FIC: The Vanishing Twin - HP, Harry/Snape, R, 2 / 2
Red robes.
Harry tensed, turning even as he flinched. Nothing but Chinese wedding robes in Madame Malkin’s window display.
“You’re certainly twitchy today.”
He’d pulled quite a few favors, even for a Minister of Magic, to have Ron assigned as the head of his personal guard. For him, it would have been a ceremonial position. While he was breeding though, he went wandless by necessity. There were spells he could cast without it, of course. However, it was safer to have a guard.
“Bad news from Italy,” Harry finally admitted.
“Yeah, I heard,” Ron responded as he surveyed the crowd. “I knew the poncy git would be trouble someday.”
Lunch out, shopping, it was all a production these days. Not even his best friend could make life schoolday simple anymore.
And how pitiful was it that Harry considered the yearly death threats of Voldemort to be the simple past?
“We knew it was coming… Why’s it still such a shock?”
They both knew that Harry didn’t really expect an answer to the rhetorical question. Ron, after all, was a Weasley. He’d been accustomed to the vagaries of pregnant women early on. A pregnant bloke was oddly the same, even if he wouldn’t tell Harry that little fact.
He had no desire to be cried on or hit.
“Are you still stopping by today? Hermione will never let up nagging if you don’t.”
For a moment, Harry forgot his own troubles. “Well,” he teased. “If only to save you the nagging.”
***
“Mione!” Ron bellowed. “Come see who’s here.”
Harry breathed shallowly, letting his stomach settle after the Portkey.
“Mione?” Ron’s voice changed to a question as his wife didn’t respond. She was an Auror, too. Different division or not, he’d thought she was home today.
It caught them both by surprised when she rushed into the room. Ron opened his arms to her embrace, but it was Harry she enfolded.
Harry looked stunned, confused, at the sobbing woman’s grasp. Ron began to worry, moving to her side immediately.
“Mione? Love? What’s the matter? It’s not one of the kids, is it?”
The question set her back off, fresh sobs dampening Harry’s robes. Harry started to wince at the claw-like aspect of her hands on his shoulders.
“Ease up, dear. Harry’s preggers, you know, and those babes need room.”
She eased back, startled by her husband’s blunt honesty. “Oh, Harry!”
***
“Mr. Matthews… This is the third time in a fortnight that Professor Flitwick has sent you here.”
Headmaster Snape had taken a breath, prepared to rip into the young Ravenclaw, when two things happened. The medallion that had hung around his neck since Harry became pregnant heated impossibly fast. Then, the fire in his office flared high and green.
The voice that yelled from its flickering depths was immediately recognizable but caused the student to jump and cry out in a panicked breath.
“Snape! Come through, quick! Harry’s…”
Severus was standing in the Weasley living room, soot drifting from his hem, as Ron finished his sentence.
“…having a problem.”
Harry was hunched in half, arms crossed over his abdomen and lying on the floor. Hermione was cradling his head, but they hadn’t tried to move him from the rug.
“He collapsed, cramps or something.” Ron stumbled over the explanation. As a father, he shared Snape’s visible worry.
Severus crouched at Harry’s side. His robes spread across the floor around him like lax wings. His hand encompassed the side of Harry’s face, cupping his cheek. Harry’s eyes were scrunched shut, but he responded to the touch.
“Sev’rus?”
The elder Potter-Snape reached into his pockets before slipping a small red sphere between Harry’s lips. Hermione stared at him, curious at what appeared to be a Muggle pill. She’d once inquired as to why all potions had to be kept in a liquid state. She just hadn’t known the Potions Master had begun to experiment with solid delivery.
“False labor, early contractions, are the largest risk factor for male gestation.” Snape looked to Ron. “Floo Hogwarts infirmary and let Poppy know before she invades your home with his medical team.”
He turned back to the pair on the floor. His hands moved continuously over Harry, checking and reassuring. There would be time later for inquiry, for knowing what had caused this attack and removing it.
“I’m sorry.”
