The place was definitely big! It was much bigger than the quarters he thought they would be receiving. Come to recall, he wasn’t sure the quarters were this big when Remus was still living here.

“We extended them just recently.” Dumbledore said behind them, “In the past month.”

As they walked into the chambers, there was a small kitchen immediately to their left. An ice box sat in one corner next to a fireplace with a spit and a cast iron stove. There were counters and sinks and drawers and cabinets and a complete set of cooking utensils, conveniently set high above the reach of little hands. A window sat next to the stove, and a small round table rested on the side, four chairs and a highchair neatly tucked under it. Visible from the kitchen was a den, with bookcases against the walls and under a window, lots of playing room, and an impressive oak desk on the far wall. To their immediate right was a study area with a rectangular oak table, matching chairs, matching bookcases, and a matching fully-stocked liquor cabinet.

“For only those special occasions, of course.” Dumbledore commented, amused, as he followed Harry’s eye to the impressive collection of alcohol.

Harry smirked, “Of course.” Then he raised an eyebrow, “As if Ginny would let me at any other time anyway.” The three professors behind him chuckled.

A fireplace dominated the right half of the room. No doubt it was connected to both the inter-school floo network and the British floo network in general. A giant leather couch, flanked by two round side tables, and a large oval coffee table sat across from it. Flanking the coffee table were matching leather easy chairs with retractable footrests. Nice! Harry thought, smirking internally. A long table rested against the back of the couch.

Another large bookcase sat against the far wall. On its left, bordered on the other side by his desk, was the entrance to the master bedroom. On the right of the bookcase, however, was a carpeted stairway that led up to the newly-constructed, lofted section of the quarters. From Harry’s ground-floor view, he could make out three medium-sized rooms—two to the left of the staircase, one to the right.

“The rooms to either side of the staircase are guest bedrooms, while the room on the far left is a second bathroom.” McGonagall informed him, pointing to the loft, “And that area over there,” she pointed to the section of wall on the ground floor to the right of the staircase, “is a space we left empty, just in case you wanted to build another room there in the future.”

“Perhaps you should check out the master bedroom, Mr. Potter,” Madame Pomfrey suggested, coming out of said room and pointing towards the door, “I just placed the crib in there next to the bed. Perhaps it’d be best to lay Severus down there before doing anything else.”

“MO!” Came a muffled whine from the vicinity of his chest.

Harry looked down to see Snape’s eyes still closed and thumb still stuck firmly in his mouth, but his eyebrows were furrowed, indicating a state of consciousness.

“Would you like to see our new quarters?” Harry asked. The child opened his eyes fully now and pushed up against Harry’s chest.

“Mo ow! Mo ow! Ooo cow…ew. Ooo cow…ew! Mo meh cow—ew!” Baby Snape whined in frustration. He pointed to the teenager, “Ooo cow—ew!” Then shook his head and pointed to himself, “Mo me cow—ew!”

Harry closed his eyes and took a deep breath. “Look…Mr. Snape…can you honestly tell me you can take care of yourself at the moment?”

The baby whined, “Meh wa meh cow—ew! Meh wa meh cow—ew!”

Harry’s lips tightened. “You can’t take—”

“MEH WA MEH COW—EW!”

Harry rolled his eyes and sighed in frustration. “Fine.” He bent down and placed the infant Snape on the floor. “If you think you can take care of yourself just fine, by all means—get there!” He gestured towards the portrait hole.

“Mr. Potter?” McGonagall questioned. She, Dumbledore, and Madame Pomfrey were looking at him quizzically.

With a wave of hand, Harry cast a Muffliato on all four of them so Snape wouldn’t be able to hear. “He refuses to acknowledge that these are our quarters. He insists they’re mine, not his, and wants to go back to his quarters.” After a while they nodded in comprehension, and with another wave, he cast a Finite and turned back to the baby on the floor.

Severus lay on his stomach in the same position Harry had put him in moments before. He had to do this, he told himself. He had to do this! He could take care of himself just fine—he knew he could! Now that Potter had thankfully put him down and he was out of that infernal crib, he could finally prove to them that although he looked like an infant, he was still quite capable of doing everything he used to be able to when he looked like an adult. Well…almost everything.

