"Professor Snape," Cora smiled, desperate to find out what the children were up to. It had taken the combined persuasion of Professor Croaker, Verity, herself and Pomona to convince her boss to go along with moving up the adoption timeline. It had been both a help and a hindrance that it was Harry Potter they were discussing. All of them agreed the boy deserved a family, Lavinia had just been unconvinced that that family should be headed by Severus Snape.

"Ms Mackilliop," he sighed. He fucking hated that these visits were needed. The children were happy, weren't they? He'd had some blips but he wasn't fucking up too badly…or was he? Had they said something? Fuck. Maybe they had.

"Shall we go somewhere to sit down for a ….chat before I speak to the children?" Fuck. That wasn't good. She didn't sound sure.

"Of course, he murmured.

"How do you feel the guardianship is going?"

"I…well?" he hedged.

She hummed, "And Mr Potter is still seeing a mind healer?"

"Andromeda Tonks, yes. He's recently gone down to fortnightly sessions."

"I see," Cora murmured. "Any issues?"

"With Harry?"

"With Harry, Hermione, the dynamics, you…"

He stilled, how the fuck was he meant to answer that! But he had to be fucking honest, didn't he? She was the one making all the fucking decisions. And she could refuse. The thought made his blood run cold. She could force Harry into another placement. Refuse the adoption. Fuck. "I…it has been…fine. Hermione and I are more likely to clash than Harry and I but…it's fine."

"Clash in what way?"

He sighed, "Boys." he muttered.

Cora bit back a grin. "Ah. But not girls for Mr Potter?"

His eyes narrowed, "This is confidential?"

Cora blinked at him. "As confidential as I am able to make it." she hedged.

"Can you be…less specific in your notes?"

"Perhaps." she agreed, wondering what the hell was going on.

"I'm more likely to have to worry about boys with Harry too. Thankfully he's not currently got a…we'll go with boyfriend, although Merlin knows both Hermione and Mr Nott refuse to put a sodding label on whatever the hell it is they are."

"Ah." Cora replied faintly, before she laughed, "That's…reassuringly normal, Professor. All parents have to worry about their children's partners, it's a normal part of them growing up. The trick is to let them make their own mistakes or so I've been told. Anything else I should know?"

He shrugged, "Not that I can think of."

"Then I think I'd like to see the children now."

"Roly?"

"Yous bes wanting the children?"

Severus huffed out a laugh, "Yes, please. I'm really going to have to start calling another elf."

Cora bit back her smile as Harry and Hermione appeared and the dog immediately bounded over to them, accepting ear scratches. "Well then, together, first I think?" she suggested. Both Harry and Hermione nodded, startling Severus. She'd spoken to them separately before, hadn't she? What the fuck was going on?

He was none the wiser when Cora left an hour later. The children didn't look distressed but they'd both almost bolted along with the witch which was strange. Usually, they'd stay for a bit. Anxiety settled in the pit of his stomach. Something wasn't right.

Amelia,

We need a witness to some paperwork, could you meet us in Professor McGonagall's office on Saturday?

Love Harry and Hermione.

P.s Susan wanted us to tell you that she hasn't forgotten to reply to your last letter, she just got ah…sidetracked. By schoolwork. And that she'll reply over the weekend.

He stopped outside Hagrid's hut, wondering how he was going to do this. Did he just blurt it out? No. No, probably best not to."

"Professer!" Hagrid grinned, "I wasn' expectin you!"

"No I imagine not," he replied wryly as he was ushered inside.

"Wha' can I be doin' fer ye Professer? Tea?"

"Oh I ah," fuck he did not want tea. He'd heard stories about Hagrids tea and its accompaniments. And fuck. But he was going to have to say something. "No thank you, next time? Hermione will be along soon."

"Ah o' course, Professer. Never saw that one coming, our Hermione being yours, but she says some right nice things about you, Harry too."

"Oh." What the fuck was be meant to say to that? The underlying implication that those things were fucking unbelievable didn't go unnoticed. "I ah wanted to ask you about a project you might have had. Between us, of course." Hagrid frowned. "A dog? A giant, seemingly intelligent dog."

"Everyone knows fluffy was mine, Professer," Hagrid replied wryly.

"Ah no. Different dog. This one only has one head. And I suppose if we're using Fluffy as a guide, he's not that big."

"Oh. Only dog I ever 'ad was fluffy…an' Fang o' course but I imagine yer not askin' about him."

Fuck. That wasn't good. Where the fuck had the dog come from? He'd checked him though. He had! And nothing came back.

"I see," he murmured. "That's…surprising."

"Where'd ye find him Professer? If yer lookin' fer someone to take 'im off your hands, Fang's always wanted a friend."

