Echo was nearly recovered from her ordeal at Oland's hands but for the odd dream or nightmare now and again. The Cruciatus Relief Potion had dealt with the aftereffects of the Unforgivable Curse and the Scar Reducing Salve had faded most of her scars. The only one that couldn't fully be faded was the most devastating one from her collarbone to her navel.

Against her olive tinted skin, it was a lighter mark that was mostly hidden by her blouses. She often wore loose blouses with modestly daring necklines. Recently she had changed those blouses so she could easily cover the scar. Severus had told her that he felt the scar did not mar her beauty in the least. Certainly not in his eyes. Echo was flattered, but even she admitted she couldn't look at the scar without feeling some anxiety. Maybe, someday, she'd be able to look at it differently.

Despite the scars, both visible and hidden, Echo's spirits were recovered and she was looking forward to meeting all of Harry's friends today.

Echo wore a long, summer dress of cool gauze cotton in a deep russet colour. It was belted at the waist, loosely, with a silver conch belt. She was braiding her hair, also loosely, to drape over her right shoulder to cover the top of the long scar. She also wore a light, lace shawl over her shoulders that matched the dress.

Once finished, she headed towards Severus' bedroom where he was helping his son to dress when she was nearly run into by a large, brown owl.

"Stand still, Harry, or this comb is going to remain in your hair all day!" snapped Severus.

Harry was standing on his dressing stool in his father's bathroom in front of the mirror. He was wearing his favorite dress robes today so he matched his father. He tried not to wriggle as the comb found another knot.

"Your hair seems to have gotten straighter," mused Snape. "The knots are all still there, though."

Harry grinned at their reflections. "Daddy, if I had your nose, I'd look like you."

"Do you think so?" He glanced in the mirror and suddenly had the sensation of someone walking over his grave. A rapid knock on his bedroom door wiped away the sensation.

"Severus! There's a letter for you!" Echo's voice called through the closed bedroom door.

"Down we go," Severus lifted Harry under the arms and put him on the floor. "Take Hector for a long walk with Echo on the beach, would you. But try and stay clean."

"Yes, Daddy!"

Severus opened the door to the bedroom allowing Harry to dart out between the two adults. Echo smiled and handed him the scrolled parchment. "Special Owl Post."

"Thank you, Echo." A glance at the silver seal sent his stomach plummeting to his feet. "Echo," he said, his voice oddly strained, "Would you take Hector and Harry for a walk on the beach?"

"Of course." She was about to reach out a hand to his arm, when she felt a warning from the Old Magic. Severus was all right, but whomever had sent the letter worried him to the point he wanted to be alone with it. "Harry?" she looked around for the boy, sparing Severus a quick glance as he moved back into his bedroom.

"Here! I've got Hector." Hector barked and Harry giggled.

As Echo and Harry walked towards the living room, Severus very gently closed his bedroom door.

Severus had barely kept his composure when he saw the seal on the scroll. It took every ounce of control he had to not fall apart. The seal, a lily being dropped into a cauldron, had been created by Lily and Severus their second summer together. They wanted their own unique crest; for the day they'd be married.

I cannot remember having such innocent dreams.

He went to his chair, and then, his hands shaking, he broke the seal and opened the letter. As he read the words, he heard Lily's voice from the past.

Severus,

November 1979

You've just left my bed... for that monster... and tomorrow I marry James. I am a wretched woman for what I have done to you.

James is a sweet, kind man and he will do his best to keep me safe and to treat me well, to love me, even, but I don't want him. I suppose after this evening you know I want you and even though we said little, I am still hoping I have not signed your death warrant over to that madman.

Severus, please forgive my selfishness. In nine months I will have your child. Please don't be mad at my deception. I did this on purpose because I am so afraid that this is the only way I might ever have a part of you. Even though I am still weeping at your abrupt departure, I am happy. Very happy.

I'll keep this letter as a kind of journal, so if sometimes it doesn't make sense, I'm hoping I'll be sitting beside you to explain. If I am not, I hope you'll figure it out.

August 2nd 1980

Oh Severus! He is so beautiful! I hate what I'm about to do. I must do it, though. James must think that Harry is his. I have charmed a portrait of Harry as he truly looks into the paper. Just touch your wand to the back of this parchment and say his name. I have never seen a baby more perfect. You'd be happy knowing that he has my nose with a touch of the dignified arch of yours. He is round, and soft, but he will look as striking as his father someday.

Severus took out his wand, turned over the first page of the parchment, tapped his wand to it and said softly, "Harry."

The parchment shimmered and there was the photograph of a gurgling baby Harry. There wasn't one bit of him that looked like James. Baby Harry was sleeping, but suddenly he yawned, opened those brilliant eyes, and stretched out a tiny hand towards him.

"Oh, Lily..." For a moment, Severus banished the image, folded the letter in half, and closed his eyes.

His heart felt like soaring over the knowledge that Harry was his and Lily's and always had been, but at the same time he felt both like weeping, and shouting in anger. If he had known earlier about this, his child would never have been with the Dursleys. His child would have been with him, happy, safe. Harry's few years at Hogwarts would certainly have been much more controlled. There wouldn't have been adventures with Fluffy, or trolls, or secret chambers.

