A/N: Kali's quite unstable in this one, so I apologize for her being out of character. pokes DeathlyNightShade Guess who's in the story! This one, obviously, goes into homosexuality, mentions of rape, but nothing is actually told because I like to leave people hanging. Plus I suck at writing sex scenes. Haha suck... sex scenes... ANYWAYS! I have a quite comment to make. This will be updating very slowly because I have... A WEBSITE! Woooooooooo! Please visit it. I love people. I won't eat you, I promise. So if you're interested in my style, not that it's HP, then go there. I think there's only one chapter posted, but eventually there'll be a lot. I'm also always recruiting people too, so lemme know if you're interested. Fan fiction isn't going to be on it though, mainly because then copyrights get complicated, blah blah blah... Anyways, enjoy!

Chapter Eight: Her Portrait

Reality sunk in as I glanced at the clock. I kissed her cheek softly. "I have to go," I whispered to her.

She looked up at me and smiled. "Come on, a couple more minutes won't hurt," she said.

"But I really can't be late," I sighed.

Julia held my hand for a moment. "Why not?"

"Because I'll centre myself out of I do that."

"You deserve to be centred out," she tugged playfully at my pants. "Come on, just a couple more minutes. You won't even have to totally take off your pants."

"Julia! I have to go, NOW," I said. "I was late to the last one because of you and I'll make Potter look good if he beats me."

"It bothers you a lot that he works here now, doesn't it?"

"Damn straight it does."

"Well," she sighed. "Come back angry. I love it when you're angry."

I smiled for a moment. "Okay, okay," I laughed. "I'll try, just for you."

"I'll be hanging around in the house. I'll come back around oneish?"

"Sounds fantastic. I should be done patrolling by then," I replied.

I started to walk away with a half way. "Severus," I could tell she was tilting her head. I turned to acknowledge her. "You could come back filled with regret. I love that feeling on you too."

I cringed. "Do you think that's why I loathe Potter?" I snarled.

"I know you have plenty reasons to hate that boy, but he didn't steal Kali away from you. You did that yourself," she said.

"I'm not going to discuss this with you," I stated. "I'm going to be late."

"Okay," she replied calmly, with a vicious smile on her face. "Don't forget, this years the year."

I turned away before she could see my distraught expression. I hurried to the great hall so the students wouldn't see me rushing. I took my seat beside Dumbledore, acknowledging him. "Something keeping you late?" Minerva chuckled on his other side.

I decided against making a comment and turned to see Harry Potter sitting beside Minerva. His hair was a lot longer, hanging off his shoulders slightly. His emerald eyes were hardly hidden by his frameless, muggle glasses. His lengthy hair did not hide his scar, but he didn't try to point in out either. He was the new defence against the arts teacher and I was quite thankful that they didn't seem to last long. With a smug look on my face I watched the boring ceremony, crossing my arms against my chest. Damned Potter. I tuned out Dumbledore as he talked, hearing the same thing over and over again. The stupid hat started to sing, making one of the smaller kids scream. I decided that there were more muggle-born students this year, every year. I stared at the two sitting the back by themselves. I quickly suspected that they were, in fact, friends from an earlier experience. The boy itched his pudgy nose and then laughed at something the female had said. The female was the one who interested me though. Her hair was limp, long and pitch-black. It was easily to tell that her hair was full of split ends, but she didn't seem to mind and twirled it in her right finger once and a while. It reached around the middle of her back. Purple piercings lined the ear that I could see, but I figured the other ear was the same as well. There was a nose ring on the one side as well, but I doubted that there was one on the other. Thick eyeliner made the colour of her skin seem pale, but it could have been the all black clothing as well. The boy laughed again, annoying me. I blinked, acknowledging that another student had been shoved into Slytherin by the hat. I remembered Julia talking to me about this after Kali had left. She told me that Kali was going to get a pregnancy test and if she had a child, that was actually mine, it would be going to Hogwarts this year. If Kali's child had any magic at all, this would be their year.

