***Chapter Twenty***

August 1991

Hermione came home from work to an empty house. That wasn't completely unusual, but she'd expected Eileen and the boys to be here. They were old enough now, Eileen didn't need to stay all day, every day here as long as Paw knew but she usually spent a portion of her days here. They liked their time with Grandma, and Hermione knew Eileen liked the time with the children. She particularly loved doting on her granddaughter. A more spoiled girl Hermione was positive didn't exist.

"Paw," Hermione called out.

"Yes, Madam Leandra," he said.

Her lips twitched at the look of … reproach in the elf's eyes. Years into this, he truly thought she would change her mind about allowing him to address her as Leandra. The Madam in front of it was his doing. She was glad that he was willing to do that much!

"Do you know where Severus and the children are?"

"Master Severus came and got masters Harry and Everett and mistress Catherine."

"Oh, so they are at Hogwarts?" Odd since they were supposed to do Harry's school shopping today, but again not unusual. The boys loved the castle.

"Yes, Madam."

"Thank you, Paw. I will go there then."

"Yes, Missus."

She stepped into the floo then and with a sigh found herself stepping out into Severus' quarters. He rarely slept here, and she couldn't remember the last time she had reason to come here. It was sometime last school year, she supposed. Albus had allowed the floo connection so that his potions professor and deputy headmaster could get here quickly if need be. One needed a password to be able to come and go. A password only she, Severus, and Albus knew.

"Severus? Harry? Everett? Catherine?"

No response and no sounds.

She slid off her coat and scarf, hanging them on the coat rack just beside the fireplace. It was here for her and the kids' things. They had an identical one at home beside their fireplace. Coats, hats, and mittens had all been forgotten here many times. Or forgotten about when coming here, knowing they'd be going outside.

She checked in the mirror to be sure she looked all right, grateful Severus did not have one that talked, before heading in the direction of his office. No boys sitting outside. She knocked on the door. No response. She sighed, heading toward the Slytherin common room.

Never in her wildest dreams did she ever imagine having permission to go in and out of Slytherin House. She whispered the password that was exclusively hers and stepped inside. If her Harry and Ron could only see her now!

Soon this common room would be home to Draco Malfoy, Vincent Grabbe, and Gregory Goyle. It had been ten years, but she still remembered the hatred they'd had toward her. And she hoped that with all that they'd done to defeat Voldemort on Halloween 1981 permanently that they would treat her … better this time around. She wasn't expecting them to like her. Just to be less hostile.

"Here you are," she said once they found the children. She was pleased to see that Harry and Everett were actually keeping an eye on Catherine. At five, she didn't need to be watched real closely, but she wasn't as familiar with Hogwarts as Harry and Everett were.

"Dad's up in the girls' dorm," Harry said. Harry called them Mum and Dad in private, which Sirius and Remus were both aware of. In public, he usually called them Severus and Leandra.

"All right," she said. "Are you ready to go shopping?"

"Yes!"

She knew he was ready. Excited even to get his wand and the other things he'd known about for years. She looked at him then, trying to remember him this young. Just having turned eleven. It hadn't been eons, but ten years was long enough evidently to … forget. Eleven and hadn't been raised with any knowledge of magic or his parents. His godfather in Azkaban. Remus feeling as if he wasn't worthy. (She honestly hadn't stopped to realize until this past spring that Tonks finished Hogwarts when she began.) She hoped they would find one another. She thought about mentioning it to Sirius, but decided she'd meddled with time and events enough. If four or five years from now both were still single she could look again.

There were parts of her that regretted leaving her position at Hogwarts. It would be sort of … fun to see how things developed between everyone with things so different this go around. She knew it was the right decision, though. It was better that Leandra Snape wasn't around much for people to make a comparison.

Severus joined them a little while later, surprised and yet not completely so to see her there.

"I thought we were meeting you at the house."

She shrugged. "I came here. Is that a problem?"

"Of course not," he said. "I just wasn't expecting you." He gathered Catherine into his arms and brought her to the window overlooking the Black Lake. She loved watching various creatures swim by.

"Are you ready to go shopping for Harry?" he asked, brushing her dark hair away from her face.

Everett and Catherine's hair was both primarily like Hermione's. Catherine's though, took after Severus' in that it could look … oily without careful care.

"Uh huh," she said.

"Good. You remember to behave so we can get ice cream afterward."

"Uh huh." She kissed him on the cheek dramatically before he set her down.

"Are you ready?" Hermione asked.

"I am."