I would have never permitted my son to participate in that damned tournament!

"Lily, you could have told me. I would have done anything for you and Harry," he whispered.

He continued reading the letter.

The glamour charm is one I crafted. It will keep Harry's true features obscured until close to his seventeenth birthday. I hope I can tell you about Harry before then.

December, Christmas

Sweet Harry has no idea how my heart is hurting. Professor Dumbledore told James and I that he is worried about you. He says you were to report to the Order three days ago, but he's heard nothing. He is frantic. I never realised that Albus felt so towards you. Outwardly, he always seems, well you know how he is. Sirius calls it his 'Lemon Drop Facade'. Minerva told me that Albus is having trouble sleeping and has even lost his temper a few times. He is not permitting the usual staff Christmas celebration and is practically holed up in his office.

I am no better, to be truthful. I've told James my tears are for those lost and injured. Do you know about Frank and Alice? Their sweet little Neville will probably never know how vital, how wonderful his parents were. I feel so selfish because I am worried that you will never know of your son, and Harry will never know of his wonderful father.

For the first time I hate that stupid glamour I forced upon your son. I would dearly love to see you within him, just to soothe my heart's worry.

Where are you? Did that evil madman discover what you are?

I swear, I could kill James and Sirius for the awful things they say about you. I know Sirius doesn't know the truth, but James does and for him to join Sirius in their childish rubbish makes me ill.

Christmas was wretched.

Please be safe, my love!

January 1981

I am crying again! You're safe! I wish I could have gone to see you, but Albus forbid it. James was oddly silent when the old Headmaster came to visit and told us of your injuries. When Dumbledore said you had returned with information that put our lives in danger, for once James did not put up resistance.

Professor Dumbledore is helping us to go into hiding. I am not afraid for myself, but for you, Harry, and yes, even James. Harry must be who I think of though. I will protect him, Severus. No matter what happens, I will make certain your son lives. This I promise you.

July 1981

Harry is one year old today and you were able to see him. I wish I could have told you that you were holding your son, my love. You were so stiff with Harry and I could see the pain in your eyes... was it betrayal? I will not condemn you for it. I know you've seen that James has changed from the teenager he once was, but I do not ever expect you to accept him. Please know, though, that he is a good father. He works very hard to keep Harry and I safe, even though he knows I do not love him as he wishes. Yes, I think James knows how I feel about you, but he has said nothing to me. He has never treated me harshly, and he loves Harry.

October 1981

I'm frightened, Severus. Harry won't stop crying. I am ready to give everything to keep Harry alive, but still it scares me.

I don't regret lying to you about the Contraceptive Spell, Severus. Next to loving you, Harry is the brightest star in my life. He will probably be a young man when you finally know your son, but treasure him, please. Tell him that I never hated you for what you did for the Order. Only you had the courage to do what no one else could. My heart is yours forever, Severus.

Please forgive me.

Lily

Severus lost all sense of time as he bent over the letter and dropped his head into his hands. His silent tears were for Lily's secret, that she'd been alone in it and never felt safe enough to tell him the truth, and his tears were for the life his child had under Petunia Dursley's harsh hand.

It seemed like hours had passed when he felt a small hand brushing gently at the tears on his cheeks.

"Daddy?" Harry's voice was worried and afraid. He'd never seen his father cry before. He was too strong for little kid tears.

Severus swept his child- his son with Lily!- into his arms, hugging him tightly.

"Da-ad! You're squeezing... too... tight! Awk!"

Severus abruptly let go, but then cupped Harry's face between his hands, gently. He studied the child's face, and then shook his head.

"How could I have not seen? This is why you don't need glasses anymore. This is why you don't have that unruly mop of hair." He ran a slim finger down Harry's nearly straight nose, but for a slight bump that only complemented his more angular features.

"Did the letter make you cry, Daddy?" asked his son carefully.

Severus took a deep breath, noting the slight hitch as he did so. "The letter was sent by your mother only a few days before she was killed. I promise to explain to you what she wrote, but this isn't the time since you have guests arriving soon."

"Okay," smiled Harry. The child did want to know what his mother had written, only because it was something from his mother. It had made his father sad, though, so his first concern was that his Daddy be all right. "You're fine, aren't you?"

"I am indeed. Now, why don't you go out in the front yard and ask grandpa if he'll come meet me in the living room?"

Harry slipped out of his father's loose grasp, and ran out into the front yard. Severus followed slowly until he was in the living room. For a moment he watched his son- my son!- through the picture window and was startled when Echo spoke.

"It wasn't bad news, was it?" she asked.

For a moment Severus frowned at the bald intrusion into his business. Seeing his expression, Echo was about to apologise, when the wizard shook his head.

"It was not bad news. Unexpected, yes, but not bad. I need to speak to Albus first, though, before I say anything more."

"I understand, Severus." This time she did reach out for him and he met her halfway, taking her hand in his.

