A/N: The world of Harry Potter belongs to JK Rowling. I am just having fun
playing with her characters. This story is rated R for a reason. You have
been warned. I also have this story listed on Whispers, Adult Fan Fiction
and Lord and Lady Snape websites.. In case it gets deleted here.
Chapter Twenty-seven
Hermione and Severus headed to the library thinking that if they went home, then they wouldn't get as far as doing anything like research.
"Hermione, I need to speak to you about two of the first year's Potions homework. Remind me later, please." Severus told her and she looked at him curiously.
"Any problems?" She asked with a raised eyebrow as they entered the library and found it was almost deserted; only a small group of seventh years were silently working in a darkened corner.
"Let's discuss it later, love. We should get as much research done as possible right now." Severus told her and she nodded as they found a desk and sat quietly.
After about an hour of pain staking research Hermione finally found what she had been looking for- a key to the symbols found in the crop circles. She grinned happily and looked across the desk to Severus who had been browsing other Muggle Study books regarding the Supernatural that he had found. "Severus, look at this. It's a key." She whispered excitedly as he looked up and moved around the desk, pulling up a chair next to her.
"Do you have a copy of the symbols, Hermione?" He asked her in a hushed voice as he browsed the key she had been pointing at.
"Yes," she said pulling the now very crumpled piece of parchment out of her robes' pocket. "Here you go," she said handing it to him.
"Right, so this first symbol means. earth." Severus said as he found it on the key and glanced up to see Hermione nodding in confirmation. "This one means water," he said pointing to the next.
"The last one means fire." Hermione pointed to the key shaped design.
"This one," Severus said tapping it with his finger. "This is the symbol for air."
"So that's, earth, air, fire and water." Hermione said.
"Yes, the four basic elements according to the alchemists." Severus told her, frowning.
"Do you know of a potion that would use these four so-called elements, Severus?" Hermione asked him. He thought for a long moment as he scoured the very depths of his brain.
"I think so but it will require further research of Ancient Potions texts and those I have a plenty of in the dungeons." Severus said and Hermione leaped to her feet rearing to go. "Hermione, we have to collect Callum from the Headmaster." Severus said putting pay to her idea of further research that night
"Oh, that's the second time today he has totally slipped my mind. Anybody would think me to be a poor mother." She said as she stood straighter and rubbed her lower back slightly.
"Which you are not, love." Severus told her quickly as he rose to his own feet and stacked the books they had been using neatly on the edge of the table so that Wilhelm could put them away later.
"Thank you," she said with a small smile. "I don't really want Callum in the dungeons though, Severus. It's not a suitable environment for a baby." Severus looked at her.
"I agree. We can start this tomorrow, love. In the mean time we can get Callum settled and then we must discuss the first year Potions homework I mentioned."
"Okay," Hermione said and they left the library for the Headmaster's office.
~~*~~
Severus and Hermione entered Albus' office to find him bouncing Callum on his knee as little orb-like planets whizzed around their heads and a lullaby played in the background. Callum had a smile on his face and his eyes were following the little orbs all over never letting them leave his sight.
"Ah, here's your mummy and daddy, Callum." Albus said as he turned him on his knee to face his parents as they approached, and the planets dropped neatly onto the desk.
"How has he been, Albus? No trouble I hope?" Severus asked as Hermione moved to take her son from the Headmaster.
"Oh, no trouble at all, Severus. He has been as good as gold." Albus told them both.
"Thank you so much for looking after him, Professor Dumbledore." Hermione told him as she hugged Callum to her chest and Severus stroked his head.
"Oh, no trouble, my dear, and please will you start to call me Albus sometime soon?" Albus said chuckling at his Head of Gryffindor's formality. "Did you make any progress with your research?"
"Actually yes, we did. We found that the symbols represent the four basic elements, earth, air, fire and water. These are apparently the ingredients to the potion we need to brew." Hermione told him pausing for a moment. "We were going to research the possible ingredients needed tomorrow as, for instance, for the fire element it could mean anything from that produced by gun powder to dragons blood to actual living flame."
"Yes, you seem to have a great deal of research ahead of you indeed. I have numerous Alchemy tomes if you are in need of any." Albus offered.
"I also have Alchemy texts in the dungeons, Albus but we may take you up on the offer." Severus said.
"Well, maybe I can help with child minding when you need to research?" Albus offered.
"Oh, Albus, would you?" Hermione asked thankful for the immensely kind offer.
"Yes, no trouble. Bring Callum to dinner again tomorrow evening and I can take him from there." Albus replied as the very boy in subject of the conversation decided he was suddenly very hungry.
"Well, we'd best be off as Callum's feeding time has arrived." Severus told the Headmaster. "We will take you up on your offer, Albus and thank you once again."
