It was several hours later and everyone who had been here earlier was still in the room. Ron and Hermione were able to procure a bed and were asleep next to Harry; Remus managed to find a bed for his wife and Teddy as well (seeing as Dora flatly refused to leave the room) and now they were both asleep on Harry's other side; and Severus was curled up in Ginny's lap, sound asleep as well. Ginny, Sirius, and Remus, on the other hand, were wide awake and sitting on three chairs next to Harry's bed.

"How long have you known, Gin." Sirius asked, wanting more than anything to break the tense silence in the room.

"Oh, uh..." Ginny sighed, "...Since July, I suppose. Or, uh...late June, somewhere about that time."

"How'd you find out?" Remus added.

"He told me." Ginny murmured, grimacing as he recalled that particular conversation, "We'd just had a row..."

"Ginny?"

"Yes?"

"There's one more thing..." Harry checked the crib once more to see if Severus had gone back to sleep before continuing.

"Which is...?" Ginny pushed, wanting to get everything out into the open.

Harry tilted his head towards the open door and the two teens made their way into the living room. "You might want to sit down, love."

Ginny frowned and silently did as he bid, her eyebrows scrunching up at the implications of that request. "What's wrong, Harry?"

For a moment, Harry paced around the living room, his eyebrows furrowed in concentration and his hand running through his hair nervously. He bit his lip and mumbled something incoherent at the carpet. "Um...Er...This isn't...Uh..."

"Harry..." Ginny started in concern, "Sit down, love. Please?" She patted the cushion next to her, "You're making me nervous."

"Gin..." Harry took a deep breath and forced himself to sit on the coffee table across from her, "Look, there's no easy way to say this..." He paused to take yet another deep breath.

Ginny frowned, "To say what?!"

"I'm dying, Ginny." Harry bit his lip and looked into her eyes, fearful of what he might find there.

Shock and disbelief were the first to meet his gaze. "You're..." For the first time since they'd gotten together, Ginny was speechless. "You're what?!" She breathed, confusion and hurt marring her features.

"I'm...I'm dying, love." Harry stuttered. Having to force the words out of his mouth took as much effort as forcing a boulder through a pinhole.

Ginny gaped at him for a long while, not even knowing where to begin! "What do you mean you're dying?!"

"He told me that he'd been hit by a curse sometime during the battle." Ginny continued, "That it was by someone at a distance and that it came from behind. And it was a curse that he didn't immediately know how to counter." She shrugged, "So he did the next best thing-he put it aside ‘til later."

"In his leg." Sirius added.

"Yes." The teen nodded. "He put it in his right leg. He blocked it in there."

"He even had it in there during his battle with Voldemort?" Remus asked, confused.

"Well the curse..." Ginny bit her lip. She didn't know if she was going to explain this right or not. "It takes a while to go in effect. So, it was kind of swept to the back of his mind during that particular duel. What Harry did was he applied the stasis methods they have here to the curse trapped in his leg."

"But he was still able to use his leg." Remus interjected.

"Well, the people in stasis here-they're still alive. They're still breathing and everything. The curse in them, however, is what's delayed."

"You mean frozen in time." Sirius asked, confused.

"No." Ginny shook her head. "You can't stop a curse simply by stopping time for that curse. It's not possible. If it were, that'd be nice, and it would be the solution for everything. However...it's not."

"Hence, we're here." Remus nodded to the sleeping Harry.

The teenager grimaced. "When you put a curse in stasis, at best, you delay its effects. Harry was doubly lucky because the curse hit him in his right leg and he quickly isolated it in his leg before it could spread to the rest of his body. So it was trapped and in stasis, buying Harry plenty of time to make the antidote. Or...rather, research it enough to get to this level."

"That must've been harsh." Sirius added, sympathy in his eyes as he gestured to Ginny. "How did you react when he told you?"

Ginny scoffed self-deprecatingly and shook her head. "Not well." She unconsciously wrapped her arms tighter around the child on her lap.

"I'd imagine." Remus whispered in reply. "If Dora told me that..." He too shook his head and shuddered.

"Yeah." Ginny grimaced, "I remember crying...a lot...uncontrollably, at times." She shrugged, "But I guess that's normal for someone who-"

"It's absolutely normal, Gin." Sirius assured her, putting his arm around her shoulder in comfort.

"It would've been abnormal if you hadn't reacted that way." Remus agreed.

"I just couldn't..." Ginny took a deep breath and swallowed several times in an effort to get herself under control. "I couldn't see..." She took yet another deep breath, but both men were able to pick up the shudders inside it.

"Hey, Gin..." Sirius began rubbing her back soothingly, "It's alright."

"I couldn't see myself doing this alone." The teen continued, gesturing towards the infant in her arms, her voice thick with emotion. Sirius and Remus could tell she was on the verge of tears. "Without him." She sniffed. "I mean...I'm not usually the type...who cries over a man. I don't...I mean, I can live without...one. But...I love him!" Ginny's voice trembled and as she blinked, the tears began trickling from her eyes. "I love him. I do. I...It was just...hard. And then we had Severus!" The teen took a deep, shuddering breath and the tears began falling all the harder, "And I couldn't...see myself raising a child...alone. I couldn't...I didn't want to do this alone."

