Note:This chapter is pure fun; no big story development here, just some family moments and the decades-old rivalry between Severus and Sirius that leads to a *very good* night to our dear Florence and her jealous husband.
If you like jealous-Sev, this is for you.
Enjoy!
Last week of December, 1995
It was a cold winter day but the snow had stopped falling that afternoon, so Florence took Christopher to the village's playground to play with other kids after lunch, taking little Sophie along in her stroller.
Going out with her two brown-haired kids gave Florence a fake sense of security; as they were protected by the spell she'd cast after Sophie had been born, anyone that looked at them wouldn't be able to say they were her and Severus's kids – they could think it, but the spell forbade them to say it.
Florence sat at a bench in the playground and opened her book to read, thinking after a while how perfect it would be if life could always be just like that – enjoying the Christmas break with her family and taking her younger babies to play with other kids.
She sighed, hoping one day they could have their fear-free life back.
She closed her book, unable to focus on what she was reading about the newly discovered properties of Dragonwort, looking at the other families around the playground, noticing that some of them had also taken their pets out for a walk.
That dog looks a lot like Padfoot. She thought when she saw a shaggy black dog near an empty bench.
The dog's eyes met hers and he walked to her, tail wagging happily.
"Padfoot?" Florence murmured as the dog walked closer to her.
He barked and laid his head on her lap, as if asking to be petted.
"I thought it was you," she smiled.
Then Sophie cooed and he turned to the stroller sniffing the baby-girl, who laughed when the dog licked her fingers, and she tried to grab his nose.
"She's the baby I was expecting that day we met at your house," Florence said, "My fifth baby."
The dog snorted.
"I can't speak with you when you're like this," she shook her head, "Let's go to my house…" the dog growled low and she understood, "He's not home yet. He'll only get home by dinnertime. Nick and James will be so happy to see you, they're home for the holidays."
The dog wigged his tail faster and nodded; so Florence called Chris and they walked back home.
"Whose dog is that, mum?" her son asked.
"That's Padfoot," she replied.
"Wow!" Chris looked at the dog, impressed, "That's a person?"
"Yes, Chris."
Once they walked into Florence's home, she asked Sirius: "Do you need clothes? Want to take a shower?"
Sirius nodded his dog head both times, so she went to the laundry room and grabbed a sweater and a pair of jeans of the twins, putting those in the downstairs bathroom with a clean towel and Sirius went in to take a shower and get dressed.
After some minutes, he walked out of the bathroom, clean and dressed and human.
Florence smiled, "Sirius," she hugged him tightly, "I was wondering when we'd see you again. How have you been?"
"I'm alive and free, dear," he said, "So I'm good. It wasn't easy to escape Kingsley, but I'm finally here. But look at you!" he took a step back, looking at her up and down, "Wow, you look good enough to eat," he openly ogled her.
"Stop it, Sirius," she said, rolling her eyes at his hungry gaze.
"Never. I have to let you know I'm available and still interested," he winked and smiled, "And who's this little guy?"
"I'm Christopher. I'm eight."
"Blimey! You're what your mother would look like if she were a boy!"
"Everybody says that," he smiled, "And I don't mind. Mum's gorgeous," he winked playfully at his mother.
"Yes, she is," said Sirius, smiling at Florence.
"And you're a dog!" Chris exclaimed, "That's so cool! Nick can turn into a dog too! Jamie is a bear though."
"Chris can talk your ear off if you allow it, Sirius," Florence said smiling, "He's very clever and reads about everything he finds interesting – and he finds many things interesting," she kissed her son's forehead.
Sirius touched the boy's shoulder affectionately, "That's great, kid. In my experience, the smart guys get all the hot girls," he whispered to him, making Florence laugh, before turning to the stroller, "And this little princess, who is she?" he leaned closer to the baby.
Florence picked up Sophie in her arms and passed her to Sirius.
"This is Sophie, she's ten months old."
"Hello, little princess," he said to the baby.
Sophie cooed and smiled at him, moving her little hands to his face, "I can't believe these gorgeous kids are his children…" Sirius said, shaking his head.
Florence smiled, "Wait till you see Liz."
Sirius sat on the sofa and kept on entertaining Sophie and Chris.
"BOYS!" Florence called from the bottom of the stairs, "Get down here!" then she walked towards Sirius again, "You must be hungry, I'll ask Tiff to set the table for tea."
