Author's Note: Hello again, and thank you so much for continuing to read this story. Thank you all so much for your continued support and kind words, I really appreciate it! I apologize for taking so long to update, this semester hit me like a freight train with all of the homework and performances. Things have finally calmed down a bit so I have seized the opportunity to read and write more. I've reworked this particular chapter a few times now, and I think it is finally ready. We are introduced to a new character this chapter, you'll have to read on to find out more.
Disclaimer: I do not own the world of Harry Potter, nor do I own any of the characters from the books they belong to JK Rowling.
It had been over two weeks since he had been forced to make that wretched oath to the Death Eaters. It had not been something that he had to do, and he knew that. It had been optional, he told himself that it was something he had to do so that he was not found out. As much as he tried to convince himself of this he knew that it was not the truth. The decision to make the oath had been his, Bella's taunting had caused him to do something he now deeply regretted.
Inwardly he cursed himself for his desire to prove that he was not a coward. Where had that gotten him now? He was now bound to meet the requirements of the oath, or else he would die. He was very lucky indeed that Lucius had insisted on being the one to say the oath. He had given Severus something of a reprieve, he had fifteen years to meet the requirements of the oath. The third requirement had also been rather ambiguous which helped, this left him to use his best judgement.
The trouble would be in actually carrying out the intent of the oath. There was no way around it, if he wanted to survive past the next fifteen years he would have to father a child. The odds of him making it that long did not seem to be in his favor as it was. If however by some miracle he did survive that long he would have to carry out the oath. It was positively maddening, carrying out the terms of the oath would have a huge impact on his entire life. Not to mention someone else's as well.
As he walked down the street in the chill night air he could not help but wonder what everything would come to. Another problem that faced him was who he would complete this oath with. It would have to be someone that he was comfortable with, and willing to be intimate with. Most importantly it had to be someone that he trusted.
There was one woman he could think of, he had been in a relationship with her for two years now. Narcissa had introduced the two of them at a party a few years ago. Their relationship was not much to speak of, if one could even call it such a thing. They attended galas together, and went out on occasion. Her company was tolerable, and they got on well enough together. They had never been terribly intimate in their time together, although Cassandra had been trying to change that. It was not that Severus did not like her, but he just was not ready to take that step with her, not yet anyway.
Still it was nice to have someone there for him when he needed it. Someone who was willing to put up with him, and not ask too many questions. A person who actually wanted to be with him rather than with another man. She would never be Lily, no one ever could aspire to that, but she was special in her own way.
He was going to pick her up now, they were having dinner with the Malfoys tonight. Severus only hoped that the evening would go well. It had been awhile since he had even seen Cassandra, Cassie, as he often called her. The last time he had actually seen her was before he accepted the job at Hogwarts. By now that had been nearly two months ago. Everything had been so busy he just had not had the time. He hoped that she would understand and forgive him for this lack of attention.
Once he had reached Hogsmeade he apparated to her flat in London, he waited for a moment before going inside and knocking on her door. A striking woman answered the door. She was fairly tall and her long chestnut colored hair was pulled into an elegant twist. The red silk evening dress she wore made her impossible to miss. The stern look on her face made it quite clear that she was not pleased. "You're late Severus." she said glaring at him for a moment.
He had left a bit later than he should have. There had been an incident in the potions classroom which he had to clean up after before leaving. A student had managed to make a cleaning potion explode by adding too much shrivel fig to it. There had been an awful smell and the resulting mess was quite difficult to clean up. The sixth year student should have known better, Severus had given him a detention for the infraction.
"I apologize Cassie, things were rather hectic at the school today. There was an incident in the potions classroom that had to be dealt with before I left." he said trying to gauge her anger and smooth things over.
"That school seems to be taking up all of your time right now." she replied, in a somewhat lighter tone.
"It is my job, I am responsible for making sure that it is done correctly. Things have been rather hectic lately, but they will be calming down in the near future. I've just been settling in and getting acquainted with my duties." He said smoothly. "I promise that soon I will have more time available for things that I enjoy."
