2:1:2:3:10:5

“Dad, do you know where my dress pants and potions book is?” Albus called from the stairs.

“Your pants are downstairs with the rest of the laundry and I believe your books are in my office.” Harry responded from the living room, where he was folding laundry and helping James sort through his trunk.

Snape was in the kitchen, making dinner with Lily beside him. Ah, the chaos of getting ready for Hogwarts.

“Can’t we just do this in the morning?” James questioned.

“No, we most certainly can’t, James. You know, you’re uncle and I almost missed the train twice because we decided to pack last minute”

“Hey Al.” James said as Albus came running into the living room. “What are you going to do if you get sorted into Slytherin?”

“I am not going to be sorted in Slytherin and If I was, It won’t matter.”

“But Al, all dark wizards come from Slytherin. Does that mean you want to be a dark wizard?”

“No, I don’t and not every Slytherin is a dark wizard. Just look at Severus.”

“Yeah, but he started out evil.” James argued.

“He did not.” Albus cried as he grabbed his clothes off the couch.

“James, stop it this instant.” Harry admonished as he gave a stern look at his son.

James began to protest, but thought better of it when he caught his father’s face.

“How much more packing do you need to do, Al?” Harry questioned.

“I just need to get the books out of your office and then I’m done.”

“Good. Go ahead and finish. Call me if you need help closing your trunk.”

“Okay, Dad.” Albus said as he ran up the stairs.

“You really need to stop bugging your brother, James.”

“But Dad, I’m just kidding around with him.”

“I know you are, but it’s starting to get out of hand.”

Snape walked into the room and announced that dinner would be ready in ten minutes.

“Hey Dad, can you help me?” Albus called from his room.

“I’ll be right there Al.” Harry called back. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw James relax. “Severus, can you help James finish packing?”

“Really, Dad?!” James shouted in disbelief.

Harry continued to look at Snape, who chuckled to himself slightly.

“I’ll make sure that it get’s done.” Snape replied.

“Thank you.”

Harry left the room and walked up to his son’s room.

“Do you need help shutting your trunk?”

“Yeah it won’t close.” Albus said, throwing the lid of the trunk down in defeat.

“Let’s see what we can do.”

Harry knelt by his son and dug around in the trunk.

“Here we go.” Harry announced, pulling the offending object out of his son’s trunk.

In his hand was a picture in it’s frame. Harry looked at the picture and was lost to the world. It was Harry and Ginny’s favorite picture. They were sitting with their backs to a forest, the leaves in a plethora of colors. It was the day that they were married, even though Ginny and Harry were not in a dress and tux. They were wearing normal clothes. Both of them wore blue jeans. Harry was wearing his quid ditch sweatshirt from Hogwarts. Ginny was wearing her maroon and gold sweatshirt her mother had made for her. A large “G” adorned the front of the sweater. It was something that Molly Weasley always made for her children at Christmas. Harry and Ginny had been smiling. Harry had his arms wrapped around Ginny, who was sitting between his bent legs and leaning against him.

Harry whispered something into her ear. She turned around a playfully punched her new husband in the chest. Harry leaned over to stop himself from falling. He was laughing almost as much as Ginny. Then both of them turned back to face front. That was one of the greatest days of their lives. Getting married to Ginny gave Harry two things :The knowledge that he was safe from Voldemort and, more importantly, it have Harry a family. This was the picture that Harry had been holding onto after the first time that he spoke to the shrink about Ginny.

This was also Albus’ favorite picture. He was the one, out of all the children, who still grieved the most. But his grief could not compare to the grief and guilt that Harry still felt.

“Dad, are you okay?” He questioned, tentatively.

“Yeah, I’m fine.” Harry whispered as he placed the picture back in the trunk. “That’s a good picture of your mother.”

“That’s why I’m bringing it. Did you bring pictures of your parents when you first went to school?”

“I did not.”

“Why?” Albus asked. He seemed almost ashamed that he wanted to bring the picture.

“I didn’t have pictures of my parents. I know a lot of other people bring pictures of their family, but I didn’t have any. There was a staff member who gave me a photo album filled with pictures of my parents.”