I doubted that the boy that had been shoved into Slytherin was the child, since he had bright red hair and was rather plump, not festively plump either. I went back to looked at the girl. It was probably her. If the child was a she. If the child was at all. Her hair didn't resemble mine though. It looked too... fake. I blinked, noticing the blonde forming by her roots. She died it. Kali had blonde hair. I paused. Kali had bleached hair. Damn. I sighed, suspecting that I would not actually have to look for the child if I asked her, but then again if she had responded to my letters I would have known the child from the beginning. The bitch. How could she just toss me aside like that? I acknowledged another student who was in Slytherin. Cheers came from the table and I noted Chris Humphrey in the crowd. He was loud, annoying and controlling. It was easy to tell that he was already manipulating the first years. I watched the girl get put into Ravenclaw. At least the colour matched her piercings and one of the colours in her eyeliner - the other being black. Natalie Taylor, I must remember that name. Would Kali have been a Ravenclaw? No, she would have been a Gryffindor, then she could have been with her precious Potter. Soon everyone was sorted, except for the boy. I nudged Rubeus beside me, and pointed to the boy. "What about him?" I questioned, softly.
"I dunno if Dumbledore sees 'im," Rubeus replied. "Dumbledore!" The bumbling Hagrid continued to cause a scene. "What about that boy back there?"
Dumbledore pushed his glasses up and looked at the boy who looked back nervously, now standing, alone. He obviously was centred out. "And who might you be?" Albus asked.
"Richard Alan," he replied. "I-I got my letter late. You spoke with my mother about the issue."
"Ah," Albus nodded. "I remember now. Step up and let's see where the hat sorts you." He smiled at the shaken boy.
Everyone was silent as the boy became sorted. It was a while. He seemed to be arguing with the sorting hat, but I wasn't sure. He probably wanted to be with his friend. "Ravenclaw!" the hat finally shouted. I noticed the hat whisper to him as he took it off, "You would have made a great Slytherin, but you'll make a better Ravenclaw."

Albus turned to me, to see if I had heard what the hat had said. I nodded carefully. There had been a lot less Slytherin's over the years and it became harder to keep them as a house. If they boy could have been a Slytherin, he should have been a Slytherin. The celebration continued and I turned to mention it to Minerva and noticed Professor Potter staring at me. I raised a brow. "Would you like something?" I questioned him.

"N-no," he said.

"Fantastic," I replied and mentioned the incident to Minerva.

I heard Albus attempt to summon me, lighting all the candles in the room. Julia never showed up, not that I minded. I was too tired to listen to her complain, or to do anything else. I left my empty bed as I left to go to the office where I had been summoned. I waved a wand to quickly throw clothes over my unclothed body. My love had never bothered to stay at the school, but visited quite often. I opened and shut the door to my chamber. I didn't light my wand as I slunk down the silent hallways. My eyes quickly adjusted to the darkness. The halls suddenly were not quiet. I heard a curse come from one corner as well as a dim light. I lit my wand so I could properly face the boy who cowered in his newly claimed corner. "What are you doing out so late..." I searched for his name.
"Richard Alan, sir," he replied. "I was called down to the office and I'm afraid I got lost on the way back."

I scoffed. A likely story. He's probably off checking out other rooms. "The Ravenclaw room is that way, Mr. Alan." I pointed vaguely.

His slightly curled black hair fell in front of his bright black eyes that may have been a deep blue. "Thank you Professor," he said, not really making eye contact with me.

I watched him hurry back to his room. He was rather small and didn't really seem to fit in with Natalie Taylor. I was kind of surprised that they were friends, but it may have been the cloud pyjamas that he was wearing that threw off my opinion of him. His shaking hands, at least they were shaking as I had approached him, did not show any confidence in himself. He probably hid behind her a lot. I shrugged and went back on my way. I went up to Albus Dumbledore's office to see Filius Flitwick, Minerva and Pomona as well as Albus standing around a large chair. "Thanks for coming Severus," Minerva snarled with a suspicious pink nightcap.

"It took me longer than I thought to get here, sorry to cut into your sleep," I said. "What's this about?"

"Richard Alan actually," Albus said.

"The whole Ravenclaw issue?"

"Yes," Filius said. "I don't mind him being in Ravenclaw house, but Slytherin is getting much smaller these days. If you think you need another..."

"Did you talk to him?" I asked.

