Chapter-Twenty-Three: Toilet Trouble

As the months went on spring and Easter came and went, and then before everybody knew it,.. it was summertime. Harry would be three years old in a few days and Sarah would be one. Sarah had recently learned how to walk and developed her first tooth. One day Severus decided to take Lily, Harry, Stevie, and Sarah to the beach. A rather huge and wide grin appeared on Sarah's face as she saw the ocean in front of her and stopped to point at it.

"Wa-wa!" She exclaimed excitedly which was a huge deal for her because it was the first actual word that she ever spoke.

"That's right Sarah, that is wa-wa!" Lily cried out with the same excitement inside her voice while she beamed down at her daughter. "Good girl, that's your first word!" She congratulated before she continued walking with her down the beach hand in hand. Harry, on the other hand, suddenly decided that he was getting tired of walking and reached his arms up above his head signaling to his father that he wanted to be carried but he just simply shook his head at him.

"I'm sorry buddy but I can't carry you right now. I'm carrying the beach bag and it's heavy with everything in it and plus the diaper bag." He replied which made Harry start to fuss. "You're just going to have to be a big boy and walk like Sarah's walking." He told him while meanwhile Stevie lagged behind. Severus heaved a sigh before turning his head to look back at her. "Come on Stevie, we're not going to wait all day for you." He told her.

However, Stevie wasn't paying much attention. For she had caught sight of a boy around her age with short jet-black hair, light skin, and dark blue eyes wearing a pair of blue swim trunks. She watched while he removed his shirt and smiled brightly at him. Severus glanced over into his direction and simply just rolled his eyes. "It seems like teenagers are more interested in a person of the opposite sex then the beach itself." He said and that's when suddenly Harry started running towards him.

"Harry James Potter you get back here right now young man!" Severus scolded before turning over to Stevie. "Mind holding this for a moment?" He wondered.

"Sure." She replied with a nod while Severus took after Harry who stopped directly in front of the boy that Stevie fancied.

"Ah hullo there, who do you belong to?" The boy questioned him when suddenly Severus caught up to Harry and smacked him on the behind making him burst into tears.

"How many times have I told you not to run away from your parents!?" He scolded. "You're going to sit up on this beach for two minutes to think about what you did!" He cried while scooping him up inside his arms, apologizing to the boy, and then sat him down on top of his towel while Lily finished rubbing lotion on Sarah's body and then took her into the ocean.

While Severus sat down in his chair the teenaged boy started walking over to Stevie. "Uh,.. hullo there. I hope that I didn't cause any trouble." He apologized as Stevie smiled brightly and shook her head.

"Oh no you didn't, Harry's only three and he really doesn't understand why he shouldn't be running away yet. Or rather he's going to be three in a few days." She explained.

"Ah that's cool." He began with a grin. "My name's Chase Donaldson." He told her.

"Stephanie Wilde, but I prefer to be called Stevie." She explained.

"Nice to meet you Stevie, how old are you?" He wondered.

"I turn sixteen next month, how about you?" She questioned him.

"I actually just turned seventeen. So that means that I can officially get my driver's license." He told her with a grin.

"Yeah and you can also apparate and disapparate whenever you feel like it." She said before heaving a bit of a sad sigh, but Chase just gave her a questioning look.

"Huh?" He wondered and that's when suddenly Stevie started adding everything up inside her head.

"Chase, what's your blood type?" She questioned him.

"What does that have to do with anything?" He inquired.

"You're a muggle." Stevie said to herself so quietly so that he wouldn't be able to hear her.

"Huh?" He questioned her with uncertainty, but she simply just shook her head and waved her hand.

"Oh nothing, I was just joking." She assured him.

"Oh, well,.. I don't get it." He told her with a shake of his head.

"Never mind, want to go swimming?" She asked him.

"Uh yeah, that's sort of why I came here in the first place." He replied with a chuckle.

"I meant with me silly!" Stevie exclaimed with a giggle.

"Oh yeah,.. sure." He replied with a grin before taking her by the hand and walking with her back straight towards the water.

Once Harry's two minutes were up Severus squatted down in front of him. "Harry, do you know why you were placed in timeout?" He questioned him as Harry sniffed and nodded.

"I wan away." He replied.

"That's right, but you already know that you're not supposed to run off and it's dangerous. So will you promise me that you'll think about that next time?" Severus asked him as Harry nodded.

"I'm sowee Daddy." He replied.

"Thank you I accept your apology. Now can I please have a hug?" Severus questioned him while holding out his arms and Harry nodded before embracing him tightly. "Good, so now let's go out and play with your mummy and baby sister." He told him before standing up and hoisting him up inside his arms.

"What about Stevie?" Harry wondered.

"Stevie's busy playing with her new friend right now." Severus replied while beginning to carry Harry towards the ocean and then stopped and turned his head to look over at Stevie and Chase. "He better take good care of her." He said to himself before continuing on his way.

After they came home from the beach and Harry woke up from his nap Severus found that his diaper was dry so now was the best time to introduce to him that he had a new surprise for him. It was a device that Harry had never seen before. It had a round seat with a picture of Elmo on the top and there was a hole underneath the seat.

"Hey buddy, before you eat your snack let me show you your new potty." He told him. "When you have to pee or poop you sit on the seat and then it magically goes inside of it. You flush it like this and then the pee or poop will be gone." He explained before demonstrating it and it made a flushing noise that scared Harry to bits and made him start crying and he ran and hid underneath the kitchen table and decided to make a mess inside his diaper instead making Severus heave a sigh and roll his eyes.

"Don't worry Severus, he'll get the hang of it." Lily began reassuringly. "You'll just have to be patient with him. I'm sure that he'll learn how to use the potty before he goes to nursery school." She told him while kneeling down in front of the table and that's when suddenly it hit Severus that Harry would be starting nursery school this autumn. That meant that he would probably be staying here with Lily, Petunia, and Dudley while he and Stevie went back to Hogwarts.

"Hey come on sweetheart, don't you want mummy to put a fresh nappy on you?" She questioned while looking in on her son who simply just nodded at her with a sniff while tears continued silently rolling down his cheeks. Lily carefully gathered Harry inside her arms and slowly stood up, before kissing him on the cheek and carrying him down the hallway.