A very tired Remus stepped through the Floo into the Snape's living room, greeted enthusiastically by his three godchildren. Exhausted as he was having not slept very much at all the night before, he knelt down to give them each a hug. Harry and Eric ran off to play after greeting their godfather, but Rosie stayed in his arms as he sat on the sofa.

Severus sat nearby. "How is Draco?" he asked.

The night before had been a full moon and Draco had snuck through the Floo after his uncle, not realizing the danger he was putting himself in. Remus and Cissy had not told any of the children that Remus was a werewolf. A frantic Cissy had gone to Severus and he had Apparated out to the farmhouse to find Draco sleeping soundly while Remus in wolf form watched over him.

Remus sighed. "I spanked him this morning Sev…and you know how I feel about doing that."

The other man nodded, watching as his daughter cuddled closer to her godfather. He wondered briefly, and not for the first time, if she might be an Empath.

"I brought him home afterwards, and Cissy and I talked to him…explained to him that he is very special to us because we chose him as our son. But he seems…despondent now. I thought I might borrow Rosie for a while. If anyone can cheer him up, it will be her."

The precocious toddler looked up at him. "D'aco sad?" she asked.

"Yes, Rosebud. Draco's sad. Would you like to go see him?"

She nodded and then turned to her father with pleading eyes.

Severus chuckled and nodded. "Yes, Rosie. You can go see Draco." He shook his head. "You know, Remus…we're going to have to set some rules for those two before too much longer…"

"Let's not talk about that," Remus replied, standing and taking Rosie through the Floo.

He set her down just outside the room that Draco shared with Teddy. He kissed the top of her head and sent her on into the room.

She toddled into the room and over to the bean bag in the corner where Draco was curled up with Tony, sniffling quietly. Rosie climbed up next to him, wrapping her little arms around his neck and kissing his cheek gently.

"I was bad, Rosie," he said, leaning his head so that it was resting in her lap.

"Unca 'emus luv," she told him, patting his head gently.

He sighed. "I know, but I was still bad, Rosie."

"D'aco be good now."

"I'm gonna try," he replied. "I don't like it when Uncle Remus is mad at me."

They stayed there for nearly half an hour in silence, Rosie stroking his hair and Draco soaking up the comfort she offered. This was his Rosie, and Draco didn't care what Teddy said. She may be a baby, but she understood him better than anyone…except maybe Uncle Remus. He liked playing with her even though there was a big age difference between them. Just one small smile from Rosie could brighten his whole day. And he would do anything within his capabilities to get a laugh out of her.

Cissy knocked on the doorframe. "Come on you two. We're going shopping."

"Why?" Draco asked her, sitting up.

"Because you need some new clothes. You are growing like a weed. Jamie needs some too, so we're going to meet Aunt Lily in Diagon Alley," she told them.

Twenty minutes later they Flooed to Diagon Alley with Tessa where they met Lily and Jamie. Rosie went happily to her mother while Draco and Jamie exchanged looks with each other. Not wanting to get into trouble again any time soon, Draco pressed close to his aunt's side, trying to stay away from Jamie.

They made their way to Gladrags and back to the children's section. Tessa took Rosie off to play with some toys, while the two women busied themselves trying to fit their charges with new clothes.

"I don't want new clothes," Jamie complained to Lily.

"I'm sorry, Jamie," she told him, pulling yet another t-shirt off the rack and holding it up in front of him. "But you need new clothes. It's getting colder and you don't have any winter clothes."

"Why can't Daddy just magic me some?" he questioned.

She gave the boy an exasperated look. "It doesn't work that way. Clothing can't be magicked. Although you can magically alter clothing, but that takes very special training. If you behave, I'll see about taking you to the toy store."

"Promise?"

"I promise," she told him, holding up yet another piece of clothing.

Ten minutes later Tessa ran over to them in tears. "Aunt Lily…I turned my back for just a minute and now Rosie's gone! I can't find her!"

Lily's face went deathly pale. Peter hadn't been let out of Azkaban and he hadn't escaped…the Aurors would have let them know. "Rosie!"

"Calm down, Lily," Cissy told her best friend. "She's probably just wandered off. We'll spread out and look for her. Boys, you go look over there."

The little group split up to look around the store, with Jamie and Draco looking in the racks of ready-made robes near where Rosie had been playing.

