Elora turned 11 months old today, which I can not really wrap my mind around just yet. But she surprised both Severus and I when she decided to take her first steps while beginning to let go of the wooden chest in our bedroom.

"Severus! Severus look! She's trying to walk!" I was so happy that I was squealing out the words in excitement.

I could hear the bathroom door swing open abruptly, quick footsteps following immediately after. His expression when he entered the room and saw Elora slowly make her way towards me was priceless.

I stretched my arms out towards Elora while crouching down to meet her at eye level, though I think she heard Severus enter the room because she made a sharp 180 and began waddling over to Severus with a cheeky smile on her face. He knelt down to scoop her up once she reached him, causing Elora to half giggle half squealed as he lifted her off the ground with a laugh of his own.

"Wow, she totally left me hanging over here." I scoffed in a playful way and folded my arms in front of myself.

"Indeed she did. Here. Why don't you walk to your mother." Severus set Elora down and directed her towards me.

She began walking over towards me the moment Severus let go of her hands, giggling the whole way over. She made it but stumbled at the very end into my lap, followed by a loud and highly contagious laugh.

~

I was spending some time showing Elora a bit of wandless magic on the sofa. She had managed to attempt wandless magic for the first time recently, which to Professor Dumbledore seemed quite normal based on her circumstances.

We found out about the wandless magic she could perform one morning in the Great Hall. She had apparently been able to flip a Ravenclaw boy's plate of pancakes onto their lap, causing syrup to stick all over his robes.

There were a few more occurrences that happened since that day, those including Elora growing a plant out of the top of Professor Sprout's hat, as well as turning a students practice potion into a balloon during Study Hall.

So now, I was showing her how to harmlessly use wandless magic in order to keep her from possibly causing damage or injury. She was giggling at the toy I was floating in front of her face. That is, until we heard the door open.

Severus walked in looking utterly done with teaching for the day and let himself fall onto the sofa beside us. His head was now hanging over the back of the sofa.

"What happened to you, grumpy?" I chuckled at his eye roll of a response before he replied,

"I am not grumpy."

"Sure you aren't." I smirked at this and turned my attention back towards Elora who began crawling across my lap towards Severus.

What she did next shocked both of us,

"Papa!"

Severus snapped his head and faced her with confused shock,

"Did she just-"

"She just called you papa! That's what I used to call my dad as a ki-" I stopped myself at the end in realization of who I was bringing up.

"Nevermind that. I'm just happy that she said her first word." I pushed away the bad memories and focused on the moment.

Severus sat up and placed Elora on his lap correctly before pointing at me,

"And this, is your mother."

"Mama." I spoke.

"What?" Severus was wondering what I mean't by that.

"That's what I called my mother." I clarified.

He nodded in understanding and repeated the words to Elora multiple times before she attempted it herself,

"Mam mam."

"Eh, close enough for now." I laughed at her response and tickled her, just for fun.

She flailed her arms at my actions and ended up slapping Severus in the face, to which I threw my head back and started laughing uncontrollably.

"Ouch.." Severus held a hand to his cheek, still processing what happened in the last 5 seconds.

"Severus?"

...

"Are you awake?" I prodded his chest gently with my pointer finger.

He groaned and sighed loudly while his eyes were still shut,

"If I had been awake I would have responded the first time, (Y/N).."

"How did you know I asked a first time? You sneaky bastard, you awake!" I crossed my arms as I sat up next to him.

He still had his eyes closed tightly with furrowed brows and lay there like a stiff board, the covers reaching only his abdomen.

I huffed and turned away for a moment, but thought of an idea after a minute or so.

With a mischievous grin on my face, I let myself fall forward, flat across his stomach. His immediate response was to let out a strangled noise and tense up his whole body.

"Merlin's sake, Woman! What on are you doing!?" Severus flung an arm over his eyes to shield them from the light as he asked this.

