The Potions Master's Baby

Chapter 22: Epilogue: The Answer to A Happy Life





Take a witch desperate to be a mother, a reclusive, contrary potions master and meddlesome old ghost, mix them up and what do you get?









On New Years Eve at the stroke of midnight Severus Snape stood in the large window of his quarters kissing Hermione Granger passionately in the moonlight. Their daughter, sound asleep in her room oblivious to the passionate, tender moment shared between her parents. As he kissed her he slid his hand down her arm and slowly inched a diamond and emerald ring onto her finger.





She tore her lips from his and lifted her hand into the light, staring at the exquisite piece in awe. Tears began to shimmer in her eyes and he clasped her chin and turned her head so she was looking at him.





“Marry me?” He asked quietly, his nerves were on edge, his stomach fluttering in anticipation. Never had he thought to utter those words, to ask a woman to bind herself to him for all their days. He was terrified and praying she wouldn’t find him unworthy.







“Really?” She sobbed. She didn’t think he would marry her, figured that she would have to be content with a committed relationship from him without his name.







“Really. Please say you will marry me and make me the happiest wizard alive?” His voice was hoarse and quiet and edged with desperation.







“Of course I will.” She answered, lifting her lips back to his and proceeding to make love to him in the moonlight.









Summer……





On a warm July afternoon Hermione Granger married Severus Snape in the gardens behind Hogwarts. It was a simple affair with only a few friends and the people they considered family present. They exchanged their vows holding their daughter between them, making vows to her as well as to each other. Hermione and Eve wore matching white linen sundresses with roses in their hair and to everyone’s surprise Severus was also dressed more casually in trousers and a linen shirt, his hair pulled back with a black ribbon.









It was a ceremony suited to the quiet couple. The words they shared were poignant and filled with love; even though their guests complained that they weren’t able to hear them. The Snape’s were unapologetic as the words were meant for each other and it was only necessary for the other to hear.





A large white tent was erected and a feast was served within. It was during the toasts when the castle spirits made their way onto the grounds to wish the couple well.







“Severus, my boy, I always knew that you were meant for something better.” Albus said. He would have placed his hand comfortingly on his shoulder but it would slide straight through and the living often became disconcerted with physical contact from the dead.







“Yes, well you always seem to know everything, don’t you?” Severus rolled his eyes and took another drink of his wine.







“Don’t get your hackles up my boy, you should be grateful! If it wasn’t for me….” Albus trailed off when he realized he was talking way too much.







“If it wasn’t for you what?” Severus asked, his eyes narrowing. Albus looked around franticly, all eyes were on him.







“Its water under the bridge now, it all turned out for the best….you have a beautiful child and a wife who loves you. Who cares how it all came about?” He said, slowly moving backwards.







“Albus, once and for all, did you have anything to do with….you did!” Severus grit his teeth and growled in frustration. If Hermione hadn’t laid her hand on his arm he would have probably tried to hex the ghost. “You had no right to play with our lives that way. What if it hadn’t gone well? What if we had ended up hating each other?”







“That was never going to happen, Severus. You were meant to be.”







“You didn’t know that!” He snapped.







“I did, you didn’t know that. Thus the reason I had to intervene to make you see.” Albus said smugly. “Now, if you will excuse me there are other lives that need my help.”







Hermione was certain she would have seen his eyes twinkling when Severus cursed him as he evaporated from sight.







“Don’t be too hard on him, Severus. It worked out in the end.” Hermione said softly as she slid into her husband’s lap.







“That old fool causes me nothing but trouble.” He grouched.







“Look at it this way; if he hadn’t interfered we wouldn’t have Eve.” Severus looked over to where his daughter sat in the grass with James Potter sharing a piece of wedding cake.







“That is true. I guess I can forgive him, but only because of her.” He said, grinning slightly.







“Well if it makes you feel any better Albus is over there bothering Richie with Luna.” Hermione laughed, pointing towards her friend.







“Richie can’t stand Luna, he told me so, several times.” Severus smirked.







“Albus always seems to know.” Hermione grinned, watching as Richie tried to extricate himself from the airy blonde.





Severus couldn’t take his eyes off of the woman in his arms. She was his entire world and he couldn’t imagine a life without her. She brought light where there was none, love where he believed none could exist. She had helped him become the man he was meant to be, had shown him how to love unselfishly. She had given him the gift of a family and put her trust in him, she believed in him.







“Well he hasn’t gotten it wrong so far, maybe there is something to the old coots meddling after all.”

















Thirteen years later…













Severus Snape shoved open the headmistresses door with a scowl and stared at his daughter. She was standing in the center of the room with a smirk on her pretty lips as she faced the headmistress of the school.







“Severus, thank you for coming so quickly.” Minerva said with an exasperated sigh.







“I was between classes. What seems to be the trouble?” He asked, eyeing his daughter.







“Eve.” Minerva said simply, shaking her head at the incorrigible girl. Never had a child been more suited to Slytherin than Eve Snape. The girl was wickedly intelligent, cunning and sly. She was a frightening mixture of both her parents.







