Chapter 58 Is This It?
Lily was annoyed that Mary always made everything about her. Severus had not said anything about werewolves, but Mary took his graduation speech to mean that she was not a bad person, and others should look beyond the werewolf thing to get to know her.
In order to distract Mary from bothering Severus, Lily whispered her secret as to why she needed to marry Severus quickly.
Mary's response hurt. "I thought you were getting a bit thick around the middle."
At the graduation feast, a few other people talked to Severus to thank him. What a bunch of toerags. Sev meant Dumbledore, not whatever family or group they were affiliated with. At least no one had the nerve to claim he meant that Death Eaters were misunderstood, since the only two Gryffindors graduating were herself and Mary.
The fact that there were not seven Gryffindors was all Dumbledore's fault. He's the one that kept encouraging Potter and Black to bully other students. Those are the kind of people that would be great in his secret group to defeat He Who Must Not Be Named.
Severus could tell Lily was in a bad mood. The graduation feast was one of the few times he was allowed to publicly dine with Lily at Hogwarts. Every person that attempted to talk to him without greeting her got the icy green stare.
He knew it was his fault for not parroting her idealistic ideas. Why lie? He hated most of these people, he hated this school, and really did not care what they thought of him because very few people ever formed a favorable opinion of him. There was nothing he could do about it now, other than sliding platters of meat and tureens of gravy towards Lily and the Wilkes, and continue looking at the insincere bastards that approached him with an air of indifferent boredom.
His things were already packed up earlier in the day. All he needed to do was change his clothes when they returned to their rooms and summon Phi.
Lily merely asked Severus if he had all his things, rather than recounting their day. He had been with her so there was nothing to discuss. She did appreciate the way he treated the toerags when they tried to talk to him afterwards. It was like that article in The Quibbler. Severus did not care who agreed with him or what they had to discuss. His mind was made up.
They walked side by side out of the school, down to the gates, and apparated to her back garden. Lily and Severus were done with Hogwarts.
She already knew in advance of her mother's suggestion that Severus continue living at Spinner's End till they were married. Severus had only responded to her reading her mother's suggestion aloud to him from her letter with a shrug.
Lily would rather wait another week to get things properly set up for their wedding. Neither her mother or Severus objected when she asked them earlier in the month. It was so difficult to plan things from school. Her mother had agreed that a simple license with a small party at the house would be best and discreet, considering Lily was already past four months pregnant.
Severus had arranged with potions master Damocles to visit frequently after graduation, but not to start actual work until after the wedding. He had not told Lily that he actually asked for another week since Severus hoped that Lily would be in the mood to go somewhere for a honeymoon of sorts.
He did not mind the extra expense of getting a portkey at the last moment, but would be upset if Lily agreed to somewhere then changed her mind and it went to waste without a good reason. Paris seemed likeliest since that is where the Wilkes went. Petunia and Vernon went to Majorca. Severus knew where that was, but he did not know what about the island appealed to visitors. Lily liked beaches, and if it was an island, it should have them.
Severus patiently got his instructions each day regarding the wedding. He understood this was not the wedding Lily wanted, and she was expressing her frustration at anyone within range. He mused that the Gryffindor that caused this situation with his senseless meddling, Albus Dumbledore, was not here nor would ever face the consequences. When the old man had solicited them to join his secret organization, he used the phrase 'greater good'. What was good about ruining Lily's wedding?
Some of the details changed from day to day so Severus aggravated Lily by not acting immediately on any direction that did not need to be performed immediately. Her first idea was Severus was to rent a tuxedo, first classic black, then grey with tails because their party would be during the day, then she was not happy with wedding gowns that she could get on short notice so his attire was downgraded to a dark muggle suit that would not outshine Lily's loose-fitting floral print dress. He had not seen it, but Lily described it to him. There was also a change regarding the flowers, but Severus had mercifully not been entrusted with that task. Lily restricted Severus to getting himself dressed and bringing his finger to a jeweler's to get the wedding band she chose fitted.
Mrs. Evans approved his clothing the day prior to the civil ceremony and party so he was as up to date as he could be unless Lily changed her mind again the day they were supposed to marry.
Severus spent a night wondering if Lily was going to go through with it the next day. Her mother gave no indication that she would not, and Vernon and Petunia had phoned when they were leaving their house earlier in the day. They would not be pleased to drive here for no reason. Or perhaps not. Petunia might enjoy Lily changing her mind and embarrassing him in some public fashion to say she would never marry him. If that was her plan, Lily should have invited more people.
There was a chance Malcolm and Mary Wilkes might actually feel sorry for him. Severus did give them house elves, sold them a spacious house and was going to work on some sort of cure for werewolves. That had to be worth some consideration. It would probably manifest itself as pity.
Severus showed up where he was supposed to and waited. Was this it? Is this how it was going to play out? Him waiting at a government office for hours while Lily sat at home, stubbornly refusing to come because she had changed her mind? He sat down. There was no need to draw attention to himself by pacing about because he was alone.
The large plain faced clock mocked him enough. With apparation, Severus did not need to leave his house early, and had arrived with two minutes to spare. Lily was not here, and her family was supposed to arrive with her so he was alone.
