Albus arrived at the breakfast table two days later looking exhausted. He carried a cranky-looking Severus on his arm.
"Hey Junior," Harry said with a worried glance, "what's wrong?"
He made to pick up the child, but Severus clung to the Headmaster and started crying.
"He's teething," Dumbledore reported tiredly, "and for some insane reason, babies get a very bad diaper rash and diarrhoea when teething. He's been up most of the night."
Poppy nodded. "Many parents notice that, Albus. Come by after breakfast, and I'll have something ready to treat the diaper rash and ease the soreness in his gums."
The spontaneous offer surprised Albus, but he took it gratefully.
Severus wasn't too interested in eating, and soon he was laying on a bed in the hospital wing.
"Undress him, Albus, I'll give him a checkup while he's here anyway."
This time, the nurse cast a warming charm on the bed first.
Albus stripped off the clothes and nappy, leaving a naked and obviously relieved baby on the sheets.
"Yes, I bet it feels better in the air than in a nappy, doesn't it, child," he kissed the dark head, "Nurse Pomfrey will make it all better."
The nurse came back with a small jar and winced when she saw the red bottom and privates. In some places the skin had even broken.
"Here, Albus, why don't you put this salve on his bottom while I check him over."
Severus sighed contently when the sores disappeared as soon as Dumbledore put the creamy salve on.
"He's perfectly healthy," the nurse reported, "and will soon be the proud owner of two teeth."
"Yes?" Dumbledore smiled.
"Yes," the nurse confirmed, "see? Below."
Two tiny white tips shone through Severus's gums.
"He'll look even more adorable with two teeth," Dumbledore tickled the baby, who babbled and tried to catch his finger.
"Dada, Dada, Dada."
"Ah," Poppy grinned, "you've been teaching him to say Daddy as well."
"Granddad," Dumbledore corrected, "and he started it."
"Oh Albus," the nurse said, "he made that sound to imitate you, and you probably praised and cuddled him. That made him all the more eager to try and say it again. Yes, didn't it, little one?"
Dumbledore watched the nurse in amazement. "I had the idea, Poppy, that you didn't like him much," he said carefully.
The nurse had the good grace to look ashamed. "I didn't, Albus. I…most of the staff thought this was some weird stunt. But Harry and Minerva have been telling us off a lot, saying he's an innocent baby now and we should act like the adults we are. They were right, of course. We were selfish not to consider that this is the hardest on you."
Albus looked at the baby who was playing with his finger.
"It is very hard," he admitted, "I've truly lost Severus. The portrait is some consolation, and this little one…he is really my grandson to me, like Severus was my son, but it doesn't make it easy."
Poppy patted his arm. "I know. Severus and I often bit each other's head off when I had to treat students from his classes a lot, but we could all see, after the war, when he didn't have to keep up appearances anymore, that he meant a lot to you and you to him."
"Not enough," Dumbledore muttered, "not enough for him to stay. The things I've done to him over the years…he just didn't believe me anymore, I guess. He knew it in the end, and for that I am grateful, but he wanted to go ahead with the de-aging anyway."
Poppy didn't know what to say. She picked up something that looked like a Muggle marker, and gently treated Severus's gums with it.
"There. He should feel loads better now."
To prove her words, Severus yawned, rubbed his eyes, put his thumb in his mouth and slowly drifted off into sleep.
"You should leave his diaper off for a little while longer, so that the salve has time to heal him up completely."
They watched the sleeping child for long moments until the nurse carefully replaced the nappy.
"Can I hold him for a moment?" she asked hesitatingly.
Albus nodded.
Lifting the child carefully, Poppy smiled. "He's beautiful. All those reports over the years, when he was here…and his medical file from when he was a baby…perhaps he made the right choice after all."
Dumbledore left with a smile on his lips, glad another person was beginning to see Severus as the innocent baby he was now. He tucked Severus in his crib and decided he could do with some more sleep as well. Sighing in contentment, after checking once again on the now quiet and comfortable child, he slid under the duvet and was back in Morpheus' embrace within seconds.
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Phoebe was up late that morning. After a nice relaxing bath and some brunch a house elf brought her, she walked down to the library to find some nice books to read over the holidays.
Madam Pince gave her a rare smile, and informed her that since the students were gone, the rules on talking in the library wouldn't be enforced as strictly, but would she keep the volume down anyway?
Pledging low numbers of decibels and utmost consideration for the books, Phoebe walked on, resisting the urge to roll her eyes at the overzealous librarian.
Her heart jumped just a little bit when she saw Harry at a table near a window, surrounded by books.
He looked up at her and smiled. "Hi. I stopped by your rooms last night to see if you'd care for a butterbeer, but you were out. Fancy one later?"
An act of the will prevented her from blushing like a schoolgirl.
