A/N - So long as I don't ramble on too long (as I did in the
last chapter) I should get my plot idea into this chapter, so
I'll try not to make it too long.
russell - I'll be as fast as I can - I hope you get to read this before you leave, as I'm in England so the time difference might mean that you miss out. I'll hurry!
sk8reagle - Damn you! How did you know?! I hope no one reads your review! Well, you find out in this chapter anyway, so yes. But she's not alone... And thanks for all of your reviews! I've only just started to post, so ff.net is the only site so far, but I'm in the process of starting up a yahoo group or something to post my stuff on. I will also probably post some on my website, so when I get around to it, then I'll let you know! Thanks for showing an interest!
MK - I completely agree *smirks evilly*
SNdReAmer - Thanks a million!!!!!!!!! I love getting reviews, but don't read them, because then you'll know who the woman is! And that's cheating! Very glad you like the story!
Thanks to everyone that's reviewed any chapters, and if I missed anyone I'm SO sorry! It will probably be because some reviews take 24 hours to show, and I usually write them at those intervals, sometimes less, so I might miss some until next chapter. But anyway, those reviews really do help. Thank you very much!
Disclaimer: I own nothing from the Harry Potter world, JK Rowling owns it all. Pity. And I think I have to say that Debenhams is a trademark store. And a cold glare from my friend after reading this means that I have to say: A big thank you to all my buddies for helping me come up with ideas. The swimming was Kate's idea, so thank you, Kate!
This chapter is coming up doubly fast for russell, so I hope you get to read it on time!
A Snape Kind of Summer
Chapter 7 - Of Guests and Potions
"Up!" called Snape, pouring a spurt of water out of the tip of his wand over Harry and Ginny.
Harry yelled, and jumped out of bed.
With an ear-splitting shriek, Ginny leapt up and whipped out her wand.
Both Harry and Snape jumped backwards.
"Oops...sorry," Ginny mumbled shyly, putting her wand away.
Snape heaved a sigh of relief.
"Well," he said. "When you finally calm down, I want you to come down quickly and have breakfast. Lessons start in 15 minutes, so you'll have to be quick."
Harry and Ginny groaned, but did as they were told.
Down at the breakfast table, Minerva was constructing a timetable.
"On Mondays, it's Arithmancy and Potions. Tuesdays, Charms and Divination. Wednesdays, Muggle Studies and Astronomy, we'll have to use a model planet system. Thursdays, we'll have Transfiguration and Herbology. Which means that on Friday we have Defense Against the Dark Arts, and Ancient Runes. We wont be able to do Care of Magical Creatures, it's too risky. In Transfiguration, we will be able to do Animagus Studies if they study hard enough during the rest of the year, because I believe them both capable enough. In Charms, we may be able to train them to Apparate, and then they can take the test when this is all over. They can register their Animagus forms when we get back, as well." Minerva paused, seemingly becoming aware of someone nearby.
As if sensing her unease, there was a knock at the door.
"Hello? How can I help you?" she asked as she opened the door. A young woman stood there smiling at her.
"Hello, I live at number 3, and I just popped over to say 'Welcome to the neighbourhood' so there, I've said it! I brought the traditional basket, and everything," she added, smiling shyly.
Minerva returned the smile.
"Would you like to come in for a cup of tea? Or coffee?" She asked.
"That would be lovely!" the woman replied. "If it's not too much trouble..." she added, peering around the door.
"No, it's fine," Minerva replied, waving a hand casually. "We're all done unpacking."
The woman smiled gratefully, then clapped a hand to her mouth. Minerva panicked suddenly, wondering if she had left her wand somewhere obvious.
"I'm sorry!" the woman cried. "You must think I'm so rude! My name is Hilary Thompson, by the way."
Minerva sighed, very relieved, but still checking for her wand, just in case.
"No, it's fine, I didn't introduce myself or my family either," she replied, smiling again. "My name is Millie Smith, and here is my husband," she motioned to Severus, who was curiously coming down the stairs with Harry and Ginny in tow. "Steve Smith. And these are my children, Harry and Ginny. They're twins, if you hadn't guessed."
