A/N: hey everyone, I know I said I would post this week, and I have, see…, just not when I normally do. This week has been hectic and all messed up. My 91 year old grandma fell on Monday and broke her hip, so things at home have been a bit on the uptight side, well I should say much more uptight than 'normal', though normal is relative. Because of that, the party for my parent's 25th anniversary that is going to happen in about 2 weeks, homework and actual work, things have been slowly eating away at my fan fic time. But never fear I am writing just a bit every night so I will have more soon.
Anyway, I have posted the next chapter for you all to enjoy, just as a side note, no I have never been pregnant, given birth, or in fact dealt with anyone close to me who was pregnant, sooo… yeah if I have gotten anything horribly wrong about the birthing process sorry. All I know is that when I finally want a family of my own, I hate needles but an epidural is sounding absolutely like the most fabulous thing that could ever happen to me!
Alright, you have all dealt with the horribly long authors notes at the beginning, so on to the chapter, that you all really want to read! Enjoy!
Chapter 24
Raven's 'Chicks'
To say that Severus was an anxious father (to be) was to declare possibly the biggest understatement of the century. After his 'shocking' and completely unanticipated eviction from his own bedchambers Severus had managed to regain his ability to think in a straight and coherent line and had made his way off to what was going to be the nursery so that he could actually get into something that resembled clothing. By the time that he had managed to change, he found that his living room had been invaded by more people than he ever wanted to see, and Fawkes had returned from wherever to sit on his perch. All eyes turned to him when he finally made his way into the room.
Harry and Ginny Potter, Tonks, Lupin, Minerva, and even Shannon and Neville had invaded his living quarters. The only people that Severus was even remotely happy to see were Arthur and Molly who had just stepped through the Floo. Molly bustled over quickly and gave him a hug and a quick peck on the cheek, before he could stop her. She looked slightly disheveled about the whole ordeal before she somehow managed to get into his bedchambers without a second thought. Arthur came over and shook his hand and embraced him in another 'man hug', though he was less inclined to be worried about the whole ordeal, as he was more interested in what was occurring behind the closed door of his bedchambers with his wife.
"Well the time has finally come!" Arthur beamed, looking just like he had merely thrown on clothes, and not bothered to brush his hair. Severus shook his hand rather absently and kept the bulk of his attention at what was occurring on the other side of the closed door. Arthur sort of chuckled and helped to steer Severus towards the empty chair in front of the fireplace. "All will be well." He assured him firmly.
At this time the rest of the assembly came forward, offered their congratulations and shook his hand. The only exception to this was Minerva who insisted on giving him a hug, which in his distracted state he did not seem to have the energy, or perhaps attention to prevent. When it was his turn Harry assured him that things would go fine and that he would not have to worry about dealing with Ron or Lavender. They had been the ones elected as the babysitters 'in mass' for this particular birth. It was also known that Ron was still rather bent out of shape over the whole deal that Hermione had actually married the Potions Master and not himself. Severus didn't particularly like any of the 'Golden Trio', but he had come to an understanding of sorts with Harry. But an understanding with Ron was more of a tenuous and uneasy truce in any matter. The occurrence of Ron being absent was no great loss to Severus.
After a few minutes of relative silence, in which Severus had reduced a corner of a handkerchief into practically its component threads, there was a definite, but muffled scream of pain from the bedchamber. Severus's overprotective nature was pricked into action. He made as if to storm the door, even though his fully rational mind knew full well that there would be pain involved in the whole child birthing process, he still wanted to find a way to get rid of the pain. Even the different Potions usually used during childbirth, which he had made an extra large supply of, could only do so much, but he still wanted to do more. He was prevented from reducing his chamber's door to splinters by two pairs of gentle, but strong hands on his shoulders. Minerva and Arthur had not returned to their seats, but had chosen to stand flanking him behind his chair. Both restrained him from getting up.
"Everything will be fine." Minerva assured him. "Hermione is a strong girl and will do well." Severus' reply was something akin to a guttural grunt that would have been more suited for communication in caveman times, rather than coming from the normally highly articulate Potions Master.
