Aftermaths, Part 32

by Geri ([email protected])

Rating: Mostly PG-13, but NC-17 for overall story

Pairing: Snape/Lupin, Theodore/Blaise

Warning: AU; events that occurred at the end of Order of the Phoenix were significantly altered from the book.

Sequel to: Always, Summer Vacation, For Old Time's Sake, Three's a Crowd, Return of the Raven, Phoenix Reborn, and Phoenix Rising.

Summary: The various characters deal with the aftermath of the war, and Snape and Lupin try to build a family together with Theodore and Dylan. However, some people are unable to let go of the past...

Author's note: {} Indicates character's unspoken thoughts.

Disclaimer: Characters belong to J.K. Rowling, except Hob, who belongs to William Mayne; no money is being made off this story; consider it a little wish fulfillment on my part.
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Snape stepped out of the fireplace into the drawing room of his childhood home; Lupin and the boys joined him a moment later. The room was luxurious, but gloomy: the drapes were made of black velvet, and the furniture was likewise upholstered in shades of black, blood-red, and dark green.

"Reminds me of Sirius's house," Lupin murmured, "though a bit more elegant."

"Yes, well, that's because my mother has better taste than the Blacks did," Snape grumbled, and Lupin smiled a little. "And because it hasn't been allowed to fall into disrepair by a half-mad house-elf."

As if on cue, a house-elf scuttled into the room. It was wearing a tattered black-and-red tea cozy, and looked older than Dobby or Winky, with wrinkled skin and wisps of white hair growing on the top of its head and out of its large, bat-like ears. "Master Severus!" it cried. "Please wait here; Vorcher will tell the Mistress you are here!"

"Out of my way, you miserable wretch!" Snape snarled, striding forward, and Vorcher cringed and scampered backwards to avoid being trampled on. "My mother was the one who called me here, and I'm not about to sit around cooling my heels waiting for her!"

"Severus!" Lupin cried reproachfully.

"Is Master Severus still mad at Vorcher about that incident?" the house-elf whined. "It wasn't Vorcher's fault; Vorcher was only following orders..."

"SHUT UP!" Snape roared, and Vorcher fled the room.

"Severus!" Lupin said angrily, as the boys watched anxiously. "I know you're upset, but there's no reason to take it out on that poor creature!"

"Stay out of this, Lupin!" Snape snapped. "You don't know anything about it!"

Lupin blinked, the anger draining from his face, and he gave his lover a thoughtful look. "It's not because you're upset about the Howler; it's something personal, isn't it? I always thought that you didn't like house-elves in general, but there's something about this specific house-elf that you dislike. What 'incident' is he referring to, Severus?"

Snape's face reddened. "None of your business, Lupin."

Lupin smiled a little. "Now you've really piqued my curiosity, Severus. Come on, you might as well tell me now; you know I'll get it out of you sooner or later."

Snape heaved a sigh of resignation and gave in. "Vorcher was kind to me when I was a child. He had no choice, of course--house-elves are required to be subservient to their masters, and I wasn't stupid enough to mistake it for friendship, but..."

"But you liked him," Lupin said with a smile.

"I wouldn't go that far," Snape said huffily. "But house-elves do tend to have a fondness for children, and like to pamper and indulge them, as I'm sure you've noticed the Hogwarts elves do. I took it for granted, but I forgot one very important thing--that house-elves only have one true master."

"The head of the household," Lupin said quietly.

"When I was eight years old, I snuck into my father's workshop without permission to mix some potions," Snape continued.

"A budding Potions Master even then," Lupin gently teased, and Snape actually smiled a little.

"I accidentally knocked over and broke a potion bottle. Vorcher helped me clean it up and he promised that he wouldn't tell my father about it..."

"But he did," Lupin finished quietly, and suddenly remembered something Severus had said during his argument with Lady Selima at the Leaky Cauldron last year. "And your father punished you with a Cruciatus Curse."

"Yes," Snape sighed. "I had hoped that my father wouldn't notice the missing bottle, but he did, and he asked Vorcher who had been in his workshop..."

"It wasn't Vorcher's fault, Severus," Lupin said gently. "You know he had no choice but to obey the commands of his master."