"You're not mad I'm here, are you?"

"Of course not, 'dra. I just wouldn't have taken my time up there if I'd known you were waiting for me."

"Oh, well," she said. "If there were students up in the girls' dormitory maybe I'd worry about how long you took."

He scoffed. "You're hilarious."

"Mm," she said, reaching to pick Catherine up before grazing his cheek with a kiss. "It's an acquired taste."

"Mm hmm. You're lucky I love you."

She snorted. "I am. Very much so."

The five of them made their way out of the Slytherin common room and through the halls of Hogwarts outside and to the gates. Harry and Everett held onto Severus' hands while she held Catherine and apparated to Diagon Alley.

"I know that look," he said once they arrived and took a moment to take in their surroundings. Ten years post-war and they both still did that. They talked about it, wondering if one day they'd let their guard down. Neither truly thought so. They'd both seen and gone through too much. And had children to protect.

Even the village that was part of their property. They vetted the shop owners carefully. Hermione knew names of people that had leanings toward Tom Riddle that Severus wasn't aware of. Not loyal followers, but those who in the second war hadn't publicly sided with the Order.

"You know it because you give the same look," she said, tugging Catherine a little closer and kissing the top of her head. "Now who wants to go school shopping with Harry?"

Everett and Catherine both did, of course. Everett wasn't too sure how to feel about Harry leaving in September. They were sixteen months apart, and had been together since Everett was born. So, to Everett, Harry was his brother. He understood that he wasn't biologically his brother, and that was the reason they had different last names.

They were at Flourish & Blotts when someone tapped on Harry's shoulder.

"It is you," a young Hermione said. She leaned toward him. "You're a wizard?"

"I am." Harry looked thoroughly surprised at seeing the girl he'd played with at the park once in a while over the years here in Diagon Alley.

"Have you always known?"

"Uh, yeah," he said. "My mum was muggleborn, but other than trips with Leandra, I haven't spent much time with muggles."

"Hello, Mrs. Snape," her younger self said.

"Hello, Hermione. It's nice to see you today. You remember my other children, Everett and Catherine, of course. And this is my husband, Professor Snape. He'll be your potions professor at Hogwarts. Severus, this is Hermione Granger. We end up at the same park sometimes."

"Isn't it incredible? I just want to read everything. This is our second time here because I read everything we bought the first time."

Yes, she remembered that. She was lucky her parents were willing to indulge her thirst for knowledge because a couple of the books she'd had them buy for her on this second trip were not inexpensive.

XvXvXv

Severus' lips thinned as he eyed first her and then her younger self. She glared at him and he shook his head, offering the younger version of her his hand. How … bizarre.

"You are muggleborn, I take it, Miss Granger?" He had no else what exactly to say to the witch.

"I am."

"But you know my wife and children?"

"We frequented the same park as the Grangers," she said. Again. She knew full well he'd heard her a moment ago. He was trying to put it all together. How long had they been frequenting the park this version of his wife went to? How well did his children know this girl?

"Ah," he said, nodding. He was certain his eyes told her very clearly that he was curious why he was just learning of this today, meeting the younger version of his wife.

He did note something, though, and he wondered what it meant. He remembered the first time he'd met this witch.

His version of the witch.

His wife.

He'd … felt something wash through him. A familiarity. Recognition.

That wasn't there today.

There was something there, but it wasn't the same.

Interesting.

You feel nothing?

They'd talked about this over the years. They were soul mates. And while people believed someone could have more than one soul mate. They were marked for one another. Severus had worried twofold.

Would this Hermione, the one embarking on her Hogwarts education this year, 1991, not find her soul mate because he had accepted his bond with his Hermione? Did that mean she was … destined to be alone? Or not in a relationship like he had with his wife? That made him sad.

Would he still be marked for her? His Hermione came to his time in 1981, so after her birth. So, presumably the soul mark was already there. As if he knew. He couldn't recall when he noticed his for the first time, but he obviously wasn't a baby. Was he to be a … bigamist? That didn't agree with him on many levels. He had come to discover over the past ten years that there was a good reason he had a soul mate he shared a mark with. He was very much a one woman man.

I do not feel what I felt with you that first day at my house, no. I'm not going to say I feel nothing, but it's not the same.

Interesting.

He knew she would find it as intriguing as he did. Did the mark go away? Clearly it hadn't, or he would feel nothing. It made him somewhat … sad that she had a mark and wouldn't find him. And yet, she likely wouldn't ever know what the mark was or that she was meant for someone. It wasn't a subject Hogwarts taught or touched on. There was no need to. He hoped she would be able to find someone worthwhile. Someone he knew she deserved. Lord knew there were days he still didn't think he deserved her.

