“Why is it that the masses insist on procreating during times of war?” Severus muttered.
“Hush,” Minerva put a hand on his arm. “Let him enjoy the birth of his child. Besides, you’re hardly one to talk. Father of six children, and if I remember correctly, Viviane was born during the middle of the last war.”
“That is not the point.”
“Severus, Dierna will be fine. She’ll be awake in a couple of hours and we can question her. We’ll do the best we can to break through all of the memory blocks that have undoubtedly been put in place, and we’ll continue on just as before.”
“We’ll have to do better Minerva.” He glanced around at his colleagues who were gathered around Charlie offering their congratulations. “What we have been doing isn’t nearly enough. The enemy is gathering…”
“And so are we,” Minerva spoke softly, to keep their conversation as private as possible. Neither of them would say anything here that couldn’t be overheard by all those present, even the staff whose loyalties were suspect, but it didn’t hurt to take some precautions. “The Valkyries are coming. They are not the only ones with allies.”
Severus nodded in response, but Minerva could tell that his mind was a million miles away.
~~~~~~~~~~
“How are you feeling?”
Dierna shrugged in response and then narrowed her eyes at her brother, “what are you doing here?”
“You happen to be looking at Madame Pomphrey’s newest apprentice. One of two new apprentices actually,” Kamen smiled at his pouting sister. “Are you sulking for a reason?”
“You know damn well why I’m sulking so leave me alone!”
“It wasn’t your fault Dierna,” Kamen said gently.
“I was spying on my own family!”
“But you didn’t know that you were doing it!” Kamen snapped back in an equally angry tone.
“But I should of…”
“Don’t try to take all the blame on yourself. I’m certain that Dad and Professor McGonagall are kicking themselves for not realizing what was happening. They don’t blame you at all.”
“Maybe they should.”
Kamen sighed, “look, I’m trying to be sympathetic here, but you’re just acting stupid. And I have a feeling that you realize it. Stop wallowing in self-pity over something that couldn’t be helped. I understand that you feel bad, but there’s not a whole lot that we can do to change what happened. Now, how are you feeling?”
Dierna’s eyes narrowed even more, “if you think you’re going to examine me you have another thing coming, because I sure as hell won’t stand for it.”
“Why? Afraid you have some bits and pieces I’ve never seen before?” He smirked at her in a most aggravating fashion.
Dierna made a rather rude gesture in response.
“You do realize that you’re not supposed to harass the patients, right?” Beth asked as she stuck her head around the curtain.
“Don’t worry, this one needs harassing,” Kamen returned with a grin. “It’s the best way to figure out her current state of health. If she doesn’t respond, she’s probably dead, and if she chews your head off she’s fine.”
Beth only shook her head at him before taking her leave.
“So where’d you pick her up?” Dierna asked sulkily while Kamen made a show of checking her pulse, just to prove that he was competent as a medical professional.
“What? Oh, you mean Beth? She’s just a friend and a colleague.”
“Sure…”
“Hey! She’s a friend, and that’s it.”
“Since when have you ever been just friends with a girl?”
Kamen tried to come up with a legitimate response to that, but had to admit that he couldn’t. “Well,” he hastily improvised, “it was bound to happen sooner or later.”
“Are you done making sure I’m alive yet? I assure you, my pulse is there even if you can’t find it.”
“I’m doing just fine. But you can just keep on berating me if you want. You being feisty is a good sign.”
Dierna sighed and picked at her bed covers. “I wish…”
“Don’t start in with that, you’ll only make yourself feel worse.”
“You know Kamen, when you really try you can be downright decent.”
Kamen flashed her a grin, “I’m just trying to be a caring and concerned older brother.”
“You’re not half bad at it,” Dierna conceded.
“Well, as I have indeed confirmed that you are still alive and that your tongue certainly hasn’t lost its edge in all of this, I’ll let Dad know that you’re feeling up to seeing him.”
Dierna’s glare returned at that pronouncement, but she didn’t comment. Her hard eyes followed her brother as he departed and settled with pronounced distaste on her father as he stepped around the curtain.
“Stop moping and get out of that bed this instant! If you want to be of any value, and not just a useless causality lying about up here, you’ll be in my office in an hour ready to work on whatever project Eric or I assigns to you.” And he was gone just as quickly as he had appeared in a swirl of black.
Kamen smirked as he listened to the string of profanity coming from his sister.
“Ten galleons says she’s in your office within the half hour.”
Severus paused and seemed to consider his son very closely, “double it, and she’ll be there with exactly five minutes to spare, not a minute more.”
Kamen only grinned in response. If he had to dress his sister himself, he’d make sure she was on her way in time to earn him that money. He was thrilled with the addition to his income when his father handed over his twenty galleons later that night. And although he grumbled, he could tell that his father was pleased as well.
~~~~~~~~~~
“The children have informed me that they want to stay here for the Easter holidays, and that they are expecting guests,” Morgan calmly informed her husband.
Severus raised a questioning eyebrow, but silently slipped into his side of the bed. It was a lonely bed, for all that his wife was in it once more.
“I have been told that Stefan will be here, as well as our eldest daughter and her husband.”
“That I suppose is tolerable.” Severus frowned for a minute, “The end of the school year is approaching a bit faster than I would like. If Mr. MacNeill asks for a moment of my time, make sure he is refused.”
“He’s going to ask your permission to marry Dierna sooner or later.”
“I’d rather it be later, she has far too much potential to just up and marry as soon as she graduates.” He realized what he had just said, “your case was much different. I fear that Dierna will give up her own aspirations if she marries too young. Although, in all honesty, she could do far worse than Mr. MacNeill.”
Morgan smiled, but it was a sad smile, “with all the children nearly grown you’ll have little use for me. I’ll no longer be needed as a mediator.”
