It has been a month and half since Severus and Molly married. Tension between Severus, a relatively new stepfather, and the Weasley children, relatively new stepchildren, were still tight and involved several backing out of the room whenever paths were crossed. Molly would sigh and tell herself that her family just need little more time to adjust.

Now, though, she stood outside the kitchen were Severus was having morning coffee, her heart pounding. Most likely it was nothing, she reassured herself, just a result of her age. She was almost fifty, for crying out loud!

Yes, a little voice whispered in the back of her mind, but what if it isn't? What will you do then?

Well, then she would do what she had always done, what she had done six times before, seven if one counted the twins individually, and she certainly did. She would start planning how to rearrange the sleeping arrangements and the chairs at the dinner table, and she would start knitting.

But what will Severus say, that little voice shrieked. He seemed to dislike children strongly, for a teacher, and had made no murmurs of wanting one of his own. Well, Molly reasoned with herself viciously, most likely it was nothing, but if it was something, he deserved to know. She wouldn't want him to think she was holding out on him, or had been afraid to tell him (even if she was a little). With her mind made up, she marched into the kitchen. "Severus, I have something to tell you."

"Yes," Severus responded, taking in the aroma of the dark roasted coffee. Molly breathed, thanking the heavens and everything else that she got Severus with his morning coffee. With his morning coffee, Severus is at his most agreeable state.

"Do you," she began to say, "What do you - look, I'm - Severus!" She swatted at him, her mind feeling invaded and intruded upon. "Don't use leglimency on me!"

"I do apologize," Severus said placidly, "but it's far too early to listen to anyone stumble over their own tongue. What do you have to tell me?"

Molly took another deep breath and decided the best defense was a good offense. "I might be wrong...but I think I might be pregnant."

To say, Severus was surprise would be an understatement. He never had a desire to be a father or even considered it, disregarding that one time in his youth when he and Lily discussed future baby names (Lily's idea, not his. He merely entertained it... funnily enough, Lily was dead set on the name of Elliot, instead of Harry). But he had never considered having a child with Molly, after all wasn't Molly ancient.

Molly swelled like a bullfrog. "I'm what?" Too late, Severus realized he had spoken out loud. He would be sleeping on the couch for nine months for that one. "I will have you know," Molly seethed, "that I am forty-eight years old. Nowhere near ancient, and apparently still in my childbearing years, thanks to you!"

"It takes two," Severus rebuked, before cowering at his wife's reddened face that was somehow redder than her hair. "Oh, look at the time. I have someone... friend...to meet. Old friend. We'll discuss this later. Lily for girl, Arthur for boy?" He was now by the door, his coffee abandoned on the table, as he nervously waved at Molly. "Love you." Then Severus disapparated.

***.

***.

***.

Molly sat down heavily at the table and drank the rest of Severus' coffee in one swig. That could have gone better. She Apparated herself right to St. Mungo's, where the healers gave her a pregnancy test. Healer Smith gave her a sealed vial full of clear liquid. It would take until tomorrow morning to produce reliable results, in the form of a color change. If the liquid becomes cloudy, it would be a negative. Any color at all would be a positive, with pink meaning a girl and blue meaning a boy.

"Your family has a history of twins, I believe?" he asked, consulting his records.

"Yes, my brothers were twins, and so are two of my sons."

"Well then, dark blue means twin boys, dark pink means twin girls-"

"I know," Molly interrupted, flustered at the thought of going through Fred and George again.

"And purple means a boy and a girl-"

"I know!" Healer Smith started chuckling, thinking the situation was far funnier than Molly thought. Molly tucked the vial into her pocket and headed home. To think that it had been seventeen years now since she had last done this!

