Hermione had decided to return to Hogwarts that night, and Severus convinced her to not go to class that morning in order to catch up on sleep. He would've left her in Cornwall, but some human interaction was in her best interests, and he'd learned recently that she and Draco were close friends in the future. She would be well taken care of in the head dorms, if it came down to it.

Severus was left to his own devices as the weight of all the information he'd learned came crashing down on him once more. That had been happening a lot in the past few hours. At the moment, if he wanted more information, the only one he'd extract it from would be the eldest son.

Not wanting to approach Bryan while he was in the Great Hall, as that would be too public, and not having him in class for a few days yet, he discreetly sent him an owl.

My office. Tonight. 7.

He hadn't signed it, expecting that his handwriting would be recognized.

"I will speak frankly," he said, when the boy showed up to his classroom that night. "I had never planned on getting to know you, and even now, while the thought is not as unpleasant as it once was—" he held up a hand to stop the retort that he saw coming— "it seems I will have to."

"Sir?"

"You don't have to call me that." Though it could have been a sweet sentiment, the potions master's tone was somewhat bitter.

"Habit. I'd much rather not call you that, you know. So what were you saying? What's changed?"

"Your mother is… very sick. The cause of it, as far as I can see, is a longing for old times. I see now that much of her recovery will depend on my actions. Do you follow?"

Bryan bit his tongue from asking the man to elaborate on the first part. He'd find that out for himself. "No, I don't follow, unless you simply mean that more time around you will heal her. We all know that just your presence lights her up."

It took Severus's every effort to not preen at those words. "I care for her greatly," he began again slowly, choosing his words carefully, "and I think it would benefit all of us, but most importantly her, if we spent more time together, as five."

Bryan's jaw dropped open. That was what they'd always hoped for, but never in their wildest dreams did they think their father would be the one to suggest it.

"Pick your jaw off the floor, boy!"

"Of course that's a good idea!" Bryan exclaimed, coming back to himself. "We just thought we'd have to trick and weasel you into it. After all, Johnny's already managed that twice."

"He has, hasn't he? Just as you tricked me into thinking I had caught you unawares. It seems I did not have to wait until Roman to 'finally get my Slytherin.'"

Bryan raised an eyebrow, and the similarity to himself made Severus start. Nevertheless, he answered the unspoken question. "Roman once remarked that had his father been here to see his sorting, he would have made the remark I just did. Evidently, you were always a Gryffindor while Johnny was a Ravenclaw, though his exact words were somewhere along the lines of 'they would have been.'"

It briefly crossed Bryan's mind that he should've been jealous his father could say Roman's given name with such ease, but he let it slide. With amusement, he shook his head. "All these clues and you still didn't figure it out until I all but told you. The disappoint is high."

"Have you always been such a disrespectful child?"

Bryan only laughed, beginning to feel more comfortable as the other seemed to relax. "I'm only riding out the high of these moments. For these past few months, it's just been Johnny and Roman who got any sort of access to you. Mum, too, though I won't admit to being jealous of her. I've walked in on you two more times than I'd like in my time, and if I have to hear—" He made a face in mock disgust, and Severus frowned at his son's forwardness. "Right now… Dad… I have you all to myself again, and it's amazing." He'd used that word just to test the waters, and he faltered when he saw for himself how uncomfortable it made the man feel.

"You haven't told the other two yet?" It was obvious though, as they hadn't incessantly approached him, unlike Bryan.

"Though it feels like a lifetime, it's been less than forty-eight hours since I clued you in. Besides, I don't think you'd be able to handle three at once. I'm bad enough."

Severus's thoughts flitted to the two younger Slytherins and he had to admit that Bryan had foresight. While the seventh year was annoying enough on his own, his nonchalant attitude had been easy to deal with. With the way Johnny and especially Roman wore their hearts on their sleeves sometimes, he could almost see that one of them would have gotten terribly hurt during this volatile period where he was just starting to process everything.

He wasn't blind though, and he'd seen firsthand the winces and letdowns on Bryan's face. The boy was strong, he'd have to give him that. And he definitely was more than just the Gryffindor he pretended to be.

"Four at once is what I'm thinking for this weekend," Severus said gruffly. "And I would appreciate your output on what she would most like."

