“Peb-by!” Sev squealed from where he sat on the carpet, waving a bright red donut-shaped plastic toy in his hands.

“Ah! Ha, ha, ha, ha! Ah!” Teddy laughed in his bouncer as the seat swung up and down.

“Peb-by!”

“Ah! Ha, ha, ha, ha! Ah!”

The boys were on the floor of the den, playing on the carpet, while Harry worked on lesson plans and brushed up on defense techniques at his desk.

“Peb-by!”

“Ah! Ha, ha, ha, ha! Ah!”

“Peb-by!”

“Ah! Ha, ha, ha, ha! Ah!”

“Peb-by!”

“Ah! Ha, ha, ha, ha! Ah!’

Harry threw the parchment he was trying to read back onto the desk and buried his face in his hands.

“Peb-by!”

“Ah! Ha, ha, ha, ha! Ah!”

“Peb-by!”

“Ah! Ha, ha, ha, ha! Ah!”

“Peb-by!”

“Ah! Ha, ha, ha, ha! Ah!”

Harry moved his head downward so that his arms covered his ears and he laced his fingers behind his head, hoping to block out all sounds. 

“Peb-by!”

“Ah! Ha, ha, ha, ha! Ah!”

“Peb-by!”

“Ah! Ha, ha, ha, ha! Ah!”

“Peb-by!”

“Ah! Ha, ha, ha, ha! Ah!”

“Boys!” Harry shot around in his chair and called the babies’ attentions to him. The repetitive noises abruptly stopped, much to his relief. Harry took a deep breath, cleared his throat, and put a smile on his face. “Sev…why don’t you work on a letter puzzle right now, eh? Let Peb—Teddy play on his own for a little bit? I’m sure he’s dying to explore some of those stuffed toys hanging on his bouncer.”

“Mo. Peb-by!”

“Ah! Ha, ha, ha, ha! Ah!”

Harry groaned and began rubbing his forehead with his hand.

“Peb-by!”

“Ah! Ha, ha, ha, ha! Ah!”

Harry picked up a quill and tried to jot down the prompt for the essay he wanted the fourth years to write over the winter holiday. He got through two words before,

“Peb-by!”

“Ah! Ha, ha, ha, ha! Ah!”

Harry threw down the quill and leaned back in his chair, rubbing his face with his hands. This is hopeless. “Alright!” The teenager raised his arms in an ‘I surrender’ fashion and sighed as he stood up from his desk. “You win! Fine!” After pushing his chair in, Harry threw himself on the soft carpet next to Sev. The baby grinned down at him before giggling madly. “There! I can play. What do you want to do?”

“AH! Ha, ha, ha, ha! COO!”

“Teddy bear!” Harry grinned up at his godson and the infant smiled down at him as he continued to bounce. “What you doing there, Teddy bear? Eh? What are you up to?”

“Mmm BA!”

“Mmm BA!” Harry imitated, scooting himself over so that he now lay down between the boys.

“Haweh!”

“Yes, sir?” Harry turned his attention to the scowling infant on his right. “Hey…what’s with the face?”

“Mo!” Sev crawled closer to Harry and tapped his side. The teenager immediately moved his arm and Sev burrowed into his side.

“O…kay.” Harry wrapped his arm around the now-clingy baby and frowned as he eyed the top of Sev’s head. “I thought you wanted to play?”

“Pay!” It was like someone flipped a switch. Sev immediately smiled, rolled over onto Harry’s arm, and began to crawl towards his head.

Harry chuckled. “Something’s definitely gotten into you today.” He murmured to himself. Turning his attention back to the bouncing baby on top of him, Harry grinned at the infant. “Teddy bear!”

“Ha, ha, ha, ha!”

“Teddy Bear!”

“Haweh! Haweh! Haweh!” Sev began slapping him on the chest.

“Hey, hey, hey! Relax!” Harry rubbed Sev’s head and leaned up to give him a kiss on the temple. “What’s going on?”

“Pay!” The infant whined.

“Okay.” Harry chuckled. “Okay. What do you want to play?”

Sev grunted and began reaching for a toy just past Harry’s head. “Mmmm! Mmmm!” He wanted to get his stuffed lion cub. Sev wanted Harry to make it do funny faces and dance around again like last time. Now that he finally got Harry to stop working and pay attention to him, he wanted to do all the fun stuff with him. All he had to do right now was get his stuffed cub! “Mmmm! Mmmm!” Sev stretched out all his limbs as far as they could go in order to reach his toy. His little toes were pointed outward and his tiny fingers were stretched to their limits. Sev could feel the fabric of his toy on the tips of his fingers. Just…a little…closer…!

“Teddy bear!”

“Ha, ha, ha, ha!”

“Mo!” No! No, no, no, no, no, no, no! Harry was supposed to be playing with him! With him—Severus—not Teddy! Harry wasn’t supposed to be playing with Teddy. No way! Harry was supposed to be playing with Severus! “Haweh!” Sev began patting him on the shoulder, trying to get his attention. “Haweh!”

“Yeah, cub. Yeah, I know.”

Sev bit his little lip with his toothless gums. He glanced towards his stuffed lion, just out of reach. Then he glanced back towards Harry, who was now reaching up to flick one of Teddy’s stuffed toys with his finger. He peered at his stuffed lion again; still out of reach. Then he peered back at Harry, who was now making funny faces at the three-month-old. Then back at the stuffed lion. Then back at Harry. Then back at the lion. Then back at Harry. Lion. Harry. Lion. Harry. Lion. Harry. Argh!

Hang the stupid lion!

“HAWEH!” Severus screamed at the top of his lungs before breaking down into tears.

“Hey! Hey! Whoa, whoa!” Harry turned away from his godson and scooped Severus into his arms. “Hey! What’s going on here?” The infant screamed into his chest, sounding incredibly distressed, and Harry sat up in an effort to comfort him better. “Sev?”

