Albus sat in his rooms, still a bit stunned. Winky and Dobby had forced him to sit, gave him a cup of tea with calming draught, and then pushed a bottle and Severus in his arms, with the stern order – as close as a house elf could get to ordering, anyway – to calm down and feed the baby.
Severus was drinking quietly, apparently noticing his granddad's mood. Finally the Headmaster sighed deeply and looked down at the little boy in his arms.
"Hello, sweetheart," Albus smiled a bit shakily, "Granddad's acting a bit weird, hmm? While you are being such a good boy."
The baby regarded him solemnly with his beautiful dark eyes, and then paused a moment to return the smile.
"Dada," he said softly, before returning to the task of emptying the bottle.
"Yes, darling, I'm here," Dumbledore cuddled him a bit, "my own little Severus. Granddad was a bit upset because a bad, nasty man tried to hurt Phoebe and Harry."
He sat the baby up once the bottle was finished and waited for the burp. Severus giggled a bit in relief when the air was expelled, laid his head against Albus's shoulder and put his thumb in his mouth, sensing Granddad needed one of his babyhugs.
Albus held him close, kissing the dark head and soft cheeks, before he began to play one of the child's favorite games: pointing out the appendages on his face.
"This is Severus's nose, and this is grandpa's nose," he touched both with his index finger in turn, "and this is Severus's chin, and you can't see grandpa's chin because of the beard."
Severus tried to stand up on his lap, and Albus offered his thumbs. That enabled him to keep a firm grasp on the small hands while Severus tried to maintain his balance. Assisted by Granddad's arms, he climbed from Albus's knees up to his chest, stamping on several sensitive spots on the way, so that Albus finally simply picked him up and held him over his head. Severus squealed in excitement.
Taking both small hands again, Albus put the child on his feet on the floor, letting him take some very unsteady steps until they reached the coffee table. Severus supported himself against the table, slapping his hands on the tabletop while the Headmaster cast a cushioning charm on the floor around him.
"He's a very strong child," he commented to the painting, "Look at him! Standing on his own two feet already. I can't believe that this summer, he was just a tiny baby. I wonder if he was this quick to walk the first time round?"
"He might have been," the portrait said matter-of-factly, "but a broken leg does not entice a tiny tot to start walking."
That comment caused the Headmaster to scoop Severus up in his arms and cuddle him until the little one squirmed in protest.
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"PHOEBE! PHOEBE! Are you alright? Talk to me!"
Harry waited anxiously, until, after what seemed like forever to him, the door slowly opened. He entered to see Phoebe standing nervously in the room, her eyes cast down.
"Phoebs…"
"Harry…"
She looked up. "Harry, I'm so sorry, I should never have dated him, he could have hurt you," she wiped angrily at a tear that ran down her face.
Harry's eyes widened. "I don't care about that, Phoebs, he hurt YOU! You couldn't know he would do that. Are you alright? I was worried sick…"
Suddenly they both stepped closer, wanting to see with their own eyes that the other was alright and ending up standing closer together than they had intended.
"I'm sorry," Harry said, averting his eyes, "I wanted to defend you and just dropped to the floor like a helpless invalid. I'm so sorry."
"But Harry, you SAVED me!" Phoebe practically shouted, "even on the ground you were stronger than he was. I was so glad when I saw you. I'm so ashamed for ever going out with him…I just wanted to make you jealous."
She clapped her hand over her mouth. "I didn't mean to say that!" she whispered.
Harry smiled bitterly. "Oh, I am plenty jealous," he admitted, "but let's face it, Phoebe, I'm a cripple and a has been – I'm not worth you. I just thought I'd support you whoever you wanted to date. I should have warned you, I should…"
Phoebe, who had listened to his rant wide-eyed, interrupted him. "HARRY JAMES POTTER! Not another word! How many times have we been over this the past year? You are not useless, you are a hero! You're my hero…even though you'd never want anyone this ugly…"
Now it was Harry's turn to become indignant. "You're not ugly!"
Suddenly he lost all reservations, and framed Phoebe's face in his hands.
"You're so beautiful," he whispered, bending his head to kiss her scar, "I don't know how I would ever have pulled through without you, Phoebs. I…I just realised a while ago…that I like you. No, I don't just like you. I love you, I love you so much."
Phoebe's eyes slowly filled with tears of joy. "You do?" she whispered, "because…because I love you too. I just went out with Zacharias to make you jealous. I'm sorry for being stupid."
The rest of her reply was cut short as Harry's lips found hers, first gently touching, then deepening into their first kiss.
Focused as she was on Harry, she didn't notice the head of a ghostly girl sticking through the wall, grinning like mad.
