Okay, this is the edited version! Much thanks to Camille for all her hardwork.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Snape sat on the edge of their bed. He gently lifted a lock of Meg's hair as he looked down at his sleeping wife.

He let the lock of hair play through his fingers, the strands falling to rest again on the pillow.

Her eyes opened sleepily, a yawn making them close again.

"Sev'rus?" her sleepy voice slurring his name slightly.

"Sshh!" He slid his fingers over her hair stroking gently. "I did not intend to wake you."

"I wasn't really asleep…" she mumbled, snuggling her cheek closer into the pillow and looking up at him with hazy eyes.

"Just resting your eyes…" a gentle hint of mockery colouring his voice.

"Contemplating the inside of my eyelids," she corrected and sat up. His hand fell from her hair to catch one of her hands.

"So how did it go then?" she asked, half of her not caring, half of her truly terrified.

"As I expected," he said quietly and turned her hand over in his to run his fingers down her palm.

"Which is…" prompted Meg.

"All monetary assets are frozen as from the date on the letter; although, it won't be made public until the baby is born. As for the manor, I have twenty-eight days to clear out any personal effects that I have acquired on my own merit, and then that too will be frozen until the birth of the child."

"Oh!" Meg watched him carefully for any sign of emotion, but his face was carefully blank. His eyes held hers, but all she could see in their dark depths was her reflection.

"So, in everyday terms, what exactly does that mean for us then?" She inched forward on the bed till she was kneeling beside him.

"We are technically broke." He smiled at her, but it was without humour.

"Oh." Meg frowned and sat back on her heels. "And the account in my name?"

"Your account will buy the house in Hogsmede and nothing more."

Meg frowned fiercely at their joined hands and sat back up on her knees.

"I was thinking… all the time you were gone actually. We don't need the house. We can stay here…"

"And during holidays?" He lifted one eyebrow. "I, for one, do not relish the thought of spending all my time here."

"We can't just blow the lot on a house, Severus. There are things we need to buy, things we need to put money by for…" Her voice started to rise.

"Well, your account holds twice the money you would be getting for your share of your house in Devonshire," he cut her off before she became too agitated.

"You mean buy Jack out?" she asked and sat back again. It hadn't even occurred to her.

"Yes, on one condition," he said darkly.

"What?"

"We sleep in the main bedroom and not your old room. I do not hold with climbing over the bed each night…."

"Well I…." Meg blinked as she processed the idea, "yes…I think… yes, Jack wouldn't mind I'm sure."

Snape could almost see her thoughts running through her eyes as they got brighter and brighter with the thought.

"Yes!" she finally said and clapped her hands together, "it's a great house, and the garden is just perfect for children."

Snape's eyebrows rose sharply at her use of the plural word, but he remained quiet.

"We could completely re-do things…"

"Only if you want to…" he said slowly. "There was a reason you wouldn't sleep in your parents room, wasn't there?"

"Well…other than the obvious. It didn't feel right. I would have to redecorate that room… I couldn't have it the same. I…"

"I understand." He nodded and slid his free hand around her waist to draw her closer to him. "Whatever you wish, it would be your house after all."

"My house?" She frowned up at him before she comprehended his meaning. "Oh no! No, it would be ours, Severus, like everything else in our lives, we share it. It's not mine and it's not yours. It ours."

He watched her as she spoke to him, her eyes flaming with determination, her hair in disarray from sleep.

"Merlin you're beautiful," he murmured and, letting go of her hand, he caught her face and kissed her firmly.

She sighed and melted into him, letting him move her across his lap and into his arms.

He raised his head, satisfied with the thoroughly kissed look on her face.

"You certainly know how to kiss," she said, a soft smile curving her lips.

"I know how to kiss you," he corrected and ducked his head to claim her lips once more.

Meg was out of breath when he finally raised his head again.

"It's going to be okay isn't it," she said, her hands curling into his hair, keeping it back from his face as he looked down at her. It was more a statement rather than a question but he answered it anyway.

"Yes, it will be alright." He cupped her cheek with one hand and ran his thumb over her slightly bruised lips.

"What were you going to tell me? Before you left you said you had things in mind…"

Snape narrowed his eyes in thought; he knew exactly what she was referring to.

