Of Hope And Love

Of Hope and Love

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Chapter 15:

Secrets Revealed

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"My dear friends," Dumbledore said seriously, glancing at the people gathered around the table, "I fear that I am bringing grave news. I have both bad and good news, though. Which would you prefer to hear first?"

"Well, isn't it traditional to have the bad news first?" asked Nymphadora. She, like all the others, was a bit worried. Snape was nowhere to be seen, even though he was usually the first to arrive. This could not promise good. Even though very few of them liked the man, they all admitted his value to the Order.

"Very well. Now, like you can clearly see, Severus is not here with us, nor will he be for quite some time to come. At the moment he is in the Hogwarts Infirmary, and it isn't until next summer that he is allowed to leave his room there without special assistance. Therefore, as of now, we do not have a spy."

They were all shocked. It must be serious for Snape to not be present, but it was hard to imagine that nothing short of a fatal wound might keep the Slytherin in one place for so long. They'd all seen him practically crawling into an Order meeting after attending a Death Eater one and refusing to be healed until everything had been taken care of. Often he'd had wounds that would have made anybody else practically an invalid, and still done that. He was a mediwitch's nightmare -- and now he was in the Infirmary?

"Err... I'm sorry, but just what has happened to him?" asked Fred Weasley warily, and his twin immediately continued, "Yeah, it's not like Snape to allow himself to be bound like that."

Now, a tiny smile curled the Headmaster's lips. "It appears that Kingsley is still alive," he said, drawing breaths of surprise and relief from almost all occupants of the room. "Severus found out this in a Death Eater meeting. Unfortunately, this made him lose his concentration, and Lord Voldemort managed to strike. Severus himself would have easily escaped the torture, but there were others than himself he had to take care of. To be exact, his and Kingsley's unborn babies."

If the previous announcement had resulted with surprised expressions, this was welcomed with pure shock. A moment of silence followed as everybody was unable to say anything. Only Remus appeared to be somewhat calm; then again, he had known of this before the others.

At last, however, Mad-Eye Moody managed to gather his senses enough to ask, "Did you just say, 'babies,' Albus? As in, Snape's having more than one kid?"

"Indeed, Mad-Eye," Dumbledore told him, nodding in confirmation. "That is the main reason why Poppy has told Severus to stay in bed rest for the remainder of his pregnancy. Originally, he was carrying quadruplets, but Voldemort's torture made him lost one child. Now, he is carrying triplets. He almost lost them, though, and thus any additional stress has to be avoided."

If the former announcement had been weird, this was going a good deal to absurd's side. Again only Remus stayed calm as the others just stared at the Headmaster disbelievingly.

"Now, let me get this straight," Mundungus then said, seemingly awake and perfectly aware of the situation for once. "Severus Snape, the cruelest and most unfriendly person to ever have walked on this planet, is not only sleeping with Kingsley, but also having his kids? And not only he allowed himself to get pregnant and hadn't tried to get rid of the babies, but he even allows them to mess with his life?"

Dumbledore nodded solemnly. "That is about it, yes," he said levelly.

Of course, this definitely didn't make them stare any less.

*

"Oi, Professor Lupin!" an excited voice echoed through the corridors of Hogwarts. "What are you doing here? My, you're looking so much better than before!" The girl who had shouted was beaming.

"Oh, hello, Hermione," laughed the werewolf, steadying himself so as not to stagger as she enthusiastically hugged him as soon as she reached his side. "Please, call me just Remus, I'm not your professor anymore. I'm here just for a visit, so don't get too excited, okay?" He smiled brightly at him.

"Sure, Pro-Remus," Hermione said, grinning up at him. True, it had only been the day before they'd last seen each other, but they managed to make it appear like it had been forever. It seemed that a lot of them were much better at acting than anybody could have thought, as it now was necessary.

Now, Ron and Harry also came around the corner, finding Hermione, Remus, and Dumbledore -- the Headmaster had been talking with Remus just before they were surprised by Hermione. "Remus!" exclaimed Harry, genuinely surprised. He certainly hadn't expected to see his husband around the secret rooms. "How come you're here? Please, tell me you're going to teach DADA again!"

"Alas, no such luck," laughed the elder wizard. "I heard that Professor Tonks is more than well able to take care of your education in that subject, even if her methods aren't always the most agreeable ones."

Now, the Trio grinned. Yes, Tonks was certainly a fine teacher. Sure, she was clumsy, but she knew her subject, and made it interesting. They knew of course that she was only there as a part of the security for the castle, and, furthermore, Harry and Remus. Still, she was a good teacher, too.

Other students started to gather around them, too, all eager to talk with Remus. He had been a very liked teacher, and, according to all students around, nobody would have argued with him teaching again, a werewolf or not. Needless to say, Remus was delighted to hear this.

"I'm truly sorry to interrupt," Dumbledore said at last, smiling a bit. "However, I believe that it is almost dinner time. Would you like to accompany us for the dinner, Remus? I'm sure the students still have a lot to tell you and vice versa, but we must all take care of our nourishment as well."

