. “His head is already spinning. Your screaming doesn’t help.” She turned to Remus. “Sweetheart, I packed some of that Children’s Stomach-Calming Draught Ginny gave us. It’s the small pink vial. Would you please?”

Ron pulled Sirius aside and Hermione followed them. “What do you mean they’re already here?” He asked, lowering his voice. “Ginny didn’t mention anything about going into London this morning.”

“Honestly, Ronald, you weren’t even up when Ginny left this morning.” Hermione rolled her eyes.

“Look, I ran around the school looking for them, just like we did last week. Merlin—the painting—told me they weren’t there. Told me I just missed them when I flooed in.” Sirius explained. “He said they left early to go to an…IKEA.” His eyebrows furrowed.

“IKEA?” Hermione repeated.

“What’s an IKEA?” Ron asked.

“It’s a furniture superstore.” Hermione replied. “My mom loves shopping there. It’s really cheap, their displays are brilliant, and they’ve a restaurant and everything.” She explained. “They must’ve gone there to shop for furniture for Harry’s house in Godric’s Hollow.”

“There’s already furniture there!”

“Oi! How’re we going to get around town?” Tonks asked. She and Remus had managed to calm Teddy enough to give him the potion, and now he was back to normal and looking around inquisitively.  

“Do you mind walking, Dora?” Hermione asked.

“Absolutely not.” The witch replied cheerfully. “Sweetheart?”

“Walking sounds good.”

“Do you think Harry’s avoiding us?” Ron asked Sirius as Hermione propelled everyone towards the door.

“I don’t think so. I think we just missed him, is all.” Hermione answered.

“Are you sure?”

“Perhaps if this trip was planned ahead, they would’ve been able to come along.” Hermione opened the door for them.

“I still don’t understand what they need to go furniture shopping for.” The animagus muttered, running down the front steps like a five-year-old.

“Whatever the reason, they’re not here now, but we are. So I say we enjoy the day together, and maybe later we can plan some other outing with them at a time that they can come. How’s that?” Tonks interjected as she stepped out onto the porch.

“She has a point. Boys?” Hermione turned to Ron and Sirius, gracing them both with an expectant look.

“Yeah.”

“Sure.”

Tonks smirked at Hermione and winked when Remus passed her a relieved look. “Then to Buckingham Palace we go!” Reaching behind her, Tonks shut the door.

“Lady and Gentleman, welcome to IKEA!” Harry announced, shutting the engine off and waving at the IKEA sign with a flourish. Turning in his seat, Harry glanced at his girlfriend behind him.

Ginny was smiling at him and tapping a finger to her lips. “He fell asleep on the way here.” She whispered, inclining her head towards the infant asleep in his car seat.

Harry couldn’t help but smile at the precious sight. “Did you take a picture?”

Ginny looked taken aback. “Of course I did! I took an entire roll.”

“Without the cuff on?”

“I took the cuff off, don’t worry.” Ginny whispered, stuffing the camera back in the diaper bag. “It’s back on now, though.”

“We have to get you a muggle camera later.” Harry commented, climbing out of the car. “Perhaps one of those new ones—digital cameras, I think they called them.” He came around and opened the trunk of the SUV. “Should I bring his pram?”

Ginny nodded. “Yeah. We’ll carry him later, when he wakes up.”

Harry unfolded Sev’s pushchair for the first time and the couple spent the next ten minutes or so trying to figure out how to snap everything in place without magic, and how to transfer Severus from the car seat to the pram without waking him. Finally, when everything was safely snapped into place, and the infant lay cradled within the folds of his blanket, they started towards the large furniture store.

“Nine thirty! Just in time! They just opened for breakfast. Shall we?” Harry offered one of his arms to his girlfriend, as his hands were busy pushing the baby carriage.

After having gotten over the shock at the cheapness of their breakfast, Ginny began to enjoy herself. She and Harry ate their fill before heading into the main showroom. Ginny was in heaven! Her eyes widened as she took in the various displays. Absolute heaven! Interior design was her hobby so this was her happy place. She spent at least ten minutes at each and every room display, taking notes with the tiny paper and pencils the store provided for customers, and examining everything from the couches and beds to the refrigerator magnets and organization boxes. She noted which wallpapers and colors went with which pieces of furniture. She marveled at the picture frames and paintings. She studied the shapes of the various rooms and tried to figure out how she could make it work at the house in Godric’s Hollow. She even took note of all the rugs and wondered on how she could make them work.

