HP Starlight

Finally, the last class on Friday was over, and the corridors of Hogwarts were noisy again.

"Professor Snape seems to be in a bad mood today. I don't know who messed with him again. I haven't seen him like this for a long time..." A Hufflepuff whispered when he came out of the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom.

"Don't say it here, if Professor Snape hears it, it's time to deduct points again." Another student hurriedly dissuaded.

Suddenly, like a gust of wind, a black figure hurried past them.Snape's sharp eyes made the two students who spoke feel as if their bodies were being soaked in an ice bucket.

But unlike what they thought, Professor Snape just glared at them, and didn't find fault with them and deduct their points, and didn't even slow down.

The two people who survived the catastrophe looked at each other, shrank their necks and tried to slow down as much as possible, so as not to meet Professor Snape again.

Snape was really in no mood to pay attention to the two students.He was rushing back to the office to Floo home.

He wasn't supposed to go back this week.But when he came home last weekend, he felt Esther's exhaustion and alienation.Even when he wanted to make out with her, she only responded to him with a cold kiss before turning around and falling asleep.

This made him uneasy.Snape, who had lived in the school for a long time, was a little worried that his wife had settled in someone else in her heart because she was disappointed in him.The thought that she might be in love with someone else made Snape irritated.

This doubt haunted him for a whole week.Originally, they agreed to go back after Halloween.But now he couldn't wait.He has to go back and see.

Green flames carried him through a series of fireplaces, eventually pushing him out at their destination.Snape searched the room in a hurry without taking the dust off his body.

There was no one in the living room, and no one in the bedroom.Finally Snape found Esther lying on the table in the workshop.And next to her was a cauldron that was almost overflowing with potion.

Snape hastily pulled out his wand to extinguish the flame under the cauldron while checking Esther's condition.He thought she had inhaled some poisonous gas which made her unconscious.Unexpectedly, she just fell asleep, and didn't even wake up when Snape walked beside her.

"Essie!" Snape smacked her hard.

"Hmm—" Esther opened his hazy eyes and looked at the cauldron blankly.

"Sleeping while boiling the potion! If I hadn't come back, you would have boiled yourself into a potion!" Snape rarely lost his temper with Esther.

Esther woke up suddenly, and frantically checked the potion in the cauldron.

"I'm sorry, I fell asleep for some reason..." Esther murmured and took out some of the potion and fed it to the mice in the cage to drink.Seeing that the mouse was still jumping up and down energetically, she breathed a sigh of relief.

"What have you been doing so tired?" Snape asked.

"I didn't do anything. I didn't wake up until noon. I got up and ate something and started working." Esther was also a little confused, "I don't know why I'm always sleepy recently. I obviously slept more than before. If this continues, my order will be delayed."

Looking at the thick order record in Esther's hand, Snape felt a little guilty.His wife was already too busy, and he even misunderstood her because of her wild thoughts.

Esther didn't know what Snape was thinking, and asked him with a little surprise, "Why are you back today? Don't you come back at the end of the month?"

"I came back to take a look suddenly because I was not at ease. There was something wrong with you last week..." Snape poked the mice with his fingers and did not dare to look up at Esther, "How about we go to St. Mungo's?" Check it out and see what's wrong with you?"

"It's not necessary. I can't even think of which subjects to go to St. Mungo's. Maybe I'm tired from chasing too many orders recently. I should be fine after a few days of rest." Esther said with a weary look.

Snape didn't continue to insist, but checked the order record silently, preparing to help Esther share the work.

"By the way, I didn't know you were back, and I invited Leona and Aurion to bring Neil over for tea tomorrow. If you don't want guests to disturb you, I'd better tell them now." Esther suddenly thought Get up and talk.

"That's all right," said Snape, "no need to cancel, I want to see them too."

Esther looked at him suspiciously.Usually he doesn't like this kind of activity, today it's really strange.

Leona was also taken aback when she showed up at the house the next day with Neil in her arms.

"Professor Snape? I thought you were at Hogwarts..." Leona said.

"I've got nothing to do this week." Snape said flatly.

Orion saw Leona's discomfort, and took the initiative to sit next to Snape and chat with him.Neil didn't care about the reaction of his parents, he struggled to get out of Leona's arms, and walked towards Esther on his own initiative.

"Aunt Essie, hug. Neil wants a hug from Auntie." The boy's soft voice was sweet and soft like a cotton candy.

"Neil can speak so well?" Esther squatted down and hugged the little guy in surprise.

Speaking of the child, Leona returned to a cheerful look, "The child changes a lot every day. More than half a month ago, he suddenly started to speak sentences, and he talked endlessly. Sometimes it also makes people headache." Leona pretended to complain.

As if to prove his mother wasn't lying, Neil started talking.From his teddy bear, Mr. Fluffy, to his little train, the Guinier, and from his little goldfish, Miss Gordy, to the owl, Petty.

The little boy got more and more excited as he got a new audience, and he didn't notice Esther covering his mouth and yawning again and again.It was Leona who noticed her sleepy look first.

"Neil, why don't you go eat some small cakes first? Aunt Essie's craftsmanship is so good that you can't eat them outside." Leona used the small cake to divert Neil's attention and asked Esther, "You What's the matter? Looks so listless?"

