Disclaimer: Not mine.
The Uninvited
Chapter 21
Severus was once again helping Poppy restock her stores for the coming year. He had made a trip to Diagon Alley to pick up some supplies and stopped in Flourish and Blotts to find a book on the dead languages of the British Islands. He was having difficulty with a couple of passages in the old book Abigail had sent him. He found what he was looking for and took the book to the counter for payment. Reaching into his pocket, he looked to the clerk with a raised eyebrow when the price quoted was triple that posted on the book.
"Surely you do not take me a fool?" Severus sneered.
"This is to bring your account current and for the book, Professor. The witch that ordered the reading books said you would cover the bill," the clerk told him, reaching for the book to put it in a bag.
"The witch?" Severus said raising an eyebrow.
"Yes sir," the clerk was smelling trouble. "The same witch that picked out the books last year for your daughter."
"My what?" Severus roared.
"Professor Snape, the witch clearly said that you…"
"I do not care what she told you," Severus spat. "The next time the witch wants books charged to my account…" he stopped mid sentence.
"Yes Professor?" the clerk asked gulping.
"Nothing," Severus finished lamely. "On second thought, she needs a book on penmanship. Make sure she gets one."
"Yes sir, we have three different ones in stock," the clerk said. "Her next delivery goes out by owl this afternoon. I will add one to the order."
Attaching his signature to the bill for Gringotts to transfer the funds, he turned on this heel and left.
How dare she, he thought to himself. She had the audacity to charge to his account, and to hide her failure to read in telling some stranger that he was hiding a child. His lip twitched at the thought of her spinning the lie right in front of him with obviously no fear of being caught.
He decided that he needed to see her and to straighten her out about how far she could go. He did not care to think about the logic of berating a witch over ordering books when he had told Lenny to get her what she needed, it was an excuse to see her. This was an excuse that he did not question and was happy to have.
"Lenny, I need to see Miss Haley. You will take me to her," Severus said later that day.
"Yes Professor Master. We will go now," Lenny grinned up at Severus as he reached for his hand.
They spun to the elves magic, again arriving in the kitchen. Severus looked around the room, which was cleaner than since he had last been here. He still felt the old magic of the place but not as heavy and suffocating as last time.
Walking into the sitting area, he saw a palette off to the side of the fireplace, and a pile of clothes folded neatly at its foot. The coffee table was full of parchment, quills, ink, and children's books. He raised an eye at Second Year texts in History of Magic and Muggle Studies. Abigail obviously had been working hard to learn all she could.
He could hear the water running, and looked to the elf. The bedchambers and baths should be on the second floor.
"Please Professor Master. The witch that is not yours does not like upstairs, I moves the bath for her." Lenny squared his shoulder and proudly bowed to Severus.
Hearing the water shut off, he turned to see Abigail stepping into the room.
"Lenny, I did not…," she fell silent seeing Severus and attempted to pull the tattered towel around her swollen belly.
Severus looked at her, his eyes drawn to her waist. The witch was large with child. He could not take his eyes off her taunt stomach as she tried to pull the towel to close over it.
"Abigail?" he said flatly, unable to raise his eyes higher than where her towel would not close.
Abigail pulled the towel around her, and looked away, worrying her lip.
"I didn't expect you back," she said quietly.
"You are with child," he stated the obvious.
"Good one Professor," she spat at him. "It must be these keen observations of yours that have kept you alive this long."
He walked over to her quickly and pulling the towel away stared down at her, and then looking into her face, he frowned.
"It it mine?" he asked harshly.
"How dare you Severus, how dare you!" Her hand came up to strike him across the face only to have him catch her wrist.
"I asked you a question witch." He held her wrist tightly and grabbed her chin with his other hand.
"What the fuck do you think? Does it look like I entertain here?" Her faced reddened, as she fought to free herself.
