Disclaimer: I obviously don't own HP nore do I own the extracts from 'The Tales of Beedle the Bard' JK owns both (lucky lady isn't she?)

Chapter Six: When Toads Teach

It was the first day of classes, a Monday morning that dawned leaving Harry feeling very nervous as he dressed Suzette for the day. Today would be his daughter's first day away from him, of course it wouldn't be the whole day but over the Summer break the young father had spent very little time away from his little one and the small amounts of time that he was, Suzette was with Ron or another Weasley, it had always been hard for Harry to trust and now he was trusting the most important part of his life to someone else, someone he hardly knew. And to top it off he had a day of mostly classes he wouldn't enjoy. Suzette would be with him for his first class of the day, History of Magic. The class was dull and magic was not actively used making it perfectly safe for the babies to attend. Then it would be off to Day Care for double potions, Harry, Ron and the other Gryffindor students who attended Divination had decided against lugging the babies and their stuff up with that particular classroom.

"Come on then Suzi, Daddy needs to eat before class" he spoke to his daughter, he placed her into her sling that was in its place, slung over his left shoulder.

Harry met with his two best friends, Ron and Hermione down in the common room. Both his friends had their own babies with them. Ron's sister Ginny was sitting on an arm chair near by, her nephew Quinn snuggled against her chest as they waited on the father and daughter pair to meet them before they headed down to breakfast together.

"Let's go then" Hermione said.

Breakfast had been rather uneventful, a few students had tried to get a look at the babies but they had not been overly pushy about it. Allowing the young parents to eat their breakfast in peace. Harry had pilled his plate with, sausages, bacon, fried potatoes and srambled eggs and had filled himself a mug of hot caffienated tea. Trying to keep from becoming overwhelmed with the tiredness that came along with being a parent of an infant who woke to be fed several times during the night. Suzette had woken twice the night before, once around three in the morning and again at six thirty, demanding cries calling out for a luke warm bottle of formula. Neville looked exhusted as he slowly scooped cinnimon oatmeal into his mouth, his daughter Frankie snuggled in her sling, dozing peacefully despite the loud morning chatter.

…...

With every word the ugly pink clad woman spoke, Harry's blood had boiled and his temper began to rise up until he had been unable to hold it in. The teenager had yelled out his anger to the horrid toad like woman, who seemed to take a great pleasure in Harry's temper. She had smiled horribly and spoken in her sickly sweet voice as she had handed him a note to give to Professor McGonagall, his head of house. He had grabbed his bag and stormed out of the classroom and blindly walked to the Deputy Head's office. He had expected to be scolded for his outburst, he had been given a mild reprimand and the offer of a ginger biscuit to munch on while the pair had discussed the importance of Harry keeping a low profile during the year with the Ministry of Magic sniffing around this year.

The teenage boy now sat in the Day Care Room, his son Evander in his arms, he had not been able to spend much time with his son, in fact this was the first time he had held the boy since the end of last year. He and Malfoy had agreed it was best and safest for his parentage of the blond baby to be kept a secret, with Voldemort and his Death Eaters at large. But in the privacy of the Day Care Harry was able to spend a few private moments with his son.

Suzette was snoozing in the seperate sleep room, allowing Harry and Evander some alone time. Father and son sat in a comfortable rocking chair, which was in the one of the corners of the large room with a soft pale yellow carpet. The corner had a shelves of books to be read, although not stack so high as to be in danger of falling onto the babies as the grew and became more mobile over. Evander snuggled into Harry's left side while the teen held a copy of 'The tales of Beedle the Bard' in his left as he read the words aloud to his older child.

"There once was a handsome, rich and talented young warlock, who observed that his friends grew foolish when they fell in love..." he read from the first page of 'The Warlock's Hairy Heart' smiling down at his son as he did so.

"...Gamboling and preening, losing their appitites and their dignity." he continued on.

"That does sound silly doesn't it?" Harry asked his son, who gurgled in reply.

I hope I don't go all mad like that if I fall in love" he continued to talk to his son before reading on.

"The young warlock resolved never to fall pray to such weakness, and employed Dark Arts to ensure his immunity."

These were not the stories of his childhood so as he read to his children, he found himself being introduced to something he had missed out on having lost his parents at such a young age. He couldn't help but wonder if his father had done this with him, if they had read together while snuggled somewhere comfortable. Or had that been more of thing he had shared with his mother, he knew his Aunt and Uncle had not done anything of the sorts with him, they had not even done it with their own son, prefering the televison to do it for them. Harry vowled to himself then that he would always do his best to be their for his children and make sure that they knew they were loved.

