[Disclaimer: If JK Rowling created it, then I do not own it]

Author's Note:

This story is so much fun, but I've been working on some of my other stories lately, so this chapter's somewhat late.

Yes, I admit it, I am the 'Higher Power' Del. Tormenting helpless characters should be a sport...okay, maybe not, but this is fun. Anyhoo, on with the story.

Oh, and Sirius's sister, who I don't actually mention by name, doesn't belong to me either. Akira Black. I can't remember who she does belong to, but it's not me. Sevvy Snape, fellow writer (who is very bad at updating his story, I know he has a chapter uploaded, he just hasn't gotten around to adding it yet, rotten bugger), will know. And clearly the person who created Akira will know that they did. Blaurgh.

Meeting...Yourself?

Chapter Five: The Snape's Story

by Adele Elisabeth

"Have I mentioned how much I hate this place?" Ganna asked her counterpart, who sighed.

"About a thousand times." Morganna responded, with a long-suffering expression.

"Think they've started to get along?" Sirius nudged Severus. "Less fireworks that way, but at least we're out of the crossfire."

"As much as I hate saying this -- and I do -- you might be right."

"Do you have any children?" Ganna asked, just to make conversation, rather than any real curiosity.

"Yes, we have a sixteen year old daughter at Hogwarts--"

"Slytherin." Severus put in, somewhat proudly. Sirius rolled his eyes.

"--and twins on the way." Morganna finished.

Ganna, meanwhile, had been calculating this. "So...if she's sixteen, you must have been sixteen when you had her."

"Er. Yes." Morganna said, at length.

"Ohoho," Sirius grinned, nudging Severus in the ribs. "You got her pregnant in Hogwarts?" It wasn't as though he and Ganna hadn't...ahem, during his seventh and her sixth year, but he hadn't gone and gotten her pregnant!

"Not precisely." Morganna's expression was wretched, and Severus averted his eyes, not saying a word.

To the surprise of Severus (but not Morganna -- Sirius had known she was in love with Severus before she was prepared to admit it to herself properly, his understanding didn't surprise her much), realisation dawned in Sirius first. "That's the thing -- you didn't get her pregnant." This was addressed, of course, to Severus.

Severus's lips formed a tight, thin line, and Morganna sighed. "We don't talk about it. Morag only found out last year, quite by accident." She thought for a moment and amended this. "Well, not exactly by accident. My niece overheard myself and my brother discussing it -- don't remember why we were -- and went running to Morag."

"Ooooh, this is much better than those silly memory things," Ganna sat down, pulling Morganna down with her. "You have got to give me details. And it's not like you're talking to a stranger, or anything -- I am you."

Reluctantly, Morganna looked up at Severus, but he wasn't saying a word. If she wanted to tell them, fine.

"I...Morag's father -- in the biological sense of the word only -- was Jonathan O'Connell--"

"I remember him." Sirius put in. "Right prat."

"No argument here." Morganna gave the couple a weak smile. "Anyway, I'm starting in the middle, but the best place to begin tends to be the beginning, don't you think?"

"Naturally." Ganna agreed, squeezing her other self's hand supportively. She was fascinated now, this would be good. A few moments ago, she would have been glad to be rid of this place and that strange couple, but now she found herself wanting to know more and more about them.

"I always had a bit of a crush on Severus, he was the reason I got put into Slytherin, actually. I was determined to get in the same house as Severus Snape. Anyway, I managed to make friends with him, and figured if that's all I was going to get, so be it, I could handle that. And, for a couple of years, I could. Late in my fifth year, however, I realised -- reluctantly -- that maybe I didn't want just that and that maybe my crush was a little more than that. Severus was one of my closest friends -- I don't know if I was one of his, exactly, but I know he was one of mine -- so it wasn't as though I were just sticking a face on what I wanted. I couldn't, however, bring myself to actually do anything about it. I was, and this is putting it mildly, scared out of my mind."

Severus had sat down next to his wife by this stage, and had one arm wrapped around her waist. The whole idea of this bizarre get together was to get to know 'what might have been'. Morganna was just doing that. Didn't mean he had to like it, but he wasn't going to have a tantrum because she decided to give in gracefully. That and he hadn't really heard her tell it, not properly. He knew what had happened, of course, but it wasn't as though he went up and asked 'So, Morganna, how were you feeling when you boinked O'Connell?' or anything like that. The very thought made him wince. And would probably earn him a night on the couch.

"Go on," Ganna encouraged.

