Snape walked into his quarters and sighed softly. Harry was sitting at the island with a rather large grin on his face. Snape ignored the grin, though. Still wrapped presents were in the corner, but there was now a large birthday cake on the island counter in front of Harry. He glanced briefly at the cake before taking a seat across from Harry.

"I take it Hagrid brought that for you?" he softly asked the Gryffindor.

"Actually, Septima helped Hagrid make it, so it's safe," Aurora responded.

"How grand," Snape drawled. "Well, don't keep us waiting, Harry." Snape watched the young man blow out the numerous birthday candles. He noticed Harry's soft smile as he made his wish, which Snape hoped was 'Please let Snape go back to normal.' However, when Harry glanced back at Snape with a look that said 'Never,' Snape sighed.

When Aurora magically sliced the cake, Snape remained perfectly still. He slowly licked his lips staring at it. He usually refused to eat sweets. In his father's eyes, sweets were the reason Snape was so abnormal, which his father deeply engrained into his psyche. However, staring at that triple chocolate cake with fudge oozing down its sides, Snape could only think one thing. Screw you, Tobias!

Snape grabbed a fork and quickly started to devour the yummy cake. He instantly fell into paradise. The gooey chocolate melted and made his taste buds explode with flavor. In fact, he was so far gone in his piece of Harry's birthday cake that he didn't even hear himself groan in pleasure at how amazing it tasted. A few seconds later, when he finished it, he sighed and glanced at Aurora.

"Good?" she asked trying to hide her amusement.

Snape only nodded before glancing towards Harry. The young man had his mouth covered by his hand, but Snape could still see that frustrating grin of his. He sighed and shook his head. No doubt, the Gryffindor was still laughing about Snape's breakdown earlier. A sudden thought popped into his mind, and Snape glanced towards Harry. He smiled slyly, which he saw made Harry's smile vanish. The idea was completely psychotic for someone like Snape to consider even. However, he drew in a slow breath before suddenly leaping off his chair and changing into his Animagus form.

The two hundred pound panther roared loudly before pouncing on the couch. Soon afterwards, its velvety black ears twitched at the sounds of soft laughter that he knew came for the young wizard. His black eyes glanced at the young man briefly before leaping off the couch onto the cool floor. It slowly lowered itself to the floor into attack position. However, it made no attempt to pounce on either of the humans. Instead, it suddenly rolled over as if it was a dog several times.

"Shadow, change back," the witch said with a soft smile as she knelt in front of him. The panther in response only nuzzled against her and released a low purr. She rolled her eyes and gently ran a hand down his sleek coat, which made the panther purr again. "Aren't we lovable today, Shadow?" she teased before lightly kissing his nose. She then gently put her hands on either side of his muzzle so she could stare him in the eyes. "Shadow, you know I love you, but I really want to spend the day with Severus instead." The panther leaned into her left hand more, which made her lean a bit closer to him. Shadow then smirked softly before licking her face lovingly. "Dammit, Severus," Aurora growled pressing a hand to her cheek where thick panther saliva now collected. "Shadow, don't make hex you. Change back now." The panther only raised an eyebrow in response and flicked its tail happily before glancing towards the young wizard who was laughing. "That's it. I'm telling Madam Pomfrey on you." Shadow's long black tail instantly fell between his legs. "Change back, Shadow."

Within moments after she spoke, the panther quickly changed back into a dangerously smirking Snape. Aurora only folded her arms and stared at him. Harry, however, joined Snape's side. He smirked widely and softly laughed.

"That was wicked, Snape," the young Gryffindor exclaimed.

"Thank you, Mr. Potter," Snape drawled. "See, Harry enjoyed it, Aurora. Why must you continue to be an old stick in the mud?"

"What?" she cried. "I'm the stick in the mud? Dear Merlin, you've lost your mind!"

"Perhaps," he replied grinning devilishly. He then circled her slowly before glancing her over. "Did you know, Mr. Potter, that Aurora's Animagus form is a jaguar?"

"No," Harry said shrugging.

"Oh, yes," Snape responds with dark eyes. "She has these sexy black spots," he whispered near Aurora's ear. Seconds later, he yelped, though, as Aurora casted Aguamenti on him.

"Severus, be good," she warned with her silver wand.

"Yes, ma'am," he replied in a mock salute. Almost instantly, he heard Harry burst out laughing. He then too had to chuckle. That was until he saw the silver wand directly in front of his face. The chuckles stopped on his tongue instantly. He knew what she was capable of, and he knew in his current condition that meant he would be a dead man walking. Well, possibly not a dead man because she still technically needed him. He was after all the father of their unborn child.

"You are acting like a Hufflepuff right now, Severus."