Damn his limited speech skills! It was near impossible to communicate in this miniature form! The last two days had been tantamount to hell for Severus. Not only had Poppy and Minerva insisted on speaking to him and treating him like an infantile idiot, but Albus as well! If anything, Albus was the worst out of all of them. The old man looked like a bloody moron standing there and making those ridiculous faces at him. If the situation wasn’t so demeaning, Severus would’ve laughed at the old codger. But it wasn’t funny. No matter how much Severus tried to make the sounds he intended to make, his mouth just wouldn’t cooperate! When he intended to make one kind of sound, an altogether different one came out. His ‘no’ sounded like ‘mo’; forget trying to say ‘I’. He sounded like a bloody idiot whenever he opened his mouth! Severus felt like he was being horribly tortured and thought the pain would never end…

…until Potter walked through the door.

Potter took one look at him and knew. He met Severus’ eyes once and realized he was still in there. Instead of talking to him like a baby, Potter talked to him like a man. Then something weird happened for Severus—in the place where suspicion normally would have taken form, there instead developed trust. Severus Snape unwillingly began to trust Harry Bloody Potter. Severus immediately thought there was something horribly wrong with him. Then he realized—he was five months old! No matter how much his conscious mind was screaming at him to not trust this teenager standing before him, his subconscious—which seemed to control his actions—felt the exact opposite.

At first, he tested to see whether or not Potter would understand his primitive methods of communication. To his surprise, he understood it perfectly! None of the other professors were able to understand him when he tried to communicate; and they were all smarter than Potter! Severus attributed this phenomenon to the fact that it probably took an idiot to understand another idiot. Then he frowned at himself for calling himself an idiot.

Then something truly humiliating started to happen—he started getting emotional and his childish brain began to take over. He recalled mentally frowning at the arguing professors when his body decided to blow raspberries at them. Then when Potter did it too, he internally found it a bit amusing; to his utmost horror, he actually laughed out loud as well! Of course, the shocked looks on everyone’s faces drew genuine giggles internally as well as externally. That’s when Severus decided to use Potter as his communication device. To his secret delight, Potter not only understood babble and raspberries, he understood hand signals! Trying to say ‘Potter’ was completely out of the question, so Severus settled for trying to pronounce ‘Harry’ instead. The boy recognized it and it worked!

Then Dumbledore began to doubt him again and that put Severus into a mood. Fortunately, it was lifted somewhat when Potter began having a serious conversation with him, which made him feel a bit more normal, even though he disagreed with the brat—he cared for Lily, not for her son, no matter what the brat thought. Unfortunately, that bit of normalcy was disrupted by Dumbledore who proceeded to talk to Potter about him as if he wasn’t even in the room! The nerve of the old coot! Even though Potter reminded him several times to treat him, Severus, like an adult, the old moron wouldn’t listen! That was when Severus began giving in to his urge to act his physical age, and it had thrown Albus into a tailspin, much to Severus’ delight.

Then Potter walked out of the room. As soon as Severus noticed this, he became rather agitated. Potter was the only one who understood him, and treated him like a big adult man, and didn’t talk down to him, and knew what he was saying, and without Potter everything would just go back to being hell again! When Albus, Minerva, and Poppy tried to calm him down with baby talk and stupid faces, it didn’t do any good. It just made his tantrum worse. Finally, when Severus was about to lose it completely, to his supreme relief, Potter walked back into the room and Severus decided to grab him and hold on to him and not let his communication device go!

What he didn’t count on was falling asleep there. When he had come to, he found himself here—in Potter’s quarters, in Potter’s arms!!! Severus immediately wanted down, but not before he made it perfectly clear that these were Potter’s quarters, not his! His quarters were in the dungeons—where he belonged! After a rather convincing argument, in his opinion, he made Potter put him down and now all he had to do was get out of here and prove to all of them that he could do this—that he could take care of himself…by himself!

