January 16th, 1978
Hogwarts
At the end of Holiday recess, Florence returned to the castle by Floo, going straight to her dorm to organize her bag for next day.
She was leaving the dorm when she saw Severus on the sofa, a book on his lap.
He seemed to sense her presence and lifted his head looking towards her.
Florence shivered; it was the first time she was seeing him after the long night of passion they had shared on his birthday, a week ago.
She suddenly remembered she had forgotten to take her Potentia Imperium Draught that morning, but for some reason her body wasn't taken by need to go sit near him and her veela wasn't making her all hot and bothered.
She frowned a little at that, but kept on walking; as she was almost at the exit door she stopped and turned, remembering she had to talk to him about something.
"Hi, Severus," she said, stopping in front of him.
"Florence," he said, giving her a curt nod and glancing at her briefly before returning to his book; desire, anger and jealousy mixing up inside of him.
He still remembered every sigh and moan that had left her lips – just as he remembered her saying she was dating Sirius Black.
And that gave him murderous thoughts.
Florence could sense the intense feelings coming from him, but didn't comment on them. She just sighed and said what she had gone there to say: "Look, I just want to let you know that I won't be your partner in Potions and DADA anymore."
"Why not?" he frowned, immediately closing his book, and looking at her.
"I don't feel comfortable working by your side anymore," she shrugged, "That means we won't be working together in any classes that ask for a partner, so you'd better find a new one."
He stared at her with narrowed eyes, wondering if her boyfriend had told her to do that, "Why don't you want to work with me? I bet Black told you–"
She interrupted: "Sirius doesn't own me, Severus. I just don't want to spend time with you," she used occlumency and lied, her mind replaying her father's threatening words to give her courage, "It's better this way."
Severus stood up, looking angry, "Better for whom? I'll have to work alone!"
Florence crossed her arms over her chest, trying to control the need to touch him, for he was just two feet away from her, "If you think all of our classmates are stupid and you can't work with any of them, that's not my problem, Severus. I won't be working with you anymore, I don't want to work with you anymore," she emphasized the last sentence.
He looked into her eyes, sensing that what she was saying wasn't completely true, "Really?" he asked with a lopsided smile.
"Yes, really." Florence replied, feeling a little too hot under his gaze, fighting to control her trembling hands, "Have a nice day," she added, before leaving the common room, going to meet her Gryffindor friends.
As the weeks went by, Florence didn't even look at Severus any more. For some reason she ended up having to stop taking her Draught it was making her sick – for two days she took it and for two days she vomited.
There was probably something wrong with that batch. But, strangely, her body remained under control, and her veela wasn't singing every time she entered a room that Severus was in.
But even without her magical blood calling for him, Florence still missed him; she loved him and it wasn't easy to stop her eyes from looking for him every time she sensed him nearby.
February 1978
Defence Against the Dark Arts class
Prof. Cecily Atlas walked into the classroom and reminded the Slytherin and Gryffindor students that they had only four more months to prepare for their N.E.W.T.s.
"I expect to see all of you making use of nonverbal spells in the time we still have left. Out of all twenty-six of you, only a handful seems to have mastered it. Now, I want Potter, Black, Delacour, Evans and Snape in a circle at the front of the room, wands in hand."
The five students stood up and formed a circle, waiting for the teacher's orders.
"Now," continued Prof. Atlas, "I want you to cast harmless spells at one another – non-verbally only. Meanwhile, all the rest of you will watch them and take notes. I want you to write about their hand movements, focus, strength, strain levels," she paused, giving time for the students to get parchments and pencils. "Begin now. Potter attack Evans."
"Sorry, babe," James whispered before silently casting: Sternius.
And Lily sneezed twice before she cast the countercurse on herself: Reparifors. And the sneezing stopped.
"Very good," said Prof. Atlas, "Now, Delacour, attack Potter."
Florence smiled at her friend and cast: Herbifors.
Students laughed as flowers sprouted from James' head.
Sirius picked one and walked to Florence, giving it to her and getting a quick peck on the lips, before returning to his place; making their classmates erupt in shouts and whistles.
Severus fisted his hand in anger, wishing the teacher would order him to attack Black next.
James used a silent Finite incantatem to stop more flowers from growing on his head.
"That was very good!" said Prof. Atlas, "Are you all noticing their focus? How they move their arms and aim at their target?" the teacher asked the class, hearing a chorus of "Yes, Prof. Atlas."
"Right," continued the teacher, "Now, Evans, attack Snape."
Lily nodded and looked at her childhood friend, thinking: Ebublio.
