A/N: I realized it wasn't self-evident. Hermione, like many hard-of-hearing individuals, can read lips. I'm sorry I didn't call that out specifically earlier in the story. Thanks for pointing that out to me, readers!

If Hermione had been possessed of the Holy Spirit, Severus had always been possessed of the Inner Bastard. Never did that seem more true to him as it did while he lay awake thinking of all she had written to him, all she had been through, and his part in it.

It was tempting to simply resign and leave. He didn't really owe Dumbledore anything anymore. As far as he was concerned, any debt had been cancelled by the stunt of inviting Hermione to succeed him and not telling Severus the truth.

The Slytherin part of him wanted to stay put, and be cold and distant to her and her son. He could stalk around acting like nothing had happened, all the Gryffindors would despise him, and they'd breathe a sigh of relief when he announced his departure at the end of spring term. She'd forever hate him, and young James wouldn't seek him out at some future date hoping for a nauseating reconciliation. His conscience, such as it was, wouldn't be bothered by worrying about the boy's upbringing with all the ridiculous Gryffindors fluttering around imbuing the child with nobility and honour and sickening bravery.

After all, he'd never once had the desire to father children. Part of that was never being in love as a young man when most couples decided to procreate, he supposed, but he knew he'd be as poor of an excuse for a father as he had been as a Companion. He'd never had a decent paternal role model till Albus Dumbledore entered his life, and by then the patterns were fairly well set. He had been quite honest with Hermione years ago on the subject. He'd always thought it would be best that the sad legacy of the Snape family die with his generation.

He realized, of course, that it was too late for that to be true.

He didn't actually hate children as much as he seemed to in his classes; he just took pleasure in making them squirm, much as he liked tweaking Miss Chang and Professor Longbottom these days. He had very little experience with younger children, since most of them ran away at the sight of him when he had occasion to see them in Diagon Alley or Hogsmeade. It was remarkable that young James had looked him square in the eye without flinching, or backing down.

Damn her for putting him in this position! His usual off-center grasp of The Appropriate Thing to Do was definitely eluding him in favor of the warring scenarios of The Expedient Thing To Do, the Callous Bastard Thing to Do, and even The Gryffindor Thing To Do. Perish the thought! He'd been spending far too much time with Lupin.

It wasn't just the child, though. It was her. Seeing her again brought everything bubbling to the surface that he'd been keeping closed off for seven years.

He still loved her. And, according to her, the feeling was mutual.

He got up and started rummaging around for the Dreamless Sleep potion he kept in his cupboard. It would be a very long night without it.

*~*

Dear Mother Superior,

He's been confronted. I have no idea what each of t hem is thinking, but there it is. Little James is staying with us so they can sort things out.

James was amazingly frank with him. It was nice, really, seeing Severus caught off kilter.

I would not be the least bit surprised if he owls you for help.

All my love,

Narcissa/Sister Joan

*~*

Hermione was in her office early the next morning, arranging her things. It was very strange to be in the familiar office and not see Dumbledore or Fawkes. It was downright bizarre to sit in his chair.

What ever made me think I could fill his shoes? Why the hell am I here?

She'd tried not to examine her rationale too closely in the preceding months. It was a good opportunity to further her career in school administration. She missed England. She missed her old friends. The primary school in Hogsmeade was outstanding. Really, she had come up with so many justifications that helped her avoid the reality that one main reason was to finally confront Severus with the truth.

The Mother Superior was right, the nosy old biddy. The truth shall make you free.

Ever since the confrontation the night before, she had felt a huge weight off her chest. It didn't really matter what he decided to do at this point. He knew about James. Honestly, she wasn't quite sure she wanted to share her son anyway. Maybe Severus would just leave. He'd run away from his responsibilities before without even a backward glance, after all.

That was cold. Give the man a chance.

She was honestly afraid to see him again even under professional circumstances. Her Spirit had been so overjoyed the previous night, that Hermione had nearly just attacked Severus in her glee at seeing him. Her Spirit had never been too subtle. It was a good thing that Hermione was possessed of Herculean self-control.

He did allow you to blubber on his shoulder, you know. He may be an awful git most of the time, but you know how he operates. All bluster and evil on the outside, tender on the inside.

She shook her thoughts off. All she wanted was an amicable working relationship and for her son to come out of this non-traumatized.

*~*

"So that was my dad, hm? Do you like him? Is he nice?" James was grilling Narcissa, Remus, and Draco.

Draco spoke up. "Your dad is very…honourable, James. Very…um…I would trust him with my life. He does the right thing."

Remus nodded. "He's a…good…deep down, he's a good man. I'm sure you'll get on with him famously."

Narcissa smiled at all the skirting around the Main Personality Flaws they were doing. "Honey, I know this will be hard to understand. Your father loves you and wants you, but he's not been able to be with you while you were growing up. I am certain he will want to spend some time with you now. It will be funny for both of you, but I know you'll give him a chance, won't you?"

"He seemed really tired and cranky."

Remus stifled a laugh. "He's a very busy man, James, and can certainly be…cranky. He's much nicer when you get to know him. You'll see."

"Can I come stay here again soon?" James loved the Manor. Now that all traces of Lucius Malfoy had been erased, the home and grounds were actually quite cheery.

"You may come here anytime, little brother," Draco said.

*~*

Sirius Black was a Man With A Mission.