"We need to talk about some things." Was my response, which didn't seem like a good enough reason to Severus.

"And that's how you chose to wake me?" Severus wasn't having any of it.

"Mhm." I smiled deviously at him and stayed in my lying position.

"That's. It." Severus pulled me up against his chest and started tickling me mercilessly.

He knew my most sensitive spots and was torturing me by only attacking those areas. I was begging him to stop, while simultaneously laughing and thrashing around.

Eventually, when he let me go, I scrambled over towards a corner of the bed and tried to catch my breath while staring him down to make sure he couldn't do it again.

"You attack me, I attack you. Fair principle." Severus stated nonchalantly as he sat up against the bed frame with his arms folded in front of his chest.

"Atta- At you!? That's what you're calling it?" I chuckled at his remark and stood from the bed to brush my messy hair.

"Indeed." A moment of silence later, Severus continued,

"Now. What was this thing you wanted to oh so desperately talk with me about?"

I walked over to the bed with my brush and sat down on the edge where Severus was now sitting. His hair seemed quite disheveled as well, so I scooted behind him and pulled his hair back over his shoulders to brush it. Although he would never admit it, I think he quite likes it when I brush his hair,

"Well.. I don't really know how you'd feel about the concept but.. I think it may be time to settle in a slightly bigger, more home."

Severus tilted his head back slightly to let me brush his hair better and contemplated a response,

"I've had similar thoughts recently."

"You have?" I asked, not expecting Severus to agree right off the bat.

"Yes I.. I think it would be best for Elora to grow up somewhere that isn't so dark and gloomy. Besides, I'd rather the Dark Lord meet with me here when Elora isn't around to witness it."

Severus seemed quite alright with the idea I had proposed, which I was relieved to hear,

"I hadn't thought about it that way. But it makes sense."

For a moment, there was silence, in which I set the brush down and grabbed a hair tie to put Severus' hair up,

"I had actually written a letter to my mother recently about the topic in case you ended up agreeing. She made known to me that there is a vacant house on the opposite end of the lake from her place. Would you like to go look at it with me sometime today?"

"Of course." Severus replied rather quickly and stood up.

"We'd better get dressed beforehand then." Severus stated before opening the wardrobe.

An hour or two later, Severus and I arrived at the house my mother told me about. It was quite a unique house, being that it incorporated its own windmill on the tower portion of the house.

My mother had offered in a second letter to look after Elora whilst we met with the seller. So we did just that.

Severus and I walked through the open gate up the pathway leading to the front door and knocked. The door creaked open a moment later and revealed an elderly looking woman holding a small suitcase. She stepped outside the door and set the suitcase down to shake our hands,

"You two must be Mr. and Mrs. Snape."

We nodded our heads yes and introduced ourselves formally to her,

"My name is (Y/N) and this is my husband, Severus."

"No need for formalities. I know who you are. Your mother told me already." The woman chuckled while saying this and reached into her pocket, as though she were looking for something.

"Here's the house key." The woman dropped a key into the palm of my hand and lifted her suitcase off the ground again.

"Wait a moment.. We just came her to take a look around. We haven't bought the house." I looked at Severus in a confused state, then back down at the key.

"Did your mother not tell you? She already paid me. Now, I must be going. My daughter is awaiting my arrival in town shortly. Good day you two!"

And with that, the woman Disapperated, leaving us both speechless.

"That was.."

"Odd." Severus finished my sentence for me, causing us both to chuckle at the situation.

We ended up entering the house to see what could have possibly made my mother so sure that we'd buy this house once we saw it. The rooms were bare, but that made it all the easier to imagine what we could do with the space.

The first one was a rectangular shaped living space. There was a chimney against the right wall, as well as a couple windows. There was also a threshold leading further into the house, through which we walk to see a kitchen space, dining room, a door, and a spiral staircase. The door lead to a decently furnished bathroom, while the staircase presumably lead to a bedroom.

