Disclaimer – I do not own Harry Potter.

25th December 2001

Severus Snape enters Potter Mansion, it's Christmas, and an important one. Last year, Draco and Ron had completed their Auror training and have now been active Aurors for 12 months. Harry and Draco, not wanting Delphini to grow up an only child, had decided to adopt another once Draco had finished his training, and so they had completed an application almost the moment his success was announced. But it wasn't until yesterday that the baby they would take home was born. It had happened rather suddenly with little warning that they were chosen by the birth mother, so they had rushed to make everything happen and were excited to introduce their new baby to the family today at Christmas dinner. There was some bet going between Pansy and Harry that they would argue over the name and take at least a week to actually decide on one, but Draco had told Severus in confidence that they'd chosen one a few weeks after they'd submitted their application and would only debate it if they decided it didn't suit the baby when they finally had one.

Severus moves quickly through to the dining room to find Hermione and Pansy have already pilfered the child and are cooing over their new niece/nephew (Severus isn't sure yet) lovingly.

"Uncle Sev!"

Severus turns just in time to catch five-year-old Delphini as she leaps at him. "Delphi! How are you, Little One?"

"I'm a big sister! And she's real cute!" Delphini tells him, "I'm gonna be the bestest sister ever and my little sister is gonna love me and she's never gonna be upset coz I'm gonna make her smile every day!" She declares.

Severus chuckles at her as he moves further into the room to greet people. "Well, if that's your goal, then you are already a wonderful sister," Severus informs the child who beams at him.

"Hey!" Pansy greets, going over to hug Severus.

He smiles at her as he hugs her back, "Merry Christmas, Pansy."

"Screw the pleasantries, look how cute my niece is!" Hermione declares as she moves over to give him a look at the baby's face. She has green eyes and blonde hair, the blood adoption clearly went well.

"She is adorable," Severus agrees.

"Uncle Sev! Isn't she cute, she's so damned cute, she's cute right?!"

Severus flinches back slightly from Draco's energetic entrance, confusing until Severus sees him scull more coffee. "How much of that have you had?"

"I just found out how much a newborn sleeps, Uncle Sev." Draco leans in closer, "Don't ask stupid questions." He takes a long drink of the coffee as Severus tries not to laugh at him.

Harry walks over, taking Draco by the shoulders, "Dray, honey, you're scaring people." At this, Severus can't help the snicker.

A moment later they hear arguing followed by Sirius walking into the room, rolling his eyes.

"Aunt Phia went by your place before coming here, I take it?" Harry asks him. Sirius nods gravely just as Remus and Phia walk into the room, still bickering, with an exasperated Little Benni following behind. Then again, Benoîte always looks exasperated. Severus would love to attribute that to the fact that she's fifteen, but honestly that's just Benni.

"Papa!" Benni calls happily as she spots him, moving over to hug him.

"It's been three days since you saw him," Pansy points out.

Benni rolls her eyes, "It's different at school, and unceasingly weird to call him Professor Snape." Pansy nods her agreement at that.

Severus snickers, hugging his youngest daughter.

Ten minutes later, all of the Weasleys, Tonks', Riddles, Pettigrews, Mad-Eye, Polkas, Neville, Luna, Blaise, Lavender, and the Lupins have arrived.

Jamie waddles in, sitting on a dining-room chair, and announcing that she will be greeting people from here and not getting up for the rest of the evening, which seems fair enough considering her twins are due any day now. Fred gets her a pillow for behind her back and kisses her head, the only appropriate response.

"I don't know if it was your genetics," She tells Remus, "Or yours," She says to Molly, "But I don't like the fact that twins run in both families."

"Yes, I remember that feeling," Molly tells her, pouring her some tea.

"Thank you," Jamie replies, taking it gratefully.

"Mama's having das kinder soon," three-year-old Lyle Weasley says excitedly from where Remus has lifted his grand-son into his arms.

"Did I used to use French and English in sentences when I was a kid?" Benni asks her parents who nod.

"It's a thing with kids being raised bilingual," Fred explains.

"It's German spoken in Vienna, right?" Lavender asks as Hermione reluctantly hands her niece over to Harry. Fred nods to her.

