Chapter 27 Dinner with the McKinnons

That Saturday at Six Fifteen in the afternoon, Severus sat on their living room couch with a cake in his hands whilst waiting for Lily to come downstairs. The cake sat in a box that was currently reinforced with a cooling charm to preserve its frigid temperature, it wouldn't do to have the frosting melt after all. He sighed and sank back into the couch, his fingers idly stroking the glossy fur of Plato who was curled up against his leg in his pursuit of warmth. She's late…as she always was—is, I should say. The clock chimed over to Six Twenty and now Severus was seriously considering getting off the couch, marching upstairs, and dragging Lily down by the ear so they wouldn't be late for their dinner. He didn't care if there was a tiny crease in her dress, and he didn't think the McKinnons would care either, he still thought of her the same either way. Why do women take so long to get dressed? it's not like we're going to a ball or gala or anything…just a dinner at another person's home. He shook his head, at this rate, they were going to be late, considering that the shower had only switched off ten minutes ago.

Overall, the week had gone rather well if he was being honest, Horace had complained a little bit at the weekend staff meeting that Severus had dumped off too many detentions on him, to which Severus just responded with a shrug and said that he wasn't allowed to administer detentions just yet, only award them. Horace still wasn't too pleased, even with his reasoning and said that he'd be repaid in kind when he became a full member of the staff next year. To that, Severus could only agree begrudgingly as the portly man did indeed have a point. What was rather interesting to Severus however was the difference in styles that Albus and Dippet managed their teachers and the school as a whole. Dippet ran a very tight ship, airtight, one might say and that there was very little tolerance for discourse and misbehavior as a whole amongst the students. It showed quite evidently in Severus' classes. All in all, that incident with Potter on his first day as a Professor proved to be the most serious of the week, even first years were relatively well behaved and Severus owed that to the stricter school rules put in place by Dippet.

To his surprise, there was a zero tolerance policy on hexing and pranking in the hallways, unlike the Albus of his time, and some of the strictest punishments awarded were against bullies and those that attacked or pranked other students. In fact, Severus hadn't even seen a single instance of bullying during his entire week there and that was honestly quite the shocker to him. The differences between Dippet's and Albus' governing styles went well beyond student expectations and rules however, with another notable difference being Dippet's strong beliefs in encouraging inter-house co-operation and bonding. Whilst Albus never really had attempted to force separation between the houses and could hardly be accused of trying to set them on the warpath with one another, he had never exactly gone out of his way to push them closer together. Dippet on the other hand pushed heavily for inter-house activities and to Severus' shock, his Gryffindor and Slytherin students got along quite well for the most part, although there were a few spats along the lines of blood purity that he'd had to break up. Whilst perhaps there was more academic lenience and freedom under Albus' governance, he had to admit that he did prefer Dippet's style much more than he did his old boss'.

Not a moment too soon, the sound of footsteps met his ears as Lily rounded the corner and arrived at long last in the sitting room. She wore a bright smile on her face and that was all Severus saw, oblivious to her deep blue dress that matched the color of the robes he chose to wear for the evening. Even her cherry red hair, which had been done up in a neat little bun with a few strands falling loose failed to catch his attention which remained solely focused on her smile. Her gaze remained solely focused on the slight smile he bore as well, before she moved further into the room and inclined her head towards the fireplace. Severus followed her gaze and nodded, understanding her intent.

"Ready to go?"

"Of course," Severus replied, standing from the sofa and heading over to their hearth, Plato left his side then and wandered over to his bed.

"Have you fed Plato?" Lily asked quickly.

"Of course."

"And Jackie?"

"Released and roaming free for mice, voles or whatever else she may eat for dinner."

"The back door is locked and warded?"

He huffed a sigh and rolled his eyes. "Honestly Lily, I've taken care of everything whilst waiting for you. Next time do me a favor and try to get ready a little sooner alright?"

"You clearly underestimate the time it takes for a woman to get ready Severus," she chided, although her tone remained teasing. "But I understand your point and I shall strive to meet your stringent requirements against tardiness."

