Severus tried to ignore the headache that was starting to form behind his eyes; this had felt like the day that would never end. He had only two classes on Fridays, but they had both been horrible. He found himself almost wishing that Minerva would let Filch have his way with the students, perhaps then they'd have the decency to behave in class. Particularly his daughter...

He frowned at Dierna's bag lying in the middle of the floor as he entered his apartments. Some days he wanted to throttle that girl; this was definitely one of them. He stepped around her strewn belongings and headed to his and Morgan's bedroom.

When he opened the door he felt as though his heart stopped for a moment. He closed his eyes briefly against the scene in front of him, mentally asking the fates why they tormented his wife like this. Morgan had stopped sobbing, but she was still shaking, lying against Dierna's shoulder, supported by her daughter's arms.

Severus instantly forgot about his headache as he softly made his way across the room. He knelt in front of his wife, gently taking her face between his hands, "Morgan," he said softly "look at me. This is not your fault in any way." He felt at least fifty years older, as he helped his wife to her feet, "let's get you in the tub. Once you're cleaned up you're going to rest for awhile." He saw his trembling wife to the bathroom and left her there.

He turned back to order Dierna out of the room, but all his harsh words died in his throat as he looked at her stricken face. He offered her a hand and helped her up of the floor, "are you alright?"

Dierna looked up at her father with large, scared eyes, "I think so," her voice shook a little. She almost cried when her father enfolded her in his strong embrace, roughly kissing the top of her head. "Thank you for being there for her. Your mother..." but he cut himself off when Misty came sniffing into the room.

"I is so sorry master, I saw the blood and Mistress Snape crying, but I didn't know what to do!" the little house elf sobbed.

Severus sighed, "It's alright Misty. Right now I want you to keep an eye on Morgan for a few minutes."

"Yes sir, master Snape sir, of course sir." Misty hurried to comply.

"And you," Severus gently cupped Dierna's hand in his chin, "I want you to see if you can get some tea for your mother."

"Yes sir."

Severus closed his eyes and sighed. He knew that his wife was devastated. He wasn't aware of how long he had been standing there, lost in thought about how to handle this when Dierna reappeared, holding a tea tray. He absently ran a hand over her bright curls as he thanked her and took the tray. He prepared a cup of tea and slipped into the bathroom with it.

He knelt on the warm terra cotta tiles by the side of the large, sunk in tub. Morgan was lying in the water, nearly drowning in bubbles, with her eyes closed, silent tears streaking her face. Severus stroked her face tenderly, and brushed a loose curl off of her face. "I have some tea for you."

"I don't want it Sev," Morgan nearly choked on a sob, her voice tight with emotion.

"I'll leave it here for you. You're going to take it easy for the next few days, I want you in our bed, resting and sleeping."

"Just leave me alone."

"I am not going to leave you alone Morgan. You are not the only one who is suffering here."

Morgan slowly opened her eyes and looked into Severus' black ones. Her tears flowed even faster as she saw the pain in his expression, "I'm sorry Sev..."

"Shhhhh... you have nothing to be sorry for."

"But I wanted to give you another child so badly!"

"Hush darling. Yes I would have liked to have another child, but I would rather have you."

Morgan nodded vaguely as she continued to sniff, "Sev, I want to talk to you, but not right now. Can I have just a little bit of time by myself?"

"Of course," Severus slowly rose, trying to remember if he had felt this old half an hour ago. He stepped back into the bedroom, hoping to be alone too, but found Dierna hovering there. He sighed; one look at her scared face told him that he couldn't just send her out now. Instead he gently took her by the arm and led her into the living room.

"Is Mum going to be ok?" Dierna whispered.

"Yes, it may take awhile, but she'll be fine." Severus sat down on the sofa, drawing Dierna down next to him. He held his daughter close, a dark expression flitting across his face.

"Are you sure that Mum... is it really a miscarriage?"

"Yes, unfortunately your mother knows all too well that she lost the child."

"But couldn't it just be some bleeding, that happens sometimes." Dierna's tone was pleading.

Severus stroked her auburn curls as she laid her head on his shoulder, "no, your mother can tell the difference." He paused for a moment, "there was a lot of bleeding when she was pregnant with you and Serena, she thought she was going to lose you. But this is different..."

