March 13th, 1978
Dumbledore was in his office, enjoying the silence of that early Monday morning.
It was early enough that the sun had just started rising in the horizon, when a Patronus wolf surged through his window.
He frowned trying to remember who he knew that had a wolf for their Patronus.
"Prof. Dumbledore," it was Florence Delacour's voice, "I need to speak to you, sir. It's a matter of utmost importance and calls for extreme discretion."
He was surprised, concerned and very curious; raising his wand he sent her his own Patronus in response: "Of course, my dear. You can come to my office right now. I'll allow you passage directly into my office, via Floo."
Less than ten minutes after he had sent his answer, the flames in his fireplace turned green and Florence walked out of them.
"Good morning, Headmaster. I'm sorry to bother you this early, but what I have to say is very important," she spoke fast, walking to the chair in front of his desk and sitting down.
"Morning, Florence. Whatever you say in this office won't leave these walls, dear."
"Are you sure about the portraits? Cause I'm not," she pointed to the dead Headmasters' portraits, before casting: "Glacio pingere." and all portraits stopped moving, looking like any common muggle painting, "Now, we can speak."
Dumbledore frowned, "What is it that you have to tell me that demands such secrecy?"
"I'm pregnant," she went straight to the point.
Dumbledore slowly sat back on his chair, understanding the importance of that information.
"I see. And Severus is the father," he wasn't asking.
"Yes. But he doesn't know - and he'll remain in the dark about it. No one can know he's the father. That's where I need your help: I need to keep my pregnancy a secret for as long as I'm still a student here."
He nodded, "You need a Keeper."
"Yes. I need a Secret Keeper for the duration of my pregnancy. My magic is becoming unstable, and Pomfrey said I soon won't be able to fully protect myself."
"I understand protecting your child is the most important thing for you right now, Florence, but is a Fidelius Charm really necessary?"
"Protecting my children is the most important thing," she corrected him, "I'm expecting twins; but the Fidelius is to protect their father as well. Father heard that Severus and I dated and he wasn't pleased; he threatened to kill Severus if I ever got back together with him. And these babies were conceived months after that conversation."
Dumbledore leaned closer to her, intrigued: "And when did that conversation happen?"
"In the summer. Father personally came to see me in Hogsmeade to let me know that."
"So your deal is off, since he's interfering in your life," realized Dumbledore.
Florence nodded.
"So will you help us in the fight against your father, Miss Peverell?"
"Yes," she answered with certainty.
"Very well," Dumbledore sounded as pleased as he felt, "I'll be your Secret Keeper for the duration of your pregnancy. Will you want witnesses? You must choose wisely, once the Secrecy Spell is cast, only us and them will be able to tell others about it."
"Eileen and Pomfrey will be our witnesses. And I've already talked to Sirius."
"Of course; the babies' grandmother and the mediwitch. And Sirius will play the part of the father when needed?" he asked, Florence nodded, "Very well, I'll call Poppy and-"
"I'll call Eileen," finished Florence.
Severus was in the common room reading on the sofa when Florence walked in; she could tell he had noticed her presence, but he didn't look at her.
She stopped on her way to the dorms and looked at him; his face still bore marks of the beating he had suffered on the weekend; also, he seemed to have a cut on the back of his right hand, his lip split and a little swollen.
She wanted to go to him, kiss each of his bruises and help him heal.
It seemed that the pregnancy hormones had begun to affect her, making her more nurturing.
She watched him reading, noticing his dark eyes focused on the book, his teeth occasionally biting on his bottom lip and the way he raised his brow and moved his mouth when he had read something very interesting.
He slowly looked up, arching an eyebrow at her, and she stopped thinking those things – reminding herself that she needed to use occlumency around him.
Severus noticed when Florence walked into the Slytherin Common Room, but he forced himself to keep his eyes on his book, even though he couldn't focus enough to read a single line. His humiliation from the day before was still fresh in his mind.
He had been tortured for long minutes, and as he trembled in pain from the Dark Lord's Cruciatus Curse, Florence was all he thought about, the memory of her helped keep him awake and sane.
The moment the Dark Lord had allowed him to disapparate, Severus only wanted to find her. He needed to see her, to touch her – but instead she kicked him out of his mother's house.