"I remember when Molly had the twins." Arthur commented almost wistfully. "Thought it would take forever, but it really only took a few hours and it was all over with."
"Hours!?" Severus nearly croaked. "I can't sit here and listen to my wife scream in agony for hours!"
"You have little choice." Minerva commented. "You can't have these children for her and you shouldn't go in and disturb her either. She is in very capable hands. Madame Pomffery and Molly are both very experienced in this sort of thing."
"Here." Harry offered Severus. He held out a glass with ice and a generous helping of Firewhiskey. "I am sure that it will help calm your nerves."
"No." Severus shook his head and growled through gritted teeth. "Not for me. I have had no reason to drink emotionally since I was married. The last time I drank emotionally ended up very badly, very badly indeed. I will stay sober for this, at least for now."
"Suit yourself; I know it helped me when Ginny was in labor. It took the edge off."
"Good for you Mr. Potter." He sneered at him. Harry merely and generously took it all in stride. He knew that Severus was not necessarily trying to start a fight, but was so worried about Hermione that he was biting at whatever hand got in his way.
It was another half hour before anything different happened. Severus sat and tried to stay stony faced at the increasingly pained sounds that came from the bedroom. He though had accomplished to nearly unravel the entire handkerchief due to his excessive fidgeting with it in the meantime. Minerva and Arthur would offer assurances and kept him pinned down to the seat, though more mentally than physically. And the others in the room spent the time on small talk and catching up with each other about what their summers would hold and what had already happened in its first week. It was at this time that the door to the bedchambers opened and a sweaty and frazzled Madame Pomffery stuck her head out the door.
"Severus!" She said in a stern voice that made him unconsciously sink slightly into the seat as if he had done something wrong. "Get in here! NOW!" Severus quickly rose from the seat and nearly flew over to the door.
"What is wrong?!" He asked slightly panicked sounding.
"Nothing." She assured him. "But Hermione keeps insisting that you are in here when she gives birth. Every time she insists upon it, it is as if she is purposely retaining the babies a little longer even though her body is quite intent upon expelling them. I can not do anything to change her mind. So Severus, are going to have to be here for her birth."
Severus wasn't quiet sure if he should be relieved or even more apprehensive. In the Wizarding world it was still a custom that only woman were present in the room for a birth, and the custom of all ranks with few exceptions, surviving from at least the Victorian Era, if not earlier than that. Severus had heard, mainly through Hermione, that it was the custom in the muggle world for the father to be present at the birth, and video taping such an event. Hermione had to spend a good half hour explaining what a video camera was before Severus was comfortable enough to know what it did…, sort of. But he still could not get the reason why anyone would want to waste the time and film space for something that no one was going to see anyways. It was certainly not something he would want anyone but the necessary people i.e. the nurse and her helper, to see. That portion of his wife was off limits to everyone else except himself and of course Hermione. He just couldn't get it. Hermione had given up about explaining what many fathers did in the muggle world after about an hour and half of obscure questions and references concerning the whole birthing process.
Severus stepped bravely, boldly as well as timidly into his own bed chambers to see his wife. Hermione was propped up in bed and was drenched in sweat and panting as it seemed she had just finished a contraction. Severus crossed immediately over to her and took her hand that she had offered out.
"Ah Severus, I can't do it without you here. You should see your children born." She panted. "And having you beside me gives me strength." Severus could do little but nod and look terribly worried as Hermione was hit by another contraction. She clutched at his hand and nearly broke at least three bones in his hand at the grip that she had it in. He watched as Hermione nearly growled like an injured animal and her face was transformed to an angry snarl as the contraction hit and wore on. He could hear Madame Pomffery and Molly encouraging her, but he really didn't listen, only really paying attention to Hermione as she rode out the pain. Then the contraction was over and she fell back to the pillows panting. She blinked her eyes and looked at Severus with a weak smile. He really could not understand why or how in the world she would be able to smile in the least bit. He reached out and pushed the little bits of hair that had fallen and now clung to her sweaty forehead.
