Sors Vita

Chapter 6

Disclaimer: I don't own the Harry Potter series, J.K. Rowling does.

Thank you to all the readers for supporting this story.

Morning and not much has changed Hermione notices as she finds herself in the exact same position she fell asleep in. She was thankful that Severus had already left the bed as she did not think she could remain civil with him as she cursed at the situation she was in. Nothing made sense, her readings the night before didn't leave much option for potions. Of course her research was only in the preliminary stages and it would take more time for all forms of potions to be looked at and crossed off. At least if would be an easy job crossing out any forms of digested potions as the both of them hardly ate the same foods. It would also be easy to eliminate any potions in other forms given that they had identifying features as a Potions Master of Snape's caliber would be unlikely to be poisoned. Of course there were trickier and more sinister potions that would have to be studied before she could start looking at other forms of magic.

She was startled by the sudden sound of footsteps coming from the bathroom but calmed as she heard the water running a second later. In the time the Professor was washing up, Hermione took the opportunity to change in to her day clothes before she snuck out of the room. She expected that she would have to wake Malfoy when she reached the living room but was surprised to see that he had already left. Wondering if Severus had got him out before she arose she turned around to take in her surroundings. The rooms felt quiet without the energy of young children, in this state the rooms almost felt familiar her. Recalling the events of the previous day she made her way to the kitchen to make breakfast as she had did the day before.

Spotting a muggle coffee machine, she started imagining an alternate version of herself begging Severus to allow the machine in the rooms. Picking it up to fill with water she noticed that the coffee machine was not plugged in to an electrical outlet; it must have been altered to work with magic like many of Arthur Weasley's inventions. As she quietly filled the pot with water she heard the sound of small footsteps coming towards the living room. Looking up to see which of the young ones were awake she spotted the mass of black hair walking towards her.

"Good morning Em! I'm just getting breakfast ready so feel free to sit around and play with the cat."

The young boy slowly turned to look at his mother in the kitchen, still recovering from his crying session the previous night it took him a couple of moments to digest the information he was just given. His long and intense stare seemed to faze his mother a little as she put down the pot to look at the boy with concern. Everything felt so out of place to the boy, yet everything was the way it should be except that his parents were not acting as they would usually. Finally the boy spoke up, "Mom, Are you... okay? It's Monday."

Monday. Monday. Hermione searched her mind for an explanation to the boys statement. She was an intelligent woman, she should be able to figure out what about Monday made her actions inappropriate but she couldn't. It was frustrating, living someone else's life, following someone else's schedule, yet everyone felt that it was her schedule. Schedule, routine, that was what a family needed and for a young woman who had experienced war it wasn't something she often had the luxury of having.

"Monday's a weekday, mom. Breakfast at the great hall on weekdays," Emeterius offered as he watched his mother freeze to understand the connotations of Monday. He was sure of it, something had to be up and it must have been because of him that nothing was going right. It was all his fault.

Routine it was and the routine was breakfast in the great hall on weekdays and probably breakfast in the family quarters on weekends. Families, they always had their routines, Hermione thought as the childhood memories of Sunday roast at her aunt Mary's place started floating to her mind. She quickly returned the coffee pot to it's original place as she apologized to the boy for letting her mind run astray.

Weekdays. Monday. It suddenly hit her, it was Monday. Weekdays also meant work, both herself and Severus had to work. Which was all fine as she knew her syllabus and the material and there was no doubt that her colleague had all his lectures recited due to his years of teaching experience. It wasn't her that was the problem, she looked back at the boy who had settled on the couch. What was going to happen to the kids, did they have a daycare at Hogwarts? Was she supposed to just hand them over to the house elves? Did the kids go to school somewhere? It was clear that the previous day of trying to familiarize themselves with this world had not gone as well as she hoped.

Emeterius turned to see his father and brother approaching the living room dressed like a carbon copy of one another in their bat like robes. He looked away from the rest of his family as he continued to occupy himself with the family cat. His mother stared at the father and son that had just arrived she opened her mouth to calmly greet the rest of the family-

"As you can see Madam, I am quite ready to head up to the great hall for breakfast now and Celedonius here is equally as ready." Severus announced in a low, voice as he looked up and down at the woman in front of him wearing casual muggle clothing. He had shaken the younger boy awake just a second ago and managed to dress him in an attire he deemed appropriate for a weekday.

