Chance Meeting at the Ink Pot
by Healer Teddylonglong
All recognizable characters belong to J. K. Rowling, and I am not earning anything by writing this story.
I am not a native speaker of English. Please excuse my mistakes.
COMPLETELY AU! Partly OOC!
It is my story, and I intend to write it the way I want it. If you don't like it, don't read it.
Reviews are very welcome, as they inspire my muse.
Seeing that Sirius looked at him with interest, Severus explained, "Minerva and I are planning to get married this summer, and I..."
"Oh Dad, that's too cool," Sirius interrupted his father in excitement. "Congratulations, Aunt Minerva and Dad. I'm very happy." He hesitated for an instant, before he asked in a soft voice, "Are we going to be a real family then?"
While Severus looked at his son in surprise, Minerva smiled and replied gently, "Yes Sirius, we'll be a real family if that's what you want."
The small family sat quietly on a rock near the water and observed the sun as it appeared to sink into the ocean, before Severus spoke up again and told Sirius about the prophecy.
"Is that really true?" Sirius asked in shock.
"Do you know me as someone, who would joke about something like that?" Severus asked shot back. "The Abes know about it, and we have been thinking about what to do for a few years. However, it was only recently that Professor Ito told me that he had an idea but that it was very complicated and that he had to perform many tests and a lot of research, before he could come up with a detailed plan. However, he said that he needed your help. I'm not sure what it is about, although I suspect that it involves laser magic, but maybe he'll tell you more if you ask him about it when we're back home."
"I'll do that," Sirius said in excitement. For a few years, he had been a bit afraid of the very harsh Professor Ito; however, over time he had become used to the professor's behaviour, and especially after the teacher had helped him by deactivating his scar, Sirius felt very grateful towards the man and knew that he could fully rely on him.
本屋さんでの偶然の出会い
When they returned to the Mirai school, Sirius was immediately reminded of the matter because of a message that Severus received from the owner of The Inkpot through his wiz-2-wiz connection.
'Professor Snape, you did a good thing to leave Hogwarts when you did. There was a large scale battle at the castle right before the beginning of the holidays, and the castle is said to be destroyed to a large extent. The magical world of Britain is at war,' it said in the message.
'And I am the one who is supposed to finish that war?' Sirius thought incredulously. 'I have no idea how to defeat Voldemort. Of course laser magic is more powerful than normal magic, but still I'll have to be able to cast a spell, before he sends the killing curse at me.'
"Sirius, don't worry too much," Minerva said in a soft voice. "We're all here to help you, and we don't even know if the prophecy is accurate at all."
"Thank you," Sirius said, feeling very much consoled by the kind words.
本屋さんでの偶然の出会い
It was a few days later that Mami Abe came into Kenji's room, where Kenji, Kazumi and Sirius were working on their assignments. "Sirius, I'd like to discuss something with you," she said softly and, seeing that the boy looked up from his book, continued, "My colleagues and I are planning a honeymoon for your father and Professor McGonagall. Therefore, I'd like to ask you if you would like to go with them or if you prefer to stay here with us for the week."
Sirius gave her a surprised look. "I don't know, but people normally go on a honeymoon without children, don't they? I think I should let them go alone and stay at home. Thank you for asking though."
Mami gently ruffled his hair. "Are you sure, sweetie? I'm sure that your parents wouldn't mind taking you with them at all. But if you wish to stay here, you could come and stay in Kenji's room, so that you don't have to stay in your quarters all by yourself."
"Thank you very much," Sirius said gratefully. "I'd probably prefer to remain in Kenji's and my room in the school rather than sleep in our quarters when Dad isn't there, but I'd love to stay here with Kenji."
A few days later, Sirius had the same discussion with Severus and Minerva, who apparently intended to take him with them; however, Sirius remained firm and insisted on staying at home, telling the two adults how much fun he was going to have together with the twins.
本屋さんでの偶然の出会い
However, on the day when Minerva and Severus left for their honeymoon in Australia, Professor Ito called Sirius into his office and informed him that he and the Headmaster were now researching a method to eliminate Severus' Dark Mark with magical laser similar to the method they had used to deactivate his scar. The professors told Sirius that they would like him to join them in their research, because the research might help him on his way to defeating the Dark Lord using laser magic.
"Excuse me, Professors, but why do we have to deactivate his mark at all?" Sirius asked in confusion. 'Dad never said anything that it was bothering him in any way,' he thought.
"We believe that you might be able to cast a collective laser spell at the Dark Lord and all of his followers. Of course we still need to do a lot of research and it might take a few years until you're ready; however, if you manage to cast such a spell, your father will be hit by it as well if he still has the Dark Mark," the Headmaster explained patiently.
