Beholden To No Man

Chapter 16

The term was almost over, and Severus was looking forward to some time away from school. He had a new appreciation for what Minerva had done as Deputy. It wasn't that the work was difficult, just that it was tedious. Of course, he would not have much time off during the summer, as he had to see to the letter for the new first years as well as the book lists for all the classes.

Since it was the lull before exams, he had decided to see if Aurelia was in their quarters. She had indicated she had some errands to run, but she had expected to be back early in the afternoon. He would take advantage of his free period.

When he did not find her in their quarters, he started to grow concerned. She should have been back by now; it was not like her to wander the castle. After checking her office at St. Mungo's through the Floo and finding she was not there either, he began pacing nervously.

When the door finally opened, he snapped, "Where have you been?"

"Good afternoon, to you, too," she replied. With a few quick waves of her wand, she summoned the tea set and soon had a cup of steaming tea in hand.

"Where were you?" he demanded.

"I was with your mother, and then we were looking at some of the vacant quarters here in the castle."

"You should have left a note so that I would know where you were."

"Honestly, Severus, you don't expect to know where I am every second of the day, do you?"

He scowled at her cavalier attitude. "Something could have happened to you, to our son, and I wouldn't know about it until it was too late," he said defensively.

Setting her teacup down, she motioned for him to sit next to her. After he had done so, she said, "I won't do anything reckless. It's just not who I am. I'm sorry that I gave you cause to worry." She leaned into him, enjoying being near him.

He wrapped his arm around her, relieved that she was safe. After her kidnapping, he had become more paranoid about her going anywhere alone, especially since Malfoy was free. His other hand gently rested on her stomach, trying to feel his son moving within her. That morning, he had felt the movement for the first time. Suddenly, part of what she had told him registered. "What were you looking at vacant quarters for?"

"Well, your quarters here are a little cramped for the two of us and a baby."

"This is an enchanted castle. Another room could be added quite easily."

She sighed. "It's not only that. This is a dungeon, and a nursery should be light and airy. I'm afraid we won't get that with only the transom windows."

He was about to protest when he recalled his mother's advice about marriage requiring compromises. "Where are these quarters?"

"On the second floor, away from the classrooms. There's a lovely window that faces the lake. We could move the furnishings from here up there. Will you come take a look?" she asked excitedly.

He had seen some of the quarters on the second floor, and those that he had were not ones that he could imagine himself living in. "Of course," he replied reluctantly.

Once on the second floor, he could tell how much the move would mean to her. She grew quite animated as she discussed the layout of the room. He did have to admit that the view was quite spectacular.

"And you can keep your office down in the dungeon, but I think this would be much better for raising a child, don't you think?"

Her words barely penetrated his consciousness. He was trying to determine if he could stand living here. Most of his life had been spent living in darkness and shadows, and it was hard for him to shed his aversion to the light. He reasoned that he had survived at her house, and this was not really all that different. Memories of hiding in darkness during his childhood made him realize that he could not subject his son to the same thing. He would try to provide his son with those things that he had not had as a child.

"It is," he finally answered. "I will see that our things are moved up here over the summer." This would be one of those sacrifices Eileen had mentioned.

She had a huge grin on her face when she threw her arms around him. "Thank you very much."

**********

After the students were gone, Severus escorted Aurelia to the gates. It was a nice day, and she had convinced him they should walk to the gates rather than ride in one of the carriages. Their trip home was much shorter than the girls' would be. Once the unpacking was finished, Aurelia saw that it was time to go to London.

"Are you sure you don't want me to come with you?" he asked.

"No. I think it will be best if you don't. I'd like a little time with Julia." She gave him a reassuring smile. "I'll be fine. Really. It might be a couple of hours or it might be rather short. It depends on her."

"Be careful."

She gave him a reassuring smile. "You worry too much, darling."

As Aurelia waited for the train, she couldn't help but feel nervous. She had not really communicated with Julia since she had announced her impending marriage, and Helen was still rather reluctant to mention her sister whenever they talked.

When the train arrived at the station, Helen was one of the first students off the train, rushing over to give her mother a hug. "Where's Professor Snape?" she asked quietly.

"He's at home." Having Helen by her side made her feel slightly less nervous.

Finally, Julia emerged, one of the last students left off the train. She did not look pleased. "I suppose he's at home," she said disdainfully.

Aurelia suppressed a sigh. "He is. I thought you might like to have a butterbeer at the Leaky Cauldron before we go home."

"Why?"

"I thought you might like to talk about what's happened."

"Not really," Julia said shortly. "I'd rather just go home." As they started walking out of the station, she continued. "Elizabeth has invited me to spend part of the summer with her."