He pulled her into him as he concentrated on breathing. If he did not remember to breath, he knew he would forget how. He held her and saw his own mother, sitting in the kitchen crying as his father beat him. He saw a young dark haired woman at a revel, clutching a child to her, screaming for mercy. He saw the look of horror he had brought to Abigail's face and felt every crime he had witnessed fall upon his back.
"I know it's mine," he said looking into her eyes, then bending down he kissed away her tears. "I know, forgive me."
He lowered a hand to her belly in awe and found that the wonder of his child floating in the beautiful witch in front of him was intoxicating. He opened his mouth to speak but closed it unable to think beyond what he was feeling.
"You should leave," she pushed against him only to be held tightly in place.
"Abigail, you should have told me. You should have sent Lenny to me." He tipped her chin up and kissed her neck, hardening at the thought of her standing in front of him naked and heavily pregnant. He saw her swollen breasts with large dark nipples begging be kissed and to be sweetened by his mouth.
She pulled away from him, and walked to the palette, reaching down to pick up the blanket that lay there, trying to hide in the towels she sighed when she was unable to bend over far enough. Raising her hand, a simple Accio blanket brought it to her hand. She covered herself completely before turning back to him.
"I do not expect anything from you Severus. I will not subject you to this. I was going to get rid of it, you know. I was going to send Lenny for a potion."
"I did actually, I sent him to Knockturn Alley," she said honestly. "I couldn't do it Severus. I sat there, with the potion open but just couldn't do it. I am so sorry, I know you don't want us, but I just couldn't do it."
He did not know what to say, or rather, he did but could not put the words out to her. If she rejected them, he would never be able to utter them again.
"Why? Do you think I would not provide for the two of you?"
"Severus, last time you were here, you fucked me because I asked you to. I am not sorry for it, don't misunderstand me, but when you were gone in the morning I knew I wouldn't see you again." She turned to the fire to hide her tears. She made a pretext of pushing her hair from her face as she tried to rub the wetness from her cheeks.
"You should go now," she said harshly.
"Abigail, let me be part of this," he spoke calmly. "This is my child in you. I demand that you take care of yourself, that you treat my child appropriately."
"Do you think I would mistreat it Severus?" she spat, "Do you think me incapable of doing this? Just because I don't have a fine education like you doesn't mean I can't have a child."
He wanted to grab her, and shake her, he wanted to force her back to Hogwarts, and he wanted to kiss her. He was angry, he cared for her, and he was at a loss of what to do or say. He grabbed her by both arms and held her still.
She twisted her arms, trying to get free, but was unable to loosen his grasp.
"It is not your child, Severus. It is mine. Mine alone. I don't want to share it." She began to breathe heavily, pulling against him and yelling angrily. "Don't take it away from me, Severus. Just go, go now."
"Abigail, you cannot raise a child in this place," he raised his voice to her.
"You didn't even know there was a child until you got here. Don't pretend with me again Severus, don't pretend you want this baby." her breaths became harsh.
"Abigail, listen to me."
"NO! You will not take it from me. It is all I have. Please Severus, please." Her voice became frantic, her knees no longer wanting to support her. "I knew it. I knew you would come here and try to stop it. Please don't do this, please don't, it's all I have."
He tried to steady her as she slipped to the floor, holding her swollen belly in both arms.
"Severus, don't do this. I will die without her. Severus, I can feel her move, she is almost ready to be born, not just a … a thing you wouldn't recognize, she is ready to come."
"Abigail," Severus was at a loss. He held her as her sobs grew louder, and her tears tore at him. He had not even worried about her since he had left. He assumed his instructions for getting her food had been enough. He worried only about her safety from the Dark Lord. Now his child grew in her.
"Abigail." He leaned down and felt her pull back from him. "Abigail, you will return to Hogwarts with me. You will have your child. You and the child will be safe there."
"My Gods Severus, if he finds out, if the Dark Lord hears of this he will kill the baby. If I take it beyond these wards he will know."
