By the time that Lily was a month old, things in Potter household had, for the most part, slowed down somewhat. During that time, Luna had had her baby, a little boy that she and Neville named Franklin Xeno Longbottom, in honor of both their fathers.

In Godric’s Hollow, however, one Ginevra Potter was still refusing to let Severus see Dumbledore. Nothing Severus said, or did would change her mind. Even Harry had been unable to get her to change her mind. This, in turn, was causing Severus to pout more than normal, and his temper was high. They were all still getting used to the new addition, but Ginny not allowing Severus to go see Dumbledore was causing the boy to misbehave more than normal.

Andromeda and Molly and Arthur were all over for supper. Ginny had cooked a hearty meal of roast, Italian roasted potatoes, green beans, gravy, and a light, white bread. Both Andromeda and Molly had baked a different dessert, Molly a trifle and Andromeda a silken chocolate pie. Both of which the children loved.

Arthur was in the living room with Harry, holding Lily while the boys all played at his feet. They all loved their grandfather, as he was the only one they had, while they had, more or less, three grandmothers if one counted Narcissa, which they all did. And since Arthur was the Minister of Magic, he didn’t get to spend nearly as much time with his grandchildren as Molly or Andromeda did, since both watched the children at least twice a week.

“How are things going in the Ministry, Dad?”  Harry asked as he scooted off the couch and onto the floor where the boys were playing with several trucks, something they all liked to do, even Severus, which surprised Harry because even as a child Severus was serious and most of his playtime was spent reading, or painting, or constructing. Harry had even caught him writing down various potion experiments about a week before, and they had had to sit down and talk about it, so that Harry could reinforce the fact that Severus was not to, under any circumstances, to try and brew anything without Ginny. Severus had promised that he wouldn’t.

“Pretty much the same old things. There has been some talk about the orphanage that was created right after the war. Now that those at Hogwarts who fought are getting older, there are several that wish to adopt them. To try to get them out of the orphanage. Magical children have never had to grow up in a place like an orphanage before, so the sooner we get them adopted, the better. Before the war, though, there was always family to send orphaned children. But it wasn’t as easy this time. Too many Death Eater children. Too many people in hiding. But we are down to nineteen children, so hopefully it will not be long before we get them all out.”

“That is fantastic! If there is anything that I can do to help, let me know. I ran into Megan Jones the other day, she was two years under me and then had to leave during the war, but she and her husband, Malcolm are looking to adopt a set of siblings. They are young, but not much younger than Ginny and I, and both have stable jobs.”

 “I will send them a letter and ask them to come by my office one day so that we might discuss it. I know that there is a group of three siblings who we are having trouble placing. We do not want to break up any siblings. I’ve read that muggles do that at times, and it never works out well. It is not fair to the children.”

“Yes, I have heard that.” Harry said, pushing a car towards Jamie.

“Okay, guys, it is time for supper.” Ginny said, standing in the doorway with a towel in her hands.

It didn’t take long. The boys all jumped up from the floor and ran towards the kitchen.

“Walk! And wash your hands!” Ginny said as they ran past. She heard grumbles come from Jamie and Sirius, but ignored them. Both boys would never even bathe if she and Harry didn’t force them too.

“Dad, I can put her in her swing in the kitchen.” Ginny said, gently taking Lily from her father and then walking into the kitchen to put the small girl into her swing which she loved and would be asleep within in minutes of being placed into it.

Slowly, everyone had washed their hands and were sitting at the table which had been enlarged for the occasion. Harry and Arthur were sitting at the ends, leaving Molly, Andromeda, and Ginny to sit on the sides with the boys. Alby was in his high chair beside Harry, Severus and Jamie were on either side of Ginny, and Teddy and Sirius were sitting between Andromeda and Molly. Plates were filled and placed in front of the boys.

And then what Ginny had feared would happen, happened.

“I don’t want to eat this!” Severus said, using his fork to push food around on his plate.

“Severus, we are not going to start this tonight. Eat your food.” Ginny whispered into his ear.

Severus huffed and then moved around so that he could kneel on his knees, raising him up higher.

Sirius was watching out of the corner of his eye. Their parents might not realize the look on his brother, Severus’, face, but he sure did. He was almost tempted to sit back and watch, but knew that that would draw attention to him.

Severus looked first at Ginny, and glared at her. It annoyed him that she was ignoring him. Then he looked at Harry who was giving him a pointed look and then glanced down at his plate.

Severus, however, had not inclination to start eating. He wasn’t going too.

He dropped his fork on the table, and then, one by one, started to pick up his greens beans and create a pyramid in the middle of his plate.

In his high chair, Alby watched Severus. Soon, the youngest male Potter threw his fork on the floor and grabbed a handful of the soft bean and started piling them on his plate.

