Potions Instructions (Disclaimer): Do Not Be Mistaken, I am not the owner of these characters or the original work. I just enjoying toying with them.
It's been a long time since I've written on here and I haven't forgotten the story I've left unfinished (Soul-Mates Separated). I'm likely to pick it back up and complete it, but I wanted to upload this one-shot first.
Bear with me. And please leave a review if you enjoy it.
"Your son is a perfect darling, Mr. and Mrs. Snape." A nurse with long blonde hair told them as she carefully handed their newborn son to Severus. Hermione watched, exhausted, but pleased as her husband took their son into his arms like he was the greatest thing he'd ever beheld. In every way, he was. Severus would always be adamant to make sure that his son knew exactly that.
Sebastian Gryffin Snape was the greatest, most precious, and most beautiful thing that Severus had ever beheld and the look in his shining, black eyes were a testament to the fact.
"He's beautiful, Hermione." He told his wife as he sat carefully beside her on the bed and shifted Sebastian in his arms so she could see his tiny, wrinkled face. He was still scowling slightly, but his face had relaxed now that things in the once hectic hospital room settled down. Severus never wanted to let Sebastian go, but knew he was supposed to let his wife bond with their baby boy as well so he carefully handed her their son. He stared at the two of them. He loved how Hermione's attention was riveted upon their newborn. His wife was an amazing woman. She had refused to use magic in order to birth their son and wanted to go it the natural, muggle way. He had been terrified out of his mind throughout the entire ordeal with his wife's screams of pain, but she had pulled through fantastically, and he couldn't be more proud to be her husband.
SSHGSSHGSSHG
It was approximately eight am in the Snape family home and the house was buzzing with excited energy. Hermione leaned against the wall where she watched her husband, do what he had been doing annually for three years straight, well technically four. It had been four years ago that they had welcomed the light of their lives. Sebastian Gryffin Snape came into the world earlier than he was expected to, screaming his lungs off and scowling angrily as the nurses cleaned and swaddled him into fresh blue onesies and a blanket. She was amused by how serious Severus took this event and she knew why, because it stemmed from his childhood.
Severus knew that Hermione was watching him decorate their home for Sebastian's fourth birthday. He always went above and beyond every year, because he never ever wanted Sebastian to suspect for not even a millisecond that he wasn't unimaginably loved and cherished. He remembered how he had suffered growing up and had vowed long ago that had he ever had children, he would never let a birthday go unnoticed or uncelebrated.
SSHGSSHGSSHG
The darkness of Spinner's End was stifling. The feelings of hate that filled the walls of the dilapidated and dismal estate was both overwhelming and suffocating. Down the hall, he could hear the pained cries that his mother tried to keep quiet as his father raped her. Seven-year-old Sebastian Tobias Snape knew better than try to help his mother. It was always in vain. The swollen black eye and busted lip attested to that when he had tried to protect his mom earlier that morning.
He had awoken excited to celebrate his birthday. He never received presents, because his family couldn't afford it due to his father's poor gambling and drinking habits. They never actually did anything big to celebrate, but his mother would always risk her safety and health to squander and save whatever money she could for ingredients to bake him a cake. He had run downstairs that morning, his father was gone still (probably with a prostitute), and to the kitchen. There on the table, his mom sitting there with a small smile on her face, was a small chocolate cake. His black eyes danced with suppressed joy as he immediately hugged his mother. "Thank you, mother." He told her quietly, taking his seat at the table.
"Happy Birthday, my Sevvy. Seven years old and already a little man." She said softly to him as she cut a slice of the cake for him. Severus was a carbon copy of his mother only in a miniature male version. He watched her with quiet happiness, never having been a rambunctious child, when she stood to get him a glass of milk. Soon, Severus was digging into the delicious cake and drinking his milk. He only got a treat like this once a year so he was savoring it.
Just as Severus was eating a second piece of cake, the door slammed opened to the kitchen, and his drunken father stumbled in.
"What's this?!" Tobias Snape shouted when he saw the cake sitting on the table and his wife and son eating it.
"Did I say we could buy this?! Where'd you get the money from, you whore?!" He grabbed Severus' mother and threw her onto the floor. Severus had immediately jumped up as a sorrow and rage began to feel him.
