Two weeks later they had arrived in Sophie's home village. It was a small and very remote place in the Black Forest. Not high up, more in a sheltered valley that was surrounded by hills on two sides with magnificent woods that gave it the look of a green cradle. The village itself had about 1.500 inhabitants and Sophie's parents house was right on the edge with the garden bordering the trees of the forest. It was a great welcome by family and friends and for a while Severus had the feeling they had barely said two words to each other, so busy was she answering questions and accepting congratulations for her recovery. But they had already agreed before they had arrived that Sophie would ask her parents permission to move into her grandparents old house. Her parents had been delighted. It was just around the curve of her parents street up on a little hill where it stood on it's own. The tenants who had rented it before Sophie had fallen ill, had terminated the rental agreement because they had bought a house of their own, so it had been empty all through Sophie's recovery. And now she felt it was time to fill it with life. She showed it to Severus closely monitoring his reactions. Of course it was hard to tell whether he liked it or not. She was used to his poker face by now. Still, she thought she had detected a gleam in his eyes as he was surveying what would from now on be his home and she very pleased when he said "Yes, this will do." Coming from him it was high praise and she beamed at him happily. Some work had to be done on the place though. Sophie wanted to change the look of the 50's building inside to give it a more British feel so Severus would find it easier to feel at home. She laid out her plans to him after their inspection of the property.

"There are some things that will still have to be fixed up though. Are you ready for my plans?"she asked, about as bouncy as a child on the way to a fun fair.

"Your plans?"

"Well, they are just a few ideas… everything is entirely negotiable."

"I am glad to hear it," he said sternly although she could see the slight smile tugging at his lips.

"Right, shall I start from bottom to top then? I would like the main kitchen to be in the cellar."

"The cellar?"

"Yes! There had always been a second kitchen down there and because it was bigger than the little one on the ground floor it was always used for preparing the food on birthdays and christmas and such. And naturally that always meant that the party moved down here when my grandma and my aunts and mother came down to cook. Don't ask me why but the greatest fun we always had was in this cellar kitchen. And I want it to be like that again."

He looked at her doubtfully. His idea of a nice dining area did not include a small window and a fireproof iron door leading on into the food storage and heater room behind the cellar kitchen.

"Don't look like that! Trust me! This is going to be great! We will turn it into a cosy room where we have enough space to welcome friends and cook with them and have a good time. There really isn't enough room for that upstairs."

He smiled. She was so enthusiastic about it all. He knew then he would just say yes to whatever she wanted and make sure it would be just like that.

She laid out to him how she wanted the ground floor to look. Upon entering from the street you would come into a narrow passage off of which there would be a staircase leading to the next level to the immediate right, one door to the bathroom on the ground floor right after the stairs, one door leading into a small dining room straight ahead and one door to the left that led into the first half of the big sitting room. The ground floor bathroom needed a redecoration as it still sported a horrible 70's flower pattern in lilac and rose. Severus shook with disgust upon seeing that. The small dining room had a door to the right which led into a very small kitchen. Sophie wanted this dining room and the small kitchen to be a sort of breakfast and welcome area. To the left of the dining room was the second half of the sitting room. It was nice and airy with two double windows to the front of the house. The right hand side of this big room was to have a fireplace in the outer right wall. It was to be surrounded by bookshelves and equipped a three seater couch and two armchairs. He could see this was going to become his favourite place. The left hand side was to have another couch to the far left wall and a tv set that was to act as a sort of separation between the rooms. Sophie said their computers could go there too and he was trying hard to come up with a credible explanation of why he did not own one. The door out of the left side led back into the passage to the front door.

Upstairs had three more rooms, one of which was to become their bedroom, one a study and one a guest room. Severus did not tell her he didn't think they needed a guest room. He had no intention whatsoever to encourage anyone to stay overnight but he felt that could still be addressed when the time came. The upstairs bathroom also needed a re-decoration. In addition all rooms in the house required new floors and new windows.

"I still have some money left over and we can have someone come in to do the windows. My dad can show us how to do the floors and then we start painting the walls." Still bemused by her excitement he answered

"I have enough money to have it all done. You should concentrate on yourself now. It will take some time to get back into a work routine again and I don't want you exhausting yourself by working and renovating."

"Oh, but that's all right. We can do loads on the weekends and there is really no reason to spend money on things we are perfectly capable of doing ourselves."

"Nonsense. You get back into your job. After all that is what you dragged me here for. Leave the house to me. I insist."

She did not put up much of a fight and he was pleased with that. It would give him the chance to add some extras to the house without her knowing.

Unknown to them a strange rumor had started spreading in the Ministry of Magic around the same time. At first Harry Potter did not pay much heed to it. In his youth rumors had caused him a lot of pain and anger and so he had neglected to learn that rumors sometimes could hold an element of truth. He would soon come to regret that.

