7. Calling Home

After lunch Severus went back to his classes and Bobbie to the hospital wing. At about 3 in the afternoon she dialed the number of her grandfather.

As usually he knew it was her. "Hello Darling, how are you doing?"

"So far, so good. How is everything on your side of the world?" she asked.

"It's the same old stuff. We can't complain. It is you over there who has all the excitement I hear."

"What do you mean and how do you know?" Bobbie asked her grandfather.

"Well, I heard you finally got rid of that Dark Wizard you had over there. Darla told me about it. She is still getting the Wizard papers. I guess it keeps her connected to her people even though she hasn't left the community in a very long time."

Bobbie thought, "Darla... are you talking about Cassie's mom?"

"Yes! Cassie, the girl you went to school with. You didn't know her mom was a witch?" he asked.

"No! Wow, that is news to me," Bobbie admitted.

"Well, you have been living in Arizona for a long time... But tell me, what is going on with you?"

"I got married to Severus," she said.

"I had a feeling that is the reason for your call. You said the last time that he asked you to marry him after the war. Do you still think he is 'the One'?"

"Yes grandfather. I have never been so sure about anything in my life. I would like to visit in August and bring him so you can meet him. This is part of the reason why I call you. I also wanted to know if you ever heard of a Portkey," Bobbie said.

"Sure, it is a way to travel in the Wizarding World. Albus and I used those all the time during the war when we needed to get out of a sticky situation fast. It was a little unsettling first but I got used to it after a few times," Anton said.

"Do you think it would be safe for pregnant women? Do you know any woman in the community who may have used it while pregnant?" she asked.

There was momentary silence on the other line and then Anton asked, "You are pregnant?"

"Well, not really, I mean, I just found out two days ago but I will be by the time we want to visit you."

"I only know of two women who have been in the Wizarding World before and have married wizards. They are my age though and they have been back here before they had children. I can ask them but I doubt I will find what you want to know. I would just suggest you try a Portkey in a few days and see what happens."

Bobbie snorted mirthlessly, "That is what I told Severus but he told me I am too casual with the life of the baby."

"It really isn't a baby yet," Anton pointed out.

"Go tell that to Severus. He was so lonely all of his life and he sees the people he was around and how few children they have. Most are purebloods and are trying to marry another pureblood. Their genes aren't very diverse and lots of them have none or only few children. He has a different outlook on it. He is already attached and it's still about a week before I'll even know if it is a boy or a girl."

"Does he know?" Anton asked.

"Know what? That I'll know after about a week?"

"No, I mean, does he know everything about us, about Nevari?"

"Yes, I told him. When I knew he was my soul mate I felt I had to."

"I hate to say 'I told you so' but that should have been your first indication that your first two husbands were wrong for you. You never felt the need to let them know," he mildly scolded her.

"I know. You aren't telling me anything I don't already know. Mom and dad also rubbed it in a few times."

"Well, I better go. I hate to cut you off but Eleonore invited me to lunch. I gave her some Asparagus from my garden and she made some soup."

"It is about time you guys do something together. I think you are perfect for each other. You grieved long enough for grandma and Eleonore's husband is gone for over 10 years."

"I know but it still feels strange," he said.

"What do you want? You really think you will still find a soul mate? Aside from the fact that you are getting up there in age, and pardon me for saying that, you also don't get out often enough to find one. Maybe you should think about companionship. It isn't healthy to be alone."

He snorted. "Would you quit with that psychiatrist crap?"

"Sorry grandfather. I still think there's nothing wrong with it. Now get out of there and say Hi to Eleonore from me."

"You take care of yourself girl and tell your Severus we will be glad to finally meet him. I love you."

"I will. You take care of yourself also. I love you too grandfather!"

Bobbie hung up and shook her head with a smile. She was still smiling when she got back to Poppy.

"Looks like you had a good talk with your grandfather. I guess you found out what you wanted?" Poppy asked.

Bobbie sighed, "No, not really. I just thought about my grandfather and how pigheaded he can be sometimes. He is a widower for nearly 6 years and the neighbors' woman is a widow for 10 years. She and my grandparents always got along great and she invited him to lunch or dinner many times but he always refused. He just basically chased me off the phone so he could have lunch with her," Bobbie finished with a smile.

