ENIGMA

Plot, new characters, new magical terms and abilities etc. are my intellectual property. If you want to borrow then please kindly ask. JK Rowling's characters and Wizarding Universe are all uniquely hers.

Summary: AU: What if everything we ever read in JK Rowling’s books was real – including the people characterised? What would you do if you found yourself caught up in that reality knowing what was to come? SS, RL, OC

Authors Note: It has been mentioned in the story but now I am noting it here. I am a fan of Diana Gabaldon’s ‘Outlander’/’Cross Stitch’ series and definitely was influenced by that in writing this story – i.e. the Standing Stones and traveling through time. But I also love Philip Pullman’s ‘His Dark Materials’ series and the tv programme ‘Sliders’ and the alternate universes alongside ours idea comes from there no doubt.

Fantasy/Drama

This story is rated R/M.

ENIGMA

Chapter 015: Thy Will Be Done

The next several weeks were stressful as Hogwarts was consumed by mid-term exams. Jessica was more preoccupied with her own affairs than usual and so quite forgot about her werewolf friend who sorely missed her company. She could not have anticipated that against his better judgment, Remus went calling at her old quarters. It took several nights of knocking and then calling out to her through the door before he realised that she had to have been moved.

“Something else I suppose you aren’t at liberty to speak to me about,” he said quietly under his breath as he stared at the door leading to her old quarters for the last time.

xxxXXXxxx

Severus went to the Library one afternoon just after exams had finished. He opened the door to Jessica’s office silently and faint sounds of retching reached his ears. He slowly pushed open the door to her bathroom and found Jessica sitting on the floor with her head in the toilet bowl.

“Are you alright?” he asked he swooped in and stood over her.

The only answer was another splurge into the toilet. Snape reached over for a face cloth and wet it with cold water. He knelt down next to her, and held the cloth against Jessica’s forehead as she continued to be sick.

She tried to speak but couldn’t catch her breath. Tears rolled down her cheeks. She was so frightened; never in a million years could she have dreamt this would be happening to her. How could she tell him? How could she tell Severus she was having his baby?

The retching abated for a moment and Jessica continued to just sit and cry.

“I’m sorry, Severus! I am so, so sorry!” she blurted out.

“You have nothing to be sorry for. I want our baby, Jessica,” Snape said softly turning her face to his. He’d had a hunch for a just over a week. He saw the signs for what they were. After all, he’d gone through this once before. The difference between now and then was that he loved the woman carrying his child.

“I’m not like her! It wasn’t on purpose!”

“I know it wasn’t. Neither one of us has bothered with our Potions. I am just as much responsible as you are.”

“The last thing you need is…”

“The only thing I need is you…and our child.”

Jessica looked at him warily. Her face was bright red and she was clearly not well.

“I’ll do whatever you want,” she cried out as her eyes brimmed with tears.

Snape took her into his arms.

“I want our baby, Jessica…”

“But V…Vold… the Dark Lord…”

Severus’ countenance was almost mask-like and his black eyes glittered strangely.

“Do not concern yourself with him, my love. It does one no good to dwell on such things.” He replied before taking a deep breath. “The Headmaster will see us through…he owes me that at least.”

Jessica held back a tearful laugh and instead snorted.

“Just like he did with the Longbottoms and James and Lily Potter eh!”

“Those were different times,” Snape said darkly. “And entirely different circumstances! I am nobody’s fool – I am certainly not James Potter!”

Jessica said nothing and turned away from him.

“Do you want our child, Jessica?” Severus asked tensely. God in heaven, it certainly didn’t seem like she did!

“M…more than anything,” Jessica answered before breaking down in tears. “Severus, I want our baby so much but I am so bloody scared!”

Snape let out a breath he didn’t know he was holding and took her into his arms tightly. He and Jessica sat in each other’s arms on the bathroom floor, digesting the undeniable fact that they were going to be parents.

And Remus left Jessica’s office as silently as he’d entered it; ignoring the sound of Severus Snape murmuring words of comfort to the woman he loved.

xxxXXXxxx

Several days later, Severus and Jessica went to see the Headmaster. True to form, there was no easy way of gauging exactly what Dumbledore made of the situation.

“I suppose congratulations are in order,” he said peering at the two of them over his spectacles as was his way.

“Any more support and I might pass out from shock,” Jessica said sarcastically.

“Jessica…” Snape said in a low hiss.

“No, Severus! Headmaster you know what is at stake here! You know everything, EVERYTHING! Severus doesn’t! Now he seems to have a lot of faith that you can keep me and the baby safe – but he doesn’t KNOW and you didn’t see fit to tell him!”

