“Catch a falling star and put it in your pocket, never let it fade away…” Sev wanted to be mad, or irritated, or some form of highly annoyed, but he found he couldn’t bring himself to be.

“Catch a falling star and put it in your pocket, save it for a rainy day…” However embarrassed he might have felt at wearing a bright orange, homemade lobster costume, the fact that Harry was wearing the exact same costume in adult size completely made up for his would-be embarrassment in spades.

“Catch a falling star and put it in your pocket, never let it fade away!” The infant waved his finger at the crowd, grinned at them, and shook his head. “UH-UH!” He exclaimed loud enough to be heard above the din. The room erupted into laughter above the applause.

“Hang on, cub, we’re going to take a bow.” Sev gripped Harry’s neon orange jump suit as tightly as he could as Harry dipped them in a bow. A familiar whistle rang out from the crowd and Sev used it to pinpoint Sirius’ location, thus enabling him to find Ginny and anyone else who bothered to show up to this ridiculous children’s play.

“Thank you, ladies and gentlemen. That’s our Christmas play! Gracepoint wishes you a Merry Christmas and a good night!” The MC announced, waving to the cheering crowd before disappearing amongst the sea of rubber seafood, both big and small.

“Come along then, Sev.” Harry said, trying to get a good bearing of where he was on stage through his lobster headpiece. Sev giggled at how utterly ridiculous he looked. Thank Merlin Ginny thought to only make his headpiece a hood. She had gone all-out when making Harry’s headpiece. The man truly looked like an oversized crustacean!

“Harry!” Ginny’s voice called from stage right. The lobster head turned to face that general direction. “Harry! Over here, love!”

“Hey, Harry! Good job, mate! And you too, Henry.” Dan—the big octopus—with his son Oliver—the little octopus—came over to shake a tentacle with Harry’s claw. Severus laughed so hard his face started to turn red. “Hey! Are you coming to the barbeque tomorrow? The team misses you, mate! We miss your leg.”

Harry readjusted his lobster headpiece, which was starting to sag. “No, sorry, mate. I’ll be going to the in-laws’ for Christmas.” The teen replied distractedly.

“Well, what about New Years’ then?”

“No, Ginny and I will be going on holiday after Christmas.” The lobster pat the octopus on the back in apology. “Sorry, Dan. After New Years’, though.”

“Yeah. Alright!” The muggle nodded with a smile.

“Harry!” Ginny called once more. The lobster started walking in that general direction.

“And a good job to you and Oliver. Give Jane my compliments. Those are fantastic costumes!”

The other man chuckled. “Ginny! Good job on the lobster suits!”

The teen laughed as she helped Harry down the stairs. “Why don’t you take this ridiculous thing off, love?” She asked, pulling the lobster headpiece off Harry’s head.

“Oh my…! I can breathe now!” Her boyfriend exclaimed comically. His hair was matted with sweat.

“Oh, darling! I got that whole thing on…” Molly began examining the small plastic object in her hand.

“It’s called ‘video’, dear.” Arthur filled in from behind her.

“Excellent job, Severus, Harry!” McGonagall praised.

“Thank you, Nana.” “Ank ooo, Mah-ma…” Ginny pulled Sev’s lobster hood off his head and gave him a big kiss on the cheek.

“That last song was rather catchy.” Dumbledore pointed out. “What was its name?”

“You mean you couldn’t tell?!” Aberforth grumbled, glaring at his brother.

“Headmaster!” Harry exclaimed. “Whatever happened to your beard?”

“Oh, I trimmed it…temporarily.” The old wizard replied with a twinkle in his eye. “It’s less suspicious this way.”

“You should’ve just left it long, Professor.” Hermione interjected. “I see a lot of people with long beards these days.”

“Yeah, but not normal people.” Ron argued.

“Pup, I’m going to remember this image of you forever.” Sirius cut in with a laugh.

“Shut up, Padfoot.” Harry grumbled. Finding Remus, he threw the lobster head over to him. “Next year, you’re getting the lobster part, Moony!”

The werewolf caught the head and chuckled good-naturedly. “You’re only bitter because I talked them into making you the lobster rather than me.” The rest of the group, save for Harry, erupted with laughter at the man’s last comment.

