"Wake up, baby boy! You're going to work with Daddy today!"

The morning reminder of the day's much-anticipated activity had its desired effect. Severus' eyes shot half-open and he grinned up at his mother excitedly. "Wooh!" He croaked groggily.

Ginny chuckled at her baby's valiant effort to wake himself up. "That's right, love." She reached down to lift him out of his crib. "You finally get to see Hogwarts again!"

"Mmm-Hmmm..." Sev cooed half-heartedly as he snuggled into the crook of his mother's neck. Today was a special occasion indeed! Despite living on Hogwarts grounds, Sev had seen very little of the school since the start of the school year. Whenever he visited the infirmary or was treated to the occasional Quidditch game, he had constantly been snuck about the grounds under the guise of his father's invisibility cloak. And even then, his activities were restricted to anything he could do inside the niche in his little sling.

Today, however, was totally different! Today, his daddy was putting away the invisibility cloak and parading him all around Hogwarts just like his Uncle Remus had been doing with Teddy all these months!

"Oh, I wouldn't go so far as to call it ‘parading', Sev." Ginny commented with a laugh as she changed his nappy.

I would. The infant internally retorted with a mischievous cackle.

Ginny rolled her eyes. "So...what do you want to wear today, love? Do you want to wear semi-formal clothes like Daddy? Or do you want to be more relaxed?"

Sev gave it some real thought. How did he want to make his Hogwarts debut? In some nice, professional clothes? Or in jeans and a t-shirt? What sort of statement did he want to make?

Oh, this is bloody ridiculous! The answer should be obvious! When have we EVER worn jeans and t-shirts before?! The voice at the back chimed in, disgusted by his hesitation.

The infant grinned. Jeans and a t-shirt it was then!

"You know, despite all her eccentricities, I must say, Luna makes some wonderful choices for baby clothes!" Ginny remarked as she adjusted the zipper on Sev's new brown-and-aqua-striped hoodie, a birthday gift from Luna Lovegood. "This looks absolutely fantastic on him!"

"Mm-hmm..." Harry grunted from behind the morning paper. Behind him, Sirius snorted into his cooking.

"Good morning, Daddy!" Ginny pushed, giving the child in her arms a light nudge.

"Mow-ming...Daddy!" Severus echoed happily. That word was never getting old!

The morning paper drooped considerably as Harry peered over the edge to find the two loves-of-his-life heading towards him. "Good morning, my son!" He replied, unable to suppress the smirk tugging at the corner of his lips. "And my soon-to-be wife." The teen grinned as Ginny brought Severus close for a morning peck on the forehead and then leaned in for a quick kiss of her own.

"Ooh!"  The teenage witch gasped. "That reminds me! I need to ask my mum to pick up some wedding catalogues and bring them over to the Den this weekend."

"I can do that." Sirius spoke up as he brought the pancakes over to the table. Harry and Ginny both raised an eyebrow at him while Severus peered at him with wide eyes.

"What?!" He exclaimed defensively. "I happen to know that there are at least a handful of beautiful, single women who hang around wedding stores. They say they're there just to ‘window shop'," the animagus drew quotation marks in the air as he rolled his eyes, "but I bet they're in there planning their nonexistent wedding with their invisible fiancés."

"So you go to a bridal shop to pick up women?" Harry asked with a snort.

"Don't judge!" Sirius shot back, pointing a finger at his godson. "You never know. Sometimes, there are single women there who are only shopping for wedding gifts."

"And you can tell this...how?"

The older wizard smirked as he passed out the pancakes. "They're the ones with the sad looks on their faces."

"Always the bridesmaids, never the brides."

"On the plus side!" The animagus added with a raised finger and a grin, "You know they're desperate and they're also serious."

Harry chuckled into his breakfast as Ginny droned, "I really don't understand you, Padfoot."

"What's there to not understand?" Sirius replied, confused.

"To mention they're desperate implies you want some kind of a one-night-stand, but to also mention they're serious implies that you want something serious. Which is it?"

"You're overanalyzing this." The animagus shook his head. "I mentioned they're desperate because they want a man now, which increases my attractiveness factor by a lot."

Yes, because he DESPERATELY needs the boost if he even wants a fighting chance with a woman. Big Sev droned at the back of his mind, making little Sev laugh into his plate.

"I'm serious!" Padfoot nodded, oblivious to the commentary in Sev's head. "And that makes them more susceptible to my charms. Plus, the fact that they're fantasizing in a bridal shop means that one day-possibly soon, but not too soon-they're fixing to get married."

"Which translates into...Sirius is desperate for a girlfriend, and Sirius is desperate to get married." Harry remarked with a smirk.

His godfather rolled his eyes. "‘Desperate' is such a strong word..."

"Nevertheless," Harry pushed away from the table and wiped his mouth as he stood up, "it's the right one."

He sent his godfather an apologetic look as he hurriedly dumped his plate in the sink. "I'm sorry about rushing out this morning, Padfoot, but Sev's got another immunization jab with Madame Pomfrey this morning."

Sev frowned upon hearing this. "Whaaaaayyyy?" He whined, giving his father a good pout.

"Because it's good for your overall health, and because I said so." The teen answered with a note of finality.

Sirius nearly choked on his coffee upon hearing his godson's reply. "Wow, Henry!" He shook his head and cracked a smug smile.

"What?!" Harry exclaimed defensively.

"You know...not three years ago, when I said the same thing to you, you up and told me that it'd be a cold day in hell before you used those words with your own son. Now look who's using the ‘because I said so' excuse!" Sirius exclaimed jovially.

Harry rolled his eyes and shook his head as he perched his son on one arm. "Shut up, Padfoot."

"Not so easy coming up with something original when you're the parent, is it?"

Severus hooked an arm around Harry's neck and then turned towards Sirius questioningly. What the heck was he talking about?

"Before you know it, your cub's going to be answering back with, ‘That's not a good enough reason, Daddy!'" At that, Sirius gave the infant a discreet wink.

Severus gasped. That's exactly what he should say right now!

"Sirius!" Harry widened his eyes at his godfather.

"Daddy! Mo goo mupp wee-som!" The infant exclaimed, turning a scowl upon his own father and crossing his arms for good measure. "Mo goo mupp!"

Ginny immediately turned away and began laughing into her hand, while Sirius flashed his godson with a grin that spread from ear to ear. Harry, in turn, glared daggers at the animagus. "Thank you so much for that, Sirius. Now he's going to be repeating that all the way to the infirmary!"

"Mo goo mupp!"

The older wizard smirked and leaned back smugly in his chair. "Hey! It's the curse all parents put upon their children, pup." He pointed a finger directly at his godson and put on a mock serious face. "I hope you have a kid someday that acts exactly-like-you!"

Harry turned away with a growl and began grumbling under his breath. "Yeah, well, this is all your doing!" Marching over to the side table, he shouldered Sev's diaper bag before making his way over to Ginny. "I'll get you back for that, Padfoot."

"Sure, you will, Harry." Sirius answered with a snort before disappearing behind the morning paper.

"Daddy! Me seh mo goo mupp!"

"Goodbye, my fiancé." The teen murmured, leaning in to kiss Ginny goodbye.

"Goodbye, my love." After kissing Harry, she also made sure to plant a kiss on her scowling son's cheek. "Have a good day, baby."

"DADDY! Ooo mo hewe me!"

Still paying no heed to Severus' complaints, Harry turned towards the opening portrait hole and added over his shoulder, "Good morning, my student!"

"Good morning, Professor." Came the reply.

"Ooh! That is so kinky!"

"Shut up, Padfoot!" The two teens rebuked in unison.

"Daddy!" Severus whined.

"Hush now, cub." Harry gave Merlin a wave of greeting as they started down the hall. "I know perfectly well that you can take a jab like a man. Now, none of this complaining."

"Good Morning, Profe..." A young Slytherin girl, whom Severus could only assume was in her second or third year, had come walking towards them with a smile that began to falter once she caught sight of the him, "...ssor...Potter..." Now she stood frozen in place, all but gawking at them as they passed her in the hall.

"Good Morning, Miss Pillsbury." Harry greeted with a friendly smile and a nod as he rushed by.

Severus boosted himself up to look over Harry's shoulder and gave the little girl one of his "cute" smiles and a wave. "Mowming!" He exclaimed, giggling at how quickly her eyes widened at him.

The infant turned back just in time to catch a pair of Hufflepuff girls coming down the stairs towards them. "So, I told Hugh that I was not interested in him anymore, not after the-Oh! Good Morn-"

"Oh my God! Baby!" The other girl squealed, startling Sev and making Harry flinch.

"Good Morning, Helen, Hilda..." Harry greeted with a fake smile that belied his groan.

