The morning air was crisp and cool as Eileen Apparated with Snape to a breezy hillside.
All around them stretched lush green fields and gentle woodlands, the quaint village of Ottery St Catchpole nestled below like a patchwork of toy cottages, scattered between sunbeams pouring through drifting clouds.
"What do you think? Not bad, right?" Eileen asked with a hint of pride.
"It's brilliant!" Snape said. "How did you come up with the idea to build here?"
"I couldn't find anything suitable in the village," she said, turning to gesture at the two-storey wooden house behind them. "Then I heard old Lovegood had a plot of land he hadn't managed to sell in years. I went to see him and bought it straightaway."
"He even helped me build this house—only charged fifty Galleons extra."
"Lovegood?" Snape's eyebrows rose. "Why'd he sell it?"
"Said it was too close to other people. Not his kind of place. I don't really agree," Eileen said, hesitating. "Compared to that bizarre tower of his, this might seem a bit... normal."
"Normal's good," Snape grinned. "I like it."
Since Luna hadn't even been born yet, he saw no reason to worry too much about future oddities.
The rest of the summer was spent settling in—unpacking, organizing, weeding the overgrown garden.
Despite Snape reminding his mother multiple times that the Ministry's Trace couldn't detect who had performed underage magic in a wizarding home—that enforcement relied entirely on the parents—Eileen still insisted he follow the rules strictly.
So he had to turn the soil by hand, plant each seedling the Muggle way.
"I've had enough!" Snape groaned, leaning heavily on a shovel in the middle of the wide garden. "Mum, you'd better come look!"
"What is it?" Eileen called from the window.
A group of garden gnomes, round-headed and bald as potatoes, were sneaking in through gaps in the newly planted hedgerow.
The hedge hadn't grown dense yet, so they had no trouble slipping through.
"They're not just passing by—there's more every minute!" Snape pointed furiously at a gnome halfway buried in cabbage roots. "They're tearing through all the seedlings we worked so hard to plant!"
He lunged forward, yanked a struggling cabbage out of the earth—and with it came a gnome, kicking and shrieking.
"Let me go! Put me down!" it howled, flailing with its stubby, callused feet.
Snape seized its ankle, hoisted it upside down, leaned back, and with a grunt of effort hurled it into the air.
The gnome flew in a perfect arc, tumbling down the hill in a blur of limbs and shrieks.
"Severus," Eileen said with a note of surprise, "I swear that was at least fifty feet."
"Never mind the distance!" Snape snapped, pointing downhill. "Look over there!"
She followed his finger—more gnomes, scrabbling up the slope. They came from behind a tall hedge and orchard, where a crooked, patchy-roofed house loomed in the distance.
Snape dropped the shovel into the dirt. "We're paying them a visit."
Knock, knock, knock.
Eileen rapped briskly on the front door of the Burrow, a tin of fresh custard biscuits in hand.
"Bill! Get the door!"
"Mum, I'm busy!"
After a moment, a plump woman in a floral apron hurried to answer, her face transforming from mild annoyance to warmth.
"Hello there! Oh—Eileen, is this your boy?"
Eileen smiled. "Yes. This is Severus. Severus, this is Mrs Weasley."
"Pleasure to meet you, Mrs Weasley," Snape said politely.
"Thank you, Eileen!" Molly beamed, accepting the tin of biscuits and ushering them inside. "So you've moved in already?"
"We've been there a little while," Eileen said as she settled into a chair in the Burrow's cozy sitting room. "Still getting everything sorted... we meant to come by sooner, but..."
Snape couldn't take the dithering any longer. He turned to Mrs Weasley.
"Actually, Mrs Weasley, we noticed something. While we were working in the garden, we saw gnomes heading up from your property—" he gestured back toward the Burrow "—and into ours. The hedge isn't grown in yet, so they've been digging holes all over."
"Ah—!" Molly exclaimed. "Bill! Charlie! Come here!"
Two red-haired boys came clattering in, each carrying a struggling gnome by the leg.
One of them was taller, with a mane of long red hair—Bill, Snape guessed. The other, broader and shorter, had to be Charlie.
"We're clearing them out like you told us!" Bill huffed, annoyed.
"Forget the gnomes for now. You can deal with them again in a few months," Molly said firmly. "Go wash up, both of you."
They bolted off without argument, gnomes swinging.
"We're really sorry," Eileen said quickly. Snape followed suit. "Didn't mean to interrupt their work."
"It's quite alright," Molly said kindly. "Honestly, I've nearly stopped noticing them. Arthur's too soft—he tosses them out, and they just come right back."
As they chatted, a sudden cry echoed from one of the rooms upstairs.
"Oh—Percy's awake," Molly said with a quick smile. She disappeared for a few minutes, and soon returned with a baby in her arms, softly humming a lullaby.
Little Percy gurgled and cooed, his chubby hands flailing, trying to grab at invisible things in the air.
Snape leaned in, peering at the baby's round, curious face.
"You're adorable," he said, tapping Percy's tiny nose. Then, glancing at Molly, he asked, "Can I hold him?"
"Of course." She gently demonstrated. "One hand under his head and neck, the other under his bottom…"
Snape cradled Percy delicately, a small, private smile creeping across his face.
"Oh, you lovely little Weasley."