A/N: Thanks for reading/reviewing my story.. from now on, the boy will be referred to as "Samuel" and not any other name. :-) THANK YOU :-) And, thanks for your feedback it helps a lot! :-)

Albus shook his head at the boy as he bounded up the walk up ahead of Albus to the Day Centre, hopping to and fro on his feet in eagerness. It was clear that he had wanted to start a new chapter in his life, away from all of the pain. Thankfully, he took his changes better than Severus had. Samuel would be good for Severus, that was certain, Albus thought as he opened the door for Samuel, and greeting Hermione with a smile.

"Miss Granger, let me present to you Samuel Sebastian Snape. He and I had a small discussion earlier to clear up any misunderstandings he might have had. I am sure he and Holly will take well to each other as playmates, as well as young Mr. Lupin." Albus said, his eyes twinkling. "Now, if you will excuse me, I have to go have a talk with Mr. Percy Weasley upon the conduct of his children." Dumbledore said with an all-knowing smile, leaving the Day Centre with a smile and wave for all of the children and supervisors present.

"What was all that?" Hermione asked, turning to Samuel. "You changed your name? Why?" Hermione asked as she crouched down to Samuel's eye level, Holly and Remy Lupin both glancing at Samuel, eyes full of curiosity.

"Sirius and James hurt my daddy. I don't want to be mean like that. So I changed." Samuel said with a large smile. "See, I even made up a new name sign for myself." Samuel said with a smile. "Everyone who is deaf has a name sign to go with their name." Samuel explained, closing his hand into a fist and brushing it gently across his temple. "That is me. Samuel Sebastian Snape, so you don't have to spell out my name in sign all the time, Miss Hermione."

"Why don't you go give everyone their name signs? Maybe that would help all of us, so we don't have to spell everything out." Hermione said with a gentle smile, tears threatening to fall, and glad she had found a diversion for the children, so she could privately Floo Professor Snape and inform him of what his son had been up to. She knew Severus would have to have an reaction to the recent indicents concerning Samuel.

Severus Snape had recently collapsed into his usual overstuffed armchair near the fireplace and just picked up his nice cup of coffee when the Floo popped on, Hermione's head in the flames. Severus was so startled, he spilled his coffee on his lap and the mug broke on the floor.

"Nice timing, Miss Granger." Severus said with a scowl as he magicked the floor and his lap clean, conjuring up a new cup of coffee. "What was so important that I had to burn myself for?" A sneer made its way across his thin lips. "Wait, is it the boy?" Severus said, half-unseated from his seat. Hermione shook her head, holding back tears.

"Let me come in for a moment, the children are occupied with Ginny." Hermione said, stepping in the staff room from the floo, sniffling quietlly. Severus moved himself to the couch, making room for Hermione on the couch.

"Is he all right? Did the kids treat him badly?" Severus asked, flashing back on his experiences as a child. Hermione shook her head no, and smiled as tears made its way down her cheeks.

"Your son.. is a brave little boy. He loves you so much, Severus. Did you know that upon his talk with Albus, he changed his name himself?"

"What?" Severus asked, not understanding the importance of the moment. "So, he's now a Snape? He was already a Snape when I signed the papers."

"No, not.. " Hermione trailed off. She took Severus's hands into hers, and smiled. "Your son loves you so much, he changed his name to Samuel Sebastian Snape, because of what Sirus and James did to you when you were a boy. " Hermione said, sniffling as she held on to Severus's hands, finally realizing the closeness the two were sharing. Severus's eyes were wide with disbelief and surprise as he studied Hermione's chocolate brown eyes with his own sharp obisdian eyes.

"He did that all by himself?"

"All by himself. He's now giving everyone name signs." Hermione said with a laugh as Severus frowned in puzzlement. Hermione laughed, continuing the explaination. "We have names, and deaf people have name signs in sign language, so you don't have to spell out the entire name. He's so.. content." Hermione said with a smile as she drew herself up to her full petite frame, dusting off her robes shyly.