"I know," Snape sighed. "But..."

"But you felt betrayed?" Lupin asked.

Snape flushed and scowled, unwilling to admit to it out loud; a proper Slytherin did not feel affection towards sniveling little house-elves, certainly not enough to feel betrayed by them when they did their duty and reported some childish offense to their master. "I suppose Vorcher did me a favor," Snape said stiffly. "He reminded me of the lessons every Slytherin is taught: to trust no one and to never let your guard down."

"But that's not true, Severus," Lupin said softly, reaching out to place a hand on Snape's shoulder. "You trust me, and I trust you with my very life."

Just then, Selima Snape marched into the room, followed by Vorcher, who was careful to remain behind his mistress at all times, keeping her between himself and Snape. "It's about time, Severus!" she snapped. "Have you even opened any of the other letters I sent you?"

"As a matter of fact, I haven't," Snape said coolly. "I saw no reason why I should, as I am no longer a member of the Snape family."

Selima slapped him hard across the face, and Lupin prepared to restrain him in case he tried to attack her in return, but Snape looked more stunned than angry. His mother had never struck him before; she had berated him often enough, but she always left punishments up to his father.

"Your father is dying, Severus!" she cried. "Can you set aside your childish, petty grudges for just a moment?"

"They're not petty--" Snape started to argue, but Lupin placed a hand on his arm and interrupted him.

"You can argue later, Severus," he said quietly. "We did come here to see your parents, after all."

"And what are THEY doing here?" Selima said with a disdainful little sniff as she looked at Lupin, Dylan, and Theodore. "This is a family matter. It's bad enough that you flaunt your pet werewolf in public, but to bring him into this house--"

"Lupin's Gryffindor idealism is the only reason that I am here!" Snape snarled. "He has some quaint notion that I might 'make peace' with Father before he dies, which is complete nonsense, of course, but if you utter one more insult about him, I will leave and never return!"

Selima's face turned red as she fumed, but she pressed her lips together in a tight, thin line as she fought to remain silent. Lupin said gently, "You may hate me if you wish, Lady Selima, but didn't you just say that we should put aside our petty grudges? Dylan, Theodore, and I are Severus's family too, like it or not, and we are here to offer him moral support, that is all. We have no wish to otherwise interfere in a family matter." He smiled pleasantly. "And we came by Floo, so you don't have to worry about your neighbors seeing a werewolf in the house, so long as you keep the drapes closed."

Selima glared at him. "Fine. I don't like it, but stay if you must."

"What is going on, Mother?" Snape asked impatiently.

"I thought I made that clear in the Howler," Selima snapped. "Your father is dying!"

"Could you be a little more specific?" Snape asked acerbically. "Was he cursed, was he in an accident, is he ill--?"

"He has been ill for the past few years," Selima said quietly, "but he has recently taken a turn for the worst." Her voice sharpened again. "Which you would know if you had bothered to read the letters I've been sending you!"

"Is there nothing the Healers can do?" Lupin interrupted before Snape could fire back a retort.

"No," Selima said curtly. "He has seen the best Healers money can buy, and they can do nothing more for him. They say he has a few months left at best."

"I am very sorry," Lupin said gently.

"I don't want your sympathy," Selima snapped. "What I want--what we want--is for Severus to ensure the Snape succession."

"Never," said Snape, his face hardening.

"Your father will reinstate you as his heir if you agree to do your duty, Severus," Selima pleaded, suddenly looking desperate. "But we must work this out now, before it's too late!"

"It's already too late, Mother," Snape said. "I will never marry. I will never have a child. If that is all you wanted to tell me, then you have wasted your time."

Selima opened her mouth to argue, and Lupin decided to intervene before Severus stormed out without ever seeing his father. "Please," he said quietly. "It is clear that you will not resolve this argument anytime soon. Perhaps Severus should see his father now?"

Selima glared at him for a moment, resenting the intrusion, then pursed her lips thoughtfully and nodded. "Very well. Perhaps the sight of your father on his deathbed will remind you of your duty, Severus."

