Severus and Jenny The Rugrat
Chapter 1- Three Months later
The summer holiday flew by too fast as far as Severus was concerned and the students had returned to Hogwarts. September was a time of adjustment for everyone but as the month progressed it became obvious that Jenny was the star attraction. Her green eyes where very expressive as she looked around at everything and was beginning to develop a curiosity about the world around her.
Over the first few months of the term, Poppy was wondering if she would get an influx of unnerved students that needed calming draughts due to the terrifying experience of seeing another, gentler side of their most feared Professor- especially upon seeing the little girl snuggled up in the arms of the most hated Professor in the School. Many of the newer students were more mystified due to the facts that they were seeing with their own eyes vs the stories they had heard.
The mystery was due to what was perceived by the students as his nasty and cruel personality and seeing him being so gentle with the tiny baby was considered as truly one of the seven wonders of the school –if not the world.
The small baby was admittedly a charmer in her own right as she cooed and waved her tiny arms around as if she was greeting everyone she came in contact with. Her delighted smiles and attempts to imitate the Potion Masters facial expressions during meal times was quite the hit with the staff and students. Of course it wouldn't do to let on to Severus that the effects of his normally imposing personality was being somewhat nullified by the baby's antics.
Martin popped in occasionally as his own busy schedule would permit and talked to Severus while bringing the dour Potion Master a few muggle books on the care and feeding of babies that were carefully set up on a shelf in Jenny's room where Severus could peruse them when needed. Severus didn't want the women on staff to think he was a complete dunderhead when dealing with such a young child.
Jenny loved to show off her newly discovered communications skills when shown picture books of items she would grow familiar with in the Wizarding world by Severus or a doting Deputy Headmistress Mcgonagall while the Headmaster Albus Dumbledore occasionally got his hand whacked by the ever vigilant Medi-witch Poppy Pomfrey as he tried sneaking tiny tastes of lemon flavoured puddings or Jellies to Jenny who was as the age where she was willing to taste everything and anything.
Poppy insisted, very firmly, that the child was to be introduced gradually to fruits and vegetables before anything else. She didn't wish to see Jenny developing a sweet tooth like the Headmaster had.
Albus' Phoenix known as Fawkes, occasionally left the Headmasters office, where he normally stayed. to look in on the baby and make peeping noises which to most everyone's delight - Jenny was starting to imitate Fawkes but as of yet, didn't manage to get the sound quite right. She showed a stubborn streak though as she kept trying.
It was heading into the month of October and it had been three months since the happy day when Martin - the Wizarding Child Care Worker had given Severus guardianship over Jenny. Of course he wasn't the only one looking out for Jenny's welfare but that was quite all right with him and Jenny. Jenny had learning very fast that all she had to do was turn her little green eyes upon her new 'daddy' and pout when she wanted him to pick her up out of her carriage for a snuggle or play with her.
Severus thought she was very smart for a six-month-old. He was tickled to know that she now responded to the sound of her name being called and was interested in most everything she saw.
During Jenny's last check up during the summer months, Poppy the Medi-witch said that her weight gain was perfect. It was then that Poppy had informed Severus that once Jenny could hold her head steady and upright plus she had to lose what Poppy referred to as the extrusion reflex that he could start Jenny on solid food. Severus had been quite puzzled but Poppy took pity on him and enlightened him.
"Severus, I am sure you have noticed that she sticks her tongue outward when it is touched or depressed when you are giving her the formula. That is what I mean by the extrusion reflex. It will disappear in time."
Now Jenny was old enough to enjoy eating pureed vegetables and fruits along with her bottles of formula she had been tasting over the last few months. Life was going to get just a little more interesting.
Even being as busy as he was with his duties and looking after Jenny, Severus was a little worried about his Godson Draco, who he thought was acting a little oddly since he returned to Hogwarts.
The boy was not sullen really, just a little more quiet and seemed to be avoiding contact with most of the other students whenever possible and especially avoiding Severus which was unusual.
