Disclaimer: All previous disclaimers apply.

A/N: This is AU and NOT canon-compliant. Don't like, don't read.

Chapter 21

"What! What moron would hire him for a street sweeper much less a Hit Wizard?" Reg squawked.

Sirius shrugged. "I don't know, but I do know from what dad said; they've lost a lot of Hit Wizards lately and he thinks they've had to lower their standards to attract more candidates."

Reg shook his head. "I'll warn Severus and Lily if you'll warn the rest of Weasley's Warriors. No telling who he might be aiming for besides Severus."

"Will do," Sirius replied as his head disappeared from the flames. "You watch your back too."

"Will do," Reg promised. He went back into the kitchen where Severus was making more tea. Lily was sitting at the kitchen table. He sat down and took a deep breath. "Bad news; Potter was hired as a Hit Wizard and he has his wand privileges back …at least while he's on the job."

Lily paled at Regulus' news.

"Not to worry; we're safe from Potter," Severus said placing the teapot in the middle of the table and sitting down. "Our house is completely warded. Lily uses the floo to get to the college and you can't get in there unless you're either a student or have an appointment and that goes for anybody from MLE as well. I will be flooing to the Flamel's and back when my healers allow me to get back on my schedule. Both our fireplaces have strong wards on them. We don't need to go into Diagon Alley as we can owl order anything we need and shop at the Muggle grocer's here for our food. I can floo directly to Slug & Jiggers and Lily and I can floo directly to Gringotts."

"That's true," Reg said. "Except for the fact you're going to be basically prisoners."

"Severus shrugged. "Better than spending another four weeks in St. Mungo's. At least I can spend a lot of time brewing and working in my gardens."

"But what about the Apothecary we planned to have?" Lily asked. "We won't be able to have it now if we have to worry about Potter coming in and causing trouble."

"We can always ward the shop to keep anybody with harmful or evil intentions from coming in. If Potter needs an Apothecary; he'll need to go somewhere else. I don't care if he has to go clear to Wales either."

"I didn't know you were planning to buy out Slug & Jiggers," Reg said.

"The owners have told me they'd like to retire in a couple of years and I'm certain they sell us the shop when they do," Severus explained.

"That would be really cool," Reg said.

"We might be able to buy it sooner because they may be just waiting for me to get my mastery and then they'll retire. They want to leave their apothecary in good hands."

"Well, it sounds as you have everything covered, but don't get careless; watch your back at all times no matter where you are," Reg warned. "I don't want to see you in St. Mungo's until Lily's in labor."

"I make sure now that Sev doesn't forget to wear his brace," Lily added.

"Good." Reg got up and headed towards the floo. "I'll see you again soon."

They both bade him farewell as he disappeared into the green flames. Severus went back out into the kitchen and began putting away the leftover food and gathering up the dishes, cutlery, and other utensils to wash. He filled the sink with water and dishwashing liquid and let the glasses and cutlery soak for a bit in the hot water. He reheated the teapot with his wand and poured himself another cup of tea. "Do you want another cup of tea?"

Lily held up her hands, shook her head, laughing, "I'm getting up practically every hour now to go to the bathroom as it is."

Severus smiled. "It's kind of hard not to notice that." He drank his tea and then finished the washing up as Lily dried and put things items in their proper place in the cupboards and drawers. They turned off the lights and went upstairs. Severus got undressed and got into bed. He picked up the scroll he'd been reading previously and continued on where he'd left off.

Lily was standing in front of the dresser, brushing her hair. She turned to Severus and asked, "Sev, do you think we really can remain Potter-free?"

Severus laid the scroll aside on his nightstand, looked at Lily, and replied, "Yes, I do. I think as long as we stay out of Diagon Alley; we won't have to worry about him. As I said when we do open our apothecary; I can ward it to keep out the bad elements."

"Well, I've got to finish college and get my mastery first," Lily teased.

"Not only that, but since the majority of the stores in Diagon Alley now are connected to the Floo Network; we can just floo from store to store if we did want to shop."

"We could go to Hogsmeade too," Lily said getting into bed. "A lot of the stores in Diagon Alley have branches there too."

"That's true," Severus agreed.

June passed quickly and on the morning of June 29, Vernon rang up Severus and Lily up to announce that Petunia had given birth to a boy who weighed nine ponds, ten ounces and was 20 inches long at 10:15 the previous evening. They were naming him Dudley Vernon Richard. Petunia was at the Royal Surrey County Hospital.

Lily gave a joyful squeal. "Vernon congratulations to Tuney and you!"

Vernon promised to extend the congratulations to Petunia and he would see them later. Lily hung up. "Isn't that great, Sev! We have a nephew."