Helen's (or Hilda's) squeal had alerted an even larger group of Hufflepuffs on the moving stairwell across the hall, as well as other students on the stairwells above and below them. Before Severus knew it, the noise level in the staircase grew as everyone peered over the railings to see what all the fuss was about

"What?"
"Whose baby?"
"Teddy?"
"NO! It's Harry's kid!"
"What?!"
GASP!
"Look! It's Snape!"
"Wow."
"Didn't you hear? It's ‘Potter' now."
"What?"
"He adopted him."
"His name's Severus Henry Potter now."
"Awwww! He's so adorable!"
"He's been living here this whole time?"
"It was a joint adoption, from what I hear. Ginny's his legal mum."
"In the castle?"
"How come they've never brought him out before?"
"But they're not even married yet!"
"Who would've thought Snape was ever a baby?"
"Everyone starts out as a baby, you big dolt!"
"This is too weird!"
"Rumor has it they're engaged."
"We should ask Jenny. She's in Gryffindor and a bigger gossiper than Rita Skeeter."
"He looks exactly like he looked like in the paper."
"And I thought that was weird enough."
"Get a load of the pipsqueak traitor."
"He's not that cute of a baby."
"Ugh!"
"Speak for yourself!"
"What?! I just think he makes an ugly baby!"
"Christina from Slytherin told Maria in Ravenclaw, who told Maria in Hufflepuff, who told Christina in Gryffindor, who told my roommate's sister's fake gay boyfriend in Hufflepuff, who told me that she was able to peek into Ginny's cabin on the train and she swears she saw a ring on her finger!"
"He's so adorable when he smiles!"
"EW! That thing looks SO gross!"
"That's so mean!"
"Well it's true..."
"It's a baby, not an animal!"
"Baby animals tend to look cuter than that."
"You need to get your eyes checked."
"Ooh! I hope Potter brings him to class. I want to take a closer look at him."
"He's not a puppy, Amanda!"
"I don't see what the big deal is."
"That's ‘cause you're a guy."
"This is just too weird."
"I never thought Potter would be the one to take care of Snape. I always thought those two hated each other."
"Possibly a change of heart?"
"I don't think that was it."
"I just want to pinch his cheeks!"
"There has to be some other reason Potter adopted the little git. I mean why would anyone willingly take that in?"
"I just want to gag."

Severus blushed and buried his face in the crook of his daddy's neck. He had been expecting the sudden onslaught of attention, sure. However, the whispers and the strange looks that trailed behind them in the hall was something he wasn't entirely comfortable with; never mind the fact that not all of the comments or the stares were friendly.

"Those clothes are so cute on him!"

"Hey, look at that, cub! They like your clothes!" Harry chuckled, trying to distract his son from the constant murmurs. Yet his tactics had little effect, as Severus merely wrapped himself into a tiny ball in Harry's arms and inched his thumb into his mouth.

The teen sighed. "Aw, cub..." Pulling Sev's hood over his head, Harry tightened his hold on the infant in an effort to comfort him. "And now you know why I make an effort to keep you hidden, don't you?" He felt a tiny nod against his chest.

As they were passing through the hallway that led to the clock tower, a familiar face turned the corner. "Hello there, Harry! Severus!"

"Good Morning, Professor Dumbledore." Harry nodded at him politely.

"My goodness! Something has the students buzzing this morning-that's for sure!" The headmaster chuckled, as if he didn't already know what that ‘something' was. "Enjoying the newfound attention, are we, Severus?"

The infant wanted to turn and blow raspberries at the old wizard.

Harry grimaced. "Please don't go there, Headmaster. He didn't quite enjoy the trek up here."

The headmaster frowned. "Why not?! I'd have thought he would've liked being out in the open again and spending time about the grounds." Dumbledore commented curiously. "What? After spending months under that invisibility cloak..."

"It's not really that part, Headmaster." Harry shook his head. "It's more of the whispers that follow us down the hall."

"Ah!" Dumbledore nodded in understanding. "Of course!"

"Well! Look who decided to join me this morning!" Madame Pomfrey greeted them with a frown as they walked through her doors. Harry opened his mouth to explain their tardiness, but the no-nonsense matron merely waved them towards a bed, all the while turning a fierce scowl onto the headmaster. "I expected you up here a full hour ago, Albus!" She snapped.

As per the headmaster's style, Dumbledore merely waved her off with a smile and hopped up on the bed next to Harry. "I apologize, Poppy. A rather urgent matter literally crashed into me as I was heading out my door this morning, and I decided to take care of it right away."

"Yes, I'm sure it was urgent." Madame Pomfrey replied with a scoff. Turning to Severus, she began taking his vitals and recording them in his file. "Albus, as long as you're just sitting there, roll up both your sleeves, please." She then addressed the father-son duo before her, "Mr. Potter, it is my recommendation that you start looking for a regular pediatrician for your family."

Severus looked up in surprise and gasped involuntarily.

"Wha?" "What?"

"Mo!"

"I'm sorry, Madame Pomfrey..." Harry, himself stunned by the suggestion, peered at the school matron in confusion, "...but I don't quite understand."

Madame Pomfrey sighed. "Mr. Potter, I can't treat Severus forever. And what's to happen when you and Miss Weasley have biological children? Am I to be their pediatrician as well?"

"You know, Harry, she has a point." Dumbledore chimed in from behind her.

"Mo!" Sev shook his head. He didn't want another healer. He wanted Madame Pomfrey! He was used to her already and she knew of his special needs. No other healer would understand him like she did! "Mo wamp! Mo wamp...ah-mo-bew...heweh!"

"Severus, I already have my hands full taking care of all the students in this school by myself-" Pomfrey argued, but Severus cut her off.

"MO! MO! MO!"

"Hey!" Harry gave the infant a tiny shake and frowned down at him. "That's enough! Don't be rude."

Severus looked up at his father for some support. "Mo wamp, daddy! Wamp hew!" He exclaimed, pointing to Madame Pomfrey for emphasis.

"I know you do." Harry nodded understandingly, "But she has a point though, Sev." He conceded. "She can't take care of all my kids."

"Me owy!" Sev argued desperately.

"We'll talk about it tonight, cub." Harry tried, "You, mummy, and I will all have a big talk about it." As he laid a comforting kiss upon his son's head, he locked eyes with Madame Pomfrey and used his eyebrows to indicate that he agreed with her and would try to convince Severus to come around.

The matron nodded and began steering the conversation in a different direction to distract the infant, "So...how often is he being nursed now, Mr. Potter?"

"Well..." the teen rolled his eyes in thought "...he feeds about half the day now. We have him on solid meals for part of breakfast, part of lunch, and all of dinner, but for the other parts, as well as snacks, he still nurses from Ginny."

"Mummy!" Sev exclaimed with a grin, completely out of the blue.

"But Ginny and I have been trying to wean him from it for a while now." Harry finished.

Pomfrey nodded and continued to scribble in Sev's folder, "And how has it been going?"

"Um...moderately successful."

"Moderately?" Dumbledore asked with a twinkle in his eye.

"Yes," Harry chuckled, "this one tends to be rather picky when it comes to things he eats."

Severus grinned at that. Boy, was that ever so true!

"Well, in any case, he's developing quite nicely." Madame Pomfrey commented, shutting the file with a snap and then waving her wand at the table across the room. A tray immediately began floating over. "And he's perfectly healthy, so whatever it is you and Miss Weasley are doing, continue doing it."

Meanwhile, Severus watched in dread as a small vial full of liquid and a needle came within range. He swallowed and peered up at his father desperately, but Harry was busy talking with Madame Pomfrey.

MUST you go through this little melodrama EVERY time you come in for an immunization injection?! The voice at the back drawled in disgust.

Severus ignored him.

"Daddy..." The infant called patiently, tugging on his father's sleeve and tilting his head back in order to see his face. "Daddy..."

"In a minute, cub." Harry nodded, not taking his eyes off the talking school matron.

"Daddy, mo wamp dab..." Sev shook his head and began tugging on the sleeve just a little bit harder. "Mo wamp..."

"So I'll send over a list of pediatricians near Godric's Hollow." Madame Pomfrey said as she picked up the vial and syringe.

"Daddy, mo wamp dat!" Sev squealed desperately, all his patience gone out the window. His cry caught Harry's attention immediately.

"Oh, come now, my boy..." Harry sighed.

"SEVERUS!" The infant turned just in time to see Dumbledore hop off his bed and begin jumping around like an idiot. Sev's eyebrows furrowed in confusion.

What in Merlin's name...?

"Do you know what dance this is, my boy?" He asked, slightly breathless but jovial.

Both Severus and Harry gaped at him for quite a while. That was supposed to be a dance?!

"Daddy, I think he's finally gone mental." Severus commented, his thoughts accompanied by brief flashes of concern for the man before him.

Harry snorted. "Just humor him, cub. He's over 150 years old. I'm surprised it's taken him so long to go this route."

"So you mean that now we have to deal with TWO crazy Dumbledores?" Sev peered up at his father skeptically. Harry merely smiled down at him and winked before turning to answer the headmaster.

"That looks awfully like what muggles call the ‘Chicken Dance', Headmaster." The teen snorted. Severus giggled at that. He remembered the Chicken Dance! And Dumbledore certainly looked like he was dancing like a chicken. Although...it also looked like he was doing a bit of the Robot dance in between clucks.

