A/N: This chapter touches on some sensitive stuff. And a bit more of the flustered Snape. We get to see another side of Sevvie, a bit more sensitve, a little ashamed, a lot guilty. And we get a little more from the Potter/Granger/Weasley front. They have been feeling a little neglected lately.

Chapter Seven:

At approximately four o' clock, someone tapped on the door of Severus Snape's personal quarters. Luna opened the door gently to find the woman who had sized Luna's wedding robe for her standing outside the door.

"I have a delivery for a Mr. Severus Snape..." she said.

"He's not here right now," Luna told her.

"It doesn't matter. Here," the woman said, shoving something into Luna's hands and leaving. Luna was puzzled and slightly offended by the woman's rudeness, but she shut the door and went inside. She sat at the table and looked at what the woman had shoved into her hands. There was a reciept on top, and below it were several tiny robes. They looked as if they were made for a doll. Luna knew that would have to be magicked back to their normal size, but that they were for her. She studied them, holding each one close to study the detail. They were all one of three colors: black, green, or white. There were five robes for everyday use and two formal robes. The formal robes were white and black, the everyday robes green and black. Luna wished they were full size so she could see them better, maybe try them on. But she had no wand to enlarge them with.

She sat for the next two hours at the table, the book Draco had handed her in front of her, a glass of water nearby. She read the passage on 'Facio Praegnas' at least twenty times, searching for any hint that it was not what the book said it was. Then, she simply sat and stared at the book, her eyes blurring out of focus as tears and loss of thought overtook her.

It isn't that bad, she thought. At least it's nothing I can't handle.

A moment later, the door opened and a spectacled, nerdy looking Snape walked through the door, a few parcels in is arms. Luna giggled at his square glasses.

"I'm back," he stated sharply. He seemed agitated.

"Is something wrong?" she asked him.

"Nothing of your concern. Get ready for bed."

"But it's just six twen--"

"Did I ask you what time it was, wife! Now get ready for bed!" Luna looked at him oddly, then scurried into the bathroom to get washed up a bit. When she came out, her new robes were their full size and Snape was leaning over the book on the table.

"So you know now. How did you know to look in this book?" he asked. He seemed calmer.

"Draco--"Luna stopped, realizing her mistake. She paled.

"What!" he roared. The calm he had seemed to grasp a moment ago was gone. Quite suddenly, Luna found herself laying on the floor, her cheek stinging and eyes streaming. Snape was looking at his hand in a mixture of awe and betrayal. Then he seemed ashamed.

"I'm sorry, Luna. I don't know what's wrong with me," he murmered, kneeling beside her and conjuring up an icepack. Guilt seethed from him. A guilt that ran deep, in his very core. He was truly sorry, and he felt as if he were going to cry as he had done as a child when his father hit his mother. It was a rare enough occurrence, but when it did happen, he had felt so trapped and useless. It had begun his affinity with the Dark Arts. The urge to hurt his father for what he did.

Luna lay with the ice pack against her cheek, watching Snape fade from reality into his mind. She saw the hurt and helplessness there. And suddenly her hand was on his cheek, a sign of forgiveness and comfort. He snapped back to reality and simply looked at her for a moment. And then, he put his hand on her stomach.

"I'm sorry about the spell, but Voldemort ordered it. Of course, you can look on the bright side. You won't have a squib." Luna looked at her stomach, which was beneath his palm at the moment.

A baby. Her own baby. She felt so overwhelmed that blackness covered her sight and she was lost to conciousness.

----

Snape got scared when the girl quite suddenly slumped, unconcious, to the floor. His hand caught her head before it hit the stone floor. He scooped her up and put her on the bed, then got his smelling salts from the first aid kit he kept near his labratory counter. She woke after he had waved them beneath her nose a few times. It was a muggle procedure, but very effective.

"What happened?" he asked her gently. She lifted her head up and looked at him a moment.

"A baby..." Her head fell back into the pillow. He checked for fever. She did feel a little warm, but not too much. He went over to the parcels he had brought home and picked one from the pile.

"Here," he said, handing it to her. She tore the paper open curiously. In it was a pyjama set made of green satin.

"Thank you..." she said, but realized that he had walked off to the lavatory already. She slipped into them, then realized that they were a bit too big. She took the top off and looked at the tag. "Maternity. Wash cold." She slipped back into the shirt and slumped into the bed, feeling overwhelmed again, though not nearly as strongly, and exhausted by the trying day.

She fell asleep and dreamed a giant baby was crawling after her.

----

When Snape came out of the lavatory, he saw Luna, asleep on top of the covers. He looked at her. When she slept, she looked like one of the angels his bible beating father had described to him as a child. Except for the light purple beginning to show beneath her pale skin. He winced. He was becoming his father. He vowed then and there to never hit Luna again, or his unborn child. The thought frightened him. He had no idea how he was going to live with a child. He rather disliked children, a dislike fueled by years of teaching them. But perhaps he could be more sensitive. Perhaps he could be a good father. But then, how could he, under the rule of Voldemort? It seemed impossible. He looked at Luna again, then pulled the covers from beneath her and tucked her in. Why did he have to do this? He was old enough to be her father, not father her child. Of course, the time would come when he would have to remove that pesky little barrier that had caused all this in the first place.

Snape flushed at the very thought. He had often been greatly embarrassed about the subject of the reproduction process. It had been especially difficult to avoid the subject when jammed in a room full of hormonal teenagers when he was a student at Hogwarts. He even found the very word for it vulgar and disgusting. Sex. It sounded like something a nasty old perverted man would say. So harsh. He hated the way it felt in his mouth. Sex. What most found arousing, Severus found disgusting in every way. And now, after getting away with celibacy his whole life, he would have to commit the act he had so painstakingly avoided. Perhaps he should discuss it with Luna in the morning.