"Everyone's here, can we know the name of the baby now?" Rema Pettigrew, now six-years-old, asks.

"Yeah, come on, we're dying to know!" Lillie exclaims as she drops down into a chair. Everyone takes seats and looks to Harry and Draco expectantly. For some reason the two seem nervous. Then Harry nods to Draco who hesitates a moment longer.

"Her name's Bella," Draco reveals, "For an Aunt I love, and who gave her life to make this world my kids now get to grow up in."

Jamie starts crying, "I love it," She says, all but sobbing.

"I don't know whether to put that down to hormones or not," Harry states.

"Neither do I," Jamie agrees as she continues crying, Fred putting an arm around her supportively.

"It is a wonderful name," Luna agrees, looking uncharacteristically serious. "She deserves some positive recognition after everything."

It's true that, despite being found innocent over four years ago, Bellatrix's name was forever tainted by her actions under the Moral Reversal Spell. But those in this room know the truth, that it may have taken years longer than it did to defeat Voldemort if not for her contribution, both during her life and after it.

"We haven't picked a middle name yet though."

"So does that mean I half won the bet?" Pansy asks.

"You said a week, we've still got time!" Harry replies with a glare, Pansy smirks.

"Honestly, children!" Molly tells them, tutting as she moves over to see the baby. "Oh, Bella, she's perfect."

Harry and Draco share a smile, "Yeah, she is." Harry then looks to Delphini, booping her nose, "Just like you are." Delphini giggles, hugging her Dad's leg.

"Daddy, are you and Mummy going to have another baby?" Rema asks Peter when everyone's sat down to eat, well, Severus will drink his potion, but you get the drift.

Peter pauses, fork midway to his mouth, then looks to Bridget consideringly before turning back to his daughter. "I don't know, Baby Bird. We haven't talked about it."

"Well, I don't think you should," Rema announces.

Bridget looks amused, "Oh? And why is that."

"Because I don't want to share my room."

"You could move to a bigger house," Lyall points out from where he is helping his great-grandchild and namesake Lyle to cut his potatoes.

"But I like our house. It's got a shop," Rema explains.

"We'd still own the shop," Bridget points out.

"Yeah, but we wouldn't live in it."

Peter nods, "She's right, if we moved we would not live where we currently do."

Remus snickers into his food, covering it with a cough when Rema looks over at her God-Father.

"You two should have a baby!" Rema suddenly tells Remus and Sirius.

"Yeah!" Delphini and Lyle agree.

"Between us we have five kids and five grand-kids, I think we're good," Sirius replies. Blaise smiles as he always does when he's counted as a Lupin.

"What, you mean you don't want to be forty and dealing with a crying newborn?" Remus asks, all innocent and such.

Sirius scoffs, "I remember when Jamie was a baby, that was enough."

"You weren't even living with us," Remus points out.

"And yet the nightmares remain."

"You dealt with Harry and Hermione just fine, and you did live with them," Del can't help but remind him, "And they were newborns, wasn't Jamie nine months old before Re found out about her?" Remus nods, Severus snickering and earning a bread roll thrown at him from his ex-husband.

Sirius laughs, "Yes and, shockingly, neither of them ever threw up on my hair like Jamie did."

"That is shocking," Arthur agrees.

"Babies do that?" Neville asks, face screwed up.

"Why do you think I keep mine in a bun all the time?" Harry asks him.

"Because you're a stubborn idiot who won't cut his hair," Ron throws in.

"I will not lose a bet to Pansy Parkinson!"

Draco rolls his eyes, "Stop making bets with Pansy Parkinson."

"Your life would be boring without them," Pansy tells him.

"No, it would be peaceful, there's a difference."

"You have two kids, Father," Delphi points out, "That's not peaceful. We're loud." Everybody has a good laugh over that statement.

"I have to say, I'm sort of surprised you two are here," Blaise tells Remus and Severus. The two exchange confused looks as Sirius starts making a cutting motion which, unfortunately, does not go unnoticed by either of them.

"What's going on?" Remus asks him.

