If anything, Severus felt rather more distinctly out-of-place standing on the snow-dusted front step of Number 4 Privet Drive holding a large, gift-wrapped parcel than he had the last time he was here. At least his mother had asked no questions when he appeared at her house earlier today asking her to help him wrap it; he could not bear the thought of some of his Slytherin students spotting him walking through the dungeon with such a large, brightly-colored present.

Yet again, he felt palpitations as tiny feet pattered towards him on the other side of the door. This time, both Harry and Dudley were there to open it. "Uncle Sev!" Harry yelled immediately and wrapped his little arms around Severus' knees. Merlin's beard, this child was affectionate.

Dudley elbowed Harry out of the way soon enough and beamed up at Severus as well. "Big present! Can I ope-it?"

"That's for your mother to decide," Severus informed him, twisting a smile down at the two young children. "And it's for both of you, so you will have to open it together when the time comes."

"Boys! Get out of the way and let your uncle come in out of the chill," Petunia said as she came into the hall. She looked a little harried, but she grinned at Severus and stepped forwards to take the box from him. "There's no tripping hazard like a toddler," she commented. "Come into the parlor, Severus."

He followed her through the house to the sitting room, which had quite transformed for the holiday since the last time he was here. There was a set of electric coals glowing in the hearth, five stockings lined the mantle, and a fully decorated Christmas tree almost completely obscured the window with an astounding number of presents clustered at its base. Petunia added his to the pile then turned and gestured to a portly man with a thick, blonde mustache sitting on the couch. He bore an eerie resemblance to Severus' old potions master Horace Slughorn, who he had replaced at Hogwarts just months before Lily's murder. Although the longer he looked, he decided the similarity for the most part was only in body habitus and facial hair.

"Severus, this is my husband, Vernon."

Severus nodded politely. "I'm very pleased to meet you."

Vernon met his gaze, his rather small eyes narrowing further. His mustache twitched, and he stood up. The couch made a crinkling sound as the weight left it, and Severus realized it had a clear plastic cover. If that was there before, he had either forgotten it or failed to notice it through his nerves last visit. Vernon held out a hand, jarring Severus' irrelevant observations. "It's good to finally meet you too, er, Severus."

Severus could not help but grin at Vernon's clear distaste for the Latin name as he shook the man's soft, pudgy hand. That was not an uncommon reaction among muggles, he had found. "It's an odd name, isn't it? A bit of a mother's family tradition, using old Roman names. I often go by 'Sev,' and sometimes even claim it's short for 'Joseph,' or once an Eastern European 'Sevastian.'" This was absolutely true; he had hit upon the strategy as a child, where his name was a frequent excuse for bullying amongst his muggle neighbors, including Petunia once upon a time. More recently, it was just common sense to use an alias on his rare forays into the muggle world, given his wartime activities.

Vernon's expression relaxed slightly. "I might introduce you as Joseph or Sev to my sister if you ever meet her, if you don't mind. My folks never had much interest in history or, er, creative naming."

"Perfectly understandable." He felt a tug on his trouser leg and looked down to see Harry gazing up at him. The child grinned as soon as he successfully attracted Severus' attention and lifted his arms. This was new. Severus hastily thought back to his own childhood, trying to determine if Harry just wanted a hug or wanted to be picked up. He quickly decided it didn't matter so long as he responded promptly. He smiled a little more easily now, then bent down and lifted the toddler up into his arms. "How are you, Harry?"

"Good." Harry wrapped his arms around Severus' neck for a short hug, then leaned back again to see his face better.

"Did you do anything fun since the last time I was here?"

Harry nodded enthusiastically. "Auntie Petuna gah new bed! Was peen, buh we pain-ned wed! An wen park. An sween wevey high. An..." Severus struggled to comprehend his rather poorly articulated speech which seemed to be half babbling and half identifiable words, although he supposed this was probably normal or even fairly good for an excited two-and-a-half year old. Certainly, the boy was more talkative than the last time Severus had seen him.

There was another tug on his trousers, this time from Dudley. Unsure how to manage two of them, Severus looked at Petunia, who waived him towards the abandoned couch. Severus gratefully sat down, keeping Harry in his lap, and Dudley climbed up next to him and started nattering in his other ear. "I help pain' Harry's new bed! Mummy oney-le me finger pain' on car-board ou-sigh before. This dime, I had bwush."

"Ah. Did Harry help too?"

"Yeah, he puh yeh-woh has on it." Dudley mimed slapping his splayed hands against something. Severus was unsure what was meant and glanced over at Vernon, who had settled into an armchair by the hearth now that the couch was occupied. Petunia had momentarily vanished.

