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Nothing had been suspected, nothing had been known until the fateful morning Severus Snape fainted right in front of the whole school. Not only did he faint, but, he struck his head, first, off the table and second, off the corner of the plinth the teacher's table sat on, and lastly off the stone flagstones of the floor. There was blood and screaming everywhere. The blood from Snape and the screaming from those close enough to be splattered in the flying blood. No one really seamed to care one way or another what had happened to Professor Snape to make him faint. All thoughts about his fainting were merely wishes that it prove terminal and that they, the pupils, never had to suffer another of his lessons ever again. Well, not entirely everyone showed no interest in Severus Snape's state of health. Those who actually knew what the fallen man did for the cause of light did care, they'd be lost without their spy in Voldemort's camp. It wasn't care about him, per se, but as close as Severus Snape ever got to care and consideration cast in his direction. It was lucky, for Snape, that he fainted at breakfast time, the only meal at which everyone would be there. An empty medical wing meant that Poppy Pomfrey was there too, and at his side almost as soon as he had finished falling. Kneeling beside her patient she cast a diagnosis spell over him, a scroll of parchment appeared above the fallen teacher and several quills, each sporting a different colour of ink, began to take notes on Professor Snape's condition. The scroll was a long as Snape was tall., it detailed his body and the state of well being for every inch of him. As Poppy watched it record the fallen man's injuries and bodily functions she fretted that he still hadn't regained consciousness. She had stopped the bleeding and healed the scalp wounds, but his remaining out of it was cause for her growing worry. So, she regarded the diagnosis scroll and all but fainted herself. Poppy let herself make do with a loud, piercing scream and went back to her patient, far more worried than she had been previously. Almost immediately the rest of the faculty were crowded around her, if it made Poppy scream like that it had to be bad. Not that they cared any more than they had before about Severus' state of health, but it did look promising for a good bit of gossip for later in the staff room. Poppy made sure there was no internal bleeding and returned to double check with the diagnosis scroll. The various quills had made it all the way up to Severus' head by that point and revealed even more shocking horror to her. As soon as the scroll and quills fell silent she sent them back to recheck the abdominal area and to identify all genetic markers they found there. They scritched and scratched and fell still and silent once more. Poppy read their findings. She looked around the gaggle of gossiping teachers and senior pupils gathered around to watch the Potions Master suffer. She met and held the highly amused eyes of particular new member of staff and stood up to face his amusement face on. Then she wiped that smirk off his face with a good roundhouse punch that sent him flying into the remains of the breakfasts still covering the table he landed on. "You utter, fucking bastard!" She screamed as she hit him. "You despicable, underhanded, poor excuse for a gnats arse!" Poppy picked him up and hit him again. "You, if I have my way, are on a one way trip back to fucking Azkaban!" And before she could hit him a third time, Dumbledore stepped in and stopped her. "Oh, that's right, that's just so bloody typical. Severus Snape is a Slytherin and Sirius Black a Gryffindor, so you defend your precious rapist Gryffindor while leaving poor Severus to suffer!" Poppy turned away from them both and began to prepare Severus for transporting to the medical wing. There was utter silence as every eye still there, which was the entire school, glared at the messy, but on his feet again Muggle Studies teacher. Those that stood near Sirius took a step away from him, not wanting to be accused of having anything to do with a rapist. Dumbledore just stood there, dazed, shocked, slowly brewing the darkest rage anyone could ever recall seeing in him. "And on what do you bass your ridiculous accusations?" Dumbledore had given Sirius Black a second chance, and a job once his name had been cleared, he did not need Poppy Pomfrey to stand there and accuse him of being wrong. He was never wrong! Ergo, Poppy was wrong! "This!" And Poppy slapped the diagnosis scroll into Dumbledore's hands and glared at everyone who tried to crane over to read over his shoulder. "It's strictly confidential..." That thought caught her quite by surprise, so she snatched it back before Dumbledore could read the relevant bits. Without a further word, Poppy left the hall with the still not conscious Severus Snape following her on his charmed and specially conjured stretcher. Everyone watched them head out of the Great Hall and up towards the medical wing. Then, as the great doors to the great hall closed, every voice began yelling at once. The noise was deafening! "SILENCE!" Dumbledore yelled, something he almost never did, and everyone turned to face him, scared into silence by the sight of a very angry headmaster. "Pupils, all back to your common rooms until further notice! Out, now!" He watched the pupils disappearing as if they were travelling at Muggle speeds. Supersonic! Some of the pupils remained behind, the Gryffindor and Slytherin prefects were not budging, not one of them. The headmaster, still dramatically enraged, was not to be trifled with, however, and yelled at them all once more. "I said ALL pupils, now get out of here, now!" Bravery and resolve broke, as did the prefects and all of them turned tail and fled like the proverbial wind. "Hooch, lock up all brooms, then you and Sinistra make damn certain not one single owl gets out of this school. Lupin, you take Black to my office and hold him there. Vectra, you make sure they both stay there. Minerva..." Dumbledore, even in his rage, was not brave enough to refer to Minerva by just her surname. "You come with me to the medical wing, and let's hope we can get to the bottom of this. The rest of you, patrol the hallways, keep those children locked down. Use heat sensing charms too, no blasted invisibility cloaks or what have you. Move!" Even the teachers