Sirius winces, "Okay look, I only found out yesterday afternoon but today was important so I decided I would tell you the second we got home after this, so I wasn't keeping it from you for long, I was trying to protect Christmas, and it's Bella's first Christmas an-"

"For fuck's sake, Sirius, what is going on?" Remus interrupts.

Rema giggles, "Uncle Re's grumpy."

"Uncle Padfoot has that effect on people," Peter tells her, earning a glare from said Padfoot.

Sirius sighs as he looks back to Remus, "Something bad happened, it was in the Prophet, I really don't know how Severus hasn't seen it."

"I don't read the Prophet, half of it's bullshiii-err, stuff, anyway," Severus replies, editing his swearing out for the sake of the children, not that it makes much difference with Remus Lupin in the room. He sees Harry's unimpressed look and sheepishly adds, "I mean, not your articles, those are great, I read those ones." Harry rolls his eyes at him, snickers heard around the table. But most of those people do read the Prophet, and they know the bad news Sirius now has to give.

"What happened?" Remus asks Sirius again.

Sirius winces, nodding, "An inmate escaped from Azkaban."

Severus huffs, "Didn't you lot rewrite how Azkaban is run so that that wouldn't keep happening?"

"Well it was working," Mad-Eye defends, "Clearly there's a problem somewhere."

"I'm leading the investigation into how this happened," Tonks explains, "I'm working with Ron's team who are trying to recapture…the inmate." Tonks cringes at the end of her sentence.

"Okay, so who escaped, and what does it have to do with us?" Remus questions, losing patience.

Everyone in the room exchanges awkward looks before Hope walks over to take Severus' hand in comfort as Sirius does the same for Remus, the whole table clearly hesitant to tell them.

"Sevrin Lupin," Andromeda eventually reveals.

"Rin escaped?" Benni asks quietly.

Ron nods, "Two days ago. We're working to find him."

"Who's Sevrin?" Rema asks.

Harry winces, "Hey, why don't we go talk about this in the other room, okay?" He asks Rema and Delphini, Lyle gets up to follow as well.

"You knew about this?" Remus asks Jamie who nods.

"I went round to your place figuring you'd call Daddle round to tell him once you'd found out, but I got there before you and Little Benni got home." Jamie fiddles with her rings anxiously. "Uncle Padfoot told me his plan to tell you tonight and I agreed with it. Knowing that Daddle hates the Prophet, no offence Harry who…isn't in the room, anyway I assumed he wouldn't know and decided, unless he found out some other way before then, I'd tell him after this as well so that you guys could just enjoy Christmas before the world came crumbling down around you again."

"I can appreciate what you were trying to do, and I am thankful for the sentiment behind it," Remus tells them both, "But you should have told us."

A strange interaction passes between Sirius and Remus which, to others, appear likes slight changes in facial expression all happening within mere moments but to them is;

Bit hypocritical given you lied to me about Inimicus.

That was different, Padfoot, this is my kid.

And Inimicus was my kid!

…okay, you're right, I should have told you. But then isn't this exactly what you were angry at me for doing?

Sirius nods, "You're right, I'm sorry."

"Me too," Remus replies, finally putting an end to what continued being a point of contention between them for the past four years. Of course that bit doesn't make sense to anyone else but these two are just like that so no one bothers asking for clarification.

"And you've no idea how he got out?" Severus asks, voice strained.

Tonks shakes her head, "I don't suppose either of you have any ideas?" Both shake their heads. Tonks narrows her eyes at Remus, "Are you sure? Because the last time you told me that it wasn't exactly true."

Remus chuckles, but it's totally hollow. "I solemnly swear it." Then he frowns and heaves a sighs, looking over to Ron. "Although, on the subject of things I should have told an Auror about," He begins with a wince, everyone braces themselves for whatever the hell is about to leave his mouth. "If you're going after him, you should be aware that he has the same connection to the Cruciatus Curse that I have to the Imperius and Harry has to the Killing Curse."

"He what?!" Severus demands, "How have you not mentioned this?"

"And why didn't you tell us when he was arrested?" Moody asks him.

Remus shrugs, tapping his fingers nervously, an irritating habit he picked up when he quit drinking. "I don't know I just…" Remus shrugs again, drawing into himself.

Severus rubs a hand over his face, unsure how to deal with any of this. "I can't believe, of all things, this is something you've kept from me."

