A/N: I want to thank my wonderful beta, Yengirl, for another beautifully beta'd chapter! Thank you Yen! :)
A/N: Hi roxibelik! Thank you for reviewing! I'm not sure if you knew, but when I tried to reply to your review comment, I was unable to reply, and I got this message from this Fanfiction website: "Private Message Posting Denied" "This user has disabled the private messaging feature.". So, if you want me to be able to reply to you, you will have to log into your account, and on the left side panel, click on "Account"; then click on "Settings"; then scroll down to the bottom of the page, then under where it says "Account Options", there is something that says "Accept Private Messages (PM)" "Allows in-site messaging feature to be active so other site members can message you," click on the empty circle next to this that is below where it says "Yes".
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[End of Ch. 28]:
Although Lucius claimed to have made his House Elves loyal to the Dark Lord, Voldemort could never be absolutely certain that they wouldn't report back to Lucius about his (the Dark Lord's) activities. He didn't want any of his Death Eaters knowing about his possible pregnancy. Other than the fact that it would destroy his 'Dark Lord' image, his followers could use it against him somehow if they decided to… betray him… or the truth might be leaked to the Light's side…and then what? They could hurt my unborn child in the process of trying to defeat me.
Eyes widening, the Dark Lord reflected on his last thought: 'They could hurt my unborn child in the process.' Momentarily forgetting the House Elf standing right in front of him, Voldemort unconsciously placed his hand back on his stomach. Am I…actually concerned for the well-being of… the child… I may be carrying? Do I… Do I actually want to have the child I may be carrying? Voldemort thought incredulously to himself.
"Lord Massster?" the House Elf inquired in a confused tone.
Wrenching his hand away from his stomach again, Voldemort replied, "…I, uh… No. I do not need help finding anything…I was just…leaving," he borderline stuttered out, to a mere House Elf no less. Trying to preserve what was left of his dignity, he stalked out of the library, leaving what he thought would be a confused House Elf behind.
Making his way to his personal room in Malfoy Manor, Voldemort tried to gather his thoughts. It wasn't safe to find the answer to his question in Lucius's home. If he did, someone might find out what books he was looking at, and inevitably wonder why. He should search elsewhere.
The Hogwarts library, of course! The Dark Lord decided. He had to go back there anyway and the library was even bigger than Lucius's!
He was just about to Apparate from his room when another thought struck him. Wait! What if Apparating somehow…Splinches the child?! Breathing hard and trying to keep it together, he realized he again seemed inherently concerned with hurting a child that he probably wasn't even carrying! In some corner of his mind, he thought his concerns and actions were absurd! He was the Dark Lord! He couldn't or shouldn't be carrying a child! And even if he was, why should he care if the child was hurt?! If anything, he should try to…abort the chi—
And that was as far as the Dark Lord got in his thoughts before an overwhelming large part of his consciousness recoiled at the mere idea that he would…even think about getting rid of his child. At this, he wrapped both arms protectively around his middle.
Oh Slytherin! I can't…seriously be considering k… The Dark Lord began thinking to himself before cutting his own thoughts off. No! I'm not…going to make any decision now! First, I need to find out first whether…I'm even…p-pregnant.
That being decided, the Dark Lord made his way to the fireplace in his room. He remembered to 'Finite' his Glamour Charm, and thus now looked like 'Evan Farley' again. That done, he picked up a small handful of Floo Powder from the green decorative porcelain bowl that lay on the mantle. Voldemort cast it into the fireplace before calling out "The Three Broomsticks!" He then stepped into the flames, and vanished.
Voldemort Goes Back To School
Chapter 29:
Searching the Library:
Multi-POV
Just in case Voldemort needed to use the Three Broomstick's Floo again for whatever reason, he left a significant sum of money with the tavern keeper, Madam Rosmerta. He also apologized for his earlier Floo usage and attributed it to a family emergency. Needless to say, Rosmerta fell for his lies and fake apology and bade him welcome any time.
Back at Hogwarts, Voldemort made a beeline for the Library, plagued with an all-consuming need to prove Nagini's suspicions false! Presently, he found himself in the 'Wizard Family' section and started plowing through the books. He couldn't prevent himself from swearing profusely under his breath as he got more and more aggravated - he just couldn't seem to find a book that contained a spell for determining whether or not one was pregnant.