One o'clock, the designated time struck as he watched the red second hand sweep around the dial to verify it was exactly one. It did not hesitate as it passed the large twelve at the top and kept going. The long minute hand snapped to point at the twelve, confirming that a moment ago it had been 12:59.
When the red second hand had traveled ten more times around the clock, Severus began to wonder what was the amount of time he was supposed to wait before leaving. The sign said this office was open till four o'clock, but the fellow that was supposed to perform the ceremony once they had a license that made it legal was supposed to meet them at the Evans at two.
The telephone in the office rang multiple times, but no one ever called his name to inquire if he was present and waiting for someone.
At 1:25, Severus considered he should perhaps wait till two. At that point, he would have a sound argument that they could not possibly be at two places at once. There was no sensible need for him to have a sound defense since there should be no disagreement over Lily being late, but with her logic meant little.
He ignored how his face was tingling behind his eyes and nose and focused on the clock's second hand. In thirty-three minutes, he would leave. This was not an unexpected outcome. He should have planned in advance for this.
A large mass moved to his side, and Severus looked up.
Vernon Dursley muttered, "They're coming." He looked around with a sigh, and added the comment, "You seem relaxed."
Relaxed? Severus supposed he was. Either Lily was marrying him or not today. Years of maybe had wrung all the emotion out of this for him. He knew not to hope that it was going to happen, or else he would have started crying twenty minutes ago when she did not show up.
Perhaps Petunia had sent her husband round as a joke and to get a first-hand eyewitness account of how his hope renewed itself at 1:27 and slowly fizzled away as the second hand swept around the clock six more times before the double glass doors opened with Lily, her mother, and sister.
Mrs. Evans spoke first, exclaiming, "At last. Let's get this over with and hurry back."
When Severus did not get up right away, she studied him. "You look a bit peaky, Severus. Are you all right?"
"Yes," he replied, standing.
He joined Mrs. Evans at the counter and watched quietly while bureaucracy took over. The application had been submitted already. Today he was supposed to pay the fee.
The outcome after close to ten more minutes in this office that was conducting little business, as Severus had observed in the past half hour, was that they needed to sign more papers, then the license was rendered and he paid the amount that had already been agreed upon.
As soon as the document was handed over, Lily urged, "Come on, we have to hurry."
Severus followed along, still thinking about one of ideas from earlier in the week about why the license needed to be picked up today, rather than earlier. It was not an official license until they had the ceremony so it made little difference if it was acquired minutes or days in advance.
When they got to the car, Severus stood dumbly next to it while Lily argued with Petunia.
Mrs. Evans may have heard this earlier in the day because she shortly told them, "Let Severus sit in the front. He does not look well, and his legs are longest."
Another heated discussion began, and Mrs. Evans almost yelled, "Shut up. I will sit in the middle."
Vernon noticed Severus standing still and pointed to the passenger door. Women. It was a relief that Petunia only had one sister. He couldn't imagine his sister, Marge, going all to pieces like this. She would be dressed, ready and waiting at whatever time she stated. Unlike the Evans, she was punctual. In fact, Marge would even have her bulldogs lined up and waiting faster than his Petunia's spoiled little sister, Lily, could pick out a pair of shoes.
He had to agree with his lovely Petunia that it was doubtful Severus was even the father of the brat's bastard. There was some mention of him coming into a large amount of money, and he had his wife's word along with his own observations that her sister was simply the wrong sort. Got some very strange ideas at that fancy boarding school. Of course, he had to accept the bit about magic, having seen it firsthand, but if it was one thing Vernon knew it was people. He may have been seven sheets to the wind at his bachelor party, but he could see that Severus was uncomfortable around women. Prior to today, he judged Severus shy, probably homosexual, but competent at his strengths such as book-learning, definitely not athletics. Today, he simply looked shell-shocked. Petunia's declaration that her little sister bullied him did not seem to be far from the truth.
Severus had ridden in a car before, but maybe he was not feeling well today. The ladies were bickering behind him about nothing. They were talking about nothing, but they would not be quiet.
They were only a short distance from the house. Short enough that they could have realized it was past one and phoned prior to driving over to meet him.
There were people already in the back yard and on the porch waiting for them. Severus was not even sure who these people were. He knew Petunia and Vernon, and Malcolm and Mary. It was a sea of strange faces.
"Stop walking around like a zombie, Sev," Lily berated him.
Mrs. Evans asked, "Would you like some water, Severus?"
"No thank you, Mrs. Evans."
Wilkes got in front of him and was wearing a big smirk. There were muggles crawling all over this place. Mary and him found them quite amusing.
With everything behind schedule now, the bride, groom, and their wedding party, including Petunia as the matron of honor and Wilkes as his best man, were sorted into position. Rings were verified as being in the right pockets, and things got underway.
Severus recognized this official. They had a sort of practice earlier in the week at his office. There was no study needed since Severus only needed to repeat what the man said when addressed. Lily did the same thing when he spoke to her.
It seemed to take a lot less time than their practice. He did not mess up putting the ring on Lily's finger. Severus remembered which one since it was the same one her engagement ring was on. He could not miss that.