"Oh, I'm sorry-" Remus begins angrily before he cuts himself off, sighs, and shakes his head, "No, just that. I'm sorry, I know I should have, I was scared but I shouldn't have kept it from you."

Severus nods, grateful for that admittance. Remus leans back against Sirius who immediately wraps his arms around him to give what comfort he can.

"…not to interrupt a serious moment but, Fred, help me up? I gotta pee again," Jamie partially requests and partially complains, glaring at her stomach. "You better be damned cute, kids. I'm talking button noses. Button freaking noses." Then she frowns, "Or pointy noses, or any noses, hell, you could have no noses, I love you both," She corrects, tears streaming from her face again. Then she scowls, "Fucking hell!" She exclaims as she wipes furiously at her face. Fred reaches out, helping to gently pull her out of her chair, supporting her back to stabilise her. She hugs him gratefully before waddling out of the room towards the bathroom.

"That…is a whole ass situation, right there," Pansy declares, Lillie nodding her agreement.

"Yeah for the record, I'm never doing that," Hermione tells her girlfriend, "We've never talked about kids, I don't know where you stand on it, but I'm never being pregnant."

Pansy leans her head on Hermione's shoulder. "Well, if we ever decide to have kids, I will carry it." Hermione nods her agreement to that.

Sirius squeezes Remus' hand. "You okay?" He asks quietly.

"No," Remus replies just as quietly, smiling sadly, "I didn't realise how much I missed my kid, insane or not, until right now." Sirius squeezes his hand again comfortingly. Remus looks at Severus who stares blankly at the table, Hope rubbing his back lightly.

"No, Harry!" Draco suddenly exclaims.

"Oh come on, it's the perfect middle name."

Draco shakes his head, "No, you know what, I went along with your last-name tradition thing, I draw the line here. We are not naming our daughter Bella Marauder! Can you imagine Professor McGonagall's reaction?"

Harry's eyes widen, "Oh, oh Draco you're a genius. You're right, we name her Marauder Bella, but then call her by her middle name. But because Marauder is her first name, that's what will be on the list, and McGonagall will have to sit at the teachers' table and hear the name 'Marauder Malfoy-Riddle-Potter-Black' get called out. How glorious would that be?" The remaining Marauders voice their agreement, Ginny enthusiastic about it as well. Hope and Lyall shake their heads in exasperation.

"You kids really will never grow out of this, will you?" Hope asks rhetorically. Remus grins at his mother, hurting inside but refusing to let it ruin the life he has built. Severus watches the interaction, proud of that, but unable to feel that strength within himself.

"What would you have named her if she was a boy?" Andrea asks Draco and Harry.

"Well, we never actually talked about it, but I was thinking Narcissus," Harry replies.

Draco looks to him in shock, then leans over to kiss him. "Really?" He asks when he pulls away. Harry smiles, nodding. "You know, Delphi doesn't have a middle name. Given the ever-growing state of last-names, maybe no middle names should just be a thing."

Harry chuckles, nodding, "Sounds good."

"Cop out," Pansy coughs. Harry glares at her.

"So," Jamie says as she walks back in the room, "Little Benni."

"Mm?" Benni asks, looking up.

Jamie grins, "I hear you went on a date before Christmas break."

Benni blushes profusely, "Who told you that?!"

"I got eyes and ears everywhere, kid," Jamie replies.

"Dannie told you?"

"Kayla," Jamie corrects.

"Of course," Benni responds with an eye roll.

Hope looks amused, "I assume this would be with that boy you were talking about? Mick, wasn't it?"

Benni flushes again, nodding.

"Mick, huh?" Remus asks, suspiciously.

Benni glares at her father, "I don't know what you're thinking, but don't you dare!"

"Eh, relax, all he did to Fred was glare every time he entered a room," Jamie assures Benni, "He does that when Uncle Padfoot enters the room too!" This earns chuckles from around the room and Sirius nodding his agreement to that.

Remus rolls his eyes at them all, Sirius grins at him, wrapping his arm around him again and leaning his head on Remus' shoulder bringing a rather smitten smile onto Remus' face.

