“Come on, come on, come on, come on!” Harry muttered under his breath. “Come on, come on, come on, come on, come on, come on, come on!”

“Harry?” The teen could hear Ginny’s voice echoing down the basement stairs. “Harry, Kingsley just flooed in…”

“Come on, come on, come on, come on…”

“…he said our floo is working now!’

“Come on, come on, come on! Where are you?!” Harry growled at the array of colors before him, checking and double checking the paperwork in his hand. “WHY do you feel so wrong?! Slughorn says you should be right, Severus says you should be right, all the potions books say you should be right. WHY, in Merlin’s name, are you not right?!” The teenager screamed at the simmering vial of dark blue substance before him. One ingredient was slightly off but, for the life of him, Harry couldn’t figure out which ingredient it was and why it was off!

“Harry?”

“In here, Gin!” The teen answered distractedly from his lab. “Watch out! There’s a bit of a mess.”

A bit of a mess? That was the understatement of the year! Every conceivable surface in the entire lab was covered with papers, quills, inks, cutting boards, herbs, plants, potions books, herbology books, muggle bio-medical and chemistry texts, vials, microscopes, mortars and pestles, clamps, Bunsen burners, beakers, cauldrons, flasks, gloves, knives, various dead animals and dead animal parts; every blackboard and whiteboard in the room was covered in numbers and Greek letters; there were grow lights illuminating small pots of plants and black lights illuminating small round things in flat, clear dishes. That last one made Ginny nervous.

“Harry, are these things safe for Severus?” She asked worriedly, pointing to the black lights and the things they were illuminating.

Severus peered over Ginny’s shoulder to see what got her so worried. He could probably answer that question better than Harry could! What he saw, however, was like nothing he’d ever seen before, and it looked wicked! “Wha dap?!” He exclaimed excitedly, pointing to the same objects Ginny was nervous about.

It took Harry a second to look up from his work and glance at the object in question. “Oh! Yeah, those things are fine. They’re just bacteria I’m growing in a Petri dish. The black light illuminates them. As a matter of fact, they come from Fawkes.”

“Fawkes?” Ginny had to watch her step, as some of Harry’s papers had migrated to the floor and she didn’t want to slip and drop Severus. “Dumbledore’s phoenix?”

“Yeah.” Harry replied, distracted by his potion once again, “There’s bacteria…in his tears…and they have healing properties…” Waving his fingers around in the aura, the teen tried focusing solely on the structure of the potion. “…and I’m trying to reproduce them.”

“Will it be the same, though?”

“Argh!” Harry took his glasses off and flung them against the wall of his research station. “Damn it!” The teen dug the palms of his hands into his eyes, trying to rub the tiredness out of them.

“What?!” Ginny exclaimed, slightly alarmed.

“I can’t find it!” Her boyfriend growled, frustration lacing his voice. “It’s one goddamn thing and I can’t find it!”

“Harry, calm down!”

Severus peered over the top of his sling to see which potion’s aura Harry was trying to manipulate. Was that the same one he and Ginny were talking about last night during the conversation he eavesdropped on? Didn’t Ginny give him a deadline on it? And wasn’t that deadline today? Pulling himself up to get a better view, Severus squinted at the potion in question.

“Maybe you’re just looking too hard.”

“How is it possible to look too hard?!”

The aura of the potion looked ridiculously familiar. Then it hit him—that’s the potion Harry has been asking him to help with for the past few months! YEAH! It was an antidote of some sort, wasn’t it? Severus tried to wrack his brain. He couldn’t quite remember what it was an antidote for. He was pretty sure Harry explained it to him a few months ago, when they had first started working on it, but Severus remembered only paying him half an ear.

“It is entirely possible! And you are being a grouch!”

“Of course I’m being a grouch! I’m—” Harry cut himself off and turned away, growling something incoherent under his breath.

Ginny stood behind him, silent, watching as the man she had fallen in love with over the years began to fall apart before her eyes. The teenager was torn. She wanted him to finish this potion, yet she didn’t want him to push himself too hard. Harry had already stayed up late last night working on it, and then had gotten up before dawn to get a head start for today. She knew he was putting every minute he could spare into this project, and she wanted him to, but at the same time she didn’t want him to drive himself to the point of exhaustion. Exhaustion meant less strength, which in turn meant less magical energy. And for Harry, who needed every ounce of magical energy he could spare, exhaustion was simply not an option.

“Haweh?” Severus’ curious and concerned voice startled Ginny out of her thoughts. When she focused on her boyfriend once more, she found him slumped over his research station, his hands under the table, vigorously rubbing his right leg.

“Harry?” The girl exclaimed, alarmed.

“I’m fine.” Harry replied immediately, his voice muffled as he spoke into the table.

Ginny could tell from the sound of his voice that he was lying. “No, you’re not.”

“Just give me a minute.”

“Take a break, love!” She said, appealing to him with her voice. When she noticed his tense back muscles, she began massaging his shoulders, trying to sweeten him up to the suggestion. “Just a minute or two.” Then she realized she knew exactly what could get him to agree. “Let Severus have a look at it. He’ll be a fresh pair of eyes for you.”

The infant on her chest sat up excitedly at the suggestion. “Me wook! Me wook!” Sev exclaimed, eagerly bouncing in his sling.

“Come on, Harry,” Ginny whispered in his ear, “Take a minute…Have a pain reliever…and perhaps a Pepperup Potion?”

“Me wook! Me wook!”

The back massage did the trick. Harry groaned and gave in to his girlfriend, rising from his stool and offering it to her and the infant. “Fine. Be my guest!” Rubbing the back of his neck, he slowly ambled over to his potions stores on the other side of the room.

“Alright, sweetheart, let’s see what we’ve got here!” Ginny watched Harry through the corner of her eye while she laid out the structures and aural colors of the potion with her hands, enabling Severus to inspect it more easily.

“Wha gop? Wha gop?” Sev tried putting the tips of his fingers together while he thought it out, but since he didn’t quite have the coordination to do that yet, he settled for clapping his hands together softly.

Severus narrowed his eyes and gave the aura of the potion every bit of his attention. Alright! What have we got here? What—have—we—got—here? Hmmm? The pinks and the blues looked correct. He didn’t want to mess with those. The yellows were swirling nicely. The purples and reds were blended just the way they should be. The oranges were doing great. And the greens?