"I'm always starving for some of Tiffany's excellent food," Sirius said.
At the mention of her name, Tiffany appeared, but she didn't look happy to see the man in the living room.
"What's wrong, Tiff?" asked Florence.
"The Sirius-man shouldn't be here. Master Severus won't like it."
Florence smiled, who would say eighteen years ago that the little stubborn elf would be defending Severus one day?
"He's here for tea, Tiffany. Set the table and have Melody attend to us if you are not comfortable doing so."
The elf nodded and went into the kitchen.
"So she likes him now?" asked Sirius.
"She's as devoted to Severus now as she's ever been to me. Come, let's go find the boys."
Then they heard footsteps on the stairs.
"Padfoot?" the twins asked in unison.
Sirius gave Sophie to her mother and turned to look at them.
"Merlin's beard! What on earth have you two been eating?" the twins ran towards him and Sirius hugged them both with tears in his eyes, "You are so tall…" he looked at them, "Holy shit! And you look so much like your father!" he said, laughing, "Wow!" he hugged them again.
"Let's sit down, boys. Tea will be ready soon," Florence said, putting Sophie in her high chair by the table.
"How old are you now?" Sirius asked, trying to do the math as they all sat for tea.
"Seventeen," Replied James.
"Seventeen!" exclaimed Sirius, "It's been all those years already!" he shook his head, "I was there the night you two were born!"
"Right?" Florence interjected, smiling, "I look at them sometimes and can't believe it either."
"We're finishing our last year in Durmstrang," said Nick, "We'll be sitting our N.E.W.T.s next July."
"Damn. Time flies," Sirius shook his head.
"Yes, it does," Florence agreed, pouring their tea.
The twins rolled their eyes at the adults.
Then Elizabeth walked downstairs and Sirius stared at her, shocked.
"Florence, your blood must be really strong. These children are just too beautiful to be Snivellus'."
Elizabeth stopped by the table and looked at him with a frown, "You must be Sirius Black," she said, folding her arms over her chest, "I've heard about you."
"Good things only, I hope," Sirius said, smiling at the girl.
"Elizabeth is Team Severus all the way, Sirius," Florence said, "You won't be able to make her change her mind about you."
Liz narrowed her eyes at her mother and sat down at the table, as far away from Florence as possible, without saying another word.
Nearly twenty minutes after Melody had begun serving the tea, Liz still hadn't talked to Sirius – or to her mother.
Suddenly they heard the sound of someone arriving by floo and Florence sighed, knowing it was her husband and things could potentially go south very quickly.
Severus stopped dead in his tracks as he saw who was there having tea with his family, "What a touching scene," he said, his voice dripping with venom.
Everybody looked at him, and he seemed furious.
"Come join us, Severus," Florence said ignoring his first comment, and motioning his chair at the head of the table.
"I don't want to interfere on your date," he replied bitterly, staring at Florence.
She stared back at him, asking just as angrily: Really, Severus? So you think I'm on a date? I shall be kissing Sirius by the end of the day, then.
He fisted his hands in anger. Don't test me, Florence! I'll kill him!
So you think I'd really do that?
He quickly shook his head. But he might try.
Florence let out an annoyed sigh and Severus just turned around and walked to the library without another word.
Elizabeth dropped her fork on her plate noisily and stared at her mother. Florence held her daughter's glare exactly as she had done with her husband's.
"Not a word, Elizabeth. Follow your father if you want. But keep your mouth shut."
And the girl walked to the library after her father.
The twins burst into laughter.
"If dad decided to move into the Shrieking Shack, Liz wouldn't even question him," said James.
"If Snivellus is angry, I'm happy," Sirius said, winking at the boys.
Florence just sipped her tea, "We all know Severus can be irrationally jealous. A hereditary trait, unfortunately," she added, looking at James.
The teenager just shrugged, "Not my fault."
"Severus is usually awful to Remus because of that jealousy," she told them.
"Remus is interested in you?" Sirius asked, looking at her with curiosity, "I know he's seen things..."
The twins groaned in disgust, sharing a grimace as they recalled knowing about their parents' voyeuristic tendencies.
"Yes," Florence glanced at the twins, finding their behaviour strange, unaware of what they knew, "But Severus has put an end to Remus' interests."