"The Chicken Dance?" Dumbledore tilted his head to the side, much like chickens did when they felt just as curious. The look, combined with his arms, which were currently in the chicken-wing position, made him look all the more like an oversized piece of poultry. Both father and son burst out laughing at the ridiculousness of it all.

"Alright! All done!" Madame Pomfrey declared with a smile as she happily snapped off her gloves. In contrast, the smile melted off Severus' face when he turned back to her in confusion.

"See? Look at that, cub!" Harry praised with a grin. "Didn't feel a thing, did you?"

Sure enough, when Sev checked, there was a magical bandage stuck to the crease in his arm and Madame Pomfrey was tossing an empty vile and syringe back onto the tray.

"Wow..." The infant's eyes widened in awe. It really wasn't that bad! He didn't even notice when the needle went in!

"And now for you!" Moving faster than he had ever seen her move before, Madame Pomfrey waved her wand at a surprised Dumbledore and a blue light immediately enveloped his figure. Within a split second, it disappeared and a long piece of parchment suddenly appeared in her hands.

"Wow." Now it was Harry's turn to be awed.

"Yes, you see how different she treats the elderly, compared to all you young ones..." The headmaster commented with a slight scowl.

"It's not because you're old, Albus, it's because you're stubborn." Pomfrey shot back sharply. Nodding in satisfaction, she stuck the parchment in his medical folder before fixing the headmaster with a pointed look. "Well...it turns out I don't have to give you an injection today. BUT...I still want you to watch your sugar intake, Albus." The old man sighed. "I shall inform the kitchen elves."

"And I shall misinform them afterwards." Dumbledore muttered with a wink at Severus.

"Do that and I will banish sugar from this school!" The matron threatened as all three of them made their way to the door. "See how popular you'll be with the student body then."

"She has a point, Professor." Harry snorted.

"Yes, yes, yes..." Dumbledore shook his head as he rolled down his shirt sleeves.

The three of them walked down the hall in companionable silence for a while, the quiet only broken by the hushed whispers that started when they came in sight of the students once again. His confidence restored after enduring a jab he didn't feel at all, Severus sat up straight in his daddy's arms and locked eyes with every student they passed in the hall. He tried to incite the fear in them that he used to back when he was a professor, but being two-foot-six instead of six-foot-two, and his scowl being more adorable than intimidating, his attempts were not nearly as successful as he had hoped.

"Why not try for a different image this time around?" His father suggested in his head. "Perhaps one that is more...say...friendly and open?"

"But..." Severus frowned at the proposition. "How do you do that?"

"Here's an idea, cub." Harry whispered in his ear. "Try being...yourself!"

Most ridiculous! Big Sev scorned. Yet Little Sev was not so quick to judge. Being himself? Dare he actually try it? Drop the whole façade and be the person he was around the rest of his family? How would that even turn out? What would everyone think of him?

"Look at it this way, my boy..." Harry chimed in, "You've got nothing to lose. What better time to start than right now?"

He had a point. Even the grumpy voice at the back had to see that it wasn't that bad of an idea. There was no time like the present to reinvent himself. What was the harm in giving it a try?

Leaving his son to ponder those thoughts, Harry turned back to Dumbledore. "By the way..." he started, "I just want to let you know that I gave my estate agent an ad for the house next door yesterday. Told her to put it in some newspapers in the surrounding counties. If we get lucky, we'll find a nice muggle couple to move in beside us."

"I still don't think that's an entirely good idea." The headmaster shook his head. "With my brother about? And the children? There's bound to be some magic, accidental or otherwise, flying around every now and then. How do you suppose you'll explain all that to the muggles next door?"

"Oh, I'll think of something." Harry shrugged as he squeezed through the doors of the Great Hall.

The school's dining room had been bustling with activity. There had been students running from table to table, talking about their holiday, comparing gifts over breakfast, and telling funny stories about all the family catastrophes that managed to occur over the short break. There had been rants and raves about how the food here at Hogwarts was definitely better or definitely worse than the food their mum made at home. And there had been tidbits of gossip flying around, ranging from the Potter-Malfoy custody battle to whether or not Princess Diana's fatal car crash had been planned. All of that activity ground to a halt, however, the moment Harry and Severus stepped foot into the room.

It was like somebody flipped a switch in the Great Hall. All of a sudden, there was silence. The change had been so swift and unexpected that it literally stopped Harry in his tracks. There had been no warnings, no screams of Severus' name or anything of the sort; just a nearly instantaneous shift from deafening noise to dead silence. One could hear a pin drop clear across the hall.

The stillness was eerie, and the multitude of eyes gazing at them, frozen and unblinking, was enough to put Harry on edge. He had his special shield charm prepped and waiting at his fingertips, just in case he should see anything funny flying his way. One could never be too careful in mixed company, especially with such precious cargo in one's arms. He was sure Severus-

"MUMMY!" Sev's joyous cry cut through the silence like a knife, and just like that, everyone blinked and looked around, as if each of them had just awoken from a dream. The tension Harry first sensed when he walked into the Great Hall immediately began to disperse. "Mummy! Mummy! Mummy!" The infant had zeroed in on his mother's location and looked about ready to jump out of his father's arms and fly across the room.

"Alright, alright, here we go..." Harry sighed and immediately headed for the Gryffindor table. His footsteps echoed strangely in the silence.

Half the room's prying eyes watched his every move, following him in his trek across the hall, while the other half locked onto Ginny, studying her thoroughly and making split-second judgments that would soon evolve into opinions. Those opinions would be shared and debated amongst friends before the questions inevitably sparked the speculation, which would ignite the rumors, which would then spread like wildfire throughout the castle. Yes, Harry knew exactly what was going to happen over the next few weeks. Having been through this before, he knew those whispers that followed them today would be hanging around for a while yet. His family-the most intimate part of his life-was now under the glare of spotlights. They were the newest source of entertainment in this school, and they were going to be watched accordingly.

"Mummy!" Sev sent his mother a giant grin, which Ginny returned with enthusiasm. Around her, her girlfriends giggled behind their hands.

"What's going on, baby?" She asked, delighted that Severus didn't seem to be bothered by all the attention. Harry, on the other hand, was his usual paranoid self.

"It's too quiet in here." Harry replied in his defense, having caught wind of her thoughts. For some reason, being watched in a hallway by the passersby didn't bother him as much as being watched in a giant room by an equally giant crowd.

"Wook!" Sev pointed to the bandage under his elbow before turning to his mother expectantly.

"What is that, sweet?" Ginny asked, swinging around on the bench and reaching out for her baby.

"He had a jab this morning," Harry explained, smiling proudly at the boy in his arms, "and he didn't feel a thing!"

"Is that true?" The teen's eyes widened, genuinely surprised. She knew Sev didn't enjoy getting injections very much, and getting him to settle down long enough to stick the needle in was a job in itself.

"Yup!" Sev nodded proudly. His excitement tickled his parents. "Kip! Mummy..." He continued, reaching for his mother's face and taking her cheeks in between his hands.

Ginny giggled and puckered up while Harry lowered the infant just enough to let him kiss his mother smack on the lips. Their audience's reaction was immediate.

Well! That certainly set people off. Big Sev commented as murmurs erupted all around the room. Heads began swinging this way and that, and the silence gave way to a major gossip session.

"Don't mind them, baby." Ginny whispered in his ear while she took him from Harry and settled him in her lap. Sev's first order of business was to grab her robe tightly and wrap it around himself. She could tell he missed his sling. "They're only gossiping this much because it's the first time they've all seen you in the flesh."

"I'll get him after I get his breakfast ready." Harry said softly, giving Ginny's shoulder a supportive squeeze and, upon her nod, walking away.

"The excitement will die down by the end of the week, I think." Hermione added, smiling reassuringly at the infant.

Severus didn't share her opinion. First of all, he didn't think everyone was excited to see him.

"Awwww! Ginny, he's SO adorable!" His mummy's friends were the exception, of course.

The infant felt like rolling his eyes. That was most people's reaction to him until they found out who he really was. Yet these girls already knew who he really was, which made their reactions one-quarter insulting and three-quarters interesting. Pulling himself into a sitting position, he hugged him mother's arm and decided to get them on an adorability high. He was, after all, trying to reinvent his image. What better way to start than to show people just how adorable of a baby he could be?

Stage one of the plan-make adorable sounds and give everyone a nice view of those big, beautiful hazel eyes. "Mummy!" Sev pulled himself up to stand on his mummy's thigh before proceeding to inspect each of the ladies around him. He took extra care to widen his eyes and make cute curious faces at each of them. As expected, they all melted with one glance.

"Aw! It's so hard to believe this used to be Professor Snape!" One girl crooned.

"Yeah, he looks so sweet and innocent."

Looks can be deceiving. The Big Voice retorted with distaste, appalled by the fact that these ladies were actually falling for the act!