Now what had Potter said? Oh, yes…all he needed to do was get there. ‘There’ being his quarters, of course. Right! That was easy! He could…ehm…he could walk there. Yes, of course! He could walk. It would probably take a bit of time, but he could walk. Definitely. Now…how to do that. Hmm…well first he had to get on his feet. Right! Easy enough. Er… push up and get on the knees. That’s it! Then…lean on the hands and…push up on the feet and…oof!

Severus fell down against the carpet. To his disgust, a whine escaped from his lips. It’s not like the fall actually hurt—the carpet was extremely soft. The whine was more a sound of frustration than anything else. This wasn’t working the way he planned. Well…it wasn’t working the way he hoped, was more like it. It wasn’t like he actually planned anything before stating he could take care of himself. He just kind of…said it. Impulsively. On principle.

After another failed attempt at standing, Severus tossed that plan out the window and wracked his brain for another option. He was five months old! How did five-month-olds get around, anyway? How did babies in general get around? Severus grimaced internally. He had absolutely no experience with babies. Although…he recalled seeing one or two of them…crawl! That was it! He would crawl to his quarters—yes! It might take even longer than trying to walk, but he could try.

Pushing himself up once again, he managed to get on his hands and knees. Yes, that was the correct position. Now…to put it in effect.

Unbeknownst to baby Severus, the adults were watching him endearingly from above. Minerva and Poppy were whispering between themselves and giggling quietly while Albus silently took pictures. Harry himself couldn’t help the smirk that pulled on the corners of his mouth as he watched Snape struggle with standing up before giving up entirely and deciding to try to crawl. Crawling in itself, it seemed, was proving harder than expected for the thirty-eight-year-old, five-month infant.

How the heck was one supposed to bloody crawl?! The process was entirely easier said than done; it was harder than it looked! Severus began by moving his right hand forward slowly and lifting his left leg in an attempt to move forward in conjunction with his hand. And…push…forward…push…forward…push…oof! Severus’ face smashed into the carpet. A whine escaped his lips. Bugger! Alright…try again! Right hand up, left leg up, push forward…oof! Argh!!! Why was this so bloody hard?! He was a Potion Master for Merlin’s sake! He was a walker with thirty-seven years of walking experience under his belt! Crawling should be a breeze! Alright…one more try. Left hand this time—left hand up, right leg up, push it forward…oof! A longer, more frustrated whine emerged. WHY?! Why couldn’t he do this?! What was so bloody hard about crawling?!

Severus pushed himself up again and sat back on his butt, leaning on his arms. He eyed the portrait hole sadly. Suddenly it looked so far away…

And his quarters were even farther…

Oh, why did this bloody have to happen to him?! What had he done wrong in this life to deserve all this?! Well…truthfully, he knew what he had done wrong; but wasn’t death a good enough punishment for that? Why did he have to be subjected to this punishment, this…humiliation? The bloody Dark Lord had done infinitely worse than what he did and that bastard got to die. Why couldn’t he?! Why couldn’t he be allowed to cross the Veil and see Lily again?! That’s all he wanted—to see his precious love again; to hold her in his arms and tell her everything he wanted to tell her when she was alive but wasn’t able to. Then a thought struck him—was it simply because he wasn’t allowed to see her again? Ever? Because of the crimes he had committed in his lifetime?

An eternity without Lily? Severus felt a sharp, stabbing pain in his chest.

Merlin, what could he have possibly done to deserve that?!?!?!

Oh, why couldn’t he just die?!

Severus felt two fat tears run down his cheek and he looked up miserably at Potter’s blurry form standing above him. Somewhere in the distance he heard a baby’s heart-wrenching cry and it took him a few moments to process that that baby was him. Reluctantly, he reached his arms up towards the Potter blur and opened and closed his hands in a silent, childlike plea.

Two strong hands wrapped around him, lifted him up, and cradled him between two equally strong arms. Severus began sobbing into Potter’s chest for the second time that day. If he had been in a better frame of mind, he would’ve taken a delight in soiling Potter’s robes with tears and snot. But at the moment, he really didn’t care for that either way. He was miserable goddamn it and this little body wanted to cry! He grabbed the robes and held on to them like a vise, burying his face within their folds and screaming his frustrations into them. Tears, snot, and drool openly flowed out of him like wild rivers.