Severus’ attention lifted to Hermione’s slightly swollen and tear-streaked face. He had assumed her features were due to Harry’s situation. But she offered even before he could think of asking why she’d apologized.
“I’ve been called up for special duties with the Paradox division. I didn’t know he’d react like this. I thought he’d known, that he’d be glad friends would be there.”
It was apparent that she could read his confusion. Hermione continued, “I just wanted him to know I was sorry about your daughter… I can’t imagine losing one of my own children.”
Severus’ temper flared hot and fast with such an available target. “He wasn’t to know,” he hissed.
They had both forgotten that Harry had collapsed but was still conscious. “Knew?” Harry’s voice was weak, whisper soft.
“Harry?” Severus leaned closer, attendant to his mate’s needs.
“You. Knew.”
It was an accusation and a question. Both bound into the same brisk syllables. Severus winced, even as he faced his husband.
“Harry, you need to relax. The children…”
Harry’s pained laughter headed into renewed sobs. He didn’t budge off Hermione’s lap. He didn’t respond to Severus’ attempts to comfort him.
“The children,” he finally gasped out. His arms curled tighter, trying unconsciously to protect what he now knew for certain he would lose. Harry’s eyes opened to pierce into his spouse, even from his position of vulnerability. “Tell me you didn’t know.”
Severus’ careful kneeling crouch faltered. He settled, leaning defeatedly forward in supplication. “Harry…”
“Tell me, Severus!”
The Headmaster closed his eyes, unable to meet the accusation. “I was visited by a Paradox Unspeakable.”
“Severus?” Harry’s voice broke on his denied hope.
“I wanted to protect you,” Severus explained. As Harry’s eyes closed again in pain, further justification followed. “I was only ever thinking of you.”
“Hermione?” Harry asked quietly.
Knowing she was largely responsible, Hermione kept her voice low. She was a professional. Yet, at the hardest task of her career, she’d broken the confidentiality. “Yes, Harry?”
“I can stay here for a while, right?”
Hermione bit her bottom lip, looking from her shocked husband to the devastated Headmaster. “Of course, Harry.”
It was the only answer she could possibly give.
“I’d like to sleep for a bit.”
Harry’s soft statement was the center of their group attention. He stood shakily, Hermione supporting him.
“Pisliskurja?”
Harry turned from Severus like a man slapped. The Headmaster never moved as his mate stepped away from him. He was crushed, broken by circumstance and his own unshakeable fate.
When it was just Ron and Severus in the Weasleys' main room, the young Auror reached out and rested his hand on the man’s shoulder. “Snape?”
Severus flinched slightly. He paused, gathering himself before standing. The straightening of his garments as he rearmored himself was a lengthy process. Ron simply waited for him to finish.
“He’ll forgive you. He always does.”
Severus didn’t answer verbally. Unfortunately, his irate teacher glare was no longer as effective on the young redhead.
“Hermione’s been assigned to make sure Malfoy’s harming Harry goes only as it should. Don’t even imagine this is easy for us either.”
“My apologies,” Severus managed stiffly. “The depth of your attachment to him has never been in doubt.”
Ron sighed, an edge of amusement leaking onto his face. “You dumb git. We’re your friends too, or would be if you’d let us.”
***
“How can I be expected to ensure the health of a patient when he doesn’t keep his appointments?”
The Headmaster didn’t look up from his desk as his quill continued to fly across a succession of parchments. “Why has this complaint been brought to my office, Pomfrey?”
Poppy scowled at the downbent head. Severus’ mood had become progressively blacker as All Hallow’s Eve approached. Did her eyes betray her, or was his hygiene slipping once more?
“Harry needs these checkups! The progress of this gestation, due to its experimental nature, must be monitored closely.”
That caused him to look up with a scowl. “What precisely has sponsored your belief that I would administer a faulty potion to my own husband?”
Madame Pomfrey folded her hands in her apron. “Your skills and devotion are not in doubt. However, he still needs to be checked so that we can anticipate his delivery. The medallions can only provide so much advance warning.”
Turning back to his documents, he waved off her concern in a deceptively careless fashion. “Then inquire for him with the Weasleys.”
