Severus sighed tiredly as he splashed his face with cool water. It was Monday again, and it would be the first day back to classes since he became pregnant and adopted Neville. He still felt a tad queasy, even after his morning sickness relief potion, though he figured some food would help, maybe?

The question was, though, whether he should go to the Great Hall, or hide in his quarters until his first class of the day.

Going to the Great Hall would only bring stares, chatter, and well, much more trouble than he felt he could deal with at that time.

But he didn’t want to hide.

He wanted to see his son.

His son.

Merlin, he had two sons now.

Two little boys.

And… And Kingsley.

He blushed slightly as he stepped back into his bedroom to get dressed for the day.

“Are you okay, mummy? I’m sorry for making you sick again,” Harry said nervously.

“I’m fine, Harry. I’m just tired, and… nervous, I guess. It’s going to be a long day… week,” Severus said back, rubbing his flat stomach gently, “It’s not your fault, Harry. It is completely natural for me to be feeling sick right now. And I don’t mind, because after all of this I get to hold you in my arms. For you I will do anything, baby, even be sick occasionally so that you can grow healthily inside me,”

“Will you be sick the whole pregnancy?” Harry said, still very scared.

“Maybe, though usually the sickness only lasts for the first trimester, as your body is getting used to the hormones and the child growing in you. So in a few weeks it should stop. But even if it doesn’t, I don’t mind. And it isn’t your fault,” Severus said gently as he tugged off his pyjamas and pulled on his teaching clothes.

He left his bedroom and stopped for a second when he realised that the living room was a tad bigger than it usually was, and there were two extra doors coming off the room. One next to his bedroom door, and the other on the other side of it. He opened the first one to find that it was empty, other than a basic ebony wardrobe with stars and moons carved into it, and a chest of draws in a similar fashion. There was a window, too, much like the one in his own bedroom, smaller than the one in the living room, but it looked into the depths of the lake, but it went outwards, into the lake, with a smaller window on top of the nook also. And there was a window seat large enough, and comfortably padded with forest green cushions, for him and his sons, and even Kingsley, to spend some time there when little Harry was born.

There was a door to the left hand side also, and he opened it to reveal a large bathroom with a door opposite, leading, Severus presumed, into the other new room. There was a bath built into the floor that was a good size, a walk in shower, a toilet, a sink, and plenty of cabinets of towels and toiletries.

Then he wandered through the door opposite the empty rooms’ and found another bedroom, presumably for Neville considering it had a mahogany four-poster bed, a wardrobe and chest of drawers similar to Harry’s, only mahogany instead of ebony. It also had a bookshelf, a desk and comfortable looking wingback chair in a dark red, and it also had a window nook into the lake, with a seat.

And it dawned on him, really, then that he was a parent.

He was a mother.

He had a family.

He had a little boy upstairs in Gryffindor Tower.

And he had another in his womb.

He placed his hand gently on his stomach as his breath hitched and he tried to get control of himself.

He finally, finally , had the one thing he had always wanted.

A family.

He was free.

He was free.

Mostly anyway. Dumbledore was still lurking around. Sirius Black was on the loose. And the Dark Lord was trying to return.

Sirius Black was on the loose.

His breath hitched again.

Of course this all had to happen when the person who had tried to kill him when they were teens was on the loose. The same person who was trying to kill his son. The person who had escaped Azkaban to kill his son.

His baby.

He breathed shakily, trying not to think about it. He couldn’t think about it. Not now. He had classes to teach. Apologies to make.

He took a deep breath again and headed out of the room, towards the door to the outside world, and he opened it only to stop in shock when he found one Remus Lupin standing on the other side, fist raised as if he was about to knock.

He took a deep, shuddering breath again.

“Ah, Severus,” Lupin said nervously, scratching the back of his neck.

“Lupin,” Severus said tightly, “What are you doing here?”

“Well, I… I was wondering if you would let me walk you to breakfast,”

Severus raised an eyebrow, “Why would I want that? Why would you want to walk me to breakfast? You know, the boy you used to call Snivellus ,”

“Can’t we move past that by now?” Lupin cringed, “We are adults. We’ve grown up. Can’t we move past school boy grudges and become friends?”

“It was more than a grudge and you know it,” Severus growled as he stepped out of his rooms and closed the door sharply behind him, “And that still doesn’t explain to me why you want to walk me to breakfast, or why I should let you,” he said as he turned and started storming down the hall.