"We can send you with the House elf. He will take you directly inside the walls. You will give birth there. No-one will know," he explained, stroking her back.
"Then what Severus? Raise my child in the Dungeons?" she spat, her anger flashing again. "Is that what you want? Do you intend to put me in the dungeon with her? To bind us…,"
"ENOUGH!" Severus stormed at her. "How can you say that? How can you even think that? Am I that much of a monster to you?"
He walked away from her, leaning on the mantle and staring into the fire.
"Abigail, I have not had much time to think. I will come up with a plan." He raked his hand through his hair. "Only not now Abigail, this is rather a surprise you know."
She had returned to quiet sobs, her breath hitching. He helped her onto the sofa, sitting next to her, holding her to him.
They sat together not talking for several minutes until he felt her move a little. Reaching up she took his hand and laid it over her womb. He felt the child move and felt a surge of emotion sweep through him that he could not identify. He left his hand still, waiting for the gentle knock to come again. When it did, he laughed softly.
She looked up at him questioningly.
"What witch? I was just thinking how much like her mother she is. She does not even know me and she is already kicking me around."
"I am scared." Sitting up, she turned to look at him. "I need to show you the library."
Without further explanation, she retrieved her clothes and turned her back to him, holding the blanket as she did. He watched her, amused at the antics of an eight -month pregnant witch getting dressed. She held the blanket with one hand while attempting to lift her leg into the knickers she held with the other. After three undertakings, she tossed them on the floor and worked on getting into a pair of muggle jeans.
Severus rose chuckling and went to her, bending he picked up the knickers and with a raised eyebrow looked from them to her. He then took the jeans and examined them. Abigail had definitely not been adept at wandless sewing spells. She had cut the seams open and tried to attach fabric from other articles of clothing, enlarging them to fit over her belly.
He looked at her face to see tears again come to her eyes, and her arms pulling the blanket tighter. Picking her up, he took her back to the sofa and sat with her on his lap.
"Lenny," he called.
"Yes Professor Master." The elf's large head bobbed up and down, not wanting to see the witch wrapped in only a blanket.
"You will go to Diagon Alley. You will speak only to Madam Malkin. You will tell her I am in need of items for my witch. You are to tell her that my witch needs maternity clothing. Tell her she is large with my child. Tell her she is so large she no longer can fit into anything." He smirked at the grimace on her face. "Tell her my witch needs clothes. Enough clothes for, about one more month I would say. Do not return until you have them."
She leaned forward and brushed her lips to his. He dared not move, to grab her waist, as he wanted, to feel her skin slid under his hands. He opened his lips inviting her in, and moaned as her tongue slid into his mouth. He allowed himself to stroke her back, to bring one hand to her breasts. He pulled his mouth back, opened the blanket slightly to look down at her breasts, seeing the tiny blue veins visible under the translucent skin. He bent and kissed the tiny stretch marks he found on their sides.
Hearing her gasp at the contact, he moved his tongue to where the kisses had been, and then licked his way to the nipples. She arched to him, offering herself. His arousal now under her he pushed up his hips trying to reach her core through the fabrics that separated them. She laughed and reached between them undoing his belt and freeing him.
"Severus, I do not think I can do this anymore," she looked at him with her face reddening. "Any way, I am ugly and fat. I asked you to pretend…you don't have to do this."
"You carry my child witch, you are beautiful," he whispered in her ear, licking the outer curl of skin and sucked on the lob. "Get on you knees, rest your head and arms on the sofa. Trust me. I will stop if you want."
She looked at him fearful, not understanding. Then he took her hand and placed it on his erection, looking into her eyes. He left her hand on his member, then turned his hand to her and slid two fingers into her wetness. Her eyes closed and her head went back. Then she nodded, and slipped from his lap to the floor.
She took the position he had requested and felt him kneel behind her. He guided her hips up, and then leaned over her.
