"Is something wrong?" Sarah asked with Lamerin in her hands when Severus appeared in the living room.
"Bad news…" He answered. "A prophecy." He sat down and buried his head in his hands.
"What kind of prophecy?"
"Someone predicted our downfall."
Sarah's face softened.
"But… you shouldn't take a prophecy seriously." She tried to comfort her husband. "It's all rubbish…"
Severus looked at her.
"In my world a prophecy is very powerful… Maybe Muggles don't believe in them but our prophecies always come true."
He approached the woman and hugged her. He stroked the little boy's hair and kissed his forehead.
"I won't let anything happen to you…"
Lamerin grew slowly and the happiness he brought comforted his anxious parents. They spent all their time together with playing and laughing. Bathing was a hard procedure at the beginning because the little boy was afraid of water. Later, when he was able to sit and play with the toys he began to enjoy it. Severus always conjured huge shiny bubbles and Lamerin watched them with bright eyes. At the end of bathing the whole bathroom was wet. The two of them always earned a disapproving gaze from Sarah.
Feeding was almost as challenging as bathing. Brest milk was his favorite but they had to stop with that. However he didn't like baby food. He accepted only one kind of food and refused to eat the others. It took them a long time to discover what he likes. His parents went out and bought a lot of food he liked but the next time he didn't want that either. He made an impish grimace and reached for the fried chicken on the table. Severus and Sarah laughed that he always managed to gag them.
The baby loved being outdoors with his parents. In summer they spent hours at the small meadow next to the house. While Sarah made photos of them the two boys entertained each other. The woman found the magical device when they cleaned the house because of the baby. Since then, it was her passion to make family photos.
They were sitting on a blanket. In front of the little boy was a white rabbit. Severus used a hiccupping spell on it. Each time the poor animal hiccupped soap bubbles came out of its mouth and it changed its color. Lamerin watched curiously while Sarah laughed. The child picked up the rabbit and waited to see what would happen. The animal just watched him with slowly moving nose. He embraced the little rabbit lovingly and Severus had to rescue the animal from the certain death.
The magician adored his little son. He loved when the child slept on his chest. The man lay on the sofa or the bed with his shirt unbuttoned with the baby on him. He stroked Lamerin's face, his little hands and messy hair…
One evening they were playing in front of the fireplace. Lamerin used cubes and balls to tie his attention up and Severus watched him.
"You sure, you don't want me to help?" He asked his wife as she changed the sheets on the bed.
"I'm sure." The answer came from behind the cushions. Severus saw feathers flying everywhere. "I'm almost ready…"
A few feathers fell in front on them and Lamerin reached for them to look at them. Severus also caught one and tickled his son. The child laughed sweetly and let his father pick him up.
"I'm done." Sarah sat next to them wearing a white shirt. Her hair was full of feathers.
Severus couldn't help smiling. They started tickling each other and laughing…
Voldemort was beyond himself with rage when he heard that Flint and Sanders were captured. They were experts when it came to the Cruciatus curse and they taught the others to use the Unforgivable Curses too. Voldemort destroyed everything before him. He always held the meetings in old and ruined castles and churches but now, all building suffered his wrath.
He didn't let his Death Eaters to do the dirty work. He also participated in a lot of massacres. He killed the McKinnons with Travers but the murder of the Bones was his doing alone. These two incidents made a huge ruckus in the wizard world. The Christmas in 1978 was mournful. The superstitious wizards waited for the New Year, and feared what some cruel things would happen to them.
Severus felt a little joy: he spent his second Christmas with Sarah, but this time their child was there to enjoy it with them. The little boy watched the enchanted Christmas tree. Rainbow-colored orbs flashed every second. Sarah made a delicious cake for the holiday, though she was not as good at the kitchen as her mother. The weather was excellent too, snow covered the whole land. Little Lamerin fell asleep in his mother's hands but his parents drank a cup of wine to great the New Year…
The winter seemed to be longer than normal, and May passed when the chaos in the Ministry of Magic emerged. Last time this happened was during the last war which was called the 'second great war of Muggles'. Grindewald caused problems that time. Now it was Voldemort. The Against the Dark Arts League protested against the licenses given to the aurors. They thought using an Unforgivable is a brutal method and it makes the user evil no matter which side he or she is on. They thought this was the reason the Death Eaters made so many attacks, kidnapped and killed so many people lately. The League was against Voldemort but they wanted to use other methods and involve the Muggle authorities too. The Ministry of Magic stated that the League can't do anything and it is just a symbolic institution. They want to involve the Muggles because they can't handle their holy mission, catching dark wizards. The League was offended and they left the huge conference room where the meeting took place. They argued for weeks and the increased activity of owls made the Muggles weary too.
Voldemort couldn't resist. While his enemies argued he tried to recruit followers abroad with more or less success. Dolohov became a faithful follower and Karkaroff welcomed him too. The witched in north-America and everyone in the middle and South America refused to take part in a European wizard conflict. He managed to find a few German wizards but the French people refused to help when they heard that. The South Slav part of Europe was in chaos already so he didn't even think about asking them. The Middle Eastern communities held their economic interests in mind: they would make alliance if he promised that he would import their flying carpets. The rest of Asia didn't care about the war in England. The Dark Lord was furious and swore revenge…
The bad omen made him stop. He started to believe his enemies came up with the whole prophecy thing. This summer he had to face an irrefutable prediction that appeared to confirm the previous one. Dumbledore took in the one who saw the future. The Ministry treated it confidentially but Rookwood worked at the Department of Mystery so they learned about it soon. Augustus did not hear all of the prophecy, but one thing was sure. A child will soon be born - or is born already - and that child will defeat Voldemort.
The Dark Lord was furious and he commanded his followers to find every child who fit the prophecy.
Severus was terribly frightened. He asked Sarah to go to London with Lamerin and stay with her parents but she refused to leave her husband alone…