Severus inclined his head to the fireplace, and the two walked over to the now-dormant fixture. "I would normally say after you, Lily. But perhaps I had better go first to cast that cushioning charm, wouldn't you agree?"

Lily's lips twitched upwards and she leaned up on her toes to press a chaste kiss against the corner of his mouth. "You're too kind."

They flooed away to McKinnon Cottage immediately after, with Severus being there to catch Lily as she stumbled. The room they arrived in was quite different from the one they'd just departed. Whilst their own cottage could be described as rather homey with the yellow, flowery wall paper that Lily had procured and the bright inviting colors, the McKinnons' home on the surface was less welcoming by contrast, somewhat stately in appearance judging by the abundance of dark woods and darker shades. Severus had fought her initially with the decor of their home, wanting it to be more similar to what he was used to, his own home in Spinner's End. In the end though, he relented and deferred to her over their decor decisions and the yellows, creams and pale blues that lit up their sunny home were almost entirely Lily's doing. Looking around now, this seemed almost like an alternate reality—a version of their home that could have been had Severus been the one in charge of the decor.

"Lily? Severus?" Rang the voice of Eleanor McKinnon from what appeared to be the next room over.

"Yep that's us! We're here!" Lily replied.

Eleanor McKinnon appeared all of a sudden, from what Severus presumed was the kitchen. "Oh and you brought cake too! Thank you!" She gushed, rushing forward to relieve Severus of his burden.

"You're welcome," he replied, nodding. "We hope it is to your liking," he added.

Eleanor pried open the box and her eyes widened upon seeing what it contained. "Oh! Byron will love this! This is his favorite!"

"He likes black forest cakes?" Lily asked, cocking her head sideways.

"Oh he doesn't just like them, Lily. He loves them!" Eleanor replied, shutting the box.

"What a coincidence, Severus loves them too!" Lily replied.

Severus scoffed at the notion, "I'd say my opinion of black forest chocolate cakes is more akin to appreciation for, rather than love, Lily."

"Oh really Severus? If my memory serves me well, I recall that you ate so many slices for your tenth birthday that you fell sick for days after that!"

"Don't remind me. And I've never eaten that much cake again since," he muttered. "I've learned my lesson unlike you who made the exact same mistake as I, gorging yourself on ice cream when we were fourteen despite knowing what had happened to me."

Lily flushed but said nothing in response to Severus' words. She remembered what happened as clear as day, recalling vividly the terrible stomach aches that followed.

"Well I'm sure that won't be happening today," Eleanor interrupted gently. "Dinner should be ready in a few, Can I interest either of you with a drink in the meantime? Dinner should be ready in another ten minutes or so."

"A scotch on the rocks for me please," Severus replied.

"And a gin and tonic for me as well. Is there anything we can help with?" Lily added.

Eleanor smiled but shook her head. "I appreciate the offer but no thank you. I'll be back with your drinks shortly, oh and Byron should be down soon. He just got back from work so he's just up in the shower now."

"What kept him?" Lily wondered. She sat down on one of the armchairs, Severus following and sitting on the sofa adjacent to it.

"If I told you I'd have to obliviate you," Eleanor replied jokingly.

"In all seriousness though, please make yourselves at home. I'll be back in a little while so please do make yourselves at home."

Severus and Lily both took their seats on the couch, nodding in thanks while Eleanor left the room to prepare their drinks and put the finishing touches on their dinner. A short while later, Byron entered the room, holding their drinks and his own in his hands. He wore a broad smile on his face, one that reached his sunken eyes as he met their gazes. Severus and Lily both stood from their seats upon seeing him enter and prepared to utter a greeting to their host but he'd beaten them to the punch.

"Hello Severus, Lily. I'm glad you could join us this evening."

"The pleasure is all ours, Byron. Thanks for inviting us over in the first place," Severus replied.

Byron walked over to them and set the three glasses he carried down on the coffee table. With his load relieved, Severus and Byron then exchanged a firm handshake, followed by Byron pressing a kiss to Lily's knuckles. Byron then motioned his hand over to the couch, and the three sat back down again, with the host sitting in an armchair facing his two guests.

"So how have you been?" Byron asked, "I hope teaching hasn't gotten you down just yet."