"Just say the word Abigail, just tell me when to stop and I will," he said, lifting the blanket up to her waist. Then, at her silence, he sighed as he pushed into her.
He held his breath trying to bring himself to his senses, trying to wait until she'd adjusted to him when he felt her push back, sliding him in deeper. He lost all resolve as he put one hand on her shoulder holding her still, the other softly stroking her back.
"Are you sure?" he leaned close to her ear, waiting for her nod before plunging in again. He took her quickly, her need matching his own. Her moans calling him closer, telling him that she wanted this as much as he. He leaned over her back. Turning her head to the side, he pulled her hair back to see her face.
Rising back to his knees, he thrust under and into her deeply, faster and harder than he had planned. He wanted all of her, he wanted to drive out any thought she may still harbour of him not wanting her. He felt a quickening in his loins, felt her clamping around him, heard her muffled cry as she buried her head in the sofa's cushion and tried to ride her orgasm until he felt her begin to relax then he exploded into her hard and swift, then heard her cry of pain.
Her cry hit him as if ice water had been thrown onto his back. He pulled out at once gasping and grabbing himself to stop the stream that continued to spew from him. He reached for her, cradling her in his arms as he pulled her to him on the floor.
"I am sorry Abigail, I am sorry, I did not intend to hurt you," his words rushed out as the last of his seed was still issuing.
"Its fine now, it is," she said, leaning on him in exhaustion. "Just the last, just before you finished. It hurt, but its fine now."
"I will not touch you again. I promise, Abigail. Is everything as it should be? Perhaps we need to have Lenny bring over Poppy."
"Right," she smirked at him. "I can just hear it now. Well, we were just fucking, yes I am in my eighth month and yes I did enjoy it, but you see Poppy, Severus has this thing for hitting my cervix when he comes."
Severus scowled at her.
"No, I don't think so Severus," she laughed at his face. "Anyway, I am fine now. I dreamed that you came back you know. Or is that one of those things I am not supposed to say? I would be lying if I said I didn't want you to do this again, but…is this the only reason you came?"
"It is not," he said looking at her darkly. "I would suggest that we clean up, and get dressed before Lenny returns. I do not want him to see both of us naked. He seems upset enough when it is just you."
"I guess so. Let me throw on a robe while you get dressed. I want to show you the library."
"Abigail," Severus thought to ask, "The book you sent me, how did you know what it contained?"
"It was the only one warded to blood," she said as if that explained everything. "The rest of the books had wards, or spells on them, but not like that one. Only it was not a dark spell. Those are still in there."
"Those? Why would you keep them here?"
"Because they are dark." She looked at him as if he were stupid, "Really Severus, what are you after anyway?"
She left the room walking as fast as her side-to-side gait could take her. Severus walked behind her smiling as she placed one hand on her hip, and if using it as a rudder to move her ungainly weight through water. He caught up to her at the library door and slipped his arms around her hugging her stomach and kissing her neck as he leaned to her ear.
"You my dear, waddle sexier than I would imagine," he said straightening up, cursing as he began to harden again.
"Severus, don't start. I am so fat I can hardly get up or sit. I even sit on the toilet backwards so I have something to hold onto. I have thrown up every day for the past eight months and I cannot…"
He spun her around and kissed her.
"Abigail, I want to see you like this. I did not think a witch would ever bear child of mine. When I see you like this I want to take you again," he said trying to be stern. "I want to smile, and Snapes do not smile."
"I will try to remember that if you ever fuck me again," she grinned opening up the Library door.
"Abigail," he rubbed the bridge of his nose. "We need to have a long conversation about… about …"
"Oh goodness, I know," she laughed seeing his discomfort. "I'm not totally without social graces. Molly saw to that."
Severus stopped as she walked into the library. It was not large by pure blood Wizarding standards. However, the scope of the books was staggering. There were books from every philosophy of magic. All the old cultures were represented, and it was obvious that whoever had put this library together was knowledgeable on the old languages.
