Double Trouble

by Warviben

Severus Snape was on the verge of having it all and didn't even know it. Years after he's thrown it all away, he's given another chance. Can he redeem himself?

DOUBLE TROUBLE

Summary: Severus Snape was on the verge of having it all and didn't even know it. Years after he's thrown it all away, he's given another chance. Can he redeem himself?

Rating: M for adult sexual situations, though not with a lot of detail

Warnings: Male/Male, mpreg

Harry snuggled up to Severus, both of them replete with satisfaction. These were his favorite moments. Oh, he loved the sexual act itself, a lot in fact. But these moments in the immediate aftermath of the sexual act were the only times Severus let Harry show the affection he felt for the other man. They'd been together for three years, since a chance encounter at Harry's twenty-third birthday party. They'd been living together for more than a year, and Harry had been so happy during that time. Severus hadn't changed a whole lot since his time at Hogwarts – he was still prickly and difficult. But Harry had come to appreciate that side of him, and it made these brief moments of emotional closeness that much more special. And it was during these moments that Harry found it easiest to tell Severus things the man might not want to hear.

"Remember that discussion we had a couple of months ago?" he whispered.

"Which one?" Severus queried, tucking Harry's head beneath his chin.

"You remember. The night of Rose's christening." Rose was Ron and Hermione's child.

"Ah, yes. The 'children' discussion." Snape stiffened beneath Harry's cheek, and his tone was hard.

"Yeah, the 'children' discussion," Harry said, wondering how to pick his way through this minefield without blowing everything up.

"I have no wish to revisit that particular topic," Severus told him. "I do not doubt that you remember my position."

Harry did. He'd been enamored of baby Rose, and he'd begun to wonder if children would ever be in his future. He was a confirmed gay man, so having biological children with Severus was out of the question. But adoption was an option, one that Harry wouldn't hesitate to consider. Severus had been adamant that he had no interest in having children – ever – by any method. But a man could change his mind, right? If the circumstances were right?

Every time Harry thought about the changed circumstances, he had a hard time keeping a silly grin off his face. He'd been carrying a secret around inside himself for two months now, a secret he'd become aware of only three days ago, and he wanted badly to share it with his partner. He had been forcing himself to wait for the perfect moment, but he decided that moment may not arrive in time and he really couldn't wait any longer. It was going to burst out of him sooner or later.

"Do you think you might ever change your mind?" Harry asked, swirling a finger in the hair around Severus' belly button.

Severus grabbed hold of Harry's hand to stop the tickling. "No."

"What if . . . what if you had an opportunity to have your own child? You know, biologically?"

"My answer remains the same, and I do not wish to discuss this any longer," Severus said, his voice icy now.

"Severus?"

"What, Harry?" Severus asked, wishing Harry would just shut up and go to sleep.

"I'm pregnant."

"That is not funny."

"I'm not trying to be funny. I'm pregnant," Harry said, and he smiled, because saying it out loud made it real, and the happiness that filled him at the thought just could not be contained.

A hand grasped the hair at the back of Harry's head and pulled up, painfully, so that Harry's head came off Severus' chest and he was looking into two very angry black eyes.

"Ow, Severus!" he protested. "Let me go!"

"How could you let this happen?"

"How could I let this happen?" Harry repeated, wincing at the continued pulling of his hair. "I didn't even know it could happen!" Which was the truth. Harry had been astounded to learn that the reason he'd been feeling so unwell was that he was pregnant. Men couldn't get pregnant! He'd been disabused of that notion quite quickly by the healer he'd seen. It didn't happen often, he'd been told, but under the right conditions, a wizard certainly could become pregnant. And had. Harry was pregnant.

Shock had given way to acceptance very quickly and then to overwhelming joy. He'd been very sure that once he told Severus, he also would feel excitement about the prospect of a child, despite his stated reservations. Even if he wasn't at first, Harry felt sure he could convince him that this was a good thing.

"You expect me to believe that?!"

"Yes! It's the truth! And if you don't let go of me, I'm going to hex you!"

Severus released him abruptly and pushed him away. "Take care of it."

"What?! What do you mean?"

"Take care of it. I told you how I feel about children. Did you think that if you sprung this on me in the moment of afterglow I'd embrace the idea? You were irresponsible enough not to prevent this, you take care of it. I will not accept anything less."

"Are you saying you want me to . . . to have an abortion?" Harry asked incredulously.

"Don't be ridiculous!" Severus snorted, and Harry's hope flared. Until Severus continued. "Wizards don't have abortions! The healer will simply make it disappear."

"How is that not an abortion?!" Harry cried.

"I do not care what you call it as long as you get it done!" Severus ordered.

"I want this child!"

"I do not. I made that clear. My position has not changed just because you have slunk around and gotten yourself pregnant without my consent."

"'Slunk around?' Severus, I didn't even know men could get pregnant!"

"Yes. So you keep saying." It was clear Severus didn't believe him.

"I'm telling you the truth!"

"Let me tell you the truth," Severus stated, sitting up on the edge of the bed and drawing on his boxers. "Either you go to the healer and take care of it, or I will slip an abortifacient into your food and take care of it myself."

"You wouldn't!"

Severus stood and turned to look at Harry. "Is that a chance you're willing to take?" And he grabbed up his trousers and shirt and strode from the room. While Harry was still processing his last statement, he heard the flat door open and close. Severus had left.

[scene break]

Severus shrugged off his robe and hung it up on the hook by the door. It had been a long day. It had been a long three days. It had been that long since Severus had seen Harry or heard from him after their argument. And while Severus was quite convinced that the young man would eventually do the right thing and return, he couldn't silence a small niggle of worry in the back of his brain that maybe he was wrong.

When he stepped into the sitting room, he breathed a completely internal sigh of relief. Harry was here, standing awkwardly behind the armchair near the bedroom door.

"Severus," Harry said.

"Hello, Harry."

Severus made his way further into the room, trying, and failing, to read Harry's body language. He dropped his briefcase tiredly near the sofa. "Would you like a drink?"

"No, thank you. Tough day?"

Severus sighed in acknowledgment. "It was a long day."

"Can I ask you something?"

"You may."

"Did you mean what you said? About never wanting children? About how you would . . . kill him if I didn't take care of it?"

Severus stared at Harry. There was a terrible sadness in the other man's eyes, which Severus supposed was to be expected, given what Harry had done recently. At least, what he'd better have done.

"Did you?" he asked. "Take care of it, I mean?"

"You didn't answer my question. Did you mean those things?"

"Of course, I meant them. How many times did we have that discussion? You knew full well my position on the subject."

Harry closed his eyes. When he opened them again, he did not look at Severus. "Okay," he whispered to the floor.

"Have you taken care of everything?" Severus asked gently, hoping to avoid a tearful and emotional scene.

"Everything is . . . yeah, I've taken care of everything."

"Good." Severus finished crossing the room until he stood before Harry. "I am glad you have returned. My bed has been cold without you." He kissed Harry on the forehead. "Give me thirty minutes to clean up, and we will go out to dinner to celebrate your return." Without waiting for a response, he went into the bathroom and shut the door.

When he came out of the bathroom twenty-eight minutes later, Harry was gone. Completely gone this time. No clothes hanging in the wardrobe, no Wellingtons in the hall closet, no broom standing by the door. All traces of Harry Potter had been removed from his flat and his life.

Many years later . . .

Severus sat at his desk, looking at the numbers in the ledger once again. This was the part of his job that he hated most – the accounting end of things. Research and actual brewing – that was where the joy lay. But being the boss and being a control freak meant he had to tend to all aspects of running a business, including the bookwork. Thankfully, income more than met expenditures these days, unlike when he'd first started this business, though sometimes deciding where to put excess funds could be just as difficult as stretching insufficient funds to cover expenses.

He was interrupted from his musing by the sound of a commotion in the outer office. He could hear voices, slightly raised and getting louder. He recognized the voice of his receptionist, Agnes, but the others were unfamiliar to him. He debated with himself for a moment whether he should get up and intervene or at least investigate but then decided that Agnes was a formidable witch and could hold her own against just about anyone.

He had just returned his attention to the numbers in his ledger when his office door burst open, and a young woman all but fell into the room. His experience teaching allowed him to peg her at sixteen, and he'd had time to note that she was somewhat familiar before Agnes entered the room behind her, clearly agitated.

"I apologize for the intrusion, Mr. Snape," Agnes said, "I told them that you were busy and that you could not see them without an appointment. But they tricked me!"

"'They?'" Snape asked, confused.

His question was answered when another young woman entered the room. He was astounded to realize that this second youngster was an almost exact duplicate of the first. What was going on here?

"I will take care of this," Agnes promised, and she grabbed hold of the first girl's arm and pulled her around toward the door.

"Ow!" the girl exclaimed. "Let go of me, you old cow!"

"Old cow?" Agnes choked out, reaching into her pocket for her wand, "I'll show you an old cow!"

"Leave her alone!" the second girl added, coming to her sister's defense.

"All right, all right!" Snape shouted over the noise, rising from behind his desk. "Agnes, let her go," he said at a more reasonable volume.

"But, Mr. Snape, they had no right to just barge in here! I told them you were busy and that they'd have to make an appointment for next week, but they just refused! Then that one . . ." she paused, looking confused, "or maybe it was that one . . . pretended to faint, and when I went to help her, the other snuck past my desk!"

"I understand, Agnes, and I will handle this. Now please, let the young lady go."

Agnes did as he requested, obviously reluctantly. The girl rubbed her arm and glared at Agnes.

"Thank you," Snape said, using his best soothing tone. "I shall take care of the young ladies. You may return to your desk."

"Shall I call security?"

Severus made a show of studying the two young women, who now stood staring back at him, one with her arms crossed, one with her hands on her hips, both looking at him in challenge, then said, "I believe that will not be necessary. Will it, ladies?"

"No," they both said after an almost identical eye roll and exasperated huff.

"Wonderful. Please, have a seat," Snape invited.

Agnes eyed the girls angrily, but left the room, closing the door firmly behind her. Once his uninvited guests had been seated, Snape did the same behind his desk, then said, "Now. What is it that I can do for you?"

The two young women exchanged a glance and then the one on Snape's left spoke. "Do you know what Bresinsky's Disease is?"

Severus sat back in his chair and searched his memory bank. He'd come across this somewhat rare condition during his research into the regenerative potion that had been his pet project for the last several years. "A degenerative neurological disease characterized by acute musculoskeletal pain, I believe?"

"Yes," confirmed the girl on his left, who seemed to be the spokesperson. "As well as other symptoms, like impaired gait and balance, inability to process thoughts and find words, difficulty focusing on tasks, insomnia and related fatigue, and depression."

Someone had been doing research. "It is fatal, I believe."

"That's what they say."

"Neither one of you is so afflicted, I trust?"

"No, it's not us. It's our dad. We need you to help him."

"Bresinsky's is a Muggle disease. I am not clear what you think I can do."

"It's a neurological disease. Our aunt has told us that you are working on curing neurological damage caused by the cruciatus curse. Dad's damage isn't caused by a curse, but she seemed to think that the progress you were making could help him. We've come a long way to ask you to do that."

"May I ask where you've come from?" Their accent was obvious - American, he thought. Perhaps Canadian.

"We live in Connecticut. In the US."

Snape raised an eyebrow. They had indeed traveled a long way. "And do your parents know that you are here?"

"Dad does not know we're here, but we didn't plan to be gone long. We'll be back before he notices we're gone."

Snape didn't see how that could be, but he didn't question them further on it. "And may I know to whom I am speaking?"

"Oh, yeah. Sorry. My name is Sidney Peverly, and this is my sister, Allison."

Well, the names didn't help him, but still the features these girls shared were familiar to him in a way he couldn't put his finger on. They both had jet black hair – one wore hers long but tied back in a single ponytail, and the other's was cut much shorter, in a sort of bob-like style. Startling in identical twins, one of them had very dark eyes, much like Snape's own, and the other had bottle-green eyes, which reminded him very much of Lily Evans.

"I am pleased to meet both of you," Snape said politely, "but I am sorry to have to tell you that I cannot help your father."

"Can't?" Allison challenged. "Or won't?"

"I am unsure what you mean."

"Well, you could just come and see him," Sidney pleaded. "Maybe you'd change your mind if you saw how bad he is."

"I have great sympathy for your situation, Miss Peverly, but . . ."

"You owe him!" Allison interrupted.

"I beg your pardon," Snape said, affronted. "I don't even know your father. What could I possibly owe him?"

"I told you he wouldn't help," Allison muttered to her sister. "This has been a complete waste of time. Let's go." She stood up, obviously angry and ready to go.

"No. Aunt Hermione said he could help. He can at least try."

"Wait a moment. Aunt Hermione. That wouldn't be Hermione Granger?"

"Well, she's Hermione Granger-Weasley now, but yes."

"And who, exactly is your father?"

"Harry," Sidney said. "Harry Peverly."

Snape sat back in his chair and closed his eyes. It couldn't be. Potter. Peverell. Peverly. It couldn't be, but it had to be. There was no other explanation. How could he have missed it? These girls' father was Harry Potter. Which meant that they . . .

"Figured it out, have you?" one of the girls (Snape couldn't tell which with his eyes closed) asked him.

Snape opened his eyes and studied the girls with new interest. His daughters. These were his daughters.

"Yeah, that's right," Allison said, her voice low and angry. "We're your unwanted bastards. Harry's our dad, and you left him when you found out he was pregnant. We didn't come here for ourselves. We came here because maybe you can help, and you owe him. You owe him so much. You don't have to fear that we've come here looking for money or a relationship with you or anything. We only wanted to know if you could help our dad. But it looks like you're going to just abandon him again, so we'll be going. Sorry to have troubled you," she said, her voice dripping with sarcasm. "Come on, Sid."

Sidney rose to stand beside her sister. Allison vibrated with anger, but Sidney looked beseechingly at Snape, her plea unspoken but very obvious just the same.

And Snape found that he couldn't let them go. How had he not noticed how beautiful these young women were, how much they looked like the father who had given them life? He wondered what Harry had told them about him, if he'd revealed how he'd ordered Harry to kill them when they were no bigger than a minute. Looking at them now, he felt great shame and an overriding need to make things right.

"Wait," he said before they left him for good and it was too late. "I cannot promise that I can help your father, but I am willing to try. Will you take me to him?"

The sisters exchanged a glance and seemed to have an entire conversation in that one look. "When can you come?" Sidney asked.

"I can be ready to go in . . . three hours." He'd need to make arrangements for someone to run things here in his absence, prepare his home for an extended absence should it prove necessary, and gather things he would need to take with him.

"All right," Sidney said. "But we can't stay that long. We'll come back here in three hours and take you then."

"How are you able to travel such a long distance in such a short time?"

"We'll explain that when we go," Sidney promised.

"All right. Until then."

Both girls looked at him for a moment before nodding and leaving his office. Severus sat in his chair for a very long time, stunned.

[scene break]

True to their word, the teenagers returned to Snape's office three hours later. "Ready?" Sidney asked.

"I am prepared," Severus said with a gesture at his bags.

"Good. We have to go to Aunt Hermione's."

"Why, might I ask?" Severus asked, not exactly looking forward to seeing Granger again after all these years.

"Because we need her floo."

"I have a floo here."

"Maybe," Sidney agreed, "but it's not an international floo, is it?"

Ah. That explained the ability to travel back and forth to the States so quickly and easily. Although, really it didn't. International floos were incredibly rare. In fact, Snape knew of only one – the one at the Ministry. It was highly regulated, and anyone wanting to use it had to go through vast amounts of paperwork and an approval process that could take weeks. If Harry's family had been using the floo, the paperwork involved would have created a trail that someone would have discovered and leaked to the press. The fact that Snape had read not one word of Potter's life or location since the man had left him caused him to believe that the Peverlys were not using the Ministry's public floo.

But then Snape remembered – Granger was a rather high-ranking official in the Ministry and a determined rulebreaker in her youth. He wouldn't put an illegal floo past her. "Let's go," he said, indicating his own floo with a flourish of his arm.

[scene break]

Severus followed his second daughter through the floo and nearly knocked her to the ground when he stepped out at the other end. He grabbed both her upper arms to keep her from falling and was about to upbraid her for standing in front of the floo when he realized that both girls stood frozen like statues, staring at Hermione Granger, speechless.

"What is going on here?" she asked, staring first at the girls, then at Severus Snape standing in her sitting room.

"Um . . ." said Sidney.

"Well . . ." said Allison.

Severus released his daughter and stepped out so that he was standing between the angry woman and his children. He reminded himself to think later about this weird, sudden protective urge he had for these two children who were strangers to him.

"Miss Granger," he said, then realized his mistake. "Mrs. Granger-Weasley," he started again. "I am here because these children have summoned me to attempt to assist their father."

Hermione stared at the two girls for a long moment. "Sit," she finally said, her tone firm and brooking no disobedience. The girls immediately sat.

Hermione turned to Severus. "It's very nice to see you again, Professor. I'm sorry if the girls have inconvenienced you in any way. I'm sure that you have things that you need to get back to."

"First, Mrs. Granger-Weasley, it has been a very long time since I have been anyone's professor. Please call me Severus. And, if you don't mind, I would very much like to see if I might be able to assist Harry."

Hermione studied him carefully and slowly and finally reached a decision. "Fine. But I need to speak with these children first. You can stay or you can go and return in a bit. It's your choice."

"I shall stay," he said, that strange protective instinct kicking in again.

"All right then," she said, "and you will call me Hermione."

She then turned to the girls, who were sitting side-by-side on the sofa, looking more than a little nervous. Hermione sat on the coffee table in front of the sofa. "Start from the beginning," she ordered.

Sidney spoke. "We heard you and Dad talking about . . ." her eyes darted to her "other" father, standing against the wall with his arms crossed and watching the scene play out, "about a potential cure. Dad said he didn't want you to contact . . . him. You seemed to think that it was worth at least talking to him, but Dad was so adamant. And we just . . ." She was getting very emotional and had to stop.

Allison took over. "We can't let him die, Aunt Hermione," she said. "Not if there's something we can do about it. We had to at least try."

Hermione shot a look at Severus. "I understand that, girls, but you have to understand, your father is dead set against any type of contact with . . ." Hermione bravely soldiered on. "With your other father. He has his reasons, and I'll not discuss those with you. That's up to your father, and if he wants to tell you, he will. He's probably going to be furious with you both for doing this. He'll likely be furious with me just for allowing the three of you to be in the same room."

"We don't care how mad he is," Sidney said, taking up the conversation again. "If there's any chance that we can save him, we have to take it." Severus could tell she was crying. "I don't want to lose my dad."

Allison put an arm around her sister and pulled her into a hug. Both girls were crying now, and Hermione leaned forward to embrace them both. After a brief letting out of emotion, Hermione pulled back. "All right. We'll do this. But I'm going with you. I can try to run some interference."

"Thank you," Sidney sniffed, drying her eyes with the back of her hand.

Hermione smiled at them and then stood up. "All right. I was only supposed to be home for lunch, so let me firecall the office, and Uncle Ron, and then we'll go."

[scene break]

Hermione exited the floo and called immediately for Harry. "Harry, it's me! Are you up?"

Moments later, Harry made his way slowly and painfully into the living room. "Hermione!" he said with a pleased but tired smile. "What are you doing here?"

"Well . . ." was all she got out before Sidney appeared through the flames.

"Sid?" Harry asked, confused. He'd thought both his daughters were upstairs, still sleeping. "What are you . . .?"

Before he got the question completely out, his other daughter stepped out onto the hearth.

"Al? What is going on? Where have you two been? Hermione?"

Once again, the floo flared, this time to herald the arrival of Severus Snape. Harry's eyes widened immediately in surprise, then narrowed in consternation. "What the hell is going on here?" he demanded. "What is this man doing in my house?! Who's responsible for this?!"

"Harry, don't over-excite yourself," Hermione tried to soothe, but Harry was having none of it.

"We had this discussion, Hermione! You knew that I didn't want him here. What possessed you to do this?"

"It wasn't her!" Sidney cried. "Allie and I asked him to come here."

Harry turned to his daughters, nearly vibrating with anger. "I want the two of you to go upstairs to your rooms right now."

"Dad . . ." Sidney tried to argue.

"Sidney," Harry interrupted her. "You are in very real danger of losing your trip to camp. I don't think I've ever been so angry with you. We will talk about this later, and we will discuss the consequences of your using the floo, without my permission or my knowledge, to travel out of the country. But for now, I need to deal with this, and I want you UP. STAIRS."

Snape had never heard Harry use that particular tone. Apparently his daughters were unfamiliar with it as well, because they exchanged a fearful look, then looked appealingly at Hermione and Snape, before ascending the stairs and leaving the adults alone.

Once he was sure they'd gone into their rooms, Harry turned on Snape. "Get out," he growled, pointing at the floo with a hand that trembled.

Snape studied the man before him. Harry was thin beyond reason, his skin almost gray. His posture was hunched, and he was shaking, with anger obviously but also likely with pain. He looked, Snape thought, like an old man, and he was filled with an overwhelming desire to help his former lover, the other parent to the children he hadn't known he had until earlier today.

"I only want to try to help you," Snape said softly.

Harry straightened, his ire giving him added strength. His eyes snapped as he looked straight at Snape. "I don't want your help. I don't trust you, and I want you out of my house. You can either go under your own power, or you can go under mine, but either way, you WILL go."

"Harry . . ." Hermione tried.

He whirled on his friend. "No!" he cried. "You know! You know what he did! How can you bring him here?"

"Because I think he can help you, Harry, and I can't sit back any longer and do nothing!"

"I DON'T WANT HIS HELP!" Harry bellowed, and that did it – his strength gave out, his knees buckled, and he started to go down. Snape and Hermione both reacted instantly, going immediately to either side and grabbing an elbow to keep him upright and steer him carefully to the sofa.

Harry pulled his arm out of Snape's grip. "Don't touch me!" he growled, but he allowed Hermione to assist him until he was sitting on the sofa. He leaned forward and closed his eyes for a moment, breathing deeply, gathering himself back together.

Hermione sat beside him and began rubbing his back soothingly. She held her index finger up in front of his face. "Open your eyes. Center your pain here," she urged calmly. "You can do it. Breathe in. Breathe out. Center your pain."

Harry appeared to be following her instructions, staring fixedly at her finger and breathing deeply and slowly. After a number of deep breaths, Harry appeared much more in control. It was obvious to Snape that they'd use this pain control method together many times.

"All right?" Hermione asked.

Harry nodded. "Fine now. Thanks."

"Harry," Hermione said, "please listen to me. Those girls are afraid they are going to lose you. They're so afraid of losing you that they traveled three thousand miles to see a man they don't even know, a man they knew you'd object to. They risked his rejection and your anger because they don't want you to die. You owe it to them, Harry, to do everything you can to stay with us as long as possible. They still have some growing up to do, and they need their dad for that."

"There has to be another way," Harry whispered.

"We've tried every other way, Harry," Hermione argued gently. "You know we have. Severus has been getting some good results with his experimental treatment of victims of multiple or prolonged instances of cruciatus. They, like you, suffer from severe nerve damage. There's every reason to believe that if the treatment works for them, it can work for you, too. But even if it doesn't, you owe it to your daughters to try. No one's going to let him hurt you or Sidney or Allison, but I don't believe he has any intention of hurting any of you."

"As I said," Severus reiterated, "I only want to help, if I can."

Harry inhaled another deep breath and held it in for a ten-count before releasing it slowly. "I want to talk to him before I de– . . ." Harry stopped, appearing to struggle for the right way to say what he needed to say.

Hermione came to his rescue. "That's wise," Hermione agreed softly. "Talk before you make any decisions. Do you want me to stay?"

"No. Thanks, Hermione, but I can take care of myself.

"I know you can, love." She leaned over and kissed Harry on the forehead. "I'm going back to work. Fire call if you need me. And, Harry, don't be too hard on them. They love you."

"They snuck out of the house in the middle of the night, Hermione. There has to be consequences for that."

"I suppose you're right. Just remember . . . it was done out of love."

"Yeah, yeah," Harry said good-naturedly. "Thought you were going back to work."

"I'm going," Hermione said. She gave Severus an encouraging smile before stepping back into the floo. "Ron and Hermione's."

As soon as she'd gone, Harry turned on Severus. "I don't know what you think is going to happen here, but I will not let you hurt those girls. I did what you said all those years ago and I've 'taken care of' the problem. They're nothing to do with you now."

Severus took a deep breath. If he didn't do this right, he'd have no chance of helping Harry. And he very obviously needed help. "I have no intention of hurting anyone, Harry. I only want to help you. I will take a wizard's oath if you wish, so that you can be sure. As Miss Granger has told you, I have made great strides in the treatment of severe nerve damage in those who have suffered extensively from cruciatus. Though I do not know for sure, I believe that the treatment may be effective for you as well. I would like to try, if you will let me."

"You'll take an oath?" Harry questioned.

"I will. An unbreakable vow even."

Harry looked concerned about that. He wouldn't force anyone into an unbreakable vow, not even Severus Snape.

"I'm not saying that I'll agree to this, but if I did, just exactly what would you do?"

"I would first need to speak with you, learn about your condition and your symptoms and the treatment courses you have already undertaken. I would want to know what makes your symptoms better and what makes them worse. Once I had as much information as you could provide to me, we would begin a daily treatment regimen, which will include a combination of potions and spells. I will not give you false hope that your affliction can be cured immediately. The success I have observed has occurred gradually. Typically, patients begin to see the first signs of improvement in their symptoms after a week of treatment. Total alleviation of all symptoms has occurred in sixty-three percent of patients in three to four months. I also must tell you that the treatment is painful. We will, in effect, be destroying your damaged nerves and growing new, healthy ones. I would not put you through the treatment if I did not think it could help."

"And how often would I need to see you?"

"The treatment changes daily depending upon you and your reactions. It will require daily contact, I am afraid."

Harry sat back and closed his eyes, thinking over Snape's proposal. He knew that his condition was serious, and he hated that his daughters were watching him deteriorate like this. He knew they were afraid, and quite frankly, so was he. He had nothing to lose trying Snape's treatment and maybe everything to gain.

"All right. I'm willing to try. When can you start?"

"I am prepared to begin right away. Today even."

"Not today," Harry said, thinking as he went. Both girls would be leaving for their respective summer camps in a few days, and they'd be gone for two weeks. That was when they'd start. "Monday. Next week."

"All right," Snape said with a nod of agreement. The extra few days would give him a chance to wrap things up more fully back home, put people in charge of on-going projects. "I will return on Monday morning."

"All right then."

Snape hesitated. Harry thought he knew what he wanted. "Do you think that I might –?"

"No," Harry said. He had no intention of letting Severus see the girls again, even if it was to say goodbye. He'd never see them again if Harry had his way.

Snape nodded his acceptance of Harry's decision. "Until Monday," he said before stepping to the floo.

[scene break]

As he had suspected he would, Harry found his daughters together, huddled in Sidney's room, looking anxiously up at their father after he knocked softly and pushed open the door.

"Is he gone?" Sidney asked.

"Yes, he's gone."

"Dad!" Sidney protested.

"Before you get too carried away, he's coming back on Monday. I've agreed to let him try to help me."

"Oh, Dad, that's great!"

"We're not going to talk about that right now. I want to talk to you about . . . your other father." Harry sat on the chair at Sidney's desk. "I want you to understand everything. I've told you a little about him. I told you that he and I had different views on having children, and that is why we went our separate ways before you were even born. But there's a lot more to the story, and I think you're ready to hear it now. If he's going to come back into our lives, it's -" Again, Harry struggled to find the appropriate word. Both girls knew that it irritated their father when they tried to assist him, so they remained silent. "You need to understand just what type of person he is. I will not stand for him to hurt you in any way. Some of what you hear will not be pleasant. Some of it may even be embarrassing for me. But it's the truth, and you're old enough to handle it now."

Both girls were looking back at him with serious, almost fearful, expressions.

"I first met Severus Snape when I was eleven years old." Harry looked at his girls to gauge how they received this announcement. "He was my potions teacher at Hogwarts. He hated me on sight. Actually, I think he hated me before he even met me. He'd been in school with my parents, see, and he and my father and his friends didn't get along. I'm ashamed to admit it, but my father was something of a bully while he was at school.

"Anyway, Severus did everything he could to make my school years hell. He tried to have me expelled on numerous occasions, he took advantage of every opportunity to humiliate me in public, he graded my work unfairly. He was, quite frankly, a bastard to me and my friends. Despite that, he also saved my life several times while I was at school. You know all about the nonsense that went on, and we won't get into that." Though Harry had taken the name Peverly when he moved here, he'd been upfront with his daughters about who he was and why he was using a different name. He'd explained his history to them as soon as he'd felt they were old enough to understand.

"Just before Voldemort died, I learned that Severus had been posing as a Death Eater since my parents were killed and that he was, in fact, spying for Dumbledore. Without him, there was no way we would have won the war. He was nearly killed by Voldemort in the final battle, but he –" A long pause followed, after which Harry found the word he wanted. "He miraculously survived. After the war, I went into Auror training, and he spent a year recovering from his wounds. When he was able to work again, he opened his own apothecary and went into business for himself. I didn't see him at all for several years.

"We ran into each other at a party. We talked, and we found we had a lot in common. We started spending time with each other. We fell in love. Well, I fell in love. Severus never was much for showing affection or telling anyone his feelings. Eventually, we moved in together. I thought that one day he and I would bond, that I was going to spend the rest of my life with him. We spoke in a very general way once or twice about children and Severus made it plain that he had no interest in ever having any.

"Then one day I discovered I was pregnant. This will be hard for you to believe, but at that time, I didn't even know that wizards could get pregnant. And although I was very surprised, I was also very happy. I was thrilled. I knew that Severus wouldn't be as thrilled as I was, and I was right. When I told him, he was angry. He didn't believe me when I told him I hadn't known it was possible. He accused me of getting pregnant behind his back. He wanted . . . he wanted me to have an abortion. Insisted I have an abortion. He told me that if I didn't agree to that, he would slip something into my food and take care of it himself. I couldn't do what he wanted, and I left him that night, because I was afraid that he would actually try to do away with you. I went back once, to see if he'd changed his mind. He hadn't. I still believed he might make good on his threat, and I left home and came here. The rest of it you know."

"So he . . . he wanted to kill us?" Allison asked, horrified.

"Well, you weren't really you at the time, but yes, he wanted me to destroy you."

"I don't think he wants that now, though," Sidney argued. "He seemed okay with meeting us."

"This is important. I need you to promise me that you will stay away from him. I would like to be through with him before you come back from camp, but he may be still here in the house. If he is, I want you to stay as far away from him as possible."

"But he's my father," Sidney argued. "I have the right to get to know him."

"Sidney," Harry warned. "I'm not going to argue with you about this. If I think it's possible that he could hurt you in any way, I will call this whole thing off. We'll move out of here so fast and go so far away he'll never be able to find us. I don't want to do that. We have a good life here. But my number one priority since I learned I was carrying you was to protect you. And I'll do whatever I have to do."

"All right, dad," Sidney said solemnly. "I understand."

"Al?" Harry asked, turning to his other daughter.

"Why would I want to spend time with him?" she snarled. "If he'd gotten his way, I wouldn't even be here!"

"I'm sorry I had to share that with you. I hadn't intended to ever tell you. But I need you to understand everything now."

"Thanks for trusting us," Allison said. "If he can help you, we'll put up with him. And then when you're better, we can get back to the way it used to be."

Harry smiled at his children. They were good kids. "And now for your punishment."

[scene break]

The silence was awkward and uncomfortable. Harry had had tea waiting when Severus stepped through his floo at the appointed time on Monday morning. They sat at the table, sipping their tea and avoiding each other's eyes, feeling the discomfort acutely.

"Are the children here?" Snape hazarded to say, though he guessed the subject of the children was one that would be almost guaranteed to set Harry off.

"No. They both left yesterday."

"You sent them away," Snape stated, hurt though he understood Harry's feelings.

"I didn't 'send them away.' They were scheduled to leave."

That made him feel slightly better. "A vacation?" he pried.