"Oh. No thank you. The children would never forgive me. They adore the beast."

Hagrid smiled, "The one I've seen them out wi on the grounds? Puppy was it?"

Severus glowered back at him. "Thanatos."

"Ah," Hagrid smiled knowingly.

"Hermione is ridiculous," Severus mumbled.

"Aye, people tend to be wi' their pets," Hagrid replied sagely.

He paced inside the Great Hall. Fucking Albus and his ideas. They'd at least convinced him to have the ball on Yule rather than Christmas which meant they had some time to recover from it but damn it all, he didn't want to be here watching the man schmoozing with ministry officials in those ridiculous fucking robes. They had fucking snowflakes on them for fucks sake! He was a man in his hundreds. Although perhaps that meant he had the right to wear whatever the fuck he wanted but really, icy blue and snowflakes? What was he? A toddler? All he was missing was the plastic tiara and he was good to go.

Caught up in his internal rant he almost missed the moment his children appeared, Harry escorting a silver-clad Luna Lovegood and Hermione unfortunately on Theodore Nott's arm. Not that he'd expected any different but that didn't mean he liked it. She looked far too grown up, and he was blaming Narcissa. It had to be her doing, those robes. They looked like something Narcissa would have chosen, straddling the line between childish whimsy and adult tailoring. He fucking hated them. Although at least they were green. She had Annalise's gifted combs in too, green and gold. Apt if festively twee. Not that she looked twee. Narcissa would never have allowed such a thing.

"Don't you look like a veritable font of festive cheer?" A voice teased behind him.

"What are you doing here?" He demanded.

"Lovely to see you too, Severus," Amelia replied pointedly and he flushed. Fuck. She was going to make him pay for that, wasn't she?

"You look….well."

She rolled her eyes at him, "Thank you," she replied, her tone dry. "Whatever shall I do with such effusive praise. You look….like you're wearing your costume again."

"As I told Harry, it can hardly be considered a costume when it's my clothes!"

She sighed slightly wistfully, "I much prefer it when your daughter picks your clothes," she teased. Ridiculous witch. "Now are you going to ask me to dance?"

"What?" he spluttered, "Here?"

"No Severus, in the corridor. Of course here!"

"But the students….."

She rolled her eyes, "Come along."

It was almost worth being dragged by the demanding witch to see the looks of stunned confusion on the faces of several students. And really, it allowed him to keep a closer eye on Hermione and Mr Nott. Not that she was dancing with him currently, she appeared to be with Neville. Which was a surprise. Susan was with Draco and Harry….ah Harry was hiding against a wall looking like he'd rather be anywhere else. He almost snorted at that. He understood that feeling all too well.

Giving into the inevitable, he allowed Amelia to manoeuvre him into her hold of choice as the music changed. He could feel the student's eyes on them as they danced.

"This is fucking uncomfortable," he muttered.

Amelia smirked, "They all look stunned, It's really rather funny."

"For you," he groused.

"For me," she agreed.

She kept him there for the next three dances. Fucking harpy trying to make a point.

"Now, I'm going to grab Susan for a moment, maybe meet this Neville properly."

"But the fear of the gods into him?" Severus suggested with a smirk.

"No!" she protested, not meeting his eyes.

"Liar."

"Do you want to grab your daughter for a dance before Theo does or not?"

Yes, Yes he fucking did. Damn her. "Fine," he muttered, stalking off in Hermione's direction, reaching her just as Theo reached for her hand.

"Dance, my girl?"

Hermione groaned," You're doing this on purpose, Father."

"Yes," he agreed, not seeing any need to deny it.

"Fine. One dance."

"Desperate not to be seen with me already, my girl. I am hurt." he pouted.

"Ridiculous is what you are Father." she shot back as he took her hand. More of the little sods were staring. Some of them were fucking whispering. Was it so strange for a father to dance with his daughter? Perhaps if he was the father, he conceded with a slight grimace. Still, they could be more fucking subtle, surely?

"Are you enjoying your night?" he ventured, "You look…."

"Too grown up?" She smirked.

"Cheeky. And yes. You're beautiful and I don't like it."

"You'd prefer it if I were ugly, Father?"

Fuck. that was a trap if ever he heard one, "Not ugly.." he hedged, "You could never be ugly, not to me. But perhaps slightly…to other people"

She rolled her eyes, "Absolutely ridiculous," she repeated.

"You love me anyway,"

"Remind me why, Father?"

"Because I'm wonderful," replied without missing a beat, feeling his lips twitch as they repeated the ritual from the summer. She rewarded him with a genuine grin.

