This is a three chapter story. I wanted to have a couple of things explained and a new character added, before I began posting my longer fic at the beginning of next year.

I hope you enjoy.

Once again, I have to give thanks to the wonderful Selened and also June for being so kind, and looking this over for me.

These characters are not mine, they belong to JKR.


Chapter 1

It was a lovely summer morning, and Severus woke up to find a hawk tapping on his bedroom window. He looked at the bedside clock and noted it was eight o’clock. Knowing he should have been up already, he didn’t grumble too much. He tried to move slowly, as to not wake up his very pregnant wife. Hermione was due to have their second child, a daughter, in two weeks, and it was getting harder and harder for her to get any sleep. After managing to untangle himself without waking her, he let in a large hawk, he readily recognized as Lucius’. He took the scroll from his leg and sat down on the bed to read it.

Dear Severus:

I hope this note finds you and your family in good health. I was told by Draco just the other day that Hermione will be giving birth soon. I am very happy for you, truly I am.

With that said however, I wonder if it would be too much of an inconvenience to ask you what I am about to ask you.

As I am sure you recall, I have not visited my father’s home since he passed some fifteen years ago. I would like to settle my new family there, yet there is much cleaning, which needs to be done, and I’m not talking about dust.

There is darkness in that house, and I cannot dispel my father's evil on my own. I have asked Draco to help me, but I am in need of an expert in the Dark Arts. I will be eternally in your debt if you could assist me in this. I have consulted several volumes in my library, and as you will agree, this cleansing is best done before the first full moon of the summer solstice, which will occur in seven days.

Under your present circumstances, I will understand if you cannot accompany me. Please give me your answerer as soon as possible.

Best regards,
Lucius

Hermione had woken up and begun to read over his shoulder. He turned and nipped at her lips playfully. She smiled and wrapped her arms around his chest. He could feel her belly against his back, and felt the movement of their daughter.

“Where is this house?” she asked.

“It’s in Wiltshire actually, not far from our estate,” he turned and looked at her as he smiled, “You’ve seen it. Remember during the Christmas holidays, we were taking a carriage ride with your parents? You pointed out a rather imposing mansion covered with ivy?” She nodded. “That’s it.”

“It's not far at all, and fairly close to Draco.” She settled herself back against the headboard as Severus placed his head on her lap, and began to caress her belly with his hand.

“I’m glad he’s finally figured it out,” he said, looking up at her.

“Figured what out?” asked Hermione, as she ran her fingers through his hair.

“How wonderful it is to love, and be loved.” He smiled and kissed her round belly, then rose to kiss her lips. “I’m going to have to tell him I can’t help him though.”

“Why not?” she asked, as she moved to get out of bed.

“Hermione, I would have to leave immediately. It will take several days to clean that house of all the dark magic and what not. I can’t leave you just as you are almost ready to give birth.” Severus rose and helped her out of bed.

“Severus, my due date is still almost two weeks away. I’ll be fine. Besides, its not like I’ll be here alone. Poppy is here, and Albus, and Minerva, then there’s Harry and Pansy and…” Severus held his hands up.

“All right, all right,” he wrapped his arms around her waist, “It’s just, well, you have had a difficult time with this one. She has taken a lot out of you.” He stroked her hair and kissed her forehead.

“I’ll be fine, love. But I’ll miss you terribly. We haven’t been apart for longer than a few hours since we were married.” She squeezed him tightly, and then looked into his eyes. “At least I’ll have Raven, and Osiris and Crooks to keep me company.” He sighed. He wanted to be here for her, but she was right as usual. Her due date was far enough away that he knew he would be back in time. And she did have plenty of people who would look out for her while he was gone. He kissed her one last time, and then wrote a reply to Lucius.

Dear Lucius:

Thank you for the good wishes. I hope all is well with you and your family as well.

Hermione is not due until well after I have finish helping you with your father’s old house.

I will arrive at your home this morning, and we can go from there.

Until then, best regards,
Severus

Just two rooms away, Osiris noticed the large hawk flying past his window. He also noticed that it had a scroll attached to one of its legs, and then turned to Crookshanks.

“Did you see that?”

“Hmm,” answered Crookshanks, half asleep.

“That was Lucius’ hawk Odin. I wonder what’s going on?”

“Come away from the window and shut up. I’m trying to sleep.”

“Imagine that, you’re trying to sleep, it’s all you ever do. Come on, let's find out what Lucius wants.”

“I could give a rat’s ass what he wants, I want to sleep, and I’m tired.”

