Harry was now 14 months old and well and truly a toddler, he walked everywhere he could, talked whenever he could and had almost got a full mouth of teeth. Harry hadn't seen much of his Daddy in the last month occasionally he would go out with them on a Saturday morning but not very often, Cassie had been right, Severus threw himself into his duties even allowing a couple of the first years to sleep on their sofa for a couple of nights when they complained of homesickness. It was October now and the days were getting colder, Harry was out of his shorts and t-shirts and was always in trousers and a big new coat. Today was not shaping up to be a good day, Harry had woken earlier than usual and had walked down stairs holding his mother's hand to find Daddy sleeping of the sofa, wait a minute, why wasn't Daddy in his bed, the one he shared with Mummy. Harry looked quizzically at Mummy.

"Daddy sleep bed wit you" he said accusingly at his mother.

"Calm down Harry, Daddy must have just not wanted to wake me up when he came in late last night." Cassie told him with a smile although Harry could see the sadness in her eyes.

"Let's get you some breakfast" Mummy said letting Harry sit down on one of the chairs in the kitchen which he did occasionally instead of using his high chair which he had taken a dislike to using. He was a big boy and although he resembled a much younger child in size he was sure that he was too big to go in the high chair anymore.

Harry was sat on his knees at the breakfast table eating his cereal with a spoon when Mummy put a cup infront of him with some milk in it. Harry stared at the cup, it was a sippy cup but it definitely wasn't one of his bottles. He liked his bottles, they made him feel safe and secure. Mummy must have just poured his milk into the wrong container because she was tired. He pushed the cup across the table to his Mummy.

"Boll peese" Harry asked sweetly.

"No Harry, this is a big boy cup, you are too big for a bottle, you get to use a big boy cup now, isn't that exciting?" Mummy asked with an excited smile.

"NO! BOLL PEESE!" Harry shouted

"Harry, the bottles are no longer in the house, you either drink out of a big boy cup or you go without your milk, it's your choice" Mummy told him.

Harry had never felt so betrayed in his life, why was Mummy being so cruel, he did the only thing he could think of and folding his arms on top of the table and burying his face in his arms he cried, deep heart wrenching cries punctuated with long inhales and occasional screams. Mummy sat and stroked his hair gently from across the table until Daddy came in and asked what the noise was about.

"I just told him that the bottles are gone and showed him his big boy cup" Mummy explained. Daddy sighed softly before lifting Harry into his arms, Harrys face was buried in Severus' chest, still sobbing as Severus sat next to his wife rubbing the child's back. When Harry had finished and was now hiccupping Severus turned him around and after wiping his tears Severus picked up Harrys sippy cup and began to feed it to him as Harry lay cradled against his chest, Harry really was thirsty and at the moment was willing to give in so that his throat could feel better after all that crying. That morning as everyone got ready to go to school and work Harry was very subdued, during the ride to school Harry had tried to lose his cup many times, dropping it out of the buggy until Mummy took it off him and hid it underneath his seat where he couldn't reach it.

The scenario got worse after they dropped Lily and Charlie at school, as they were doing now on a Monday and a Friday morning when Severus had to attend great hall breakfasts in order to make sure that some of his smaller Slytherins were indeed eating properly. After dropping Lily and Charlie at school Harry was taken to the hospital wing, 'uh oh' he thought as Madam Pomfrey smiled at him.

"Last lot of jabs today then and a check up?" she asked Cassie and took Harry from the buggy as Cassie nodded. Harry was undressed after he had put up a fight and grumped though having his trousers taken off. Harry found that he didn't even feel these jabs though and he was dressed in a much happier mood. He let Madam Pomfrey check him over and even said to her "duck, daddy, cup bye beye" to which Madam Pomfrey nodded with a smile.

"His speech is coming on really well" Madam Pomfrey commentated.

"Every day he seems to have learnt a few new words, he just has trouble putting them together in the right order" Cassie told her proud of her baby's achievements.

"Is he still using a bottle?" Madam Pomfrey asked.

"We took him off it last night, he didn't notice last night because he was so tired, he must have just thought it was his bottle but he wasn't too pleased this morning," Cassie told the healer brushing Harrys hair from his eyes.

"He will learn to adapt Cassie, just keep going, from what I've seen it will only be a couple of months before he is ready to start toilet training and sleeping in a big boy bed. Your little boy has reached every mile stone months early Cassie, you and Severus have done a wonderful job, now stop worrying, your son has not suffered brain damage. He will always be small for his age but he is one of the brightest toddlers I have ever met." Madam Pomfrey told a teary Cassandra Snape.

"Thank you Poppy. It just seems to be the last four months where he has really come into himself, he is like a completely different child, before he would just lie there and cry, eat and sleep like a newborn but then it was like one morning he just woke up and he was Harry, he was giggling and smiling and talking and walking." Cassie garbled watching Harry who seemed to be listening intently to their conversation.

"Cassie, that happens at some point to all babies when they begin to become toddlers, just enjoy him and the rest of your family, Severus will run out of Harry Potters to save soon and will become the great father he usually is, you know how this pattern works by now as we all do. Sometimes I wonder whether part of Severus died with Harry the day the war ended" Pomfrey added wistfully.

After waking up from his nap after lunch Harry thought about how affected everyone seemed by his death, they weren't as affected by Severus' death where he came from it was only him that seemed affected by Snapes death in his world. Was there a Cassandra in his world somewhere, did she have children? He needed to find out.

That afternoon Harry took the sippy cup more willingly, Mummy had replaced the top with a softer spout which was more like his bottle and he was happier with that, she even gave him pumpkin juice to drink and he was showing his new big boy cup to rocky proudly, yes he was feeling much better until Mummy got a phone call, Lily had been sick at school and Harry was bundled into his pushchair to go and fetch her. When they arrivd at school Harry was taken out of the pushchair and carried home as Lily was put in the pushchair and pushed home. He cried at the unfairness of it all, it was his pushchair not Lily's.

