Author's Note: I have absolutely no ownership whatsoever on the Harry Potter characters! Never have, never will. I just like to play with them. Okay, that sounded so, so wrong... However, I do lay claim over original characters that are from my own imagination.
Chapter One
Let the Adventure Begin
Busy writing and marking away the many assignments within his office, Severus Snape was so deep within his own concentration, and trying to decipher what on earth he was reading half the time, that he didn't see the owl coming in through the window, until it landed on the desk right in front of him.
Once the owl was unburdened by the letter Snape had taken from it, it flew back on out, leaving the Potions Master to open the envelope and pull out the contents. Seconds after reading it, he quickly packed up what he was doing and went to tell the Headmaster that he had urgent business to attend to.
A number of hours later Snape was in Australia, entering the office building he had to go to, where he was met with whoever he had to, he wasn't really caring much on the names or faces of the people right now, he only cared for the real reason he had come to this blistering heated country.
Snape was taken to a room where they were located; his nieces and nephews, the children of his older brother, Julius and his wife, Katherine, were all waiting for his arrival. He surveyed them all from the eldest to the youngest;
Thirteen year old Elijah, average height for a young teen, neatly cut black hair and hazel coloured eyes, he had the signature hooked nose that seemed to carry down the Snape line, only in this boy's case, his face really suited well.
Next was Victoria, age ten, and seemed to have taken on her mother's features, with high cheekbones, blue eyes and wiry looking, with straight dark brown hair. She also had pierced ears.
Gabriel was third at age seven, also featured dark brown hair and high cheekbones, dark eyes and also wiry looking.
Last was the not yet two year old Ainsley, small little girl, with black hair and brown eyes.
"Who are you?" Gabriel asks with a frown.
"I'm your Uncle," said Snape.
"You know, Dad's brother from England?" said Elijah.
"I never met the guy, give me a break!" Gabriel replies.
It was true, Snape hadn't met the youngest two, and it had been years since he had last seen the other children. The relationship between the brothers had become rather strained overtime, because of their different pursuits in life and their different coping strategies of dealing with their childhoods. Julius, on and off, would try and reach out to his younger brother, even invited him to come out to Australia, where he decided to settle with the woman he met whilst travelling and created a family with.
Overtime, Julius just stopped trying, it was not as though Severus hadn't made any effort on his part, he had, he was there to see Elijah and Victoria on a handful of occasions, but time just slipped away from him, for now he was faced with not only the fact of his brother and his wife had both died, and help arrange for funerals for them both, but he was named the legal guardian of the four children standing before him.
He didn't know if he was going to be able to handle this sudden shift.
"What do I need to do, so I can get the children out of here?" he asks the Social Workers.
It was the start of a whirlwind of the next couple of weeks, where he had to learn just who these children were, and how to help them adjust moving from Australia to the United Kingdom, and cope without their parents.
Pulling strings was only half the fun, but Snape managed, especially since he spent most of the time during the year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. At least he didn't have to worry too much about finding a school for Elijah to continue his learning in wizardry. It was a bit different for Victoria and Gabriel, as they had been going to the same school, where it was a mix of a day school and a boarding school, because it catered to just some of the witch and wizard population of Australia and a few of the surrounding islands.
Then was also Ainsley to think of.
So far he had been able to palm anything to do with having to change her nappy, or toileting, as she was starting to learn how to use a potty from what he was bought to understand, to Elijah or Victoria. Snape wished he could say the same about discovering the Wiggles, Thomas the Tank Engine and, if he had to listen to that little red high pitched voiced monster one more time, Snape would gladly stick his head into a wall just to see if that will make things better.
By the time they had all reached the school based in the Scottish north, the adjusting was far from over.
###
"Who are you?"
Elijah looks up from his book to see a gangly looking redheaded boy, accompanied by a girl with fuzzy brown hair and eyes and a boy wearing glasses and a messy mop of black hair.
Upon his entry into Hogwarts, Elijah had to be sorted into a House, and was placed into Gryffindor, which was pretty ironic for the Head of Slytherin House who was his Uncle.
"My name is Elijah, I just moved here."
"Where are you from?" asks the girl, as she and the two boys sat down opposite to Elijah.
"Australia."
"Why are you here?" the redheaded boy asks, almost a bit rudely.
Elijah presses his lips together at this.
"Ron!" the girl chastises, before turning to Elijah; "Sorry for my friend's tongue, he doesn't seem to remind himself at times."
