The next morning, Sev and Harry sat at the kitchen table, eating their breakfasts. Harry sat cross-legged on his chair, reading the Daily Prophet, which sat on one side of their breakfast of Wizard Cheerios with milk. Harry himself had the milk inside his bowl of cereal. Sev sat on his lap, supported by Harry’s hand on his chest. The table had been lowered to suit him better, thus he was able to read his sign language book, which sat on the other side of their breakfast. Sev wanted his bowl of cereal dry, preferring to practice his dexterity and hand-eye coordination with breakfast. A bottle of Ginny’s milk lay within easy reach. Sev would no longer accept anything less, and Harry had been forced to put all the baby formula they bought yesterday on deep reserve. The teen had then vowed to find a recipe that would allow them to make use of the brand new baby formula when Ginny brewed her breast milk concoction.

Ignoring all the hullabaloo about him that seemed to litter the front page of the Daily Prophet, a tiny article in the corner caught his attention.

Disgraced Potioneer Aidan Elson Transforms Himself into Baby

“Hey, Sev, check this out.” Harry said, folding the newspaper over with one hand. The baby glanced over and quickly scanned the headline.

“Aidan Elson, age 56, who some of you may recall as the Gringotts Gas Man, has mucked up yet again! This time, according to a source, the allegedly mentally unstable potioneer had invented a concoction that allows a person to regress back to a particularly young age. He then proceeded to patent his potion and publish his findings in Potions Today, banking on the profit from sales of batches he brewed in his home laboratory. Now, that all sounds perfectly normal. However, the drama began when representatives from the Ministry of Magic approached Mr. Elson earlier this month on charges of forgery and defrauding the Wizarding Intellectual Property Office. According to a source inside WIPO, Elson had paid the office extra money to rush his appeal through the system. Our source, who wishes to remain anonymous, claims Elson had all the necessary documents prepared and presented them with everything the moment they asked, ‘He had everything we needed; so we bumped up his application and my supervisor allowed me to process his request the same day.’”

Harry flipped the paper around to another page and continued reading, “However, it appears Elson didn’t have all the documents they needed. One of the crucial papers necessary for patent of a potion was a forgery. ‘Before a potion can be patented, it needs to be submitted to the Wizarding Potions Regulatory Agency for testing and approval. We need to see if the proposed potion does what it’s meant to do, is safe for human consumption, as well as a number of other things regarding warnings and labels and clarity and whatnot,’ comments Wallace Garrick, head of the WPRA. ‘If a potion and its recipe do not come through our office, it is therefore illegal to patent, publish, and/or sell.’

The plot thickens further. Ministry officials repeatedly sent owls to Mr. Elson’s home and office in an effort to contact him about the forgery and to set up a proper meeting between him and the WPRA. All owls returned with no reply. When Ministry officials visited his home, they found it to be abandoned and completely cleaned out. Further investigation into the matter allowed the Ministry to track Mr. Elson to the home of his two friends, Aurors Leroy and Irene Noble, where it was discovered that Mr. Aidan Elson had consumed his own de-aging potion and was now six months old. Healers at St. Mungo’s reported that he had recently been oblivated—by his request—but, aside from that, he appeared to be a happy, healthy baby boy.

Under the influence of Veritaserum, Aurors Leroy and Irene Noble testified that Elson had been searching for a way to ‘end his life without really ending his life’ for months now. He allegedly created this potion as a means of bringing about that result. ‘He knew he was going to get a lot of grief from the WPRA about this because he’s had plenty a row with the folks in that department before about other potions he’d invented.’ Irene Noble told the Daily Prophet, ‘So he probably went along and forged the papers from them and paid WIPO extra for patenting his potion.’ Apparently, Elson had arranged for the proceeds from the sale of the potion to go to his new family—the Nobles—to help with his new life. After the magical patent went through, Elson allegedly consumed the potion that very night in celebration.

‘A magical patent is like a magical contract—it’s binding. Nothing short of the death of the patent-holder can break it. Since Mr. Elson is not quite dead, the patent still holds.’ The head of WIPO commented. The Ministry tried to acquire Elson’s research for the WPRA to review, but the Nobles insist that Elson himself destroyed all of his own paperwork. Evidence via pensieve memories later proved their story. The only document left with regards to the potion is the original copy of the recipe that was published in Potions Today. ‘Our hands are tied.’ Garrick remarked in a press release, ‘We can’t revoke the magical patent—that’s impossible. Our perpetrator is now permanently six months old. The only thing we can do is run the potion recipe through the proper channels and hope for the best. If everything checks out, the forgery in the WIPO file will be replaced with a genuine WPRA certificate and everything would be right again. This whole situation is such a mess!’ The deliberation is expected to take several months. Stick with the Daily Prophet for exclusive updates on the situation.

