CHAPTER FIFTY-FOUR
Goodnight, Sweet Prince.
-Hamlet, William Shakespeare
Hermione placed her hand on the center of Severus' chest and threw back her head, her hips bucking, her eyes half-closed from the sheer pleasure of it.
"Fuck... yes... keep going... harder..." he groaned, spurring her on with his hands on her hips.
It was Christmas Eve, they were in bed – his bed, though it had more than once of late been referred to as their bed – and they were engaging a multi-positional marathon lovemaking session, which just happened to include arguably the best sex either of them had had in... maybe ever.
He was completely reclined, she was riding him, and they were both eternally thankful for whoever had invented the silencing charm they'd placed around the room after putting the kids to bed. She leaned back, repositioning so her palms were on top of his thighs. She cried out when one of his hands moved to stimulate her.
"There, oh, yes, Severus, yes, there..."
She was on the precipice when he abruptly stopped, issuing a request. He took her hand and placed where his had been.
"Let me watch?"
She nodded, unable to form a coherent thought. It only took about a minute of pleasuring herself while gyrating her hips over his before she hit her peak.
"I love you," she cried out as the orgasm washed over her in overwhelming waves. "Severus, Severus I love you."
"I love you," he growled, grabbing her and pulling her down so they were flush against each other. They kissed over and over as she rode out the rest of her release, after which he flipped them so she was the one on her back, and he began thrusting, slowly, deliberately, pulling out almost all the way then plunging in again, making her gasp with each motion. He hooked his thumb under the back of her left knee, folding her leg, and pushed his own body up so he was looking down at her. One of her hands went to her breast, toying with the nipple, as she smiled up at him, and the very sight of it nearly brought him over the edge, actually forcing him to close his eyes momentarily, as he wasn't ready to be finished.
She pulled him back down, wanting to feel his skin against hers, and kissed his shoulder. He opened his eyes for a second, then buried his face into her neck, inhaling deeply, lost in the mixing scents of her shampoo and his soap and their sex. He sucked lightly on the skin there, careful not to leave a mark, as they were having guests for Christmas and he didn't feel she would want to spend the day keeping up a Glamour to hide the evidence of their intimacy from their friends (not that he'd mind showing it off...).
"Do you still want me to move in with you?" she whispered. It was an odd question, considering she'd spent every night for the past three weeks in his home, in his bed, in his arms, with her children asleep down the hall.
He answered quickly.
"Yes. Yes, Hermione, I want that."
"I want that too," she admitted. "I want to live with you. I want to share my life with you, to spend my life with you. I want to raise my children with you. And yours. Mine and yours, together."
He kissed her on the lips, the corner of her mouth, the cheek, the temple. "Yes," he murmured between each kiss. "Yes, I want that. I want you. I want us to be a family."
"If I die I'll come back as a ghost and haunt you whenever you try to be with another woman," she said teasingly, tilting her pelvis to take him at a slightly different angle. She tightened her walls around his cock and he groaned, beads of sweat forming at his temples, as he fought the urge to come.
"If you die, I'll die too so we can have terrible ghost sex for all of eternity. It'll be... dead sexy," he quipped back, making her laugh.
"That's the worst pun I've ever heard. The ending of Hamlet is funnier than that joke."
Now it was his turn to laugh, after which he kissed her yet again, a long, drawn-out, sensual kiss, in an attempt to convey everything he'd grown to feel for her since she started working for him over six months ago. She kissed him back with equal fervor, then, upon the parting of their lips, resumed panting under him, running her fingertips over the skin of his arms and back and shoulders, as he increased his speed. She slipped her hand up to his cheek, under his hair, and they made eye contact. His gaze was intense; her eyes were watery.
"I've never been so in love," she breathed, her lips but a whisper from his. "Thank you for answering my ad."
"I never could've imagined it would turn out this way," he murmured. His nose brushed against hers as they thrust in rhythm. "Thank you for saving me from that snake."
She couldn't resist digging her short nails into the backs of his shoulders as he pumped harder and faster and more erratically toward his own eventual release. Her legs wrapped around his waist, holding him close, while his hands held so tightly to her outer thighs she briefly wondered whether there would be visible bruises in the morning, not that she minded. He kissed her – hard – as she climaxed for a second blissful time, which brought on his own intense eruption.
Afterward she lay contentedly in his arms. Both were sticky from sweat, heady, satiated, and exhausted.
"We should shower," she said after several silent minutes passed during which they each tried to regain control of their breathing. "We should shower and dress. In a few hours, it'll be Christmas morning, and if I know my children they'll be in here to wake us up at approximately thirty seconds past dawn, wanting to open their presents."
He nodded, still too tired to speak, but he forced himself from his bed – their bed – to retrieve his pajama pants from the floor, where she'd tossed them a couple of hours earlier while taking him in her mouth. She put on his robe and they made their way quietly down the hall to the bathroom, careful to avoid waking the children. After a shower, during which they messed around a bit but did not have sex again, they toweled off and returned to the bedroom, where she pulled on a pair of embarrassingly loud pajamas, featuring little gnome-like creatures in red and green suits and pointy hands and curled-toe shoes, some of whom were holding presents.
"Those are ghastly."
She grinned. "Thank you. Muggles call these creatures Christmas elves. I considered buying you a matching pair."
"The best Christmas present you could've given me is not buying me a matching pair," he said dryly.
She giggled and crawled back into bed, snuggling up to him. "In that case, I got you the best Christmas present!"
He waved his wand to put out the lights. She sighed contentedly. It had been a lovely Christmas Eve. She was nearly asleep when Severus spoke again.
"Do you really want to live with me?"
He hoped she hadn't merely expressed that in the moment only to take it back once her head had cleared. To his relief, she nodded.
"It makes sense, doesn't it? We're happy together, aren't we? We're committed. We love each other. So why am I paying for a flat I don't live in? I only have the place rented until January fifteenth. That gives us almost three weeks to adjust to the idea of cohabitation."
"I'm already adjusted."
"We'll have to tell the children."