And still he yearned for her; he wished she'd come sit beside him, heal his wounds and tell him she loved him no matter what.
He could sense her eyes fixed on him, so he looked at her, feeling his heart syncing with hers, the love he felt for her making him want to get up and hold her, kiss her sweet lips and touch her soft skin, getting drunk on her vanilla-scented hair.
Unexpectedly, his mind was inundated by images of her kissing his bruises as her hands applied an ointment to his cuts.
He arched an eyebrow at her, knowing those thoughts were coming from her and Florence averted her emerald eyes, walking towards the dorms.
"How was the wedding?" Severus asked loud enough for her to hear, wanting to be at least in the same room as her a little longer.
She turned around and slowly approached him, "It was beautiful," she said, stopping near him, "They were very happy," she briefly paused, "Why didn't you go? I know they invited you, and Dumbledore allowed all guests leave the castle on Friday."
Because I was called to a meeting that ended with me being tortured. He thought, replying some half-truth: "I had other businesses to attend to."
Florence nodded, whispering: "Right- other businesses," she didn't need to ask to know what he'd been doing instead of going to the wedding ceremony, "Something much more important than your friends' wedding, I'm sure. Something that got you all bruised and bleeding," she mentioned the elephant in the room.
Severus didn't reply, he couldn't tell her what had happened – he believed she either wouldn't care or would be upset.
Florence shook her head and sighed heavily, clearly disappointed.
But with her so close, Severus was able to realise that there was something different about her – he just couldn't pinpoint what exactly.
He had first noticed it during classes; whenever he looked at her, or a teacher told him to work beside her during classes, he didn't feel that all-consuming desire to have her against the closest surface anymore – no, that feeling had somewhat mellowed into a slow simmer; he was still attracted to her, yes, but it was more connected to a need to take care of her, a desire to make slow love to her for hours and pamper her afterwards.
Florence gulped, her mind suddenly being filled by thoughts of slow love-making and the tender care. She knew those were coming from his mind – he was projecting those images into her head.
The way Severus was looking at her had her quickly fortifying her occlumency barriers, as she suddenly feared he could find out about the babies if he glanced into her mind.
He frowned at how quickly she closed his mind to him. So something is up. He thought, opening his mouth to ask her what was going on, but she spoke instead:
"I have to go," and turned around, going to her dormitory, needing to get her things to go to her first class of the day; leaving him confused and very curious about his new reaction around her.
April 1978
13 weeks pregnant
The months passed by quickly. May was just around the corner, and the weather was less chilly. The N.E.W.T.s were getting closer and closer every day.
One chilly night, at two a.m., Severus sat alone in the Slytherin common room; his Dark Mark had burnt as soon as he'd laid his head on the pillow, but he couldn't answer the summoning, the Dark Lord knew he was inside Hogwarts' grounds and couldn't respond to his call.
But the pain didn't stop, like an added punishment, making it impossible for him to go back to sleep; so Severus decided to go to the library and study a little.
He entered the deserted library and walked around the shelves, his eyes falling on the same potions book Florence and he had shared the first time they studied together, about just two years ago – although it felt more like five.
He picked up that copy of Advanced Potions, 120th edition, and sat at a table, opening the book at a random page, just daydreaming about what he didn't have anymore.
Florence.
During classes she never looked at him, but he was always looking at her. It killed him not being able to touch her, to be close to her; she seemed more delicate than ever but stronger at the same time; in his eyes, she looked more beautiful than before.
Severus closed the book and let his head fall onto the table. He missed her, he hated to see her walking around hand-in-hand with Black; every time Sirius kissed her, he just wanted to kill the stupid dog.
Did he regret his past choices? Yes, every day, but there was no turning back, he had already made too many potions and poisons for the Dark Lord and the Lord had enjoyed using them – he had even complimented Severus personally.
Not to mention the tattoo on his arm advertising to the world he was an official follower.
No. There is no way back to Florence now.
He tried to focus on the money, the power... but on nights like that, when he was all alone, the Mark burning on his arm, he just wished he could turn back time and make the right choice for once.