"Maybe it's a trick!" One of the blokes beside them yelled. The infant blew raspberries at him. That immediately got him some laughs, accompanied by a tiny shake of disapproval from his mother.

"Oh, nonsense!" Ginny rolled her eyes and readjusted the baby in her arms. "Sev here is just a sweetheart by nature, aren't you, my love?"

Sev glowed with genuine happiness at the praise his mother was giving him, and he reached up with a grin to give her another kiss on the mouth. The awes this time were louder and greater in number than before.

Your dastardly plan seems to be working. Big Sev commented. Yet Little Sev couldn't remember what dastardly plan he was referring to. This "being cute" business was fun!

"Alright, alright, that's enough, ladies." Harry broke in, reaching in to lift Sev out of his mother's arms. There was a brief sound of disappointment. "I daresay you'll be seeing young Mr. Potter here a bit more often from now on. There's no need to rush things."

"Buh-Bye!" Sev flashed the ladies his signature eight-toothed grin and waved enthusiastically at them. They all swooned.

"Looks like we've got ourselves a charmer." Harry chuckled while he made his way up to the professor's table.

"Oh my god, Ginny!" One of the girls sighed longingly as she watched Harry and Sev walk away.

"I know! You are SO lucky, you know that?!" Went another.

"Mmmm...A great man-"

"A great, good-looking man."

"-a gorgeous child-"

"Who's quite the charmer, it seems."

"What more can a woman ask for?"

"What about an engagement ring?"

Just then, one of Ginny's friends gasped. "Oh! That reminds me! Is it true, Ginny? People are saying you're engaged!"

"Yeah, gay George said he heard it from Cindy, who heard it from Jerry Winston's sister in Slytherin, who heard it from her best friend's roommate, Kristine in Hufflepuff, who said that she saw you with an engagement ring on the train!"

"Uh..." Ginny chuckled nervously, reeling from how quickly the conversation switched from her son to her semi-secret engagement. "I don't know what they're all talking about." She replied with a dodgy smile, much to her friends' dismay.

"Oh, come on, Gin!" They pushed

"Aw look! Little Snape is trying to use a spoon!" One of the girls swooned, thankfully changing the subject.

"It's little Potter now, Jasmilla, haven't you heard about his adoption?"

"That much is true, isn't it, Gin?"

"Of course it's true! Harry said it himself not two seconds ago! Weren't you listening?"

"Mm-hmm." Ginny nodded distractedly, her gaze turned away as she watched Harry and Sev at the professor's table. They had recently been re-teaching Severus how to use his spoon-an experience that took up several rolls of film and created a lifetime of memories at every meal. The infant had yet to get the hang of it, but he was getting better and better at holding his spoon and getting his hand to turn in the right direction. Actually getting something onto the spoon and keeping it on long enough to get it in his mouth-that was the real challenge.

"Come on! Here we go...You're doing it!" She could hear Harry exclaim with a grin. Severus had what looked to be a few droplets of oatmeal on his baby spoon and was attempting to get it into his mouth while his father and godfather cheered him on. But the spoon was already beginning to tilt the wrong way, and Severus was already leaning over as far as he could, and he still had several more inches to go...!

"Let's change that up a little bit, shall we?" Harry readjusted the angle of the spoon so that nothing would fall off just as Severus pushed forward, almost falling into his oatmeal, and engulfed the tiny spoon in his big mouth.

"Yay!" Tonks cheered from beside Remus, making Severus grin around the spoon. Her enthusiastic applause drew a small audience.

"MUMMY! MUMMY!" The infant called as soon as Harry helped him remove the spoon from his mouth.

"Shhhh, Severus!" Harry shushed him calmly in his ear.

"I know. I saw you, love." Ginny told him mentally. On her face she wore a gigantic smile, and her hands gave him a silent applause. Her baby bit his lip to contain his laughter as he imitated her applause whole-heartedly.

"Awwwwww!" The teenage witch turned back just in time to find most of her girlfriends gazing up at her son wistfully.

"God, I'm so jealous of you right now." One of them sighed.

"Mmmm...SO lucky..." Moaned another.

The boys around them groaned and gagged while Ginny merely smiled in reply and returned to her books and toast. She knew exactly how lucky she was, there was no need to reiterate that with her friends. Besides, they probably wouldn't understand everything she had gone through over the past few months. The only person who could really empathize with her was Hermione, and she already knew everything!

Sure, all these girls were drooling over the life she was living right now-when her fiancé was healthy and in a good mood, and her son was trying to charm the socks off of every girl in school. Yet, for some reason, none of these gossip-obsessed women could recall the whirlwind her life had been over the last few months! They took one look at how good a father Harry was being and conveniently forgot how he had ended up in the hospital a few months ago, nearly dead from a formerly uncounterable curse. They fussed over Severus and pictured themselves as his caretakers, but surprisingly couldn't recall the fierce custody battle that was fought over him not three weeks ago!

It was hard for Ginny to believe these girls were genuinely jealous of the life she was living. They were jealous of the romanticized version of her life, most likely-the gorgeous, adorable baby boy and the handsome, dashing rebel war hero who saved the world from the evil Voldemort and was a fantastic father to boot. Sure, it was easy to be jealous of all of that! Yet her actual life? The teenager took a long, hard look around. These girls probably wouldn't last a minute in her shoes.

They wouldn't last a minute through the sleepless nights when Severus would wake up every two hours needing to have his nappy changed or be fed. They wouldn't last a minute through Harry's self-doubt about whether he had the patience and self-constraint to father a child. They wouldn't last through the discomfort of their breasts engorging with milk or the pain accompanied by Severus figuring out how to latch on and feed properly. They wouldn't last through the nightmares that often kept Harry up at night. They wouldn't last through the crying fits and temper tantrums whenever Severus was teething or just plain frustrated with the world in general. They wouldn't be able to restrain themselves whenever Harry was properly disciplining him. They would probably run away at the first sign of one of Harry's explosive fits of anger, or otherwise bow to his wishes, even when he was being unreasonable. They would buy Severus everything he wanted, the word "no" or "savings" never once crossing their minds, because they were dating Harry Potter-the richest young wizard in Great Britain!

Yet how quickly would they have run away, Ginny wondered, when Harry told them he was dying? How readily would they have left when faced with the prospect of raising a child alone? How willing would they have been to stand by his side, against a silent and vicious enemy, knowing that when it all came to a head, they would most likely have to plan his funeral? How much strength would they have had to muster when putting on a happy face for Severus and the family, knowing that all the while they were dying inside, along with the man they loved? How long would it have taken for the secrecy to overwhelm them? Would they have been more successful at convincing Harry to amputate his leg rather than lose his life or his soul?

How overjoyed would they have been knowing that the Antidote was finished, and Harry now had a fighting chance to live? Would it have given them as big of a heart attack as it had given her, seeing Harry crumple to the ground and thinking for a split second that, even after all they had achieved, they had lost him? How demanding would they have been in the hospital with the ever-intimidating Healer House? How long would they have stayed worrying by his bedside? How much relief would they have felt knowing that he would live? How patient would they have been as he got used to walking again? Would they have even made sure he followed the healers' orders and used his cane as prescribed?

And after all that drama, Ginny wondered, how would these girls have reacted to the prospect of losing their child? How terrified would it have made them to think that at any moment, someone might come and take their baby right out of their arms? How much sleep would they have lost knowing that this child, which they had nurtured and cared for and given their heart to, could easily be stolen away by a man who couldn't care less, and who would take him away out of spite? How many nights would they have spent just watching him sleep and reveling at the fact that he was still here-safe and sound. And how much would it have killed them when, just as they thought they were safe and letting their guard down, the snake in the grass decided to strike and slither off with their baby into the night? How much would they have shook and cried and despaired every minute that he wasn't in their arms? How hard would they have worked to make sure he had the best protection, that he was of sound mind and body from a distance, and that they had every base covered when it came to getting him back? How indescribably ecstatic would they have been knowing that no one could ever take their baby away from them ever again?!

These girls had no idea what it was truly like to live her life. They called her lucky, and she certainly knew she was. Yet she knew that Harry was nowhere near the perfect guy, and their relationship was not without its (sometimes ridiculous) obstacles; and Severus was not always an adorable, charming infant that they could dump back in the crib and be done with after ten minutes, but needed all the round-the-clock care and attention that every baby needed. What these girls saw as "luck", Ginny recognized for what it truly was-the product of hard work and perseverance. Ginny counted herself lucky because Harry was alive and healthy and Severus was alive and healthy and permanently in their custody. Money and celebrity be damned, that was all Ginny needed to know to be happy with her life-her family was safe and together they would live to see another day.

"And THAT, my love, is why I chose YOU and not the other girls beside you." A familiar voice echoed in her head.

Ginny peeked over her shoulder just in time to see Harry raise his glass of orange juice at her with a wink.

She smiled.

Yes...Ginny knew exactly how lucky she was.

---

"Okay. Boys? Boys!" Harry clapped his hands lightly in order to get Sev's and Teddy's attentions. The infants almost immediately stopped giggling and pushing their ball around to turn to him, their eyes full of curiosity. "Do you boys want to learn the shield charm now?" He asked.

