Sirius was definitely having a bad day. He hadn't quite realized it until Harry... His Harry... Had grabbed him up and took him outside at the toy store. It was almost like he couldn't control the things that were flying out of his mouth.

Sure, he had been a rash adult the first go around and hadn't really cared what others...others meaning mainly Slytherins...thought of him.

But, he had known when and when not to keep his mouth shut. So, why was he having so much trouble now? It was like his body was no longer in his control, and sometimes it was like his memories, his adult memories, were all jumbled and unfocused.

He just couldn't quite get it figured out and it annoyed him. Sure he'd only been back for a day, but bloody hell it had been the longest ever.

And, now he was sitting in a corner. He was an adult for Merlin's sake and his bloody godson had put him in the corner. It was all too much for Sirius and his new body.

He was actually quite ashamed of what he did next. So ashamed that he wanted to hide under a rock in the bottom of a frozen lake in that strange muggle place, Antarctica.

Instead, he had been told, he had to wait for Ginny and Harry to have a discussion, then they would talk to him.

Had he known...well, actually he probably wouldn't have done anything different. Snivillus was a prat. Even in this life, he couldn't possibly be different.

It just wasn't possible.

So, Sirius stood in that corner and, finally, allowed tears to fall down his cheeks, even though he did indeed felt ashamed by it.

~~sdrawkcab~~

Severus was confused.

He blamed it on his new body. Actually, he told himself, it wasn't really new. He still had many of the scars he had had at five, but the dark mark was definitely gone. Of course that could be because the Dark Lord was no more, along with it all the magic he had put into the dark marks.

Severus thought about everything. He was five years old. He had thirty-nine year old memories. He had Potter and his girl as guardians. Why the bloody hell had he told Arthur Weasley that he didn't mind going to Harry bloody Potter?!

Actually, that was quite obvious to his adult side. He had no memories after he died, and he had betrayed a lot of people and a lot of people he hadn't betrayed felt that he had.

He knew, just knew, that there were still death eaters out there that would love to see him suffer.

Others would always blame him for the death of Albus Dumbledore, no matter how many times he saved Harry as a teenager. People were cruel sometimes, and not very forgiving.

Potter, however, while not forgiving him, would possible tolerate him without being cruel. And Ginny... Well, as far as Gryffindors go, Severus had always thought that she should have been in Slytherin, and often wondered if that was why the girl had taken nearly as long to sort as Potter had the previous year. Every other Weasley he had watched sort had instantly been placed in the house of the lions.

Severus sighed. He just wasn’t sure about this whole de-aging thing. He was a bloody five year old and couldn’t even protect himself anymore. How was he supposed to survive if he couldn’t protect himself?

Severus drew his knees up to his chest, wrapped his arms around them, and placed his chin on top of them. Beside him lay the snake that Ginny had bought him at the toy store. He was in the same chair he had sat in that morning before they had gone to Diagon Alley. Ginny had placed him there when they got back, as he had refused to unwrap himself from her until she had done so. She had placed him there and then whispered, “No worries, Sev, you and I will read one of those books when I am done talking to Harry. Harry may even join us.” Ginny said, and then walked over to the other side of the room casting a Muffliato charm so the two could speak to one another and still keep an eye on the two boys.

Severus sighed again, and then sneaked one of his arms down beside him and wrapped it around his purple and green snake, pulling it up to his chest, placing his face against the fabric.

A single tear fell down his cheek. Severus didn’t even bother to wipe it away.

~~sdrawkcab~~

Harry and Ginny sat at a small breakfast table that sat against a wall in their living room.

“Harry, I know that we are unsure about just how much their memories are affecting their bodies, but we cannot allow Sirius to continue to treat Severus like he is. Not this time. And the same goes for Severus, we cannot allow him to treat Sirius badly.” Ginny said, turning to look at both boys.

“I know Gin, but how do we handle this? How do we treat them? They have the mind of adult and the body of a child!” Harry said, discouraged.

“Yes, but you are forgetting something, something that is much more important than whether they have their adult memories or the body of a child.”

“What is that?” Harry asked.

“They have the emotions and impulses of a child, Harry. They are fighting their adult memories, but they are still very much children. Look at them.”

Harry looked over at the two boys, his gaze falling first on Severus and then on Sirius.

“They are both crying.” Harry said simply.

“Yes, and when did you ever, ever, know the two of them to cry before? Sirius never, Severus only before he died and when he lost your mother. Those, my love, are both very much children. They just happen to have memories from their former lives. Given time, I think, they may be able to look past their former memories, or nearly lose them altogether.”

“So, how do we handle this particular situation? We have to handle it together, we have to be on the same page, especially in front of our boys.”

