~*~

"I thought that maybe you would like to start your sleepover this evening. I'm sure Poppy wants to check on you again before you go to sleep, and so it wouldn't hurt to already be with her and Alastor this evening. You don't have to, but I thought it would distract you a bit from what happened today. Why not take Lysander and Eathan with you, too? You could make a sleepover all together in your godparents' living room. We have sleeping bags for that. What do you think?"

"That would be great. When are the twins coming home? Can I tell them?" Harry asked excitedly.

Severus chuckled and ruffled Harry's hair again. "Let me first speak with Alastor and Poppy, and then I will tell you if it is okay for them. I will speak with Albus, as well. It is his turn to fetch the twins from daycare today. You could accompany him and give the boys the good news."

"Yes, please firecall Poppy." Harry resisted the urge to bounce excitedly on his bed.

Severus left to speak with the adults and shortly after it, he came back and told Harry that it was all settled and he could meet Albus in ten minutes to fetch the boys from daycare.

~*~

"Yea!" Lysander and Eathan shouted when Harry gave them the good news. They were so excited that they almost forgot to say good-bye to Mrs. Moore, the educator.

"Oh, how shall I sleep today with all my babies out of house?" Ivy asked playfully as she helped the twins to pack their bags for the sleepover. Harry was surprised how quick Ivy had recovered and looked as if nothing had happened. That made Harry wonder if she wasn't wearing a mask herself from time to time. Harry was jerked out of his musing when a heavy hand was placed on his shoulder. He glanced up at Severus but the man was watching Ivy as well and so didn't look at him.

"But we are still in the castle, Mummy," Eathan said.

"You can come with us, Mummy," Lysander offered and took his mother's hand.

"No, sweety, I was just kidding. You will have a great time with Uncle Al and Aunt Poppy, and we will see you at lunch tomorrow. Harry will take good care of you two," Ivy said and petted Lysander's head.

"Of course he will," Severus affirmed and squeezed Harry's shoulder. "First test for the big brother."

The bags were almost packed completely when they heard Poppy's calls from the living room. Eathan and Lysander stormed out of the room to meet their aunt.

Ivy put the last items into the bags and turned to Harry. "If anything happens, you know where you can find us. Please no spine-chillers; they will beg you for it but they can't handle it. If you don't want to comfort two very scared boys the whole night, you should refrain from telling them stories like that."

"Of course," Harry said. It was awkward to speak with her after knowing what had happened last year.

"I'm sure you will enjoy your sleepover, Harry," Ivy said, smiling, and patted Harry's cheek. Then she turned and headed for the living room.

The moment Harry tried to follow her, the hand on his shoulder stopped him. He turned to Severus, puzzled.

Severus looked seriously at Harry. "She is taking some mood lighteners at the moment. That doesn't make her a worse mother."

Harry was confused. He didn't understand why Severus was looking so strangely at him and why he was so serious. "I don't understand. I never said she was."

"Harry..." Severus started but paused to find the right words. "She is a good mother, and she loves you all very much. I saw how you looked at her." Severus's face was dark now. Not dangerous or threatening but worried and scared.

"I didn't think she was a bad mother. I would never think that. Come on, Severus, I'm the one who has to drink calming draught as if it was my favorite drink. You yourself told me that it isn't weakness to take them," Harry said determinedly.

"Why did you look at her like you did? She doesn't need pity. She is a strong woman, Harry. A mother that can protect her children. You are one of them. You shouldn't feel pity for her."

Harry shook Severus' hand from his shoulder. "I don't know what you want from me, Severus. How can I not feel pity for what she had to go through? I love her. I wish she never had to experience that. I was looking puzzled at her because I wondered if she even can remember what she had said in the living room. She looked like always, it was confusing me."

"Of course I remember what I said, Harry," Ivy said, standing in the door frame.

"Ivy, please," Severus started but was immediately interrupted by his wife.

"No, Severus, I don't need your protection-" She told Severus and then looked at Harry. "-nor do I need your pity, Harry,"

Both men stood dumbfounded in the middle of the room and stared at her.

"Yes, Harry, I remember what I said, and I regret you had to hear about it that way. I didn't want you to know because I feared you would think we took you in to replace Joshua. That's not true, Harry. We want you in this family just as the boy you are, not to replace somebody. I was scared seeing you in that condition and my worries about your stubbornness in the matter of you illness and lack of resting made me overreact. I'm sorry, Harry."

"No, Ivy," Harry said and let his head sink. "I'm sorry. I should have worked harder with James and should have adhered to what he told me. I fear I was to cross with James because I hoped he would make me feel better, but recently I had the feeling I have to do it all alone and he is doing nothing to help me. It was wrong, I know it, and I'm very sorry for scaring you."

Ivy stepped closer and took Harry's cheeks in her hands. "I can understand your feeling, Harry. It's sometimes hard to realize that the therapist can only help and guide you a bit but you have to do all of the work. James is wonderful, and he will help us both, Harry. I'm not made out of glass, and I won't shatter just because you have a panic attack. So please don't shatter when I sometimes can't be as strong as I normally am. Remembering that it is a long process to heal will help us both to understand the reactions of the other, don't you think?"

"Very wise, Ivy, but it isn't wise to go against the wonderful doctor's advices and leave your bed before I've had my final check-up," James said teasingly from the door.

Ivy just smiled at Harry and drew her eyebrows up. "He caught me. Do you think I will survive his scolding?"

Harry grinned. Ivy was so funny sometimes, even after having such a serious talk with him a moment before.

"I'm not sure, but you were the one praising him highly only a minute ago," Harry replied, not stopping to grin.

"Yes, that should give me a bonus point, don't you think James," Ivy said and turned around.

