Author's Note:

I was asked to write about Severus and Rose's mother. This is not quite the plot suggested, but I hope this was the dynamic you were looking for. I really appreciate people making suggestions on the story. I think it's fun and inspiring to write off proposed ideas. Please continue to review and reach out to me with one-shots that you would like me to write about.

Thank you for all the kind words and support. And Thank you so much for reading my story.

Thora Jane

XXX

Cora Rosamond:

Severus was quite ready to have the company gone. He sat up in bed and rubbed the back of his stiff neck. Their little cottage was already too small for their family of five. Now that they added Rose's parents, the place was claustrophobic. One more week, Severus kept telling himself.

During the Rosamonds' stay, Esme had given up her room to her grandparents and given a bed in her parents' room. The matter of her staying in her given bed was another story all together. She would climb in with Severus and Rose and sleep at an angle on top of them. That paired with the frequent cries of Eileen throughout the night put Severus in even more of a sour mood about Rose's parents being present. Even Rose had not been her usual lively self but had been quieter and less energetic.

Severus should have put his foot down about Rose's parents staying with them right after Eileen's birth, especially with all its complications. At the very least, they could have stayed in the Three Broomsticks. But it was too late to tell them to leave now. Rose would not appreciate him kicking her family out of the house, he supposed.

Severus turned around to look at Rose. She had fallen back to sleep after Eileen's last bout of crying. Esme was nestled up against her mother, also sound asleep. Severus smiled lightly to himself, feeling significantly less frustrated about the crowd predicament. He quietly moved over to Eileen's cradle, which was on Rose's side of the bed.

Eileen was awake and looked at Severus with wide eyes.

Severus stared down at the baby and put his finger silently to his lips.

He got dressed quickly and collected Eileen into his arms. She did not cry and allowed Severus to silently carry her from the room.

The sun was just rising. The house was still.

"Let's not wake anyone, shall we," he whispered to Eileen. He wrapped his baby daughter in a blanket and then opened the front door for some fresh air.

The front garden was not deserted, however.

Cora Rosamond jumped as she heard a presence behind her. She whipped around, with a cigarette in hand. She looked suddenly relieved upon seeing Severus. "Its just you," she sighed. Seeing Eileen in Severus's arms, she immediately dropped the cigarette in the dirt and stamped it out with her foot.

"Who were you expecting?" he said flatly. "I do live here."

Cora let out an irritant noise and then shook her head. "My family doesn't know I smoke," she admitted. "I don't do it very often, but once in a while." She raised her hand to her temple. "I know It's terrible for you," she continued. "I'm a cardiologist for heaven's sake."

"You don't have to justify yourself," Severus told her. "It makes no difference to me."

Cora narrowed her eyes at him. "I trust that you won't tell Rose," she said. "You seem like the type of man who is very good at keeping secrets."

Severus scowled. "I am extremely good at keeping secrets," he said cold, "but not from my wife."

"Of course," Cora said just as icily. She stared off in the direction of Hogwarts. "Rose tells me that you can see the school from here. She says that it is spectacular to look at."

Severus looked up at the school as well. It stood majestically in the distance, clearly visible against the dawn sky. The school was not visible to muggles, however. "What do you see?" Severus asked curiously.

"The sky and a lot of fog," Cora said drily.

"If you went onto the school grounds," Severus said, "then you would be able to see it."

"I always thought it strange to think there are so many things right in front of me that I'm unable to see or be a part of. It's sort of terrifying actually."

Severus did not know what to say to this, so he kept his silence.

"You went to that school as a child?" Cora asked, turning towards Severus again.

"I did," he answered.

"And your parents?"

"My mother," he replied skeptically.

"What about your father?"

"He was not a wizard," Severus said with a tone of finality.

"Both your parents have passed away," Cora continued, ignoring Severus's obvious desire to end the topic.

"Yes." He chewed the word. It wasn't a question.

"You must have lost them as a young man," Cora said. "That must have been difficult for you."

"Excuse me," Severus said roughly. "Why the sudden interest?"

"I know very little about you," she said, scrutinizing him in a way that made her look very much like Rose. "I know you're a potion's professor at a school called 'Hogwarts' that I cannot even see. I know you used to be a deatheater." Severus's insides burned and his mouth formed a deep scowl. "but then you turned spy and did things that I 'don't' know about that supposedly rectified your past behavior."

It was a good thing that Severus was holding Eileen. She seemed to stabilize him, kept him calm. "You know all the fundamentals of my character," Severus said sardonically.

"I know nothing else meaningful about you," Cora retorted. "And Rose is no help. Every time I've asked her a question about you, she is vague and generic."

"Rose knows I'm a private person," Severus said.

"She is very loyal to you," Cora said through a humorless laugh. "Yesterday she told me off for commenting that I thought your hair is too long." She gave Severus a pointed look. "Which it is. Rose said that it is common for wizard to have long hair and that she liked it. She never used to like long hair on men."

This was quickly becoming the most insipid conversation that Severus had ever had and he had no idea where this was going. As long as he washed his hair, Severus hardly thought that Rose gave a damn about it. "Rose is not a shallow woman," was all he could think to say.