"Is everything all right, my boy?" asked Albus as he entered the cottage.

"I'll be outside," said Echo slipping past the elder wizard and through the door.

Severus held the three page letter towards Albus. "It's from Lily." That was all he said as he watched the wizard seat himself and begin to read. After several minutes, Dumbledore raised his head, lay the letter upon his lap, took off his spectacles and cleaned them.

"I did not know you and Lily had repaired your friendship after your fifth year," he remarked.

"It was too dangerous for anyone to know. Even though you hadn't asked me to spy, yet, there were those associates I had that would have harmed Lily without hesitation in order to gain favor in Voldemort's eyes."

Dumbledore handed the letter back and Severus rolled it up. "She gave you a truly wonderful gift."

"She did, but how do I explain this to Harry. I think he might be too young to understand."

"Perhaps, but for as young as he is, he does have a capacity for understanding that most children his age do not. I suspect, unfortunately, part of that may have come from his less than ideal circumstances with the Dursleys."

"He was abused, Albus," sighed Severus. "Please do not cover it in genteel euphemisms."

"Forgive me, Severus. I must plead the habit of a diplomat that governs my words. We never say what we mean without couching it in half of a thesaurus. You have another concern. What is it?"

"The Second Chance Potion ended Lily's glamour a year before it should have naturally worn off. My concern is that if the potion ended the glamour, is it possible... I'm not saying this well. The potion, my analysis showed a very nearly perfect potion... I... dammit!"

"Glamour magic is tricky even for the most skilled and Lily was rather skilled at the Deceptive Arts." Severus scowled at the implication. "You know I didn't mean it that way. The Deceptive Arts are another form of magic and it is no doubt this discipline was employed by Lily to change her son to take on James Potter's outward appearance." Dumbledore tapped his chin thoughtfully. "Genetically speaking, Lily was a bit too perfect there. Harry was a carbon copy of James."

"Except for his eyes," observed Severus.

"Quite so. If I may, my boy, you're concerned that the magic of the glamour may have interfered in other ways concerning the efficacy of the potion?"

"Possibly. I mean, yes. That is my concern."

Albus handed the letter back to Severus. "You made a thorough analysis of Harry's potion, Severus. You told me yourself that it was undeniably perfect. I do believe you are needlessly concerned."

Severus turned away from Dumbledore's eyes. They were twinkling benignly, but his gaze was searching for a deeper truth the younger wizard would not give voice to. It was something that had been plaguing the young man's mind ever since he chose to take care of the de-aged, little boy.

Albus nodded. "Ah, I see now, Severus. You're afraid Harry may remember the way you treated him. Perhaps in his nightmares."

"It's bloody selfish of me to think of that, Albus!" he hissed. "My concern should always be for my son, but all I can think about is that Harry will remember what a bastard I was to him!"

The old wizard placed his hand firmly on the younger wizard's shoulder, "Severus, my child, it is not a concern you should dismiss. Not because I think those memories still exist, but because you love Harry deeply, now, and if he were to remember what he once felt for you..."

"He hated me. He was afraid of me," he spoke in dead voice.

"Legilimens."

"Severus turned sharply, "What? Are you suggesting I root about in Harry's memories, Albus? It could hurt him!"

"You are far too skilled a Legilimens to hurt your own son, Severus. I know you would be very careful."

"Albus, I could waken memories that are best left dormant. How can you suggest I do such a thing to assuage my own insecurity?"

Albus smiled and those blue eyes of his twinkled knowingly. "You are forgetting one of the most basic tenets of Magical Principles. When one magic neutralises another..." the wizard who had once been a teacher prompted.

Severus sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose. "When one magic neutralises another, the magic neutralised has no effect upon the dominant magic."

"The Second Chance Potion neutralised Lily's magic. Had we known that a six year old Harry would have looked like a miniature of James Potter you would know the glamour was still effective and perhaps there would be need to worry. As it was, Harry looked the way he should have always looked. You have told me yourself that you've seen more of Lily in the child. And, have I not remarked to you that Harry has quite adopted some of your mannerisms?"

Severus frowned. "Mannerisms aren't genetic, Albus."

"Ah, but the mannerisms have caused others to wonder at the growing likeness between the two of you." Albus patted Severus' arm. "There are so many other things to worry about with a growing boy, Severus, that I think you ought to stop concerning yourself with the past."

"The past isn't going to stay dead, Albus," Severus sneered mildly. "Someday he'll hear stories from his friends. There's no telling when one of them will slip. They won't be able to help it and Obliviating them would mean sending them right back to their first year mentally since they'd also lose most of what they learned at Hogwarts!"

Albus crossed his arms over his chest and his foot tapped the floor in warning. That was a posture Severus hadn't seen in a very long time! Not since that day in his second year, when he'd stayed at Hogwarts for Christmas and he'd pranked Hagrid by turning Fang, a puppy at the time, invisible. The distraught wizard had become hysterical over his worry for the puppy.

I couldn't be in trouble, could I? For Merlin's sake, I'm a grown man!

