“Grammy!” Severus yelled as soon as his Mummy put him on the floor. He ran to the elder woman and jumped into her arms.

Molly picked up the little boy and put him on her hip. He wrapped his arms around her neck, and he whispered in her ear, “I missed you, Grammy!”

Molly smiled and patted his back lovingly.

“I missed you, too, Sevy.”

Ginny watched them with pure love. She knew that Severus was more comfortable with her and her mother. It was times like these that she knew that everything would be okay. One day, hopefully, everything in her little family would be worth it. One day, she hoped, all of her children would get along. Sirius would get along with Severus, and Severus would get along with Harry. One day.

“Sev, I am fixing to go back home, are you sure that you will be okay spending the night with Grammy?” Ginny asked him. There was definitely a part of her that really wanted to just take him back home with her.

“No. I want to stay with Grammy.”

“Okay, Love. Well, come give me a hug and I will come get you after I get off work tomorrow.” Ginny said. Severus jumped down and ran over to her and threw his arms around her neck.

“Love you, Mummy. See you tomorrow.” He said, and then ran back over to Molly.

Ginny waved, and then stepped back into the Floo, and in a flash of green flames.

“So, Sev, what do you want to do?” Molly asked him.

Severus looked thoughtful for a minute. It was 7:30, but it was still light outside, he hadn’t had a bath yet, and his bedtime wasn’t until 9:30. There was definitely time to play.

“I want to help you in the garden. I miss it, Grammy. I want to pick some potion ingredients.”

Molly smiled and nodded.

“Let’s go and get you some gloves and we will go out and look at the garden to see what needs to be done. I believe that there are several of the holly berries that need to be picked off of the holly bush.”

Together the two walked outside and got to work.

~sdrawkcab~

Ginny and Harry lay in bed after getting the boys to bed. For a while, they were silent. Harry was resting his hand gently on the mound that was Ginny’s stomach. The baby was kicking repeatedly, causing Harry to smile.

“What is wrong, Harry?” Ginny ran her fingers up and down Harry’s arm.

“I am just thinking.”

“About?”

“I think I know something they may allow Sirius to think differently about Severus.” Harry nearly whispered.

Ginny looked over at him. She knew that tone. She knew the fear that was in those words.

“Harry, Love, what are you going to do?”

“I am going to go and visit Aunt Petunia. I am going to take Sirius with me.” Harry said quietly.

“What?!” Ginny sat up and stared at Harry.

“Harry! Why? Why would you subject yourself to that? What will that prove to Sirius? What in the world will that show him?”

“Love, I haven’t been back since I left the day I turned seventeen. They moved back as soon as our war was over. There are reasons that Severus feels the way he does, why he can’t move on from his past. There are also reasons that Sirius continues to torment him. How can I expect Severus to move on from his past if I cannot move on from mine? How can we expect Sirius to understand the life Severus lived if he doesn’t see it firsthand? How, Gin? How?” Harry said. Ginny could tell that he was near tears, something very unlike him.

Ginny sighed and moved over closer to her husband. Her love. Her rock.

“Do you think that it will work? Do you think that it will be worth it in the end? To put yourself through that torture?”

Harry nodded.

“I think that it will, Gin. I really do.”

“If you think that it will work, then I guess all we can do is try. But, Harry?”

“Yea?”

“If they hurt you any more, or if they hurt Sirius, I will hunt them down. I will make them pay. And, I promise you that no one will ever know what happened to them. No one will ever even remember that once upon a time there was a family called the Dursley’s who lived on Number Four Privet Drive.”

“Gin…”

“Harry. I am simply stating a fact. There is a reason that this Slytherin hid as a Gryffindor, but the Slytherin is what is always there, waiting in the back. You know it as well as I do. You, Harry, embraced being a Gryffindor because in the end that was where you needed to be in order to win the battle you had to fight. I do nothing recklessly, and I would ensure that no one ever found out.” Ginny told him.

While Harry knew why Ginny was placed in Gryffindor, he had never found out what the sorting hat had told her. He had asked, but she had never spoken of it.

And Harry, not for the first time in his life, shivered from the hiss in his wife’s voice.

