A/N: Well this is the very end of this story, I hope you have all enjoyed it! I certainly have had a great time writing it!
5 years later
A soft meow and pawing at his head woke Severus up. He groggily rolled over and looked at the clock on his bedside table. It was 5:30 in the morning, why the hell was Anakin pestering him?! He quietly shushed the cat who promptly leapt down from the bed and started down the hallway. Severus closed his eyes to go back to sleep. The pesky little furball came back to the doorway and meowed again. The sleepy wizard cracked one eyelid open to look at their obnoxious cat. He sighed and carefully got out of bed, he glanced over at his wife to ensure he hadn't bothered her. Saturday was one of the few days she could actually sleep in anymore. Yawning and stretching, he followed the cat out of their bedroom and to the stairs.
Climbing the stairs quietly, Severus had a feeling that whatever Anakin had woken him to come see was related to the children. He could hear quiet giggling when he was near the top of the stairs. Stealthily, he crept to their bedroom and peered through the slightly ajar door. It was dark but for the glow from the walls. When they were decorating the nursery, Severus had suggested an underwater theme. He had loved the picture window view beneath the surface of the Black Lake in the Slytherin common room and thought it would be beautiful to replicate here. Luna had outdone herself by painting a stunning coral reef all around the room. It was crammed with vibrant colors and swaying plants, daytime saw a vast variety of creatures both magical and non magical visiting the reef. At night, the colors were much more subdued and the only creatures swimming about then were slightly glowing jellyfish that acted as nightlights. Upon catching sight of the room's occupants, he abruptly had to bring his hand to his mouth to prevent any audible reaction from escaping immediately.
His daughters, ages two and four were in naught but a nappy and underwear, respectively. The remainder of their little bodies was covered in magic marker. Scattered all about the floor were the offending coloring implements along with the multitude of coloring books their Muggle grandparents had given them. The four year old, Ellen, was patiently drawing and coloring in what may have been a flower on her younger sister's belly. The two year old, Jean, was giggling and kicking her legs out. "Tickles, Sissy! It tickles!" The youngest shrieked suddenly.
Ellen promptly shushed her. "Shhhhh Jean. You are gonna wake up Mummy! She's not a happy Mummy in the morning."
Severus silently agreed with her, I can only imagine Hermione's reaction if she woke up to this. He quietly pushed the door open, flicked on the light, and cleared his throat. Both girls froze and turned their heads to the doorway as one, their brown eyes wide and black, bushy hair sticking out wildly from sleep. The oldest decided to act as though nothing was amiss. Her face broke into a huge grin as she loudly proclaimed "Good morning Daddy!" Both hands still holding markers and sticking up in the air.
Jean seemed to feel this was the best course of action as well. She grinned and jumped up, running over to hug his pajama-clad legs. "G'morning Daddy!"
Attempting to remain serious when faced with such adorable behavior, he reached down and picked up Jean. "Good morning, girls. Which of you knows how two little witches came to be covered in magic marker?"
Ellen had the audacity to look shocked. "We don't know! We just woke up like this, didn't we Jean?"
Jean managed to arrange her face into a serious expression, somewhat diminished by the pink squiggles all across her forehead and cheeks. "Yeah, we woke up like this. It wasn't Sissy's idea at all."
Ellen seriously nodded. Internally, Severus was highly amused, Ellen was undoubtedly heading for Slytherin when she attended Hogwarts but little Jean was far too much like her mother. Externally, he had to be serious, Thank Merlin we placed anti-staining charms on everything in this room! He thought, before deciding to end their foolish story of waking up covered in marker.
"Now, enough silliness. Daddy knows you colored on each other. I want this mess cleaned up immediately. Then we are going downstairs to the big bathroom and you are both getting baths." The stern wizard said, setting Jean down to a chorus of "Awwwww, not a bath!"
The two of them dejectedly picked up of all of the markers and coloring books before placing them haphazardly on their desk. Once the room was reasonably straightened up, he lifted Jean up again and signaled for Ellen to quietly follow him. He leant down and whispered to them both at the top of the steps, "If you two can be quiet until I get us in the big bathroom and place the silencing charms without waking Mummy, I'll make waffles for breakfast. How does that sound?"
The two little witches nodded vigorously and Ellen held a single finger up her lips with a grave look on her little face. Clearly getting waffles was serious business. The three of them silently crept through the house, trailed by the shadow that was Anakin. Severus successfully shut the door to the bathroom, in Anakin's face unknowingly, and placed the silencing charms to prevent waking his wife. Anakin twitched his tail in annoyance and sat outside the room waiting.
