16. Back at Hogwarts

Bobbie and Severus arrived a little early at the ranch the next morning with the intent of helping Bobbie's aunt with making breakfast, since she also had to cook for Bobbie's uncle Albus and aunt Karen and their family in the guesthouse. Karen came by 5 minutes later and helped also. The weather was perfect, as Geronimo had predicted and they all ate out on the lawn again after Severus had spelled the tables and chairs dry from the dew that had settled over night.

After they were done Bobbie had just gotten up to help her aunt to get the dishes back into the kitchen when Severus said, "I'll do it. Don't let them wait." He cradled her face and kissed her gently and added, "Have fun, my Love and please be careful."

"I will Baby," she promised.

Severus watched her drive off with Brutus and then he helped Felicia and Karen put the dishes away. When they were done Karen and Albus left with their family to visit some friends they hadn't seen in a while and Felicia walked into the next room and came back with a large folded up sheet. She said to Severus, "Come, let's put out the landing pad."

They got into the truck and Felicia drove them around the lake and parked the truck beside a stand of trees. Then they walked to the beach where Severus and Bobbie had arrived on their first day. Felicia gave him one side of the folded up sheet and they unfolded it together into a large square. She then proceeded to stake down the corners.

Just a little while later they saw a white plane with a blue stripe flying over and slowly gaining altitude. Felicia said, "There they are."

"It is a different plane," Severus stated.

"Yes, the crop duster isn't suited for more than one passenger or for skydiving, which is why they went to Ina. They have a passenger plane they use for supply runs and sometimes skydiving. We help each other out. Brutus or Geronimo are doing the crop dusting for Ina's parents and they are doing supply runs for us. Well, I guess now that Geronimo and Ina are married the two places will be together one day." She smiled at the thought.

"Are you also skydiving sometimes?" Severus wanted to know.

"I haven't for a few years, ever since I hurt my hip in a fall from the horse. I am riding again but I just never got back into skydiving," Felicia explained. "Bobbie is using my parachute these days. She still had one of the army round type. I can't believe that girl still jumped with that ancient old thing up until I let her use mine. It did have two control lines but they still give you only very limited steering and we had to fish that girl out of the lake a couple of times or pluck her out of a tree. Robert - her father - finally had enough and got rid of it."

Severus shook his head and said, "I told her yesterday that nothing good will come of it if she and Geronimo are together."

Felicia laughed mirthlessly, "No kidding! Looks like that didn't take you too long to figure out. They are two peas in a pod. Did she tell you that they almost set the barn on fire because of some old fireworks they had found, heaven knows where?"

"No, she failed to mention that..." Severus smirked.

"They were about 10 or 11 years old at the time and one of the fire crackers landed on the roof. Robert and Helen had a fit with that girl more than once and obviously so did we with Geronimo, and Anton encouraged it, he even thought their pranks were funny." She suddenly laughed and said, "Until one time anyway, when he was on the receiving end. They had used the electric wire from the cow pasture fence and attached it to the door handle on his porch. I don't think I have ever heard anybody cuss like that before, when he tried opening his door and got a shock."

They both laughed until Felicia had tears in her eyes from laughing so hard, just from remembering Anton's reaction. Then she looked at Severus and said in earnest, "It is so good to see him well again. Thank you so much, Severus."

"I was glad to help but it wasn't just my doing," he insisted.

"You are too modest. I know Bobbie has told you what we Nevari are capable of. I have seen glimpses into your past. I don't care what you have done two decades ago or the things you had to do later, to keep your cover. Nobody here cares. Sometimes people don't have a choice. You are a good person and we are happy Bobbie has found you. We are proud to have you as a part of the family."

Severus was speechless for a moment and then said quietly, "Thank you. The feeling is mutual."

All the while they had occasionally looked up to the sky, checking on the plane which had spiraled up higher and higher. Suddenly Felicia said, "There they go..."

Severus saw three small dots dropping away from the plane. They looked like they were coming together for a while. He asked Felicia what they were doing and she told him that she suspected them to be in a formation and were holding hands. He watched them letting go of each other and coming closer all the while. Then suddenly one of them opened the canopy and separated from the others as it slowed down. A while later another one opened and also slowed down. Suddenly he heard Felicia say, "Gosh that boy is driving me crazy. Always has to cut it close and come in hot."

