Love and Parenthood

Love and Parenthood

Disclaimer: All canon characters are the property of JK Rowling and those with whom she has agreed contracts. This story was written for practice not profit.


Negotiations


Mr Ollivander walked up towards the Manor House, pulling his cloak around him in the face of the light drizzle in the air. He whirled round sharply as he felt something hit him in the back. His eyes fell on a young man in his early twenties.

“Mr Franks,” he observed. “Still using your ash and unicorn tail hair wand I see.”

Indeed he could hardly help but see as the wand was pointing straight at his chest.

“Mr Ollivander,” said the young man tightly. “Please state your business.”

“I’m here to speak with Professor Snape and Miss Miggs.”

“You don’t have an appointment.”

“Not exactly. Professor Snape owled me this morning to ask me to arrange a visit at my earliest convenience. Business was rather slow this afternoon so I decided to close my shop comecome immediately as my current dealings with Professor Snape are extremely important to me. Feel free to escort me if you deem it necessary.”

“I do and I will,” said the young man seriously. The two men made their way to the main house.


Severus was in his quarters when Mr Ollivander was shown in.

“I do hope,” said the older man politely, “that my visit is not an inconvenience.”

“Not at all,” said Ses was warmly. “I’m very pleased you found the time to call on us so soon. Mr Franks, I think I may be trusted to keep Mr Ollivander under control. Thank you for your vigilance but you may return to your post.”

The young man bowed slightly and left the room.

“Very keen,” observed Mr Ollivander.

“Very… rather inflexible I find,” said Severus.

“You said Miss Miggs wishes to see me.”

“She has said so. I would not advise you to get your hopes up too much at this stage. Her mood is very odd. Normally I can read a stressed child without even trying but I don’t think any man could quite comprehend what she’s going through. I could learn more if I forced my way in but I’m very reluctant to put her through that in addition to everything else.”

“I quite understand. I too will endeavour not to put any additional pressure on her. When may I see her?”

“I’ll take you to her now and we’ll see if she’s free to receive you.”

He moved over to the map and scanned it until he found her name.

“She’s outside with the baby.”

“In this weather?”

“It hasn’t been raining long. She’s taken shelter in the folly. I’ll take you down there.”

Sure enough Diana and the baby were still in the imitation temple when Severus and Mr Ollivander arrived. She had spread a picnic rug and some cushions on the floor and both she and the baby lay on them sleeping.

The two men watched them wordlessly for a moment before retreating quietly. Severus transfigured two sticks into umbrellas and they sat down to wait on the steps.

“I feel as though I’ve seen something I ought not have seen,” said Mr Ollivander thoughtfully.

“I know what you mean. The relationship between a witch and her baby is an emotive thing to observe. I have taken to visiting my wife because she desires it and I feel the same way with her. It takes a while for their powers to return after they have given birth and I think we wizards are instinctively inclined to protect them. I can hardly help but notice that, seeing as I have so many of them here under threat.”

“Miss Miggs looks far too young to be a mother. It’s hard to believe that her past isn’t imprinted on her face.”

“She is too young but she seems to have the instinct for mothering. Merlin only knows where she acquired it. I would expect a child who was abused to that extent to have no idea how to love her own child. She maintains that she will die if they are separated.”

“Is she threatening to harm herself?”

“I’m not clear on that. The threat was not explicitly stated but I can’t help but worry that it was implied. I’ve told her that she and the child can make their home here until she leaves Hogwarts. That could be for as long as three more years if she chooses to study for NEWTs.”

“Wouldn’t that be cutting things rather fine for an adoption?”

“Yes. A child cannot be blood bound to an adoptive parent once he or she has manifested their powers. After that an adoptive parent can be little more than a guardian.”

“And if a child has not sparked by the age of three the odds on it being a Squib begin to increase quite dramatically.”


The baby began to cry and both men stiffened but did not turn around so that Diana could take a moment to compose herself and the child before they began their meeting.

Diana picked up the child and began to rock her in her arms. After two or three more token wails she quieted and Diana began to murmur to in in a voice too soft for the men to understand. After a short time she fell asleep again and Diana was able to put her back down.

“Professor,” she called softly. “Did you wish to speak to me?”

Severus turned.

“Yes Miss Miggs, I did. I have brought Mr Ollivander to see you, as you requested. Do you feel able to speak with him?”

“Yes, of course. Please bring him inside.”

Severus took Mr Ollivander inside the temple again and they both sat down on the bench whilst Diana remained seated on the cushions beside her baby.

“Thank-you for coming to see me sir,” she said politely.

“That is my pleasure,” responded Mr Ollivander, with similar courtesy. “I understand you wished to discuss something with me.”

“I do. Professor would it be possible for Mr Ollivander and I to speak in private?”

Severus looked at her intently before making up his mind.

“I will allow you a short time alone here. If you decide you need to speak for longer then you will have to do it in one of the sitting rooms up at the house for the sake of propriety. I will be outside.”

He left and walked the short distance to the rose garden where he sat down and watched the entrance to the temple.

Alone inside the temple Mr Ollivander and Diana regarded each other quietly before Diana began to speak.

“Professor Snape tells me that youh toh to adopt a child.”

“Yes. My late wife and I were not blessed with children and I am now las last of my line. My family has been the premier wandmaking family for centuries but unless I have a child who is bloodkin the tradition must come to an end.”

“Do you just want a child for the sake of the tradition?”

“No. Not just for the sake of tradition. It’s natural for a man to want to be a father. The whole human race would die out were that not so. It is tradition though that compels me to continue to make the effort to acquire a child when I am at an age when it is seen as undignified.”

