This next part was the tricky bit, but Severus had the quick, clever fingers of a potions master. He'd seen it done enough times in the past week, mimicking the movement should be no trouble at all. Quick as a snidget, he removed the soiled nappy. In the time it took him to exchange it for the waiting clean one, Dahlia wee'd again. The expression on her little face was perfectly peaceful, zen-like, as the fresh urine soaked the changing table pad beneath her, her onsie, his sleeve, and the fresh nappy for good measure. He fought down the stream of invective that leapt to mind and pondered whether magic would be permissible to clean up the mess. On the one hand, adding more laundry to the basket where Petunia would find it was as good as admitting defeat. On the other, he had an unspoken agreement with Petunia to only use magic in her house with her express knowledge and permission. She would probably be less than thrilled to learn he was using magic to clean clothing her daughter was currently wearing.

Severus' eyes narrowed, and the newborn stared up at him innocently. He dried up his own sleeve and the changing pad at least and recommenced his task. "I suppose I could offer to do the laundry, so this embarrassment stays between us," he muttered. She gurgled and waved her hands about as he lifted up her legs, successfully placing the nappy this time without further incident. "Although your mother is Slytherin enough she'd likely realize the cover-up and ask me about it. Unless I keep offering to do the laundry all summer." He paused, considering it. The whole goal was to help Petunia in this early postpartum period, and picking up a household chore of any kind would surely be a help. He didn't particularly like doing laundry, especially without magic; he all-to-well remembered laundry days with his mother when he was a child, hands smarting and red from the lye soap and vigorous scrubbing... Except, no, Petunia didn't use lye soap for anything in the house, favoring milder modern cleansers. Nor did she do the washing by hand. She had a machine.

Well, that settled it.

Petunia was extremely particular about the right and wrong way of cleaning her house and using her beloved appliances. Severus had no idea how to use a washing machine and sure as hell didn't want to break it. Better to admit defeat.

He tossed the soiled linens in the hamper, rewrapped the swaddling blanket, and scooped Dahlia back into his arms, careful to support her head as instructed. Then he carried her back downstairs to her mother. Somehow, the swaddle managed to come unwrapped again during the short trip. For the life of him, he couldn't figure out how Petunia and Arabella managed to secure it so perfectly every time. It almost seemed like magic, but he'd been watching and didn't see anything of the kind. It was a purely manual skill he had yet to learn despite his close observations.

Petunia accepted the little bundle and fixed the blanket without even seeming to look at it. "How did it go?" she asked.

"Had a little accident. Another wee while I was in the middle of cleaning her."

Arabella chuckled as she brought in the tea service. "You've been christened. Congratulations! Don't worry, happens to the best of us."

Petunia smiled faintly and nodded. "Had to be especially careful with Dudders - he could get wee on the wall if you weren't watchful and quick enough."

"Girls are easier that way," Arabella said. "Anything else you need right now?"

"You could grab me a burp cloth. Looks like she's getting hungry."

Severus looked at the infant again, still appearing quite peaceful in his opinion. He had no idea what signs of hunger Petunia was noticing. Perhaps it was a maternal sixth sense? He still could see no magic, but her instinct in this matter seemed unerring.

.

Despite his best efforts, Severus it turned out was not good with newborns. It shouldn't be complicated. All Dahlia seemed to do was sleep, eat, and cry to have her nappies changed. The rate she cycled through these simple needs was prodigious, however. Severus just couldn't figure out how to tell which she needed fast enough. She inevitably became upset when he failed to meet her needs fast enough. He didn't feel helpful minding her, and he became stupidly anxious about making a mistake every time he tried. Meanwhile, Vernon and Petunia and Arabella were all perfectly comfortable with her and obviously amused at his consternation. Arabella took pity on him eventually and took him aside while Vernon was at work and Petunia was heading up for a nap with the children.

"Severus, it's alright for you to not be a perfect nanny from day one, you know." Her reassuring words lost some meaning as he watched her absently puttering about, expertly doing the chores needed to keep the household running smoothly while the new mother rested.

"It's day ten of the summer hols, now. I feel like I'm getting underfoot," he muttered crossly.

"You're not. But if you want to be helpful, there's a few things you could offer Petunia that might just be more up your alley."

"Such as?"

"If there's a mess, offer to clean it, magically or otherwise. And entertain the boys for her. There will be more than enough time for you to get to know Dahlia in a few months once she's got a social smile and a more consistent schedule."

"In a few months, I'll be back at Hogwarts full time."

"You can still hold her and cuddle her when she's happy, silly, but feel free to hand her off to me or Petunia to change and put to sleep. Sometimes being an extra set of responsible hands and eyeballs is all the help we need, particularly with two toddlers to run after. No, not even toddlers - almost school-age. Ah, they grow up so fast..."

Which is how he found himself in charge of taking the boys out to the park every morning. It was a fair trade. Three children were a lot. He never saw Petunia without dark circles under her eyes, her day spent frantically alternating between childcare, sleeping, and wolfing down more food and tea than should have been physically possible. Surely it was easier for her to nap without the boys caterwauling around the house.

It was a brilliant summer's afternoon the day Harry came bounding up to the park bench he was sitting on to loudly announce, "Uncle Sev, Uncle Sev! I found a talking snake!" And behold, there was a grass snake twined about his wrist. Severus remained deliberately calm and subtly cast a wandless notice-me-not charm to keep the muggle parents at bay.

"What do you mean, Harry?"

Harry beamed and... hissed at the snake, which duly attended him and hissed back. "See? He says his name's Ssshthsphsss!"

"Ah."

Harry Potter was a parselmouth.

Severus carefully reminded himself what he had explained to Petunia in their journal, casually, so many months ago: the gift of parseltongue had nothing to do with Dark magic per se. It was an inherited talent with a long history, unfairly tainted in British wizarding society specifically, perfectly reputable everywhere else in the world.

He was also screaming internally, not at Harry's totally innocent and wonderful skill, but at the rather unfortunate implications should said skill ever come to light amongst the general wizarding public of the British Isles. Or amongst specific interested parties, both Light and Dark.

He instantly resolved that Albus Dumbledore must not know of this development anytime soon.

"That's nice, Harry, but we need to go home soon, so you'll have to put your new friend back where you found him."

"But I wanna show him to Dahlia!"

"She's too little, and Aunt Petunia wouldn't want him in the house anyway. We mustn't cause more stress for your Auntie right now. Right?"

"Oh. Okay."

"Say goodbye." Harry nodded agreeably and spoke to the snake with more hissing. Merlin, that was weird. The snake released its grip and slithered away as soon as Harry lowered his arm to the grass. Severus held out his hand. "Come on. Let's go get Dudley."

They had to get home before Arabella returned from the shops so he could work out with Petunia what to do.

Author's note: We're back! Thank you all for your patience. There's been a lot going on in my life since the last update, and I cannot yet commit to a weekly update schedule for this story, but I am actively working on it again at least, now that my other lengthy HP fic is officially concluded.