"It's alright, Ginny." Remus offered her a handkerchief.

"How would you have felt if you had to raise Teddy without Dora?" Ginny continued, using Remus' handkerchief to wipe her cheeks, "And every time you looked at him, he would've reminded you of..." She sniffed, "I would've been a terrible single mother!"

"Hush, Gin!" Sirius chided, continuing to rub her back soothingly.

"That's why I begged him to just get the leg amputated." She continued, "Lose the leg rather than lose his life! But he begged me instead to give him time." The teen swallowed to clear her voice. "At this point, he knew he needed an antidote, and it was only a matter of time before he found the recipe. He wanted me to give him time; to keep it a secret and give him time."

"But you didn't want to keep it a secret." Remus interjected, suddenly recalling Harry and Ginny's violent argument a few months back. "You wanted to tell somebody. You wanted to tell us."

Ginny cleared her throat, "At the time, I agreed to keep it a secret. And you saw how that affected me at the Den that one weekend."

"When you were crying on the floor." Sirius filled in.

The teen nodded. "The product of...a lot of stress, I supposed. ‘I can't do this alone' and ‘Harry's dying' were the two main things running through my mind that entire weekend."

"But you pulled yourself through." Remus added encouragingly.

"After two crying fits, yes." Ginny wiped the remaining tears from her eyes before continuing. "Anyway, a few weeks later, when the curse was getting harder for him to control, and he started limping more and more...well, that's when I got on his case about actually telling everyone what was going on."

SLAM!

"Ginny, I don't want to have this discussion right now."

"Well, like it or not, we're having it!" Ginny snapped, scowling at her boyfriend.

"Remus and Dora are in the next ROOM!"

"I don't give a rat's arse about that!"

"Well I DO!" Harry boomed, his eyes flashing.

"That's because you refuse to tell them, or anyone else, about the curse that's trapped in your leg!"

"We talked about this before." The teen growled.

"And it still doesn't make sense to me!"

Harry growled in frustration and approached his girlfriend with angry strides, getting in her face, "Ginny, I asked you, I BEGGED you to give me time, let me find an antidote."

"It's a curse, Harry!" Ginny argued, "How does it have an antidote?!"

"It's a DOUBLE-LAYERED curse-the first of its kind!" Harry exclaimed, his voice reaching its peak in his anger. "It's a miracle I even figured out you need an antidote in addition to a counter-curse. Merlin had to hint it to me!"

"Harry-"

"I begged you to give me time to find that-"

"Yes, and-"

"AND YOU SAID ‘YES'!!!" Her boyfriend exclaimed, pointing at her with a mad gleam in his eye. Ginny's mouth snapped shut. "You said ‘yes.' Don't even TRY to deny it! You-said-‘yes'!"

 His girlfriend's jaw tightened. "Yes, but now you need help."

"I do NOT need help!" Harry forced through gritted teeth, turning away from her and striding to the opposite end of the room.

Ginny exploded. "Then it's your goddamn pride that's the issue now, isn't it?!" She screamed, her voice reaching new heights. "It's not enough to save yourself, it's not enough to save everyone else who's trapped in stasis due to the Curse of the Damned. No, YOU have to do it BY YOURSELF, don't you?!"

"I'm not doing this by myself. You KNOW that! I have Severus helping me."

"And why not get Slughorn's help as well?" She challenged.

"I AM getting Slughorn's help!" Harry countered, "He may not know it, but he's helping me fill in the holes Sev and I can't fill in ourselves. My pride is not an issue here, Ginny!"

"Tell them then." Ginny challenged, her voice low and dangerous. "If it's not an issue, TELL THEM, Harry!"

Harry fixed her with a firm, unyielding gaze, "No." He replied, his voice as equally as low and as dangerous.

Ginny threw her arms up in frustration and scoffed, "Why not?!"

"Do you think I want their looks?!" Harry cried, "Do you think I want to see the pity in their eyes whenever they look at me?! ‘Oh! Look at poor Harry-'"

"SEE?!" Ginny exploded, suppressing the extreme urge to jump up and down in frustration, "See? See? See? It IS your pride!"

"No, it's NOT-"

"Say what you will." Ginny interrupted him, getting in his face and dropping her voice to a growl, "That's what I'm seeing here, Harry, and I'm calling you on it. You-need-help."

"No." Her boyfriend replied, the sound coming from low in his throat. He had a dangerous gleam in his eye that probably would've scared Ginny had she not been so angry at the time.

Upon Harry's reply, Ginny's face contorted to an agonized mess and she pushed Harry away in frustration, "Argh! Need I remind you this is MORE than you now?!" Her frustration had finally given way to grief and she was on the verge of tears, "This is Severus, this is me, this is US, Harry!" She watched as her boyfriend scowled and turned away, uncomfortable. "You're not alone anymore. Have you forgotten that?! Have you forgotten you have a child depending on you now?!"

Harry growled and swept his arm out, purposefully knocking the candelabra off the side table to vent his frustration. "How can I FORGET that, Ginny?!" He cried, "Why do you think I stay up so goddamn late and get up so goddamn early? Why do you think I spend every waking moment, that's not already devoted to him, with my nose buried in a potions book?" Harry pointed to the dark bags of sleeplessness underneath his eyes. "These are NOT for nothing, Ginny! They're for him! They're for you! They're for the both of you! They're for US!" 

