Severus looked up at his wife, “I dearly hope that if you come in here I’m going to get the same treatment I did last night.”
Morgan grinned, “sorry, but I’m here purely on business this time.”
“If it is anything from Minerva I don’t want to see it. She can bloody well plan the school schedule without me.”
“It’s from Eric.”
“And that makes it so much better,” Severus spat bitterly as he turned back to the research spread out on his desk.
“He wants you to be his date.”
Severus head shot back up, “what?!”
“For Zach and Eva’s wedding. He wants you to go with him because, and I quote ‘everyone else is scared of me for one ridiculous reason or another.’ Why don’t you just go? You need to get away from your research for awhile.”
Severus snorted, “the last thing I need to do is get away from my research. I get little enough done as it is.”
“Maybe you need some time away from it. You know… refresh your mind and such. I think it’s a good idea.”
“You would.”
“And what is that supposed to mean?!” Morgan demanded as her hands went to her hips.
“Nothing, absolutely nothing. I’m just frustrated by this bloody…” the end of his response was cut off in a snarl as he swept several rolls of parchment off the desk and onto the floor with his arm.
“You’re not going to get anything done while you’re in this mood. You never do.”
“And what is that supposed to mean?!” Severus threw his wife’s question back at her.
Morgan planted her hands on the top of her husband’s desk and leaned over it so that her face was close to his, “it means that whenever you get into one of these moods of yours you accomplish nothing. You stalk around here scowling at everyone and everything content to be miserable. Get out of here for awhile so that you can get over yourself.”
“Or… perhaps you could try to relieve me of this horrid mood you’re convinced that I am in.”
“Nope, I don’t have enough free time to attempt something of that magnitude.”
“Well you can bloody well try,” Severus growled as he reached out and dragged his wife over the desk and into his lap. “I have all the time in the world for you.”
“Unfortunately I don’t at the moment. I have to go finish putting together a basket for Kamen, that boy needs to eat something decent,” Morgan smiled sweetly as she removed herself from her husband’s arms.
“The boy can starve for all I care.”
Morgan laughed as she dropped the letter from Eric on the desk, “glad to see you haven’t lost your sense of humor yet dear.”
“I was serious.”
“Just get an answer out to Eric. And you better tell him that you’re going. I want you out of this house for a few days!”
“Dammit woman! Get back in here…”
Morgan firmly shut the study door closed behind her, effectively blocking out the sound of her husband’s voice, good, now he’ll be mad at me and will decide that Eric might just be better company after all. Plus, it’ll be well worth it when he decides he needs to make it up to me.
“Mum,” Dierna came skidding around the corner, “Stefan has tickets to the Puddlemere United game this weekend, can I go?”
Serena tore around the corner and nearly crashed into her sister, “if you let her go you have to let me go into town with Nick this weekend, I haven’t seen him in ages. Please?”
Morgan was sorely tempted, knowing exactly what kind of mood her husband was in, to tell the girls to ask him. However, that did seem a bit cruel. “I do not have to let either of you do anything. I suppose you want something too?” she looked down at Olivia who had joined them.
“A cookie,” Olivia said as she twisted a black curl around her finger.
“That, I can do,” Morgan said with a smile.
“Mum!” the twins exclaimed together, “you didn’t answer my question!”
“Fine, let’s see…” Morgan thought about what to do with her girls to keep them happy and safe while they followed her to the kitchen so that she could retrieve a cookie for Olivia. “Dierna, night game or daytime?”
“Daytime,” Dierna quickly responded.
Morgan frowned as she thought, she was surprised at how many of the franchises were still running despite the cry of war. However, even in crisis there would be people to cheer for quidditch. “I don’t care how long the game goes, you will be back here before dark.”
“Yes ma’am!” Dierna ran off to owl Stefan the news that she could go.
“It really wouldn’t be fair to let her get out of the house and leave me trapped here,” Serena reminded her mother.
“No, I suppose not,” Morgan sighed, “you will stay in Hogsmeade. And I mean that. It’s safer where there are large groups of people. And the same restriction applies for you, home before dark.”
Serena squealed in excitement as she rushed off to inform Nick of the plans. A month under Severus’ watchful eye had left her desperate to get out, no matter for how short a time or under what restrictions.
“Can I have another cookie?” Olivia asked solemnly.
“Isn’t it almost dinner time?” Morgan replied.
Olivia scrunched up her nose as she thought, “I suppose…”
“I would rather you ate something healthy at dinner than filling yourself with sweets right now.”
Olivia seemed to consider that, “but… if I eat another cookie now… then I won’t need to eat as much at dinner… and then you can send the rest of my dinner to a poor starving child!” she concluded.
Morgan nearly choked on her laughter as she looked down at her daughter’s serious little face, “I don’t suppose I can easily dismiss that logic.”
“Does that mean I get another cookie?”
