Chapter Fifteen

The Birds, The Bees, and Severus Snape

Despite the fact that thundering storms that time of the year were usually followed by a sharp temperature drop, the weather continued to stay warm and balmy. The newspapers were anything but helpful on the subject. The weekend Daily Prophet merely reported that 'the unusual weather trend continues' while the Oracle began to blame an 'unusual cooling down of the Atlantic' was causing the Gulf Stream to veer north.

"Oh, what would they know of such things?" Aurelius said grumpily, crumpling up the paper. "All I know is, I'm sick of these storms keeping me up at night! Doesn't anyone have even a clue when they'll end?"

"You know they don't," Alex said with a sigh as they walked towards the Pitch. "Poor Essie, I wonder what all this is doing to her confidence."

"I wonder what all this rain is doing to the Dark Forest," Aurelius said, gazing at the swollen lake. "I hope Pali and the herd are all right."

"I don't think a little soft weather would put off a herd of Unicorns," Alex said.

"Yes, but this isn't natural. I can feel it," Aurelius murmured, then glanced at her frowning face. "I'm going to go have a word with Doctor Sagittari. You'd best go on to practice. Mandria's waiting, you know."

"All right, but don't forget to check in with someone when you're done. I personally don't want to hear about it from Professor Snape," Alex said with a grin.

"Right," Aurelius said seriously. But as it turned out, another Snape was already nearby. Andrew, Halbert, and Shelly Meadows were hanging out in the barn, taking care of their mounts for Bridle Club. As Aurelius was coming out of Sagitarri's Hut, he had heard Andrew's voice and went over to investigate, curious about the annoyed look on Halbert's face where he stood scooping out food for Babe.

"Hippogriffs can be very skittish creatures, you know," Andrew explained to Shelly a few stalls away. "They like to have things just so. Here, stay away from his neck feathers and always stroke this way, I'm sure he'll warm up to you…" he said, coming up behind her and showing her how to hold the brush. "Just like this…there, see, a little respect and a lot of TLC go a long way."

"I suppose, except Ginseng is a girl," Shelly said with amusement, Andrew blinking a moment as the Hippogriff cried out indignantly.

"Um. Sorry. Of course I knew that," Andrew said, Halbert rolling his eyes and shaking his head as he came back around to grab a brush for himself.

"Well! What do we have here?" Aurelius said from where he stood by the door, Halbert waving at him absently, while Andrew took a healthy step backward, Shelly becoming absorbed in her work. "Hullo, Andrew. I thought you were riding Ruby again this year?"

"Oh, I am. I was just helping Shelly, you know, giving her a few pointers," Andrew said.

"Really? In what?" Aurelius asked bluntly, continuing when he saw that Andrew couldn't think up a suitable reply. "Doctor Sagittari just agreed to take us out to the Glen to see the Unicorns after the game tomorrow if Snape says it's alright and the game doesn't run too late, so don't make any plans," he glanced at Shelly again.

"Sure, Rel, I'd love to see Cody again," Andrew said.

"For some reason I'm beginning to doubt that," Aurelius muttered under his breath as he walked away.

Aurelius hadn't been the only one who had noticed the dramatic changes in Andrew. Despite everything going on, Severus was true to his word and did his best to keep an eye on the son so busy testing the waters that he wasn't looking out for the riptides. In fact, it was just before the Ravenclaw-Hufflepuff game that Snape decided to wander near the Gryffindor stands. He arrived just in time to see Ted Gaffney show up, glaring at where Andrew, Halbert, and Zack stood. But Ted paused when a broom came down to hover near them in Hufflepuff colors.

"Halbert!" Ginger said. "I got your Owl. Still have room for tonight?"

"Have what?" Halbert said, only to have his foot stamped on by Andrew. "Oh, right! Sure, of course!"

"Good, we can talk then. I'll tell Alicia to make sure it's a fast game," Ginger said, winking at him as she flew back to the gate. Halbert looked at her with a dropped jaw.