"I-"

"I am working as fast as I possibly can!"

"This-is-KILLING you, Harry." Ginny ground through gritted teeth. Tears poured down her face and she gazed him through gleaming eyes. She paused to get a hold of herself but held her boyfriend's stare, engaging him in a battle of wills. The pause turned into a lengthy one, with neither of the lovers giving an inch to the other. Finally, Ginny swallowed the lump in her throat and continued, her voice turning desperate. "Don't you think Severus, at least, deserves to know that?!"

"He-deserves-HAPPINESS!" Harry replied, his face contorting into a fierce scowl, "And knowing that the first person who ever truly wanted him in his life is dying of a virtually unknown curse with no known cure that was shot in his leg by the most sadistic bitch in the world during battle..." The teenager shook his head, "...He's not going to be happy, Ginny."

"Yes, but-"

"Ignorance is bliss, Gin!" Harry interrupted her before she could get any further, "Pure, unadulterated bliss."

"YOU hated not knowing things, Harry." She countered, not missing a beat, "Why subject HIM to that?"

"Then, by all means, tell him!" Harry replied, glaring fiercely at his stubborn girlfriend, his eyes full of challenge, "Tell our son that his father is dying!"

That did it. Ginny's jaw tightened and she swallowed, turning her back to Harry and wrapping her arms around herself. Harry made no move to comfort her. He was still too angry to be the comfort just yet. A tinge of guilt began prickling in his gut when Ginny's shoulders started shaking and the tears reappeared, but it was not yet powerful enough to break through his wall of frustration.

 All of a sudden, a loud, earsplitting cry blasted in through the door. It was as if the door itself had transformed into a speaker and from within its depths came the cry of a child. Their child. Both teenagers could recognize his cry from anywhere. The door was booming it loud enough to make a regular concertgoer cringe. Yet Harry and Ginny didn't cringe. Neither even blinked. Both simply turned to the door and stared at it for a short while.

Harry's shoulders were slumped as he gazed at the wailing door. His face held a frown. His voice sounded defeated, in a way; in others, exhaustion tainted his words, "I'm not going to do it. I can't." He murmured under his breath. Turning to meet Ginny's gaze, Harry's face softened, but not to the point of caring just yet. "But if you get the urge to do it, go ahead." He said with finality. Turning on his heel, the teenager marched to the bookcase and imputed the password to enter his lab. "I'm going down to take a painkiller and work on that antidote for a few hours." The door to the basement slid open and Harry peered over his shoulder at his girlfriend. He gestured towards the wailing door, "You can tell him if you want." And with that, he disappeared down the staircase, the bookshelf sliding shut behind him.

"I couldn't do it." Ginny continued, tightening her arms around the infant in her lap and shaking her head sadly, "I couldn't tell him." She then turned her gaze onto Remus, "I couldn't tell you either, Moony."

"You wanted to, though." Remus countered, remembering the look on Ginny's face that afternoon.

"I wanted to, yes." The teenager nodded, "But...it just felt like...if I told you, or anyone else for that matter, then...it might come true." She turned despairing eyes onto the two men next to her. "Do you know what I mean?"

"Yeah, Gin." Sirius nodded, a look of sympathy still fixed onto his face. His hand continued to rub smooth circles into her back, "It's alright."

"I mean...I knew it would come true, but...If I said it out loud, then...it might become real!"

"Ginny," Remus said kindly, "It's okay."

At that moment, there was a soft knock and the door to Harry's room cracked open to admit the head of one of the male healers from earlier. "Hello! It's time for a little check-up." He whispered, a friendly smile on his face, "Do you mind?"

"No, no..." Ginny waved him in.

The healer nodded at her before stepping into the room completely and closing the door behind him. "Hi! I'm Healer Weston. I'm the Curse Specialist Apprentice assigned to Mr. Potter's case."

"Apprentice?" Sirius raised an eyebrow.

"It's a little known fact, but St. Mungo's is actually a teaching hospital." He shrugged as he took out his wand and began waving it over Harry's body. "Everyone just assumes that a team of fully-trained healers is assigned to every patient."

"But that's not the case." Remus added.

"Unfortunately, not." Weston picked up Harry's file from the side table and started scribbling all over it. "It's a team of six students to one fully-trained healer."

"The one with the ruddy bedside manners?" Sirius raised an eyebrow.

"Yes, that would be the one." Weston nodded with a smirk. "Her name is Healer House. She has a muggle cousin, I believe, in America, who's a doctor in New Jersey. He works in a teaching hospital too and, from what I hear, he has ruddy bedside manners as well." The healer chuckled, "Runs in the family, I suppose. You know..." Weston snapped the file folder shut and pointed at Harry with the back of his quill, "...that potion he invented? It's brilliant! I just had to say that."

"So does that mean he's doing well?" Sirius gazed at the healer in concern.

"Yes." The healer grinned at them. "He's doing very well, actually. He's alive, which is more than what we expected him to be after you told us what curse he had in him."