“Da gweeem?” The infant muttered under his breath. His eyebrows furrowed. That was unusual. Where was the green aura? He could’ve sworn it was there before! Reaching a finger out, Severus moved aside a few structures and colors in search of the elusive green aura. Where was it?!

“What’s the matter, love?” Ginny asked behind him.

“Mo gweem.” Sev replied, a note of concern in his voice.

“No green?” The teenager raised an eyebrow.

“Mo gweem auwa.” The baby pointed to the spot he knew the green should have been.

“Was it there before?”

“Uh-huh!” Sev nodded his head.

“But not anymore?”

“Uh-uh!” Sev shook his head.

“Well, let’s look for it.”

“MO!” Sev shook his head vigorously this time. “Mo heew mo mow!”

“At all?”

“Uh-uh!”

Ginny frowned. “And it’s supposed to be there?”

“Uh-huh!” The infant answered assuredly.

The teenager bit her lip. That could be the missing link Harry’s been searching for all day. “Alright, love, it’s time to think. What structure does the green aura have?”

“Swoaw!” Sev replied, swirling his finger around and around.

“Alright. Swirls.” Ginny nodded. “Where are the swirls, Sev? Help me look for them.”

The baby spotted one almost immediately. Leaning forward, Sev picked it up with his finger and pulled it out. To his surprise, not only was everything else connected to that one particular swirl, but the swirl itself was the wrong color! “MO!” He snapped. “Mo gwey! GWEEM!” He scowled at the swirl and then looked up at Ginny with wide eyes. “Dis gweem, mo gwey!”

“Then, by all means, sweetheart, turn it green again.” She replied kindly, giving him an encouraging nod.

Turning back to the errant swirl by his finger, Severus stretched out his consciousness, just like Harry taught him, and demanded the swirl to revert back to its original color. I want you to TURN GREEN AGAIN!!!

All of a sudden, a jolt shot up his arm, making the infant gasp in surprise. Then something strange happened. Not only did the swirl turn green again, but it turned bright green! And it wasn’t the only one. In a flash, the entire aura of the potion began glowing vibrantly. The blues, pinks, yellows, purples, oranges, and reds brightened up considerably. Sev didn’t even think that was possible, but it happened! The potion itself turned from a dark blue to a vivid fluorescent blue and the whole thing started pulsing so strongly Severus felt its energy blow through his baby hair.

“Whoa!” The infant breathed in awe, his eyes wide with wonder.

“Harry!”

The sound of thumping boots, paper scraping against wood, and breaking glass preceded Harry’s appearance at their side. “What? What’s happened?!”

“I think he’s done it!” Ginny replied excitedly.

“He’s done it?!” Harry croaked in surprise, his eyes wide with disbelief. Peering over their shoulder, Harry inspected the aura of the potion, sticking his hand in the mess to get a sense the structure and color mixtures. What he felt caused his heart to race and adrenaline to pump in his veins. “It’s right!” He grinned down at his girlfriend and his ward like he had never grinned before. “It feels right! It feels RIGHT!!!”

“It’s right?” Ginny’s eyes widened as well, nodding her head, asking for final confirmation.

“It’s right!” Her boyfriend laughed, sweeping down and enveloping the both of them in a big bear hug.

Sev squealed in delight. He didn’t know why Harry and Ginny were so excited, but he was sure as heck enjoying the atmosphere. “I’m so proud of you, cub!” Harry murmured in his ear. “You have no idea how much!” All of a sudden, wave upon wave upon wave of pride and love flowed into the infant from his bond with Harry.

Smiling shyly, Sev ducked his head into Ginny’s chest and began chewing on two of his right fingers. Harry was wrong, he thought. He had some idea of how much.

“Ah! Hello, Harry!” Professor Dumbledore greeted them with a smile as they entered the hospital wing. “And hello, Severus!”

“Headmaster.” The teen nodded at him before turning to the matron. “Madame Pomfrey.”

“Hello, Professor Potter, Mr. Snape.”

Harry nudged the drowsy infant in his arms and Severus nodded his head, but refused to take his ear off Harry’s chest or open his eyes.

“He’s still a little sleepy.” Harry shrugged, taking a seat on the bed Madame Pomfrey directed them to. “What are you doing here, Professor?”

“Oh, I’m an old man, Harry, as you’ve no doubt noticed.” Dumbledore joked good-naturedly. “I have a check-up every few months to make sure I’m doing well.”

“Yes, and if you don’t lay off the sweets, I’ll begin making it a monthly check-up, Albus!” The matron added sharply.

“I’ll take your word for it, Madame.” The Headmaster smiled at her sweetly, rolling down his sleeve.

“How did the move-in with Aberforth go this weekend, sir?” The teen inquired, adjusting Severus in his arms so that he infant was in a more comfortable sleeping position.

“You should know, my boy, you were there.”

“True, and you were actually being civil to one another when I was there.” The teen replied with a smirk, “But I was talking about when I wasn’t.”

Dumbledore chuckled, “Well…there have been no incidents thus far. We’re on speaking terms, you can say.”

“But I shouldn’t expect you to start spending time at Haven Place anytime soon, is that is?”

“I think my brother is rather reluctant to allow me to be under the same roof as him for any length of time in excess of twelve hours.”

Harry shrugged. “He’ll come around. You’ll be brothers again in no time.”

“Alas,” Dumbledore eyes took on a faraway look, “I’m afraid we never really were brothers.”

“No time like the present to start then.” Harry replied, not missing a beat.

“Right!” Madame Pomfrey came up to the bed next to Harry and Severus, a floating tray trailing in her wake. “First, a few preliminary questions,” The healer pulled a file and a quill from the tray and began firing away, “When was the last time he nursed?”

“This morning.”

“How often does he do it?”

“Ginny’s only nursing him half the time now. The other half of the time, he’s on solid foods.”

“Excellent! And…when I gave him his last immunization, did he have any negative reactions?”

“No.” The teen shook his head. If he had, they would’ve ended up back here for sure.

“Good!” Looking up from her chart, the matron took in the infant in front of her. “Is he asleep?” She asked. Harry nodded. “Excellent! This should be a breeze then.”

As Madame Pomfrey recorded his height and weight and prepared Sev’s immunization shot, Dumbledore engaged Harry in further conversation. “Isn’t he typically awake by this hour, Harry?”

“He is, yes.” The teen nodded, “But then he’s also typically playing with Teddy by this hour as well.” Harry shrugged, “When I told him I was taking him to an appointment this morning, he decided to sleep in after Ginny left for class.”