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Severus sat on the floor, playing with brightly colored blocks. He giggled happily when the tower Granddad had built for him earlier came crashing down when he pushed it.
He crawled to the sofa, and pulled himself up. Granddad was laying with his eyes closed, his glasses askew on his face. Granddad made a funny noise.
Little Severus continued his explorations. Granddad's arm hang from the sofa, his other arm across his stomach. Inside Granddad's sleeve was the pretty stick thing.
Severus reached his pudgy hand and stood on his toes. He managed to pull the stick from the sleeve, but the effort made him fall backwards, fortunately on his well-padded bottom.
His excitement over the stick thing was too much to worry about such trivial matters, and he inspected the wood closely, biting on it with his four teeth, and waving it around. It made sparks as he did so, and he gurgled happily.
The door opened. Harry and Phoebe entered, arms around each other.
Excited, Severus yelled "DA!" and pointed the wand at them to show off his new toy.
A red beam emerged from he wand and flew at Phoebe. Harry quickly grabbed her, and turned them both around so that his back was to the room, Phoebe protected by his body.
He crumpled to the floor.
Severus, terrified by the red beam and Harry falling down, starting to scream. Phoebe checked Harry over, while Dumbledore shot up from the couch.
"Seve- Phoeb- HARRY!"
"Albus, I think he's only Stunned," Phoebe said, "Severus was playing with your wand."
The Headmaster quickly picked up the wand that the scared and wailing child had dropped, and Ennervated Harry.
Seeing her brand new boyfriend come to, Phoebe hurried over to Severus and picked him up, trying to soothe the sobbing boy, whose face was tearstreaked. He held out his arms to Albus, begging to be held.
The Headmaster had paled. "I'm so sorry, Harry, I'm so sorry, I shouldn't have fallen asleep, not where he could take my wand…"
Harry, downing a headache potion to counter the effects of being Stunned, shook his head. "It's okay, Albus. Go take Severus from Phoebe, will you? He needs you."
Albus took the child in his arms and started pacing the room, talking softly to him, humming a bit.
"Shhh, my little darling, I know you didn't do that on purpose. You got quite a scare, didn't you? It's alright now, Harry's not hurt, and Grandpa will be MUCH more careful about where he puts his wand from now on."
Severus calmed, burrowing his head in the wide beard and hiccuping a little as his eyes slowly closed in sleep.
Dumbledore sat down in an armchair, holding the baby close.
"I'm just not used to inquisitive infants," he sighed, "I apologise again, Harry…"
"You don't need to, I understand. Hey, at least later he can tell all his classmates that he Stunned Harry Potter when he was not even a year old!"
Albus watched the young people. Harry and Phoebe had always been affectionate, always been very close, but something was off…a bit different. He narrowed his eyes.
"Is there anything you two want to tell me?"
Harry smiled sheepishly while Phoebe blushed.
"Well, you see…" Harry began, before sending Phoebe a helpless plea for assistance.
"Harry said…he came to my room and we talked and…" Phoebe made a valiant effort.
The Headmaster just sat back and enjoyed watching them squirm for a while.
"Oh, Albus," Harry finally sighed, "you know perfectly well what we are trying to say. You told me yourself to go for it."
Phoebe blushed again, deeply.
"Shall I put Severus to bed, Albus?" she offered, but the old man just grinned.
"No, he's fine where he is. He's just sleeping because he cried himself out – it isn't his bedtime yet. I think he'll wake up soon."
He paused. "I'm so very happy for you, children," he continued gently, "I love you both very much and I think you are perfect for each other."
The two on the couch beamed at him.
"We're still taking it slow, we're young yet."
"You already know each other very well," Albus pointed out.
"Which is why there's no need to rush," Harry said, his eyes on Phoebe's face.
Severus stirred and woke up. Upon seeing Harry and Phoebe, he clung to his grandfather, whimpering.
Harry scooted closer.
"It's okay, Junior. No need to be afraid. Come to Uncle Harry, okay?"
Severus slowly let himself be peeled off Dumbledore and Harry cuddled him close.
"I'm very proud of you," he told the baby, "not many little tykes your age can use a wand."
Junior smiled, hesitatingly at first, then a little triumphant as he stole Harry's glasses.
"I guess we're alright again," Harry concluded, retrieving his glasses and wiping off the drool.
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"We have to pay them back."
"For those pranks he pulled."
"And getting involved with that…that…."
"Don't let Mum hear you say something vile!"
"Of course not, Ron. And Snape! Can you believe Harry is running around, caring for SNAPE'S kid of all people?"
"He's supposed to be with you. He's supposed to be my best mate! A best mate doesn't send you a Chudley Cannon's poster that turns your skin orange for a month. It's that girl. She's gotta go."
"Yeah. The girl's gotta go."