"Oh, that's true," Sirius agreed, and after a few weeks of research they were sure that it had to be possible to use a slightly modified version of the method that had led to the deactivation of Sirius' scar for the Dark Mark as well.
However, Severus refused vehemently to allow Professor Ito to cast the spell. "Sirius was in a coma for a week, which I do not want to experience in the middle of the school year. You may cast the spell at the beginning of the winter holidays. Apart from that, it wouldn't do good to completely vanish the dark magic. You should transfer the mark to an object in case we need it to attack the Dark Lord at a later time."
"Your magic is much stronger than that of Sirius. I won't put you in a coma," Ito growled, "and we can transfer the mark to a teddy bear or whatever. That's no problem."
However, Severus did not give in, and it was on the first day of the winter holidays that he allowed his colleague to cast the spell. To Sirius' displeasure, Professor Ito threw him out of the infirmary as soon as he was ready to begin.
"I'm good enough to help with the research, but I can't watch when you finally cast it," the boy blurted out, feeling very upset about the matter on top of his concern for his father.
"This is nothing for children to watch," Ito growled.
'I have to endure everything like an adult; in such cases they suddenly tell me I was a child,' Sirius thought angrily but allowed Minerva to pull him out of the room. Minerva conjured a sofa in the corridor in front of the infirmary and motioned for Sirius to sit down, before she gently pulled him into an embrace.
"Mum, will Dad be all right?" Sirius asked in a tear-stricken voice. "I wasn't at first and..." He slowly trailed off.
"Sirius, your father has endured much worse in the past. He is a very powerful adult wizard, while you are still a child. A person's magic normally reaches its optimum level with sixteen or seventeen years. Therefore, I'm sure that Professor Ito would have preferred to cast the spell on you in two years' time, but you wouldn't have wanted to wait so long, would you?"
"No," Sirius said thoughtfully and wiped an errand tear from his cheek, feeling very much consoled by Minerva's words.
"Did you think of anything to give your father for Christmas?" Minerva efficiently changed the topic.
"Yes, of course," Sirius replied, smiling. "As you know Neville is able to conjure earth magic like I'm able to summon wind magic. Anyway, he grew the Incongenia plant for me, a very rare plant, and I cast a laser beam on the leaves to make them useful as potions ingredients. I know that Dad said something about a potion, which he and his colleague in Okinawa were asked to brew by the distributor of all magical apothecaries in Japan, but both of them had to decline, because they couldn't lay their hands on that special ingredient."
"Oh right, I remember how disappointed your father was. He even tried to get the leaves in Britain to no avail. And now you're going to give him these leaves?" Minerva asked in surprise.
Sirius nodded, smiling, just when Severus stepped out of the infirmary, chuckling at the scene in front of him. "Cuddling hour?" he asked dryly.
"Oh Dad, are you all right?" Sirius asked excitedly as he freed himself from Minerva's embrace and slightly hugged his father.
"Yes of course; everything is all right. The Dark Mark is completely gone," Severus replied, pushing up his left sleeve. "Ito's teddy bear has it now."
"Minerva," Professor Ito, who had just joined them, spoke up. "Take your husband home and make him rest for the remainder of the day. I don't want to see him gallivanting around the school until he is due here for a check-up tomorrow morning."
"I will," Minerva promised, grinning at Severus, who was rolling his eyes in annoyance.
"Snape," Ito turned to Sirius, "my office nine o'clock tomorrow morning."
"Yes sir," Sirius replied obediently, although his mind screamed, 'Do we have to begin our next step of research on Christmas Eve? Can't we even take a few days off?'
"Probably not," Severus said compassionately when Sirius voiced his question later on in their quarters. "The Dark Lord kills more muggles every day and urgently needs to be stopped. I'll join you in the morning though. Maybe there is anything I can do to help."
"Thank you, Dad," Sirius replied gratefully, feeling very consoled at the thought of his father joining the research for a spell against the Dark Lord.
Severus slightly inclined his head, before he gave Minerva a pointed look. "Sirius, there is something else we'd like to speak about. I'm not sure if you realised that you called me 'Mum' earlier when we were waiting for your father." Seeing from the corner of her eyes that Sirius blushed deeply, she continued, "I'd love you to continue calling me that as I intend to be a mother for you if you need me. Apart from that, you will become a big brother in about three months' time."
Sirius looked up in surprise. "I'm going to get a baby sister or brother?" he asked, and to his parents' relief, a huge smile spread across his face. "That's absolutely cool," he said in amazement. "What's it going to be?"