scattered until it was just himself and Minerva remaining in the hall. "Shall we go see if we still have a Potions Master on the staff?" Minerva gestured to the door and headed that way, not waiting for the headmaster to make his mind up if he were coming, or going - or even running away. "What if it's true?" Albus asked as he caught up with Minerva by the doors. "Then you are due Severus Snape a bloody huge apology." She informed him, quite cheerfully considering the situation. "He told you that Sirius Black wasn't stable enough to be plunged into the deep end of teaching, that he'd snap and hurt someone. You, if I recall correctly, told him he was just sore because of that silly prank, and since it was so long ago, maybe he should think about getting over it." Minerva glared at him, a really hard, 'gods - you're so bloody stupid' type of glare. "Being set up as a murder victim isn't something one can easily get over. Especially as you were hell bent on protecting Black and Lupin. What was it you said back then? 'Snape's a Slytherin, they're used to underhanded dealings, he'd expect nothing else anyway!' I tried to warn you, but, oh no, you knew so much better. Little wonder Severus ended up in Voldemort's service! What did we have to offer him? What possible inducements to trusting us could we give him? Twenty five points off Gryffindor for being naughty towards another pupil and not even a single nights detention? Now it's all 'but it's Sirius Black, he's a Gryffindor, of course I'm going to trust him implicitly'" Minerva's voice took on a derisory nasal whine. "I'm head of Gryffindor and I always sided with Severus, Sirius is trouble, always has been, always will be, just because he's your favourite. What is so special about him anyway? What is he? Your bastard son?" The guilty look on Dumbledore's face spoke loud and clear. "He might be..." He confessed, quietly, not meeting her eyes. "Might be? You didn't even do a parental charm to see who his parents were? And you let Severus suffer all this time on the vague notion that Sirius might be your child? Not only are you a randy old goat, Albus, but you're a bloody stupid randy old goat!" "What do you mean, stupid?" Albus was not denying the term randy, he had several Muggle lifetimes to perfect his sexual technique and thoroughly enjoyed himself in his pursuit for more and greater knowledge in that particular field of endeavour. "What do I mean stupid? Oh for Merlin's sakes, learn to do a bloody parental charm, and get the facts right in your head for once!" She said nothing more, she just picked up her pace and left Dumbledore to think as he slowly followed her to the medical wing. By the time he arrived there, Poppy and Minerva were heads together reading the diagnosis scroll and tutting at whatever the scroll revealed. Severus was still not awake and looked far paler than he usually did. He watched Severus sleep and recalled Minerva's words as she left him on the stairs. Get the facts right, she had said, for once, she had said. She was inferring that she knew something he didn't and really ought to know. Something about his dear sweet Sirius and Severus Snape. Even in his own head the name of his Potions Master was uttered with derision. "Parentis fenestra, implicare!" And at his final word a window did appear above Severus' sleeping form, and somewhat unexpectedly, a second window appeared above that one. At the sound of his voice the two women looked up to see what he was doing. Poppy was stunned at the choice of charm Albus had chosen to perform on Severus, Minerva was waiting with a feral gleam in he eyes to see just how Albus was going to respond to his discoveries. The first window showed Severus' mother she was smiling down at her son, Severus' father had his back to the window, and their son, she tugged his sleeve and turned him around; Albus Dumbledore looked up at the image in the window and saw his own total indifference to his own son. Severus was his son! And he'd treated him with his usual indifference he showed to all Slytherins, all his life. Did Severus know? "Does Severus know?" He waved at the first window and his own lack lustre appearance as Severus' father. "Rachel never kept secrets from her children. Nor her husband, the daft cow!" Minerva's scorn was so clearly audible I her tone of voice. "Needless to say, Caligula Snape never did like the idea of her raising a 'cookoo', I think was his politest term for Severus, in their nest." "How do you know all this then? Why didn't you tell me?" Albus looked at the second window and saw a terrified Severus and a gloating Sirius Black, and he instantly knew what that meant. "Sirius Black has impregnated Severus? But they could be brothers..." He gave up the dream of his perfect son, Sirius Black, in the face of Poppy and Minerva's laughter. "One, Rachel Snape, as she became, is my cousin; and two, she told me all about the pair of you many, many years ago, just after Severus graduated, in fact, and gravitated towards Voldemort and the Dark Arts. Oh boy, did she blame you, and Caligula, equally. And herself too. When Severus gained his Masters Degree in Potions before he turned twenty, Caligula was proud and livid. A Snape was world famous, had achieved the impossible with great ease, only, he wasn't really a Snape. Made his older brothers and sisters lives hell. Which in turn made Severus' life absolute hell as they all took out their anger on him." Minerva reached down and stroked the side of her cousins son's face. "When he came back to the light, he rather foolishly thought you might do the spell and know him as your son. I told him not to hold his breath. He didn't, and was, as always, greatly disappointed in you. Now this, and what did you do down stairs? You automatically defended Sirius Black, again, lucky that Severus was already unconscious, wasn't it?" "Add to the pregnancy, which I don't think he knows about yet, his memory of that happening has been obliterated, not shielded, hidden or confused, but utterly obliviated! That was what made me think Sirius Black raped Severus, created a hidden pregnancy, and has sat back to watch Severus grow weaker, no doubt wanting him to die this time. As it is, we're going to have a struggle to save Severus and the babies lives!" Poppy fussed around the still prone Potions Master and uttered charms and incantation, she and Minerva sat him up to slowly dribble life saving