"She winked at me! Just what did you say to her?" Halbert asked Andrew.

"What makes you think I said anything?" Andrew shrugged, but it was obvious that Halbert didn't buy it as he raised a finger to threaten him.

"Andrew!" Halbert forgot what he was going to say when he saw the look on Ted Gaffney's face. "I'd like a word, if you don't mind."

"Should I pick one out of the dictionary?" Andrew said smoothly.

"Just get down here!" he snapped. Sighing, Andrew excused himself from his friends and followed him to the side of the stands. "Just exactly what are you playing at, Snape? Shelly tells me you invited her to the Glen tonight."

"So? She's a friend of mine and seemed interested in going. Any student who wants to go and has Magical Creatures can go, you know," Andrew said.

"Then why do I get the impression that's not the only reason she's going? I'm only going to say this once. Shelly is my girl, and you had better back off!"

"I think Shelly can make up her own mind about who she wants to see and where she wants to go. It's not for me or you or anyone else to try to make up her mind for her," Andrew said calmly. "Besides, it's hardly fair that you come down on me because of your own insecurity when what you should be asking is why she said yes in the first place."

Ted suddenly clamped his jaw and turned around, heading back to his seat. As Andrew made his way back as well, Severus found himself shaking his head, knowing that even if he could think of something to say that it wouldn't make a difference at this point. In the teacher's box, Jennifer greeted him with a smile and a searching gaze that quickly turned to one of amusement as Severus took his place beside her.

"It's official. Growing pains are contagious," Jennifer said in a low voice.

"Yes, wait until it gets you too," Severus murmured curtly back. He paused as a roar went up as the teams came out, nodding to Alex and Alicia's waves as they went by before continuing. Jennifer was busy frowning in annoyance at Alicia's Seeker robes, which her daughter had transfigured matte black except for vibrant yellow stripes. "I think I'm going to meet with Sagittari after the game and see who is all going with them. From the sounds of things, it may be a large group tonight."

"Having second thoughts about letting them go?" Jennifer asked, but then turned back to the game and shouted loudly in response to Ravenclaw's throw through the lower ring.

"They aren't safe no matter where they go," Severus said when things calmed down again. "I merely want to make sure Sagittari brings the Spear tonight."

Pots were still steaming and delicious smells were pouring out of Sagittari's hut when Severus arrived, and he couldn't help but raise an eyebrow at the large basket on the table.

"I didn't want them to miss out on dinner," Sagittari explained. "Shall I make a small basket for Jennifer?"

"If I said no, she would probably never forgive me," Severus admitted. Sagittari nodded knowingly, fetching another basket off his shelf. "Which students have inquired about tonight's expedition?"

"Your children, Mr. Hagrid and Zack Black, Miss Davidson, Miss MacKay, Mr. Gaffney, Miss Farr, Miss Grey, and Mr. Bliant," Sagittari said, pouring him some tea.

"Bliant?" Severus squinted. "I wasn't aware he took any sort of Creatures class. Has he finally discarded his blame that animals are part of his mental ills?" Sagittari had a difficult time not looking amused.

"I assure you, psychosomatic or not, the symptoms to him are quite real," Sagittari said. "As are their affects on his system, although I do believe he is slowly improving. In fact, the Headmaster has mentioned that he hasn't heard him sneeze in your class since the year started."

"That's because he knows that every time he does I make him write a fifty-inch scroll on how many ways a sneeze can kill him when facing whichever dark entity or creature we happen to be studying it when he does so," Severus said. "Although I must admit he does his best work when he's concentrating on the consequences of his actions, even if his descriptions of his own death do get a bit graphic. But we're getting off the subject. Academic reason?"

"A favor to Mr. Pyther, Severus. His art club is studying animals at the moment and asked if I would mind if he and Phoebe joined," Sagittari explained. "Perhaps also I may use the opportunity to teach some lore of my own people as well."