“You know, I must say, the two of you are doing an admirable job, balancing work and family life as you are.” The Headmaster complimented him, genuine admiration in his eyes. “And you’re not even married!”

Harry peered at Dumbledore over the rims of his glasses, “Yet. And what’s marriage without commitment, anyway?” He shrugged. “Ginny and I think that if you’re not willing enough to commit to a relationship—to do anything and everything to try to make it work—then what’s the point of getting married? It’s never going to work out in that case.”

“I completely agree.” The old man nodded, a smile tugging at the corners of his lips. “And do you feel you’re at that point? Do you feel you’re committed to each other enough that you’ll do anything and everything to make this work?” He gestured towards the sleeping Severus.

“Oh, we’ve passed that point, sir.” Harry answered, giving the infant in his arms a quick kiss atop the head. “We passed that point the moment she and I signed the guardianship papers together. We’re as good as married now.” Then he shrugged and shook his head. “I don’t know. There are a lot of people—most especially in the muggle world—that think it’s not possible to find your soulmate at this point in your life; that you need to go out with other people before you truly find ‘the One’.”

“Harry,” Dumbledore gave him an amused smile, “The only people who say that are the ones who truly don’t know who they are when they start dating other people. And the people they date as well have no knowledge of themselves either.” The old man said gently, “Yet for those of us who actually have heads atop our shoulders, it’s not wholly unbelievable to find the one person that we’re going to spend the rest of our lives with at a young age.”

“So it’s not wholly unbelievable to spend almost your entire life with one person then?” Harry raised an unsure eyebrow at the old man.

“Don’t give the doubters something to talk about, Harry. That gives them power over you.” Dumbledore replied, pushing off the bed he was on to go sit beside Harry and the sleeping Severus. “You’ll see—a hundred years from now, when you and Ginny are still together and falling more in love with each other every single day, look who’ll be talking then.”

Harry smirked. The teen couldn’t bring himself to harbor any ill feelings for the Headmaster when they had these sorts of talks. The old man always knew what to say to make Harry feel better. “Thanks, sir.”

“You and Ginny are going to make it” Dumbledore said, nudging the teen on the shoulder playfully. “I have no doubt of it. You both have good heads atop your shoulders.” Then he leaned in and dropped the pitch of his voice, “And I must say, you have excellent role models to look up to.” The old man pointed out, his eyes twinkling.

“Mr. and Mrs. Weasley?” Harry asked, not entirely sure what the Headmaster was talking about.

“I have it on good authority that they met when they were very young—younger than you and Ginny were when the two of you met, in fact—and Arthur walked up to Molly and told her, point blank, that he was going to marry one day.”

Harry snorted, “And the rest is history?”

“As the saying goes.” The Headmaster nodded with a smile. The old man laid his hand atop the teenager’s shoulder and gave him a supportive squeeze. “You’ll be fine.”

“Okay!” Madame Pomfrey breathed a sigh of relief as soon as she pulled the needle out of Severus’ arm and bandaged up the site. “My, that went better than I expected! He didn’t wake—”

All of a sudden, there was a loud banging noise around the vicinity of the doors and, as all the adults looked up in surprise, the infant jolted awake and began to cry. “What was that?” Harry asked in concern, hugging Severus tighter and getting ready to disillusion himself and the infant.

“I don’t know.” The Headmaster replied, a look of equal concern on his face. “I’ll go check it out.”

I’ll do you one better. Harry closed his eyes and threw his senses out. His ears picked up a rapid heartbeat atop a set of fast-moving footsteps which got fainter with every beat. Someone was running away from the infirmary and they were muttering something under their breath. “Baby…Potter…baby.”

Harry’s eyes flew open at the same time Dumbledore came back into the room. “That was strange. I saw no one.”

The teenager’s lips, however, thinned to a fine line, “Someone saw us.” He forced through gritted teeth, berating himself for letting his guard down and being seen. “Someone saw the baby.”

Pomfrey and Dumbledore exchanged a worried glance. “Do they know who he is?” The matron asked cautiously.

Harry closed his eyes and stretched out his sense of hearing once more. All he could hear the guy mutter was “Potter” and “baby” over and over again. “I don’t think so.” He replied, “But they definitely saw him.”

“We just have to be extra careful from now on.” Ginny said after Harry retold the story at the dinner table.

“What? You’re going to start calling him ‘Henry’ every single time you go out from now on?” Sirius raised a dubious eyebrow at them.

Bffffffft!

“Yeah!” Sirius pointed at Severus and nodded, “The kid’s going to have an identity problem when he gets taller again. I mean, yeah, I know Severus is not that good of a name—”

Bfffffffft!!!

This time, Severus blew raspberries directly at Sirius, but the animagus managed to block it with his napkin before continuing.

“—but it’s his name.”

“UH-HUH!” Sev agreed, pointing to Sirius and widening his eyes at Harry.

“Alright. First of all,” Harry pointed at Severus, “no blowing raspberries at the table. Second of all,” he pointed at his godfather this time, “stop provoking him. And third of all—”

“I said no such thing about calling him ‘Henry’ all the time.” Ginny replied, indignant.

Harry pointed to his girlfriend with a shrug, “Yeah.”

“Then what do you mean by ‘extra careful’?” Sirius frowned.

“Uh-huh?”

Harry and Ginny exchanged a look.

“Oh, that can’t be good.” Sirius murmured, exchanging a look with the little guy next to him.

“I don’t see why you can’t just leave him here with me! Why do you have to go and bother Molly?!”

“My mother is not being bothered, Padfoot. In fact, she volunteered!” Ginny argued.

“Well I’m volunteering too!”

Severus peered over Harry’s shoulder to watch the argument between Sirius and Ginny.

The teenager sighed. “Sirius, Severus is not the only one who’ll be going to the Burrow during the day. Teddy will too! Dora’s paid maternity leave is up.”

Sirius frowned. “What about Andromeda? And Remus isn’t working three days out of the week. What about him? What about ME?!” The animagus’ canine ears perked up when he heard his godson sigh across the room. “Harry? What’s your take on this? Do you and Remus not trust me?” He asked, genuinely offended and hurt by his best friends’ (nay, his family’s) implications.

Harry, for his part, looked like he was stuck between a rock and a hard place. The teenager bit his lip and shifted his gaze from his hurt godfather, to his uncertain girlfriend, to his curious ward, and back to his hurt godfather. “I…do, Sirius.”

