A/N: This one is for Trelweny Rosephoenixwolf, who reminded me I'd totally forgotten about poor Luna in the story. My bad! Enjoy!

-o-o-o-o-o-o-

Chapter 16: Visit from an Old Friend

Harry Potter sat next to the bed of his wife, rubbing his temples with his fingers. A sound of footsteps gained his attention and he looked up. Relief filtered through his frame as the the now familiar and welcome sight of three sets of black robes glided into the hospital wing. Had he been his younger student self, he was quite sure he would have thought all number of torments were going to descend upon him on seeing the three dark clad wizards and witch enter.

Harry pushed up his glasses on his nose and nodded to the trio as they stood beside his wife's bedside. Wayne Mitchell clasped his hand, Hermione took her friend into a hug, and Severus inclined his head silently in greeting.

"Thank you for sending word as to what was going on," Harry said. "Last I heard she was coming here to plot some of the goings on for Ron's upcoming wedding."

"Did Poppy update you on how she's doing, Harry?" Hermione asked.

Harry nodded. "She said she'll be okay in a couple of days and that she has her on a sleeping draught to make sure doesn't stress herself out while the healing is going on."

Severus nodded. "There shouldn't be any other issues provided her rest continues. Poppy was optimistic that she was brought in before anything irreversibly harmful happened."

Harry took a deep breath. "That's good news, Sir. I am glad. What's this about George being the cause of this?"

Hermione shook her head. "George doctored some food with a custom potion order he received from a client in Liverpool. The wizard requested he put it into some party food, but George mixed it into the brownie batter and cooked it. It changed the composition of the potion. Not only did it revert Ginny back to thinking she was twelve and some months, but she became completely intoxicated and had some evidence of personality change."

Harry's eyes widened. "You know, Daniel always tells us not to put the anti-drowsiness draught we use when we are out on long missions into hot coffee or soup, even though we are all tempted because it tastes absolutely awful, but I never really gave any thought as to why. We just followed his instructions because he's our go-to potions wizard."

Wayne smiled knowingly. "The boiling hot temperature would changed the potion and you'd end up flat on your face instead of being awake."

Harry shook his head. "Daniel may not be the caliber of potion expertise you three have, Wayne, but you three aside, he's good. We listen to him when says not to do something, but I'll admit very few of us think about the whys of why he tells us not to do something. We take him at his word."

"At least you've learned to listen, Mr. Potter," Severus said with a shake of his head. "Amazing what a few decades will do for you."

Harry gave a grin. "I can be trained."

Hermione shook her head. "I sent an owl to George warning him not to give the doctored brownies to his client, but I haven't heard back from him yet. Ginny mentioned he was on his way to Liverpool to meet up with him."

Harry frowned. "I'll put out some tendrils with the Aurors contacts in Liverpool and make sure there isn't a strange run of immature wizards and witches running around with potential liver failure. In fact, I'll send word now, just in case." Harry pulled a piece of parchment out from his vest and a small travel quill and leaned over the nearby table to write.

Eirian flew in the open window nearby, followed by a small parliament of sociable owls from the school. They perched around the window ledge, hooting in idle conversation. Eirian seemed to be excited about something, hooting and chirping a long chain of owl gossip to her fellow owls with enthusiasm. The other owls bobbed their heads in response, ruffling their feathers and offering their own owlish commentary.

Eirian hopped onto the table and stuck out her leg for Harry patiently, waiting for him to lash it to her outstretched leg. He scratched her gently on the breast and smiled, offering her a frog leg. She took the offering amicably and launched herself back out the window. The other owls followed her as if to escort her off the grounds, flying lazy circles around her as she pointed herself off the direction she needed to go.

"The Christmas present that keeps on giving," Harry admitted. "I'll always have a special place in my heart for Hedwig, but I couldn't ask for a more devoted owl than Eirian. It meant a lot to me that you guys pooled in to give her to me."

Wayne tilted his head at his Master and Mistress. "That was the year you were in the Hospital, wasn't it, Hermione?"

Hermione nodded. "The year you convinced the entire Slytherin House to pick me flowers and send them up with Severus."