"Not likely," Snape muttered, but he sullenly followed her out of the room and up the stairs. Vorcher ran ahead of them, still keeping Selima between himself and Snape, and Lupin and the boys followed behind.

Selima paused in the middle of a hallway on the third floor. "Please, Severus," she said in a hushed tone. "Your father will be upset if you bring the werewolf in with you--"

"The werewolf has a name," Snape snapped.

"He will be upset if you bring Professor Lupin in with you," Selima said through gritted teeth. "And it isn't good for his health for him to work himself into a fit."

Snape found the thought of facing his father alone to be incredibly daunting, and he wasn't sure he could do it. He cast a quick, imploring glance at Lupin.

"It's all right, Severus," Lupin said softly, gently stroking his arm. He would have embraced his lover, but he didn't want to drive Selima into a state of apoplexy. "We'll wait right outside the door for you." He looked at Dylan and Theodore, who nodded in agreement. The boys were secretly a little relieved; they were not particularly eager to face Snape's dying father, either. "We'll be right here if you need us," Lupin continued soothingly.

"All right," Snape growled, taking a deep breath and inwardly steeling himself. Vorcher opened the bedroom door, and Snape followed his mother into the room.

Snape was shocked by the sight of the man lying in the bed; he was still recognizable as Severin Snape, but Snape remembered his father as an intimidating figure who had towered over him as a child, dealing out pain and punishment. The man in the bed looked small and frail: the long illness had withered Severin down to little more than skin and bones, and he looked as though he could be snapped in two like a twig with the slightest effort. Snape looked down at his father, feeling outraged and somehow cheated--this was the man he had lived in fear of as a child, who had brought him to his knees screaming with a Cruciatus Curse? This pathetic, fragile-looking creature that Snape could have killed with his bare hands and no need for magic?

Selima bent down to whisper into her husband's ear, "Severin, Severus is here."

Severin's eyes fluttered open; it took a few moments for them to focus on Snape and recognize who he was. "Severus," he said in a hoarse, raspy whisper.

"Father," Snape said, nodding curtly at him.

"Have you finally come home to do your duty?" Severin whispered.

"I have come home because Mother sent a Howler that announced to the entire school that you were dying," Snape brusquely. "And my softhearted Gryffindor Headmaster and...er...colleague...insisted that I come home to see you."

"Don't do me any favors," Severin snapped, and Snape barked out a single harsh, mirthless laugh. "I am dying, Severus," Severin continued. "I do not wish to leave my estate to you--"

"Don't do ME any favors!" Snape retorted.

"--but you are my only heir," Severin continued. "If you will agree to marry and sire an heir of your own, I will revoke the ban and appoint you head of the Snape family."

"I will never marry!" Snape insisted. "Can't either of you get that through your heads?! I will never give you an heir!"

"Because of that werewolf catamite of yours?" Severin snapped. "Yes, I know about that--the entire world knows how you have disgraced this family!"

"Tell me why I should give a damn about this family!" Snape shouted, and outside the bedroom door, Lupin and the boys exchanged worried looks. "You tortured me with Unforgivable Curses as a child--"

"Yes, Selima told me how you were whining about that," Severin said dismissively. "I can't believe I raised such a pathetic excuse for a son! I did not torture you, Severus--the way your friends Nott and Avery tortured their own wives and children, might I remind you? I merely punished you when you misbehaved."

"With a Cruciatus Curse?!" Snape shouted.

Selima sighed and muttered to herself, "This is not going well. I don't know why I bothered." Both her husband and her son ignored her.

"It left more of an impression on you than being spanked or sent to bed without your supper would have, didn't it?" Severin retorted. "If the Malfoys had been harder on Lucius, they might still be alive! If the Blacks had been harder on Sirius, he might not have turned out to be such a disgrace to them!"

"And Nott and Avery were not my friends!" Snape added.

"Then why did you take in Nott's son?" Severin asked.

"So that he wouldn't have to grow up in a house like this one!" Snape screamed, then paused and took several deep breaths to get himself under control. He would not lose control in front of his father; he would not expose any weaknesses to his father. "Nott and Avery and Malfoy were never really my friends," Snape said in an icy voice. "I was never really a Death Eater, as I'm sure you know by now."

