Lionsnake Manor

Lionsnake Manor

*

Loss and Recovery

*

Severus leant his head against the back of his magical wheelchair and sighed. Then he returned his eyes to the potion he was working on. This was one he simply couldn't mess up. Draco, afraid that little Albus might be born prematurely, had asked him to prepare a potion to make sure that the child stayed unborn as long as possible. If he was born now, he would almost certainly die. And that couldn't happen.

Not bothering to measure the ingredients -- with the experience he had, such an act was not needed -- he then dropped some crushed beetles into the simmering potion, then poured some unicorn's milk to follow it. Carefully not to let the liquid boil, he adjusted the flames under it. Then he watched until it turned slowly blue. "Okay, it's getting almost ready," he then said. "Would you bring the vials, Lucius? ...Lucius?"

As he got no answer, Severus glanced to where he had last seen his husband. However, Lucius wasn't there. Another quick glance showed him that Lucius was nowhere in the laboratory. He was alone.

Despite his best efforts, Severus was starting to panic. He was alone. There was nobody with him. All alone, seeing nothing, hearing nothing, smelling nothing, alone with only his own mind and fears in the endless darkness that surrounded him. Why wasn't Lucius there? Why wasn't anybody there? They had left him alone, they no more wanted him, they, too, blamed him for failing Remus and little Albus. They didn't want to rescue him, to bring him out of the darkness, and he tried to run but couldn't and fell and --

Lucius was startled as he heard a piercing scream from the laboratory. Abandoning the ingredients he'd been looking through he hurried back to the laboratory, wanting to see what had drawn such a reaction from his husband. To his great shock he saw Severus lying on the floor, having fallen there from his wheelchair, no more screaming but crying, repeating, "No, no, no," again and again. Fear gripping his heart, Lucius immediately ran to his beloved's side, drawing him into his arms.

"Shh, Severus," he muttered, embracing his husband, stroking his back in an attempt to calm him. "Calm down. I am here, you're not alone. Nothing is wrong. Just calm down, love..."

As a voice broke through Severus' mental barriers, he managed to get some grip of himself. Somebody was talking, it wasn't silent anymore. He wasn't alone. With a great effort he managed to return to reality, seeing that he was still in the laboratory, not back in the darkness of the months of his illness. And there, right above him, was Lucius' face. Lucius was holding him, talking to him, and he could see Lucius, he could hear and feel and smell Lucius. He wasn't alone anymore.

Lucius let out a sigh of relief as Severus seemed to break out of his daze, the crying and muttering slowly ceasing. Hugging the darkhaired man against his chest, he whispered, "Don't worry, Severus, you're not alone. I'm sorry for leaving, love. I just went to get some ingredients, nothing more."

"No... no," sobbed Severus, but this time it wasn't just mindless denial; there was an actual meaning behind his words. "I am the one who should be sorry, for freaking out like that. Of course you just went to get the ingredients, I should have realized that. I'm sorry to be just a burden to you all."

"You're not a burden to us," Lucius said gently. "You are our husband, and we all love you very much. We could never think of you as a burden; that's simply impossible."

"But I bring you nothing but trouble," muttered the younger man. "One of you has to stay with me all the time, or I'll freak out. You always have to worry whether I'm going to kill myself today or not until tomorrow. What have I ever done for you, aside from giving you reasons to worry?!"

"I won't even start the list," the blond man replied, his tone still gentle as ever. "Try to believe it, Severus. You are very precious to me, to all of us. And we simply couldn't live without you." Arranging Severus securely in his arms -- 'He's awfully thin,' he thought -- Lucius then stood up. Placing the darkhaired man back into the wheelchair, he smiled. "Now, what do you say about putting that potion into the vials?"

*

Despite the best efforts of all his husbands, it soon became evident that Remus simply couldn't carry the baby to full term. So, while they were all nervous and worried about him, nobody was really surprised when one day, as he was about eight months along, the werewolf went into labour. Draco, who in all honesty was rather happy that he had managed to put the birth off even that long, quietly set to work. With the help of Severus and a mediwitch from St. Mungo's he drove all the others away, telling Lucius to make sure that Harry and Sirius got some rest and didn't stay up all night waiting for news.

Despite his best efforts, Sirius did indeed fall asleep. And so, he slept, until in the middle of night he was startled awake by Harry's voice. "Sirius," he heard an urgent whisper. "Sirius, wake up! We have a son!"

"What?" In an instant -- well, as quickly as his huge baby bulge would allow him to, anyway -- Sirius bolted up, his eyes wide as platters. "We have a son? Really?"

"Exactly," replied Harry, smiling slightly at him. "Draco used his pendant to tell Lucius, who then told me. Remus just gave birth to a healthy baby boy. Or at least he's still healthy," he added gloomily.

"And he will be," Sirius said determinedly, drawing the other pregnant wizard into an awkward but warm embrace. "Severus will keep him alive. He promised to, and he always keeps his promises."