Dierna was silent for a long time after that "Do you want me to leave?" she finally asked, still whispering.

Severus hesitated for a moment, "Dierna, I do need to be with your mother, and I know that she will want to see you later, but she needs a little bit of space right now. You are welcome to stay in here if you want, or you may leave. You can consider yourself ungrounded, it is a little early, but I think its best."

Dierna chewed her lower lip, obviously torn between staying or fleeing.

"Go Dierna," Severus said kindly, "I know Stefan is coming to see you soon. Spend some time with him, try to enjoy yourself."

Dierna mutely stood up, and headed for the door. But at the last minute she turned around and came back to hug her father and stood on tiptoe to brush a kiss on his cheek before going.

"Where are we going?" Sophia asked as she followed William, Kamen, and Serena down the dark tunnel.

"Eventually, Diagon Alley," Serena answered her as she folded the Marauders' Map and stuck it in her pocket. Seeing Sophia's questioning look she continued, "It's a large wizarding district in London."

"How are we going to get there?"

Kamen turned around to grin at her, "this tunnel will take us to the shrieking shack, and once we're there we can travel by floo powder to Diagon Alley."

"Remember not to tell anyone about this," William inserted quietly, "we're not technically supposed to leave the school."

"What are we going to do there?"

Kamen answered her again, his grin spreading further, "we have a little bit of shopping to do."
"What are we shopping for?" Zach asked Alberto as the two men strolled down Diagon Alley.

"Birthday presents."

"For who?"

Alberto grinned, "Guess I forgot to tell you. We're invited to a small party tonight; Charlie's twins are going to be four."

"Who's going to be there?"

"Just some of Weasel's family, it'll give you a chance to meet some of them before Christmas."

Zach nodded thoughtfully, "What are you going to get?"

"Probably something that Meg is going to yell at me for getting them," Alberto grinned, "unless you want to go in with me on something that the dear Mrs. Charlie Weasley won't be able to throw me out of the house for."

Zach couldn't help smiling, "has she really thrown you out of the house before?"

"I got Diana a niffler for her sixth birthday, you should have seen there house by the time they finally caught it."

"I would have thrown you out too."

Dierna leaned against Stefan as they watched the sun set from one of the towers. She had been quiet for most of the evening, but hadn't told him why. Her mother was still on her mind, and she just wasn't feeling up to a lot of conversation.

Stefan gently smoothed her hair back as he looked into Dierna's bright eyes, "I have to leave tomorrow. The mission is starting up again."

Dierna clung to him, "stay with me tonight."

"I don't know if that's the best idea..."

"Please Stefan. There are guest rooms in the castle that are almost never used, no one would know. I want to be with you."

"Dierna, if I spend the night with you I'm going to find it very hard to be a gentleman. I don't want to compromise you in any way."

"I don't care!"

"Yes you do." Stefan gently kissed her, knowing that they could be headed for trouble, even as he found himself yielding. Her lips were so soft... "I'll stay."

"Thank you," Dierna kissed him back more forcibly, before taking his hand. "Shall we go find a room?"

Stefan turned Dierna's face up, looking her in the eye, "just remember Dierna, I love you. But I don't want to hurt you in any way. There are no guarantees that I'll make it back from this mission, but that's no reason for us to do anything rash. The last thing I want to do is leave you alone and pregnant."
Severus helped Morgan get ready for bed. Her silence unnerved him; he would rather have her take out her sorrow on him than this horrible silence. He gently settled her into their bed, lying down beside her. "Morgan darling, how are you feeling?" He brushed his fingers across her cheek.

Morgan shrugged, her gaze distant and vacant. But when Severus wrapped his arms around her she came undone, sobbing against his shoulder as she shook. She cried and cried, choking on her sobs.

"Morgan, I want you to stop crying," Severus told her gently but firmly, "you are going to make yourself sick, and then you are going to be even more miserable."

Morgan tried to obey, but the tears kept coming, and she was trembling. She clung to Severus' shirt, soaking the front of it as she kept crying. But at the same time she was incredibly thankful that he was there, holding her. His arms felt so protective.

Severus gently shifted his wife as her crying quieted and she grew limp in his arms. He almost expected her to be asleep, but when he glanced down she was staring wide eyed at nothing in particular. "Do you want something to help you sleep?"

"No."

