They broke apart for much needed breath, both red in the face, when suddenly, the fire in the fireplace flared bright green, and Lucius Malfoy stepped out, followed closely by Lord Voldemort.

X X X X X

Lucius looked around the room for a moment before he noticed his son, and Harry, embraced tightly, both looking extremely flushed and embarrassed. A moment later, his wand was out and trained on Harry, who scrambled over the couch and into the hall, dashing up the stairs to the nursery.

Voldemort had stood there, watching Potter panic with great delight. The boy had faced him several times without much fear, and all Lucius had to do was put his wand in his face, though it probably would've been avoided if Draco and Harry had been sitting and talking from opposite ends of the couch, instead of pressing against each other, making-out.

Lucius lowered his wand and sighed unnoticeably before turning to face his son, a stony expression on his features.

"Draco?"

"Y-yes, father?"

"What did I just walk in on?"

Draco looked down at the floor, suddenly finding the carpet design very interesting. Before he could answer, however, the sound of three people hurrying down the stairs made the two Malfoy's and the Dark Lord turn to face the doorway. The first to appear in the room was Cassidy, her wand out and ready to fight.

"Okay, which one of you put a wand in Harry's face? (Draco and Voldemort both pointed at Lucius.) Well, it would seem that you want to fight with me. Fine, but I'll warn you now, I've never lost a wizard's duel back at my old school. You're just signing your death warrant."

Severus stepped forward and covered Cassidy's mouth, letting her rant and rave into to his hand, though the sound was muffled.

"Sorry about that. She has a mind of her own. And happens to be Harry's older sister. Cassidy is her name, and protecting her family is the game. I'd appreciate it if everyone would just put their wands away, and calm down."

Looking at Cassidy, he noticed that she was breathing heavily, glaring at Lucius. 'If looks could kill, Lucius would be dead a thousand times over. She's shooting daggers at him. I must remember not to piss her off.' Severus leaned down to whisper in her ear. "Cassidy, calm down. Think of the babies. This, or any kind of stress, is not good for the babies. Lucius obviously didn't send a curse Harry's way, since he managed to get to us without a scratch."

That calmed Cassidy down, but just a little.

"Harry, what were you doing before Mr. Malfoy pointed his wand at you?"

Harry, like Draco, looked down at the floor, both of them looking equally embarrassed.

"Sev, I think they were making-out. The guilty behavior, the embarrassed looks, the silence. Man, Uncle Michael was right. I'm way too observant for my own good. But I am right, aren't I, Harry?"

Harry and Draco both nodded, still not looking up from the floor as they inched closer to each other. Somehow, to Harry, this day was rapidly was going from great to terrible, and he had only been awake for four hours.

Lucius started sputtering. He couldn't believe this. His only heir, his only son, his only child, was a homosexual. It just wasn't possible. It was going to be the end of the Malfoy line.

"Mr. Malfoy, would you shut up or actually say something? You sound like a broken record. And it's getting on my nerves."

Lucius quickly snapped his mouth shut. Nobody said anything for a few minutes, until Severus decided to break the silence.

"Okay, I think I'll go make us all some tea. Please, go sit in the dining room, and talk civilly. If you can't do that, then stay quiet. Cassidy, you come with me."

Cassidy followed Severus into the kitchen while the others silently walked into the dining room. Only moments later, the fire in the living room flared green and Remus and Sirius stepped out, dusting themselves free of any ash.

"Hello! Anyone home?"

"Sirius, there's no need to shout. I'm sure Cassidy, if she's here, heard the fire go off. You just need to-"

Cassidy chose that moment to appear in the living room doorway.

"Hi, Remus. Good afternoon, Sirius. Uh, sorry to say, but bad timing on your part. We've got some other company in the dining room. Before you go in there, here are your options: one, you will sit and be quiet, or two, you will sit and talk civilly. If I see any wands out, or hear any shouting, you will forbidden from coming here again. Is that clear?"

Remus and Sirius both nodded and followed Cassidy out into the hall and over to the dining room, where they got the surprise of their lives: Lucius Malfoy sitting next to Voldemort, across from Harry who was holding Draco's hand on top of the table. Cassidy returned to the kitchen when the two were settled onto chairs.