All the while, Harry trailed behind her, pushing Sev in his carriage. The baby awoke at around eleven, at which point Harry transferred him to his sling and Ginny nursed him under the privacy shawl. By the time they finished in the showroom, it was noontime and Sev was fed and bored, while Ginny and Harry were tired and hungry.

“Can we just share a plate?” Harry asked, shifting a fussy Severus to a different position. “I want to take you to this great place on Oxford Street called the Spaghetti House.”

“Sounds good.” Ginny nodded.

They ordered a plate of IKEA’s famous—according to Harry—Swedish meatballs, and Harry kept Sev entertained by making his stuffed lion cub and baby snake wink at him.

“Harry!” Ginny rebuked.

“No one can see! It’s behind his canopy.” He flicked his head and the lion cub and baby snake began making faces at each other, causing Severus to laugh out hysterically.

“For god’s sake, Harry!” Ginny placed a blanket over Sev’s canopy, completely blocking him from view, which encouraged Harry to go all-out with the stuffed animal show.

By the time they finished lunch and headed towards the warehouse, people were beginning to throw some odd looks their way. “People are going to wonder why a baby is laughing all by himself, inside his carriage, without anyone or anything making him laugh.” Ginny frowned at her boyfriend.

“Sorry.” As they entered the lift, Harry noticed they were by themselves and took the opportunity to wandlessly cast a Muffliato around the vicinity of the pram. Thus, they could still hear Sev laughing, but everyone else couldn’t. The odd looks stopped then.

“Thank you.”

Ginny spent another forty-five minutes getting everything she wanted to get from the warehouse. Harry ended up having to fold up the carriage and use the baby sling, as Ginny had him pushing the big, flat carts around. The teenager found himself hauling big boxes full of side tables, bookshelves, shelving, and stools, all while carrying a squirming Severus on his back.

“Now that’s a modern man.” A young woman in her thirties commented to her boyfriend as the couple stood in line. “He does all the manly stuff and carries the baby around.” She gave Ginny a thumbs-up. “You go girl!”

As the two ladies exchanged laughs, the woman’s boyfriend approached Harry and murmured, “I feel for you,” as he passed. The two men snorted.

“Hun, you do know there has to be at least some walking room in the house, right?”

“Harry, did you even look at the plans I had for the house?” Ginny asked, her eyebrows furrowed.

“Enough to know that this isn’t even an eighth of what we’re going to end up buying, is it?”

“Don’t worry, love. My first paycheck will more than make up for everything we’re going to buy.” Ginny answered offhandedly.

“Gin, I don’t want you to pay me back for—” Harry broke off when the full extent of his girlfriend’s statement finally registered. “Wait, what do you mean?”

Ginny snorted and gave him that look of hers; the one that drove Harry mad. It was her ‘I know something you don’t know’ sort of look and it drove her boyfriend wild with anticipation. “I’ll tell ya later.” She winked.  

“Gin…” Harry groaned.

After they finished paying, Harry and Ginny opted to push all their purchases out to their car. The semi-privacy of their parking spot provided them with the luxury of being able to use magic in order to make all the boxes fit in the back of the SUV.

“Thank Merlin for spatial charms!” Ginny muttered under her breath.

“You can say that again!” Harry leaned against the stack of boxes and bags in the back of the truck. “If it wasn’t for them, we’d be needing a moving van to haul all this home.”

“I didn’t buy that much!”

“You did too!” Harry retorted childishly.

“I’ll make it up to you.” Ginny ran a hand down his face and kissed him on the cheek before bouncing away to sit next to Sev’s car seat.

“Which reminds me…” Harry closed the back of the SUV, cast Notice-Me-Not and Muggle-Repellant charms on it for the time being, and went to return the cart. Upon returning, he removed the charms, climbed into the car, and turned to his girlfriend. “What were you talking about back in the store? Something about your first paycheck?”

