Chapter Six—Mischievous Boys at Play

Tomorrow began much sooner than any of the men truly believed. They had all retreated finally to their rooms to manage a few hours of sleep just before dawn. Only a few hours later, the three men reawakened, not by haunting memories, but by the sudden smell of smoke and a loud crash.

"Harry." Severus was on his feet instantly, sweeping out of the room to meet up with Remus.

"It's the kitchen." Remus said at once, taking a deep breath to allow his over-developed senses to work. The two rushed into the kitchen, just as Sirius stumbled in from the Western wing of the house to see smoke rising from the stove with an overturned chair in front of it and a small boy wearily sitting up from his new position under the table, holding his head.

"Harry James Potter, what on earth are you doing?" Remus exclaimed, nostrils flaring as he smelled blood. "Sirius, he's bleeding." Remus said, leaving Sirius to the boy even as he turned to the stove. A quick Extinguishing spell contained that problem.

As his friend saved the house, Sirius swooped down to grab the boy and place him on the table.

"I'm sorry, Uncle Paddy," the boy sniffled, holding onto his head. "I'm sorry."

"Dammit, I forgot my wand!" Sirius realized after frantically checking through his sweatpants. "Harry, hold on one minute."

With that he turned and ran out of the kitchen.

Severus rolled his eyes, even as he forced his own panic down. He hadn't taken off his robe and always had his wand with him. The boy would be fine. He walked around the table and calmly cast a Healing Spell.

Harry took his hand away to see that there was no more red on it and that his head no longer hurt. He grinned impulsively up at his uncle. "Thanks, Uncle Sevie."

With that, he started to wiggle off of the table.

"Hold it right there, young man." Severus said, reaching out to stop the boy as Remus walked over, carrying a small pan. "What is it?"

"Eggs... I think." Remus said, poking the burned mixture doubtfully. "Harry James, what in Merlin's name were you trying to do?"

At their tones, Harry's smile fell. "I- I was makin' bweakfast." He said. "I didn't eat any of it!" He protested.

"Harry, if you're hungry, you are to wake up one of your uncles." Severus said, still holding the boy. "You're too small to cook. Didn't you realize that was dangerous? You could have fallen off of that chair onto the stove!"

The small boy shrugged. "I'm fine, Uncle Sevie. I was makin' bweakfast for you and Uncle Paddy and Uncle Moony, for when you wake up!" He said. "Still not good wif the eggs, but I made toast!"

He pointed to the counter by the sink where three plates of sloppily buttered toast did, in fact, sit.

"Oh dear Merlin." Remus said, looking around the room for the first time. The refrigerator wasn't completely closed, nor was the cupboard where the dishes were. The werewolf could only imagine how the boy had gotten up to them, as they were in the highest of shelves. The toaster was still going and the carton of two-dozen eggs was filled with broken eggshells.

"Gotta get the orange juice next." Harry said, trying to remove his uncle's hands. "Then the coffee!"

"Harry James, you are not to make breakfast. Is that what your Aunt and Uncle made you do?" Severus asked, finally picking the boy up and holding him so that he would stop wiggling.

"Uh-huh." Harry said, looking hesitantly at the very stern uncle holding him. "'S'all a fweak like me is good fow'." He quoted.

"Harry, you are not a freak." Severus said sharply. "You are never to say that again, do you understand me?"

Now the boy looked truly frightened. "Yes sir. I'm sorry!" He squeaked. "'m sorry!"

Hearing Remus's hidden chuckle, Severus realized he had actually frightened the boy. "No, Harry, I am sorry. I don't mean to scare you." He apologized. "But you are not a freak. You are a little boy, and you could never be a freak. Your Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon are the freaks, don't ever forget that."

"Uncle Vern'n a fweak?" Harry said, awed. The idea had never occurred to him.

"Yes, Harry." Remus said, with a warning look to Severus. "You are just a little wizarding boy, just like me and Uncle Paddy and your Uncle Sev used to be."

The boy thought about that for a minute. Then he giggled. "I just like you?"

Severus raised one eyebrow, unsure as to where this conversation was heading. "Yes, quite. Just like I am. You will one day grow up to be a great wizard, just like me."

"Ha." Sirius said, walking back in. He had calmed considerably and was now dressed in a Gryffindor red t-shirt with a robe thrown on top, twirling his wand in his fingers. "You'll be a great wizard like me, Harry, don't listen to Sev. "But little boys are not allowed to cook."

