Switching Sides

Switching Sides

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Parental Discussions

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There was a knock on the door of the DADA Professor's quarters. Standing up from the couch, the man walked to the door and opened it. He wasn't surprised as he saw his son standing on the other side of the door. Raising an eyebrow, he asked, "Well, what is it now?"

"Well," said his son, walking to the room with just as much confidence as only a Slytherin and a Snape could ever have, "I just have some information you'd probably like to have."

"Really?" asked the professor, now raising his both eyebrows, while he at the same time closed the door. "It wouldn't be about your homework, is it? Your essay is late already!"

The younger Severus raised an eyebrow in a gesture very similar to that of his father's. "I just thought that you'd maybe rather be informed of the fact that you're going to be a grandfather," he said quite calmly. "Before it becomes public knowledge, I mean."

"WHAT?!" Now, the older Severus could do little but to just stare at his son. The teen met his gaze without batting an eyelid. For a moment, he stood under the other's gaze while the DADA Professor couldn't do anything but just gape at him, his eyes wide.

"I have a boyfriend," Severus the younger continued then. "And, due to an unfortunate mistake at some undefined point of time, he is now pregnant. He's going to keep it, and I'm not leaving him." With this, he gave his father a gaze far firmer than any he'd ever before shot to him.

"Of course," muttered the said father, now shaking his head, looking almost exhausted. "I should have known that one day, you would bring me this news. I just knew it." With a sigh, he then added, "Fine, stay with him. Have a child. Marry him, even, if you're enough of a man -- or even a boy -- to do that. But please, do at least tell me who it is you've set your eyes on."

Severus did not budge an inch. "His name is Peter Pettigrew," he said calmly. "And I love him."

"Love?" echoed his father sharply. "That's a strong word, Son. How can you say that, and even be sincere, as you seem to be? You are too young to tell true love from a passing fancy."

"No, I am not," the teen argued. "I know that I love Peter. I'm in love with him. And you know what? There's not a thing you can do about it. We're maybe young, but we are going to have that child, and we will take good care of it. And yes, if he accepts, we will even get married. You should be proud of me, Father. A Pureblood son-in-law -- isn't that more than what you ever wished for? After all, you've often said that you'd be surprised if I ever managed to even produce a bastard to carry on the Snape name, leave alone a legitimate child!"

Severus Senior shook his head tiredly. "You know that I love you, Severus," he said quietly. "True, I might have said harsh things, but in the end, I do love you. I'm not the best of fathers, and I know it very well, so please, don't rub it on my face. At least I'm trying my best."

Now, Severus Junior smirked. "You see, Peter?" he asked from seemingly thin air. "He's not that bad in the end. And you can come to the sight now, anyway."

Both his father and hidden boyfriend were shocked to hear this. However, after a moment of hesitation, Peter lowered the hood of the Invisibility Cloak, revealing his head to the other two people in the room, then took the cloak off. Now, the DADA Professor was visibly startled.

"You -- you let him come in here?" he asked harshly. "You let him come here and spy on me?"

At this, Severus Junior wrapped his arms possessively around his boyfriend's waist and glared challengingly at his father over Peter's head. "Peter was scared because you always come out as such a bastard," he snapped. "Why couldn't I have shown him that you're not that bad?"

For a moment, Severus Senior just watched them both. He saw the fire in his son's obsidian eyes, the determined line of his lips, and the arms wrapped protectively around his boyfriend's waist. Just as well, he saw Peter, the small teen's face pale, his expression startled, but no less determined than Severus Junior's. They were going to keep their child, and nothing would stop them -- not even the nasty and intimidating DADA Professor.

After a moment, the professor just sighed and shook his head. "Sit down, both of you," he said. "I do believe that we have not a few things to discuss right now."

*

Remia frowned as she glanced down the Gryffindor table. She hadn't seen Peter for the whole day, and neither had any of her friends. This was surprising, as Peter usually always stayed close to them -- like Remia suspected, this was because he had best chances of running into Severus that way. But now, nobody had seen Peter anywhere, and it was dinnertime already.

Hey -- wait a minute. She hadn't seen Severus anywhere, either, now had she? And a quick glance towards the Head Table told that Severus Senior wasn't present, either.

Just then, the door to the Great Hall was opened once again. As she turned to look there, she saw at first Severus Senior indeed walking in. Behind the DADA Professor, however, he saw Peter and Severus Junior, who were walking hand in hand. Peter looked rather pale, while Severus had just his usual paleness, but they were both smiling. This was probably what startled Remia most. It was rare that Severus smiled -- and he definitely did not smile when he was walking with somebody who obviously was his boyfriend under a thousand pairs of eyes.

