'And Greg soon found himself in a marvelous room filled with all the treasures one gryphon could imagine. There were rubies the size of bludgers and diamonds the size of snitches. Beads of shining emeralds were draped over many things. Even the floor of the room was covered in a sea of galleons.'

Severus finally reached the end of Harry's newest Gryphon book just as his five-year-old son lost his hold on consciousness. Gently covering him in the patchwork quilt Molly gave him for his birthday, the teacher bent down to tenderly kiss the tiny forehead.

"Sweet dreams son," he whispered before leaving to find a glass of water for his parched throat. Reading aloud to his child was something he'd done nearly every night since he'd come into his custody. It was a ritual he greatly looked forward to despite his growing tired of the insanely popular 'Green Gryphon'. Sometimes he wished Harry had never found out about those books. He'd tried many times to interest the child in another character -- to no avail.

He'd even, in desperation, taken Harry to a muggle library and let him pick out any book he wanted. Unfortunately his son chose a muggle fairy tale which involved the tragic demise of a witch. The child had cried for an hour after finding out the witch was burned alive and refused to sleep by himself for a week. If Severus hadn't been so exhausted while reading aloud that night, he would have 'edited' the story. But that just happened to be the night Poppy had demanded he restock her supplies of dreamless sleep potions and his mind hadn't been present during the reading.

No matter how annoying his current fixation was, it was nothing compared to a nearly hysterical child.

'How much longer can this phase possibly last?' While filling up a glass at the kitchen sink, Sev began chuckling as an image of him reading the same stories to a ten-year-old Harry came to mind. His expression turned to sadness when he realized that by that time Harry most likely would be appalled to have his dad reading to him at night, no matter the material.

He sighed. 'They grow up too fast....' With this final thought, the professor changed into his nightshirt and slid into his own bed.

-----

"Daddy, wake up!"

Severus never heard the slight squeak of his bedroom door opening. Nor was he aware of the sound of tiny bare feet running toward him. But the enthusiastic leap onto his unprotected abdomen, followed by the high-pitched screech directly into his ear caught his attention faster than an exploding cauldron.

"Ugh..." Ignoring the fierce little bundle of energy who had an annoying knack for waking him at five am every morning, Sev pulled the blankets over his head and turned over. Harry lost his balance and landed on the mattress beside the older man.

He giggled and tugged the blanket back down. "No daddy, it's morning and Uncle Moony is getting me today, member?"

Sev sighed. "'Remember', and yes I do but he won't be here until after breakfast which starts in... two hours."

When the time came for Harry to begin his education Severus had decided to forego placing him in Primary Wizarding with the rest of his peers. There was too much public interest in his son for him to feel safe dropping him off at any institution. Since Black's friend Remus Lupin was currently unemployed due to his 'illness' and not likely to have any steady source of income in the near future - well, it only seemed logical to pay Lupin to give Harry private lessons. Though he still had many unresolved issues with being nearly killed by Lupin in school, even he had to admit that the werewolf had a remarkable way of getting through to children.

Together they had been trying to help Harry with his 'baby talk'. His son had a hard time altering his speech patterns. To this day he still sometimes said 'Siwius' instead of 'Sirius' but with Remus' help he was improving greatly. Now he only slipped up if he was nervous or excited.

Sev thought the problem stemmed from the child's fans knocking each other down just to get a glimpse of the extremely shy boy. His son had always been wary of too much attention and tended to hide in the face of it. 'It's been four years, people. Leave him alone already!'

"Daddy?"

He snapped his attention back to the sleep-tousled boy beside him. The emerald eyes were staring widely at him in confusion. Severus realized his son had been trying to get his attention. "Yes, son?"

Harry gave a brilliant smile. 'How can anyone be this awake at five in the morning?' "I said can we have chocolate cake for breakfast?"

Severus chuckled. "I don't think so, Harry. I have a hard enough time keeping up with you when you're not high on sugar."

The boy appeared to be thinking hard. "It doesn't have to have sugar, daddy. I only want the chocolate!"

The father sat up and began to stretch. He briefly considered letting his son taste unsweetened cocoa to see the comical expression the act was sure to produce. "That may be so, however chocolate is still not on the menu. Now go dress in the clothes I laid out for you."

Harry reluctantly slid off the big bed and padded toward his room.

Severus smiled at the dejected boy. "Remember Harry, buttons go in the front and the tags go in the back like I showed you."

His answer was a toothy grin and a giggle. Harry's mood never stayed low for long. "Okay daddy!"

-----

As soon as they entered the hall Harry jerked free from Severus' hand, broke his dad's 'no running in Hogwarts' rule, and took a flying leap into Remus' outstretched arms.