"Why are we looking in here?" Jamie asked the older boy. He didn't really want to look for the missing toddler, but he figured he would if it got Aunt Lily to leave him alone for a little while.

"Because it's a good place to hide," Draco replied, sticking his head into another rack of robes. He crawled back out with a sigh. "Rosie! Come out!"

Neither boy heard the tiny giggle as they continued to search, with Jamie arguing with Draco about whether hiding in the robes would be a good place to hide. Finally, Draco pushed aside the robes that were hiding Rosie from the others.

"Rosie! You don't be bad like Jamie," Draco fussed at the toddler. Jamie's protests were cut off by Rosie's cry when Draco smacked her little hand. "You need to be good, Rosie! Always!"

Rosie's cry brought Lily running and she snatched her daughter up into her arms, her own tears of panic pouring down her cheeks. "Don't wander off and scare Mummy like that, baby."

The toddler held her hand limply in front of Lily's face. "D'aco b'oke it."

Lily looked down at the blond boy, who hung his head. "I smacked her hand, Aunt Lily," he admitted with a sniffle. He hadn't even realized what he had done at the time.

"He told Rosie not to be bad like me," Jamie told her. "I'm not bad!"

"Of course not, dear," Cissy said, kneeling down beside the boy. "A little mischievous, but not bad." That seemed to make him feel a little better and he allowed her to cuddle him close for a moment.

"I'm sorry, Aunt Lily," Draco told them. "Sorry, Rosie."

Lily reached over and touched his cheek, bringing his head up so that she could look into his eyes. "Just don't do it again, sweetheart. Let the adults handle the discipline next time."

He nodded, tears falling down his cheeks.

She reached over and brushed the tears away. "Why don't you and go to the bathroom over there and wash your face. Jamie will go with you."

Nodding again, he practically ran to the bathroom, making a beeline for the sink and washing his face. When he finished, he noticed Jamie staring at the man using the urinal. "Jamie!" he hissed. "Don't stare!"

But Jamie just ignored him and moved closer to the man. "Hey mister…when is mine going to get as big as yours?"

"Jamie!" Draco hissed again, his face going beet red as he quickly tried to dry his hands so that he could drag the other boy out of the bathroom.

The man just chuckled. "It's small now because you're little, but it will get bigger when you get to be a man."

Jamie nodded and Draco grabbed his arm, pulling him from the room and out to find Lily and Cissy, his face still red.

"What's the matter, Draco?" Cissy asked her nephew.

"Jamie asked the strange man in the bathroom when his…his…his bits were going to get as big as that man's!" Draco sputtered.

The two women just laughed as Cissy hugged Draco. "It's alright, Draco. Sometimes little brothers can be quite annoying," she said, kissing the top of his head. "Cousins and little friends too."

AKBAKBAKB

After the clothes shopping had been finished with no more incidents and a quick stop for lunch, they took the children to the toy store, telling them that they could each pick out a toy for being so good during the trip. Rosie and Draco, now forgiven by the toddler for smacking her hand earlier, went off to look at the children's books while Tessa drug Cissy to look for a new baby doll that acted like a real baby. More than anything Tessa wanted a little sister, but would settle for a new doll if she couldn't have the real thing.

Lily looked down at Jamie who had stayed fairly close to her side for the last hour. "What kind of toy would you like Jamie?"

"I…I don't know. I never looked for a toy before," he told her quietly.

"Well, why don't we just walk around until you see something you like," she replied, offering her hand to him. He took her hand and together they walked around the store, looking at all the toys. She supposed that it made sense that he had never gone shopping for any of his own toys. His parents had probably just sent out for the latest toys to keep their son happy and Tom had purchased toys for him when he was deaged. As they walked around the store, Lily noticed that Jamie's eyes kept wandering over to the display of stuffed animals. So after a few minutes she led him over to the display. "Do you see anything you like?"

Jamie just shrugged, looking over the various stuffed animals. After a several minutes, he tugged on her robe.

She knelt down beside him. "Yes, sweetheart?"

"Is it babyish to want to sleep with one of these?" he whispered in her ear.

"Of course not," she replied, just as quietly. "Draco sleeps with one. And sometimes Harry does too…"

"They aren't babies. I…I've called Draco a baby sometimes, but he's not really."

"He isn't," she agreed.