Ever since the first time Hermione had sat at his table 6 years ago, pregnant and tearful as she spilled to him and Harry that her first letter to that idiot Snape had gone unopened and returned, he'd been harboring some substantial resentment towards the Potions Master. To be quite honest, they'd gotten along quite well the three years that Hermione had been at Hogwarts, but after the breakup things had declined dramatically between them. Remus had been much better than he at keeping things balanced; Sirius was ready to charge in and tell Severus about James and the fact that he had hurt Hermione so terribly a number of times. Hermione had asked all of them not to interfere, but that didn't mean he had to like it. If not for Remus and Harry holding him back, he would have punched the smirky git's face repeatedly as Hermione went unacknowledged all those years.

Hermione had asked everyone to get along with him, and for her sake, he complied. But over the years, his visits across the pond to see Hermione had gotten a little more frequent, and not necessarily in the company of Harry or Moony anymore.

He was in love with her.

Six months prior, over a bottle of wine late one evening, he had asked Dobby and Eleanor to take a hint and head off and then looked at her beautiful face over the table. He reached for her hands, and she gave them willingly to him. If he'd looked more closely, he would have seen the sorrow in her eyes.

"Hermione, I have to be honest with you. I know you're still pining for that awful prat of a man skulking around in the Hogwarts dungeons. I just want you to know that if you call my name, I'll be there. I think you should confront him, get this all out of your system, so you can take care of yourself. Look towards the future. There are a lot of men who would do anything to love a woman as brilliant and wonderful as you are."

She shook her head, and wrote on the legal pad that was on the table, And you're one of them. Did I guess correctly?

He cleared his throat. "Yes. I will be there for you. I'm not going to pressure you, and since I don't see him very often, I won't have occasion to slug him for letting such a precious treasure waste away."

Sirius. You're wonderful. I've gone far beyond thinking of you as just Harry's godfather, and I confess under normal circumstances I would be tempted to just take you here on the kitchen table. Don't look so shocked. But until I have the chance in a few months to confront him, my heart is still his. I don't want to hurt you and I don't want you to wait for me to fall out of love with him. It may never happen.

The conversation had lagged as they finished a last glass of wine, and then he had kissed her. She responded despite herself, before pushing him away and writing, I can't promise you that will ever happen again. But if I get the Bat out of my system once and for all, I'll know who to call.

Remus had admonished him to leave her alone as he left with James and Narcissa last night, but the night was over and he had to see how things had happened.

He knocked, and she bade him enter.

She never used Dobby to interpret personal conversations, preferring to use pad and paper. She had been working on a charm that would translate her thoughts to paper, using the same principle that had been at play in Tom Riddle's Diary. She'd had so little occasion to test it since she had rarely had conversations of a sufficiently personal nature to warrant not having Dobby around.

She held up her hands and grabbed a parchment, and waved her wand over the paper and the quill. She softly murmured an enchantment. Spells were about the only time she used her voice anymore; Sirius realized how much he missed it.

Testing…testing…Hi Sirius! Let's see how this works in practice, it's been flawless in my testing.

"Remarkable," Sirius said. "I can see where that particular enchantment would come in handy for a lot of situations."

Indeed. So, what brings you by? She seemed quite unconcerned with life, hadn't been obviously crying, and generally was upbeat. He was feeling sheepish now, thinking he would be charging in to save the day.

"Just wanted to see how your meeting with Snape turned out."

She half closed her eyes, and replied, Better than expected. We're not done yet. He doesn't seem angry with me, anyway. After all, I did try and tell him what was happening, he just refused to read my letters. He might be less charitable towards those like yourself and Lupin that he sees regularly that didn't tell him, but even then, I believe he understands how he shut himself off.

"Well, then? No grand reunion, or…"

Leave it to you to come to the point. It's too soon to tell, my friend.

"If you need me…for anything…shoulder to cry on, dog to walk, whatever…you'll let me know, right?" He was trying to inject levity into the discussion to hide the fact that he was disappointed that Severus didn't just kick her out. What did he want here, anyway? Her heart to break? Her to be in pieces, for him to sort out? Well, let's face it, that is probably what he did secretly want, but he had no wish to see her hurt. It was a sticky wicket.

Of course. Ahhh, he approaches now. I have some things to discuss with him. See you later?

On cue, Severus entered, and with a slight snarl, Sirius left the room. Hermione summoned Dobby, and they began planning the year ahead without a trace of angst. She noticed that he seemed slightly preoccupied and possibly a little tired, but the rest of his emotions were quite in check.

After they were done, Dobby excused himself. He'd known his mistress long enough to see what was in her eyes, and suddenly remembered an important errand.

She turned to her enchanted quill and parchment. Severus stood watching over her shoulder as it formed words, and whistled. "Impressive, Headmistress."

I'll be blunt, then. Have you thought about how you would like to handle things given the fact that there is a little boy involved? I can keep him away from you, you can visit him alone, we can be with him together, I want you to call the shots here with one stipulation. We must always do what is best for him. He is a powerful little wizard and I do not want him finding a dark path. There are some things about the situation I haven't had time to tell you, but it is extremely important that this little boy has a happy childhood.

Severus raised an eyebrow, and nodded. "I think I would like the three of us to spend some time together before I feel confident about taking the boy alone, but I am willing to play the paternal role. I confess that it was the last role I thought I'd find myself in, but since I am a father, I will do my part to ensure the boy's proper upbringing."

Relief washed over her features. Thank you, Severus, this means a lot to me.

He waved his hand. "I still remain…regretful…that I was so stubborn in the past. The least I can do is try and make…this up to him."

She laughed, and said, We'll turn you into a Gryffindor yet.

He rolled his eyes, and said, "You and what army? Would you accompany me to lunch in my quarters? I'd like to talk more about our son."

They walked out and past the watchful eyes of Sirius Black in the shadows.