"You have no concerns over taking them out tonight?" Severus asked softly. Sagittari gazed at him for a long time.

"The stars no longer speak to me, Severus," he said at last. "But that alone is not all that is troubling. The Dark Forest is restless from the warm weather and rain. Rare plants and even trees which should be preparing for the winter still maintain their summer appearance, creatures normally fat in preparation for the winter are lean and their furry coats thin, and parts of the forest usually dry is turning into marsh. Our environment has been strained by this strange pattern, and I do not believe it is completely natural nor should it go ignored for too long. It may be hard to convince others that this is more than just a fluke of nature, but I think as December approaches they will see it is more than that." Severus' expression darkened.

"Perhaps sending students in there right now would be a mistake," he murmured.

"I disagree, Severus," Sagittari said solemnly. "There is no one better suited to finding out how this is affecting the forest as your son Aurelius is. He is connected to the forest in some ways that even I do not fully understand."

"I know," Severus murmured, glancing out the window at the students gathering outside. "For some reason that doesn't make me feel any better about the situation."

"You are in charge of security," Sagittari said as he finished packing the baskets. "I will cancel if you think it necessary. Perhaps the picnic will make up for it." Severus glanced out with a sigh, watching as Aurelius, Alicia, and Andrew walked up, Alex following behind. But it was the intense fire in Aurelius' eyes that had his attention at that moment.

"No, but send me an Owl when you get back. Otherwise expect me at the first crack of thunder," Severus said.

"Agreed," Sagittari said with a serious nod as he reverently took down the Spear of Lugh and strapped it across his human back. "I will attempt to have them back within a couple of hours. Feel free to relax and take your time here, Severus. Don't forget the basket. Doctor's orders," he added with a rare smile before walking out to meet the students.

But as Severus paused to finish his tea, he glanced out the window again and stopped cold when he saw that one of the students had chosen to stay behind. And as he gazed into the face of his older daughter he nearly dropped his cup, staring at her as if seeing her for the very first time.

Perhaps Alex would have been able to sneak away if it hadn't been for Andrew, who was one of the first out on the pitch after the game. Most of them had gone over to congratulate Alicia on another good game, but Andrew was beaming at his other sister.

"Five goals, Alex, you were absolutely smashing tonight!" Andrew said.

"He's right, this was the best game we've had in a while, even if we did lose," Mandria admitted with a shrug.

"Absolutely right! We're going to give Gryffindor a run for the money this year," Ralph taunted.

"We'll see, we'll see," Andrew said with a smile, pulling Alex away. "Halbert went to find everyone going tonight…hey, you'd better go change! We're meeting in a half an hour."

"Actually, I was thinking of staying here, Andrew. You know, Defense test coming up and all that," Alex said.

"Come on, Alex!" Andrew said with a grin. But Alex didn't turn right away, feeling a tinge of regret inside. "What's wrong? You're coming with us to see the Unicorns, right?"

"I'd rather study so Aurelius has no reason to mock me over my marks," Alex shrugged.

"Really, Alex, it's hardly like we get many chances to do this during the year. Besides, Rel is coming too, so it's not like he has an advantage. No, stop that, come on," Andrew protested. "Look, Alicia's already managed to get away. Better hurry, you know how Aurelius doesn't like to wait."

"I'll catch up," Alex promised.

"It's all right, I'll wait," Andrew said, waving Halbert on from a distance.

Alex went inside, wondering how she was going to get out of this. She could just go, she mused, then shook her head, knowing that wasn't a good idea. Reluctantly she joined Andrew outside and walked over to where Alicia sat on the fence of the pens. Aurelius was pacing anxiously nearby while most of their friends were inside visiting the mounts. Morfinn had brought his camera, and was busy taking photos of some of the creatures while staying as far away from them as possible. Alex coughed experimentally. Well, it had been quite damp, after all, maybe she could sham a cold. But when she saw Sagittari step out the door, she knew instantly that she wouldn't be able to use that excuse in front of the wise doctor.

