Disclaimer: J.K. Rowling is the richest woman in England. If I was her, I would have better things to do with my time than write fic, and dream about Adrien Brody falling madly in love with me. (I don't own them.)

When Rosemarie finally reached Hogwarts, the weather had turned cold and rainy; she was huddled under an immense, brown hooded cloak, which completely covered her body. She waddled-there was no other word to describe it-up the back steps of the school and into the foyer there. Professor McGonagall had told Rosemarie to meet her there-she had a class, and might be a bit late. Rosemarie was shivering under her damp cloak, and her swollen feet were aching. She desperately needed a bathroom, and she had been feeling these twinges of pain. Doctor Bombay had assured her that these twinges were normal, and that Rosemarie wouldn't give birth for a few weeks yet, but she still had her doubts. She had been on the verge of going in search of a bathroom, when she heard footsteps echoing down the hall behind her. Rosemarie turned, expecting to see the welcoming face of Minerva McGonagall, but instead found herself staring into the eyes of Severus Snape.

"Can I help you, madam?" He asked, his voice cold but polite.

Rosemarie was thankful she had left the capacious hood up-it left her face completely in a shadow. "Oh thank you, sir." She exclaimed, disguising her voice. "I'm here to meet Professor McGonagall-she told me to wait here."

Severus looked at her, his expression confused. "I see." He paused. "I'm sorry, have we met before? There is something about you that seems familiar."

Rosemarie's fingers were icy, and her palms were drenched in sweat. "I...I don't think so, sir. Unless you have my Tom in one of your classes." Please Gods, let there be a boy named Tom at Hogwarts, she thought to herself.

"Ah, yes. Thomas is doing well this semester. You must be Mrs. Leonard" Snape looked as though he was going to say something else, when Professor McGonagall appeared from nowhere.

"Severus!" McGonagall looked horrified to find him there. "What on earth are you doing here?"

"Mrs. Leonard and I were just..." He began.

"Yes, yes. Well, I'm here now. Come along, Mrs. Leonard. I'll take you to my office." Professor McGonagall led Rosemarie away quickly. "Honestly, after all the fuss you made about not wanting to see him!"

"I'm sorry, Professor." Rosemarie whispered. "He just appeared in the hall while I was waiting for you."

Professor McGonagall gave her a sympathetic look. "Albus wants me to take you right to his office. We've been worried about you dear-thank goodness Helen has been keeping in touch with us." She paused beside a stone gargoyle. "Fizzing Whizbee." She said, and the gargoyle moved to reveal a door. Professor McGonagall led her up the stairs and into Professor Dumbledore's office, where he was waiting for them.

"Ah, Rosemarie. I'm so delighted you were able to make it today." He smiled kindly. "Please, take off your cloak. It must be soaked."

Rosemarie reluctantly removed her cloak. She heard Professor McGonagall's sharp intake of breath as her very pregnant stomach was revealed. "Rosemarie, why didn't you tell us?"

Rosemarie was exhausted. Her feet were aching, and the twinges of pain were getting stronger. She fell into one of the chairs in front of Professor Dumbledore's desk. "I was afraid you would tell Severus." Her voice sounded emotionless.

"Rosemarie." Professor Dumbledore began. "I realize this is a very personal question to be asking, but it must be said. Did you leave Severus because of the pregnancy?"

Rosemarie's eyes began to fill with tears. "No, Professor." She whispered. "I didn't know I was pregnant until after I left. Severus doesn't know. I didn't want to hurt him." Professor Dumbledore nodded, and Rosemarie let them draw whatever conclusions they wanted to about her pregnancy. "Would you mind terribly if I used your bathroom? I've had to go desperately all day." Her voice was shaking.

"Of course, Rosemarie. It's just through that door." He gestured to a door to his left. As Rosemarie stood up, she suddenly felt warm liquid falling from between her legs. She stared, horrified, at the Professors, thinking she had wet herself.

"Rosemarie." Professor McGonagall said. "I'm not a medical expert, but I think your water just broke."

"I'm sorry?" Rosemarie was so tired she couldn't even begin to process what Professor McGonagall was saying.

"I mean, dear, that I think you're in labor. Albus, I think we had better get Poppy in here."

Professor Dumbledore was already at the door. "Quite right, Minerva." He turned to Rosemarie. "Please do not distress yourself too much, Rosemarie. If it turns out your labor is too far along to send you home, we'll make you as comfortable as we can here." He reassured Rosemarie, before leaving her in the care of Professor McGonagall.

"It'll be alright, dear." She reassured Rosemarie, as she helped her back into her cloak. "I'm sure you'll be able to make it home alright. And though I know you would be more comfortable at home, Albus and I will do everything we can to make you feel at home here. We can put spells on the hospital wing so he won't know you're there." She paused uncomfortably. "Don't you think, Rosemarie, that maybe this is a sign that you should tell Severus about the baby? I know the two of you had your differences, but he really has missed you these past months. I'm sure that he would love to have you two with him, even if the baby isn't his."

