Author's Note: Naturally we all know that I have no ownership whatsoever of Harry Potter and his fellow wizarding mates, or of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Original characters are mine.

Thank you Trickster32 and FireSenshi2 for your reviews.

Trickster32 – ya think? LOL. Any normal parent would love to do what Severus and Remus did. I am oddly fond of the idea of breaking kneecaps and forcing people to run into a field of cacti... (I'd go into better detail, but I'd come off sound like a psycho...)

FireSenshi2 – glad you enjoyed.

Chapter Eight

Discussions

Over the course of the next few months it was almost business as usual for Remus, Severus and Splinter.

With help from Remus and Severus, Splinter and his Turtles were able to locate a new suitable home in the New York City underground, as they couldn't risk returning to their old Lair. For added measure Remus and Severus placed varying charms for security and protection, where only certain invited company was allowed, or they're given permission to pass by Splinter and in time the Turtles, when they are old enough to make those critical decisions.

There was also added security upon the Snape-Lupin household; they didn't want to risk another kidnapping. Not after there was a blaring report in the Daily Prophet where the survivors of the 'Watermill Massacre' all spoke of what had happened to their respected colleague and friend, Dr Leroy Orson... speaking how he only wanted to help the two little girls he rescued from their abusive home, and look after the four turtle children that were found residing there.

Remus nearly choked on his morning coffee when he read it, showing Severus to get him aware.

Saving grace was perhaps the immediate support they received from Remus's friends, James Potter and Sirius Black, who were there at the Watermill, they practically verbally abused the report and those who wrote the scathing word toward Severus and Remus.

"Mess with those kids of theirs and you would feel your last breath being sucked out of you," James answers to a reporter who tracked him and his family down, demanding he apologise for his words against the reporters on the story. "As for apologising, why should I? If someone did that to my Harry, you can bet your arses I would break their necks! Now piss off!"

It wasn't long after that report, however, that he, Lily and Harry had to go into hiding – the threat of the Dark Lord was still at hand. Something the full exposure of Severus and Remus, thanks to the Daily Prophet, didn't help in matters; because it seemed to allow Voldemort to now truly demand a visual of 'the two miracle daughters born of two wizards', as quoted from the newspaper.

"I don't know what to do," said Severus, truly uncertain of how to allow, or even refuse, the Dark Lord.

"What of the other Death Eaters?" Splinter asks.

"I wish I could give a full account. I only know Bellatrix Lestrange wants them in her care," Severus replies, frowning deeply at this knowledge.

"Bellatrix?" Remus exclaimed.

Severus shakes his head. "I don't know why."

"She would be as bad as EWA," said Remus.

"As if I hadn't thought of that."

"What has this Dark Lord said if you refuse?" said Splinter.

"I don't want to know that consequence," said Severus, rubbing his temple. "They know of you being a werewolf, Moony, the packs have all sensed something different about you, informing the Dark Lord of such. Theory is you're the one who bore our girls."

"One way to get the heat off you, for a bit," Remus quipped lightly.

"Shut up!" Severus returns, just as lightly.

Since that night and the Christmas morning they shared that kiss, all just fell into place, it seemed for the two men. They knew Splinter didn't judge on this knowledge, if anything became just as protective of them if anyone tried to say or do anything, but, perhaps it was only amped up because of what happened to their children, he worried they would be taken again.

The Turtles were still affected by it.

"I hate to say it, but you may need to get it over with," Remus said warily.

"I just want to know how it reached the Prophet," said Severus. "We should have wiped their memories!"

"Hindsight, Sev," said Remus. "We also have Albus Dumbledore on our backs, as well as... You-Know-Who..."

Remus didn't say the known 'You-Know-Who' alias many had given Voldemort, because he was afraid of the name, more out of respect for Severus, who shudders every time he hears it, opting to refer him as 'the Dark Lord' each time, out of habit.

"What does he want?" Severus grimaces.

"Seems to believe now the entire Wizard world knows of the two fathered children, we shouldn't have to keep them hidden anymore," Remus sighs.

"Tell him that the exposing of what happened is doing to opposite of what he's wanting us to do!"

"I told him that. But he's adamant."

"I really do not understand what the hype is over your daughters," Splinter voices. "Why do people need to see or know about them?"

"Truth? We have no idea to be honest. Considering same sex couples don't get as bad of a rap as those in the Muggle community... doesn't always crop up as being obvious, but, then there are generally no children involved," said Severus. "Okay, the last time a man gave birth from a same sex coupling happened back in the middle of the 1800s, but much like now, they were bombarded, against their wishes, to the point they packed up their children and went into hiding. There are a lot of theories that surround it, but the point is, wizard born children are very, very rare. We don't know how it happened back then; we can only speculate how it happened to us in the now."

