"Hey," Hazel whispered, shaking her husband's shoulder. "C'mon, wake up. Sev, wake up."
He bolted up in bed, instinctively reaching for his wand. It took him a second to realize where he was. "Sorry," he mumbled, putting his wand back on the nightstand next to his side of the bed.
"What was it?" she asked, reaching out for him in the dark.
"The snake." He still had nightmares about Nagini attacking him years later. "I - I'm sorry, I -"
"There's nothing to be sorry about," she assured him. She held him close, listening as he tried to catch his breath. "Come here. Sev, there's nothing to be sorry about. You've had a lot happen to you. We both have. You know I still dream about all of it too. It's okay."
He appreciated it, but, "I'm sorry I wake you up all of the time."
Hazel sighed, telling him in a steady voice that, "It's fine. I'd rather have you wake me up than be stuck dreaming of all of that."
She didn't know how much that made him smile. Every time he'd had a frightening dream as a child, he'd be met with the same answer, occasionally accompanied by an extra insult. "Go away, Severus." His father would hurl his alarm clock at the door if he was particularly annoyed. By the time he was three or four years old, he'd given up on his parents ever giving him any sort of comfort. It was one of the many things he'd decided not to emulate when they'd had Eileen. He was always worried about disappointing her, about accidentally taking after his father. Hazel assured him he didn't have to worry, but he worried nonetheless. He always would.
"Thank you," he mumbled, kissing the top of her head. Since they'd moved into the little house on the ragged shores of Scotland, they'd never spent a night apart. Sure, they would stay up late, one of them in the middle of a project or a potion and getting to bed well after the other fell asleep. Or one of them would be up early to get something from the town a few minutes away. Or they'd take turns getting up, first to check on potions that required stirring every few hours, and then to check on their daughter. Even when they'd had Eileen, Sev had stayed at the local Muggle hospital with them, falling asleep in a chair by Hazel's bedside. They'd never spent a full night apart, and he was thankful.
The door creaked open, a tiny shadow hovering on the edges of the room. "What's wrong, Lee?" Hazel asked, sitting up in bed again.
"Bad dream," the little girl said, clutching one of her favorite stuffed animals (a well-loved thing that resembled a Niffler, hand-sewn by her Uncle Xeno) as she clambered into bed with them. "With big, scary monsters."
"Well," her father smiled, making room for her to sit between them, "I just had a bad dream too. With big, scary monsters." He glanced over at Hazel, who gave him an encouraging nod. "Do you want to stay here with us, or should we go back to bed?"
"Can I stay here?" She looked between the two of them, still clutching her stuffed Niffler tightly.
"Of course, sweetheart." He moved a pillow behind her head, Hazel tucking her into their blankets. "Now close your eyes and try to think of something happy. You know, I have to go and collect some plimpies from the shore in the morning. Do you want to come with?"
"Yes please," she yawned. Plimpies were little round creatures that could be summoned from the deeper waters of lakes and oceans. They would hop around like frogs, but they had taller legs. Eileen loved running after them with a net, trying to get them to stay in the bucket her father would carry as he trailed behind her. They had a fish tank with a couple of them in the living room. Sev would tell her that he would let them go and put new ones in the tank whenever they went fishing for them. So far she hadn't figured out that they caught a lot more than seemed to ever leave the house. Plimpie eyes and their legs were useful in potions, but she didn't need to know that quite yet.
"We can go in the morning, then. I'd love to have your help," he smiled, the three of them settling in.
As their daughter fell into a peaceful sleep, Hazel looked over to her husband, whose silver wedding band glinted in the moonlight. He never took it off. A clever charm had made it impervious to even the most disgusting potion ingredients, very handy for his line of work. It was one tangible symbol of the life he led now. Whenever he caught sight of the fading Dark Mark on his arm, the sight of his wedding band would help to offset the revulsion he felt for the tattoo. Sometimes he'd take the ring off just to flip it over in his hand, smiling at the "love you always" printed in Hazel's handwriting on the inside. Hers had a matching inscription in his writing. She hardly ever took hers off either, preferring to enchant it to keep it clean. "Sev," she mouthed, not wanting to wake Eileen. He raised an eyebrow. "I love you."
"I love you too," he answered, smiling as he closed his eyes. This was exactly where he was meant to be.
"Eileen, you've got a letter," Hazel called, coming to find the girl and her father working diligently on a potion that was bubbling bright green. The Hogwarts owl now sent back to the castle, she'd gone to find them right away.
By eleven years old, Eileen had already shown a lot of prowess in potion making. It was the one kind of magic she could do without a wand, and without having to worry about all the laws on underage magic. Though she loved her mother, Sev was clearly her favorite. Not that Hazel much minded. Having her around all of the time had helped him a lot. "Thanks, Mum. Hogwarts?" she read, tearing the envelope open.
"Yes. Sev, we have one too." He looked up from where he had been carefully shredding asphodel leaves, raising an eyebrow. "Minerva wants to know - she said to think on it, but the Defense Against the Dark Arts post is open, and she's looking for someone to take over Ghoul Studies again." She passed him the letter, adding, "We can talk about it later. For now, though, we've got to start planning a trip to Diagon Alley."