CHAPTER VI

KALEIDESCOPE WORLD

Okay, It was really MEAN of me to have kept you hanging for 3 months! to make it up to you, I'll be posting 3 new chapters in the next few days. My thanks to Nina for the wake up call! R&R!

"You have got to be kidding me"

How many surprises can a girl take in a day? She had barely recovered from Draco's assault earlier. Now she is being forced to face a horrible, horrible truth.

Severus Snape is now smiling at her, dressed like a peacock in flamboyant purple robes accentuated with green and orange feathers.

The Potions instructor is psychedelic…a fag.

Hyperventilate. Hyperventilate.

"Breathe, Mum. It's not so bad, you know." Prudence was patting Hermione's back softly.

"Not so bad! Its bad enough I got Snape as your godfather! Now you're telling me he's…he's…aarggh!" She was pulling on her hair like crazy.

"Look at it this way, Mum," Philippe quipped as he played with Zoë at Hermione's feet. "At least you didn't see him doing his 'Village People' dance."

"WHAT!" Snape, Draco and Hermione blanched.

Prudence shrieked near Hermione's ear. "Eeewww! You saw that, too?"

Elliott was cackling madly. "Me too! Me too!" Chelsea stood up from where she sat and gave a light swat (coupled with a warning look) at her brother.

Hermione found it more difficult to breathe now. "My children…in Snape's hands…fag…Village People…"

Snape stood up. "As much as you find my sexuality a good reason to laugh at me." He threw a look of hurt at Hermione's direction. "…or loathe me, I think I've been insulted enough." With a swish of his robes, he left the living room.

Draco was the first to recover. "That was very sensitive of you, Granger. You had hurt his feelings."

"Like you're not surprised by this revelation!" Hermione snapped.

"I knew about Snape's gender identity since last year!"

"What, were you his boytoy or something?"

"No, you idot! I'm a bloke! I can sense these things! Smell them from afar!"

"Denial. Denial."

Draco threw her an incensed look. "Aren't six children enough to prove to you how 'straight' I am? Would you want to pick up where we left off earlier?"

"Wow, I can't believe they'll be married in this lifetime," Prue said, deeply awed at the scene before her. (Hermione shot him a warning look. "You wouldn't dare!")

Philippe smirked beside her. "Yeah, all that shouting and bickering…" (Draco sneered. "Scared, Granger?")

"…like its one lengthy foreplay," Elliott finished for him.

"Fine!" Hermione made her way to the door. "Go comfort him or something. I'll be in the library."

"Typical you! Taking refuge with your books," Draco retorted at her back. He ran his fingers through his hair. "Ugh, that woman is so infuriating!"

"Famous words, Dad. You'll be saying next that you and Mum will do that 'yoga thing' to vent out your anger," Elliott said, a twinkle in his eye.

"Then, you'll ask us to hang out anywhere beyond 50 meter- radius of your bedroom," Philippe piped in.

"…and won't be out of the room after an hour or so," Prue finished. "You are so predictable."

"What the hell does that mean?"

It was Chelsea who interceded. "Uh, nothing Dad. They were just babbling, you know". Surreptitiously, she threw a silencing charm on her siblings. "Why don't you …er…talk to Snape? I presume he's in the parlor."

Throwing the kids one last look of confusion and disdain, he left and started to the parlor.

br

In the parlor, Draco saw Snape fiddling with his robes, muttering to himself. He cleared his throat to announce his presence. Snape threw him an angry look before he flicked his wand to have his (and the chair's) back at him.

Oh well…He approached his godfather. "Sorry about that. I guess you took Granger by surprise…and the kids…"

Snape waved him off. "It does not matter, Draco. Nothing that the young Hermione can say will change the fact that I am warmly accepted by the current lady of the house." At Draco's confused look, he added, "your wife, of course."

"Uh, right. My wife."

Snape sneered at the red- faced Draco. "How does it feel to see this future?"

"Like its one hell of a nightmare I can't wait to wake up to get out of," his godson muttered.

"You are happy," Snape said, looking at him intently.

"Huh?"

The Potions Professor sighed and stared at blank space in nostalgia. "I knew something had changed when I saw you and Granger the morning after that detention with Sybill. The covert looks you've been giving her…not to mention you getting all goo-goo eyed on her! You've always been very taken with the Gryffindor princess, though you were too proud and stupid to admit it."

Draco was on defensive mode. "I am not 'taken' with that bushy- haired bitch, thank you very much!"

"Of course, you're not." Snape's voice was sarcastic.

Too weary to retaliate, Draco took a chair and sank in it. Looking around, he found a picture at a side table. It was a picture of the Malfoy children in front of the mansion.

"You have wonderful children, Draco," Snape said from his chair. "Chelsea may be as beautiful as you are but she's every inch Hermione's daughter in character." The fag professor took one of the framed pictures near the dumbstruck Draco. "Elliott and the twins are the real Malfoys in character. Your eldest son seem to walk along the lines of Hogwarts next golden boy at his age and can easily give Head Boy Marcus Potter a run for his money. The twins, squibs as they are, got your knack for trouble and disregard for rules. And Zoë…ahhh, she'll surely give you sleepless nights as I can see she'll grow up to be exhilaratingly beautiful. You'll spend most of your life trying to get wizards lining up for your daughters off your doorstep." A smile slowly formed in his lips. "I'd start with that Potter kid if I were you."

His godson furrowed his eyebrows at him. "What about that red- headed Potter?"

Snape gave a hair- raising, high pitch laugh. "Haven't you noticed how much the animosity between Marcus and Chelsea reminds you of your history with your wife? Potter's adulation with your wife is just a cover- up for his predatory attempts on your eldest daughter."

I'll never have a Potter lay a finger on my daughter! "Not if I can help it."

"Hmmm…whatever you say," Snape answered with a wave of his hand. "Personally, I'd say the battle has been lost. Chelsea seems to be attracted to that Freddie Prinze, Jr. wannabe. And I heard Marcus is already rallying to have your daughter appointed as Gryffindor prefect come school opening. Ahh…think of the wonderful opportunities for that naughty boy to pounce on your all-too-innocent daughter."

Kill! Kill! "I'll have his hide!" Draco growled.

Snape clapped his hands gleefully. "Aw…how sweet! A family really suits you!"

A family for Draco Malfoy. How…sweet.

br

Hermione have been in the library for over an hour, a number of books in front of her. Not a single thing from these blasted books to clue her in a way to get out of these crazy time line.

Rubbing her nape, she dragged herself to a comfy- looking chair behind a large oak desk. She caught a whiff of a male scent emanating from the chair that immediately reminded him of Malfoy. This may be his study.

As she snooped around the table, her eyes fell on a solitary frame on her left. It was a shot of her and the children in what seemed to be a hospital. The older Hermione was donning a hospital gown, holding a newborn Zoe in her arms and the rest of the children smiling gleefully at the camera. She allowed her fingers to glide across the picture.

A family for Hermione Granger. How…

"I've always wanted a big brood."

With a gasp, Hermione stood up from the chair and pivoted to the source of the voice. In the doorway stood a man approximately more than six feet tall, in an all- black suit ensemble that showed off his pale skin. His eyes were smiling warmly at her amidst the laugh lines etched around them. Though he had shorter platinum blond hair (a/n think Chad Michael Murray of House of Wax!), he was devastatingly handsome.

Omigod. It's the older Draco Malfoy!