Disclaimer: The characters here and the world they inhabit are the creation and property of JK Rowling and her assigns.
January 9, 1999
Fortunately, the Healer came into the room soon after the female relatives.
"Andromeda, I'm going to have to take a look again. Who do you want with you?" She was unable to speak but clutched at Severus in a way that was expressive. The Healer smiled. "I understand, dear." She turned to Narcissa and Druella. "Ladies, if you wouldn't mind leaving for a few minutes?"
They turned and huffed out of the room. The Healer instructed Severus to help Andromeda lie down while she adjusted the sheet. The labor pain had passed but the process was uncomfortable. Andromeda tried to lie still, but the prodding caused some aches that brought tears to her eyes. Severus held her hand and pushed stray hairs out of her face.
"Okay," the Healer said as she straightened up and helped move her patient to a more comfortable position. She sat down on a chair so she could be eye level. "You haven't progressed much in the past couple of hours."
"Since my mother got here," muttered Andromeda.
"The baby is fine, but things could get scary pretty quickly. I'd like to use a potion to move things along."
"Which one are you suggesting?" asked Severus, his professional interest piqued as much as his concern.
Andromeda watched him and the Healer discuss the finer points of potions brewing for women in labor as a new pain hit her. She hugged Severus's arm to herself and twisted on the bed, trying hard to be quiet. The Healer reached down and felt Andromeda's belly to assess how strong this contraction was.
"She's having difficulty with the pain, even with a potion, as it is," Severus was saying. "How do you propose to control it while you increase the intensity of the contractions?"
The Healer looked over her notes. "She's actually due for another pain potion in a little while, probably about the same time we would be able to bring her the other potion, anyway. By the time they both wear off, your little one should be in your arms." She patted Andromeda on her knee.
Severus didn't have the heart to protest his fatherhood at the moment, so he let her go to make the preparations without any further word. The contraction ended and Andromeda took a deep breath.
"I can't say I'm impressed with the care you're getting right now."
"I think I'm just bad at it. Ask Poppy. I was bad at this twenty-five years ago, too." The tears in her eyes spilled down her cheeks as she thought of it. "My poor baby girl..."
May 1 & 2, 1998
She woke from her sleep to find the castle in full dark and Severus gone. Her heart beat wildly as she quickly dressed and went to his office. He wasn't there, but the portrait of Phineas Nigellus was. The other picture frames were empty.
"What's going on?"
"Sit down."
She sat at his desk and immediately two picture frames came into view that were invisible from the other side. One contained a torn photograph of a woman she recognized to be Lily Potter. The other was of herself and Severus, decanting a potion into a goblet. She looked closer and remembered. It had been the year before, and Nymphadora had taken a picture as they finished the Wolfsbane for Remus. The contented look on the face of the picture of Severus made her heart beat a little faster.
"After you came here, he went through a box and found that," the voice behind her said quietly.
She turned and gave him her attention. "You were going to tell me what's been going on?"
"Yes. The castle is in the middle of a battle. Harry Potter arrived a few hours ago and Severus went to find him. He needs to give the boy some information and then his duty to Dumbledore will be done. Unfortunately, he got into a battle with Minerva and Filius and left the castle grounds."
"So there's no telling how he is?"
"I'm afraid not."
"Oh."
"I also feel I should tell you that both your daughter and son-in-law are here."
"She just gave birth! How can she do that?"
"I overheard her say that she couldn't stand to be away from her husband. She was going to look for him."
Andromeda stood and walked toward the door. When she reached it, the knob wouldn't turn. She took out her wand. "Alohomora." Sparks flew from the doorknob as the spell hit it. She tried the door again but it still would not open.
"Ahem. You're to stay here."
"I have to get to my daughter! I can—"
"Use your head for a minute, girl. What can you do?"
"I can protect her!"
"Andromeda, stop thinking like a Muggle and remember you're a Black."
She narrowed her eyes and glared at him, affronted.
"That's better. What can you do that she can't do better in this mess?"
"I'm her mother! I need to take care of my baby!"
"It's precisely because you're a mother and you have a baby to take care of that you're being kept here. Think of the child within you."
Her hands formed fists and tears filled her eyes as she said quietly, "I need to take care of my daughter and to find Severus. You can help me."