"So he's going to live?" Ginny added hopefully, begging the healer with her eyes to give her the answer she wanted to hear.

But the healer's eyes turned sad, "I'm sorry, Miss Weasley, but I can't answer that with absolute certainty."

"Give us your best guess then." Remus pushed, voicing the desperation Ginny wore in her eyes.

Healer Weston sighed, "My best guess..." He paused to study Harry thoroughly; taking out his wand and running it up and down his patient's body several times. "...is that he's going to be out for a while. Three days, at the least. Like Master Healer House said, he is physically, mentally, and magically exhausted. His body needs sleep to replenish his reserves completely. However...after three days, I do believe..." Weston glanced at them nervously, "...he will recover."

Ginny, Sirius, and Remus all breathed sighs of relief at that.

"But please note that what I'm saying...I-It's not-"

"Don't worry." Sirius waved him off, "We just needed someone to tell us that."

"Once again, he's not going to be completely in the clear for at least three days." Weston emphasized.

"But he's not dying?" Ginny asked.

"No, he's...he's going up the opposite road." At that, a small smile returned to the healer's face, "From what we can tell...he's recovering."

Closing her eyes, Ginny breathed a sigh of relief and tightened her arms around the small sleeping bundle against her chest. He's going to live...The thought brought a smile back to her face and light back to her eyes. He's going to live... "Thank you." She whispered to the healer, infinite gratitude lacing her voice.

"Oh, don't thank me, Miss Weasley." Healer Weston replied, "Thank Mr. Potter. He's the one who figured out the antidote. And if I may...?" He stepped back to be able to face all three of them properly, "We have more patients in desperate need of the antidote. Is there more that we can use? Or rather, do you happen to know the recipe of the potion? Given Mr. Potter's positive results, we'd like to administer it to them as well, before the curse is able to break through all the stasis barriers we used against it."

"Yes, um..." Ginny nearly rose from her seat but Sirius stood up instead, waving her back down.

"No, no, I'll get it." He murmured, "You just stay there. Just tell me where to look."

"The potion in the basement is still perfectly good for two people." The teen turned towards the healer, "Do you need it right now now, though? Because Harry said you have to keep the potion simmering until right before it's administered. Otherwise, it'll lose its effects. Once it's bottled, you have an hour to get it into the patient's body and apply the counter-curse."

Healer Weston bit his lip, "Well...it's the early morning. I'll say we'll need it in a few hours. Shall I come and ask you then?"

Ginny nodded, "Yes, please. Oh! And, um...the potion? We have the potion's recipe. We can get it for you. However, the catch is it'll take three weeks to brew."

Weston frowned, "Three weeks?" He echoed in surprise.

"Yes, um..." The teenager scratched her head, "There's something that needs to be steeped or...grown or...whatever for three weeks. Harry wrote down detailed instructions on everything. I'll tell you exactly where it is. Do you think your patients will be able to wait three weeks for an antidote, though?"

"Well..." Weston glanced at the door behind them, "I can talk to Master Healer House about strengthening the defenses against the curse and tightening them as best we can. Um...I'm pretty sure we can buy them three weeks." He nodded. "However, if it's going to take three weeks, may we have the recipe now so that I can give it to our resident brewer-"

"Oh, yes! Absolutely."

"I'll go get it." Sirius replied. "Who shall I give it to once I return?"

"Master Brewer Jacobson." He handed the animagus a scrap of parchment. "He works in this ward. This is his room number. I assure you, he's a very capable brewer and he knows how to follow instructions down to the letter."

"Good, because this is a difficult potion to brew." Ginny told Sirius how to find it and soon enough, the room was empty of conscious visitors save for Remus and Ginny.

"You should get some sleep, Gin." Remus remarked, climbing to his feet, "I'll go and find you a bed."

"Can you just..." Ginny grabbed his arm before he could get far enough away from her, "Can you just extend Harry's?"

When Remus looked down at her and saw the pleading look in her eyes, the desperation in her beseeching gaze, he could deny her nothing. "Alright." He replied, giving her a smile meant for comfort. Taking out his wand, he extended the bed so that she and Severus could fit in next to Harry and helped her climb on. After putting up the guard rail and making sure that none of them could fall off, he pulled the sheets up to cover all three of them and bade them a goodnight.

"Thank you, Remus." Ginny murmured, already halfway into a slumber.

Yet as Remus really thought about it, it was he who owed plenty to Ginny. Here was the boy he called friend and thought family, lying in a hospital bed, asleep but definitely not dead. Harry lived five months with a lethal curse in his leg, a parasite eating away his energy and growing strong as he grew weak. Something had to keep Harry going; something had fuel his motivation; something had to be the reason for his continued existence. That something...Or, rather, those two somethings were lying next to him in his hospital bed right now.

Ginny and Severus-they were Harry's bedrock, his reason to wake up every day, his reason to live. They were the reason he was still alive, and Remus owed them more than they could have possibly imagined.

"No, Ginny..." He whispered into the stillness of the night. "Thank you."

"I'm going to start the patenting process for the Antidote to the Curse of the Damned today." Sirius remarked as Ginny fed Severus his breakfast.

"Make sure the credit goes to both Harry and Severus equally, with the assistance of Horace Slughorn." The teenager replied.