Sirius glared at the two blondes and the Dark Lord, while Remus kept an eye on Harry's nervous expression.

"Harry, would you like to explain what's going on?"

Harry shook his head; he felt like he was going to throw up if he opened his mouth at the moment. Draco also shook his head when Remus turned to face him. The lack of information was starting to drive Sirius crazy.

"Damn it, Harry! Would you, please, give us some answers?"

Again, Harry and Draco shook their heads. The current silence was golden, thought a bit uncomfortable. And if patience is a virtue, then Sirius was seriously lacking in the 'Virtue' department.

The group suffered in the tight silence for a few more minutes before Severus and Cassidy reentered the dining room, with the former carrying the heavy tray of tea. Cassidy sat next to Severus, with Sirius and Remus across from them. Severus began handing out the tea as Cassidy spoke.

"Sirius, I know you want answers, and that patience is a virtue that you clearly do not have, but there was absolutely no reason for you to raise your voice at Harry. If you want, I will explain, since Harry looks like he's gonna be sick, and Draco looks like he's gonna pass out if they even attempt to try."

Everyone in the room, except Harry, Draco, and Severus, nodded. This was going smoother than she thought.

"Okay. Remus, Sirius, remember yesterday when I read Harry's tea-leaves? One of them was a guitar, meaning romance on the horizon. It turns out that Harry fancied Draco, and vice versa. Sev and I just found out earlier today. Apparently, Harry and Draco were having a snogging session and were interrupted by Draco's father, and his companion… er, I'm sorry, I didn't catch you name."

"I am Lord Voldemort."

Cassidy raised one eye brow, then shrugged.

"It's not something a father is happy to walk in on. Mr. Malfoy wanted to curse Harry into the next century."

Cassidy smiled brightly as she stood up from her seat.

"Now, everyone's up-to-date on Harry's love life. On to the next subject."

Everyone snapped their heads to face Cassidy. They all thought the explanation would take a lot longer, but they didn't know Cassidy very well; she was very blunt, always to the point, and made a long story short.

"I've got some good news to share, and Sev already knows. The healers ran a few additional tests on me this morning. Werewolf pregnancies are accelerated compared to a normal human pregnancy. I'm due to give birth around Halloween. Sev and I are expecting twins, one boy and one girl. Thank goodness for that miracle, too. It means I only have to get pregnant this one time."

Everyone was stunned into silence; not even the wind seemed to be blowing outside.

"Also, this whole thing puts us in a bit of a dilemma. Mr. Malfoy is worried about the end of the Malfoy line, and Harry's really the only one to continue the Potter line, since by werewolf technicality, I am now a Snape, and therefore the children are, too."

Lucius decided to speak up in that moment.

"Your brother and my son are together now, so only one line is going to continue."

Cassidy smirked down at Severus.

"I have a solution to that. Apparently, male pregnancy potions are basically nonexistent here in the U.K., but they are quite common over in America. Solves that problem, but leave us with the problem of the family names. Unless my children are born with the last name Potter-Snape, and Harry and Draco's children with the last name Potter-Malfoy or Malfoy-Potter, the Potter name basically dies."

The silence that followed was thick enough to cut with a knife. No student at any of the magic schools should know about male pregnancy potions until just before they take their N.E.W.T.s in their seventh year, so the fact that Cassidy did know was quite unnerving. Cassidy noticed their unease, and had a feeling as to what the adults were thinking.

"Yeah, I know that I shouldn't know about those types of potions yet, but… because of my excellent grades in Potions, my old Potions professor gave me permission to browse through the restricted section of the school's library. I was reading about male-only potions, and I came across them. Glad I did, too. Otherwise, it's the end of two very old wizarding families."

Smiling at her brother, Cassidy left her seat and walked out of the dining room and into the kitchen, returning moments later with the gift that Draco had delivered for Voldemort earlier that day.

"Sev told me that this was a gift for me. Who is it from?"

Voldemort raised his hand slightly. At Harry's suspicious glare, he began to explain.