Vernon's mustache twitched again, this time resolving into a full smile as he explained, "The neighbors had an old twin bed set we were able to reuse for Harry. Petunia and the tykes had a grand old time painting it red and yellow. Biggest mess I've seen in a long time, but Petunia was ready for that with tarps that should just wash off in the weather eventually, clever gairl."

Red and yellow. Gryffindor colors, Severus thought with a pang. He had to remind himself even if it were intentional, it was probably for the best since both Harry's parents were in that house. There would never be a reason for Harry, let alone the Dursleys, to share Severus' prejudices at Hogwarts.

Petunia reappeared with a tray of cookies and cocoa for everyone. Dudley at least was instantly distracted. "You each get one," Petunia said firmly.

Dudley looked up at Severus hopefully. "Can have two? For Chwistmas, Unco Sev?"

That kind of appeal to authority Severus was only too familiar with from the Slytherin students. He shook his head. "That's up to your parents, not to me."

"Awww!" Dudley tried to thwack him, but Severus caught his fist easily. His reflexes were much faster than a three-year-old's. Dudley looked surprised to be thwarted, however.

"And none of that, Dudley. It's not nice to hit people."

Harry laughed, as did Vernon.

"Dudders!" Petunia scolded. "Say sorry to Uncle Sev."

"But-"

"Diddykins, do this for Mummy."

"If I struck my uncle, my Mummy wouldn't let me have even one cookie, or cocoa," Severus told the boy gently. He probably wouldn't have had dinner either, and may have garnered a thrashing even at age three.

Dudley stuck out his bottom lip but grudgingly bobbed his head at Severus. "Sorry, Unco Sev."

"Apology accepted." He took two cookies from the plate Petunia offered and gave the first to Dudley, the second to Harry. Fortunately, Dudley's good mood returned almost instantaneously with the treat.

Both the boys completely involved with munching cookies for the moment, Vernon cleared his throat. "So, what are you doing for work lately, Sev? Petunia hasn't heard much from you..."

"I took a teaching job at my alma mater last year."

"Oh, really? Teaching is good. Very...respectable, I suppose. And before then, you were, ah... nevermind. Still in school probably..." He trailed off as Severus raised his eyebrows and tilted his head pointedly towards the children.

"What do you do, Vernon?" Severus asked smoothly. Vernon gratefully started rambling on about his administrative job at a drill manufacturing company. It sounded incredibly boring to Severus, but at least the pay was good, and it was admittedly much better than being a double-agent in a violent terrorist collective. He noticed Harry had created a great number of crumbs while eating his cookie and managed to spread part of it on his face, so he leaned forwards to pick up a napkin to clean up somewhat as he listened. Amusingly, Dudley noticed the extra attention Harry was getting and immediately dipped his hand into his cup of lukewarm cocoa to splash onto his own face. Severus handed him a napkin as well but did not clean his face for him, reasoning the child could probably figure out how to do it himself if he was clever enough to try manipulating Severus in this way. He would not be doing Petunia any favors if he rewarded that kind of behavior on these visits, even if the Slytherin part of him was mildly impressed. He next helped Harry sip at his own cup of cocoa, judging the mug too heavy for him to safely handle even with the straw Petunia had included, at least not while he was still sitting on and therefore endangering Severus' lap.

Dudley became bored as soon as he finished his cocoa and had wiped his face. Severus was glad Hogwarts was not open to any younger children, if this was representative of their typical attention spans. Eleven-year-olds were difficult enough. "Mummy, can ope Unco Sev's presen'?"

Petunia glanced at Vernon and eventually nodded. "That might be best, since he won't be here for Christmas when we open the rest."

Dudley immediately whooped, slid off the couch, and ran over to the tree. Severus took Harry's half-empty cup of cocoa and gently urged him to follow his cousin. At least Dudley waited for Harry to join him next to Severus' present before he started enthusiastically tearing off the wrapping paper. Fortunately, Harry did not seem to resent Dudley's starting first and happily participated in shredding the paper. Harry would have had difficulty opening the box inside by himself anyways, Severus thought, watching as the two boys lifted the lid together, Dudley doing most of the work. Dudley's face lit up as he peered inside the box. "There ball!" he cried. He leaned over the side to extract the football. This he handed to Harry and then reached back in to pull out the partially assembled goals. He scrunched up his face studying these while Harry rolled the ball around. Finally, he looked up at Severus. "Whad is it?"

