Note on Years: Follows the assumption that Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone takes place in 1991 and Harry was born July 31, 1980.

Disclaimer: Harry Potter and co are not mine. Obviously. If they were, do think I'd be writing for a site called fanfiction.net?

Rating: R for rape

Lily Potter passed through the crowd of Diagon Alley. She smiled, thinking of the anniversary gift she planned to buy for James once she collected enough galleons from Gringotts to cover the cost of the miniture quiddich field she'd seen advertised and drooled over by both Sirius and her husband. She laughed to herself, imagining the look of glee on James's face when he opened it and the look of envy on Sirius's. Though spectators like herself, Remus and Peter would probably enjoy playing with it as much as their friends. If they could find someone else to play, Lily herself might even be persuaded to join.

A scream off to her left dispelled all thoughts of mini-quiddich, and she drew her wand, turning toward the sound. Before she could do more than identify a masked man as a Death Eater, she lost conciousness through a powerful sleep spell that she distantly recognized as one that would affect everyone within a fifty foot radius.

She awoke again in a dark room. She lay on her back, and she heard the ragged breathing of multiple people. She turned her head to one side, and saw that she lie on a bed - to generously term the slab of cushioned stone beneath her - in a row of beds just like it. On each bed was a naked woman, and standing at the head of each bed was a masked and robed Death Eater. Her heart began to pound very quickly. Some of the women were screaming. Others sobbing. A few were swearing quite colourfully.

Looking in the other direction showed another three beds to that side, and her very own Death Eater. She tried to sit up, to move, but her wrists and ankles were chained to the bed. Given the state of the other women, she wasn't terribly surprised to see that she was as manacled and naked as they. And she'd been having such a nice day, too. She expected the remainder would seriously suck. "Aw, crap."

She though her Death Eater might have snorted a short laugh at that understatement, but she couldn't be sure. What she was certain of was that he bent over her, holding a potion vial to her mouth with one hand and holding her nose with the other. She tried to turn her head away, knowing that whatever potion it was that a Death Eater wanted to feed her, it wasn't something she would like at all. But he held her in place, and soon enough she had to open her mouth to breathe.

The potion slipped between her lips, tasting vile and unfamiliar. She wished she were better at identifying ingredients by their taste, so that, if she miraculasly survived this encounter, she would be able to find out what she had been dosed with. But the best she could do was note the thick, bubbly texture and its still warm temperature. She tried to cough and spit it back out, but he held her jaw closed and cast a spell to make her swallow. He was clearly skilled with making people drink potions against their will. A quite murmur filled the room, and glance to her left showed that she was not the only one being forced to down a potion. All the other Death Eaters along the line were doing the same thing as hers had done.

Once all of the women finished taking their 'medicine', the Death Eaters all lined up along the feet of the beds. As one, they lifted their wands. It was even more terrifying for their unison in action and word, as all those wands came down together, and light shot from those frightening sticks to their victims on a chorus of "crucio".

She screamed. Pain shot through her, and she jerked against her chains, writhing in agony. Her world shrank to just her own pain, and she only distantly heard the screams and sobs of the women only four feet away from her. Then it was abruptly gone, though tremours still passed through her, and her nerves still felt raw and on fire. After a moment, during which nothing happened but ragged breathing, she ventured to open her eyes.

The Death Eaters were still standing at the bed feet, only now they wore only masks and shirts. They were, to a man, quite excited about what was coming. Lily fought not to start laughing hysterically at her unspoken pun. She felt strangely calm despite knowing what was about to happen. It didn't take an Arithmancy genius to figure out what they intended to do next.

She tested her bonds again, but that was a useless endevour. She wasn't exactly physically strong, and her thin arms were no match against cold steel. She glared at her Death Eater, letting him know she felt nothing but hate and disgust for him. Then the Death Eaters closed in. She tried to keep her legs together, but with her ankles fastened as they were, he had all the advantages. She was spread open for him with little difficulty on his part. "I hate you," she hissed.

He only inclined his head. The bastard wasn't mocking her, was he? Her hands closed into fists, and if eyes really could shoot daggers, the man would be a bloody heap on the floor. Unfortunately, she had no such luck, and instead of dying, he positioned himself, and pushed inside her.