Poppy grinned and said, "It is never too late for that."

"Amen! Now if I just could find a way to learn more about Portkeys. It doesn't look like my grandfather can help," Bobbie said with a sigh.

"Maybe I can...," Poppy said.

"Really, how?"

"Well, what doctor do you go to when you are sick? Do you go to Muggle doctors or do you have Nevari doctors?"

"There are Nevari who are doctors but my doctor was a Muggle. We have the same bodies with a few minor differences which don't show up under Muggle instruments. Like a slightly longer life span, I think our life span is somewhere in the middle between Muggles and Wizards and our women don't have periods because our bodies don't prepare for an egg that might not get fertilized... Why do you ask?"

"I have been thinking about it ever since you brought it up. My cousin's wife is a Muggle. She went to the Quidditch World Cup with him by Portkey and she was almost 5 months into her pregnancy. I also know of a Muggle woman from reading the Daily Prophet, who fled with her husband to Russia to get away from Voldemort. They made it just fine until they got mugged by some Death Eaters there."

"Ouch, that is awful...," Bobbie said with sadness and then she thought about what it meant for her. "You are a genius Poppy. If those Muggle women you know can use a Portkey, so can I."

888

When Bobbie went back to their quarters that night she told Severus that travel by Portkey would be fine. She didn't tell him that there could be a tiny chance for a problem but she was confident everything would be okay. Thinking about it, the chance for a plane crash was probably higher than that. She wasn't afraid of flying but she hated it nonetheless.

Severus went to his desk and took out a booklet that showed international Portkey stations. He said there were three in Canada; Vancouver, Regina and Toronto.

Bobbie picked Regina as the closest. Then she asked, "How do we get to my hometown from there?"

"Do you have some very good photographs of your hometown?" Severus asked.

"I have an aerial shot of the farm that belongs to Uncle Brutus. It is close to my grandfather's house. There is lots of empty space around it. I took it when I went up with him in a crop duster." When Severus looked at her with a drawn up eyebrow she added, "That is an airplane they use on farms."

"Can I see that photo?" he asked.

"It's at the cottage. You have seen it. It is hanging in the hallway," she answered.

"Yes, I remember that picture," he said. "I think it will work."

"What do you want to do? You want to use it as a reference to Apparate there? Is that even possible? I thought you needed to know the place you are going to."

"Albus and Igor Karkaroff used to be able to do it. Of the ones who are still alive I know a few wizards, including Charlie Weasley and I, who are able to do it without splinching."

"Splinching? Do I even want to know what that means? Even the word gives me a chill down my back," Bobbie said.

Severus chuckled, "Come, let's go to dinner. I will explain on the way there, and then I want to lie in bed with you in my arms."

888

Severus's first class next morning was the second year Slytherins and Gryffindors. These smaller children were still pliable and there were no problems. He even felt confident enough rotating the children throughout the class including putting students of the two houses against each other in practicing the spells. All of the students in this class had been protected against the war by their families and at the end of the class he even saw some of them mix up and walk out of the classroom chatting. One boy stayed behind and walked up to Severus and said, "Thank you Professor for helping to get the film out of that camera."

Severus first looked at him in thought, and finally figured it out. "Right! Gavin Davis... I thought I recognized that name. You're welcome."

The boy grinned at Severus and then turned around and ran out of the door. Severus looked after him with a smile on his face.

His next class was the Slytherin and Gryffindor firsties. The class went similar to the Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff firsties. Only this time he already knew that they didn't have any books, and by the time they came to the classroom he had already spelled the books out of the cabinet and onto the desks for each student.

During lunch Severus looked at his timetable and saw that in the afternoon he would first have the Gryffindor and Slytherin fourth years and then the forth years of Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff. All of these children already knew him for two years as Potion teacher and one year, well part of a year, as DADA teacher as well as Headmaster.

Minerva knowing that it would be getting harder for him as farther advanced the classes were, had made sure he would get the smaller children first. She told him this way the older children could already find out from the younger ones that he wasn't as evil and vicious anymore as he had to be during his earlier years.