"I know she isn't," Cora said, eyeing Severus once over.

Severus pressed his lips together. He knew he was not handsome, and he wasn't vain, but he still did not appreciate Rose's mother blatantly attacking his appearance. Rose told him enough that she liked the way he looked and that was all that mattered to Severus.

"What is it that you want me to tell you?" Severus said with exasperation. "I am very aware that you do not like me. You don't think I'm good enough for her. I agree with you."

Rose's mother looked off to the side. She did look slightly ashamed of herself. "I see that she loves you," Cora allowed.

"Well," Severus brushed off.

"Rose is different here," Cora said in a small voice.

"How so?" Severus asked.

Cora shrugged. "I don't know, more relaxed," she said. "Maybe that's not the right word. She just seems…" She shook her head. "When she was a little girl, we noticed that she did things, extraordinary things from a young age."

"How young was she?" Severus asked curiously.

"Maybe two," Cora said. "Maybe even younger."

Severus smiled slightly. "Rose is powerful. That's when Esme started too."

"Esme started?"

"Yes," Severus said coldly. "Of course, she has."

"Of course," Cora breathed. "We used to scold Rose. Not harshly, I hope. I mean we couldn't explain what was going on, but we could tell it had to do with her. She was just a little girl and we told her to stop what was natural to her. She wasn't hurting anything. Some of what she was doing was beautiful. There was this playground near our house with a field full of little yellow flowers. One day, Rose lifted her little hand and the flowers around her flew into the air and danced around her like they were butterflies."

Severus eyed Cora, listening intently. He held Eileen a little bit closer to his chest.

"We stopped taking her to that playground," Cora continued sadly. "Then when we found out what she was, it was easy to believe. She went off to magic school and every school break she would come home with fantastic stories that hardly seemed real. We would listen, of course, but we didn't ever understand fully. Then we would hide away her schoolbooks and wand until it was time for her to go back. She wasted no time after she graduated to moved away."

Rose had never said any of this to Severus. He figured it was because she either didn't want him to feel further prejudice against her family or because she didn't see her past the way her mother was depicting it. "Rose has never conveyed to me that she felt repressed," Severus told Cora. He had no idea why he was trying to comfort her. "We all have to live under the Statute of Secrecy. You were right to," he pressed his lips together briefly and sighed, "hide away her magic when she was young."

Cora grimaced. "Rose might not even know that she felt repressed," Cora said. "She was always an easy-going child, who grew into a tolerant woman. But when I see her here," she drew in air slowly, "I see how unrestrained she is. She is incredible happy here with you, whom I barely know. She has a job she loves, treating ailments that I have never heard of. She has beautiful children now with magic. And she has this incredible life in this world that I will never quite understand or be able to be a part of."

"Rose loves you," Severus whispered.

"And I love her," Cora said, tears forming in her eyes. She glanced off to the side. "Rose used to be keen on the boy down the street. Then when he began to like her, I thought how wonderful it would be for her to be with him. He went into environmental law. It would have been easier, a part of the world I live in. But instead she ran away with the most wizardy warlock I've ever seen."

Despite himself Severus smirked slightly, mostly happy to have beaten out the boy down the street. "You know why Rose is such a brilliant healer," Severus said. "She incorporates both magical and nonmagical medicine. Rose plays the piano. Most witches and wizards don't do that. Why would they bother learning when they could just bewitch an instrument to play of its own accord? But Rose loves it. Her favorite novel is Jane Eyre. She reads it repeatedly. She made me read it, for Merlin's sake." He gave Cora Rosamond a tight smile. "Rose is just who she is, silly and brilliant, magic or no magic."

Cora quickly dried her eyes on the back of her hand and looked up at Severus with surprise as if she had not quite seen him before.

The front door opened and Rose peeked out of the house. She looked from her mother to Severus. "What's going on out here?" she tried to ask causally.

"You should be sleeping," Severus scolded.

Rose stepped out of the house and shut the door behind her. She was still in her nightgown and her hair stuck out in various places. "How could I go back to sleep," she said, grinning. "I woke up and my baby was missing." She peered into Severus's arms at Eileen. She smiled at their beautiful little girl and then back up at Severus suspiciously. "So what am I missing?"

Severus gave Cora a quick glance and then looked back at his wife. "We were discussing Hogwarts," Severus explained. "I really should prepare for the start of term and I thought that we should all go up to the school today." Cora looked momentarily shocked but then nodded when Rose caught her eye. "We can show your parents around the castle."

Rose looked surprised too, but she beamed at the idea.

Cradling Eileen in one arm, Severus stroked through Rose's hair once. "Perhaps you can ride a broom there."

Rose gave Severus an amused looked. "Thanks, but it hasn't even been two weeks since I delivered Eileen. Believe me, riding a broomstick it the very last thing that I want to do."

Cora laughed and pulled her daughter in for a tight hug. "We'll all walk up together when everyone else wakes up." Cora looked back at Severus.

He gave her a curt nod.