Harry James Potter was a mystery, Severus decided. The boy had always hated him, with reason; Severus was honest enough with himself at least to acknowledge that he had started it. Yet, the boy had defended him with fervor to Petunia and her fat stupid husband. He had all the reason to be bitter and hateful, they had abused him. Severus had also been abused, not nearly at the extent of Harry and he didn’t even know all the details, but his father had been abusive towards him and his mother. But Severus had always had his mother to love and care for him. That’s how his disgust towards Muggles started. His Muggle father was an arrogant ignorant bully that had abused him while his witch mother had always cared for and protected him. He couldn’t wait to shed his Muggle heritage when he was younger. To him wizards and witches were obviously superior to Muggles.

The Dark Lord was another example of abuse that had transformed into hatred towards Muggles, and from what Severus had learned, Tom Riddle hadn’t been as abused as Harry and Severus. He hadn’t been loved; he was poor, but he had been well cared for at the orphanage and wasn’t constantly being struck in his own home.

Harry Potter was. He was starved, forced to behave as a house-elf, and struck for no good reason. He hadn’t been shown an ounce of love until he was eleven. Yet, he loved, he loved so much he was willing to die for that love. He was light hearted and able to at least sound carefree. Here he was, after facing death and destruction, laughing in the drawing room of the Black Manor and cooing at the little baby he was holding.

“Say ‘Harry’, can you say it?” Harry cooed.

Next to him Tonks laughed, “He is one month old Harry. He can’t talk yet.”

“Nonsense. My godson is a genius. You’ll see. He’ll find the cure for cancer before he turns one. Right Teddy? Yes you are. Say ‘Harry’.”

Severus had been watching the scene from right behind the threshold and startled when Remus came behind him asking softly:

“Have you told him?”

“Of course not,” Severus snapped in a whisper, making sure the other two current occupants of the house would not hear. “Do you think he wants to know he is not James Perfect Potter’s son?”

“He is James’ son. James magically adopted him, making Harry his blood son too. You know that.  He is a combination of the three of you. James never had a problem with that. He loved his son. He was ecstatic with his little heir. There was nothing that could spoil his happiness when he was with Harry, not even sharing him with you. The question is, can you share him with James?”

---

Grimmauld Place was packed. Severus scowled. Kreacher had cooked a banquet. The Weasleys were all in attendance. Granger, who had recently come back from Australia, was able to come. The Lupins plus Andromeda were here as well. Luna Lovegood, Neville Longbottom and his Grandmother and another mystery, Dean Thomas, were present. Severus never knew they were that close with Dean Thomas. He expected being caught in Malfoy Manor had made them close, or maybe it was the way the boy was holding Lovegood’s hand.

They had decided to have a family dinner and God knows why Harry invited him to join.

“You are living here Professor. It’s only fair you are included in a huge meal.”

Molly Weasley was in her element. She had helped Kreacher cook, which at first hadn’t settled well with the elf, but Harry said something to him in private and suddenly he was quite happy with the help. She seemed her usual self, but you could catch glimpses of a pained look whenever she looked at her brood. When she saw him watching her, she smiled and said:

“Fred loved life and happiness. We would be insulting his memory if we wallowed in grief forever.”

He just nodded; he had wallowed in grief for almost seventeen years. Lily probably wouldn’t have liked it either. She loved life too. Severus looked at Harry as he chatted and laughed with his friends. During the days he’d been here, he had discovered other things about him in the boy. They didn’t stand out so much and since no one was looking for them, they passed unnoticed. Little mannerisms, like the way he looked at you when he thought you’d just said something stupid, and his scowl, that was pure Snape. It was quite disconcerting seeing a Snape scowl on Potter’s face, but there it was. The boy had helped him in the lab as he brewed Lupin’s Wolfsbane. When he wasn’t breathing down the boy’s neck and was actually instructing him, he realized Harry actually had potential. In Harry’s sixth year Severus had attributed it to Harry cheating with the aid of his Potions book, but to be honest, he never thought to make Harry understand Potions, just copy recipes. There were so few who were actually interested in understanding the concept of why you mixed certain ingredients that he never bothered with the school children. The ones whom were interested would go look for themselves, he reasoned. He never thought that maybe the association of Potions with his most hated teacher might discourage Harry.