Severus was still surprised by how civil the Gryffindors in the 4th year class were. He usually didn't have any trouble with the Slytherins to begin with but this turned out to be the easiest class he had so far. He couldn't really figure out why until the class was over and another child stayed behind - this time a girl -who went up to him saying, "Thank you Professor for helping to get my brothers pictures back."

Severus looked at her his eyebrow up in question.

The girl continued, "I am Colin Creevey's sister Sarah. Dr Carter, I mean, Dr Snape told me yesterday that you helped her getting the film."

Severus finally made the connection, "I see. I was wondering why the name Creevey sounded familiar when I looked over the list, even though I haven't taught in over a year."

"We are Muggle-borns and weren't allowed in school," she said with a subdued voice.

"Well, then it is good to have you back Miss Creevey." He then continued with a smile. "So, let me guess, my wife ratted on me."

Sarah looked down at her shoes and said quietly, "She said you didn't like the way the Carrows treated the students."

"Yes, she is correct. I guess their reputation preceded them."

"My cousin Gavin told me what they did to him," Sarah said.

Then Severus thought about the casualties after the war. "I am sorry you lost your brother. He was a very brave boy."

"He still was grateful for the pictures when he got them back."

Severus said," I will let you in on a little secret; it wasn't only my wife and I who retrieved them. We had a little help from our house elves." Then he asked, "Let me guess, you told everybody in your class what we did with that camera?"

Sarah looked at her shoes again and nodded sheepishly. Severus didn't want her to feel like she was in trouble. After all, the girl had inadvertently helped him have an easy time with teaching his class by letting her classmates know. He nodded at her reassuringly and said, "Go ahead, before you miss your next class."

Severus smiled when he saw the child nod back at him and then run happily out of the classroom. Just a few minutes later the fourth year Ravenclaw and Hufflepuffs filed into the room and just like all other classes he was surprised about the things Amycus Carrow had tried teaching them. Fortunately most of the third and fourth year students were old enough and had the foresight to know wrong from right, and not having any class books where they could read up on the dark spells they were taught, also helped. He was happy to notice that they had made good use of the books Minerva had since sent out to everyone.

By the time Severus went to lunch in the Great Hall he was in fairly good spirits. He leaned over to Bobbie and said with amusement, "I had two students tell me today that you ratted on me."

Bobbie snorted and said, "No kidding! I wonder what made them think that?" She winked at him.

Severus sighed and said, "Unfortunately the Creevey boy didn't have much time to enjoy his photos before he was killed."

"Yes, I know," she said sadly. "But he was too young and wasn't supposed to be in the battle."

"I don't really blame him. He thought he could make a difference, and looking back, he probably did. Albus and I kept an eye on the group Potter was teaching and the Creevey boy was doing very well for his age. They called themselves the DA and they started it when that Umbridge woman failed to teach the DADA classes properly."

"Umbridge... why does that name ring a bell?" Bobbie mused.

"It was the same woman from whom Potter and his friends snatched the locket horcrux in the Ministry in May. By the way how did you get to talk to the Creevey girl yesterday? Was she in the infirmary?"

"She and her cousin Gavin just came by to thank me. I told them that I had a little help from you." Bobbie smiled.

Severus nodded. When they both finished lunch Severus went back to his classes. The first was Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw fifth years. From the way the class went he knew that word had gotten out already that he had a hand in the prank with the Carrow woman about the Creevey boys film. He did notice though that they were a little tentative about the validity of the whole story and that the mean professor wasn't quite as mean anymore, but after a while things relaxed a little and he could find out what the students already knew and what not.

He found that the Children hadn't retained much of the teachings of Amycus Carrow and that they were almost caught up to where they were supposed to be. He finally remembered what Albus's Portrait had told him, that the DA that Potter had started in the Room of Requirement was continued by Neville Longbottom, Luna Lovegood and Ginny Weasley. He reluctantly had to admit that those three had done an admirable job.