Suddenly the kids come back into the room having decided who would comfort whom. Lyle hugs his Aunt Benni, Delphini hugs her Uncle Sev, and Rema hugs her Uncle Remus.

"They wanted to make you feel better," Harry explains.

"Did it work?" Lyle asks, looking up at Benni's face.

Benni smiles nodding, "Yeah, Ly. It worked." Lyle smiles and snuggles in closer.

"Okay, do you want to hold the baby or get the bottle?" Draco asks Harry who moves into the kitchen. It's a few moments later that Bella starts fussing.

"…Dude…empathy!" Ted comments, watching the scene.

Draco grins, nodding, "Damned useful."

"Our only early warning was two seconds before the crying would start and Dora's hair would go red," Andromeda tells them all with an amused and fond expression on her face.

"Oh you had warning?" Sirius asks teasingly sarcastic.

"You love us, really," Harry reminds him as he comes back in with the bottle, handing it to Draco who feeds Bella.

Delphini moves away from Severus, sitting on her Aunt Pansy's lap to look over at her baby sister eating. "Why doesn't she eat food?"

"She doesn't have any teeth yet," Draco tells her, "And babies this young usually get fed by their mother's."

Delphini nods solemnly, "Boob juice." Harry and Draco both look at her in shock and confusion.

"Where did you hear that?"

Sudden snickering is heard from the other end of the table. They look over to see Phia, amused, but also flushed with embarrassment.

"Wha…" Harry trails off, unsure where to even start.

"Look, I forgot the word milk and was trying to get the idea across and that came out. I didn't think she was listening, she was reading 'Where's the Green Sheep'," Phia explains and defends…badly.

Remus shakes his head at her, "Why are you the way that you are?"

Phia shrugs sheepishly, "Some things aren't for us to know."

"Hey, you let her baby-sit," Hermione reminds them both.

"Yeah, probably shouldn't have done that," Phia admits, "But at least she gets along with Sophie." Harry sighs, pointedly trying to not think about his daughter around Dudley Dursley's child as he always does while pretending he doesn't have a problem with it. Draco just focuses back on the baby in his arms.

"Okay, so, it's called breast milk, not boob juice," Harry tells Delphini, wondering if she's too young for this sort of conversation before realising that's stupid, she's more than likely going to have breasts of her own one day and he's not going to make the human body a taboo subject. Also, anything's better than 'boob juice'.

"Breast milk. How does the milk get in there?" Delphini asks her parents.

Harry looks at her for a moment, frowning. "Err… I don't actually know, it can't always be there." Harry looks to Del for help.

"It happens during pregnancy, Little One," Del explains to her Grand-Daughter, "While the baby grows inside its…" Del trails off, looking at Benni for a moment, tilts her head to the side, and then looks back to Delphini. "While it grows inside the pregnant parent their body gets ready to feed the baby and that's when the milk starts being made."

"Why the hesitation?" Benni asks her in confusion.

Del shrugs, "It just occurred to me that maybe some boys weren't born that way and if they get pregnant and carry the child, they still aren't the mother." Benni's eyes light up in realisation and she beams at her.

"Father, who's my Mummy?" Delphini asks Draco, "Am I adop-adopehted like Bella?"

Draco shakes his head, "No, you aren't adopted. Your Daddy and your Mummy made you."

"So who was my Mummy? Where did she go?" Delphini asks Harry who winces.

Harry sits beside her, "Delphi…" Harry trails off, feeling guilt at continuing this lie and wondering if he really can raise his sister deceiving her like this. Then he thinks of what it felt like to find out his father was Voldemort and remembers why he's doing this. He loves her, and he has to give her her best chance. "Your mother's gone, Little One. She died a few months after you were born." That, at least, is true. Harry looks troubled as he hugs her, but the others figure talking about the dead mother of his child had to be troubling.

"How did she die?" Rema asks, only to be shushed by her mother. Harry clears his throat and excuses himself to make more tea.

Jamie looks at her Dad, "You know, I think he might have spent too much time with you." Remus glares at her but before he can respond she winces and looks down. "What do you have against kidneys? They serve a vital function, you know," She says, rubbing lightly at her stomach, a smile on her face despite her words.