"A monkey," Severus threw in, smirking.
Minerva shot him a playful glare, before she replied, "It's a girl, and we thought that you might like to choose the name for your baby sister, hmm?"
Sirius swallowed, before he looked at his parents in shock. "You want me to name the baby?" he asked in disbelief.
"Well, 'Monkey' is out of the question," Severus smirked.
"I'll think about it," Sirius promised as his thoughts went haywire. He remained quiet for a while, observing his parents quietly talk with each other, before he asked, "Is it all right if I go to see Kazumi and Kenji for a while?"
"Of course," Severus said gently. "Please be back around lunchtime, because we're going to make a trip to Tokyo in the afternoon. We're only waiting for the headmaster to make the Portkey for us."
It was in the evening of Christmas day, when the Snapes were sitting in the living room of their quarters, each of them engrossed in one of the books that they had received for Christmas, when Sirius spoke up thoughtfully. "Ai," he suddenly said, looking at his parents. "Why don't you name her Ai? Since it means love in Japanese, it would be great to show her that we all love her very much right from the beginning."
"That's a wonderful name," Minerva said warmly, "and I suggest that we choose Lily as her second name in memory of Sirius' mother. Ai Lily Snape sounds good."
"An agreeable name," Severus stated, grinning. "Sirius, I suggest that you speak Japanese with your little sister from birth onwards, so that she learns about the meaning of her name 'right from the beginning'."
"I can do that. She'll need to learn it anyway," Sirius replied, raising an eyebrow in a very Snape-ish manner. 'As her big brother, I'm partly responsible for her education; maybe I should really speak Japanese with her,' he resolved.
Ai was born on the day before Sirius' birthday. Sirius lazily opened his eyes in the morning, noticing in surprise that Mami Abe was sitting on the edge of his bed. "Did something happen?" he asked quickly, suddenly feeling fully awake.
"Congratulations Sirius. You're a big brother now. Your baby sister Ai-chan was born this morning," Mami said gently.
"Can I go and see her?" Sirius asked eagerly.
"Of course," Mami smiled. "Get ready, and then you can go to see them. They're in a small room behind Madam Pomfrey's office."
Ten minutes later, Sirius stormed into the small room. "Where is she? May I hold her?" he blurted out in excitement.
"Good morning to you too, sweetie," Minerva replied, chuckling.
However, Severus shook his head. "Now Sirius, sit down here and relax for a moment. I can understand that this is exciting, but you need to calm down, before we can give you the baby. Did you wash your hands by the way?"
"Sorry; yes, I did right before I came here," Sirius said and obediently sat on the chair next to his father. "May I please now..."
"Ai-chan, the wild one here is Sirius, your big brother," Severus told his daughter and carefully laid her in Sirius' arms.
"Aww, she's so sweet," Sirius said in amazement and began to speak with his sister in very simple Japanese, smiling as the baby held his small finger in her tiny hand with a strong grip.
During the following year, Sirius proved to be an excellent baby-sitter. While Minerva took the baby to class with her as long as she was breast-feeding. Sirius often joined his parents in the evening, helping to bathe her and put her back to bed. After the first six months, his parents even allowed him to take her with him to the room that he shared with Kenji and Neville, and the baby seemed to absolutely adore her big brother.
At the same time, Sirius spent much time with Professors Abe and Ito doing research on a possible way to get rid of the Dark Lord. Severus, Minerva, Poppy and Mami also joined them from time to time, and they experimented with several approaches involving laser spells, potions, Portkeys and the teddy that was bearing the Dark Mark. However, it was at the birthday party for his sixteenth birthday that Sirius had his most brilliant idea when he looked at the beautifully decorated Planetarium.
"Dad, I urgently need to speak with you," he suddenly said and pressed Ai, whom he was feeding small pieces of his birthday cake, into her mother's arms, before he quickly strode out of the Planetarium.
"What's wrong with him?" Minerva asked in concern, while she tried to calm down her daughter, who began to wail at the sudden loss of her brother.
"Jiji baaah," Ai screamed, hitting her mother's arms that didn't allow her to take off after her adored big brother.
"No Ai-chan, Sirius is not bad. I'm sure he'll continue feeding you his cake as soon as he is back," Minerva said soothingly, putting a small strawberry into the baby's mouth.
"I'll go after him," Severus said calmingly and quickly followed Sirius with his robes billowing behind him. A few minutes later, he was back and gave his wife a calming nod, before he urgently called Professors Abe and Ito and motioned them to follow him. "Please excuse us for a few minutes. Sirius had an idea, which I believe to be the breakthrough for our research concerning the war in Britain."
tbc...
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