Noticing that Snape was staring at her clothing she looked down at her clothes and compared it to the clothes that the other two were wearing. Quickly she understood that the man was pointing out that she was not in her professional attire. With that she quickly retreated in to her rooms to change out of the jeans that she had chose to wear and in to some professional pants. Before heading back out she looked through her wardrobe for some robes to see that her robe collection had been significantly increased. Most of her robes were of a much finer quality than what she had owned and her eyes caught a set of robes that looked familiar. The same robes that she had saw at Gladrags the last she was at Hogsmeade but didn't dare buy due to it's high price tag. Deciding that the day's she had with this exquisite robe collection was limited she threw on the robes she had selected and walked out the door.

Right after Hermione had scurried back in to the bedroom to change in to something more appropriate Severus had turned his head to look at his physical look alike. The older boy was still dressed in his Appleby Arrows pyjamas and Severus shook his head at the boys poor fashion sense. Giving his son his mastered cold stare he slowly sneaked up to the child and in a low voice he said, "And why are you still not ready?"

Emeterius having felt a chill go down his spine as his father spoke shot straight up from his seated position on the couch and ran off to his room. Seeing his brothers mad dash, Celedonius sighed and took over his seat on the couch. He slowly settled in to the seat like a little adult and looked around for the family cat that had ran away startled when Emeterius had shot up.

Severus was proud that his technique had worked on the child having been worried that his techniques would send a child in tears having witnessed it with the first years at the school. He watched as his other son took over the couch and joined him in the couch. He examined the boy carefully, he looked at the boy's nose and felt sorry for the boy; the nose had no right on a handsome young boy like him.

"Em's acting weird."

Severus matched his eyes with the eloquent preschooler. "He is, isn't he?" Severus asked the boy and watched the boy nod in response.

"It's not me is it?" Severus tested.

The boy shook his head in response, "I don't think so, Em's just not over it."

"You know if your mom and I seem different..." Severus paused to find the right word that would cause the least alarm to the child, "It's because of stress from work, so I apologize in advance." The boy nodded and looked away from his father, this type of heart to heart talk must have felt awkward to him too.

"Let's get going," the sound of a women came from the hall and the two looked at the hall to see mother and son hand in hand approaching the living area.

The Great Hall was bustling with Monday morning energy, that is to say that the first years were were chattering in an excitable manner while the seventh years slouched over their bowl of cereal. The Head Table was particularly cheery this morning and greeted the Snape family with smiles on their faces. It seems to them the Snape glitch last night had never occurred and all was normal.

Emeterius made a grab for some toast the second his bottom met the chair and his brother slowly sat as he carefully weighed his breakfast options. Hermione watched as Severus poured himself a cup of tea and carefully added half a teaspoon of sugar with a little milk as he would when preparing a potion. Knowing the man was withholding newly gained intelligence about their daily agenda, she continued to stare at the man hoping to draw attention to herself.

Finally attention came, only to disappoint when the professor proceeded to help her fix her tea for her. Once the tea was made she finally could hold it in no more; as she tugged slightly on the potion's masters sleeves. He looked over with a slight smirk, knowing that the know it all wouldn't be able to swallow her breakfast without knowing what he knew. "You know something, what do you know?" Hermione asked quietly and urgently.

"Aren't you curious about what happens to the kids?" He laid the bait, mostly assuming that she'll gobble it up. The woman couldn't stand not knowing something and he knew it.

"Where do they go? I was worried about that, we don't leave them to the elves do we? Is there some nursery set up?" Hermione heard her voice go up a little in excitement but she made sure to lower it again. While her colleague continued to look a little smug as he piled some food on her plate. Worse of all it didn't seem like he was going to answer any time soon as he started to munch on some toast and help Celedonius pour some milk in to cereal bowl.

In about twenty minutes the Snape boys were done eating and starting to rise from the table while Hermione was still sipping her tea. Startled and worried that she was not done with her breakfast as the rest of her family got up to leave. She started shoving the remaining toast in to her mouth.