"Not at all, Byron," Severus replied in a politely dismissive manner. "In fact…I must say that your son has proven to be quite an adept learner. It seems he's inherited your and Eleanor's aptitude for Defense Against the Dark Arts."

"Ah yes, Gregory, I like to think has taken the best from us in terms of his interests and traits, other than my wife's brusqueness—"

"I heard that!" Eleanor shouted from the next room.

Byron chuckled wryly. "But I love you for it honey!" he shouted back at her. To which his wife responded with an unnaturally loud sigh, causing Byron to roll his eyes in a silent display of good-natured exasperation.

He leaned across the table and in a mock stage whisper he said; "See what I mean?"

"But back to what I was saying though, Gregory has always been rather gifted at the subject, according to Professor Bracket at least, and Eleanor and I like to think it's because of our positive influence on him. You see…he wants to become an Auror like we are and follow in our footsteps."

"He told me as much," Severus replied as he lifted his glass of scotch to his lips. He took a sip of the liquid before continuing; "he's shown greater aptitude in the theory portion as opposed to the practical portion of my class however. That's not to say his practical abilities are poor because they are not, just that they are lacking compared to his theoretical knowledge of the subject."

A small smile, tinged with regret formed on Byron's face. "We know. We've tried to kind of…steer him away from following our Profession, but he seems dead set on becoming an Auror. So Eleanor and I plan to start training him in dueling starting over the summer."

"That should help quite a bit I think," Lily surmised. "Severus and I trained for a month in the lead up to Grindelwald's extradition. I like to think I improved at least a little bit in that time so I'm sure your son will feel the same."

"I hope so," Byron said grimly. "He's dead set on following mine and Eleanor's path and nothing we've said will dissuade him from what he believes is his destiny. At this point, the best we can do is prepare him for his eventual career in the auror force."

"Can't one of you request to be his mentor and train him once he joins?" Lily asked.

"No," Byron answered, shaking his head in denial of Lily's question. "There's rules and policies that prevent family members from training each other. So if were to join up in five years time after he graduates…then he'll be assigned a mentor or trainer that'll likely be a junior auror and definitely not a family member, thus ruling myself and Eleanor out."

"Don't get me wrong, either Byron or I would have loved to train our son once he joins. But as he said, there's rules against that sort of thing in the Auror Force," interjected Eleanor as she abruptly appeared in the doorway to the room, her apron that she'd been wearing earlier was now discarded, and her honey blonde hair hung over her shoulders now when it had been done up in a ponytail earlier whilst cooking.

"Besides…if I'd had my way, I would have loved to have had Byron train me when I joined, but that wasn't possible," Eleanor added as she beamed at her Husband.

"So the two of you didn't join together then?" Severus queried, glancing between the pair of them.

"No. Byron joined first, he was two years ahead of me at school after all. I joined up three years after he did and due to our prior relationship, they were adamant that I wasn't paired up with him as my mentor so they stuck me with Lestrange instead and I trained under him," Eleanor explained. "Anyways, dinner is ready now so if you could just grab your drinks and follow me that would be wonderful."

"Of course dear, please lead the way," Byron replied as the three of them collectively stood from their seats.

Severus knocked back the rest of his scotch, with Lily doing the same with her Gin & Tonic. Byron had already finished his glass of mead and so he offered to take their drinks into the kitchen, an offer that Severus and Lily took him up on. So as Byron with their three glasses in hand headed off towards the kitchen, Lily and Severus followed Eleanor into the hallway that lead from the sitting room to the dining room. Like the living room, the walls of the hall were constructed of a dark cherry wood, keeping up with the consistent theme of a deep red color scheme like the rest of the house they'd seen so far. Pictures adorned the walls of Eleanor and Byron, along with a boy whose age seemed to change in each picture. In the most recently taken pictures, Gregory McKinnon looked to be about twelve, maybe thirteen. His hair was a light blonde, like his mother's although his hair seemed to stand on end a lot like his father's. He'd also inherited his father's eyes, a dark brown that stood in contrast with his pale skin. Despite his unruly hair that at times seemed to remind Severus and Lily of a certain someone, he did seem rather scholarly in nature and that did match up with Severus' observation of him in class. He was a Gryffindor, and whilst he was only average in the practical aspect of DADA, he was ahead of the rest when it came to theory.