"No. They're at camp."

This bewildered Snape a little. Camp? "They are at the seaside?" he guessed.

"No. Camp. It's a . . . Sidney is interested in the theater, and she's gone away to a camp with other children her age who are also interested in theater. They learn about acting and makeup and set design and playwriting, and they rehearse and put on a play at the end. Al is an athlete. She's at a camp where she'll play soccer and basketball and softball and other things."

Snape was beginning to understand. "And do they come home in the evening?"

"No. They stay there until the camp ends."

"And for what length of time does this take place?"

"Two weeks."

This surprised Severus. "They will be gone for two weeks?"

"Yes."

"Do you not miss them?"

Harry looked up, startled, finally meeting Snape's eye. "Of course I do. I miss them very much." Indeed, the girls had only been gone since yesterday, but already Harry missed them with a visceral ache.

"Yet you let them go?"

"Of course I let them go. They're young women. They've got interests of their own, and they should be allowed and encouraged to explore them." Harry was getting defensive, feeling as though Severus was criticizing his parenting decisions. "At least I don't send them away for nine months out of the year to get their education."

"I do not mean to be critical," Snape said sincerely.

"That's enough questions, I think," Harry said crossly. "Hermione should be here shortly. While we wait, you can look at this." Harry pushed a folder that was easily three inches thick across the table.

Severus opened the folder and looked at the top page. "Your medical records."

Harry nodded. "Everything is there. I also made a list of symptoms, how each has progressed over the course of my . . . my . . ." The word wouldn't come, but Harry plowed on, half convinced that Snape would make a crack about his lack of intelligence. "How they've gotten worse over time. What has made them better and what has made them worse."

"Thank you," Severus said, finding the list Harry had mentioned. "This will be very helpful."

Harry grunted. His main objective in making the list hadn't been to make Severus' job easier – he wanted to keep his interaction with the man to a bare minimum.

"While you read that," Harry said, wishing fervently that Hermione would hurry and arrive, "I have some weeding to do in the garden." He pushed himself away from the table and stood up slowly, needing to brace himself on the table to do so. He normally used a cane on his bad days to assist with mobility, but he wasn't going to show any more weakness in front of this man than was absolutely necessary.

"Are you sure that you are well enough?" Severus asked, concerned that in Harry's condition, any physical activity might prove harmful.

"Don't!" Harry snarled. "You don't have any right to tell me what to do!"

Severus was taken aback by the tone. "Of course you're right. I was only concerned."

"Well don't be. I'm per– . . . I'm fine."

It was very obvious that Harry was not fine, but Severus kept his mouth closed and watched the man hobble out the door, sadly remembering a time when Harry in a snit would flounce or stomp out of a room.

Harry made it only as far as the porch swing in the backyard before he ran out of steam. Hermione found him sitting there, sweaty and pale, when she arrived a short time later.

[scene break]

Harry had only half listened to Severus and Hermione discussing his condition and the treatment that was planned to attempt to cure it. Hermione had asked many questions, and Severus had patiently answered all of them, even appearing at times to enjoy the intellectual repartee. It wasn't lost on Harry that he and Severus had never been able to converse that way. They'd conversed very little, as a matter of fact. Severus hadn't been home a lot during their time together, and when he was home, they were usually doing their "talking" in bed. Harry wondered now how he could have ever thought he was happy with Severus.

Harry was startled out of his brown study by a hand on his arm.

"Harry?" Hermione inquired softly.

Her voice was kind and full of sympathy, and Harry could tell that she thought his zoning out was a side effect of his condition. Sometimes it was, but not this time. "Hmm?"

"Severus was just asking if you were ready to begin."

"Oh," Harry said. "Yeah. I guess so."

"Do you want me to stay?" she offered.

Harry's eyes shifted to Severus. He really didn't want to be alone with the man, but he was not going to admit that under the pain of torture. "No. Did you get all your questions answered?" Hermione had asked to be here when Severus came so that she could ask questions directly of the source.

"Yes. Severus has been very helpful." She squeezed his hand. "Call me if you need me."

"I will."

Hermione stood up, kissed Harry on top of the head, and made her way out of the room and toward the floo.

"What now?" Harry asked Severus.

Severus looked as though he were about to make some smart retort regarding Harry's inability to pay attention, but he quickly bit his tongue. "Now we begin the treatment. We will need the bath and then someplace where you will be comfortable – your bedroom would probably be the most appropriate."

Harry would have preferred to never let Severus anywhere near his bedroom again, but the way to the master bath led through the bedroom. But the bed was another story. "There's a tub in the master bath. And then I think the sofa in the study."

"Lead the way," Severus requested.

[scene break]

"Shall I go over the process again?" Severus asked as they stood awkwardly in the suddenly too-small room, water filling the bathtub and steam beginning to fill the air.

Since Harry had not been paying attention earlier when Hermione and Snape had discussed this, he nodded.

"I have a potion for the bath," Severus began. "You must be submerged in the potion for thirty minutes. After thirty minutes, you will rinse completely in the shower. I will then administer the nerve-destroying potion, and within several minutes, you will begin to feel the first stirrings of pain. We will want to get you comfortable in bed at this point. The pain will become quite intense. The first day will be the worst. We are killing your nerve endings, and that is a painful process. After sixty minutes, I will administer a second potion which will freeze the degeneration. Tomorrow, we repeat the procedure, and the next day and the day after. When you finally feel no pain after drinking the potion, we will know that all of the nerve endings are completely dead."

"Why can't we just do it longer, finish it up in one day, or two?" Harry queried.

"I think you are underestimating the amount of pain you are going to experience, Harry," Severus said softly. "Put simply, you will wish it was over long before we have reached sixty minutes. Going beyond that would be unendurable. Even for you."

Harry sighed, with no choice but to believe Severus. He would have liked to speed this up any way he could, to get Severus completely out of here before the children returned. Maybe if he was able to tolerate the first dose better than Snape predicted, he'd demand two hours tomorrow. If it got the man out of here sooner, it would be worth it.

"Let's get this over with." He stared pointedly at Severus.

Severus finally took the hint. "You'd like me to leave while you undress?"

"Please."

"Let me just add this." Severus removed a vial from his pocket and poured the clear liquid inside into the still-running water. It had no smell, but a thick lather began instantly forming under the spout.

Severus left the room and Harry quickly undressed. He turned off the tap, tested the water temperature, and slowly lowered himself into the hot water. "All right," he called. "I'm in. So I just sit here?"

"Submerge yourself as much as possible," Snape said through the door. "Going completely under the water a couple of times is advisable."

Harry lowered himself further into the warm water. It felt rather nice, and he closed his eyes.

"Harry?" he heard Snape ask.

"Yes?"

"Are you all right?"

"Of course I'm all right," Harry said shortly. "I'm soaking in the tub, just as you said."

"Would you like me to bring you a book or a magazine which you could hover before you? You really should leave your hands submerged."

Nice try, Harry thought cynically. "I'm good, thanks." Wandlessly, Harry conjured a radio and set it to play on his favorite classical music station. Then he sank back into the bubbles and let the music carry him for a while.

[scene break]

Severus tapped softly on the bathroom door exactly thirty minutes later. "Harry," he called. "Time is up."

Harry shook himself from the torpor he'd fallen into, then gathered himself to get up out of the tub. He struggled painfully up, grabbing the side of the bathtub to keep himself from falling when weakness overcame him. He knocked over the potion bottle that had been left on the side of the tub in the process, and it clattered noisily to the floor. Snape, of course, heard that from the other side of the door.

"Harry," Severus said, sounding concerned. "Do you require assistance?"

"No," Harry said as he stood painfully straight. "No, I'm going to shower." He stepped out of the tub and took the three steps required to get to the shower stall. Then, to cut off any further protest Severus might make, Harry turned the shower on and stood under the spray. He soaped up to remove the residual potion from his skin and rinsed off for longer than was probably necessary. He toweled dry then slipped into the robe he'd brought into the bathroom with him. He opened the bathroom door to find Severus hovering nervously just outside.

"What's next?"

Severus held up a potion vial. "The difficult part, I am afraid."

Harry grimaced an attempt at a brave smile and led the way into the study. He sat down and turned to Snape nervously. "It's going to hurt?"

"It will," Severus confirmed, somewhat sadly. "I wish that there was another way."

Harry sighed and held out his hand. Severus gave him the vial, and Harry stared down at it for a moment before downing it in one shot. He closed his eyes and grimaced at the taste, then handed the vial back to Snape.

"You should lie down," Severus suggested.

Harry lay back against the pillow and closed his eyes, waiting. Only a minute or so passed before he began to feel tingling in his body, as though a static charge was dancing over his skin. It wasn't exactly painful, not at first, but it quickly began to grow in intensity until Harry groaned.

"Are you all right?" Severus asked, then immediately felt stupid. Of course Harry wasn't all right. His nerve endings were being stripped away. Every part of his body would soon be in excruciating pain.

Harry didn't answer, using all of his energy to try and stay on top of the pain, knowing that it was going to get worse. He clutched at the robe he was wearing, needing any sort of anchor to ground himself. The pain intensified quickly, and soon Harry was lost in it, gritting his teeth in a supreme effort not to cry out. He was no stranger to pain, but this – this was a whole new level of torture.

Severus watched Harry struggle, wishing there was something he could do to help. Had things been different, had he not abandoned this man and his children all those years ago, he would have reached out and taken Harry's hand into his own. He would have been willing to allow Harry to squeeze his hand however hard he might need if only he could take away some small measure of the pain he was experiencing. Severus had watched many people go through this procedure, had watched them writhe and scream helplessly in pain, but never had he felt as though his own heart was being squeezed. Never had he wished that he could take the pain upon himself and spare his patient from this trial.

Severus dropped to his knees beside the sofa and took Harry's hand, sure that Harry was so far gone into the pain that he'd appreciate any attempt at assistance. Harry snatched his hand away, apparently not that far gone. "No!" he grunted. "Don't touch me!" Speaking was difficult through the pain, but Harry forced the words out.

Severus snatched his hand away and stood up. "I – I apologize."

But Harry wasn't listening – he was deep inside himself now, barely keeping himself under control. His entire body was shaking with the effort and sweat shone on his skin. He heard himself whimpering and wished he could stop it, but it was a useless wish.

"How long?" he gasped out.

"How long?" Severus repeated. "It's been eight minutes."

Eight minutes?! Harry nearly gave up at this point. It had only been eight minutes? He was sure that it had been at least twenty. So much for asking for a double dose tomorrow. Harry wasn't sure he'd get through this dose today.

"I can't do it," Harry groaned. "I can't – it . . . hurts too much."

"I know, Harry," Severus said, unable to keep himself from dropping to his knees beside his former lover again. "I know it hurts. I wish that I could make it stop. But it's too early. If we stop now, it will just be worse tomorrow. You can do this. You are stronger than anyone I have ever met. I know you can."

"Help me," Harry requested. "I can't do it alone."

Severus took Harry's hand into his own again. "I am here, Harry." He squeezed the sweaty hand in his own. "Take my strength. I will share it with you."

Harry clung to the hand with all of his remaining strength and drew on Severus and his immense power and strength to get through the remaining torture.

[scene break]

The last hour had been harrowing, to say the least. Severus used the flannel he'd summoned some time ago to wipe the sweat from Harry's brow one last time. The younger man lay shaking on the sofa, eyes still closed. Gently, Severus wiped away a bit of the termination potion that had dribbled out of the younger man's mouth because of the tremors. He settled a blanket over the shivering form, then cast a warming charm on it for good measure.

"It's over, Harry," he said. "It's over for now. Tomorrow will be easier." He wanted to reach over and stroke Harry's sweaty hair from his forehead, old feelings of affection swamping him, but he knew now that Harry had been released from the grip of pain that his touch would not be welcome.

Harry's eyes fluttered open. "Done?" he asked weakly.

"Yes, Harry. We're done for today. Has the pain diminished?"

Harry moved his arm in an effort to stretch to see how he felt, but his limbs felt heavy and uncooperative. "Hard to move."

"You've been through a very arduous ordeal. It's common to experience lethargy and a feeling that your limbs are weighted. But the pain is gone?"

Harry tried again to move and was moderately more successful this time. He felt no pain beyond the usual. "Mmm."

"You should rest now. Sleep as long as you need. I will be here when you wake."

Harry closed his eyes and let sleep take him away.

[scene break]

While Harry slept on the sofa, Severus wandered the house, only a little ashamed that he was snooping. Harry's home was beautiful. The study in which Harry now slept opened on one side through French doors into the main foyer of the house and on the other, through another set of French doors, into a large bedroom – which Snape now knew to be Harry's room. The bedroom was large and sunny, with yet another set of French doors leading out to a patio and then into the yard at the side of the house. The bedroom contained a simple fireplace, and though it likely shared a chimney with the larger fireplace in the living room which doubled as the floo, Severus did not think the fireplace on Harry's side was open to the floo.

At the opposite end of the room from where it connected to the study, a door led into the gorgeous bathroom he'd already briefly seen and a massive walk-in closet. Severus was pleased to note that Harry's slovenly habits had improved over the years – everything was neat and tidy in the room and in the closet.

Access to the rest of the house could only be obtained by crossing back through the study, which Severus did now, checking on Harry as he went quietly through the room. Harry continued to sleep peacefully, his breathing deep and even. Severus crossed the foyer, peeking up the stairs to the second level but choosing instead to enter the formal dining room. The room looked as though it wasn't used very often. Hardwood flooring and light-colored furniture combined with the large windows on the front and side of the house made the room glow in the mid-morning sun.

The kitchen was next. It was large and seemed to be well-appointed with the typical Muggle appliances. Pots and pans hung over an island centered in the middle of the room, and Severus could just picture Harry here, cooking and baking. He remembered that Harry liked to engage in those activities, back when they were together. He wondered if cooking was a family activity, and if the children assisted with meal preparation and whether they did so willingly, because they liked to, or whether they were forced.

Severus peeked through a closed door and found a hallway with doors leading to a laundry room on one side, a small half-bath on the other, and a garage at the opposite end. Surprisingly to Severus, an automobile was parked in the garage. He wasn't aware that Harry knew how to drive. Many, many things had changed about the man since he'd left all those years ago.

Completing his circuit of the ground floor, Severus found a glass-enclosed sunroom that opened into the backyard, which looked well-manicured and -maintained, and the living room into which he'd entered when he'd arrived through the floo. The room was warm and comfortable and contained many photos on the wall, most of them of the two girls, alone or together. A few also contained Harry and there were other photos as well – James and Lily, Ron and Hermione Weasley and their two children. A large television filled the wall next to the floo.

Severus returned to the bottom of the stairs, then checked to be sure Harry was still sleeping before moving up. He went quickly, not wanting to be caught snooping around up here. He found two bedrooms that obviously belonged to the girls – they looked lived in and were neater than many teenage living spaces he'd seen. The two rooms shared access to a bathroom and a large closet space. A balcony looked down into the foyer below. A third bedroom, smaller than the other two but with a connected guest bathroom, finished off the upstairs. Severus wondered if this was the room he would use while he was here, and then a thought struck him – Harry had not invited him to stay. Perhaps the younger man had been expecting that Severus would go home every day through the floo. Severus had brought a bag with him, assuming he would stay while Harry underwent treatment. The bag remained where he'd left it next to the floo. Harry had to have noticed but had said nothing.

Severus sighed. He supposed he should not be surprised – he'd hurt Harry terribly sixteen years ago, and it was obvious from how Harry had acted and what he'd said that the pain had lingered. He likely could expect little in the way of consideration from his former lover, and he guessed he deserved none.

Severus retrieved Harry's medical records from his bag and settled himself at the dining room table and began to re-read the contents.

[scene break]

Severus was still engrossed in the file when Harry came limping into the room two hours later, surprising Severus.

"Harry. I thought you would sleep longer. How do you feel?"

"Fine," Harry said, though that might have been stretching the truth more than a little.

Severus suspected as much. Harry had always had a high tolerance for pain and an unwillingness to admit to weakness. He'd become accustomed to constant pain during the course of his illness, and what to many others would have been debilitating pain was manageable to the remarkable man.

"I cannot help you if you are not completely honest with me," Severus pointed out. "An accurate description of your symptoms and level of pain is important to the process."

Harry dropped tiredly into a chair opposite Severus. "The pain is the same as before. No more, no less. The weakness is more pronounced."

"I suspect that is a residual of the potion and should dissipate shortly. Is there anything I can get you? A cup of tea?"

"No, thank you."

Harry seemed ill at ease and uncomfortable in his presence and Severus thought it was probably time to take his leave.

"If you are quite sure you are all right, I will take my leave."

Harry looked up, surprised. "I thought you said you needed to stay here."

Severus nodded once. "That would be ideal. However, I was not issued an invitation and will not presume that much."

Harry looked away, his cheeks reddening. "I apologize for my lack of hos– " Harry gave up on the word after a moment of struggle, and his face turned red in embarrassment. "That was not well done of me. Of course, you are welcome to stay. There's a guest room upstairs that you can use."

"There is no need to apologize," Severus assured him. "This is awkward. I understand that, and I have no wish to complicate the situation any more than is necessary. If it is easier for you if I leave, I will gladly do so."

"You'll exhaust yourself," Harry said. "International floo travel is easy if you're just popping in for five minutes, but when you stay any length of time, the period of – It takes longer to recover!" Irritated by his mind's failure, Harry tried to temper his tone. "You can't do that every day for a week and expect it not to affect you."

"Well, thank you, then. I accept your invitation."

"I'll show you up."

"I will allow that if you rest a bit more after," Severus suggested gently.

The old Harry sparked to life. "I'll thank you not to tell me what to do in my home."

"Yes, of course," Severus murmured. "I am only concerned."

"Well you needn't be," Harry said gruffly. "It's this way." He turned and led the way to the stairs.

[scene break]

When Severus asked if he could assist with lunch preparations, Harry snapped at him again and told him to sit down. Severus did so and held his tongue while he watched Harry move painfully about in the kitchen, fixing soup and sandwiches for them both. At one point, Harry came to a complete stop in his preparations and appeared to Severus to be staring off at nothing. This went on for many moments, but just before Severus was about to ask him if anything was wrong, Harry seemed to return to himself. He looked blankly down at the bread on the counter and the knife in his hand, as though trying to remember what he'd been doing, then looked up at Severus. Severus could see realization flood into Harry's eyes before the other man lowered his gaze and returned to his job. Neither man spoke.

They ate at the island bar in the kitchen, the food more than satisfactory but the ambiance somewhat lacking due to the underlying current of hostility that emanated from Harry.

"You said that the children will be gone for two weeks?" Severus finally ventured to ask.

"Yes."

"And this is something that they do every summer?"

"Yes."

"Is there something that you usually do while they are away?" Being a single parent, he imagined that Harry took full advantage of the time when both girls were away to travel or engage in activities that were difficult to find time for normally.

"What do you mean?" Harry asked suspiciously.

"Do you travel? Are there activities you like to engage in that you simply cannot find the time for when the children are here?"

"What are you asking?" Harry demanded. "Are you asking if I go out and fuck other men when my kids aren't around? Maybe have wild orgies here with all of my gay mates?"

Severus was horrified that Harry had interpreted his question in this manner. "No! That is absolutely not what I was asking!" Although, upon reflection, it would be a perfectly legitimate activity for the man to engage in, assuming he didn't have a partner. Well, maybe not the orgies, but if Harry took this time to sow a few oats, no one would think less of him. "I was attempting, in a rather round-about way apparently, to suggest that, other than traveling, which would probably be unwise, there is no reason you cannot do what you would be doing were I not here." Severus felt as though he was babbling and wasn't even sure that what he'd just said made sense, but it seemed to soothe Harry's ruffled feathers.

"Oh," Harry said, eyes on his soup. "Yeah, no. Sometimes I travel, but not very far. The girls and I sometimes do a bit of traveling in the summer. We'll, we've done so in the past." Harry didn't say it, but Severus suspected Harry hadn't been well enough to even think about going away from home this year. "I usually just stay here and enjoy the solitude. For about a day, and then I start to miss them and it's just lonely."

"I see."

"I'm sorry I jumped down your throat," Harry said stiffly. "I get a little angry when you ask about them. Or me. You have no right."

Severus knew that last was true. "May I say one thing?"

Harry shrugged. "Can I stop you?"

Severus put his spoon down and turned to face Harry. "If you told me to keep my thoughts to myself, I would do so." When Harry didn't take him up on that invitation, Severus contained. "I would like it if you looked at me while I said it." He wanted Harry to know how sincere he was about what he had to say.

With obvious reluctance, Harry turned his body so that they were facing each other. His eyes, however, refused to meet Severus'.

"Harry," Severus said softly. He waited until those bright green eyes, currently sparking with emotion, met his. "I am sorry. I cannot change the past with those words, but I am more sorry than I can probably make you understand. I was wrong, all those years ago, to try to force you into doing the unthinkable. And I am so, so incredibly glad that you made the choice you did."

Harry closed his eyes and turned his head away. He'd never thought to hear Severus apologize for what he'd done. Truthfully, he had believed he would never see the man again, nor had he ever wanted to.

Severus continued. "Have you ever made such a terrible mistake that you were ashamed of yourself to the point that it was difficult to look anyone in the eye? I've made a lot of mistakes in my time. You are aware of the majority of them. Some of them were life-altering, incalculably bad decisions that affected more than myself. Some of them led to the deaths of good people. You know all this, and I hope that part of you knows how truly I do regret all of those mistakes and how hard I have tried to make amends for them. But this – seeing the children and what you have here, I – I feel such a terrible and deep shame, and I'm not even going to ask for your forgiveness because I do not deserve it. But I want you to know that I will do everything within my power to help you, and then I will leave, and you will never have to see me again. I would not hurt you or your children for the world. If you believe nothing else, please believe that."

"Do you think apologizing makes everything all right? Do you think that makes up for the betrayal I felt at the time, and the pain of going through pregnancy and childbirth alone, and the years and years of single parenting? Do you think that you can just step in here now, when all of the hard work is nearly over, and somehow become a father to them? Like nothing had ever happened?" Harry cried in anguish.

The last thing that Severus had wanted was to upset Harry this way. "No, I don't think any of those things. And I did not mean to upset you. I just needed you to know how sorry I was."

Harry turned back to his lunch, but he'd lost his appetite. He slid off his chair painfully and carried his dishes to the sink, then limped his way out of the room.

Severus sighed. Perhaps he shouldn't have made his apology today, on his first day here, but he was glad he'd gotten it out. He knew that Harry had a great capacity for forgiveness – he'd forgiven Severus for several transgressions, both big and small, when they'd been together. But this – this might be even too much for Harry, and he held out no real hope that the man would ever get there. Finished now with his own lunch, Severus began the process of cleaning up.

[scene break]

Severus was glad that he'd brought reading material because Harry remained scarce for the remainder of the afternoon. He found a sunny spot in Harry's beautiful garden and settled in for a peaceful read. It was warm, and he very nearly dozed off several times. When he became too warm for comfort, he retreated to the house and settled himself in the living room. Hours later, Harry appeared and began making supper preparations. Prepared to have his offer rebuffed again, Severus nevertheless set his book aside and offered to assist.

"You can put the salad together if it's not too much trouble," Harry said stiffly.

"It's no trouble at all," Severus assured him.

Harry retrieved the ingredients for him, and Severus set to work washing vegetables.

"I hope you don't mind a simple supper," Harry said as he retrieved more supplies from the refrigerator.

"I eat that way myself normally," Severus assured him.

Harry used the grill built into his cooktop to cook thinly sliced chicken that had been marinating all day and ears of corn. He threw potato chunks into a skillet where they set about browning. Within twenty minutes, they were sitting down at the table in the sunroom with a delicious meal.

"Your garden is beautiful," Snape said. "I hope that you do not mind I took advantage of it for a while this afternoon. It is a supremely restful place to read."

"I don't mind," Harry said grudgingly. "While you're here, you should feel free to go wherever you like."

"Thank you." Conversation with Harry was painfully stilted and awkward, but Severus plowed on.

"Would you mind if I asked how you make your living these days?"

Severus watched Harry's internal debate. The man was obviously torn between being civil to a guest in his home and snapping at Snape the way he wanted to. "I haven't worked at all for the last year," he said. "Haven't been able to. Before that, I worked for the State as a court-appointed special advocate."

"I'm afraid I don't know what that means," Severus confessed.

"I worked with families where children had been removed from their homes because of abuse or neglect."

That seemed like a very apt job for someone with Harry's background. "That sounds very rewarding."

"It could be. It could also be incredibly frustrating and heartbreaking."

They were silent for a bit while they ate until Severus tried again. "Do the children attend school nearby?"

"Yes."

"Are they good students?"

Harry stared at Severus for a long moment, long enough so that Severus thought he wasn't going to answer. "They're both very bright, though their strengths lie in different areas. Al is very good at maths and the sciences Sidney enjoys reading and the arts."

"And Sidney is away at a theater camp?"

"Yes."

"And Allison, she is athletic you say?"

"Yes."

"She takes after you in that regard."

Harry made no response to this statement.

Severus sighed and stood up, offering to do the clean-up. Harry left him to it.

[scene break]

Harry, obviously exhausted, retired for the evening early. Having nothing better to do, Severus followed suit soon after.

[scene break]

There was no noticeable difference in the level of pain on day two of the treatment. Harry writhed and moaned on the sofa for an hour, then slept for another two. By day three, either he was getting more accustomed to the torture, or the pain lessened somewhat because Harry was able to tolerate it more easily. By the treatment on Friday, though it was still incredibly painful, Harry no longer needed to hold Snape's hand, for which he was supremely grateful.

On Saturday, Hermione came by for a visit.

"How are you feeling?"

"Wrung out," Harry said. Hermione could see how tired he was. He'd looked this way for a long time now, but the last week had taken an additional toll that was obvious in the man's face.

"Is the treatment working?"

"Hard to say. Snape says we're on course. He says we won't know if it's been completely s-s-s . . ." Harry huffed in frustration. "If it works until the point where we start regrowing the nerves."

"Where is Severus?"

"He went home for a couple of hours."

"How are the two of you getting along?" Hermione wanted to know.

"Fine," Harry said vaguely. "He keeps asking me questions. You know, about the girls and about our life."

"And that bothers you?"

"It makes me angry. What right does he have after all this time to interfere now?"

"Perhaps he's not trying to interfere," Hermione suggested softly. "Perhaps he's genuinely interested. He's recently learned that he has children."

"Children he didn't even want!" Harry protested.

"I know," she soothed. "But he wouldn't be human if he wasn't at least a little curious. And you know that Severus has always been a curious person. It's been a long time, Harry. People change. The children are real to him now, much more real than when they were some abstract concept of what they might become."

Harry stewed on this for a moment. "He apologized," he said gruffly.

"Did he?"

"Yeah. The first night he was here. Said he was sorry and that he was glad I had chosen to keep them."

"Well, that's good, right? Did you accept his apology?"

"How do you accept an apology for that, Hermione? He wanted me to murder my children! Does he really think that had I done what he wanted all those years ago, we would still be together now? Could anyone really get beyond that with someone they thought they were in love with?"

"I don't know," Hermione said honestly. "But people make mistakes. Big mistakes, sometimes. It's only natural to have regrets when you destroy something of value as thoroughly as Severus destroyed your relationship. And in the short time I've spent with him recently, I believe that he sincerely does regret his ultimatum to you. I know that you never wanted him to know about the girls and that you'd prefer that he not even know where you live, but he does now. Legally, he would have every right to force you to let him have contact with them."

"He said he has no intention of doing that. He said he was going to do what he could for me and then he was going to disappear from our lives."

"Do you believe him?"

"He sounded like he meant it. But, Hermione, if he tries anything, I'll kill him," Harry promised.

Hermione didn't respond to this statement. She knew that Harry was speaking from a place of fear and uncertainty and that he still felt the sting of betrayal from all those years ago. She thought that, given time and Severus' continued interest, he and Harry could come to some type of arrangement regarding their children, assuming the girls even wanted to have contact with their other father. But they were children, and they had to be curious as well. Hermione sighed to herself and vowed to do what she could to help smooth the way if that were to occur. But now was probably the time to change the subject.

"What have you heard from the girls?"

[scene break]

When Severus stepped through the floo later, he immediately heard voices, Harry's and someone else's. Someone he thought was one of the girls, but that didn't make any sense – they were both away at camp. He was surprised to find Harry alone in the living room, sitting on the sofa, and leaning toward the computer which was resting on the coffee table.

"I apologize," Severus said immediately. "I heard voices. I thought – "

Harry only stared at him.

"I thought I heard someone."

"Just a minute, hon," Harry spoke to the computer, confusing Severus further.

Harry pressed a button on the computer. "I'm in the middle of a conversation here if it's not too much to ask for a little privacy?"

"Oh. Of course – of course not. Again, my apologies. I'll just go upstairs." Chastened, Severus hurried away.

Harry waited until he was sure the other man had gone all the way up to his room and didn't unmute Sidney until he'd heard Snape's door close. Once he had, he said, "Sorry about that. Where were we?"

"Was that him?"

"Yes. He's just returned."

"Didn't he want to say hello?"

"I don't know what he wanted," Harry said stubbornly. "I didn't ask."

"Dad –"

Harry didn't want to hear it. "What time is the show?"

Sidney sighed but let it go. "I already told you. Two o'clock."

"Great. I can't wait to see you. I miss you."

"Miss you, too, Dad. Are you feeling any better?"

"A little," Harry lied. He was still in pain all the time, and he was more tired now than he'd ever been. But he didn't need to burden her with that.

"Good. I'm glad. So he's helping you?"

"I guess so."

"Will he still be there when we get home?"

Harry bit back the 'Not if I can help it' that wanted to fall from his tongue. "I don't know, hon. I think we'll be finishing up the treatment right around then. I'm not sure what his plans are."

"I want to see him," Sidney said firmly.

"Honey, we talked about this."

"Dad, I know how you feel, and I respect that. I know you have your reasons. But he's my father. I'm not saying I want to move in with him or anything like that, but I'd at least like a chance to talk to him."

"And how does your sister feel about it?" Harry knew that they'd spoken. They were incredibly close, and even when they were away at their respective camps, they were in touch multiple times a day.

"You know Al," Sidney pointed out. "She can hold onto stuff a really long time."

"She gets that from him," Harry pointed out.

"I don't know. I think you're doing a pretty good job of that right now. How long has it been, Dad?"

"You don't understand," Harry protested. "If you were a parent, you'd understand how I feel."

"I don't want to argue with you, Dad. I only want you to respect my side, too."

"All right," Harry sighed in defeat. "We'll talk when you get home."

"We will," Sidney promised. "I have to go now. Rehearsal. I love you, Dad. Take care of yourself. And let Mr. Snape take care of you, too."

"Love you, too," Harry said, making no promises. "Bye, Sweetie."

"Bye, Dad," Sidney said before disconnecting.

Harry sat back on the sofa with a weary sigh, absently scratching at his arm. He'd been really itchy today. And he thought he'd probably been rude to his houseguest, so he dragged himself off the sofa and up the stairs.

When he knocked softly on Snape's door, it only took a moment for the other man to open the door. "I wanted to apologize," Harry said. "I was rude to you just now."

"Don't give it a second thought," Severus assured him.

"Thank you, but the fact that I find this situation difficult is no reason to be rude, especially when you're helping me. I just wanted to be sure that you'd eaten."

Severus seemed pleased by even this small amount of thoughtfulness. "I have. I actually had dinner with Minerva McGonagall in Hogsmeade. I had not seen her in some time."

A real smile graced Harry's face. "How is the Headmistress?" He hadn't seen her since he'd left all those years ago, but she was one of the few people who knew Harry's current whereabouts.

"She is very well. I told her that I would be seeing you, and she asked me to pass along her good wishes."

"Thanks. I was just speaking to Sidney. That's who I was talking to when you got home. When you got here," Harry corrected.

Snape's confusion showed plainly on his face. "How is that possible?"

"On the computer. We were Skyping."

"I don't know what that means. I am afraid I have very little familiarity with Muggle electronics."