"Not to argue with your supreme highness, I am a bit emotional due to a certain potion."

"And yet you've always controlled yourself before under duress, Severus," she quipped.

"Am I to assume that I should feel threatened?" The wand briefly touched his neck. "Yes, I see. That makes things absolutely clear, dear."

"Dear? Maybe I should take you back to the Hospital Wing."

"Oh, please, as if that's the oddest thing I've done today. So I'm a bit more…rebellious. Some witches like that in a man. I can think of one certain young witch who dreamt nightly of me stalking up to her tower and kidnapping her so that we would make love under the stars. After all, we all know your type, Aurora, and next to the Dark Lord, I'm the next badass wizard."

Snape watched Aurora's head snap towards him as her eyes narrowed into slits. Perhaps he shouldn't have said. Then again, he had yelled earlier in the young man's presence that he had made love to her numerous times before. Why should she not be just as embarrassed as he was? Technically, it was her fault and Harry's fault too. He then glanced towards the young man.

"Well, Mr. Potter, how about you take a look at this document and tell me if it's acceptable to you?" he quickly said grabbing the adoption papers next to him. He watched Harry's emotion as he read the papers. The emerald eyes then glanced back at Snape with pure wonder.

"You want me? I mean, you want to adopt me, Snape?"

"That would be why one has the papers, wouldn't it, Mr. Potter? Well, would you be horrified if I became your legal father? Granted, Potter shall always be your true father, but, well, you know."

"Where do I sign?" Harry replied with a large smile. At the line Snape pointed at, Harry quickly signed his name with the quill and handed it to Snape. Okay, granted, he knew that they were definitely rushing everything. However, from what he saw, Snape seemed to have had these papers for quite some time so this wasn't another rash action because of the potion. That meant Snape had thought about doing this before he turned into a kind Snape. Harry then grinned as he watched Snape sign his name. The papers quickly disappeared with a loud pop. "That's it?"

"That's it," Snape responded with a soft smile.

A few seconds later, Harry launched himself into Snape and wrapped his arms around the older wizard. He buried his face into the man's midsection. He couldn't believe it. The man actually adopted him. When he had blown out his candles, he had wished like always that he'd belong to a family. Okay, so granted, Snape and he had already acted as if they were family, but this made it official now. There was no more Voldemort, so he wouldn't lose the man as he had lost his parents. They had dealt with that problem twenty days earlier.

"Thanks, Snape."

"You're welcome, Harry," he replied carding a hand through the messy Potter hair. "Now, let's stop being so damn emotional and have some fun." He pulled back from Harry and glanced at the two.

"Fun?" both Aurora and Harry exclaimed staring at him as if he grew a second head.

"Yes, some fun," repeated Snape rolling his eyes. He should have known they'd look at him like that. For too long he had been Mr. Doom and Gloom. Thanks to that potion, he now felt the urge to become Mr. Fun, which Snape thought was much better than Mr. Frisky that he had been. His eyes then widened as another idea popped up into his mind. "Let's go to Hogsmeade."

"Hogsmeade?" repeated Aurora. "And just why would we go there?"

"Honeydukes of course, Aurora," Snape drawled before walking towards his bedroom. If he was going to go out, he definitely was not going to wear these dreary clothes. He heard Aurora's boots clicking behind him as she followed him into the bedroom. Luckily, he didn't hear Harry follow, which he guessed was because the poor boy had already seen his, well, his new stepmother in a completely new light. He chuckled at the memory. Poor Harry, he thought shaking his head.

"Severus, what are you doing?"

"Well, I'm not going out like this, Aurora." Snape then caught his reflection in the full-length mirror. "Ah, hell, I look like a damn priest." He then whirled around towards Aurora. His eyes then darkened with hidden desire. Well, perhaps not hidden desire anymore. Ah, yes, there's that dirty old man I'm so acquainted with nowadays, he thought staring at his fiancée. He wrapped his arms slowly around her waist and gently pulled her closer. He felt her heart beat against his chest, which made his heart attempt to beat in harmony with hers. "Would you like to confess your sins to me, Miss Sinistra?" he asked with a wide grin. She rewarded him with a hard smack to his chest. "Now, Miss Sinistra, it's not very nice to hit your priest."

"Do I need to douse you with another cold jet of water?" she threatened.

"Only if you douse yourself in the process," he quipped before lightly kissing her neck. "After all, the Muggles appear to have something right for once."

"Dream on, Severus," she replied trying to hide her smile from him.

"Oh, I shall, Miss Sinistra," he drawled in a very low sexy growl. He chuckled when he felt her heart start to beat faster. He wasn't an idiot. He knew even some of his female students found his voice a bit sexy at times. In fact, he had caused a poor girl to faint in his class once because he had lowered his voice a bit farther than he had intended.

