Harry smiled widely at his bride. The castle became smaller and smaller until it disappeared from view.
"Well, Mrs Potter," he stroked Phoebe's cheek, "you are mine now, forever and ever."
"And here I was, thinking that YOU were MINE," Phoebe teased lightly, before leaning into his arms.
"Oh, I am yours," Harry whispered, leaning in for a kiss.
As their lips met, Minerva McGonagall's stern voice boomed through the carriage.
"MR POTTER! WHAT ARE YOU DOING WITH THAT GIRL?"
Harry bolted upright. "Sorry Professor…" he stammered before realizing he was married, his wife was next to him, and it was very unlikely that Minerva was sitting in the carriage with them. Chagrined, he noticed the flash of the camera that had been taking pictures.
"Fred, George – when we come back, you two are SO dead!" he threatened.
Phoebe giggled. "Let's give them something that will burn out their eyeballs," she breathed in Harry's ear.
He smirked before pulling Phoebe passionately into his arms.
Back at the castle, two redheads quickly shut down their camera, fearing they might be scarred for life if they left it on.
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Albus was busy packing.
"You'll be alright in the castle, Minerva?" he asked.
"Of course, Albus. Besides, Poppy is staying, the house elves are here, Hagrid too. I'm sure we'll manage."
Severus toddled in. "Whe'e Awy?" he asked.
"Harry and Phoebe are on their honeymoon, sweetheart," Minerva picked him up, "and you are going on a holiday with Grandpa."
"Dada?" Severus pointed.
"Yes, Grandpa is packing your bag, and in a week or so, Harry and Phoebe will join you. You're going to have lots of fun. I got you a present."
Albus's eyes twinkled brightly. "Minerva, you're spoiling him!"
His deputy blushed. "Oh hush, Albus. After everything that happened to the poor child the last time he was young, he deserves some spoiling. Not too much, mind you, we don't want another Draco Malfoy on our hands, but he must be happy."
"Of course, my dear," Dumbledore smiled at the little boy and nodded encouragingly for him to take the package the Transfiguration teacher held out to him.
Severus clumsily tore off the paper.
"Dada!" he said excitedly when he discovered a bright red plastic bucket and shovel. He tried digging up the carpet immediately.
"It's for on the beach, darling, in the sand."
Severus had picked up the contents of the bucket now and showed them to his granddad.
"Issa?"
"What that is? Oh, my, Severus, those are swimming trunks!"
Indeed two matching pairs of swimming trunks, one small, one large and both green had been wrapped with the toy.
"Severus's are charmed," Minerva explained, "they are charmed to vanish any…accidents immediately and should he, Merlin forbid, end up in the water, they will transform into a life preserver and activate a bubblehead charm over him."
Even the Headmaster, who had seen a LOT in his long life, was impressed.
"You did put a lot of thought into this, did you not, Min?" he kissed his deputy on the cheek, "thank you!"
The child raised his arms. "Tiss Min!" he ordered, wanting to give the woman a sloppy kiss as well.
"Yes, well," the woman actually blushed and cuddled the child to hide it, "You be good now, you hear, young man?"
Severus rested his head against her shoulder and snuggled. Albus quickly hid a smile. His deputy never could remain stern when Severus held on to her like that. He sometimes could swear that the little scamp knew it and did it on purpose.
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Harry and Phoebe had a wonderful time, as all young couples should on their honeymoon. They relaxed, enjoyed each other's company, got to know each other even better and generally had fun.
Phoebe woke up early one morning, seeing Harry leaning on one elbow, just staring at her.
"You stare at me," she accused him with a smile.
"Yes," he didn't even deny it.
"Why?"
"Because you're so beautiful. I love how your face relaxes when you sleep, and how you sometimes suck on a strand of hair, and how you push one fist against your cheek when you sleep on your side."
"I drool and I have marks all over my face from my knuckles when I wake up."
"And you sometimes suck your thumb."
"I do NOT!" Phoebe replied indignantly.
"Yes, you do," Harry teased.
"Well, so do YOU," His wife pouted as she whacked him with a pillow.
"Mercy, mercy!" he laughed, "I won't tell anyone you suck your thumb if you promise not to tell anyone that I suck my thumb."
Phoebe contemplated that offer. "That is acceptable," she finally decided.
"Besides," she added with a mischievous little grin, "you look adorable when you do that. I may have to take a picture of it sometime."
With a growl, Harry held her and rolled around to effectively drive that idea from her head.
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Albus had arrived at his summer home. The weather, unlike the weather back home, was nice and warm. Severus had to adjust to the change a bit, but after a nap and discovering he could run around in his swimming trunks all day, he soon loved their holiday home as much as his granddad did.
