By two o'clock the next afternoon, Severus was prepared to ban birthday parties for the next five years. He was surrounded by squealing, sugar-filled children on all sides and his only adult refuge were the Weasleys and the elderly Mrs. Longbottom. Currently he was seated in a rather uncomfortable plastic chair in his garden, watching Molly Weasley's ill-fated attempts to have the children partake in some sort of organized activity.

Severus, however, had never had any foolish belief that order could be imposed on a group of pre-pubescent gryffindors. No, he would be satisfied if they all remained within the boundaries of his property and relatively unharmed. No, as orderly as this lot would ever get was a game of Quidditch, one of which was currently about to be underway, of course.

Searching the fast-moving blurs in the sky for Harry, Snape pushed an errant floating balloon out of his line of vision. What had originally been intended as a rather straight forward affair with food, cake and gifts had turned rather carnivalesque when Molly appeared and proceeded to "spice up" the garden with various and sundry party decorations. Amidst the free-floating balloons were wriggling streamers (rather snake-like, he thought), the occasional self-blaring horn, and a rather garish banner than read "Happy 12th Birthday Harry!" Yes, with three exclamation points.

Still, catching sight of the boy on his broom, he had to admit that Harry certainly seemed to be enjoying himself. He had the healthy flush of someone who was pulling in sun and fresh air, and Severus couldn't think of that as anything but a good thing – even if it meant having to put up with far too much company. And his guests appeared to be enjoying themselves as well – not that he was concerned about that. He had to admit to feeling some relief that the Weasleys had brought along young Ginerva. It was only upon going to fetch Miss Granger did he realize that she was the only young lady Harry had invited. And while Ginny Weasley clearly wanted to join in the Quidditch game with her brothers, she had kindly decided to join Hermione and Neville Longbottom in a game of Exploding Snap instead.

Yes, everything was going rather smoothly, he had to admit. Which meant it was only a matter of time before it all fell apart in utter disaster.

HSHSHSHSHSHSHSHSHSHS

Approximately 20 minutes into the Quidditch game, Ronald Weasley came whipping through the air and lost control of his broom. He landed badly, and for a moment his brothers laughed but when the boy didn't immediately stand, Severus knew something was wrong.

"Mum! Dad!" the younger Weasley cried out, and by this time the other boys had landed and Hermione was moving quickly towards her friends.

The elder Weasleys moved towards their children with a speed that Severus had not expected. He found himself watching them in surprise for a moment, taking in their concern for their son and weighing it against his own for Harry the night before.

Of course watching these parents didn't exactly tell him anything, only that paleness and panic in moments such as these were not unusual. But he wasn't sure whether he should be relieved or frightened to know that his first instinctive reactions were on par with the Weasleys.

Shaking himself out of his thoughts, he moved towards the quickly growing crowd. Someone had to be the calm voice. Molly and Arthur were already leaning over Ron, who was now sitting up, clutching his left hand to his chest.

"Where does it hurt, son?"

"My hand!" came the frustrated reply. Luckily neither of the twins commented on the teary sound in their younger brother's voice.

"I think the hand is broken," Arthur commented quietly to his wife. Not quietly enough, however, as Ronald was heard to exclaim "What! No!"

"May I take a look?" Severus asked as he stepped closer.

"Of course, Severus, please do."

After a quick examination, it was clear the whole hand was not, in fact, damaged. "It's just the first two fingers. I'm afraid I don't have any skele-gro in my personal stores, but I can set it until you have the chance to get some."

"We'd appreciate that very much, thanks."

"Harry, run to my lab, the storage unit against the far wall, top shelf. Get the pain reliever."

Harry took off at a run, not wanting to leave his friend in pain any longer than necessary. As he moved through the house he could help but wonder – what would Snape do if he injured himself like Ron had? Would he rush over like Mrs. Weasley did? Would he wrap an arm around his shoulders and hug him to his chest like Mr. Weasley had to comfort Ron? He had certainly seemed worried last night, and he had comforted him before about things. But never about something as minor as Harry being hurt. Of course he didn't want to get hurt to find out, but he did wonder.

By the time he got back out of the house things were a little calmer. He handed the potion over to his father, along with a roll of medical tape that was in the first aid kit.

"I brought that too. You need to wrap them right?"

He chose to ignore Harry for the moment and passed the potion to Ron instead. "Drink the whole thing down. It will take a few moments to take effect and then we'll set the breaks." Turning then, he looked his charge. Settling his hand on the boy's shoulder he said "Thank you Harry. I didn't even realize you knew that I had a muggle first aid kit. Very resourceful of you. However the tape won't be needed – I can set and immobilize the bones with a spell."

Harry wanted to say 'You're Welcome' but Snape was giving him that look again, the one that made Harry feel like he was being weighed and measured, though against what he could not say. Severus never appeared to find him wanting however, and once again the man pulled himself back without a word and turned to the task before him.

"Alright Mr. Weasley, there will be two spells. The first a bit unpleasant, but you should not feel anything. Are you still in pain?"

"No sir."

"Then let's have this done." And with that he incanted the two spells in quick succession of each other.

