Elydree Malfoy Snape was sorted into Ravenclaw on Monday. On Tuesday her father put the fear of Merlin at his most terrifying into every boy in Hogwarts for even thinking about approaching his young, yet undeniably beautiful daughter. He made it doubly clear to the Slytherin boys that Elydree was thirteen and completely off limits until she was at least 50. Harry took care of warning the boys in Gryffindor about treating his new sister with respect. Draco just hexed anyone he thought was looking cross-eyed at Elydree and wound up serving, at his father's request, detention for a week with Professor 'Mutt' Black.

Snape and Lyrica's adoption of Elydree wasn't smooth. There was the problem of having to prove that she was the legitimate child of Lucius and Narcissa Malfoy first. Pensieved memories weren't accepted in this matter by the Wizarding Children's Services. They required the brewing of a Paternity Potion. It was a potion that Snape could brew with his eyes closed, unfortunately, as he was the prospective adoptive father, he was not allowed to come near the potion, much less brew it.

The Paternity Potion took a week to brew. On a Friday afternoon Snape took Draco and Elydree to the Ministry and to the Department of Wizarding Children's Services. They were promptly met by the bright-eyed, orange-haired Emily Zanthera who had assisted in the circumstances leading up to Draco's adoption.

"Good afternoon, Professor." She glanced appraisingly at Draco. "Well, young man, you seem to be thriving under your father's influence."

"I am, ma'am," he agreed with a polite nod.

"And this young lady is Elydree Malfoy?" As she'd been instructed the other night by Lyrica, she curtsied slightly, according to wizarding customs of etiquette.

"I am, ma'am." Elydree glanced back over her shoulder at Snape and he nodded in approval at her conduct. "But I'll be Elydree Malfoy Snape. Draco will be restoring the Malfoy family honor."

Emily smiled at the teenager, since they were almost the same height. "Well, that's... that's quite good." She crooked her finger in a beckoning motion. "Come along with me. We had a fellow from the Potions Research & Development Department kindly brew the Paternity Potion for us. Geoffrey Jones. He'll be supervising the final addition of familial matter to the potion."

Emily Zanthera led them deeper into the Wizarding Childrens Services offices, past a maze of cluttered desks and cubicles until they arrived at a cramped lab where a skinny, partially bald man sat at a work table looking over a potion.

"Mr. Jones," greeted Emily. "I'd like you to meet Professor Severus Snape, Draco Malfoy, and Elydree Malfoy who is eager to become Elydree Malfoy Snape."

Jones rose swiftly, came around the table and bowed towards Snape. He only acknowledged the children with a slight nod. "Master Snape! It is so good to meet you. I've collected everyone of your articles since leaving Canada. I'd dearly like to discuss your theory on the efficacy of the Antwerp Orange Seed over the more mundane Muggle Blood Orange Seed in Nutrition Potions. I've been work..."

"Mr. Jones!" Emily asserted over the man's enthusiasm. "If you don't mind? The Paternity Potion?"

"Oh! Oh yes. Do forgive me." He just barely caught the polite, but slightly aggrieved nod from the Potions Master. "Children, over here. Come, come. Right there." He pointed to two stools. "Sit, if you will?" He gathered a few tools and phials. "I am going to need a strand of hair from each of you with the root intact." A charmed a pair of tweezers set about collecting hair. Rapidly a long strand of black hair was first yanked from Elydree's scalp and then a blonde one from Draco's scalp. "Right hands. Up, please? Thank you." As he proceeded to collect drops of blood from each, he received an annoyed 'ouch' from each teenager.

Snape stepped over to the work table to watch as Jones added the hairs and blood to the Paternity Potion. Jones then raised the heat under the cauldron and smiled when the colorless mixture swirled and smoothed into a pale, creamy blue. Snape eyed the man critically. The potion's colour and texture were acceptable, legally, but Snape's own exacting standards would have demanded a more precise texture that was like spun silk and a colour that was more sky blue. Jones grimaced and then blushed at the older wizard's expression towards his potion. He then sniffed audibly.

"They both had the same parents," Jones concluded.

Emily Zanthera breathed a sigh of relief. "Wonderful! Mr. Jones, if you'd bottle a sample for evidence, please?" She waved the teenagers over to the door of the lab. "Now that's done, let's get the adoption paperwork ready for finalisation, why don't we?"

By the end of the first week of March Elydree Malfoy Snape was an official part of Severus Snape's amazing, growing family.

"No more adoptions," Snape paused in the midst of grading the potion samples from his fourth level classes. His proclamation startled Lyrica out of her drowsy relaxation in front of the fireplace.

"Are you sure you wouldn't like to adopt Sirius and Remus as brothers, my dear," she teased. "Oh, and Minerva would make for a wonderful big sister. And what about Vincent and Gregory?"

"Watch your tongue, harridan, or I'll be certain to keep you barefoot and pregnant for the next ten years!" he snapped with a faint smile at his lips.

One of the oddest turns since the war was officially ended had been when the retired Head of Gryffindor House became the legal guardian for Vincent Crabbe and Gregory Goyle. With so many Death Eaters either receiving the Socrates Potion, or getting life sentences, many such mixed families were coming to the surface.

"Severus? I've been thinking..." she began.

"Oh? I'm not certain that's wise," he nudged verbally.

"Don't be a git, Severus. Put down those potions and come sit with me." She scowled darkly over the back of the sofa at her husband.