Severus tried to glower at Albus, but with that posture, the foot tapping, and stern twinkle- Yes, those twinkles weren't always cheerful!- he failed.

"Fine! What?" he snapped instead, suddenly feeling a loss of about twenty odd years.

"Stop trying to be so in control of everything, Severus! You cannot keep Harry completely isolated from his past. Tales will be told and you will deal with it. That includes any friend of his remarking upon how the Potions Master used to be 'such an evil git to the Boy-Who-Lived'."

Ouch! That hurt worse than a smack! Severus' shoulders slumped, feeling far too young and disliking the fact that Albus was right.

"You are Harry's father and he loves you dearly. He is not going to stop loving you if he learns that once you and he were hardly the best of friends." Albus uncrossed his arms, smiled, and tapped the letter now being rather crushed in the Potions Master's hands. "As for this tell him the truth you've learned."

"So you think he's old enough to understand?" Severus asked warily- some might even say timidly but they might get their eyes hexed permanently crossed.

"He's always been a very bright and perceptive child." Albus nodded. "I think he'll understand. Now, if I'm not mistaken, it appears as though the first of Harry's guests have arrived."

Both Albus and Severus looked out the window to the front yard to see Draco and Hermione. At that moment, several loud pops announced the arrival of Molly and Arthur Weasley, the twins- Severus rolled his eyes quickly-, Ginny and Ron.

With Albus leading the way, the two wizards left the cottage for the front yard and made their greetings. Molly had already squashed Harry in a bosomy hug and he was now seated beside her as he rattled on about his lessons with Echo. Echo had been separated from the crowd by Arthur. Severus noted for the first time that Arthur Weasley's new position as Minister of Magic was good fortune that reflected upon himself, his wife, and children.

For so long the Weasleys had lived a galleon to galleon existence. Despite having to scrape the couch cushions for every knut, Arthur and Molly had raised seven healthy and happy children. Now, as the new Minister, Arthur was been able to provide those things for his wife and children he'd always wanted to. Though not fancy, their clothing was new and fit well. Molly, who often wore dresses she made and her hand knit shawls to keep her warm, was wearing soft peach and blue robes that made her blue eyes sparkle and showed off her red curls. Severus mused to himself that it was no wonder Arthur had fathered seven children with such a lovely woman as Molly.

"Go on!" Hermione hissed as she nudged Draco in the ribs.

"Is something the matter, Miss Granger?" asked Snape. He remembered that Hermione and Draco were now a couple and Draco had been spending a Muggle summer with her parents, visiting relatives in America. He wondered how the boy had fared so far without using magic to do everything.

"Draco has..." she began.

"I have something for you!" he blurted, casting a sharp glare at his girlfriend.

"I'm rather certain that it's Harry that is the birthday boy, today," Severus teased lightly.

Draco gulped and pulled at his shirt collar. "Oh, well, yes. I do have a gift for Harry, but I brought you something as well. Uhm, could I give it to you now?" Severus merely nodded and watched as the boy took out a small object. Severus enlarged it with the Engorgio Spell.

It was a box made from cherry wood. It had an ornate lock of silver, and equally ornate hinges. The lid of the box had a carved design of the House crest of Slytherin and a very well done profile of Harry. He quite liked the box and thanked Draco perfunctorily and was somewhat puzzled at the boy's sudden look of disappointment.

"Draco made it, Professor," Hermione declared with obvious pride. "No magic. All by hand, including the carving."

Draco's pale cheeks coloured profusely at Hermione's declaration and the stunned look on his Head of House's face.

"No magic at all?" asked Severus, rather dumbfounded.

"The way Muggles do woodwork, sir," Draco spoke modestly. "I cut the pieces, sanded them, made those joins, did the carving, and stained it. Made a bit of a mess of my work table, though, with the stain." Draco frowned and Hermione giggled at the memory of Draco as he'd spilt the stain right into his lap.

Severus took a second, more appraising look at the box, and then inside it. To his delight, there were photographs, Muggle type photos, someone had taken of him and Harry at various times while they'd been at Hogwarts. Sitting down on a bench, he laid the box across his lap, and began going through the photographs.

There were several that had been taken of Severus and Harry at the staff table. One where he was scolding a recalcitrant child, another where he was listening attentively to Harry's morning babble. A perfect one had been caught of Harry watching all the mail owls delivering mail, his arms stretching up towards them. The child's frozen expression of wonder was perfect.

"Who took these?" he asked as he came across several that had been of a walk he and Harry had taken right before Christmas in the snow around the frozen lake. The one that made his voice catch in his throat, was a photograph that had been a profile. Harry's hands had gotten cold and Severus had knelt down in the snow, taken off his son's gloves, and was warming Harry's hands by cupping his own around his son's and blowing a magicked spell of warmth onto them.

"Hermione gave us, I mean me, Harry, Ron, Professor McGonagall, and Hagrid all these little Muggle cameras," explained Draco. "We just took photos wherever we could and then I made the box for any other things you might like to keep." He suddenly leaned towards Hermione and whispered. "What did you call it?" She spoke the answer very quietly in his ear and he smiled. "It's a Keepsake Box, sir."