Hours crawled by while he checked all the books in the family section and related sections, but his efforts were unsuccessful. Now, he was almost finished rechecking all those sections, just in case he had missed something.
A while ago, Hermione had noticed Evan practically fly into the library, before he rapidly began visually scanning book after book in multiple sections. She had no idea what could be sending the boy into such an anxiety-filled quest. If he was having difficulty finding something, she didn't understand why didn't he just ask the librarian, Madame Pince.
Her first instinct was to offer to help him find whatever it was he was looking for, but she knew that Slytherins generally did not appreciate being approached by a Gryffindor for any reason, and in particular, a Muggleborn. Thanks to Ron, Hermione knew that Evan was sexually involved with Harry who was a Gryffindor just like she was, and was also not a 'Pureblood' since his mother, Lily, had been Muggleborn. However, this did not necessarily mean that Evan would be nice to her, because she (Hermione) was a 'First-Generation Muggleborn', not merely a 'Second-Generation Muggleborn' like Harry.
Since then, she had worked on her essay on 'Ethics Regarding Magical Power Sources',taken a break for a brief lunch and returned to the library to complete her essay. Seeing a very frazzled looking Evan still pulling book after book from the shelves, she sighed and decided to offer her help anyway. Since he was a transfer student and involved with Harry, he might not reject her outright.
She packed her things into her schoolbag and slung it over her shoulder before walking over to stand beside Evan, who seemed oblivious to anything and everything around him.
"Can I help you find something, Evan?" Hermione asked in a quiet voice.
Her question itself wasn't a big deal, not at all. But Voldemort's spending four hours becoming increasingly aggravated with each passing minute he searched for a pregnancy revealing spell, all while feeling as if Salazar Slytherin's hands were squeezing tighter around his neck with each book's failure to produce the necessary spell, while internally agonizing over the possibility that he could be pregnant with his worst enemy's child, had him bursting into uncontrollable tears.
Oh G-ds, I can't believe this is happening to me. This has to be the worst day of my life! And by worst, I really do mean the worst! Even worse than losing my body and being defeated by an infant Harry Potter! If I'm pregnant with his child, G-ds! I don't know what I'll do! I'll just… just… die! And… And now I'm c-crying… in front of a… a Mudblood! It's unforgivable! Oh Slytherin! Oh Spirits! Oh G-ds! Merlin! Please, please just let this all be a nightmare that I'm going to wake up from right now! Please! Voldemort's mind spun in anguish, embarrassment, frustration, and sheer disbelief.
Hermione was dumfounded by Evan's reaction. It was the most un-Slytherin response she could have possibly expected. No, scratch that, it wasn't even on her list of possible responses for the boy. She found herself opening and closing her mouth, trying to figure out what to say, what to do, anything. Evan's noisy sobs were already attracting attention from the students around them, who were staring and likely probably wondering what in the Wizarding World could she have done to make the new Slytherin cry. Hermione wasn't worried about her reputation or anything, but… she really did not want it to include 'making the new kid cry'. But the thing that concerned her most right now was what on Earth could be going on with Evan that would make him react like this to such a simple question. Whatever it was, she decided that it must be really serious.
"E-Evan, I'm… I'm s-sorry… Um… Is there… is there anything that… I can do?" Hermione finally settled on, as she reached up a hand, settling it gently on the boy's upper arm in an attempt to comfort him.
Oh Spirits! I can't let this get out. I can't let anyone know that… that I might be pregnant… that I might be pregnant with Harry's child… I mean… it could be Draco's… but even so… my reputation would be ruined! I'd be at risk of an attack or of being overthrown or at the very least, a laughingstock of epic proportions! My Death Eaters would never respect me! I can't go to one of my Death Eaters for help, not even Severus! I don't want to ask one of the professors, because then they might ask questions! What am I going to do?! Maybe… maybe I can… for now… ask this Mudblo— er, Hermione… that's her name, right? She's one of Harry's best friends and she's known as the smartest witch in her class! Maybe, just maybe she'll know where I can find a pregnancy revealing spell! I… I really don't have any other choice!
