A baby's wailing echoed through the silent house in the middle of the night, disturbing Severus from his light sleep. It felt like he had just crawled into bed and closed his eyes, and sleep had only had a hold of him for a couple minutes when he heard Harry crying in the room next to his.

Dutifully, Severus forced himself out of the bed and walked over to Harry's room. Harry was standing up in his crib as his cries pierced through the air, causing a ringing in Severus's own ears that he winced at.

"That's enough, Harry," Severus said as he picked up his son. "I'm here now, you can cease the noise."

However, Harry did not stop crying, though he seemed to be trying to make an effort as he rubbed his eyes and closed his mouth now and then, only for his lips to quiver back open and for loud sobs to break through. Severus rocked Harry as he patted his bottom, wondering if a diaper change was warranted. He ended up changing Harry's diaper but that did not put an end to the tears. He offered milk, but Harry refused the bottle even as Severus jammed it into his mouth repeatedly in hopes he may try drinking it and calming down. The pacifier was spat out, teething gel didn't seem to help, and Harry had no fever.

Nearly an hour passed of Severus offering many things to Harry in an attempt to figure out what had the baby crying, but nothing was working. He sat down on his own bed still holding Harry and rubbed his temple achingly as a pounding headache was starting to develop.

"Please, Harry, calm down," Severus said miserably. "You're giving me a migraine."

Harry bit at his lip repeatedly as if trying to stop himself, but small sobs still escaped.

"Oh, I am so glad I did not have you as a baby," Severus muttered.

Harry's lip quivered with renewed energy, and he started openly sobbing once more, a harrowing cry that gutted Severus.

"No, Harry, I didn't mean it like that," Severus said before he groaned loudly and sat back against his headboard, holding the baby in his lap as he miserably watched Harry cry once more. After a few minutes, something seemed to catch Harry's eye, and his crying turned into sniffles as he stared at whatever it was. Severus followed Harry's gaze to his bare left arm.

The Dark Mark, or at least what was visible of it in its dull, scarred form. After the Dark Lord's disappearance, the mark had faded to just a barely visible scar, but if you looked closely enough at it, you could make out the edges of the skull and see the snake protruding from its mouth. Severus did not often wear sleeveless shirts except for bed, at which time Harry usually had his glasses off anyway, so he did not often have a chance to see it. Baby Harry clearly had no need for glasses yet, and he was staring at the mark with a morbid fascination.

Harry slowly leaned forward, his hands gently touching his father's arm, his fingertips tracing the scar. Severus kept his hands on Harry's hips, supporting his son on his lap while he inquisitively explored the one thing Severus felt pure loathing for, and Severus did not move his eyes from Harry's face, refusing to look at the mark that reminded him of the biggest mistakes he had ever made, one of which, cost his son two very loving parents.

Suddenly, Harry pulled away as if burned and he looked at his father with watery eyes.

". . .'ary," he tried to say.

Severus frowned at him, unsure if Harry was trying to say his name or a word. Harry saw the confusion, then he touched the Dark Mark once more.

"Ssss . . . ary," Harry tried again.

"Scary," Severus managed to gather.

Harry lips quivered and he sniffled once more, on the verge of sobbing again. Severus tilted his head as he realized what may have been bothering Harry this whole time.

"Did you have a bad dream, Harry?"

Harry managed a single nod.

"You wouldn't be able to tell me what it was about, would you?"

Harry's hand was still on the Dark Mark, and he slowly brought his other hand up to the scar on his forehead. Severus recalled what Harry had told him about the Dementors and the things he heard when he was around them. Harry must have had a nightmare about the same events: his parents dying and the monster giving him the scar he became famous for. Severus sighed as he brought his son to his chest, allowing Harry to lie against him. Harry stuck his thumb into his mouth as he listened to Severus's steady heartbeat.

"Have you been having nightmares like that?" Severus asked, wondering how many nights Harry simply forced himself to fall back to sleep.

Harry didn't say anything, and Severus was forced to draw his own conclusions. He knew Harry occasionally had other nightmares surrounding the Dursleys that would wake him and he would go searching for a glass of water at one in the morning, but he never really opened up about the dreams. As a baby, clearly the emotional regulation was no longer there, and Harry had no choice but to express how he really felt about some of his traumas. Severus made a vow that the next time he caught Harry out of bed, he would try to get his son to open up a bit more about what had awoken him. He didn't want night terrors or even nightmares to be a regular occurrence for his son when there were so many solutions to help minimize them.

As the minutes passed, Harry seemed to relax against him, his eyes closing, and Severus absently rubbed his son's back as he murmured to him.