“I am not pestering the Weasleys about your spouse,” she responded in outrage.
“Then you shall not find him, for I’ve not seen my husband in weeks.”
Poppy’s entire tone and demeanor changed. She had noticed Harry’s absence from the main pathways of the school, but hadn’t known it extended even to his own private quarters.
“Severus, it isn’t unusual for there to be stress when children are added to a relationship. It’s been just the two of you and this is a large responsibility. Both you and Harry have demanding positions…”
Her conciliatory tones faded as he barked out, “Have you run mad, woman?”
She stared in shock as he continued. “What possibly inferred that I would desire your counsel? We have anticipated this birth for years! You should know that the pair of us long for nothing more than familial devotion.”
Poppy was definitely confused. “Then…. Why is Harry at the Weasleys?”
Severus face closed into careful blankness. “All will be known in time.”
If he’d been granted the divinatory habits he so scorned, he perhaps would have been kinder. But it had rarely been in Severus’ nature to be kind.
***
“Ron! Ron, wake up!”
The redhead came to with a start, blinking blearily at his wife. “Mione?”
“Wake up, Harry’s missing!”
He scrambled out of bed, joining her. “How’d Malfoy take him without tripping our wards? Why’d he leave us alone?”
“I don’t know, Ronald.” Hermione cinched her robe tightly. They spoke in fierce whispers, trying not to wake up their children. “Cassie’s orb woke me and he wasn’t in bed.”
“He’d better not be in the kitchen with her at this hour. She has primary in the morning.”
“Oh, do be serious. Harry could be in trouble.”
They hurried through the house, wands clenched in white-knuckled hands. Their search found nothing but empty rooms and sleeping children. When only the kitchen was left, they burst through in a standard Auror pattern, covering the corners.
Only to find their nearly five year old daughter seated alone at the table. “Silly Daddy,” she chortled at his comic double take.
Hermione was faster to recover and approached their oldest. Her eyes took in the tea set, cookies, and chocolates. At least the candy she knew hadn’t been in her kitchen earlier.
“Sweetie, did Uncle Harry wake you up?”
Cassie nodded enthusiastically. “Yes, Mommy. We had tea.”
Ron shook his head and put his wand on the table before taking a seat across from his daughter. “He goes for a walk and we panic.”
“He didn’t walk, Daddy.”
Helping himself to Harry’s abandoned teacup, Ron asked absently, “What did he do, my little star?”
She nodded seriously. “Uncle Sev’rus carried him like you do Mommy.”
The couple shared a look. Hermione sighed as she picked up the chocolate box. “They might have let us know.”
Cassie immediately protested the snitching of her treat. “Those are mine!”
“Sweetheart, it’s too late for sweets. You need to go back to bed.”
“No!” She was definitely headed for a full-blown tantrum. “Uncle Sev’rus said I could have them if I did his favor!”
Ron yawned, returning the now empty cup to the table. “Did what?”
She pouted, arms crossed. “I put the potion in Uncle Harry’s cup, so they’re mine.”
Ron’s head thumped against the table as he released a great, echoing snore. Hermione threw her hands in the air and relinquished the contested sweets to her daughter. There were battles simply not worth fighting.
After a short while, she was the only one awake in the kitchen. Glancing from her exhausted daughter to her drugged spouse, she sighed. “You had to pick an ex-Death Eater, Harry?”
There was no one awake to answer the musing.
***
Harry stretched and snuffled into the pillow. The room was chilly, he vaguely noticed. Rolling, the heavy blankets wrapped him.
He frowned as a thought occurred. The beds at Ron and Hermione’s place weren’t large enough for him to roll like that. They were mostly used by those under five, so it was understandable.
The children?
Cassie!
Harry was instantly awake. Where was Cassie? More immediate, where was he?
The room was vaguely familiar. He was on a platform bed covered with green and gold linens of brocade and silk. There was a fireplace roaring merrily, but silently, along one wall. It was topped with an intricately naughty bas-relief.