The sound of the bones setting drew varied reactions from the crowd. Hermione looked a little green around the edges, and Ronald himself certainly looked quite pale, although he was playing at being unbothered for the sake of his brothers and his friends. Neville had walked a slight distance away so as not to have to witness it all, and the remaining gryffindors – Weasleys included – all seemed to sigh "Cool!" or "Gross!" at the same time. It figured. Harry, as Severus had expected, neither turned away nor said anything, rather watched the scene with concerned yet practiced calm. It was disturbing, but now was neither the time to address his clear attempts at preparation in locating the one muggle first aid kit in the house, nor his obvious _experience_ with broken bones.

Once Ron's fingers were immobilised and other fingers were wiggled in test of the spell, everyone seemed much calmer. Or they did until Molly Weasley wondered "Perhaps we should go home and get Ron to a healer?"

Several heads snapped towards Molly and Arthur, aghast, and four red-headed children started speaking at once. Only Hermione and Percy Weasley appeared to be in agreement.

"Mum, no! I'm fine really. Everything's fixed and it doesn't even hurt anymore!"

"Besides," one of the twins piped up, "we haven't even done cake and presents yet!"

Molly did not look convinced. Arthur, on the other hand, scanned his children with the look of a man who was used to losing many battles such as this. Turning to Snape he asked, "Severus, will the spells hold up for a few more hours with no harm to Ron?"

In his defense, the potions master only hesitated for the merest fraction of a second. For that tiny moment he entertained the welcome thought of having his property back to himself and peace and quiet restored. But of course even if the Weasleys left, the others were likely to remain, so in the end he thought of Harry and told the truth. In for a penny, in for a pound, after all.

"They should be fine for a few hours yet." He aimed a long look at Harry's friend. "As long as Ronald is careful, no more rough housing."

"No!"

"Of course not!"

"Us? Rough house?"

They all looked the picture of innocence, and Severus could practically see the moment the elder Weasleys gave in. For a second time that afternoon he was pleased to gauge their reactions. At least he wasn't the only one who fell for that.

"All right, but once the cake and presents are done we'll be leaving. No need to push our luck."

"We can do the presents and cake now, if you wish."

"Thank you Severus, that's very accommodating of you."

If that was the way they wished to read the situation, well, he wasn't going to be the one to argue with them.

HSHSHSHSHSHSHSHSHSHSHSHSHS

The cake, also courtesy of Mrs. Weasley, was a sight to behold. Severus lost count of how many layers of cake were under the butter-cream frosting, but there was at least one each of strawberry, chocolate and vanilla. And it was as large around as one of his larger serving platters – he knew because said patter was currently hidden beneath the sugary horror. Scattered across the top were, of course, twelve brightly lit candles. Too bright, he thought, because as everyone began singing Happy Birthday to Harry, Severus thought the smoke must be getting in his eyes.

Harry seemed similarly affected, but not even damp eyes could lessen the brilliance of the grin on his face. It was like nothing Severus had seen from the boy in the last year. With a sudden pang he missed his best friend with a fierceness that he had not felt in years. Oh Lily, you would be so proud of him.

Soon enough the cake was set in front of the birthday boy, who could only stare, looking a little lost. Attempting to help, he leaned over to Harry and said, "It is customary to make a wish and blow out the candles."

"Yeah Harry! Blow them out!"

"Make a wish first!"

"But don't tell anyone."

"Won't come true if you do!"

"Come on!"

Only Severus was close enough to hear Harry murmur to himself "Okay, you can do this."

Harry had no idea what to wish for. The first thing that came to his mind was immediately dismissed. No birthday candle wish could bring his parents back from the dead, and everything else he would have wished for had already come true. In the last year he had found Hogwarts, left the Dursleys and found a Dad. No one was hurting him any longer; he had food and a bed and a place where he belonged. What else was there to want? He could tell everyone was getting restless, however. So, rather than make everyone think he was a freak who couldn't even handle a birthday cake, he simply closed his eyes and blew out the candles. All in one go, he couldn't help but notice proudly.

Soon he was handed the knife and server and was handing out pieces of cake. Before he even set his own plate down in front of him, a package was shoved into his hands. Presents! And more to come, from what he could see. More presents than he'd ever received in his entire life. He was momentarily blown away by the generosity of his friends, but then curiosity overtook him and he grabbed at the tag. It was from Neville and his gran.

"Thank you," he said, smiling at them both.

"You don't even know what it is yet!" Ron exclaimed.

"It doesn't matter, Ronald. Harry is polite!"

Ignoring his friends, Harry ripped into the paper, noticing the dragons flying around the paper. Very cool.

"Wow! A chess set! Thank you so much."

"You're welcome Harry," Neville replied. "Maybe you can practice now, and beat Ron!"

Ron snorted. "Hardly. All the practice in the world won't help you there Harry. But at least now you might be more of a challenge. Thanks Neville!"

Everyone was laughing as Hermione handed him her package. "There's nothing moving on my paper, sorry Harry. Just plain old muggle paper."

Harry smiled. "That's okay Hermione. I've never had anything wrapped in muggle paper before. It's nice." It was. In fact he was slightly more careful as he opened it, just so he could save a bit.