Ginny grinned and pulled a letter from Sev’s diaper bag, handing it to Harry. The teenager gave it a quick once-over and his eyes widened in disbelief. Adjusting his glasses, he read it over once again, slower this time. He still couldn’t believe it. “The Holyhead Harpies!”

Ginny’s eyes shone as she beamed at him. “Seeker. Three year contract after Hogwarts. Two hundred thousand galleons per year!”

Harry’s eyes widened to the width of saucers. Sev giggled. “You’re signed?!”

“I’m signed!”

“Merlin’s Beard!” Harry jumped out of the car, threw open Ginny’s door, and gathered her in his arms, spinning her around and around in circles. Ginny simply laughed and locked her legs around Harry’s waist and her arms around his neck. Harry finally stopped when he began to get dizzy, and leaned against the backseat of the car. “You are an amazing woman.” He smiled up her.

“You are an amazing man.” She smiled down at him.

Reaching up, Harry gave her a long, sweet kiss.

The tender moment was broken, however, by the sound of someone blowing raspberries behind their back. Ginny broke off the kiss and threw her head back, laughing hysterically. Harry simply leaned back against the car, chuckling.  “Alright, Severus, we’re done now. Thank you!” Harry put Ginny down, giving her one last quick kiss before climbing back into the driver’s seat.

“What? Can’t I have a moment, huh? Can’t I have a moment, too?” Ginny smiled and kissed Sev on the cheek, tickling him where she knew all his weak points were. “You’re not the only one who gets to have a laugh, you know?” Sev squealed with laughter as Ginny began blowing raspberries on his tummy. “I get to be special too sometimes, you know! DuggaDuggaDuggaDuggaDugga!” Ginny pulled back and paused in her tickle assault, allowing Severus to catch his breath. She watched with a contented smile on her face as the infant rode out wave after wave of giggles. Finally, after a while, Sev released the last of his giggles and cooed, smiling at Ginny.

“So…where are my congratulations, huh?” She asked playfully.

Sev grinned and puckered his lips. “Kip!”

“Congratulations kiss?” Ginny grinned.

“Uh-huh!”

“Okay!”

Harry watched in the rearview mirror, a smile on his face, as Sev gave Ginny a kiss on the lips before blushing and ducking his head under his tiny arm.

“Ah! Wet kiss! Wet kiss!” Ginny laughed, wiping both her mouth and Sev’s mouth clean of drool. “Thank you, baby. That means a lot to me.” The teenager whispered in the infant’s ear, her voice both gentle and sincere.

Harry heard Severus sigh contentedly as he pulled out of the parking spot. “Oxford Street, here we come!”

The tour of London ended up becoming the tour of Sirius’ neighborhood. Within half an hour of walking out of Grimmauld Place, they arrived at the gates of Buckingham Palace.

Remus had let out a long whistle, “Now that’s a house.”

“Can you imagine how much it’d cost to buy furniture for this place?” Sirius smirked. Remus and Ron snorted.

Hermione had a muggle camera with her so she took it upon herself to take pictures of everyone doing various things. Tonks, Teddy, and Ron all listened and asked questions about the landmark as she took their photos. Meanwhile, Remus and Sirius had each chosen one of the famously stoic palace guards and were doing everything in their power—save from using magic—to get them to flinch, twitch, or do anything other than blink.

“Hermione…are these real people?” Sirius asked, standing within inches of the red-uniformed guard and studying him closely.

“Sirius!” The teenager hissed, waving frantically for the animagus to move away. “Yes, they’re real people!”

“Are you sure?!” Sirius sniffed the guard and reached out a finger to poke him.

“Sirius!” Hermione dashed forward and grabbed the hand with the raised finger, using it to drag the curious animagus away from the poor guard. “For heaven’s sake!”

“Hey! Hermione! I almost got him to move!” The older man whined.

They watched the Changing of the Guard Ceremony and the boys all gawked at the precision of the soldiers.

“How do they do that?”

“They’re trained to do that.”

“They look like the pawns on my chess board.” Ron, of course, was referring to his wizarding chess board. “Only they’re real!”

“Is that possible?”

“With lots of discipline and training? Absolutely!”

“Harry told me once that he enrolled himself in a military-based after-school program before he came to Hogwarts.” Hermione commented.

