"I am sick and tired of cleaning up your mess, Potter – changing your nappy is the last straw."

Harry gurned and fidgeted on the kitchen counter. Snape snarled, this really was above his remit. Tonks squeezed his arm, "I'll do it you grumpy old git. Go make me a cup of tea, that's a fair trade, yeah?"

Snape fled for the kettle before Tonks could change her mind. It was Christmas morning, and all the Weasley's had descended on Grimmauld Place to spend Christmas with Harry. Snape had hoped to squeeze in Harry's daily check-up before making his excuses and leaving, intending to spend the remainder of the day with Tonks. But she had insisted that they at least stay for breakfast. Snape had grudgingly agreed, but the morning had largely been taken up with opening the large mountain of presents under the Christmas tree.

Harry had received a sizeable stack of baby toys and clothes, including a copy of The Tales of Beedle the Bard from Hermione, a stuffed owl from Ron, a pair of odd socks from Dobby, and a baby-sized jumper with a large 'H' stitched on the front from Mrs. Weasley. To no-one's surprise, his favourite gift by far was the toy broomstick Sirius and Remus had bought for him, and he had spent the morning zooming around the living room laughing and squealing happily. Tonks had bought Harry an entire wardrobe's worth of baby clothes. When Snape had drawn her an incredulous look at the size of her gift she had smiled sheepishly and admitted that she 'may have gone a bit overboard'.

When Snape and Tonks returned to the cramped living room with breakfast and baby in tow, Fred cleared his throat and rose to his feet, "We have a gift for Harry, too."

George pulled a glass vial from his pocket and passed it to Sirius.

"What is it?" he asked curiously.

"It's the antidote for the anti-aging potion," beamed Fred.

"Been working on it night and day since we got back to Hogwarts," said George.

"Tested it on plants first," explained Fred.

"Then small animals," George interjected.

"Then finally on each other," Fred glanced at his brother and smirked.

"Finally managed to perfect it on the last day of term," declared George puffing his chest out proudly.

"I think this alone should guarantee us an Outstanding in our N.E.W.T.S., eh Professor?" asked Fred winking at Snape. The Potions Master gawked at them, his face flushing red with fury, but before he could retort Mrs. Weasley had slapped both of the twins on the back of their heads.

"Ow! What was that for?" gasped George.

"You mean to say that you've had the antidote in your pocket for over a week and you're only telling us now?" she cried indignantly. "Why didn't you say something sooner?"

George shrugged, "We thought it would make for a nice Christmas present for Harry."

"And we thought announcing it on Christmas day added an extra dramatic flair to proceedings," smirked Fred. Mrs. Weasley drew him a sharp look and he immediately dropped his smile.

"Well, what are we waiting for?" cried Sirius scooping Harry out of Tonks' arms. "Let's change him back!"

George hurried forwards and uncorked the vial, "Three drops should do it."

George placed three droplets of the potion into Harry's mouth and he screwed his face up at the unpleasant taste.

They waited.

For a few seconds, nothing happened. Then…

"Merlin!" cried Mrs. Weasley.

Harry cried out, his high pitched voice began to deepen as his body grew, the fabric of the baby grow stretched then shredded as his limbs became elongated. He quickly became too big for Sirius to hold so he carefully lay him on the floor, watching with morbid fascination as his godson grew and grew. Harry's face, screwed up in pain began to stretch and lose its puppy fat and a full set of teeth sprouted in his mouth. And just as quickly as it had started, Harry stopped growing. He lay on the floor in the foetal position, naked and shaking furiously.

"Yeah, we probably should have removed his baby clothes before giving him the potion," noted Fred.

"The fuck happened?" gasped Harry. Sirius rushed over and covered him in robes, raising him to a seated position. Harry looked incredibly disoriented, "M-my glasses."

Remus pulled them out of his breast pocket and handed them to Harry. He took them with shaking hands, fumbling to put them on his face.

Snape knelt down in front of Harry and peered into his eyes, "Potter, do you know who I am?"

Harry looked at Snape and instinctively recoiled. Snape smirked, "Back to normal at last."

"Do you have any memories of the event?" asked Snape flatly, tracing his wand up and down Harry's body. Harry sat on the edge of his bed with his head bowed, a cup of hot chocolate clasped in his hands. Snape had insisted on running more tests on Harry just to be sure he wasn't suffering any long term damage from his transformation.

"I remember everything," he replied quietly. "It feels like I was in a dream; nothing about it feels real, but I know that it was. I remember Mrs. Weasley picking me up off of the floor after I had begun to shrink. I remember everyone arguing about what to do with me. It was strange; I didn't recognise anyone except Sirius and Remus. I wasn't sure who they were exactly, but I felt safe with them."