"I think much like you and your boys if they were to be fully exposed. It was luck that the Daily Prophet only glossed over them and nothing more; James and Sirius did a very good job in covering that up, explaining they were just kids to dress up in their early Christmas presents," says Remus.

Splinter nods, knowing what James Potter and Sirius Black had done to keep him and the Turtles safe. Even when the White Coats tried to say otherwise, they were forcefully gagged into silence... or rather threatened, when Severus, himself, tracked a couple of them down whilst he was on some assignment as 'a loyal servant' to the Dark Lord, Voldemort.

"Too bad the same couldn't be said for us and our daughters," said Severus, unhappily.

"You could do what those who wizards you just mentioned did?" Splinter suggested.

Both shook their heads, as Remus speaks. "We're stuck in the situations we're already in. Sev is bound by the dark mark in his arm, as much as he wanted to run, he cannot at this point, it's a death sentence and Death Eaters always have an uncanny ability to find whomever it is they want to find, no matter what part of the world they try to hide in. I am also stuck with the orders I have from the Order. Not something you can step away from lightly. Not for the same reasons as Severus might with his situation, but it's best not to make enemies where it can be avoided.

"Also someone we know, Minerva McGonagall, is really doing her best to defend our stance on Dumbledore's want to show off our daughters. She doesn't believe there is a need to draw attention to them, even after the reports of what has happened. She's been that way since before the first time they were taken from us. She may not have seen the girls, well, not in person, I did give her the privilege of having a photo, as she politely asked, but she has always had a strong view on children and their welfare. Even if others go against what she advises a lot of the time, predominantly Dumbledore and any who are in his closer circle."

"Are you not in that inner circle?"

"Far from it," said Remus. "Yes, I am a member, like so many others, but there are only a few who are right in on what Dumbledore knows, delegates and why. The rest just get what we're allowed to be told and who to share it with."

Splinter gives an uncomfortable expression upon this information. "It does not sit well with me, knowing that various people have put it upon themselves to dictate on what everyone else ought to do, without regard for the persons they're involving. Someone must have known enough to do what they did to your daughters, for example. Kidnapping them. Twice! Placing them in serious danger in both cases, nearly losing one of them, sheer chance you were able to pull of whatever it is you did, from what I've been told by you," he says to Severus and Remus.

"We're still trying to put the pieces together. I mean we have some of the names given to us. We just don't know what to do about it as of yet," said Severus. "In the meantime, we have people doing their hardest to force us to show Athena and Freya."

"You shouldn't have to be forced to reveal them, when you have the rights to say no," said Splinter. "Surely there is a law that protects parents from such matters as this."

"We're already being accused of abusing our daughters as it is. The threat of taking them by force is high," said Remus, grimly.

"Damned if we show them off, damned if we don't," Severus adds, just as bleakly.

"Do it on your terms then," Splinter then suggested.

"How do you mean?"

"I mean, if people really want to see Freya and Athena, you choose the settings and whatever else. From what my Turtles have said about some of the powers you've shown; why not use that to your advantage as well?"

It certainly gave something for Remus and Severus to think about.

###

"What do you mean you will not be showing them to the Order?" Dumbledore asks, frowning deeply. "Haven't I given you good reasons as to why you need to heed my words in ensuring their safety?"

"We've considered what you've been saying, certainly, Albus," said Severus in his monotone tune. "But Remus and I have to consider what is best for our daughters, whether others agree to it, or not. We will not be revealing them to the Order, or really to the public for that matter, until they were much older than they are now. Whatever age that maybe, we do not know, we haven't decided on an agreeable age."

"They may not be seen until they're eleven... that is if we choose to have them attend here, at Hogwarts," said Remus.

Dumbledore stared at the two men from where he sat at his grand desk, within his office at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.

"I give you a job, Severus, and this is how you repay me?"

"Oh please, you and I both know why you gave me the position of Potions Master and Head of Slytherin, so don't you dare think otherwise," Severus frowns deeply. He sees a slight confused expression on Remus's face. "I'll explain later."

"You do know people are wishing to take them away from you?" Dumbledore explains.

"Why? Because they're being raised by two fathers, instead of a mother and a father?" Severus sneered. "If they're that concerned, they should have seen how close we came to losing Freya because of those White Coats! Look into them... I've noticed that they've now got someone new in charge. Why doesn't the Ministry have any concern for what they're doing?"