"Good night you two, and bye, Callum. It has been a pleasure." Albus said as the Snape's left his office.
~~*~~
It was already nine o'clock by the time they arrived home and they had caught three students from Gryffindor out after Curfew, which Hermione happily disciplined with detentions with Neville Longbottom.
After feeding Callum and settling him down, Hermione and Severus took to the couch and Severus picked up the pile of first year Potions assignments from the little table where he had left them earlier.
"So, what is the problem, Severus?" Hermione asked as he put his arm around her shoulders and she cuddled into him.
"These two," he handed her the top two assignments placing the others on the table again. "Take a good look."
Hermione took the parchments and noticed that both were immediately similar in answers, which was not good since the vast majority of them were wrong and even with Severus' very strict marking criteria the answers were clearly so off the mark it was unbelievable. "Okay, clearly the topic of wormwood and its use in cleaning potions will have to be gone over again for these two students."
"Which two?" Severus asked making sure she drew her attention to the names at the top of the parchments.
"Oh!" She exclaimed loudly and sat up straight with an irate look on her face. "Christopher Granger, and Anton Greenbaum of Slytherin."
"Exactly, and if memory serves Potions is one of Chris' top subjects. So why the sudden change in grades and why was his work too similar for comfort to one of the Slytherin's? I happen to know he made no lasting friends whilst he was in my House." Severus told her and she sighed heavily. "Also, I should warn you I will be disciplining Greenbaum for a very similar offence. So, I would think that Christopher is perhaps innocent in this instance but that does not explain his low mark."
"What time is it, Severus?" Hermione asked, as she took on board what he had said but was still fuming at the fact her own brother had been in on anything.
"Nine thirty."
"Good, not too late. I'm not leaving this until tomorrow. I want to speak to Chris right now."
"What about Mr. Greenbaum?" Severus asked as she stood up from the couch.
"I want Chris' version of events right now. I take this as a most personal insult, Severus and am far angrier with him right now. I will speak to Mr. Greenbaum in the morning." She said waving the parchments for emphasis.
"Very well, do not be too long, love. I will watch Callum while you are gone." Severus told her, there would be no reasoning with her until she got some of her anger out of her system.
"Thank you, Severus." She said bending down and kissing him on the cheek. She moved over to the wall and cast a revealing spell of the Gryffindor common room to see if Chris was there, he was. She moved over to the fireplace and threw some floo powder in before shouting 'Gryffindor common room' and being whisked away in green flames clutching the two parchments in her hand.
"Ah!" Chris shouted as his sister suddenly emerged from the roaring fire into the common room. "I will never get used to that! Good evening, Professor." Chris said as he watched his sister straighten up and dust herself off. He immediately caught the flare of anger in her eyes as she pinned him with a glare.
"Mr. Granger. Accompany me now, please." She said as she headed out of the common room to her office with him in tow.
The torches lit as soon as she opened her office door and she waited until Chris was through before slamming the door shut behind him.
"What's up, Hermione?" Chris asked looking up at her.
"Don't 'what's up, Hermione', me, young man! I am your professor right now as well, you can drop the familiar tone immediately!" Hermione shouted as she stormed over to her desk and took a seat. "Sit, Mr. Granger."
Chris immediately sat in the chair opposite her and cringed, he had not ever seen his sister this angry with him before. "Professor, have I done something wrong?" Hermione slammed the parchments down on the desk and pushed them over to him so he could see. He took one look and gulped.
"Explain, immediately." She seethed.
"Well, you see, the thing is. Anton Greenbaum has had it in for me since I changed Houses. He is constantly copying my work and so I decided to make him copy the wrong answers for a change." Chris explained in a matter-of- fact tone.
"Why have you never mentioned this to me before now? As your Head of House, your Potions teacher and sister, I expect you to tell me of any problems you are having." Hermione told him; irate at the fact he didn't seem to trust her enough in either a professional capacity or as a member of his family in order to go to her when he was having trouble.
"Well, I handled it. He's been caught cheating now hasn't he." Chris defended himself at the hurt look now on Hermione's face.
"No, he has not." She raged again. "You are both going to be punished for plagiarism. I do not take kindly to this at all, Mr. Granger. You have brought disgrace to yourself and Gryffindor for not dealing with this situation in an adult manner. I am very disappointed in you. This score will now go down as a zero in your records and that, as I'm sure you are aware will bring down your grade point average for the year." Hermione spat at him fuming.
"But I didn't cheat!" He shot back raising his voice angrily.
"I don't know that for certain, Christopher! All I know is that the Head of Potions marked these papers and this is what he found. We have no way of proving this."
"Veritaserum would do it." Chris cut in.
"If you were as smart as you seem to believe you are, you would know that Veritaserum is controlled by the Ministry of Magic and cannot be given willy-nilly to all and sundry." Hermione countered.