"What is it?" Severus asked while watching.

"The parachute that hasn't opened yet, I would bet my last penny it's Geronimo... Oh, finally!" she let out a tense breath when the last one finally opened.

He had come much closer to the ground than the others. Severus watched the thing that looked like a mattress with a person hanging from it circling and then slowly going back and forth while coming closer. He and Felicia had stepped back from the beach about 50 meters to where the truck was parked. The first parachute came in from over the lake and then they heard a "Whoohoo!" Sure enough, it was Geronimo. He swooped in close to the square Severus and Felicia had spread out and then slowed the parachute down by pulling the front up and landed right in the middle of it. The parachute collapsed and he loosely wadded it up and carried it over to the truck where he and Felicia were waiting.

"Yes Sir, that wasn't too shabby...," Geronimo said more to himself while walking up to them with a big grin on his face.

"Great landing, but you don't have to cut it so close every time and open your canopy so late. You also would have more of the flight," Felicia said.

"Mom, there was plenty of time to open it." He opened the buckles on his suit and said, "There comes Bobbie..."

Bobbie also came in over the lake and landed on the sheet albeit not quite as graceful as Geronimo. It was a smooth landing but she had to do a couple of steps forward to catch herself. Severus let out the breath he had been holding and finally let go of his wand inside his pocket, which he had held in a death grip just in case he needed to perform a Levitation Charm. He knew the charm wouldn't work on Bobbie herself but he had hoped that his assumption that he could still levitate the parachute she was hanging from would have worked in an emergency.

She also gathered her parachute and walked over with a big grin and said, "Yay, now that was fun." She walked up to Severus smiling and said, "I think Serina liked it too."

They waited for Brutus to land, who then said, "Man, I didn't want to come down it was so nice up there today. Not like the last time when I almost froze my behind off."

They gathered up their parachutes and put them into the bed of the truck while Severus helped Felicia fold up the sheet. Then they piled into the cab and headed back to the house. Severus asked, "Who flew the plane."

"Ina did!" Geronimo said with pride for his wife clearly evident in his voice.

888

They spent the rest of the day at the ranch. About an hour after they came back from skydiving Albus and his family had showed up again and stayed a little while longer before he and his children's families scattered into different directions to their respective homes. The place had gotten very quiet after they were gone. Ina came over to stay for a little while to visit after she had put the plane away and also to take her husband home later. Pretty soon there was the same group left as the night before, only Felicia was with them this time.

After a dinner of leftovers from the large party the day before they sat around talking a while longer and then Severus took Bobbie home after he had caught her yawning a few times. Before they left, Brutus gave Severus their share of the money for the cure for Anton with another expression of thanks.

When they arrived home the dogs were all over them from being alone for most of the day. Anton and Eleonore had fed them and taken them for a short walk but it was nothing like the walks they had been getting with Bobbie and Severus the last few days.

Severus ran a bath for Bobbie and then tucked her into bed after she almost fell asleep in the warm water. "I had no idea how tired I was," she mumbled.

"I think I have to take better care of you and keep you on a shorter leash while you are carrying this baby," he scolded her softly. He kissed her and then got ready for bed himself. Bobbie was asleep by the time Severus was done. He pulled her to him and she snuggled into his arms where she fell back asleep within seconds while mumbling something that Severus was unable to decipher.

888

The days went by like in a flash and soon it was Friday, August 21st when Anton would have his next check-up to determine if he would have to have dialysis or not.

Severus was surprised how much he enjoyed having Bobbie's family around. He mused that this was what it must feel like having a real family, people who loved, cared about and helped each other. No one ever mentioned his miserable life or his sins he knew they were able to see when they touched him. They didn't treat him like an outcast, on the contrary they treated him like he was one of theirs and he had to admit to himself that he felt comfortable to be around everyone.

Bobbie had taken Anton to his doctors in the morning while Severus took both of the dogs for a brisk walk. Instead of going home afterwards he stopped at Anton's house and was greeted with a joyous atmosphere. Even Eleonore had come over to see how Anton's visit went. As soon as Bobbie saw Severus she flew into his arms and said almost choking up with emotions, "Here you are. I can't thank you enough for helping Opa. The doctor said that he has no explanation how his kidney problems miraculously went away. It's official now, he is cured." She kissed him and then whispered, "My wonderful husband."

