The next few days passed by in a blur of activity. There was an overload of unpacking, refurnishing, settling Maggie and Cam, restocking the empty shelves in the Infirmary, going over student files, re-exploring the immense castle with Cam, catching up with anyone and everyone in the castle, and hundreds of other little things that needed to be done. In the days that followed their arrival, the three adapted quite nicely to their new lifestyle and home, despite their hectic schedule.
Harry and Ron had decided to stay at Hogwarts on an extended visit, rooming in their old dormitory in the Gryffindor Tower, much to the chagrin of Severus Snape. They spent their time catching up with Hermione and acquainting themselves with their godchildren. Ron and Harry spent a lot of time filling Hermione in on everything that had happened in Britain and Scotland since her departure, including marriages, deaths, who was together, who had broken up, what their old school friends were up to, everything that she had missed in the years since they had spoken. The topic of her ex-husband was practically taboo and never spoken of, including her reasons for cutting off all contact while in America. Harry and Ron stayed true to their word, and gave Hermione time to come to them with her story.
The three had taken up wandering the castle at night after the two children were put to bed, reminiscing about the past and their old adventures. Harry even brought out the Invisibility Cloak and the Marauder's Map on a few of these trips, and the three traipsed happily through the hallways, albeit rather uncomfortably, since they were slightly taller than they were as eleven year olds. They quickly picked up their old habits of play fighting constantly, bickering, teasing, and playfully hexing one another, and causing trouble wherever they went. All was done after Cam and Maggie were asleep, of course, so as not to give the young ones any ideas.
The older Professors, the ones that had taught the three, were delighted to see them together again, with the little ones in tow (most of them, anyway). Harry and Ron loved spending their time recounting their adventures for Cam, who was still enthralled at the idea of magic, and overly amazed that his mother had been a child in the school, breaking rules and everything. They had even bought him a children's broom and were teaching him how to fly while Hermione was working in the Infirmary.
To give Hermione time to go over student files, restock the stores, and rearrange the Infirmary to her liking, Cam and Maggie were watched by the others in Hogwarts. Maggie was cooed at and fought over by every other female staff member, as well as a number of the male ones. Cam spent his time in the shadows of Albus, Harry, Ron and Sirius, constantly asking questions of them. Surprisingly, Cam was quite intrigued by the dark figure that was Severus Snape, and when Severus did venture out of his dungeons, Cam attached himself to Severus's side. He was fascinated by the concept of mixing different things together and actually making something (this coming from his love for making mud pies with Andy) and bugged Hermione nonstop to get her to bring him to the dungeons.
Hermione was rather shocked that Severus was so receptive to Cam, especially after his comments about her children when she first arrived. He rarely snapped at Cam, but was uncharacteristically patient with the boy. He seemed to enjoy the fact that Cam wanted to talk to him about Potions, and, while he would never admit it to anyone, was rather pleased that Cam sought out his presence over the others. Still, that didn't mean that he was actually nice to Cam, for he did have a reputation. He still supplied the endless witty and sarcastic remarks, but he cut back on the rather harsh ones and the snarkiness when he was with the boy. It might have had something to do with the fact that all his comments went right over the boy's head and failed to serve their purpose, but that's alright. And Hermione would almost swear that she had seen him smiling once or twice at her son, but she was not exactly sure and dismissed the idea as her imagination.
Cam was enchanted by the castle and its occupants, loving the attention he was receiving in this new world. As the weeks went by, nicknames were adopted for the other professors and inhabitants. Harry and Ron quickly became 'Uncle Harry' and 'Uncle Ron', Albus was 'Poppa Albus', and Minerva 'Nona Kitty'. She was given this name after a rather exciting transformation in front of the amazed toddler. Sirius suffered the same fate after transfiguring into his Animagus form, and after Cam overheard Harry and Ron joking about Snuffles, promptly named him 'Uncle Snuffy'. To the amusement of all, Cam even came up with a nickname for Severus, 'Uncle Sevvie', which he despised with a passion. This, of course, pushed the other members of the staff to call him 'Sevvie' when he was being particularly prickly, which was quite often as you can imagine (although not as often as when the Trio were still students). Filius Flitwick was called 'Uncle Flit' and Angela Vector was 'Auntie Angie'. The other professors (minus Severus) were thrilled with the pet names from Cam, and spoiled him and Maggie every chance they had.