"Well, surely my record speaks for itself then. I have scored constant O's on my work so far."
"No, that won't work either since the students would put that down as favouritism on my part and you would then find yourself in a worse position." Hermione replied. "As punishment."
"But I."
"Do not interrupt me, Mr. Granger." Hermione told him and he immediately shut up. "You will serve detention with Professor Snape at eight o'clock tomorrow evening in the Potions lab. Forty points from Gryffindor and zero for this assignment. If you are found plagiarising again or turning in homework that is too similar for comfort with another student I will be writing to your parents and you may face suspension. You are dismissed."
"Fine!" Chris spat standing up and glaring at his sister, she was being too heavy with his punishment as far as he was concerned.
"I suggest you calm down, Christopher. Mr. Greenbaum will be worse off than you I can assure you, Severus has already discovered something of a similar infraction and therefore he will be punished twice over, by me and his Head of House." Hermione told him. "For what it is worth I do believe you did not cheat but I have to be seen to act on this. Good night." He stormed out of her office fuming and Hermione locked up before returning to her own quarters.
"How did it go?" Severus asked as she entered their chambers and flung her teaching robes over the coat rack.
"He hates me." She replied simply.
"I'm sure you exaggerate, love."
"Perhaps," she conceded tiredly.
"He'll calm down by tomorrow."
"Unlikely if his temper is anything like mine, Severus." She said as he enveloped her in his arms. "He has detention with you tomorrow night, Severus."
"Oh? What about our research?"
"Well, make him help or make him scrub cauldrons. It doesn't really matter." She said yawning and hugging him tightly with her eyes slowly closing.
"Come along, Hermione. It's time for bed and you can take a potion to help you sleep. I will feed Callum. You are over tired and that's no good when disciplining your own students."
"Thank you, Severus." They changed for bed and Hermione took the sleeping potion before falling into bed and asleep before her head hit the pillow. Severus climbed in beside her and pulled her close to him before closing his eyes and falling asleep as well.
~~*~~
Severus had only been up twice in the night for Callum. He was sleeping for periods of up to four hours at a time now. He stretched lazily as the first rays of sun hit his face and quietly got out of bed to make some tea before Hermione stirred.
"Good morning, Severus." Hermione said from the kitchen doorway as she stretched and yawned.
"Oh, good morning, love. I was going to bring you a cup of tea but you're already up. Did you sleep well?" Severus asked as he handed her a mug of hot tea and sipped his own.
"Wonderful. I feel very refreshed, thank you." Hermione told him. " How was Callum over night? Were you up with him much?" She asked taking a sip of tea as well.
"He's been fine. I fed him twice. I've noticed that he tends to sleep for about four hours at a time now."
"Well, he's still asleep now. Absolutely out of it as a matter of fact." Hermione said as she set her mug down and moved close to Severus, smiling seductively. She pressed up against him and put her arms around his neck. He placed his cup down as well and moved his hands to her waist as she kissed him tenderly on the lips.
"Do we have time for this, my love?" Severus asked as he broke away from her slightly and gazed into her eyes.
"I do believe so, Severus." She whispered against his lips before kissing him again and demanding entrance to his mouth by running her tongue over his lower lip. She moved her hips closer to his and he backed her up towards the kitchen wall as his hands slipped down to the hem of her night dress and pulled it up to reveal nothing underneath. She broke away from his kiss and grinned seductively at him as he raised an eyebrow at her.
"I love you, Mrs. Snape." Severus growled as he began to kiss down her jaw and exposed neck. She raised her leg up and stroked the back of his right calf.
"I would never have guess, Mr. Snape," Hermione said chuckling slightly as he moved his hands to her bottom and pulled her hips close to his straining erection. Hermione moved her hands down his bare back and moving her thumbs into the waist band of his pyjama bottoms managed to push them down to release his erection. He groaned at the sudden movement of fabric over his penis and thrust towards her involuntarily as his mouth found hers once more and their tongues duelled for control.
Severus moved his hands to cup her bottom and he lifted her up the wall slightly, moving his hips towards her once more and impaling her on his hard length. "Ohhh," she groaned as he filled her completely and he began to thrust into her. There was a sudden cry from their bedroom as Callum chose the most in opportune of times to wake up. "Don't stop," Hermione pleaded breathlessly as she kissed his neck and he continued to thrust into her.
"I. have no. intention of.. doing so. my love." Severus said as he quickened the pace. She gasped as the start of her orgasm hit and kissed him passionately. As Callum's crying continued and they both released at the pinnacle of their climaxes and Severus spilled his seed into her.
Severus lowered his wife to her feet once more and kissed her tenderly as they both regained their breathing. "I love you, Severus."
