Echoes

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Echoes

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Chapter five: Something missing

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Ronald Weasley

I knew 'Mione was hiding something from Harry and me. It had something to do with Snape, I knew that much. Every time she'd look at him, she'd get this slightly concerned look on her face. She didn't know that I noticed, but I did.

For a while I thought that she might have developed some sort of sick crush on the greasy git. When I cornered her and asked her, she got a good laugh. Still, she wouldn't tell me.

I figured that the only other way to find out what was going on was to watch Snape just as intently as 'Mione was. I found a few odd things.

First and foremost, I remembered the rumours about Snape being sick. Those had been circulating around school for a while, but lately they'd died down. Either Snape was well again, or it had just been a rumour to begin with. To justify 'Mione's acting, I decided that it was the former, though.

I also noticed a bit of a weight-gain. Not much, I guess, but since I was watching him so closely, I saw it. He seemed to have... filled out. Since he was getting heavier, I began checking what he was eating. Thing was, I'd never cared to notice anything about his eating habits before, so I couldn't really tell if they'd changed. But he seemed to eat a lot.

Perhaps he'd been cursed with some unknown illness. When you live in the Wizarding world, anything is possible, after all.

Still, it didn't seem quite right, because he seemed fine most of the time. Well, as fine as that git can ever be, anyway. Fine is really not a word to associate with anything Snape.

Then finally, in early May, I found out what Snape - and 'Mione - had been keeping a secret. Suddenly, all those extra kilos just fell off him and he was gone from classes for a two days.

A week later, Sandra appeared and everything fell into place. After all, as I said before - we do live in the Wizarding world.

~~~~~

That night, Hermione told Harry that Sandra could sleep in the boys' dorm if the others didn't mind.

"As long as it's just one night and I get to cast a silencing spell on her if she's too loud, it's fine," Seamus said.

Neville seemed almost scared of the baby. She was related to Snape after all, the teacher Neville feared more than anything else. He just nodded his consent. Dean shrugged. "It's fine with me," he said.

Ron got to be the one who changed Sandra's diapers. He laughed at the looks on the other boys' faces - the colours raging from green to white and purple.

"I think I'm going to be sick," Neville mumbled and disappeared.

Harry held Sandra down gently as she squirmed to be free. She didn't want a diaper at all. When Ron was done with her, Harry picked her up and put her pyjamas on. To his surprise, the pyjamas were a deep red colour, rather than the usual green and silver.

The other boys, including Ron, walked downstairs as Harry went about with the task of putting Sandra to sleep.

The light weight of the child in his arms felt natural by now. She was a rather small child, delicate-looking and precious. Her skin was like porcelain and soft like silk. Her jet-black hair was soft under his touch.

Like Sev's hair...

The thought came unbidden into his mind and his eyes snapped open. Where had it come from?

Sandra seemed to notice his startle, because she lifted her tired head from his shoulder to look at him curiously.

"It's nothing, sweetie," Harry lied to her.

Why does it feel like I'm missing something here? Why does she feel so safe in my arms?

Sandra looked at him thoughtfully for a moment before deciding that she was too tired to care. She lay back down, head on his shoulder. Harry continued to stroke her back gently.

When the baby had fallen asleep, Harry put her in the crib Hermione had transfigured and left the room. His mind was filled with questions though, as he made his way downstairs to join his friends again. It felt like he was missing something; something important.

~~~~~

Draco Malfoy

I have to admit a grudging respect for Hermione Granger. She found out two months after I did and she didn't tell the school about it. The Daily Prophet would have paid her quite a lot of money for a story like this, I bet. Still, she didn't say a word, not even to Potter or the Weasel.

Towards the end of Sev's pregnancy, she and I were asked to work together to keep his secret safe. The work included directing the attention to something else than Sev's repeated visits to the bathroom during class (and outside of class, of course) as well as helping Madame Pomfrey keep an eye on Sev'. He was never a very good patient, whether it be after a bout with the Cruciatus Curse courtesy of Voldemort, or to keep the baby inside of him healthy.

Despite the latter, he was very careful to follow Pomfrey's orders on what he was allowed to eat and do. He loved Sandra before she was born. After he had come to terms with his raging hormones, he became more... at peace, I suppose is a good word. Not that any of the Gryffindorks, except Granger, would notice, but there it was. Sev' is not someone that anyone could call a happy person. Yet in the late stages of his pregnancy, as well as in the nine months since she was born, he has been in a better mood than he was before it all happened.

I still wonder who the other father is.

In May, it was lucky that Granger and I were there in class with him.

Sev' was prowling around in the classroom as usual, casting biting remarks at the Gryffindors. I sniggered from my seat. Sev' can be downright hilarious in his comments about Longbottom's stupidity. We were reviewing today; the potions we were making were three simple ones that everyone but Longbottom could do in their sleep. I was already finished with my potions, so Gregory Goyle - my partner for the day - and I were just sitting around, watching the others.

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Sev' grimace suddenly. I looked around. No one else seemed to have noticed.

Since Sev' looked fine for the next half hour or so, I didn't ponder it. But then, I heard him gasp slightly again. I looked over at him and was shocked to find frightened eyes looking back at me.

Granger caught my gaze next and we managed to communicate without words. There was still another hour left of class; we had to see to it that it came to an end without drawing attention to Sev'. An accident would have to happen to get the class dismissed. Granger understood and I could see her searching her brain for something to add to the potion before her to make a smaller explosion. Finally, she smiled slightly and took a hair from her own head. Swiftly, she let it fall into the cauldron. I applauded her inwardly for her actions.

Sev' stood by his desk, which meant that he was almost as far away as he could be from the cauldron when it began wheezing and bubbling. It turned an odd shade of blue and then there was a small explosion. Granger got some of the liquid on her, but other than that, everyone was fine.