Meanwhile, Severus had appeared at a park. He surveyed his surroundings, having left quickly to decide where to meet this "old friend" and apparated to the first place that popped in his mind. Before it donned on him where he was. It was not the park where he and Lily used to spend their childhood and summers at nor was it a magical park, it was a park he will go to as Evan Prince - the exact park where Molly and him had their accidental first date at. He sat stiffly on a park bench, watching children play with glazed eyes. He couldn't fathom the thought that he, Severus Snape, was possibly a dad. Even as a teacher, he did not have patience for the stupid things a child does, and now he could be a dad. Did everyone - or Molly for that matter - expect him to change his persona and be a great, gentle father who gets on his hands and knees with his child, who has occasional tea parties with a daughter or toss a quaffle with a son.

As if conjured from his mind, a ball hit Severus in the shin. Grabbing the ball, he faced the owner of the ball - an olive-skinned girl with black curls. He handed the ball to the girl, mustering up a smile, weak but still a smile. If Molly was indeed pregnant, Severus figured he should get the practice in.

"Thanks, mistah," the girl said with a wide grin.

"Sorry, about that, sir," a young man, presumingly the girl's father, jogged over. "My daughter and I were playing and I guess I threw the ball a bit hard. My name's Paul and this here is Eileen."

"Not a problem," Severus said, watching the father and daughter return to their game, before going to a hidden spot and disapparated. When Molly returned home from St. Mungos, she found her husband, sitting at the table, staring at his empty coffee mug with a blank expression.

He kept thinking of the little girl from the park. Eileen. That was his mother's name. Another reason he should never be a father! Severus had had terrible role models. His father was abusive, and his mother stood back and let it happen. She stood back and let everything happen. Severus' entire childhood had passed with barely a motherly gesture from her. Well, Severus thought, trying to talk himself down from this spiral of dread, it wasn't like he would be a single father, or married to a passive or abusive woman. If Molly was anything, it was a good mother.

And that what he told her.

"At least, you've done this six, seven," Severus said, his brows furrowed, mentally counting the numbers of children Molly had mothered, "Nine?"

Molly's face softened. It was easy to forget that he was ten years younger than he when he had such a self-possessed, sometimes intimidating demeanor. She sat down beside him. "It could be one way or the other, Severus. The healers told me the chance is about 50-50. Women do sometimes have what they called a "burst of fertility" right before menopause-" Which greatly increased the chance of twins, but she didn't tell him that. "-but it's just as likely that I've started menopause, which means no chance of a pregnancy ever. We won't know until morning. But let's talk about if I am pregnant. Is this something you are willing to do?"

"Are you insinuating I will run away," Severus asked defensively. "I did not run away from Dumbledore when he had me kill him. I did not run away from my duties protecting my sworn enemy's son. I am not my father," his fingers steeple as he thought, "The only time I ran away was from Voldemort... and," he chuckled dryly, "he does not keep promises." He looked at Molly. "If you're in, I'm in."

Touched, Molly only nodded. They sat in silence for a while, each thinking of what the wider family's reaction to this might be. "Don't worry, Severus," Molly said. "The children will come around eventually, even Fred and Ron. Though it might be odd to have a child younger than our oldest granddaughter."

"Kids are having kids at all sorts of ages these days," Severus mused. "Last week when I subbed for the potions professor, there were these two students who were uncle and nephew. Same age, two days apart." A horrifying though donned on Severus. "Molly, tell me no one else might be pregnant. I can't take anymore surprises."

"Well, Victoire is just a baby, and Bill told me they want to wait until she's 3 before they have another." Molly narrowed her eyes. "No one else is married yet, so they'd better not have gotten a girl pregnant." Ginny was apparently exempt from this mischief in Molly's eyes. She cocked her head at Severus. "Do you want to discuss this more, or would you rather just go to bed and deal with everything once we're sure in the morning?"

"Sure? Ah, yes, a pregnancy test." Severus was so wrapped up over the terrifying thought of fatherhood to remember such a thing existed like pregnancy tests for instance. "Let's - what do you want to do?"

Molly sighed. "I don't want to beat a dead horse, but I think neither of us are going to sleep well tonight... Is there the slightest chance that you could be happy about this?"