"I'm certain they'll be thrilled. Delphini has gotten used to sharing her room." Helena now had a bed on the opposite side of the room from Delphini's, plus her own little desk and a shelf for her books and toys, which meant Henry now had a bed to himself in the room he shared with baby Hero. He delighted in kicking his older sister out whenever she came in to lecture him about the mess, though Severus had threatened to put him in Time Away if he said "Get out my fuckin' woom!" one more time. (Getting scolded by Severus seemed to have a much more profound effect on the boy than getting told off by his mother or sister did. Henry had immediately apologized and rephrased it to, 'Get out my woom, pwease!" instead).
"Could I give you one of your Christmas presents now?" Hermione asked, propped up on her elbows, looking at him with a twinge of anxiousness. "I'd like to do it without the children around."
"Of course," he answered. "Unless it's sex, in which case, I'm appreciative but unfortunately completely spent. We old men need more recovery time between shag sessions than you young women do."
She snorted. "It's not sex. Here..." She used her wand to Accio over a delicately wrapped package from inside the drawer of his writing desk, flicked her wand, and said, "Lumos."
He looked down at the rectangle in his hands. "A book?"
"Not a book," she answered. "Honestly, I don't know how you'll feel about it..."
He gingerly unwrapped it from the shimmery gold paper, slipping off the ribbon and setting aside the bow. Inside was a black and white moving photograph in a silver frame.
"It's my mother," he whispered. He touched the glass gently. In the picture, his mother was balancing him on her hip, a rarely seen smile on her face. She tickled his belly and he giggled. He appeared to be perhaps two. His hair was long, almost to his shoulders, and his nose, which wasn't yet long or hooked, crinkled when he laughed. He couldn't recall ever seeing this one before.
"I found it when I was cleaning out your old bedroom. It was in a box. Most of the other photographs were too damaged to be recognizable, but I knew that was you right away, and I recognized her from a picture I found at Hogwarts when I was a Sixth year. She looks like she loved you very much."
"Yes," he said quietly, unable to take his eyes off this image of his mother, looking happy, carefree, unbruised... he couldn't recall ever seeing her that way. Certainly never when in the presence of his father, in any case. "And look how I'm smiling at her."
"You said you've missed her recently," said Hermione softly. "I thought you might like to have..."
"Thank you." He pressed his lips to hers, not a sensuous kiss, but one that conveyed his love and gratitude all the same. "You will either laugh or cry when you see what I got for you. Perhaps both."
Now it was his turn to summon over a wrapped package, though his was in plain brown paper, no ribbons, no bows (and held together with a lot of Muggle tape).
She opened it as he had his and gasped, nearly dropping it on the bed.
It, too, was a photograph. In color. Not moving.
It was a photograph of Hermione, age nine, between her parents on holiday, in their summer clothes, with the ocean behind them.
"How did you do this?" It was the one picture she'd kept of her parents when she went to their home after the war. The house had been trashed, presumably by Death Eaters looking for the Grangers, but this picture had fallen between a chair and the wall. She wasn't in it and had no idea how to put herself back in it; she'd disappeared from all pictures when she erased herself from their memories. She'd therefore kept the picture, but left it, as his had been, in a box.
"It was Helena's idea. She brought it over. She wanted to know why you had a picture of the people from the ice cream shop. I realized these must be Monica and Wendell Wilkins. It took a good bit of help from Fillius, but we were able to restore it to the original image. You said you missed them and while I do not think I am more capable than St. Mungo's best Healers at bringing them back and restoring their memories, I wanted you to have..."
"Thank you!" She kissed him soundly as some of her tears wet his cheek. "This is the best present... We had the same idea... You are the most thoughtful... I can't imagine a better... I can't think to finish a sentence!"
"Are these sad tears or happy tears?" He wrapped her in a hug. She tried to giggle but it turned into a hiccup, which turned into a snort, and then into a cough.
"These are happy tears!" she managed to squeak out finally.
"You women," he chided cheekily. "You'll cry over anything."
But his eyes were misting too.
-0-0-0-
The Granger-Snape family spent Christmas morning as many happy families do: crowded around a Christmas tree, exchanging gifts, eating special treats, and enjoying each other's company.
Hero needed help opening her presents and was much more entertained by the boxes and wrapping paper than by anything hidden inside. She sat herself inside a box that had contained a new outfit and stuck a bow in her mouth, which Hermione traded her for a Ginger Newt.
"I got a movie!" shouted Henry. He held up the VHS tape to show everyone. "Look, Pofessah! Is a movie foh the telly! We can wash it?"
"We can watch it later," said Hermione.
"We can wash it now?" he asked, pouting at Severus, hoping for a better answer.
Severus, smiling, shook his head.
"Your mother said we can watch it later, Henry, so later it shall be. What's it called? Can you read the name?" Severus had spent a portion of the last ten days teaching both Henry and Hero their letters and both were picking up the alphabet well, putting the girl considerably ahead of her same-age peers, while Henry was still unfortunately a bit behind.
"Is a T!" Henry shouted, pointing at the first letter of the first word. "And a O and a Y!"
"The first word is Toy and the second is Story," said Severus. "Toy Story."
"It's a movie about toys that come to life," said Hermione. "Like when Professor charms your snake and cars to make them move!"
Henry hugged the video cassette to his chest, even more excited now that he knew what it was about.
"Look what Father Christmas brought," exclaimed Helena. "He's so smart. How'd he know I wanted new books? Look! A Little Princess and a new Tales of Beedle the Bard with no chewed up pages and James and the 'Gan-it' Peach."
"Giant peach," Hermione and Severus corrected in unison. "Good reading, Helena," Hermione added.
"Thank you Father Christmas," Helena said, hugging the books to her chest as her brother had done with the movie.
"That Father Christmas," said Severus, glancing at Hermione. "He knows everything. Bloody brilliant, isn't he? It's like he's magic. A Legilimens, do you reckon? Handsome, too."
Hermione snickered and swatted playfully at him. "That's odd because I heard he's a grouchy old man with a big nose and a beautiful young girlfriend who does all the work."