More photos aligned the walls of Eleanor and Byron in their younger years, some with their son, some with elderly people that Lily presumed were their parents. Severus' eyes remained fixed on the room at the end of the hallway as they walked along, whilst Lily perused the decorations, color and fittings; silently wondering if it would have been a food idea to follow Severus' decor ideas as opposed to her own. Whilst she truly loved the way their own home was colored and designed; with pale blues, warm yellows and creamy beiges of their home, exuding warmth and openness to anyone that visited their home, she couldn't help but wonder what their home would look like with the deeper reds and browns that colored the walls and fittings of the McKinnon cottage. With numerous thoughts and ideas of the decor of their home in mind, Lily decided to ask a question to Eleanor, as she lead them to the dining room that Lily presumed would be colored in much the same way as the other rooms they'd had the privilege of seeing thus far.

"I didn't get a chance to mention this earlier Eleanor, but the decor of your home is rather interesting, I find . Truth be told, Severus was a big proponent of us decorating our cottage in a similar manner," Lily complemented as they reached the end of the hall and arrived in the dining room.

"Oh? Well first of all thank you Lily, but Byron was actually in charge of the decor if I'm being honest. I was never one for things like that so he took the reigns when it came to the design philosophy of our home as well as the layout, structure, decor, all of it. I merely filled in the gaps with furniture so he did all the hard work. All in all, I think our home turned out rather nicely," she replied gratefully.

"I'd agree with that," Lily smiled as her eyes glanced to and fro over the walls and pictures. "Your home is very nicely decorated indeed, I must say that Byron did a much better job than I did in my opinion."

"Oh I don't know about that Lily," Eleanor replied, laughing lightly at the redhead's statement. "You and Severus will have to have us over some time in the future to let us be the judge of that won't you?"

"Perhaps sometime soon then," Severus agreed.

They walked into the dining room with Byron following shortly after them with his hands free of the empty glasses he'd been carrying; in their place he now carried a bottle of wine and his wand which was levitating four wide lipped glasses aloft. The McKinnons, Severus and Lily sat themselves down in their assigned seats whilst Byron set about pouring some wine into each of their glasses. Once their glasses were filled, Eleanor took it upon herself to explain each dish she'd prepared that evening in great detail. When Eleanor had finished introducing each dish, the two hosts served generous portions of each onto all four plates.

"So how has Greg been faring compared to the rest of his cohort?" Byron asked as he cut into a turkey breast.

Severus swallowed his bite of potato, dabbed at the corners of his mouth with his napkin, then turned to face Byron who was looking at him with an expectant look. "So far, I would say it is too soon to tell, Byron. But so far, based on the limited time I've spent instructing him he has shown promise. He certainly is an attentive learner and that to me is far more important than most other attributes."

"He's been studying really hard under Professor Bracket, hoping that he'd be able to achieve top-marks for his cohort for the Theory at least," Eleanor added.

"Marjorie says he's also rather talented at Charms too," Lily supplied, as she raised her goblet of wine to her lips. She took a brief sip, sighing as the citrus-accented wine slipped down her throat. "I'm considering putting together a tutoring course next year, when I start teaching. Focusing on spell-crafting and enchanting as well, I'd like Greg to be a part of it, he's certainly shown promise."

"That would be wonderful," Eleanor said, copious hints of relief in her tone. She shot the redhead a grateful look. "You see, we've been trying to dissuade him from following our paths, from becoming an Auror. He's been dead-set on it and while his knowledge of the Dark Arts is very impressive…his practical skills have been close to average, or so Professor Bracket says."

"I still think it's too early to judge," Severus interjected calmly. "He's still growing as a student so time will tell whether or not he'll be a good match for following in your footsteps, Byron, Eleanor. However I do think Lily setting up a club like this is a good idea, I hadn't thought of it myself I must confess."

Lily flashed him a grateful smile.