"Harry, do keep in mind that from an outside point-of-view, you're asking a fairly complex question to two infants." Sirius commented from behind his magazine, "One of which has a relatively tiny vocabulary of mostly nouns."

"All the more reason to NOT dumb down everything I say when I'm speaking to them." The teen replied, bending down to pick up the ball the boys were pushing around earlier. "It's like when we speak to them in French. At the pace these two are learning, they'll be fluent at it before we are!"

"Mm-hmm..." Sirius rolled his eyes. In addition to English, Harry and Ginny recently began speaking to the boys in both French and Spanish-a fact that perplexed everyone else in the family, considering neither Harry nor Ginny (nor anyone else in the family) knew how to speak either language. Yet Ginny explained that she and Harry had recently been learning the basics, with the help of some library books, in the hope that they could teach it to Severus. Apparently, Ginny felt that he would have a greater advantage in life, as well as a larger world view, if he could communicate in more than one language and understand more than one culture. Harry simply went along with the idea because it sounded reasonable enough, and of course Ginny immediately won over both Hermione and Tonks. Thus, the house instantly became trilingual, with Spanish and French being thrown around every once in a while just for fun.

Harry flopped down onto the carpet next to the infants and Teddy immediately began reaching for the ball in his hands. "Wait a second, cub." He held up his hand in a ‘stop' gesture, which he knew Dora had taught Teddy to recognize. "I want to show you something."

"Baw!" Teddy exclaimed with a frown, pointing to the ball in Harry's hands yet keeping himself from reaching for it. "Baw!"

"I know." Harry nodded. "In a second, cub. I want to play a game with the both of you."

"Gam..." Severus babbled, tapping Teddy on the shoulder. "Gam, gam, gam, gam..."

"Ga, ga..." Teddy imitated curiously before turning back to give his godfather an equally curious look. "Gaga?"

From the table across the room, one of Ginny's study partners couldn't keep the grin off her face. "Oh my god, Gin, they are so adorable!"

Ginny gave her a tiny smile as she passed a parchment full of notes to Hermione. "Yeah, I know. But come on! We have to focus on this! The NEWTs are four months away!"

"Okay, okay! Right!"

"Look at my hand, boys." Harry explained, making sure that the small shield that was emanating from his palm glowed a very bright blue. "What you want to do is..." he placed the ball in front of him and pushed it towards Teddy without touching it, allowing the ball to bounce off his shield instead, "...PUSH it away from you."

Teddy giggled and immediately began reaching for the ball.

"Mo! Mo, Teddy..." Sev shook his head and held his friend back from touching the ball. "Mo tup...baw!"

"UH?!" Teddy frowned at him, suddenly confused.

"Mo tup!" Sev shook his head once again. "Wook!" Severus held out his hand towards the ball, closed his eyes, and concentrated for a few long minutes. "Poof...da...baw!" Like an engine, sputtering to life, a tiny blue shield, identical to Harry's, flicked and fluttered in front of Sev's palm. It crackled and glowed more brightly in some spots more than others, it had holes in certain areas, and it pulsated strangely, but Harry had to admit that it was rather good for a first try.

"Good job, cub!" The teen praised with a smile. "Now just touch the ball lightly with your shield and push it towards me..."

Severus bit his lip and leaned forward, determined to get this right the first time and show his daddy just how good he was! He reached towards the ball and aligned the measly surface of his shield with the small toy. Now all he needed to do was push.

All of a sudden, his shield flashed a bright blue and a pulse of energy ran from the top of the shield to the bottom, touching the surface of the ball and flinging it out like a slingshot...

...straight into Harry's nose!

"Argh!" The young wizard cried in surprise, falling back onto the carpet.

"OOOOO!" Severus, Teddy, and Sirius all exclaimed together.

"Ow..." The teenager droned, lifting his smushed glasses out of his eyes and pinching the bridge of his nose. He could sense his eyes watering where the nose pads pushed in and poked them.

"Are you alright, Harry?" Sirius asked from the couch.

"Daddy?"

"I'm fine!" Harry waved them off casually.

Both Sev and Teddy exchanged a look and began to giggle.

"Excuse me, Sir Henry!" Merlin's voice boomed from above.

"Wow, that is creepy!" One of Ginny's friends commented, her eyes widening at the ceiling.

"You get used to it." Ginny replied, never taking her eyes off her textbook.

"What is it, Sir Merlin?" Harry sighed, slipping his glasses back on.

"There is a young man at the door who keeps babbling about not knowing the wand movements for a particular spell." The old wizard explained. "He seems to be in a bit of a panic."

Harry groaned. "Let me guess! Fifth year, Slytherin, stutters a lot?"

"Yes, sir. He said his name was-"

"Toby. Yes, yes..." The teenage wizard suppressed a sound of annoyance as he pushed himself to his feet and began making his way towards the door. "He's a bit of a perfectionist. An obsessive...compulsive...perfectionist. I swear, if I didn't set office hours, that kid would be knocking at every hour of the day and night!"

"Which doesn't quite sit well with me." Ginny added as Harry passed.

"Yes, I know, love."

"Daddy!" Severus climbed to his feet and immediately began chasing after Harry. "Daddy! Me com! Me com!"

"AH!" Teddy whined at suddenly being abandoned by his best friend.

"No, no, cub." Harry shook his head, bending down to reroute Severus back towards the living room. "You stay here with Uncle Sirius and Teddy."

"Mo! Me com!" Sev argued, wiggling out of Harry's grasp and running around his legs and towards the door.

"No! Severus.." Harry groaned, chasing after him.

Unfortunately for the infant, the door remained firmly shut. "I am sorry, Master Severus, but your father said no." Merlin added from above.

"Mo! Opem, peas?" Sev asked, knocking on the back of the portrait and sending a charming smile towards the ceiling. Perhaps he could charm Merlin into opening the door.

"Sev, come now, cub." Despite his whining, Harry picked him up from behind and turned back towards the living room. "Sir Merlin, would you be so kind as to tell Toby to wait in my office? Tell him I'll be there shortly."

"Come here, baby! Do you want to help mummy study?" Ginny intervened, turning away from her books and reaching for her squirming son.

Severus looked interested for all of about half-a-second. "Mo! Mummy pay!" He suggested instead. "Mummy pay! Mummy pay!"

"Mummy can't play now, baby. I have to study for my NEWTs. But maybe you and Teddy could come draw with me? Nice and quiet. How about that?"

"Mo! Mummy pay! MUMMY PAY!"

"Cub, mummy already said she can't play-"

"Ginny, Ginny, go ahead and study!" Sirius waved her off as he ran in from the living room. To Harry, he pointed towards the door and said, "You, go and do your job. I'll handle the boys." And without waiting for a reply, he took Severus into his arms and brought him back into the den, where Teddy was waiting patiently.

"MO!" Sev whined, reaching for his daddy over Sirius' shoulder. "Me com! Me com! ME COM!"

"Severus, that's enough!" Sirius told him firmly and readjusted him so that he wouldn't fall.

"Me go mummy! Me go mummy!" Sev cried instead.

"Mummy has to study right now. She'll spend time with you later. Besides..." he tapped the infant on the shoulder and lowered his voice conspiratorially, "...I want to show you something a lot more fun than what daddy was showing you."

"Mo wike!" Sev frowned, never wavering in his effort to jump over the animagus' shoulder. "Wah go mummy!"

Sirius smirked. He knew exactly how to deal with that particular response. "Alright!" He replied nonchalantly. Bending down, he placed the infant on his own two feet, but whispered in his ear before releasing him. "But you're going to miss out on all the FUN Teddy and I are going to have...without you!" And with that, he released the one-year-old and slowly walked away.

Severus bit his lip and crouched down close to the floor to keep his balance. What was that all about? He wondered, his eyebrows furrowing in confusion. His Uncle Sirius generally didn't take what he said seriously when he cried for mummy or daddy. He was a baby, for crying out loud, he was supposed to cry for mummy and daddy! Uncle Sirius usually ignored him or tried to keep him distracted until they started having fun, and by then Sev was usually having so much fun he forgot about calling for mummy and daddy. WHAT was going on here?! He turned to study the animagus' retreating form. What was he doing? This wasn't how it was supposed to go! They had a system, for Merlin's sake! A SYSTEM!

The infant watched as Sirius picked up a curious Teddy and headed towards the master bedroom. "Teddy and I are going to go play in here so that we don't bother mummy and her friends. But off you go!" He shooed Severus away. "You said you want to go play quietly with mummy. Off you go then!" The infant glanced back towards the table where his mummy and her friends were studying. That didn't look like much fun.

Turning back towards Sirius, he stood up at full height and bounced in place. "AH!" He cried with a frown. This wasn't what was supposed to happen! Why wasn't Uncle Sirius playing his game?! "Ah! Ah! Ah!"