Anton saw how embarrassed Severus was with the whole display of affection and jested to him with a wink, "Severus, don't worry I won't kiss you like my granddaughter but I do owe you my gratitude for making my life better. If there is anything I can do, I hope you will let me know."

Eleonore just took Severus's hand and squeezed it for a moment and then said with a tear in her eye, "How about some asparagus soup for lunch?"

Anton said while motioning to Severus and Bobbie, "I can't speak for those two but I will be right there."

888

By the time Severus and Bobbie had to go back to Britain Severus actually had gotten an idea what it meant to have fun. Especially Geronimo and Bobbie had taught him what it meant 'to lighten up' or 'chill out'. He was however trying more than once to calm Bobbie's wild streak, especially when Geronimo was around. He and Ina, who was Geronimo's calming influence, were sometimes shaking their heads at them. Severus suspected that it would probably be worse if the pregnancy wouldn't slow Bobbie down.

Severus never got into the airplane for skydiving or even just for a flight. He hated to be out of control. One thing he did do was learn how to ride the motorcycle. Geronimo just showed up one day and said, "I'll be damned if I'm going to let you go back to England without riding that bike." Severus finally agreed and found out that it actually turned out to be fun. Geronimo told him that the next time they came over they needed to stop by Bobbie's house in Arizona and get the motorcycle that was still in the garage there, so they all could go on a ride together.

Another thing he learned was riding a horse. It was Felicia who taught him. In their last week of vacation they and Felicia ended up helping Brutus and Geronimo riding the fences and fix them while taking the dogs so they could run around. Most of the time they didn't even have to get off the horse because Severus could fix it with his wand. Felicia chuckled and said," You are spoiling those guys, Severus. They will have a hard time letting you go back home."

When it was time to leave and they said their goodbyes Severus wasn't that adverse to hugs anymore. These people had taken him in like he was one of their own and he had grown fond of his new family. It also was a way of life for them to hug the people they were fond of. The last stop they made was at Anton's where they picked up Albus's portrait and said goodbye to Anton and Eleonore. Bobbie and Severus promised to come back after Serina was born.

Now that Severus knew the location of the Portkey station in Regina he Apparated them directly to the station. He had to go twice because of the dogs. First he took Bobbie and Bella and then came back for Benton. The dogs were a little flustered and each gagged a few times but recovered quickly enough. Bobbie had first been afraid of taking the dogs but after a phone call to Hermione and her doing some research they found out it was safe for animals to travel by Portkey. Hermione already knew that Apparating was safe because she had done it with Crookshanks. Bobbie knew she didn't want to take the dogs the Muggle way because she didn't want to have them go through a 6 months quarantine period in England.

At the Portkey station Bobbie paid a small price for the dogs. The Portkey they got this time was an old wadded up piece of rope they could loop through the dog's collars while hanging onto it themselves. After Bobbie took her deep breath Severus said, "Portus" and off they went. She again had to recover from it first before they could go on and so did the dogs. Severus gave Bobbie a potion to ease the nausea. The dogs on the other hand had to be soothed and calmed down because they looked like they were in a daze and were scared.

The last leg to the cottage was a little easier on them. Severus Apperated them straight into the back yard where the dogs could sniff around and get used to their new surroundings.

Severus said, "Don't get me wrong, I really enjoyed being with your family but it is also nice to be home again."

Bobbie walked up to him and wrapped her arms around his waist and laid her head against his chest and said, "I totally agree! Unfortunately we already have to go back to Hogwarts tomorrow so we can get ready for the start of school on Tuesday."

"Yes, unfortunately..." He sighed and kissed her on the top of her head and continued, "Let us go to bed early. Even though the bed in your house in Canada is comfortable I always think of the one here as our bed. Maybe because this is where I really felt like I could be free one day," he said.

"Our house in Canada," she insisted and then said, "But yes, let's go to bed early. We also have to deal with jetlag and two dogs with jetlag. That'll be fun." She chuckled. "They slept in the living room in Canada I think we should do the same thing here."