"D-Do… y-you kn-know… wh-where I can… can find a… a… a… p-p-pregnancy… r-revealing… s-spell?" Voldemort sobbed as quietly as he could manage given the circumstances.
Out of all the things Evan could have said, Hermione was not expecting this question, but she wasn't known as one of the brightest witches of her age for nothing. Considering the boy's clear distress and loss of any semblance of composure, it was clear that he was not doing research for an essay or to satisfy his own curiosity. No, this was much more personal.
So… does he think that… he got a girl pregnant? But isn't he… I don't know… gay? Or at least, bisexual? I mean, in Ron's memories, Evan was having sex with Harry while Draco performed fellatio on him in the Potions Hallway… So, does that mean… Evan's been cheating on both of them? Or, well… they might not even have a formal relationship, so… I guess he could still technically see other people without it being 'cheating'… Or, um… Oh! Oh! Is it possible that… that Evan thinks that he himself could be pregnant?! But… But that's… absurd! I… I've never even heard of a male pregnancy! Is that even possible?! I know that in the Muggle world, there are Transgender people that choose to change from their birth sex (gender) to the opposite sex (gender). For example, a person could be born female, but then mentally feel that they are a man, and then choose to 'transition' to become physically more similar to being 'male' through the use of testosterone hormone pills and breast reduction surgery and things like that, and then during and after their 'transition', they would be referred to as a 'Transgender Male'. This Transgender Male would still be able to get pregnant, because they would still have their female sex organs that they were born with. But… But Evan is… biologically male, right? I mean… yeah, he must be, because… because I saw his… er… his penis… in Ron's memory! I saw Draco's mouth sucking on Evan's erect penis! So… there's no surgery that I know of that would be able to create a fully functional male phallus. But, I suppose there could be a spell or potion that could create a male sex organ, but I've never heard of one – well, other than Polyjuice… but that's just temporary… and that changes a person's entire body into someone else's body! And Polyjuice only lasts for a couple of hours! But… But he looks male… so that wouldn't make sense if he were Polyjuiced into a male. A female who is Polyjuiced into a male can't get pregnant while in that Polyjuiced form! At least… I don't think she could. It just doesn't make sense! But either way, he asked for a 'pregnancy revealing spell'. Hermione's thoughts had progressed at lightning speed, but she realized she had to answer Evan's question.
"Well… those types of spells I know aren't kept here. I know, because I was in the library one time when a girl came into this section. She was in tears and thought she was pregnant and wanted to find a spell to find out. She ended up asking Madame Pince, and she replied that they never keep such books in the library because they don't want students to try to conceal a pregnancy. This is because concealing a pregnancy could result in harm to herself and the unborn child if they don't get the proper care they need, etc. The only ones who know this spell are the professors, or Madame Pomfrey, the school's Medi-Witch. Either way, the student concerned would still end up going to her in the end, because their Head of House would insist on it," Hermione replied honestly.
The Dark Lord was overwhelmed with hopelessness. He could continue trying to find a spell on his own, or risk traveling to the public library across from the Ministry of Magic in London, extremely dangerous as it was, but he just couldn't find the strength within himself to wait any longer. The suspense was literally driving him insane with worry. He was also wrecking Evan's reputation - he wasn't blind to all the stares they were getting. He found himself shaking, feeling chilled and nauseous at the prospect of finding out the truth, but at the same time, feeling sick at the thought of any more delay in finding out the truth. All he could manage was a tight nod in Hermione's direction to acknowledge that he had heard her. His feet, however, remained rooted to the library floor.
Even though she had never been in Evan's position, or what she thought might be his position, Hermione tried to be of better assistance. "Um… Would you… like me to come with you? To see Madam Pomfrey? She's really nice, she'll understand. I'm sure everything will be ok… And honestly…" and this is where she paused, before deciding to take a guess, and whispered even more quietly, "and honestly, I've never heard of a wizard getting pregnant before. And not to be, er… a know-it-all or anything, but… I know a lot. So, I'm sure that everything will be ok, and that… you're not pregnant. But to be safe, we should probably go check anyway," Hermione said, trailing off.