“You were supposed to marry Lu.”

“Her grandparents knew of my desire to have an heir and we were negotiating an agreement. I have known the family all my life and I knew her to be a young woman of good sense and good character… I did not know however that she had fallen in love with a fellow student.”

“I suppose I would not fall into the category of ‘young woman of good character’?”

“In my line of work I have developed an instinct for character and the nature of the magic a person contains. I see nothing wrong in you. Your actions as a child under your father’s control cannot rightly be attributed to you.”

“That is not the opinion of the majority.”

“No, but there’s nothing I can do about that. The fact is that your father was a criminal…”

“And my mother and I were whores.”

“But not by your own choice. Your mother was a Parkinson, she she not?”

“So I have been told. I don’t remember her all that well. The potion I used to take is not good for the brain. I’m told my mother died through prolonged usage of it.”

“I’m y foy for your loss, Miss Miggs.”

“Do you know how I got my name?”

“No, I’m afraid I don’t. I imagine your mother lost her name when she was disowned?”

“My mother wasn’t disowned. She was sold to my father who agreed to keep her contained and out of sight. He thought it was funny to make her take the name of a house elf. You look disgusted at that!”

“I am generadisgdisgusted at your father. Your father was a man who took a beautiful innocent baby witch, much like this one here, whom you treasure so dearly, and salivated over his attempts to turn her into something subhuman. No decent man could be anything but disgusted. Thankfully his efforts seem to have been in vain, at least in your case.”

“I would never let anyone have control over my baby. How could I trust them?”

“Iersterstand your reasoning, I re do do but keeping your child is going to be very difficult. Who is going to name her?”

“That is why I asked to see you. I thought that if you wanted a baby badly enough you might be prepared to take us both.”

That said, Diana fell into silence. She looked at the floor and he looked down on her. The baby began to show signs of wakefulness and she turned her attention to it. Mr Ollivander watched her as though in a trance. Eventually he spoke.

“When you ask me to take you both…. How exactly do you intend that I should take you?”

She continued to look at the child as she answered.

“If you put me under contract I will allow you to take my child as your bloodkin. If you want me to, I will lie with you and bear you more children, if it should be possible.”

There was another long silence. Finally Diana said.

“If you have no interest in this idea you should leave now. I shall have to feed the child in a moment and I don’t think Professor Snape would allow me to do that in the presence of a man.”

“Miss Miggs, are you serious about this suggestion?”

“I wish to be a good mother to my child. I am searching for a way to make that possible. Are you interested?”

“Yes… I am interested.”

“Then you are free to negotiate terms with Professor Snape if you wish.”

Mr Ollivander stood and walked over to her. He lowered himself to kneel beside her and the baby on the rug.

“May I hold her?” he asked.

Diana picked the child up and held her out to him. He received her gingerly and cradled her to him.

“I can feel her ribs move when she breathes,” he said in awe.

“I know,” said Diana, a smile coming over her face. “A new baby is more incredible than all the magic in the world.”

When Severus came in a few moments later, he found them still sitting together with Mr Ollivander fussing over the infant.

“Have you had sufficient time to conclude your business?” he asked.

“It is well begut not not yet concluded,” said Mr Ollivander seriously.

“Am I to gather that you need to continue your meeting up at the main house?”

“Miss Miggs has requested that I meet with you to negotiate a marriage by contract.”

“That does need to be discussed. Diana, the rain has stopped. Go to your room and I will send for you later. Mr Ollivander, may I ask you to accompany me to my quarters?”

“Of course.”

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Severus sat Mr vandvander down in his sitting room.

“Firewhisky?” he said.

“It’s a little early in the day for me,” said Mr Ollivander. “However, don’t let me stop you.”

Severus poured a hefty slug into a tumbler and sat down opposite the older man.

“I take it she proposed to you,” he stated, after taking a swallow.

“She asked if I would consider taking the both of them. When I asked her to explain she said that she would allow me to take her child as my bloodkin if I would put her under a contract.”

“I can’t negotiate a contract between you and my fifteen year old ward,” said Severus energetically. “It would be a gross abuse of the trust placed in me by the Wizengamot. Besides which I don’t approve of even a father having that kind of power over a child. The custom of contracting should only be found in a history book in this day and age.”

“And you say no in view of the fact that the child is willing and that she was born to a woman sold as a slave and named after a house elf.”

“I do. I will not countenance a contract marriage. If you wish to take the child as your wife then you must do so under the modern form. I will give permission for a ceremony to take place as soon as she turns sixteen. A wife is a companion and an equal. She is not property. If she were her father’s property then it would not have been an offence for him to dispose of her as he did and I know we are in agreement about the wrongs she has suffered.”

“We are. I have no objection, in principle, to a modern form marriage. I assure you that I will treat her as generously as I can. I wouldn’t want her to be miserable. I would ask that she and the baby be allowed to live here during term time until she has finished school. I will pay her expenses of course and I would hope to be welcome to visit them regularly. There will be time enough for us to live together as a family afterwards, when she is that bit older.”

“I think we ought to send for her to discuss arrangements and offer congratulations.”

“I’m not entirely sure how appropriate that is… congratulations I mean.”

“You are both on the way to getting what you want. You want a guaranteed heir and she wants a name, a home, the means to keep her child and possibly the chance to acquire other children in a regular manner. It may not be love and romance in the conventional way but you will adapt.”

“I suppose we shall.”


I was surprised at how many people reviewed or e-mailed me to say that Diana and Mr Ollivander should get together. I thought it would be more controversial than that. Thank you to everyone who has taken the time to give me feedback.