"I've also taken the liberty to let Dumbledore and McGonagall know about Harry being in the hospital. I sent them letters, so they should be receiving it about-"

CRASH!!!

"YOU NOSY, GOOD-FOR-NOTHING BLABBERMOUTH!" A familiar, angry voice echoed into the room from farther down the hallway. "I SHOULD SPELL YOUR GODDAMN MOUTH SHUT!"

Severus unlatched in alarm and burrowed into his sling, wrapping the fabric around himself, but retaining a hold on it so he could peek out when it suited him. Around them, Remus, Tonks, and Teddy and Ron and Hermione all jolted awake in their beds as well.

"Sirius, would you go find out what all that racket is about, please?" Ginny said, frowning at the open doorway.

The animagus was already on his feet and heading towards the threshold, "That sounds like Healer House, doesn't it?"

Before he could stick his head out the doorframe, however, Professor Dumbledore stepped into the room, waving him away. "That won't be necessary, Sirius."

"Professor!" Ginny quickly fixed herself and made to stand up.

"Please don't get up, Ginny." Professor McGonagall continued as she stepped into the room behind Dumbledore, closing the door behind her. "Master Healer House is just a bit..." She exchanged a look with the headmaster.

"Irritated, shall we say?" The old man supplied.

"She's always irritated." Sirius rolled his eyes, "What else is new?"

"What was she talking about?" Ginny asked worriedly, eyeing the newspaper under Dumbledore's arm with suspicion.

"Uh..." This time, it was the headmaster's turn to exchange a look with McGonagall.

"Miss Weasley, given Mr. Potter's condition, and your whole...situation...I thought a few days off from school would be necessary." The old woman declared, making her way to Ginny's side, "Now, I have brought your things, some schoolwork-"

"Nana?" Ginny tried, aiming for what she knew was McGonagall's soft spot. She needed to find out what was going on. "Please?"

The old professor sighed. Adjusting her glasses, she exchanged one last look with Dumbledore before setting Ginny's schoolwork down on the nearest table and taking the seat Sirius offered her. "Miss Weasley...Ginny..." At hearing McGonagall's apprehensive tone, Severus peeked out of his sling and the old witch addressed him as well, "...Severus...I'm afraid there's been a leak."

"A leak?" Hermione croaked.

"What sort of leak?" Sirius added.

CRASH! BANG! CLANK! "You worthless snitch! Get out of my sight!" The Master Healer's raspy voice filtered in through their door, her angry words all of a sudden taking on new meaning.

"Don't tell me!" Ginny shook her head, her eyes flashing.

"Today's front page stories." Dumbledore nodded sadly, his eyes filled with mixed emotions. "They include Severus Snape being found, Harry Potter's mysterious ward being identified, and Harry Potter being the victim of the Curse of the Damned-all in the same article."

Sirius scoffed, "I'd image it's an entire special edition dedicated to him."

"It's probably the biggest story since Victory Day."

Bfffffffffft!

"I agree with Severus!"

"Would you care to read the articles, Miss Weasley?" Dumbledore asked with a raised eyebrow.

"I'd appreciate it if you'd burn that paper, sir." Ginny replied with a tight smile.

"Will do." The old man nodded. "Anyone else?" And without even waiting for an answer, he handed the newspaper to Hermione.

"I don't know why you care at all for that gossip rag, ‘Mione!" Ron groaned, collapsing back against his pillow.

"Hush, Ronald!"

"Bloody ridiculous." The redhead slurred. 

The other redhead in the room wrapped her arms around the bundle in her arms and collapsed against the back of her seat, shaking her head. "I don't know what to do." She murmured, looking lost.

Severus, however, sat up in his sling. This was the moment he had been waiting for! This was the moment when he would convince Harry and Ginny that they needed to take him with them all day long from now on for his own safety! "Me steh woo!" He exclaimed.

Ginny frowned at the infant. "Stay with me?"

"Ooo eh Haweh! Aw deh!" He exclaimed, "Aw deh, aw deh, AW DEH!"

The teenager sighed and shook her head, "Sev, you can't stay with me and Harry all day-"

The infant's eyes widened and he frowned at his caretaker. This wasn't the way it was supposed to work! "MO!" He squeaked, "Me steh WOO!"

"Honey, if anything, it's more dangerous now than it used to be!" The teen argued.

"MO!" Sev squealed, shaking his head frantically and bouncing in his sling, "Mo, mo, mo, mo, mo! Me steh WOOOOO!"

Ginny closed her eyes and sighed, "Oh, Sev..."

"Me steh woo! Me steh woo! Me steh woo!" The infant continued to chant, patting her chest lightly as if trying to get her attention.

"If I may, what have your sitting arrangements been as of late?" Dumbledore asked, as if he didn't already know.

"He's been going with me to the Burrow almost every day." Sirius replied.

"Harry and I don't even want to keep him on school grounds anymore, not while we're not there." Ginny elaborated.

"Is the Burrow safe?" McGonagall questioned.

"Harry made it a virtual fortress." Ron replied, a smirk on his face. "All the wards that he put around Haven Place, he put around the Burrow. It's absolutely wicked! Dad and I were testing them one day, and the moment we stepped through the first set of wards, we felt like we were going insane! This mist had come out of nowhere-"

"The Burrow is perfectly safe." Ginny interjected with a roll of her eyes.

