"So, Tobias, how was your first day of classes?" asked Filus, taking a seat on the chair cattycorner to the muggle man sitting on the couch drinking a cup of tea. Classes were over for the day and a few of the teachers were gathered in the teacher's lounge because...that's what teachers do.

Tobias struggled to pull his eyes away from the highly caffeinated liquid swirling around in his cup to glare at the charms professor in a way that clearly said ‘what do you think?'.

Filus chuckled before replying in an amused yet contemplative voice. "Ahh...yes I remember my first day teaching."

Before Tobias could reply they were interrupted by the arrival of Minerva, who sat down in the arm chair opposite to Filus. "I hope Severus had a chance to restock the headache potions in the infirmary."

"Hhmmm..." Tobias replied with nothing even resembling an answer - not that either of the two other teachers noticed - as he wondered if Severus could develop a potion that worked on muggle headaches. Then again, he wasn't even sure if magical medicines worked on muggles or not. He'd have to remember to ask Severus latter.

For a wondrous moment, silence descended in the lounge and the three already flustered teachers basked in the quiet . . . until the door of the lounge swung open with a bang causing Filus to almost fall out of his chair and Minerva to go for her wand until she saw who had noisily disturbed the brief peace.

Severus half glided, half stalked into the lounge and headed straight for the ever-warm tea pot and poured himself a cup, then without cream or sugar gulped the whole cup in two swallows. He then refilled the cup added a small amount of sugar and cream before moving to stand next to the couch were his father was sitting.

"Hello, Severus, how was your day?" Tobias asked, mockingly polite, with a half smile.

"I. Hate. All fifth years...sir." Though said quietly, Severus kept his teeth clenched until he brought the cup of tea to his lips.

Tobias raised an eyebrow, but other then that didn't comment.

"Come now, Severus," Minerva began with a very feline predatory look in her eyes. "Surely now that your brother is in that class it must be better than previous years."

Severus tore his eyes away from his cup of tea long enough to glare at his former professor then turned his eyes to his father. In a much softer tone he addressed his father, respectfully. "May I speak to you after dinner tonight, sir?"

"Of course," Tobias responded immediately in an equally soft voice. As soon as he consented, Severus turned his face away from him before he could read anything in his expression. "How are the Weasley twins doing on their first day as apprentices?"

Severus took another sip of tea before responding in a completely neutral tone. The quicker he could get this over with the quicker he could get out of here. He had only come to the lounge to talk to his father anyway. "Surprisingly well. After giving the first years the usual speech I let them take over the class. They are surprisingly good teachers; nevertheless, I have to return to make sure they don't blow the place up in my absence." Without waiting for a reply he abruptly turned around, placed his cup on the counter, and left the lounge, much more calmly then how he entered.

Once Severus exited the lounge Minerva spoke up in a conversational tone. "I'm glad you're here Tobias. Now whenever something is bothering Severus and he acquires one of his moods he'll go speak with someone sooner and hopefully spare all of us the frustration."

"To true, Minerva," agreed Filus. "Honestly, Tobias, how did you put up with the boy's sulking about whenever something was bothering him?"

Tobias was actually rather surprised that anyone other than himself knew about how Severus acted when upset. In retrospect, he supposed he shouldn't be so surprised. After all, Severus had spent many years working with these people and many of them were his teachers when he was a student - they had had ample opportunity to observe the anti-social... sulk his son would go through before finally breaking down and telling someone what was wrong. "I learned quickly just to give him space and that all I could do was wait."

"Hhmmm" commented Minerva before taking a sip of her own tea. "What do you suppose the fifth years did to him this time?"

...........................

"Honestly, Harry," Hermione scolded once they were in the common room. "How did you manage to get a detention on the first day of classes?"

"You were there, ‘Mione, you saw what happened." Ron said as though she needed her head examined.

"I am aware that I was there, Ronald," Hermione turned a glare on him as they sat around the small table in the corner of the common room working on their schoolwork. "What I meant was, why did Harry antagonize him when he knew Professor Snape would give him detention?"

"I didn't know he'd give me detention," Harry snapped back, not pleased about the events that transpired in potions class. "I thought things would be different...he said they would be." Harry sounded sad as he said this, but quickly refocused his attention to the anger he felt at having, what he thought to be, an unjust detention.

"She's got a point though, mate. You did sort of bait him." Ron looked sympathetically at his friend for a moment before continuing. "I really don't want to be you, though, if your dad finds out about what happened."

Harry froze in the perusal of his Transfiguration notes. He hadn't thought about his dad's reaction. If his dad found out...with a groan Harry let his head fall to the table with a muffled thunk.

"I feel for ya' mate." Ron said sympathetically, clapping Harry on the shoulder.

Harry lifted his head long enough to glare at his friend before allowing it to drop to the table once more.

"You know, Harry," said Hermione thoughtfully.

"No, Hermione, I don't know, why don't you tell me?" Harry snapped.

Hermione ignored the interruption and continued on unfazed. "Perhaps if you apologize to your brother, he might not tell your dad."

Harry looked up at his friend with a look that clearly said ‘are you kidding me?' "Hermione, I'm not going to apologize to Severus for him being a git. Also, he's probably still angry and doesn't want to see me right now. Not to mention, he should be the one apologizing."

Hermione rolled her eyes and went back to studying, but not before mumbling an exasperated, "...male egos..."

............................

