As expected, Remus was not able to come to the Great Hall for dinner that evening. Severus sat next to Slughorn and was bored almost to tears by his stories of all the famous wizards and witches he knew or had taught. Dumbledore kindly offered him extra servings of pie, but he excused himself as quickly as he could and returned to his room, his pockets full of parsley (used for trimming, which nobody bothered to eat) and some lettuce from his salad.

"Here, bunnies! Come and get it!" he called, scattering the greens on the floor near his bed. The rabbits hopped out, rather slowly, and started nibbling. Severus gathered some of his books and parchment and lay on his stomach on the throw rug, hoping the rabbits would not return to their hiding spot under the bed immediately after eating. To his delight, they eagerly huddled against him, being rather anxious in their new environment. He finished one report and decided it was time to turn in.

"No sense staying up until midnight, even if it IS New Year," he told the sleepy rabbits. "Remus isn't here to get his first kiss of the year, anyway."

He changed into a nightshirt and crawled between the cold sheets of his bed. After turning over a few times, unable to find a comfortable position, he realized that he was missing Remus' warm body. The discovery left him more forlorn than ever, and after a few minutes he reached down and called the rabbits. By coaxing them several times, he managed to get both of them out from under the bed and set them beside his pillow. They quickly burrowed under the blankets and found their way next to him, and he welcomed their warmth. They were not nearly large enough to fill the empty space left by Remus, but they were better than nothing.

Severus was awakened by the firecrackers set off in Hogsmeade to celebrate the beginning of the new year. He yawned, irritated at having his sleep interrupted, and absentmindedly petted the ball of fur lying against his chest. He was startled to feel something damp that seemed to SQUIRM under his touch. He felt around, tentatively, and thought he felt several damp, squirming somethings in his bed, huddled against what was definitely one of the rabbits. He pulled back the covers with growing trepidation at what he would find, and pointed his wand.

"Lumos!"

The sight that greeted him was a mass of pink-and-black skinned baby bunnies, indeed squirming as they blindly tried to press closer to his warmth, still naked and looking more like mice than proper rabbits.

"Bloody hell!" he exploded without thinking. Then, noticing the mess made in his bed from the birthing process, said it again with more feeling.

"Didn't anybody remember to NEUTER these things?!?" he asked aloud, although the answer was obvious. He counted four helpless little bodies all butting their heads against their mother, searching for milk. One by one they found her teats, and nursed with all their might. Severus looked at them dumbly for several minutes before he snapped out of his shock and cleaned up the bed with both Tergeo and Scourgify for good measure.

"Where did the other one go?" he wondered, and pulled back the covers some more. There, right before his eyes, the other rabbit was popping out a baby of her own. Severus watched transfixed as two more babies followed. This was also a litter of four. They were mewling with their tiny voices, pushing against their mother, but resting before they tried to nurse.

Severus looked from one litter to the other and noticed, with some surprise, that their hairless skin had distinct patterns to them -- and not the random mottling one would expect. The first litter had two that were black with pink polka dots, and two that were pink with black polka dots. The second litter had two with a pink-and-blue checkerboard pattern, and the other two were similar, except the squares were elongated into diamond shapes -- a harlequin pattern. Severus sighed.

"You WOULD have to have the babies while Remus is gone!" he chided the mothers, who were too busy tending their offspring to heed his words. Then a thought occurred to him. "Remus is going to be so disappointed that he missed seeing them born! But he didn't know they were expecting... Is he ever going to be surprised!"

He looked at the four pairs of baby Dust Bunny Slippers, and stroked the head of the one closest to him. He was thinking about what Remus had told him -- that Sirius had gotten himself a black pair, and given a blue pair to James.

"So this one must have mated with one or both of Sirius' bunnies, and this one with James'. Naturally, THEY got the males, and gave Remus the females!" he thought with some frustration, adding another item to the long list of grievances he had against the duo.

Finally, not knowing what else to do, he cleaned the second mess made in his bed that night and pulled on the thick bathrobe that Lucius had given him on his first night at Hogwarts. He knew it was rather presumptuous, but not wanting to move the rabbits when they were so young, he left them in his own bed and headed down the hall to Lucius' room, where he lit a large fire in the fireplace and crawled under the covers to sleep in the Malfoy heir's bed until late the next morning.