Disclaimer: Nothing so far is really mine. Not the Harry Potter Universe, not the plot, and not the triplets; only a few of my words and ideas have been added. This story originally belonged to Samira Granger and I have adopted it. It has also been adopted by debjunk with the permission of Samira Granger.

Flowers and Warriors

Chapter Nine

The dungeons of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry had always retained the same calm, cool, and mild dampness throughout the entirety of the year, no matter the season. Of course, it was a much welcomed reprieve from the summer heat on those days when being outdoors and in certain parts of the castle unpleasant. It was rumored that Salazar Slytherin himself spent quite a lot of time and magic to ensure that this part of the castle would remain constant for however long Hogwarts stood.

That particular Founder's true reasoning for doing so is unknown, but it has been the cause of much pondering and speculation over the centuries; much as was the location - and possible existence - of his Chamber of Secrets. The most commonly accepted conjecture for the dungeon climate control was that he wished to repel all the undesirables - which was nearly everyone not belonging to his house - gallivanting about the castle as much as possible. It is also thought that this allowed for more privacy for his little snakes to conduct whatever mischief and plotting they desired without openly condoning such things. That way he and his successors would not be implicated should any of Slytherin house be caught.

But, naturally, this atmosphere did not extend to the common room and dormitories of Slytherin's house. Those were relatively comfortable and pleasant, at least to the ones who resided there. In addition, every Slytherin first year was taught the only Warming Charm that worked in that area of the castle. It was, of course, the Parselmouth Founder's own creation, and thus, was only known to those of his house and the headmaster or headmistress.

However, the man currently traversing the Slytherin territory paid no heed to the coolness of his surroundings. It was immaterial, as was the possible reasoning behind it. The head of Slytherin was used to it, after all, and was also quite preoccupied with his thoughts.

Upon arriving at his quarters, Severus Snape wasted little time and promptly Flooed to Malfoy Manor. It was finally time to retrieve Alexander.

Despite the fact that their separation had been of a relatively short duration - five days - Severus had missed the boy, especially because of all that had taken place that day. Of course, he would never admit to being so ridiculously sentimental. Telling Hermione that he had missed her after not having seen the woman in nearly seven years was a completely different matter. At least, that was what he tried to tell himself. He was really getting tired of this foolish weakness whenever he was around her.

The disgruntled wizard impatiently waited for the younger Malfoy couple. Lucius and Narcissa were vacationing in Greece for the summer. The two had been visiting a different country every summer after the war ended and Lucius had been released from Azkaban.

The Ministry had been able to find no proof that Narcissa was a Death Eater or committed any Azkaban-worthy crimes. She had no Dark Mark. And saving the life of Harry Potter also seemed to go a long way toward the redemption of the entire Malfoy family.

Lucius served only a short amount of time in the Wizarding prison after having donated a substantial amount of money to the various reformation efforts and claiming that he had been blackmailed with the lives and well-being of his wife and son should he not have cooperated fully with the self-appointed dark lord.

Because the eldest male Malfoy had also claimed that he had been under the Imperius Curse during the first war, the Wizengamot thought it plausible that he had been blackmailed into Voldemort's service the second time around, though by a narrow margin of votes. However, it was still required that he paid for his crimes, which he did both monetarily and by serving a brief sentence in the wizarding prison, and was to be monitored by the Ministry for the rest of his life. One of the new policies of the post-Voldemort regime was forgiveness. It seemed the majority of citizens were incredibly weary of death and violence and all the messier, darker aspects of life. And massive sentencing of death, the Dementor's Kiss, and Azkaban only served to further remind them of these.

"Ah, Severus, there you are. We were beginning to think that Alexander would be spending another night with us here," remarked Draco Malfoy as he entered the receiving room of the Manor with his wife on his arm. "Not that we would mind though. Shall I call a house elf to get him?"

Severus nodded and then moved forward to greet the couple properly. Once the niceties were dispensed with, he began to inquire after Alexander's behavior.

"He's been wonderful, Severus," stated Ginevra Malfoy with a smile. "Don't worry."

"There was only one minor incident two days ago while he and Scorpius were in the drawing room. They somehow managed to move the sofas together in the middle of the room and were jumping on them and trying to grab one of the house elves that they had managed to float above their heads. And they've both been chastised for it, so there's no need for you to as well. They know not to do so again."

"Nevertheless, I still find it necessary to speak with him about this incident."

All three stood there for a moment in complete silence before Severus decided to break the news to them. "Hermione's back."

"What?" gasped the red-headed woman while her husband looked on with a faint look of surprise upon his face before quickly schooling it into a more appropriate look of polite interest. "What do you mean Hermione's back?"

"As I've just stated, she's back," said Severus, deliberately being vague and obtuse.

"Well yes, we've established that already. But back how, exactly?"

The darker man grinned inwardly. He was actually in quite a good mood after having just spent the afternoon with his children. And when Severus Snape was in a good mood, he usually allowed his natural wit and wicked sense of humor to issue forth. This was generally cause for much frustration and chagrin for those at its mercy. Although, it had rarely been seen in the years that Hermione had been away, so it had mostly been forgotten.

"I believe she arrived at the castle via the Hogwarts Express and from there one of the carriages until she reached the front gate where she then proceeded to walk. At least, that's what I'm guessing she did, but for full details, I suggest you ask the woman herself. I wouldn't be presumptuous enough to claim that that was exactly how she came back without first confirming it as truth."

Poor Ginny Malfoy could only gape at him, having never before experienced Severus Snape while in a good mood. Her husband, however, had and was quite taken aback by it, though only another faint look of surprise quickly passed over his face. This knowledge - beyond anything else - made it clear to him that Hermione Granger was, indeed, back. But as to what, exactly, her being "back" entailed, he was completely unsure, though he could hope for both Severus' and Alexander's sake.