"Thank you very much. Both of you," Severus said with complete sincerity.

"Dad! Can we go play Quidditch on the beach?" Harry's head popped up in between Hermione and Draco.

Severus hesitated for just a moment and was interrupted by Lupin saying, "I'll keep an eye on everyone, Severus."

The Potions Master wondered when the werewolf had arrived. He hadn't heard his Apparation pop. For a moment he stared at Lupin, then nodded curtly and looked down at his son. "Let everyone know, you have an hour. Lunch will have arrived by then and then we'll have cake."

"Cake! Cake! Yay!" Draco was suddenly yanked by the seven year old birthday boy. "C'mon Draco! You're on my team!"

Draco quickly waved goodbye, allowing the child to continue to drag him through the house and out the back.

Down on the beach, Fred and George divided everyone up into two teams and then Fred produced the Snitch, a Quaffle, and the Bludgers. The teams rose up into the air, keeping their game low to the ground since Harry couldn't fly his broom higher than two feet.

"He's still a natural," Remus marveled, thinking he was only speaking to the large dog, Hector.

Hector had walked alongside Lupin, but Hermione, who had followed, heard his remark. "I always felt Harry loved flying more than Quidditch."

Remus was slightly startled, but he managed not to show it. "Does Harry seem different to you, Hermione?"

She frowned, not quite understanding what the wistful question meant. "He's seven years old, Professor. I'd expect Harry to be different."

"I mean, is he very different from the Harry you knew?"

"The Harry Potter I knew doesn't exist anymore, Professor." Her tone held a hint of warning in it. "But he's not dead, sir. He's alive and happy and he's going to be able to grow up the way his mum wanted."

"I didn't..."

Hermione interrupted, "He's still my friend, Professor. That hasn't changed." She watched Lupin for several minutes as he watched Harry flying. His expression was bittersweet. "I know you feel like you lost him just the same way you lost Tonks and Sirius. Ron felt the same way. He was hurt and angry, which is justifiable. The Harry we knew is gone. We can't blame him, though." She pointed towards the flying child. "He's just a seven year old boy who wants to play, to be with his father, to have dreams he can look forward to fulfilling."

"But Harry had that. The dreams, I mean," insisted Remus.

Hermione shook her head vehemently. "You're wrong, Professor. Harry didn't dare hope for a future. There was no place safe for him to go. If his relatives weren't mistreating him, then he was virtually hiding at school from Death Eaters and shades of Voldemort. Everytime he visited the Burrow, he worried that his mere presence alone would bring Death Eaters swarming across the field."

"He still had a future, though," he persisted, his tone getting sharp.

"Harry didn't think so," her voice was quiet, but like steel. "There were a lot of things Harry didn't tell you and Sirius. He didn't believe he was going to ever survive confronting Voldemort. He was certain of it. Harry just didn't have nightmares of Voldemort or his mother's death. He had nightmares of all of us being killed or tortured. The stress was often so bad for him, that he'd spend most of the night crying in either my arms or Ron's. I wish Harry hadn't de-aged himself, but I understand why he did. He was hurting and he did the only thing that made sense."

Remus had been looking away from the game, his stunned attention on Hermione. He could not say anything immediately, but after several minutes, he said softly, shame and regret tingeing his voice. "I never knew. Why couldn't he say any...?"

Hermione touched his arm, and spoke firmly, "Harry didn't trust adults, Professor. There were too many that hurt him. He wanted to trust his teachers, especially Professor Dumbledore, but Harry was sure that the only reason any adult really tolerated him was because he was 'the Chosen One'."

He sighed heavily. What right had he had to claim any sort of relationship with Harry? Yet he wanted to be there for Harry, he just wasn't sure how to go about it.

Or am I being an idiot and am already there for the child? He thought to himself. He had spent an hour alone with the little boy, just reading to him when Severus had gone in search of Echo. Harry had no hesitation in sitting upon his lap, leaning against his chest as Remus read to him. Such easy trust. The same trust the teenaged Harry had for Remus the moment they met.

He recalled those days fondly as Harry, hungry for any knowledge of his parents, had listened attentively to his stories. He remembered the few times the boy had asked about his mother, there had been little he could tell Harry about Lily.

Lily Evans had spent her first five years at Hogwarts hanging around with Severus. She'd always been very blunt about the fact she didn't care for James or Sirius. Peter had always creeped her out and Remus was ignored simply due to his associations with the Marauders. After Lily and Severus had their fallout, James had continued to try and pursue Lily, but she continued to rebuff him. It had been a complete surprise, to him at least, when James had announced in the summer of 1979 that he and Lily were getting married. By then, he only had time to attend the wedding before he was deep into a mission amongst the werewolves.

Remus Lupin had never admitted it to Harry, but he had known very little about Lily.

Remus wasn't aware that there was a break in the Quidditch games as the kids had gotten hot and decided to cool off in the surf. Hermione had left his side without him realising it.

