Alexander and Hermione had business back at the school the day they went to visit Arthur, so postponed their trip into Gringotts for a better time. And life at the school went forward, Lex taking over for Remus during the full moons, both of them making leaps and bounds with their three years that they taught, more so after formally dismissing Weasley from the subject. He had almost blown up his cauldron after throwing all of his ingredients in in rebellion, only the demigods' fast work had saved them all. Molly and Arthur were called in and they sat with Lex and Mia, Ron in the corner of the room with a glare firmly in place. When they were done, it was decided that a private tutor would be found for Ron, he would not be allowed back into Hogwarts potions until his potions were to the standard of the current learning curve. When Molly had gotten through with her son though, he had suffered for days until Poppy had taken sympathy with his burst eardrums.
Crabbe and Goyle, some of the worst potioneers in the whole school, just in front of Weasley, were the couple's greatest accomplishments. After learning that neither were truly any good at potions due to their inability to connect to the subject, Lex and Mia had asked them what they were good at. With red faces, the boys had replied that they really liked cooking, and with their appetites it was no surprise in all honesty. So the assistant professors had put forward potions as though they were making an odd soup, and the two Slytherins had gone for it with outstretched arms. Severus had nearly had a heart attack when he saw the two previous dunderheads brew perfect Confusing Concoction. When their mothers received the letters stating that their boys were no longer the worst in potions, the demigods were embraced by the two pureblood witches in front of the entire school when they'd come in to personally congratulate their sons.
Inter-house attacks were at an all-time low, the occasional feud that had migrated off from the Quidditch pitch, but other than that there were more inter-house friendships than anything else. At meal times the houses were no longer stuck to one colour scheme, there were greens with reds, blues with yellows, and groups with all four in them. Severus had dramatically complained to his two wards, all of his hard work at segregating his snakes from the rest of the houses was destroyed in little over 3 months. That had earned him a pummelling with water balls and another bolt to his bum from the two laughing teens.
October, November and half of December passed by like the snowflakes that Nye had great fun chasing about, ever the foal at heart despite being almost 2 years old. The months were barely registered by the busy demigods, who were getting bugged more and more the closer the holiday break came; many students who were not going home for the holidays wanted their tutors to remain also for more sessions. But this was going to be the first Christmas holidays since they began Hogwarts, not even a blizzard and bombs would prevent them from having this gift giving season with those that they loved.
The day before they were head back to London was a Hogsmeade visit, and while they were officially chaperones for the trip, both Alexander and Hermione had snuck in some shopping whilst the other made sure the students were blowing up the town or buying items that they shouldn't be, though the Weasley twins did get past them with their pockets brimming with Zonko's products.
Lex had found the perfect gift for everyone but Hermione by the time his allotted 30 minutes were almost over. That was until he walked past an antiques store and looked into the window. It was just sitting there, in a display case, but it was perfect. Rushing into the store, he had a heated argument with the owner, who had thought him too young to be purchasing something of that nature, until another 50 gold coins was passed over to him, and he relented. Lex pocketed the gift and took his post so that his girlfriend could do her own shopping.
Mia had been in the same boat as her love, unable to find him the perfect gift despite finding one for everyone else. Then she passed by an antiques shop, little did she know it was the same shop that Lex had passed by barely 30 minutes earlier. Heading inside, her entire body was drawn to an item in the far display case and she bought it, her innocent face had won the shop owner over in an instant and had even caused the price to be cut considerably. Pocketing it, she returned to her love's side and nestled in, watching as the other students walked past.
That had been yesterday and now the teens were waiting in their quarters for Severus and Remus to arrive, both men using their Floo to get to the former wizard's home. Just as Lex was going to send Dobby off to find the pair, they barrelled through the door, "Sorry."
"Right, come on, no time like the present and all that," Hermione said eagerly, taking a pinch of the emerald green powder and hopping into the fire, "Snape Home."
With a whoosh she was gone, quickly followed by the trio of wizards. As soon as Lex arrived, he was pulled into the arms of his much healthier godfather, "Alex, Hermione, look at you both, grown so much."
"Yeah, we're not the only one though are we?" The teenage wizard stepped back slightly and took in the man holding him, "I see Dobby's been working wonders again."
"I've never eaten so much in my life, of that I'm certain," Sirius shuddered lightly before moving to embrace his brother in arms, who had just walked from the Floo.
"Should we tell him about Amelia?" Hermione asked.
Looking at the two Marauders standing there, talking happily as the brothers they were, Lex shook his head, "Not a chance, this is a prank worthy of the great Marauders. Let's go see Mum and Dad."
Lacing fingers, the couple walked out the back door and across the two lawns, entering the Granger home's back door, "Mum! Dad! We're home!"
Two sets of feet raced down the stairs and head to where the teens were standing. Before they knew it, they were in the warm embraces of their parents, "Oh my babies, welcome home."
"We missed you Mum, Dad"
"And us you," Wade softly said into Hermione's hair.
The quartet stood like that for a long time, just revelling in being together again, until they came apart and the adults got a good look at them, "You've both grown so much."
"We know," Hermione replied, "Mum, Dad, we'd like to introduce you to some friends of Harry's parents. They're over at Severus' house."
"Alright sweetie, lead on"
Making short work of the yards, the family entered the other house and found all three men still in the living room, now seated, but they stood when they saw the others arrive. Severus walked over and embraced his friends first, "Wade, Kelly."
"Sev," the Muggles' eyes were firmly planted on Sirius, "You look familiar."
"Mum, Dad, this is Sirius Black, my INNOCENT godfather," Lex said, emphasising the innocent portion, knowing that all Muggles would have seen the stationary photo of Sirius on the news after his escape.
At first it seemed as though the married couple hadn't heard the innocent as their eyes flashed with a protective danger, but they then relaxed and Wade extended a hand, "Good to meet you, I'm Wade Granger, and this is my lovely wife Kelly. You've obviously met our little girl Hermione and Harry, who we see as another one of ours."
"You did a great job raising him sir, I'm grateful for that," the fugitive shook the offered hand.
"And as we're on introductions, this is another one of Harry's parents' friends, Remus Lupin; he's also a professor at Hogwarts this year," Hermione put in.
Remus shook the man's hand also, "Nice to meet you."
"And you. So what do you teach?" Wade asked, getting comfortable in the room.
"Defence Against the Dark Arts," the werewolf replied, "And you're a dentist?"
Kelly answered this time, "Yes, we have a surgery in London."
"Is it me or are adults really weird at times?" Lex whispered softly.
"Nope, it's not just you, they are weird," came the reply, "Come on, let's go read a bit more. I want to finish this damn transformation before Christmas."
The couple snuck out, leaving the adults to talk. They'd already taken the potion, done the starting transformations, and were now attempting to complete their Animagus transformations. Severus had watched them both for the first few weeks but afterwards decided that they were responsible and wouldn't screw around, so let them go it alone. It was long and slow but they were getting closer. So as they sat on the floor in Lex's room, the one thing one their mind was that they had to finish it before Christmas.