"Well here we are," Severus said with a sigh as he turned to his wife. After a luxurious honeymoon, the couple had arrived home with just enough time for Severus to get things sorted at Hogwarts before the start of the new term.
"You're glad to be back really," Rosmerta chuckled. As much as she knew Severus had enjoyed their honeymoon, she also knew he'd missed his family, especially Harry.
"I suppose so," Severus conceded. "But I will miss it just being the two of us."
"It'll be back to the two of us soon enough," Rosmerta said. "Before we know it, Harry will be back at school."
"Speaking of which, I better get sorting things at Hogwarts," Severus remarked. "We're due back in a couple of weeks and I've done nothing to prepare for the upcoming year. I'm still a Professor down thanks to Beth's pregnancy."
"You'll sort it," Rosmerta replied, giving her husband a peck on the cheek as she swept past him with their bags.
Severus helped Rosmerta with the unpacking, before he suggested heading to his father's house. Not only was he eager to see his son, but he also knew he needed to get on with work. The summer had been all about his marriage to Rosmerta, and Hogwarts had taken a back seat. However, there was still a few weeks until the start of the new school year, and Severus knew he could do everything that needed doing in that time and still have some time to spend with his wife and son.
Arriving at Voldemort and Beth's house, Severus and Rosmerta found the couple outside in the garden enjoying an afternoon of sun and relaxation. Lucius and Narcissa were also in the garden, and while it looked like Voldemort and Lucius were talking business, Beth and Narcissa had dozens of baby magazines and catalogues spread out on the table in front of them.
"Welcome home," Beth gushed as she jumped up to greet her step-son and his wife. "How was the honeymoon?"
"Amazing," Rosmerta replied. "It was so peaceful and romantic."
"Sit down and tell us all about it," Narcissa urged, patting the chair next to where she was sitting.
While Rosmerta settled down to tell Beth and Narcissa all about her romantic honeymoon, Severus wandered over to where his father and Lucius were sitting talking.
"Romantic, eh?" Lucius asked with a cheeky smile. "I take it that means, lots of sex."
"We did what all couples do on honeymoon," Severus answered.
"Lots of sex it is then," Lucius said with a chuckle. "You do look paler than normal, Severus. She must have worn you out."
"I'm not that old that I'm too worn out," Severus replied with a small smirk. "Which is just as well since I've got plenty to do in regards to Hogwarts."
"Ah yes, about that, we've had a volunteer to take over from Beth," Voldemort told his son.
"A volunteer?" Severus raised a wary eyebrow at his father. "What sort of a volunteer? I need competent staff."
"She's more than competent, in fact she's a very talented witch," Voldemort answered.
"Who are we talking about?" Severus asked.
"Narcissa," Lucius answered.
"Narcissa? Seriously? She wants to come and teach at Hogwarts?" Severus questioned, glancing over to where Lucius's wife was happily laughing with Rosmerta and Beth.
"I took the liberty of approaching her shortly after Beth announced her pregnancy," Voldemort explained. "She said she would think about it, but quite honestly I didn't expect her to say yes."
"Then why did she?" Severus asked.
"Draco," Lucius answered. "After what happened to him, she wants to be closer to him."
"I guess that's understandable," Severus said. "And if she wants the job, I have no problems with it. It saves me having to find someone."
"Thank you Severus, it will mean a lot to Narcissa," Lucius said.
"And how is Draco?" Severus asked, concerned about his godson. "He'll have had another full moon to deal with why I was away."
"According to Greyback he's a natural wolf," Lucius said. "I still think Draco's struggling with certain elements of his condition, but on a whole he's been positive and accepting it. He's more worried about what will happen once school starts again."
"We're not going to make his condition public knowledge if that's what he's afraid of," Severus said.
He knew it was slightly hypocritical to keep Draco's condition a secret, when they'd rallied against Dumbledore for doing the same for Lupin, but in Severus's mind it was an entirely different situation. Firstly, Draco was student and it was the school's responsibility to protect him, and telling everyone he was a werewolf was tantamount to painting a target on his back and just inviting people to turn on him. Secondly, and quite possibly more importantly, Draco wouldn't be on school grounds on the night of the full moon and unlike Lupin, he was working on having full control over his animal nature. He wasn't going to be locked away terrified he was going to hurt anyone, he was going to be in full control.
"I think he's just worried that people might put two and two together," Lucius confessed. "We know most of the signs the kids spotted in Lupin aren't going to be present for Draco, but he is still going to be disappearing on the full moon. Sooner or later someone's going to pick up on that."
"Not necessarily," Severus said. "I've been giving Draco a lot of thought since this happened, and I think I have a way to safeguard his privacy. Firstly, I think Draco is one of the strongest candidates for Head Boy, so there's not going to be an issue giving him the position."
