Hey Guys, thankz for the reviews, they've been great! Been stressing 'bout prelims and school. Sorry the chapter took so long, but thankz for sticking by my first fan fic.
'Ouch, where the hell am I? Why does my head hurt?
"Ah, good, you're awake. How is your head?" enquired Draco, putting down his book and taking off his reading glasses.
"Draco? What happened?" Hermione responded, dazedly squinting at the light.
"Well, you and Weasley were arguing when I came along and Weasley, he made a jibe against my Godfather and then he blew his top and struck you," explained Draco, "Then I stunned the idiot and brought your here" he finished, leaving out that his father was also here.
"Ok, but where is here?"questioned Hermione as she looked around the room. "It's dark...yet elegant," Hermione admired.
"You're in Professor Snape's living room," Draco added, appearing apprehensive about her reaction.
"Ok, so where is Severus?" she queried, looking around again but looking in the crevices and shadowed areas of the room.
"He's not here, he went up to get your kids, my dad went with him," clarified Draco, mumbling the last part.
"Your father's with him?" Hermione asked tentatively.
"Yeah, once I told them what happened they were livid, I don't think I've seen Snape get so mad. He told me to stay here with you and then he and my father stormed out of here," exclaimed Draco, still reeling from their reaction.
"You said they went to get Scarlet and Sebastian, how long ago was that?" asked Hermione, getting worried that Ron had gotten to her children first.
"About half an hour ago, I'm starting to worry about them," said Draco getting up and walking over to Hermione. "Let's sit you up and then how about a cup of tea?" Draco helped her up and walked through to Severus' kitchen.
Hermione stood up and swayed slightly before following Draco. "Do you need a hand?" she asked warily.
"'Mione, you're supposed to be on the couch, go sit down," Draco saw she was going to protest he opened his mouth again "please 'Mione, you're swaying and he's not in a very good mood," added Draco while ushering her back to the couch. "Now, stay here." With that, he hurried back to the kitchen.
Hermione reached over for the book Draco was reading and opened it up, she felt eyes on her. When she looked up, she saw Draco standing with two cups of tea.
"'Mione, put the book down and drink your tea," pleaded Draco, exasperated.
Hermione sighed "Fine but only because it's you," she relinquished the book and took her tea from Draco.
"I wonder what's taking them so long..." Draco mused, growing even more concerned as time passed.
"I don't know, but I'm getting really worried. I hope Ron left but I doubt it," the woman stated while staring down at her cup.
"Then your doubts are correct," a silky voice came from the doorway.
Hermione's head snapped up to see Severus standing in the doorway with Scarlet wrapped around his neck and Sebastian holding his hand and shaking like a leaf. She could just see someone's blond hair appearing behind Severus' shoulder.
"Mummy?!" Sebastian cried, tugging his hand from Severus' and sprinting over to his mum. Scarlet had meanwhile fallen asleep and slept with her head in the crook of Severus' neck,
"Sebastian, did you behave for Eli?" she asked, grinning at her son who nodded fiercely.
"I'm just going to put Scarlet on my bed, I'll be right back." Severus said before he left the room.
Lucius, who had been lingering, finally sat in the armchair beside the fireplace and watched Hermione and her son before Draco walked over to the two, he smiled as he watched his son interact with the small child in a way he had never seen before.
"Hello Sebastian, have you been good for your mummy?" asked Draco, grinning at the small boy ducking his head so he didn't tower over the boy.
"Yes, I'm a big boy!" proclaimed Sebastian. "You ask silly questions Dwaco!"
Lucius chuckled, "That's good, because only good boys get sweets" He stated, watching the young boy who made a strange face.
"I don't like sweeties they taste funny. That man with the big white beard gives us sweeties, mummy what was his name?" Sebastian asked as he turned to his mum.
"Albus, honey." She replied quite pleased that her son didn't want any sweets, it was one less temper tantrum to endure.
"Albuseses' sweets taste howilbe, and he eats lots of them. Ewww!" Sebastian pulled a face to emphasise his point.
Severus chuckled as he re-entered the room, and spoke "I quite agree, awful taste in sweets that man has. Sebastian don't take any sweets from Lucius has abysmal taste in sweets also."
Sebastian looked utterly confused and turned to his mother. "What does that mean, mummy?"
"It means very bad taste, like your dad has in sport," explained Hermione.
"Really, how does he have bad taste in sports?" asked Lucius, intrigued by her comment.
