Severus stood still as Sirius latched onto him. He was frozen solid. He was unable to move.

Harry and Ginny looked at the two boys, unsure how to respond. Severus’ arms were straight down his sides, his eyes were wide.

He looked towards Ginny, fear in his eyes.

“Please, Mummy…please get him off me.” Severus said, confused by this sudden turn of events.

“I’m sorry, Sev. I am sorry that I was mean to you.” Sirius said, trying hard to make the other boy understand what he was so desperately trying to convey to him.

Severus stayed still, and waited on someone to help him.

Ginny walked over to the two boys and gently pulled Sirius off of Severus.

“Severus, Sirius…”

Ginny didn’t have time to respond before Severus ducked away and ran out of the kitchen and towards his room.

Ginny and Harry looked at one another.

And Sirius looked up at Harry.

“I don’t understand…” the little boy whispered, and shook his head back and forth.

~sdrawkcab~

Severus went into his room, grabbed his snake and comforter off of his bed and then ran to his closet and hid. He didn’t know why he had run, but he had had to get out of there. Sirius had hugged him, and Sirius was rarely ever nice to him without an ulterior motive.

And, Severus thought to himself, he had to face it, because that had just been weird.

So, now he was in the bottom of his closet, curled up closely to his snake, his comforter thrown over top of him.

“Sevy, I think he meant no harm.”

Gnomie.

Severus felt the tiny creature crawl on his above the comforter, trying to remove the blanket from Severus’ face. Slowly, so as not to hurt Gnomie, he sat up and uncovered his face.

“Gnomie, he was doing it so Daddy would believe that he was sorry. I just know it. Black is never nice to me. Or, he is nice to me, but then he does something way worse than he normally does and that erases it all. I didn’t like it when he hugged me. I only like it when Alby, or Mummy, or Grammy do it. I used to like it when Daddy did it, but not much anymore. Especially now, because he is probably going to be mad at me for running away from Sirius. Sirius is his favorite, you know.”

Gnomie sat himself in Severus’ lap and looked at the boy with a concerned look.

“You think that is true, dear little Sevy? I think that it is not. I believe that your Da loves all of his children. You have to stop seeing the boy you once knew and see the man he is, for you are no longer the man you once were, but the boy you are now.”

“I don’t want Mummy to be mad either. She was really upset when she looked in my mind earlier. Can you believe that she is a Legilimens? She was supposed to be a snake, but decided to outwit the hat. She would have done so well as a snake.” Severus said, contemplating the very thought of a Weasley being anywhere other than Gryffindor.

“Maybe that is why you get on with her so well.”

“No. She is different. She is my Mummy, and she takes care of me now. Like my first Mum did. Eileen. That was her name. Sometimes I forget. I don’t seem to forget most of my adult memories, but my first childhood memories seem to be fading away more and more.” Severus said, for the first time realizing that his childhood with Eileen and Tobias was indeed quite fuzzy.

“What did your Mummy see in your memories that made her so angry? I hear her talking to your Da.”

“Is she telling him? She shouldn’t tell him!” Severus all but yelled.

“Calm down, Sevy. You must realize that they are your parents. You have to understand that they are only trying to help you. They want what is best for you.” Gnomie said, knowing very well that he was going to anger is little bonded human.

“Go away! I don’t want to talk to you! I don’t want to talk to Mummy or Daddy or Grammy or Alby or anyone! I do not want to talk!” Severus yelled and then burst into tears and hiding his weeping face from all under a comforter with potions and cauldrons jumping to and fro on the top of it.

~sdrawkcab~

“Sirius, you have to understand that the issues you and Sev have with one another are not going to be settled right off the bat.” Harry told the seven year old in front of him.

Sirius looked at him, confused.

“Sorry, that was a muggle expression. Your issues need time to heal. You are going to have to learn to be nice to your brothers, all of them, Severus included, before you can expect Severus to forgive you for everything that you have done to him this go around. Especially since Severus really thought that you were starting to like him, and then you pulled all of those mean and cruel pranks on him at Christmas.”

“But, I don’t understand. I told him that I was sorry and I hugged him…” Sirius said. The little boy looked put out, and indeed he was. Harry inwardly sighed. Children were so complicated, yet thought that everything could be handled so easily. He and Ginny both realized as the days past both Sirius and Severus acted more and more like children instead of the adults they had once been.

Of course, Sirius had acted more childlike from the beginning, but now it was often as if he forgot that he had ever lived another life besides this one.

“Sirius, how about you go take a nap. You have had a long day already, and I need to talk to Mummy. Then when you get up, you and I will talk to one another with Mummy and see what we come up with, okay?”

Sirius nodded through his now continuously falling tears and raised his arms up towards Harry so that the man would pick him up, which he did instantly.

From the kitchen, Ginny smiled. Such complicated little creatures indeed.

~sdrawkcab~

“I used Legilimens on Sev, Harry.” Ginny said, leaning into her husband.  She felt him sigh.

“You had to do it, didn’t you? He wouldn’t talk to you?”

“No, he wouldn’t. There is so much in his mind that he doesn’t want to talk about; there is so much that he is trying to hide. I saw it all. He was angry with me afterwards, not that I blame him. One day he will understand though.  One day he will understand that I did it because I love him and want to help him.”

Harry wrapped his arm around Ginny and she placed her head against his chest.

“Ginny, I think that he is angry because he does understand. What did you see? In his mind?”

Ginny sighed. She almost didn’t know where to start.

“Why do you think Dumbledore did it? Why did he sacrifice so much? He knew that Severus was abused at home. He knew that Tobias Snape beat him during the summer.”

“When did he find out?” Harry asked, rubbing Ginny’s protruding  stomach.

“Eileen Prince Snape told him when Severus was ten. Dumbledore told her there was nothing he could do to help them. He allowed Sirius, James, Peter, and Remus to tease him and they were cruel, Harry, so cruel. They were never punished, yet if Severus retaliated, he was punished.  From what I could see, Dumbledore is the bogeyman of our child’s nightmares because he would not help him. Dumbledore knew how brilliant Severus was, and he knew that he was a natural occulmens. The perfect spy. But in order to be a spy, he had to be tainted first. Albus Dumbledore nearly ruined him.”

“Are you sure?” Harry asked, astounded that the man had indeed been that manipulative.

“Harry, can you even question it? You were placed with a family that hated you; Pansy was a child spy who unspeakable things were done to; Severus was brought up in an environment which ensured that he would one day spy for the Light.”

“Ginny, if I were to ever see him, I would make him regret everything that he has done to our family. Some days I detest the fact that we named Alby after him.” Harry said, tightening his hold on his wife once more.

“Once, Love, we trusted and respected him. We must not forget that, just like we must not forget that in many ways what has happened has been his fault. We can forgive, eventually, but we must never forget.”

Harry placed his chin on top of her head. A tear slipped down his face, just a single tear, for the hatred he was feeling for a man who he had, at one time, trusted with his life.

~sdrawkcab~

Deep in the Department of Mysteries, once again the Veil began to sway violently to and fro.

The Fates began their work again…