"So who would you intend to select for your club, or tutoring course…whatever you wish to call it," Byron asked, gazing curiously at her.

"Your son, for one," Lily replied swiftly. "But mainly I intend to asking students who have shown aptitude in charms and/or they seek to pursue a career in charms after graduation. there are so many potential jobs and career routes for a charms specialist and I think the main purpose of the class would be to…nudge them in the right direction, so to speak. I'll do my best with Greg and try to make him see a career in charms might be what's best for him…that being said, it's his choice at the end of the day, if he truly feels being an Auror is best for him, then Sev and I will try to help him succeed with that too."

"We'd really appreciate that Lily," Eleanor said gratefully, smiling at the younger woman.

"Actually, there's something else that we wanted to ask you as well," Byron interjected.

Severus and Lily exchanged a brief glance, the former shrugging his shoulders. "What's that Byron?" he asked.

"How did you come up with the plan…or the proposal, I should say, to transfer Grindelwald to Azkaban?"

All of a sudden, Severus' consciousness made an abrupt appearance in Lily's mind. Let me answer this, Lily. I'm sorry for the intrusion. He was gone before she could even think of a reply to utter.

"Well the idea to bring Grindelwald to Azkaban was ours," Severus lied smoothly, while holding Byron's gaze to avoid drawing suspicion. "The wards and all the additional…measures that were put in place however were created by Professor Dumbledore and Professor Oswald, however. Only the idea for bringing Grindelwald to our side of the pond can be traced back to us."

"And why would you propose such an idea?" Eleanor asked quizzically, as she swallowed a bite of turkey. "I mean…there's nothing wrong with keeping him in America, right?"

"Yes but the Americans were getting rather antsy, after all…in their view they were cleaning up our mess. Europe's mess. Grindelwald hasn't done anything in America, had hardly been there before he was caught impersonating Graves…President Picquery certainly gave off the impression that they were handling our problem for us and they were all too eager for us to take Grindelwald off of them," Severus explained calmly.

"In fact, I wouldn't have been surprised if the Americans were instead the ones approaching us, or perhaps the ICW to take Grindelwald off their hands if it hadn't been us making the first move," Lily added.

"I suppose that makes sense," Byron replied, stroking his beard in thought as he adopted a contemplative look. "Still though, I think it just would've been easier to kill him outright. The man…if you can call him that, is still responsible for the deaths of thousands of Muggles and hundreds more wizards and witches, if it were up to me I would have just killed him."

"I am of the same belief," Severus said. "However…I believe there would be one individual, the only person Grindelwald ever feared that would strongly object to that."

"Dumbledore," Eleanor said simply.

"Precisely. He would've fought tooth and nail to preserve Grindelwald's life, and given his influence and magical prowess I think most would've agreed to his wishes provided that there was next to no chance of Grindelwald ever escaping his confines in Azkaban. It was this belief, I think that prompted Albus to research those wards in a first place with Oswald's assistance, he wanted a secure method of housing his old friend without killing him, but otherwise keeping him out of trouble."

"I've heard that they were once closer than friends, closer than brothers even…" Eleanor added, grinning slightly.

"You're not wrong. And perhaps Albus can be accused of letting his feelings cloud his judgement and thus…inhibit his willingness to go all the way and end Grindelwald's life."

"That maybe so," Eleanor agreed, nodding her head. "But all this talk about Grindelwald is getting rather morbid. he's out of the picture, so what should we care about him anymore? I believe a far more important question is when?"

Lily's brows knitted confusedly. "When what?" She asked, tilting her head sideways.

Eleanor's grin widened, her eyes flickering to the ring Lily wore then back to her. "When the wedding is of course! Don't think that Byron and I didn't notice that gorgeous looking ring on your finger," she gossiped.

Her gaze shifted to Severus, adding; "I must say, Severus, you do have nice taste if that's the ring you've picked out for her. The green really brings out her eyes if you ask me. A very nice choice indeed."

"Those were my thoughts exactly," Severus replied. "My mother had a similar ring and I really liked it so I decided to get one kind of similar to it for Lily."

"A beautiful choice, your father must've had good taste to pick a ring similar to that out," Eleanor answered.