"Mr. Lupin? You're not sad, are you?"

He looked down and smiled into the face of little Harry. He shook his head. "Not really. I was just thinking about some old friends who are no longer with me."

"Did they go away or something?" Harry asked gently.

"Or something," Remus sighed. "A very bad wizard killed them."

Harry nodded knowingly and patted Lupin's knee. "A bad wizard killed my mum and Dad, too." He then smiled brightly. "You've got other friends like the Weasleys, and grandpa Albus and Aunt Minnie and even my Dad, which means I'm you're friend, too."

Remus chuckled softly at the unerring, and simple logic, of a child. "You're quite right, Harry."

"Mr. Lupin?"

"Yes, Harry?"

"Would you go and tell the big kids that they gotta be careful of the undertoads? They thought I was joking, but Daddy told me that undertoads are really dangerous sucking tide monsters that like to drown kids."

Remus couldn't help laughing at the 'tide monsters' that were the undertow of the waves. Harry scowled at him, but Remus patted his shoulder. "I'm not laughing at you, Harry. I realise they're dangerous from what you tell me, but undertoads did sound a bit funny. I'll have to ask your father more about them."

Harry grinned and took Lupin's hand as they made their way down to the surf and the kids laughing, screeching, and leaping about in the cold water.

It was nearly three in the afternoon when Harry was finally allowed to open his birthday presents. He thought he was just going to get his favorite lunch- pepperoni pizza- and all his friends. He had no idea there were presents, too!

With everyone gathered in the front yard under the shade of the old olive tree, he began to tear gleefully into his presents.

From the Weasley twins he received a big box of noisemakers and things that created sparkles, confetti, or other shiny explosions. Severus had a very pointed glare for the twin twits. At least none of the items would change Harry in any way, or emitted noxious fumes.

Molly Weasley had knitted Harry a jumper with Hector's profile on it and a pair of mittens for winter that had snakes around the cuffs.

Arthur Weasley gave Harry a fantastic piece of faceted crystal that made rainbows when the sun shone through it. The little boy found it absolutely dazzling and had to stop opening gifts so that he and Arthur could hang it from the tree where it would spin and cast little sparkling rainbows all over everyone.

Draco had made a similar Keepsake Box for Harry that had a magnificent dragon carved on the lid and was gilded with green and gold paint. The box had been halfway filled with all sorts of little sparkly, shiny, and colourful things like pebbles, quartz, interesting buttons, an Opaleye Dragon scale, and more. Harry began calling it his 'pirate treasure' box.

Hermione gave Harry three books that she told him little wizards ought to enjoy just as much as Muggle children did. They were Peter Pan, The Wind in the Willows, and D'Aulaire's Book of Greek Myths.

Ron gave him a set Chudley Cannon Quidditch players that could actually fly. Harry was so delighted by this gift that he gave the tall redheaded boy a very tight hug. Ron blushed as bright as his hair and ignored the good natured slaps to his back and teasing sniggers from his brothers.

Albus and Minerva gave Harry a set of wizarding markers that wouldn't dry out and were easy to Scourgify if they wound up on surfaces they shouldn't. Severus silently thanked them for the latter. He'd had to work a few marker, paint, and even crayon 'accidents' out of the furniture in their quarters back at Hogwarts. The free house elf Dobby had taught him a house elf spell that made things much easier to clean, but it was best when he didn't have to clean such messes at all.

Echo gave Harry a sketchbook and a drawing quill that would shrink to pocket size by saying a secret word.

From Remus Harry was given a book bag that had an embroidered gryphon on it and came with a built in Featherlight Charm.

Ginny gave him a journal, but when she quipped that it 'doesn't write back' the puzzled expression from the little boy reminded her that Harry, now de-aged, had no memory of having saved her from a basilisk in his second year. Ginny's teasing mirth deflated abruptly and she leaned, downhearted, against her mother.

Echo leaned surreptitiously towards Severus. "Harry doesn't seem to have noticed, yet," she said very softly, "but there doesn't appear to be a gift from you. You didn't forget, did you?"

"Not at all," he said with a slight smirk. "I shall give it to him later."

Ginny Weasley had lost interest in the laughter and stories and silliness that was going on behind her. She'd retreated to a niche in the roots of the olive tree and had been joined in her shady sanctuary by Harry's large familiar, Hector. As she ran a hand over his large head, he snoozed gently beside the young girl.

He doesn't remember anything, her mind had been repeating for the last several minutes.

We weren't really friends, so what does it matter? Ron and Hermione were friends of his. Even the twins were. I just tagged along.

"Hi! You okay?"

Ginny lifted her head to see Harry peering at her from around the trunk. He was smiling brightly, but there was concern in his eyes.

"Harry? You don't remember anything about the Chamber of Secrets? Or Tom Riddle?" she asked bluntly.

Harry frowned. He then shook his head. "Is that from the memories I lost?"

"Oh no!" her eyes widened. "I wasn't supposed to say anything! Oh Harry, I'm sorry. I'm such an idiot."

