"Mum is having another baby," Sevannah leaned against Scorpius after the last feast of the year. He was sitting to one side on one of the black and green leather sofas in the Slytherin common room, while she stretched her legs out along the rest of the space. "Like we need any more kids."

Scorpius tightened his arms around her and kissed the side of her head. "Maybe you should stay with me for the summer."

Sevannah pictured telling her parents that she wanted to stay at Malfoy Manor for the summer. "Maybe you just want to see my dad's head explode."

"Okay, maybe you just don't officially stay there." Scorpius tapped his long pale fingers on his chest just below the hollow of his throat. Sevannah smiled at the familiar motion. He'd done it when he was thinking since they were children.

He did it when they were determining how to sneak Angel into in the Manor when she was 8 and he was 10. He did it two years later when they figured out how to get Sevannah out of her room in Snape's quarters while she was visiting her grandfather and into the Slytherin common room. And he had done it a couple of months earlier when they figured out how to trick the wall that guarded the entrance to the Slytherin common room to let them in after curfew without alerting their Head of House.

"Summer sucks," Sevannah said quietly.

Scorpius raised an eyebrow at her uncharacteristic language. "Severus would be disappointed in your lack of descriptive creativity," he said, keeping his voice light. "But you're right. It does." He looked at the girl in his arms. She was different than other Slytherin girls. So much so that she looked out of place in this room, with its harshly regal furnishings and dour colors. The floor to ceiling windows looked out into the lake, where the Squid regularly made an appearance. He often wished there was more light in the dungeons. Sevannah looked like she needed more light.

Sometimes, Scorpius wondered if the Sorting Hat had assigned the redhead to Slytherin by mistake. Or as a joke. Or maybe it really had answered his pleading. Severus Snape may have made it work with a Gryffindor, but that was an anomaly. His only leg to stand on with his parents about his relationship with Sevannah was that she was in Slytherin. Her blood wasn't quite pure enough for them, but Draco wouldn't be outright rude to Severus' granddaughter.

Anyway, it wasn't as if he were the next Head of the Malfoy Family. That burden fell to his brother, no matter how much Draco clearly detested him.

The wall that opened to the corridor shuddered, and Millicent Goyle appeared. "The Mudblood and the bastard," she smirked. "Can anyone in your family do anything that doesn't bring shame to the name of Slytherin?"

Sevannah bristled, and Scorpius tightened his hold on her waist. "Sod off, Millicent."

Millicent rolled her eyes. "Your mum couldn't keep her knees closed, and even she had the decency to get knocked up by the right kind of person."

This was a normal interaction with Millicent. Looking back, Sevannah honestly wasn't sure why she decided to be pushed over the edge at that moment.

*S*S*

"They've been trying for years," Elizabeth twirled her quill between her fingers. She wasn't sure why she even had the quill. Writing things down in meetings like these was obviously forbidden.

"But now, they are stepping up their game. Like getting you involved is the lynch pin to their plan," Fred tapped his finger against the side of his glass, his own fidgeting gesture as they discussed the problem that was becoming more personal by the day. "This is the second time you've been threatened to join."

"Well, then they are going to be disappointed," Elizabeth said firmly.

"They came pretty close," Severus said quietly. "Tell me you wouldn't have at least pretended to join them if Sevannah was in danger."

"She was in danger," Elizabeth answered softly. "But we found her. And no one had to to join any terrible dark organizations."

"There may come a day when you don't have a choice," Severus's eyes were clearly lost in the past, his voice trailing in from a time when he had felt the pain of choices taken away.

"Even more reason to make sure this weak, inefficient group stays that way," Remus helped himself to another slice of pie from the middle of the table.

"Or ceases to exist all together." Severus shook his head. "They've been searching for a savior, and I'm afraid they'll have it before long. There's always a prophecy to be twisted."

"They are missing key supporters," Teddy said soberly, his hair rotating through a series of colors. "Couldn't even get Draco to say his son was the son of Voldemort."

Elizabeth flinched, not because of the name, but because it reminded her of her daughter, sitting upstairs in her room having been flooed home unceremoniously the last night of the term. Sevannah, sweet, quiet Sevannah, punched another Slytherin in the nose because the other girl wouldn't stop perpetuating the rumor that Mrs. Malfoy had used a time turner to create Scorpius with the Dark Lord.

*S*S*

Blood covered Sevannah Weasley's knuckles. The sight of it made her a little bit sick, but her fury carried her through the nausea. Millicent Goyle grabbed at her nose in pain, screeching through the blood and muffle that Sevannah was going to be expelled.

Sevannah was pretty sure that Severus wouldn't expel her, as she sat silently in front of her grandfather's desk. She wasn't particularly sorry for what she had done, but she was almost certain that the penalty for fighting, if that was what it could be called, wasn't expulsion. Anyway, Millicent had it coming, talking about all that nonsense Scorpius being related to Voldemort.

"I have to say," Severus said slowly, "Usually there is very little Muggle-fighting in Slytherin." He stood near the large, recently-repaired window in the headmaster's office, looking at his wayward grandchild with a look in his eyes that Sevannah struggled to read. He didn't look angry, really, but Severus's anger sometimes simmered below the surface.

"Care to tell me what caused this disgraceful display?"

Sevannah squirmed under his gaze. "She says Scropius…" she shrugged. "You know. What people are saying about him."

Severus nodded. "And so you thought she needed a broken nose?"

Sevannah blushed and looked down. "I just got so mad."

