Blood and Family

Two Families United

By Wanda Livingston

In a unique turn of events, Leah Potter, ex-Auror and twin sister of the late James Potter, only daughter of our former Minister of Magic, Jonathan Potter, and one of the two remaining members of the pureblood Potter family, married Severus Snape in a private ceremony last night.

It is not known why the two married, since it is a well known fact that the Snapes were hated by the Potter family for their support of He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named.

Potter, being one of the few Aurors left after the fall of He-Who-Must Not-Be-Named and his Death Eaters, announced her resignation yesterday. Cornelius Fudge refused to comment on her departure from the Ministry but did state that he has suspected for some time that she herself supported You-Know-Who since she had been very close to convicted murderer, Sirius Black before he was sent to Azkaban. Officials are investigating this connection, but have found little evidence to support the beliefs that Leah Potter was a Death Eater.

Potter and Snape have not been seen or heard from since the ceremony, but according to Albus Dumbledore, the Headmaster of Hogwarts School for Witchcraft and Wizardry, both will return to teach at the school at the start of the new term. Dumbledore, however, did not comment on the marriage or on Potter's resignation from the Auror Division.

~~~

Minerva McGonagall set the newspaper aside and sipped her tea, looking over the rim of the glass at the headmaster who was currently reading the article. Once he had finished, he too set the paper aside.

"Well?" Minerva asked.

"What?"

"What happened?"

"I do not know what you're talking about, Minerva," Dumbledore said with a slight grin. "It seems that Leah and Severus have gotten married. There is nothing strange in that."

"Other than the fact that they hate each other and have since they were children."

Dumbledore shrugged which, to Minerva, seemed like an odd gesture for the headmaster to make.

"We've had little to be hopeful for these past few years. Perhaps now that Voldemort is at bay and young Harry is safe, Leah will be able to realize her true place."

"And she throws her feelings for Sirius Black aside?"

"I do not pretend to know Leah's heart. She is a lively young woman and she always has been, even those days when she was quite near the point of driving you insane," Dumbledore said with a smile.

"What is really going on, Albus?"

"Is it really so difficult to understand, Minerva?" Leah Potter, now Snape, said from the doorway. She walked further into the office and sat down beside her former professor.

"Ah, Leah, you've arrived," Dumbledore said rising from his seat. "How are things between you and Severus?"

"As well as can be expected, I suppose," Leah said with a grin.

"Childhood animosities aside?"

Leah shrugged. "We've been working together for three years."

"What is going on?" Minerva asked, thoroughly confused. She knew that James Potter would never have let his sister work with a Death Eater, even if he had turned spy.

"Well, I'm due at the Ministry. I'll leave you two alone," Dumbledore said. Without another word, he swept out of the office.

Minerva looked after him for a moment before focusing her attention upon her former student who had been one of the few over the years to make anyone smile with her antics. Minerva clearly remembered the pranks that the Potter twins could pull off and the havoc they could create with just a few words. Had it really been so long that Leah, James, and their friends had been innocent, unmarred by the war that their parents were fighting on one side or the other? Had it really been so long since Minerva herself had witnessed James, Leah, and Sirius enter the Auror program? Minerva wondered if Sirius had been working for Voldemort at that time. It seemed possible because no more than four months after they had finished training, Leah had been attacked and kidnapped by Death Eaters. James and Sirius had launched an attack on the Dark Lord's stronghold, but people wondered how they knew where the Death Eaters were gathered.

Sirius Black was from a family known for its ties to the Dark Arts, yet Sirius, apparently different from the rest, had been sorted into Gryffindor and had withstood the taunts and fights with the Slytherins with his own strong will and Leah at his side. Was it possible that someone seemingly pure of heart could turn evil and serve the most feared dark wizard ever known to wizard kind?

"It's simple, Minerva," Leah said. "I'm pregnant." She was looking at the wall, as if ashamed to say the words. Minerva couldn't understand why and then it hit her. Leah and Sirius had been in love.

"Black's?"

Leah nodded, apparently unable to speak.

"And that is why you married Severus," Minerva concluded. "To protect the child from that family." Minerva didn't need confirmation. She stood and knelt beside her former student and the strict professor façade went away and Minerva comforted the young woman who was like a daughter to her.