Chapter 12 – Of meetings, Potions and grey-eyed girls

Half an hour later, Harry and Hermione stormed into the Healer's Academy not stopping at the reception desk, both holding a thick folder in both hands. They heard the receptionist calling them back, but both of them ignored her. Walking briskly, it took the two of them only moments to find themselves outside the door leading to the directing members of the Healer's Academy. Giving a sharp rap, the two of them waited.

"Enter!" a deep masculine voice called.

The two of them entered.

"Mind Healer Granger," a silky feminine voice stated in shock. "Master Healer Harry. Why are the two of you here?"

"Mind Healer Yanize [pronounced Yah-Ni-S]," the two youngsters chorused with a bow. "Healer Trendan. Master Healer Emelaine [pronounced Em-eh-lane]."

"We are terribly sorry for intruding on your meeting Gentlemen," Hermione continued with a slight bow to the four men seated between her and the Head Healers of the best Healer School in the United Kingdom. "But this is important."

"How important can it be for two children to be sent," one of the older men muttered angrily.

"Important enough that one of the most prestigious families in the UK have hired me as their Healer for the rest of the Lady's pregnancy and are wanting satisfaction from their old Healer," Harry stated, eyes glowing brightly with suppressed rage. "The Lady in question is expecting twins – magical twins who share the same embryonic sack."

The three older Healers in the room quickly stood.

"Please excuse us, Gentlemen. This is something we must see to immediately," the deep masculine voice of Master Healer Emelaine stated.

Three of the four men nodded respectfully and stood, stating that they would reschedule the meeting for the following day. The fourth man followed them, grumbling the entire time about ungrateful children who didn't know their rightful place. After the door had closed behind the men and Mind Healer Yanize had informed the receptionist of what was occurring, the privacy wards surrounding the room flared and the five Healers fell into the exhausting and oft-times nasty job of investigating everything about the rogue Healer.

Awayinthelineline

Silence. Pure and utter silence. Every Professor who was in the Great Hall looked up, expecting to see some prank or another unfolding before their very eyes, instead they saw a black-haired, grey-eyed lady walking towards the Head Table with a silent Remus stumbling after her. It took a moment for them to realise that the werewolf was stumbling due to unheard laughter.

The unknown woman seated herself on the seat normally occupied by Sirius Black and started filling her plate, muttering about evil god-Demons.

"Don't be so down, you make a very attractive lady Sirius," Remus stated, eyes twinkling worse than Albus' had ever done, after someone unsilenced him.

The other teacher's stared at the woman, who was now revealed to be Sirius Black. Sirius spluttered.

"How the bloody Hell would you feel?" he managed to force through clenched teeth. "I am forced to look like this for another two days and I already have had the seventh year males ask me if I am attached and then asking if I'd be interested in entering a contract with them! One snooty bastard then decided that if I wouldn't' enter the contract with him, then he'd write home to Daddy and tell him that I was sleeping with the male students."

"So that is why I had Mr Schmitt in the hospital wing after your lesson," Poppy sighed.

"No," Sirius stated firmly. "The reason you had Mr Schmitt in the hospital wing after my lesson was because he decided to protest the use of the charms we were using today. Instead of doing something as 'plebeian' as dodge the incoming spell, he stayed there."

Poppy raised an eyebrow at him questioningly.

"It was charms against pregnancy that both sexes need to know and it was my third years. He is of the belief that any witch that gets pregnant when young is a good breeder," Sirus sighed, squeezing the bridge of his nose, much like Severus did in times of frustration. "He accused me of standing in the way of a pure-blood's right to have his pick of females to birth him children. If you read the note I sent you it would have explained everything."

Poppy had the grace to blush, but nothing was said as Severus stormed into the Great Hall, guiding a furious Draco and a very pale Blaise. The teachers watched as the dour man spoke to the two boys before making his way to their table.

"Everything alright Severus?" Remus asked as the man sank into his seat and rubbed his face with his hands.

"Define 'alright'," the man muttered.

Remus and Sirius exchanged looks before Remus stated piling food onto a clean plate while Sirius made an extra strong tea for the man. Severus nodded his thanks and sipped the tea with a thankful sigh.