"I see. I see." Severus murmured, deep in thought, wondering what his own name sign would be. He would need to do some more research into the matter of raising a deaf child. Well, it was much more useful than brewing lethal potions for Voldemort while under the Imperius curse.

Upon Hermione's return, she found the children swarming around the building, giggling and screaming.

"What's going on?" Hermione asked Ginny, who shrugged.

"I don't know.. Samuel and Holly were whispering together in that sign language of theirs, and now all of the children are riled up, doing a secret project, or that was what Remy Lupin told me. He's been quite close mouthed about this thing. The most I can get is from Frank Longbottom, who says it is a good deed for someone special."

"What?" Hermione said, confused. Sharing a sigh with Ginny, the two women went off to round up the children for their naptime. The mystery of the secret project could wait until Holly's dinner, where Hermione would put Holly on the spot. Perhaps deny her a bedtime story, that could work, Hermione thought with a smile. Severus was rubbing off on her, Hermione thought with a laugh as she picked up little Frank Longbottom and put him in the nap room with the other children, making sure they were all calmed down and quiet before she closed the door and warded it agasint wandering children. She then sat down at one of the low tables, a cup of tea in her hand and a biscuit on a napkin in front of her, Ginny at her side.

"What do you think is going on, Gin?"

"I have no idea. I don't know sign language, but now I have some incentive to learn, they have bewitched my own little girl." Ginny said with a smile, thinking of the little girl she had adopted in Hogsmeade a few months ago. "Alin was really wild today. I think we had better watch out at dinner tonight. I know I heard one of them talking about dinner time."

"I see." Hermione said, the wheels turning in her head. She would warn the ghosts and ask them to keep an eye on the children's behavior during dinner, maybe she would go sit with Holly and Samuel during dinner, to warrant good behavior. They couldn't do anything with her there, could they?

Severus Snape was hunched over a stack of books, his hands moving slowly but surely. He was working on understanding what made his own son tick. It was a very intresting project, that Severus nearly frogot to show up to his NEWT level potions lesson. He made it in time, hauling several books with him and settling them on his desk, so he could do a good bit of reading during the class. There were no longbottoms to worry about in this class, so he could finally have some time to himself. The time flew by and he was mildly surprised to see that it was time for dinner, and the classroom was empty. Had he been that intrested in his book? Severus shook his head and walked up to the Great Hall, one of his books under his arm. He wasn't abadoning his project, merely relocating it... again.

((A/N: in this part, the children are signing and speaking. So when Samuel speaks, it is entirely in sign language. Kids tend to pick up sign language faster than adults))

Holly Granger and Samuel Snape sat next to Remy Lupin, their heads bent towards each other, hands flying in eagerness. Their parents sat up at the Staff Table, curiously watching the children. Samuel looked up after a long moment, studying his daddy. He seemed happy when he was with Hermione, so he had agreed to Holly's plan to get them married. Although, he didn't know how someone could do that. Remy Lupin was agreeing to the plan, saying that they needed to kiss first. So far, they had managed to bribe Bramwell Filch, the caretaker's adopted son to keep Mrs. Norris out of the halls for tonight, so the children could have a secret meeting in the Room of Requirement.

"Where's that?" Samuel asked with curiosity.

"Daddy Remus said just think real hard and it will show up." Remy Lupin said with a nod. "We go in there when Daddy Remus changes into a wolf."

"He does that? Awesome!" Samuel said, a smile on his face as Holly Granger gaped at Remy Lupin.

"He's a werewolf? Oh.. I'm so jealous of you." Holly Granger said with a sigh. "But if we get Samuel's Daddy and my Mama Mione to kiss, we can have BOTH a Daddy and a Mommy. Don't you want that, Samuel?"

"Yes.." Samuel said with a small smile.

"Yes, I think so. I think that gets you married." Holly declared in a bossy tone, sounding nearly just like her own mother. Samuel shrugged as Remy Lupin leaned on the table, finishing up his food in silence. Samuel blushed furiously, pushing himself away from the table and walking up to the Staff Table. He just had to know the answer to that question.