“Do you care what house I’m in?”

“Do you care what house your in?” Harry questioned back to his son.

“Sometimes I do and sometimes I don’t.”

“I don’t care what house you are in because I know that you will be happy in whatever house you are sorted into.”

“Does mom care?”

Silence filled the room, while Harry searched for an answer.

“Mom does not care. If you don’t believe me, you can ask her when we go see her after dinner.”

“Do you know why else I like this picture?”

“Why?”

“It reminds me that you used to smile.”

This answer shocked Harry and must have been evident on his face. He couldn’t remember the last time that he had smiled.

“I shouldn’t have said that.” Albus whispered to himself.

“No, It’s fine Al. I’m glad that you told me because I will smile more for you.”

“I still miss her, Dad.”

“I miss her too, Al.” Harry placed a hand on his son’s shoulders. “I miss her so much, Al. I am always going to miss her, but I’m never going to forget the times that we got to spend together. You won’t forget either, Al. Now, let’s get this trunk shut and go eat dinner.”

They managed to wrestle the trunk shut and ran downstairs, joining the rest of the family for dinner.

Dusk began to settle as Harry and his kids approached the grave yard. Harry let his kids walk a little bit ahead of hi and Snape. The kids began to go toward the row of graves that that was when Harry spoke.

“Kids, go a row more. There is someone I would like to introduce you to.”

The kids looked quizzically at their father, but he just smile at them. They walked down the next row and he had them stop in front of a very large grave marker.

“What are you doing?” Snape whispered in his ears.

“You’ll see.” Harry replied back.

They all stood in silence for a moment.

“Who is this?” James questioned.

“Kids, I would like you to meet my parents. James Potter and Lily Evans.” Harry announced, motioning to the names on the stone.

“Lily Evans.” Albus whispered to himself.

“What did you say Al?” Lily questioned.

“You know Lily, right Sev?” Albus questioned Severus.

“I did.”

“She was one of your schoolmates…Oh dear God!” Albus exclaimed.

“What Al?” James questioned.

“Lily Evans was the woman in the story. She was the woman that you loved when you were in school.” Albus explained, turning around and pointing at Severus. “If she’s the woman from the story, then James was the one who bullied you in school.” Severus just stood there and nodded. “Then that means…” Albus paused for a moment to think. “Dad, you’re the boy from the story. You’re the boy who defeated Voldemort.”

“I am. I knew that you would figure it out, Al. You’ll learn even more about me and my grandparents at school.”

“In what subject?”

“History of Magic. It’s a fairly interesting story. Hopefully, you do not have Professor Binns.” Harry explained. “Let’s go see Mom.”

Harry ushered the kids down to Ginny’s grave. When they arrived in front of Ginny’s grave, Harry stood behind his children. He looked over at his parents’ grave and saw Severus standing there. The potions master touched his fingers to his lips, then tap the top of the grave twice with the same hand. Severus turned and strode over to Harry and his kids.

“Are you okay?” Harry whispered.

“I’m fine.” Severus replied.

Children laughing brought Harry’s full attention back to his kids and the grave that they surrounded.

“Do you want to say something, Al?” Lily questioned.

Albus, instead of answering Lily, turned to look at this father.

“Can I say something alone?”

“Sure. James, Lily, let’s give Al some time alone.”

“Actually,” Al said hurriedly. “Can you stay with me, Dad?”

“If you want me to, I will.”

Snape ushered James and Lily away from the grave, after they said goodbye to their mother.

“Hey, Mom. I start at Hogwarts tomorrow and I’m super excited. I know that dad told me that you didn’t care what house I was in, but I want to make sure. Do you care what house I get sorted into? I’m sure that you don’t, but please give me a sign or something. I love you and not a day goes by that I don’t miss you. I’ll see you again when we get home for Christmas. Goodbye Mom.”

“That was great, Al.” Harry said as he wrapped his arms around his son’s shoulders. “Do you mind if I have sometime alone with mom?”