“Then you shouldn’t have stayed up so late watching ‘Animal House’ again,” he swatted Crookshanks and left. Four months prior, Harry had finally figured out how to charm a television and DVD player to play inside the castle. Since that time, practically all the professors in the castle had one. The first thing Severus did was to buy all of his favorite Bond films, as well as some of Hermione’s favorite romances. He also had a television and DVD player installed in Osiris and Crookshanks’ room as well. After that first night, though, he threatened to take it away from them unless they put a silencing spell in their room, since they had both stayed up the entire night watching movies.

Osiris flew out to the living room, where he found Severus dressed and having a cup of coffee.

“Was that Odin I saw earlier?” Severus looked up.

“Yes, Lucius needs my help with his father's home. He wants to move back to England, and we need to dispel the home of the dark magic.”

“That awful place? I get chills just thinking about it,” said Osiris, as his feathers ruffled.

“I know. I’m not looking forward to going, but he asked me to assist him, and he is one of my oldest friends.”

“Didn’t he try to kill you once?” asked Osiris with a slight tilt to his head.

“Yes, then I tried to kill him, then he tried to kill me, and it turned into a vicious cycle,” Severus said as he nodded.

“So I suppose you two are over trying to kill each other then?”

“Osiris, we haven’t tried to off each other in several years. Besides, that was before he turned against Voldemort. Much has changed for us both these past years.” He rose and looked around the room for his cloak. “There is no need to worry, trust me. Now, I want you and Crookshanks to look after Hermione and Raven. You know how difficult it is for her to get around, being so close to her due date, so don’t let her do anything strenuous, and make sure she rests. You know how to get a hold of Albus or Harry. If you need me, you know where I will be.”

He began to walk out the door, and then turned back to Osiris as Crookshanks joined him. “One more thing, I don’t want to hear any complaints about you two.” He closed the door, leaving the two looking at each other.

“You know what that means, don’t you?” asked Crookshanks.

“Yes, we have to stop getting caught.” answered Osiris.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Don't worry, Lucius is not trying to lure Severus into some dangerous scheme. I also hope you liked my addition of some modern day entertainment for our gang. It seems only natural that Hermione after being raised as a muggle would want some items in her life that are muggle.

Thank you for all the wonderful reviews. I appreciate your kind words. Just one more chapter after this. I told you this was going to be short.

Thanks to June and Selened for helping me out with the beta work.

I don't own these characters, they belong to JKR. Only Osiris belongs to me.

Chapter 2

Severus had been gone for five days now, and Hermione was missing him more than she had imagined she would. She stopped teaching her classes the week he had left, and was now sitting in their living room with several dozen unread books. As she picked one up, she decided she wanted some tea. She was about to call on a house elf, when Osiris came into the room.

“How are you feeling?” asked Osiris.

“I’m feeling like an overstuffed Christmas hen,” she answered, as she tried to get up.

“What do you need?” he had hopped onto the armrest of the couch, and touched her shoulder with his wing.

“I was going to send for some tea, but I think I’ll just make it myself.”

“Hermione, you’re a witch, just conjure up a damn cup of tea.”

“Osiris, I can’t just sit around doing nothing. I’ll go mad.” She managed to stand and walked to the small kitchen on the other side of the room. Osiris turned towards his room. He thought he heard the television come on. He flew in and found Crookshanks pawing at the remote control.

“Oh good, you're here. Do me a favor, put that movie in for me,” Crookshanks pointed to a DVD he managed to pull out. Osiris looked at it and shook his head.

“Crooks, you do realize that there are no cats in this movie, don’t you?" He looked at Crookshanks, “It's about some woman who pines for her husband, who doesn’t want anything to do with her, because he thinks she had an affair with his best friend, who killed himself after seeing her. Then of course there’s the overbearing father, and dopey mother. Of course you can’t leave out the brother, who even though he’s got the ugliest wife on the face of the earth, he can’t seem to keep his dick in his pants, because he’s got something like eight kids, and…”

“All right, all right, I get it, no cats. From the title, I thought it was a horror movie.” Osiris shook his head and placed the movie back in its place. They both went out into the living room, and joined Hermione, only to fall asleep as she sipped her tea and read her book. Hermione however, fell asleep before she got to the second chapter of her new book, only to be awakened abruptly by a slight pain, and a terribly wet feeling.

“Oh no!” she cried, as Osiris and Crookshanks woke up.

“What is it?” asked Crookshanks.