Bryan grinned widely. "Mum's a very simple person. Anything that involves us makes her happy, really. But in particular, she likes… hm… sitting by the window and watching when it rains—the heavier the better; being outdoors when the weather's just warming up in spring; cooking together, even if that creates a huge mess, but honestly? Like I just said, being with us makes her happy."

Severus was quiet, contemplating the possibilities.

"We used to go on these birthday trips," Bryan said, his voice infused with sentimentality. "Whichever of us had a birthday would choose a location to bring the whole family to on a day trip. I'm not saying we have to go far in whatever you're planning; just that it reminded me of those."

"Oh? And was there a favorite location?" He recalled Roman talking about the traveling they used to do, but he didn't make his prior knowledge known.

"It's too early to be doing those again," Bryan said, not answering the question. "For starters, the next birthday is Johnny's, all the way in July, but more importantly, you don't know us all that well yet."

"I could get to know you."

"Yeah, but you don't want to lure Mum into a false sense of normalcy when you aren't there yet."

"What do you suggest, then?" He was annoyed that his extension of generosity had been shot back.

Bryan shrugged. "A stroll on the land surrounding the house sounds simple enough. As was mentioned over the holidays, Cornwall is gorgeous—year-round, of course, but especially in spring. I mean, I hear it is. We only just made it there last summer, anyway. We could always retire to the house afterwards. It would be just the type of domesticity that Mum craves."

"Hermione craves domesticity?" It wasn't a question, so much as a skeptical statement that Severus could already see from previous knowledge was absolutely true.

For his part, Bryan winced. "I've never heard you refer to her as Hermione when speaking to me. Sometimes, you say your mother like have been doing, but usually you just straight up say Mum. Even better, I remember the days when you referred to her as Mummy in front of Johnny and later Roman."

His father sneered in distaste. "I don't recall ever saying the word Mummy."

"Well, now you have."

Not long after Bryan left, their plans mostly cemented, Severus came face to face with Hermione at his door. His mind had been on her the whole day, and it didn't help matters when he heard from Vector that she'd actually attended classes instead of resting in her room.

They shared a quick glance at each other before Severus welcomed her in, the action so different from the time she barged in right before the holidays.

"I'm feeling better," she said quietly. "Thank you for coming by yesterday, or should I say—this morning?"

"It doesn't matter when. I should've come by earlier."

She smiled gently. "Well, you can repay me by letting me stay here tonight." She held up a hand to forestall his argument. "I just want your presence. I'm not going to beg either." Looking into her eyes, Severus knew at once that he would do anything to keep her from the emotional pain she'd suffered. "And no," Hermione added suddenly, "you're not taking the couch."

"As you wish."

"Neither am I."

"You—"

Hermione held up a hand to stop him, and he surprisingly acquiesced. That night, they both had the most restful sleep in ages.

It wasn't quite daylight outside yet when Hermione stirred, but one peek at the man next to her and she knew that he was awake too. That didn't stop her from snuggling closer. She didn't look at or mention the insistent poking at her belly, not wanting to embarrass or drive him away.

"None of this went according to plan," she whispered softly into his neck. "I thought I'd be able to have it all under control and tell you when the time was right."

Severus didn't know what to say, but he offered her a nod.

"Are we alright? You're not overwhelmed and repulsed by this whole situation, are you?"

"No. Truth be told I've felt a bit thick for not figuring it out sooner, but you can't blame me for not thinking of time travel. How absolutely far-fetched."

"And?"

"Well, I would be more overwhelmed, but if I'm completely honest with myself, I was growing rather fond of those Sawyers. I certainly feel no repulsion. Just… surprise on top of surprise." There was something about being in bed that made one less snarky and more open.

The statement should have relieved Hermione, but it reminded her that she needed to have a different talk with him.

"Look, Severus…"

He stilled.

"They're your children, yes, and we would absolutely love to have you in our lives, moreso than anything else, I'd say, but recent events have shown me that you have some maturing to do. You're their father, but you're also not quite their father yet. I won't have you hurting them any more than you've already hurt at least one of them."

"By one you mean the Gryffindor." Even though he'd had quite a few conversations with said Gryffindor now, it was still hard to refer to him by his name, especially in front of Hermione. Making sense of Bryan Sawyer as Hermione's son was still quite a concept.