It wasn't at all like James. She felt tears on her face, but she never looked away from the mask hanging over her. "I hate you, I hate you, I hate Voldemort, I hate you, I hate you," she repeated over and over again, focusing on the words so she wouldn't have to think about what else was happening to her.

It was over quickly; she hadn't said the words more than three times before she felt the foreign seed spill into her. She closed her eyes, and felt more tears squeeze passed her lids. She opened her eyes again, and saw that he was standing at the foot of her 'bed' again, fully clothed already. She glared at him, the realization that he was the only one done with his victim dawning slowly. She looked to her left and saw scenes of violence and cruelty still underway. The girl in the bed beside hers was covered in blood and was unconscious. Lily wrinkled her nose and looked away quickly.

Her Death Eater looked over there, then went and took his colleague by the arm. "You're not supposed to kill her," he stated coldly, and waved a wand at the girl. Lily was relieved to recognize a healing charm. "Voldemort needs them alive," he told the other Death Eater in a tone that could only be labeled as a threat. Then he returned to his position at the foot of Lily's bed.

The Enforcer, she decided. That's why he finished with me so fast. He had to keep an eye on the others to make sure Voldemort's plans were carried through. A cold shudder passed through her and she wondered what that could possibly be. The Dark Lord was clearly up to something. If only she could figure out what. It didn't make sense. Kidnap a bunch of girls, torture and rape them. Then what?

Twice more, the Enforcer had to go to one of the other Death Eaters, and cast healing spells on their victims. The last time he did this, the Death Eater snapped back, "Just because you're a fucking queer don't mean the rest of us can't enjoy ourselves."

There was a pause, before the Enforcer answered the challenge. When he did, it was spoken quietly, and Lily could barely hear it. For all its low volume, it was still one of the more chilling sentences she had ever heard. "I have performed my duty to our Lord, and you will do the same." He returned to his place, and the chastised Death Eater finished quickly, then stood at the foot of his own victim's bed.

When all the Death Eaters were dressed again, they raised their wands again, and for the second time that day, Lily Potter fell victim to a sleep spell. The sounds of uneven sobbing faded as the room turned black.

Bright. That was the first thing she noticed when she woke again. White. That was the second. She blinked several times in quick succession, hoping to adjust her eyes to the brightness. "This one's awake," someone male called out from very nearby. She blinked a few more times and the room and its occupants came into focus. She was still lying on a bed, but this time it was real bed, or at least the sort they had in hospitals. There were no chains, and no Death Eaters. She felt the comforting feel of fabric against her skin.

She shared a room with two of the other girls. They were both still out cold. A nurse and a wizard and a witch stood over her. The witch smiled, obviously meaning to be reassuring or comforting, but not really succeeding. "Hello, I'm Arabella Figg. Alastor and I are aurors," she said, with a gesture towards the older wizard. Lily had heard of them them both, they worked with James, but she had never met them before. "Could you tell us what happened, dear?"

Lily nodded, buying time as she tried to put her memories into to some sort of order that might possibly explain what Voldemort's plan was. "I was in Diagon Alley when I heard someone scream. I drew my wand, but I didn't manage to cast anything before the whole area was put to sleep with a dorminus totalis spell. I woke up chained to a bed in a room with a bunch of other girls, also chained to beds. There was one Death Eater per girl, and each of them did three things. They forced us to drink a potion, they cast the crutacius on us, and they . . . they raped us. Some of them got . . . overenthusiastic, that's why some of us are in worse shape than others. One of the Death Eaters, all I know about him is that he has very pale skin, strong narrow fingers, and a dangerous voice, and is probably homosexual, said that we were needed alive for 'Voldemort's plan.' He had to cast three healing spells."

Arabella Figg's smile was even more strained than before. "Thank you, dear. May I ask your name?"

"Lily Potter," Lily answered almost apologetically. "James's wife." She had thought the woman knew who she was. Surely James had pictures in his office? Not, admittedly, that James spent much time in his office.

"Oh. Oh, my. Alastor, contact James right now." The dour looking wizard scowled a bit, but nodded and left the room. "Don't mind Alastor, dear, he's just grumpy because he didn't get to curse any Death Eaters today. They were very clever today. In and out in only a few moments at Diagon Alley. Kidnapping thirteen girls, killing a few random witches and wizards, then gone. Then, while all the aurors are busy in Diagon Alley, trying to find even one witness who could say what happened, they apperate into Hogsmeade and leave you all lying in the street there, then are gone again. This was an obviously well-planned attack and an important move for Voldemort. Most raids have three Death Eaters at them, five tops. Is there anything, anything at all, that you might have noticed that could help us find out what their purpose was?"