Before any of them could respond further, the voices of the two young boys reached their ears. At that point, it occurred to Ginny that idly standing with her mouth open was not especially dignified. Severus just smirked at the couple before turning toward the door, and Draco briefly wondered why Severus thought it more likely that Hermione arrived by train rather than Apparating before he too turned toward the door. They only had to wait for a moment or two before Scorpius and Alexander came bounding into the room with one of the Malfoy house elves in tow carrying Alexander's shrunken belongings.

"Hi, Dad," said Alexander as he hugged Severus. His greeting was significantly less exuberant than the Snape triplets but not less meaningful, and it made the man grin. Ginny and Draco saw it and shared a knowing glance; Hermione truly must be back because Severus hadn't openly smiled or grinned since she disappeared.

Before the Malfoy's were able to say anything further about Hermione, the older wizard hastily bade farewell to the three and had Alexander do so while also thanking them for their hospitality. Once the whirlwind of goodbyes had ceased, Severus Flooed back to Hogwarts with the boy. He and the youngest Granger needed to have a conversation and prepare for the arrive of Hermione.

He knew that Alexander would be more than thrilled to finally meet the sister he had heard so much about. Severus had been telling the boy about Hermione for as long as he could recall, but he could never understand why he was unable to see her. Now, hopefully, he would find out.

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Bath time was most dreaded time for both the Snape triplets and their mother. From the time the tap was first turned and the water began to splash against dry porcelain, a veritable cacophony of sounds and noises filled the air and, usually, more than one room. Whinging was the most common of these noises.

The children, of course, were responsible for producing such a nerve-wracking tone, but their mother occasionally want to join in with them, nearly at her wits end. She was surprised that she wasn't yet bald from the sheer amount of frustrated hair-pulling she did while attempting to get her little monsters to bathe.

Hermione had long ago given up on trying to reason with Lucian and Anthea, and Sebastian felt obligated to go along with his siblings despite his more natural inclination to be Mummy's little helper. None of them seemed to truly find bathing necessary. They didn't think that there was anything wrong with the way they smelled. Apparently, the smell - comparable to that of a filthy, and sometimes wet, dog - that normally accompanied children's outdoor play, did not register as any sort of stench within their young minds.

At times, the frustrated mother had been tempted to just allow them to not bathe until they were able to smell themselves, but she could never bring herself to do so. She didn't think that she would be able to withstand such an assault upon her already abused sense of smell.

The irritated witch finally decided to cease all cajoling and nicer attempts and began putting into place the only method that worked well. The youngest child was her first victim.

She needed Lucian to stand still for just a few seconds. And, in order to do so, her primary strategy consisted of pinning him with the infamous Scary Mum Face - a combination of her version of Severus Snape's most potent glare and her mum's own scary face - or sometimes known as The Evil Eye, The Eye, The Face, Scary Face, or The Look. Any, or all three, of her children immediately froze, wide-eyed, whenever that look was turned their way. This pause allowed for Hermione to swoop in and grab the boy before he could even think about getting away, much less actually do so.

Usually, after his mother picked him up, Lucian would give in and grudgingly take his bath. On occasion, though, he would struggle against her, trying to escape. That was when Hermione would turn her wand on the young boy and levitate him into the lavatory. She had once attempted to levitate him straight into his bath with his clothing still on, but that plan had backfired on her; he had enjoyed wringing out his wet sleeves on his mother far too much for her liking.

After Lucian's bath had finished, and the scowling boy was dried off and dressed for bed, Sebastian would take his. Now that one of his siblings had bathed, he no longer felt obligated to not do as Mummy said. And Anthea, never one to be outdone by her younger brothers, would follow.

Once all three were clean and dressed in their pajamas, Hermione was able to call the house elves - assigned to her person, her quarters, and her children - in order to watch her rambunctious trio while she was out. At first, Hogwarts new Arithmancy professor had thought that having three house elves assigned to only the four of them was the just the slightest bit over the top, but that was before she remembered who her children were and what feats of mischief they were capable of getting up to.

While each child was getting his or her bath, Hermione informed them individually that she would be out for the evening with their father. She mentioned nothing of Alexander yet; she would leave that for the next day. The witch knew that, if she did tell them, they would want to go along with her, and she didn't think that bringing those three along while she was going to meet her brother for the very first time would be such a good idea. Furthermore, they would beg and plead with her to go - Anthea had mastered the ability to produce believable crocodile tears at a very early age, Sebastian could produce the most sorrowful puppy eyes ever seen on a child, and Lucian was an expert, for one so young, at guilt tripping - and there was only so much battle with them she felt able to withstand in one day.

Before she made her last minute preparations to leave, Hermione made sure that the triplets were fed. She would have eaten with them had she not lost her appetite to anxiety earlier that day. Once they were finished, she hugged and kissed them good-bye and checked that the house elves had all the necessary information and instructions about the three little Snape's that she could think of.

Finally, it came time for her to leave. She did so with as much courage and aplomb as she could muster. It was time, past time in fact, for her to meet the other Granger.

A/N: Hello again! I apologize for the incredibly long wait, but much has occurred in the past few months. Anyway, I'm sure you don't wish to hear so much about that. I hope you like this chapter even though it is considerably shorter than I had originally planned, but I found that it would probably work better if I split chapter nine into two chapters rather than having it one very long chapter. So, chapter ten was originally going to be part of chapter nine. As always, thank you to everyone who has read, reviewed, subscribed, etc. I'm always very appreciative of it. Until next time!