"You could have told us that," Severin snapped.

"You could have had a little faith in me," Snape snapped back. "Even the Donners stood by Ariane when she was arrested and about to be sent to Azkaban!"

"Faith?" Severin scoffed. "Faith is for Gryffindors! Clearly that Headmaster corrupted you with his bleeding heart notions! If you had confided in me, I would have advised you never to do something so noble and reckless and foolish as spying on the Death Eaters!"

"If I hadn't," Snape snarled, "we might all be dead or slaves of the Dark Lord right now!"

"Fine," Severin said mockingly. "You're a hero; congratulations! But that still doesn't give me an heir."

"I will never give you an heir of my body," Snape said coldly. "You might as well go ahead and adopt one."

"Don't think that I won't!" Severin shouted, spit flying from his mouth. "If you will not do your duty as a Snape, I will turn the estate over to the Ministry before I let you have it!"

"Go ahead," Snape smirked. "That Gryffindor idiot Arthur Weasley is in charge of the Ministry now. He'll probably use the proceeds to build a home for wayward werewolves or fund some Muggle preservation act."

Severin struggled into a sitting position and flailed his arms wildly at Snape as his wife tried to calm him down. "Get out of here, you ungrateful wretch!" he screamed. "Get out, and don't show your face again until you're willing to do your duty!"

"Severin, enough, please lie down," Selima urged, glaring at her son.

Severin collapsed back against the bed, more from exhaustion than Selima's urgings. "Vorcher!" he shouted. "Vorcher, bring me my medicine!"

"Coming, Master!" the house-elf cried, and actually shot a quick glare at Snape as he hurried over and picked up a potion bottle from a nearby table.

"Well, that went well," Snape said sarcastically to Lupin as he joined the trio out in the hall. "I told you this was a waste of time."

"I'm sorry, Severus," Lupin said helplessly, and Snape shrugged.

"It's not your fault, Lupin."

The four of them stood there in silence, not knowing what to say. A few minutes later, Selima emerged from the room and closed the door behind her. "I told you not to upset your father," she said accusingly.

"No, you told me not to let Lupin upset Father," Snape reminded her.

"You know what I mean," Selima said, looking too weary to be angry, which actually frightened Snape a little.

"I am sorry, Mother," Snape said in a stilted voice, "but as I said before, if you brought me here just to persuade me to give you an heir, you have wasted your time."

"Because of the werewolf?" Selima asked, and Snape bristled. She sighed and said, "Well, shouting in the hall isn't going to help your father get some rest. Let's go back downstairs and discuss this in the drawing room."

"I told you, any further discussion is a waste of time," Snape complained, but they followed her downstairs.

"You can keep your werewolf lover," Selima told Snape, once they were all seated. "I won't try to fight you on that anymore. If you agree to take a wife and be a little more discreet, we can provide him with a place of his own and enough money to live comfortably--"

For the first time, Lupin began to look angry. "I am no one's pet dog, Lady Selima," he said coldly.

"That's it, we're leaving," Snape said, rising to his feet.

"Sit down, Severus!" Lupin and Selima said simultaneously, then stared at each other in surprise. Lupin laughed a little and Selima scowled at him. Snape shook his head and sat down again, feeling--not exactly cheerful, but a little better at seeing that the werewolf was getting on someone else's nerves for a change.

"It's a generous offer," Selima told Snape. "It's no secret that your lover is a pauper, and I would have thought that you'd like to see him provided for."

"I can provide for myself, thank you very much, Lady Selima," Lupin said firmly. "I have a cottage that my parents left to me, and I now earn a decent salary at Hogwarts. I have no need of a mansion or frivolous luxuries."

"How very nice for you," Selima said in an acid tone of voice.

"Mother," Snape said in a warning tone.

"I am trying to be reasonable here, Severus!" Selima protested. "I have just told you that you can keep your lover! All you need to do is a make a marriage of convenience and sleep with the girl long enough to sire a child! Of course it will be difficult to find a woman of the proper bloodline willing to marry you, since your relationship with the werewolf has been made public--"

"Mother--"

"--but I'm sure I can find some family fallen on hard times that will be willing to overlook it in exchange for a generous dowry."

