Thank you everyone for all your kind words! I know I was a little evil in the last chapter leaving it the way it was. So many of you wanted her to tell him, but not just yet. I wanted this Chapter to be a little longer, but it didn't happen that way. Please leave a review and let me know what you think.

Sabrina walked into the living room clutching her rabbit in one hand and rubbing the sleep from her eyes with the other. She didn't realize what she walked into. She got out of bed because she heard voices. She looked at the dark man sitting on the couch, swallowing slightly with fear. He still scared her and she didn't think he was nice. She looked back at her mother in confusion. "Mommy, why he here?" She asked. She tried not to stare at him, but her eyes kept going back to him. His demeanor scared her. He wore all black. Even his hair and eyes were black.

Hermione cleared her throat and scooted over in the arm chair. "Come here baby," she patted the seat next to her. Sabrina obediently walked over to her mother and sat down in the arm chair with her. Hermione wrapped her arm around her child and began to speak slowly to her. "He came here to see if I was okay. He didn't like that I was crying earlier," she explained. On the outside she pretended to be calm, but on the inside she was nervous. She didn't know how to explain to Severus that this was his child. She also didn't know how Sabrina would respond either.

"He's scary," Sabrina whimpered as she cuddled more into her mother. "Why he look like that?"

"That's not nice Sabrina. Why do you think he's scary?" Hermione asked, slightly appalled by her child's behavior.

"He's very tall and he has black hair and eyes and he wears all black. He doesn't seem nice," she tried to explain, feeling slightly bad by seeing her mother's frown.

"Just because he's tall and wears black clothing doesn't mean he's scary Sabrina. If he was scary do you think he would be sitting here in our house?" She tried to reason with her child, knowing it was difficult to do so with a three year old.

She looked down sadly now understanding that what she said was mean and wrong. "I'm sorry mommy, I guess you're right." She turned towards Severus, who continued to sit there quietly during the whole interaction. She stood up from the couch and approached him slowly. She looked down at the floor and shuffled her feet, feeling ashamed by her behavior. "I am sorry mister for calling you scary."

Severus smiled at the child, finding her observation of him and her apology amusing. "That's okay child."

She ran back to her mother and sat back down in the arm chair. "Did you get the job?" Sabrina asked excitedly. She knew her mother desperately was searching for a job for awhile. She didn't know what a job was exactly, but she knew it was important.

"Yes I did. Mommy is going to be working there a lot, but you will be there with me," she explained. She was hoping that he would drop the question, but she knew he would eventually bring it up again. The question she had for herself was would she be ready to admit the truth?

"Can we go see the store again?" Sabrina asked.

"If Severus thinks it's okay sure we can." She turned to Severus and said, "So what do you say? Do you want to bring us back to the store?"

"Well I do have to make that 2nd room for your child and I do need extra help with that, so yes let us go." Severus stood up from the couch, ready to depart.

"Wait I have to go potty!" Sabrina announced loudly. She got up from the couch and toddled back up the stairs, dropping her rabbit as she went.

"This conversation isn't over yet Hermione. I saw the look of panic that crossed your face when I asked you about your child. Is it really that difficult to say who the father is? Obviously I can see he is not around and I'm sorry to hear that. I'm sorry that the man you slept with didn't step up to the plate. She seems like a nice kid and very smart. She deserves to have a father in her life. Are you sure you can't contact the guy and let him know?" He had no idea that he was referring to himself. He was angry that Hermione was left to fend for herself. As they say, it takes two to tango. He honestly didn't remember ever sleeping with her. That part of his mind was very foggy.

She blushed hard at his words, feeling guilty that he was now in front of her asking all these questions. "Um… He didn't want to be a part of her life and I couldn't find him." The lie came out of her mouth smoothly, too chicken to admit the truth. She knew it wasn't fair to Severus or her daughter to keep on lying, but she wasn't ready to admit it to him. She was scared of his reaction. What if he didn't want to be her father? What if he left them alone? She couldn't handle that.

He sensed that she was lying to him and he didn't understand why. He honestly didn't really care who her father was. It could have been Potter for all he cared. He was just worried about the child's well being. It was none of his business, he understood that, but if he was going to be working alongside her and with her child being in his store every day he wanted to know. He was hoping that if he can find out who the man was then maybe he can find him. He eventually sighed and gave up this fight. "Alright Hermione whatever you say, but if you ever want to talk to me or tell me the truth at least I'll be here." His voice had a biting tone it. He couldn't help but be angry that she didn't trust him enough to tell him the truth. But why would she tell you the truth Severus? You are just her scary Potion's Professor. She barely knows you.

She took a step back, wounded by his words. She was the one who was confused now by his behavior. She didn't understand why he was being so defensive. She just started talking to him today. Just yesterday she thought he was dead. She didn't expect him to appear just a few blocks away from her. He was asking so many questions about her personal life that she felt he didn't need to know. It was none of his business. She didn't have to explain anything to him, but part of her knew she did. It was his child. His! He can ask as many questions as he liked. She owed that to him. She wasn't being fair. She was getting angry at him for getting into her business for what reason she didn't know. She wasn't sure if she can trust him honestly. He was still closed off even to this day and she didn't want to end up hurt if she told him the truth. She opened her mouth to speak, but she was interrupted by her child who came running back down the stairs.

"I'm ready mommy! I grabbed my jacket too!" She bounced over to her mother, grinning the whole way. She grabbed her mother's hand and said, "Time to parate again?" She was ready this time. She was used to apparating with her mother everywhere.

"Yes honey time to apparate." She turned to Severus, who already had his wand out, gripped in his hand. "We'll meet you near the alley okay?"