“Sounds like somebody’s getting a bit J-E-A-L-O-U-S to me.” The man on the easy chair, with his feet up on the coffee table (which Ginny had specifically forbidden), commented from behind his Quidditch magazine.

Harry threw his godfather a dirty look. “Would you come over here and help, please?” He practically ordered as he struggled to climb to his feet.

“No, thank you, I’m fine.” Sirius replied sardonically as he flipped the page.

“Sirius!”

“Alright, alright, I’m coming.” The animagus threw the magazine aside and sauntered over to help Harry to his feet.

“Thank you.” The teenager instantly began dancing around the room, trying to calm the infant who was still bawling against his robes.

“You know, that kid had quite the pair of lungs on him. You’d have never been able to tell it was Severus.” Sirius smirked and reached down to lift Teddy out of his bouncer. “And how’s my little wolf cub doing today, eh? Did the jealous little boy take your godfather away from you, huh?” Sirius turned back to face his own godson. “He’ll grow out of it, Harry, don’t worry. Just don’t let it get too far, okay?” And with that, Sirius settled back down on Harry’s couch, content with keeping Teddy entertained as Harry dealt with his own little ‘bundle of (loud, teary, snotty) joy’.

“Sev?” Harry whispered into the infant’s ear. “Sev, come on, cub, what’s going on? What’s wrong?”

“Meh!”

“You?!” Harry’s eyes widened in alarm. Laying a hand on the back of Severus’ head, the teenager ran all the medical diagnostics he could think of on the baby. They all came back clean. “Do you feel sick? Is that it? Does it hurt anywhere? Do you feel nauseous?”

Sev pushed up against his chest and scowled at him. “Mo! Meh!” The child began patting his chest. “Meh, Haweh! Meh!” He tried to discreetly glance over Harry’s shoulder towards the couch, but the teenager caught him in the act.

Turning to follow his gaze, Harry’s eyes met with his smug-looking godfather’s. “What did I tell you? Jay-Lucy.”

Jay-Lucy? Sev rolled his eyes. Really?! If that’s his way of discreetly saying ‘jealousy’, he’s a moron! The infant blew raspberries at Sirius.

“Alright, alright, come now, Sev.” Harry began walking towards Sirius and, by consequence, Teddy.

“MO!” Severus squealed.

Harry faltered mid-step. Oh, for the love of Merlin…! Spinning around, Harry began walking in the opposite direction and the infant immediately began to calm down. “Oh, Severus.” Harry sighed. “Padfoot, do you mind watching the other cub for a bit?”

“Mo! Mo cub! Meh cub!” Sev poked Harry’s chest with his finger, making it absolutely clear who the term ‘cub’ referred to.

“Yeah, sure thing, Harry.”

“Thanks.” As Harry retrieved Sev’s teething snitch from the fridge, he wondered whether or not the jealousy would go away on its own if he just ignored it for now.

“Meh cub! MEH CUB, HAWEH!”

“Yes! Yes, you’re my cub. Relax!” Harry ran his fingers through Sev’s baby hair and kissed him gently on the temple. “Calm down. You’re my cub.”

Sev grabbed a fistful of Harry’s robe and stuck it in his mouth while he listened to his caretaker’s heartbeat. Yes, that was right. He was the cub. He, Severus, was the cub. Teddy wasn’t the cub. Sev was the cub. Teddy was…er…the other cub? No! NO! Sev was the cub! Teddy wasn’t the cub. Sev was the cub! Then if Sev was the cub, what was Teddy?

Oy! I’m getting a headache. A voice groaned at the back of his head.

Teddy was Remus’ kid. Remus was a wolf; which made Teddy a cub. But I’M the cub!

“Or how about this, Sev,” Harry interrupted his thoughts. “You’re my cub—the lion cub, and Teddy is Remus’ cub—the wolf cub. How’s that? This way, you can both be cubs.”

“Mo!” Sev pointed to his little chest. “Meh cub! Meh!”  

Harry sighed and headed for the door. “Padfoot, we’re going to take a walk.”

“Sure thing!” Sirius replied, continuing to make funny faces at the baby on his knee.

“Let Ginny know when she gets back.”

“Uh-huh!”

“Enjoy your walk, Sir Henry, Master Severus.” Merlin wished them as he closed the portrait hole behind them.

“Meh cub, Mewmew! MEH cub!” Severus noisily informed the paining.

“Absolutely, Master Severus.” The old wizard agreed wholeheartedly.

“Come on, cub, I want to show you something.” Harry murmured into his ear.

Severus gnawed on his teething snitch and listened to Harry’s heartbeat as the teenager walked them up the moving staircase. Teddy’s not the cub. I’m the cub. Teddy’s not the cub. I’m the cub. Teddy’s not the cub. I’m the—

“Have you ever heard of the Room of Requirement, Sev?” Harry asked, interrupting his thoughts.

The Room of what? Sev peered up at Harry inquisitively.

“The Room of Requirement.” Harry repeated. “It’s an enchanted room in Hogwarts that only appears when a person is in great need of it, and can be molded into practically any room they want it to be. And the best part—it come equipped with everything they could possibly need while they’re using it.” He explained. “That’s where all the Dumbledore’s Army meetings were held three years ago. If the Room of Requirement is occupied, it will only allow you in if you know specifically how its occupants are using the room. If you don’t know that, then you’re locked out for sure. That’s how Filch and Umbridge and the Inquisitorial Squad went so long without catching us. The Room of Requirement wouldn’t allow them in.” Harry turned into the seventh floor corridor. “The Room is also where Neville and other DA members hid out for a few weeks before the Battle of Hogwarts; and it’s also the place through which the students escaped and the cavalry entered.”