Harry noted the door and began to rise. Where were his clothes? The top sheet wrapped him in decency and draped from his distended stomach. There were rugs beneath his feet but Harry didn’t intend to stay long enough to enjoy the way his toes automatically curled into their lush pile.
The door opened when he was barely halfway across the room. Harry paused as Severus stepped inside. The door literally melted into the wall, leaving no evidence of its once presence. He backed up a step before deciding that he would not retreat from his treacherous spouse.
“Where’s the door?”
“I no longer required it.”
Once, Harry would have rejoiced in the promise of those lips twisting in that fashion. Right now, it only infuriated him. “Where are my clothes?”
“Why?” Severus asked insouciantly. “There is no inch of your body that I have not both observed and tasted.”
Harry flushed. “You can’t keep me here.”
“I can’t?” Severus’ question was taunting as he approached. Harry’s certainty that he would not retreat faltered as a long-fingered hand took the sheet from his suddenly sweaty grasp.
“Hmmm… No, nothing new.”
Severus’ head rocked to the side with the strength of Harry’s open hand against his cheek.
“Bastard!” Fire flashed in green eyes before Harry turned his back on his spouse.
The Headmaster watched the rapid waddle-stalk, and admired the still shapely ass, before stepping forward. He bent, catching his husband with an arm just below and just above his pregnant bulge.
“You git! Let go of me!”
Severus lifted Harry onto his lap as he sat backwards onto the chair that had appeared just behind him. Harry struggled for a moment before realizing that he couldn’t free himself. He settled for glaring, trying to ignore the fact that he was nude and Severus clothed.
“We’ll settle this now, havvie.”
“There’s nothing to settle. You clearly think I’m an idiot and I won’t have it.”
“I have a great respect for your intelligence and capabilities.”
“That’s why you lied to me.”
“I concealed our daughter’s fate for…”
“… my own good. I’ve heard it before but I’m not a child. I’m your equal!”
Severus chuckled bitterly. “You could never be my equal.”
Harry’s hand snapped up to deliver a second stinging slap. Severus caught it before it could land and there was a momentary battle. Harry finally freed his hand and declined to raise it again.
“Once again, you react before you understand. You could never be my equal because you begin so far above me.”
Harry’s expression made it clear he wasn’t buying the penitence. “You lied to me… by omission if not directly.”
“I did what I thought was necessary to protect your health and the life of my surviving child.”
“She’s not dead yet!” Harry’s hand curved over the bare mound of his abdomen. “She won’t ever be if I can help it!”
“Harry,” Severus began. “Do you know why Granger was so upset?”
“Of course… these are her godchildren.”
Severus shook his head. “Pisliskurja… she was recruited to supplement the Paradox Unspeakables…. Not to stop Malfoy but to keep us from attempting to save our daughter.”
Harry paled and fell silent.
“If you can forgive her, then forgive me this need to protect my family.”
“Severus.”
The older man held Harry closer and they both clung for an imagined strength.
“What are we going to do?”
“Live… as best we can.”
***
The dawn of All Hallow’s Ever was cold and blustery. It was the early winter of the Scottish highlands. The view from the Headmaster’s office lacked its usual splendor.
Harry stared out in numb muteness. He was alone, Severus having joined the students in the Great Hall. Even on this day, Harry would not begrudge his mate his duties.
James had once told Hermione that he was born about four in the afternoon. But James had been retrieved at the hour of his birth - somewhere between breakfast and lunch. The conflict in information burned at Harry.
What had that long ago message from a future not yet occurred said? Harry prodded his memory, seeking that tiny fragment. He was without the convenience of a wand, unable to enlist the exact recall of a pensieve. Now he understood why Albus had wanted the device so frequently.
Finally, the desired information began filtering to the surface. “On our anniversary… At the hour of your birth…”
Harry already knew the hour of birth was in conflict. But if James had been born on his and Severus’ anniversary, would the note have been phrased that way? Wouldn’t it have said ‘on your birthday’?
He smiled as this occurred to him, feeling safe for one more day at least. Quickly, Harry penned a note to Severus to share his conclusions and left for the Ministry.