"Ok. That's enough," said James, visibly bothered by that talk, "We don't need to hear about you and dad and Remus!"
Florence stared at him, surprised, "Wait. What do you know-?"
"Nothing!" both twins quickly replied.
"We know nothing!" repeated Nick.
"And we wish to remain ignorant, mother!" James added, muttering: "Or I'll start questioning why Chris and Sophie are brown-haired."
Florence laughed, "He never touched, just watched-"
"Bloody hell! I'll need to scougify my brain after this," James dramatically muttered.
Sirius stayed a few more hours at the Snapes' house, spending time catching up with the twins and playing with Christopher.
During the whole day, neither Severus nor Elizabeth showed up. He spent the day in the basement lab and Elizabeth locked herself in her bedroom.
Florence didn't worry about those two stubborn creatures, she played with her baby daughter and read her new Healing Herbology book in the library.
It was nearly time for dinner when Sirius went looking for Florence to say goodbye.
He found her in the living room, watching some cartoons on TV with Chris and Sophie asleep beside her on the sofa.
"Flor," he called her in a soft voice, "I just want to say goodbye. I better go back to Grimmauld Place before Kingsley comes looking for me."
Florence carefully got up from the sofa and hugged him.
"You take care, Sirius."
"You too," but he stayed close to her after the hug, keeping his hands on her waist, his eyes fixed on her face, "You're amazing, you know? Gorgeous… motherhood looks good on you," he moved a hand to her face, caressing her cheek.
Florence put a hand on his arm to stop him.
"Sirius," she said, seriously, "You'd better go now," she took his hand from her face.
But he tried to take a step towards her anyway – and was flying against the wall in the next second; a furious Severus stood by the door that led to the basement lab, wand in hand.
Sirius got up from the floor, his arms raised in a sign of surrender.
Christopher woke up startled and kneeled on the sofa, looking from his father to Sirius.
And Sophie began crying.
"Severus…" Florence called warningly as she picked up Sophie in her arms.
He didn't look at her, but he understood: no duelling in front of the kids.
He walked towards Sirius, "Get out of here, Black," his voice soft and deadly, "Get out while you're still alive."
Then Sirius transformed into his animagus form, the clothes he was wearing falling onto the floor, and he left through the front door that Tiffany had just opened for him.
Florence calmed Sophie down and looked at her husband.
"I don't want to see him near my family ever again," Severus firmly spoke, looking at her, "He's still interested in you," he growled next: "I don't want him near you!"
"I understand," she said.
He put his wand into his pocket and went back to the basement lab.
Florence sat back down on the sofa, little Sophie sleeping in her arms once more.
"Dad was really angry…" Christopher murmured.
"Yes, Chris. But not at you, you know that, right?"
"I know," the boy stared at his hands for a while and then looked at his mother, "I kinda liked Sirius, but if dad doesn't like him, I'll try not to like him either."
Florence smiled at her son's sweetness.
They watched TV until Melody let them know dinner was ready. But Severus didn't show up for dinner, Tiffany took his plate to him in the lab.
Later that night
Florence put Sophie to sleep in the little girl's bedroom and went to her own. She hadn't seen her husband since the incident earlier, but Tiffany was keeping an eye on him.
She walked to her bathroom and tied her hair up in a bun – for she didn't want to get it wet –, took a quick shower, turned off the water and picked up a towel to dry her body, wondering if maybe she should go downstairs to talk to Severus.
She let her hair down and turned around to hang the towel when, suddenly, she found herself trapped between the shower stall glass and her husband's body.
"How many times will I have to prove to you that you're mine?" Severus's voice was dangerously low in her ear.
"Severus…" she could feel his hands on her hips, holding her tightly against his body.
"You're mine," he repeated in her ear, lowering his head to bite the curve of her neck, before turning her around to face him and taking her lips, violently.
Florence could taste the firewhisky in his tongue, she could feel his furious jealousy in the way his hand fisted her hair and his arm wrapped around her waist, holding her close.
Yes, I'm yours, Sev.
He vanished his own clothes, never stopping kissing her, his forceful kiss and firm hands causing soft whimpers to escape her throat.
"I'm going to fuck you, wife, until neither of us can move," he growled against her neck, tugging on her hair, making her arch her neck, "You're mine!"
"Yes," she breathed, melting against his hard body, giving herself to her jealous husband and thoroughly enjoying her 'punishment'.