When they got home Lily was put to bed and Cassie spent the afternoon looking after her mostly leaving Harry to his own devices in the playroom, Harry had a smelly nappy and even though he was able to mostly ignore it soon his little jeans were wet too. Harry realised he had sprung a leak and was mortified taking himself into the hidden corner of the playroom and sobbling quietly. It seemed to be much later and Harry was just getting over his leaking nappy when his Daddy rushed through the doors with Charlie who he had picked up from school. Daddy who had carried Charlie in his arms all the way from school popped the small boy inside the playroom and went upstairs to Cassie who was sitting with her daughter and Madam Pomfrey. Lily had caught Owl flu and was being sick, Madam Pomfrey was worried about Lily not being able to keep anything down and was concerned about dehydration.

"Daddy" Charlie called from the playroom, Charlie had smelled something and found a puddle in the middle of the floor and a quiet Harry in the corner of the room who stunk.

"Daddy" Charlie called again, this time Daddy came down the stairs to see what was wrong

"What is it Charlie?" Severus asked.

Charlie simply pointed to Harry who was looking decidedly uncomfortable.

"O Harry" Severus muttered "How long have you been sat there?" he asked the toddler seeing the old remains of tears and snot on his face. Severus took Harry and changed him before cleaning the playroom floor and spraying an air spray into the room.

"Watch him for me Charlie" his Daddy said before leaving the room again.

A lot happened in the next ten minutes. First Toby came in and starting playing with them but then there was shouting coming from upstairs, they all stopped to listen.

"Why didn't you ring me?" that was Daddys voice.

"Because you haven't been available for about a month now, I'm getting used to being a single parent" Mummy snapped.

"Well obviously you can't cope, Harry was left on his own for God knows how long, his nappy was leaking, he had been crying and anything could have happened to him. Charlie's school rang me because no one had come to pick him up and you were uncontactable." That was Daddy again, he sounded angry.

"Well I'm sorry that your daughter got Owl flu and I'm sorry you would rather be with your precious Slytherins than with your family but I am doing my best for this family which is more than I can say for you." Mummy sounded very cross.

"Doing your best, there is one nappy left in the house, Charlie hasn't read to you in two weeks, none of his homework has been done and Lily's PE kit hasn't been in school since term began, is that doing your best?" Severus asked

"Yes Severus it is." Mummy sounded sad "But at least I am doing something for this family" Mummy took another breath. "You cannot save every single child who has had a bad start in life, I know you feel guilty for things have have slipped under your radar but you cannot punish your family for those mistakes, your children should not be punished because you couldn't save Harry Potter." Mummy was crying, they could all hear it.

"Your right" Severus sighed "you are always right, I have left you to deal with all the kids on your own for a month, I need to step up, I am going to step down as head of Slytherin."

"No you won't" Mummy cut him off "you can't we both know that. But you could cut down your hours that you teach and you could start being here for your family, take the week off, you have a sick child and no doubt at least one of the others will catch this as well. Take a week to care for your family Severus, go and buy Harry some nappies, Play football with Charlie, Look after Lily and talk to Toby about school, girls and help him with his homework." Mummy finished and there was a pause before silence.

Lilys door opened and closed and Mummy came downstairs to see the children all staring at her from the open door of the playroom.

"I'm guessing you boys heard our discussion?" Mummy asked.

We all nodded before Toby asked the question we were all thinking. "Your going to be okay though right? Your not going to split up like Erins mum and Dad?" Mummy smiled at us.

"No darling, never" she smiled before going through to the kitchen. Soon after Mummy went upstairs to see Lily Severus came down the stairs.

"Get your coats on boys, we're going out" he called grabbing Harry's coat and helping him on with it before unfolding the pushchair and setting Harry in it.

The Snape boys soon arrived at Hogsmede, the first stop was to the children's shop where Daddy bought Harry's nappies and a PE kit in Lily's size. Charlie was bought a new book bag and then the family moved onto the next store where Toby was bought a new CD for his collection and Harry was given his sippy cup to drink. (He quite liked it now.) The shop next door was boring and Toby was able to take Charlie next door, Harry however was forced to endure the horror of watching his Daddy, who was also Severus Snape, picking out sexy lingerie, a box of chocolates and other items which he didn't want to think about why they were being used, he hoped the chocolate spread was for his toast but he really doubted that.

The final place they went was the muggle fish and chip shop where Severus ordered one extra large portions of chips, one large fish, one steak and kidney pie, three large sausages and a light curry sauce. Toby was being his lovely thirteen year old self and was flirting with the girl serving them until Severus announced that they were leaving and he would be in trouble if he didn't follow.

Once home the family were joined by a drowsy looking Lily who was fed a tiny bit of sausage and a couple of chips, even Harry ate more than her finishing his half of the large sausage and a couple of chips before feeling too full to eat anymore. He was then bathed by his Daddy which was brilliant because he hadn't been able to see much of his Daddy recently, even if he did have to share his bath with Charlie. Toby came in to say that he was headed back to his dorms and with wave and a "bye bye" from Charlie and Harry and a "Don't stay up too late" from his father Toby was gone. Charlie and Harry were put to bed early tonight as well. Harry was tired but couldn't fall asleep so easily without his bottle, after a while though he did drift off, just as noises started coming from his parents' bedroom next door.

Over the next two weeks the Owl flu spread through all the Snape's except for Harry who had rediscovered Lily's old nurse uniform and was helping to nurse them all back to health. Severus was back and the house was happy again.

Author Note- Sorry for the rubbish ending, must try to do better in the future! x