So that’s how everyone went in and out of the castle undetected! Sev’s eyes widened. And that’s where Longbottom disappeared to when he went missing! Severus recalled how worried he had been when he heard that Longbottom had gone missing. He was afraid one of the younger Death Eaters in the school, or even one of the older ones on the faculty, had done something to him and was keeping it quiet. Severus had enough blood on his hands at that point. He didn’t care for more. And the worry only intensified when he began getting reports of more and more resistance students going missing. He thought he was going to have to blow his cover if only to find out what happened to them!

But they were hiding right under our noses the entire time. Sev shook his head as he marveled at the audacity of such young people. Undermining the…Vol—Voldemort’s regime…Sev flinched at his own audacity in forcing himself to start referring to Voldemort by name…Recruiting for their side, despite the threats to life, limb, and family…Sev cringed when he recalled how he himself made some of those threats (however fake they may have been)…Swallowing the fear and actively fighting for their beliefs, even if such resistance meant death…Sev wondered briefly how happy they were, fighting for a side that they believed in whole-heartedly. He wondered if, despite the pain from the Carrows’ beatings, Longbottom slept better than he, Severus, did during that year of open war. And why wouldn’t he? His body may have been in pain, but his soul was unburdened. Despite the oppression, he was free.

Sev wondered why he didn’t wish to fight openly during the war. He wondered why he chose to fight in the shadows, where he couldn’t really help people or encourage them to keep on fighting. Because you were a spy, stupid! Sev made a face and blew raspberries into Harry’s shirt. Spying is stupid! If they gave him the choice now, he most likely would’ve chosen to fight openly; to be the inspiration for people, to be the hope. He would’ve chosen the beatings over the burden. He would’ve chosen the real power of loyalty through trust rather than the fake power of loyalty through fear. Voldemort was a liar! Sev made a face and blew raspberries into Harry’s shirt once again. A cold, cruel, sweet-talking liar who preyed on the people who needed the light the most! He took them out of the gutter and gutted their souls even more. Sev could feel cold fury bubbling in the pit of his stomach.

“Sev, is there a reason you’re spitting all over my robes?” Harry asked, partially amused.

“Bo-mo, BA-MA!”

Harry was so shocked, he froze in his tracks. Did he just say ‘Voldemort’? He peered down at the infant, a smile tugging at the corners of his lips. “What did you say, cub?”

“Bo-mo, BA-MA!”

That’s what I thought you said. Harry grinned. Severus had just called Voldemort by his name for the first time ever! Harry was so proud; he hugged the child close and gave him a kiss on the head. “That’s right! Voldemort was a bad man.”

“Bo-mo, BA-MA!” Sev mirrored his caretaker’s smile.

Harry chuckled elatedly as he approached the tapestry of Barnabas the Barmy. “Voldemort was a bad man.”

“BO-MO BA-MA! BO-MO BA-MA! BO-MO BA-MA!” The infant screamed at the ceiling, before dissolving into giggles along with the teenager. Soon, the seventh floor corridors echoed with the sounds of laughter.

“Yes, he most certainly was.” Harry ran his fingers through Sev’s baby hair as he paced up and down the corridor three times. He didn’t know what brought this latest outburst on, but he liked it. It meant Sev was getting rid of his old ideals and adopting new ones, and to Harry that was a good sign.

Suddenly, a rumbling sound filled the air, startling Severus into silence and causing him to bury his face in Harry’s robes. “Easy there, cub,” Harry chuckled. “It’s only the Room of Requirement opening for us.” He nudged the infant with his shoulder and inclined his head towards the wall.

Sev peeked out from behind Harry’s lapel and his eye widened as he watched an ornate doorway grow out of what used to be a plain old wall. Pushing up against Harry’s chest, he watched the doorway crack, groan, and snap until everything stopped moving and the rumbling died down altogether.

“Severus Snape,” Harry had a smirk on his face as he pushed the door open and walked in. “Welcome to the headquarters of Dumbledore’s Army.”

The room they entered was big, but not too big; about twice the size of a large dormitory common room, Severus reckoned. It was rectangular, with three large windows in the far wall, offering breathtaking views of the Hogwarts landscape.

As Harry walked them into the room, Sev noted that two of the walls—the one behind them and the one in front of them—were nearly completely lined with bookcases, filled to the brim with leather-bound books and journals on defense and the dark arts. On the right wall, a long table stood in one empty corner, next to a group of shelves filled with potions ingredients. Three cauldrons were stacked on one end of the table, while cutting tools, gloves, pestles, mortars, quills, ink, parchment, and potions books were littered about the rest of it. Further down the wall was a large, full-length mirror--much like the ones found in muggle dance studios--that spanned from the potions section to a large open cabinet in the opposite corner. Inside the cabinet stood several wooden dummies with strange faces and targets painted on their chests. All of them except one looked like they rolled about on wheels.

Next to the dummy section on the far wall, before the line of bookshelves started, stood several shelves which housed various odd instruments. Some of the instruments looked to be for the purpose of detecting dark magic and wizards, some looked unfinished, while others looked finished but their purpose remained unknown to Severus. Littered on the floor in front of the instrument shelves were bean bags, bowl chairs, and comfortable-looking cushions that appeared to have been used quite often.

Attached to the far wall, above the bookshelves and the windows, were two large banners. Their vibrant colors attracted the eye of everyone who stepped foot into the room, reminding all as to the purpose of this sacred space. The banner directly across the door read:

Dumbledore's Army

While the one further down the wall broadcasted the group's slogan:

Live free or die!

“So…what do you think?” Harry asked hesitantly. Sev’s head had yet to stop swiveling from one end of the room to the other. He had stopped them in the middle of the dueling area so that Severus could get a good look around. “The Twins called it my ‘War Room’, and I supposed that’s what it was during the war.”

Sev was only paying him half an ear, preferring to explore the new space with his eyes. When he caught sight of the far left wall, though, he stopped paying attention altogether. “Haweh!” He gasped.

