Chapter 4
~~~~~ Returning Home ~~~~
Lily had expected a bit more action from Magical Law Enforcement. Taking a report like it was a traffic accident was not her idea of taking care of things. The only ray of hope is if they were able to reveal exactly what potion was used, there was a chance of St. Mungo's being able to counteract its long-term effects so they could take care of her two little problems.
Up in her bedroom after her father and Petunia got the news, Lily could only think of one thing. James Potter had ruined her life as a joke.
Petunia's suggestion that Lily be sent somewhere was already coming true. She was home, and would stay home, or would until Petunia found someplace and worked day and night on her parents to get her younger sister shipped there before people noticed her pregnant belly.
Lily could do magic at home, but what was there to do really except join mum and Petunia on the sofa every afternoon to watch their shows.
Over at the Snapes, things got loud. His parents often argued at high volume, but now they were not arguing with each other. Severus would not even say they were arguing with him since he did not have anything to say. It was all one-sided as mother filled him and father in on what was going on, which was punctuated by foul-mouthed outbursts from his father.
He could hear what they were saying perfectly fine without the shakes and slaps. There was no flaw in their logic, if it was true that Lily was pregnant with his and Potter's children. Severus had nothing and continued to be a parasite here until he graduated school. He had no business reproducing and adding to everyone else's burden.
After he was sent to his room, Severus tried to listen, but now of all times, his parents chose to speak to each other like civilized beings, so there was nothing for him to overhear.
He was not overly concerned with his plummeting merit in his parents' eyes since he doubted they ever considered him worth much of anything in the first place. Severus was worried about Lily. Did she hate him now more than ever? Of course she did. She hated him till yesterday, probably could hardly stomach speaking to him today, and this fiasco refueled her animosity of him.
Miserable at the thought of how much Lily hated him now, Severus was lying on his side having a big pity blubber when his bedroom door slammed open. He was startled since he had locked it magically to prevent his father from wandering in here for a late night drunken beating. It was his father in the doorway, but it was his mother that said from behind her husband, "We've come to a decision."
Since she paused rather than coming out and announcing that they wanted him out of their house now, Severus tentatively asked, "What?"
"Hogwarts will not allow Evans back as a student in this condition if she is unmarried. Seeing as to how she will not have NEWTs, has not attended muggle school in years, will have two children with two different fathers at eighteen, our grandchild is likely to be raised in squalor."
Severus was not sure where she was heading, but was this 'squalor' they imagined worse than Spinner's End?
"She may be allowed to return to school next September, if she arranges with her family to watch the babies."
He nodded his agreement. That sounded like a possibility. Mrs. Evans always struck him as a caring woman, and perhaps she would do that for Lily.
"Evans seemed upset by the prospect of being barred from school this year, and struck me as extremely willful. She may not even consider that option, or spitefully refuse to attend next year, if Minerva McGonagall offers her a place."
Severus could easily imagine that happening. Lily was easily insulted and was able to hold a grudge for the slightest thing for a long time.
"You've probably already leaped to the conclusion that you could simply marry her."
Was mother teasing him? Lily hated him. He probably wouldn't even get a glance at this child she was being forced to have until it was an adult.
"I'm not sure if she'd want to do that."
"You think it more likely she'd rather patch things up with her rapist, and marry him since he is wealthy?"
"No," he replied with as much sarcasm as she gave with that wild suggestion.
"You'll never know unless it's offered," was his father's suggestion.
"But … we're in school," Severus stated.
"I know that, you fucking brainless barnacle. Since when did you develop a scrap of pride? You're just going to have to live here until you can afford to get out."
"Here?" Severus knew Lily would never go for that. If him proposing marriage to her was not insulting enough, what would suggesting they live with his parents till he could scrape together enough galleons or pounds to get them out here earn him?
"I can make your room a bit larger," his mother admitted.
"I doubt I'll earn enough money during the school year to afford someplace … what about the babies?"
"In here with you, you moronic bit of mucus. Maybe their screaming will remind you to not stick your cock anywhere without a bloody Durex on it."
Severus agreed with his parents, but did not get his hopes up. Lily would be very angry about this idea. This would be like a nightmare to her. Marrying a man she hated, and not having the things she had talked about when they were younger like a big white wedding, a honeymoon to Greece and Venice, a bigger house than her parents with grounds, rather than just a garden, some sort of career where she saved lives, and two children, a perfectly charming boy and a beautiful girl. He could not imagine any child of his being charming or beautiful, even with Lily as their mother.