Severus sighed, and sat in his chair. "Most of the time, I thank the universe that you and your sister inherited your father's temper. It is easier to handle than the long, deep grudges that your mother and I tend to hold." He raised an eyebrow. "But I can't say that I'm sorry I didn't have to clean your mother up after many fights." Waving his wand, Severus summoned a cloth and a vial of something rust colored. "Come here, and let me look at your hand before we continue a must-needed discussion about controlling one's temper."

"Professor, I really—"

"What have I told you about that, Sevannah Rose?" Severus looked over his glasses at her.

Sevannah grimaced. "Grandpa, if Mum and Dad hear people saying that, they will never let me see him!"

Severus smirked and beckoned her over again, this time successfully, and set about cleaning the blood off her hand. "You have a pretty good right hook, Snakeling." He carefully inspected her hand for damage. "First of all, your parents have known about that rumor since it started. Second, if they were as gullible as that, Georgia would be running their house by now," he spread the contents of the vial on a scratch on her knuckle. "And third, everyone knows that idiots started that rumor to try to force Draco back into the fold. At least all the adults in your world do." He held her hand between his palms. "Frankly, I don't think your parents would love if you showed such interest in Godric Gryffindor himself. You are young. And friends are good. But perhaps in the future, you let your friends fight their own battles, at least as far as physical altercations are concerned."

"That's what Scorpius said," Sevannah said softly.

"Not a lot of men who would fancy a girl protecting them," Severus smiled. "At least not so obviously. Some day, ask your Mum about the time she tried to give your Dad money." He moved his hands to the top of her head. "I'm not saying it's right, I'm just saying that boys and men tend to be a little… Neanderthal about these things." He kissed her forehead, then sat back and regarded her seriously.

"Now, you know I can't let this go. You can't punch people, and you definitely can't attack members of your own House." He frowned. "Technically, I suppose, you should be speaking to Professor Slughorn, although I'm sure this issue would have crossed my desk eventually." He paused to look at his granddaughter, who seemed to be sinking into the floor. "By all accounts, you should be suspended."

Sevannah's eyes widened. Her father was going to kill her. Fred Weasley tolerated his children's general fun-loving behavior, but he would not be pleased with something that resulted in suspension. In fact, now that she thought about it, he was not going to think the whole situation was funny at all.

"However, since you were going home tomorrow anyway, perhaps missing the train and going home now will suffice." he stood and went to the floo.

"Grandpa! Please!"

Severus looked at her seriously. "Please add a week of lab work this summer?" It broke his heart to see her eyes fill with tears, but he steeled himself against those feelings.

"No," Sevannah said softly. "I'm already grounded the first week of summer because I left the dungeons that night… Dad's going to be mad."

"Very possibly," Severus threw a handful of floo powder into the flames. "And yet, you will survive."

*S*S*

Severus frowned into his coffee mug, having an eerily familiar feeling about wanting to get his family out of Britain. But it wouldn't have worked decades before, and it might be an overreaction presently. The more he watched his grandchildren grow up, and more he realized fully how young Elizabeth had been during the war.

She may have been 17, but she was by no means an adult, even though she had done a decent good job at passing as such. Sevannah and Georgia each showed substantial characteristics of their parents, but they didn't have the weight of the world on their shoulders, as much as they would like you to believe it.

"People think they can just touch me," Georgia had complained after a trip to Hogsmeade. "Like they think I'm covered in luck."

Severus had needed to hide his smile. He wasn't happy that his granddaughter was being pawed at, of course, and he could certainly be working to make sure that stopped happening. But it was such an age-appropriate problem to have. In Elizabeth's third year, she was working to defend herself against dementors.

"Dad?"

Elizabeth's voice shook him out of his thoughts. He focused his eyes on her, and she smiled, recognizing immediately that he hadn't been playing attention.

"Maybe a couple of hours scrubbing caldrons will help you to pay attention," she joked, standing to take the empty cups off the table. People were starting to trickle out of the house, he had clearly missed the end of the meeting.

"Maybe you could do to repeat some of the lessons in respect I thought I taught you," he scowled at her. "I was thinking, something Gryffindors do so infrequently, I'm sure you missed it."

She laughed again, coming around the table to stand next to his chair. "Are you staying for dinner? Molly should be bringing Lily and Orion home any minute."

"Twist my arm," Severus smirked at her. "But before that, while we're alone, I want you to tell me the truth."

Elizabeth's brow furrowed. "About what?"

"The threat. You downplayed it for Fred, I could tell."

Elizabeth sighed. "What was scary about it was the fact that they are well-connected. Not that many people know that we're expecting, and that was the crux of the whole thing. Join them, or they will strike when I am most physically vulnerable. Makes me a little afraid to go to the hospital to have this one."

Severus frowned. "And you really didn't recognize their representative? This woman?"

"Never seen her before, but she reminded me of Narcissa. All pinched."

"Speaking of Malfoys…" Severus looked toward the stairs. "What are you going to do with your little snake?"

Elizabeth rolled her eyes to the ceiling. "Is it bad that I am super proud of her for punching that girl?"

"Yes," Severus tried to look stern. "You absolutely cannot condone that sort of behavior. It's unacceptable." He paused and smirked slightly. "Who knew my little bird had it in her?"

"I know!" Elizabeth nodded. "Makes me feel better about her hanging around Scorpius. She might pop him in the nose if he tries anything."

"I think it is a tribute to the boy that he picked the girl who would stand up. Malfoys tend to pick milk toast witches."