The "Harry Potter" characters belong to JK Rowling, her associates and affiliates. CPT Holdings Inc. and Sony Pictures Home Entertainment own "Bewitched" and "Tabitha". For entertainment purposes only. There. I have spoken.

A/N According to more than one website, Adam was a warlock in "Bewitched" and a mortal in "Tabitha". For this fanfic, he's a mortal. It just works better that way. And all due respect to anyone who disagrees.

Early one morning, Tabitha opened her mail, read the contents, and gasped. Because of all the changes in her life over the past months, she had completely forgotten about this wedding coming up. The bride-to-be was a witch, her fiancé was a mortal, and they both had grown up in the same neighborhood as Tabitha. The bride and groom had been high school sweethearts, and the Stevenses were friendly with both families.

A short note, written in the bride's hand, was enclosed with the invitation. She offered to introduce Tabitha to someone so she would have somebody to go with to the wedding. Tabitha shuddered. Not that she had any objections to Nina's taste in men, but the thought of being set up with a stranger for an entire day of mindless small talk made her cringe. It wasn't even necessary. Tabitha's whole family was invited, so she would have people to talk to, and anyhow, much of the guest list would include friends and acquaintances. She wouldn't be lonely. However, Tabitha was well aware of how Nina's mind worked, and there was no way she would allow her to go stag. Tabitha had to pick somebody, quick.

Yeah, sure, pick somebody from her vast crowd of admirers. All her male friends in the States were married, going with someone, or Paul's friends. She sighed; thinking about the weddings she and Paul had gone to, together. Here, her first choice would have been Remus. She could relax and have fun with him, but she didn't want to upset Tonks. Actually, Tonks would probably be okay with it, but just the same...Her other option was Severs. She lost courage at the idea. She liked him, as far as it went, but he was so solemn and unreadable. What if she asked him and in reply he made some sarcastic remark, then looked at her weird for the rest of their lives? Tabitha compared that scenario against the risk of allowing Nina to her up with a stranger, and decided to ask Severus. Definitely the lesser of two evils, and a lot less risky. And after all, what could he really do to her besides be sarcastic? Sarcasm didn't kill you, after all. She just needed to remember that it was no big deal and to act dignified.

The next day, Snape was wandering down the gentle slope that fell away from the castle when he saw the little muggle girl running around, picking wildflowers. The girl's mother was sitting down on the ground leaning against a rock, cuddling the baby. Her back was to him.

Sarah squealed when she saw him, and Tabitha glanced over her shoulder. The girl threw herself on the ground next to her mother, and sat there with a squashed bouquet of flowers in one hand, the other hand on her mother's lap, and watched Snape with her serious, steady gaze. Tabitha busied herself with the baby for a few moments, not turning around. When Snape stood to face Tabitha, she was supporting Stella in a sitting position on her lap, gently burping her.

"You're early, Tabitha, and you brought your children?" He asked, with a hint of irritation.

Tabitha rolled her eyes and replied, "What do you care if I'm early? As long as I'm not late, it doesn't affect your life at all. Not that it's any of your business, but you said this was the only time you had, then my babysitting arrangements fell through, and I couldn't reach Mom or Grandmamma, and you know Tonks works during the week and Aunt Clara," she lowered her voice to a whisper, "she's getting up there in years, you know. So anyway I decided to come early to get Stella settled in for a nap so we could practice." She jerked her head towards a stroller covered with a drape, and at the same time, Stella let out a large burp.

"Here, gimme a hand up," She held the baby carefully against her shoulder then reached up to him so he could pull her to her feet. She settled a drowsy Stella into her stroller and carefully replaced the drape, feeling none too confident. If this was how Severus was going to be today, maybe she'd just forget about asking him. It still wasn't too late for her to just take her chances with a blind date from Nina. Turning to him, she asked, "So, are you ready now? If so, you have to give me another couple minutes."

She dug around the diaper bag under the stroller and pulled out two objects. When she stood up, she said, "Wait 'til you see this. It's something Molly taught me." She sprinkled some sawdust on a level area of the slope, then put a small toy playground on top of the sawdust. Pulling out her wand, she said, "Engorgio", and the playground grew to child-size. Sarah yelled happily and ran to play on it.

"Ta-da! Now that the girls are occupied, we can get on with this lesson," Tabitha smiled, proudly.

Snape nodded and started teaching Tabitha while the girls were occupied. It was just an ordinary summer day, a little on the cool side, although this whole summer had been cooler than normal, but she seemed jumpy. She did passably well at the lesson at first, then she seemed to lose concentration as time went on, and made a few minor mistakes. But when she set some shrubbery on fire, that was the last straw. She did fix the mistake by using the counter-spell, but it was obvious that today's lesson was a washout. She turned to him nervously and asked if they could take a break.

When he agreed, she walked over to the stroller and pulled some items out of the diaper bag and tossed one to him. "Juice box?" She said. "It's all I brought."

He studied the juice box. The words "Apple Juice" written on it, and a picture of an apple. How very redundant. Something was stuck to the side. While he was looking at it, Tabitha opened one for Sarah, then strode over to him, snatched the box out of his hand and deftly ripped the straw off the side and stuck it in the box. She handed back to him, saying, "Hold it by the corners or it will squirt."

"Muggles drink juice out of little boxes?"

"Are you kidding? These are all the rage among the preschool set."

"Why didn't you just conjure something here? You can do that, you know."

She gave him a wry smile. "I guess I just forgot. And anyway, I was in the supermarket this morning, and they were on sale..."

Tabitha took a sip of her juice, paced a little, paused, and paced again. Then she took a long drink of juice and said, very quickly "A-friend-of-mine-who's-a-witch-in-the-U.S.-is-getting-married-next-month-and-she-invited-me-and-a-guest-and-would-you-like-to-go-with-me-not-like-a-date- or-anything-but-if-you-can't-I-totally-understand-and-there's-no-pressure." She gasped for breath, embarrassed. So much for dignity. She sounded like an awkward 17 year old trying to get a prom date.

He stood there looking at her with his usual outward seriousness, but inside he felt total surprise. Of all the things he expected to hear today, this was the farthest from his mind. Her nervousness was actually rather funny, as if she were afraid he would refuse.

"What day is the wedding?"

She told him, and he agreed to go.

Tabitha let out her breath, which she hadn't even realized she was holding, and started to laugh nervously. "Let me tell you a secret, Severus, I never invited a guy anywhere before."

"So it would seem." She could almost swear she saw his lips twitch.