"Get off of my mother!" Severus said, foolishly moving himself in between his father and mother. Eileen had tried to tell Severus not to bother, but Tobias had already grabbed his son by the scruff of his shirt and pulled him up. He socked Severus in the face and then once more for good measure. Severus felt one of his teeth loosen and there was a ringing in his head as he dropped to the floor. He could hear his mother screaming and he weakly moved to crawl away. He could hear his father's manic laughter and turned just in time to see him throw the cake onto the floor beside his mother.
Severus tried to lock the hurt away and continued to watch in fear as his father grabbed his mother and pushed her face into the ruined cake. "Now, clean the mess up, bitch!" Tobias demanded. The angry drunk turned and saw his son on the ground and sneered at him. "Get up you brat and get lost. I don't want to see you for the rest of the day."
Afraid of any more pain, young Severus took to his room for the rest of the day. It had been mostly quiet and then when the sun had gone down and night had taken over, the real horrors began like they always did. He could hear the sound of his father beating his mother, her cries, and then the sound of a bed creaking as his mother sobbed. He was too young to truly know what was going on, but as he grew older and the memories haunted him he began to understand.
That night, with no bed to actually sleep on since his father didn't deem him important enough for one, he huddled under a worn and dirty blanket on the cold, wooden floor of his small bedroom. Centered in the room was a large stack of books with a candle resting above them, burning magically and endlessly. Nothing decorated the walls except for a calendar. Circled on the calendar was January 9th, a day that should have been celebrated, but would be one of the worst in his young memory. Severus quietly reached over to the worn teddy bear that he had found at the park sometime ago and kept. He bowed his head and ended up crying himself to sleep.
Every birthday until his eleventh would follow in much the same way and when he arrived at Hogwarts, he learned just how unnatural his upbringing had been. He withdrew into himself and wouldn't become the man he was truly meant to be until he would eventually fall in love with his wife.
SSHGSSHGSSHG
Once the entire downstairs level of their home was decorated in shades of greens, silvers, and subtle golds for Sebastian's fourth birthday, Severus and Hermione eagerly went upstairs to wake their son. They sat on their son's bed and gently woke him. "Seb, sweetie… Wake up." Hermione said in a soothing voice, brushing back their son's long dark hair. He had always insisted upon wearing it the same way his father did and so they let him.
Tiny dark grey eyes blinked open and looked up at them. The sleep-induced confusion from being awoken started to clear and realization struck. "My birthday?" The quiet boy asked as he moved to yawn and stretch.
Severus, overtaken by a feeling of warm and love whenever he saw how happy and healthy his son was, shook his head as if to shake off the disbelief that this was his reality. He smiled and pulled the little boy into his lap. "Indeed, Sebastian! Happy Birthday, our love." He bent his head to drop a kiss on the top of his son's head.
Hermione loved the way Severus unabashedly cherished their son. He was unreserved in sharing his affection with the two of them. If you had told her that not only would she one day be married to the great Dungeon Bat of Hogwarts, but also that he had the capacity to love deeper and greater than her wildest imagination she would have directed you to the infirmary.
"Happy Birthday, Seb!" Hermione grinned as their son beamed up at them. He was a handsome child, a spitting image of his father. The last of sleep left their son and in its place excitement took hold. "It's my birthday!" He clapped his hands with excitement.
Birthday mornings in the Snape household were a sacred event. Hermione had brought forth the tradition from her own family and her husband had taken to it with swiftly. In the years since their early courtship, they had adapted the tradition so that it fit them precisely. The mornings always began like this; with the birthday person being woken tenderly with morning cuddles to follow and then treated to a lovely breakfast of their choice.
Severus carried Sebastian downstairs (as if he'd let his Little Prince's feet touch the ground on his birthday) with Hermione leading the way. Their son was chattering happily about the day ahead of them. He was excited, because he knew in the afternoon the whole family would be there and he loved the days when the whole family got together.
On the kitchen table was Sebastian's favorite breakfast foods, consisting largely of fruit and biscuits, arranged in the number four and charmed to float in the air. Sebastian squealed in delight, pressing his cheek to his father's. Hermione laughed at the sheer look of joy that played on her two guys' faced as though mirrored.
"Can I hear my birthday story?" He asked as he was placed in his booster seat while Hermione used her wand to place some food on her son's plate.
"You mean the story of how you scared the wits out of your poor mother and I with your dramatic arrival?" Severus playfully glared at his son when he said the word 'scared', which made Sebastian shriek with laughter. He had never been daunted by his father's glare. Quite the opposite as it was the first thing that had ever made the boy laugh and, without fail, always made him laugh. The little boy nodded his head enthusiastically as he picked up some cantaloupe to nibble.
