July 4th, 1993

Timber Trails

Poconos, PA

"Harry! Harry, wake up!" an insistent little voice was calling him.  "I wanna feed the deer again."

"Ughh . . .what time is it?" Harry groaned, sitting up and rubbing his eyes.  He looked at his watch.  "Aww, Eileen! It's six thirty in the morning!" He turned over and buried his face in his pillow, which was scented with lemon detergent, since that was the preferred scent of his grandmother Montague, whom the Snapes were visiting this summer.  "Go and wake up Lexy!" he ordered irritably, for the last thing he wanted was to have to get up early on holiday, especially to feed the deer.

Eileen frowned down at him and shook his shoulder again, even at four she had the Snape stubbornness in spades. Her hair was a riot of thick black curls, legacy of both Severus and Alaina, but her eyes were pure Snape, dark and thickly lashed.  "Lexy won't wake up, Harry. And Daddy said I can't go outside without a grown-up or you or Lexy," his little sister whined.  "And I just saw a baby deer outside by the porch!" She tugged on his sleeve again.  "Please, Harry, please get up! I just wanna pet the baby deer-the fawn-" Eileen begged, recalling just then that was what her mother told her a baby deer was called. 

"C'mon, Eileen!  You can pet the deer tomorrow."

"Not the fawn.  Harry, if you get up I'll . . .I'll give you all my sweets from now till Christmas and I'll never ask you to watch Disney movies or play house with me till then too," the youngest Snape daughter bargained. 

Her older brother opened one eye and considered.  "All your sweets and no playing stupid girl games? Okay, shrimp.  Deal." He pushed himself up on his elbow and shook hands with his little sister to seal the pact. 

Then he scrambled out of bed and pulled on a pair of socks before following Eileen outside to the back deck of their grandparents' home.  Wearing socks was a must, since sometimes the weathered oak deck had splinters, and Harry had no desire to end up with them in his feet again.  The Snapes had arrived at Sue and Billy Montague's home in the Poconos last night, Severus having arranged a Portkey to get his entire family, including his father Tobias, to America for their vacation, which just happened to fall upon the 4th of July.  Every year, they took a week or two and spent it visiting Alaina's parents in Pennsylvania.

Harry had fed the friendly deer in the backyard ever since his first summer here, back when he was nine.  Eileen had been a baby then and his little brother, Tobias William, hadn't even been born.  So the novelty had worn a bit thin by now, but not for his little sister.  She still insisted on waking up at the crack of dawn and rushing outside to feed the deer.

"Eileen, you're obsessed, y'know that?" he yawned, rubbing his eyes to get the sleep out of them.  "If we had deer at home, you'd probably wake up every morning and feed them."

"I wish we had deer at home," said the four-year-old wistfully, opening the fridge and getting out the sliced apples.  "Why don't we?"

"Because we live in London, imp, and deer don't like cities," Harry explained patiently, Summoning the Cheerios from the pantry.  "They need the woods."

"And Grammy and Pops have lots and lots of woods here," Eileen declared happily, tucking the bag of apples under her arm and then running over to the sliding glass door off the dining room. "Damn! It's locked."

"Hey! Watch your mouth, Eileen Lily, or else you'll be eating soap for breakfast," Harry scolded.  "You know you're not supposed to use words like that."

"You do sometimes," his irrepressible sister pointed out.

"And Dad would wash my mouth out too if he ever heard," her brother admitted.

"You won't tell will you?"

"No.  Just don't say it again, all right?"

"Okay."

 Then he unlocked the door with a quick unlocking charm, because it was faster to do it that way, and he liked being able to use his magic over the summer, since America had no rule about underage wizards being absolutely forbidden to use magic outside of school.  American apprentice wizards weren't allowed to use combat spells until they were of age, nor dark magic at all, but they could use normal everyday magic unsupervised as long as their wizard master or mistress agreed to it.  And Severus had said both Lexy and Harry could use magic when they visited here, so long as they were careful.

The Montague's home was a large two-story comfortable house, with a loft and a long wraparound deck in the back of the house.  The deck had two levels, the first level was where the grill and the patio furniture was, that was where you could usually find one or more of the grown-ups relaxing after dusk had fallen, or during the day.  A set of stairs led down to the lower level of the deck, where Sue had planted petunias and impatiens in boxes, and there was a plastic bin with pool equipment inside.  Harry and Lexy's brooms were leaning up beside it, Harry had planned on flying over the game preserve that afternoon, it was good practice for when he played Quidditch at school. He had made the Slytherin team last year as Seeker, and bid fair to be one of the best Seekers Hogwarts had ever seen.