Wayne grinned. "They weren't so hard to convince you know. We wanted to see you well again soon. That and Severus was was an absolute terror on two legs to anyone that even breathed in his direction while you were sick. Not that much has changed there. He still is excessively grumpy when you come down with the slightest cold."

Severus grunted, shooting Wayne a glare.

Wayne gave a placating smile and waved his hands in appeasement causing Hermione and Harry to bust out laughing. Wayne pulled out a bundle of parchments and walked over to where Rose was napping in bed. He placed the assignments on her bedside stand and laid a wrapped sandwich on top of the bundle before walking back to the others.

Severus eyed the sandwich with amusement. "Do not allow my daughter to manipulate you into becoming her personal sandwich delivery service," he said with a twitch of his mouth.

"Not to worry, Master," Wayne said reassuringly. "I ate the rest of the roast beef."

Harry laughed and patted Wayne on the back. "I won't tell Ron that you're stomach is rivaling his."

Severus and Hermione gave their apprentice an appraising look. "He has far better manners," they chimed together with a snort.

Harry barked a laugh and bowed his head. "Undoubtedly."

-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-

"Luna, it's been forever since I've seen you!" Hermione greeted with a smile and a hug. "How has your global safari been going?"

"Rolf and I just got back from the Far East Magizoologist Conference, Hermione," Luna said proudly. "We were actually doing really well tracking the migrational habits of the white spotted kirin versus the gray alpine kirin. Did you know that their migration patterns follow the blooming of their favorite food, the orange frumpet horn flower and the blue frumpet horn flower? Rolf thinks that the purple and the red frumpet horn flowers are involved too, but we shall agree to disagree. What do you think, Hermione?"

Hermione's face remained completely impassive, and she thanked Severus silently for many years of practice at that particular skill. "I fear my knowledge of the frumpet horn flower family is sadly lacking, Luna," she said with a shrug. "I'm sure you could get Neville to talk about such things for days."

Prince warbled from Hermione's shoulder, causing Ignis to chirrup sweetly from her other shoulder in reply.

"Oooo," Luna cooed. "You have a little one and not even a sign of Grandorfer's Frinklehops. You're such a healthy specimen! May I hold him?"

Hermione took a deep breath and transferred Ignis to her hand and closed her eyes, projecting her thoughts to the chick. Ignis started to flame a slightly green and then yellow, but then fanned his wings and settled, allowing Hermione to hold him out towards the odd witch.

Luna cupped Ignis in her hands with a smile, rubbing under his beak and wings with gentle ministrations. Ignis seemed to soften towards Luna a little and cheeped cheerfully. Prince eyed his progeny with watchful eyes, but didn't move from his perch on Hermione's shoulders.

"Lorcan and Lysander have never seen a phoenix before," Luna said in her sing-song voice. "I keep warning them that they never will with all the Bottle-nose Hobbergrunts they chase around, but they don't always believe me."

Hermione shook her head. "Where are they going to school, Luna?"

"We decided to have them attend a small private English-speaking school near Tibet while we were out tracking the kirins. We wanted them to be close in case something happened. Once the twins have finished this year, we hope to transfer them to Hogwarts," Luna trailed off. "I think they need better exposure to things such as wrackspurts and thestrals or their education will be terribly lacking."

Hermione arched a brow as she passed tea to her old friend. "At least Hogwarts is a safe place for them to get their education now," Hermione said with a twirl of her wrist that she silently blamed on too much exposure to the Malfoy family.

"Oh, I know it will be safer here," Luna agreed. "They don't want to admit it, but I'm positive the school they are in now is infested with codfundle eridingers. None of them are rabid, but they shed over everything."

"Rabid cod…fundle eridingers do not sound like something I'd want in my potion laboratory," Hermione admitted. Even the name sounded horrible. The mental image Hermione gave herself was a fish-faced fungal creature with rabbit ears and propensity to drown themselves in beer. It was not a happy mental image.

"Oh, they aren't at all," Luna confirmed with a shake of her head. "They like to sit on your neck when you sleep, which is very uncomfortable, then you breathe in their extra fur, which makes you sneeze."