"Willa almost lost the twins," Severus stated. "The mongrel Healer was feeding her a potion that would make her abort as a morning sickness cure. It was only thanks to young Harry that she didn't lose them today. He's put her on complete bed rest and will be visiting twice a week until they are born – going so far as to give Will's girls a ring each that will call him if he needs to be there on a day that he isn't visiting. He's gone to the Healer's Academy to get their permission to go after the original Healer."

"I hope that they will also put him straight about being the Zabini Healer. She should have an experienced Healer, not a child playing pretend!" Poppy exclaimed, making not only Sirus and Remus to growl, but Severus to turn towards her, glaring fiercely.

"Do NOT," he bit out, "speak of things you have no clue on. Miss Granger is a fully qualified Mind Healer and Harry is a fully qualified Master Healer. Technically, the two of them are YOUR superiors, considering you are only in possession of the basic Healers certificate."

"I agree with you, Mr Snape," a sibilant voice sounded behind them. "It is very unwise to look down your nose at those of younger generations. They are, after all, our future."

"Hi Tom," Remus, Sirius and Severus chorused as Draco and Blaise rose and hurried to join them.

"Is Mother alright?" Blaise asked, worrying his bottom lip with his teeth.

"She is doing wonderfully," Tom soothed in his slightly rough voice. "The potion that she had when we first got there kicked in just after you two left. The rest of the potion that was left in her system was ejected and vanished." Tom smiled softly. "Your younger sisters were marvellous helps – they helped mop up the potion with rags and then they coaxed her into taking the rest of the potions Harry left for her. All three ladies were asleep before I came back."

Blaise sighed and collapsed in relief. Draco quickly grabbed at him and braced him until he could stand by himself once more. Tom shot him an understanding look.

"I'm guessing my Kits are not yet back."

Blaise, Draco, Remus, Severus and Sirus all shook their heads. Tom nodded and sat in an empty chair that was beside the potions master and helped himself to the food that was still present.

Nolineforabed

Harry and Hermione watched with hard eyes as the Aurors man-handed the unconscious ex-healer out of the room. Once they had left everyone let go of the breath they were holding.

"Thank Merlin we voted to use tracers on all of our Healers," Emma Trendan sighed, rubbing her temples. "Thank Merlin for Aurors as well. It would have been worse had they not come with us to collect him."

Jacob Yanize nodded with a grimace of pain. Out of the five people who had been hurt, he was the only one to have received a concussion from a bludgeoning hex that had been aimed at the two young Healers, one of whom was glaring at him for moving while he was being healed.

"I never expected it of Leonard Johanson," Blake Emelaine stated in shock. "If asked even twelve hours ago whether I believed he could do something like this, I would have denied it with everything in me."

"And all because his half-brother complained about how the Zabini family had the happiness and money that should have been theirs," Hermione snorted in disgust. "I don't know who this 'Merlin' fellow is, but I'll be thanking him every day for the rest of my life that Blaise is entirely his mother's son and has nothing of his paternal line in him."

Harry nodded his agreement, suddenly too exhausted to be bothered with talking.

Hermione smiled at him, weariness evident in her face. "We should be heading back to the school, Kit," she said as Harry finished healing what he could in the other, much older Healer.

Harry shook his head with a bashful smile. "You go back and tell everyone what the result was. I'll be there once I finish at the Zabini household. They deserve to know what is going to happen to the monster that almost cost them their sons." He turned and bowed to each of the three Head Members. "Thank you for your aid in the matter. 'Rinie's and my reports will be here either tomorrow or Friday –"

"Make it Monday, Master Healer Harry," Emma said with an exhausted smile, "Use tomorrow and Friday to recover and use the weekend to write up the report. This has drained us three to the point where we are going to need to reschedule everything from tomorrow to other days to recover and we haven't done half of what the two of you have done concerning this event."

Harry and Hermione bowed in unison and vanished in a flare of their elemental power.

"I'm finding myself more and more gratuitous that we allowed the two of them to gain their Master-ships when they did," Jacob muttered, eyes drooping. "It's become livelier here since then, for one."