"He'd prefer not to be separated from Natalie." The chair that the professors had gathered around had a woman contained in it. She stood up proudly with a small smile on her face. Long reddish-blonde girls shaped her thin pale face.

I blinked. "Kali," I stated.

Her blue eyes lowered, with more of a spark than I remembered. She had filled out nicely, a lot plumper than when I last saw her, but it had been almost 11 years. I wanted to hug her, but decided to stare stupidly instead. "I haven't seen you for a while Severus," she said.

"Yeah," I nodded. "You look healthy."

She laughed. "You look older," she said. "I can't say I've missed you, but it is nice coming back here, not that I was even here for long."

"R-Richard's mine?" I asked.

"No, he's mine," she said with a small, cocky smile.

"He can stay in Ravenclaw," I smiled weakly. "Maybe next year I'll have better luck. The hat did say Ravenclaw first."

"I can go back to bed now?" Minerva sighed.

"Yes," Albus said.

The three house leaders left quickly leaving Albus, Kali and I alone. There was one more I hadn't seen though. "Mommy," I noticed a small girl tug on her mother's fitting green dress. "I'm hungry."

My eyes lowered to the small girl, suspecting that Kali had another child. She had straight, long, platinum blonde hair, bright blue eyes and wore a blue dress, with the same design as her mother's. "It's three in the morning sweetheart," Kali sighed. "Usually you'd be sleeping. Why on earth are you hungry?"

"Well, I'm sleepy then mummy," she kept changing her pronunciation.

Albus waved his wand to give her a large chocolate bar. "I think this will solve both problems," he said, handing it to the small child.

"May I have it mother figure?" she asked.

Kali sighed. "Yes, you may," she replied.

"Thank you," the girl stated with a large smile on her face, that was lacking a tooth or two.

"Maybe Kali and the little one would like to take a look around again," Albus said. "Severus could always show you two around."

"Sev'rus?" the girl's blue eyes looked up to me. I suspected that she wasn't mine; she didn't resemble me at all. "He has nice hair mummy."

"He does have nice hair," her eyes flashed my way for a moment. "Would you like to go with Severus, sweetheart?" Kali asked the little girl.

She walked up to me and stuck out her tiny hand. "I'm Wren!" she said. "I like you Sev'rus."

I shook her small hand. "It takes her a while to warm up to people," Kali sighed. "I wouldn't mind walking around alone. Would you mind showing Wren around a bit?"

"You mean would I mind babysitting?" I crossed my arms. I didn't realize that her hand was still attached to mine and I lifted Wren up with me. She giggled irresistibly. "I wouldn't mind at all." I lifted her up into my arms.

"Thank you Severus," Kali said.

"Sev'rus!" Wren shouted putting her soft arms tightly around my neck.

"I'll show her around then. Say bye to mommy Wren," I waved her thin arms.

"Bye mother!" she smiled and let me wave her arm.

"That's something I thought I'd never see," I heard Albus say as I left the room.

"I bet you want to know who my daddy is," Wren said.

"How much would you bet?" I asked.

"Half of my chocolate bar, but what would I get in return?" She asked, breaking off a piece. She was much smarter than she had acted around her mother.

"Have you ever thought that I'm bargaining now because I know I'm going to win?" I asked.

"It's what you're thinking. You could straight out lie to me and I wouldn't know," she replied.

"So if I really wanted to get your chocolate bar I could..."

"Lie," she said. "But don't lie Sev'rus. Daddy lies to mommy."

"So who is daddy?" I asked.

She giggled. "Now you want to know!"

"Well, I wouldn't want anyone to hurt your mother," I said.

"Do you like my mom, Sev'rus? She called you a bastard one day. I recognized your name. She's fond of you," she said.

"I like your mother, Wren. Why did she call me a bastard?" I asked, feeling sneaky for getting my information from a small child.

"When she was talking to daddy," she smiled childishly.

"So then who is your father?"

"Do I get something out of it?" she asked. "You were originally going to barter something," she took another bite out of her chocolate bar.

"I'll show you something in my closet," I said. "But you have to promise not to tell your mother, or anyone."

"I'll scream if you rape me," she glared at me.

"I wouldn't rape you. You're cute, but a little young for me," I smiled.