"I see. We'll discuss that later. I won't have you spending your entire vacation at someone else's house," Aurelia said, noticing that Julia was not pleased to hear that.

The rest of the journey to the Leaky Cauldron and through the Floo was spent in silence. By the time Aurelia Apparated home, Julia was already up in her room. She held back her tears. "Helen, why don't you go up and unpack before dinner." After her younger daughter was upstairs, she hurried down the hall and slammed the door to the library shut before collapsing in tears on the sofa.

It was not long before she felt strong arms on her shoulder, and Severus pulled her against his chest.

He held her and let her cry herself out before asking, "Julia still isn't talking to you, is she?"

She sniffed, wiping her nose with the handkerchief he had given her. When she replied, she was hiccupping. "N-no. I do-don't know what t-to do."

Holding her and rubbing her back, he replied, "Just wait. She will be forced to confront the situation sooner or later."

That started a fresh round of tears. "She-she doesn't want to b-be here. She w-wants to l-leave."

"Shhh. Just calm down. We'll deal with this later. Right now, I want you to relax and get some rest before dinner. You have about half an hour."

Wiping at her tears, she said, "No. I'm all right. I want to help."

Placing his hand on her cheek, he said. "I insist that you rest. Besides, there isn't much left for you to do." Before leaving, he kissed her gently on the lips.

************

The next two weeks were anything but pleasant. When Julia was home, she sequestered herself in her room other than for meals during which she volunteered nothing. If Aurelia asked her any questions, she made the answers as brief as possible.

Severus did his best to give Aurelia time alone with Julia, but it didn't seem to be helping. Aurelia was growing more and more despondent, and he was concerned about her. He didn't think that she was eating properly, and he knew that she wasn't getting enough sleep. Deciding that Julia had been indulged for long enough, he decided to have a talk with her whether she wanted to or not.

After Aurelia went to work, he knocked on Julia's door.

"Go away!" she shouted.

"Julia, open this door. I need to speak with you."

"I don't want to talk to you."

Reaching for the doorknob, he found that it was locked. While he could easily unlock it, he would prefer for her to let him in voluntarily. "This is about your mother. It is very important and you will let me in."

"I don't have to do anything you say. You're not my father."

He was rather quickly losing what little patience he had, and he waved his wand at the door. "True, I am not your father," he said from the now open doorway. "But I love your mother very much, and this grudge you are holding against her is affecting her health."

"So?" Julia asked as she turned her back on him.

Grabbing her shoulder, he pulled her around to face him. "I fear your brother's life may be in danger if she does not start taking better care of herself."

"Good," she snarled.

He barely maintained control of his rage, replying through clinched teeth, "I know that you do not mean you want an innocent life to come to harm." After taking a deep breath, he said, "I am not asking you to like me. I am not asking you to like the fact that your mother and I are married. What I am asking is that you quit treating her as though she does not exist. She loves you very much."

"Hmph," Julia replied.

"She cries herself to sleep every night because of how you are treating her. I know that you are too self-absorbed in your personal teenage angst to realize how much your behavior hurts her, but if you paid attention for even one evening, you would see how much she truly loves you. If she did not love you, would she send you a letter every week inviting you to tea? If you still do not believe me, talk to your sister." He didn't like discussing Aurelia's most personal feelings, but he knew that Julia needed to hear the truth.

"Like I'm really supposed to believe you?" she retorted.

"I don't care if you believe me or not. Trust your own eyes and make the observations yourself. But whatever you do, you will cease this pouting in your room, and you will spend time with your mother. Starting this evening when she gets home." He spun on his heel and left her room without closing the door.

That evening, dinner progressed somewhat better than it had since the end of term. While Julia was not exactly chatty, she was at least answering with more than one-word responses, and she was looking around the table rather than staring at her plate.

Severus took this as a step in the right direction, but he suspected that it would take more than one day for Julia to begin to accept their new family dynamic.

************

Over the course of the next few days, Aurelia noticed that Julia wasn't avoiding her quite as much. She did still ask to spend time at her friends' houses, but not all day, every day. Julia still wasn't really conversing with anyone, at least not that Aurelia knew of, but she hoped this was a step in the right direction.

On Saturday morning, she was up early preparing breakfast when Julia joined her in the kitchen. "Can I lend a hand, Mum?" Julia asked softly.

Aurelia smiled broadly. "Of course you may." She was amazed that Julia was not only talking to her, but offering to help, besides.

Julia looked at her slippers. "I'm--I'm sorry."

At this apology, Aurelia nearly crushed Julia in a smothering embrace and started crying tears of happiness.