potions down Severus' throat. "Babies?" Albus' brain finally processed the fact that his son was carrying more than one baby. "Twin boys." Poppy muttered absently. "Grand sons!" Albus tried not to think of how they were created, or that it was the one he would have wished for his son that had done the evil deed. "Well, you won't even have a son if we can't stabilise his life functions." Poppy went back to her fight for Severus and the babies lives. Albus looked at his son, his rather ugly son, in his mind. He'd always liked pretty children, which was why he had hoped that his brief affair with Sirius' mother had resulted in such a beautiful child. And why he had ignored the possibility that Severus could be the result of his even briefer affair with Rachel Snape. Now, there he lay, fighting for life, fighting for the lives of children somehow forced on him by his chosen pretty child. The pretty child that might not be his, and truly wasn't his if Minerva's hints were anything to go by. The pretty child that was almost rewarded for the near death of his ugly child, his real child, his son. He'd let that child down from the moment of conception, time after time. It was time to help his ugly child... he damned himself several times over... it was time to help his child. Muttering the right charm, touching his son's face, he transferred some of his life force over to his struggling son. "Bloody hell, he did it!" Poppy's disbelieving voice drifted into his awareness. "There's hope for him yet!" Minerva snorted derisively Slowly, Severus drifted awake. He felt warm and comforted, he felt nauseous too. That was a rather frequent feeling for him in the last few weeks. He just put it down to having to deal with Sirius Black, once more, and on a daily basis too. "Shh, child, easy now. There's so much we have to tell you." Albus perched on the side of Severus' bed and took his hand in his. "I never thought... never gave it any consideration... Forgive me, Severus, for being such a foolish old man. I over looked the truth for a dream cast on fools gold. I know, now, years too late, that you are my son. And such a powerful and talented son at that. And now you have been ... oh dear gods, you're pregnant Severus, and the other father has cast an obliviate spell on the memory of their creation." "Oh." Severus murmured. He'd known for almost all his life that Albus Dumbledore was his father; he'd known for most of his life that Albus Dumbledore didn't want the likes of him for a child. He'd been made so very aware that he was less than nothing to Albus Dumbledore. Now, here he was, trying to get him to believe he really cared? And to add to his lifes miseries, he was pregnant, didn't have any hint of a memory as to why or how he became pregnant, and the entire school had watched him pass out. "Like you really care? So, who's the lucky father I have to go maim and hurt? It's not Potter is it?" The dread at that thought was so clear to here. "No, not Harry, Harry would never do such a thing. No, it was Sirius Black. If you feel up to it, we should go to my office, confront him and deal with what he's done." Albus retreated in the face of his son's indifference to sit on the chair beside his bed. "So, how pregnant is pregnant? Weeks, months, just about to pop? What?" Severus didn't look to Albus for the truth, he turned to his mother's cousin, as he always did. "Poppy thinks you're about twenty-two weeks gone. Just over half way. And they're twin boys, she can't say if they're identical or not, yet. We'll just have to wait and see how that goes." Minerva helped him sit up and held him till he found his balance. Poppy scanned him once more, pronounced him fit to walk to Albus' office, signed him off teaching for a few days and assisted him to his feet. There was no way she'd let him face Sirius Black and Albus' deference to that one time pretty boy alone. "Let's get this over with then." Poppy and Minerva took up positions to assist Severus, if he should need them. They effectively blocked Albus out from being near his own son. Albus led the way to his office, past Professor Vectra who wasstill standing guard on the two men inside the office. Albus dismissed Vectra then went in first and arranged seats, as far away from Sirius as he could, ordered tea and a light breakfast for Severus. He turned to Remus and Sirius as they watched from their position, leaning up against the window, as the ladies assisted Severus into the office and sat him between them almost as if he were in a protective huddle between them. When tea and breakfast foe Severus arrived, thay made sure he ate something. "Albus, I don't know what this ugly git's been saying to you, but I never touched him! Hell, I'd never touch him, he's a greasy, ugly, lying...." Sirius found himself pinned to the ceiling but the power Albus pushed against him. Rage, guilt, fear for his son's life, they were powerful driving forces and Sirius had finally stepped over the boundary and got what he had long deserved. Retribution on Severus behalf. "Parentis fenestra, implicare!" Albus shouted it this time, he was really angered, with Sirius, with himself, with Minerva for not telling him that he had a son that he was letting down so badly, with the world in general! There before all of them was a window, through which they watched Sirius' mother and father, neither of whom was Albus Dumbledore, as they sneered out at those who would dare to look upon their perfect son. Albus let Sirius drop. He didn't ease him down, he dropped him from the ceiling and pointed at a chair in a far distant corner. "Sit there and shut up!" Albus' hand shook with rage as he pointed at the chair. All these years he had let himself believe a lie, he had even hinted, strongly hinted, to Sirius that he might be his father. And all the time Sirius had known the truth and played him as an indulgent fool. "Albus, what's going on?" Remus had slowly approached the raging headmaster and laid a gentle hand on his still out stretched arm. "To put it bluntly, Sirius has forced Severus to carry his children, obliviated the memory of their conception, which rather points at him having forced Severus into it. Rape is an ugly word for an ugly crime!" Albus turned to look at the now shocked silent Remus Lupin. "Why would he think he could get away with hurting my child like that? Hurting anyone like that?" "Because you always let him off with hurting Severus