Voldemort didn't want to examine too closely why a Mudblood's reassurances would actually be a relief to him, but they were. A huge relief. He took several deep breaths, slowly getting himself back under control. He hastily wiped away the tears from his face with the back of his robe's right sleeve – tears that he would deny and deny and deny he had ever shed until his never-to-be-death. "I… ok… yes… ok… I'm… fine… yes… I'll go see her," he replied, sniffling just a little bit before finally ceasing, ready to travel the halls and be seen.
As Voldemort began walking towards the library's exit, he realized that Hermione was following alongside him. He then recalled that she had offered to go with him to see the Medi-Witch. One part of him didn't want anything to do with a 'Mudblood', but another part of him was so very…. thankful… that she had been there when he had had his… minor 'break down'…
A minor break down that will never ever happen again, so help me Slytherin! Voldemort vowed silently to himself. Her reassurances were also a comfort to him, not to say that 'one of her kind' would know anything about the Wizarding World… but, it at least gave him hope.
He didn't want to be pregnant! He just couldn't be pregnant! Dark Lord's did not get pregnant! But… if The Fates had decided to wreck havoc upon his life… yet again… in the form of Harry Potter… or Draco Malfoy… or whatever… then… he just didn't know what he would do. If he was pregnant… with either Harry's or Draco's child… what would he do?!
He had never had a 'family' before… Never, not even those poor excuses for a relative he had found… Morfin Gaunt. Morfin and Merope's father, Marvolo Gaunt, had basically been responsible for driving away his mother, Merope, and thus left him (Voldemort, AKA 'Tom Riddle Jr.') abandoned and all alone in the Muggle World… a 'freak' at the orphanage… or so they called him… 'unnatural'… 'strange'… 'weird'… 'bizarre'…
The moment he had discovered that he had a living Wizarding relative still alive, he became filled with rage and an immense sense of agonizing sadness and loss. Loss for the 'family' he could have had, but a family that hadn't wanted him, nor his mother apparently - even though he could understand any Wizarding Family being angry at their child for… for 'having relations with' a Muggle. But by that point, he had no regrets or sympathy for using his relatives against each other, resulting in the death of his Muggle father, Muggle grandfather, and Muggle grandmother, and the imprisonment of his Wizarding relative (his uncle, Morfin Gaunt) by framing him for the death of his Muggle relatives.
But now… Now things were different. If he actually were… pregnant… he would have the chance to have a real family of his own. A little wizard, or… even a little witch… that he might be carrying within his body, whom he could give birth to, could raise as his own… It was, truly surreal, and yet… and yet… He didn't even know what, exactly.
Sure, he supposed he had known that prior to all the damage he had done to his own body for the sake of acquiring rare magical powers, he could have had a family with some pureblood witch. But at the time, there were several concerns that he had, that prevented him from choosing that path. The first set of concerns being the betrayal and abandonment of his own birth family, the death of his mother, being abandoned by his Muggle father, his mother's father and brother who had in essence been the reason for driving off his mother in the first place. So-called relatives were dangerous to him in ways that no one else was.
Furthermore, he had a second set of concerns. Purebloods always insisted on marriage prior to sexual intercourse… or so they claimed. The problem was, that marriage to a pureblood, required extensive examination of both the to-be-bride's and the to-be-groom's bloodlines, to determine their blood's purity. Although he had become 'Lord Voldemort', all he had to prove was his blood relation to Salazar Slytherin. Of course, no one had ever questioned the purity of the other side of his bloodline, because to everyone aligned with Salazar Slytherin, it would be impossible from them to imagine that a descendent of Slytherin would engage in any kind social conduct with a Muggle or Mudblood or Halfblood, let alone actually having sex and bearing the child of a Muggle. However, if he had gotten engaged, or married, then people would begin prying into his past, into his mother's past, and would discover that he himself was a… a… a… Halfblood! It brought on an overwhelming sense of fear and disgrace that sent him into a devastating pit of anxiety and self-hatred. Thus, by avoiding any significant romantic attachments, he had never had to deal with the risk of his heritage being discovered.
