Ginny immediately took Severus into the master bedroom and then into the bathroom that joined the room. He cried the entire time Ginny bathed him, which took quite some time as there was paint all over the child.

The worse, however, was in his hair, and Ginny had to scrub for nearly twenty minutes to get the blue, yellow, red, and green out of his hair.

And still he cried.

“Sev, I know that you are upset, Baby, do you want to talk to Mummy about it?” Ginny asked, as she stood him in front of her and dried him off with a towel, wrapped the towel around him, and then stood him between her knees so that she could comb his hair out.

“No,” he sniffed.

“Why are you crying?” Ginny asked. As if she didn’t already know, she thought to herself. She knew, however, that she had to try to get Severus to talk to her. She wanted to take Sirius, Teddy, and Jamie all over her knee for their behavior, but she would never do so out of anger.

“I don’t know.” Severus whispered.

Ginny turned Sev towards her and looked into his eyes. They were so dark and, yet, at the same time, they were so brilliantly bright.

Those two eyes, which had shot daggers at her in school, showed so many emotions. Had anyone really ever known the real Severus? After having him in her life for two months, she realized that Severus had been a very sad man, simply by the look in his eyes.

He held that same look now.

Ginny wrapped her arms around him and kissed the top of his head.

“I love you, Sev.”

Severus sniffed, but fell into his Mummy’s hug.

“Severus, how about, after you dress, you go lay in Mummy and Daddy’s bed while I take a shower; then, you and I will take a nap together, okay?”

Severus nodded against Ginny’s chest. A nap would be so nice.

“Sev, can Mummy take your temperature? I need you to sit up.” Ginny said, taking her wand so that she could run it over the boy. He still felt warm to the touch.

Severus sat up, his shoulders slouched down, defeated. Ginny ran her wand over him.

102.1.

She summoned a fever reducer and a cold relief draught and gently gave them to Sev.

He swallowed them without having to be prompted, and then leaned back against Ginny.

“Sev, come on. Let’s get dressed.” She told him, standing him up in front of her again. She handed him his underwear, pajama pants, and t-shirt. Severus quickly dropped his towel and put them on.

Again, Sev leaned against Ginny. This time she picked him up and took him into the bedroom and laid him on the bed. Silent tears were falling down his face, and as soon as Ginny let him go, Gnomie began to hover over his shoulder, running his tiny fingers through Severus’ hair.

“Sev, tell me if there is something I can do to make you feel better.” Ginny almost pleaded.

“Need my snake and my sweater. But he ruined my sweater. I want my sweater. It was mine, and he ruined it. Grammy made it for me, and he messed it up. I don’t understand.” Severus cried into a pillow.

“Accio Sev’s Snake. Accio Sev’s ‘S’ sweater.” Ginny whispered. Soon, both objects showed up in the bedroom and landed on Ginny’s lap.

“Look, Sev. Grammy fixed your sweater. It is okay. Come here, and I’ll help you put it on.”

Severus crawled over to her, and then held his arms out. Ginny slipped the sweater over her son’s head and pulled it down. It fit perfectly. Of course. Her mother had an eye for things like that.

She handed him his stuffed snake, and watched as he crawled back to the middle of the bed.

Ginny went back to the bathroom, quickly showered and dressed, and walked back into the bedroom to find Sev still wide awake.

“Mummy,” sniff, “please come lay with me.” Severus started to cry again. Ginny crawled into the bed, pulled Sev close to her, and kissed his head. Immediately, Sev’s hand found its way to his Mummy’s hair, and he began playing with it as he drifted off to sleep.

“Sev, Mummy loves you, so very, very much.” Ginny whispered into his ear.

Sev let a small smile grace his lips as he fell into a deep sleep where he was loved, and no one hated him for things he wanted to forget.

~sdrawkcab~

Harry was angry.

Harry was also disappointed.

He now knew what had happened with the pranks at the Burrow. What he didn’t know was why.

Why had Sirius…oh yes, Harry knew that he was the ringleader of that little idea… But why had he been so cruel to Severus?

Was that truly what life for Severus had been like the first time around? Had Sirius, Remus, Pettigrew...Harry’s own father… been that cruel to him?

He knew it was true. And that knowledge pained him.

He also knew that there was no way in hell that he was going to let Severus grow up that way again. The cruel days that led Severus to believe that taking the Dark Mark was the only way out were gone. His Severus, his son, would not grow up that way. If it was the last thing that Harry did in his life, he would make sure of it.