"How does that help?" Voldemort interrupted, not sure where his son was going.
"Last year I got a chance to really look at the rules and traditions of Hogwarts," Severus explained. "I found a few things that Dumbledore just disagreed with so he fazed them out. One of those things were private dorms for the head students. Traditionally the two head students had their own dorms, but Dumbledore never approved of the situation so shortly after he took over as headmaster, he made the head dorms optional. A lot of the time the head students chose to stay living in their respective houses with their friends, so Dumbledore eventually stopped offering the rooms. I can reinstate the tradition."
"And then no-one will even know Draco has left the school on a full moon," Lucius remarked with a grin.
"No-one will have a clue," Severus replied with a nod. "As obviously, Hermione will be Head Girl alongside him."
"Won't you face opposition among the staff at your choice of head students?" Voldemort asked.
"Quite possibly, but at the end of the day it's my decision to make," Severus replied. "Over the years, I've seen Dumbledore pass over dozens of top class students merely because they were Slytherins."
"I can vouch for that," Lucius said bitterly. "I know for a fact my name was in the mix for Head Boy when I was at Hogwarts, but due to my name and house, I was overlooked."
Severus nodded his agreement. "Precisely. If he could do that, I can do this. Besides, Draco and Hermione are the best options for head students. Hermione is far and away the best witch in her year, and even though the competition is a bit fiercer between the boys, Draco is at the top of the tree."
"Even above Harry?" Voldemort asked with an amused smirk.
"Even above Harry," Severus confirmed with a nod. "I do think Harry could very well be considered for Head Boy as well, but given the circumstances I'm sure he would rather Draco take the honours."
"I'm sure he would," Voldemort agreed. He knew how much his grandson cared about Draco, and he knew he would do nay thing for his best friend.
"And speaking of Harry, where is he?" Severus asked. "I expected him and Hermione would be here to welcome us back."
"They're out with friends," Voldemort answered. "The whole group have gone down to the village near the manor. We're all having dinner at the manor, so they're due back before then."
"All?" Severus queried.
"All their friends as well," Lucius said. "Narcissa currently has the elves arranging a barbecue for this evening."
"Sounds good," Severus replied with a grin.
With some answers about Draco and what would happen when he returned to Hogwarts, Severus officially offered Narcissa the Potions Professor job. Of course, Narcissa snapped up the job offer and thanked Severus for giving her the opportunity to be closer to her son as he adjusted to his new found werewolf status. Now all that was left was to break the news of her new teaching position to Draco, and hope he didn't have too much trouble with both of his parents being Hogwarts Professors.
C.O.T.D.
Several hours later, Draco had yet to discover the news that his mother was joining the teaching staff at Hogwarts. He was far too busy enjoying himself with his friends. After a day spent together, the group had settled down in the back garden of the manor to enjoy a barbecue. Obviously Hermione, Harry and Daphne had been with Draco all day, and they'd been joined by Blaise, Theo, Luna, Vince and Greg. Pansy had declined their invitation to join them as she'd been busy with her family, and even though Theo had thought about asking Padma to join them, he hadn't wanted to seem too pushy. Theo had seen Padma a few times over the holidays, but last time they'd seen each other they'd parted as though they wouldn't see each other until Hogwarts started again in September.
"You really could have invited, Padma you know," Draco remarked to Theo as they chatted about their upcoming return to Hogwarts.
"We'll see each other soon enough," Theo replied with a shrug. "Besides, we're just getting to know each other. We're not joined at the hip like you and Hermione."
"We are not joined at the hip," Draco protested, just as Hermione walked over to them and settled down beside Draco on one of the large picnic blankets that were spread over the lawn.
"Who's not joined at the hip?" She asked in between bites of her hot dog.
"Us," Draco answered.
"No, there's much more fun places we can be joined," Hermione said with a wicked smirk.
"And I think I'm going to go and get a hot dog," Theo said hastily as he jumped to his feet and all but ran away from Hermione before she could elaborate even further.
"You're so wicked," Draco chuckled, grinning at his girlfriend.
"I know," Hermione replied, returning Draco's grin. "Don't you just love it?"
"I do," Draco answered as he leant over and softly connected his lips with Hermione's.
Putting her hot dog to one side, Hermione wrapped her arms tightly around Draco's neck and deepened the kiss. Draco instantly responded and he pulled Hermione closer to him as their tongues danced around each other. Sliding his hand down Hermione's side, he slipped it under her top and began teasingly drawing it back up her bare skin. Hermione moaned wantonly, and pressed herself closer to Draco when his hand finally reached the covered mounds of her breasts.
"We better stop," Draco muttered, tearing his lips away from Hermione's, although his hand remained cupped around her right breast, stroking at her hard nipple through the lacy bra she was wearing.
