It was finally the day that all students returned home, everyone excited at it. The previous evening Gryffindor had been presented both the Quidditch and House Cup, a first for many years apparently. Severus had been dealt some good-natured ribbing from his younger friends but he knew that while they were attending Hogwarts Gryffindor would continue to win the House Cup and the Seeker that Minerva had found would mean Slytherin was in trouble.
Their final morning at the castle for the two demigods was dealt with convincing the anxious Pegasus that everything would be fine and Severus would be bringing him to their home as soon as it was clear. Nye hadn't enjoyed that idea but knew he was far too big to travel by the Hogwarts Express so just sulked until they gave him a pumpkin pastry, his favourite treat. Until Severus came to collect him, the Pegasus had gone down to stay with Firenze.
Lex and Mia had found a compartment to themselves again, locking the door as soon as they had entered. Halfway to Platform 9 ¾ and they were reading in silence, speaking sporadically whenever they wished, when the door opened. Standing there was their nemesis Weasley, "What?"
"I can't find a seat"
Over the term the duo had ignored the redhead, but he was persistent, wanting to get close to the famous Harry Potter. When he had insulted Hermione during class once, their Charms professor had placed him in detention but that was nothing when the two demigods had next seen him, he had spent a couple weeks in the Hospital Wing to be rid of everything. That had kept him at arm's length but he still bugged Lex at night enough that the wizard had made a point to not go to bed before the others had and would wake up an hour before them. He had gotten assistance in that by Neville, who disliked Weasley for everything he had been doing, mainly poisoning him in every Potions class by not paying attention.
Hermione stood to her full height, a good few inches over the freckled boy, and glared at him, "We have none here, now get lost."
"Granger, what is your problem? You don't even know who Harry is," Ron said, trying to be brave but there was more than a slight waiver in his voice.
"Oh I know perfectly who he is, he's my best friend, now leave."
That was when the redhead did something stupid, even for him. With his face bright red, he said as strongly as possible, "Move Mudblood."
Lex and Mia froze for a second, as did everyone who was in the corridor around them, and a celebratory grin spread onto the wizard's face, his mind too busy to see the fist heading to him until it was too late. Hermione's fist connected to Ron's nose, making a loud crunch as it did so. The witch didn't hit again, but it didn't matter, the boy was unconscious on the ground, blood oozing from his shattered nose. She just stepped back into the compartment and relocked the door.
As soon as she was inside, Lex was by her side, a bowl of water in his hands, "Are you alright Mia?"
The demigod placed her swelling hand into the liquid and healed herself, "Yeah, perfectly fine. That arsehole has no idea who he just insulted. I hope to see his reaction is everyone finds out about us."
"That will be brilliant," her friend replied before picking up her book and smiling, "We're at the same part.
"I know, duh," the young friends laughed together.
3 months into Hogwarts they had sat with Severus and shown him that they had gone through all of their 1st year texts and were ready for 2nd year. He had been impressed at their memories, their ability to remember nearly everything that they had read, and allowed them to move on. Then just last month he had once again been shown that they had everything for 2nd year down pat, so onto 3rd year work. The man was happy at their progress but was very grateful they weren't allowed to use magic outside of school, they'd be finished their schooling before starting 3rd year; he was already searching for more books to challenge them for when they ran out of school texts.
"Severus told Mum and Dad about Nye his last visit?" Lex asked.
Mia nodded, "Yeah, and they were okay with him making a stable in the backyard. I think he's trying to buy the house behind ours."
That made the wizard turn his head to look at the other bench, "How'd you find that out?"
"He was looking over paperwork on his desk when I went to see him last week; it had the address for that house on it."
"Cool, wait was that when you asked about physical training?"
The brunette laughed, "Yeah, he seemed happy that we wanted to do something other than read, muttered about us going through the school library by end of 5th."
"I thought we planned to have that finished by 4th?" Lex joked.
"Well he will be happy to help us train physically but if we want to do weapon work we need to wait until we can get training from Firenze at school; weapons apparently scare Severus."
