April 29th, 1998

The twins slept peacefully in their crib while Florence enjoyed a cup of tea and a slice of lemon tart in bed after dinner, her mind focused on the sounds she could hear coming from the bathroom – especially the sound of water falling down her husband's naked body before hitting the tiled floor.

I think I'll go in there to watch you showering... she told him through their bond.

Severus chuckled: We both know you won't just watch, love.

I'm a healer too, you know? I'm pretty sure I can declare myself fully healed just as well as Poppy.

And I'm pretty sure you can't legally do that.

Florence fell silent and pursed her lips – he was right, she couldn't.

But no one will know. She tried.

I will. And I will not do anything that can potentially harm you, love.

I won't break, Severus! She said, angrily.

I know you won't, Florence, but I also know the kind of sex you want – and you need to be fully healed for that.

One more week, husband. And then I'm getting you. She growled.

I can't wait, princess, I'm dying to shut that damn veela up; she keeps sending me images of your sexy cunt dripping for me- He sucked in air through his teeth. And I swear your delicious vanilla scent is getting more intense... it is driving me insane.

She smiled, sensing his sexual frustration.

It serves you well. She replied. Payback for all the times you walked around this room half-naked and dripping wet.

He just chuckled.

Florence finished her tea and sent the tray back to the kitchen.

But something suddenly had her in high alert.

She could sense an unexpected, but familiar, presence in the house.

Severus, she called through their bond, her eyes on the door, as if expecting someone to burst into the room any minute. Did you feel that?

Yes. I felt it too, love. He replied, turning off the shower. You'd better not be going out there alone!

He quickly opened the bathroom door, dressed in joggers, and whisper-shouted: "Of course you are. Get away from that door, Florence!"

But she had already opened it and stood in the threshold, trying to hear something, but there were no sounds around the house.

"There's no way father is here and the house is this quiet," she said, ignoring his order and walking out into the corridor.

Severus put on a long-sleeved black shirt and ran after her, agreeing: "Yes. You're right. If your father were here, we'd be hearing curses and explosions."

"So that can only mean one thing..." she started, looking at him.

And he spoke at the same time as her: "Harry."

"I'll go down there," Severus said, seeing her immediately shake her head, "'No' what, Florence?" he asked, annoyed.

"WE are going down there – together," she said, transfigurating her nightgown into a long-sleeved dress with a flick of her wand, "I'm fully healed, husband. It's been over a month. Don't even try to stop me."

He exhaled, clearly displeased. "I'm just being careful. I don't want you to die, love."

Her smile was sweet, "I know that, Sev. But we're just going down to Harry's room. The worst we could find is him being possessed by my father while fucking Ginevra."

Severus grimaced, disgusted by the visual image – even though part of him was equally amused by the absurdity of that.

"How the fuck did you come up with that?" he asked.

She laughed, "It'd certainly be awful, wouldn't it? Especially for Ginny."

"It'd be traumatising for me to know it happened, I can't imagine what it'd be like for her!" he replied with a grimace, following his wife downstairs.

Ginevra Weasley was on her way to the stairs when the Snape couple reached the second-floor corridor.

"Something's wrong with Harry!" the redhead cried upon seeing them, "I was about to call you. Please help him!"

Florence nodded, touching the girl's arm reassuringly, "We felt something was wrong with him. But Harry will be ok, we'll help him. Don't worry."

Severus walked into the bedroom, finding Harry standing by the window, a low hissing sound coming out of him.

You'll have to come here, Florence. Severus said. They're using Parseltongue.

She left Ginny in the corridor and walked into the room, but Severus held her arm, not letting her get too close to Harry.

She glared at him, but stayed near the door, listening attentively to Harry's hissing:

"You'll lose, Tom – and you know it. We're close to ending you, once and for all."

Then the boy's whole body trembled and his voice got deeper, hissing on: "I won't be so easily defeated, Potter. I've used my powers to ensure that I live forever!"

"Really?" Harry hissed a laugh, "So you haven't felt any of the Horcruxes we've destroyed so far?"

There was a silence and then Harry realised he wasn't alone anymore, his green eyes falling on Florence and his face showed his disgust: "The traitorous couple." – it wasn't the boy speaking.

"Father," she hissed back, sensing Severus tensing up beside her.

"You gave birth," Voldemort commented, as Harry's eyes ran down her body.

"Yes," she simply replied, "A month ago."

He frowned: "That was early by my calculations. Are they healthy?"

"That's none of your concern, father."