"What?" Sirius shrugged from the threshold of the bedroom as Teddy watched their exchange with interest from his arms. "You said you want to go draw with mummy. Go on!"

"MO!" Sev whined.

"No?" The animagus raised an innocent eyebrow.

"Do you want to come and draw with me, love?" Ginny asked, suppressing the smile that threatened to break through. She knew exactly what Sirius was doing.

"Mo!" Severus growled in frustration. Turning away from the annoying animagus, he ran to the table where his mummy was studying and wrapped himself around her legs. "Mo! MO!"

"What are you saying ‘no' to, sweetheart?" Ginny smiled, picking up her baby and placing him on her lap.

"Wam go pay!" Severus complained, pouting at his Uncle Sirius, who merely rolled his eyes and continued into the bedroom.

"Well, your Uncle Sirius just asked you if you wanted to go play. Why didn't you go and play with him?"

Severus whined. "Because he wanted me to go play with him, but I said I wanted to go play with you, and he said okay and that I should go play with you, but he wasn't SUPPOSED to do that, he was SUPPOSED to say that I should play with him. Now he's not doing what he is SUPPOSED to do, mummy!"

Ginny chuckled at her son's convoluted reasoning. By now, Severus was well-used to a routine in almost everything that happened in his life. She and Harry had made sure there was a strict bedtime, there was a specific bedtime routine, and everything happened a certain way. Severus like that. He and Teddy both thrived under that. Severus even had routines when dealing with his Uncle Sirius. Neither Harry nor Ginny knew the specific rules between these two, but they were certain that there were established rules regarding how they interacted with each other. They had weird games that they played off each other constantly and that's how they both liked it. Now, however, it looked as if Sirius was throwing in the towel and refusing to play with Severus altogether, which was making the infant both confused and a little bit sad.

"You see, love? You should be careful what you wish for." She whispered comfortingly in his ear and began to rock him slowly. "Because it might just come true."

Two of Sev's fingers managed to slip into his mouth as he shook his head and whined sadly. "Wam go pay, mummy! Wam go pay!"

"Well, let's go ask your Uncle Sirius if he still wants you to go play with him." Pushing her chair out, Ginny stood and made her way to the master bedroom, planting Severus right in front of the partially-closed door. "Go on and knock, love."

A tiny knock echoed throughout the room nanoseconds before the bedroom door flew open all the way. There Sirius stood, Teddy still on his arm, as if he had been waiting for this to happen the whole time.

"Wam go pay, Unca Pa-poo!" Sev cried, on the verge of tears.

"Well, why didn't you say so, cub?!" Sirius exclaimed with a self-satisfied smirk. Ginny watched with a smile as the animagus bent down, scooped the now-grinning Severus onto his other arm, and then proceeded to pace around the room, a boy on each arm, as he made his little speech. "Okay! Today, boys, we are learning about the art and science of innocent..." the shaggy-haired wizard peeked at her with a mischievous glint in his eye, "...pranks."

The teenage witch scoffed and rolled her eyes. That's typical. She shook her head at him and gave him the evil eye, even as she turned her heel and walked away. Sure, she was probably going to regret not stopping this nonsense sometime in the near future, but whatever. She had bigger things to be concerned about at the moment. Besides, she had full faith in Sirius now. She didn't quite believe Harry before when he told her Sirius was capable of being responsible, a role model even. Yet over the last few months, the animagus had really surprised her. Sometime over the last couple of years, Sirius had made a turnaround. He wasn't always the perfect role model for Severus, and there were times when the teenager he used to be would shine through, but during those times Ginny always recognized the man behind the teenager behind the man. Sirius was complex, to say the least, but Ginny knew her son was safe in his hands.

"Now remember, you two, I have one rule when it comes to pranks-no dangerous ones allowed. Do you understand me, cubs? I will not have either of you turning into me."

"You don't have to worry about that!" Ginny heard a familiar little voice echo in the back of her mind, where her link with Severus lay.

"Sev? Look at me. I'm going to trust you to stay in line. At least, until Teddy is mature enough to do the job for both of you. If he's anything like his father, that is."

"Lucky for all of us, I think he is." Another voice joined in the conversation. This one surprised Ginny momentarily. She hadn't quite heard this one before; not in her head, at least. It sounded a lot like the old Snape from before the deaging incident.

"He lives in my head, mummy!" The familiar little voice replied.

Ah yes, the ever-present Man-at-the-Back. Ginny shook her head. She was so happy she and Harry decided not to oblivate him. Life was certainly a lot more interesting with Sev's second voice injecting his cynical opinions every now and then. If anything, considering how headstrong Severus was getting by the day, it would give her some measure of comfort knowing that there could possibly be a voice of reason telling him not to be stupid and use his head. The old Snape was certainly good for that, she recalled with not-quite-fondness.

---

"Oh, my goodness! Ginny, have a look at this, sweetheart!" Molly exclaimed, shoving the wedding magazine she was looking at into Ginny's hands. "Isn't that gorgeous?!"

Ginny raised an eyebrow. One thing was for certain-her mother's definition of gorgeous was nowhere near her definition of gorgeous. "It's nice, mum."

"What do you mean ‘it's nice'? It's stunning!" Molly frowned, taking a second, more critical look at the wedding dress.

"No, no, Molly. Look at this one!" Dora threw in, sliding her wedding catalogue across the table.

"I think this one looks rather beautiful." Hermione added, pointing at the dress in the magazine she was skimming.

"Severus, sweetheart, look at this wedding dress." Molly held the magazine up for the infant to see. As if Sev didn't get a good look at it when his mummy was looking at it a second ago! "What do you think, love?"

The infant was about to blow raspberries at it, but he remembered his promise to his parents to stop doing that from now on, so he made a disgusted face and shook his head instead. Both Dora and Teddy laughed at him.

"It's nice, mum, but it's really not my style."

"Yes, Ginny has a style, Molly!" Dora grinned.

"Oh, hush!" Molly huffed, flipping the page as she shook her head.

It was the weekend and the family was once again at the Den in Godric's Hollow. The girls were taking a study break from almost nonstop NEWT cramming and Molly, Dora, and Teddy were over, helping them relax by poring over wedding catalogues.

"Oh, I do love planning weddings!" Molly gushed. "And this is practically the only time I get to do it!"

"You can help when I plan my wedding, Mrs. Weasley." Hermione interjected.

"Oh, Hermione!" The Weasley matriarch smiled and briefly cupped Hermione's face between her hands. "Thank you, dear, but I know your mother is going to want to share that special time with you when the time comes, and I wouldn't want to impose."

"Yes, you would, mum." Ginny snorted as she turned the page. "Admit it."

"Pay no attention to her."

"Mummy! Mummy!"

"Yes, sweetheart?"

"Mummy, go daddy!" Sev whined, bored with all this talk of weddings and girly stuff.

"Where are the boys this evening?" Molly wondered aloud.

"Oh, they're over across the street at Abe's house." Dora replied, pointing over her shoulder.

"Smoking, drinking, and playing high-stakes poker." Ginny added, her mouth twisted in distaste. "Baby, I don't think you want to be there right now."

It beats being in here. Severus retorted in his head. He was bored! At least they were having some fun over there!

---

"Hit me, Harry."

"Albus, that's an entirely different game!" Abe snapped for what felt like the thousandth time.

"What game is that anyway?" Remus asked, putting his whiskey down to take the cards Harry dealt him.

"It's blackjack." The teen replied through the cigar in his mouth.

"Ooo! I remember that game!" Sirius exclaimed, throwing in his blind. "Harry, you should teach these guys how to play."

"For what purpose?" The teen frowned. "The point of blackjack is to beat the house, and that house is generally the casino."

"Or the mob."

"Yeah, well, that's something entirely different and a hell of a lot more dangerous."

"What are you lot talking about?" Ron broke in, confused.

"Blackjack, apparently." Dumbledore replied, examining his cards with a lost look in his eyes.

"It's complicated."

"Illegal gambling."

"There's illegal gambling?" Ron raised an eyebrow at Harry while he passed his empty glass to Abe for a refill.

"You know, I should start charging the lot of you for all the whiskey and cigars you go through whenever you come over." The younger Dumbledore growled, even as he generously refilled Ron's glass.

"Yeah! You know that lawyer I went up against at the custody battle?" Sirius recalled.

"Smith? The Malfoys' lawyer?"

"I reckon he was in deep with a bookie, from what Harry told me." The animagus nodded. "And I reckon the mob was involved, too."

"What's a bookie?"

"And whatever happened to him anyway?" Remus interjected.

"Who? The lawyer?"

"'In deep' is putting it lightly." Harry scoffed. "The guy was £150,000 in the hole. That's 30,000 galleons!"

"How the hell do you know that, Potter?"

"Eh?" Harry shrugged. "Ginny felt sorry for the guy."

"Ginny feels sorry for everyone."

"So I dug him halfway out."

"What?!" Ron widened his eyes at him. "You're crazy, mate!"

"No, crazy would've been all the way out-"

"You're still crazy for going that far!" His best friend argued. "15,000 galleons? You gave him 15,000 galleons?!"

