The final weekend in May was proving a stressful one for Petunia Dursley. She was thirty-seven weeks pregnant, tired of sleeping on her side, tired of back pain, tired of sore and puffy ankles, tired of this first wave of summer heat. She was ready to meet her baby already! But not this weekend hopefully, because this was the one four-day stretch in the whole two months leading up to her due date that Arabella, Rachel, and Marge were all unavailable to babysit Harry and Dudley should Petunia go into labor, and meanwhile Vernon's mother had been admitted to the hospital with heart troubles again. Naturally, Petunia had bothersome Braxton Hicks contractions on and off all day Friday and Saturday that had alarmed Vernon when she mentioned them to him, to the point he called up to London to tell his mother he wouldn't be able to visit her in hospital after all. The contractions subsided again Saturday night, fortunately.

And then Sunday morning, they were back, and they did not go away but rather steadily increased in intensity and frequency. Petunia braced herself against the kitchen counter as she waited for the strongest contraction yet to pass. She dropped the lunch plate she had been washing back into the suds and breathed slowly. "Vernon, the baby's coming. Today."

"Jesus! Really? It's alright, Pet. I've got the bag packed. I'll just grab the car keys. Oh, what are we going to do with the boys!? I want to be with you, Pet, if I can."

"Call Mrs. Polkiss. I wouldn't want to impose on her normally, but..." She stopped talking and braced against another contraction.

"I'll call her. And should we write to Sev? Even if he can't come down right away, maybe he could watch them tonight so the Polkisses aren't too put out... "

"Good idea. Fetch me the journal and I'll write him a note while you're on the phone." She eased herself back into her chair at the dining table. A minute later, Vernon thrust the journal and a pen into her hands and then jogged back to the phone.

Sev, I've gone into labor a bit earlier than expected. Vernon and I are going to the hospital shortly. Vernon's calling around to find someone to watch the boys for us, but Arabella's out of town at a friend's funeral in Wales, Marge has a dog show this weekend, Vernon's mum is in the hospital in London, and Rachel's on vacation for Emily's half-term break. Is there any way you'd be able to come down and stay with the boys tonight? -P

She listened to Vernon's phone conversation down the hall. "...Going out of town tomorrow? No, no, I'll manage..." He hung up the phone, shouted for the boys to come downstairs, then started dialing someone else.

Petunia heard a rustling and looked down at the journal. She was relieved to see Sev's message. Absolutely. I have a few appointments still scheduled this afternoon but can be there by seven if I swap hall monitoring duty. If you need me there earlier or for longer than tonight, I will have to talk to Minerva about rearranging the schedule. -S

You're a life saver -P "Vernon, Sev says he can be here by seven tonight!"

"Good, because the Millers aren't picking up. I'll ring Mrs. Polkiss back and see if she's willing to take them until Sev gets here..."

I am happy to help -S

I'll write a note for you and leave it on the kitchen table. Directions, bedtimes, emergency numbers and things. Suddenly, the next page in the journal following the one she had been writing on ripped itself out. She stared at it in surprise a moment. I thought you said this thing couldn't be damaged? How did you do that? -P

Magic. You can't tear it. I can. Take that page with you, just in case. It will work the same as the rest of the journal. Fortunately, the first exam tomorrow is not until 10:00. I'll trade in the morning study hall monitoring duty too. Filius owes me anyway -S

Thanks, Sev, that's perfect -P

But of course. I am happy for you and look forward to meeting my "niece" -S

Petunia grinned and folded up the torn page to fit in her purse. She quickly grabbed a separate note pad to write out instructions for Severus. Dudley and Harry came bounding excitedly into the room. "Mummy, Daddy says the baby's going to be born today!" Dudley cried.

She snagged him and kissed his cheek. "Yes, she will. Are you and Harry ready to go?"

They both nodded vigorously. "We're going to play with Piers and Robin," Harry said.

"And then Uncle Sev is coming to get you at seven."

"He is?" Harry gasped, eyes shining with renewed joy.

"Yes, he is."

"When do we get to see the baby?" Dudley asked.

"Probably Tuesday or Wednesday when I come home with her."

"Tuesday!?"

Vernon appeared in the doorway and held up the car keys, all ready to go, apparently.

"Birth takes awhile, and the baby and I will need to rest in the hospital afterwards. Now go with Daddy and get in the car." They scampered off. Petunia waited out another contraction before getting up and following them all out, one hand on her belly. Soon, my sweet girl.

"You know," Vernon said as he buckled Dudley's seatbelt. "This might not have been the best weekend, but I'm still glad it's a weekend. I'm excited to be there with you, Pet."