The other two made noses of agreement before heading to their separate rooms, intent of forgetting that the entire day had even occurred.

Harry was thankful that the room he appeared in was both dark and quiet. The day had taken more out of him than he was willing to admit. Not only had he received a new patient, but he had been around strangers most of the day, so he had been fighting his instinct to transform while taking charge of the situation. The only what he succeeded to maintain any semblance of holding it together was by thinking of the two unborn babe's and how he would feel if he were in Lady Zabini's place. By the time everything had finished, his magic had accepted the Zabini Clan as family. He was pleasantly surprised when the Zabini family magic flared and accepted him into the family as a close family friend.

He shook himself from his thoughts and headed towards the bed and proceeded to pull all of the sheets off it before shadowing into another room and repeating the process another five times. He hesitated for five minutes before nodding decisively and entering two other rooms and stealing a pillow from each bed. Once he got to his final destination, he arranged all his stolen linen just the way he licked it and curled up and fell asleep, purring contentedly as the individual scents of his family combined into a single feeling – Security.

Thelittlelinejesus

When it had been an hour from when Hermione had returned and Harry still hadn't, Remus started to worry. The brunette girl had fallen asleep curled up on the seat beside Blaise, who followed her into the land of dreams very quickly, his anxiety over his mother and unborn brothers wearing him out emotionally.

Silently, Remus watched as Draco struggled to stay awake for his mate before losing and slumping over, causing Severus to chuckle softly.

"We should get them to bed, don't you think?" Sirius' voice drifted over them from the door. "We know that no matter how exhausted 'Mione is, she wouldn't fall asleep unless Harry was safe."

"Yes, and we know he is somewhere nearby," Tom's amused voice called from the room he was sharing with his kits.

"How do you know that?" Draco asked, having jerked awake at the sound of Harry's name.

"Because," Tom chuckled, "Harry's, mine and 'Mione's beds have been stripped of sheets, blankets and pillows. I suggest that everyone go check their rooms. Chances are that he will be in the room of the person he hasn't removed at least one item from."

"Why would he do that?" Blaise asked sleepily.

"He's nesting," Remus said with a gentle smile. "He's always done it when he needs comfort but can't handle being around people."

"He was surrounded by mostly strangers for most of today," Hermione mumbled, not fully awake, but coherent enough to get her point across. "Not only that, but he had to direct and interact with each and every person while explaining what was happening, what was going to happen, what would happen should anyone not be where they should be or not do what they should do, all whilst fighting the urge to transform. He succeeded marvellously. That is why I came here instead of remaining with him." She shrugged. "He's most likely in either Remus' or Draco's rooms. My bet's on Remus' as that way no one can dispute that he and Draco broke any part of the contract by being in a locked room together for any length of time."

Remus chuckled and moved into his room, careful to use only candlelight to see by until he had established their Kit wasn't on – or in – his bed. Finding his bed kitten less, he lit the torches around the room, slowly increasing the intensity until they could see properly but it wouldn't disturb a sleeping teen.

Sirius chuckled softly as purring broke the silence of the room, making everyone turn to glare at the man in female body. Shaking his head in amusement, he pointed his wand at the large bed and wordlessly levitated it, revealing a haphazardly made nest complete with one kitty-Demon curled up in, on and around the different fabrics.

"There are mine, Harry's and Hermione's things," Tom chuckled softly.

"Mine as well," Sirius and Draco stated with soft smiles.

"And one of my pillows," Blaise said in amusement. Harry moved slightly, pulling the two pillows he had in his arms closer to him and snuggling into them further.

Severus blinked. "Is that MY pillow?" he asked in bewilderment, making everyone laugh softly as they darkened the room once more and left to organise bedding for their own beds so they could also visit their own dreams.

Laydownhislinehead

Harry whined softly in his sleep as a gentle breeze tickled one of his ears. Soft laughter bought him to full wakefulness as another breath of air teased his ear. Turning around, he blinked as he came nose-to-nose with Remus. He purred as the sandy-haired man started to rub his fingers through Harry's hair, scratching the areas behind his ears.

"Morning Remy," Harry yawned, revealing his sharp teeth and slightly curled tongue.