"Oh, they're lovely!" Hilary exclaimed. "Ginny looks just like you, Millie. And Harry and Steve could almost pass as identical twins!"
Minerva had to admit that she was right. Severus really wasn't that tall, it was just the way he used to loom... it really used to make her laugh, how terrified the students were of him.
"Um...thanks!" Minerva said cheerfully, not quite sure how to respond to this. She hoped that Ginny and Harry weren't too annoyed with Hilary for patronizing them, because she had taken a liking to the woman, and she doubly hoped that Severus was not irritated, because he would make sure that this woman's life was hell for the next year. "Tea or coffee?" she asked brightly, leading Hilary into the kitchen. She was grateful to Harry and Ginny, who both smiled happily at Hilary, then lead Severus down to the cellar for their Arithmancy lesson.
"Where are they off to then?" Hilary asked lightheartedly. Minerva shook their head.
"Steve's a bit...studious...so he's starting them early on their home tutoring. He'll probably give them plenty of days off during the term time, though. If he has one weakness, it's his lack of resolution where the kids are involved," she lied. She wanted to make Severus seem at least human to Hilary.
"Am I now?" a voice from behind them said. Severus came around from behind Minerva, and wrapped his arms around her waist uncomfortably after a look of encouragement from Hilary.
"Oh, hello, dear," Minerva said, trying to stop herself from crying out, then giggling at the uncomfortable look on Severus' face, and the look of satisfaction from Hilary. A romantic, then, thought Minerva. This will be amusing.
"Well, I best be off, the kids are really actually eager for me to start Arith-"
"Maths," Minerva corrected quickly. "Arithmetic is such an old-fashioned name, Steve!" she added, to convince Hilary.
"Er...of course," Severus said, catching on. "Sorry, slip of the tongue," he continued, more for Minerva's benefit than Hilary's. "I'll be off, now, then! Bye!" he said to Hilary.
"Oh, he's such a gentleman!" Hilary exclaimed excitedly. Minerva tried not to scoff. "So polite!"
"Yes, I think that's why I fell for him," Minerva lied, thoroughly enjoying this conversation.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Now," Severus began. "this potion is fairly complicated, so I have asked for Minerva's assistance."
Harry muttered something about excuses, and Ginny held a hand over her mouth to stop herself from giggling. Severus glared at the pair of them.
"Now roll your sleeves up, and we'll get started," he continued, still glaring at Harry and Ginny.
Harry rolled up the sleeves of his new plain dark green jumper. He was surprised, he thought that Severus was going to get something really dreadful. Apparently, he had underestimated his taste of clothes.
Severus scowled. The spell had almost completely worn off, because he had managed a heavy scowl with the least pain he had experienced so far. He had hoped that Harry would be embarrassed by his clothes. He had deliberately got him brightly coloured jumpers, but Harry appeared not to care.
"Right. Today we will be attempting a pregnancy potion, but we will not be adding the DNA. To start, open the textbooks we took from Hogwarts to page 435." Harry, Ginny, Minerva and Severus all opened their text books. "Right, now get out the ingredients listed. Good. So first, add your powdered unicorn horn. Yes, like that. Seeing as we are working in pairs, Harry, you will have to split the jobs, so you both do the same amount of work. Yes, well done. Now Ginny, stir clockwise 10 times. Correct." Severus continued like this, until Harry and Minerva were the ones working on the Potions.
"Right," Severus said. "Millie and Harry, you will have to add your DNA - a hair, yes - let the potions simmer for two minutes, and Ginny, you and I will have to cast the incantation once the others have started to stir again."
Ginny's eyes bugged.
"You mean I am expected to cast the spell exactly on time? I'll never manage that!" she complained.
"You will, you just have to have confidence," Minerva said, whilst standing close to her and Severus' cauldron.
