Harry paced the confines of a deserted hallway bitterly, and battled with himself over what he should do. Minerva had made it clear at yesterday's staff meeting that they needed as much staff as possible to stay at Hogwarts over Christmas break. One part of him wanted to run home to his wife and try and repair the damage that had been done. But another part of him wanted to avoid the whole situation. He felt like a traitor to Gryffindor bravery, but he was afraid that his marriage was over.

"Sitting there feeling sorry for yourself Potter?" Severus sneered. He had been on his way to see his wife, but decided to stop as he had a good idea what Harry was thinking about.

Harry balled his hands into fists, no matter how many years had passed Severus still treated him like a student, and although they were on friendlier terms there was still no love lost between them. "It's none of your business."

"You're right, it's not. But, Sirius has kept me informed as to the status of your marriage, and if I might say so, you don't deserve Ginny. In my opinion she has always been too good for you."

Harry felt a surge of anger, but didn't fight back.

"Well, I guess if you're not even going to defend yourself that you may as well consider your marriage over and done with."

"We could still work it out, for the children if nothing else. They shouldn't have to watch us split up."

"That is possibly the worst reason imaginable as to why you should stay together."

"And what would you know about it?!" Harry spat angrily.

"My wife left me once, and yet we are still together. I think I know a lot more about it than you do. At least I managed to save my marriage," Severus smirked.

Harry's mouth fell open, "Morgan tried to leave you? But you're..."

"Happily married with no regrets? Yes, but it took us awhile to realize that."

Harry bit back his pride and let his curiosity get the better of him, "what happened?"

"I've thought about it."

Remus looked at Kalliope warily, she hadn't spoken to him since he told her to decide whether or not she was really willing to leave Greece, but her expression gave nothing away. "What have you decided?"

Kalliope paced the confines of Remus' bedroom for several long moments, her heavy dark hair hanging loose about her shoulders. Even in turmoil she still maintained the gracefulness of a fully trained priestess. "Remus, you have to understand that this wasn't an easy decision for me to make. And I had to be sure that I wouldn't regret my decision. Unfortunately, I can't please everyone. And I have struggled long and hard trying to figure out how best I can serve my goddess."

Remus closed his eyes wearily. "Just tell me what you have decided Kalliope."

"Our first year of marriage was wonderful, after a bit of a rough start. There were no lasting quarrels, no ugly disputes. Everything seemed to be perfect. When Viviane was born," Severus closed his eyes for a moment, thinking, "That was right after the Tri Wizard tournament, I didn't think anything would ever tear Morgan and me apart. But then she became pregnant with our second child only a few months later."

Harry frowned, "But Kamen is younger than Viviane by more than two years..."

"You asked to hear this, but if you aren't going to let me finish..."

"Sorry, please continue," Harry cringed at Severus' sharp tone.

Severus took a moment before he began again, "you know about the level of Order activity that went on that year. I had little time for Morgan as I was constantly on missions or teaching, as a result we grew a bit distant. It was right after we all thought that Black got himself killed," Severus paused for a moment, letting that barb sink in, "Morgan and I had a rather intense argument, for her safety I wanted her to leave the country for awhile, I knew that no one close to me would be safe. But that damn Gryffindor stubbornness got in the way. She insisted on staying for awhile longer, I eventually wore her down and she agreed to go, but it was too late.
"We had sent Viviane ahead of her, and Morgan was getting ready to leave when the death eaters decided to attack. I told Morgan to leave, but she insisted on staying by my side. In the middle of the battle she was hit by a curse, it caused her to go into labor, and our daughter Mercy died before she was ever given a chance to live."

"I didn't know..."

"Not many people do, and I would like to keep it that way."

"Of course."

Severus' gaze grew a bit distant as he continued, "When it was all over I told Morgan that if she had only gone when I told her to, none of it would have happened. Our daughter would have lived if it hadn't been for her stubbornness. Sweet Circe how I regretted those words later... But I immediately left again on more Order business, leaving my nineteen year old wife to try and cope with the loss of our child by herself. She left me. She packed her belongings and left.
"I had to find that out from Molly Weasley. Morgan had left Viviane in her care when she took off. It didn't take me long to find her. When I did, she tried to run from me, said that she loved me, but if I didn't love her she wouldn't stay, she couldn't stand the heartache. It was then that I realized I could not live without her. It took a lot of work but I managed to convince her to come back with me, and the healing process took a long time. It was months before we were able to put it behind us."

"And how is that supposed to help me?"

"Potter, I finally realized that no matter what happened, there was only one Morgan, and I could not live without her by my side. Your desire to maintain your marriage for the sole sake of your children, however noble, is not going to work. Even if you do divorce your wife your children will still love you both, and as hurtful as it may sound you could always have more children." P

Harry clenched his fists, "but my children mean the world to me, I don't want to see them get hurt."

