The Seduction Game

Disclaimer: All of the Harry Potter characters and the Harry Potter universe belongs to J.K. Rowling/Warnerbros. I am making no money.

Guess what – here we are, and it’s as far as we are going to go! Some of you might hate me for it, but check out the author’s notes at the end and perhaps a few questions will be answered... Anyway, enjoy the epilogue!

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EPILOGUE: WIND OF CHANGE

In the time following Hermione’s announcement of her pregnancy, there was a lot happening. First of all, the Odd Couple (which their friends had now begun referring to them as) really patched things up between them and spent their time nurturing their relationship.

Then they spent their time nurturing the inevitable swell of Hermione’s stomach.

Because although it scared the shit out of them both, the thought of a child was still one they simply couldn’t reject. Hermione wanted a child with Severus, and Severus wanted a child with Hermione. And now here it was, as handy as you like.

Severus, being one who never gave up a chance to express his common sense, easily reasoned with it by pointing out that the probability of him being a father was such a small one that once offered, he couldn’t turn it down. Fate, obviously, wanted it this way.

And Hermione... Well, obviously it was difficult for her. She still wanted to finish her studies and achieve all that which she’d yearned to achieve ever since she first sat foot on the Hogwarts Express at the age of eleven. How to do that with a child?

And yet... She wanted one. And there was more than that – she wanted one with Severus. He’d opened up a whole new world to her, and despite the somewhat inevitable insecurities and challenges of this world, Hermione was determined to spend her life in it. She needed Severus.

And she did want this child.

She hadn’t ever wanted a child, really... Not just any child. But now – well, this was his. And that was somehow different.

Severus felt it similar. He’d never wanted a child. But now, he wanted a child with Hermione. It was that simple. And he knew it would be challenging, and he knew he would be a rough father to deal with, but he felt certain he could handle it. He would have Hermione there, after all, and she would help him.

So. The real question is then: Did they love each other?

It is difficult to answer. In a way, their relationship had not reached such a stage yet that endless, devoted love could be declared. Still too many skeletons lurked in the closets. But they were closing in on loving one another, and that was something.

And still there was, of course, the certainty of wanting to spend their lives together. That too had to count for something, and would surely help boost them over whatever challenges they would come across in their developing relationship.

And things would be alright. In many ways, they already were.

--

“Father?”

No reaction.

“Father?”

Still no reaction, and the aging father sat as though immovable with his head and hair hanging over the many scrolls of parchment as though nothing in this world existed save for those works of writing.

“FATHER!”

This time, Severus glanced up and caught sight of his second born bouncing up and down by the left leg of his beautiful, old mahogany desk.

He raised an eyebrow.

“What is it?”

“There’s somebody at the door.”

Severus blinked, hesitating for a second.

“What?” he said. “And you have left them waiting there while running off trying to get my attention?”

“I didn’t know if you wanted me to invite them in or not.”

Severus snorted, getting to his feet and mumbling as he made his way out into the hall, “Didn’t know if she wanted me to invite them in... Honestly, what sort of a house are we running here – Lupin!”

He had reached the front door and was standing face to face with the old werewolf.

“Severus,” smiled Lupin. “May I come in? Rennae wasn’t too sure if it was a good idea.”

“Father doesn’t like you, see,” said Rennae from behind Severus’s hip.

“Thank you, Rennae, for your discrete announcement,” said Severus, stepping aside to let Lupin enter.

“It’s alright, I kind of already knew it,” grinned Lupin and took a seat by the kitchen table. “So. What is new, Severus?”

“New? Is there anything new? Since the holidays started I have been longing for a bit of peace and distance, especially from that school and as such especially from one of my colleagues – you – and yet here you are, at my door. What can I do for you, Lupin?”

Lupin grinned, ignoring Severus’ rather obvious comments. “Where’s Hermione?”

“At a conference,” replied Severus, taking a seat. “She should be back this afternoon.”

“And how are the little ones?”

“I’m fine,” said a voice from by the kitchen bench. The top of Rennae’s small, bushy-black head stuck up from behind it.

“Glad to hear it,” said Lupin, smiling. “And... the other one?”

“Maybelle is spending a week at her friend Jenny’s,” replied Severus. “They know each other from school, apparently.”

The werewolf was staring intently at him for a few seconds at this comment.

“What?” demanded Severus then. “Do you – what?”

“It is kind of in regards to that that I am here,” said Lupin, fighting to hold back yet another grin. “Do you know who Jenny’s neighbours are?”

“No. I have no idea where she lives. Why?”

“Well, they have an adopted son... A good friend of Jenny’s, he is.”

“Adopted – what the bloody hell are you telling me?” demanded Severus, his temper rising as the facts slowly dawned upon him. “Not that adopted son?”

“The very same,” said Lupin. “I almost feel like I’m betraying a friend here, but I know you would like to know that Gemino has taken an interest in your firstborn. Besides, Harry begged me not to tell you simply because the thought amuses him.”

“Well, it does not amuse me!” snarled Severus. “My oldest daughter playing house with the son of Potter and Draco Malfoy is not something I take lightly!” He paused. “And Potter begged you not to tell me, did he?” Another pause. “Oh, his son is dead. As is he, come to think of it.”

He got to his feet, but did not move as the sound of Lupin laughing caught his ear.

“Oh, come now, Severus,” the werewolf smiled, getting to his feet as well and touching Severus’s shoulder with a friendly pat. “They’re kids! I was only joking; Gemino wouldn’t ever do anything to harm May, you know that. I bet they’re just friends, like Gemino and Jenny are. Don’t get so rounded up.”