Aidan Elson was well-known for the various calamities he had caused with his potions…”

Yet Sev wasn’t listening anymore. Truth be told, he had only paid Harry half an ear the entire time he was reading anyway. Well…a quarter of an ear, really…maybe.

He was finding his bowl of Wizard Cheerios a lot more interesting than Aidan Elson at the moment.

First you have to reach in…then get one into the palm of your hand…then close your hand…got it! Next, you bring it to your mouth…then the trick is getting it inside without dropping it on the floor.

Sev settled for sticking the cereal to his fingers, and then sticking everything in his mouth just in case. His genius strategy worked like a charm! As Harry reached the middle of the article, Sev’s bowl of cereal sat empty before him. Sev took a long swig of Ginny’s milk before looking around. He didn’t particularly want another bowl of cereal, even though he was still a bit hungry. He started bouncing in Harry’s lap, but the teen was still too distracted to notice. He simply adjusted Sev on his lap as he continued to read the article.

Still rather bored and restless, Sev took another look around the kitchen and a flash of movement caught his eye. Harry had been in the middle of reading about Aidan Elson’s prior potions calamities when he felt the need to stick another spoonful of cereal in his mouth, prompting him to switch the hand supporting Severus. The teen’s moving fingers caught and held the baby’s eye. Harry wore a silver band on his right ring finger—a promise ring, from what he gathered, since Ginny wore its match—and it gleamed in the morning sunshine. Entranced, Sev watched the shiny object move about for a moment before giving in to his impulses and making a grab for it. When his tiny fist successfully wrapped itself around the pretty ring, a wave of excitement flowed through him. Unfortunately, the excitement was quickly pursued by the same intense desire he felt the other night to stick whatever he was holding into his mouth.

Sev glanced up. Harry was once again engrossed in his article. It seems he didn’t even blink when Sev grabbed his hand. Excellent! So Harry probably wouldn’t mind if Sev just did this.

Harry faltered mid-sentence when he felt something bite down on his pointer finger—hard. He looked down to find Severus gnawing on his finger like a puppy chewing on a bone.

“I hope you’re not intending to have that for breakfast.” Harry commented dryly. Internally, he grimaced. He could feel Sev’s drool leaking down his hand and onto the infant’s chin.

Sev didn’t seem to hear him; he was too focused on nibbling on his finger. With a sigh, Harry summoned the parenting book from the counter using his eyes, willing it to flip to a particular section as it flew over. At the same time, he bade a bib and a spit rag over from the bedroom.

Severus, for his part, was feeling loads better than he felt before he started chewing on Harry’s fingers. The unpleasant feeling that he woke up with in his gums was beginning to subside considerably. The Wizard Cheerios had done nothing but irritate his mouth, although they were a bit fun to practice his dexterity with. Sev made sure he didn’t bite down on Harry’s fingers too hard, just hard enough to make the unpleasant feeling go away. He watched idly as a book, a bib, and a set of rags floated over to the table without Harry raising so much as a finger—literally. A pair of voices argued at the back of his mind about whether he was impressed by the degree of magical control, or dismayed at Potter’s shameless display of talent. He ignored them both, content with chewing on the finger in his mouth.

He watched curiously as Harry read something in the floating parenting book, muttering under his breath. The infant wondered what the teen was reading about when suddenly, the finger in his mouth lurched and Severus clamped down hard on instinct.

“Ow! Easy, cub! Don’t bite it off, please.” Harry hissed, halting his finger and allowing Sev to release it on his own. After a long moment, the infant obliged him. “Thank you. Now…if you’ll just allow me to try something; I’m pretty sure I know what’s going on.” The infant gazed up at him curiously. “Here…let me show you.”

Harry took his chewed hand and wiped it clean of baby drool before dipping it in a glass of ice water that had appeared out of nowhere. With his other hand, he spelled the bib around Severus’ neck and gently wiped the drool off the infant’s chin. “Open up, please, Severus, and sign me if this feels any better.”

Sev, who had been watching him inquisitively, opened his mouth at Harry’s bidding and waited patiently for something to happen. After a moment, he felt a nice, cold fingertip begin to massage his lower gums. The unpleasant sensation retreated instantly! Sev couldn’t suppress his squeal of delight. He signed ‘yes’ immediately, bouncing excitedly in Harry’s lap.