15 minutes later
BANG!
Hermione jolted upright in the bed, hair a tangled nest on top of and all around her head. Rubbing the sleep from her eyes, she gazed around the room to find the source of her rude awakening.
Mmmmmrroooowwww
Brow furrowed, Hermione looked for the agitated cat she assumed had been the source of all the noise. Noting her husband was no longer lying next to her, the grumpy witch slung her legs over the side of the bed and got up. At the foot of the bed stood Anakin, he was standing on a book that was trying to escape from under him. Hermione scowled at him and picked up her wand, canceling the summoning spell on the book, she pulled the book from under the agitated cat. In the dimly lit room, she could just barely make out the title "A Witching Mother's Guide to Raising Magical Children" by Taica Ama. Molly Weasley had gifted it to her years ago at the baby shower for Ellen. She looked around the dark bedroom and noticed a light coming from under the bathroom door.
Curiosity driving the sleep from her mind, the inquisitive witch approached the door with her wand out. She sensed the wards and silencing spells on the door, she made quick work of taking them down and pushed the door open. The scene before her was priceless and she quickly brought a hand up to stifle her mirth.
There were puddles of water strewn about the room and their two wet, soapy, and very much naked little girls were accidentally splashing her husband in the tub. They were covered in magic marker drawings that Severus was trying to wash off but the little witches were more interested in playing, mean while the marker was not budging from their skin. It was apparent to her that Severus' patience was rapidly running out.
"Ellen! You will stand still and cease splashing your sister at once!"
Jean giggled and mimicked her father's reprimand to her older sibling, one chubby hand pointing an index finger in an admonishing manner. "Ellen! Be still! Cheese plash you sister!"
This was the absolute limit for Hermione, laughter burst forth uncontrollably. The splashing stopped and three messy heads full of black hair swiveled to look at her. A chorus of "Mummy!" rang out from little mouths. A completely soaked Severus sighed with relief and straightened up from the edge of the tub as Hermione came over still laughing.
"We tried not to wake you. Thank Merlin you're up though, how are you supposed to get this marker off of them? I've tried every cleansing spell and potion safe for children. Magic markers, indeed." He said, glancing down at the book in her hands. "Does that have anything about how to get this mess off of them?"
Hermione smirked at him. "Of course not, magic markers are a Muggle creation. You use rubbing alcohol, it's a solvent." She replied, before turning to the medicine cabinet and retrieving it.
Meanwhile, the splashing resumed behind her as the girls picked up where they left off. Jean stopped suddenly and turned a very serious face towards her father before saying "Daddy, we still get waffles?"
Severus cocked an eyebrow at the two hopeful faces tipped up at him. Had his hair not been wet and messy and his pajamas not clinging to him with water, his expression may have been intimidating. But even then his children wouldn't have been affected, they had him wrapped around their little fingers and they knew it.
"If you can both behave yourselves the rest of the time it takes to get cleaned up and if you help clean up the bathroom, you may have waffles." He said seriously, reaching for the rubbing alcohol from his wife.
Hermione planted a kiss on his cheek as Ellen turned towards her sister, a large cup filled with water in her unsteady hands. "Here Jean, I'll help you get clean!" Ellen exclaimed before promptly dumping the contents of the cup over her head.
Jean promptly wailed at her well meaning sister. "SISSY! I DON'T LIKE IT!" Jean reached up to wipe water from her eyes.
Hermione decided to intervene for the sake of speeding things up. "Cut all of this out right now! You will both rinse all of this soap off and stand still while Daddy gets this marker off. If I hear one more yell or if you keep splashing about, there will be no waffles. And if I catch either of your drawing on each with markers again, I'll take them away to your grandmother's house, understood?" Hermione firmly asked, looking between the two of them quite sternly.
"Yes Mummy!" Rang throughout the bathroom in reply.
Turning towards her husband, Hermione winked at him and leaned over to whisper in his ear. "I'll go make breakfast, they should behave now."
The grateful wizard pecked a kiss on her cheek and smiled at her as she walked out of the room. What would I do without her? I'd surely be lost. His tender thoughts about his wife were interrupted by extremely loud whispering behind him between his daughters. "I told you Jean, if we wake up Mummy, she won't be a very happy Mummy."