Chapter Twenty Eight
She opened her eyes to see Severus sitting in a chair beside her bed, talking in a low voice to the redhead that had greeted them, Ron's brother. He noticed Elaine was awake and nudged Severus's arm before slipping out the door.
"The baby's dead," Elaine whispered. Severus nodded, taking her hand. Elaine dropped her head back onto the pillow, staring at the ceiling, and she let out a soft sigh. She didn't have any more words, just sat there with Severus until it almost felt the past year had been a dream.
But the small time of peace wasn't to last. An hour later, Elaine could hear Harry in the hall, demanding to see her and Severus. Bill's voice was loud, informing him that she was in no condition to be seen at the moment, that she'd just suffered a loss and needed quiet.
"If it wasn't urgent I wouldn't push it, Bill," they heard Harry declare, and Elaine sat up, a sharp pain making her grunt and Severus look at her in concern.
"Are you well enough?" she whispered to him quickly as footsteps paused outside the door. He had time only to nod before the door opened and Harry entered.
He was quite beaten up, a large cut taking up his left cheek, but other than that he looked healthy. Harry could only stare at the two of them for a long moment, as if he couldn't come to terms with the fact they really sat there.
"What is it you need, Potter?" Severus finally questioned, turning the chair slowly to face him. Harry took in his gaunt form, the new scars that lined his arms and neck and face, and swallowed. "Your sister needs rest, and quite frankly so do I, so if you could just spit it out-"
"Dumble- Dumbledore," Harry interrupted.
Severus sighed, and Elaine squeezed his hand. "What about Dumbledore?"
"You killed him."
"Potter, we all know that I did, so if that's why you're in here-"
"Why?" Harry's green eyes met Severus's black ones, and the two men stared each other down until Severus finally relented.
"He was ill," Severus said softly. "And he knew the dark lord had commanded Draco to kill him. Draco's just a child, so Albus requested I do the deed."
"How do I know you're telling the truth?" Harry demanded.
"Unless you have access to veritiserum, you can't know for sure," Elaine said quietly. Harry looked over at her. "You'll just have to trust us."
"Trust you?" Harry scoffed. "You came into my life, we started to get to know each other and you disappeared! How can I trust you with anything?"
"Harry-" Elaine began.
"I can't trust either one of you! You're a liar, and he's a murderer!"
"Shut up," Elaine said sharply. "Don't you - just stop, okay? You don't know what Severus has done for you, and you don't know what we've sacrificed to help you."
"What have you sacrificed?" Harry asked with a snort. "Nothing, while I-"
"Nothing?" Elaine let out a short burst of laughter, close to tears. "I have sacrificed nothing? I just lost a child, Harry. My baby - my baby is dead. And my son is Merlin knows where, so don't tell me that, Harry Potter!"
"You -you were-"
"Pregnant, yes. I found out I was pregnant right before Severus was caught giving you the sword of Gryffindor. Did you think I was just laying in this bed for no reason?"
A quiet knock sounded on the door, and a blonde woman popped her head in. "Mizz Daviez, I 'ave brought you your potion."
"Thank you," Elaine said with a smile, taking the dark drink from her and downing it in a swallow. "Oh that's nasty." She handed the glass back to the French woman.
"Your next one will be taken in an hour," Severus informed Elaine as the woman left. She just nodded and looked back at Harry. Before she could say anything, Severus spoke. "Potter, you don't have to like me. Or trust me, frankly. But Elaine and I are here to help you with anything you might need."
"Will he take you back?" Harry looked Severus in the eyes, and Elaine looked at him in a panic.
"No he wouldn't," Severus said firmly. "He was quite insistent on that, in fact. I've betrayed him for the last time."
"But Harry, if there's anything else you need-"
"No." And Harry stood up and left the room, leaving Elaine and Severus looking at each other.
Days passed, during which the sleeping schedule was arranged. Severus, Ollivander, and the goblin, Griphook, shared a room, much to the goblin's chagrin, and Elaine, Hermione, and Luna shard another, while Ron, Harry, and Dean camped in the living room.
Elaine wasn't exactly happy with the arrangement, but with the daily potions she'd gotten her strength back, while Severus hadn't. He still spent most of his time in bed. But Remus came daily to help care for the ex prisoners, and while he and Severus still had disdain for each other, they got along enough for the former to help when Severus needed it. Neither man was altogether too pleased, but they got through it.
Elaine had difficulty sharing a room with Hermione. Luna she was used to, but she'd never really gotten to know the bookworm before things went south, and the common assessment was she was a traitor to their cause.
They'd been there a week when Remus finally got a chance to be alone with his daughter. She was sitting outside, looking out over the water when he walked up to her, clearing his throat. She turned to look at him, saying nothing as he took a seat next to her.
"I uh. I wanted to be the one to tell you," he began, crossing his legs. "I didn't want you to hear it from Harry or the others-"
"Hear what, Remus?" Elaine asked tiredly. She was exhausted, hardly able to sleep lately with the other girls.
"I'm married."
"Ah," was all she said, looking back to the water as a wave crashed into the sand. "It's been sixteen years since my mother died, longer than that since the two of you were - anything - so I don't see the issue." She looked back. "What's her name?"
"Ah. Dora. Well, Nymphadora, really, but-"
"Tonks?" Elaine snorted. "And you complained about the age difference between Severus and I to anyone who would listen."
Remus colored, but went on. "There's more."