“Oh, yes…” Harry chuckled wryly, feeling a tell-tale lump just beneath his fingertip, “Your teething days have officially begun, my son. Officially begun…”

How absolutely wonderful! Harry sighed.

After cleaning up breakfast, he retrieved one of the teething toys Ginny bought yesterday from the ice box and gave it to Sev. It was shaped like a rather large snitch, except for the fact that it was flat—so as it could fit in a baby’s mouth—and filled with water. A handful of snitch cartoons flitted around on its see-through surface. Out of impulse, Harry caught one between his fingers and his eyes widened in pleasant surprise when a rather enjoyable tingling sensation ran up his fingers and into his hand. When he pinched a non-snitch section of the teething toy, he felt no such sensation. Brilliant! He thought. It’s a game!

“Hey, Sev,” The baby glanced up at him curiously, poised to stuff the toy in his mouth. “If you manage to catch one of those snitches in between your gums, you’ll get a rather pleasant surprise.” He smirked. “Good luck!” With that, he busied himself with putting on his cloak and making sure Sev had everything he would need in his diaper bag, including the baby sling and a miniature version of Harry’s cloak. Ginny had a wicked sense of humor—that was for sure. Thankfully, Sev was too busy trying to bite down on the mini snitches to notice their cloaks’ uncanny resemblance. Finally, Harry picked the teething baby up, placed him facing outward in his carrier, and left their quarters for the day.

Their first stop had been the Entrance Hall, where Dumbledore posted everyone’s reconstruction assignments for the day. Harry had been a bit dismayed when he found his name wasn’t on the enchanted sheet. Dumbledore probably thought he needed a bit more of adjusting time with Severus.

“Haweh?” Sev cried, taking the nice, cold toy out of his mouth for a moment.

“Yeah?”

“Mo ooo?” He looked up at his caretaker curiously.

“Nope, it doesn’t look like my name is anywhere on here.”

Sev made a small, disappointed sound and thought for a second. Then he brightened up suddenly and pointed to the paper. “Ma-goo-goo.”

“You want to go and help Professor McGonagall?”

“Uh-huh!”

Harry shrugged. “That sounds like a good idea.” Severus nodded and stuck the teething snitch back in his mouth, squealing in delight at having caught one in between his gums.

The teenager had just been about to head off in her direction when they had run into the Headmaster himself. After a pleasant greeting to the both of them, Dumbledore then proceeded to ask him if he thought about accepting the Defense Against the Dark Arts teaching position. Harry replied that he would be rather willing to accept it if the Headmaster agreed to have Remus teach for the two days he had to be off at Auror’s training. He argued that the compromise would work to everyone’s advantage because then he would have someone to help Ginny care for Sev while he was away, the students would have a chance get used to a teacher who was going to replace him after he graduated from Auror training, and Dumbledore would no longer have to look for a new Defense teacher after Harry became a full-time Auror. Dumbledore, for his part, looked simply delighted, as if everything had gone according to plan. Both Harry and Sev rolled their eyes behind his back.

“Now if you’ll excuse me, gentlemen. I have a few things to think up, arrangements to make, and two new professors to add to the payroll!” Dumbledore beamed, scurrying back the way he came.

“Wait, Professor! What’s my rebuilding assignment for the day?” Harry called back.

“Oh! Oh, yes. I apologize. I had thought you and Severus needed a bit more time to settle in.” Dumbledore retraced his steps and looked back at the enchanted parchment on the wall. “Well…a majority of us were able to finish up the dungeons, Great Hall, and the first and second floors.” He muttered, stroking his long beard, “Professor Slughorn is putting some finishing touches on the dungeons and the ground floor, Professors McGonagall and Pomfrey completed the first and second floors this morning and are helping Professors Flitwick and Sinistra with the third, fifth, and sixth floors later today. There’s not much damage to those three, you see.” He was silent for a moment. “I know what you can do!” He took his wand and flicked it at the parchment. “You can be in charge of the fourth floor. There are quarters directly across the hall from yours. That can become the Lupin family’s quarters. You may design it and fix it up however you like, if you want.”

“That’d be great.” Harry nodded.

“Good.” The Headmaster smiled. “I’m afraid the rest of the fourth floor suffered some extensive damage, but don’t worry—the rest of the staff will go in and out throughout the next week and half to assist you with its repairs.” He turned back to the parchment and pointed at something else. “You can also be in charge of the seventh floor. I’m afraid that too suffered some extensive damage. I have the feeling, though, you know more about its extent than I do.” He waved his wand and a map of the dungeons appeared. “Severus’ quarters have not yet been cleaned out. If you could…” He glanced at the scowling baby in Harry’s arms and cleared his throat, “…handle that situation. I’m afraid we had to collapse the hallway that previously led to the entrance to his quarters because the ground above it had become rather unstable. However, his quarters have an alternative entrance through his office which is accessible through the Slytherin common room. I trust you know where that is and how to get in?”