While Bobbie went off to take a shower Severus took the shrunken luggage out of his pocket and the two dog beds they had taken, which still had the scent of their home in Canada. They had thought it may help get them settled in more easily. He spelled everything back to its normal size and carried the bags to the bed room and then laid the dog beds along the wall in the living room underneath the windows. Benton and Bella sniffed their beds and right away laid down on them. He told them to stay and then called Millie and Winky.

The house elves were startled when there was a little 'woof' coming from Benton when he saw those strange looking intruders just appear out of thin air, but since his 'Person' had told them to stay, he did. Severus said to the house elves, "These are Bobbie's dogs Benton and Bella. They will not hurt you. They will like it when you stroke their fur like this." And he showed them. "You may have to feed and let them out once in a while when we aren't able to come home in time."

When he showed them how to pet them the elves tried it timidly. When they saw the dogs delighted faces and felt the soft fur they became more trusting and Millie even hugged Bella around the neck. Severus then proceeded to tell the elves how they needed to feed and take care of them. He told them that they would need the same care when they were at Hogwarts.

As soon as they were done with the introduction and care instructions Severus asked if it would be possible to have a light dinner for tonight. Both house elves were happy that 'Master Severus Snape' and 'Miss Bobbie Snape' were back and they were more than delighted to be able to do so. He told them not to bother with breakfast in the morning because they would be eating a brunch with the teachers at Hogwarts.

When Bobbie came out of the shower with wet hair and wrapped into her bathrobe, dinner was already sitting on the table. As usually she let her hair dry naturally since she was not in a hurry. Severus saw how tired she was and pulled the chair out for her. He said, "Try eating a little and then I suggest you go to bed. I don't want you to get overtired. That little baby needs some rest and some nourishment."

She sighed and nodded with a small smile at him. She made herself eat some food even though she felt too tired to eat and also drank a cup of pumpkin juice. Severus looked worriedly at her after she stopped. He got up and went to her and said, "Come, you need to go to bed."

He helped her up and she obediently let him lead her to bed. She said, "I didn't mean to crash like that, Baby. I can't believe how tired I am."

"I think you had too much fun in the last few days. You need to rest. I suggest you go to Poppy tomorrow morning and see if everything is fine," he said.

She nodded and let him tuck her in. By the time Severus came to bed she was already asleep. He pulled her to him and she again mumbled something unintelligibly and moved into is arms without waking up.

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The next morning Severus and Bobbie got ready to move back to Hogwarts. This time it would be for a little longer than just a week. With the new school year Severus would have to resume all of the responsibilities he had before the war, like staying for some of the weekends and parts of the holidays. Minerva had taken over the weekends for him in the last few weeks of the previous school year to give him time to recover from the war, from his spying and most of all from his run-in with Nagini. She also had done it because it would give him a little bit more time with his new wife and for doing the research for the cure against lycanthropy.

Tomorrow was the day the new school year was starting and there was a lot that had to be done to get ready. Minerva had agreed that they could bring the dogs, especially when she had found out that they were therapy dogs. Hermione had helped a little with that. She had researched the work therapy dogs could do and had mentioned it to Minerva.

When they arrived outside the non-Apparation zone of Hogwarts, Fang came running to the gates barking at the new 'competition'. Hagrid and Bobbie made sure the dogs got along and then they all walked up to the castle for brunch and to meet everyone and to go over the curriculum.

Before they went to the teachers' lounge Severus called for Winky and Millie to give them their bags to unpack and told them where to place the beds for the dogs. They did take Albus's portrait and also Benton and Bella with them to the lounge though, so they could get used to everyone and vise versa.

After Minerva thanked them for bringing the portrait back, the first thing she wanted to know was if the dogs were okay with cats. Severus chuckled and said, "Don't worry Minerva, the only thing you have to worry about is that they are licking you to death, in human or in cat form. Bobbie's uncle has barn cats and they are just fine with them."

After the introduction Bobbie told both dogs to lay down in front of the fireplace and the meeting began. Everyone got their curriculum and the new books they would be teaching from. They sorted out which weekends each one would spend at the school until the next meeting. They also worked around next Monday, so Severus wouldn't have any classes that day because he needed to be in Azkaban to watch the prisoner all night. The full moon would be on the night of Sunday to Monday and he would come back tired and needing some sleep.