Before anyone knew it, there was only three weeks left until the new term. The castle inhabitants were in a frenzy, trying to get lesson plans finished and the castle ready for the students' return. Harry and Ron, having been absent from their own jobs long enough, said a final goodbye to Hermione and the children and left the night before the rest of the staff members were to arrive.
Several staff members, those with a family, opted to live at home until it is time for the children to arrive back at school. Albus, Minerva, Sirius, Severus, Angela Vector, Morgana Hooch, Filius Flitwick and Emily Hudson (one of the newer teachers) all chose to stay.
The day Hermione was to meet the rest of the staff dawned bright and early, very early. While Maggie and Cam, having been so exhausted from romping around the castle throughout the summer, had usually slept through the night and rather late in the morning, Cam was a bundle of energy since Harry and Ron had left. So it was at six-thirty on this beautiful day that Hermione was awoken by a small boy jumping on her bed excitedly.
"Mom-my Mom-my!!! Wake-up! Mom-my!" he was squealing in time to his bounces. Because he was shouting so loudly, Maggie's cries soon joined in, bringing Hermione from her deep sleep rather quickly.
"Alright, alright, Mommy's up. Cam, please stop jumping!" she cried as she struggled to her feet, lurching towards the basinet to gather her screaming daughter. After several minutes of rocking and soothing, Maggie was once again the angel she usually was. Cam, having finally gotten his mother out of bed was happily playing with his new toys in his room.
Harry, Ron and Albus had taken a trip to Diagon Ally, into a children's store that neither the men nor Hermione knew was there. Albus had helped the two younger men buy toys and supplies Hermione might need for her two children. They then adamantly refused to let her pay them back, claiming that they were making up for lost birthdays and holidays. The children's clothes were quite adorable, tiny versions of adult robes in bright colors and with different designs.
After dressing quickly in some loose light blue robes, she dressed Maggie in cute pink baby clothes and lay her down in her playpen. Entering Cam's room, she smiled as she saw the young boy playing with two of the stuffed flying dragons that Ron had picked out. While the dragons were stuffed, they were still magical toys and flew around the room whenever and wherever their owner told them to go. Hermione thanked Merlin that they didn't breathe fire.
At the moment, a laughing and excited Cam was chasing after them as they flew around his room, about two feet above the ground. His light green robes with miniature racing brooms flying around them were flapping behind him as he ran. Hermione stood for several seconds, just watching her son and thanking whoever was listening that Cam had adjusted so well to their life at Hogwarts. She was thrilled that he seemed to fit right into the world of magic, something she had hated keeping from him in New Jersey.
Breaking out of her thoughts as she heard the breakfast bell chime, she called to her son, "Cam, time for breakfast. Let's go see if we can beat the rest of the teachers to the Hall!" As predicted, Cam quickly scurried to slip on his Velcro shoes and practically tripped trying to run out of the room. Hermione had found that instead of asking nicely or trying to threaten Cam into doing something, for it rarely worked, if she simply made a request into a game or a race, he followed more than willingly.
Following her son out into her bedroom, she scooped up Maggie and released the wards on their quarters so they could pass into the Infirmary. Albus and she had spent a good amount of time discussing how to keep Cam from running out of their quarters without her knowing, and had come up with a security system of some sorts. Every time Hermione entered the rooms with the children, she set the wards so that they wouldn't be able to leave without her unwarding the rooms. She herself could leave, and anyone who wanted to could enter and exit while the wards were up. However, even if an adult were carrying one of her children, they would not be able to leave until she herself, or Albus, took down the wards.
Albus had asked her why she wanted the wards set that way, so that even with an adult the children could not leave the quarters, but Hermione only shook her head and shrugged. "I just think it might be useful, something I might want to have in the future, just in case." She hadn't explained further, and Albus had let the matter drop, albeit unwillingly.
