A/N: It is much delayed but I've finally finished! Yay! The much-awaited final installment has arrived! I sincerely apologize for keeping you waiting. You've all ben fantastic. Wonderfully encouraging. Thank you so much for that. This is just mainly a rap-up chapter, but I hope you enjoy it!

Late-summer dawn light was very different from mid-winter, Harry thought. He was once more staring dazedly at the window, a foggy swirl of exhaustion, potions, and a strange icy pain in his side swirling in his brain. Soft light stained red by the curtains swayed around the room. Through a gap in the fabric he could see the breathtaking colors of sunrise just as they had appeared yesterday as he crouched on a hill – before his son had come into the world. Just as he had observed them all those months ago before his son was even thought of. He tried to remember what that morning in January had felt like, but at the moment Albus's existence was too powerful a thing to forget.

Ginny's even breathing filled his head instead. He thought she was asleep, but when he raised his head enough to see her face, her eyes met his.

"Morning," she mumbled in a raspy voice.

"Morning," he mumbled back, carefully winding an arm over her.

"It hurts," she told him, burying her face in the crook of his neck.

"Should I get someone?" he asked, alarm starting to rouse him properly.

She shook her head against his shoulder. "No. It just hurts. Said it would."

The alarm faded. He squeezed her shoulder gently and let his eyelids drift closed again. Sleep was already swirling around him once more, promising a blissful retreat when she spoke again.

"He okay?"

"S'pose so. We'd hear if it wasn't. We'd feel it."

Ginny pulled the blanket tighter around her, wriggled closer to him. "Yeah, we would."

"Ginny?" his thoughts were moving faster now, shaking off the stupor.

"Hm?"

"There's something I've been thinking about."

"I should have a witty comeback, but childbirth took it out of me," she said into his shoulder. "What is it?"

"He's got to have a middle name," Harry said slowly.

"I guess he does," Ginny agreed. "I thought Arthur might be nice. Or maybe Hirem."

"Hirem?"

Ginny yawned. "It was my great uncle's name. Dad liked him a lot."

"Er, yeah. Those would be good, it's just… I've got to ask you for something. I don't know if you can understand, but it's really important to me, okay?"

"Alright, hit me with it."

"I want his middle name… to be Severus."

Ginny's head shot up so fast, it collided with his jaw with an audible clack.

"How much painkiller did my mother give you?" she asked, struggling to sit up.

"Not enough," Harry groaned, rubbing his jaw. He pushed himself up, too, and the room heaved like the deck of a ship. On second thought, maybe he had more than enough potions swimming through his bloodstream. "You said to hit you with it."

"Not that hard!" Ginny protested. "Is there some long lost Severus Potter I don't know about? That must be it because I can't imagine why you would want to name your kid after the creepy git you spent most of your adolescence hating."

"Look who's back to coherence," he teased.

She gave him a shut up look which only made him laugh and in turn made his side throb where the curse had sliced into him yesterday.

"I know it's, er, unexpected," he placated. "But you know I stopped hating him a long time ago. He saved all our lives."

"No, you saved all our lives," Ginny corrected. "Snape just helped convince you to sacrifice yourself."

"That's not – look, the point is he was on our side. And he loved my mother," Harry added, looking earnestly into Ginny's eyes.

"Which are great reasons to get over him being a bullying arse the whole time we were in school, but don't you think naming our son after the man is a bit overkill?"

"He has her eyes," Harry said quietly.

"Our son has your eyes," Ginny corrected, but Harry shook his head.

"They're her eyes. They'll always be her eyes. And I don't want to do this for me. I want to do it for her. He was my mother's best friend… once upon a time."

Ginny didn't seem to have anything to say to that. Harry's intense look never left her face.

"It's asking a lot," he conceded. "I know, but… please? It's important."

She sighed and looked down. "Albus Severus Potter. You really want to saddle a kid with that –"

But she broke off abruptly, her fingers going to trace the scarlet splotch seeping through the bandages wound around Harry's stomach.

He grimaced. "Better get those changed."

"You never did tell me why you were covered in blood," she reminded him, looking up accusingly.

"Oh, that," he tried to smile like it was a funny story, but it was more of a wince. "Well, see, we sort of walked into an ambush…"

By the time he finished the story, Ginny was gaping at him.

"So the whole time I was begging someone – anyone – to get you into this room, you were getting beat up by a pack of rogue werewolves?"