"You should be back to normal tomorrow afternoon," Severus said. "I have to complete the antidote to add to the deaging potion, but once you take it, you'll be good as new in a few hours. I'm sure that will be a relief to you, hmm?"

Harry blinked lazily up at his father, and Severus snorted softly.

"It'll be a relief for me," he said. "No offence, but you are exhausting at this age. Can't do a bloody thing for yourself. I'll never understand why anyone would want more than one baby in their lifetime."

Harry continued to suck on his thumb, and Severus gently pulled the small digit free from Harry's mouth. He kicked the blanket away before gently placing Harry on his back next to him, then rolled on to his side next to Harry, propping himself up with an arm under his head. He gently massaged Harry's stomach, recalling in a book he had read how soothing that could be for babies, and he moved his hand in a clockwise circle, and Harry yawned before blinking eyes of adoration at Severus.

Despite the mark, despite all he had done in his past, despite his mistreatment of Harry in the very beginning of his son's first year, Harry was still capable of loving him, and he didn't need words to tell Severus that. He could see it in the way his son stared up at him, firing cheeky remark after cheeky remark at him. Severus planted a kiss on Harry's temple, then whispered, "I love you, Harry."

"Wub you, Dada," Harry managed to whisper back before he fell asleep.

Severus watched Harry sleep for several minutes, not feeling the slightest bit tired as he waited to see if Harry would sleep well or not. It wasn't until he heard a small, discontented moan did he touch a single finger to the center of Harry's forehead.

"Lege somnia," he whispered, closing his eyes.

He was pulled into Harry's mind, in a very similar manner to Legilimency, and he found himself watching as a flash of green light filled his vision while a woman screamed "Not my Harry! No!"

He recognized that voice from his own haunted dreams, and he felt an ache in his chest at hearing Lily crying for mercy on her baby, and he hated the role he had in her demise. He could sense Harry whining, and he pulled forward a different memory in Harry's subconcious, one buried so deep, only the best Legilimens would be able to bring such a memory forward.

It was a memory of Harry as a baby being rocked in his mother's arms as she sung a lullaby to him. She was sitting in a rocking chair, and it made no sound as it effortlessly teetered back and forth in rhythm with the lullaby, and a warm fire burned bright in the fireplace across from them. Harry was swaddled in a crocheted blanket; one Severus was sure Lily had made herself. Another thick blanket covered Lily, and she gazed lovingly at her son as he blinked up at her sleepily.

Harry stirred the slightest next to him, and Severus heard a small sigh emit from the baby, and he smiled as he watched Lily continue to sing in a soft voice, taking his time to enjoy the memory as much as Harry was.

When the memory appeared to loop, Severus carefully sifted through Harry's memories, looking for another one to bring forth, and he found a more recent one of Harry flying on the Quidditch Pitch at Hogwarts. He pulled it forward and nearly jumped back as Harry zoomed by on his broom, corkscrewing as he grazed the grass beneath him. Severus gave Harry an amused look as he watched him shoot up into the sky, knowing that if he had seen such a daredevil move in person, he likely would have spanked the brat with his own broomstick for scaring the living daylights out of him.

Knowing that continuing to watch Harry fly would most likely lead to his own heart attack (as much as Harry was sure to enjoy the dream), Severus searched for another memory he could tolerate observing for longer than a few minutes. He found one of Harry with his friends sitting down at a café in Diagon Alley after a long day of shopping for their second year supplies. They each had an ice cream cone and were laughing at jokes they shared together. Harry's ice cream was melting quickly, and some of it dripped down his chin and onto his shirt, earning more laughter from his friends as he futilely tried using a napkin to clean up his face and shirt. Hermione came to the rescue as she waved his wand and cast a cleansing spell over his shirt, vanishing the mess. Harry shrugged at his forgetfulness to try a spell.

While his friends shared more stories with each other, Severus recalled a day he had shared with his son, and he strolled through Harry's mind carefully in search of that memory.

Severus had been playing around with a whittling knife one day while waiting on a potion to finish brewing, carving out a rook for a nonexistent chessboard. Harry had returned home from visiting the library and had taken a great deal of interest in what he was doing, and he had asked to learn how to carve out chess pieces like that. Severus had forgotten all about his potion in favor of teaching Harry how to carve his own rook, and while he had lost the potion, it was one of his favorite moments he had with Harry.

They were sitting in the potions lab at an empty table, save for all the slivers of wood pieces around them. Harry had picked up on the technique of carving out the basic shape of the rook, copying Severus's movements with his own whittling knife. He struggled with the finer details though, and he scooted along the bench to sit closer to Severus, holding up the small wood piece that was starting to resemble a rook.