“Look, Severus,” Lupin said as he struggled to keep up with the dark haired man, “I know things were difficult in school. I really do. But you are carrying James and Lily’s child. And you will need help. So let me help you, please. Harry is my last link to them, and they were my best friends. I… I just want to help you, and be part of his life,”

Severus stopped abruptly and turned to the heavily breathing man who stumbled as he also stopped, looking at Severus in shock and confusion upon seeing the man’s anger.

“If you wanted to be part of Harry’s life then why weren’t you? Where have you been for the last twelve years, Lupin?” Severus growled, “In any case, he is my child now. Mine. Yes, Potter may still be his father, biologically. But he is not here. I am Harry’s mother, me. And I get to decide who is in his life and who isn’t. You can’t just push yourself on me as if you have every right to be there. Maybe if you had stayed in contact with Harry, checked in on him every now and then, or whatever else you could have done over the last twelve years, then I would consider it. As you said yourself, they were your best friends, and yet you didn’t once think to check on their son. To make sure he was okay. But considering you haven’t had anything to do with Harry at all, and our past, I don’t think I can trust you around my son. So please, leave me the hell alone. I don’t need help walking to the Great Hall, or anywhere else for that matter. I’m pregnant. Not disabled,”

Severus turned to start walking again, but Lupin gripped his wrist tight and Severus glared at the man.

“Please, Severus. I… I thought we were friends in our fifth year, when we would study together. I thought… I’m sorry… But I just… I just want to help you. And Harry. I’m sorry I didn’t keep in touch with Harry. That I didn’t see him. But I was… I was busy, trying to survive. As far as I am aware, though, you didn’t see Harry either, and Lily was your best friend,” Lupin said.

“I tried. I tried to see him, to make sure he was okay. But Albus lied to me about where he was, and told me there were wards around that prevented anyone with a Dark Mark to go near the house. I tried sending him letters, and presents, but they would be sent back to me, unopened. I tried,” Severus growled, “And yes, I thought we were becoming friends in our fifth year also. I thought you were growing up, coming out of your shell, that you were taking your prefect duties seriously and stopping your friends whenever they tried to prank me in your presence. But then there was that delightful prank by the lake at the end of the year. Do you remember? Do you remember standing there and watching, laughing, as they did what they did? Not doing anything to stop them? To punish them?”

“You called Lily a Mudblood,” Lupin said sharply.

“I didn’t mean it. It was an accident. I was angry. I was scared. I was exhausted. I was upset. I was being humiliated in front of thirty fucking students. I was grieving. I was being abused by my own housemates, by you and your friends, by the entire school. I’m sorry I lashed out. I didn’t mean it. Not that she ever believed me. Because I’m a Slytherin, right? I’m evil. I came to school knowing more dark curses than even the Death Eater children knew, according to your friend anyway. Sure, that is definitely true , I am a half-blood after all. So much more knowledge available to me when my mother can’t use her own magic, and my father is a muggle drunk who liked to abuse us. I didn’t… I didn’t mean it. I really didn’t. But it doesn’t matter, does it? Because I thought that you were coming to see me for who I really am. I thought Lily already knew who I really was. And yet you both turned on me because of a mistake I made, that I didn’t mean, I could never mean it. You both either let me be hurt in that way, watched along with laughs and sneers, or you didn’t believe me. You also stuck with your friend when he tried to kill me via you the following year. Even though, should I have actually been hurt that night, you would have been killed by the Ministry because of it. But no, you still couldn’t abandon them. Him. So, I think I have every right to not need you right now, to not want you in mine or my son’s life. Because I can’t deal with that, with you, right now,”

Severus turned and stalked away, feeling both angry and frustrated because of the tears that threatened to spill. Fuck Lupin. Fuck hormones. Fuck Dumbledore. Fuck life.

Fuck everything.

Thankfully he was able to pull himself together by the time he arrived outside the Hall.

“Mum, are you okay? I… Did my dad hurt you? I’m sorry, really really sorry,” Harry said nervously as Severus took a shaky breath.

“I will be, Harry. And it isn’t your fault. Nothing is your fault,” Severus said gently back as he took a fortifying breath and stepped into the almost full Great Hall.

And, of course, the first thing he wanted to do was to turn around and stalk back to his quarters as the Hall quietened to an almost deafening level, and everyone turned to look at him with varying looks on their faces.

And then Ronald Weasley and Hermione Granger were suddenly directly in front of him and looking at his stomach with wide eyes.