“What did you tell them, hon?” Tonks asked.

“That Teddy was still too young to be in the play, but Sev was just the right age.”

“Such a liar.” Harry shook his head.

“Teddy!”

“EB! Eb! Eb! Eb! Eb! Eb!”

“Come on, everyone!” Harry called, “I’ll give you a lift back home.”

The group climbed into the car slowly, so that no one would notice the inordinate amount of people climbing into Harry’s SUV. Sev was a bit taken aback during the ride at the amount of people who actually came to his Christmas play. Aside from the elder Weasley children, everyone who had been involved in his life thus far came to see him perform! This fact both excited and confused the infant greatly. What did this all mean? Did they come to see him perform because Harry told them to come, or did they come to see him perform because they wanted to see him perform? Did they come for Harry’s sake or for Sev’s?

Looking around, Severus considered each of them on a case-by-case basis. Ron most likely came only because of Hermione, but she definitely came because she wanted to support Sev. Hermione’s always been that kind of person. Ginny was definitely there for the both of them, as was Sirius. Well…Sirius probably come to support Sev and laugh at Harry at the same time. Remus, Dora, Andromeda and Teddy definitely came to support Sev. He knew this because they didn’t really laugh at Harry when he came out in his orange spandex costume, even when Sev and Sirius threw the longest laughing fit known to man. Molly and Arthur were definitely there to support him. The woman had videotaped his entire performance, for Merlin’s sake! McGonagall definitely came to support the both of them, no questions asked; and Dumbledore…loathed as Severus was to admit it, he knew the old man came to support him as well. And as for Aberforth…well, no one really knew what that man’s motivation was these days.

As everyone moved out of the car, into the Den, and around the dinner table, Severus rolled all these thoughts around in his head. A majority of the people who came tonight came for him. Why was that? What did that mean? Why was it that it was always these people who always made their presence known in his life nowadays? He could understand Harry, Ginny, and Sirius…well…maybe. He didn’t quite understand Sirius, but, really, who could? And he could maybe understand Remus, Tonks, Teddy, and Andromeda always being there because they lived next door. And maybe he could understand Molly and Arthur always being there too, because he kept them company during the day when Harry and Ginny were out. And Fred and George and Ron and Hermione were always at the Burrow, so he could understand their constant presence as well. And Dumbledore and McGonagall lived at Hogwarts and worked with Harry and Ginny all the time, so Severus could maybe understand why they were always there. And Aberforth lived next door so…yeah. That was just about everyone in question.

By the time McGonagall presented the pumpkin pie, Sev was still no closer to figuring out this mystery than when he began. If Harry and Ginny were like his parents, who were the rest of these people? Harry occasionally called them family…No, scratch that, Harry always called them family. So what did that mean for Sev? Were they like…his extended family?

This concept was new and quite strange to Severus. He had barely had parents in his first lifetime, but now he had parent-like figures, a “godfather”, a “godbrother”, “grandparents”, a dog, and a ton of extended family.

No, you don’t. A grumpy voice echoed from the back of his mind, bringing Sev’s train of thought to a halt. You don’t quite have any of those things. Not really! The infant frowned in confusion. What?! Parent-like figures are not the same as parents. A “godfather” is not a godfather, a “godbrother” is not a godbrother, and “grandparents” are not the same as grandparents. You don’t have anything quite yet.

The reality hit him like a punch in the gut. The grumpy old voice at the back of his mind spoke the truth, for once. He really didn’t have anything quite yet. He was a ward. He wasn’t a son. He was still a ward!

“Hey now, cub, enough of those depressing thoughts…” Harry whispered into his ear. The infant buried his face into his guardian’s robes as Harry lifted him into his arms. His eyes were moistening rapidly. The fact that he still didn’t quite belong—even after all this time—was making his heart ache with need. He didn’t want “parents”, he wanted parents! He didn’t want a “godfather”, he wanted a godfather! It was like life was teasing him, giving him glimpses of what he could possibly have if he belonged, but not giving him what he truly desired in the depths of his heart.