"I always cook, Uncle Paddy." Harry said, turning to his uncle. "Uncle Vernon always made me cook."

"Here, I do the cooking." Remus said. "You wouldn't want to take my job now, would you?" He asked, grinning at the boy.

"No!" Harry protested, turning back to look at Remus. "No, Uncle Moony!"

"Good." Moony said, winking at the boy before looking at the pan. "Because you're just as bad at cooking as your Uncle Padfoot is." Laughing he offered the pan to Sirius.

"Hey!" Sirius looked at the pan and pouted. "I'm not that bad." He banished the pan to the sink and took Harry into his own arms. "But that's fine. Harry and I will be bad cooks together, right Harry?" He asked, tickling the boy. "We don't wanna cook anyways. Come on, let's go get dressed."

And with that he swept out of the room.

Severus sighed. "That man makes me feel much too old." He said, turning towards the coffee pot he saw on the counter by the sink. Ah, his saving grace.

Remus grinned. "Yeah," he said fondly. "He does that. It's good that he can smile at all though. After Azkaban..."

He trailed off with a shrug, watching as the Slytherin drew coffee meticulously into the filter and started the brew. "So, what kind of eggs do you want?" He asked, grabbing another carton out of the refrigerator.

"None." Severus said, not taking his eyes off of the coffeepot. "I don't eat breakfast."

Remus watched for a few minutes longer, but Severus didn't look up. Wow, Remus thought, as he quickly began scrambling eggs, does the man like coffee.

Remus had the first batch of eggs done by the time Severus was on his third cup of coffee and only then did the werewolf allow himself a cup.

"Breakfast is the most important meal of the day," he informed Severus as he joined him at the table, splitting the eggs onto two plates and then waving his wand at the stove to begin another batch, adding on bacon and sausage as well.

"Shut up, Lupin. Don't ruin this for me." Severus said, not even looking at the other man. "Dumbledore insists on tea at the breakfast table."

Grinning, Remus took his advice and dug into his eggs, only looking up again when Sirius and Harry reentered the room.

"Look at us, Uncle Sevie." The boy said, from his position in his godfather's arms.

Severus looked up and cringed. Sirius and Harry were dressed identically, in scarlet and gold shirts and Muggle jeans. "Black..." He said, glaring at the man.

Sirius grinned broadly, setting Harry down in the seat next to Severus and taking the last seat for himself. "Here Harry, eat up," he said, pushing the second plate of eggs towards the boy and then looking to his old friend. "Well Moony, doesn't he look adorable in Gryffindor colors?"

"He wears your clothes better than you do." Remus agreed teasingly, getting up and bringing back food for his friend as well and bringing out the orange juice.

"Ha, ha, Moony." Sirius said dryly, eating a few pieces of crispy bacon and then gulping down a glass of orange juice while grinning across the table at a disgusted Severus Snape. "We're going to have to get him some clothes of his own, though."

"You're going to have to get a lot of things for him," Severus said, poring the boy a glass of juice and ignoring the boy's atrocious manners as he plowed through his food. "And how exactly do you plan to do that without being caught? Neither of you can just appear with a child."

"Oh, so you're volunteering?" Sirius said at once. "You have some nephews, right? Back in France? One of them could be around Harry's age."

"Why would my nephews come here just to go shopping for clothing?" Severus asked, rolling his eyes. "They have my cousins for that."

"What else are we going to do?" Sirius asked reasonably. "The only children left in my family are Andromeda's girl and Narcissa's son. Actually, Narcissa's son ought to be about Harry's age."

"Draco is in fact a few months older." Severus said. "He's my godson. But there is no way she'd let you take him."

"Well that settles it." Sirius said. "You take him then. I have no valid excuse and neither does Remmy."

"Fine." Severus said, holding up a hand and wincing as the man absently gulped down another glass of orange juice. The stuff disgusted Severus. "I'll take him clothes shopping."

"And we'll go with you." Sirius said. "While you're doing that, Moony and I will go buy toys."

All three men were watching Harry closely throughout the discussion, but the boy's eyes remained firmly on his food. He was listening, however, as they saw his eyes flicker to Sirius for a minute at the word 'toy'.

When they decided Harry wasn't actually going to say anything despite the hopeful look on his face, they went back to their discussion.

"We'll buy him some stuff to start out with and then in a few weeks we'll take him again and let him pick out his own toys. And we'll get him a broom. He needs to learn how to fly a broom." Sirius decided. "And then we'll head on back to work on Snape's motorcycle."