"I love you too, Hermione but our son will wait no longer it seems." Severus said as he chuckled and stepped back from her, pulling his bottoms up again. "You go and get cleaned up and I will see to Callum."
"Thank you," Hermione said as she moved away and into the bathroom taking her cooling mug of tea with her and brushing past Severus flirtatiously as she went.
~~*~~
"Mr. Greenbaum," Severus said in his silky dark voice just after lunch. "Sit." The first year Slytherin sat quickly in his Head of House' office and waited for whatever was to come. Severus placed the plagiarised assignments on his desk and indicated that Anton should take a look with a nod of his head as he sat back in his chair and stared at the student. Anton picked up the parchments and unrolled them. "Do you know why you are here wasting my time?" Severus asked.
"Yes, sir." He replied very timidly.
"Explain." Severus snapped.
"Explain what, sir?"
"Why your assignment and Mr. Granger's were equally as poor and clearly a copy of one another." Severus hissed with a scowl on his face.
"He obviously copied my work, sir." Greenbaum replied simply.
"Really?" Severus asked slowly and disbelieving, he sat forward slowly with his hands steepled in front of him on the desk. "Tell me, Mr. Greenbaum how you manage to barely scrape a pass in Potions but Mr. Granger attains a grade which is usually outstanding, and yet he is now scoring a mere 22 percent."
"As I said, sir. He copied my work." Greenbaum told him.
"My question is why he would copy your work when he does not need your assistance to attain a good grade?"
"Perhaps he didn't get help this time from his sister." Anton replied after a moment of thought, and it was quite clearly not a well thought out response as he was talking about his Head of House' wife.
"Are you accusing my wife of colluding with a student in order to help him pass her class?" Severus growled.
"I-I suppose I am, sir. It's only natural for family to help one another when they are in need."
"Yes it is. So, that must be why you also handed in a History of Magic assignment that was written by your older brother who has now graduated from Hogwarts." Greenbaum gulped. "Of course it probably would not have been detected if the professor teaching the subject was not a different one to the one your brother had. If you had been paying attention in your last History class you would know that the lesson was regarding the dark wizard Grindelwald instead of the Goblin Revolt in 1237! Perhaps your brother is not aware that the syllabus has altered dramatically."
"I. w." Greenbaum tried to speak but he couldn't defend himself.
"Well, what do you have to say for yourself? Do you admit to two separate accounts of cheating?" Severus demanded.
"Yes, sir," Greenbaum said sullenly and hung his head in shame.
"Why did you do it?" Severus asked wanting to understand his student a little better.
"I was struggling and needed to keep my grades up."
"Then you report to your teacher for assistance. You do not cheat!" Severus raged.
"Yes, sir," Greenbaum said, gulping again and still not making eye contact with his professor.
"I am suspending you for one week, Mr. Greenbaum. You will return home and think seriously about whether you want to continue your education here." Severus said as he picked up a quill so that he could draft a letter to the boy's parents.
"No, sir! Please don't send me home. I beg you, please!" Greenbaum reacted so suddenly and unexpectedly that Severus was quite lost for words as the student pinned him with a worried look. "Please sir, I will take any other punishment but I beg you not to send me home."
"Explain your aversion to my rules." Severus told him and he gulped as tears filled his eyes.
"He will beat me if you do, sir. I have to keep my grades up and do everything right or I get punished severely. Last time, during the holidays I spent two weeks in St. Mungo's because he beat me so badly." Greenbaum told him as he looked into space and remembered what had happened during the holidays.
"Who did?" Severus asked; concern clear in his face and voice.
"M-My step-father," Anton told him. "Don't tell him I told you, please." He begged his professor again.
"Anton," Severus said as he came around his desk and kneeled in front of his first year. "Calm down and talk to me." Severus handed him a handkerchief, which he took and wiped his eyes and nose with.
"I can't tell, sir." He said wiping tears from his cheeks and sniffing again.
"You do not have to suffer in silence, Anton. I have a duty to protect you as your Head of House." Severus explained.
"No, he will beat my mother if you tell him I told you." Anton replied with a look of fear in his eyes.
"No he will not for I will have him taken into custardy." Severus assured him.
"Then we will lose our house and my mother and sister will be homeless." Anton replied.
"Is your sister safe?" Severus asked.
"Yes, she is his daughter you see, I am his step-son and so is my older brother. He doesn't like me because of who my real father was. My older brother tries to help me out with my grades and things so that he won't beat me much."
"He has no right to beat you at all, Anton." Severus replied. "Can your older brother not help your mother and sister?"
"I don't know. he's scared of our step-father." Anton replied. "I don't want to talk about it anymore. Please don't send me home, sir."
"Alright, but I want Madam Pomfrey to take a look at you." Severus told him as he stood up. "Come with me, Anton and I'll escort you to the hospital wing, we can talk tomorrow as I do need to punish you and you obviously feel you need help with at least two of your subjects." Greenbaum nodded and followed Severus off to the Infirmary.
