Visitation Rights

A big thank you and many hugs go to Madbrilliant, for the beta of this chapter, and to WriterMerrin, for sorting through the numerous mistakes we left over. Thanks also to everyone who has reviewed!

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Chapter 14 - Visitation Rights

Ginny Potter sat in one of the chairs by the fire, sipping tea from a china cup and grinning in that way she did.

When Hermione had woken that morning, Ginny had Flooed and told her that she and Lily were coming by for a visit. Harry was away for work, leaving his two ladies at home, so she decided to see Hermione at Hogwarts. It was Sunday, and she had yet to see Severus, but had no doubt that he would seek her out at some point during the course of the day. He always liked to make sure he saw her every day, especially now with her being a month pregnant.

Lily was sitting on Hermione's lap, playing with a little rabbit that Hermione had transfigured from a toy that the girl had brought with her. She had squealed in excitement at seeing her toy come to life. The older witch smiled down at the child and then looked back across at her best friend. The redhead had that taunting smile curving her mouth, and it made Hermione want to scowl at her.

'Why are you smiling at me like that?' she asked her friend warily.

Ginny grinned even wider. 'Because, Hermione! Your skin is practically glowing already!' she exclaimed happily. 'You are going to be such a great mum. I can just see it now!'

Hermione blushed and looked down at Lily on her lap, playing happily. She knew that Ginny wasn't trying to embarrass her. She was just so worried about everything. She had been worried about Severus, worried about the babies growing slowly within her womb, and worried about what kind of parent she would be. What if she was a bad parent? What if she stuffed up? Hermione Granger had never been too happy about not achieving perfection in anything. Was she going to have to change her viewpoint as far as that was concerned?

Just as she opened her mouth to say something back, the flames of her fireplace turned green and Severus stepped through into the room. He had been away on Ministry business the night before, and so she had stayed in her own chambers. It looked as though he had just gotten back and taken a shower before Flooing to her. She smiled and patted the empty space beside her on the lounge.

'Good morning, Severus,' she said quietly.

'Good morning,' he replied to her before turning to look at Ginny. 'Good morning, Mrs. Potter. I trust you are well?'

'I am very well, thank you,' Ginny replied. 'But please, call me Ginny.'

Severus nodded and offered a small, awkward smile to the red-haired witch. He still had trouble with being open with people other than Hermione. Ginny Potter, however, was not such a bad person in his opinion, and he thought that he might be able to get along with her, and even her husband at some point, very well. They were good to Hermione, and anyone who was good to her had his good opinion – well, nearly everyone. He would never quite be able to get over Ronald Weasley.

'Very well, you may call me Severus,' he replied with a nod before looking down at Lily, who was playing on Hermione's lap. 'You're very good with her,' he murmured to Hermione, who blushed even more.

'She's a very easy baby,' Hermione said modestly.

'You know, I was thinking, we will have to decide names and godparents for our children at some point,' he said suddenly and then wondered what had driven him to say that.

'That's a great idea!' Ginny said, looking excited. 'Harry and I have already decided on a name and the godparents. Actually, seeing as I am here, I might as well tell you,' she added more to herself than anyone else. 'We would really like for you two to be the godparents.'

'Severus and me?' Hermione asked in bewilderment.

'Who would be better for the job?' the younger woman said simply. 'You are both the most responsible people we know, so who better to be there to look out for our little boy when he is born?'

Before Hermione could day anything, Severus cut spoke. 'I can't speak for Hermione, but I would be honored to be the godfather of your child,' he said firmly, offering Ginny a less hesitant smile than the first.

Hermione looked at him in sheer amazement, thinking about how wonderful a man she had come to love. He was so utterly perfect for her. He was pleasant to her friends, whom he had never gotten along with, was fair to the students, was brilliant and kind to her, and made her feel like the most beautiful woman on the face of the planet. Although she was sure that Harry made Ginny feel the same way, and Ron would make Julia feel the same also, it meant that much more to her that it was Severus who made her feel that way.

'I'd love to be your son's godmother, Gin,' Hermione replied, taking Severus' hand and giving it a squeeze.

Just then, Lily decided to speak up and made a shrill squeal as she lifted the rabbit into her arms and hugged it. She then saw Severus and made the slow climb from Hermione's lap to his, all the while holding onto the rabbit. Once seated on his lap, she settled in contentedly and, with a cute little wrinkle of her nose and a yawn, closed her eyes for a nap with her pet.

'That was simply the most adorable thing I have ever seen,' Ginny said softly, eyes wide at the sight of her daughter snuggling into Snape's lap like that for a nap. Usually she would be too energetic or would be cranky when Ginny wanted to put her down for a nap – but here she went voluntarily. 'She never goes to sleep like that for Harry or me. She usually kicks up a fuss.'