Instead, he had submerged himself in the Dark Arts and gained power. His goal was to become so powerful that no one would ever be able to hurt him again - not his now dead family, not his past enemies at the orphanage, not his past enemies at his public school before coming to Hogwarts, not Dumbledore, no one, not ever! And he had succeeded - he had gained power and status that no one had ever dared question… at least, not until… that damned prophecy and Harry Potter!
But that aside for now, during his time gaining more power through the exploration and use of the Dark Arts, the more his body had changed and had become almost 'damaged' in certain ways. It was a long time of denial though before he even was consciously aware that his sex drive had disappeared completely. In fact, shortly before his defeat by an infant Harry Potter, he had tried to engage in a minor sexual activity with one of his Death Eaters, but that had resulted in complete failure. There was not even a spark of lust in him! The female Death Eater had been shocked by his failure to become aroused, and so had he. She was gorgeous, intelligent, devoted only to him and no one else. It had been disappointing when he had no choice but to kill her to hide the truth of his impotence.
But now… he had a completely new body! To reiterate, his body now was a two-step process: the first step was becoming that skeleton child-like form, which used parts of a stillborn baby, unicorn blood, and milk from Nagini amongst other non-animal ingredients; and then the second step was what he looked like after his Resurrection in the graveyard during the Triwizard Tournament, which included a bone from his Father, flesh from his servant (Wormtail), and blood of his enemy (Harry Potter).
Presently of course, he was in the form of 'Evan Farley', which to reiterate again, had been created by a potion that he had secretly worked on, which had similar ingredients to that of Polyjuice, but instead of using just one part of a person, this potion created the exterior of a new body from many different parts of the people that were added to the potion, although height and weight differed a little. By keeping the majority of his internal body, this allowed the Potion's effects to last extremely long, and so he would not have to take the potion again to maintain the created body for three months.
Never, in his wildest imagination, did he think that this resurrected body would be capable of fathering children, let alone carrying children. It was ridiculous! Absolutely without a doubt, ridiculous! His body wasn't even entirely human!
Which is why added with Hermione telling him that she had never heard of a Wizard (male) pregnancy before, he felt more relieved and less distressed. It wasn't completely gone, not by a Giant's Stride, but even so…
But what if? Just… what if it's true? Or what if it could be true? That I'm… pregnant? Or could become pregnant? What will I do then?
Will I… keep the child? Or… would I ever… in the future…in the far, far, far future… ever consider… bearing a child? ...Or maybe, this new body of mine could even sire a child... He questioned himself, caught in a mental state between incredible wonder and downright terror.
This is absurd! Why am I even bothering contemplating such things! It's impossible! I don't even know why I let Nagini's speculations send me into such a… such a… tempest! It's ridiculous! I probably don't even need this spell, that's how ridiculous it is! But… But just to make sure… to make absolute, without a doubt, one-hundred percent certain, that I'm not pregnant, and that I can't ever get pregnant… I'll still go see the Medi-Witch! But that's it, and then I'm never going to think about this again! In fact, after this's all over, I'm going to Obliviate myself! No! First, I'm going to find every single person who bore witness to my… my… moment of discomposure in the library, Obliviate them first, along with Hermione and the Medi-Witch, and then I'll Obliviate myself! Yes! Ahh… I feel much better now. Yes, I have a set, step-by-step plan, and everything will go exactly according to that plan! And then I can get back to killing Harry Potter! Yes! Things are looking up for me! Just as Voldemort finished his thoughts on the matter, he walked through the Hospital Wing's door and found himself in front of the Medi-Witch.
"Hello, my dears. Is there something I can do for you?" Madame Pomfrey questioned kindly.
Looking around at all six of the empty hospital beds, and glancing towards the Medi-Witch's office to make sure no one else was around, Voldemort nodded. Now that he was here, he found himself entirely tongue-tied. Strange how it had seemed much easier to tell Hermione what he wanted in the midst of his meltdown, but now that he was level-headed again, he found himself too embarrassed… or downright afraid to ask her what the pregnancy revealing spell was.
Assuming she'd even tell him.
Madame Pomfrey might require that she cast it herself, just to make sure. He also found himself shooting an uneasy glance back at the opened entryway to the Hospital Wing – he really did not want anyone walking by or walking into the room and having them overhear his concerns… let alone the results!
