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Chapter 6: The Shocking Truth After Remus returned back to school after the Easter holidays, he began to feel more relaxed. The uneasiness which had plagued him over the week long break had eased once he knew Severus was safe. Not that Remus knew that that was what had been troubling him. On the fourteenth of April, 1976 , a Wednesday evening, Remus travelled down to the Shrieking Shack and transformed, once again, into Moony. Like he had on the previous three months, Moony waited until curfew before stealthily making his way back into the castle. He was very careful not to be seen, and curbed his animal instincts and resisted attacking any of the children in the castle. Moony wanted to see his mate, and nothing was going to get in his way and hold him up. Snape was waiting for Remus in the Slytherin Common Room when he arrived. He had made sure that the room would be empty for when the werewolf appeared. A few stench hexes did wonders to clear a room. Moony followed the Slytherin prefect down to the fifth year boys dormitories, where his mate ushered him onto the bed, and drew the curtains. After placing locking and silencing charms on the curtains, Snape hugged Moony. Moony knew that his mate had missed him terribly too. The teenager started getting ready for bed. He pulled off his robes and removed the concealment charms on his body so that he would be able to rest properly, without a drain on his magic during the night. Moony watched as Snape stepped into a pair of pyjama bottoms and crawled into bed. Jumping up on the bed himself, Moony made himself comfortable and snuggling close to his mate. Soon both boy and wolf were falling asleep. Early the next morning, Remus woke to find himself naked and entwined around a half-naked Slytherin. He freaked out, not knowing how or why he was in bed with Snape. Sitting up, Remus looked at the boy in bed with him. Snape was sleeping so peacefully. For some reason, his skin didn't look sallow at all. The scowl which was constantly etched on his face had smoothed and he looked almost beautiful. Remus shook his head. Had he just described Snape as beautiful? Snape rolled over in his sleep: turning to cuddle into him. Remus's eyes almost popped out of his head. He heart stopped. Snape was… Snape was… PREGNANT! Remus began to hyperventilate. Trying to calm himself, he took big, deep breathes. Scrambling out from the bed, he looked around for his clothes. Not finding any, he borrowed Snape's dressing gown and fled the dormitory. Rushing through the castle, he made a beeline for Gryffindor Tower . Once safely inside his dormitory, Remus took off Snape's robe and pulled on his school uniform. It was then that he realised that it was the morning after the Full Moon. What had possessed his wolf to seek Snape out? Confused, Remus opened his trunk, and pulled out all the books his father ever gave him about werewolves. Knowing that he would be allowed the day to recover from his transformation, Remus closed the curtains on his bed, and began reading. Later that night Remus set aside his last book. He was exhausted. He was stunned. It was nigh impossible, and yet all the evidence pointed towards it. He had bonded with, and knocked up Severus Snape. Remus spent the next four weeks looking into Severus's pregnancy. He read books about werewolves. He read books about pregnancy. He read books aimed at expectant mothers, and expectant fathers. But he didn't say a word to Snape. He didn't know how to broach the subject with his mate. One day, whilst working on a group project in Arithmency, Remus suggested forming a study group, primarily for the opportunity to spend more time with Severus. He succeeded in forming a small study group of students from each house: including James, Sirius and Severus. During these study sessions, Remus kept paying particular attention to the Slytherin. Soon, he began to sneak food into the library; the type of food expectant mothers should be eating a lot of: fresh fruit and vegetables, grains and cereals. Sometimes he would share it with the group. Other times he would just hide it in the pregnant boy's bag. Both the Marauders and Snape thought he had gone insane. They couldn't understand what was going on inside his head. The Marauders thought that Snape had bewitched him, and had placed him under Imperious, so that he could have a personal slave. Snape thought that it was all a cruel joke, intent on making him feel uncomfortable. Eventually, Snape snapped. Remus watched from across the library as he pulled Potter into a secluded corner. He didn't know what Snape had said to James, but knew it was about him, as both boys continued to shoot glances in his direction. Later that night, James, Sirius and Peter all took him aside and explained that his behaviour was inappropriate. It was especially inappropriate if Snape had dared speak to James , of all people, to make him stop. Ordinarily, they wouldn't have minded making the Slytherin as uncomfortable as possible, but Remus was definitely scaring them. Chapter 7: A Problem Shared is a Problem Halved The night of the next full moon, Moony once again padded down to the Slytherin dormitories. However, once he arrived, he did not allow Severus to lead him up to his rooms. Instead, he led the Slytherin back through the castle (using his werewolf senses to avoid Mr Filch and Mrs Norris) and down to the shrieking shack. It truly amazed Remus how much control he had over his