Life and Its Mysteries

Chapter 11

The elevator stopped on the seventh floor with a ‘Ding’ sound. As soon as the door opened, Hermione exited, and walked down the hall to her apartment. She was carrying a duffel bag on one shoulder and in one of her jean pockets, was the vial that she had asked from Severus.

“Guess who’s home?” Hermione asked aloud as she walked into her apartment, setting her bag down on the floor.

“Mummy!” Tobi yelled happily as he jumped up from the floor, leaving his little potions set on the living room floor. The little Batman cape that he was wearing was billowing behind him. Right away, he ran to the open arms of his mother, and jumped into them as she carried him.

Hermione kissed Tobi’s cheek again and again as she hugged him tightly. “I missed you,” she told him as she pulled away and looked at him. “Did you miss Mummy?”

Tobi nodded his little head. “Beth and I make fart potion,” he said, pointing to Beth who remained seated on the living room floor.

Hermione looked at Beth and smiled, as the younger woman smiled back at her. “And who will drink the potion?” she asked.

“Beth!” Tobi replied bursting into a fit of giggles.

Most of the time, he forced Beth to drink his potions. Of course, none of them were harmful. They were simple and prank potions. It was Hermione that taught Beth how to brew most of them, so that she could help out Tobi when she was not around.

“He asked me if we could brew a diarrhea potion earlier,” Beth said as she stood up. She smirked at Tobi, knowing that little glint in his eye. “He even got hold of my wand and wet my hair in green slime.” She was never able to punish him though. She knew that he meant no harm and was just playing around. He truly was a Slytherin.

“Funny Mummy! Funny it was,” Tobi laughed.

“I’ll go and do the laundry, and start cooking dinner,” Beth said, walking away through the kitchen.

“Can Mummy help you with your fart potion?” Hermione asked as she walked further into the living room.

“I want poo-poo potion,” Tobi asked.

“Oh, I think not,” Hermione said firmly as she set him down on the floor. She then sat herself down on the floor, leaning back against the couch. “I have a surprise for you.”

With a joyful clapping of his hands, Tobi sat himself down on his mother’s lap, looking up at her. He loved surprises, knowing that she brought him something new as always when she returned from a long trip.

Hermione reached into her pocket and pulled out the vial. She was very surprised when she pulled out the letter as well. For the briefest moment, though it only lasted minutes, she had forgotten everything—her problems and work. She pushed them aside in her head, setting the letter on the coffee table in fornt of her and raised the vial up in front of Tobi’s little glowing face.

“A vial,” Tobi said as he took it from Hermione. He then noticed the snake right away that coiled around it. “A snake vial!”

“That’s right.”

“I like snakes!”

Hermione smiled. “Do you know who gave that vial to you?”

“You,” Tobi answered.

Hermione shook her head. “Your Daddy gave you that vial,” she told him. She then turned the vial and showed Tobi the SS initials. Also, she accioed a picture frame from the mantle of the fireplace, and showed it to Tobi. “Do you remember his name?”

“Sevrs… Snape.”

“And what does he do?”

“Potions master.”

“The best potions master there is,” Hermione said.

Tobi shook his head. “No he’s not.”

Hermione frowned. There was no other potions master that Tobi knew of. “And who is the best potions master?”

“Me!” Tobi shouted.

Hermione laughed. She had no doubts that her son would become a potions master just like Severus when he grew up. Tobi’s interest in potions had come at a very young age. Hermione even noticed that he was far more intelligent than that of his peers in his preschool. His grades were the highest in his class. His intelligence genes were a combination of hers and Severus’s, which made him very smart. And magically, he surely was going to be a powerful wizard.

“This my favorite and bestest vial Mummy,” Tobi exclaimed.

“What about your green vials? You don’t like them anymore?”

Tobi shook his head. “This I like,” he said looking at the vial as if it was his most prized toy, which it probably was. “Does Daddy love me?”

Hermione froze in shock at the question Tobi had asked. They had talked about him in the past, yes, but never had he asked a question such as that. “Of course he does Tobi,” she answered, after thinking about what to say for a few seconds. “Why do you ask?”

“He no come play… brew with me,” Tobi replied with a small voice. Already, there was a hint of sadness in it.

“He’s just really busy with work Pumpkin.” She couldn’t hurt Tobi, and tell him the truth. In her heart, she knew that Severus would love him, if he did know about Tobi. However, things were different and complicated, and she didn’t want that for Tobi.

“When Uncle Bill come over?” Tobi asked. “Me want to play baseball.”

“Soon,” Hermione answered as she ruffled his black hair.

For almost anyone in New York, they were Yankee fans. Playing baseball was just an add on. And that is what Tobi loved to do with Bill and her other teammates whenever possible. Sometimes, they even attended Yankee games, sitting up in the VIP boxes and rooms because of Dean.

Hermione’s attention was then too focused at Severus’s picture.

Tobi went off her lap and looked at the envelope curiously as he set his vial down on the table. He held it in his hand as he looked at his Mummy for a moment. Seeing that she didn’t say anything or see him, he started to peal and rip the envelope open with his small hands.