Severus heads into the kitchen, finding Harry leaning against a bench, a hand on his face.

"I don't know who she was, but…I think things have to be this way, don't they?" He asks Harry, being the only one to know that Delphini is not his child. Though, sometimes Severus thinks Jamie might have an inkling, though he has no idea how.

Harry frowns before looking at him. "I look at her and see my daughter," Harry tells him, "But every time she looks at me and sees her Father, it feels wrong. Because I don't feel like her father, like it doesn't go both ways. I can raise her, and love her, and think of her as my own, but I'm scared she'll realise it's not true."

Severus nods slowly, "How do you feel when you look at Sirius?" Harry pauses at that. "Do you see your Dad, or a man who simply loves you like a son?" Severus moves towards him, "Thing is, Harry, I'm not Jamie's father, or Benni's. But I am more to them than my Father ever was to me. That's what love does, it creates family. Even knowing I am not their parent, those two still look at me and see their Father because knowing the truth of their blood does not change the truth of their lives. Parents are not entitled to those words, mother and father. That connection, that love, it is earnt or lost over time." Sev shrugs, "Delphi loves you, isn't that what matters?"

Harry smiles, nodding. "Thank you, Uncle." Severus smiles back, clapping him on the shoulder before moving back into the living-room.

He walks back out to see Remus holding Bella, the fourth member of a new generation of Tiny Marauders. He wasn't sure how Remus would feel about the name once he'd heard it, but he seems okay, delighted to have another grandchild more than anything else. But there is a deep sadness in his eyes, one that Severus hasn't seen in a long time, a sadness put there by their insane son, one Severus feels so very strongly as well.

Eventually the Christmas celebrations break up and everyone starts heading home, Severus and Jamie going with Remus, Sirius, and Benni back to their place. They live in an apartment in Paris. Benni had wanted to go home to France but neither she nor Remus really wanted to go back to the old house, so they sold it and moved here.

"How're you all doing?" Sirius asks them. They all sit around the kitchen island morosely, no longer trying to seem okay in an attempt to not ruin Christmas for the others.

Severus huffs, "After four years of a relatively peaceful existence, not counting your standard Hogwarts-induced headache, I really thought we'd gotten past it all."

"Even when the kids were growing up, we knew Voldemort would be back eventually, we knew it wasn't over," Remus adds, "This time it was finished. I thought we were safe."

"We don't know that he'll come after us," Benni points out, holding out hope that she won't have to face her twin.

Jamie scoffs, "When have we ever been that lucky." She frowns, taking a deep breath, "We're old enough to defend ourselves now but…" She puts a hand on her stomach, "My kids aren't. I'm gonna need to stay in Vienna with Lyle until Sevrin is caught. I can't risk my children," Jamie tells them all.

Benni nods while taking her hand, "We'll be okay, go look after your kids."

Jamie hugs everyone before she apparates back to the palace.

Severus stares at the island for a moment before shaking his head, "I know this probably feels like our problem, our business, but it's not. Sevrin…Ron's team will find him. I think it's best we forget about it until he gives us no choice." He gets up, "I'm going to head home. If anything happens, update me." Remus nods to him as Benni hugs her Papa goodbye.

Severus steps out of the floo and into his home, leaning against the fireplace for a moment and letting out a breath. He feels tears in his eyes, covering his face with his hands as he tries to calm down. He hears movement and looks up as he lowers his hands, immediately pulling out his wand. He freezes as he sees who is sitting on his couch, a mad grin on his face.

"Bonjour, Papa."

Notes

Eyyy, welcome back folks. It is currently the 25th of September 2020 as I finish this chapter. I mention this so that if it does take forever to write like the last story, y'all can rest assured I wasn't being an arse on purpose and I really did start it when I said I did.

Anyways, this is gonna be a wild one (when isn't it, though). Enjoy!

Edit: It's now the 14th of April 2022 and I still haven't finished it. I'm so sorry.

Edit Again: Okay it's done (12th Nov 2022), but fair warning folks, it's quite a bit shorter than the others but only because it takes place within a short amount of time and I felt like trying to make it bigger would've just made everything feel really drawn out and not in a good way so yeah. Anyways, phew, it's done!