“What? He never told me that!”

“Have you ever asked him, Ronald?” His girlfriend raised an eyebrow at him.

“I don’t need to ask!” The redhead pouted. “Are you telling me Harry knows how to walk like that?”

“Harry knows how to walk like that, talk like that, and dress like that.”

“Bollocks!” Ron rolled his eyes.

“Haven’t you ever noticed Harry’s acute attention to detail?” Hermione argued. “His tendency to try to keep everything of his neat and clean? That’s all—”

“Who the bloody hell are you talking about, Hermione?” Ron looked at her with a confused expression.

“You know what? Forget it! I’m arguing with someone who took four years to notice I was a girl!” Flipping her hair, Hermione turned on her heel and moved to stand by Tonks, who was hiding a laugh behind her hand. “Boys!” She growled in frustration.

The group opted out of touring the castle to take advantage of the wonderful morning and stroll through St. James’ Park to Big Ben and the Parliament Building. The walk took them all of fifteen minutes. There, Hermione took more pictures of everyone as well as of the building when they went in to look around. The opulence nearly made Sirius gag. It reminded him too much of the pure-blood socialites that basked in this sort of ridiculous grandeur. What he found funny, though, was that some of the hallways in the parliament building looked nearly identical to some of the hallways in Hogwarts. Hermione wanted to go ahead and visit the Parliament Archives since they were already in the building, but everyone else thought that was a bad idea, so they ganged-up and dragged her away. With his wand hidden in his sleeve, Sirius managed to confound a tour guide to accept them into a group and take them up to the clock tower itself. With Remus carrying Teddy, the five walking adults took the challenge and climbed the 334 steps to the top of the Clock Tower. There, Hermione busied herself with taking more pictures before the group descended again and rested for a bit in a café.

“So…to Oxford Street?” Hermione asked her fellow coffee-drinkers.

“To Oxford Street.” Remus nodded, taking a sip of his coffee.

It had taken a while for Harry to find a parking spot, but he had managed. The teens charmed the car with a Notice-Me-Not—so that no one would wonder how so much stuff could fit inside—and set out on foot, Harry carrying Sev in his sling, and Ginny pushing around an empty pram.

One of their first stops had been to a bookstore so that Ginny could find all the sign language books she needed for Severus.

“You know what? I don’t know what the opposition is. Really! There are quite a few people who think teaching baby sign language to infants is a bad idea. Why?! What’s so bad about it?” Ginny began ranting quietly to Harry as they stood in line. “It’s when they’re infants that they start soaking things up like a sponge! You should start giving them a thirst for knowledge from the cradle so that they can carry it to the grave. I bet you if I start talking to Hank in French now, by the time he can speak clearly, he’ll be bilingual.”

“That sound like a good idea, cub?” Harry murmured to the baby across his chest. Sev merely stared up at him, rubbed his eyes, and yawned. “You want to learn another language?”

Severus shrugged. “Ah omo.”

Harry smirked. “Well…think about it.” Harry lowered his voice to a whisper, “Because I think she’s got it in her head now that she wants to start speaking to you in different languages so that you can become multi-lingual as you get big again.”

Sev rolled his eyes.

As they were strolling by the H&M at the intersection of Oxford and Regent Street, a loud tire screech and the sounds of crashing metal had both Harry and Ginny covering Severus on instinct, protecting him from whatever made those sounds.

When they looked up again, they found themselves staring at a three-car pile-up a mere twenty feet away from them.

“Blimey! Did you see that?!” Ron turned to a gaping Sirius and Remus.

“What happened?” Hermione asked, unsure of what to make of the situation.

“That blue car was losing control, it was! I was swerving like mad!” Ron pointed across the intersection towards the H&M store. “It almost hit that couple with the baby across the street.”

“Where?”

“Over there! You see? That redhead with the baby carriage?” Ron pointed towards a redheaded woman huddled next to a black-haired man. They both had their heads ducked, talking to an infant inside the baby sling who was obviously distraught, if the kicking was anything to go by. “If it wasn’t for the guardrail, they would’ve been hit for sure!”

“Oh my god!”

“You see…the blue car swerved and then braked across the entire lane, so then the green one that came speeding after it couldn’t brake on time and slammed into him.” Remus continued, “Then the red car came in even faster and ran over them both and flipped over.”

