And Merlin, but the Weasley’s were calling him ‘Uncle Sev’. It was bad enough that the twins thought he could be assaulted with hugs in the middle of a crowded hallway and no amount of taking points could dissuade them (Minerva put them all back immediately, the fiend) but Percy, Percy Weasley of all people, tumbled out of his fireplace one evening after Harry had gone to bed.

“Oh, Uncle Severus! Uncle Severus, please! I’ve done a horrible, horrible thing!”

Severus had stared at the young man pacing across his hearth and sighed. He was doomed to a life full of people, it seemed. “You had better stop your blathering if you want me to do anything at all, Percival. Have a seat and calm yourself.”

Percy had dropped into the armchair directly opposite and nearly slid onto the floor. Winky, as usual, popped in with a teas service and with a snap of her fingers had the young Weasley seated properly with a steaming cup in his hands. There was a reason he liked that elf.

After giving the man, child to him, really, a moment to gather his wits, Severus posed the question. “what is it, exactly, that you’ve done?” Random plausible thoughts ran through his mind, of Percy somehow selling a bit of sensitive information to Death Eater informants or losing a large amount of the Ministry’s funds in a gambling binge, or even misfiling a for another that would cause a year’s worth of work to fix but would cause a war if left untouched, but nothing prepared him for Percy’s answer.

“I got Penelope pregnant.”

And while the young man across from him dissolved into great, unappealing sobs, Severus froze, the words echoing over and over in his mind. ‘I got Penelope pregnant.’ So this was what his life had been reduced to. Babysitting children and counseling young adults on the foolishness of his actions. Had he been so cruel? Must he suffer this way? Apparently so, because Percy was still crying.

“Percival, cease that racket this instant!” The boy blinked up at him through watery eyes, bottom lip trembling with the sobs he restrained within him. Severus resisted the urge to sneer. “What is it exactly that you want me to do?”

It wasn’t completely unfeasible for the young man to come to him for help, Severus realized, now that his brain had regained function. He was a Potions Master. As unsightly as it was to the public he was able to brew certain concoctions that could handle an unwanted pregnancy. He didn’t think Percival, as a Weasley and thus a rule, would want to terminate said pregnancy, but he didn’t know Penelope Clearwater that well to know if she would think the same way. She had been a remarkably cool girl in his dealings with her, but that was no great judge of character, it was probably her best attempt to be civil in the face of his not-so-civil-ness. However he could prolong a pregnancy, halt it for up to three years, give them enough time to get married and build up some savings. He wondered if it was a direct result of him getting Muriel to release the family Magic. If Percy had only just found out, that meant Penelope would have had to conceive around the first wave of resurgence. The Weasley twins had been locked in a private ward for three days here at Hogwarts and both Bill and Charlie had come to him in the middle of the night begging for healing potions for their partners. Bill in particular had been close to tears. Severus didn’t want to think about it, but it was so interesting. Apparently Weasley fertility was linked to their magic. Merlin, he would need to check on Molly. And suggest pregnancy tests to all the boys. And make sure Ginerva was alright.

He sounded like a mother hen. Which was saying something, because he wasn’t even speaking.

“Could you – “ Percy’s voice had cut through all of Severus’ thoughts and he brought his mind back to the moment. “Could you tell my parents?”

Severus had looked at the young man in front of him, wide teary eyes looking at him with a look so imploring he really couldn’t bring himself to say no. Damn Harry Potter, softening his heart. He found himself nodding before he realized he’d made a decision. “Alright.” He stood. “Stay here.”

Severus had cast a nonverbal sticking charm to the seat of Percy’s chair, then strode over to the fireplace. The Weasleys had relocated to Number Twelve, Grimmauld Place after being summarily attacked by their own garden gnomes of all things. Severus hadn’t had a chance to go out to the house and clear it out, being the resident Dark Arts specialist he was the only one that could, and so they’d made do with what they could in Sirius’ house. When he flooed in, Molly had been cleaning.

In truth, she was always cleaning something, so much so that Severus thought that was her default function, when not cooking or looking after anyone else or breathing, molly cleaned. Even if It was after ten at night and there was no one coming to the house, Molly would clean.

“Molly,” It was his standard greeting, since the woman absolutely refused to acknowledge his presence if he addressed her as ‘Mrs. Weasley’, even though it was her name. “Is Arthur at home?”

