What's a Mom to do?

A/N- I bet you all thought I had forgotten about this…or worse, abandoned it. I promise you though, none of my stories are forgotten or abandoned. I had an entire chapter for both Slytherin Saviors and Mind Meld ready to go but couldn’t get into half the sites I post on. Then when I could, my hard drive on my computer fried. I lost both of them. I’m work 50+ hours a week and makes it difficult to write, so it took a while to start recovering. Anyhow, here is the next chapter of this story. Now on to work on re-writing the other two.

Remus looked around the room with a feeling of helplessness. The children were all getting more upset, even Harry and Severus, though they hid it more. Somewhere along the line, it had dawned on Ron and the twins that they were the same age, something that should not have been. Now they were fighting over who was the eldest and how that had happened. Draco and Hermione were still growing steadily more upset, Hermione’s tears approaching wails.

He looked over at the other two adults. In hushed tones, it was decided that Bill would take his brothers and attempt to explain the situation to them. Being born to a magical family, they would be more willing to accept the situation. Remus would take Harry and Hermione and both explain what magic was and how they were affected by it. Molly was given the task of explaining to Severus and Draco about both their loss in age, and parents. They discussed how much Severus knew about magic, and concluded that he should know something of it, given his mother was a witch.

Harry stared at the occupants of the room; the upset children were starting to frighten him. He knew something wasn’t right. The adults, including his Moo-Moo, seemed to also be upset about something. The only person that didn’t seem to be upset was the boy sitting next to him. Harry considered him silently. The other boy was watching the room in silence. He looked a lot Harry himself, his dark hair was rather scruffy in appearance. The skinny frame made Harry wonder if he didn’t get to eat like Harry. But Moo-Moo was skinny too, and he was an adult.

Harry looked around some more, the clothes everyone was wearing seemed strange, the sort of stuff that Aunt Petunia would call freakish. But somehow, they seemed familiar. Like Moo-Moo. Harry couldn’t figure out why he knew the man’s name, and why he seemed familiar.

Harry noticed the big red haired man was taking the three red headed children to another room. Harry saw Moo-Moo go to the bushy haired girl and speak quietly to her. The nice woman with the grey hair was coming towards him. She knelt between the two boys.

“Harry, Severus, we are going to explain what is going on now. I need you to stay with Remus, okay Harry? Severus, you are going to come with me and Draco okay sweetie?” Harry looked at the nice woman, then at Moo-Moo and nodded. Severus tipped his head slightly before nodding and sliding off the couch.

He ignored the hand that Molly was holding out to him and instead choose to follow her. She walked over to Draco. The minute she got near him, he started demanding that she take him to his father. Molly sighed slightly, her patience holding on only by the knowledge of what she had to tell these two children. Exhaustion was starting to wear on her and all she wanted to do was gather all her children, biological and adoptive, to her in a large hug and reassure herself that they were okay. But it was obvious that things weren’t okay. Two of them didn’t even remember her and several of them were now five years old.

Finally, tired of listening to herself being subjected to a variety of insults and threats from the high strung, miniature, Malfoy, she grabbed his hand and pulled him from the room, complaining the whole way. Once she reached the kitchen, she sat both children at the table and debated where she would begin.

“Mr. Malfoy!” she finally interrupted his tirade. “If you will please be silent for just a moment, I will explain to you just where your parents are and what is going on. I will not however try and talk over you.”

She watched as the small blond quieted. “Severus,” she turned to the silent brunette perched on the chair. He tentatively turned his head to hers. “What has your mother told you about magic?”

He looked at her for a long moment before saying, “She said that I am going to one day go to a school called Hogwarts where I will learn to be a strong wizard and not make the same mistakes that she made.” His answer was quiet, and Molly took a moment to try and understand everything. Finally she sighed.

“That is correct. You will be a very strong wizard. Both of you,” she included Draco in her comment. “In fact, both of you were very strong wizards.”

She felt the two gazed fix on her with confusion. “Magic can do so much stuff, some of it we don’t know how it is done. All of you children were caught in a powerful magic spell. At this time yesterday, both of you were strong wizards. Adult wizards. You had made some choices, decisions that weren’t necessarily the best but you had tried to correct it.” She paused, uncertain how to explain.

She thought about how she was explaining things, and tried to find smaller words for a five year old to comprehend. How did one try to tell a child that they were spies against the strongest evil wizard of an age, after having first chosen to serve the creature? How did one explain to a young Malfoy that he had defied his parents in the end and led to the death of both elder Malfoys?

She looked at the two children who were staring patiently at her. They had looks of puzzlement on their faces, but seemed to have comprehended what she was saying.

“What sort of decisions?” asked Severus softly.