Harry inclined his head and Sev looked up at him in surprise.

“Excellent!” Dumbledore beamed. “Once you get finished with all that, I’m sure Professors Hagrid and Sprout wouldn’t mind help fixing up the rest of the grounds.” He nodded amicably at them and began heading towards his office once again. “Plus, I hear there’s talk of a memorial being set up somewhere on the grounds. Do consider being part of the planning committee if you’re interested. Have a good day!” He waved at them before disappearing around the corner.

Harry watched him go and sighed. Although the man could be incredibly infuriating at times, Harry realized he didn’t really hate Dumbledore. He didn’t trust him anymore—that was for certain. Yet he didn’t hate him.

He turned back to his charge. “So what do you think, Sev? Shall we tackle Remus’ quarters, the rest of the fourth floor, the seventh floor, or…your quarters first?”

Both teenager and infant became rather quiet.

Two days ago, Severus would’ve replied to that question instantly. He would’ve wanted to go to his quarters and he would’ve tried every trick in the book to stay there.

Now, however…

Now Severus wasn’t so sure he even wanted to go back there.

Closing his eyes, Sev saw images of his quarters flash in his mind. They were dark, damp, cold, and quiet. They also smelled funny, by Severus’ recollection. Everything was green in his quarters…or black. There weren’t that many lamps in there either. Whatever lamps he did have were green. The shadows liked lingering in the corners of the room and floating about the walls like black ghosts. The walls were a dungeon gray and they boxed him in like a prisoner. Snakes and skulls were everywhere, engraved on everything. Their mouths lay agape, ready to devour him at any given moment. They watched him constantly with their sightless eyes and empty eye sockets.

“Ah!” Sev whined, throwing down his teething toy and making a ‘turn over’ sign with his hands. He then frantically drew a circle in the air, trying to convey his message as clearly and as quickly as he could. For a moment, Potter didn’t move, and Sev feared the teen might not know what he was asking for. His fears were laid to rest, though, when he felt his caretaker lift him out of the carrier.

As soon as Severus’ feet cleared the carrier, Harry willed it off him and watched as it dropped onto the floor. He then carefully tucked the baby into his arms, facing his chest. The instant Sev was close enough to him, he grabbed Harry’s robes in a vice-like grip and buried his face in them, attaching himself to Harry’s side like a baby monkey.

“Hey, hey!” Harry murmured soothingly into Sev’s ear, rubbing the infant’s back and rocking him back and forth. “What’s going on here, eh? What’s scared you?” Harry was slowly beginning to recognize patterns in Sev’s behavior, attributing them to specific emotional responses. This particular clingy response corresponded to Sev having been spooked by something or someone. Harry realized last night, as he was thinking about it in bed, that Sev drew comfort from listening to his heartbeat. Whenever the infant felt scared or angry or any kind of negative emotion, he seemed to solve his own problems by sticking his ear to Harry’s chest and listening to his heart beating or his voice rumbling.

“Do you not want to go back and visit your old quarters, Sev?” The baby shook his head into his robes. “You wanted to go back there just the day before last.” Harry reasoned.

Sev’s whine grated Harry’s ears this time as the infant tightened his grip on his robes and began sucking his thumb. Harry sighed. “Sev…you have to work with me here, cub.” Harry bid the baby carrier to pick itself up off the floor, shrink, and then place itself inside Sev’s diaper bag as Harry adjusted the baby in his arms. “Why, exactly, do you not want to go back there now when you did want to go back just two days ago?”

Harry felt Sev sigh against his chest before the infant pushed up. Meeting Harry’s eye, Sev signed him several words: ‘no’, ‘light’, ‘cold’, and ‘quiet’.

“Dark, cold, and quiet?” Sev nodded. “I thought that’s what you liked?” Harry asked, genuinely curious as to Severus’ sudden change of preference. In response, Sev merely placed his ear back on Harry’s chest and tried to pull Harry’s robes over himself.

Understanding suddenly lit Harry’s eyes. “Ah, I see…” He smiled and headed out to the Entrance Hall steps, calling Sev’s teething snitch back to him as he went. “Now we know how the other half lives. Is that it?” The infant nodded into his robes. “And we don’t want to give that up now…do we?” Sev shook his head. Harry sighed and sat down on the steps, cradling Severus in his lap and basking in the morning sunshine. “Sev, we’re only going there to pack your things away. I would’ve thought you wouldn’t want them packed away. I would’ve thought you were holding out for an antidote.”