"See, Harry?" Eileen whispered, pointing to  a tiny fawn, still wearing her spots, standing on wobbly legs right next to the bottom step.  "Isn't she adorable?"

Harry smiled then, for the fawn was a beautiful little creature, all large liquid eyes and big ears and dainty matchstick legs. Her coat was a deep caramel color save for the white spots that dribbled over her back and down her sides.  "Go ahead, Lee," he urged, nudging his sister gently in the back, she was still wearing her frilly pink nightshirt with kittens on it and fuzzy cat slippers.  "Give her some apples."

As the little girl padded down the stairs, Harry watched from the lower deck, wondering at why the fawn seemed to be alone.  He could not see any watchful mother upon the lawn, or further back beyond the pool by the trees.  Huh, wonder where the mum is? Normally she would never leave a baby this young on her own, not even here where deer are never hunted.  All the other fawns I've ever seen have does and stags looking on or right next to them.

He grinned as Eileen held out an apple slice on her palm and the little fawn trotted up and delicately lipped it right out of the child's hand. 

"She ate it, Harry!" the little girl cried, her eyes shining.  "She tickles a little." She turned back to the fawn.  "Here, pretty thing.  Have some more." She fed the fawn another apple slice.

Harry came down the stairs to stand next to his sister, and tossed down some cereal in the grass.  Immediately, two or three adult deer, two does and a medium-sized stag with five points upon his rack came out of the woods and  loped over to eat the cereal.  The stag and one of the does were too shy to eat out of Harry's hand directly, but one doe ambled over and lipped cereal out of his hand. 

He gently stroked her soft coat while feeding her and Eileen continued to lavish attention upon the fawn until all the apple slices and cereal were gone.  As soon as the food disappeared, the adult deer backed away, browsing upon the grass unhurriedly. 

Harry glanced over at Eileen and the fawn, expecting the little deer to follow after her family. 

To his astonishment he found his sister sitting upon the grass, and the fawn's head was lying in her lap! Not only that, but she was petting the fawn as if it were Inky, their pet panther, and not a wild creature.  "Holy Merlin!" he gasped. 

Eileen was stroking the fawn's back and singing one of her favorite songs from the movie Bambi, a song that Harry was intimately familiar with, April Showers.  She had a sweet childish soprano, and the fawn seemed quite content to stay where she was, curled next to the little girl, her eyes at half mast.

"That's amazing!" her brother hissed, for he could feel an odd sort of stirring in the air, like magic summoned without conscious thought.  Is she doing that with magic, accidentally?

Eileen continued humming and singing and petting and Harry could almost see silver notes hanging in the air as his sister sang.  Merlin's wand! I have to get Dad. Harry turned and slipped quickly up the stairs and into the house. 

His parents had the guest bedroom on the right off the kitchen, but before he reached the door, it opened and Severus came out, still wearing his cotton black pajama bottoms and comfortable T-shirt.  "Morning, Harry.  You're awake at this hour?"

"Yeah, Eileen woke me up and wanted to feed the deer, there's a fawn outside and, well, you better come and see this, Dad."  Harry beckoned the elder Snape to follow him.

"Harry, I've seen fawns before," Severus began, not wanting to delay drinking his morning cup of tea.

"Not like this one you haven't.  Either it's the calmest fawn ever, or Eileen's doing magic with singing," Harry informed him. 

Severus followed his eldest outside without further ado and saw his little girl sitting on the lawn, the fawn's head in her lap, singing Part of Your World from The Little Mermaid. The fawn was sleeping, and Eileen's little hand was stroking the satiny coat. 

"Well, I'll be," the Master Healer muttered, astonished, for he could sense the magic woven in the child's voice as well as Harry had. 

"She's doing magic, right, Dad?"

Severus nodded.  "Yes.  A very unusual form of it called spellsinging. Back centuries ago, during the time of the druids, spellsinging magic was a bard's province.  I never thought my family possessed any trace of bardic magic, but given what your sister here is doing . . ."

"Does she even know what she's doing?" his son asked.

"No, I don't believe so.  Anymore than you knew how to Transfigure when you brought Inky to life," Severus reminded him, referring to the way Harry, age six, had managed to bring his beloved stuffed panther to life.

Currently, the big panther was being watched by Sirius while the Snapes were on vacation. Harry had kind of wished Inky could have come with them, but not when he saw the fawn asleep on Eileen's lap.  Though Inky had never hunted anything in his life, Harry had a feeling the panther's instincts would have seen the fawn as lunch.

He watched as his father made his way down the stairs and crouched next to Eileen, asking quietly, "Snippet, what are you doing?"

