Second Chance 2

Questions exploded in Harry's mind as he tried to grip he toast and found the task harder than he had imagined and even harder was directing the toast to his mouth properly. It was like his hand only did what he wanted to about half the time. He couldn't remember the last time he had difficulty completing such a mundane task. To make it worse, he seemed to only get the food in his mouth once every few tries; for the most part, he would miss and hit the sides of his mouth. It was as though he had no motor control at all. He found himself suddenly understanding why babies were such messy creatures because he was making a mess to end all messes.

It really didn't help that Sirius' presence was distracting. He had seen Sirius die and now he was standing in front of him, smiling as though nothing had happened; as though the whole world hadn't gone insane and he wasn't sitting in a nappy, unable to properly feed himself a simple piece of toast.

"Mm, is that yummy, Harry?" Sirius asked Harry with a wide smile on his face. Harry was unsure how to react to Sirius speaking to him like this. Sure, Sirius was a cheerful bloke but it was still surreal hearing Sirius use baby-talk on Harry; though not as surreal as hearing it coming from Snape. Harry grinned and put a bite in his mouth before turning to watch Snape or 'daddy' as he was calling himself. Snape was sitting at the table with a copy of the daily prophet, eating a bowl of oatmeal and drinking a cup of coffee.

After a few moments, Severus chuckled and put the paper down to face Sirius with a smirk on his face.

"You should have seen him this morning, Siri, he yanked off his blankets and made the cutest face... And he told his first lie! I asked if he needed a new nappy and he shook his head!" Severus said as he placed some more cereal on Harry's tray. "But I think he had a nightmare because he seemed a bit nervous and tense this morning. You'll keep an eye on him while you're out? I'm just hoping he's not starting to get sick."

"Of course, Sevvie," Sirius replied, making Harry glance up in shock. Weren't these men supposed to hate each other... now they're making googly eyes at each other and kissy faces. "I'll keep an eye out for anything out of the usual."

Snape went back to his breakfast, while Sirius was now searching for something to eat for his own breakfast. Sirius finally settled on toast and jam and even broke off a few pieces for Harry. Once again he found himself fascinated by the feeling of the food on his toothless gums. The feeling of only having a few teeth was something he wasn't used to but it felt... strange to say the least. Chewing was such an odd experience. And everything seemed to taste a little different.

Harry was still unable to believe that he was with Sirius again, even if he was a baby for whatever reason; though it was unexpected to see him locking lips with Snape and talking with each other like a married couple. This was becoming one of his weirdest dreams ever. When he woke up, he was going to have to write this down. He couldn't help but wonder who'd kill him first; Snape for writing him like this or Sirius for writing him kissing Snape.

"Harry, do you want to go to the park with Dudley and the Weasleys today?" Sirius asked as he handed Harry a bottle of juice.

Unsure how to respond to a baby bottle or the idea that he would want to spend time with Dudley, he took the bottle and sucked on it. Maybe in this world, the Dursleys weren't that bad. The idea was laughable at best; the Dursleys... not bad? But, he decided he would give them a chance.

Not that he had much choice in the matter. He had a feeling they were taking him wherever they wanted to and his 'word' wasn't going to change a thing.

When he was done eating, Sirius washed Harry's messy face while Snape cleaned the high chair. Harry noticed that they exchanged loving glances towards each other and stole kisses whenever they could. Was Sirius Harry's other parent? Because his eyes were clearly the same shade of grey as Sirius'. Harry decided to try once again to ask. He came up with the words in his mind, he practised them in his mind and he opened his mouth and...

"Ooh! La, da, Pa..."

Hmm, that didn't go as planned. That sounded nothing like what he planned to say at all. This was frustrating! Why couldn't he talk? WHY? He had only been doing it for the past fourteen years, why couldn't he figure this out now!

"Ooh la la, Harry," Severus repeated back in a cheerful voice but Harry was a bit annoyed at the words coming out wrong and now Severus was mocking him? Perhaps he found his attempted speech cute? Because Severus didn't look like he was laughing at Harry; in fact, the man seemed to be regarding him with undeniable pride and... love? The idea of Severus Snape regarding him with either of those emotions seemed almost unthinkable but here he was.

It's really time to wake up, Harry reminded himself, as though prompting himself would do it. There is no way this was real and if he didn't wake up soon, facing the snarky professor would only be that much harder. It was going to be hard enough to face the man with the recollection of having pissed on him. When he woke up, he'd have to make sure to NEVER look Professor Snape in the eyes again.

Harry felt himself whining and squirming in Sirius' arms; he was tired of being held. He needed to be on the ground. Though he wasn't entire sure what he intended to do down there, he knew he couldn't accomplish it from where he was. The man in return chuckled and kissed the top of Harry's head before setting him on his bum in the living room. Deciding he wanted to explore, Harry made an attempt to stand up and promptly fell down before he could straighten out his legs. During another attempt, Snape walked in and gave a wide, proud smile at Harry.

"Are you trying to stand up? Siri! He's trying to stand!"