"Merlin! He weighs almost ten pounds. He must take after Vernon," Severus commented.

Iris called immediately after Vernon had hung up and said they would be driving down to Surrey after lunch to see their new grandson and that Lily and Severus were welcome to come with them.

"Sev and I would love to come along, Mum."

"Why don't you come over right now? We'll have an early lunch and then we can leave for Surrey."

"I'll get the gift I bought for Tuney last week and then we'll walk over, Mum," Lily replied. "We'll see you in about ten minutes."

Lily went upstairs and came back downstairs with a brightly wrapped package. They left the house and locked it. Severus held Lily's arm to make sure she didn't trip as they walked the four blocks to her parents' home.

"What did you get Tuney and Dudley?"

"I got it at the baby boutique in London. It's a special mobile for his crib which is designed to strengthen Dudley's eyes. I cast a spell on it to help strengthen his ability with Charms too."

Severus smirked. "I see."

"Now, Sev," Lily teased. "Are you going to try and make me believe you won't buy Jasmine a child's potion kit first thing?"

"I'll wait until she's a least a month old," Severus deadpanned.

It was almost a four hour drive to Surrey and they arrived just before three. As they had all suspected, Dudley was quite a large baby. Unfortunately, their visit was somewhat spoiled by Vernon's obnoxious older sister, Marge's presence. The loathing she displayed towards the rest of Petunia's family made Severus want to hex her. She was especially scornful of Lily's gift.

Petunia opened the box and pulled out the mobile that was decorated with a rainbow and raindrops. It played "Somewhere Over the Rainbow."

"How lovely, Lily!" Petunia exclaimed as she examined it closely. "I've read these help strengthen a baby's eyes."

"It will also strengthen some of his other abilities too," Lily said using their agreed on code for Dudley's magic.

"What a sissy thing for a strapping boy like Dudders!" Marge snorted. "I bought him a set of soldiers to play with."

"That was nice of you, Marge, but I don't believe Dudley will be able to play with them until he's at least two," Petunia replied smoothly.

One of Richard and Iris' gifts was a stuffed Teddy Bear. "Every child should have one," Richard said with a smile, while fixing Marge with a look that dared her to say anything nasty.

They only stayed a short time since Petunia was tired and left for the drive back to Manchester, stopping halfway in Birmingham for dinner. They pulled up in front of Spinner's End and Severus got out first and cast a revealing spell to make sure nobody magical was around before he allowed Lily to get out of the car. Once they were safely inside, Severus said, "I was itching to hex that bitch of a sister of Vernon's."

"She is quite unpleasant. You remember how nasty she was at Tuney's wedding," Lily said.

"Yes, she made it a little too obvious that she thought she should be the center of things and not Tuney."

"I'm sure she plans to spoil Dudley rotten," Lily added.

"Another month and Jasmine will be here," Severus remarked looking at the calendar.

"Also Alice and Frank will have their son too. She's due the day before me. They're going to call him Neville after Alice's grandfather."

"I'm glad they didn't take Dumbledore up on his offer of protection and are going to remain at Longview Manor," Severus said.

"I'm glad they refused his help too. I just have a bad feeling about the whole thing," Lily replied. "Why was he so bloody insistent that they go under the Fidelius Charm in a location of his choosing?"

"They would be sitting ducks, I think," Severus remarked. "From what they said at the last meeting it sounded as if Dumbledore's obsessed with that stupid prophecy."

"It sounded to me as if he didn't even care about what happens to Alice and Frank, only their son," Lily added.

Severus chuckled. "Well, we're going to have a daughter so we don't have to worry about any of this prophecy foolishness – not that I would anyway."

"Wouldn't it be funny if the prophecy was completely wrong and it turned out that a witch kicked You-Know-Who's arse?"

"Are you suggesting our daughter would be that witch who would kick You-Know-Who's arse?" Severus asked with a mock horrified expression on his face.

"And wouldn't that shock the hell out of Dumbledore? He'd probably have a heart attack at the thought of a Snape kicking arse!" Lily giggled.

They got into bed and Lily curled up next to Severus who placed his hand over her stomach, feeling only slight movement. "Jasmine's quiet tonight."

"She's been moving around a lot and kicking me all day so she's probably tired," Lily joked. "Maybe she's planning on coming early."

"Aren't first babies usually later than their due date?"

"Some are and some aren't. I remember mum saying once that Petunia was two weeks late, but I was right on time."

