“Do you have everything you need for your stay at Tori’s?” Severus asked Iris as she grabbed her doll and pillow off her bed. “Toothbrush is packed?”

               “Yes, Daddy,” Iris said as she shoved her blanket into her suitcase.

               “Hairbrush?”

               “Yes, I got it.”

               “You have two outfits in there for school, and I know I packed a set of pajamas for you, but did you add socks like you were supposed to?”

               “I’m wearing socks right now,” Iris said, looking down at her feet.

               “And I hope they’re clean socks,” Severus said. “Go grab a couple pairs of socks from your dresser.”

               Iris jumped across her bed and ran to the other side of the room, grabbing socks from her dresser before jumping across her bed once more and tossing them into her suitcase. She helped Severus close the bag up before she took over dragging the bag out of the room and allowing the wheels to bang down the stairs. Severus followed her with an amused look.

               Harry was already sitting at the table sipping a glass of cold milk, an empty vial sitting next to him. His breakfast, however, was untouched. Iris set her suitcase down and sat next to Harry, digging into a plate waiting for her under a heating charm. She licked her lips at the sight of her porridge with bananas, honey, and brown sugar coated on top. She eagerly began eating her food.

               “Thank you for taking your potion without my prompting,” Severus told Harry as he checked on his son. He glanced at Harry’s untouched food. “Something wrong with your breakfast? You did help put it together.”

               “I’m not hungry,” Harry confessed.

               “Regardless, it’ll be a while till lunch, and I’d rather not have you complaining about wanting a snack halfway through the morning.” Especially during the trial, Severus thought. “Please try eating a couple bites.”

               “I don’t want to,” Harry whined.

               “I know, but it’s important that you do. How about three bites, okay?”

               “I’ll try,” Harry said, turning in his seat to face the bowl of porridge.

               “Thank you.”

               Severus went through Iris’s suitcase briefly to make sure she did in fact have everything for her two-night stay at Tori’s. Once he was reassured, he glanced back at Harry to see his son put a bite of porridge and banana in his mouth, then chew slowly as he simultaneously dunked the spoon back into the bowl.

               Satisfied that Harry was doing as he was told, Severus waved his wand and sent the suitcase flying over to the front door to wait for Tori, along with her coat and gloves so Iris could throw them on quickly when she left. He cast a time charm and numbers appeared in the air. They indicated that he had twenty minutes before he had to drive to the courthouse in order to be on time for the start of the trial. He took the opportunity to pour himself a cup of coffee from the hot pot that waited for him in the kitchen, courtesy of Harry. It was one of the tasks he could not seem to break Harry of, not that he minded this chore Harry insisted on.

Harry set down his spoon, his required three bites complete. He pushed the bowl away just as Iris finished hers. She licked her lips at Harry’s untouched meal.

               “Can I have the rest of yours?” Iris asked even as she pulled the bowl over and began digging into it.

               Harry nodded at his sister, resting his head in his arms on the table as he watched her eat the rest of his breakfast.

               Severus studied his two children. Iris was definitely more filled out than Harry was, especially in the face, and if he set the two side by side, Iris was a hair taller than Harry was. And she ate a lot more ravenously than Harry did, as any growing child should. He hoped Harry found his appetite soon and began filling out and growing as he should, but for now, he was content with the small wins. Three bites of porridge today, maybe four bites tomorrow.

               After Harry finished off his milk and Iris had polished off the rest of Harry’s food, Severus heard Tori’s car pull into his driveway. Iris threw on her backpack and Severus carried her suitcase out to Tori’s car and settled it in the trunk. Harry followed them out, waving to Joshua who had opened the side door of the Renault Espace so he could talk to Harry.

               “Iris, you will listen to Tori while you stay with her these next couple days, okay?” Severus told Iris.

               “Yes, Daddy. Ruth and I are going to teach Esther how to play exploding snap.”

               “That sound splendid. Be good in school, and I’ll see you Friday afternoon.”

               “Okay. I love you, Daddy.” Iris hugged her father.

               “Love you, too, sweetie.” Severus planted a quick kiss on her head before ushering her toward the car.

               “Good luck, Harry, Joshua said before he moved slightly to let Iris in the van. “You’re going to do great!”

Tori already had Joshua’s old car seat in the third row, a seat away from Ruth’s car seat, and Iris climbed into the van, moving past Esther who was strapped into her seat in the second row. She joined Ruth in the back row and buckled herself into the car seat, already chatting away with Ruth about all the games they were going to play after school. Joshua held up his hand for Harry, who blinked up at him.

Joshua smiled.

