Chapter 36

Two weeks had gone by with not a blip from the Dark Mark, and it was starting to really get to people. The only thing keeping Harry sane was his daughter, and the sarcastic retorts from his husband. The others had all left, the Weasleys, and Wood and Flint. There was only Draco Malfoy, who had stayed behind. He couldn't very well go to Malfoy Manor, now could he? Not with his father there.

The rest of the others were lucky, their fathers had joined Severus' side, along with their youngsters. Draco was the only one unlucky. It hurt a great deal, betraying his father, but he refused to serve Voldemort. So he had joined Severus' side, although it had in the beginning been for another reason. He had been deeply enamoured with him, it had been beyond a crush. He was seventeen, not thirteen anymore. Unfortunately Severus hadn't felt the same; it was why his bullying of Harry had gotten worse, when he realized Sev wanted him. He just wanted Harry to hate Sev, so Sev would come to him. It had been extremely childish, but he was only seventeen and used to getting everything he wanted. It had taken a lot for it to get through his think skull that he'd never be Severus' second in command. Now Dumbledore was dead, and Voldemort would be soon as well. He was free of the mark; maybe it was time to look for someone his own age, someone who was more like him. Whether it be a boy or a girl.

"Sev?" shouted Harry from in the nursery.

"What is it?" asked the return voice full of curiosity.

"We need to go shopping, we don't have clothes that fit Rowena anymore, they are all too small!" grumbled Harry.

"Then we should head to Hogsmeade, they have the best clothes," stated Severus smoothly.

"We don't have money just lying around; I thought you didn't want anyone to know where we are?" asked Harry, coming out with his daughter on his shoulder, both arms wrapped securely around her.

"Nobody cares about me, Harry, it's you we have to worry about. In the coming weeks we won't have to worry about that," said Severus smoothly.

"Can't we just…I don't know…put it all in your vaults so I can use it without people knowing?" asked Harry.

"Well, spouses frequently do put their accounts together, although it's never a good idea. Once it's done there's no known way of telling whose money is whose. Apart from what was yours when you first joined the accounts." replied Severus.

"I don't get how people can find out it's your accounts anyway; I though those sort of things were private," snapped Harry angrily.

"Not when the Ministry interferes; they need you badly," stated Severus simply, not taking offence at Harry's anger. If the situation was revered he too would be furious. So much for the privacy Gringotts offered their clients.

"Well tough for them," said Harry, mumbling obscenities under his breath... all Ministry related of course.

Severus just smirked in amusement at Harry's muttering.

"So are you coming or not?" asked Severus grabbing his vault key, from the box in the living room, along with the bag of galleons that was there. It wasn't enough on its own to get their daughter the things she needed.

"Yep," said Harry not putting his daughter down. He wasn't leaving her on her own with Draco Malfoy. He had been bullied too much by the blonde to willingly leave the thing he treasured most in this world with him.

Two glamour charms later, the three of them were off, apparating to Diagon Alley. The Floo wouldn't be good for their daughter, who didn't know to hold her breath throughout their journey. No child under four was allowed to floo, accept under serious circumstances. Of course, just because you didn't allow them, it didn't mean they didn't do it. Molly had done it all the time with hers, putting a bubble-head charm over them.

They entered Gladrags, and immediately began browsing, Severus glaring at the assistant that dared come in their direction. As if he needed help; how hard was it to choose clothes, after all? Harry tried to get a few pink things, he really did try but Severus wasn't having any of it. Any other colour was fine, but he wasn't letting Harry buy frilly pink things. The thought alone made him grimace in disgust.

After an hour of browsing, they finally decided not only on things for their daughter, but a few things for themselves. Gladrags had a store in Diagon Alley as well; they were expanding.

After paying for everything, out of Severus' account of course, they had just walked out of the store when Severus fell to the ground. A shout of surprise left his lips before he moaned in agony.

Harry looked around in panic― what had caused Severus to collapse? He had his wand in one hand, the other still holding his daughter close.

Hogwarts had been searching for her Headmaster for days, until she was finally able to get a read on him. It was her favourite wizard; she had been waiting for this day for years. Too bad there was a three hour wait before the wards could be passed on to someone else, or Hogwarts herself would have attached the wards to the man right away. She had been trying to find him for the past few weeks, unable to because of the wards on his manor. She kept bouncing off the very advanced Snape wards. Finally though, she recognized his magic, somewhere she could get to him. Somewhere her wards extended to: Hogsmeade.