“Good evening Severus! Would you like some tea? How have you been? It’s been a while since we last saw you; I do hope our boys aren’t causing trouble?” Molly bustled around the kitchen, somehow taking Severus’ over robe without him realizing it and pushing him into a chair. “What brings you here so late at night?”

“Percival. And on that note, could you and your husband floo through to my rooms? I left your son there and I’d rather he not worry himself sick in my presence.” Severus stood, regaining his over robe and stalked back towards the fireplace. Molly fretted behind him.

“Percy? Goodness, what has that child done now? ARTHUR! We need to leave. Go ahead, Severus we’ll be right there, Arthur’s just in the den. ARTHU – “

Severus had flooed back to his rooms, ears still ringing, to find Percy staring at the ground between his knees, looking like a dead man. Severus sighed, and poured himself more tea. “Your parent’s will be here shortly.”

Percy’s gulp could be heard across the room. “They’re coming to kill me.”

“Of course not. They don’t even know yet.”

“Wha – “

Percy’s panicked exclamation was cut off by the sound of the floo sounding, and Severus watched Percy’s face, the blaze of the firelight burring bright green and then back to orange as the Weasleys senior settled in. The young man looked as if he’d been shot, and hadn’t realized it. Then he found his voice.

“I thought you said you’d tell them!”

Severus almost laughed. “I did. I never said where, however.”

Percy swore, struggling to get out of his seat, and Arthur cleared his throat. “Good evening, Severus, Percy. Molly said you needed us here immediately?”

“Yes, you son here, has managed to get himself into a bit of trouble.” Severus would later freely admit to having fun, tormenting them all this way, but at that moment he really didn’t care.

“How so?” Molly had asked, after settling herself in Severus’ own armchair. “Percy’s never been in trouble a day in his life.”

“Quite. However, he seems to have impregnated his significant other, and is convinced you are going to kill him. If you do, please refrain from getting blood on my chairs, they are vintage.”

To his disappointment and Percy’s visible relief, both Weasley parents had sighed, and smiled.

“Is that all?” asked Molly.

“Conceived around the twenty-eighth, son?” asked Arthur. While Percy just sat and nodded dazedly, Severus tried for some answers.

“I suppose this has something to do with the releasing of your family magic, Arthur?”

“Everything, actually. Had I known…had I known.”

Severus had been suddenly uncomfortable. There was no need for the man to blame himself, especially when Severus was the one who caused it all. “My apologies, Arthur. If I had known the side effects I would have consulted you first.”

“Nonsense, Severus. You’ve done this family a great service. A baby is nothing this family cannot handle.” The man sighed. “It’s my fault, truthfully. I never expected to receive the family magic, so I never prepared the children for it. I do hope everyone is alright.”

“I am sure everyone is fine. Bill and Charlie contacted me around that time for healing drafts. I have not heard from them since, so I assume all is well.” He would have mentioned that he’d infused all of his ‘personal’ drafts with phoenix tears, because he never knew just what and how much Harry might need and phoenix tears made everything more potent, but he hadn’t thought he needed to.

He had left the Weasleys to their conversation, and went to check on his own son.

He could not imagine having to give Harry the talk, and had silently thanked every deity he could think of that Prince family magic did not run along that vein.

And to make matters worse, Remus had taken to staring at him oddly. Severus would have ignored it indefinitely, had the man not made a request of him one night after dinner.

He, Sirius and Remus had commandeered the chairs and Draco, Ron and Harry had arranged themselves on the floor. The boys had all apologized to each other, and all books had been confiscated for the evening, everyone was full and sleepy from dinner and the calm hung over the room like a curtain. Then Remus spoke.

“Severus, why don’t you tell us a story?”

“No, Remus.” The boys had giggled, their game of exploding snap temporarily forgotten. Severus ignored them, and would have all night had Remus not persisted.

“Oh come on. The one with the sad man who lost his baby.”

Instantly, Severus was alert, fathomless black eyes locked on calm amber, every muscle in his body taut against the request. “No.”

“But Severus – “

“No.”

The room had filled with tension then, the children looking at each other in askance and Remus looking at him sadly as if he was some condemned animal holding onto the last strings of life. Which he wasn’t.

He'd told that story once already, and was never doing it again. Ever, if he had to. Severus was a strong man, he knew, who lived in the present and planned for the future, and did not, absolutely did not live in the past.

But Ron’s story nearly undid him. It did not help that the red haired child had given him a long, long look before he spoke.

“I can tell one. It’s a really sad one Mum used to tell me sometimes when I was younger.”