Chapter Twenty-seven
Hermione and Severus headed to the library thinking that if they went home, then they wouldn't get as far as doing anything like research.
"Hermione, I need to speak to you about two of the first year's Potions homework. Remind me later, please." Severus told her and she looked at him curiously.
"Any problems?" She asked with a raised eyebrow as they entered the library and found it was almost deserted; only a small group of seventh years were silently working in a darkened corner.
"Let's discuss it later, love. We should get as much research done as possible right now." Severus told her and she nodded as they found a desk and sat quietly.
After about an hour of pain staking research Hermione finally found what she had been looking for- a key to the symbols found in the crop circles. She grinned happily and looked across the desk to Severus who had been browsing other Muggle Study books regarding the Supernatural that he had found. "Severus, look at this. It's a key." She whispered excitedly as he looked up and moved around the desk, pulling up a chair next to her.
"Do you have a copy of the symbols, Hermione?" He asked her in a hushed voice as he browsed the key she had been pointing at.
"Yes," she said pulling the now very crumpled piece of parchment out of her robes' pocket. "Here you go," she said handing it to him.
"Right, so this first symbol means. earth." Severus said as he found it on the key and glanced up to see Hermione nodding in confirmation. "This one means water," he said pointing to the next.
"The last one means fire." Hermione pointed to the key shaped design.
"This one," Severus said tapping it with his finger. "This is the symbol for air."
"So that's, earth, air, fire and water." Hermione said.
"Yes, the four basic elements according to the alchemists." Severus told her, frowning.
"Do you know of a potion that would use these four so-called elements, Severus?" Hermione asked him. He thought for a long moment as he scoured the very depths of his brain.
"I think so but it will require further research of Ancient Potions texts and those I have a plenty of in the dungeons." Severus said and Hermione leaped to her feet rearing to go. "Hermione, we have to collect Callum from the Headmaster." Severus said putting pay to her idea of further research that night
"Oh, that's the second time today he has totally slipped my mind. Anybody would think me to be a poor mother." She said as she stood straighter and rubbed her lower back slightly.
"Which you are not, love." Severus told her quickly as he rose to his own feet and stacked the books they had been using neatly on the edge of the table so that Wilhelm could put them away later.
"Thank you," she said with a small smile. "I don't really want Callum in the dungeons though, Severus. It's not a suitable environment for a baby." Severus looked at her.
"I agree. We can start this tomorrow, love. In the mean time we can get Callum settled and then we must discuss the first year Potions homework I mentioned."
"Okay," Hermione said and they left the library for the Headmaster's office.
~~*~~
Severus and Hermione entered Albus' office to find him bouncing Callum on his knee as little orb-like planets whizzed around their heads and a lullaby played in the background. Callum had a smile on his face and his eyes were following the little orbs all over never letting them leave his sight.
"Ah, here's your mummy and daddy, Callum." Albus said as he turned him on his knee to face his parents as they approached, and the planets dropped neatly onto the desk.
"How has he been, Albus? No trouble I hope?" Severus asked as Hermione moved to take her son from the Headmaster.
"Oh, no trouble at all, Severus. He has been as good as gold." Albus told them both.
"Thank you so much for looking after him, Professor Dumbledore." Hermione told him as she hugged Callum to her chest and Severus stroked his head.
"Oh, no trouble, my dear, and please will you start to call me Albus sometime soon?" Albus said chuckling at his Head of Gryffindor's formality. "Did you make any progress with your research?"
"Actually yes, we did. We found that the symbols represent the four basic elements, earth, air, fire and water. These are apparently the ingredients to the potion we need to brew." Hermione told him pausing for a moment. "We were going to research the possible ingredients needed tomorrow as, for instance, for the fire element it could mean anything from that produced by gun powder to dragons blood to actual living flame."
"Yes, you seem to have a great deal of research ahead of you indeed. I have numerous Alchemy tomes if you are in need of any." Albus offered.
"I also have Alchemy texts in the dungeons, Albus but we may take you up on the offer." Severus said.
"Well, maybe I can help with child minding when you need to research?" Albus offered.
"Oh, Albus, would you?" Hermione asked thankful for the immensely kind offer.
"Yes, no trouble. Bring Callum to dinner again tomorrow evening and I can take him from there." Albus replied as the very boy in subject of the conversation decided he was suddenly very hungry.
"Well, we'd best be off as Callum's feeding time has arrived." Severus told the Headmaster. "We will take you up on your offer, Albus and thank you once again."
"Good night you two, and bye, Callum. It has been a pleasure." Albus said as the Snape's left his office.