***
Divination was, at best, a questionable field of magic. It was the one particular aspect of his school that Severus could be counted on to discredit. The Headmaster glanced over the chattering students before turning back to his deputy.
Minerva, ever perceptive, asked, “What’s the matter?”
He shook his head at first, then admitted quietly, “Something’s wrong.”
“Harry?”
“No… I left him secure in my office.”
“We are speaking of the same young man who encountered numerous troubles while presumably safe at this same school.”
Severus frowned, his gaze turning inward as he communicated with Hogwarts herself. It was a deep bond, that of Hogwarts and Headmaster. His glazed, unfocused eyes flickered with the passage of information.
“The bloody prat’s gone,” Severus finally bit out in frustration. He rose from his chair with deceptive leisure. McGonagall joined him in a measured progress to the exit at the side of the staff table before they both broke into a hurried trot down the empty halls.
“Why would he leave? Are you sure he wasn’t taken?”
Severus brushed a hand against the wall as they mounted the stairs to his office that had opened in anticipation of his approach. “She would have told me if his departure was by force.”
It took only a moment to confirm the office was empty. The Headmaster grabbed the note left atop his desk, skimming it quickly. He groaned, closing his eyes as he finished. Harry had acted precipitously, as usual.
He had failed to account that James had likely not known the full circumstances of his birth at the age of seventeen. Of course, no parent would make those difficult revelations in a letter.
“He’s left, I presume?”
Severus met Minerva’s question with a short nod. “I’ll have to go after him. It’s not safe right…”
Anything further Severus might have said was cut off. He fell silent, teeth clenched against a blinding pain.
“Headmaster?” The first inquiry was concerned. “Severus, Dear Merlin!” The second was pure fear.
Severus collapsed to his knees as the emergency medallion heated until it melted through the chain that had held it around his neck. The pain suddenly cut out, leaving him staring at the puddled metal and quivering as if the Cruciatus had just been lifted from him.
“What’s happened?”
He looked up, but all the answer needed was a single word. “Harry.”
McGonagall’s expression hardened. “I’ll notify the Order. We’ll find him.”
But the opening of the office prevented her from taking that action. They turned as Hermione Granger-Weasley entered, her official navy robes swirling in a menacing dance. “I’m sorry, Professors. I can’t allow that.”
“Can’t allow,” Minerva began in outraged tones.
“Look at her robes,” Severus directed, regaining his feet.
The glint of the silver hourglass spoke its own warning. Hermione kept her arms at her sides and made no move towards her wand. “If you would both please be seated. I cannot allow you to leave as of yet.”
The Deputy Headmaster leveled her best quelling glare on her former student. “Surely you can’t expect that we’ll simply ignore Harry’s plight?”
There was a darkness in Hermione’s eyes. It was the weight of the duty she’d accepted and its conflict with her natural loyalty to a close friend. “All necessary actions have been authorized to prevent an early interference.”
Menace was an expression carried easily by Severus Snape. He stepped forward and Hermione unknowingly yielded that ground. “How precisely do you intend to stop me?”
“She can’t.”
The new voice broke into their emerging standoff. The man was dressed identically to Hermione, though he was more of the Headmaster’s age. “That’s why I was sent.”
“And who are you, sir?” Minerva demanded.
But it was Severus who answered with a quiet plea of, “James, please.”
He shook his head. At his gesture, Hermione stood to the side and yielded the situation to him. “It had to happen this way. Through the ritual and sacrifice,” James choked on the word. “Draconis will become powerful enough to oppose the pair of you.”
“How is that possibly a good thing?” McGonagall inquired in dismay.
When James turned to face her fully, she gasped in recognition. “Mr. Nathaniel? How?”
“It’s a long explanation, Professor. One that I can be certain you’ll receive later. For now, we must wait.”
Severus was resigned. While he did not sit, he leaned heavily against his desk. “It’s not safe for you to be there. Who’s in charge of this operation?”
James hedged. “Ah… Well, that I can’t really tell you. But my presence is an exception granted by the Gatekeeper. The operation is actually being coordinated from about twenty-five years further on than myself.”
