Echoes

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Echoes

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Chapter four: Watching

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Poppy Pomfrey

Severus was already five months along when he first came to me. By then, his morning sickness had begun to lessen - and his stomach had begun to grow. He had also just begun feeling the baby kick, something that scared him although he would never admit it.

Professor Dumbledore had told me earlier that day about the whole thing.

"I need to tell you something Poppy," he said to me.

"All right," I replied and just continued stashing away vials of Anti-Flu Potions that Severus had finished for me.

"Severus is pregnant."

I turned around to face him. "It wasn't yesterday that a man became pregnant," I said slowly. "Who's the other father?"

But Albus refused to tell me who the other responsible party was. He also forbade me from performing a spell on Severus to find out.

Later that afternoon, Albus forced Severus to come see me.

"Poppy," he acknowledged me as he entered the Infirmary.

"Severus," I replied in the same cool tone of voice. His chilly exterior had never scared me and it wasn't about to start now.

"I heard the Headmaster told you," Severus said. "He never could keep his mouth shut."

I asked him to lie down on the examination table and he did without complaining, surprising me.

"Albus tells me you're about five months pregnant," I said, pulling his robes apart and out of the way. I couldn't keep the gasp in when I saw his swelling belly. Up until then, it had been a story, but with seeing his growing midsection, it was suddenly for real.

"I'm going to perform a few spells to see that everything is like it should be," I said. I thought I heard him mutter something like, 'Nothing is like it should be - I'm pregnant!' or something of the likes, but I ignored him. Instead I performed four spells of different kinds to make sure that both the baby and the father were all right.

The examination took about fifteen minutes, I believe, before I let him sit up and put his robes back on.

"The baby is completely healthy," I told him. "You on the other hand could be doing better. Are you eating correctly?"

"That's none of your business," he muttered.

"It is for another four months, Severus," I said, hands on my hips and trying my best to look stern. "If you don't eat and live healthily, it could hurt the baby."

He looked up at me, his eyes lacking any feeling as he stared at me. Then he gave the smallest of sighs and said, "Very well. What do I have to do?"

"Well, for starters, definitely no more alcohol."

He glared at me. I knew his preference for taking a glass of something or other at night, while reading a good book.

"Fine," he growled. It seemed that he was quite open to changes to keep his unborn child healthy. It surprised me. "What else?"

"You need to eat more," I said. "I want you to eat breakfast, fruit during classes, lunch, something smaller during the afternoon, dinner and something small at night. And coffee does not count as breakfast."

He glared at me, coal black eyes trying unsuccessfully to make me back down. I wouldn't.

"Also, I don't want you to be up all night making potions or reading. Your body will be more tired, especially as you get further in your pregnancy, and it will need rest. I'm sure you've already noticed that you need more sleep than before."

He nodded slowly, as though he didn't really want to admit this.

"Finally, I want you to come back here every two weeks for check-ups. If anything, anything unusual happens or something feels wrong, come up here immediately. Got it?"

"Yes, Poppy," he said bitingly. "Am I allowed to leave now?"

I nodded. He performed a quick spell on himself to conceal the growing bulge before he strode out of the Hospital Wing. I watched him go, worry, amusement and amazement fighting for dominance within me.

~~~~~

Sandra's nap was fairly short; she slept for less than an hour. Harry had her in his arms the whole time, gazing almost lovingly down at the bundle. When she woke up, Hermione suggested that they go outside and play for a little while. The suggestion was met with happy gurgling from Sandra.

Hermione picked out the thick jacket, shoes, hat and gloves out of the bag that Severus had given her. All the clothes were green and silver, she noticed with an amused smile. Snape obviously wanted his daughter to be a Slytherin.

"You look adorable!" Hermione cooed at the baby when she was dressed.

Harry picked her up again and he, Ron, Hermione and Sandra made their way downstairs and outside.

The sun had already begun sinking; in another forty-five minutes it would be gone completely. But for now, Harry and Ron placed a blanket on the ground while Hermione took a few toys out of the bag for the child. Then all three played with her on the ground. Ron was the most used to being around children, both because he had so many siblings and because his older brother Bill and his wife had two children, one two-year-old and one that was just a few months.

Sandra gurgled happily, playing with a stuffed, blue teddy bear. "Gaga," she proclaimed and pointed at the animal.

Harry lay on his side and watched the child. But even as his eyes followed her every movement, he seemed to be a million miles away. Hermione watched him curiously and the question of what Severus had done to him to make him so completely unaware that Sandra was his daughter as well grew stronger. She looked over at Ron briefly, but he didn't seem to notice Harry's strange behaviour.

When the sun had disappeared behind the mountains, Harry sat up and shook his head. When he stood, Sandra stretched out her arms at him, asking to be picked up. He did. As the four walked back to the castle, he held the girl closely to his chest, an almost sad look on his face.

~~~~~

Sirius Black

After Albus told us, I convinced him that we should be allowed to go visit Snape. I wanted to hear the reason why my godson was kept in the dark from the git himself. After pondering the idea for a few seconds, Dumbledore smiled at us.

"I guess it couldn't hurt," he said.