And when Severus explained the boy understood, and asked coherent questions. They had started tweaking one of the batches of the potion with some of his ideas. Of course, that could be Lily in him, but maybe, just maybe it was Severus.

After a very satisfying meal, George Weasley approached Harry with a goblet and a look on his face that Severus had learned to dread.

“Here Harry, drink this,” he said.

Harry raised that Snape eyebrow and asked, “Do you really think I am that stupid George? You are losing your touch; you used to be more covert than that.”

George laughed, “I decided to be upfront this time because I know you’ll drink it.”

“Why is that?” Harry asked eyeing the goblet.

“It’s a gift that Fred and I had decided to give you when the war was over,” he said plainly. The table went quiet and Severus groaned inwardly. Great, the boy just used the best emotional blackmail he could have.

“Fred wanted me to drink this?” Harry asked taking the goblet reverently.

George nodded, “It’s a gift. It won’t hurt you, I promise you. It’s something we thought you deserved.”

Without a second thought, Harry downed the goblet and several people, including Severus, lunged forward crying, “Harry no!”

At first nothing happened and Severus was about to sigh in relief, when Harry started shrinking. He leaped up and ran to Harry’s chair at the same time as Lupin and Molly did. When he got there he was shocked. Looking up with wide eyes from under an enormous shirt, as his trousers and shoes had fallen off, was a toddler that couldn’t be much older than a year old.

George Stupid Weasley was smiling like an idiot and crouched down to be eye level with the boy, “Hello Harry, I’m George.”

“Hewwo,” Harry said in a small voice, fidgeting with his little hands and shooting scared glances at the adults.

“May I pick you up?” George asked Harry, extending his hands. Harry nodded worriedly and kept a watchful eye on George’s every movement. When George touched him, he shut his eyes tightly and only opened them when he was secured in George’s arms. He looked at George’s smiling face and seemed to come to the conclusion that George would not hurt him.

Harry looked around and then turned to George and asked in a whisper, “Wewe awe we?”

“This is your new house Harry. You live here now,” George answered.

“Weawwy!” Harry said and a big smile came across his face, “No Aunt P’tuna and Uncwe Ernon?”

“Nope,” George smiled. “Just people that are going to love you and be very nice to you.”

Harry looked at him disbelieving.

“George Weasley,” Molly started in a low but very dangerous tone. “What have you done?”

George turned to his mother and calmly said, “Harry never had a childhood. Fred and I decided that when the war was over, Harry deserved a childhood. So we developed a special de-aging potion. You see, Harry only needed the time between he was fifteen months and eleven years old. We couldn’t break a year though, so we had to settle with two years old.”

“He is two? But he only looks one!” Andromeda said outraged, and Harry hid his face in George’s chest.

“It’s okay Harry. No one is angry with you. As I was saying, the potion works like this; he will spend one week as each age between two and eleven. Every seven days he will age another year as the potion wears off. His memories are locked, meaning he will regain them when he reaches the appropriate age. We calculated it so the potion wears off completely on the week he is supposed to turn eleven. So on that day he will just go back to being seventeen. That is in nine weeks, one week short of his birthday.”

“What are you planning to accomplish George?” Arthur asked warily and Severus shared the feeling.

“Simple, you and mom will give Harry a taste of a normal childhood. I can’t erase the Dursleys, but we can give him something different than what he originally received. I think he deserves it and there are no better parents than you two.”

“Hear, hear,” the other Weasley kids intoned and Severus saw that George had managed to get to Molly, and she was inching her hands closer to get Harry.

“I don’t think so,” Severus cut across her path and stood next to George. No way she was getting his son!

“But Professor, the Potion has to wear off. There is no antidote,” George explained.

“Then I will take care of Potter.”

The entire room went silent; it would have been easy to hear a pin drop. It seemed people even forgot to breathe.

“Now, Severus, really,” Andromeda started. “What experience do you have with children? Besides, you’ve always hated James, and from what I heard, Harry.”

“I’ve come to understand Potter isn’t his father in the days we’ve lived together,” he answerered dryly.

“Actually,” Remus said and everyone turned to him as if he would save them, “I agree with Severus. He would be a great choice.”

Now they were looking at Remus disbelievingly.

“Remus-” Hermione started, but she was cut off by a small delighted voice.

“Mooey!” As they all turned towards Harry they saw the little boy holding his arms out for the werewolf.