"Mum. Too tight," Julia said, her voice muffled against her mother.

"Terribly sorry," replied Aurelia as she released her daughter.

Aurelia led her to the table. "I should have been more considerate of your feelings. I know that it was an awfully big change in a very short period of time."

"I'm sorry I've been so horrible to you."

"It's all right, dear. I know this has been terribly hard on everyone. Truce?"

Julia smiled weakly, as though she still felt guilty about her behavior. "Truce. Let me do breakfast this morning."

"You know what? Why don't we do this together?"

Aurelia couldn't be happier as she finally got Julia to open up to her. As the two of them prepared breakfast, Aurelia listened to Julia tell her about her exams, how her school year had gone and how she was thinking about becoming a Healer after graduation.

************

The remainder of the summer passed much more smoothly. At the end of July, Severus had to spend time at Hogwarts preparing the letters for the incoming students. Thankfully, the quill was automated, and he only had to dictate the names of the incoming students who were to be invited and verify the list of returning students.

The tedious part was dispatching the owls. He did not like making trips to the Owlery, thus he had his own owl for personal correspondence, but in this case, the school owls had to be used just due to the sheer volume of letters.

He also knew there was a very difficult topic he needed to bring up with Aurelia. He knew that she would not take it well, but he really could not put it off much longer. He would have to address it when he returned home.

Home. What an odd concept, that he no longer thought of Spinner's End as his summer home. Early in the summer, he had taken Helen with him to retrieve his books. He did not care about any of the other possessions. He had never left any of his Potions materials at the house during the school year. He did have wards set up, since he had some material there that he did not like to leave unguarded. Now, he was reasonably sure that he would not be returning there again.

When he arrived at home, he found it was much later than he had thought. Dinner was already on the table. "I lost track of time," he said simply.

Aurelia replied, "Don't worry about it. I put a warming charm on the food."

After dinner, they retired to the living room and played games for a little while before Aurelia excused herself for bed, warning the girls not to stay up too late.

Severus followed her upstairs.

"There was no need for you to turn in this early."

"That's not why I'm here." He sat on the bed and patted next to him. He still couldn't believe how much his son was growing. When the summer holidays had started, she had barely been showing. Now, there was no doubt that she was carrying his child. Placing his hand on her stomach, he asked, "How long were you planning on working?"

"Oh, I don't know, maybe another month."

This was not the answer he had hoped for. He knew that once they returned to Hogwarts, she would have to use the Floo and that Floo travel did not agree with her even under normal circumstances. "That would put you rather close to your due date, wouldn't it?" he asked cautiously.

"A couple of weeks. Why?"

"You cannot Disapparate from the castle, and I do not like you using the Floo."

"I'm not taking a leave of absence when the term starts. There is no reason I cannot continue to work."

He realized that he was on the verge of getting himself into trouble, but at this point, he didn't care; he only cared that she and his son were healthy. "No? You have had a very rough time of things this summer."

"But that's over. Everything has been fine since Julia and I worked out our differences," she insisted.

"I know. But you have been under more than enough stress as it is. I don't think you need the added stress of using the Floo."

"Well, I don't think you are qualified to make that judgment. You are not a Healer," she snapped.

She was definitely taking this even worse than he had anticipated. "Aurelia, I am only looking out for you..."

"Smothering me is more like it. I am perfectly capable of taking care of myself."

"I didn't say you weren't." He tried not to become defensive, but it was hard to ignore her attacks.

"But you implied it. I have raised two wonderful and well-behaved girls. I think I know a great deal more about raising children than you do. I will keep my own counsel on this."

She was crying again, and he tried to comfort her. Normally, she would collapse into his arms and try to draw strength from him, but this time she shoved him away.

"Just... go away," she said and turned her back on him.

Deciding it was best to let her calm down a little, he left her alone.

Thankfully, the girls were already upstairs. The last thing he needed was either of them asking him why he was downstairs again, especially Julia, who was polite with him, but not overly friendly. He tried to look through the latest issue of Potions Quarterly, but found he could not concentrate on the words.

After twenty minutes, he gave up and decided to go back upstairs and see if she would see reason. Slowly, he opened the bedroom door and could see her lying with her back to the door. He stripped down to his boxer shorts and crawled into bed behind her, wrapping his arm around her, letting his hand lie gently on her stomach. "Aurelia?" he asked softly.

"What?" she snapped.

Closing his eyes, he took a deep breath. Apparently, she had not completely calmed down. "I'm sorry I upset you. I'm concerned and... inexperienced." He hated admitting when he did not know something, but despite the books he had read, he was still quite ignorant of what occurred during pregnancy.