"Harry's got a wicked set of wards, he does!" Ron chuckled evilly, "I'd pay to see the press or any Death Eater try to cross the first set! Ha, ha, ha!"

"No one's going to get in." Ginny translated.

"What'd I'd be more concerned about right now, though," Sirius interjected, "is not someone who would try to take him illegally, but rather...someone who would try to take him legally."

Severus frowned, "Uh-uh!" He shook his head.

"That's what they have the guardianship papers for, Padfoot." Hermione replied. Severus pointed to her and nodded in emphasis.

"Guardianship papers are not rock-solid." Sirius argued, "Believe me! I've looked into guardianship papers before."

"When the Potters tried to get custody of you." Remus remarked, as if recalling an event from long ago.

"Yes." The animagus nodded solemnly, "And you saw how that worked out. My parents were able to override the guardianship papers when it most suited them."

"Mo mah, mo dah!" Severus argued.

"Yes, but if I recall correctly, you are a half-blood, which means that you are somehow connected to a hitherto pureblood name."

"Prince!" Hermione gasped. Everyone turned in her direction. "Severus is connected to the Prince line through his mother."

"Prince." Sirius chanted the name under his breath, his eyes glazed over in thought. Then, all of a sudden, his face tightened. "They're connected to the Malfoys."

"MO!" Severus squealed in panic, jumping in his sling and almost falling out, had it not been for Ginny catching him. "Mo, mo, mo!" The infant shook his head frantically and peered up at Ginny with worried eyes.

"How do you know that, Sirius?"

"At the risk of sounding like my bastard father," The animagus rolled his eyes and made a face before taking a deep breath, "I am the eldest son of the Ancient and Most Noble House of Black. As such, it is my duty to memorize who's who in society and who's related to whom. In doing so, I know who it is I'm expected to associate with..." Sirius droned on like a robot, rolling his eyes towards the ceiling and looking for all the world as if he was trying to remember the next line of a Code of Honor he didn't believe in, "...Er...something, something, something...now memorize those goddamn family trees before I have you beaten again."

"Okay, thank you, Sirius, we get it." Ginny interjected, tightening her arms around Severus, who had paled at Sirius' words.

"Your parents beat you, Padfoot?" Hermione murmured under her breath, gazing at him sympathetically.

"Why do you think I liked staying at the Potters'?" The animagus raised a weary eyebrow at her. "But that's beside the point. He," Sirius pointed directly at Severus, "is no longer safe anymore. No matter where you hide him, if they find even the smallest thing in your guardianship papers that they can use as a means to prove that either you or Harry (it doesn't matter which one) are or will be an unfit guardian, they will snatch him up faster than you can say ‘no'. And the Malfoys will contest for him-I can guarantee you that! Lucius Malfoy knows his own family tree as well as he knows mine!"

"But there's nothing they can bring against Harry!" Tonks pointed out.

"Or Ginny either." Ron added.

"Actually-"
"Ah! Ah!"
"I think you're overthinking this, Padfoot."
"Mo wamp Mawmoy!"
"I'm inclined to agree with Hermione."
CRASH!!!
"Well-"
"There's nothing in either of their records."
"Mo Mawmoy!!!"
"Get those goddamn camera's out of my hospital!"
"You guys have no idea what you're talking about!"
"I'm inclined to agree with Remus."
"This whole incident should even endear him to Wizarding Child Protective Services."
"Um-"
"Mo Mawmoy, Immy!"
BANG! CLANG!
"They'll bypass Child Protective Services!"
"Ha, ha! Mo, mo!"
"That's right-RUN! Security, keep chasing them away! Nosy, good-for-nothing, worthless..."
"So it'll go to the Wizengamot!"
"Ah! Ah! Ah! Mo! Mo!"
"What can they do?!"
"Er-"
BOOM!
"Aren't you the Chief Warlock of the Wizengamot, sir?"
"The only picture you'll be taking is me flipping you the bird! OUT!!!"
"Immy! Immy! Mo Mawmoy!"
"I am indeed, Miss Granger."
"He's supposed to remain impartial, though, Miss Granger."
CRASH!!!
"I believe we have a good enough case, though, Professor McGonagall."
"See-"
"You better be sure about that."
"Me steh WOO!"
"Show them the door!"
"Uh-"
"Ah! Ah! Ah!"
"You better believe she's got a good case!"
"I have full faith that you do, Miss Granger."
"ME STEH WOO!!!"

"EVERYBODY SHUT UP!!!" A familiar voice rang through the room, silencing all its noisy occupants instantly. "Your ruckus could wake the dead!"

Sirius snorted, "And it did."

"HAWEH!" Severus dove out of his sling and onto Harry's chest so hard it took the teen's breath away-literally.

"Ooof!"

Ginny inhaled sharply, "Severus! Easy..."

"Oh, god..." Harry groaned as he stretched the kinks out of his arms before wrapping them tightly around the infant on his chest. "What does it take for a man to get any sleep around here?" He asked, a smile tugging at the corners of his lips.

