After a while, Dumbledore noticed the infant in his arms had fallen asleep. He smiled weakly, and carefully touched the soft cheek.
The little nose wasn't very prominent yet. It looked rather normal. The red lips opened a little to let out a soft sigh as the baby nestled closer to his robes. The head was covered with a thin layer of black hair. All in all, Dumbledore concluded, Severus was a very cute and quite beautiful baby.
Meanwhile, the cute baby had needs. And he discovered the first of those when he felt a bit of wetness.
"Nappy's," the headmaster thought with a small grin.
He hadn't really prepared anything. Up until the last moment, he had hoped that Severus would change his mind.
But, he wasn't a Master of Transfiguration for nothing. Soon, a changing table appeared. Severus's old shirt was removed from the baby and transfigured into a dozen diapers. He charmed them so they wouldn't leak.
The baby, waking up from the cold, starting complaining. The small arms and legs flailed and kicked through the air.
"Yes, yes, my boy, be patient," the old wizard soothed as he gently took hold of the small ankles to put the nappy on the child. There. It had been many years, but such skills were not easily forgotten.
Wrapping the baby warmly in a blanket, he walked over to the infirmary.
"Poppy?" he called.
"In here, Albus," the nurse replied, "I'm just sorting through the new delivery of Potions. Severus brew me a huge supply, and said he wouldn't be able to brew more for some time. Do you know…"
She turned to the headmaster and stopped when she saw the infant in his arms.
"Albus?" she asked, stunned.
"Would you check him, please, to see if he is alright?" Dumbledore requested mildly.
"Of course," the nurse motioned to one of the beds, "put him down there."
She waved her wand over the small form and gasped.
"SEVERUS?"
Dumbledore raised his eyebrows. "How could you tell?"
She scowled. "His magical signature, for one. Furthermore, some years ago, I took a seminar where they taught us how to magically run a DNA test. Muggles discovered DNA in the early 1980's, and that knowledge slowly made its way into the magical community. I'll explain another time, first tell me WHAT ON EARTH IS GOING ON?"
Her yelling disturbed the infant, who started to wail, his eyes tightly closed and his face red.
Dumbledore picked him up and rocked him gently. "Shhh, my darling, it's alright. No need to cry so. That's right, settle down."
The baby, with an adorable pout and tears in the dark blue eyes, looked up at him, hiccupped a bit, and settled back into sleep.
"Please don't shout, Poppy," the headmaster requested, "I'll tell you the whole story."
"…and that is how Severus ended up an infant," he finished the tale fifteen minutes later, with many interruptions.
The nurse looked at the baby, now peacefully asleep in the strong arms.
"So what are you going to do with him? Not many wizarding families can take him in. An Orphanage would be the best, I'm sure."
"No," Albus's eyes flashed, "he will not go to an orphanage. I've arranged to adopt him. I already arranged that before he made this request, I just hadn't asked him yet. That he is now a baby doesn't change anything."
Poppy looked at him sceptically.
"Don't you see, Poppy?" Albus nearly pleaded, "I can't just give him away. I never had children of my own, Severus has been like a son to me for years. I always regretted I couldn't save him from his father, and Voldemort. I regretted my own part in driving him to Tom. We all contributed somewhat to making his life more difficult than it should have been. Now I get a chance to make that up to him."
"It seems to me, he brought a lot of the difficulties on himself, Albus," the nurse said, "I know he sacrificed a great deal in the war, but by Merlin's beard, he was a Death Eater! He had quite some things to atone for. And the way he treated his students…"
The headmaster sighed. "Fine. But I agreed with him, I supported his decision, and I'm not abandoning him now. I'm adopting him, and I will raise him."
"Forgive me, Albus, but you are nearly 160. What are the chances of you living long enough to see that boy grow up again?"
The headmaster cradled the baby, and smiled. "I'm a descendant of Merlin, Poppy. We live long lives. My father and grandfather both lived past 250. I don't plan on departing just yet. But, I will search for a suitable guardian who can look after him should anything happen to me."
The nurse nodded mutely. Then she cleared her throat.
"Yes, well, nothing is wrong with him. He's a healthy 20 day old baby. Here are instructions for his formula."
Nodding his thanks, Dumbledore returned to his office. Once there, he called a house elf. Dobby appeared.
"I thought you had gone with Harry," Albus said, surprised.