Severus didn’t respond to that. He didn’t want to respond to that. Well…truth be told, he didn’t know how to respond to that. Half of him really was holding out for an antidote to the aging potion. The thing was, though, that percentage had actually shrunk in the past two days he’d been living with Harry. The first day he’d been de-aged, he lived in the infirmary, with Poppy, Minerva, and Albus as his caretakers. They mostly left him by himself in his crib and spoke down to him in that high-pitched baby voice that grated on his nerves. That first day had Severus hoping, dreaming, and wishing—with every fiber of his being—for either an antidote or a Death Eater to come in and kill him. There was no way he wanted to stay like this forever. It was going to drive him insane! He’d have rather died.

His opinion changed dramatically when Harry and Ginny entered the picture. The two teens understood him in more ways than one. Harry knew exactly what he needed when he needed it, and he provided it to the best of his abilities. Ginny strove to make him as comfortable as possible, to make him feel as normal as possible. He drew comfort from both of them. Last night, as he lay wrapped in Harry’s embrace, with Ginny’s hand running through his hair, Severus felt loved for the first time in his life. He realized that now. Never in his first childhood had he experienced that feeling. Never in his life had he known what that felt like! Perhaps that’s why it had taken him a while to come to that realization. Harry and Ginny also oozed safety, affection, fun, home, and light. They oozed light! For someone who’d been entrenched in the darkness for so long, being embraced by the light came as a welcome relief. Severus felt like a drowning man who’d been mercifully given a breath of fresh air; and he wanted more—more, more, more, more, and more! Severus never wanted to go back to drowning again!

So was he really holding out for an antidote? Perhaps, on sheer principle. Yet Severus was beginning to realize the opportunity he had given himself. He had wanted to kill himself in the beginning. He’d thought he condemned himself to a fate worse than death after the mix-up. But maybe…he hadn’t. Maybe he’d gifted himself with a fate better than death instead. He’d given himself a second chance; an opportunity to start over. He’d accidentally presented himself with a clean slate—a new life!

The thought boggled the mind!  

Harry sighed at Sev’s non-response and began to reason with him. “How about this—we do your old quarters first because it’ll be the hardest and the one we both don’t really want to do, it seems. That way, we can get it over with and forget about it for the meantime. But…we’ll wait until Ginny gets here to do it. That way, we can all go together, and you can stay with her while I make quick work of packing your things. How’s that sound to you?” Sev nodded reluctantly, sticking his thumb in his mouth

Harry smiled, stood up, and began making his way to the Clock Tower Courtyard and the covered bridge that would lead to the grounds. “Come on then. We’ll walk about for a bit; enjoy this morning sunshine. If Ginny’s still not here in an hour or two, we’ll cover the fourth floor until she gets here. Eh?” Sev didn’t reply, merely burrowing into Harry’s robes.

The teenager stopped for a moment on the Clock Tower steps to place Severus’ coat on him. Thankfully, the infant was once again too busy chewing on his now-clean teething toy to notice the Gryffindor-colored cloak Harry was placing around his shoulders. Harry wrapped the baby sling around his own shoulders and sat Sev within its folds, allowing him quite a bit of room to move around. He then set out for his morning walk at a rather leisurely pace.

“You want to sit up on my shoulders, Sev?” Harry asked out of impulse once they had crossed the covered bridge. Severus immediately adopted an interested look. “You’d be almost the height you used to be…maybe a bit taller.” The baby grinned up at him. “Shall I take that as a ‘yes’?” Sev merely reached his arms out, opening and closing his hands in plea. “And up we go!” Sev gasped and grabbed onto Harry’s hair instinctively once the teen placed him on his shoulders. “I’ve got you. I’ve got you. Relax. See? I’m holding you.”

The two made their way over to the moor beside the Quidditch pitch, where Harry could lie down on the grass and bask in the morning sun, while Sev could safely practice his crawling. Severus didn’t like the idea of getting off Harry’s shoulders very much. He liked sitting up here. He could see everything just where he was. However, when Harry suggested practicing his crawling, an evil thought crossed Sev’s mind and he smiled at the prospect. I wonder how big of an idiot I can make him look like. Suddenly, the thought of getting off Harry’s shoulders didn’t seem so bad anymore; not when Sev planned on making a complete fool out of Harry.

“Watch out for the holes around here, Sev. They’re hidden beneath the grass so they can come at you completely out of nowhere. And sometimes, they’re filled with—”

SPLAT!