The animagus’ frown quickly turned into a scowl. “You hesitated.” He pointed out, disbelief lacing his voice.

Severus’ eyes widened at Harry.

“No, I didn’t—”

“Yes, you did!”

“If I might suggest something?!” A voice boomed out of nowhere, startling all the occupants in the quarters. The tenseness in the room was suddenly broken as everyone gaped at the ceiling in surprise.

Swallowing, Harry addressed the voice, “Go ahead, Sir Merlin!”

“You’ll forgive me for interrupting, Sir Henry,” The voice continued, “But I was beginning to sense that people were starting to say things they actually did not mean.” He cleared his throat suggestively.

Both Harry and Ginny glanced at Sirius guiltily while the animagus peered back at them with a hurt scowl of his own. Severus, for his part, was looking between the three of them, genuinely intrigued by this conversation.

“If I may, I would like to suggest everyone getting together and discussing this as a family before…” The old wizard paused, “How it is they are putting it these days? Before…everything blows up? Er…out of proportion?”

“Thank you, Sir Merlin!” Ginny interjected, giving the ceiling a kind smile and knowing that Merlin would see it. “We understand. Thank you. We’ll take it from here. If you would be so kind—”

“Sir Remus, Lady Nymphadora, Lady Andromeda, and Master Teddy are on their way.” Merlin answered, a smile in his voice. And with that, he left the family to their affairs.

An awkward silence filled the room. Sirius stood at the door to the master bedroom, arms crossed over his chest, glaring daggers at the plush carpet. Ginny stood by the rocking chair, biting her lip and peering at Sirius worriedly. Harry stood by the crib with Severus in his arms, looking between his godfather and his girlfriend, trying to decide on how he wanted to approach the situation.

Ironically, it was Severus who broke the ice. “Woom!” He exclaimed, peering at Sirius curiously.

Everyone’s attention instantly turned towards him. “What was that, cub?” Harry asked, making sure the keep the charged emotions out of his voice.

“Wamp see Papoo woom.” The infant replied, pointing at the animagus for clarification.

Harry and Ginny glanced at Sirius in confusion. The animagus, however, was solely focused on Severus, examining him with a look of guarded curiosity. “You want to see my room?” The infant nodded. “Right now?” Another nod.

“What are you playing at, Sev?” Harry asked the infant through their mental link, stretching himself slightly into Severus’ mind so that he may hear the child’s response.

“If I’m going to have to choose between two evils, I want to damn well know which one is the lesser of the two!” He heard the Severus snap in his head.

Harry frowned at the infant who peered up at him guiltily. “Mam ah back!” He cried, pointing to the back of his head.

“Man at back?” Harry echoed, an eyebrow raised in question.

“That was the mean guy who’s always screaming at the back of my mind!” An altogether different voice replied through their bond. Harry shook his head to try to clear his confusion.

“Harry?” Ginny shot them a strange look.

The teenager shook his head. “Sorry. The…Severus has two voices in his head. One of them is giving me a headache.” Feeling the blush creep up his cheeks, Harry cleared his throat and promptly changed the subject. “Padfoot, may we go up to your room? Severus would like to see it.”

Sirius now looked like he was torn between being hurt, being curious, and being confused. All three of those emotions certainly showed up in his facial features. Severus thought he looked downright funny. “Um…sure.” The animagus replied warily. Turning on his heel, Sirius led the trio up the stairs and into the middle room on the loft—the bedroom he now claimed as his own.

Now it was Severus’ turn to be wary. He was entering into former-enemy territory and he didn’t know what to expect. Truth be told, he didn’t know why he wanted to come in here in the first place. As Harry, Ginny, and Sirius were arguing, he found himself torn between agreeing with Harry and Ginny and agreeing with the mutt. Ideally, he didn’t want to stay with either of them. He preferred staying with Harry and Ginny, Remus and Dora were his second choice because Teddy was there. But choosing between Molly and Sirius?! Severus honestly didn’t know which one he would choose!

On the one hand, Molly was a lot like Ginny. She smiled a lot and gave him lots of hugs and kisses and praises and such. She did arts-and-crafts with him. She sang to him. Yet she was also too overbearing. She pushed herself on him. She made him do things he didn’t want to do sometimes. She was loud most of the time. The only times he could stand her were when she remembered to actually talk in normal tones rather than the loud, grating tones she tended to adopt on a regular basis. Then, on the other hand, there was Sirius. The mutt was a lot like Harry. He called him cub. He snuck him things behind Ginny’s back. He didn’t push Sev into doing things; he tricked him into doing them instead. He turned chores into games. When Severus wanted him to back off, he did…usually. Sirius could take a joke to the point where Severus would start crossing lines; by then, a simple change in tone would have Severus checking himself. And Sirius sang to him too! Yet the big issue with him was their history. Severus couldn’t find it in himself to trust Sirius; not just yet; not with everything that the man put him through in his previous life. He wanted to, sure! He’d seen how Sirius was with Harry. He’d seen how responsible, fatherly even, the mutt could be…at times. Yet it was that last part—that ‘at times’ part—that held Severus back from trusting Sirius the way Harry trusted Sirius. The mutt had yet to prove to Severus that he could be trusted with his, Severus’, life.

How that chain of thought led to him wanting to inspect the mutt’s room, he didn’t know. All he knew was that the word ‘room’ all of a sudden popped out of his mouth when he was trying to find a reason as to why he would choose Sirius over Molly. It was like his subconscious mind knew that there was something in that room that his conscious mind needed to acknowledge. What that something was, however, Severus didn’t know.

The first thing Severus noticed when they entered the room was the color. Or rather, the lack of it. There was not a single red banner or red bed sheet or red anything in sight. To be fair, there were no greens or blacks either. There was, however, a big blue and gold coat of arms mounted atop a plaque and Sev recognized it as the new official Potter crest—the one he and Ginny designed for Harry’s birthday. It was hanging on the wall by Sirius’ wardrobe. Other than that, the room was the same off-white color as the master bedroom downstairs. Also missing from the walls was Sirius’ collection of bikini-clad muggle girls. He had a picture of his motorcycle hanging on the wall by his bed, but there was not a single bikini model in sight.

Sev heard Harry’s low whistle above him. “Where are the Playboy pinups, Sirius?” He asked with a smirk.

Despite himself, the animagus snorted. “Under my bed.” He then threw himself onto his bed and leaned against the far wall, watching his godson and his ward inspect his room.