“My water just broke,” said Hermione as she looked at him. Just over six months ago, she and Severus discovered that Crookshanks was able to communicate with them, thanks to his bond with Osiris. Hermione found Osiris’ warning several months earlier to have been correct- sometimes she couldn’t get Crookshanks to shut up.

“Well, fix it!” said Osiris, as he looked onto the couch and floor, seeing small puddles of liquid.

“I can’t fix it, it’s time,” she panted, and grimaced as she felt another slight pain.

“Time? No, it can’t be time, you can’t, you have to wait,” said Crookshanks as he started running about.

“Tell that to the baby,”

“We have to stay calm. Crooks, go get Madam Pomfrey!”

“And how do you suggest I get her here? She can’t talk to me, stupid!” Crookshanks looked at Hermione, “Can she, does she know Legilimency?”

“No,” said Hermione as she panted, “I don’t think so.” She held her breath to try and keep the pain to a minimum. “Very few know that skill. Get Harry, or Albus.” She sat back against the couch and held her belly. “HURRY!” Crookshanks took off as fast as his four paws could take him. In the meantime, Osiris flew to the kitchen and turned on the hot water faucet with his beak. He then dipped a towel in the water and once it was soaked grasped it with his claws and flew back to Hermione

“Hot, hot, hot, hot,” he dropped the towel onto Hermione’s belly, only to have her scream.

“Aahh, Osiris, are you crazy, that’s scalding! Are you trying to kill me?” she yelled, as she threw the towel onto the floor.

“I saw it in a movie, they kept talking about towels and hot water,” he landed on top the coffee table, “It sounded like a good idea.” Hermione rolled her eyes.

“That’s just in movies. Oh, please, you need to keep track of my contractions,” she said, as she tried to lie down.

“What do I do?” he hopped onto the back of the couch and looked down at her.

“When I tell you to start, look at the clock and start timing, then stop when I tell you to stop. Depending on how far apart my contractions are, that’s how close I am to giving birth,” she then began the breathing exercises her mother had taught her.

“I can do that,” he looked at the clock, and wondered what was taking Crookshanks so long.

Crookshanks had gotten halfway up the stairs when he felt something drop over him. It was a net. Mr. Filch had decided he would find out once and for all, who kept playing tricks on Mrs. Norris. He would keep Crookshanks caged up for a while, and if nothing happened, then in his mind it would mean that the orange cat was behind all the pranks. The latest being that Mrs. Norris was walking around covered in, not fur, but daisies. He bound Crookshanks up in the net, and rolled him into a bundle, then hung him up on the coat hook behind his door. Filch left him there, and then left to see if he could find a cage over near Hagrid’s hut.

“Great, just great.” Crookshanks moaned. He hung with one hind paw hanging out of the net, and his head twisted in the wrong direction.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Just in case some of you were wondering, Crooks was trying to watch "Cat on a hot tin roof." Severus returns in the next chapter. And yes, Crooks can communicate with the others as well. If you read my last story, you'll see that during th epilogue, Severus was already starting to susptect Crooks had the ability to communicate with them.

This is the last chapter of this particular story. Thank you to all who have read and reviewed.

Thank you to Selened for dong the beta work.

These characters belong to JKR.


Chapter 3

“What could be taking them so long?” asked Hermione. “Osiris, go and see what’s happening,” she growled. Her contractions had rapidly started coming closer and closer. She had a feeling her new daughter was going to be as impatient as her father.

“I can’t leave you here alone,” Osiris said.

“You have no choice. Please, go find someone, anyone.” She tried to sit herself up, but was unable to.

He reluctantly flew out of the room and into the hallway. He knew Harry would probably be teaching his Charms class, so he flew there. Osiris would ask Harry to sit with Hermione, and then he would go ask Albus to fetch Madam Pomfrey.

As Osiris flew into the Charms classroom, Harry looked up. Knowing that Osiris’ true nature was to be kept a secret from most of the population, he did not say anything out loud. He had been told the only way to communicate with Snape’s cousin was through Legilimency, so Harry allowed himself to hear Osiris’ thoughts as the Animagus perched himself on the windowsill of the classroom and looked towards Harry.

“Harry, you have to come quick. Hermione is in labor, she needs someone to help her until Madam Pomfrey can get to her rooms!”

Harry looked at the class.

“Class, I’ve just remembered that I need to do something for the Headmaster. You are dismissed.” Harry walked quickly out of the classroom, and then down to the dungeons.