wolf, now that he was an expecting father. Leading Severus to the upstairs bedroom, Moony leaped onto the bed, and waited for his mate to join him. Waking up in the pre-dawn hours in his human form, Remus retrieved Severus's wand from under his pillow and used it to ward the room. He cast locking and silencing charms on the bed chamber so that no one could get in or, more importantly, out until they were removed. His task complete, Remus hid the Slytherin's wand and snuggled back into bed, spooning against Severus, holding him and the baby close. Later that morning, Remus was watching Severus sleep, when the object of his study stirred, and woke gently. Slowly, Remus pulled his mate closer to his body, sharing his warmth, comfort and support. Abruptly, Severus leapt from the bed. He ran to the door, scrambling to get away from the teen that he had, just moments ago, been snuggling against. Remus watched as Severus struggled to open the charmed door, and when the Slytherin began to search for his wand, coughed, and held up the missing piece of wood. Remus asked his mate to return to the bed. He was worried that Severus may catch cold. Although it was May, it was still chilly, and the bed chamber had no fire. Severus was very apprehensive about joining the Gryffindor in bed, and turned his back on Remus, scrambling to open the door. Having become annoyed at his mate, Remus threw off the covers and padded, naked, to the Slytherin. He put one arm around Severus's waist and drew him back to the bed. Once securely back in the bed, Severus burst into hysterics. He cried and shouted and raved. He raged, sobbed and screamed. Didn't Remus know about the pregnancy? Didn't he realise that he needed him? That the baby needed him? Why did he leave him alone? Why did he let Black tell him how to get into the shrieking shack? Was it all a joke? Were Potter and Black and Pettigrew hiding in the room? Maybe they had cameras to take pictures of his hideous body? Would they plaster them all over the school? Not knowing what to do, Remus began rubbing Severus's back. He hadn't realised just how unhinged Severus actually was. When Severus began to calm down, Remus leaned in and hugged him. He told him that he hadn't realised that he had impregnated him until four weeks ago. Holding Severus close, he said that it wasn't exactly something that he could have blurted out over Arithmency homework. He explained that he had known something was… different about Severus, and his transformations since Christmas, but he just couldn't put his finger on it. Remus apologised over and over again for raping Severus. Pointing out that werewolf's mate for life, and that he would be drawn to him until he died, Remus promised that he would never touch him again, until he was ready. Of course, that would have been a lot more convincing if he had not been naked and running his hands over Severus's extended belly. June 1976 Over the next month, the two began to spend more and more time together. Remus became devoted to helping Severus, and, although resentful at the attention, the Slytherin slowly began to appreciate Remus's touches and attentions, now that they were discrete and private. When the next full moon approached, Remus asked Severus is he would accompany him to the shack. The two boys went down to the shack straight after classes finished. Having three hours before the change, Severus and Remus spent the time talking, and exploring Severus's body. The pregnant boy had taken off his concealment charms, and Remus found great delight in feeling his baby move inside his mate. During Remus's nightly check-up of Severus and the baby, his mate confessed that he had been terrified of having to raise a baby by himself. He was thankful and relieved that Remus was there to help, and support him. Remus's heart stopped beating. He made his way up the bed, from where he was examining Severus's bump, to stare at his mate. He leaned forward, and kissed him gently on the lips, before hugging him tightly. As they were eating dinner that night in the shack, Remus brought up the coming summer. Severus was frightened at the prospect of going home, pregnant and unwed. He was sure that his abusive father, who knew countless hexes and curses, would cause him, or his baby harm. If he didn't succeed in killing the child he carried, he would throw him out to live on the streets, rather than allow an illegitimate child into his home. It wasn't his safety that Severus was worried about. It was his child's. Remus, on the other hand, was feeling extremely protective of his mate and unborn child. He had turned into a worrier. When he was not pre-occupied by school work, he found himself thinking about the two most important people in his life. He couldn't help but fret about the two. He was losing sleep, worrying about Severus and the baby: anxious that they were safe. Over dinner, the two devised a plan so that they could spend the summer together. Later that term, using the invisibility cloak, Remus snuck into Professor McGonagall's office and liberated a few parchments of official Hogwarts stationery. Together, under the guise of studying for their OWLs, the two boys composed a letter home to their parents. They told their parents that, as prefects, they had been offered vacation employment at Hogwarts. Severus wrote that he would be working to restock to Hospital Wing Potions. Remus wrote that in exchange for some light maintenance work, he would be learning advanced Defence Against