"I shouldn't have snapped at you." She pressed herself against him, placing her hand on his. "I should have listened to your concerns. I know I don't always react well to Floo travel, but I'll be fine. There is an alarm on my office that chimes in the Ward when the Floo is used, and you can set one up at Hogwarts that will enable a house-elf to check on me."

It was something, a small consolation, but it wasn't enough to ease his concerns. "Since most of your work is administrative, perhaps you could cut back on the number of days you go to the office? Our new quarters are large enough to afford you a work area." He trailed his hand along her stomach, drifting lower, hoping to distract her so that she would agree to his wishes.

"Are you trying to distract me?" she asked playfully.

"Is it working?" he whispered seductively into her ear.

"Perhaps," she answered coyly as she placed her hand on his thigh.

"Just a moment; let me cast a Silencing Charm." Rolling over, he grabbed his wand from the table and flicked it at the door. When he rolled back over, Aurelia's lips met his, and she gave him a deep kiss. He didn't think that he would ever completely get used to these mood swings, but when they happened like this, he was not going to complain, and he eagerly returned the kiss. At the same time, he slipped his hand under her nightgown, wanting to feel her skin against his.

He was not alone in wanting to be rid of clothing. She tugged at his boxers until he was able to get out of them, and then she firmly grasped him, quickly bringing him to full erection. "I love you," she whispered breathily.

"I love you, too," he whispered as he shifted behind her, eager for release. Reaching down, he found her as aroused as he was. He loved the changes to her body as his child grew within her. He especially enjoyed her increased libido.

As he teased her, she squirmed and moaned for him to continue. "Severus, please."

"Not yet, darling." He gently caressed her breast, enjoying the soft feel and how she arched her back against him. When he could not longer hold back, he finally did as she asked, glad that he had placed a Silencing Charm on the room. At times like this, she was very vocal. As she snuggled against him, he enjoyed her closeness, knowing his life was soon to change and these moments would become more infrequent.

**********

On September first, he accompanied everyone to the train station, though he waited just inside the barrier, hoping not to be noticed. He did not need to draw attention to his presence.

As the train pulled away, he could tell that she was fighting back the tears, and he slipped to her side, placing his arm around her. "Are you all right?"

She dabbed at her eyes. "I'll be fine. Just a little emotional. I never expected to feel this way about them leaving."

"Are you sure you're all right?" They had planned on Apparating straight to Hogwarts, but he wasn't sure if she was up to it.

"I'm fine. I just need a minute."

"Take your time." He led her over to a bench. By now, the platform was nearly empty.

After a couple of minutes, she said, "I'm ready."

When they Apparated to the Hogwarts' gate, a carriage was waiting for them. Aurelia saw the beasts hitched to the carriage and instinctively pulled away. "Oh, my!"

He held her protectively. "It's a Thestral and it's perfectly safe." He had not thought that she might not be familiar with Thestrals.

"Have - have they always pulled the carriages?"

"Yes. But you can only see them if you have seen someone die."

"Ah. I never took much interest in Care of Magical Creatures." She let him lead her to the carriage. As they rode up to the castle, she didn't say anything, but merely leaned against him for comfort, still disturbed by the Thestrals.

While walking into the castle, he asked, "Would you prefer to take lunch with the staff or in our quarters?"

"Let's eat with the staff." She followed him to the staff room, where they ate in the days leading up to the start of term.

As soon as they entered the room, Eileen hurried across the room to give Aurelia a hug. "Look at you. You look wonderful."

"Thank you. You should have come by this summer."

"Oh, I think you had enough going on that you didn't need me visiting. I'm so glad that you and Julia settled your differences."

"Me, too. It was hard having her not talk to me. And look at you? Looks like you've been busy this summer."

At this, Severus appraised his mother. His attention had been focused on Remus and Kalliope sitting together on one of the sofas, trying to occupy the same space. He noticed that she looked tan and was smiling quite broadly. Over her shoulder, he caught a glimpse of Adrian looking equally tan and relaxed.

Before he could say anything, Adrian announced, "Well, now that we are all here, let's eat lunch."

Eileen took a seat next to Severus. Once conversation started back up, she leaned over and whispered, "I would like to let the staff know about our relation to each other."

From the tone of her letters, he had expected this. "And the students?"

"I doubt many of them know my first name, and I'm not opposed to keeping Pince as my last name."

He really couldn't see any reason to oppose her request. "I think it would be good to reveal this secret. After all, I see no reason to keep it anymore."