"Can I get you anything?"

"No."

"Tell me what to do Morgan, and I'll do it. Anything that will help to take the pain away and make you feel better."

"Just give me some time."
Dierna watched Stefan sleep as she lay next to him. She trailed her fingers through his dark hair, but her mind was far away. All she could think of was his earlier words, "alone and pregnant". They made her shiver.

She finally lay down beside him, her head pillowed on his shoulder. Her mind spun with 'what ifs', none of them comforting. But the one that plagued her the most, as she drifted off was sleep was what she would do if Stefan didn't come back this time.
Kalliope stared moodily at the moonlight that streaked the floor of her room. There were so many decisions to make...

She was still shocked by Cadmus' insistence that Rheia was dying, and the knowledge that she might soon be the head priestess. But did she still want that responsibility? There was also Remus to consider, and she wasn't willing to let him slip from her grasp again so easily.

She sighed, and she still didn't know what to do with Sophia. One part of her wanted to take that girl back to the temple and immerse her in more training, preparing her to be a priestess. But she wondered how the girl would fare if she was left at Hogwarts, perhaps she would benefit from the wizarding community...

"Mother Goddess, help me. There are so many decisions, what must I do to best serve you?"

Kalliope paced the room, "can I really give up my life in Greece?" she muttered to herself, "I know Remus wants me to stay here with him..."

She sighed as she turned the possibilities over in her mind. She had always assumed that she'd end her days as a priestess in Greece. But staying in Britain to be Remus' wife was looking more and more appealing. She could be with the man she loved; Sophia could live with them and have a father figure. She gave an indelicate snort, that girl needed a father figure as wild as she was getting, particularly one with a firm hand.

The more she thought about staying, the more attached she became to the idea. It would infuriate Rheia, but she was tired of putting the temple before herself. If Remus asked her to stay, she had every intention of complying.

"I wish I could take your pain away," Severus' voice was strained as the sun began to streak the morning sky with soft colors.

Morgan leaned against him sleepily. The night had been rough for both of them. "I wish I could forget..." she sighed wearily as tears pricked her eyes again, "I wish we could have known if it would have been a boy or a girl, it would have been nice to know," her voice sounded as though it came from far away, had she even voiced the thought out loud?

"Dwelling on thoughts like that is not going to make this easier," Severus gently chided her. "Now," his voice was commanding, "you are going to stay in bed today and rest. And I mean all day, I am still not pleased with you for refusing to go to the hospital wing, you lost a lot of blood yesterday."

"Severus, physically, I'm fine," Morgan tried to protest, "I need to get up and do things, I might go mad if I have to stay in bed."

Severus gently stroked her cheek and kissed her forehead, "please humor me Morgan. As hard as it is for me to accept that we have lost our unborn child, I cannot imagine what would happen if I lost you. I want you to rest."

Morgan clung to her husband, "Sev, really, I'm fine; nothing is going to happen to me. I can get up and do things."

"Please Morgan, do this for me. My imagination can do crazy things when you're hurting like this. I need to know for certain that you will be alright before I let you out of this bed."

"How can you stand the pain?" Morgan felt hot tears trickle down her face.

"I just live life one moment at a time, and thank the fates that I have you and the five children that are with us." He kissed away her salty tears, more than happy to hold her, wishing he could ease her pain.

Morgan sniffed quietly for awhile, crawling from her position next to her husband directly into his lap while she tried to contain her tears. "Are you going to stay with me today?"

Severus tucked her head beneath his chin and rubbed her back, "for most of the day. Dierna was still upset when she left here last night; I want to talk to her."

"Why do things like this happen?"

"You know I do not have an answer for that."

Morgan sighed, "I know. But it would be so much easier if there was some external force to blame, I keep wondering if I could have done something. Maybe I was too active, maybe I should have gotten more rest..."

"Stop it Morgan!" Severus' tone was a bit sharper than he intended. He felt Morgan tense in his arms. "I am sorry; I did not mean to snap at you like that. Please stop blaming yourself Morgan. There is nothing else that could have been done; it is just a sad fact of life."

Morgan nodded mutely, content to just sit with Severus' arms around her for the moment. After many minutes had passed she squirmed out of her husband's arms. "You go get some work done," she told him, "I'll stay here and sleep for awhile."