"I can't really explain it. It's like an open floo connection I guess. You can see and hear the other person, and they can see and hear you. Through the computer. Don't ask me to explain how it works, because I have no idea. I'm just glad that it does so that we can keep in touch while they're away."

"That must make it easier," Snape agreed. "And did you speak with Allison through this same method?"

"I did."

"And they are both fine?"

"They're both great. Having a wonderful time. Probably don't miss me at all."

"Oh, I very much doubt that. They are both very protective of you and love you very much. That is obvious to see."

Harry scratched vigorously at his arm.

"You are itchy, yes?" Snape guessed.

"Yeah. My skin," Harry confessed, looking closely at the skin on his arm. "Not sure what's going on."

"It's a common side effect of the treatment. The potion that you soaked in tends to dry out the skin. You have managed to avoid this particular side effect longer than most, but I suspected that it would eventually trouble you. I have a potion."

Harry was about to accuse Snape of not telling him about this particular side effect before they'd started treatment, then thought better. Snape had told him a lot of things before he'd agreed to do this, and he'd only listened to half of it. It was equally likely that Snape had told him and he just didn't remember. And it wouldn't have mattered anyway. A little dry, itchy skin would not have kept him from attempting the treatment.

But if there was relief available, he would certainly take advantage of it.

"A potion, you say?"

"Yes." Snape ducked back into the room, then reappeared with a potion bottle.

"And this won't interfere with the treatment in any way?"

"No. I would not offer it to you if it had any negative effect on the treatment."

"You'd let me suffer?"

"If it was better for you in the long run, yes."

"Well, thankfully it's an option." Harry held out his hand and Snape placed the bottle into it.

"Do you require any assistance with it?" Snape asked solicitously.

Harry narrowed his eyes, suspicious again at once. "No. I think I can manage."

"Let me know if you change your mind."

"Thank you."

Harry retired to his room and stripped off all of his clothes. He looked at himself in the full-length mirror and thought he really was pathetically thin, like some pale scarecrow. Shrugging at his foolishness, he poured some of the potion into his palm and began to rub it over his skin. He felt immediate relief. He hadn't realized that other areas of his body were itchy, but once he'd covered his arms with potion, he noticed the itching in his torso. Smearing the potion over his chest brought relief but seemed to drive the itchy feeling into his legs. Once he'd taken care of those, he rubbed the potion into his neck, his arse, and his genitals. He sighed in relief. Until he realized that his back was practically crawling with the need to be scratched. He put more potion on his hands and tried as best he could to reach his back, but it was no good. Now that it was the only area not covered with potion, he realized just how itchy his back was and knew he'd never get any sleep tonight if he didn't do something. Sighing in defeat, he slid back into his jeans and trekked back upstairs.

He knocked on Snape's door again. When the man opened the door, Harry wordlessly handed him the bottle and turned around. Snape knew immediately what Harry needed, and he poured the potion over his hands and rubbed it into his one-time lover's back carefully and clinically. When he finished, Harry sighed a deep sigh of happiness.

"Thank you," he said.

"You are most welcome. Good night, Mr. Potter."

[scene break]

Rain was falling when Harry awoke on Sunday morning, and it continued throughout the day, bringing his already downcast mood down even lower. The level of pain he experienced during the hour after taking the potion hadn't decreased much at all after day five, so the treatment had effectively stalled for the time being. But more than that, he missed his girls. After a quiet lunch with Snape, Harry did what he always did when he missed his kids: he pulled out photo albums and began leafing through them, browsing through photos of his now almost-grown children when they were infants and toddlers. He could tell that Snape was interested in what he was doing, and for a while, he ignored the other man, but then he took pity on him. He retrieved from the shelf the oldest of the photo albums, the one that contained the photos of the girls when they were born (and a few of Harry still pregnant), and limped toward Snape, thrusting the book at him.

Severus had been reading, and he looked up in surprise, automatically reaching to take whatever it was that Potter was pressing on him. He looked up at Harry, who said nothing, looking back at him with unfathomable green eyes. Severus lowered the book onto his lap and opened the cover while Harry returned to his own chair.

Severus stared for a long while at the photos of Harry on the first page of the album. His Harry, the Harry he'd chased from his life all those years ago, round with child – children. His children. Harry, looking much younger than he did today but just as he had in Snape's mind's eye before being faced with the reality of the current Harry and his devastating illness. Harry, bursting with life and pride and happiness. Had he not driven Harry away, he could have shared this with his partner. He could have been there to soothe the discomfort of morning sickness, he could have shared the wonder of feeling his children move in the womb, he could have held Harry's hand while he delivered their beautiful girls to the world.

Severus closed his eyes, the totality of what he'd done settling on him like a wet, heavy woolen blanket. Regret and despair leaked from his eyes, and he pushed the album out of harm's way. Embarrassed at this display of emotion, he wanted to flee but wasn't sure how he could do so without making a spectacle of himself. He rubbed at his eyes, making an attempt to gather himself, hoping that he could gain control before Harry became aware of his distress.

But it was too late. Severus felt something brushing his hand and opened his eyes to find a handkerchief in front of his face. He accepted it gratefully without looking up at Harry and covered his face, allowing his grief and regret to vent a bit more before inhaling a large breath and holding it for several seconds. Only then did he begin to gain control of himself. The tears stopped shortly thereafter, and only the annoying nasal drip remained. That he took care of by blowing his nose heartily in the handkerchief.

Only after he'd completely calmed did he look up at Harry. The man stared back at him impassively.

"All right?" Harry asked.

"Yes," Severus said with a shuddering in-drawn breath. "Yes. I apologize."

"Don't be stupid," Harry said harshly. Though he didn't want it to, Severus' honest display had done a lot to soften Harry's attitude toward the other man. "I didn't realize I was that hard to look at," he joked weakly.

Severus' eyes snapped up to meet Harry's. "You were beautiful," he said fiercely.

Harry looked away, blushing.

"I am sorry," Severus said, his voice raw with emotion.

"Yeah, you said. Are you actually going to look at pictures of the girls now, or did the pictures of me scare you off?"

Severus drew the album back more securely onto his lap, flipped the page, and began looking at photos of his newly-born daughters, wrinkled and red and crying their displeasure with the world. He remained immersed, taking his time with each photo, wishing they were wizarding photos so that they moved. When he reached the end of the book, Harry was there to hand him another. In this one, the girls learned to walk. He could only imagine how much trouble the two little hooligans must have gotten into when they became mobile. He noticed a dog in one of the photos. "You had a dog?"

"Hmm?" Harry looked up from the book he'd been reading.

"A dog," Severus repeated, pointing at the photo in question.

Harry got up out of his chair and approached Severus, looking down at the photo. "Oh. Yes. That was Barney, I think."

"You cannot remember the name of your dog?"

"He wasn't really ours," Harry explained. "We were involved in a program that trained dogs for use as service animals."

"Service animals?"

"Yes, you know, dogs that help blind people or physically handicapped people."

"I do not believe I've ever heard of such of thing."

"It's something Muggles do, I guess. We didn't actually do any of the training. We got them as puppies and helped to socialize them. When they reached a certain age, people who really knew what they were doing took over to train them for a specific purpose."

"That sounds . . . very worthwhile."

"It was," Harry agreed. "We did it for years."

Harry approached the bookshelf and searched until he found the album he was looking for. He gave that one to Severus. "This is all the dogs," he said, flipping the cover open and settling on the arm of Severus' chair.

Severus would rather have continued looking at the photos of the children, but he dutifully looked down at the admittedly very cute puppies. After he'd looked at several pages, he said, "They are all retrievers?"

"Mostly," Harry said. "Goldens and labs." He reached over to turn towards the middle of the book. "There. We had a couple of spaniels, too."

Severus returned to the beginning and began to page slowly through the photos, not so much because he wanted to see more puppies but because Harry had settled in close to him to see the photos as well. As they looked together, Harry would smile fondly and tell him the names of the different dogs or some anecdote that was triggered by a photo.

"Was it not difficult giving them up? Did you not become attached?"

"It was hard," Harry said. "I tried to console myself by telling myself they were going to someone who really needed them, but it was hard to let them go. It's one of the reasons we stopped doing it."

Severus reached the end of the album with regret, assuming that Harry would then move elsewhere. He was surprised when Harry remained on the arm of his chair when he returned to the children's photo album. He asked many questions about the photos, hoping to keep Harry engaged for as long as possible. When they reached the end of this album, Harry seemed to realize just how close they were, and he pulled away and stood up. He took the book from Severus and returned it to the shelf.

"Thank you for sharing those with me."

"You're welcome. There are others here. You're welcome to look at them any time you like. I'm afraid I took a lot of photos of them when they were growing up."

"I am grateful for that, too."

[scene break]

Nearing the end of the second week of treatment, Harry's pain still had not lessened as Severus had expected it to and as had happened with a large majority of the others he'd tested this potion on. He'd returned home to consult with the healer at St. Mungo's who was working on this project with him, and the only conclusion they could arrive at was that Harry's condition had been substantially more progressed than even his own doctors had been aware of. Healer Abbishaw was confident that if they stuck with the treatment, they would soon see results.

When Severus returned to Harry's home on Friday afternoon after meeting with the Healer, Harry was sitting on the sofa, book in hand, and Severus thought the man looked even more tired and gray than the first time he'd seen him here.

"You're back," Harry said. "What did the Healer say?"

Snape sat in the chair across from Harry. "He believes that your condition may have progressed beyond even your doctor's understanding. He is confident, however, that if we keep with it, we will begin to see results."

"Hopefully soon?" Harry asked.

"Yes," Snape agreed. He was silent for a moment. "I apologize that it has taken so long. None of the other patients has taken this long to show results."

Harry smiled weakly. "I've always been slow, right? Probably doesn't sur–" Harry struggled for a moment before giving it up. "You probably expected that."

"I meant no criticism of you," Snape said sincerely. "I am sorry that you've had to suffer a moment longer than necessary, and I wish that your treatment had followed the course of my previous subjects only because it would have spared you pain."

Harry slumped back in his chair and closed his eyes, dropping his book to his lap, too tired to hold it up any longer. "I hope it's okay to skip a day."

"What do you mean?"

"Sidney's show is tomorrow. I don't want to do the treatment in the morning, so I'll be stronger when I go."

Snape processed this for a moment, biting his tongue to hold back his automatic protest. "May I inquire where this is taking place?" he asked instead.

"Her camp? It's in a little town in western Pennsylvania."

"And you plan to travel there by . . .?"

"I can floo there. There's a little wizard settlement close by. It's one of the reasons we chose that camp years ago. I'll walk from there."

Snape knew he had to choose his next words carefully or risk an eruption. "May I state what a very bad idea that is?"

Harry's eyes snapped open. "You may state whatever you like. It's not going to change anything."

"Harry, you are in pain and you are very weak. Missing a day of treatment may set your course back more than it already is."

"Doesn't matter," Harry said, closing his eyes again. "I've alternated between going to Sid's performance and Al's games every year since they started going to separate camps. I went to Al's last year. It's Sid's turn, and I'm not going to miss it."

"She will understand, I am sure," Snape tried. "When she sees you – when they both see you — they will immediately understand how serious your condition is."

"I'm going to wear a glamour," Harry said. He knew what he looked like and he had no intention of scaring either of his daughters with his frail appearance.

"But what happens when you return home and they see you how you truly are?

"I'll just keep wearing the glamour."

"You're going to wear a glamour in your own home? Constantly?" Severus asked in disbelief. "You cannot afford to expend the amount of magic that it would take to maintain a glamour constantly. Have you been doing this when you speak with the children on the computer?"

"I didn't want to worry them. They've been through enough."

"You should not be using your magic in this way, not when you need it to assist you with healing."

"Well, you never told me that, did you?" Harry challenged.

"I never thought it would be necessary! Have you been lying to them about the progress you're making?"

"The progress I'm not making, you mean? I haven't told them the complete truth, no."

"I think they're old enough to know everything."

"I think it doesn't matter what you think," Harry countered, getting heated. "They're my children and I'll decide what's best for them."

Snape subsided, reigning in his growing frustration, for the sake of keeping the other man calm. "Of course you will. I didn't mean to — I understand your position. But I still wish you'd reconsider going out. What if you –?"

"Drop it," Harry said. "I'm going. I may not have another year left in me, and if I don't, I want to die knowing that I did what I could for my kids."

Snape put that aside for now because he couldn't deal with that possibility. "Tell me someone is going with you," he pleaded. "Tell me you're not foolish enough to go by yourself."

"Hermione was going to go, but she floo called earlier. Rose has wizard's pox, and she doesn't want to risk con– making me sick. And don't even suggest your going," Harry warned, which Snape was working up to do next.

Snape sat back with an angry huff. Stubborn git!

"And another thing," Harry continued. "When I – if I – when I'm gone, those kids are going to Ron and Hermione. Not you."

Well, that hurt more than Snape would have thought it would. Defeated, he got to his feet. "Do as you will," he said, and he made his way slowly back to the floo to return home. If Harry wasn't going to be having treatment tomorrow, there was no reason for him to stay when he so clearly was not wanted or needed here. "Let me know if you change your mind, and I will return for your treatment."

[scene break]

Snape hadn't been sure what time Harry would be returning to the house, so he'd planned his arrival back here for late afternoon. He'd had time to brew a cup of tea and settle on the sofa with a potions periodical when the floo flared to life. It wasn't Harry who stepped out, though, but Allison.

She stopped short when she saw him, obviously surprised.

"My apologies," he said. "I did not mean to startle you."

"What are you doing here?"

"I did not know when your father planned to return, but I wanted to be here when he did, in case he suffered any adverse reaction to the trip."

"Oh," she said, clearly uncomfortable.

"I could wait upstairs in the guest bedroom if you would feel more comfortable."

"No," Allison said, removing three tiny bags from her pocket, along with her wand. She set the bags on the floor, and with a flick of her wand, she returned them all to their normal size, then sent them floating up the stairs.

"You did that non-verbally," Snape noted, impressed.

"Dad's had us practicing spells without speaking them since we were thirteen."

"Impressive. How was your camp experience?" Snape really had no idea what one did at a sports camp and couldn't think of even one specific question he might ask of this young woman.

"Fine," she said shortly. "Let's talk about my father. How is he doing?"

It was clear Harry didn't want the children to know just how poorly he was faring, so Snape tried to tread carefully. "He is not progressing as quickly as I had hoped."

"He hasn't looked too bad when I've spoken to him. He seemed to have a little more color. Isn't he any better?"

"Not as of yet."

"Are you even trying?" Allison asked, her tone hard and accusing. "Or did you just come here to torture him some more?"

Snape's self-defense was pre-empted by the floo flaring and a distressed voice saying, "Oh my God, Dad! What's wrong? Someone help me!"

Snape sprang to his feet as Sidney and Harry emerged from the fireplace together, the slight teen trying to hold her father up. She couldn't do it, and he slumped toward the floor. Snape caught him part-way and eased him down gently.

Harry looked ghastly, white as a sheet and clammy.

"What happened?" Snape quizzed Sidney urgently, pressing his fingers to Harry's neck to feel for his pulse. It was there, but it was weak, and Harry's breathing was shallow.

"I don't know!" Sidney wailed. "I was just about to step into the floo when Dad collapsed and we both kind of just fell in. What's wrong with him?! He looked just fine before. Why does he look so awful? He didn't a minute ago!"

"He was wearing a glamour," Snape said shortly. He looked up at Allison, who had fallen to her knees beside her stricken father. Snape looked at her now. "Perhaps you can fix something for your sister, to calm her down." Indeed, Sidney looked as though she was on the verge of a full-on panic attack. "I will get your father into bed. I have a potion which will help, but I think what he needs most is rest."

Her fear for her father outweighing her dislike for this man, Allison nodded and got to her feet. "Let's make you some tea, Sid," she said, taking her sister by the arm and leading her toward the kitchen. Snape scooped Harry's unconscious form into his arms and strode with the very underweight man toward his bedroom.

"No!" Sid wailed. "I want to stay with Dad! What's wrong with him?!"

Snape paused at the door. "Give me a couple of minutes to get him settled and I will explain what I can."

Ignoring him, Sidney scooted past Snape to open the bedroom door for him, then raced inside to pull the covers down on the bed. "Thank you," Snape said as he placed Harry gently down. "Now please, let me get him settled. I'm going to put him into pajamas so he'll be more comfortable and get some potion into him. If you could bring my black potion bag down, that would be very helpful." Snape spoke soothingly, trying to calm the panic he saw in the child's eyes. Having something constructive to do seemed to help, and Sidney nodded once and raced from the room.

By the time she returned, Snape had magicked Harry into pajamas, and the ashen man lay covered to the chest. Snape took the bag from Sidney, searched for the potion he needed, then magicked it into Harry's bloodstream. Immediately, Harry's color began to improve, though he did not wake.

"Is he in a coma or something?" Sidney asked, her voice a fearful whisper.

Snape ran a diagnostic with his wand. "No. He is merely sleeping. He will do so for a time. Let's let him rest." He motioned for Sidney to precede him to the door. Before she left, Sidney laid her hand on her father's chest, and only when she felt the steady rise and fall of his breathing did she feel safe leaving him.

As soon as they'd left the room and closed the door, Allison was in Snape's face. "He's so much worse! Have you been poisoning him or something? Are you trying to kill him?"

"Of course, I'm not!" Snape defended himself. "Why would I come all this way and spend all this time, only to hurt him? If I wanted him dead, I could have turned you away when you came asking me for help and let him waste away naturally!"

Sidney moaned at this, and Snape drew in a large breath. This was not helping. "Can we sit for a moment and talk like the reasonable people I know we all are?"

"I don't know about reasonable," Allison muttered under her breath, but she returned to the kitchen, where she had boiled water for tea. "Not very reasonable to want to kill your own children, but whatever."

They sat at the table, and Sidney poured them all tea. Allison, Snape noted, took her tea like Harry did — with an unreasonable amount of sugar. Sidney also used sugar, but just a bit, with a tiny dollop of cream. Snape took his straight up, and when they were all ready, he began.

"Your father has not been responding to the treatment as quickly as I had hoped. Yesterday, I returned home to speak with a healer who I work with, and we discussed why that might be. It is the healer's opinion that your father's condition was quite a lot worse than we anticipated at the start of the treatment. He is also confident that, if we continue, we will begin to see results soon. Now I would like your opinion on something."

He looked seriously at both girls, who looked back at him with equal seriousness. "I would like to invite this healer to come here now and check your father over. I would feel better if someone with medical training assessed his condition. Before I do that, however, I want you to know that I have not told this healer that the patient we have been discussing is Harry Potter. There was no need for him to know that, and I know that your father has worked very hard to keep his identity here and his location a secret from the world at large. There is also the issue of your unlicensed international floo. I have confidence in this healer's professionalism and I do not believe he will divulge any information to anyone, but before I take that step, I wanted to know how you both felt about it."

The girls exchanged a glance. "I'd feel better if someone else looked at Dad," Allison stated, her distrust of Snape and his opinions showing.

"I think I would too," Sidney added. "Not because I don't believe you, but I'd just feel better if someone who was an actual doctor told us he was gonna be okay."

"So we are unanimous then," Snape said. "I will call the healer in a moment. You wanted to know why your father looked so much worse. As I said, he's been wearing a glamour. He did this because he did not want you to worry, and it was his intention to maintain this glamour around the clock now that you both are home. That cat is out of the bag, now, obviously. I am wondering, and we can ask the healer about this, if using that glamour, even part of the time over the past couple of weeks, accounts in part for why the treatment has taken longer. Your father has a large amount of magic, but maintaining glamours is magic-intensive, and the glamour may have been depleting his stores."

"So you're blaming him?" Allison asked.

"I am not," Snape said. "I'm not blaming anyone. It is simply another factor, and I may be wrong in my guess. The healer will be able to tell us more definitively."

"This is my fault," Sidney said with a dejected set of her shoulders. "If he hadn't come to my play —"

"It is not your fault," Snape countered. "Your father is a stubborn man. I argued with him yesterday. I told him he should not go because I feared this very thing, but he would not be dissuaded. He loves you and wanted to be there for you. No one can be faulted for that. Do either of you have questions before I call the healer?"

Again they exchanged a glance. "What can we do for him?" Sidney asked.

"I'm not sure there is anything you can do other than let him get the rest he needs. Although, if either of you is proficient at brewing, I'll be making more of the potions he's been taking, and I would not mind a helping hand."

Sidney stuck her tongue out. "Ugh! Potions! But Allie's good at them. She likes that science-y stuff."

Snape looked at his dark-eyed daughter. "I'll help," she said. This way, she'd be able to see if he was poisoning her father with the potions.

"Excellent. I will floo call the healer now."

[scene break]

Healer Abbishaw confirmed Snape's assessment of Harry's condition. He was simply exhausted and had depleted both his magical and physical reserves by the use of a glamour over an extended period of time and with the stress of traveling. Harry would, he assured them, be fine with enough rest. He recommended that they wait two days before resuming Harry's treatment. The healer answered all of Allison's questions before departing.

"I think we should let Aunt Hermione know what's going on," Sidney said shortly after he'd left. "Is it okay if we floo call her?" she asked Snape.

"I don't think we need his permission to use the floo in our own home," Allison pointed out.

"Of course you don't," Snape agreed. "And I certainly think that your aunt would appreciate an update. When you speak with her, you might ask her if there is anything she needs by way of potions for her daughter. We could add those to our potions list for this evening."

"I will," Sidney said with a bright smile.

While the girls spoke through the floo with Hermione, Severus poked around in the kitchen, checking out food reserves. It was obvious that Harry was not going to be up to caring for two children for a couple of days, and he thought making sure there was sufficient food in the house to feed them would be a good start. He found the pantry well stocked with canned items, and a look in the freezer showed meat and frozen vegetables to last at least several days. Since it was late afternoon, Snape thought perhaps something quick and easy for dinner was the way to go.

"Aunt Hermione said thank you for your offer and she'd love it if you could send her some fever reducer and an itch cream," Sidney said. "I told her that you and Al would be working on that tonight."

Snape nodded in confirmation. "Where is your sister?"

"She went upstairs to unpack and sort her laundry. I guess I'd better get to that, too."

"I was wondering about dinner. Do you both like fish and chips?"

"We love that," Sidney affirmed. "Dad does, too. Though I guess he probably won't feel up to eating. I'm not sure that we have any fish, though."

"That's all right," Snape assured her. "I was thinking of a little shop I frequent in London. If you're going to have an international floo, you might as well use it, right? When your sister's done, we can brew up the potions that Miss Granger needs and deliver them to her in recompense for traipsing through her living room."

"That sounds great. I'll tell Al when I go up. Are you going to brew here in the kitchen?"

Snape nodded. "That makes the most sense." Actually what made the most sense was using his lab at home, but he thought Harry seriously would kill him if he took Allison back to London with him. Assuming the girl would even go with him. "Unless you tell me your father has a potions lab somewhere on the premises."

"No," Sidney said with a small smile. "Dad always says how much he hates potions. Bad experiences at school. Oh," she said, seeming to realize what she'd just said. "I guess that was you."

"Indeed," Snape said with a tight nod.

"Sorry," Sid said sheepishly.

"There's no need. I will gather the necessary ingredients and wait for Allison."

[scene break]

They'd brewed in relative silence. Allison worked quietly and efficiently, asking no questions but following Snape's directions exactly. He had tried engaging her in conversation, asking her about the instruction she'd received at school in potions, since it was obvious that someone had taught the child, and taught her well. Beyond learning that she and Sidney attended a school which was magical but which also taught typical Muggle courses, Allison offered little, parting with what information she did reveal begrudgingly. Snape was relieved that although Sidney did not participate in the brewing, she sat in the kitchen with them while they worked, and from her he learned much more about their school and their coursework and their teachers. Allison shot several hostile looks at her sister when she continued answering the man's questions, but Sidney shrugged them off. She'd always been more curious about her other father than Allie, and she wasn't going to lose this opportunity to learn whatever she could about him. She asked him just as many questions as he asked her, and the two of them kept the conversation going on their own.

When they were finished with the potions for Rose, Snape took them and stepped into the floo. He returned an hour later with a bag of heavenly-smelling fish and chips. He first checked on Harry, where he found Sidney curled up on the end of his bed, reading a book.

"He's still asleep," she whispered.

Snape ran his wand over Harry's prone form, reassured that his vital signs were a little stronger than they'd been before. He was still deeply asleep though, so Snape said, "Come, child. I have brought dinner."

They ate their dinner in the dining room. Again, Sidney and Snape did all the talking and once they'd finished and cleaned up what little mess they'd made, Snape turned to Allison. "Are you still interested in assisting with your father's potions?"

She was. She'd made fever-reducing potion and itch-relieving salve at school, but the potions her father was taking were new to her, and she was eager to try her hand at them. Plus she wanted to see what Snape might be adding to them. She told him that she was, and they set to work. This time, Sidney excused herself from their company, pleading tiredness. She went in to check on her father once more, then went up the stairs.

"Did the recipe come from a book?" Allison asked.

"It did."

"Do you have it?"

"The book? I've brewed it enough that I no longer need the source in front of me."

"Can I see it?" Allison persisted.

"It's in my things. I can get it if you are really interested," he offered.

"I'm really interested," Al assured him.

"All right then," Snape acquiesced, and he climbed the stairs to his room and retrieved the book from his bag. He handed it to her and said, "Page ninety-two for the revitalizing potion that I gave your father earlier today. The potion that he has been taking every day, the one that destroys the nerves, is on page one eleven, and the other, the one for freezing the degeneration, is on the following page. Though we won't need to brew it again, the topical potion that is added to bath water on the first day of treatment is found on page one sixty-three. There are two additional potions, one of which will numb whatever nerve endings remain. That will be administered one time. The last potion, which will need to be taken every day for as long as it takes to regrow healthy nerves, is on page two hundred eight."

Keeping that list of pages in her head, Allison flipped to the first one. The restorative potion didn't look that difficult. "Are we brewing this one?"

"Yes. My supply is a bit low, and your father may need more."

"It doesn't look that hard," Allison noted as Snape set out the ingredients.

"It is not particularly difficult," Snape agreed. "Would you like to do it yourself?"

Allison read through the instructions again. "Yes, I can do it."

They didn't speak while Allison worked. She was competent, Snape noted, moving with efficiency and confidence. He saw no reason to correct any of her actions, not that he would have, short of her doing something fatally wrong. He could still sense her hostility toward him, though it was muted by her concentration on what she was doing, and he had no intention of criticizing her in any way.

"That is very well done," he murmured when she was finished, keeping his praise minimal so that he didn't seem to be courting her favor. "I can see you've had a competent instructor. While we wait for it to cool, we can begin on the next potion, which is the numbing agent. That one is a bit more complicated."

Allison flipped through the book until she found the correct page. There were ingredients here she'd never heard of, and the steps did look a little complex. "Where do we start?"

"If you'd like to chop the feverfew, I will begin the base."

They worked in silence for a while, until Allison finally spoke up. "I noticed there was capsaicin in the topical potion. Is that the same capsaicin that's found in peppers?"

"It is."

"Doesn't that burn?"

"It can cause a mild burning or tingling sensation. The addition of aloe vera and clove oil in the potion, both of which have numbing properties, counteract those symptoms."

"So why do they use capsaicin?"

"Research has shown that it decreases pain transmitting chemicals in the nerve cells."

"Hmmm."

Snape could tell that she was finding this interesting but didn't want to show it. They worked side by side, mostly in silence, until both potions were brewed. Allison paid strict attention to the recipes and what Snape was adding as they went along, and she was satisfied at the end that he hadn't added anything to either potion that wasn't supposed to be there. Which didn't mean he wasn't poisoning her father, just that he wasn't doing it through the potions.

[scene break]

Before Snape retired for the evening, he checked on Harry one more time, accompanied by both girls, who wanted to say good night to their father. This time, when Snape ran his diagnostic spell, Harry stirred, and his eyes fluttered open.

"What –?" he murmured. "Where – where am I?"

"You are home. In your own bed," Snape said. "You had a taxing day and collapsed when you came through the floo."

Harry stirred feebly, as though trying to get up. "The girls – I have to –"

"We're right here, Dad," Sidney said, stepping up to the bed.

"Oh, hi, Sid. You were so good today," he murmured. "Al?"

"Here, Dad."

"Are you okay? How was your day? Did you eat? Want me to make you something?"

Sidney smiled affectionately at his silliness. "No, Dad, we're good. It's okay. Mr. Snape got us dinner."

This seemed to agitate Harry. "I want you to go. I want you to go stay with Aunt Hermione."

"No, Dad!" Allison exclaimed. "We're not leaving you!"

"Don't want you here," Harry protested weakly.

"We're staying," Sidney said firmly.

"The Weasleys are not an option at any rate," Snape chimed in. "Their son has also contracted the wizard's pox. Mrs. Weasley has her hands full at the moment."

"Oh, not Hugo, too," Harry said with dismay. "They must be miserable."

"Don't worry, Dad," Sidney soothed him. "Al and Mr. Snape made them some potions. I'm sure they're feeling better already."

"You made them potions?" Harry asked, looking at Snape, who nodded and said, "Allison helped."

"That's nice," Harry whispered, and his eyes fluttered closed.

"You need rest," Snape said. "The girls wanted to say good night."

He stood back from the bed so both girls could get closer to their father. "Night, Dad," Sidney said, squeezing her father's hand and leaning over to kiss his forehead. She moved so that Allison could take her place.

"I'm watching out for you, Dad," Al whispered in her father's ear. "Don't worry."

"Love you guys," Harry murmured.

"Love you, too," both girls said, and the three of them left the room. Harry was asleep before they closed the door.

[scene break]

They co-existed mostly peacefully in the house over the next few days while Harry recovered his strength and started his treatment anew. Snape made sure the children ate regularly and talked often with Sidney. Allison's attitude thawed minutely when she saw how devoted Snape seemed to be to Harry and how tenderly he cared for him, though she was not in any way friendly to him.

As the week progressed, and with the aid of the regenerative potion Allison had helped to brew, Harry was able to stay out of bed for longer periods. He sat with his daughters as often as possible and even spent some time with Snape. During one of these times, he apologized to Snape.

"I'm sorry about what I said to you," he said. "That day we argued."

"You'd have to be more specific, I'm afraid," Snape said lightly. They had argued many times over the course of their history.

"You know what I mean. The day before I left for camp. What I said about the girls – that was cruel and unnecessary."

"I took no offense, I assure you."

"You left in a hurry."

"I was angry. I did not think it wise for you to go, and you disagreed. You know what I am like."

"I remember," Harry said softly. "Still, I am sorry. I could blame the pain I was in, but that wouldn't be the whole story. But I want to make it up to you."

"That is not necessary."

Harry ignored him and shuffled to the cabinet beside the television. Snape watched as he removed something and inserted it into a piece of equipment next to the telly. When Harry turned the television on and pressed a button on the machine next to it, pictures began to play on the set, pictures of infants.

"Home videos," Harry explained. "I've made them of the girls their entire lives. I thought you might like to see them as babies."

Snape was stunned. "I would. I would like that very much."

Snape sat, enraptured, as he watched the children grow up, watched them learn to crawl and walk, watched their annual birthday celebrations, watched them swim and run and play, watched Sidney in multiple plays and Allison engage in sporting activities. He was an emotional wreck by the end and had to retire to his room to get himself back under control.

[scene break]

It took another ten days, but Harry finally reached the point they'd been waiting for - he felt no pain at all when he took the daily potion. "Tomorrow," Snape told Harry and the children, "we move on to the potion that removes all sensation from the nerves, both good and bad. You will be confined to bed for some time. You will have absolutely no motor control for at least twenty-four hours, most likely longer. It is dangerous to walk around when one cannot feel what is touching one's skin. The following day, we begin the nerve regeneration potion."

"How long will it take for that to work?" Sidney asked.

"Some patients have regrown nerve endings in as little as two weeks. Some have taken as many as six. Progress will be slow, with a little bit of improvement every day."

"But in a couple of months, he'll be back to normal?" Sidney asked, hope shining from her face.