You didn't do something, did you?

"I would have told you if I had, Dear," she said, kissing his cheek.

Likely she would have, but he honestly had no idea what went through her mind sometimes. She hadn't told him he'd been seeing herself and her mother for years.

Harry, Everett, and Hermione went off on their own.

"You really felt nothing?" she asked. Catherine was too young to truly grasp what they might be talking about. Still, she knew to be careful.

"I did, but no. It's been ten years, I realize, but I felt something even before we touched. There was definitely a spark of recognition with her, but she didn't react so it might have just been me assuming it would be there."

"I can't say I did," she said with a slight shrug. He knew what she meant. She hadn't known or felt anything.

"Nor would I expect you to have, given your age when we first met. However, he told you he knew you were there, correct?"

"He did."

"So that tells me I would feel something more deeply than what I just experienced if her mark recognized mine."

"Agreed."

She bit her lower lip.

"She will be fine. She will find someone."

"I know," she said. She kissed Catherine, pressing her cheek against the top of their daughter's head.

"Would you like to meet your in-laws?"

He sputtered. Did he? Not really. Should he? Probably so, since it seemed his wife had weasled her way into their life in a roundabout way.

"What's going through your mind?"

"Oh, nothing crazy. Just seeing if they wanted to join us at Florean Fortescue's."

"I would be amenable to that. They get along," he said, glancing at the three children.

"They do."

"You never mentioned …"

She shrugged. "You tell me every single thing you do with them?"

"Well, no." Of course he didn't, nor had she ever asked him to account for his time. He did plenty with the three children without her. The four of them and one-on-one as well.

"It wasn't a daily or even a weekly thing. We just went there. I thought it would help her," she said, gesturing to her younger self. "I didn't want her to be completely alone and loathed. The memories I shared didn't do my first couple of months here justice."

He huffed, glancing at the three children who were looking at various books.

"Well, go see if she and her parents want to get ice cream with us."

"You'll be nice?"

Catherine laughed then. "Daddy's always nice."

"Mm," his wife said, kissing the top of her head. "Usually. You have her wrapped around your finger, don't you?"

"I do at that. You'll do well to remember that, Madam. I will in fact take her from you so that you can see about interest from the Grangers and round up the boys."

He took Catherine from her, watching Harry and Hermione. Everett didn't seem to be contributing much to the conversation, more observing his brother and young Hermione as they looked at various volumes. It didn't sound as if Harry was bookish his first go around, but with the influence of Hermione and Severus, he was now. A thought occurred to him just then. Harry really hadn't had many … friends until now. He and Draco were contemporaries, and knew of one another. They'd visited the Weasley's home at the Burrow on several occasions over the years, so he was associated with the Weasley children. Harry had spent the night a couple of times.

At their house.

He got along with all of the Weasley children, so inviting one to stay with him seemed somewhat … cruel. Molly and Arthur didn't seem to mind the extra mouth to feed, and had even taken Everett with them when they were attending a quidditch match or something. (Severus and Hermione gave them money, of course.)

So, the idea of … sleepovers being at the Snape home hadn't occurred to him.

Until now.

"Merlin, is she going to want to stay over at our home?"

"Oh, well now, I hadn't thought of that," his wife said. "I think that'd be a wonderful idea."

"I'm not sure wonderful is the word I'd use to describe it."

She smiled then, patting Catherine's hair a bit before heading in the direction of the two future first years and their son.

And his wife's parents.

Merlin, what would they think if she wrote home complaining about him? That wouldn't do. He'd never in over ten years of teaching cared what a student's parents thought of him.

Too strict?

People, even experienced potioners, could die but because it was plants and a cauldron people didn't always understand it came with danger.

He pinched the bridge of his nose, shaking his head slightly. His daughter seemed to take that as an invitation to kiss his temple.

"Thank you, Catherine."

If there was anything that could get him to stop fretting, it was his daughter's softness. Her kindness. She didn't understand what Daddy was thinking about, but knew that he was, and went out of her way to be loving. Even at the age of five it was clear she was an empath. He had no doubt she would do wonderful things as a witch.

NOTE: Happy Sunday! Thank you for reading along! I hope you have a great start to your week, and enjoy the Super Bowl if that's your thing! I don't care who wins, as long as it's a good game.