Fred and George had successfully cleaned up the...havoc the fourth years had created in the potions classroom and were now sitting at the desks talking while waiting for Professor Snape to come back. They were beginning to understand why he was so short tempered. All the fourth years had to do was make a simple stain removal potion and they had somehow managed to explode two caldrons, burn a hole through one table, and Fred's robes had gotten singed around the bottom. Hopefully, they thought, Snape had taken a claming draught while he was gone and was bringing them one as well, or this was going to be an incredibly long lesson.

The door opened and Severus stalked into the room and took a seat behind his desk, taking a moment to study the two boys in front of his desk. If he had to be honest, they had impressed him today. Sure he knew they were smarter then they let on but...they had obviously studied the books he gave them over the summer. Taking a deep breath, he addressed the twins in a low quiet voice. "I must say, I am impressed with how you handled the first years today.

"Now, as I told you before to become ‘Masters' you must pass a ministry administered exam. I have acquired a copy of last year's test, which I would like you to complete in the next hour. I don't expect you to do well on it, but it will give you an idea as to what you need to know and me an idea as to what you do know. Rest assured, however, we will go far beyond what's on the test." Severus pulled said tests out of his desk draw and briefly showed it to the twins before sitting it back down on his desk.

"I will also give you some background in muggle chemistry, which - as you should know from this summer..." Severus looked pointedly at the twins who grinned in return. "...allows for many variations in potions. Having said that..." Severus stood up with the tests in hand and walked over to them before handing them each a test. "You have one hour gentlemen."

Severus returned to his desk and began grading the summer essays that had been turned in today.

.....................................

A noise that might have been a whimper was heard in the darkest corner of the room. Time: that's all that was needed. In just a little more time and the mission would be complete.

Another sound emerged, this time one of hunger. But there was no time to eat now, despite the interruption of the last meal.

Someone was calling. The call must be obeyed. The pull was too strong to ignore, but without the dark, movement was impossible.

Soon, however, soon time would allow the satisfaction of ending an excruciating hunger, after the call was answered. . .

.....................................

Tobias waited in his quarters after dinner, anticipating the arrival of his oldest son. Sitting alone on his sitting room, he was overcome with a sadness that he had not felt in quite some time. After becoming so used to having someone with you, even if they were in another room, it was hard to become reacquainted with the silence of isolation. Not that he was truly isolated, but the small things that one never pays much attention to were gone. The sound of footsteps, or the scratching of a quill, or the turning of pages didn't act like music to comfort even when no comfort of needed.

A soft knock on the door brought him out of his musings and he turned as the door opened and Severus walked into the warm sitting room, taking a seat on the armchair angled towards the couch. The same one Harry had sat in the day before when they had discussed the upcoming school year.

Tobias remained silent waiting for Severus to make the next move, but Severus didn't seem obliged to do so at the moment.

The room remained silent for a moment longer before Severus cleared his throat and looked at his father. "Dad," he began before sighing and running a hand down his face when he continued he sounded tired, as though it was the only emotion he would allow to seep into his smooth voice. "I need to tell you something, but I can't do it now. I haven't worked it out quite yet. But that reason wasn't why I wished to speak with you."

"Then why did you want to speak with me?" Tobias asked curiously.

Severus looked at the fire but gave a half smirk and a self depreciating sort of smile before replying. "I can't tell you that anymore either, sir. I was going to, but the more I think about it the more...petty it seems."

Tobias was quite for a moment longer before he realized his son wasn't going to continue. Making sure his tone didn't sound the least bit disappointed or bitter, only curious, he asked. "Why are you here then?"

Severus looked back at his father and he knew he didn't have to let his shields down for his father to see the pleading and confused look in his eyes before whispering. "I don't know, sir."

Tobias leaned back against the couch not taking his eyes off of his son for a moment before nodding and picking up the stack of essay's on the coffee table and began grading them. A moment later, he glanced up to see Severus enlarging a stack of essays, beginning to grading them.

.....................

Leaning back against the wall of the cool bathroom in her apartment, Serenity panted for breath for a minute with her eyes tightly shut. Not for the first time, she was beginning to regret her decision to carry this child to full term.

The only thing that was preventing her from terminating the pregnancy was the conversation she had had with the pink haired witch that had helped her move to her apartment. The rather odd-looking woman had asked her, without reservation, what dating Severus was like. Apparently, the idea of him doing anything remotely...romantic was absurd to most of those that had met him.

Somehow in their conversation the idea of kids had come up and though she had quickly assured the pink-haired, self-proclaimed klutz that children were not an issue, she had found herself discussing what sort of father Severus would be. She knew enough about the dark haired, dark eyed, wizard to laugh when Tonks had suggested that Severus would turn them into potion ingredients. Convincing Tonks of that had been a bit more difficult.

She had found out she was pregnant two days after the conversation. Her own words and reassurances about Severus were at the forefront of her mind still and though she knew already that their relationship was over...she couldn't deprive him of their child.

It didn't mean she had to like it though. With each passing day and each bout of morning sickness (whoever had named it such had obviously never been pregnant) she became less fond of the being growing inside of her. She was hardly three months pregnant and already she was ready to cut the child out herself without anesthesia.

A twisted smile came unbidden to her lips as she thought of the irony of her situation. Hadn't she hated Eileen for something similar as to what she was doing now? No, their situations were nothing alike. Eileen had lied. She had pretended to care when she didn't. She had led Severus to believe that she could love him when she wanted nothing to do with him. She had abandoned her child.

Serenity would not do the same. She never once claimed to have any feelings for the child she carried and was more then willing to walk out of its life before it could form an even deeper bond with her. Before it knew hope...and disappointment.

Getting up slowly from the tiled bathroom floor, Serenity washed her faced and thought. She would carry the child if only to prove she wasn't as cold hearted as Eileen.