"Don't be silly, Mummy," said Helena, carefully placing her books in her present pile. "He isn't grouchy, he's jolly! And he doesn't have a girlfriend; he's married to Mrs. Claus."
(Severus and Hermione exchanged a knowing smile.)
"What's this?" asked Delphini, holding up a long black Hogwarts robe with a blue and bronze crest featuring an eagle on the left side.
"You can exchange it if you'd like," said Hermione carefully. "But I've been corresponding with Professor McGonagall and she said, if you want to, you could be moved in Ravenclaw. She had a chat with the Sorting Hat about you, and it seems Ravenclaw was the spot it was set to put you in initially, but you begged for Slytherin..."
"And since the Hat takes students' preferences into account," Severus continued the thought, "It makes sense that, if you wished to try it on again without begging for Slytherin, it would place you in Ravenclaw, where you might be better suited."
"Don't decide yet," said Hermione. "But it's something to thi–"
"Yes!" Delphini cut her off. "I want to try the Hat on again. I want to see if I can be moved. I... I don't want to room with Charlotte and Piper anymore."
Two days earlier, one week before the hearing concerning her was set to take place, the Daily Prophet had interviewed several students who'd just exited the Hogwarts Express on their way home for the holiday, asking them what they thought about Delphini Black's imminent return.
Charlotte had said she didn't think Delphini should ever be allowed back because "Clearly, she can't be trusted," while Piper had been quoted as adding, "I knew there was something not right about her from the start." Both girls' parents had signed the petition to get her expelled, though Severus knew it was because she was not the daughter of the Dark Lord as presumed, but because she was his, and he was a traitor. He didn't want those girls anywhere near his daughter any more than Graham Montague wanted Charlotte near her.
Bill Weasley, there to retrieve Victoire, had declined to comment at all, which Hermione thought was promising, though Severus said he wasn't going to go getting his hopes up. Molly had written that she'd talked to her son and was confident he would "do the right thing in the end." She also said she'd be happy to have Hermione and Delphini back for tea again any time.
On Christmas morning the Granger-Snape family ate a small breakfast, as a large early supper was planned in the afternoon, during which they were having several guests. This caused Severus a considerable amount of unease, as he'd never entertained a number of guests or thrown any sort of party or large dinner at his home before, but he tried to force himself to feel as confident that it would go well as Hermione clearly did.
"Relax," she whispered in his ear as they cleaned up the sitting room, letting the children play with their new gifts rather than help. "Having company won't be so bad. You might even like it!"
-0-0-0-
About a half hour before dinner was set to begin, guests began to show.
First, Narcissa Malfoy, dressed as if she were attending a soiree with society's upper crust, arrived with Draco, who donned more casual attire, and little Scorpius, who wore a red and green jumper with an ornament stitched on the front. It reminded Hermione of Harry's first Weasley sweater, the one with the snitch instead of a letter. Her children were all boasting similar jumpers in various colors, Delphini included.
"Astoria stayed with her parents," Draco explained, setting his son down. "She was exhausted after this morning..."
Scorpius toddled off toward Hero, who greeted him with a happy squeal and a hug.
"What about Siobhan?" Hermione asked Narcissa, who was putting out her cigarette before stepping inside. She handed Hermione a bottle of expensive wine they'd brought to share.
"Siobhan will be along. I told her where to apparate to and which house it is. She spent the morning with her sisters and parents – apparently she's not ready for me to meet them on account of her father and I being the same age." Narcissa shrugged. Draco sent her a look that clearly conveyed his discomfort with this. Hermione looked at him questioningly.
"Siobhan is thirty-two," he explained once his mother had removed her traveling cloak and gone into the kitchen to greet Severus. "I'm twenty-eight. It's as bad as her dating Krum."
"Careful," said Hermione, Vanishing his coat and the cloak to Henry's bedroom upstairs, where they'd be keeping everything guests needed stored. "I'm twenty-nine, don't forget, and Severus is forty-..."
"That's entirely different," Draco interrupted. "Severus isn't my mother."
Fifteen minutes before dinner was to be served, their other guests arrived at once: Minerva McGonagall, Siobhan Carrigan, Luna Lovegood, Rolf Scamander, and a dark-skinned, bright-eyed twelve-year-old girl with thick glasses and box braids.
"Thank you so much for including my niece in your invitation," said Rolf, introducing Annika Scamander. "My brother and his wife are staying in Greece to help my father and grandfather and she didn't want to spend the holiday at Hogwarts."
"Annika hasn't been making friends," said Luna mater-of-factly. "Other Ravenclaws hide her shoes as they used to do mine. It's interesting, isn't it?"
"Er, sure," said Hermione. She greeted the girl, who didn't seem at all ill at ease given Luna's comment. She invited her into the sitting room along with the others, to enjoy drinks until dinner was ready.
The kitchen had earlier been magically expanded into a dining room large enough to seat eight adults, two tweens, two young children, and two toddlers in high chairs. Severus bustled about it, ensuring all was ready, putting the finishing touches on the food, and generally making Hermione anxious as his nervous energy rubbed off on her. Hermione, though she was happy to have mostly left her domestic life behind with her return to working in Magical Law Enforcement, actually enjoyed playing hostess during the meal (Molly Weasley would have been proud). She was pleased to see Minerva and Narcissa, former enemies-turned-colleagues, chatting pleasantly as Severus reconnected with his godson Draco. She questioned Luna and Rolf about Greece while the babies made faces and giggled at each other, and the two First Year girls seemed to be hitting it off. Even Henry behaved himself, by some miracle, and Siobhan was kind enough to answer a number of precocious Helena's questions about the field of magical medicine.
They took dessert and coffee in the sitting room in chairs situated in a semi-circle opposite the fireplace. Delphini invited Annika up to see her room and the two disappeared. Helena tried to follow, but Hermione asked her to stay downstairs with Henry and the little ones, figuring it might be nice to let the older girls have space (with the hope that they'd become friends before returning to school in a month... assuming Delphini could return). Helena was disappointed, but obediently settled herself on the floor and opened one of her new books. Henry knelt beside her, playing quietly with his new toy model of the Hogwarts Express, a gift from Minerva.