“Go ahead.” Albus allowed as he got out from under Harry’s arms. He walked over and joined his brother and sister.

Harry watched Albus walk away before turning back to Ginny with a sigh.

“Look at where we are now, Ginny. Albus is turning out to be as smart as Hermione. Lily is as sweet as you and James, he’s going to be as athletic as you and me combined. I know you’re watching from up there, so you know how fast they are growing up. We still miss you and some of us are still learning to live with ourselves. I love you so much, Ginny.” Harry whispered as he walked away.

Harry turned around, facing the grave once again, when he was two steps away from it.

“I will see you soon, sweetheart.”

He turned away and went to join his family.

Harry walked into Albus’ room after making sure that Lily and James were asleep.

“Al, come here.” Harry whispered as he beckoned his son with a finger.

Albus followed Harry downstairs quietly.

“What dad?” he questioned when he got into the living room.

“I want to show you and Severus something.” Harry answered as he dug through a trunk.

When he found the big red book he took a seat on the couch next to Albus, who was in between him and Severus.

“Do you remember how you asked me if I had any pictures of my parents?” Harry questioned Albus, who nodded in remembrance.

“Well, this book was given to me by a staff member who knew my parents. I’ve only shown this to one other person and that was your mother. I think that you and Severus should look through this together. Go ahead.” Harry urged after Albus and Severus looked at him baffled.

Albus opened the book tentatively and spent a long time looking through the pictures. Severus looked over Albus’ shoulder and Harry saw him smile at a picture of Lily and baby Harry. It was the first time that Harry had seen Severus smile in real life.

“What was grandma like?” Albus asked Severus, know that he had more information on the subject.

“Your grandmother was the most beautiful witch that I’ve ever known. She was also very, very smart. Your aunt is a lot like her. Both are muggleborns and they both are very bright. Your grandmother was a potions genius and she was such a good friend. She was the only one in my life, beside my mother, that treated me with respect. She was such a gentle and caring person. You remind me much of her, Albus. You are a very bright and caring person, just like she was. I think you will do a wonderful job at Hogwarts.”

“You said that she was muggleborn? What did her parents think of her magic?”

“Her parents were very supportive. Her sister; however, was a very cruel person. She was very jealous that Lily had magic.”

Albus continued to scour the photo album and closed it when he was done.

“I think you missed a picture, Al.” Harry said, as he saw a page that hadn’t been there before.

Albus opened the back cover and stared at the last picture. Severus and Harry leaned forward.

“I’ve never seen that picture before.” Harry stated.

Snape leaned over, looked more closely at the picture, and couldn’t help but to smile. The picture was of Lily and Snape, with the Hogwarts castle behind them. He remembered that day clearly because that was the first time that Lily Evans had ever held Severus Snape’s hand

“When was this taken?” Harry questioned.

“Hagrid took this picture at the end of our first year.”

“That’s a very nice picture of you and grandma.” Albus commented.

“Thank you, Albus.” Severus whispered.

Harry continued to look at the picture for a long time, then the clock chimed ten.

“It’s time for bed, Al. We have an early start tomorrow.”

“Alright.” Albus agreed as he stood up. “Good night Dad. Good night Severus.” He whispered before leaving the room.

“We should go to bed as well.” Severus suggested after he heard Albus’ door shut.

Harry was still looking at the pictures. He remembered the day that he got this book. He spent the entire train ride home looking through it, wanting to know more about his parents.

It was surprising, looking back to that day, how much he now knew about his parents. It was thanks to Severus and Sirius. Harry had to thank Sirius because he was the only one who told Harry about his father, but he had to thank Severus more. Severus taught him about his mother.

Harry now had a connection with Lily Evans because they had shared something in common. Not just their eye color or their caring nature. No, it ran much deeper than that because they now shared a common friend, Severus Snape.

“Thank you, Sev.” Harry responded as he put the photo album away.

“Is there a specific reason why you are thanking me?”

“I’m thankful for everything that you have done. I thank you for being a mentor and a friend.”

“You’re welcome Harry.” Severus replied as the two men walked out of the living room and headed to bed.