Chapter 39: The New Chosen One

Lily Snape laid a comforting hand on the first-year's shoulder, whispering encouragingly to him as the rest of her morning Charms' class was dismissed for the day. Smiling softly, feeling better, the boy scampered off, and Lily watched him go fondly, though her heart ached. It would have still been years ahead, but she couldn't help but wonder if Harry would have been like that when he was older. She sighed, wiping the glassy film of oncoming tears from her eyes. Grief hit her at odd places and odd times, but from friends she knew who had lost loved ones in the war – Remus being chief among them, due to Mary – she hadn't expected anything less.

Arms stole about her waist suddenly, and only now did she hear the fading of the whooz of Floo Powder, and she gasped. Lips and tongue now scurried down the soft curve of her neck, and she began to giggle.

"Severus!" Turning about in his arms, looping her own about his neck, she kissed him deeply, and allowed him to drag her into the fireplace. Within minutes, they were laughing and stumbling into the floo of his chamber – their chambers – and when her husband groped her, Lily assertively raised her leg to his waist. Picking her up so that she had no choice but to fold herself about him, they were soon collapsing back onto the bed.

Severus and Lily's breathing became heavy, labored, as he undid the ties to her robes and let the heavy garments fall away, the cloth slipping off the mattress and pooling on the floor with a rustling sigh. Gasping, Lily arched her back and spread her legs invitingly as Severus pushed her skirts up around her hips. Her clit was throbbing with want; her knickers were positively soaked through.

"Sev….. Severus…." she pleaded, trying to buck her hips into his stomach, needing the friction.

Severus took his sweet time, though, peeling back her saturated knickers reverently, all the while laying kisses to the pronounced swell in her stomach. His large and calloused fingers strummed along the bare skin with both love and awe.

He had been so kind and patient, not even broaching the subject of children for months after their honeymoon. Lily could tell it was his way of letting her grieve for the family that had been taken away from her. Partially thanks to James' diligence, she had plenty of pictures of Harry, and Severus had encouraged her to hang them up around their quarters. He probably had felt better about it knowing that James had taken most of the pictures and was thus out-of-frame, but if there were a few that included all three of the Potters in prominent places, Severus had never complained.

His magnanimity towards James' memory didn't extend as far as her talking about him, so she didn't, though whenever she would wake up in their bed crying without explaining why, he would hold her gently until it passed. Severus did listen whenever she talked about Harry, which was often – in fact, he had encouraged it. Her little boy had been well on his way to developing his own personality, by the time he had been murdered at exactly fifteen months old. His only birthday had included a toy broomstick, a gift from his godfather Sirius. Thank Merlin the thing could only achieve an elevation of about a foot of the ground, but Harry's shrieks and giggles of delight were firmly planted in Lily's memory. He had taken to flying like a cat to catnip, and James had sworn up and down that Harry would make a fantastic Quidditch player one day.

Having had the time with Harry as she had, it was therefore understandable why Lily had been reluctant to have children again, or at least try. Severus had been patient, even when she apologized and feared she wasn't being fair to him. They had given themselves exactly one discussion about having kids, after the wedding, so she knew he wanted them, and was ever so touched that he was in no hurry.

"I don't want to feel like I'm trying to replace Harry…." she had mumbled a confession to her husband, in tears.

"You wouldn't be," he had assured her, gathering her in his arms. "And you're not. We'll make sure of that." It was then that he had first encouraged her to make Harry a prominent, if now invisible, presence in their new life together. Keep his picture close. Talk about him whenever she felt the need to.

So it had been a happy surprise to discover that she was pregnant with Severus's child only six months after her life had been torn apart. Lily had been afraid that the time she had allowed herself to mourn had not been enough, but Severus had been thrilled.

Now, in the early days of June and with the end of term quickly drawing near, Lily was three months along and showing nicely. She and Severus had told some friends – Remus and Sirius had graciously accepted it, though the latter hadn't looked happy about it. Lily hadn't told her sister yet – she figured she would do so in a letter. She and Petunia were seeing less and less of each other, though she had sent a sympathy card following James' and Harry's deaths. Lily knew she had a nephew who was just turning two, Dudley, but had only met him in person once.

And then there was the duties surrounding Voldemort to think about.

It had made Lily sick to pretend to serve the man who had murdered her family, but Dumbledore had assured her that the information she was passing on to the Dark Lord was not fatal. Lily falling pregnant had actually been the perfect excuse for her to fallback in her espionage, leaving Severus to take up most of the slack. Lily fretted for his safety whenever he was away, a knot forming in her heart whenever she felt his Dark Mark burn, especially when they were making love.

She nearly lifted herself off the bed now when Severus took her with one, powerful thrust. Wrapping her thighs tight around him, she bucked against him in perfect time, their bodies slapping sweatily in heat and perfect time.