He fell into a stupor. He had not considered his own happiness, only about if fatherhood fits him and if children were in the equation. He supposed the reason was because of his own unhappy childhood, his father had never smile or played ball with him, and he can count on one hand the amount of times his mother had truly been happy, such as when he displayed magic for the first time and her sneaking her old school textbooks to him. Could he be happy with raising a child?

"If the child is well-mannered," Severus began to say, but stopped short. Even if he wanted to add a sarcastic remark, hide his emotions, he knew it was not fair to Molly. She's probably excited about the prospect of another little one, or perhaps scared a little to have a baby in old age (Severus made certain to keep all of his thoughts, well, in his head this time). He stood up swiftly, briskly walked over to his lab after telling Molly to wait a second or two.

Molly tapped her fingers, taking a moment to reflect on her own feelings. She had never planned this. After having a daughter, she had been quite done. Not that she and Arthur would have stopped at two if Charlie had been a girl, they had both wanted a large family. Was she excited? She supposed she would be, if they did have a baby. She was one of those women who lived to nurture. Would she be sad if they weren't? Yes, she thought, just like she had been sad when she had a miscarriage between Charlie and Percy. She hadn't even known she was pregnant at the time, but she had still mourned. "Well," she said aloud. "If the baby has black hair, Harry will blend in better. That would be something."

"Once again, I love a woman who cares more about a Potter than me," Severus commented dryly, returning to his seat with a worn folder. It was not thick by any measures, but it had a few pages; pages that Severus will reread from time to time. "As you know, I am not particularly ot fond of children. As a matter of fact, I despised teaching. If anything, have an apprentice." He placed a hand on the folder, staring at the faded edges. "These... are end of terms... comments from students."

Severus had never shown Molly anything that made him so vulnerable. Even memories of Lily were different, because Molly shared in that sadness because of Arthur. In terms of parenthood, Molly was everyone's mother, who gathered needy children like Arthur had collected spark plugs. She had heard the remarks of her boys, starting with Bill. Even polite, respectful-of-authority-figures Percy had had bad things to say about Professor Snape. "It's not your fault, Severus, that you were forced to take up a job you hated. Dumbledore was a great man in many ways, but he never really concerned himself with individual happiness." Personally she greatly respected the late Headmaster, but she understood Severus' resentment.

"I saved some," Severus said slowly, ignoring Molly's sentiments. "The good ones. Not many students will write positive reviews, not glowing but good ones. I will read them when Dumbledore has me babysit Potter or a son of yours tried to make go prematurely gray. I will pull this folder out." Severus opened the folder up. "Not all comments are from Slytherins too, some were even Gryffindors." He slid the folder between the two of them, letting Molly view the sheets. Most of the comments read things like "Snape was a good teacher," "Learned a lot," and "Potions' my favorite class." As Molly read through the comments, Severus pulled a stack away.

Molly thought for a moment about everything she had heard about Severus Snape as a teacher from her sons, and the information Harry had told her in confidence. "You never used the textbook. You always wrote the instructions on the board. You were sharing your own work. That in itself makes you a better teacher than any of them knew. Now, Severus, a good teacher isn't always a good father, but a good father is always a good teacher."

"is that the reason why... you thought I showed this to you?"

"I assume you have a reason." Molly shrugged. "I think you're trying to convince yourself that you have it in you to not be a bad father. I hope, Severus, that you'll give yourself more credit than that. Arthur wasn't a good father right off the bat. He made so many mistakes with Bill-we both did. It takes practice, and advice from wiser people who have been there before. I had my mother. If this does happen, you have me."

She glanced at the vial on the table, but the potion was still clear.

