Severus stayed with her all night as she tossed and turned and moaned in pain

Good News, Bad News

Severus stayed with her all night as she tossed and turned and moaned in pain. In the morning she said she felt fine and didn't need to see Madam Pomfrey, but Severus didn't believe her. He watched her as she got up and dressed. She moved slower than usual and had to stop every so often to attend to various aches and so forth. He was no doctor, on authority to determine what was wrong, but he didn't like what he saw. As she was about to go downstairs, he tried again.

"Deidra, my love, please, you really don't look well, I think it would be best if you went and saw Madam Pomfrey." His eyes implored her, but her mind was set.

"Really Severus, I feel fine, but if it gets worse I promise, I'll go and see madam Pomfrey." She kissed him on the cheek and headed out the door, only to turn around again. She gave Severus a faint smile and held out her hand to him. Sighing deeply he took it and stepped out into the hall with her. She held his arm and rested her head on his shoulder as they began to walk down to the great hall.

"Thank you for staying with me," she said softly.

Carefully, he freed his arm from her grasp and wrapped it around her shoulders. "It was nothing my love. I want to take care of you, I just wish you'd let me more often," he said squeezing her shoulders.

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Severus watched Deidra closely at breakfast. She hardly ate an6ything and she was becoming so pale that Dumbledore even noticed. Tilting he chin up and over so she looked into his eyes, he asked, his voice full of concern, "dearest, are you quite alright, you look frightfully pale?"

"It's nothing," she said brushing his hand away. "Just too many late nights, that's all."

"Well then," Albus said a little louder, "you must see that she gets more rest, Severus." He turned his head in Severus's direction, a playful smile on his face.

Severus's head snapped up from his plate to glare at Albus before muttering in agreement and turning back to his breakfast and Deidra.

But a few minutes later Deidra pushed her chair back from the table and stood up. "It's too hot in here for me, I think I need some air." And with that, she left.

Now Albus and Severus exchanged a worried look, and, with a nod from Dumbledore, Severus stood up and followed Deidra out. He stepped into the hall just in time to watch Deidra crumple to the floor, clutching her stomach and groaning. She tried to get up, but found she couldn't. Severus rushed over and picked her up. "I don't care what you say now," he said, his face almost as pale as hers now, "you're going to see Madam Pomfrey, and that's the end of it."

Much to his surprise, she didn't try to argue or resist, only wrapped her arms around his neck and laid plaint in his arms as he began to walk toward the infirmary.

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When they had gotten up to the infirmary, Severus had waited while Madam Pomfrey had taken Deidra behind a screen and examined her. When she came out again, she told Severus in a hushed voice that her external examination had found nothing wrong. But from the way Deidra looked and was acting, there clearly was. So she wanted to do an internal examination. She said if he wanted to, he could go back and see her while she got the stuff she needed to do the examination.

Nodding dumbly, Severus rose stiffly and walked over behind the screen. Deidra was sitting on the edge of a bed, buttoning up the last button of her robes. Coming up behind her, he put his hands on her shoulders. "Are you alright?" He asked, slightly massaging her shoulders.

"Oh fine, I feel like my insides are being burned through and there isn't a part of me that doesn't ache, but other than that, I'm fine, just dandy." Deidra tried to laugh at her own sarcasm, but the laugh died in her throat and she bowed her head. Severus could just make out her saying; "I don't know Severus, not anymore."

Severus buried his face in the back of Deidra's neck and a strangled sob escaped him. Deidra twisted on the bed, taking his face in her hands; she smoothed back some of the hair that had fallen forward out of his face. "You can't go to pieces on me now Severus, I need you now." She kissed the top of his head and tucked a last lock of hair behind his ear. He gave a deep shuddering sigh and loosened his grip on her.

Sitting down on the bed next to her, he picked up Deidra's left hand and turned it over, tracing the path of the lines on her palm. Ending a last line, he brought her hand to his face and kissed the palm. Then he looked up at her and smiled, "you know, if I don't marry you soon, this stuff will never stop happening."

Deidra ducked her head to hide the laughter she was trying to contain. But her laughter was cut short as Madam Pomfrey came back carrying an elaborate gilded mirror. "Now dear, there's nothing to worry about, I just need you to come over here and stand in front of the mirror," she said while propping the large mirror up in the corner.

"What is it," Severus asked, clutching Deidra's hand rather tightly.

"It is an insiview mirror," Madam Pomfrey remarked as if everyone else in the world knew what she was talking about. "It's very similar to a muggle x–ray machine, only it's much faster, and much more efficient."

Standing up, Deidra gave Severus's hand one last squeeze and let go. Swallowing the lump that was growing in her throat, she stepped over to the mirror. "What do I have to do?" She asked, looking at Madam Pomfrey unsure.

"It's quite simple dear, just step in front of the mirror like you would a regular one." Madam Pomfrey explained. "Only your reflection will be that of your insides."