"Is everyone ready? You all have your wands, potion kits, lanterns, cloaks?" he asked.

"I knew I forgot something," Alex said quickly. "My wand. I didn't bring it with me, Quidditch you know. I should probably stay."

"I don't see why you even bothered to come in the first place! You knew you weren't going! Come on, Andrew," Aurelius said impatiently. "Let her stay if she wants to. Let's go, the doctor's ready to leave."

"Don't you want to see Esta, Alex?" Alicia asked with a frown as she stepped off the fence.

"I just don't feel up to it tonight, that's all. Tell her… tell her I'm fine and we're still friends and all that," Alex said.

"Well, of course! Why wouldn't you be?" Alicia stared at her. But Andrew was frowning, looking at his older sister carefully.

"Don't worry about it, Alicia, let's just go," Aurelius said briskly as Sagittari waited for them to line up in pairs. "I'll talk to Esta, Alex."

Alex leaned on the fence and waved distractedly at her siblings as they went to join the centaur, watching as they walked into the Dark Forest together. As they disappeared into the trees, Alex let out a long sigh and sunk her chin down to her folded arms.

"Not going, I see," said a voice so close that she flinched, somehow managing to keep her head down. Severus leaned on the fence beside her, looking straight ahead expressionlessly.

"No, I decided at the last minute that I have too much studying to do. Besides, I wasn't really feeling up to it," Alex explained.

"I see," Severus said evenly. "What's his name?"

Alex didn't say anything for a long moment. She knew her father well enough to know that denial was not going to be a viable way out of the situation.

"Is it the father or the professor asking?" Alex asked in a low voice.

"I suppose that would depend on which of those you are willing to tell," Severus mused. "Either way, might I suggest we take this to my office?"

Grimacing, Alex nodded and the two of them walked back in silence with Alex lost in her own thoughts and Severus content with leaving her to them. At last he opened the door and Alex stepped in, looking suspiciously at the painting of her mother on the wall, who was peering back at her curiously.

"You're not going to tell Mum about this, are you?" Alex said anxiously. Pausing momentarily to gaze at her, Severus closed the door.

"I can't see why you would have any reason to keep it from her, not a reason I would find worth putting myself in that uncomfortable position at any rate," Severus said as he sat at his desk and gestured to a chair.

"Even if it happened to be a Muggle?" Alex blurted out. Severus stared at her for a long time.

"Very well, so you have a viable reason," Severus said irritably, drumming his fingers on the desk. "How long have you known him?"

"All my life," Alex admitted, the finger drumming immediately stopping. "But I didn't start seeing him till early summer."

"So that would mean it's the Clemmons boy," Severus said with certainty holding his head up with his hand.

"I really didn't mean for this to happen. I mean… I didn't know where he was, and then he just showed up out of nowhere. You know we've always been friends and just friends and then all the sudden…well, Father, I'm hardly a child anymore, this is my last year and I'm almost eighteen and…"

"Spare me the speech, Alex, please. You could be thirty and still the idea that my firstborn daughter was more than 'just friends' with anyone would hit me like a thrown brick. Although, now that you have mentioned it, I would have preferred that you were well out of school and married before things had gotten this far…"

"Did you and Mum wait until after you were married?" Alex asked daringly.

"Are you using any sort of protection?" Severus asked sternly.

"Are you going to answer my question?" Alex asked.

"Mine first," Severus growled warningly. Alex sighed. "Where are you getting your potions at?"

"Actually, we haven't been using potions. We've been using a combination of Muggle methods. You know, pills and… well… maybe I have one in my chest cloak…" Alex murmured, digging in her pockets.