"Absolutely," agreed Severus. "Now the incantation is 'Fergio Homotus'. We have about 20 seconds remaining, so stand ready. Millie, if you stand between the two cauldrons, you can clear up without impregnating yourself in the case of an emergency," he said quickly, trying to finish before the time limit. "3...2...1..."
"Fergio Homotus!" Ginny and Severus yelled, their voices reverberating off of the walls.
Unfortunately, at the same time, Minerva sneezed. Ginny's spell missed the cauldron, but Snape quickly cast a second spell on Harry and Ginny's cauldron just in the time limit.
Unfortunately again, the spell Ginny misfired hit Harry in the stomach, and Harry went flying forward, knocking both cauldrons across the room. The contents of the two cauldrons landed on Ginny and Severus' head.
"No!" yelled Severus. "We're doomed!"
Harry chuckled.
"It can't be that bad! At least the potion is dark blue, it wont show up. You're so fussy!"
"Harry," Minerva said gently, pulling him back from a mutinous looking Severus. "The potion was cast upon them. It will have mixed with their hair..."
"But..." Ginny began. "We can't be...pregnant." She finished, looking absolutely terrified.
"I'm afraid we are," sighed Snape, looking increasingly irritated. "Millie, could you pass me that towel?" he asked, forcing himself to remain calm, at least for now. As he reached across, Minerva got a smudge of the goo on her arm.
"Yuck! Steve! Wipe my arm!" Severus turned around, then looked absolutely horror-struck. "Oh..." Minerva trailed off, and swore loudly. "Why didn't you warn me?" she asked angrily. "The final substance is supposed to be quickly absorbed quickly! I just assumed it was an incomplete part! Now what are we going to do?"
"It is only supposed to be used in moderation! We had a cauldron of it on our heads!" Severus cried back.
"But you should have warned me! I wouldn't have come near you if I'd known you were going to get me pregnant!" Both her and Severus flushed red, while Harry and Ginny laughed at how funny that sounded. The neighbours must be having a field day.
"At least you're a woman!" Harry argued for Snape, the corners of his lips twitching upwards. "Think of Dad! He's not going to be able to leave the house!" Minerva bit her lip, but smiled slightly, and even Ginny managed a small giggle.
"What are we going to tell my parents?" she asked quietly. "They're going to kill me." She looked at Harry. "They're going to kill you, too."
"Well, don't worry, at least they'll know it was only a potion," Severus smirked as Harry and Ginny blushed. "Besides, they wont find out until next year..." Ginny joined Severus at grinning at the thought of her arriving home, carrying a young baby.
"What am I going to say? 'Oh, hi! I missed you all so much! And by the way, this is my child!'?"
Everyone laughed.
"Well, actually, this probably isn't the time to say it, but I think Millie is the only one that will be having a child..." Ginny frowned, confused. "Erm...I think that because of the amount of the potion we took in, we will probably have twins at least." He sighed. "This is going to be hell, isn't it?"
"For you!" Harry smirked. "This is going to be brilliant. Er, how exactly do you give birth...?" he asked Severus, carefully.
"I...er...ought to read up on that," he commented awkwardly. "I don't really know the details..." he pulled a disgusted face. "But the baby...babies... will come out of my...er...stomach. An incision will have to be made, and the babies will come out..." Harry suddenly felt rather ill. He put a hand over his mouth to stop him from gagging. "Which I will need someone to do..." he looked at Harry. "You are the only one that is not pregnant... the rest of us will be giving birth..." Harry greened further. "The timing is very precise in potion pregnancies...don't gag! We're the ones that will be suffering! And make sure you learn how to brew a numbing potion before you start cutting me up!"
Minerva shuddered.
"This is definitely not going to be pleasant. Well, I suggest that Ginny, Steve and I go and take a Harry...I'd rather not risk Harry joining us...Steve! Who will slice your stomach if Harry's not able to?"
Severus put a hand protectively over his stomach; "Don't say it like that! I'm feeling awful now! Yuck! This is going to be pure hell!"
"Too right!" said Harry. "Now go and shower before you infect me!" Harry dodged the others and scampered up the stairs.