“And you currently are?”
“Thirty-eight, Father.”
***
There hadn’t been much else to do as they waited. Thus, Minerva finally received the full story about Mr. Nathaniel and his foreshortened time at Hogwarts.
Finally, when Severus’ willingness to wait was nearly exhausted, James said simply, “It’s time.”
They stood as a group, only Hermione leaving the office immediately. The two Potter- Snapes turned to the Deputy Headmistress, speaking at the same time.
“Minerva.”
“Professor McGonagall.”
Severus stared for a moment at the adult who was his son. His evaluation of the circumstance was clear even in his dark eyes. He simply gestured for James to continue.
With only a sparse nod, James did. “Auror Granger-Weasley has gone to retrieve Healer Bones. As she accompanies us, please coordinate with Madame Pomfrey. It remains of utmost importance that Hogwarts’ occupants remain calm.”
McGonagall waited for Severus' indication of his agreement. When she received it, she pursed her lips. “Remind me, Severus, to retire before this one reaches eleven. I do believe that teaching both your parents and half your grandparents is all that should be required of a witch, young man.”
When she had left the office, Severus turned a speculative gaze on his son. James rolled his eyes. The movement was pure Harry.
“I’m not supposed to tell you anything.”
Severus smirked, bringing his son to chuckle. “And you always said Dad was the rule-breaker.” James shook his head. “Reminded or not, she didn’t retire… and was scandalized when I went Slytherin.”
Their easy accord dissolved as Hermione returned and it was once again back to business. James gathered them around the Portkey, ignoring Susan’s confusion. “Remember, we’re going into a partially secure combat situation. Concentrate on your objectives.”
***
They’d barely caught their footing when James was moving, wand drawn. “This way,” he called. Hermione’s training had suddenly become very clear. She had automatically taken Jame’s side, covering him from the possibility of attack. The Headmaster and Healer Bones followed the pair obediently, not yet certain of their position in these events.
The corridor they’d arrived in was dark and dank, plain underground stone. It was a dead end, tucked around a corner that glimmered with increased light.
As they turned the corner, they found the first dispatch of Aurors. Presumably to hold the Portkey and Apparition point secure, they noted the new arrivals and went immediately back on guard.
James never slowed from a trot, the other three keeping pace. It was quickly clear that they had arrived in a dilapidated manor house. Not all areas of which had been secured, as Hermione yanked Susan out of the path of spellfire. They had another goal, trading only those spells and curses necessary to pass the blockade of Fire Drakes.
As they reached a hall that split up and down, James urged to the stairs. “Draconis is this way.”
Severus started to follow, then stumbled to a stop. “No,” he uttered, practically under his breath.
“Father, I assure you he is,” James called out. Susan’s eyes widened impossibly further.
Severus had closed his eyes, head turning at a silent call only he could hear. “He may be… but Harry is not.”
The Headmaster turned on his heel, disappearing into the darkness as he went down the other path. James hesitated only a moment before waving Hermione and her charge on without him. “Follow him. I have another task.”
James faced the stairs alone.
***
It had been awhile since stealth and secrets were his stock in trade alongside his beloved potions. But there were certain skills that were never lost.
Severus slunk rapidly along the dim path, following the siren call of the dearest link in his life. The connection that Harry had once unknowingly mocked now led him to his mate. His feet were silent. Even through his rush, he sneered at the noise of the two women scrambling behind him.
The Killing Curse on his lips, he shifted the point of his wand as he entered the room. The man, clothed in bloodstained, torn robes, crouching at Harry’s side was no threat.
“Weasley?”
Ron looked up, allowing his own wandpoint to drop as Severus crossed immediately to Harry. Even to a man that was once a Death Eater, the damage to his spouse made it impossible to believe that Harry could live. But he could feel his mate’s refusal to fade.
Severus looked up, his expression asking all that was needed. Ron flipped his cloak aside, revealing the tiny infant tucked carefully into the crook of his arm.
“Your son. Draco took the other. I dragged Harry away.”