After a few moments, Severus felt a hand begin to rub big, comforting circles into his back. A voice started whispering incomprehensible yet soothing sounds into his ear. The soft thump-thud of the heart beating beneath the other ear calmed his morbid thoughts. The gentle swaying motion slowed his racing heart. Soon, Severus felt his frustrations gradually begin to drain away. 

With his eyes three-quarters of the way closed, something snuck into his mouth and Severus instinctively began sucking on it. When he felt a strange sensation coming from his hand, he realized he must be sucking on his own thumb! Normally, this situation would have been incredibly humiliating, but Severus found he was too tired to even care at the moment. The sound of Dumbledore’s voice perked up his hearing and he idly listened in on their conversation from his comfortable perch in Potter’s arms.

“Would you like to place him in the crib, Harry?”

“No, no, I’ll just carry him for now. It’s fine. Besides, he’s not even asleep yet. He’d just get horribly bored in there.” The chest rumbled beneath Severus’ ear.

“Perhaps you’d like to take a look at the master bedroom then, Mr. Potter.” McGonagall suggested. “It has a king-sized bed, two side tables, a wardrobe, Severus’ crib, a rocking chair, its own personal master bathroom, and a special little bookcase.” She explained as they entered the room itself.

“What’s so special about it, Professor?”

“Oh, Harry. You’re no longer a student here, child. You no longer need to call me Professor.” McGonagall chuckled. “You may call me Minerva.”

Harry blushed. “Oh, Professor…I…um…” he chuckled nervously, “I couldn’t possibly…” He thought for a second and an idea struck him. “How ‘bout I call you ‘Nana’? But I don’t mean that as any kind of offense or anything. It’s just…” he shrugged, “…calling you by your first name seems a bit disrespectful to me, and…and you’ve been a lot like a grandmother to me throughout these years, and…ehm…That—that’s if you don’t mind, of course…um…”

McGonagall seemed a bit flustered but beamed at him nonetheless, “It’d be my honor, Harry.”

If Severus could have opened his eyes, he would have rolled them. As it were, the more Potter spoke, the more the chest under his ear rumbled, the calmer he became, and the sleepier he felt.

“Great!” Harry cleared his throat, “Nana, then. Ehm…” In an effort to distract himself from the awkward situation, he inspected the room. The wardrobe and the bookcase were across from the bed and Harry remembered his question upon seeing them. “So…special bookcase?”

“The bookcase is a secret entrance that will open only to you—it’s charmed to your magical signature.” Dumbledore explained.

“What’s it a secret entrance to, Headmaster?”

“Well, considering you’re joining the Aurors, and rumor has it you’re specializing in both the Unforgivables and weaponized potions, we thought you might be able to make use of your own, personal potions lab.”

Severus’ eyes shot open and he pushed up immediately. “Ah!” Potions lab? They’re giving Potter a potions lab? With a secret entrance? That only he can open?! What about me?! I’m a Potions Master! Potter would ruin every potion he’d get his hands on. He has no right to have his own potions lab. I deserve it! Not him! This is completely unfair!

“Now, Severus—”

Severus pulled his thumb out of his mouth and shook his head violently, “MO! MO! MO! MO! MO! MO! MO!” He glared at the Headmaster, “Meh! Meh! Meh!”

“Mr. Snape—”

“MEH!” He screamed into Harry’s face.

“Excuse me—”

But the baby just shook his head faster and began bouncing and wiggling in Harry’s arms. “Meh! Meh! Meh! Mei…Moooooiiii…MY! MY! MY! MY! MY!”

“Mr. Sna—”

“MY! MY! MY! MY! MIME! MIME! MIME!”

“SEVERUS!” Harry hissed, managing to quiet the surprised child momentarily. “You will stop that right now or—”

“MIME!” The baby glared, blew raspberries straight into his eye, and screeched, “MIME! MIME! MIME! MO OOO! MIME!”

“That’s it.” Harry’s arms tightened around the child and he spun around, screaming over the din, “Nana, does Severus have a playpen or a high chair or something?”