"Morning kit," Remus replied, eyes dancing. "Did you have a good sleep?"

"Marvellous," he slowly uncurled himself and stretched. "What are you doing in here?"

Remus laughed. "You chose my room to nest in last night. I was starting to fret before Sirius and Tom calmed me."

"Oh, I'm sorry," Harry squeaked with a blush. "I didn't mean to kick you out of your room."

"You didn't kitten. I still slept in my bed; I just had to put a ward on the mattress so that it didn't move during the night."

"Thank you Remus," Harry smiled shyly. "Was there a reason you needed to wake me?"

"Well, we thought that you would like to eat breakfast with us while we discuss out plans for the day. I also suspect that Blaise, Draco and Severus would like to know how Lady Zabini is after discovering he had been dealt with."

Harry nodded slightly shocked. He hadn't realised that he had slept for so long. He shook himself and started to untangle himself from the things surrounding him. "Would Rinie and I be able to use your pensieve later? We have a report each to write and I just want to make sure that we get all the facts right."

"Of course; I'll bring it down to the table after breakfast. Your clothes are in the bathroom and breakfast will be ready in half an hour." Remus gently closed the door behind him, leaving their kitten to prepare for the day.

Half an hour later, Harry appeared in the dining room with a bashful smile on his face. "I'm sorry for yesterday and last night," he whispered only just loud enough for everyone to hear. "I know that plans had been made, but I felt that what was done was more important at the time."

"More important than getting to know your mate and his family?" Tom asked with a raised brow ridge.

"To be completely honest, yes," Harry stated with no hesitation. "Forget for a moment that the people from yesterday were related to Blaise ... A lady is having not one baby, but two – a rare thing in the muggle world but even rarer in the magical world. In fact, only one out of every three million, seven hundred and sixteen thousand, two hundred and twenty eight conceptions result in a magical set of twins. In the last three hundred and sixty five years there have only been ten cases of magical twins being conceived and of those, only six survived as a set. Three of those six have been born in the last fifty years. Gideon and Fabien Prewett: George and Fredrick Weasley and Padma and Pavatti Patil. I would like for this set to also survive to become the seventh to survive beyond conception." He took a sip of the tea Hermione sat beside him, giving her a nod of appreciation and a small smile.

"Now, of those twins that are conceived, one set from every three thousand share an embryonic sack. In the last two thousand, five hundred years there have been three sets like this. This means that if anything happens to one of them, both will be lost. Lady Zabini has the third case of this occurrence so both boys were being poisoned by someone she had one hundred per cent trust in. If she had continued taking the potion she was on, she would have lost them in any time from a week from yesterday to a month." He looked Tom directly in the eye, making Tom look away first due to the determination in his green eyes.

"No Mother – no FAMILY – deserves that. Now address that this Lady isn't some stranger who I wouldn't know if I passed her on an empty street. She is Blaise's mother – Rinie's Mother in law. Draco's aunt in all bar blood. She is FAMILY. If anything happened to those two babies – or even just one of them – our family would never be the same. There would be an empty area in everyone's heart that may shrink in time but would never be filled."

Harry moved his gaze until he had locked his eyes with everyone in the room and had forced them to look away from the strength of his gaze before returning them to his Mentor. "I am a Master Healer. My job is to offer aid to those in trouble, no matter who or what they are or what they may or may not have done. Anyone who tries to talk me out of it will fail – especially if there are children involved."

Tom smiled and nodded, hiding a chuckle as Draco and Blaise hugged Harry in thanks. If anyone noticed the slight tremors coming from Blaise' shoulders or the slight tang of saline in the air, no one mentioned it.

Thelinesinthebrightsky

Severus watched in amusement as Harry and Hermione played a hand game that was popular when he was young to decide who got to use the pensieve between them first. After discussing schedules, it was decided that Tom, Harry, Hermione and he would stay in the same room. He and Tom would discuss whatever it was that they were going to talk about the previous day while Harry and Hermione wrote their reports. After lunch, Severus had decided to allow the two Demon entrance into a typical lesson he held for his sixth year NEWT class. He was quite interested in obtaining an honest critique from the two of them. Once Tom sat in front of him, Severus turned his entire attention to him, barely noting in the back of his mind that Harry had once again pulled out his stack of magazines and a pen before settling into the uncomfortable chair in an awkward position.

