"Harry?"
Albus Dumbledore entered his appartments where all lights were out. He first went to the nursery.
Severus was awake, and playing with his toes. Albus picked him up and cuddled him.
"Hi there, my little one. Didn't feel like sleeping, hmmm? Did you have a nice dinner with the Weasley family?"
The baby crowed in response, his dark eyes glittering with happiness. Dumbledore smiled and touched the small nose with his own one before pressing a kiss on the soft hair. He walked into the living room.
A shadowy shape on the couch told him Severus had not been left alone.
"Harry?"
"Hi, Albus," came the soft response.
"Did…you have a nice evening…?" Albus asked warily.
"Oh, just perfect," Harry sighed.
"No trouble with Severus, I hope?"
"Severus was a little angel, like he always is," Harry put his head in his hands, "he completely had Arthur wrapped around his little finger, Molly doesn't know what to think but her mothering instincts took over. He ate some of Molly's fine cooking – can't start him on that too early- and then he slept for most of the evening."
"Gooooood," Dumbledore raised an eyebrow, "I'm just going to put little Angel here back to bed, and then I would love to hear what happened during the remainder of the evening."
Albus cuddled the baby for a little longer before putting him back in his bed. Severus yawned a bit and held on to his grandpa's finger. Albus just ran a finger up and down the soft babycheeks until the child relaxed into sleep and let go.
"Now, what's wrong, my boy?" he said when he returned to the living room and a glum looking Harry.
Harry sighed and ran his hands through his hair.
"It was alright in the beginning, tense, but I hadn't expected otherwise. Ron and Ginny reacted badly to Severus, even though I hinted that he is Snape's son, and Ron made some very harsh remarks. Arthur told him off, and we were alright again for a while, until I mentioned Phoebe."
He leaned back into the couch and covered his face with his hands.
"Ron and Ginny proceeded to insult her. Ron said something about her having a scar and being hideous, and Ginny said she must be butt ugly."
Albus's eyes grew cold. "They said that?"
He was very fond of his secretary, and anyone insulting her had better run for cover. If Harry didn't get to them first.
"Yeah. And I freaked out, Albus. I shouted at them that Phoebe got the scar defending her family, and then I…ooooohhhhhhh…"
"Harry?" Albus sat next to the young professor, "what did you do?"
"I said I love her like crazy," Harry whispered in horror.
Albus couldn't help it. His twinkling became so intense he nearly burned out his own eyeballs.
"That is wonderful, my young friend! Why are you so upset? Phoebe is an amazing young lady."
"YES! She is!" Harry exclaimed, jumping up and pacing the room, "that's the whole problem! She can't love me, she doesn't want to live her life with me."
"But why ever not, child?" Albus was genuinly surprised, "how do you know she doesn't?"
"Because…Because I'm supposed to be everyone's hero! Haven't I let the Wizarding World down enough? I'm supposed to be their savior, but I'm a useless cripple now! I may never father children. How can I ask Phoebe to love someone like me? With my past? Who can't give her what she wants, like I can't give the whole wizard society what they want? Who perhaps can't even give her children? She is brave, and kind, and compassionate. She deserves better than me!"
Albus lowered his eyes and wept silently.
"Oh Harry, child, what have I done to you?"
He took the young man's hands in his own. "Harry, you are a brave, strong, caring young man yourself. You took on the whole future of the Wizarding World when you were just a child, and you did what needed to be done. I'm certain you and Phoebe would do famously together. You deserve happiness. You deserve a wonderful, rich life. You deserve Phoebe."
Harry shook his head sadly. "Don't try to convince me just because you feel guilty, Albus. This is who I am now. I may have done my job, but it destroyed me. It destroyed any chance of normalcy I ever had. My life, and that of my family, will continue to be in danger just because there might be people crazy enough to target me, so they can say they did what Voldemort could not do. No one taught me how to function in a family. I never experienced an example of that. I have nothing to offer Phoebe. If I love her, which I do, deeply, I must not tell her how I feel, and encourage her as a friend when she finds someone who IS worthy of her."
Thinking for a moment, he added, "I'm not good enough for her. But that won't stop me from bashing it into those thick skulls of Ron and Ginny that I won't tolerate another insult directed at her."
Albus watched with sorrow in his eyes as the young man gave him a small, apologetic smile and left for his own rooms.
ssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssss
Severus sat in his cradle chair on the talbe, watching Granddad levitate the Christmas tree in. Delighted with this show of magic, he clapped his little hands happily.