"Er, yeah. I suppose you could put it that way."

Ginny slumped back against the headboard with an exasperated sigh that turned into a muffled yelp of pain.

"Are you sure I shouldn't go get someone?" Harry asked anxiously.

"You're the one bleeding, you prat," Ginny muttered.

"We're not in very good shape, are we?"

"The boys are going to tear us to pieces," Ginny agreed, closing her eyes.

They sat listening to the quiet house long enough for sleep to again start pulling at Harry's consciousness, making the room fade in and out.

"That name," Harry mumbled. "It's the only thing I can do for my mother. A kind of way to make amends, even though it's too late. You know?"

Ginny sighed deeply. "If you promise not to come home covered in blood again, you can have your name."

He turned his head to kiss her forehead. "It's a deal."

"But when he hates us for giving him the most bullyable name there is, I'm not sharing the blame."

"Fair enough," Harry chuckled, already drifting off.

XxX

When Harry stumbled downstairs later that day, still groggy and desperate for whatever smelled so delicious, it was to find his kitchen far fuller than he'd expected. Mrs. Weasley had taken up her post at the stove, turning over fat sausages in a frying pan. Madam Denin was rummaging through a cupboard in the corner. Hermione sat on the floor with James, helping him finger paint a large piece of poster paper, Rose cooing from her carrycot beside them. And murmuring around the table were Mr. Weasley, Ron, George, and Percy.

He stopped short in the doorway, blinking at them all.

"Hey, mate," Ron said, spotting him first and standing up to clap him on the shoulder.

"Da!" James chirped from the floor, raising hands stained purple, blue, and red in Harry's direction, opening and closing his fingers like blossoming flowers.

"Harry, dear, I was just coming up to check on you," Mrs. Weasley said warmly, already sliding sausages onto a plate for him. "It must be ages since you've eaten…."

"How's Ginny?" Percy asked anxiously.

"And the baby?" George added.

"Er, alright, I think," Harry said distractedly. He looked toward Madam Denin for confirmation and she nodded reassuringly.

"They're both doing –" but the rest of her report was cut off by a sudden, shrieking whistle.

James and Rose both began wailing. Madam Denin bolted for the stairs, knocking Harry back into the wall. He made to follow her, but Mrs. Weasley caught his elbow.

"It's alright, dear," she said soothingly. "The baby's got apnea and –"

"Yeah, he stops breathing," Harry said wide-eyed. "She told me last night – that sound means he's not breathing?"

The piercing whistle faded as suddenly as it had started up. Mrs. Weasley's face relaxed into a smile. "See? He's alright."

She guided Harry into an empty chair, but he kept staring over his shoulder toward the top of the stairs and his son's nursery. And he wasn't the only one.

"He stops breathing?" George whispered, pale under his freckles.

"Just for a couple seconds," his mother soothed. "Until someone picks him up, reminds him. It'll stop when he gets a little bigger."

Slowly, they all settled back around the table. Suddenly Harry didn't feel much like eating. There were sounds from upstairs: Albus's thin, shuddering cries, doors, footsteps. Harry heard Ginny's voice. Mrs. Weasley set down the frying pan and hurried up the stairs.

"Madam Denin says everything is perfectly normal for the circumstances," Mr. Weasley murmured, but Ginny's brothers were not much soothed.

Harry knew that feeling of helplessness, had lived with it for months now. He had hoped it would go away now that Albus was here, but instead had come the realization that no matter what they did to help him, Albus would have to make it on his own.

A few minutes later, Mrs. Weasley reappeared, steering Ginny by the shoulders.

"Ginny!" George jumped up and enfolded his sister in a tight hug.

"Careful, George," his mother admonished.

"It's fine, Mum," Ginny assured her, flatly refusing to be delicate.

"How is he?" Harry asked worriedly as Ginny sat down beside him.

She took his hand under the table. "He's doing well."

There was a pause around the table as Ginny's brothers looked a strange mixture of awkward and anxious. But at last George clapped his hands together.

"Well, that's good news, then, in'it? Little bugger's got you two for parents. He's not giving up without a fight. What've you decided to call him, anyway?"

"Albus," Ginny said, smiling slightly.

George's eyebrows nearly disappeared into his hair, and Percy choked on a piece of toast.

"That's – well –" Ron stammered. He cast Harry a half-incredulous, half-amused look.

