Beholden To No Man

Chapter 15

Severus found it odd to wake up in his quarters with a woman--no, his wife. Touching the ring on his left hand, he still found it hard to believe. Looking at the woman snuggled against him, he was pleased that it was reality.

"Morning, husband," she said playfully.

"You aren't going to be formal like that, are you?" he asked sardonically.

She laughed softly. "No." After giving him a few kisses, she said, "I could stay here all day with you."

"I know, but unfortunately, we both have to go to work."

"Don't remind me. I can't wait until the Easter holidays."

He brushed her hair trying to untangle it. "Have you decided where we are going?"

Running her hands along his chest, she replied, "Ask me again on Friday. I have a few ideas."

"Such as?" He was not that type of person who enjoyed surprises and hoped that she would keep her word and tell him then rather than make a game of it.

Leaning over, she gave him a kiss before rising from bed. "You'll have to wait until Friday."

He joined her in the shower, and the amount of time they took left Aurelia little time to eat breakfast. She insisted she wasn't feeling up to anything more than tea and toast, but this bothered Severus. He insisted that she take a snack to eat later in the morning.

After she was gone, he finished getting dressed to go up to the Great Hall. As he reached for the door, he saw the glint of gold on his finger. The last thing he wanted was students gossiping about him. For a moment, he considered taking the ring off and leaving it here. He paused with his fingers on the ring and then realized he could Disillusion it. That would be much better. With a quick flick of his wand, the ring became invisible. He could still feel its unfamiliar presence, but he wouldn't have to worry about the students noticing it.

This Monday was very much like any other Monday. He reiterated his mental note to not schedule first years for Monday morning Potions ever again. It just wasn't a good way for him to start the week. Thankfully, the afternoon was an improvement. He had the seventh years, and they were working on independent study projects.

Of the eight in his class, he thought that only two had the potential to have a career in Potions. Unfortunately, one of them was not only a Gryffindor, but also a Weasley. He scowled at the thought of her taking her brilliant mind and working for her brothers, and it made him shudder. Weasleys' Wizarding Wheezes already gave him a headache, and it would only multiply if she applied her intelligence to their products. He would have to encourage her to a different career field.

That evening, he spent only a few minutes in the Great Hall, eager to have dinner with Aurelia.

She was waiting for him when he returned to his quarters and greeted him with a hug and a kiss. "I just got in."

"How was your day?"

"Nothing extraordinary. Are you ready to eat?"

"Your appetite's back?"

She took her seat. "I feel better as the day goes on. That is why they call it morning sickness," she replied sarcastically.

He chose to ignore her comment and noticed that she was eating mostly just the vegetables. He would speak with the house-elves and see that they tailored the meals to her tastes.

"Severus?" He looked up, and she continued, "Where's your ring?"

He looked down at his finger, cursing his carelessness for forgetting to remove the charm. Tapping his finger with his wand, the ring reappeared. When he looked up, he could see the hurt in Aurelia's expression.

She dropped her fork. "Are you ashamed of me?" she asked in a quavering voice.

He quickly reassured, "No, not at all."

"Yet you chose to hide your ring, hide the fact you are married to me." As she burst into tears, she leapt up from the table and ran from the room.

He threw his knife across the room. He had known it would only be a matter of time before they argued about something, though he had not expected it to happen on their second full day of marriage. Knowing that he had to do something, he left to find her. Hopefully, she was still in the castle, since she did not have a cloak.

After he had been searching for ten minutes, the Bloody Baron appeared before him. "Do you know where she is?" Snape asked.

The Baron nodded and floated down the corridor. Severus followed silently and was only partially surprised when the Baron led him to the library. Looking around, he didn't see either of them. The students that looked up were encouraged to look back at their books by the sharp glare he gave them. Swiftly moving through the library, he went to the Librarian's office. The door was closed most of the way, but he could hear Aurelia crying inside.