"Actually, I cannot. This room is sealed at the request of the Headmaster. There is one person, beside himself, that can enter and you may not leave."
"He left without saying goodbye."
"Do you really want him to be distracted by your tearful goodbyes while he's out there? He needed to be able to face his enemy without any trouble in his heart or mind."
"If I could just see him, I'd feel better. Please let me out."
"I'm afraid that's quite impossible."
Arguing with the portrait did not help her. Pleading and bursting into tears only made him glower. He finally broke into her sobs and said, "Really, Andromeda, I had hoped better things of you. I'm leaving now to see if I can learn anything. When I have news of anyone that might interest you, I'll bring it. Do try to pull yourself together."
Then she was completely alone. The occupants of the portraits had gone, perhaps to other parts of the castle where they could see what was happening. When she stood near the windows she saw flashes of light and heard the noises of battle. Otherwise she was completely insulated from everything. Severus's desk chair was comfortable. She went back to it, pulled her legs up under herself, and dozed.
"Andromeda, there's news, and it's not good." It was her great-great grandfather.
She had been pacing in the office, now. "Severus," she whispered, stopping her pacing to sit down in his desk chair.
"It's not him. He hasn't been seen since he left before."
"My daughter."
The portrait nodded. "And her husband."
Her eyes filled with real tears, then, now that her greatest worries had come true. "How?" she asked.
"From what I understand, Dolohov killed Remus earlier, and Nymphadora was killed by..." Even for a portrait it was hard to say it.
"Bellatrix." No curse word could sound more foul than it did coming from a woman who was still learning the extent sisterly betrayal could reach. Andromeda stood, pulled out her wand, and stiffened her back. "You will let me out, now, sir."
"Really, you are as fine looking a woman as your great-great-grandmother Ursula, but I must disappoint you. Indeed, I cannot open the door."
Suddenly, the face of Dumbledore appeared in his portrait, looking a bit out of breath. "I have news of Severus!"
That ended the face off between the Blacks as nothing else would. "Where is he?" asked Andromeda.
"I chanced upon a corridor through which Harry and his friends were moving. He told them that Voldemort is in the Shrieking Shack and that Snape is with him as they went."
"Please let me go, Headmaster!"
The blue eyes in the portrait twinkled. "You'll have to do better than that, my dear."
She looked at him and recalled something he had said twenty years before. "Then I beg you, Dumbledore, to give me the help I need at Hogwarts."
There was a large crack and a squawking noise as Dumbledore's Phoenix, Fawkes, appeared in the room. Andromeda looked from the bird to the portrait. "Now what?"
"Hold his tail feathers and he will take you where you need to go."
"I'm not a Gryffindor. Will that matter?"
"It has nothing to do with house. You are something much more important right now."
"What is that?"
"You are a woman who loves. Don't forget that. Everything you have been through with the Blacks, all that you suffered and worked for when you couldn't leave your home, everything you've lost this year has gone into this battle that rages tonight. Throughout all of it, your capacity to love has only grown stronger. Use it wisely, my dear."
Suddenly the voice of Voldemort rang through the castle and the school grounds. Andromeda listened to what he said and could only wonder at the sound of triumph in his voice. Did it have to do with Severus? As he finished speaking, she looked at the two portraits. "Is he dead?" They knew whom she meant.
"There's no portrait of him, here, so I would expect not. I suggest that you get to the Shrieking Shack soon, though. From the sound of it, you have an hour."
"All right." Andromeda grasped the Phoenix's tail feathers and swallowed hard.
As a form of Apparition, she had to admit it was better than most. Somehow it wasn't quite as jarring or nauseating. That was a good thing, considering the state of her tummy just then.
The house echoed of emptiness, but she looked through it, anyway. When she reached one room she found a pool of blood on the floor and in the middle of it—
"Severus!" She knelt beside him and touched his face. He was bleeding quite a lot from his neck. She tore a bit of her robe away to staunch the flow of blood and discovered what looked like punctures on his neck. A rustle behind her startled her and she looked around to see the bird, who settled on his chest. It sang a song and tears came from its eyes, falling into the wounds.