And a large bubble trapped Severus, who silently cast Reducto and burst the bubble.
"That's excellent!" praised Atlas, "Keeping the spells harmless and showing your classmates how to solve them! Bravo! Now, Snape attack Delacour."
Severus smiled, before casting: Carpe retractum. And a rope of light wrapped around Florence, and he yanked on it, pulling her towards him. She bumped onto his chest and he wrapped his arms around her waist, holding her very close to his body.
She glared at him, knowing he had done that just to get back at Sirius for having kissed her minutes before.
She cast a stinging hex on him: Aculeo. And he quickly let her go, casting the counter-hex: Lenire, on himself to soothe the stings.
Florence walked back to her place in the circle, rolling her eyes at his jealousy act.
All students were suddenly even more interested in watching that playful duel; everybody knew already that Florence and Sirius had started dating and that Severus wasn't happy about it.
But Prof. Atlas didn't seem to know anything about that, for he said next: "Black, attack Snape."
And the room went completely silent, as everyone waited at the edge of their seats to see what was going to happen.
Florence looked at Sirius, noticing he wasn't going to play nicely this time.
Incarcerous, Sirius cast.
But the conjured ropes that suddenly were flying through the air never reached their target, for Severus was very fast in reacting to them.
He used Bombarda to destroy the ropes and attacked Black with a Langlock.
"I said harmless spells!" shouted the teacher.
Sirius was moving his hands frantically, pointing at his own mouth but not saying anything. It looked like he couldn't move his tongue.
Florence then realized what Severus had done, she exhaled angrily and walked towards her boyfriend, casting silently: Langliber.
Sirius cast, furious: Everte statum.
But Severus was used to duelling against Florence, Sirius was no challenge for him; he moved his wand, sending the spell back to Sirius and adding: Glacius.
Sirius, who had been thrown face first against the wall by his own spell, was getting up from the floor when he was taken by ice, freezing in place, his skin quickly turning blue.
Florence interfered, "That's enough, Severus!" then she cast: Finite incantatem, unfreezing her boyfriend.
"That's enough for all of you!" shouted Prof. Atlas, "You've seen more than enough to write two rolls of parchment on silent spells. Class dismissed! Twenty house points for Gryffindor, for Potter and Evans's help. Ten points for Slytherin for Delacour's. Black and Snape, you two get detention after dinner tonight!"
Florence glared once more at Severus, feeling his anger as he saw her hand resting on Sirius' face.
Severus frowned as he watched Florence walk out of the classroom hand-in-hand with Black, he could swear she seemed a little more winded and paler than expected after such a simple practical class.
Saturday, March 11th 1978
Lily and James's wedding
Dumbledore allowed the to-be-married couple, as well as the students who had been invited to the wedding, to leave the school for the weekend to attend the ceremony.
Evans' house
Florence and Eileen were in Lily's bedroom, at her parent's house, helping her get ready.
The bride was gorgeous, her white princess style dress had little sparkling flowers all over the full skirt and her long red hair fell down her shoulders, curling perfectly at the ends.
"I'm so nervous," Lily said.
"Why?" asked Florence, clearly teasing her, "Today is only your wedding day! After today you'll be Mrs James Potter. Could anything be worse than that?" she finished with a grimace.
Lily smiled at her friend, "I know you're happy for me, you Slytherin prat," but her smile soon faded, for it was noticeable that Florence looked a little bit pale, "How are you feeling?"
"Me? I'm fine," answered Florence a bit confused by the question, "But why do you ask?"
"Sirius told me you've been feeling under the weather for a few days. He said you even vomited a couple of times," Lily sounded concerned.
"Oh, that was probably just something I ate," Florence dismissed it as unimportant.
"What?" asked Eileen, "You haven't been feeling well? Why didn't you tell me anything? What have you been feeling?"
"Just some nausea and dizziness, godmother. But I haven't felt a thing since yesterday, so relax you two, I'm fine. Whatever I had is gone now. I'm not sick."
"Good," Lily nodded, "I don't want to see my maid of honour passing out in the middle of my wedding," and she pulled Florence into a hug.
"You know you still have time to give up on this thing," joked Florence trying to lighten the mood.
Lily playfully slapped her arm.
The muggle church was beautifully decorated with lilies and wildflowers.
Eileen sat on a pew on Lily's side of the church and Florence went towards the altar – where Sirius and James already stood.
She stopped by her boyfriend's side, giving him a quick kiss and accepting the arm he was offering her.
"Are you feeling all right?" Sirius asked, worried.
Florence looked annoyed, "Stop telling everyone I haven't been well. Eileen and Lily thought I was dying or something."