Narcissa held Scorpius in her lap and Siobhan, sitting beside her, held Hero.
"Baby," said Hero, tapping Scorpius on the nose.
"No," he said. He poked Hero's belly. "Baby!"
Both babies giggled.
"Awww," cooed Siobhan, bouncing Hero on her knee. "Doesn't this just make you want to run out and have a baby?"
"No!" Narcissa exclaimed. She pointed across the semi-circle at Draco. "That one nearly killed me in childbirth. And the other one kept me up all night every night for a year after her mother died. Plus potty-training took forever with Draco because he got a thrill from peeing on things and Delphini threw massive temper tantrums until she was six."
"Mother!" Draco went slightly pink. "You can't go around telling people I liked to... you know."
"Well you did," she said. "You spent six months naked from the waist down. I couldn't take you anywhere. You once peed in that fountain in the Ministry in front of the Minister himself. I'd never been so bloody embarrassed in all my life."
Hermione, Luna, and Siobhan snickered into their mugs, and even Minerva hid a smirk behind her napkin. Draco's face went even redder. Both Severus and Rolf nodded knowingly, though. They knew as well as toddler Draco had that one of the best parts of being male was the ability to 'go' anywhere.
"That's the lovely thing about being a grandmother," Narcissa continued. "You can hold a baby whenever you want to, and then, when it fusses or needs to be changed or learns to talk back, you can return it to its parents and go along your merry way."
"But they're so sweet when they're small, and they smell good too." Siobhan sniffed Hero's hair and smiled at Hermione. "Do you think you'll have more children?"
"Not any time soon!" said Hermione, much to Severus' relief (he was at once glad she didn't say yes and glad she didn't say no). "We've got our hands full with four, and Hero's still in diapers... though I don't think we have to worry about her peeing in a fountain in front of the Minister for Magic."
"I can't take you anywhere, Mother!" said Draco exasperatedly.
Narcissa rolled her eyes.
Rolf was just starting to tell the group that he and Luna had already chosen baby names for all of their future children when a sharp knock on the door surprised them all. Severus rose to answer it, Henry, his shadow, on his heels.
"Lucius Malfoy," Severus said upon opening the door. He stepped outside, not completely closing it. "What brings you here?"
"What bwings you he-ah?" echoed Henry, using his tough-guy tone, hands on his hips, glaring up at the man. "Lucy-us Mah-foy."
"Henry, please go back in the sitting room. I shall return in a moment."
Henry, though he hated being sent away, did as told.
"Narcissa is here?" asked Lucius. He ran his fingers through his hair. He looked considerably better than he had when they last saw each other, at the trial ten days ago. "She moved out of Malfoy Manor the day before yesterday. I went to Hogwarts because I have something to give her, but Professor Flitwick said she and Minerva had plans for Christmas dinner. I came to the conclusion they much be here, as I could think of no other place the two would go together on Christmas."
"I'm quite certain she has no desire to see you," said Severus. He shut the door the rest of the way, his back to it. "But since you're here, I want the truth."
Lucius jutted his chin up, regarding Severus as if he were interacting with a peasant child in a Dickens novel. "About?"
"Hermione. You bet Reginald he couldn't date her, you practically paid him to marry her, you bought out his debt so you could blackmail her, and you lied to him about Narcissa coming up with the plan for you to sleep with her. What was your end game?"
"Produce my wife and I will be content to answer your questions, in full detail at a later date - after the new year - and in a location of your choosing, provided we are in agreement that you'll not attack me during the course of the conversation. Deal?"
"How I can trust if I bring Narcissa out here, you'll hold up you end of the bargain?"
"Because I am a man of my word, Severus." Lucius smiled. A silky, snake-like smile. "Shall we shake on it?"
After a moment's hesitation, Severus put out his hand.
"But if you hurt Narcissa, or even attempt to, I will hurt you twice as badly and the deal is off," said Severus, not immediately releasing the older man's hand.
"Trust me," hissed Lucius. "Narcissa wants what I intend to give her."
Severus opened the door to retrieve Narcissa from the sitting room, but to his surprise she was standing in the hall.
"I knew he was here," she explained. "I knew even before Henry told me. I could sense it." She smiled halfheartedly at her husband. "You have an open mind, Lucius. You always have. It's a damn good thing you were truly devoted to the Dark Lord. Had you any doubts, he would have sensed them without even trying to, and you would've been dead." She stepped out onto the top step, beside Severus, and shut the door while pulling out a cigarette simply because she knew how much he hated the smoke. "You have something for me?"
He nodded, his arrogant demeanor dissipated. He reached into the pocket of his ornate, tailored wizard's robe and pulled out a rolled parchment. He unfurled it and faced it toward her.
"I have not been kind to you. I understand, therefore, why you've chosen to leave me, and I've decided I don't think you ought to die for it. That is why, this morning, I divorced you."
"What?" Even with her ability to peruse his mind so effortlessly, she hadn't expected this. She dropped her unlit cigarette. "You divorced me?"
"It's official as of the first of January, as you have one week in which to appeal. New Ministry regulations." He had gone from looking pompous moments before to looking positively miserable. If Severus didn't know what a deplorable bastard the man was, he might almost feel sorry for him. "You deserve better, Narcissa."
She took the divorce decree from him carefully, as if it were printed on glass, and hugged it to her chest. "This is the most selfless gift you've ever given me, Lucius."
"I know."
Lucius and Narcissa made eye contact for a long moment, neither quite sure exactly how to feel. Severus shuffled uncomfortably, wishing he wasn't witnessing this moment.
"I loved you for a long time, Lucius," whispered Narcissa. She kissed him platonically on the cheek. "Thank you for this."
He nodded with clear reluctance and remorse, but also with resignation.
"Yes, well," he said with a shrug. "Happy Christmas."
He took three steps and, despite being in broad daylight on a Muggle street, disapparated.
