“Now, Harry we’ve been talking for a good deal of time. I think we have covered everything that could be part of how we came to be a family. You heard me talk about my relationship building with your mother, how I came to love you and her. You have even heard about how my relationship with Black and Lupin changed over the years. You think you have an idea of what to say in your essay?” Severus asked.

Harry paused, “I’m not sure.”

“Harry, if you’re continuing to avoid working on your assignment I will be very disappointed,” Severus grumbled.

Harry shook his head. “It’s not that.”

“Then would you like to explain what the problem is?” Severus asked.

Harry chewed his bottom lip. “It’s… You told me a lot of stories… But it’s… That was great… But that’s not what the essay is asking for.”

“No it is not, or perhaps it is.” Severus replied.

Harry stared at his father completely confused.

“Harry, your prompt only asks ‘what makes a family?’ How you choose to answer that is up to you,” Severus explained.

“So I could do it with stories?” Harry asked.

“You could. Although, I would suggest just using far fewer than the number I told you tonight,” advised Severus with a chuckle.

Harry frowned, “I don’t think Mr. Delaney would like that very much.”

Severus gave him an understanding nod. “That is his loss. If you cannot answer the prompt in a story form, you’ll have to find your own way of doing it.”

“And how is that?” Harry whined.

“I do not know, I am not you.” Severus replied with a smirk. “That is your assignment. Perhaps, you should look for a common theme in all the stories.”

Harry frowned. “Common theme?”

“Something that is somewhere in all of the stories,” Severus clarified.

Harry thought hard for several minutes. Severus could practically see the gears turning in Harry’s head as the boy processed all his father had told him.

“You mean how you came to love us?” Harry finally said.

“Are you telling or are you asking?” Severus asked.

“Telling, I think,” replied Harry.

Severus shook his head. “Back at the start,” he added when Harry looked at him terrified. “What I meant was how we came to love each other, but somebody else might find a different connecting fiber.”

“Like what?” Demanded Harry.

“Your mother for example, might say that it was a display of how hesitant I was to find or accept happiness.” Severus explained.

“Why would she say that?” Asked Harry.

“Harry, I can tell you you’re truly stalling now. You need to work on your essay now.” Severus said ignoring the boy’s inquiry.

“Fine,” pouted Harry, picking up his pencil once more. Harry turned back towards his desk.

Severus rose from his chair stretching to eradicate all the kinks that had formed from sitting for so long. Severus ruffled the boy’s hair. “I would like to see your essay before you go to bed tonight.”

“Okay,” Harry replied chewing on the end of his pencil slightly.

Severus looked back at Harry before returning back downstairs.

“Daddy,” Iris squealed excitedly, running down the hall.

“Walk,” Severus chided.

The girl slowed her pace ever so slightly. Severus scooped her up when she was in arms reach.

“How are you today, Puff?” Severus asked.

“Good.” the little girl supplied. “Where were you? You were gone forever.”

“Forever? That is a bit unfair.” Severus replied.

“Where were you?” repeated Iris.

“I had to go and have a talk with Harry. He got into trouble earlier.” Severus explained.

“Oh no,” replied Iris. “Did he get a spanking?”

“That is none of your concern, Puff,” Severus warned.

“Is he still in trouble?” Iris asked.

“He is not, however, he still going to be punished.” Severus told her. Severus kissed her cheek. “Go play, I need a word with your mother.”

“Okay Daddy,” Iris agreed darting down the hall once more.

Severus returned to the kitchen slipping his arms around Lily’s waist from behind.

“I was just about to send out a search party,” Lily said relaxing into his embrace.

“My talk with Harry took longer than anticipated.” Severus agreed.

“You can say that again. You were up there for more than an hour.” Lily chided.

“My apologies. How can I best be of assistance?” Severus asked letting Lily go.

“Dinner should be on the table any minute. Go get Harry and set the table.” Lily told him.

With a practiced flick of his wand Severus had set the table. He returned upstairs as he requested, but did not come back accompanied.

“Where’s Harry?” Lily asked as she put Julian into his high chair.

“He said he was working and did not want to come down until he was finished.” Severus replied.

Lily rolled her eyes. “He gets that from you.”

“Yes,” Severus agreed. “An unfortunate habit. I’ll take him some sandwiches after dinner.”

“Sev, don’t encourage him,” Lily protested.

“He needs to eat,” Severus countered. “This is hardly going to be easy to eat while trying to write an essay,” Severus said pointing to the spaghetti.

Lily rolled her eyes, but saw his point. The rest of the family enjoyed dinner together. Severus told him of his day in hell the Weasley twins single-handedly almost destroyed his classroom.

As it turned out Lily ended up taking Harry his dinner. She was annoyed to see how many pieces of paper wadded up on the ground by Harry’s feet.

“How’s it going?” She asked running a hand through Harry’s messy hair.

“Good,” Harry replied through mouth full of sandwich.

Lily let the failure of manners slip this once.

The evening passed uneventfully for the rest of those in the Snape house. Though they never saw Harry come out of his room. Not even when they gave the children their baths or when putting them to bed.

It was only  Severus and Lily were preparing for bed that they went to check on Harry. He hadn’t wanted to disturb him in case he tried to use it as a way to delay finishing his assignment.

Severus found Harry asleep at his desk. His forgotten sandwich lay abandoned on a plate at his elbow.

“Poor lamb,” Lily muttered taking in the sight of her oldest child.

“Indeed,” Severus agreed.

Lily pulled down the bed covers for Severus as he collected Harry from the desk. An easy spell had Harry’s uniform transfigured into pajamas. Lily tucked Harry in place, placing a kiss on his lightning bolt scar.

Severus crossed back to the desk to collect Harry’s dirty dishes. His eyes fell to the document Harry was working on. Lily joined him a moment later.

“This is it huh?” Lily asked.

“It would appear so,” confirmed Severus.

Two piece of paper lay in the center of Harry’s desk. On them was written this:

Every family is different. Some families are a mum and the dad and their kids. Other families just have a mum. Some families might not have any kids.

Some people might say you have to be related by blood to be family. But I don’t think so.

I have an aunt, my mom’s sister, but we are not very close. My dad’s friends are more like uncles then my Uncle Vernon.

My real dad died when I was really little. But my mom got remarried when I was four. So I got a new dad. We’re family even though we don’t have the same blood.

What makes a group of people a family is the fact they love each other and are willing to stick by each other no matter what.

Sometimes it takes time to become a family. You have to learn to love people like my dad. Dad didn’t know how to like babies. Other times, you just love them automatically. Like my little sisters and brother. Dad knew how to love babies because of me.

Love is what makes a family.