"Maybe if he asked more nicely, I'd give him the explanation," Elijah says, as he studies the redhead for a moment, before looking at the girl. "But perhaps if I knew who you were, I might give my reasons for being here."
"I'm Hermione Granger; these are my friends, Ron Weasley and Harry Potter," said the girl.
"Nice to meet you," said Elijah, with a small smile.
He had wondered when he was going to meet these three, especially the famous Harry Potter, since his Uncle told him that he was in the same House as this boy.
"What are you reading?" Hermione asks.
Elijah showed the cover with the title 'Numerology and Grammatica'.
"So you're going to be in Arithmancy?"
"One of the few elective subjects that looked to be interesting, as well as Ancient Runes; heaps different to the subject choices at my old school," said Elijah.
Hermione was about to reply, only to be distracted by the appearance of a boy who looked way too young to even be at the school sitting right next to Elijah.
"Aren't you a little short to be at this table?" Ron asks.
"Aren't you a little tall for your brain?" Gabriel retorted back, causing Elijah to laugh. "I'm allowed to be here, I asked my Uncle if I could sit with my brother, instead of with him and the other teachers."
"Your Uncle?" asks Harry, who had been quiet up until this point.
Gabriel nods and points toward the staff table.
The Golden Trio turned to see where he was pointing; looked like they weren't the only ones who were being marvelled by the sight before them.
"Why is Snape with a baby, and who is that girl with them?"
Snape was practically ignoring the stares from the other students, too busy trying to tackle a pretty unruly toddler, with a girl trying to help him.
"Those are our sisters, Ainsley and Victoria," said Elijah.
This got the three to stare at the boys;
"That would mean Snape is your Uncle?" Ron blurts. "Shouldn't you be in Slytherin House?"
"Ron!" Hermione goes to tell off.
"I would much rather be back in Australia, with our parents, going to my old school. But since our parents are both dead, and Uncle Severus is our only remaining relative, we are here, at Hogwarts," Elijah spoke, doing his best to not raise his voice. "If you have a problem with that, mate, I suggest you suck it up and get over it!"
Gabriel had lowered his gaze at the mention of their parents, this didn't escape Elijah's notice; he placed his hand on his younger brother's shoulder, and glared at Ron.
Ron's face went a deep shade of red.
Just then there was an almighty high pitched scream. Ainsley was chucking a tantrum and resisting any attempts to be picked up from either Victoria or Snape, even denying any assistance McGonagall or Flitwick could give any attempts to calm the toddler down. Without missing a beat, Elijah closed his book and left the table, Gabriel was right behind him.
"What happened?" Elijah asks Snape and Victoria.
"She just does not want to eat, Eli," said Victoria.
"Again?" Elijah says.
"Yes, again," Snape confirms, sounding a little frustrated.
Elijah taps Victoria on the shoulder and gestures her to move, she didn't object, if anything was out of the chair quick enough for her older brother to sit down and be level with Ainsley.
"Hey Ainsley," he says kindly.
Ainsley was scrunching her face and rubbing it with her clenched hands, but she seemed to have stopped when she heard Elijah, slowly moving her hands away and looking at him.
"Ee-ee," she whimpered, reaching her arms out.
Not caring who was watching, Elijah picked her up out of her highchair and put her on his lap and held her.
"What's the matter, Ainsley?"
"Yeah, aren't you hungry?" Gabriel asks, taking a piece of buttered toast and offering it to Ainsley.
Ainsley stares at the toast and then bats it out of his hand, sending it flying to the floor.
"We tried that," said Victoria.
"So sue me for trying," said Gabriel, with his hands out.
Elijah then catches something, and gently gets Ainsley to look at him.
"She's cutting another tooth," he says.
"How can you tell?" Snape asks, fair question from someone who's never been around children so young.
Elijah shows him, but not without some difficulty, as Ainsley was putting up a fight in allowing Snape to be anywhere near her. She still hadn't fully settled down around her Uncle.
"I am sure Madam Pomfrey would have something to help with the pain," McGonagall offers sympathetically, as she was watching and listening from where she was.
The bell then went off to signal for students to get off to class. Elijah was torn on what he was meant to do.
"Victoria and Gabriel can help me get Ainsley, you get off to your first class," Snape tells him.
Luckily Ainsley allows for Victoria to take her from Elijah, so he was able to leave the Great Hall.
"Let the adventures of the Snape family begin," he mutters under his breath.