He nodded at her and with a loud crack he disapparated from their home.

"Alright Sabrina before we go there are some ground rules I want to go over with you. Do not touch anything you see. Do not go into the back room without my permission. I am telling you these things because it can be very dangerous. Also, listen to anything the man tells you. He is there to protect you. Not to hurt you. Now grab on to me tightly." The two of them disapparated and appeared in the alleyway.

Severus stood their patiently and saw the two of them appear in front of him. "What took you so long?"

"I was going over some rules with my daughter. We are, in fact, going to a store that has poisonous and lethal ingredients and potions correct?" She asked with a slight edge to her voice.

He narrowed his eyes slightly at her, but he held his tongue when his eyes caught the young child at her side. He wasn't going to fight with her in the child's presence. He made an oath to himself not to do that. He saw his parents fight in front of him way too many times in his life. She didn't need to see that. "Let us proceed then."

The three of them walked out of the alleyway and onto the sidewalk. The walk there was silent, which Severus was thankful for. He didn't want to end up saying something he might end up regretting. Her attitude with him was getting on his nerves. They reached the store and with a wave of his wand he unlocked the door. They walked inside and closed the door behind them. "Now I think we can make another wall over here to make another room," he pointed to the right wall. "There is still room on the other side of this building to enlarge it or, of course, since we are both magical we can just make the shop itself appear larger, but from the outside it looks the same. That is probably the easiest way."

"So it would be like the tents they used at the Quidditch Cup?" Hermione asked for clarification.

"Yes exactly right."

"Magic? I want to do magic," Sabrina whined, not liking that she was being ignored.

"We went over this before, Sabrina. You will be able to when you learn it. For now, you are too young," Hermione reminded her.

She pouted. "That's not fair how old then?"

"When you turn ten years old, that's not for another few years, I'm afraid," Severus butted in. "Hogwarts I suppose?" He asked Hermione.

"Of course. Now back to what we were talking about. So to make it larger from the inside we need to cast an enlargement spell. Here let me do it." She took out her wand and pointed it towards the right side of the store. With a flick of her wand, she enlarged the room they were in making it twice its size. "I guess you would like some kind of wall here along with a door so it's not a part of this room." She created a barrier that cut the room in half leaving the room they were in the same size, but also creating another room that matched. She built a wooden door in front of the wall and also added big glass windows into the wall so they can see inside of it. She turned to Severus and said, "What do you think?"

Her child looked at her mother in awe. She couldn't believe how amazing her mother was. "Wow mommy. That was amazing!" She seen her mother do magic hundreds of times, but it was always little things. "How did you do that?"

"With my magic. I used my wand and I said the words for each spell," she explained. Lately her child was obsessed with magic. Every time she did something that involved magic she had to explain it again and again.

"Can I try?" Sabrina asked excitedly. She wanted to do it too, but the look on her mother's face doused her excitement.

"No love I'm sorry. Wands are dangerous. You can hurt somebody if something happens while you are holding it. I promise when you are older you will get your own wand and do spells as well. All kinds of spells."

She frowned. "Okay mommy."

"It looks perfect Hermione. Nice touch with the windows as well. I like it," Severus complimented her.

Sabrina approached Severus hesitantly, wanting to ask him a question. "'Cuse me sir, but will I be here every day?" She looked around the store, not really sure if she wanted to. It didn't have anything here for her to play with and where was the bathroom?

He kneeled down so he was at eye level and gave her a warm smile. He couldn't be mean to the three year old even if he tried. Even though he was notorious to being mean to children, this one didn't do anything to receive his wrath, plus he wasn't teaching. He was starting to have a soft spot for the child in just a few minutes of seeing her. "Yes you will. Your mommy will be here too."

"B-But sir I don't think I want to be here," she said fearfully, unsure of his response. "I don't see any toys or things to do and where is the potty?" Her eyes widen. "And what about my bunny? She will be left alone at the house."

He chuckled at her response. "Don't worry child. There will be plenty of toys and things to keep you occupied while your mother and I work. If you need to use the potty it is in the back of the store. You can also bring your bunny here if you want. Anymore questions?"

"What's your favorite color?" She said with a smile. "Mine is purple." He wasn't mean after all. He was actually nice. She wanted to get to know him.

Hermione stood back and watched the two conversed with one another. She couldn't believe how patient Severus was being there. He sat there talking to her, pleased to answer any question she threw at him. Her child continued to fire questions at him and he just smiled and answered her as best he could. She felt a tug at her heart strings at their interaction. She was having second thoughts about not telling him. He was showing Sabrina more attention than she ever imagined he would. Maybe he did change after all. The Severus she knew would not sit there and continue talking to a three year old, but maybe she didn't know him after all. Maybe the person he portrayed wasn't really him to begin with. She also couldn't believe how easy her child warmed up to him.

It was like they were made for each other. Sabrina's eyes were wide and taking it all in, while Severus just kept on talking to the child. "So you can do magic too?" He nodded in response. "You went to horwarts?"

He laughed and said, "Hogwarts my dear and yes I did. I actually taught there for many years."

Her eyes widen in shock. "You teach? Can you teach me magic then? I can do it."

"When you are older I can show you a few things if your mommy is still working here."

"Okay."

He stood up from the floor, realizing how late it was. "Would you like to go out to lunch with me Hermione and Sabrina? There is a nice little café that I go to just a few doors down. They have great soups I hear."

"Say yes mommy!" Sabrina shouted, excited to have made a new friend.

"Sure Severus. I can do with some food," Hermione said, her voice coming out a little rough with emotion. The three of them left the store and headed to the café together unaware of how much they looked like a family to those they passed by.