“Good lord Jack, have you ever heard of scoliosis?” Eliza asked, pulling the large tome closer to her. “You’ve been lugging around this beast all day?”

“Er...yeah. I guess you and your mum have rubbed off onto me, somehow. Anyway, read the first page. Dad says that Uncle Ron wrote it when the book was started because they never planned on rereading the articles or letting anyone read it until they died.”

Eliza raised an eyebrow and looked at the loopy script that was Ron Weasley’s distinct handwriting. “ ‘To whomever this winds up with—Harry, Hermione, and I have decided to catalogue what’s been going on in the wizarding world since last June. We never plan to reread what we paste in here or willingly give this to someone. So, if you’re reading this, we’re not alive to consult. Take what you read for its face value. It happened and all of it is real.—Ron Weasley’ Whoa...Jacob, your dad’s pretty deep. How did Harry get the book, Jack?”

“They decided that he should keep it. In the letter to us, it says that we shouldn’t let this get around Hogwarts or let anyone else know we have it. He apparently had to beg Uncle Ron to let him send it.”

“What about Mum?” Eliza asked, looking up. She had been flipping the pages idly to figure out what was in the book.

“She doesn’t know we have the book. And she’s not to know.”

“Oh, okay.” Eliza looked back at the book and started to read an article of interest.

Two months later, the term was coming to a close and the trio was only halfway through the gigantic book. OtherJack was constantly between Hogwarts and the Snape household, answering questions for his son and his sister. Eliza was sitting on the couch surrounded by Transfiguration homework when OtherJack started to tap on the window with the most recent letter from Harry. She got up with a look of irritation and let the owl in.

OtherJack was glad of this. He had been trying to find his owner for the past forty-five minutes and had to fly through snow—twice—to get between places. He hooted appreciatively when Eliza removed the letters and parcels attached to his feet. The Weasley Clan deemed it necessary to send some the early Christmas gifts for Jack and Jacob through OtherJack. Eliza was certain that there were several other owls following OtherJack, but went to her parents’ rooms.

Eliza scratched under OtherJack’s wing and took the letters and parcels back to her spot on the couch. The long couch, ironically, was named the Couch of Snogging because so many in Gryffindor had snogged on the couch when someone wasn’t using the obscene amount of couch space for homework. Eliza looked over the letters and took out the three that bore her name. She set aside the other six and started opening the letters.

The first letter was from Jack and Ron’s grandmother with the monthly precautions of warmth, health, and homework. Eliza snickered as she read through Mrs.Weasley’s description of what her husband had done with an old sock and a hockey stick a few days before writing the letter. The second letter was from Ginny, explaining a few things about the book that Harry wouldn’t. It was mostly boring, though, so Eliza slid it into her books. The third letter was from Bill. He had decided that since she was the closest “cousin” in age and year to his youngest daughter at Hogwarts, she would be his correspondent about everything that was going on and what Ana was up to. Eliza never really told him that she’d helped in several of her own escapades and had been successful. She just liked reading his letters telling her about curses he had just recently broken.

After reading through all of the letters a few times, Eliza slid them into the book Harry sent and set back to her Transfiguration homework. She was halfway through the required amount of parchment when Jack and Jacob came through the portrait hole. They were muddy and wet, coming back from Quidditch practise. Jack was a Seeker on the team, taking after his father, while Jacob was a Beater. Spying Eliza on the Couch, they snuck up behind her and both gave the unsuspecting Snape big bear hugs. Big bear hugs that, of course, got her muddy and wet.

“Good gracious! Where were you two? A mud pit?”

“You could say that,” Jack said, flicking mud from his robes. “Algernon has decided that the only way we could get even better was to have soccer practise. He said something about reflexes.”

“Yup. He’s taking after his dad, according to mine,” Jacob said. Being the smarter one of the pair, he had used a few charms to take care of the mud and wetness. “Of course, Dad never said that Oliver liked to hold practise in the middle of a snow storm. Or make the players dodge balls that don’t fly.”

“Right,” Eliza said disinterestedly. She knew enough about Quidditch to get her through a match—not a conversation. “I got a letter from your mum, Jack. It explains a few things your dad didn’t tell us.”

“Okay. I’ll read it later. Right now I want nothing more than a hot shower.”

“Or Layne Bogshot,” Jacob snickered. “Oh don’t give me that look. I saw those looks you gave her during practise.”

