A/N: Vanessa's POV, this chapter is dedicated to reader and reviewer BritishBeauty x. I hope you all squeal and I hope you start to feel more than pure loathing for Vanessa. Her life is about to get a lot more complicated.

-C

Peter was a little late, but he had told me ahead of time that he was coming straight from an Order meeting, so I wasn't terribly surprised, nor was I especially offended.

"Well?" I asked, smiling as he sat down across from me. "What was the topic of discussion at the meeting today?"

"You won't be pleased," he said slowly, and my smile dropped slightly.

What was so bad that even Peter knew it would not please me?

"Tell me anyway," I said, recovering some of my smile.

Peter took the tea I pressed into his hand.

"There are more pregnancies in the Order," he said in a measured way I hadn't thought him capable of. I raised my eyebrows.

Who was it this time? Longbottoms? He said plural, though….

"Lily and James are pregnant," he said softly, and I felt my stomach drop. I had the urge to hit him, but there was no point. "A boy, they said."

I managed to recover myself slightly.

"And the Longbottoms, I expect," I said, stirring more sugar into my tea. "Very well."

"Yes, they're having a boy as well," Peter said with a small frown. "And Amy and Sirius are pregnant again."

My spoon fell to the saucer with a clatter and I just looked at him. There was no pretense of a smile or a hint of anything.

It was like everything in the universe had suddenly designed against me.

"But their first child is still so young," I said slowly. "And they're already pregnant with a second?"

"Two, actually," he said grimly. "She's pregnant twins. Girls, again."

I could not handle this. I stood and began pacing.

Three children so soon after graduating, and I'd not managed one yet. Granted, Jack and I were only trying so hard. I was a bit loth to lose my figure so soon, and Jack was kept very busy by the Dark Lord.

As I paced, Peter sat quietly.

"Girls again," I muttered. "I wonder…."

I knew that some couples could try for years for a boy and never get one while others just had male heir after male heir. Perhaps…perhaps Amy and Sirius would not be able to have a son.

There were still tricks up my sleeve, but Amy being pregnant again would complicate the plans they'd made in order to torture and kidnap her. I would have to tell Jack as soon as possible.

"Well," I sighed, smoothing my hair to calm myself. "Well, Peter, what else have you learned? Surely there's something more than pregnancies to report."

Peter blinked at me, and then he nodded.

I sat back down as he related the rest of the meeting, and I tried to focus on his words. There was particularly Caradoc Dearborn's mission to consider. Jack had shown quite a lot of interest in that. Perhaps if there was something beneficial in this news, he would be less upset about Amy's pregnancy.

Twins.

I poured myself more tea and nodded at something about Edgar Bones as I stirred in sugar.

Well, if nothing else, she would not be so pretty after having twins. Perhaps my husband's obsession would be dampened by this. I knew some men found pregnant women attractive, but I was fairly certain that Jack held no such disgusting notions, and the stretch marks she would have after would not entice him.

That was a comfort, if a small one.

Aludra would still be the heir of the Black line once her grandfather and father were dead. That particular plan could continue forward more or less as planned. I tapped my fingernails absently on the table and from the look on Peter's face he knew that I was more or less done with the conversation. I allowed him to kiss my hand rather lingeringly and I spared him a smile.

He was already in rather deep, but not so deep that I didn't have to keep up the pretense that I actually would give him more if he was a good boy. Not until he was branded with that disgusting Mark could I drop such an act.

As soon as Peter was gone I called an elf to clean up the tea and walked back to my room. I let my hair down and began to brush it thoughtfully. Yes, it was going to frizz, but it was an action that I had found both calmed me and clarified my thoughts of late. If Jack had a problem with my hair, I had a feeling that was going to be the least of our concerns.

I wasn't going to bother with breaking it gently. This was important news, and he needed to know right away. I didn't know when their plans were meant to be set in motion, but if it was any time soon they would need to immediately regroup. Hopefully, they hadn't already set things in motion. I knew he was coming back from a raid.

Sucking in a breath, I contemplated sending an elf to him, to warn him not to go forward without my new information, but if he was with others, no matter what the situation, he would not be pleased with my interfering. These were things I wasn't supposed to know, just as Narcissa wasn't supposed to know them. Our husbands kept us vaguely informed because Sirius was Narcissa's cousin and Amy was once my friend.

In reality, they kept us informed because we had access to knowledge and information about the Blacks that even Bellatrix did not have, and they were keeping Bellatrix out of things as much as possible.

I had put down the brush when I heard footsteps in the hall and I knew he was home. I took a deep, steadying breath, and stood before he entered. He sat on the bed right away, taking off his boots and grunting in acknowledgement of my presence. I just watched him for a moment, trying to decide what sort of a mood he was in before proceeding.