Severus set aside his own rook that he was sanding down. He guided Harry's hands through the correct cutting techniques he needed to etch out the smaller details. Harry pulled his hands free when he was ready to try it on his own and he grinned as he managed to complete some of the details himself despite the choppy motions.

Severus sat across from his memory self and watched proudly as Harry dutifully finished carving out the rook, biting his lip now and then and glancing up at memory Severus for affirmation every few minutes. Finally, he had a decent rook for a first-time whittler, and Harry proudly held it up for memory Severus to admire.

"Very good, Harry," Severus said. "Not bad for a first timer."

"Thanks, Dad."

"Are you ready to make the rest of the pieces now?" Severus asked with a smirk. "There's a whole chess board, you know. Thirty-two pieces."

Harry hesitated, his smile dropping for a moment, before he grinned and said, "Only if you make half of them."

"I think that's fair. Why don't you get started on a pawn?"

"You'll show me how?" Harry asked.

"I'll make one as well. You can copy me."

Severus glanced over at the abandoned cauldron his memory self was ignoring, a soft smile on his face as he watched the simmering concoction turn into black sludge, but glancing back at Harry, he knew it had been worth the small sacrifice as his memory self and Harry worked together to create their own chess pieces.

Severus heard a small distant coo, and he pulled out of Harry's memories and opened his eyes. Baby Harry's face was relaxed, and a small trace of a smile graced his lips. Severus smiled at his son as he returned to massaging Harry's stomach, earning another content sound from the baby. Severus closed his eyes, falling asleep easily now that he knew his son was having sweet dreams.

The next morning, Harry was changed and fed with yogurt, fruit, and another bottle while Severus worked on finishing the potion. He siphoned off the serum from the blood vial he had collected from Harry and spun down with a small pipette, adding it to a small cauldron that boiled away with a sludge of newt spleens, stewed mandrake and other repulsive things Harry really didn't want to have to drink, but would do so anyway for the greater good.

Severus saw the face Hary was making at the cauldrons and smirked.

"I know you'll be a good boy and give me no trouble drinking your potion unlike you did with the baby food, isn't that right, son?"

Harry scrunched his nose at his father as he shoved a spoonful of yogurt into his mouth.

Once the potions were complete, Severus combined the antidote to the Hellebore Ebber's neurotoxin to the reaging potion that had finally completed simmering. The potion emitted a large billow of green smoke, startling Harry, then it began to boil once more as Severus turned up the heat.

"In thirty minutes," Severus said, as he lifted Harry out of the highchair he had sitting in the back corner of his lab, "your potion will be ready for consumption. You will nap through mos of it as I will give you a sleeping draught, but once you are awake and back to your correct age, I want you to shower and pack for your trip with the Weasleys tomorrow."

Harry clapped his hands happily.

Castiel flew into the room with a rolled bit of parchment, and Severus adjusted Harry on his hip and accepted the letter, unscrolling it with one hand while Harry tried to pet Castiel, who dodged the wacking hand and flew off to his bird stand. Harry pouted, then stared at the letter his father was reading.

"Looks like we managed to avoid a crisis," Severus said. "The potioneer who picked up the flowers was grateful for our letter explaining what happens if the plant sprays you with pollen, and he is taking several precautions while he works with them. Looks like some good came out of your curiosity, wouldn't you say?"

Harry rolled his eyes as he babbled, earning a snort from Severus.

Finally, when the potion had finished boiling after the required thirty minutes, Severus used a cooling charm to bring the temperature down before filling a baby bottle with the necessary dose. He picked up Harry from where the baby was amusing himself with crayons and parchment on the floor, then sat down in his armchair and leaned Harry back to offer the bottle. Harry hesitated at first, making a face at the green slop in the bottle, but at Severus's insistence, he bravely opened his mouth and began drinking the potion, though his face did turn a bit green halfway through.

"Here," Severus said, pulling the bottle away and summoning an anti-nauseau potion from his supply. He gave Harry a few drops and waited a couple minutes for the potion to take effect, and Harry began to look less like he wanted to upchuck.

"Uck," Harry said, glaring at the bottle.

"Yes, but you're only halfway through." Severus repositioned the bottle and Harry gulped before accepting the nipple and drinking the rest of it as quickly as he could.