"Obviously, it takes us not being in the room." Ginny replied, a grin lighting up her features.

"Yes, it does, doesn't it...?" At that moment, Harry's eyes fluttered open and when his green emeralds met her hazel browns, he couldn't hold back the smile that pulled at his lips, "Well...aren't you a sight for sore eyes?"

"You have no idea how happy it makes me to hear your voice." Ginny breathed, leaning down over her boyfriend's bed.

"Oh, I've got some idea..." A playful smirk played on his lips moments before his eyes fluttered closed once more and he and his girlfriend shared a short but passionate kiss.

They were, of course, interrupted moments later by a quick, insistent tapping on Harry's chest. Both Harry and Ginny broke their kiss then to peer down at their infant, who had pushed up against his guardian's chest and was now scowling at the both of them. "Mo tew me, Haweh!" He cried, his little face scrunched up in a frown. "Mo tew me. MAB ah ooo!"

Harry raised an eyebrow at him and tried his hardest to keep himself from laughing out loud. "You're mad at me?" He questioned, striving in vain to keep the amusement out of his voice as well.

The scowl on Severus' face instantly disappeared. "Mo." He replied matter-of-factly, "Mo mow! Bu...Me WA mab ah ooo!"

"Ah...you were mad at me." Harry nodded in understanding, bringing his hand up to rub the infant's back soothingly.

"Mo mow, Haweh..." Sev emphasized his words by spreading his arms out as far as they could go across Harry's chest and laying his ear down to listen to his calming heartbeat. Oh, how he loved hearing that heartbeat!

"But you're not anymore. Alright." Harry continued to nod as he exchanged a look with his girlfriend on top of him.

"Mo mow, Haweh...Mo mow..."

Harry switched the hand that rubbed Severus' back so that his right hand was free to shake the hands of the well-wishers who quickly gathered around his bed.

"How long was I out?"

Sirius shrugged, "About a day, pup."

"Less than a day, actually." Hermione added. "The healers were expecting you to be out for at least three days."

"Yeah, mate, they said you were physically, mentally, and magically exhausted." Ron nodded.

"I was." Harry agreed, wrapping his arms around the child on his chest, "And, no offense, but I'd still be asleep if it wasn't for all of your ruckus."

All of a sudden, the door flew open.

"Mr. Potter!"
FLASH!
"Mr. Potter! Mr. Potter!"
FLASH! FLASH! FLASH!
"Get out of my way, you imbeciles!"
"Harry, how are you feeling?"
"That's for me to answer. Now OUT!!!"
SLAM!

The harried, middle-aged healer who had just walked into the room scowled at the door and huffed in annoyance before turning on her heel and glaring at the occupants of the room. "Did you have to drag the goddamn circus in here with you?!"

Knock! Knock! Knock! Knock!
"Mr. Potter, I just have one question!"

With a growl, the healer opened the door a crack and stuck her head into the hallway, "This is an emergency ward, not a zoo!" She snapped, slamming the door in their faces once again.

"Harry, this is Master Healer House." Dumbledore remarked, gesturing towards the sour-looking woman, "She was your primary healer when they first brought you in."

"Ah!" Harry gave the healer a gracious smile, "It seems I owe you my life, madam." He offered the healer his hand.

The Master Healer merely glared at him as she snatched his chart from the bin at the foot of his bed. "Shake your own hand, Mr. Potter!" She replied, scribbling furiously on something inside the folder, "You owe yourself your life."

"Oh! Your potion worked, love!" Ginny told him excitedly.

Healer House scoffed, "Of course it worked!" She muttered under her breath, "He's alive, isn't he?"

"You know, you've really got a problem!" Sirius snapped, glaring at the snippy healer.

"Of course I've got a problem!" The healer croaked, her eyes flashing at the animagus. "The goddamn press has been swarming my ward all day! No matter what I throw at them, they won't go away-and that's all your fault! Add that to the fact that my patient's family is being non-compliant!" She glared at Ginny accusingly.

"How dare you!" The teen replied, taking a threatening step towards the infuriating matron.

"I told you to come get me the moment he wakes up!"

"Whoa! Whoa! Whoa!" Remus quickly stepped in to restrain Ginny while Dumbledore worked his own magic on the snippy healer. "Let's all calm down, shall we?" In her ear, he whispered, "Severus is watching your every move right now. Impressionable young minds..."

Ginny made a low growling noise as she turned away from the Master Healer, muttering unflattering remarks under her breath.

"Immy?"

"Everything's alright, sweet."

"You are such a liar." Harry rolled his eyes. "What what she talking about with the press?"

"You're fine for now, Mr. Potter. I'll check on you again later." The Master Healer boomed from the door, calling everyone's attention onto her. "And you better be asleep when I get back!" With that, she threw open the door and brandished her wand at all the photographers in her immediate vicinity, making them all cringe and dodge out of the way. "That's right, you bastards! Be scared!" The door slammed shut behind her.

Tonks snorted, "You all have to admit, though, she is a character."

"An irritating, infuriating character." McGonagall added.

"But a character nonetheless." Dumbledore agreed, his eyes twinkling.

