"Daddy!" Harry squealed, skipping around the room. "Daddy, Daddy, DAddy!!"

"Yes, Harry?"

"Swimmin' 'ow? Pretty please?"

Severus crossed his arms. "Hmm... Well... Did you eat all your vegetables when you had lunch yesterday?"

Harry nodded enthusiastically. "Mmm-hmm!!"

"Did you put on your trunks?"

"Hmm? But- I don' have one!!" Harry exclaimed. "I needs one, Daddy!! Ca' I have one!? Pretty, pretty please?"

"Alright, close your eyes," Severus said. Harry grinned and did so. "Okay, open!"

When Harry opened his eyes, he saw that Severus was holding a pair of blue swim trunks covered in cartoon fishes.

"Fishies! Thanks you Daddy!!"

"You're welcome, bambi. Go ahead and put them on in your room. Then we can go down to the lake."

"YAY!!!" Harry ran to his room, leaving Severus laughing.

"So, I take it he's excited?" Remus asked, walking out of the bathroom.

"Obviously. He's never been swimming before," the Slytherin replied. "Of course, he'll probably just be splashing and running in the water, not much actual swimming. He's too energetic to actually spend time learning how to swim."

"I guess so. Why don't you go change, I'll pack a lunch and get Harry's floaties."

"Yeah. Make sure you bring some fruit and vegetables. Can't have him living off of strawberry sandwiches."

"But they's yummy!"

Both men jumped, turned around, and saw Harry. Both started laughing. "You scared us, Hare!" Remus exclaimed. "D'you want to help me get some lunch?"

"Yeah! Sorry I scareded you, Pappy. Up?" He raised his arms above his head. "Can Fulbert come with?"

"No, Harry," Remus replied as he lifted Harry. "Fulbert has to stay home. But we can say goodbye before we leave, alright?"

"Okay! To the kitchen! Bye-bye Daddy!" Harry rested his head on Remus' shoulder. "Pappy?"

"Yes, honey?"

"Does... Is swimmin' hard?"

"Well... It can be, a little bit. But you'll have me and Daddy right there with you! And it's okay if you don't do the best the very first time."

"Really?"

"Of course!" the man said. "Swimming is s'posed to fun! If you want, we can just splash around in the lake until you're tired."

"Love you, Pappy."

"I love you, too, cub. Now lets make some lunch, yeah? You go ahead and pick out some fruit and some veggies."

"Hmm..." Harry scrunched his nose as he thought hard about what to choose. "Ooh! B'ackberries an' carrots! An' 'nanas!!!"

"Brilliant choices, Harry!"

Remus continued to pack their lunch into a small basket while Harry chose to sit in the living room and build with his blocks. Remus felt good. Both he and Severus had been a bit worried after the Boggart incident. Harry had been so... sad the few days after, but maybe he was getting back to being the happy little boy he had finally healed enough to be. Scared sometimes, and still worried, but happy and loved most of all.

"Hi, Remi."

"Hello. Ready to go?"

"Yes. I have sunscreen, towels, hair ties- speaking of which, we should see if he wants his hair cut. If he doesn't it's fine, but it is getting awfully long."

"I'm all ready. Harry, honey, come on!"

"Piggyback, piggyback!!" he exclaimed as he ran towards his parents. "Daddy, piggyback!"

"Okay, okay! Remus, would you... Thanks. Right, now up you go."

Once Harry was on Severus' back, they walked out of the portrait and started their way to the lake, Salazar wishing Harry well and jokingly wishing that Severus would fall in.

"Are you going to go in the water?" Remus asked.

"No."

"You're at least going to take off that blasted sweater, aren't you? It's thirty-two degrees outside! Unusually warm, but still!"

Severus sighed. "We'll talk about it later, Rem. Please, please don't push it."

"I'm sorry, I didn't-"

"No, it's okay."

"I- Okay. I won't ask again."

"Thank you."

The rest of the walk was quiet. Harry couldn't really tell what was wrong, but he knew something was. He made a few attempts to make his dad's joke with him, but they stayed silent.

"'S Daddy 'n' Pappy sad?" Harry asked once they got to the beach. "Don' want you to be sad!! No sad!" He caught them both in a hug. "No!"

"Oh, bambi, we aren't sad," Severus said. "Just... thinking about some stuff. Adult stuff, okay?" He leaned down and kissed Harry's head.

Remus did the same. "We're both okay, cub."

"Promises!?"

"We promise."

"Good."

"Now, time for sunscreen, HArry."

"Icky!"

"Yes, I know, but otherwise you'll get sunburned, and that hurts way worse."

"Okay." Harry sat in front of Severus and let him apply the icky sunscreen. "Daddy, 's the giant squid gonna get me?"

