September 1978

30 weeks pregnant

Florence was feeling heavier and more tired than ever, even though the days were blessedly less and less hot, she grimaced as she thought that she still had a little over a month to go – just a little longer til she'd finally see her babies' faces and hold them innher arms.

Eileen and Tiffany were taking very good care of her, one of them was always around, never leaving her alone in case something happened.

And Severus continued to keep his distance.

He hadn't visited his mother in three months, and Florence hadn't seen him since the End of the Term Ball – the last time he'd been home in the previous month, she'd felt his presence in the house, the babies in her belly had sensed his presence too, but she hadn't set eyes on him.

But he was a constant presence in her dreams but he always looked sad in those, she'd usually find him in a bedroom, sitting on a bed, sad and tired, and then he'd feel her presence and look up, smiling at her before wrapping her in his arms and making love to her for hours.

Then he'd ask her for forgiveness – and that's when she'd wake up.

Florence never spoke much in those dreams, she was nearly sure they were shared and she feared Severus would end up seeing the truth about the babies in her mind if she spoke too much.

October 23rd , 1978

Florence was taking a shower, sitting on a plastic stool under the shower spray.

Eileen had put that stool in there for safety reasons, in case Florence felt too weak to stand – completely justified fear since her belly was huge.

Eileen was in the bedroom, on the other side of the bathroom door, waiting for Florence to finish showering.

"I'll be leaving the shower stall now," Florence let her godmother know, as she turned off the water.

"Do you need any help, dear?"

"No. I'm ok," she picked up the towel to dry herself and caressed her huge belly, "This grandma of yours," she talked to her sons, "She's always worrying about us and your father..." the boys kicked hard, she closed her eyes and took a deep breath, before putting on a dress.

Then she heard the doorbell in the distance.

"Sirius, James and Lily have arrived," said Eileen from the room.

"Good," Florence replied, walking into the bedroom and going to sit on the bed to put on her knickers – she didn't even try to do that while standing anymore, for she would certainly fall.

Eileen looked at her and smiled, "You look so beautiful, Flor. I wish Severus could see you like that."

"I don't feel beautiful, I feel heavy and useless, "Can't even see my feet to put on my own shoes," she complained, standing up and touching her belly, "But I wish he were here too; he is suffering."

Eileen looked at her, frowning, "What do you mean?"

"I've been having... shared dreams with him. He's miserable..." she closed her eyes suddenly, inhaling sharply as the babies kicking her painfully.

"What's wrong, Flor?" Eileen asked, worried.

"Just... the babies kicking. They always know, somehow..." she felt some pain again, "When I think about Sev... or when he's near... they know," the pain came once more, stronger. "Stop it, boys! Ouch!" and then she felt something running between her legs and gasped.

Her godmother looked at her face and then down to the floor at the water around Florence's feet, taking a minute to understand.

"Florence? Is that...?"

"Yes! They're coming, Eileen. I'm having the babies, now!"

And Eileen ran to the door, shouting: "Lily, get up here!"

Florence took a deep breath, "Tell Tiffany to come back here; she went home to clean up a bit..." she said, grimacing as a contraction started, "She'll want to be here. I want her to be here."

They heard fast footsteps on the stairs, "What happened, Eileen?" asked Lily as she walked into the bedroom.

"The babies are coming! I need you to go to Florence's house by Floo and tell Tiffany to bring all the things we need. She knows what they are, we've been waiting for this."

Lily nodded and left.

James and Sirius were by the door, looking scared.

"You two," said Eileen, jolting them up and pointing to a package in the corner of the room, "Get that plastic sheet and cover the bed with it, please," the boys quickly obeyed.

Eileen looked at Florence then, "Are you ok to stand on your own, my dear?"

"Yes. I am," Florence took another deep breath, "I'll walk a little bit... I read that walking helps..." and she slowly moved around the room while Eileen bossed everyone around.

"Now, James, you use the Floo to call Hogwarts and tell Madam Pomfrey to come here. Afterwards, you can wait in the corridor with Sirius."

Soon Lily and Tiffany were back with everything they would need: towels, postpartum pads, clothes for the babies, diapers.

Eileen transfigurated a chair into a beautiful dark-blue crib for her grandsons.

Meanwhile, Florence still walked around the room.