An hour later, Hermione appeared from the pensieve and emptied it of its content before placing a hand on Harry's shoulder to get his attention. The two of them cleared the area, surrounding the boy and stacked it neatly before Hermione grabbed a stack of pens and parchment and split them between the two spaces at the table while Harry retreated into the newly filled pensieve.

After another hour, Harry re-appeared and silently set to work on his own report. By this time, Tom had retrieved a book written in a spidery looking language and was deeply entranced in it and Severus was halfway through marking the assignments he had assigned his first years the week before. A comfortable silence filled the room as pen and quill skated across parchment.

Looklinewherehelay

Just as Remus opened the door to his rooms to let himself, Sirius, Blaise and Draco in, he heard twin sighs of relief and the sound of two writing implements hit the table.

"Finished already?" the four of them heard Tom ask.

"Yeah," Hermione groaned. "Six and a half inches detailing from when you came and got us to just before we left."

"Eight and three quarter inches covering from you getting us to after telling the Zabini's that he had been captured," they heard Harry state, exhaustion in his voice. "I'm going to make some tea, would anyone else like some?"

"Yes please," everyone called out, while the four new comers hurried into the dining room.

Thelittlelinejesus

Draco looked down at the black head that was resting on his lap as its owner napped. Across from them Hermione was in a similar position as her brother but on Blaise' lap. The two boys caught each other's eye and smiled, shaking their heads ironically. They had decided to go for the picnic at the Lake and after a small amount of food, both Demons had fallen asleep. Shrugging, both boys stood and picked up their respective mates before heading back to Remus' rooms.

Asleepontheline

Harry stood before the door to the potions classroom and tried to control the shaking of his hands.

"There's nothing to be scared of," Severus murmured softly, secretly chuckling at the boy.

"I know," Harry murmured back. "I'm not only scared, I'm nervous. You are a Master at the art of potions … what if I cut something wrong? What if I add the wrong ingredient? What if …"

"Harry, Yong One," Severus said, placing a hand on the Demon's shoulders, gaining a nod of approval from Hermione. "I will say this once so listen carefully. "He lowered himself until he was at Harry's eyes level. "You and Hermione are just as good at potions as I am. The only difference between the two of you and me is that I devoted my life to the teaching, creation and invention of potions. You two have dedicated your lives to saving the lives of other s and your potions ability reflects that choice. The two things you made the other day in my test? I didn't learn how to make either of them until I was in my final year of apprenticeship, and even now I cannot get them to the potency you two did."

"I understand," Harry stated softly. "It's just … It's you. You have been one of my biggest heroes and sources of inspiration for so long that the thought of letting you down is worse pain than a physical blow. Add to that the fact you are a close family member of Draco's …" Harry shrugged helplessly. "I don't want to give you a reason to not like me."

"How about this?" Severus asked more than a little freaked out at the depth of the boys' hero worship of him, "When I am in the general public or at a function, I am Potions Master Snape. While at the school I am just Professor Snape – a man who tries to teach thick-headed imbeciles how to make a half decent potion. In private I am just plain old Severus Snape, Draco's godfather. Think you can handle that?"

Harry nodded, his eyes showing his resolve firming. Without another word, Severus stood and opened the door, leading the two Demons into the room. Silently he pointed the two in the direction of empty seats. He internally winced when he noticed they were on opposite sides of the room, but heaved a sigh of relief when they separated and seated themselves comfortably.

"Today, we are going to continue on antidotes. For those of you who missed it due to the sudden outbreak of nose-bleeds and stomach bugs thanks to a parting gift from the Weasley twins last year, we covered the outline of this year's topics and listed the most common poisons and their antidotes. We also discussed muggle poisons and touched on whether or not one of our poison antidotes would be effective on them in the event that a witch or wizard was unlucky enough to be targeted."