He spent the night thinking it over. The scenario his mother suggested was the more likely outcome. Potter would apologize and charm Lily incessantly to win her over and get all the charges dropped. In the end he might not even need to marry her, just set her up in a quaint little cottage with a rose garden somewhere to raise his illegitimate child, and then she'd take his to an orphanage or drop it in a dumpster because the sight of it would be terribly offensive to her wealthy benefactor who'd stop by to shag her now and then behind his pureblooded wife's back.
Lily was not feeling much better than Severus at the Evans the next morning when Petunia had the nerve to look down her nose at her like she was a piece of rubbish. It was the potion that made her act like a depraved woman. Lily would have been perfectly happy to wait until her wedding night. Hogwarts offered little in the way of quality men so there was no chance of her getting carried away of her own free will while at school.
Although it would not be polite, Lily thought Petunia was begging for a solid jinx with the way she was lurking about. What did she expect to see? Lily was not even one week pregnant, so she wasn't even going to have morning sickness yet, if she had it at all. St. Mungo's had thrown a whole stack of pamphlets at her, and in her boredom, she had looked them over to see what was in store for her.
The most likely reason for her to get sick was choking down the new vitamins her mum had already bought for her. From the size of the pill, it looked like it came from a veterinary supply store, rather than the chemist. Lily had looked over the back of the bottle, and mum had already gotten some muggle information that was more scientific than the cartoonish wizard medical information with moving animations. St. Mungo's literature had made no mention at all about the importance of folic acid.
They had a surprise visitor about midmorning. Mrs. Snape came back for a second day in a row, ringing the front doorbell. Lily was amused by the very Severus look his mum gave Petunia, but then was disappointed when she preferred to speak to her mother alone. What could the two of them have in common to talk about?
Obviously Lily trying to hear what was being said was cramping Tunie's style. She was also attempting to eavesdrop, but there was only so much room outside at the swinging door that led into the kitchen. Either she had to stand next to Lily, or shove off because Lily was not above using her pointy elbow to do her talking.
Since there was so much silent elbowing and huffing at each other going on between the sisters, neither of them paid attention, and Mrs. Evans smacked the door into both of them when she came out.
"Why must the two of you still act like you are in primary school? Lily could you please come in here."
"Alright, mum."
Lily waited till her mother turned around to give Petunia a smirk of triumph.
Petunia's response was a dismissive pfft, as if she did not care in the slightest what was going to be discussed.
Mrs. Snape in all that black looked odd in their sunny kitchen.
"Sit down. Mrs. Snape had some suggestions she wished to present to me, before the two of us determined what you wanted to do."
Lily made a bit of a face. She was an adult, at least in the wizarding world, at seventeen. If there was something to discuss, no one needed to go to her mother first.
Eileen noticed the look of the girl's face. It was little wonder why she was such easy pickings for the wealthy boys at school.
"Would you want to return to Hogwarts on September first this year? Mind, you'd still be pregnant, and that will become more obvious as the months go on," her mother reminded her.
"But Prof. McGonagall said ..."
"We were both there," Mrs. Snape stated.
"I suppose. It's better than hanging around here for a year."
"You seem to lack purpose," Mrs. Snape observed. "Do you only want to return to Hogwarts because it is not as boring as home?"
"No, I want to finish my education. This is my last year. From what I was counseled for careers, I need to have a NEWT in something to get any sort of skilled employment."
"You'd prefer that over going to school here?" Mrs. Evans asked. "There are programs for adults and pregnant girls to finish their education. Not all of them are particularly bright, so you're lack of muggle schooling for the past few years may not be noticed."
"But I like magic, mum."
"Still?"
"Yes."
"Alright then," her mother pronounced.
Mrs. Snape then said, "Severus can marry you, then you can attend school."
"Severus?" Lily sputtered. "But … he's … I mean … why isn't he here?"
"I thought it best to consult with your mother first. Your parents may have already made alternate arrangements. There's also the chance that you'd tell him 'no', since you seem to get angry at him for the least of reasons."
"Least of reasons? He called me a mudblood."
"Did he apologize or not?" Mrs. Snape asked, then added, "He informed me that he was in the midst of being attacked by the very same boys that held you prisoner this past week? Wouldn't you have been in danger from them also, if you took Severus' side in that dispute? The two of you against the four of them, when Severus was already incapacitated."
"They … there was no need for him to call me names."
"So if you found his apology so insincere for calling you a mudblood, which is commonly used to refer to a muggleborn, then it's entirely possible that you'd decline his marriage proposal," Mrs. Snape explained.
"Even after all that Severus would marry me?" Lily inquired.