Harry looked dazedly out of the window as he spoke, "I remember you too, sir. Coming here every day to help me, even though you didn't want to."

"I was instructed by the Headmaster to assist, and I did so," he explained shortly.

"You fed me my breakfast," said Harry dreamily. "And you gave me medicine when my mouth hurt…"

Snape paused, "You remember that?"

Harry nodded. Snape felt his stomach twist unpleasantly. If he remembered that, then he probably remembered that he and Tonks almost—

A light knock at the door interrupted his train of thought and Tonks popped her head through the door, "Wotcher, Harry. How you feeling now?"

"Better thanks," he gave her a weak smile. She stepped into the room with a plateful of sandwiches.

"Got some food for you. You must be starving."

"Yeah, I am," he replied, eagerly taking the plate and stuffing a sandwich into his mouth. Tonks glanced at Snape, "Can I borrow you for a minute?"

"I'm busy," he replied shortly.

"Give Harry a few minutes to get his breakfast for Merlin's sake," she chided.

"Don't mind me," mumbled Harry through a mouthful of sandwich. Snape scowled at the sight of Harry stuffing his face before turning to Tonks and beckoning her outside. The moment Snape had closed the door Harry discarded the plate onto the bed and snuck up to the door, listening carefully.

"When are you going to tell them?" asked Tonks.

"Tell them what? It is none of their business," replied Snape.

"They're our friends, Sev—"

"Your friends," he corrected her.

"Our friends," she stressed. "I want them to know."

"We've already discussed this," he argued.

"Why don't you want people to know?" she asked. "Are you ashamed of me?"

"Of course not," he replied softly. "You know how I feel about you."

"Then what's the problem?" she implored.

"This isn't the place to discuss this," Snape deflected.

"I don't like sneaking around," she murmured.

"It won't be forever…" he promised.

"Then when?" she asked sharply. Snape didn't answer. Tonks sighed.

"Dora," Snape pleaded, but Harry heard her footsteps disappearing back down the stairs. A moment later the door flew open and Harry stumbled forward into Snape's chest. He quickly straightened himself and looked up into the Potion Master's furious face.

"How much did you hear?" he hissed.

"All of it," Harry admitted. Snape snarled and pushed Harry back into the bedroom, kicking the door shut behind him. He towered over him menacingly.

"When are you going to learn Potter, not to poke your nose into other people's business? You're just like your fath—"

"Just like my father, I know," interrupted Harry looking unperturbed. "And to be honest, if I haven't learned by now I probably never will."

"That is something Mr. Potter, we can both agree on," he replied silkily. "Not that being a nosy, unlearned swine is anything to brag about."

Harry resisted the temptation to roll his eyes. Snape straightened his cuffs, avoiding Harry's gaze, "You would do well to forget what you overheard. If I find out you've spread malicious rumours about myself and Ms. Tonks—"

"I won't say anything," Harry promised. "Not that it's any of my business anyway. I just think—" Snape groaned and pinched the bridge of his. Harry continued, "That if a relationship has to be a secret, then you shouldn't be in it."

"My personal life is not open for discussion, Potter!" he snapped and drew his wand. Harry eyed it wearily and kept his mouth shut. Still reeling, Snape cleared his throat and continued his tests as though nothing had happened.

Christmas dinner was absolute bedlam. Once word of Harry's recovery had spread, all the Order members - Dumbledore included - descended on Grimmauld Place to join in the festivities. The kitchen table was laden with so much food that Harry was certain that the legs would buckle and break under the weight of it all.

Harry sat quietly and observed proceedings with a contentedness that only a full house and a full belly could provide; Sirius had his arm around Remus' neck and was barking with laughter at something Mundungus had said. Ginny, Fred and George sat in one corner with Hagrid complaining about the newly appointed DADA teacher – some woman called Umbridge – and from what Harry overheard he wasn't particularly looking forward to meeting her. Enchanted mistletoe flew overhead and stilled over Mr. and Mrs. Weasley, and he gave her a wet kiss on the lips causing her to blush as red as her hair. Then Harry noticed Ron whispering in Hermione's ear and her cheeks turning red as he slipped his hand into hers. Clearly a lot had happened in his absence.

Everyone seemed to be caught up in the festive spirit. Everyone except Snape of course, who sat scowling through most of the meal, and Tonks who this morning had seemed fit to burst with Christmas cheer now seemed rather deflated.

Dumbledore rose to his feet and everyone immediately fell silent. He smiled at them all and announced, "I would like to say a few words. And here they are: Bumfuzzle! Cattywampus! Wabbit! Nincompoop!"

