Change of Events

Change of Events

A Sirius Matter

*

"I still think the git drugged you," muttered Sirius, watching his husband sulkingly. "Otherwise you wouldn't be speaking any of this nonsense. It's obvious what he's trying to do!"

"And what is he trying to do, then?" asked Remus calmly, not raising his eyes from his book.

"He's trying to turn you all against me," replied the Animagus, fuming. "You and Harry and everyone! He's already seduced my Godson, and now he's trying to drug you so that you would lose your senses and support Harry in this insanity! Next thing I know he's claiming that the baby you're carrying is his!"

"Oh, put a lid on it, Sirius," Remus said, rolling his eyes towards the ceiling. "Really, what's wrong with you? Can't you believe that Harry just might have finally found someone he truly loves?"

"It just doesn't seem real," muttered Sirius darkly. "I bet Snape's not really feeling anything for him. He's just using Harry on his advantage. I can't let that happen to Harry! He's like my own son!"

"He is your son, through adoption," Remus reminded him calmly. He was right, anyway. Their adoption papers had gone through just recently, as with Fudge gone, the bastards had finally come to their senses and taken away the prohibition against werewolves adopting humans. Harry was of course ecstatic about this -- he'd even decided on taking the name of Black, until he got married, anyway -- and Sirius and Remus were also extremely happy. However, the thought of Severus Snape as his son-in-law disgusted Sirius thoroughly. It had been bad enough when the greasy git had been with his godson. He being with his son was a whole lot worse, if anything could be worse than that.

Before Sirius could continue their conversation, however, an owl appeared to sight, pecking at the window glass. Sirius got up of the armchair and went to open the window -- at four months of pregnancy, Remus was already showing, and although he didn't have real difficulties with sitting down and standing up, it did seem a bit tricky -- only to see the owl fly straight to Remus. The pregnant werewolf petted the bird's head with one hand while taking the letter in its talons with his other. The alert amber eyes quickly skimmed through the text, and then a warm, broad smile spread on Remus's face.

"It's from Harry," announced Remus, then, as if on an afterthought, "and from Severus, too. As it's Harry's birthday the day after tomorrow, they're inviting us for a dinner then. They've even invited the Weasleys!"

"Well, I am not going," Sirius said shortly. "So, do take my regards to Harry if you go."

"But Sirius!" Remus sounded now very shocked. "It's Harry's birthday party, you have to go!"

"But I'm not going," Sirius said stubbornly. "I am definitely not going to see Snape fawning over him."

"I'll make you regret it if you don't," said Remus. His eyes were now blazing dangerously. "Everybody else's going as well! Even the Weasleys will come! I'll be damned if you're the only one who doesn't."

"I am not going to visit the Snape Manor," the Animagus repeated. "And that's a final."

"Then say goodbye to your children, both of them!" bellowed Remus, tears rolling down his cheeks, which were now flushed with rage. "Since if you're not going there, Harry is never going to talk to you again, and you know that. And I am going there regardless of whether you are, and if you aren't there with me, I'll ask Severus for an abortion potion. I don't want to do that, I've never wanted to do that, but I'll kill my child rather than bring it into a family where it isn't loved by both parents!"

Sirius sighed. Even though he didn't want to believe it, he knew that Remus indeed would fulfill his threat, the werewolf was certainly badly enough under the control of his outrageous hormones. Also, he knew that what was being said about Harry was true as well -- and that if that happened, Remus would also walk out of his life with no intention to return. So, he could either accept Snape's invitation -- something he did not want to do, not at all -- or kiss goodbye to his family in entirety. Kiss goodbye to his children, both the adopted and the unborn one, and prepare to sign the divorce papers, for if he was forced to abort his child -- like Remus would certainly see it -- Remus would not want to have anything to do with him again. And that was something he was not ready to do, not even if it cost him his soul to avoid it.

However, when it was seemingly going to cost him standing Snape, he came damned near considering it.

At last, however, he sighed. "Fine," he grumbled, "I'll go with you. However," he added then angrily, "I'm only going to behave as long as Snape behaves. If he says one nasty word, I won't hold myself back anymore. He's probably just trying to get us there so that he can humiliate everybody in front of Harry!"

"Oh, don't be such a baby, Sirius," sighed Remus, rolling his eyes. "I'm sure Severus will behave perfectly well. Also, I expect you to behave at least twice as well," he added sharply.

"Whatever you say, Love," replied Sirius with a resigned sigh. Seemingly he was in for the longest and most painful dinner he'd ever attended to, if the signs that had already come were anything to go by.

"Wonderful!" Remus squealed, again on one of his excited moods. "Now that that's in order, I think I'm going to go planning the decoration of the nursery. Would you like to come?"

"I think I'll leave you to it, dear," Sirius replied, not having to force a smile to his face. If there was something that truly got Remus delighted, it was planning anything for their future baby. However, as much as Sirius loved seeing Remus happy, the werewolf had a tendency to get rather bitchy whenever Sirius dared to make any suggestions about how something should be done. The baby might be both of theirs, but all baby equipment was solely Remus's business, nobody else's.

So, he just shook his head as he watched his dear husband walking off, humming quietly to himself. Even from where he stood Sirius could recognize the nursery song, and he grinned. Yeah, he was properly whipped up. Fortunately, he did not mind much... Most of the time.

