Harry lay in a hammock in the Weasleys back yard, Severus next to him. The summer had started early this year and they were enjoying a few very nice days despite it being only early May. Severus had played with Gandalf in the yard all morning, chasing the gnomes away. Gandalf was Molly Weasley's cat, a son of Crookshanks; Hermione had given her the small ugly orange ball of fur that proved without doubt Crookshanks was the guilty party in impregnating one of Hagrid's Kneazles when Molly complained about missing Crookshanks' gnomehunting skills. Now, after lunch cat, child and recovering Professor all felt sleepy and lazy. The boy had brought his favourite book – a children's book on history of magic. Apparently, from the looks and encouragement the others had given the boy, Harry had been appointed the designated reader for such materials. Severus lay in the crook of Harry's arm while Gandalf had found a comfortable spot between Severus's feet.
"Look, that's the 's' from Sev'rus," the little boy pointed.
"Very good, Junior, the 's' from Severus and from Salazar Slytherin. Salazar Slytherin lived at Hogwarts with his friends Rowena Ravenclaw, Helga Hufflepuff and Godric Gryffindor. Salazar enjoyed talking to snakes. He was a very good wizard. Did you know that he built a secret Chamber in Hogwarts, Junior? It's empty now, but a Basilisk lived there not so long ago."
Severus looked up in alarm, knowing what a Basilisk was from his Fantastic Beasts and Where To Find Them picture book.
"Don't worry, it's dead," Harry consoled him, "I did it myself. I really ought to take Hermione down there sometime to harvest the parts we can use for potions."
"Me too, Harry? Me too?" Severus bounced a little in excitement, which made Gandalf look up with a disgruntled expression before he stretched and attempted to find an even more comfortable spot.
"Hmmm, maybe," Harry stroked the dark hair, "I will have to make sure it's safe first, but then I suppose I could persuade your granddad to let you join our little adventure."
"What adventure?" Dumbledore strolled into the garden.
"Granddad, Granddad, Harry says I can come, pleeeeese say yes?"
Severus held out his hands to be lifted and Dumbledore obliged, taking him in his arms.
"What adventure did you two have in mind?"
"We're moving back to Hogwarts soon and I figured I could make a trip down the Chamber of Secrets to make sure it is secure. The Basilisk is still there and I imagine even after all this time parts of it can be used for potions. Hermione would be interested. Severus of course wanted to come too and I told him I would ask you after I was certain nothing…dangerous is down there anymore."
"I don't think there is anything else, but then again, the Chamber itself has been a myth for a long time," Dumbledore mused.
"If you deem it safe enough for Severus, he may go, but only if you and Hermione are with him, AND he promises to obey you to the letter." He gave the child a semi-stern glance although he wasn't too worried. Severus generally obeyed. The occasional bouts of mischief he got into were more the result of his inquisitive and adventurous nature than of outright disobedience. Albus did his best to remain in denial about a period during the terrible two's when it had been a daily struggle to even get the child into his clothes.
Albus suddenly snickered. "Does Molly even plan on letting you go?"
Harry blushed. Their stay at the Weasley household had been pleasant but somewhat…smothering. Molly clearly intended to spoil them rotten and only occasional intervention from Arthur had kept Harry and Phoebe from being killed by kindness.
Harry had just been brought in by Healers who, despite his protests, had refused to let their patient make his own way to the Burrow. Molly had cleared out Percy's old room for Harry and Phoebe, with the adjoining room that used to belong to Charlie as a private sitting room of sorts. With all the children moved out, the house that had at one time seemed cramped was now overly large for two people had it not been for the frequent overnight stays from one or more of their offspring. Yet another room had been reserved for Albus and Severus on those occasions that they wanted to spend the night.
"Come, come," Molly ushered in the Healers who together levitated the stretcher with Harry in perfect harmony, making sure the movements were smooth and flawless.
"In here, put him in the bed," she fluffed up the pillows a bit more.
"Ohhh, I've been in bed for ages," Harry complained, "I don't want to be in bed, I want to sit with you and Arthur downstairs and have a butterbeer to celebrate that I'm still alive."
This was the wrong thing to say, as it set Molly off. She burst into tears and hugged him, gently but still a true Weasley hug. Arthur and Phoebe finally had to pry her off. Arthur had suggested that Harry rest for an hour to recover from the journey and then he would personally levitate him downstairs for that butterbeer.
"She's not happy, and insists I need more recovery time. But honestly, Albus, I haven't felt this good in my life. I've never been so properly fed and taken care of. Phoebe and I are extremely grateful and I needed it, but now we have to go back. Besides, it won't be long now before Ron and Ginny come home…"
Albus frowned. The two had finished their time in the States and while their first year there had been difficult by all accounts, the rapports that had come in later were all positive.