"Ghastly," Hermione commented, tilting her head to the side. "So are you here at Hogwarts to fill out paperwork for transferring your twins to Hogwarts?"

Luna nodded. "Rolf is busy moving some of our specimens into the old house and shooing out the kurosuke. You find them all over Japan in old homes that have been closed off for a season. I think we had a few of them stow away in our luggage."

Hermione arched a brow. "Kurosuke?"

"Dust sprites," Luna said with a nod. "Rolf calls them soot balls."

"Are you planning on staying in Europe for a time, or do you have plans to keep traveling?" Hermione asked, deciding that asking about soot balls was probably not the best way to go.

"I think we'll be staying in the area for now," Luna said as she patted the phoenix chick. "We have a lot of field notes to sort through and publish now."

Hermione smiled. It will be good to have you around again."

"I'm glad you don't have any Bottle-nose Hobbergrunts around here," Luna said appraisingly as she looked around. "It's probably because of all the stone at Hogwarts. It could explain why you have so much success with phoenixes here."

Hermione just nodded. "Must be. Shortbread cookie?" Hermione offered up the cookie as a distraction.

"Thank you," Luna thanked her as she spun around on her toes. Ignis launched out of her hand and talon-clung to Hermione's robes and fluttered up to her shoulder to hide under her hair. He was growing a bit too much to really hide there anymore, but he did his best with only his tail sticking out of her hair. The chick emanated irritated blue flames.

Hermione soothed the dizzy chick with one hand, gently caressing his head crest with her palm. Ignis peeped as his flames faded and he rubbed his beak against her neck. Prince peered around her back at his traumatized chick and chirped in sympathy.

"We had to buy wands from a different wand-maker for the twins while we were traveling abroad," Luna confessed. "I think we'll have to take Lorcan and Lysander to Ollivander's and get them proper wands that are immune to being chewed on by Asian Warglekerfs. They don't break the wands, but the gnawing messes with the flow of magic."

Hermione shook her head, resisting the impulse to rub the bridge of her nose with her fingers. "Julius may be able to examine them and recommend suitable replacements at Ollivander's shop."

Luna tilted her head to the side and looked skyward. "I remember, Julius is apprenticed under Ollivander. He started so young."

"Since he was eight years old," Hermione said with a grin. "I think Ollivander is more than happy to groom Julius into the craft."

"Lysander has nothing special that he's even interested in yet," Luna confessed. "Lorcan adores Quidditch, but he hasn't show any special interest in any of the subjects he's been exposed to yet."

"Who knows, Luna," Hermione said with a chuckle. "Maybe being at Hogwarts will change that."

The pair arrived at the gargoyle guarding the Headmistress' Office.

"Here you are, Luna. It was good to see you again," Hermione said with a smile. She leaned into the gargoyle and whispered with a very amused grin on her face, "Apparate over jetlag."

The gargoyle moved to the side.

Luna spun on her heels and walked up the stairs to Minerva's office. "See you again soon, Hermione."

Hermione chuckled as she heard Minerva greet her latest guest. She placed her hand on the stone gargoyle with a light touch and walked down the corridor, her robes fluttering behind her.

-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-

"Bottle-nose Hobbergrunts?" Severus repeated with an arched brow. His face flickered with an expression that to anyone else would have looked expressionless, but Hermione saw his lip curl away from his teeth in a combination of emotions that ranged from disgust, bafflement, and patience tried too often.

Hermione bounced up on her toes and planted a kiss upon his mouth, effectively wiping that particular expression off his face. "That expression was not very flattering, Severus. You know she can't help how she is."

He looked down at his wife tolerantly. "I suppose." His long fingers traced the side of her jaw. "But if phoenix populations really did rely on the lack of… Bottle-nose Hobbergrunts… wouldn't the entire world be buried in obnoxious, fruit-seeking, steam-induced fluffballs?"

Hermione squeezed her eyes shut with her laughter. "She'd say the stone protects us, I'm sure," Hermione chuckled softly.

"And why did they decide to come back from their wonderful time away chasing Asian unicorns?" Severus asked dryly.

