A/N: First pairing decided, Alan/Sev. I'm holding off on Harry (if any) for the moment. The familiar/familiar's egg should show up next chapter or the chapter after. Enjoy!
Alan found the continual apologies from various shoppers to be mostly amusing except for the few times some of them got grabby or started fawning over Harry. Severus and the shop employees helped keep most of the shoppers in line. After one particularly forceful attempt to smother Harry in a hug they were given a very generous discount for the day. The goblins had been kind enough to contact Alan's bank and, withdrawing a sum, converted half each to wizard and British currency. He was more than a bit embarrassed that Harry had to teach him the differences so that he could shop properly. All in all they made it out of the shopping trip without too much hassle, despite thoroughly amusing their Slytherin escort.
It didn't take Harry much effort to talk Severus into helping them find a muggle-magic hotel or arrange to go to the dig site that Alan had picked out for them. What did take some effort was deciding if they were going as a small family or not. Once Alan promised that they could buy a potion lab equipped magical tent, after he'd been informed of the existence of such a thing, they all decided to spend the summer together.
Harry had settled into his bed and was out like a light within moments, leaving his parents in a slightly awkward position. Severus had insisted on them sharing a room in case some idiot took it into their head to attack them. The problem? There were only two beds to a room and neither of them were going to ask Harry to sleep on the floor or a cot. They might not know as much as they would like about how he was mistreated but they would be damned before willingly subjecting him to something that might bring up unpleasant memories.
"Er, do you want the bed? I can sleep on the floor," Alan offered sheepishly once he'd realized their dilemma.
"I would prefer the bed, yes... However, I see no reason to force you to sleep on the floor," Severus said cautiously. At Alan's blank look he elaborated. "The bed is big enough for two, unless you object to my person?"
"Oh! No, no, I don't object. I just figured you'd object," Alan said, blushing in embarrassment.
A blush that immediately caught Severus' attention. He studied the paleontologist carefully for a moment before nodding to himself. The man was intelligent, seemed to be taking the news of magic well, clearly devoted to the offspring they had adopted. This boded well for a further relationship and any future offspring if he decided to offer to carry a child and give Harry a sibling. Alan, as a muggle, obviously couldn't carry a child to term... what was he thinking?! He didn't even know if the man would even welcome his advances! Well, best to test the waters now and avoid heartbreak later.
"Are you in any way attracted to men?" Severus asked bluntly. Alan fumbled over his own feet spluttering and blushing but not saying no. Interesting, a possibility then.
"If that idea bothers you... well, I've only ever gone out with women," Alan stuttered, earning a piercing look for his troubles.
"Why should it bother me? Personal preference is just that in the Wizarding World, after all a wizard can carry a child just as well as a witch and there are gender switching potions. Reproduction is the basis for that bias in muggle society after all," Severus said casually. Taking one last inscrutable look at the other man he quickly slipped into the bathroom to get ready for bed and wondered how Alan would take this latest blow to his preconceptions.
Dumbstruck, Alan sat down on the lone chair with an audible thump. Wizards, men could give birth? How would that even work? Harry! Oh... When Ian found out about this he was going to laugh himself sick. Then he was probably going to get sloshed. Yes, he'd been attracted to Ellie but she had moved on when he refused to consider kids. With Snape though... the idea didn't feel so strange or frightening, possibly because they technically already had a kid in Harry. Well, if the other man wanted to try for something he'd give it a go but children wasn't on the menu until they'd made sure Harry was safe and happy. Oh god, the raptors had been right! Apparently he was a decent dad and he refused to do less than his best.
Severus came back out in his dark green night shirt and looked him in the eye. Finding what he was after the potions master gave a satisfied nod and climbed into bed, pointedly waiting. Alan didn't dawdle with his own night time rituals, slipping on his plaid pajamas, before joining the onyx eyed man.
"Goodnight Alan," Severus said quietly before turning off the lamp.
"Goodnight Severus," Alan whispered back. It wasn't hard for either of them to fall asleep.
They both woke before dawn and well before Harry. Quietly they got ready for the day, including a hot shower a piece, while their son slept peacefully. They woke him around seven and worked flawlessly together to get him up and moving. Harry yawned before beaming gratefully at them and cheerfully collecting what he needed to get ready before claiming the bathroom.
"If I understood you right last night... I'm not adverse to trying something but Harry needs to come first," Alan said firmly over a cup of hotel room coffee while Harry hummed away happily in the shower.
"Agreed. The brat needs boundaries and we need to get him to talk about what happened even if only so we know what we're dealing with," Severus said with a nod, taking a sip of his own coffee.
"So we'll be his parents first and possibly more to each other second," Alan summarized with relief. Severus hummed his agreement before making himself another coffee.
The small family spent the day confirming arrangements to spend the summer near the dig site by Devon and sorting out any other business for the summer. Harry helped pick them pick out the correct magical tent, looking entirely muggle but with everything they needed for the summer. This included Severus' potions lab built right into the tent.
At one point Harry saw them unconsciously working together flawlessly and occasionally tossing interested glances at each other. After seeing that he decided to do a little matchmaking and made sure there were optional silencing charms on each of the bedroom sections in the tent. He felt no need to be fully aware of any "bedroom activities" and couldn't stand the thought of even facing them the morning afterwards. Harry conveniently forgot about his assigned essays until Severus figured out what he was doing and sat him down at the desk in their hotel room with parchment, quill, and ink.
"You've yet to do those essays I assigned you and you're clearly pushing to hard. I have no doubt that you'll be exhausted by supper time if you keep this up," Severus said sternly, pointing at the writing material in the clear order to get to work. They both knew that the essays would be more mentally and emotionally taxing than physically.
"Can we have chocolate ice cream for afters?" Harry asked carefully.
"If you've managed to write up the essay on your life before Hogwarts and your first two years at Hogwarts," Severus said sternly. His eyes and voice softened when he realized that his son, no longer the son of his nemesis, was scared. "Harry, this needs doing if only so that we can help you. We've both agreed that raising you comes first from now on. Do which ever one frightens you the most first. We'll both sit on the beds reading while you work. We're here if you need us even if its just for a hug or something silly like a spelling correction or prank. Try not to leave anything out, only the two of us will ever read them unless your life is in danger, alright?"
"Alright," Harry muttered, subdued and watching out of the corner of his eye as his parents did exactly what he had been told they would. They set themselves up on the two beds to read the new books they had bought in Diagon.
Screwing up his Gryffindor courage Harry started on the one about his time with the Dursleys. It took him nearly four exhaustive hours to force himself to write down most of what he remembered. He was silently crying by the time Severus walked over and gently pulled the barely working, mostly mangled quill from Harry's hands. Not one word was said as he lunged into their arms and sobbed his heart out.
"Its alright, brat. We're here for you," Severus whispered to him as they did their best to comfort him.
They did indeed have chocolate ice cream along with treacle tart, butter beer, and spaghetti for supper that night. Further attempts on the demon essay were limited to twenty minutes of writing at a time, with thirty minute breaks. Neither of them left his side until he was done, offering silent comfort the whole time. Not a single one of them were surprised when he woke screaming from a nightmare that night.