Molly felt her eyes tear up. “Oh sweetie, it doesn’t matter any more. You tried so hard to fix them. That is what is important. You learned from your mistakes.”

She saw the suspicion in Severus’ eyes. Even at this young an age, he did not take words at their face value, or trust the people speaking them.

“Where are my parents?” asked Draco, slightly fearful.

“Oh honey,” Molly started. “They… they have passed away. They were involved in a large battle against a truly evil wizard. It was the same battle that you two and the rest of the children were involved in.”

She watched as tears filled the young Malfoy’s eyes.

“You lie!” he shouted. Molly hurried over to his side. She gathered him into her arms. The young boy, who until this moment, had been a demanding, arrogant child, much like his teenage self had been, now was reduced to a sobbing, grieving child. She looked over to see a look of slowly dawning comprehension on the other boy’s face.

She rubbed Draco’s shoulders gently, soothing the child. Sniffling, he pulled away from her.

“Where is Uncle Severus?” he asked her, rubbing his sleeve across his nose.

Molly reached into her pocket and pulled out a handkerchief. She dabbed at the grief-stricken child’s eyes then held it for him to blow his nose.

“Sweetie, that is part of what I am trying to explain,” started Molly.

“I’m his Uncle Severus aren’t I” whispered a soft voice from right behind her.

Molly looked up in surprise. She looked at the child who was standing beside them, his eyes shining with his own grief, and understanding far beyond his five years.

“Yes,” she answered simply. She watched as he nodded. His eyes shifted away from hers, and he walked back to his own seat.

“Does that mean I have a sister? Or a brother?” he asked curiously.

“No Severus,” Molly answered. “You were friends with Draco’s father. He named you Draco’s godfather.”

“Oh. So, Father let us come to the magic world?” he seemed to be struggling to understand everything.

“I don’t know. I wish I could answer everything for you, but I really didn’t know you that well.” Suddenly, Molly wished she had gotten to know the elder Snape and not allowed him to push her away like he did everyone else.

Slowly she settled herself on the ground and pulled Draco into her lap. Tears were still falling from his eyes and he didn’t resist her embrace. She cuddled the prickly young man and smiled slightly as he curled into her arms.

“Severus,” she waited until the other child looked at her. “Come over here please, and sit beside me.”

He looked warily at her, the child in her lap and then at the floor before slowly approaching her. He sat in front of her, where he could keep an eye on her, but not close enough so that she could reach him. Sadly, Molly thought the action was very telling.

She continued her comforting of the child in her lap, slightly relieved to find the actions weren’t foreign to him at least. She felt his small chest shuddering with hiccups and teary sniffles.

“How old was I?” asked Severus curiously. He still appeared nervous that he would be reprimanded for speaking out of turn, but his natural child’s curiosity was overcoming his need to remain silent.

“You were 39. Fred and George were 19, and the rest were all 17,” she explained.

“And my parents, they are also…” he didn’t seem able to finish his sentence.

Molly nodded silently. She wished that she could offer this child comfort, but he didn’t appear to either want or need her comfort. Unlike the child that was now asleep in her arms, his small chest heaving occasionally, grieving even in sleep.

“How?” asked Severus after a long pause.

“Your mother was,” she paused, once more trying to find the words to explain.

“It was Father wasn’t it?” he asked with far too much understanding.

Slowly she nodded. “I’m sorry.”

“And Father?” his words were so soft, she had to strain to hear them.

“He was killed by an evil wizard many years later,” she answered, uncertain how his response would be. Her fears were unfounded when he simply nodded.

HPSSHPSSHPSSHPSSHPSSHPSSHPSSHPSSHPSSHPSSHPSSHPSSHPSSHPSSHPSSHPSSHPSS

Remus sat on the couch beside Harry. He waited while Bill left with his brother until it was just him and Harry and Hermione. As the room emptied out, the young girl’s tears slowed. When she finally looked up at him, Remus patted the empty spot on the seat next to him.

Hesitantly, Hermione walked over to the couch and perched herself primly on the edge. When Remus was certain that she was seated comfortable, he shifted himself and pulled the small Harry into his lap. When all three of them were seated comfortably, Remus drew in a deep breath and tried to figure out how to explain everything that he needed to say.

He looked down at the child currently in his lap. Harry was sitting semi-stiffly, as if uncertain how to sit in a lap. He ran his hand gently across the boy’s back and then gently sifted through his hair.

“Harry, you remember me don’t you?” He looked at the brilliant green eyes and smiled slightly. He had forgotten how much they gleamed without the glasses obscuring them. Idly he wondered when it was that Harry needed to get glasses.

“I think so. I don’t know. I just, your name. And your hair wasn’t right,” Harry explained softly.

Remus smiled. “What do you remember about your parents?”