"How on Earth is he going to father a child?!" Ginny laughed.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Dear Merlin," Dumbledore muttered. The witch that lived across at number 6 nodded. "Very well, you still must not reveal your identity to them."
"Of course not, Albus," she replied. "We shall keep an eye on them all. Luckily no one overheard their little dilemma. I checked for any magic performed on the house or the room. I just had to Obliviate a few of the neighbours, nothing major."
"Very well. How are you three holding up?" Dumbledore asked the witch.
"Fine, thank you," she replied. "Remus is desperate to talk to Harry, and so is Hermione, but they'll adjust. How is Ronald managing without his two best friends? Was it really wise to leave him out?"
"Don't worry about Ronald," Dumbledore assured. "His dorm-mates are getting along fine with him. I would say that this is all doing him a favour, in the long run. Although I think he may be a little disappointed about not getting invited on the 'extra-curricular Defense course' that Hermione, Harry and Ginny are attending. I'm sure he'll survive, though, and if all goes well, then he will know the truth when you all come back." Dumbledore smiled at the face in his fireplace.
Without warning, the witch sniffed the air.
"Something's burning...Remus!" she shouted. "I knew I shouldn't have let you do the cooking! Is that all, professor? I really think I ought to go.." the young witch said.
"Do go, then. But remember to take the aging potion before Severus recognizes you. You may resume your normal form like now, when you're at home, but don't slip up. I trust Remus and Hermione are getting used to their new looks? Luckily I did not have to change you're first names, as I understand it, the others are finding it rather tricky. Well, anyway, I shall let you go, Ms Partridge," Dumbledore chuckled at the 'family's' chosen name. He was glad to hear that they were all fairing well, even will the little...incident.
"I'm sure that everything will be fine," the witch said confidently. "Goodbye, Albus."
"Goodbye, Arabella."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
A/N - Dear Merlin! I honestly did not mean for that to go on so long! I hope you get to read this before you go on your cruise, russell! If not, a large amount of reading will be there for you when you get back!
I hope you all liked it!
Please review with your thoughts and ideas!
russell - I'll be as fast as I can - I hope you get to read this before you leave, as I'm in England so the time difference might mean that you miss out. I'll hurry!
sk8reagle - Damn you! How did you know?! I hope no one reads your review! Well, you find out in this chapter anyway, so yes. But she's not alone... And thanks for all of your reviews! I've only just started to post, so ff.net is the only site so far, but I'm in the process of starting up a yahoo group or something to post my stuff on. I will also probably post some on my website, so when I get around to it, then I'll let you know! Thanks for showing an interest!
MK - I completely agree *smirks evilly*
SNdReAmer - Thanks a million!!!!!!!!! I love getting reviews, but don't read them, because then you'll know who the woman is! And that's cheating! Very glad you like the story!
Thanks to everyone that's reviewed any chapters, and if I missed anyone I'm SO sorry! It will probably be because some reviews take 24 hours to show, and I usually write them at those intervals, sometimes less, so I might miss some until next chapter. But anyway, those reviews really do help. Thank you very much!
Disclaimer: I own nothing from the Harry Potter world, JK Rowling owns it all. Pity. And I think I have to say that Debenhams is a trademark store. And a cold glare from my friend after reading this means that I have to say: A big thank you to all my buddies for helping me come up with ideas. The swimming was Kate's idea, so thank you, Kate!
This chapter is coming up doubly fast for russell, so I hope you get to read it on time!
A Snape Kind of Summer
Chapter 7 - Of Guests and Potions
"Up!" called Snape, pouring a spurt of water out of the tip of his wand over Harry and Ginny.
Harry yelled, and jumped out of bed.
With an ear-splitting shriek, Ginny leapt up and whipped out her wand.
Both Harry and Snape jumped backwards.
"Oops...sorry," Ginny mumbled shyly, putting her wand away.
Snape heaved a sigh of relief.
"Well," he said. "When you finally calm down, I want you to come down quickly and have breakfast. Lessons start in 15 minutes, so you'll have to be quick."