Lily waited a long moment for Severus to move when they were told, "You may now kiss the bride," before she stood on her toes and gave him a quick kiss.
He was really married to Lily? Severus felt light-headed.
Malcolm had turned a bit to look at what the other muggles were doing when Snape's knees gave out. He got a hand out to catch his elbow, but his legs still folded. His fall now tilted towards Wilkes rather than straight down.
The big muggle married to Evans' sister stepped forward and got a hold of the back of Snape to help lower him to the ground gently.
Her mouth open, Lily did not get the word, "No," out until a couple people suggested Severus fainted. Sev didn't faint. He did things like telling off a wizard like Albus Dumbledore and blasting a werewolf's head apart.
Severus opened his eyes in confusion. What was he doing lying on the Evans' sofa? Besides Lily, only the Wilkes could have cast something at him, unless someone had been hiding among all those muggles.
"Take it easy, Snape. I agree it's a might too hot and sunny out there."
"Wilkes?"
"You fainted."
Severus frowned. He did not faint.
"Hey, take it slow. If I could have gotten away with it, I would have tried that too."
"What?"
"Did you want me to hold the glass of water for you?"
"No."
"Mary will fill me in later. I was getting in trouble with not quite fitting in so I volunteered to keep you company."
"Where's Lily?"
"She was in here a minute or two ago, but then had to go back out."
Severus did not feel well as he sat up.
Wilkes held out a glass and said, "Here you go."
It was only water with ice.
Malcolm took a moment to walk to the kitchen door and held it open to see what was happening out there now.
"I think they're playing some game. They've lined up in rows. Oh, make up your mind if you're up. Your mother in law is coming," he announced as he let the door swing shut and hustled back over to the chair he had been seated in.
Wilkes was right. Mrs. Evans bustled through the door and seeing Severus sitting, chided, "Did you eat anything today, Severus?"
"A bit," he lied. Why should he bother when he knew there would be an immense amount of food here?
Even though Severus said he did eat, Mrs. Evans shook her head. He had not been looking well.
"There's some chairs in the shade, unless you'd prefer to sit on the porch."
"Should I even go back out?" he asked. He was afraid he'd be made fun of for collapsing at his wedding.
Wilkes glared at Snape. He knew Evans called the shots between the two of them, but she had to at least expect him to be at the party following their wedding.
"If you're feeling up to it. Did you need to rest more inside?"
"Nah, he's fine now," Malcolm responded with a smile. "It's not every day one of your beautiful daughters gets married, Mrs. Evans."
Despite Wilkes's reassurance that Severus was fine, Mrs. Evans hovered and closely followed the two of them onto the back porch. Severus saw that there was some organized activity occurring so he chose a chair away from it and in the shade.
Besides giving him another glass of water, Mrs. Evans ran her fingers through his hair to straighten his middle part out. When was Lily going to convince Severus that this long uncut style was simply a mess? Now that he graduated from school, he should start trying to look respectable.
Severus remembered Mrs. Evans, Lily, Petunia, Vernon and both the Wilkes talking to him at various points for the rest of the afternoon and bringing him different plates of food that he was not particularly interested in. He only had to stand and join Lily for that ceremony with the cake that he observed at Petunia's wedding.
It was not hard. Lily told him to put his hands over hers while she cut the first piece, and then he was supposed to feed her a bite of it. Severus accomplished that, and got moved to another seat at the same table as Lily, next to her.
He tasted his slice of cake. The sweetness made it taste foul, and the white icing was gritty with the amount of sugar it contained.
As far as weddings went, Severus was glad he only had to do this once.
Lily had already made a decision regarding their summer travel, based on a conversation she had with Mary during the party. The World Cup was being held in Texas this summer, and she wanted to attend that with Malcolm and Mary.
Normally, spectators were put through the inconvenience of camping around the large quidditch stadium for close to a week to stagger arrivals, but Malcolm knew someone and for the right amount, they could go over with one of the last portkeys because of the full moon. She was sure Lily could use a similar excuse since she'd be even more pregnant then.
Quidditch world cup? Severus was aware of the event, but did not want to go to one. He certainly never thought Lily would want to either.
He repeatedly confirmed she preferred a portkey to Texas to watch quidditch over Paris or Majorca, or anyplace else with a beach, so he contacted Wilkes and the four of them were scheduled to take the last portkey from London to Sweetwater, Texas with confirmed seating for the World Cup match.
Severus was not sure they were really going, but if the opportunity for the reservation slipped by with him doing nothing, Lily was sure to make a big deal of it. This pregnancy was making her more unreasonable than ever.
Lily, on the other hand, was concerned. Sev claimed he was not ill, but he had never fainted before. His attitude was almost Gryffindor with his ability to ignore his health and suggest they go somewhere for a week. She was heartened that he had suggested Paris because Lily was starting to think that the fire had already died out before they were married. Severus had been very careful in the bedroom lately, even though from everything Lily had been told or read that it was fine for them to do whatever they did before.
