The Potion Master's Apprentice

Chapter 20

"Vivian, Mrs. Weasley. Her name is Vivian, we've talked about this." Hermione's stern voice rang out from the kitchen where she was gathering a tea tray.

"Of course, of course. How is she?" Molly brushed off Hermione's comment and turned back to Harry.

"Vivian's doing well. She's eating properly and sleeps regularly. She's very bright."

"Yes, she's been quite the angel considering the horror stories I've heard you tell about the red-haired monsters you call children." Severus sat down next to Harry before continuing. "I'm afraid she's asleep right now, but if you'd like to stay you can meet her when she wakes."

"Oh could I just peek in and see her now? I'd love to see the baby, they're so sweet when they're sleeping."

"Molly," Harry started. A warning growl was rumbling in Severus's chest and would soon become a problem if he didn't diffuse the situation right now. "I don't believe that would be a good idea. Severus is very protective over her, more so than he is over me. You'll just have to wait until she wakes up. I'm sorry."

"Not to worry, she is your baby after all. I just thought he wasn't so protective since Hermione's gotten to see her several times since she's been born." Harry detected some resentment towards Hermione in her tone and filed that away for later.

"Well yes, the two of us trust Hermione more than we trust most people. She's been an immense help to us the last few months." Molly backed off and was overpowered by her children asking them all sorts of questions all at once. "All right, relax. I can only answer one question at a time!"

"What colour are her eyes?"

"Does she have any hair?"

"Who gets up in the middle of the night for her?"

"Aren't you two tired?"

"With Severus being a vampire, is she like...part vampire or something?" Everyone halted at Ron's question. Harry and Severus looked at each other, neither one completely sure about that answer.

"Truth be told Ron, we didn't think to ask when the Elders were here. She's eating the way she should and hasn't indicated that she's lacking anything in her diet. But I'm sure now that she's here the Elders might want to come see her...?" Harry looked over at Severus and was relieved when Severus informed him he had already written to them when she was born and had scheduled them to visit in two weeks' time anyway.

With the slew of questions out of the way, Harry and Severus barely managing to keep up with the rapid fire of the Weasley kin, Hermione brought out tea for everyone. Severus nudged Harry and gestured towards the stairs and Harry went to take care of Vivian.

She had just started to babble to herself when Harry opened her door and leant down to pick her up. Easing the two of them into his rocker to feed her felt like second nature to him now. When she finished, Harry burped her and got her in a fresh nappy before putting her into a forest green onesie and carrying her downstairs.

The onslaught of 'ohs' and 'awws' was to be expected but it threw Harry off that everyone was just as enamoured with his little girl as he and Severus were.

Vivian thrived off of the attention. She cooed and grabbed at as many fingers as she could. Ron tentatively and very quietly asked if he could hold her. Harry beamed at his best friend and carefully passed her over and helped Ron figure out how to support her properly. Once Molly saw that someone other than Harry was holding her, she plowed her way through her children to try and instruct Ron on how to hold her better.

Her nitpicking, if Harry was honest, was infuriating. Ron was looking more and more uncomfortable holding Vivian as Molly's micromanaging grew worse. Charlie was the first to regain his senses.

"Mum, relax. Ron's doing great. There's no need to pick apart every tiny thing. You're a great mum and all that worked for us but if Harry's okay with how Ron's holding her then you should be okay with it too." Bill was quick to agree and the twins looked ready to chime in their two knuts before Molly burst into tears.

"Oh I wish you all were babies again! It's so lonely at the Burrow without you all there!" Arthur patted her on the shoulder and whispered something to her. She nodded and wiped her face. "I'm so sorry, I've just been so lonely at that big quiet house now that Ron's moved out and Ginny's getting ready to move on to bigger and better things."

"Why don't you consider volunteering or getting a part time job helping an orphanage or a daycare? I'm sure there's plenty of ministry employees that need babysitting services while they're working, surely they've got some sort of program you can help with," Harry was grasping at straws, but he wanted to resolve the tension before anything else could go wrong. Arthur gave him a shrewd look.

"You know Harry, that might just be the best idea related to the ministry that I've heard in a very long time. I'm sure there's a way we can get a program like that set up and I'm sure they'd love to have Molly there to watch over kids while their parents work. Merlin knows, our family is rather well known for how many kids we've had." With the Molly crisis averted, Ron had started playing with Vivian. It seemed to be a delightful game of 'bop the baby on the nose'. A shriek of joy quickly followed Vivian's capture of his finger before he could pull it away from her face.

"Merlin, she's a strong grip. Is it too early to bet on which quidditch position she'll be?" They all laughed and debated the things they thought she might like later in life. They had hardly noticed when she fell asleep in Ron's arms.

A few hours later saw the guests out of the floo and Harry turned to Ron.

"You sure you want to stay until she wakes up? I know your mum mentioned making bacon sandwiches."

"Yeah, I wouldn't want to wake her. Blimey though, how are you two not buff from holding her all the time? I feel like my arm might fall off!" Harry and Severus both shrugged. They were used to it and hardly even noticed the strain from long bouts of holding their daughter.

"It's nearing five, she should be waking up soon. In a short time you'll have all the use of your appendage you could ever want."

"I've been thinking."

"A dangerous activity for one of your mental capacity." Harry laughed and smacked Severus's arm halfheartedly under the blankets.

"I think...I think I know what I want to do now. With my life, that is." Severus pulled Harry closer so he had to rest his head on the vampire's chest.

"And what would that be?"

"I want to live out my life until I'm your age...well the age you look anyways. And then I think I'd like to spend the rest of forever with you." Severus drew back, sheer disbelief colouring his expression.

"How could you possibly want this? Vampirism, although not detrimental, is a huge burden. You have to keep yourself in firm check for a very long time before you can be around humans without having to constantly watch over yourself. And the judgement-"

"Will disappear as time goes on and people realize that vampires are doing their best to eliminate their risk to be among society. It's just something I have hopes for, but I'm not going to box myself into the decision. I'm allowed to change my mind if I want to. I've still got quite some time before I look the same age as you." He felt Severus relax and snuggled closer. "I used that spell you taught me earlier if I don't wake up for Vivian tonight. I'm pooped." With that, Harry fell into the peaceful bliss of dreams.