“Hey there Harry. You remember me?” Remus said as he lifted Harry from George’s arms.

“But he was too young to remember anyone,” Hermione said, “If he is two he had to have been with the Dursleys for nine months. He wouldn’t remember.”

“Witches and Wizards have better memories than Muggles, Granger, because of their magic,” Severus drawled. “Small children usually don’t retain memories for very long, but magical children sometimes do. You noticed Harry didn’t say much of anything until Lupin talked. Which means he probably remembered the voice but couldn’t recognize the face well enough.”

“I always read for him. You liked it didn’t you cub?” Remus asked, kissing Harry’s nose and making the boy giggle.

“What do you say about staying with Severus here, Harry?” Remus asked pointing at Severus.

“Awe you daddy?” Harry asked looking at Severus. “He got hair the same cowor that I got,” he finished, grabbing his hair with his small fists.

“Yes he does,” Remus said gently prying Harry’s hands from his hair. “And he is.”

“Remus, you shouldn’t confuse him like that,” Tonks scolded.

“But he is Dora,” Remus said calmly. “James wasn’t Harry’s biological father, he only magically adopted Harry. Severus is his father. Harry is the son of the three of them.”

Outraged cries sounded all over, and Harry was suddenly trembling and hiding in Remus’ robes. Remus started whispering to the boy and rubbing his back. Annoyed beyond belief that his private life had been exposed like this, Severus yelled, “SHUT UP!”

Everyone went silent and Severus stalked towards Lupin, “Yes, thank you for telling everyone when I haven’t even told Harry yet Lupin.”

“You’re welcome,” Remus smiled and Severus glared.

“Do you want to go with daddy Harry?” Remus asked kindly.

“We pway bubwe daddy?”

“What?” Severus asked.

Remus smiled, “James used to make bubbles for Harry with his wand,” he turned to Harry. “No Harry, that is not daddy James, that is daddy Severus. You have two daddies. Daddy James is the one that made bubbles, but he is in heaven with mommy and can’t come.”

“Daddy and mommy no come?” Harry asked in a small sad voice as his bottom lip trembled.

“They love you very much Harry but they can’t come. They would if they could.”

“An I tay wif daddy Sevus.”

“Yes,” Remus said smiling.

“Otay,” Harry nodded, putting his arms out for Severus who awkwardly took him with some directions from Molly and Andromeda. Harry instantly rested his head on Severus’ shoulder and put a thumb in his mouth grabbing a fistful of Severus’ robes with the other hand. Apparently he had decided he had enough for one night and daddy was safe.

“Wait a moment,” Hermione said firmly. “You can’t just waltz in here and say you are Harry’s dad and expect us to just let you leave with him.”

“I am not leaving,” Severus said bored. “We will stay in Grimmauld Place.”

Hermione rolled her eyes, “You know what I meant. Where were you while Harry was growing up? You always treated him horribly. Why should we believe you’ll change if you didn’t want him before?”

“I didn’t know he was mine before,” Severus said narrowing his eyes. “Now if you’ll excuse me I’ll put my son to bed.”

Hermione was about to protest but Remus stopped her, allowing Severus to leave. “I just told him the truth when he woke up in the hospital wing Hermione. He truly did not know. And, yes, I agree that taking his frustration and hatred of James on Harry wasn’t right, but don’t you think they deserve a second chance? Wasn’t that why George and Fred devised this crazy plan?”

Hermione glared at Remus, but surprisingly it was Ron who made her see reason, “I think he is right Hermione. Besides, we will keep an eye on Snape. He won’t be alone and Kreacher won’t let him hurt Harry. Right Kreacher?” He asked the elf who had been inconspicuously taking the dishes to the sink.

“Yes, Mr. Weasley sir. I is taking care of Master Harry.”

“And telling us if Harry isn’t happy right?”

“Yes, sir.”

“See, if we get a whiff of Harry being unhappy, we will whisk him to the Burrow. But if not, let them build a relationship, that otherwise they would never be able to have, not with their history,” Remus pleaded. “Give them this fresh start. I know Severus seems like an awful person. He is not my favorite person either, but I did also see him with Lily at school, and know he is capable of caring and loving, as strange as it may seem.”

“Fine,” Ginny said glaring at Remus. “But if he as much as raises his voice at Harry-”

“I’ll bring him to the Burrow myself,” Remus promised.