celestial light: Thanks a lot

Sarah Levana: Glad you like it that much

evilscorpian: "Ebony", her name is Ebony.grin

serena23: LOL That was quite close

Skeet: 'Bad move'? Definitely! evil grin

texasjeanette: Explosions? Yup! And you are so right, a bit more romance would have been good....

Chapter 10: Fights

"Bond with you?" Harry asked and looked at Snape like he had grown a second head. "You must be kidding, Severus. I will do no such thing. I will not allow anyone to take control over my life ever again. I can't believe you even considered it. You don't really want to bond with me - we don't even have a relationship, we were barley friends over the last past weeks. All you want is Ebony and this is your way to get her!"

Harry's temper rose rather quickly, going beyond angry right into furious. He did not care that he was in the infirmary and that he was supposed to rest, all he knew was that the Potions Master was threatening him. Snape on the other hand paled at Harry's words. It hurt to hear him say these things. Harry continued, totally unaware of what his words did to Severus.

"What will you do, if I refuse to bond with you? Will you claim her as your heir? Will you take her away from me, just because you think you have the right to do so? I will tell you something – I may not have wanted the title nor did I ever like it, but I am the saviour of the wizarding world. I never thought about using this for my own profit, but if it's that what it takes to keep you from getting your hands on my child, I will do it."

While he was yelling at the other man, Harry got enraged even more. The air began to swirl around him and it felt like the room was being filled with static energy. The young wizard was losing grip on his powers once again. Somewhere in the depths of the room glass burst. Within seconds Poppy came running towards them, wand at the ready.

"Harry...!" she began, but was stopped by his glare as the young wizard turned his attention away from Severus and towards her.

His green eyes were shooting daggers and a soft glowing aura appeared around him as she watched. The young wizard's powers were multiplying minutely. "Leave us alone, Poppy!" Harry demanded. "I will not hurt him, but we need to sort this out."

"I will leave, Harry, but you need to calm down. You are far from being well again and you are endangering your and your child's lives. Do you understand what I say?" The medi-witch tried to get through the young wizards fury.

Closing his eyes and taking a calming breath, Harry tried to get his emotions under control for the sake of his child's life. The aura fainted away, but when he opened his eyes and looked at her, Poppy still could see anger in them. "I calmed down, now go!" he hissed in a voice she had never heard on him before. Without further ado she turned and left the two men alone, knowing this conversation to be necessary.

"Now what do you think, Severus," Harry's voice was dripping with sarcasm now, "do you think they will give you custody of their hero's child? Give custody over an innocent child to an ex-Death Eater who had to take advantage of a helpless man to engender said child?" Ignoring the pain it caused to talk like this about a night he had never considered hurtful or abusive, Harry watched Snape close his eyes in defeat.

Severus felt like someone had used the Cruciatus Curse on him. It hurt more than he could have imagined having his hopes and dreams shattered like that. Obviously, Harry did not want him, did not feel anything for him, except maybe hate and disgust. I have made a grievous mistake in judgment. Snape thought, ignoring the feeling of loss that burned in his chest. I was a fool to think he could be interested in me. That he would want ME of all people. That his passion that night was more than drugs speaking for him. That he would know me good enough to see past the mask I wore so long. I am a fool indeed.

His voice was low and empty as he asked the younger wizard, "Is that what you think of me, Harry? That I would try to force you into a bond to get power over you and the child? That I would try to claim her as mine to steal her away from you? To do what – hurt you? Why would I do that? All I wanted was for her to have a family, to have her parents. I thought that you of all people would understand that. I never intended to rule or hurt either of you in any way. If you think that low of me, maybe you don't know me at all."

Rising from his chair with unsteady movements, Severus uttered, "I will tell the Ministry of Magic she is all yours. Further I will see for it that she will be able to inherit the Snape fortune someday, if you allow it – it is legally hers." Looking at Harry with empty eyes one last time, he closed, "It would be nice if you would tell her that I am her father, even if you decide to life and bond with someone else – I will though leave the decision up to you. Be well, Professor Potter, I need to talk to the Headmaster now."

With that he left the infirmary with long strides, closing the door soundless behind him. Harry sat in his bed, stunned. What had just happened? This was all going way too fast. His whole life was a mess and he did not know what to do about it.I have just scared away the man I love Harry thought. He did not want you, he wanted to do the right thing for the child an evil little voice in his head hissed. This time it was not his body that hurt, but his heart, as Harry buried his face in his pillow and cried himself to sleep.

ooOoo

"Ah, Severus, my boy! Are you feeling better? I was really worried when you fainted at the meeting. Is everything all right? You look like you are still not healthy. Did Poppy give you permission to leave the infirmary, or did you just run away once again?" the Headmaster shot questions at the Potions Master - who had just entered the office - while gesturing for him to sit down.