“Shove off you two. I’m trying to do my Transfiguration homework,” Eliza said after Jacob and Jack had been glaring at each other for a full three minutes. “McGonagall told Mum and Daddy that my grades were dropping significantly.”

“Are they?” Jack asked with interest. He’d never known Eliza to let her grades slip.

“Just a little. I haven’t turned in the last couple of homework assignments…or gotten a good mark on the last two transfigurations.”

Jack and Jacob’s eyes widened and they reevaluated their friend and aunt. Something had to be wrong. She was, after all, half Snape and half Granger. Her grades just didn’t drop off. Something was definitely wrong.

“Well, I’ll be going to take that shower now,” Jack said, standing up. “Are you coming Jacob?”

“Er..yeah,” Jacob stammered, getting up from his spot. It unnerved him that one of his best mates wasn’t doing well in school.

Eliza watched the pair storm up the stairs and went back to her homework. She had told them the partial truth…well, the whole truth, actually. Except for the reasoning behind why she wasn’t doing well. Eliza didn’t want them worrying.

Two weeks later, when everyone left for Christmas vacation, only a handful of student were left at school. None of the Slytherins stayed, which Eliza thought was good. She could be around her father and he wouldn’t have a reason to be mean. A few Ravenclaws were staying, but that was because they were working on some group project that they wanted to extend into the Christmas holiday. Four of Hufflepuff’s first years were staying. From Gryffindor, all of the Weasleys had gone back to their respected homes for Christmas, with promises of lots of gifts for Eliza at Hogwarts.

Eliza herself stayed at Hogwarts but that was only because she had to. Since Severus was a head of house, he had to endure the holiday at school, even though there were no Slytherins around. Since Christmas was another one of those sacred family days, Hermione and Eliza couldn’t go back to Snape Manor without Severus. So, Eliza was stuck at Hogwarts for the holiday. One perk though, was that she’d get to move into the quarters she had in Severus’ suite of rooms. Her room at the manor excepted, the room in the dungeons was her favourite.

“Okay… ‘How do you transfigure a button to a pin-cushion? Explain the process.’…what a boring question,” Eliza muttered to herself. She was down in the dungeons with her homework spread about her.

Severus was overseeing/helping with the homework process. Since McGonagall had informed him and Hermione that their daughter’s grades were slipping, he made sure Eliza did her homework while someone was watching. He mentally snorted to himself and agreed that it was a very boring question to have to write an essay on. He suggested that she give up on the homework for the evening.

“With pleasure!” Eliza exclaimed, and dropped the quill she had been sucking on onto the ground. She then made a face and spit into her palm. “Ink tastes disgusting. Especially black ink.”

“I believe that’s why they produce Sugar Quills, Miss Snape,” Severus said with a slight sneer. “You shouldn’t be sucking your quill, anyhow.”

“But, it’s such great practise for sucking stuff from my braces,” she said, flashing the metal in her mouth. Eliza had wound up with crooked teeth and, before she entered Hogwarts, had gotten braces. Once a month, she’d Floo to London so her grandparents could tighten up and otherwise adjust the monstrosity she believed were braces.

Severus mentally relaxed. Got to get your mind out the gutter, Severus. You’ve been spending too much time around Black, he told himself.

“Still, you shouldn’t be sucking anything.” He paused a moment and then continued, “Have you seen your mother this afternoon? We need to continue our discussion on baby names.”

Eliza made silent gagging noised until Severus froze her hand. “Heyyyy,” she whined. “No fair.”

“Don’t make those gestures and I wouldn’t be forced to use magic on you. Now, answer the question.” Severus released her hand.

“Haven’t seen her all afternoon. Crystal told me that she was on the third floor earlier,” Eliza said, stretching her hand out. Crystal was a first year Gryffindor.

“Well, she’s probably thinking. Did you come up with any names?”

“How about Dumb and Dumber?” Eliza suggested.

“How about you stop being a smart-aleck and suggest something?” Severus replied coolly. His daughter’s obvious antipathy towards her unborn siblings was really beginning to bug him.

Eliza sighed and regarded her father. She leaned again his legs and let out another sigh. “I thought about Gwendolyn for a girl and Preston for a boy.”

“You’re going to need to drop the girl’s name and come up with two more boys’ names” Hermione said from the door. “I just spoke to Poppy. I’m having boys. Triplet boys.”

Eliza’s eyes were nearly popping from her head. “I’ll be in my room,” was all she said before storming into her room.