Osiris followed him, and then stopped just as he reached the bottom of the stairs. He thought he heard a thumping sound coming from the farthest end of the hall, where Mr. Filch had his room. Letting his curiosity get the better of him, he flew in that direction. He landed on the ground and put his head against the door from which he had heard the noises coming. He immediately heard a scraggly sounding meow. ‘I’d know that meow anywhere,’ he thought.

“Crooks, is that you?” he asked.

“Osiris, get me out of here! I think this crazy bastard is going to kill me!”

Osiris apparated into the room, then looked up.

“How the hell did he get a hold of you?” Osiris asked, as he flew up and began picking at the knot with his beak. He had a hard time untying the knot, since he couldn’t stop laughing.

“Obviously I wasn’t being my usually stealthy self. Will you stop laughing? This is quite uncomfortable.” Crookshanks started wiggling around, hoping it would make the knot come loose.

“Stop moving around! You’re making it harder!” said Osiris, with a beak full of rope.

“Can’t you spell something up? You’re supposed to be this amazing bird wizard, or so you keep boasting.”

“And what should I do? Maybe I should conjure up a pair of scissors, or perhaps a knife? Just how the hell would I hold it, moron?” He kept picking at the net, and then stopped. “Wait, I know. Deliquesco!" Instantly the net disappeared, and down went Crookshanks.

“Oomph!” Crookshanks spun himself around in mid-air, but the drop was too fast and he landed on his belly, “I don’t suppose a warning would have been too much to ask?”

“Sorry. I thought cats always landed on their feet, not ass akimbo and sprawled out on the floor.”

“Next time, let me know you’re going to do something before you do it? Especially if it means my coming into contact with hard surfaces,” Crookshanks complained as he shook himself off, then looked around the room. “Ugh! This place is horrible, it smells like…”

“Ass,” finished Osiris. “Come on, let’s get out of here before Filch gets back. We have to get Albus and fast!” Osiris hopped up on Crookshanks, then apparated the two of them out of the room and into the upper halls. As luck would have it, Albus was walking in their direction and immediately spotted them.

“I take it Hermione is in the midst of labor pains?” he asked, as he popped a lemon drop in his mouth.

“I don’t suppose you can tell me when this constipation of mine will let up? Is there anything that goes on inside this castle you don’t know about?” Osiris snarked at the Headmaster. Albus laughed, as he was quite used to Osiris’ charming personality. “Harry is with her.”

“I’ve already alerted Poppy, and I think perhaps you should go and bring Severus back,” said Albus as he smiled.

“Oh, I almost forgot about him. I’m off then. I’ll see you all in a bit.” Osiris flew off to the apparition point outside the Hogwarts castle. He re-appeared just outside the Snape estate in Wiltshire, and then flew off to search the area, hoping he remembered where the old Malfoy estate was. Than again, all he had to do was look for the creepiest old house in the area. He had visited the Malfoy house once with Severus, and he would never forget how badly he wanted to leave from the moment he stepped into it. Osiris could literally feel the evil coat every inch of his body. He shuddered a bit, as he remembered. He continued flying for several minutes until he spotted the Malfoy home. It seemed as though the work Severus had been helping Lucius with was effective, since the house did not look as old and filthy as it did the last time Osiris saw it.

Inside the house, Severus and Lucius were sitting in the library, drinking glasses of brandy. Draco had just gone home, having finished with his part of the cleaning. It had taken all of them five sixteen-hour days to finally get rid of all of the evil and dark magic, which had festered in the home for so many years. There was now an open feeling about the home; it felt fresh and new, and Lucius couldn’t wait to move in with his new family.

“I can’t thank you enough for all of your help. Draco and I would never have been able to do this ourselves in such a short time,” Lucius said as he sat back against his chair, looking over at Severus.

“I’m glad I could help. I’m happy to see you have left behind all that hate you had inside of you, Lucius,” Severus smiled and took a sip from his glass.

“I never expected to live through that war. I truly thought that I would have died on the battlefield, or worse, that the Dark Lord would have killed me,” Lucius said thoughtfully, “You were lucky to turn away when you did. You saved yourself many years of meaningless hate and torment.”

Severus shook his head. “It wasn’t luck, I just realized he was insane sooner than you did.”

As they both finished their drinks, Lucius spotted a black raven outside the window.

“Osiris is here,” Lucius said as he got up and opened the window.

Osiris’ true identity had been a secret for many years. But, after Severus and Hermione married, Osiris had asked Severus to tell a select few who he really was. Most of the population thought he was only a bird, but he felt he wanted to be part of the world again. He had asked Severus to inform those whom he considered to be friends and family. Much to his relief, he was accepted and treated as a normal person, who just happened to have been cursed to live as a bird for the rest of his life. The minute Lucius opened the window; Osiris hopped onto the windowsill and spared no time telling Severus, as delicately as he could, why he was there.

