The Scientist

Time passed, as it has a habit of doing. They were married three Christmases after their first kiss, and they were almost a family two more Christmases after that.



Severus always adored Hermione, but he found her especially appealing when she was carrying his children. Her temper became erratic, and he found she could curse like a navvy. In addition, she would cry at the silliest thing, and turn to him for comfort and reassurance at inopportune times of the day. His fifth year students had become quite used to Mrs Snape knocking tentatively on the classroom door and being comforted by a softly spoken Professor Snape, who would then stroke her hair softly and usher her out of the room, before turning and glaring as if daring any of them to comment.



But her skin glowed and her hair became thick and lustrous, and her hormones made her as eager for him as he was for her at the end of each day. And her stomach would swell softly, and move of its own accord. Bath time became an event, and they would wait with baited breath for a foot to wriggle or kick, and laugh as ripples cascaded across the surface of the bath water.



When Hermione thought he wasn’t looking, she would softly rub her stomach and hum lightly to the baby, and Severus would smile and allow tears to fill his eyes as he watched her.





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St Mungo’s was well used to mothers in the midst of childbirth. The extra-powerful Silencing Charms around each room was a testament to that. What St Mungo’s was not accustomed to was Severus Snape, Expectant Father.



He paced, naturally. And he insisted on being in the same room as Hermione at all times.



‘My child is being born, and you will let me in,’ he had murmured silkily, his voice giving away the veiled ire that lurked beneath. No one had tried to argue with him afterwards, nor at any of the subsequent Snape births. But he did have a habit of getting in the way.



During a break in contractions, Hermione had held her hand out to Severus and pulled him to her side, murmuring that she needed him to stay with her, stroke her brow and hold her hand. Severus had nodded, his lips pursed tightly together as if he was unable to speak, and did exactly as she instructed him. When his back had turned, Hermione had caught the eye of the nearest Medi-witch and winked at her.



After what seemed to both Hermione and Severus to be a terribly long time, combined with a series of frantic pushes and screams of exertion, Hermione gave birth to her first child and provided Severus with an heir.



Caleb Sebastian Snape was born with a shock of black hair that sat in a small curled mop in the middle of his crown, and his eyes, when he finally opened them, were the darkest shade of brown that looked almost black. He hadn’t cried at first, when he had been placed in his father’s waiting arms. They had surveyed each other seriously, until a large shudder had wracked through Severus’s chest and a teardrop had fallen from his nose and landed on Caleb’s cheek. The baby had wriggled and whimpered, and years later Hermione would curse Severus around the dungeons when Caleb refused to shower, and would blame his father for her son’s aversion to water.



They went on to produce three further children, all girls. Ceris arrived two years after Caleb, and the two siblings grew close over the years. Her poker-straight, chestnut coloured hair was a stark contrast to Caleb’s black curls, and on first glance no one would have thought them to be brother and sister. However, if anyone had looked closely at their eyes, there would be no mistaking the family resemblance. And no one would doubt that they belonged to the Snape family.



The youngest two were a happy surprise, and had arrived together but a few minutes apart. Hermione had gasped in shock at being told during her labour that a second baby was on its way. Carly and Ciara were like two peas in a pod, with curly chestnut hair and tiny, button noses. As they got older, Severus would mutter that they were like a pair of mini-Hermione, running around the dungeons and causing mayhem in his lab. Then he would chase them and catch them, and revel in their laughter as his long, slender fingers tickled them into submission, watched by a laughing Hermione who was so proud of her beautiful family.





******



The most poignant day for the Snape family was when they moved from Hogwarts.



They had expanded the dungeons as much as they possibly could to accommodate their growing family, but although Severus and Hermione put it off for as long as they could, necessity decreed that they needed more space, and a more normal life for the children.



Severus had decided that the move needed to happen before Caleb’s eleventh birthday, so that he could arrive at Hogwarts with the rest of the first years as a normal student. Reluctantly, Hermione had agreed, and after a short period of frantic house hunting, they finally found a home on the outskirts of Hogsmede. It was close enough to the village to be convenient, and far enough away that students visiting for Hogsmede weekends wouldn’t pass the house. With a little expansion, and some tasteful interior design, they had moved into their own home as a proper family. On the first night, Severus and Hermione had sat on their new, squashy, cream sofa, and listened to the children running into each other’s bedrooms and giggling amongst themselves.



‘How are you feeling?’ he had asked her, and threaded his fingers through hers.



‘Like I have come home,’ she had said. She had raised her eyes to the ceiling and smiled broadly at the sound of her children.



Later that night, after they had christened their new bed, Severus had thanked the gods over and over for bringing Hermione to him.



‘I’m glad I found you, too,’ she had mumbled into her pillow, and the bed had shook with Severus’s laughter at his wife’s unconscious use of Legillimency as she fell asleep







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Sorry for the delay..... and I know, most babies are born with blue eyes which then go darker, but this is magic...and artistic licence!