Severus wondered just what his little girl had gotten up to now. She seemed to always be in trouble, much like her mother when she was a girl. He was rather surprised not to see James Potter around as they tended to get into their trouble together.







“What is it she is alleged to have done, Headmistress?” Severus asked. Minerva scowled at him.







“Alleged?” She pulled a cover from a small cage and showed him the bright yellow and black badger sitting in it. “Your daughter transfigured Scorpius Malfoy into a Hufflepuff Badger.”





“So transfigure him back.” Severus said to Minerva.





“I would, but your daughter has figured out a way to weave her magical signature into her spells so that they can only be undone by her.” Minerva said tightly. “Clever girl you have there, Severus.”







Severus felt his lips twitch and he held back his laughter. He had taught her that, Hermione would kill him if she knew, it was bordering on being dark magic. With his stoic mask firmly in place he addressed his daughter.





“Eve…”







“Yes, Daddy?” She asked, smiling up at him. He felt his stomach knot the way it always did when she called him daddy. He was terrible at disciplining his daughter, he couldn’t do it, he felt horrible when he had to punish her and usually ended up trying to make it up to her later without her mother finding out.







“Eve, why is Mr. Malfoy in a cage?” He asked.







“Because he and Thad Knott were picking on Rex and Albus.” She said, her eyes narrowing. “No one picks on my little brother and cousin.”







Severus was torn, on one hand she was defending her little brother and cousin, but on the other hand she had transfigured a fellow student and that was against school rules.







“Evie, you need to transfigure him back.” Severus said sternly.







“But, Daddy….”







“No ‘but daddy’, transfigure him back.” He said. He watched as she reluctantly withdrew her wand and pointed it at the badger that was now out of his cage. With a whispered spell the creature changed back into the pointy faced blond boy who was sputtering in the middle of the headmistress’s desk.







Minerva immediately sent Scorpius to the hospital wing to be checked over and the turned her attention back to the Snapes.







“Severus, I am leaving her punishment to you. I expect you to actually punish her for her behavior.” Minerva said, shaking a long bony finger at Severus.







“Of course, Headmistress.” He said. “Evie, come with me.” He said, addressing his daughter with a firm tone and a scowl.







“Yes, Daddy.” Eve followed him from the office, her head bowed as though she were ashamed and feared her punishment. Really it was to hide the smirk on her face. When they were clear of the headmistress’s office she lifted her head and skipped up to walk alongside her father. “Are you mad at me?”





Severus looked over at her and shook his head. She really was a frightening mix of her parents. She had Hermione’s exuberance for life and wit, but she also had her father’s rather dark nature and sadistic tendencies. She was a brilliant witch, she could work a spell and brew a potion like a master, she had even created a few of her own though she only revealed that little fact to her father. She was sorted into Slytherin but Severus could also see the Gryffindor side of her in the way she protected her younger brother Rex and her baby sister Ella.







“No, Evie, I am not mad at you. It was a rather clever spell if I am honest, but you did break a school rule and since you were caught doing it I have no choice now but to punish you.” He said shaking his head.







“Are you going to tell Mum? I don’t want her to get upset, Daddy; she will start crying…you know how she gets when she’s this pregnant.” Eve said, rolling her eyes.







“I don’t have a choice; if you don’t want your mother finding out about you breaking school rules then don’t get caught.” He said. “As it stands you will serve detention with me over the next three nights.”





“Doing what?” She asked, hoping he wouldn’t make her scrub cauldrons or clean his creature jars. He looked down at her and his heart was so full of love for her that he had to smile.





“You can help me figure out what to get your mother for our anniversary. Maybe we will take a little shopping trip.” He said, putting his arm around her and pulling her against his side for a quick hug. He could never actually punish her. He couldn’t bring himself to punish any of his children. Hermione found it ridiculous given that when she was a student he had no trouble issuing detentions or taking house points. He told her it was because he had no feelings for her then. If she were to get in trouble now he would have a hard time punishing her, though he would take great delight in paddling her bottom if she wished to test the theory. He never dreamed that this would be his life. Husband, teacher, father of 3 with one more on the way, he never knew it was possible for a man to be so happy.







And he would have none of it if it weren’t for a desperate witch and a meddlesome old ghost.

















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Thank you all so much for reading. I know it was fluffy and gooey (that seems wrong on many levels as Sperm was a major player in this story) but I needed to write it. It battered around inside my head for a year, sat in my notebook for ages….I knew this Lumione fic was coming and I knew that the subject matter of the story would be rough so I decided to write something a little more lighthearted to counter the angst of the lumione (Ill begin posting it on Sunday). I appreciate the fact that you guys read and reviewed. I know not every plot appeals to every reader, but you read anyhow and I know that whether you like the particular story or not you are still going to read it and let me now how it’s going. Thank you for that, your loyalty is amazing. =) So thank you. I will be speaking with you all again soon when the lumione goes up!!!! Happy Reading and Happy Writing to you all!!!!