"You could start by referring to him by his name." She quieted, encouraging him to say it.

"I—alright, fine. Bryan."

"Again."

"I'm not—" He was about to complain about being treated like a child when he decided to just oblige her. The least he could do was learn to say his own son's name properly and without awkwardness, he supposed. "Bryan."

"Good. That's his name. Philip Louis."

"What?"

"Those are his two middles."

He nodded, thinking over something. "I've always been fond of—"

"—The name Philip, I'm well aware. I wasn't, still am not completely in love with that name, honestly, but seeing as I got to choose two of his names…" she drifted off, chuckling.

Severus wasn't laughing, only because his mind was still stuck on what she'd said a few minutes ago. "How can I… how can I show you that I am and can be the one you knew? I would very much like to get to know them—as more than a mere acquaintance with privileges."

"You have every potential to be the one I knew, Severus. You're not there yet, but I have faith in you. As for being a parent—well, what would you say the key thing is?"

He felt panicked, not knowing whether this was a test and having no idea what the best way to answer was. "To care for and provide for them?"

"To start with, you could be more confident in your answer." His hesitance was sweet, though, and Hermione found herself snuggling closer to him. "I would say that the moment you become a parent, your needs are second. You have someone else to care for—someone you love so unconditionally that you'd gladly put their needs ahead of yours every time, even if it isn't always deserved. That also means that—" Here, she looked straight into his eyes— "you can no longer just blow your top the moment you decide that your feelings have been hurt. Yes, you didn't know what Bryan was to you, but he was in your line of fire, and you went straight for him. That can't happen again. I won't allow it."

"I understand."

"What a night that was."

"Quite."

"And that performance of yours, starting from that hand on my knee way back at the game—what, don't tell me you're getting embarrassed?"

He didn't answer, but she'd already seen the flush on his face.

"Severus… you must know that I'm not angry at the—the way you took me. I can handle that. I understand that you're rough by nature and that you had no reason to tone it down for someone you barely knew, much less for someone who encouraged you not to hold back. And yes, that's how I like it." Despite herself, she flushed. "It was the gleam in your eye and your lack of feeling afterwards that cut straight into me."

"I'm sorry," he whispered.

"But I get it," she said softly, looking straight into his eyes. "I know you all too well, and you have these masks that you hide behind. You don't need to tell me how ashamed you were after that night, as your treatment of me told me all." Her expression suddenly became playful, catching him off guard. "Do you know what you really ought to be sorry for?"

He didn't.

"You should be sorry that you denied Hermione Granger—you certainly didn't deny Hildegard Sawyer—so many times that you took away the chance for her first time with you to be romantic. But it's alright. She never cared about that first time tripe."

"Speaking of yourself in third person now?"

"Severus," she said seriously, rolling over onto her side to gaze at him, "right now, I want you to show me that you're still capable of being a decent lover from start to finish."

He didn't respond right away, but she could see the alarm as it flickered across his face.

"Say something."

"One day, I'll stop denying you," he began, and Hermione groaned, knowing that that spelled a rejection. "The image of your despair is etched into my mind, and I would only be taking advantage of your feelings if I accepted your proposition."

"For Merlin's sake, we just woke up in the same bed not too long ago. You're also now aware of the fact that I'm older than the typical student—hell, older than you—and that my feelings, as you so lightly put them, are much more than superficial. What more do you want from me?"

"I want—" He cut off, the words catching in his throat. Hermione remained silent, encouraging him to express himself. "I want you to trust me, to feel secure around me. I know you think you do, but that was with the version of me that you'd known for years. I don't want you to think that I'm the same person you remember, only to be disappointed when you discover that's not the case."

"Alright…"

"I want us to progress at a natural speed—the way we would have been if—"

"If I didn't happen to be from the future."

"Yes."

She was silent for a moment, and the expression on her face clouded. "No."

"No?"

"Unluckily for you, I am from the future. You can't honestly expect everything to be exactly the same as before without that vital detail."

Severus didn't answer, only because he was too busy repeating his own words in his mind. Had he expressed his thoughts incorrectly? He only meant that he didn't want her to think he was using the situation as an easy way for him to get into her knickers. Her anger was unexpected; he watched helplessly as she pulled the covers off of herself and stood at the edge of the bed, sensing that she was about to leave.

