Aimee
Remus arrived home later that evening, after Lily had gone to sleep. Emotions were running through him like he had never experienced; he was terrified, yet exhilarated at the same time. Seeing his best friend die hadn't been the highlight of his day, but it certainly stuck out in his mind.
"Remus!" Narcissa exclaimed, throwing her arms around her fiancée the moment he walked through the door. "Where on Earth have you been? I was about to go back home."
"So sorry, Cissa." Remus sighed, "Lily had the twins."
"Boys or girls?" Narcissa asked, letting Remus go and allowing him to sit down.
"Boys. Castor Denial and Pollux Apollo."
"Identical or can't you tell?" she asked casually, sitting down next to him.
"Red hair, blues eyes on Pollux, black hair and green eyes on Castor."
"Blue eyes?" a carefully manicured eyebrow shot up. "From whom? Doesn't Severus have black eyes?"
"Albus Dumbledore." Remus said carefully, not quite sure if he was lying or not. "Besides… Babies can be born with a different eye color, Cissa."
"Yes, I know." Narcissa said quietly. "Do you want to stay here for the night or go back to my place?"
"Is it ok if I have the night to myself?" Remus asked carefully. "Lily – she gave us quite a scare."
"Of course, Remus… what kind of scare?"
"She died." Remus watched with a bemused expression on his face as Narcissa gasped. "But Severus somehow managed to revive her – he pounded on her chest for a good minute, but something did it."
"Oh God." Narcissa said softly, "How is she?"
"Tired, slightly confused, and blissful." Remus answered honestly. "She wanted me to stay, but I figured her and Severus deserved a little alone time."
Not to mention the fact I was shaking so badly I could hardly stand up.
"I can imagine." Narcissa said softly. "I'm sorry, baby… I'm glad she made it."
"So am I." Remus hugged his fiancée gently.
"Isn't Draco going to be worried?"
"I suppose so." Narcissa sighed, "I told him I'd
be back sometime in the afternoon – the sun's already set."
"Tell the boy I said hello." Remus kissed her goodbye and she Apparated, a smile on her face.
Standing up was difficult, but Remus somehow managed to and fix himself a cup of tea. Closing his eyes, he recapped the events of the day, the growing pit of anxiety growing within his chest.
She's ok… She's alive. The twins are fine… Nothing's going to hurt them.
Sighing deeply, Remus finished off his cup and banished it to the sink with a wave of his wand. Walking down the hall took effort; his boots seemed to be made of lead as he struggled to make his way to his bedroom, where the bed was still unmade and the hollow forms laying side by side were still visible.
"Jesus…" Remus sighed, collapsing onto the bed and quickly throwing off his boots and robes. "Out of all the things that could have happened today, it had to be that."
Shaking his head once more, he closed his eyes, relishing
the scent of Narcissa's coconut shampoo as he drifted off into a heavy
sleep.
Castor and Pollux were brought home a few days later, and they were greeted by a large surprise party Narcissa – out of guilt and feeling of duty towards Remus – had arranged for them.
In attendance was the Snape family, of course, the Malfoys, Sirius, Remus, Arabella Figg, the Weasleys, Hermione Granger, many of the children's friends, and most of the Hogwarts staff. Quite a few Ministry of Magic members, many of which neither Severus nor Lily had ever met or heard of had shown up, including the Minister of Magic himself.
Lily had immediately found herself one of the more comfortable, unoccupied chairs to set herself down in while Severus greeted many of the guests, extending their thanks and gratitude for coming. Harry, Hermione, and Ron were huddled in a tight bunch, eyeing the adults warily as they passed. Lily took notice of the fact Harry was not putting his arm around Hermione, nor was he touching her in the least.
Much to her surprise, Draco Malfoy set down next to her after a train of people had passed by and congratulated her. Very few people knew about her brief encounter with death; she had preferred to keep it that way.
"Hello, Draco." Lily smiled in an exhausted sort of way, her green eyes gazing over the blonde boy's face.
"Hello, Mrs. Snape." Draco smiled graciously and took her hand – his mother had been adamant in him learning his manners at an early age. "Congratulations."
"Thank you." Lily smiled, looking over at one of the twins – the red head, Pollux – as he was being passed from faceless person to faceless person. "Quite the turnout… Your mother did a lovely job."
"Yes, she did." Draco said quietly, observing the room. "Speaking of, have you seen her lately?"
"No, I'm afraid I haven't." Lily admitted, glancing around the room in search of the blonde. "Why, did you want to talk to her?"
"No, no reason." Draco said, his eyes fixated upon Harry's group of friends. "She and Remus… I can't find either one of them, so I'm assuming they're off on their own, doing what ever it is they do."
Lily smiled, a wave of pity washing over her. "I'm sure they're around here somewhere."
"So am I." Draco responded just as another group
of strangers Lily could barely remember seeing before came up to her. He
waved and quickly made his way out of the crowd, coming face to face with
Harry.
"Sorry." Draco muttered, his eyes downcast. He started
to step in the other direction before Harry stopped him.