Harry and Ginny groaned, but did as they were told.
Down at the breakfast table, Minerva was constructing a timetable.
"On Mondays, it's Arithmancy and Potions. Tuesdays, Charms and Divination. Wednesdays, Muggle Studies and Astronomy, we'll have to use a model planet system. Thursdays, we'll have Transfiguration and Herbology. Which means that on Friday we have Defense Against the Dark Arts, and Ancient Runes. We wont be able to do Care of Magical Creatures, it's too risky. In Transfiguration, we will be able to do Animagus Studies if they study hard enough during the rest of the year, because I believe them both capable enough. In Charms, we may be able to train them to Apparate, and then they can take the test when this is all over. They can register their Animagus forms when we get back, as well." Minerva paused, seemingly becoming aware of someone nearby.
As if sensing her unease, there was a knock at the door.
"Hello? How can I help you?" she asked as she opened the door. A young woman stood there smiling at her.
"Hello, I live at number 3, and I just popped over to say 'Welcome to the neighbourhood' so there, I've said it! I brought the traditional basket, and everything," she added, smiling shyly.
Minerva returned the smile.
"Would you like to come in for a cup of tea? Or coffee?" She asked.
"That would be lovely!" the woman replied. "If it's not too much trouble..." she added, peering around the door.
"No, it's fine," Minerva replied, waving a hand casually. "We're all done unpacking."
The woman smiled gratefully, then clapped a hand to her mouth. Minerva panicked suddenly, wondering if she had left her wand somewhere obvious.
"I'm sorry!" the woman cried. "You must think I'm so rude! My name is Hilary Thompson, by the way."
Minerva sighed, very relieved, but still checking for her wand, just in case.
"No, it's fine, I didn't introduce myself or my family either," she replied, smiling again. "My name is Millie Smith, and here is my husband," she motioned to Severus, who was curiously coming down the stairs with Harry and Ginny in tow. "Steve Smith. And these are my children, Harry and Ginny. They're twins, if you hadn't guessed."
"Oh, they're lovely!" Hilary exclaimed. "Ginny looks just like you, Millie. And Harry and Steve could almost pass as identical twins!"
Minerva had to admit that she was right. Severus really wasn't that tall, it was just the way he used to loom... it really used to make her laugh, how terrified the students were of him.
"Um...thanks!" Minerva said cheerfully, not quite sure how to respond to this. She hoped that Ginny and Harry weren't too annoyed with Hilary for patronizing them, because she had taken a liking to the woman, and she doubly hoped that Severus was not irritated, because he would make sure that this woman's life was hell for the next year. "Tea or coffee?" she asked brightly, leading Hilary into the kitchen. She was grateful to Harry and Ginny, who both smiled happily at Hilary, then lead Severus down to the cellar for their Arithmancy lesson.
"Where are they off to then?" Hilary asked lightheartedly. Minerva shook their head.
"Steve's a bit...studious...so he's starting them early on their home tutoring. He'll probably give them plenty of days off during the term time, though. If he has one weakness, it's his lack of resolution where the kids are involved," she lied. She wanted to make Severus seem at least human to Hilary.
"Am I now?" a voice from behind them said. Severus came around from behind Minerva, and wrapped his arms around her waist uncomfortably after a look of encouragement from Hilary.
"Oh, hello, dear," Minerva said, trying to stop herself from crying out, then giggling at the uncomfortable look on Severus' face, and the look of satisfaction from Hilary. A romantic, then, thought Minerva. This will be amusing.
"Well, I best be off, the kids are really actually eager for me to start Arith-"
"Maths," Minerva corrected quickly. "Arithmetic is such an old-fashioned name, Steve!" she added, to convince Hilary.
"Er...of course," Severus said, catching on. "Sorry, slip of the tongue," he continued, more for Minerva's benefit than Hilary's. "I'll be off, now, then! Bye!" he said to Hilary.
"Oh, he's such a gentleman!" Hilary exclaimed excitedly. Minerva tried not to scoff. "So polite!"
