"The snake gave almost a nod to Harry before turning back to Crosby.

"I'd better go." It hissed at him and started to slither away.

"Bye bye!" Crosby said back to it waving and it stood, shook its tail twice and disappeared. Harry rushed over and scooped Crosby up in his arms, holding him closely.

"Don't you ever run off like that again. You gave me a heart attack." He said to him, almost obvlious to the fact that Sirius was even there. "Come on, let's get out of here." He said and walked out the clearing, not seeing the looks Sirius was giving him. They headed back into the house before Crosby suddenly spoke up.

"Mummy, why did you chase pinky away?" He asked and Harry frowned.

"Pinky? Oh, right, the snake. Because I was scared he was going to hurt you." He answered and kissed his forehead. "I don't want to ever let anything hurt you." He added.

"Mummy, can we get a snake?" Harry would have loved to say yes, but Sirius would kill him if he did so he shook his head.

"Your daddy doesn't like snakes very much. How about we get you a different pet?" Crosby nodded eagerly.

"Can we get it now?" Harry didn't see Sirius anywhere and he didn't have any other plans for the day so he nodded and Crosby gave off an excited shriek, making Harry smile.

"Let's get dressed first, then we'll go."

By the time Harry was pushing the pram up the front pathway of the house, Crosby was bouncing up and down excitedly.

"I know you're excited, but keep still, unless you want this pram to topple over, keep still." Harry said and Crosby stopped moving and played with one of his toys instead.

"Where you going?" Someone asked and Harry jumped before looking behind him. Toni Tout was sitting on the garden wall holding a doll that looked like she had given it a hair cut herself.

"Just to Diagon alley for a little while. Do you want to come?" She nodded, put the doll down and hopped off the wall.

"Let me just go ask my mother quickly." She said and ran inside the house, emerging ten minutes later, a grin on her face as she nodded eagerly.


As they entered the magical menagerie Harry took Crosby out the pram and Toni took his hand before they ran off to look at a glass box full of some sort of small yapping animals. Harry in the mean time, pushed the empty pram to one of the shelves and was looking at the stuff he might need to buy when the bell on the door rang again.

He looked up and he felt as though someone had thrown a really heavy rock at his head when he saw who it was. Acting quickly, he his behind the shelf and pulled his hood up over his face. It was just his luck that day that they approached the very place he had chosen to hide.

"I don't know James, what if he doesn't like it."

"He will, and if he doesn't, well, we'll just have to get him something else rather. He's only five, how hard can it be?"

Harry quickly moved away too the counter. "Excuse me." He asked and the woman approached the table, a smile on her face. "Miss," He looked at her nametag "Joulez, I was wondering if you could do me a favor. I'm looking for a pet for my son. He's fourteen months."

"Anything specific you want?" Before Harry could answer, Lily and James had came up to the counter and for one long moment, Harry thought they had recognized him despite the hood. That was until he saw the tiny yellow puffskien in Lily's arms. If had been willing to give away his identity, he would have told them how ironic it was that they had never let him have a pet but as soon as he left they were buying Jack a puffskien.

Harry felt like he was caught in a trap. He couldn't tell her it shouldn't be able to harm a pregnantman or newborns. They would know for sure it was him. It wasn't exactly normal for males to birth their own children. At least not outside his family it wasn't. But they weren't even listening as an old man came out the back to serve them.

"Nothing really, just easy to take care of." He answered and she nodded. Before she could suggest anything, there was a shout and Harry turned to see Crosby hurrying over to him as fast as his tiny legs could carry him, Toni following behind. Harry picked him up.

"Mummy, look what I found! Can we get it please." He asked pleadingly

"Well, it depends on what it is." Harry replied and poked the ball of fluff in his arms. It uncurled and Harry mentally groaned. He knew how much it would break Crosby's heart if he said no, but Sirius was going to kill him if he came home with a kneazle. One of his dog-like qualities was a hatred for cats, kneazles included.

"Excuse me, are you the birth mother? As in you had the child yourself?" The old man asked and Harry's head snapped around to glare at him, not breaking eye contact.

"Yes, have you got a problem with that?"

"Well, you do have to be a certain age to buy a pet from here. You can't take care of a child and a kneazle by yourself."

"That is bull and you know it. My friend came in here and bought a kneazle at thirteen." He argued and the man smirked victoriously.

"Sorry, that's the rules." Harry was now fuming and he leant forward, his hood falling off and making Lily and James both gasp in surprise.

"Very well then, I shall be back in a few days or send my fiancé to pick it up." He took the kneazle from Crosby, much to his distress, and put it on the counter. "Come on Toni, let's go." He said and started towards the door, Crosby now crying on his shoulder and Toni hurrying to keep up with him. The old man went to the back room again and Joulez called Harry back.

"Sir, wait." She said and he stopped. "Please, don't leave, I can explain." He walked back to the counter and she broke off into a ramble of apologies.

"I'm so sorry, my grandfather is quite homophobic and I hope you're not offended."

"Nah, it's ok. I'm used to it by now."

"I want to make it up to you, wait here a minute please sir," She said and rushed off. Lily and James just stared at him in awe. His skin was glowing radiantly and his hair now hung down to his shoulders, no longer standing up. He looked much healthier than the last time they had seen him when he had been all stressed from his NEWTS. He rocked Crosby and his crying stopped as he started to fall asleep. Harry put him back in the pram, the pink kneazle now back with him and also dozing next to his arm.

"Your fiancé? When did you get engaged?" James asked and he held up his left hand so the ring shone in the light.

"A while before I left. I would have rather waited, but I don't think saying no was really any option." He said, turning his head to the side slightly to look at it from a different angle.

"Why's that?" Lily asked and Harry didn't have to answer because Joulez reappeared with another kneazle, this one blue.

"Free of charge. Both of them." She said and he thanked her before she rushed off again to get the supplies he would need.

"I want a baby." Toni said as she looked into the pram. "You get free stuff."

"Where do you get that idea?"

"You walk in here and get free cats and last time you got free ice-cream for us." Harry looked away. He wasn't going to tell her that he had gotten free ice cream because a few months before he had shagged the owner's great grandson and they happened to still be friends.

"It's not the baby, it's more complicated than that."

"How so?"

"It's a matter of playing your cards right and know people. I'll tell you when you're older and will understand it properly." After listening to the conversation, James finally spoke.

"Whose this?" He asked looking at Toni.

"Oh, this is Toni." He replied and Toni grinned at him.

"Hi!" She answered waving and James smiled back at her. Joulez dumped a few things on the table and packed them in a bag before giving them to Harry who put them in the bottom compartment of the pram under where Crosby lay..

"Let's go," Harry said and strode out with Toni next to him. By the time James or Lily realized they should have stopped him, James ran outside and he had disappeared into the crowd already.


As Harry closed the front door behind him and too Crosby out the pram, delighted with his two new pets, he heard a voice call him.

"Where have you been all day?" Sirius said and Crosby tugged on his robes. He looked down in horror at the kneazles."What are those?" He asked.

"Kitties!" Crosby replied and Sirius's head snapped back up so he faced Harry, his eyes filled with rage and anger.


Thanks to all who reviewed. I forgot to say it last time but many people questioned the fluentness of Crosby's english. I don't know how a oneyear-old would speak and since I know no-one who would lend me one Let's just keep it simple and say wizard children are smarter than muggles.

I would thank everyone who has given me feedback personally, but there are sooo many and my net is still screwy and stands the chance of cutting us off for two moredays at any given time.

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