'I don't know what I did to make her so attached,' Severus huffed with a frown.

Hermione reached up and pressed gentle fingers to his brow, smoothing the frown away and smiling at him. 'Don't be silly, Severus. Nobody asked her to be attached to you. She just really likes you is all. Maybe it's your smell,' she reasoned. 'I happen to like the way you smell too.'

Ginny couldn't help but to giggle at the way that her best friend was teasing the poor, surly man. Not many people could get away with that sort of thing concerning Severus Snape. He was, however, frowning at her in a way that was almost comical. But she just leaned up and kissed him lightly on the lips. Ginny thought it was sweet the way that his frown melted away when she kissed him. It was so obvious to her that he was in love with Hermione.

Then sounded a light tapping at the window, and Hermione looked up to see that it was Harry's snowy owl, Hedwig. She stood up from the lounge and went to the window, letting her fly inside and perch on the arm of Ginny's chair. The owl held her leg out with a note attached to it for Ginny, which she untied as Hermione went to fetch an owl treat for her. She unrolled the parchment, quickly scanned it, and then smiled before ruffling the feathers of Hedwig's head.

'Thank you, Hedwig,' Ginny murmured to the owl.

'What does Harry want?' Hermione asked as she returned and held a treat out in her palm for the owl to nibble on.

'Oh, he just wanted to let me know that he got home from his trip,' Ginny replied with a grin. 'I think I had better get back to see him, or he'll be pouting like a spoiled child by the time I get back.'

'You had better go and see him then,' Hermione said with a laugh.

The two women then looked over to Severus on the lounge, who had been quietly watching the sleeping Lily on his lap. Ginny smiled and shook her head. 'You can leave Lily here for a while, if you like,' he said suddenly, surprising both Hermione and the younger witch.

'Would that be okay with you, Severus?' Ginny asked, just to be sure.

'It's perfectly all right. I am sure Hermione would be thrilled to keep her here for a little longer also,' he replied, looking to Hermione for confirmation.

Hermione nodded and smiled. 'I'd be happy for Lily to stay a while longer. I will bring her back to you later this afternoon if you'd like,' she said.

'Oh, thanks so much you two!' Ginny exclaimed, hugging Hermione and then rushing over to Severus, whom she kissed on the cheek. She looked down at Lily and kissed her forehead lightly. 'Now be a good girl for Aunty 'Mione and Uncle Severus,' she told her sleeping girl.

Hermione laughed at Severus's look of indignation mixed with shock over what Ginny had both said and done. She shook her head and smiled. 'Are all of Lily's things in the bag?' she asked, indicating the baby bag on the floor by the coffee table.

Ginny nodded. 'Everything you'll need is in there,' she replied, going to the fireplace and tossing in some Floo powder. 'Grimmauld Place!' she called out clearly after stepping into it, and she disappeared.

Hermione sighed and plopped back down beside Severus on the lounge. 'This has been a very interesting morning,' she said wearily.

'You are tired then, my love?' Severus asked, wrapping one of his long arms around her shoulders and pulling her closer to him.

'I am a little bit, but nothing that I can't handle,' she answered with a yawn, curling her legs up underneath her and snuggling into Severus a little more. 'By the way, what are you doing here? I would have thought you had supervising duties this morning?'

'I asked Rolanda to fill in for me,' he replied, dropping a kiss to her forehead. 'To be honest, I'm a little knackered from running around doing work for Arthur.'

'You should tell him to sod off and leave you alone for a while,' Hermione said a little moodily. 'You have a school to run after all, and all of the other professors and myself have been running around and doing that for you while Arthur drags you around the countryside.'

Severus sighed heavily, knowing that it was the pregnancy hormones making her snap at him like that. But it was true; he had been relying rather heavily on his staff to help him run the school while he let Arthur annoy him into doing some jobs for the Ministry. He just couldn't say no. He respected the older man a great deal, and it was just so hard to turn him down when he asked so nicely.

'I'm very sorry about doing that to you, love,' he murmured into Hermione's hair apologetically. 'I will try to stay at Hogwarts a lot more often. After all, with you being pregnant, I don't want to be away from you for too long.'

Hermione smiled and kissed his Adam's apple. 'I love you, Severus,' she murmured against his throat.

He chuckled softly and kissed her lips gently. 'I love you too, so very much,' he replied, hugging her to his side as tightly as he could, with Lily sleeping on his lap without noticing the adults talk. 'She's a good baby,' he added, indicating the little girl curled up on his lap with her pet.

Hermione nodded. She knew that Severus was going to be an amazing father and that she had nothing to worry about. They would work together.