"The Enforcer said they needed all of us alive. That's all. I'm sorry."

"Don't be, dear, you have been a wonderful help already." She looked over her notes and frowned. "What sort of potion was it?"

Lily shook her head. "I don't know. There were no immediate effects that I could tell. It tasted awful, and it was very thick and bubbly."

Arabella frowned and spoke quietly to the nurse, who was now hovering over the girl in the middle bed. The nurse nodded, and began to cast a series of spells over first that girl, then the other girl, then finally Lily. Each time, her face became more and more bleak. "Hold on a moment, I need to check something on the other ladies," the nurse excused herself and hurried from the room. Arabella and Lily exchanged confused looks.

The nurse returned a few minutes later, just behind Alastor Moody and James. James made a straight dash to her side, and grabbed onto her hand as though he thought she were dying and that hold would keep her in this plane. "Lily." He sounded choked, and she thought his eyes glistened a bit more wetly than normal behind his glasses.

She touched a hand to his face and smiled. "I'm back, I'll live, I'm with you, everything's fine."

He relaxed visibly, and smiled back, though the tears did not leave his eyes and his hand did not lessen its grip.

The nurse cleared her throat. "I think I know what the potion was." When the four pairs of eyes turned expectantly to her, she continued, looking only at Lily. "I'm fairly sure the potion was one for conception. All of you are pregnant."

"Oh, God," James swore, and leaned over to rest his forehead on Lily's bed. The mattress vibrated in time to his silent sobs.

She absently petted his messy black hair as she tried to wrap her mind around the idea that she was going to have a baby. A Death Eater's baby. The Enforcer's baby.

. . . you're a fucking queer . . . I have performed my duty to our Lord, and you will do the same. Shouldn't it have struck her as odd that a homosexual was raping a woman? Shouldn't it have tipped her off that he considered doing so a duty to the Dark Lord? Hindsight really does have 20/20 vision. It made perfect sense now. A conception potion, a rape, leaving them alive. What good was a dead pregnant girl after all? For that matter, "What good is a living pregnant girl?" The three aurors and the nurse looked at her oddly, Jame's face streaked with the tears that had begun to fall. "I mean, obviously, a dead one can't have the baby, but what does Voldemort want with children? Particularly with children of people like . . . me. I'm muggleborn. Everyone knows that."

Moody frowned. "It doesn't make sense." It was less a statement of confusion and more a declaration of something wrong in the world. "She's an auror's wife and a muggleborn. She should be in critical condition, not in the best shape of all the women retrieved."

It was a valid point, even if she hadn't recognized it herself, the pasty whiteness of James's face would have clued her in. If he squeezed her hand any harder, it was going to fall off. "Lily, oh, God, Lily."

"I'm fine, James," she assured him. "I'm here. I'm safe now."

James only shook his head. "Nobody's safe, you least of all. You're pregnant, Lils."

She looked at him with a raised eyebrow. "Exactly, James. I'm safe until the kid's born. Right now, Voldemort wants me alive as much as you do."

He looked torn between relief and horror. Eventually, he closed his eyes and looked pained. "Then what?"

She placed two fingers under his chin and tilted his head to look her in the eyes. He opened his, and his worried brown gaze met her determined green one. "Then you, I, and our son or daughter will find a Secret Keeper and go into hiding. I am not giving this child over to him. Who's to say it isn't yours." And even if it wasn't, she would see to it that nobody knew otherwise. It was her baby, dammit, and if she wanted it to be James's, it was going to be James's. She reached over and wiped a tear away from her husband's face, and smiled, "We're going to be mommies and daddies, James."

His smile seemed a little forced, and his eyes were still damp, but he did smile. God, he was taking this worse than she was. "I love you, Lils."

"Love you, too, Jamie."

She didn't have to stay at the hospital very long. The nurse had proclaimed her healthy almost immediately, and the aurors had quickly run out of questions. As James's wife, they figured she'd be easily accessible should more occur to them, so she was allowed to return home. She and James apperated to the back porch, which wouldn't be noticed should any of their muggle neighbors be about, and entered into the kitchen. James stopped short, and she walked into him. "James?"