Severus grabbed onto Harry’s hair as the teenager suddenly lurched forward roughly. Harry managed to get his balance, though, before the both of them toppled to the ground. “Oh, for the love of…” Harry pulled his trainer out of the pothole he just stepped into to find his shoe and lower trousers caked with mud.

Sev saw it and giggled. “Ehwww!” Holding onto Harry’s hair with one hand, Sev used the other to stick the teething snitch back in his mouth and his grin widened as he caught one in between his gums. “Ehwmmm, Hwahwa.” He giggled some more.

“Great. I’m glad you’re finding this highly amusing, Severus.” Harry scowled. The infant just laughed harder.

Harry found a nice, flat spot to settle down and laid a blanket on the long grass, setting Sev on his stomach before lying down on his back next to him. The mid-morning sun shone in his face and blinded him a bit, so Harry shut his eyes and just breathed in the lingering scent of the night. The cool summer breeze danced around him, making the soft emerald grass tickle his face.

No sooner had he began to relax and bask in the white magic around him, when something soft, squishy, and wet hit him square in the chest. Harry’s eyes flew open and he looked down to find the drool from Sev’s teething toy soaking his shirt. A glance at the baby revealed he had pushed himself up into a sitting position and was leaning on his arms, grinning back at him.

“What’s going on, Sev?” Harry asked, raising an eyebrow and casually brushing the teething toy off his shirt. “I thought you were going to practice crawling.”

Sev grinned at him, a mysterious glint in his eye. “Ooo,” He pointed at Harry, “Cwaaaaaaaaw…” Using his fingers, he spelled out C-R-A-W-L.

“Me?!” Harry looked confused. “I’m not the one who needs to learn how to crawl. It’s you, cub.”

Sev shook his head, signing ‘come here’ with his fingers. “Cwaaaaaaaaw.” He patted the spot right next to him on the blanket and signed the words ‘no’ and ‘understand’.

Harry looked utterly baffled. “You don’t understand? What don’t you understand, Sev?”

Sev frowned. “Cwaaaaaw!” He cried in what he knew to be his whiniest voice.

Harry’s expression immediately changed from confusion to sternness. “I don’t appreciate your tone, Severus.” He raised an eyebrow at the baby.

Sev’s irritation died down almost immediately. This was supposed to be a ‘fun’ joke, not a ‘get in trouble’ joke. “Cwaw, pea?” He asked in a politer tone, giving the teen his most pitiful face.

Harry sighed. “Alright. Okay, let’s see.” He pushed himself up and scooted over next to Sev, imitating his tripod sitting position. The blanket was a bit short, so the left half of Harry’s body rested on the grass. “Okay, push yourself up on your hands and knees first, cub. Hands and knees.” He demonstrated, and then waited patiently until Sev mirrored him. “Excellent. Now…right hand, left knee—lift, push forward, and…rest.” He demonstrated and then smiled at the curious infant. “There, see? Not that hard. Likewise, the same with the opposite sides: left hand, right knee—lift, push forward, and—“

SPLAT!

“Argh!”

Sev erupted into a fit of giggles. 

Harry pushed himself up using his clean hand and carefully lifted his left hand out of the pothole it just fell into. The mud made a disgusting gurgling sound as he pulled it out of its depths. Resting himself on his back on the blanket, Harry used his right hand to feel around his face and found the left half of his face was also caked in sludge. He sent an evil glare at the baby laughing hysterically beside him. “Oh, ha, ha! I’m highly amused.” He sneered, pushing himself up and taking his wand out of his pocket. “I knew there was something suspicious about that whole clueless display.” He muttered under his breath. Casting Aguamenti, and swearing through gritted teeth, Harry rinsed himself off before resuming his previous reclining position on the blanket.

He waited patiently the whole five minutes it took Sev to calm down before addressing the infant, “Since you so obviously meant for me to look a fool, and you so obviously succeeded, you can—obviously—relearn how to crawl all by your lonesome.” He crossed his arms over his chest and closed his eyes, sighing as he relaxed completely into the blanket beneath him. “Oh, and by the way,” he started, cracking an eye open to see if he had baby Severus’ attention. “If you ever want this back,” he waved the teething snitch so that Sev could see it clearly, “you’re going to have to come crawling back to get it.” He smirked.

Severus hit the blanket with his little fists and scowled at him.

That is completely unfair! I play a harmless joke and he takes my teething toy away! I thought Gryffindors were supposed to live by fairness and justice and all that. He paused. Or were those the Hufflepuffs? Sev shook his head and wondered at how he got off topic again. Regardless, he wanted his teething snitch back and he wanted it back now! He leaned forward until he lay flopped on his belly and reached for it. “Mime!”