*

At first, it was rather awkward. Remus, Sirius, Hermione, Molly, Arthur, Ron, Ginny, Fred, George, Neville, Luna... Harry's friends all arrived, offered their presents and congratulations, and seemed to be at ease. However, the very moment Snape's tall, black-clad form appeared, everybody tensed up. Well, everybody save Harry, Remus, Hermione, and Molly. Harry, of course, was not nervous, Remus was just all bubbly and giggly, and Hermione and Molly were at least trying to make an effort to see past the greasy git of a Potions Master and into the Severus Harry'd fallen in love with. All in all, it wasn't the best of situations where they were as they settled down to have dinner.

At first, there was an awkward silence. Ron tried to create some conversation with Harry, but it quickly died down. Snape's dark form sitting there next to Harry just seemed to kill any piece of conversation anybody could come up with. It was a lost fight -- until Remus stepped in.

"Oh, Severus?" he asked innocently, putting his fork down -- everybody else had silver cutlery, but Remus's was of the Wizarding version of stainless steel. It was in all respects just like silver, except for two things: It was cheaper, and it was safe to werewolves.

"Yes, Remus?" asked Snape back calmly, looking at the werewolf. People around the table gasped. They'd never heard Snape call Remus by his given name, and that truly meant never.

"Have you maybe come any closer to the answer as of how to make my potion taste a bit better? It's not like I'm not grateful for everything you're already doing for me, far from that, but with the morning sickness, it's really starting to be a bitch," the werewolf replied conversationally.

Now, the Head of Slytherin frowned, making majority of the people present cower in fear. "I'm afraid not, Remus," he then said, sounding almost apologetical. "I've been trying to use different combinations of sugar and such, but the results of such experiments always come out insufficient."

"If I may offer a suggestion?" asked Hermione hesitantly. She cowered a bit as the Potions Master's black, calculating eyes were shot to her. She had not yet got wholly over her memories of Professor Snape.

"By all means, do that, Hermione," Snape then said, sounding not completely unfriendly. "I've never before seen you able to withhold any possible piece of information you have, so I don't see why you should start now." Then he nodded at her, looking actually curious to hear her suggestion.

"Well," the Muggleborn said hastily. "Sugar and honey both make the Wolfsbane Potion ineffective, right? Well, have you thought about using the Muggle artificial sweeteners? It's just a thought," she added even more hastily as the Head of Slytherin watched her even more closely, "but it might work, you know."

"Actually, you might be right," Snape admitted. Hermione looked as if she was ready to faint on the spot. However, she did not, as Snape went on, "I've never looked much into the Muggle products, as those rarely have any use in magical potions. However, in this case, it maybe would be worth it to run some tests to try out the different possibilities." He gave her an approving nod. "A very creative idea, I must say."

Now, Hermione flushed slightly, and Snape smirked. Remus smiled broadly. Then, led on by the suddenly a bit less tense atmosphere, Ginny dared to speak up. "By the way, Harry," she said with a grin, "did you see the latest Wasps-Cannons match? Wasps totally beat them!" At this, Ron sent a glare into her direction. Ginny adored the Winbourne Wasps just as much as Ron worshipped the Chudley Cannons.

Of course, within a minute, there was a heated conversation about Quidditch going on. All the younger Weasleys, Harry, and even Sirius were all talking. Each one was rooting for their own favourite team -- Sirius's was the Pride of Portree, Harry rooted for Puddlemere United, and the Twins were avid fans of Falmouth Falcons. For a moment, the silent ones just watched on in slight amusement.

At last, however, the conversation was broken up with a single statement. "As amusing as it is to hear you comparing the statistics," Snape said calmly, "I still don't think any of your teams can beat my favourite."

"Oh?" Ron raised his eyebrows, too caught up in the conversation to even properly realize who he was talking to. "And what might that be? The Ballycastle Bats, perhaps? Wouldn't that be fitting!" ...Well, perhaps he was not that unaware of the other wizard's exact personality after all.

Snape sighed and rolled his eyes towards the ceiling. "This might come as a surprise to you, but I am not a vampire, a half-vampire, a quarter-vampire, or in any way related to such creatures. And no, even though the Bats are truly a competent team, I still don't think they could beat Montrose Magpies."

"Now, this is really surprising," Remus said ever-so-happily. "How do you know even enough about Quidditch to support any team, Severus? Last time I checked, you hated the whole sport!"

"Well, I'm kind of supposed to," the Slytherin replied levelly, raising a single eyebrow. "Seeing that my fiancé is looking into turning his hobby into a professional career, it would be about impossible for me to live without knowing anything about the whole sport, don't you think?"

At this point, Ron just couldn't bear it anymore. After a moment of staring in shock, his jaw dropped open by the mere suggestion that Snape might actually know something about Quidditch, he finally came back to his senses -- well, as much as he ever did, anyway. "With all respect, Snape," he said, "just what has Harry done to you? I mean, it's like you were a wholly different person or something..."

"Are you sure you want to know the details, Ronald?" asked Snape, raising an eyebrow. As the redhead flushed, he smirked. "I did think so. Do not ask questions you aren't ready to hear the answers to."

For a moment, everybody went silent. Then, however, a quiet giggle rose from Ginny. Then Hermione started to snicker, and then Remus started to laugh, and in a moment, everybody was laughing. Well, almost everybody. Snape merely smirked, while Sirius just scowled.

"I do not need to be reminded of that," he grumbled angrily. "It's bad enough that I know, on some very deep, subconscious level, that your relationship with my son isn't exactly platonic. And that's all I want to know, thank you very much."

This, of course, made everybody laugh even more. And by the end of the day, everybody -- well, everybody with the exception of Sirius, but then again, what did you expect? -- thought that even if Snape wasn't at all times the nicest of men, he was at least a human.

And did it make Harry happy as ever.