“You’re supposed to hit my hand,” Joshua said. “It’s called a high-five. Like this.”

He moved his hand toward Esther, who smiled and high-fived her brother. Joshua turned back toward Harry, who also smiled and high-fived Joshua’s hand, though much softer than Esther had.

“Joshua, get back in your seat and buckle up,” Tori said as she climbed back into the front seat.

“Bye, Harry,” Joshua said as he slid the door closed and climbed back over to his seat.

               Severus leaned against Tori’s door, glancing inside the vehicle.

               “Where in Merlin’s name are you going to put another child?” Severus asked.

               “Right there,” Tori said, pointing back at where Joshua was sitting. “Joshy can move back and when I don’t have your daughter, I might be able to fit in a fifth.”

               “Better be a boy!” Joshua demanded in the back.

               “A fifth?” Severus quirked a brow at that.

               Tori chuckled.

               “Let me see how I feel after this one,” Tori said, patting her belly. “Alright kids, settle in. Everyone buckled up? Joshua, check on Iris.”

               “Yes, Mum,” Joshua said, jumping up in his seat and looking back at Iris, who pulled on her seat belt. “All good, Mum.”

               “Thank you, hun, buckle up yourself. Bye, Severus. We’ll floo call tonight.”

               The van pulled out of the driveway and began moving down the road toward the town. Severus cast another time charm and realized he needed to get moving so he could be on time for court. He ushered Harry back inside so he could grab a few more things from the house, such as his watch so he didn’t need to cast the time charms, and his briefcase with several documents such as Harry’s birth certificate, the “DNA” results, and the paperwork on the case thus far Wallace had given to him. His wand was already in the wand holder attached to his arm under his sleeve with a concealment charm so the muggle officers would not find it on check in.

               Finally, after Harry grabbed his dinosaur, Spikes, he climbed into his car seat and buckled himself in with minimal help, and Severus shut the door for him before climbing in the front seat himself and starting the car. It was silent as he pulled away from the house and started driving down the road for a few minutes.

               “I don’t want to go,” Harry whined, squeezing his dinosaur.

               “It’ll be okay,” Severus said. “You’ll be up in the chair for less than ten minutes. You just have to answer a few questions then you’re done.”

               “Then I can go home?” Harry asked.

               “Well, no. The court would like you around in case anything should come up during the case that we’ll have to deal with then and there.”

               “Like what?”

               Like social services taking Harry away should at any point it be argued Severus kidnapped the boy or that he is an unfit parent for Harry’s needs. Severus took a deep breath and pushed those thoughts away. Wallace had warned him of the possibility, but said it was highly unlikely the case would take that turn at any point. He didn’t want to worry Harry with those thoughts, so Severus gave his son a reassuring smile through the rear-view mirror.

               “Like any other questions we don’t think of while you’re on the stand. Okay? There’s nothing to worry about.”

               “Aunt Petunia will be there now.”

               “Yes, she will be. I’ve told you before, it can’t be helped. She has to be punished for the naughty things she did, just as you might have to be if you did something naughty.”

               “Like fighting at school?”

               “Exactly.”

               “I still don’t like it.”

               “I know. I don’t either. Do you want to practice your questions?”

               Harry shrugged.

               “It wouldn’t hurt to. Can you tell me what happened on the day of January fifteenth at three pm?”

               “I had just finished sweeping the chimney and was about to clean out the fireplace when I fell and hit my head,” Harry told Wallace and everyone else in the room at the courthouse. He glanced up at the older man wearing a white wig and black robe. The man, Judge Meyer, smiled down at him and nodded for him to continue. Harry swallowed nervously, his eyes scanning over to the twelve jurors gathered in a small, boxed area before he quickly looked back at Wallace and said, “I don’t remember much but I think I left the house and got lost.”

               “Why were you cleaning a chimney?” Wallace asked as he accepted the picture of a soot covered Harry back from the jurors.

               “I always clean the chimney, once a week all winter. It’s one of my chores.”

               “A chore that Petunia taught you to do, is that correct?”

               “Yes.”

               “How long have you been cleaning chimneys?”

               “Since I was four. I’m really good at it.”

               “I bet you are. And you got to stay pretty small to fit up most chimneys nowadays, don’t you?”

               “Yeah, I only get a meal a day. Well, I used to only get a meal a day.”

               “From your Aunt Petunia, correct? She told you you had to stay small and only fed you a single meal a day, correct?’

               “Yes.”

               “What did she usually feed you?”

               “She says a bite of scrambled eggs, a half a tomato, and a full glass of milk will keep me going all day long,” Harry recited with a smile.

