“There you go girl,” Severus said, tucking the Kneazle kitten back into her crate. He and Lily had gotten the kitten a week ago for Harry’s birthday, which was the next day, and they had had a hard time keeping Harry out of the lab where they had hidden her. He spelled on a low night light before leaving the room and closing the door.

As he walked back into the upstairs flat, he heard the Floo activating. Only a handful of people could Floo directly into their flat. With Lily putting the kids to bed, he made his way into the living room as Remus stepped out of the green flames, looking tired and worn. “You look rough, my friend,” Severus said.

Remus brushed some soot from his coat. “It’s been a rough twenty-four hours. But thankfully the whole mess won’t hit the papers until tomorrow.”

“Mess?” he asked, summoning a butterbeer from the kitchen and offering it to the man.

The werewolf sighed deeply. “Bella snapped last night and killed Lucius. I guess things have been getting bad there lately, because Dobby brought Draco to us last night and told me that I was needed at Malfoy Manor. She was standing over his body laughing when I got there. I called Aurors to come get her.”

Severus cursed quietly. “How is the boy?”

“Unless I held him, he kept waking up with nightmares. I spent all night in the rocking chair, holding him. He’s stayed by my side all day today and seems afraid of Cissy…and ‘Dromeda.. Especially ‘Dromeda.”

“Well, ‘Dromeda does look a lot like Bella, so it’s understandable. My guess is that Bella never paid any attention to him and he’s used to being with his father.”

“That’s what Cissy and I decided. Do you have anymore of that children’s Dreamless Sleep that you brewed for Harry after he broke his arm?”

“Yeah. I made an extra bottle,” he said, summoning the potion and giving it to his friend. “One spoonful no more than two nights in a row.”

“Thanks Sev. Oh…Draco will be at Harry’s party tomorrow.”

“I don’t think Harry will mind another guest.

Remus nodded. “I didn’t think so. Thanks again,” he said before stepping through the Floo again.

---

James Potter stood near his Floo, waiting for Mathilda Bagshot to come through so that they and Sirius could go to Harry's birthday party.

"I don't see why you have to have supervision when you go to Harry's party. There will be other adults there," Sirius said from where he was draped across an armchair. "Say, what'd you get him anyway?"

"Tickets to the Quidditch World Cup," James sighed. "But that was before all this happened."

"What are you gonna do now?"

"Don't know Padfoot. I guess I'll just give him some money."

Sirius rolled his eyes. "I still think Lily is overreacting about all this. Or maybe it’s Snape overreacting and Lily's just doing what he wants."

"No...they were right," James said, dropping onto the sofa. "Harry could have been seriously hurt. It was rather stupid of me."

"You're a great father, Prongs."

James was saved from responding when Mathilda stepped through the Floo. "Good afternoon, Miss Bagshot," he said, rising to greet her.

"Mr. Potter," she replied. "May I ask what you got Harry for his birthday?"

"Well, I was going to take him to the Quidditch World Cup, but I haven't been able to come up with anything else since the c-custody hearing."

She took a seat on the sofa. "I had a feeling that you might be having that problem." She gestured for him to sit beside her. When he sat down she continued. "What interests your son?"

"Flying, Quidditch..." He answered, trailing off when he realized that he didn't really know what else interested his son.

She nodded thoughtfully. "I want you to think back to the last time Harry was here. Did he mention anything that he might be interested in? Something he wanted to do?"

James thought for a moment before answering quietly. "Potions."

“What did you tell him James?”

James sighed deeply. “That potions were boring and that I had something more fun for him to do.”

“And that was?”

“To ride Buckbeak.”

“Do you see now what you should have done?” she asked him.

He nodded. Now he could plainly see what he should have done. But then, it was always easier to see the best course of action once the event was over. “I should have done what my son wanted first.. Then maybe he would have been interested in what I wanted to do.”

“That’s right,” she told him. “Now…what are you going to get your son for his birthday?”

James fell silent as he considered what he could do for his son. Then he remembered something his mother had once told him about. Something that Potions Masters of old had once used. “I think I have an idea.”

--

Harry bounced out of the Floo into the living room at the Lupin farm where his party was to be held. “Hallo Uncle Remus,” he called to his godfather, bounding over to give the man a hug, but skidding to a stop when he saw the blond boy sitting on his godfather’s lap. “Hallo. I’m Harry.” He smiled. “It’s my birthday today!”