Severus resisted the temptation to curl his lip at the mention of his father, but Lily's hand on his calmed him right down. He settled for a curt nod in response.

"So when's the wedding then?" Eleanor asked, her eyes focused on the dazzling emerald that sat on Lily's ring finger.

"This coming Yule. We're both going to be teaching at Hogwarts by then so we're planning on holding it over the break."

"I see…and I'm not trying to be presumptuous, but might we expect an invitation to such an event?"

Lily tried and failed to cover a laugh at that but she dismissed Eleanor's teasing with a wave of her hand. "Oh don't you worry Eleanor, you both will be on our RSVP list, we just haven't gotten around to organizing any of the details for our wedding yet. Just know you both shall absolutely receive invitations."

"I take it you two are only recently engaged then?" Byron asked, his gaze shifting between the two.

"Yes, only for the past couple months or so," Lily answered.

"Well I for one am glad—" Byron started.

"As am I," Eleanor added.

"—that you two young people aren't beating around the bush. Why I dated Eleanor for close to four years before I asked for her hand in marriage."

"I was tempted to forgo tradition and ask him myself," Eleanor chuckled, gazing fondly at her husband through adoring blue eyes.

Severus' eyebrows rose in amusement whilst Lily turned in her seat to face Byron, an expectant look on her face. "So how did you propose then?" She asked, her inner gossip coming to the fore once more.

Severus subtly rolled his eyes as he recognized that tone which Lily was using, a tone she'd reserved only for when she was in demand of gossip.

Byron indulged Lily's curiosity with a smile of his own. "Oh now this occurred quite some time ago, a good fifteen years I think, she was just out of Auror training and I had already been an Auror for coming to two years at this point. We had just finished a raid, Crabbe Manor in Hampton had been tipped to housing Dark Artifacts, with their head of house, Caractus Crabbe being the man responsible for the whole operation. Eleanor had been struck with a nasty curse during the raid and was losing lots of blood…"

"Then what happened?" Lily asked eagerly, her eyes widening in anticipation as she leaned forward in her seat.

"Given my knowledge of healing spells and the fact that I was very close to choosing the career of a Healer over an auror—I certainly had the marks to enter a healing program but that's neither here nor there—I was chosen to apparate her to St. Mungo's and assist in her treatment. Naturally, I did just that and I helped as best I could to stabilize her," he explained. He paused, heaving a sigh as he said; "I was worried I'd lose her, for a time…and that I'd never have the opportunity to tell her I want to be with her for the rest of my life, whether it be one year, or one hundred. I loved her, but up until that point I lacked the courage to ask for her hand in marriage. I made a vow then that I would do everything I could to help Eleanor in her recovery and as soon as she was of sound mind, I would ask for her to marry me and would wed as soon as possible. That incident…it gave us a sense of urgency and need, need unlike any other. And to this day I still kick myself over the fact that it took so long for me to ask her."

Eleanor was smiling throughout her husband's recount of their tale. "And I never let him forget that it took him four bloody years to pluck up the courage to ask me," she said teasingly, grinning at her husband.

Byron looked sheepish, ducking his head away and granting the morsels on his plate more interest than they deserved to escape his wife's teasing.

"But it did teach the two of us a very valuable lesson Severus, Lily," Eleanor added pointedly, her tone growing more serious. "It told us that life is to short to waste away. You can't just…wait for an opportune moment sometimes. You have to make the moment work for you, not hunt for something that may not exist. In our line of work especially, either of us could die any day. So we never waste a moment, never put something off 'till tomorrow that can be done today. But then again it seems that you don't need that lesson. Twenty one and already engaged to be married at twenty two."

"We are of the same opinion," Severus answered.

Eleanor smiled happily, "I'm glad to hear that," she said sincerely.

"Anyways, how about we clear away all this food and bring out the cake?"

"That sounds wonderful Eleanor," Lily beamed. "Do you need any help getting plates or anything?" Lily offered, making to stand as Eleanor left the table heading for the kitchen.

The blonde shook her head, "I appreciate the offer Lily, but that shan't be necessary, please stay seated."