Voldemort had to admire Madame Pomfrey's powers of observation at his hesitation. She pulled her wand from her pocket and swiftly shut and locked the door even before he or Hermione had a chance to say anything.
"Don't worry, no one will be able to enter now. They'll have to knock first. So… which one of you is my patient today?" Madame Pomfrey encouraged.
Hermione gave Evan a light nudge. She had remained silent on the long walk up to the Hospital Wing since she noticed that Evan was lost in thought the entire way. She hadn't wanted to interrupt his trail of thought.
It was at this point that Voldemort remembered he had already had a prior interaction with the Medi-Witch – when he had… unwisely… jumped out of that window… on Harry's broomstick… in an unsuccessful attempt to get away from Harry and Draco. That poor decision had resulted in his injury and confinement to the Hospital Wing and so he had cast a sleeping spell on her to leave undetected to talk with Nagini about his urges, during which his loyal companion had revealed that her species went into a slight heat, etc. Then, he had gone to steal a Libido Suppressant Potion from Severus, gotten himself caught by him, but defeated Severus and cast a spell on him to ensure that Severus never told another soul that he had stolen said potion. On his way back to the Slytherin Dorms, Voldemort realized he had to go back to the Hospital Wing to modify this Medi-Witch's memory to make her believe she had released him from her care first thing in the morning.
Hence, to her knowledge, Evan had been in her care the entire night, he was a delightful patient once he wasn't feeling such pain anymore, and she had let him go back to class early that morning, all healed.
"Er… I… This is…" Voldemort cleared his throat, and tried to keep his voice steady. "I'm sure that it's nothing, really, but I… I… wanted to know what spell would reveal… a pregnancy." It was worth a shot, asking for the spell himself and then he could cast it on himself in private.
Madame Pomfrey's expression morphed into one of disbelief. "And why may I ask, would you like to know such a thing?" Her gaze flicked between Evan and Hermione.
Hermione interpreted Madame Pomfrey's look and quickly shook her head at the Medi-Witch, indicating she was not the one suspected of being pregnant.
Voldemort swallowed hard, cleared his throat again, and answered softly. "I… think… I might… be… p-pregnant." Come on, there's no 'Dark Lord' way to say that, ever, since Dark Lords aren't supposed to get pregnant! No way. So I'll excuse it. He thought to himself firmly.
Madame Pomfrey couldn't prevent her eyebrows from shooting up into her hairline. In all her years working at Hogwarts, she had never had a male student come to her with such a problem. Other problems, definitely, the most common problems male students came to her for involved (1) injuries, or (2) wanting to know spells to prevent them from getting their girlfriend pregnant (Though written consent from the parents was needed to disclose this second problem. Which was strange, because even if such parental consent was denied… it's not like their child wouldn't just engage in such 'activities' anyway!).
But getting back to the situation at hand, she was so surprised by Evan's request that she couldn't help but chuckle. Seeing an angry look pass over his face, she quickly tried to remedy the situation - she had to be professional after all. "I'm sorry, my dear. You took me by complete surprise. I'm certain that you are not pregnant, because, there is no such thing as a Wizarding Pregnancy."
The Dark Lord felt himself exhale the largest breath ever at her words, even his toes seemed to relax from the strain he had been feeling. Truly, he felt so relieved he thought he might just… just… hug… someone – G-ds forbid! Or, he felt he might just melt into a pile of goo. Well, if that happened, he supposed it was a good thing he was in the Hospital Wing already. I knew it. I knew it! It was absurd to even think… Oh, thank Merlin, thank Slytherin, thank the Spirits, and thank the G-ds!. In thanks, I think I will sacrifice… something… perhaps fifty Mudbloods! …No! I have it! I'll sacrifice fifty Death Eaters! An even greater sacrifice in thanks! Thank you, thank you, thank you!
"See? I told you it would be ok. I was so sure that if such a thing existed, I would have heard of it before," Hermione piped up, placing a comforting hand on Evan's arm.