"Life is full of hurt Potter! It's time you realized that and grow up. You're children will forgive you and continue to love you. Your life will go on. But there is only one Ginny; can you really live without her?"

"Remus, I love you. But above that I must serve my goddess, she is my life, and more a part of me than you can ever understand."

Once a priestess always a priestess, Remus thought as his hopes of having a family sank.

"That is why I have to stand by the promise I made to be your wife. Every woman is expected to go through the life stages of maiden, mother, and crone. I have been a maiden and unwillingly a mother. But I need to embrace that role and live my life the way the goddess has ordained. I love you with all my heart Remus and I want you to be beside me."

Remus closed his eyes for a moment, "you scared me to death, I was afraid you were going to go back to Greece."

Kalliope smiled, "I don't think I could ever leave without you, you are my life."

"Well, I guess it's a good thing I got this," Remus crossed the room and caught Kalliope in his arms, kissing her roughly. When he let her go he pulled an etched golden band from his pocket and slipped it on Kalliope's finger. "I know you said you didn't want a ring, but I thought you might like this one."

Kalliope pulled the ring off to examine the inscription, and smiled at the Greek writing carved on the surface, sing, muses, of the mother goddess, she slipped the ring back on her finger and kissed Remus for all she was worth. "I have one request wizard before I become your wife."

"Anything," Remus breathed against her creamy skin.

"Come to Greece with me for a week during the Winter break, I need a chance to say my formal goodbyes to those at the temple."

Dierna squealed in delight Friday morning when a strange owl brought her a letter from Stefan. Only one more day of classes before break and a letter from her boyfriend, the day was looking good so far.

"You look awfully happy this morning," Nick said as he dropped into the seat next to Dierna for breakfast.

"I am," she was practically glowing, "I got a letter from Stefan."

"Well then I'm glad that school is going to be out for a couple of weeks, that way I won't have to hear about this letter every waking moment until you get a new one."

"Be nice," Dierna playfully cuffed him on the arm.

"And how is the nice twin this morning?" Nick put his arm around Serena as she slipped into the seat next to him. "Cheer up sweetie, in a few days you'll feel a lot better about this whole Mark thing."

"Thanks Nick," Serena gave him a brilliant smile, as though trying to prove that she really would be alright.

"By the way, where were you girls last night?"

Dierna quickly looked around to make sure that no one was listening to their conversation, "we went to Diagon Alley for awhile."

Nick shook his head, "you girls have a penchant for getting in trouble, did you know that?"

"Come on Nick! Don't get on our case about it," Dierna rolled her eyes, "you're probably just upset 'cause we didn't ask you to go with us."

Nick grinned, "Yeah, I don't like being left out of your exploits. So, what did you do in Diagon Alley?"

"We got Kamen's birthday present."

"You couldn't wait till tomorrow when we'll be out of school?"

"Of course not," Serena smiled sweetly, "half the fun is the chance that we might get caught."

"Like I said, penchants for trouble."

"Nick, you wanna go Christmas shopping with us next week?" Dierna leaned against his shoulder.

"Sure doll, when did you want to go?"

"Well... we told you how Mum somehow got Remus to play babysitter for us next week, so... as soon as we can ditch him we'll be able to have some fun."

Dierna gave Serena and Nick a remorseful look as they took their seats in Potions that afternoon. She had talked back one too many times in class and had gotten herself assigned to a seat, by herself, in the front row, away from her two closest friends.

But she quickly forgot about that as she became immersed in the class. It wasn't a particularly hard potion today, but she had worked with a couple of the ingredients that morning in her private study and was excited to put what she had learned to use. It enabled her to cut out a couple of steps, and finish her potion nearly fifteen minutes ahead of everyone else.

"Why are you done so soon?" Severus asked Dierna as he surveyed her work.

Dierna tucked a curl behind her ear, "I added the boneset and allium cepa at the same time removing one step, and then I was able to add the trawkish feathers after a shorter simmering time."

Severus studied her with an unreadable expression for awhile, "stay after class for a few minutes." And he walked away, leaving his daughter staring after him in confusion.

When class finally let out Dierna waited expectantly for her father to tell her why he kept her after class, she couldn't imagine that she'd done anything to get in trouble.

Severus sat at the desk next to his daughter and thought about how to word what had to come next, "Dierna, you cannot change the instructions that I give you in class, you must follow them as I give them to you."

Dierna looked confused, "but allium cepa and boneset have similar properties and don't produce any dangerous side effects when mixed with each other so I thought..."

"Unless the allium cepa was harvested during a full moon."