This should be easy to do, stand up, put one foot in front of the other and walk around the room; why was this so difficult? His muscles just didn't seem to agree with him doing this. He'd been walking for years but now he couldn't even bring himself to take one simple step. It's not like he was trying anything complex, he just wanted to walk. It was as though his muscles just didn't have it in him to hold up his body. It was like the motion was completely forgien to the point where it made him wonder if he was accurately remembering how to do it.

When Sirius came into the room, Harry was attempting to pull himself up by the coffee table and as soon as he let go of the coffee table, his legs gave out and he was back on the floor. A cry of frustration left Harry's mouth before he could stop it and a tear fell down his cheek and loud sobs began to flow freely from his mouth. He knew this reaction was stupid but he was just so frustrated and couldn't keep the reaction bottled in.

"Oh, I know! It's not fair! Those mean legs won't let you walk, will they? Let's get ready to go to the park," Sirius said, scooping Harry up and carried him up the stairs towards the nursery. "And papa bought you and your friends a surprise for at the playground."

It wasn't long before Harry found himself bundled in warm clothes and ready to go out the door when something happened that made him realise that peeing himself wasn't the worst thing that could happen. No, he didn't want to do the other thing... But it hurt, his belly hurt and it was already happening! He could feel his cheeks reddening and he could feel the pain in his belly easing up but now he was uncomfortable and smelly.

A sob left him as his bum started to burn. When Sirius entered the room, he immediately knew what had happened and laughed.

"You are consistent, aren't you? Right before we go out the door... Come on, let's change that nasty nappy," Sirius said and Harry stuck up his arms, wanting that stuff off his bottom; he wasn't even going to pretend it wasn't there this time. But he could still feel his cheeks flaming with embarrassment; it was moments like this that he wished he could wake up because the idea of being in a nappy was mortifying.

Please, let this nightmare end soon. Please.

***LINEBREAK***

Once Harry was changed and clean, Sirius apparated with Harry to a park. Harry's body didn't react badly to the sensation, it just left him squirming a bit as his body was tingly but not even his stomach was upset. Maybe his body was used to it by now, Sirius and Severus probably apparated with him a lot.

"Hello, Harry dear! How are you today?"

How had he not put together in his mind that Mrs Weasley would be here? It should have been a foregone conclusion but his mind didn't seem to put the thoughts together. Mrs Weasley sounded as cheerful and motherly as usual; Harry found himself grinning and kicking his legs at the sight of the woman, not even noticing that drool was running out of his mouth.

"Nah, pa, la," Harry said, knowing it sounded nothing like what he wanted to say but Mrs Weasley seemed thrilled by his answer and immediately took Harry from Sirius's arms and began snuggling him. Harry found himself closing his eyes and leaning into the touch; he couldn't remember ever being held like this and found the feeling to be wonderful. Of course, since he'd waken up, he found himself being carried, hugged and kissed more than he had ever been in real life. It was a nice feeling and Harry hoped the constant feeling of warmth and comfort would remain with him for a bit after he woke up.

The woman began cooing at Harry and telling him how handsome he had gotten and how much he was starting to look more and more like his fathers. She softly pinched his cheeks before turning to face Sirius with a grin.

"Remus is already here with Dudley and Petunia. Arthur couldn't come because he's home with Percy; poor boy was sick all night. But he'll get some rest while his brothers are at the park."

"Yeah, good idea. I hope he gets well soon," Sirius said with a grin on his face as he watched Mrs Weasley snuggle Harry. "It's a good idea that you don't get sick either."

"Oh, I took a potion as soon as Charlie got sick a few days ago, I'll be fine and so will the baby," Mrs Weasley said, pointing to her round belly as she carried Harry towards the playground where there were several kids playing. Harry recognised all of them but he found himself staring at Petunia who was sitting in the arms of Remus Lupin. At her feet, Harry recognised Ron immediately but Dudley looked completely different. He had light brown hair, hazel eyes and he wasn't obese. Dudley looked like a normal, healthy baby. In fact, Harry wondered if this was Dudley at all.

"Hello, Harry! How's my godson today?" Petunia said as she smiled at Harry. Her expression was different than Harry had ever seen it; she looked cheerful, friendly and her face didn't remind Harry of a horse. She looked happy to see Harry and that left Harry baffled but he recovered quickly since this world seemed to be filled with all kinds of surprises and this was far from the biggest shock of his day.

"Oh, pet, pay," Harry said, not even surprised that his words came out as rambles but he found joy in watching everyone smile when he attempted to communicate with them, so he did it anyway.

"Yes, it's play day, Harry and I hear you have a surprise!" Petunia said, her tone was cheerful and different from what Harry was used to but he found himself kicking and grinning, despite the fact that he didn't know what his surprise was.

"Gather around, kids! Harry has a surprise for everyone!" Sirius said, pulling a bag from around his shoulders.

Four red-haired boys ran towards them with wide smiles on their faces. They were Bill, Charlie, Fred and George. Ron and Dudley didn't seem to notice what was happening because they were too busy playing with the grass.

"Harry brought ice lollies for everyone!"

