Outtakes

Hermione yawned and held the kettle under the tap with one hand, her daughter secure against her hip with the other. Evelyn's head was tucked into the curve of her mother's neck but she was far from sleepy, she just knew better than to chatter at anyone at 7 o'clock in the morning.

Placing the kettle on the stove, Hermione plunked the lid down on it and turned off the tap before turning towards the fridge.

"What do you want for breakfast, Evie? Cereal? Toast?" she asked her daughter quietly.

"Egg sammich."

"Sandwich," Hermione corrected her gently. "And since when do you like egg sandwiches?"

"Gooey," her daughter replied.

"Well, yes, they are but that's no reason to have one. Do you like the way they taste?"

"I unno."

Hermione sighed and opened the fridge, reaching for the milk. "Then let's stick with something you know you like, okay?"

"Pwease, mummy?" Evelyn pulled back far enough to look at her mother with big, dark eyes.

"Where did you learn how to do that, hmm?" Hermione smiled at the disheveled child in her arms. "Certainly not your father."

"What have I done now?"

Hermione and Evelyn turned as one towards the kitchen door to find Severus standing in his bath robe, hair a mess and bleary eyes.

"Daddy!" Evelyn cried, holding out her arms for him to take her.

"She wants an egg sandwich for breakfast," Hermione told him as he took their daughter from her.

"She's three, can she even eat one of those?" Severus asked, hefting the little girl in his arms and heading for the cupboard where they kept their mugs.

"She can try."

"Pwease, daddy? Pwease? I wants egg sammich."

Severus deposited her on the edge of the counter, standing in front of her to ensure she didn't fall. "You want an egg sandwich, Evelyn. You are not a house-elf."

"Winky!" The little girl perked up, looking around for her favourite house-elf.

"Winky is at Hogwar—"

Severus was cut off by the crack of Apparition. In a heartbeat he had his wand out and his daughter safely behind him.

"Little miss is calling Winky?"

Hermione looked from her husband, wand still drawn and aimed, to the tiny green Elf and promptly burst into laughter. Winky looked terribly confused. Severus glared at her as he slowly straightened and slipped his wand back into his pocket.

"I'm sorry, love, it was just..." she trailed off and shrugged.

"Yes, quite entertaining."

Evelyn giggled from behind her father, poking her head from under his arm. With a precocious grin on her face, she waved at Winky who promptly waved back. The Elf had taken an instant shine to Evelyn, even more so than she did to Sebastian, probably because Evelyn was delivered at Hogwarts whereas her brother had not been. Evelyn in turn adored Winky in a way that Hermione was pretty sure the Elf hadn't experienced since the late Barty Crouch Jr had been a child, before he turned to the Dark Lord.

She had been wary, at first, of leaving her child with an Elf known to overindulge, not to mention that she'd come from a questionable family, but Severus had eventually set her mind at ease. He had come up with the idea of purchasing Winky from Hogwarts and thus giving the Elf what she wanted, a Master and Mistress to serve, and ensuring that Winky would follow Hermione's orders regarding her children. Hermione hadn't been pleased with the idea of owning an Elf but after seeing Winky throw herself at Severus, crying and begging for him to buy her, she had relented.

"Winky, you didn't have to come all the way from Hogwarts," Hermione told her now.

"Winky not minding, Mistress," the Elf assured her. "Winky be making breakfast for Little Miss?"

This was something that still bothered Hermione. She hadn't grown up with maids, and even though her life had Hogwarts had been made possible mostly by the work of Elves, she'd rarely had to deal with it directly. "Er, actually, could you go wake Sebastian?"

"Of course, Mistress."

She cracked out of the kitchen, making Evelyn giggle again. "Daddy, Winky here."

"I noticed," Severus said dryly, turning back around to face her again. "If your mother makes you an egg sandwich, are you going to eat it?"

The little girl nodded, a pleased smile on her face.

"All of it?"

"All!"

Winky appeared in the kitchen once more. "Little master is awake, Mistress. Breakfast now?"

"Winky, there are a couple loads of laundry in the basement. Would you please start them?" Severus asked.

"Yes, Master!" The elf beamed at him and disappeared again. Hermione cast her husband a look and he shrugged.

"You've got to give her something to do, you know."

Hermione sighed and rolled her eyes, turning back to the fridge as Severus poked the still cool kettle with his wand and set it to heating. She had just piled the eggs, bread, cheese and ketchup on the counter when a sleepy Sebastian, dressed in Spider Man pyjamas, wandered into the kitchen, rubbing his eyes and dragging his feet.

"Mum?"

"Yes, love?"

"Why'd Winky wake me up?"

"Because I asked her to, love."

"Oh."

She smiled as her sleepy son looked around blearily, spotted his father with his sister on the counter, and shuffled over to wrap his arms around one of Severus' legs. No one would ever believe her if she told them that her husband was the favourite parent out of the two of them. Everyone seemed to believe that he hated children and that they in turn hated him. Perhaps it was true of other people's children, but definitely not his own. Severus reached down and brushed his hand over Sebastian's unruly hair.

"Do you want some milk?" he asked his son. The little boy nodded against his father's thigh. "Well then you'll have to let go of me and go sit at the table."

Sebastian did as he was told, pulling himself onto a chair, his pyjamas making him slide a bit on the polished wood. Severus deposited Evelyn into her specially transfigured chair next to her brother and placed a light sticking charm on her pyjamas to ensure she didn't attempt to crawl out of her seat. They had learned that lesson the hard way.

"Do you want an egg sandwich for breakfast?" Hermione asked Sebastian, cracking an egg into the hot pan. He shook his head silently. "What would you like, then?"

"Toast?"

"We can do toast."

Severus placed a plastic cup full of milk in front of his son before proceeding to dig out the toaster. They lived in a mostly Muggle home during the summers because it meant they could maintain their anonymity; living in a Wizarding area would not afford them any privacy and neither of them wanted their children to be gawked at. Granted, the press generally left them alone but they weren't above printing pictures of the family out and about on a slow news day. It continued to irritate Severus to no end when his children ended up in the society section of the paper.

Placing a cut up egg sandwich in front of her daughter, Hermione sat down at one end of the table, closest to Sebastian, and eyed her daughter warily. When Severus joined her at the other end, his own sandwich and Sebastian's toast in hand, he grinned at her.

"You look worried."

"I'm thinking the walls of our kitchen will be yolk yellow soon, of course I'm worried."

"That's what magic is for, my dear."

"You remember that when you are cleaning egg out of her hair."

Evelyn, completely oblivious to her parents, and her brother for that matter, picked up a quarter of her sandwich and bit into it. She made a little humming noise, apparently a sign of approval, and proceeded to stuff her face. As predicted, she'd gotten yolk all over her mouth, nose and cheeks within seconds.

"Ew, Evelyn, that's gross," Sebastian commented, chewing on his toast with jam.

Evelyn smiled at her brother, opening her mouth so he could see her food.

"Gross!" Sebastian yelled, turning away.

"Evelyn," Severus warned her, putting down his own sandwich. "Ladies don't show people their half-eaten food. Aren't you a lady?"

She seemed to think about this for a moment, her eyes darting towards her mother who was trying to hide a smile in her cup of tea, before turning to her father and shaking her head 'no'.

Hermione snorted in a distinctly unladylike manner, causing Severus to glare at her.

"I wouldn't be laughing if I were you," he said, his lips twitching. "She's clearly your daughter."

"Mmmhmm," Hermione smiled, picking up her fork and spearing a bit of scrambled egg. "That she is."