Disclaimer: The characters here and the world they inhabit are the creation and property of JK Rowling.
January 9, 1999
The pain eased and her hold on him lessened. "Thank you," she whispered.
He brushed a stray curl from her face and kissed her head.
"How have you been? What have you been doing?" She sounded over-eager for him and hated herself for it.
"I've been missing you. Whatever happens today, I don't want to be away from you anymore."
She smiled. "I want to be with you, too."
He continued to hold her and a few minutes later a new contraction struck. She whimpered and he held her, rubbing her back.
Druella picked this moment to come back into the room, followed by Narcissa. They looked at Severus and glared at him. Andromeda's mother stood in the middle of the room, hands on hips, and remarked, "I didn't think unmarried men were allowed in here."
"She asked for me. Did she ask for you?"
"She didn't need to ask for me! I'm her mother; of course I came!"
"I'm sure she found that quite comforting when Nymphadora was born all those years ago."
Druella Black's eyes narrowed and she crossed her arms. Another wizard or witch might have found it menacing, but not the wizard she faced. She tried to stare him down and found herself cowed instead.
Andromeda looked up in fear and lost her breath. Panic filled her face as Severus tried to get her to calm down.
"Please don't leave me."
He smiled as he brushed tendrils of hair out of her face. "Never again."
May 1, 1998
They had barely gotten seated at breakfast when Alecto Carrow came storming up to Snape's office. "Headmaster, have you heard? Harry Potter has broken out of Gringotts!"
"I take that to mean he also broke in to the bank?" Severus asked drily.
"What'll we do?"
"Unless the caverns of Gringotts have extended the hundreds of miles that would bring them within the walls of Hogwarts, we will have our breakfast and teach our classes," Severus said, sternly. "Get back to your duties, or I'll have to discuss it with our master. In the meanwhile, I'm having a private breakfast to discuss important school business with my secretary. I do not wish to be interrupted again. Is that understood?"
"Oh, yes, of course," the nominal teacher said while slinking back. The Black witch was looking at her with a glance that would freeze skin, as well. Professor Carrow left the office quickly.
"This is likely to be the day, Severus," said the portrait directly behind the Headmaster's desk. "If Harry went to Gringotts it means he learned that something that he needed to find was there. The snake is on the list and Vol—Tom—knows it."
"Are you so doddering in that picture frame, even, that you failed to notice our audience?"
Andromeda gasped. Suddenly she realized the truth behind the "meetings" Severus often had after sending her to prepare for bed. It was odd that even the portrait of Dumbledore would speak so... so... sociably with his murderer.
"Not at all, Severus," said the portrait chidingly. "In weighing the entire situation, including the fact that the game is about to be played, the witch is soon to become your wife and carries your child—"
"It's not my child." Andromeda had forgotten for a while that this source of discord existed. Her heart plummeted just then.
"Be that as it may, Severus, secrecy around Andromeda seems to be an unnecessary luxury at the moment."
"I don't agree and in any case, you've already given me your directions and my plans are in place. You need not frighten the witch. She and I have much to discuss as it is."
"Such as?" Andromeda herself asked this question.
He smiled and reached for her hand. "I thought you might like to get married this weekend. I had thought to send you shopping for whatever you feel you need today, but if Gringotts has been broken into, I don't think you should leave Hogwarts."
"Aren't you presuming upon my acceptance?"
"Will you?" He looked at her, and for the first time that morning he was her Severus, the one who pulled her closer just as he fell asleep at night and the one who woke her in the morning by pushing her hair out of her face with his nose and kissing her ear.
"Of course." She smiled as he squeezed her hand.
"We shall see what today may bring. If nothing happens, you may shop tomorrow, perhaps with your younger sister, and we will still plan for this weekend."
"What if something does happen?"
"We will cross that bridge when we come to it. Hopefully my colleagues in the Dark Lord's organization won't be standing near it, casting blasting curses, at the time."
Andromeda watched Severus carefully during his morning meetings. He fulfilled his duties with a certain cheerfulness she had never quite seen before. It was nothing like the way he behaved with her. There was no real happiness behind it. Perhaps the right word was resigned. A chill started to form in her heart as she recognized that he was expecting some fate that day. To further her worry, he was particular about making sure his desk was perfectly cleared and all outstanding issues were resolved.
After lunch, he took her hand and led her to the bedroom. "I'm going to spend some time with the witch," he said to the office. "You know what to do."
The portraits made positive responses and before Andromeda had a chance to ask, she was enveloped by Severus's robes as he put his arms around her and kissed her. In the back of her mind she recognized that sort of kiss. She had been kissed that way, before. She opened her mouth to say something but he kissed her again, unfastening her hair with one hand and working at her robe with the other. Rational thought left her as he steered her toward the bed.
A while later, he tucked her close to his body and simply stared at her. She looked at him and pondered the way they had just made love, as though they were trying to cram a lifetime into those few minutes. Whatever went with the resignation in the office had started to creep into his face. Suddenly she felt a need to settle things between them.
"It must seem odd, that I would come to your bed so soon after Ted died."
"Do you feel odd about it?"
"That's the strangest part. I don't feel odd at all. Ted and I lived in this enchanted little world where none of that mattered. The only enemy he had in the world was Dolores Umbridge. I guess she finally got her revenge.
"It had to end, I suppose. It was too unreal to last forever. I wanted to die, too, but Trixie threatened to hurt his body. I couldn't let her, but she was always better than me at dueling. She still is, but at least I kept her from that sort of mischief. The Dark Lord came and said they should take me to you.