Oblivious to the subtle signs of rising danger around him, he came home from his office job at the Ministry one late November evening. Ginny was preparing dinner in the kitchen and he found his children in the sitting room listening to the wizard wireless network while each of them was whiling away the time until they would be called to the table by their mother. Lily was playing with her magic doll, and Albus was playing with his childrens' potions kit. James was at Hogwarts and Harry was receiving updates by Neville on an almost daily basis.

The two present hardly looked up when he entered but he was used to that. He stood in the doorframe and, like everytime when he looked at his children, marvelled at how lucky he was.

But so little reaction really wouldn't do. He went inside and tickled Lily till she squealed in delight. Then he sat down on the couch and tried to get some words out of his younger son. He had always been more shy and withdrawn then James, who had a very outgoing personality that reminded him strongly of his uncles Fred and George.

"What you're up to, Albus?"

He received no reaction and since Albus's back was turned on him, he could not make out the look of intense concentration on his son's face. But he knew better than to disturb him when he held potions ingredients in his hands, so he waited until those had been carefully laid on the table to address him again:

"Albus, hello? Are you still on this planet or have you reached potions nirvana yet?"

He heard an exasperated sigh.

"Daaaad! Nirvana is the highest level of human development in the Hindu religion. I was not aware I had converted to any religion."

Harry couldn't help but smile. Albus love for knowledge and books was something that strongly reminded him of Hermione. Did any of his children resemble him in any way?

"Alright, alright. But tell me what you're up to there. It sure does smell foul."

"A potion is not required to smell pleasantly, as long as it fulfils it's magical purpose." Albus continued lecturing. Harry had difficulties to stifle his laughter.

"I see…" he managed with a very serious tone.

"I was given this recipe as a task. To see if I could manage to brew it."

"By whom?" Harry said frowning slightly.

"Daaaaad! Don't you remember? I told you I found a potions community online. I'm in an experimental potions chat group."

His children had grown up with knowing about muggle technologies. Harry had deemed it important that they should understand both worlds. So together with Rose, Hermione's and Ron's daughter, they had learned to use a computer and the internet. For Albus and Rose it had been a revelation to find such vast amounts of knowledge at their immediate disposal. For James it had been interesting until his parents discovered that he was mainly playing shooter games. That had been the end of his exchange with the virtual world. Albus had at some point found other wizards who used a separate section of the internet, much like the darknet but protected by electricity compatible magic, which other wizards and witches used to communicate in a more anonymous way. Harry had not seen any danger in that, having read some of his son's exchanges with other potioneers. So he didn't think it strange but was more impressed that his son had been set such a task.

"Oh, who was it then? Potionswiz-art53? Or Beetleays17?"

"No, it's some guy here in England. He is my age and we are trading recipes, only this one he found in an old book of his grandma's and he can't get it right."

"What's it supposed to do?"

"It's supposed to recognise magical afflictions and indicate their source. That is to say if you administer it to someone whom you know to be suffering from some form of magic, be it an attack or an illness, this potion will indicate what it is."

"Wow, that does sound highly advanced!"

"Hmmm...the recipe is easy enough. I mean I had all the ingredients in my potions kit. I think the tricky bit is the preparation. Getting the stirring and the heat exactly right."

Harry thought of his own potions lessons back in his school days and how often Neville had melted cauldrons because he had never kept to Snape's instructions. Snape. Harry almost laughed at the thought of him meeting Albus and finding him fascinated with potions. He would never believe a Potter to be capable of that. But then again, if Snape knew the boy was a Potter, he in his prejudiced ways would probably be the only person on this planet who would manage to totally discourage the boys interest in Potions simply by being the great git he always had been when faced with Harry. Albus' looks resembled Harry's very much. He had the same black hair and the same green eyes. His only child with his mother's eyes. That had been the reason he had named him Albus Severus Potter. Snape would get such a fit knowing he had named his son after him!

"Dad, are you alright?" Lily had come and placed a hand on his knee. It shook him out of his revery.

"Yes, little one. 'Course I am." He smiled and headed for the kitchen.

They spent an enjoyable evening eating Ginny's superb dinner and then the kids went upstairs to get ready for bed. Harry went after them to tuck them in. Even though they were beyond that age already he could not stop this little ritual. When James was home he even did it with him. And James, in spite of all his teenage behaviour during the day, never refused him and always sank into Harry's hug before slipping under the covers. Harry had resolved from the first day that his children would receive all the love and care he had never had as a child. A few hours later he and Ginny retired as well. Sleep came quickly, but it was to be the last night of undisturbed slumber in a long while.