She smiled broadly. "Thank you." Turning her attention to the table, she said, "Excuse me, everyone. I have an announcement to make." Once the table was silent, she continued. "During the first war, I had a powerful memory charm placed on me for my protection. It was removed during the last school year. I spent a good portion of that year trying to come to terms with the removal of the charm, and the resulting changes in my life. After having time away from school, I have decided to reveal my true identity to the staff.

"My real name is Eileen Snape. Severus and Albus Dumbledore worked together to keep me safe, to protect me from You-Know-Who.

"I've decided that I will retain Pince as my last name, but I would prefer if you would address me as Eileen. Thank you."

There were a few moments of silence before people started asking her and Severus questions. He was pleased when Aurelia gave his leg a reassuring squeeze.

**********

This term progressed much better than the previous one had. The first few weekends, Aurelia enlisted Helen and Julia to help her set up the nursery for the baby. Eileen would come join them, too, when she could get away from the library.

Severus was glad that she had the extra help. He had given up on suggesting that she not do things, but instead had started offering to do them for her. This had met with more success than his previous attempts at modifying her behavior.

Of course, with her due date rapidly approaching, she was more willing to rest and utilize the house-elves. He was glad that she was no longer commuting to St. Mungo's. What little work she did was generally sent by owl.

That night, he thought that she was taking longer than normal to get comfortable. "Is everything all right?"

"Fine, darling. Just having a bit of a hard time settling down."

"You aren't having contractions, are you?" He knew that the baby was past due.

"No."

"You--aren't worried about this?" He could not keep the concern out of his voice.

She laughed softly. "It's not really a big deal. Both girls were late, too. Babies don't come on a specific day."

"I know. I'm just concerned." He rubbed her stomach.

"Mmmm. That feels good. Maybe you could rub my back, too."

"Of course."

************

Through the next week's worth of classes, he was incredibly distracted. He was taking all his meals in his quarters, and it was not unheard of for him to rush up to their quarters during breaks.

Thankfully, his students had quickly caught on to his edgy mood and were incredibly careful not to provoke him once word got around that he was even taking points from Slytherins.

On Thursday, he was instructing the sixth year N.E.W.T students when Eileen burst in through the door. "It's time," she shouted out.

Severus dropped the textbook to the floor and rushed out of the room.

"Miss MacLean, you too," Eileen said. "The rest of you, finish your potions."

Severus ran for the hospital wing as quickly as he could. At this point, he didn't care how undignified he looked. "Aurelia?" he called out as he hurried into the private room they had prepared for her.

She smiled at him. "I wasn't sure you'd make it." She grimaced as she had another contraction.

He took hold of her hand and immediately regretted that decision as it felt as though she were going to crush it. "So soon?"

"And thank goodness, too."

"Are you ready?" asked Poppy.

She nodded and released Severus's hand as she gripped her thighs.

Theoretically, he knew what to expect. Realistically, he was not prepared for it to happen so quickly. He was in a daze as he watched her going through the birthing process. It wasn't long before he heard the wails of his son and saw Poppy handing the small, screaming child to Aurelia.

"Severus?"

Someone was calling his name. "Yes?"

"Would you like to cut the cord?" Poppy asked in a tone of voice that suggested she had been trying to get his attention for a while.

"Of course." He tapped his wand where Poppy had indicated.

"Did you want to hold him?" Aurelia asked.

"Hold him?" He was still in a bit of a state of shock. She held him out for him, and he tentatively took the wriggling child in his arms. He held tight, afraid the baby would squirm out of his arms.

"Not so hard. He's not going anywhere," Aurelia said gently.

Slowly, he relaxed, becoming more comfortable with holding his son. "My son," he said softly. Noticing Julia at his side, he asked, "Would you like to hold your brother?" As he transferred the child to her arms, the door opened again. Eileen and Helen were quite winded, having run up from Care of Magical Creatures.

"Are we too late?" Eileen asked.

"Just," replied Severus. "Helen, come see your brother." As Helen and Eileen crowded around Julia, he noticed that Aurelia was crying. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing. I'm just so happy that everyone is here. Our whole family."

He sat down on the bed and embraced her. "What did you want to name him?"

"You still don't have an idea?"

"I told you. I'll let you choose his name."

"Mum? What's his name?" Helen asked as she handed her brother over.

"Well, if Severus agrees, Marcus Aurelius."

He thought about this for a second. "I think that is an excellent name. Welcome, Marcus."

~The End~

***********

A/N: First and foremost, thanks to Zen Lady and nota for their dedicated work beta reading this story for me. Second, thanks to all the readers, especially those who have taken the time to leave a review.

Now, for those that are interested in more behind the scenes action for this story, I have started writing a look at Eileen's point of view of these events. It's called "After the Awakening". It picks up in Chapter 3 after Severus removes the charm. Click here.