After getting Minerva to babysit covering both someone to look after the kids and a way to get Minerva out of her office Severus and Cassie stood in front of the portrait of previous Headmaster Dumbledore, he waved when he saw them and immediately asked how they were.
"We are fine Albus it is Harry we are here for" Severus told the man seriously.
"Oh, ok well fire away whatever it is you came here to ask." Dumbledore invited still smiling at the pair.
"He is having some difficulties, his previous ability to ration with the adult side of his brain seems to be disappearing rapidly and his behaviour is quiet, shy, under confident almost scared most of the time. None of our other children have been like this and nothing has caused him to act like this. We need answers Albus in order to help him." Cassie told the headmaster.
"I suppose it is time I revealed to you why Harry was sent here from his previous world." Alnus sighed quietly.
"Harry struggled to cope since the war ended, he felt guilty for all the deaths that occurred, yours Severus, Dobby's, Hedwig, all of them, they weren't his fault but he still felt that he caused them, he settled down with Ginny Weasley and they had children but he was unable to cope with being a celebrity, unable to cope with life not at war and he struggled with alcohol. He drank excessively and almost obsessively. He attended counselling for Post Traumatic Stress Disorder but it seemed that the problem was far too embedded within him for counselling to help much at all so seeing his troubles I pulled in a few favours and had him sent here." Albus was ready to drop his biggest bombshell.
"He was abused as a child, from the day he was left on his Aunts doorstep to the day he left that house when he was of age, every summer we sent him back to that abusive family who beat it into him that every single negative thing that ever happened was his fault and he believed it Severus. Now this you knew but what you did not know about what went on in that household was that Harry was so affected by this that he had started to self-harm and drink, from 13 I believe he consumed alcohol to get him through the day and until he was sent to you he had been using these strategies to help him cope along with occasional drug use. The boy was far more troubled than we thought and no one caught it, not even his closest friends were aware until the day they found him passed out unconscious on the sofa. That is the point where I sent him to your world for you to build him up. Although you have done a fabulous job, so fabulous that unfortunately he has started to try and simply forget and lose his adult mind yet he remembers everything subconsciously. This is where his problems lie." Albus concluded.
"So how do we help him?" Severus asked frustrated with Albus' babbling providing him with very few of the answers he had come for.
"I'm afraid that no professional will understand the depths of Harrys issues, I suggest talking with Poppy or myself, sessions with Harry on his own and Harry with the two of you will help him, I think the long term goal should be helping him remember and learn from what has happened to him in the previous life. I realise you are pregnant and Harry will struggle with this but bear with him, let him realise in his own time that the twins are no threat to him but remember that the only person he ever had to share with was his cousin who his Aunt favoured to the point of neglecting Harry I believe that is what Harry is comparing the situation to." Albus looked towards Severus who was turning things over in his head.
"You do not have permission to alter any of his thoughts of memories but I am not completely against the idea of you and Poppy 'talking' with him to progress his feelings towards himself" Severus spoke carefully.
"Then I shall see you three tomorrow at seven" Albus said with a smile and with that turned and walked out of his portrait to visit another.
Cassie squeezed Severus' hand and gave him a gentle smile. "I trust Albus" was all she said to him as they walked from Minervas office to their own quarters to see their family.
Walking through the door to the sitting room calmness enveloped them and they took a moment just to take in and memorise the moment which they had in front of them, that they were now a part of. Toby was sat on the chair Severus usually sat on helping Charlie with his homework. Lily sat watching the telly which was quietly playing a Disney film which Severus recognised to be a toy story film. Lily was making a friendship bracelet as she watched and on the sofa Minerva sat rocking side to side with Harry fast asleep on her lap, mouth wide open, head resting in her chest slumped completely onto the lady who he clung to in sleep.
"How were they?" Cassie asked as she crouched infront of the headmistress stroking soft strands of hair from her youngests forehead with a loving smile.
"They were as good as gold" Minerva responded. "Harry got a little upset when he realised you had left but we made ourselves milkshakes and put a film on and he was happy to sit on my lap and drift off. Charlie and Lily have done all their homework and Toby has been perfecting his potions essay which I think is quite good. His father will be proud I think" Minerva said teasingly.
"We shall see" Severus replied. "I'll take him Minerva" Severus said as he lifted the sleepy boy off Minerva carefully and with practised ease.
Minerva rose from the sofa and said her goodbyes to the children asking no questions to the adults knowing she would never get a straight answer and she headed back to the corridors to check for wandering students.
Severus sat with Harry curled in his lap like Severus has often held him as a baby. Soon he would be too big to hold like this and to have Harrys head rest comfortably on just the right spot on his chest where he could move his head ever so slightly to press soft kisses to the child's hair as he slept. He wondered if soon he would be too busy with two new-born babies to sit and hold his son and cuddle his other children as he liked to do of an evening. He promised himself in that moment that nothing would change, he was going to have more moments like this and as Charlie and Lily sat either side of Severus and Toby came to sit at his feet after his wife retired to bed he wondered how exactly two more lives would fit into this already so perfect picture of contentness. He and his wife would be in for a struggle when the twins arrived and he knew that maybe he had bitten off more than he could chew this time.