Chapter 35
Tobias let out a purr of contentment when Draco ran his hands over the stiff muscles in his neck and shoulders. It had been a week since The Pack had visited the library and four days ago, the teachers decided that the majority of classes were too dangerous for him after the youngest Weasley male had tried – and almost succeeded – to hit him in the stomach with whatever spell they were learning at the time.
So here he was, stuck to a seat in Severus' Office with sixteen unopened boxes surrounding him and the contents of the only opened one scattered over Severus' desk.
"How are you feeling?" Draco asked.
"Trapped," he answered honestly. "I'm stuck in a cage. I want to go outside. I want to see PEOPLE. I understand not wanting me to go to the classes we share with the Gryffindors, but forbidding me from going to History of Magic which only has four other people in it – three of whom are our Pack and the other is the person whose sister is buying us the muggle foods I am craving at the moment is going too far. I'm lonely Draco," Tobias admitted, tears in his eyes. "I see you for meals and bed. I see the rest of The Pack – bar Nev, Gin and Luna – for breakfast and dinner and I see Nev, Gin and Luna in passing on my way here once a day. I don't even see Severus. He just locks me in here and disappears."
Draco sighed. He knew that it was unfair to his husband for this to happen and even though he wanted Tobias to be kept safe more than anything else, he thought this was going way too far. "I'll talk to Sev okay? If all else fails, I'll send for Algie and allow him to go all Healer on Sev's arse, then set Remus and Tom onto him."
Tobias giggled softly and turned the chair around so he could hug his husband tightly. "I love you," he whispered.
"I love you too 'Bi," Draco answered with a soft smile. "I know you don't want me to go just yet, but if you want to be in today's History of Magic class then I have to go."
Tobias whimpered, but let Draco go. Draco dropped a kiss to the top of Tobias' head and walked out, doing his best to ignore the heart-wrenching sounds that were leaving his pregnant and lonely Lover.
Draco used his magic to slam open the doors to the Great Hall, fury in every line of his body. Everyone in the room went silent and watched the blonde wearily as he glided menacingly towards the Head Table.
"Professor Snape, can we talk in your chambers?" he asked as politely as he could through clenched teeth.
Severus nodded and stood quickly, not quiet hiding his worry. Silently he led the way to his rooms. Before he could ask anything, Draco started on him.
"How long have you known that Tobias is becoming depressed?"
Severus blinked in shock. "Last I checked he wasn't showing any sign of depression."
"Really?" Draco drawled, glaring heatedly at the man. "Then explain to me why MY husband clings to me when he sees me and sobs when I leave. Tell me why he calls your office a cage. Tell me HY HE IS BEING PUT INTO ISOLATION FROM EVERYONE!" he roared angrily, stalking towards the completely pale man. "And while you're at it, tell me why it is Bi who is being punished for that bastard's actions. He might have lost house points and got a detention, but he is still allowed to see other human beings every day and to sit out in the sun and fresh air if he so wishes."
"I was trying to protect him and your child Draco," Severus hissed, eyes flashing dangerously.
"But instead you are pushing him toward giving up on life," Draco interrupted. "You go into that room right this second and see him before coming back here and telling me that it is worth Tobias becoming THAT all for something that putting a few hexes onto Ronald Weasley should he even look in Tobias's direction wouldn't fix!"
Seeing that Draco wasn't going to listen to reason, Severus walked to the room with a huff, only to stop at the sound of desperate sobbing. Swallowing hard, he pushed open the door, entered and closed it behind him.
Severus sobbed into an exasperated Remus' shoulder as everyone else in the room glared at him. He had just finished telling the four of the m what had occurred and none of them – least of all Tom – was happy with him.
"Just to clarify: You isolated a hormonal pregnant teen I your office for his own safety, even knowing that he is a member of a human wolf pack." Remus stated. When Severus nodded, Remus smacked him sharply across the back of the head. "What were you thinking you Imbecile? You should be leaving it to Kyria to deal with, but she hasn't been able to do so since she – and the rest of The Pack – has been fretting over the absence of their Alpha. What the Hell happened to the intelligent man I thought you were?"
"I should torture you," Tom hissed, eyes flashing. "I really should, but I won't." He smirked, making himself look much more sinister to Severus' eyes than ever before. "After all, having one godson angry at you and the other one terrified of being anywhere near you without another three or four people being there as well is punishment enough, I guess. I also wouldn't wish to be in your shoes when Minerva finds out." He grinned maliciously, "And she should be getting the letter I wrote to her telling her what you had done any time now …"
The fire behind Tom flared and Severus paled as Minerva McGonagall's voice filled the room.
