A/N: Thanks to Bri892 for cleaning this up chapter.
Chapter 12: Shopping and Sleepovers
Anna Granger had stopped by to spend time with Hermione and Sabrina. She sensed her daughter was less tense but still a bit overwhelmed. They chatted as they walked down to Madam Puddifoot's tea shop in Hogsmeade. Sabrina danced along them, darting off the path to chase a butterfly or pick a flower. Arm in arm, the Granger women laughed at her antics.
"Diana had a baby?" Hermione asked.
"Oh dear, we haven't updated you on the family. Yes, Diana had Helena a few months before Sabrina was born. She'll be four in June. Your Nana Granger is on a cruise around the Mediterranean. And your Aunt Danielle is living in an artist colony in Spain."
"An artist colony? Is this like the time she joined a cult?"
They entered the tea shop while still laughing. Their server guided Sabrina to the dress up trunk where she picked out hats, feather boas and gloves for the whole table.
"Mum, did you really convince Professor Snape to fix his teeth?"
"Only two squares, sweetie." Anna pulled the sugar bowl out of Sabrina's hands. "Hermione, I thought you were calling him, Severus."
"It's hard to remember; he has been my professor for years. It's only been a week since he said I could call him Severus." Hermione answered.
"His teeth needed to be corrected. We removed several of his wisdom teeth after one had become impacted. He found our 'muggle methods' to be barbaric."
Hermione giggled at her mother's use of air quotes.
"And your father kept going on and on about the mark up on teeth whitening solutions, Severus was naturally intrigued. I can see why potions is such an exciting field."
"Sabrina, please don't slurp your tea."
"Sorry, Mummy. Can I have more tea and more sugar cubes?" Sabrina asked. She looked silly in her large Easter style bonnet and pink featherboa covered in crumbs; her big brown eyes were shining with excitement.
"This coming weekend, dear, we are hosting Sabrina's sleep over. Rosie, Julianna and Helena will be over on Saturday around 4:00 pm. Why don't you come out in the morning and visit with your dad and I? Then you can have a night out with your friends or Diana."
"No boys allowed?" Hermione asked her mother.
Sabrina interrupted her grandmother, "They don't like Ariel."
Anna grimaced as she whispered, "I am really starting to hate that movie."
~~~~O-O~~~~
"I'm going to miss you, Daddy!" Sabrina cried into her father's shoulder.
"I shall miss you as well." Snape replied while patting her back.
"Will you send me an owl?"
Giving her a hug, Snape leaned her back until he could see her face. "Yes, I will send you an owl. Now, do you have Hippo and Kanga?"
"Mummy put them in my bag."
"Than I shall see you on Sunday for dinner." He wiped her face from tears. Snape took her hand and walked her to Hermione who was standing next to the fireplace.
Hermione took Sabrina's hand from Severus and held the floo powder with the other, "Enjoy your weekend, Severus."
Landing in Granger's home, they were greeted by the sight of Anna dancing as sound of the Beach Boy's California Sun filled the room.
"Mum, the Beach Boys?"
Sabrina ran to her grandmother and started to dance and jump around the room.
"It's a gloomy day, why not pretend we are in California?" Anna replied.
Hermione left the dancing queens to themselves and went in search of her father. Mark was sitting in the study, reviewing paperwork.
He kissed her on the cheek, "My girl! You better run, your mother is in a mood."
"I can tell and she's influencing my poor child."
Mark handed over his car keys to Hermione. "Why don't you go and run errands. You haven't driven my new Audi."
"Oooh, what color this time?"
Hermione buckled Sabrina into her booster seat in the new pearl white Audi and headed off to Tesco's. She flipped around on the radio stations not recognizing the new music.
Finally finding a song she loved, Hermione said, "Muggle music is so much better than Wizarding music."
They drove on with Sabrina yelling "Hey, Ho, Let's Go."
~~~~O-O~~~~
After filling up a hand held shopping basket with washable art supplies and a few small toys for their sleepover guests, Hermione asked, "Sabrina, how on earth did we spend £75 on markers and coloring books?"
Sabrina replied sweetly, "cause the paints are pensive. And we had to get necklaces and hair clips or we not match."
"We won't match" Hermione gently corrected her.
Sabrina and Hermione headed for the food market. Hermione rolled her eyes at the grocery list her mother had put together. She found the 100% real fruit juice boxes (which happened to cost twice as much), Goldfish Crackers (original flavor) and organic applesauce.