“Yes? What?” Harry spun around to follow his gaze and smiled. “Ah, yes…my war board.”

And a war board it was indeed. The entire left wall of the room was covered in cork and made up one giant bulletin board. At the very top of the board were three medium-sized banners that divided the wall into three evenly-spaced sections—Dumbledore on the left, Riddle on the right, and a question mark in between them. As Harry approached the board, Sev saw that the Riddle section of the board had magical pictures of Death Eaters arranged under its banner in little neat rows. The pictures appeared to have been taken candidly, for each Death Eater was dressed in their regular clothing and looked to be going about their everyday business. Under each picture was a little banner giving the name of the Death Eater, and along the sides were small pieces of scrap paper with scribbles on them.

“Wha dap?” Sev asked, pointing to one of the scraps of paper attached to Lucius Malfoy’s picture.

“That,” Harry replied with a wistful smile, “is a little bit of inside information on Lucius Malfoy that may or may not be useful some day. In fact, all these scrap notes,” Harry stepped back and gestured to all the scrap notes attached to all the pictures on the board, “are tidbits of information on people that myself and members of the DA have collected over the years. Look!” Harry approached Malfoy’s picture once again and pointed to a small stamp on the corner of the picture that read Marked. “That means he’s been branded with the Dark Mark.” He pointed to one of the longer pieces of scrap paper, “This is his daily routine. I guarantee you, now that the war’s over, he’ll go back to this very same routine, which makes everything easier for us because it makes him predictable.” He pointed to another scrap, “And if he’s as predictable as we think he is, this tells us how long he has until his money runs out from the bribery he does every day.”

Thirty-two years and four months? Sev’s eyes widened. That’s not that long. Lucius must be getting desperate by now then. I know he was spending money like crazy this entire year, trying to get back in Voldemort’s “good graces”. Sev scoffed. As if that exists.

“The same goes for his son Draco.” Harry pointed to the boy’s picture. “He’s marked, allergic to shrimp, has insecurity issues, sees a mind healer that his father doesn’t know about, and has had a drinking problem since he was fourteen that he hides rather well.”

A drinking problem? Sev was shocked. Draco?! He was having a hard time believing it. I watched him throughout his Hogwarts career. I spent most of my time watching him throughout that whole debacle with Dumbledore two years ago. How was it that I never noticed this?!

“Uh-uh!” Severus argued, pointing to the scrap of paper that read he had a drinking problem. “Mo dink. Mo dink!”

“Oh, yes, drink.” Harry replied calmly. “He does it away from prying eyes—alone, with his curtains drawn, in his bed, or somewhere else equally as private.” Harry pointed to Draco’s eyes. “But that’s how you can tell. His eyes are bloodshot in the morning. Sometimes his hands shake so badly he has to keep them hidden under the table, else leave the room entirely. After that, I don’t see him for the rest of the day. He sweats excessively at times, appears confused at others, and has little ticks that indicate he’s hallucinating. All of these are signs of alcohol withdrawal and indicate a build-up of alcohol tolerance, which indicates alcohol abuse. Trust me, I know. My uncle had a drinking problem too.”

Of course he did. Sev grimaced. Your uncle should be shot with a muggle gun…in the face.

“And it goes on like that for the rest of the board.” Harry continued to explain. “This was our resource during the war years. This is how we knew who in the school were Death Eaters, who were being recruited, and who were being targeted for recruiting. That way, the members of the DA could effectively prevent the recruitment of Death Eaters by actively recruiting those being targeted to our side before the junior Death Eaters got to them.”

Dear Merlin! Sev’s eyes widened. This really was a war room! Potter and his DA members fought a silent war against the junior Death Eaters within the walls of Hogwarts just as Dumbledore and the Order fought a noisy war against the adults outside of it. And this all went on under my nose?! Some spy I made!

“And this is Dumbledore’s half of the board.” Harry said, walking over. “Those two panorama pictures were taken by Aberforth in his pub. The one on top is of the first Order of the Phoenix—Sirius gave that picture to me, and the one on the bottom is of the DA. And, of course, you have your standard solo pictures with names and tidbits of info. These status stamps indicate whether or not a person is in the Order or the Army, whether they’re being trained or being recruited, that sort of thing.”

Harry moved over to the question mark category, where large amounts of scrap paper (Sev saw entire rolls of parchment) were tacked next to a single familiar picture. “And, of course, there’s you.”

Sev scowled and blew raspberries at the entire section in general.

“Yes,” Harry chuckled, “You were the subject of a hot debate in this room. We had a running bet going on you as to whose side you were actually on.”

Sev blew more raspberries at the picture and the stupid little papers.

“But you don’t need to see all that. Come along!” Harry began walking away, but Sev merely pulled himself over his shoulder and continued to blow raspberries at his section of the board. “Come on, Sev…”

Bfffffft!

Bfffffft!

BFFFFFFFT!!!

“Alright, that’s enough.” Harry settled them on one of the bowl chairs and turned it away so that Sev no longer had a view of the offending board.

“Mo wike dap!” Sev tipped his head up and scowled at his caretaker. 

Harry raised an eyebrow. “Which one?”

“Dap. Dap! Dap! Dap!” Sev began to point in the direction of the bulletin board but stopped, thinking that might not be clear enough for Harry. Instead, he settled for pointing to his left forearm, where his Dark Mark used to be. “Dap! Dap! Dap!”

Harry nodded and gave him a kiss on the head. “Okay. Alright! I get it. I know that, cub.”

“Mmmm…” Sev smiled and settled against Harry’s chest, happy that he got his point across.

And then that’s when he saw it.

“Haweh!” Sev gasped, bouncing on Harry’s lap and pointing straight ahead. “Dap!”

Harry raised an eyebrow and followed the tiny finger. “What?”

“Dap! Dap! Dap!”

The teenager was confused. “The mirror?”

“Go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go!”

