Severus watched in stony silence as Healer Valerian examined his mother. She had started struggling again as soon as they roused her, until the healer had hypnotized her. Hypnosis was a branch of mind magic of which Severus knew little, unfortunately, except that it was less intrusive than legilimency and less versatile, but more therapeutic. Oddly, some of its effects were achievable by entirely non-magical means, which in his opinion made it all the more mysterious. He could not tell what was going on and must wait for the healer's verdict.

"How long has she been like this again?" Valerian finally asked.

Severus' lips twitched. "Which part? The memory I found of her destroying her wand was from last year, but she has not been the same since Death Eaters came to her home and killed her spouse in the final year of the war."

Valerian turned around in surprise. "Death Eaters came and left her alive?"

Severus shrugged. "I presume it was an honor killing by one of her estranged family members. Her maiden name was Prince, but her spouse was from a non-magical family." True enough, if misleading. Tobias Snape was a muggle, of course his family was too. He was also deliberately referring to his father ambiguously as his mother's spouse in case this supposedly confidential conversation ever made its way to one of the Death Eaters still at large who didn't actually know Severus' ancestry. "They must have remembered her fondly enough to spare her life, if not her marriage."

"Do you know what dark magic she might have been attacked with?"

Severus shook his head. "She wouldn't tell me, and I was unwilling to pry into it, then, since she was not obviously impaired." He met the healer's gaze. "I am a sufficiently skilled legilimens to find out, if you think it needed and do not have the expertise in your staff to do so yourself."

Valerian shook his head instantly. "I wouldn't risk more legilimency. Her mind is already too fragile. I know you said she did not try to resist your probe before, but this is something she is more likely to try to hide."

"What will happen to her?" Severus asked.

Valerian frowned. "I'm not sure, to be honest. We will work with her as best we can to resolve the mental trauma that led to this, but... this is not a typical case. Acute grief and shock from dark curses can affect spell-casting quite commonly, but my examination suggests she should be able to do magic. She has simply decided not to. If she were a child, she would be at high risk for developing an Obscurus, but as a trained adult, she in theory does have the ability to suppress her magic as long as she maintains adequate mental control. She could stay this way indefinitely."

"You and I have both seen her mind, Healer Valerian. I question how long her mental control will last."

Valerian nodded. "Your concern is valid. Unfortunately, I just don't have another case to compare hers to. I will confer with my colleagues to see if anyone else has heard of similar cases."

Severus nodded tiredly.

It was a good day for us today, fortunately. I think the boys must be tired of fighting. Anything new on your end, Severus? -P

The words were waiting for him when he returned to Spinner's End the day after checking his mother into the hospital. He had been up most of the night and had several more meetings with healers throughout the day. He was tired. And he had completely forgotten about the issue of Harry Potter's accidental magic in the face of his own woes.

Nothing specific yet. I will let you know immediately if I find something potentially helpful. -S

In the subsequent weeks, Petunia started writing to Severus more and more, sometimes daily. They were just routine updates with occasional amusing or cute anecdotes for the most part, as if these pages were an ordinary journal rather than one he had laboriously enchanted. He made a mental note to ask Filius exactly how malleable the Protean charm was. He would either have to add more pages soon, assuming that was possible, start erasing old conversations which he was loathe to do, or create a new set this Christmas. Even though he rarely had anything helpful in response to Petunia's notes, he appreciated the distraction. Spinner's End was downright unpleasant when he was the only occupant, with relics of both parents glaring at him accusatorily from all quarters. A few sentences about three-year-olds building a pillow fort was a much better thought to end his evenings with than anything else going on in Severus' life at the moment. September first and the return of the Hogwarts schoolyear could not come too soon so far as he was concerned.