"Enough! I've heard enough! Take a couple of bottles of Oat's Bane off my shelf, not that you'll have an opportunity to see him at any time before the holidays, but you'll find I always have a supply of it in here," Severus said, gesturing to his shelves. Alex got up and picked up one of the bottles thoughtfully.

"Why do you even have these? I mean, I know you don't need it any more, right?"

"You'll find that there are several professors that keep it on hand, including all of the advisors. It's been a part of school policy since an incident that occurred when I was going to school after a student became pregnant… rather nasty scandal, or would have been had been had everyone not been concentrating on Voldemort," Severus said.

"Was it Rolanda Archibald?"

"Kindly concern yourself with you own affairs," Severus frowned at her. "Suffice it to say it's there if you require it, just… do it when I'm not in my office so I don't have the opportunity to figure out how many you personally are taking," he said, waving her off as if dismissing her. "I need some time to figure out how to break this to your mother so we'll talk about this again later when I've come up with some sort of plan. Now, if you don't mind?"

"You still didn't answer my question, though," Alex said as he made a play at pulling out some papers to mark.

"I never implied that I would," Severus said.

"Yes, you did. You said, 'you first' which normally implies that you will answer afterwards," Alex said, folding her arms. "I suppose since you're reluctant to say anything to me that you didn't wait, did you?"

"It was hardly the same circumstances," Severus snapped, frowning at his persistent daughter. He glanced at his ring, which was gravitating towards a peaceful soft blue. Realizing that his relationship with his daughter was going to change no matter what he said at that point, Severus sighed in resignation. It was better than her turning to someone else. "Your mother and I had made the decision not to marry until Voldemort was destroyed. We knew it might have become a long term engagement, and I'll have you know we had been engaged for some time. But these rings of ours turned out to be problematic in some respects. I acquired them hoping that we would come to understand each other better, and also so we could avoid each other's bad moods from time to time. However, we also soon discovered that it also clued us in to when the other was feeling unusually…" he paused thoughtfully.

"Aroused?" Alex egged on.

"Affectionate," Severus said, squinting at the grin on Alex's face. "We did our best to ignore it, of course, realizing it couldn't be helped… no one is in control of their emotions all of the time. But after one interminably long weekend which we spent having to drag several students out of a trap they had gotten themselves into down in…well, somewhere no student is allowed to go… we ended up getting ourselves in a predicament of our own. Later that evening, I found that I couldn't stop dwelling over the whole situation we had faced down there, and then I made the mistake of looking at my ring and saw that she was having the same problem. It was not long after that I heard a knock on the door. So we discussed the matter. Responsibly. And really, that's all you need to know and perhaps more than you needed to know. Now if you don't mind, unless you have something else you plan to torture me further by way of another confession or plan to ask me something else horrifically personal to satisfy that sadistic Craw side of yours, I suggest you leave me alone to recover from all of this."

"The Craw side, that's the crux, isn't it, though?" Alex murmured with a sigh. She got up and tucked the potions away in her cloak. "The only Craw known to have married a Muggle got disowned."

"I hardly think your grandfather would disown you," Severus said, glancing over the paper in front of him.

"I notice you didn't mention Mum," Alex said, walking to the door.

"You're not going to get disowned from this family either," Severus said firmly. "I will deal with your mother on this issue. However, I don't think you need to be concerned with what she thinks. Really, when it comes down to it, it won't matter what either of us think once you're out of school this year, does it? You'll do what you like whether we approve or not. She'll come around," he added in a more gentle tone.

"Hopefully faster than she's coming around over the Fleur issue," Alex joked lightly, walking to the door. "Thanks, I guess you're not so bad of a parent after all," she commented wickedly, ignoring the dirty look he gave her before he turned back to his work. "You're a better teacher, though," she couldn't help but add as she left, closing the door behind her.

Severus let the quill fall out of his hand and stared across the room, eyeing his cabinet. His will already drained and with the first true resolution he made for himself since the whole situation started, Severus decided to make himself a stiff drink.