Three\'s A Crowd

Part - 12

Remus found himself avoiding the Great hall. He did not want to see Severus until they met in the Headmasters office.

No, that was not strictly true. He wanted to see him, and touch him, but after what had happened earlier, first with Sirius and his idiocy, then with his own little \'moral\' lapse, Severus would doubtless not wish to be burdened with the presence of either man unnecessarily.

Sirius would not be a problem. He had changed to Padfoot, as he often does when upset, and was still in Remus\' room staring into the fire. Something would have to be done about him soon. Perhaps Harry could help, but for the time being Remus was more worried about Severus.

When the appointed time came, the Gryffindor walked up to the gargoyle. \"Carmel apples.\" The statue moved aside.

\"At least it is not as embarrassing as usual,\" noted Severus from behind him.

\"True.\" Remus was amazed. Severus was calm, and spoke to him civilly. Under the circumstances, that could be considered a minor miracle. \"I did not even know what a Snickerdoddle was,\" he said, trying to keep Severus talking.

\"A type of sugar cookie made with cinnamon.\" The werewolf had to force himself not to stare. Severus Snape was talking to him without a sneer. He was not simply grunting single word answers. He was voluntarily making conversation!

Lupin was stunned.

\"Come along,\" Severus said without malice, mounting the spiral stairs. The werewolf quickly moved to follow.

When they entered Dumbledore\'s office, they both noticed that the man from the ministry was already there. A small man with salt and pepper hair and a toothbrush mustache turned to look at them as Dumbledore stood from behind his desk.

Professor McGonagall waited by the window; obviously Albus had asked her to be the second witness. Dumbledore smiled genially and motioned for them to move closer. \"Come in, Remus, Severus. Would you like some tea before we begin?\"

\"No, thank you,\" they said in unison. Remus chuckled while Severus kept his face impassive and folded his arms over his chest.

\"Gentlemen.\" The man from the ministry held out a rolled piece of parchment. \"This is the Marital contract. Per the petition received, it has been altered somewhat from the standard contract. I have inserted a provision that your assets will remain separate and both of you will keep your names. The union can be dissolved by mutual consent, so long as it has not been consummated. It is my understanding that due to a, uh, potion accident, there will be children involved. A clause has been inserted stating that upon the dissolution of the union, equal custody will be granted to both partners.\"

\"That is acceptable,\" said Snape coolly. It was not as if this really meant anything to him. There was very little chance of him surviving the birth anyway.

\"Where do we sign?\" asked Lupin.

The man rolled out the parchment on Dumbledore\'s desk and held out a pen. \"Here.\" He pointed to a space near the bottom. \"This is a unisex contract, each of you need to sign and initial the spaces marked Spouse one and Spouse two. It does not matter which of you signs in which space, they are marked that way only to differentiate between them.\"

Remus stepped back to allow Severus to sign first. Snape shrugged and scrawled his name and initials on the lines marked Spouse one. Then Remus signed on the other lines. \"Would the witnesses please sign, here, and here.\" He pointed to the blank lines bellow the other signatures. Dumbledore and McGonagall each signed in turn then stepped back.

\"Congratulations on your union, gentlemen. A copy of the agreement will be owled to each of you once it has been filed with the Ministry.\" With that, the ministry man rolled up the scroll, bowed slightly to them, and left without another word.

\"Congratulations,\" said Dumbledore cheerfully.

\"Yes.\" Severus turned. \"I have a class in twenty minutes, may I be excused?\"

Dumbledore actually looked a little disappointed. \"Of course, my boy. But please, be at lunch today, or I will have to have Poppy come after you.\"

With a look of distaste, Snape sighed. \"I will be at lunch.\"

\"And eat?\" Lupin added.

\"And eat.\" Snape sighed.

He stepped out the door. Remus looked to Dumbledore who smiled and nodded. He moved quickly to follow. \"Severus, can we talk after your class?\"

\"Lupin, Potter caught me in the hall before I reached Dumbledore\'s office. He, suggested, that I be civil for our marriage ceremony. I was. I have fulfilled that command, now I am free to be uncivil. So bugger off!\" With that he turned on his heels and strode down the hall leaving a very angry Remus.

He was definitely going to need to have a talk with Harry.


---


Severus kept his word. He dutifully appeared at his place at the table at exactly noon. He ate some soup and bread. He did NOT touch the very tempting coffee carafe that some sadist had left near enough for him to smell, then stood as if to leave.

Madame Pomfrey put a stop to that in short order. Before he could even stand, she was behind him, a restraining hand on his shoulder. She leaned down so as not to have to speak very loud and embarrass him any more then necessary. \"Eat some of the cauliflower, broccoli, and fruit. Then I want to see you eat a little of the pudding. You must eat enough healthy food for you and the children.\"

\"I am taking the supplement you gave me,\" he argued, mostly for the sake of arguing.

\"Which will help.\" She sat in the empty chair beside him and moved the coffee on down the table, just to keep the temptation in check. \"Severus, you need calories as well as vitamins or your body will take what is needed from your bones and muscles. That may be part of the problem that some of the men who had been pregnant this way had. It was long ago, and their regular diets were often not very healthy.\"

\"All right, Madam. If I must.\" He sighed as he reached over to take the vegetable plate. Pomfrey smiled and handed him a plate of sliced apples, bananas, and strawberries.

Dumbledore watched the exchange with interest, but did not interfere. He knew better then anyone else present how difficult it was for Severus to accept help. He would not wish to cause him to be upset because he thought that \'everyone\' was meddling in his affairs.

Things actually went very well until near the end of the meal, \"Oh, hey ya Snuffles!\" Hagrid called, readying his supply of scraps as he saw Lupin\'s huge black dog walk into the hall by the staff door. Dumbledore turned to see Sirius heading straight for Severus.

He noted with worry that Remus was no where to be seen.

Should he take some sort of action? Get between them? He wanted to grab the dog by the scruff of the neck and yell at it! \'Sirius, why are you here now? Severus is calm and cooperating! Must you hurt him again!\'

He almost rose from his chair until he saw the blue eyes of the dog. There was a strange haunted look in them as he made a beeline for the Slytherin. Snape was glaring at the dog, ready to explode. But then to the shock of everyone at the table, Snuffles dropped to his belly and crawled the last few meters to Snape\'s feet.

He whimpered and nudged at his boot with his long snout. \"Will ya look a that? \'e wants to make friends with ya, Prof\'sor Snape.\"

\"I have no wish to be friends with him,\" Severus growled. But Snuffles was insistent. He rolled onto his back, and pawed at the Slytherin\'s boots.

\"Perhaps if you cannot be friends, you could call a truce?\" asked Dumbledore. \"Let him prove himself?\" The other members of staff were listening to the odd conversation, but none of them had any clue as to what was really happening.

Under other circumstances, Severus Snape would rather be dipped in blue paint and called a Smurf then to make a truce with, or even be in the same room with, Sirius Black. However, the curse was working overtime. Even as he tried valiantly to hold onto his very understandable anger, he found himself reaching out to stroke the dog\'s head.

He had to fight not to drop to one knee and hug it.

\"Fine, a truce, if it will keep the beast out from under foot!\" Snape snarled without much of his usual venom. He wanted to stop this before he did something to embarrass himself.

Snuffles leapt to his feet, yelped with joy and seemed to do a little victory dance. \"Do not let it go to your head, mutt,\" Snape said under his breath, even as he slipped a small piece of bread under the table. A shudder that had nothing to do with disgust ran through him as a warm tongue licked his fingers.

The staff and remaining students could only watch and wonder.


tbc