“Easy now, cub…” As Harry and Ginny bade goodnight to the stragglers, the teen slowly started dancing him around the living room, the soft notes of choral Silent Night drifting through the room. “Don’t think about that right now…”

How could he not think about that right now?! It was Christmas! If he wasn’t mistaken, this was the time of year when everyone always thought about what they wanted! Well, Sev more than wanted this gift. Sev needed this gift! Sev needed this gift so incredibly badly. Forget about material gifts. He didn’t need any of those! This gift was more than anything material they could ever give him! He wanted and needed this dream to become real! He wanted in to this family and he never ever wanted out ever again!

“That’s the ultimate gift, isn’t it, cub?” Harry murmured into his ear. “A family?” Sev sniffed and made himself comfortable in Harry’s arms. The soft swaying and the gentle music were slowly putting him to sleep. “I’ll make sure to tell Father Christmas for you…” The teen continued.

Father Christmas? Sev groaned and rolled over to find a more comfortable position against Harry’s chest. “Mo weaw…”

“Says who?” Harry asked. Sev could feel him lay back against the couch cushions and prop his feet up on the foot rest. “You just have to have a little faith, cub.” His guardian advised him. “Just have a little faith…” And Severus heard no more after that, for he had drifted off to the land of nod.

Jingle, jingle, jingle, jingle, THUD!

Sev’s eyes flew open and he scanned the living room, bleary-eyed. What was that?

Bump, bump, bump, bump, jingle, jingle, THUD!

The infant’s eyes widened slightly and he peered to his right. There was Harry. He peered to his left. There was Ginny. He peered down. He saw a black smudge next to the side of the couch by Harry’s foot rest. There was Padfoot. So…what the heck was that?!

The infant glanced once more around the living room where they had all fallen asleep. The fire had since gone out, but the embers still radiated heat. The tree lights were on and glowing and the angel smiled down at him from her perch atop the tree. Surely she couldn’t have been the one to make all that—

All of a sudden, a flash of movement by the corner of his eye had the infant turning towards the fireplace in time to see a rather old, plump gentleman wearing a furry red jumpsuit float down the chimney. He was using a big, round, velvet bag as a parachute to cushion his blow.

The infant’s eyes widened and his mouth dropped open in absolute shock. What in the world?! That…That wasn’t…That couldn’t be…He wasn’t real!!!

Was he???

Severus sat up as best he could and tried to rub the sleep out of his eyes. As soon as Father Christmas had squeezed himself out of their huge fireplace, he hefted his big velvet bag over his shoulder and made straight for the Christmas tree. He only paused in his trek momentarily to grab a cookie from the tray of Christmas cookies Ginny left out and dip it in the glass of milk she had left out as well. The big man then proceeded to open his bag and pull gift after gift out and stuff it under the tree. Once that was done, he returned to the cookie table and grabbed a few more, making sure to soak each of them in the milk before gobbling them up.

Sev tried his best to rub the sleep from his eyes. He checked to his left once again. Yep, there was Ginny. He checked to his right once again. Yep, there was Harry. He looked down on the floor, and yep, there was Padfoot. So who the heck was this person? And why did he look ridiculously like Father Christmas?!

All of a sudden, Father Christmas was crouched before him—before HIM!!! Father Christmas was crouched before him and smiling at him with those big rosy cheeks and shining eyes. He reached up a big gloved hand and lightly poked the tip of his nose with a single finger. “Believe, cub.” He told Severus with a wink.

Pushing himself up, the jolly red man threw the now-empty velvet bag over his shoulder and walked back towards the fireplace. He stopped by the mantle temporarily, though, and took something out of his jacket pocket, promptly stuffing it in his—in HIS, Severus’—Christmas stocking! The big man then squeezed himself back into the fireplace and turned to wink at Severus one last time before using his red bag to float himself back up the chimney.

Severus still couldn’t believe it. Perhaps he was still dreaming? There was no way he just saw Father Christmas! There was no way!

Perhaps I should just get back to sleep. Yeah. He’ll wake up in the morning and this will all just be one weird dream. Yeah. Yeah, he should do that.