Morganna took a deep breath, and went on. "Lucia talked me into doing something about it when we were catching up over the summer, but I didn't actually do anything until late in the year." Her fists clenched involuntarily. "When I did, Severus had some news for me of his own. I said I loved him, he told me he was engaged." She glanced at Sirius. "To your sister, actually."

Sirius took this in as well, not giving a hint of how he felt about it.

"I didn't take this well. I fled the common room, and Severus followed me. We ended up out by the lake, where we talked some and then he kissed me. Promptly afterwards he took off towards the castle, and when I asked him why, he said he was going to confess to his fiancee and beg her forgiveness. Nearing the end of my tether, I told him I was going to pack, and headed into the castle myself. He followed me -- yet again -- wanting to know what I was packing for. Just before he'd gotten there I owled my father to ask permission to go back to Beauxbatons. After telling Severus of my intent, I got a reply -- surprisingly quickly, actually. Anyway, the gist of the response was that I was staying right where I was, thank you very much. After making Severus get out of my sight, I cried myself to sleep."

"But you're married now, so that can't be the end of it. And Jonathan O'Connell fits in...where?" Ganna frowned, unsure.

"You're right, that's not the end of it. I met Jonathan a couple of days later, and we had a little one night stand. I ended up pregnant, to my dismay. I was about two weeks pregnant when Narcissa convinced me to tell Severus. We'd...well, we'd gotten really drunk before I met Jonathan, we got drunk this one night, and went and threw chocolate at Severus and called him all sorts of things. I wasn't exactly in the best of moods." Morganna flushed. "She'd convinced me to apologise for the worser things I said, and then after we'd talked about my impending motherhood for some time, she convinced me I should tell Severus. I don't know why, but I ended up agreeing. I planned to ask if he'd be godfather."

During their talking, the screen had been replaying some of the scenes to illustrate Morganna's words. The stressful scene between Severus and Morganna the first time, meeting Jonathan O'Connell, throwing chocolate at Severus while very inebriated...

[a/n: actually happened in a role-play. Amused me at the time. Still amuses me, actually. Simple things amuse big minds as well.]

Ganna looked at Sirius. She was glad her life had taken the turn it had -- her sixth year had been a hell of a lot more pleasant than all this.

"So...I went, and I told him, and...well, deja vu, he had some news too. He wasn't marrying Akira after all, because he was in love with somebody else."

"You." Sirius guessed. "Can't fault the man for taste." He flashed a brief grin at his...rival? "Even if he took his own sweet time about it," he added.

Severus rolled his eyes, but more out of habit than anything.

"Well...long story short, we got married that night." Morganna had edited out the parts where Severus almost-died etc. They took too much explaining. "Morag's parentage was a pretty well-kept secret, not that many people actually know."

"If somebody made your lives one of those Muggle things, vomie--"

"Movie, Sirius."

"Yeah, yeah, whatever. Well, if somebody made your lives into one of those things, it'd be completely unbelievable."

"Sounds like something off Days Of Our Lives or one of those shows." Ganna put in. Her husband stared at her. "What? We have a TV, I was curious..."

Sirius gave a long suffering sigh.

"Well," Severus said, "You've heard our story, it's your turn now."

"It's pretty boring compared to yours." Ganna objected.

"We'd still like to hear it." Morganna smiled tentatively. Severus, personally, didn't want to hear how Sirius Black managed to marry Morganna Montaque (a woman who was, in Severus's humble opinion, far too good for Black), but nodded anyway. Morganna sounded like she wanted to know, and if getting to know these people would get them home sooner, so much the better.

***

Author's Note:

I'm still thinking up the Blacks' story, so chapter six could take a while. Any ideas would be welcome, and credit will, of course, go where it is due.

(I noticed far too late I hadn't actually mentioned ownership of Akira Black (i.e. that I didn't have it) in Once Upon A Time, where I must have mentioned her, so made sure I did so in this story.)

If anyone is actually still reading this, would you let me know? And go off and read Dear, Dear Diary and Sweet Sixteen, because I'm mourning my pathetic lack of reviews there. Sweet Sixteen has at least one, but Dear, Dear Diary hasn't got any at all! Sigh, poor me.

Morag: Y'know, I like the Blacks. They're nice.

Adele: And your parents aren't?

Morag: I didn't say that. I just think it would be interesting to be their daughter.

Adele: Perish the thought.

Morag: Bite me.

Adele: [rolls her eyes, and flicks the switch fade to black]