"Things such as spending more time with me?" she asked him quizzically.
"Right now that is at the top of my list." Severus replied with a slight smile.
"Good, I am glad we got that settled." she said grasping his hands and pulling him closer to her. "Why don't you come in for awhile and we can catch up on some of the things we have missed in the past few weeks."
"Unfortunately we do not have time for that this evening." Severus replied rather quickly. "We are to dine with Lucius and Narcissa. Already we are almost late. I would hate to keep them waiting."
"I'm sure that they could wait awhile." she said wrapping her arms around his neck. "They could hardly begrudge you a few minutes time."
"As tempting as your offer is, Narcissa does not like to be kept waiting when she has planned something like this. Perhaps next time Cassie." he replied removing her arms from around his neck, and offering her his arm instead.
"You always find some excuse Severus." she said exasperatedly. "Every time I offer, you always find some excuse to get out of it. I think that you are not comfortable in my presence."
"That is utterly preposterous." Severus replied.
"I do not think so." she said indignantly.
"Now is not the time for this discussion." Severus said straightening up. "We must be on our way."
"Alright, but this is not the end of it. We will have this conversation at a later time." she replied.
"As you wish." he said. Grasping her hand in his the two of them apparated to Malfoy Manor. Once they had gotten there they made the quick walk from the gate to the front entranceway.
Lucius and Narcissa greeted them graciously. "We are absolutely thrilled that the two of you were able to come this evening." Narcissa said welcoming the two of them into their house. "It has been far too long since we were all able to get together on social terms. Too much of what has been going on has been business related as of late."
"I quite agree Narcissa, it is wonderful to see you again. Thank you for welcoming Cassandra and I back into your lovely home this evening."
"Yes, thank you very much." Cassandra replied gratefully. "It has been far too long."
"Indeed it has." Lucius replied. "It seems to me that I cannot remember the last time that the two of you were here together."
"It has been quite some time." Cassandra replied shooting Severus a look in a rather obvious manner.
"Now that you are here though, it matters not." said Narcissa quickly. "Let us just enjoy one another's company. That is why we are all here."
"I agree completely." Severus replied. He was glad that Narcissa had stepped in when she had. He did not want to start any sort of conflict. Things were hectic enough as it was he needed tonight to be less stress inducing.
"Very well then." Lucius said. "Let us go into the dining room and have our dinner."
The dinner was fairly quiet for the most part, most of the discussion was pleasant, without any reference to what was going on in their world right now. It was a welcome break for Severus. For this moment in time he needed to forget some of the things that were happening and take a break from it all.
Once they had eaten the four of them adjourned to Narcissa's sitting room for tea and conversation. It was at this point that Narcissa decided to bring her young son down to join them. At only a year old he was still rather small, he bore a strong outward resemblance to his parents. He was Narcissa's pride and joy, and she took great delight in presenting him to her friends and visitors. Although Lucius would never admit it, little Draco had him wrapped around his finger.
"Would you like to hold him Severus?" Narcissa asked after fussing over him for a few moments.
"I would love to." Severus said. "It's been awhile since I have seen him."
"That is a situation that we need to rectify Severus." Narcissa said carefully handing him young Draco. "As his godfather you really should be more involved in his life."
"I dare say it would be good for both of you to come and spend more time with Draco." Lucius said. "It will be good practice for the two of you."
"Whatever do you mean?" Cassandra asked curiously.
"I'm sure it is nothing at all Cassandra." Severus replied. "Correct Lucius?" This night had been going far too well for it to take this turn now. He had hoped that Lucius would have the good sense not to bring up this topic.
"Nonsense Severus." Narcissa replied. "This will be excellent for you and Cassandra to practice parenting."
"Why would we need to do anything like that?" Cassandra replied with thinly veiled disgust. "We do not have any children, I am not sure that I ever will."
"I would beg to differ." Lucius replied. "Within the next few years you will have a child. Preferably the sooner the better."
"I should think Severus and I would have some say in this matter." Cassandra replied crossing her arms over her chest.
"You mean he has not told you?" Lucius asked incredulously.