Severus was as surprised by what he did not find, as to what he did. He found no cross-indexing, it was as if the owner knew each book personally. No language or reference books, testifying in itself to the number of ancient languages the owner of these books had known. There was one section on modern medical spells, but the rest of the library was ancient. Severus could see by the bindings that the books spanned a thousand years or more. He was afraid to touch them; not trusting that the right preservative spells had been cast.
He looked at Abigail, surprised by the frown on her face.
"Abigail, do you have any idea what you have here?" he whispered as if his very voice would crack the bindings.
"Yes, Severus." She stood with her hands on the small of her back, trying to support her weight.
"I have 27 books so dark that I am afraid to take them off the shelves, and another 42 I have stacked away from the others," she pointed to a stack of tomes on the floor in the far corner.
"He walked over to the pile and examined the first two titles on the stack." raising his eyebrow, he turned to her. "Abigail, how did you know which of these books to put over here? I know your reading is progressing, but these are in ancient tongues."
"Their colour of course," she looked at him oddly.
"You can see their auras?" he asked scowling at her.
"Well, yes I thought you could also. How else do you know if a spell is dark or not?" She looked at him blankly.
"The spell itself would tell you, its intent, its purpose," he explained to her.
"Often the original spell is corrupted, though, used for something else. That does not make the spell, or the book it came from bad."
Then she smiled and waved her hand toward the books, whispering an incantation to show him the auras.
"Anyway, do what you want with them." She began walking back to the sitting room. "I was going to burn them."
"Abigail, you have a library filled with the mysteries wizards have sought after for eons. The knowledge alone would take more than a lifetime to absorb. Abigail, the money these tomes would bring will support you for 100 life times. Do you understand what you have in there?" he asked her in astonishment. "There are books contained in this collection that wizards dream of seeing. Wizards would give you their entire fortune, and sign a note for no more just for a chance to read those scrolls."
"Severus, I have everything I need. Take the books back to Hogwarts with you. Lenny can help. I will send a couple every time he comes."
"I told you, I will not leave you and my child in this place. I can still smell the rot.," he said angrily. "Abigail, look at you. You are not well. You look like you have not slept in days."
"You didn't care when you wanted a fuck," she spat back.
"Stop," he demanded. "I am done this this. You will return with me. If I have to, I will hex you, but you are coming back."
Lenny popped back in. He had a tray with dinner, and several bags hanging from his arms. He staggered under the weight of the tray, giving Severus a weak smile when he helped with a levitation spell, sitting the dinner tray on the coffee table.
He pulled the tray closer to Abigail and handed her a plate. He watched as she started to eat then turned to the elf.
"I see you brought the clothes, however I hardly see the bags of Madam Malkin's." He sat rifling though the bags from a cheap store found in Knockturn Alley.
"Sirs, in the kitchen sirs." Lenny headed into the other room, and ran to a wall and began slamming his head into it.
"Lenny, stop that." Severus ordered the elf waiting for the banging to stop before continuing. "What is this about?"
"Madam Malkin is not a nice master, master Professor."
"What happened Lenny?" Severus knew what was coming. He had seen the treatment unmarried witches received. He had thought his long established account and the amount of galleons he spent all year would have made the difference.
"She said she would not sell her goods to the dirty word Missus of the dirty word master." Lenny hung his head as a large tear rolled down his nose.
"Where did you go then Lenny?" Severus pulled a suitable dress, however of an inferior quality from the bag.
Lenny ran to the wall again, gave his head three good cracks then ran back.
"Lenny asks your whore sir Master Sir," he said shyly.
Severus looked at the elf and swallowed. He was not even aware that the Hogwarts' elf was aware of which whore he used, or that he would occasionally use one at all. It was a discomforting realization.
"Um, listen Lenny," Severus said slowly. "We may not want to mention this again."
"I is an elf Master Professor, elf blood is not stupid blood." Lenny grinned and winked at the very surprised potions master.