Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter.
To say that Harry was exhausted was an understatement. He had been getting up every few hours religiously to make sure Vivian was well fed and soothed back to sleep and was looking forward to the days that she could sleep for a bit longer between feedings. Severus had already suggested that Harry consider preserving his milk so Severus can feed her some nights but Harry had remained insistent that he wanted to get up with her.
He was starting to think that Severus had a point. He was losing his focus with basic things and had caught himself leaving his wand where his toothbrush belonged and tried to summon Vivian's favourite blanket with his comb. Upon reflection, he had no idea what happened to the toothbrush.
Giving in to defeat, and presuming the toothbrush had disappeared into a black hole, Harry plopped himself into his rocker and propped his feet up before softly calling for Severus. Their daughter was content in his arms and was happily suckling away while gazing at him with those incredibly intelligent eyes. Severus sat in the other rocker and reached out to hold Harry's free hand.
"I think you were right." He gestured to the comb on the table. "Somehow I thought that was my wand, which I'm pretty sure I had confused with my toothbrush earlier."
Chuckling, Severus replied, "Are you finally considering preserving your milk to have a night off?" Harry nodded. "I'm sure there's a spell written down in one of those books you purchased. I'll search through them later. You deserve some continuous rest, you've been without it for far too long."
"Thank you," Harry's voice was filled with gratitude and relief. He hadn't wanted to admit that Severus had brought up good points when the subject was originally broached, but he was too tired to care at the moment. "When did you want the Weasleys to come? Hermione told me they're practically itching with the idea that they haven't met Vivian yet but she's holding them off."
"I believe it's best to have them over once you sleep through the night. We don't want Molly thinking she's allowed to commandeer our child before she's even a month old."
Harry agreed. He knew Molly would mean well, but he wanted to be able to parent his child on his own and with as opinionated as she could be, he wasn't sure it would be easy keeping her to their rules and not her own.
"I truly can't believe I'm lucky enough to have you two in my life." The sudden declaration jarred Harry from his half-awake musings on Molly's parenting style.
"Where'd that come from?"
"My heart, shriveled though it may be. I'm still shocked that you were willing to gift me with such a beautiful daughter-and with yourself as well." Harry shrugged and stifled a yawn.
"I'm convinced she'll have your eyes. They're far too shrewd for being so young."
"At least she's got your nose. Mine is far too obtrusive for such a delicate little flower."
"And her hair? You'd better hope she didn't get this mess, it misbehaves on even the best of days. Even spells can't tame the monstrosity."
"Yes, but I'm willing to bet if you'd grow your hair out it would curl quite beautifully. I would imagine that would be desirable for a young girl." Severus stood and kissed them each on the head before offering to burp her before putting her down again. Harry smiled and handed her over. He watched as Severus coaxed an air bubble from her and laid her down in her crib. They made their way to their bedroom once she had settled and held each other under the covers as blissful sleep took them.
"Oh Harry, it's so good to see you! How's the baby?" A sea of red hair followed Molly out of the fireplace, filling their living room. Harry had been happily dozing on the couch when the floo flared to life and he sat up.
"Vivian, Mrs. Weasley. Her name is Vivian, we've talked about this." Hermione's stern voice rang out from the kitchen where she was gathering a tea tray.
"Of course, of course. How is she?" Molly brushed off Hermione's comment and turned back to Harry.
"Vivian's doing well. She's eating properly and sleeps regularly. She's very bright."
"Yes, she's been quite the angel considering the horror stories I've heard you tell about the red-haired monsters you call children." Severus sat down next to Harry before continuing. "I'm afraid she's asleep right now, but if you'd like to stay you can meet her when she wakes."
"Oh could I just peek in and see her now? I'd love to see the baby, they're so sweet when they're sleeping."
"Molly," Harry started. A warning growl was rumbling in Severus's chest and would soon become a problem if he didn't diffuse the situation right now. "I don't believe that would be a good idea. Severus is very protective over her, more so than he is over me. You'll just have to wait until she wakes up. I'm sorry."
"Not to worry, she is your baby after all. I just thought he wasn't so protective since Hermione's gotten to see her several times since she's been born." Harry detected some resentment towards Hermione in her tone and filed that away for later.
"Well yes, the two of us trust Hermione more than we trust most people. She's been an immense help to us the last few months." Molly backed off and was overpowered by her children asking them all sorts of questions all at once. "All right, relax. I can only answer one question at a time!"
"What colour are her eyes?"
"Does she have any hair?"
"Who gets up in the middle of the night for her?"
"Aren't you two tired?"
"With Severus being a vampire, is she like...part vampire or something?" Everyone halted at Ron's question. Harry and Severus looked at each other, neither one completely sure about that answer.