"Huhhh….. Ughhhh…. Uhhhhh….. Mmmmm… Hmmmmm…. Sev…. Severus…. Oh, Merlin…. Merlin, that's it…. Faster…. Harder…. I'm gonna cum….. FUCK!" She climaxed faster than she would have liked, but the wave of pleasure still nearly made her swoon. Pregnant sex truly was the best sex, and if this was a precursor to what was to come in the second trimester, when her hormones would be all over the place, then Lily couldn't say she minded.

Boring down above her, Severus growled as he proceeded to pound his bride into the mattress before coming deep inside her. Propping himself up on his elbows, he kissed her beautifully round belly, right over her navel. "You sure we don't hurt the babies when we shag?"

"Positive," Lily shrugged, allowing him to pull out and roll off her as she swung her legs over the bed, wincing at the spasm of soreness flaming between her thighs. "Ooooh…." She noticed her husband silently step forward in concern as if to come to her aid, and she waved him off. "When I was expecting Harry, James and I first tried to be abstinent, then tried to be careful. It was only after a lot of reading that we realized trying to control ourselves was both unnecessary and pointless."

Beside her, she could feel Severus stiffening at the mention of her late first husband, but his face remained placid. It even softened a little at the mention of Harry.

"How would you say this pregnancy feels as compared to Harry's: better or worse?"

"About the same, actually," she smoothed down her skirts, before kicking her flooded knickers off her ankles – she could do without them, knowing, with a smirk, that it would drive Severus mad. "Of course, knowing there are two in there probably renders all comparisons moot… Hmmm…. Mmmm…." She squeaked into the sudden kiss Severus pulled her into, then melted into it with acceptance, smiling along his mouth. The grin turned into a cheeky smirk when she felt his large palm cup her breast, squeezing the nipple tenderly, and she swatted him away, resuming where she had paused in buttoning her blouse.

"Behave," she chided him without any bite, shrugging on her robes last of all. Her husband was just hopping into his trousers when there was a swift knock at their chambers door. Looking at each other, the Snapes hurried to answer it and found their Headmaster standing before them, looking flushed with news. Though, encouragingly, Lily detected a glimmer of… hope in the old man's eyes.

"Severus. Lillian: if I could see you in my office straightaway."

Moments later, they were seated in Dumbledore's office alongside Minerva MacGonagall, the three professors watching anxiously as Albus paced the floor. When he finally came to a halt, he seemed all at once relieved and heavy with regret.

"Tom Riddle is presumed dead. He attacked the home of Frank and Alice Longbottom last night. They have both been killed. As for their son, Neville… he is alive, though traces of magic on his body seem to…. indicate he was hit with the Killing Curse and yet survived. He is not quite two years old."

Lily drew a hand to her mouth to stifle the gasp. On the one hand, she was elated. She and especially Severus were seemingly free from that awful wizard's grasp. On another hand, she felt bitter, almost wishing the Voldemort had gone for the Longbottoms first. If he had, Harry would still be with her, James would still be alive…. but then, turning to look at the man she loved and then down at her pregnant womb, she wouldn't have Severus. Lily had heard the prophecy, and she and Alice had used to laugh at how their sons had been born only a single day apart, though that joking had been tinged with some foreboding and fear, understanding all too well what it meant. On yet another hand…. Lily felt deeply sad for what had befallen the small boy and his parents. She hadn't been close to Alice or Frank, at least not while she and Sev were in school, only really getting to know them once she had joined the Order of the Phoenix. At one time she might have considered the Longbottoms lucky for the fate they had been dealt, for it was the same one she had so narrowly avoided. Now…. all she could feel was sorry, so sorry…

"What can we do?"

"Protect him as best we can. He is being sent to live with his grandmother while the Ministry has this mess with the wills and estate sorted out."

"But Frank's mother is an old lady! And there will still be the Dark Lord's acolytes out there, wanting to avenge their master!" Severus blurted out. He glanced down at the Dark Mark on his own skin almost as an afterthought, yanking the sleeve further down his forearm. Lily leaned against him soothingly, in a show of support.

"Contrary to what you might assume, Severus, Agatha Longbottom is an extremely capable witch, even in her advanced age. She is not one to cross, and I pity the poor fool – be they Death Eater or Auror – who might try. I daresay she might outlive us all still, but just in case, Order members have been posted around her property around the clock. I did not want to send you, Lillian, not in your current condition."

"If there is a way I can help Agatha with Neville, I would be most glad to!" Lily blushed a little under Albus's stare. "It might give me some remedial practice. For when the babies come. I know what to do from… from Harry…." Her voice danced to the edge of breaking, but did not. Severus tugged his wife close, nearly into his lap, and she nuzzled her face appreciatively into his neck.

"I will float your suggestion to Agatha and let her decide, Lily. Though I do appreciate your willingness to help, and find the arrangement compelling," Albus smiled down at her kindly. "We shall see."

"And once the boy comes of age and arrives at Hogwarts, Albus?" Minerva asked breathlessly. "What then? There will be no one in our world who doesn't know his name."

"Exactly. And we'll cross that bridge when we come to it," Albus stated firmly. He turned back to his desk. "Lillian, my dear, are your cravings such that you wouldn't refuse an acid pop?"