Lily nodded, lowering herself back into her seat. No more than three minutes later, Eleanor returned, the cake held in her hands and four dessert plates, forks, spoons and a tub of Plain Vanilla ice cream came levitating in after her on a tray. She set the cake down in front of her seat, the tray depositing itself to her right.

"Are you going to tell Eleanor about Abigail? She got an O so she's won your wager," Lily whispered into Severus' ear.

"I will once she serves the cake, don't worry I haven't forgotten," Severus whispered back, assuring the redhead as Eleanor began cutting four slices of cake and serving out one scoop of ice cream to accompany each slice.

Severus, Lily and Byron waited patiently as Eleanor served the cake and ice cream. When the plates were served, Lily and Severus exchanged a glance, with the latter turning away to establish eye contact with Eleanor who just so happened to be cutting into her slice of cake when she felt Severus' eyes on hers.

"Eleanor might I ask something of you?"

"Sure," she replied, nodding. "What is it that you want to ask?"

Severus smiled gratefully at her; nodding his thanks, he said; "A student of mine, and I had a bet over this past week. If she managed to score an EE or better on her test, I agreed to do a favor for her. Surprisingly, she surpassed all my expectations and scored the highest in the class, an O, needless to say."

"So what's this favor then?" Eleanor asked, tilting her head sideways in curiosity.

"Quite simple. She wished to be in contact with you, Eleanor. She wishes to be an Auror, and since that you're the most prolific female auror in the department, she wanted to write you for advice on how to become an Auror. I'd be lying to you if I said her knowledge of DADA isn't impressive, certainly for a third year, I wouldn't waste your time otherwise, Eleanor."

"What's the girl's name?" Eleanor replied, seemingly intrigued by Severus' proposal.

"Abigail Hawthorne, a Third Year Hufflepuff, but she's dead-set on becoming an Auror…a lot like your son actually. She claims you to be an inspiration to her of sorts…whatever that means—" he shrugged, with Eleanor, Lily and Byron each sharing a brief chuckle, "—Still, she has surpassed my expectations at least, and she is hoping that she'd be able to write you sometime in the near future."

"And she shows significant promise by your estimation?" Eleanor asked.

Severus nodded in agreement. "Indeed she does, from her performance she seems to possess a natural aptitude for Defense Against the Dark Arts."

"And knowing just how averse Severus is to handing out compliments, praise like that isn't awarded often," Lily chimed in.

Her snark earned her a raised brow from the man in question, along with hearty chuckles from their two hosts.

"Believe me Lily, I experienced that first hand when we were brewing that Potion for Bracket last week," Eleanor said dryly. "I got an O on my Potions NEWT, finished second in my class, only for him to say my brewing ability was infuriatingly pedestrian."

A smile curled Lily's lip, "that's Severus alright," she chuckled.

Severus sighed comically loudly, garnering yet more laughs from the others around the table. He then reached into his pocket and retrieved a piece of parchment, he slid it across the table to Eleanor. "That's the girl in question, her address, and all that you may need," he said simply, eyes indicating the parchment.

Eleanor's eyes pored over the details, nodding in satisfaction, she tucked the parchment into her robe pocket. "I'm rather busy these next few days, but I'll try to contact her next weekend."

"I'm sure she'll be very pleased to hear that. Thank you," Severus replied sincerely.

From there, their conversation lapsed into more mundane territory, discussions about work as well as expectations for the future in their work as well as their personal lives.

As the night wound on, Severus and Lily were eventually headed home, not before reassuring the McKinnons of their wish to have them over as soon as was convenient for them, of course. They made plans to meet again in a month's time once Severus' brief teaching stint was over and Byron returned from a coming trip to Hungary as part of an exchange program. Hugs, handshakes and cheek-kisses exchanged, Severus and Lily flooed away to their living room. As they did most nights, they fell asleep in each others' embrace, Lily's head tucked in under Severus' chin. All was well.

A/N: Thank you for reading and hope you enjoyed the chapter! The McKinnons will be close allies of Severus and Lily too in the future. Had some issues to deal with IRL and some writers block but I'm back writing again to continue this story.