               “I see. And when you’re done cleaning the chimney, what did you usually do next?”

               “Chimney days are bath days. I have ten minutes to get clean then I can help make dinner.”

               “Did you ever get to eat dinner?”

               “No.”

               “Well, what did you do during dinner time once it was all made?”

               “I go to my cupboard.”

               There was some murmuring among the jury of disbelief, and Harry glanced in their direction while the judge demanded order. Harry glanced behind Wallace at Severus who was sitting at the table Samuel had told him Severus would sit at during the practice trial a few days back. Severus caught his eye and smiled at him. Harry smiled back, then looked over at the other side of the room, at the other table where Petunia sat, an impassive expression on her face.

               Harry met her cold eyes, and he quickly looked away, remembering that Samuel said it was rude to talk to that side of the room, and he wasn’t sure if smiling was also considered rude. Was Petunia mad at him for talking about all of this? Would she hate him now? Should he stop?

               “Harry?” Wallace’s voice invaded his thoughts.

               Harry looked at Wallace.

               “Do you need a minute?” Wallace asked.

               Harry was unsure why he would need a minute, so he shrugged, then shook his head.

               “Do you need me to repeat the question?”

               He missed a question? Harry nodded.

               “Can you tell us about your cupboard?”

               “Yeah, umm, it was my room. It had my bed and blankets, and I could keep any of Dudley’s old, broken toys in there so I could play with them, and that’s where I would sleep.”

               “Where was this cupboard located?”

               “Under the stairs.”

               Wallace walked to the table where Severus sat and pulled out a large photo. He walked back over to Harry and showed him the picture.

               “This is the cupboard where you slept, correct?”

               “Yeah, I mean, yes.”

               “Your honor, I offer exhibit B as evidence,” Wallace said as he handed the picture to the judge. The judge accepted and stared at the picture, shaking his head after a few seconds.

               “Admitted,” Judge Meyer said.

               Wallace took the photo back and held it up before the jury, allowing everyone to get a good look at the picture.

               “The cupboard under the stairs in this picture was your bedroom, where you slept at night, is that correct?” Wallace said before finally handing the picture to juror one to pass around.

               “Yes.”

               “Were there other bedrooms in the house?”

               “Yes. Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon had a bedroom, Dudley had two bedrooms, and there was a guest bedroom, usually for Aunt Marge.”

               “I see. Were you ever locked inside of the cupboard?”

               “Objection!” Petunia’s lawyer said. “Speculation.”

               “Overruled,” the judge said. “I’ll allow the witness to answer.”

               “Were you ever locked inside the cupboard?” Wallace repeated the question when Harry hesitated.

               “Yes, sir. But only when I was being punished.”

               “Punished? For what?”

               “Different things . . .” Harry glanced at Severus, who gave him a small smile and nodded his head at Harry. “Like burning dinner or not finishing my chores fast enough.”

               “Chimney sweeping and making dinner were not your only chores?”

               “No. I had to make breakfast and lunch too, and clean the dishes, and dust the house, and vacuum and, err, clean the toilets, and pull the weeds and help plant the garden in the spring, and pick up Dudley’s toys, and Aunt Petunia was going to teach me to mop and even mow the lawn like a big boy in the summer.”

               “That’s an awful lot of chores for a little boy.”

               “I have to earn my keep.”

               “Is that what your aunt told you?”

               “Objection,” Petunia’s lawyer said once more. “Hearsay.”

               “Withdrawn,” Wallace quickly said, a small smirk on his lips as he accepted the photo back from the jury. “Back to January fifteenth at three pm, when you left the house and got lost, you were found by your godfather, Severus Snape, is that correct?”

               “Yes.”

               “And it turns out, he is also your father.” Wallace pulled out the DNA results from the folder on the plaintiff’s table.

“Yeah,” Harry smiled. He watched as Wallace also admitted the paper as evidence, but he didn’t pass it around like he did the photo. He showed it to the jury but put it aside to ask his next question.

“That must have been a surprise to both of you, wasn’t it?”

               “Yeah.”

               “So when he found you and realized something was wrong, he took you to the doctor and discovered you had asthma. Did you know you had asthma before?”

               “No.”

               “But you did cough a lot at your aunt’s home, didn’t you?”

               “Yeah, my throat would sometimes hurt, too and it would be hard to breathe. Aunt Petunia would give me tea and cough drops.”

               “She never told you that you had asthma, did she?”

               “No.”