"Unaware of his secret, the warlock's family laughed to see him so aloof and cold." He finished the first page and turned to the next. He was about to keep reading when he was interupted by the arival of Evander's custodial parent, Draco Malfoy.

The blond teen staired at the two for a moment, he had been reluctant to share his son with Potter but had agreed to allow the other boy time with the baby in the safety of the Day Care having realised that it would have broken his heart if his other child had been born to a stundnt in Gryffindor and not to his close friend and doorm mate Blaise. Not being able to be in Titus's life would not have sat well with him.

Harry closed the book and put it to the side, knowing that his time with Evander had come to an end. He held his son face to face with him and planted several kisses on his lips. He was blessed with one of the best sights he could of seen. Seeing his baby son smile at him for the first time had for sure brightened his horrible day quite a bit.

"What a smile you have there baby boy" Harry cooed as he kissed his son one last time and handed him back over to the Slytherin father.

"Goodbye Evander" he said and added "Thank you Malfoy" before walking into the adjoining room to collect Suzette and return to Gryffindor tower to make a start on his home work.

…...

Severus Snape had mulled over the letter he had received, informing him of the existance of yet another child of his gene pool. At first he had been unsure as to whether or not he should aapproach the child, but after seeing her in his class for the first time he was struck by how much she looked like him. She seemed to be quite bright too, taking notes in class and being able to answer some of his usual questions. He had not yet told her of his parentage over her, feeling it was too soon. He had felt to discuss it with Albus who had just looked at him with that damn twinkle in his eyes and had told him he would know when the time was right.

The black haired man found himself being lost in memories as he thought of the woman who had given him this daughter and of how they had met all those years ago.

Flashback

The tall and thin man treaded carefully through the forrest as he gathered some much needed potions ingridents that were often hard to find in the more populated areas. The quited wooded area was not widely known to the public but in certain circles its herbs and other plants were well known for their magical properties. The young potions master had come here several times over the years and had not seen a solitary person on any of his treks. This place had become one of peace and reflection for him, his sacred space if you will. As he continued to gather cuttings he was not paying as close attention as you would usually expect with this man. This inattention was the inevitable cause of his accident.

A stray root on the cliffside had caught the man's foot, wrenching his ankle painfully and causing him to lose his balance. He was unable to stop the fall that saw him off the side of a small but sleep cliff. It was not a huge drop but not really a small one either. When he landed at the bottom of the nearly eight foot drop he was knock unconcious as his head hit a large rock, leaving a gauge on his left temple.

When he came too some time later he was no longer outside, but instead he found himself inside a warm cottage in a small but very comfortable bed with a young woman standing watch over him.

"Oh good, you're awake" she said happily as she tended to a small open wound on his left arm.

"What happened?" he asked quietly.

"You had quite a fall you did" she started to explain "Off the side of that cliff not far from here" the woman went on.

"Luckily I was out gathering some wild mushrooms for my tea and I found you lying there" she spoke in a friendly tone, with a warm smile on her face.

"Thank you" he said softly, not one to thank others often.

"Oh you're most welcome sir, I don't often get visitors out here, gets a might lonely" she went on with a wide smile.

"You took quite a fall, might take a few days for the potions to take full effect" her words had answered his unspoken question of how she had gotten him to where he was.

"How did you know I was a wizard?" he asked curiously.

"Oh, you wand was in you pockets, wasn't hard to figure it all from there" she said cheerfully.

"Now how silly of me, I forgot to introduce myself" she said.

"I'm Irene, Irene Ashdown" the woman, Irene introduced herself with a slight curtsy.

"And your name is?" Irene prompted the man in the bed.

"Snape, Severus Snape" he replied.

"Nice to meet you Sev" the woman said and shook his non injured right hand.

Severus found himself oddly intrigued by this woman, For Irene Ashdown was not one who would be considered traditionally pretty. She was a short young woman, all of five foot two and what one might call rather plump around the middle. Her sandy blonde hair fell in a cascade of straight locks that hung around her curvy waist. Her eyes shone a brilliant sky blue and seemed to reflect the very depths of her caring heart. Her eyes although very different in both colour and shape reminded him rather a lot of his late friend, Lily. Maybe this was what drew him to this strange woman.

"And you Irene" Severus replied.

End Flashback

the surly professor was brought from his memories by the cries of his infant son, Aurelius who had been sleeping in his nursery. From the sound of his demanding crying he wanted to be changed so the father got up from his study desk and made his way into his son's room to change the baby boy.

A/N: So it has been awhile but finally another chapter is done and up. Prolly should have actually been working on my assignment due this coming Sunday, but oh well. Hope you all enjoyed and please review!