Snape was wary of that particular scowl. It had prefaced a few of their most recent, and volatile arguments. Lyrica was generally an even-tempered soul, but gravid as she was, the changing hormones had slipped her temper into a more dramatic edge. After taking an inkwell to the temple a few nights ago, Snape had learned to put up a discrete shield when entering into the one sided arguments.

Putting aside the potions, he made his way over to his wife, picked up her feet from the sofa and sat down. He draped Lyrica's legs over his lap and began to massage her sore feet.

As Lyrica sighed at the welcome attention, he asked, "So tell me what's been on your mind of late."

"Ashmere. I was considering selling it since King Henry seems to have migrated to Billeghdonn Manor and you're expanding your lab."

"Do you have a reason for selling Ashmere?"

Lyrica shrugged. "We live at Hogwarts, so two manors just seems a bit excessive. Doesn't it?"

"Three manors," he corrected, somewhat smugly.

Lyrica stiffened and opened one eye to catch the smug look on her husband's face. "We have three manors? What's the third one?"

"I did mention that Billeghdonn wasn't the home I grew up in. The manor at Spinner's End, which belonged to my father, is the third manor we have."

"Why haven't we ever visited, then?" she asked with curiosity.

"Well, after we married I considered selling it. I haven't been to the manor since the death of my mother. It was badly rundown, and at the time, the neighborhood was going to hell. There's been a recent revitalisation of properties in that area, though, so I hired a Muggle construction company to work on the house."

"And you never told me?" she glared narrowly.

Snape leaned slightly away from his wife. "I saw no reason to, my dear. I have no desire to live there again, but with the refurbishing, I wasn't quite certain what to do with the house. Then, I thought of giving it to Harry and Draco when the question came up of all the Malfoy assets being seized."

"But wasn't only Malfoy Manor was taken."

"It has been and it had to be done. Lucius had that house filled with his collection of Dark Arts books and objects, and he'd also set hundreds of Dark traps. The dungeons were pure treachery. It was just far too dangerous for Draco to keep. And, Lucius' personal Gringotts account was seized as well."

"Victim Compensation Fund," she stated, though it was partly a question. "I don't recall Draco having put up a fuss over that loss. Did he?"

"Not a bit. He knew where most of that gold came from and wanted nothing to do with it. There were three other houses, none of which Draco had ever seen and those were seized as well. Narcissa had enough of an estate that Lucius never had access to which has left Draco very well off. He and I have been working on the paperwork to sell the house in Paris, though. Under the circumstances, he wants nothing to do with it. There was a cottage that Lucius bought Narcissa as a wedding gift in Wales that I think ought to make a very nice home for Draco and Hermione someday; should they choose to live there. Otherwise, they can sell that, too, and live wherever they wish."

"So, have you decided to give Harry the house in Spinner's End?"

"I have. It's in a Muggle/Wizarding community and the park where Lily and I used to play is still behind it. I see no reason that he and Luna couldn't raise a family there. Has that boy, yet, decided what he's going to do when he finishes school?" Snape suddenly asked.

"We talked about that while you and Draco were in America. He and Luna were driving me insane as they went back and forth on their plans. Everything from traveling around the world, like tramps, to writing children's stories." She sighed and laid her head against Snape's chest.

"Did they settle upon anything?" he inquired.

"I think so. Luna definitely wants to write children's stories and she's going to talk to Elly about illustrating them. They've already begun working on one and Luna tells me that they may have it ready by the middle of summer to submit to a publisher. Harry thinks he may like to become a veterinarian for magical creatures."

"A veterinarian?" Snape's eyebrow rose upward fractionally. "Wherever did that come from?"

"He did some research on Nagas and from there he looked up information about other magical creatures. He's been doing this since summer." Lyrica smirked a little at the obvious expression on her husband's face as he realised he'd never known of this independant research. "He's been talking to Hagrid and surprisingly, Hagrid suggested that Harry intern for a month, this summer, at the Herriott/Scamander Fantastic Beast Preserve in Yorkshire."

"He's setting himself up for a great deal of work. No less than O's in Potions, Charms, and Care of Magical Creatures. Not to mention a one year's apprentice in Potions centering on healing potions and then the Care of Magical Creatures apprenticeship is four years of practical and theoretical healing magic," he mused. "He is aware of this, isn't he?"

"Oh, he is. He's been revising very diligently in those subjects and I sent a letter to Phidouris Scott, the head of the intern program, requesting a spot in their internship for Harry. I ought to have an answer in a day or two."

"Hagrid will not take Harry on as an apprentice," he muttered.

"Harry has already asked if Hagrid could, but I explained to him that Hagrid is not a Master, despite his skill. Mr. Herriott hasn't taken on an apprentice in a decade. I was hoping that should Harry do well with his internship this summer, that his father might use a bit of influence and speak to the distinguished veterinarian."

Snape gathered his wife to his side and tipped up Lyrica's chin to kiss her. At first she was startled by the kiss, but then she melted into it, returning it. When he withdrew he smiled softly and stroked her cheek with his fingertips. "You are a wonderful mother."

"Does that mean I should keep Ashmere?" she asked, a glittering tease in her sea-green eyes.

Snape squeezed her shoulders tightly, and rolled his eyes. "Yes! You should keep Ashmere, you single minded woman."

Lyrica let out a delighted laugh that was suddenly cut off. Her eyes widened. "Uh oh."

"Lyrica?" he asked in alarm. "What is it?"

"Severus? It's time!"