"Because these people have nothing to do with us," Dumbledore said simply.

"Sure they don't. What were we? Chopped liver?"

"I think it was a matter of being in the wrong place at the wrong time and that is how you ended up with them. But as a whole they have nothing to do with the Wizard society," the old man's voice was calm and none moving.

"So, Marco Blythe, Bastian Fudge, Niles Pritchard and a few other names we know of had nothing to do with what's happened to us, to others...?"

Dumbledore shakes his head. "You're clutching straws, Severus."

Severus looks over at Remus, who reached over into his carry bag and pulled out a nice stack of classified documents and, by the look of it, voice recordings.

"Where did you get those?" Dumbledore pales at the sight of them as they were placed on his desk.

"Before the unfortunate death of Dr Orson, we got as many names as we could gather out of him, as well as any useful information he was able to provide," said Severus, nearly bored. "For the past number of months, Remus and I have been doing some digging and researching... and tracking down..."

Dumbledore's brilliant blue eyes widened. "You..." he went to say it, but refrained.

"Yes, Dumbledore?" said Severus, almost goading the older man to continue.

Unable to find the words, Dumbledore just sighs.

Reports of various members of the Ministry and important businesspeople mysteriously, almost one after another, started taking their lives... or gone have completely inconsolable to the point of being deeply mute or insane, where they had to be placed in psych wards in varying hospitals around the globe... or just disappeared all together without a word.

It was so bad that certain measures were made to protect the ones still standing. Blaming it on Voldemort and the Death Eaters, as they had truly risen to power now in the month of July.

Yet it was the way Severus and Remus were holding themselves, in front of Dumbledore, which caused the older man to realise that, though he knew full well that he could not prove it, nor had a chance of trying, these two men may have had some influence over how these Ministry and Business members came to be in the states they wound up in.

"Have you allowed Voldemort a viewing of your daughters?" Dumbledore then decides to ask.

"That is none of your concern," said Severus, shaking his head, crossing his arms across his chest, it was at that moment, Dumbledore saw a glint of some sort of metal on his newly appointed Potions Master's left hand.

He swept his eyes over and saw, on Remus's left ring finger, a ring of white and yellow gold...

"When... did... you...?"

"When did we what?" Remus raised his brows a little.

"Legally become husbands?"

Severus and Remus were pleased to see that Dumbledore had truly been out of the loop on their union. They only had a handful of witnesses, whom they believed would not spread anything, until it had to be.

Marriages between two Wizards, or even two Witches, were not illegal in their world. Rare, but it didn't matter; they still had the same protections and bindings as any other married couple.

"Does it matter?" said Remus.

A small exhale of a sigh, Dumbledore shakes his head. He knew that with them legally bound, it was going to be even tougher for him to persuade them to show their girls to the Order, or whomever, because they would have placed some ironclad protection upon them during their union, not that they needed to be legally married to do this, as there were ways of having the same protections toward the children without it, the sealing of their daughters under true legal names, (no longer rendering them 'bastards'), they cannot be touched.

Meaning, anyone who was threatening to take them away from Severus and Remus, never mind there was no evidence of abuse whatsoever, couldn't do it without solid good reason or hard on proof.

They even have the right to do what they need to in order to raise their children. They had rights before, but they learned how difficult it was when they were both seen as single, where the Wizarding community seemed to want to make it difficult for them to allow for such rights... seems to be a trend, so they've learned amongst other single parents. Different if widowed, because they're still seen as protected by marriage laws.

Also neither man could deny that they felt that not only was it the right choice for their family, but for each other. They did love each other and in the end, that's what seemed to matter just as much as their wanting to look out for their daughters.

"Now that is out of the way," said Severus, deciding that the discussion over their daughters and what has happened in the past was closed for now. "Unless you anything more that I need to know about my official start to teaching the students at the start of this school year, I believe that we are done here."

"No..." said Dumbledore, quietly. "No more to add."

###

Cold sweat beaded his forehead as he snapped awake and shot up. His breathing was rugged and heart pumping.

"Sev?" a tired voice speaks.

Remus turns on the lamp to see his partner shaking.

"I'm fine!" Severus lies, trying to calm his breathing. "Go back to sleep."

He knew that it wasn't going to brush Remus away that easily, feeling his arms going around him.

"Another nightmare?"

Severus could only nod his response, unable to voice exactly what it was he saw, only that it was just plain horrible.

"That's the third night in a row," said Remus, softly getting Severus to look at him. "I think dreamless sleep may be needed again."