The poor lady looked flustered. “Oh, my! Um…” She turned to Poppy, who was digging through the diaper bag. “I don’t think so.”

“That’s okay.” Harry marched directly to the crib.

“MIME! MIME! MIME! MIME! MIME! MIME! MIME! MIME!” Severus began pounding Harry’s chest with little firsts, but the teenager ignored him. Holding the infant securely with his right hand, Harry pulled out his wand with his left, promptly tossed all the toys out of the crib with a flick, and transfigured it into a playpen. He then picked up the playpen and brought it into the living room, placing it in a corner. Next, he gently placed the child into the empty playpen.

“MO! MO! MomomomomomomomomomoMO!” The baby fought him tooth and nail, grabbing onto his robes, his glasses, even his hair! He blew raspberries at Harry and kicked him with all his might in an effort to prevent the teen from putting him down.

Despite all of Severus’ efforts, Harry was still able to sit him inside the playpen and move out of his reach before the infant could grab on again. “There! Now…”

“AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!” Severus wailed at the top of his lungs, gazing up at Harry sadly and reaching out to him in an effort to be picked back up.

“NO!” Harry replied firmly, pointing a reproachful finger at him. “You didn’t tolerate disrespect from me, so why should I tolerate any from you?” Tears and snot continued to pour down the baby’s face. “Now listen to me.”

“MO!” Severus wailed, swiping his cheeks before pounding his fists into the bottom of the playpen. “MO! Uuuuuuuuuuuup!”

“No.”

“Up!” Baby Snape sniffled, “Up, pea?”

“Severus, you not only yelled at me, you yelled at Professor Dumbledore. You hit me, you spit in my face, you pulled my hair, you grabbed my glasses, you kicked me…You’ve been a naughty boy, young man!”

Severus had stopped yelling but continued to weep and whimper as Harry lectured him.

“Now I am not speaking to you as a five-month-old, am I?” Harry continued, “I’m trying all I can to treat you as normally as possible, to make your life as bearable as possible—I know you know all this!” He tried to take a calming breath, “Now here’s the reality of the situation—if you wish to act like a five-month-old, I will treat you like a five-month-old with a few exceptions—I know you know better than this so you’re getting the punishment I think a typical five-year-old would deserve.”

“Mo pumeh! Mo pumeh!” The infant shook his head and held up his arms once again, opening and closing his little hands. “Up, pea! Up, pea, Haweh! Pea, Haweh! Uuuup!”

Harry gritted his teeth as he took in the forlorn sight before him. Severus was quite a beautiful baby, but he was also a temperamental one. Harry realized that although Snape still had his memories, they were just that—memories. They were in no way connected with his behavior anymore. It was like someone had removed all of Snape’s memories from his adult body and inserted them into this child. Although this infant thought like Snape and remembered things that had happened in Snape’s life, his reactions to things and his behavior would not be the same as the Severus Snape everyone was used to. That Snape’s neural pathways had already been forged. He was conditioned to act the way he did and think the way he did and like the things he did because of the way he grew up. This Snape, however, was a different case altogether. This Snape was a five month old baby. He was a vessel for the adult Snape’s memories but nothing more. His behavior, reactions, thinking patterns, likes, dislikes and whatnot had not had the chance to form yet. His neural pathways were just beginning to develop. For the adult Snape, old habits died hard. For the baby Snape, there were no habits to speak of; and Harry would be damned if the habits that did form were bad ones.

“Shhh…quiet now, please. Let me speak.” Harry tried in a calmer voice.

“Mmmmm!” Severus sobbed. “Mmmmmm!” Sniff!

The baby looked up at him miserably.

“Now I’m going to leave you in here for ten minutes.”

“MO!”

“Do not interrupt me.” Harry said firmly, giving the infant a steely look. “I am very disappointed in your behavior, and I think you could use a time-out.”

“MO! UP PEA!!!” Severus’ tears started anew.

“I want you think about everything I just said.” Harry continued regardless, his tone even. “And when I get back in here, you owe me and Professor Dumbledore an apology.”