"It's a backyard football set. I thought it might be more fun for you and Harry this summer to have a proper football rather than the inflatable ball we were playing with before. And those are some proper goal posts and nets made for kids your size, so you don't have to use flower pots. I can help you two assemble them, or your parents can."

"Oh!" Dudley immediately picked up one of the goals, trying and failing to figure out how it fit together and stood up. Harry abandoned the ball and tried to help him, although mostly he just flipped the slack net around.

Severus breathed a sigh of relief the gift appeared well-received, simple as it was. He smirked at Vernon, who was also smiling as he watched the boys. "The assembly is pretty straight forward dove-tail joints. No drill needed, I'm afraid. I might have found a different model had I known." He reached for the plate of cookies and the cocoa he had not yet tried.

Vernon chuckled. "Ah, well, I got my Christmas bonus anyway, even without your custom."

"Thank you for the present, Severus." Petunia said. "Boys, do you want to go get the cards you made for Uncle Sev?"

"Yeah!" Harry shouted. He rushed out of the room, Dudley hot on his heels. They returned shortly, Harry now yelling "Me firs!" He thrust a folded piece of red paper into Severus hands. Not at all sure what to expect, Severus accepted the card to see it was covered in red and green circles on the outside, and a much more complicated and inscrutable, multi-colored scribble inside. Petunia had neatly written, "Happy Christmas, Uncle Sev! Love, Harry" on the right-hand page.

"This is very nice, Harry," Severus said. He could appreciate the sentiment. Secretly, he was grateful he did not have a refrigerator or other cabinetry on which he might be expected to display such things as this where anyone else would see them.

"Here mine," Dudley said, shoving a green card under his nose. The front of this one was decorated with a rough, darker green triangle Severus presumed to be a tree. The inside held several blobs of intersecting lines that were possibly meant to be snowflakes or stars, as well as another note from Petunia. It was no more sophisticated work than his younger cousin's.

"Thank you very much, Dudley."

Petunia handed him one more card, but this one was in a sealed envelope. "You can open it later," she said.

"Thank you." He tucked all three cards inside his jacket where the lining was sewn to make a large pocket.

"Alright, Dudley, Harry, bedtime! Say goodnight to Dad and Uncle Sev."

"D'we haf to?" Harry and Dudley chorused.

"Yes, you do, because it's Christmas Eve tomorrow! You want to be well-rested for when Auntie Marge comes!"

"Goodnight, Dudley," Severus said before more protests could arise. He hugged the muggle boy gingerly and then nudged him towards his father. "And goodnight, Harry." He folded Harry into his arms for much longer, as if he could give the child Lily's embrace.

"G'nigh, Uncle Sev," Harry said innocently. When Severus finally released him, he turned and waived at Vernon. "G'nigh, Uncle Vernon."

"Good night," Vernon rumbled, nodding back at him.

Petunia led the two of them out, calling over her shoulder, "Good night, Severus, if I don't see you when I come back down."

"Good night, and Happy Christmas," he called after her. There was a moment of silence then as Severus sipped his cocoa as fast as was polite, now the time was nearing for him to leave. "How old is Dudley?" he asked eventually.

Vernon raised his eyebrows. "Two-and-a-half, just a month older than Harry."

"Hmm. I thought he was older." Severus would have sworn he was three, or even four, comparing the two. Of course, Vernon Dursley was a much bigger man than any of the Potters or Evanses Severus had ever seen.

Vernon's chest swelled with pride. "He's a strapping lad, always has been." Severus nodded vaguely. He was more concerned that Harry might be lagging behind his cousin more than he should than that Dudley was particularly advanced, but he didn't know enough about young children to really say, particularly after just two meetings. Vernon cleared his throat. "Er, so, what was your work before your teaching job? I gather you weren't actually still in school? Petunia says your lot typically only study until age seventeen."

Severus met his eye and raised an eyebrow. The man's tone was definitely confrontational now the rest of the family was absent. "That is correct, except for certain specialized occupations. There was a full-out war going on in our society at the time Lily and I graduated. Like her and her husband, I joined the fighting."

Vernon paled somewhat. "Ah... you were a, er, a soldier then? Officer or enlisted?"

Severus shook his head. This wasn't a good topic for small talk, but it would probably be worse to be silent. "Nothing so organized. Think less Battle of the Bulge and more French Resistance," he said, referencing the only modern muggle military history he retained any real grasp of, mostly because of the overlap with Grindelwald's wars.

"So... blowing up bridges and sabotage and things, eh?"

Severus closed his eyes for a moment. "Not exactly. It was not a territorial war but a multi-fronted ideological one targeting people and institutions, not infrastructure and land. A civil war. You don't want to know the details, trust me."