Hermione looked around for Tobi, gasping when she saw him holding the opened letter. “Tobias!” she shouted angrily as she grabbed it from him. “This isn’t yours! You know that you are not supposed to touch anything that isn’t yours!”

Tobi slightly jumped back as soon as Hermione shouted at him. He had never seen his Mummy so angry at him, and it scared him. His lips trembled slightly as tears started to form in his eyes.

When Hermione saw Tobi’s tears, and the way he looked at her in fear, the realization of that she just did hit her. She got angry at him for just opening a letter. He hadn’t really done anything bad. He had done a few things that were much worse in the past, but mostly, he was a well behaved boy.

Tobi took a step back when Hermione tried to reach for him.

“Tobias, come to Mummy,” Hermione told him with a soft voice, and a smile.

“Beth!” Tobi cried out loud as he ran towards the kitchen bawling his eyes out.

“Damn!” Hermione sighed as she pushed herself up on her feet. Without her cane, she limped towards the kitchen.

Inside the kitchen, Beth had Tobi in her arms, as she tried to comfort him. the little boy was crying into the crook of her neck, with his arms wrapped around it.

“Mummy’s so sorry pumpkin,” Hermione said as she stepped closer to them. “Come, let’s brew some potions.”

“No!” Tobi said shaking his head. “Me no like Mummy!” When he saw Hermione try to reach out to him, he moved away from her, shifting in Beth’s arms.

Hermione knew it was useless. Tobi wasn’t one to easily give in. He was just as stubborn as Hermione or Severus, or even more stubborn. “Bring him to his room, and calm him or something,” she told Beth. “I’ll cook dinner get it ready.”

Beth did as told, walking out of the kitchen. Tobi was still crying.

Hermione reached inside one of the cupboards next to the oven. She pulled out a pan, thinking about making macaroni and cheese with bacon bits. It was one of Tobi’s favorite dishes. She also decided to make a chocolate milkshake for him, chocolate being one of his weaknesses. Hopefully it was enough to not let him be mad at her anymore. She felt very guilty.

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“Dinner!” Hermione announced happily as she walked into Tobi’s room. She had a big bowl of macaroni and a tumbler of chocolate milkshake with two straws.

Tobi, who was reading a book along with Beth on his bed, dropped the book and crawled beneath his black Batman sheets. He didn’t want to look at his Mummy. He was mad at her, or more like afraid of her.

Beth returned the book up in the small bookshelf on one wall, and left the room.

“Tobs,” Hermione said softly as she set the bowl on the bed, while keeping a hold on the shake. She sat herself down on the floor and rested her chin on the side of the bed. Reaching for the sheets, she managed to slip them off Tobi with ease since he wasn’t holding them. “You won’t talk to Mummy?”

A small ‘Hmph’ came out from Tobi’s mouth as he moved farther from Hermione, leaning back against the wall. He scowled at her as his arms were crossed over his chest.

Hermione smiled at herself. Tobi’s scowl and actions made him look all the more like Severus, of course, in a cuter and adorable way. “I made your favorites. We’ll have to share it though.” She then drank a bit of the cool sweet drink, and said, “Yummy!”

Tobi raised a brow as he looked at his Mummy. The shake did look yummy indeed.

“Pumpkin, I’m sorry okay. I was the one that’s bad, not you.” Hermione took another sip of the shake and grinned at him. “Extra ice cream, and extra fudge.”

With a reluctant look on his face, Tobi finally gave in and crawled towards Hermione. His mouth quickly grabbed both straws as he sipped the chocolate shake.

Hermione moved, pulling Tobi to her slightly. “I’m sorry,” she told him again and kissed him on the cheek. “Can you forgive Mummy?”

Tobi replied with a slight nod, still sipping on the straw. When he was satisfied, he took the fork in his hand and fed himself some macaroni.

“What about me?” Hermione pouted.

Tobi giggled and then gave Hermione a fork full. “Yummy Mummy!”

The rest of the meal was eaten with laughs and giggles. Most of the time, it was Tobi that did most of the feeding for the both of them. Hermione on the other hand just kept her hands on the bowl and around the tumbler, making sure that they didn’t fall off the bed.

After dinner, Hermione read Tobi a bedtime story and tucked him in. She watched her son sleep silently for a while. He seemed so peaceful as he kept sucking on his thumb, an arm around Hank, his Yankee teddy bear.

Hermione turned to the nightstand, and was about to turn off the light, before something else caught her attention. There, right below the light, lay the vial that Tobi already had claimed as his favorite vial. Severus again came to her mind, as well as the letter.

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Hermione was seated on her bed, with her knee resting up on a pillow, wrapped in ice. In her shaky hand, she held the folded letter. The envelope of the letter was placed on the nightstand next to clock. She didn’t know how long she had been staring at the piece of paper, but knew that the time had come.

She unfolded the letter slowly, readying herself to read its contents.

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AN – Isn’t Tobi a cutie? Letter! Cliffy! Review!