DEVOTED

Chapter 8

"Snape-ette"

If Severus thought everything would go back to normal after that night, he was sadly mistaken.  He managed to avoid the little girl and her mother for the better part of a week, as he was extremely busy.  Yes…he was busy, he had taken on Voldemort and lived hadn't he…therefore he Severus Snape was no coward.  When he walked into the crowded break room for their end of the month meeting, he noticed that Hermione had brought the toddler.  Jillian was sitting at the small table playing with her "Magic Marker" one marker that changed colors at the young artists command.  Instead of taking the last remaining seat next to her, he choosing instead to stand and lean against the wall.   Content to give the little girl the "stink-eye".

Jillian returned his glare with a happy grin, and said blithely. "Aint' ascared of you, Auntie Uncle Sev-us."

Now Jillian who was learning the difference between Auntie and Uncle, had only minutes earlier called Remus the same thing, but the group laughed till they cried at the look of dismay on Severus' face.

"Watch it kid, that's the kind of nick name that sticks.  You may call me Professor Snape."

"Sev-us." She said setting her chin in a stubborn line.

"Professor Snape" he said again

"Fessor Snake" she said dimpling sweetly at him

"Humph" he snorted "Sev-ER-us" He said enunciating his name slowly, giving in to the lesser of the three evils.

And now when one of the other professors wanted to needle him…it was "Auntie Uncle Severus".

                                                            **************

He had taken to keeping them company on their evening walks.  Sometimes Jillian would be tucked in his outer cape to keep her warm, her bright hair and eyes just visible. Enough time was spent together that the others on staff couldn't help but notice, and too gossip about the little romance they felt was going on under their noses.

Severus was half put out at them for poking their noses in his business, and half pleased when he came to realized that they just wanted to see them both happy.

Accompany Hermione and Jillian on their nightly stroll had become an enjoyable end to his long days.  By the end of the year Hermione would sometimes decline the walk, but was more that happy to have Jillian go on his patrols with him.  He was amazed by the amount of influence he had over the child, when one evening they found a couple snogging in a deserted hallway.  Before he could open his mouth, he heard Jillian's small piping voice say…."20 POINTS EACH, and D-tension!!"  

The young couple looked on in horror, when Professor Snape and Professor Granger's child calmly discussed their punishment.

"D-tension, whiff Filtch…I fink" She said, tapping her tiny finger on her chin.

"I think that they should be separated. How about one with Professor Lupin, and one with Mr. Filtch…" he asked her in a serious voice.

"Lupine's, too much fun…Kitty and Filtch is better, I fink."  Shaking her finger at the naughty couple she said.  "Go now, for I make it a'hundwed" 

He had to laugh when a few days later when he heard the students referring to her affectionately as the "little Snape-ette".  Of course with her charming smiles and cute wheedling ways, the students thought it was almost cute when she handed out detentions.

Ron watched as the scenery changed, Jillian looked older, about three years old if he had to guess.  And it was clearly summer time.  Jillian was trying to ride on a small children's broom, as Hermione and Professor Snape sat in the shade under a tree watching her.  Ron was thinking he had never seen Professor Snape look so relaxed.  He had forsaken his usual teaching robes; ones that Ron had never seen him without.  And was wearing a pair of casual slacks in a nondescript dark color, and a white long sleeve button up oxford. 

"Don't you think she's a little young for that broom?  Summer just started, what if the ground is still too hard?"  Hermione asked while trying to bite both her bottom lip and her thumbnail at the same time in her worry.  He neatly plucked her hand away from her mouth, and kissed it, making the engagement ring on her finger sparkle.

"She may be a little young, but wizard children are usually a little more advanced than Muggle children.  And she is a very advanced child, even in the wizarding world.  Any way I think its best to let her try now, before she picks up your fear of flying."  He said, toying with the ring on her finger.  "Besides it only goes up a foot or so, when she falls, and fall she will.  Don't worry, she won't get hurt."

But he only shrugged his shoulders sheepishly when a few seconds latter she caught him softly muttering a softening spell on the ground.

Hermione smiled at him,  "You spoil her, Severus.  I told her she would have to wait till she was at least seven before I would get her a beginning broom."

"Everyone loves her, Hermione, and she them.  To make her happy is a joy to all of us.  Anyway, I don't think love can spoil a person.  I've never been a Daddy before, I'm sure I'll make more than a few mistakes along the way" He said watching as Jillian took her first tumble off the broom.

He shook his head at Hermione when she looked like she was going to get up.  Jillian however didn't even look their way, just dusted her bum off and hopped back on.  With a "Weeeeeee!   Watch me Mommy…Severus…are you watching me?"

After assuring her that yes, indeed they were watching.  They fell quietly back into their conversation.

"This year was harder, maybe it's the age, and maybe it's the prospect of having a father.  But she has asked several times about Ron.   I've tried to be honest with her, I've told her an edited version.  But she asked out of the blue yesterday, if she was bad, and that's why her real Daddy didn't want to see her."   Hermione said under her breath as Jillian "whizzed" trying to grab a passing butterfly like a snitch, thankfully the butterfly seemed to be easily outpacing her. 

She had admitted that Ron Weasley was in fact Jillian's father, but she refused to say anything more, other than to reassure him that Ron had not forced her.  He had left it at that, and would wait until she was ready to tell him the rest.  "I think talking about it would help."  He said tipping her face up to his.  "Tell someone, tell anyone, get rid of all this weight you've been carrying around, before you buckle under it."

