Taking out a quill he wrote carefully, upon a piece of parchment and slotted it into the page. Before turning off the lights and settling into bed.
This book is now the property of Alexander Snape.
oOo
Once more he awoke bleary eyed with the fog of sleep covering his vision, though this was for once due to the all the more pleasant fact that he'd actually slept so well that his body was reluctant to awake from it. For once it was not due to his utter exhaustion and lack of sleep, from maintaining the wards that sapped all his strength to ensure his son remained warm, dry and safe from the various contaminants from the shoddy room in which he'd been residing.
This time it was Sacha's gentle chuffs that awoke him, as he alerted the adults to the stirring babies and he was thankful he'd had the wherewithal to cast a cleansing and refreshing charm on his person this time, before coming face to face with an equally blurry eyed Hermione. It wouldn't compare to a good bath , but it was something and a definite improvement on the rough appearance that he'd had on their last morning meeting. She was wearing what obviously passed as pyjamas that would have made him blush if he hadn't already been occluding beforehand in preparation of meeting her in such a way.
The shorts were almost indecently so in his mind, though perhaps that was because he spent far more time contemplating her behind and thighs than it was safe for him to do so, and the button down top was obviously donned with nothing more than the thought of easy access when nursing the babes who rested in the room beyond, and the tightness with which it hugged her swollen breasts when buttoned, was in no way the cause of the tightness he felt from the swelling behind his own buttons...thankfully hidden by an overly large jumper, that came down to his thigh.
Before sleeping he'd read through the contract that Harry and herself had set aside for him, and had found it both fair and humbling with the amount of leeway, trust and protection they offered him within. It was clear they'd made him as close to an equal partner as they could within the current restraints of the law. He was awarded all of the benefits and control he could be given, whilst being shouldered with none of the burdens. If the foundation crumbled, he'd walk away unblemished but if it flourished he stood to be raised to a position of great import. It was almost too much like a good thing for a Slytherin soul like himself to believe in, but they'd made it clear from the start that he would be a boon to their foundation and they were taking advantage of his current position to snag a Potion's Master for their foundation and he was not self discriminatory enough to deny that he was indeed a damn good Potions Master and he would indeed be of great use in this situation. Indeed Severus wasn't the kind of person to toot his own horn, but by Merlin he'd earned the right to be both confident and proud of his Potion's Master abilities.
So it was with a gentle smirk he brandished the signed contract and placed it on the hall table, as he met Hermione in the hall and her soft smile was reward enough that if his Slytherin wiles had indeed failed him and he'd inadvertently just sold his soul to Harry Potter, he considered it payment enough for the warmth he received from her in that simple moment.
The children were stirring indeed, both crying though Rose more fitfully. It was the first time he'd heard her crying so and was almost concerned, until he saw the lack of concern Hermione had, indeed she shouldered her little burden like this was any other day of the week, and indeed for her it must be.
"Is that normal for her?" He asked gently with concern, lacing his tone. Whereas Alexander had almost instantly gentled to soft grizzles once in his arms and listening to his voice, Rose continued to bawl until her face was red despite being in her mother's arms and she ended up in a fit of violent hiccups that didn't seem to be abating any time soon.
"That's a colic cry, she's colicking again" Her tone was resigned and her voice was so downtrodden he instantly felt for her.
She settled into the nursing chair, sacha at foot and supported the writhing babe against her side.
"Give me Alexander? I can't feed her until she stops hiccupping so there's no point in making our little man wait any longer for his breakfast"
The word our made his heart warm and constrict at the same time, but still he handed over his son almost guiltily, feeling bad for her shouldering the burden of nursing his son, his son who seemed to cause so little drama or issue despite his abrupt arrival in his life, when her own daughter who wanted for nothing, seemed to be a cause of endless stress and strife. He felt rotten for adding to her burden and some of it must have shown in his face, because she nudged his shoulder with hers as he sat beside her. "It's alright" was said softly, though he decided it wasn't in fact alright as he began to mentally plan the ways he could circumvent the use of silver in colic and stomach soothers, sooner rather than later.
Though it wasn't uncommon now for her to nurse the babies at the same time, It was slightly awkward for her to do so when Rose was creating such a fuss, writing and kicking and putting Alexander off of his own meal. Almost without thought, with muscle memory honed from comforting his own son, he went to reach for the squealing girl who was thrashing and kicking in her mother's arms.