~~*~~
It was already nine o'clock by the time they arrived home and they had caught three students from Gryffindor out after Curfew, which Hermione happily disciplined with detentions with Neville Longbottom.
After feeding Callum and settling him down, Hermione and Severus took to the couch and Severus picked up the pile of first year Potions assignments from the little table where he had left them earlier.
"So, what is the problem, Severus?" Hermione asked as he put his arm around her shoulders and she cuddled into him.
"These two," he handed her the top two assignments placing the others on the table again. "Take a good look."
Hermione took the parchments and noticed that both were immediately similar in answers, which was not good since the vast majority of them were wrong and even with Severus' very strict marking criteria the answers were clearly so off the mark it was unbelievable. "Okay, clearly the topic of wormwood and its use in cleaning potions will have to be gone over again for these two students."
"Which two?" Severus asked making sure she drew her attention to the names at the top of the parchments.
"Oh!" She exclaimed loudly and sat up straight with an irate look on her face. "Christopher Granger, and Anton Greenbaum of Slytherin."
"Exactly, and if memory serves Potions is one of Chris' top subjects. So why the sudden change in grades and why was his work too similar for comfort to one of the Slytherin's? I happen to know he made no lasting friends whilst he was in my House." Severus told her and she sighed heavily. "Also, I should warn you I will be disciplining Greenbaum for a very similar offence. So, I would think that Christopher is perhaps innocent in this instance but that does not explain his low mark."
"What time is it, Severus?" Hermione asked, as she took on board what he had said but was still fuming at the fact her own brother had been in on anything.
"Nine thirty."
"Good, not too late. I'm not leaving this until tomorrow. I want to speak to Chris right now."
"What about Mr. Greenbaum?" Severus asked as she stood up from the couch.
"I want Chris' version of events right now. I take this as a most personal insult, Severus and am far angrier with him right now. I will speak to Mr. Greenbaum in the morning." She said waving the parchments for emphasis.
"Very well, do not be too long, love. I will watch Callum while you are gone." Severus told her, there would be no reasoning with her until she got some of her anger out of her system.
"Thank you, Severus." She said bending down and kissing him on the cheek. She moved over to the wall and cast a revealing spell of the Gryffindor common room to see if Chris was there, he was. She moved over to the fireplace and threw some floo powder in before shouting 'Gryffindor common room' and being whisked away in green flames clutching the two parchments in her hand.
"Ah!" Chris shouted as his sister suddenly emerged from the roaring fire into the common room. "I will never get used to that! Good evening, Professor." Chris said as he watched his sister straighten up and dust herself off. He immediately caught the flare of anger in her eyes as she pinned him with a glare.
"Mr. Granger. Accompany me now, please." She said as she headed out of the common room to her office with him in tow.
The torches lit as soon as she opened her office door and she waited until Chris was through before slamming the door shut behind him.
"What's up, Hermione?" Chris asked looking up at her.
"Don't 'what's up, Hermione', me, young man! I am your professor right now as well, you can drop the familiar tone immediately!" Hermione shouted as she stormed over to her desk and took a seat. "Sit, Mr. Granger."
Chris immediately sat in the chair opposite her and cringed, he had not ever seen his sister this angry with him before. "Professor, have I done something wrong?" Hermione slammed the parchments down on the desk and pushed them over to him so he could see. He took one look and gulped.
"Explain, immediately." She seethed.
"Well, you see, the thing is. Anton Greenbaum has had it in for me since I changed Houses. He is constantly copying my work and so I decided to make him copy the wrong answers for a change." Chris explained in a matter-of- fact tone.
"Why have you never mentioned this to me before now? As your Head of House, your Potions teacher and sister, I expect you to tell me of any problems you are having." Hermione told him; irate at the fact he didn't seem to trust her enough in either a professional capacity or as a member of his family in order to go to her when he was having trouble.
"Well, I handled it. He's been caught cheating now hasn't he." Chris defended himself at the hurt look now on Hermione's face.
"No, he has not." She raged again. "You are both going to be punished for plagiarism. I do not take kindly to this at all, Mr. Granger. You have brought disgrace to yourself and Gryffindor for not dealing with this situation in an adult manner. I am very disappointed in you. This score will now go down as a zero in your records and that, as I'm sure you are aware will bring down your grade point average for the year." Hermione spat at him fuming.
"But I didn't cheat!" He shot back raising his voice angrily.
"I don't know that for certain, Christopher! All I know is that the Head of Potions marked these papers and this is what he found. We have no way of proving this."
"Veritaserum would do it." Chris cut in.
"If you were as smart as you seem to believe you are, you would know that Veritaserum is controlled by the Ministry of Magic and cannot be given willy-nilly to all and sundry." Hermione countered.
"Well, surely my record speaks for itself then. I have scored constant O's on my work so far."