"That is the goal," Snape confirmed.

Sidney flung herself into Snape's arms, hugging him joyfully. Startled, Snape's eyes flew to Harry, to see how he was reacting to his daughter's show of affection for someone he disliked and distrusted so. "Thank you," Sidney muttered into his chest.

Snape wanted to envelop her in a real hug, but he feared Harry's reaction, so he simply patted her shoulder somewhat awkwardly until she backed away.

[scene break]

"So I just have to just lay here for twenty-four hours?" Harry grumbled after swallowing down the latest potion. "I may go insane."

"That is the safest way to proceed," Severus told him. "And I believe I said it would be more than twenty-four hours."

"But surely I can get up to use the loo?"

"You cannot. There are spells to take care of that."

"Well that's not at all embarrassing," Harry noted. "Still, that's a long time to be still."

"I'm sure the children will be willing to keep you company. You can listen to music or watch the telly."

"Can't I read a book?"

Snape looked at his watch and judged the potion should have completed its initial work. "Try moving your arms."

Harry did and found that he couldn't move them at all. Nor his legs. Nor anything else. Except for his tongue. "This is freaky. How is it I can still talk?"

"Part of the charms that went into the potion. Patients having the ability to tell us what they need is helpful. You can also breathe, you may notice. If you want to read, we can charm a book to hover above you and turn the pages on command, or someone could read to you. Would you like me to retrieve a book for you now?"

"In a minute maybe. I'm trying not to freak out."

Indeed, Snape could hear an edge of panic in Harry's voice. "Are you all right?"

"I think so." He didn't sound sure.

Snape stepped closer so that Harry could see him. "You are fine," he said soothingly. "Your children are upstairs, sleeping their lazy way to midday, as is their custom. Starting tomorrow, you will begin the process of recovery. Take slow, steady, deep breaths, and think about these things. Calm yourself and let the treatment work. Like the pain, the numbness is a fleeting thing, and you will soon be beyond it."

Harry's green eyes had locked on Snape's as he spoke, and the other man's words did seem to have a calming effect. He breathed deeply, centering himself using the same techniques he'd used to overcome the debilitating pain that he no longer felt and let go of the anxiety. The fact that he no longer felt pain was a wonder, something he thought he'd not experience until he died.

"Thank you," he said simply when Snape paused. "Even if this doesn't work, thank you for trying."

"I am confident that it will work, Harry," Snape promised. "You are going to live a long, healthy, happy life. You're going to see your children grow to adulthood and become productive members of society and get married and maybe have children of their own."

Harry found that his tear ducts were also working. A lone tear slipped out of one eye. Snape brushed it away with a finger.

"Thank you," Harry said again, closing his eyes. "Hey, my eyelids work, too."

Snape chuckled. "You are welcome. I cannot tell you how grateful I am that your children defied you and came to me."

"Me, too," Harry said with a sigh.

[scene break]

"Ready?" Severus asked.

Harry was still in bed, propped up against pillows. Control of his body was coming back to him slowly, but he still needed assistance to move. He looked at his daughters, perched on the end of his bed, before looking at Severus. "Ready."

"Can you hold the cup?" Severus thought he knew the answer to that question, but he also thought that Harry would appreciate being asked before Snape just tried to give it to him as though he were a toddler.

Harry tried to raise his hand. It lifted about an inch off the bed covers, then dropped back down. "That would be a no," he said.

"No matter," Snape said. He used one hand to gently cup the back of Harry's head and the other to raise the goblet to Harry's mouth. Tipping it slowly, he watched as Harry swallowed down most of the potion. Only a little dribbled from the corner of his mouth. Severus wiped that away with a napkin.

"What happens now?" Sidney asked.

"Now he begins the process of regrowing new, healthy nerves," Severus explained. "There won't be any visible outward sign. All of the work is going on under the skin. It is a slow process and will take time. You will likely experience a tingling sensation as the nerves begin their regeneration, but there shouldn't be any pain. It will likely be several days before you regain complete control of your extremities."

"So I'm stuck here for a while longer?" Harry complained.

"That is best," Severus conceded. "Though there is no reason why you cannot be moved to the sofa if you'd prefer not to be isolated in here."

"I think I would like that," Harry agreed. "It's very boring in here alone."

Severus tossed back the covers on the bed. Expecting the other man to use a hover charm, Harry was surprised when Snape scooped him up into his arms. Allison jumped up and grabbed pillows from the bed and Sidney followed behind with the quilt.

Severus very gently lay Harry down on the sofa then stood back to allow the girls to get him arranged comfortably. When they were finished, Harry sighed happily. "Thanks, guys."

"Can we get you anything?" Sidney asked. "Some iced tea or a snack or anything?"

"No, hon, I'm fine. Thanks. You don't need to hover over me. I'll just sit here and enjoy different scenery."

"Okay. But if you want anything, just yell. Promise?" Allison asked.

"I promise."

Both of the girls left him and went upstairs. Even Allison now left them without looking suspiciously at Snape before doing so.

"I think it is time for me to take my leave," Severus announced after they had gone.

"What do you mean? We're not finished."

"No, but there's no reason why Sidney or Allison can't give you your daily potion. They can contact me if they have questions or should any issues arise."

"But what about . . . you just carried me out here. They can't do that. What will we do . . .?" Harry stopped, seeming flustered for a moment, but then caught himself. "Never mind. We'll be fine. You obviously want to get back to your life."

"It is not merely a question of what I want. I know that you did not want me in your home, and you have tolerated me here while it was necessary. But it really is no longer necessary in the strictest sense of the word. The potion will do its work whether I am here or not and does not require daily tweaking as the other potion did. Your daughters are capable of looking out for you, and they can let me know if you require my presence, in which case I will come immediately. I can teach them the elimination spells they need."

"Can't I do that myself?" Harry asked, a little embarrassed at the thought of his daughters providing that service for him.

"Can you do so wandlessly?"

"Yes." He was pretty sure, anyway.

"Then there's no reason why you can't perform those spells yourself. Do you need me to teach them to you?"

"No. I was paying attention when you did them." Harry was quiet for a moment before he said, "So . . . leaving. Is that what you want?"

"What I want is not the issue here."

"Humor me," Harry insisted. "What do you want?"

Snape sighed. What did he want? What could he allow himself to hope for? "I am unsure what I want. I want you to recover, most importantly. I want a relationship with my children, if you will allow it, and if it's even possible knowing what they know about me. A part of me wants to step into a time machine and travel back sixteen years and beat my younger self about the head to knock some sense into it."

"Can I help you?" Harry joked tiredly.

"I'll give you first crack."

"You have a pretty thick skull. Might take a lot of beating. Who knows? Maybe the TARDIS will land here."

"The what?"

"You know. The TARDIS. And the Doctor."

"Doctor who?"

"Exactly."

Snape peered at him, concerned. "Harry, you aren't making any sense. Do you feel all right?"

Harry began to snort through his nose, making Severus even more concerned. Until Harry said, "It's very weird laughing when you can't move."

"You are laughing? I feel like you are laughing at me, but I do not know why."

"Never mind," Harry said with an amused sigh. "It would be too hard to explain."

Still half convinced that Harry was experiencing a heretofore unknown side effect of the treatment, Snape nevertheless let it go and returned to their former discussion. "I did also tell you I would leave you to yourselves when we were finished here," Severus reminded him.

"You did. But we're not finished. Look, I want to talk with the girls. Do you think you could go home for a while this afternoon so the three of us can talk, and then come back for dinner and we'll see where we stand?"

Severus nodded in agreement, hope stirring in his breast. "I could do that. Is there anything I can do for you before I go?"

"I'm good. Well, maybe that spell we were talking about."

Severus knew what he meant and took care of it immediately.

"Thank you. Hey, do you remember that pub around the corner from our flat? I mean, the flat we used to live in?"

"I do. You were especially fond of their split pea soup if I recall."

"I've not had that in years. Are they still there?"

"They are."

"I don't suppose you'd . . ."

"Of course, I would. Do the children like it as well?"

"No. They both hate it. Don't know what's good for 'em." Harry was losing the battle with exhaustion.

"I have recently discovered their fondness for fish and chips. I'll bring that for them, and the soup for us. Now you get some sleep, and I will be back later with dinner."

"All right," Harry murmured, closing his eyes and slipping into sleep.

Before he left, Severus gently adjusted the covers over Harry, though it was a perfectly warm day. He brushed a few strands of stray hair from Harry's forehead, sighed, and headed for the fireplace. At the top of the stairs, eyes as dark as Snape's own peered down over the balcony, watching them, looking thoughtful.

[scene break]

"So, let's talk," Harry said, looking at his daughters. Allison sat in the armchair and Sidney was perched on the arm of the sofa. "Severus has told me that he thinks we're nearly to the point where we don't need him anymore. He's told me that he plans to bow out, as he promised to do at the beginning of all this. I know I said that's what I wanted, but I also know that at least you, Sid, don't want that. So before I make any decisions about how we go forward, I need to know what you want. I'm not promising that I'll give it to you, but I'd like to at least know how you feel."

He looked at Sidney first, because he was pretty sure he knew what she was going to say. He was not wrong.

"I can't just forget I ever met him," Sidney said. "I want to continue getting to know him. I'm not saying I want to go and live with him or anything, though I wouldn't mind going for a visit. I know what he did, what he asked you to do, but that's the past. I think he's different. I think he could be a decent person now, maybe he could even . . . love us if he stays in our lives." She drew in a ragged breath, her emotions, as they always were, visible on her face. "Anyway, that's how I feel."

"Thank you," Harry said. He turned to Allison. "Al?"

Allison had been thinking about nothing but this since she'd witnessed the scene between her two fathers. She still wasn't entirely sure how she felt, but she was much more willing to consider an ongoing association with her other father now than she had been to this point.

"I don't know," she said, working it out as she talked. "I still feel really angry that he wanted us dead and abandoned you when you needed him most. That's kind of hard to get over completely, you know? But I've been keeping an eye on him, mostly to make sure he wasn't poisoning you with the potions or something."

"I appreciate that," Harry said, obviously amused.

"Don't laugh at me!" Allison protested, hurt that he was belittling her fears. "I didn't trust him, not after what you'd told us!"

"I'm sorry. I'm not laughing at you, honey. As awful as he was to me at that time in my past, I don't think he'd poison me now. And I do appreciate you looking out for me. Both of you," he said, including Sidney. "I don't know how I would have gotten through this without you."

"Well, I can't deny how much he's helped you," Allison continued. "And I've seen how he's treated you while you've been pretty much helpless. He could have turned us away when we went to him, he could have hurt you with words or actions when he came here, and he could have left us to fend on our own while he was giving you the treatment. But he didn't. He's been gentle with you, and he's kind of tried to take care of us while you were out of it, made sure that we ate and answered our questions, stuff like that. He must have a home of his own and a business that needs looking after and a life to live back there, but he's stayed here for weeks now." She hesitated for a moment, unsure she wanted to share this next bit. "And I've seen the way he looks at you, Dad, when you weren't well enough to notice, and I wonder . . ." She stopped, unsure if what she was thinking would upset the father she loved so much.

"You wonder what, love?" Harry prompted.

"Well, I wonder if he ever stopped loving you, even though he was so awful to you back then. It's just there in his eyes."

"Oh, Al!" Sidney breathed. "Do you think so?" she asked excitedly."

"Now hold on," Harry hurried to intercede because he could see where Sidney's thoughts were taking her. "Don't go cooking up some plan to get us back together. I know you, Sidney Peverly, and I can see your romantic brain thinking 'Wouldn't it be wonderful if my dads still loved each other after all these years and they could get back together and we'd all live happily ever after?' Even assuming it's true, and I don't believe that it is, do you really think I'd go back to him after all this time and after what he did? This isn't a movie or one of your plays, Sid. This is real life, and some things can't be forgiven or forgotten."

"But I know he feels bad about what he did," Sidney argued. "It's been so long, and I think he's changed."

"You can't know if he's changed, kiddo. You didn't know him back then," Harry pointed out. "But we're not talking about that. We're supposed to be deciding whether I'm going to allow him to have a place in your lives, and before I can make that decision, I need to know if either or both of you even want that."

"You know I do," Sidney said, more determined than ever now. If she had regular contact with her other father, she could observe for herself if what Al had said was true. She could feel him out, ask him discreet questions, and determine for herself whether he was still carrying a torch for Dad. And if he was … well maybe there was something she could do to nudge them back toward each other. Dad had been alone for a long time, and she and Allison would be going away to college in a couple of years, leaving him here all alone. That thought made her sad, and she couldn't help but dream, just a little, of getting her dads back together before they went away from here.

Harry looked at Allison. She looked back at him for a moment before saying, "I think I would. If nothing else, he can teach me a lot about potions. Maybe he could even give me an apprenticeship in his company. He's a potions master, and he owes me something, I think. Might as well exploit that at the very least."

Harry studied his daughter, more certain than he'd ever been that she would have sorted into Slytherin had she been educated at Hogwarts. Sidney, no doubt about it, was Hufflepuff through and through.

"All right," he said. "When Severus returns, I'll talk to him about what this might look like going forward."

"Will he be staying here like he has been?" Sidney asked.

"What do you mean?"

"Well you said that he told you we don't need him anymore, and I don't think that's true. You still can't move, and until you can, I think he should stay. I can't lift you like he can, and I think there are still things you need him for, that's all."

Harry looked at her through half-closed eyes, suspecting her motivation for wanting her other father here 24/7. But he said, "I'll work that out with him, too."

Sidney leaned over and kissed Harry on the cheek. "Thanks, Dad. I love you. I'm so glad you're better."

"I love you, too. The first thing I'm going to do when I can move my arms again is give you both a great big hug. Now, if I'm not mistaken, today is Saturday. Have you cleaned your bathroom?"

"Way to ruin the moment, Dad," Allison grumbled. But she, too, kissed Harry on the cheek and both girls went upstairs to set about their weekend chores.

Harry settled back into the sofa, smiling. He felt so lucky he had such good kids.

[scene break]

When Severus stepped out of the floo, Harry was soundly sleeping and the girls were nowhere in sight, though he heard one of them singing upstairs. He took a moment to study Harry's sleeping face. He looked better, Snape decided, more healthy than he had since the younger man had come back into his life, and he felt a wave of relief wash over him that the treatment was working. He hadn't been sure the success he'd been having would duplicate itself with Harry's condition, and he was more pleased than he could ever express that it seemed to be doing so.

There was more color in Harry's face now, and some of the pain lines were gone. Some remained, though, and Snape thought maybe those were permanent. They served to give Harry's boyish face a bit more maturity and only made him that much more attractive as far as Snape was concerned. He realized he'd been staring at the other man for an unreasonable amount of time and shook himself into action. He took the food into the kitchen, cast a warming charm on the bag, and went up to find his daughters.

He knocked softly on the door on the left, the one from behind which the singing emanated, hoping this was Sidney's room. He'd never been sure which room belonged to which child. He found Sidney so much easier to talk with than her sister. Allison was harder to read, and more judgmental of him. Not that he didn't deserve both their judgment and their condemnation. But he smiled with a bit of relief when Sidney opened the door.

"Hi," she said, smiling back.

"I have brought dinner. If you are hungry."

"Fish and chips?" she asked hopefully.

"Just so."

"ALLIE!" she bellowed, the sound startling Snape with its suddenness and volume. "Father's back with dinner!"

Snape stared at her. Father. She'd called him Father. Sidney seemed to enjoy the gobsmacked look on his face and her eyes twinkled mischievously. "Is it okay if I call you that?"

"Of course it is," he managed to get out. "If that is what you wish to call me."

Sidney shrugged. "Gotta call you something. It's what you are, right? It's weird to call you 'Mr. Snape,' and 'Dad' is already taken."

"Indeed," he said. "Dinner. I brought dinner." He'd already said this, he knew, but his brain didn't seem to be working properly at the moment.

Allison exited her room and looked at the two of them just standing there. "Everything okay?"

"Of course," Snape said, regaining his senses. "Shall we eat?"

[scene break]

Sidney and Allison sat at the bar in the kitchen, while Severus sat with Harry. Severus had put the first spoonful of pea soup into Harry's mouth, after carefully blowing on it first, and was waiting for the other man to taste it.

"Well, is it as good as you remember?"

Harry closed his eyes to better savor the flavor. "Mmmm," he said. "The only thing that would make this any better is if I was able to feed my damn self, but I guess that will come with time."

"It will," Snape assured him, feeding him another spoonful. "I would think in a very few days you will have enough motor control back to do that and many other activities. Being up on your feet might take a few more days, but that, too, will happen."

"I cannot wait!" Harry said fervently after swallowing. "You know, I think this is even better than I remember."

"I am glad you're enjoying it. Would you like a bite of corn muffin now?"

"You got corn muffins, too?! Oh, I've missed those almost as much as the soup! Yes, please!"

Snape broke off a bite-sized piece of muffin and tossed it into Harry's open mouth. "Mmmmm," Harry hummed appreciatively.

Over at the bar, a pair of green eyes was wide open and watching this interaction between her two parents. Dad was so happy experiencing this treat from his past, and Father was being so gentle with him, sweetly blowing on each bite of soup so it wouldn't burn Dad's mouth. She was practically melting into a puddle watching the two of them talking softly while one nourished the other. "I think you were right," she mouthed at her sister. "Are you seeing this?"

Allison glanced over at them and shrugged. She was just glad that Dad had something that pleased him this much. It had been a while since she'd seen him truly enjoying himself.

Severus now directed himself to the children. "Can one of you answer a question for me? What, exactly, is a TARDIS?"

On the sofa, Harry nearly spit out his mouthful of soup when he couldn't hold back a laugh.

"The TARDIS?" Sidney asked. "You mean like the Doctor's TARDIS?"

"Apparently," Snape said with a side look at Harry.

Before Sidney could begin to explain, Allison jumped in. "How can you call yourself British when you don't even know what the TARDIS is? Oh, this is embarrassing."

"Well now you're all laughing at me," Snape complained. "And I still have no idea why."

Harry was snickering on the sofa, still a strange sensation when the only thing you could move was your mouth, and Allison was shaking her head in mock shame. Sidney took pity on her father. "It's from a TV show. Doctor Who?"

Snape shrugged to indicate he still had no idea what she was talking about. "His name is Doctor Who?"

"Not really. He's just called 'the Doctor.' He's a time traveler, see, and he travels around in a time machine that looks like a police box. It's called the TARDIS. He travels all about the universe, having adventures with his companions. You've never even heard of it?"

"I'm afraid wizards don't have television."

"Well, you don't know what you're missing. Maybe we could watch it together sometime."

"That would be . . . very educational, I am sure." He turned back to Harry. "A show on the telly," he said with a small huff.

Harry smiled enigmatically. "One of my favorites."

"Then I shall definitely give it a try," Snape assured him. "More soup, pet?" The endearment slipped out before Severus noticed it was coming, and he looked instantly mortified and apologetic.

"What did you just call him?" Sidney crowed excitedly from her chair.

"Sidney Eileen, don't you even start," Harry warned in his best Dad voice.

Beside him, Severus immediately stilled, and Harry could tell that something had struck the man, but he wasn't sure for a moment what it could be. Oh. Sidney's middle name. He'd probably not known. Harry looked away, unable to meet Snape's eyes.

"You gave her my mother's name?" he asked quietly.

After a moment, wherein Harry tried to nod but couldn't and was forced to speak, he said, "Yes. Allison's middle name is Lily. It seemed only right."

Severus put the bowl of soup down on the coffee table abruptly and left the room without saying a word, climbing the stairs to his room so that he could process this in solitude.

They sat in silence for a moment after he left, wondering what exactly was happening. "Is he upset?" Sidney asked, worried. "Is he mad that you named me after her?"

"I don't think so, hon," Harry said. "I think he just didn't know and he was surprised that I would have done that, given how we left each other. I think it actually might mean quite a lot to him."

"Oh," Sidney said, and she looked on the verge of tears, her heart breaking a little at his distress. "Can I go up and talk to him? Should I?"

"I don't know why not," Harry said. "Why don't you bring him up his dinner? He didn't eat much. He took care of me first."

"Do you want more, Dad?" Allison asked. "I can help you with it."

"Finish your own dinner first," he said.

"I'm done," Allison lied, and she brought the rest of her dinner and joined her father while Sidney went slowly up the stairs.

[scene break]

Sidney tapped softly on her father's door and waited for him to answer. It took almost a minute before the door opened. It had taken Severus that long to get his emotions under control.

"I brought your dinner up," she said softly. "You hadn't eaten anything."

"Thank you," Severus said. "That was very thoughtful of you."

"Are you okay?"

"I am . . . fine," he said, opening the door wider. "Please, come in."

Sidney entered and placed the tray containing his meal down on the desk. "Are you angry that Dad gave me your mother's name?"

"No," Severus said quickly. "I apologize if that is what you thought, if that is what you all thought. It was a surprise, that's all. The way your father felt about me when we parted ways — well, I would not have thought he bore me enough goodwill to want any part of me connected in any way with his children. To learn that he has honored my mother in this way just struck me."

"I'm glad. Some day, maybe you could tell me about her," Sidney invited. "But why don't you go ahead and eat? You must be starving."

"Is your father all right? I'm afraid I left before he was finished."

"He's fine," Sidney assured him. "Al's taking care of him. Go ahead. Eat."

"Would you like to sit with me while I do?" Severus invited. "I could tell you about her now."

"I'd like that."

Snape sat at the desk and prepared his meal, opening the container of soup, still warm from his earlier charm, and unwrapping his corn muffin. When he had them all arranged, he took a bite of the soup. It really was quite delicious.

"You like that stuff, huh?" Sidney asked, making a face, and moving to sit on the bed.

"I do. Your father and I used to frequent the pub where I bought tonight's meal. Mostly we would bring food back to our flat, but sometimes we would eat there. The food was good, but I was never much for pubs. Too many boisterous people for my liking. I've always preferred solitude and the company of one or two people whose conversation I enjoy."

"Al's kind of like that, too. I have a bunch of friends and like to get together with them in big groups, but she has one or two good friends and really doesn't care to have more."

"So, my mother. As you know, her name was Eileen. Eileen Prince, before she married. She was a witch, but she fell in love with a muggle. My father."

"What was his name?"

"Tobias. He was an angry man. He didn't much like magic, or me, or my mother, in the end. I don't know how they ended up together. I never asked her. I always assumed that she kept the truth about herself from him until it was no longer possible to do so. When I was six, my father lost his job, and that just made everything so much worse. He was around the house all day, he drank a lot, and he took his misfortunes out on Mother and me."

"Did he hurt you?" Sidney asked, quietly horrified.

"It was mostly a lot of yelling and cruel words, but yes, sometimes he hurt her. When I got a little older, I would try to intervene, and then he would take his anger out on me. When I was ten, he left. Just went out one day and never came back. It was just Mother and me then. I went off to Hogwarts shortly after that and — she died when I was sixteen."

"That's so sad. I'm really sorry that happened to you. So you didn't have any brothers or sisters?"

"No, thank goodness."

"What about grandparents, aunts, uncles?"

"When my mother married a muggle, her mother disowned her. She refused to have anything to do with her, or with me. When my father left and we were having a very difficult time making ends meet, my mother took me to visit my grandmother. My grandfather passed when Mother was very little. Grandmother refused to allow us into the house. When my mother told her that she'd been abandoned by her husband, Grandmother told her that it served her right, that she never should have married against her wishes to begin with, and that she'd have to lay in the bed she'd made."

"She sounds awful."

"She was. But I had justice in the end. She died shortly after the great war. She'd never made a will, and with no other relatives left alive, all of her quite vast fortune came to me. I used it to start my business. I like to think that she's still rolling in her grave over that."

Sidney laughed. "I hope so, too. And your father's parents?"

"I never knew them. I think they'd written their son off before he even met my mother. I've no idea if they're alive or dead, if he had siblings, or even really if my father is still alive. I have never cared enough to find out."

"I can see why. I'm sorry that she's gone," Sidney noted. "I was kind of hoping maybe I had some grandparents out there. Or maybe some other relatives."

Harry's parents, of course, had died when Harry was a child, and he'd been an only child.

"I cannot help with that, I'm afraid."

"We have the Weasleys," Sidney told him. "Molly and Arthur are the closest thing we have to grandparents. They're great, but they've got a bunch of actual grandchildren, and we don't see them very often. Dad won't go back to England, so we see them maybe once or twice a year when Aunt Hermione takes us. I can tell they really loved my dad and thought of him as one of the family, but it's not the same as having your own, you know?"

"Do they know who you are?" Severus asked. "The Weasleys, I mean."

"Do they know you're our father?"

"I meant that you were the children of Harry Potter, but I guess that would be the next logical question. Whether they also know the identity of your other parent."

"Molly and Arthur must know, at least about Dad. They always ask how he is, whenever we see them. I'm not sure if they know about you. And I don't think that any of the other Weasleys know who we are. We're just always kind of introduced as friends of Rose's. I'm not sure why."

"I suspect that was your father's doing. The fewer people who knew your true identities and your whereabouts, the less chance that word might get back to me that I had children and where you were living."

Sidney was quiet for a time, digesting this information while Severus worked on his dinner. "Can I ask you something?" she finally said.

"You may."

"Is that why you didn't want us? Children, I mean? When Dad told you he was pregnant? Because you'd had such an awful father?"

She was sharp, this one, Severus thought. "I had always thought it best not to inflict my poor upbringing on yet another child. There is ample evidence supporting the fact that child abuse is a vicious cycle, that one teaches what one knows. I was quite frankly terrified when he told me he was expecting."

"Did you ever tell Dad about all this?"

"He knew some of it, but only in the broadest of strokes, and it was information he learned from other sources. I was not the most communicative of partners. However I truly believe that it would have made no difference to him had I told him. He tends to see the best in people, and he would have no doubt attempted to convince me that I could overcome my past and provide a child with the nurturing and guidance it needed. But I knew myself. I knew what I was. I was not wrong to be concerned."

"What do you think now?"

"I still firmly believe that you and your sister would not have turned into the fine people you are becoming had I been a constant part of your lives during your formative years. From what I have been able to see, you are both smart and caring, well-balanced and independent young women. I would have created an atmosphere where you would not have been able to shine as you have. I believe you are better off for not having known me before."

"And now?" she asked again.

"Now that Harry has had sole care and responsibility for you up to this point and you have already become these amazing young people, I feel like I cannot mess that up too badly now if I were to become more involved. I feel like I only want the best for you and your sister, and I want to give you whatever good I have left in me. I want to share with you whatever you will let me - my home, my resources, my time, my life. The thought of going back home and never seeing you again fills me with desolation."

"That's pretty good for someone who can't communicate," Sidney said with an encouraging smile. "Can I ask you one more thing?"

"Yes."

"How do you feel about Dad now?"

Severus sighed. "I have been trying to figure that out myself. When he left me all those years ago, I was devastated, though I knew it was completely my fault. When he'd been gone a year, I hoped that we might run into each other somewhere, so that I could reassure myself that he was doing all right. When he'd been gone five years, I hoped that one day, he might forgive me for ending things the way I had done. When he'd been gone for ten, I stopped hoping and resigned myself to the fact that I would never see him again. I never knew it until he left, but I loved him. I loved coming home to him at the end of the day and having him there in my life. Of course, I never told him that because I did not know it myself. I thought that with time, I would get over him and move on, but I never really did. I never even attempted to find someone else to spend my life with. Losing your father had just taken too much out of me."

"So are you saying you still love him?"

"I'm saying I never stopped. But that is not something that you can tell him. He does not want that. He has every right to hate me for what I did to him, and I would not ever attempt to worm my way back into his life in any role other than as co-parent to you children, if he is kind-hearted enough to allow that. I will keep my feelings to myself and not make his life any harder than I have already made it. Please. You must not tell him."

"All right," Sidney agreed. "I promise I won't say anything." She had a feeling that she wasn't going to have to say anything. The way he felt was right out there for everyone to see. Even Al, who didn't usually pick up on that sort of thing. Sidney felt confident that his feelings would make themselves known to Dad sooner or later, whether he wanted them to or not. "Thank you for sharing with me, though. Some time, I'd like to see pictures of your mother if you have any."

"I do," he said. "I will bring them back with me the next time I go home."

Severus had finished eating. "Can I take your things down?" Sidney offered.

"I will do that. Thank you, though." He stood up now and nearly fell back into the chair when his daughter threw herself into his arms. This time, after he steadied himself to keep from falling over, he allowed himself to hug her back, since Harry wasn't here to disapprove.

[scene break]

Harry had asked his children to remain upstairs while he and Severus talked, at least initially. "I have thought about you and the girls and whether or not I will agree to allow you a place in their lives, now that you know about them. Let me start by saying that I know that you have legal rights as their biological parent, but if you ever try to exercise them, or go around in any way what I'm willing to allow, we will disappear so fast you'll never be able to find us."

Severus could tell that Harry meant this, and he was sad that the other man felt the warning necessary, but he nodded his understanding. "I would not do that. Considering the reason that you left, you have every right to feel the way you do. If you allow me contact with the children, I will be grateful for whatever you are willing to give and will abide by whatever boundaries you establish."

"I want to believe that's true," Harry said, mostly sure that it was. "And I hope that it is. Both girls want to continue seeing you."

Severus had been sure that Sidney wanted whatever he could and would give her, but he hadn't been as certain about Allison, and he was pleased that she wanted him to have a place in her life, too.

"They are both old enough to decide for themselves what that should look like, I think, with a few basic rules," Harry continued. "After we finish up my treatment, I will always know when you are going to spend time with them, in advance, even if that time is spent here. If you and they both decide that they want to spend time with you away from here, those plans will also be made in advance, and I will know when, and where you will be taking them, and what you will be doing. You will not interfere with their schooling or their activities. You will not guilt them into spending time with you if they don't want to. You will treat them with a basic level of kindness and respect at all times. You will never physically discipline them. You will not disparage me to them in any way." Harry thought for a moment, making sure he'd covered everything he'd intended to. "Does any of that sound unmanageable?"

Severus would have agreed to anything, and none of Harry's rules were in any way unreasonable. "Those are perfectly acceptable guidelines and are eminently manageable. Thank you for allowing me to see them."

"Shall I call them down and we can finish this discussion with them present?"

Snape nodded. "Would you like me to get them?"

"No need," Harry said, and with the merest flick of his wand, a messenger patronus appeared and bounded up the stairs.

"Impressive," Severus noted.

Harry shrugged as much as his physical condition would allow. "It's how I've always called them to dinner. They'll understand what it means."

Indeed, within moments, the girls came out of their rooms and down the stairs, Sidney bounding excitedly and Allison following along behind at a much more sedate pace. When they'd both settled themselves in the sitting room, Harry continued.

"I've decided to allow you to continue seeing your father. We've been discussing some ground rules for that. I'm to know in advance when you plan to see each other. He can spend time with you here, or if either of you wants, he can take you back home with him for a visit. If you go away with him, I will know where he is taking you and what you will be doing and when you will return. These visits will not interfere with school, and they should not interfere with your other activities. Do you both understand these rules and agree to abide by them?"

"Of course," Sidney said. "Thank you, Dad!"

"I can live with that," Allison said.

"All right," Harry said. "Questions?"

"Did you talk about Father staying here while you're still recovering?" Sidney asked.

"'Father'?" Harry asked with a wince.

"Gotta call him something," Sidney said with a shrug. "So did you?" she continued, not allowing him to ignore her question.

"We did not. I don't think -"

Sidney spoke up, interrupting her father. "Dad said you were going to leave. I don't think we're ready for you to go yet," she said, addressing herself to Severus. "Dad's still so weak, and there are things that we just can't do for him. And I know there are things he'd rather we didn't do for him."

"Sidney, we're perfectly capable -"

Sidney interrupted again. "You want us to help you with bathing and dressing, Dad? Because that would just be really weird. I mean, I'd do it if you needed me to, but really — I'd rather not."

"No. No, I don't want that," Harry said with an amused smile.

"Good. Me either," Sidney said, happy to be getting what she'd wanted all along. "And I'm gonna have two dads!"