"Dobby did," the elf answered, "but Harry is receiving your letter and is going to be coming here soon. The houses is already packed up, so Harry sent Dobby ahead to visit Winky and have a holidays. But Dobby no likes holidays, so Dobby came to see what Dobby can do for Professor Dumbledore, sir."
Then the elf noticed the baby.
"Ooooh! Professor Dumbledore sir has a baby?"
Albus smiled. "Yes, Dobby. I need some things for him. If I give you some money, would you mind picking up some things for him?"
Dobby clearly longed to get a closer look at the infant, but was afraid to ask. Dumbledore squatted down and showed the sleeping Severus to the awed elf.
"It is being a pretty baby," Dobby whispered, stroking the black hair with his finger.
"Yes, he is," Albus said, feeling strangely proud at the comment.
"What will professor Dumbledore be needing, sir?"
"Bottles. Clothes. A crib. One of those cloth things to carry him around in on my chest…I don't remember what they're called. Oh, and can the kitchen elves make this formula?" he asked, holding out the note Pomfrey had given him.
"Dobby is taking care of it, Headmaster sir!"
Albus gave him a bag of galleons. "That should be enough, but if it's not, come back for more. And a stuffed toy. Not too big, and soft. A teddybear or something like that."
Dobby nodded, and hesitated. "Will professor Dumbledore sir be needing a pram?"
"Of course, thank you, Dobby, I forgot. And nappy's and wipes. You know what? Just buy whatever else you think he needs."
Kissing the baby gently, he made a nest of pillows in his bed and laid the infant in it.
Harry Potter knocked on the headmaster's door some two hours later.
"Ah, Harry," Dumbledore's eyes twinkled a bit, "come in, my boy. How have you been?"
Harry lowered himself in a chair.
"I've been alright," he said, "I'm slowly improving. The healers say they don't expect a full recovery, but I should continue to improve with this new treatment."
His thoughts went back to the final battle. Yes, he had defeated Voldemort. But the victory had come at a price for him. A hex had severed his spinal cord, and he ended up paralyzed from the waist down. The healers had managed to repair the worst of the damage, but his legs were still weak. After much therapy, he could now walk relatively normal, but he tired easily and his legs would give way from under him when he did. Magical braces solved that problem, but he hated using them. The healers encouraged him to walk on his own as much as he could, but keep the braces at hand just in case.
Now, eight months after the final battle, and at the start of a the holidays, he had accepted Dumbledore's offer to teach History of Magic.
At first he had wondered about that; he had expected DADA. He voiced this thought to the old man now.
"I know, but Alastor agreed to teach DADA. Says he wants to make sure there are capable candidates available for Auror training before he retires for the second time."
Albus closed his eyes. "I'm sorry, Harry."
The young man smiled wryly. "Don't be. I had already decided I didn't want to be an Auror before the final battle. That's why I didn't fall apart when the healers told me that. I do wonder why you want me to teach History, though."
"Isn't that obvious, Harry? Binns, may he rest in peace, never taught anything but the goblin wars. A new teacher would deify you. You have close ties to the goblins, house elves, centaurs and many other races. You can teach the real history. Honestly, it was down to you or Hermione, but I need her to teach Potions."
Harry looked up in surprise. "Potions? But Snape…"
Albus sighed. "Harry…I know you despise him…"
Shrugging, the boy traced a pattern on the desk with his fingers. "Not exactly. We just don't like each other. I respect what he has done in the war, however. But where is he? Is he leaving Hogwarts?"
He frowned when the headmaster closed his eyes.
"Harry…Severus has…has been unhappy for all of his life. His childhood was…was not unlike yours. A few days ago he approached me with a request. A request to be returned to infancy and given the chance to redo his life. He is currently a three week old baby."
Harry stared. He detected no lie in the headmasters words, and Snape had taught him well. After they had sorted out some differences, Occlumency lessons had been a success. While he would have trouble breaking into Albus's mind, he WAS able to detect if the old man was lying.
"A baby?" he said finally.
Upon receiving a nod, he sighed.
"Very well. I guess I can understand that. It wouldn't be my choice, but I can see why he would want that. You aren't going to send him to an orphanage, are you?"
The old wizard smiled inwardly, noticing how different the question was with Harry than it had been with the nurse. Harry wouldn't wish growing up without parents on anyone.
"I've adopted him," the headmaster reassured him, "if you…if you wish to see him…"
Harry shook his head. Why should he care about the greasy git? "No thank you. Anyway, about History…"