Sev twisted around in Harry’s arms in an effort to take in the entire space. Truth be told, there wasn’t much take in. The space itself was small and there wasn’t much there. The man had only just moved in after all! What could possibly be in this room that was so important that his subconscious mind was screaming for him to…?

That’s when he saw it—Sirius’ desk. Aside from the bed, the wardrobe, and the giant bean bag in the corner, the desk was the only piece of furniture in the room. It sat underneath a long window that overlooked the Quidditch pitch and the majestic mountains just beyond. Scattered atop the desk were writing pads, parchment, quills, inks, and, most importantly, pictures. Harry must’ve sensed Severus’ sudden interest in the desk for the teen soon carried him closer so he could inspect it further. As expected, there were the obligatory pictures of himself with his motorcycle, the Marauders (minus Pettigrew), and Harry. However, there were some unexpected photographs as well. A picture of the Order of the Phoenix was tacked to the wall underneath the window, a picture of Remus, Tonks, and Teddy taped to the wood next to it. A photograph of the bride, groom, best man, and maid of honor at the Potter wedding sat beside a portrait of Harry, Ron, and Hermione from long ago. Then there was the newest picture—Sev could tell it was new from the way its frame gleamed while the others didn’t—sitting in front of all the rest. It was a portrait of himself, Harry, and Ginny, all of them asleep. It must’ve either been taken at Godric’s Hollow or while he was sick a few months ago for he was sleeping between them.

“When was this taken, Padfoot?” Harry asked, leaning forward and inspecting the same picture he was.

“Last July.” The animagus croaked, fiddling with a loose piece of thread on his comforter. “That first weekend you guys invited me up there to the Den. I took that.” He shrugged half-heartedly. “I liked it.”

Severus frowned. He was confused. Did the mutt like him or not like him? Or did he like him because of Harry? Was he nice to him because of Harry or was he nice to him because of him? Did the mutt genuinely care for him? Or did he care for him because of Harry? This whole care-by-association thing was the most confusing thing ever! His and Padfoot’s relationship-thing was the most complicated one out of the set! Not even he and Dumbledore had such a complicated relationship-thing! Sirius cared for him. Why? He cared for Sirius. Why? Severus used to think it was because of Harry. Yet Remus highly doubted that, and now Severus was questioning that assumption as well. But without the assumption that Sirius cared for him only because he cared for Harry, what did Severus have to go on? Why would Sirius care for him otherwise?

“Is it so…” Padfoot’s gruff voice startled him from his thoughts, “…hard…to believe that I could care for Severus?” He asked, leaning against the wall of his room and peering up at his godson with an upset frown on his face. “Without you being in the middle?”

Harry shut his eyes and squeezed his lips together into a thin line. Without even stretching into Harry’s mind, Severus could tell his guardian was as equally as confused as he was and as equally upset as Sirius was. “I…honestly…don’t know how to answer that, Sirius.” He replied, not meeting his godfather’s eyes.

Sirius scoffed and turned away, scowling at the window.

Severus bit his lip. He didn’t like this. He didn’t like this at all. Harry was supposed to be on good terms with his godfather! They weren’t supposed to upset each other like this. And, most especially, he wasn’t supposed to be at the center of their arguments! Severus had spent enough time at the center of people’s arguments when he was this age the first time around. He didn’t want that to happen again!

“STOP!” He cried, startling both adult occupants in the room. He first pointed a finger directly at Harry’s face, “Mo fye!” he cried, before turning the finger to Sirius, “Mo fye!”

Turning back to the table, Severus started searching the desk for something—anything—other than that single picture that would let him know exactly how Sirius felt about him! Pictures of other people, cardboard, scissors, glue, papers, papers, papers…Severus paused. His eye had caught onto something unusual beneath a bunch of loose parchment on the desk.

“Uh!” Sev desperately reached towards the table in an effort to get Harry to move closer. He needed to see what that thing was! His subconscious was yelling for him to look at it.

“What?”

“Dap!” The infant cried, messily shifting the loose papers to the side like a puppy digging for a bone. “Dap!”

“What?” Shifting Severus to another arm, Harry lifted him up to stop his digging and single-handedly shifted all the scattered parchment to the side, revealing the inverted picture frame sitting underneath. 

“Dap.” Sev replied under his breath, pointing to the object. He had seen the corner of the frame sticking out and desperately needed to know what was in it. He had a feeling he knew what it was, but he needed the confirmation.

Glancing curiously at his godfather, Harry readjusted Severus in his arms before picking up the medium-sized picture frame and turning it over. To his surprise, it was a picture! It was a painted picture!

It was Severus’ painted picture. The infant could recognize it from anywhere! At first, Ginny wanted to make a macaroni face for Sirius, but in the end Sev decided he didn’t want to expend that much energy on the mutt and they settled for a painting instead. He remembered drawing those two big blobs on the either side of a tiny blob. He recalled connecting them all by squiggly lines. He remembered Ginny telling him to add faces and legs to the picture so that they all didn’t just look like floating brown ghosts. He remembered adding the red paint to Ginny’s head so that he could tell that was her. He recalled drawing Harry’s lightning bolt scar and putting happy faces on all three figures. And then he remembered drawing Sirius. He had added a blob next to Harry’s—standing up this time, like a real man. He added arms and legs and black, curly hair and a smiley face on him too, because Sirius always smiled (well…except for right now). He remembered insisting on the addition of the word Woof! to a quote bubble next to Sirius’ head. Then, as Ginny helped him write it, she insisted on labeling the piece My Family, which she helped him write near her own head. Finally, at the bottom right-hand corner of the paper, she had helped him sign his initials, SS.

“Severus drew a picture for you too, Sirius.” Ginny announced, handing the painting to Severus so that he could present it to Sirius.

The infant blushed and buried his face in Harry’s robes. Sticking out his hand, he grabbed the painting Ginny was offering him and then shifted it in Sirius’ direction, offering it to him without looking. He felt the animagus take it hesitantly. “Thank you, Severus.”

The baby never saw his face, but he recognized that tone.

“This is Sev’s picture!” Harry exclaimed in surprise, “The one he drew for you.”

“Mmm.” Sirius grunted in response, nodding at the window. Both Sev and Harry peered up at him but the animagus was turned away.