"Mother, I--"

"At this point," Selima continued, "I would even settle for an illegitimate child, so long as the mother was a pureblood! I don't suppose that you ever--"

"MOTHER!" Snape shouted, and Selima finally fell silent. He glowered at her and said, "Let me make this very clear. I will not marry. I have no illegitimate son or daughter, nor will I ever father one on any woman. Lupin is not some plaything, some lover to be kept on the side." He took a deep breath, then said in a firm voice, "I love him," and Selima's jaw dropped in shock. He took a bit of pleasure at seeing his mother at a loss for words, and he glanced over at Lupin, who was smiling at him tenderly, and felt even better. "He is my lover," Snape continued almost cheerfully. "My...for lack of a better word, my mate."

Lupin's inner wolf growled happily. "And wolves mate for life," Lupin laughed.

"I know it's a myth that werewolves mate for life!" Selima snapped, finally recovering her powers of speech. "And anyway, Severus isn't a wolf!" She suddenly gave Lupin a suspicious look. "He hasn't ensorcelled you somehow, has he, Severus?"

"Only with my charm and good looks," Lupin said sweetly, his eyes sparkling with mischief, and Selima spluttered with rage. He supposed that he really shouldn't give her such a hard time, considering that her husband was dying, but she had given him a perfect opening and he just couldn't resist taking it. Besides, he figured that he was entitled to a little payback for her earlier attempt to buy him off, as if he were nothing more than a courtesan or a pampered lapdog.

"It has nothing to do with sorcery, Mother," Snape replied, the corners of his mouth twitching a little. "But I love Lupin, and to be blunt, I have no intention of ever sleeping with anyone else. And since Lupin is male, that means there will be no little Snapes forthcoming." Selima looked even more horrified at the thought of a Snape heir with werewolf blood, and Snape almost laughed out loud, but turned it into a little snort at the last moment. "Is that clear enough for you, Mother?"

"You selfish, spoiled brat!" Selima screamed, her face turning red with anger. "Is that all you can think of, your own desires, your own pleasures?!"

"Mother," Snape said, a little startled by the force of her wrath.

"Do you think it was easy, being married to your father for all these years?" Selima ranted. "Do you think it was easy for me, a young girl just barely out of school, to be married to a man twice my age that I barely knew? Do you think that I didn't have other suitors I might have preferred, other suitors younger and more handsome and charming? But I did my duty and married the man my family chose for me!"

Now it was Snape's turn to sit there staring openmouthed with shock. "You wanted to marry someone other than Father?" he asked weakly. Although he had known that his parents' marriage was a carefully arranged alliance and not a love-match, it had never occurred to him that his mother might have had "suitors".

Lupin eyed Selima with great curiosity and a hint of sympathy. "Were you in love with someone else, Lady Selima? I do recall that when we had lunch with you last Halloween, you told Severus that love is a flame that burns brightly but quickly dies out. Were you speaking from experience?"

Selima's face flushed a little. "That's none of your business, werewolf!"

Snape could not fathom it: cold, proper Lady Snape in love? Surely Lupin must be mistaken...

"Anyway, you're missing the point!" Selima continued hastily. "The point is, I did my duty regardless of what my personal preferences might have been! I made a match that greatly benefited my family. My husband is not the easiest man in the world to get along with, but I learned to live in harmony with him, and I did my duty as a wife by him. It is your turn to do your duty, Severus." Snape shook his head stubbornly, and Selima asked in a quiet and even voice, "Do you know why your father chose me as his bride, Severus?"

Snape looked startled by the question. "Because it was a good political and financial alliance that benefited both sides; didn't you just say so yourself? The Bashirs were wealthy traders but relative newcomers to England. They brought to the alliance their wealth and business connections, and my father brought his respected name and political connections."