“MO!”

But Harry ignored him. He simply walked away from the crib and into the master bedroom where the other professors stood waiting for him.

“MO! MO! COM BAC! COM BAC! PEA!!!!” The shrieking in the next room reached an all-time high.

As soon as Harry was sure he was out of the baby’s sight, he clutched at his heart and the ghost of pain he felt there.

“Mr. Potter, are you alright?!” Poppy started, alarmed.

“Oh, no, Madame Pomfrey, I’m fine. It’s just…” He glanced behind his shoulder at the other room.

“Oh! Don’t worry. We understand.” The healer assured her.

“You handled that admirably, Harry.” McGonagall complimented.

“I quite agree.” Dumbledore agreed.

Harry grimaced, “Thank you.” He glanced worriedly at the outer room once again. Severus’ cries were like a dagger stabbing him in the heart. He gritted his teeth, reminding himself that he needed to be tough. He needed to instill not only love but discipline as well. He could see now that carrying out the latter was going to become quite a problem.  

“He’s going to be fine, my boy. Don’t worry.” Dumbledore clasped his shoulder in support and steered him to the bathroom. “Now…I’ve already set a timer. It’ll inform you when the ten minutes are up. So…how about in that time we examine your new master bathroom and your private lab, hmm?” The boy nodded distractedly. “Minerva, Poppy, would you be so kind as to set up everything we brought from the infirmary.” The witches nodded and Dumbledore steered him to his connecting master bathroom.

The bathroom was exquisite—the bathtub was huge, the sink was large enough to fit baby Severus, and the changing table had plenty of room to store nappies. Harry couldn’t help but think of Ginny and how she would absolutely love the bathtub and the fact that it could easily convert to a hot tub. Harry smirked. Underneath the Quidditch-playing tough exterior was a bubble bath romantic who loved to be treated like a woman.

Checking the time, Harry noted Severus had five more minutes to go. He was glad the crying had died down somewhat. It was hard enough to leave Severus by himself in another room, let alone to leave Severus crying by himself in another room. It went against all his protective instincts.

“Come, my boy. I’ll show you how to access the lab and take you on a bit of a tour.” Dumbledore said, steering him to the bookcase.

The lab turned out to be quite fantastic. The Headmaster had graciously supplied him with the basic set of ingredients necessary to make common potions. The room was about as big as the adult Snape’s—now Professor Slughorn’s—classroom. The only difference was it was all for him. The shelves were full of new cauldrons, potions tools, vials, beakers, and potions books from all his years at Hogwarts and then some. Harry even spotted a couple of potions journals about the room.

“It’s fantastic! Thank you, sir.” Harry smiled.

“One more thing, my boy.” Dumbledore pointed to an inconspicuous area of the wall in a corner. “Put your hand on the cracked stone there and see what happens.”

Harry did so and the wall quietly slid aside to reveal another well-lit room of about the same size as the lab. It housed a fireplace, shelves stocked with endless bags of shrunken and preserved food and water, an abnormally large bag full of shrunken books and school supplies, a bag full of portkeys, two large bunk beds, and a bag full of shrunken bed rolls.

“It’s a safe room.” Dumbledore said, walking in behind him. “Or panic room, as some muggles like to call it. Only you and your future family may enter here. Although the fireplace is not connected to the network, you may still use it to floo in and out to escape. That means that no one but you or your family can floo in because you’re the only ones who know it’s here, but you can certainly floo out to anywhere you like. The room is stocked with enough magically-preserved food to feed the whole of Hogwarts for a year. The bag and school supplies are enough to teach up to ten students first through seventh year material. The portkeys are another way out, and the bed rolls are if you decide to lock yourselves in with extra guests.”

“Wow!” Harry gaped, “This is amazing!” He met Dumbledore’s eyes, “A well thought-out plan, sir.”

“Yes, well, after the last war, I figure we need more of those—”

Suddenly, an alarm blared and Harry pulled out his wand instinctively.

“Don’t worry! That’s just the timer.” The Headmaster told him with a smile, “Looks like Severus’ time-out is up, hmm?”