anyway he so chose!" Remus looked into the headmasters eyes, a deep, hard look. "You finally did it! You finally looked and saw which one was your and which one was simply playing with you!" Remus looked from his old school friend to their school enemy and he too realised something. He had been weaker than Sirius, weaker than Albus, he'd known the truth and still sided with the more popular boy/man. Well, no more! "I think you've gone way too far this time, Sirius!" "But I never touched the ugly git!" His head reeled from the sharp blow Albus delivered. "You will mind your tongue! So what if Severus is less physically perfect than you? His soul is far purer than yours will ever be!" And Albus realised that that was so true, something else he had never seen in his true son before. "Sit down, headmaster, I need to do a base check on Sirius before he can have someone alter his memories..." Poppy grumbled as she pushed past the enraged headmaster and had yet another diagnosis scroll written out, for Sirius Black this time. Remus looked torn, as if he couldn't choose between staying by Sirius' side; it looked to him as if Sirius was once more in the deepest of deep shit and might need a friend, if not a lifeline; and going to make sure Severus was truly all right. He finally decided to stay directly midpoint between both men. He chose to decide nothing, for the moment. "Good gods above!" Poppy grumbled as the scroll finished filling up with its diagnosis. "What is it?" Remus crossed to her side to read the diagnosis scroll for himself. It told them that Sirius was not pregnant, was in excellent health, and had had an obliviate memory charm performed on him too. "He's been obliviated too, the exact same time as Severus' memory was obliviated. Same spell, same caster I'd say. And it wasn't Severus, and I don't think it was Black either." Poppy finally informed the waiting audience. "That would make it half way through May then." Severus finally spoke, as he did so his voice trembled, Albus took his hand, the one Minerva wasn't holding on to, and tried his best to offer comfort. "Neither you, nor he, had any missions then, neither of you were away form Hogwarts at all during May! That means... oh, dear Gods, someone at this school did it!" Albus looked from one man to the other. Severus was trying his best to cope quietly with all the changes in his life, Sirius was sitting on his assigned chair pouting and squirming, making so much more fuss, and he wasn't even the one literally left holding the babies. "What's wrong with you now, Black?" for the first time in anyone's hearing, Albus refused to use Sirius' first name. "Spit it out man!" Sirius did as he was told. "I've done something, I don't remember what, how, why or where.
It's left Snape pregnant with my kids, which could have killed him
if unattended..." "Sit down, shut up, leave me alone!" Severus was also up out of his chair. "So what if you supplied half their genetic tissue, that doesn't make you a father. Or does doing a bloody parentis charm forty years too bloody late. I don't need either of you, other than as object examples of what not to be! I am going to my rooms, I am going to apply locking charms and wards that will leave scorched earth behind them. In other words; I am going to be left alone!" Severus glared at both Albus and Sirius for a few seconds that seemed like years to the men in question. "Poppy?" he turned to the medi-witch and smiled at her. "Thank you for your care, I take it I will have to see you tomorrow with regards to the ongoing care of my children?" Poppy nodded at him, smiling right back. "Then I shall see you tomorrow, Minerva, Lupin.." He nodded to them and turned and walked out. Minerva followed him to her feet and grinned quite malevolently at Albus and Sirius. "I think I'll go write to my cousin Rachel!" then she too left the room. "I'm going to go to the library and research that obliviate charm, see if we can track it." Remus walked to the door, only to be halted by Sirius' voice. "Need any help?" Sirius wanted to escape Albus' wrath, that much was very obvious to Remus. That Remus was a convenient escape route, that too was painfully obvious. "If I do, I'll ask Hermione. She, at least, would do the research right." Remus about turned and walked out too. "Don't kill him, it makes the paper work mutate from bad to nightmare. Other than that, I'll leave him to your tender mercies. Well, haven't they always been tender and merciful towards that piece of scum?" And Poppy followed the rest of them out the room, leaving Albus and Sirius staring at each other. ___________ "Why have you always been so cruel and hateful towards my poor Severus? Surely it could just have been that he was brighter than you? So much hate for such little cause." Albus fought to keep his voice level, for the first time in almost half a century he wanted to scream blue murder and physically assault his protagonist. "Oh, maybe it was so easy to hate him simply because you encouraged me? You have no right to take the moral high ground! Why did you allow us, just children at the start of it all, to torment Severus Snape? Until today you always took my side, defended my actions, allowed me to do whatever the hell I felt like doing! You so encouraged the tormenting and teasing of Severus Snape that some sick fuck has taken it a huge step further and had me impregnate him. I can only hope that whatever spell was used meant that we both enjoyed it, I dread to think that I created my only children in an act of rape..." Sirius' voice drifted off to fall silent as he sat on the wide window lintel and gazed out into the bright morning sunshine outside, in what he was beginning to think of as the real world. "I wonder what he looked like, in the throws of passion, wanton, willing, pleasured..." This time his words were cut off by a hand grasping him firmly by the throat. "You can just get that thought right out of your mind, you're never going to get that close to my son, or his children, ever again!" Albus' rage had finally gotten the better of him. The shock of his actual act of violence weakened his grasp and let Sirius jerk his head free, hitting the wall in doing so. "And you think you will have anymore say in Severus, or his children's lives, than me? Tell me, headmaster, how's the weather on your planet?" Sirius stood up, face to face with the one wizard that had ever caused Voldemort any qualms, and