August 10 - We went to the park today. The boys had a lot of fun swinging, and we joined another informal football game. No goals were scored this time, but it was such fun to watch. We got icecreams on the way back, but unfortunately they started arguing, I don't even know what about, and both cones ended up half-eaten on the pavement. -P

August 12 - Dudley had his three-year well-child and vaccination visit yesterday. The doctor was pleased, even if Dudley wasn't. We went out to the shops afterwards to help cheer him up. We got a very funny new book to read together called The Very Hungry Caterpillar. Today, both the boys wanted to try all kinds of new foods they heard about last night in the book. -P

August 17 - Harry helped me in the back garden today. It was both of them initially, but Dudley got bored and went to play with a toy peddle-car Aunt Marge gave him for his birthday. Harry stayed with me, holding the bowl for the cherry tomatoes I was harvesting. He tried to help with weeding too, but he has no idea which plants are which and started pulling out my latest crop of lettuce sprouts, so I had him hold a spare trowel for me instead. I'm glad I saved most of the crop; Vernon rarely eats greens, but he will when they're home-grown and put on a sandwich! I have to make the most of the growing season while I can. -P

August 22 - You know how in March you can have frost in the morning, a nice warm afternoon, and then a storm in the evening? That was our day, but with toddlers instead of the weather. They hated eachother at breakfast, something about who got which color bowl. I had to switch out Dudley's blue one for another red one! Then my friend Rachel came over from next door for a bit, and they were perfect angels. Rachel even invited us to the picnic and games at the park tomorrow for her daughter's birthday. Then the boys were right back to hating eachother in the evening, arguing over who would sit where while Vernon and I were watching a news program. I ended up stabilizing Harry as he perched on the edge of the couch with Dudley squashed between Vernon and me. I hope they're not like this at Rachel's party! Wish me luck. -P

August 23 - The picnic went wonderfully! Harry and Dudley were much younger than most of the other kids since Rachel's daughter is turning twelve, but there were another boy and girl close to their age, Piers and Robin, and the four had the swings and sand box all to themselves while the older kids were playing rounders. Rachel and her ex-husband even managed to be civil to eachother the entire afternoon, which I was not expecting after listening to Rachel gripe about him for so long yesterday. -P

August 27 - Harry used some more magic today. Nothing bad, thank goodness, but the boys have a coloring book with ocean creatures that he just loves. He was going through blue crayons like crazy, to the point I was sure he was going to run out. But then when I got back from hanging the wash on the line, he had about twenty blue crayons next to him! I'm not sure if they multiplied or he changed the color of other ones. -P

Either is possible, and both harmless -S It was either a gemini effect or simple transfiguration of the dye. Severus wondered idly if he would be able to determine Harry's aptitudes for Charms versus Transfigurations versus Divinations et cetera before the boy ever came to Hogwarts, simply by analyzing his accidental magic over the next few years. A pity potions affinity would remain in suspense; children never accidentally brewed potions as far as he knew.

I gave him a cookie when I noticed. -P

Most wizarding families do reward what they view as positive accidental magic. -S He had wracked his brains to remember that, struggling to recall his own childhood and what he had observed of parent-child interactions in the Malfoy household on his exactly two visits since Lucius's son was born. The Malfoys were odious, but Lucius and Narcissa clearly cared for their baby. Lucius had completely dropped his negotiations for a specialty potion brew when Narcissa appeared and announced Draco had summoned a toy to him from across the room. They had cooed over the infant for the next five minutes, and Severus ended up with an excellent commission.

I thought that could be our strategy, rewarding good magic and not the bad. Like Vernon's sister Marge does with her dogs. I'd still rather he not do such things when he eventually goes to school, though. -P

We've a few years to figure that out. If worse comes to worst, there's a whole Ministry department dedicated to reversing and covering up particularly egregious instances of accidental magic. -S

That isn't actually a comfort to me, Severus, to know 'egregious accidents' are a common enough problem to need a whole governmental division to manage. -P

...That perspective did not occur to me. It just seems normal when you live in this world. Sorry. -S

August 31 - School term starts tomorrow, doesn't it? Good luck, Professor! I'm afraid our day was rather dreadful. Vernon sat down with the boys to help them make cards for my birthday. As far as he could tell, they started arguing over whose was better. Harry tried to pick up Dudley's and accidentally ripped it when Dudley snatched it back, then Dudley tore up Harry's as well... it was a mess. They ended up pulling each other's hair under the table before Vernon and I managed to separate them. -P

