Little Harry was playing in the bathtub when it appeared.

"Blub, blub," he said, providing sounds for his giant squid toy. His "giant squid" was little more than a plastic many-armed object that had been magicked to swim around him as he played. It was smaller than his daddy's hand, but much bigger than his own, and therefore "giant" in his mind. In his left hand he also held a tiny figurine with long shiny robes and a pointed hat.

"Oh no, Mr. Merlin!" He cried out as the giant squid started making its way toward his Merlin toy. "Watch out or da Gi'nt Squid'll get ya!" He said with a look of horror on his face.

Midway through his play, he stopped and turned towards his daddy who was crouched beside the tub, washing his back.

"Daddy, make 'im talk, please?" He begged; green eyes big in his face.

His daddy sighed, rolled his eyes and then said in a rather formal and unusually gruff voice, "You'll never take me alive! Get back you vile creature! Or I shall be forced to smite you!"

Harry dissolved into giggles at his daddy's acting.

"He wouldn't smite 'im daddy!" He gasped out between giggles. "He'd blow 'im outta da water. Right, daddy? He's a wizard, right daddy?"

His Tall Man grinned down at him and rinsed the soap off his back before replying to his fervently spoken request.

"One of the most, if not the most powerful wizards in history, Harry," he said, reverting back to his normal tone of voice.

"Not stronger'n you, Daddy!" Little Harry protested vehemently, twisting his wet head back and forth.

"Quite possibly he was," his daddy said with a modest smile to the wide eyed boy in front of him.

"But you're da bestest, strongest wizard in da whol' wide world!" The small boy proclaimed, standing up in his tub. Severus took advantage of the opportunity and quickly wrapped a warm fluffy towel around his son, before picking him up and carrying him over to the countertop.

"Right, daddy?" Harry asked, peering solemnly out of the towel that almost completely covered him from where he sat atop the countertop.

"Perhaps, Harry. Perhaps," his daddy said with a smile as he further dried him off.

It was only after his Tall Man had combed his hair and helped him into his pajamas that he remembered to ask his question.

"Daddy?" The green footed pajama wearing boy asked his Tall Man.

"Son?" The man asked, carefully putting Harry's glasses back on his face.

"What's dat?" The small bespectacled boy asked, looking behind Severus.

"What's what?" Severus asked, not bothering to turn yet.

"Dat door?" Harry asked, pointing to the door that had appeared at the end of the bathroom during his bath.

Severus narrowed his eyes in questioning, but obediently turned and looked behind him.

There was a door there. And Harry was right; it hadn't ever existed there before.

"I don't know, Harry," he answered honestly, a touch of uncertainty evident in his voice.

"Id it safe?" Harry looked trustingly up at his Tall Man and the man frowned in reply.

"Historically, the castle has on occasion, chosen to provide more rooms or make adjustm-," he looked down and remembered his audience, "—changes," he corrected himself, "to the rooms already existing for its inhabitants. That is, for the people living within its walls, Harry. I personally have never seen it done before, but I have heard stories throughout the years of random rooms appearing for those who have needed them." His face was thoughtful as he looked at the door in question.

"Can we go and look?" His son was holding out his arms in a silent plea to be picked up from the countertop he was still sitting on.

"You mustn't touch anything unless I give you permission," his dad said carefully, clearly having made his decision as he hoisted the small boy up to rest on his hip.

"Yay! An inventor with my daddy!" Harry clapped his small hands together and his daddy smiled at him.

"I think you mean 'adventure,' Harry," the man corrected him gently.

"Yeah, dat!" The small child said excitedly, latching his arms around his Tall Man's neck and leaning against his chest comfortably.

. . .

Gellert's words had filled him with such motivation towards helping create a better tomorrow for their sorry little world, Albus remembered.

"Men and wizards aren't so very different, you know," had been Albus's hook into Gellert's world. It had gone against everything that he had known—everything that the purebloods preached.

"What separates them, then?" His younger self asked, obviously intrigued.

"Wizards are the world's perfect species. We speak, we invent, and best of all, we create. At a glance, men do all these things too, but without magic. For whatever reason, men are broken—incomplete creatures."

"What of muggleborns then?" He had asked.

"Merely proof that something is wrong with Muggles as a whole. If Muggles can create Wizards, and Wizards can create Squibs, then obviously the two have interbred in the past. And this is the result—strife amongst families that is caused by the black sheep that wander amongst them."

Gellert had bought his interest with radical suppositions, bending his brain (and eventually his heart) into completely new shapes that had helped to open his mind to possibilities and dreams of a different kind of world.