Two songs later, he capitulated and allowed her to go back to her friends, watching with some amusement as she dragged Harry onto the dance floor, standing next to Amelia who had commandeered Neville.

"I've never seen you dance before," Minerva murmured, coming to stand next to him.

"I do not enjoy it," he muttered.

"And yet, you've spent half the night so far on the dancefloor."

"Amelia is….bossy, and it gave me a few minutes with my daughter."

Minerva snorted, "Yes, the moments are precious, aren't they?" she mused with a peculiar sort of melancholy.

"Min?" he frowned.

"Ocht, don't mind me, my boy. Christmas makes me maudlin. I miss him, you know?"

"Elphinstone?" he hedged.

"Aye. He used to love dancing. Said it was something drilled into the children in all old families and it had been part of his life for so long, it was strange when he didn't practise regularly. He used it as an excuse to dance me around the house."

Fuck he wasn't good at this stuff, but she looked like she was going to fucking cry. He sighed, he was going to have to fucking offer, wasn't he?

"Min, would you like to dance?"

Her eyes flew to his face as if she wasn't sure she'd heard him correctly, "I…yes, my boy, I think I would." she agreed softly.

Hours later, with only a few stragglers left, Severus breathed a sigh of relief having seen his children safely back to their common room. He'd managed to avoid Albus and the Ministry officials but he'd been coerced into dancing with Susan much to her amusement, and bizarrely Luna Lovegood. It had been a strange night all around. Minerva had kept him for two dances, looking far less pensive when he left her, for which he was grateful. No one had been able to get into the nearby alcoves thanks to a handy charm he'd learned from Fillius and Hermione and Theo had actually managed to behave in a way that didn't make him want to murder someone. Interestingly, he'd noticed her dancing mainly with her friends. Which was nice. Less hard on his blood pressure. Theo had managed to keep his pouting to a minimum. Which was progress, he supposed. Not that he was sure he wanted the boy to make progress. If he did that Hermione might decide to keep him. At least he hadn't done anything to make her cry this time though. Maybe progress was alright.

"Ready to go home?" Severus checked, running a hand over Hermione's head as she slumped into him, clearly ready to go back to sleep.

"Yes," she mumbled.

"And you two, do you have everything?"

Susan grimaced, I think so?"

Harry laughed, "Hermione supervised my packing, I'm good."

"Wonderful, you know the address," he gestured towards the floo, waiting until Harry and Susan had stumbled through it to pry Hermione off of him. "Off you go, my girl. You can sleep once you're through."

She nodded, yawning. "Yes, Father."

He huffed out a laugh and followed her through, corralling Thanatos in with him before coming face to face with three tired teenagers looking confused as to what their next move should be. "Off to bed, all of you. Susan, you're on the other side of Harry." They all blinked up at him uncomprehendingly, "Shoo!" he demanded, watching with amusement as they stumbled up the stairs. In hindsight seven was probably a rather cruel time to demand they be in his quarters after the ball but he was terrified Albus would find something that meant he had to bloody stay.

Two hours later, he went to check on them, finding them all piled on Hermione's bed sound asleep. Clearly, they'd been too tired to go any further than the first room.

He sat in blissful silence, a book open and the fire on full-pelt, the dog sleeping on the rug in front of it until the sound of the floo roaring disturbed him.

Appearing at the door of the living room, Amelia looked around and frowned, "What have you done with them?" Thanatos opened an eye lazily before clearly deciding he couldn't be bothered and closing it again.

"I haven't done anything with them!" Severus replied, affronted. What did she think he was? What on earth could he have possibly done with three exhausted teenagers? "They're all asleep!"

"Asleep?" Amelia replied looking incredulous.

"Yes! We came through at seven but the ball was last night and they could barely function enough to walk up the stairs."

Amelia snorted, "I almost wish I could have seen that. Thanks for taking Susan."

He shrugged, not entirely sure what she wanted him to say. It wasn't like he could have said no. Well, he could have. But it would not have boded well for parts of him he liked attached to his body. "It was hardly an imposition to guide her to a floo."

Laughing, Amelia rolled her eyes, "To be fair I had expected them to at least be awake."

"Nope." he waved his book at her, "It's been blissfully quiet."

Shaking her head, she sat down on the arm of his chair. "You're sure it's alright she's here?"

"Yes, Amelia. It's fine. You have to work, Hermione would nag me if Susan was on her own. It makes sense."