He was getting up to put the potions book back in the bookshelf when he heard the library door being opened, so he turned to see who was going there to bother him, and then he saw...
Florence!
He quickly hid behind a bookshelf to watch her. She was crying; he could hear the small sobs and feel the sadness that emanated from her. He watched her sit at a table, her head on her arms.
He frowned, recalling that he had overheard some girls talking about how Florence was getting heavier, that she was fat now.
He watched her closely and... well, that was true, she was bigger than he remembered her to be, but she was still beautiful – strangely even more so than usual.
He had to find out what was it about her that was making her look dazzling.
It doesn't matter that she's bigger, she's perfect.
He moved to look at her from a better angle, but accidentally hit a pile of books that was on a small table between the shelves, knocking them all onto the floor.
Florence obviously heard the loud noise.
"Who's there?" she asked.
Severus walked toward the light, so she could see him.
"Oh, it's you..." she whispered and wiped away the tears, "What are you doing here at this hour?"
"I was studying," he replied with a characteristic raised eyebrow.
"Of course," she got up, "I'll leave you to it then," and walked to the door.
"Stay. Please," he pleaded in a low voice.
Florence stopped, closing her eyes, pondering for a second what she should do. She decided to turn around and look at him.
He just stared back at her.
Severus had the impulse to run to her, wrap her in his arms and prove to both of them that she was his, but when he took a few steps towards her, she softly said: "Good night, Severus," and quickly left the library.
He didn't go after her.
Florence walked into the Slytherin common room, empty at that time, and sat on one of the armchairs, tears rolling down her face again.
Stupid hormones. Stupid Severus. She thought as she stared at the flames in the fireplace through the tears.
When Severus got to the common room, Florence was there, on an armchair, still crying. He kneeled in front of her.
"Flor, what happened? Why are you crying?" he asked softly.
"It's none of your business!" she rudely replied.
He didn't say anything, his eyes traveling to the black leather sofa, the biggest one in the common room, his mind replaying the many times they had talked and laughed and nearly fucked on that sofa.
Then he looked to the corner of the room, where they had indeed fucked against the wall.
His eyes fell on her again, and his heart clenched – he missed her; he needed her so much her absence was a physical pain.
"I love you," he blurted.
Florence lifted her head, looking at him in anger; her beautiful green eyes red from too much crying.
"Your point?" she growled.
"No point. I love you and I just wanted to say it."
"You just wanted to say it," she repeated getting angrier by the second, "You're an arsehole!"
"What?" he was confused, "What did I do now?"
"It's not what you did NOW! It's all that you have been doing lately!" she got up from the armchair and Severus quickly stood up and grabbed her arm.
"Let me go!" she shouted, "You fucking idiot! You have no idea what you're doing to me!" she punched his chest repeatedly, but she didn't put enough strength in it; soon he was holding her in his arms and she was crying against his chest.
Florence rubbed her nose on his shirt, inhaling his scent – the pain of not having him by her side, holding her every day, had her crying harder.
Severus just held her shaking frame, worried; whatever it was the reason for her tears, it had to be something very serious to have her crying like that.
It took a while, but he felt her shoulders stop shaking, she had probably cried herself to exhaustion.
"Let me go," she whispered, lightly pushing him away.
Severus took a small step away from her, his hands still on her waist; and they stared into each other's eyes.
Florence noticed how tall he was; taller than three months ago. He was almost a foot taller than her; and he was bigger too, his chest was broader and his shoulders...
Stop ogling him, Florence! She chastised herself.
But he took advantage of her silence and how close they were.
Suddenly, his arms were around her and she was being kissed, the feeling of his lips on hers had her moaning in his mouth.
Severus licked her lips, as if asking her tongue to come out to play, and she parted her lips, his tongue finding hers and circling it, caressing it sensuously.
Florence whimpered in his mouth and he pushed her against the nearest wall, pressing his body on hers and letting his hands roam everywhere, going under her blouse, touching her soft skin.
Her fingers were under his shirt as well, touching his abs, her veela purring in his mind, wanting more of his touches – although not as aggressively as it used to.
He took his shirt off over his head and then stopped, suddenly remembering what she could see.
Severus took a step back and covered his left forearm with his shirt and Florence realized why he was doing that and her heart sank, his movement confirming her fears that he had been Marked.