Selima said gravely, "That is true enough, but there was more to it than that. Voldemort was right about one thing, Severus--the purebloods are slowly dying out. Look at the children who are entering your school--there are more and more Mudbloods and half-breeds every year, and fewer purebloods. There is only so much pure blood to go around, as the saying goes, and the remaining pureblood families are beginning to develop the flaws that come with inbreeding. There seem to be less children born every year; wizards are long-lived, and it was not uncommon at one time for a mother to bear several children, but now our women usually bear one, or at most two, children, and often have difficulty conceiving."

Snape thought about it; it was true that many of his Slytherins were only children, and few of them had more than one sibling. "What about the Weasleys?" he asked. "They're pureblooded and they breed like rabbits."

"Severus!" Lupin snapped.

Selima permitted herself a small and sardonic smile. "The exception that proves the rule," she said. "Do you see what I am getting at, Severus? My family was wealthy, my blood was pure, and not to be vain about it, but I was much admired for my beauty by the young men at Hogwarts. But because my family had emigrated to England from the Middle East when I was a little girl, we were regarded as foreigners, and most of the pureblood families were not eager to wed their sons to me. But Severin was more farsighted than that--he wanted me precisely because of my foreign blood."

"New blood," Lupin said slowly. "He wanted to strengthen the Snape bloodline."

Selima was not pleased that Lupin was the first to pick up on it, but she nodded at him. "Exactly. He didn't want his children to be inbred idiots like Crabbe and Goyle. And many of your Slytherin friends were emotionally unstable, like Andreas Avery--"

"He's not my friend," Snape grumbled.

"--although I'm not sure whether that's due to inbreeding or upbringing," Selima finished, ignoring him. "So you see, Severus, how carefully your father and I have planned to bring you into this world and ensure the Snape bloodline. All this effort has been made on your behalf, and now you must make sure that the Snape line does not die out!"

"No," Snape said quietly. "I am sorry, Mother, but I will not change my mind."

"You will squander our gift to you, make all I have endured and sacrificed for you for naught?!" Selima asked furiously. "All for some foolish romantic notion of love?! You will throw it away all for this...this...beast?!"

What little sympathy Snape felt for his mother quickly vanished. "I am sorry, Mother," he said in a cold voice, "that you feel your marriage was a waste of time. I am sorry that you feel it was a sacrifice, but I did not ask you to make it."

"I did it for you!" Selima screamed hysterically. "To bring you into the world! I gave up my own silly notions of romance, gave up my own name and left my family to become part of the Snape family, but I thought it would be worth it because my blood too would be passed down to the Snape heir! And now you're telling me that it has all been a waste, that you are throwing it all away?!"

Snape was taken aback by his mother's hysterics; he had seen her angry before, but he had never before seen her on the verge of tears. "Yes," was all he could say.

Selima turned to Lupin in desperation and pleaded, "Please, you can remain with him and be his lover, only let him sire an heir. If you loved him, surely you would want him to reclaim his rightful inheritance and see that he is not the last of his line. You can be his consort in all but name..."

"I am so sorry, Lady Selima," Lupin said with sincere compassion, and the pity in his eyes made Selima want to slap him. "I know you did what you believed was right, and I am sorry that your sacrifice is for naught, but you cannot breed human beings to one another as if they were nothing more than dogs or horses, merely to make stronger offspring with no thought to love."

"We have been doing it for hundreds of years!" Selima snapped.

"Then perhaps that is why the purebloods are dying out," Lupin replied in an even voice, and some of the pity left his eyes. "You saw to your son's education and his physical needs--I am sure he always had food, shelter, and clothing, and lacked for nothing materially--but perhaps you should have made the effort to see to his emotional needs as well."

"That's enough, Lupin!" Snape snapped, flushing a little; he was not used to discussing love and emotions with his cold Slytherin family, who regarded sentiment as a weakness. To his mother, he said, "Gaining Lupin's sympathy will do you no good. Even if he literally threw me into the bed of some pureblood woman--which is highly unlikely, as werewolves apparently tend to be rather possessive--" Lupin smiled at him. "--I will still never sleep with anyone but Lupin. I will not sire an heir. Ever!"