"No, that won't work either since the students would put that down as favouritism on my part and you would then find yourself in a worse position." Hermione replied. "As punishment."
"But I."
"Do not interrupt me, Mr. Granger." Hermione told him and he immediately shut up. "You will serve detention with Professor Snape at eight o'clock tomorrow evening in the Potions lab. Forty points from Gryffindor and zero for this assignment. If you are found plagiarising again or turning in homework that is too similar for comfort with another student I will be writing to your parents and you may face suspension. You are dismissed."
"Fine!" Chris spat standing up and glaring at his sister, she was being too heavy with his punishment as far as he was concerned.
"I suggest you calm down, Christopher. Mr. Greenbaum will be worse off than you I can assure you, Severus has already discovered something of a similar infraction and therefore he will be punished twice over, by me and his Head of House." Hermione told him. "For what it is worth I do believe you did not cheat but I have to be seen to act on this. Good night." He stormed out of her office fuming and Hermione locked up before returning to her own quarters.
"How did it go?" Severus asked as she entered their chambers and flung her teaching robes over the coat rack.
"He hates me." She replied simply.
"I'm sure you exaggerate, love."
"Perhaps," she conceded tiredly.
"He'll calm down by tomorrow."
"Unlikely if his temper is anything like mine, Severus." She said as he enveloped her in his arms. "He has detention with you tomorrow night, Severus."
"Oh? What about our research?"
"Well, make him help or make him scrub cauldrons. It doesn't really matter." She said yawning and hugging him tightly with her eyes slowly closing.
"Come along, Hermione. It's time for bed and you can take a potion to help you sleep. I will feed Callum. You are over tired and that's no good when disciplining your own students."
"Thank you, Severus." They changed for bed and Hermione took the sleeping potion before falling into bed and asleep before her head hit the pillow. Severus climbed in beside her and pulled her close to him before closing his eyes and falling asleep as well.
~~*~~
Severus had only been up twice in the night for Callum. He was sleeping for periods of up to four hours at a time now. He stretched lazily as the first rays of sun hit his face and quietly got out of bed to make some tea before Hermione stirred.
"Good morning, Severus." Hermione said from the kitchen doorway as she stretched and yawned.
"Oh, good morning, love. I was going to bring you a cup of tea but you're already up. Did you sleep well?" Severus asked as he handed her a mug of hot tea and sipped his own.
"Wonderful. I feel very refreshed, thank you." Hermione told him. " How was Callum over night? Were you up with him much?" She asked taking a sip of tea as well.
"He's been fine. I fed him twice. I've noticed that he tends to sleep for about four hours at a time now."
"Well, he's still asleep now. Absolutely out of it as a matter of fact." Hermione said as she set her mug down and moved close to Severus, smiling seductively. She pressed up against him and put her arms around his neck. He placed his cup down as well and moved his hands to her waist as she kissed him tenderly on the lips.
"Do we have time for this, my love?" Severus asked as he broke away from her slightly and gazed into her eyes.
"I do believe so, Severus." She whispered against his lips before kissing him again and demanding entrance to his mouth by running her tongue over his lower lip. She moved her hips closer to his and he backed her up towards the kitchen wall as his hands slipped down to the hem of her night dress and pulled it up to reveal nothing underneath. She broke away from his kiss and grinned seductively at him as he raised an eyebrow at her.
"I love you, Mrs. Snape." Severus growled as he began to kiss down her jaw and exposed neck. She raised her leg up and stroked the back of his right calf.
"I would never have guess, Mr. Snape," Hermione said chuckling slightly as he moved his hands to her bottom and pulled her hips close to his straining erection. Hermione moved her hands down his bare back and moving her thumbs into the waist band of his pyjama bottoms managed to push them down to release his erection. He groaned at the sudden movement of fabric over his penis and thrust towards her involuntarily as his mouth found hers once more and their tongues duelled for control.
Severus moved his hands to cup her bottom and he lifted her up the wall slightly, moving his hips towards her once more and impaling her on his hard length. "Ohhh," she groaned as he filled her completely and he began to thrust into her. There was a sudden cry from their bedroom as Callum chose the most in opportune of times to wake up. "Don't stop," Hermione pleaded breathlessly as she kissed his neck and he continued to thrust into her.
"I. have no. intention of.. doing so. my love." Severus said as he quickened the pace. She gasped as the start of her orgasm hit and kissed him passionately. As Callum's crying continued and they both released at the pinnacle of their climaxes and Severus spilled his seed into her.
Severus lowered his wife to her feet once more and kissed her tenderly as they both regained their breathing. "I love you, Severus."
"I love you too, Hermione but our son will wait no longer it seems." Severus said as he chuckled and stepped back from her, pulling his bottoms up again. "You go and get cleaned up and I will see to Callum."