"You were asking earlier how you could show me that you were the man I remembered, and now you're telling me that you're not. Pick one and stick with it." She turned around and took a few steps before hesitating and catching his eye one more time. "I had a great night. Shame it couldn't stay that way."

Severus stared helplessly at the spot she had just been.

Later that day, when he'd finally finished brooding and gotten out of bed, Severus realized with dread that today was the day he taught the first year Slytherins. He hadn't seen any of the 'Sawyers' in class since finding out, and as Hermione had just gotten back a little over a day ago, with much of that time spent with him, he was fairly sure she hadn't had time to fill them in yet. Even though she hadn't said so, he got the feeling that she wanted him to be the one to inform the younger two boys.

He was not one for revelations or emotional reunions. And why was it up to him to tell them, and not the other way around? No doubt Sawyer—he still couldn't wrap his mind around calling him Bryan—had planned for him to do this. What would he say? "Roman, I am your father, but you know that" sounded plain stupid.

All too soon the first years scrambled in, and after writing the instructions for the forgetfulness potion on the board, he retreated to his desk and sat there, focusing on a particularly scruffy first year. Roman seemed to sense his father's gaze, for he gave a shy smile. To both of their surprise, the potions master returned it—even if it barely counted for one.

To Severus, it felt like the class dragged on and on. Finally, the students started walking up and turning in bottled samples—many of them completely worthless, he could tell. As the first years packed their bags, he asked 'Mr. Sawyer' to stay behind. Severus watched as the boy—his boy—told Cerulean Knobel to not worry about him, and the rest of the class quickly shuffled out. Without a word, he gestured for Roman to follow him to his quarters through the backdoor of the classroom. The child looked confused and delighted at the same time.

"You wanted to see me, Professor?"

"I think, under the circumstances—" he struggled to say what he knew he had to say— "that Dad works too."

That was not how he had planned on revealing it—as if he had planned anything—but damn it all, he had just given the boy permission to call him that when he hadn't even intended to do so, and Merlin—

His self-turmoil dissipated quickly when he saw the boy's eyes light up. The smile on his face was so wide that it must've hurt, and Severus would forever remember the moment the child threw down his schoolbag and ran up to him, wrapping his little arms around his waist.

"There now…" he muttered, awkwardly patting Roman's back.

"You finally found out!"

"Obviously."

The grip around him tightened, and he found it almost hard to breathe. "I'm not going anywhere, Mr. Sawyer. You can let me go."

"I think, under the circumstances, that Roman works too." Cheeky boy. "You can't say no this time!"

"It wouldn't be too," Severus remarked with amusement. "I am both your professor and your father, but you are not both Roman and a Sawyer."

"Pah, logistics. As if I care about anything other than you right now!"

"Mr. Saw—Roman," he corrected, "you must know that nothing can change in public. The last thing you want is the Ministry getting their paws on you after hearing about your trip through time."

"I don't care about that—the public part," he added quickly when he saw his father's look of disapproval. "Of course I don't want the Ministry to run experiments on me. I just mean I don't care that I can't acknowledge you in public yet. It's not like I want you to claim me in front of everyone over breakfast. Your knowing is enough for me." Roman reached for him again, and this time, instead of hugging him first, he grabbed ahold of the man's arms and manually wrapped them around his small frame. "I don't have to teach you how to hug, do I?" His question was actually serious, and Severus had to stop himself from laughing.

"No, you most certainly do not." As if to prove his point, no matter how uncomfortable it made him, he loosened his arms from their placed position and re-initiated the hug. Merlin, just thinking of himself and hugs didn't sit right. A few seconds later, he extricated himself and got up to fetch his notepad. Roman watched curiously.

"Your next class is in five minutes, no? I've held you up long enough. Here is a note."

"I wouldn't mind skipping," Roman said quickly. "Time with you is rather precious."

"I won't debate the illogicality of that last statement. Classes are precious too."

He noticed that the first year's lips turned upward again at his statement, and it confused him. Why would Roman be happy that he wasn't allowing him to stay with him?

"You said too," Roman explained, still beaming. "You admitted that time with me is precious."

Severus rolled his eyes. While he didn't disagree with the boy's statement, he didn't mention that grammatically, the too referred to the fact that both of them should have been precious to Roman, not to himself. "Just get to your next class, will you?"