Everyone laughed and Dumbledore continued, "In all seriousness, I would like to congratulate Harry on his miraculous recovery. And a special thank you to Messers Fred and George Weasley for both causing and solving the problem; a remarkable piece of magic if I may say so myself."

The twins rose to their feet and bowed to everyone. Ginny and Mundungus applauded and Mrs. Weasley pulled George back down onto his seat, scowling at her sons. Dumbledore continued on a more serious note, "These are unfortunately, dark times. We have a long and hard fight ahead of us all, but what happened to Harry has demonstrated that with love, mutual cooperation and hope, anything can be achieved. However difficult times ahead may be, we must still revel in joy when the opportunity arises."

Sirius squeezed Remus' hand tightly. Snape glanced at Tonks for a moment then lowered his gaze, his expression remaining impassive. Dumbledore's twinkling eyes flashed at Harry and he raised his goblet in toast, "And to the man of the hour; Harry, I am relieved to see you fully recovered, ready and eager to return to Hogwarts. I believe you have quite a lot of homework to be catching up with."

Everybody laughed. Dumbledore inclined his head, "To Harry."

"To Harry," everyone chorused.

"Speech, Harry!" cried Fred and a few others cheered and chorused "Speech!"

Harry's cheeks burned, he wasn't accustomed to deliberately drawing attention to himself, and he detested public speaking. But he sighed in resignation and got to his feet, clutching his butterbeer close to his chest.

"What's there to say?" he shrugged. "Weird things happen to me all the time, so I really should have expected something like this to happen."

Everyone chuckled in agreement. Harry cleared his throat and continued, "I wanted to thank you all for taking care of me – Sirius, Remus, Tonks, Mrs. Weasley, everyone who helped out the last few months. And Professor Snape."

Snape stilled when Harry said his name. He hadn't been expecting the acknowledgement. Harry continued, "Even though the last four months have been strange, they actually weren't that bad. If anything I should thank Fred and George for giving me a unique opportunity – a second chance at a childhood I never had. For the first time in my life I can say I actually have happy memories from my childhood. And you gave those to me. Thank you."

He inclined his head towards the twins who for once in their lives looked bashful. Harry raised his goblet, "To second chances."

"To second chances," everyone chorused and downed their drinks. Once the main courses were finished Tonks, Mrs. Weasley and Sirius began serving desserts. When Tonks wandered into the pantry Snape took his opportunity and followed her, relieved that everyone was too distracted to pay them any attention.

"Dora—" he began, but she cut him off.

"There's nothing to talk about Sev," she replied shortly, avoiding his gaze. "We've been dancing around this for months. I've made my feelings pretty clear. If you're not ready to commit, then there's really nothing else to discuss, is there?"

She pushed passed him and stepped back out into the kitchen. Snape grabbed her by the arm, panic rising in him, "You're right Dora, I've been an idiot. Please, let me make it up to you—"

"Oh, mistletoe!" cried Ginny giving Tonks a mischievous grin. "That means you and Professor Snape have to kiss!"

Everyone turned in their direction and whooped. Snape and Tonks stood frozen by the pantry door, the mistletoe hovering over their heads.

"Come on," shouted Fred. "Kiss her already!"

Snape's pulse raced. This was his chance. Gathering all of his courage he pulled Tonks close, cupping her soft cheek in his hand. She looked up at him with a mixture of shock and longing, frozen to the spot as he leaned in and pressed their lips together. Everyone in the kitchen whooped and cheered, but Snape took no notice of them. Everything and everyone else seemed to fall away then, there was only him and Tonks, her body trembling under his fingertips with nervous excitement. It felt like it was their first kiss all over again, a wave of fear and elation rushing through him. Tonks sighed into the kiss and wrapped her arms around his waist, pulling him closer. The laughter and cheering died away as the kiss continued and deepened, both of them forgetting that they were in full view to a roomful of gawking onlookers. When their lips finally part, Snape opens his eyes and his heart leaped at the contented expression on Tonks' face.

"SNIVELLUS!" roared Sirius crushing a chocolate eclair in his fist in fury. The kitchen erupted again in a mixture of shouts, jeers and cheers. Sirius and Snape were squaring up to one another throwing insults while Tonks stood between them, pushing them apart. Ron looked absolutely horrified at what he had just witnessed. Mrs. Weasley wiped a tear from her eye. Fred and George were rolling about with laughter while Remus shook his head wearily, not even bothering to intervene.

Harry watched proceedings in silent amusement. Usually he was the troublemaker, so it was a nice change of pace that this particular argument had absolutely nothing to do with him. He pulled a treacle tart pudding towards him and tucked in, relieved that for once in his life he was not the centre of attention.

THE END