"Dragon bookends! Thank you Hermione!"

"Quite decent quality as well, Miss Granger."

Hermione blushed. "You're welcome. Hopefully soon you'll have lots of non-school books to use with them."

"If I know you and Professor Snape, I absolutely will!"

Ron's gift was. . .perplexing. There were three items, each one looked like a set of funnels fused together, one on each end.

"Thanks Ron. But...er...what are they?"

"What are they? Harry they're the greatest thing ever! You talk into one end and I'll hear, and you'll hear me out the other end. We can talk all the time!"

"Oh! Like walkie-talkies!"

"Walkie whatsits?"

Oh, wonderful, Severus thought. He'd have to closely monitor the use of *those*.

"Why're there three?" Seamus asked.

"One for Hermione!" both boys exclaimed at once. Hermione looked inordinately pleased.

"They're automatically charmed for all three of us to talk at once," Ron explained as Harry handed on to each of his best friends, "but if you just want to talk to one of us just say our name first."

"They're brilliant! I can't wait to try them out."

Harry continued through his packages. There was a huge box of sweets from Dean and Seamus, a scroll of parchment from Fred and George that read 'Good for one prank against our little brother when he's being a git' – he'd had to hide that away before Ron started asking what it was – and a jumper and two pairs of knitted socks from the rest of the Weasleys.

And just when he hadn't wanted to ask, Snape handed him a relatively large package. "This is for you to open," was the only instruction he received.

And when he did . . . wow!

"A camera! That's amazing, thank you!"

"Not just a camera, but a wizard camera. It will allow you to take photos that move like the ones you've seen. And it auto-develops by charm, so you can see the photos relatively quickly."

"That is so wicked. I can take some of the party right? Is it ready to use?"

"I had thought of that, yes. It's prepared."

Amidst the clamour of his party guests to get their pictures taken and to take pictures of Harry, Snape stood to retrieve something from his pocket. Before he even knew where to turn his attention, Mr. Weasley turned to Harry.

"Why don't you pass me the camera, Harry. I can be the official photographer, as I do believe you have one more gift to open."

One more gift? Everyone had given him something. What else could there be? Arthur gave him an indulgent smile and nodded towards his guardian who was now standing beside Harry with a small package in his hand.

"I have one more for you."

If Harry didn't know better, he'd say Snape sounded nervous. Looking up, he could tell this was important, so Harry stood as well. Taking the package, he turned it in his hands as if he could see through the simple green paper what it was. He couldn't of course, but he wanted to keep this moment going. Finally he gave in, however and opened it, lifting the lid off the box.

The note on top read: For the front door.

Underneath was a key.

Harry couldn't breathe. A key of his own to Snape's house. Or, their house, he supposed was what Snape was trying to tell him. He couldn't help himself. He had to do something or he would burst into tears. So instead, he launched himself at Snape, wrapping his arms around the man's middle and burying his face against his chest. He was pleased to notice that Snape didn't hesitate in wrapping his arms around Harry in return. Not for one second, not even in front of all these people.

They stood there like that for a few moments, and Harry realised he'd have to clean his glasses of a few tears despite his best intentions. Moving away he did just that.

"It is less a gift and more your right. A right you already have. However I thought you might appreciate. . ."

"I do. Thank you."

"What is it Harry?" an unnamed voice asked.

"It's, um, a key. A key to the front door."

"A key? Why do you need a key? Isn't the door spelled to respond to a password?" Leave it to Ron to not get it.

"It's symbolic, you git!" And leave it Hermione to get it exactly.

The ensuing silence was broken by Neville. "Hermione? Did you just say *git*?" And the moment ended in laughter all around.

HSHSHSHSHSHSHSHSHSHSHS

It wasn't long after that everyone began leaving, and Harry had to admit that he was totally exhausted. It was a lot to take in for one day, especially given the fact that he had run away just the night before. And that made the gift of the key that much more special. Clearly Severus had had it made in advance of the party, and therefore Harry's mistaken assumptions were that much more obvious in their error.

Not to mention his first birthday cake with candles, even if he hadn't made a wish, all the presents and his friends and family there. His family. Just having one was all the birthday present he needed.

And so, as the sugar of the cake wore off and the events of the day sunk in, Harry felt himself dead on his feet and clingier than he would ever allow himself to be in the past. And even though he was twelve now, and far, far too old for it, it was all he could do to say goodbye to his guests and not just crawl into his guardian's lap and drift off.

Severus, to his credit, kept Harry on his feet and propelled forward, hands on the boys shoulders.

Arthur Weasley was the last to floo through, assuring them he'd see the others home. "Thank you for a wonderful time, Severus. Looks like you'll need to put Harry to bed much earlier than usual."

"And myself as well, I expect."

"I've left the pictures in the box with the camera."

"Thank you." He paused, making a decision. "Arthur, may I ask..."

With a grin Arthur Weasley pulled a single photo from his pocket. "Yes, I thought you might want this."

And there it was. The image of him and Harry embracing, Harry looking up at him with a look he could not describe. His voice caught in his throat and all he could do was nod at the other man.

"You're welcome," Arthur said.

And with that he flooed away.