Curiously, we made our way up. There was a single door in front of us leading into what looked like a bedroom space with a large round window on the far wall. I quite liked this room.

Upon walking back down the stairs, a thought came to mind,

"I expected there to be more rooms.. Did we miss a door?"

Severus shrugged his shoulders slightly and followed me as I walked back into the living area.

"I don't see another door. Do you?" I asked Severus, who seemed to have locked his eyes on something curiously.

"Possibly." He replied and glode over to a bookshelf left in the corner of the room.

"Alohomora." Severus muttered the spell and pointed his wand at the shelf.

Suddenly, it opened up like a door would and revealed another room.

"A secret door?" I smiled and followed Severus into the room. It was a rather small room with a rocking chair, a second bookshelf, and a normal door.

I had the feeling that this bookshelf was also a door and cast the charm myself. It opened up the same way the other shelf did and revealed a relatively empty office space.

"Well then! This is perfect for you, Severus." I grinned at him.

We then opened the normal door and were faced with a round room. It was quite dim and had only a single spiral staircase in it. I eagerly walked up the stairs and loved what I was seeing. The small space had a bay window incorporated in it.

"Severus isn't this amazing!?"

Severus nodded in agreement and then pointed my attention toward a ladder on the wall.

"Another level?" I asked to no one in particular as I approached and climbed up the ladder.

This space was similar to the previous one, though it didn't have a bay window in it this time. It did have a nice view of the lake through the windows though. Severus seemed to think so as well,

"This could be a nice room for Elora when she's older."

"Yeah, it would." I responded happily as I imagined a decorated version of the room.

Severus then tapped my shoulder and seemed quite amused,

"You're going to laugh but.. there's a second ladder."

I turned to see that there was indeed another level to look at.

"How high does this tower go!?" I laughed out.

This last space though, had me speechless upon seeing it. It was a rooftop lookout tower of sorts. The sun was currently setting and the windmill's blades were circulating slowly, causing the setting sun to cut in and out between them. The slight breeze made this even more breathtaking to take in.

I hadn't really noticed Severus' presence until he'd wrapped an arm gently around my waist and looked at the sunset with me.

"I completely understand why my mother bought this house immediately." I just barely spoke loud enough for Severus to hear.

"Elora! Could you please grab the mail and then come inside for breakfast?" I heard my mother call my name from the ground.

I had been practicing some quidditch moves she showed me in Quidditch Through The Ages on her old broom this morning. But hearing my growling stomach let me know that I should probably take a break to eat.

"Alright! I'll be down in a second!" I stayed up a while longer to take in a breath of fresh air and smiled before diving down towards the ground.

Hoping off my broom, I noticed Benny had finally returned with our weekly mail and was currently perched on top of the mailbox.

You're a bit late aren't you? Pesky bird." I joked with him and scratched his chin before opening the mailbox, taking out the few postcards, envelopes, and Daily Prophet.

I hadn't originally been interested in the newspaper, but ever since I heard that Harry Potter had returned to the Wizarding World, I wanted to get every bit of information on what was going on in our world. Of course my parents, as well as (B/N) and Draco, had told me a bit about the past 2 years at Hogwarts, but just hearing about it wasn't enough for me. I wanted to experience it all myself.

Sadly though, the Ministry had told my parents a couple years ago that letting me stay with them at Hogwarts would count as an unfair learning advantage. So, since then, they'd Apparate to the school every day and come back in the afternoon when classes were out. Of course, my father had to usually stay longer, being that he had more duties there than my mother did, but he was always here on weekends nonetheless.

"Two more years and I'll be starting my first year at Hogwarts." I told myself with a sigh.

Two years sounded much longer once I actually said it aloud. Sulking a bit at the thought, I began opening the Daily Prophet to distract myself with the recent news.

'All About the Gilderoy Lockhart Scandal and Where He Is Now'

"Ew." Upon reading that first article, I grimaced.