The friends just chuckled and settled back into reading for the rest of their trip. At the platform, they were again the first at the doors, noticing that the blood pool was still there but the redhead wasn't, of which they were grateful. Only having their trunks to collect, the demigods were through the barrier quickly, and head straight for the parking building.
Stepping into view, their faces split in two at seeing the two dentists there waiting for them, "Mum! Dad!"
Kelly got to them first and had her arms around the pair, hugging the life from them, "Oh I missed you both so much. I'm so sorry we had to go away for Christmas but that won't happen again."
"We missed you too Mum," Hermione said, her throat thick.
As soon as he got his wife away, Wade did the same as she did, only lighter, "You've both grown so much. Did you have fun? Severus said you were doing excellent in your classes."
"It was great Dad, so much fun," Lex answered, "I wish we could show you both what we learnt."
"Perhaps when you're older love," the woman said before heading to the car.
Once they were in the sedan and on the way, Wade asked from his place as driver, "So, you have a pet?"
"Nye is more than a pet Dad, he's a familiar. We adopted him after his mother was killed; he was only a few days old. He can talk to Harry and I through telepathy, and will be able to carry us when he gets older," Hermione used her friend's adopted name; they weren't going to risk the adults' lives by saying anything different.
"And what exactly is he? All Severus said was that he was a magical horse."
"He's a Golden Pegasus," Lex replied matter-of-factly.
The adults mouthed the words, still getting used the fact that most that they had believed mythological was actually true. The trip to the Granger house was quiet, the two students reading the entire time, not even looking up as Kelly got out to collect the Chinese she had ordered earlier. As soon as they were at the house, the young pair hopped out and easily carried their trunks up to their shared room before racing outside at sensing Severus arriving.
Just behind the pool was a new addition, a stable filled with moss that Nye was excitedly rolling in as Severus laughed. When he saw his friends, the man held up a document, "You've seen this before Mia?"
The brunette blushed, "I wasn't trying to snoop but yes."
"Well then you will both be pleased to learn that I did purchase the house…" the potions master got no more out as he was tackled to the ground by the excited Gryffindors.
Nye joined them in the dog pile, and when the two Muggles walked out they nearly fell over in laughter, "Severus, old man, are you in there somewhere?"
"Here," a hand poked out and waved, "They were a little too happy at my purchase."
"Come on you lot, get off him before he passes on," Kelly chuckled, helping lift her kids off before helping her friend up, "So what are you going to do now that you have the house?"
Severus waved the question off politely, "Before we get into that, let me introduce you to Nye."
The two dentists hadn't truly noticed the golden creature that had joined the dog pile but now they were in awe of him, "Wow."
"Yeah," Lex leant over and spoke to the Pegasus, "This is our Mum and Dad, Nye."
Nye trotted over and nudged both adults kindly before going to his stall and plonking down ungraciously. Hermione chuckled and explained, "He's not been to sleep since yesterday, too nervous that we were going to leave him at Hogwarts."
"Well he's adorable," the woman said, "How about we go inside and you can tell us all about your purchase Severus?"
The group left the sleeping horse and sat in the lounge, a drink in everyone's hands, and the older wizard started, "The house I've bought is obviously the same one that backs onto this one. The house itself is not that different, 3 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, etc. I've decided to turn the garage into a potions lab, will be putting up a greenhouse out back, one of the bedrooms will become a library. I actually was wondering if Harry would like his own room. I know that he shares one with Hermione but…"
Alexander didn't let him finish, "Really? You'd let me live with you? I love living here and you'll always be my Mum and Dad…"
"We understand Harry, anyway, it's not like you won't be around every day anyway. This would just mean you have your own bed and not end up falling all over Hermione," Wade explained caringly, "You'll always be our son, no matter where you live."
Lex then faced his best friend, who laughed and hugged him happily, "Let's move your things over."
The group spent the rest of their day moving Lex into his new house, exploring the house, and having a family meal of Chinese.