"We had better go today." Remus said. "Didn't you say you have three or four days? We'd better stick with three, just to be safe, so it's best to get this stuff down quickly. If we decide he needs more clothes afterwards, you can take him on the next weekend you visit."

Plans made the four quickly finished up breakfast. While Harry was left with Sirius- quite hesitantly by both Severus and Remus, much to Sirius's annoyance- the two other men quickly dressed.

Feeling safer with only one of his uncles around him, Harry finally spoke up. "Uncle Paddy, I no need new clothes. I fine. No need spend money on a..."

The boy stopped and Sirius watched in amusement as the boy turned to where Severus had retreated.

Obviously he remembered Severus's warning.

"On me." The boy amended, taking out the Dursley's favorite word.

"Believe you me, boyo," Sirius said, patting the boy on the shoulder as they waited in the sitting room for the others. "I have plenty of money to spend. Not that any money spent on you would ever be wasted."

He grinned, swooping down and grabbing the boy in his arms again. "You're my only godson. I'll never marry and Moony isn't going to find a girl for awhile, so you're it. You're stuck with me."

Harry grinned. "I your godson?"

"Yep." Sirius said happily. "That means your Daddy decided if he couldn't take care of you, I would be the one to do it. I'm your godfather."

"Dogfather." Severus muttered, rolling his eyes as he walked in.

"Hey!" Sirius protested, both at the insult and because Severus plucked Harry out of Sirius's hands. "Snape!"

"Shut it." Severus said. "I have to change his appearance. I can't take Harry Potter with me, now can I?"

He placed Harry on the nearest couch and tapped the boy gently on the forehead. Instantly his hair fell limply against his head and his eyes blackened completely. "Not bad." Severus said, looking at the boy. "Now Harry, we're going to play a game, alright? Just you and me. While we're out, don't tell anyone your real name. Let's think up another name for you, okay? Why don't we call you Alec, alright?"

"Alec?" Harry said slowly, testing it. "I Alec?"

"Alec Snape." Severus agreed. "If anyone asks, you tell them that's your name, do you understand? Just tell them that you're with your uncle. Nothing else."

"Yes Uncle Sevie." Harry said. "I Alec Snape."

"Alec?" Remus asked, reappearing, dressed now in neat blue robes.

"My cousin Dmitri's youngest son is named Alec. Alexander Sebastian Coran Snape." Severus repeated from memory. "Dmitri's third son and fifth child overall. He only had to go through three wives to have them all."

He shrugged and with another wave of his wand, Harry's shirt was turned green with tiny silver snakes on it. "And no Snape's were ever placed in Gryffindor."

"Slytherins all the way, huh?" Sirius said, wrinkling his nose as he grabbed the floo pot. "Only takes one- I proved that."

"Actually, so did I." Severus said, picking up Harry and taking some powder. "All Snape's go to Ravenclaw. But...Prince's go to Slytherin. Diagon Alley," he added, stepping through before Black could work up an answer.

"Prince!" Even Sirius retained enough Pure-blood knowledge from a Slytherin family to understand that. The Prince's were a rich family- even more so than the Potter's or Black's or Malfoy's. And they had always been a Dark family. A Prince had married Salazar Slytherin's only daughter and the two lines had mixed for years.

The four only met up again at the Leaky Cauldron that night, just before dinner time. Of course, they had to keep up appearances.

"Why look what we have here, Moony." Sirius said, fighting a smile as he saw the disguised Harry fast asleep in Severus's arms as the man nursed a firewhiskey. "Snape spawned."

"Black." Severus immediately had his wand in his hand, moving the sleeping child away from the Gryffindors.

Tom, the owner, hurried over, not wanting a fight in his pub. "Now, now, fellows." He urged. "Can I get you two something to drink?"

Sirius and Remus took the two seats left at the bar, which were not surprisingly by the Dark Potions Professor, and each ordered a firewhiskey. They were immediately served, but Tom didn't leave. The two dark haired men had caused considerable damage in his bar the one time they had happened to catch each other here, in the summer before their Seventh year, and Tom was not eager for it to happen again.

"This here is Professor Snape's nephew, come to visit him for a few days. They went shopping, but the little one's all tuckered out."

"I didn't know Snape's slept." Sirius said. "They must grow out of that."