"If you're ashamed of it, why did you do it in first place?" she asked, bitterly.
"I'm not ashamed of it. I just don't want to scare you."
"The Dark Mark doesn't scare me, Severus," she took his shirt from his hands and stared at the snake and the skull, not daring to touch it in case it reacted to her blood.
"I'm not afraid of this..." she sighed, letting go of his arm and giving his shirt back to him, "I'm just sad to realize that we've never actually had a chance," she paused, "When we met, you had already decided to join them, hadn't you?"
"Yes," he didn't lie.
"Why did you let me believe...?" her voice broke, tears falling from her eyes again.
"I thought I could make you change your mind," he replied honestly.
She shook her head, "And I had hoped you would change yours. I guess we both only saw just what we wanted to see," she looked at him, "Are you happy with your choices?"
He hesitated before replying a half-truth: "Yes," although part of him wanted to admit that she had been right and he regretted having ever joined the death eaters, even though he didn't regret the money he had made.
Florence closed her eyes and more tears fell, "Good night, Severus," she whispered, before going to her dormitory, leaving him alone in the common room.
May 1978
17 weeks pregnant
The Slytherin common room was celebrating one more Quidditch Cup, for the third consecutive year.
Florence, despite no longer being part of the team, was there, celebrating with Regulus and the others. And it hadn't escaped her notice how her friend was thinner, looking more tired than usual – and she could easily guess the reason; he most certainly had received the Dark Mark just like Severus, Nott, Avery and a few others.
"Flor, don't look to your right!" Regulus said all of a sudden, holding her arm.
But, taken by surprise, she did exactly what he had asked her not to.
"Severus... he's here with her?" Florence couldn't believe her own eyes, "He's celebrating Quidditch and he brought her here? But he never... when I used to play on the team he never celebrated with me," and the tears were coming again, "I... I have to get out of here."
Regulus didn't stop her.
Florence went to the Astronomy Tower; a place she liked to think of as their tower, hers and Severus', for they had spent many nights there, talking, duelling and bringing each other to the edge of madness through kisses and touches.
But the memories made her cry harder.
She knew she should stop crying so much, it was probably not good for the babies, but due to hormones or the fact that she had been away from Severus for months, she just couldn't stop it.
After a while, Florence heard some steps on the stairs, making her realize she had no idea if there were classes in the Tower that night.
Getting up as quickly as she could, she hid behind a column.
But she recognized a voice and her eyes got huge in surprise and betrayal.
No. No. It can't be... he wouldn't!
But he did: Severus had taken Rosmerta to their tower.
He pushed the Ravenclaw girl against the wall, kissing her lasciviously.
And it was just too much for Florence to handle, her veela going abnormally quiet in her mind.
She walked out from her hiding spot, not caring if they saw her or not, and ran towards the stairs.
Severus stopped kissing Rosmerta and turned around just in time to see her reaching the first step.
"Florence?" he asked and then ran after her, leaving Rosmerta in the tower by herself.
Florence was almost at the bottom of the spiral staircase that led to the top of the Astronomy Tower when she heard him calling her name.
She looked back to see if he was near enough to catch her, and suddenly she was falling down.
She hit her head on one of the last steps and everything went black.
"Florence!" Severus shouted running faster to where she was lying on the floor.
He fell onto his knees beside her, "Flor!" he shook her and touched her face but she didn't wake up, "Shit!" he cursed, taking her limp body in his arms and running towards the Hospital Wing.
Severus kicked the door of the Infirmary open.
"Madam Pomfrey!" he shouted putting Florence on a clean bed, "Madam Pomfrey!"
"Why are you shouting in my...!?" she came out admonishing him, but stopped once she saw Florence, "What have you done to her?!" she shouted while running to Florence's side, passing her wand quickly over the girl's body.
"She rolled down the Astronomy Tower staircase," Severus explained, fear consuming him as his eyes never left Florence's pale face.
"Oh, no!" Pomfrey quickly moved her wand over Florence, identifying she had a cut on her temple, so she began looking for any signs of concussion.
He looked at how Pomfrey was working on Florence, going from her head to her belly, checking her midsection many times.