"Stay here," he said, drawing his wand. She did the same, her eyes darting about nervously. He stalked slowly to the doorway that led into the living room, looked in, then repeated the procedure on the doorway to the dining room. Then he slowly circled in toward the kitchen table. That was when she noticed the small glass vial sitting on the maroon placemat in front of James's seat. She drifted nearer, as she saw that there was tiny scrap of paper tied around the vial's neck.

"Stay there, Lily," James instructed again, as he untied then unfolded the piece of parchment, his eyes darting to the room's three entrances as he did so. He read the note, his face turning alternately pale, then angry red.

"James?"

He handed her the small note and she read the neatly handwritten words. We're even now, Potter. Add one of your hairs to this potion and give it to your wife. The child born will then be yours. There was no signature.

She looked up. "Who is this from, James?"

It was evidently all that was needed to turn his silent fury to vocal fury. "The bastard! I'll kill him! No, better, I'll see him into Azkaban!"

"James?"

He made a visible effort to calm himself, but his brown eyes glittered disturbingly as he took her hands in his. "Lily, was the one who raped you tall, skinny, and pale skinned?"

She frowned, "Do you think you know him?"

"It's Snape," he threw the paper violently onto the table, "He's as much as admitted it. In writing, no less!" He stormed toward the living room, but then stopped abruptly, "Don't touch that potion, Lily."

She rolled her eyes. "I'm not a child, James. I don't drink strange potions from Death Eaters."

He walked quickly back to her side, and kissed her forehead. "I know, I'm just still panicking."

She smiled back at him, before shoving him back towards the living room, "Go on and call Sirius or Arabella Figg or whoever it was you were about to try to call."

"Right." She followed him into the living room and watched him throw powder into burning fireplace. "Alastor Moody!" There followed a short conversation the gist of which was James insisting that Moody get into the Potter living room immediately. Less than a minute later, Moody and Figg both stepped out of the fireplace, wiping floo powder and soot off their clothes and bodies.

"Miserable way to travel," Moody grumbled, "What, praytell, Potter, have you found in the fifteen minutes since we last saw you?"

James led them into the kitchen and pointed at the undisturbed potion vial and the somewhat crumpled parchment beside it. "That."

Moody pursed his lips and took up the parchment to read. His eyes widened, and he looked sharply at James. "You know who one of them was."

"Severus Snape. I saved his life sixth year. That's what he means by 'we're even now'. He's settled his wizard's debt. That's why Lily was pretty much left alone. Relatively."

"We've still got one count of an Unforgivable and a rape against him," Moody said, sounding almost gleeful. "It'll be enough. Especially with a brand on his arm. Coming, Arabella?" He took the witch's arm and escorted her onto the back porch where they disapperated.

James rolled his eyes. "The man is never happy except when he's about to make an arrest. Then he's downright cheerful."

"He'll have to find me first," a voice said from the doorway of the dining room. "Accio wands." The summoning spell was cast almost as an afterthought, but it still collected the wands before either James or Lily could draw them. "Hello, James. Lily." He appeared little different from the Slytherin she had distantly known from school two years ago. But by the way he stood, he was equally recognizable as the Death Eater who had raped her. He did not take his black gaze away from them, as he secured their wands under the folds of his sleeve.

"Snape," James growled, his eyes narrowed in hatred. "I'll see you in Azkaban."

Snape inclined his head, a gesture she recognized from the Death Eater. But it was not mocking as she had first interpreted it. Able to see his face this time, she thought it was simple acknowledgement. "You, too, will have to catch me first. I came for a single purpose, Potter. I need to ensure that Lily takes the potion I prepared for her."

"She's not drinking anything made by you, you bastard." James would have physically assaulted the Death Eater, but Snape merely raised his wand and an eyebrow.

"I can kill the both of you before you even reach me. I would reconsider any attempt to disembowl me with your bare hands." He paused briefly, then continued the previous conversation as if it had not been interrupted, "Besides which, your wife has already drunk one of my potions."

"And ended up pregnant!"

Snape's black eyes flashed. "The story I want you to tell is that she was apparently already pregnant when we had our little encounter. That is the story I will be telling Voldemort when it becomes obvious that his plan fell through. That potion," he pointed his wand at the vial on the table, "will guarantee that any test on the child will prove the child is yours, Potter, because, for all intents and purposes, it will be."