She was serious.

“Nothing will happen, Love. I am very much legal to use magic now. Besides, they use words rather than fists. Words no longer hurt me as they did when I was small.”

“Make sure that you do.” Ginny said, kissing his cheek and then lying back down.

Soon, they were both sound asleep, one resting uneasily, and the other off into a dream land which was the only place that needed no thoughts.

~sdrawkcab~

Molly Weasley prided herself on the fact that at one time she had seven children living under her roof, six of them boys, and she knew everything that went on under her nose whether her children expected it or not.

Even now, with all of them gone, she knew, intuitively, when something was wrong with one of her offspring.

And, currently, Molly was feeling ill at ease. The hair on the back of her neck was tingling. She couldn’t sleep. Already, Arthur had awakened twicge to ask her what was wrong.

But, she couldn’t place it. Earlier, after she and Severus had picked enough holly berries to supply three apothecaries, if not four, they had laid half out to dry, froze a quarter of them with a freezing charm, and then laid the other quarter aside to pickle the next day.

After that, she, Severus, and Arthur had sat in the living room with tea and biscuits. They didn’t talk, they just sat in the silence, something Severus loved and did not often get at home. Not with four brothers.

Afterwards, while Molly ran him a bath, Arthur read to him out of the Daily Prophet. And, together, they made fun of the idiots that wrote for the paper. Even after the war, the quality of the paper had not improved.

After a bath and dressed in his pajamas, Molly took Severus into the bedroom that was closest to her and Arthur’s. It had been Ginny’s room and still looked the same as the day she had left, although there were some things that Ginny’s children left in there for when they were there.

Severus fell asleep quite quickly, and soon Molly and Arthur had gone to bed.

Molly turned again, for what felt like the thousandth time that night.

And then, Molly Weasley discovered why she was feeling uneasy.

When a scream filled the entire house and sent chills down Molly’s back and caused Arthur to sit straight up in the bed.

“What was that?”

‘Sev!” Molly said and jumped out of the bed.

Scream after scream filled the Burrow. The volume of those screams was tremendous. Magic was starting to crackle in the air.

Pushing open the half opened door, Molly, with Arthur right behind her, was greeted with Severus, tears streaking down his face, magic crackling around him, and his face distorted from his sobbing screams. His arms were wrapped around his stuffed snake and Gnomie was frantically flying around his head.

Severus looked up at his grandparents.

“I WANT MY MUMMY!” He wailed through the silence of the night, his body shaking, and his breath raspy.

~adrawkcab~

It was late in the Potter household. Everyone was asleep when the Floo flared up and all of the senses in Ginny sprung to life.

“Harry. There is someone in the Floo.” Ginny said, poking him. Groggily, he stood up. He didn’t even both to ask. He simply went into the living area where the Floo was.

In the living room was Molly.

In her arms, was Severus.

Harry could instantly see that something was wrong.

“Harry, dear, you may want to go get Ginny.” Molly told him. But Harry walked over to his son and placed his hand on his back.

Severus jumped. It was as if he had been burned.

“Don’t touch me, Potter!" then Severus froze for a moment and thought about it, "I want my Mummy! I need my Mummy!” The little boy wailed.

It was heart breaking. The sobs that were coming from that tiny little body.

“Sev…”

“No! Mummy!”

Severus’ eyes were closed, he clutched his snake under his left arm, and his right was wrapped around Molly’s neck.

Gnomie was sitting on his shoulder whispering in his ear, but the adults were unable to make heads or tails of what he was saying.

Just then, Ginny walked into living room, tying her robe and rubbing the sleep out of her eyes.

“What is going on?” she asked, confused about the situation in front of her.

“Mummy, please come get me.” Severus whispered, though his body was still wracked with sobs. 

Immediately, Ginny went and picked the child up from her mother and sat on the couch with him.

He wrapped his arms around her neck, and sobbed into her shoulder.

Ginny looked at her mother questioningly.

But, Molly sent her a look that told her to wait. To wait until Sev was back asleep, which would probably not take long.

So, Ginny sat back.

All there was to do now was wait and see what was going on.