He patted Ginny's shoulder. "That's okay. Would you tell me about this Chamber of Secrets? It sounds really neat."

"Well, I don't know everything. I do know, you saved my life."

"Really?" Harry moved to sit in front of Ginny, all prepared to hear a great story. "How did I do that?"

"You found the Chamber of Secrets and fought a huge basilisk that had been hidden down there by Salazar Slytherin. You killed it with the Sword of Godric Gryffindor."

"That's wicked! How old was I?"

"Thirteen? I think. I'm not certain. You were so brave, Harry. My mum sent you a chocolate cake for saving me and then wouldn't stop hugging you when she and Dad came to visit me at the Hogwarts Infirmary." Ginny's eyes shone with the old hero worship she'd had of Harry after that day.

"Who was Tom Riddle? Was he in the Chamber, too?"

"Oh no... well, he was later, sort of. I mean, first he was in my diary. It was his first. He'd enchanted it so it held a memory of him when he went to Hogwarts. When I wrote in the diary, he wrote back."

"That's scary," whispered Harry with awe.

Ginny shrugged. "It wasn't, at first. After awhile, though, I began having terrible dreams and once I woke up covered with blood and feathers. Tom Riddle was possessing me."

"How did you get away, Ginny?" he asked, leaning closer.

"I tried to, by throwing the diary away in Myrtle's bathroom. Do you know her?"

Harry nodded. "I met her once. She whines alot. I like Sir Nicholas and after I finally got over the Bloody Baron's scary looks, he's not too bad."

"I like Sir Nicholas, too. He has a lot of interesting stories."

"So, after you threw away the diary, what happened?"

"I was feeling better, but one night I woke up with it back in my hands. I think I blacked out. I didn't know what was going on until I came to and saw you kill the basilisk. I thought you were going to die, though, because the basilisk... it broke a tooth off in your arm." Harry's jaw dropped. "Dumbledore's Phoenix Fawkes saved you, though. He cried tears into the wound. Tom, though, was sure he'd still won, cause I was getting weaker. You took the tooth of the basilisk and stabbed the diary. It was really ghastly, Harry. The diary bled and Tom's screams were horrible!"

"Wicked! I'm glad I could save you, Ginny," he smiled, a little shyly all of a sudden.

"Me too, Harry." She blushed. "Do you miss your memories?"

"Not really," he shrugged. "I wonder about them, but Dad thinks I de-aged myself because a lot of the memories hurt a lot."

Ginny bit her lip, knowing there was at least one memory that had probably hurt Harry a lot, the death of his godfather. "I shouldn't have told you about this. Your Dad might get mad at me."

"I'll try not to say anything. Although, I can't think this was a bad memory, really. It sounds like the best kind of fairy tale. It even had a princess in it!" They both blushed and Harry jumped to his feet. "Thanks for the journal, Ginny." He threw his arms around her neck, hugged her tightly, and then ran off.

Ginny smiled, feeling much better than she had a few minutes ago.

Severus really was not at all fond of parties and after turning the rest of the proceedings over to Albus and Minerva, he had retreated to the living room to slightly less noise. Albus had suggested that he go lie down, and as much as he wished he could, Severus wanted to be nearby if his son needed him.

He had taken a mild Migraine Potion to relieve the headache that was beginning at the base of his skull, but it wasn't working fast enough.

In his hand was the three page letter from Lily. For awhile he'd studied the embedded photograph of Harry but then he'd banished it, folded the letter once, and closed his eyes. He only meant to rest his eyes, but the past insinuated itself like a ghostly mist over his consciousness, and he was unable to resist.

He was back in the past, that night when he and Lily had made love. With her red hair spilled over his arm and the pillow, she had fallen lightly asleep, cocooned in his arms. He ran his fingers over her cheek and throat and she stirred.

"You won't be able to stay," she spoke softly, wistfully. He could hear the unvoiced plea in her words, but he would say nothing to that.

He pulled away. He hated doing so, but she was to marry into the safe embrace of James Potter while he had to face the Dark Lord. As he slipped from her bed, his words cut deeply.

"I have no choice, Lily." That was the wrong thing to say.

He expected her anger. Lily was a passionate woman, no matter what emotion she was feeling. Luckily for him, her anger was directed, not at him, but at the Order of the Phoenix, Albus Dumbledore, and the Dark Lord. He turned away as he dressed because he could not bear the tears that came next.

It was that moment when, in the dream, he split: his Past Self and Present Self.

As his Present Self watched this horrid scene, he knelt before the weeping Lily. He knew that his Past Self would choose this one time to transfigure his robes into the vile robes of a Death Eater in front of Lily. It was cruel, and he recalled that he had done it in order to break things swiftly between himself and Lily. Seeing the silver mask upon his Past Self's face angered him. Dream or no, he took out his wand and pointed it at his Past Self.

"Severus. No." A hand touched his forearm with just enough pressure to encourage him to stay his hand and to keep from casting the spell... the Unforgivable.

The voice had come from behind him and as he turned, he saw Lily. This was Lily the very last time he'd seen her. As the scene of Lily's bedroom faded away, their old park sprouted up around them.