By the time the two teens parted from the professor and started to make their way towards the Gryffindor table, most of the school was already looking at them curiously. When they finally came over and calmly sat to the two empty chairs next to the Marauders, everybody was watching. What exactly was a Slytherin doing in the Gryffindor table?

"Err... Snape?" asked James warily. "What exactly do you think you are doing?"

Now, Severus Junior turned towards him, smirking. "Ah, Mr. Potter," he said smoothly. "Allow me to introduce you to my fiancé," he pointed at Peter, "and our to-be-firstborn child." At this, he pointed at Peter's stomach. The small boy flushed slightly, but didn't protest.

This, of course, made everybody in the table gasp in shock and surprise. "You -- you are pregnant?" asked Lily from Peter, who flushed again and nodded.

"You were already together?" shrieked Remia. "And you didn't tell me?!"

"Why should we have told you?" drawled her Slytherin friend. "You were having such great time with your futile attempts at matchmaking. It would have been such a pity to spoil your fun."

"You -- you -- you nasty person!" Remia fumed. "If you had just told me, it'd been easier to us all! I could have been happy, and you could have been happy without me trying to push you together! Why on Earth didn't you tell anybody?"

"Remia," Severus said, rolling his eyes, "if you think about it another time, you'll know why we didn't tell anyone." And truly, Remia soon realized their reason for that. Everybody was staring at them and whispering. Poor Peter was blushing all the time, clearly uneasy, and although Severus didn't let it show, Remia could tell that he was just as uneasy as his boyfrie -- fiancé.

She shook her head in wonder. It seemed that the Marauders could never do it the usual way.

*

Time passed, like it often does. To be exact, a week went past. But, while other girls started to complain about stomach cramps, aches, and other all-too-well-known symptoms, Remia found none of those. Then, one morning, she found herself in the bathroom, throwing up violently.

As she at last got up on shaky feet, Lily was standing in the doorway of the bathroom, looking very pale. "Remia?" she asked carefully. "Remia, what's wrong?"

"I don't know," the brunet girl muttered weakly. "But I have a bad feeling. And if it turns out to be true, I will kill Sirius." At this, Lily blinked, then paled even further.

"...Do you think you could be pregnant?" she whispered.

"Well, if I'm not, then I certainly don't know what this could be," muttered Remia. "My period's late, and now I have morning sickness. Oh, no, I'm not pregnant -- just a bit down."

"Sarcasm doesn't suit you, my friend," Lily said. "And now, get to Madam Pomfrey while I wallow in self-pity because of my aching stomach."

*

"But how can this be?" asked Sirius, dumbfounded. He was currently pacing the Infirmary, his face pale, Madam Pomfrey watching him closely and Remia glaring at him. "I'm absolutely certain that I've used contraception every time we've --" At this, he blushed and shut up.

"Sirius," asked the mediwitch quite calmly, "there isn't any chance you could have casted the wrong charm on an accident, is there?" She gave him a knowing glance.

A slight flush started to spread onto Sirius's face. "It -- it could be possible," he muttered.

"WHAT?" Remia screeched. "You -- you irresponsible brat! This is your fault, entirely your fault! I hate you, Sirius Black! It's only your fault that I'm pregnant!"

"As much as I usually like to disagree with claims such as that," Madam Pomfrey said, "now I have to say that Remia is as correct on this as anybody can ever be. If you casted the wrong charm, even though you should have known the correct one, it is indeed your fault -- not only yours, it takes two to make a baby, but most of it is indeed your fault."

"Fine," sighed Sirius, throwing his arms dramatically into the air. "Gang up against me! I'm male, so why should anybody care about me?" Despite his act, he was now really confused, and a bit scared. He had no idea what they should do. There was no way he could force Remia to abort; it was the girl's own choice entirely. But they were no more than sixteen, for Merlin's sake! They were far too young to have a child, no matter what the circumstances!

"Well?" asked Madam Pomfrey just then, as if having read his thoughts. "Are you keeping it?"

Now, Remia bit her lip. A second before she'd been enraged; now she seemed to be on the verge of tears. "I -- I don't know," she whispered. "We are so young; how could we have a child? But I don't, no, I can't abort it. It wouldn't be right."

"Well," said Sirius then bravely, walking up to her and putting a hand on her shoulder, "if Peter and Snape can manage it, then surely we can, too?" As Remia glanced up at him, he gave her a comforting smile. "It's your decision," he said softly. "Whatever you decide, I'll support you."

"I -" Remia drew a deep breath, then said, "I am going to keep it."

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