Chapter 26

"It looks so different from up here," Ginny said Monday morning. They'd squeezed her in between Lucy and where Eugene had used to sit before Dinah had made him move, at the head table and she was getting her first glance at the assembled student body.

Lucy made an effort to smile for her cousin, who watched her nearly as close Sirius did. She hadn't slept very well last night and had gotten a glance at one of those 'Black family legacy' articles Rita had been writing lately. She wished the woman would leave them alone but she didn't know what they could do about it. "It does, doesn't it?" she said, responding to Ginny.

Ginny nodded and looked at the empty seat on the other side of her, "So who sits here?"

"Um, well," Lucy hesitated, "Eugene used to, but then Dinah made him move…"

"Dinah and Severus had a fight and now she's clinging to Lucy. You should prepare yourself to be sitting next to a crazy person for awhile," Sirius told her.

Lucy flinched a little at the mention of being a crazy person, but it wasn't as bad now that Sirius knew about her time in the St. Mungo's mental ward. Still, she did worry that everyone would find out and it would all explode. She knew she'd be sacked, especially with parents still complaining about her morals.

"Oh," Ginny said, "I'm sure they'll work it out eventually though."

"It's been a week," Lucy said with nearly no emotion in her voice.

They chitchatted a bit more and when Ginny had finished eating, Lucy sent her along to her classroom, the key in her hand, so that she could get familiar with the classroom from a new angle. After Ginny had left Lucy turned to her husband, about to say something when a tap on her shoulder interrupted her.

Behind them stood Dinah and Severus, the former with a smile on her face, arms linked together.

"Dinah?" Lucy said, confused.

Dinah chuckled, reaching to grasp the front of Severus's robes with her free hand, "We made up," she smiled up at her husband. And then he was smiling too, and their foreheads and noses were both touching. Neither looked like they could tear their faces away.

Lucy stood as quickly as she could, ignoring the twinge in her side that had been bothering her since she woke. She launched herself at the couple, wrapping her arms around them and starting to cry. "That's so wonderful! And I'm not being irrational," she said, pulling back and looking at Severus, "I'm being hormonal."

He sighed. "I understand. And... perhaps I was a bit harsh with you on Saturday. For that I do apologize."

She shook her head, "It's okay. You were just trying to help."

"He was 'harsh' with you? Is that why you were so upset Saturday?" Sirius asked, looking a little ticked off.

"It's fine," she insisted.

"Lucy, you came back to the rooms and threw up. You haven't been doing that at all for weeks. That's not fine."

"It's not his fault. I over-reacted, got myself all worked up. That was my doing. Not his."

Severus sighed, "Again, I apologize. Dinah explained that you were afraid she would somehow leave and hurt me, and I suppose your concern is..." he frowned, looking like he didn't want to continue, but Dinah nudged him a little and he finally concluded, "appreciated. The fact that you care so much is appreciated. However, you must understand that Dinah would never leave me and that we are both fully aware of this fact. I never thought for a moment that she would do such a thing. The opposite is, of course, also true, but please don't think that of Dinah again," he finished, somewhat sternly.

Dinah smiled at her husband and tightened her grip on his arm, and then turned that smile to Lucy, "You have to have a little more faith in us, Lucy. Do you honestly think we could ever leave each other after everything that happened last year? Everything we went through that led us to this point?"

"Well," Lucy blushed, "not if I'm being rational about it no, but…never mind. We all know I have enough emotional baggage to go on a world tour with. Anyway, I'm glad you two made up. I'm sure the baby's glad too."

"I'm sure," Dinah smiled, resting her hand on her abdomen.

Severus covered her hand with his own, smiling slightly, "Come. Could we please go and get Slughorn out of your seat now?"

Dinah laughed, "Oh, I don't know. Are you sure you don't want to spend a couple more days with him?" At his growl she laughed, "Oh, come now, I'm just messing with you. Lucy, I hope you don't mind that I leave you two and return Eugene to his rightful place," she smiled.

Lucy grinned, "No. You can go make food piles over in your original seat. Oh, Ginny arrived yesterday if you haven't seen her. We got her settled in your old room last night and she's already gone off to get familiar with the classroom and my office."

"What food piles?" Dinah looked genuinely confused, "Oh, and Ginny's here? I'll have to go and say hello! Hermione is set to arrive tomorrow."

Severus had now chosen to begin grumbling incoherently.

Sirius stared at Dinah, "Really? Six bagels and fourteen slices of toast ring a bell?"