“I know very well what a son brought up by those two can turn into, Lupin,” hissed Severus. “And I do not find it amusing. Now if you will excuse me, I am going to bring my daughter home.”

“Whatever for?” said a third voice, a feminine one.

Hermione stood in the doorway.

“Hermione,” smiled Lupin.

“Remus,” smiled Hermione, and there was a quick, friendly embrace.

Severus did not like it – nor had he the time for it.

“What’s all the fuss about, Severus?” asked Hermione, stepping over to him and pulling him down for a quick, discrete kiss. “Were you alright on your own?”

“Mum!” bellowed Rennae suddenly, running from the living room and into Hermione’s arms, nearly knocking her mother over in the process.

“Easy there,” smiled Hermione and hugged her back.

Severus’s temper was seriously rising.

“Hermione,” he said to catch her attention. “We need to bring Maybelle home. Now.”

“Whatever for?” asked Hermione, putting her bags out of the way. “She loves it at Jenny’s. She told me so.”

Severus snorted. Yes, I bet she does.

“That untrustworthy son of your friend, Gemino, has begun drooling all over our oldest daughter whenever she’s over there. They are neighbours, apparently.”

“Yes, I know.”

“You know?”

“I know where Jenny lives, and I know where Harry lives. What did you expect?”

“Well, then – obviously you realize, as I do, that Maybelle needs to be brought back home.”

He was rushing again, reaching for his cloak and preparing to leave.

“Severus?”

Her kind, beautiful voice made him hesitate yet again.

“What?”

“She’s sixteen. Let her have her fun.”

“She can have as much fun as she wants, back here with us where we can see her.”

Lupin was laughing.

Hermione smiled and approached the father of her two daughters. “Honestly, Severus... She’s old enough to talk to boys without you hanging over her shoulder. Let her have some fun, please? You know she hates you being so overprotective.”

“I am being sufficiently protective,” he argued, but his heart wasn’t in it. He had to try a different tactic. “I would not mind, if only – if it wasn’t for that boy!”

“Gemino is a decent boy,” said Hermione calmly. “You can’t judge him by his parents.”

“I can.”

Lupin was clutching the bench to steady himself now. Rennae stared at him, wide-eyed.

“Severus.” Hermione reached up and touched his cheek, gently. “Please. She’s growing up. Don’t be a mother hen.”

“A mother hen –!”

“Severus?”

He sighed. “Alright. Point taken. But I do wish she would tell us these things.”

“She will, I guess. When she wants to... But honestly, the way you’re acting I can understand why she hesitates. You go running after every boy who takes a second glance at her with your wand held high, darling.”

“Don’t exaggerate. Although I shall admit I like to be protective.”

Hermione smiled. “You’ll just have to learn to calm down. Remember you’ll have to go through this all over again when Rennae hits puberty, and she takes after you and will be a lot more difficult to deal with than May is.”

Severus sighed and fell into the chair next to Lupin’s again. Hermione was of course, as always, right.

“Well,” said Lupin then, standing from his chair and wiping tears of laughter from his eyes, “my work here is done. I’ll leave you to it.”

“You seriously came just to provoke Severus?” asked Hermione with a slightly irritated frown.

“No,” smiled Lupin. “I came to tell him about Gemino’s crush on May. It wasn’t really meant to be provocative; I really thought he would want to know. I know he really trusts Harry and Draco, after all,” he added with a grin.

Severus gave a wry smile.

As soon as Lupin had left and Rennae had retreated back into the living room, there was a thorough embrace between Hermione and Severus that they had pointedly postponed until the leave of the werewolf was official. Severus still, after sixteen years, wasn’t too happy with expressing his feelings too strongly in front of other people. And Hermione, who loved him, respected that.

Come to think of it – he loved her too, obviously.


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A/N: Oh my. Okay, it’s inevitable, we’re going to have a serious bit of author’s notes here... First of all, obviously, thanks to my dearest beta JessiokaFroka, who seriously helps me along the path to understandable English and in general makes the story understandable whenever my brain stops turning.

Now, this is more or less the end, as you may have realized. And I know I left out tons of things – things like the developments of their relationship, the experiences of parenthood and well, the works. But I kind of feel like most other stories where the two of them have children have already covered that bit. And, in all honesty, this story’s plot was kind of no longer there, seeing as how one third of the love triangle we started out with is in Azkaban, and the two remaining parts live happily together with two children... Which was always my plan, by the way – the two girls. I’ve always wanted to see Severus with two daughters. No sons, just daughters. Yeah!

And I guess some of you might be a bit disappointed. I mean, it’s a bit of a sudden ending, and I bet a few of you still have questions you’d like to have answered... (I’ll be happy to answer them in my LiveJournal, by the way, seeing as how there’ll be no more chapters in which to answer them – my LiveJournal username is missgrill. :) Hopefully you’re more or less satisfied with the story – and if you’re not, well, I’ll just have to write it all over again. ;) Oh, that shouldn’t take too much time, I figure.

Anyway, I figured if I was going to continue “Seduction” at this point, I would really need to create a whole new plot. And that just didn’t seem right. :) So here we are, and I hope you’ve survived my senseless babble. By the way, did you notice that I did reveal Draco’s boyfriend in the end? I bet some expected it, but hey – there’s life for you. And I absolutely adore the idea of the two of them adopting a boy, by the way.

Now I\'ll stop rambling on... But anyway, I figure in short time I\'ll start publishing my other fanfic here - so far that one\'s only been on fanfiction.net and Ashwinder.. Another SS/HG, but a lot more angsty than this one.

Thanks so much to all the readers/reviewers who\'s followed me throughout \"Seduction\"! Adore you all... :)