The young Hufflepuff was smitten with him, and he knew it because he could see it in her eyes whenever she looked at him. Unfortunately, when he had been trying to correct her mistake in his usual sneering self so that she didn't kill all of her classmates, he lowered his voice to the sexy octave and she fainted. Since he had only been teaching for four years at the time, he made a point to catch her so she didn't slam her head against the hard cold stone floor. However, she had moved on it seemed after she became an Auror because she now only flashed a smile at him during Order meetings before leaving.

"What are you thinking about?"

"Trust me, Aurora. You don't want to know," he responded with warmth in his voice. He then released her and turned back towards his armoire. He could feel her dark eyes watching him, which he guessed was her trying to figure out if she should bring Madam Pomfrey or not. However, he didn't feel the constant urge to jump her anymore. No, instead he felt the need to take a walk on the wild side.

Snape couldn't really explain it, but he wanted to break all of the rules. He wanted to hide the old man's lemon drops. He wanted to switch Trelawney's sherry with Tabasco sauce. He wanted to change every single banner, tapestry, and painting and add a touch of Slytherin to each. In fact, he had an urge to write in big letters 'Slytherin Rules, Gryffindor drools' on the doors entering the Great Hall. He could still hold back that urge, but just slightly, though. He had to admit that no one would ever suspect him. After all, who would ever suspect Severus Snape, Mr. Fun Dementor, as being a graffiti artist?

Glancing at his unexciting robes, Snape sighed heavily. Everything was black. His shoes were black. His robes were black. His boxers were even black. Black upon black stared back at him. Well, then I'm just going to have to change that, aren't I? He thought with a smile. He waved his ebony wand at his clothes and sighed contently when the black vanished. He quickly transfigured his clothes so he didn't look so old anymore. Granted, he was thirty-five, but he was still in his prime yet.

Snatching a pair of blue jeans and a white button down shirt, Snape quickly started to undo the numerous buttons on his frockcoat. He could feel Aurora's eyes staring at him, which made him smirk. He thought for a split second of turning around and giving her a show, but he ignored that thought. He wanted the rich tasting fudge of Honeydukes, not sex.

As he finished fastening the second to top button of his shirt, Snape heard Aurora's quiet gasp. He glanced at her to see what was wrong, but he saw that she was staring at him. Obviously, she was enjoying the view. Then again, the jeans did feel rather tight in certain spots.

"That good, huh?" he asked with a lop-sided grin. Dear Merlin, I sound like Lockhart, he groaned in his head. He then walked towards her and held out his arm. "Shall we go, milady?"

"You don't even sound like yourself anymore, Severus."

"I had noticed that, but thank you for pointing that out again," he drawled.

"You don't even look like yourself anymore," she then stated.

"Again, thank you, Aurora."

"In fact," she said leaning in towards him. "You look like Sirius Black."

"Yes, but I have much better hair and am much more sane than him," Snape replied walking out of the bedroom. He heard her loud groan behind him, which made him chuckle. She was a bit obvious at times. He knew she'd try to pull the Sirius card on him, but it didn't really upset him anymore. Probably because Snape's life was turning out much better than Sirius's life was. Truthfully, a part of Snape felt sorry for the remaining Marauder, but he knew that pity was solely due to the potion again. There was still bitterness over how Black had treated him during their school years, which wouldn't ever go away.

"Whoa," Harry said when he caught sight of the older wizard. "Um…are you feeling all right?"

"Yes, Harry," drawled Snape before messing up Harry's hair affectionately. "Come on. I'll race you." Snape then held out a hand, and Harry's Firebolt and another broomstick zoomed into his hands. He silently held the Firebolt out with a sly smile. "Last one to Honeydukes has to clean cauldrons for a month." Snape didn't even wait for a response before zooming off on his broom out of their quarters.

A few seconds later, Snape glanced towards the young man flying beside him through the twists and turns of the numerous corridors. The front doors luckily were open, and they both darted outside. Briefly, Snape wondered how much trouble he'd be in with Aurora, but he guessed he could easily make up with her later. After all, he deserved to have some fun as did Harry. Speaking of the little hellion, Harry was hooting and hollering with joy as they raced. His dark eyes then glanced back in front of him. They were almost to Hogsmeade. He could see each of the picturesque cottages and business. He slowed his descent, which he noticed Harry followed. Once they were on the ground, Snape raced on foot with his broom in hand and was the first to touch the door of Honeydukes. He turned towards Harry and stuck his tongue out at the Gryffindor before walking into the sweet shop. Unfortunately, Aurora was already there waiting with her long silver wand in her hand and tapping it against her arm.

"Ah, crap," muttered Snape. Busted, the new voice in his head drawled.