Shaking her head to clear her thoughts away, Hermione hurried after Cam as he ran towards the Great Hall. He tied, to no avail, to pull open the immense doors, much to Hermione's amusement. She shifted Maggie to her left side and opened the doors for her son, who ran into the room.
"Oh, Mom! We're not the first ones here!" he whined, until he realized that the other people were Albus, Minerva, Sirius, and Severus. Hermione laughed as the little boy ran across the Great Hall and practically threw himself onto Albus's lap.
"Oof, why hello there, Cam," Albus welcomed with a smile, shifting the boy into a more comfortable position on his lap.
"Hi Poppa Albus!" Cam greeted back cheerfully as he waved hello to the others at the table. He then waved his hand at Albus, motioning that Albus should lean down so that Cam could whisper in his ear. The others paid little attention to this as it was a daily ritual between the young boy and older man. Hermione sat down next to Minerva in time to hear Albus chuckle heartily at whatever it was that Cam had said.
Everyone greeted Hermione, and she reciprocated, before Maggie was swept out of her arms by the woman sitting next to her.
"And how is Maggie this morning?" she asked, smiling down at the infant in her arms.
"Woke up screaming, thanks to that one over there," Hermione said nodding toward Cam as she reached for the coffee. "Decided to wake me up this morning by jumping on my bed." This statement was greeted with laughter all around, especially when Sirius and Severus both shuddered at the thought.
"Does that happen often?" Sirius asked, curious.
Hermione shook her head, reaching for a bagel. "No, usually only on special occasions, like birthdays or the holidays. He was just really excited today."
Everyone glanced at Severus as he cleared his throat awkwardly and looked guiltily (well as guiltily as Severus Snape could ever look) at Hermione.
She raised her eyebrow and waited for him to explain, as Albus, Minerva and Sirius chuckled in amusement.
"I told him that today, if it was alright with you, I would take him to the classroom and let him watch me brew some potions that I need for the start of the term," he said, inwardly flinching as he waiting for the explosion.
"Oh, that explains it. Alright," she answered, and went back to buttering her bagel.
She looked up as she heard Albus, Sirius and Minerva laughing, apparently at Severus, who was looking at her in surprise.
"Alright? That's it? You're not going to yell that I would be endangering your son, or that thanks to me, you had to be woken up the way you were?" he asked, amazed.
Hermione laughed along with the rest before answering the man who was now scowling at everyone. "First of all, Severus, I know you would never endanger my son's life. You do teach children and have kept them relatively safe from harm everyday of the year. And second, I had told Cam myself that I would let him watch you one day. I had expected you to cave into his badgering sooner, to tell you the truth," she said with a smirk.
Severus's scowl deepened at this, much to the amusement of the others, before he glanced at the boy in question. Cam was happily munching on his french toast while still sitting on Albus's lap, completely oblivious that he was the topic of conversation.
"Yes, well. The little bugger can be a bit persuasive," he finally growled.
"Hey! That's my little bugger you're talking about mister!" Hermione teased. She had discovered that the man no longer intimidated her. Irritated her, definitely, but no longer scared to death everytime he looked at her. It might have had something to do with the joke Cam played on him (with Harry and Ron's help, of course) that turned his hair and eyebrows bright blue for two days.
Severus's reply was cut of as other people began joining them at the table.
"Ooh, Auntie Morgy!! Can you still teach me how to fly when other people get here?" Cam shouted down the table to Morgana Hooch, who chuckled and walked to their section of the table.
"If it's alright with your Mum, I will. But only when there are no other students around, understood?" she replied with a smile. She nodded to everyone in greeting as she reached over Minerva's shoulder to smooth down Maggie's hair in a tender gesture.
Cam nodded eagerly, thrilled that his flying lessons would continue.
"But," Morgana said, piercing him with a gaze as the child fell still, "I do not want to hear from you Mum that you've been flying around your quarters, got it young man?"
Cam, who had expected the worst possible thing, nodded happily and went back to eating and playing with Albus's beard.
"Morgana, thank you so much for keeping up the lessons. You know how dreadful I am on a broom, and I definitely did not want to have try to teach my son how to fly," Hermione said, shuddering at the thought as everyone laughed.