Currently, Albus was sitting on the beach, helping the little boy to build a sandcastle. Which meant that Albus was building a sandcastle and Severus dug up sand, poured it over the castle, jumped in to the mountain of sand, making it his mission not to let granddad finish the castle.
"Time for a swim," the old wizard announced. He too was wearing his swimming trunks. He swung Severus onto his hip, and carried him to the waterside where he put him down on the edge.
Severus clung to his hand, afraid of the vast expanse of water before him. But when small waves softly tickled his toes, he took an experimental step forwards. Looking up at Dumbledore to see if it was alright, he stepped in until the water came to his ankles. Then he reached down to touch it and splash it a bit.
He slowly walked further in, Albus holding on to his little hand. When he was up to his knees, he reached up for his grandfather to take his other hand. Albus happily obliged, enjoying the giggles and laughs as the waves continued to roll and wetting Severus to his belly.
After a while, Dumbledore carried him back to the towels on the sand. He held the little boy close, pressing a quick kiss to the delighted face.
"Finally some time just for the two of us, just you and granddad, without all the other people needing me," he ran a finger over the child's cheek.
Severus gave him a bright grin and demanded to be put back down, where he started to pick up shells and put them in his bucket. Dumbledore cast a kiddyward to prevent Severus from wandering off, and settled down with a book.
After a while, the sand and sea and play wore Severus out, and he curled up on the towel next to the Headmaster for a nap in the shade.
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Ten days of sun, sea, sand and play had changed Severus's naturally pale color to a golden tan. He looked like a happy, healthy little boy and the old wizard often found himself watching the child sleep in the evenings, remembering the always pale, always thin looking teen and adult the boy had been. Many times he leaned over to kiss the soft hair and to assure both himself and the sleeping child that it would be alright, that granddad would make sure he stayed happy and healthy.
Harry and Phoebe arrived on the morning of the tenth day. Severus was playing on the porch. Since Molly had taught the Headmaster to cast kiddywards, he used them liberally, enjoying the freedom they gave both him and Severus.
"AWY!! EEP!!" Severus cried out, dancing in joy, "DADA! AWY, EEP!"
He rushed towards them. Harry caught him and swung him up in his arms.
"Hey Junior! Did you miss us?"
Severus reached for his glasses.
"That's a yes, I think, Harry," Phoebe snickered, and plucked the child from her husband's arms to cuddle him.
"Hey my little scamp," she rained kisses on his face, "oh my, you look like you are having a good time here, don't you?"
Albus, alerted by Severus's cries, came out.
"My dear children," he caught them all in a huge hug, "welcome home back. How are you? Sit, sit, your luggage will make its way upstairs, and I daresay you would enjoy a drink."
Severus watched wide-eyed as the suitcases danced upstairs on their own. Phoebe took him on her lap.
"We brought presents for the two of you," she told the boy, "Do you want to see?"
She gave Severus a small package. With some help he opened it to find a small pair of sunglasses.
"Now you won't have to steal mine anymore," Harry tapped the small nose, "put them on, Junior."
Junior obliged happily and looked around, proud.
"Awwwwww," Phoebe nearly melted, "that's so cute!"
"Here, Albus, this is for you," Harry handed the old man a square package.
He opened it to find a very well done painting.
"You said you went to Italy when you were young, and since we were there too, now, thought we'd bring you back a bit of it."
Albus smiled. "That is lovely, children, thank you."
That afternoon, when Severus had been tucked into bed for a nap, the couple showed Albus their wedding pictures, and the ones they took on their honeymoon.
After a while, there was a comfortable silence that Albus reluctantly broke.
"Harry – Phoebe…there is something I have been meaning to ask you for a while now, but I never found the right time or the correct words."
They looked at him, intrigued.
The Headmaster glanced at the door behind which Severus was asleep.
"It is about Severus, really. I – you know how much I love him. I want the best for him."
"Of course," Phoebe nodded.
"I want the best for him, but I am an old man. I could well live for a good many decades to come, but the possibility is there that I will not see him grow up. I have thought long and hard on this and I hoped that…that you would become his godparents."
Obviously relieved to have finally gotten it out, the wizard leaned back, waiting nervously for the response.
Phoebe and Harry shared a glance and then smiled.
"Albus," Harry said, "if anything had happened to you, we wouldn't have LET anyone else get Severus. We hope of course, that it will never be necessary, but we would love to be his godparents."
Albus closed his eyes and sighed. "I am very proud of you, Harry. Not many people could have set aside the bad memories you have of Severus Snape and learn to love my grandson. Thank you, Harry, Phoebe. I feel much better knowing Severus will have a loving family to take care of him should anything ever happen to me."
"Nothing will happen to you," Phoebe said stubbornly, "you will live to a very old age and see Severus's grandchildren and our only job will be to spoil him and his offspring rotten. But of course, if anything should happen, Merlin forbid, Severus will have a home with us."