A Potion's Miracle by Maraudering

Story Notes:

Hiya, I hope you are well!
I hope you enjoy this story, which I am also posting elsewhere along with other stories. At the moment I am attempting to update each of my fics about once a month, but that may change given time. I hope you continue to enjoy the story, and know that I won't ever abandon it. Even if I am taking a little while to post a new chapter, it is probably just because I am busy or my health issues are playing up. I will always come back. Always.
Anywho, I posted an essay/petition where I (un)officially explain why I think I should be cast as my favourite character, Severus Snape, in the new HBO series, despite the fact that I am a woman. It would mean a lot if you went and read it, but no pressure. It isn't going to lead to anything, unless, by some miracle, it goes viral, but it was fun to write. It is on my AO3 which has the same username as I use here. Feel free to go and check it out.
Also, I am working on some Spotify playlists for my fanfics, so if you can think of any songs you think work with the stories as they are so far, or where you think they are going, or songs that give you the vibes you get from the stories, then please do let me know and I will give them a listen, then potentially add them to the playlists. I will let you know as soon as they are ready, though it may take a few weeks because life.
I have a Facebook group called Maraudering_Paige which you are all welcome to join if you would like to and are able to. It is where we can talk about Harry Potter, fanfics, life, share memes and more. It is also where I have somewhat of an update schedule for my fics and will be keeping you up to date on what I am working on, in regards to fanfics, original works, and more things. So if you are interested in joining then I am more than happy to accept you all.
I also now have a TikTok and an Instagram for my fanfic writing escapades. The username is maraudering_paige on both of them so feel free to follow me, and we shall see how often and what kinds of content I can post when I can. But it is another way for me to keep you all up to date if you don't have Facebook and such, and for me to spread the word about other things I am working on and things I want to do and such. So yeah, feel free to join me on those if you are able.
And finally, if you like poems, then I write them and I have started a Patreon where you can read 1 or more poems every month depending on how many I have the time to post. You also get access to information about my original books I am working on before anyone else. And you get your name listed in the acknowledgements section of any book I publish whilst you are a Patron. For £2.22 a month. If you would like to join me over there and read some rants I call poems, and get updates on original work, then you may. My username over there is Paige_Makepeace. No pressure, by the way, you certainly do not have to if you can't or don't want to. I understand. I just thought it would be a cool thing to try. Any money made from this will go towards helping me write and publish the original novels I am working on. Including the one I am hoping to publish first which is a slow-burn, witchy, bisexual/lesbian enemies to lovers book.
If there are any other platforms you think I should join you all on then let me know and I will have a think.
I hope you are having an amazing day!
Kind regards,
Paige xx

Harry walked into his first potions class of his third year at Hogwarts with trepidation. He was still sore despite it being a good few weeks since he left the Dursley’s. He was exhausted because of nightmares and difficulty getting to sleep in the first place. And his magic had been acting weird.

He’d thought, wished really, that blowing up Aunt Marge would be the only weird thing his magic did. But it wasn’t. He didn’t even know how to describe it, so he couldn’t ask for help because he didn’t know what was happening to him in the first place.

He felt… well, he felt weird. That was for sure.

But when he was around certain people his magic seemed to… buzz almost. There was a contentment in him when he was around these people, a feeling of safety, of warmth, and love, and hope. Then, when he was around certain other people his magic felt like it was warning him of… something. He didn’t know what but he felt cold, unsafe, unloved… used. He almost felt dirty around them.

What bothered Harry even more was who gave him and his magic these feelings.

The people who made his magic warn him of something… they were the people Harry cared for the most. Ron, Hermione, Dumbledore, Mr and Mrs Weasley, Ginny.

And the people who made him feel safe… he was happy that Fred and George were in the worryingly short list, along with Neville. But he was shocked that Professor Snape was on that list also.

Although, at the same time, not really. He knew that the Professor had saved his life a number of times. And his time alone at The Leaky Cauldron had allowed Harry the opportunity to reflect on certain memories of his and he had seen moments where the Professor thought no one was looking at him, where he would look sad, or guilty, concerned and a number of other emotions, if only just for a second before he seemed to lock them away.

But it was a combination of all of these things that made him worried for this lesson. He didn’t want to sit with Ron and Hermione so he sat with Neville, but he could feel their questioning looks on his back. He felt insecure with the feeling of their eyes on him. His stomach also felt funny, which didn’t help matters.

The Professor stormed into the room and a wave of calm settled over Harry even as the man sneered at them all. Harry seemed to be able to see under the sneer, however, and he could feel the concern for his students, the care he felt for them which he seemed to be forced to hide.