"Come on dear, you must sit up." Molly encouraged her. "You don't have too much more and then you will get to meet your children."
Hermione panted and tried to sit up and prop herself up higher in the bed on the pillows, but it really seemed to be a lost cause. Severus could not stand to see her like that. He was determined that he would give her some comfort, even if he could not remove all the discomfort involved with her bearing his children. Severus rose from kneeling beside the bed and climbed in with her, sitting behind her, supporting her back against his chest and his legs on either side of her. Molly and Madame Pomffery both looked rather surprised by Severus' rather intimate display of affection. But they did not have much time to ponder such an occurrence as Hermione was once again hit with another contraction. Severus held her hands through out it and caught her against his chest when it was through. He was seemingly totally oblivious to anyone else in the room and whispered quiet words of encouragement into her ear.
This continued on for perhaps another half hour before something that Madame Pomffery said actually broke through to Severus. This was announcement that she could see the top of his first child's head. This seemed to encourage Hermione and she rallied a greater amount of strength and he was suddenly a father. A small very red bundle of screaming child was quickly passed off to Molly by Madame Pomffery, who was turning back to a panting and nearly fully exhausted Hermione.
"You have a son!" Molly declared from across the room where a table had been conjured. She was drying the small struggling child off and then putting him into his very first diaper before she wrapped him up in a blanket
"One more to go dear." Madame Pomffery smiled at them both. Hermione only managed an exhausted groan that turned into another growl as another contraction hit her.
Luckily for everyone involved the appearance of their second child took only a few minutes. Their daughter too was whisked away to the table where she was treated to the same handling as her marginally older brother. Hermione fell back against Severus for the last time and panted up at him with her eyes barely open.
"You did it." Severus told her softly, kissing her sweaty temple tenderly. "I am finally a father and you are a mother, twice over. I love you."
"And I love you too." Hermione said in a tired and slightly raspy voice, reaching up a bit weakly to touch his jaw line. Severus smiled and removed himself from behind Hermione to help her lie down after Madame Pomffery had finished what she needed to after, giving her a laundry list of Potions to help her heal after giving birth and had cleaned Hermione up a bit. He then helped pick her up so that the summoned house elves could quickly change the bed sheets. Laying her back down he turned around and was greeted by a beaming Molly.
"Here is your son." She smiled up at him, offering him out to Severus to take.
Severus looked apprehensively at her and the small still squirming bundle in her arms. He did not immediately make any action to take the small child from her. "But…" He seemed unsure about the whole deal and shifted on his feet in a still very un-Severus like way.
"Come now." Molly still smiled up at him. "You won't hurt the little one. I daresay that there is little you can do at this point to hurt him. Just don't drop or shake him. You will do just fine." She assured him and quite nearly thrust the small child into his arms.
Severus cautiously took his son into his arms and looked down at him. His son quieted for a moment and seemed to stare back at him. He could see that the child had dark hair on top of his head that looked slightly curly and dark eyes like himself. He could not tell if the child would be pale as himself as he was quite red all over from his entrance into the world. With a small smile forming on his lips and a warm feeling in his heart he turned to Hermione who reached out and took her son to herself.
As soon as he had turned back from handing Hermione their son, Molly handed him his second child, a girl. He seemed slightly more at ease taking his second child and looked down at her as well. She was a little smaller than her brother and looked up at him. She had what appeared to be straight hair and slightly less dark eyes. She was also bright red as her brother, so if she was pale was hard to tell. She seemed to stop squirming as she looked up at her father and gurgled slightly at him. The warm feeling in his chest spread and Severus could not help but smile as he crossed over to sit next to Hermione on the bed. Even he had to admit that looking down at his daughter in his arms and Hermione holding his son that his heart was warmed, perhaps even melted to know that he had helped to create these two beautiful children.
Just as he was beginning to get comfortable Molly bustled back over to the bedside and gave them both some news that neither were eager to hear. "You do know that you have to perform the naming ceremony, and quite soon too. After that we will leave you alone to rest."
Severus scowled at her, sort of. He found it hard to be in a foul mood while holding his child in his arms. "Well we had best get it over with." He grumbled. "Then our chambers will once again be our own."