Lying back down, Sev made himself comfortable between Harry and Ginny and closed his eyes. This whole experience was just too weird! He was asleep again within five minutes.

“Sev!” Someone was shaking his shoulder ever so lightly. “Sev, darling!” He could tell it was Ginny. Harry would never call him ‘darling’. “Sev, sweetheart!” Or ‘sweetheart’. “Sev, wake up! It’s Christmas morning!”

That did the trick. Severus had his eyes half-open and was sitting up before Ginny could even finish her sentence. “Kwi-mas?” He repeated groggily.

“Yes, Christmas, darling!” Ginny laughed.

Sev looked around. This wasn’t the living room! He wasn’t sleeping on the couch. He was sleeping on the big bed! The sunlight from the windows reflected against the white comforter, giving the infant the sense that he had been sleeping on soft, warm snow. Glancing to his left, he saw Ginny next to him, smiling at him lovingly, and peering to his right…odd…where was Harry?

“Harry’s downstairs, love, making a light breakfast.” Ginny replied, offering her arms out to Severus. “We’re going to open one gift before taking the rest of it the Burrow and opening them there.”

“Buwow…” The infant repeated, still only half awake.

CLAP!

“Up and at ‘em, big guy!” Sirius’ booming voice echoed from the doorway as he walked by.

Severus scowled in his general direction. Bfffffffft!

“Come on, love.” Ginny lifted him off the bed and carried him through his morning routine, after which the infant felt only slightly more awake than before.

“Happy Christmas, Sev.” Ginny whispered into his ear as she carried him downstairs.

Severus smiled, though his eyes remained closed. “Ha—peh…Kwi-mas…” Sticking his thumb in his mouth, Sev made himself comfortable in Ginny’s arms. Perhaps he could catch just a few more minutes of—

“Looks like Father Christmas definitely stopped by our house last night.” Harry pointed out once they had reached the living room.

The reminder of the family’s late-night visitor made Severus gasp and sit up in surprise. “FAH KWI-MAH!” He cried out at the top of his lungs.

All three adults in the room turned to him, curious at his sudden outburst.   

“Fah Kwi-mah!” The infant grinned and turned to Harry excitedly, eager to tell his story. “Fah Kwi-mah com! Com, com, com, com, com!” Sev started bouncing in Ginny’s arms, pointing to the fireplace. “Go dowm, go cookie, go twee, go cookie, go sock…mo…GO ME!!!” The infant retold, his eyes alight with happiness. “GO ME, HAWEH!!! Fah Kwi-mah go ME feh…” Severus repeated with a proud grin, “…deh go sock…deh go up.” He pointed at the chimney once again and began to wave. “Buh-bye!”

“Well…” Harry grinned, his eyes reflecting all the laughter and joy his infant was currently exhibiting. “Looks like I was right then!”

“Imagine that.” Ginny gave Severus a soft smile and nuzzled his ear. “See? Father Christmas really is real! I told you, sweet.”

“Let’s see what the jolly old fat man brought, then.” Sirius interjected, waving at the mantle and the tree right next to it.

“Sirius!” Ginny chided gently as she brought Sev closer to the mantle and his Christmas stocking.

“What?” The animagus shrugged innocently. “He is jolly and he is fat.”

“Fah Kwi-mah bing!” Severus squeaked, reaching out towards his stuffed stocking, “Fah Kwi-mah bing ME!”

“Let’s see then, love.” Reaching into Sev’s bulging stocking, Ginny pulled out what looked to be a fat bunch of papers, rolled up in a tight leather bundle. Wrapped around the bundle was a bright yellow ribbon flashing the words TENTATIVE! Pending Ministry of Magic Approval!

Sev fell silent immediately, his excitement quickly transforming into pure wonder. Those were…Those looked incredibly like…There was no way those could be…HOW???

“Let’s see what we have here, shall we?” Harry said, taking the leather-bound bundle off Ginny’s hands and unrolling it for all to see. After adjusting his glasses, he began reading the top of the first page. “Application for Formal Adoption. Adoptive father’s full name: Henry James Potter, adoptive mother’s full name: Ginevra Molly Weasley, and the child in question,” Harry looked over the rims of his glasses to meet the child’s eye, “Severus Tobias Snape.”