"Severus!" Hermione placed her finger on the bridge of his conveniently hooked nose. "She and her husband have been gone for almost a decade. The children haven't seen her since they were babies."

Severus gave his wife the look he usually reserved for students that was usually accompanied by a "and this concerns me how?"

Unfazed, Hermione wrapped her arms around her husbands waist and buried herself into his chest.

Severus' expression softened and his arm closed around her, pulling her close. "Very well," he said in a bored tone. "I will suffer their reunion with our family when such formalities come to pass."

"Mmmph," Hermione said into his robes, snuggling closer.

It was at that moment that their son stormed through the entrance portal to their quarters and blew by them, clutching his books to his chest as he stormed by to his old room. There was a loud flopping sound a bit later that caused Severus and Hermione to freeze and assess the sudden arrival of their progeny and why he had forgone all semblance of his usual meticulous politeness. Also, considering he was normally in his House dormitories with the rest of his mates, they knew he sought the one place he knew none of them would attempt to follow him to.

The wizard and witch stared at each other a moment and bounced their fists in the air to each other in synchronization, faces completely deadpan. After both landing on rock, paper, and scissors at exactly the same time in rapid succession, the two elder Snapes seems to realize that neither of them were getting out of this particular conversation.

Taking in deep breaths, Severus and Hermione walked into their son's room and sat down in the odd assortment of papasan chairs Julius had collected from his grandparents. The rattan frame creaked slightly as each of them made themselves comfortable on the round cushions.

Hermione watched her son cupping Ember in his hands and staring into space and he sprawled on top of his mattress. His feet kicked back and forth, slightly bouncing himself on the bed. She and Severus waited silently, but her hand gently rested on her husband's arm as her fingers brushed habitually against the skin of his inner wrist.

"Do you ever get jealous?" Julius finally asked, breaking the silence. He soothed the feathers on Ember's head-crest with his fingers. The little phoenix closed her eyes, rocking back in forth to his ministrations.

"My school days were… anything but emotionally stable," Hermione confessed. "There were always people that I envied for what seemed like significant things at the time."

Julius looked up at his mother with confusion. "What could you possibly be jealous of someone for, mum?"

"Setting aside the obvious wanting to have normal teeth," she answered with a tight grin, "I used to envy your Uncle Harry's skill at flying. Flying used to scare me so much back then. I envied just about every girl that had tamable hair."

Hermione closed her eyes and took in a breath. "There was a time when I envied people who made friends so easily."

Julius shook his head. "I can't imagine you worrying about not having friends," he said as he blew some of his hair out of his face.

"Jealousy is hardly rational, Julius," Severus said softly, catching Hermione's fingers in his.

"Were you ever jealous of someone, father?" Julius asked.

"Often," Severus replied, blowing air out of his nose. "I was not the perfect example of emotional stability in my youth."

Hermione gave him a side-long glance. Severus met her eyes with amusement.

"How about when you were older?" Julius questioned. "Does it get better?"

"I'm afraid being older does not make you immune to irrational thinking, my son," Severus replied. "Though the frequency does tend to taper off."

"Sometimes I wish I could just blend in to the crowd," Julius confessed. "Instead of being that guy you go to when you can't figure out your potions homework. Or being the guy that was spawned in a potion cauldron and wasn't born like normal people."

Severus' eyebrow lifted as Hermione made a half-choke. "I assure you, my son, you were born as all human children are born. We did not spawn you in a cauldron in some strange mandrake mishap."

Julius smiled at that. "I know that, father, but it helps to hear it after the morning I've had."

"You were definitely born," Hermione managed to say after she collected herself. "Where do such impossible rumors start?"

Julius grinned at his mother. "You haven't heard the one that I was born in the dungeon from a pair of were-bats! That one would be kind of neat if it were true, actually. I'd be able to fly a few nights a month!"

Severus pinched the bridge of his nose as Hermione laughed. "Truly?"

Julius rolled on the bed in better spirits. "Some of my origin stories are pretty ludicrous. I can't even be offended by them because they are so completely asinine."

Hermione smiled proudly at her son's command of English vocabulary. She knew he couldn't help himself. He had both parents using extended vocabulary around him since the day he was pushed out into the world.