"Okay, I promise not to tell anyone," she said.

Luckily, I was heading to my room anyway and was there in a matter of minutes. I opened the door and flicked on the light. "This is my room," I stated.

"It's very clean," she said. "You should clean my room."

"I'd rather not," I said, opening my closet door.

"Why is this surprise in your closet?" she asked.

"Because then my girlfriend won't see it," I said, lifting her down and placed her on the carpeted ground.

I pulled on a cord to turn on a light. "God it's bright Severus. Usually you just talk in the dark. What's so different this time?"

"Is that painting talking Sev'rus?" Wren asked.

A painting was set up against the wall. It was finished enough, a lot from memory. "I suppose you haven't encountered one of these before," I said to Wren. "This is your mother, when she was living with me."

"I have a daughter?" the young Kali asked. "Is this our daughter?"

"No," I said.

"Mommy?" Wren asked the painting. "You look so young."

"She's gorgeous," Kali said. "What's your name?"

Kali's blue eyes watched Wren's. It was interesting, watching them examine each other. I quite enjoyed it. "My name's Wren," she said.

Her hair hung over her shoulder and she sat down on the floor facing her mother. "That's a pretty name," Kali replied. "You're really pretty."

"I have your eyes," Wren said, pointing to her eyes.

"You do," Kali said. "But where did you get the hair? I'd love to have hair like that?" The painting felt her bleached hair.

"Daddy," the little girl stated.

"Who did I eventually marry then?" Kali asked, looking at me.

I shrugged. "She hasn't said anything yet."

"Mom's not married," Wren sighed. "She's just dating father. Draco Malfoy. Daddy's married to someone else, but he tells mom that he doesn't love his wife like he loves mom. I don't know if I should believe him or not."

"I can't believe I ended up with Draco Malfoy," Kali sighed. "Like fuck, he's even cheating on me and I don't even see it. I have a beautiful baby girl and even she sees it."

"Mommy, don't curse. You love daddy, even though he's a jerk. You love me an' you love Ric'. You're amazing mommy," Wren said.

"She's lovely Severus, isn't she lovely? Who's Rick?" Kali asked.

"Richard is our son," I said. "She is quite lovely."

"How old are you Wren?" Kali asked.

I watched the wheels turn in Wren's head. "Five," she said holding out her hand, showing four fingers and one stub for a thumb.

"You're darling," Kali said. "I am so proud of you."

"Thank you mummy," she said.

"Severus?" Julia asked from another room.

"We gotta go," I said, "Say bye to painting mommy."

"Bye-bye, painting mommy," Wren said. "Wait, mommy. Do you love Sev'rus?"

"Severus?" Julia asked again.

"Sometimes," Kali laughed. "Most of the time."

"We gotta go, now," I said, lifting up Wren.

"Bye!" Wren said as I flicked off the light.

"Bye," Kali whispered.

"Severus," Julia saw me. "What are you doing in the closet?"

"Grabbing a Slytherin Scarf for Wren," I said, taking it down.

"Who's Wren?" she asked.

"The little girl in my arms."

"Is that Kali's abomination?" Julia snarled.

"Lady, I am not an aboma... abomi... well I know what it means, and I'm far from that," Wren snarled back.

"It is Kali's child," I stated.

"Yours?"

"No."

"Sev'rus," Wren said, wrapping the scarf around her neck, careful to not get any chocolate on it. "I wouldn't mind finding mommy now."

Her big blue eyes watched Julia bravely. "Yes, you should go find mommy, before I do," Julia said.

"I'm surprised you even showed up tonight," I said, letting Wren crawl up on my shoulder. "I didn't think you would. Four hours late is usually a good sign."

Julia crossed her arms quickly. "I didn't know you were so good with children. If I had known I would have had sex with you, wait I can't have kids," she said, biting her lower lip.

"Fine, I'll leave you bitch, but don't expect me to be friendly when I get back," I said. "It wasn't my choice anyway. You were the one who chose not to have children."

I slammed the door behind me and made sure that Wren was still on my shoulder. Julia was only violent when she needed to be, but I still wouldn't have left Wren with her alone. "Do you like her Sev'rus?" Wren's arm was around my head.