"Wait, Samuel!" Holly Granger and Remy Lupin both shouted, storming up to the deaf boy, joining him at his side. "We want to know too. Let's ask my Mama Mione."

"No, ask your Daddy Remus."

"No, ask my Daddy." All of the children stood in front of the Staff table, squabbling among themselves as their parents stared at them, wondering what was going on.

Severus watched the children squabble, trying to catch their signs. All he could catch from them was they were talking about Mothers and Fathers. Dear god, he hoped he would not have to explain procreation to Samuel. He would leave that job to Hermione. After a long moment of silence, Remy Lupin blushed and turned to Lupin senior. All of the professors' heads turned to Lupin and his son, wondering what exactly he was going to ask.

"Daddy Remus, Samuel and I want to ask you a question."

"All right." Remus said, as he turned to glance at Severus. "Severus."

"Go ahead, boys." Severus said with a sigh, closing his book with a thud. "What is it now?" Samuel shifted nervously from foot to foot, as Holly Granger sighed, nudging Remy with impatience. Remus smiled softly at his little boy, amused at the shyness of the children. Remy tried to speak, but each time, a squeak came out. Holly Granger sighed, shaking her head and pulling back both of the older boys with a shake of her head.

"We know if someone kisses, they are married and a daddy and a mommy. Is that right?" At that, Remus Lupin's eyes went wide, as Severus Snape slowly took in a breath, pinching the bridge of his nose in annoyance and amusement while Hermione Granger sat there, her mouth gaping open with surprise. A cough came from Remus Lupin, as he took a drink of his pumpkin juice, not believing the mess his child had gotten into with his new friends.

"Um.. Severus?." Remus said, giggling like mad, earning odd glances from Dumbledore and McGonagall, Hooch and Hagrid.

"Shut up, Lupin." Severus said with a scowl. "It isn't amusing."

"Yes it is. It's all part of raising children. I just wish a Creevey was here to take a picture of this." Remus Lupin said with a small giggle, turning to his son.

"Remy.. kisses are for people who are in love with each other. You cannot get married with kisses. Only if you ask someone to marry them, and they say yes, then you can be married." Remus said, trying to hold back rumbles of laughter. Severus looked like he had just sucked on a lemon as he peered at his own son.

"And don't listen to anything Holly Granger says." Severus added with a small smirk.

"Severus!" Hermione said, frowning up at the potions-master. "That isn't nice to say."

"well, she's the one who got them into this spot of trouble." Severus said with a sigh, rising from the table. "I will be in the dungeons. Samuel, it's time for your bedtime. I think you've been listening to Mr. Lupin and Miss Granger too much today." Severus said with a scowl as he ushered his son out of the Great Hall.

After Severus had finally sorted out the kiss explaination with his son, he sighed and leaned back into his armchair, listening to the soft snores of his son in the other room. Laughing to himself, he shook his head at the misunderstandings of the children. Marriage, indeed. Judging from Samuel's reactions, he had never had a real family, nor seen any interactions of affection from other people. It seemed to Severus that Samuel had been isolated most of his life. A dark rage bubbled up, a rage at the people who dared treat that boy as if he was inferior. The boy was obviously intelligent.

An idea striking him, Severus flooed Miss Granger. He would ask her about hiring a tutor for Samuel to begin his formal education, to get him ready for enrollment into Hogwarts when he would turn eleven. A smile crept upon Severus's lips, a testimony to his heart, which had softened in the time he had spent with Samuel. Having a child wasn't too bad, Severus thought with a shake of his head. He couldn't recall the last time he had a real reason to let loose and laugh. With a start, he realized that he had changed Samuel, he no longer trembled in fear or hid from people. They were changed people, in their own way, from each other's influences. Severus shook his head, amused at the notion that a little boy had melted the cold shell surrounding his own heart.

((A/N: hope this is all right.. Samuel had been isolated most of his life, so he is still learning interaction with Remy and Holly. I tried to put in SS/HG, but this chapter kind of wrote itself. THANK YOU for reading/reviewing! ))