"She's not drinking your bloody potion!"

Snape was obviously loosing his patience. "Look, Potter, I don't want that kid to be mine anymore than you want it to be, so do let her take the bloody potion!"

Lily cleared her throat, annoyed that these two men thought they could dictate her life. Granted, one was her husband but that gave him no right to make decisions for her. "Alright! Quiet, both of you! You," she pointed at James, "need to consult me before making unilateral decisions like that. You," she pointed at Snape, "are a Death Eater, and I'd sooner eat mud than voluntarily drink anything you've touched much less made."

She saw his jaw clench, and it more than obvious he was having a difficult time keeping his temper. Distantly, she wondered why he wasn't just casting imperious on them and making them do what he wanted. On the other hand, James was very good at throwing that off, and Lily herself wasn't much worse, so it probably wouldn't have worked for him anyway. "Would it help if I brewed it in front of you with the recipe availible for you to check that I'm doing it right?"

"No," she answered shortly. "I don't know enough about potions, and there's no guarantee that your recipe is for what you say it is. I have no reason to trust you."

He looked frustrated and irritated. "If I wished you dead you would be dead. If I wished you hurt you would be hurt. If I wished you not pregnant, I could have made a placebo potion as easily as I could have the real thing. But that would have given me away to Voldemort, and since I didn't know who my victim was going to be until we appearated to Diagon Alley this morning, I didn't exactly have time to make that potion," he waved his wand toward the one on the table, "complete with Potter's hair, to give to you with the other."

"Why Lily at all?" James demanded. "If you wanted to honor your debt, couldn't you have just left her there?"

Snape sneered. "She's an auror's wife and a mudblood, Potter. I claimed her before one of the others could." Lily felt James tense again in anger, and laid a hand on his arm to keep him from jumping Snape and possibly getting himself killed. "Though, I must admit, the thought of your reaction to knowing it was me did help me get it up, even for a woman." James broke away from her grip, but only made it a few steps before he dropped under a paralysis curse.

"I'll kill you, I swear it, Snape, I'll kill you," James vowed from where he lay on the floor.

Snape only looked down at him as if seeing a disgusting bug. Lily felt her own fists clenching, but she knew better than to try to get at him physically. He turned his gaze back to her and tried to sound calm and reasonable, "Evans, I mean, Lily, if we go to Dumbledore and I swear under veritaserum that the potion does as I say it does, will you please take it?"

She gaped, just a little, at him. Severus Snape had just said 'please'. She narrowed her eyes. "Why does it mean that much to you that I not carry your child?"

He scowled. "I don't like children."

"Bullocks."

He blinked, appearing satisifyingly startled by her language. Then he pursed his lips. "I am being honest, Mrs. Potter. I truly do not like children."

"I don't doubt it. But that's not why you don't want this one to carry your genes."

He made an impatient gesture. "If I didn't know better, I'd think you were stalling until Aurors arrived. I don't understand your reluctance to cooperate. We all want the same thing. Why do the motives matter?"

"It depends on what your motives are."

"I do not wish for my family's heir to be born to a mudblood." He raised his eyebrows, "There. Will you take the potion now?"

"No."

Exasperated, he turned his back on them, for only a second, not enough time to do more than grab up the potion vial and throw it at his head. He turned back, saw the oncoming vial, and did what anybody would do with an object fast approaching their skull. He ducked. The vial flew over his head and crashed into the dining room table, shattering the glass and dripping clear blue potion onto the floor.

She didn't even see Snape move. One moment he was hunched down in the doorway between the dining room and the kitchen, the next he was standing in her personal space, staring down at her with furious black eyes, looking much taller and dangerous this up close and personal. The tip of his wand pressed against that spot on her skull right between her eyebrows. It was an odd sensation, knowing she was about to die. Strangely like knowing she was about to be raped, but with a feeling of greater enormity and much more permanance. She just looked into those black eyes, and saw death waiting there for her. "I hate you, still," she told him.

Then he stepped back and lowered his wand back down to his side. Death receded from the black pools, but she still felt a cold shiver down her spine. Just over two years ago, she had sat in the same History of Magic class with this man. This Death Eater. "I hate you."