Voldemort smirked with Harry's lips, "That might be true for now, but I'll still have them, you know," he said, "And Sophie too. I want all three – and I will have them! As soon as I crush your pathetic resistance, I'll have my grandkids and I'll raise them to reach their full potential! They will be invincible!" Voldemort was nearly shouting by the end of his sentence.

Florence lowered her voice and said: "Lily-Rose has mother's eyes," waiting to see his reaction.

And that had Voldemort pausing inside Harry's mind.

He fell silent and she watched the frown that formed in Harry's face turn into an expression of longing.

"Purple eyes?" he finally hissed softly.

"Yes," she nodded, taken aback by his sudden change in demeanour.

Then Harry slumped onto the floor, Voldemort's retreating from his mind abruptly leaving him dizzy and weak.

"Harry!" Florence shouted, kneeling beside him, hugging him tightly and worrying when she felt he was cold and shivering.

"Get me a quilt, Severus!" she demanded.

And soon there was one flying from the bed and wrapping itself around Harry's trembling form on the floor in front of her.

"T-thank-ks," Harry said, his teeth noisily chattering.

Florence cast a warming charm on the quilt and slowly the boy stopped trembling.

"What happened, Harry?" she calmly asked, touching his arms.

However Severus wasn't as gentle: "Why the FUCK didn't you put your occlumency walls up before bed like I've taught you?"

Harry seemed hesitant and when he spoke his voice sounded small: "Well, I let them down on purpose tonight."

"WHAT?" both Severus and Florence shouted.

"I felt Tom prodding earlier..." explained Harry, "So I let him in."

"Damn it, Harry!" Florence exclaimed, "You can't do that! You put Ginny in danger!"

The boy had the decency of looking ashamed and tried to explain his foolish behaviour: "I needed to be sure he is getting weaker – and he is! The destruction of the Horcruxes is affecting him!" he smiled.

Florence looked at him with incredulity, "What you did was stupid, Harry – even to your father's standards."

"Yes!" agreed Severus, "And James Potter thought it was wise to befriend a werewolf before wolfsbane was invented!"

Harry winced but nodded, looking from Florence to Severus for nearly a whole silent minute, not knowing what else to say – he had done something stupid that could've turned into a dangerous situation. It hadn't but it had had the potential to.

"Start occluding now, Harry," Florence ordered, her eyes on his, waiting to see the tell-tale change in them that would indicate he had obeyed her.

He nodded and focused on the mental exercises her husband had taught him; after a few minutes, he had closed his mind to any outside interference.

"Good," said Florence, "Now let's try to have an uneventful night's sleep, ok?"

Harry gave her a small smile and she helped him stand up from the floor.

"He loved her, you know," he said unexpectedly.

Florence frowned, failing to understand what he meant, "What's that dear? Who loved whom?"

"Your mother. Tom loved her," Harry explained, hugging himself with the warm quilt, "He doesn't anymore though- he's no longer capable of love- but he has some feelings for her still; he remembers her fondly," Harry smiled softly, "When you mentioned her eyes, he immediately thought of her and I could see her – she was a beautiful woman, your mother. And you have her smile."

Florence, visibly shaken by that, blinked away some tears and smiled weakly at him, nodding, "Thanks for letting me know that he loved her. I used to wonder..."

"He loved her," Harry repeated, nodding, "And you. He was also very proud of you and feels truly betrayed."

Florence looked at him silently for a while, then she exhaled, "Get some sleep, dear. I'll send Ginny in," she kissed his forehead and walked to the door, sniffling a couple of times.

Severus silently touched her back affectionately when she walked by him and followed her to the corridor.

"Is Harry alright?" asked Ginny desperately, once they reached the door.

"Yes. You can go inside," Florence said, "It's safe now."

And the redhead ran in.

"I'll talk to Remus to plan Harry's search for the Horcrux in the castle," said Severus as they walked upstairs back to their room, "I don't think we can delay that any longer."

Florence looked at him and nodded, "Yes. We should do that sooner rather than later. If father is weakening like Harry said, we need to find the mystery Horcrux before he hides it somewhere else or worse: makes another one."

Severus just nodded, walking beside her, clearly sensing that something wasn't right with his wife.

"Florence," he softly called.

But she kept on going towards their door, seemingly lost in her thoughts; so, he waited to talk to her.

Once they reached their bedroom and the door closed behind them, Severus held her arm, pulling her to his chest.

"Florence, love," he wrapped his arms around her waist, "Look at me, princess."

She looked up at him and he could tell she was disturbed by whatever had just happened between her and her father.

"What did he tell you, love?" he asked softly.