“Today you will be making a de-aging potion,” the Professor said, his tone of voice instantly making the room quieten, “It is a fairly simple potion to brew, however, any mistake or tampering with the potion could prove almost fatal depending on what you dunderheads manage to mess up. So, I will be keeping a spectacularly close eye on you all, and if anyone, I repeat, anyone even thinks of tampering with another students’ potion, I will not hesitate to punish you accordingly. You will be working in pairs, and by that I do not mean one of you does the entire potion whilst the other person does nothing,” he glared at Ron whilst he said that, “It only takes an hour and a half to brew, and since this is a double lesson, when you are all done, we will be discussing the various uses of the potion, the ingredients, their interactions, what can go wrong during the brewing process, and such. You may begin,”

Neville got up to get their ingredients whilst Harry set up their cauldron and other equipment. Harry was surprised, and yet also not, that he and Neville actually worked well together in Potions. They both helped and encouraged each other, and their potion was actually doing well. He could see, for a few seconds when the Professor thought that no one was looking at him, that the man was impressed, proud even, of the two of them.

No one had ever been proud of him before.

And he knew no one had been proud of Neville before either.

The two of them had bonded, secretly, over their childhoods. They wanted to help each other get out of their situations but neither of them knew how without having to tell adults. They didn’t trust adults all that much. But maybe he could trust the Professor. His magic was telling him he could after all.

It was then that he heard the whizzing that indicated something flying through the air, towards him. He watched in shock as something fell into his cauldron and the potion started to bubble ferociously. There was a sizzle and he could sense an explosion coming.

He managed to push Neville out of the way before all he felt was pain as his body felt almost like it was about to implode. His eyes were shut and he thought that he was maybe getting smaller. He could hear screams and shouting, and he felt gentle, safe hands on him, trying to help.

The pain was too much though, and with a final unreal sounding scream everything went black.

…

Severus awoke with a groan of pain and annoyance. Why couldn’t the students do what he asked of them? Why did he have to be this way? Why was he forced to treat children the way he was? He just couldn’t do it, couldn’t handle it anymore.

It hurt him every time he glared at them, every time he said a horrible thing. Every time he saw fear or pain in their eyes because of something he did his heart broke all the more.

He sat up slowly, his hand on his sore stomach as Poppy came rushing towards him.

“Where’s Harry?” he asked, growing more worried as he looked around and couldn’t find the boy anywhere.

He should be here.

“Severus, you need to remain calm, okay,” Poppy said as she sat next to him, giving him a pain relief potion which he downed with a sigh of relief, barely noticing the slightly different taste to the usual one he would take.

“I can’t remain calm, Poppy, you know that. Where is he? Is he okay?”

“Sev, I know how much you struggle, I really do, but please, calm down, and I will explain,” she was giving him the look she always gave him when he worried and she tried to calm him enough to listen to her, except it was more urgent than usual.

“Where is he?” he asked again after taking some shaky deep breaths.

“Severus, the potion de-aged him,”

“I rather gathered that since he was shrinking in my arms,” he snapped, though he immediately regretted it.

“It de-aged him to a foetus,”

Severus’ heart broke at the words. He was dead. Harry was dead. He couldn’t save him. He couldn’t save his best friend’s son.

“Severus, no. Stop whatever it is you are thinking, right now,” Poppy said as she saw Severus begin to shake as tears filled his dark eyes.

“He’s dead,” he whispered.

“No, he’s not dead,” Severus stared at the woman in shock.

“But how can he not be dead?”

“Severus, you and your magic absorbed him. Harry Potter is currently residing in your womb. You are eight weeks pregnant. And your magic… well, your magic changed him,”

Severus was in shock, even as his hand made its way to his flat stomach. That would be why the potion had tasted different. It was one he made for pregnant students.

“Changed him, how?” he asked when his mind caught up with what she said, worry in his voice.

She smiled at him slightly, “Your magic changed his DNA, Severus, and his magic. You are now his biological and magical mother. He is your son,”

“B-but… Lily?” his heart hurt, her baby was now his. He never… he never would have wanted to take her child from her.

“I don’t think she would have minded, Severus,” she said with a sad smile on her face, “I am sure she would much rather Harry be loved, and have a mother, than continue with the life he has been living up until this point. And… he would have died had your magic not reacted as it did. I am sure Lily would much prefer him alive, well, and even happy for once, than with her and James,”

Severus nodded, though it still hurt. Despite the hurt though he couldn’t help but feel awe-struck, and a deep happiness as his thumb stroked his stomach.

He was going to have a baby.

Harry was his baby.

He was going to be a mother.

Then he thought of the implications.

A shudder of worry went down his spine as he thought of how Albus would react. Severus wouldn’t be able to spy anymore. He was sure that his class had probably seen what happened, and either inferred where Harry was, or would guess when he came out as pregnant. Then it would spread like wildfire.