"Truth be told Ron, we didn't think to ask when the Elders were here. She's eating the way she should and hasn't indicated that she's lacking anything in her diet. But I'm sure now that she's here the Elders might want to come see her…?" Harry looked over at Severus and was relieved when Severus informed him he had already written to them when she was born and had scheduled them to visit in two weeks' time anyway.
With the slew of questions out of the way, Harry and Severus barely managing to keep up with the rapid fire of the Weasley kin, Hermione brought out tea for everyone. Severus nudged Harry and gestured towards the stairs and Harry went to take care of Vivian.
She had just started to babble to herself when Harry opened her door and leant down to pick her up. Easing the two of them into his rocker to feed her felt like second nature to him now. When she finished, Harry burped her and got her in a fresh nappy before putting her into a forest green onesie and carrying her downstairs.
The onslaught of 'ohs' and 'awws' was to be expected but it threw Harry off that everyone was just as enamoured with his little girl as he and Severus were.
Vivian thrived off of the attention. She cooed and grabbed at as many fingers as she could. Ron tentatively and very quietly asked if he could hold her. Harry beamed at his best friend and carefully passed her over and helped Ron figure out how to support her properly. Once Molly saw that someone other than Harry was holding her, she plowed her way through her children to try and instruct Ron on how to hold her better.
Her nitpicking, if Harry was honest, was infuriating. Ron was looking more and more uncomfortable holding Vivian as Molly's micromanaging grew worse. Charlie was the first to regain his senses.
"Mum, relax. Ron's doing great. There's no need to pick apart every tiny thing. You're a great mum and all that worked for us but if Harry's okay with how Ron's holding her then you should be okay with it too." Bill was quick to agree and the twins looked ready to chime in their two knuts before Molly burst into tears.
"Oh I wish you all were babies again! It's so lonely at the Burrow without you all there!" Arthur patted her on the shoulder and whispered something to her. She nodded and wiped her face. "I'm so sorry, I've just been so lonely at that big quiet house now that Ron's moved out and Ginny's getting ready to move on to bigger and better things."
"Why don't you consider volunteering or getting a part time job helping an orphanage or a daycare? I'm sure there's plenty of ministry employees that need babysitting services while they're working, surely they've got some sort of program you can help with," Harry was grasping at straws, but he wanted to resolve the tension before anything else could go wrong. Arthur gave him a shrewd look.
"You know Harry, that might just be the best idea related to the ministry that I've heard in a very long time. I'm sure there's a way we can get a program like that set up and I'm sure they'd love to have Molly there to watch over kids while their parents work. Merlin knows, our family is rather well known for how many kids we've had." With the Molly crisis averted, Ron had started playing with Vivian. It seemed to be a delightful game of 'bop the baby on the nose'. A shriek of joy quickly followed Vivian's capture of his finger before he could pull it away from her face.
"Merlin, she's a strong grip. Is it too early to bet on which quidditch position she'll be?" They all laughed and debated the things they thought she might like later in life. They had hardly noticed when she fell asleep in Ron's arms.
A few hours later saw the guests out of the floo and Harry turned to Ron.
"You sure you want to stay until she wakes up? I know your mum mentioned making bacon sandwiches."
"Yeah, I wouldn't want to wake her. Blimey though, how are you two not buff from holding her all the time? I feel like my arm might fall off!" Harry and Severus both shrugged. They were used to it and hardly even noticed the strain from long bouts of holding their daughter.
"It's nearing five, she should be waking up soon. In a short time you'll have all the use of your appendage you could ever want."
"I've been thinking."
"A dangerous activity for one of your mental capacity." Harry laughed and smacked Severus's arm halfheartedly under the blankets.
"I think...I think I know what I want to do now. With my life, that is." Severus pulled Harry closer so he had to rest his head on the vampire's chest.
"And what would that be?"
"I want to live out my life until I'm your age...well the age you look anyways. And then I think I'd like to spend the rest of forever with you." Severus drew back, sheer disbelief colouring his expression.
"How could you possibly want this? Vampirism, although not detrimental, is a huge burden. You have to keep yourself in firm check for a very long time before you can be around humans without having to constantly watch over yourself. And the judgement-"
"Will disappear as time goes on and people realize that vampires are doing their best to eliminate their risk to be among society. It's just something I have hopes for, but I'm not going to box myself into the decision. I'm allowed to change my mind if I want to. I've still got quite some time before I look the same age as you." He felt Severus relax and snuggled closer. "I used that spell you taught me earlier if I don't wake up for Vivian tonight. I'm pooped." With that, Harry fell into the peaceful bliss of dreams.