Happy Schoolday, Keith Lupin

Happy Schoolday, Keith Lupin

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Chapter 5

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Sirius peered down into the Scrying Glass Dumbledore had arranged for him. The others had been driven to the next room, as he needed to concentrate to get the picture onto the glass. They'd chosen Sirius to be the one to summon pictures, as he was the one closest to Keith, being his carrier. For the very same reason he was doing this in the nursery. Remus was still extremely sad, though he was no more crying. If Sirius wasn't mistaken, the werewolf was currently hugging himself like he always did when he was in sorrow.

Slowly, a picture started to form onto the glass. The young Animagus was startled as the sound of his son crying from the top of his little lungs came to him through the magical artefact.

Keith was wailing in fear, hunger, and sleepiness, like Sirius's paternal instincts immediately told him from the crying. Unfortunately, the room the baby was in could not be identified by the appearance. There were only the stone walls, a small crib, and the crying child who lay in the crib.

Then, the door was opened. Sirius was anxious to see who'd taken his son. Surprise and rage changed in his mind as he recognized his old nemesis.

After a moment, however, he noticed that everything was not all right -- or, rather, it was truly all right. Snape wasn't walking like he'd kidnapped the baby, rather, he sneaked into the room like he'd had nothing to do there. Getting to the crib, he crouched down and took the baby into his arms, starting to slowly rock Keith, murmuring soothingly to him.

Sirius did not know what Snape was doing or why he was there, but at least he wasn't hurting his son - yet. He was Snape, however, and Sirius couldn't help but fear what he would do to the helpless child. "Watch out, Keith," he muttered under his breath. "That's Snape you're seeing there!"

The baby, however, did not mind the identity of the stranger. Little by little, his wailing subsided, and he watched up to the Slytherin in a comfortable silence.

Some unfamiliar emotion flickered in Snape's black eyes as he watched down to the baby. Then, to Sirius's great shock, the Slytherin actually smiled at the baby, who giggled and smiled back. "Come on, little one," said Snape then with a soft tone. "I'll take you away from the bad men. Let's go and find your parents, shall we?" Keith giggled again, then half-nodded as if in a perfect agreement with the teen holding him.

Suddenly, there were sound from the other side of the door. Glancing quickly around, Snape pulled something transparent and shimmering from his bag. 'Invisibility Cloak,' Sirius realized. 'Where'd he have got one, however?'

Just as the door opened again, Snape and Keith disappeared under the cloak. Sirius prayed silently that Keith would keep quiet as the nasty face of Marcus Zabini looked in from the doorway.

Then, the visible Slytherin's eyes widened. "The brat's gone!" he bellowed to somewhere behind him. "Somebody's taken him!" Rushing out of the room, he never noticed the two other people who were there.

For the first time in his life, Sirius wished luck for Snape.

*

"Sirius?" asked Remus worriedly as soon as he saw his husband emerging from the room where he'd been alone. "Did you -- did you find him? Did you find our little Keith?"

"I did," replied the Animagus to the werewolf's immense relief. "I did find him, and he's safe."

"Safe?" echoed James. "How anybody in the Slytherins' evil clutches might be safe?"

"Well, I know he is," Sirius said firmly. Then he glanced at his friends. "I thank you for being here when we needed you. Now, however, I have to ask you to excuse me."

They all gave him confused glances, Remus included. However, they obeyed when Sirius quickly ushered them out of the tiny family's rooms. As they were gone, the werewolf turned around to face him.

"Sirius, what is this about?" he asked from his husband, but was interrupted by a raised hand.

"Okay," Sirius said, looking somewhere past him. "You can take the cloak away now."

As Remus watched in horrified fascination, Severus Snape appeared from some unknown place -- 'An Invisibility Cloak,' the werewolf realized as he saw the shimmering cloth in the Slytherin's hands. Then, however, he forgot it immediately as he saw what was on Snape's arm.

"Keith!" he exclaimed, then rushed forward to grab his son back to himself.

"Calm down, Lupin," muttered Snape, giving Keith immediately to his father. "I'm not going to even ask how you knew I was coming," he then said, giving Sirius a sharp glance. "Some kind of a Scrying Glass, I'd guess. Although I'm surprised that you would trust me to bring your son back safely."

"I saw your face," Sirius said, smiling. His eyes weren't on the Slytherin, but instead on Remus, who was currently busy cooing at their little son. Then he looked at Snape again. "I knew you didn't wish anything bad to Keith. You may not like us, but you don't want anything happening to him."