the Dark Arts. Forging Professor McGonagall's signature at the bottom of the letter, the two boys send them home. Minerva pursed her lips. "You stole parchment from my office?" she asked. "Yes ma'am." Remus looked down in his lap. "We needed to. I wasn't going to let Severus go back home like that. His father would have killed him." The teenager looked up to the headmaster. "I really would like to see them both," he stated. Albus nodded and rose from his chair. "Come on then, my boy. You too Minerva: you ought to see the little bundle, he is so cute ," exclaimed the headmaster as he ushered his guests out of his office. As soon as Remus caught sight of Severus in the Hospital Wing, he ran to his side. Severus was sitting up in bed, reading a pamphlet about post-natal depression when his mate arrived. Madam Pomfrey had mistaken his unhappiness as the early on set of depression, rather than his forcible removal from Remus. Dumbledore and Minerva walked up behind the Gryffindor as he climbed carefully onto the bed. "So boys," he exclaimed, "how did you spend your summer?" Remus looked at Severus and put one arm around his mate before telling the headmaster about their summer. He told him about moving their things to the shack, the night before vacation began. He told him about telling his friends that he was going to Europe for the summer to visit an expert in the field of lycanthropy, and that he just neglected to tell them that the expert was Severus, and that the place in Europe, was indeed the Shrieking Shack. He told him that they had persuaded Sammy, a house elf that usually took care of Remus after his transformations, to pilfer food and other supplies from the castle. Severus told of their days studying the pregnancy, and reading about parenting. He explained that they used the time to make their relationship stronger and more intimate. Minerva, who had been listening to the boy's tales about their summer, cleared her throat. "What of the beginning of this term?" Chapter 8: Happily Ever After Together, the two boys decided to stay in the Shrieking Shack. Severus was almost about to give birth and the full moon was in less than a week. Both Remus and Severus were afraid that the baby would want to come in the middle of the night, while Remus had transformed into Moony. But, as the morning dawned, the babe was still safe in Severus's belly. On closer examination, however, they both noticed that the baby had dropped. It was getting ready to enter the world. Exactly a week later in the early hours of the morning on the 15th of September 1976 , Severus went into labour. Albus looked from one boy to the other. He could not understand how they could have been so very foolish. "When you did not return to Hogwarts two weeks ago, we contacted your parents. They informed me that you had spent the summer here, at Hogwarts. Obviously that was not the case and we told them this. "I was worried sick," he stated. "Professor McGonagall was worried sick. Your parents were worried sick. Your friends are, still, worried sick." Severus leant over and picked up his son who had begun crying as the Headmaster reprimanded his parents. "We tried everything," continued Minerva. "We spoke to the portraits, the ghosts. They hadn't heard from you or seen you since June. We consulted a wizarding clock which showed that you were both at Hogwarts!" Just then a large owl flew into the window, and perched on Minerva's shoulder. As she went to read her mail, Albus continued. "We eventually summoned the house elves. Sammy was most helpful in determining your whereabouts. "Needless to say it was a shock when I finally caught up with the two of you." Minerva returned carrying the parchments she had received. While the headmaster turned his attention to the papers, Severus handed his son to Remus, so that he could hold the small bundle. Albus returned. "Mr Lupin. Your parents are on their way to Hogwarts as we speak. They are most troubled by your actions." He turned to Severus. "I'm sorry, dear boy. As you predicted, your father is not happy with your circumstances." He sighed, "he has disowned you, I'm afraid." Severus nodded. He knew his father would not have accepted him or his son once he learned of the situation. He was only happy that his son was unharmed. "We disposed of a Howler which was delivered to Madam Pomfrey a little earlier," Albus continued. "Your mother, however, very much wants to meet her grandson. She too is on her way here." Remus beamed and would have hugged his mate if he hadn't been holding their son. Instead he leant over and kissed Severus softly on the cheek. "May I ask one question?" asked Minerva. Severus nodded. "What's the baby's name?" Remus looked at his lover, before beginning to speak. "Well, we've discussed this at length," he started. "I don't want him to carry the surname Lupin. There might come a time when he may be victimized because I am a werewolf." "I don't want him to carry the name Snape," continued Severus. "My father wants nothing to do with him, and he won't be reminded every time someone addresses him that his grandfather disowned me." Albus nodded, agreeing with the boys' reasoning. "I take it you have a name in mind though?" "Yes," replied Severus. Remus smiled. "He's been like an Olive Branch for us. He made us put aside our prejudices and fall in love." Severus rolled his eyes at Remus's sentimentality. "We wish to name him Oliver. Oliver Wood." The End
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