Sirius had framed it! Sirius had framed it and, from the way a random thumbtack was stuck into the wall on top of his bed, Severus figured he was about to hang it somewhere on his wall. “Mmm…wike mime dawing?” He asked in disbelief. Although he recognized—before he even started painting the picture—that the simple gift from him could mean the world to Sirius, he never dreamed that it actually would! Severus never imagined that something of his own creation would mean anything to Sirius Bloody Black! But, obviously, he was wrong.

The animagus peered back at the infant warily. “Yeah…” he replied, his voice almost as low as a whisper, “…I do.” And when he met Severus’ gaze, the baby could tell he was being nothing but honest. Yet he was also being a bit guarded as well. Sirius was holding back for fear of being hurt.

Severus sighed. Enough of this ridiculous dancing around! “Uh!” All of a sudden, the infant began reaching downward, towards Sirius’ bed. “Bowm, Haweh!” He cried, “Bowm, Haweh, peas!”

Confused, Harry placed the framed picture back down on the table before plopping the infant square in the middle of Sirius’ bed. The two men then watched with curiosity as Severus sat back on his heels, studying Sirius’ bewildered face for a full minute, before he pushed up, crawled straight across the bed and climbed right into Sirius’ lap. The animagus’ eyes widened in shock and he quickly adjusted his position to better accommodate Severus. Harry, too, looked pleasantly surprised.

Pushing himself onto his knees, Severus grabbed a fistful of Sirius’ robes to support himself as he pulled up. Meeting Padfoot’s eye, the infant asked, “Ooo wike mime dawing?”

Bewildered, the animagus slowly nodded in agreement. “Yes.”

And just like that, a smile erupted across Severus’ face. “Okie!” He squeaked, his eyes alight with delight. Shifting slightly, he plopped himself down in Sirius’ arms, stuck his thumb in his mouth, and got comfortable.

Sirius peered up at Harry in confusion, but his godson merely shrugged.

“Harry?” Remus’ curious voice preceded his head, which popped in through the crack in the bedroom door.

“Yeah?”

“Merlin told me there’s something you wanted to discuss—” The werewolf’s eyes widened until they were as big as saucers once he caught sight of Sirius cradling the infant Severus in his arms. “Er…something.”

“Yeah, uh…” The teenager scratched the back of his neck as his gaze shifted between a shocked Remus and a confused Sirius before moving down to Severus, who was busy snuggling into Sirius’ chest. “…I think we should discuss the whole…sitting arrangement again.”

“Right…” Remus nodded lamely, still gaping at the duo on the bed.

Sirius merely gave his best friend a goofy (yet genuinely happy) smile and shrugged, “Life’s weird!” But at least things were looking up now!

“Alright…” Harry raised his hand as he levitated their growing number puzzle letters over their heads.

Severus, who had been busy fussing with his stuffed lion cub’s tail, turned when he saw Harry’s hand move and promptly imitated the gesture.

Harry raised an eyebrow. “What are you doing, cub?” He asked with a laugh.

“Wha do-ing.” Sev chuckled as well.

“Are you imitating me?” The teenager raised his arm and scooped Severus underneath it, cradling the infant into his side.

“Me-teh-ting.” The infant repeated, before curling himself into a ball and snuggling into the crook of Harry’s arm.

“Remus told me you started teaching Teddy some signs yesterday.” The teen felt a nod against his arm. “That’s great! Does he get it?” Another nod. “You must be a good teacher then.”

Bfffffft! Severus blew raspberries into Harry’s robes. “Why-ew!” He croaked.

“I’m not a liar!” Harry smirked.

“WHY-EW!”

“What are you two doing?” Ginny’s voice carried from the door. The two boys peered down at her simultaneously.

Ginny was finding it hard to suppress a smile. Harry and Sev were still in their pajamas, lying down in the middle of the bed, with various letters floating about their heads, and they were both peering at her with wide, innocent eyes.

“I was just about to teach Sev some beginning levitation.” Her boyfriend replied, “And after that, we were going to go through some mental communication exercises.”

“Well, the mental communication you can practice while we’re in class.” Ginny replied, heading towards the wardrobe, “You can kill two birds with one stone that way.”

Harry raised an eyebrow. “She has a point.” He murmured to the infant. After planting a kiss atop the baby’s head, Harry reluctantly forced himself to get up and face the day. After making sure to pack Severus between two big pillows, he headed off to the bathroom to go through his morning routine. Behind him, the hitherto floating alphabet letters gathered themselves up and put themselves back into their box on the side table. Severus squealed in delight and giggled at letters, flipping himself onto his belly to watch them dance around their box before settling in.

“What’s so amusing, sweetheart?”

“He likes the dancing letters.” Harry replied, walking out of the bathroom with his white shirt on but unbuttoned, his red tie around his neck but untied.

“Maybe we should take him to see a play or something this winter holiday.” Ginny suggested, flitting around the room, packing Severus’ diaper bag.

“Sure.” Harry shrugged.

“I hear there are many good shows on West End.”

“Eh…” Her boyfriend shrugged, trying to sound nonchalant about the whole thing. “We can see a West End show this holiday. Or…we can see a Broadway show.”

Ginny looked up from folding Severus’ clothes to give her boyfriend a confused look. “Broadway?”

“Yeah, it’s exactly like—”

“Mo! Mo wamp dap, Immy!” Sev squeaked, interrupting their conversation.

“I’m sorry, sweet?”

“Wamp dis wike Haweh!” The infant tugged at his t-shirt and then pointed to Harry’s collared white shirt for clarification.

“You want that kind of white shirt?!”

“Uh-huh!” Sev nodded resolutely.

“But, sweetheart, that’s the kind that you wear to Sunday Service.” Ginny argued.

“Bu wamp dis wike Haweh!”

“Sev—”

“Peas, Immy?”

“You’re going to the Burrow today! With Sirius! And Teddy! To play outside!” The teen sounded like she was on the verge of begging him to reconsider.

“Gin,” Harry broke in before Sev could revert to tears, “Just let him wear the shirt.” He continued, a twinkle in his eye. “It’s his choice what he wants to wear.”

“Harry!” Ginny’s eyes widened at her boyfriend and she lowered her voice to a whisper, “It’s going to get filthy! And he’s going to regret it the moment he starts feeling hot and itchy.”

“Love,” Harry chuckled and pulled Ginny into his arms, bringing his mouth to her ear and lowering his voice to a whisper as well. “Let him come to that realization himself! Just pack an extra shirt just in case. Then later you can say ‘I told you so.’” Pulling away, Harry smiled at Ginny’s dubious face before giving her a quick peck on the lips and then turning his attention to his infant. “You want to wear a white collar shirt, cub?”