Deciding it wouldn't be appropriate for him to disturb them, he went back to his quarters. Once there, he threw himself into the chair by the fire and stared at the flames.

There was a knock on the door, and he rose to answer it after checking the clock on the mantle and noticing that an hour had passed. "Mother," he said quietly when he opened the door.

Eileen slipped through the door, but didn't say anything.

"I warned you that I would not make a good husband," he said as he flopped back into his chair.

Eileen sat across from him. "Why did you do it?"

"Which 'it'? Disillusion the ring or forget to remove the charm?"

"The first one."

He sighed. "I have been the victim of the students' gossip for far too long. The last thing they needed was more fuel for the fire."

"You aren't embarrassed about being married, are you?"

"Merlin, no. It was the happiest day of my life. I never meant to hurt her."

"Severus, she is spending a lot of time here, her presence cannot be hidden forever. And once your child is born, I daresay it will become impossible. Invite her to dinner, in the Great Hall, and let Adrian announce your marriage."

"Are you insane? Do you realize the amount of giggling I'll have to endure if that happens? Not to mention the embarrassment to her children?"

"You need to let her know that you love her more than anything else. More than even your reputation. Invite her. That doesn't mean she will accept. I know I talked to you about how pregnancy would affect her, and that she will be much more emotional due to her fluctuating hormones. You have to take that into account."

"Take it into account? I barely know how to act as it is. You can't just ask me to be more careful. I am who I am. She knew that when she married me."

Eileen reached over and put her hand on his knee. "I know that, but you need to realize that she needs you to be supportive. Julia is already against her, she needs your unconditional support."

"She didn't seem too bothered by it Saturday."

"It can happen quickly. It's still early in the pregnancy. It will get worse before it gets better."

"Wonderful," he replied sarcastically. "Plenty of opportunity for me to ruin our marriage."

"You won't be ruining it. Just... tread softly around her. And you should probably get used to apologizing."

Closing his eyes, he leaned back in his chair. "Where is she now?"

"My quarters. I thought it would be more comfortable than my library office."

"Thank you."

"If you need to talk, my door is always open for you. Oh, you might want to take her a peace offering." She rose from her chair and gave him a kiss on the cheek. "Be patient. Marriage takes a great deal of patience, and dealing with a pregnant woman takes even more."

"So I've noticed," he muttered as she left. Looking around he tried to determine what he could give as a peace offering. Noticing the quill on his desk, he transfigured it into a red rose. It would have to do.

Standing before his mother's door, he raised his hand to knock and froze. What would he do if she was still angry with him? What would he do if she told him to go away? Finally, he worked up the courage to knock. When given permission, he entered.

He saw Aurelia sitting on the sofa, tightly hugging a pillow to her chest. Slowly, he crossed the room. "Aurelia, I'm terribly sorry about earlier. I never meant to hurt you." He handed her the rose before sitting next to her. "The speed at which everything has happened has been hard on both of us and..." he paused before continuing, "I was selfish."

He watched her bow her head as she succumbed to a fresh round of tears. Dealing with crying women was one thing he had always dreaded. His mother had cried far too much during his childhood. His instinct was to run from the situation, but he knew that would only hurt her more. Placing his arm around her shoulder and pulling her to him, he said, "I love you." When she tried to pull away, he refused to let go. "I love you as I have never loved anyone. I made a mistake, and I'm sure it will not be my last." Thinking to what his mother had said, he added, "I would be honored if you joined me for dinner in the Great Hall tomorrow."

She looked up at him with her tear filled eyes. "Really? You want me to come to dinner in front of the whole school?"

He didn't really want her to, but he knew what she wanted to hear. "I do."

She collapsed against him and started crying again, though this time it was tears of joy. "I appreciate the offer, darling, but you don't have to do that."

"Is there anything I can do for you?"

She reached down and picked up his left hand. "Don't hide it anymore."