"Damn people," Hermione grumbled. She was well and truly turned on and wanted nothing more than to make love to Draco right here, right now, but she knew that wasn't an option.
"Later," Draco vowed, giving Hermione another deep kiss before removing his hand from under her top. Settling down on the blanket, he pulled Hermione down with him so she was lying beside him, his arm wrapped around her shoulders as she rested her head on his chest.
"Are you having a good time today?" Hermione asked quietly. She knew Draco had been nervous about the day, as it had been the first time he'd really spent time with all of his friends since being turned into a werewolf.
"I am," Draco replied with a smile. The day had been great, and it had just proven to him that nothing had to change between him and his friends. Maybe one day he would tell them the truth, but right now they could carry on as normal and no had to know about his big secret.
Draco and Hermione lay chatting for a while before deciding to go and get more food. Thanks to his new werewolf nature, Draco now preferred his meat slightly less cooked than before, so while Hermione was waiting for the elves to finished browning the burgers, Draco grabbed one of the burgers that were cooked but still needed browning. Once Hermione had her burger and they'd grabbed a bit of salad and some other bits and pieces, they wandered over to the others, who had all gathered with the adults.
"What's going on?" Hermione asked, wondering why everyone was gathered together.
"I have a couple of announcements to make," Severus said.
"You're pregnant," Harry blurted, turning excitedly to Rosmerta.
"Not that I know of," Rosmerta chuckled.
"School announcements," Severus said.
"Boring," Harry said, rolling his eyes.
Severus gave his son a mock glare before continuing. "First, I can break the news that Draco and Hermione will be our new head students, and thanks to some old traditions I'm reviving they will have private rooms at school."
"Nice," Blaise remarked with a low whistle. "I wish I had private rooms."
"Is private rooms really such a good idea?" Theo asked with a frown. "They'll be at it all the time if they have their own rooms."
"That is an issue I don't want to delve into," Severus said with a grimace. He was well aware of the opportunity sharing rooms would give to his sister and her boyfriend, but he knew that ship had well and truly sailed and quite frankly helping Draco with his condition was more important than whether or not he and Hermione were having sex.
"It's an issue none of us wish to delve into," Beth added.
"So moving swiftly onto my second announcement," Severus said. "I'd like to announce that the new Potions Professor will be Narcissa."
"What?" Draco cried, horror etched on his face. "You can't be serious."
"Why ever not?" Narcissa asked. "I'm very adept at Potions."
"I know that, but do you not think it's bad enough I have my father teaching at my school, now I now have to have my mother there as well."
"I won't embarrass you, Draco," Narcissa pouted.
"Yeah right," Draco muttered. "I can't believe my luck. I now have two parents teaching at the school."
"Look on the bright side, it's only for a year," Harry added.
"I guess so," Draco admitted with a sigh. "Congratulations, Mother. I'm sure you'll do a great job."
"Thanks, sweetheart, I'll certainly try to do my best," Narcissa said, smiling at her son.
"Why are we getting a new Potions Professor?" Blaise asked in confusion. "I liked Beth."
"Me too, she was the best," Theo added.
"Thank you boys," Beth said, giving the two Slytherins a fond smile. "But I can't come back to teaching because I'm pregnant."
"Wow," Blaise remarked, his mouth dropping open in surprise. "That's amazing."
"And private," Voldemort said sternly. "You are all friends of the family, and therefore I have no problems with you knowing about the baby, but we have no intention of making this public knowledge."
"Our lips are sealed, My Lord," Theo said respectfully.
"Thank you boys," Beth said. "And even though you're disappointed I'm leaving, I'm sure Narcissa will be a perfect replacement."
"At least she's hot like you," Blaise replied with a cheeky grin.
"Blaise," Hermione and Draco cried together in outrage while the rest of their friends and the adults all laughed.
"What? I'm just telling the truth," Blaise said with a careless shrug of his shoulders. "Beth and Narcissa are both hot. And so are you, Rosmerta," He added, giving Harry's stepmother a cheeky wink.
"Now we've established all that, let's get on with the evening," Severus said as he placed a possessive arm around his wife's waist.
"And just remember that the hot new Potions Mistress also happens to be married to the Dark Arts Professor," Lucius added, raising a warning eyebrow at Blaise as he mirrored Severus and wrapped an arm around Narcissa.
"And he's a jealous one," Narcissa said with a fond chuckle as she looked up at her husband with obvious affection.
"Noted," Blaise remarked at the youngsters headed off to leave the adults to chat in peace.
The rest of the evening was a great success and when everyone started to leave at the end of the evening, people were beginning to look forward to their return to Hogwarts. Their final year was fast approaching, and it looked to be as fun filled and action packed as the previous years.