"Thank you," Hermione said as she moved away and into the bathroom taking her cooling mug of tea with her and brushing past Severus flirtatiously as she went.
~~*~~
"Mr. Greenbaum," Severus said in his silky dark voice just after lunch. "Sit." The first year Slytherin sat quickly in his Head of House' office and waited for whatever was to come. Severus placed the plagiarised assignments on his desk and indicated that Anton should take a look with a nod of his head as he sat back in his chair and stared at the student. Anton picked up the parchments and unrolled them. "Do you know why you are here wasting my time?" Severus asked.
"Yes, sir." He replied very timidly.
"Explain." Severus snapped.
"Explain what, sir?"
"Why your assignment and Mr. Granger's were equally as poor and clearly a copy of one another." Severus hissed with a scowl on his face.
"He obviously copied my work, sir." Greenbaum replied simply.
"Really?" Severus asked slowly and disbelieving, he sat forward slowly with his hands steepled in front of him on the desk. "Tell me, Mr. Greenbaum how you manage to barely scrape a pass in Potions but Mr. Granger attains a grade which is usually outstanding, and yet he is now scoring a mere 22 percent."
"As I said, sir. He copied my work." Greenbaum told him.
"My question is why he would copy your work when he does not need your assistance to attain a good grade?"
"Perhaps he didn't get help this time from his sister." Anton replied after a moment of thought, and it was quite clearly not a well thought out response as he was talking about his Head of House' wife.
"Are you accusing my wife of colluding with a student in order to help him pass her class?" Severus growled.
"I-I suppose I am, sir. It's only natural for family to help one another when they are in need."
"Yes it is. So, that must be why you also handed in a History of Magic assignment that was written by your older brother who has now graduated from Hogwarts." Greenbaum gulped. "Of course it probably would not have been detected if the professor teaching the subject was not a different one to the one your brother had. If you had been paying attention in your last History class you would know that the lesson was regarding the dark wizard Grindelwald instead of the Goblin Revolt in 1237! Perhaps your brother is not aware that the syllabus has altered dramatically."
"I. w." Greenbaum tried to speak but he couldn't defend himself.
"Well, what do you have to say for yourself? Do you admit to two separate accounts of cheating?" Severus demanded.
"Yes, sir," Greenbaum said sullenly and hung his head in shame.
"Why did you do it?" Severus asked wanting to understand his student a little better.
"I was struggling and needed to keep my grades up."
"Then you report to your teacher for assistance. You do not cheat!" Severus raged.
"Yes, sir," Greenbaum said, gulping again and still not making eye contact with his professor.
"I am suspending you for one week, Mr. Greenbaum. You will return home and think seriously about whether you want to continue your education here." Severus said as he picked up a quill so that he could draft a letter to the boy's parents.
"No, sir! Please don't send me home. I beg you, please!" Greenbaum reacted so suddenly and unexpectedly that Severus was quite lost for words as the student pinned him with a worried look. "Please sir, I will take any other punishment but I beg you not to send me home."
"Explain your aversion to my rules." Severus told him and he gulped as tears filled his eyes.
"He will beat me if you do, sir. I have to keep my grades up and do everything right or I get punished severely. Last time, during the holidays I spent two weeks in St. Mungo's because he beat me so badly." Greenbaum told him as he looked into space and remembered what had happened during the holidays.
"Who did?" Severus asked; concern clear in his face and voice.
"M-My step-father," Anton told him. "Don't tell him I told you, please." He begged his professor again.
"Anton," Severus said as he came around his desk and kneeled in front of his first year. "Calm down and talk to me." Severus handed him a handkerchief, which he took and wiped his eyes and nose with.
"I can't tell, sir." He said wiping tears from his cheeks and sniffing again.
"You do not have to suffer in silence, Anton. I have a duty to protect you as your Head of House." Severus explained.
"No, he will beat my mother if you tell him I told you." Anton replied with a look of fear in his eyes.
"No he will not for I will have him taken into custardy." Severus assured him.
"Then we will lose our house and my mother and sister will be homeless." Anton replied.
"Is your sister safe?" Severus asked.
"Yes, she is his daughter you see, I am his step-son and so is my older brother. He doesn't like me because of who my real father was. My older brother tries to help me out with my grades and things so that he won't beat me much."
"He has no right to beat you at all, Anton." Severus replied. "Can your older brother not help your mother and sister?"
"I don't know. he's scared of our step-father." Anton replied. "I don't want to talk about it anymore. Please don't send me home, sir."
"Alright, but I want Madam Pomfrey to take a look at you." Severus told him as he stood up. "Come with me, Anton and I'll escort you to the hospital wing, we can talk tomorrow as I do need to punish you and you obviously feel you need help with at least two of your subjects." Greenbaum nodded and followed Severus off to the Infirmary.