"Black, I'm warning you." Severus said. "Alec is returning in a few days and afterwards, I have no problem tracking you down."

"Yeah, well, come on by the Marauder Manor anytime." Sirius invited. "At least I see now there really was a child and not you just trying to hide from our fight, like I expected."

"You'll get yours." Severus vowed. "As soon as I am free of obligations." Task accomplished- for until now he had no idea where to go in the Floo system, as he hadn't known the name of Black's new house- he stood. "Tom, put that on my tab. As well as some Floo powder."

It was another half hour until Sirius and Remus thought themselves inconspicuous enough to leave. They flooed home to find Severus at work in the library with a sleeping Harry beside him. After taking the time to hide Harry's presents, they joined Severus in the library.

"Sorry about that." Remus offered. "We didn't even think about you not knowing the name of the manor until we flooed home to see you still not here."

"It is fine." Severus said, waving off the apology. "Harry and I were fine. I took him for ice cream after getting clothes and then to the bookstore. The child has learned to read, though his family wasn't supportive, so we bought a few books as well."

"So did you get everything for him?" Remus asked.

"Yes, Madame Malkin was quite helpful." Severus said, sipping a cup of tea he had made. "And delighted to help build a new wardrobe for the child. I told her it was my gift to Alec because he had older brothers and was therefore used to receiving hand-me-downs. She also found out his whole history, which if I am correct, Dumbledore will know by morning. He also now knows we didn't fight, so we may not get into too much trouble."

"Snape, you're taking this Dumbledore thing much too far." Sirius said laughing. "We're adults now."

"And you're still as naïve as ever if you think that means anything to that old coot. You've no idea how he thinks- he still treats me as if I were a third-year trying to break into the restricted section." Severus said, scowling. "Even though I am now a teacher. He treats all his former students like that."

"What about the clothing?" Remus asked, directing the topic away. Sirius would learn soon enough, no need to ruin it for him now. "You didn't buy all black, did you?"

Sirius suddenly gasped. "Or all Slytherin. You can't just force your house on him, Snape. He'll be a Gryffindor through and through."

"Actually, if my younger brother is any indication, Harry is a Ravenclaw." Severus said absently, still flicking through the book in his hands. "I let him pick out everything. Most of his stuff has Snitches or Dragons on it. He seems to like the idea of flying. I let him pick out the books he wanted as well, as we bought out most of the children's section. He's very advanced, reading wise, which he said he did in secret in his cupboard." Severus spat out the last word, allowing displeasure to show.

He finally looked up. "You'll have to begin teaching him soon, he's very curious. But his grammar must be worked on first, as it's atrocious. I think I got an explanation of that as well, as he was generally...discouraged from speaking in the presence of his family, so you're going to have to work on that."

"I can take care of that." Remus said. "I tutored children occasionally, I know the basics."

"Excellent." Severus said. "As I do not know what Muggles usually teach children. He was in their first year, whatever it was called, so you may base your training on that."

"And I bought him a broom." Sirius said happily. "And one for myself and Moony, so we can all go up." He frowned, suddenly, saying, "I had wanted to take him up tonight. Is he going to wake up?"

"It's already eight." Severus said, looking at his pocket watch. "I believe that is probably about his bedtime, so probably not. I fed him as he started to doze off, so he has dinner in him, at least. You may all go flying tomorrow, we have nothing else planned."

"That's good, as we just about have the spells we need for your motorcycle." Remus said. "Once we were done shopping, we went down to the Marauder vault and we actually found this."

He tossed a notebook to Severus, which he caught one-handed. "It's the beginning stages of what we did. We have more notebooks, but we gave them to Hester. She wrote her own, once she realized our handwriting was so horrid."

"We'll probably need to write it out again, for you." Sirius said, watching in amusement as Severus squinted down at the chicken-scratch on the notebook's pages.

"Nonsense," Severus said, rolling his eyes. "You've obviously never been a teacher. I have to translate every essay I receive."

Okay guys, here's the long awaited Chapter six. Sorry this has taken so long, college is kicking my ass right now. I've already started on chapter seven and it should be out by next Monday. Please, let me know what you thought of it and anything you'd like to see happen. More action next chapter (including the whole family flying), I promise. If anyone has any idea of who to pair up any of the uncles with, please let me know. I don't think I want Remus and Tonks together, lovely though they are in canon. Right now, I'm pretty sure Tonks is being taught by Professor Snape. Awkward...

Let me know,

Minara.