Just then, Remus raised his amber eyes as well. "Snape," he said carefully, handing Keith to Sirius as the Animagus reached for the boy. "You weren't one of those who kidnapped Keith."

"Of course not," replied the other boy shortly. "I'm not that stupid. Some imbeciles did it, and Lucius kept them from harming your son until I could sneak him away. Nobody knows that I even knew of the plan -- Lucius claimed that I was too sensitive to even hear of it. Therefore, not a doubt shall befall me. Don't worry, you'll get the guilty ones, though -- Lucius should have a full list. But you didn't hear anything from either of us," he added warningly. "We maybe don't want anything bad to your kid, but we don't want any troubles, either. And believe me, if we were labelled as the traitors of Slytherin, troubles we would get."

"I understand," Remus said softly, now in turn watching Sirius cuddle their tiny son, who was smiling broadly. "Thank you, Snape. You can't possibly understand how big a favour you've just done to us. Just -- thank you, thank you, thank you a thousand times."

"I get the picture," replied Snape dryly. "Very well. My job here is done, your brat is safe." He turned around to leave. However, that was not what the Lupins wanted. They owed him so much; they had to do something for Snape in return. The young wizard obviously wasn't well. His usually well-controlled face was now traced with something else -- worries, and sorrow.

"No, wait!" Sirius exclaimed, suddenly getting an idea. As the Slytherin turned around, raising his eyebrows questioningly, Sirius handed out his child. "Keith wants to thank you also."

Snape took the baby onto his arms, looking a bit uneasy. Despite his awkward expression he handled the baby with ease. Keith glanced up at him, then giggled a bit and tugged at his shirt. The Slytherin's usually so unreadable expression softened a bit as he looked down at the tiny child.

"Oh, what's this?" teased Sirius. "A Marauder's brat can make even the untouchable Snape melt?"

"He -- he reminds me of Mariah." Snape got an odd expression, a mix of sadness and longing.

"Mariah?" echoed Remus, confused. "Who's she?"

Snape met his eyes levelly. "My daughter," he said with his usual unemotional voice. However, the black eyes were flickering with the same emotions they'd just a moment before read from his face.

The Slytherin's simple answer shocked them all. After a moment, Sirius trusted his voice enough to speak. "Where -- where's your daughter, then?"

"In the Snape Manor," replied the other black-haired teen. "Of course, my parents wouldn't approve an illegitimate heir in the family, so they're claiming that she's my little sister."

"And -- what about her other parent?" the werewolf asked warily. This was getting almost absurd, and at the same time shocking.

"Lucius," replied Snape briefly. "It's quite ironic, anyway. You could run around with a pregnant belly and mood swings, while I had to use Concealment Charms and hide everything so our families wouldn't have gone on a rampage. Lucius was wholly ready to support me and her, even to the point of marriage, but his parents refused to even consider that. All our families want from us is to marry nice girls and continue the Pureblooded line."

"That's wrong!" gasped Sirius. "Of course you should have the right to take care of your own child!"

"Well, what could we do?" asked the Slytherin with a bitter tone. "I'm still not of age - just my luck to be born on the 30th of December. If I ran away with Mariah, I would have nowhere to go. And if Lucius tried to help me, he'd no doubt be disowned immediately, and without the Malfoy name and fortune backing him up, he'd hardly be any help." Then, Severus sighed deep.

"You must speak with Dumbledore," suggested Remus. "I'm sure he could come up with something."

"Yeah," agreed Sirius. Then, he turned a bit suspicious. "Why're you telling us this, anyway?" he demanded.

"Maybe 'cause your brat is so much like Mariah that I cannot think properly," replied Snape, raising an eyebrow. "Or maybe because I thought you'd understand how I feel, being parents yourselves."

"Well, we owe you more than we'll ever be able to repay," said Sirius firmly, taking Keith back and kissing the little boy's forehead. "But I'll be damned if we don't try. If Dumbledore tries something, he'll probably be able to even convince the Malfoys of the fact that they should not disown their son."

"I really doubt that," snorted the Slytherin. Then, however, he sighed. "I'll try talking to the Headmaster," he said quietly. "I don't know what else to do, there's just nothing we could do. But I cannot give up yet."

"Do not," Remus said, a determined glint in his eyes. "You will get your child back, Snape. I promise."

"Big comfort," muttered the other teen. However, he didn't look just as hopeless.

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