“Neither did you, Jessica.” Dumbledore said gravely.

“Tell me? Tell me what?” Snape said darkly as a vein pulsed by his temples.

“It’s time you heard it all, Severus,” Jessica said quietly. “Whatever you want after – I won’t argue against it. But I tried… I did try to tell you several times – but you… you just didn’t want to know… I don’t know what the right thing to do is anymore. I don’t know anything anymore…”

Just then Lupin came into the office. “Albus, I was wondering if I could have a word about…oh…”

His voice trailed off at seeing Dumbledore, Snape and Jessica together. Jessica looked on the verge of tears and Snape looked murderous.

“I’m afraid whatever it is will have to wait,” the Headmaster replied evenly, hiding just how sorry he felt for his dear friend.

“Mmm – yes it will; forgive the interruption,” Lupin said softly before taking his leave and closing the door behind him.

“Again I put it to you – what is it that I have not been told by either of you!” Snape said tersely.

“Severus, please don’t be like this!”

“I have no idea what you are talking about Miss Newkirk!”

Jessica snapped her head back as if she’d been slapped.

“Jessica don’t leave!” Dumbledore pleaded. “He will need you to…”

“If he even gives a shit after YOU tell him then he can bloody well find me!” she snapped.

A few quick strides and she was gone.

“Damn it!” Snape thundered.

“We all make mistakes, Severus. But once you hear what Jessica has been struggling with perhaps you can find it in yourself to consider her needs rather than any imagined slight against you or non-existent betrayal of trust.”

Dumbledore tapped a tray on his desk and two small shot glasses of Ogden’s Firewhiskey appeared.

“Jessica came to us knowing what we are and who we are…” he began.

xxxXXXxxx

Jessica left the Headmaster’s office and once near the Great Hall, didn’t know what to do. She didn’t want to go to hers and Severus’ quarters, that much she knew.

She went outside and walked in the grounds skirting the Forbidden Forest.

“Jessica? Everything alright?” came a familiar voice breaking her reverie.

“Oh – Remus… Hi…”

“I feel about as welcome as a Dementor…”

“Sorry…” Jessica murmured as she took a seat on a nearby bench.

“I haven’t seen you a good while, everything alright?”

“Peachy Keen, Jellybean…”

“I’ll take that as a ‘yes’ – even though you don’t look particularly alright.” Lupin replied as he sat down next to her.

“I’m just tired, OK?” Jessica said rising and then starting to walk away. “Tired of so many bloody secrets! Tired of this whole fucking situation! I’m just sick and tired period!”

Hands grabbed her from behind and Lupin turned her around to face him.

Jessica’s face crumpled and she burst into tears.

“I know, Jessica,” he murmured as he held her in his arms. He was finally getting what he’d wanted in a way. And now that the moment was here the reality of it did not quite match his idealised notion of what he’d assumed it would be like. Then again, knowing she was expecting Snape’s baby coloured things considerably.

Jessica stepped back and brushed her cheeks angrily.

“You know what?” she hissed.

“You’re pregnant. And Severus is the father. I stopped by your office a few days ago and…”

“So you had to play spy was that it?”

“It was nothing like that and it could have been anyone – just consider yourself fortunate that it was me.”

“Right! I will take that under advisement shall I?” she huffed before walking off.

“Wait! Where are you going!”

“I AM SICK OF THIS! I AM SICK OF ALL OF YOU!”

Jessica started running, and rather than chase after her Lupin did the only thing that made sense. He needed to have a word with Snape and Dumbledore.

xxxXXXxxx

Jessica found herself walking fast and not paying much heed to the time. She arrived in Hogsmeade and headed straight for the Three Broomsticks. She’d gone in on occasion with Remus and had gotten to know Rosmerta. She still couldn’t help but feel bad that the publican had her memory of their true first meeting altered. McGonagall hadn’t thought it necessary – but Dumbledore’s word was law.

“Hello, Jess! What brings you in here eh?” Rosmerta beamed, clearly grateful for her company.

“Oh – just overworked I suppose…”

The publican gave her an appraising look.

“Mmphm – overwork is it? Here…have a nice hot chocolate on the house.”

“Oh I couldn’t…”

“Sure you can. Everyone needs friends, Jessica; and you’ve got one here…”

“Thanks,” Jessica croaked as tears began streaming down her face. She looked like she was ready to open up, but then thought better of it. Just then a voice interrupted from a private salon upstairs.

“Won’t be two ticks, aye?” Rosmerta said patting her hand.