But… if he couldn’t spy anymore then that meant he would be safe. Or safer at any rate. He wouldn’t have to worry about the cruciatus every meeting once the Dark Lord finally returned. Yes, there were the other Death Eaters still lurking in the country, but he could just stay in Hogwarts, or disguise himself when he went out. Not that he went out often.

He could… he could be himself. He could stop pretending to hate the students. He wouldn’t need to. He could help them. He could get them to think for themselves instead of blindly following their families and peers. He could protect them better, openly.

“Is he okay?” Severus asked, concern covering his features even as Poppy smiled at him.

“Yes, he is okay. He was a tad stressed for a while but he has calmed by now. You will need to be careful, of course. You know how delicate male pregnancies can be. And I will be checking on you both every week, just to be sure, but everything should be fine. There are no major risks in the pregnancy so far, though I will be prescribing you some pre-natal potions. And if you feel any cramps, start to bleed, or your canal starts opening early I expect you to get me straight away,” Severus nodded, “Just please, for all of our sakes, try and remain as stress free as possible,”

Severus snorted, “I don’t think it's likely to be calm for a while yet, Poppy. But I will try. I can’t…” he couldn’t finish but he could see understanding in her eyes.

He had wanted a family for so long, but had pushed his hopes away for the sake of spying. It was just too dangerous. It still was, but he had hope now that maybe, just maybe, he might be able to get through it.

“So long as you are feeling okay you are free to go. I will come to your quarters for our check ups because I know you like privacy. I will let you know when closer to the time,” Poppy said.

“Thank you,” he said as he stood up, donning his robe briskly and stalking towards the floo.

He floo’d straight to his quarters, not wanting to talk to Albus yet. He knew he should, but he wanted some time alone to think and take in what was happening.

He was going to be a mum.

Something he had always wanted was finally coming true.

He was terrified.

But he was also elated.

He didn’t think he had ever felt that free before.

He could be himself, his true self.

Then Lily slipped into his mind and he felt pain at the thought of accidentally taking her child away from her.

“I’m sorry, Lily,” he whispered to no one, and yet he felt a comforting breeze on his shoulder and a wave of love, and care, and forgiveness.

He took in a shuddering breath as the comforting air disappeared.

His hand hadn’t left his stomach since he found out he was pregnant, he looked down at it, awe in his eyes as he felt the budding ball of magic within him.

“Hello,” came a small voice in his head.

A small voice that sounded like a very scared Harry Potter.

“Where am I?” the voice trembled.

“Harry,” Severus said in his mind, trying to calm his son.

“Professor Snape, is that you?” Harry asked, sounding both terrified and calm.

“Yes, Harry. It is me,”

“Where am I? What happened? Why is it so dark?”

“You… someone threw something that landed in your cauldron, and it exploded all over you. You were de-aged,”

“How old am I now then?”

“You… You are currently an eight week old foetus,”

“Foetus? Like a baby?”

“An unborn baby, yes,”

“If I am an unborn baby, where am I? How can I speak to you?”

“You are in me, Harry,” Severus said gently, rubbing his stomach.

“But… you are a man. Men don’t get pregnant,”

Severus couldn’t help the smile that tugged at his lips, “Some wizards are bearers. It means they have a womb and are able to carry and birth children. I am a bearer. When I was trying to save you my magic decided to absorb you into my womb, and…”

“And what?”

“My magic also changed your DNA and magic. You are now my biological and magical son. I am now your mother,” Severus had to admit to himself that he was scared about how the boy would react.

“You are my mum now?” Harry sounded awed at the revelation, which caused a smile to lighten his face.

“Yes,”

“I have a mum,”

“And I have a son,”

“Do you want me?”

Severus’ heart hurt at the pain in the whispered question.

“More than anything else in the world,”

“And I won’t have to go back to Aunt Petunia, Uncle Vernon, and Dudley?”

Severus’ heart stopped and his mind whirled.

Petunia.

He had been left with Petunia? But Albus told him… No. Albus lied to him. What happened to his grandparents if he was with Petunia of all people?

“He left you with Petunia?”

“Yeah,”

“No, you won’t ever have to go there again. I promise. You will be with me. Always,”

The little ball of magic seemed to breathe a sigh of relief and Severus felt sadness tug at him as he imagined what Petunia and her brute of a husband could possibly have done to the boy. But he wouldn’t get his son to speak of it at that time. No. He needed to confront Albus first. And Poppy for that matter. Surely she would have picked something up the various times Harry had been in the hospital wing.

He decided he was too tired to do anything that night so he went to the bathroom to ready himself for bed.

He got into bed, curling into a ball around his stomach, his hand resting on it protectively, a small smile on his face even despite his revelation about Petunia.

“Goodnight, Harry,” he whispered to his belly.

“Goodnight, mum,” Severus felt both pain and happiness at the heard words, but he was asleep before he could think about it any further.