He figured that his next class, fifth year Gryffindor and Slytherin would be a different story. He assumed the Gryffindors would be nearly up to par but the Slytherins would have their work cut out, since there hadn't been any in the DA. It turned out that he wasn't mistaken. In order for the Slytherins to pass their OWL's they would have to be given all of his and their Gryffindor classmates' attention. Most Slytherins, even some who were children of Death Eaters, had clearly studied up on the books that had been sent out, but they still didn't come close to the skills of most of the Gryffindors and the students from his class before. He noticed that two seemed to have refused to study or perhaps hadn't been allowed to by their parents. Those were the children of Death Eaters who had been staunch supporters of Voldemort.

While he let the Gryffindors show the other Slytherins how the spells were done and had them practice on the dummies, he took the two who hadn't studied aside into a corner and told them that they better snap out of their resistance or they would fail when it came to the OWL's. He took 10 points off each one of them because they hadn't done their home work. One of them had the audacity after that to call Severus a traitor. That got him 30 additional points off and a week of detention with Filch. The other student decided to take Severus up on some one-on-one practice with his teacher to try and catch up, while the one who had run his mouth had to sit there and watch at first.

Once in a while he watched the Gryffindors that had been in the DA work with the Slytherins and noticed that after a little bit of tension in the beginning they were doing a very good job with them. Severus then showed all of them some more spells to practice and then went back with the two Slytherins who had been relenting. By the time he did, the one who had called Severus a traitor had already gotten an earful from the other for losing them 30 points by running his mouth and therefore was somewhat cooperating.

By the time class was over Severus had a pretty good grip on everybody. Each and every one of them who had cooperated and had practiced got 5 points for their house. He had also told the two students who needed to catch up to come back for another hour before dinner and he did some more practicing with them.

By the time Severus made it to dinner he was exhausted but confident that with a little more tutoring once a week they would have a chance to pass their OWL's. He set up the hour before dinner on Mondays.

Thursday morning Severus had the sixth years Gryffindors and Slyterins first. Just like with the fifth years the day before he also had a couple of Slytherins who had decided they didn't need to catch up on their studies and he took 10 points off for each of them. Luckily neither of the two felt the need to call him a traitor so the class went without detentions.

He decided he would handle the situation the same as the day before. The only thing he did different was to ask Ginny Weasley to show the class her Bat-Bogey Hex she had earned some fame for in school. It was so powerful that even the Slytherins cheered when she did it, and it turned out to be a great way to break the ice.

Another defensive charm he knew hadn't been taught was the Patronus Charm. He also knew there were four or five Gryffindor students who had been taught in the DA and were able to cast a corporeal Patronus. He asked who could cast the Charm and when those children raised their hands he asked them to show the class. Needless to say they were very proud to show them off. There was a crow, a wolf, a cat, a boar and Ginny Weasley's horse in the room. Severus gave each of them 5 points. He again had the students work with each other and let the Gryffindors teach the Slytherins while he worked with the two who needed it most. He didn't set up any tutoring for them because they seemed to be willing in their studies and they also didn't have any major year-end tests coming up.

His next class in the morning actually turned out to be a lot of fun as soon as the students figured out that he rewarded good behavior and good participation. Most of them had been in the DA and were basically where they needed to be with their studies. Luna Lovegood turned out to be a pro with her Patronus. Her hare ran around the classroom like no other. Severus was genuinely impressed and rewarded her with some extra points. Before he dismissed the class he also told them, like he had with each of his other classes that he would like them to write a foot long essay about what they had learned.

After lunch he had the Slytherin and Gryffindor firsties again. Yes, these small children were very loquacious and bubbly, and just when he decided to put the brakes on the conduct he noticed that the students of both houses were all mixed up instead of the way it had been before the war, where each house always had built small groups. He finally told them to calm down but not before it put a smile on his face. Maybe a reunited school, the way Albus had always envisioned it, wasn't that much of a stretch.

The children all had their homework done and were excited to delve some more into the magic that had been denied them for a month and seemed to have more fun now that the possibility of severe punishment from the Carrows, even for some minor accidents, was no longer a threat.

He noticed the same thing with the Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw firsties. So far it seemed that the end of the war had made everybody happier and more receptive.

He wasn't going to hold his breath though. The real test for him would come tomorrow morning with the seventh years.