"I won't." After a few seconds, he added, "Did you want to go back to our quarters? I could send for something to eat?"

"Eileen sent for something, but I would like to go back downstairs." As they walked back downstairs, she said, "I'm sorry I went off like that. My hormones are in flux."

"I know. I'll try to be more understanding."

"I guess I should warn you that I become very temperamental when I'm pregnant."

"I hadn't noticed," he said dryly.

She laughed softly and leaned against him. "Thank you."

**********

After Aurelia had been at the castle a couple of weeks, she decided to invite the girls to Sunday tea. So as not to draw too much attention, she sent the letters by owl.

When Sunday afternoon arrived, she was waiting patiently. Severus had agreed to retire to his office and catch up on work. She was reasonably sure that Helen would come, but she wasn't sure about Julia. Even if Julia didn't show up today, she hoped that Julia would eventually start to attend.

Shortly after Helen arrived, Aurelia poured tea, and the two of them chatted about classes. Aurelia did ask about Julia, but Helen didn't have a lot of contact with her sister due to their being in different houses.

After an hour, Aurelia sent Helen on her way, not wanting to keep her from her friends too long.

For the next month, she kept the same ritual, sending an owl to Julia, inviting her to tea. In return she would receive a terse note declining the invitation. Each week, Aurelia held out hope that Julia would change her mind, and each week, Julia did not. Aurelia tried her best to hide her disappointment from Severus, but as time went on, she found it harder to do.

Severus noticed that Julia's continued shunning was upsetting her, but he had no idea how to solve the problem. After all, if Julia wouldn't confide in her mother, what chance did he have?

He was watching his second year's brewing a Calming Draught when he realized there was something he could do. He stopped behind Helen's cauldron and hissed, "See me after class." Her classmates looked at her oddly. It was rare that he asked someone from his house to stay after class.

Once everyone had filed out of the room, she approached his desk. "You wanted to see me, Professor?"

"Your mother is quite upset at Julia's continued refusal to come to tea on Sundays. Have you spoken with her about this?"

"No, Professor. I don't see much of her. I'll see if I can find her."

"That would be greatly appreciated. Dismissed." He watched her leave the room. Once he was sure she was gone, he made his own exit. Julia had the next period free, as did Helen, and she normally spent it in the library. He intended to use one of the shortcuts to beat her to the library and conceal himself in the stacks. He wanted to hear for himself what Julia had to say.

**********

Helen entered the library and saw her sister sitting at a table with a stack of books. She slid into the chair across from Julia and said, "Do you have a minute?"

"I'm kind of busy," Julia replied, barely looking up from her studies.

Helen leaned forward. "Why don't you come to tea with Mum?"

"I don't have anything to say to her."

"She misses you."

"Oh, really? She abandoned us, Helen. She's starting a new family with a new man."

"She hasn't abandoned us. When we are together, it's just the two of us. We talk about school, Dad, what courses I should study next year, all kinds of stuff. We talk about you."

"Oh, yeah, about what a bad daughter I am, I'm sure."

"Julia, really, Mum misses you. Come to tea this Sunday."

"I'm busy. I have a project I'm working on."

"It's only an hour," Helen pleaded.

"I'm not going to play around that we are some sort of happy family. We aren't. Just because she's replaced Dad doesn't mean that I'm going to do the same. If you want to go play in her new life, be my guest." She stacked up her books and stormed out of the library.

Severus watched the older girl depart and her sister a few seconds later. He couldn't believe how bitter Julia was toward him. And it surprised him that she wasn't even willing to listen to her sister. This was definitely problematic, and he didn't have a solution. This bothered him. He did not like being helpless.

Had it been any other student, he would have given her detention, but Julia was an exemplary student, and he could find no reason to assign it to her. Had she been Gryffindor, he could have found an excuse, but she was Ravenclaw. He would be more vigilant about observing her in class and look for an opportunity.