"Do…do you think that he'd make fun of me if I slept with one?"

"I know he won't, sweetheart," she said, their conversation still in hushed whispers. "Would you like to pick one out?"

He nodded. "I'm not supposed to know I was big once, but I heard Daddy talking to Sirius about it. Did…did I have a favorite animal when I was big?" he asked her.

"You did," she answered, rubbing his back. She looked at the display and finally pulled one off the shelf, handing it to him. "It's a stag."

Jamie ran his hand over the soft antlers on the stag's head. "He doesn't really look so tough," he told her.

"He may not look tough, but he's the king of the forest," she replied.

"Are you sure?"

"Very."

He continued to look at the stuffed animal for a few minutes before looking up at her again. "Can I have him?"

She smiled. "Of course you can, sweetheart."

AKBAKBAKB

Immediately upon arrival home, Rosie toddled over to her father and demanded to be picked up. Once in his arms, she held her hand limply in front of his face as she had done to Lily earlier that day. "D'aco b'oke it," she told the Potions Master.

Severus kissed her little hand. "And why did Draco break it?"

"Cause me was bad like Jamie," she replied with a little nod.

Jamie hugged his stuffed stag. "I'm not bad, Rosie!"

"What did you do?" Severus asked his daughter.

It was Lily that answered. "She decided to hide in the clothing racks while we were shopping. And scared me half to death."

Severus shifted his little daughter in his arms and gave her a light swat on the nappy, causing her to start crying. Across the room, Draco bit his lip to keep from saying anything. "Don't ever hide from Mummy like that, Rosalind. She could have lost your forever."

"D'aco b'oke it." Rosie said again, holding her hand up and giving him the most pitiful look he had ever seen.

"Why does she keep saying that?" Severus asked the boys.

Draco gulped and looked up at him. "Cause I smacked her hand when I found her, Uncle Sev."

He put Rosie down and knelt down in front of the boy. "Thank you for trying to help, but you need to leave the discipline to the adults, alright?"

"Yes, sir," he replied with a nod. "Are you mad at me?"

"No, buddy."

"Uncle Sev..." Jamie said, timidly.

Severus turned to the other boy. "Yes, Jamie?"

He showed the Potions Master the stuffed stag he had gotten at the store. "Look what Aunt Lily bought me for being good."

"That's a very nice toy, Jamie," he told his former nemesis.

"Aunt Lily told me that he's the king of the forest," the deaged Marauder said proudly.

"She's pretty smart."

Jamie nodded. "I can't wait to show Daddy and Sirius. Did you know that Sirius can turn into a dog?" he asked, turning to look at the other two boys.

"I know," Harry said. "He's called Padfoot when he's a dog. I have a stuffed Padfoot that he gave me once, come see..." The three boys took off down the hall to find the one toy that Harry had requested upon his father's deaging.

AKBAKBAKB

The first thing Draco did upon returning home was look for his uncle, who was in his favorite chair in the sitting room reading a book. The boy didn't hesitate to crawl up to his favorite spot on the arm of the chair with his own purchase, a new book of adventure stories. Remus and Draco passed many a weekend hour in the same places. Sometimes with their own books and other times sharing a book while Draco worked on his reading skills.

At first the boy thought his uncle would ask him to leave, but when Remus said nothing Draco knew he had been completely forgiven for his escapade the night before. Draco read quietly for a while before closing his book and leaning his head against his uncle's shoulder. He was tired after his day of shopping and playing big brother.

After a moment Remus put his own book down and shifted the boy into his lap, letting him cuddle close the way he liked when he was really tired. "Did you have fun?"

"Being a big brother is 'xhausting," Draco replied around a yawn, cuddling closer. He didn't care what Teddy said, he liked to cuddle with Uncle Remus and sometimes Aunt Cissy. His mummy never cuddled with him and papa did only sometimes if Draco had been a really, really good boy.

"It is huh?"

Draco nodded. "Rosie hid and I smacked her hand when I found her and told her not to be naughty like Jamie. Then Jamie asked the strange man in the bathroom when his bits were gonna get bigger. I don't think I want to be a big brother anymore…" he said quietly as he dozed off.

Remus chuckled and slowly rocked the boy, smiling as he watched his wife through the door in the kitchen. Maybe it was time they talked about making Draco a more permanent part of their little family.