She shook her head, "It's not what he told me, Sev, it was just... what I felt from him. When I told him about Lily's eyes... it was a shock to him as much as it was to me when I first saw them."

She touched her nose to his chest, breathing into the smell of his skin mixed with the scent of clean laundry, "Harry said father loved my mum..." she sighed, shaking her head, "I feel so silly, Sev. My father is a monster, but... seeing mother's eyes on Lily's face made me remember things. And we were happy, you know?" her bottom lip trembled, "Whenever he was home, he made mum happy. She'd smile near me, yes, but when father was home, she'd light up," Florence smiled, "I'm relieved to know he loved her, for she'd have done anything for him."

Severus didn't really know what to say, so he just pulled her chin up gently and kissed her.

Florence deepened the kiss, slowly rubbing herself on him, "Take me to the bathroom, Sev," she whispered sensually over his lips.

And her sudden change in behaviour had him frowning; she had been close to tears but was now hinting she wanted sex? That didn't make any sense.

But one look into her eyes – her very light green eyes – and he understood what had happened: in Florence's emotional state, the veela had taken over his wife's mind and body, and she wanted him.

"No, love," he said, keeping his lips on hers, trying to not irritate her randy veela for things could get dangerous for him if he did that, "I'm taking you to bed."

"But the babies are here," she whispered, biting his bottom lip, "We can't fuck in here," she kissed down his neck.

He pulled her chin up again and kissed her, "We're not fucking until Pomfrey says we can, princess," he stopped mid-kiss, adding: "And I can't believe I just said that."

Florence caressed his chest under his shirt, "I need you, Sev."

"You have me, love. But no sex."

She growled low, and he could sense her veela was very displeased with him.

He fisted a hand in her hair and tugged, feeling her melt under his manhandling, "You think I don't want it? Think again," he said in a low velvety drawl, "What I want more than anything is to take you to that bathroom and make you cum for me."

She whimpered, "Do it, then! Please, do it!"

He kissed her neck, trailing little bites down her shoulder.

"Soon, princess, soon. And once I have you under me again, you'll be begging me to stop."

She moaned, pulling his face down and kissing him passionately for long minutes, until they both had to either breathe or faint.

"Get on that bed, Florence," he ordered.

"On all fours?" she teased.

He groaned, "When I get you, wife..."

She looked at him pleadingly, "Get me now, husband."

"Bed," he ordered, slapping her right arsecheek and caressing it right afterwards.

She glared at him and turned, walking to bed, where she got on all fours and crawled towards her pillow slowly.

"Bloody minx," he growled low, following her and spooning her.

"Sev..." she moaned.

"Sleep love," he whispered in her ear, "We can't fuck here, but we can in a shared dream."

"But it's not the same!" she whined.

"It's all we can do until you're fully healed."

"Fine!" she conceded, a smirk slowly appearing on her face: "But I pick the place."

And they quickly found their way into dreamland.

April 30th

After dinner the next night, the Order members remained around the table, waiting for someone to start the meeting they had been told to sit in.

But dessert had long been eaten and someone had yet to start the meeting.

Severus hadn't missed the way Remus looked at him and Florence – but he was doing his best to ignore the wolf.

Lupin is trying to make us take the lead. Severus told Florence, annoyed.

She sighed, We might as well do it.

No way! Severus replied. We've done more than enough already. Florence!

But she was already standing up and speaking: "So, we all know that the reason why we've been living here and training for all these months is to defeat my father and finally put an end to this war."

There were many murmured yeses and nods.

"That being said," Florence continued, "You should know that something happened last night," and everyone went silent, "Harry had a chat with my father, one I was witness of; and afterwards, Severus and I reached the conclusion that we shouldn't wait any longer. Harry must go after the last unknown horcrux and we must be ready to engage the death eaters in battle when that happens."

"And how do you suggest we do that?" asked Bill Weasley, in honest curiosity, "There are death eaters all over Hogwarts and no one can apparate into the castle."

"Actually," said Florence, "We can, remember? My kids and I, as descendants to Salazar Slytherin, we can apparate into the castle grounds."

The Order members nodded slowly, beginning to understand that it was possible to take Harry to the castle with some careful organisation.

"The plan is simple," said Severus, standing up beside her, "James and Nicholas will take Harry and Miss Lovegood to the castle to find the Grey Lady," he looked at his oldest son.

"With luck," continued James, "The ghost will know what the Ravenclaw heirloom is and where it is."

"If things go our way," added Nick, "We'll have found and destroyed the horcrux by this time tomorrow and then we'll reveal we're there."