Jessica nodded; and as soon as the publican had disappeared from view she left quietly and headed beyond the Stones.

xxxXXXxxx

Lupin entered the Headmaster’s office and found Snape sitting tensely staring out a window across the grounds.

“Remus – have you by any chance seen Jessica?” Dumbledore asked.

“That’s why I’m here. Everything seems to be piling up on her and she is very upset. I don’t think she can handle the stress she has to live with.”

There was a snort from the nearest window. “Surely you have other things to do than mind people’s affairs for them, Loo-penn…” Snape snarled.

“As you are responsible for the state she’s in Severus, surely you should consider whatever insight I have to offer.”

“As I am…just who do you…!”

“GENTLEMEN!” Dumbledore thundered. “This is not doing anyone any good – particularly Jessica! Now, Remus – where is she?”

“I’m afraid she went outside the grounds…into Hogsmeade at the very least.”

“Hogsmeade!” Snape roared as he noted that the sun was now setting low on the horizon. He stood up fast and started fast for the door.

“Severus there is nothing you can do for her,” Lupin reasoned. “You won’t stand a chance against the Dementors!”

“I am not going to sit here while…”

“While what? What is she to you anyway?”

Snape stepped back and looked at the werewolf warily. And then laughed.

“So – I was right. All along, all this time; I was right!”

“About what?” Lupin asked with a voice of steel.

“You’re in love with her; you have been after her for months!”

“I don’t know what you’re on about. Jessica has never given me the time of day – certainly not as she has done with you. Don’t try and deny that she’s pregnant; I know enough to know that.”

Snape looked at Dumbledore and then back at Lupin.

“If anything happens to her it’s your fault, Loo-penn!”

“If you want to cast blame, take a good look in the mirror Severus. This is nothing to do with me and everything to do with you. Of all people…”

“Tearing at each other’s throats won’t do you any good,” the Headmaster intoned wisely. “With any luck she’s gone to Rosmerta’s.”

“Rosmerta won’t let her out; she’d be safe,” Lupin said thinking out loud.

“Except that Jessica will not open her heart to a woman she knows you sanctioned a memory adjustment on,” Snape said tersely to the Headmaster. “If she even went there, she will not have remained. She needs some semblance of comfort…and there is only one place she would go; though the peace from it will be scant at this moment in time.”

Both Dumbledore and Lupin looked at him in amazement.

“There is nothing anyone can do for her; no one except me!” Snape said bellowed as he blinked his eyes and then stormed from the room.

“Albus, it’s suicide for him to…”

“Remus, he is a man in love and he loves Jessica dearly. She is carrying his child and if I were in his place I would act no differently. I would face the Muggle Devil himself for the sake of those I care about.”

Lupin looked down at his old patched-up threadbare clothes and taped-up shoes.

“You never gave her a chance, Remus. For every encouragement offered to you; you found reasons to talk yourself out of pursuing happiness.”

“I have nothing to offer her! I’m poor; I’m dangerous…”

“What you are is deserving of happiness. It doesn’t have to be your destiny that you end up alone…”

“Hmmph – spoken like an old wise sage…”

“The sage is Jessica; and as it happens I agree with her… Do not resent her for her happiness with Severus when it was you who decided that it would not do to pursue a relationship with her. It’s not you who went after her though you could have; it’s Severus. Love, real love compels his actions.”

“Severus Snape… of all people…”

“If the opportunity for love should come your way again, Remus,” Dumbledore said carefully as he thought of certain things discussed with Jessica, “remember what your stubbornness has cost you. Anything and anyone worth loving or having is definitely worth fighting for.”

xxxXXXxxx

Severus could feel the cold rolling in – and that cold could only mean one thing: Dementors. They would be swarming all over every inch of ground from the gates of Hogwarts to beyond the Stones. He had to reach Jessica sooner rather than later. Getting to her would take a heavy dose of luck. Disapparation presented unique problems and with the Dementors – one false move and he could find himself Apparating in a swarm of them.

As it was he couldn’t go out of any of the entrances to the school; there was no choice but to make it across the grounds and into the Forbidden Forest. He would have to take his chances that way. The Dementors were hungry, and very angry at not being able to feed. The Ministry of Magic did not care – their concern was nailing Sirius Black one way or the other and they were of the firm opinion that Harry Potter was still in danger.

The Potions Master put all thoughts of his biggest irritant to the side and focused on the task at hand. He’d managed to survive all those years as a servant of the Dark Lords and then a traitor turned spy. He would survive this – and so would the woman he wanted to take as his wife and their unborn child.

xxxXXXxxx

Snape had just made it into the Forbidden Forest when he Disapparated with a loud CRACK! A moment later and he found himself standing on the other side of the hill down from the Stones. A careful look back and Hogwarts loomed in the distance.