"Oh, please, like you have been on a broom on years," Minerva said with a smile, eliciting an embarrassed nod from Hermione.
"You can't fly?" Severus asked surprised, and Hermione turned to see both Severus and Sirius looking at her in shock, amazed that Hermione Granger openly admitted not being able to do something.
She laughed at the looks on their faces before replying with a smile. "Oh, I can fly, just not very well. And I hate it, the feeling of not being in control, of being able to fall at any second," she shuddered. "I just refuse to get on a broom unless it's utterly dire that I use one. Haven't had to use one in a while, thank Merlin," she said.
"And how did you expect Cam to learn?" Sirius asked.
"Well, in America, we weren't even living in a Magical community, so I expected him to learn when he went to a Wizarding school," she said. She paused and seemed to be contemplating something, opened her mouth and then thought the better of it and snapped it shut.
"What about your husband?" Severus asked calmly, correctly assuming that what she had been about to say had been concerning Damian.
"Ex-husband," she said, her demeanor changing almost instantly. She tensed and looked at him coldly, all signs of teasing removed. "I expect that if he were still around, he would have taught Cam sooner or later, but that's not a possibility is it?" she asked sharply, sounding bitter.
There was silence at their end of the table for several seconds before Minerva reached out to put a hand on Hermione's shoulder. Upon contact, Hermione shrugged her friend's hand away and stood up.
"If you'll all excuse me, I have to Owl someone. Minerva, would you and Albus watch them, please?" she asked. When they nodded in agreement, she nodded at those at the table and walked out of the Hall.
Albus sighed, soon followed by Minerva.
"Really, Severus, was that necessary? She was doing so well!" Sirius exclaimed, turning to face the man next to him who was watching the door with a thoughtful expression on his face.
Severus looked at Sirius, then at Albus and Minerva, who was glaring at him over Maggie's head. He too sighed, before answering. "She has to face it sooner or later," he said shortly.
"I would rather it have been later, then," Minerva murmured.
Severus sighed in exasperation. "You can't coddle her forever! She's a grown woman with children of her own, for Merlin's sake! If she doesn't face this now, it's going to overshadow everything else in her life," he snapped, eyes haunted for a second before clearing. Seeing that everyone was thinking about what he had just said, and the woman in question, he stood up and called to Cam.
"Cam, would you like to see me brew a potion now?" he asked, as kind as he could possibly make the question sound.
Cam nodded eagerly, and sprang to his feet, launching himself off of Albus's lap.
Severus turned to the others at the table and nodded in farewell. He turned to leave, motioning Cam to follow. He was quite shocked when Cam reached for his hand as they reached the doors. Looking down at the smiling face, he allowed the boy to take his hand and didn't pull away, but led them out of the Hall.
Minerva and Albus had been watching the two on their way out, and Severus's reaction had not gone unnoticed. Minerva raised her eyebrow at Albus, who just chuckled and twinkled back at her, before reaching across the table to take Maggie. The rest of breakfast was spent cooing and babbling to the infant in his arms, while the other professors looked on and laughed.
~*~*~*~*~
Hermione left the Great Hall almost in a blind rage. The fact that she couldn't figure out who she was actually mad at did nothing but fuel her anger.
How dare he! How dare that overgrown bat bring him up! Why couldn't he have just left him out of the conversation!?!? WHY!? Does he get some sick pleasure in watching me squirm, knowing I hate talking about it?! Knowing I can't talk about it?!? Aarghhh!!!! she thought furiously as she blindly stalked the corridors, forgetting completely that she had wanted to Owl Flo and the others in New Jersey.
Every time we have a pleasant conversation, he brings up something that has to do with him. What's the matter with him?!? What's the matter with me? Why am I so upset that he keeps bringing it up? she asked herself in a sudden change of thought.
He obviously knows it bothers me, but everyone knows that the topic bothers me. But no one knows why. Of course they're curious as to why I won't talk about him, why I never mention him to anyone, including the kids. But can't they see that I can't talk about it yet, that its still too fresh?!? Ugh! That insufferable bat! she growled in her head.