-0-0-0-
After dessert was cleaned up and the coffee was gone, Minerva thanked them for the lovely Christmas dinner but said she had to be getting back to the castle, as they had a dozen students who'd stayed over the holiday and she wanted to see them during their dinner time. Draco and Scorpius departed shortly thereafter, to rejoin Astoria at her parents' home, and then Narcissa said she, too, would have to be going. She wanted to show Siobhan where she'd be living now that she had transitioned from trophy wife to Defense professor.
Luna and Rolf stayed another hour and a half, partly because they were enjoying the time with Hermione and Severus, and partly because they hated to separate the girls.
"Annika has been terribly lonely at school," Rolf lamented, shaking his head. "There are two other Ravenclaw girls in her year and they paired off straight away, leaving her out."
"Same happened to Delphini," said Severus. "Four Slytherin girls, two instant sets of best friends, and one lonely girl on the outs."
"But if Delphini ends up moved to Ravenclaw, they'll be roommates," said Hermione. "Friends too, I hope."
"It's good to have something to hope for in the new year," said Luna dreamily. "Don't you think?"
"There's a lot to hope for in the new year," Hermione agreed. "I'm looking forward to it."
-0-0-0-
Upstairs, Delphini and Annika were sitting side by side on her bedroom floor, their backs against the bed, perusing the book about amazing witches of modern times that Severus had given his daughter before she left for school.
"That's Isla Black," said Delphini, pointing to a drawing of a nine-year-old witch and her silvery Patronus. "I'm related to her through my mother's father's side."
"Wow," breathed Annika. "I don't think any of my ancestors are in any books. My great-grandfather wrote one, though. It's called Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them. Have you heard of it?"
"Heard of it?!" Delphini leapt to her feet and hurried over to her floor-to-ceiling bookshelf. "I've read it straight through twice already!"
-0-0-0-
Five days after Christmas, the Hogwarts Board of Governors and staff (minus Professor Cuthbert Binns) met in one of the school's largest classrooms to discuss the possible expulsion of Delphini D. Black.
"Snape," Minerva corrected Bill Weasley, who was tasked with informing everyone for the reason for the meeting (as if they didn't know). "As of yesterday, the child's legal name is Delphini Bella Snape."
The only thing Delphini had actually requested for Christmas was to change her name. She dropped the Druella, for she had no connection to her maternal grandmother, a woman who, Narcissa assured her, had been cruel and sharp-tongued, but she wanted to honor her mother while solidifying her connection with her father, thus Delphini Druella Black became Delphini Bella Snape.
Severus had been touched by this request and made it happen as soon as he could get the paperwork filed.
"Pardon me," said Bill Weasley, glancing at Minerva. "Delphini B. Snape. Miss Snape, a First year Slytherin, was suspended after she attacked another student with the Cruciatus Curse."
"An unprovoked attack," called out Graham Montague. "That's important to note."
"Ah, well, yes, it would be..." said Bill awkwardly. "Except that, as it turns out, the girl may have indeed been provoked."
"May have?" asked Professor Rosier, who was seated beside Narcissa (the latter of whom was trying her hardest not to comment). "There's no 'may have' about it, Mr. Weasley. She was being bullied by three girls, two in her year and one older, and was surrounded by a crowd of other students, many of whom were laughing at her, at the time of the incident."
"They'd stolen a private letter she'd written to her father and were sharing the contents with the crowd," Neville Longbottom continued. "They were also speculating she'd been fathered by Lord Voldemort," (the name earned hisses and jeers) "And taunting her over her mother's death. While I know I am not alone in saying the wizarding world is better off without Bellatrix Lestrange in it, I am certain I am also not alone in saying that no child deserves to be teased about his or her parents." He glanced at his grandmother, who nodded supportively. "What's more, I can only imagine the pain of having it pointed out to half the student body that the girl she inevitably attacked is the granddaughter of the woman who killed Miss Black's mother."
This brought on some whispering, as it was well-known that Bellatrix Lestrange had been killed by Molly Weasley.
"In that very room, no less!" pointed out Professor Rosier. "The poor child already has to eat lunch in the room in which her mother died. To have had the circumstances of that death turned into a source of amusement by the other girls must have been terrible painful!"
There were more murmurs and mutters from many of the board members at this, as many of them were torn between their own hatred of the sadistic Bellatrix Lestrange and their strong-held beliefs that no child deserved to suffer the sins of her parents.
"Yes, well..." Bill cleared his throat. "The girl she attacked feels very sorry for having teased her..."
"And are we having an expulsion hearing for that girl as well?" asked longtime Board of Governors secretary Augusta Longbottom gruffly. She was seated between her grandson, Neville, and Minerva. She sent Bill a sharp look, having figured out that his daughter was involved. "If she taunted the girl as badly as we're hearing she did..."
"I heard no such thing prior to this afternoon," spoke up another Board of Governors member, Mercy Shafiq. "Miss Black – excuse me, Snape – was being cruelly picked on by a group of other students when this occurred, we know this for certain?" She glanced at Minerva, who confirmed. "And where were the professors while this was going on?"
"It was during the end of a meal and we were transitioning from the Great Hall," explained the Headmistress. "I regret that no member of my staff realized..."
"We have been paying much more careful attention during meals since," Professor Longbottom broke in. "And we have also had a meeting with all prefects, Head Girl, and Head Boy about the importance of being aware of what is happening when students are gathered, as bullying will not be tolerated at Hogwarts."
Various witches and wizards called out their agreement, several of whom were as upset as Mercy Shafiq at not having been made well aware of the circumstances in advance.
"Use of the Cruciatus is a serious offense," Bill continued, but Narcissa could tell his resolve was failing. "Even when provoked..."
"One against three and surrounded by more!" snapped Augusta Longbottom. "Who wouldn't feel the need to protect herself? I want the names of these other three girls!"
Again a rise from the crowd seemed to be in support of letting Delphini stay, as many were angered and horrified by this behavior by the other students, and several echoed Augusta in calling for them to be identified.
"But the Cruciatus Curse," Bill tried to continue. He was losing control of the group.