"I had contemplated giving up teaching," he spoke quietly.

Meg's eyebrows shot up: of all the things she had thought he would say this wasn't it. Even in hindsight and with the knowledge that he really didn't like teaching, she still hadn't expected this.

"Give up?" she echoed, her surprise written all over her face.

"Is that so hard to imagine?" he mocked her gently, his black eyes glittering at her.

"Well," Meg blew out her breath on a sigh and grinned, "no, not really… just unexpected." Meg didn't have to ask what he had intended on doing instead of teaching, she knew his devotion to his cauldrons and his potions.

"I'm sorry." Meg let her hand drift down to cup his cheek, mirroring his actions.

"Maybe one day." He banked down any feelings, his face showing nothing of his inner anger at Odile or his disappointment of more shattered dreams.

"Maybe…" she knew the chances now were highly unlikely… her heart constricted with pain for him.

"Don't feel sorry for me, Megan. I made my choices a long time ago, and even if I had the chance to go back and relive my life, I would change nothing concerning you." He smirked wickedly down at her. "Except one thing…."

"What?" she demanded unable to hide the smug grin from her face.

"I would have taken you to my bed a lot sooner and I wouldn't have let you out of it."

"You charmer!" she giggled, her fingers stroking his cheek gently.

"It would have saved a lot of problems and wasted time," he replied, all humour gone from his face now.

"We've struggled all the way haven't we?" she said and sadness tinged her voice and eyes.

He closed his eyes and leaned into her caress. His shoulders sagged slightly as he allowed fatigue to overtake him momentarily.

"You're tired. Come to bed, Severus, we have time ahead of us to sort out plans." Meg drew away from him and slid off his lap. She stood up and turned slightly, her eyes caught by an object set in the middle of the floor.

"What's that?" she asked, pointing at the package wrapped in brown paper.

Severus stood up and crossed to the object which was about the size of a large chest.

"Open it and find out. I found it in Diagon Alley."

Meg crossed to the package and undid the string holding the pieces of paper together. The paper fluttered to the floor around a Mahogany crib.

Meg drew in her breath at the beauty of the simply carved crib. It had been carved from one piece and held delicate carvings of wood sprites and elves on the ends. The linen was pure white cotton edged with the finest lace.

"Oh Severus!" Meg covered her mouth with one hand as tears threatened to spill from her eyes. She knew it was stupid to be crying over a cot, but it was so unexpected, so beautiful, like a rainbow after the rain.

Severus put his arm around her and drew her head down onto his chest.

"Apparently it has a stand that can be fixed to be stationary or rocking. I'm sure you will know what is best."

Meg gripped one edge of his black waistcoat and reached up to kiss him gently.

"It's perfect. How did you know it was the type I wanted?"

"Type?" Severus arched an eyebrow "There are different types?" he was mildly surprised.

"Well yes. There are the ones that can be converted into a single bed later, or the ones that fit onto the edge of your own bed…."

"Onto the edge of our bed?" Severus looked taken aback at the cot. "Why would you do that?"

"Well…" Meg stepped away from him and went to the cot to fix up the stand so that it rocked gently. "She'll sleep in here with us for the first six months or so…"

"Why?" The surprise was rapidly changing into horror.

"She'll need feeding quite regularly… it'll be easier if she's in with us; besides, it's supposed to cut the risk of cot death by half. Or, at least that's what the books say."

Severus blinked at the information she had just given him. He watched as she fused over the lacing edge, and it suddenly occurred to him that he knew nothing of what to expect.

"I'm glad I got the correct type," he said quietly, thinking that perhaps he ought to take a look through the books she kept beside her bed.

"It's perfect and it'll fit just right there!" Meg pointed to where her bedside cabinet stood.

"But the cabinet…"

"Can be moved…" Meg looked around the room with her eyes narrowed "There!" she announced and pointed to the far wall that held only a small chest of drawers.

Severus watched as she picked up her wand and, with a few swishes, the furniture was rearranged, the cot fitting perfectly beside the bed.

He blinked, sat down on the chair in the corner, and looked about him. He didn't know a thing.

Meg looked across at him and sat back on the bed.