"By then, we should all be at the castle," continued Severus, looking around the room, "I know that, even with the new members we've got recently, the Dark Lord's followers still outnumber us three to one. But we have a few cards up our sleeves," he glanced at Florence.

Remus suddenly remembered: "Flor can send the death eaters away for a while."

"Yes," she nodded, "So if things get too hard for us, I'll zap them away and buy us a couple of minutes to regroup."

"When she does that, however," continued Severus, "Draco and I will be zapped away as well, so don't count on us when you plan your immediate attack for when they return," he paused, "Do you have anything you'd like to add?"

"How will all of us get into the castle?" asked George Weasley.

"The kitchen elves," explained Severus, "We'll ask Dobby to convince some kitchen elves to take us to the castle."

"We'll gather in the kitchens and then make our way up, killing as many death eaters as possible," continued Florence, "But the main goal is to attract my father and Nagini to Hogwarts."

"Then," said Hermione, understanding the next step in their plan, "We must kill the snake – either with a basilisk fang or the sword of Gryffindor," she looked at Florence and the woman motioned her to continue, so Hermione did: "As we only have two fangs, and Harry will take one of them with him, I'll hold on to the other and if anyone finds the Sorting Hat, give it to a Gryffindor student and have them ask for the sword. Then use it on the snake!"

"So," asked Florence, "Do we all agree with the plan?"

Everyone expressed their agreements.

"Good," Severus said, looking at the twins and Harry, "Get ready to leave the day after tomorrow after lunch. And, Potter: keep your damn mind shut."

"Yes, Sir," Harry agreed, a little embarrassed.

Once the meeting was over, Nick went to his bedroom, finding Fred walking slowly around the room, humming a soft tune to baby Lynne who was asleep on his chest.

"My two favourite redheads," Nick whispered, going towards them and kissing Fred's lips and Lynne's head, "Have you eaten, Red?"

"Yes," Fred whispered, lowering Lynne into her crib and looking at her for a moment, "We made that, Nicky. Isn't she the cutest thing?"

"Yes, she is," agreed Nicholas, wrapping his arms around his fiancée and looking at their daughter over his shoulder, "I never thought I'd love a girl."

Fred chuckled, "Me neither."

"Let's go to bed, love. You seem exhausted."

"And I fucking am. Lynne kept me awake last night," Fred yawned.

"Come here, I'll give you a massage."

"You know I'll fall asleep the moment my head hits that pillow, Nick."

"I know. And I'm not trying to sex you up, love. You do need a massage."

Fred smiled and lay down on his stomach beside him, "Love you, Nicky."

"Love you, Red."

Nicholas had barely started kneading his upper back muscles and Fred was fast asleep.

A few hours later, inside another bedroom a floor above, James stared at the naked witch on his chest and sighed, feeling completely relaxed.

He had spent the past two hours fucking his gorgeous fiancée in many different positions. She had climaxed five times and he had filled her up twice, both times in her pussy.

He had said, jokingly, that if anything went wrong during the final battle, he wanted to believe he had put a baby in her that night.

Hermione had slapped his shoulder playfully and wrapped her arms around him tightly, saying that nothing was going to go wrong – and he'd better not have put a baby in her for she still had one more year at Hogwarts and another four in college.

He knew she was on the potion, but seeing baby Lynne and his new siblings had filled him with longing.

"Would it be so bad if I had got you pregnant, kitten?" he asked in a low voice as she was nearly falling asleep.

"Of course not, Jamie," Hermione looked at him with sleepy loving eyes, "But I'd rather have our babies once the war is officially over."

"You know I was raised in a large family, we're going to have at least three little ones."

She laughed, "Three is the absolute maximum number of babies we're having, Jamie."

"Alright, kitten," he quickly agreed, holding her close and falling asleep with her naked body on top of his, knowing that arguing with his strong-willed woman wouldn't get him anywhere.

May 2nd

After lunch, some Order members gathered in the living room to watch Harry, Luna and the Snape twins get ready to leave for Hogwarts.

"Harry and Luna will find the Grey Lady, and you two wait in the Room of Requirement," Florence said, before kissing her sons' and Harry's foreheads, "We'll either go meet you there or send a Patronus."

"Yes, mum," the twins replied in unison, making her smile softly.

And then the four of them disapparated.

"This is it," Florence whispered, looking at Severus.

"Yes," he whispered in reply, "Let's hope our plan works."

"It has to, Sev. We're risking everything."

She felt her husband's arms around her waist, as they both stared at the empty space in the living room from where their oldest sons had just disappeared from.

"We're risking everything," Florence repeated, fearfully.