The brunch had pretty much dragged into a lunch because everyone wanted to know from Severus and Bobbie how their trip to Canada went.

After the meeting was adjourned Severus went to his classroom to make some last minute changes for next day.

Bobbie went with Poppy and brought the dogs with her because they would spend most of the time with her when she was working with traumatized children. The castle had added a designated therapy room that radiated calm in everything that had been added; the lighting, the colour of the walls, the curtains, the soft rugs on the floor and the furniture. Bobbie was amazed and again thanked Hogwarts for her kindness to the children who would use this room.

It had been agreed that Bobbie would help Poppy if she needed it because there wasn't as much to do as a psychiatrist anymore. The war was over. Fewer children would still be upset about it and there weren't too many who needed help with their home life, be it neglect, abuse or both. She suspected there would still be the occasional case of bullying in school. Bobbie would make her own hours especially since she would have to deal with a newborn baby in a while.

The women didn't have too much left to do since they pretty much had everything in order before the holidays. Poppy gave Bobbie a quick checkup and told her everything was fine with her pregnancy and the tiredness was just something that came with the territory. After that they decided to take advantage of the mild weather and go down to the lake for a while with the dogs. They sat down underneath Bobbie's favorite tree and talked quietly.

"I heard from Miss Granger that your grandfather had kidney problems," Poppy said.

"Yes, he is doing so well now, thanks to her for finding an apothecary who carried the potion and also to Severus for getting it. My grandfather is also very happy to hear that we are naming our daughter after my grandmother," Bobbie said with a smile.

"Oh, that is wonderful. What is it going to be?" Poppy asked.

"Nothing special. It is also my middle name," Bobbie answered.

"Ah, Serena. I couldn't think of a better name for the daughter of a psychiatrist," Poppy said with a smile and a nod.

Bobbie snorted, "I guess that is a good way of looking at it. It is written a little differently though, not like you would write the word serene. My grandmother came from Germany and in order to pronounce an English name correctly in Germany, they had to write it differently."

"I can't believe you are in your third month of pregnancy and you hardly show," Poppy stated.

Again Bobbie snorted and said, "Maybe not around my belly but don't get me started on my 'milk factory'."

Poppy had a good laugh at that. Then Bobbie saw that her dogs were taking a dip in the lake and she asked, "Do you think they are safe? Severus said there is a giant squid in there."

"I think they are. Hagrid's dog is in the water on hot days and Fang would be a much larger meal for it. I don't know what Hagrid feeds it but I have never heard that the squid attacked anything or anybody. It even saved a first year boy one day when he fell out of the boat and into the lake," Poppy said. "You even know of him. He was the younger one of the Creevey boys."

Bobbie nodded in thought, remembering the retrieval of the film for the older one of the two. Then she looked at her watch and pointed at the dogs, "I better go rinse and dry those two off. It is almost dinner time."

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Severus sat at the teachers table in the Great Hall watching the new Firsties being sorted. Usually this job would fall to him as the deputy Headmaster, but after Bobbie had finally confessed her other Nevari qualities to Minerva and Poppy, it was decided that his wife should do it. She would be able from the start to find out if any of the children were having any problems simply by touching them while putting the Sorting Hat on their heads.

Severus had been a little reluctant to reveal this secret but Bobbie insisted that they could trust them not to say anything and besides who was better suited to find out if you could trust somebody than a Nevari. He finally had given in and the two women had taken the information far easier than he himself had when he first found out. He thought about the moment when he had thrown Bobbie out of his quarters because he felt utterly betrayed when she confessed it to him.

He shook his head to dislodge the depressing memory and thought about how much his life had changed for the better. He also realized that this was the first time in two decades that he could sit up here watching the Sorting knowing for certain that he was a free man. He smiled at the thought and suddenly felt something like relaxation going through him.

He watched his wife smiling at the children and when everyone was put into their respective houses she joined him at the teachers table.

Minerva's welcoming speech wasn't much different from the one Albus had used. She had told Severus that she wanted to keep most of it to honour the late Headmaster. There were only a few changes, one was dropping the gibberish Albus had sometimes added at the end and her parting words were that the children should refrain from feeding the dogs if they see them outside or in the school. Then she encouraged everyone to 'Tuck in!'