"I hope they turned their lives around," he said, "I really do. They are young people and they deserve a second chance…"
He checked himself when he noticed the little boy he still held was listening closely.
"Who is Ron and Ginny, Granddad?"
"They are Aunt Molly's youngest children, the brother and sister of Fred and George," Harry answered, "They've been away for a long time and are coming home this summer."
Severus was sufficiently distracted by the mention of Fred and George not to question the imminent arrival of these people.
"Fred says I can help in the shop!" he jumped up and down on Dumbledore's arm, cheering, "and George says I can help customers and show them jokes!"
"Yes, you may. The twins have promised you can spend the day with them on Saturday. Again, like I just said…"
"I must not do things on my own and I must mind FrednGeorge," Severus said solemnly, his little chin bobbing up and down as he repeated his grandfather's conditions.
"Excellent," Dumbledore cuddled the child and blew on his tummy, eliciting giggles, "now go on, go tell Aunt Molly that Harry and Granddad are coming inside soon and would really like a cup of tea."
As the boy sprinted off, Gandalf on his heels, Albus turned to his returning professor. "Do you think I am overprotective of him?" he asked, "my precious boy…I don't know what I would do…"
A hand patted his arm. "Albus, you just agreed that Severus can come to the Chamber of Secrets with me. That is hardly overprotective."
"Once it is cleared, cleaned and thoroughly checked," the Headmaster remarked, "it will be an adventure for Severus but hardly dangerous. I am going to send a group of House elves with you to clean. By the time Severus can go it will just be a large room."
"Yes," Harry swung his legs over the side of the hammock, "It is a shame that I never thought of going back there before. I am sure Professor Snape would have had a great time with basilisk ingredients."
"He would have locked himself in his dungeons and wouldn't be seen for weeks," Dumbledore agreed, "I would have been forced to break down his wards and drag him out again."
Harry sniggered. "Again?"
"Believe me, Severus could be really obsessive when it came to potions. It has happened more than once that I had to physically drag him up to my tower, force him to bathe, eat and sleep. The next day I would give him a lecture on the need to take proper care of himself, he'd apologise and promise it wouldn't happen again. Of course, it always did happen again…" Albus smiled fondly, "my stubborn boy."
"I'm sorry I never got to know that side of him. I wonder what Junior will do later. If he will become a Potions Master as well."
"I am not sure. He does not show any particular interest in the subject as of yet, but that may change. It does not matter to me. He can join the Ministry if he so wishes. The task I gave myself is to make sure he will be happy."
"Oh, I think you are doing a great job there," Harry nodded towards the house where they could here the giggles coming from a window as Arthur was hopping around the kitchen with Severus on his shoulders, "he's a perfectly normal, playful little boy. I am amazed sometimes how little he actually looks like Professor Snape."
Dumbledore squinted. "His nose has obviously not been broken and has not been neglected to set properly. His hair does get greasy, but I had a special shampoo made for that. Severus as a child was all bones and skin, I think that makes the most difference. Junior is still a slender child, but he's got some meat on his bones, and a nice tan even this early in the year."
Harry stretched his arms above his head and looked at Albus with twinkling eyes. "I'm looking forward to coming back to Hogwarts, Albus – Phoebs and I have even already toyed with the idea of starting our own family. DON'T tell Molly – there's no way of knowing how she'd react."
ssssssssssss
A few weeks later found Harry, Phoebe, Hermione, Dobby and another dozen house elves in the vast dirty space that was Salazar's Chamber.
All of them instinctively cast Bubblehead Charms as the smell hit their nostrils.
"Eeewww," Hermione voiced the general opinion, "I say let's cut it up, take what we can use and dispose of it as quickly as we can."
"We should find a way to preserve the skeleton," Phoebe mused, "It would make great educational material."
"We could put it on display in the Great Hall," Harry agreed.
The others stared at him as if he'd gone insane, so he coughed, donned his dragonhide gloves and began the extremely unpleasant task of disembowelling a basilisk.
Hermione, carrying a crate with all sorts of charmed jars, pots, phials and the like set to helping him while Phoebe lectured the house elves on the virtues of self preservation over self sacrifice, especially when cleaning Dens of Evil.
It took them the whole day, but finally they were done. The Basilisk was de-boned, the ingredients gathered, the rotting flesh banished and the Chamber itself thoroughly searched and cleaned. The skeleton was brought up carefully by the House Elves, who consulted with a somewhat flabbergasted Albus Dumbledore on where to put it on display.
Their desire for a long hot bath drove the party to their rooms sooner than they'd thought, and Harry promised to take Severus to the Chamber in the morning so they could explore it.
"It's time I set an English password anyway," Harry smirked that evening as he rolled over to kiss his wife goodnight.
A/N Alright, short chapter. I know. I just thought I'd post something to show you I really haven't abandoned this fic.