"That night I hoped you were Ted, but deep inside I knew it was you. It was as though I had stepped into another reality. This with you exists now, and whether it's seemly or not, it's what we are."
He was very quiet, and she wasn't sure if he was awake. She shifted slightly to see that his eyes were looking at her. He smiled in a way that didn't go all the way to his eyes and spoke quietly.
"I remember the first time I saw you. You were one of the seventh-year prefects and you had so much power, and yet... My only friend was sorted to Gryffindor and the other kids didn't want to talk to me because I was a true half-blood. The others in that situation at least had two magical parents. Do you remember?"
She blushed. "Not really, I admit."
"You came to where we were all standing and quietly told them, "Stuff it." Then you put your hand on my arm and pointed to the boys' dorms."
"Oh, I do remember. The ringleader was one of those Prince cousins of yours. Edwina has always been a bit of a bitch. Trixie and I figured it was being stuck with that name."
"I watched you handle similar conflicts in the same way. I was amazed, although I couldn't have articulated it then. I had never seen anyone who had as much power as you had—a Black and a prefect—who didn't use that power to humiliate and subjugate others. Then I noticed the professors and a few other people who were the same way.
"School sorted itself out. I spent as much time as possible with Lily, but as the years went on, we drifted further and further apart. Finally I made a mistake and she never forgave me. One night, a couple of years after we left school, we ran into each other and had a couple of drinks. One thing led to another and a couple of hours later we were in bed together. She was horrified by what we had done, although I didn't force her or coerce her, and I was too foolish to know how to handle it.
"Being inexperienced before then, I didn't think about protection, but when I saw her again, I asked her about whether there was any possibility of a child. She took one look at me and said, 'Of course not. You can't father children, Severus, you're too lost to the Dark Arts.' She was right."
"That's simply not true!" Andromeda was furious at the faceless Lily just then.
He kissed her and squeezed her to him. "I'm detecting a Hufflepuff-like loyalty within you right now."
"I married one and gave birth to another. Some of it must have rubbed off."
"Well, that was the last time I was ever close enough to talk to Lily. The following fall she married James Potter and the next time I saw her, she was pregnant."
"Lily Evans?"
"Yes."
"Oh. I met her once."
"Of course. Now you're going to believe your cousin's story about everything, aren't you?"
"Why should I? I actually knew him."
"By which you mean—?"
"I heard all about 'that awful Snape,' but I had a different impression from seeing you around the common room. Besides, a great many of us are beastly creatures until we're into our twenties. That's why they call it growing up. Sirius was a lovely boy when he was with me, but I found some of the things he bragged about to be distasteful."
"Do you know that time last year, teaching you to make Wolfsbane, was the best two weeks of my life?"
"You seemed so sad. I did everything I could to make it pleasant for you without intruding."
"You reminded me what I want to save."
"Which side are you on, and how will that side save it?" She was genuinely curious.
He couldn't answer, not yet. Instead, he leaned down to kiss her. Andromeda returned the kiss and it was a long moment before they stopped.
He cleared his throat and looked toward a window. "After Lily was pregnant with Potter's child, I took some information to the Dark Lord. Information that I hoped would guarantee my place in his service and would grant me the power to perhaps have her for my own one day. I still hoped, even then.
"It blew up in my face. That information was ultimately the cause of her death, proving what she said. I'm incapable of giving life, only death."
"I don't believe it." He sighed and she hastened to say, "All right, I do believe the facts of your story. You took the information, and the Dark Lord used it as a reason to kill the Potters. You didn't cause her death, though. Sirius always felt he was the cause of their death because it was his idea to pick Peter for Secret Keeper. There were far too many factors, Severus."
"Nevertheless, I was lost to the Dark Arts from childhood. Lily was right about that."
"Maybe we shouldn't discuss this. I can't agree with your opinion, which seems deeply seated. Please try to keep an open mind, though? When the baby is born with dark hair and eyes..."
He slid his hand over her stomach. "In that case, it would please me if you named a little girl for my mother, Eileen."
"What about a boy?"
He thought for a minute. "I think I would like you to recall your great-grandfather, Phineas Nigellus, somehow. He's been very helpful this year and should be remembered."
She nodded and then went sick when she realized what his wording implied.
"You think you're going to die."
"It would be foolish to expect anything else."
She ran her hands along his chest, wishing she could put her arms around him and hold him to her forever. "I can't lose you, too. Not with the baby coming. I know you don't think it's yours, but—"
"You said that we shouldn't argue that point."
"Fair enough."
He leaned up again. "Andromeda, I didn't expect this month with you. At first I pitied you, then I was in awe of you, and now I just want to be with you. It's the golden moment of my life and I'll always be grateful for it. I don't know if I love you—yet—but this month I could pretend to be as other wizards. This month I have had a pretty face and a kind voice to talk things over and a soft body to share my bed."
"Please don't talk like this," she whimpered.
He pushed her hair back with his hand and kissed her. "How about this, then? I'm going to make love to you again, and then I'm going to hold you in my arms and watch you sleep."
"You aren't going to sleep?"
"No, I love watching you. It rests me. No woman ever slept in my arms before you."
She snuggled closer against him. "Why can't it be like this forever?"
"It can't, but it can be like this for the next hour or two, and that's what I'm going to take." He started kissing her again, with an intensity she soon matched.
A/N: Thank you to Mark Darcy for beta reading.