"Oh, no, bambi. He stays in the middle of the lake, where it's deeper. We'll be in the shallow. Alright, bambi, you're done. Go on with Pappy, I'll join you in a minute."

Harry ran with Remus into the water. "Cold!" he yelled once he was waist deep.

"You'll get used to it, don't worry," Remus said. "C'mere, Hare. Want to learn how to swim?"

"Remus, his-"

"I've got them, don't worry. Put your arms out."

"You aren' gonna tickle me, right, Pappy?" Harry said hesitantly.

"Nope. Pinky swear."

Harry shook his pinky, giggling, and put his arms out. Remus slipped on his floaties to his upper arm. "Okay, squirt, you're ready to start swimming!"

"YAY!" Harry jumped up and down happily. Well, tried to, the water made it a bit difficult. "I'mma be good at it, Pappy!"

"Yes you are. We have to go a little bit deeper, so come on... yeah, this is good. Lay on your tummy on top of the water-"

"But-but I'm gonna fall!"

Remus gave him a comforting smile. "No, you won't. I'm going to hold you up, and your floaties will keep you above the water."

"Promise?"

"I promise."

Remus and HArry continued, Harry learning how to float and how to kick and use his arms right, Remus making sure his cub stayed above the water. Severus watched them fondly, wishing he could join them.

But, of course, he couldn't.

He just couldn't.

"Daddy, Daddy, did you see me!?" Harry shouted. "Look, I ca' swim!!!"

"Show me, bambi!"

Harry grinned and started doggy paddling in the shallow water. "See, Daddy!? I ca' swim! I can swim!!!"

"That's wonderful, Harry!" Severus praised. "Why don't you get out of the water and come eat lunch?"

"Yeah! Yummy!" Harry ran out of the water to Severus and plopped down in his lap. "Daddy, Pappy gots all wet like me!"

"Yeah? Guess who else's all wet now?"

"You!"

"You did that on purpose, didn't you bambi?" He lightly tickled Harry's sides. "Hmm?"

"Pappy, 'e's ticklin' me!"

"I guess I'll just have to tickle him then!"

"REMUS!"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"I'm going to go set Harry down for a nap," Remus said quietly once they entered their quarters. "Can you clean up lunch really quick?"

"Yeah," Severus replied quietly. He knew they were about to have a conversation, a not so fun one. He threw away what could be thrown, put away the leftover fruit, and set the dishes in the sink. The House Elves would get them later.

"He's asleep," he heard Remus behind him. Arms wrapped around him. "Sev."

"I'm sorry about today..." he mumbled. "Couldn't-"

"It's fine. You still joined us in the water."

"I want this thing gone."

"The..."

"Yeah. Other things, too, but mostly that. I don't know how, though," Severus mumbled. "Well, technically that's a lie. I do know. But one is having the Dark Lord get rid of it himself, or I can carve it out of my skin, which isn't a very nice option."

"Well... No, those both suck," Remus agreed. "But we'll find something else. We'll figure something out. You can get it removed."

"I'm a Spy, Remi, I have-"

"Not if se destroy those Horcruxes. And believe me, Sev, Sirius and McGonagall will both gladly help out with that. We destroy them before he gets a chance to come back."

"What if it doesn't work?"

"Come on. He's basically dead from what I've heard. And destroying the Horcruxes will just make him weaker. We'll be okay."

Severus didn't respond.

"Okay. You need distractions. Lets go."

"Remus!" Severus squealed when the other man started carrying him. "Rem, what are you doing!?"

"Distraction!" Remus dropped Severus on their bed. "This is not a time to be sad!"

"Remus- Remus you're ridiculous."

"I try my best. Now stay there." Remus ran into the kitchen and grabbed the ice cream, two spoons, Butterbeer, and chocolates. After also grabbing the fluffiest blanket they had from the hall closet, he returned to Sev's room. "I'm back!"

"Remus-"

"Nope. You, sir, will be happy if it kills me."

"Well, that would make me unhappy, so-"

"None of your stupid adult logic." Remus set the snacks down on the bedside table, then climbed into bed next to Severus, covering both of them with the blanket. "Which first? Ice cream or chocolate. Y'know what, ice cream, it's like the devil decided to sit on the castle."

Severus burst out laughing. "W-What!?"

"Well, it is! Thank Merlin I thought to put a cooling charm on the blanket or else we'd be dying of heat!"

"Remus, we w-would not be!!"

"Well, here," the Gryffindor said, handing him a spoon. "We get to eat ice cream and cuddle and not worry about sad things. Got it??"

"Understood, Rem."

Remus lightly kissed Severus' cheek, then mumbled, "Good."