"Well, Sebastian… Your daddy and I weren't expecting you for at least another four weeks…" began Hermione.
SSHGSSHGSSHG
"Severus, for the love of Merlin, I promise you we'll be fine! All I'm going to do is nestle down on the couch all day with a book and tea. Ginny will be here as well. There's nothing to worry about! Please, go to the conference before I hex you!" Hermione was absolutely exasperated with her husband. As her pregnancy progressed, he became more and more prone to worry over her. At first, it had been endearing. Now, she just wanted to choke him.
She understood his fears and had tried to allay them, but Severus couldn't shake the feeling that all that was good in his life wasn't meant to last. He was amazed that Hermione had agreed to marry him and hadn't jilted him at the altar. He was blown away that she had wanted to be the mother of his child. He constantly fought to suppress the fear that good things didn't happen to Severus Snape and if they did, they were stolen away from him before he could even accept them. He was slowly learning, thanks to his wife, that he no longer had to fear such things but the first forty years of his life hadn't been so kind. It wouldn't be an overnight transformation to rid him of these fears, but he was trying.
"Alright, alright… I'm going. If something happens, I'm just a quick apparition away." He told her as he stepped towards the floo. He would need to floo to the Ministry first before departing to Wizarding Paris to partake in the annual PMC (Potions Masters Conference). He was the leading expert in potions internationally and this year had seen many breakthroughs in the field thanks to his tireless work and the help of his brilliant wife. Hermione was rather bummed to be missing out on the conference, but the final months of her pregnancy were proving tiresome so she opted to stay home.
The first few hours had gone easily enough for Hermione. She was exhausted, but that wasn't unusual. Nor was the back pain she was experiencing so she thought no more of it. She was dozing when Ginny came through the floo and awoken by her best friend's horrified cry. Hermione, feeling dazed and out of it, looked up at her best friend in confusion.
"Mione! Oh my god! You're bleeding!" Ginny rushed to her side to help her sit up and check on her. Hermione's face was a few shades pale and her skin had a clammy feel to it. "Oh my god… The baby, Mione!" Ginny calmed herself to send a patronus to Harry as she summoned the hospital bag that Hermione had packed in her fifth month of pregnancy. Ginny had laughed, because she thought it had been too early, but Hermione had just shrugged and said, "There's no such thing as being too prepared."
"Ginny, something's wrong with the baby." Hermione said in a daze just as the floo activated again and out sprinted Harry. He took in the scene of his wife and his best friend. His heart plummeted and he called through the floo to St. Mungo's.
They moved her quickly to get her to the hospital and once she was being seen by the Mediwitches, it dawned on Harry that they hadn't called Severus. "Oh god… Stay Hermione, Ginny… I'll be back as soon as possible." There was no way he was going to send a patronus to Snape to let him know his wife and child were in danger. He knew he wouldn't want to find out that way if Ginny had been in trouble and thought it kinder to spare the dark wizard such theatrics.
Being Head Auror allowed Harry privileges of international travel without the trouble of needing to be cleared by the Ministry so he apparated to Paris where the conference was taking place. Severus was in the midst of a speech, explaining one of the new methods in potion preservation that enhanced a potion's life shelf when he saw Harry appear in the back of the room. His speech faltered when he saw the grave look on the face of the Boy-Who-Lived. He crooked his head to the side as if to ask a question and when Harry nodded just slightly with a frown deepening on his face, it was all he could do to keep his feet from coming out beneath him.
"Pardon me, my wife needs me." And with that, Severus walked off stage to Harry to side-along apparate back to Wizarding London.
The next eight hours were a blur for Severus. He was taken back to his wife after being warned that somehow she was experiencing a placental abruption. To his knowledge, she hadn't fallen or experienced any trauma, but they had to induce labor in order to save his wife and child.
In the waiting room, the Weasley's, the Potter's, and the Lupin's had all gathered to await the news. They were terrified for Hermione and Severus. It had taken a while for Ginny to stop crying once the adrenaline subsided and the shock eased. Molly was gripping Arthur's hand as she prayed for the girl she thought of as a daughter and the man she saw as a wayward son.
Time ticked slowly for them until a nurse came out to let them know that Hermione and the baby had made it through the labor. They were weaker than they would have liked, but both showed strong vital signs and would recover. Both were conscious and just a little worse for wear. Sighs of relief and cheers resounded in the room.