"Alright then," Deidra shrugged her shoulders and stepped in front of the mirror. The mirror fogged and Severus looked at Madam Pomfrey, who waved a dismissive hand at him. She did not approve of men in her hospital wing; to her they were always out of place unless they were patients, getting in the way, liable to break down at moments when they were needed. Always getting underfoot, they were more trouble than they were worth at times of medical crisis. Had Deidra not been so insistent that he stay, she would have sent the potions master packing long before this.

The three waited in silence for the mirror to clear. Slowly, Deidra's inner skeletal and muscular structure could be seen in the mirror. Her neck shoulders and collar bone. Her rib cage, stomach and abdomen. When it was finally a clear picture, Madam Pomfrey stepped forward and tapped the mirror edge, and instantly the top image broke away, a thin sheet of glass, containing the exact same image that they had seen in the mirror.

Before anyone could say anything, Madam Pomfrey lifted the sheet and walked to the other end of the wing, and her office. Deidra and Severus stared after her. Finally Deidra asked, her voice no more than a whisper, "did you see anything?"

Severus shook his head, "I though I might have seen something a little below what I assume was your stomach, but I can't be sure, she took it away so fast."

Moments later the door to the room opened and Dumbledore walked in, glancing momentarily at Madam Pomfrey's office, then making a bee line to where Deidra and Severus were standing. "Any news?" He asked, his face a mixture of unreadable emotions.

"No," Severus said matter-of-factly. She just did an internal exam, she took the results in her office just moments before you came in."

"Well then," Albus said, trying to sound calm, "why don't I just go see what's going on then." And with that he turned from them and crossed the room a second time and disappeared into Madam Pomfrey's office.

Moments later, Deidra and Severus heard a roar of rage from inside the office, and then the door burst open. Albus, his face quite clear now, livid with rage, strode purposely across the room to stop in front of Severus. Pointing an accusing finger in his finger, the headmaster hissed, "you! How could you, I swear to god Severus, I'll!…" But he stopped abruptly, noting the distress and terror in his daughter and her lover's faces. Slowly he let his hand drop to his side. "I'm sorry Severus, it could not have been you, but by god I'll find out who." And with that he turned and left the room.

Close behind him had come Madam Pomfrey, her color also rising, briefly she looked at Dumbledore's retreating back, then turned back to the pair before her. Smiling nervously, she came up and took Deidra's hands in hers. "Oh dear, I should have known it in the first place, it makes perfect sense now, I just didn't think that you… well, you know."

"No, I don't know that I do," Deidra said hesitantly, glancing nervously at Severus.

A smile broke out on Madam Pomfrey's face, "you're going to have a baby, you can see it on the insiview printout, would you like to see."

Deidra's eyes went very wide, "does my father know this?"

"Why yes, though I don't know why he was so upset, he's usually very understanding." Madam Pomfrey shrugged her shoulders. "I guess it's just hard for him to watch you grow up and move on."

Deidra turned back to Severus, looking quite afraid. "If he knew, then why did he says those things to you, what's he thinking." Tearing her hands from Madam Pomfrey's grip she rushed out of the room. Severus stood stunned for a moment or two, then made to follow her, leaving Madam Pomfrey standing in the middle of the room, looking quite perplexed.

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Deidra caught up to her father right in front of his office, catching the sleeve of his robe, she forced him to turn and face her. "Father, what is this, why are you behaving this way, you knew Severus and I were sleeping together, for god's sake, we're going to be married soon, what did you expect." Albus looked at her, at this moment, she looked remarkable like her mother, and that almost made him loose it.

Quickly, he regained his composure and squared himself to her. "Did you see the printout?" He asked with the superiority of a father and a headmaster. Deidra placed her hands on her hips, returning her father's piercing gaze. She shook her head. "Then you do not know what I have seen."

Deidra drew a quick breath, "I know that you have seen that I am carrying Severus's child, but I do not know why you are behaving so wildly about it."

Drawing his hand across his face, Albus paused for a moment before answering. "It is not the child that I object to, quite the contrary. I have long looked forward to the day when I would hold my child's child in my arms; it is something else that I saw, something that Madam Pomfrey would not recognize, because she does not know that it exists. Haven't you wondered, how you could conceive a child so quickly, after all, two nights ago was only your first time, and I know nothing happened last night."

"Yes, it did surprise me, but I just assumed it was one of those things, nothing we could help." She said shrugging her shoulders, what was her father getting at?

"Well, it would be just one of those things, if this was a natural conception, but it isn't, and it was that that made me so upset." Dumbledore looked around, everywhere but directly at Deidra.

"What are you talking about father?" Deidra demanded, her voice rising.

Looking around, Albus whispered the password to his office door and the gargoyle jumped aside, taking Deidra's hand, he led her inside and up the stairs into his office. Once inside, he seated her at the chair in front of his desk and took the one next to her. Taking her hand in both of his weathered ones, he searched her eyes, trying to find the right words to deliver the crushing news he had to deliver.

Shifting slightly in his chair, Dumbledore stared into the fire as he spoke. "Your child is a curse, a curse that will eventually kill you," then softer, "as it killed your mother."

Deidra withdrew her hand, suddenly enraged, rising quickly; she looked down at her father. "My child is not a curse! I understand you fears after the unfortunate demise of my mother, but you have no right to say such things."