He continued to wordlessly back away from her, and she couldn't tell if it was simply a protective measure should she decide to hurl something else at him, or if something had frightened him. Except there was nothing for him to be afraid of. He held complete control of the situation. When he did speak, it was as collected as ever. "So you have said. If you hate me so much, why do you insist on keeping the child mine?"

"I don't! I want it to be James's as much as you appear to. But I'm not touching one of your potions. I intend to use charms."

"The change created by a potion is much more complete," he argued, "and is not reversible. The child will be James's. With charms you can only make it appear that he or she is James's."

"That sounds like a dark potion."

Snape appealed to the ceiling for patience, was apparently granted a minor portion of it, and looked back at her. "I'm a dark wizard, Evans, of course it was a dark potion."

"And you wondered why I wouldn't drink it! And my name's Potter not Evans."

"The conception potion given this morning was far far darker, Potter."

"Two darks don't make a light," she argued, almost facetiously.

He glowered. "Fine. Do it your way. But for the sake of the child, make it complete. Appearance, eye sight, blood type, magical strength, magical signature, and most importantly, see to it that any paternity spells or potions will reveal James and not I."

"Is that what this is all about?" James asked, still on the floor where the paralysis spell had left him. "You don't want that proof against you in court?"

Snape shifted his position so he could glare down at the falled auror. "That is the least of my worries, Potter. I am already compromised to the aurors. They need only lift my sleeve and they'll have all the proof they need." Then, to demonstrate, he did lift his left sleeve. Despite knowing already beyond any doubt the man in their kitchen was a Death Eater, seeing the brand still brought a shudder through her frame. "I wear the Dark Mark, Potter. I hardly think not having your son or daughter show my name in a paternity test will make any difference."

He then took out their wands and placed them on the nearest kitchen chair to himself. His own wand, he held defensively in front of himself as he moved toward the door to the back porch, obviously intent on leaving now. "Wait!" he stopped, and regarded her warily. "What was Voldemort trying to accomplish by getting us pregnant by Death Eaters?"

He shook his head. "It doesn't matter now. He needed thirteen. He only got twelve."

She frowned. "But we were all alive and pregnant."

He tilted his head as if surprised by her words. "True, however, you were already unknowingly pregnant with James's child, so you were unavailable for carrying a Death Eater's. It will be nine months before my lord realizes the error."

"What if one of the other girls aborts? Then he will know he failed much sooner."

Severus shook his head. "They can't. The potion was a powerful one that not only forces conception, but will reflect back any spell used to kill the resulting fetus. I would recommend that you warn the doctors of this or one of them could end up a puddle of lifeless goo on the floor. I would rather not have another death of that nature on my conscience." He shrugged, the gesture implying that the words were less than truth and he could care less whether or not the doctors were warned.

"What will stop one of the other girls from doing exactly what I do?"

"I underdosed you. Your protections are not as strong as theirs. I doubt it will work should they try. If they do and fail, it will make your claims that yours is James's that much more believable. If one of them actually was pregnant with someone else's child, that may try my Lord's credulity, but he will fail by that much more."

"Why are you doing this, Snape?" James asked, Lily could almost hear the frown in his voice. "You're setting yourself up for a fall on both sides of the fence."

With James on the opposite side of the table from him, Snape sneered at her as he answered, "To cancel a wizard's debt, you must save the life of debtholder or one of his family. I am saving your child's life, Potter. You wife's was never in danger."

There was a long hesitation. Lily held her breath, waiting for her husband to deny their child was his. But then James sighed. "Fine, debt is cancelled. But next time I see you, I'm still going to kill you."

Lily was mildly surprised to see Snape smirk. "Wouldn't have it any other way, Potter. Catch me if you can." He stepped out onto the back porch and was gone.

A/N: Let me know what you think. I've been trying to come up with a new spin on Severitus's challenge for ages, tell me if I've succeeded. Also, don't take everything learned in this chapter as fact. Remember: Snape's a Slytherin, and a Death Eater. He lies. But then again. He might be telling the truth, too, so he can hide it in plain sight.

A/N 2: While it looks like Serpents Children at this early stage, that is NOT 'Voldemort's plan'.

A/N 3: Sorry to the folks waiting for an update on Twins. It is coming. Honest. Swear by Slytherin.