"What?" Dierna was now even more confused.

"Dierna, if you mix allium cepa that was harvested at the full moon with boneset directly together they will create a small explosion and release poisonous vapors. Luckily I plan ahead for students who tend to botch things up and made sure that wouldn't be a problem."

"I didn't know, I'm sorry."

"It is alright this time, I just want you to remember that in the future. The instructions I give you are there for a reason."

"Yes sir. Can I go now?"

Severus started to dismiss her then stopped, "no," he sighed, "I have something else to discuss with you. It is about your grandfather."

Dierna looked a bit apprehensive at the way her father looked.

"As you know, my father completely disowned me years ago. But, he also wrote off all of my children, except for you. I mentioned to him once that I thought you would have done well in Slytherin, and for some reason he remembered that and decided you were his best hope to be an heir worthy of him. He left a good portion of his estate to you Dierna."

Dierna's mouth fell open. "I don't...but why would he..." She blinked a few times before regaining her line of thought, "Dad, if you don't want me to take his money I won't."

"I'm going to leave the decision up to you Dierna. It's your choice."

"Excellent. School's out for Christmas break, my birthday is in two days, Mum and Dad are going to Paris for five days... I think we need to throw a party."

"I'm with you," William grinned at Kamen, "but I think we need to replenish our stash first."

"Already done. I figured that with the wedding next week you're going to need one hell of a party to keep you going."

"Very true," William said in agreement. "Should we worry about Lupin though?"

"Not a problem, there's no one who can keep us from partying."
"Severus, can I have a word with you?"

Severus looked at Remus, "I was rather hoping to be home by now, but if you make it quick then yes."

Remus hesitated, and then launched into the whole story about Dierna and her boggart, "you know school policy Severus, I was hoping that she would have talked to you about it by now, but I had to tell you."

Severus balled his hands into fists and sought desperately to control his temper. But nothing was working.

Remus looked a bit apprehensive as he continued, "I don't even know if she's pregnant or not Severus, so maybe there's nothing to be upset about."

"We'll see about that," Severus spoke dangerously.

"And Severus, just a suggestion, maybe you should wait till you're not angry to discuss it with her," Remus tried not to cringe at the murderous glare he received, "or maybe not...."
"We're going running, we'll be back later!" Serena called as she and Dierna headed towards the door.

"Wait one minute you two!" Morgan yelled after her daughters as she came into the kitchen. She wasn't sure if she was happy or overwhelmed to be home for the Christmas holidays. "Have you unpacked yet?"

"No," was the dismal answer.

"Unpack first, and then you can go running."

"But Mum..."

"Don't argue with me, and make sure you dress warm, it looks like its going to snow."

Dierna and Serena grudgingly returned to their shared room to unpack, grumbling the whole way about the uselessness of unpacking when they were just going to pack it all up again anyways.

"Think she would notice if we just shoved our trunks under our beds instead of unpacking them?" Dierna tried to be hopeful.

"No, we tried that last year, remember?"

"Oh, yeah... damn... we need a back up plan."

"Wanna stash our stuff in Kamen's room? That way it'll look like we unpacked."

Dierna grinned, "Excellent plan twin darling."

"That's because I'm the brilliant twin!"

They quickly moved their trucks down the hall into Kamen's room, giggling a bit at the large collection of liquor Kamen had managed to procure. They would have to remind him to hide it better if he didn't want to get caught with it.

Their trunks safely hidden in their brother's room the twins rushed to change and were out the door moments later following their favorite running path.

"Break is going to be wicked this year!" Serena exclaimed as they jogged alongside the woods, "Kamen's birthday, a couple of weddings, Mum and Dad gone for five days... I can't wait."

Dierna didn't answer, but she wasn't sure if she was as excited as her twin.
Ginny couldn't help but think that things were too quiet when she returned home. She had gone shopping with Meg, and had expected to come home to Harry and her three children. But it didn't seem like anyone was around.

She sighed as she laid down her packages in the front hallway. She honestly didn't know what she was going to do about her and Harry's situation. She loved him, but she didn't know if that was enough, there needed to be commitment, reliance... she wanted more. Resigning herself to a quiet afternoon by herself she was nearly startled out of her wits when the door to the living room was suddenly thrown open.

"Sorry I startled you," Harry said sheepishly.

"It's alright," Ginny said recovering herself, "Where are the children?"

"With your parents."

"Why?" Ginny felt a little nervous.

"Because we need some time alone. We're going to work this out Ginny."

"Are you sure we can Harry?"

Harry didn't answer for a moment, but studied his red haired wife intently, "when was the last time I told you how much I love you?"

"I can't remember," Ginny shrugged.

"I guess I'll have to fix that."