“God, that is so scary!”

“I feel sorry for the couple with the baby.” Ron looked across the street once more but found that they were gone. “Hey! Where’d they go?”

“Probably somewhere inside.” Tonks replied, rocking Teddy and hugging him protectively. “I wouldn’t want to stay outside either if someone almost crashed into me.”

“Hey guys! Maybe we should go.” Sirius suggested. “Not block the foot traffic of anything. Hermione, didn’t you say there was an inside mall around here?”

“There are two inside malls. Let’s go to the West One Shopping Center first. It’s on top of the underground.” The teenager replied, leading the group down the street and away from the car crash.

Harry and Ginny spent about an hour at a coffee shop, trying to calm their nerves. Sev sat on Harry’s lap, munching on the bag of Wizard Cheerios Ginny had brought along and practicing his hand-eye coordination.

That car crash had been a close call. The blue car that was swerving in their direction would’ve crashed through the guardrail and hit them had it not been for Harry’s magical reflexes. The teen’s magic had pushed the car away from them and into the middle of the intersection, causing the pile-up.

“It was his fault, Harry.” Ginny told him. “Don’t feel sorry for anything at all! He was the one going too fast and if you hadn’t done something, we would’ve died.” Harry nodded grimly.

Sev leaned back against Harry’s chest and tipped his head to look up at the teen. “A ba!” Holding his little hand up, Sev offered Harry a single piece of cereal soaked in drool.

Harry couldn’t help but smile. “Thanks, cub.” He took the cereal and ate it, making Sev grin and turn back to his bag of snacks.

“Also, from what I hear, no one was seriously injured in any of the cars. They were just dazed, is all.” Ginny gripped Harry’s hand supportively. “It was the lesser of two evils.”

The teenager sighed. “I know.” He kissed Sev on the top of the head and hugged the child protectively. Meeting Ginny’s eyes, he nodded. “I know.”

“Good.” His girlfriend smiled. “Come on! Let’s go to that West One Shopping Centre I saw a while ago. I could do with some indoor window shopping for the rest of the day. What do you think?”

Harry chuckled and stood up. Hand in hand, they walked down the street and entered the building at the same time as a large tour group.

“Bloody hell!” Ron cursed. “Where’d all these people come from?” He and the others had stuck themselves close to the wall in order to avoid the swarm of people coming in.

“They’re a tour group, Ron.” Hermione replied. “They’re here to either shop or use the underground.”

“Shop? What’s there to buy?” The redhead grumbled. “There’s not much here.” He looked over and spotted a shock of red hair and a baby carriage. “Hey look!” He hissed at Hermione. “I think it’s that couple the car almost ran over a while ago.”

“Where?”

“Right over—” When Ron turned back towards the receding crowd, they were gone. “Bollocks! I lost them again.”

“Oh never you mind, Ronald.” Hermione rolled her eyes and grabbed her boyfriend’s hand, pulling him behind her. “Let’s go find somewhere good to eat.”

Harry and Ginny went around the small mall once, looking through every store and cart on every floor, before deciding to walk down the street and do the same thing to the other indoor mall on Oxford Street.

“It’s called the Plaza. They have a nice window display up top. It’s sort of silver with…different shades of blue.”

“Let’s go!”

Once they got the Plaza Shopping Center, they put Sev in his pram, retracted the canopy, and put him in a seated position, which allowed him to look around. As soon as the infant spotted the large window display on the ceiling, he was entranced, gaping at the unusual shape and the pretty blue lights.

“Close your mouth, cub, before flies come in and nest in there.” Harry rebuked gently, a slight smile on his face.

The couple walked around the small mall for about twenty minutes before both Harry’s and Ginny’s stomachs growled loudly. Sev giggled at the funny noises.

“Feel like dinner?”

Ginny raised an eyebrow at her boyfriend. “Do I really need to answer that?”

The two laughed at each other. Harry put an arm around Ginny’s shoulders, as she pushed Sev’s pram, and gently led her towards the door. “Come on. I know this great place a few blocks down called the Spaghetti House. You’ll love it.”