Severus was starting back at the Flamel's the next morning and would be helping out at Slug & Jiggers on the weekends. The Hogwarts shopping would began the last two weeks in August which was a very busy time for all the merchants in Diagon Alley. He would be on light duty at the Apothecary until his healers dismissed him from their care so he would spend his time putting together first year potion kits, inventorying ingredients and checking out the ingredients when they were delivered to the store to make sure they were the ingredients ordered and that they were fresh.

Lily had given up working at Flourish & Blotts as her pregnancy advanced, but Simon Blotts had told her she was welcome to come back after the baby was born. She already had her list of books for the next year of college and had owl-ordered them from Flourish & Blotts; she'd decided she would study ahead while she waited for Jasmine's arrival.

"You know you can fire call me at the Flamel's or the shop when you go into labor?" Severus asked.

"Of course I do, Sev and if for some reason I can't wait for you to floo home; I'll ask Reg to fire call you after I floo to St. Mungo's," Lily assured him. "I spoke with Alice yesterday and she said Dumbledore is still bothering them about moving into a safe house under the Fidelius Charm with him as Secret Keeper, but they're staying put at Meadowview Manor." Lily giggled suddenly. "In fact, Alice said Augusta ended the conversation by telling Dumbledore to stop bothering them or she'd send the strongest hex she knew through the floo!"

"I'll assume she knows some good ones too with her being a retired Auror," Severus chuckled. "In fact I believe she was the first woman ever admitted to the Auror Academy."

"More power to her," Lily answered. "It's sure taken the Wizarding World a long time to catch up as far as women are concerned.

Severus chuckled again. "You do know you're talking about a society that still uses torches and lanterns lit by candles and still writes with quills, don't you?"

"Sometimes I do wish the wizarding world would catch up with the Muggle world."

"If you've always lived in the Wizarding World, you don't miss things like electricity because you've never had it."

"That's true, but I'm kind of glad we have it here though," Lily confessed.

"Actually, me too. I can brew potions longer rather than having to stop because candle light makes it difficult to see the recipes and there's too much danger of things going wrong."

"We should tell Arthur to invite Mrs. Longbottom to join Weasley's Warriors," Lily suggested. "I think she would really be an asset."

"Undoubtedly and I'm sure Mad-Eye would approve as she was the one who trained him, I believe."

Lily giggled. "But somehow I just can't picture Mrs. Longbottom dressed in camouflage."

Severus grinned. "Well, I couldn't really picture Mad-Eye either, but he did it."

"Well I won't be doing much for quite awhile except hanging around the Burrow worrying about you and the others while you're on patrol."

Severus noxed the lights and said, "You won't really have to worry because we don't have any glory hounds in our group."

"I will always worry about you, Sev."

Page ~*~*~*~*~* Break

James sat in the Room of Requirement where the Order of Phoenix was holding their meeting. He sat twirling his wand and looking very pleased with himself. Despite all Snivellus attempts to prevent it, he'd gotten his wand privileges back. His mum and Mary were thrilled that he was not able to protect himself from the Death Eaters and he planned to get even with Snivvy as soon as possible. Nobody would even question the Slytherin's demise; all of them were either Death Eaters or Death Eaters-in-training.

Three elves popped in carrying trays of food, setting them down on a table in the back of the room. Since Molly had quit the Order and none of the other female members knew how to cook, the elves supplied the after meeting food at Albus' request.

The Order members straggled in one at a time until they were finally all present. Peter came in and immediately snagged the chair next to James.

Gideon Prewitt grinned at James as he sat down next to James. His twin, Fabian sat on Gideon's other side "Hey, we heard the good news …"

"…that you got your wand back," his twin Fabian said finishing Fabian's sentence.

"I sure did and I'm raring to go at my new job. How are Molly and Arthur?"

"Busy. You knew they had another baby ..." Fabian said.

"…their sixth boy," Gideon said. "Named him Ronald Bilius."

"That's great, but I sure wish they hadn't quit the Order over Snivellus of all things."

Elphias Doge the secretary called the meeting to order just then cutting off any further remarks and then sat with his pen poised over a piece of parchment ready to take notes. Dumbledore stood up. "I'm sad to report that the Longbottoms are still refusing to take my advice and go into hiding under the Fidelius Charm with me as their Secret Keeper." He of course didn't mention Augusta threatening to send the strongest hex she knew through the floo if he didn't stop bothering them.

"I don't understand, Albus," Minerva spoke up. "Alice and Frank were always very sensible when they were students here."

"It's easy, Minerva," James spoke up. "Alice and Frank are friends with Lily and Snivellus convinced them not to listen to Albus so he can turn their location over to You-Know-Who and secure a permanent place in You-Know-Who's inner circle."

"We never could convince Lily to dump that creepy Death Eater-in-training," Marlene added with a shake of her head. "It's so sad that she was a good person and then ruined her life throwing her lot in with Snivellus."