"Yes," I said.

"Why?"

"She was there for me when no one else was."

"That's stupid," Wren said. "You can't expect people to be there for you all the time. Sometimes you need to face things alone."

"I'm alone a lot," I said.

"Do you love her?"

"I suppose I do," I said. "I would do anything for her."

"You called her a bad word," she replied.

"It doesn't mean much anymore," I said. "It takes a lot to actually hurt her."

"Do you love my mom?" she asked.

I sighed. "You ask a lot of questions, don't you?"

"Shh, shh," a voice came from the shadows.

"Was that you?" Wren asked.

"No," I lit my wand up. "We'll find out who it was though."

"Shh, shh," the voice continued in a horrid whisper. "No one will find you again."

"Mom!" Wren took control of my wand and pointed it in the proper direction.

I saw Kali curled up in a corner. Nothing reacted to the light; she was elsewhere, mumbling to herself. I set Wren down quickly and put my face close to Kali's. "Kali," I said, quietly at first.

Her eyes didn't even acknowledge mine. "Fade away. You're nothing."

"Has this happened before?" I asked Wren as I picked Kali up to shift her onto my lap. She stopped rocking her body, but continued to mutter.

"No," Wren said. "At least, I haven't seen her do this."

Kali started to cry. "Severus," she buried her face in my chest.

I held onto her tightly, and let her weep into me. Wren sat down next to her mother. "Mom," she touched her mother's head. "It's going to be okay."

"Oh sweetheart," she picked up her child, adding more weight onto my lap. I kept my mouth shut, suspecting that I had done something to set off this awkward mood. "I'm so sorry. I don't know what came over me."

"It's okay mother," she said.

Kali kissed her daughter's forehead. Tears stayed in her eyelashes. "Severus," her voice cracked. "Why didn't you tell me to stay with you?"

I moved my legs, trying to get more comfortable. "I don't know," I said.

"Well, then why didn't you write to me?" she asked.

"I wrote to you all the time, you never replied."

"I never got any letters," she said.

"Then Lucius has been tampering with my mail again. I'll have to talk to him about it." I took a deep breath. "I'm so sorry."

"A happy family," Julia stated.

"Can't you just leave me alone for one night?" I asked.

Julia smirked. "You never wanted me to before," she said.

Kali stood up with Wren in her arms. "It's nice seeing you again, Julia."

"If it wasn't for me, you'd be with your precious Severus Snape," Julia said. "You wouldn't have to live with your horrid last name either. Please, think quieter my dear."

"Leave her alone Julia," I said. "I think it's pretty obvious she's been through a lot more than you have."

"Don't compare me to her, dear Severus. I don't know why you stay with me. It's obvious you like her a lot more than you like me. Do you feel like you owe me something? Maybe it'd be best if we separate for a while, like for a long while."

"Julia don't be like this. Kali just needed help, that's all. Do you have to go overboard on everything?"

"Yes," Julia said. "Yes I do. If you really want me back I'll be in your house."

She walked off, without her sexy hip sway that I was used to. "I'm messing everything up," Kali sighed.

"She brings you up even though you aren't around. Don't worry about it," I said. "Are you going to be okay?"

"I'll be fine," Kali said. "You should go after her."

"B-but," I stuttered childishly.

"Pretend I never spoke to you."

"May I write to you Sev'rus?" Wren asked.

"Sure," I said smiling at her. "If your mother lets you."

"Don't feel guilty. She's not yours," Kali said.

"I know," I said. "I like her."

"You can write to him Wren," Kali said. "Let's go. You probably want to get to sleep," she started to unravel my scarf.

"She can keep it," I said. "I don't really need it."

"Sev'rus, Ima going to be in Slytherin if I go to Hogwarts, just so you can be my leader," Wren stated, proudly.

"You'd be the first," I said.

"'Bye 'bye Sev'rus!" Wren said, waving.

"Goodbye Severus," Kali said, not turning to face me.

Ask her to stay. "Bye Wren," I said. "Bye Kali."

I doubted that they could hear me as they walked off into the darkness. I put out my wand and began to walk back to my room. I'll fetch Julia back. She'll forgive me. She always forgives me. I ran into a chest. "You're not paying attention Severus," Lucius said, pulling some of my hair away from my face.