"I told him to take it as an investment for his future association with my family."

"You got yourself a lawyer." Abe snorted. "Pro bono, I assume."

"That was my condition."

"You could've done way better than that, Harry." Sirius' face was screwed up in distaste. "I mean...I didn't have any formal law training and I smothered him in the courtroom."

"To be fair, the two sides were unevenly matched." Albus interjected. "Harry had a stronger case the whole way, and the Malfoys didn't do much to help their lawyer."

"Let's just be honest, though," Remus added, "their plan wasn't very smart to begin with."

"It's the Malfoys, mate." Ron shook his head, "What do you expect?"

"Desperate times, desperate measures, Moony." Sirius droned, taking a long drag from his cigar. "Mmm! Where in the world did you get these things, Abe? They're fantastic!"

Aberforth grinned smugly. "From the Dominican Republic. Once upon a time, let me tell ya, I used to get my hands on some Cuban cigars and they were damn good! But everything's gone to the shit down there nowadays with that whatsis regime. Their soil sucks now, and I think they've forgotten how to farm tobacco properly."

"Communist regime." Harry nodded.

"Oh, what are you lot talking about now?" Ron broke in, confused once again.

"Fuck it! Let's talk about Quidditch!" Sirius shot back.

"Thank you, Sirius!"

"But first...let me kick Harry's butt and take all his money."

Harry downed a shot of firewhiskey and sat up in his chair, narrowing his eyes at his godfather. "Put your money where your mouth is, Padfoot." He smirked, keeping his cards close to his chest.

Sirius' eyes glowed with laughter. "Gladly." He replied, matching and then doubling his godson's bet.

Oh, how he loved poker night!

---

"I don't think I'm entirely comfortable with Ron smoking." Molly frowned.

"At least they're not smoking those cigarettes other people are smoking these days." Hermione argued.

"Oh, those small ones?" The Weasley matriarch's face screwed up in distaste. "Those don't seem very real to me."

"That's because they're not!" Hermione nodded in agreement. "Those nasty cigarette companies put all these extra chemicals in them to make them addictive. That's why people can't stop buying them."

"Oh, that's terrible!" Molly shook her head.

From a business standpoint, that's good business. Severus shrugged. Outwardly, he tugged on Ginny's sleeve. "Mummy! Wam go daddy!"

"Sweetheart, if your father wants to sit there, ruining his lungs, that's his choice. I have the obligation to protect your lungs." Ginny explained patiently. "Besides, if I brought you over there, daddy would probably bring you right back."

"That's typical." Hermione scoffed. "My uncle is the very same way. It's alright if he does something, but it's not alright for his son to do it."

"Not when his son is one year old!" Ginny argued. "Harry's not a barbarian, Hermione."

"I know! I was protesting the principle of the matter, Gin."

"Yes, yes, that's all well and good, but it still doesn't change the fact that I'M BORED!!!" Severus huffed and began to whine. "Mummy! Go dowm!" And without even waiting for a reply, he turned around on his mother's lap and began his backwards descent to the floor.

"Oh...sweetheart..." Ginny sighed and placed him down on the floor in the crawling position.

As was Sev's tendency these days, he quickly pushed himself back to his feet, dusted his hands off and looked around with a smile. "Ank ooo!" He replied, as quickly as a sneeze.

"You're going to regret doing that, sweetheart." Molly remarked as she casually flipped the page of her wedding magazine.

As if to prove her point, Severus quickly exclaimed, "Me go daddy!" before taking off through the swinging door and towards the porch.

"No! Sev!" Ginny growled in frustration as she quickly chased after her son, echoes of laughter erupting behind her.

"Me go daddy! Me go daddy!" The infant chanted excitedly while he ran.

Ginny easily overtook him with two strides. "You think you're a sneaky one, huh?" She couldn't help the smile that crept up as she snatched her giggling son from behind. "Sneaky! Sneaky! Sneaky!" She blew raspberries into his stomach, which made him laugh all the harder, as she brought him back into the dining room. "Come on. Daddy's having a little boy time with his friends."

"Me boy, mummy! Me boy!" Severus argued with a pout.

"I know, love, but you're not..." Ginny paused to search for the right word, "...resilient enough, lung-wise, to be in that room for any length of time. I'll tell daddy that you want to come with him next time, so that he can tell Uncle Abe to keep the cigars in their box. In the meantime, how about you help mummy plan her wedding, huh?" She planted a big kiss on his cheek.

"Mo!" Sev whined, squirming in her arms to express his displeasure. "Bow-bing!"

"EB! EB! EB!" Teddy cried, silencing the other infant momentarily.

"Look! Look what Teddy has, Sev!" Dora added from across the room. Underneath her, Teddy was standing on his own, but using a small push toy to keep his balance. Sev recalled seeing it once before, when he was staying at Uncle Remus' house while mummy and daddy went for their date night. He had yet to see Teddy play with it, though. So he wasn't entirely certain what it was for.

"Oh, look baby boy! That looks interesting, doesn't it? What does it do, Dora?" Ginny asked curiously. The toy had a handle, small enough for a baby's hands to fit around, which was connected to a long stick. At the end of the stick was a small platform on wheels with a toy bear sitting on it. In the bear's hands, a tiny violin and bow.

"It's for the boys to push around." Tonks explained. "As the wheels turn, the bear plays his violin, and these adorable little fairies come out of nowhere, playing their pipes and flying around to the tune that the bear plays. Watch! It's fantastic! Teddy loves it. Go on, sweetie!" The metamorphamagus nodded at her son, who gladly began walking as fast as he could, pushing the toy along in front of him.

As soon as the big wheels reached their first complete turn, a fiddler's tune began bouncing off the walls and streaks of fairy dust appeared out of nowhere, allowing the boys to track the elusive pipe-playing fairies around the room.

"Fe-wee!" Severus squealed. "FE-WEE!" He squirmed to get down.

From the moment his feet touched the floor, Severus was jumping (and falling) this way and that, clapping his hands together in front of him in an effort to catch the little creatures, just like he did with nana's garden gnomes. Teddy was perfectly content with pushing the toy in circles, simply enjoying the music that came out of it and not caring about the creatures flying around his head. His best friend, on the other hand, wanted nothing to do with pushing the toy and everything to do with catching the fairies that came out of it.

"They complement each other nicely, I think." Dora remarked as she and Ginny sat back down at the table to resume their wedding planning.

"Yes. Yes, they do." The teen smiled. With any luck, Teddy would grow up with Remus' code of ethics and Dora's strength of character, balancing out Sev's clear tendency to run head-long into things sometimes, and being the voice of reason when her son wasn't thinking straight. She also had hope that he would become the best friend Sev always deserved-someone who would always have his back and call him out when he was being unreasonable.

She watched a little while longer as Teddy continued to run in circles with his toy, laughing and jumping whenever Sev came close to nabbing one of the oblivious fairies. They were both having the time of their lives, each perfectly content with the role he played in their little game. With a tiny smile filled with hope and expectation, she turned back to her wedding catalogue. "They do indeed."

---

"Hey! Harry!" Ron took the cigar out of his mouth and blew out a lungful before continuing. "We have to plan your stag party, mate!" He folded his hand and leaned forward, focusing on his best friend across the table.

"Oh, yeah!" Harry chuckled through his own cigar, studying his cards one more time before calling Remus' bet. "My stag party! I almost forgot about one of those."

"Hey, no worries! That's what your best mate is for, isn't it?" Ron shrugged, downing the rest of his whiskey. "Isn't it, Padfoot?"

"It most certainly is." Sirius nodded, throwing his cards away and leaning back in his seat. He turned to Ron and elbowed him as he took a swig from his beer. "Unfortunately, I hadn't been able to carry out that duty enough. There being a war going on, James never got to have a stag party." He shook his head sadly. "And this nutter never even bothered to tell me he was getting married!" The animagus kicked Remus' chair-hard, but the werewolf never budged from his stare-down with Harry. "And to my own cousin, no less!"

"Wow, that must've been a super secret ceremony, if you didn't even tell Sirius you were getting married, Moony." Ron widened his eyes at Remus.

"I didn't want to deal with all that drama." The werewolf droned, narrowing his eyes at the teen across the table as he fussed with his chips and tried to make up his mind.

"What drama?!" Sirius retorted, scandalized.

"All the drama you pulled after you found out we got married!" Remus felt like rolling his eyes.

"You'd have pulled it too, if you pulled on you what you pulled on me!" The animagus shot back defensively.

"Wait, wait! This is taking us off the subject." Ron interjected, steering them back to his topic. "Where do we want to have Harry's stag party?"

"Don't plan on it being in the Den, because I think Ginny wants to have her hen party in there." Harry droned, matching Remus' narrowed eyes.

"And don't count on it being in here, either!" Aberforth snapped, nabbing Ron's glass and refilling it once more. "My alcohol and cigars are for poker night and they're enough for the lot of ya! But if you're going to be inviting all the people you manage to pull out of your arse to this stag party of yours, you can forget about it!"