"Sure. I was…last night, Minerva asked me to come with her," she explained in a rush, "to some small formal affair. She said it would be good for me to get out of the castle for a while. So I went and I met someone who was at Hogwarts the same time you were, and he asked me out to dinner after the holidays."
She watched Harry closely for any sign of hurt or disappointment, but his face was simply blank. Friendly and smiling, but blank.
"That is great, Phoebs. So I know him?"
"Yes," Phoebe said, "His name is Zacharias Smith. He said he was in your DA."
He had also said some unfriendly things about Harry that made her think the two of them didn't get along very well. Maybe if Harry felt the same about her, he would speak up now.
"Ah yes," Harry said, his voice carefully neutral, "we weren't very good friends at school but it's been some time since I last saw him. I'm sure he grew up to be a fine young man."
Phoebe had to swallow painfully.
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"Stupid," Harry berated himself mentally, "A fine young man? What am I, her grandfather? Of course Smith didn't grow up to be a fine young man, no doubt he's still the ass he was back then."
He kept smiling at Phoebe, but inside his thoughts were racing.
"She is going on a date with this guy! That must mean she doesn't…doesn't feel the same about me. I guess…Drat. It would be so much easier to support her in whatever relationship she choses to have, if it wasn't Smith, of all people."
He felt a lump in his throat and barely managed to get a normal sounding: "See you in the Three Broomsticks at 8, then," out of his throat.
Turning his suddenly misty eyes back to his book, he completely missed Phoebe's hurt look.
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Dumbledore spent the second half of the afternoon doing some paperwork. He was relieved that since Phoebe had joined the staff, the load of papers on his desk was absent. The small pile that made it's way to his desk occasionally was now managable and already sorted in order of importance.
Dobby was playing with Severus on the carpet in front of the Christmas tree. Severus enjoyed seeing his and Dobby's distorted face reflected in the ornaments and he was giggling happily, no longer bothered by his teeth and diaper rash.
An ornament flew from midway up the tree and floated gently down to Severus. Dumbledore caught the movement from the corner of his eye.
"Dobby, don't give him the ornaments. They're charmed to be unbreakable but he should learn they are for tree decoration, not play."
The House Elf looked up confused.
"Dobby didn't give Severus….ooohhhh! Little master Severus! Yous did magic you did!"
Dumbledore looked up, delighted. "Did he, now?"
Severus, laying on his stomach on the floor, smiled his toothy grin. The two teeth, now clearly visible, had made several of the females in the castle melt when he smiled at them.
Dobby nodded. "Dobby didn't give little master the ornament, little master Summoned it from the tree!"
Severus proved Dobby right by letting another ornament float down.
"Oh dear," Dumbledore smirked, "We will have to be extra alert, Dobby."
He picked up the baby and hugged him. "You are so clever. My smart little boy, did you find out how to do magic?"
He suddenly realised something. "So my wand didn't roll off the table on its own the other day either, did it?"
Severus, of course, didn't reply. His eyes shone with happiness and he tightly clasped his prize, a nice shiny ornament.
Dumbledore smiled. "Time for bed, young man," he kissed the child's face, "a clean diaper and a warm bottle, and tomorrow morning you'll find lots of brightly wrapped presents under the tree."
Severus studied the ornament intensely as he was changed into his green footed pyjamas. But when he saw the bottle Dumbledore was holding in his free hand, he dropped the ornament immediately in favor of the warm milk.
Chuckling, Dumbledore supported the bottle at the end while Severus wrapped ten tiny fingers around it, trying to hold it up himself.
Harry stormed in, clearly upset.
"I hate this! Why can't I have a father like other people, who could explain GIRLS to me!" he ranted.
"I think Lily would have been more helpful in that area than James," Albus offered, his eyes still on the infant.
"Albus…" Harry groaned, "What do I do? She's going out with that jerk, and I have to pretend to support her. He's not worth her!"
"Who, dear boy?"
"PHOEBE! SMITH! I mean…Zacharias Smith asked Phoebe out on a date, and she told me about it and she seemed all excited so I told her that was great and encouraged her to get out of the castle more often and rebuild her social life – and now that she is doing exactly that, I find I cannot STAND IT!"
"Harry, child, I understand you are upset, but refrain from shouting, please. Severus is just dozing off."
The History professor looked a bit sheepish. "Sorry, Albus. Sweet dreams, junior. We're coming by tomorrow morning to open our presents together."
Junior gave him a sleepy grin and burped. Then he closed his eyes again and snuggled against his Granddad.
The adults quietly put him to bed.
"Thanks for listening to my rant, Albus," Harry sighed, "Sorry."
Dumbledore put a hand on his Professor's shoulder.
"Quite alright, my boy, you have done nothing wrong. Feel free to come talk to me any time you wish. Even though dating wasn't exactly the same it is now when I was your age."
"Thank you, Albus," Harry said gratefully. He feared he was never going to get this 'girls' business down.