As they exited the Plaza, a man selling a ton of animal balloons walked by on his way into the shopping centre. The multitude of colors caught Sev’s attention and held him spellbound, even after Ginny turned and blocked his view.

“Hey ‘Mione, want an animal balloon?” Ron asked, indicating the man next to them who was doing his best to pull his herd of balloons through the door.

“Thanks, but no thanks, Ron. I’m not really a balloon kind of person.” Hermione answered as she watched Sirius and Remus rush forward and hold open the doors for the balloon man.

The group had gone to several restaurants around the block, deciding to eat somewhere and then quickly deciding against it once they glimpsed the menu. Neither of the girls wanted to eat at a fast food place, and none of the boys liked any of the food at the restaurants they visited. The food court at the Plaza was the fifth place they decided to visit, but Hermione highly doubted she wanted any of the food there.

True enough, the group found themselves walking out of the shopping centre not ten minutes later.

“Oh! You know what?” Sirius spoke up, his eyes lighting in excitement. “I don’t know what I didn’t think of this before. I’ve heard of this great place a few blocks down. Harry was telling me about it once. It’s called the Spaghetti House. I think I know where it is. The food is decently priced, I think. You all feel like having some Italian?”

“That sounds brilliant, Padfoot!” Tonks nodded, glancing at her husband.

Everyone else nodded in agreement, and Remus waved his arm towards Sirius. “Lead the way, old friend.”

“Hello! Welcome to the Spaghetti House! Table for two?” The waitress greeted them.

“Plus a high chair, if you don’t mind.” Ginny nodded.

“Absolutely!” She led them towards a small table in the back, next to a rowdy group of six who were finishing their desserts. “Here you are!” She waited until they were seated before handing them their menus and taking their drink orders. “Excellent! I’ll be right back with these drinks and that high chair.” She began walking away but backtracked for a second. “Oh, and if I may, those shirts are absolutely adorable!” She pointed towards Harry and then to Severus. “Big Fish, Small Fry! That is so cute!”

Ginny chuckled and Harry blushed. “Thank you.” They both murmured.

Within minutes, the waitress returned with their drinks and a high chair for Severus. While Harry seated the infant in the chair and strapped him in, Ginny ordered their appetizers and main meals, requesting an extra small plate for the infant to eat out of. The waitress nodded with a bubbly smile and made a note of it before taking their menus and assuring them she would be right out with their appetizers.

“I’m going to go to the loo. I’ll be right back, okay?” Harry stood up, but found his pathway blocked by the rowdy group next to them who had gotten up to leave. The teenager politely pushed his way through the crowd and made a beeline for the bathroom.

“Hello! Welcome to the Spaghetti House! Table for five?” The waitress greeted them.

“Yes, please!” Tonks replied, matching the waitress’ bubbly tone.

“You’re in luck! A table just opened up in the back.” She picked up five menus and inclined her head. “Follow me!” She led them towards the back where the group could see a busboy mopping up a set of tables before laying place settings on them. “Here we are!” The waitress stood at one end of the table, a smile on her face, as she waited for everyone to take their seats. “Here are your menus.” She passed them around. “And do you want to order your drinks now, or do you want a few minutes to decide?”

“Uh…” Everyone looked around at each other.

“We’ll take a few minutes to decide.” Remus smiled.

“Absolutely! I’ll be right over there. You just wave me over when you’re ready.” She pointed to a cash register in the corner, smiled, and then left, unblocking the table behind her.

“Remus,” Tonks whispered in her husband’s ear, “Does that baby look familiar to you?” She inclined her head towards the small table next to theirs, which the waitress had been blocking.

The werewolf glanced over. “Oh shit!” He hissed, his eyes widening in alarm.

“Ginny! What are you doing here?” Hermione exclaimed.

Sirius and Ron looked at her in confusion for second before following her gaze to the neighboring table. The redhead—who had her back to them—looked up in surprise and turned around in her seat. Sure enough, the fiery mane belonged to none other than Ginny Weasley, who stared back at them with wide eyes, her mouth hanging open in shock. The black-haired baby in the high chair next to her turned in his seat and, upon taking one look at them, promptly burst into tears.

“Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!”

Ron, Hermione, and Sirius exchanged looks of shock and confusion.