Still in the midst of thanking any deity he could think of and planning sacrifices to show his gratitude, Voldemort barely heard her words, but he did feel her touch. Now that the… crisis… had been averted, and never really a possibility in the first place, he had the strong urge to throw off her hand and to Scourgify his entire arm - but he refrained. After all, he didn't want to upset Harry's best friend and risk incurring his suspicion. "Yes. Th-Thanks," he said the first to Hermione and the latter to Pomfrey, tripping over said 'thanks'. He was a 'Dark Lord' and not accustomed to thanking anyone! He gave orders, his orders were obeyed, or else those who refused to obey his orders, he killed. Simple!
Oh, Slytherin! To think I was worried and wasted my day turning the library upside down for nothing! Voldemort thought, still too delirious with relief to feel much annoyance with himself or anyone else. He supposed he should go back and discipline Nagini for the scare she had put him through. He should, but then he supposed she was basing her knowledge on her species. Well, in that case… I should just celebrate! G-ds, until now, I didn't even realize how starving I am! I don't even remember when I last ate! If I hurry, I might even catch the end of lunch. Or, I could also leave and celebrate elsewhere, either Malfoy Manor or Knockturn Alley. Ah yes, I could call several of my Death Eaters for a celebration… and then sacrifice them right then and there! Ah, it's a perfect celebratory plan!
With the sheer unbridled relief at the news that it was impossible for him to become pregnant, the thought of food, and the prospect of ritual sacrifice in mind, Voldemort spun around and began walking towards the still closed entryway – a visible spring in his step. Hermione followed behind him, expecting Madame Pomfrey to unlock the door any moment.
"You're most welcome, Mr. Farley," Madame Pomfrey called out to Evan's retreating back. "Yes indeed. There's no need for you to worry at all. A Wizarding Pregnancy is entirely impossible. One would need a magical transformation that included a female component for that," she stated with conviction.
In the midst of selecting which Death Eaters he wanted to sacrifice, Voldemort froze mid-step, his heart catapulting up into his throat as a choked sound escaped him.
A 'magical transformation that included a female component'? Oh Spirits! Nagini's milk! She's female! She was part of the first-step process to getting back my resurrected body! Oh G-ds! This is not happening! Tell me this is not happening!
"Oh! Evan? Are you ok? Why did you stop?" Hermione said from practically on top of him. Evan had stopped so suddenly that she had almost crashed into his back.
Voldemort could practically feel himself begin to hyperventilate. Sweat began forming on his skin, in fact, he felt one drop trickle down his forehead and another down his back. Swallowing hard, he let his raised foot fall, before he pivoted on it, and walked around Hermione.
Passing the inquisitive-expressioned Medi-Witch, he sat down on the second to the right hospital bed and brought his legs up onto the bed too, before leaning back against the two pillows there. Squeezing his eyes shut once, and drawing in a deep breath before opening his eyes again, he spoke in a rush, "Castthespellonme!"
Utterly baffled by his firm request, both Hermione and Madame Pomfrey wore identical bewildered expressions. Shooting these confused glances at each other, they approached his bedside.
"Mr. Farley, I… It's simply not necessary! As I said before, it would require a magical transformation that included a female component! And a large amount of natural magical energy in addition to that! And… surely you don't even have that female component!" Pomfrey insisted.
Voldemort found his eyes narrowing. He did not want to volunteer any information that could result in them tracing back to the truth of who he really was. If they found out about Nagini, that could potentially blow his cover as 'Evan Farley'. But he needed to know the answer, so he simply didn't reply to her less-than-direct inquiry about the magical transformation. "Just, cast the spell! …P-Please!" He added. Since she wasn't one of his Death Eaters that he could just order around and get to obey, he would have to at least pretend to be… nice.
Puzzled looks were exchanged between Pomfrey and Hermione before their perplexed faces turned back towards him.
After a few moments, Pomfrey gave in. "Alright, if it will be enough to ease your concerns, my dear. Though… if you have performed some kind of magical transformation on yourself, or someone else has, you really should let me know. Such things can be very… tricky, and… temperamental… depending on how you go about it…" She trailed off but Evan kept his lips shut and didn't volunteer any additional information.
By now, Hermione and Pomfrey were standing on opposite sides of Evan's bed.