I caught Sev's gaze again and he understood what Granger had done and why.

"Who did that?" he bellowed, playing along in our charade.

"I'm sorry, Professor," Granger said, her voice sounding pathetically weak. I know she hates doing things wrong, even if they were planned to be wrong.

Sev' turned to the class. "Class dismissed!" he yelled at us and turned to Granger, glaring at her. "You'll have to come with me to the Infirmary."

She nodded meekly. Ron and Harry moved past her. She mumbled something to them, probably to get them to leave and not worry about her. I said the same thing to Vincent and Gregory. They took off without a question.

Now Granger, Sev' and I were left in the room.

"Let's get you to the Hospital Wing," I said. "'Cause my assumption is correct, isn't it? You are in labour?"

The frightened look in Sev's eyes returned as he looked at me. "I believe so."

~~~~~

The night had gone well. Sandra slept through the night, although she woke up at five thirty in the morning. Harry presented her with a bottle of warmed milk, which she happily accepted. He lay down with her on his bed, sleepily watching her. There was something about her...

At breakfast, Harry was a bit more successful in feeding Sandra than he had been the previous evening. The house-elves knew by now what to make for the youngest person at Hogwarts - milk, oatmeal and a slice of cheese. The milk was in a cup with a lid so that she could drink by herself without spilling all over.

"Harry, do you mind returning her to Professor Snape before class?" Hermione asked, looking distracted. "I forgot one of my books, so I'll have to go and get it. Can you?"

Harry frowned slightly and then shrugged. "Sure."

He thought Hermione looked a bit too happy about the answer, but signed it off to the oddness that always seemed to surround him.

"Dada," Sandra said, holding out a slice of cheese to Harry.

"No thanks, that's your breakfast, not mine," Harry said.

"Gaa," Sandra agreed and put the cheese in her mouth. Harry chuckled at her. She looked proud that she'd managed to get him to laugh.

"You know," Ron said to him, "For someone being related to Snape, she's really pretty cute."

Harry laughed.

~~~~~

Remus Lupin

Albus floo-ed us that day in May and said that it was time. Siri and I hurried to Hogwarts. We had promised to be there when Severus gave birth, after all. Siri would stay outside, but Severus had asked me to be his emotional support in there. When he'd first enquired, I'd been surprised, but I quickly realized that he had no one else to ask. Albus was going to be there, but his fatherly figure wasn't what Severus needed.

Albus opened a line between our fireplace and the Infirmary's, to allow us to get there quicker.

When we arrived, the Hospital Wing seemed to be in an organized sort of chaos. Hermione Granger and Draco Malfoy were both in the room, on either side of Severus. Dumbledore was speaking to Poppy, who was running around the room to get everything ready. She was going to perform a C-section on Severus to get the baby out.

I walked over to the bed where Severus lay. His exterior seemed calm, but one look in his eyes and I knew that he was anything but.

"Hello, Severus," I said.

"Remus," he replied, before he gasped in pain as a contraction grabbed hold of his body.

Hermione and Draco looked worried. I knew that they had both found out about Severus' pregnancy, Draco two months before us and Hermione just a week or so after us. Just like Siri and I, they had been sworn to secrecy. That was the way Severus wanted it.

I'd visited him three times since I found out that he was going to have a baby. We'd just been sitting together, sometimes talking and sometimes not. We realized that what had happened years and years ago was not something to hate each other for for the rest of our lives.

He'd told me that he didn't want the Wizarding world to know about his pregnancy because he didn't want to be laughed at. Male pregnancy happened perhaps once every other century and they had never been accepted. He didn't want his child to grow up looked upon as a freak.

I had accepted his explanation and honoured his wish. I did wish, though, that he would tell Harry.

Poppy moved Severus to one of the smaller, private rooms. We didn't want some student with a bruise to come in and see what was happening, not when we'd managed to keep it secret for so long. She also sent Hermione and Draco out, although they were permitted to stay in the Hospital Wing. She understood that they wouldn't be able to concentrate in class as it was.

She made Severus get up and walk.

"It will be another hour or so before I'm ready to perform the C-section," she said. "You weren't supposed to go into labour today!"

There was a shower stall where Severus could take a shower too. Apparently, warm water could relieve some of the pain. I was ordered to stay close while he showered, in case something unexpected happened.

"I don't need a babysitter," Severus sneered at me, the pain making his mood even worse than usual.

"Not yet," I teased, unable to resist.

The contractions came closer and closer together and Poppy suddenly realized that this labour was going about much faster than a normal one. Unless she wanted the baby to break it's own neck trying to press out through a birthing canal that didn't exist, she would have to perform the C-section sooner than expected.

Severus lay on the bed, his face contorted in pain as another heavy contraction wracked his body. When it released its hold on him, he sank back into the pillow, his face sweaty and pale. I took a wet cloth from the table beside the bed and dabbed his forehead with it.

Poppy got all her things together and was finally ready to start. I stood next to Severus. He grabbed hold of my hand as yet another contraction grabbed him and he screamed. Even when dealing with the after effects of the Cruciatus Curse, I couldn't remember hearing him scream like that.

Poppy gave him pain medication and then placed a big green sheet that covered all of his body except his head and his huge stomach.

Then she began cutting. I couldn't watch. I smelled the blood all over, the werewolf in me making itself known, and I found myself wondering if I should really have agreed to this. But then Severus tightened his grip around my hand to the point where I thought my bones would break and I knew that it had been the right decision.

The C-section was over quickly and suddenly, we all heard the amazing sound of a newborn baby's cries.

"Congratulations," she said to Severus, "You have a girl."

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To be continued...

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