“Uh-huh!” Sev replied excitedly.

“Coming right up!”

With a sigh, Ginny rolled her eyes and shook her head. Whatever. She stuffed the folded clothes in Severus’ diaper bag.

“Dap too, Haweh!” Sev exclaimed, pointing to the red tie around Harry’s neck.

“My tie?” Harry’s eyebrows furrowed. “You want a tie too?”

“Wed!”

“Gin, does he have a red tie?” He asked his girlfriend.

“He doesn’t have any tie.”

“I’ll tell you what.” The teen replied suddenly, clapping his hands as an idea abruptly came to him. “I’ll lend you one of my ties; but we’ll shrink it and we’ll clip it onto the front of your shirt instead of tying it around your neck. How does that sound?”

“Dap too!” Sev exclaimed excitedly, pointing to the chair beside Harry, where the teen had laid his robes for the day. “Dap too!”

Harry peered down at the cloak Ginny and Sev made him for his birthday, and then looked up to exchange a glance with his girlfriend.

Ten minutes later, when Sirius padded down the stairs and into the kitchen with the morning paper under one arm, Harry and Severus were seated at the table, next to each other, preparing breakfast.

“Hello, hello, hello…?” Seeing Harry and Severus side-by-side, in outfits that matched down to the letter—literally—gave the animagus pause. “Why do you have a miniature clone, Harry?” Sirius asked, a little creeped out.

“Don’t ask me. He chose his outfit today.” The teenager shrugged.

Sirius was confused. “But you and I were going to the Burrow today, cub!” He argued with the infant, “We were going to go outside, roll in the mud! Remember?”

“Sirius, please tell me you don’t mean that literally.” Ginny commented from the counter.

“Relax, Ginny.” Pulling out the paper from under his arm, the animagus took a seat and peered at his godson worriedly. “Harry?”

“Yeah?”

“I want you to promise me right now you’re not going to go mental or anything.”

Suddenly, everyone’s attention turned towards him. “Why would I go mental?” The teen asked suspiciously.

“Because…” Sirius took a deep breath and decided to let it all out in one, “…the front page story of the Prophet is about you and how you’re suddenly caring for an infant that popped out of nowhere; and about how they’ve been reporting this all along, but every time the reporters try to take a picture, the pictures come out wrong. Thus, nobody believes them. However, they now have definite proof from a source inside Hogwarts.” There. He’d said it. “Long story short, everyone knows you and Ginny are caring for a child, but they don’t know who the child is.”

“Great, now everyone’s going to bug me about why I didn’t tell them I was taking care of the baby!” Ginny grumbled from the counter, taking out her anger on the toast.

“That’s it?” Sirius raised an eyebrow.

“Don’t talk to me right now, Sirius!” Ginny snapped.

Sirius cringed instinctively. “Okay…” Obviously, she was angrier than she was letting on. Turning to his godson, the animagus tried to gauge his reaction. However, he found it a bit difficult, seeing as how Harry was merely scowling at the breakfast table, unmoving. “Pup? What do you think about all this?”

All of a sudden, Harry snatched the newspaper up from the table, rolled it up tight, and threw it into the fireplace, making the fire flare violently. The teenager had moved so quickly that Sirius was sure he would’ve missed it had he blinked. “That’s what I think about all this.” He grumbled.

“Right!” The animagus nodded, turning away from the table and making a face. Perhaps he should avoid having a conversation with either of the adults this morning. “Hey, cub! How’re you doing this morning?”

Arguably, the conversation between Sirius and Severus that morning was the best (meaning, the most civil) they’d ever had. While Harry and Ginny sat there, eating their breakfasts and allowing their tempers to cool, Severus explained to Sirius that the reason he chose that particular outfit was because he wanted to look suave and dress nice—it wasn’t a crime, after all—and his choosing those clothes had nothing to do with Harry whatsoever.

Yeah! Like Sirius believed that load of rubbish!   

By the time breakfast was over, both Harry and Ginny were calm enough to discuss cover stories and strategies for avoiding any unwanted questioning. Sirius was impressed with the depth and meticulousness of their plans, especially since they were thought up on the spot!

“As long as they don’t know your name, Sev, we should be fine.” Harry assured him.

“Perhaps it’s time you take my suggestion seriously then.” His godfather murmured out the side of his lips.

“I’ve always taken it seriously, Padfoot.”

“Harry!” Ginny exclaimed, calling the boys’ attention over to her, “This is just a reminder. You promised Severus a trick-or-treating experience last month, so we should start planning for Halloween.”

“Oh! That’s right!”

“Wicked!” Sirius exclaimed, exchanging a smile with the infant. “I’ve never been trick-or-treating! What is it? It sounds fun!”

“It’s mostly a kids’ activity, Padfoot.” Harry rolled his eyes. “You dress up in costumes, go around the neighborhood, door-to-door, they open it, you say ‘trick-or-treat’, they give you candy. Kids love it.”

Sirius sent him a confused look. “But…I don’t understand. If the candy’s the ‘treat’ part, what’s the ‘trick’ part then?”

“Padfoot, there is no ‘trick’ part.” Ginny replied lamely, feeding Severus some oatmeal.

“So why do you say ‘trick-or-treat’ then?”

“Ah!” Severus agreed. He too wondered at that.

“Because it’s tradition.” Harry replied.

“But that doesn’t make sense! If there’s no ‘trick’ part, then there’s no point in saying ‘trick-or-treat’. That’s, like, giving them a choice between a ‘trick’ and a ‘treat’. If everyone just chooses ‘treat’ by default, and there are no ‘tricks’, then why don’t kids just go around yelling ‘treat’ rather than ‘trick-or-treat’?”

Harry and Ginny both sighed while Severus grinned at Sirius. “UH-HUH!” He agreed whole-heartedly.

“Alright!” Harry replied, “Crash course on Halloween muggle-style!”

“I LOVE Halloween muggle-style!” Sirius exclaimed, examining all the candy in his pumpkin bucket and comparing the weight of his bucket against Severus’ and Teddy’s.

The gang (Harry, Ginny, Severus, Sirius, Remus, Dora, Teddy, Ron, and Hermione) was out at Godric’s Hollow for the night. Fortunately for everyone involved, Halloween fell on a Saturday this year, meaning no training, no work, no school—everyone was free to have fun! Thus, here they were in Godric’s Hollow, taking the boys (and that included Sirius) trick-or-treating for the first time.