“Exactly, Harry, they are now two of our boys. And, how would we handle this situation if, say, Teddy or Jamie had acted the same way as Sirius had today? Would we have allowed either of them to merely leave a toy store empty handed?”

“Of course we wouldn’t, Gin.” Harry said.

“No, we would not have. One of us would have talked to them and then spanked them.”

“And that is what we have to do now. If we are going to raise five boys, Harry, we are going to have to treat them all the same. If they disobey, we punish them, if they do well, we praise them. My parents would have never made it had they not stayed constant with their methods. We have to do the same.”

“I just realized something, Gin.” Harry said, pinching the bridge of his nose.

“What is that?”

“We are turning into your parents!”

Ginny simply laughed.

“Well, Mr. Potter, I love every minute of it.”

“As do I, Mrs. Potter. How about we go and handle our boys.”

~~sdrawkcab~~

Harry and Ginny both sat in front of the two boys who were now sitting on the couch. Both had tears streaks down their faces and neither of them said anything.

“Okay, Sirius, Severus, this is what is going to happen. We both believe that we should treat you as we do Teddy, Jamie, and Alby, regardless of your memories because your memories are no longer controlling your actions. That means that you will always follow the rules we set out for you earlier today. You will treat everyone, including each other, with respect. That means no fighting, name calling, or anything else that may hurt one another. You will not treat each other with the disdain that you have been.” Harry said. Sirius flinched a bit. He did not like how this was going.

“Sirius, for your behavior today, I am afraid that I will have to punish you just as if it had been Teddy, Jamie, or Alby. From now on, you will both be treated just like them. Ginny and I are your guardians. We will make sure, from now on, that you behave, but most importantly, we will make sure that you are taken care of. You will always have enough to eat, shelter, clothes, and you will have things that make you happen. And, we will love you.” Harry finished.

Both boys were now crying again. Neither said anything.

“Sirius, you need to go with Harry into study.” Ginny said quietly. Sirius and Severus both looked up at Harry.

“What are you gonna do to me?” Sirius said through snot and tears.

“Sirius, for what you did, name calling, making fun of Severus, cursing, and throwing a temper tantrum, you will be spanked. You are seven years old, so you will get seven licks.”

Both boys stared at Harry as if he had grown two heads.

“I won’t do it again! I am sorry! I won’t, I swear!” Sirius cried.

“I hope that you don’t. But, we have to make sure that you learn something from this.” Harry said sadly.

Severus looked from Ginny to Harry and back again. He wasn’t the one being threatened with a spanking, but he sure didn’t like the thought of it.

Without a second thought, he launched himself and his stuffed snake at Ginny and wrapped his arms around her waist, hiding his face in her shirt.

Harry looked at Severus and Ginny.

“Come on Severus, you and I will go make lunch while Sirius and Harry have a talk.” Ginny said, picking the boy up and placing him on her hip, leaving behind the other two.

Harry looked at Sirius and raised his eyebrows at the boy.

Sirius sniffed again.

“Harry, please don’t spank me. I promise I won’t do it again. I promise.” Sirius whined and cried.

Harry sighed deeply. This was one of the hardest parts of being a parent.

“I am sorry, Sirius, but you have to face the consequences. Come on, let’s go the study.” Harry said, picking him up and walking down the hall.

Harry and Ginny had decided very early on that they would have designated places to punish their children, as it kept them from being confused, and therefore they knew what to expect. The only places that the children where ever spanked was in either the study at their home, or, if they were somewhere and it could not wait until then, in a bathroom. Usually they simply waited until they got home; however, there had been several occasions, twice at Molly and Arthur’s and once at Hermione and Ron’s, where they had had to take one of the children into the bathroom to straighten out their behavior. The boys knew what was going to happen if they were taken to the those designated places, and that was the way Ginny and Harry liked it.

Harry sat down in a chair, and pulled Sirius between his knees so that he could look him in the eye.

“Sirius, you disobeyed and acted horribly. You deserve to be spanked, but you should know that once this is over, you are forgiven. It would be a good idea, however, for you to apologize to Severus. You and he are as good as brothers now. It is best you learn that quickly.”

Harry then took the small, squirming child, and laid him across his lap.

“I hope that I do not have to do this again anytime soon.” Harry said, and then smacked the squirming boy in front of him once.

Six smacks later, a very contrite and crying child was sitting in Harry’s lap, his arms wrapped around his neck.

“I am sorry, Harry. I am sorry.”

“Shh.” Harry said, his arms wrapped around the boy’s body, and lightly patting his back.

Soon enough, the boy was asleep.

Harry smiled at the look of innocence on the boys face. He hoped that everything would even out soon.