"If you contacted one of your classmates and obtained their notes and your homework assignment then you will have no problems with this potion. Turn to page three hundred and eighty six and get started. You are working with the person beside you."

Harry turned to the girl beside him with a shy smiled. "Hi, I'm Harry."

The girl smiled dreamily back at him. "Luna … Would you like to read through the potion while I get the ingredients?" Without waiting for an answer, she gently placed the book before him, open to the correct page. Even though it was a potion he knew inside out and back to front, Harry copied the entire section on the potion and duplicated it, handing the second copy to Luna when she returned.

"So if anything gets spilt or explodes, your potions book won't get ruined," Harry blushed as he explained at her questioning gaze. He fought to extract himself from her odd eyes. He couldn't tell if they were a blue so pale they looked grey or if they were grey with a tint of blue. He was released when she blinked.

"Did you know you have a nest of glimmering humdingers in your hair?" she asked with a small smile.

"I did," Harry replied with a small smile as he handed her his orange highlighter and pulled his papers towards him, moving closer to Luna who blinked at him in surprise. "And Rinie – my sister – has a nest of wrackspurts in her hair. They keep away the Heliopaths. They seem to be attracted to her flame. Mine just enjoy eating the shadows of the people around me. If it bothers you, I can send them to Rinie."

"No, they don't bother me. Do you think I could send one to Daddy? He researches these types of creatures for his paper and magazine."

Harry nodded happily before scanning the pages before him and highlighting several things. "Prepping or adding?"

"Hmm … Prepping, I think. If you are my partner again I'll add. I need more practice with prepping anyway."

Harry nodded and started to get the cauldron ready for the ingredients, stopping every now and then the give Luna a hint, suggestion or alternate preparation technique. By the end of the lesson, Harry had aided and guided Luna into making her first perfect potion. Severus couldn't have been prouder of the boy.

Hermione, on the other hand, almost put her partner into the hospital wing after he decided to cop a feel of her arse. Severus, who had been standing behind the pair without the human knowing, had not had time to act before the kid was flat on the ground with one eye purpling rapidly and looking up at a snarling Demon with eyes wide – or as wide as they could go when one of them was rapidly swelling shut.

"I told you several times that I was in the process of courting and yet you still had the gall to touch me in a place my intended isn't even allowed to touch. How Dare You! Be thankful that I hold Professor Snape in high regard or you would be tied on the ceiling with nothing on over a boiling cauldron before you could register you were no longer on the ground."

"You are deranged! You should be put down before you harm someone!" the kid shouted

Hermione grinned at him, revealing sharp teeth. "I'm a Demon," she pointed out as though to a three year old. "I'm the epitome of things from your nightmares." She grinned wider when he fainted.

Severus chuckled to himself. He laughed outright when – after he released the class – Harry bounced over to him and Hermione, dragging his lab partner behind him.

"Rinie, this is Luna. She sees the hidden creatures too. Can I keep her?" Harry's eyes grew large, round and an even more intense green.

"You can keep me as a friend," Luna's voice stated, slightly less dreamy than usual, but full of happiness, "but you cannot have me as a pet – my Daddy would miss me too much."

"Okay! Harry chirruped happily. "Come on, I want to introduce my new friend to Tom and Remy and Siri and Blaise and Draco and everyone!" He grabbed Luna's hand and bounced out of the room, pulling the beaming girl with him.

Severus looked at Hermione questioningly.

"Don't ask," she groaned. "When he's in this mood, he's Sirius' problem."

The Potions Master nodded then blinked as his door was forcefully opened to reveal Harry and Luna once more.

"I'm so sorry, I was so rude! Luna, this is Professor Snape. Professor Snape, this is Luna. She's my newest friend! And guess what Luna? Professor Snape is really THE Potions Master Severus Snape. Isn't that just so cool?" Harry left the room once again, this time squealing with suppressed excitement.

Severus and Hermione groaned in unison and glared at the softly chuckling man in the doorway.

"Sirius is the babysitter tonight I take it," Remus said when he'd calmed down.

"Yes," Hermione and Severus chorused.

"Good, he's the only one who gives him the catnip tea bend."

Severus and Hermione groaned once more. It was definitely a job for Sirius.