"What was she talking about with the press?" Harry interjected, pulling them all back to topic. Nearly everyone above him exchanged worrying looks, which in turn worried Harry. "What?" He questioned, his gaze moving from an irritated Ginny to an uncomfortable Sirius to a neutral-looking Dumbledore. The latter of the three worried him greatly. Nothing good could ever come out of a neutral-looking Dumbledore. "What's happened?!"

"Nothing's happened, Harry." Hermione answered after clearing her throat.

"You're lying." Her best friend replied, not missing a beat. "It took you too long to answer. What's happened?!" He pushed, putting a bit of edge to his voice.

"Harry, don't worry about it, mate-"

"Oh, for god's sake, Ron!" Sirius glared at everyone around him before flicking his wand and calling the newspaper over to him. It flew out from behind Hermione's back and straight into his outstretched palm. Without a word, he unrolled the paper completely and held it up for his godson to see.

Harry Potter's Mysterious Infant Identified as the Missing Severus Snape

The teenager's eyes darkened considerably. "Bastards." He growled under his breath. The pure hate that colored his voice caused the baby in his arms to shiver out of fear, and the reality check brought Harry back to his senses immediately. "I'm sorry, cub." He apologized, making sure to keep all the anger and hate out of his voice as much as possible. Tightening his arms around the infant, he planted a kiss atop his head before turning back to the rest of his visitors. "So is that why the press is invading the emergency ward?"

"Well, they're here for that." Remus replied, "And I suppose they're here for other reasons as well."

"Everything sort of came out last night, Harry." Tonks added, giving Harry a sympathetic shrug. "The curse...Severus...everything..." 

"It was probably one of the healers from House's team." Remus threw in. "That's probably who she was yelling at a while ago." 

The teenager sighed and deflated at Tonks' words, "Everything comes out eventually." He muttered under his breath, running a hand over his weary face, "Everything...comes to light."

"Now where have I heard that before?" Dumbledore raised an eyebrow at the teen, his eyes twinkling ever so slightly.

"Ha, ha, ha..." Harry rolled his eyes.

"Pup, maybe you should take the bitchy healer's advice and get some sleep." Sirius suggested, nodding towards his godson. "You still don't look too good."

"I'm just tired, Padfoot."

When Ginny tried lifting Severus off of Harry, the infant would have none of it. He squealed and whined at the top of his voice, clinging onto the front of Harry's shirt like a monkey, gripping a vine and holding on for dear life. "MO! MO! MO!"

"Gin, it's fine." Harry shook his head and waved his girlfriend away, pulling the sheets over both him and the infant on his chest. 

"But you're going to be okay, right?" His godfather asked worriedly, peering at him in concern.

Closing his eyes, Harry ran a thorough medical diagnostic over himself, searching for anything out of the ordinary. Much to his relief, the parasitic creature-like entity that had been feeding on his energy for months was now completely gone. A feeling of euphoria quickly swept through him. "Yes," he replied, a joyful smile creeping onto his face as he opened his eyes to face his godfather, "I'm going to be just fine."

Everyone breathed a sigh of relief.

"Well then..." Sirius grinned cockily at his godson, "...now that I know that you're going to be fine, I'm just going to go run over to the Ministry very quickly to collect some paperwork to get the patent started on that potion of yours."

"It's Severus' as well." Harry added, gesturing towards the child on his chest, who was busy sucking his thumb, "Half the credit goes to him too."

The animagus nodded as he picked up his jacket, "I know, pup." After making sure to list down everything Ginny wanted him to pick up from home, Sirius ordered his godson one last time to get some sleep before turning towards the door. The sound of Harry's voice, however, held him back.

"Can you do me a favor, Padfoot?"

The animagus turned back to face a droopy Harry with a half-asleep Severus atop his chest. "Anything, kiddo."

"When you drop by the Wizarding Intellectual Property Office...pick up a form from the W..." Harry cleared his throat and shifted to find a more comfortable position to sleep in without jarring Severus too much. His eyes were almost completely closed now. "...the WPRA...um..."

"The Wizarding Potions Regulatory Agency." Hermione filled in, "They have to test and approve every potion that gets patented by WIPO."

"That was the whole Aiden Elson business." McGonagall added.

"Yes, I know all about that, pup."

"That wasn't the...favor, though."

Sirius looked curious, "Then what was, Harry?"

His godson cracked an eye open and raised the eyebrow to go with it. Shifting once more to find yet another comfortable position, Harry tightened his arms around the sleeping babe on his chest and fixed his godfather with look that clearly spelled out, ‘Don't be dense.'

"Read my mind, Padfoot." Was all he said before closing his eyes once more, leaving the usually smart animagus to figure it all out for himself.

Everyone's curious gaze turned towards Padfoot then, hoping he might enlighten them as to what just occurred between him and his godson. Yet Sirius' gaze was equally unhelpful for the animagus merely smiled and nodded, turning back towards the door and resuming his walk, an extra spring to his step this time around. "‘Bout time, Harry."  

"I don't get it." Ron complained, "What's the favor?" But he wouldn't get his answer-not yet, at least-for by then Sirius was out the door and around the corner and Harry had joined Severus in the land of nod.

"I guess you'll just have to wait to find out, won't you, Ronald?" Hermione replied smugly, earning her a scowl from her boyfriend.