Magic whipped through the air, avoiding people like a snake, until she finally found him. Happiness thrummed though the castle; with one big thrust she pushed her magic into him, effectively making him the new Headmaster of Hogwarts school of Witchcraft and Wizardry. The Minister of Magic had no say it in; even if they did, there was nothing they could do now. Hogwarts had chosen, and that's the way it would remain. Just like the Ministry hadn't been happy with a Slytherin as Headmaster, a Black Slytherin at that.

Hogwarts settled back down again, everything going back to normal. The house elves and portraits were bursting with renewed energy.

"Sev?" whimpered Harry, feeling completely useless. Did he take him to St. Mungo's? Or did he take him back to Snape manor? Or Hogwarts? Two out of three would have him found out…but Severus was more important than his secret. "Hold on, I'll take you to Poppy…"

"Don't," groaned Severus, realizing his husband was completely worried or he wouldn't have been thinking about that. Had he blacked out? He wasn't sure how long he had been out of it. He stirred once more, hearing his child crying. Why was it so quiet apart from that? With great difficult he managed to get himself up, looking around in confusion.

"I cast a notice-me-not spell," explained Harry seeing Severus' confusion. "Are you okay― what happened? I didn't see a spell!" he cried in the end terrified.

"There wasn't a spell," confirmed Severus. Judging by the amount of magic he now had, and the feel of it... he had just been made Headmaster of Hogwarts. "Hogwarts has made me Headmaster." he told Harry, baffled.

"What does that mean?" asked Harry looking worried.

"Nothing I need to worry about until the start of term," said Severus, "I think it's best if we have Voldemort dealt with before then."

"Does that mean we get to live in Hogwarts?" asked Harry, rather excited at the prospect.

"Indeed," said Severus wryly.

"So she chose you," said Harry smugly, still soothing his little girl, who had woke up and started crying. She must have sensed something was wrong with both of them.

"She did," said Severus, he had known Hogwarts had liked him ― just not to this extent.

"Let's get home, get the others and plan something," said Harry, "Can you apparate?"

"Yes," said Severus.

Harry didn't trust himself to apparate with his little girl, he hadn't been apparating very long, and hadn't done it often either. Severus was the one that apparated them both most times.

"Come on then, let's go home," said Severus, wrapping his arms around his husband, and little girl who had settled down again. He apparated them all, concentrating on where he wanted to go: Snape manor. They had things to do and discuss.

"You're the headmaster?" repeated Flint, seemingly completely gobsmacked.

"For the final time, yes," snapped Severus, getting sick of the shocked looks and words he was hearing from his men.

"Hey, I happen to think he would make a wonderful headmaster. At least he won't manipulate people! Or let them return home to be abused by their parents or caretakers!" snapped Harry defensively, he didn't like how shocked the others were.

"We don't mean it in bad way, Harry," reassured Wood, seeing the magic emanating from Harry. He had never seen Harry like that, and realized he was probably seconds away from losing control. When Harry loved someone, he loved them unconditionally. He got angry when people bullied them or said nasty things about them. Something he had learned about, through seeing it for himself or hearing about it. The funniest one was him blowing up his aunt for calling his mother names. After that, Wood had made a note to himself: never ever insult Harry Potter's friends or family. He was surprised that Severus hadn't ended up the same way, speaking about his father in the fashion he had. Everything was different now though, Severus would never dream of upsetting Harry by mentioning his father. It was a funny world they lived in.

Harry refused to reply, instead he just concentrated on his little girl, obviously angry at them still.

"So what do we do now? Since you are Headmaster, you will need to be at Hogwarts for the new term starting," stated Charlie.

"Can't you just say no to the position?" asked Fred confused.

"No, magic has chosen him," said Charlie.

"He will need to stay for at least a year before he can quit," said Bill.

"Here's what we are going to do. I'm going to station you at every known Death Eater hideout. You will remain there until you see Voldemort; once he's seen you, come back and report here. We are going in," stated Severus.

"What if we don't see him?" asked George.

"Pettigrew is with him; if you see him, then you will know Voldemort is there," stated Severus grimly.

"I'll need to go to Malfoy manor, won't I?" asked Draco quietly.

"Yes," said Severus.

So the Ex-Death Eaters all began divvying up, all getting separate assignments, all taking at least one person with them. All of them equipping themselves with Portkeys, and the medallion they kept around their neck. This was something Severus had tinkered with, and made it better than the Order's one. Just in case anything happened, they all left with enough, food, water, and defensive trinkets to keep themselves safe. They wouldn't leave their posts until they were called back.

Edited by Jordre.