[Notes, disclaimer and everything in chapter 1 – do read that]
.
Harry ended with more names than he could use, and he decided to wait a few days to get to know his pets and choose the best names for them.
After dinner, he was planning to go back to his quarters to work a bit, but Hermione stopped him before he reached the stairs.
'Yes, Hermione?' he asked.
'Do you want to talk?' she inquired.
Harry smiled at his best friend and said, 'Yes, sweetie… When do you want us to have a cup of tea?'
'Now?' she suggested.
'Don't you have more interesting things to do than have tea with me now?' he said.
Hermione grinned and said, 'I think you'll be busy next weekend, and I just bet that you're planning to see Sev sometime tomorrow. He wouldn't have come back with you so soon if he hadn't agreed to chat with you.'
Harry nodded, looked around to make sure that no one would overhear them and said, 'I'll borrow your husband tomorrow after my shift.'
'Good, now come have tea with me. Sev's got a bit to do in his lab,' she said.
Harry looked at her. He decided that she might want to talk, too, and he followed her.
Draco, who was hiding under his Invisibility cloak, decided to go wait near Harry's door, and he moved upstairs.
Weniers had tea ready when they arrived.
'Have you heard anything odd?' Harry asked the house-elf.
'No, the school is calm for the moment, and even Weasley girl has been quiet,' Weniers answered.
'Thank you,' Harry said.
'The Auror Potter is welcome,' she said. Weniers bowed and left.
Hermione sat down and poured tea. She handed Harry a cup and said softly, 'You'd forgotten.'
Harry sighed and sat next to her as he took the cup. 'Yea,' he said, knowing that she'd understood about Remus and that there was no way he'd escape the talk.
'We're going to need time to recover. There are things…' she began to say.
Harry looked at her and thought about his friend's situation. 'You say spells sometimes,' he stated.
She nodded fervently and said, 'One day, my magic might come back, but I already forgot twice, and, for two seconds, I didn't understand why my spells weren't working.'
Harry put his cup down on the coffee table and paled. 'I'm so, so sorry,' he almost sobbed.
'Last time I checked, your name isn't Patrick Curby. You did everything you could,' she protested.
'Yes, but…' he began to say.
She tutted and said, 'Your name isn't Superman, either.'
Harry laughed softly.
'We'll need time,' she stated.
He took a deep breath and said, 'The war made us who we are, and we'll never be the same.'
She nodded and said, 'Drink your tea.'
He picked his cup up again and obeyed. 'You know, your magic will come back,' he said.
She shrugged.
'I know it's mad to say that, but you're such a great witch. I'm sure your magic will come back… Maybe when the baby grows a bit,' he said.
'It's just a tiny bunch of cells for the moment,' she said.
'It's got to be quite a surprise,' Harry said shyly.
'Being pregnant?' she asked.
He nodded fervently.
She chuckled. 'There's no need to worry, Harry. It's a big surprise, it wasn't planned, it wasn't to happen in the immediate future in theory, but now that it's happening, I'm all right with it. The baby will be a peace bonus. Can you imagine him or her?' she said.
Harry gave the question a serious thought and laughed.
'What?' Hermione growled.
'Your baby will be a little angel, and Sev and you are going to love that baby to bits, but… I pictured a little genius with your brain and Sev's sharp tongue. It'd be fun! I'll invite myself to the Sorting in twelve years,' Harry said.
'I could give birth to a Squib,' she said with a small voice.
Harry snorted and said, 'Right, and I'm going to become a Muggle pop star! Don't be silly! You'll have a witch or a wizard.'
'Do you really think so?' she asked hesitantly.
'I'm sure of it!' he answered, nodding fervently.
Hermione rushed to him and hugged him for dear life; Harry hugged her back after putting his cup down again.
He could feel that she was shaking and held her close, whispering nonsense to her.
'I just bet you'll have an adorable witch. Really,' he told her.
'Siding with Sev, I see,' she said with a chuckle, feeling better.
'Does he really want a girl?' Harry inquired.
Hermione looked at him with intensity and said, 'He told me that he just wants our baby to be all right, and I know he meant it, but the more I think about it, the more I think that he might want a daughter.'