“You want to look in the mirror?!”

“GO! GO! GO!”

Harry shook his head and shrugged. “Alright…but I’m not getting up until an extra word is added to that sentence.”

“Go, pea?” Sev threw in his puppy dog eyes for good measure.

Harry chuckled, sat Sev on one arm, and stood up, heading for the large mirror. Sev began bouncing on his arm as soon as he got close enough to touch the reflection in the mirror. “Who’s that handsome devil over there, eh?”

Sev grinned. The baby in the mirror grinned back.

Sev laughed. The baby in the mirror laughed back.

Why is this so bloody entertaining?! A voice grumbled in the back of his head.

“You want to give Sev a kiss?”

Sev blinked and then turned a raised eyebrow at Harry. Oh, please, do you actually think I’m so vain as to want to give myself a kiss?! The voice spat in his head.

“Alright, a bit too much, I know.” Harry smirked and then shrugged. “But the least you can do is return his wave, don’t you think?” The teenager’s eyes shone as he inclined his head towards the mirror.

Sev furrowed his eyebrows in confusion before checking his reflection once again. To his utmost surprise, the infant in the mirror was smiling and waving at him with both hands!

What in Merlin’s name…?!

Sev glanced down at his hands and found them still gripping Harry’s robes, just as he left them. A glance at his reflection, however, claimed otherwise.

TAP! TAP! TAP! Reflection Sev knocked on the glass to get his attention and smiled at his shocked face before resuming his waving.

Sev turned his bewildered eyes towards Harry, but the teenager merely gave him a mysterious smile and flicked his eyes towards the mirror.

TAP! TAP! TAP! Mirror Sev was beckoning him closer.

“Mo!” Sev squealed before burying his face in Harry’s robes.

“Aw, come on, cub, he’s not that bad.” Harry replied, sounding amused. He kissed the tip of Sev’s bright red ear before stepping closer to the mirror.

TAP! TAP! TAP! Sev peeked out from behind Harry’s lapel to find mirror Sev smiling at him and beckoning him to touch the hand he was holding flat against the mirror. Sev frowned.

“Look, cub.” Harry tapped on the palm of mirror Sev’s hand and the reflected infant grinned and began tapping the glass with his palm. Tap! Tap! Tap!

“There, see? You want to give it a try?” Harry whispered into his hair.

TAP! TAP! TAP!

“How are you doing there, Sev?” Harry asked the reflection. “You look like you’re having fun. Is that fun?” Sev’s frown deepened. Harry tapped the mirror with his finger and the mirror Sev giggled and tapped back.

No! “MO!” Sev pushed up suddenly from Harry’s chest and scowled at his reflection. Harry’s supposed to be playing with me! “MEH!” He began slapping mirror Sev with his hand and screaming at him. “Meh! Meh! Meh! Meh! MEH!”

“Hey, hey, relax, cub!” Harry replied, stepping away from the mirror and disenchanting Sev’s reflection.

BFFFFFFFFT!

“Sev, really! What has gotten into you today?”

“Mo peh heh. MEH!” The infant whined, frowning at his caretaker.

“Really?” Harry raised an eyebrow at him. “You’re jealous of your own reflection?” He asked dryly.

Sev merely turned back and blew raspberries at his reflection.

Harry rolled his eyes and sighed. Turning away from the mirror, he began to dance Sev listlessly around the room. “So let me get this straight. You don’t love yourself enough to give yourself a kiss, but you do hate yourself enough to feel jealous of yourself. Does that sound about right?”

Sev stuck his thumb in his mouth and began sucking fervently as he listened to Harry’s comforting heartbeat.

“It was only a joke, Sev. I thought you’d have loved interacting with yourself.”

“Mo!” Sev retorted around his thumb as he gripped Harry’s robes tightly in his little fist and pulled them closer to himself. “Mo wike! Peh meh!”

“I am playing with you, cub!”

“Peh meh, peh meh, peh me, Haweh.” Sev chanted quietly as he shifted against Harry’s chest.

The teenager sighed and began walking towards one of the windows on the far wall. Pushing it open, he stepped over the ledge and onto the balcony that Sev failed to notice a while ago. “Come now, cub. What’s with all this jealousy all of a sudden, eh?”

Harry took a seat on one of the deck chairs the DA had kept there and extended it so that it lay virtually flat. He then laid Severus on his chest and smiled as the infant pushed himself up and peered down at him curiously. A strong gust of summer wind blew by, making some of Sev’s baby hair fly in different directions, and Harry reached up to straighten it out. “So…what’s going on in that head of yours, huh?”

“Peh meh, Haweh!” The infant replied, patting Harry lightly on the chest and peering at him through wide eyes. “Peh meh!”

Harry shut his eyes and smiled at the morning sun. “Okay, cub…Here I am! What do you wanna play?”

“Woaw!” Sev whined. “Woaw! Woaw!”

“You want to play with your lion cub?” Harry raised an eyebrow as the infant nodded. “That’s back in our quarters. You want to go back down?”

“MO!” Sev gripped Harry’s robes tightly and laid his head back down on his chest, listening for the heartbeat.

“Well, then—” Harry groaned in frustration and wrapped his arms around Sev to shield him from the wind. “What do you wanna do, huh?” He shook his body from side to side, running his fingers over Sev’s ticklish spots and mock-growling at the infant’s head. “What do you want, huh?! What do you want? What do you want? What do you want?!” He nuzzled the giggling infant’s head and laid a kiss on top of his baby hair. “You are confusing me, child! You are confusing me!” He ran his fingers over Sev’s ticklish spots once more, delighting in the sound of the infant’s laughter.

As Harry waited for the giggles to subside, he peered up at the morning sun and spotted a bird’s feather floating down from above. Harry smiled at it and ran his fingers through Sev’s baby hair as he watched it land softly on the balcony railing.

“Close your eyes, cub.”