She passed the list to the little girl, "What's next on the list?"
Holding up the list, Sabrina read, "Apples. Papa and Daddy like green apples but Nana says I can get yellow."
~~~~O-O~~~~
Mark met the girls in the garage and helped them unload the grocery bags.
"Papa, I got Ariel hair clips for me and Julianna and Rosie and Helena and necklaces too."
Raising an eyebrow at Hermione, he hissed "Sucker!" under his breath.
After a quick lunch, Anna helped Hermione put a hyper little girl down for a nap in Hermione's old bedroom. The decor hadn't changed much although the room now held a small toddler size bed where her old dollhouse use to sit.
~~~~O-O~~~~
Diana arrived early and wrapped Hermione in a tight hug. "It's bad enough when you were only around for the holidays, you witch, you had to fall into a coma?"
Wiping tears away, Hermione crouched down to meet her new cousin, "Hello Helena, I am your cousin, Hermione."
The little girl with curly blond hair hugged her, "You're Sabrina's mummy."
"Come in, come in. Don't just stand in the entryway." Anna shooed away Diana and Hermione as she picked up Helena.
In the family room, Anna and Helena started to set up the snacks and activities. "Sabrina should be waking up soon so you can play."
Sure enough, within a few minutes, Sabrina had raced into the room. Hermione's ears hurt at the the girls screeching. "Oh my,"
"You just wait until tonight when there are four of them." Anna cautioned her.
Soon the house filled with guests. Rosie, with her wispy red hair and perfectly pressed dress, was jumping on the couch. Juliana and Sabrina were hiding under the coffee table whisper-yelling while Helena was no where to be found. Bill and George Weasley were trying to help Diana set up the movie while Anna was putting dinner into the oven.
Silently, Hermione stood amongst the chaos. She had been apprehensive growing up with one foot in the muggle world and another in the wizardry world, not knowing how her two worlds would mesh. Now, she was watching wizards trying to figure out a VHS tape with her muggle family. She had a little girl of her own and she fit into both worlds without question.
Hermione smiled at the scene and counted heads, one girl was missing. Calling out to Helena, she checked a few rooms before finding her in the bathroom. The sink was filled with white foam; as the three year old had discovered the liquid soap dispenser. After a quick lecture about using only what you need, they rejoined the party in full swing. Mark had put in the Little Mermaid soundtrack and the girls were dancing and singing.
"I'll save you!" Mark grabbed Hermione and ushering her out of the room.
They joined the adults in living room where Bill was telling them about Hermione breaking through Snape's wards. "I went to Uni for two years and then trained with the Goblins at the bank for another year before I could unravel level three wards. She did it without training. It's intuitive to her."
"Oh Bill, most of the artifacts and painting in his quarters are of Italian influence. I just deduced that he was fluent in Italian. And I've been around his magical signature for years - don't you remember the wards he put around of Grimmauld Place?"
George dragged Bill to the floo before he could offer Hermione a job at Gringotts. "I'll pick up both Rosie and Julianna in the morning; around 10:00."
~~~~O-O~~~~
With Sabrina and Hermione gone for the night, Snape decided it was finally time to visit Alexandra. He used his international port key (no expiration date) and arrived in Greece in the late afternoon.
The tall woman with her short dark hair bouncing around her face was pleased to see him, "Come in, come in, it's been too long."
Kissing his cheeks, right one then left. She sighed and kissed his mouth. "I've miss you, Sev."
Ushering him inside the small beach cottage, she invited him to sit.
"Alexandra, please." He remained standing. "I would like to discuss our relationship with you. Where do you..."
She leaned forward and kissed his mouth again, stopping him from speaking. "We simply cannot have this conversation here. Why don't you change out of your warm robes and come walk with me?"
Snape removed his teaching robes and his waist coat. He trailed behind Alexandra as she stepped out of the room onto the patio. She waited for him to roll up his shirt sleeves and then they stepped out on the sand. Sinking, his shoes filled with sand.
Alexandra held out her arm, and he grasped it as he removed his shoes and socks. Snape returned to the patio to place his shoes by the door.
Walking arm in arm on the beach, the couple discussed their relationship.
"I do love you, Sev. Please know that. My whole world is here on this island. All that's missing is you. I just can't see myself in Scotland, without my family, and my shop."
Snape pulled her into his arms, and kissed her hard; sucking her lower lip in between his teeth. "My whole world is Sabrina. I would quit my position as professor and move here to be with you but I have to make Sabrina happy. I cannot remove her from her family."