“Severus, Hermione’s about to pop any minute. You have to come now before she ruins the Oriental in the living room!!” he said, flapping his wings wildly.

“Is she all right? Did you leave her with Poppy?” Severus asked as he got up and walked towards Osiris.

“Harry was with her when I left, but Albus had sent for Poppy, so I’m guessing Hermione is being taken care of.”

“Lucius, I have to leave, Hermione is in labor,” Severus said as he grabbed Osiris and went to the fireplace.

“Yes, of course. We are finished here. Thank you, Severus. Please, let me know how everything goes.” Lucius bade him good-bye.

“Hogwarts, Severus Snape’s quarters!” Severus said as he grabbed a handful of floo powder. He was consumed by the flames, and re-appeared in the living room of his quarters. He stepped out of the fireplace, and looked around the room. Harry was sitting on the couch with Pansy, as she held little Raven. Albus was standing beside his desk and talking with Minerva, and Crookshanks was sitting on the coffee table.

“How is she?” asked Severus, as he put Osiris down on the table next to Crookshanks.

Albus walked up to him and placed his hand on Severus’ shoulder. “We have been waiting for you, dear boy. Hermione wanted you to be the first one to see your new daughter.” He patted Severus on the back and let him walk past him.

Severus walked to the bedroom, followed by Crookshanks and Osiris. He opened the door, and saw Hermione sitting up holding their daughter in her arms. She hadn’t noticed him coming in, until Poppy got up from her chair and moved towards the door. The mediwitch let herself out and closed the door, as Severus sat down next to Hermione on the bed.

“I missed you,” said Hermione, as she placed her hand softly against his cheek. He took hold of her hand and kissed her palm.

“Not as much as I missed you, love.” he leaned into her slightly and kissed her lips, then looked down at his daughter. The baby’s hair was dark brown, and he could see the beginnings of tiny curls; her eyes looked like they would be brown. “Hello, little one.” Severus traced her tiny face lightly with his finger, as she made cooing sounds. He then carefully took her small hands in his fingers and smiled.

“Isn’t she beautiful, Severus?” Hermione looked at Severus.

“She certainly is,” he said, as he stared at his daughter in awe.

“Looks like we won’t be getting much sleep for a while,” said Crookshanks.

“We? Who are you kidding? You could sleep through Armageddon,” answered Osiris.

“Well, darling wife, what shall we name her?” Severus was curious as to what his wife would come up with this time.

“How do you like the name, Katrina Saffron Snape?” She smiled, and noted Severus’ eyebrow arch up.

He turned and looked at Osiris and Crookshanks. “Raven and Kat. Why not?” said Severus, as he laughed.

The next morning, as Severus was walking to his first class, Albus approached him.

“Good morning, Severus. I trust Hermione and the baby are doing well this morning?” the Headmaster asked.

“Yes, thank you. They are both doing fine. Hermione is still a bit tired, so if you don’t mind, I’d like to take the afternoons off for the rest of the week. I don’t want her to tire herself out.”

“Yes, of course, that will be fine. I will take over your classes,” said Albus, as Severus walked past him. Just before Severus reached the stairs, Albus called to him, “By the way, Severus, you haven’t seen Mr. Filch this morning, have you?”

Severus shook his head.

“No, Albus, I have not. If you will excuse me.” He turned and walked towards the DADA classroom, not letting Albus see the smile that threatened to reveal itself.

As Albus turned and walked down the hall, he wondered where Mr. Filch had gone. He knew the caretaker wasn’t inside the castle, but could not imagine where the man could be.

It was several hours later that Hagrid found Mr. Filch, trapped in a net that was hanging off the branch of a large Elm tree. The caretaker had one leg dangling out of the net, and his head was turned in a very uncomfortable position. He claimed not to have seen his assailant. But, from that day on, he avoided Severus whenever possible. Mrs. Norris was never bothered again, and he saw little of Crookshanks and Osiris as well.

The previous night, after Severus found out that Crookshanks had been strung up on his way to get help for Hermione, he was livid, then decided he would teach Mr. Filch a lesson of his own. After all, nobody messed with his family. Severus did, however, forbid Osiris and Crookshanks from ever again going near Mrs. Norris; and he told them to find another pastime. Like annoying the Charms professor.


~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Deliquesco, means disappear in Latin.

I've got one more short story. Then I will begin posting the longer sequel.