Pruning Opinions.

Neville and Bug stood shivering on the edges of Hogwarts grounds. They had portkeyed from Penrith to Hogsmeade. Bug had never been to England before, which made apparating a little difficult, and apparating such a long way was never a good idea.

It was also ill advised to forget how cold England could be. It was summer time, but the chill was goose-pimplingly evident after transferring directly from the solarium that was New South Wales ten minutes earlier.

Bug was eying the lake, wondering if Nev knew spells that would create tides in static water. She didn't immediately notice the castle. She was trying to see if she could see the giant squid that Nev had talked about when he grasped her face and turned it in the direction of the reconstructed and expanded Hogwarts.

"THAT is where you went to school. Cripes, I thought it was cool simply for my school to be made of bricks when most of them were steel and plywood. That is monumentally wicked. Cool is nowhere near a good enough word. Are we really going to be living there?"

"Yep."

"Yep? That's it. Nev talk to me."

"Nope. I want to watch your face as you see everything for the first time and that won't happen if I give you a heads up on what's coming. Now if you will step this way Ma'am, there will be no smoking, please keep your arms and legs attached to your body at all times and do not feed the natives."

They made it halfway across the lawn that stretched between Hogwarts front steps and the Gamekeeper's hut, when Bug noticed the Magical creatures complex.

"Oh my, is that a magical zoo?"

"Looks like it. That is the Gamekeeper's hut, which I assume will still be Hagrid's. It looks like there's another house, so there must be two Professors for Care of Magical Creatures. That is a pretty advanced enclosure, the runes on the posts set and root permanent spells for the protection of students. That goes both ways though, we once had a Hippogryff that nearly got executed because this nasty little shit in our class decided to be rude to it."

"Nothing much changes here does it? Two minutes on Hogwarts grounds and I'm already being called a nasty little shit. Nice to see you too Longbottom."

"Ah. Nasty little shit in person. Malfoy, this is my wife Beulah, but don't call her that unless you want your intestines to be served to you for dinner. She's commonly known as Bug. Bug, this is Draco Malfoy and?"

"Daisy, my wife. She's mute, so you'll have to watch the blackboard when you're talking to her. She can hear you fine though, so don't treat her as though she's deaf. This is our daughter Sally. Say hello to Neville and Bug, Sally."

"Hello Neville and Bug. It's nice to meet you."

"Oh isn't she precious. Is she always that polite?"

"Of course. Well, not so much with family, but she never forgets her manners. So, I've got Potions and Slytherin House, Daisy's got the Library, what about you two? I assume that you are teaching Herbology Lon…Neville."

"Yep. Bug's a muggle, she's teaching Muggle Studies with Ron. She's going to teach them about computers and film making and social stuff and Ron's going to do business and car repairs and …stuff."

"Cripes Nev, you make it sound dead simple. We have a lot more to cover than that. You think, you have all of the other Professors teaching a different part of the wizarding world, we have to fit the entirety of the muggle world into one subject. Thank God they're teaching Maths and English in the Primary school."

Neville shook his head in amusement. He was taking a leisurely stroll across Hogwarts grounds, in the company of Malfoy and family. He supposed that he would have to call him Draco now, he just couldn't imagine that. Mind you, he hadn't batted an eyelid when he said that Bug was a muggle and he was talking to her pleasantly enough. The wife seemed odd, but then not being able to talk would probably do that. She had the biggest eyes, like a house elf. Oh, he had so better not say that where Malfoy could hear. He listened as 'Draco' responded to Bug, well maybe he had changed, this was all rather amiable.

"Actually from what Reuben said, they'll be teaching it all the way through the school. I don't know if there will be an exam in it though."

"Who's Reuben?"

"Oh, Reuben Chancy, he's the new Deputy Head, Head of Primary."

"You know him already then?"

Malfoy smirked.

"You might want to sit down for this bit Neville."

Neville frowned, creasing up his nose in confusion.

"Why?"

"Because the explanation of how I know the new Deputy Head will most likely bring back some of your worst memories."

"Why? He's not a former Death Eater is he?"