Of course, the werewolf was happy to accept this invitation, which made the students even happier. In one big, noisy group they started to make their way towards the Great Hall and the dinner there. Harry kept close to his husband, all the time looking out for hateful Slytherins or the like.

Unfortunately, when he at last saw the strike coming, he could not do anything. The students had just parted to go into their respective tables, while Remus and Dumbledore continued towards the Head Table. Just then, however, somebody from the direction of the Slytherin Table shot a hex towards Remus.

"Watch out, Remus!" cried out several voices. At the same time some already started to make their way towards the attacker, preparing to capture him. Remus, however, had no time to avoid the hex. It hit him squarely in the chest. Sure, he was a werewolf and thus resistant to a lot of hexes and curses. However, the force behind this one threw him off balance, making him fall. As he fell, he hit his head on the stone floor, immediately losing his consciousness.

This, however, silenced the noise that had been born from the attack. As stated before, Concealment Charms needed a lot of concentration. As one lost their consciousness, they couldn't very well concentrate on anything. Therefore, Remus's round stomach was immediately visible.

Having been nearest to him, Dumbledore was naturally the first one to reach Remus's side. Seeing Harry, Ron, and Hermione coming, he calmly told them to take him to the Infirmary. Then he turned to look at the Slytherin Table. "Mister Malfoy," he said coolly, glaring at the blond who was currently held down by two seventh-year Ravenclaws, "you are now assigned a detention of two months. Attacking a peaceful guest is absolutely unacceptable. Be glad that you are not suspended." As Malfoy opened his mouth to say something, he shot the boy a warning glance. "A word, Mister Malfoy, and you will be suspended."

At that, the blond snapped his mouth shut, looking hateful. Then he glared at the two Ravenclaws holding him, as well as the other students keeping an eye on him, a couple of which of were even his fellow Slytherins. Yes, Remus had truly been a popular teacher.

Harry, however, missed this scene altogether as he worriedly hovered his unconscious husband towards the Infirmary, Ron and Hermione on his sides.

*

"Good afternoon, my friends," Dumbledore said seriously, eyeing the Order. "As you can see, we are again lacking one of our full number. However, I am delighted to tell that Remus is indeed safe and well at the moment. The reason he couldn't attend this meeting is that he is currently in the Hogwarts Infirmary."

"What?" asked Mad-Eye, looking shocked. "What's he doing there?"

"Earlier today he was making a visit to Hogwarts," told the Headmaster levelly. "However, due to a malicious hex from a student, we found out something he had tried to keep hidden. To be exact, the fact that Severus is not the only member of the Order who is with a child."

This, of course, made everybody burst into questions and comments. Smiling a bit, Dumbledore held up a hand to silence them. "Now, I'm sure you all agree with my decision to take Remus away from field work," he said. "It wouldn't do to harm his baby, now would it?"

"But who's the child's father?" asked Nymphadora, confused. Well, at least she appeared confused. Apparently she was a better actress than Dumbledore had given her credit for.

"Who do you think it is?" asked the Headmaster back, giving her a serious gaze. As expressions all around the table turned astonished, he sighed. "Indeed. The baby Remus is carrying is Sirius's. Sure, he doesn't seem to be that far, but we must remember that werewolves often have problematic reactions to natural phenomena. In this case, the pregnancy is developing a bit slower than it should be. According to Poppy, it will take about a year before the child is born. Therefore, we can expect a baby sometime next May."

For a moment everybody was silent. Then Molly said softly, "Harry must be overjoyed."

Dumbledore smiled a bit. Everything was going exactly like had been planned. "That he indeed is," he said. "He was the first one, besides myself, Remus told of his condition. Harry has been very supportive. I'm sure that Remus will now need that support even more than before," he added then.

"Albus," said Mad-Eye Moody then sharply, "as nice and fine all these good news are and all that, have you heard anything from the Ministry? They're still not giving in, are they?"

Now, a broad smile appeared onto the ancient wizard's face. "In fact, yes, they are," he announced. "Minister Fudge has finally agreed to believe that Voldemort has returned. As a result of that, I am allowed to take a part of Hogwarts and turn it into our new Headquarters -- with the application of all proper hiding and protection spells, of course. We'll be moving the Headquarters there as soon as possible."

"Will Remus also be there?" asked Nymphadora curiously. "I mean, he hardly can stay in his tiny cottage if he's with a child, and before he started to 'gather information,' like you say, he stayed here."

"You are indeed correct, Nymphadora," Dumbledore told her. "Remus will be staying in Hogwarts. In fact, I have already arranged special quarters for him. There will be a connection from his quarters into the Order area so that he can move around without being disturbed by students."

Everybody accepted this with happy expressions. Then Mad-Eye said in perfect seriousness, "Now, Remus and Snape will probably found an Expecting Mothers Extraordinaire club."

Needless to say, this made them all laugh out loud.

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