“Did someone die in it?” Draco asked, silver eyes bright and eager.

“No. You’re so weird.”

Draco pouted, while Harry looked between them in amusement. “If it’s sad, should we all get blankets and pillows and hot chocolate?”

Draco perked up. “Can mine have peanut butter in it?”

Before anyone had chance to answer there was a singular ‘Pop!’, and a large tray covered in steaming mugs of hot chocolate appeared on the center table and thick bundles of blankets appeared next to everyone. Severus eschewed his bundle on principle, and tried to ignore the prickly feeling crawling up his spine as Ron settled into his blanket-nest, and looked ready to start. On a whim, he rose.

“I have potions to attend to.”

“Please, Professor, could you stay?” Ron’s soft, clear voice cut through his feeble attempts at escape, and Severus found himself sinking back into his armchair, hands slipping to the sides of his thighs and gripping into the fabric there. And Ron’s story began.

“Mum used to tell this to me and Ginny when we were younger. She changed it up a few times, but it was always the same beginning: There once was this beautiful baby boy living in a far off country filled with fairies and dragons and magic. This little boy was only a baby, could barely walk, and had the most beautiful curly red hair any mother could want. And his mother loved him very much, and so did his father. They loved their baby boy so much that they took him with them everywhere: to the shops, to the river, into the forest, but never, ever out of their city, for it was very, very dangerous. This baby and his mother and father would have lived happily ever after, except for a terrible tragedy one day.

Baby’s father had to leave the city for work. He was a beast slayer, the best in the land, and when the dangerous beasts crept into the city and scared the people who lived there or stole heir livestock, the king would call for baby’s father to go out into the land and hunt the beast down. So one day, as usual, baby’s father left to go to work. He was supposed to come back in a week, just for supplies, if he hadn’t found the beast, but a week came and went, but no father. Another week, and still no sign. After yet another week, baby’s mother had had enough. She decided that she would go into the land and find baby’s father, for both she and baby missed him terribly.

Now baby’s mother was a witch, a very powerful witch. She could cast spells and calm the weather and she didn’t even need a wand! So when people heard she was going looking for baby’s father, no one was worried. Except, no one wanted to keep her baby! It turns out baby was very upset when not with his mother or father, and would scream and cry and refuse to eat or sleep until they came for him. No one knew how long baby’s mother would be gone, or if baby’s father would come back, and no one wanted to be stuck with a fussy baby! So baby’s mother decided that she would take the baby with her to find baby’s father, and she would protect him with her magic. After all, she loved her baby, and if no one would keep her baby safe for her then she’d just do it herself.

Baby’s mother waited till baby was asleep one night, and then wrapped him in his warmest blanket, and packed a little bag filled with all the food she’d need for a week. Before she left their little house she cast every kind of protection spell she knew over him: spells to keep his little toes from getting cold, one to help him see in the dark, one to take him away from danger if she couldn’t help him. When she had cast all the spells she knew how, baby’s mother set off into the forest, searching for her baby’s father.

She searched for him for three days, going deeper and deeper into the forest, before she came across the beast. The beast was a huge thing, towering far, far over her head with straggly, matted fur and huge curved horns sticking out of his head. He had teeth the size of mother’s arms and stood on two legs like a human but had a tail as long as the road in front of their little house in the city. Mother saw the beast before it saw her, and she stood behind it quietly, watching as it moved around the little space she thought it had made its home. While baby’s mother was looking, she saw, way back behind the beast and half covered by little bushes, baby’s father, tied to a tree! A huge smile spread across mother’s face, for she could now save baby’s father and they could go home and live happily ever after, but just as she was about to cast the spell to free him, baby let out a shrill cry.

Poor baby! He’d been asleep after a short lunch and noticed his mother had stopped walking so he woke up, and what was the first thing he saw when he opened his little blue eyes? A great hulking monster with giant horns and a tail. Little baby was terrified, and did what any scared baby would do, he cried.

But the beast heard him, and spun around. When he caught sight of baby’s mother and little baby crying in her arms, he let out a bellow that made little baby’s ears hurt, and charged at the, Baby’s mother did some quick spell work, freeing baby’s father and then silencing baby so she could concentrate on casting and with a quick flick of her wrist she sent the beast tripping backwards, where it hit its head into a tree. But before she could congratulate herself on a job well done and quiet her terrified baby, there was another roar, this one from behind her! Baby’s mother turned around and nearly fainted! There was a huge beast just like the other one only bigger and hairier and with many more horns running right at her and then it jumped and came down, down, down and mother didn’t have time to do anything, and then there was a soft ‘pop’.”