"I assume Peter had news?" Jack said, looking up at me as he tossed the boots to the side.

"Lots of news," I said, arching an eyebrow and sitting across from him in one of our chairs. "There's information on Caradoc that I've written down in order not to miss anything. I've left it on my vanity."

"That's fine," he sighed, rubbing his temples. "What else?"

"Pregnancies in the Order," I said, rubbing my hands across my thighs a bit anxiously. "Three of them."

His eyes were wide when he looked up at me and I hoped he hadn't done anything rash.

"Three?" he said. With a shake of his head he got to his feet and crossed to the window, looking out at the garden. "Who?"

"The Potters are pregnant with a boy," I said, tracing the arm of the chair with a fingernail. "As are the Longbottoms."

He turned back to me with dark eyes.

"The Blacks?"

I nodded.

"Twin girls," I said, the words catching slightly in my throat.

I expected the pregnancy of the Potters to be the worst of the news, but the more I thought about those twins the angrier I became. It wasn't fair that Amy kept getting everything, even though the thought of twins growing inside of me was mildly terrifying.

Maybe she would die in childbirth.

I wasn't sure I wanted that, though, leaving three little girls without a mother. I shivered slightly.

"Twin girls," he mused. "Do you know the due dates?"

I blinked.

"If Peter knew, he didn't say," I replied.

And I hadn't thought to ask, so wrong-footed I was by the news. Jack just nodded, so at least he wasn't angry that I neglected to ask such an important question.

"With all likelihood all three will be July," he groaned, rubbing his eyes. I frowned. What was important about July? "Well, I suppose the girls are girls, so that's good. And twins…."

He opened his eyes and dropped his hands, looking at me intently.

"What?" I asked, tilting my head slightly.

"Sirius has inherited," he said softly. "Well, his mother still lives in Grimmauld Place and I doubt he'll inhabit it any time soon, but Orion Black has died."

I stopped tracing and gripped the arms of my chair tightly.

"Excuse me?" I hissed. "Orion Black is dead and you're just now telling me this?"

Jack frowned at me, narrowing his eyes.

"Don't overthink your own importance, Vanessa. You're lucky I tell you as much as I do. I don't owe you anything. Remember that."

I nodded, but I wasn't really listening. I stood and began to pace.

Orion Black was dead, and this meant that the entire Black fortune, unfortunately for Walburga's poor heart – not that I cared about her, but I could see that being me someday and it terrified me – went to the wayward Black son and his wife. I clenched my fists.

The Gringotts vault had probably already been transferred into his name. Any time now a goblin would give him the key and explain the situation. I began to shake with anger.

I wanted that vault. I wanted that money. The Avery fortune was nothing compared with the Blacks.

"We need a son, Vanessa, if that vault is going to come to our family," Jack said softly, obviously recognizing my train of thought. "We need a son, and then we can move forward and steal the claim from the Malfoys. The thought of Lucius and his smug smile, claiming all that gold…."

I agreed. Half the time I already wanted to rip out Lucius's throat with my bare hands, but he would only be worse if he managed to have a son before us and the plan worked out.

"We need to decide how we're going to approach the children, of course, in how we work toward enticing Sirius to the Dark Lord," Jack sighed. "Three young, helpless girls…. I expect his wife will have misfiring magic, as well. It's a very uncertain time for them." His lips curled into a cold, cruel smirk worthy of Lucius Malfoy or Bellatrix Lestrange.

"What?" I asked, my eyes narrowing slightly. "What are you thinking?"

"Kidnap the child," Jack said. "Aludra – no, just listen, Vanessa – and no torture is even necessary. Obviously I will not torture a pureblood pregnant with two pureblooded children. That would be ridiculous. And torturing a child so young of such pure blood would be equally absurd. But I have no doubt that kidnapping either pregnant mother or the child will achieve the desired effect, and leaving him with one reminds him that we have more to take from him."

"Why not kidnap the mother, then?" I demanded. For some reason, the idea of kidnapping the child made me especially uneasy.

"If we take the mother while Sirius is away, we leave a baby with no one to look after her," Jack pointed out, smiling slightly at my not thinking of such an obvious problem. "Besides that, if we take the child we can sedate or Stun the mother until Sirius comes to find her. If we kidnap her, we cannot keep her unconscious the whole time we have her, and the distress might harm the children. If we are to keep as much of the Black family in tact as possible, we need to take the child."

He seemed to be right about this, as much as I hated to admit it to myself.

"Of course," I said.

"Oh, and you need to go downstairs," Jack told me absently. "You have a visitor, sent especially by the Dark Lord."

I blinked at him. What did the Dark Lord want with me?

