Samantha dumped her books onto her desk with a small huff. Her father hadn't yet entered his classroom so she felt safe glancing over towards Harry, Ron, and Hermione. In the three weeks that school had been in session, she hadn't had a single opportunity to talk to Harry. Not a one. Oh, they'd passed short notes through Dobby, but those were short and bore no names.

Harry glanced up and caught her eye and a frown crossed his face. She understood the reason for it a moment later when Draco's hip hit hers as he dropped his own books down next to hers.

Samantha stepped away from Draco and glared at him, "Stop invading my space, Draco."

"Ah, but it's such a lovely space," he responded, moving near her again.

This was the game Draco Malfoy had been trying to play with her for two of the past three weeks. Apparently he was unaccustomed to rejection. Stepping away again, she moved to her books to find the essay on the legal definition of self-defense which was due today.

Draco must have been feeling bold today, because he moved directly behind her and placed his hands on her hips.

"Let go, Draco," she snapped, trying to twist away from his grasp.

"Malfoy!" Harry growled, advancing on both of them as the room fell silent. Harry's wand was drawn and aimed at Malfoy.

Draco released one of her hips and drew his own wand but before either could speak, the doors to the classroom banged open and Professor Snape was entering.

"Mr. Potter! Mr. Malfoy! Wands down this instant! Twenty points from Gryffindor!"

Samantha took advantage of the distraction to slip from Draco's remaining hand. She glanced up and met the angry onyx glare of her father. She glanced quickly away, her own anger rising.

"Mr. Malfoy, if you can not keep your hands to yourself during class, you can attempt to do so in detention. Ms. Johnston and Mr. Potter will join you there." He strode to the front of the classroom, robes billowing as everyone hastened to take their seats and find their essays.

-- --

Snape smirked to himself as the lesson ended and his daughter and her classmates hurried from the room. He had been watching Draco's attentions towards his daughter and although he was initially angered, he was now amused by it.

He wasn't blind to the jealousy exhibited by Potter when he saw Samantha and Draco together. It was amusing to watch the boy attempt to hide his anger so his friends wouldn't see it.

He leaned back in his chair, contemplating how he would handle their detention tonight. A wicked smirk crossed his lips as he picked up three pieces of parchment and wrote a single sentence across the top of each one. Yes, writing lines should keep them quiet so he could correct essays.

Placing the parchments aside, he rose and headed for dinner. He was already anticipating this evening's detention.

Entering the Great Hall, he headed for his seat at the staff table, noting that Katrina had arrived before him. He sidled into his seat beside her and poured himself a goblet of juice.

"Sev," she said, leaning in close to his shoulder and speaking quietly. "Are you okay? You're almost smiling."

He turned to face her, giving her a mock glare, "I do not smile."

Her laugh was light and music to his ears and he had to resist the immediate impulse to actually smile. "No, of course you don't, love," she responded, her hand falling to rest on his thigh. She leaned slightly closer to him, "At least not in public."

Her husky voice and the hand on his thigh had an immediate effect on him and he was mighty glad that the tablecloth fell to the floor so that none of the teachers' legs were visible to the students below. Her hand squeezed his thigh once before sliding away. He took a deep relieved breath as the food appeared on the table.

"Seriously, though, Severus," Katrina said, helping herself to the mashed potatoes, "What has you so happy tonight?"

"I'm just considering a detention I have after dinner." He served himself a slice of roast beef.

"I've never seen you so happy about a detention," Katrina replied as she accepted the plate of roast beef from him, shoveling a couple pieces onto her own plate.

"Ah, but it's my first detention with Mr. Potter this year," he said loudly for Minerva to overhear.

McGonagall glanced at Snape from where she sat on Katrina's other side. "What did the boy do this time, Severus?"

"He and Mr. Malfoy were about to hex each other over a girl," he replied with a smug smirk.

Minerva's eyes narrowed, "And Mr. Malfoy…?"

"Will be joining Mr. Potter and the object of their mutual affections in detention," he supplied for her.

"Are you referring to Samantha Johnston?" Katrina asked, her eyes narrowing to match Minerva's. The previous good humor was gone now.

"Yes, of course," he responded.

Katrina threw her napkin on her full plate and stood up. "Sorry, but I seem to have lost my appetite. I'll be in my room," and with that she strode quickly from the hall before Snape could respond.

He glanced at Minerva, completely confused.

"I believe it was when you referred to the girl as an object," she snapped before turning to her meal and ignoring him completely.

