Princes in Exile

You all are great hanging in there and waiting for the updates! Finally home and getting over my disappointment with Deathly Hallows!

thanks to everyone for your wonderful reviews and encouragement.


the next update will be MUCH longer, so it will be awhile after that for the one to follow it, thanks

marti

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The girls chatted in the backseat about the kittens they’d chosen as their pets, leaving their father to quietly ruminate about the confrontation at the Burrow. He was sure that if he hadn’t been a father, he’d have been able to shoot the Weasleys down with no problem. But he was a father, the father of their biological granddaughter, and he was able to understand how they felt.

Now he had to talk to his wife and reopen wounds he’d hoped never to hurt her with again.

“Daddy, Miss Marcus said we can get our kittens after Labor Day.” Emily’s voice cut into his thoughts. He smiled into the rearview mirror.

“I suppose you can. You should ask you mum about those kittens. They’re very special.”

“Are they magical kittens? Do they do spells?”

“You know, Emily, of my children, I’m sure that my former students would know you to be my daughter, especially with that attitude. No, they don’t do spells. They’re just magical. Some disappear at will; some have a sense of people’s personalities. A rare few can actually communicate with their owners. Marian’s pets are only part Kneazle, so they’re not quite as talented as their pureblooded ancestors.”

“Neezle? That’s what they’re called?” Jennifer leaned forward and rested her arms on the back of the passenger seat. “And we can get two?”

“If you go to Hogwarts, a cat would be a good pet for you. If your mother approves, of course.”

“Well, I’m going to Hogwarts. I’m going to be a proper witch.”

“A proper pain in the butt, you mean,” Jennifer teased her younger sister. Emily growled and hit the older girl on the arm. It quickly turned into a scuffle in the backseat and Toby had to pull over and separate the two girls.

“Not another word from either of you until we’re home. Then you are to spend your time in your room. No radio. No computer. No television. I don’t know what’s gotten into the two of you today.”

“It’s the moon.” Emily broke the silence order. Her father glared at her over his shoulder as he buckled himself back into his seat. She smiled at him innocently.

“Sometimes I think you’re older than you really are, Emily Jane. Hush now.”

The rest of the drive home only took ten minutes. The girls remained silent while they marched into the house and up to their room. Mina was sitting in her rocking chair, cross stitching when Toby entered and dropped a kiss on her forehead.

“Why the silent treatment?”

“They were fighting on the way home. Emily is very much a teenager waiting to happen. She reminds me of Potter!”

“Toby! She’s just like you. I can’ imagine you tormenting everyone with your scathing tongue in school. I imagine you got a few days of detention yourself because of it.”

“A few.” He grinned at her then brushed her unruly hair from her eyes. “Did you sleep at all?”

“A little while. I dreamt about that day and I couldn’t return to sleep. Serenity is in the playroom and the twins are still on our bed.”

“Would you like me to brew you something?” He was worried. He didn’t want her to have to go through it all over again, so many years later.

“I’ll be fine. I promise. How’s Marian?”

“The potion I brewed for her is working. Minerva should have received my owl, and… I visited the Burrow. I talked with Arthur and Molly. Potter was there. He has a son.”

“You went there?” Mina paled and she pulled her sweater tighter to her chest. She started taking deep breaths to fortify herself.

“I thought it best to confront them and state our position before one of them shows up on our doorstep.” Toby knelt in front of his wife and pushed her forgotten needlework aside so he could take her chilled hands into his own. “I’d never have done it if I thought it would hurt you or Jennifer. I told them that I’d talk with you about meeting them, just the two of them. Meeting the entire clan would be too much and raise too many questions I believe.”

“I’m not sure I’m strong enough, Toby,” she whispered back. He brushed her cheek with his lips and pulled away.

“I know you are. I’ll always be there for you, you know that. But, Wizarding law is different. If Jenna wants to go to Hogwarts she, and we, have to abide by those laws. And they don’t care whether Jennifer has been raised by me. He’s the one who is considered her father, according to their law. And we can’t deny the girls their heritage now that they know they’re witches, love.”

“I wish Minerva hadn’t sent that damn invitation!”

“Me too. I love you, Mina Prince. Don’t ever forget that.”

“I know. Harry and Ginny have a little boy?” She sniffled and wiped her eyes, smiling at the thought of her childhood friend as a father.