Petunia smiled. She'd gone into labor with Dudley while Vernon was on an overnight business trip. A trip that she, like an idiot, had told him not to cancel even though it was so close to their due date. She'd called Mum in panic and had Rachel drive her to the hospital. Vernon had still been wandering the halls looking for her at the moment of Dudley's birth. He burst through the door at 2am, just after the nurse had handed her son back to her to hold for the first time. "I'm happy you'll be there too, Vernon."

Vernon got into the drivers' side, kissed her cheek, and started the car.

Leaving Hogwarts -S

Fully dilated at last check! -V

Severus did not know precisely what that meant, but he could guess. He had little notion of the significance of the information, though. Does that mean the baby will be coming soon? -S

Another hour or two. And I won't be coming home for some hours after that, even if everything goes well. -V

Everything would go well. He strode briskly across the Hogwarts grounds. As soon as he passed the main gate, he disapparated to his house in Cokeworth. There, he changed into the set of muggle trousers and button-down shirt Vernon had given him for Christmas. He assumed Petunia had suggested a gift of clothing, but Vernon assured him he had been there to select the shirts. They weren't so itchy as transfigured garments anyway.

From Cokeworth, he apparated directly to the Dursley's kitchen and found Petunia's note with directions to the residence where they had left the children. It was closer to the bus stop over on Magnolia Road than it was to the house at Number 4, so he apparated back to his usual spot in a grove of trees between the bus stop and the park and walked to the Polkisses' from there. He counted off the house numbers as he passed them. All the houses in the neighborhood looked about the same, with their square designs, beige bricks and dark shingle roofs. They were distinguished from each other by the cars in the drives, the quality of the gardening, and the number and types of children's toys in the lawns. Severus had only met the Polkisses once or twice at the park over the summer, and he'd been most interested in the children, Harry's and Dudley's friends, rather than learning anything whatsoever about the parents. From the looks of the two cars, they were well-to-do. From the looks of the overgrown garden littered with balls and colored chalk and skip-ropes, Mrs. Polkiss had her hands full with the three children and could probably use a little more help around the house.

He rang the doorbell. He eyed the dandelions invading the flowerbed next to the door while he waited. He was not sure if there was etiquette surrounding pulling weeds in a stranger's yard in the suburbs. There probably was, and he didn't know it. Probably best to do nothing, then, even though the leaves looked potions grade. Fortunately, Mrs. Polkiss opened the door soon enough for him to avoid temptation. And Harry flew out of the door from behind her to wrap his arms around Severus' legs, as per usual.

He blinked down at the boy. "You have glasses," he said dumbly.

Harry nodded happily up at him. "I can see everything now, Uncle Sev..."

Merlin, he looked even more like James Potter with those things, Severus thought, though without much venom. After all, Harry mostly just looked like Harry. Heruffled the perpetually messy hair.

"Ah, Mr. Evans, good to see you again! Come in, come in, let's collect the rascals... Don't worry, I've already fed them dinner. And the walk back home should tire them out nicely so they'll go to bed. Have you heard from Vernon?"

"I have."

"And how's Petunia doing?"

"They estimate another hour or so."

"Good for her! Dudley! Your uncle's here to pick you up! Dudley? Where'd you lot get to?"

Eventually, they found Dudley immersed in a television program, sandwiched between Robin and Piers. Baby Alena was with them, playing with blocks rather than watching the telly. She had grown a lot since Severus had met her over the summer. She got up and tottered over to her mother as soon as she saw them. "Mama! Box! Bid box!"

"You did? Let me see? Oh, you stacked them by color, you clever girl..."

Alena pointed to a couple of green blocks, one stacked on top of the other. "Geen!"

"Very good, Ally."

"How old is she now?" Severus asked politely. She was still a very cute child with her red curls, although perhaps not quite so angelic as he had remembered her.

"Twenty months, and a terror."

Dudley looked around at his voice. "Uncle Sev? Did Mummy have the baby?!"

"Not yet, but it's time for you two to go home. It's bedtime soon."

"Can we finish the program?" Dudley asked hopefully, gesturing towards the telly.

"Nope," Mrs. Polkiss answered instantly. Her tone was good-natured though, not strict. "Your uncle is right. It's bedtime soon, for everybody. And Piers and Robin have to get up early tomorrow so we can catch our train." She flashed a smile at Severus. "Whole family's going to Cornwall."

"Sounds delightful. Have a pleasant trip. Come along, Dudley, Harry. Say goodnight to your friends."

