Outtakes

At first, Severus thought he might have stepped through the Floo and into the wrong house. He could hear Muggle music, alien and odd to him, coming from one of the rooms and he had a moment of panic that he'd ended up in some Muggle's home. A quick look around and a shake of his head proved how truly stupid that thought was; Muggle's aren't connected to the Floo Network, for one, and that picture sitting on the bookcase was one of him with his daughter mere hours after she had been born.

This was his home.

But what was with the racket?

Ah, yes. His wife.

Brushing his robes clean, Severus slipped out of his boots and with a flick of his wand he sent them scurrying towards the front door and little trainers that belonged to his children. Quietly, he crept towards the sound and found himself heading for the kitchen. It was completely unnecessary to be stealthy, of course, because that noise covered the sound of his steps well enough, but it was ingrained in him.

Reaching the doorway to his kitchen, he peered in, lips twitching against a smile.

With their daughter Evie in her arms, Hermione danced around the kitchen, apparently making lunch. A small music player was plugged in to the Muggle outlet on the counter and it was from there that the sounds of some rock band emanated. He looked around quickly for his son, who was never far away from his mother, and found him sitting on the floor near the refrigerator, watching his mother dance away with a wide grin on his face.

Amused, he settled in to observe his wife, her back to him and all of them completely oblivious to his presence, as she wiggled her hips and shimmied from side to side, making exaggerated poses for her son, who laughed and mirrored them from his position on the floor. Evelyn tried to sing along with the song, but only succeeded in yelling vaguely in her mother's ear, but it didn't seem to bother Hermione one whit. His witch sang along to the lyrics, and did some weird little cha-cha-cha, as she slapped a sandwich messily together.

Picking up the plate with the peanut butter and jelly confection she turned to place it on the table and finally spotted him.

"Oh, shi —!" she gasped, jumping. He grinned as she quickly set the plate down and turned a terrible shade of bright red. "Severus!"

"Daddy!" Evelyn shrieked, waving frantically with one hand.

"Hello, my love," he said to his daughter. Leaning against the door jam, he grinned at his wife. "Please, don't stop on my account."

Hermione pursed her lips in a wry smile, half-embarrassed at being caught out while she acted like a fool. He didn't mind, though; he was highly entertained by her little show. It was a shame that she had noticed him so quickly.

As if she had read his mind, she turned and looked at Sebastian as the song changed to another upbeat number. "I think Daddy needs to dance with us, what do you think?"

"YES!" Sebastian scrambled to his feet, and ran to Severus, grabbing his father's hands and dragging him in to the kitchen proper.

"Now, wait a –"

As one, his family began dancing around him. His wife and daughter together, wiggling and bopping from side to side, Evie with her little hands in the air, and Sebastian doing some sort of standing convulsion beside him. He looked down at his son, the picture of enthusiasm, with his limbs akimbo and a huge smile on his face, and he began to laugh.

Stepping closer to him, Hermione reached out and snagged a bit of his robes so that she could pull him down into a kiss. "Dance with us, Daddy," she murmured against his lips.

"Dance, Daddy! Dance, Daddy!" Evelyn shrieked.

"Merlin preserve me," he muttered, reaching out and taking his daughter from Hermione.

Awkwardly, and feeling like a total idiot, Severus began to shuffle a bit, bopping along to the song. He had no idea what he was doing, he didn't even like the music coming from the little player, and he'd never done this before. The extent of his dancing experience was slow and stately, at a formal dinner or some such thing. He wasn't even sure his hips could move the way Hermione's were. He watched his wife, now free of a toddler in her arms, move around smoothly, her bottom swaying from side to side in time with the beat, her shoulders moving up and down.

"Like this, Dad!"

He looked down at his son. It looked like the child was trying to beat up some invisible foe while simultaneously hip thrusting. Hermione's laugh brought his eyes back up to her smiling face. She looked so wonderfully happy.

"Yeah, like that, Severus," she echoed. To his horror and amusement, she copied her son, stepping back so that she didn't punch him in the nose as she began flinging her arms and body about.

"You look ridiculous," he told her, smiling.

"I know," she grinned cheekily and turned away from him, heading back to the counter. "Come here my little dance crew, you're going to need your energy."

Evelyn began to struggle in his arms, wanting down, so he walked over to her high chair and deposited her in it. Sebastian continued to dance; he wiggled and gyrated his way over to his chair before climbing in to it and continuing to bop his head in time to the beat. With a shake of his head, Severus walked over to his wife and wrapped his arms around her from behind. It was times like these that he sometimes wondered if it was all a dream, an elaborate fiction in his mind.

"I love you," he murmured in her ear.

She pressed back against him and turned to kiss his jaw. "I love you, too," she said. With another shimmy of her hips, she grinned at him. "And maybe later I can show you my other dance routine."

With a snort, he pressed a kiss to her shoulder and squeezed her tighter.

"I shall hold you to that, witch."