Eileen broke off her singing and told her father earnestly, "I'm making friends with this fawn, Daddy.  Her name is Firefly."

"That's wonderful, Eileen.  But don't you think this fawn would like to go home with her family?" Severus asked, indicating the other deer hovering at the edge of the lawn.

"But I want her to stay with me.  She's my friend." Eileen said, as the fawn stirred and opened her eyes.  "Right, Firefly?"

The fawn licked her hand, then noticing the tall wizard sitting next to the girl, immediately backed up and got to her feet, her ears twitching and small tail flicking up and down.

Eileen reached her hand out and called, "Wait! Don't go!"

But the fawn turned and bounded away, her white tail held up like a flag.

Eileen sniffled, her lower lip quivering.  "Why did she go?" she asked forlornly.

"It was time for her to go back to her family, snippet." Severus told her.

"You scared her, Dad!" she accused suddenly.  "Fawns don't like grown-ups."

"That's not true, Lee," objected Harry.  "Dad's fed the deer lots of times with me, and the fawns always ate out of his hand."

But Eileen would not listen to him and got up and ran inside, tears trickling down her cheeks, to find her mother.  "It's all your fault, Dad!"

"Little brat," Harry muttered angrily.  "What does she think that deer is, Bambi?"

Severus laid a hand on his shoulder.  "Yes, son, that's exactly what she thinks.  She doesn't realize that the fawn is a wild creature that she bound with her magic."

"Bound how?"

"Well, from what little I've read about spellsingers, they have the ability to enchant and compel with their song if they so choose.  That was part of the bardic gift, though most bards chose not to use it unless absolutely necessary.  Eileen did it without realizing it," Severus explained. "I'll have to talk with her once she's calmed down. Come, I think your Gram is cooking breakfast."

Harry sniffed.  "I smell waffles and bacon." Then he was racing back inside, for that was one of his favorite breakfast foods.

When Severus entered the kitchen, which was done in cheery white and gold with a sunflower motif upon the walls, he found Harry, Lexy, Bill, and Tobias already seated around the table.  Sue was taking waffles off the waffle iron and adding them to the stack on a large plate.  The grandfathers were sipping coffee and discussing the score of the latest world soccer game-Italy was winning, they had beaten Spain. 

"Where's your sister?" Severus queried, levitating the full plate of waffles and warmed maple syrup over to the table with a casual gesture. 

"With Mom, helping her dress Toby," Lexy replied, and helped herself to some bacon and waffles as well as orange juice.  She looked over at her brother who was almost exactly the same age as she was.  "Want to go swimming after we go flying, Harry?"

"Okay, Lex.  By then it'll be roasting and we'll need to cool off." Harry said, munching a piece of bacon.

"But no diving into the pool off your broom, mister," Severus ordered.  "You could crack your head open."

"Not if I use a Cushioning Charm," his son argued. "And only hover over the water instead of doing a straight dive."

"Don't argue with me," the Master Healer snapped.  "The last thing I need is for me to be patching you up from a concussion or worse.  Now be sensible."

Harry huffed. He didn't want to be sensible, he wanted to have fun.  "Being sensible is boring."

"Harry, mind your father," Tobias said, shooting his eldest grandson a pointed Look.

"Yes, sir," the young wizard mumbled, rolling his eyes.  Adults! They're all the same.  If Dad's not on my arse, then Grandpa is, or Pop. Don't ANY of them remember what it's like to have a good time? I mean, Charlie Weasley only broke his arm doing that one time as a kid.

Still, he didn't want to start off his vacation being punished, so he kept his mouth shut and just ate his waffles.   He had learned by trial and error to not test either of his grandfathers or his dad when they used that particular tone of voice. 

"How is everyone's breakfast?" asked Sue, dusting off her hands.

"Excellent, Gram." Lexy told her.  "But then, you cook just as good as Dad."

"Do you need help with anything else, Sue?" asked Severus.

"No, Sev, but thank you anyway.  Why don't you sit down and eat, dear?"

So Severus did, after he cast a Scouring Charm on the dirty dishes in the sink. 

A few minutes later, Alaina entered the room, holding her youngest child, Tobias William, named after his two grandfathers.  Baby Toby had a shock of dark hair that stuck straight up and brilliant blue eyes.  It was too early yet to say who the baby resembled, as he was only five months old, but Tobias insisted he had his eyes, and if the little one were lucky, they would remain that brilliant deep blue shade.  He was dressed in a simple one-piece green romper with a bib that said Healers Rule!

"Morning everyone," Alaina greeted her family cheerily.  Despite having borne three children, she still had a decent figure, and Severus swore she was just as beautiful now as when he had first seen her that long ago day in the supermarket. 