"Hm?" Dinah asked absently. "Oh. Yeah. I'm not sure how any of those got there. Let's go home, Sev," the two were gazing into each others' eyes again and making their way back across the staff table to their seats.

Lucy didn't sit back down, "I should probably go see how Ginny's doing before class starts. See you at lunch?"

"Probably not. I've got that meeting with McGonagall. Something about helping to tutor kids in Transfiguration. Not sure how long it will run."

"Okay," she nodded, a little disappointed that she wouldn't see him at lunch, but glad he was at least willing to listen and entertain the notion of tutoring. "I'll see you later then," she said and placed a hand on her stomach as she ambled out of the Great Hall.

Lucy looked up as a school owl dropped a note on her desk during her office hours that morning. She'd left Ginny in the classroom to do some reading for the next class. The letter was addressed to Lucy in Minerva's handwriting.

I thought you should be aware of this.

Inside was a rather official looking document. It read:

It has come to our attention that one of your professors, one Mrs. Lucy Black, spent several months inhabiting the fourth floor of St. Mungo's Hospital for Magical Maladies and Injuries. In light of this information, along with statements previously made regarding the timing of Mrs. Black's pregnancy, we are writing to inform you that we intend to investigate these incidents, as well as Mrs. Black's suitability to be teaching and caring for our youth. She may continue in her normal activities until such time that we deem it inappropriate. We expect both your and Mrs. Black's full cooperation during this time.

Hogwarts Board of Governors

This was it. They'd finally found out about her seven month stay in St. Mungo's. Everyone had told her not to worry, but they didn't have to dread getting this sort of letter. Her breathing quickened and her eyes filled with tears. Now she was sure she was going to be sacked. Or at least suspended or something. Parents weren't thrilled that she was teaching their children having gotten pregnant prior to her marriage. They'd be livid at the thought of a mentally unstable professor teaching the students.

She was emotional. That was no secret. Neither was her tendency to over-react. Somehow she doubted either trait would help her case. She shifted in her seat, that twinge from earlier coming a bit stronger now. Lucy knew she had to calm down. She had to at least make it through her seventh year class, then she could talk to Sirius or Minerva…maybe Dinah. She'd talk to someone at least.

But how had the Board of Governors found out? She didn't think they'd have had any reason to be investigating her and certainly the hospital wouldn't have told them. Then again, it didn't really matter how they found out right now. She had to make it through one more class without an emotional outburst. She just had to…

Lucy and Ginny had hurried over to Dinah's class so they could walk with her to lunch. Lucy thought she'd been doing a good job of ignoring the Board of Governors letter. She hadn't forgot about it that was for sure, but she was determined not to think about it and give them the satisfaction of proving them right about her mental state.

"I think if they would-" she hissed, drawing in a breath as the pain drew across her stomach again. This time the twinge was more than that and it made her stop in the middle of the hall. It was definitely stronger than they had been earlier in the day.

Ginny put her hand on Lucy's shoulder and Dinah asked, "Are you okay?"

"Yeah, it's gone n-" again the pain stopped her words.

"I think we should take you to the Hospital Wing," Ginny said.

"No, no. It was just a little twinge. I've been having them all day."

"All day?" Dinah asked as Lucy winced again, "Lucy, you need to be checked out. There could be something wrong with the baby."

"No, I'm fine. Really," Lucy insisted, before bending over when the pain grew worse. "Maybe we'd better go," she relented, "but we have to go get Sirius. He has to know."

"Ginny will go get him," Dinah assured her, calm in the face of Lucy's growing panic, "I'll take you up to Poppy."

Ginny ran off to find Lucy's husband and Dinah maneuvered them so she could help Lucy walk. She leaned heavily on Dinah as they took a couple steps in the direction of the Hospital Wing. "Wait!" Lucy said, feeling panicky, "He's not in the Great Hall. He was having a meeting with Minerva. Ginny won't find him!"

Everything seemed to be falling in on her at once. The upset parents, her mental health, the baby…nothing was going right and she needed her husband. He'd help.

"Okay..." Dinah said, cautiously, still the picture of calm, though her eyes were worried, "What do you want me to do?"

Lucy winced again, finally realizing these weren't just twinges and pulled muscles she'd been feeling. "I have to go. I can't –I can't wait. Dinah," she said, starting to cry, "what if…what if something happens to the baby?"