"Yeah 'Mione, you don't even like sport," Draco put in, looking at her oddly.
Hermione let out a sigh and clarified "I never said I didn't like sport, I just hate Quidditch. I used to like watching football with my dad."
A thump came from down the hall, along with some muffled moaning. Draco got up and said, "I'll go, you stay seated. I mean it 'Mione." Draco flounced off to investigate the sounds.
Sebastian looked after Draco and moaned rather loudly "if I spoke to my mummy like that I'd get in big trouble, he gets away with it; Lucky git."
Lucius and Severus chuckled at the young boy's words, while Hermione looked utterly shocked.
"Sebastian, what have I told you about using that word," she scolded, looking at the boy as he hung his head.
"That it's a bad word and just because a gwoun up says it doesn't mean I can," huffed Sebastian. Hermione looked up only to find two grown men sniggering behind their hands. She frowned, hands on her hips.
"Honestly, you're both worst than children" the woman chided.
Draco came back through looking utterly shocked and announced to the room "she may look like an angel but she swears like a trooper."
Hermione let her head fall into her hands, and huffed "I'm never letting Fred or George near her again!"
"I hate to say it but 'I told you so'!" Draco declared, beaming from ear to ear. "I'm a better babysitter and plus they won't come back cursing and swearing."
"Yeah Draco they'll just come back hyper and won't go to bed until half past eleven, when they've sugar crashed," explained Hermione, giving Draco a pointed look. "If that's anything to go by I'd rather they swore. At least then, I could get them to sit still for five seconds to tell them off."
"That was one time and it wasn't even my fault, it was fathers," moaned Draco while pointing at his dad. "I told him that you'd go mental but he didn't listen," Draco whined, thus causing Severus to laugh.
"Thanks son, your loyalty is astounding," mocked Lucius, glaring at his son. "Oh, and you said and I quote 'Just not too much or 'Mione'll kill me', so you never said that Hermione wouldn't like it." Lucius was very adamant with his explanation.
Hermione watched this back and forth intently and then looked at her son before saying "Sebastain, remember when you wanted to know what a big kid was?" she waited for him to nod "Well here's the perfect explanation."
Severus chuckled and caught sight of red hair in his peripherals. He turned to see a small girl confused looking at several doors. "It's the second one on the left."
"Erm, what side is left again?" asked Scarlet, looking at Severus still confused.
Draco sniggered but Hermione was quick to cuff him over the head before she stood up and swayed precariously. Draco rushed to steady her but Hermione was quick to shake him off.
"I'm fine, gods. You hit your head once and get declared invalid," she muttered, walking to show Scarlet where the toilet was.
She didn't even manage to leave the room as she tripped over Lucius' feet. Lucius had never seen his friend move so fast in his life; He caught Hermione before she hit the floor or was even close to doing so, and done so without his wand. The fact that the man held her for longer than necessary did not go unnoticed.
"Now, will you stay seated?" asked an exasperated Draco, now standing with his hands on hips and giving her a pointed look.
"I'm not going to win, am I?" huffed Hermione before she caught sight of Draco and burst into helpless laughter.
She only just caught the odd looks she was getting but turned to her son –who was now colouring in quietly- for confirmation.
"Sebastian, who does Uncle Draco look like?" asked Hermione, still sniggering.
Sebastian looked up from colouring in and stared at Draco for a minute before he too began to giggle.
"He looks like..." Sebastian's laughs grew louder "like...Gwanny!" declared the young boy, giggling loudly.
Draco looked completely confused but Severus and Lucius look each other briefly before they too started laughing uncontrollably. Draco still looked put out before his face had turned red, obviously feeling out of the loop. Seeing this Hermione finally took pity on him and calmed herself enough to speak. "Draco, you looked the perfect copy of Molly doing that," she explained simply as possible.
Draco looked like he'd just been slapped and angrily spat out "I do NOT look like Molly Weasley!"
Scarlet chose this moment to enter the room and ended the commotion by asking innocently; "Why are you hugging my mummy?" the girl looked at her mother who was still enveloped in the potion master's protective embrace.
Severus quickly righted Hermione and withdrew his arms before seamlessly changing the subject. "Did someone show you to the toilet?" he asked the young girl.
"No but I found it by colouring in," exclaimed Scarlet proudly her face gaining a smile. She looked around to see everyone looking confused –and Snape a bit concerned for his walls- but she just smiled and shrugged. She saw her brother was colouring in and asked "'Bastian, did you bring my book and blankie?"