'He'll love you both, just as much as you'll love them both; whatever the gender of the baby,' he said philosophically.
She smiled.
'I'm glad that you've found each other,' he added.
'Really?' she inquired.
'All right, up to the moment we found you in the Shrieking Shack, I'd really put my money on Ron, but Sev's the right wizard for you,' he told her.
She smiled and said, 'I'd lost interest in Ron that way long ago.'
'And you could tell no one about Sev. I understand,' he paused and looked at her. 'I really hope you'll have decades or centuries together,' he said.
Hermione cooed and said, 'That's so sweet, Harry. Thank you.'
'You're welcome, sweetie,' he said.
'What about you? I mean, date-wise,' she asked.
'Complicated,' Harry mumbled.
'You know you can tell me anything,' she encouraged him.
He looked at her, as if looking for some answer on her face, and he declared, 'Sev told you about Draco.'
'I'm not completely blind, Harry,' she protested, to hide the fact that her husband had mentioned Draco. She went on, 'You know you'll still be my best friend, even if you end up living with him, or even marrying him, don't you?'
He sighed deeply and said, 'Truth?'
She nodded and took his hand to encourage him.
'Minerva gave me a few books with some special spells because Draco had lent me his, and she'd seen them. I was with Draco when I started reading them, and there's that one spell that I don't get, and we agreed to try it. I think he doesn't want to be alone, and he doesn't mind that I'm a bloke,' Harry said.
'But…?' she asked.
'We've got a date, but it's not really a date. I've got a date with Kate next week, and I'm sure Draco wants to find a witch, who won't flee abroad, like Pansy did,' he answered.
Hermione nodded.
Harry squeezed her hand and said, 'Say, may I ask you a weird question?'
'We're friends,' she said. 'If I don't like your question, I'll bite,' she added.
'I was telling Draco that Kate doesn't mind that I'm a wizard and a copper, as she says, but my age seemed to bother her a bit. He said that she might not want to be the one to… well, to be my first. Do you think that's possible?' he inquired, blushing madly.
She thought about Kate's situation and answered, 'Not entirely impossible, you know.'
Harry nodded, lost in thought.
'What's the spell that Draco's going to show you?' she asked.
Harry's blush returned with a vengeance, and he said, 'I'm not telling you that!'
'Never mind. I can ask Sev tomorrow night,' she teased him.
'It's true that I'm planning to ask him a few practical things, not only tips on how to recover from a war, but he won't tell you,' Harry protested.
'I know.'
'Eh?' he said.
'Sev will never betray your trust, but now you feel a bit less guilty about seeing Draco and Kate. You know what? You should use your date with Draco to check if you guys can be friends in the future, and you should use your date with Kate to show her that you're a good bloke. If she's not afraid of magic, maybe she can become more than a date,' she explained.
Harry nodded again.
'From now on, we should try to find a time when we can meet and chat about anything and everything,' Hermione suggested.
'I'd love that. What do you propose, oh, great schedule mistress?' he asked.
.
.
In his office, Severus was working on new tests and training sessions for his students when George Weasley's head appeared in a magical fire.
'Professor?' George called softly.
Severus was quite surprised. He walked to the fireplace and said, 'Mr Weasley, what can I do for you?'
'Nothing. Harry called me earlier, and I've found something that belongs to your wife. I didn't want to Fire-call in your quarters and bother you, so here I am. May I come in?' George inquired.
'Of course,' Severus said.
He moved backwards to give George enough space to arrive into the room. The fireplace spat George, Fred's ghost and… Crookshanks.
'That's Hermione's cat!' Severus exclaimed.
'Yes, Professor, he stayed around our parents' house, and we went to get him,' Fred explained.
Severus looked at the ghost strangely and said, 'Flitwick and the others had told me about you, but it's different to see you.'
'Harry saved us,' Fred said.
Severus nodded.
George handed Severus the cat and said, 'We'll head home now.'
The twins walked to the fireplace.
'George,' Severus said.
The twins swirled around towards him. 'Yes?' both said.
'Come see me someday, I might have a solution for your ear,' Severus said.
'But everybody said that there's nothing to do,' George protested.
'I might know a Dark spell that could possibly work on you. What do you say you Floo here Sunday at midnight?' Severus said.