Sev felt his mouth drop open in awe. He was getting adopted.

He couldn’t quite believe it so he said it to himself again. He was getting adopted.

He still couldn’t quite believe it so he said it to himself again. He was getting adopted.

And yet he still couldn’t quite believe it so he said it—

“We’re adopting you, Severus.” Harry said it out loud.

Hearing those four words come out of Harry’s mouth triggered the reaction he had been waiting for.

I’M GETTING ADOPTED!!! The little voice in his mind squeaked out in joy. For once, the big grumpy voice in the back was silent. He was getting adopted!!! Severus grinned as wide as his mouth would allow and dove towards Harry in glee. “A-BOP ME!” He exclaimed, every word dripping with happiness and joy, “A-bop me!”

Ginny laughed as she helped Harry with the bundle in his arms and relieved him of the tentative adoption papers, “Yes, we’re adopting you, love.”

This was the greatest gift Severus had ever received in his life! Well…in both his lives actually. This was the greatest gift EVER!

“We have something else to show you, cub.” He heard Harry say as they started heading back upstairs.

Sev couldn’t believe it. Somehow, Father Christmas had heard his pleas last night and decided to answer them. It was the greatest gift Sev could ever imagine receiving! A family. Sev was getting a FAMILY for Christmas!!! Nothing material could ever top that! Nothing anyone could give him ever again could best the gift of parents who loved him, a dog who was like a cool uncle half the time, godparents, a godbrother, grandparents, aunts and uncles, and a bunch of people who weren’t technically family but whom he called family nonetheless. Nothing could ever, ever, ever, ever, EVER top that! As clichéd as it sounded, for Severus and others like him, a real family was a gift that just kept on giving.

“Fam-wy, fam-wy, fam-wy, fam-wy, FAM-WY!!!” Sev chanted happily as they made their way down the hall upstairs.

Harry chuckled at his enthusiasm. “I take it you like your Christmas gift?”

“Besp ewa, ewa, EWA!”

“Are you so sure it’s still going to be the best ever after you see this?” Ginny asked, a sly smile upon her face. Sev followed her finger to the pretty-looking wooden sign tacked onto the front of the door of the room that was supposed to be his.

Sev’s Room

The infant gasped and his eyes widened. “Me woom?!” He squeaked, his voice jumping to new heights. His excited gaze kept moving from Harry to Ginny and back to Harry again, followed each time by a higher-pitched, “Me woom? Me woom?! Me woom?!”

“You got it, cub.” Harry answered, reaching for the doorknob. “Your room.”

The teen threw open the door and Sev’s eyes widened to the widths of saucers. There was actually stuff in here! There was stuff in his room! The grin on the infant’s face couldn’t get any wider. The walls of his room were painted a light blue, which reflected the light from the window in just the right way, filling the space with a soft, comforting glow. To his right, there was a long blue bookcase which had three tall shelves in it. Housed on the shelves were his favorite stuffed animals, his favorite books, his favorite football, and a few green boxes, which Sev was sure was full of his favorite action figures as well. Across from him was a small desk with a comfy-looking chair and all the art supplies he could possibly need. To his left, there was a big wardrobe with colorful buckets full of his clothes, each of which Ginny had conveniently labeled, and a rack full of chubby hangers where his jackets hung. Across the room, Sev spotted an actual bed! It wasn’t a crib, but an actual bed! Of course, there was a set of low bars that framed the bed on all sides, but Sev figured they were more of safety bars to prevent him from falling off the actual bed more than anything. And finally, next to the bed was a bean bag that was just his size!

“Beeem!” The infant exclaimed, pointing to the big blue blob and wiggling to get down.

Harry chuckled as he bent down to set the child on the floor. “Yes, Ron told us just how much you loved the bean bag in his room.”

As soon as he was on his feet, Sev quickly toddled towards the big blue blob, but stopped halfway across the room. Looking down, he wiggled his bare toes against the carpet. Merlin, was this carpet soft! He grinned and wiggled his toes against the softness once again. Soon enough, he spotted his wardrobe and ran to it, quickly pulling out every single colorful bucket to see if all Ginny’s labels were actually correct. Moving on to the hanger section, he pulled out one of his hanging jackets—just because he could—and promptly dropped it on the floor.