"Ok. But I didn't lie, you passed out and vomited a couple of times this past week," he paused, looking at her with worry and receiving a glare in response.
He sighed, realizing Florence wasn't going to talk about that, so he asked: "How is Lily?"
"Nervous. I tried to make her see the huge mistake she's about to make, but..." James quickly turned to look at her, fear on his eyes, and Florence laughed, "I'm kidding. Relax! She's on her way and looking gorgeous," she noticed something on James' face, "Come here a moment, please," she motioned him to come behind Sirius and she put her hand on his face.
"Impervius," she murmured, "Now you'll stop looking like you've just got out of the shower."
"Thanks," James hugged her, "You're the best. I'm so nervous."
Two minutes later, Here Comes The Bride started to play and the wedding began.
While the newlyweds were receiving hugs and taking pictures in front of the church, Florence, Sirius and Eileen left to check if everything was ready in the ballroom for the wedding reception.
Florence walked into the kitchens to check if the hors d'oeuvres were ready to start being served, but instantly regretted going there. All those delicious smells of food just made her stomach cramp up and she ran out as soon as she had gone in.
When Florence had, once again, reached the space reserved for the dance floor, she realized that running hadn't been a good idea.
She could see Eileen coming in her direction, but it felt like the floor had turned into quicksand and she was sinking fast; then everything went black.
"Sirius! Help me!" Eileen shouted, holding Florence before she hit the floor, unconscious.
Sirius came running, "What happened?" he asked, taking Florence in his arms and carrying her to a small sofa by the restrooms.
Eileen walked beside him, "I saw her running out of the kitchen and as I was walking towards her, she just started to fall onto the floor," Eileen sounded worried, "What is wrong with her? You told Lily that Florence has been feeling ill for some time now," she sat on the sofa and put Florence's head on her lap.
"It's been a week now," he said, nodding. "She stopped having breakfast with us and I got worried. Some days she even skipped lunch. And the days she did have lunch, she would just run to the bathroom right after eating. One day I followed her and saw her vomiting."
"Could she be pregnant, Sirius?" Eileen asked straightforwardly.
"N-not possible. We haven't..." he said, embarrassed.
"Alright, I just had to ask, you understand," Eileen tried to wake Florence up, "Flor, dear..." she hit her cheeks lightly, "Has she seen Pomfrey?"
"No. She said it wasn't necessary, that whatever it is that she has will go away soon."
At that moment Florence came to, sitting up on the couch, slowly.
"What happened?" she asked.
"You passed out, Florence!" Eileen exclaimed, concerned.
"I haven't eaten much today..." Florence explained, "Didn't want to look bloated in this dress."
But Eileen didn't buy that, not even for a second: "Sirius, can you bring her something to eat?" she asked, wanting to speak alone with Florence.
He nodded and left towards the kitchen.
"Tell me the truth Florence," Eileen demanded, "Are you sick?"
"No, godmother, of course not. Don't worry-"
"Since when have you been feeling ill?" Eileen wasn't going to drop it.
Florence let out an annoyed sigh, "About three weeks, it's probably just a flu that's taking longer to cure, it's nothing."
Eileen looked at her in silence for a moment, then she said: "It's been two months since that night."
"What night?" Florence asked, confused.
"His birthday, Severus' birthday," she sighed, a small smile on her lips, "And now youre nauseous and having dizziness spells..."
"What are you talking about, godmother?"
"You could be... you know... pregnant," she finished in an excited whisper.
"What?" Florence looked at her in shock. "No! That's not possible. Sirius and I haven't..."
"I know you haven't. And I'm not talking about you and Sirius."
"Eileen, I haven't talked to Severus since..." Florence looked at her, suddenly understanding what she meant, "Oh, no. His birthday!"
"Exactly."
Sirius chose that moment to get back from the kitchens, a small plate in his hands with some food in it, which he gave to Florence.
But she took one look at the food and shoved the plate towards her godmother, before running to the Ladies' Room.
Eileen thanked Sirius, giving him back the plate and walked after Florence into the restroom, finding her goddaughter on her knees in front of a toilet.
After a minute, Florence got up from the floor slowly: "This can't be... I can't be pregnant... I've always taken my Contraceptive Potion on the 7th day of every month," she flushed the toilet and went to the sink to rinse her mouth, her heart pounding in fear and anxiety.
"Have you been taking it since you two broke up?" Eileen asked.
Florence hesitated a second before closing her eyes.
No, she hadn't.
She hadn't even thought about the Contraceptive Potion since they'd broken up.