"No!" said Severus, almost too strongly. "I... I'll be fine..."

The worry didn't leave Remus's eyes. "Are you sure? Would you like to talk about it?"

"I can't," Severus strained. "I want to, but... I don't know how to voice it right now."

Seeming to understand enough and know to not push it, Remus places a tender kiss upon Severus's forehead.

"When you are, you know I'm all ears," he sooths to his partner.

A whimpering sound came from outside their bedroom door.

"Seems I'm not the only one who's having bad dreams tonight," Severus mused.

"I'll sort it out," Remus offers.

"If you must, bring her in," said Severus.

Remus gets out of the bed and exits out of the room. Severus lay back down and counted the minutes his partner was out of the room, tending to whichever of their daughters had stirred.

Twenty minutes later, Remus re-entered, but he didn't come back alone, in each arm were their eleven month old daughters, certainly no longer the tiny babies they once were.

Their hair was still darkish blonde, just showing heaps more of it on each of their heads; their faces were becoming more defined in featuring both of their parents, inheriting Remus's blue eyes, but they have noticed that Athena had amber and violet flecks within her irises, whilst Freya's was showing flecks of ebony... just like Severus's eye colour. Their eyes were, perhaps, the only way to really tell the girls apart, because their noses, (which were both an interesting mix of hooked and straight, small and cute, suiting them just nicely), chins, everything, was identical. They even had the same set of front teeth, two on the top and two on the bottom, with evidence of a few more starting to make their way through.

"Freya woke up as I was sorting out Athena, so I figured they both may as well come join us," said Remus, with a small smile, he also had a pair of bottles. The twins didn't really need late night feeds anymore, but they always settle down best with one, plus who hasn't had the case of the midnight munchies ever now and again?

Severus sat up again, so he could take one of them into his own arms. Athena was quick to snuggle against his chest, taking her bottle from him, her fingers holding onto his fingers, not wanting him to let go of it. She was always like this, still wanting that guiding hand, whereas Freya just rips the bottle out of Remus's hand and shoves in her mouth and plonks right back into the pillows, (and Remus's arm), spread out as much as she could go, causing chuckles from Severus and Remus, thinking 'typical little Angelfish'.

Having them in their room calmed Severus much quicker than he thought. Perhaps it was the welcoming distraction they provided for him.

"To think in a month's time, they're going to be a year old," Severus mused aloud.

"Mmm," Remus responds now that his mind was on it. "I think the Turtles have been asking if we were going to give them a party. I know Michelangelo has been offering to organise the music."

Severus snorts with laughter. "I think after helping Splinter to celebrate their fifth birthday back in May, he just wants an excuse to have another one."

"I don't blame him," said Remus. "He did offer to help."

"For a five year old I was half expecting to hear nursery rhymes, not Aerosmith and Chumbacka," said Severus.

It was Remus's turn to laugh. "Chumbawamba," he corrects.

"Whatever."

"Remember, that's not just Michelangelo listening to stuff one may not have thought children would listen to," Remus says. "As well disciplined as they are by Splinter, he hasn't stopped their curiosity to explore. He sets limits, as you know, but it is helping them grow."

"I know. I have Donatello pestering me to let him in the potions lab, in this belief that potions is like chemistry for science."

"He's not exactly wrong when you think about it," said Remus. "Chemistry is dealing with different elements and whatever else... I think it does... science is so not my strong suit, which is probably why I sucked at potions..."

"It's like following a recipe! You cook better than I do!"

"Yet get me near a cauldron and I blow it up, you've seen that happen way too many times in class."

Severus saw his point. He then feels a slight wet spot on his shirt, looks down to see Athena had crashed, her bottle had slipped out of her mouth and Severus had absentmindedly let it slip until he felt the liquid going through the material.

"One down," he said, placing the bottle on his bedside table.

"One slowly following," Remus concludes, seeing Freya starting to close her eyes, fighting it a little.

"I am glad we took the steps we did," Severus then mentions.

Remus nods lightly, not needing his partner to go into detail. "I am, too."

A/N: This fiction doesn't really have an actual year/date, even with the passing time. But I think with some of the pop culture references that may come up will sort of give hints on which era to probably look at. There might be an actual clue or two a little further down, especially as Freya, Athena and the Turtles grow up. I know that this seems to sway more in the Harry Potter world, but I will be doing my best to keep a balance – also that there are likely to be branch stories tied to this one, or a probable sequel, depending on how this fiction goes and its continuum.

I hope you are enjoying what you're reading so far, let me know via review if you wish. In the meantime, hope you're doing well.