"Father," Julius said as he turned to give his father his best appealing look. "What was something you were jealous of?"

Severus gave his son a look between tolerance and boredom.

"Please, father," Julius gave him the best anticipatory look he could muster.

"I once believed that your mother was going to run off travel the world with one of the visiting professors," Severus confessed with a soft voice.

Julius made a disbelieving face as Hermione turned her head to look at Severus. He avoiding her gaze, choosing to stare at a cobweb on the ceiling.

"I can't believe you thought…" Hermione laughed as her fingers ran across the back of his hand. "He was very charming and polite and utterly refreshing, Severus."

Severus looked at her as if that was the last thing he wished to hear from his wife.

Hermione shook her head. "But he wasn't you, Severus, you silly, silly, wonderful man."

Severus gave her a look that probably as sheepish as Severus Snape would ever be.

"For a master occulomens, Severus," Hermione chided softly. "You do the most…mmffph."

Hermione was muffled instantly by Severus' kiss planted firmly on her mouth.

Julius averted his eyes, and placed his hand over Ember's head and pulled her close to him like a parent shielding their child's minds by covering their eyes. Ember peeped, wriggling in his hands, trying to peer between his fingers. "Private time, Ember. Shhh," he distracted the chick with a fig.

Severus pulled back from his wife. Hermione slowly blinked at her husband as she looked into his eyes. "You're forgiven."

Severus looked at her smugly.

"Father," Julius interrupted the stare down. "How could you not tell? Rose and I grew up knowing that the moment mum knew we did something that you'd know before you even came through the door!"

"Parental intuition," Severus replied with a sniff.

Julius gave his father one of his own "Yeah, I'll believe that when Hagrid stops adopting wayward magical creatures that could grow up to kill someone" looks. "I know it wasn't just intuition, father. You came in quoting our attempted excuses."

Hermione chuckled as Severus cast his eyes upward. "We weren't always like this, Julius," she chuckled. "We used to have to work very hard to understand each other."

"Just like every other fallible mortal," Severus agreed softly.

"So, Grandma and Grandpa Weasley don't read each other's thoughts?" Julius asked about his adopted grandparents.

Both the Weasleys and the Malfoys had become so intricantly linked to the Snape family that they had become either their aunts and uncles or their grandparents. Neither Snape children nor the Potter or Malfoy children would have suspected that a few decades previous, such affection between their families would have been as likely as a typhoon in desert. Their parents preferred to keep it that way.

Julius seemed to chew on something in his head for a moment before adding, "How about Grandpa and Grandpa Malfoy?"

Severus tried not to choke on air at the mention of Lucius and Narcissa sharing thoughts like he and Hermione did. The thought was horrifying. He knew what was rattling around in both their heads, and if either of them knew what each other was really thinking at random times, he was pretty sure each of them would run screaming into the night with wide ranges of denial. They loved each other, he knew, but Lucius did not want to hear the hurricane of thoughts Narcissa went through color coordinating and organizing their grand parties and social endeavors. Narcissa on the other hand, would not want to know half the things Lucius did before they were married or the extent of what he'd do to protect his family. It was much… safer that way. The very thought of the Weasleys sharing thoughts made his skin crawl. No thank you.

"No, Julius," Severus managed to say. "What your mother and I share is not common."

Julius seemed to be pondering something fairly hard. "Do you think I'll ever have something like that?"

Hermione stood from the papasan and knelt by Julius' bed. She placed her hand over his and the warm phoenix chick. Ember warbled softly, nipping at her fingertips playfully.

"What your father and I have is something special. Something rare. But there is nothing that says because it is that you cannot find your own version of it," Hermione said softly, touching the back of his hand.

Julius lifted his head and met his mother's warm gaze. "Do you think my chances are good?"

"Better than average," Severus said with short exhale.

"You're probably genetically predisposed," Hermione said with a grin.

"Considering we grew you in a cauldron vat," Severus added with a stoic expression.

Julius let out a short bark of laughter. "Pfft." He looked up at his parents. "Do you hear words?"

"Sometimes, but not always," Severus answered.