"Severus? Are you coming to bed?" she patted the bed beside her and arched her eyebrow at him. "I haven't thanked you yet for the cot."

An evil smirk crossed his face as he immediately stood and crossed to her.

"Well now, that we have to remedy don't we?"

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Neville knew a bad mood when he saw one. He also knew when to keep his mouth shut.

"Of course I had nothing to do with it!" Senga all but spat into the container she was cleaning. "Stupid girl thinks that just because I'm a Malfoy that I'd poison someone just to play lousy Quidditch." She scrubbed at a spot that she had removed several scrubs ago.

Neville worked quietly at wrapping his new batch of Moonstone seedlings and listened to Senga moan.

In the weeks and months that she'd been helping him, they had formed quite an odd friendship. He wasn't quite a teacher to her, and he certainly wasn't a student. Senga had thought it over quite considerably when Hannah had asked why she kept going to see Mr. Longbottom. Hannah couldn't understand how anyone could even contemplate doing anything with plants except eat a few of them.

Senga had told Hannah that she enjoyed looking after the plants and helping in the gardens, but mentally she had also admitted that it was Neville himself that also drew her there. For awhile she had been stuck at how to file Neville in her own mind, until she had been sitting half listening to one of Hannah's week diatribes about her "wonderful" brother. And then it had hit her. Neville was like a brother to her, or at least the brother she would like to have. She had Damien as a brother, but he was younger than her and a true Malfoy by nature. He had delighted in finding new curses to throw at her, and Senga, being a strong believer in paying back what was owed, would curse right back. But she knew that there was no way on Merlin's earth that she could ever sit and talk to Damien the way she knew she could with Neville. So, in her mind, he became her brother, Neville; although, outwardly he was always Mr. Longbottom.

"I hate her. I really do, she was at it again this morning, chipping away, trying to get me admit to hurting Jenny. I ask you! The girl should have 'first class idiot' stamped across her forehead. She even heard Jenny herself say why she was sick, but she pays no attention."

"Why was Jenny sick?" Neville decided he'd risk interrupting her flow.

"What?" Senga frowned at him before putting the pot down and picking up another one. "Oh! She said she ate a whole bag of Bertie Botts Every Flavour Beans… Madam Pomfrey told her it was the mix of the Spinach, Orange and the Milk flavoured ones that did it."

"She ate an entire…." Neville echoed her words in wonder "Why on earth…"

"She's addicted to them." Senga supplied. "Or at least she was…" she snorted unkindly, "can't even look at them now without going green."

"Hum, poor thing." Neville, who knew the addictiveness of certain foods, could sympathise quite well, although a whole bag was beyond even him.

"Serves her right for being a pig!" Senga snorted again.

"That's not nice!" he said sharply, the disapproval clear in his voice.

Senga looked at him in surprise. He'd never openly been that hard with her before.

"But if she ate them, she has to deal with the consequences."

"If I might say, that's quite a Malfoy thing to say…" he looked up from his seedlings to see the colour drain from her face. Anger flashed through her eyes, but so did another emotion, one which overtook the anger.

"I've hurt you. I'm sorry, I didn't mean for you to be hurt. It's just when you say things like that, that are hard and uncaring, it's not nice."

"You haven't hurt me," she said airily, her face composed again.

"If you say so," he said softly. "Senga, you keep insisting that they all judge you on your name. Don't give them a reason to judge you that way."

Senga looked at Neville in shock.

"You mean you think I did something to the beans as well…." She couldn't hide the pain in her eyes this time.

"NO!" he shook his head and set his seedlings to one side, "of course I don't think that. I know you wouldn't do that." He took the pot from her hands before she crushed it. "Would it be so bad to feel compassion for her?"

Senga stared down at her fingers and felt the threat of tears. She bit her lip, she would not cry; she would not let him see that he had hurt her.

"There's a really old saying 'you'll catch more flies with honey than you will with vinegar.' I think you might do well to remember it."

"I don't… I don't mean to be… unkind."

"I know you don't," he smiled, "but I have the benefit of a few more years than the girls in your year. Plus, I have the added benefit of knowing other Malfoys and I can tell you now, you are not a Malfoy, not really. Not where it counts. But you have to try and think about how what you say affects others. Imagine how you would feel if someone said it to you. Think how you do feel when things are said to you."