Currently, Harry was alone in the study, thinking about everything that had happened. While he had talked to the boys, he would wait on Ginny before deciding any punishments. So, after he had gotten the whole story out of them, he had sent them to their rooms for a nap. He had tucked each of them in, as was custom, and had checked on them five minutes later to see that they were all asleep.

 They knew that they were in trouble, and it certainly would not hurt them any to sweat it out a bit, even if they did nap through most of the time.

Harry had gone to check on Ginny and Severus to find them, too, asleep. Severus was curled up as close to Ginny as he could possible get and had one of his hands in her hair, a now normal comfort object for the five year old.

So, Harry was now sitting in the study contemplating everything.

First and foremost was Sirius. The way that he had treated Severus, and then thought it was amusing, really disturbed Harry. After years of finding ways to get away from Dudley and his famous “Harry Hunting” game, Harry was more than a little distressed that Sirius would target any human being that way.

Then there was another issue entirely. Was Sirius acting on his memories, or his age? Not that there was really that much difference. It had taken Harry a while to realize that Sirius, while a fun adult, never would have been a good parent, like the Weasley’s, or Andromeda, or Cissy were to him. Those people were the ones whom he looked up to and helped guide him when he needed it. Sirius never would have been that person. He was much too childish.  

“Love, you have the look.” Ginny said from the doorway. Harry, a bit startled because he hadn’t heard her, looked up.

“I am just thinking, Gin.”

“I know. I take it the boys are asleep?”

“Yes. For about an hour and a half now. Sev still sleeping?”

Ginny nodded, and walked over to Harry, sitting down on his lap.

“What are we going to do to them? I talked to the boys and Sirius was the instigator. Not that we thought any different. Jamie and Teddy did follow him, though it seems that Teddy told him under no uncertain terms, that he was not to use the paint bomb. The Fever Fudge was stolen from George.”

“With Jamie, I think that we simply need to stress the fact that what he did was not appropriate. He was a follower, and we need to make sure that he can think for himself, or having three older brothers and a tiny Slytherin in training in Alby is going to be his downfall. He has to learn to think for himself.”

Harry laughed.

“I can’t believe that we are probably going to have children in Slytherin.” He said.

Ginny smirked.

“I don’t know why that surprises you, Love. After all, were you not supposed to go into that particular house?”

“Like you are one to talk!” Harry said.

Ginny smirked at her husband.

“Perhaps talking to Jamie and then taking away his flying privileges and a week of early bedtimes will be enough for him to find the error in his ways.” Ginny said.

“Yes. I think we need to take his pranks that he got this morning away from him too. Although they are harmless and Severus got them because Jamie likes animals and he thought Jamie would like turning into them, it would be sending the wrong message to allow him to keep them right now.” Harry added.

Ginny nodded.

“Teddy also needs to lose broom privileges and have an early bedtime. We need to talk to him about also not letting Sirius boss him around. And, if Sirius insists that they break the rules, then it is okay for him to come and tell us if someone is going to be hurt.” Harry said.

“Sirius needs a spanking. Among other things. But, I think it best that we talk to him about how to properly treat all of his brothers, all of his Christmas presents are going to be locked in his toy box, and he can read, however, nothing about quidditch, and he can write lines at the kitchen table.” Harry said.

“I agree. I think spanking any of them in this situation is not the way to go about it. We need to talk to them. I think that Severus needs to write lines as well. At the kitchen table. He will find something to do in his room if we let him stay in there, and it will not hurt either of them to sit at the table together. They will both go to bed early as well. We cannot let Severus believe that hitting anyone is okay, even if they are mean to him. That is why he chose as he did the first go around and I am not letting that happen again. This time he is my baby. He will have every opportunity in the world if that is what he wants. We have to make sure that all of our children know that.” Ginny said fiercely, in a way that reminded Harry of her mother…the Molly Weasley that had protected her children and hundreds of other children during the final battle.

“I agree, Love. I agree.” Harry said, wrapping his arms around his wife and kissing her cheek.

“This Christmas didn’t go quite as planned, did it?” Ginny asked.

Harry burst out laughing.

“No, but, really, can we every ‘plan’ anything with five, almost six, children?”

“Point taken.” Ginny said with a grin.

Together, the two of them simply enjoyed the peace and quiet they had while the boys were sleeping.