Hey everybody. So this is my first story on this site, I hope you enjoy it!

Beth

Eponine stared at the newspaper, the red headline giving her a sinking feeling deep in her stomach. Harry Potter Speaks out at last: The truth about He Who Must Not Be Named and the night I saw him return! It screamed out at her, and she sat there in the muggle diner, watching the miniature Harry Potter grinning nervously from the front cover.

She, like everybody else, had heard the rumors that the Potter boy was mad, but she hadn't paid attention beyond that. Reading and rereading his article, though, she came to realize the truth. Without another word to the server standing above her, she threw down money and swept out the door, holding the copy of The Quibbler close to her chest. The only thing on her mind was getting to Hogwarts as fast as possible, and to the only man she trusted.

"Professor Dumbledore," she said, leaning forward, clutching her hands into tight fists, her nails cutting deep into her palms, the copy of The Quibbler on the desk between them. "Is it true? Is he back?" She prided herself on keeping her voice steady, but on the inside, she was barely keeping panic at bay.

The headmaster nodded, a grave look on his face. "It is true, my dear." She closed her eyes, holding back the sudden warmth of tears and the memories threatening to surface. "Are you going to ask about your husband?"

"I haven't seen Severus in almost two years, sir," she said sharply, snapping her eyes open. "I don't intend to now. I only came here because I knew you'd know the truth, and you're about the only person I can trust to be honest with me."

"Eponine," Dumbledore said, leaning forward himself, "Severus is risking his life, surely you can forgive him for his mistakes when he was young?"

"I figured he was back spying for you," she said bitterly, folding her hands together in her lap. "If you-know-who was really back. But I don't care what he does anymore, professor. I was seventeen when I married him, it's been a long time since I felt any love for Severus."

"You never divorced him." It was a statement, not a question.

"No, I didn't, but only because-" she began, right before someone knocked on the door. She breathed out through her nose as the professor bid whoever it was to enter.

"Albus, Potter's gotten into it with Umbridge again." It was McGonagall, who took a double take at the woman sitting in the office. "Mrs. Snape."

Eponine smiled at her. "I go by Ms. Montgomery now. Hello Professor McGonagall."

"Minerva, I am aware," Dumbledore said calmly. "I was there."

"Who's Umbridge?" Eponine asked curiously, looking back and forth between the professors. "What's Harry Potter done?"

"Dolores Umbridge," McGonagall began, with some disgust in her voice, "is the senior undersecretary to Cornelius Fudge. She is also the defense against the dark arts teacher."

"If she works for the minister, what is she doing here?"

"Eponine, do you receive the Daily Prophet?" Dumbledore questioned. She shook her head.

"No, it's trash. Why?"

"A lot of your questions would have been answered if you had," McGonagall sighed, pursing her lips. "The ministry is attempting to take over Hogwarts because, they believe, the headmaster is insane."

"But he's not."

"Exactly," Dumbledore said, sitting back in his chair and eyeing her. "Eponine, there is something I must ask you, and it is not a favor you will like."

"What is it?" She knew, before he asked, what it would be.

"You have a powerful gift for healing. Join the order of the phoenix. Reunite with your husband. Events have changed him, it would surprise you. We need you, we need people like you."

Eponine pushed her chair back and stood. "He abused me," she said in a shaky voice. "You know this. You were the one that helped me leave almost two ago. And now you ask me to reunite with him? I'm sorry, professor, but I don't know if I can."

"There's going to be a war," Dumbledore said bluntly. "People are going to die, like last time. We could use a healer. "

She let out the breath she'd been holding. "Okay," she said finally, sitting back down. "What do you need from me?"

Standing alone in her muggle flat later that afternoon, Eponine thought about the past fifteen years of her life. She'd met and married Severus Snape when she was just seventeen, the year before you-know-who vanished. She'd known from the beginning he wasn't in love with her, or at least, he didn't love her as much as she loved him. She knew he'd only actually gone through with their marriage because of their baby.

She sank into a chair, leaning her head back. The first year of their marriage had been good, until she gave birth to Ellen. Their daughter. She'd only lived for ten minutes, but she had been the turning point. After her death, Severus pulled away from Eponine, only coming back to her when he needed something.

And then he began taking out his anger on her. The abuse began with Lily Potter's death. He'd come home intoxicated, and if she said anything to him, more than likely she'd end the night with a new bruise or five.

She kept to herself for the next thirteen years of their marriage, dealing with the physical and even sexual abuse because, after all, it was just her. She was strong enough to deal with it.