Even with Severus going to work for that potions master every day, he could at least eat two meals cooked by her mum while they lived here. Mum even packed him food for lunch. Lily was impatient to move out of her mother's home, but found it comfortable to remain. If Sev was going to be at work most of the day, it gave her some company and Lily had not spent much time in her mother's company for years, except when she was grounded during the summer and preferred to remain in her bedroom sulking.
She visited Mary, but with Malcolm not wanting to work, he was also there. Lily did not like their house much. It was big, but it did not feel like a home. Mary was working on it, but carpets and curtains of any color, were not enough to scrape away generations of dark wizards scheming and who knows what else within the walls.
At least it was satisfying to know that Severus was not comfortable in such surroundings. How could she had even believed Sev was going to turn into some kind of dark wizard? Gryffindor might as well be the house of liars with Dumbledore as their inspiration.
Lily still read The Daily Prophet every day. Things were getting worse. Another reason why she did not want to move away from her mother. If James bloody Potter could end up on her porch, anyone else could. Now that Severus was family and lived here, he had strengthened the spells on the house to a paranoid level. That was in addition to him sleeping here every night, the preferred time for Death Eaters to attack. Cowards liked to surprise sleeping people. Thinking of cowards, Lily almost wished that Dumbledore decided to drop one evening by to get a taste of the wards. There were a couple clever charms she had added, but had no one to test them out on to see them in action.
For the World Cup, they met the Wilkes at the Ministry, and queued for their portkey. They had packed hardly anything since they also had one of the first portkeys back to London due to Lily's pregnancy and a hefty surcharge.
Another newly married couple was in their group. They recognized Lucius Malfoy and Narcissa Black because they were a few years ahead of them at Hogwarts. Both had been in Slytherin. The Malfoys recognized Malcolm and Severus and were distantly polite to their wives, until Malcolm reminded them that Mary and Lily were Gryffindors from the same year as him.
The four of them were pretty sure neither of the Malfoys was a werewolf, and Narcissa did not currently appear pregnant. Lily's belly was now clearly rounded, but it had taken months for that to appear. She was relieved that she finally looked pregnant rather than thick-waisted, but also glad it did not take shape before she graduated school.
Their portkey departure was very prompt, and Lily did not feel so well once they arrived so the two couples moved out of the arrival area, and sat down for a short while since the game was not scheduled to start for another two hours. There was some sort of show prior to the match regarding the two teams and the culture of their countries. Lily sided with Severus in favor of Greece, and the Wilkes preferred Brazil. However, none of them felt very strongly about either country.
Lily smirked when Malcolm returned with some refreshments. He was informed Coca-Cola was a beverage popular with the local wizards.
Mary declared it, "Too fizzy to catch on with adults."
Severus was not sure what to make of it. He knew what it was, but never bothered to drink it before. It was definitely cold since it was served in a disposable cup full of ice. It continued to fizz when he held a bit in his mouth, but there was a cloying sweetness to it that he did not like. If it came in a different flavor, he might find that more satisfactory.
They got up and followed the crowd towards the enormous stadium, bypassing the vendors since both the ladies already had omnioculars as previous gifts from their husbands for Wigtown games.
The ushers indicated that their seats were 'up' multiple times. Mary assured Lily that 'up' was better than sitting at close to ground level or their necks would hurt before long. Both the fellows had a hand on their wives' elbows as they ascended the stairs slowly for Lily's benefit, and not at the pace of everyone else rushing to get to their seats, or back down to the bottom to purchase just one more thing.
Once they ascended to the correct level, there was a quick discussion between two contrary ushers and it seemed their seats were a long walk around this tier to another section. All of them confirmed as they walked that the numbers were going in the right direction, and they should reach their seats with time to spare before anything began.
James Potter was of the opinion that these seats sucked. If Remus didn't have his little furry problem, James would have brought him along and their two seats would be somewhere better.
The section was not so bad, being more than halfway up the stadium, but they were at the very back. He tried to tell the rest of the Braga Broomfleet team that all they had to do was wait till the ushers were busy to move down to the front to fill in the good seats that were still empty. Their captain and manager were against it once he got them to understand his plan in their stupid language. Their stupid owner should have gotten them better tickets, if he didn't expect them to try to improvise. Cheap bastard.
He was in the midst of another sighing jag, waiting for this game to get going. It was going to be so boring. Greece? Brazil? James was not interested in recruiting players from the Brazilian team. Really, Brazil? It was a backwater. They didn't even speak English there. How did they even play quidditch there since the whole place was one big, wet jungle? He'd have to teach them everything.
Wait … was that Evans down there? Of course, here he was stuck in the last bloody row between a couple of sweaty Portuguese. James focused his omnioculars towards the aisle next to the railing that ran all the way around the tier.
It really was Evans. Her face looked a bit puffy and tired, and what was she wearing? It was hot here, and she had some shawl over her arms and covering half her sundress so James could hardly see any skin. Ha, there was the reason why Evans had to stay covered up … Snape was right behind her. He was uglier than ever. What was she doing here with Snape, MacDonald, and Wilkes?
If Evans wanted to go to the World Cup, all she had to do was write him. With his connections, he could have gotten them excellent seats, and how could he forget the camping? James would be happy to share a tent with Evans, rather than the the other chasers from his team.