"DADA!" he cried out, waving one little fist at Albus.
The Headmaster slowly levitated the tree into place and sat in front of the child.
"Did you say Granddad? Did you, sweetie? Can you say it again for your old Granddad? Please, honey?"
Severus smiled a wide toothless grin. Granddad, as he always called himself, liked what he had said! He must have gotten it right!
Tugging Grandpa's beard enthusiastically, he repeated "DADA!"
Dumbledore picked him up from his chair and cuddled him, practically dancing around the room with Severus in his arms. Squealing in excitement, Severus reached for the tree when they came near. It looked so pretty!
"Oh, my big boy, you said your first word," Grandpa kissed his cheeks and nose, that felt nice. Severus sighed and snuggled against the soft hair and beard.
He sat up in Granddad's arms again when a few boxes came their way.
"We're going to charm in the ornaments now," Grandpa said, "look!"
Waving his stick, Grandpa floated one of the nice shiny things to the tree where it stuck.
Severus reached for the stick, trying to put it in his mouth. Maybe he could taste why it did that.
"No, no, sweetheart, no playing with Granddad's wand. It's dangerous. When you're a big boy, all ready for school, you will get your own wand."
Ignoring Grandpa, Severus chewed on the wood with his gums, drooling quite freely.
"Are you teething?" a thought suddenly struck Granddad, the wand was taken from his hands and Granddad stuck a finger into his mouth and felt his gums. When he hit a spot right in front, Severus winced and pulled back.
"You are! You're going to have your very first tooth soon! I'll have to ask Poppy for something to deal with the nasty side effects, won't I?"
He put the baby down on a blanket and gave him his toy snitch to play with.
Severus waved the snitch about and giggled whenever an ornament flew by, trying to catch it. He rolled over – still with some effort – and eyed the wand on the table. He wanted to chew on it again…
"GA!" Albus suddenly heard behind him, and he turned around to see the baby waving the wand about.
"Severus! Oh, how stupid of me to leave it on the table where it could roll off. Come, my boy, give that to Grandpa."
Severus pouted when his new toy was taken from him. Grandpa finished putting the shining things into the tree and Severus was happy when afterwards, Grandpa decided to read him a story about a little baby in a barn, with all sorts of beasties in it. He didn't understand much of it, but he put in his best efforts by chewing on the cardboard cover as hard as he could.
ssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssss
Phoebe lay in bed, unable to sleep. She tossed and turned, tried to lay on her left side, then her right. To no avail. She got up to get herself a mug of hot milk.
Sneaking to the kitchens, she tickled the pear when she heard a sudden voice behind her.
"Out after hours, are we?"
Jumping a foot into the air, she turned quickly. And looked into the transparant smirking face of Athena Verity, the ghost of a young girl that died somewhere in the 1700's, three months after having been elected Head Girl.
"Not fair," she pouted.
"Sorry dear. It was just too hard to resist. Couldn't sleep, then?"
"No," Phoebe sighed as she entered the kitchens. The house elves that were still awake – not many at this hour – happily served hot milk and cookies.
"Something troubling you, dear?" The ghost asked kindly. "You can tell me, you know. Merlin knows I've done my share of talking over the years, both alive and as a ghost. Whatever you say stays between the two of us."
Phoebe stared into her mug. "It's Harry," she admitted.
"Professor Potter? How so?"
"He's been such a good friend to me," Phoebe looked up with tears in her eyes, "he's so brave and wonderful. He could have girls left and right if he wanted to. I…"
"Are you in love with him, my dear?"
Phoebe sniffed a bit. "I think I'm close to it," she admitted, "oh, Athena, it's horrible!"
"Horrible?" the ghost smiled, "even in my day, when I was alive, being in love was only considered horrible if the object of your infatuation was unsuitable or otherwise engaged. Such is no longer the case."
"But…but Harry…Harry can't love me!"
"Why not? He certainly likes you."
"But I'm hideous! Harry pities me! Every girl under the age of 30, and some above, even, would be delighted to marry him! He deserves better than me."
"Girl, don't be ridiculous," the ghost said sternly, "Harry knows all too well those girls only want to marry the Boy Who Lived. He doesn't care about appearances."
"But some day he'll realize," Phoebe shook her head, "I'm not good enough for him. I'll just have to get over it."
sssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssss
The next day, Harry received a large package from Fred and George, with apologies about their shocked reactions at dinner, and the suggestion that the items within the box be used to knock some sense of civility into their siblings.
With a grin that would have freaked out Voldemort himself, Harry started planning.