"Yes, I think that's why I fell for him," Minerva lied, thoroughly enjoying this conversation.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Now," Severus began. "this potion is fairly complicated, so I have asked for Minerva's assistance."
Harry muttered something about excuses, and Ginny held a hand over her mouth to stop herself from giggling. Severus glared at the pair of them.
"Now roll your sleeves up, and we'll get started," he continued, still glaring at Harry and Ginny.
Harry rolled up the sleeves of his new plain dark green jumper. He was surprised, he thought that Severus was going to get something really dreadful. Apparently, he had underestimated his taste of clothes.
Severus scowled. The spell had almost completely worn off, because he had managed a heavy scowl with the least pain he had experienced so far. He had hoped that Harry would be embarrassed by his clothes. He had deliberately got him brightly coloured jumpers, but Harry appeared not to care.
"Right. Today we will be attempting a pregnancy potion, but we will not be adding the DNA. To start, open the textbooks we took from Hogwarts to page 435." Harry, Ginny, Minerva and Severus all opened their text books. "Right, now get out the ingredients listed. Good. So first, add your powdered unicorn horn. Yes, like that. Seeing as we are working in pairs, Harry, you will have to split the jobs, so you both do the same amount of work. Yes, well done. Now Ginny, stir clockwise 10 times. Correct." Severus continued like this, until Harry and Minerva were the ones working on the Potions.
"Right," Severus said. "Millie and Harry, you will have to add your DNA - a hair, yes - let the potions simmer for two minutes, and Ginny, you and I will have to cast the incantation once the others have started to stir again."
Ginny's eyes bugged.
"You mean I am expected to cast the spell exactly on time? I'll never manage that!" she complained.
"You will, you just have to have confidence," Minerva said, whilst standing close to her and Severus' cauldron.
"Absolutely," agreed Severus. "Now the incantation is 'Fergio Homotus'. We have about 20 seconds remaining, so stand ready. Millie, if you stand between the two cauldrons, you can clear up without impregnating yourself in the case of an emergency," he said quickly, trying to finish before the time limit. "3...2...1..."
"Fergio Homotus!" Ginny and Severus yelled, their voices reverberating off of the walls.
Unfortunately, at the same time, Minerva sneezed. Ginny's spell missed the cauldron, but Snape quickly cast a second spell on Harry and Ginny's cauldron just in the time limit.
Unfortunately again, the spell Ginny misfired hit Harry in the stomach, and Harry went flying forward, knocking both cauldrons across the room. The contents of the two cauldrons landed on Ginny and Severus' head.
"No!" yelled Severus. "We're doomed!"
Harry chuckled.
"It can't be that bad! At least the potion is dark blue, it wont show up. You're so fussy!"
"Harry," Minerva said gently, pulling him back from a mutinous looking Severus. "The potion was cast upon them. It will have mixed with their hair..."
"But..." Ginny began. "We can't be...pregnant." She finished, looking absolutely terrified.
"I'm afraid we are," sighed Snape, looking increasingly irritated. "Millie, could you pass me that towel?" he asked, forcing himself to remain calm, at least for now. As he reached across, Minerva got a smudge of the goo on her arm.
"Yuck! Steve! Wipe my arm!" Severus turned around, then looked absolutely horror-struck. "Oh..." Minerva trailed off, and swore loudly. "Why didn't you warn me?" she asked angrily. "The final substance is supposed to be quickly absorbed quickly! I just assumed it was an incomplete part! Now what are we going to do?"
"It is only supposed to be used in moderation! We had a cauldron of it on our heads!" Severus cried back.
"But you should have warned me! I wouldn't have come near you if I'd known you were going to get me pregnant!" Both her and Severus flushed red, while Harry and Ginny laughed at how funny that sounded. The neighbours must be having a field day.
"At least you're a woman!" Harry argued for Snape, the corners of his lips twitching upwards. "Think of Dad! He's not going to be able to leave the house!" Minerva bit her lip, but smiled slightly, and even Ginny managed a small giggle.