"Thank you," she murmured quietly, leaning down to kiss him. Not that he was sure what to make of that. Not the kiss. The kiss was fine. Better than fine. Thank Merlin the woman wasn't a legilimens, she'd never kiss him again if she ever heard the word fine as a descriptor. But her surprise that he'd take Susan. That was….it gave him an odd feeling. He had two children anyway, what difference was a third? Although that third was Susan and he still wasn't sure he liked her influence. But still. It was either he took her, she remained at Hogwarts for Christmas or she stayed home alone. Surely it just made sense? Jean had invited Amelia for Christmas day. In his house. All while ordering him about. And Hermione would never have forgiven him if Susan hadn't been there. Neither would Jean. So…why did she sound so bloody surprised?

She sighed, "I need to go back to work., I just wanted to check that you'd all got through ok. See you tonight?"

He hummed, waving her off, returning to the blissful silence until thundering feet broke it an hour later.

"Good morning.," he greeted them wryly. "I trust you're more awake this time?"

"Yes Father, "Hermione agreed, "is lunch ready?"

He bit back a smile, "You sleep until noon and then demand lunch, my girl?"

"Yes." she nodded decisively. "We're starving."

He sighed, "Nyx, it would appear the children have decided it's time to eat." Nyx beamed at him.

"The young master and the young mistresses should be going tos the dining room then." she commanded, "Wes bes missing you."

The children didn't need to be told twice as they bolted into the dining room. Severus' eyes went wide at the sheer volume of food. Missing them indeed.

"What are your plans for today?" he asked once they'd stopped acting like ravenous wolves and started eating at a more sedate pace.

Harry and Hermione traded a look before turning back to face him. "We're decorating, Father," Hermione replied as if he was an idiot.

"I'm sorry you're what?"

"Decorating. For Christmas."

"Decorating what?" he asked in confusion. What the fuck was she talking about?

"The house," Hermione replied in that same tone.

"But why?"

All three teenagers looked at him as if he was stupid. Perhaps he was. He had no idea what was going on.

"Because it's Christmas." Hermione replied with a finality he dared not argue with. Although….

"Where are you getting the decorations?" he hedged.

"You don't have any?" she gasped.

"Well…I…not that I know of?"

"Lori?"

The elf popped into existence next to Hermione, "The young Miss bes wanting Lori?"

"Do we have Christmas decorations in the house?"

"Ofs course! Lori bes getting them and putting them in the living room for yous. Will yous be wanting help?"

"Yes please, Lori!" Harry grinned, "We'll never finish without it."

Lori nodded before turning to Severus, "Master bes needing to gets the trees."

The trees? What? Why plural? Where the fuck were they going? And why did everyone seem to think this was perfectly normal? He didn't decorate! He'd never decorated.

"Trees?" he ventured, Lori rolled her eyes.

"Ones for the hall, the living room, the dining room and the library." Right that…seemed fucking excessive if he was honest.

"And where do I get these?" he asked, deciding that arguing with her was futile.

"Froms Mr Merrythope," the elf replied, mimicking the children's earlier tone. Maybe he was just stupid. This was all news to him. "Yous bes planting them in the forest at New Year. Where did Master think the forest came from?" Where indeed, Severus thought wryly.

"Right," he muttered instead, "Thank you, Lori."

"Bes making them at leasts seven foots, Master," the elf warned before disappearing, presumably in search of the rest of the decorations. And now the children were giggling. Presumably at him. He fucking hated Christmas.

"Professor Snape!" Lydon Merrthorpe couldn't have looked more surprised if he'd tried. Surely it wasn't that fucking surprising. After all, he'd been bloody ordered here. By a fucking elf.

"Mr Merrythorpe." he nodded.

Lydon's eyes travelled along to the children who had scarpered to find a tree, "I ah…thought Hagrid dealt with Hogwarts trees?"

Severus bit back a sneer. Did he look like he wanted to fucking chat?

"He does," he replied bluntly, hoping to put an end to this.

"Father! We like this one!" Hermione called, making Lydon splutter.

"Father?" he wheezed, "I ah…didn't know you had children, Professor."

He arched a brow at the man before walking in the direction of his children who appeared to have decided on one of his new trees.

"Very well,'' he muttered, gesturing to the elf who snapped its fingers and shrunk the tree down, encasing it in a bubble charm to protect it.

"Ooh! I like this one," Susan commented, stopping several metres down, "Severus? Can we have this one!"

"Fine," he agreed, praying this was quick. It was thankfully, half an hour later he found himself standing back in front of Lydon with four miniature trees and a small pitiful looking one that didn't need to be shrunk that Hermione had felt sorry for and insisted on.

"That'll be ah… sixty-seven galleons, seven sickles and twenty-eight knuts."

"For Christmas trees?" Severus spluttered

"Hush, Father!" Hermione commanded, "They're pretty!"