Remus reached out and ruffled his godson’s hair and pulled him to the side of the chair to give him a hug. “Happy birthday, pup,” he said, kissing the boy’s brow. “This is Draco. He’s Teddy and Tessa’s cousin.”

“Like Dudley and Little Vernon are mine?”

“That’s right, Harry.” He looked down at the boy in his lap. “Can you say hello, Draco?”

The small blond looked up and whispered, “Hello.”

“Thank you, Draco. Are your parents coming through, Harry?”

Harry nodded and perched on the arm of his godfather’s chair. “In a few minutes. Eric got his clothes all dirty so Mum was changing them while Da dressed Rosie.”

Remus smiled at him. “Go on into the kitchen, pup. Your Aunt Cissy is putting the icing on your cake and I bet she’d let you have a taste.”

“Cake?” Harry asked, his eyes lighting up.

The werewolf laughed. “Yes, cake.”

Harry jumped up and started toward the kitchen, stopping in the doorway. “Where are Teddy and Tessa?”

“They’ll be coming shortly with Aunt ‘Dromeda and Dora. You better hurry up before Aunt Cissy uses all that icing.”

Grinning, Harry raced into the kitchen. “Can I taste the icing, Aunt Cissy?”

“Only if I can get a kiss from the birthday boy,” she said with a smile. He rolled his eyes, but kissed her cheek. Kissing his cheek in return, she offered him a small bit of the icing on a spoon.

He quickly licked the icing off the spoon. “You make the best icing, Aunt Cissy!”

She laughed. “I hear the Floo, pup, you best go and greet your guests.”

After a quick hug, he scampered to the other room in time to greet Teddy and Tessa as they came through the Floo with Andromeda and Dora. Andromeda pulled the boy into a hug. “I can’t stay, Harry,” she told the birthday boy. “I have to go help deliver a baby.”

Harry nodded. He remembered when Aunt ‘Dromeda had helped his mum with baby Rosie. Aunt ‘Dromeda had to go help with babies all the time. “If it’s a boy tell them that Harry is a good name.”

Andromeda laughed. “I will.” She kissed both of his cheeks and wished him a happy birthday before stepping through the Floo again.

It wasn’t long before all of Harry’s guests had arrived and he was tearing into his presents, though James still had his present in his pocket to give to his son when they were alone and the present from Sev and Lily was back at their flat, curled up asleep on Harry’s pillow. From his younger brother and sister he got some Wizarding comic books and their matching action figures. The Weasleys gave him a small set of robes that matched the ones that Sev and Lily wore when they worked in their shop. The Longbottoms had given him a jersey from his favorite Quidditch team. And the Lupins and Tonks gave him some books on Kneazle kittens since he had wanted one since Christmas. Maybe now that he was older and he had books to learn about how to take care of them…maybe he could get one this Christmas.

After sending the birthday boy and his young guests outside to run off some energy, they called them all back inside for cake and ice cream. During this whole time Draco had remained attached to Remus like a limpet. Severus sat beside him giving Rosie little bites of cake as Draco just stared at nothing in particular. “How is he doing?”

“He slept last night,” Remus told him. “Which means I slept. But he won’t eat. We did manage to get some Nutritive Potion into him this morning.”

“That’s good,” Severus replied, letting Rosie nibble the cake off his fingers. “I’m sure he’ll come around soon.”

“We hope so,” Cissy said, coming to stand behind her husband, her hands resting on his shoulders.

“Cissy?”

“Yes, Sev?” she asked the Potions Master.

“Don’t look now…but we’re surrounded by Gryffindors.”

She laughed and gave him a sisterly kiss on the cheek. “You’re too much, Sev,” she said, before going to mingle with more of their guests.

Remus looked down and noticed that Draco was watching Rosie eat the cake off of Sev’s finger. Sev noticed as well and slid the plate closer to his friend, who reached out and took a small pinch of the cake. Letting it stick to one finger, he brought it close to the boy’s mouth, watching in surprise as the boy leaned forward slightly and ate the cake right off his finger as Rosie had been doing.

“Yay!” Rosie squealed, clapping her little hands and smiling at the blond boy, who managed a small smile for the baby girl.

Remus brought another bit of cake close and the boy ate it off his finger, like a baby bird eating from its parent’s beak.