"Lucius," I said. "I might have pissed myself."

"You okay?"

"Don't tamper with my mail anymore," I said. "I didn't even know."

"Didn't know what?"

"My son."

"Severus, I have no clue what you're talking about," he said with a quick chuckle. "I'm sorry to bring this on you, especially now that I think you might have gone mad. There's an emergency meeting and we all need you there."

"Why do they need me?" I asked.

Lucius put his arm around me, walking to the portal he had left open. "Proof of commitment," Lucius stated. "You know how some people are kind of worried about you." He poked my stomach. "It's just to show that you're on our side."

"You're quite playful today," I said. "Can we postpone it? I'm not up to anything today. What's the big deal anyway?"

"Potter was stupid enough to walk right in. He thought he could take us all down. I'm not sure why he did it, but he did it," Lucius said. "We have to do it now, so that he's not missing in the morning."

"So what do I have to do?"

"Rape 'im."

"God Lucius. Everything's about rape. No, no, no, NO! Slit his throat, cut off his toes, I don't care. I just don't want to rape him," I said.

"I'm sure he's clean," Lucius said. "Probably still a virgin too. We could cut off his toes. I didn't know you were kinky like that Severus."

"God you're twisted Lucius. Excuse me while I throw up. I don't want to do this. I really don't want to do it if he is a virgin. My gods he'd never forget it."

"You don't have a choice," Lucius walked beside me as we went through the portal. He pushed me up against the wall as the portal began to fade. "If you don't do this they're going to splatter your head against the walls; they'll fuck you cold. If I didn't come back with you, they were going to do the same to me. You have to do this."

"Julia left me."

"Oh who cares? Woe is me, I have no whore by my side. You don't need her."

"I care," I said. "I like you Lucius, but it's not the same."

I felt his grip tighten on my shoulders. "I heard Kali stopped in."

"Just to take care of some things."

"Is that why Julia left?" he asked.

"I guess so," I said. "We were fighting and she left."

"Did Kali leave too?"

"Yes."

"You didn't stop her?" his grip weakened.

"No."

"God dammit Severus. I'd give it all up for you. I actually like Kali. I'd let you be with her, but Julia treats you like shit. Leave them all behind, be with me."

"If you'd give it all up for me, why did you get me?"

"I'm loyal. Are you not?" His hands twined together with mine. "Would you rather die? I'd bring you back as a ghost and keep you hidden in my closet like you keep that painting of Kali."

"Lucius," I said. "This is silly. We're not children anymore. I thought you'd grow out of it."

"So you have no feelings for me? None at all? Are you like my goddamned wife?" Lucius asked. He hugged me tightly, pushed his face against my chest. My shirt was probably still damp from Kali. "Don't leave me Severus. You're all I have left. Draco won't even put up with me anymore."

"Draco will always love you," I said. "He looks up to you."

"I think he looked up to you more," Lucius said.

"I've done nothing to make him look at me," I said.

"Am I old Severus?"

"We're both old," I said.

"Remember when we'd talk about growing old together," he chuckled.

"Yeah," I wrapped my arms tightly around him. "I'll do this," I said. "But only for you."

"So you still do have feelings for me?"

"Apparently," I sighed, but only for a moment.

"Okay old man. Let's show all these newbies how to handle rape!" Lucius let go of me and started to wave his fists dramatically.

"I'm pretty sure you're older than me," I said.

"No shit," he replied. "But I'll be damned if I act it!"

Holy jeebus, do mood swings come with old age as well?

A/N: Did Snape just say jeebus? Yes, yes he did. Why? Because I say jeebus all the time, cause I like too, also I was reading this article in a magazine about dishwashers, and the guy actually wrote jeebus in it. How exciting eh? I like Wren. What a cool five year old. I wish I was that cool. Natalie and Richard are obviously going to have larger roles in the next chapter. Gay sex? Harry? Snape? My god this isn't my other story, is it? I obviously have no life. Or too much of one.

Thanks to my reviewers DeathlyNightshade, Sesshomaru's Angel and Smiley Face3!

Thanks to everyone that reads too!