The rain was pelting heavily against the windows when Severus awoke. Dudley was crying heavily, probably frightened by the storm, and, Severus suspected, Harry was probably crying silently too.

This guess was proven to be accurate when he entered their bedroom.

Severus' head was pounding from his late-night drinking session with Albus, where the pair of them had managed to polish off a bottle of red wine and a bottle of white wine, and Dudley's cries were only amplifying this. Severus knew that he had a potion somewhere that could lessen his headache, he just didn't know exactly where he'd placed it, and he had a small suspicion that he might be running low, due to him trying to drink away all of the death-eater meetings he used to be obligated to attend. Another muggle-born dead, another bottle polished. Some might have called him at one time an alcoholic, yet he'd needed it to flush away all of his problems. He'd never admitted this habit to anyone, and he'd stopped as soon as you-know-who was defeated.