“Harry, if you can hear us there’s no need to worry. We’ll get you out of and away from the Dungeon Bat as soon as we can. We promise,” Ron practically shouted, leaning in close to Severus as if that would make Harry hear him more.

It did but Ronald didn’t need to know about it, or about the pain those words caused both Severus and Harry as Severus’ hand covered his stomach protectively and moved away from the two cretins.

“What did you just say, Mister Weasley?” Severus said sharply.

The youngest male of the family froze and looked up at the dark haired man with wide eyes.

“Well, it’s not as if you’ll want him, sir. We all know how much you hate him. Harry needs to be with people who love him. He needs to be with family,” Ronald said defiantly, glaring at Severus.

“I’ll have you know, Mister Weasley, that I don’t hate him. I don’t hate any student in this school. I have had to pretend I do, yes, but I don’t. I was a spy, you see. I was spying on the Dark Lord and his Death Eaters for the Headmaster. I have been doing so since I left school myself. And as a result the Headmaster forced me to pretend to hate certain students, even as I protected you all as much as I could. But, since I am now the mother of Harry, it is a bit hard for me to spy on the ones who want him dead, isn’t it? As a result, I am no longer a spy. And I can now be my true self, rather than pretending to hate you all,” Severus said calmly, eyebrow raised as he stared down at the children in front of him, “And if anyone, even you and Miss Granger, even thinks about taking my sons from me, in any way, then know that there will be nothing I won’t do in order to get them back,”

He glanced up at Dumbledore to find the man looking at him with confusion.

“Sons, Severus? I thought it was just Harry you had… become pregnant with,” Dumbledore said, clearly trying to remain calm.

“Indeed,” Severus said, “But yesterday I had the pleasure of adopting a student who was being abused by their family,”

“Oh,” Dumbledore said in surprise, raising an eyebrow of his own, “And who would that be?”

“Me,” Neville said from behind Severus.

Severus turned around as everyone gasped and smiled at his son and the Weasley twins who were flanking him.

“Hi, mum, how are you feeling?” Neville asked kindly, smiling back at Severus, whose heart skipped a beat at the word, “I have been reading up on bearer pregnancies with the twins since we got back yesterday and it says you might be feeling some morning sickness at the moment, but that it could be at any time of the day, not necessarily in the mornings. Are you okay?” he said as everyone continued to stare at them in shock, not that either of them cared anymore.

They finally had a family.

Then Neville showed him the book in his hands, turning it to the page describing week eight of the pregnancy, “And this is what Harry looks like right now. And he is approximately the size of a raspberry. Isn’t that awesome? Do you feel anything? Does it feel different? It says in here that he may be moving around a lot but you won’t be able to feel it yet. But does it feel different?” Neville sounded so excited as he seemed to forget that there was a Hall full of people staring at them.

“First of all, I am okay, thank you for asking. Yes, I have been having some morning sickness, but it is manageable, and I don’t mind it all that much. Yes, it is awesome,” really he was in awe of what his baby boy was meant to look like at that stage, and that he was the size of a raspberry, “I feel, different, but it is… I can’t really describe how I feel. It isn’t unpleasant, though,”

“Cool,” Neville beamed, “Did you and Kingsley have a nice chat yesterday?”

Severus blushed lightly, though he shook his head fondly at the mischief in his son’s eyes.

“Yes, we had a lovely chat. I will tell you all about it tonight, after dinner. Come down to our quarters and I will also show you your bedroom, which we can go and get things for on the weekend if you would like to,” Severus said gently.

“Brilliant,” Neville nodded excitedly, “I’ll see you then. Have a good day!” Then Neville realised all the people looking at them and blinked nervously before huffing out a laugh and leading the twins over to Gryffindor’s table.

Severus smiled, ignoring everyone else in the room as he moved to sit at the head table and picked some food for himself.

“Severus, what have you done?” he heard Dumbledore mutter from a few seats away, but he didn’t answer.

He just wanted to eat, teach his classes, then spend some time with his son.

“Leave him alone, Albus. He is young, he is allowed to find himself happiness, a family. He is allowed to be free. Let him,” Pomona said fiercely from her seat to Severus’ left.

