Chapter Twenty-Two: Unconditional Love

When Severus and Lily returned home, Dumbledore greeted them at the door. "Hello there, you both have had a rather splendid evening together I take it." He said.

"Yes we did, except Stevie was having a little boy trouble and wound up getting into a quarrel with one of her friends." Severus replied.

"Ah I see." Dumbledore began and Severus and Lily noticed that there was a rather somber expression on his face when he said this.

"Is everything alright Albus?" Lily questioned him out of concern.

"I'm afraid not." She began. "Claire's niece recently sent me an owl and she is currently in the hospital with Deculmonis." He explained.

"Who's Claire and what's Deculmonis?" Lily wondered.

"Claire is Stevie's mother and Deculmonis is a terrible disease often caused by food poisoning where the witch's or wizard's lungs shrivel up to the point where they can't breathe anymore. There currently isn't a cure so it is most definitely and most unfortunately a death sentence." Dumbledore explained.

"Oh no, that poor girl." Lily began. "First her father beats her and goes off to prison and now her mother is dying." She said.

"I suppose that that would mean that I will become Stevie's legal guardian." Severus realized.

"Well you're the only family she has left unless you want to send her to an orphanage or place her in foster care." Dumbledore pointed out.

"No." Severus began. "Stevie is my niece and my responsibility now. I'll take her." He told him as Dumbledore simply just nodded at him.

"Very well then and speak of the devil where is Stevie anyways?" He wondered.

"I told her that since tomorrow wouldn't be any classes going on, she could go out for a broomstick ride to clear her mind." Severus replied. "So back onto other matters how were Harry and Sarah?" He questioned him.

"Well,.. for the most part everything went rather well. Except Sarah refused to eat her supper and Harry tore apart her favorite teddy bear." He replied as Severus just simply looked at him while raising a questioning eyebrow.

"That's very unlike him. I was expecting that Sarah might give you trouble over eating, but I didn't expect that Harry would give you any trouble. He's the most well behaved two-year-old little boy that I've ever seen." He said.

"Well, Harry was having some problems with jealousy. It seems that he saw all the attention that you were giving Sarah and he started getting envious of her. Anyways, they're both fast asleep now in their bed and crib." Dumbledore said.

"Thank you very much Albus, Severus and I will make sure to talk to Harry tomorrow with his jealousy problems." Lily said.

"Yeah, and Harry's going to be the relatively easy one to talk to. I'm still trying to figure out how to tell my only niece that she's never going to see her mother alive again." Severus told her before Dumbledore bid them farewell and goodnight and then headed out the front door.

….

The next morning Lily made the breakfast start cooking itself while she nursed Sarah and changed her diaper. Later on, after Harry woke up Severus decided that now was the time to talk to him as he placed him up on the changing table to change. "You know you're getting to be a big boy Harry. Pretty soon your mummy and daddy will be getting you a potty." He explained while taking off his pants and unlatching the straps on his diaper.

"Huh? What's that?" Harry wondered while sticking his finger in his nose.

"Harry get your finger out of there." Severus told him and to his complete and utter surprise he obeyed. Severus took a deep breath while removing his diaper. "It's where big boys go when they want to pee or poop." He explained before grabbing some baby wipes and started to wipe his bottom. "Anyways, while we're on the topic of becoming a big boy, I heard that you ripped up Sarah's teddy bear. Is that true?" He questioned him.

"No." Harry replied while sticking his finger back inside his nose.

"Harry James Potter I swear if you don't get your finger out of your nose and tell me the truth then you're going to get a spanking." Severus threatened in a very serious tone. "Lying is a very bad thing and it'll cause me to lose my trust in you." He told him.

"I'm sowee Daddy." Harry replied while blinking away his tears and removing his finger as Severus sighed while he started diapering him back up again.

"Listen Harry, I love you like you were my very own son and nothing that you ever say or do will ever change that. I just want you to grow up to be a responsible and truthful young wizard and to also know that just because I start showing my love to Sarah, doesn't mean that I will stop showing my love to you." He explained and once Harry was diapered up again, he slid his pajama pants back on. "Understand?" He questioned him while he pulled him up inside his arms and Harry just simply nodded and sniffed.

Severus brushed away his tears and kissed his cheek. "Good, come on and let's have some breakfast alright? I'll get you some orange juice and some cereal would you like that?" He questioned him.

"Mhm." Harry replied with another nod and Severus softly kissed the top of his head before carrying him down the hallway.

Severus Snape walked into the Great Hall and over to the Slytherin table where Stevie was having breakfast with some of her friends. "Uh Stevie, do you mind if I talk to you for a minute?" He questioned her before she turned her head over to look at him.

"Sure. What's it about?" She questioned him back.

"It's about your mother. I'm afraid that she's got Deculmonis." He told her and just as Severus had expected she raced towards him and embraced him as he bent down to comfort her and kiss her cheek. He felt extremely bad for her, and he already knew that she would have a horrible time with this, but he would at least show her that he would be there for her through it all.