"Mr. Potter, I have found that it has become custom for me, and my followers, to present a gift to the mother of the children of one of my Death Eaters. I have made it a sort of tradition to make sure that the gift works for both the mother and the child. Of course, now I'll need to go and get another one. I'm not completely heartless, like you've been lead to believe."

Both Harry and Sirius snorted. Of course, neither of them would believe the Dark Lord. Cassidy looked at her brother.

"Harry, you know, it won't kill you to get to know the man. He seems nice enough to me."

"Cass, the night our parents were murdered by him, he tried to kill me. And at the end of my first year, my second year, my fourth year, and back when we took our O.W.L.s. Yes, I would kill me to try and get to know Voldemort. He's made it his life's goal to kill me and take over the wizarding world. He is most definitely not nice."

Cassidy stared at her brother, anger in her eyes.

"You are a very poor judge of character, aren't you? Get to know him. You'll see. AND DON'T CALL ME 'CASS'!"

This last sentence shocked even Voldemort. 'For such a small and soft-spoken girl, her voice sure packs a punch when she's angry. I feel sorry for Severus.' The red-eyed man looked over at Harry, and saw the boy trembling, trying to disappear under the table, without much luck, since the tabletop was made of clear glass. Chuckling, the Dark Lord turned to face Cassidy again.

"Miss Potter, why don't you open the present? I'm fairly certain that you'll like it very much."

Cassidy nodded, still fuming over the nickname that her brother had dared to use. Pulling carefully at the shiny blue ribbon, which she had a habit of saving, her eyes traveled across the table to meet with Severus', and getting an encouraging nod, she moved on to delicately pull the sparkly pink paper off the box. Opening the box, Cassidy gasped at the gift.

It was a three-piece set: a white rocking chair with light yellow padding, a white changing table with a pale yellow changing pad, and a white bassinet on wheels with pastel yellow bedding in it. The set was obviously shrunk so that they could fit into the box, though a weightless charms hadn't been placed on the items, since the whole box clearly weighed about twenty-five pounds.

"It's perfect, sir. Yellow is a color that is commonly used for both boys and girls, which is perfect, since we can't paint the nursery pink and blue. Thank you. I love it, and I'm sure that the babies will love it, too."

Harry stared at his sister in shock, as did Sirius. No Potter in their right mind would be quite so civil with the Dark Lord, and Malfoy's, or Severus. When Voldemort nodded his head slightly at Cassidy, Harry's expression went from slightly shocked back to suspicious. It really didn't help his frustration that Cassidy and Severus forbid anyone from fighting, but it was most likely for the sake of the babies.

"Harry, please stop being rude to our other guests. I am aware that Voldemort is the reason for us being orphans, but I was raised to never hold grudge, no matter what had happened in the past. Can you at least pretend to be civil? Stress on me is not good for the twins."

Harry and Voldemort looked at each other before nodding, a silent agreement of putting the war on hold until after Halloween falling between them. After that, the only ones that weren't relaxed were Lucius Malfoy and Sirius Black.

"Severus, I'm gonna go and get started on supper. Anything in particular that you want to eat?"

Severus shook his head, leaving Cassidy to choose the meal. Once the girl had exited the dining room and entered the kitchen, Severus sighed, dropping his head down onto the table.

"Black, Lupin, Harry, none of you will tell anyone in the Order about this, I hope? I don't think that anyone would believe you, but just to be safe, keep it secret. Draco, Harry, why don't you take Black and Lupin, and show them the nursery so far."

The two teens and the former Gryffindors left the dining room and headed upstairs. Severus turn to look at Voldemort the moment it was safe.

"My Lord, thank you for the gift, but you won't need to get another one. I have repaired the nursery furniture that was used when I was an infant, and Draco has been painting them and putting them back together. I wanted to ask, what was the look that was shared by you and Mr. Potter?"

"Oh, we mentally chatted over the fact that since Cassidy is pregnant, the war shall be put on hold until after she gives birth around Halloween. It was an agreement between us. That's all."

Severus nodded, excusing himself to help Cassidy in the kitchen, leaving Voldemort and Lucius to sit and think. The day had been very strange for all of them, indeed, but Severus was the one that nearly had a heart attack with every surprise bit of information he had received throughout the day.

And it was only the beginning.