"Are you still good, Flor?" asked Eileen.

"Yes. Contractions are about ten minutes apart... all good. But painful," she grimaced as another contraction began.

It took Pomfrey twenty minutes to get to Eileen's house.

"How are you, Flor?" asked the mediwitch as she walked briskly into the room.

"Not so good..." gasped Florence, "It hurts- oooww! A lot! And the contractions are happening every 5 minutes or so."

"Alright. It's progressed fast! Let's bring these babies into this world then," said Pomfrey smiling.

James Potter and Sirius stood in the corridor, waiting for something to happen or someone to order them to do something.

"When could we have ever imagined..." said James, "That one day we would be at Snivellus's bedroom door waiting for his kids to be born?"

"Never. It's totally bizarre, right?" said Sirius, wincing in the next second as he realized what he had just revealed.

James nodded, "Yeah. I already imagined that they weren't yours... was there a spell protecting that information?"

"Yes. I guess considering Flor's water broke the spell's no longer working," Said Sirius, "They might not be mine, but I'll help Florence protect them. I'll make them happy."

"I don't doubt you, my friend," said James, "But are you happy? Have you ever had sex with her?"

"No. And I have to say, I fear I never will," Sirius sighed, "She is fine with me going out to find women to have sex with. The truth is she just needs me around to pretend I'm the father..." He didn't sound hurt, just sad, "But I still hope... maybe once Snivellus gets killed- maybe then she'll be mine."

James just looked at his friend, keeping his thoughts to himself, for it was obvious that if Severus died, Florence would follow him soon after.

But he decided to change the subject: "I didn't know it took so long for a baby to be born..."

And then they heard the first cry.

"It's James, man!" exclaimed Sirius, hugging his friend, "Little Jamie is here!"

"Holy shit, this boy can cry!" said James, laughing.

And less than 10 minutes later they heard a second cry.

"Nicky is here too!" exclaimed Sirius, being pulled into a hug and crying alongside his friend.

When the first baby cried, Florence cried with him, while still gasping and pushing for the second baby to come out as well.

Eileen, crying, held a screaming James in her arms for a moment before passing him to Tiffany; the elf cleaned and dressed the baby.

Once Nicholas was born, Pomfrey checked on Florence's lady parts, and the two babies while Lily helped the new mum to sit up on the bed.

Eileen gave Florence the two crying babies, and as soon as they found their mother's nipples, they started to suck and calmed down.

James was the first baby to open his eyes, his dark sleepy eyes trying to look at his mother.

Then it was Nicholas' turn, and he had baby-blue eyes.

"They are perfect," Florence whispered, falling immediately in love with those two tiny creatures in her arms.

"Yes, they are," whispered Eileen, her voice heavy with emotion.

Soon the babies were closing their eyes and falling asleep, feeling safe in their mother's arms.

Florence kissed their foreheads, caressing them with her nose, inhaling their sweet scent, her heart full of love.

"They are both in great health, Florence. And so are you," Pomfrey said in a whisper, after she finished cleaning and organizing everything, "I'll go back to the castle, now. Call me if you need anything, ok? And within a week I'll come here to check on you three again, ok?"

"Ok, Madam Pomfrey. Thank you for everything. And tell Dumbledore about the babies!" Florence whisper-shouted.

"I will," and the healer opened the door and left the room, letting Sirius and James walk in.

They had dinner late that night.

Florence ate in the bedroom, for she didn't want to leave her sons alone, not even for a minute.

After Lily, James and Sirius left, Eileen helped Florence to breastfeed the babies one more time and the young new mom fell asleep as soon as her babies did.

Eileen stood there in her son's bedroom, looking at the two dark-haired angels that were sleeping in the beautiful dark-blue crib by the bed.

She touched their thin black hairs, lost in her own memories.

They look just like my Severus did when he was born... I wish your dad were here to see the beautiful babies that you two are.

Then she wiped away her tears, going to her own bedroom to rest.

Miles away from Spiner's End, up in the Scottish mountains, Severus Snape saw his usual nightmare be cut short by a sweet and strange dream; one moment he was being tortured and the next he was in his bedroom, in his mother's house, watching over two little baby-boys he'd never seen before that slept soundly in a pretty blue crib.