"I reiterate, yet again, that I believe that this is entirely unnecessary. Even with a magical transformation and a large amount of natural magical energy, the chances of such pregnancy are so low. In fact, the last magical transformation male pregnancy was over… I daresay I believe it must be something like over 400 years ago!" Pomfrey again tried to soothe and reassure the boy, before preparing herself to cast the pregnancy revealing spell.
Although Pomfrey had never directly studied semi-male pregnancies (or semi-female pregnancies), by simply understanding how that particular spell functioned, she knew that it would work not only for identifying a pregnancy in a fully female person, but also in a semi-female pregnancy – the spell functioned by simply identifying another younger and similar life-form inside of another life-form
"Hah. So the chances are low. Almost impossible. But then again, you don't know who the father might be," Voldemort muttered under his breath. Only when he heard a rushed intake of breath from Hermione did he realize he had spoken too loud.
No! She… couldn't know, could she? I mean… Oh Slytherin! Could Harry have said something to her?! Could Harry have told her that he had… had… s-sex… with m-me?! Voldemort subtly reached his hand into his pocket for his wand and cast Legilimency. He sifted through her mind carefully, not wanting her know what he was doing.
Oh Spirits! That memory… that must be… that must be from the group of students in the Potions Corridor! But I don't recall seeing her amongst them! Voldemort kept pushing through her mind, looking for more related memories. That's when he stumbled on Hermione and Ron's conversation in the Gryffindor common room, where Hermione extracted a copy of Ron's memory from him.
So then Ron Weasley did remember! I didn't successfully Obliviate him, because he saw a reflection of the three of us having sex in a suit of armor prior to seeing us directly! Slytherin's Bollocks! I'll have to go and erase both their memories now! They better not have told anyone else about this, or else I'll… I'll curse them! Voldemort shouted silently to himself.
In the meantime, Hermione's mind was spinning at Evan's utterance. Not even the fact that male wizarding pregnancies were possible after all, could distract her. Oh My G-d! If Harry had sex with Evan… then… then… with Harry's record of practically impossible feats… I mean… assuming that Evan at least has any kind of magical transformation involved… then that could mean that… Harry could be the father!
Pomfrey's hearing wasn't what it used to be, so all she heard was unintelligible muttering, which she assumed was Evan praying intensely not to be pregnant. Once it was finished however, she, as always, instructed her patient regarding what would happen during the medi-spell she was about to perform. "Alright, Mr. Farley. After I cast the spell, one of two things will happen. If you are… pregnant… a green light will appear at the end of my wand. However, if you are not pregnant, a brown light will appear at the end of my wand. Do you understand?"
Voldemort looked up at the Medi-Witch and nodded silently, afraid that if he opened his mouth again, that he risked spewing… something. His fingers clenched with terrified nerves and he felt his right hand grasp something tightly. It turned out to be Hermione's hand.
Hermione squeezed back comfortingly, but she was starting to feel pretty nervous herself on account of Harry being involved - although, she was certain it was nowhere near as nerve-wracking as what Evan must be feeling.
"Alright. Here we go. Nod as soon as you are ready for me to cast the spell," Madame Pomfrey instructed as she pointed her wand at Evan's midsection.
Voldemort took a few more deep breaths, still grasping Hermione's hand in what was akin to a death grip - he couldn't even feel any sensation in that hand anymore. Swallowing around the lump of sheer anxiety he felt in his throat, he drew one more breath, and then nodded his head.
"Revelio Praegnatio!" Pomfrey cast.
All that could be heard in the spell's ensuing aftermath were three sharp inhalations.
"…Oh G-ds!" Voldemort choked out hoarsely, his eyes transfixed at the end of Madame Pomfrey's wand.
It glowed green.
Thanks for Reading, Please Review! I love reading your comments!: Something you liked or didn't like, or something you would like to have happen in the future! I always reply to the reviews I'm given! Usually I reply shortly before I upload the next chapter or immediately after I upload the next chapter! So if you would like to personally hear back from me, leave a review!
Hi Everyone! Sooo… What do you think about the results of Voldie's pregnancy revealing spell?! Also, what do you think Voldie should do now? And also, should Voldie tell anyone about the results? If so, how do you think those 'anyone(s)' will react to the news? I look forward to hearing your responses! :)