I can reach it! Sev rejoiced in his head. I can reach my stuff! I can reach my stuff again!!!

With a laugh, Sev tore across the room to his bookcase. Grabbing his lion cub off his top shelf, he hugged it against his chest with his other arm before pulling out his football on his middle shelf and grabbing a book off his bottom shelf. Both objects promptly ended up on the floor as Sev giggled and went off to test out his art area.

Ginny sighed as she moved from Sev’s wardrobe to his bookshelf to pick up the dropped toys. “Harry, I’m starting to question your idea of putting everything within his reach.”

“Aw, it’s not too bad, love.” Harry shrugged, walking over to pick up the fat crayons Sev just discarded near his table. “At least now that he can reach everything, we can charge him with keeping his room clean.”

“HAPEH…KWI-MAH!!!”

The couple turned to find their infant lying down on his big blue bean bag. He had his arms wrapped firmly around his lion cub and he was smiling up at them with the biggest grin either of them had ever seen on his face. “Ank ooo.” He murmured softly, his words dripping with sincerity and genuine thanks. 

Harry returned Sev’s grin with just as much intensity. “There now. Don’t you think that’s worth it?” He told his girlfriend, referring to their decision to put everything within Sev’s reach. “He absolutely loves this place!”

Yet Ginny’s heart had already melted. Making her way across the room, the teen crouched next to the bean bag and bent down to plant a kiss on Sev’s cheek. “You’re very welcome, sweet.”  

“You got your own place back, cub.” Harry added, coming in behind her and smiling down at his infant. “There are a few rules, but we’ll go over that good stuff later.”

Yet Sev got the feeling they didn’t quite understand him when he said ‘Thank you’. Sev wasn’t just talking about the stuff in his room or the fact that he could reach everything once again like a normal person. Sev was talking about everything! Sev was talking about his big Christmas present—the Christmas present that nobody in the world could ever top ever again! The words of the Lady of the Lake came back to him once more.

“May you soon see this opportunity as a blessing…May you grow up again with all that you lacked before…”  

A family. A proper family. That’s what he lacked before. Yet Harry and Ginny were adopting him now. He was going to have real parents! He wasn’t just going to be a ward, he was going to be a son! He was going to be a SON!!! He was going to have the room in the house, he was going to have the dog and the godfather and the cousins and the aunts and uncles and the grandparents and the extended family. He was going to have EVERYTHING!!! Harry and Ginny were giving him EVERYTHING for Christmas! The infant couldn’t thank them enough!

“You’re a priceless gift in and of yourself, cub.” Harry told him in his mind. The words brought a smile onto the infant’s face. “And WE couldn’t thank YOU enough either.”

“Happy Christmas, baby.” Ginny whispered in his ear.

And a happy Christmas it was indeed.

“Teddy! Teddy! Teddy!”

“Eb! Eb! Eb!”

“Dora, it’s your turn to chase them across the room!” Sirius whined, gesturing for his cousin to trail after the two infants.

“Sirius, how hard can it possibly be?” Tonks replied with a roll of her eyes. “One of them is cruising and the other one can’t move very fast.”

The animagus narrowed his eyes at her. “Fine. If you think it’s so easy, you go and chase them!”

“Fine.” Tonks replied, rising up to her cousin’s challenge. Turning to her husband, she handed him her almost-empty plate and left to trail after the two almost-toddlers.

“That was really sneaky of you.” Harry commented.

“I really am tired!” The animagus replied with a tiny scowl.

“Mm-hmm.” Remus rolled his eyes.

“Hey! How’d it go, by the way?” The teen asked, dropping his voice to a whisper.

At that, his godfather grinned. “Oh, you should’ve seen the look on his face. It was absolutely priceless!”

“What about Teddy?”

“Teddy wouldn’t wake up!” Remus replied with a laugh. “I even tried…You should’ve seen me! I was carrying him, and when Sirius came over through the floo, I kept trying to shake him awake.”

The animagus chuckled. “Yeah, the little guy just wouldn’t wake up.”

