Several hours later found Severus still pacing the waiting room. After the stunning talk he had with Mr Franklin, he now had to wait till the operation was finished. Severus was thinking about the fact that soon he would have an adopted son. This thought made him stop in his tracks. A son! He –Severus Snape, all around growling bat- would be having a son. Of course, he had stopped in surprise over this thought for over six times before, but it still managed to knock him off course.

There was so much he needed to think about, so much to arrange. What ever was he to do? Would he need to live in Privet Drive number 8 till the Christmas holidays started, how would James react when he heard about the magical world? Would he accept it? And what was he to do about Rebecca? She wanted to visit James (and he was pretty sure she wanted to see him too, for some reason) but how could he arrange for this? How would he deal with James further on? What would James do when he told the boy what his real name was?

Was he really ready to go back to Hogwarts to tech, while he had James to take care of. After all, James would not be ready to go to classes himself. Perhaps it was better that he went to his normal house, and would make sure James recovered, before putting the boy in the bussy life of Hogwarts. It would certainly help building a bond between them. Also, he wanted to have Poppy look him over, see if James’ deafness could be cured by magic.

And so, he continued pacing once more, thinking about all he needed to do, and all he needed to work out. He did believe that he should contact Albus, to see what he thought about him not teaching this year. Perhaps it could all be arranged.

When the door opened he hardly noticed, but when someone lightly cleared their throat, he spun around. The doctor stood in the dooropening, smiling slightly.

“good day Mr Snape, I see you have been very worried for James. I can tell you that the operation went perfectly fine. We have managed to replace the damaged kneecap, and treated several of the third-degree burns with new skin. Of course, everything will hurt for some time, and we need to limit to risk of infections, but James is definately on his way to recovery. Right now he still needs to wake up from the operation, but you can go and sit at his bedside.”

Severus thanked the man hurriedly and walked over to the correct room. His heart started slowing down once he saw James was still sleeping. He wondered where the immense protective feelings were coming from, but decided he rather liked them, and that James deserved someone looking over him.

So he settled in at the bedside, waiting for James to wake up.

He never noticed Rebecca White coming into the room, and watching the wonderfull man she was slowly giving her heart too, and the lovely boy who had already managed to steal her heart away. He never noticed how she settled quietly near him, and kept supporting him silently.

Both of them completely missed the magical Phoenix that popped into the room later that day. The bird looked for a long while, thrilled softly, and popped out once he got the required result of the boy waking up.

Neither of them knew anything about the old man sitting behind his desk, looking at the images his Phoenix had provided him with, and neither noticed when he smiled. Nor did they know what the man was arranging.