Of Hope And Love

Of Hope and Love

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Chapter 11:

Torture and Truth

*

Severus glanced warily around himself in the Death Eater meeting. Only half of his mind was really there, the other staying in touch with his children on a wholly other level of reality. At the moment, his babies -- all four of them -- were quite restless. The Death Eaters and especially Voldemort was scaring them.

'Don't cry, my little ones,' he thought soothingly to his dear children. 'Dad is always with you. Dad will take care of you, and will not let the bad men hurt you in any way. Promise.'

He'd just lately managed to gain the ability to talk to his children, and he was finding it very entertaining. He often did it even at class; with only a bit of practice, he'd managed to find a way to both watch over the class and partly concentrate on his babies. They couldn't reply with words yet, only with feelings and emotions, but they did understand very well whatever he said to them. The first time one of them had sent a hazy feeling to love to him, he'd been overjoyed. Nothing could have made him happier. Well, nothing but getting Kingsley back, anyway -- and even that would be only a bit better.

The Dark Lord started his usual speech, and Severus felt his mind testing their minds while he talked. His carefully trained mind immediately showed only pictures of loyalty and perfect hate for Muggles, hiding all his true thoughts. Satisfied with what he saw, Voldemort's mind moved on, although Severus did feel a small trace of it remaining. He had to be careful with his thoughts all the time in the meetings.

Then, Voldemort's red eyes fell onto a very particular Death Eater. "Warus," he hissed, and the man immediately stepped forward, falling onto his knees and bowing deep in front of his Master. "I have heard that your work has been less than sufficient. Explain yourself... if you can."

"My Lord, I have done everything I could," the man said, not daring to raise his eyes from the ground. "However, nothing has helped. Shacklebolt seems to be impossible to break."

Never in his life had Severus felt such a fascinating mixture of shock and relief flooding through him as when he heard those words. Kingsley was indeed alive. He maybe wasn't entirely safe, but he was alive. And that was more than he could have ever hoped for, even though he had indeed wished it.

'Did you hear, children?' he asked from his babies. 'Your Father is indeed alive! Everybody who has been telling that he is dead is horribly wrong! He is alive!'

Just then, however, Voldemort's eyes snapped up from the shivering man on the ground, the ruby gaze nailing Severus at his footsteps. "What is it I'm hearing, Severus?" asked a dangerously calm voice. And, with a feeling of terror washing through him, Severus realized that the shock and his efforts to maintain a link to his babies had combined made his mental walls fall. The Dark Lord had seen his betrayal.

Very well. Time to continue the play, then. Gathering his mental defences as soon as possible, Severus replied, "I do not know what you mean, my Lord. I haven't said a thing."

"No, you haven't," admitted Voldemort. "However, you have indeed thought something." Now, he rose from his throne and took a couple of steps forward, eyeing him intently. "How interesting," he said. "All these years you have managed to hide from me. I never knew you were such a powerful Occlumens, Severus. If I had known, I most certainly would have made use of your talent." With a malicious smirk, he then continued, "Spying for Dumbledore, are you? How foolish of you, Severus. You should know very well how I punish traitors. It's not wise at all to rise against me."

Severus stood still, meeting the intent gaze with all coldness he could muster. He knew what Voldemort was trying to do: make him let his mental walls down again. He knew that if he did that, the Dark Lord would strike immediately. His own mind maybe would bear the attack, but the children within him wouldn't; that attack would certainly shatter the tiny souls. And he would not allow that to happen.

"You're awfully quiet today, Severus," said Voldemort. "Why so? Is your mind somewhere else?" Then, after a momentary pause, during which nobody made a sound, he said, "Like on your unborn children?"

Now, most Death Eaters let out shocked sounds. Severus just shivered involuntarily. The mental voices of his babies were getting more and more fearful by every passing second. He did his best to send peaceful thoughts to their direction. "I have no idea what you're talking about, my Lord," he said levelly.

"Oh, I'm sure you don't." The Dark Lord smirked evilly. "Crucio!"

The curse hit Severus right on the chest, making him fall down to his knees on the ground. He was in an awful, unimaginable pain, but he knew that the pain didn't reach his babies. Voldemort didn't let it; the Dark Lord most probably much preferred the thought of killing him first and then letting his children die inside his dead body. For a moment, he merely shivered, biting his teeth together to keep himself for crying out. He would not give the bastard the satisfaction of showing him his pain.

Then, however, a new spasm of pain hit him, and he couldn't help himself. A pained cry escaped his lips, no, a howl rather than any human sound. And just then, he felt the Concealment Charms failing as he lost all control of his magic, his whole being concentrated on keeping as much of the pain away as possible.

Concealment Charms were tricky things. Not only did they hide the thing they were casted on, they also made it, in a way, untouchable. Nobody could accidentally run into his round stomach, as it would just be magically moved out of the way. It wasn't on its usual place, instead being on some part of the empty space around him, the magic keeping it connected to the rest of his body. Only if he was underwater or otherwise had no empty space around him, his baby bump would materialize on its proper place, although it would still be invisible. If he indeed were in water, there would simply be a stomach-shaped waterless area in front of him. But otherwise, Concealment Charms were really useful -- they only needed a lot of energy and concentration to keep up. And now Severus had neither of those to spare.

Even more shocked sounds were heard as the Death Eaters saw his stomach suddenly growing into its true size. Voldemort merely laughed cruelly, then started to mock him. "You're carrying more than one bastard, then, eh, Severus?" he said. "A Light-sider's broodmare. What a shame, indeed."

Severus was unable to answer as another wave of pain hit him. However, under the cover of withering in pain, one of his arms uselessly wrapped around his now-round stomach, he managed to collect enough willpower to snake his other hand into his pocket. Then, he grasped on a tiny object there.