As she watched, his skin healed, although the deathly pallor didn't go away. She felt through the pockets of his clothing, looking for a potion bottle or vial. She found one and looked at it. It had her name on it. She opened it and smelled something that was almost exactly like her garden at home, but included the frangipani she grew in the window of her potions lab. She sealed it and returned it to his pocket, looking again. She finally found an almost hidden pocket containing what she was looking for. She uncorked the bottle of Blood-Replenishing Potion and held it to his lips, forcing fully half the bottle into him.
As she watched, his skin stopped looking quite so white. The phoenix had perched on a mantle piece and watched her, waiting to see what she would do. What she wanted to do was get far away from this war. She looked at the bird and at Severus and then back at the bird.
"Can you take us to my home?"
In answer, the bird fluttered back down, turning its tail to her. Taking that as a yes, she pondered how to proceed. Pulling Severus to a sitting position, she hugged him to her and once again grasped the tail feathers.
In an instant, she was in her own back garden. "Thank you," she said to the bird, who seemed to nod to her before flying off.
Severus stirred a little in her arms. "A—An..na..." She held him to herself and let the tears fall.
A voice came from the back door. "Is that you... Remus... Tonks?"
Andromeda looked up and saw the face of Arabella Figg, who had moved to her house after Harry Potter had left his aunt and uncle. "Mrs. Figg! It's Andromeda. I have company with me. Is it all right with you if I take him to my bedroom?"
"Do you have news?"
"It's not over, but yes, I have news. Let me get him looked after and then maybe we can have a cup of tea?"
"Certainly, dear. I need to check on the baby, anyhow."
Andromeda's heart leaped at the thought of seeing her grandchild, but Severus's injuries took precidence. She levitated him and took him into the house and up the stairs into her own bedroom. She gently undressed him before settling him down into the bed. Then she looked at herself in horror. She was covered with his blood. She changed her own clothes quickly, enjoying the feel of her own work robes. She washed off her hands and face and grabbed several potions from the medicine cabinet.
First she gave him more Blood-Replenishing Potion and then started washing him off with a damp cloth. His eyes opened and he looked at her. "Can you hear me? Can you understand me?"
His eyes indicated that he understood her, so she continued. "You're at my house. When we left, the battle was still going on, but since you were left for dead, I don't think anyone will be looking for you. Is there anything I can get you? Are you in pain?"
His face seemed to wince.
"I don't have any sort of opiate to give you, but this is a good Sleeping Draught with a pain-relieving component. Until I can contact Poppy or a Healer, it's the best I can do for you."
His eyes shut in acceptance. He looked at her again as she poured a dose of the liquid. She held him up and held it to his lips. His eyes were full of trust as he swallowed. She kissed his forehead and watched as he went to sleep.
Andromeda went down to the kitchen and sat at her own table, pouring herself some of her own tea. It was as unreal as it was wonderful. Arabella was already there. "How have you managed during the past month?" she asked the older woman.
"Well, dear, it's been better than one might expect. The Order was able to retrieve Ted's body and bury it properly, although they didn't have the full funeral, hoping you would return soon—"
"We need to have two more funerals, now," mused Andromeda. "I was told that Nymphadora and Remus were both killed at Hogwarts, tonight."
"Oh! The poor dears! And the poor boy upstairs with no parents."
Andromeda suddenly realized that she had yet to meet her grandson. "I'd like to see him," she said. Together the women walked to the room that had been Nymphadora's as a child. It was more recently the room she shared with Remus when visiting her parents. The baby was lying in a cradle, staring up at a mobile shaped like the moon and the stars.
Andromeda picked him up and held him to herself. An odd feeling went through her as she pondered everything that had happened so recently. "Arabella, I would love it if you would stay with us as long as possible. I'll desperately need another set of hands here."
"I understand, dear, what with the baby and that blood-soaked man you brought to your room. Am I wrong in thinking it was Severus Snape?"
"You are not wrong. It is Severus. I hope that he will be fine, soon, but I'm not sure until I can get a Healer to come. There's more though." She took a deep breath. "I'm going to have a baby late this year or early in the next. With two babies..."
The older woman gasped but quickly regained her composure and patted her arm. "You're going to need all the help you can get. Don't worry, deary. We'll get you through all of this."
A/N: Thank you to Mark Darcy for beta reading!