Lydon hid his smile as the formidable Severus Snape caved to a petite girl with wild curls, clutching a tiny unloved tree to her like a favourite pet. "You can have that one for free, Miss Snape."

Hermione beamed back at him, "Thank you."

Severus almost growled, reading the man's confusion clear on his face. Although to be fair he had no idea how his genes had managed to produce a child like Hermione either. And he could hardly blame Ella. Or Jean….Jean wasn't particularly taken with broken unloved things either, so it wasn't nurture. One of life's mysteries, clearly.

"You're welcome miss," he grinned as he waved them off, "Do come back next year."

Not fucking likely. Sixty-seven galleons! It was daylight robbery! He winced as he converted it to pounds. How the fuck had he just managed to spend over three hundred pounds on fucking trees! But the children were smiling. All of them. And Hermione was hugging that damn twig and Harry was commenting on the fact he'd never fucking decorated a fucking tree and damn it! He was going to go back next year, wasn't he?

The boxes were waiting on them, all labelled; rooms one to three and hallway. "Yous can bes picking whatever box yous wants for the room buts yous must be keeping the boxes with the same numbers together," Lori commanded on their return.

Immediately Hermione sat her tree down on the coffee table with a fond look and took off after Susan and Harry to decide what boxes were going where. The first thing he noticed was the abundance of gold…the second was the sodding red. Why the fuck was Christmas Gryffindor themed!

"Just gold in the dining room?" Hermione queried.

"And the gold and red in the living room?" Harry ventured. What? No! He didn't want that in his space all the damn time!

"So silver for the library and hall?" Susan concluded.

The other two nodded, "Lori, Max, Nyx!" Harry called.

"The young master bes wanting us?" Nyx asked.

"Can you take the trees to their rooms please and ah…maybe do the hall?"

"And the other rooms bar the trees?" Hermione added. "Please?"

The elves smiled indulgently. "Ofs course. Wes bes looking forward to a proper Christmas."

Severus saw the girls squeeze Harry's hands as he murmured, "Me too."

God damn it. He couldn't even complain about the colour scheme now! He was going to have to live in the sodding library.

"Library first?" Susan asked as they directed the elves to the correct boxes for the room.

"Are you coming, Father?" Hermione called as they ran up the stairs giggling like toddlers. He sighed, he supposed he was going to fucking have to wasn't he?

Four hours, more hot chocolate and gingerbread men than necessary, and his house looked like Christmas had thrown up on it. There were garlands and baubles and goddamned fucking fairy lights everywhere, so many that he hadn't needed to put on any actual lights. Even Hermione's little tree had some baubles and lights Lori had shrunk down for her. And there were icicles. Real-life fucking icicles in his library. And all the children were wearing Santa hats that Hermione had unearthed from fucking somewhere. Wizarding children didn't fucking believe in Santa. Not the red man in suit version that muggles did anyway, so where the fuck had those come from? She'd even put one of the fucking dog. He looked pleased. Which was disconcerting. Thankfully, she hadn't tried to put one on him. That would have been a step too far. Although she had mentioned Christmas jumpers. Fuck he hoped she was joking.

"Oh my gods," Amelia murmured as she stepped out of the floo. Looking stunned, "You decorated."

"The children decorated, " he replied stiffly.

"You helped," Harry grinned. And he had. Sodding guilt-tripping children. Hermione with her wide brown eyes looking so fucking excited and Harry who had quite clearly never fucking been allowed to do this before, flitting around like an overexcited toddler, even Susan's excitement had been infectious and she wasn't his.

"It looks…." Amelia paused. "Gods it's beautiful. But what's with the strange hats?"

Susan grinned, "Harry and Hermione were telling me about Santa! It seems like he's a bit like our Saint Nicholas, they call him that too sometimes but he's more…."

"Everywhere?" Harry suggested, "Muggles make a huge thing about Santa for their kids."

"And he wears those hats?" Amelia asked bewildered.

"Here," Hermione grinned, "I think they're green in France. Perhaps there would suit you better, father?"

"Such cheek," he muttered, wrapping an arm around her. He wasn't feeling emotional. He fucking wasn't. It wasn't like this was his first time decorating too. Fucking decorations must be dusty. Hermione squeezed him back tightly.

"Love you," she murmured, making his chest ache slightly.

"Love you too, my girl," he whispered, refusing to admit that it was quite nice, this fairy lights and fire combination they had created. People would think he was going fucking soft. He pointedly ignored Amelia's knowing look as she hugged Susan and Harry appeared at his side, dropping his head onto his shoulder. Maybe he'd allow all the Gryffindorness in his house if it meant he got moments like this. Not that he'd ever admit it out loud.