Sidney was jumping into this with too little caution as far as Harry was concerned. "Now, listen, Sid. I want you to take this seriously. And I want you to be careful. There's still things you don't know."

"No, Dad!" she protested. "There are things you don't know. If you knew what I knew . . . If you just understood why he . . ."

Sidney stopped at the look that had come across her father's face. He looked murderous, and he turned his glare on Severus.

"We've been doing this for ten minutes," he ground out, "and you're already filling her head with lies to get her on your side and having her keep secrets from me. I should have known this could never work, that you could never change. I want you out. Now."

"No, Dad!" Sidney cried, jumping up. "He didn't tell me to keep secrets! And he wasn't telling lies! You're being unreasonable!"

"Sidney, go up to your room. Now! You and I are going to have a long talk later. And you might as well say goodbye to your … to this man now, because you won't be seeing him again!"

"NO!" Sidney wailed. She was crying now. This was falling apart, and it was all her fault!

Severus had sat until this moment, stunned at how quickly this had gone downhill, but he stood up now. "Perhaps you could let me explain."

"Do you actually think I'll believe anything you have to say?" Harry challenged. He was so angry, and he couldn't move, and that just made him angrier. "You don't have the best track record when it comes to honesty and fair dealing. I can see that hasn't changed."

"That is a baseless accusation," Severus said, getting angry himself now. "Maybe if you weren't so stubborn and foolhardy, you could just listen for a moment, and you'd know when you were hearing the truth. I can see you haven't changed much either!"

"Out!" Harry bellowed. "I want you out!"

Before Severus could retort, Allison stood up. She'd been watching, almost disinterestedly, as the rest of her family lost their minds. "All right!" she said loudly into the brief silence. "Everybody just shut up!"

Stunned, Harry and Severus looked at her, and Sidney stopped crying.

"You are all being very unreasonable," she said. "You sit down," she ordered Severus. He sat. "Dad, take a breath. A deep, calming breath." When he only glared at her, she said encouragingly, "Come on. In and out. That's right," she said when he reluctantly did as he was told. "And Sid, stop crying. It's not helping. Sit there with Dad."

Once everyone was sitting quietly and behaving themselves, she continued. "All right. That's better."

"Al," Harry said, warning obvious in his voice.

"No. We're going to talk this out. We're not going to make life-altering decisions in the heat of the moment, based on misunderstandings. Sid, what were you talking about? What are these things that you know?"

Sidney sniffed and looked apprehensively at Severus. She hadn't wanted to betray his confidence like this. He nodded at her and said, "It's all right. I didn't tell you what I did with the expectation that you would keep it a secret."

"We talked about his mum. And his dad. And I asked him why he didn't want kids. And when he told me why, I just thought it made sense. And I know what he did to you was really crappy, but he should have told you all of this back then. Maybe you could have worked something out then."

Allison turned to Severus. "Do you want to share what you told Sid with all of us now?"

Severus sighed. "I've never wanted to share that part of my life with anyone. I thought I had put it behind me. I thought that it no longer mattered. But when you spoke about children," he was addressing only Harry now, "it all came back. And when you told me you were pregnant, I was terrified.

"You know that my childhood was not ideal. You saw references to that in my memories. In short, my father hated my mother, me, magic, his life, pretty much everything. It was mostly verbal abuse until he lost his job and began to drink heavily and be around the house more. That's when the physical violence started, mostly directed at my mother, but also at me. When I was ten, he went out the door and never came back. I thought we were well rid of him. I went off to Hogwarts, leaving Mother to fend for herself as best she could. She didn't do well."

He glanced at Sidney. He was about to divulge something he hadn't told her earlier. "When I was sixteen and away at school, my father returned to our home and he . . . he killed my mother. Stabbed her twenty-seven times. She never even put up a fight, magically or otherwise." Severus' voice was devoid of emotion. He'd never fully processed his mother's death, at his father's hands. He remembered vividly being pulled from Charms class one day and being sent to Dumbledore's office, where the Headmaster had told him what had occurred.

"So," he said, with a ragged indrawn breath, "when you said you wanted children, I was firmly convinced that I was not 'father material' and told you that I had no interest in having them. When you told me you were pregnant, I'm afraid my fear got the better of me, and I … did what I did."

Harry was genuinely distressed for this man he used to love. He'd suspected Severus' childhood had been as bad as his own, but this was worse. His distress gave him more strength than he'd been able to muster to this point, and he sat up. "Why didn't you just tell me any of this?"

"Who wants to go around confessing that their father murdered their mother? I've never found it easy to talk about my past. You know this, and you know why. I made some horrible mistakes. I'm still atoning for some of them. For some of them, no atonement is possible. For this, I'm not sure I can atone, exactly, but maybe I can fix some of what I've done. If you'll let me."

"Dad?" Allison asked.

"What?"

"Do you realize what you just did?"

"What do you mean, Al?"

"Look at you. You're sitting up."

Harry's look of surprise was almost comical. And now that he realized it, he couldn't keep it up. His strength gave out and he collapsed back into the sofa. "I just wish you had said something. Maybe we could have worked something out."

Severus and Sidney exchanged a glance. This is exactly what Severus had said would happen. But there was no point in making old arguments now.

"I should probably have shared some of my history with you then. But I told Sidney, and I'll tell you now, I truly believe that these children were better off without me in their lives. They would not be the fine young women they are today if they'd been subjected to my influence in their early years. You can debate that with me all you want, but I believe it to be the truth. And I think that if you are honest with yourself, you know it is the truth as well."

Harry could be brutally honest with himself, now, about Severus and his ability to nurture anything, and he did believe that Severus would not have been a good parent to a young child. At least with teenagers, they could choose not to have anything to do with him if he exhibited any of his unpleasant character traits. His younger self, who had believed that Severus loved him and valued their relationship, would likely have tried to argue Severus into trying to parent their child. And the results would likely have been ugly. Looked at in that light, maybe Severus had done them all a favor giving him the ultimatum he did.

"All right," Harry said with a sigh. "I guess I understand more about what happened back then. I still don't like it, but I guess I can somewhat understand your motivation. So is that it?" he asked Sidney. "Is that all the secrets?"

Sidney exchanged an anguished look with Severus, and Harry's blood began to boil again.

"I do not believe this!" he exclaimed. "What now?"

"I can't this time, Dad. I promised!" was Sidney's agonized response. "This is different. This will upset you!"

"More than the last little bit of information did?" Harry asked incredulously.

"Probably!"

"Sidney — "

"I promised!"

"Then I guess you'd better tell me," Harry said, turning to Snape.

"I really think this is something you'd be better off not hearing."

"Then you can just step into that floo and out of our lives."

"Are you going to use that threat every time we disagree in the future?" Snape challenged.

"You don't understand that we're not going to have a future if I think you're doing anything that will hurt my children. And that includes making them keep secrets from their father! We'll end this right now!"

Severus sighed. "You should really believe people when they tell you something is for your own good. I will give you one more opportunity to let this go."

"Tell me now, or leave," Harry ordered.

"All right. What I asked Sidney to keep from you was that I have never stopped loving you. I realized after you left me that I did, indeed, love you. And I have never stopped. I love you to this day. I know that you do not want this, which is why I asked her to keep it from you. I probably should not have told her and asked her to share that burden with me. But there is it. Now you know everything."

Harry closed his eyes. This could not be happening.

"Dad? Are you all right?" Allison asked.

"No," Harry moaned. How could he be all right now?

"Does this ruin everything?" Sidney asked anxiously. "Are you going to not let us see Father now?"

Harry opened his eyes. "I won't stop you from seeing him if you still want that." He couldn't look at Severus now. "I'm really tired. I think I need to sleep now." What he really needed was time alone, to think about all he'd learned tonight.

Now everyone stood around awkwardly. Should Severus pick Harry up and bring him to his bed now that Harry understood how Severus felt about him? No one spoke until Harry finally said, "Oh, for heaven's sake! Just bring me to bed. Nothing's changed."

Being especially careful where he touched and not to look into his face, Severus scooped Harry up into his arms and brought him into the bedroom. When he had been tucked in and Severus had performed the elimination spells without Harry having to ask, Severus walked away.

"Thank you," Harry said softly. "We should maybe talk some more tomorrow. But thank you for sharing what you did about your childhood. I understand much better now why you would do that. The rest of it is … too hard right now. But we'll talk."

"I appreciate that," Severus said sincerely. "Good night, Harry."

"Good night, Severus."

[scene break]

"Hi, Dad," Sidney said brightly the following day. It was lunchtime, and she'd just come down from her room. Harry was sitting up on the sofa, where Snape had placed him before helping him with lunch. Since his emotion-fueled burst of energy yesterday, he'd noticed he was regaining muscle control much more quickly than he had up to this point. He could move his arms almost at will, he could drag himself into a more comfortable position when he needed to, and he was hopeful that within a few days, he'd be up on his feet again.

"Hey, Sid. Where's your sister?"

Sidney shrugged. "Still sleeping I guess."

Severus entered from the kitchen where he'd finished cleaning the lunch dishes. "Oh, good. You're up. I thought I'd go home for a couple of hours. I need some clean clothes and there are a few things I need to check on."

"Do you think I could go with you?" Sidney asked.

Severus looked at Harry. "That would be up to your father."

Harry studied both of them, one after the other. "You're just going to your home?" Harry realized at that moment that he had no idea where Severus was even living now. He'd had this thought in the back of his mind that Severus was still living in the flat they'd lived in together, but he'd never asked.

"Yes," Severus answered. "Shouldn't take me more than a couple of hours."

"I guess I have to ask then — where are you living?"

"I have not moved since … since we were … I remain in the same flat."

Harry nodded. "All right. I have no objection. You'll be back by four, at the latest." It was a statement, not a question.

"That is plenty of time," Severus agreed.

"Awesome!" Sidney said. "I'll go get Al up."

"Don't bother," Harry said. "I'm fine. If I need her, I can send my patronus up to her. Let her sleep."

"You sure?"

"Yes, Sid, I'm sure. Go. Have fun."

Severus retrieved his suitcase from his room, and they stepped into the floo. Harry looked at his watch the moment they left, starting a mental countdown in his head for when they'd return.

[scene break]

Harry had spent the afternoon working on his motor control, trying not to continually cast tempus charms or look at his watch, one part of his mind always wondering what Sidney was doing, whether she was okay, when she'd be home. At three-thirty he gave up all pretense and stared at the floo, waiting for her.

Severus came through first, at three fifty-five.

"Cutting it a little close, aren't you?" Harry asked.

Severus looked at the clock. "It's not quite four. We're not late."

"Where's Sidney?"

"She's right behind me," Severus assured him.

At that moment, Sidney stepped out of the floo, a furry bundle in her arms.

"What is that?" Harry asked.

"It's a cat," Sidney said happily, displaying the little brown tortoiseshell to him proudly. "Father —"

"You got her a cat?" Harry demanded of Severus. "Without asking first? You are unbelievable!"

"Oh boy," Sidney said, her happiness disappearing. "I just keep getting you in trouble."

"It's all right," Severus said. "Your father has every right to assume the worst of me." Though he said this, it was apparent that he was a little hurt by it.

"He didn't give the cat to me," Sidney hurried to explain. "It's his cat. She's been living at his place all alone all this time, so I convinced him to let me bring her here with us. She's gonna stay with us while Father is here. Isn't that all right? I know you like cats."

Harry was angry with Severus now because he kept assuming things that turned out not to be true, making himself look like an idiot. Even though he was doing it to himself, he couldn't help but blame the other man. And yes, he realized how irrational that was, thank you.

"Well, I don't know. Maybe you better let me see her."

Sidney sat beside Harry on the sofa and placed the cat gently on his chest. Harry was able to reach up and pat her, and the cat immediately began to purr and nuzzle his hand. "What's her name?"

"Agatha Christie," Sidney said. "Isn't that a great name?"

Agatha was busy making biscuits on Harry's shirt, making him wince just a bit but also melting his heart. "I guess she can stay," he said gruffly.

"Awesome!" Sidney said with a huge smile. "I'm gonna go tell Al! And show her the pictures we brought back."

After she'd bounded up the stairs, Harry said softly, "Sorry."

"Don't worry about it. She was fine where she was. A little lonely, maybe, but I did have someone checking on her daily. Your daughter is rather relentless when she wants something, and she wore me down with the force and persistence of her arguments. If you do not want her here, I will return her home."

Agatha had curled up in a ball on Harry's chest and looked as though she'd settled in for a long nap. "No," Harry said, enjoying her very much already. "She can stay. I do like cats. And I do miss having pets around. Maybe now that I'm better …"

"Something to look forward to, perhaps."

"Sidney mentioned pictures?"

"Yes. Of my mother. She asked to see them, and then she wanted to bring them back here to share with her sister."

"Oh." Harry stroked the cat's ears for a moment. "I'd like to see them as well. If you don't mind."

Severus looked surprised but pleased. "Of course I don't mind. I'll show you later, when she's finished with them. It looks as though your control is returning in leaps and bounds."

"Yeah," Harry said, holding his hand up and flexing his fingers in demonstration. Agatha chirped in protest, and Harry returned his hand to her soft ears. "I've been working on it."

"It shows." He made a gesture at the cat. "I am sorry about that. How did you ever say no to them when they were young and adorable?"

Harry smiled in recognition of the challenges he was facing as a latecomer to parenting. "You have to learn to harden your heart."

"I shall work on that. Now, I've brought supper. Callaghan's had pot roast today." Callaghan's was the nearby pub they'd frequented. "It's a little early to eat, so I'll just put everything under a warming charm, and we'll eat a bit later."

"Sounds good."

[scene break]

Harry looked at the photos of Eileen Prince. There weren't a lot, maybe a dozen or so. She was not someone you'd describe as attractive. Her face was sallow and broad, and she wasn't smiling in any of the pictures. Severus was in two of them, as a young boy of maybe eight, and Harry recognized him from his trip through Severus' memories and smiled affectionately at the little boy he felt like he almost knew.

"Why did you never share these with me?" he asked when he handed the photos back. "You must have had them when we were together."

"I did," Severus confirmed. "If I'd shown them to you, you would have said, 'Can I meet her?' And I would have said 'no,' and you would have said, 'Why not?' and I would have said 'because she is no longer with us," and you would have been sweetly sympathetic and asked for details. And I would then have had to confess her fate to you."

"You say 'confess' like you were to blame for what happened," Harry said quietly. "It wasn't your fault that your father hurt your mother or that he hurt you. None of it was your fault. You were just a child."

"One's head can understand things on one level, while one's heart cannot forget that I left her there, on her own. Had I been there that day, I would not have hesitated to use whatever means were at my disposal to stop him. I think I would have gladly killed him. She could have done so easily, had she chosen to. But I think she'd just given up. Her own mother's rejection and my father's treatment of her and the constant need and fear just wore her down and . . . She just gave in."

"Did your father go to prison?"

"Oh yes," Severus said. "He didn't even attempt to run after he attacked her. Neighbors heard what was going on. They knew he was violent. Someone called the Muggle authorities, but by the time they arrived, she was gone and he was sitting by her body, apparently crying. He was sentenced to life."

"So he's still there now?"

Severus shrugged. "I really cannot say. For obvious reasons, I wanted nothing to do with him. He may have died in there for all I know. Or care."

Harry digested this tragic story, desperately sad for his former lover and the little boy he'd once been. "You are not him," he said firmly. "You may be right that you would not have been the world's greatest parent, but you are not him. There is good in you, Severus Snape. Anyone who truly knows you can see it."

Severus was nearly brought to tears by this revelation, and he used the pretense of putting his photos back into the envelope they'd been kept in all these years to avoid looking at Harry. "It means a lot to me that you can say that, after what I did to you."

"You know, if you had shared your concerns with me back then, I cannot guarantee that we would have stayed together and raised those children as one big happy family, but maybe you wouldn't have cheated yourself out of their growing up years. That may be the biggest tragedy of them all."

Severus nodded his head in acknowledgment of the truth of his statement. "All the more reason for me to take advantage of the opportunity I have now."

[scene break]

"Careful," Snape said, hovering at Harry's side. He stood ready to catch the smaller man should he falter. Harry was standing on his own for the first time in what felt like forever.

Harry was wobbly and felt weaker than a newborn kitten, but it was so wonderful to be standing under his own power that a huge smile lit his face. "I'm almost ready for a game of tennis, Al."

Allison snorted at the obvious untruth of that statement.

"Maybe I won't even have to let you win this time," he said with a merry twinkle.

"Keep telling yourself that, Dad," Allison said. She turned to her other father. "He hasn't beaten me since I turned twelve."

"I think it might be a day or two before you're ready for that," Snape noted. "Do you want to try a step?"

Gathering himself, Harry moved his right leg forward. As soon as he'd brought his left leg even, he collapsed. Right into Severus' arms.

"All right," the taller man said as he assisted Harry back to the sofa. "Too soon." He swung Harry's legs back up onto the cushions. Agatha immediately hopped up and sat on his stomach. Harry stroked her back. He'd gotten quite attached to her in the short time she'd been here. "That was awesome," he said, feeling as though he'd made so much progress today.

"Yes, but now you should rest and build your strength back up," Severus cautioned.

"Okay," Harry agreed, "but I'm going to want to try again in just a little while. By the end of the week, I want to be able to walk across the room. And back!"

Severus could tell his main job now would be to keep Harry from doing too much too quickly. But he was very pleased to see Harry making this progress. "And I do not doubt that if you set your mind to it, you will accomplish it. Promise me that you will not overdo it. Just because everything responds to your commands now doesn't mean you don't need time to build up strength after this extended period of inactivity."

"Yes, mother," Harry said happily, laying back and closing his eyes. Agatha stretched out along his length, and the two looked like they were settling in for a nap.

Severus thought he'd leave them to it, but was stopped when Harry suddenly said, "I've just thought of something."

"Yes?"

"I have a doctor's appointment week after next."

"Your muggle doctor?"

"Yes. What are we going to tell him?"

Severus was very pleased by his use of the word "we," but skipped over that for now. "What do you mean?"

"I mean, the last time I saw him, I was starting the final stages of what should have been an incurable terminal illness. And now I'm cured. How do we explain that?"

"Oh, yes. I'd forgotten the muggle component of this situation. That does complicate things. I suppose you can't just stop seeing him?"

"I could, I suppose. But you've helped me so much. You've saved me, actually. And I can't help but think other people would benefit from this treatment, too. How can we keep this to ourselves?"

Severus sat in the armchair, thinking this over. "Perhaps we should have a meeting with Healer Abbishaw to get his perspective on this. He may have some suggestions."

"That's a good idea. Can you get him to come? Hermione should probably be here, too. You know what?" Harry asked excitedly, sitting up and clutching Agatha to keep her from falling. "We could invite Ron and Hermione and the kids and have a barbeque. We've not done that in ages! We could talk with the healer and have dinner. That would be great! I've missed everyone!"

"I will speak with them and set up a time that's good for all."

"Thanks. I'll check my calendar as well," Harry said as he settled back down, smoothing Agatha's ruffled feathers. He closed his eyes. "Oh, looks like I'm free pretty much any time. Whatever works for everyone else, then."

"Berk," Severus said good-naturedly and got to his feet again. Harry was asleep before he made it to the top of the stairs.

[scene break]

After a week of Harry pushing himself to go farther every day, he had progressed to the point where he could get himself wherever he wanted to go. As long as he took frequent breaks, he was entirely independent and didn't require anyone's assistance in any aspect of his life. He could care for himself, and he was doing some light cooking and whatever minor household chores needed accomplishing. It was becoming increasingly obvious that he no longer needed Severus Snape in his life every day, but for some reason, the man was still here. No one had pointed out that they'd all agreed that he would stay only as long as Harry needed assistance with his activities of daily living.

Saturday night had been selected as the date for the barbeque. Ron and Hermione arrived with their two children, Rose and Hugo, after lunch. Ron hadn't seen Harry in a while — he was an auror, and the hours he put in were insane. He took one look at Harry, looking so much healthier and alive than the last time he'd seen him, and drew his old mate into a large bear hug. Hermione had told him that Harry was better, but seeing it with his own eyes made him emotional. When he pulled away from Harry, there were tears in his eyes.

"It's okay, Ron," Harry said gently.

"I can see that," Ron affirmed, clearing his throat. "You look great. Feeling good?"

"I feel wonderful. I still get tired easily, but that's getting better every day. You want a drink?"

"You got a beer?"

"Course I do. I knew you were coming, didn't I?" Harry joked. He made his way to the refrigerator and removed two cans. He handed one to Ron and opened one for himself.

"It's okay for you to drink?" Ron asked.

"Why not?"

"I don't know. Just asking."

"Moderation, as with everything," Severus proffered as he made his way into the kitchen, carrying bags Hermione had brought with her. She'd been responsible for deserts, but she'd gone overboard, as usual, and she'd brought a couple of salads and some fresh fruit as well as three types of desert.

"Thank you, Severus," Ron said.

"Happy to help," Severus said as he began unloading the bags onto the counter.

"No. I mean, thank you for Harry."

Severus looked up, surprised. He was even more surprised when he found Weasley's hand extended to him. He took it and shook it firmly. "I am just glad that I was able to assist him."

"Yeah, me too. We were pretty worried there for a while."

"That's enough of the maudlin," Harry interposed. "Severus, what are you drinking?"

"I am not. At least not now. Perhaps later. And I meant what I said about moderation. You are still recovering."

"Yeah yeah. I got it," Harry said. "Quit worrying about me. When's the healer coming?"

"He should be here in thirty minutes or so."

"Did you invite him to stay for dinner?"

"I did. He said he had a previous engagement, but that he could spare us an hour or so."

"And did you tell him how to get here?"

"He already knew. He's been here before."

"He has?" Harry questioned.

"Yes. You were pretty out of it. It was the night you returned from Sidney's play," Severus told him.

"Oh. I never knew." Strange no one had told him about a healer coming to see him. He shrugged. "Well, it'll be good to meet him this time."

[scene break]

Harry had been surprised to learn that this wasn't the first time that a magical remedy had applications in the muggle world. Healer Abbishaw had told them about prior examples of potions that had been created that had gone on to help all mankind, some as simple as cough remedies and others as complex as the one currently undergoing trials to treat patients with HIV/AIDS. There was even a very small department at St. Mungo's that dealt with these potions, how they could be "dressed up" for muggle use, and how they could be introduced to medical professionals in the muggle world. It was apparent that in addition to the satisfaction of helping others in distress, the creators of such potions stood to gain an unsightly amount of money should their product perform as expected and should it meet the testing requirements that muggle pharmaceutical companies would put it through.

In the end, they'd decided that Harry really could not keep the appointment he had scheduled with his doctor. There was just no way to explain the transformation in his condition. Harry was going to call his doctor first thing tomorrow and tell him that he had to leave immediately for London, on urgent family business, and that he would be gone for many months. He was going to ask his doctor for a referral to someone in the city, or the doctor was sure to be concerned about the continuity of Harry's care. Of course, Harry had no intention, and indeed no need, to see whatever physician he was referred to, but it would keep up appearances.

Healer Abbishaw and Snape were going to present the data they'd gathered, data that went back over two years, and let the experts at St. Mungo's begin the process of getting the potions into the hands of the proper muggle authorities. That itself would take years, but everyone felt good knowing that in the end, hundreds, thousands, maybe more, would be helped and their lives improved and extended.

After Healer Abbishaw left, the party got into full swing. The children turned the music up and danced on the patio, mostly alone but sometimes with each other. Ron and Severus had a long discussion about dark curses and their effects. Hermione and Harry danced a little and talked a lot.

Sidney dragged out her karaoke machine and everyone was made to take a turn. Harry and Ron started with their rendition of "I Got You, Babe" which had everyone in stitches. Hermione and Hugo performed "Blackbird" together. Rose and Allison jammed their way through "We R Who We R." Severus initially tried to graciously decline, but when peer pressure overwhelmed him, he told them they'd all be sorry before singing for them, without the aid of backup music, "Under the Scotsman's Kilt." Finally, Sidney turned off the machine and sang "Travelin' Soldier," accompanying herself on the ukulele.

It was midnight before Hermione put an end to the festivities. It was already morning back home and they needed to get to bed.

Rose had invited the twins to come back with them for a week, and with Harry feeling so much better, they felt safe leaving him for a little vacation. Promising to floo call daily, they left with the Weasleys, and as soon as everyone had gone, the house seemed empty and silent as a tomb.

"That was fun," Harry said with a sigh, dropping onto the sofa. He was feeling a little buzzed. He'd paced himself over the afternoon and evening, drinking only a total of three beers. The fact that he hadn't touched alcohol in almost a year due to his illness and the fact that he was still recovering from that illness seemed to compound the effect of the alcohol.

"It was," Severus was surprised to admit. "Sidney astounded me. Her voice is a thing of beauty."

"Had you never heard her sing?"

"Only in her room, through the closed door. She's really something."

"She is," Harry agreed with obvious pride. "Ron likes you, I think."

"I found him to be surprisingly easy to talk to." He hadn't spent a lot of time with the man when he and Harry had been together and had assumed Harry's best friend was the same person he'd been when they'd attended Hogwarts. This was a ludicrous assumption, of course, because none of them was the same as they'd been when they were teenagers, but Severus had made it anyway.

"He's always been that way. You just never gave him a chance," Harry said.

"That is likely true," Severus admitted.

They were silent for some moments. Severus stood, fidgeting with things on the mantle. "I think the time has come for me to go," he finally said.

"Go?" Harry echoed, not sure what he meant.

"Yes. You are almost completely recovered. You don't need me to continue the process of regaining your strength. It is what we had agreed on."

"You must be anxious to get back to your life," Harry noted with some resignation.

"The children are my life now," Severus said. "But, yes. I do have a company that hasn't been looked after properly for a while now."

"I'm sorry," Harry said.

"Do not be sorry. I would not have it any other way. The fact that you are at the point where I feel safe leaving you means that it was all worthwhile. Every second of it. I would not change a thing."

"Nothing?" Harry said, looking up at him.

Not sure what Harry might be getting at, Severus shook his head. "Nothing."

Harry stood up, perhaps too quickly, because he swayed a bit. Instantly, Severus was by his side, grasping his arm and holding him up.

"Thank you," Harry said, looking up at the taller man, searching his face for some sign of what he might be feeling about their upcoming separation. Harry was conflicted himself. He knew that he was well enough not to need Severus' assistance anymore. But when he thought about not seeing Severus tomorrow when he woke up or across the table at lunchtime or sitting in the armchair in the evening, he suddenly felt very sad and empty.

Severus knew that he should back away from Harry. Being this close was intoxicating, and the way the other man was looking at him made his toes tingle. "You're welcome," he said softly.

Harry reached up and stroked Severus' check with a single finger. "I'm going to miss you, I think."

"I will not be gone forever," Severus assured him. "I will be by frequently to see the children."

"Just the children?"

Severus studied Harry's slightly cloudy green eyes, certain the alcohol the man had consumed was partly fueling his feelings. "For now," he said. "I do not want to make you feel that . . ."

He was interrupted by Harry's lips mashing into his own. Severus knew that he should stop this before it got too heated, but he'd missed this part of their relationship. They'd always been really good at the physical (it was probably the only thing they had been good at), and he found himself giving back as much as he was getting.

The kiss went on for a very long time, and by the end of it, they were holding each other up. Harry's desire was pressing against Severus' leg, and Severus knew that if he made a move toward the bedroom, Harry would willingly follow. But Severus didn't want him in his impaired condition. He didn't want to give Harry any reason for regret or blame tomorrow, so he pulled his lips away from Harry's and rested his forehead against the smaller man's. "Harry," he said, the want and the ache very evident in his voice.

"Severus," Harry echoed with the same emotion. "Don't you want me?"

"I want you more than I've ever wanted anything. But I won't have you like this." He couldn't resist, and he kissed Harry again. Harry kissed him back with the same level of passion. When he pulled away, he said, "I want you with every fiber of my being."

"Then stay with me," Harry invited with an exhaled breath.

"I would like nothing more, but you have been drinking, and I want to know that when you invite me to stay, you are doing it with a clear head and that you will not regret it tomorrow or hex me for taking advantage of you."

When Harry started to protest, Severus silenced him with a finger to his lips. "Hush. I am right about this. I will return in two days. If you still want me then, you will not have to argue or convince. I will throw you over my shoulder and carry you to that bed and worship you like you deserve to be worshiped. But if you do not, you need only never mention this again, and I will know you have made your decision. Two days, Harry."

He pulled away from Harry and was gone through the floo without looking back. Harry stood staring at the flames for a time, until Agatha, who'd been thoroughly unimpressed with the karaoke-ing and had gone to hide under a bed, came strolling back in, rubbing her furry body against Harry's shins and meowing up at him, plaintively asking for a midnight snack.

"You forgot your cat," Harry said softly.

[scene break]

True to his word, Severus returned in two days. Harry had made dinner, a dish with chicken and rice, and they sat to eat shortly after Severus arrived.

"I saw the children on my way through the Weasleys," Severus said. "They said to say hello."

"I miss them," Harry said wistfully. "I don't know what I'm going to do when they go away to college."

"It will be a very big adjustment for all of you, I would think. Are the girls already thinking about where they might like to attend?"

They spoke for some time about their children's plans and wishes. Sidney and Allison's schools of choice were different, so they'd likely be leaving each other as well.

"Thankfully I have two more years to get used to the idea. I can't even imagine this house without them in it."

This would have been a very good time to talk about their own future and whether they had any chance of sharing more than just a connection to the children, but Harry didn't mention it, and Severus had meant what he'd said - if Harry didn't bring up their kiss, he would take it as an indication that his former lover had no interest in rekindling their relationship. It would sadden him were that to occur, but he had his children in his life now, and he would respect whatever decision Harry made. The children would be enough. They would have to be.

Harry was pensive throughout the meal. He'd spent the last two days thinking about what he might want from Severus now and whether that might be something more than just a co-parent. Part of him wanted that, wanted to know if they could get back some of what they'd had. Parts of it had been very good, but parts of it Harry hadn't come to understand until later had been almost toxic. He couldn't and wouldn't ever get involved again with a man who didn't value him as a person, an equal partner, someone whose opinions were respected. He didn't want a relationship where the only place his lover wanted him was in bed. He was older now, and while sex still held obvious appeal, he needed more if he was going to let someone into his life. He wouldn't settle for less.

After they'd eaten and cleaned up, Severus wondered if he should stay. If Harry had decided that he didn't want Severus back in his life full-time, with the children not here, there wasn't a lot of reason for him to stay. Oh, he could milk the time they did spend together and work on worming his way back into Harry's good graces and maybe eventually a larger role in his life, but he'd determined he would not do that. He would completely respect Harry's choice. He was just about to thank Harry for dinner and begin his departure, when Harry said, "Can we talk?"

"Of course," Severus said, a large part of him heaving a sigh of relief that Harry was at least willing to talk.

They sat, Harry on the sofa and Severus in the armchair, and Severus waited for Harry to begin. "I've been thinking a lot the last couple of days," Harry said, pulling a pillow into his lap and fidgeting with the fringe. "I've been remembering how things used to be and how it ended and thinking about how things are now and what they could be and what exactly it is that I want."

Harry paused for a time, long enough so that Severus felt compelled to speak. "That's a lot," he said softly.

"Yeah," Harry agreed. "I've gone back and forth in my head, made decisions then changed my mind, argued with myself. There was even a couple of hours when I wasn't speaking to myself," he joked weakly.

Severus smiled thinly. "I'm sorry that this has upset you so."

"It was necessary," Harry said, looking up at him briefly. "I can't just follow my heart like I did last time. That didn't work out so well for me. Though I guess what I took away when I left was worth more than anything."

"Agreed," Severus said. "You had to go. It was necessary. I made it necessary."

"You did," Harry said with a small nod. "But even though I knew I had to go, it was still hard. Do you know why?"

Severus knew, but he waited for Harry to speak.

"Because I loved you. Despite everything, I loved you. Did you know?"