She dried her hands, trying not to look at Eileen.
She'd be lying if she said she hadn't thought about the possibility that her symptoms could mean she was pregnant, but in that moment she was almost certain of it – and she was scared.
Eileen walked towards her, chuckling, and pulling her into a hug.
"I'm terrified, godmother," Florence admitted.
"Don't be, my dear! I'll help you every step of the way. You won't be alone."
"If I'm really pregnant, no one can know who the father is. My father will kill Severus and he could even come after my baby-" Florence started hyperventilating, "How will I be able to go to a healer? I know I have to see one, to check if the baby is fine, and-"
Eileen caressed her arms, trying to help her calm down.
"Look at me, Flor. Pomfrey will help you, she's a trained healer, after all. And you can trust her."
The younger woman slowly nodded.
Eileen couldn't stop smiling for the rest of the night. The prospect of becoming a grandma had her giddy. If it weren't for the attention it would call, she'd be running to the nearest muggle pharmacy to get Florence a Pregnancy Test.
Meanwhile, Florence was quiet, her eyes traveling around the beautiful ballroom, but she couldn't pay attention to anything; her thoughts running through her mind, going from extremely happy to scared to death.
She couldn't even dream about telling Severus she was pregnant.
No.
He would want them to marry and then her father would certainly kill him, and maybe force her to have an abortion.
No way! I'm not telling him.
If she were really pregnant, Severus would never know he was the father, and she'd hide her kid.
She just had to find a way to tell Sirius about the night she cheated on him and the baby that resulted from it.
After the wedding reception, Florence went straight home. She remembered she had a Pregnancy Test in her bathroom cabinet. Pomfrey had given it to her when she asked for a Contraceptive Potion over a year ago. All she would need was a drop of her own blood and within seconds she would know if she was pregnant or not.
Florence walked upstairs as fast as possible, entering her bathroom and quickly finding the vial containing a whitish liquid deep inside the sink cabinet.
She opened it and, with a needle, pricked her index finger, letting a drop of blood fall into the Pregnancy Test Potion.
She closed her eyes and took a deep breath: Pink for negative. Yellow for positive.
Then she opened her eyes.
The liquid couldn't be yellower.
Florence froze looking at the small vial – time seemed to stand still and she didn't know whether to cry or laugh.
She did both; sitting on the closed toilet, she held her head in her hands, crying and chuckling.
Tiffany opened the bathroom door, worried. "Is Mistress Florence all right?"
"Yes. I'm just... pregnant, Tiff," she said it out loud for the first time.
"Tiffany knows."
"You know?" Florence frowned, suddenly understanding the morning ginger tea the elf had served her in the last two days she had been home.
"Mistress Flor would find out soon, it was not Tiffany's place to say anything," she shook her head, her floppy years moving back and forth.
Florence put the cork in the vial, leaving it on the bathroom sink, and walked to her bedroom.
"Snape-boy is the father, isn't he?" the house-elf asked, clearly unhappy.
"Yes. And you have to stop calling him that. He's not a boy."
Tiffany made a face, but she would do as her Mistress had ordered, "Tiffany will help Mistress Flor. Tiffany knows how to care for a baby. And Mel will help too."
Florence laughed softly.
"I know all of that, Tiff. I'm just scared," she sat on her bed, removing her high heels.
The elf looked at her for a moment.
"Mistress Florence's father cannot know about the baby. He'll kill Snape-" she stopped before saying 'boy', "And he might kill the baby too."
"That's why I'm afraid, Tiff. We'll have to hide my pregnancy from my father."
"Yes," the elf agreed, looking at her, "Mistress Florence wants Tiffany to call Eileen?"
"No. Not tonight. She'll probably be here first thing in the morning anyway. Just bring me some tea, Tiff, and I'll try to sleep."
The elf nodded and left the room.
Florence showered, glancing from time to time at the yellow vial on the sink, and put on some comfortable pyjamas.
As she lay her head on her pillow, Florence let her hand go over her flat stomach and couldn't stop the smile that came over her lips.
Was she scared? Yes.
Was she afraid of the future? Yes.
She was two months away from her eighteenth birthday and she was going to have a baby!
She hadn't even finished school, and a war had just began!
This is a terrible moment to bring a kid into this world.
And yet she couldn't stop smiling; that child was made with love, and it was the family she had given up on having.
That baby was a piece of Severus, a piece of their love that she'd have forever.
She drank her tea, while imagining the child's hair, its eyes, its tiny hands.
Florence fell asleep with a smile on her face – and her heart full of love for her unborn baby.