“A path…what was that she told me about a dirt path…” he muttered under his breath looking in front of him and then off to one side. He didn’t dare use his wand to light the way.

His eyes adjusted to the darkness and he used the bit of moonshine on the landscape to get his bearings.

“Yes!” he cried under his breath as he spotted it.

Quickly and quietly he moved forward.

xxxXXXxxx

Jessica had sat on the old stone wall that was in need of repair. It was just like everything else about the house she knew to be her own in her time; in her world.

“Ange…” she croaked under her breath. “What I wouldn’t give to be able to talk to you…”

She decided to have a bit of a walk around the front. She hadn’t really taken a good enough look at the place before – but so much time had passed and so much had happened. It would do her good to stretch her legs – she always did think better on her feet; just like Severus.

Jessica shook her head willing herself not to cry any more than she had done already. She missed Severus and she missed Harvey. Truth be told; they were both so damn reckless because they missed their little Jarvey. And though they both dearly wanted their baby; Jessica couldn’t help but to think that at the moment it was for the wrong reasons as much as the right ones.

She walked around the front of the building – and immediately regretted it. It looked even worse. This was causing her nothing but pain at the moment. The other place she did her best thinking in was the bath – and the way her body ached she could sure do with one. She had turned around when she first felt it.

Unbelievable cold coming towards her.

“What the…” her voice trailed off as the realisation struck her. She looked up and saw them first as dots amongst the clouds and against the moon.

“No! No! NO!” she shouted.

“JESSICA – IS THAT YOU?”

“SEV… SEVERUS!”

Jessica ran around the back and spotted Snape making his way towards the back wall.

She waved her arms at him and he came flying towards her.

“INTO THE HOUSE! QUICKLY!”

Jessica ran to the back door and tried to open it. She shook her head frantically.

“Move back!” Snape called as he aimed his wand and kept running. There was a burst of black light and the door flew open.

He reached her and pulled her inside, warding the door after them.

“The swarms have already overrun Hogsmeade,” he said looking outside through a threadbare curtain.

The Dementors were beginning to touch down.

“In my world…the house had a cellar,” Jessica said trying not to panic. “There was a panel in the wall in the hallway – you just had to know where to look…”

She took Severus’ hand and made her way down the hallway. Instead of being on the left as she recalled, it was on the right.

“We just need a little light,” he said. “We’ll have to chance it…LUMOS!”

Jessica looked on the right side of the hallway where the panel had been. And then thought better of it and looked on her left.

“Here!” she said pushing forwards.

Sure enough the panel went inwards revealing a set of stairs.

She and Severus made their way down quickly and sealed the door behind them. The cold was getting unbearable now. Jessica noted that the cellar ran the length of the cottage and they picked their way to the front. There was a stone wall – and Snape guessed that there was a room of some sort behind it. He knocked along it and then pushed. There was a room that had been used for storage and they made their way in, sealing the wall behind them.

“We will have to wait it out until morning,” Severus said quietly. “Over here – this seems to be coal storage. It’s dirty – but offers the best concealment.”

He looked around. There were dark bolts of fabric that had seen better days amongst other things but they would do for warmth. He grabbed them while Jessica grabbed some others that were in a labeled box and they went into the coal storage cupboard, closing and sealing the door behind them. It blended in seamlessly with the wall.

The Potions Master glanced outside and could see Dementors making their way down the path in the moonlight. The light – they had to have sensed the light. Not wanting to alarm Jessica any further he spoke calmly, but quietly.

“In; then we put the fabric around ourselves and then pile the coal around us. Coal is useless to them in any fashion so they won’t bother with it.”

Severus quietly used his wand to move the coal around so they could sit comfortably in the middle of the cupboard. He helped her to sit down and then sat next to her. Several flicks of his wand and there was a mountain of coal between them and the door, but at least they could breath. There was a tiny window at the top where the coal would have been delivered. It was caked with dirt and grime, but was partially opened. They would hear the Dementors before they saw them – if they were unfortunate enough to see anything other than what passed outside the window.

“I’m sorry Severus,” Jessica said quietly as he held her.

“So am I. But don’t concern yourself with anything but the matter at hand. Empty yourself of all thoughts and emotions – it draws them to you.”

Jessica nodded. She felt a prodding at her hip and reached down to make an adjustment carefully.

“The wand…” she whispered to Severus before nestling in his arms again.

“Just try to sleep,” he whispered before kissing her forehead.

But both knew the last thing either of them would dare to do would be sleep.

The vigil to save their lives and the life of their unborn child had begun.