After that horrid task was complete, Severus summoned a vial of sleeping draught, and he measured out a dose that would surely keep Harry asleep through the entirety of the transformation. He knew this one had a reversal he could use when the process was complete, which was why he chose that particular draught. Harry accepted the hefty tablespoon of the smooth liquid, though the taste was still sour, and his face scrunched up in dislike.

"I promise that's the last potion you need," Severus said, biting back his amusement as his son smacked his lips repeatedly.

"No more," Harry said in agreement.

Severus laid his son down in his bedroom, pulling the blankets away and closing the curtains to keep the room dark. He removed Harry's onesie and diaper, leaving the baby blushing.

"You've nothing I haven't seen before," Severus said with an eye roll. "Besides, you do not want to try to grow back to a fourteen-year-old wearing a diaper. That would be . . . quite uncomfortable."

Harry's blush deepened as he glared at his father. Severus smiled down at him though, unfazed by his son's looks.

"Go to sleep, Harry. You should be feeling the sleeping draught any second now."

Harry began blinking repeated as he fought a big yawn, then he slowly closed his eyes and his chest began rising and falling evenly. Severus stepped out of the room, closing the door behind him and set a timer for three hours, though he planned to check in on Harry every fifteen minutes or so to make sure everything was progressing normally.

It was strange walking into his son's room and seeing his child at a different stage of childhood each time. First, after only twenty minutes, the baby had doubled in size to that of a toddler. Then, fifteen minutes after that, he would estimate that Harry was about the size of a five-year-old. And in fifteen more minutes, it appeared he aged by two years. At this rate, Harry would be fourteen again by three hours exactly, and he would be able to give him the reversal agent for the sleeping draught then as well. And he would take another blood sample from his son to make sure the toxins were completely gone from his system. It would be no good if they had gone through all this trouble just to have Harry shrink back down to a baby again.

After the required three hours, Severus checked on his son and was pleased to see him restored to his correct age, which a spell confirmed for him. He covered his son with a blanket so he would wake up with some modesty, then he applied three drops of the reversal potion to wake him up. He stepped out of the room and closed the door just as Harry was starting to stir.

Thirty minutes later, Harry ran out of his bedroom showered and changed into fresh clothes. Severus was sitting at the dining table writing a letter to the potioneer in hopes of remaining in touch through the man's studies of the Hellebore Ebbers when Harry threw his arms around his neck.

"It worked, Dad!" Harry said. "I'm back to normal."

"So I see," Severus said, reaching back and pulling his son around to check him over. "How are you feeling? Headaches? Nausea? Any pains?"

Severus touched a palm to Harry's forehead before peering into his eyes.

"No, I feel great," Harry insisted. "That was a pretty trippy experience though."

"Let me see your arm," Severus said, and when Harry outstretched an arm, Severus released another small vial that latched onto Harry's arm and stuck him with a needle, quickly collecting a small tube full of blood.

"Hey!" Harry jumped at the sudden prick, then glared at his father. "Ow."

"Oh please, you were less dramatic as a baby," Severus said as he caught the vial when it hovered away. He touched his wand to Harry's arm to heal the small needle prick, then he poured the blood into another blue vial. He corked it and gave the vial a vigorous shake before setting it down. The liquid inside turned green, and Severus nodded with approval.

"Congratulations," he said, "you are clear of that plant's toxins."

"Good riddance," Harry said. He rubbed his arm absently as he added, "Sorry I kind of ruined your experiment thing. I didn't think a plant could do something like that."

"Nor did I," Severus said as he returned to writing his letter. "But it was nothing I couldn't fix."

"Of course not," Harry agreed with a cheeky smile. "That would look poorly on the world's youngest potions master."

"Aren't you supposed to be packing?"

"Oh, right! Hey, did you talk to the Weasleys to see if Giovanna could maybe come?"

"All taken care of." Severus summoned the ticket Lucius had given him. "I secured this or your friend, but you have to floo call her now and let her know so she can ask her parents' permission and prepare as well."

"How did you get a ticket?" Harry asked as he accepted the slip of paper.

"I have my ways," Severus said cryptically. "Now go call your girlfriend."

"She's not my girlfriend—stop saying that!"

"My apologies," Severus said with a chuckle. "Do not forget my rules for when—"

"For staying with the Weasleys," Harry interrupted. "Mind Mr. and Mrs. Weasley, stay with them at all times, do as they say, no misbehavior, blah, blah, blah."

"Smart mouth," Severus said. "I think I liked you better as a baby. You certainly didn't have this level of cheek."

"You love me too much for me to go back to being a baby," Harry corrected smugly. "Cheek and all."

"Indeed, I do," Severus said, unable to keep the fondness out of his voice.