From his vantage point, James saw Snape put his slimy hand on Evans. This was so unfair! Rather than puking on the loudly cackling woman in front of him, James decided that this situation had to be remedied.
He stood and cast, "Expelliarmus!" while keeping his omnioculars focused on Snape.
Severus was listening to Lily complain that her feet were hurting, and replying that they only had three more sections to go, when he was knocked backwards into both the Wilkes. He felt his wand fly out of his sleeve holster and his eyes caught sight of it spinning end over end before it sailed over the railing. He presumed it would continue falling until it landed on the pitch. Lovely.
Lily yelled his name, when he got hoisted aloft by the ankle and bodily smacked into her, knocking her down onto the stairs that led up to the seating in this section.
James grinned at the Slytherin pile-up and barked out a laugh as Snape saw his wand drop over the rail, saying, "Look at his face," before casting his next spell.
One of Potter's teammates realized he was up to something immature and potentially embarrassing yet again, and asked him to stop. When Potter jerked his wand and laughed more, ignoring him, he looked downwards and saw a wizard in black being lifted in the air, right next to the safety railing. A number of people yelled now, and he tried to get Potter to stop by reaching across to his wand hand, asking their beater on the other side to stop him.
Severus was stunned by getting knocked into Lily, and realized he was now being swung away from her and hurled facefirst into the top rail. MacDonald threw herself bodily between him and the rail, holding her hands out to stop him, while Severus cast the counter of liberacorpus on himself, hoping his mother's wand was up to that spell.
Even though Lily had an extreme pain in her lower back from the edge of a stair, she found she could not lie motionless as Severus swung towards mortal peril. She was not sure if she actually willed herself to do it, or something beyond her control flung her at Sev to grab onto him and then dig in her heels to try to drag him back.
The pain.
She felt something pop inside her, and there was something warm and wet leaking down between her legs as she pulled, before Severus became a victim of gravity and fell.
James was disgusted how badly the direction of his spell went because this clod of a beater the Broomfleet recruited grabbed hold of his wand hand while he was dangling Snivellus and knocked him into that idiot, MacDonald, who got in the way.
Malcolm got off the floor and had his wand out. He did not cast a spell until both he and Mary screamed as she was knocked into and over the rail.
Leaning over the rail dangerously himself, Malcolm slowed Mary's fall and kept his eyes and focus on her till she reached the ground without injury.
Lily stood transfixed, holding her breath while Malcolm continued to concentrate on a spell. She was afraid to move and look down for herself. His reaction was all she would need to know what happened to Mary. Her breathing and pain resumed when his shoulders dropped with a relieved sigh, and he turned to them to mention, "I have to get down there."
From his vantage point on the thin carpet at Lily's feet, Severus could feel it was wet with something. Knowing quidditch fans, he was probably better off not knowing.
By now, ushers were centering on them and fans were getting out of their seats. One of the staff was using a device to talk to someone else to check on Mary.
Afraid, Lily got his attention with a hissed, "Sev."
"Yes?"
"I … Could you look … I don't know ..."
"Where?"
"I might have wet myself, when I was pulling you," Lily whispered to him, hoping that's all it was. Her mum had warned her that her bathroom habits may change and there could be accidents, but Lily thought that was supposed to be much later. She was not going to go through three months of wetting her pants.
Severus was partially relieved that he may now know what liquid was soaking his clothes and hands, only because it was from Lily, rather than someone who had too much to drink before the snitch was even released. He would have preferred a spilled beverage though.
The fabric of the center of her flower print skirt was wetly clinging to her the front of her thighs, but the white fabric was tinged pink. Reluctantly, he touched her damp leg and then examined his fingers.
Unsure, he asked, "Could it be something else?"
"I don't kno … ugh," Lily felt a prolonged, harsh pain in her lower back.
"What's wrong?" Severus asked, then realized more of whatever it was was pouring out of Lily onto him. It was not blood.
Loudly, to stop these morons from crowding them, and to give him an opportunity to get up so he could be in a better position to help Lily, Severus announced, "We need to get my wife to a hospital."
Lily was pale and a sweat had broken out on her forehead. She knew something was truly wrong and the pain continued, barely ebbing than returning stronger. She grabbed at Severus as he stood.
He was right, she needed a hospital. Now.
Someone instructed them to let go of each other so they could be apparated to the hospital by separate security guards, and Malcolm was told, "Stay here. We're having your wife brought up by broom. She's unhurt. We'll take you to the hospital after we have some questions answered."
Not quite believing them, Malcolm looked back down over the rail to make sure there were people with brooms getting Mary. He was impatient to see talk to her, but had to admit a broom was faster than all those stairs.
Afraid that he'd lost it forever, Severus mentioned, "My wand went over the rail too. The first spell that hit me was a disarming spell. It's ebony, thirteen and a half inches, with two bands of near identical interwoven designs on the handle."
Malcolm agreed while still keeping an eye over the activity below, "Yes, whoever cast the disarming charm, purposely knocked Snape into my wife and I, before lifting him and using his body as a weapon against his own wife, then swung him back to try to kill my wife."