"The Daily Prophet said she'd seen it used before, in her home," said yet another Board of Governors member, Patton Burke. He glanced at Narcissa, who couldn't fight the urge to adjust the silky green scarf hiding the unsightly scar across her throat. "Presumably she was unaware of the magnitude of such a curse, but now that she herself has experienced it, the poor child, surely she wouldn't do so again!"
"I believe you are correct," said Minerva. "Which is why it is my recommendation as Headmistress that Miss Snape be permitted to return at the end of the Christmas holiday. She is a bright, promising girl with a kind heart who poses no danger to the other students. She deserves a second chance."
"Yes, she does!" said Augusta Longbottom.
"All children are deserving of second chances!" said Patton Burke. "Why is this even up for discussion? And since it is, why aren't we meeting about the other girls? I'm with Augusta. I want their names too."
Board member Althea Mavros concurred. "If the other girls are permitted to stay in school, so should Miss Black!"
"I agree," Bill Weasley said, surprising everyone in the room – himself included. For though his mother had pushed this exact message, he hadn't been willing to listen to it, too upset over what had happened to his own daughter to consider Delphini's side, until he heard the call to hold his own daughter accountable for her actions and realized it was hypocritical to believe one girl had simply made a mistake while the other was inherently bad for her actions. "It is not fair to punish one child significantly more harshly than the others," he added with an air of defeat. "Considering the circumstances... I agree with Minerva."
"You agree?" asked Graham Montague, looking livid. "I don't! I don't want the secret lovechild of Severus Snape and Bellatrix Lestrange in the same dormitory as my Charlotte!"
"Fear not," said Minerva. "She's already been re-Sorted. She will not be in the same House as your daughter, nor will she be sharing a room with yours, Bill."
This caused a number of small side conversations to break out, as no one had ever heard of a student being permitted to change Houses midway through his or her first year... or ever, actually.
"There is precedent for it," Minerva assured them. "It has happened twice since I joined the Hogwarts staff over fifty years ago, once in 1961 and again in 1986. The portrait of Headmaster Dumbledore, available in my office, will confirm this for anyone who questions my memory."
"No one here would be daft enough to doubt your word," said Augusta Longbottom with finality. Beside her, Neville nodded vigorously. Most of the other professors vocally agreed, including Hagrid, who called out "Here, here!" and rapped his massive knuckles on the table, upending several water glasses.
"I think we should vote," said Professor Aurora Sinistra. She looked expectantly to Septima Vector, with whom she'd made up over the holiday. "Who calls for the vote?"
"I do," said Bill Weasley, looking downhearted even though he'd just said he was changing his tune about expelling the girl. He wished he'd never started down this road to expulsion.
"Go on, then," prompted Hagrid.
"Very well. All in favor of expelling Delphini Bla- er, Delphini Snape, from Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry?"
A smattering of board members, including Graham Montague, plus Professors Trelawney, Boot, and Winx raised their hands.
"Opposed?" asked Bill.
The majority of board members, plus Professors Longbottom, Flitwick, Hagrid, Sinistra, Hooch, Rosier, and, of course, Malfoy, went up, as did Minerva's, and, after a second's pause, Professor Vector's.
"Still abstaining, Tiberius?" Minerva asked Professor Brooks.
"You don't need me to have the majority, Minerva," he said gruffly. Her lips thinned. He heaved a sigh as if being put out. "But since it's for the record..."
He raised his hand.
"There it is, then," said Bill. "A solid majority rules, the girl may return to Hogwarts at the end of the Christmas holiday." He turned to Augusta. "As secretary, you'll keep the minutes and report the decision both to the family and the Prophet?"
"I shall," she said, dipping her quill and continuing to list names.
"If it's the same to you, Augusta," said Narcissa politely, silently commending herself for having kept her mouth shut during the discussion as Minerva had requested, "I'd like to inform the family."
-0-0-0-
"I get to go back?" Delphini looked from her aunt to her father and back. "I... I don't know how I feel. This means I can get a new wand?"
"That's right," said Severus, putting his arm around her. "And you'll be in Ravenclaw, with Annika Scamander."
"And if you need me, I'll be right there in the castle," said Narcissa.
"I'm so happy for you," said Hermione. She tugged one of the girl's messy French braids – her first attempt at plaiting them herself.
"Thank you!" Delphini threw her arms around Hermione. "They never would've said so if it wasn't for you. And Mrs. Weasley. Should I write a thank you to Mrs. Weasley? I should. I will! But first, can we go get my wand now? I need a wand. They broke mine, the one that was my mother's."
"Probably for the best," said Narcissa. "I should have gotten you your own wand in the first place."
"Let's go now!" Delphini exclaimed.
"Ollivander's is closed now," said Severus with a chuckle. "But we'll head to Diagon Alley first thing in the morning, I promise."
"I'm going to write to Annika, to tell her we'll be roommates. And then I'll write to Mrs. Weasley. No, Mrs. Weasley first. And then Draco! I'll have to tell Draco. Can I tell Helena now?"
"Only if she's not already asleep," said Hermione. Delphini was already hurrying up the stairs, her cane forgotten by the cellar door, as she hadn't needed it much lately.
"Glad she's excited to go back," said Narcissa. "I was worried."
"Care for a drink?" Severus led the way into the sitting room. He went straight to the liquor cabinet to pour two glasses of red wine for the witches and a firewhiskey for himself.
"Mind if I smoke?" asked Narcissa. Without waiting for permission, she lit her cigarette with the end of her wand.
"All the loose ends, tied up like a Christmas present," Hermione said. She sipped her wine. "Well, almost."
"What do you mean?" asked Narcissa.
"I still don't know how your sister's knife ended up at Borgin and Burkes. I'm not sure I ever will."
"Perhaps some questions are not meant to be answered," said Narcissa. She took a long drag and flicked her ashes into a tray she'd transfigured from a fireplace poker. "Though that one is. My niece, Nymphadora, had the knife. She'd gotten it from Bill Weasley." Narcissa took another puff and let the smoke out in a circle – she'd finally learned to blow smoke rings. "I saw her in the hall at Hogwarts during the Final Battle, not long before she was killed. She had the knife on her hip. I asked her where she'd gotten it and told her it belonged to my sister. I said I wanted it back. She told me I'd have to duel her for it. I hadn't spoken to my sister Andromeda in decades – still haven't – but I saw no need to battle my own niece, not when there was a war going on around us, not to win back a knife Bella had only used to commit terrible atrocities against other people. I told her to keep it, blocked her attempt to Stupefy me, and hurried off to find my son. I didn't give a damn who won or lost the battle. I only wanted to be sure my Draco was alive in the end."