"I do not understand what you are talking about." Cassandra replied confusion clear on her face.
"This is unacceptable, you should know about it by this point in time. Severus why have you not told her about this?" Lucius asked fixing him with a stare.
"I have been terribly busy at the school as of late. As it stands I have not even seen her since before I began working at the school." Severus replied. "I have not yet had the chance to discuss much of anything with Cassandra in awhile."
"I would have thought you would have discussed this with her at the very least." Lucius replied. "Why not now?"
"This is not the time or the place for this conversation Lucius." Severus said firmly.
"It's as good a time as any to have it. If you have not already had this discussion with her." the older man replied giving Severus a strong look.
"I will discuss it with her when I am ready to." Severus said trying to maintain an air of civility. He needed to control his emotions more, it would be best if things did not get out of hand.
"The fact that you have told her nothing about this makes me doubt that Severus, this matter is far too important to put off. Your very life hangs in the balance." Lucius replied making it clear that they would indeed be discussing this topic.
"If you do not mind my asking, what is it that you need to tell me?" Cassandra asked sternly, her arms crossed in front of her.
"We can discuss it later Cassandra, this is not the time or the place for this discussion. There is no need to spoil our evening with this conversation." Severus remarked.
"If Severus will not explain what this is about I will." Lucius said.
"Thank you Lucius, I appreciate someone being able to fill me in on what is going on." Cassandra replied glaring over at Severus.
There was nothing he could do to stop it now. Lucius was going to inform her of the vow that he had made. He really should have told her himself. It would have been better that way, she would have had some more time to let the information sink in. Then they would not be faced with this incredibly awkward situation.
"At the last gathering of our organization each of our members was asked to make an oath to prove their loyalty." Lucius said. "Severus was the first person asked to make this oath and he did."
"Alright, that seems reasonable but how does that involve me? Loyalty oaths are made all of the time. If called upon to make one for the cause I would do so in a heartbeat. I do not see why the two of you have made such a fuss over a simple oath. Unless there is something else to it?" She replied looking between the two men.
"That is where things get to be a little more complicated, you see it is not merely a "simple oath" as it were . Rather he made a more concrete commitment." Lucius replied.
"I do not quite grasp what you are saying. Unless he made an unbreakable vow, but he wouldn't. She said strongly. "He could not possibly have done that."
"You underestimate Severus' nerve. He did in fact make an unbreakable vow at that meeting." Lucius replied.
"Is this true Severus?" Cassandra asked incredulously.
"It is the absolute truth." Severus replied.
"How could you do something like that?" she asked him. "You know what happens when you break one of those."
"Of course he knows what happens Cassandra, he is not an imbecile you know." Lucius said. "Although he may have made some rash decisions he knows the consequences of his actions."
"I still cannot believe you did this Severus." Cassandra said.
"I did what I had to do." he replied.
"Although you may not believe it this oath does have its benefits. It will ensure that Severus remains loyal to the cause. You will never have to worry about him changing allegiances."
"I suppose that is one benefit. How exactly does this pertain to me?" Cassandra asked impatiently.
"I was getting to that. You see there were three parts to that oath. The primary condition of the oath being that Severus must father a child." Lucius said.
"If I am following correctly this would mean that logically there would need to be a woman involved as well." She said slowly. "So this is where I come into play."
"Exactly!" Lucius said. "I am glad that you are taking this so well."
"Just wait one moment. This means that we must have a child?" she asked Lucius annoyed. "Does this mean I would have to help raise it and take care of it?"
"That is the intent, yes." Lucius replied.
"Do I get any say in the matter?" she asked. "Maybe I do not want to assist him in this task. I do not want a child right now."
"You do not have to agree." Severus replied. "If you do not want to have any part of this I understand."
"Let's not be too hasty Severus." Lucius said before Cassandra could reply. "There is a period of 15 years given to fulfill the requirements of this vow. Hopefully you will not need that much time, but it is there. You do not have to have a child now, you can easily wait for a few years."
"The sooner the better though." Narcissa said jumping into the conversation. "The thought of losing Severus to this vow is utterly maddening. Besides it might be nice for Draco to have a new playmate."