“Yes, Albus. This should be a momentous moment. Our youngest member of staff is having a baby, and has adopted another child, we should be helping him, supporting him, not questioning him or attempting to discourage it. Or getting a couple of students to threaten to take his baby away from him,” Filius said, just as fiercely, from Severus’ right, “I know you have your games to play, Albus, and I know how you have used and hurt Severus over the years. But leave him alone. He saved Harry’s life and is now Harry’s mother. There is nothing wrong with that. There is nothing wrong with him adopting Neville if the boy was being abused. They all deserve love, family, and happiness. And we, as his colleagues and friends, should be supporting them. They don’t deserve to be used by you in this stupid war that you keep dragging everyone into,”

It was silent at the staff table after that. And Severus left as soon as he had eaten his fill, making his way to his classroom as quickly as possible. And he waited with almost baited breath as his first set of students soon started to file into the room, all looking rather nervous as they took their seats, looking at him with many questions on their faces.

He sighed as they all fell silent, waiting for the class to begin.

“First of all, I would like to say sorry,” there were gasps as they all looked at him with shock in their young eyes, “I’m sorry for how I have treated you all through the years. There are a number of reasons for me doing so, though it mostly stems from the line in my contract that states I must be unfair and unkind to the students, especially those most likely to be targeted by the Dark Lord and his followers. I tried to get the Headmaster to not put it in there, to actually make the opposite statement in my contract, but he refused. It’s all for the ‘greater good’. Though, it did say that I can change my attitude in exceptional circumstances. I think this is rather exceptional, and I will be working with some friends of mine to get my contract changed, I have tried to do so throughout the years, but I have more reasons for it now, and hopefully those reasons will help us make it stick,

“I am sure you all have many questions. Some of you may not know much about bearers, or about how I have been secretly helping abused children through the years. I am not going to answer everything, though if you do have questions I will answer what I can, what I want to answer, but it mustn’t be during class. Potions are dangerous. One slightest distraction, mistake, accident, anything, can have major consequences that could lead to injury or death. So if you have questions, wait until the end of class, or an evening, or weekend, to come to me. I will help you in any way you need. But if you only want to ask about my pregnancy, what happened to lead to it, or my private life, know that I might not answer everything. It is just that. Private. But I will help you if you need it. With school work, with home life, with friendships, with anything I can help with. If you don’t feel safe, you can come to me,

“But please know that I do not hate any of you. I have never hated any of you. I care about you all a great deal, and have been protecting you from things you know nothing about since the moment you stepped foot into this castle. I am a bearer. I am magically powerful. And I was born with an innate urge to be a mother, to protect, love and care for children, whether my own or not. I was born with a womb. I believe the muggles would call me intersex, though I am a man, just with an added extra that adapts very quickly when I become pregnant. There are books on bearers in the library if you want to read up on it some more, and if you have any questions, especially if you are one, then feel free to ask me when I am not trying to teach you. Know that I will continue to protect you all to the best of my abilities, that you can come to me for anything, at any time, and I will help you, and that things will be different from now on,” he said, his voice both gentle and strong as he looked through the students in the class who looked at him with wide eyes full of hope.

“Also know that the Dark Lord isn’t dead, not fully,” he breathed out painfully, but they needed to know, they had every right to know, “And know that there are people who will want to drag you into the war that will come when he finally manages it. He has almost succeeded twice already, in the past two years. But know that I will do everything I can to make sure all of you are safe, and as far away from the mess as possible. You have no place in any of this, and people shouldn’t be using you to fight a war for them, no matter who they are, how good at magic you might be, no matter what. If you don’t want to fight, then you shouldn’t. And you won’t,”

They all looked terrified, but they needed to know. They deserved to know. To prepare themselves mentally for what was to come. One day.

“Let’s get on with the class, then, shall we?” he smiled gently at them, shocking them all out of their dazes, and he chuckled a little at their looks, “Today we shall be going over the basics of potion making,”

The rest of his classes that day were similar. All the students were too wary to do much of anything whilst he said his apologies. And when he entered the Great Hall for dinner everyone just kept chattering away, although there were some glances in his direction.

“You’re really doing this, Severus? You’re really giving up everything we have worked so hard for?” Dumbledore said quietly as Severus took his seat in his usual one, two seats away from the man.

“For my children, and for the rest of the children in this school, in this country, I would do anything. I just haven’t before now because I hadn’t a reason to give up spying for you. Now I do,” Severus said gently as he helped himself to some food.

“You don’t have to give up spying, Severus. When Harry is born you can hand him over to me and I will put him with a good family. And Neville can go back to-”

“No!” Severus snarled sharply, “Your version of a good family is one that abuses Harry. I am not letting my son be abused just because you think you can use him for your stupid bloody war. Or do you not recall the list of injuries Harry has sustained over the years at the hands of his relatives? You know, the report that you had Poppy do the first time he was in the hospital wing? The one you made her vow not to speak a word of? And I recall I said this morning that the boy I adopted was abused also. I am not sending Neville back to his abusers after the work I did to get him away from them,”

“I’m sure Augusta did nothing of the sort, Severus,” Dumbledore said.