"Well her poor choice is certainly my gain," Mary said, squeezing James' arm possessively.

"I've decided that even though they do not want my protection; I am going to give it to them anyway. Their son is destined to defeat Voldemort …" Everybody in the room shuddered at the mention of his name. "And we cannot let anything happen to him either before or after his birth."

"What do you want us to do, Albus?" Dedalus Diggle asked. "If they're refusing your help …" he finished with a shrug.

"I am going to divide us into groups and we will patrol around the edges of the wards. We will make sure nobody even tries taking down the wards. Just be very careful and make sure Augusta does not spot you or the consequences could be serious," Albus warned. "Now Mr. Dawlish, do you have anything to report?"

"Only that I think Mad-Eye, Shacklebolt, and Crockford are up to something, but I don't know what. They seem to be in Mad-Eye's office more than is normal."

"You better keep a close eye on Shacklebolt because he's good friends with Snivellus so he's probably turning dark. Anything he touches turns rotten," James declared.

Dawlish ignored James and continued with his report. "They've started reviewing applications for that elite force that will concentrate solely on getting rid of You-Know-Who. Your former friend, Sirius Black applied. Scrimgeour's been pretty impressed with him so I think he'll get a spot on that team."

"Hit Wizards are much more elite than any bunch of Aurors," James sneered. "We get the dirtiest and most deadly jobs that you Aurors don't even want to touch. We even have our own hospital beds at St. Mungo's. I can't wait to capture Snivellus. If he's still alive by the time I'm done with him, he'll wish he wasn't!"

"Doesn't he need to have the dark mark?" Elphias asked cautiously. "If you torture or kill him, you risk being sent to Azkaban if you can't prove he was a Death Eater."

"As we are finished with the meeting; why don't we adjourn and enjoy the delicious meal the elves have provided us with," Albus suggested.

"I second the motion," Gideon called, heading for the table with all the food.

They had a bit of a social hour in which Mary spoke of her and James' wedding which was going to be held on the Hogwarts grounds next month. She had asked her best friend Marlene to be her maid of honor. In answer to Marlene's question, she shook her head. She didn't know for sure who James would ask to be his best man since he'd dumped Sirius for returning to his evil, dark family, but probably he'd ask Peter. Mary knew Marlene thought Peter was dumpy and a chronically bad dresser, but at least he was part of the light.

Minerva shook her head and sighed sadly. "And I had such high hopes for that boy after he asked the Sorting Hat to place him in Gryffindor."

"It just proves you can't trust the Sorting Hat judgment," Marlene said. "I think it's gotten too old and can be fooled."

After the social hour was done, Albus passed out the patrolling assignments for Meadowview Manor. James noticed he would be patrolling with Minerva and Dedalus. "These are permanent and I will not change them. "James, would you please stay after the meeting?"

Once everyone had left and Dumbledore even requested Mary step outside and wait for James, he said, "James, I would rather you didn't go after Snape right now. There will be plenty of time for that later."

"But why not, Albus? He's a dirty, dark Death Eater and deserves whatever the Light can give him not matter how bad!" James complained.

"James, you are probably one of our best if not the best of our fighters and I can't afford to lose you. It would be devastating to the Order and quite a celebration in Voldemort's camp.

Despite a shiver at Voldemort's name, James puffed out his chest. "I am the best fighter and the biggest threat to You-Know-Who. Okay Albus, for now I'll put Snivellus on hold, but as soon as I kill You-Know-Who; he's going down!"

"That's acceptable," Albus replied.

Page ~*~*~*~*~* Break

Weasley's Warriors met at the Burrow for their next meeting since Arthur and Molly had baby Ron now. At Severus' suggestion, Arthur had quickly owled Augusta, asking her to join. Tonight was her first meeting.

Arthur opened the meeting by asking if anybody had anything to report. Ned raised his hand and then stood up. "There was a meeting of the Clown Patrol two nights ago. When I was at Hogwarts I made friends with one of the elves by the name of Tangey. Since Molly quit and there's nobody else who can cook so Dumbledore has the elves bring food. Tangey volunteered to help bring it in and once the other elves had left, he disillusioned himself and stayed. The meeting was the usual dragon dung …Potter bragging about his new job as a Hit Wizard and his usual slurs about you, Severus. Here's the interesting part though and …" he turned to the Longbottoms. "Dumbledore decided that even though you've told him you don't need or want his protection, he's having his clowns patrol around Meadowview Manor."

"Why that arrogant old fart!" Augusta yelled, standing up. "When I get done with him; he'll be lucky if he still has a bum left to sit on!"