Morgan threw her hands up in defeat, “I suppose so, because I honestly don’t know how to counter your argument.”
“Can I take one to Daddy too?”
Morgan hesitated a moment. She knew the type of mood her husband had been in when she left, it seemed cruel to send a child straight into the dragon’s lair. However… Olivia would most likely be more welcome than she was at the moment… “as long as you promise to be quiet and to come straight back to me if he’s busy.”
“I promise,” Olivia said sincerely as she pocketed both cookies and skipped out of the kitchen and down the hallway. She didn’t knock on the door to her father’s study, instead she threw it open and bounded in.
“What do you want?” Severus snapped as he looked up from the parchments he had retrieved from the floor.
Olivia either ignored his angry tone or was oblivious to it as she hopped over to his side, “I brought you a cookie,” she informed him as she removed the aforementioned item from her pocket.
Severus eyed the cookie that she set on his desk warily, not sure how wise it was to accept an offering of food that came out of a seven year old’s pocket.
“I think it was very ‘sponsible of me to bring you a cookie,” Olivia rocked back and forth on her feet while she eyed the locked cabinet behind her father. She had watched him lock her toy cauldron in it after her experiment with the orange feathers.”
Severus followed her gaze and felt his mouth twitch in amusement, “no.”
Olivia turned pleading eyes on him, “please…”
“No.”
“But haven’t I been good lately?” She persisted as she tried to climb into his lap.
Severus evaded the question as he helped her get settled, “are you sure you’re seven? You’re an awfully small thing to be so old.”
“I’m almost eight,” Olivia reminded him. Nearly three months after her birthday was certainly almost time for her next birthday. “And I’m sure I’ll start to grow any day now.”
Severus felt the muscle in his cheek twitch in amusement again. The dead seriousness that the child always used to express herself never ceased to entertain him. However, she was awfully small. At seven, or almost eight, he mentally corrected himself, he was fairly certain that she was still smaller than his biological children had been at five.
“Soooo… can you trust me yet?” Olivia asked as she nestled herself into Severus’ arms.
“I am not sure yet,” Severus replied as he turned his attention back to his parchments.
“When will you be sure?”
“I will let you know when I am sure, until then that cauldron remains safely locked up.”
“But what if I…”
“Are you trying to get yourself into trouble?” Severus cut her off, “because you’re certainly headed in the right direction.”
Olivia stuck her tongue out at him, but hid it behind her hand. She’d gotten in trouble for that before.
However, it still caught Severus’ attention, “the next time you do that I’m going to hex that impertinent tongue so that it stays that way.”
Olivia quickly clamped her mouth shut, tongue safely inside.
“Why don’t you find something to do that won’t get you in trouble,” Severus suggested.
“Like what?”
Severus had to check himself to keep from sighing, he had not planned on spending his afternoon entertaining a child. “Why don’t you color,” he suggested, nodding at the stack of parchment and crayons she had dragged in with her the week before.
“But you never hang up any of the pictures I draw you,” she whined.
“That is because I do not like my study to be filled with clutter.”
“My pictures aren’t clutter,” Olivia pointed out, sounding hurt.
Severus gave her a nudge to make her hop off his lap, “go look in the bottom drawer of that filing cabinet by the wall there,” he directed as he gave her a slight push in that direction.
Olivia gave him a skeptical look but obediently went over to the filing cabinet. She knelt in front of it and tugged the bottom drawer open. Her eyes widened, it was divided into sections, and her name was on the first one! She noticed that the rest of the sections were labeled with each of her siblings’ names.
She looked up at her father, and when he gave her a slight nod of approval she tugged on her folder to remove it and carefully opened it, “hey! It’s all the pictures I’ve colored for you!”
“Of course. I certainly hope you were not thinking that I would get rid of them.”
“So you keep all of them?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
Severus looked down at her, “I keep them as a reminder. That way when you are being nothing but trouble I can remember why we kept you in the first place.”
“Like after I used the orange feathers that I wasn’t supposed to use?”
Severus nodded, his mouth tightening a bit as he thought about that incident.
Olivia giggled, “Is that why you kept everyone else’s pictures too?” she asked as she pointed at the other files.
“Yes,” Severus answered dryly, “if it hadn’t been for them I would have exposed all of your siblings on a mountain side a long time ago.”
“Are you two about ready to eat?” Morgan asked as she stuck her head in the door.
“Yes!” Olivia sprang up off the floor and tried to pull her father out of his chair. “Let’s go!” she insisted as she tugged at his hand.
Severus shot his wife a long-suffering look as he allowed himself to be dragged towards the door.
“Been pestering you, has she?” Morgan asked, a knowing smirk in place.
“Sweet Circe, yes. You sent her in here on purpose.”
“I did not,” Morgan said, but she couldn’t help smiling.
“You’re going to pay for this later,” Severus promised her. “I’m counting on it.”
~~~~~~~~~~~