"I think I did," Severus admitted. "I was unused to having someone who felt about me as you did, but I think clinically I recognized what was happening. I was unable to appreciate it at the time, and I didn't realize my own feelings until after you'd gone."

"Did you ever try to find me?"

"I did," Severus confessed. "I honestly thought that you would be back, in a matter of days or maybe weeks. But when you didn't return after months, I wanted to know what had become of you. I didn't think asking either Ron or Hermione would be very productive. I assumed you'd told them why we parted and that they wouldn't be sympathetic to any attempt I might make to find you. I hired someone, but he was unable to find any trace of you. You had disappeared completely. I assumed you were still in the country, but I probably should have guessed that you would go as far as possible away from me. I continued to hold out hope that you would someday return, for as long as ten years. On the tenth anniversary of your departure, I told myself to accept that you were not coming back and to move on."

"And did you? Was there ever anyone else?"

"No one that turned into anything more than one night," Severus said, wondering if he should be honest about this. He hadn't been celibate since he and Harry had parted ways. When the loneliness was at its worst and the urge struck, he'd more than once sought out a partner willing to share a bed but not expecting anything more. But he didn't want to lie to Harry, either, and have that come back to bite him on the arse someday.

Harry nodded, seeming to take this in stride. Severus was simply not going to ask Harry if he'd found anyone in the intervening years. It was none of his business, unless Harry offered, and he wasn't sure he wanted to know anyway. Though he had to admit to himself he was intensely curious.

"I um . . . didn't. Ever find anyone else," Harry clarified, not looking at Snape.

Though Severus had thought learning that Harry had had other lovers would make him jealous, learning that he'd had none made him sad. That this man who had so much to give had been alone for seventeen years was somewhat of a tragedy itself.

"You never met anyone you wanted to spend time with?" he asked carefully, not wanting to appear to pry but wanting to know all the same.

Harry shook his head. "There wasn't time. When I left you, I was pregnant. Who would have wanted me then? I looked like a small planet. And who'd want to get involved with someone knowing they were going to be a father twice over in just a few months? Not everyone would be interested in that type of instant family. Then the twins were born, and there was no time to breathe, let alone date. Not that I was interested in that. I'd been scarred, I think, by the way we turned out, and it took a very long time for those scars to heal."

"I apologize again, then, if my actions caused you to lead a solitary life. You were and still are a desirable man in many ways, and any man would have been lucky to have you in his life."

"That's the past," Harry said with a firm shake of his head, as though dispelling old memories. "We're here now and we need to find a path forward, one that we can all live with."

Severus waited for Harry to go on, but the man seemed stuck on how to proceed from here. Severus thought maybe he knew why. "Harry, if you do not want to see me again, I can arrange with the children to see them in London. Or here when you are not home. You don't need to tiptoe around it, trying to tell me in the least hurtful way. I don't deserve that consideration. Just say it. I will be disappointed, but I will understand, and I will accept it unconditionally."

"No. Don't you see that's why this is so hard? Because I want … I never stopped loving you." Harry looked at him, really looked at him, for the first time since he'd arrived here. "My head tells me that I should not have anything to do with you, but my heart just wants to pick up where we left off. But I know we can't do that. We can't go back to that. Even though I loved you and thought I was happy, I realized after I left that I was deceiving myself. You never really talked to me about anything important, your work, or the events of the day, or what I was doing. When you were home, we were in bed. And that part was really great. We were very good together in bed. But I want more than that. I need more than that. I need someone who respects me. I know I'm not the brightest chap in the world, but I'm not stupid either. I can have a conversation with you about current events or historical events, or potions even. Okay, maybe not potions. We should probably stay away from potions. You and I could have had the discussion you had with Ron about the dark arts. I know a bit about that. Do you understand what I mean? I can't get involved with you again if you're going to treat me like some stupid kid you put up with because I'm a good fuck."

Severus winced a bit at his bluntness, but he knew Harry was right, and he told him so. "You are right. We never had a relationship of equals. I was older and more experienced and I dismissed your thoughts and opinions and concerns. And that was wrong. I know that now. And I can only apologize for being an idiot back then and tell you that I can change — I have changed — and it doesn't have to be that way anymore."

"So what do we do now?"

"May I make a suggestion?"

"Sure."

"Will you let me court you? Will you let me bring you flowers and take you to dinner and spend time with you and your daughters and build a new kind of relationship? I really, really want that. And if it turns out I am simply not capable, after a reasonable amount of time, you can kick my arse out of here."

Harry smiled. "I like the sound of that. Not the arse-kicking part," he offered hurriedly.

"And I think we should hold off on bedroom activities until you are confident that I can be what you need me to be."

"You sure? Because I think it was obvious that old spark is still there."

Severus nodded. "I am sure. I think it's better this way. I think I should earn my way back into your bed."

"All right," Harry agreed. "Let's do this. Should we tell the kids?"

"That might make things simpler."

"Oh God," Harry groaned. "Sidney is going to go insane. She's got this … romantic streak in her. She's going to keep trying to push us together. And there's no subtlety in that kid. It'll be like getting hit over the head with a hammer."

Severus smiled. "We can sit her down and talk with her if it becomes unmanageable."

"All right," Harry agreed. "So what do we do now?"

"Well, I think we should take advantage of the children being away for the remainder of the week to get used to each other again in that way. If you haven't any plans, may I bring dinner tomorrow night? Perhaps after dinner, we could watch a movie or take a stroll?"

"That sounds wonderful," Harry said, smiling warmly.

"It's a date then," Severus said with happy firmness. A date! He and Harry were dating! He couldn't be happier. "But for now, I should probably go. I don't want to tire you out too much in the early days of this new relationship."

"I'm fine," Harry protested automatically.

"You are so much more than fine," Severus said. "You are healthy again. And we don't want to set back all the progress you've made by wearing you out. Now, young man, I'm going home and you're going to bed."

"All right," Harry agreed. "I'll see you tomorrow night then?"

"You will," Severus confirmed, and he made his way to the floo.

"Oh," Harry said, remembering. "Agatha." He looked around the room but didn't spot her. "You must want to take her home, too."

"I can do that another time," Severus assured him. "Or, if you want, she can stay here. She seems to like you more than she does me anyway."

Harry laughed, sure that was not true. "We'll figure it out. With everything else, I guess."

"We will. Good night, Harry."

"Good night, Severus."

[scene break]

When Severus arrived the following day, he was laden with bags of things he needed for dinner. He remembered that Harry loved seafood, so he'd shopped for fresh produce to make a seafood newburgh and he'd brought asparagus and the fixings for a salad. He was early, he knew, much earlier than he needed to be to put dinner together and have it on the table at a reasonable hour, but he just couldn't stay away.

He headed immediately for the kitchen to stow his cold items away and entered just in time to see Harry falling off a step ladder. Reacting instinctively, he dropped his bags (fleetingly glad there were no eggs to crack) and zipped to Harry's side, catching the smaller man in his arms.

Harry smiled at him, as though this was a perfectly normal way for people to greet each other. "Hello," he said. "You're early."

"I think I arrived at precisely the right moment. May I ask what you were doing?"

"Just a little cleaning. It's been a while. There are dead bugs in the light fixture," he said, making a face of disgust.

"And you could not have used magic? To levitate it down, or at least to hover yourself up to it? Or to just disappear the offending insects?"

"Well, I could have," Harry agreed, "but I kind of got used to doing things without magic when the kids started going out in public more. You know, I didn't want them spreading strange stories about the things their dad could do."

They were having this discussion while Harry was still held in Severus' arms. Harry's arms had gone round Severus' neck, and he seemed perfectly happy just to stay there.

"Have I healed you up only to watch you dash your brains out on the floor doing something foolhardy?"

"Let's hope not. And I applaud your restraint."

"My restraint?" Severus asked, confused.

"Yeah, for not saying how little mess it would make if I dashed my brains out on the floor."

"I wasn't even thinking that," Severus said truthfully.

"You're still holding me," Harry pointed out with a smile.

"You startled me," Severus admitted.

"I'm sorry. Let's start again. Hello, Severus." And he stretched up and kissed Severus on the lips, just a quick "it's nice to see you" peck. "How was your day?"

"It was all right. Better now," he noted, and this time, he reached down to kiss Harry. This one was a little more than a peck, but it was still fairly brief and clinical. "And yours?"

"Quiet. And kind of boring," Harry noted. "But definitely looking up now."

This kiss was neither brief nor chaste. And it was interrupted by a voice saying, "Wow! I'm going to have to scrub my brain now."

"Al!" Harry said, his face instantly coloring. He squirmed out of Severus' arms and dropped to the floor. Trying to pretend nothing had been happening here, he turned to her. "What are you doing home?"

"Interrupting, by the looks of it," she said sarcastically. "Aunt Hermione didn't have any ginger, and I was pretty sure we had some."

"Oh. Yes. We do. Usual place." Harry tried not to stammer as he spoke.

"Mm hmm," Allison said, looking sternly at both of them. She crossed to the spice cupboard, poked around until she found what she was looking for, then turned around.

"Making a stir fry?" Harry asked, trying to project innocence and normality.

"Mm hmm," she said again. "You wanna tell me what's going on here?"

Harry gave up all pretense, and his shoulders drooped a bit in relief. He'd never been very good at pretending. "Yes. But not now. And not without your sister. We were going to talk to you together when you guys got back."

"Tell you what," Al suggested. "I'll take the ginger back, get Sid, and we'll come back. We can talk now."

"That'll work," Harry said. "It won't take long. Shouldn't interrupt your dinner at all."

"I'll be right back."

[scene break]

Both girls sat on the sofa. Allison had not told Sidney what she'd witnessed when she returned home earlier. She'd told her sister only that Dad wanted to speak with them both and that it couldn't wait. She'd put Aunt Hermione's inquisitive questions off by telling her it was nothing bad and they'd be back shortly.

"So," Harry started, rubbing his hands nervously. "I was going to have this talk with you when you guys got back this weekend, but after what Al saw, that cat is kind of out of the bag."

"What did you see?" Sidney asked, turning on her sister with an accusatory glare.

"They were kissing, Sid."

Sidney's eyes opened wide and she turned excitedly to her fathers. "You were KISSING? Each other?!"

"Well, I wasn't kissing Agatha," Harry said matter-of-factly.

"Oh my God!" Sidney said, looking as though it was taking all of her control not to jump out of her seat. "What does this mean?"

"It means," Harry said, talking slowly and firmly and hoping to ward off any hysterics, "that your father and I have decided that we're going to …" How should he say this? "We're going to try dating," he decided. "No promises, no commitments, just … getting to know each other again, getting together for dinner and the like, maybe seeing a movie or something. You know, dating."

"Oh, Dad!" Sidney gushed. "I'm so happy for you!"

"Sidney, don't get carried away here. We don't know where this will lead. Maybe nowhere. But we feel like maybe there's something left of what we had all those years ago, something we can build on and make better. And we didn't want to sneak around, so we're telling you right up front."

Severus chimed in for the first time. "And no matter what happens between your father and me, I will still be here for you in whatever way you want me to be. That will not change should we try this and it doesn't work out. I want you to understand that."

"If you have objections, now would be the time to share them," Harry invited.

"I have no objections!" Sidney stated immediately. "I'm thrilled for you! I hope it all works out. I know it will!"

"Al?" Harry said, turning to his other daughter.

Allison was silent for a moment, marshaling her thoughts and staring at her father. Then she said, "I want to say two things." She looked up at Severus. "Why don't you sit down?" she invited. "So I can look at both of you while I say them."

Somewhat nervously, Severus perched on the arm of Harry's chair and looked at her, waiting for her to begin.

Allison looked only at Severus now. "You hurt someone I love very badly. I know it was a long time ago, but it was a really deep hurt, and I want you to know that if you do anything like that again, you will have me to deal with."

Severus could have found humor in this slight young child threatening him with apparent bodily harm, but he appreciated where she was coming from and took her very seriously. "I understand you completely. I have no intention of hurting your father. And if I do so unintentionally, you have my permission to use whatever hex you think appropriate."

Allison stared at him for a bit longer, assuring herself that he meant what he said. When she was sure, she turned to Harry. "And I need you to make me a promise."

"What promise, Al?"

"That you'll be careful. You see, when two people love each other very much … well, let's just say that sometimes things happen, and I for one don't want to be surprised with a baby brother."

Harry's face went instantly and deeply red at her suggestion, but Severus laughed out loud, recognizing that she'd tempered her tone and was switching roles with her father to tease him. Allison actually smiled at Severus, and he became mostly convinced at that moment that they were going to be okay, he and his older daughter.

"Isn't Hermione waiting for you?" Harry muttered, still embarrassed beyond belief to have his child alluding to sexual activities that he may have engaged in or might be engaging in in the future.

"She is," Allison said, hopping up off the sofa. Sidney followed suit and threw herself into her father's arms.

"Oh, Dad," she said into his ear. "I'm so happy for you. Let him make it up to you."

"I'll try, hon," he said. When he released her, Sidney hugged her other father and whispered into his ear, "Take care of him, please."

"I will do my best," Severus assured her.

Harry pulled Allison into a hug, even though he would wish for a very long time that she hadn't said what she'd said. "I love you, you brat," he said.

"Love you, too, Dad. Behave," she added with a mischievous twinkle.

"Git," he said.

Allison looked up at her other, taller father and decided what the hell and hugged him, too. "Have a nice evening," she said as she pulled away. "But not too nice."

"Get out of here before I take you over my knee!" Harry threatened as his children flooed away again, leaving them alone.

"I am so sorry about that," Harry said into the ensuing silence.

"Why?" Severus asked. "She didn't say anything that wasn't true. It could happen again, you realize, were we to engage in … certain behaviors. In fact, studies reveal that though male pregnancy is extremely rare, once a wizard does become pregnant and bear a child, the likelihood of a second pregnancy increases by more than fifty percent."

Harry looked a little green at this news. "What are you making for dinner?"

"Seafood newburgh. Why?"

"Because that sounds delicious, and I don't want to lose my appetite, so you probably should stop talking about this."

Severus smiled in recognition of his discomfort and changed the subject.

[scene break]

"Tell me about your work," Severus invited as they ate his very delicious meal, the table adorned with candles and flowers.

"My work?" Harry asked after he'd swallowed. "Um … it started as a volunteer thing. When I first came here, I didn't work for a while. I was lucky enough not to need to work. The pregnancy wasn't easy, especially in the first trimester. I was flat on my back a lot of the time. Just being upright caused nausea and vertigo. Once I began to feel better, I'd begun to show, and that would have been very difficult to explain. I'd bought this land and had just started having this house built when the girls were born. Once the kids came, I was busy with them. When they were four, I put them in preschool, and then I had some time on my hands. Another parent worked for the court-appointed special advocate program and told me how they were always looking for volunteers, so I signed up and got some training, and I started doing that on a volunteer basis. After I'd been doing that for seven years or so, there was an opening in the office that they wanted me to apply for. I did and got hired for that, and since then, I've been an actual employee."

"And you worked with abused children?"

"I did when I was a volunteer. The paid job was more administrative, paperwork and reports and the like, supporting the volunteers."

"And which did you enjoy more? The volunteer work or the paid employment?"

"The volunteer work was more hands-on. I got to interact with the kids in a way that you don't with the paperwork side of things."

"What was your role?"

"We talked with the kids, let them tell us what they wanted. We talked to the parents and other family members and caregivers and medical providers and teachers and tried to figure out what was best for the child, which was not always what they wanted. It was our job to make sure that the judges and the lawyers knew what the kids wanted, so they felt as though their voices were being heard, but also to make recommendations about what was best for them."

"That sounds very worthwhile. Did you work with a large number of children at one time?"

"No, they usually assigned us to only one or two families at a time, so we could give them more attention."

"And did you miss that type of work when you took paid employment?"

"I did in some ways. Some of those kids have truly horrific home lives. Well," Harry said with a pointed look at Severus, "you know that. You could get your heart broken every day. But it was satisfying when you were able to actually help some of them get to a better place. The job was more supervisory, helping the volunteers when they needed assistance, filling out reports, just kind of keeping track of everything all at once."

"Do you think you will go back to that type of work now that you are better?"

"I'm not sure," Harry said. "I've been thinking actually about going back to school, maybe taking some classes and working on a degree."

"In what area?"

"That's one of the things I'm not sure of. Social work, maybe. I like working with children. Maybe I could be a teacher. Or a guidance counselor. Maybe even a librarian."

"You have some thinking to do, it appears."

"Yeah. But there's no rush. I've not even made a dent in the Potter fortune, and the Black fortune is still just sitting there. I probably should have given some of it away before now. I'll never use it all. Maybe I'll just wait until the girls are gone. Then I'll be so bored I'll have to find something to do or go crazy. Maybe I'll become a potions master," he said with a mischievous look at Severus.

"Heaven forbid!"

They ate in silence for a bit, until Severus said, "There is another reason I am sorry that I was not here for you when you were pregnant. I think I could have helped with the morning sickness. Did you not have a healer?"

"I did," Harry said. "And he tried. But everything he gave me had even worse side effects, so I just toughed it out until it eventually went away."

"Well, I am sorry that I wasn't here to try." He was sure he could have brewed something that would have helped Harry to feel better.

"It's in the past," Harry assured him. "It's one of those things that women must forget, too, because how could you ever have a second child after going through all that pregnancy and childbirth does to your body? And I didn't even give birth like a lot of women do. For obvious reasons, I had surgery. I went to sleep, woke up, and there they were. Two perfect little angels."

"Where were they born? Did you have a healer here?"

"No. I continued to see the same healer that had told me I was pregnant. He knew who I was, and when I left to come here, I would just pop into the floo when I needed to see him. When I got really big in the end, he came here. And when it was time for him to take the girls, I went to St. Mungo's under a glamour and a false name and I stayed for the barest minimum time possible. No one ever found out, thank goodness."

"Sidney said that you refused to return to England. Have you been back at all since the children were born?"

"I have not."

"May I ask why?"

"I was afraid I'd run into you," Harry said forthrightly. There was no point beating around the bush. "I'd think about going back, for a visit, to see the Weasleys, maybe just to see a quidditch match, and I'd make this plan about being really careful and staying away from any place you might naturally be expected to be, and I'd almost do it, but then something in my head would say, 'but what if, even with all that, I run into Severus? What if I'm in some remote part of wherever, keeping my head down, and I run into you on the street, and I have the children with me, and you see them, and you know?' I wouldn't let myself take the risk."

"It appears I have something else to be sorry for, then. I've kept you from your home."

Harry shrugged. "This is home now. I've seen Ron and Hermione frequently enough to keep from missing them. They're the only ones it would have been unbearable to never see again. I wouldn't mind seeing Molly and Arthur again, or Hagrid, but the longing was never so great that I felt it was worth the risk. We've been happy here. The girls have friends, and they go to a good school. We have a good life."

"And your mother's family? Do you know whatever became of them?"

"The Dursleys? You know how you said you never cared enough about your father to find out whether he was still alive? That's pretty much how I feel about the Dursleys. And I'd wager that's how they feel about me as well. Even when I was back there, living with you, I never had any wish to see them. I don't know if they're alive or dead or somewhere in between, and I don't really care one way or the other. Does that make me an awful person?"

"Absolutely not," Severus assured him. "Your family set the tone for your relationship on the day they took you in. They raised you in such a way as to ensure that you had no positive feelings for them, and you have no obligation to them whatsoever."

"Let's not talk about them anymore. I'll lose my appetite for pudding."

"Shall we take it with coffee in the living room?" Severus suggested.

Once they'd settled with their chocolate torte and coffee, Harry asked Severus to tell him what potions he was currently working on, and they spoke at length on that topic, with Harry asking intelligent questions and Severus taking care to explain in basic terms things Harry might not have learned during his fraught potions history at Hogwarts. They both felt immensely accomplished and pleased when they managed to make it through a discussion about potions without hurling hurtful words or any actual objects at each other.

While they cleaned up from Severus' masterful dinner, they talked about the state of politics, both wizarding and muggle, in their birth country and in Harry's adopted country. Though they'd never really conversed on this topic before, they found they had a lot of opinions in common and shared a very basic outlook on how things should be run and by whom. When they'd finished tidying the kitchen, it was nearly eleven.

"Stars, it's late!" Severus noted.

"Were you planning on going home tonight?" Harry asked.

"I think it's best. I think it's too soon to …"

"You have a perfectly good bedroom upstairs," Harry interrupted.

Severus smiled, abashed because he'd assumed Harry was inviting him to share sleeping arrangements. "You are, of course, right."

"If we're going to do this," Harry said, "we're going to have to figure something out with the time difference. You need to get back to work regularly, and we're here. That's gonna be tough for you to manage long-term."

"I have already given it some thought," Severus said. "I can adjust my hours at work so that I arrive later in the morning and stay later into the evening. It is my company after all, and I can change the rules. I'll be able to spend time here with you and the children whenever that works best for you, and I will go into work around that."

"And sleep?" Harry pointed out. "When do you plan on doing that?"

"I've never needed a lot of sleep," Severus reminded him. "You know that. But we will find a routine that works. Of that, I have no doubt."

"Do you think it would be helpful if you had your own international floo connection? We could probably get Hermione to set that up. She's still pretty good at breaking rules."

"That might be useful in any event," Severus said. It was often awkward to arrive in the Weasley's floo if they were home.

"I'll talk to Hermione." They were standing in front of the floo. "So have you decided if you're staying or going?"

Severus leaned down and kissed Harry's lips. When he pulled away, Harry licked his lips, savoring the taste of the other man. "I think I will go. The children will be home the day after tomorrow, I believe?"

Harry nodded confirmation.

"Why don't I return then?"

"That sounds perfect. Thank you for dinner. It was wonderful."

"You are very welcome. I will see you in two days." He kissed Harry again, a long, lingering kiss, then pulled himself away and disappeared into the flames.

[scene break]

Severus sat in the quiet house, reading a book. If nothing else, he'd gotten a lot of reading done this summer, spending countless hours here when Harry was ill and then recovering. He cast a tempus charm again. The girls should be home at any time, and Harry — where was Harry? He'd left thirty minutes ago, getting in the car and driving away. Severus had attempted to stop him, arguing that he was still not completely healed, that he was doing too much, that he shouldn't go anywhere unless it was necessary. Harry had assured him that it was necessary, that what he needed to do he could stay in the car for, and that it was no further away than ten minutes. So ten minutes there, however long it took to do whatever he needed to do once he arrived, ten minutes back. Severus was quite sure he should be back by now, and he was starting to get a little concerned. He didn't trust muggle automobiles or Americans as a rule, and combining them together served to multiply his unease exponentially.

His musings were cut short by the flare of the floo. Assuming that the children were returning, he turned to greet them. It wasn't the twins, though. Neville Longbottom stepped from the floo, spotted Snape, and gave a little involuntary scream. His wand also dropped into his hand and then came up to point at Snape.

"Mr. Longbottom," Severus said calmly. This wasn't the eleven-year-old Neville Longbottom Snape had tormented so long ago. This version had been hardened by torture and battle and could no longer be dismissed as harmless and inept.

"What the bloody hell are you doing here?" Longbottom asked, his wand twitching. It was clear to Severus that he knew the history behind the ending of Severus and Harry's relationship but not that the two had reconnected recently.

"I am waiting for Harry."

"But why? What are you doing here? You don't belong here. Have you hurt Harry? Is he somewhere in the house?"

"I would be happy to explain," Severus said. "If you would lower your wand, I will do so."

"I think I'll leave it where it is, if it's all the same to you."

The floo flared again, and both men turned to see Sidney, then Allison exit the grate. They took in the scene before them. Allison began to laugh.

"Uncle Neville!" Sidney exclaimed. "What are you doing?!"

"I came through the floo and found him here," Neville said. "Just sitting here like he owned the place. And he hasn't explained why he's here."

"He's here because he's our father," Sidney said, going to Snape's side, trying to diffuse the situation by putting herself between them.

"Well, I know that!" Neville spit. "But what's he doing here now?"

"He's been helping Dad," Allison explained. "It's really okay, Uncle Neville. Dad knows he's here. Where is Dad, anyway?"

"He insisted he had to make something called a Dunkin run," Severus explained.

Understanding dawned in the eyes of both children. "Ah," Sidney said. "Figures. First place Dad goes when he starts driving again."

Neville slowly lowered his wand with the realization that the children obviously knew about their other father, despite Harry's years-long attempts to keep their whereabouts secret.

"I would have thought he'd be back by now," Severus observed.

"How long has he been gone?" Allison asked.

"A little over thirty minutes."

"He should be back any time then. Maybe they were just busy."

His timing impeccable, Harry opened the door to the garage, carrying a tray of plastic cups and something that looked like a large furry hat. Through the doorway, he could see Neville. "Nev!" he exclaimed, happy to see his friend. "Did I forget you were coming?"

"No," Neville said, looking warily at Snape while he approached Harry. "I got some new seedlings and wanted to put them in the ground. I was a little surprised to see him here." He jerked his wand in Snape's direction.

"Oh. Oh!" Harry said, realizing why Neville had his wand out. "It's okay, Nev. He came a couple of months ago to help me." Harry set his tray of cups down and held both arms out wide. "See? Good as new."

Neville finally felt it was safe to put his wand away. "You look good."

"Thanks. It's all Severus' doing."

Neveille turned to Snape. "I apologize for pointing my wand at you then, sir."

Severus nodded in acceptance of his apology. "It is all right. You did not know."

"Right," Neville said shortly. "Well, I'll just go get those seedlings in."

"Come back in for some lemonade before you go," Harry invited.

After he'd gone out into the backyard, Harry turned to Severus. "He pulled his wand on you?!"

"Never mind that. Where have you been? You said thirty minutes. I've been worried. And what is that you are holding?"

"What? This?" he said innocently, hoisting the furry object. "First, let me see." He focused on the tray of drinks. "Refresher for Al," he said, handing his older daughter one of the cups. "Iced cappuccino for Sid." He handed Sidney her drink, then turned to Snape, "And for you, one iced tea." He handed the cup to Severus, who looked at it suspiciously. "Perfect for a hot summer day."

Severus was eyeing the beverage as though Harry had handed him a cup full of tar and asked him to drink it.

"Have you never had tea iced before?" Sidney asked, amused.

"It is hardly the civilized way to drink tea."

"You are a snob," Allison observed.

"Go ahead and try it," Harry invited.

In order to dispel Allison's accusation, Severus took a small sip. It really wasn't that bad. Not sweetened, thankfully. Unlike whatever Harry was holding in his hand and sipping through a straw with a rapturous expression on his face. "What is that monstrosity?"

"Caramal signature latte," Harry said with a happy sigh. "So good! Wanna try?"

"I will pass. It looks sweet enough to kill. And you still have not explained what you are holding."

Harry held it up to show them all. "It's a bed for Agatha."

"Oh, Dad. That's so sweet!" Sidney came over and took it from him and examined it. "I'm gonna go find her and show it to her."

As she skipped off, drink in one hand and cat bed in the other, Severus said, "What happened to 'I won't even have to get out of the car?'"

Harry blushed. "The pet store is right next to the Dunkin. And Agatha didn't have a bed here. It only took five minutes. I'm fine, I promise." Harry decided not to show him the toys and treats he'd picked up for the cat until later. "I'm going to bring Neville a glass of lemonade."

He went to the fridge for ice and the pitcher of lemonade, filled a glass, and quickly departed to find Neville, mostly to fill him in on the current state of affairs with Severus.

Severus took another long sip from his cup. Maybe the Americans were onto something here.

[scene break]

"Can we talk to you, Dad?" Allison asked after they'd finished dinner.

"Uh oh," Harry said. "This sounds serious."

"It kind of is. Well, it's important anyway," Allison clarified.

"Of course, we can talk. Both of you, or just you, Al?"

"Both of us," Sidney said.

"Would you like me to go now?" Severus asked.

Allison and Sidney exchanged a glance. They'd discussed the advantages and disadvantages of speaking with both their fathers jointly about this and had been unable to come to a conclusion about whether having Father there increased their chances of getting what they wanted or decreased them. Allison shrugged, and Sidney said, "You can stay if you want."

"Do you want to move to the living room?" Harry asked.

"No," Allison said. "This is fine." She exchanged another look with her sister, then turned to face Harry. "Sid and I have been talking with Rose about something. It's something I've always wondered about, but I figured you'd never allow it the way things were before. But now . . ." she paused, glancing at her other father. "Well, things are different now, so maybe it's something you'd consider."

"Maybe I could if you'd tell me what it is," Harry pointed out.

"We want to go to Hogwarts."

Harry sat, stunned. Hogwarts. They wanted to go to Hogwarts. In Scotland. A boarding school in Scotland. Hogwarts. Harry turned to look at Severus, but he didn't appear any more able to form words than Harry himself did. "Hogwarts?" he finally got out.

"Yes," Allison said. "It's a really good school, right? And I know it's back there, where you said you'd never go, but that was because you didn't want Father to know about us, and now that he does, there's really no reason to avoid the place anymore, right?"

Harry studied his older daughter. It was unusual that Allison was the one doing the speaking. Throughout their childhood, whenever the two of them had wanted something, they'd work it out between themselves and then Sidney would be the one tasked with approaching Harry and winning his approval. Sidney was the much more physically affectionate of the two, and she wasn't above using hugs and kisses and cuddles to get what she wanted. Over the years, Harry had become wise to this dynamic and had recognized what was happening and hardened his heart to Sid's childish wiles. So Allison taking the lead here told Harry that this was very important to her.

He turned to Sidney. "You both want this?"

"We do," she confirmed.

Harry seemed unable to process anything, his head filled with all of the numerous reasons to just say no, immediately, to this request. There were many, and they were all tangled up with each other and difficult to separate. And not one single reason to say yes was making itself heard above the noise of everything else. He scrubbed a hand across his forehead, suddenly tired.

But he owed his children at least the appearance that he was considering their request. "I … this is unexpected. I'd never even thought this might be something I'd need to consider."

"It's a really good school, though, right?" Allison said. "Everyone says so."

Harry thought it wise to not get into his particular educational history at Hogwarts, where Defense Against the Dark Arts teachers were interchangeable every year, some of them barely competent and more than one of them actively working for Voldemort; where the Care of Magical Creatures teacher, much as Harry loved him, worried more about the well-being of his dangerous creatures than the safety of the children he was teaching; where the Divination teacher had no more skill or talent at Divination than a tree stump; and where Dolores Umbridge had been allowed to reign for so long. "It's not about that." Indeed, Harry had no idea whether the current crop of teachers at Hogwarts was competent or not. But Hermione would know.

"Look," he said finally. "This is a lot to think about."

"I can see that," Sidney said softly. It was obvious how much this idea had thrown Dad for a loop. He seemed set adrift by the very thought.

And because Allison was convinced that Dad was going to outright say no, she turned to Severus. "Do you have any thoughts, Father?"

Severus looked at Harry before he spoke. It would be very easy to overstep boundaries that had only very recently been set. When Harry didn't immediately state that he didn't want to hear Severus' opinion, he said, "I think your father is right. There are many things to consider. Can I suggest that you let the two of us talk this over privately for a bit, maybe sort out the pros and cons and come up with a list of questions? Is that acceptable to you?" he directed to Harry.

Grateful for any lifeline that put off talking to his children about this, Harry grabbed on. "Yes. That sounds like a good idea."

"Is that acceptable to you both as well?" Severus asked the girls.

"Of course," Allison said. "We didn't think this was going to be simple. I'm sorry if it upsets you, Dad."

"It's all right," Harry assured her, though it obviously wasn't. "Let us talk for a bit."

Allison and Sidney both stood up, and their fathers followed suit. The men watched as the children climbed the stairs and went together into Sidney's room. As soon as the door was closed, Harry turned and buried himself in Severus' embrace, murmuring, "no no no no" over and over again.

Severus held Harry tightly for a moment, rubbing his back soothingly. "Let's sit," he finally said, though he didn't push Harry away.

Harry drew in a large, bracing breath and then stepped away. "Okay. In the study, though. I don't want them eavesdropping." He led them there and closed the door, then cast a privacy spell for good measure. He all but fell onto the sofa.

"Oh, why did this day have to come?" he moaned.