With a final happy sigh, Sev pushed himself up on Harry’s chest and peered down at the teenager curiously.

“Come on. You wanted to play, didn’t you?” The infant nodded. “Then we’re going to play a game called ‘Black, White, or Grey’. You interested?” The infant raised an eyebrow at him. “It’ll help you improve your ability to sense white magic, dark magic, and in-between magic. How ‘bout it?”

Sev grinned and closed his eyes.

Harry smirked. “That’s my boy.” Raising a hand, he levitated the bird’s feather over from the railing to just in front of Sev’s face. “Alright. There’s something right in front of your face right now. Try to stretch out your senses and tell me if you sense something white, something black, or something grey.”

Sev’s face scrunched up as he focused his senses. He tried stretching them out like he did the other day but he was finding it a might difficult. Come on, Snape! Come on! You can do this!

“Relax, cub.” Harry said soothingly. “Breathe easy. Stop trying to look for it and let it come to you.” He ran his thumb up and down the infant’s back trying to get him to relax.

Relax. Okay. Relax. Sev took a deep breath and eased his muscles. He let the morning breeze run through his hair and allowed his senses to take over. Relax…Sev took another deep breath. Relax…All of a sudden, he began to sense a shift in the magical aura around him.

“Let it become an extension of your natural instincts, cub.” Harry continued. “Let the magic help you sense what’s really around you.”

The sight behind Sev’s eyelids began swirling before him. He saw different blobs of color churn, spin, and coalesce into different shapes. It was like watching colored oil settle in a world full of water. Most of the oil was grey, with the occasional black or white spots within their streams. Most of the grey blobs swirled and formed into a shape that resembled the balcony railing. Other grey blobs formed into deck chairs. Sev looked down and noticed a rather large white blob directly below him.

“Do you sense me yet, cub?”

That was Harry! That white blob below him was Harry! Sev grinned and his hands and legs began bobbing up and down in excitement. He could sense Harry. He could sense Harry!

“Do you know what I’m holding in front of your face, Sev?”

Severus looked up and saw a feather-shaped white blob floating before him. “Fefew.”

“That’s right. It’s a feather.” Sev could hear a smile in Harry’s voice and a wave of pride coursed through him.

“And what color is the feather’s aura?”

“Whay!” Sev squealed and opened his eyes.

“That’s right. It’s white.” Harry replied, chuckling at the infant. Harry wrapped his arms around Sev and kissed him on the forehead. “There you go, baby boy—your first lesson in aural magic! What’d you think?”

“Mow! Mow!” Sev screeched, wriggling to get out of Harry’s grasp.

Harry raised an eyebrow at the infant and sat up. “More?”

“Mow! Mow!”

Harry snorted and stood up with the infant in his arms. “Let me hear that magic word first.”

“Mow, pea!”

“Mow, pea, okay.” Harry smiled as he stepped back inside. “Close those eyes, cub. No cheating.” Sev screwed his eyes shut and gripped Harry’s robes tightly as the teenager walked him all round the room.

First Harry stopped in front of his dark detector case and picked up a sneakoscope, holding it in his hand. “What do you think, Sev?”

The infant’s head tilted to the side curiously and he bit his lip in thought. It looks strange. He mused. It’s a strange sort of shape. Sev turned his head to examine the aura of the space around them. He recognized that the grey blobs formed a sort of bookcase, but he hadn’t the slightest clue as to what all the white blobs on the bookcase were. They were all shaped so strangely. Then, all of a sudden, he gasped. It must be his dark detector case! He remembered seeing the strange-looking objects when he first walked in and recalled the only thing he recognized on any of the shelves was a…sneakoscope!

“Whoo! Whoo!” Sev replied with a grin, imitating the sound he knew a sneakoscope made when untrustworthiness was nearby.

Below him, Harry’s chest rumbled with his laughter. “It’s a sneakoscope, exactly. And its aura?”

“Whay!”

“White. Absolutely.” Harry nodded. “Very good, cub!” The teenager haphazardly tossed the sneakoscope back onto the shelves and continued on down the wall. Next he stopped right in front of the Death Eater dummies the DA occasionally practiced on. “Now…what are we standing in front of now?”

Sev’s forehead scrunched up and he buried his face in Harry’s robes. “Ba-ma.” He replied, his voice muffled by the material.

“Bad men.” The teen nodded. “And their aura?”

“Back!”

Harry raised an eyebrow. Technically, their auras were dark grey, but he wasn’t going to fault Sev with that. He’d learn the difference with more practice, Harry was sure. “Very good.” He stepped a few feet away from the cabinet so that the infant could calm himself down.

As Sev caught his breath, Harry glanced in the direction of his potions cabinet. Hidden behind the bottles of lacewing flies, newt eyes, and frog toes was a secret compartment which housed a thrice locked box that contained the remnants of Voldemort’s Horcruxes. He had mentally debated on whether or not he wanted Sev to practice with that, but decided the dark aura was too overwhelming for a beginner to aural magic. If the Death Eater dummies had caused this kind of reaction in Sev, Harry couldn’t imagine what sort of reaction would come about if he so much as opened the secret compartment door, which shielded the box’s dark aura.

“Sev?”

“Uh?” The infant peeked up at him from behind the hem of his robes.

“See my potions shelves over there?” Harry gestured across the room and Sev followed his gaze.

“Uh-huh?”

“What aura do you sense from them?” He raised an eyebrow at the infant.

From the shelves? Severus eyed Harry questioningly and then glanced back at the rows of potions ingredients. Isn’t it “Wey?”

“Is it, cub?” Harry raised the other eyebrow and glanced back towards the shelves. “Is it only grey?”