Severus studied her for a moment, "are you sure?"

Morgan nodded as she slid further under the covers, "I'll be fine here. You're right; I do need to get some more rest."

Severus brushed the hair off her forehead and kissed her gently before rising to get dressed. By the time he left Morgan had drifted back to sleep, and he left Misty with strict instructions that his wife was to remain in bed.
Dierna walked towards the Forbidden Forest, her heart felt as though it were torn in two. Stefan had kissed her goodbye not long ago and left to return to work. She was so scared that she would never see him again, and all she wanted was to be alone.

But the last thing she wanted was to be alone. She wanted to feel Stefan's arms around her. And she wanted to cry. But she wouldn't cry, she wasn't going to be weak.

She sank down onto the soft ground at the base of a tree on the edge of the forest. She looked into the dense trees, straining to see into the darkness of the forest. It seemed so simple in there. The brutal life and death simplicity of the forest. There was a savageness of it that appealed to her. She could walk into that darkness and let it consume her, something in her longed for that. To disappear and leave all the hurt and pain behind...

She sighed, but that wasn't the way life was. She stood up, brushing the loose leaves and dirt off of her as she headed back towards the school.
"Where is she?" Severus tried to remain calm, but felt a strong surge of panic.

"I is not knowing sir!" Misty wailed, "she was here, she said she was going to get a book from the living room."

Severus pinched the bridge of his nose between his thumb and forefinger, trying to figure out where his wife might have gone.

"Sir," Misty tried to think of a way to help, "if it helps sir, Mistress Snape kept saying she was needing mercy."

"In the name of Circe..." Severus quickly grabbed his cloak and Morgan's as he all but ran from the room.

He tired to calm himself as he strode out of the castle and towards Hogsmeade. He was only too aware of how cold it had grown, and his wife was out here without her cloak. He kept walking; thankful for the time it was giving him to regain control of his temper. Not matter what he couldn't yell at his wife when he found her, it would destroy her.

Finally he came to his destination, a small cemetery on the edge of town. And, just as he had predicted, Morgan was huddled on the ground in front of a granite stone marker.

He came up behind her and draped her cloak around her shoulders, then settled on the ground behind her, wrapping his arms around her. "Why did you come here?" he asked her gently.

Morgan ignored his question as she traced her fingers across the writing on the stone in front of them, tracing the letters with her fingers 'Mercy Noelle Snape'. "It's so small Sev, has it always been so small?"

He tightened his hold on her, knowing that she just needed to talk at the moment.

"Out little girl was so pretty Sev. Her skin was so soft; do you remember how small she was? But she was so cold," Morgan cried silently, tears running down her face. "I can't stop thinking about the night she was born. We got Viviane to safety, and I was supposed to follow, but that's when the death eaters came. That horrible curse, if it hadn't hit me I wouldn't have gone into labor then... our little girl would have lived, instead of dying while she was born from that horrible curse. She would have been nearly nineteen by now, do you realize that? She would have graduated and been on her own..."

Morgan stopped and fingered the rose bush that was planted next to the small grave, not noticing when she cut her finger on the thorn. "And this one... we never knew if it was a boy or girl, I miscarried only two months in. If this one had made it they would have turned fifteen this year. We'll have to plant another rosebush for this last one."

"I think it's time we go back to the school, you're freezing." Severus tried to ignore the single tear that ran down his face. "You need to get warm and rest."

Morgan meekly complied. She was too upset to care what happened now.

"Morgan," Sev gently guided her back up the road towards the school, "I hope you realize that they know we loved them. No matter how soon they were taken from us, I truly believe they knew that."

Morgan stopped in her tracks and tilted her head back to look at her husband, "thank you Sev."

"Tell me the truth; are you going to be alright?"

Morgan nodded slowly, "It's going to take some time Sev, and I can honestly tell you that I don't want to try for another child. But I also know that in a few days I'm going to start looking forward to that Paris trip you promised me. I just need a little time to grieve, but I'm going to keep going."

"Just take it one day at a time and we'll get through this."

Morgan leaned against him as they resumed walking, "One day at a time... but I couldn't do it without you Sev. Thank you for being here, thank you for loving me."

authoress' note: thank you Ultrahotpink for the review! I took your advice and changed my settings so that I can accept anonymous reviews

keep the reviews coming! I love them