If they could separate out the two lines of Muggles and Wizards down to its most perfect, purest form, then they could end the war between the two sides and further unite the magical realm.

At least, that had been the idea at first. Over time, those dreams and ideologies had . . . shifted, until all that was left of those marvelous concepts had been bare skeletons held together with little more than a forgotten hope for a better tomorrow.

. . .

Severus was still appreciative of the vast changes evident between this bathtub experience and their first one. He remembered how tiny, how fragile the child under his hands had been in the beginning of their relationship, and although he wouldn't admit it aloud, it warmed his heart to see the progress his small boy was continuing to make towards becoming healthy—physically and mentally.

"Daddy?" Said boy's voice broke through his thoughts, bringing him quickly back to the present.

"Right," he said, nodding more to himself as he pushed open the new door and walked them into the unknown. His wand was in the hand not holding onto his son, and he held it out defensively as he carefully moved forwards into the surprising new room.

As it turned out, "surprising" was a very apt descriptor for the space they now found themselves in. Although no lights came on as they moved forwards, the room was still fairly well lit, and when Severus looked upwards, he realized why.

Suspended above them was a miniaturized model of the universe, complete with small tiny pricks of light for the stars, and different coloured glowing spheres that were moving in various orbits around the sun (which was currently dark).

"Wow," both man and boy breathed out in unison together as they stared up into the unusually high rafters of the room.

Of all of the planets above them, the small green and blue Earth was currently the brightest lit, aside from its moon. Although, Severus had an idea about what might change that.

"Lumos," he whispered above the still damp hair of his son, and abruptly the sun came on, lighting the world around them with a soft comfortable glow.

Ducking their heads at the sudden light, Severus had to blink several times before being able to see his surroundings. He quickly realized that what they were standing in was no ordinary room, but a bedroom. Furthermore, it wasn't anything like any of the other dungeon bedrooms he had seen in all of his years at Hogwarts, but rather something completely unique and special.

To their left was a small green canopied bed. Although it was lower to the ground than Severus's own was, there was still a small stepstool that sat beside it, just in case.

The floor was covered in a very soft and plush light green carpet, inlaid with trails of silver that sparkled the longer one stared at it.

The walls were not the typical cold stone that all dungeon rooms featured, but were smooth and painted a soft blue. Across from where they stood, Severus saw a small boy sized desk and chair, and upon further investigation, found a variety of paper and coloring materials atop it, as well as inside its many drawers.

There were also several bookcases that practically begged to be filled with interesting books, as well as a brightly painted wooden toy chest that they found sitting at the foot of the bed. Severus found a plain mahogany dresser, and discovered that it was already filled with all of Harry's small clothes.

As they rounded back towards the bed again, something caught Severus's eye. Laid out atop the pillow was their friend Captain, and Severus imagined that the bear had been waiting for them since before they started Harry's bath.

"Capt'n!" His son proclaimed as they came within arm's reach of the small fuzzy pink toy.

Severus picked up his son's friend and handed it to the boy with a small smile. Immediately, Harry grabbed it up and squeezed his bear tightly, his eyes still large in his head from the wonder of the room around them.

"Daddy? Whose room is dis?" His small boy asked in awe.

Severus fought from smiling as he looked down at his son.

"Why, don't you recognize it?" He asked with a straight face as Harry looked around them once more.

"Nuh uh, Daddy," Harry answered with a confused look.

"Well, silly boy. Don't you know your own room?" He asked, finally giving his child a small grin.

If his son had looked awestruck before, it was nothing to how he looked after hearing Severus's unexpected question.

"M-Mine?" His son asked quietly as he held on to both Severus and Captain tightly.

"Apparently the castle decided that you needed a room, so it created one for you," he said lightly, moving them over to the bed.

"Should," his son swallowed and huddled up against him nervously. "Should I say 'thank you?'" Harry whispered, his eyes large behind his tiny glasses.

The idea hadn't actually occurred to Severus, but as he thought about it, it seemed a perfectly reasonable question.

"I think you should. It seems that the castle has gone to quite a lot of trouble for you. It must like you a great deal to make you such a nice room," Severus whispered conspiratorially. He had sat them down on the bed and was now leaning against the wall with his son in his lap.

"Thank you Castle!" His son abruptly shouted out in the stillness of the room around them.

Severus couldn't help himself as the absurdity of the situation sunk in. He began laughing, and before long, his small boy had joined in.

Somewhere close by, perhaps around them and under them, or even far above them, the castle shifted a bit on its foundations as it merrily began laughing too.