Until she became pregnant again. The second she got the confirmation that she was carrying another child, she went straight to the headmaster, who found the right paperwork for her and her daughter to hide in the muggle world, and she told Severus never to contact her again.

Now she would have no choice, she realized. She was going to have to tell her husband that he'd fathered another child, and that was a conversation she was not looking forward to.

She slipped on the coat that had been her father's, stashing her wand in the inside pocket, and stared at her reflection. She looked like a muggle. With another sigh, she exited her bedroom, greeted the babysitter, and went out the door. A fair distance away, she apparated to Hogsmeade, and from there, walked the distance to Hogwarts, where Dumbledore was waiting in his office with Severus. She knocked on his office door, nervously chewing the inside of her cheek. After a soft "enter," came from the headmaster, she slowly pushed open the door, and the figure sitting across from him turned.

"Eponine," Severus gasped, staring at her. "What are you doing here?"On instinct, Eponine wrapped her arms around herself.

"Severus, meet the newest member of the Order. She came here to talk to you," Dumbledore interjected. The potions master continued just staring, surprise in his dark eyes.

"Hello Severus," Eponine managed finally, taking a small step forward.

"Perhaps the two of you should go to Severus' office. Dolores wants a meeting with me, and it would not be wise for you to be here."

"Right," Eponine said. "Okay." Severus stood up slowly, bid farewell to Dumbledore, and gestured for Eponine to follow him. She glanced over at the headmaster, who made a "go on" motion with his hands, and she let out a breath and followed her husband out of the office. They hadn't gotten far before a woman dressed in pink stopped them.

"Severus, there you are," she exclaimed, before noticing Eponine. "And who is this?"

"Dolores, this is my wife, Eponine. Nina, this is Dolores Umbridge, our current defense instructor."

"Wife?"

"It's nice to meet you," Eponine said politely, trying not to flinch at his use of her nickname, 'Nina.' "I just got back," she said, noticing her intrigued gaze, and used the excuse Dumbledore had told her to give. "I've been in France for the past two years, studying the different types of healing magic with a master there."

"Severus, you didn't tell me you were married," the woman, Dolores, said, her eyes narrowed.

"Oh, we've been married for the past fifteen years," Eponine said, smiling brightly, though her insides were swirling. This meeting was almost too much for her. "I've just been busy, you know. I married right out of school and I never furthered my education until recently. Poor Sev probably forgot he had a wife, I've been gone so much." She forced out a laugh. "Now, if you'll excuse us, we have some catching up to do. Bye!" With another bright smile, she tugged Severus away. When the woman was gone, she pulled away from him and sagged against the wall. "Do not," she said in a low voice, "call me 'Nina' again. You lost that right."

"What was that?" he demanded, staring at her.

"That was what Professor Dumbledore asked me to do, Severus, for the Order. We'll talk more in your office." They walked in silence towards his office, the potions master giving his wife a puzzled glance every few moments. Reaching his office, he sat down behind the desk, gesturing for her to sit across from him. She did, crossing her arms over her chest.

"I'm waiting," he said quietly.

"I'm going to be blunt with you, Severus. I don't want to be here. I don't want to be anywhere near you, in fact. But I'm here, Dumbledore wants my help, and that means I have to put up with you against my will." She leaned back in the seat. "Since we're going to be putting up with each other and working together, there's something you should know." She took a deep breath. "You have a daughter. Her name is Katie, and she's just now a year old." Severus stared at Eponine, eyes wide with shock.

"I have a daughter?" Eponine nodded, not taking her eyes off her husband's face, which had slowly gone pale. "You took my daughter away from me? You didn't even give me the choice?"

"You mean, like you gave me the choice the night she was conceived?" She retorted, making Severus flinch. "Since we lost Ellen, you rarely gave me a choice in anything we did together. Forgive me for not wanting that life for our child."

"I don't... Why? Why would you hide her from me? I would've-"

"Would have what?" Eponine snapped. "Changed? Doubtful. A child wouldn't have changed you. You were too in love with Lily Evans to even -"

"Shut up!" he roared, standing up abruptly. Silence filled the small office, with husband and wife staring at each other, one pale and the other red with anger. Severus sat down again, breathing hard, tearing his eyes away from Eponine. "You have no idea what I've been through, these last two years. I have changed, whether you want to believe that or not."

"You have, have you?" she retorted, rising from her chair. "You don't seem to have changed at all, Severus, and I doubt you ever will. Nothing could change a man like you."

"Not even the fact I'm dying?"

"What?" Eponine whispered.

"Barring a medical miracle, I'll be dead in five years."