[Notes, disclaimer and everything in chapter 1 – do read that]
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'What?' she gasped.
'The Polyjuice potion, Granger. You were young, but you should remember the time you brewed a potion that you weren't even supposed to know,' Severus said.
She gaped and blinked. 'Well…' she finally mumbled.
Severus chuckled warmly and asked, 'All right. Feeling better now?'
She sniffed loudly, dried her tears and nodded.
'Good girl,' Severus said.
Harry wrapped an arm around Hermione's waist and said, 'I told you he was here. Now, it'd be nice if you could tell us what he is.'
She sniffed loudly and focussed on Severus, who smiled at her.
'So, you stayed around after your murder,' she said.
Severus nodded, and thus she started to ask him a lot of very precise questions. When she was done, she took to pacing, but after two minutes, Severus's patience thinned dangerously.
'Granger?' Severus said.
She swirled towards him and said, 'I'm not a specialist, but I've never heard of a spirit like you. There are your own feelings to take into account, Harry's wish and Wee Sev's magic, too. I think your best call would be to have Gibbs ask Emily.'
Gibbs nodded. He turned to Harry and asked, 'Could you use magic? I'd like to call Emily up, but I don't want to wake up our kids.'
Harry smiled and said, 'You can yell if you want, Jethro. I put a permanent spell on the walls of their rooms; we can hear them, but they can't hear us.'
Gibbs smiled, but his smile didn't last for long. Severus grinned and said, 'That's going to be useful in a few weeks when you start playing "catch the snitch" together.'
Gibbs didn't know the reference to Quidditch, but he got a fair picture of what Severus meant. It didn't help that Harry blushed and that Hermione giggled.
Gibbs glared at Severus and went to the landing. He leant over and yelled, 'Em! Come up here, Sweetie!'
The little girl rushed to her uncle Jethro.
'We need your help, Emily,' Harry said.
The little girl tilted her head.
'Do you know what Severus is?' Gibbs asked her.
Emily tilted her head the other way and looked at Severus. Then, she said, 'Oh.'
'Em?' Gibbs said.
She smiled at Gibbs and said, 'I can't tell you yet.' She turned to Hermione and asked, 'Do you know what my status is, legally?'
'How so?' Hermione inquired.
'There's something I need to tell your Minister for Magic. Can I do that, or do I need to go through Dad or even Marina?' the little seer explained.
Hermione smiled at Emily, who was just discovering her gift. She answered, 'You can order me to go see my boss, or you can ask your father to escort you to the Ministry. Your special status grants you an immediate answer, either way, from Minister Shacklebolt.'
'You'll get used to finding all the answers you need in the Akashic Records; you're connected to them,' Severus explained gently.
Emily nodded and said, 'Thanks! It's all so big. There are so many things. I'll have to grow up a bit before everything's all clear.'
They all smiled at her.
'What do you want to do?' Gibbs asked her.
Emily giggled and said, 'I know the Minister would Apparate here if I asked him, but I'd like to go to London.'
'Then go ask your dad. He'll understand,' Harry said.
Emily grinned and was gone in the blink of an eye.
'Cute witch, but we still don't know what I am,' Severus complained.
'You've always been extraordinary,' Hermione murmured.
'Granger,' Severus sighed. He took a deep spirit-breath and said, 'Hermione… There's no need to feel bad about my death. I got what I deserved for joining the Dark Lord.'
'No!' Harry growled.
'I agree!' Hermione declared vehemently, tears coming back to her eyes.
'You didn't deserve what happened to you in the Shrieking Shack! I wish I could have helped you the way you helped me,' Harry said.
'Harry… it was Fate. I was to die then and there, and… you were just seventeen, for Merlin's sake. It was my duty to protect you all those years; I'd have turned into a bitter ghost if you'd endangered yourself to help me that crucial night,' Severus said.
Harry was nodding; he was too moved to say anything.
'Er… am I the only one who's got the feeling that Em wants to see Kingsley about something that's linked to Severus?' Gibbs interrupted them.
The three of them turned to Gibbs.
'Do you think?' Severus asked Gibbs.
The Muggle nodded.
'Now that I'm a godfather and that I'm visible, I know that I won't fade away or move on until my godson is an adult,' Severus said.
'You can say it, Severus. You'll stay here until my second son dies; you're bound together,' Harry said.
Severus nodded once.
'Is resurrection impossible?' Gibbs inquired.
'Oh, yes!' Hermione said.
'Thank Merlin!' Severus added.
'Even Necromancy doesn't work. Death is final, but final here; Dumbledore somehow used to say that it was the beginning of the journey,' Harry said.
Severus noticed Gibbs's puzzled look and added, 'And there are many paths to follow after life here.'
'Well, perhaps the kid will find you a job at the Ministry since you can cast spells and don't need help to go from one place to another,' Gibbs teased his odd guest.
Severus glared at him, which amused Gibbs.
'It's unlikely. I'm a Potions master, not a Charm caster,' Severus said.