"Draco… If you want, you can come over here with Hermione, Ron, Ginny, and I." Harry offered, raising his hand in the direction of the other teenagers. "Unless you have something to do or someone else to hang out with."
Draco paused for a moment, brief thoughts flashing through his mind before he smiled faintly and nodded, following the raven haired boy back to the group.
"Hello, Draco." Hermione smiled and waved at the blonde boy, just as Ron grimaced and nodded curtly towards him. Draco nodded back, smiling towards Ginny, whom he'd never had a proper conversation with before.
"Enjoying yourselves?" He asked mildly, his eyes still scanning the room for any sign of his mother or Remus.
"Believe it or not, yeah." Harry responded, his eyes meeting with Draco's for a second, then casually looking over towards the black haired baby not ten feet from him. "They're adorable, aren't they?"
"How many siblings is this now?" Draco asked, "Six?"
"Seven." Harry corrected. "Ethan, Kaylee, Dea, Drake, Star, Castor, and Pollux."
Draco grinned, "Quite a mouthful."
"I'll say." Harry grinned back.
Music had started minutes before; a slow song was starting, and Draco noticed Ron offering his hand to Hermione. She stood up and accepted with nary a word spoken between them.
Both Harry and Draco watched wide eyed as the two made their way over to a large area where quite a few couples were dancing, and much to Draco's surprise, Ginny took off after one of her brothers, obviously bored with the conversation.
"Since when has that been happening?" Draco asked, astonished.
"Since she dumped me for him." Harry shook his head, "End of the school year."
"Great best friend you've got there, Harry." Draco smirked in spite of himself.
"I'll say." Harry shook his head once more, sighing. "Totally unexpected."
"Relationships at this age never last." Draco said quietly, tearing his eyes away from the happy couple. "I should know from experience."
"You and Pansy?" Harry asked. Draco wrinkled his nose and nodded.
"Before that, Blaise Zambini. She was quite the flake, however…"
"I can imagine." Harry grinned, "Although… I must say. Hermione's the only girl I've really dated."
"Really?" Draco asked, shocked. "The Boy Who Lived has only had one relationship in his life?"
"Yes…" Harry shot him a mock-nasty look. "By choice, believe me."
"Oh really?" Draco grinned, "And why should I believe you?"
"See the red head over there?" Harry nodded his head in Ginny's direction. "You would not believe how bad she wants to date me."
"So why don't you accept?" Draco asked, curious as to why the boy would turn down a perfectly acceptable girl's offer.
"I don't like her that way." Harry shrugged, "She's Ron's sister… It'd be too weird."
"Just like Ron stealing your girlfriend away from you?" Draco questioned. "I see now."
"They make a better couple than Hermione and I ever did." Harry admitted, "Much more love in the relationship, although they fight constantly. It's quite humorous, really."
"I'm sure it is." Draco grinned, surveying the room once more. "Want a drink? I'm about to die of thirst."
"Sure." The two boys got up and made their way to the dining room, where there was a considerably more amount of people. Piles of food were crammed on to the table, courtesy of the house elves that were frantically running around cleaning up various spills and messes the children and some adults were making.
"So, how does it feel?" Draco asked, "Being a big brother and all."
"Half big brother." Harry corrected, "Although I'm sure it doesn't matter."
"Half big brother, then." Draco said quietly.
"It's… nice, I guess. Sometimes I simply adore them… Others, I wish they were – err, -"
"Dead?" Draco supplied.
"Dead's a bit strong." Harry admitted, "Although in Ethan's case, I truly wouldn't mind."
"Why Ethan?" Draco asked, setting down his drink.
"He's a total…."
"Idiot?" Draco supplied once more, "Prat? Insult to humanity?"
"Yes, those." Harry laughed. "He seems to think that since I don't have Snape blood running through my veins, I don't belong in the family."
"Bugger if there ever was one." Draco shook his head, "I was raised to believe in strong blood lines. However, in your case, it truly doesn't matter. Professor Snape thinks of you as his son – you can tell – and I'm sure you think of him as your father."
"I didn't know until my first year." Harry admitted. "Nasty shock, if you ask me."
"I can imagine." Draco smiled once more. "Listen… I'm sorry for everything I've done –"
"Like humiliate me in front of the whole school?" Harry asked, a smirk on his lips.
"The humiliation went both ways on that one." Draco admitted, "But… Yes, for everything. I'm sorry. I'd really like it if… you know, we could at least be friends."
Harry thought about this for a moment, then nodded. He had rarely seen Draco in the company of anyone that seemed as if they were friends. Crabbe and Goyle were bodyguards, more than anything. Feeling almost sorry for the boy, he stuck out his hand.
"Truce?"
Draco eyed his hand for a split second, then his face broke out into a grin as he took the other boy's hand.
"Truce."
(A/N: Before you guys start going all "That was totally OOC!" on
me, think about it. How much of an influence do you think Lucius had on
Draco as a child? My guess is that Draco's the way he is BECAUSE of his
father... I'm sure he'd be quite different if Narcissa had raised him instead
of Lucius.)