"I can ensure you, after the last incident I would rather not leave again without her approval" Snape stated and took the offered seat, pushing away the thoughts of the embarrassing situation his last "flight" from the infirmary had caused. The moment the Potions Master sat in his chair, a cup with hot chamomile-tea appeared on the desk in front of him. Rejecting the offered lemon drop he sipped his tea and avoided to look at the Headmaster as long as possible.

"Why are you here, Severus?" Albus Dumbledore asked. "You just fainted a few hours ago and you do not look well. I believe even if Poppy let you go she told you to rest. What is so important that it could not wait?" The concern in his voice could not cover the curiosity that was peeking through.

Snape knew there was no easy way to say what he had to say. He had impregnated Albus' precious 'Golden Boy', his Death Eater hands staining what was pure and chaste. There was no way he would ever be good enough for this wonderful man who was carrying his child. Harry had done the right thing when he had rejected him, Severus knew that now. The young wizard had every right to be angry. In what world would love ever be enough? I really love him, Severus thought with a bitter smile on his lips. Who would have thought I would be able to love?

"I am here to tell you that I am the father of Harry.... Professor Potter's child. I was the one who slept with him that night. It is entirely my fault. I did not realize that he was not in his right mind and I was jumping to conclusions. I reacted to something Professor Potter had said to me earlier. It is also my fault that he is in the current state, because I forgot to use protection..." Severus was making his confession in a low, emotionless voice. His tone was as empty as his eyes. He did not wince when he heard the sharp intake of breath from the Headmaster, at his words.

After a moment of silence, Albus Dumbledore spoke. "I have to admit, Severus, that I am disappointed as well as angry." The older wizards voice sounded controlled. "I never thought that you would be so careless. You did not only sleep with a helpless man, you did also not waste a single thought about the consequences of your actions. Though I have to say what in my eyes is worst, is that you did not tell Harry it was you he had slept with, when you realized he had no memories of this night. I never thought you were a coward, Severus, but in this case you surely acted like one. I get it that you did not know of his pregnancy, which explains a lot. Why you fainted for the first time since I know you, for example. I hope you have talked to Harry already and have discussed the whole situation with him?" Dumbledore's tone was stern.

"Yes, Headmaster, that I have. I talked to him as soon as Madame Pomfrey allowed it. He is now aware that I am the other father of his child. I did apologize and I told him that it is of course my fault. I should have realized that he was drugged and I should have had a better self-control. All I can say is that all the time he gave me the impression, that it was exactly what he wanted. He actually told me so. I am extremely sorry that I did not realize it was the drugs speaking for him. As I said earlier, I was jumping to conclusions. I ... I ... the whole night was one big mistake, but it can not be changed any more."

As the otherwise emotionless voice of the Potions Master broke at the last sentence, Albus Dumbledore eyed the wizard in front of his desk carefully. Something was going wrong here. He had been under the impression that Severus and Harry were getting along quite well and that something had 'sparked' between the two of them, before Harry had begun to act strange – which made perfect sense now. One would think now that the two of them had talked and Harry knew he had actually shared this night with someone he was attracted to - and not with a stranger - things would sort themselves out. Well, judging by the look in the Potions Masters eyes, something had gone awfully wrong.

Deciding to ask straight away, the Headmaster said, "I trust you did the honorable thing and asked him to bond with you? So when is the ceremony going to take place?" To his utter surprise a wave of pain swept over the younger wizards face, before he answered

"There will be no bonding. He turned me down. He told me he will never again allow anyone to take control over his life." Severus' voice died away and tears ran down his cheeks. He fought hard to regain his composure, but failed miserably. The next words sounded like a sob. "He thinks I want to control him, when all I wanted was to love him and give our daughter a family. I ... I love him so much but now he will never believe me ..."

Albus Dumbledore stared at the figure across his desk, his anger gone. This was a day full of surprises.

ooOoo

Harry woke 45 minutes later as someone beside his bed whispered, "Shhh... Ron, be silent or you will really wake him up."

Yawning and stretching carefully, Harry opened his eyes to look at his friends. "Hi guys!" he mumbled trying out a weak smile. His eyes felt swollen and in his head was a dull, throbbing ache from crying.

"Oh, mate, you are awake." Ron stated, rising from his chair simultaneously with Hermione.

The young witch had tears in her eyes when she hugged Harry carefully, uttering, "We were so worried about you. Poppy would not allow us to visit you and no-one would tell us how bad it was. Are you feeling better? Do you want us to get Poppy? Are you in pain? You look like you have been crying..."

Hermione was interrupted when Ron grabbed her arm and said, "Mione, calm down. Give him at least a chance to answer your questions, okay?"