"Maybe I'm a little tired recently, and I don't get enough sleep. I fell asleep after boiling the potion yesterday. Thanks to Sev's return, otherwise something will happen." Esther stuck out his tongue embarrassingly.

Leona looked Esther up and down for a while, and asked her cautiously, "You won't be—are you going to be a mother?"

"No way, I don't feel it...but this month seems to be..." Esther was a little uncertain.

"You had this reaction when I first found out that I had Neil. And don't you think your skin is a little glowy? You used to have good skin, but it wasn't so... how should I put it, shiny?"

"I'm not sure... I haven't looked in the mirror seriously for a long time, you know my current job doesn't really need this..." Esther was a little shaken by Leona's words.Thinking of the changes in Tonks' pregnancy, she couldn't help touching her face.

"You'll know after a test. I happen to have one here. Orion and I want to add a younger brother or sister to Neil, so we prepared some." Leona whispered to Janet mysteriously, "Go to the bathroom , I'll test it for you."

Snape had long noticed that Esther and Leona were muttering furtively and not knowing what to say.Seeing the two of them leaving together again at this moment, they couldn't help but frown.

Orion reluctantly stopped talking and turned to Esther. "Professor, are you worried about Esther?"

"She hasn't been well these days, and she's always lacking energy." Snape said with some concern.

Unexpectedly, before Orion could say anything, Neil, who was stuffed with cakes beside him, interrupted first. "Mom said Aunt Essie was going to be a mother."

Snape tensed immediately.

Orion also became serious.He sat next to Neil and asked patiently, "Mother just said that Aunt Essie is going to be a mother?"

"That's right, Mom said you'll know if you test it. Just use the things prepared for Neil's younger siblings." Neil said naively.

The living room fell silent, only the sound of Neil happily eating the cake remained.

It seemed that after a long time, the two ladies appeared in their sight again.Looking at Esther's slightly flushed cheeks, Snape probably had a guess in his heart.A strange feeling arises spontaneously from the bottom of my heart, like excitement and panic.But no matter what, he can be sure that he will probably be a father.

After afternoon tea, Orion bid farewell tactfully.Leona also winked at Esther meaningfully, and took Neil away.Snape and Esther were left in the room.

"That...just now..." Esther hesitated and didn't know where to start.

"Neil told us," Snape said softly as he approached Esther to draw her into his arms, spreading his palms over her stomach, "a new life is here, isn't it?"

The blush on Esther's cheeks deepened.She nodded slightly in agreement with Snape's words.At the same time, she leaned closer to Snape, letting his scent wrap around her.It seemed to reassure her more.

Snape kissed Esther's hair lightly and held her tightly in his arms.

For the next few months, Snape visited almost whenever he could, in case she fell asleep on potions again.Of course he also mentioned to make her stop taking new orders.But Esther insisted on continuing to work, and he had no choice but to respect her wishes.

But as his body became more and more clumsy, Esther himself felt powerless.So she gradually reduced the number of orders to allow herself to breathe.

In the blink of an eye, it was the end of April, and it was the final stage of the examination papers and the preparation for the qualification exams for the fifth and seventh grades.Snape had to cut back on his home visits.Thanks to Mrs. Weasley's willingness to help take care of Esther, Snape can feel more at ease, although he would prefer to do it himself.

Snape's last Defense Against the Dark Arts class of the month was not very pleasant.Because the next day was the day to go to Hogsmeade, the students' attention was completely out of the classroom.Snape was so dissatisfied with their class performance that he deliberately left fifteen-inch papers to remind them that school life was not only about Hogsmeade, but also about homework.

Snape went back to his office after dinner and took out the parchment for the final exam papers for the sixth year students.There was a flicker of fire, and Mrs. Weasley's face appeared in the fireplace.

"Thank goodness, Severus, you're finally back. I check in every ten minutes, and there's no one here."

"Molly?" Snape stood up abruptly, knelt down in front of the fireplace and asked anxiously, "What's wrong? Is something wrong with Esther?"

"Nothing happened, children and adults are all well. She just fell asleep at the moment," said Mrs. Weasley.

"You mean, that is, the baby has been born?" Snape's heart was beating violently.

"Yes, an hour ago. A boy," said Mrs. Weasley cheerfully.

Snape felt his mind go blank, he couldn't see, hear, or feel anything for a while, and only one thought kept repeating in his mind: a child, his and Elsie's child.

"...Severus? Severus? Are you all right? Can you hear me, Severus?" Mrs. Weasley's voice came from far away, trying to penetrate the dense air and into him. in the head.

"I, I'm fine, Molly, I'll be right back, I'll be right back." Snape said standing up, grabbed a handful of Floo powder from a nearby cabinet, and walked into the fireplace.

With the green firelight, Snape appeared in the living room.Mrs. Weasley tried to dodge back so that Snape didn't bump into her.He was in such a hurry that he came out of the fireplace before Mrs. Weasley had completely withdrawn from the fire.

"The child is in the bedroom with Esther. You don't need to be in such a hurry." Mrs. Weasley understandingly ignored his recklessness, even though it was the first time she saw Snape like this.

Snape went upstairs like a gust of wind and went straight to the bedroom, leaving a thank you in the air.