The room was silent, the fire crackling in the grate, for all of two seconds before Draco, eyes wide and hands clutching at the blanket around his shoulders burst out, “What happened?”

“Yeah!” echoed Harry, who had scooted up against Severus’ legs and was clutching at the man’s pants. “I thought you said no one died!”

Ron smiled, slightly sheepish. “But baby didn’t die, and neither did his mother. She found her arms suddenly empty and dropped to the ground, thinking she had dropped her little baby. The beast passed right over her head, and crashed into the first, smaller beast. Baby’s father had moved, climbed up into a tree and shot at both beasts with all the arrows he’d taken with him. Baby’s mother got back up, realizing that her spell had protected her little baby, taking him away from the danger since she could not help him, because the beast was too close for her to keep him safe. She used her magic spells to help baby’s father fell both beasts, and when they were both dead and not moving, told baby’s father what she had done.

Now baby’s mother was expecting his father to be angry with her, because their baby was gone and she didn’t know where he was, but baby’s father was quite pleased. He embraced her, and pressed a kiss to her forehead. “We’ll find him,” he said. “We’ll never stop looking.”

And baby definitely was safe. In a puff of blue smoke he appeared, still crying his eyes out, on the doorstep of a tall, hand-built house that looked as if the owners had added on as they went, in the middle of the night, still wrapped up in his blanket. After a few minutes, a little woman opened the door and was shocked to find a little baby crying on her doorstep. Where had the baby come from? There was no one around their house for miles. She picked up little baby and tried to calm him down, but bay would not stop crying. She made him a bottle, rocked him back and forth, sung him a lullaby, and nothing worked! Finally, the little woman gave baby a little bit of her childrens’ sleeping potion, and even though baby spit most of it back out, he finally, finally, stopped crying and went to sleep. The little woman decided that since no one was around outside to claim the baby, and if no one came to claim the baby in a week, she would adopt him and raise him with her other five children. There was another baby in her tummy, but the mother didn’t know that yet. Soon, she’d have seven children! But that was fine, since she loved children anyway!

It’s been years and years, and baby still lives with his new little mother and his new brothers and sister and new father, and he’s mostly forgotten his little mother and his brave father, but they haven’t forgotten him. Baby’s mother and father are still out there, looking for him, hoping to find him one day so that they could bring him home.”

“That’s sad!” exclaimed Draco.

Ron laughed a little, pulling his shirt up over his face and wiping his eyes. When he pulled it down there were two little wet marks from his tears. “I said it would be.”

“But what happens? Will baby’s parents ever find him?” Harry looked very upset, his green eyes moist behind his glasses.

“I don’t know Harry. It’s just a story.”

“You were right. It is a very sad one. Siri! Tell us something to make us laugh!” Harry demanded, unconsciously snuggling into the side of Severus calf. Severus did not seem to mind, he’d barely moved at all.

In truth Severus had barely even been aware of anything around him anymore. His mind had stuck on the baby in the story, the little mother and on how much information Molly Weasley had correctly guessed at.

But no, he wasn’t thinking of that, wasn’t going to torture himself with the possibilities of this scenario and he was going to bed, right now, dammit, he wasn’t going to sit here and look at that red hair any longer…..

…Any longer……

It hadn’t been till days later that he’d thought to check to see if Ron, although two years away from his magical majority, had been experiencing any changes ( or difficulties, he prayed for difficulties, something he could actually talk about) with his magic. It had taken him the better part of three hours, but he’d finally found the boy holed up in a hidden corner in the restricted section of the library. Severus would have handed out a detention on the spot, had the child not been sitting in an alcove, staring into space. The look of complete bewildered resignation on the child’s face, if it were possible, caught the words right in Severus’ throat. It had been a moment before he could speak, and another before his attempts caught the boy’s attention.

Ron’s eyes, when they finally locked on him, were clear, yet clouded with a impossible mixture of emotions. Severus felt his heart lurch and that tingling crawl up his spine. Ron opened his mouth, once, twice, a third time before he could speak.

“I need to speak to you, sir.”

Severus had nodded, unable to form words under the heavy impact that simple sentence had on his heart. “Whenever you are ready, Mr. Weasley. My door is always open.” And he’d spun on his heel and fled, knowing beyond a doubt that Ron hadn’t been experiencing any effects from the Weasley magic.

No. None at all.