Harry smirked, “Don’t worry, Moony. There’ll be plenty more Christmases. You’ll see his reactions then.”

“As I heard is the case with Severus now.”

Harry quickly cast a Muffliato over the group. “You should’ve heard him this morning! He told us the entire story of how Father Christmas came down the chimney and delivered gifts and ate cookies and—”

“And left his tentative adoption papers in his stocking.” Sirius added.

“I wish I’d have seen his face.” Harry replied wistfully.

“Don’t worry, pup.” His godfather replied, hooking an arm around his shoulders. “I’ll show you some of my memories later. You’ll see it.”

“Padfoot looked really convincing.” Remus commented. “I almost fell for it myself!”

“Yeah, who did you Polyjuice, by the way?” Harry asked.

Sirius shrugged. “I don’t know. I got the hair from the apothecary. The bag said ‘Father Christmas’. I was rather impressed by the results.”

“Gentlemen!” Arthur said, sticking his head into their group circle. “We’re about to open the gifts now, if you’d please?”

The three of them nodded and made their way to join the rather large group of Weasleys gathered by the Christmas tree in the living room. Harry found Ginny and Severus immediately. The infant had his head buried in Ginny’s chest.

“What’s the matter?”

“Mum tried to introduce him to Great-Aunt Muriel,” his girlfriend whispered in reply. “Turns out Sev’s shy when it comes to meeting new people.”

“Well, I’d be shy about meeting new people if I had to meet Great-Aunt Muriel too.” Harry answered with a smirk. “She’s right scary, she is.” Both Sev and Ginny laughed at him.

The gift exchange was a complete success. Sev and Teddy ended up with the most presents, simply because there were more people willing to give them gifts. The twins gave Severus a box of pranks designed specifically for him and his little fingers. Harry and Ginny had both glared at them when Sev ripped that particular gift open. Sirius had given both Sev and Teddy little toy brooms designed for infants and toddlers—the same kind he had given Harry when he was their age. The two infants had immediately become excited at the sight of the toy brooms. Harry, Ginny, Remus, and Dora, on the other hand, were not as exuberant. The animagus had placated them, though, when he reminded them that they indeed had control over the brooms and that the kids could only ride them under adult supervision. 

After all the gifts had been opened and the last dessert had been devoured, after the sun had dipped below the horizon and almost all of the Weasley extended family had left for the day, Sev lay nestled in Harry’s arms. The infant was exhausted. He had spent most of the day running around the living room of the Burrow with Teddy and chasing gnomes in the garden. Now all he wanted to do was sleep. Teddy had the right idea, he realized, as the other infant had fallen asleep in Remus’ arms an hour ago.

“Why don’t you take a short nap, cub?” Harry suggested as he rubbed the infant’s back. “But don’t go to sleep just yet. It’s going to throw you off completely when you see the sun again two hours from now.”

Severus frowned. What did that mean? He wondered as he leaned into Harry’s chest.

“Do you have everything packed and ready, love?”

“Just about.”

“So you’re really going to run away from here?”

“I told you, Padfoot. It’s not running away. We’re going on holiday.”

“Well I hope you have fun, dear, wherever you’re going.”

“Thanks, mum.”

“The phone’s charmed and ready to go.”

“We’ll call you when we get to the hotel.”

“I still don’t understand why you just can’t tell us where you’re going.”

“He already explained that, Ronald!”

“And I still don’t get it!”

“How’re you getting there, dear?”

“By portkey, mum.”

“Hopefully he stays asleep the entire time.”

“He’s not even asleep yet.”

“Have a safe trip, all three of you.”

“Thanks, Dora.”

“Take lots of pictures.”

“Definitely.”

“Come on, love.” Ginny whispered in his ear. She sounded like she was right on top of him. “Off you go, sweet. We’ll wake you when we get there.” Ginny ran her fingers through his soft hair and laid a kiss atop his temple. The caress pushed the infant ever closer to the brink between the waking world and the dream.

The last thing he heard as he crossed through the threshold was Dumbledore’s soft voice whispering, “Godspeed, Harry. To you and yours, Godspeed.”