"Relax, Abe, he can have it at my house." Remus broke in, calling Harry's bet and then doubling it. The smile on his face grew devious.

Never let it be said that Harry Potter backed down from a challenge. "Are you sure that's okay with your wife?" He taunted, seeing Remus' bet and then raising it by his own.

"Absolutely." The werewolf called, his tiny smile blossoming into a sly grin.

"Wow! This game is getting quite competitive." Albus remarked, looking between Harry and Remus with interest.

"That's the nature of the game, Albus!" Abe rolled his eyes. "Okay, gentlemen! Show your cards!"

"GOD..." Harry flew out of his chair and started jumping up and down as soon as he saw Remus' hand, "...DAMN IT!" While the werewolf merely laughed and scooped up his winnings. "You've GOT to be kidding me!"

"We've got Potter's Four of a Kind to Lupin's Straight Flush." Aberforth whistled as he collected the cards. "Those are damn good hands!"

"So...Remus won?" Albus asked, slightly confused.

"Those are impossible odds!" The teen ranted in annoyance from across the room.

"That would be why Potter's jumping up and down and whining like a five-year-old." Abe replied, a tiny chuckle working its way in at the end.

"Fuck you, Abe!" Harry sat back down and pouted, taking a long drag from his cigar and passing over the next hand. "I'm out for the next couple of hands."

"Don't take it personally, Harry." Remus smirked, clinking his chips loudly and purposefully. "It's just business."

"I'm glad you're enjoying this, Moony." Harry rolled his eyes and finished the rest of his whiskey, signaling for Abe to pass him a beer.

"Harry! Hello? Your stag party, remember?!" Ron snapped his fingers to get his attention.

"Yeah, yeah, Ginny and I agreed on one rule-"

"You and Ginny have rules when it comes to your own stag and hen parties?!" Sirius raised an eyebrow disbelievingly. "Come on, pup! The purpose of those parties is to forget about all those rules on your last night of FREEDOM!"

"The last night before the rest of my life." Harry countered with a tiny smile.

"Hate to break it to you, Harry, but the rest of your life started last June," Remus interjected, "when Severus came into the picture."

"Then what's the purpose of all this?"

"It's TRADITION!" Ron argued. "It's like a...a...a rite of passage every man must go through the night before his wedding!" The redhead continued, rising out of his seat as if to make a speech. "Come on, mate! One night! Give me one night, and I will throw you the party to trump all the parties for the rest of your life!"

"As I was saying..." Harry rolled his eyes, "...Ginny and I have ONE rule, Padfoot...and that is: no strippers allowed."

Ron deflated back down to his seat. "Mmm..." Dead silence filled the room. He, Remus, and Sirius all exchanged a look.

"Actually, I think that's a rule in my house too, mate." Remus added with a kind smile. "Dora would kill me if she found out."

"IF she found out-" Ron's eyes were hopeful.

"Oh, I would tell her." Sirius smirked, looking none-too-pleasantly at Remus from the corner of his eye. "That's what he gets for marrying my cousin without telling me."

"Yes, I have someone watching my every move." The werewolf rolled his eyes.

"You should've seen how I reacted when they told me she was pregnant."

"Right, well..." Ron sighed dejectedly before turning back to Harry, "...I think I can work with that."

"Thank you." Harry tipped his beer at him.

"So, wait! These stag parties...?" Sirius raised his hand to ask a question. "It's not only all blokes, right? I mean...I can invite a girl too, right?"

That little remark got everyone's undivided attention. "Why, Padfoot?" Harry smirked. "Is there any particular girl you wanted to invite?"

---

"Ginny?"

"Hmm?"

"What are all these marks along the sides in this catalogue?" Hermione asked, pointing to some red-inked notes and arrows on the edge of a page.

"Oh! Those are in some of these other catalogues as well." Tonks added, flipping through some of the catalogues in front of her. The red ink on the sides of the pages was clearly visible.

"I don't know." The teenage witch replied with a note of curiosity in her voice. "I should ask Sirius. He's the one who got these for me."

"Sirius got these for you?!" Tonks and Hermione exclaimed simultaneously.

Ginny rolled her eyes. "That's what I said. But then he launched into this long explanation about how it's possible to pick up girls in a wedding store." She shook her head. "I don't know. All I know is that the day he picked up these catalogues, he didn't come home until late that night. Or, I should say, early the next morning."

Tonks gasped and quickly sat up in her chair, pulling one of the wedding catalogue over to her for closer inspection. "Ooooo! What have we here?" Both Ginny and Hermione quickly took interest. "Oh my...gosh!" The metamorphamagus' eyes grew wide.

"What?" Ginny pushed.

Dora turned back towards them, her eyes wide with excitement. She clutched the wedding catalogue to her chest. "Her name's Juliet!"

"What?" Both Ginny and Hermione threw down their catalogues and raced to Dora's side. There, in bright red ink, written by a decidedly feminine hand on one of the advertisement pages, was a cute short message:

I had a great time tonight, Sirius. You're a fantastic listener. Let's talk some more! -Juliet (020 3597 1542)
PS: From the way you talked about your godson's bride-to-be, I think she might like the Alfred Angelo on the next page. It goes great with the groomsmen's tailcoat suits with cravats!

"Tonks, turn the page." Ginny immediately ordered.

"Well!" The metamorphamagus grinned impishly at her. "Aren't you the curious one?"

"Wait a minute!" Hermione broke in. "So Sirius spent all night just talking to a girl?"

"Apparently." Tonks shrugged, "If they got to the subject of Harry and Ginny."

"That should be a first for him."

"I know!" Dora's eyes lit up with delight. "Isn't it exciting?!"

Ginny, being rather impatient and curious as to what the dress looked like, leaned over Dora and turned the page herself. She gasped. "Oh, my god...girls, look!"

"What?"

"Oh...WOW!" Three pairs of eyes grew as wide as saucers.

"Oh...honey, I like Sirius' new girlfriend. She has you down pat!" Dora grinned.

On the far side of the room, where Severus had been jumping around, trying to catch fairies between his hands, two words stopped him cold in his tracks: Sirius and girlfriend.

"Mummy?" Sev immediately stopped playing and ran to his mother, hugging her legs from behind.

"What's wrong, baby?" Ginny answered distractedly. She unconsciously reached behind her to brush her fingers through his thickening hair, a gesture that usually comforted him.

Only this time, it didn't quite work. Uncle Sirius had a girlfriend? That can't be possible! How can Uncle Sirius have a girlfriend? He didn't recall the animagus talking about any particular girl lately. He only blabbed about girls in general, which was what he usually did. When did all this happen anyway? Where did Uncle Sirius find this girl? And what was so darn interesting about her that he decided to make her his girlfriend already?!

Something wasn't sitting right with Severus at all.

"Mummy, up!" The infant bounced on the balls of his feet, reaching so that his mother could pick him up. Ginny obliged almost immediately.

"It's simple." The teen nodded at her two friends. "And I think that's what makes it almost perfect-its simplicity." They both agreed with her. "Mum! Come look! I think we found a good one." Ginny called her mother in the kitchen.

"Mummy!" Sev shook his head and tapped his mother's chest to get her attention. "Mummy! Pa-poo...MO gew-fem!" He argued.

Padfoot didn't have a girlfriend! He wasn't supposed to have a girlfriend! If Uncle Sirius had a girlfriend, then who would play with him and Teddy? When they got bored at Nana's house, who would be there to suggest that they go outside and catch gnomes? Who would help them sniff them out and be there to help them throw the gnomes into the fields when they caught one? Who would catch them if they fell, or be the support to help them stand again if they needed it? Who would play tag with them, or let them stay up past their bedtimes when their parents went out for date night? If Uncle Sirius had a girlfriend, then who would be their special friend?

The three girls all shared a look and a laugh. "Sweetie, Uncle Sirius doesn't really have a girlfriend yet." His godmother replied. "I was just joking when I said that, love."

"He just met this nice girl when he was picking up some wedding catalogues for me." Ginny continued. "And they ended up talking almost all night. That's all."

That had better be all! Sev felt like scowling. His Uncle Sirius couldn't have a girlfriend. Sev wouldn't allow it! He and Teddy were Uncle Sirius' special friends and that was how it was going to stay! No girl-from-the-wedding-store was going to take their place and steal him away from them. Not in a million, gazillion years! If this chick ever came into the picture again, Sev swore he would wage an all-out war against her!

Oh, stop being so dramatic! Big Sev scoffed. But this was personal to Little Sev.

"Look at the dress she pointed out to me, sweetheart." Ginny said, holding up the catalogue so that Sev could have a good look at it. "Isn't it pretty? She has great taste, if I may say so. Your daddy's going to love it!"

The infant scowled. The dress was gorgeous. His mummy was going to look like an angel wearing it. It was the closest thing to perfect he had seen thus far.

And if his Uncle Sirius ever brought this mystery girl over, Sev was going to make her life a living hell!