"Damn," I muttered. "My hair…"

"He won't mind," Jack said with a wave. "He knows it was unexpected. Don't keep him waiting. He's in the blue room."

I sighed and tried to smooth my hair as I walked, making my way to the blue room.

Severus Snape stood there, a little less lanky than I'd last seen him, at graduation. He'd grown slightly, and certainly grown into himself more. I blinked at him.

"Severus," I said, as charming and accommodating as I could master when I felt so flustered. Everything was throwing me out of balance today, it seemed. "A pleasure to see you. Jack said you were sent to see me?"

"Sit," he said sharply.

I didn't like being ordered around in my own home, but it was clear from the command in his voice that he had somehow gained high favor with the Dark Lord. In accordance with this, and with Jack's warning not to keep him waiting, I did as bid. He frowned at me slightly.

"The Dark Lord is concerned that you have not yet conceived," he said in his smooth, baritone voice, although I could tell that he was uncomfortable with whatever task he'd been set. He was good at hiding things when he really wanted, but I'd watched him and other Death Eaters long enough in school to know small things, like the way he held his hands when he was uncomfortable. "He has sent me to ensure that you are fertile."

I blinked.

He cleared his throat and pulled out his wand.

"Forgive me," he said, "but I must ask you to raise your shirt."

I did so slowly, exposing my abdomen. He touched his wand to my skin rather gently, muttering things I couldn't make out and focusing on my stomach. His frown was very deep when he stepped back.

It didn't take a genius to know that he'd already done this with Narcissa, who had also yet to conceive. But the look on his face when I put my shirt back in place made my heart race with fear.

"What is it?" I asked, gripping the arms of the chair. "Don't mince words with me, Severus. What's wrong?"

"You are not entirely barren," he said slowly. "But without intervention it will be virtually impossible for you to conceive, and if you do conceive you cannot carry a child to term. With intervention, it is still not guaranteed that this can be fixed."

I felt incredibly dizzy.

No, I was not exactly barren, but unless Severus could fix me I was barren, for all intents and purposes. A pureblooded witch who could not bear children.

It was my worst nightmare.

"What do I have to do?" I said, unable to keep my voice from shaking.

"I will prepare a potion regimen for you," he said thoughtfully. "That is the first step. We will see what needs to be done from there. As I have said, it is not completely impossible, but you cannot expect results."

"Of course," I whispered, looking down at my hands.

"I will bring the potions in a week," he said stiffly. "We will check on your progress regularly. The Dark Lord wants you to have a child, and I will do what is in my power to help you achieve that goal."

"Thank you," I said.

He bowed his head slightly and left me sitting alone in the blue room without another word. I blinked occasionally, but mostly I just stared at the carpet feeling slightly sick to my stomach.

I was virtually barren and Amy was apparently the most fertile pureblooded witch in England.

There was a knock at the door.

"Vanessa?"

"Come in," I said, my voice still strained from tears I was holding in. I would not cry in front of my husband. Severus would find a way to fix it, and I would have several male heirs. The Avery line would not end with Jack.

He came in and looked at me, his face actually concerned instead of impassive.

"Narcissa was fine," he said softly. "Lucius made a point of bragging as soon as they found out. It's just been an issue of timing, I suppose. Are…are you…?"

I gripped the arms of the chair a bit tighter.

"I'm not barren," I said slowly, "but Severus needs to…to try some potions and things to fix me. I…I am unlikely to conceive, and if I did I could not carry the child to term."

Jack's eyes widened and that was all it took for my resolve to break down entirely. My hands flew to my face as I began to sob, trying to stem the flow of tears that threatened to drown me. He knelt beside me, hands on my knees.

"It's going to be all right," he said gently. "If anyone can fix this, it is Severus. You will have children, Vanessa. You will have so many children all of pureblood society will be jealous of you. I promise you."

I was shaking, but I managed to stop the tears. I wiped my eyes.

"You are right," I said, gathering myself. "I will have children. And with any luck, I will have them before Narcissa has a son, and we will get the Black fortune."

"That's the spirit," he said with a small smirk.

But it felt more like posturing than anything else in our marriage, that interaction. I was terrified. Severus had underlined that there were no guarantees. I knew enough about such potions to know that there were also incredible risks. It wasn't as if I had a choice not to take them, not with the Dark Lord breathing down my neck. I had to do everything I could, even if I hadn't wanted children so badly to begin with.

"When will he have potions ready?" Jack asked, smoothing my hair rather kindly.

"A week, he said," I whispered. "I don't know how long it will take to start working, if it's going to work…."

"It will work," Jack said firmly. "It will."

I nodded, letting him take my hands in his and kiss them.

It was strange. I would have thought my husband would be less affectionate, knowing I might never give him a child. But it seemed to draw us even closer together.