stared him down. "I doubt very much that Severus will ever let me know my sons, I have even less faith in you being allowed to know your grandsons. Count your own fair dealings with Severus before you look down on me for the lack of mine!" Albus thought on that idea as Sirius continued to glare at him, he had never been that fair to Severus, even after his return to the light and his betrayal of Voldemort. He had been far rougher on Severus than he had ever been on Sirius; even after Harry's third year, when he still thought Sirius had betrayed the Potters, he was so eager and ready to forgive the lad he thought might have been his son - and had condemned his actual son to years of hell and torment in the dangerous task of spying and the soul destroying task of teaching a subject no one liked. Except for Severus; he had always loved potions, he had had a flair and gift for that subject; but it had been his lack of skill in transfigurations that everyone teased him about. The irony didn't pass him by, his son hated the subject he himself had once taught, and loved the subject that Rachel Snape's husband excelled in. In her chambers Minerva did get right to the task of writing to her cousin Rachel, in great detail, about all that her son had suffered and all that had been discovered that very morning. She opened the cage in her bedroom that held her cousin's own bird, a Snape raven, this one was called Pooky, the letter was tied on and Pooky released; finally, Minerva sat back to await the fireworks she knew full well would be arriving by end of the day! In Snape Manor Caligula Snape was pottering around his library, as was his daily habit, when the same bird Minerva had sent forth, Pooky, finally arrived. The dratted bird refused to alight for him, no matter how much he commanded or pleaded, she had obviously spent far too much time with the demoness from hell, sometimes known as Minerva McGonagall, to arrest for her true master; giving in he called for his wife to come calm the demented creature, before he got out the Muggle shotgun one of the children gave him several Christmases before. "Rachel, come get Pooky, looks like she's got one of mad manic Minerva's morbidly moronic missives tied to her damned leg!" Caligula Snape loved alliteration, he loved words, loved the feel of them as the shaped themselves first in the mind and then on the tongue. It was quite possible that he was the closest thing to Dr Seuss the wizarding world had ever created; and not a bit like Minerva painted him to be, but, his wife had, finally, long ago given up on getting her husband and her cousin to agree on anything! If one said Thursday the other would say Monday just for the sake of an argument, Rachel thought they loved the squabbles too much to ever give up "Just coming, dear!" Rachel cried out in response to Caligula's whimsical summons. She entered the room, fully expecting Pooky to fly straight to her, which she didn't do! It thoroughly irked her, more than just a little, to have to chase the blasted bird round the room right along with Caligula. "No doubt Severus has deliberately upset her again, and no doubt it will somehow be all your fault. She must have been in a truly spectacular, utterly overly heightened emotional state to get Pooky this worked up. We really should get her her own bird, a nice placid one." Rachel had to chase the damned bird around the room for a further five minutes before it settled as if nothing had happened. The whole incident had been less than dignified and Rachel was forever grateful that none of the children, or the grand children, were there to see her, no doubt, comedic actions. Finally, the Snape's got to read all that Minerva had written. Caligula's light-hearted word games stopped instantly. The good natured wizard Minerva refused to recognise departed and left the image she was so much more familiar with, the hard edged man who would do anything to protect his children. His precious little cuckoos; his chosen ones, the children he and Rachel chose from all of creation. From Agripina, their first gift, to Severus, their last special gift, their baby. And now Albus Dumbledore thought he could just cast a charm, far too late in Caligula's opinion, and simply take his baby back from him; not without an almighty fight would he, Caligula Snape, give up on one of his precious babies. Caligula looked at the rage in his wife's face and knew she was not prepared to give their Severus over to his suddenly-aware-of-a-connection biological father. This was a job for the entire family, especially as Severus had been left, quite literally, holding the babies; only inside him still. "I'll call the kids, you write to Russ and tell him we're on our way!" He gave a tight, almost sneering smile that Severus Snape's pupils would recognise as their teachers favourite expression. "Just let that old fool take my... our baby away from us, he's never shown a second's worth of interest in him before... just let him try!" "Damn right!" Rachel Snape strode over to the desk Pooky was now perched upon and started to write her short letter. "Then we'd better pack for at least a few days, I'm not leaving Russy to that careless old oaf's mercies." She tied the letter to Pooky's leg and looked the bird square in the eyes before giving her commands. "Now, no running away from Russy, he's not up to chasing around, he's pregnant, his chicks are in his belly, Pooky, so go straight to him and be nice! Okay?" The bird nodded once and flew back out the window she had flown in through in the first place. Within the hour they were ready to go to their youngest child's aid, they flooed in and were met by a heavily pregnant Severus as they stepped out of the grate in his private chambers. The shadows seemed to lift from their youngest's eyes as he saw them stepping through the green flames. Pooky was whirling and squawking around the room, not letting Severus out of her sight, even for a moment. Severus was standing, a little unsteady on his feet, he spared a single glare for the bird, issued mild, for Severus, threats of stuffing, ovens and snacks Pooky knew he simply didn't really mean a word of it, so she continued to flap around his head.. Rachel and Caligula Snape gathered their tired and shaky son into their arms and hugged him. Feeling the babies within him moving around under their encircling arms, they smiled, reassuring their youngest that they didn't