A woman in a uniform robe instructed everyone to back away from Lily, then said, "I'll take you straight to the emergency ward of the local wizarding hospital, ma'am."
Lily saw another uniformed witch waving her hands at those around Severus before she got pulled away by the apparition.
Prior to following Lily to the hospital on the arm of another security witch, Severus looked up the stairs at a loudly complaining, familiar voice. James Potter. A group of men were bringing him down from wherever Potter had been waiting to ambush him. The word crucio and intent were in Severus's mind as the security witch apparated with him.
Obviously the half-witted Portguese had no idea what being a team meant as they dragged James down the stairs. Traitors. They were jealous of him. It was only a bit of a joke, and a few people had already screamed out that MacDonald was all right.
What was the big deal? It was only Snape, and it certainly livened things up while they were forced to wait.
James was actually glad to see Snape look up at him. Now he'd know who made a fool of him again … James fell, screaming because he was suddenly in intense pain like he had never felt before. His entire body was aboil and perhaps exploding would bring him relief.
It was not until it stopped, only a second or two later, that James could think and realized that cruciatus was cast on him.
Now, that slimy, dark wizard Snape was going to pay. He'd go to prison for the rest of his life. Wait, where'd he go? And what did they do to Evans?
Regulus Black was seated with Mrs. Crouch and his friend, Barty, a few rows behind and to the side of the British Minister of Magic. He was invited to the World Cup when it appeared Mr. Crouch, Barty's father, was too busy to come. They had arrived this morning, and if the game was short enough, they'd only need to camp here tonight.
Mrs. Crouch was being a bit of a bore since she was noting who she knew among the latest arrivals as being worthy of a better timed portkey than the Crouchs. He exchanged a glance with Barty as she hissed 'Malfoys'.
Reg voiced his opinion, "If they had to stay somewhere overnight, who do you think would have more luggage? Him or her?"
At least Barty found it funny, or at least he did because his mother didn't. Father had gotten them World Cup tickets because he had scored twelve OWLs, something not even father had done himself. Then he can't even be bothered coming. Nothing was ever good enough for Bartemius Crouch, even when his son got perfect scores in every subject. How Barty hated him.
Regulus played with his omnioculars and focused on his cousin, Narcissa. What the hell had she done to her hair now? At least she was dressed well, and wore enough jewelry to be able to buy a quidditch team.
A few of the security people that the Texans or Americans or wherever the name of Hades they were that they kept it so hot, barged through the throng of people around the Minister.
Regulus noted that he turned and pointed up this way. He lowered his omnioculars and looked around. These were not bad seats at all so it had to be someone important.
Some flunky of the Minister's ran ahead and addressed their group, "Where's Mr. Crouch?"
"My husband had to remain in London on Ministry business," Mrs. Crouch replied.
"Are any of his people around, Missus? A crazed Portuguese quidditch player attacked four of our citizens and knocked one right over the railing to fall onto the pitch. Her husband luckily saved her, but the Yanks are trying to figure out some of the details. The other witch that he attacked was pregnant, and they rushed her right to hospital with her husband."
"Portuguese?" Mrs. Crouch repeated. A quidditch match brought out the worst in some people. It's only a game, and it hadn't even begun yet.
"Yeah, who knows? Right, missus? They're all a bunch of hot-blooded lunatics down there."
Mrs. Crouch stood and Regulus gladly loaned her his omnioculars. People who worked for Mr. Crouch did not sit with him. Their seats would be way in the back, if not on the top tier above them.
"Ah, see that fellow there, with the straw hat? That is Alastor Gumboil. He works in my husband's department, Magical Law Enforcement."
"Yes, thank you for your assistance. I hope he can get back to the game without too much fuss."
James was escorted down the stairs, protesting he was going to miss the game and he had a ticket for a reserved seat.
Then he saw Wilkes smooching MacDonald. What a man-whore. Obviously, there was no low a Slytherin would not sink to. Even though he was never fond of MacDonald, James felt that maybe he should warn her before she did something stupid. Slimy Slytherins should stick to their own kind.
If that was not nauseating enough, James recognized that Boil fellow from the Ministry, pretending he knew how to wear muggle clothes. Everyone knew only girls wore those kind of hats.
Simultaneously, they sneered at each other, "You!"
Then Alastor Gumboil continued, "He's no Portuguese. He's English. That's James Potter."
"Portuguese?" James exploded. "That is ridiculous. Do I speak in gibberish? Do I eat greasy sausages, morning, noon, and night?"
"Wait, you attacked the Wilkes and Snapes?"
"So?" James replied, not catching the plurals. "Snape cast cruciatus on me."
"Shit," muttered one of the Texan wizards, as he examined Potters omnioculars. "He recorded the whole thing."
"Hey, those are mine!" James claimed.
"Cruciatus? There's no cruciatus," someone else disputed. "They were walking to their seats. None of them even knew you were up there when you attacked them."
"Not then. Later. When I came down the stairs, Snape cast a cruciatus on me."
"You had already disarmed him."
"He got his wand back by then. How do you think he countered my spell?"