"Where is he?" she screeched. "You better not be hiding him Tom Marvolo Riddle! Not only have I got a depressed and clingy Tobias in my classroom, but an angry Draco and thirteen wolves that aren't letting anyone near Tobias who needs to have his potion!"
Severus whined softly and pushed himself closer to Remus, who just rolled his eyes and pushed him away slightly. "You did the wrong thing, Severus," he stated as he stood. "Now you need to face your punishment like a true wolf."
Tom raised an eyebrow at the cat animagus, ignoring what was going on behind him. "Would I have sent you that letter if I were hiding him?"
Minerva flushed slightly. "No, I guess not – but he is there, isn't he?"
"Yes, he is," Narcissa stated icily, still glaring at the man. "And he is currently on my 'wish to kill but have been ordered not too' list."
"I'm coming through Minerva," Severus murmured, softly, only just preventing himself from crying at Remus' rejection, head lowered in shame.
"Good!" she snapped, making him flinch slightly. "Maybe seeing a dog pile with you on the bottom will make Tobias smile."
Severus nodded, still looking down and moved to the fireplace, ignoring the feeling of several spells hitting him in the back. He honestly didn't care what the result was from the spells combining was, after all, nothing was as painful as neither of his godson's talking to him and his mate rejecting him.
It had now been two and a half months since it had been discovered that Tobias was expecting, One month one week since the NEWTs had been sat and three weeks since The Pack refused to have anything to do with Severus. Tobias looked up at the Head Table to see the now familiar site of a red-haired, pink-robed Severus with a quill in one hand and parchment in the other. It turned out that Tom had a larger vindictive streak when you messed with his son than when he was Voldemort and had spelled the man to only talk in quacks and cheeps.
At first, Tobias thought it wasn't a good enough punishment, but now that his hormones had settled down to their normal fluctuations instead of the steep rise and fall from being separated from his Pack, he looked closer and he was worried about what he saw.
Severus' normally bright black eyes were a dull, dusty grey. His skin was loose with dehydration and had the colouration of sour milk and he looked as though he had lost an unhealthy amount on weight in a short period of time – weight he hadn't had to spare in the first place.
Nodding determinedly, he stood from his place and walked towards the man. Every eye in the Hall watched his progress intently until he was standing behind the man. Silently, he wrapped his arms around his godfather in a tight embrace. He tightened his hold slightly when the man stiffened and yelped in surprise when said man turned quickly and pulled him onto his lap, arms around him like a strait-jacket.
"I'm sorry," Severus muttered softly into Tobias's neck as he buried himself in the nearly forgotten scent. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry."
"Shh, I'm sorry as well," Tobias murmured, leaning into the man. "I don't have any control over my emotions any more. They just levelled out properly today. I've missed you Sev."
To the surprise of everyone in hearing range, Severus started to sob softly as he clung to the young man in his lap. "I'm sorry, Please don't ignore me again."
"No promises," Tobias murmured back, trying to stop his own tears from falling. "But I will try my best to do so."
Tom sat in his favourite chair with a cup of tea in his hand, listening to Remus, Lucius and Narcissa discuss what had to be done now that there was a baby on the way when a cold chill ran up his spine. His jaw dropped when he saw four owls with smoking red envelops heading towards his manor.
His small gasp of shock caused everyone else to look at him then turn to face what he was looking at. All three of them gulped. Someone had sent Howlers to them. It wasn't long before they each had a red envelop before them.
Hesitantly, Remus reached out to his. AS if his touch was a signal, all four of them exploded into sound at the same time.
"HOW DARE YOU DO WHAT YOU HAVE DONE TO SEV!" Tobias' voice shouted, magnified by four hundred percent. "DID ANY OF YOU STOP TO THINK I OVER REACTED DUE TO HORMOANES? YOU CAN'T KEEP STEPPING IN WHEN THIS HAPPENES. I EXPECT EACH AND EVERY ONE OF YOU TO MAKE IT UP TO HIM BY THE END OF THIS WEEK OR I'LL MAKE ALL OF YOUR LIVES HELL!"
When the Howlers were nothing but ash, the four of them gulped. They had only two days in which to gain Severus' forgiveness before their lives were forfeit.
Tobias curled up on the chair and cradled his drink to his chest protectively as he watched Severus drink a high protein, high nutrient concoction that would aid him in gaining the weight he had lost in the past three weeks. Minerva hid her smile behind her own cup of tea. When she had first seen Severus after the incident, she had demanded he tell her everything and by the he had finished, most of her anger at him had dissipated as she had come to realise that he really did have the best interest of Tobias on his mind, but had little to no experience with pregnant women and even less with a pregnant man.
First, she explained to him what he had done wrong and told him to not expect any member of The Pack to want anything to do with him until they had discovered for themselves that no physical harm had occurred to either Tobias or the baby and not to worry if they didn't warm up to him until after Tobias forgave him. She also told him that it was the hormones that drove Tobias into such hysterics, stating that if he weren't pregnant then the boy would have just told him where to shove it and walk out.