"So I'm suppose to just let her accuse me and not do anything about it?" she sneered.

Neville shrugged and piled the pots she had cleaned into a container.

"Were you questioned by Professor Flitwick?"

"No."

"Did your uncle want to know if you had done anything? Or the Headmaster?"

"No," she shook her head at him

"Did Hannah think you did it?"

"Well, no, but I really…."

"So why would it matter what they think? The people who matter the most to you didn't for one moment think you had anything to do it. That's enough, surely?"

Senga looked at him and nodded as she understood what he was saying.

"It doesn't matter not really." She smiled and stood up, wiping her hands on her robes.

"You didn't think I did it either," she said quietly, wondering if he would understand she was trying to say that what he thought mattered to her as well.

"No," he smiled at her knowing what she was saying, "I wouldn't think that of you."

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Meg ran her fingers once more over the edge of the cot and sighed.

It was becoming more real with each day that passed, the cot reaffirming that a tiny baby would be in their lives very soon. But even if Snape hadn't brought the cot, her own body was beginning to tell her that changes were underway.

Under the robes no difference could be seen, but she had noticed how her jeans were beginning to tighten ever so slightly. Not enough to warrant altering them, but just enough to remind her.

And now, when she lay down, her stomach no longer hollowed between her hip bones. It wasn't excessive, but it was there, a rounding that spoke of things to come.

The fear that had filled her had faded slightly. It still seemed such a long time away. Here she was standing at the end of November and May was a whole lifetime away. She shrugged and stood away from the cot to cross to her dressing table. She picked up her brush and sitting, began to brush her hair, ready to put it into its usual plaits.

Snape came out of the bathroom doing up the cufflinks at his wrists.

"There was one thing I forgot to mention to you…"

Meg looked at his reflection in the mirror as he sat down to put his boots on.

"What?" she asked warily.

He looked up at her and smirked arrogantly at her.

"Odile is going to regret the day she unearthed that clause in the will," he said dryly, the pleasure of causing his sister pain was evident in his voice.

"Why?" Meg turned on the stool to stare at him, the brush forgotten in her hand.

"Because it has backfired, and I believe rather painfully."

"What have you done?" she asked as a shiver of fear slid down her spine.

"Me?" Snape stood up and the coldness in his eyes unnerved her. "I have done nothing… much."

"Severus!" Meg frowned. "What have you done?"

"I merely informed Mr Slye that people who live in glass houses shouldn't throw stones."

"What?" Meg was completely mystified by his words. "Odile isn't going to get the money either, is she?" she said and she watched the smug look on his face.

He smirked, looking so confident and self assured. "No. She isn't."

"So, what will happen to it?"

"It will go to the next closet relative who fulfils all of father's criteria."

"And that is? Senga?" Meg hoped that the girl would be the one to benefit from Snape's loss, but she doubted it.

"Oh no, not Senga." Snape shook his head and came across to rest his hands on her shoulders. "Senga didn't stand to inherit any of it anyway. Inheritance goes to the first born male, or, if there are no males, then the first born female that marries."

"So, Odile will get it then."

"No, ordinarily it would then pass straight to Damien if Odile hadn't survived me, but as it stands now, Damien won't see it either. There are no other male relatives in the family, so the money will split between four charities that my father had outlined in his will had we not survived him."

"Do you know which charities?" Meg asked, a little intrigued by what he was telling her.

"The four main hospitals of the English, Welsh and Scottish Mediwizard association."

"You surprise me. I had assumed it would go to some underground cause."

"Too much publicity for that. I have no doubt, however, that he had no intentions of the money going to charity. He obviously didn't expect either of us to die before him, which obviously we didn't. But, then again, neither did he think that things would have happened as they have."

"You mean you spying for the ministry, marrying a Muggle born and getting her pregnant." She smiled up at him.

"That about sums it up. Are you almost ready, we have that staff meeting before breakfast."

Meg had forgotten about it completely and turned to quickly drag the brush through her hair. He stepped back and watched as she deftly plaited her hair and stood up.