"I think it suits him," Mrs. Weasley said, giving her sons stern looks. "He's a tiny thing, but he looks wise already."

"Maybe so, but wasn't there anything a bit more this century?" George asked, ignoring the elbow Percy dug into his ribs. "Poor kid'll get the mickey taken out of him just from roll call."

"He could have a nickname," Hermione suggested, carrying James over to the sink to wash his hands.

"Little Bussy's cute," George said, trying to keep a straight face.

Ginny kicked his shin under the table.

"Or maybe he could go by his middle name," Hermione went on, frowning at George. "What is it anyway?"

Everyone looked towards the new parents curiously. Ginny sat back, sipping her tea. She gave her husband an it's-all-yourssort of look, trying not to smirk.

Harry cleared his throat. "Well – and keep in mind I have my reasons, okay – we decided on… Severus."

Harry could practically hear all six jaws hit the floor. Even now, thinking back to the conversation he and Ginny had had in the warm cocoon of their bedroom, his arguments seemed hazier than they had. But even with a clearer head, he didn't want to change his mind. It felt like something he had to do. And no other name seemed to fit his son now.

"I should report you for child abuse," Ron was saying, gaping at his sister and best friend across the table.

"I think we ought to take them into St. Mungo's," George said seriously. "You must have given them the wrong potions, Mum. Their brains have melted out of their ears."

Percy fidgeted. "Really. It seems – er – perhaps you should reconsider? I mean he killed – it doesn't seem proper."

"I'm really not sure, Harry," Hermione said gently.

But Harry just shook his head resolutely. "I know it seems strange, but…"

Ginny sighed impatiently. "We named our son for Harry's mother's best friend and an honored hero. So you'd all better get used to it because it's not changing. And it certainly doesn't change who he is."

She stared down each of her brothers in turn, daring them to make any more comments. Harry squeezed her hand in gratitude as Mr. and Mrs. Weasley exchanged slightly shocked glances.

"Of course, dear," Mrs. Weasley said at last, smiling. "No matter what his name, I'm sure we'll all adore him. And if your brothers tease him, they can eat every Sunday dinner in the scullery," she added, eyeing her sons warningly.

XxX

"Are you sure that's a real baby?" Ron murmured.

Hermione pinched his arm hard. "He's precious."

"He's tiny," Ginny said, very carefully scooping Albus out of his basinet and turning so that Ron and Hermione could see him. Hermione waved her fingers, but they kept their distance. Madam Denin had warned them about Albus's weak immune system. It would be a while before the rest of the family would get a chance to see him.

"What was the rush, little man?" Ron asked the baby. "Couldn't wait to get out and meet your future favorite uncle?"

"He probably didn't want Rose going off to Hogwarts all by herself," Hermione smiled.

"Got in right under the deadline, didn't you?" Ron grinned. "She'll need looking after if she's anything like her mother."

"Her father, you mean," Hermione countered.

A loud cry rose from downstairs.

"I think she heard us," Ron said, glancing over his shoulder.

"I suppose that's our cue to leave," Hermione sighed.

She stepped forward to hug Harry, blew a kiss to Ginny and the baby, and pulled Ron out of the nursery, closing the door behind them.

Harry helped Ginny sit down in the rocking chair and knelt beside her, both watching Albus's every twitch.

"He's here," Ginny said softly. "It's all over and he's here."

Harry shook his head, resting his chin on the arm of the rocking chair and watching his son's bright green eyes drift. "No, it's just beginning."

A/N: And there you have it. While Harry and Ginny may have officially named Albus while exhausted, suffering blood loss, and a little groggy from medication (I think one of the only ways they would actually go through with giving him that name), it wasn't some 'drug-induced mistake' either. Harry's reasons were mostly sound, and I don't actually think it was that far-fetched for him to do this. Harry and Snape will, in my opinion, always dislike each other (and that's probably a mild statement), but they both loved Lily. Well, those are my reasons. Make of them what you will. A part of me also believes that Albus did in fact insist on being born before September first so that he could go to school with Rose. It's funny how one grade level makes a big difference to kids, but it would have been different if Rose was a year ahead of Albus like she was supposed to be if Al had come on time.

Okay, I really am done talking now. Again, thank you all for your wonderful reviews and I hope to keep hearing from you! I've really enjoyed writing this story and I hope that you all have enjoyed reading it.