“I shall always need you.”
But Morgan didn’t look completely convinced.
It was then that Severus was finally able to put his finger on the change that had taken place. His wife was no longer assuring him that his darker nature was truly in his past and that life was indeed worth living. Now he was supporting her, and trying to coax her to keep on going. He had a newfound respect for all that she had done for him over the years, and for the burden she had carried on her small shoulders.
~~~~~~~~~
At the start of the Easter holidays Severus was horrified to find out that his children’s plans for taking over his living quarters were true. So, he did something out of character. He voluntarily sequestered himself with Eric in his lab.
Meanwhile, his children and their partners helped themselves to his living room, although Kamen and Beth insisted that they were not a couple, they were only friends.
The conversation started with a discussion of the upcoming NEWTs and post-graduation plans for those still in school, to Quidditch, and then, inevitably, to the war. Dierna was quickly forbidden from mentioning her unintentional role as a spy, so she glowered at the rest of the party while they discussed tactics for overcoming the Dark Lord. “But what if he wins?” she finally asked petulantly.
The others fell silent.
“We start the resistance,” Stefan finally said, his voice quiet but filled with emotion. “We pick a meeting place here and now, and if Voldemort wins, that is where we go to start planning his overthrow.”
Morgan had decided to make the walk to the living room all on her own just at that moment, and she leaned against the wall, listening as they quickly started suggesting locations and methods of alerting others who they knew to be loyal of their plans. She wished she had the energy to make it to the lab to tell Severus. Voldemort had no idea what he was up against.
~~~~~~~~~~
“No, your essay on the theory behind the protective charms still needs some work, but your practical technique is fine.” Mark pointed out the parts that Sophia needed to work on. He glanced across the Common Room to where the rest of the sixth and seventh years were showing off their patroni to Professor Snape. He wanted to join them, knowing that of all the Slytherins his patronus was the strongest. And he wanted the curt nod of approval that was one of Snape’s most sought after compliments. However, he had been told to make sure that Sophia’s homework was in perfect order.
“How about now?”
Mark realized how long he had been watching the others when Sophia’s question brought him back down to earth. “Much better.” He looked up in time to see Kay, having successfully produced a patronus in the shape of a dove, trying to convince Snape to show the Slytherins his patronus.
He laughed out loud when their house master’s tirade about not asking impertinent questions like that was interrupted by the Bulstrode triplets creating a loud explosion followed by excessive amounts of orange smoke at the other end of the Common Room. And then, after the smoke had been cleared away, the good professor dragging the three of them, as a matter of everyday business, out of the Common Room and to his office. It was the perfect scene of Slytherin domestic tranquility. He realized how much he had missed the lack of these moments this year. He also realized how much he would miss this Common Room after graduation.
He only hoped that they won this war. Because, the only way it would be lost was if Snape fell. And he couldn’t imagine this Common Room without Snape there to look out for them.
He sighed and turned back to his own books. It was the beginning of May. It didn’t matter that spring was upon them or that a war was being fought around them. He had NEWTs to pass.
~~~~~~~~~~
“Severus?” Morgan had woken in the middle of the night and found her husband missing. She no longer slept as easily as she once had. But, she now had enough strength to navigate her and Severus’ living quarters on her own. She just didn’t dare leave them, because she knew she did have the strength to get back on her own. She found Severus sitting at his desk in the living room. A stack of ungraded papers sat in front of him, but he was staring into the fire dancing in the great. At this time of spring it was only cool enough for a fire down here in the dungeons.
“What are you doing out of bed?” he swept his eyes over his wife, head to foot, trying to ascertain if there was anything wrong.
“Looking for you.”
A small smile tugged at his lips, “you have found me.”
Morgan smiled, just a little bit, in return. “So I have.”
“I missed seeing you this evening, I was… delayed by a small problem in the Common Room. How did your appointment with Poppy go?”
Morgan looked away, “she says I’ve improved faster than she would have though possible, considering… well, all things considered. But she was also very honest with me. The possibility of a full recovery is all by nonexistent. It is likely that I will always tire easily, that I just won’t be up to my previous workload. But she said that given time it shouldn’t slow me down too much.”
“Join me for a little while.” He held out his hand, and when Morgan came close he pulled her down into his lap. “It has been far too long since I last had you here. It is where you belong.”
Morgan sighed as she cuddled close to him, “I can’t say that I was in much of a position to miss it. All I really remember is begging for death… I saw my mother at one point…”
Severus stayed silent. Morgan had not mentioned remembering anything that she had seen or heard while she hung so precariously near death. He didn’t dare interrupt her now.
“She held me again, and I was so happy to be with her. She told me I could stay with her, forever. And then, right when we were ready to leave, she changed her mind and told me I had to go back, that it wasn’t time yet. She left without me, and then I remember seeing you…”
She looked up into her husband’s black eyes. “I have missed my mother for so long. I’m not sure if I ever got over her death. But I am so glad that she sent me back to you.” She tilted her head up to receive her husband’s tender kiss.
“I have missed you far more than I can say.”
“I’m back now,” Morgan assured him, “and I am completely yours.”
Severus smirked down at her, “you will be completely mine once you are feeling just a bit more… energetic.”
She batted at him with a balled up fist, “don’t be so indecent.”
“I have missed your abuse, almost as much as I have missed the rest of you,” he trailed soft kisses down her neck.
“As much as I hate to admit it, you’re right. I’m sorry Sev, but I really am exhausted.”
He stood, easily lifting her in his arms as he did so, “I’m going to tell Misty to start doubling the food she brings to you, you’re too light by half. Remind me tomorrow,” he said as he tucked her back into bed, “Olivia’s birthday is in a few days and I’m sure she’ll be disappointed if we don’t plan something.”
~~~~~~~~~~