Isn’t it? Severus glanced back towards the shelves and squinted at them. He closed his eyes and peered at them with his mind’s eye. Grey, grey, and…Sev paused. There was something…different about the middle shelf. Something struck him as odd and just a little out of place. The difference was subtle, yet now that Severus noticed it, it became hard for him to miss. A section of the middle shelf looked slightly…darker than the shelves surrounding it. Sev could make out a single thread of pure black substance swirling in the very center of the middle shelf like a vortex, disrupting the peacefulness of the grey mass around it. Curious…The infant exchanged glances with Harry and pointed to the small swirling mass. “Mow.”

“More?” Harry’s eyes widened in surprise.

“Cowfew!”

Harry began shaking his head, “I don’t think you’re going to want to move closer, cub.”  

“Cowfew, pea?” Sev turned his puppy-dog eyes on Harry and dialed them up to full power.

The teenager sighed and took a step closer. “There. Closer. Now come along, give me a color, so we can move on.”

Sev ignored him and pushed up against his chest, leaning as far away from Harry as he dared, trying to get closer to the curious swirling black mass. What is that thing? A voice wondered inside his head. And why is it swirling there? And why isn’t it moving? And what’s that noise? It was then that Sev realized there was a sound coming from the swirling black mass! “Cowfer!”

“No, Sev, that’s close enough.” Harry tried pulling Severus back against him, but the infant fought against him, trying to push himself closer to the mysterious swirling and the beautiful sound.

I think it’s singing! The child realized. Yes, I really think it’s singing! It’s singing! It’s beautiful singing…I have to get it! Sev reached out towards the black swirling mass.

“Severus, no!”

Suddenly, the angelic singing voice transformed into a high-pitched wail and the hypnotic black swirling vortex widened to a gaping black hole which reached out towards him like a hand.

Severus shrieked in alarm and pulled himself back to Harry’s chest as quickly as possible. The teenager turned his back to the swirling black hole, shielding Sev from the frightening abstraction with his body, and reached out a hand. A wave of pure white energy went barreling towards the void and within seconds the wailing was silenced and the black abyss was no more.

“Well…” Harry took a deep breath as he rubbed Sev’s back comfortingly, “…that certainly answers one question.” The teenager sent pulses of calming white magic towards Sev in an effort to reduce the infant’s shivers and soothe his rapidly-beating heart. “You’re just about as sensitive to aural magic as Ginny and I both are, which makes everything just a little bit easier, I think.”

Sev whined into his robes. “MO WIKE!” He wailed, gripping Harry’s lapel between his tiny fingers and sticking it in his mouth. 

Harry chuckled and dropped a kiss on top of Sev’s head as he headed towards the door. “Aw, come on, cub, it isn’t that bad.”

“Mo wike!” The infant repeated, scowling at a button on Harry’s shirt as he chewed on the hem of the teenager’s robes. “Wa mewmew!”

“Yes, yes, I’ll get you mewmew.” After grabbing a bag full of defense books from a side table, Harry double checked to make sure he hadn’t forgotten anything before walking out and allowing the Room of Requirement to re-seal itself. “I think that’s enough practice for today, don’t you? We’ll practice detecting auras for a few days, and then after that I’ll teach you how to sense and read the people around you, and we’ll practice that for a few weeks. And then after that comes the fun part—levitation.”

Sev paused in his chewing and gave Harry a questioning look.

“All wandless, wordless magic done simply by power of will.” Harry winked. Sev’s eyebrows furrowed and he cocked his head to the side. “Ask Merlin, cub, and he’ll tell you: back in his day, it was taught that there are three progressive levels of wizardry—the first is a Wizard by Incantation, a wizard who uses wands and spells to craft magic; the second is a Hand Wizard, which is what I am most of the time; magic is done simply with a wave of a hand; and the third, and most skillful of the trio, is a Will Wizard; these are wizards who can do some incredible things…”

All of a sudden, the moving staircases froze in place, and every single painting along the walls of the staircase tipped on a corner and became crooked.

“…without seemingly doing anything at all.” Harry finished with a smile.

Sev’s eyes widened and he gaped at the sight all around him. How the bloody hell did he do that?!

“If you’re interested…I can teach you how to be a Will Wizard.” Harry raised an eyebrow at the infant.

If I’m interested…? Does he even have to ask?! Sev grinned up at his caretaker and began bouncing in his arms, his hands and feet bobbing up and down in excitement.

Harry chuckled as he turned into the fourth floor corridor. “I take that as a ‘yes’ then.” Behind him, the paintings righted themselves all at once and the moving staircases resumed moving once again. “Come along! Let’s see if Ginny’s back from mum and dad’s now, shall we? I wonder how her conversation went with them. You think they took the news okay?” Harry asked the infant.

Severus raised an eyebrow at him and blew raspberries around his fingers.

Harry grimaced and wiped the drool of with Sev’s bib. “I wouldn’t be so skeptical, if I were you. Ginny’s mum and dad happen to be two very reasonable people. I mean…once you get Mrs. Weasley to calm down from whatever hysteria she’s worked herself into, she actually turns out to be a rather accepting woman.”

“Uh-uh meh!”

“Oh, Sev, you’re quite likable at this size. I wouldn’t worry too much about it. If Ginny hasn’t already talked them into liking you and accepting you, I’m pretty sure you’ll convince them otherwise within two seconds of being in the same room.”

“Uh-uh meh.” Sev shook his head firmly and stuck his ear to Harry’s chest to listen to that comforting heartbeat.

The teenager raised an eyebrow. “Do you not want to meet the Weasleys?”

“Mo!”

“Sev, you told Ginny ‘yes’ a while ago.” Harry retorted in frustration.

 So? I changed my mind. “Mo!” He stuck his thumb in his mouth and muttered, “Wa mewmew.”

Harry rolled his eyes and sighed. He gave Merlin the password and walked in to find Sirius sitting on the couch (with his feet still up on the coffee table), talking to Remus, who was dancing around the room with a drowsy Teddy.

“Hey! So did the ‘issue’ get handled?” Sirius asked with a smirk.