This announcement brought smiles to the kids' faces, as Sirius began handing them out, finally catching the attention on Ron and Dudley as they crawled towards the ice lollies.

Harry was sat down to eat his ice lolly with Ron, Dudley, Fred and George.

"Ba," Ron said, happily holding up his lolly, a wide grin on his face and green juice running down his face. Harry responded by lifting his own lolly and making a wide toothy grin, his chin was now covered in orange lolly juice.

Once the kids were done eating, the older kids all took off for the jungle gym, while the small kids were left to play in the grass with a bunch of balls and other small toys. Harry found himself more fascinated with running his hands through the grass than he was the balls and before he knew it, he had ripped off his shoes and was running his bare feet through the grass and giggling at how much it tickled. Dudley and Ron both followed Harry's lead and soon, all three toddlers were giggling their heads off while running their bare feet in the grass.

"Okay, Harry; it's time to go home. Say bye to your friends," Sirius said, picking up Harry with one arm and his shoes with another. Harry waved to his friends and before he knew it, they were in the living room at home and he was having a difficult time keeping his eyes open. He let out a yawn and began dozing off, even the sudden warmth and wetness in his pants didn't stop him from falling into a deep slumber; no, he was much too tired to care about that.

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"He had a ball, Sev! He rubbed his feet in the grass and laughed the whole time," Sirius said after laying Harry in his crib for a much-needed nap and had gone to find his husband who was in the basement working on a tricky potion.

Severus had stopped working on his potion and was making his way upstairs to start on lunch while Sirius made the table and set up Harry's high chair. Sirius began telling Severus about everything that happened at the park and how much he had enjoyed watching Harry with the other babies. He wondered if they'd get along well once they got old enough to make sense of each other because Severus enjoyed the playdates; they were a great chance for them to get out of the house and it was always nice to see Harry playing with the other kids.

These playdates were the only sure times Severus got to work on his potions and when it was Severus' turn to take Harry, Sirius worked on his writing; he wrote books about how different branches of magic connected and could be used for anything.

Sure they could work while Harry was there, it was just easier to work knowing they didn't have to split their attention.

They frequently did what they could when they knew the other was busy but sometimes, Harry would be a little noisier than usual or he was doing something new. And sometimes, Harry would be in a mood and wanted both men insight, making it hard for either of them to get work done.

Of course, this was all part of parenthood and they wouldn't give it up for anything.

"Did Molly say when is a good time to meet again? I'll be taking Harry the next time and I know a great place to meet up; it's a magic playground that alters itself based on the child's size and ability. I think Harry will love it!" Severus said as he magically prepared grilled cheese sandwiches.

"I heard about that one; Cissy takes Draco there sometimes and she likes it. I can ask her about it for you," Sirius said, pulling his husband closer and for a few minutes, they just stared lovingly into each other's eyes and enjoyed the brief peace while their son slept upstairs.

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When Harry woke up from his nap, the first thing he noticed was how wet he was and he could feel himself getting even wetter; it would be nice if he could know when this was about to happen but he still wasn't feeling anything until it was actually happening and by then, it was too late to do anything except wait for it to finish. But considering his real-life problems; this was nothing in the grand scheme of things. This was ultimately something that bugged him.

Harry looked around the room, wanting to get out of his crib; he wasn't sure what he wanted to do when he got out but anything was better than being stuck in here. He was wet, hungry and now he was starting to get worried about why he couldn't hear anything happening around him.

Harry quickly found his patience gone and tears began pouring down his face and whimpers began to escape. Despite logic telling him everything was okay, he couldn't help the nagging feeling that Severus and Sirius had forgotten him like the Dursleys used to do all the time. Before he could stop himself, he found himself crying louder, shakier sobs. He didn't know how long he'd been awake but it felt like it had been forever and it was too quiet.

"I see you're awake and ready for lunch," Severus said stepping into the room, immediately he picked Harry up and carried him over to the changing table and once Harry's nappy was changed, he took the child downstairs for lunch while he wiped away the tears. Harry found himself happy and relieved that they hadn't forgotten him and now felt dumb for thinking that they had. It's not like either man was dumb enough to forget a living, breathing child but the same could be said about the Dursleys and they still managed to forget him whenever they could.

Harry ate quietly, and quickly because he was quite hungry from being outside all morning. When Harry was done eating, he was once again placed in the living room. This time, he didn't waste time trying to stand on two feet, instead, he picked up a book and opened it and found that he was holding a photo album and not a book. After a few seconds staring at the pictures, he found himself restless and suddenly curious about a stuffed rabbit on the floor. He picked it up and was intrigued by how soft the creature was. Though he wasn't sure why; he ran the toy over his mouth and couldn't believe how the sensation tickled his lips. It was so soft and cool against his lips.

It wasn't until the fireplace roared to life that he realised he was softly nibbling the toy with the few teeth he had. It was such an odd sensation that he couldn't help but want to chew more. It was odd in a pleasant kind of way. And it soothed the near-constant dull ache in his gums.

Harry looked over to the fireplace just in time to Albus Dumbledore stepped into the living room, wearing a smile on his face and a mad twinkle in his eyes.

Some things never change.