Thinking about the situation while cleaning Jenny up and then taking the time to sit in the new rocker simply letting himself relax with her cuddled in his arms till her eyelids closed and her breathing evened out in sleep, before putting her into her little crib, Severus hoped that the boy wasn't jealous of the time and attention that was being bestowed upon the small baby girl. An idea came to him. Maybe if he asked Draco if he would like to help him with Jenny. That could possibly resolve the matter.
Severus tucked the blanket in around the sleeping baby and decided to wait the young Slyitherin out till he wanted to talk. Severus stood a moment just inside the room for a moment before dousing all the lighted sconces high up on the wall and headed across to his own room. The only light in Jenny's little room came from the colourful menagerie of magical toy animals that hung above the crib that would play soothing lullabies for Jenny if she happened to wake up.
The next day, which was a very pleasant and warm Saturday, everybody had come out in the sunshine after a long week of study.
After casting various charms, cushioning, Age-line, caterwauling and various other safeguards -Severus settled down with Jenny under the 'Slytherin tree.' Her blanket laid out with various toys including the snitch, which had been recharmed by Albus to fly about within reasonable distance of the little girls hands.
The afternoon was getting on with Severus keeping an eye on Jenny while marking some of the potion tests he had given his third years. Time was moving so fast he thought as he watched the little six-month-old child explore her surroundings which was restricted to the extent of the age-line charm surrounding her.
He thought back to the Quidditch game between Slytherin and Griffindor which had been scheduled to play earlier today after lunch. He had to admit it had been exciting. Very close match right up to the point where the Snitch had been captured.
Severus smirked at the memory as he set the potion tests down and watched Jenny play.
The walnut sized golden ball with silver wings had hovered and darted all around the place, never leaving the boundaries of the pitch while avoiding capture by Potter or Malfoy when suddenly-little Jenny twisted around and reaching up with her hand caught the snitch right out of the air when it hovered a little too close to Severus' left ear.
Severus could have sworn she fairly jumped out of his arms to get it. Her head had bumped his nose while reaching upwards. He hadn't realised for a moment what she had been aiming for till he saw the Snitch's wings fluttering on each side of her fist. He had thought she was just reaching for a lock of his hair to chew on.
The game had to be suspended for a short time and the seekers—Draco Malfoy for Slytherin, and Harry Potter for Griffindor, stayed in place till Severus took her out to the middle of the playing field and got her to let go of the snitch which she had been trying to chew on and once released it soared off to finally be re-caught by Harry after several minutes of play.
"Slytherin has sixty points to Griffindors seventy! Griffindor wins by a mere ten points." Yelled Professor Hooch to everybody's surprise as the points for catching the snitch hadn't been added to the score.
Hooch waved her gloved hand to quell the elevated sounds of amazement and questions from the viewers in the stands as she declared loudly that considering the fact that Snitches had flesh memory as to who was the first person to touch it, the points gained from the capture of the snitch belonged to Jenny since she had her baby hands on it first... and her mouth as she was teething a little bit.
Fortunately everybody took that little incident in good humor Severus mused as he caught sight of the amused smiles sent Jenny's way as students walked by them. None approached because of the Caterwauling Charm he had cast around the baby and himself to ensure nobody could approach too closely without alerting him to their presence.
Severus smirked as memories came to him, of the other day when Jenny watched the adults and students eating the strawberries and wanted to try them. She had reached over with her tiny fist and managed to grab some off Flitwicks plate which she tried stuffing into her mouth, which was rather humourus to anyone who wasn't in line of fire...
Severus had to admit though, that Flitwick did look funny with the strawberry juice all over him that had squirted all over by Jenny's little fist squeezing the fruit. Of course she didn't miss Severus either, or Minerva, or Albus, or Hagrid. Just how she had managed to spread the mess so far was quite a mystery to Severus.
Severus had glared at the uproarious laughter from the students but his glare wasn't quite as effective with the gooey strawberry bits dripping off his nose. Jenny was babbling happily as she tried to lick what was left of the strawberries stuck to her hand.