"The day Bellatrix carved that word in my arm, we apparated from Malfoy Manor straight to Shell Cottage, where Bill lives," said Hermione. "The knife was still in Dobby's chest when we arrived. That's how Bill must've gotten it, we left it behind when we broke into Gringotts. I don't know why he gave it to Tonks..."
"Perhaps because only a Black could properly wield it. Honestly, I'm surprised it even worked for Lucius. It shouldn't have been possible... but, I suppose, that's why I'm still alive, why I was able to heal. Had Bella used that knife to slit a person's throat, they'd be dead."
"But how did it end up at Borgin and Burkes?" Hermione asked.
Narcissa toyed with her cigarette. "I probably shouldn't have," she said after a long pause, "But I took it off her body after she died. Nymphadora's. She was laid out in the Great Hall beside her werewolf husband, not far from my sister, and I saw the handle... it wasn't difficult to take it. No one was paying attention. I took it for the same reason I took Bella's wand from the table and the jewelry off her body. It was a Black family heirloom. No one else deserved to have it, least of all our..." She had the good sense to look ashamed. "Our enemies."
"But how did it end up at Borgin and Burkes?" Hermione persisted, setting aside her disgust over the fact that the woman had taken the knife off her dead niece.
"You sold it," said Severus, correctly guessing the truth before Narcissa could speak. "You sold it when you were pregnant. By me."
Narcissa's face turned the color of the wine in her glass.
"There was a Healer at St. Mungo's who specialized in working with... working with issues like mine, and curses like the one killing Astoria. Old magic. When I discovered I was... expecting..." She glanced at Severus. "I thought I might actually leave Lucius, but first I had to know if I could even give birth without killing myself, and if that were possible, what I might be able to do about the Blood Oath. This Healer... She... wasn't inexpensive. And I couldn't take galleons from our shared vault without Lucius finding out."
"You wanted to keep the baby?" Severus asked, guilt rearing up inside him.
She shrugged halfheartedly. "I don't know what I wanted. No, that's not true. I wanted out of my marriage. I wanted to take Draco, and take my unborn baby, and disappear. Go to China or Australia or America, somewhere too far away for the past to follow us. But the Healer said nothing could be done about the Blood Oath, that even if she got me through childbirth unscathed, I'd still die, I'd die and leave my baby an orphan, and since you... you'd already sent me that potion... I'm sure you assumed I'd taken it already... the trials were starting... and I realized I'd sold the knife for nothing."
"On trial, you said you had no idea where Lucius got the knife," said Hermione, unable to suppress her accusatory tone. "You said you hadn't seen it since the war."
"Yes." Narcissa blew three more smoke rings in quick succession. "I lied."
"You lied?" Hermione was incredulous. "You can't lie in front of the Wizengamot!"
"You're speaking to the woman who lied to the face of the Dark Lord, Hermione. Trust me, if there's anyone who could lie to the Wizengamot..."
"That only leaves one question unanswered, then," said Severus. He finished his firewhiskey and Accioed over the bottle. "Why did Lucius bet Reginald he couldn't get Hermione to date him? Why did he buy off his debt?"
"I can't answer that for you," said Narcissa. "Though I assumed it was because he was hoping to eventually get to fuck you."
"Why?" asked Hermione. "I'm a Mudblood. He hates me."
Narcissa smiled. "That's precisely why, little girl. To Lucius, taking you to bed – especially given the circumstances – was the ultimate triumph. He saw you subjected and objectified, used and discarded, punished while acting as a receptacle for his pleasure. If you asked him, he might tell you differently, but the truth is he'd been obsessed with you for years. I hated it. And, by extension, I hated you. But it was never your fault. All you did was... exist. He did not like you from the moment Draco wrote us home about you his first year. You were the brightest Hogwarts had seen in some time, and a Muggleborn. Lucius saw it as a personal humiliation, as if your intention was to best our son rather than to do your best. Then you became close with Harry Potter, the Boy Who Lived, and Weasley, a blood-traitor, and Lucius' resentment of you intensified. He became more interested in you after the battle at the Department of Mysteries – more interested in conquering and ultimately destroying you, while using you for his own enjoyment – and by the time the war was nearing its end..." She set the cigarette down on the edge of the ashtray and sipped her wine. "As awful as your torment was at the hands of my sister, Hermione, you should be grateful Lucius didn't take charge of you instead. You were so very young then. Though, for what it's worth, I would have put up a fight, as I did years later. His infatuation with you greatly contributed to the crumbling of our marriage... not that it wasn't tearing at the seams for a good ten years before the Dark Lord's return."
Hermione set her wine glass down on the table, the contents of her stomach swirling. "So that's it, then. Lucius Malfoy has been obsessed with conquering me since I was a teenager."
"I've changed my mind," said Severus, refilling his whiskey glass. "I don't want to discuss this with Lucius. I want to kill him."
"Be my guest," said Narcissa offhandedly, as if he'd asked for one of her cigarettes. "If you do it within the next twenty-four hours I'll be a widow instead of a divorcee and then I'll be permitted to keep the money in our vault, though the Manor still goes to Draco. Mind, you'll end up in Azkaban for life, so before you confront him, ask yourself: is that vile man really worth your freedom?"
"No," said Hermione, reaching out to take Severus' hand, half afraid he would apparate to Malfoy Manor this instant and do something he couldn't take back. "He's not worth a second thought, never mind your life in exchange for his."
"He ought to be punished," said Severus.