"Please." Severus pleaded. "This is not a conversation we need to have right now, or a decision that has to be made this very instant. There is time before a decision must be reached."
"We'll discuss this later." Cassandra said cooly.
Curse Lucius for not being able to keep his mouth shut. Severus should have known that he would have brought this up tonight. He and Narcissa were notorious for having to know everybody's business. He would smooth this situation over somehow, although how soon he did not know.
The rest of the evening Severus and Cassandra hardly spoke with one another. Narcissa kept trying to engage them in conversations but it hardly worked at all. Eventually she gave up in her pursuit and allowed them to keep their distance. Severus was relieved when she had finally done this. They took their leave shortly after this and returned to London.
"How dare you make me out to be a fool." Cassandra said rounding on Severus as soon as they had arrived at her flat. "What sort of dinner was that?"
"What do you mean?" he asked her. "In what way have I made you out to be a fool?"
"You know exactly what I mean. The business about that oath, you should have told me about that. I had to find out about it from someone else."
"If anything that makes me out to be the fool." Severus said. "I am the one who made the wretched oath to begin with, it was my decision."
"Yes, what a completely idiotic thing you did, your decision." she replied. "Since when do you have the right to decide that we will have a child? I do not even like children. Why should I have to be saddled with one?"
"The oath does not necessarily pertain to you, the condition was that I father a child and raise it. You do not even have to be involved." Severus said trying to calm her down. Cassandra could have a terrible temper at times.
"So you were planning on finding someone else to fulfill this oath with?" She all but snapped at him. "I'm not good enough for you?"
"That's not it at all, I did not mean it that way." he replied trying to find some way to extricate his foot from his mouth. "I was planning on asking you about this, just not quite yet."
"I do not even want to hear any more about this right now." she said. "I think it is time that you left." With that she went into her apartment and swiftly closed the door behind her.
Tonight had been a disaster, an absolute and utter disaster. When he finally made it back to the castle Severus was not in a terribly pleasant mood. In fact he was rather annoyed, perhaps angry was a better word for it. He should have known that Lucius would have brought up the topic of the oath, he should have expected it. Instead he had passed over the very possibility of it. He could not blame Lucius entirely though. He had been the one to make the oath, and he had been the one to stick his foot in his mouth later on in the evening. His thoughts were abruptly interrupted by the appearance of a certain Transfiguration professor.
"Severus, I was hoping that I would see you tonight." Minerva began looking at him earnestly. "I wanted to apologize for my actions these past few weeks. I was in the wrong, I condemned for something without listening to what you had to say. I never allowed you a chance to defend yourself."
Severus was in shock for a moment. Minerva was actually apologizing to him. "Thank you for your apology Minerva." he said somewhat stiffly.
"I've missed you." Minerva replied a smile forming on her face. "Can you ever forgive me for being so quick to judge you?"
"Of course I forgive you Minerva." he said. "With my background I could hardly blame you for coming to the conclusions that you had. I've missed you too."
"Could we possibly resume our chess games again?" Minerva asked.
"I should like that very much." Severus replied. "Shall we say my office tomorrow afternoon, around 4:00?"
"I think that can be arranged." Minerva replied.
"Excellent, I shall look forward to it." Severus said.
"It's settled then. I must be on my way now, I have an appointment with Albus and I mustn't be late. I am glad that we were able to have this conversation tonight."
"Would you like me to escort you to his office?" Severus asked her. He suddenly felt a sudden pang now that she was leaving, he wanted to continue talking with her.
"That's alright." she said. "It's not terribly far from here and I do not want to keep you from anything.
"You would not be keeping me from anything, I assure you it would be no trouble." Severus said.
"I will be fine." Minerva replied. "I'll see you tomorrow at 4:00."
Before Severus could even reply she had disappeared down the corridor. When he turned around to head back to his rooms in the dungeons he did not even bother to hide the smile that had broken out on his face. It seemed that there really was a silver lining to every cloud. Perhaps tonight had not been such a disaster after all.