Selima wanted to scream, wanted to weep with rage and frustration, at the thought of all those wasted years. She had might as well have dared her family's wrath and married the handsome but impoverished suitor she had secretly favored all those years ago; the end result would have been the same. Well, that was not entirely true...her family had benefitted socially and financially from their association with the Snapes, but what did she herself have to show for it? Nothing but a pigheaded, ungrateful son determined to disgrace his family and abandon his duties, all for the sake of a werewolf.

She wanted to weep, but she would not give Severus the satisfaction. She wanted to scream and to slap her son silly, but she knew it would do no good. Selima Snape was furious, but she was above all else, a practical woman. She finally realized that no matter what she said or did, Severus would not change his mind; he would never give them an heir. She would not have married Severin if she had been free to choose and follow her own desires, but she had married him, and she was a Snape now, like it or not, and she would do her duty as a Snape even if her son would not. So she swallowed her anger for the moment, and set her mind to the task of ensuring that the Snape line did not die out.

"Very well," Selima said in a resigned tone. "There will be no Snape heir of your blood or mine. Unless...are you sure there is not even the slightest chance that you might have had an illegitimate child, one you might not even be aware of?"

"There is no chance, Mother," Snape said firmly. "I have never slept with a woman in my entire life."

"I suppose it was too much to hope for," Selima sighed bitterly. "All right then, we must find another heir, some second or third cousin if we must. I will not see this estate go to the Ministry when your father dies."

"We?" Snape asked. "Why is this my problem?"

"Because you won't do your duty and make an heir of your own!" Selima snapped.

"Who is Severus's closest living relative after his father, then?" Lupin interrupted.

Selima frowned. "I'm not really sure," she confessed. "I'll have to check the family tree, but as I said earlier, all the pureblood families are so inbred that there is bound to be someone with Snape blood, although it will likely be rather diluted."

Lupin suddenly remembered something. "Theodore has Snape blood."

"Lupin!" Snape hissed, but it was too late to take back the comment.

Selima walked over to a nervous Theodore and examined him closely. He did bear a superficial resemblance to Severus, with his lanky build and dark hair, although Severus's black hair came from her side of the family, not his father's. He lacked the Snape nose, but Selima thought that was probably for the better. And his skin was fair, but it didn't have the corspe-like pallor that Severus's and his father's did. He was a good-looking enough boy, if not quite as pretty as Severus's other foster son...he might do, provided that he was also a good mage. Magical talent was much more desirable than good looks in an heir, anyway.

"Will you stop that, Mother?" Snape asked irritably. "He's not a piece of merchandise for sale!"

"Just how much Snape blood does he have?" Selima demanded. "And what about the other boy, does he have any?"

"I have no idea," Snape replied.

"Well, let's find out," Selima said.

"This is a waste of time," Snape grumbled. The boys already had inheritances of their own, and there was no way that he was going to subject them to the tender mercies of his parents by letting one of them be adopted as the Snape heir, but Lupin and the boys looked curious, and somehow they all ended up following Selima into the library where the tapestry depicting the Snape family tree was kept. It was made of black velvet and embroidered with red thread.

"Let's see," Selima said to Snape, tracing her finger along the branches of the tree. "Your great-great-great aunt married Theodore's great-great-great grandfather."

"Fascinating," Snape said sourly.

"The connection is a little weak," Selima continued, "but there isn't really anyone else with a better claim. A Snape woman married into the Malfoy family, so Draco Malfoy is a potential heir, but that was seven generations ago, so he has less precedence than Theodore, and quite frankly, I don't want to see the title go to Lucius's brat."

"Is there a Black in the family tree?" Lupin wanted to know.

"Yes," Selima said. "Another Snape woman married into the Black family even farther back, and Severus's great-great-great-great grandmother was a Black."

"I knew it!" Lupin crowed triumphantly to a horrified Snape. "I knew you and Sirius must be related!"

"But I will never let the Snape title go to that arrogant little brat Sirius, either!" Selima said fiercely.

"I can't believe I'm related to the mongrel," Snape said disgustedly.

"What about me?" Dylan asked.

"Hmm," Selima said, examining the tapestry further. "A Rosier woman married into our family several hundred years ago, but she bore no children to her husband, and he adopted a nephew as his heir. There seem to be no more Snape-Rosier marriages after that; both families probably didn't want to risk another infertile union."