She continued muttering to herself as she blindly paced through the halls of Hogwarts. So lost in her thoughts was she that she didn't even look up as she turned a corner, until she found herself on the floor looking up at a woman trying to keep her balance.
"Oh, I'm so sorry!" they both said simultaneously, then grinned at each other. The other woman, finally balanced, reached down to help Hermione up. Hermione stood up and dusted herself off, and when they were both fully stable, she turned to get a good look at the woman, her previous anger completely forgotten.
She looked to be about Hermione's age, if not a few years younger. She was tall, yet well rounded, and had a pixie-type look about her. Her face was round and cute-looking, with dirty blond hair falling in strands that fluttered with each turn of her head. Her eyes were a clear, crystal blue that sparkled with mirth and she had a rather cute turned-up nose that completed the look of a pixie.
Realizing that she was staring, Hermione blushed and chuckled, before sticking out her hand. "I'm Hermione Granger, the Medi-witch."
"Hi!" the woman greeted cheerfully, grabbing Hermione's extended hand and shaking it eagerly. "I'm Lisa Turpin, the Muggles Studies Professor."
"Oh! Are you Muggle-born?" Hermione asked curiously.
Lisa nodded happily. "Yup! Albus thought it was a good to have someone who actually knows something about Muggles teaching the class," she said with a wink.
Hermione laughed. "Yes, well. The old professor certainly was…interesting. At least, he was when I was here."
"Yes, it's the same one. I remember being a first-year when you and the others were in your fifth year. Kind of hard not to remember the name Hermione Granger when it was constantly linked to Harry Potter and Ron Weasley," she said smiling. "Professor Hurkblat finally decided to call it quits, thank Merlin. Even I had trouble in that class trying to remember what he said about Muggles, and I'm Muggle-born! It made it worse that I had to memorize things that were completely wrong just so I could pass his stupid tests!" she said with a laugh.
"Oh, I know what you mean!" Hermione agreed. "Did you have to do that section on Muggle High Schools, and you had absolutely no idea what he was talking about, but you just knew that he didn't know either?!" she asked, excited that she had someone else with the same viewpoint of the class. She had always thought it would be interesting to take Muggles Studies from the Wizarding point of view, but dropped the class after only one year of taking it, for it proved to be an utter waste of her time.
"I know!! I couldn't stop laughing while I tried doing those stupid homework assignments. I mean come on! Is it really too hard to figure out that their freshman year in High School is equivalent to our fourth year here? I couldn't believe it when he told us the homework was from a Muggle's freshman year, and it was like the equivalent of a first-year's assignment!!" she said, arms waving.
The two started walking again and their discussion continued, rambling about their old Professor.
"I know!! Harry and Ron were absolutely shocked when I told them I hadn't signed up for it for another year. They didn't understand that he was teaching everything completely wrong, and it took all my self-control not to strangle him everytime I was in that classroom!!"
"Tell me about it! The only reason I stayed with it was because I wanted to come back here and teach it correctly. But it was practically torture!!! I mean, my sixth and seventh year, I practically taught the class, because I would correct him so much that he just let me explain things. That was when I decided I had to replace him after the university," she said.
"It's about time someone did! How long have you been working here anyway?" Hermione asked as they made their way down into the Main Entrance.
"Um, let me think…I'm twenty-four, so three years. This is obviously your first year, right?" she asked.
Hermione nodded. "Yes, I moved to America for a number of years, and worked as a Medi-witch in a school like Hogwarts in New York. When I had my children, I stopped, but I've kept up with it, and here I am," she said.
"Oh, you have children? How many?"
"Two; a son, Cam, and a daughter, Maggie. You'll probably meet them at lunch today. Oh, speaking of which, did you want breakfast? I was coming from there when we ran into each other, but I think there is still some food left," she said as she motioned towards the Great Hall.
Lisa shook her head, "On, no that's alright. I actually just had some cereal in my rooms. After spending the summer in the Muggle world, it's hard to get used to House-elves again, you know?"
Hermione laughed, "I know what you mean! We've only been here for a couple of weeks, but already Cam only wants House-elf cooking. But I'm so used to cooking without magic, since that's what I've done for the past seven years, that it's just weird again."
