THE OLIVE BRANCH
by The Goblet
Chapter 7 - A problem shared is a problem halved
13 May 1976
The night of the next full moon, Moony once again padded down to the Slytherin dormitories. However, once he arrived, he did not allow Severus to lead him up to his rooms. Instead, he led the Slytherin back through the castle (using his werewolf senses to avoid Mr Filch and Mrs Norris) and down to the shrieking shack. It truly amazed Remus how much control he had over his wolf, now that he was an expecting father.
Leading Severus to the upstairs bedroom, Moony leaped onto the bed, and waited for his mate to join him.
Waking up in the pre-dawn hours in his human form, Remus retrieved Severus's wand from under his pillow and used it to ward the room. He cast locking and silencing charms on the bed chamber so that no one could get in or, more importantly, out until they were removed.
His task complete, Remus hid the Slytherin's wand and snuggled back into bed, spooning against Severus, holding him and the baby close.
Later that morning, Remus was watching Severus sleep, when the object of his study stirred, and woke gently. Slowly, Remus pulled his mate closer to his body, sharing his warmth, comfort and support.
Abruptly, Severus leapt from the bed. He ran to the door, scrambling to get away from the teen that he had, just moments ago, been snuggling against. Remus watched as Severus struggled to open the charmed door, and when the Slytherin began to search for his wand, coughed, and held up the missing piece of wood.
Remus asked his mate to return to the bed. He was worried that Severus may catch cold. Although it was May, it was still chilly, and the bed chamber had no fire. Severus was very apprehensive about joining the Gryffindor in bed, and turned his back on Remus, scrambling to open the door.
Having become annoyed at his mate, Remus threw off the covers and padded, naked, to the Slytherin. He put one arm around Severus's waist and drew him back to the bed.
Once securely back in the bed, Severus burst into hysterics. He cried and shouted and raved. He raged, sobbed and screamed.
Didn't Remus know about the pregnancy? Didn't he realise that he needed him? That the baby needed him? Why did he leave him alone? Why did he let Black tell him how to get into the shrieking shack? Was it all a joke? Were Potter and Black and Pettigrew hiding in the room? Maybe they had cameras to take pictures of his hideous body? Would they plaster them all over the school?
Not knowing what to do, Remus began rubbing Severus's back. He hadn't realised just how unhinged Severus actually was.
When Severus began to calm down, Remus leaned in and hugged him. He told him that he hadn't realised that he had impregnated him until four weeks ago. Holding Severus close, he said that it wasn't exactly something that he could have blurted out over Arithmency homework. He explained that he had known something was… different about Severus, and his transformations since Christmas, but he just couldn't put his finger on it.
Remus apologised over and over again for raping Severus. Pointing out that werewolf's mate for life, and that he would be drawn to him until he died, Remus promised that he would never touch him again, until he was ready.
Of course, that would have been a lot more convincing if he had not been naked and running his hands over Severus's extended belly.
June 1976
Over the next month, the two began to spend more and more time together. Remus became devoted to helping Severus, and, although resentful at the attention, the Slytherin slowly began to appreciate Remus's touches and attentions, now that they were discrete and private.
When the next full moon approached, Remus asked Severus is he would accompany him to the shack. The two boys went down to the shack straight after classes finished.
Having three hours before the change, Severus and Remus spent the time talking, and exploring Severus's body. The pregnant boy had taken off his concealment charms, and Remus found great delight in feeling his baby move inside his mate.
During Remus's nightly check-up of Severus and the baby, his mate confessed that he had been terrified of having to raise a baby by himself. He was thankful and relieved that Remus was there to help, and support him.
Remus's heart stopped beating. He made his way up the bed, from where he was examining Severus's bump, to stare at his mate. He leaned forward, and kissed him gently on the lips, before hugging him tightly.
As they were eating dinner that night in the shack, Remus brought up the coming summer.
Severus was frightened at the prospect of going home, pregnant and unwed. He was sure that his abusive father, who knew countless hexes and curses, would cause him, or his baby harm. If he didn't succeed in killing the child he carried, he would throw him out to live on the streets, rather than allow an illegitimate child into his home. It wasn't his safety that Severus was worried about. It was his child's.
Remus, on the other hand, was feeling extremely protective of his mate and unborn child. He had turned into a worrier. When he was not pre-occupied by school work, he found himself thinking about the two most important people in his life. He couldn't help but fret about the two. He was losing sleep, worrying about Severus and the baby: anxious that they were safe.
Over dinner, the two devised a plan so that they could spend the summer together.
Later that term, using the invisibility cloak, Remus snuck into Professor McGonagall's office and liberated a few parchments of official Hogwarts stationery. Together, under the guise of studying for their OWLs, the two boys composed a letter home to their parents. They told their parents that, as prefects, they had been offered vacation employment at Hogwarts. Severus wrote that he would be working to restock to Hospital Wing Potions. Remus wrote that in exchange for some light maintenance work, he would be learning advanced Defence Against the Dark Arts. Forging Professor McGonagall's signature at the bottom of the letter, the two boys send them home.
Minerva pursed her lips. "You stole parchment from my office?" she asked.
"Yes ma'am." Remus looked down in his lap. "We needed to. I wasn't going to let Severus go back home like that. His father would have killed him."
The teenager looked up to the headmaster. "I really would like to see them both," he stated.
Albus nodded and rose from his chair. "Come on then, my boy. You too Minerva: you ought to see the little bundle, he is so cute ," exclaimed the headmaster as he ushered his guests out of his office.
As soon as Remus caught sight of Severus in the Hospital Wing, he ran to his side. Severus was sitting up in bed, reading a pamphlet about post-natal depression when his mate arrived. Madam Pomfrey had mistaken his unhappiness as the early on set of depression, rather than his forcible removal from Remus.
Dumbledore and Minerva walked up behind the Gryffindor as he climbed carefully onto the bed.
"So boys," he exclaimed, "how did you spend your summer?"
Remus looked at Severus and put one arm around his mate before telling the headmaster about their summer.
He told him about moving their things to the shack, the night before vacation began. He told him about telling his friends that he was going to Europe for the summer to visit an expert in the field of lycanthropy, and that he just neglected to tell them that the expert was Severus, and that the place in Europe, was indeed the Shrieking Shack. He told him that they had persuaded Sammy, a house elf that usually took care of Remus after his transformations, to pilfer food and other supplies from the castle.
Severus told of their days studying the pregnancy, and reading about parenting. He explained that they used the time to make their relationship stronger and more intimate.
Minerva, who had been listening to the boy's tales about their summer, cleared her throat. "What of the beginning of this term?"