Harry simply laid the toy on his stomach, crossed his arms over his chest, and shook his head. “Nope. Not until you get it.”

Sev pouted and looked at his teething snitch longingly. Harry looked so far away all of a sudden. He reached out again, as far as he could go. “Mmm—mmm—mmmime?” He opened and closed his little hand, stretching all his extremities to their limits. He didn’t even come close to reaching Harry, much worse his teether. 

Harry wisely didn’t comment this time, choosing to fold his hands behind his head and stare at the sky rather than the infant. He didn’t want Severus to feel more uncomfortable by scrutinizing him as he relearned this essential skill.

“Uh! Uh!” With his fingers still stretched out, Sev began kicking his feet and felt a jolt of exhilaration when he felt his body slide forward. “Mmmmipf. Mmmipf.” He kicked again, managed to nab a piece of the blanket, and push forward.

Success! He celebrated in his head. Perhaps I could slither over there. I am a snake after all. I just need to kick…again…Sev kicked his feet again, wiggled his stomach, and swiped his arms in front of his like he was performing a breaststroke. He felt his body inch forward and he giggled in delight.

Unfortunately, as Sev wiggled closer, Harry wiggled farther away. “Nope.” The teen shook his head, “You have to crawl over here, cub, not slither over.” Sev scowled at him and squirmed closer anyway. Harry merely squirmed farther away. “Crawl, cub. You want your teether? You have to crawl. That’s my deal.”

“Mime!” Sev cried sadly, reaching in vain for his snitch. His gums were beginning to irritate him again and he wanted to chew on his snitch! Whines of frustration began to escape him as he wiggled forward but Harry wiggled away. “Miiiiimmmmme!” Tears began leaking down and Sev sent Harry his most pitiful stare, signing ‘no’ and ‘can’ for Harry’s benefit.

Harry sighed. “Oh, don’t tell me that, cub!” he chided gently, propping himself up on one elbow. “Don’t tell me you can’t do it. Lots of people have been able to do it before you. You just want your teether now—that’s why crawling over here seems like a hopeless venture, because it’d take forever. Come now!” He reached over and brushed a few stray tears away with his thumb. “None of that now. I thought you weren’t a hatchling, eh?”

Hatchling?! I’m most certainly not! What a disgusting name! He frowned at his caretaker.

“Then why are you slithering over here like a snake, huh?” The frown quickly vanished from his face as Sev looked down to study his position. “Uh-huh. Exactly.” Harry removed the teether from his stomach and placed it on the blanket next to him. He then shifted his position to lie on his side, head propped up on an elbow, looking directly at the infant Snape. “Alright. Let’s go at it—chin up, cub. You want your teether, you’re going to have to work for it, just like everything else in life. No cheating. Now, come—on your knees. Push yourself up on your knees. That’s my cub. Here we go!”

It took Sev much effort, but he was finally able to push himself up onto his hands and knees.

“Attaboy! That’s it! Now…move your hand first if that’s easiest. Right hand first. Come now! Lift and…move forward. There! You’re doing it! Excellent!” Sev smiled at Harry praise. Moving his right hand wasn’t so bad. He managed to keep his balance the entire time. It was wicked! “Now…move one of your knees forward too, cub; just one of them. Just slide your knee forward, you don’t have to lift it—just slide.” Sev decided he wanted to move his left knee. He had to admit—sliding it was easier than lifting it. He managed to maintain his balance the entire time, as opposed to feeling like he was about to tip over if he lifted it. “There we go! That’s it! You just moved forward by crawling a bit. That’s how it’s done, cub! Now...your other hand and knee, eh?”

Left hand forward, right knee slide…right hand forward, left knee slide… “There we go! You’re doing it, Sev. You’re doing it!”…Left hand forward, right knee slide…right hand forward, left knee slide… “You’re moving, Sev! You’re moving like a pro!”…Left hand forward, right knee slide, right hand forward, left knee slide…”You’re teething snitch is right here, cub. Just one more set to go!”…Left hand forward, right knee slide, right hand forward, left knee slide!

When Sev’s little fist closed around his teething snitch, a jolt of exhilaration ran up his arm. He smiled up at Harry. “There now, you see?” The teen beamed, gathering Sev up into his arms and tucking him into his side. “You can do anything, so long as you put your mind to it, eh?” He felt Sev burrow closer and he wrapped an arm protectively around him. “Hard work and perseverance—they always win in the end. Cheaters and all those blokes that play dirty…they don’t feel like this.”