That was the narcissistic Professor who hit on my mother..

I turned the page to another article and was intrigued. The new predictions for this years Quidditch World Cup were out. Looks like the Kenmare Kestrels are set to make it to the semi-finals! That's the team my Godfather's Lucas and Alex are on!

I slowly made my way through the front door and set down the Daily Prophet so that I could sift through the rest of the things.

Postcard.. bills.. Hogwarts Letter.. another postcard- WAIT.

Throwing all the other items on the side table at the front door, I read the label on the letter with the Hogwarts emblem on it.

Ms. E. Snape,

The Bedroom in the Windmill,

The Snape Residence,

Stockbridge,

Hampshire

"Mama! Papa! You won't believe what came in the mail!" I yelled for them as I rushed into the kitchen with the envelope grasped tightly between my fingers.

My mother and father turned to face me from their seats at the table once I'd entered the kitchen.

"What won't we believe, Elora?" My father asked me curiously as he drank his coffee.

"I got my acceptance letter!" I squealed happily.

"Oh Elora.. That might just be a letter for me or your father if it's from Hogwarts." My mother didn't seem to believe that I could have receive my acceptance letter early.

"But it's addressed to me! It has to be an acceptance letter." I showed them both the front of the envelope and they looked at one another warily.

"Well, you might as well open it to see if it truly is an acceptance letter." My mother replied cautiously.

I opened the seal up carefully and pulled out the parchment folded inside of it. I read the words aloud to my parents,

"Dear Ms. Snape! We are pleased to inform you that you have been accepted at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry! See I told you!"

I was ecstatic, though my parents looked a bit perplexed. Maybe even worried.

"What's wrong? Is this bad? Do you think it was sent accidentally?" I was starting to doubt the validity of the letter in my hands.

"Of course it's a real letter. They get sent out automatically when the time has come for the student to attend the school. All we are confused about is why you were accepted 2 years early." My mother's response made me sigh in relief.

"Well, then that means I get to go to Hogwarts next term right?" I asked them eagerly.

"The letter never lies. So I believe you do, yes. But we'll still need to confirm this with Professor Dumbledore." My father, although still a bit skeptical, confirmed my suspicions.

"Yes! I can't wait! I'm going to practice even more quidditch now so I can be the youngest seeker Hogwarts has ever seen!" Feeling exuberated, I began running around with my letter in hand, cheering.

~

Today was the day that Severus and I would take Elora to Diagon Alley to purchase her school supplies. Professor Dumbledore had informed both Severus and I that he expected her to be accepted early the moment we all learned of her extremely premature signs of magical abilities.

Currently, we had exited the floo network on the main street, a few buildings away from Gringott's, as we needed to make a stop there before purchasing anything.

My father had left a large sum of money in the bank, which belonged to my mother and I now that he'd passed.

As I finished up talking to the bank teller, I heard Elora's footsteps as she swiftly slipped out the door. Turning around, Severus and I noticed why.

The Malfoy's.

I personally didn't like Lucius Malfoy. He was a true Death Eater for really disgusting reasons. I'd also found out last year that he abused his house-elf, Dobby. Luckily though, Dobby had been freed from his arrangement with the Malfoy's last term.

Narcissa however was quite kind. How she ended up with Lucius of all people is beyond me. Though it may very well have to do with her family and their obsession over pure bloodlines.

And then there's Draco. I feel sorry for him whenever I catch him acting like a bully at school, as I know his behavior has everything to do with how Lucius raises and also neglects him.

Elora ran up to Draco for a hug and smiled at him eagerly.

"What are you doing in Diagon Alley with your parents, El?" Draco asked quizzically.

"I got accepted to Hogwarts early!" Elora couldn't hide her excitement from him anymore, as she seemed to, quite literally, bounce up and down.

Severus was the first to address Lucius,

"Good day, Lucius, Narcissa."