There was a chorus of goodbyes, and then Harry and Dudley each took one of his hands, and he led them through the twilight back towards Privet Drive. The street lamps came on as they walked.

"When is the baby coming?" Dudley asked.

"Soon. Hopefully within the next hour or so."

"An hour is a long time," Harry said dubiously.

"Not as long as the whole afternoon was, though, is it?"

"Oh."

"Mummy said birth takes a long time."

"Why does it take so long?" Both boys looked up at him expectantly.

That was not a question Severus felt up to answering. Time to obfuscate. "That is a question with a complex answer venturing into the metaphysical."

Harry grinned excitedly. "What's venturing? And what's metafiscal?"

Perfect. Vocabulary could last them the whole rest of the walk if he played the game right. "To venture means to do something daring or risky. Metaphysics is a branch of philosophy having to do with abstract theory, answering questions whose answers cannot be found through observations of concrete reality directly but must necessarily involve inference and deduction." And Arithmancy, if you wanted to try to prove the answers rather than merely argue about them in bars and muggle philosophical journals. Although, even Arithmancy-supported metaphysics tended to be messy, from what little he had bothered to read of it before giving it up as a hideously impractical subject for all but the likes of Albus Dumbledore.

"Ooh! Philosfy is the thinking thing! You told us that before."

"Glad you remembered."

"What's deduction?"

"And infrence?"

"And abstract?"

"And how does concrete answer questions?"

All excellent questions. "Well..." The conversation continued all the way back to Number Four, Privet Drive and all the way through the boys' brushing their teeth and changing into their pajamas. It only ended when Harry asked Severus to read the two of them a bedtime story and presented him with what he declared was one of his favorite books. Severus accepted the book in question and read the title, One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish.

Amazing. It was one he had actually encountered before, when he was a child. The Evanses had had a whole collection of Dr. Seuss books that Lily had shown him. He was, technically, a bit too old for most of them by the time he and Lily were officially best friends and she had invited him into the house, but he had read all of them nonetheless, jealously reclaiming the piece of childhood that had been denied him when he was younger. He remembered the day The Cat in the Hat was read aloud during his first year in school, and all the children had already known it except for him. He remembered begging his mother for his own copy of it. He had been denied and offered her worn, pictureless edition of The Tales of Beedle the Bard instead. The only Dr. Seuss book he had ever owned himself was a torn and water-stained copy of Green Eggs and Ham that he had found in the dump, and he had treasured the ratty old thing for years. Then he threw it out when he was an angsty, depressed sixteen-year-old, after the final split with Lily.

He opened the book to the title page... and there it was. For my sweet Tuney, from Granny Evans. So, this was one of the original collection. Well, he knew how he'd be amusing himself for the next hour, looking for the ones addressed For Lily, and rereading his former favorites to see how they held up as an adult. Grading the final essays he'd shrunk down to fit in his pocket could wait. He sat down on the floor next to the bunk beds, with Dudley already tucked into the bottom bunk looking over his shoulder and Harry in his lap. He turned the page.

"One fish, two fish, red fish, blue fish. Black fish, blue fish, old fish, new fish. This one has a little star..." He had to adjust his opinion of the book down as he read. It was certainly amusing to the almost-five-year-olds, but not so much to an adult after the first few pages, no matter how clever the illustrations. He was growing bored by the time he read, "Who am I? My name is Ned. I do not like my little bed..." Fortunately, Harry started nodding by the time he got to the page with the sleep-walking sheep, and both were asleep when he got to the Singing Ying. He set the book down and carefully picked Harry up to tuck him into the upper bunk. Then he grabbed a handful of books off the shelf to inspect, turned off the light, and headed downstairs. He finished reading One Fish, Two Fish and decided it was far less tedious when he was able to read silently and therefore quickly. Setting the book aside, he took out the journal paper and wrote a note to Vernon. Boys are asleep -S

He picked up the next book, Fox in Socks, and smiled at the dedication. This was one of Lily's originally. He read seven more books and decided he liked the older ones better before he reluctantly moved on to grading potions essays. At least this was the last batch of essays for the year. It was all revising and exams from here on out. It was ten o'clock when the journal paper rustled. He grabbed for it instantly and read the message. She's delivered! 3403 grams, 48 cm, delivered at 8:46. Petunia and baby are both resting now. -V

Congratulations! -S

Thank you. And thanks for watching the boys tonight, Sev. We really appreciate it. -V

It's no trouble at all. -S

I'll probably leave the hospital in an hour or so -V

I'll be here -S

He quietly collected and reshelved all the Dr. Seuss books, then sat back down at the dining room table to finish his grading. He heard Vernon returning before he saw him, the purr of the car engine unmistakable out in the drive. He glanced at the clock. Midnight. He set aside the last essay, cleaned his quill, and stood up to greet the proud, returning father. Vernon practically bounded through the front door, his whole person radiating an exuberant energy. He clapped Severus hard on the back and beamed.