"What?" Elaine asked, just wanting to be left alone. "Did you knock her up or something?" Remus stayed quiet, and Elaine jerked her head. "She's pregnant." The words came out flat, and she stood up. "Well. Thanks for telling me." She started heading back to the cottage, but was stopped as Remus took hold of her arm. She looked at his face. "I can't," she said simply, pulling away and heading back to her room, Luna and Hermione down in the living room.
She collapsed onto the bed and sobbed, letting the stress and grief for the past three months sweep over her, letting the emptiness she'd felt when she first sent Rowan away come back tenfold.
She didn't see Remus again until a month later, when he came rushing in with news of his newborn son. Elaine had walked out of the room, going into her own, sinking onto the bed. Several minutes later, there was a knock on the door. She opened it to see Severus standing on the other side.
They'd barely spoken to each other in the past month. They'd said hello and goodbye every morning and night, but the cottage was too cramped to have any personal conversations, and after they'd gone through, she wanted nothing more than a moment of privacy with Severus.
He was healthier. A month away from the daily torture had done wonders, and he was moving around and being active much like he used to be. There were moments when there was lingering pain; the cruciatus was, by its definition, a torture spell, and any type of torture leaves rements in the body. Elaine was relieved thinking back, however, because she knew there were many people in the long term ward at St. Mungoes that had been tortured into not even knowing who they were. If that had happened to Severus -
But she shoved that thought out of her mind as she sat down on her bed, Severus sitting next to her. Outside the room they could hear the others celebrating the birth of Teddy Lupin, but Elaine knew neither of them felt like celebrating when the loss of their own child was still fresh.
"I had had names ideas picked out," Severus said after a long while. Elaine just looked at him. "Clarissa, if the baby had been a girl. Or Clarence, for a boy."
"You never said -" Elaine stopped. Severus continued when it was clear she had no words to follow.
"I know that I said we didn't need a child right now. I know - I know I was harsh when you came to me pregnant. But the idea of being a father - it's the thing I never realized I wanted."
Elaine looked at him in surprise. "You want a baby?"
"After this is all over," Severus said, taking one of her hands and stroking the back of it, avoiding looking at her in the eyes. "When the dark lord is gone, if you and I stay out of Azkaban - I want children with you. At least three," he added, a rare joke making his eyes shine.
Elaine leaned forward and kissed him, foregoing any words.
The door swinging open startled them apart, and she looked over to see Harry standing there, a bottle of firewhiskey and two glasses floating behind him. "Oh - er -"
"Yes Harry?" Elaine said, after she'd given him a moment to find what he wanted to say.
"Hermione and Luna - well, Luna mostly - wanted to see if you guys wanted to join us. Remus has made me godfather," he added, his eyes brightening with the words. Elaine smiled at him, and this gave him courage, for his spoke again. "We missed you guys downstairs."
"I'm sure I was missed greatly," Severus said dryly, causing Harry to flush.
"You were, actually," came Luna's voice from behind Harry. "Both of you," she added. "Come, join us!"
Elaine just shook her head. "I'm not up to a party," she told them. "I'm actually just going to get some rest."
"But Harry is leaving next week," Luna said, and even Harry looked at her in surprise.
"How did you know that, Luna?" he asked her, and the blonde shrugged. Harry just stared at her for a minute, shaking his head slightly, then turned back to Elaine. "I am leaving next week, and I'd like to - to speak to you more before I go. I don't know when I'll see you again."
And so over the next week, they talked. Not about anything serious - they avoided discussing the war and Severus and the children that were lost to her - but about favorite colors and best memories and Hogwarts professors.
Sometimes Ron and Hermione and even Severus joined them, but most of the time it was the brother and sister that barely knew each other.
By the time came for the trio planned to leave, Elaine and Harry felt they knew each other better, knew each other enough to consider them actually brother and sister. As they stood on the beach, Elaine wrapped Harry in a hug. "The war will be over soon," she said firmly. "And when it is we can be a real family."
"I'd like that," Harry said with a small grin. It faded slightly as he saw Severus step out of the cottage. "He - he's really a good guy?"
Elaine followed his gaze. "He is," she said softly. "He's rough," she added, shrugging. "He's been through a lot. But so I have I, what with Ben-" She cut herself off, the green flash fresh in her mind. "He's good," she said finally.
"And you - you love him?"
"If we both survive this, he's going to be my husband," Elaine said, watching the dark haired man walk to the water, trying to avoid interrupting their conversation. Harry looked surprised.
"He's proposed?"
Elaine shook her head. "No," she said. "But I know - I will be spending the rest of my life with the man I love. And I'd like you to accept that."
Harry hesitated. "I'll try," he said after a long while.
"Thank you," she said, giving him a hug. And then they left, the goblin Griphook going with them.
Elaine and Severus went back to the house, and saw Bill and Fleur seated at the kitchen table, deep in a conversation. Bill looked up when they entered. "Did they tell you what they were planning?" he wanted to know immediately. Elaine shook her head. "Damn. I know they're up to something with that goblin, and I just don't trust him-"
"Potter is smart and has a talent for getting out of sticky situations," Severus said calmly, pausing at the stairs and turning back. "Whatever he's getting himself into, he'll get out of it still breathing. Of that I am sure." He then left, leaving Elaine with Bill and Fleur.
"He is different then I remember," Bill said casually, shooting Elaine a look.
"He isn't evil," she responded, staring him directly in the eyes. "He never has been. He does what he needs to do, yes, but-"
"I never thought he was," Bill interrupted, smiling slightly. "He was cruel, yes. Evil? There are worse people out there." His eyes darkened, and they all knew who he spoke of.
Elaine bit her lip. "Right. I'm heading upstairs, if there's any news...?"
"I'll come get you," Bill said.
"Thanks."