Chapter 36 – Lover's Quarrel

"Did you hear? The greasy git of the dungeons got kicked out of his own private quarters last night, James!" Albus Potter grinned excitedly. "Apparently Professor Sarah had a fit after he said something that was below the belt for her. I heard from one of the prefects who was running patrol and caught him with a warming charm asleep on one of the dungeon tables!"

"Nice! Good for her!" James grinned. "I wonder what he did…"

"Who cares?" Hugo Weasley butt in. "I say let the Dungeon bat get what he deserves after all those horrible things he did to our parents! It's about time someone brought him down a peg or two!"

Severus strode by mere moments after Hugo's words died down, dark bags under his eyes. The rest of the staff's eyes widened, realizing that the rumors of him getting kicked out of his private quarters were true, and a few of them simply chuckled and shook their heads, muttering that that was why there weren't supposed to be married couples on staff together. The Slytherin house wasn't at all shocked at her ultimatum and actions, knowing that she didn't normally act like that and was usually brushing off Severus' snide remarks and comments off like they were nothing to her. This, however, was completely new to them, and they had no idea where to go with this except to get Midna and Lily in Sarah's quarters to calm her down.

"Severus, good morning," Minerva smiled warmly as he took a seat next to her silently. "You look tired. Did you sleep well?"

"I'd like to see you get a good night's sleep while sleeping on a table in the dungeon," he snapped. "No, I was harshly kicked out of my quarters last night by a very irate Sarah, who kept rattling off nonsense about me caring only for the baby and not her."

"Ah. Don't worry, Severus, it's just her hormones talking. You know she doesn't mean that," the older animagus soothed. "Although, knowing you, it still smarts and you probably feel a little guilty, if you can feel that anymore."

"Yes, Minerva, I feel guilty, and I did as soon as those words left her mouth," he snapped. He sighed, starting at the beginning of the night and telling her everything up to the point of him being forced to sleep on the dungeon table because Sarah had changed the password and wouldn't let him in. "I feel so horrid, I'm not even hungry. She's probably furious right now."

"I daresay she would be," Harry said appalled. "After that little spat, it's no wonder she's upset. I remember when Ginny was pregnant, though – she was much, much moodier than normal when she was carrying Albus. Oh, it was creepy. It was like she was trying to personify you – no offense."

Severus scoffed and stormed off to his office to let out all his pent up emotions. He, at long last, released all his pent up emotions that he'd been holding in over the years, and was almost surprised to find that it felt strangely good to let it all out in one fell swoop of timing and letting the tears fall down his face and onto the floor. Within moments of his eyes drying out, he wiped his face, washed it in warm water, and left to go teach Potions. He knew he probably wouldn't be seeing Sarah for a while, she was still furious with him, no doubt, and sent a Patronus to Minerva to ask for her help in getting him and Sarah back together. Severus scowled, unsure of how to continue, and he knew that he'd be spending more than just that one night on a desk if Sarah had anything to say about it.

Harry walked in about halfway through the class, grinning like a cat that had just eaten a canary. He stood and cast a powerful muffling charm around the two of them, and immediately brought up an idea to Severus that the Potions Master hadn't thought of before – get Salazar Slytherin to reveal the password to him in Parseltongue. He nodded, motioning for him to go try it, and Harry left. When Harry returned five minutes later, he was utterly confused.

"All he would say was that it was from your past and was in a foreign language," Harry said shrugging in confusion. "He said that it was important to you and your family."

"Okay, something to do with being a former Death Eater," Severus considered quietly. "Death translated is probably what we're looking for. Leave it to her to leave one of the two words in English to confuse me. Okay, Korosu is Japanese. Töten is German. Sí is Mandarin Chinese. What else is there?"

"Greek. Thanatos," Harry replied. "It's worth a try. I'll keep an eye out and make sure nothing blows up while you go test it out."

"Thanks," Severus said and walked to the portrait of Salazar Slytherin. "Korosu Eater. Töten Eater. Sí Eater?"

"No, no, and you're not even trying," the portrait said sourly. "Good grief, what are you, stalking this poor woman?"

"She's my wife, I'm supposed to be sleeping in there," Severus said coolly. "Thanatos Eater?"

"Fine," he grumbled, but Severus caught him. "What, you don't want in?"

"Not right now, no," he said with a sigh. "However, I just needed to figure out what my wife changed the password to. Why did she change it? do you know?"

"She was sobbing last night, I thought it best that she was alone and let her change the password," he shrugged. "She hasn't come back out since."

"I noticed," Severus said darkly as he walked back to the classroom. "Got it. Crazy woman used Greek for the password!"

"Wierdo," Harry grinned. "Well, I wish you the best of luck. Something tells me you're going to need it."

Severus sneered as Harry dashed back to the DADA classroom where his Patronus was keeping charge and making sure nobody got out of line. Severus, however, was exhausted, and sent his students out, giving all of the rest of the classes writing prompts for three foot essays. He went back to his chambers to find that Sarah had moved all her things out of his room, and into the spare one that they'd set up with an extra bed for them to take care of their upcoming child. To be perfectly honest, he was almost surprised that she hadn't gone home, but then again, it would have put her and the baby in more danger than anything else.

He didn't dare approach Sarah yet, not while she was still so angry, but he still wanted to let her know that he still cared for her for who she was and not just because she was carrying his child. He sighed, sitting down to write the letter, finally finding the right words after about two hours of trying desperately. He put the parchment on the door with a sticking charm, knowing that if Sarah was still angry with him she'd tear it up and burn it, so he put protection charms on it so that she couldn't do so until she finished reading it. it was about an hour later that Sarah came walking (or more of waddling because she had gotten so big) into the room he'd like to have been sleeping at. She shook him, and he immediately woke up and began profusely apologizing. She stared at him as he did so nonstop, and didn't open her mouth to speak until he finally ran dry of ways to apologize.

"I'm partially to blame," she said at last. "I should have known you didn't mean it that way and that you were just looking out for me and the baby at the same time since what happens to one of the two affects the other directly as well, no matter how you dice it. Sev, I'm really sorry for being a bitch and kicking you out of our quarters. Can you forgive me?"

"Of course," he said immediately before yawning. "I apologize for being such an insensitive jerk."

"Well, that's that," she smiled just before wheezing as she went to sit down on the bed, clutching her stomach in pain.

"What's wrong? Is it coming?" he asked panicked, and she shook her head slowly. "Did it kick you too hard?" she nodded, and he breathed a sigh of relief. He was looking forward to fatherhood, but he still had a ways to go before he was fully ready yet.

"Maybe we should move me to the hospital wing," she wheezed.

"No, you'll need to be walking up there when you're in labor. It will take your mind off of some of the pain, at least," Severus said shaking his head. He had spent most of his summer researching parenthood techniques, and how to handle the fact that your wife was in labor and how to best help her. "Do you want me to be there for when the baby is born?"

"Not if it takes you out of classes, I don't," she scowled. "Besides, we'll need a little more time to get ready, don't you think? I don't think it will be wise to have you in such a stressful environment. You can stay so long as it's in between dinner and breakfast or on the weekend, I promise."

Severus couldn't help but smile at her promise, hoping that he'd be able to be there for his child's birth.