"Good evening, and congratulations," Severus said with a cough.

"Thank you, thank you. Aah! I couldn't be more chuffed. She's gorgeous. Here! I have pictures!" He pulled a small stack of photos out of his pocket and handed them over.

Severus took the pictures with a soft smile and looked through them. The first was just the baby, tiny and pink, wrapped in a white, striped cotton blanket with her eyes closed. As a newborn, she did not yet have the same magnetic charm of slightly older infants, but still... it was as if the lovely glow he had seen growing around Petunia throughout the pregnancy were captured in the photograph. Severus felt his smile widen involuntarily, and his heart flutter slightly, sensations he usually only associated with special moments with Harry. The next picture was of Petunia, looking tired but proud, babe in arms. Then there was a similar one of Vernon, and one of both parents and the child. He returned to the first one. "Did you finally settle on a name?" he asked.

"We did," Vernon affirmed happily. "Her name is..."

"Dahlia Janine," Severus said at the same time as Vernon, still entranced by the picture.

"...Thought you said you didn't know. Did Petunia tell you?"

Severus blinked, looked up at Vernon, and swayed slightly on his feet before catching himself. Well, that was odd. He shook his head to clear it. "No. No, she didn't. I just...suddenly knew." He shrugged. It wasn't Legilimency, so he honestly wasn't sure how he'd known. "Sorry. It's magical weirdness, probably."

Vernon chuckled. "I can ignore it just this once. I'll even take it as a good omen, that we named her right. Anyway, I'm tired. Should go to bed. Will you head back to the school? You're welcome to stay."

"If you'd like me to stay, I will, but as you know, the commute is not exactly difficult for me."

"Kip in your own bed, eh? Do you think you'd be able to come down for a few hours in the morning still?"

"I can. What do you need?"

"Well, I thought if you could come watch the boys again and get them breakfast, I might nip into the office for a few hours to wrap up some business and draw up instructions for my employees and so on. Early like, before everyone else shows up to work. That way I can safely take off the rest of the week without someone trying to call me back in, you know. And then I'll swing by to see Petunia and Dahlia on the way back home, and you can see Petunia and meet Dahlia before going back to work."

Severus was rather touched Vernon thought to include time for Severus to go to the hospital in the schedule. "That sounds good. What time are you planning to leave the house?"

"Seven, I should think."

"I'll be here by six-thirty, then. Think you'll make it home by nine or nine-thirty? I have an exam to proctor at ten."

"Should do."

"Perfect."

"Thank you again for your help. We plum ran out of people to call. My mother was going to come down to watch the boys if we needed this weekend, but then..."

"Petunia mentioned she was in hospital. How is she doing?"

"Better. I called her around nine. She's doing better, able to walk out in the hall without getting so short of breath she has to stop. She'll be discharged in another day or so, she thinks."

"I hope she feels well soon. Don't hesitate to write if there's anything I can do for you and Petunia this week. I'll be busy with end-of-year exams, but..."

"Thank you. Arabella's coming back tomorrow night, so we should be covered after that. I'll see you in the morning."

"Good night, Vernon."

"Good night, Sev."

Author's note: she's here! Funny, there's babies being delivered in both my Harry Potter stories this week. The timing of that wasn't planned ahead of time, the other story just kinda caught up to this one. You can tell Severus has finally gotten over his late teenaged-early adult Major Depression years by the fact he is willing to fondly remember childrens' books rather than just roll his eyes at them in private. He's still a melancholic individual, but no longer to the point that a psychiatrist would look at him and immediately say "why is this man not medicated?" I doubt canon Snape ever got to that point, even in the years before Harry started at Hogwarts. And yes, I definitely think canon Snape spent a lot of his time clinically depressed: constantly irritable, never enjoying himself, constantly feeling guilty. He's not hyper/hypoactive, his cognition's obviously not impaired, and Harry never noticed a weight change, but he could certainly have behind-the-scenes sleep disturbance, fatigue that he just lives with and manifests in his disregard for personal hygiene, and/or suicidal ideations. Not all of his behavior was his personality (some of it was and continues to be in this story). Some of it was obviously hatred of Harry/Gryffindors; some of it was his illness.

Thanks for the reviews! Next update (with Dahlia!) next Sunday.