"Ready!" she announced and he smiled at her.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

It was as they were walking up the dungeon steps that Meg realised she didn't know why Odile wouldn't inherit the money.

"Severus? Why won't Odile get the inheritance either?"

He looked down at her and narrowed his eyes.

"You must not repeat this. She won't find out any of this until the child is born. I would hate to ruin the surprise."

"Of course!" Meg looked up at him and was surprised when he took her arm and drew her into the shadows behind a statue.

He cast a silencing spell around them and caught her chin in his fingers.

"I have already told you that Senga is not a Malfoy. Well, she is not pure blood either."

"What?" Meg was shocked and thankful that he knew her well enough to silence the air around them.

"She is the result of an affair between Tobias Holland and Odile Snape. Odile is as pure as you can get. Tobias was not. Tobias was unaware of this and so is Odile and so, I might add, is Senga."

"So… let me get this straight, Odile obviously didn't doubt that Holland was pure blooded but he wasn't, which means that Senga isn't pureblooded either."

"That's what I just said!" he said sharply.

"Alright, just getting it straight up here." She tapped her head and then caught the hand that was holding her chin. "How do you know this if Odile doesn't?"

He didn't blink as he looked directly into her eyes.

"It is something I have known for many years."

"But how?" she demanded

"I decided when I was quite young that the only way to truly protect yourself is know your enemy very, very well."

"So you did what? Spy on your own sister?" she blinked, knowing that it shouldn't really surprise her.

"As well as other things, yes. I made it my business to know about her affair with Tobias, especially when I overheard her telling Mrs Johns, the family Nurse, she was pregnant. I knew she had only just started seeing Lucifer so it couldn't be his, which only left Tobias. I decided to find out as much as I could about both men."

"Good grief! You can't have been that old, so young for such deception." She shook her head, she had known that he was adept at the Dark Arts before he arrived at Hogwarts, but how he'd got there hadn't really crossed her mind, or what else he'd been adept at. She thought about how Odile was going to take this news and realisation dawned on her.

"Severus! What have you done!" She looked in pure horror at him.

"What do you mean?" he frowned.

"Senga. You'll have to tell Senga before Odile finds out."

"I intend to."

"If this gets out…. Severus! What will Lucifer say?"

"I have no idea, and I really don't care!"

Meg stepped back from him and frowned, feeling slightly sick again.

"But… this is bound to get out. You'll destroy her whole life. I highly doubt if Lucifer will stand by and let that kind of scandal bring him down."

"Probably not," he said calmly

"You'll split them up."

"No, I won't be splitting them up. Odile will be doing that all by herself by thinking she could provoke me."

"But what about Senga? What's going to happen to her? You'll split her parents up."

"From what I can gather, I doubt whether it will have any impact on her."

"Of course it will. How can you imagine it won't? She's human not a mannequin, Severus! You can't play with people's lives like that. You're going to destroy everything she's ever known."

Anger flashed across his face briefly before the mask fell into place.

"If lives are to be destroyed then so be it. As long as it's not ours, I don't care," he snapped darkly.

"But Senga is your niece and she's…" Meg was getting agitated now.

"Senga will stay with us. She is ours now. I have no doubt that Lucifer will disown her, and I mean to keep her!"

"Oh Merlin!" Meg covered her eyes with one hand and groaned aloud.

"Severus! Senga is not some piece of baggage that can be passed around as you will it. She's a living breathing girl and she has feelings and, despite what you might think, you are bound to hurt her badly in all this!" Meg backed away from him, needing space from the man she thought she'd known.

"I can't believe you'd do something this heartless," she cried out.

"Don't tell me you feel for Odile now!" he spat, angrier than she'd ever seen him,

"Of course not!" she sneered, her own temper rising, "but I do feel for Senga. You are going to hurt her if this happens."

"There is no IF. It is going to happen!" he snapped. "Where has the 'I would do anything to protect my family' ideals suddenly gone, Megan?" he sneered at her.

Meg raised herself up and glared at him.

"This has nothing to do with protection and all to do with your petty need to get even!" she grated. "She's kicked you so you have to kick back and go one better at the same time. You two haven't left behind your nurseries have you?"