"It's okay," Dinah said softly, squeezing her shoulders, "Poppy will help. We'll figure something out. And as soon as I get you in there I'll go and run and get Sirius, okay? Hey, maybe when Ginny sees he's not in the Great Hall she'll ask somebody and they'll know where he is. Does anyone else know?"

"I don't know," Lucy said, trying to concentrate on walking as Dinah started leading them to the Hospital Wing again. "I think so. Maybe Pomona. Slughorn? He seems to know everything that's going on. Eugene! Eugene knows! I saw him talking to Sirius as I was leaving breakfast this morning."

"Well, then Eugene will help. And Ginny would surely think to ask him because he sits right next to the area you are all sitting in. Where I was sitting up until..." she frowned, "Oh. Severus is going to wonder where I am when I don't meet him there. When he sees Ginny panicking he'll probably find out what's going on too," she chuckled, "Unless of course the concept of approaching both Harry Potter's girlfriend and his arch-nemesis at the same time is too daunting a task."

Despite her tears and panic, Lucy giggled, "It's funny to think of Severus being intimidated. He's so intimidating himself…ow." The hospital wing seemed so close now and yet an entire staircase separated the two women from the place Lucy needed to be.

"Can you stay here?" Dinah asked Lucy, "For just a moment? I'll run and get Madam Pomfrey and maybe we can levitate a bed over to you and take care of this. I don't think I want you taking the stairs in this state."

"I think so," she sniffled, "but I think I should sit." She levered herself down onto a stair. Getting down there wasn't a problem…getting up would be.

"I'll be right back," Dinah assured her, before rushing off up the stairs. To her credit, she seemed to at least be watching where she was going.

By the time Poppy had arrived with Dinah and a bed, Lucy was more or less in hysterics. Poppy managed to stand her up and get Lucy to sit on the bed. "Now lay down," she instructed, "and we'll get you taken care of."

The moment Lucy lay down, the bed was levitating and the trio made a quick retreat to the hospital wing. Once she was settled, Dinah made to leave and go search for Sirius as she'd promised. Lucy however had changed her mind, "Dinah, don't leave me here alone. Please?" She wasn't sure if she could be understood through her tears and panic and Madam Pomfrey kept telling her to 'calm down' but Dinah stopped and turned back.

"Whatever you want," Dinah said gently, settling down on the bed next to her and placing a hand over hers. "Do you want to send him an owl? We can send him an owl, can't we, Poppy?"

"Yes, yes, of course," Poppy said, distractedly. She waved her wand over Lucy, at her potions table, then over Lucy again.

Lucy couldn't stop crying and the pain was starting to get worse. She watched Dinah for any signs her panic was not unwarranted, but Dinah remained calm. Lucy chattered insensibly at her friend. Her words full of worry and stress and no logic whatsoever.

Finally, having grown frustrated with Lucy's inattention, Poppy grabbed her face and forced Lucy to look at her. "If you do not calm down right now and do as I say, you stand a very good chance of losing this baby."

Her statement didn't help Lucy's terror but it did get her to stop talking and try to breathe normally.

"Drink this and this," Poppy said, handing her a coppery potion then a yellow one. She held out another bottle, "This is a sedative. I suggest you take it but I doubt you will until Sirius shows up."

"No," Lucy shook her head, using her elbows to try and shove herself into a sitting position, "I need to…"

"You need to stay in this bed," Poppy said, gently pushing Lucy back down and looked over at Dinah, "I need to go floo St. Mungo's and check on a few things. Don't let her up out of this bed. Use a full-body bind curse if you have too."

"Yes," Dinah said solemnly, looking a little apprehensive at the prospect, but not like she didn't have every intention of following through.

It seemed like Poppy had been gone forever, but Lucy hadn't attempted to get out of bed, much as she wanted to. The one time she'd moved her arm to wipe at her face, Dinah had pulled out her wand, looking ready to bind her. She didn't seem like she really wanted to do it, but would if necessary.

Poppy still wasn't back yet when Sirius finally rushed through the hospital doors, Ginny close behind him. After them came Severus, looking for Dinah. When Sirius reached her bedside, Lucy burst into tears again.

The poor man had to lean down to hug her, since she was too afraid to move. "Are you okay?" he asked.

"I'm better now," she wept, raising her arms to hug him back, trusting that Dinah wouldn't curse her for it. "The baby…"

Sirius pulled back and looked around at the assembled crowed, looking for someone who could tell him about his wife and child. Ginny hovered awkwardly in the background and Severus had sat next to Dinah, his arms around his clearly upset wife.