Dylan looked a little disappointed, and Lupin asked, "What about his mother's side, the Donners, or his paternal grandmother's family, the Talbotts?"

"There are no Donners on the family tree, but a Talbott woman did marry into the Snape family several generations ago," Selima said. "However, no Snape women married into the Talbott family, so although Dylan is distantly related to Severus, he has no Snape blood, and thus no claim to the Snape title." Dylan still looked a little cheered to learn that he was related to Snape, however distantly, but Selima paid him no heed, and began looking Theodore over again. "I suppose he'll do," Selima said grudgingly. "Is he a good mage?"

"An excellent one," Lupin replied promptly. "He gets good grades in all his classes--I suspect they would be even better if he hadn't held back a little because he feared annoying Draco." Theodore looked a little startled to hear that; it was true, but he hadn't realized that Lupin was aware of it. Lupin smiled and winked at him, then continued, "He seems to have a special talent for runes, according to Professor Blackmore, and he did very well in my class--he is able to cast a full Patronus."

"You are teaching your students advanced magic," Selima said, sounding surprised.

"It was for their own protection," Lupin said solemnly. "We were at war, after all."

Selima nodded, looking at Theodore with more respect. "Yes, I heard that they fought during the final battle." She turned back to Lupin. "He acquitted himself respectably?"

"Very," Lupin said.

Snape looked back and forth from his lover to his mother with alarm. "Now wait a minute--"

"Then he can put his magic to practical as well as theoretical use," Selima said approvingly. "Very well, Severus. If you will formally adopt the boy as your son, I will persuade your father to reinstate you as his heir."

"Now wait just a minute!" Snape said indignantly.

Selima gave him an annoyed and puzzled look. "What are you complaining about? You don't have to marry and you get to keep your werewolf lover, and the boy is already your foster son. I would have thought that you'd be pleased to make him your real heir."

Snape tried to come up with an argument that would make sense to his mother, since she wouldn't understand his real objection to it. "If Theodore became a Snape, he would likely lose his claim to the Nott estate."

"I don't care!" Theodore blurted out. "I don't want it anyway!"

Snape turned and gave him a startled look, while Selima nodded. "Of course it doesn't matter if he loses the Nott estate; the Snape estate is worth far more."

"I don't care about the money!" Theodore shouted, upset that Snape might think he wanted to be adopted because he was greedy for a bigger estate. "I don't want your estate! I just want..." His voice suddenly trailed off.

Selima looked thoroughly confused. "You want to be a Snape but you don't want the inheritance?"

"I'm sorry, Professor," Theodore mumbled, staring down at the floor. "Forget I said anything. I don't know what I was thinking."

Lupin, Snape, and Dylan exchanged thoughtful and worried looks. "I think we need to discuss this further amongst ourselves, Mother," Snape said slowly.

"Don't take too long, Severus," Selima said impatiently. "Your father doesn't have much time left."

"I'll let you know as soon as I've reached my decision," Snape told her. "But are you sure that Father will agree to this?"

"He would rather see a direct heir succeed him, of course," Selima said. "But despite his threat about giving the estate to the Ministry, he does not want to see his line die out completely. If there is no other option, he will accept the boy as your heir. At least he has some Snape blood; it's better than nothing. Don't worry about your father; I'll convince him to go along with it." She saw Lupin gazing at the Nott boy with a tender and concerned look, and suddenly realized that the werewolf was her ally in this, as galling as that was. It was he who had first brought up the boy's Snape blood and tried to convince her that he was a worthy candidate, extolling his praises of the boy's magical talent. Perhaps even if he didn't want wealth and security for himself, he wanted it for his foster son. Selima looked Lupin straight in the eye and said, "Just make sure you do your part."

"We will do what is best for Theodore," Lupin said quietly.

Snape gave his mother a suspicious look, not sure why she and Lupin seemed to be sending each other unspoken signals all of a sudden, but he had other things to worry about right now. He placed his hand on Theodore's shoulder and said, "Come, let's go home now." Theodore nodded without looking up, and they all quietly headed back to the drawing room, and back to Hogwarts through the Floo.

 

Part 33