"Well, we better be off to Molly's, Minerva," Severus addressed his employer. He bent down to his wife and whispered, "Sometimes you don't need to know everything." The two boys packed their bags and starting running out of the great hall as their father turned around and followed them out.

The fireplace flared green and Emeterius rolled out of the fireplace. He looked up to see Molly Weasley knitting a sweater in an armchair. "Hello Em," Molly smiled as she got up and out of her chair. "Where's your brother and your father?" Molly continued as Emeterius ran over to give Mrs. Weasley a hug.

Before Emeterius could answer, Celedonius arrived through the floo while coughing up ash. Right behind was Severus Snape, who graciously landed square centre of the fireplace. "Hello, Molly. I gather you're happy to see the boys after a long weekend," the professor said as he brushed the ash off his robes. Severus attempted to maintain some pleasant conversation, "Celedonius was telling me of the lovely book you read to them last Friday, he was very upset that Hermione had come to pick them up before you were done."

"Oh yes, great book," Mrs. Weasley recalled, "shame that Hermione had to burst in and take them home." Mrs. Weasley gathered the boys and took off their robes before they rushed out in to the yard to play. "Why don't you sit down for some tea. You don't have class until later do you Severus?" Mrs. Weasley said invitingly as she pointed towards the kitchen. "Arthur was hoping that he could talk to you about some muggle contraption, a jas stove, I think?" Mrs. Weasley said.

"I believe he was talking about a gas stove." Severus attempted.

"Yes, a gas stove. Fascinating. You must know all about them Severus considering your old house being muggle and all." Arthur Weasley yelled from the kitchen. Arthur poked his head out of the kitchen and looked at Severus, "Come on, Severus. A few minutes of conversation before work, is that too much to ask?"

Severus sighed and slowly walked towards the kitchen to join Mr. Weasley for a cup of tea. Mr. Weasley poured a cup of tea for Severus, "So Arthur, a gas stove is just a stove that runs on natural gas." Severus tried to explain as he took a sip of his tea.

"Yes, I know all about gas stoves. You would be surprised by the number of complaints we get from muggle authorities for misbehaving gas stoves. Wizards who live in muggle apartments tend to cut off the gas supplies and replace it with magical stoves. A real mess when a real muggle moves in and tries to operate the stove." Arthur laughed as he explained the interesting events that happened at his job.

"What I really wanted to talk to you about was Hermione. Are you two alright? Hermione seemed quite distraught when she came to pick up the boys last Friday." Arthur grimaced as he recalled the events on Friday. "You two haven't been fighting again have you? We're not going to take in your children permanently just because you're both being stubborn and overprotective." Arthur reasoned.

"No, we haven't been fighting. All's well, Arthur" Severus cut in trying to reassure the older man.

"Well, that's good." Arthur said relieved. "Now before we both get going. I actually have a personal request for you," Arthur said blushing slightly.

Severus realized that he wasn't going to like what was going to be said next and braced himself for the next words to come out of Arthur Weasley's mouth.

"You know Severus, it's hard to imagine how you manage with a wife so young," Arthur started off.

"I don't need to be reminded about it, Arthur."

"But you know... how do you stop the old wand from getting too rusty?

Severus eyes widened from the shock for a second and then returned to it's normal state. Severus mentally cursed himself for the situation he was in before turning back to face Mr. Weasley. "Well, Arthur, I can't say that I have any experience myself. But Lucius does request a..." Severus paused to find the proper wording, "Particular brew several times a year. I can imagine he uses them when he plans to be, let's say adventurous."

"Yes, yes." Arthur nodded. "You know would it be possible..." Arthur hesitated.

"To bring a vial next time I visit, Arthur?"

"Yes, Severus, it would be so kind if you could."

Severus nodded. "I will do so." Severus replied curtly as he took his robe off the hanger near the door. "I will see you soon, Arthur, Molly." Severus bowed slightly to the older couple before he head out the door and apparated back to the gates of Hogwarts.

I admit this took far too long for something so insignificant. I have the story planned so I decided to just stick with it, so this chapter is more filler than anything. I apologize, I tend to get sidetracked and lose my momentum with my my writing. I hope you will keep reading my story as I will try my very best to bring it to completion no matter how long it may take.