"We have his wand. Other than starting numerous fires, but Mr. Wilkes said he's a potions apprentice, his spells are as dull as dishwater."
"Then Wilkes cast it on me! It had to be one of them. They're Slytherins. Dark wizards."
"May I?" Alastor interrupted, "I've questioned this perpetrator before. He is prone to telling the most outrageous lies, and I think he could keep us here all afternoon, to ruin our enjoyment of the game, just to amuse himself."
"You're lying," James replied.
Ignoring the not so Portuguese quidditch player, Gumboil was given permission to speak. The British Minister sent him over, but at this point, they really did not need him. The absurdity of finding the whole incident recorded on the attacker's omnioculars was all they needed, besides having his entire quidditch team willing to be witness to this James Potter casting spells at hapless people as they tried to make their way to their seats.
"I first made this young man's acquaintance when he was a minor. He and his friends destroyed a muggle pub for fun, and coincidentally Mr. Snape's father, a muggle, was in it. Later, he and his friends lured six students, including these four to a werewolf during a full moon, resulting in Mrs. Wilkes getting infected, and another girl getting killed. When the evidence against Potter was circumstantial, criminal charges were not pressed against him, but he was expelled."
"I was not!"
"You were expelled from Hogwarts," Gumboil insisted.
"I was, but not for that."
"I'm trying to make this quick. He was suspended, then when another student died under mysterious circumstances, and Potter was found to be withholding information that could have saved him, but chose instead to not care if another student was killed, he was expelled."
"Hey, Peter was my friend!"
"Yes, and you knew he was an illegal animagus, which may have been helpful information when he went missing. Oh, Potter's an animagus too. A stag.
"Rather than drawing this out for his entertainment, let's continue. Potter was then expelled, and more people were killed while he had the flimsiest alibis. His accomplices were either imprisoned or killed, leaving him alone to then start playing professional quidditch. After attacking Hogwarts students at a game in which he was supposed to be playing, Potter could no longer find a team in Britain, so went to play in Portugal."
"I could find a team, but Braga Broomfleet offered what I wanted," James disputed. Gumboil had no idea about how profesional quidditch players changed teams. James could play chaser on any team he wanted.
"Except lie for you when you try to kill the same people again."
"I don't need them to lie for me. No one got hurt. It was all a prank. Didn't you hear people laughing? They were cheering when I turned that greasy git upside down."
"Those were screams of horror," disagreed one of the security wizards.
"No one got hurt? You knocked a pregnant witch into the stairs. She's at hospital now."
"I can't help it if someone got clumsy," James replied. He didn't see any pregnant cows waddling about earlier.
The only satisfying thing to Gumboil was this was not England. He may never see James Potter again, and that was fine with him. Priviledged pricks were a blight on their country, and it was bloody difficult to tell them apart from the supposed bad guys. His transfer to become a hit wizard could not come bloody fast enough.
Remus was home with his parents the next day when the newspaper was delivered.
He had been sad that he could not go to the World Cup with Prongs, but there was no helping how he felt just after the full moon. Taking a portkey, then camping for a couple days, would be too much. He hoped to hear from James tomorrow on how it went, but at the very least he would know Greece had won. After four hours of brilliant play by both teams. Darn. He missed a good one. Maybe next time, it would not be scheduled so close to the full moon.
He did a doubletake as he turned the page. There was a photo of James, looking very angry. He attacked Mary and Malcolm Wilkes, knocked Mary Wilkes over the stands to plummet to the pitch, but she was unharmed because she was saved by her husband? If that was not something that said James had lost his mind, he also attacked Severus and Lily Snape, the former year's head boy and head girl of Hogwarts? Mrs. Snape was in critical condition in hospital? Did James throw her off the stands too?
For over a day, Severus was left in limbo, waiting for Lily to recover sufficiently to get a better diagnosis. The baby was already dead. There had already been too much damage to keep it within Lily, and it was too little and underdeveloped to live outside of her.
He was troubled that he did not feel more strongly about it, or her. It had been a girl.
Severus knew that he was capable of grief from his mother's death. Why didn't he feel as strongly about Lily's baby? He could make himself feel worse by picturing her as an eight-year-old with red hair at the playground. Imagining she would look and laugh just like Lily had at the age when he first met her.
Was it because he was so angry at himself for not casting the killing curse at James Potter? That's what he should have cast, if he was going to cast anything. Until Potter was dead, he was going to keep turning up everywhere and ruining his life. There was also still Black. Severus still had not done anything about him. He had no idea where he was since he escaped from Azkaban. Black may have even had been with Potter yesterday. Severus was doing a horrible job of protecting Lily.
Wilkes said he'd let Lily's mother know about what happened, and Severus would get more information to her as it became available. The Wilkes were able to trade another two people for a later portkey, and were leaving about now.
Mrs. Evans could get on an airplane, but Severus thought that would still take a long time. They might even be back in England by the time she got here. His knowledge of muggle travel was terrible, unless it involved a train schedule.
When Lily opened her eyes, she found Severus drooling on her hand. He had fallen asleep on the chair beside her bed, probably holding her hand.