"He is not a completely insensitive lout, Evans. Severus realizes that you may want to attend Hogwarts this year, and your choices are limited, considering class starts in less than two weeks. There's Severus. Then there's Potter, your rapist and the father of your other child. Or the third possibility that you could already have someone else lined up to marry, who would not mind you having the children of two other men. Possibly with the intent of ridding yourself of them once they are born."
"What?"
"I meant an orphanage or something of that kind, not drowning them in a bucket."
"There's always the possibility that they'll find out the fertility potion I was given was not so bad, and they can take care of this at St. Mungo's."
"True," Mrs. Snape agreed. "There's always hope that the boys will admit what they did, and provide the source of the recipe, if they brewed it themselves. However, I was under the impression that they rarely told the truth, denied any wrongdoing, and made up fantastic tales of what really happened from their point of view."
For a angry woman that frequently argued with her even angrier husband, Lily did not like Mrs. Snape's way of summing up the situation.
"Lily, you only have a short period of time before Severus returns to school. How likely is it that these boys will confess when these police show up asking questions?" Mrs. Evans asked.
"This is serious. They have to tell the truth."
"Why?" Mrs. Snape asked.
"I'm pregnant."
"I think they knew of that risk when they used a fertility potion."
"I'd rather give it a few days, or maybe a week, before I uh … take a big step like getting married. You haven't even given me any details yet."
"Such as what? There's a marriage license that is easy enough to apply for at the Ministry, someone there can do the ceremony, then that's it. You then let Minerva McGonagall know that you've met that condition so you will be able to attend school."
Lily frowned. What about the white gown? Church? Brides maids? Cake? Rice throwing?
"I'll need to go over other details with your father," her mother informed her. "The Snapes will allow you to live at their home."
"What?"
"I can make Severus' bedroom a bit larger for the two of you and the children."
Lily was speechless. Live in Spinner's End at the Snapes? Her mother had to be kidding.
Mrs. Snape continued, "After the school year, or when you need to return home. There's no need for you to move in immediately. You'll be together at Hogwarts soon enough."
"Together?" Lily repeated.
"I'm not sure where they are located, but there are apartments for married students. When I attended there was one girl that married, but her husband was older. She was separated from the single students and he visited on weekends."
"I won't be in Gryffindor tower anymore?"
"Not in your condition."
"Uh, they put my due date at late May, early June."
"There's a charm to slow fetus growth. Not by much, but used to keep pregnant brides from getting too big prior to their wedding. If the healer thinks it is safe to use on you, it might be able to push your due date back to July or August. There's also the possibility that the slower growth can not be risked, but if you have them early enough, you can still take your NEWTs. You have a number of classes in common with Severus so he can share what occurs in them.
"Don't twins generally not last to full term since they crowd each other? I don't recall any mothers that I know having any."
Mrs. Evans commented, "I have heard that too."
There was so little time between now and September first that she really could end up married to Severus, and then Potter would laugh even more before sharing what he so cleverly did to her.
Lily was growing overwhelmed. What she wanted to do is find out where Potter lived and beat the potion recipe or whoever he bought it from out of him, and then stand over him laughing as he lay on the ground crying and spitting his teeth out.
"I think that perhaps I should write to Prof. McGonagall to verify this part about married students. It would seem a shame to go through so much trouble, just to be denied admittance," Lily reasoned. This would also give her at least a day or two to think this over. There had to be something easier than getting married. Mrs. Snape had a valid point that with already being pregnant, the top two candidates were the fathers of her children. Lily would rather go to prison for killing Potter, than marry him. No one in Azkaban would give a flying fig about her lack of NEWT scores.
Her father would also forbid her from living at Spinner's End, and she could convince her mother of what a terrible idea that was.
It was days before the auror office executed their simultaneous predawn raids on four houses, dispatching a couple extra aurors to the Potter house due to its size, and a dozen more with hit wizards as back up to Grimmauld Place.
The Lupins, including Remus who had returned home, were frightened but cooperated.
Pontius Pettigrew complained, "See here, I work at the Ministry, you can't ..." He changed his tune quickly as a probity probe was pointed in his direction, as he nervously warned, "watch where you're waving that."
At the Blacks, the door was not promptly answered so the aurors got to work on cracking through the defensive spells preventing them from entering and executing their authorized duties to search the premises for dark objects, magic, and muggle artifact misuse based suspicions due to the testimony of numerous young ladies along with evidence provided by St. Mungo's of dark magic being used on their persons. So far, their investigation uncovered that contraceptive charms were used on all the females except for Lily Evans. Undoubtedly, she was singled out due to being the only muggleborn victim.