Standing up too, Albus stalked around his desk, facing the bookshelves that lined the walls, he gritted his teeth. "You don't know anything about your mother or what killed her. I have kept it from you all your life to spare you the pain, but you must know now, or suffer your mother's fate. I will not allow that, I will not sit back and watch another woman I love be eaten away by the bitterness of my enemy."

Walking around the desk to stand beside him, she asked in a hushed voice, "what are you talking about?"

When Albus turned around, he looked very tired and very old. Gently, he laid his hand on her arm and guided her back to the chair in front of his desk. "Well, I suppose I could not hide it from you forever, so sit down and prepare yourself for a very sad story."

Deidra obeyed her eyes full of questions as she watched her father go behind his desk and sit in his chair. "Before you were born, your mother and I had so longed for a child. There had finally been a decline in Death Eater activity, and Lianora and I thought we could finally relax a little and look to the building of our family. We tried and tried, but it seemed impossible. The few times we managed to get a child in her womb, she lost it, the doctors, even the muggle ones we went to see said she had a weak uterus and would always easily loose children. But we didn't give up; we so wanted a child. Not long after, your mother became pregnant again, and by what we thought then, some miracle, she didn't loose it, that was you Deidra. But what we didn't know, was that the reason we didn't loose this baby was because it was the result of dark forces. Voldemort has always feared me, because he can not harm me with his magic, but what he did manage to do, was harm me by hurting those I loved. He knew, somehow he knew, that your mother and I were trying desperately to have a child. So he devised a curse, I never found out the name, that he put on your mother. This curse is very odd, but very deadly. After the curse has been utilized, the next time a couple," he faltered at this, searching for the right words then finally giving up with an awkward shrug of his hands, "well, you know, they immediately conceive. Only the child that mother carries will, slowly through out the duration of her carriage, poison the mother."

"What!" Deidra's hands were pressed tightly to her stomach, her face a mixture of pain and fear.

"It's very crafty," he continued, once again unable to look at her. "The umbilical cord that connects mother to child, while transferring nourishment from mother to child, transfers something deadly from child to mother. As the baby grows and matures, the mother slowly deteriorates, they come down with many common ailments, suffer from various aches and pains. But we did not detect it, you can not detect it unless you have interior scans like you had today, for the symptoms appear as just normal pregnancy side affects. But by the time the mother is ready to give birth, the mother is on death's doorstep, and if she successfully gives birth, she will die. I did not think that curse would be of concern to us, for Voldemort is dead and he was the only one who could work it. But, either he has taught someone else, or you have inherited it from your mother, for, I saw, clear as day the telltale sign."

Deidra's lip trembled, but her face held a look of defiance, "and what, pray tell, is this 'telltale' sign?"

"The child's umbilical cord," Albus's voice was shaking now, and he was barely able to speak these last words. "It emitted a bright red glow, just as yours did."

Deidra began to cry. "Is there nothing we can do then? I do not want to loose my baby, but if what you say is true, if I let it live, I am doomed." She looked at her father, her face imploring him. Once again she was the little child turning to her father for help, the help that he had always been able to give, the help that she had always counted on.

Coming over to her again, he held her to him while she cried. "Shhh, shhh, it is still early yet, we have some time, I will do my best to either find the source of this curse and force its reversal, or we shall look into a way of bypassing the umbilical cord, which is the key to this whole curse. But if I can not find a solution, we may have to kill your child." Deidra looked up at this her eyes brimming with tears.

"But what will I tell Severus, he will not want me now, the murderer of his children, he will be disgusted with me." She clutched her father's robes for support, suddenly feeling very trapped.

"He will do no such thing, but for now, don't tell him, he has enough on his conscience, just tell him that there was a misunderstanding and that it has been resolved. In the mean time, we will find a solution, I am sure of it." He patted her head and reached into his pocket to retrieve a handkerchief, "but don't cry, you are going to be a mother, if not now, then the next time, and there is no greater joy in all the world than being a parent, take it from me."

Deidra dried her eyes on the cloth her father had given her, then looked back up at him. "But how can you say that, you were a parent because I killed your wife… my mother."

"Don't be silly," Dumbledore said, smoothing her hair. "Voldemort killed your mother, and when we found out, she made the choice to have you. She wanted you so much Deidra, and so did I. I do not give you any blame, nor should you give yourself any. You are here because of your mother's unconditional love, and if she were here today, she would be immensely proud of you, as am I. You have been my only joy and my only reason for living since your mother died, but I do not think that you should die for your child, not now that we know what we are fighting and my find a way to fight back. Go back to Severus, share your joy, and trust me, I will find a way, one way or another."

Sniffing back her last few tears, she rubbed her eyes. Giving her father a last hug, she turned to go, pausing to turn back and say, "you, know, it's not your fault that she died either." And she left, closing the door softly behind her.

Author's note:

Ok Kyla, I finished this chapter just for you, (since you're probably the only one who reads it) so I hope you like it, and I want you to know that I tried really hard, even though the darn thing was driving me crazy. If this isn't a testament of true friendship, submitting myself to this kind of torture, then I don't know what is!

Luv ya,

Ash