"No, but he married one."

"Oh Christ, someone we faced on the battlefield?"

"No, someone who stood with us."

"Malfoy, don't ruin the only civil conversation that we've ever had by being obtuse."

"Severus Snape."

Draco laughed to himself as Neville shuddered involuntarily before realising what Draco had actually just said.

"Did you just tell me that Snape's gay?"

"No, I told you that he was married to a man called Reuben. He is gay, but I believe that was an inference you were able to discern on your own."

"God, you haven't changed that much have you? You still can't talk like a normal bloke."

Draco laughed aloud at that.

"You're one to talk. What may ask is that accent supposed to be? Didn't it used to be Lancastrian?"

"Still is."

"It most decidedly is not. It has some of what used to be there and some of the intonations that your wife uses."

"Well, that'd be because we live in Australia and Bug is an Aussie. It'd be a bit suss if I hadn't picked up a bit over the years."

"Lived."

"What?"

"You 'lived' in Australia, not 'live'. You live here now."

The five of them found themselves nose to grain with Hogwarts front doors. Taking a step back, Draco looked for some way in which to signal their arrival and Neville shook his head in amazement at the doors themselves.

"You'd think they'd look new, but man, they look just as old as they ever did."

"That's because they're the same doors."

"Yeah right. I saw the place go up Draco, so did you."

"Yeees and I also READ BOOKS. The Magical Restoration Fund produces pamphlets explaining a lot of this stuff you know and just last year Imelda Gutheridge's DIY guide "From Voldemort to Velour" was a best seller was six months."

"Not down under it wasn't."

"Well, the spells to restore the property pull everything back into it's original shape, including doors. They must have been significantly modified because the main building seems to be bigger, but it's the same principle."

"There are more towers this time."

The doors swung open. Neville half expected Albus to be there, ready to join in the conversation, but instead there were five children standing in the hallway. Neville almost hid behind Bug as they suddenly all veered and came screaming towards them.

"Uncle Draco, Aunty Daisy, Sally. Woo hoo. Sal, your rooms are next door to ours. This is going to be SO fantastic. We are going to see each other every day and there's a zoo and we get to learn some magic and we are allowed to fly broomsticks and Uncle Albus said that for our birthdays he'll get the house elves to make us cakes that are bigger than we are and covered in Bertie Botts Beans. He doesn't like Every Flavour Beans, that is weird. Come on, we have to show you this ghost, his head is nearly cut off and if you ask him why he's 'nearly headless' he'll show you. It is so gross, you can see his spinal cord and everything. Madigan screamed and Silas was sick and you HAVE to see it."

A nod from her Daddy was all Sally needed to take off with her surrogate cousins.

"Wow. Enthusiastic kids."

"Owen, Amalia, Elyssa, Silas and Madigan Snape-Chancy. Sons and daughters of the one and only Batman himself."

"Batman? You called him Batman?"

"What did you call him?"

"Greasy Git. Great Bat."

"Well Great Bat is close."

"It wasn't complimentary."

"Oh."

"You know Batman is a muggle comic right?"

"It is not. We made it up."

"Yeah well Bob Kane beat you to it. Actually, it was pretty appropriate, thinking about it. Thin line between Dark and Light. Moody, inaccessible, secret identity. There was this one comic where he was investigating a sonic weapon, there were all these skin sacks on shelves, where the bones had been liquefied by the sonic ray. I can so see Snape having squidgy corpses on shelves somewhere."

"Longbottom, you are one seriously sick puppy. Give him a break alright? People change, it was school, there was a lot of pressure on him and it was a bloody long time ago, get over it will you. Those five kids have been Severus' life for the last ten years. He got pregnant with Owen not long after he and Reuben married. They didn't get enthusiastic and happy by having a miserable, unfair and overly demanding Papa."

"Okay I agree with you, but I also need to see this personality change to believe it. Until then, I am going off in search of our rooms with a happy smile on my face as I repeat the words "pregnant Snape" over and over in my head. Catch you later Malfoy. Hey, we'll all be on the same table for the first time ever."