"Maybe I am, but I think I already know I will be good, at least get an Acceptable," Severus said, bringing the withdrawn stack to focus. "I had one student who I made an impression on. A Hufflepuff. We never spoke, but each year she will write long reviews of my class. She will write what she liked and what she disliked, honestly she was the only student to actually write a feedback. Not even Granger will give me feedback." He met Molly's eyes. "I will say, I benefited the most from her than she did from me. Her feedback, her care and dedication, made me want to be a better teacher, even a better person. Correct me if I'm wrong, but it appears that people change once they become a parent. Perhaps, I won't get an O in being in a parent, but I am open to the change. Much like I was to Miss. Artemis Dagsworth-Granger." He took Molly's hand in his own. "To answer your question, Molly, do I think I can be happy. Yes, I think I could. I may not be good, but me being happy with a child is not the strangest thing to have happened."

***.

***.

***.

Despite her predictions, Molly slept well that night. Severus must have lain awake into the small hours, because when she woke just after dawn, he was still fast asleep. Molly hesitated in the doorway to the kitchen, where the vial had spent the night sitting on the table. Am I ready to know this? she wondered. One way or another? Well, she would have to be. Taking a deep breath, she proceeded into the kitchen and picked up the vial.

"It is time?" was Severus' morning greeting.

Molly jumped. She hadn't heard Severus come up behind her. Turning, she managed a smile and held up the cloudy vial. It was a negative. Molly felt a strange, uncomfortable combustion of relief and disappointment. She had not wanted to become a mother all over again, but she had been ready. "I hope this news isn't too big a disappointment, Severus." She felt a little guilty, as if, after all the drama and soul-searching of the night before, she had let him down. He was a fairly young man, after all, who had never had a chance to be a father, or to find out if he wanted to be. He had just been beginning to think that he could be happy with a child of his own, and it had all been a mistake.

"Disappointment," Severus said blinking. "Fatherhood and I wouldn't have gone well together." He was uncertain how to feel. Should he be relieved that there won't be a mini-Snape running around, or mourn the fact what could have been would never happen.

Guessing his thoughts, Molly sighed. She felt a little the way she had a similar test revealed Fred and George were both boys. She had known she should feel a certain way-pure happiness in that case, pure relief in this one. Yet, then, she had wanted to cry, asking herself why she wasn't able to give Arthur and herself a daughter. Now, a part of her wondered why her marvelous fertility failed now.

Because, the wise part of her reassured, that season of your life is over. You will never stop being a mother, Molly, but you are done raising children. Now it is time to discover how to live for yourself, not just your children. And it's time to be a grandmother. It's all right to be a little sad. All endings are a little sad.

Molly put a hand on Severus' arm, "You always seem to be out to convince yourself that you don't deserve happiness, or that you aren't good at being happy. Well, you have been a good husband so far, and as good a stepfather as the children will let you be. You are such a surprising man, Severus, to everyone around you. I think you would have surprised yourself."

Surprise flickered across Severus' face. It was not often that someone compliments Severus on his new family and encouraged him that he was doing a job well done. Many people, including his own stepchildren, would keep their heads held down and ignore Severus. Not that it bothered him, yet he found Molly's compliment and encouragement to be refreshing and welcoming.

"I'm happy," Severus said to Molly, staring into her warm brown eyes earnestly. "Not everyone is meant to be a parent."

But, a voice in the far corner of Severus' mind whispered. A good father makes a good teacher, and everyone's life takes different turns. What if you were never meant to be a dad, but always meant to be a grandpa?

"I'm happy," Severus clarified for Molly's concern look.

Molly smiled and took his hand. "Then so am I."

***.

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***.

Epilogue -

"He took Vic out to ice cream... again," Bill whispered to Ginny at the dinner table. "Third time this week!"

"He picked up Teddy from Andromeda's yesterday and took him to a muggle prank shop," Ginny shot back.

Soon afterwards, Ginny told Harry of the conversation, who told Ron, who then told Hermione. Bill told Charlie, who talked to Percy, and Fred and George eavesdropped on everyone thanked to the expendable ears. None of them understood what could have sparked the Professor's sudden interest in being grandpa. And each one of them missed their mother humming to herself as she worked, while Severus sat on the floor playing peek-a-boo with Victoire or playing Teddy's newest favorite activity.