Smiling apologetically the young witch sat down again beside her boyfriend, her eyes never leaving the pale figure in the hospital-bed. Harry shifted his position until he was comfortable and then started to speak. "As you might know, a Bludger hit me in the stomach. I swear I thought this time I was going to die, it really hurt pretty bad. You surely can imagine that I was most worried about my daughter, which I decided to call Ebony, by the way. Fortunately she is a strong little girl and reflected the power that hit her on my body – which left me with quite some damage..." Hermione and Ron gasped in unison.

"No need to worry, I am getting better already." Harry told them as he saw their shocked faces. "Ebony is unharmed and I will once again survive," he added, a slight sarcastic tone in his voice.

"We are glad to hear that, Harry, but if everything is going that fine, why have you been crying lately?" Hermione asked and took hold of his hand lightly.

"Yeah, mate, what did upset you so much? Oh, and don't dare to deny it, we can see it."

Taking a deep breath, the young DADA professor decided to tell the truth. "Severus was here to talk to me. He ... he actually told me that he is Ebony's father." Beside his bed his best friends gasped once again. "Seems like I had chosen his temporary quarters to lay down this night. You know what happened then. He came to apologize earlier ... and then he demanded I bond with him..."

Harry sounded so terrified that Hermione looked at him in surprise. "What is the matter with you, Harry? Are you not relieved? I mean, you thought it was a complete stranger you slep with and now you find out that it was the man you were drawn to in the first place. Okay, this is not how it was supposed to happen, but it could turn out to be a great chance. You did tell us you wanted to be with him and that you thought you could not have him because of the baby. Now it turns out that Ebony is his child as well and he did actually ask you to bond with him... So you get everything you wanted, ... well okay maybe not really in the right order, but nevertheless ..." she broke off when Harry sat up quickly, an angered look upon his face.

"Relieved? Why should I be relieved? As I told you, Severus did not ask me to bond with him, he demanded it. He is doing this only to get his hands on my child. He does not care that she is a girl; he wants to claim her as his heir. He was going to try to take her away from me if I would not bond with him. He wants power over my baby and me. But I prevented that. I told him, I will never allow it. I told him, that I will never allow him to get custody of my child. That I will use my silly title to convince the Ministry of Magic that they should not give their hero's child to an ex-Death Eater." The satisfied look upon his face made his two best friends stare at him in pure disbelief.

Ron, who had listened to Hermione and Harry in silence, now spoke up. "Erm, mate, are you sure you are okay? Don't get me wrong, but you are acting very strange. I never heard you call Snape an ex-Death Eater and you surely never liked your fame nor would you use it for your own profit. What is wrong with you? Are you certain you understood him right? I mean, I am not too fond of him, but you told us you were getting along well and that you enjoyed each others company. If you had not been attracted to each other you would surely not have been so down when you thought you had lost him; and he would most probably not have slept with you..."

"You think I am lying to you? You think I am overreacting while I am trying to protect my child at all costs? On which side are you, Ron?" Harry yelled, his face going red with anger.

Hermione got up from her chair quickly and grabbed both of his hands tightly. She wanted to calm him down. "Listen, Harry! We believe you, but you have to admit, what you told us is a little extreme, even for someone like Professor Snape. And why would he want to control you? He has no reason for that. All Ron wanted to say is, that you might misunderstood what he said. You were severely injured and you are still taking strong potions, I'd bet. On top of it all is the psychological stress from having your pregnancy discovered and the shock that it is Snape you slept with. This is an exceptional situation and you might be a little off balance. No-one would blame you if you had trouble with dealing with all of it."

Relaxing slightly, Harry pulled free of Hermione's grip. "Severus made himself perfectly clear. I only did what I had to do in order to protect my child and my freedom." The raven-haired wizard stated stubbornly. Ron exchanged a quick look with Hermione, telling her he was worried about the situation, without words.

"I think I was successful; before he left, Severus told me he is not going to claim her as his heir and that he will tell the ministry of Magic she is all mine." The satisfied look his two best friends had seen upon his face earlier, appeared again.

Cursing inwardly about so much ignorance, Hermione forced a smile on her face. She could imagine that the Potions Master must be deeply hurt by all of this. She did not know him as well as Harry did, but she knew him well enough to guess how much damage had been done. We need to talk to the headmaster Hermione thought. Fortunately Poppy chose this moment to show up and tell them they had to leave. Harry would need another dose of his medication and some rest. Hugging their best friend one last time, Ron and Hermione left the infirmary with the promise to visit again the next day.

ooOoo

A/N: It took me some time to update, thanks for your patience. I hope you enjoy the new chapter. I recently created a yahoogroup where my stories can be found, too - along with some other stuff.Feel free to join, the link can be found in my profile.