"Uncle Moony I knew you'd come early to have breakfast with me today!"

"Is that so? And how did you know I'd be early?" The prematurely graying werewolf nodded a brief hello to the potion's master then focused his attention back on Harry while carrying him to his place at the head table. Minerva graciously gave her seat to him so Harry could sit in between him and his dad.

"I dreamed it last night. Artie told me I talked in my sleep. He said I said you would be early and also that Siwi... I mean Sirius is gonna take me fishing Saturday." Harry reached for a piece of french toast as Severus began filling his plate for him.

Remus looked questioningly at Severus. "Artie?"

"Harry's new imaginary friend. He 'showed up' at our room three days ago. The two seemed to get on pretty well." He then looked down at his son. "I thought Artie had left. I haven't heard you talking to him since the night he came to visit you. Did you have a fight?"

Wide emerald eyes met the professor's. "Oh no daddy. Artie said he'd never leave me!"

Smiling indulgently at the small boy, Lupin leaned closer. "I sure would like to meet Artie, Harry. Is he here with you today?" He wasn't worried in the slightest about the boy's new friend. Neither was Sev. Both men knew that imaginary playmates were perfectly natural at this stage of Harry's life and they welcomed the invisible being for the sole reason that he was important to this child.

"No, Uncle Moony. He said he had other things to do today but I'll see him later. He's also gonna come with me when Sirius takes me to O'Leary Loch."

Sev raised an eyebrow. "And when were you planning on telling me that Sirius asked you to go fishing? I don't recall dolling out permission for such an adventure."

"Oh don't worry daddy. He hasn't asked me yet." The older men scrunched up their faces in confusion, so Harry elaborated. "But he will ask you this afternoon when he gets off work."

Remus smiled, assuming the youngster had overheard Sirius speaking to someone about the surprise fishing trip and somehow worked it into his imaginary companion. Either that or Harry was making all this up. One glance at Severus proved the other's thoughts were along the same lines.

Neither of them thought any more on the subject. Soon Lupin and his pupil were finished with breakfast. Kisses and hugs were generously given to daddy and the two were flooing into Lupin's cabin for their lessons.

-----

Severus was busy grading third year quizzes when the fireplace in his sitting room flared up. Sirius Black stepped out coughing and brushing soot from his auror robes before looking up. "Is it possible to hate someone so much that their head will explode from your force of will alone?"

The professor sighed and arched an eyebrow. "Since you're standing here talking to me with your head still attached to your body, I'm going to have to say 'no'."

Sirius snorted in bitter humor before taking a seat on the sofa. "My supervisor is driving me insane! One mistake -- one minuscule error on my HB3-202 form and he's on the rampage. Like it's my fault, anyway... the idiot can't spell worth a flip and his handwriting's atrocious. I don't see why he can't fill out his own damned paperwork and leave me in the field where I belong."

"So why come to me with all your inane griping? Would you rather wade through piles of essays written by uneducated morons who would rather chase balls on broomsticks than open books?" He shoved another failed test to the bottom of the pile and started on the next. Black would find no sympathy here.

He heard a sigh behind him. "Nah... but Remus is still teaching Harry how to read and I'll distract him. Besides," he stated grinning, "you're the father of my child... I think I'm supposed to let you know what's going on in my life."

Sev rolled his eyes. "Thank you for that disgusting image, Black. I'm sure Lily would have loved it."

"Hah! She'd be giggling well into the weekend."

They sat in silence for a few minutes before Black could no longer resist the impulse to chatter like a squirrel. He had picked up the stuffed dragon Albus had given little Harry a few years ago and was smiling softly. "Speaking of the weekend, would you object to me taking Harry on a little fishing trip?"

"I suppose you're planning on going to Loch-O'Leary?," he asked with a knowing smirk.

Black jerked his head up at that and didn't seem able to hide the look of raw astonishment that graced his features. "How...?" O'Leary was absolutely nowhere in the vicinity of Hogwarts and they would have to take what would be Harry's first trip via portkey, so it wasn't likely Sirius would believe it was a lucky guess.

Deciding to spare the mongrel a coronary episode, he explained. "Harry told me this morning. Evidently your desire for the trip to remain secret lasted only a precious few seconds."

Silence. He looked up to see confusion etched across the man's pale face. "Severus, I only just thought of the trip on my lunch break today... right before coming here. Not only have I not talked to Harry, but you are the only one I've discussed this with."

Seeing the truth in the other's eyes, it was his turn to feel the cold tendrils of shock floating through his veins. "Do you think Harry has the gift of foresight?"

"I don't know... has he ever predicted anything before?"