Until Harry noticed.

“Alby! Geeze, son, what are you doing?’ Harry said, grabbing the little boy’s hands and wiping them off with a towel.

“No, Daddy! I be like Sevy!”

At that moment, Ginny looked down and watched, in horror, as Severus took his small hand and ran it through the gravy on his plate and then dripped it into the green bean pyramid.

“Severus Harrison!”  Ginny hissed, and went to grab his hands so that she could clean them off.

“Stop!” Severus said, jerking his dirty hands away from her.

“Severus, we do not play with our food, we eat it.” Ginny said, going to grab his hands again.

Later, Severus would not really know why he did what he did. In fact, much later, he would deny it even happened as everyone remembered.

As Ginny went, once again, to clean Severus’ hands so that the child could eat, but Severus had other ideas. He stood up on the chair, ready to jump off and make a run for it when Ginny grabbed him.

Severus thrashed around when her arms circled around him and then, out of desperation because he didn’t want to be in trouble, swung his arm around and smacked her.

Ginny was so surprised that she almost dropped him. But she held tight to him and leaned down to whisper in his ear, “Young man, you and I will be discussing this in the study after dinner. Ou will not act like this!”

She knew that the child really deserved a smack on the bum for his insolence, but she and Harry did not discipline their children in front of others, and especially not in front of their siblings.

She sat Severus down in his chair and glared at him. He glared back at her. She washed his hands off with a wet cloth she summoned, and then pushed his plate towards him. Severus merely pushed the plate away; hard enough to fall off of the table and land in Ginny’s lap.

“Severus Harrison Potter!”Both Ginny and Harry yelled at the same time. Severus didn’t wait around though. He jumped up and ran out of the kitchen, towards his room.

Ginny was just about to go after him, when she felt a hand on her arm. Surprisingly, it was her father.

“Let him go, dear. Tempers are high at the moment and it will do neither of you any good if you go into his room angry while he is still angry and upset.” Arthur told her.

It surprised her. Her father rarely ever said anything in situations like this. He was the calm one; the one who never got angry. And if he did get angry, you knew that you were in trouble.

“I cannot let him act like that, Dad.” Ginny said, though she sat down.

Looking at the rest of the kids, who, surprisingly to Ginny as she had yet to take a single bite, were all finished, Ginny smiled tightly, “Guys, why don’t you all go back and play with your trucks some more. We will have dessert after while.”

He boys didn’t need to be told twice, and all ran out of the kitchen.

They knew that their mother was no longer in a good mood, and they didn’t want to be anywhere near her at the moment.

Ginny sighed and placed her head in her hands. She felt movement around the table, but she didn’t move until she felt her mother’s arm wrap over her shoulder.

It was all that Ginny needed to burst into tears.

“I am so sorry. I am a horrible mother!” Ginny said, tears streaming down her face as she buried her face into her own mother’s neck.

Molly pulled away from her daughter and stared at her for several moments.

“Do not let me hear you say that again, young lady! You are a wonderful mother, just as Harry is a wonderful father. Your only problem here, is that you are forcing Severus to eat food when he doesn’t want too, and in turn is causing him to rebel.”

“I don’t want him to go hungry!” Ginny cried. She looked over at Harry who looked as downtrodden as she felt.

“Ginny, love, he won’t go hungry if he misses a few meals now and then. You surprise me a bit. Does Severus not remind you of anyone during meal times?”

Ginny thought, but could not think of anything so she shook her head no.

“Love, Severus acts just like you used to at the dinner table. Some days you would eat everything I would place in front of you, and other times you would throw a horrendous fit just like Sevy just did. Then Aunt Muriel came over one day and told me that I was fighting a losing battle. You would eat when you got hungry, and there was no need to force you. After that, while you always sat at the table with us, and had food on your plate, we never made you eat it. We let you up from the table when you were ready, but most of the times you wanted to stay with everyone else. Eventually, you even ate. You are going to have to stop forcing Sevy to eat if he doesn’t want too. It is going to cause more problems in the long run.” Molly told the two, younger parents gently.

“Nymphadora was the same way. We couldn’t force her to eat anything that she didn’t want.”

Ginny took a napkin that was close to her and wiped her eyes off as she leaned into her mother.

“Harry and I cannot let Sev get away with his behavior though. Regardless of the fact that he didn’t want to eat, he did hit me and throw his plate into my lap.” Ginny said quietly.

“Of course you can’t. But I think that you both need to explain to him exactly why he is in trouble. Otherwise, he will associate the whole fiasco with eating, and with rebel even more. You do not want that.” Arthur told her.

Harry and Ginny both nodded. How could they have been so blind?

The three elder people at the table all laughed. They each knew what that look was.