"Who all is out there?" Hermione asked sleepily, cuddling her son.
"All of your friends and some who claim to be mine as well." He told her. "Young Mister Weasley and his wife are not though; they were evidently the chosen babysitters for this occasion."
"Ah Ron." Hermione nodded. "He still hasn't quite come to terms with it I don't think. I just hope that he will some day."
"If he doesn't it is no great loss to me personally."
"Men." Hermione rolled her eyes dramatically and sounded rather disgusted with him, but leaned against him anyways.
"So, do they still get the names we picked out? Or do they fit a different name?" Severus asked as he surveyed his children. "I believe this little one deserves the name we picked out for her. What is your assessment of our son and my heir? Does he live up to the Snape family name?"
"You are being all too serious now." Hermione smiled. "He has only been in the world an hour at most and you are already setting him high standards. How about we just let him be a baby for right now." Severus humphed his displeasure though the grin on his face told a different story. "As for the name we picked, I believe he is a good strong boy who will do the Snape family name justice."
"Good, now let us get this over with so that we can all get some much needed rest. I have been persuaded by Emerald to let the Phoenix give us at least one good rest before things start going completely crazy with two babies here." Severus told her.
He got up from the bed and handed his daughter off to Molly who had been hovering beside the bed and then Hermione handed off their son to Madame Pomffery who was also still in the room. Severus then picked Hermione up and carried her into the other room where everyone was waiting eagerly for the naming ceremony to begin. Severus sat Hermione down carefully in the chair he had been occupying before and then took his son from Madame Pomffery. Holding his son he showed those gathered in the room his son.
"This is my first born son and my heir, Sebastian Samuel Snape." Severus told everyone. "He will carry on the Snape family line." Severus then handed Sebastian off to Hermione and then took his daughter from Molly. "This is my second born daughter, Serenity Sarah Snape." He said, also showing her to the gathered assembly. "They are my children and I am their father, nothing that happens will ever change that fact." With that he kissed the forehead of each child an then a quick peck on the very tired lips of Hermione. Once he had done that he turned back to those assembled. "Now I have done my part. My children have been born and named. Now I don't want to see any of you in my chambers again until you are explicitly invited in by me or my wife, only Madame Pomffery and Minerva excluded. Other than that, clear out we are exhausted and have no tolerance for idle chatter. You will all get a chance at a later date to get a closer look at my children."
Everyone in the room understood what he was saying. Each had gone through the exhaustion of childbirth on either one side of the door or the other. They also knew that Severus was an extremely private person and marriage had not changed the fact that he would readily chase away anyone foolish enough to come to his door to just talk. They all knew that it was wise to quickly vacate the premises now that all the excitement was over. Only Molly, Arthur and Madame Pomffery stayed behind.
"I am so happy for you both." Arthur smiled. "I am sure that you will be having your hands full for the rest of the summer."
"I am sure we will." Hermione smiled weakly, holding the now sleeping Sebastian.
"Make sure that you feed them as soon as they wake up." Madame Pomffery said. "If you think anything is ever amiss with these two little bundles, remember I am just a Floo call away and I will be around shortly. Otherwise I am sure that if you need other help that the house elves will be more than happy to assist you. It has been a long time since there has even been one young child in the castle. They were most pleased by the Longbottom's little boy and now you have one of each for them to fawn over. I can't imagine what your house elves Severus will think when you bring these two home."
"Well I really am not worried about that." Severus told her rather flatly. "Right now I care only about getting some much needed sleep. Madame Pomffery would you go get the crib out of the nursery and Arthur will you help bring the children into our bedroom."
Both nodded and Severus handed off Serenity to Molly and Hermione handed Sebastian to Arthur. Severus picked Hermione up and took her back to their bed. Madame Pomffery soon bustled into the bedchamber and set the crib up beside the bed. Then Severus carefully laid his sleeping children inside it. Fawkes had joined them in the room and sat regally on the top rail of the crib, looking down at the two babies below. He spread his wings out and bobbed his head, letting out a small cooing thrum from his chest.