Rosie moved to Severus’ other knee to be closer to her godfather. “Who dat?” she asked him.

Her godfather caressed her cheek with the back of his finger before offering Draco some more cake. “This is Draco, Rosebud.”

“D’aco?” she asked, cocking her head to the side.

“Close enough, sweet cheeks.”

She looked at the boy in her godfather’s lap and then looked up at her da. “D’aco sad. Me hug.”

Severus glanced at the boy and then nodded. He moved closer so that she could wrap her chubby little arms around the boy’s neck. Ever so slowly Draco’s arm came around and wrapped around the baby’s back. The two men exchanged a smile. Someone had broken through to the boy.

--

After the Weasleys, Longbottoms, Lily’s dad and Sev’s mum left, Dora took all but Draco to play outside while the other adults cleaned up the mess from the party. James stepped out onto the porch and called Harry over. He knelt in front of his son. “I’m about to leave, but I wanted to give you my present when it was just the two of us.”

Harry glanced up at Miss Bagshot, who was standing nearby, and gave her a small smile before looking back at James. “I thought maybe you were mad at me ‘cause I can’t come over to your house alone no more,” he said, looking down at his shoes.

“Harry…” James picked up his son and carried him over to the porch swing, sitting down with Harry on his lap. “I’m not mad at you about that, Sport. I just wanted to have a few special minutes with you and I couldn’t do that when all your friends were here.” He pulled the book he had gotten for Harry out of his pocket and handed it to his son.

Harry took the green leather bound book and ran his fingers over the silver words. “What does that say? The words are too big for me.”

“It says ‘Brewer’s Journal’, Harry.” He opened the book and pointed to the inside front cover. “When you brew a potion, you write the instructions and anything else you want to write down about that potion. When you close the book, it puts the potion in the right order over here,” he said, pointing to the tabbed pages. “See it divides them up by what type of potion they are. Kinda like your mum’s cookbook does with her recipes.” He took a deep breath before continuing. “If you want to be a Potions Master like Sniv…like your da, it’s very important that you get in the habit of writing down what potions you’ve learned.”

“I thought you didn’t like me learning about potions from Da,” Harry said softly, running his fingers over the journal reverently.

James closed his eyes for a moment before opening them and answering. “I just want you to be happy, son.”

Harry got up on his knees and threw his arms around his father’s neck, hugging him tightly. When he felt James’ arms come around him, returning the hug, he whispered in the man’s ear. “I love you, Daddy.”

“I love you too, Harry James,” he whispered in reply.

The boy smiled at James before jumping down, grabbing the book and running inside to show his mum and da.

James rose and moved over to the window where he could watch the scene inside as Harry showed the brewer’s journal to Lily and Snape. Harry seemed quite excited as he talked about his present. He was rather surprised when Snape looked over to where he was standing at the window and nodded. James nodded in return before Apparating away.

--

“I’ll put these robes downstairs for when you help in the shop,” Severus told Harry when the family returned home. “You go put the rest of your presents away in your room.”

“Yes, Da,” Harry said, toting his books and the jersey to his room, dropping them all when he saw the light grey Kneazle kitten sleeping on his pillow. “Mum! Da!”

Severus and Lily walked into the room behind him, smiles on their faces.

He looked up at them. “There’s a Kneazle on my bed!” he told them.

“She’s yours, Harry,” Lily said, bending down to give him a hug. “Happy birthday.”

“Oh! Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!” he exclaimed, hugging them both. “This is the best birthday ever!”

“You’re welcome, imp,” Severus replied, ruffling his hair. “Put your things away and then you can play with her while you come up with a name.”

Harry hurried to put his other presents away before jumping on the bed and carefully picking up the kitten.

After a light dinner that night, the whole family gathered in Harry’s room so that Eric and Rosie could meet the new member of the family and Harry could tell them the name he had picked out. “What are you going to name her?” Lily asked, sitting on his bed.

Harry looked at the kitten in his lap. “I think I’m gonna name her…Mousekins.”

Severus chuckled. “Why that, imp?”

“’Cause she’s grey like the mouse you found in your lab last week,” Harry replied. Like the good big brother he was, his free hand reached out to stop Rosie’s as she reached for his kitten. “You gotta be gentle, Rosie. Gentle.”

“I be gentle, Harry,” Eric said, moving to his brother’s other side and gently petting the kitten.. “Like this, Rosie. See?”