Today during lunch she had grabbed for the plate of custard that just happened to be placed in front of Severus- now that was a definite splatter. She obviously liked the feel of it squishing in her hands and then slapping it down on the plate that spun around each time it was struck. Her giggling and happy babbling accompanied the actions.
The yellow custard had flown everywhere, The Ghosts who had been present moved out of the way of the globs that went far and wide. Nobody within the vicinity was spared.
Looking unusually calm and collected even with custard stuck to his eyebrows and spattered across his face and robes, he vanished the mess, which made Jenny pout because she had been having fun.
Noticing that the Headmasters beard and robes was also covered in custard spatters- Severus fought off the urge to laugh as he resorted to chanting phrases in his head, "Jenny will outgrow this messy stage eventually. She is a baby." while he cleaned Jenny's hands. And face off with a dampened washcloth that Minerva had transfigured from a napkin.
But no matter the consequences, Jenny certainly entertained the students who liked to watch the teachers get splattered with the gooey messes. Especially when it involved Severus Snape or Albus Dumbledore.
Meanwhile, while Severus was lost in his memories Jenny was watching and reaching for the snitch she had caught earlier as it fluttered about the confined space created by the various charms cast by Severus to keep her safe. She was quite content to stay on her favorite blanket, which had been fashioned from Severus's cloak. The one he had wrapped her on that fateful July morning when he found her in that alleyway.
She had learned to roll over on her back and her stomach, in fact as far as she was concerned; she was learning how to get her way around quite nicely. Severus had to put up a nice sized playpen in the potions classroom so she wouldn't roll herself away on one of her many investigative adventures.
The skeletal looking, dust coloured old cat belonging to Filch, the bitter elderly caretaker of Hogwarts was a particularly favourite victim. Mrs. Norris soon learned to watch out for her, as Jenny liked to chew on tender ears. Her little stuffed Unicorn she got from Albus had quite a few chew marks on its horn and its ears were almost nonexistent.
Jenny rolled over on her blanket and sat up very carefully, she was afraid of bumping her nose again like the last time she tried to sit up and fell over. She caught sight of some butterflies as they floated by and tried to grab them but failed. The snitch though hovered close by and with a little effort on Jenny's part she was able to catch and hold it tightly within her little fist.
Severus watched her efforts and smiled to himself thinking of her determination to get what she wanted.
With twinkling eyes, Albus had suggested she could try tasting some vanilla ice cream at the next feast. To celebrate her half-a- year-old mark.
Shaking his head at the idea, Severus was drawn out of his thoughts when he spotted two figures coming toward him from the castle.
'Aw well, here comes Minerva and Albus. It must be time for the feast. l wonder if Albus is serious about getting you to try tasting some ice cream.' he mused to Jenny with a grimace which the tiny girl responded to with a giggle as she imitated him.
Severus just hoped if Albus went through with his plan to give Jenny ice cream that she would be able to eat most of it before it fully melted. He stood up with Jenny in his arms and cancelled the charms with a quickly snapped out "Finite!" then with a packing charm, had her blanket wrapped around her and the toys were all packed and ready in the carriage that hovered beside them.
They walked towards Minerva and Albus who paused for him to come to them. Both where looking quite pleased to see them.
"Severus, My boy.." Albus beamed, "I was hoping to try Jenny on lemon flavoured ice caream but Minerva here." He averted his gaze as Minerva glared at him as she huffed. "She insists on vanilla. Don't you think that is a rather bland choice?"
Severus gulped and was desperately thinking of how to answer without causing trouble when Jenny came to his rescue as she soiled her diaper and started to cry. Severus quickly took advantage and said, " I think that I had better hurry in and change Jenny's diaper." He answered in a gasping voice as the fumes started to envelop all three of them.
Author's Notes.
I hope you will like the continuing story of Severus and Jenny along with Albus, Minerva and even Draco Malfoy. This story is set in an alternate Universe.