Sev thought a moment. "He seemed to know Lupin would be early today in order to join us for breakfast, but I wrote it off to childish impatience. I honestly never gave it a second thought."

Before either could speculate further, the object of their attention flooed in. He was crying loudly, held protectively in the arms of Remus Lupin. Severus jumped up immediately and pulled the sobbing child to him, searching for any kind of wound but not finding anything. He looked to Lupin. "What happened?"

The werewolf ran his fingers through his light brown hair and shrugged. "I don't know what happened. One minute we're going over his letters again and the next he starts screaming 'I'm gonna fall on the pointy spikes'.

Severus and Sirius exchanged horror-filled glances. Robbed of his ability to speak, the professor began lightly rocking side to side and rubbing his son's back.

The only thing he could think of was 'Oh Merlin, please don't let him have the gift....'

-----

A vial of calming potion later Harry was napping peacefully on the couch. He looked so tiny, wrapped up in the soft fleece blanket, that Severus couldn't stop his fingers from running through the silky black hair. He plucked Roofus, the stuffed dragon, from the mantle where Black must have laid him and tucked him in close to the child. The green and blue toy was slowly becoming Harry's favorite since Pafoo had been tragically eaten by Hagrid's three-headed dog Fluffy.

That had been a disaster that took Harry months to overcome. Come to think of it, Harry still didn't like Fluffy, even though the tragedy happened two years ago.

Black had taken Lupin into the next room to explain why they were so worried by the child's frightened words. Deciding to clean up some of the dishes from tea time, Sev turned to grab a cup and froze.

Roofus was sitting back on the mantle. He checked the toy for spells. Finding none, he chalked it up to his own fraying nerves. He must have meant to give him to Harry and got sidetracked by his thoughts. So he grabbed the animal and tucked him under the blankets before levitating the dirty dishes to the sink.

Re-entering the room, he couldn't hold back a gasp of shock. The dragon was once again resting next to the floo pot, as if he'd never been moved. He looked to make sure the door to his study was still closed. Certain that the remaining Marauders were not playing pranks, he then thought maybe Harry was performing spontaneous magic in his sleep.

He dismissed that theory because it takes strong emotions to trigger episodes in young children. The calming potion would forbid any strong emotions at all -- asleep or not. Severus also ruled out intruders, ghostly or otherwise, since he had the strongest set of wards on his rooms that he could apply.

So what was causing this?

-----

Sirius went back to the sitting room, followed by a pale-faced Remus, only to be met with the oddest sight. Snape had pulled an armchair close to Harry and was perched on the end of it with his wand drawn. The professor was staring avidly at the toy dragon in his godson's arms.

Before he could amuse himself with a witty comment regarding the odd situation, he paused at the same time Severus tensed. The toy's eyes were glowing a bright purple. It began levitating, then seemed to propel itself over to the mantle above the fireplace. Snape unconsciously kept his wand trained on the harmless looking toy before dropping it back to his side. Sirius and Remus, meanwhile, wore gobsmacked expressions during the whole episode.

Black was the first one to break the silence. "What the hell was that all about?"

Severus looked up before grabbing the dragon. "I don't know. It's been doing this since you both left the room." He handed the plaything to the auror. "I want you to take this to the Cursed Artifacts office at the ministry and see if they can find anything out about it because I'm at a loss."

Lupin scrunched his face up. "I'll go ask Albus if he knows anything first. Wasn't he the one that gave the dragon to Harry?"

Snape nodded. "Good idea. While you're doing that, ask him if he'd join us for dinner tonight. I would like to consult with him about this idiosyncratic situation."

Sirius looked at the man oddly before heading for the door. "Sometimes I think you memorized the freaking thesaurus. Who talks like that?!" The auror was still grumbling under his breath as the portal closed behind him.

Severus just rolled his eyes.

-----

When Harry finally came around, Severus asked him carefully if Roofus had ever acted strangely before. To his father's surprise, Harry simply replied that 'Artie doesn't like me talking to Roofus when he's here.'

Severus nodded absently. "Harry, is Artie here now?"

Harry nodded and pointed to the other side of the room. "He's been staring at you all this time, daddy." The boy frowned. "But I don't like the way he's looking."

The father glanced quickly to where his son pointed without seeing anything unusual. "What do you mean."

"He looks very angry daddy." He suddenly spoke loudly toward his imaginary friend. "Artie, why are you looking like that at daddy?"

Severus couldn't help the slight feeling of nervousness he had at his son's words. "Why is he angry at me?"

Harry looked frightened. "Because he says you're gonna try to take me away from him... and he's not gonna let you. He says he'll take me away first."