Snape sighed before calling for a house-elf and instructing her to bring a meal to Professor Smith. He knew his wife was just demonstrating her anger. It wouldn't do her health any good for her to miss a meal.

He finished his meal in silence before he went back to his classroom to await the students. He hadn't long to wait, as the three reluctantly entered the room. He gestured to two desks at the front of the room, "Mr. Malfoy and Ms. Johnston at this table. Mr. Potter at the table to Ms. Johnston's left." His good mood returned as he picked up the three pieces of parchment from his desk. "You will be writing lines tonight," he said, moving to distribute the parchment. "You will copy that sentence until you are dismissed."

He moved to his desk and studied each of the students as they read their individual sentence. Draco was to copy, "I will keep my hands to myself in Professor Snape's classroom." Samantha's read, "I will keep my relationship issues out of Professor Snape's classroom." And finally, Mr. Potter's parchment read, "I will keep my wand in my pants in Professor Snape's classroom."

Draco sniffed haughtily, Samantha glared at him, and Potter choked. Resisting the urge to chuckle, he schooled his features and snapped, "What are you waiting for? Begin writing!"

The three students sullenly began writing their lines and silence reigned for almost ten minutes. Then he observed Draco leaning closer to Samantha and whispering to her. Whatever was said made her scowl darkly and hiss something at him in return. Snape cleared his throat and the noise ceased.

He turned his attention to the pile of essays that needed to be corrected. Another five minutes passed and then the sound of flesh striking flesh was heard and Draco muttered a sharp, "Ow!" Snape stood up this time and stalked down to the desks. He could see Harry itching to draw his wand and Draco was cradling a hand to his cheek where a red hand-shaped bruise was forming. Samantha was diligently copying lines as if nothing untoward had occurred.

"What is going on here?" He waited, but no reply was forthcoming from any of them. "Ms. Johnston," he snapped, watching her head slowly rise so she could meet his gaze.

"Yes sir?" she said, placing her quill onto her parchment in a dainty fashion.

"Did you strike Mr. Malfoy?"

She shrugged, "Yes sir. He persisted in placing his hand on my person after I asked him not to." Her entire demeanor screamed helpless, demure, and innocent.

'Oh, my daughter is a fine actress,' he thought, not allowing any of that pride to show through his stoic façade. "Ms. Johnston, move over next to Mr. Potter."

With that, he returned to his desk and the essays. The rest of the detention passed in silence and he dismissed the students only after he had finished all of his marking – two hours later.

He packed up the corrected essays and the detention parchments and returned to his chambers. Only as he entered did he recall his wife's mood during dinner. He dropped the papers on his desk and poured himself a generous glass of scotch, taking it to the couch where he collapsed. 'Oh, Merlin, and it's only Thursday.'

He nursed the scotch while debating whether is was worth the effort to check on Katrina right now. He didn't really want to fight with her and although they often had heated discussions, he disliked it when they actually fought. He put his now-empty glass down, closed his eyes, and rested his head on the back of the couch.

The slamming of a door minutes later had him shooting off the couch, his hand going for his wand in an automatic reaction. He dropped back to the couch as he recognized his wife entering the room.

"I can't believe you called your daughter an object!" Katrina screamed.

He silently glared at her. He was too tired to deal with this.

"And you gave her a detention because two boys were about to fight over her? She didn't do anything, did she? I can't believe you could be such a bastard!"

He closed his eyes and raised a hand to rub at the bridge of his nose where a headache was brewing. She finally stopped yelling and he felt the couch dip to his side. Then her hands were grabbing his robes and her head was on his chest as she began crying.

Unaccustomed to giving comfort, and thoroughly confused as to his wife's behavior, he gently rubbed circles over her back with one hand. "Katrina, it's alright."

Her sobs slowly tapered off and she mumbled into his chest through her hiccoughs, "I'm so… sorry, Sev. I… I don't know what… came over me." She slowly sat up and he wrapped his arms around her, pulling her back to his chest. One of his hands fell to her abdomen where the bump that was their sons could just be felt.

He wondered if his wife had consumed something, or been struck by some strange hex, which caused these bizarre changes in her demeanor. Then he realized the cause was right under his nose… er, his hand. She was having pregnancy-related mood swings. And, as he recalled from the pregnancy text Pomfrey had recommended, that was the one aspect of pregnancy that had yet to have a magical cure found for it. Oh, bloody hell…