“Are we going to go out to all the houses?!” The animagus asked excitedly.

“Not everyone celebrates Halloween, Padfoot.” Hermione replied matter-of-factly.

“How can you not celebrate Halloween?” Ron commented, chewing on a Tootsie Roll, “I don’t understand that.”

“The key word is ‘celebrate’, Ronald.”

“I still don’t understand.”

“Hey! Guess whose house this is, Sev.” Ginny said with a suspicious smile.

“It’s the Millers’ house.” Harry replied, adjusting the hood of Severus’ lion cub costume so that it covered his ears and forehead properly. Harry was fortunate he found a baby lion cub costume that could double for footsie pajamas with a nice, warm hood on a regular night. Ginny wouldn’t have agreed to buy it otherwise. It was ridiculously expensive for a one-time outfit. “Remember the Millers, cub? The family we met when we first came to Sunday Service?”

“Uh-huh.” Severus frowned and stuck out his tongue, making a face.

Sirius snorted. “What was that for, Sev?”

“He got in trouble for making an inappropriate remark about them when we first met.” Ginny replied.

“So I trust you’re going to be a perfect gentleman to them tonight, right, cub?”

“Twick-oh-tweap. Wamp twick.” The infant muttered under his breath. Behind them, Sirius began laughing out loud.

Harry’s suspicious gaze moved from his ward to his godfather and back to his ward. “Behave, the both of you!” He rebuked softly.

“Yep, sew.”

Sirius snorted. “Yes, sir.”

Ginny rang the chime and the door swung open almost immediately. “Harry!” Mr. Miller exclaimed, a gigantic smile on his face. “Oh!” His eyes widened as he took in everyone else’s presence, “Hello, everyone!”

“Trick-or-treat!” The group of nine exclaimed in perfect harmony.

“Oh! Look at all of you!” Mrs. Miller came to the door carrying a big bowl of candy. “Oh, it’s little Henry! And Teddy!”

“Hello, Mrs. Miller.” Remus greeted with a smile. “Mr. Miller!”

“Hello, Remus, Dora.”

“Sirius Black!” Mr. Miller cried in surprise, his eyes widening to the widths of saucers.

“Mr. Miller, it’s fine. He’s my godfa—”

“Twick-oh-tweap!” Sev interjected, holding his hand out to the couple and waving his open palm at them impatiently. “Twick-oh-tweap!”

“Henry!”

“Oh, no, its fine!” Mrs. Miller laughed, scooping a soft candy bar out of the bowl and placing it in the infant’s hand.

“Ank ooo.” Sev replied with a smile.

“Aw…Do I get one too, Mrs. Miller?” Sirius sent her a charming, simply irresistible smile of his own before thrusting his own candy bucket forward.

Mr. Miller turned his saucer eyes onto his wife suspiciously. “Of course you do, Mr. Black.” Mrs. Miller gushed, dumping a handful of their candy into his bucket.

Severus scowled at the cheating animagus. Bfffffffft!   

Five minutes later, when the group was finally able to pry themselves away from the Millers after a bit of small talk, Harry (with Severus in his arms) and Sirius were leading the group through the family’s big front yard.

“You totally cheated, Padfoot.” Ron commented.

“Who said this thing was a contest anyway?” Sirius shrugged. “I thought we were pooling candy.” The animagus was about to pop a piece of fudge in his mouth when a hand suddenly grabbed his arm and froze him in his tracks.

“Harry?”

“Sirius…” In the millisecond it took for Sirius to turn to his godson, Harry’s face had drained of all color and his grip on his godfather’s arm had become vice-like. The animagus’ frown deepened as his sensitive ears picked up on the quivering of his godson’s voice as well.

“Harry…Harry, are you alright?!”

All of a sudden, the teenager yanked him closer and thrust Severus into his arms. “Take him!” Harry croaked. Sirius immediately wrapped his free arm around the infant. “Take care—” was all Harry managed to force through his lips before his grip on his godfather’s arm slackened and he crumpled to the ground, unconscious.

“HAWEH!” “HARRY!”

Ginny was the first to crouch by his side. Everyone else huddled around her a fraction of a second later.

“What happened?!” Hermione screamed behind her.

“Harry?!” Ginny tried tapping his cheek with one hand in a vain effort to wake him up while her other hand felt his wrist for a pulse. “Harry, come on! Come on, love!” Three agonizing seconds later, she felt a familiar beat beneath her fingertips, but it was weak. “Harry, I swear to God, if you die, I’m gonna kill you!”

“DIE?!” 
“What?!”
“What the hell are you talking about?!”
“HAWEH!”

“He’s alive, but just barely!” Ginny informed them.

“What?!” 
“What happened?!” 
“HAWEH!!!” 
“What do you mean?!” 
“Just barely?!”

“We need to get him to St. Mungo’s NOW! Remus!”

“I got him.” The werewolf knelt down next to Harry’s unconscious body and quickly scooped him into his arms.

“HAWEH!”

“Hermione, maybe you can get the Millers—”

“Got it!” The girl instantly took off towards the door.

“Ginny, what’s going on?!” Ron croaked.

“HAWEH!!! HAWEH!!!”

“I’ll tell you once we get to the hospital.” The teenager replied, hastily thrusting Severus’ diaper bag into her brother’s arms.

“HAWEH! HAWEH! HAWEH! Immy!”

“You know what’s going on?!” Sirius cried disbelievingly, trying to keep up with both Ginny and Remus without dropping a squirmy Severus.

“You see?! I knew something was wrong with Harry!” Tonks exclaimed, instinctively tightening her arms around Teddy.

“Something was wrong with Harry?!” Sirius croaked.

“HAWEH!!!”

“Well, hel—” Mr. Miller never got the chance to finish for as soon as his door was open wide enough, Remus kicked it the rest of the way in and barged into the house.

“Where’s your floo?!” He growled.

“Harry!” Mrs. Miller screamed upon catching sight of the body in Remus’ arms. It didn’t take her long to get a hold of herself, though. “It’s in there!” The flustered housewife replied, pointing to the living room.

“HAWEH!!! HAWEH!!! IMMY!!!” 

After climbing into the floo next to Remus and her unconscious boyfriend, Ginny frantically addressed the rest of the group, “Everyone else meet us at ST. MUNGO’S!”

And in a flash, they were gone.