Sev bit into his teether and snuggled into Harry’s side for warmth. He had learned to crawl! He had actually learned how to crawl—all by himself! Severus had never felt so proud of himself in his entire life! Harry was right—cheaters really didn’t feel like this. He had cheated and played dirty nearly all of his last life. Never had he been able to attain this particular feeling of pride in his accomplishments, not even when he had gotten everything he wanted. He was beginning to think that old muggle saying was right—it really didn’t matter if you won or lost, it was how you played the game.

Sev stared up at the crisp, blue sky and allowed the morning sunshine to warm his face. Butterflies and bees flitted about, the wind waltzed around him like an invisible dancer, and a phantom tingling tickled his fingertips. Sev closed his eyes, breathed in the sweet aroma of the Scottish breeze, and tried to stretch out his senses like he did last night. He could hear a faint echo of the night music in the distance, but it was muted and floating away from him quickly. The tingling sensation of white magic wrapped around his little fingers only once before fleeing into the distance again. Regardless, Sev smiled softly to himself. He had felt it! He had reached out by himself and felt it—just like Harry did! Another wave of pride coursed through him.

“My, my, my, what have we got here?” They heard a familiar female voice drawl as a shadow descended over where they lay. Both Sev and Harry squinted up at the distinguishable silhouette above them. “Well…what are two strapping young men, such as yourselves, doing lying in the moor…by the river…under this gorgeous sky?” Ginny graced them both with a playful smile.

“Absolutely nothin’, love.” Harry smirked.

“Uh-huh.” Ginny rolled her eyes and flopped down next to Harry so that Sev now lay between them. Harry moved his arm from around Sev to around Ginny as his girlfriend snuggled into the infant’s side. “It’s a bit chilly, isn’t it, Sev? May I borrow some of your body warmth?” Ginny grinned, nuzzling Sev’s ear and running her fingers across his tummy.

Severus laughed despite himself. Ginny’s hair tickled his nose and ears as her fingers tickled his side. His childish giggles filled the air for a whole five minutes. “Ibby, ibby, immy…ha, ha, ha, ha…immy…”

“Hey! Let’s make Harry jealous, eh, love? Give me a morning kiss?” Ginny grinned at him, winked, gave Harry a sidelong glance, and then puckered her lips.

Sev peeked at Harry—who had an eyebrow raised at him over narrowed eyes—and smiled impishly. After another set of uncontrollable giggles, Sev puckered his own lips and stretched up to give Ginny a baby kiss right on the lips.

“Oh, there we go!” Ginny snickered and winked at him again. “Wow, Harry, he’s a better kisser than you!”

Harry looked indignant and Sev sniggered and blew raspberries at him, causing Ginny to dissolve into a fit of laughter. Sev noted offhandedly how even Ginny’s laughter sounded like music from heaven.

“Take a look over there, Sev,” Ginny started, pointing to somewhere in the sky, “at that cloud up there—the one in the middle. Do you see it?” He did. “I think it looks very much like an exact replica of Hogwarts, don’t you think, love?”

Sev scrunched up his face in contemplation. Well…it didn’t look like an exact replica, but it was close. If he turned his head a different way, though, Sev noted how it looked very much like a train. “Pweeeeehm.” He said, signing ‘train’.

“Harry?”

“That means ‘train’, Gin.”

“Oh! Really?” Ginny twisted her head to an absurd angle, spilling her fiery hair all over Severus’ face. The infant giggled and batted at the offending strands. “Oh, there it is! It’s a bit twisted, but if you lean over to the side you can see the Hogwarts Express. Yes, there we go! Nice catch, Sev!” The baby grinned at her praise and chewed on his teething snitch.

“You want to know what I spy up there?” Harry asked, smiling down at the two people he had his arm wrapped around.

“And what do you spy, Harry?” Ginny mirrored his smirk, twisting around to meet his eyes over Sev’s baby head. She could feel Harry running his fingers through her hair as she stroked Sev’s belly soothingly with her thumb.

“I see my guardian angel.” He murmured, his voice no higher than a whisper. “And she’s smiling down on us right now.”

Sev squinted as the sun illuminated one particular cloud, making it stand out from all the other clouds in the sky. It was shaped like an angel, he realized. This time, the resemblance was unmistakable. Perhaps it was a figment his imagination, perhaps not, but Sev could swear where the head of the angel should have been, he saw Lily Evans’ face. She was smiling down at him, her green eyes glowing with the light of the sun. She had eyes only for him and she looked happy.

Severus couldn’t help himself. He smiled back.