The redhead’s exhaustion was clear. His pallor and the injuries he was tolerating elaborated on the simple explanation. Severus reached out, touching this new life with an index finger that shook.
Susan pulled away from Hermione as the women arrived and immediately went to work on Harry. Severus spun, striding back to the room’s exit.
“Sir, you can’t” Hermione objected, trying to block his way. They could all see the murderous intent in his eyes.
The Headmaster intended to be gentle in moving the Auror, his spouse’s best friend, aside. She resisted, blocking the door. “That puling brat will not kill my daughter,” Severus hissed as he forced her aside.
Not really disagreeing with him, Hermione didn’t pursue. Severus hurried, silence no longer his concern. His robes snapping behind him, he retraced his steps and turned to James’ original path.
The stairs upward led to a tower room. Bare, cold, open to the elements on two sides. James was hunched over, looking up as his father entered.
“You’re too late. Draconis is gone.”
Severus staggered, approaching as his face paled and tightened with loss. His wand gave a threatening creak and he quickly eased his grip. “Your sister?”
James’ posture was odd. He held one of his arms close in to his side. “She’s dead to you.”
The words struck harder than any blow. Then, Severus' head tilted. The magic in the room was… off… in the same way that had called him downstairs to Harry’s side.
James sighed, shifting, as he recognized that look. “She has to be dead to you! Don’t you understand?!”
Severus stepped closer, his pace small but steady. There was so much to consider, so much more than he and Harry. “How can you expect that of me?”
James bit his lip, chewing a bloody spot on the lower. His eyes were strained. Harry’s upset crease deepened across his forehead as Severus recognized his own anguished squint. “Exceptions are incredibly rare. If she’s supposed to die… then she has to be dead.”
Severus’ face was set. “Let me see my daughter.”
“Father…”
“Now, James!”
The snap was too much. James lifted the edge of his cloak aside, revealing just why he’d cradled his arm so carefully. Unlike the other babe, this one was crowned with tufts of auburn hair. Her eyes were scrunched and she was blotchy and still grimy from her birth.
Severus reached out and it appeared for a moment as if James would refuse. The Headmaster held his daughter with greater care than the most precious of objects. She blinked once as he kissed her miniature head, Harry’s eyes already shining in the manner of wizarding infants.
Both of their children had Harry’s eyes.
James had never seen his father cry. Neither man acknowledged the tears tracking across the Headmaster’s face as he relinquished his daughter to her brother’s care.
“She died… at Draconis’ hand,” Severus admitted brokenly.
James nodded once, sharply, knowing that his father understood the necessity. His father stepped back as he retrieved the Portkey that would send him home to his wife with a new infant to raise. “I’ll teach her of you and Dad. I swear it.”
Alone in the room as his children disappeared, Severus mourned anew. James’ final, unintended revelation had surely been inadvertent. But he now knew that he and Harry would not live to see James bring home that little girl.
***
Ginny shifted the baby higher against her shoulder as James finished his spell casting on the family vault. The single date under ‘Evangeline Marie Potter-Snape’ had been moved from the center to the left side.
As he returned to his wife’s side, she could see him glancing at the vaults of his parents, their shared date of death too early to see their daughter flourish. “You did the right thing, love,” she offered in reassurance.
James nodded, enfolding his wife and the child in a gentle embrace. “I just wish Dad could have known.”
Ginny chuckled, drawing his attention. “He knew.”
He frowned. “Father knew how important it was that he say nothing. The regulations…”
She stared at the marble engraving and shook her head. “Severus Snape never followed a rule unless he wanted to… especially where Harry Potter was involved.”
They turned, breathing deeply of the brisk Scottish morning.
“You really think he told Dad?”
Ginny laughed, pulling her husband along as she started up the hill. The castle rose before them, its shadow not touching the resting place of one the Wizarding World’s finest families. “Come on, let’s introduce the kids to their aunt.”
James’ longer legs quickly caught up to her hurried stride. He lifted the little girl from her arms, pressing a smacking kiss to her stomach as her arms and legs worked with energetic fury.
“They’ll adore you. Won’t they, little Eva?”
Finis