Now, here she was witnessing another hormone-driven encounter between the two and if it wasn't for how badly the man had been affected by the first, she would have been rolling on the floor with tears of laughter flowing down her cheeks. AS it was, the sight of Severus not only allowing for the teen to mother him, but relishing it, was enough to make her slightly depressed. Had she known that she and Fillious were the only two people that were talking to Severus for the entire three week period, then she would have used the Remus, Tom, Lucius and Narcissa to sharpen her tongue on – regardless of the fact that one of them was the darkest Dark Lord in over a thousand years.
She was knocked from her thoughts by a knock at her window by an unknown owl. Standing, she pulled her wand from its sheath and opened the window. "Deposit it on the table," she told the owl. "There is water and food at the owlery or a plain biscuit and water here if you wish."
The owl bobbed its head in answer and flew back out the window after dropping the letter on the table. Without hesitation, Minerva shot spells of detection towards it before handling it to Severus, who read it without betraying his thoughts. When he was finished, he tapped the letter against his lips.
"Who was it from Sev?" Tobias asked, subconsciously reheating the drink in the man's hand enough for him to notice he had some left.
"Tom, Lucius, Narcissa and Remus," he eventually said. "They apologised for their treatment of me these past three weeks, but I don't think I can forgive them – not yet at any rate."
"Then tell them that," Minerva said. "Tell them exactly what happened and how you reacted to it and what you put up with for three weeks. Be one hundred percent brutally honest."
Severus nodded decisively, finished his drink and rose from his seat. "No time like the present," he said before leaving.
Minerva and Tobias exchanged smirks.
"Is it fair that I don't pity them?" Tobias mused. "I have a feeling that Sev is going to get vindictive."
"No. It serves them right. Lucius most of all since he is the only married man of the group: You should have seen some of the things Narcissa put him through when she was pregnant with Draco."
The two of them spent the rest of their time together laughing over past memories.
Draco smiled as Tobias snuggled into him, settling in for a night of peace. It was the first night in over a fortnight that the two of them were sleeping in their bed without the presence of at least three other members of The Pack. He gently pressed a kiss to the top of his husband's head.
"I'm glad you approached Sev today," he murmured. "I was starting to worry about him and I would have risked you hating me to talk to him if you hadn't by tomorrow."
"I'm glad I did too. I'm hoping that I'm not like this for long; I don't like getting weepy, angry or motherly over every small thing. I also hate that it was Severus who coped it first. I t wasn't fair on him, nor on you. I'm sorry."
Draco pulled Tobias closer. "I forgive you, 'Bi. I know that it was the hormones acting up, but some of what The Pack and I do in retaliation is because of our need to protect you and the little one. It's worse when we don't spend a lot of time with you since we get antsy."
Tobias smiled at Draco and gave him a soft kiss. "I love you Draco."
"I love you too, Tobias."
The two snuggled together and fell into a deep, peaceful slumber.
At Riddle Manor, four people were just finishing reading the letters they had received form the friend they had been ignoring for longer than they should have. The first man bowed his head and heaved a sigh of disgust. His son was correct; they should have factored in the pregnancy factor before turning on Severus as badly as they had. Inhaling deeply, he reached out for a roll of parchment and a quill. He had a lot to atone for with his old friend and he intended on doing it properly.
The second man exchanged devastated looks with the third recipient – who was also his wife - and opened his arms for her sobbing form. Internally, he was cursing himself to purgatory and back for his behaviour, after all, the day before it happened he was remarking on Draco's luck for having a partner who didn't throw things in a hormone-driven rage. Taking a deep breathe, he moved his wife away and dried her tears, murmuring in her ear and taking her hand, guided her into his study to compile a joint apologetic letter proper for the occasion.
The forth recipient allowed the letter to fall from his horror-numbed fingers. His fiancée was hurting and he was a cause for it. After several minutes of staring into nothingness, he snatched the page up from the floor and re-read it feverishly, hoping that he hadn't lost the one person he loved beyond all else. He almost sobbed in despair when the bottom had been signed as Severus instead of the usual sensually entwined double 'S' he had used since the day they had started dating in school.
Even when they had split due to the prank, Sirius had played; Severus had never stopped signing it that way. This was the first time in nearly twenty three years that it was absent and it broke his heart knowing he was the cause of it. Taking a few moments to reflect on what he had done, the consequences and what he could do to fix it, he stood from his seat and quickly made his way to his room. It was time for him to do something he should have done twenty years ago and by Merlin, he would see this through even if it killed him.
Terms to know
Kyria – Lady - Luna