“Thank Merlin.” Harry rushed out of the panic room, up the stairs, and out of his bedroom. As he approached the playpen, he could hear quiet sniffling coming from within.

“Com bac...” Sniff! “Com bac, pea…” Sob! From this angle, it looked like baby Snape was now lying down on his side and sobbing into the lone blanket that had been left in there by accident.

“Hey, scamp!” Harry greeted softly, kneeling next to the playpen and giving the child a gentle smile.

Severus’ eyes widened, “Ooo bac! Ooo bac!” He pushed himself up onto his hands and knees then sat back on his heels.

Harry chuckled softly, “Of course I’m back. I was only in the next room.” He reached up and lowered one wall of the playpen just enough so that they could see each other clearly, but the baby still wouldn’t be able to get out. “Now…is there something you want to say to me?” He eyed the child sternly.

Severus pouted and hung his head, a tear running down his face. “Owy Haweh.” He replied in a small voice.

“And what for?” Harry guided him softly.

“Oowim empew.”

“Losing your temper, yes.” Harry nodded.

“Be…com…bing by-o-wemp.”

“Becoming violent, alright. That’s something I will not tolerate. Go on.” Harry told him.

Severus swallowed, “Di…weh…pec…ping Ooo.”

“Disrespecting me and…?”

“Dumb…dow.”

“And Professor Dumbledore, that’s right. Are you going to apologize to him, too?” He raised an eyebrow at the babe.

Severus nodded frantically, reaching his arms out pleadingly and giving Harry his best puppy-dog-eyes look.

Harry smirked. “Alright, my boy, you’re forgiven.” He lowered the wall the rest of the way, leaned over, and held his arms out. Severus immediately dove forward and wrapped his arms around Harry’s neck, sobbing into his robes once again. “Alright now. It’s forgiven now. Just apologize to Professor Dumbledore and it’ll be okay between us again, alright?” He felt the infant nod against his chest. “Alright.”

Slowly and carefully, Harry climbed to his feet and made his way back into the master bedroom. “Professor Dumbledore, someone would like to say something to you.” He announced, nudging the infant with his shoulder. “Severus?”

The little boy turned from where he had his face buried within Harry’s robes and eyed the Headmaster miserably. “Owy pow my beh-e-bow, ehw.”

“That means ‘Sorry for my behavior, sir.’” Harry translated.

Dumbledore gave the child a gentle smile, his eyes twinkling in delight. “I forgive you, my boy.” He began rubbing the baby Snape’s back, but the child shyly dove his face back into Harry’s robes.

Harry nodded at Dumbledore and turned back to his young charge, “There, you see now? All forgiven.” He kissed the top of Severus’ head tenderly and began running his hands through his baby hair. “I’m proud of you.” He whispered.

“Well! We’ll just leave the both of you to it.” Dumbledore smiled, eyes twinkling at Harry.

“Mr. Potter, I’ve taken the liberty of stocking both your bathrooms with common potions for both children and adults.” Poppy told him, “Should you need anything, chances are they’ll be in there.”

“Thank you, Madame.”

“Harry, the parenting books and whatnot are on your desk. I advise reading them as soon as you’re able.”

“Yes, Nana, I’ll be sure to do that.” He nodded as he followed the three professors to the door.

“Remember, you don’t have to eat all your meals in here. The Great Hall is still where you remember it to be.”

“Thank you, Headmaster, I’ll remember.”

“Call us if you need anything, dear.”

“Yes, Nana.”

“Mr. Potter, I’d like to see Severus Friday morning.” Poppy told him as they stepped out of the portrait hole, “For a check-up and an update on the situation with the inventor.”

Harry nodded, “Absolutely.”

Dumbledore began ushering the two ladies down the hall, but couldn’t resist turning back one last time, “Goodnight, my boys.”

“Goodnight, sir.” Harry smiled, nudging the child gently with his shoulder.

Severus’ baby face turned in their direction, “Goo-my!” He droned before sticking his thumb in his mouth and burrowing into Harry’s chest once again.

Albus made sure to discreetly snap a picture of the pair as the portrait hole closed. That was a precious moment.