At the last minute he paused though, realising in a flush of mortification that he'd never held Rose nor had he ever been given leave to do so by her mother, something he most definitely should have considered before putting his hands on her child.
Hermione had frozen in place, still nursing Alexander but looking at him slightly wide eyed. His hands were on Rose, and sort of hovering in place though his intentions were clear and there was no hiding it now. Before he could begin to withdraw and profusely apologise at the liberty he was about to take, she beat him to the punch.
"Are you sure? Please don't feel like you have to"
She wasn't mad then, and he quickly felt the relief flood through him. "It's no bother, will it help at all?"
"Her? Probably not, Me? Yes" The yes was emphatic and deadpan and he snorted in wry amusement as he gently raised Rose from her arms, and cradled her to his chest in the same way he did with his son.
"I am glad to be of service" he added equally as deadpan, in a tone he usually reserved for teaching and it made her chuckle.
But more than that, it made a tearful Rose turn and look at him in a way that took them both by surprise.
Hermione once more was the first to recover and before Rose could begin to cry again, she spoke quickly.
"Severus say something else!"
Flustered, he asked "Something else? Like what? What should I say to her?"
Once more Rose was rapt with attention and her hiccups slowed as she considered him tearfully.
"Anything! Literally anything!" Hermione snapped at him in a tone that was almost manic and frightened him more than he cared to admit.
"Anything she asks of me. Like I of all people am supposed to know how to start a one sided verbal diatribe with an infant, when I consider myself lucky on a daily basis that I haven't as yet succeeded in accidentally breaking my own offspring"
He stood and walked as he talked, holding the girl close to his chest in a way he knew his own son found comfort in. The more he spoke, the more she pressed her face against his broad chest, eventually stuffing a fist in her mouth before she settled into gentle sniffles, only the occasional hiccup breaking from her as she relaxed against his chest in a way he'd only seen Alexander do so far.
Looking to Hermione for support he saw her crying, which almost panicked him until he noted she was also smiling.
"It must be your voice, something in your wonderful voice...Severus keep talking to her please?"
Though he wasn't happy that she was crying, the request this time sounded much more sane and so despite his embarrassment at her unabashed appraisal of his wonderful? voice, he continued talking to the little girl in his arms, rocking and soothing her in the now practiced motion he had perfected, his deep sweeping strides almost at odds with the soft room. By the time Alexander had finished feeding, Rose was settled enough to take her own meal which she did so in a more relaxed manner than he'd ever seen her do so.
Both babies, now fed and changed, settled easily into sleep. Rose had stirred for a moment, as though ready to start to cry once more, but once Alexander was placed next to her, she instantly settled and soon both were sleeping once more under the protection of the ever watchful Sacha.
Whereas Severus was a bit unnerved about how Rose had seemingly taken to him, and was worried that it would make Hermione annoyed with him and upset their current dynamic, instead she seemed thrilled and was even more warm and happy than usual, much to his immense relief.
Breakfast was so wonderfully domestic that it was almost unbearable for him. With fresh coffee, juice and toast as they sat reading their respective papers and chatting. He had almost teared up when in addition to the breakfast she put on his plate, she handed him the potion's monthly she'd subscribed to for his benefit. He'd not read one since before the final battle. The unneeded cost was too much of a luxury in his post Azkaban destitution, to warrant the expense.
So sitting to breakfast with Hermione, the fresh coffee and juice by his side, as she made idle chat about something in her own charms paper, he had to take a steadying breath to hold back the tears that he found were harder and harder to conceal. Instead he pretended to be lost in an article, mumbling a polite reply to her, rather than admitting he was almost overcome at the simple pleasure of reading something new for leisure. Perhaps he didn't hide his emotion as well as he could have , for she left him to his reading but when she passed by him on her way to the sink, she gently squeezed his shoulder with her hand. It was affection, but more than that it was an unspoken question, reassurance. Are you alright? And he answered, wordlessly by placing his hand on top of hers for just a moment. I am now, thank you.
He insisted on cleaning their dishes once more, and said that though he greatly appreciated it, he was neither an ungrateful lout, nor was he a misogynist. In fact truth be told he was a feminist and more than capable of feeding himself and though his contract included board, he did not have any expectations on her cooking every meal for him. She'd smiled widely when he'd rather shyly declared himself a feminist, and rewarded him with a kiss on the cheek that would have had him blushing if not for his occlumency shields. And though he'd said nothing further, she'd thanked him for accepting her choice to cook their meals, as she enjoyed it. Though was appreciative if he'd do his fair share of cleaning, and ingredient prep when needed, to which he'd unhesitatingly agreed with a shy smile which seemed to please her to no end.