               Wallace admitted one last piece of evidence. Judge Meyer looked sadly at the box before sighing and admitting the evidence. Wallace turned toward the jury and said, “But Petunia did know you had asthma, didn’t she?”

               Wallace pressed play on the box, and Severus’s and Petunia’s voices filled the room.  

“You nearly killed him on several occasions,” Severus’s voice snapped. “Every time you let him climb up that chimney, it aggravated his asthma, he could have died.”

“Ah, yes that,” said Aunt Petunia. “I’m surprised he never did, even when I never gave him his inhalers.”

“You knew he had asthma? You had inhalers for him?”

“Of course, it’s hard to miss it when the child coughs the entire doctor’s visit. Do you have any idea how much inhalers cost? That child was taking money away from my poor Dudders. So, I never picked up his prescriptions.”

The jurors were shaking their heads and sending glares in Petunia’s direction, though she held her expressionless gaze as she stared at Wallace and Harry, observing the questioning with slight interest. Wallace and Severus had agreed to cut out the last section of the tape as the judge had previously said it sounded too much like badgering for court ears, but he had agreed to the rest of the tape being admitted as evidence prior to the trial date. Harry wasn’t sure if he was supposed to say anything now as he watched Wallace take in the jury’s reactions.

Wallace finally looked at Harry and said, “No further questions.”

Harry knew that wasn’t the “I can get down now” phrase, so he waited for a minute, twiddling his fingers.

               “Mr. Snape,” Petunia’s lawyer—what was his name? Mr. Dolion? —said as he stood up and approached the witness stand. “Or is it Mr. Potter? Legally, I don’t recall seeing Snape on any of your documents.”

               “It’s both,” Harry said. “Daddy said we can change it later.”

               “Oh, won’t that be nice?” Dolion smiled as he paused in front of Harry, smiling at him. “Now, I just have a couple questions to clear up some confusion. Now, the time of this incident was January fifteenth at three pm, correct?”

               “Yes,” Harry answered.

               “Well, the fifteenth of last month, that was a Thursday if I’m not mistaken, wasn’t it?”

               “I don’t know.”

               “Good thing I have a calendar here.” Dolion walked back to the defense table and picked up a paper. “It was a Thursday. And at three pm, well, you’d just be getting out of school, wouldn’t you?”

               “I didn’t go to school that day.”

               “Ah, that clears it up. Why not?”

               “Objection,” Wallace said from where he sat next to Severus. “Relevancy?”

               “Get to your point, counselor,” Judge Meyer warned Dolion.

               “I’m just trying to make sense of what exactly happened on January fifteenth at three pm. You say that after cleaning the chimney, you fell and then left the house and got lost?”

               “Yeah, I hit my head.”

               “That must have hurt. How did you leave the house? Remember, you’re under oath to tell the truth.”

               Harry glanced over at Severus, but Dolion quickly stepped into his field of vision.

               “No need to look at anyone, just tell us and the members of the jury the truth. How did you end

up leaving the house?”

Harry licked his lips then chewed on his lower lip briefly. He tried to remember what Samuel had gone over with him when he brought up a similar question. Samuel had said if Dolion pushed, that he could tell the truth, but make it as imaginative as possible. Muggles understand magic when they think it’s make-believe.

               “I fell through the chimney,” Harry said. “I hit my head and heard a loud whoosh! Then I was flying through lots of chimneys, and I ended up somewhere I didn’t know, and someone tried to grab me but I escaped through the chimney again. Then I was flying through more chimneys until I ended up at Daddy’s place. He was surprised to see me, and he cleaned me up and then I stayed with him because he said I couldn’t go back.”

               “I see.” Dolion glanced at the jury, then back at Harry. “And that is the truth?”

               “Yeah, I mean yes.”

               “Interesting. And why did your father say you couldn’t go back to your Aunt Petunia’s?”

               “He said she did naughty things and that she has to be punished.”

               “What kind of naughty things?”

               “Like teaching me to clean chimneys and making me make breakfast and dinner all the time and not giving me my asthma medicine and having a cupboard for a bedroom. Those were all naughty things.”

               “So, Severus Snape, your father, told you that what she was doing was wrong?”

               “Yes.”

               “He filled your imaginative head with stories of what your aunt was supposedly making you do at your home.”

               Harry blinked at that. That was a new argument. He glanced at Severus now that Dolion had stepped aside some to face the jurors, but Severus and Wallace were whispering to each other. Harry looked back at Dolion as he continued, grabbing the picture of Harry covered in soot and holding it up. 

               “And he took this picture of you apparently covered in soot and then cleaned you up before reporting any of this to the police.”