"Yes and I even bwought the book mummy weads us," Sebastian said without looking up. Sensing that his sister hadn't moved, he elaborated "In the bag wight next to me."
"Sebastian, which book did you bring?" asked Hermione walking over to her son.
"The one about potions and those goat stone things," Sebastian proclaimed looking up at his mum, grinning. Scarlet grabbed the bag and rummaged through it to get her blanket.
"'Bastian, this is your blankie!" huffed Scarlet. She turned to her mum and moaned "Mummy, I want my blankie."
Hermione sighed and accio-ed Scarlet's blanket which, after several minutes, negotiated its way beneath the door with a bit of a struggle. "Here you go," comforted Hermione as she cleaned the blanket with a charm and sat down on the couch with Draco, pulling Scarlet into her lap. "Now Sebastian, why did bring that book?" the witch queried, turning to her son.
"You pwomised you'd wead it to us and now you can cause Daddy's not hewe," explained Sebastian, putting his crayons back in packet and gave his mum 'the look'.
"Sebastian, stop it. You know that look doesn't work on me," Hermione stated, closing her eyes to try to regain some control but failed because, when she opened them, Scarlet was doing the same as her brother. "Urgh, I give up, if I promise to read to you at home will you both stop it?" she asked growing annoyed by the fact she was so easily manipulated by her children.
Both kids smiled and replied in unison "Yes mummy!"
Draco turned to Hermione and mocked, "You read them potions books?" He grinned and continued, "I thought you said that that look didn't work on you, hmm?"
"Shut up Draco, they like them and plus it's better than Quidditch magazines. Ron still doesn't know that they both hate it," she explained but saw Draco was going to speak again; she stopped him by saying, "Say something else and I'll tell everyone what you confessed during your Firewhiskey induced ramble."
Draco paled and hastily pleaded, "Please Hermione, don't! You promised!" Behind him Severus and Lucius were laughing, but the bright glimmer of curiosity was clear in their eyes.
Severus spoke up after calming "This sounds quite interesting, do tell us."
Lucius put his two Knuts worth in "Yes, do tell us. After all, my son, you shouldn't keep secrets from your father."
Draco retorted "Trust me, you don't want to know." He turned back to Hermione, "Please 'Mione, you know how much I don't want people to know."
"Well...I suppose I could keep it a secret but only because it's you Draco, if you were Ronald or Harry I'd tell Ginny," she smiled and patted his knee before she seemed to realise what she had said. Her smile faded slowly and she was about to stand but was instead hugged by Draco's insistent arms; unfortunately poor Scarlet was squashed in the middle.
Scarlet poked Draco in the stomach and yelled "Oi, Blondie! I'm squished!" Once Draco let go Scarlet glared at him as best a three year old could. "Next time you want to hug my mummy, let me get out the way first!" she pouted.
Draco looked shocked and Hermione, who was trying to say something, couldn't get any words out. Severus was the first one to recover and said, ever so eloquently, "Well, erm..."
Lucius then spoke up "Yes well, I don't think hair colour is an insult." He started smiling at Hermione, whom was still speechless.
Draco followed his father's line of sight and turned to see a stunned Hermione opening and closing her mouth several times. He decided to cut the tension by saying "Well, I'll be, the great Hermione Granger reduced to sweet, sweet silence"
At this Hermione turned to Draco and gave him a glare that rivalled Severus' before saying "Draco do everyone a favour, shut up." Her tone changed from annoyed to stern and mothering "Scarlet, apologise to Draco right now!"
Scarlet had just been told to apologize once again and she hadn't done anything wrong! She wasn't going to apologize, no, no way!
"No!" and it was like Déjà vu for Hermione and Severus. Once again, she ran out and slammed the door and the child ran and ran until she hit someone and fell on her rear.
"Scarlet, what are you doing on your own dear?" questioned her Aunt Minnie.
"Auntie Minnie, can you take me to my daddy please?" asked the young girl, her lip quivering and tears streaming down her cheeks.
"Of course, sweetie," replied Minerva taking the redheads hand and leading her to her father.
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Hey guys, again sorry it took so long but I've got a Philosophy Prelim soon so updates are gonna take some time but I'll try and get one up per week. Tell me what you think, after all, the more reviews I get the quicker I'll update.