Eventually Sirius' father, Orion cracked open a upper story window and demanded to know why his home was being assaulted by members of the Ministry. His denial that his son was no longer residing at Twelve Grimmauld Place meant little since students habitually stayed at their schoolmates' homes for a week or two over the summer holiday. Obviously, Orion Black had something to hide and the aurors renewed their efforts to breach the multi-storied townhouse.
In Godric's Hollow, Sirius awoke when he heard the pounding on the front door. He considered the Potters more of a family than his own, and stealthily crept to the top of the stairs with his wand in hand to listen to what was happening and join in any defense. Overhearing an auror mention that potion to James' parents, he slunk back to his bedroom, grabbed the book out of his trunk along with his broom, and after casting a detection charm through his window to verify the coast was clear, slid over the ledge, closed the window, and charmed the manual lock to the locked position, and jumped on his broom to get the book away from here and destroy it. The Potters did not deserve to be punished for one of their pranks.
Mr. and Mrs. Potter had nothing to hide. They had never used the Dark Arts, detested anyone that used them, and were positive their James felt the same way. Someone had falsely accused them, and they expected to be vindicated.
When his mother woke him, James blinked and then asked, "What time is it? And why are you in here, mum, instead of Crispy?"
"The house elves are confined to the kitchen. Aurors are searching the house."
"What?"
"We've been accused of using Dark Arts."
"Us? Never."
"That's what I told them, but they had a copy of a letter from you. Did you ever write to the head girl and tell her she was to meet you at that house we rented for you and your friends?"
"Yeah, but I did not put any spells on it to force her to come."
"Did you write that your father and I would be there?"
"Well, if you knew her, you'd know why. I didn't lie to her once she got there, and since she can apparate as well as any of us, she could have left at any time."
"Did you give her any potions?"
"I never gave her any potions," James asserted, speaking the absolute truth. "Why would I? She's my girlfriend. It's great. I'm head boy and she's head girl. You'll like her ..."
"I doubt that very much," Mrs. Potter announced with an air of finality. "You have to realize Jamie that you are very well off compared to others. You can't let some skirt that gives you a friendly smile take advantage of you. I'll sort this out, but I want you to have nothing further to do with her. Ignore her as much as possible, and I'll be contacting the headmaster about what sort of hussy he chose to be head girl. Mark my words."
"What are you talking about?"
"She's trying to take advantage of you, but your father and I won't stand for it. You're much too sweet a boy to have to be burdened with this. It's a cruel world out there, and it's people like this that are out to make a quick galleon without any regard for others," she explained on her way out of his bedroom to get her husband up to speed so they could refute this wild accusation.
James pondered the nonsense his mother spouted for a couple moments before looking at the time. It wasn't even six yet. What was so darned important that she had to wake him so early to ask questions about his letter? There was no Dark Arts in that letter, and it wasn't a crime to lie and say his parents were going to be there when they weren't. Maybe he'd pop round to the shop later and get some flowers delivered to Evans. She had to realize he was not one to write pages pouring his heart out in a sappy letter. He'd see her soon enough, and with that thought he turned over and dozed off.
Later that morning, when the Potters received the letter from Hogwarts simply stating that their James was no longer Head Boy, they had had absolutely enough of these lies. Bad enough to send aurors to their house to search it which had turned out to be a total waste of the Ministry's time, but now this harpy was trying to ruin their son's good name.
They had been prepared to offer her a modest sum, actually quite generous considering she had purposely taken fertility potion before seducing their poor innocent Jamie, but there was no way this scheming shrew was going to weasel her way into their family. She was entirely unsuitable with this total lack of manners and morals.
Without delay, they set off to Hogwarts to discuss this with the headmaster. Sometimes Albus Dumbledore was too soft-hearted. Without a doubt it was hard to believe this sort of thing was going on, but he had to be made aware of the facts, rather than having some weeping trollop spreading lies about their son.
Minerva happened to be in her office when Albus flooed to say the Potters had shown up. She joined him, and for the life of her, she had to admit some of the paranoia Eileen Snape had expressed regarding the wealth and expected privileges regarding certain wizarding families seemed well founded from the way the Potters carried on. Their son must have learned how to lie and deny any sort of responsibility for his deeds in the crib. Minerva could not think of a single Gryffindor family that had this sort of audacity. Slytherins … well, Slytherins understood how to bluff, lie, and get others so twisted about that no one could tell fact from fiction. It was a game to them. This however was no game.