His hands shot out and pinned her shoulders to the wall. He wasn't hurting her, but she saw the dark shadow in his eyes and true fear raced down her spine.

"Severus, what are you doing?" she whispered "What are doing?"

The shadow passed and he stepped back from her quickly, his hands dropping to his sides.

"Nemo Me Impune Lacessit!" he hissed and stepped away from her completely.

"You think this is revenge. You are wrong." He shook his head, his dark hair catching in his mouth. "You think I'm blinded by petty hate. You are wrong. I intend to make sure that she can never again try to destroy what belongs to me. You belong to me. The child you carry belongs to me. Senga belongs to me, and there is nothing I would not do to protect what belongs to me. She started this, but I will finish it."

He whirled around and continued up the stairs leaving Meg shaking as she clutched the wall.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

A/N:

Due to a huge block in "the little grey cells" things came to a grinding halt. Like I've already said before, I know what's going to happen in the end I just don't know how they're going to get there. I don't actively write chapters ahead on paper. I just sit here at my little "puter (as my little girl calls it) and type. I always have ideas running around in my brain and these translate onto screen but recently the ideas kinda got jammed up in real life.

Things came together a bit but it was far to close to leaving to expect Camille who works really hard at Uni, to beta this for me.

So I apologise for glaring mistakes and ask for pity please.

A few things I forgot last time ( like my brain!) Excelsior, Snape's owl is Latin for

"Ever upward" and I thought it was the kind of no nonsense type of name he'd choose.

The title of this chapter and the quote Snape uses is "Nemo Me Impune Lacessit and I have nicked it from the Kings of Scotland. It is their motto and means "No one provokes me with impunity".

Having quite a bit of Scottish blood racing through my veins I feel quite entitled to helping myself to that piece of Latin. He He He.

Now onto more important things:

Thanks to everyone who reads this and doesn't immediately throw up. You brave souls.

So many of you are saying that you can't wait to see what Severus has in store for Odile. I'm biting my nails now, I'm sure that what he does isn't what you want to see. Sorry. The way I see it he'll stay inside the law until Odile challenges him face to face. I' am certain though that he won't let anything threaten him or what he views as his. He'll keep it legal as long as Odile doesn't stray too close.

Senator Lunarmouse: Great to hear from you. And well done! Being British I have no idea what a school senator is but it sounds great. Someone can always enlighten me!

September 11 was a mixed day here. We had the American flags at half mast and every time I saw one it made me stop and think. But what amazed me was the spirit that America shows. Especially New Yorkers. Humans are unique in our ability to get on with life and celebrate what we have, while grieving for what we have lost.

Chero-Angle: Thanks, as always you make me smile.

Martha and Squirrel : I was contemplating that and then thought that it was far to easy for Severus. He needs to know how the other class lives hehehehehe. Only joking

Kitten : The wizarding duel may yet happen as Odile has no idea what is going to hit her.

Frini : Remus will be back soon. And so will Sirius as I know he'll make things worse! Thanks for being my buddy!

Laura : Thanks for picking up my "deliberate"  mistake. I have so many song lyrics flying around the computer it kinda got a little confusing! Don't stop posting lyrics though I love reading them if not for this story then just for liking them!

Chary : I was in two minds as to whether to send him off but then he just turned up anyway. Even he isn't that unthinking, I don't think….

LittleA : Sorry it's taken me so long!

Wyltk : I was excited to see your name up here again! Thanks for coming back.

Moldanubikum : Sorry, I usually hate cliffhangers myself. But sometimes I get so into what I'm writing that I have to take a break just to get my breath back and re-enter real life before my family starves.

Eyebright : Odile is pronounced O-Deal. And yes I think Snape could be extremely cunning if he wanted too. Thanks for reading!

Nsngirl : Thanks for noticing the letter, that was hard to work out, and I'm glad it was noticed.

Rugi : Odile is about to get squished, I just hope it's the way everyone wants to see her squished.

Thanks to everyone who has been reading this. I just hope you enjoy it.

I hope everyone has a really great day wherever you are!

BTW I found this saying on the web the other day and I just love it so it's my thought for the day:

Do what you can, being what you are,

Shine like a glow worm if you can't be a star.