Crying, Alexandra rubbed her face against his chest; his white linen shirt was damp with her tears. "This isn't going to work for us, is it?"
They slowly made their way back to the cottage, spending one last night together before ending their relationship.
~~~~O-O~~~~
Meanwhile at the Granger home, the girls had danced, painted masterpieces (without ruining their outfits), had their hair styled (and adorned with new Ariel, Prince Eric, Sebastian or Flounder hair clips), nails painted and eaten their dinner. Anna laid out their sleeping bags and turned on the movie.
"Do you want to go out or stay in?" Anna asked Hermione and Diana.
Deciding to stay in and catch up, they moved to the couch so they could watch the girls and talk. Anna and Mark headed out to catch a new feature at the movie theater.
Shaking her head at the large screen tv, Hermione told her cousin, "At least, my mum didn't have to edit this movie."
The girls reminisced about Anna Granger's video editing skills, ensuring the Disney movies had the sad scenes all cut out. The girls hadn't realized what a traumatic movie Bambi was until they had seen it at a friend's house.
Diana said, "You have no idea how many of her 'special' vhs tapes I had to move on to DVD. I'm thankful this one isn't too bad. Ursula isn't so bad. Why don't you choose a movie for next sleepover?"
"Do my parents always host?"
Diana grabbed a case of DVDs and gave it to Hermione. "They use to take turns with all the Weasley's but once the kids saw a muggle movie ~ they refused to go anywhere else. It's not always a sleepover ~ especially when they were younger. The boys usually came but they refused after the third showing of Little Mermaid."
"Lion King, Bambi, Pinocchio, Snow White, Cars, Monsters Inc, Finding Nemo. I do like Finding Nemo. Have they see that one yet?" Hermione asked.
Halfway through the movie, they took the girls to use the restroom and brush their teeth.
"They'll be asleep in no time," Diana assured Hermione.
Sure enough, the toddlers were asleep within minutes. Diana turned to Hermione and grabbed both her hands. "Okay, now tell me. What's it like living with your professor? Are you becoming a couple?"
Indignant, Hermione yanked her hands away. "We are not even friends. We are friendly, well not even friendly; we are friendly-ish."
"But you are living together in a castle in Scotland; you are raising Sabrina together. He's kinda handsome now with his hair short."
Hermione laughed, "You, my dear, have watched too many Disney movies. Now, tell me all about your new job."
~~~~O-O~~~~
Sunday morning arrived with a flurry of clothes, fights over toys and necklaces. Hermione packed each of the girl's belongings in their overnight bags and shrunk three out of the four (Helena would be unable to unshrink them without magic). Anna helped them brush teeth and wash faces while Mark made a fry up. Hermione was unsure how her parents had done this on their own all these months.
During breakfast, Snape's tawny owl, Khalid, tapped on the window. Mark opened the window and the owl flew to the table and hopped to Sabrina. The squealing and shrieking of the girls did not frighten him. He held out his foot and Sabrina pulled the string loose. She read the letter out loud.
"Dear Sabrina,
I do hope you have enjoyed your visit with grandparents and friends. It has been quiet here without you.
I look forward to your homecoming this evening.
Your Father;
Professor S. Snape
Potions Master"
Sabrina cheered then spoke to the owl, "Khalid, can you wait for me to write a letter to Daddy?"
The owl hooted quietly as the little girl ran off to find paper.
With her tongue between her teeth, Sabrina penned a messy letter to her father. Hermione helped her with spelling and tied the letter to the owl's foot.
"Give this to Daddy, okay Khalid? You're a good owl!" Sabrina exclaimed as she threw the poor owl out of the kitchen window.
~~~~O-O~~~~
After a simple lunch, Mark Granger loaded the family into the car and headed to a nearby park. It was still overcast but the rain had finally stopped. The slow wind was perfect for flying kites. The group tried different methods of getting the kites in the air but only Anna was able to get her kite airborne.
Giving up on the kites, Sabrina ran from puddle to puddle trying to make the biggest splash. Hermione joined her despite not wearing her rain boots. Soaked through, Hermione found herself having an amazing time. She thought, "Maybe this is enough for me now; maybe I don't have to do everything right now."
With his arms wrapped around his wife, Mark smiled. He leaned down and whispered in her ear, "Did you ever think we would get here? Our girl is happy and healthy."
~~~~O-O~~~~