“Yes. Not even a month old, it looks like. Ugly, like his father, of cou—ow!” he laughed when she slapped his hand lightly. “Brian James is his name and he pissed all over his father’s face when I came through the floo. There must be more of his mother in him luckily.”

“You are so mean, Tobias!”

“You know how I feel about Potter. It won’t change just because I’ve been away from him for a dozen years. Hell, it’s probably the reason why I’ve been so nice: lack of Harry Potter around.”

“It’ll be nice to see him again. I did miss him a great deal.”

“I too. Much like I’ve missed the dank moldiness of the school dungeons.”

“Ha-ha. Harry got christened by the baby, really?”

“I saw it myself. It was a high point of my day, actually. Feeling better, love?” he asked when he saw her smile.

“Yes. Instead of a potion, maybe you could give me one of your famous body massages?”

“I would be honored to, my lady.” He leaned forward and kissed her hands. “What are you working on now?”

“The Serenity Prayer sampler I started last summer. I thought I’d try and finish it now that the twins are bigger.”

“Do you want me to leave you alone?”

“No. Why don’t you get a book and we’ll relax before we head into town?”

Toby nodded his head in agreement. “Jennifer and Emily chose their kittens from the new litter. They’re part Kneazle.”

“We did promise them pets, didn’t we?”

“And they remembered, of course.”

The rest of the afternoon followed the pattern of their earlier afternoons since moving to America. For a few hours, they forgot about their problems while their daughters came in and joined them. It was an average afternoon for the family.

~!~!~!~!~!

Toby rubbed the bridge of his nose and counted to ten in German in his attempt to ease his headache. The girls had wanted to go to the pizza place with the giant rat, but he’d talked them out of it, so instead they were at another popular pizza place in town. The girls were trying to talk over each other in an attempt to gain as much attention as possible. Or maybe they knew it drove their father nuts.

There were times in this life that he wished he could return to his Snape persona, the feared evil Potions master that made First Years quake and faint. This was one of those few times.

“Must the lot of you be so bloody loud?” he grumbled as he cut Milana’s pizza as she said it was too hot to hold. The other four girls weren’t having a problem but who was he to argue with a three year old?

“But, Daddy, it’s the new Maroon 5 song!” Jennifer practically bounced in her chair as she sang to the music piping overhead into the room. It was yet another source of his headache. He wondered if the proprietor would appreciate him hexing the sound system, then thought better of it. He had Tylenol and a pain potion at home in the medicine chest. A night out with his family was rare and he decided to grit his teeth and bear the pain for them.

“I’ll never understand prepubescent girls.”

“You better start figuring it out, mister. ‘Cause you’ve got five.”

“I taught for twenty years and still couldn’t figure them out, Mina love.” He smirked across the table. “That’s what Mums are for.”

“Thanks. What do you do? Scare away possible boyfriends?”

Mina laughed as his face paled even more. He hadn’t thought of any of his daughters actually dating! They were his little girls; he couldn’t see them boys.

“They’ll go to all-girls schools then.”

Emily and Jennifer chorused their mother with a resounding ‘no!’

A tugging on his sleep had him looking down at Milana, pizza sauce smeared across her cheeks. She frowned at him and brushed some of her hair from her eyes.

“Daddy, I gots to go potty.”

“Me too!” Marika, never one to let her twin do something alone, followed suite.

“I’ll take them, Daddy. I have to go anyway.” Jennifer stood up and extended her hands to her youngest sisters, leading them around tables to the lavoratory.

They passed so close to him when they went to the bathroom. He had to push back against the wall in the corner. The emergency exit was always a good place to hide Disillusioned, no matter where he went. The family looked so happy, so normal. He couldn’t wait to make them bleed; watch Hermione writhe in anguish as her children suffered for her misdeeds. Snape would die first; he’d make sure to cut his throat and bathe in his blood. He snarled and began to breathe deeply through his nose to calm himself. It wouldn’t do to bring attention to himself in this bastion of Muggles. Narrowing his eyes, he watched the family and gripped his wand tightly. He wanted to cast an Unforgivable or two, but there were too many Muggles. Their deaths would be hard to cover up.

The middle girl was looking at his corner, staring as if she could see him. He moved to the left and her eyes followed. The silent one could see through the Disillusionment spell. He grinned cruelly: she would be the first to die, the first of their children they got to watch fall to his hands. There was no other way; he couldn’t afford to have her telling them about his visits. With a ‘pop’ that went unnoticed in the loud restaurant, he Apparated away.