Five minutes later, we were down by the dungeons. Classes were out for the day and since Snape, according to Albus, rarely ate dinner in the Great Hall these days, he would no doubt be in his quarters.

"Calm down," Remy told me. "You are not here to kill him. You're here to talk to him."

I glared at him. "How can you be so calm?"

"Because I'm sure that there is a reason for all of this happening," he replied, his voice managing to hold both softness and sternness in it. He raised his hand and knocked on the door.

We heard shuffling and the door opened to reveal a sour-looking Snape. Not that he ever looks any different, mind you. He's a git through and through and I have no clue what Harry could ever see in him.

"Lupin, Black," he said, his face expressionless. "To what do I own this honour?"

I wanted so badly to put my hands around his neck and strangle him.

"Hello, Severus. May we come in?"

I will never understand how Remy can manage to keep so cool all the time. Perhaps he lets all his steam out during the full moon...

Severus eyed us suspiciously, especially me. I glared back. Finally, he opened the door fully to allow us to enter. Without waiting for us to remove our cloaks, he strode into his living room.

Or, rather, he waddled.

I almost bent over double laughing. Snape was waddling! I couldn't keep the oh-so-unmanly giggles back. Remy shot me a look, but I couldn't help it. I just laughed.

Snape turned around, his cheeks going red and his eyes becoming slits as he realized what I was laughing at. Then he turned again and sat down on one of the chairs, trying to keep whatever of his dignity he had left.

I was still sniggering as Remy and I sat down on the other chairs. Snape glared at us and didn't utter a word. My eyes moved down from Snape's face to his midsection, where his very pregnant belly could be seen beneath layers of robes.

"Dumbledore told us," Remy finally said, realizing that he would have to be the one to break the silence.

"I gathered as much," Snape said flatly. "Was the sole purpose of coming here to give Black a good laugh?"

I stopped sniggering. "Actually," I said, my voice hard, "We're here because the Headmaster also told us that my godson is the father of that baby."

"What do you want me to do about it?"

"So it's true?" Remy asked. "Harry is the other father?"

Snape sighed tiredly, looking at the Werewolf. "Yes, he is. But he doesn't know and he is not going to know."

"Why not?" I couldn't help myself; I had to ask.

"Because, Black," Snape snapped, "If he knows, he is going to feel that he has to care for this baby and perhaps even marry me. He is a Gryffindor, what do you think?! The Wizarding world won't be happy to find out that he's with me, an ex-Death Eater of all people. He deserves better."

"Since when do you care about what Harry deserves?" I asked angrily. "All I've ever heard from him about you is how much you hate him."

"I'm not going to go into detail about what happened!" Snape said, his voice low and threatening. "In fact, I'm not going to tell you anything at all. You are both going to keep quiet about it, because Harry deserves to have a life, a life with someone who -"

He broke off abruptly. I don't know why, perhaps he realized that he'd said too much. Snape was always a very private person; I'll have to admit to that. In those few sentences, he had bared more of himself than he had ever intended to, especially to two people whom he hated.

He stared resolutely into the flames of the fireplace.

The silence dragged out. Remy and I exchanged looks, but we didn't know what to say. Finally, Remy said, "I think we'll go now."

Taking one last look at Snape who was still ignoring us, we left his quarters.

~~~~~

Harry sat with Sandra on her lap at dinner, trying his best to feed her. He'd watched Snape do it many times - it was a source for great amusement at the Gryffindor table. Snape usually wound up with food in his hair, face and clothes.

"Sandra, no," Harry told her sternly as she tried to eat the mashed potatoes before her with her hands.

She looked up at him, big eyes looking very innocent.

"Behave," Harry said.

Sandra giggled and turned back to the food, continuing to feed herself. Finally, Harry tired of it and he took a napkin. He quickly dried off the baby's hands - she protested loudly - and held her arms down by her side so that he could feed her.

Dinner would take a long time tonight.

From the other side of the table, Hermione watched with interest. She couldn't believe how blind she'd been - how blind her classmates still were. Sandra looked so much like Harry it was scary. The girl inherited most of her features from Harry rather than from Snape. The small nose, the big eyes, a little round mouth and rose-colored skin. The hair was a combination of both parents, she mused, as was the eye colour.

Lavender Brown and Parvati Patil had both come to sit next to Harry when he entered the Great Hall with the baby in his arms.

"She is so adorable!" they cooed as usual. Nine months with the baby hadn't made her any less popular.

"Why are you baby-sitting her?" Parvati asked.

"Actually, Hermione is the one who's really baby-sitting," Harry said, continuing his efforts to feed Sandra. "I just took over for a while."

'For a while.' Hermione snorted inwardly at this. Harry had taken care of Sandra since five minutes after Hermione walked into the common room with her. She had barely been allowed to touch the child.

She didn't mind though. This was exactly what she had planned.

She glanced up at the High Table where Snape sat. He felt her eyes on him and looked over at her. His eyes were unreadable, she thought, but she gave him a small smile. Then Snape continued doing what he'd been doing up until now - he watched Harry interact with their daughter.

~~~~~

To be continued...