hold the lives of his babies against him. How could they, they were Severus' cuckoos, every bit as much as he was theirs. "Rest now, son, we're here to take care of everything." Caligula supported his little lad over to the bed in the corner of the room, despite his real age, Severus would never be anything other than his baby, a curse common to almost every youngest child in a family the world had ever had. "When I get my hands on the filth that did this to you... he'll die a slow and very painful death, I assure you of that!" The babies were to be worshipped, the scum that had abandoned him after no doubt, in Caligula's mind, raping his baby boy, as well as the scum who had obliviated both of them, were to be dealt with as harshly as Caligula and Rachel could imagine. "No, dad, that would just get you in trouble, and he'd not be around to know what he's missing out on! I'm going to have my children, no matter how they were conceived, or by whom they were father upon me, and he's not going to be involved! Because I won't let him! That, I think, will be punishment enough for such a bloody dyed in the wool noble Gryffindor moron; to know his children will be raised to be good Slytherins." Severus grinned at his dad, his real dad in his eyes, the one that raised him, taught him, the one he worshipped and adored. Caligula smiled at his boy's plans and tucked him in snugly, under his blankets, for a rest. He perched on the side of Russ' bed, not putting pressure on his boy's distended belly, looking on at him with the exact same awe he watched his wife's belly grow with the gift of new life. Even the chance to bare life had been denied him, much to his great sorrow. "What ever you want, Russ, what ever you want." Stroking his boy's hair he watched the weary lad fall into a deep sleep, sighing contentedly, at least they were here now, ready and willing to do what ever was required to protect their boy. Happily, Rachel and Caligula waited for things to start happening, and the rest of the kids to start arriving. The next four months, or so, looked to be highly entertaining. The next four days looked like they would be unmissable! Several hours after the myriad of devastating revelations from breakfast time, Remus went in search of Severus. He had discovered quite a lot about the various possible spells used on Severus, and on Sirius. The skill required to use those spells left a lot of the pupils, and even a few of the faculty, out of the running as perpetrator. He'd also discovered several things about himself he had either never known, or more likely, had never admitted, even to himself. Things like; he finally realised that he had been a willing party to many of Sirius' tricks, except that last one, and the current one, and things like; he had loved Severus, the mystery of him, the undiscovered secret, the dark, good looks of first the boy and ten the man. And finally he realised that there was little chance that Severus would ever see him as anything other than a Dark Creature that tormented him for years and years, and didn't even know why Sirius black had targeted the young Severus Snape. He had thrown his emotions into his hunt through the volumes in the Restricted section; armed with some potential answers he had gone in search of Severus. He had commenced his search for the much abused Potions teacher in the actual potions classroom, since Dumbledore had resumed normal classes by lunch time, and, as he rather expected he would, he found a note from Albus Dumbledore cancelling all potions classes for the day, if not longer. Not that there was much of the original notice left to be clearly read, several idiots had scrawled yes and yeah and other, even ruder, cheers on the parchment. Remus ran a spell to identify the individuals that required his special attention with closer regards as to their manners. Noting all the names, he went off to continue his search for the elusive potions teacher. He wondered, briefly, what Sirius' reaction to his punishing the former fugitive's very own godson for sheer impudence. Having Sirius here as a teacher had encouraged the young lad to emulate the older delinquent in every way, in every torment Sirius had offered up to Severus Snape. Maybe this time they would both learn something, that there were limits beyond which you could not push Remus Lupin. He moved on to Severus' office and stage two of his search, not that he was any more successful in locating his quarry, he did find a room filled with what seemed like a life times worth of gifts, and most of them seemed to be things even Remus knew Severus would sneer at and loath on sight. Remus wished very hard that he could be on hand to see the look on the Potions master's face when he saw the mess Albus Dumbledore had left for him. As well as being there when Severus faced Albus about that self same mess. He finally figured he had located the general area of Severus' private quarters when he encountered the bruised and unconscious form of Sirius Black slumped against the corridor wall. He watched for a few moments to make sure the slumped idiot was breathing regularly, if slowly, and was sleeping, or rather, magically knocked out and sleeping soundly! He resisted, but only just, the urge to cover Sirius in girlie make up, like Sirius had done to Severus once in third year on finding him sleeping in the back of the library. "Severus!" Remus shouted, rather than risk touching anything that might throw him around as he suspected had happened to Sirius. "I have news, Severus, about the spells that may have been used against you!" He shouted slowly and clearly, to try and make sure every word was heard as clearly as possible. "I want to discuss my findings with you! Not shout them through a wall for the entire bloody school to hear, but, if you'd rather I did exactly that, then I will!" Remus checked all around for some sign of Severus opening a hidden door, and found nothing. "Fine! Well, it seems that the degree of power required for the most probably causal spells..." And the grinding of stone against stone indicated that he had won round one of this encounter. A very carefully hidden door, in an otherwise blank wall, opened up, rather like the doorway into Diagon Alley, and a voice Remus had never heard before spoke out to him, in a less than friendly manner. It didn't shout, it didn't snarl, it didn't do much but quietly threaten. "Severus is asleep, resting, cease