"Now Mum, we can deal with those clowns now that we know where they'll be," Frank said, tugging on her arm in an attempt to get her to sit back down.

"Yes, Augusta and when we're done with them; we'll all go see Dumbledore and give him a piece of our minds," Alice promised.

"Tangey also heard Dumbledore ask Potter after the meeting that he postpone his vendetta against Severus for now because he was their best fighter and the Order couldn't afford his loss." Ned grinned. "Of course Potter didn't have a problem agreeing with that assessment."

"Urgh," Lily said. "I think I'm going to be sick."

Severus shook his head. It was hard to believe anybody could really be that idiotic. "I'm grateful for the reprieve at least."

"I wouldn't stop watching my back though," Reg advised. "Just in case Potter decides he can't resist his craving to injure or kill you."

Molly shook her head. "I always thought James was very spoiled, but a good person and the same for Albus until that last meeting we attended."

Sirius shook his head. "I'm sorry I didn't notice what a mean brat Potter was at Hogwarts, but I was pretty dumb then."

Orion grinned from his seat next to Mad-Eye. "Well, at least you finally spotted it and corrected it."

Sirius flushed. "Unfortunately, not until I'd done some serious, no pun intended there, damage."

Arthur nodded his agreement with Orion. "Well, Sirius, we're happy you turned your life around and decided to join our group." He turned to Ned. "If your elf friend Tangey wouldn't mind keeping his eye on the Clown Patrol and letting us know their plans; it would be much appreciated."

"I'll talk to him, but I'm pretty sure he's willing to do it," Ned replied.

"Good." Arthur said. "Any jump we can get on the Order can only be good. Mad-Eye, Orion, anything news from Little Hangleton?"

"We see Death Eaters going in and out, but neither of us recognizes them. I think they must be recent recruits since most of the You-Know-Who's inner circle is now residing in Azkaban," Mad-Eye answered.

"We think You-Know-Who is staying there, but he keeping a low profile," Orion added. "We've seen lights going on and off all through the house."

"Good thing the rumor that the house is horrifically haunted is still in force in the village or else we'd have a lot of dead Muggles," Arthur remarked.

"Were my brothers at the meeting?" Molly asked Ned.

He nodded. "They were sitting next to Potter and Pettigrew according to Tangey."

Molly bit her lip. The twins weren't as friendly with her or Arthur since they had quit the Order although they did come to visit the children. She worried that James' hero complex would get one of them killed.

"They might come to their senses soon, Molly," Arthur said. "Dumbledore doesn't have access to the information he had before when Mad-Eye, Orion, Kingsley, and Ned belonged to the Order so they're very limited in what they can do."

"I know, but you know how stubborn they are and how hard it is for them to admit they've made a mistake."

"If it's any comfort, Molly if we end up at the same location as the Clown Patrol which we often do. I'll keep a lookout for them and make sure their safe," Severus offered.

"Would you, Severus?" Molly asked rushing to give him a hug. "I just worry all the time that Dumbledore is going to appear at the door one night telling us that Gideon or Fabian or both of them are dead, but I should be proud because they died honorably fighting Death Eaters. I think I would first set his beard on fire and then his robe after which they would probably haul me off to St. Mungo's for attacking the great leader of the Light."

"I'll help," Sirius offered. "Always liked Fab and Gid, but if anything gets them killed it will be Potter so I'll distract him while Severus keeps an eye on their bums."

After the meeting was over with, Molly brought out Ron so Alice and Lily could hold him while Severus, Arthur and Remus spoke about their spy behind a silencing spell. Only those three and the Aurors knew that Lucius Malfoy was their spy in Voldemort's camp. Arthur shook his head. "Lucius said You-Know-Who has been laying low and hasn't said anything so far about attacking the Longbottoms."

"Can he confirm that Peter is the spy in the Order's camp?" Remus asked.

"No. He said the spy comes in and leaves from a different entrance than the rest of them and reports solely to You-Know-Who." Arthur replied.

"Dumbledore probably would believe it even if you told him the spy was Pettigrew. Even former Marauders get a pass with him," Severus remarked somewhat bitterly.

"Well, none the less Lucius has informed us of several attacks that we've arrived early enough to prevent. I'm thankful for that much," Arthur said.

Severus and Lily arrived home. They were tired both having had a long day. Lily immediately gave him a hug and a passionate kiss. "That was a wonderful thing you did for Molly, Sev."

"Well, I know Potter's going to eventually get their arses blown off with him being such a glory hound and I don't want to see that happen to anybody. Myself I'd punch Dumbledore in the nose and send him into a wall."

Lily laughed. "Now that I would enjoy seeing!"

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