She nodded her head slightly, pulling his head down to place a soft kiss on his lips.

Looking back at Jillian she said.  "After Harry died, Ron started pulling away from everyone, family and friends, but mostly from me.  We spent only the one night together, the night after the battle…and the next day we both pretended that nothing had happened." 

She smiled sadly, "I saw him drifting farther and farther away every day, and there was nothing I could do about it.  I was so mixed up and sad, I didn't know what to do for him, so, I just threw myself into my studies.  I lived in the library, didn't eat, barely slept…when I started getting sick, I just ignored it."

"By the time I realized I was pregnant I didn't feel anything, I couldn't.  I attacked it with my head analyzing it, dealing with it purely on an intellectual level." She brushed her bangs out of her eyes.

"Ron was just so emotional when I told him, so upset.  It was too much for me, so I chose not to deal with all his emotions. He had started dating Fleur the previous summer, and I knew that he had been planning getting a job near her collage so they could be together.  When he almost accused me of using the baby to tie him to me, I allowed him to push me out of his life.  I knew he was hurting, and I could have tried harder to talk to him.  But the truth was, I was hurting too, and I just didn't have the energy to do it.  Ron had just lost his best friends, but I had just lost both of mine!  I just decided to focus on the baby and let Ron live his own life." 

She shook her head,  "The fact that Ron and Fleur just got married just a few years ago tells me she noticed the change in him too.  Molly told me that they just had a daughter themselves.  I was not invited to the wedding, not that I would have gone.  Nor was I sent a birth announcement.  I've taken Jillian to visit Molly and Arthur a few times. It would have seemed funny if I never went around at all.  Ron and I both insinuated that the father was someone else.  But I can see it in Molly's eyes; I think that she knows the truth.  She asked once why Ron and I don't talk anymore…I just told her it was too hard on both of us.  That it just hurt too much to be near each other, it reminded us too much of Harry, and how much we both lost.  But I think that she has let the matter drop, rather than accepting what we've told her."

Severus pulled her in a comforting hug.  "You know Hermione, I really think you should use a pensive.  Once you let all these memories go, maybe you'll be able to step back and view them objectively."

Severus sat in one of Hermione's reading chairs too relaxed to even summon the house elves to clean up the dinner dishes.  Hermione had run down to his private lab to check on a potion, before returning with her notes.

He was just on the verge of sleep when a shrill scream brought him straight out of his chair, wand drawn.  A few moments later he was pulling Jillian into his lap.  Her curls hung darkly on her head and face; the pajama set was soaked and clung to her small frame. 

"It's ok Jilly.  I'm here, your fine.  It was just another dream."

Jillian sobbed and tried to tell him of her dream.  As always it was too disjointed and hysterical to make any sense to him.

"TH-THE MAN, THE MAN…DON'T LET HIM GET ME…DON'T LET HIM!"  She screamed.  "HE WANTS ME, HE'S COMING FOR ME...DON'T LET HIM HURT ME, DON'T LET HIM GET MAMMA."

"It's ok, it was just a dream…a very bad dream.  I won't let any one get you." He said into her hair.  The way she held on to him like a drowning person would hold onto a life preserver nearly broke his heart in two.

Calmer, she took a deep breath.  "Uncle Harry came and tol me to run...and I did, I ran and my sides hurted so much I stopped... and then the bad man got me, and when Uncle Harry told me to run I couldn't…I stampeded into glue and my feet were stuck to the floor."

He rocked her till she relaxed and fell to sleep.  Hermione had told Jillian all about "Uncle Harry", and he seemed to feature in her dreams a lot now.  "Uncle Harry", who was now her hero in her dreams.  Oddly he found that it didn't bother him…well not as much as it would have at one time..

When Hermione came back Severus had Jillian in the glider in front of the fire, his robes covering her like a blanket.  She smiled at the coziness of it all.  Jillian had obviously had another of her nightmares.  The only way to calm Jillian now that she was too big to walk the hall endlessly with was to sit with her in the glider.  And Severus' robes had been her comfort item of choice since he had held her the very first time.

Severus cracked one eye open to look at Hermione.  "One would wonder at your timing.  One would almost think that you knew when she was going to have a nightmare…and one would wonder why you would choose to leave your daughter with the likes of me to comfort her."

She smirked at him.  "Oh, Professor Snape…haven't seen you around in awhile.  Would you like to stay for a cup of tea?"  She said saucily.

"It will take a lot more than tea…"  He started, but Hermione had walked over cut his reply short by sliding her lips gently over his.

"Why don't you put Jilly to bed…then you can put me to bed, too."  She ran her lips over his cheeks to gently bite his earlobe, blowing her hot breath in his ear she said huskily.  "Snarky men really turn me on…I love Severus…but I always wondered what Snape would be like in bed."  She stood undoing the buttons to her blouse.  "Put her to bed, Professor…I have need of you in the other room."

He raised one eyebrow.  "I'll be there momentary, but if we are going to be role playing I strongly advise you not to be "Know-it-all-Granger", or you'll find yourself at the other end of a spanking."  Was his reply as he gracefully arose from the chair, and followed her down the hall. 

Thank you to everyone that is reading and reviewing this story.  I do love reading them!  If I don't answer a question, it's not to be rude…it's because I have a big mouth and I know it…so I'm going to keep my mouth closed, that way I won't give any of my plot away.

Lorie