your shouting, I do not want him being woken unnecessarily, however, you may come in and discuss your findings with us!" The voice was male, deep and remained quite calm throughout; and some what alarming coming, as it did, from a hole in the previously solid wall. "What happened to him; to Sirius Black?" Remus stepped forwards even as he jerked a thumb in the slumped form on the floor. "Not enough!" A new, female, voice added. The desire to inflict pain, and not a little torment was clearly heard in that otherwise feminine voice. Oddly enough the self evident terror in the second voice was less worrisome than the quiet menace in the masculine one. It somehow reminded him of Severus h imself. "Now, Rachel, you know what Severus said, he wants that slime alive; so he can be allowed to suffer!" The male voice returned. Placating, cajoling, persuading; and obviously having spent quite some time doing just that. "Surely, giving the circumstances, if Sirius ended up dead, then Severus would be the first one suspected? Followed pretty darned fast by Albus Dumbledore?" Remus asked as he entered the surprisingly bright and spacious chambers beyond the wall. "Why should that conniving, deviant old fart care one way or another? He never did before, in fact, I do recall he encouraged you all in the utter torment of our baby!" The male voice became quite hard in reference to Severus' biological father. "He only found out this morning that he is Severus' father. If he had known, I'm sure he would have protected him better.." Remus' defence of Albus was interrupted by the man's hissed rejoinder. "He shouldn't need to know that he is a child's biological father in order to protect them! He has a duty to all the children under his care, not just you bloody Gryffindors!" the man crossed over to a couch and pointed at it. "If you have something to say, sit down and say it! Then, get out and leave our baby alone!" "Look, who are you? I don't know either of you from Merlin, or Morgana, and you expect me to discuss Severus' personal condition with you?" Remus was far more annoyed at the realisation that the strange man was right, rather than the way in which he spoke to him. "I am Severus' mum, Rachel Snape, and this is Severus' dad, and my husband, Caligula Snape. I take it that you are the werewolf then? Well, if that's Sirius Black cluttering up the hallway, it stands to reason you wouldn't be far behind. You never went far from each other's sides in the past, where one was tormenting our Severus, the other would be there too, so why should things be any different now?" Rachel Snape smiled at the shocked expression that crossed Remus' face. "Did you think that we would be too stupid to figure it all out? That our baby would abide by the old fool's decrees and not tell us what was happening in this school? Things that harmed him, put his life in immediate danger? You clearly don't know our Severus half as well as you no doubt always pretended that you did!" "But, I thought you both hated Severus, or were dead, or something." Remus looked from one of the strangers claiming to be Severus' parents to the other, totally bewildered. "I greatly doubt that! That you think, that is. Why should we hate our baby, the youngest of our family? None of our children hate each other, they all pull together, like a real family should. Why, then, should any of us hate Severus? Maybe, because I am not his biological father? Does a few drops of sperm automatically confer a caring nature? Why, look at your beloved Albus, and his dealings with our dear sweet Severus, no, it does not! I raised him, I taught him, I encouraged him with his potions, I wiped the blood off of scraped knees and bashed noses. I held him when the nightmares about you hounded his dreams! Not that old fart up there!" Caligula pointed up towards the ceiling and some imagined location for the 'old fart' in question. "You have no right to know, but I'll tell you anyway. I can not father children, never could, so my beloved wife and I decided to use donors. We put our heads together and selected the wizards, then my beautiful Rachel went out and collected their donations. Funny how many men, Muggles or wizards, will fuck, and fuck off, when a married woman approaches them. I have six beautiful children, all left behind without so much as a further thought. My little cuckoos, as I call them. And I gladly raised each and everyone of them!" Remus looked at the man before him, really looked at him, the love in his eyes for his specially selected children, and he believed him. Every word of it sounded just so right, oddly so utterly Snape too. Never a family to do things the easy way, he suspected, but a family that pulled together. That contented thought brought up an image of six Severus Snapes all intent on making one Sirius Black suffer. "Erm, when you say you are a close knit family does this mean your other children are coming here too?" Remus' voice wobbled, slightly, visions of a blood bath in his head. "Quite possibly, not one of them is entirely happy at things. I suspect Tibs will be bringing a few friends with him however, they were all there, together, when I talked to him." Caligula turned to Rachel as she patted his closest hand in a calming way. "You know how much his dear friends think of our Russ!" "Who's Russ?" Suddenly Remus felt like an utter fool; Severus... Russ, even he could figure that one out, after all he had always known Severus hated being called Sev. "And you kid yourself that you know him!" Rachel sniffed at him, utter disdain written all over her face and attitude. "Severus, Russ, I get it! This is all well and good, be rude to the werewolf time! Why should you be any different from Severus himself, or a whole lot of other so called enlightened wizarding folks. But, I didn't come here to be your whipping boy! I came to tell Severus what I found out during my research. Now, if you've quite finished being rude, I'll tell you what I found out and I'll get out of here and leave you to your plotting and planning, and revenge getting, and what have you!" At the end of his rant Remus was surprised to find Rachel Snape grinning at him. "You argue back, you're rather fun!" She waved a hand in an almost vague manner, right before a tea tray appeared, set for four and upon a small table, created for that very purpose. As a negligent display of wandless magic, it impressed the life out of