“Hmm, I guess we shall see about that when we release his medical report, and his interview with the goblins, shall we? When we punish those wretched people who dared to hurt him as they did.” Severus said, glaring at the old man.

“Now, my boy, there is no need to be so hasty,”

“I am not your boy. And I am not giving up my sons to you, or anyone else, not for anything. If you want a spy, find yourself another one, preferably not a student, but a fully consenting adult,”

“You are going to be giving birth in the castle,” Dumbledore muttered so quietly that Severus almost didn’t hear it.

Almost.

He stood, his anger and magic flaring out of him as he glared down at the old man, “Did you just threaten to kidnap my baby?” Severus growled, not caring that the rest of the room was looking at him.

“Severus, I don’t know what you are talking about,” Dumbledore said benignly.

“Oh, you don’t, do you? You just said ‘You are going to be giving birth in the castle’, what else was I supposed to extrapolate from that other than the plan to kidnap my baby after I have given birth to him? Did you not hear me when I said my magic had changed his magic and DNA so that I am his mother now? Not just the person who happens to be carrying him in my womb? I knew you would plan something, but to kidnap my child, you would really stoop that far,” Severus scoffed, “Of course you would. Anything for your ‘greater bloody good’, right? In any case, I had actually planned, over the weekend, to give birth elsewhere. With my family,”

“You don’t have any family,” Dumbledore said, and Severus glared at him.

“Fuck off. You know nothing about me, Headmaster. You know nothing of my life outside of my positions here. You know nothing of my family. Yes, my parents are dead, my biological family, apart from my son, is dead. But my found family are alive and well. And I shall be giving birth with them at my side. Somewhere far away from this bloody castle. Somewhere safe. And if you even think of taking my baby away from me, either of them, I will use everything I learned as your spy against you, until I get them back. If you do anything to try and stop me from leaving this castle, then know that I have people on the outside that will do literally anything for me, and when I say literally, I do mean literally. Especially if you are threatening to take my children from me,”

“Severus, we need you to spy for us. So that we can keep the children safe. So that we can keep Harry and Neville safe. So that we can get rid of Tom for good. We can’t do those things if you are too busy playing at being a mum,” Dumbledore all but snarled.

“Fuck you,” Severus said, but before he could say anything else he felt a gentle hand on the small of his back and turned to find Kingsley looking at him worriedly.

“Are you alright, Sev?” Kingsley asked, his eyes full of concern.

“Ah, Kingsley, how long have you been here?” Dumbledore said nervously as he looked between the two standing men.

“Long enough to know that you threatened to take Harry and Neville away from their mother to make sure he remains a spy for you,” Kingsley growled dangerously at the man, “And, rest assured, should you do anything of the sort, I won’t hesitate to let Severus do whatever he wants to you until he gets his babies back. And I will have the full Auror force waiting for their turn also. You may be popular, old man, but if you even think about hurting Severus, Harry or Neville, in any way, then I will do whatever I can to rip that power from you. Anything. And Severus is very right in saying that he has plans to give birth elsewhere, with the aid of his family. If you do anything to trap him in the castle, however, know that I will bring many people with me as I fight to have him released from you. You really don’t want to know how many people I am talking about, but know that it is a lot and that they are all very powerful,”

Dumbledore looked like he didn’t believe him, or like he didn’t care so long as things worked out for his ‘greater good’ and he probably didn’t. The man was too old. Too set in his ways. He didn’t think that other people would and could fight him. That they could or would go against him.

“Come, Sev, let’s get you back to your rooms where you can relax. All this stress isn’t good for you or the baby,” Kingsley said gently, turning his full focus back to Severus and taking his pale, somewhat shaking hand in his own, twining their fingers together as they headed back down the hall, with Neville joining them at the door, a smile on his face bellowing the anger and pain in his young eyes as he glanced back at the Headmaster.

Soon, though, they were back in Severus’ rooms and the pale man breathed shakily as he sunk into the sofa. Kingsley and Neville sat on either side of him, looking at him worriedly.