If Sev had fallen asleep, she was afraid that she had been here a while. Lily could remember some things. The quidditch stadium obviously, someone attacked them … who? Could it have been Death Eaters? Were there more attacks coordinated throughout the stadium on other muggleborns? Was the Dark Mark made visible over the pitch after they left?
Lily could really think of no other reason for the four of them to get attacked like that. They weren't speaking loudly. They weren't picking on anyone or anything. Not the Americans, Texas, Greece, or Brazil.
She also remembered the pain, all the liquid that came out of her, then she started bleeding … the bleeding started almost as soon as they apparated here. Then a woman brought Sev here, and they got her lying down and changed, and the pain just wouldn't stop. Then what?
With her free hand, Lily felt her stomach. It felt flatter … maybe. For a long time, she kept feeling her stomach to determine if it was getting bigger, now maybe it was not as big as it was, but it was still somewhat rounded. She pressed it a little and it had some give. Not like before when it was solid and round, to prove it was not just a bit more fat on her midsection.
Panic. Was the baby out of her? There was nothing around here to show there was a baby. No little cot with plastic sides, but it would be way too small. Did they have one of those incubators that Lily had seen on television where the nurses handled it through gloves on the side, or some magical equivalent to keep it warm and breathing?
She was about to wake Sev and ask him, then stopped. What if something happened to it? Would he blame her for wanting to come here to see the World Cup? Lily knew Sev had not been keen on coming here.
He also did not say much about the baby, except smirk when her mother suggested they make Petunia's room into the nursery, and could overhear Petunia's shrieks over the telephone, even though he was not the one with the earpiece to his head.
Sev may not be joining in with the planning, but he did show he cared. At night, he usually slept with at least one hand, if not both, on her stomach. Sometimes during the day, he'd rub her belly. There was also those odd looks he would give her bare stomach, like he was trying to see how another person could be inside of her.
Lily could not stand not knowing anymore, and shook his shoulder, calling, "Sev."
Later in the day, Albus brought a copy of the paper to the Shrieking Shack along with some other supplies for Horace.
Unable to comprehend the senseless violence, Albus was bemoaning to his friend, "I cannot believe it. What could he have been thinking?"
Horace looked up from the article and agreed, "I know. If Wilkes had let her hit the ground at full speed, he could have been very wealthy."
Malcolm had returned and gone back to England multiple times, carrying news between Lily and her mother. Since she was improving, and the hospital kept giving release times such as 'as soon as tomorrow' for multiple days, the idea of booking a portkey while pretending Mrs. Evans was a close to squib witch, complete with wand to weigh at the Ministry was deemed unnecessarily risky.
Mary returned for longer periods of time. Earlier in her pregnancy, she had been miffed that Lily had hidden her pregnancy from her best friend for so long, however she had forgiven her. Unable to have children herself, she had thought she could be something of a favorite aunt. It was going to be a little girl too. Finding out how they dealt with criminals around here was heartening because James Potter would never ruin their lives again, but it still did not bring back Helen or Lily's baby.
Lily would be free to travel in a day or two. She still could not believe James Potter had attacked them, or maybe not that, but he could be so vindictive after all this time. What made him so intrisically evil?
Neither Malcolm nor Severus understood what an electric chair was, except they got the idea it was a muggle invention meant to deal with the harshest sorts of criminals. Sev at least understood the danger of electricity to a person's body.
Potter's parents attempted to get him transferred back to England because at least there, at worse he would only go to Azkaban for a short while. The local laws here were quite different about baby killing and attempted murder. Even if Mary was a werewolf, they considered it attempted murder, since she had not been transformed or posing a danger when Potter attacked her.
Lily was unfamiliar with the term 'Texas Justice', but she considered that it might strike some fear in people back home if the Ministry adopted a stricter method of dealing with criminals, rather than only locking up those that did not bribe or joke their way out of trouble.
Phi moped about. She had been kept fed regular by the female here, but it was not his person or his person's mate that carried her egg inside her body. People were so impractical. This nest seemed nice. The egg could be kept here. Even in winter, the inside was warm.
The female tried to speak to her, but Phi did not understand a word she said. Phi understood that she was being fed quite well. She got liver here quite a bit more than she did at that dangerous stone building in the North.
She felt a surge of warmth when her person and his mate appeared next to the hedge, where many little birds lived. If he was going to be gone so long, a good wizard should take his familiar with him.
Severus was mildly annoyed when Phi swooped down and landed on his shoulder. She was not supposed to do that around here. He sensed that she knew, however she had been lonely without him around for days. It had not even been a week since they left. Animals, even familiars, could not tell time the same way people could.
Mrs. Evans had been expecting them and spent the afternoon watching for them to appear. She opened the back door, ran over to her daughter and embraced her. With the uncertainty of what was going on, she had wanted to fly to the United States, but was afraid she'd miss them, or Lily would be released from their hospital and they'd have to wait for her to arrive. There might also be trouble getting back home with them, being a foreign country with different rules, especially for their kind.
She was so happy that she finally got to hold her daughter again.
Mrs. Evans also gave Severus a hug before they walked into the house.