Remus Lupin. "So, are you going to tell us what you've found out?" "Shouldn't we wait to discuss this with Severus? After all he's the one that's been left pregnant?" Remus felt odd discussing Severus' condition with the man's parents. It had been easier in Albus' office that morning. Then it finally settled into Remus' mind. These were Severus' parents, his mum and his dad; all Albus had done was have sex and walked away. "A spell that powerful would have left a marker, a memory, if you like, in the stone. With enough people searching, it shouldn't take too long to track down where it was done, and, to replay the stone record." "It's a good job the children are all coming here by dinner time tonight then, they can help us search." Caligula Snape pointed a finger at the fire place and silently conjured a fire in the grate. "Once things are settled I think we should take Russ with us till the babies are born." He looked at his wife as he spoke. "Take him where?" Remus felt a rush of terror at the idea of Severus being taken away from him, and the babies being separated from him. Not that he had any claim on those precious babies, or would be allowed to present any claim towards their birth father either, but, quite frankly, they already felt like his pack, like someone was trying to rip his pack apart, and he would be damned before he let them! "Well, home with us of course." Rachel Snape gave Remus a calculating look and offered him a plate of sandwiches. "Something to eat then?" Remus knew a subject change when he heard one. He could either wait with the Snape's for Severus to wake up, and the rest of the Snape family to arrive, or he could go back to his own room and spend the time prowling. He glared at the plate of delicately cut sandwiches while he thought, and made up his mind. "Maybe one then." He smiled as he took a sandwich and sat back to discuss the retrieval techniques used on stone memories. The only thing that still concerned him, slightly, was the Snape clan's reaction to a still unconscious Sirius Black if he remained where he fell, outside Severus' quarters. In little under an hour Severus awoke and joined his parents and Lupin, he was somewhat bemused as to why his mother actually liked the werewolf, until his dad informed him that the werewolf apparently argued back. Severus grinned at his mother, kissed her head and sighed deeply. Before he could comment on her strange delight in arguing with a werewolf his brothers and sister began to tumble out of his fireplace, each one as furious as the one before them. Hugs were given and received, glares were dished out towards Remus until Severus finally introduced him as the 'other' Gryffindor. It seemed that the entire Snape family new the story of Severus, the marauders, and their lamentable sixth year as students at Hogwarts. After further cups of tea and everyone being assured that Severus, and his babies, were fully well, the details of Remus' findings were discussed and the Snape family fell into action. They discussed ways to locate the actual site of Severus' attack, as they saw it, and the techniques used to replay stone memory. They discussed who should help Severus in his class room, a task that swiftly, and easily, fell to their dad, the man who taught them all their early potions lessons. He would, he said, gladly come out of retirement and help Russ teach if need be, in fact, he looked forward to the challenge. The glint in his eyes held the promise of even more pain for the pupils than they currently received under Severus Snape's tutelage. The eldest of the six Snape children was Agripina Bain (nee Snape), she looked a little like Severus and, oddly, a lot like a Weasley with her vibrant red hair, and eyes as black as Severus' eyes. She introduced her siblings, since no one else seemed inclined to remember their manners, even if he was a werewolf, some common courtesy was required after all! Next came Augustus Snape, he looked exactly like an older version of Severus, except without the permanent scowl on his face. Then came Victoria Markinch (nee Snape), she was unique in the Snape group, a dark blonde haired woman with green eyes, she looked suspiciously closer to the late James Potter than the Snapes. After Victoria there was Julius Snape, he, it seemed, was a medi-wizard currently working somewhere Remus had never heard of in America. Julius was perhaps eight years older than Severus, he had medium brown hair and eyes, oddly, Remus was reminded strongly of himself, just without the werewolf's eyes, when he looked at Julius, he had the odd thought that he should maybe contact his father's spirit and find out if he actually had a brother in the Snape family. Finally, only a couple of year older than Severus, and Remus himself, was Tiberius Snape, commonly referred to as Tibs; Tibs was as dark haired as Severus and Augustus were, but with grey eyes. Remus tried to recall Tibs from Hogwarts, but couldn't, he suspected that Tibs hadn't gone to Hogwarts; perhaps Severus was the only Snape who had gone to school there. He was so sure he would remember someone like Tibs in their school, even if he had been a Slytherin. Once he thought about it some more Remus realised Tibs reminded him of Sirius Black. He gasped in shock at his new working theory as to why Sirius hated Severus so much; was Tiberius Snape a Black and Sirius had found out about his father's possible indiscretion? Whatever the truth was, Tibs had, indeed, brought some of 'the boys' with him after all. The 'boys' turned out to be the A listed team for the Parakai Panthers, from New Zealand's North Island, where he was their trainer, and Severus was their private Apothecary. He supplied all medicinal potions the team required, all above board and legal, all brewed to the best of his ability, which went without saying, and all of whom seemed to really like the dark haired Potions master a great deal. Remus thought briefly about Sirius lying unconscious, right outside Severus' chamber door, and further, up there somewhere, as Mr Snape had said, was Albus Dumbledore, wallowing in the drama of his recently discovered son, and the grandsons he carried. He also thought about the time, and how it did indeed flee, it was almost time for the evening meal. Dinner time at Hogwarts looked set to be a very exciting meal, for once, and even more so than breakfast had been.
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