"Is it like when Ember sends me pictures in my head?" Julius asked curiously.

"Quite a bit, actually," Hermione agreed. "It's like how she knows when you are sad or happy or if your are holding something back."

Julius beamed at the thought that at least a little of what his parents shared could be gained between himself and the devoted phoenix chick he had cupped in his hands. Ember chirruped her agreement, flapping her wings excitedly. She hopped out of his hands and made a bee-line to his neck and snuggled up against him, causing a smile to break out over his face. "Being normal is overrated. I'd rather be a Snape."

Hermione wrapped her arm around her son and bonked her head against his. "I'm glad to hear it."

Julius beamed at her. "May I floo Aunt Minerva and ask her if she wants to make chocolate chip cookies with me?"

Severus and Hermione exchanged amused glances. "You may," Severus rumbled.

Julius leapt up from the bed, transferring Ember to his shoulder with an automatic movement. He hugged his mother and shuffled over and gave his father a hug too. "Thank you, mum. Thank you, father!" He rushed out the door to his room and out with whoosh of fabric.

Hermione stood from the bed as Severus stood from the papasan. He held out his arm silently, and she stepped into his embrace without a word, placing her head against his shoulder.

"Crisis averted," Severus commented into his wife's hair.

"If only the world's problems could be solved with chocolate chip cookies," Hermione replied.

Ignis chirruped from Hermione's shoulder and Sparks let out a mournfully hungry peep from Severus' hair. Hermione and Severus stuffed the hungry beaks with gooseberries. "And gooseberries," Severus commented dryly as he watched the two birds polish off the berries.

Hermione grinned as they walked out of their son's bedroom. "We should have had more of these during the war. Imagine what we could have done with both chocolate chip cookies and gooseberries on our side."

"The world," Severus replied as he closed the door behind them, "Would have been ours."

Hermione linked her arm with his. "Pity we weren't on speaking terms back then."

"We were speaking," Severus replied with a sniff. "But, our terms were lousy."

"Speaking of lousy," Hermione added. "We have parchments to grade."

Severus rolled his eyes. "That, my witch, is going to require more tea," he said as he pulled the teapot up from the hearth.

"I'll get the tea," Hermione said as she pulled a tin off one of the shelves.

As Severus and Hermione settled into the chair of their adjoined writing desks, the floo flared to life with green flame and a silver-gray tabby cat leapt into the room from the other side. The cat's tail whipped back and forth like a flag as she padded through the room towards the kitchen.

Hermione and Severus transferred the phoenix chicks to the floor and chuckled as they tore after the tabby cat, their wings pumping and their feet tearing across the floor rugs with as much speed as they could muster.

The pair continued to write over the parchments as the sounds of laughter, wooden spoons clanking against bowls, and phoenix warbling diffused in from the adjoining room.

Normality was restored in the House of Snape.

-o-o-o-o-o-o-

A/N: If you noticed my hat tip to Tonari no Totoro, good eyes!

A/N #2: For those of you who may be new to my story and confused about why both the Weasleys and the Malfoys are considered "Grandma and Grandpa" - way back when (in the first story) Rose and Julius basically considered Harry, Ron, Ginny, and Draco their adopted Aunt and Uncles. (Hence Rose's old stuffed ferret plushie named "Uncle Draco" back when she was still five and stealing rides on broomsticks to chase "Uncle Ron and Harry") The kids all grew up together closely, causing that entire prejudiced mess to fly right out the window. Anyway, that's why the Snape children call Molly, Arthur, Lucius, and Narcissa their grandparents. Minerva, however, is seen as a sister to Severus due to their extended history and thus the "Auntie." (There is no amount of love lost between Minerva and Hermione either.) I realize the entire adopted family tree is a bit crazy, but it all boils down to that the Snape Family paved the way towards the core group of them becoming wonderfully close, and that's without bringing in Ollivander, who treats Julius as the son he never had. (confused yet? yeah) In my head, it was one of the greatest resolutions to the war. All the kids got to grow up with a giant extended family instead of the mess Hermione, Harry, Ron, and Draco had to deal with growing up. :)