Rosemarie had reached the end of her patience. "Professor. I am exhausted and am about to have a seven-pound baby squeezed out of my body. Believe me when I tell you that I hate Severus Snape more than any other wizard I have ever met." Rosemarie looked as though she would have continued on with her tirade, if Madam Pomfrey had not entered the room at that moment.

After examining Rosemarie and timing her contractions, Madam Pomfrey said Rosemarie could certainly make it home with time to spare, however she "strongly encouraged" Rosemarie to stay at Hogwarts. Rosemarie absolutely refused, and she was escorted back to the portkey port in moments.

Helen was waiting for Rosemarie at the other end. "I already contacted Doctor Bombay, and he's going to be waiting at the house by the time we get there." She gave Rosemarie's hand a gentle squeeze. "Don't worry, Rose. Everything's going to be fine."

Rosemarie had very little memory of her trip home and the moments leading up to the twins' birth. To her, it was just a haze of being sopping wet and in pain. The only clear memory she had was of being told that she was the mother of a baby girl, and to wait a moment, because it looked as though there was another baby still coming. Simon was born five minutes after his sister, and Rosemarie could still remember the overwhelming feeling of finding out she was the mother of twins.

Rosemarie slowly allowed her mind to drift back to the present. To her, it seemed like yesterday that she was lying in bed, her emotions wavering between joy over her children and fear that Severus would find out about them. Rosemarie got up out of bed, and walked over to her dresser; in the bottom drawer were all her personal papers. At the very bottom, was an old, faded packet of letters-all of her love letters from Severus. Rosemarie wondered why she had brought them with her; even after all these years she still felt the need to carry them about. Carefully, she opened the first letter in the packet, and began to read.

Rosie,

You know you want to go out on a date with me-I'm the handsomest man at the Ministry of Magic. Let me take you to the Ministry Ball next Saturday. You can't resist me forever, darling. You may pretend to be a veritable man- hater, but I know the truth. I know you're just dying for me to take you out. You're gagging for it. Come on, Rosie; let me put you out of your misery. Come to the ball with me.

Severus

It wasn't exactly the most romantic letter Rosemarie had ever received but to her, it seemed to sum up her relationship with Severus perfectly. It wasn't so much about the romance, as the emotion that they hid from each other. Rosemarie took the packet of letters back to bed with her, and read through them all. It was hard to believe that Severus had never cared for her when she read these letters, but she had heard him say he never loved her. Without thinking, Rosemarie slid the letters between the leaves of one of her books, and huddled under the covers.

The next day passed in a haze; Rosemarie was so tired she could barely concentrate one what she was doing. She was walking down the hall, thinking about her lesson plan for the first years and not looking where she was going, when she walked headlong into Severus. Rosemarie's books flew out of her arms and scattered papers down the hallway. "Oh, I'm terribly sorry, Professor." She apologized. "I'm afraid I wasn't looking where I was going."

"That's just the trouble with you, Professor Bacall, you never pay attention." He glared at her, but still knelt to help her pick up her books and papers. "You're turning into a menace, woman." He muttered to her under his breath.

"I've got everything, Professor, thank you." She glared back at him, her voice cold. "I'm terribly sorry I bothered you." She grabbed at her papers, and stalked away from him.

It wasn't until later that night that Rosemarie noticed the letters were missing. "What did I do with them?" She said as she searched her room. "I was reading them in bed, and then I put the letters..." she paused "I put them in my book." She felt a cold hand grip her stomach. Could Severus have found them? Of course he had, Rosemarie was certain of it. It was so horribly cliched; what would he think about her carrying his love letters around with her after nearly 12 years? It was too embarrassing to fathom. She was on the point of going out to look for them, when there was a knock at her door. Rosemarie wasn't even surprised when she saw Severus standing on the other side, holding the letters.

"Rosie, can we talk?" There was no trace of rancor in his voice now. Instead, his tone was soft, and almost loving.

"That's how he used to talk to me." She thought to herself before answering. "What do you want to talk about Severus?"

"Rosie. Don't play games. You know I found the letters, and..." He ran an aggravated hand through his hair, clearly attempting to verbalize his emotions. "I thought you hated me, Rosie."

"Severus, I..." Rosemarie was interrupted by a noise from behind her. When Rosemarie had come to Hogwarts, Professor Dumbledore had installed a secret passage from the Ravenclaw and Gryffindor common rooms to Rosemarie's room. That way, if Simon and Emma needed to speak to their mother urgently, they could safely get from their room to hers without getting in trouble for being in the halls.

Emma was standing just outside the door of the passage in her robe and slippers. Her normally pale face was flushed, and her eyes looked glassy. "Mummy?" Her voice was weak. "Mummy I don't feel good. I think..." Emma stopped, horrified, as she saw Professor Snape standing by the door. Rosemarie shot him a quick glance to see if he noticed Emma's slip. If his expression was any indication, he clearly had.