“You are still young parents. You still have things to learn. You must not, however, second guess your parenting skills. You are both excellent parents. Never doubt that.” Andromeda told the pair. They both nodded and took deep breath.

“Thank you. All of you. I think that…that sometime Gin and I need to be knocked over the head. We are still growing into parenthood at times, and I think that it is important that we realize that.” Harry said.

Arthur, Molly, and Andromeda smiled at the two young parents.

They were excellent parents, and one day they would realize it. It took a special parent to raise as many children as they were raising; and three of those children were adopted. Harry and Ginny just didn’t realize how lucky their little family was.

It was perfect.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Ginny and Harry took a deep breath before they walked into Sev’s bedroom. The grandparents were in the living room with Lily and the boys, and they were going to have a conversation with Sev that, unfortunately, would end in disciplining the boy for hitting his mother and throwing his plate.

Sev was in his room, but the only tell that he was, however, was the bump and sniffles coming from underneath the blankets on his bed.

“Severus?” Harry said as they walked in and sat down on his bed. Ginny nudged the blankets down to see a red eyed, weeping boy. Tears were steadily falling down Severus’ face.

“Severus, we need you to come out of there. We need to have a talk with you.” Harry said, slipping his arms under the little boy’s arms and lifting him up to place the child on his hip.

Ginny and Harry had talked about it, and though they had thought about having the discussion in Severus’ room, they had decided that staying consistent was the best thing they could do at the previous moment.

Together, the three of the walked into the study.

Harry and Ginny sat a couch and pulled a chair in front of them for Severus.

After much prompting, Severus was sitting in the chair, and looking forlorn and contrite.

“Severus, what just happened at supper cannot happen again. Mummy and I have talked and we both want you to realize that this is not about you eating. We are no longer going to force you to eat if you do not want too. However, you will not be allowed any sweets or desserts unless you eat the meal before it, understood?”

Severus nodded, and then let out a sniffly “Yes, sir.”

Ginny leaned in a little bit and took one of Severus’ hands and asked him, “Severus, do you understand why you are in trouble?”

He nodded, tears still dripping down his face. Ginny summoned a wet cloth to her and gently wiped off his tear stained face and his running nose.

“Tell us why, Severus.” Harry prompted.

It took several moments, but finally the little boy said, “I hit Mummy and threw my plate. I don’t understand though…I don’t understand.”

“What don’t you understand, Severus?” Harry asked.

“Why I would do that. I am sorry.” Severus cried.

“Severus, sometimes we make mistakes. Especially, Severus, when we are little. You are only five.”

“But I am not supposed to be five! I am supposed to be old!” Severus said, tears falling down his face again.

“Severus, do you understand that you are going to feel things, do things, that a child would do. Because, Severus, you are a child. You do not have to forget your past, but you have to put it behind you. You are our child. You did wrong, but it wasn’t the first time, nor will it be the last. You will be punished for what you did, but then it will be in the past.” Harry said.

Severus nodded. He had known that he would get a spanking. He had known that the second he had felt his hand hit his Mummy.

“I know I was bad, Daddy.” Severus said sorrowfully. He was definitely having conflicting feelings at the moment; did he willingly walk to his parents or did he make them get him?

In the end, it didn’t matter, as Severus was picked up, laid over his daddy’s knee, and given five swats before he even knew what was happened. He didn’t even realize it until it was over and his Daddy was hugging him.

“Let’s not have to do this any time soon, son.”

“Okay, Daddy.”  Severus sniffed.

And then Severus had a thought.

“I can’t put my past behind me until I speak with Dumbledore.” Severus whispered.

Ginny sat up and looked at Severus.

“No. That is my final decision.”

Severus leaned into Harry and, though he didn’t dare glare at her after just getting into trouble. He did, however, pout.

But the look on Ginny’s face told him that he was not going to win any argument.

~*~*~*~*~

Three days later, Severus and Sirius where in Severus’ room talking.

“I have to, Sirius.” Severus said, laying on his stomach reading a potions book.

“I know, Sev…I would like to speak to him too…and I know where they hide the Floo powder so that we can go through the Floo without tripping the wards on the door.” Sirius told him.

Severus sat up and looked at Sirius, who was leaning against the bed with a quidditch magazine.

“Really?”

“Yea. I saw them pull it out when Grammy, Grandpa, and Grandma left the other day.”

“Now. Let’s do now!” Severus said. Sirius merely nodded. This was something he needed to do as well.

Together, the two of them snuck out of Severus’ bedroom, into the kitchen where Sirius had seen Ginny hide the Floo powder in a cookie jar.

Soon, after stealing the Powder, listening to Ginny and Harry talking about supper in the study, Sirius and Severus stood together in the Floo, held onto one another, and Severus shouted: “Dumbledore’s Quarters!”