Chapter 23: Long Night (part 1).
Then. July 1980.
"They say that it's probably the worst heat wave in the last ten years."
"Merlin, I'm thirsty." James moaned, moving his hand in his messy, sweaty hair.
"We could have apparated, you know." Sirius groaned and wiped the sweat from his forehead, sighing dramaticly.
"I can't apparate, Sirius." Lily reminded him. "It might hurt the baby."
"Yeah, what if it was your girlfriend?" Peter asked. "You wouldn't want her to do that, right?"
"You've got a girlfriend?" James asked with surprise.
"Thanks a lot, Wormtail."
"Ah, don't mention it." Peter grinned.
"Is she pregnant?" Lily asked.
"No, she's not!" Sirius exclaimed. "Merlin! Just bacause you're pregnant doesn't mean the entire world shares this with you, Lils."
"You'd be surprised…" Lily mumbled and James laughed.
"Hey guys!" Remus called them from his front door.
"Oh, good…I'm so thirsty." James hurried forward, gave Remus a pat on his shoulder and hurried inside the house. Remus stared at him with wonder before mumbling: "Well, do come in, please…"
"Hey, Moony." Sirius greeted his friend with a hug and walked inside. "How is Rose?" He asked.
Remus sighed. "She's chained to the bed, under the doctors orders. However she's so stubborn about that I think I might have to tie her up for real!" He said the last part very loudly and gazed up the stairs, his friends snickering.
"That is not funny, Remus Lupin!" Came the instant reply from the bedroom.
Remus smiled and turned to Peter and Lily. "Hey, Peter, how was abroad?"
"Boring as usual." The short wizard shrugged and greatfully accepted a glass of pumpkin juice from James. "I don't like working there anymore…the people are so strong headed about Voldemort it can drive you mad…"
"How late is she?" Lily asked.
"The baby was due a week ago." Remus sighed. "We went to the muggle hospital and got an appointment for tomorrow morning. They'll give her something to accelarate the birth."
"Don't worry, mate, I'm sure she'll be alright." Sirius said.
"Well, I don't like that." Remus said. "They have all sorts of tools and they probably don't have a spell against pain."
"They have something called epidoral." Lily mentioned, her voice changing so that she actually sounded like she was giving them a lecture. "They use a long needle to extract the drug to the spine…"
Remus' eyes grew wide and he shuddered. "The spine?"
"Shut up, Lily!" James hissed and Lily smiled a little.
"Sorry…"
"Well, thanks for coming. She needs some cheering up." Remus smiled and led them upstairs towards the bedroom.
The friends stayed up until lunch when they had to leave. Rose was looking tired and hot and wanted nothing more then to close her eyes and go to sleep. Remus, however, made her eat something and when she made a face he threatened her with a smirk and a wave of a silk, red scarf.
"You know, I really starting to think you're enjoying that." She mentioned as he took off his shirt and trousers and joined her on the bed. He leaned against her shoulder and inhaled the scent of her hair that smeled like apples.
"Enjoying what?" He asked.
"The entire scarf binding…I think you have a kinky side I need to uncover…" She grinned and he kissed her gently.
"Be carefull with what you wish for." He grinned.
"Remus?" She asked after a while and he stirred a little.
"Yeah?"
"What if the baby never wants to come out?"
"I can understand it." Remus shrugged. "When I'm inside you I never want to come out, either."
"Remus!" His wife flushed. "The full moon is near, right? This is why you're so…"
"Yes?" He raised his head to look at her, a small smile on his lips.
"I'm scared." She whispered suddenly, her eyes misty and bright.
"Don't be." Remus caressed her face lovingly. "I'll be here for you, every step of the way."
"You'll faint dead the moment I'll start screaming." She replied, a hint of challenge in her voice.
"I'll still be in the same room." Remus chuckled.
"Promise?"
"I promise."
Today.
"Harry?" Hermione opened the heavy oak door and entered the room quietly.
"What are you doing here?" Harry opened his eyes and stared at her with surprise. He was trying to focus and to block his mind and he was just about to succeed when she entered the room. Professor Snape left about a half an hour ago, leaving Harry in his small, dark office.
"I went to see professor Dumbledore but professor Snape was in his office and he told me to tell you that you can go and that you'll continue this next week."
Harry rolled his eyes. "Well, that's nice of him to finally remember that I was here."
"This place is creepy." Hermione looked around.
"Tell me about that." Harry grabbed his bag and turned to leave when Hermione's gaze fixed on the large desk.
"What is that?" She asked and then moved closer. "Oh my…it's a Pensieve. Wow, that's very expensive." She reached her hand and touched the silver stone gently.
"Snape uses this to hide his memories when we practice." Harry explained. "Come on, let's go. I don't want him to see me looking at his memories again."
"You looked at his memories?" Hermione scolded. "Harry!"
"I was curious." He defended himself and Hermione laughed.
"What did you see?"
"I saw my mom and dad when they were fifth years. They really hated each other. And my father and Sirius kept on hexing Snape." Harry told her quietly, Hermione snickered a little and then turned back to the pensieve. "Hermione…"
"I just wanna look at it." She said and leaned a little closer.
"Hermiome, don't do anything…" Hermione gasped suddenly and her body froze as her head made contact with the silver liquid inside the pensieve. "…stupid…"
Harry gazed around nervously, if Snape's gonna come in they would both be in a lot of trouble, hell, they might be dead till morning. He had no idea how to get Hermione away from the pensieve, was it safe to pull her away?
"No!" She cried suddenly and Harry felt his pulse racing. What's going on? "No! stop that!" She screamed and then her body shuddered violently when she pulled herself away from the pensieve and collapsed to the floor, breathing heavilly.
"Hermione, what is it?" Harry kneeled beside her, his heart still racing.
"Oh, Harry, you won't believe it! You won't believe what he did, no wonder everyone hated him. He deserved every hex he ever received." Hermione sobbed.
"What? What are you talking about?"
"Harry, he did it! It was Snape…"
"It's professor Snape, miss Granger."
Harry and Hermione froze when they finally noticed, a little too late, the shadow that stood above them. Professor Snape stood there, looking taller then they ever saw him, smiling a thin smile, filled with hatred.
"What did you see, miss Granger?"
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once again, I appologize for taking so long…I'm still in the middle of my midterms and simply can't find the time. I don't rush things and write a horrible chapter so I hope this one was worth it…
please Review and tell me what you thought of it!