Rosemarie walked over to her quickly. "I'm not Mummy, dear, I'm Aunt Rosemarie." She felt Emma's forehead. "You're burning hot, sweetheart." She turned to Severus with an apologetic look on her face, but the damage had already been done. He was openly staring at the two of them now. "I think the fever is making her delirious." She led Emma over to the bed and sat down next to her. "Do you want to lie down here?" Emma nodded into her mother's shoulder. "Ok, sweetheart, I just have to take your temperature first." As Rosemarie got up to get a thermometer, she suddenly caught sight of the expression on Severus' face. He was watching the two of them sitting next to each other, and his eyes had gone suddenly hard. "He knows!" Rosemarie thought wildly to herself, as she put the thermometer under Emma's tongue.

Emma's temperature was high, dangerously high, and Rosemarie began to get worried. "Emma, I think we had better go take you to Madam Pomfrey. Do you think you can walk there, or do you want her to come here?"

"I don't know, Mummy." Emma's voice was barely a whisper, and her eyes were drooping. Before Rosemarie could even react, Severus had picked Emma up and started walking towards the door with her. Shocked, Rosemarie stood and followed him out of the room and down to the hospital wing.

He stayed the whole time with Rosemarie while Madam Pomfrey looked over Emma. "It looks as though she's got the flu." She pronounced, before handing Emma a glass with an orange liquid in it. "Drink up, dear. It'll make you feel much better." Emma did as she was told, and soon fell into a deep sleep. Madam Pomfrey closed the curtains around the bed, then turned to talk to Rosemarie. "She should be fine by the morning. I wouldn't worry too much; children need to have these sicknesses young so they can fight them off easier. Now you had better get to sleep, we don't want two of our professors getting sick as well!" Madam Pomfrey shooed them into the hall, then closed the door behind them.

"Severus, thank you so much...Severus?" He had already started walking quickly down the hall, away from Rosemarie. She ran to catch up to him. "Severus! Wait!" He stopped and turned, his eyes glaring. "What is wrong with you!" She whispered angrily at him. "I wanted to thank you for helping my niece, and explain why?"

Rosemarie never got out the rest of her sentence. Severus grabbed her, and backed her up against the wall. "Cut the crap, Rosemarie. Who was it?" He hissed at her.

"Who was what, Severus? You're not making any sense." She hissed back.

"Who. Was. It." His words were bitten off on the end, and Rosemarie thought she saw that vein pulsing in his forehead again.

"Who the hell was WHAT?" She nearly shouted.

His eyes were blazing, and Rosemarie could tell that he had lost all self- control. He pulled her to him roughly, so that his mouth was right by her ear. "Who was it" he growled low into her ear "that you were fucking on the side while you were engaged to me?"

Rosemarie was disgusted. She tried to push him away, but to no avail. "Severus, have you gone completely stark raving mad?"

"We know it wasn't Sirius Black, he was in Azkaban. Was it Lupin?" His voice was rough. "Did you let Lupin do all the things you let me do to you? Did you let him touch you? Caress you?" He dropped his voice lower. "Did he know what to do to make you scream his name?" He stared into her eyes for what seemed like hours, and she knew he was thinking of what he had done to make her scream. She was starting to get lost in the memory of how good it had been, what it had felt like to have his hands on her, when his eyes suddenly lit up. "I know! It was Malfoy! We all know how our Rosemarie likes the bad boys. Tell me Rosemarie, is Lucius better in bed than I am? Does he know what a wildcat in the sack you are?"

Rosemarie lost all patience, and slapped him across the face. "You are disgusting! What kind of woman do you think I am? I was in love with you, Severus."

"She's your daughter, Rosemarie!" he was furious. "You thought you could hide your fucking affair from me by calling her your niece. That's why you left, right? Because you were pregnant with another man's child, or should I say Lucius Malfoy's child, you common whore."

Rosemarie slapped him across the face again. "Don't ever call me that! You're a fine one to talk! I left, because I found out the truth about you, Severus. How you betrayed everyone on our side."

"What in the hell are you talking about!" He glared at her, while cupping his injured face.

"'She's a nice piece of ass, that's all.' I heard you, Severus. You never loved me; you were just using me. You were pretending to spy for Dumbledore, but you were really spying for Voldemort!"

He stared at her in disbelief. "You believed me? Rosemarie, I was a fucking double agent! I was pretending to spy for Voldemort, while really I was spying for Dumbledore! Do you really think that if I were using you for information, I would have picked someone so insignificant and unimportant at the Ministry? Why do you think I went to all those Death Eater meetings? Because I liked the company? Honestly, woman, you can be dense."

Rosemarie had had enough. "Look, Severus. I loved you, ok? Is that what you wanted to hear? Then fine, I'll admit it. I was head over heels in love with you. I would have done anything for you. I suspected you were spying for Voldemort, but I didn't say anything because I loved you!" Rosemarie's last barriers of self-control finally broke down, and she began crying. "I never had a "fucking affair" as you so eloquently put it. I loved you too much to ever do anything to hurt you. Until of course, you hurt me. And now if you'll excuse me, I have to get some sleep. I have a class to teach tomorrow morning." She shoved him away, and ran down the hall without looking back.