"We will see." James grinned and gestured her to leave the room and go to her bedroom. When Ivy quickly passed him near the door, James turned to Harry. "I'll see you in an hour over in Poppy's quarters." With that he left to follow Ivy.

"Everything cleared now?" Severus asked, and put his hand back on Harry's shoulder.

"Yes." Harry smiled, relieved. Then he remembered Severus's serious look and asked, "Ehm... you aren't mad at me for the way I looked at Ivy, are you?"

"No, I'm not, but I have to agree that I was very worried you would think she is weak." Severus guided Harry out of the room into the hall.

"I would never think that about her. I promise," Harry assured.

"Good," Severus stated the moment they arrived in the living room.

Harry looked around puzzled. Eathan and Lysander were gone. His heart fell with the feeling of being left behind. The moment he wanted to sadly turn and go back to his room, a groaning came from the couch and Alastor appeared behind it. "About time, lad. I feared you would never come. The boys were too eager and couldn't wait, so they left already with Poppy. Hope you don't mind."

Harry breathed in deeply in relief that he wasn't just left behind. "No problem. Ehm.. I could have come over by myself. You didn't need to wait."

"Ah, sleepover guests always get an escort, lad," Alastor said and patted Harry's shoulder hard. Sometimes Harry wondered if Alastor was related to Hagrid. His pats can sometimes be a bit painful as well. "So, are you ready?"

"Sure," Harry said and then looked at Severus. Suddenly he was unsure what to do. Eventually he didn't fight against his impulse to hug Severus and threw himself at the man.

Surprised by the emotional outburst Severus almost lost his balance. Recovering from the surprise, Severus patted Harry's head. "It's only two nights, Harry."

Harry stepped back and blushed deeply. "Ehm... I know. It was just..."

Severus chuckled. "No explanation necessary, Harry. Whenever you feel like hugging me, just do it."

"Yeah, your father here is a hugging monster himself, Harry," Alastor said teasingly.

"Don't listen to this old codger. Remember our brewing day on Sunday, Harry, we could brew a laxative potion and you could mix it in his tea. What do you think?"

"Oh try me, boy, try me. You failed so many times before and you will fail again," Alastor said laughing.

Looking from one man to the other in confusion, Harry let himself been led by Alastor's hand on his shoulder over to the fireplace.

"Come on, lad, your brothers are waiting for you," Alastor said and tossed the Floo powder into the fireplace.

_________________

"Tell us a spine chiller, Harry," Eathan demanded.

Lysander instantly sneaked closer to Poppy and Alastor who sat with them on the blanket-covered ground in the living room. The fireplace was sparkling and gave the only light in the room.

"I don't think that's a good idea, Eathan," Harry said.

"Why?" Eathan asked and looked pleadingly at Harry. Seeing that his brother doesn't seem to change his mind, Eathan turned to his other brother for help. "Come on, Ly, you also want to hear a spine chiller, right?"

Lysander looked at his brother with big eyes and slowly shook his head.

"You are boring, Ly," Eathan said and pouted.

Lysander crawled completely into Alastor's lap now and whispered in his ear. "I want to go home, Uncle Al."

Harry had heard it, even though Lysander had spoken very low. "Why don't I tell you another story about the little boy who was lost in the forest and found so many friends? You like the stories about little Peter, don't you Lysander?"

Lysander turned to Harry and nodded. And so Lysander forgot about his wish to go back to his mummy and listened to Harry's little tale.

"Time for the late evening pudding," Poppy said and the boys squeaked in delight. At least two of them did, and the third looked surprised that Poppy would let them eat sweets at that time. The pudding was the most delicious dessert Harry had ever eaten. It was self-made by Poppy and tasted like chocolate with a few cherries in it. One hour later Poppy declared the end of the day and sent them all to brush their teeth and get ready for the night.

Harry was surprised to see a fourth sleeping bag on the ground when they came back from the bathroom.

"I will stay the night in the hospital wing because I have some patients, but Uncle Alastor will stay with you three, okay?" Poppy asked while opening the row of buttons that Eathan had done up wrong on his pajamas.

"Off with you in the sleeping bags, boys," Alastor instructed as he climbed into his own sleeping bag.

Harry had to suppress a grin seeing Alastor fumble with his sleeping bag. Unfortunately he wasn't very successful to hide his amusement.

"Sneering at an old man, Mr. Snape?" Alastor asked teasingly.

"What old man? I can't see one," Harry countered and was surprised that he already felt so safe around his godparents. Maybe it had helped that Alastor had train him together with Severus for the battle last year, and so he already had had the possibility to get to know the older man better.

Soon they all fell asleep.

"Harry, (sob) Harry..."

Harry groaned and opened his eyes.

"Harry, please, (sob)."

"Lysander?" Harry guessed sleepy.

"Harry, there is a monster," Lysander said, scared.

"There is no monster, Ly," Harry assured the crying boy while waking fully and sitting up.

"Yes, there is. Listen!" Lysander said panicky.

A scary sound erupted the air, and Lysander threw himself at Harry. "Please kill the monster, Harry."

"Ly, that is only Ala... Uncle Al. He snores." Harry tried to calm his brother by drawing circles on his back.

"I want to go home. I want Mummy," Lysander sniveled.

"It's late Ly, Mummy is sleeping, and we should be sleeping as well." It was strange to call Ivy mummy but it would be too confusing for Lysander if he would call her Ivy while talking with him. "Come on, why don't you come with me in my sleeping bag?"

"Hmm," Lysander said and nodded frantically.

After climbing in Harry's sleeping bag, Lysander soon was asleep, and Harry followed him quickly.