Toby squealed upon seeing his father and held out both chubby arms.

"Hello, little man," Severus picked up his littlest and held him close.  "Ow! Hey, that's my hair." He gently unwound Toby's hand from his hair, the baby loved grabbing for anything within reach.  "Here, play with this," Severus handed the baby a spoon.

Toby promptly whacked Sev in the nose with it.

The children giggled at their baby brother's antics and Tobias remarked gleefully, "Better watch out, Sev.  This one's going to give you a run for your money."

"Takes after his grandfather," the Healer shot back.

"Which one?" asked Bill mischievously.

"The one sitting next to Lexy," Severus replied, turning his baby around and letting Toby bang the spoon on the table.  "Where's Eileen, Alaina?"

"Sulking in her room," Alaina sighed.  "Told me you scared the deer she was making friends with and now she's not hungry."

Severus shook his head.  Sometimes his youngest daughter was as moody as any adolescent.  "I'll talk to her after breakfast.  Harry went with her to feed the deer this morning and she found a fawn that would eat out of her hand and wanted it to stay with her so she sang it to sleep on her lap."

"Sang it to sleep?" repeated Sue, puzzled.  "Like with a lullaby do you mean?"

"In a manner of speaking.  Only Eileen used magic without knowing it."

"Accidental magic already, Sev?" Alaina exclaimed.  "Why, that's even younger than Lexy started."

"But not Severus," Tobias commented.  "He was two when he showed signs of it.  His mum ended up sending it to sleep, though, because no one wants to deal with a magically able toddler."

All of the adults shuddered at the mere thought of the havoc a magically active toddler could cause. 

"Dad said she's a spellsinger," put in Harry helpfully.  He pushed his plate away.  "Want me to go talk to her, Dad?" He had always had a good rapport with his baby sister. 

"If you'd like." Severus said.

"What's a spellsinger, Sev? You never mentioned that in all of our seminars," asked Alaina, handing her husband a small bowl of rice cereal with peaches for Toby.

While Severus attempted to explain what a spellsinger was and feed his son at the same time, Harry walked down the hall to the room with lavender wallpaper and lacy white curtains that Eileen and Lexy shared.  He found his little sister sitting on her bed, holding her favorite stuffed animal, a dog named Rufus, since he was a plush Irish setter, and gazing out the window at the woods bordering the property.  She was still in her pajamas.

He paused on the threshold and stood there for a moment, thinking that his little sister hardly looked like a powerful witch, curled up with her dog, her dark curls straggling all over her face.  Then again, he supposed he shouldn't be surprised, considering who her father was.  Severus Snape was one of the strongest wizards in the world, and it only made sense that his children had inherited his magic. 

"Hey, imp.  Why the long face?"

He came over to sit on the bed next to her. 

"I lost my best friend," she answered.

Harry bit back a chuckle.  "Your best friend, huh? You only met that fawn today, Lee.  And she's your best friend already?"

"Yes.  She really liked me, Harry," Eileen said seriously, turning around to snuggle next to her big brother.  "She told me so."

"She did? The fawn talked to you?" Harry asked, thinking that she might have been imagining it.  He knew what it was like to have a big imagination. 

"Uh huh.  She told me her name was Firefly an' she liked to eat apples and my hands felt good when I pet her." The little girl's eyes were far away, recalling the way the fawn had nibbled on the apple and tickled her hand and the way the deer's voice had sounded, all soft and furry, if a voice could sound furry.

"When did she say that?"

"When I sang to her.  I could hear her . . .in here," she tapped her forehead.

Harry's eyes went wide.  Oh, Merlin! Don't tell me I've got a little sister who can read minds!  "Eileen, are you sure you heard her in your mind? Or were you just pretending?"

"Yes, I'm sure!" his sister cried.  "I'm not making it up!"

"Okay, I believe you.  Now calm down.  Merlin, you act like you've got PMS." He blurted before he could think better of it.

"What's PMS?"

"Never mind," Harry said quickly.  He just hoped Eileen didn't repeat that where Alaina or Lexy could hear it.  "Well, if I could make my stuffed panther come to life, I guess I shouldn't be surprised that you can talk to animals."

Eileen smiled happily. "I like being able to talk to animals, Harry.  Firefly was so sweet, and I wish Daddy hadn't come out and scared her away." She pouted.

"Don't be mad at Dad, Eileen.  It was my fault he came out, I went and told him about you and the fawn, ‘cause I couldn't believe that you actually got a deer to put its head in your lap that way.  So I wanted him to see it.  So if you want to get mad at somebody, get mad at me, not him."