Harry rolled his eyes and shook his head. “Distraction.”

“Aw, it’s going to come back to bite you in the arse. Watch!”

“Sirius!” Ginny rebuked as she walked in from the bedroom.

“I’m just saying!” The animagus shrugged and picked up his Quidditch magazine, discreetly pulling his feet off the coffee table in the process.

“Immy! Wa mewmew!” Sev immediately began to reach for her.

“Sev…” Harry drawled, a hint of a warning in his voice.

“Wa mewmew, pea?” The infant corrected immediately.

“Yes, come here, sweetheart.” Ginny took her in his arms and her boyfriend sent her a questioning look. “It took a bit of talking, but they’re okay with it.” She murmured. “Mum and dad are, at least. They’re going to talk to everyone else tonight. The hard part will be convincing him,” she inclined her head towards the baby, “to meet the family.”

Harry nodded and as Ginny took Sev into the bedroom to nurse him, Harry turned to Remus.

“I hope Teddy didn’t cause too much trouble, did he?”

Harry waved him off. “No, no, he was an angel.” The teen chuckled and flicked his eyes towards the bedroom. “Sev was starting to have jealousy issues. That’s all.”

“Which you should have dealt with.” Sirius muttered behind his magazine.

“You never know. It might go away on its own.” Harry argued.

Sirius snorted and Remus looked sympathetic. “Well…maybe you should have dealt with it a little bit, Harry.”

“If it becomes any bigger in the future, I’ll be sure to do so.”

“It will.” The animagus murmured.

“Ah, shut it, Padfoot.” Harry jumped over the back of the couch to land on the cushions next to Sirius, and sighed, running a hand through his weary face. Sirius quickly threw the magazine down and got him in a headlock. Within seconds both godfather and godson were engaged in a wrestling match on the living room floor while Remus watched in amusement from the sidelines.

“Mmm-BA! BA! BA! BA! Bfffffffft!”

Harry was lying on the couch, reading a potions book behind Severus’ head as the infant used his chest as a battlefield for his toys.

“Wooooooooaaaaaaaaw! Bffffffffft!”

Harry winced as the spit from Sev’s raspberries completely missed the baby snake and hit him full-on in the face. Yet he didn’t say anything. He merely wiped his face with his sleeve and continued with his reading.

“Haweh?” Sev said, lightly patting the chest below him to get the man’s attention.

“Yes, sir?”

“Mow ma—bic, pea?” Sev held out his toys to Harry pleadingly and graced him with what he knew to be one of his irresistible grins.

Harry’s eyes widened and lightly threw his book down onto the coffee table, his attention completely diverted. “Smile for me, cub.”

Sev frowned and cocked his head questioningly.

“Come on, let me see you smile. Please?”

“Ma—bic!” Sev whined, thrusting his stuffed animals in Harry’s face.

“Yes, yes, I’ll give you a show. Just let me see something for a minute. Smile for me, please?” Harry grinned at him so that Sev could imitate him, and he lightly cupped the infant’s face.

Severus sighed in a very put-upon manner and grinned, showing his gums in all their gummy glory. He felt Harry lift his lip slightly before he heard the teen gasp.

“Merlin me! GINNY!” He cried.

“What?” A voice answered from one of the upstairs bedrooms.

“I see a tooth!”

Sev pulled away from Harry and graced him with a bewildered look. “Uh?”

All the while a gasp resounded from the upstairs and Ginny suddenly appeared at the railing. “You see a what?!”

“A tooth!”

“Oh my god!” The sound of thundering footsteps echoed throughout the room.

“Beep?” Sev looked at Harry questioningly.

“You have a tooth showing, cub.” The teen grinned.

I have a tooth showing? I have a TOOTH showing?! It took about a minute or two for the news to sink in, but once it did Sev grinned and his arms and legs began bobbing up and down in excitement. My teeth are coming in! My teeth are coming back! My teeth are coming in! My teeth are coming back! “Beep! Beep! BEEP!”

“Let me see!” Ginny skid to a halt and crouched next to the side of the couch, by Harry’s and Sev’s heads. The infant grinned at her. “Oh, look at that pearly white beauty right there! It’s gorgeous!” Sev squealed in delight and both Harry and Ginny chuckled at him.

“I think we should celebrate!” Harry suggested.

“Oh, we should definitely celebrate! But I have to take an entire roll of this first.” Ginny replied, searching the room for the camera.

“You can take an entire roll while we celebrate.” Harry answered, hugging Sev to his chest before standing and getting them both off the couch. “Because this is definitely a cause for celebration, wouldn’t you say, cub?” Harry grasped Sev under his arms and threw him up into the air.

Sev squealed in delight as Harry caught him easily and then tossed him up again.  

Harry delighted in the sound of the child’s laughter and tossed Sev up once more before hugging him to his chest and planting a kiss on his forehead. “So…what do you want to do to celebrate, huh?”

Severus pointed to his fallen lion cub and baby snake on the floor. “Ma—bic!” He replied, once again gracing Harry with his now-single-toothed grin.

Harry snorted and turned to Ginny. “He could’ve picked anything to celebrate, and he picks a puppet show.”

Ginny narrowed her eyes at him as she sealed the magical film into the camera. “If he wants a puppet show, Harry, give him a puppet show! At least he’s not asking for anything material. He enjoys your attention more than anything else in the world. Enjoy it while it lasts.”

Harry rolled his eyes. “I know that, Gin.” He turned back to Sev. “So…what shall we make the little snake and lion cub do today, eh?”

Sev squealed with glee and began outlining the plot of the entire story he wanted Harry to make the stuffed animals act out, stopping every now and then to make sure the teen understood his incessant baby babble.

Thus as the night wore on, Harry, Ginny, and Severus spent the evening taking rolls of pictures and celebrating baby’s first tooth with a Severus-directed puppet show.