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Muggle air conditioners quailed under the sweltering summer heat. Cooling charms were recast at the hour. Lush lawns had turned into parched expanses. Children ran about red faced, hair sticking to their necks. Dogs panted, cats clung to the shade. It was the worst heat wave in Britain’s history.
And yet, in a small town just outside of London, there was a lake frozen over, a young girl skating across its surface.
oOo
“Aurelia, love, where are you?”
Hermione checks her daughter’s room but finds it empty. She searches in their study, the library, and even pops down to her husband’s potions lab for good measure. Her daughter is nowhere to be found. Curiously, both her husband and their son are also missing. A bit of movement out of the window catches her eye. She freezes. Then runs.
“Aurelia Eileen,” she calls as she bursts out the front door, stopping short at the sight of her husband leaning against one of the columns of the porch, their son snoozing in his arms. “Severus? What in Merlin’s name are you doing?”
“Supervising our daughter.”
Hermione takes a deep breath, feeling her heart rate settle. Severus would never allow harm to come to any of their children. She steps closer and arches a brow.
“You approve her violating the Statute of Secrecy, then?”
He waves a dismissive hand. “I put up wards once I saw what she was doing.”
“You’re supposed to file a permit for area warding,” she grumbles.
“Going to report me?”
“No, but if a complaint comes across my desk, I will be quite cross with you.”
“I’m trembling,” Severus says dryly. “Now would you relax and enjoy what our daughter has done.”
Hermione steps closer, sliding her hand over his back and resting her head on his shoulder. “She’s incredible.”
“Uniform thickness over the entire surface,” Severus says reverently. “No weak spots, no harm to the fish.”
“Did she conjure the skates, too?”
“No,” he admits. “Though she tried; she couldn’t figure out the blades.”
“Well, she is only seven.”
“A prodigy.”
Hermione smiles up at him. “She gets it from her father.”
“That brilliance is all yours, love.”
“Flatterer.”
“Mama,” Aurelia calls from the ice. “Come skate!”
“Oh, I don’t know,” she murmurs to Severus. “We should really be undoing this before anyone notices.”
“What’s happened to your sense of adventure,” he asks, arching a brow. “Let’s not spoil her fun.”
“And you were worried you’d be too severe,” Hermione says with an eye roll. “C’mon then!”
With that she takes off running, transfiguring her shoes into skates midstride and joining her daughter on the ice. Severus conjures a small crib along the lake and places Leo in it gently before joining his girls. He’s not nearly so graceful but both have the decency not to laugh openly. The coolness of the lake is a welcome reprieve from the heat of the day.
The family’s fun is broken up the sound of two cracks of apparition.
“Uncle Ron! Uncle Harry! Look what I did!”
“Hermione, we got reports of unusual mag…ic in the area,” Ron says. He looks around and lets out a low whistle. “You did all this, love?”
“Yep!” She looks exceptionally pleased. “What do you think, Uncle Harry?”
“Blimey it’s incredible.”
Aurelia beams and takes off across the water. Harry and Ron watch her go and then turn to Hermione expectantly.
“It wasn’t my idea,” she says defensively.
“You’ve gone soft, Snape,” Ron declares.
“I don’t know if I should be disappointed or relieved that James’ first magic was nicking cookies off the fridge.”
“Less paperwork,” Ron notes.
Harry nods as if that does in fact balance the scales.