You Never Know

A man entered Remus Lupin's room about two hours after the dawn. He was prepared to carry to the bed and cover the werewolf who would be naked after the transformation, then leave some strengthening potions on the bed-side table and leave. Everything would go just as usually, since after the first time, he'd almost never stayed until the other man awoke. The Slytherin's thoughts were already flowing to everything he'd do once he'd left the little cottage.

All these thoughts left his mind like rats leave a sinking ship as he saw the golden wolf who still lay on the floor, seemingly asleep.

His mind was rapidly going through all knowledge he possessed about werewolves. At last he found the piece of information he was looking for: There was indeed one occasion in which a werewolf wouldn't transform back after the full moon.

The occasion being that there was a litter of cubs conceived to them during the night.

'Oh, fuck,' he thought.

'Lupin is pregnant.'

'Because of me.'

At that thought, Severus Snape fainted.

*

It was still before noon as Severus gained back his consciousness. A quick glance around the room told him that there indeed was a wolf asleep on the floor, not a man.

He got up on shaky legs. For the first time in his life, he felt really nervous. He hadn't been this scared even before Voldemort.

But, facing Voldemort would be much easier and less dangerous than to face the wrath Albus Dumbledore and Poppy Pomfrey would most likely give him for this.

At first, he collected Moony on his arms and carried her to the bed. There was no use pulling the covers over her, so he just laid her there, not daring to wake her. Then he went over to the fireplace and murmured a quick spell to light up the flames. He tossed a handful of Floo powder from the nearby pot to the fire, and shouted, "Albus Dumbledore!"

Soon, the old wizard's face appeared to the flames. "What it is, Severus, my boy?" he asked kindly.

Severus shuddered slightly, knowing that the Headmaster wouldn't be kind at all after receiving the news. "I think," he began, breathed deep inside and tried again, "I think we just might have a little problem here."

"What?" Dumbledore gained instantly a worried expression. "Is something wrong with Remus?"

"Well..." Severus hesitated, then said, "You'd better get Poppy here as well."

In fifteen minutes, both the Headmaster and the school nurse entered the cottage. As they saw the wolf lying on the bed, both gasped in shock. Poppy immediately ran to check on Moony, whilst Dumbledore turned towards Severus.

"Do you have any idea about what could have caused this?" he asked kindly.

"It was my fault," Severus confessed quietly.

"Your fault?" Dumbledore echoed, frowning. "You didn't somehow mess up the Wolfsbane Potion, did you?"

"No," the Potions Master replied, shaking his head. "But I think that Poppy might soon get a pretty good idea of what has happened."

"Really," the mediwitch's voice said, cutting their conversation. The tone was a cold one that neither of the wizards had ever heard her using. "And I'm horrified of what I've found!"

"What it is, Poppy?" Dumbledore asked, eyeing the wolf and Severus in turns, the wolf concernedly and Severus suspiciously.

"What it is, you ask! Well, I'll tell you what it is! Your beloved Potions Master has somehow managed to IMPREGNANT poor Remus!"

"WHAT?!" Dumbledore roared. "Severus, if this truly is your doing, you are in a very deep trouble indeed!"

"I know," the younger man said quietly. "But trust me, I didn't mean it, I --" He was, however, cut off by Madam Pomfrey.

"Severus Snape!" she snapped, obviously furious. "You'd better give me a satisfying explanation as of how on Earth you accomplished this, or I swear I'll have you thrown to the Azkaban right away!"

Severus hung his head down, both the mediwitch's and Headmaster's gazes fixed on him.

Then, he wasn't there. On his place was a huge, black wolf, with a spot of grey on his left front leg. The enormous animal, however, almost shrank down in front of the two pairs of steely blue eyes fixed on him.

As he turned back, the Headmaster shook his head. "Aren't there enough unregistered Animagi running around?" he asked. "And, if you absolutely have to be one, why do you want to have cubs on top of it all?!"

"Well, I swear I definitely didn't plan it!" Severus snapped back, gaining back some of his usual Slytherin pride.

"Maybe you didn't plan it," Pomfrey hissed. "But you did it. If it didn't mean that Remus is going to be left completely alone, I swear I would rip your balls off and make you eat them before ripping you to half!"

The Potions Master took a couple of steps backwards, shocked by the language the usually patient woman was using. "I don't --"

"SHUT UP!" she yelled at him. "I don't care what you have to say, I only care that you've just very well ruined the rest of Remus's life!"

Now, Dumbledore tried to step between them. "Poppy, I don't understand why --"

"You don't understand," Pomfrey hissed. "You don't understand! Well, let me explain this to you!" She glanced sharply at Severus, then said, "This kind of pregnancies can't be aborted. Thus, Remus is forced to have these cubs, whom will turn into humans some time after their birth."

Severus nodded, he knew all of this already.

"If a werewolf carries a litter of cubs, however," the mediwitch continued bitterly, "they're infinitely bound to the father of the cubs. There's no backing away from it. If they spent as much as three days away from their mate, they'll die." She glared sharply at him before continuing, "The only way to break the bond is the death of either of the mates. And now, Remus is bound to you, without ever meaning that to be." She snapped her tongue, then continued still, "You, Severus Snape, are in a very deep shit indeed."

Severus sighed deeply. "I'm well aware of that," he said quietly.