Some of the redness returned to Vernon's face, mostly to his nose. "Killed people up close, did you." He wasn't asking this time.

Severus felt his own face grow cold. His voice was soft and flat when he answered, "I survived the war that killed a third of my generation in magical Britain. Make of that what you will."

Vernon glared back at Severus. "I've got all the respect in the world for our veterans. My dad himself was in the RAF. But I don't like the sound of this 'disorganized' war of yours. You seem a respectable and tactful enough chap I'm willing to suffer your presence for Petunia's and the boy's sake, but you keep your dirty laundry out of sight. I don't want you filling the boys' ears with firefights and assassinations. You're a teacher now, and that's all you ever were so far as Harry and Dudley know, understand?"

"I understand and agree completely, for now."

Vernon squinted at him. "For now?" he repeated.

Severus shrugged. "I am in your house and will obey your rules as much as I am able. But I am more concerned with honoring Lily Potter than Vernon Dursley when it comes to the well-being of her son, no disrespect meant to you. There will eventually come a time when Harry will have to learn about the war that took his parents, and I prefer not to lie to him about it, at least not in any way that matters." He raised a hand in peace. "That time is far away yet, of course, and I would never seek to tell him about all that without first discussing it with you and Petunia. And I have no intention of ever sharing grisly details inappropriate for children."

Vernon huffed for a moment, then sighed. "You're a slippery one, aren't you? Bet that's why you're alive and my in-laws aren't."

Severus cringed. "Partly, but they were also targeted directly by the Dark Lord."

Vernon nodded tiredly. "Yes, that was in the letter we got when the boy came to us." He grunted. "If I'm prickling at you, it's not your fault, mostly. It's all this magic nonsense. I don't like it. I don't like that I can't do anything about it."

Surprised the muggle man was being so seemingly honest with him, Severus lightly, cautiously, held Vernon's gaze and let himself feel the surface of his thoughts. Frankly, the man seemed completely petrified that he was sitting across from what was basically an armed and dangerous hardened killer, so far as he was concerned. Vernon had been watching him closely, and everything had confirmed what he had already feared: Severus had the potential to be very dangerous. It was only Severus' and other wizards' good will that left Vernon's home under his control. The only things keeping Vernon from panic at the thought of a killer wizard in his house were Petunia's trust, and the fact that Severus wasn't hiding how he felt about Harry, which was both extremely nervous and protective. That was exactly how Vernon felt about his own family at the moment. Severus withdrew from Vernon's mind and thought carefully, trying to come up with something to say to reassure the man that wouldn't sound merely placating. "That's why I'm here, Vernon, to be the means by which you and Petunia regain some measure of control over your situation. I'm not here for my government or any other authority. I'm only here for Lily. She was the best friend I ever had."

Vernon studied him a bit longer, then nodded tightly. "Come on, then, I'll walk you out, and I won't even throw you out, at least not this time."

Severus grinned again as he stood up. He did enjoy the muggle's gruff sense of humor. "I appreciate it."

Author's note: while writing this, it just felt completely natural for Snape to easily identify and correctly respond to Dudley's young child manipulative tendencies lol. He's a Slytherin, and the same behavior in older children is what he is used to. Really connecting with Harry will be much harder for him. You'll also be glad to know this will be the last chapter with such baby-speak. God, two-year-olds are hard to write. Internet says only 50% of their speech is supposed to be comprehensible to strangers. I wrote Dudley a little ahead of Harry here even though they're only a month apart in age because Harry basically shut down emotionally and therefore a little developmentally after his parents were killed and he suddenly moved to this scary new home. He'll catch up easily.

I feel like I'm making this Vernon a little more intelligent than the one in cannon, since he's subtextually noticing concerning things about Snape like he's quick to assume other identities, can clearly blend in when he wants to, and has quick reflexes, plus remains extremely cagey when confronted about it, then making accurate conclusions about his observations. In my defense, our view of Vernon as readers is almost entirely Harry's view. In any case, while Snape might be an okay match for Petunia given their history and her willingness to blithely accept and ignore strangeness so long as it is out of sight, Vernon would probably have been more comfortable with someone less obviously dangerous, if such a wizard or witch could be found (alas, most all the other candidates would stick out like sore thumbs in Little Whinging).

Also good news: I've come up with something of a plot arc for this story beyond simple meandering and thus have several more chapters preliminarily drafted (yay!). Will try to keep updates Fridays or Saturdays, and suggestions of what additional scenes y'all would like to see are still welcome!