And then it was September first, on a Thursday. Which meant September second was a flustered, frustrating, first-day-of-classes Friday that made Severus long for the solitude of Spinner's End again. That feeling was gone again on Saturday, fortunately, and Severus was almost cheerful as he initiated the conversation on September 3 - Happy birthday, Petunia. I meant to owl you some chocolates from Honeydukes last night, but I ended up giving out six detentions and staying up late decontaminating the classroom instead. I swear the Hufflepuff fifth year class forgot everything I taught them last year. I'll send your present tonight instead. I hope you had a good day, at least? -S

Thank you and my goodness! Yes and no. Vernon brought me a lovely floral arrangement and dinner from one of our favorite restaurants for the whole family. It was wonderful not to have to cook. The boys were a handful, though, following me around all day and constantly bickering about everything, from who got to hold which of my hands when we went to the park, to who got which slice of cake (which was a round and quite symmetrical one from the bakery. All the slices were the same!). They did succeed in making cards for me with Vernon yesterday evening, and those were both charming. Of course, they argued about who got to give me their card first, whose was better, and where I was allowed to put them on the refrigerator. -P

Severus snickered at the image of two young children arguing over identical slices of cake. He was observing a pattern though after a month of these little updates. It sounds like they're mostly concerned with who gets premium time with and praise from you. -S Just like the wannabe teachers' pets in Ravenclaw clawing over eachother for House points.

...You know, I think you may be onto something, there. I'll mention it to Vernon. -P

Severus received the next update that weekend after a long and un-reassuring visit to St. Mungo's.

Those chocolates were delicious, Severus. I can see why poor Dudley was so tempted to steal Harry's. I shared mine with Vernon and gave one to each of the boys as well, so hopefully they will take my example for such things in the future. It's still been a slog of a week, unfortunately. We had another hair-pulling event yesterday, followed by rather a lot of screaming, mostly from Dudley when I sent them both to their rooms right during his favorite show time. Honestly, I'm at my wits end with these two. -P

Have you ever considered consulting a therapist? -S

Well, no. Tantrums are pretty normal at this age as far as I know, and even Vernon's parents said so when we mentioned it to them on the phone a few weeks ago. -P

Well, yes, I'm sure that's true. It was just a thought. -S

He would never have had that thought a month ago, but Severus had overheard another family in the spell-damage ward talking while he was visiting his mother. They were having a rather alarming problem with their young child, who had as yet displayed zero accidental magic after his parents were targeted in the war, even though he had seemed normal previously and the parents had reportedly witnessed some age-appropriate accidental magic before the tragedy. Severus did not know who they were, let alone why they were discussing the child's problem in an adult ward, or he might have spoken with them more directly rather than eavesdropping through the curtains. Regardless, one of the healers speaking with them had to be muggle-born, as she had suggested the family consider seeing a muggle child psychologist since there was not, technically, anything magically wrong with the child, at least that could be diagnosed currently, and he was too young for the kinds of mental probing Healer Valerian was using on Severus' mother. Severus presumed the child's rather stern-sounding guardian must be pureblood, as she had immediately shut down the suggestion. He found it interesting though. He had not remembered enough about the muggle health system to know such thing as a child psychologist even existed; his father would have had low regard for mental healthcare, he was sure. It had also occurred to him he might be able to find books on the subject of raising and otherwise interacting with young children, and he always preferred dealing with books rather than people wherever possible. He and Petunia could start a little book club... he grinned at the silly thought, but resolved to visit Diagon Alley as soon as he had time nevertheless. If Flourish and Blotts failed him, he might even consider perusing a muggle book store. Muggles wrote books about everything.

September 11 - Happy birthday, Vernon. -S

Crappy birthday. -V

? -S

There was another stupid squabble after tea. Dudley punched Harry in the face. Don't worry about Harry, he's fine, but Vernon tripped over the coffee table when we were trying to separate them and sprained his ankle. -P

Ah. Yes, I would classify that as crap, too. Possibly even shit. -S

Ha, ha, ha -V

He is actually laughing. -P

Consider humor an extra birthday gift. -S

Good, because I landed on the chocolates when I fell. -V

We might reconsider your idea about seeing a therapist. -P

Author's note: Had to give you some cuteness. September 1, 1983 was in fact a Thursday, according to google.

Next update will be Friday, per usual.