"This is very upsetting to you," Severus observed.

"Of course it's upsetting! A boarding school! They want to go to boarding school in another country! And Hogwarts of all places! I thought I had two more years to get used to the fact that they were leaving me. Now I'm supposed to do that in a month?!"

"You sound as though you've already decided to let them go."

"I absolutely have not!" Harry clarified.

"That's what I thought. So let's talk. We can make lists of the negatives and the positives. Let's start with the negatives." Severus sat at Harry's desk and conjured a piece of parchment and a quill.

"It's a boarding school! In Scotland!" Harry reiterated.

"Yes, you've said," Severus said dryly, making notes on the parchment. "What else?"

"They don't have any sports except quidditch. Al will hate that. She's a three-sport athlete, and she's damn good at all of them. And there's no arts to speak of. Well, I guess Professor Flitwick used to have that choir, but they hardly ever did anything, and there were no opportunities for acting and no art classes or anything like that. Sid will hate that.

"I guess Hogwarts Potions curriculum is stronger than their current school, so that'll benefit Al, but everything else is either equal or less than what they're getting now. I mean, I guess that's true. It's been a long time since I've had any reason to know what's going on there. What do you know about their current staff and classes?"

"Very little," Severus admitted. "When I see Minerva, we don't talk in detail about school issues. But you do know someone who could answer all of those questions for you."

"Hermione," Harry said. "I'd already thought of that. If I don't end this discussion by deciding it's an absolute no, I'll talk to her. So where were we? Oh, yeah. It's back home, and they're my daughters. I mean, they're Peverlys, but it won't be long before everyone figures out who they are, and then what? People hate them or love them because of me and not for who they are. And then there's you. Once it becomes common knowledge that you're also their father, what then? More of the same. Is there danger to them because we're their parents? Are there still people who hold grudges even after all this time?"

Severus thought about this. It had been many, many years since anyone had even mentioned his role in the events that took place during Harry's time at Hogwarts. The Death Eaters who had survived the war had been punished and most of them had then assimilated back into wizarding society. Some of them probably still held opinions that were not generally accepted in said society, but they'd learned to keep those opinions to themselves.

"I honestly do not think that will be an issue," he said. "It has been a very long time since anyone has been hostile towards me because of my role in those events. It has been more than twenty years, Harry. People have moved on."

"And the hero worship? Has that ended, too?" That had made Harry very uncomfortable in the years he'd spent in his home country after the war ended.

"May second is still Harry Potter Day," Severus said. The Ministry of Magic had declared that commemorative holiday six months after Harry had killed Voldemort. On the first anniversary, there had been a huge celebration at Hogwarts, with visiting dignitaries and speeches and memorial services. Harry had been pressured to attend, but after that first year, he had refused, and they'd done whatever celebrating or commemorating they wanted to do without him. "I do not know how they observe the day at Hogwarts, but I doubt it's as big a circus as it was that first couple of years."

"It would be embarrassing to the kids, I would think, if they had to suffer through too much of that. To them, I'm just Dad. Here, I'm just Harry Peverly. It's just always been that way and I like it."

"All right. It's another item to add to the negative column. Anything else?"

Harry thought about it. He wanted this column to contain fifty items, but he really couldn't in good conscience come up with anything else. "That's all I've got right now. Anything you want to add?"

"No. I think you've hit the major concerns. Now. Positives." He poised his quill over the parchment.

"Can't think of a single thing," Harry said after a moment. "You?"

"Other than that the children would be physically closer to me, which is a selfish consideration I admit, I cannot think of anything. And it's hardly even a relevant consideration with an international floo."

"So the only reason to even think about doing this is because they want to. That can hardly be listed as a positive if you ask me."

"I have a suggestion regarding one of your concerns if you want to hear it."

"Sure. Which one?"

"Your unease at the children leaving you. When I spoke with Minerva last, she told me that she had several openings on staff. We didn't speak in a lot of detail, other than I know that she needs a Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher and I think she said she had an opening in Charms."

"Did she offer you DADA?"

"She did, though she was not surprised when I turned her down."

"So you're saying what? I should apply for a teaching position at Hogwarts?"

"It would allow you to stay with the children."

"Oh boy. Something else to think about. But how long has it been since you talked to her? You don't even know if those jobs are still open."

"True," Severus admitted. "But it would only take a moment to find out. If you were interested."

Harry blew out a breath. "I can't even imagine what it would be like to go back there. So many memories. A lot of them bad."

"Many good, though, too. And if it would make the decision easier to know that you would not have to be separated from the children, I thought it worth mentioning."

"No, you're right. It would help. So I think we need to do two things. I want to talk with Hermione about the school in general and whether the staff is qualified and whether the curriculum is comparable to what they're getting now. And we need to explore what openings might still be available and whether I'm qualified for any of them and whether I even want to go back there."

"I think that's reasonable. And the issue regarding sports and arts seems like something the children would have to decide for themselves. As far as the last two items on the list, the potential danger and your notoriety, those can be addressed, though maybe not completely eliminated, by discussions with the children."

"I can't believe I'm even considering this," Harry said. "I can't believe I'm thinking of letting my kids go to Hogwarts or that I'm thinking about going back there myself. This is mad."

"What would you like to tell the children now?"

"Let's tell them what we've discussed, that we need to speak with Hermione and the headmistress, and tell them they've got to think about what they'd be giving up before I can make any decisions."

[scene break]

They reassembled, in the sitting room this time. Both girls sat looking hopefully at their fathers, awaiting their decision.

"So we've talked about this, and I have a lot of reservations," Harry said. "I'm not saying no, because there are some things I want to check out before we give you our final decision. I want to talk to Aunt Hermione first. I have no idea what Hogwarts is like currently. You tell me it's a good school, and that may well be true, but I have my own experiences that tell me it was lacking in a lot of ways, at least when I was there. So I want to talk with her about what the staff is like currently, what they're teaching, that sort of thing. I know the education you're receiving here is better than average, and I want to make sure that you wouldn't be taking a step down if you transferred. Does that sound reasonable?"

Both girls nodded. Allison murmured, "Of course."

"There's one other thing that we're going to look into, but we won't talk about that now." He did not want to share with them the possibility that he might take a position on staff because he did not want them jumping to the wrong conclusions. He would not even think about doing that until he reassured himself that Hogwarts was the right place for the girls. "But there are some things I wanted to point out, things that you may not have thought of and which I want you to seriously consider before we make any drastic changes."

Allison and Sidney looked intently at him. They'd obviously decided to remain calm and accepting and not to get emotional if Dad presented arguments against their moving schools, as they'd been sure he would. They wanted to appear open to his thoughts and concerns, but to impress upon him that in the end, they were mature enough to make this decision on their own. They wasted little time looking at their other father - they knew that this decision was Dad's and Dad's alone to make.

"Al," he started. "With the exception of Quidditch, Hogwarts has no sports. Zero. They don't even play soccer there. There's no tennis court, no basketball hoops, nothing but a Quidditch pitch. And while you would probably be damn good at Quidditch should you decide to try out, you'd be working at a distinct disadvantage from the other kids who've been playing it in their backyards since they were old enough to sit on a broom. I want you to really think about what giving that up would mean to you."

"I'm sure I —" Al started to say, but Harry stopped her.

"I don't want you to say anything now. I want you to take some time and think about it. Really think about it. Will you do that?"

Allison nodded. "I will," she said solemnly.

"Sid," Harry said, turning to his other daughter. "Hogwarts has absolutely no program for the arts. No art classes, no theater classes, no drama program. When I was there, there was a choir of sorts, but they didn't really perform much at all, and I don't even know if they have that any longer. They don't have classes in literature or creative writing or anything remotely like that, and the library isn't filled with the sort of books you're used to. You'd be giving up the opportunity to act in plays and sing in the chorus, and I know how important those things are to you. Your voice lessons, too. Can you promise me that you will give some serious thought to what not having those things in your life will feel like?"

"I will, Dad. I promise."

"Okay. There are a couple of other things. I've told you some things about the war and the stuff that happened leading up to it. After the war, the wizarding world was very … um grateful, I guess you'd say. They were a little over the top about it at times, and people would sometimes …" Harry was unsure how to explain this without making himself sound like a complete egotistical idiot the likes of Gilderoy Lockhart.

Severus stepped in. "I suspect your father downplayed his role in these events when he talked of them with you, but the plain fact is that if it wasn't for Harry Potter, the war would have been lost and the world would be a completely different place. Probably here as well as back home."

"That's not fair!" Harry protested. "You were at least as important as I was. And Dumbledore. And so many other people. I was just one cog in a really big machine!"

"You see?" Severus said to the children. "This is what I mean. What he is trying to make you understand is that he is a hero in our part of the world. May second in the magical portion of the UK is Harry Potter Day. It's celebrated to this day, though not on as grand a scale as it was in the beginning. Your father is afraid that this will embarrass you if people continue to fawn over him and subsequently you because of it. And even though he has changed his name and you are not yourselves Potters, it will be immediately obvious and become well-known that your father is the Harry Potter. And that may come with some unpleasant consequences. Your father fears that it may come with some dangerous consequences, though I believe the chances of that so long after the events in question are minimal. Minimal, but not zero," Severus pointed out when he saw Harry starting to gear up to protest his minimizing the fact that they may be in danger because of him. "And once people learn that you are also my children, and they will learn that, there may still be a number of people who bear grudges against me for the role that I played in those events so many years ago."

Harry turned back to his daughters. "So you see, there's a lot to consider. I want you both to do some good, hard thinking. You'll be leaving your friends, and your school, and this house, and everything that's familiar."

"And you, Dad," Sidney said sadly.

"Yes, well, I don't really even want to think about that, if you must know the truth. But I'm going to try not to use it as a basis for my decision because that's my issue to deal with. But you've got your own things to think about and I want you to take them seriously. I'll do what I need to do and ask the questions I need to ask, and I will give you my decision by Friday. Does that sound acceptable?"

"Of course," Allison said. "Thank you for considering it. I honestly thought you'd just say no."

"Well, don't assume that I won't say that in the end," Harry warned. "But I'll keep an open mind until I have more information."

[scene break]

Harry's discussion with Hermione had put to rest the concerns he had about the quality of education that Hogwarts offered. With no Voldemort to worry about, staff under Headmistress McGonagall had been hired and were retained solely on their qualifications, not because they needed to be protected or kept close for strategic purposes.

The curse on the DADA job had been broken, if it had ever really existed, with Voldemort's death, and the current instructor, a highly qualified former auror, had been on staff for fifteen years. He was leaving now to retire, but Hermione did not doubt that the Headmistress would fill his spot with someone just as qualified. Professor Flitwick had retired shortly after the war, and the witch who had replaced him had been highly competent. She'd recently married and was joining her husband in Australia, which was why Hogwarts had a current opening for that position. Hermione had heard rumors that the Headmistress had received numerous applications for both positions and had the cream of the crop to choose from.

The other members of the staff had been in place for years, and Hermione had nothing but good things to say about them. Hagrid had been gone from Hogwarts for several years, having joined Madame Maxime in France. Hermione thought he was teaching Beauxbatons students about dangerous creatures now. Sybill Trelawney had drifted away about ten years ago, telling Minerva that her inner eye told her it was time to move on. After she'd left, Hogwarts had removed Divination from its curriculum.

After Harry spoke with Hermione, Severus had owled Minerva to inquire whether she still had openings on staff and hinted that Harry might be willing to return under the right circumstances. Rather than answering his question, Minerva had requested an opportunity to meet with Harry, offering to come to him. After checking with Harry, Severus had arranged for the Headmistress to use the Weasley floo. She was expected here very shortly, and Harry was unaccountably nervous. He'd asked the girls to wait upstairs until he'd had a chance to speak with his former professor privately first. He still had not told them that he was considering applying for a job at Hogwarts and did not want them to know what they'd be discussing until it was more or less decided.

Severus watched him pace about in the sitting room. "Why are you so nervous?"

"Oh, I don't know," Harry huffed. "I haven't seen Professor McGonagall in years! What makes me think I'm qualified to take a job teaching young people? What if she's just coming here to break it to me gently that I'm not suitable for any of the positions?"

"I don't think she'd waste her time coming here for that," Severus pointed out. "She would simply have told me that the positions were filled."

"Did you tell her that we were thinking of sending the girls to Hogwarts?"

"I did."

"Hmm. Maybe she's coming to tell me that they don't accept students from other countries."

"You know that's not true. There were international students there when you were a student," Severus said.

"There were?" Harry asked, surprised. He'd not known that. "Anyone in my year?"

Severus thought about that. "I don't think so. I think they were a year or so behind you."

Still nervous, Harry continued to pace. Then the floo flared, and Minerva McGonagall stepped out onto his hearth rug.

"Professor," Harry said, staring at her. She hadn't changed a bit. "You haven't changed a bit. How is it you don't look any older?"

"Still the charmer, aren't we?" Minerva said. She turned to Severus, who was closer. "Severus, it is good to see you again."

Severus moved to her and kissed her on the cheek. "You, as well, Minerva."

Harry mentally shook himself and approached her. She surprised him by drawing him into a quick hug, then held him at arm's length and looked him over. "Look at you. All grown up," she said fondly.

Harry smiled shyly. "You look wonderful, Professor."

"I haven't been your professor for a very long time."

"Sorry. Headmistress."

"You must call me Minerva," she instructed. She looked around her appreciatively. "What a lovely home you have."

"Thank you. I've made tea. I thought we'd take it on the back deck. Severus, if you'd like to take Prof- Minerva out, I'll only be a moment."

Harry bustled away into the kitchen while Severus escorted their guest out through the French doors to the back deck, where Harry had set a table amongst the potted plants that Neville had so recently tended.

"This is beautiful," Minerva said as she seated herself in a wicker chair.

"Neville Longbottom takes care of things for me," Harry said as he followed them, laden with a tray full of tea things.

"Ah, yes. Professor Longbottom. He's never told me he knew where you were," Minerva said. It sounded like an accusation.

"Yes, well, I had my reasons for not wanting that to get about," Harry said as he poured tea for them all. He glanced at Severus, not knowing how much he might have told his old friend about their situation, then or now.

"Well, that doesn't matter now, I suppose," Minerva said as she took a cup from Harry. "Thank you. Are your children here? Am I going to get to meet them?"

"Yes, they're here," Harry assured her as he settled with his own cup. "I asked them to give us some time to speak in private first. I have reservations about sending them to Hogwarts. I was not prepared for the possibility when they brought it up to me. One of my biggest concerns was letting them go so far away. They'll be going to college, of course, when the time is right, and I thought I had two more years with them home before that happened. The thought of suddenly losing them now didn't sit well. And then Severus told me you had openings on staff, and I thought maybe that would be a way of delaying that a bit."

"I must tell you, Harry, that all of my vacant teaching positions have been filled."

"Oh," Harry said. He must have wanted to return to Hogwarts a great deal more than he'd allowed himself to believe because he now felt keen disappointment at this news.

"However," she continued, "I came here today to discuss with you a different kind of position I'd like you to consider."

"Oh?" Harry asked, looking at her with interest.

"Yes. I have been thinking for some time about adding a position to the staff. It would be an entirely new position to Hogwarts, and I've not yet quite made up my mind what to call it. Head of Student Services or something similar. That's not important and we can work that out later. What I'm looking for is someone who can assist students in areas other than their academics. Oh, that might be part of it, for students who are struggling, but I'm thinking more along the lines of students who come from difficult home situations, those who have a difficult time making friends or are struggling in other ways. We've never really focused on the mental health of our students, and I think it's time we changed that. Many of them have mental health diagnoses and we can no longer look the other way when we know there are issues. I've been thinking about doing this for many years but have never found the time. But this past year drove home for me how important it is that students have a resource, someone they can go to help."

"What happened?" Harry asked, sure that something must have.

"One of our fifth years tried to kill herself," Minerva said. "Thank Merlin she was not successful. Her family pulled her out of school and she is now receiving the treatment she needs, but I feel partly responsible because no one around her recognized the signs, or if they did, they didn't know what to do about them, and we want to prevent that from happening again if we can. We have to try, at least. Severus has told me a bit about your work here, and I feel that your background may be what we are looking for."

"I'm not a licensed therapist or anything close to that," Harry pointed out, reluctantly, because he found he really, really wanted this job.

"That would not be your role," Minerva clarified. "You would be a first contact, in effect. Someone a student could go to when they're having trouble. You could speak with them and refer them for whatever services you thought appropriate. I'm sure much of it would not be that serious. Some of it would involve career placement advice, mediating disputes with other students, that sort of thing. But young people have a myriad of problems, more so now than ever, I think. And we need to start helping them more than we are. Is that something you think you'd be interested in?"

"Definitely," Harry said eagerly. It sounded to him much like the guidance counselor position at the local high school. He would work with kids every day, maybe help some of them over some rough spots. "What would I have to do to apply? Do you need a resume or an interview or something?"

"What do you think this is, Mr. Potter? Oh, I'm sorry. You go by Peverly now. Is that something you think you will continue should you return?"

"I hadn't thought about that," Harry said. "That would be a little weird around people who know who I am. I may decide to go back to Potter, but the kids - they will be staying Peverlys. I want to distance them from me for as long as possible. I have to tell you that that was one of my other concerns, that people who had reason to resent how the war ended might use them to get back at me. Or even Severus."

"I can understand that you might be concerned, because you've been away for so long," Minerva said. "But I think that you will find that enough time has gone by that everyone really has moved on. Can I promise you that one person with a grudge and serious mental health issues of their own won't cause problems? I cannot. But I sincerely believe they will be perfectly safe at Hogwarts. As will you."

"Okay. Severus, what do you think?" Harry asked his partner.

"This position sounds exactly like the type of position you were hoping to find here. You'd be with the children. You and I would live in the same country again," Severus pointed out. "But at the end of the day, it is your decision."

"I would hate leaving here," Harry said, looking around at his house and garden. He'd spent years getting this place just right. It was tranquil here, and Hogwarts, he knew, was anything but.

"I can see why you'd feel that way," Minerva said appreciatively. "It is beautiful here. And so quiet. You could certainly return here at the holidays. If I offered to let you come home on weekends, would that sweeten the deal?"

"It would," Harry said. "I'd hate to leave it unoccupied for months at a time." He turned to Minerva. "I'd like to take the job, assuming the girls decide they want to transfer. Which I think they've already made up their minds to do, but I made them promise to think about it seriously first. I pointed out to them some of the things they'd be giving up and asked them to consider whether they really want to make this change."

"Well, let us talk with them now, and I will see if I can dispel any of their concerns," Minerva suggested.

"I'll get them," Harry said, standing up.

Severus and Minerva chatted, mostly about Harry, for the few minutes it took for Harry to return with his children.

"Minerva McGonagall," he said, "I'd like you to meet my daughters, Allison and Sidney."

Minerva stood up and offered her hand to Allison first. "It is such a pleasure to meet you both." Still holding onto Allison, she reached out a hand to Sidney. Now holding both girls' hands, she turned to Severus. "Severus, they're as beautiful as you said."

Both girls blushed and rolled their eyes at their father.

"Shall we sit?" Minerva asked.

"You guys want tea, or something else?" Harry offered.

"Maybe some lemonade?" Sid said. Allison nodded in agreement, and Harry left them briefly to fetch two glasses. When he returned and they'd all sat down again, Minerva said, "Your father tells me that he has asked you to consider what you have here in this beautiful place and what you might be giving up if you come to Hogwarts. Do you mind sharing those concerns with me?"

Sidney, as she usually did, went first. "Well, I like the arts. You know, like theater and music and art and writing and stuff like that. Dad says that Hogwarts doesn't have anything like that, except for maybe a choir."

"Sadly," Minerva said, "when Professor Flitwick retired, the choir ended as well. So your father is right in that regard. However, I have recently hired a new Charms professor who happens to have theater experience in her background, and we could talk with her and see if she might be willing to start up a club of some sort. You could perhaps put on a play for the rest of the student body. I myself would find that delightful. And if you were to find other students who shared your interest in art and music, there is nothing to stop you from forming other clubs yourself. You'd need a faculty advisor, but I don't think that would be difficult to come by," she said with a pointed look at Harry.

"You'd do that just for me?" Sidney asked excitedly.

Minerva sniffed. "I am the headmistress. I can do anything I want."

Harry could see that Sidney had fallen completely in love with his former Head of House. She'd never seen Professor McGonagall in full-on anger mode, so he could forgive her for seeing only the charming grandmotherly woman sitting before her.

"That's it," Sidney said. "That's all I had." She sat back and smiled, obviously content that all of her problems had been solved.

Allison took some time forming her thoughts before she spoke. "I play three sports at my current school. Dad tells me you have only quidditch, which sounds interesting, but I'm kind of old to start a new sport now and be able to be competitive at it. I'm not so much concerned about the curriculum aspect of Hogwarts. I have an interest in potions, and my cousins have told me how strong Hogwarts is in that area. So I'm looking forward to that. But having to give up all of my sports is not something I like to contemplate."

"Harry," Minerva said, "have you an idea where she might sort?"

"Slytherin," Harry and Severus said simultaneously, then they smiled at each other.

"Well, then, let me set your mind at ease at least regarding Quidditch. Slytherin graduated their entire team last year. Spots on the team will be available to anyone with any bit of talent on a broom. If you have your father work with you from now until the day of tryouts, I have no doubt that you will make the team easily. If you have inherited even a portion of your father's ability, you will have no trouble at all. Now, what sports do you play here, dear?"

"Soccer — er, I mean football, basketball, and tennis."

"We have many muggle children who would love an opportunity to play football, and there's no reason why Hogwarts can't have a football club. I'm not so sure about the basketball, but we can install a tennis court somewhere on the grounds. If you can find one other student who plays or wants to learn, you're on your way."

"And maybe if there are enough, we could have a tennis club, too?" Allison asked. Tennis was her greatest love. She'd be disappointed to give up the others, but losing tennis completely was not something she wanted to consider.

"I don't see why not. Again, you'd have to have a faculty advisor, but that shouldn't be a problem." Minerva looked again at Harry here.

"I'm going to be really busy, aren't I?" Harry lamented.

"What does that mean, Dad?" Sidney asked, looking confused.

Harry sighed. "It means that if you decide that you want to transfer to Hogwarts, I'll be taking a job there."

Both girls looked at him in amazement. They had not expected this at all.

"Are you serious, Dad?" Sidney asked. "You'd be going with us?!"

"Sorry," Harry joked. "You can't get away from me that easily."

Sidney jumped up so quickly that her chair tipped over backward. She threw herself to the ground beside her father's chair and hugged him tightly. "Oh Dad, that's wonderful! I was so sad about leaving you here all by yourself. This is perfect!"

Harry stroked his daughter's hair and looked at Allison. "Al? What do you think about me going with you?"

Allison shrugged, though her large smile said she was pleased as well. "It's okay with me."

"So are we doing this?" Harry asked them. "Are we moving to Hogwarts?"

Allison and Sidney looked at each other, then Sidney said, "We are!"

"Oh, wonderful!" Minerva said, and she seemed genuinely happy. "Harry Potter is coming home!" She withdrew papers from a pocket of her robe. "There are forms you'll need to fill out. We'll need to have copies of their records from their current school so that we can figure out which year will best suit them."

"You can put them in year six," Severus observed, "right where they should be according to their age. I think you'll find them advanced for a typical Hogwarts sixth year, but not so much so that advancing them to seventh year would be appropriate. They are both exceptionally accomplished at magic." The pride with which he said this was obvious to them all.

"Well, how could they be otherwise?" Minerva noted. "Look who their parents are. Still, there are protocols to be observed. We'll need the records and we'll do a wee bit of testing before we make our final determination." She turned to Harry, beaming. "I really cannot tell you how pleased I am that you're coming home. I will owl in a few days with details about the position. I assume you'll want living quarters in the castle?"

"Yes," Harry said. "And I assume there won't be any difficulty with Severus coming to visit?"

"Of course not," Minerva said. "We'd love to have him on staff. I tried to get him to take the defense job, but he turned me down, the little stinker. Well, I am so glad we've got this all ironed out so quickly and easily."

"You'll join us for dinner, I hope," Harry invited. "We're grilling."

"Oh, please stay!" Sidney begged. "You can show us your animagus form. I'll go find Agatha, and you can meet her!" Sidney leaped up and went inside the house, calling to Agatha as she went.

"Agatha?" Minerva queried.

"The cat," Severus explained. "She used to be mine until she decided to emigrate."

"I guess she'll be going home now," Harry noted.

"She may as well stay with you," Severus said. "I anticipate spending a lot of my time at Hogwarts for the foreseeable future."

Harry smiled warmly at him. Minerva beamed at both of them and said, "I'd love to stay. We can get caught up."

[scene break]

The following day, Severus arrived just before lunch. He found Harry energetically cleaning out the refrigerator. Most of its contents were on the counter, and the entire top half of Harry's body was bent into the refrigerator, where he was vigorously scrubbing.

"You look very industrious," Severus noted, startling Harry and causing him to jerk up and bang his head on a shelf.

"Ow!" Harry said. He emerged from the appliance rubbing the back of his head.

"Apologies," Severus said. "I didn't mean to frighten you."

"I wasn't frightened," Harry clarified, "just startled."

"Will a kiss make it better?"

"You know, I think it probably would," Harry said with a smile.

Severus took the smaller man into his arms and kissed him thoroughly.

Harry looked up at him with a warm, happy smile. "I think you're supposed to kiss where the boo-boo is," he pointed out.

Severus kissed the top of Harry's head. "Better?"

"Much."

"What are you doing?"

"That should be obvious," Harry said, returning to his prior occupation. "I'm cleaning the refrigerator."

"But why are you doing it the muggle way?"

"I needed something to burn off energy. I've been anxious all morning."

"About anything in particular?"

"No, just everything. Being at Hogwarts again. Going back home. It's not anything I ever thought I'd be doing." Part of Harry's words were muffled as he began returning things to the refrigerator.

"Can I make a suggestion?"

"Sure."

"Why don't you go out to dinner with me tonight? At Callaghan's. We can reintroduce you to society in the muggle world first. Much less pressure."

Harry considered this. "You know, that isn't a bad idea. You want to go now?"

"It is mealtime," Severus said with a shrug. "Shouldn't matter if it's lunch or dinner."

"We can bring the girls, too. Allison hasn't seen your place yet. I'll go get them as soon as I finish this."

"Why don't you go now? I can finish this." Severus didn't want Harry to start overthinking this and change his mind.

"All right! We'll be down in a few minutes."

[scene break]

Lunch (or dinner, depending on whose time zone you wanted to consider yourself in) had been wonderful. Harry had loved this pub when he'd lived here, and the food was just as he remembered it. It was just as busy as he'd remembered, too, so Harry and the girls were heading for the exit while Severus stayed behind to settle up the bill.

"Do you want to head straight home?" he asked the girls as he pushed the door open and stepped outside. Directly into the path of someone who'd been walking by the front door.

"I'm so sorry," he said as he gripped the arm of the person he'd bumped into to steady them. "That was totally my . . ." He looked up into the face of Petunia Dursley and the words died in his throat.

Petunia pulled her arm from his grip. She looked about her somewhat frantically, as though she was considering just running away without speaking or even acknowledging him.

"How are you?" Harry asked softly. He'd not seen her since the day he'd left the house on Privet Drive just before he'd turned seventeen. He'd never had a reason to go back there, and she certainly hadn't reached out to him. He'd not spared any of the Dursleys a thought in a long, long time. Still, she was his mother's sister, and for that reason alone, he could be polite. After viewing Severus' memories, he understood her a little better and could have at least a little sympathy for the child she was and the woman she'd turned into as a result.

"Fine," she finally said stiffly, looking past him down the street. "I am fine."

"I'm glad," Harry said.

Harry's daughters had stopped behind him when he stopped, still inside the foyer of the restaurant. Other patrons who wanted to exit forced them out onto the street as well. Without even realizing they were doing it, the little group moved out of the way of traffic on the sidewalk.

"Oh, um, these are my children," Harry said, pointing at one and then the other. "Allison and Sidney. Girls, this is my Aunt Petunia."

Sidney smiled at her and said hello. Allison, who knew some of the details of what Harry had suffered as a child at the hands of his aunt, crossed her arms and stared stonily at the woman.

Sidney knew these details too, but she had a much more forgiving heart. "You were Gramma Lily's sister," she said.

"Yes," Petunia admitted with distaste, as though she was confessing to being related to a notorious serial killer. "Where are you living now?" she asked Harry.

"We live in the States," he said without being any more specific. "Have done all the children's lives. How is Dudley?" Harry liked to remember Dudley the way he was when they parted for the last time and not the way he'd been the entire rest of their childhood together.

"He is well," Petunia said, though she really had no way of knowing this and rather doubted it to be true.

After leaving school, Dudley's life had not gone as his parents had imagined and planned it would. He'd refused to go to university, had never been able to hold a job for any length of time, and had seemed to be happy to live in his parents' house indefinitely, confined to his dark and dirty room and playing video games all day. Finally, Vernon had had enough and had issued an ultimatum: Dudley either cleaned himself up and went to school, or he got a steady job, or he moved out. Dudley had chosen the latter. He'd moved in with a female friend who had a grotty little flat in an unseemly part of town. Petunia had visited him there without Vernon's knowledge, giving him what money she could. At some point, she'd become convinced that he had a drug habit. One day, when she'd gone to visit him, she'd found both Dudley and the girl gone, the flat empty. The landlord informed her that they'd skipped out without paying the last three months' rent. She'd seen Dudley only one other time, almost four years later. He'd come to the house when he'd known Vernon would not be there, looking for money. A young woman (Petunia hadn't been sure if it was the same one he'd moved in with or not) stood at the end of the walk, refusing to come closer to the house, a small child clinging to her hand and an obviously round belly protruding from under her too-small shirt. Dudley had looked filthy and thin and old, Petunia had thought. She'd begged him to stay, tried to convince him that his father wanted him back (even though she knew this was a lie), and told him she'd do what she could to help him get clean. When he refused and had pressed his demand for money, she'd given him every cent she had in the house, making him promise that he would stay in touch. He did not keep that promise, and she hadn't ever seen him again. She didn't know if she had grandchildren or even whether Dudley was alive or dead. Her marriage to Vernon had suffered after he'd unapologetically thrown their son out, and the two co-existed in the house they'd once so cherished, without love or affection of any sort, hardly communicating beyond the most necessary of words.

But she would not tell Harry Potter, son of her blessed sister, any of this, he who stood here now looking well and healthy and with two beautiful children who looked so much like him and her own sister that it caused a surprising burst of pain in her heart. So she lied.

"He is doing well. He has a good job and a fine family. He's very happy." She almost choked on this last word, but she was used to lying to neighbors and friends about her son.

"I'm glad." Harry really didn't care about Vernon, but good form dictated that he should ask, though he would not refer to the man as his uncle. "And Vernon?"

"He is the same as ever he was," she said, and that, at least, was the truth.

"Good, good," Harry said awkwardly.

"Well, I really must be going," Petunia said.

"Of course. It was nice seeing you," Harry said. He'd thought this was a lie when he'd started to say it, but he suddenly found that he meant it. He surprised both of them by hugging her briefly and kissing her cheek. "Take care of yourself."

"I shall," she said, not returning the sentiment. She turned and walked off in the opposite direction she'd been going when they'd collided, but not even noticing. She needed to get away. If things had turned out differently, if Lily hadn't died or if she hadn't been a witch, or if Petunia herself had reacted more kindly to either of those circumstances, that boy (who was no longer a boy, she noted to herself) - her nephew - could have been a great comfort to her in her current trying times. He was kind and compassionate. She'd always known this about him, though she'd never allowed herself to acknowledge anything about Harry that made him seem in any way better than her own son. Had she treated him differently in his youth, he might still be in her life, someone she could turn to and talk to, someone who hadn't turned out a disappointment in every way. She felt this so deeply, the desolation so complete, she contemplated stepping in front of the bus that was going by her, much too fast, as they always did. But that lasted only a split second, and then she was herself again, blaming the boy who stood on the sidewalk watching her walk away and his long-dead mother for all of her troubles, past and present.