----

Harry sat in the Black house with the rest of the Order and the puffy-eyed Weasleys. They had been like this for a little over a week now, crying and worrying and mulling. The boys had been angry to no end when it was made official that Ginny, among other girls, were kidnapped from Hogwarts. Mr. Lovegood was with them now, too, though he seemed slightly less upset than the Weasleys. But only slightly. He was a thin, aging man, though he had still retained a certain element of regality and good looks. At hte moment, the Order was discussing possibilities.

"They were all pureblood girls. That much we know. And they were all in houses other than Slytherin. That means it is for vengeance," Remus said.

"Well, obviously. I mean, when have you ever known Voldemort to do anything without ulterior motives?" Fred commented. He and George had taken the blow hard. They had been very close to Ginny, probably the closest to her out of the whole family. A joke had not come from them for a week and they didn't laugh anymore. The steady line of new products for their store trickled to a stop, and only outdated tricks and jokes were left.

"My poor little girl," Molly sobbed. "Probably having her virtue taken away and being hurt and...and...and who knows what else!" A few sad glances were thrown Molly's way. Harry, though, knew for a fact that Ginny had long since lost her "virtue", and he had lost his with it. But that wasn't important.

"Now, Molly. Don't be so negative. She's a clever girl. She could have escaped before any such thing could happen," Arthur said hopefully. Mr. Lovegood seemed strangely distant, like his daughter in many ways, his eyes not focused on any physical thing. Harry watched him for a moment.

"Poor man," Tonks whispered at Remus so Harry could just barely hear. "I' m sure he's worried senseless about his girl. She's his only heir, you know." Remus nodded.

"Luna will be fine," Mr. Lovegood said. Apparently, he had overheard Tonks. "She is smart, or else she wouldn't be in Ravenclaw, and she is well protected."

"What do you mean, well protected?" Hermione asked.

"She's got a bit of old magic keeping her safe. A Chastity Ring, for one," he answered.

"I told you we should have gotten her one, Arthur! I told you!" Molly Weasley moaned.

"Molly, you know very well that we couldn't afford one. Besides, I wanted her to be able to make her own choices," Arthur said.

"Well, why would you want that! Fathers are supposed to be the over protective ones!"

"Erm, excuse me, but what is a Chastity Ring?" Ron asked.

"Nothing you'll be concerned with for quite some time, young man," Molly answered sharply. She had not put off reprimanding her sons because of grief. If anything, the sharp scolding had gotten worse.

It dawned on Harry what a Chastity Ring was, and he was very glad Ginny had not had one.

"But, what if they found a way to get rid of the ring, Mr. Lovegood," Hermione asked, ever inquisitive.

"There is only one way, and I doubt Voldemort would want to rid her of it that badly as to tie her to one of his Death Eaters for life, because the only way to get rid of the original spell is to marry her off, and even then, only one man will ever be able to touch her," Mr. Lovegood answered. He was quite blunt. Hermione simply nodded and turned the faintest shade of pink.

Ron, however, seemed to have finally realized what a Chastity Ring was, and right after the figurative lightbulb lit up, his face turned very red. Harry had been watching with great amusement, and he was laughing behind his hand.

"Perhaps we should arrange a search party," Molly said.

"Molly, we've already told you, there are far too many places Voldemort could be hiding. It would take months to find even the slightest hint of him, and when we did, it would be an empty old lair evacuated two weeks before we found it. The only way we would send out a search party would be if we got a legible lead," Remus explained for the umpteenth time. He was very patient with the bereaved Molly.

"All we can do is wait, Molly dear," Arthur said gently.

----

It had been a solid week, and he had not said a word, not even hinted. He would gladly admit it. He was, to put it plainly, scared shitless. It was amazing that a wandless, pregnant teenage girl could frighten an armed, dangerous, and potentially evil full-grown wizard. Yet she could.

When she started with the "morning sickness", he had given her a potion. When she got late night cravings for pickles in chocolate ice cream late the other night, he had conjured them. When she wanted to go for a walk, he had gone with her. Perhaps he was trying to soften her up. Perhaps he was feeling guilty. Or perhaps she was simply growing on him. Even he couldn't tell, but he did not like it.

Of course, Voldemort's growing anger and frustration helped little to none. Every day several Death Eaters were punished for crimes they didn't commit. This anger was caused by the ever-increasing threat of the oncoming battles. He was losing new recruits daily through guerrilla attacks, silent, secretive. A few days ago, some of the pureblood prisoner girls had escaped. They were undeniably pregnant, and Voldemort was enraged.

There were three girls, one of which was Ginny Weasley. Snape felt relatively sure that it would probably have been Weasley to conjure up an escape of such spunk. The other two girls were both Gryffindors. Snape thought it slightly ironic, but he would never tell anyone so. Except Luna. She seemed interested in his cynical monologues. Snape had never known what it was like to have a confidante, and he found it quite nice. He could never have trusted another Death Eater, but with her, he felt all was safe. It was a strange feeling he had never had but with his own mother. Safety.

But what was he going to do about her?

----

A/N: I hope you liked it. I know I did, though I'm having difficulties with this whole Luna/Snape thing. It just gets harder as the relationship becomes more crucial. GRRRR! Boy, I'm depressed now. Even more depressed than after watching movies like Legend of the Fall and Dead Poet's Society. Geez... I need some prozac. : (