An hour later, a disheveled Severus Snape emerged from the back and gave them all a tired, elated smile. "We have a son! Hermione is doing okay… She's sleeping now. And Sebastian Gryffin Snape, although he gave us quite the scare, is perfect… He's perfect." And, in an uncharacteristic show, Severus collapsed. Harry and Remus caught him before he could hit the floor, the man clearly overwhelmed and relieved. He had been terrified that his wife and child would die and while he had been strong, it was all just hitting him now that he could have lost them.
Everybody gathered around Severus to offer him support before Harry and Ginny escorted him back to Hermione and Sebastian.
SSHGSSHGSSHG
"And that was how you first met Uncle Harry and Aunt Ginny… You had given us all such a scare and we were all so relieved that you and your mummy were going to be alright." Severus finished the tale that Hermione had begun, because she only remembered the moments immediately after birthing their son and then eventually awaking later after all the chaos.
Sebastian had sat riveted, his breakfast finished, and some crumbs around his mouth. "I sorry I scared you…" He said after a moment. Sebastian was a sensitive child and although he loved to hear the story of when he was born, because there was no doubt how much his parents loved him by the emotion in their voices alone throughout the tale, he also felt bad for scaring them.
"Never apologize, Seb. Your entrance into the world is a reminder that you are your mother's child… Amazing and insufferable." Severus quipped as he took a sip of coffee. Hermione playfully scowled at her husband and laughed. "Yes, sweetheart. There's nothing to apologize for. You are the greatest gift mommy and daddy could have asked for… No matter how you arrived." She assured their son.
Their words made the little boy beam. Just then, the floo activated and Molly Weasley emerged. She was always the first visitor on Sebastian's birthday morning and their son knew who it was without even seeing her.
"Grandma Molly!" Sebastian squealed, scrambling down from his booster seat to greet her. "Oh! My birthday boy! Look at how you've grown!" She chirped as she picked him up and settled him on her hip. She had just seen him last week for the regular Sunday dinner at the Burrow, but always remarked that he grew from week-to-week as it always made the little boy glow. "I did grow, Grandma Molly! I did! Are you going to make my birthday cake?" He asked as she carried him back into the kitchen were Hermione and Severus were cleaning up breakfast.
"Don't I always?" She responded, setting him back down. It was a tradition that made Molly burst with pride. The Snape's had let her and Arthur fulfill the role of surrogate grandparents to Sebastian, as Hermione's parents had never regained their memories. Every birthday, she arrived first thing in the morning to bake his birthday cake. He loved to watch and help alongside her. It was their special thing as she only did this for Sebastian. Her other grandchildren had their own traditions, but this was Sebastian's thing.
They set to work in the kitchen to bake his cake before they rest of the party arrived at noon.
SSHGSSHGSSHG
It was 2pm in the afternoon and the party after letting the kids play for well over an hour, it was time to let the birthday boy blow out his candles. It was a muggle tradition that the Snape family wholeheartedly embraced.
Sebastian was sitting on his father's lap with his mother right next to them. He was beaming with joy as everybody in their large, extended family began to sing Happy Birthday to him. Fred Weasley and George Weasley operated Wizarding cameras while Arthur Weasley held a muggle one in his hands to take pictures. Molly was still fussing to make sure that everybody had plates, napkins, and utensils. Around the table sat James and Albus Potter, Rose and Hugo Weasley, Scorpius and Lyra Malfoy, Victoire and Alfie Weasley, and Teddy Lupin with their respective parents standing behind them.
When they finished singing to Sebastian, they encouraged him to blow out his four candles.
Severus watched, his heart bursting with love, as their family encouraged and cheered on his son who leaned forward to blow out his candles. Sebastian's eyes were twinkling and he was clapping his hands having gotten them all on the first try. There was a ruckus as everybody shouted variations of "Happy Birthday, Seb" or "Happy Birthday, Sebastian!" There was even a "Joyeux Anniversaire, Sebastian!" heard from both Victoire and Fleur Weasley.
He swallowed hard when he felt Hermione's hand rest on his hand that held their son carefully on his lap. He looked down at his wife as his eyes conveyed the feelings that overwhelmed him. Pride. Love. Happiness. All in abundance and all which he had never imagined belonging to him. Yet here he was, grateful for a family that not only cared for him and his wife, but also loved his son.
Severus had never once had a good birthday, but he was pleased to see that his son would have many happy ones so long as he could help it.