She crossed her arms and gave him a pretty good imitation of their father's Snape glare.  "You both shoulda knowed better than to scare a fawn that way, Harry James Severus."

"Sorry, Eileen." Harry apologized, biting his lip to keep from chuckling.  His sister's imitation of Severus was dead on.   "But did you know that you did magic when you sang to the fawn?" 

Her eyes widened. "Really? Like you and Daddy and Lexy?  How?"

"Because you're a witch, little one," Severus answered from the doorway.  "A very special one, Eileen Lily."  He walked over to sit on his daughter's opposite side. "Still mad at me?"

Eileen turned abruptly and crawled into his lap.  "No.  Harry said it wasn't your fault.  It was his." She peered up at her father quizzically.  "Daddy, how could I do magic when I never did before?"

"Because, Eileen, sometimes when you want something very badly, your magic wakes up and helps you ," her father explained. 

"Like with Harry and Inky?"

"Exactly like that.  Only you, snippet, have a different kind of magic. Your magic is in your voice."

"My voice?"

"Yes.  When you sing, sometimes your magic wakes up.  That's what happened with the fawn outside.  You were singing to her and your song made her trust you and that's why she fell asleep on your lap.  When you stopped, so did the magic, and that's why she woke up and ran away."

"But why? I wanted to play with her."

"I know, but she needed to go and eat breakfast, just like a certain little girl."

"I'm not hungry."

"No? Not even for waffles with syrup and bacon?"

Eileen considered.  "Maybe a little.  Did you make ‘em?"

"No, Gram did." Harry answered.

"Oh. That's good.  Long as Grandpa didn't.  His waffles taste like cardboard."

Severus and Harry chuckled over the little girl's frankness.  "Don't tell him that, Eileen," said the Master Healer.  "You wouldn't want to hurt his feelings."

"Okay.  Dad, will Firefly ever come back to play with me?"

"She might, tomorrow.  Or maybe this evening.  Deer like to feed in the early morning and evening."

"What do deer eat for breakfast?"

Severus thought for a moment.  "Well . . .they like to eat grass and berries and seeds and cereal and apples when they can get them."

"I like apples and cereal too. Only not that yucky rice stuff that Toby has to eat." She made a face.  "Ick!"

"Yeah, that stuff's nasty," snickered her brother.  He reached out and ruffled her hair. "Better brush your hair, kid.  Before birds nest in it."

"My hair's not that messy."

"No? Look in the mirror," he teased.

"Why don't you? Your hair's awfuller than mine."

"Awfuller? That's not a word."

"Is too.  I just made it one."

"You can't do that."

"Can too. And your hair is awfuller, right, Dad?"

"Ask your mother that one," Severus said, deflecting her neatly.

"Good one, Dad." Harry grumbled.  "C'mon, imp.  You going to stare out the window all day or are you going to eat breakfast?"

"But what can I do after breakfast without Firefly?"

"I'll take you flying for a little bit.  And swimming too," her brother offered generously.

"Yay!  You gonna try and make Grandpa fall in the pool?"

"Maybe," Harry smirked. 

Bill had told them that it was almost a Fourth of July tradition for someone to trip and fall in the pool at the Montague house.  It had happened, by accident more than design almost every year, and Tobias had boasted that it would never happen to him. 

Therefore his grandchildren, sweet cherubs that they were, decided to prove him wrong. 

"For the love of Merlin!" Severus groaned.  "You are too much!"

"Aww, c'mon, Dad! You'd laugh your head off if that ever happened. Admit it!"

Severus did not say anything, but Harry could see an imp of mischief lurking deep in his father's eyes. 

Eileen giggled.  "That'd be so funny."

"It'll never happen," Severus predicted.

"Never say never, Dad." Harry grinned.  "I'm going to go and eat some more waffles.  Coming, brat?"

He hopped off the bed and started out the door.

"In a minute.  I gotta fix my hair," she informed him primly and Severus laughed.

Harry rolled his eyes.  "Typical girl!"

"That's me!" she declared proudly.  "Dad, can you call the brush for me?"

"Certainly." Sev summoned her pink hairbrush and began to help her comb her hair.

She squirmed.  "Not so hard, Dad! I can do it myself."

"Contrary little snip, aren't you?" he mock-growled, and handed her the brush.

"What's that?" she asked.  "Is it like PMS?"

Severus's jaw fell open.  "Where did you hear that?"

"Harry said I had it."

Harry winced.  Aww, hell.  Now I'm in for it.

Sure enough, two seconds later he heard a familiar sharp tone.  "Harry James Severus, come here this minute, young man!"

Harry groaned and headed back into the bedroom.  Little sisters! Can't live with them and can't Silence them either!