"Poppy was contacting St. Mungo's for more information," Dinah explained quietly. "She's been rushing around. I don't really know all the details of what's going on, but something is very wrong. She mentioned the possibility of... well, just a possibility only if Lucy didn't calm down... losing the baby," Dinah finished in a barely audible whisper.

Ginny gave a little squeak and Sirius's face turned back to Lucy's. She was about to explain as best she could when Poppy showed up at the bedside. "I told you to calm down," she repeated.

Lucy worked very hard at getting to a calmer state. Sirius had sat on the bed next to her and held her hand, rubbing his thumb over the inside of her wrist.

"It seems," Poppy started, "taking into consideration your last couple of visits here, that you've been under a great deal of stress and that brought on some contractions. You weren't in labor, but if you had continued on you would have ended up there. I talked with the mediwitches at St. Mungo's and they confirmed what I had planned to order for you. A week or two of total bed rest, ample amounts of relaxation, and then we'll reevaluate.

"You are staying here overnight at least and you are going to take that sedative, but I'll allow you some time to visit before you have to take it."

"Oh, thank goodness!" Dinah murmured, her head falling onto Severus's shoulder. "Is there anything we can do, Poppy?"

"Keep her calm and don't let her out of that bed for now. We all know Lucy's been stressed the last few weeks, but I'm guessing something happened today to make it worse. The best thing for her right now though, is rest. I'm going to do a bit more research so I'll be in my office if you need me."

Lucy was vaguely aware of Poppy leaving and Ginny mumbling something about class before she too, ran off. "Where'd Ginny go? I-I have Septimus this afternoon. I don't want her dealing with him alone just yet."

"Relax," Sirius said, stroking her forehead, "she's just gone to cancel classes for this afternoon. Then she'll probably go update Minerva on what's going on."

"Oh, that's good," she settled down for a minute before shifting around, trying to reach her pocket where she'd stuffed that letter from the Board of Governors. She didn't want to think about it. She didn't want to deal with it at all, but she wasn't going to let this be another thing she kept from Sirius until it was too late.

"Lucy, settle down," Sirius said, "whatever it is can wait."

"No," she insisted, finally grabbing on to the crumpled parchment, "Minerva sent this to me. She received it this morning." Lucy held the letter out to her husband.

He smoothed out the parchment and stared at it for a few moments before murmuring, "It has come to our attention that one of your professors, one Mrs. Lucy Black, spent several months inhabiting the fourth floor of St. Mungo's Hospital for Magical Maladies and Injuries."

Dinah's eyes widened and she drew in a gasp. Severus simply stared at them with that normal expressionless look on his face.

Lucy watched as Sirius read the rest of the letter. She sank farther and farther into the bed as he did so.

"Okay," he said slowly, "They know. You got this this morning?"

She nodded, silently crying but not nearly as bad as she had been earlier, "Yes, but I was trying not to over-react, to make it a bigger deal than it was. I wasn't hiding it from you! I'm going to be sacked for sure this time. I just know it."

"We don't know that yet," Dinah said gently, but Lucy could not miss that she looked worried. To hide it, apparently, her friend chose to glare around at the group, "And what exactly took you all so long to get here? What was Ginny doing?"

"We'd gone outside," Sirius told her, "It's nice out and Minerva thought our meeting would be better conducted outside. We hadn't gone far, but…Eugene sent her to the Headmistress's office. He had no way of knowing we weren't going to be there."

Severus snorted, "I knew Eugene would have to be involved somehow when she was asking him questions at lunch."

"What did you do, follow her around?" Dinah demanded.

Her husband shrugged, "I assumed she would know where you were but I wasn't going to ask her. I kept my distance until she started talking to Sirius in a panic. Then I tried to find out what was going on and we were led here."

Lucy started looking around the hospital, a feeling of dread settling in her stomach. "I want to go home," she whimpered.

Sirius frowned, looking worried still, "Everything's going to be fine. I'm staying with you."

"I can stay too if you want, or we both can," Dinah offered, "Can't we, Severus?"

"Mm. I suppose. If we must."

"But you have classes and lunch is almost over," her lip quivered, "I just want to go home," she repeated.

"It's okay," Sirius said, "Why don't you have some of this and we'll see about going home tomorrow?" Sirius helped to sit her up enough for her to drink the sedative Poppy had placed nearby.

Poppy's potion only took a minute to work and soon Lucy was safely sleeping, not worrying about anything that had happened that day.