"He's being punished now," said Narcissa. She stubbed out her short cigarette and lit a second one. "I'm free of him, I'm happy with someone else, and I've got Draco on my side, and you..." She smiled cagily at Hermione. "You're with Severus. There's no man you could have fallen for that would bother him more, my dear, than the one who spent the better part of two decades betraying the Dark Lord to Dumbledore. The best way to punish my husband – soon-to-be-ex-husband – is to live your lives without giving him a second thought."
"Can't we beat him to a bloody pulp, then go one living our lives without giving him a second thought?" asked Severus, whose hand was clenched tightly around his glass.
"Why don't we just get married and invite him to the ceremony?" asked Hermione, battling down the sickness in the pit of her stomach, aware she would have to process this later, but unwilling to start doing so now.
Narcissa laughed heartily. "Oh, Hermione, dear, don't do that, that was my plan!"
"Can you marry Siobhan?" asked Severus, momentarily distracted from the intense desire to break every bone in Malfoy's body. "Is that... legal?"
"I don't know," said Narcissa. "But it doesn't matter. I was only joking; I'm never getting married again. And I'm not having more children or marrying anyone with children or marrying anyone who wants to have children or even dating anyone who intends to make me interact with their children, unless their children are old enough to drink. Teaching students for the next however many years I can manage it will be quite enough, thank you."
They talked for hours, letting the conversation stray comfortably from one subject to the next, until it was past midnight. Narcissa finished her last glass of wine and stood, hands shaking slightly (drinking still had this effect on her). She slipped quietly upstairs first to kiss her niece goodnight, then came back down and Flooed directly from Spinner's End to Hogwarts.
Severus and Hermione left the dishes in the sink to handle in the morning and headed up to bed. After changing into pajamas and brushing their teeth, they made their way down the hall to check on the children.
First, they popped into Delphini and Helena's room. Delphini was sprawled out atop her covers, wearing the new robe with Ravenclaw crest that she'd been given for Christmas, her unbraided hair spread wildly across the pillow, her BELLA doll beside her.
In the bed along the opposite wall, Helena clutched her favorite doll to her chest as if for dear life, surrounded by stuffed animals as if in the center of a protective circle.
"Now that we've fixed Delphini's problem," Severus whispered, wrapping his arms around from Hermione from behind, "We'll have to work on Helena's. She still doesn't fully trust us, not since the kidnapping. She's easy to read, thankfully, but I have no idea how to best help her."
"She's always been such an easy child," Hermione whispered. "I think I've taken that for granted. I think of her as older because she acts older, but she's just a little girl. Perhaps we can get Luna to come over with Annika for a day before school starts. We can pay her to watch the little ones while the older girls get better acquainted, and we can take Helena out for the day, just the three of us."
He kissed Hermione's temple and murmured his support of this plan.
Next they moved into Hero and Henry's bedroom. Henry was sleeping half on the bed and half off, with the covers on the floor. He had six trucks lined up on his pillow, leaving no room for his head.
"He's a much happier child than I was," Severus whispered. He gathered up the blankets and moved Henry closer to the wall as Hermione relocated the trucks to his toy box. "And his behavior has been better lately, too."
"Because of you," whispered Hermione. "You're good with him."
"You're a good mother," Severus reassured her, sensing her self-doubt. "They're good kids because of you."
"Hero will grow up not remembering any of this," whispered Hermione, glancing over the side of the crib at her sleeping blonde-haired baby. "You'll be the only father she ever knows."
"Good," said Severus. "I hope to be the only father all three of them remember."
"When you responded to my ad," Hermione whispered, leaning back against Severus' chest as he again enveloped her in his embrace from behind. "You addressed your letter to 'Desperate Witch' and signed it 'Equally Desperate Wizard.' Do you still value your privacy above all else, as you wrote?"
"I've found that there is much more in life to value than one's solitude," he answered honestly. She turned, kissed his cheek, and led him by the hand back into the bedroom they shared.
"I thought you were hiring me for... for precisely what I figured anyone who replied to that ad would hire me for," she said. She let down her hair, removing her wand from her bun, and crawled into bed. He climbed in beside her, placing his own wand on his bedside table. She snuggled close.
"I know," he said. "I apologize for having a bit of fun with you before telling you what the job entailed. I wouldn't have, had I known the circumstances."
"Don't be sorry. I enjoyed our verbal foreplay."
"You mean wordplay?"
She grinned at him, flicked her wrist to put out the lights, and lowered her lips to just above his.
"No."
She kissed him.
"After that first meeting with you I had a couple of lines from Hamlet pop into my head." He pulled her on top of him, his hands snaked up the back of her ghastly Christmas elf pajamas. "'Tis but our fantasy... 'twill not appear.' Marcellus says Horatio has said the apparition is in their imaginations, and then Horatio says that it will not appear. Of course, the line has nothing to do with the sort of fantasies I was having about you, but even so..."
"You were having fantasies about me?"
"I fantasize about you on a daily basis," he admitted. "Have for months. Still do."
"I used to fantasize about you," said Hermione. "But it turns out the reality is so much better than anything I could have imagined, I've given up. I prefer real you to apparition you any day."
He chuckled. "I'm sure I didn't say I was an apparition..."
"Hush. What's that line I liked from Hamlet? The one at the end? Oh, I remember: 'Goodnight, sweet prince.' A perfect goodnight to you, isn't it? Or it could be slightly amended to, 'Goodnight, sweet Half-blood Prince.'"
"It would be fitting if I were dying," said Severus.
"I'm choosing to take it out of context, like you did with 'Tis but our fantasy... 'twill not appear.' And I'm making it mean what I want it to."
"You're rewriting Shakespeare."
"So?" She rested her head on his right shoulder, her hand on the center of his chest, as he stroked her thick hair. "Maybe some of Shakespeare's plays need rewriting. A number of those tragedies could certainly benefit from happier endings."
"Are tragedies meant to have a 'Happily Ever After'?" Severus placed his free hand atop hers.
"Why not?" she asked. She shut her eyes, moments away from succumbing to sleep. "Ours does."
A/N:
So, this was the last chapter! (and the longest... holy guacamole.)
Up next there's an epilogue.
Thanks so, so, so much for sticking with this story, and for all of your support! :)
-AL