They had dedicated the day, and by they he meant Hermione and her lists, to planning and ordering all that would be needed to convert the shed into a working potion's lab. He was equally shocked and appreciative to find that she'd allocated a number of galleons towards a new wardrobe for himself. He had tried to argue that his clothes should come out of his own wages , but she was having none of it.
"The foundation isn't buying your underwear Severus, but you need suitable robes, boots and trousers to work, it's more or less a uniform. And if you wear it to work, and need it to work i.e do business therefore it is a business expense."
It made happiness bubble up inside him that he found hard to contain, and even more so when she insisted on having things specially made to order from a Wizarding Gentlemen's Tailor at the Foundation's expense.
"We only have one Potion's Master, and we're not going to penny pinch at Madam Malkin's when you're going to be doing experimental brewing for us and working with potentially caustic ingredients on a daily basis, besides can you imagine the bad press for the foundation if we managed to damage you because we had bought cheap off the shelf robes? No thank you. It's a PR decision really, we'll buy the best uniform we can because we have the best Potion's Master in Europe and we want to keep it that way"
A few hours later, as the Tailor's made house calls of course, a sales assistant had been floo-d to the house, Severus's measurements taken and a whole order of Robes, Boots and Trousers along with spares of all the above was in process, from the best wizarding tailors in Britain.
Throughout the day as they worked, they tended to the children's needs as Sacha supervised to make sure they didn't accidentally break his little wards. Once more Severus was struck by the domesticity of it, they worked together like a well oiled machine, as though they had been doing this for months and years, not days or weeks.
At one point Severus even held both babies for the first time while Hermoine was note taking, and he had even managed to make Rose laugh and Alexander smile, which had made Hermione giggle in delight as the stoic man made funny faces for an amused Rose.
When the babies went down for their afternoon nap, Severus, overwhelmed and overstimulated by the amount of happiness and enjoyment of the day, also found himself falling asleep upon the sofa.
Upon awakening , he discovered Hermione had already used magic to clear the study, and it was now ready for him to move his things into.
"We still have to get you some furniture of course. I mean your contract states that we include all necessities and furniture is a necessity, so we need to get you a new bed and wardrobe and such but the guest bed will have to do for now , and at least you can unpack some of your stuff."
"Hermoine, there's nothing wrong with the guest bed I will be fine with-"
"Severus, the guest bed is for guests. You are not a guest. You and Alexander live here now. And besides it's not like I'm footing the bill, it's the foundation. Plus, do you know how long it's been since I had the reason or the opportunity to shop?"
He couldn't argue with her when she smiled like that , so he simply acquiesced to her demands, as they planned a muggle shopping trip for the next day.
"Not that I'm presumptuous or ungrateful, but why Muggle? Would it not be easier to go to the furniture store in Diagon Alley?" He'd asked her over dinner that night , and she hadn't been at all phased by his questioning.
"Firstly I prefer the look of Muggle furniture, too many carved animals and freudian phallic themes in wizarding furniture"
He'd chuckled at that. "I can't argue with you there" It was true that wizarding furniture tended to err on the medievil side of things, with very prominent wands and staffs in the designs, or very impressive and very male carved animals.
After taking another bite of the biscoff they were having with their coffee, she continued, vanishing the crumbs from her clothes as she went on.
"Plus muggle furniture has practically a zero percent chance of harbouring a stray curse, hex, doxy infestation or ghostly attachment nor does it have a tendency towards being semi-sentient and finally it makes it easier for my custom charms work if I start from nothing, rather than having to build upon someone else's work"
"You are amazing, you know that, don't you?" He'd smiled then, unable to hide the affection for her in his gaze, but if she read it in his expression, she didn't seem to mind. Blushing prettily and smiling back.
"You're not so bad yourself"
It had all been so perfect, so wonderful that he could have almost believed it could go on like that forever. So of course for Severus it was only evening that it all came crashing down, along with the tea tray Hermione carried in her hands.
Alexander had spit up rather spectacularly over his shirt and, reluctant to use any cleaning magic so close to his son, he'd instead opted to remove the shirt and clean it in the sink. In his distraction, he'd not heard Hermione enter the room and it was only the sound of the tea service crashing to the floor and the sharp gasp that escaped her that notified him, as he whipped around to see her staring at his shirtless figure with unbridled disgust and horror.