"I was so certain you weren't going to come that day... to our park."

"I almost didn't," he replied. "I had a suspicion you wanted to show me Harry and the last thing I wanted was to see Potter's son."

A couple, both in Muggle clothing met at the swing set several yards in front of them. There was Lily with baby Harry in his arms and there was Severus, his Past Self, a scowl so deep on his face, he looked like the old man he sometimes felt he was.

"Our son," the Lily beside him said firmly.

"I didn't know that," he replied stonily, a bitter tinge to his voice.

"No, I hadn't told you. Even though the reason I wanted you to meet me there was so I could tell you. But look, Severus. Watch as you took Harry from me." Lily leaned closer and he hoped to smell her perfume, but there was nothing, nothing but a faint chill in the air. "Watch," she repeated.

He did so. Severus could clearly recall his thoughts then as Lily had thrust the small bundle into his arms. Then, he was certain he had only seen in that small face, the son of James Potter. His thoughts had been the bitterest of fruit, almost poison. Yet, watching himself now, he saw the careful way he had held the little, squirming baby. Holding him protectively close, securely, so he wouldn't drop. He had not known that he was carefully counting the baby's toes and fingers as he looked into the brilliant green of Harry's eyes. Any stranger who saw him then, holding that baby, would have known what he himself did not. They would have known he was the father of that child and not James Potter.

"But, I didn't know," he tried to convince himself.

"Severus." He turned away from the painful scene of the couple and turned to face Lily. "I must go, and very soon. There is one last thing I must do."

"Wait," he said stepping back a step. The chill she emanated was almost painful. "Harry... the glamour is gone, but your protection of him is too. The de-aging potion..."

Lily laughed lightly and then shook her head. "Oh, Severus, you are an incredibly brilliant man, but sometimes so narrow-minded. Harry didn't survive the Killing Curse from some complicated enchantment. Magic isn't just about 'silly wand waving'."

"Then...?"

"It is Blood Magic much older than the magic practised today. It is the magic that binds mother to child, father to child. It is a magic that grows as the one who is protected learns to care for and love others. There is nothing that can dispel or reverse it."

"Nothing?" he asked softly.

"Severus, the first moment that Harry expressed doubt about you, Albus assured him that he trusted you, above all others. There were many times when Harry questioned Albus, but that one, simple declaration never left his thoughts. When his soul was hurting so much, he didn't write his notes in his journal to anyone else but you. He knew he could entrust to you what he'd done."

"I still don't know why he did that," murmured Severus as he turned back to see that the scene had changed to that of his Potions classroom.

In the classroom, 12 year old Harry had all his concentration on the Babel Potion he was working on. Every once in awhile he glanced around at Draco and the other Slytherins. He did this before he put any ingredient into the cauldron, or stirred it. His Past Self had walked by Harry's desk a few times. One time he paused and with a motion that looked only like he was flexing the fingers of his hand, he cast a Warming Charm on the boy. Potter was thin and he often shivered in the dungeon classroom, despite his wool robe.

"Did he know?" he asked in wonder.

Lily smiled. "He suspected. He knew for certain a few months later when he stayed at Hogwarts for the holidays. He'd fallen asleep in the library. When he woke, he found the cup of hot chocolate sitting by his books and the soft shawl that you used to put over my shoulders on his."

Severus nodded. "He was working on his Potions essay. I couldn't help myself and read what he'd written so far. If I hadn't marked a passage he'd gotten wrong, he would never have known it was me."

Lily laughed. "You cared, Severus. From that moment on, your growing love has become part of the Blood Magic." She stepped in front of him. "It's time for me to take away the last stain upon your soul, Severus. Show it to me."

He gripped his left forearm with his right hand and backed away from Lily. "No. I don't want you to see it, Lily. I never wanted you to see it."

Her hand touched the back of his right hand and he shivered from the chill of her touch. "Show it to me now."

Angrily he tore at the buttons on the sleeve of his frock coat and then he ripped at the sleeve of the white shirt. "There! Even though I took this Mark knowing I would betray those that called me friend and I would help in killing Tom Riddle, I knew the evil that came with it! It's not just burned into my arm, Lily! It eats into my heart and is buried deep within my soul! It wasn't until the night I went to that meeting, a naive fool who desperately wanted to be a hero... and I was so very wrong... that's why I walked away, Lily. There was no future for me, not as long as his curse was buried in me. And still the blasted thing festers like an endless infection. The nightmares it gives me..."

Severus had sunk to his knees as his legs had begun to feel like rubber. Lily now knelt down before him. "Harry takes the pain and the nightmares away, doesn't he?"

He looked up into Lily's beautiful eyes and he nodded. "When he smiles or laughs, I can forget. When I read him his favorite stories at night and know that his sleep is free from nightmares, I am not plagued with nightmares, either."

For a moment, Lily's hands wavered over the insidious Dark Mark of Voldemort. "The scar is deep, Severus. It will..."

"Please, Lily, take it."

Her hands covered the Dark Mark and he screamed!