'I don't want you to go to jail because of my ear!' George protested vehemently. 'I like Hermione too much!'
Fred ghost-elbowed his twin and said, 'Look, Professor Snape's got a plan!'
George blinked as Severus grinned.
'In the mood to do something odd before coming to see me on Sunday?' Severus inquired.
Fred, and then George, nodded madly.
Severus put Crookshanks on his desk and noted down on a piece of parchment an address that he went to give to George. 'You'll go there. In the cellar, behind the only crate, you'll find a glowing phial of potion. Once you have it, Apparate to the Three Broomsticks, ask in a panic to use the Floo Network and announce clearly that you're coming to see me,' he said.
'Why?' George wondered.
'Did you look at the address? The house belonged to a real Death Eater; it's got to have wards. The potion's got to be a pretext to help you. Then Professor Snape can cast the spell, but everybody will think that it was the potion that healed you,' Fred said.
George gaped.
'Since I left the phial unattended and unprotected, I'll have no way to know what happened to it and I won't ever be able to reproduce its effect. I have to warn you that if it works, it'll look the same, but won't feel the same,' Severus explained.
'Thanks! Anything!' George said.
'Say, Professor, would you be interested in working with us? Just on a few projects,' Fred said.
'I'll probably work on some research, and I might brew more rare potions, but feel free to poll my wife,' Severus said. 'I never imagined that I'd ever say such a thing.'
'You trust us!' Fred exclaimed.
'Since you went to find her cat, I know that you'll make sure that nothing happens to her,' Severus said.
The twins nodded fervently.
'We'll send her an owl to invite ourselves to tea,' the twins said in synch.
'Do that,' Severus answered.
George and Fred went to the fireplace, waved at Severus, and they went home after saying, 'See you on Sunday, Professor!'
Severus smiled. George would be a sort of guinea pig, but Severus might well manage to do something about the young man's missing ear. He turned to Crookshanks and said, 'Let's go see your mistress.'
The cat purred as Severus picked him up.
.
.
Hermione and Harry were still chatting when Severus joined them.
'Crookshanks!' Hermione said happily.
The cat jumped from Severus's arms and went… to the fireplace.
'What does he want?' Harry wondered.
Severus and Hermione traded looks, lost for a moment.
Then, Hermione exclaimed, 'Oh! He wants Poppy to make sure that he can't give me any infection!'
Severus called the resident Mediwitch, and a spell on the cat later, the ball of fur jumped into his mistress's welcoming arms.
'Good kitten. Give him a treat,' Poppy said before Floo'ing back whence she came.
'Speaking of kittens, I've got pets to go get to know. 'Mione, I'll get you the tea you want for our Monday chats, and Severus, I'll hop by to see you tomorrow,' Harry said. He looked straight at Severus and added, 'If she pretends I told her anything, she'll be lying.'
Severus chuckled. 'All right, Harry. Good night, and thank you for the cat,' he said.
'What?' Hermione said.
'Harry called George, and he went to look for your cat. He was still living around the Weasleys',' Severus said.
Hermione opened her mouth to thank Harry, but he just winked.
As he was almost at the door, Harry turned around and said, 'Until Hermione can shield her mind with spells, it's better to not burden her with magical secrets, right?'
Severus nodded.
'Remind me to ask you something else tomorrow, all right?' Harry told Severus.
'As if you'll forget,' Severus snorted.
Harry grinned and left.
Hermione opened her mouth, but Severus spoke first and said, 'He's your cat. He's welcome here. Besides, if he can tell us to check with Pomfrey that he's safe for you, I'm sure he'll never run madly in my lab. I might even brush him sometimes.'
She chuckled and said, 'Use his hair, but don't turn him into a rare potions ingredient.'
'Of course not!' he paused theatrically and added, 'He's not really rare.'
She laughed heartily and cuddled her cat, who purred like the engine of the Hogwarts Express.
.
.
When Harry arrived at his door, he felt something. He opened the door wide and felt a movement.
Once inside with the door warded, Draco took his cloak off.
'Did you want to meet my new pets or see me?' Harry inquired with a grin.
'Both,' Draco answered.
.
[Next part as soon as possible]