Harry shrugged. “I don’t remember them. Aunt Petunia says that my father was drunk. And that they died in a car accident because he was drunk. That’s how I got my scar.”

Remus drew an angry breath and let it out slowly. He tried to release the anger slowly. It wouldn’t help with the already skittish children.

“Your aunt lied to you Harry. I won’t say that your father never drank, or that he never drank too much on occasion, but in no way was he ever a drunk. But he would never have put you or your mother in danger. Never would he have done anything to cause harm to you. He and your mother loved you very much.” Remus paused, trying to find a way to explain magic and the events leading to where they were now.

“Harry, Hermione,” he waited for the young girl to look up at him. Slowly, Remus shifted Harry until he was sitting next to Hermione and moved to kneel in front of them.

“I need both of you to listen to what I have to say. I know you will have a number of questions, and I will let you ask anything you want, I just want for you to listen to everything first? Can you do that for me?” He smiled slightly as the naturally curious girl nodded in agreement. Somehow, he suspected that if the five year old version of this child was anything like her teen version, she wouldn’t last long before wanting to explode with questions.

“First, I want to explain to both of you, no matter what you have been told, Magic does exist,” he watched a slightly frightened look on Harry’s face. His head shook slightly, as did the small body.

“Uncle Vernon…” he whispered.

“I know Harry, your uncle knows it exists. He doesn’t want you to be a wizard,” Remus wasn’t sure how to overcome the fears of this child. Already it was ingrained in him to not believe in magic.

“Harry, your parents, myself, we are wizards. You are a wizard. Hermione,” he shifted his attention to the little girl. “You are a witch. Both of you have a lot of strength.”

“Can you show me magic?” queried the small girl.

Remus smiled. He pulled out his wand and with a quick flick, he transfigured a button into a flower before handing it to the child.

Her eyes were wide as she reached out to take the flower from him. “Can you do anything else?” she asked with a mix of curiosity and awe.

Harry however had flinched at the show of magic. The change of the button into a flower had caused fear to flash across his face.

“Yes Hermione, when I am done talking to you both, I will show you anything,” he smiled at her.

“Yesterday, both you Harry, and you, Hermione were 17 years old.” He watched as their eyes grew wide. Briefly he wondered if perhaps he should have eased into the explination a bit more.

“You were involved in a… fight. The whole group of you were turned into five year olds.” Remus smiled.

“How come I don’t remember anyone? Is that why those boys were fighting about the fact that they were the same age? Why were we fighting? I’m not allowed to fight,” Hermione’s questions were already flowing from the young child.

Remus fought a chuckle, knowing that her questions were valid, however, she reminded him greatly of the young teen that he had in his classroom several years earlier.

“Hermione, you promised to let me explain,” he reminded gently.

Her eyes grew wide. She covered her mouth with a hand and nodded eagerly.

“We know a lot about magic, but something like this has never happened before. We don’t know how you were turned into children. The only people that were there to see it were all turned into kids,” Remus sighed slightly. “Or died,” he added gently.

“The guy in the middle of the room,” Hermione started to ask, before covering her mouth again.

“Yes Hermione, he was dead,” Remus hoped that he wouldn’t have to go into too much more detail, not sure if a five year old child would be able to comprehend their part in the death of another person, evil or otherwise.

“What is going to happen to us?” asked Harry softly.

“You are going to stay here, with Molly, Bill and I,” Remus answered.

“What about me?” wailed Hermione suddenly.

“Hermione,” he waited quietly until she settled down and looked at him. “We have sent someone to get your parents. They should be here tomorrow or the next day. When they get here, we will talk about what will happen with you. Since this is caused by magic, we are going to need you to stay nearby in order to find a cure, but I know you want your parents. For tonight at least, can you look at this like a large sleep-over party?”

She sniffled slightly. “Mommy and Daddy are coming here?”

Remus nodded. “They are. It is just going to take some time to get them here.”

“Okay,” she answered softly.

“Now, I need both of you to listen for just a little longer,” he looked into their ernest faces.

“Molly has taken Draco and Severus to talk to them because she needs to tell them a little more information,” he hesitantly approached his next topic. “Draco and Severus’ parents have died. Those two boys are all alone, and neither of them know anyone here. Unlike you Hermione, there parents won’t be able to come and get them. Do you think you will be able to help them?”

Remus watched as Harry nodded in empathy. He knew what it was like to not have any parents. Hermione’s eyes grew wide. She couldn’t imagine not being able to go to her Mummy. She felt sad for the obnoxious blond and the quiet boy.

Remus watched as both children nodded solemly.

With a sudden smile, Remus once again drew his wand. He gave a quick wave and cast a Tickling Charm at them. He laughed lightly as they both squealed and started giggling. Just as suddenly he ended the spell and swept them both into his arms in a big hug.