               Harry didn’t say anything as he was unsure if it was a question or not. He fiddled with his fingers, longing to hold Spikes right now. He glanced over at Petunia, who still had an expressionless look on her face. Swallowing, Harry looked down at his lap, watching his fingers intertwine in different patterns.

               “One quick question, did you ever really climb up chimneys?” Dolion asked.

               “Yes.”

               “Really? Did anyone ever see you climb up chimneys?”

               “Aunt Petunia has; she taught me.”

               “Your aunt states that you always wanted to help with cleaning the fireplace, and sometimes you made a bigger mess than you did actually help clean. But she’s never seen you climb up the chimney and she certainly didn’t teach you.”

               Harry looked over at Petunia, who stared back at him. He didn’t know what to make of that statement. Surely it wasn’t true. Petunia wouldn’t lie about anything, she never had before.

               “And the cupboard was the only place you felt comfortable enough to sleep after the trauma of losing your parents, so Petunia made it more comfortable for you.”

               That . . . could be true. Harry had always slept in the cupboard for as long as he could remember. But after sleeping in the bedroom he had at Severus’s house, he was sure he would have preferred a bedroom over the cupboard. Besides, he was getting kind of big for the small space.

               “Objection,” Wallace interluded. “Leading the witness.”

               “I’ll skip to the point,” Dolion said, stepping closer to the witness stand. “Mr. Snape, did you feel abused by my client, Petunia Dursley.”

               “No,” Harry answered honestly.

               “Do you love your aunt?”

               “Yes, very much.”

               “Did your father tell you stories that what your aunt was doing was wrong and abusive.”

               “Yes . . . no. I don’t know.” Harry was confused by the use of the word “stories” in the question. He had remembered telling Severus about what living with Aunt Petunia was like, and then Severus would tell him that it was wrong of Petunia to do that, but he didn’t remember Severus telling him stories of Petunia. He had told the truth, hadn’t he? About everything. She had taught him to climb the chimney. He remembered that.

               “Did you know that Severus Snape was in a custody battle a few years back over his daughter? Did you know he nearly lost?”

               Harry shook his head, glancing at Severus, who had his head in his hands, looking much like he did after grading a bunch of essays in one sitting.

               “I can’t help but wonder,” Dolion said, moving toward the jury box, “if Severus Snape suddenly found out he had another child, and instead of going through another custody battle he could easily lose, he filled an impressionable and clearly imaginative boy’s head with stories of my client to make her look bad o he could throw her in jail and take custody of his son that way.”

               “Objection!” Wallace snapped.

               “Withdrawn,” Dolion smirked, holding his hands up defensively. “Just thinking out loud. No further questions.”

               Dolion walked back to the defense table where Petunia was smirking now.

“Does that mean I can get down?” Harry asked, feeling very nervous and unsure now. His stomach was knotting itself and he wanted his dinosaur to squeeze, if only to stop his shaking hands and feet.

               “The witness may leave the stand,” Judge Meyer said. “Go ahead.”

Harry jumped off the stand and ran over to Severus at the plaintiff table, who opened his arms for Harry to run into. Harry hugged his father, feeling his nerves calm slightly.

               “Are you okay?” Severus whispered.

               Harry nodded his head into Severus’s shoulder. Severus rubbed his back briefly, then stood up, lifting Harry with him.

               “Go with Addie now, okay? I’ll see you at the recess.”

               “Am I in trouble?”

               “No. You did very well.”

               Harry allowed himself to be passed over to Addie, and she set him down and handed him his dinosaur, which Harry squeezed in one arm while Addie took his hand and led him down the aisle and out of the courtroom. They moved to a room adjacent to the courtroom where a table with Harry’s dinosaur figures, a deck of cards, and a monster truck waited for him. Addie sat Harry down in a chair at the table before she grabbed a juice box from her bag and spelled it cold for Harry. She offered it to him.

               Harry accepted the drink and sipped it.

“Are you okay?” Addie asked.

               “Is Daddy going up next?”

               “No. He may not go up until tomorrow. They want to talk to an old schoolteacher of yours, and then Healer Villin, and then your Uncle Vernon agreed to take the stand for a lesser punishment. They also want to hear my version of when Severus “brought you home,” so it’ll be a long day.”

               “Oh,” Harry said. He cuddled his dinosaur some more, staring at the white walls in the room. He felt his bottom lip quiver.

               “What’s wrong, sweetie?” Addie asked. “Are you sure you’re okay?”

               “Aunt Petunia,” Harry whispered.

               “What about her?”

               “She lied,” Harry said, a tear rolling down his cheek.