“Sev, are you alright? Do you need anything? If you want I can take you and Neville home with me, and you can stay there until Harry is born, or until you feel safe enough to come back,”

“Kingsley, as much as I appreciate the offer, I can’t,” Severus said tiredly, “I can’t leave them. The students. Someone needs to protect them from his schemes. From the Dark Lord. From Black. From everyone else. My magic doesn’t like the thought of leaving them,” he chuckled dryly, “If he doesn’t understand by now what a mother’s love can do, then he clearly has just been sprouting shit this whole time, right? I’ll be fine,” he whispered the last part unsurely.

Merlin, what would it take for him to finally be safe?

“Okay,” Kingsley nodded in understanding, “But…” it was Kingsley’s turn to be unsure.

“But what?” Severus said gently, raising an eyebrow.

“No, it was nothing, don’t worry about it,” Kingsley said, looking nervously at his lap.

“Clearly it was something,” Severus muttered.

“I… I was just going to say that… I was… Look, I know… I know that we only agreed to give this, give us a try last night. I know it’s spectacularly too soon for anything like this, but I worry. I worry about you, Neville, Harry. I have been worrying all day. But… If you don’t mind, Sev, I would like to move in with you. Especially after what just happened. I know we will both be working during the day, but I will feel better knowing that I can keep you safe during the night. And we can still take this as slow as you want to, I can sleep on the sofa if that makes you more comfortable. But… Merlin, Sev, I don’t want anything to happen to you, to any of you, and I want to protect you all as much as I can. Even if it means sleeping on your sofa for a while to help you, and look after you, and make sure you are all okay. We’re playing a dangerous game, here, and you’re pregnant, and I want to look after you and keep you safe. Or as safe as I can,

“I mean, I might not know much about pregnancy, but I know it can be uncomfortable, especially towards the end. And I want to look after you through all of that. I want to go to appointments with Healer Greyclaw with you. I want to rub your feet when they get sore. I want to massage your back, and take some of the weight off you for a bit. I want to find you whatever you crave. I want to feel Harry move and kick inside you. I want to hold your hand. And I want to be able to take you straight to the Bank as soon as you go into labour. I want to be there for it all. I want to get to know Neville. I want to take you both out once in a while. I want to build a nursery with you, both here and wherever we will make our home during the holidays. And I want to keep you all safe whilst that bumbling idiot of a man is still within these walls. So I would like to move in with you, Severus. Even if it means sleeping on the sofa for a while. But only if that is okay with you,” Kingsley said passionately as he looked at a shocked Severus whilst ignoring the blush that was rising on his face and a beaming Neville who was glancing between them both in excitement.

“I… erm…” Severus said, heat rushing to his pale skin as he tried to get over the shock and awe the words left him feeling, and the butterflies fluttering in his heart and stomach, “I… Okay. You can move in with me,” he whispered nervously.

He knew he probably shouldn’t agree. It was far too soon in their relationship for something like this. Yes, they had been best friends for years now, they knew almost everything about each other. But this whole new series of their relationship was… well, it was new. And Severus hadn’t had much luck with love before.

But he wasn’t safe in this castle. Not with Dumbledore. His babies weren’t safe. The students weren’t safe. No one was safe.

But Kingsley felt safe. He made Severus feel safe. He made Severus feel loved and cared for in ways that no one else had before. And he knew, despite hating that he had to admit it to himself, that he would need help. That he and his children would need protection. And maybe, just maybe, having Kingsley around would keep them safe.

Or safer at any rate.

Dumbledore wouldn’t dare do anything with an Auror on the grounds, would he? Or Black?

He hoped so, anyway.

“Really?” Kingsley said, his eyes lighting up in hope and awe, and other things that made Severus feel both funny and amazing.

“Really,” Severus nodded, smiling slightly as Kingsley gave him a gentle kiss that sent warmth and butterflies through him again.

“Thank you,” Kingsley breathed, before practically bouncing off the sofa and over to the fireplace, “I’ll be back soon, I just need to pack up my stuff,”

Then the man was gone in the green flames and Neville chuckled happily, leaning into Severus.

“Are you okay, mum?” Neville asked gently.

“Hm,” Severus hummed, his heart elated at hearing the word again, “I’ll be fine, I think,”

“Try not to worry, too much. Harry and I won’t be going anywhere, ever,” Neville said.

“I will always worry. And I really do hope that you and Harry won’t be going anywhere away from me,” Severus sighed, rubbing his still flat stomach gently as he wrapped an arm around Neville’s shoulders and pulled him closer.

Merlin, he hoped they would all be okay.

But Severus just couldn’t help but feel like everything was going to go wrong.