**********

For once, Aurelia returned to the castle before Snape returned to their quarters. She found this odd, since she knew he didn't have class. Heading out the door, she made her way to his private lab and found him toiling over a cauldron. Suddenly, she remembered that full moon was coming, and he would be working on the Wolfsbane Potion. Taking a seat away from the cauldron, she waited for him to acknowledge her.

"Did you need something?" he asked between steps.

"I was wondering if you could come by for lunch tomorrow."

He stared at her for a few seconds. "Is there something significant about tomorrow?"

"Not really. I set an appointment with the head of the maternity ward at that time, and I thought you might like to come."

"For what purpose?" he asked simply.

She couldn't help smiling at his innocence. "I thought that you might like to get involved in our child's life. And we can find out what sex the baby is."

"Sex?"

"Yes. You know, whether it's a boy or a girl?" she replied sarcastically.

"I know that. You mean they can tell that ahead of time?"

"You truly have lived in an entirely different world, haven't you? They can tell earlier, but they like to wait until the end of the first trimester, which is coming up. I thought we could do it before the holidays." She had moved behind him and now had her arms wrapped around him.

"Did you know before the girls were born?" He swiveled on his stool to face her.

She shook her head. "Henry didn't want to know. He wanted it to be a surprise."

"And you? Do you want to know this time?"

"Oh, no, you don't. I want you to tell me first," she said playfully.

He thought for several minutes before answering. "I will meet you for lunch, but I will have to think on whether I want to know or not."

She gave him a deep kiss before pulling away. "Once you've got the potion stabilized for the night, I'll be across the hall."

**********

The following afternoon, Severus found himself pacing her office. Johnson had told him that she was still at a staff meeting, but should be back momentarily. If there was one thing he hated, it was waiting.

"I'm terribly sorry," Aurelia apologized as she came through the door. "You know how staff meetings are. There's always one person there who is in love with the sound of his voice and drags it on for everyone else. Jarrett will be waiting for us. Are you ready?"

"I am," he replied nervously. Today, he was going to find out if Aurelia was having a son or a daughter. He was still trying to get used to the fact that he was going to be a father, which was difficult enough because she didn't look pregnant yet. Now, his anxiety was about to be intensified. They would start talking about names, looking at furniture and clothing for the baby.

When they entered the exam room, an elderly Healer greeted them. "Aurelia, good to see you. And this must be Severus. Pleasure to meet you. I'm Jarrett White."

"Healer," Severus said curtly as he shook hands.

Jarrett laughed. "No need to be formal. Jarrett will do. Now, Aurelia, if you'll just lie back, this won't take long at all."

Severus was incredibly anxious as the examination began. What if there was something wrong with his child? Holding Aurelia's hand, he noticed that she seemed oddly calm. Of course, she had been through this before. He watched the indecipherable mess the magic cast by the Healer produced around Aurelia. He could not determine how they could make anything of it.

After a few moments, Jarrett looked up, a broad grin on his face. "Everything looks fine. Mother and child are both perfectly healthy. So, are you interested in learning if it's a boy or a girl?" he asked as he looked between the expectant couple.

Aurelia looked into Severus's eyes. "Well?"

Not breaking her gaze, he replied. "Quite interested." He then looked at Jarrett expectantly.

"I'm pleased to let you know that your child is a boy. Congratulations."

"Well, I guess none of the clothes I have boxed up will do me any good," Aurelia said, but she did not look at all upset by the news.

Severus still wasn't sure what he thought about that. Apparently, the Snape name would not die with him. "A son," he whispered.

"I'm assuming that you don't have any questions that Aurelia can't answer, so I'll leave the two of you. Aurelia, see you next month."

"Thank you, Jarrett," she replied. "Well? What do you think?" she asked nervously.

"I think that I am a very lucky man. Why don't we go get some lunch and celebrate?"

"Let me stop by my office, first. We can look at some brochures and decide what we want to do in Budapest."