"Godric," he muttered almost inaudibly. Another wave of pain hit him at the same moment as he first felt the familiar tugging behind his navel. Then, as the Portkey was wholly activated, he finally gave in to the darkness that had been sneaking around the borders of his mind for a while now, losing his consciousness.

But still, even before he lost all knowledge of the world around him, he managed to turn his thoughts inwards again. 'Don't fear, my children. We will be saved.'

And, even though it didn't seem very probable, he knew that it would indeed happen.

*

Harry bolted up in his bed, his skin covered with a cold sweat. He had just had the most horrible vision, and he simply had to tell Dumbledore. There was no time to lose.

"What's it, Harry?" asked a quiet voice as he jumped from the bed to dress himself. "What's wrong?"

Harry glanced over at his husband. As it was weekend, he was sleeping in the secret quarters with Remus. His dorm mates knew that he was with a "boyfriend," but only Ron knew the whole truth. "Snape's been discovered," he said hastily. "Voldemort just tortured him, but he somehow managed to escape. And --" Swallowing a bit, he then finished, "And I fear that Snape is pregnant, too."

Instead of looking surprised or shocked, like could have been expected, however, Remus just nodded slowly. "I knew that," he said quietly, "and I did try to make him stop spying. He just wouldn't listen to me. There was no way I could have changed his mind, Harry... Believe me, I did try."

"Of course you tried," Harry said. "It is by no means your fault, and you shouldn't blame yourself for it." He gave Remus a quick, reassuring hug, then said, "I'm going to inform Dumbledore. You can stay here."

"No," Remus said firmly. "I'm coming with you. I want to know what's happened to Severus -- no, I need to know. He's the only one around I can talk to and who will really understand how I feel."

"Very well, then," muttered Harry, picking up the robe Remus had neatly folded onto the chair the night before and tossing it to the werewolf. "Dress up quickly. We have to warn Dumbledore as soon as possible. A minute's delay might mean death to Snape and his child."

"Children, Harry," corrected Remus quietly under his breath, "his four children." However, the teenager never heard his lycanthropic husband's words.

Mere moments later, they were standing in Professor Dumbledore's office. Harry was busy explaining to the Headmaster just what he had seen in his dream. "Headmaster," he said hurriedly, "Professor Snape has been discovered. He managed to escape alive, but he is in a very bad shape. I think he fainted as soon as he got away from there -- by a Portkey, I suppose. And besides --" He swallowed, then finished, "He's pregnant. And very far along, about full term, even, at least according to the size of his stomach."

"No, he's not," said Remus quietly. "He's about as far along as I am. It's just that I'm only having one baby -- and he's having four." At their astonished gazes, he said, "Yes, it's true. Severus is having quadruplets."

"Merlin," Dumbledore muttered, and looked suddenly very old. "Poor Severus. Just what have I done when I sent him spying? What have I made him risk?" Nobody could answer that, though. So, after a moment, he looked up at them again. "Are the babies Kingsley's?" he asked.

Remus nodded. "Of course they are," he said. "Severus would never cheat on his lover. As Kingsley's been his only lover for the past few years, they couldn't be anybody else's."

"Merlin," sighed the Headmaster again. Then he stood up. "Remus, go and tell Poppy," he said gently. "I and Harry are going to get Severus. He's no doubt in the Forbidden Forest."

And so he was. Almost as soon as they headed for a very particular clearing in the Forest, Harry and Dumbledore found a dark form huddled on the ground. As they hurried neared, they found out that it was indeed Snape, his arms wrapped around what seemed to Harry like a full-term pregnant stomach. Seeing this, Dumbledore sighed even deeper than before, then casted a quick charm to levitate the unconscious man to the castle. Of course, before this, he cast an invisibility charm on them all.

In the Infirmary they were welcomed by a worried Poppy Pomfrey and a nervous Remus. Seeing the shape the Potions Master was in, Poppy snapped her tongue very disapprovingly, then started to quickly arrange him onto a hospital bed. There were tiny tears in the corners of her eyes as she ran scans, examined injuries, and mixed potions. The three conscious wizards just watched her working, Dumbledore very thoughtful and sad, Harry fearful and almost pitying, and Remus just horrified, the werewolf's hands clasped very tightly onto Harry's. After some time, Poppy simply told them to get out, saying that she needed to perform an operation. As Harry demanded to know what she was going to do, she told him.

Remus couldn't stop crying even after reaching their quarters.

*

Severus opened his eyes very slowly. At first, he couldn't figure out where he was or why he was there. Especially he couldn't tell for how long he had been asleep -- or unconscious.

Then it all came back to him in a rush. Voldemort had discovered him, he had been tortured. And then he had Portkeyed himself back to the Hogwarts grounds... And, by the looks of it, he was not in one of the private rooms of the Infirmary of the school. Despite himself, he groaned aloud.

In an instant, the door was opened, and Poppy Pomfrey rushed in. "At last, you're awake," she said, sounding relieved. "You've been unconscious for almost a week. I was getting worried."

"Poppy," said Severus quietly. "So you know all about it now."

"About what?" asked the mediwitch, looking a bit confused. "What do you mean?"

"My pregnancy," the Potions Master said, "my babies. You know about them now."

"Well..." Now, Poppy hesitated a bit, looking suddenly very serious. Serious, and rather sad. "You see, Severus, I really don't know how to tell this to you. I just don't know."

"What is it?" asked Severus sharply, instantly alarmed. "There's nothing wrong with my babies, is there? They are perfectly fine, I know it. They have to be fine!" They just had to. They were all he had in life. However, at the same time as Poppy opened her mouth again, looking incredibly sad and apologetical, he noticed something really alarming -- something that made him fall deep into despair.

He couldn't feel the babies moving within himself anymore.

*