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"Have you seen Georgie?" Molly worriedly enquired as she stopped beside the Harry's armchair. He was so full from dinner; he didn't think he'd ever move again.
Harry was impressed. He hadn't noticed that Georgina was missing from the horde of children that were now tussling over the best of the pastries. But then he supposed that Molly was probably always looking out for her only granddaughter. The quiet and shy five year old often seemed to get lost in the pack of rambunctious boys.
Harry did a quick scan of the room. He felt a strange warmth seep through him when he finally located Georgie's long red hair. She was still over in the corner, earnestly conversing with Severus. "She's still with Severus."
Harry gestured over to the furthest corner, beside the Christmas tree. He'd spent the better part of the day sitting on the arm of the big wingback chair where Severus was ensconced. It was only when Georgie had timidly approached the stranger in the Weasley ranks that Harry had felt comfortable leaving Severus for a few minutes to socialize with Charlie and Bill, whom he rarely got to see.
"Isn't that the strangest thing?" Molly whispered as she followed Harry's gaze to where her granddaughter was giggling in musical gales at whatever Severus had just said. The idea of any child giggling in Severus Snape's presence was unimaginable.
"Merlin knows what he's telling her." Harry laughed. "When I left them, he was making suggestions as to how she could subdue the boys. Imperius wasn't involved," Harry assured. Looking back up at Molly, he softly said, "I want to thank you for welcoming Severus as you have. You've all been great."
Harry knew that most pureblood families would never have tolerated, let alone welcomed, an openly homosexual couple. He knew how lucky he was to have these extraordinary people as his own.
Molly flushed redder than her hair. "There's nothing to thank me for, Harry. You're part of the family. Anyone you care about is welcome here, and Severus has always been welcome in his own right. But, I have to admit that when Ron told me you were seeing Severus Snape, I thought he was joking. His age aside, Severus isn't someone I would ever have pictured you with."
"I can't blame you. No one was more shocked than we were, believe me," Harry said with a soft laugh. "But . . . he suits me."
"Well, it's clear you suit him, too," Molly answered with a warm smile.
"You think?" Harry was more than a little surprised. He knew that he was terrible at hiding his feelings, so the effect Severus had had on him was doubtless visible to everyone who knew him, but when they were in public, Severus seemed unchanged to him. Even today Severus had been cool and remote in his dealings with the Weasleys. But Severus had been fastidiously polite, and that was all that mattered to him. Though Bill and Charlie were nowhere near the deceased twins' league when it came to troublemaking, Harry had anticipated some problems with them. But there'd been no insults or sniping.
"Look at him. I've known Severus almost thirty years now," Molly said. "This is the first time he hasn't seemed . . . angry at the world. The fact that he'd consent to come to a house full of Gryffindors is astounding. Albus couldn't even have managed this, Harry, and Severus adored the man."
"Gran! Fred's hogging all the cherry ones!" One of Molly's seven grandsons complained from a few feet away. Harry could never keep track of their names. For all that they ranged in age from three to seven, they were all so similarly featured that it was like trying to tell the twins apart.
"Excuse me a minute, dear," Molly said, moving to sort out the fracas at the dessert table.
"Hey, you," Ron's familiar voice called from behind him.
Harry turned at Ron and Bill's approach. Ron offered Harry one of the lagers he was holding.
"Thanks," Harry said, taking an eager gulp. Across the room, he watched as Hermione joined in Severus and Georgina's conversation.
"You gave us all a shock there, Harry," Bill said, following Harry's gaze to where Severus sat.
"Yeah, I guess I did. I have to say, I've been surprised by how . . . restrained everybody's been. I was sure there'd be some . . . ." Harry wasn't sure how to finish the line.
Bill quickly supplied, "Joking or pranks? Believe me, we thought about it."
"So what stopped you?" Harry asked, genuinely curious. He knew that no one here would ever have been intentionally cruel to Severus when he was here as his guest, but he'd honestly expected some friction.
"Mum threatened that the first one of us who so much as looked funny at Professor Snape would find themselves replacing the garden gnome on the tree," Bill said.
Harry chuckled. "She did not!"
"Did, too," Ron insisted. "And she meant it."
"She'd never -" Harry began, only to have Bill interrupt him.
"Don't be too sure of that," Bill said. "When the twins returned for summer break after their first year at school, they used to test out their experiments on Ron here. Mum threatened if they didn't stop, she'd freeze them and shrink them to be centrepieces on the table. Being Fred and George, they didn't let up and -"
"Oh, I remember that!" Ron laughed. "Fred and George were there on the table next to the salt shakers for three days. Ginny kept knocking them over into the mashed potatoes every time she reached for something."
Both brothers broke out into hysterical laughter at the memory, while Harry did his best to cover his horror. Even after all these years, the Wizarding World could still throw him sometimes.
"Hey, little miss," Bill called, reaching out to catch his daughter as Georgina raced past them. "What have you been up to?"
"Hi, Daddy." She grinned up at them out of a face very reminiscent of Arthur's. "Hi, Uncle Ron, and Uncle Harry."
"So what have you been doing?" Bill asked. "Gran was looking for you."
"I was talking to Professor Snape," Georgie said.
"What about?" Ron asked, clearly as fascinated as Harry. For all that he'd taught for decades, Severus Snape wasn't known for his tolerance of children.
"Lots of stuff. School mostly. When I get my Hogwarts letter, I'm gonna be sorted into Slytherin House. I decided," Georgina announced.
Ron spewed his beer all over himself.
Georgina's announcement seemed to have claimed the attention of every adult in the area. Arthur and Fleur were staring at her from the nearby couch, Molly gaping from over at the dessert table.
"Why would you say a thing like that?" Bill asked, visibly shaken.
"Well, all the boys are going to be sorted into Gryffindor. That always happens," Georgina said.
"The Weasleys have been sorted into Gryffindor exclusively for the last six generations," Ron said, his pride in that fact no doubt unmistakable to even the child before them.
"I know. But I don't want to go where the boys are. Professor Snape promised me there'd be no other Weasleys in Slytherin House, that I'd be the only one," Georgina enthused.
"Oh, he did, did he?" Ron asked, seeming a little angry.
Harry tried to be appalled like Ron and Bill were, but the humour of the situation was undeniable. He looked away, lest they see his amusement. His gaze fell upon Fleur, who no longer appeared shocked. To his surprise, she, too, seemed to be working hard to stifle a laugh. Clearly, the Beauxbaton graduate wasn't as set on having all her children in Gryffindor as the family she'd married into.
"Yes," Georgina answered, obviously missing Ron's tone. "Professor Snape says Slytherin is the best house in Hogwarts. I was reading that book Aunt Hermione gave me, Hogwarts: A History, and it said that most of the greatest wizards come out of Slytherin."
"Most of the dark wizards, you mean," Ron corrected, seeming to get really hot under the collar.
Georgina gave Ron a strangely haughty, put-upon look as she answered, "Well, yes, I suppose that's true as well. I just won't be a dark wizard. 'scuse me. I want a cherry tart."
With that, Georgina raced off, leaving her father and uncle staring after her like she'd transformed her head into a trout.
"Maybe she'll forget about it by the time she gets her Hogwarts' letter," Harry hopefully suggested.
Bill chuckled. "That one? You're kidding, right? She's still holding a grudge against us for taking away her pacifier."
"Sounds pretty Slytherin to me," Harry said, not even trying to hide his smile anymore.
"You think this is funny?" Ron demanded.