"You went seven years without magic?!?" Lisa asked, mouth open in shock.
Hermione laughed. "No, no. I just didn't cook with magic, and Cam was never shown any since we lived in a Muggle neighborhood. And once you meet him, you'll realize the little tyke can't keep a secret if his life depended on it," she said with a smile "Do you want to go outside and take a walk then? It looks beautiful out." She said, gesturing towards the doors.
"Sure!" Lisa smiled and nodded. "I was actually on my way to talk to Albus and to let him know that I'm back. But, knowing him, he probably already knows, doesn't he?"
"Probably," Hermione agreed. "He certainly seemed to know when I arrived, met us right as we went to open the doors."
"Sounds like Albus."
The two made their way outside and began strolling the grounds. They talked about the school and the way it had changed, along with the different teachers. Much of the morning was spent describing their childhood's in different Muggle neighborhoods, Hermione raising her children in New York, and Lisa lovingly describing the Muggle she was currently engaged to. Hermione was surprised at how alike the two were. Lisa, also, was an only child, and, from what she had told Hermione, her parents had reacted to her magical abilities in the same way Hermione's had; wary, nervous and doubtful at first, but never anything but supportive and loving.
It was nice to be able to talk to someone about the Muggle world without having to first explain what it was she wanted to talk about. As Lisa still spent a good amount of time with her parents and fiancée, she was given the chance to keep up with the times in the Muggle world and the two talked about favorite books, artists, movies, and music. She was extremely glad that the subject of her past in America was never brought up, with the exception of descriptions of Cam and Maggie, and living in the small Muggle town of Englishtown. The two talked until they heard the lunch bell chime, and they cheerfully made their way back inside.
As they neared the Great Hall, the two were able to see Albus and Minerva making their way towards the Hall as well, coming from the opposite direction. Maggie was cuddled into Albus's arm, surrounded by his flowing beard. The two smiled as they caught sight of Hermione and Lisa, and greeted them warmly when both pairs reached the doors.
"Hello, Lisa, how was your trip back?" Albus asked warmly, smiling affectionately at the two women.
"Hello Albus, Minerva. It was wonderful, thank you. I'm just glad to be back," Lisa answered, smiling back.
"It's nice to have you back, dear. I see you have already met Hermione," Minerva said.
"Oh, yes, we met this morning when we accidentally ran into each other," Lisa answered as Hermione blushed slightly.
"I was still fairly upset about what was said at breakfast, and I wasn't watching where I was going," she said sheepishly.
"It was my fault as well, though. I didn't look while turning the corner. But anyway, we've spent the morning getting to know each other. And from your descriptions, I can assume that this darling little girl is Maggie?" she asked, looking down at the squirming bundle in Albus's arms.
Hermione smiled lovingly at her daughter. "Yes, this is Maggie. I do hope she was no trouble for you two. Thank you for watching her. I just needed a little time to blow off some steam," she said, looking apologetically at the two older Professors.
"Nonsense, like she could be anything but a perfect darling!" Minerva protested.
The four laughed when Lisa started fussing and whimpering right after Minerva finished her sentence.
Lisa sniggered behind her hand and whispered to Hermione as Albus and Minerva once again began fussing over her child, "Looks like this one is going to be completely spoiled by way too many people by the time she gets her Hogwarts letter."
Hermione sighed dramatically, "Yes, I know! I'll just have to find a way to deal with all these people who want to look after the kids for me, so that I could have some time to myself. Whatever will I do?" the two burst out laughing, quickly joined by Minerva and Albus, who handed Maggie back to Hermione.
"Shall we?" he asked, opening one of the doors to the hall and gesturing for the ladies to enter first.
"Why thank you, Albus," Minerva said and swept past him, soon followed by the others.
~*~*~*~*~
A/N-Sorry for the delay, but it's been hard trying to get onto a computer to write. Hope everyone isn't too disappointed by the amount of time since the last update, but I think I made up for it with the long chapter. A new one should be coming fairly soon, I've already started writing it. Hope everyone enjoyed the chapter, hope you'll review!!