"Were you under the impression we were going to leave our hotel?" He tried to maintain a straight face as he asked that question.

She looked at him for several seconds before smiling mischievously. "I thought a little fresh air could be reinvigorating."

**********

As the term drew to a close, Aurelia was still upset that Julia was still not talking to her. In fact, it seemed to get worse after the Easter holiday. Severus and Aurelia had spent the break in Budapest, Hungary, enjoying the history, culture and wizarding community. Severus had surprised her with his knowledge of Hungarian. While they were gone, she was able to temporarily forget about her estrangement with her older daughter.

Now she knew that school would be ending in a few weeks, and she hoped that she could reconcile with Julia once they were back at home. The castle was large enough, and Julia was busy enough that she could avoid her mother. Back at their house, she would not have that ability.

Deciding she needed to talk to someone about this, she headed up to the library on one of her rare days off.

"Do you have some time?" she asked Eileen.

"Of course. You know you can come visit whenever you like," Eileen said warmly as she led Aurelia to her office.

"I know. It's just been very hectic. We're seeing quite a bit more poisoning than we normally see. Of course, we do get a springtime surge as folks look for ways to improve their gardens and start dallying with potions that are beyond their capabilities."

"You aren't working too hard, are you? You look tired." Eileen sounded concerned as the passed the teacup to Aurelia.

"No, it's not that. My little gymnast here," she rubbed her gently swollen stomach, "prefers to perform at night. He's quite good at keeping me up."

Eileen gave her a reassuring smile. "I know how that is. Severus was quite the active baby, too. He must get it from his father."

Aurelia laughed. "That's what I tell him. But that's not why I'm here."

"I didn't think it was. What's on your mind, dear?"

Aurelia sighed and leaned back into the chair before launching into the explanation of Julia's behavior. "I have tried to talk to her, tried to let her know that I still love her and that I still think of her father, but I don't know if she pays attention to my letters. Sometimes she replies and sometimes she tells her sister to pass on to me that she got my letter. I don't know what to do with her, and we're all going to be home in a couple of weeks, and I'm very worried."

"Teenagers are very hard to deal with. I should know after having been here for as long as I have. Unless you can get her to listen to you, there's not much you can do. Just keep showing her that you love her. At some point she's bound to realize that she misses you."

"I know that. I just want us to feel like a family. Helen has been absolutely wonderful. She's excited about having a brother, and she likes Severus. I don't think that Julia dislikes him; she just dislikes the idea of the two of us together. I just want us to be happy," Aurelia said as she started crying. Dabbing her eyes with her handkerchief, she said, "And these hormones aren't helping. I can't really think about her without falling to pieces."

Eileen conjured the chair into a couch and sat next to Aurelia, giving the younger witch a reassuring hug. "I know how hard it must be. All of you have been through so much in the last year and a half. Everyone grieves differently and for different amounts of time. I know it's hard not to think about how she's behaving toward you, but you shouldn't dwell on it. Keep trying to connect with her, but don't take it personally when she chooses to ignore you. It's not good for you, and it's not good for the baby."

Aurelia sniffed. "I know. It's j-just so hard."

Eileen just held her for a while, waiting for the tears to subside. "Now, about that dungeon," she said to change the subject.

Aurelia raised her head and looked at her curiously. "What about it?"

"I was thinking that's not a good place to have nursery, wouldn't you agree?"

"I--suppose I hadn't thought about it, but you're right. I would like someplace with a little more sunlight."

"My thought exactly. I was speaking with Adrian about this the other day, and there are plenty of open quarters in the higher levels. If you have time, I think we should go look at a few, and if you find something you like, you can show Severus later."

Aurelia smiled. "I think that's a wonderful idea."

**********

A/N: I'm terribly sorry for the long delay. I hope that the next chapter won't have so long a delay. Real life can be too much sometimes, can't it?

Thanks to Zen Lady for her help betaing this chapter for me.