"So you approve do you." Hermione said with a tired smile as she watched him look as though he was trying to cover the babies with his wings, as if they were his own chicks. Fawkes ruffled his feathers and bobbed his head again looking very much like he had a slightly smug look on his face.
"You are far too happy bird." Severus told him rather sternly with his trademark eyebrow raised as he looked down at his children and could nearly look Fawkes in the eye from his vantage point. Fawkes let go a thrill that sounded far too much like a laugh for the express comfort of the occupants of the room. The children below Fawkes stirred slightly but remained asleep in the shadow of the Phoenix.
"All will be fine." Fawkes assured them both in his way of speaking to them. "It is only natural to be extra protective of your first hatched chicks. The first egg I helped hatch was so protected it is a wonder she was ever able to go out and be a proper Phoenix." He chuckled with a light laugh and seemed to shake his head lightly. "Be assured that they will grow strong and you needn't worry over every little trivial thing. They will survive more things than you fear they won't."
Severus looked at Fawkes in a hard manner, almost as if he was trying to use Legilimency on him. After a moment he sighed and with a shrug and light shake of his head he went back over to his side of the bed and after toeing off his shoes and undressing to his normal nightwear (Severus in the buff wahoo!) he slipped into bed to lie beside Hermione. She was laid out on her side of the bed closest to the crib and moved a bit closer to him as he slid to the center of the bed. She was exhausted and still sore, but the Potions had begun healing her body after giving birth and her health and body would soon be what it was before she was pregnant. Severus reached for her and drew her close to nestle against his chest. It felt good to feel as she once again fit against him now that she was no longer pregnant. She snuggled against him and just as he kissed her forehead lightly Fawkes began a low, comforting thrill in his chest. Severus felt as Hermione snuggled closer to him and he felt as she went limp as her breathing evened out and she finally got the sleep she so desperately needed.
Severus thought as he too also drifted off to sleep that it was amazing that she even still let him touch her after all the pain and discomfort he had just caused her, bringing their children into the world. But he didn't have too much time to think about such a phenomenon as he too was soon drifting away into the much needed abyss that was sleep.
Once Fawkes was satisfied that the whole family was sleeping soundly he stopped his singing and then turned his attentions to the little ones below him. He was most pleased by the chicks hatched out by his Master and Misteress. Leaning down into the crib he carefully cried out a single tear onto each child, into their tiny open mouths. Once he had done so he fluffed out his feathers and glided over to the unlit fireplace. With a couple rather harsh sounding noises there was a burst of flame where Fawkes flew through the fireplace and into the nesting room. It was his turn to sit on the eggs.
A/N: awe, well isn't that totally awesome! Severus is a daddy! And he got to witness it! I is all warm and fuzzy on the inside! I know I really enjoyed writing this chapter and I hope you all enjoyed reading it.
It will be a while I believe before I can post the next chapter. I have part of the next chapter written, but I am not totally happy with it and I don't want to post something I don't like. I am also dealing with the fact I have come to the part of the story where I know how it ends, but there are so many ways that I could go about getting there that I am having trouble picking which one. I had a plan that I thought I would follow, but it has come to my attention that I can not follow that original path some time ago. Now the problem is choosing which of the remaining paths to write. I know that I will have to choose soon, but I can promise you all that Draco will get his just desserts and there will be a happy ending, because I like happy endings. There is also quite a squeeze on my time lately but that should let up before the end of next month, whew!
At this point I think I will be posting part of The Trouble with Furby next week as that is almost done and is something lighter than what I am writing next. It will also give me a chance to write ahead on this story a bit too.
Anyways, love to all. Thanks for the lovely reviews you have all left so far! As always a big hug and thanks to my wonderful beta Skydancinghobbit who has helped me through this chapter as someone who has watched way to much/many baby shows and thinks what I wrote sounds plausible. Thanks to everyone who has read all the way to the end and please drop me a review! I always love to hear what everyone out there in fanficland thinks of what I write. Live, Laugh, Love! ~ Dragons Quill