"What are we going to tell my parents?" she asked quietly. "They're going to kill me." She looked at Harry. "They're going to kill you, too."
"Well, don't worry, at least they'll know it was only a potion," Severus smirked as Harry and Ginny blushed. "Besides, they wont find out until next year..." Ginny joined Severus at grinning at the thought of her arriving home, carrying a young baby.
"What am I going to say? 'Oh, hi! I missed you all so much! And by the way, this is my child!'?"
Everyone laughed.
"Well, actually, this probably isn't the time to say it, but I think Millie is the only one that will be having a child..." Ginny frowned, confused. "Erm...I think that because of the amount of the potion we took in, we will probably have twins at least." He sighed. "This is going to be hell, isn't it?"
"For you!" Harry smirked. "This is going to be brilliant. Er, how exactly do you give birth...?" he asked Severus, carefully.
"I...er...ought to read up on that," he commented awkwardly. "I don't really know the details..." he pulled a disgusted face. "But the baby...babies... will come out of my...er...stomach. An incision will have to be made, and the babies will come out..." Harry suddenly felt rather ill. He put a hand over his mouth to stop him from gagging. "Which I will need someone to do..." he looked at Harry. "You are the only one that is not pregnant... the rest of us will be giving birth..." Harry greened further. "The timing is very precise in potion pregnancies...don't gag! We're the ones that will be suffering! And make sure you learn how to brew a numbing potion before you start cutting me up!"
Minerva shuddered.
"This is definitely not going to be pleasant. Well, I suggest that Ginny, Steve and I go and take a Harry...I'd rather not risk Harry joining us...Steve! Who will slice your stomach if Harry's not able to?"
Severus put a hand protectively over his stomach; "Don't say it like that! I'm feeling awful now! Yuck! This is going to be pure hell!"
"Too right!" said Harry. "Now go and shower before you infect me!" Harry dodged the others and scampered up the stairs.
"How on Earth is he going to father a child?!" Ginny laughed.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Dear Merlin," Dumbledore muttered. The witch that lived across at number 6 nodded. "Very well, you still must not reveal your identity to them."
"Of course not, Albus," she replied. "We shall keep an eye on them all. Luckily no one overheard their little dilemma. I checked for any magic performed on the house or the room. I just had to Obliviate a few of the neighbours, nothing major."
"Very well. How are you three holding up?" Dumbledore asked the witch.
"Fine, thank you," she replied. "Remus is desperate to talk to Harry, and so is Hermione, but they'll adjust. How is Ronald managing without his two best friends? Was it really wise to leave him out?"
"Don't worry about Ronald," Dumbledore assured. "His dorm-mates are getting along fine with him. I would say that this is all doing him a favour, in the long run. Although I think he may be a little disappointed about not getting invited on the 'extra-curricular Defense course' that Hermione, Harry and Ginny are attending. I'm sure he'll survive, though, and if all goes well, then he will know the truth when you all come back." Dumbledore smiled at the face in his fireplace.
Without warning, the witch sniffed the air.
"Something's burning...Remus!" she shouted. "I knew I shouldn't have let you do the cooking! Is that all, professor? I really think I ought to go.." the young witch said.
"Do go, then. But remember to take the aging potion before Severus recognizes you. You may resume your normal form like now, when you're at home, but don't slip up. I trust Remus and Hermione are getting used to their new looks? Luckily I did not have to change you're first names, as I understand it, the others are finding it rather tricky. Well, anyway, I shall let you go, Ms Partridge," Dumbledore chuckled at the 'family's' chosen name. He was glad to hear that they were all fairing well, even will the little...incident.
"I'm sure that everything will be fine," the witch said confidently. "Goodbye, Albus."
"Goodbye, Arabella."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
A/N - Dear Merlin! I honestly did not mean for that to go on so long! I hope you get to read this before you go on your cruise, russell! If not, a large amount of reading will be there for you when you get back!
I hope you all liked it!
Please review with your thoughts and ideas!