Severus stepped out onto the sidewalk beside Harry. He'd seen Petunia through the window of the pub and had deliberately stayed inside, knowing that the sight of him would do nothing to make Petunia any more accepting of Harry now than she had been when he'd been forced onto her as a baby.

"Are you all right?" he asked quietly.

Harry sighed. "That was kind of the last thing I needed. But I'm okay. Ready, girls?"

He took hold of Severus' hand, and together they shepherded their daughters back to Severus' flat.

[scene break]

Back at home, with the children upstairs in their rooms, Harry and Severus sat close on the sofa, watching the flickering remains of the fire. "Do you want to talk about today?" Severus asked softly after a long period of comfortable silence.

"You mean going back there?" Harry asked. "It was okay. Good, even. It was a wise suggestion you made, that I go back to Muggle London first. To sort of ease me into going back home."

"I am glad, but that's not really what I meant. You ran into Petunia."

"Yeah," Harry said with a sigh. "That was very unexpected."

"You seem not at all bothered. I would have thought such a meeting would upset you."

Harry shrugged. "There was a time when I hated them. All of them. But time has sort of dimmed that to nothing. They literally mean next to nothing to me. I'm glad that they're doing okay, because she was my mother's sister, but other than that, I have no thoughts about them one way or the other."

"Is that what she told you?" Severus asked, surprised. "That they're 'doing okay'?"

Harry raised his head from Severus' shoulder and looked up at him. "She said she was fine. She said Dudley was doing well and was happy. She said Vernon was the same as ever. Why? Do you know something different?"

"When I was looking for you after you left me — remember I told you I hired someone to try to track you down? He asked me what I knew about you and wanted details of any family you had, even though I told him you likely wouldn't go anywhere near your Muggle relations for any reason. In the reports he provided to me, I learned that he had looked into the Dursleys, and what he found was not what I would term 'doing okay'.

"Oh?"

"Mostly, it was your cousin, Dudley. Within a year of leaving school, he was no longer living with his parents and had moved into a small flat with a woman. He has never held a job longer than two weeks, he acquired a rather serious drug habit, and he spent more than one period of time in prison, mostly for theft. Presumably, he was stealing to support his drug habit. At one point, he cohabitated with a woman who had a child. The investigator was unsure whether the child belonged to Dudley or was the product of another relationship. While they were together, she gave birth to another child, and shortly after the birth, both children were immediately removed from her custody by child services. The father of that child was listed as 'unknown' on the birth certificate. The last report I received from the investigator indicated that Dudley was most likely living on the street."

"Wow," Harry said. "That's awful. But that was a while ago, right? Maybe he cleaned himself up, got a job, went back to school?"

"That is possible," Severus admitted doubtfully.

Harry rather doubted it, too. If he had, Petunia would have provided more detail, gloating about her son's job or his family. "So she flat-out lied to me then. I wonder if she and Vernon are actually still married. Maybe she lied about that, too. Although I guess she never said that outright."

"At the time of the last report, they were still married and still living in the house on Privet Drive. I don't know what might have happened to them after that."

For some reason, this news depressed Harry, though he wasn't sure why. He didn't owe the Dursleys anything, even his sympathy. Still, he felt sure if his mother was still alive, she'd do whatever she could for her sister, whatever her sister would let her do. "Maybe she would have been a better person without Vernon," Harry guessed.

"She wasn't a very good person before she ever met Vernon Dursley," Severus pointed out.

Harry sighed. Severus would know. He'd known Petunia as a young girl, and he was right — what he'd seen of her in Severus' memories certainly didn't point to someone who would grow into a compassionate or kind person.

"What's done is done, I guess. They never wanted me when I was a child, so it's hard to work up a great amount of sympathy for them now. Though I'm still sorry if they've suffered. Well, maybe not Vernon. He deserved some suffering."

Harry settled back down at Severus' side and resumed his perusal of the fire.

[scene break]

Allison's flying lessons had been going very well. She was naturally athletic, and she'd taken to the broom as quickly and easily as Harry himself had. Their home was well hidden from observation and Harry had spent many enjoyable hours with his daughter zooming about the skies. Sidney had thought she might like to join them the first time, but when she'd flown as high as the house, she'd gotten nervous and immediately returned to the ground, happier to watch them from the safety of terra firma. After four weeks of daily workouts, Harry thought sure Allison could earn a position on any house team.

[scene break]

Harry's return to Hogwarts was emotional on many levels. They'd ridden the train to Hogsmeade and walked up to the castle. Harry walked slowly, remembering, answering the many questions the girls asked. When they got to the closed gates, Harry took a deep fortifying breath, then said, "How are we supposed to get in?"

"You have been officially hired?" Severus asked.

Harry nodded. "Minerva flooed the paperwork yesterday."

"Then you are on staff now," Severus said. "You have the authority to open and close the gates. Simply touch your wand to them."

Harry did as instructed, and the gates swung slowly open. He looked a bit apprehensively at Severus, but the girls had already gone through, chattering away to each other in excitement at finally being here, and he followed them, stopping to close the gates behind them.

They made their way up to the castle and then to the Headmistress' office. Minerva met them there, a table for lunch set up in her office. They sat down to a typical Hogwarts repast, Alison and Sidney firing questions at the older woman non-stop. Harry and Severus sat quietly, both subdued by the memories of their many conversations with Albus Dumbledore in this office.

After lunch, Minerva kept the girls with her to administer their placement tests. Harry and Severus went in search of Harry's new office, which was located at the end of a corridor near the Great Hall. Harry liked the location. It was out of the way enough that anyone who might be reluctant to be seen coming to him for help with a problem should be able to do so discreetly. He'd been provided with an office large enough to contain the usual desk, chair, and filing cabinets, but which also contained comfortable chairs where casual conversations could be held and students could hopefully relax. He also had a separate conference room with a table and six chairs where more formal discussions with larger groups could take place. He liked the space a lot and looked forward to putting his personal stamp on it.

They then traversed up two flights to find what would be Harry's living quarters. The rooms were more than adequate — a small but comfortable sitting room with a hearth, a bedroom, and a private bath. Harry had shrunk some personal items (books, photographs, and other little things he couldn't live without) down, and he removed them from his pockets and returned them to their original size. He needed to make one more trip home, to bring his clothes and Agatha, before he'd have everything he needed here with him. He looked around the rooms with satisfaction. He could be comfortable here, assuming he wasn't overcome by an attack of anxiety at being back here which caused him to tuck his tail between his legs and run back home, which he was not yet one hundred percent sure would not happen.

"This will be all right," Harry said, trying to sound as though he meant it.

"They are typical of staff quarters," Severus said.

"I'm going to pop back home and get the rest of my stuff and Agatha," Harry said.

"Why don't you let me do that? You can stay here and start to get settled in. You have everything packed that you wanted to bring, yes?"

"Yeah. It's mostly just my clothes. There are two suitcases by the floo. Minerva said she already had the international floo connected."

"Is this one legal?" Severus asked with a lift of an eyebrow.

"You know, I'm not sure."

"Best not to mention it publicly until we know, then."

"There's a floo-proof crate there, too, for Agatha. And a bag with her food and litter and toys and stuff. I know you didn't bring her through the first time in a crate, but I'd feel better if she was protected. You'll have to find her and get her into it."

"That should not be a problem. The girls have everything they need?"

"Their stuff is at Ron and Hermione's. We took it over there yesterday. They'll be staying there tonight and going to Diagon Alley for supplies tomorrow with the Weasleys. I don't think I'm ready for the Alley yet, and besides, I don't want people seeing me with them and figuring out who they are for as long as possible."

"All right. I will return in a few moments." He turned away to put that plan into action.

"Severus?" Harry said.

"Yes?" he said, turning back.

"Would you do something else for me?"

"Of course. What do you need?"

"Would you … would you stay here with me tonight?"

Severus showed his surprise at this. "Are you sure?" They'd not spent the night together since resuming their relationship. He'd been waiting for Harry to tell him he was ready.

Harry nodded. "It will help."

"Then of course I will. I shall return momentarily." He practically sprang into the floo, wanting to return as soon as possible.

[scene break]

True to his word, Severus was gone less than ten minutes. Harry had done nothing in his absence other than stare out his one window, which had a view of the greenhouses.

"You didn't have any trouble with her?" Harry asked as Severus bent down to let the cat out of her crate. Agatha moved slowly and cautiously out, her nose twitching to take in the new smells, then slipped under the sofa and out of sight.

"She didn't much like the looks of that crate, but we worked it out." In reality, Agatha had turned tail and run at first sight of the crate, but Severus had accio'd her back, turned her around so she couldn't see where she was going, then while he pspspspsps'd at her, pushed her butt-first into the carrier and closed the door quickly. Piece of cake.

"Well thanks for doing that," Harry said. He retrieved his suitcases from Severus and resized them, then put them in his bedroom. "I'll do that later. Should we go and see if the girls are done?"

They walked slowly back up to the Headmistress' office, holding hands, comfortable displaying their relationship since no one else was present. When they arrived, the girls were sitting in front of Minerva's desk, the three of them chatting away.

"You were right, Severus," Minerva informed him. "They are advanced sixth years. You've done a very nice job with them, Harry. They are fine young women and will be a credit to Hogwarts."

Harry blushed at her praise. "Thank you. Do you need them for anything else?"

"No, we are finished here."

"We'd better get you off to the Weasleys then. Oh," Harry said, remembering. "My floo. On the Ministry's radar or not?"

"On," Minerva said. "I thought it best that they know. But it's keyed only to you and the girls and Severus. You're the only ones who can floo in or out. And the Ministry is supposed to have marked the fact that it exists as confidential. But we all know how that goes."

They all did, and no one held out a lot of hope that the information, or the fact that Harry Potter had returned, would stay secret for long.

[scene break]

They showed Harry's new office to the girls, then took them to Harry's quarters.

"I am going to get lost here every day!" Sidney wailed.

"I felt that way at the beginning," Harry said. "You'll get used to it."

"Dad, before we go, can you show me around the Slytherin areas?" Alison asked.

"Sure, Al," Harry said, "though you'd probably get more out of tour from Severus. That was his domain for many years. Do you want to …?" he asked the other man.

"Of course."

"And you can show me Hufflepuffle," Sidney said. "That's where you thought I'd go, right?"

"Hufflepuff," Harry corrected with an amused smile. "That's the one common room I've not seen. But I bet we can find the Fat Friar. He'll show us around. He's a ghost."

"Why are we fat-shaming a ghost?" Sid asked with disapproval. "Poor man's already dead. We have to pick on him now, too?"

"Sorry. I'll try to remember to call him just 'the Friar' from now on."

Harry indicated the doorway and the girls preceded them out. "We'd better not introduce them to the portrait guarding the entry to Gryffindor," Harry noted under his breath to Severus."

[scene break]

They'd had dinner with the Weasleys and left the girls excitedly planning their trip to Diagon Alley tomorrow with their cousins, full of stories of all they'd seen at Hogwarts that day and questions about everything. When they returned to Harry's rooms, Harry dropped to the sofa. "I can't believe I'm here. This is surreal."

Severus sat beside him. "Are you having second thoughts?"

"No. Well, not yet, anyway. I just never thought I'd ever be back. Here or in this country." He turned to face Severus. "Or with you."

"Have you forgiven me? I wouldn't blame you if you still had lingering doubts."

"No. No doubts. I think maybe I'll always have quite a lot of regret for all of the years we could have had together if you hadn't … But I have no doubts about the man you are today and the father you can be to the children."

"And do you think that there is a chance that you and I can ever return to what we once had?"

Harry reached over and took Severus' hand. "I've been thinking about that a lot lately. I've been thinking that maybe I'm ready to let you back in. All the way back in."

"Is that why you asked me to stay tonight?"

"I asked you to stay because I still feel so unsure about this move, and you just make me feel so safe and protected. When you're with me, I know that nothing bad can happen to me or the children. I asked you to stay for the peace of mind you bring me but also because I want you. I want to know if we're still good in bed. I think the rest of our relationship is better than it ever was all those years ago, and the only thing left to figure out is the physical aspect. And I think it's time. Do you agree?"

Severus squeezed Harry's hand. "I'd be lying if I said I haven't wanted to be back in your bed since very shortly after your children barged into my life. I was a fool to drive you away, and I have no intention of making that mistake again. I want you in my life in every way possible. And I was only waiting for an invitation, until you felt that I deserved an invitation."

"Severus," Harry said solemnly, "would you like to go to bed with me?"

Severus stood up, pulling Harry with him as he did so. "I would like that very much," he said before leaning down to kiss Harry with tenderness and passion.

Harry used their joined hands to pull Severus into the bedroom, closing the door behind them. Then he had to open it again when Agatha immediately meowed requesting entry.

[scene break]

It had been a very long time for Harry and a somewhat long time for Severus, but they were patient and loving with each other, and their bodies soon remembered the old dance. When Severus thought Harry was ready, he rolled atop the younger man and kissed him gently.

Harry placed a hand on Severus' chest and said, "There's something I have to tell you."

"Right now?"

"Yes," Harry said, looking up at him with solemn green eyes. "I lead you to believe something that wasn't true. I need to set the record straight."

"Oh?"

"Yes. We talked about our … experiences after we separated. You told me you hadn't found anyone you wanted to spend more than a night with. I said I hadn't either. So you probably thought that meant I hadn't … been with anyone at all since then. And that wasn't the truth, but I let you believe it. But before we do this, I want to be completely honest with you."

"You're not going to tell me that you're married, are you?" Severus asked with a raise eyebrow.

"No. Nothing like that. But there was one man. And it wasn't just one night."

"Do you want to tell me about it?" Severus didn't need to hear the details. He wanted very much to get back to what they were doing before Harry's conscience started troubling him. But if Harry needed to tell him, he would listen.

"He was part of the crew that built the house. The girls were just under a year old, and I'd sent them to Hermione's for a few days because there was a lot to be done. They were doing the finishing work and I was moving in, and it was easier to do that without babies underfoot. He was there late one day, and I invited him to stay for dinner, and we just … ended up in bed. He stayed another three nights, and then he was gone, off on another job."

"Did you miss him when he left?"

"Not really. I didn't ever think that we had a future together. But it was nice to have that connection again, you know?"

"I do know," Snape assured him. "And now, if you've bared your soul of all of your affairs, I'd like to make a connection with you."

Harry smiled up at him. "Please do."

[scene break]

When it was over, they lay in each other's arms, enjoying that closeness as much or maybe even more than the actual sex. Until a thought occurred to Harry and he popped upright.

"Oh my God, Severus! What if I got pregnant?!"

Severus smiled into the almost dark room, the only light coming from the barely glowing embers of the fire. "Relax," he said soothingly. "I cast a prophylactic charm before … before. You're not pregnant."

Harry collapsed with relief back into his former position. "Thank you for remembering. Can you imagine having a baby at this point in our lives?"

Severus had learned his lesson and answered the question carefully. "I can imagine what an upheaval it might cause, but if it were to happen, I would be thrilled and grateful for the opportunity to make up for the past."

"Well, that's nice of you to say, but I am done with babies," Harry said firmly. "So let's not talk about it anymore before we jinx ourselves." He was quiet for a moment before asking quietly, "Did you think that was as good as before?"

Severus stroked Harry's hair. "I thought it was worlds better. Because I understand now, I think, what love is, and I am so completely and utterly in love with you, which just added entirely new layers to the act. I feel closer to you at this moment than I have ever felt to anyone in my life. Including you, when we were together before. What about you? What did you think?"

Harry didn't answer, except for a small sniffing sound, and he started to pull away from Severus.

"Harry?" Severus asked, concerned. He instinctively tightened his grip, not wanting to allow Harry to leave him, but ready to let go if Harry fought him at all. "Are you all right?"

Harry stilled in his arms, then relaxed back into position. He sniffed again and Severus asked, "Are you … are you crying?"

"No. Well, maybe a little. I just never thought I'd hear you say anything like that. I love you, too, Severus. It fills me up so that it sometimes comes out of my eyes. Do you think … do you think you might like to live with me here? Is it too soon to talk about that? It's just that I don't think I can bear to not see you every day."

"We would have to talk with Minerva and make sure that she didn't see any issues. We would likely not be able to take most meals together. You'd be expected to eat in the Great Hall with the students. But I could certainly floo back here every night and floo out every morning. I don't think she'd object to that if we were discreet."

"You want to then?" Harry asked hopefully.

Severus pulled Harry tighter against him. "I want to be with you every moment of every day. That cannot be, I know, but if we can have our nights and our mornings together, I shall be as content as I can be."

"Let's talk to her tomorrow," Harry suggested sleepily, snuggling down into Severus, sure that he could sleep now.

"Yes, let's."

[scene break]

The move into the castle was finished with a week remaining until the arrival of students. Harry used that time setting up his new office and living quarters, flying with Allison many happy hours every day, talking with Sidney every evening, and re-learning Severus Snape's body in the night. Minerva had been supportive of Severus moving in with Harry, so long as they kept their private relationship private, and they'd settled in to become the family that Harry had long ago hoped they could be.

September 1st brought carriages and boatloads of children to Hogwarts. Harry's children had flooed to the Weasleys that morning so that they could have the experience of riding the train with their cousins. They would then wait with the first years outside the hall to be sorted. Harry and the two other new staff members had been asked to wait in a small room off the Great Hall, to be introduced to all of the students once the sorting hat had finished its work. Having met his new colleagues earlier in the week, Harry chatted with them while they waited, but he couldn't help but peek out when he heard a voice call, "Peasley, Cyril." From the student records he had access to, Harry knew Al would be next. He watched as an impossibly small boy sat beneath the hat for only a couple of seconds before the old felt thing crowed, "Gryffindor!"

After he'd been welcomed by the wildly cheering children at the Gryffindor table, the Deputy Head checked his list and called, "Peverly, Allison." Harry watched his older daughter approach the stool, looking impossibly tall in comparison to the child who had just occupied it. The hat had barely touched her head when it called out, "Oh, Slytherin! Definitely Slytherin!"

Allison walked with dignity to the table she'd identified as Slytherin due to the color of their robes and due to the fact that they were the only ones clapping now, though their cheering was muted somewhat by the surprise of an older student being sorted among the eleven-year-olds. Children who appeared to be her own age made space for her on the bench, and she sat and began conversing with the students beside and across the table from her.

"Peverly, Sidney."

Harry watched Sid approach the stool now, a huge smile on her face. He saw many of the watching students looking back and forth between the two girls, obviously aware now that they were twins. Sidney sat and waited expectantly while the hat was placed on her head. It didn't speak again for many moments. Just when murmuring was starting to gather form in the waiting room, the hat said, "Well, if you're sure — Hufflepuff!"

"Hmm," Harry thought. "The hat had trouble sorting her. Interesting."

Sidney jumped up and went to join her new house, exchanging a high five with Hugo on her way by the Gryffindor table.

The remaining students were sorted with little trouble. When the last had been seated, Minerva took the podium. "Welcome to all of our new students. I hope that you will all come to feel as though your new housemates are your family and that you will take from Hogwarts all she has to offer you.

"We have several new members of staff this year. As you know, … " Harry stopped listening, knowing that he was being saved for last. The new Charms teacher joined the head table to thunderous applause, followed by the new Defense Against the Dark Arts Instructor.

"We have one more new faculty member that I want to introduce before we all get to the excellent feast our house elves have prepared for us. Before I bring him out, I want to talk to you for a moment about his position, which is a new one here at Hogwarts. Tragic events from last year have made us realize that everyone struggles from time to time. If you are feeling ill or you have injured yourself at quidditch or you spill a caustic potion on yourself, you go to the hospital wing and have Madam Pomfrey fix you up, and no one thinks less of you for that. It's just what we do. But when we are struggling with things inside, when we are having a hard time dealing with the pressure of school, or when things are happening at home, or when you just feel hopeless, we want you to have somewhere to go for that as well, and we want to take away the stigma that is associated with asking for help when life is harder than usual. We want you to know that it is okay not to be okay, and to tell someone and to ask for help when you feel that way. We are all here for you should you need us, but we have added someone to the staff whose job is going to be looking out for you. I encourage you to visit him whenever you need him, even if it's just to talk. He'll be meeting with each of you briefly individually as we go forward, but if you find you need him before that initial meeting, please, please go and talk to him. That's what he is here for.

"Now, to introduce you to the new Head of Student Services. We are so grateful that he is returning to Hogwarts after far too long an absence. You'll recognize the name, and I'm sure you'll all join me in welcoming Harry Potter home."

Harry took a deep breath and entered the room to five seconds of total silence before the room exploded in a cacophony of sound - whooping and cheering and whistling and clapping and stamping feet. Head down, Harry waved briefly, wondering if he'd made a huge mistake coming back here as he made his way to what would be his spot at the end of the staff table. Purposefully not looking at either of his daughters, Harry stood before his chair, wishing the noise would stop. Mercifully, Minerva only let it continue for another few seconds before she raised her hands, asking for silence. It was several more seconds before she got it.

"Thank you for your warm welcome for all of our new faculty. I am sure you will do everything you can to make them all feel welcome. Now, let's eat."

With that, she turned, beamed at all of them, and made her way to her seat as attention was diverted to the feast appearing on the tables. It was only then that Harry started to breathe again.

[scene break]

Harry kept his head down, forcing himself to eat when all he felt like doing was fleeing, from this room, from this castle, from this life. He felt hundreds of eyes on him every second and dared not raise his eyes to look back, sure that the combined force of their stares would push him to do something that would humiliate himself and his children.

"Your daughter is very charming," a voice near his ear said.

He turned to look at Professor Wotherspoon, the new Charms teacher. He forced a smile. "Which one?"

"I haven't met Allison yet. I was speaking of Sidney," the woman replied.

"She's been at you already about the drama club?" Harry guessed.

She smiled and nodded. "Yes. She's very sure of what she wants."

"Don't let her pressure you into anything," Harry advised. "She can be kind of relentless."

"She had some very good ideas. I think that it's time Hogwarts students had some exposure to the arts. Magic and its theory and practice are all well and good, but the arts — that's where our hearts lie and our imaginations learn to soar."

"I agree with you, Professor."

"Harry, my name is Charlotte. Everyone calls me Charley. We're colleagues now."

That thought still struck Harry as very surreal. "You have no idea how weird that whole idea is to me."

Charley smiled in understanding. "Let me guess. It doesn't seem possible you're old enough to have a position at your former school."

Harry scanned the Great Hall now, surreptitiously letting his eyes land on his daughters while ostensibly looking at everyone. He was glad to see that everyone had turned their attention to their meals and their friends. "Sometimes," he agreed. "Sometimes I feel older than Albus Dumbledore would be if he were still alive."

"That's what being a parent does to you."

They talked of Charley's children and her prior experience on London's stages and Harry's work with families and children. Harry found the older woman very easy to talk to, and before he knew it, the meal had ended and everyone was being dismissed to their respective places.

Harry wished his companion a good night, then made his way to his room, where he found Severus waiting. They embraced and kissed and Harry asked, "Have you eaten? We could have the elves bring something up."

"I already did," Severus said, indicating the table with a sweep of his arm, and Harry now noticed empty dishes and used silver.

"Oh good."

"So tell me — Slytherin and Hufflepuff?"

"Yes," Harry confirmed. "Although the hat took a long time sorting Sidney. Reminded me of my own sorting. I'll have to remember to ask her what they talked about."

"Talked about?" Severus parroted. "One does not talk with the hat. One wears it, and it then announces its decision."

"Is that how it worked for you?" Harry asked with a mischievous grin.

"That is not how it worked for you?"

"No. I've never told you about this?"

"You have not."

"It wanted to put me in Slytherin first. Said I would do well there, that I had a thirst to prove myself or some such rot. I argued, said I wanted to go anywhere but Slytherin. It asked me if I was sure, and then it chose Gryffindor. Hagrid had already turned me against Slytherin, told me all bad wizards came from there. Of course, he didn't know about Peter Pettigrew then. Or Rita Skeeter. Or Zachariah Smith. Man, I hated that kid!"

"I cannot imagine what it might have been like if you'd been sorted into Slytherin."

"Maybe you wouldn't have hated me so much," Harry mused.

"Or maybe I would have turned you over to Voldemort in your fifth year, and we'd all be dead now."

Harry shuddered. "Best not to think about it. Things turned out for the best, I think."

"I think so, too," Severus said as he pulled Harry back into his arms and held him tightly. "How was dinner? Were the students all agape at the hero Harry Potter returning to Hogwarts?"

Harry sighed in Snape's arms. "For a bit. Then they let other things distract them, like their stomachs. I sat next to Professor Wotherspoon and we had a very nice talk."

"The new Charms professor, I believe?"

"Hmm," Harry confirmed. "Charley's the one Sidney wants for the drama club."

"Charley?" Snape repeated. "Anyone I need to worry about?"

Harry laughed into Severus' robe. "Charley's very nice. About four feet high, and I'd guess around fifty years older than me. Plus she's a woman."

"Well, that's all right then."

"The new DADA professor, though," Harry teased. "Now he's something else. You should see his hair. It's so thick and wavy —"

Severus cut off this explanation of the other man's virtues with a possessive kiss, which Harry surrendered to with a small chuckle and absolutely no hesitation.

[scene break]

It was a week into school before Harry had an opportunity to talk to Sidney, and he asked her about her experience with the Sorting Hat. "Why'd it take so long?"

"It said that I had attributes that would have suited all of the houses, and it wondered if I had a preference. I told it my dads were in Gryffindor and Slytherin, but I wanted to go my own way. It asked me to choose between Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff, and since you both thought I'd be a good fit there, I told it Hufflepuff. So that's where it put me."

"And are you happy there?"

"It's great so far," Sidney beamed. "There's some super nice kids there. There's this one girl in my year, Julia … I really like her a lot."

"Julia Wainwright?"

"Yeah, that's her."

"I've met her." Harry had had brief meetings with all of the sixth and seventh years already. "She seemed very nice."

"She's great," Sidney said, blushing slightly, making Harry wonder if she saw Julia as more than a friend. "I just love her accent."

"Hon, she has the same accent I do." As did a very large number of the other people here.

"I know," Sidney said with a dreamy smile. "But from her it sounds …. I don't know, it's just different."

Which told Harry everything he needed to know.

[scene break]

The first four months of school had flown by. Harry thought about them as he sipped a glass of hard cider, sitting alone before the Christmas tree in the house in Connecticut, Agatha curled up and sleeping by his side. The girls would be home tomorrow. They'd begged to be allowed to ride the train back to London, and Harry had consented without argument. It hadn't taken them long to become fully assimilated into life at Hogwarts, and though they spoke differently from everyone else in the school, they couldn't have fit in any better had they been born in the UK.

Word had gotten out fairly quickly about the twins' parentage. No one knew how it started, but the rumor had started to spread and made its way quickly through the population like wildfire. Harry and Severus had spoken privately with their daughters, and they'd all agreed that the next time any one of them heard the rumor, they'd confirm it, make it sound as though it was no big deal, and hope everyone just moved on. They had. Severus and Minerva had been right — it had been so long since the war ended that no one held grudges or even really talked about that time in their history. It was too far in the past, and too many things had occurred since for anyone to be dwelling on events that happened over twenty years ago.

Both girls were in the top five of their class, Allison at number 2 and Sidney at 5. They loved their classes and seemed to be thriving. Allison was soaking up the potions curriculum and worked with Severus on the weekends in his lab, and he'd already promised her an internship with his company next summer.

Causing mixed emotions in Harry, Allison had begun dating Scorpius Malfoy a month ago. Scorpius was his father in miniature, and Harry had to actively work to not dislike him on sight. His feelings gave him a new appreciation for how Severus had felt when Harry had started at Hogwarts all those years ago, looking just like his old school nemesis. But he'd met Scorpius during his initial meeting with all students, and he seemed a bright, pleasant boy, so Harry made no objection to Allison seeing him (not that Allison would have let that stop her if he had). The girls had asked if they could have a small gathering at the house on New Year's Eve, and all three Malfoys were expected along with Ron and Hermione and their family, and Sidney's girlfriend Julia and her parents.

Allison had made the Slytherin quidditch team, and she became one of the starting beaters. She was quite good (if Harry did say so himself), and it was not evident that she'd only taken up flying several months ago. She'd also started up a tennis club on the court Minerva had promised, and a group of six or eight students met whenever possible to play until snow had fallen on the court, when they moved into the Room of Requirement. Harry was the faculty adviser for that club, but Allison had been able to rope the astronomy professor into supervising the football club, which was much more well-attended, with many of the children from muggle homes enthusiastically participating in matches.

Sidney's favorite subject was Charms, but mostly because she worshiped Charley Wotherspoon. Charley was thrilled to be asked to run the drama club Sidney wanted to start, and a group of fifteen or so kids was deep into rehearsals for The Sound of Music. Sidney had landed the role of Maria. Harry had seen some of the rehearsals, and he knew that Sidney was going to blow them all away when the show was put on for the entire Hogwarts student body in February. The Great Hall was transformed into their rehearsal space when they needed it and would be the venue for the show. The student tables would be removed and the chairs would be transfigured into comfortable auditorium seating. Scorpius Malfoy had auditioned for and won the role of Rolfe. Harry had had to almost physically restrain himself from sharing the obvious connection he saw between Malfoys and Nazis, and then had immediately felt ashamed of himself. Scorpius was not his father or his grandfather, and the duet he sang with the student playing Liesl was really quite sweet.

Sidney kept up with her other interests whenever she had the time. She and three other Hufflepuff girls had formed a singing group, and they entertained in their own common room frequently and even sometimes in the Great Hall after dinner. Having music at Hogwarts transformed the place into something much cozier and friendlier.

And Sidney had quite fallen in love with Julia Wainwright, and the two girls spent almost every waking moment together (some non-waking ones, too). Harry and Severus had struggled through an awkward conversation with Sid about appropriate and inappropriate behavior for children their age, how to set boundaries, and about basic respect for a partner's wants and needs. They were preparing to have that same discussion with Allison before Christmas break ended.

Things with Severus had been going so well that Harry felt sometimes like he was living in a dream. Severus spent his nights at Hogwarts and his weekdays running his company. When they were together, they were comfortable in each other's presence, they talked about their days and the children, they shared their affection for one another with words and touches, and they cemented their bond in their shared bed. Harry now had the type of relationship with Severus that he had dreamed of when he was younger, and he cherished it and was thankful for it every day.

The floo flared, and Severus stepped into the room. Harry smiled up at him. "I was just thinking about you."

Severus extended a hand to Harry. When Harry took it, Severus pulled him to his feet and into his arms. "I've missed you," he said into the shorter man's hair.

"You just saw me this morning," Harry pointed out with a laugh.

Severus sighed and sagged into the embrace. "Seems like a lifetime ago."

Harry pulled away to look up into his lover's tired face. "Hard day?"

"It was long, wrapping things up for the holidays and suffering through that interminable office Christmas party."

"I told you I'd go," Harry reminded him.

"I appreciate that, but having you here gave me the perfect excuse for leaving when I couldn't take it anymore."

Harry snuggled back into Severus' arms. "I'm glad you're here. I don't mean just now. I mean here, in my life. In the girls' lives. I love you, Severus, and I've never been happier."

Severus pulled away this time, and he leaned in to kiss the man he thought he'd lost forever. "I thank Merlin every day for giving me an opportunity to have you back in my life, for giving me two perfect children that I just don't deserve, for giving me a reason to wake up every day and come home every night. I didn't realize how empty my life was until you and the children filled it. I love you, Harry Potter." He held Harry's face between his palms. "I want to see this face every day for the rest of my life. I was going to wait until Christmas Day to ask you this, but right now seems the perfect time. Will you bond with me, Harry?"

Joy and tears sprung into Harry's eyes, which sparkled with the reflection of the lights on the tree. "Oh, Severus! Yes, I'll bond with you!" He threw his arms around his intended and hugged him with all of his strength.

Severus' arms wrapped around Harry, pulling him impossibly closer, near tears himself. He had his Harry back, and he was not going to ruin this chance.

THE END