He frowned, Why would she do that? Florence hit her head not her stomach... Then he felt his body grow cold, realizing: Unless she's pregnant.
No, it can't be. He shook his head, feeling like he had fallen right in the middle of his worst nightmare, despair filling his heart.
"Mr Snape!" Pomfrey was shouting, "Go find Dumbledore. Quickly! And bring Sirius Black here too, please."
He just nodded, looking at Florence once more before leaving the Hospital Wing. The pain in his chest almost unbearable.
She is pregnant with Black's kid.
He stopped in the corridor and took a few deep breaths – his nightmare wasn't just a figment of his imagination anymore, it was real.
Dumbledore found him hyperventilating in the corridor.
"Mr Snape? Are you ok?"
He shook his head, but his lips said: "Yes, Headmaster. I was going to... look for you, sir. Florence, she is in the hospital wing," He paused, his voice strained by the pain of his recent discovery, "Pomfrey asked me to find you, sir."
"Oh, alright. Could you let Sirius Black know? The Gryffindor Tower password is Licorice wand," then Dumbledore went to the hospital wing.
Severus waited a few more minutes, trying to get his heartbeat under control, and then he went to the Gryffindor common room.
"Licorice wand," Severus said to the Fat Lady, his voice weak and strained.
"Now you have the password?" the portrait screeched, "Why do we even bother to have a password? What am I even doing here?" she opened and walked out of the frame, leaving the door open.
Severus walked in, finding Lily alone on the sofa, reading.
"Severus?" she asked frowning, "What are you doing here?"
"Florence's had an accident."
Lily jumped from the sofa, suddenly angry, "What the fuck did you do?"
He hesitated, looking at his childhood friend, wanting to ask her if it was true that his Florence was expecting another man's child, Lily certainly knew, but he didn't ask her anything, he just said: "She fell down the Astronomy Tower staircase. Tell Black."
Then he turned around and left.
When Sirius arrived at the Hospital Wing, Florence had already come to and was talking to Pomfrey.
"What happened?" he asked, taking Florence's hand in his.
"I fell down the stairs..." she didn't want to explain anything anymore, "But I'm fine now. The babies and I are fine. And they are boys, Sirius! Two baby boys!" she smiled.
Pomfrey spoke next: "And this fall of yours, it wasn't anything serious – but it could have been, Florence! That's why I've asked the Headmaster to come here," Pomfrey looked at Dumbledore, "Florence must leave Hogwarts, she has to rest until the end of her pregnancy, away from stressful situations and here... "
"I understand, Poppy," agreed Dumbledore, "If she has to leave, then she will leave."
"But what about the N.E.W.T.s...?" Florence asked, worried, "I need good grades to be accepted at St. Mungus!"
Dumbledore nodded his head: "You go home tomorrow and rest, Florence. In two weeks you'll come back here just to take the tests. I don't think you'll have problems with the N.E.W.T.s even if you don't go to any classes."
She knew he was right, she could take her N.E.W.T.s that day and would have all Outstandings.
"Alright," She nodded, feeling relieved that she wouldn't have to stay in the castle any longer and see Severus everyday, "I'll send a letter to Eileen, telling her I'll go home."
"Good. You'll leave tomorrow morning, right after breakfast," said Dumbledore, "Rest now, dear," and he left the room.
Sirius kissed Florence's hand and leaned over her to kiss her lips.
"Why was it Snivellus who brought you here?" he murmured.
"Because I saw him at the Tower with..."
"I can imagine," Sirius interrupted, "Regulus told me they are together."
Florence tried not to cry again.
"Then I ran and fell down the stairs," she finished.
He touched her slightly rounded belly.
"You're all fine, that's what matters most," he kissed her once more.
"Yes," she smiled, wiping away the tears, "Two boys, Sirius!" she was very excited.
He hugged her, "Thank heavens it's not two gorgeous and feisty little girls like you; I'm not sure I'd survive," he said, laughing alongside her.
Little did they know that they weren't alone. Severus was by the door, watching the whole scene with tears in his eyes, his blood boiling in his veins as his heart broke in tiny pieces.
He left before he stormed into the hospital wing and killed Sirius Black.