Chapter Twenty:Family Is Forever
After the start of the new year everybody went back to Hogwarts. Petunia and The Weasley family also offered to babysit Nugget while Severus and the Potter family were gone. Pretty soon Valentines' Day fell upon them and everybody was busy sending each other singing Valentines and giving each other everlasting roses. That is everybody except for Stevie since there wasn't anybody that she particularly liked.
Meanwhile, Severus was busy planning a special dinner for him and Lily out in Hogsmeade. So that night Dumbledore agreed to watch both Harry and Sarah since Hagrid had his hands full with watching Fang and the remaining unicorn foals.
"I seriously don't think that Albus knows what he's getting into. Especially now that Sarah can crawl and she is now mobile like Harry." Lily said.
"Me neither but he's the one who agreed to do it." Severus said while as if on cue Sarah started crawling over to him with an excited squeal and he smiled down at her while squatting down in front of her. "Hullo there little caterpillar, are you going to be a good girl tonight?" He questioned her and she made a happy little noise while pointing up at his face.
"Da." She said as he continued smiling at her before he hoisted her up inside his arms and kissed her cheek. "Should I take that as a yes?" He wondered with a chuckle completely unaware of the fact that Harry had been watching them from the living room, looking up from his toys and for the first time since she was born he started getting rather jealous of all the attention that his baby sister was getting from his father.
"Well, I hope you sleep well tonight and I do hope that the headmaster remembers that both of the children need a bath tonight." Severus said.
"I'm sure he will, Albus has a wonderful memory." Lily pointed out before wrinkling her nose and waving her hand in front of her face. "Alright, who's the culprit this time?" She questioned before Severus put Sarah in front of his face and sniffed her rear end.
"It isn't her, so it must be Harry." Severus began. "You know he's definitely getting to the age to start his toilet training." He pointed out.
"Yeah I know, but he still isn't quite ready yet and with a baby around the house he's liable to go back to using nappies even if we start due to jealousy." Lily told him as she started walking over to Harry.
"Harry doesn't really get jealous though." Severus said while Lily picked her son up just as there was a knock at the door. "I'll get it." He said as he carried Sarah over to it and then opened it up with his free hand. A rather wide grin stretched a crossed the adorable baby girl's face as she saw Dumbledore and then started waving at him.
Dumbledore smiled at her and waved back. "Hello there Sarah." He said while glancing over at her over his half-moon spectacles and then quickly glanced up at Lily and Harry.
"Sorry, be right back he needs changing." She told him as Dumbledore just simply nodded in understanding as she carried him off and that's when suddenly Sarah started to fuss.
"She's probably just hungry. She hasn't had her bottle yet." Severus said and all of a sudden Sarah started sucking on her fist and drooling all over it.
"That, and I do believe that this child is teething." Dumbledore said while withdrawing his wand and after giving it a simple wave he made a tiny pink teething ring magically appear inside the palm of his hand. "Here you go Sarah." He said while flashing her a rather warm and loving smile before giving it to her to suck on.
As soon as Lily finished changing Harry's diaper, she brought him back down the hallway. "Alright so after supper Harry can watch a little bit of television while Sarah takes her bath and has her stories read, and as soon as she's in bed then Harry needs his bath and to get ready for bed." She explained while setting him back down on the ground.
"Understood." Dumbledore replied as Severus sat Sarah down as well and she started crawling back to where her toys were.
"Be sure to let us know if they give you any problems." Lily told him.
"Thank you Lily but I'm sure that we'll be perfectly fine." Dumbledore told her before she and Severus headed out the door.
…
Once Lily and Severus arrived at the Hog's Head, they were rather amazed to find Stevie sitting all alone by herself sitting inside a corner with tears streaming down her cheeks. "Hullo Stevie, what's the matter?" Lily questioned her with concern as Stevie just simply sniffed and wiped her nose on the back of her hand.
"Everybody has a date tonight except me. Even her." She replied while glancing over a crossed the room at Carly who was currently busy talking to and flirting with a boy who was around her age that had short wavy brown hair, bright blue eyes, and a glistening smile.
"That's Aaron Parker." Severus began. "I thought that he graduated already.
"He did, but he's back here because he's performing with the other Dragons tonight. So, Carly's pretty much already abandoned me for him. Not only because she's attracted to him, but because they're from the same house and they're both really into Qudditch and were on the Gryffindor Qudditch team together." She explained. "Oh yeah, and they're both purebloods as well." She added.
"Now come on Stevie, you and Carly are best friends. I'm sure that you won't let some boy get between you." Lily reassured her with a wave of her hand as if waving off that ridiculous thought.
"I sure hope you're right Mrs. Potter." Stevie replied and Lily couldn't help but think about the day that Sarah would become a teenager herself and start having boy issues. It made her even happier to know that she was currently still in her infancy and she would have a long time until that happened, even though her very first birthday was coming up this year already.
"Umm,.. Stevie, before your uncle and I sit down to eat, I was just wondering,.. how is everything going between you and your mum?" She wondered.
"Well I won't actually get to see her until another couple of months when I go home for the Easter holidays, but we've been sending each other owls. Unfortunately, she hasn't been feeling very well lately." She told her as Lily frowned.
"I'm really sorry to hear that sweetheart." She told her.
"Yeah, that and on top of it all I think she feels really guilty for not being able to protect me when you could." She told her uncle as he simply just looked at her.
"Thank you for letting me know. I think that before I go to bed tonight I will go ahead and send her an owl myself." He told her and then glanced back over at Carly who was still busy chatting and flirting with Aaron and withdrew his wand.
"Severus don't you dare!" Lily snapped inside a whisper but it was already too late.
"Furnunculus." He said with a simple wave of his wand causing Carly's face to be covered in zits. Severus grinned as laughter filled the room and Lily just narrowed her eyebrows and glared at him before giving him an angry shove.
"You could get fired for that!" She cried.
"Well I don't care." Severus began before turning his head and looking over at his niece. "Nobody messes with my family and gets away with it." He finished before smiling at her which she returned as Carly suddenly burst into sobs and then fled from the room and into the girl's restroom.
