Coming Home

Disclaimer: Not mine, JK Rowling owns this stuff!!!

A/N: To my lovely readers:

MoMalfoy: Yes, we have a giddy Snape. What shall we ever do?!?!?


In the next few weeks, he did not do a very good job hiding his joy. When Hermione would go about the castle, everywhere she heard rumors and wild accusations among the students as to what had happened to their potions master. She chuckled.

October and November came and with it brought chilling winds and rain, lots of rain. Everyone at Hogwarts was miserable with the conditions. They stayed cold and damp, and there was a larger than usual outbreak of the flu. Most of Slytherin house was out of class for a week with it. Hermione carefully cared for the children with the virus, and made sure she washed her hands and didn’t touch her face. She didn’t want to be pregnant and also have the flu.

She and Severus had traveled to London to tell her parents at the end of October. They were both very reserved yet happy for the couple. They also warmed up very nicely to the excited Severus.

On December the first, the snow started. It covered everything in a beautiful white blanket. That night, Severus brought in a parchment that he was to hang in the Slytherin common room. He seemed to be a bit down.

“What is it love?” Hermione asked as she took him his absinthe.

“Yule ball,” he answered handing her the parchment.

She smiled at him. “Ahhh…” was her only response.

Snape sat for a long time looking at that piece of parchment. Hermione could tell he was struggling with something, and it had to do with the ball. She took her cup of tea and sat next to her husband. “If you stare at it much longer, you might burn a hole through it.”

Severus sat back and sighed. He turned to his wife and declared. “You know we have to go, don’t you. I’m head of Slytherin house, and it’s mandatory that I be there.”

Hermione gave a light hearted chuckle at his despair. “You’re worried about the students seeing you and your pregnant wife, are you?”

“Not seeing you, Love. I do not know what they will say.”

Hermione laid her hand on his arm. “You know I don’t have to go.”

Severus blanched. “Not go? Why on earth would you not go? I couldn’t imagine you being down here in the dungeons all alone on Yule!”

“Severus, I don’t think that you should worry about what the students say. Have you heard what the rumors are?”

He raised an eyebrow at her question. “What do you mean?”

She couldn’t suppress a giggle when she realized that he’d not heard anything that the students had been saying. She cleared her throat. “Well, it seems that you have been replaced by an alien. You’ve taken the wrong potion. You’ve smelled too many potion fumes. And, my favorite, Dumbledore has you under the Imperious Curse.”

Severus couldn’t help but laugh at the absurdity of the statements. “Is that what they are saying? Ha!”

“Maybe you should dispel the myth that you are under a curse at the Yule ball.”

Severus grinned at his wife. “I think you are right. We will have to go to Diagon Alley and buy new dress robes.”

She smiled at him and agreed. In the state she was in, she’d never be able to fit into the gown she already had.

In the coming weeks, it was becoming more apparent that Hermione was having a baby. Her uniforms were getting tighter and her clothes didn’t fit. She was going to have to sit with Ronnie and tell him about his new sister. Severus came in from his office and Hermione told him that Ronnie needed to be told. He got the boy as she went to the couch and sat down.

“Hi Mum! Uncle Severus said you had to tell me something.”

“I do Hon. Come, sit in my lap.”

Severus handed the little boy to his mom. “Red, what would you think of one day having a sister?”

He pondered that question for a moment, and then his eyes lit up. “Is she coming today?”

Hermione was flabbergasted at his question. “What do you mean love?”

The little boy grinned that Weasley grin. “I heard Aunt Ginny and Aunt Luna talking about it when I stayed with them. That and I’ve been having a dream about a girl who said she’s my sister.”

Hermione looked at Severus. “Really?” she asked.

“Yep! I call her Sophie. She’s really nice. And, she really pretty too!”

Hermione looked at Severus and motioned for him to go get a quill and parchment. “Well, Ronnie, you are going to have a sister. She’ll be here in June.”

Ronnie scrunched up his face and looked at his mother. “She’ll be here on May the 28th.”

“Why do you say that, dear?” Hermione asked looking very mystified.

“She told me in my dream that was her birthday.”

“Oh,” Hermione answered. “Well, your Uncle Severus and I just wanted you to know so you can think about what big brothers do for their little sisters.”

“Ok,” the little boy said as he hopped down from his mothers lap.

When he was out of ear shot, Hermione looked at Severus. “Ok, first, a four year old isn’t supposed to keep secrets. Second, the fact that he’s having dream about a little girl scares me. Is there seer blood in your family?”

Severus thought back to his family history. He envisioned his family tree tapestry and if there was anything that noted seer blood on it. “I do not think so, but then, I’m not on my family tree anymore.”

“Well,” Hermione said, “I don’t think there’s any in the Weasley family either. Wait, did you say you aren’t on your family tree anymore? How does that work?”

Severus stared into the hearth fire for a long moment. “Have you not wondered why none of my family was at our wedding, or why we haven’t told them about the newest Snape on the way?”

Hermione nodded.

“Well, here’s what happened. I was in seventh year, here, and coming from a pure-blood family who’d been in Slytherin for generations, my parents expected me to be more... ah... discerning about who I dated. There was a particular Gryffindor whom I had an interest in. I made the mistake of meeting her at the Hogs Head in Hogsmeade one weekend. We had a butterbeer, and she dumped me for James,” he spat bitterly.

“I digress. My cousin was there, and he saw us. Well, he knew that she was Muggle born, and he told my father. I got a howler the next day telling me that I was not a Snape and that I’d better not ever come back to the Manor. Needless to say, not only was I humiliated, but I was devastated. That one incident caused me to take the mark.”

Hermione sat there unable to form any words. Her mind was blank. He’d taken the mark because his family freaked out over him dating, of all people, Lilly Evans. She looked at him with pity in her eyes. “Well,” she said curtly, “you don’t have to worry about any of that now, do you. You have a family and an almost perfect life.”

He smiled sadly at her, “Yes, I do.”