Roman smiled all the way to transfiguration. It warmed Severus's heart that he was the cause of that.

The potions professor realized not long after the Roman left that he hadn't told him anything about not telling Johnny. He didn't believe for a moment that the littlest—his littlest, Merlin, what a thought—would refrain from telling his brothers the good news, especially Johnny, whom he probably saw often due to them being in the same house. He supposed Roman would be cross when he learned that Bryan had already known for a couple of days.

Therefore, it only mattered if Roman told Johnny. That meant that he wouldn't have the chance to break the news to him as he had for Roman, and he had to admit that the scene was highly touching.

When sounds of a hesitant knock filled his ears later that day, he knew without a doubt that all three of the boys were now aware of the situation. "Come in, Johnny."

The boy strolled in purposefully, his piercing eyes never leaving his father's. "Roman told me something quite interesting. How did you find out?"

Severus observed him for a moment before responding. "You seem much more hesitant. Your younger brother was eager to attack my person."

"I'd take those liberties too if I could be sure that they weren't wholly unwelcome."

Feeling completely out of character, Severus awkwardly opened his arms, and Johnny looked on suspiciously before striding up and seizing the opportunity. In that moment, his mask of seriousness broke, and he looked once again at his father, this time with eyes that oozed vulnerability. Severus couldn't help but break the gaze. Sensing that the man was uncomfortable, Johnny duly ended the hug and perched on a nearby chair.

"I've hated having to speak in circles around you," he murmured. "Hated thinking that you thought I was lying to you. And besides, how are you so calm?"

Severus hadn't mentioned Hermione's emotional time in Cornwall to Roman, but then again, their conversation had been brief. He took one look at Johnny and decided that he was mature enough. "Truth to be told, I would not be so calm if it weren't for Hermi—your mother." He held up a hand to forestall any interruptions. "You have mentioned that she was in a right state when your—" he winced— "when I passed away, and even more so when she lost the child she was carrying, yes?"

Johnny nodded, having a slight inkling of where this was going but not daring to think that his suspicions were true.

"She's still in that state, only worse, I believe."

"Worse? I didn't think that was possible. Those were some bleak times." Suddenly, his eyes widened. "But what happened this time for it to occur again? Unless Bryan died… He did miss a few days of classes but I'm fairly sure I saw him in the Great Hall this morning—"

"Your brother is fine."

"Well. You didn't die, Roman didn't die, and Bryan didn't die. Who did?"

"Johnny," he began gently, "it wasn't that tragedy struck again—" Liar, he thought. You hurt her that night— "it was that she was never properly recovered. She did get better, but she got even better at hiding. I know this isn't something you want to hear."

"The gravestone."

"Pardon?

"Remember when I told you about seeing Eloise's quote-unquote gravestone? When I was poisoned by the aconite?"

"Yes, I recall." And how could he not, when it had likely chopped off a decade of his life expectancy?

"My first thought that night was something along the lines of, would Mum really do that? Because honestly, it seemed a bit creepy to me. It wasn't as if Eloise could ever be buried there, and knowing Mum's sentimentality, she wouldn't just place the grave there without visiting it all the time. I should've seen that she was still hung up on the past."

"I don't blame her," Severus said quietly. "Would you want to leave your past behind if it held everything you'd ever wanted, while the present threw that all away and left only pain and heartbreak?"

Those lines made Johnny smile offhandedly. "And that is where Bryan gets his Gryffindor charm. Pain and heartbreak? Sounds like his usual flair for dramatics."

It surprised him when he didn't feel offended at being compared to Bryan Sawyer. He knew it was time to drop the fake name from his mind, but he couldn't bring himself to say it. Bryan Snape. Where had the name Bryan come from? What about Johnny or Roman? There was so much he wanted to know. Contrary to Hermione's beliefs, he had no intention of pretending that everything was still the same. Things were, after all, very much different now.

I made a few changes to chapter 33 - you know, that chapter. If something's not reading right in your memory, then it's probably that. Just little things. I'm still trying to tweak that part to better express what I was going for. Happy May, y'all!

One reviewer mentioned Roman cuddling his dad so hard? Yes, yes, yes! :)

Love you guys xx