*

Although Sirius and Harry were indeed certain that the baby would be all right, Draco and Severus sadly weren't as sure about that at the moment. With Remus sleeping in exhaustion, they were currently examining the baby. At last, Draco casted the charm that would mean most. He was already worried; the baby had fallen asleep almost instantly after being born -- or at least he appeared to be asleep.

And, to both of their great horror, the tiny infant started to glow with a greenish blue light. Severus closed his eyes, shaking his head in denial. Draco, however, bit his lip, wondering just what he was going to tell Remus. Their three other husbands would have to be told as well, but Remus was the most important now.

Just then, well showing the incredible healing powers of a werewolf, Remus slowly opened his eyes. Seeing the baby in Draco's arms, his eyes lit up with delight. "Is that Albus?" he asked eagerly. "Give him to me!"

Draco now raised his pained eyes to the werewolf. "Remus, you can't come near him," he said quietly. "He has the Dark Plague. We'll do what we can for him, but we can't risk you catching it as well."

"NO!" shrieked Remus. "You're lying! Let me hold my baby! Don't take him away from me!" Tears were running down the werewolf's pale cheeks. He'd gone through a lot for his baby, he'd given birth to him slowly and painfully, and now they wouldn't even let him hold him for a little while!

"Remus, love, please believe us," Severus said with a desperate voice. "If it only was possible, you would of course get to hold him. Now, however, you cannot -- you're too weak from giving birth to him, it might be possible that you didn't survive the disease, either. We simply can't risk losing you, too."

"But... but my baby," whispered Remus. "I don't want to lose him... not without holding him first."

"Remus, we will do everything we can to allow you to hold him, and see him grow up to be a healthy, happy wizard," Draco said quietly. "We'll do what we can, and after that, you will get to hold him."

Draco was going to keep his promise, too. He would make sure that Remus got to hold his baby at least once -- even if it was only as a lifeless corpse after everything had failed.

However, Draco was also prepared to do everything in his power before letting that happen. Therefore, he now collected the tiny baby in his arms, taking him to a room they had prepared especially for this situation, of course in secret from Remus and the others. Meanwhile, the mediwitch from St. Mungo's was left to calm Remus down as Severus went to tell the news to the rest of their husbands. Sure, he could have used the pendant, but he wasn't sure whether Harry and Sirius were awake, and besides, he wanted to be present when they found out. If the pregnant ones freaked out, Lucius would need all the help he could get.

Of course, Severus was rather correct with his guess. Harry started yelling something about Voldemort and unfairness and Sirius announced that he was going to give birth prematurely, too, thanks to the shock. Thankfully, Severus and Lucius managed to eventually make them calm down enough to actually listen to some reason. After all, it wasn't like they hadn't been expecting this; they had simply desperately hoped it wouldn't happen. And now they all desperately hoped that it wouldn't come to worse.

The next few weeks, however, were very strained in the Lionsnake household. In children, the disease rarely lasted as long as with adults; if it didn't end within a month or so, it most likely ended with death. However, Draco's expertise and Severus' potions somehow managed to keep little Albus alive.

Finally came the day when Draco collected all his husbands in one room. Well, almost all of them -- Severus, who thankfully had now developed an immunity to the Dark Plague, was watching the baby. So, Draco was alone left to face four pairs of questioning eyes, Remus' being the most desperate ones.

"He is alive and no more ill," Draco sighed. "There's no brain damage or deformations. However... he will never learn to walk. He's simply not able to." He let his serious gaze dance from one husband to another.

"Well, isn't that great," murmured Sirius. "With a bit of luck he'll inherit Lucius' knack for potions and we'll have a mini-Severus in our hands before we know it." However, there was no true humour in his voice.

Remus seemed to hesitate a bit. Then he asked quietly, "Do I get to hold him now?"

Draco nodded, glad to do so. Even though the baby had needed intensive care most of the time, he had been able to allow Sirius and Harry hold him for short periods of time. Remus and Lucius, however, had been unable to do so, and were thus the only ones who had never even hold the baby, even though he was biologically theirs. To be able to finally allow this made Draco almost happy enough to forget the difficulties little Albus would certainly have in his life just because his legs wouldn't carry him.

However, he did forget all his worries as they all hurried to the room that held the rest of their family and he saw Remus' expression as Severus handed the oh-so-tiny baby to its carrier. Silent tears of joy rolled down the werewolf's cheeks as he looked down at the tiny, round face, the incredibly long eyelashes brushing the smooth cheeks and the little tuft of golden brown hair. Then the child opened its eyes, the silver orbs curiously observing his surroundings. With a broad smile, Remus leant down to kiss Albus on the forehead. Lucius wrapped his arms around the werewolf, placing his chin on Remus' shoulder and watching the baby in his husband's arms. The others all gathered around them, the attention of them all centred on the tiny person, a baby who would cry but not kick, their firstborn, Albus Nathaniel Lionsnake.

And, for a moment, somehow they all found it in themselves to be happy.

***