Frustrated by the lack of humanity and understanding from the Potters, Albus finally raised his voice to be heard by them over their squabbling with Minerva. From the look in her eyes, the thinness of her lips, and the sheer stubbornness that the two of them faced from the Potters, they were going to be lucky to leave here without getting a lesson or two from Minerva if he did not put a stop to this.
"I am a member of the Wizengamot so I am aware of the case that is being put together by Magical Law Enforcement and the Auror office against Messrs. Potter, Black, Pettigrew and Lupin, since they are also students here at Hogwarts and attacked a number of other students over summer break. The facts are that nineteen female and one male victim have been identified. The young ladies were all invited to the lovely vacation home you had rented and then turned over to four seventeen year olds to do as they liked. All the young ladies confirmed they acted in an unusual, uncharacteristic and immoral manner while in that house. All of them were tested at St. Mungo's, and it was professionally confirmed they all imbibed some sort of dark fertility potion that may be used in case of an unwilling or nervous bride, but since it removes the drinker's will is considered to be illegal.
"Only Messrs. Potter, Black, Pettigrew and Lupin benefited from the use of this potion, and were also the ones that invited the young ladies to the house."
"They are not the only ones that benefitted," Mrs. Potter retorted. "What about this girl that claims she is pregnant with our James' child? There is no way we are going to allow her to sink her hooks into him and try to pressure him into marrying that sort of girl."
Minerva's brogue was thick as she speculated, "Whoever claimed that Miss Evans desired to marry her rapist?"
"James would never rape anyone. You just told us it was a dark potion, and an auror said she would not be able to take any action other than carrying the child to term unless the source of the potion was found so St. Mungo's can evaluate the possibility of other options."
Albus calmly clarified, "Miss Evans became a married woman yesterday. There is no need for you to protest any schemes on her part since there never were any."
"Married? To who?"
"Is that of any importance?"
"It most certainly is," Mr. Potter declared. "That woman is pregnant with our grandchild. What if he's an unfit father?"
Unable to bear it any longer, Minerva shouted, "Can't the two of you give it a rest? Is there no nit you won't pick? A moment ago you wanted nothing to do with the child and insulted the victim of a crime unmercilessly. The potion was so insidious that it causes the imbiber to seek out any wizard. After your son was finished with her, he tossed her aside while she still was under its influence and was overwhelmed by the craving it caused within her. In a denser magically populated area, this would have been a disaster, but luckily the victim lives near only one other wizard so did not feel the need to travel further. That is who she married, the father of her second child, you pompous windbags."
"What kind of wizard takes advantage of someone under that kind of compulsion?" Mrs. Potter argued, not ready to let this matter rest.
"Your son did it knowingly along with his closest mates."
Ignoring McGonagall's outburst, Mr. Potter appealed directly to the headmaster's sense of fair play, "You hear this? She is obviously prejudiced against our son. If you don't dismiss her, I'll take this to the Board of Governors."
"I'd relish it," Minerva replied, even though she was not the one being addressed.
"If that's the case, I was willing to let the young men be considered innocent till proven guilty, but if there's this matter with a dispute with a staff member, I suppose that I shall have to suspend the students involved till the Board can hear it. Let me see ..." Albus muttered, while flipping through a desk calendar, " … the Board's next meeting is scheduled for April 20th. Is that convenient for you?"
"April? We're not waiting till April."
"If there's students in jeopardy, they can convene an emergency session. Are you threatening the lives of any students?"
"We most certainly are not."
"Well, shall we consider James suspended till April when your complaint about Prof. McGonagall's unprofessional conduct against him be heard? Looking at his record, which I happen to have here," Albus indicated a magically expanded folder that contained over two feet of stacked parchment. "It seems academically, Potter is doing quite well in Transfiguration. Are you disputing that his marks in that course should be perfect? He did not receive a perfect score on his OWL, which was not graded by Prof. McGonagall. Additionally, other staff have set more punishments than her. Do you wish their names to file complaints against them also?"
"We are not going to play some game with you, Dumbledore," Mr. Potter threatened. "Our son was chosen head boy."
"My opinion is that your son is not head boy and will not represent Hogwarts as its head boy. I am currently headmaster, and it is my opinion that matters on this. Of course, if he is suspended till April, he would not be beginning his seventh year until next September so you have the option to bring this up with your original complaint to the Board to have me removed as headmaster so your son could be head boy next year, if he receives the recognition from the remaining staff that you think he deserves."
"How can you do this to him? He's just a boy." Mrs. Potter appealed.
Minerva sighed in exasperation. These might be the biggest two knobs she had the misfortune of meeting, and she had seen a lot of dull students who could not grasp even the most rudimentary concept of transfiguration.