"Well, how long will it take?" Dumbledore asked from Poppy. "I mean, how long until the cubs arrive?"

"Usually, a wolf carries for two months," the mediwitch said. "As these are partly humans, however, it can be anything between two and nine months. The only thing I know, however, that they'll turn into humans almost exactly nine months from now on, which is the usual time of pregnancy to humans. How long they spend in their cub form before that, depends wholly on the length of Remus's pregnancy."

"So, if in example Remus carried them for five months, they'd be cubs for four months, and then turn to humans?" the Headmaster asked.

Poppy nodded. "That's right. It isn't until then that we can see whether one or more of the children are lycanthropic."

Severus was growing nervous. The day was going on, and Moony would wake up soon. He had a bad suspicion of who'd have to explain everything to her...

*

Moony awoke slowly. At first, she was really confused. Why was she still in her wolf form even though it was already near the sunset - the day after the full moon? Also, if she was still a wolf, how'd she got into the bed?

Her nose picked up a couple of new scents. Lemon drops with the little tone of cheerful insanity that was unique to Albus Dumbledore, as well as the mix of chocolate, clean sheets, warm sunlight, and Pepper-Up Potion that was obviously the scent of Poppy Pomfrey, were easy to her to identify. Also, she smelled Severus's familiar scent, rather fresh - peppermint, dungeons, and cool air, combined with the slight smell of various potions ingredients.

Also, there was the more than familiar scent of Shadow. It was night air, forest, and raw and masculine power, balanced by a hint of fluid motion and carefulness. Turning her head to the direction of the scent, she saw the large, black wolf sitting on the floor next to her.

For a moment, Shadow just watched her. Suddenly he said, very quietly, 'Last night, our certain deeds resulted with something... You're with a litter.'

'Oh,' said Moony, then again, 'Oh.' Then she said, 'This proves that I was right, however. Only a part-human can conceive me - no matter how much you've been telling against it.'

'Don't you understand?' Shadow asked in an almost desperate tone. 'I being an Animagus doesn't matter. You're with a litter - you're pregnant!'

'And?' she asked, astonished. She couldn't at all understand the mixed emotions coming from her mate. 'Is there something wrong about it?' Of course her having cubs would bring problems, but they could deal with those. All that mattered was that she cared about her mate, and he cared about her - both of which she knew to be true, even to the point of loving each other.

'Is something wrong about it? Of course there is something wrong!' Shadow replied fiercely. 'You're now infinitely bound to me!'

'Your point being?' she asked, then yawned lazily. 'I know emotions when I smell them, Shadow. I love you. You love me. What possibly could be wrong about us being bound?'

The black wolf let out the nearest a wolf could do to a frustrated sigh. 'Moony, you don't even know who I am as a human,' he reminded patiently.

'No, I don't,' she said, not even caring very much. As wolves were much more straightforward than humans, she knew that her companion was in essence a warm, caring person, even though he often tried to hide those emotions behind a cool mask. Even more importantly, she knew that she loved Shadow as a wolf, which meant that she definitely would love him as a human, no matter who he was. It just didn't matter to her. 'Who are you, anyway?' ...Not that she couldn't be somehow curious.

With a heavy wolf-sigh, Shadow took a step backwards. Then, there was something very close to a swirl in the air, and on his place stood a man - a tall, lean, black-haired man with a hooked nose and beetle-black eyes.

Severus Snape.

Moony couldn't help but gasp in surprise. Well, this was not at all what she'd expected. As she saw Severus's expression turning almost worried at her reaction, however, she rose to her feet and stepped forward. Then she licked the man's hand reassuringly, trying to make him understand that she did not mind his true personality.

Fortunately, Severus understood. He kneeled down to get to eye-level with the wolf, letting his long-fingered hands slightly stroke the gold-silver fur. Moony let out a satisfied little bark, then lay down, laying her head in Severus's lap to get her ears scratched.

Severus didn't fail her expections. As he scratched her ears, however, he kept speaking. "I'm sorry, Moony, I truly am," he babbled with a quiet tone. "I didn't mean it, I didn't even realize that this could happen before it was too late to do anything. I hope you aren't too mad at me for making you pregnant and bound to me..."

'Do I look like I was mad?' she asked calmly. Being in his human form, Severus could not catch all the complicated tones and side-meanings of her message, but he'd picked enough traits from his Animagus form to get the general idea of it.

"Good," he sighed. "I just hope that you'll be as willing to forgive me once you're back in your human form and have a litter of cubs running around... That you won't then just take our cubs and leave me alone."

Moony huffed quietly. 'Rather, I'd be fearing that you're going to leave me alone,' she replied. 'But we both know that that's not going to happen, either.'

Again, Severus seemed to get the general idea. "We have to talk about the arrangements with Albus," he said then. "I want you to be near me all the time, as if something goes wrong, nobody else can communicate with you in both ways. I wonder if teachers are allowed to take pet wolves to Hogwarts..."

'Don't be silly,' Moony chuckled. 'Of course you are.'

"Would you like that, however?" Severus asked warily, still scratching her ears. "Living with me in my quarters? Following me everywhere?"

She let out a satisfied sound. 'Sounds like a brilliant idea to me,' she told him. Then she rolled over to her back, showing that she wanted her belly to be scratched, too.

Severus, of course, was all too happy to obey her wishes.