'What if…' Hermione began to say.
She stopped and the three men waited a few seconds for her to go on.
'Those two might be mind readers,' Gibbs said pointing his thumbs at the two wizards, 'but I'm not.'
'What if Headmaster Snape can grasp things and can start brewing again if he concentrates and uses spells to help him?' Hermione said.
Severus was deeply surprised.
'You can always try,' Harry said.
'Why not?' Severus conceded. He floated towards Hermione and added, 'And I'll cast a nasty spell on you if you don't stop using my former title.'
Hermione squeaked inelegantly.
'Hey! Speaking of your title, perhaps you're still Headmaster or something!' Harry exclaimed.
'Don't be silly! I'm dead, Potter,' he said.
Gibbs smacked the spirit; he aimed perfectly in order to touch only the hair on Severus's head and not have his hand go through it fully.
'Sure aim,' Hermione said.
'What was that for?' Severus growled.
Before Gibbs could open his mouth to answer, Harry said, 'I'm a Mallard, now.'
'Well, I'll keep forgetting if you don't stop behaving like the silly boy I met years and years ago,' Severus declared.
Harry grinned impudently and said, 'Well, the silly boy might have a point. Okay, you died, but now that you're back, there might be a legal twist or something that everybody forgot, that Hermione hasn't dusted off yet, and that Emily knows about.'
Severus gulped. 'Now, that would be my idea of hell. Being able to brew potions wouldn't be too bad, but being stuck in Hogwarts would be…' he didn't say more. He was obviously at a loss for word.
Gibbs decided that a bit of payback might be nice, and he said, 'Of course, it'd be pure torture to teach your godson and his siblings.'
'Usually, Headmasters don't teach,' Hermione pointed out.
Gibbs smirked; he might have been wrong about that, but Severus was blinking. It was obvious that he hadn't taken that into account, and Gibbs was gloating.
Harry saw what was going on and sighed. 'You two are worse than kids, really! Do I have to remind you that we're all family now?'
Severus and Gibbs traded looks and instantly teamed up together to tease Harry.
'We're behaving like normal relatives,' Severus said.
'I hear a bit of teasing is healthy, Daddy,' Gibbs added with a smirk.
Harry's bright green eyes sparkled when he retaliated by saying, 'Oh, be quiet, Daddoo.'
Hermione's cheerful laughter brought the three men together on the same side, and Severus said, 'Enough, Granger.'
She looked at them, unfazed, and smiled at them with love.
'Women!' Harry exclaimed, rolling his eyes theatrically for good measure.
'Tell me about it!' Gibbs and Severus said in perfect synch, as if on cue.
Hermione snorted and said, 'You don't want me to tell Abby and Sarah that you're teasing me, do you?'
The men traded looks and wisely decided to remain silent.
'Perhaps Emily can tell us more about the true nature of Hea…' she stopped.
'By Slytherin! Use my name! I know you respect me; calling me Severus isn't going to make you turn into a fish,' Severus said.
'All right. So, perhaps she can tell us more about Severus's true nature once she's seen Kingsley,' Hermione suggested.
Severus shrugged and said, 'We'll see. I must say I'm in no hurry to find myself under the scrutiny of a bunch of idiots from the Ministry or other people from the Wizarding community.'
'I won't let them,' Harry declared.
'You might not have the choice,' Severus pointed out philosophically.
Harry growled.
'Easy, kitten,' Severus said gently, with a warm chuckle.
'Severus, if I'm not enough to keep you safe now that you're back in our lives, I don't have only Hermione and Ron to help me; I've got a whole family, and none of them would allow anyone to bother you,' Harry said.
'I forbid you, or anyone in your family, to endanger yourself because of me,' Severus growled, looking extremely serious.
'Do you really think I'd let anything happen to you?' Sarah growled as she joined them.
Severus opened his mouth to retort something, but Sarah's dark look made him shut his mouth.
'Whoa! I'd give a few Galleons for the opportunity to go back in time and have Sarah in class with us,' Hermione said.
'I'm sorry I was so harsh back then, Hermione. It was a strange way to keep protecting you from people like Lucius,' Severus said.
'I know,' Hermione declared immediately. 'It's just that I think it would have been funny to have Sarah with us.'
At the same time, Gibbs was asking Sarah why she was upstairs, and she answered that no one downstairs agreed about what to give Victoire, because the little girl was now awake and hungry.
'So, I'm coming to ask you two,' Sarah told her father.
'Let's go; we can't have Vic hungry,' Gibbs said, and he followed Sarah downstairs.
Harry, Hermione and Severus were right behind them.
'You're giggling like a girl, Henry,' Severus declared.
'Yep!' Harry admitted.
'Would you care to share with us?' Hermione said.
'Oh, yea! We'll have to tell Lucius that Severus is my Severus's godfather, and I want to do that face to face,' Harry said, right before his laughter exploded.
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(Next part as soon as possible.)