Unlikely Beginnings

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Chapter Seventeen

With a desk top filled with assignments to grade, Severus Snape sat on the
other side of the room in an overstuffed armchair, sipping at a cup of tea.
His mind refused to concentrate on work tonight. Rather than absently
marking every parchment as a P, of course throwing in the occasional D,
without even reading the students\' work, he\'d made his drink and settled in
to think about his newfound information.

After the results of his potions, Snape had to wonder what he would do about
it. By all means, he could just keep his nose clear of the entire situation,
but that might prove a worse thing to do. He knew very well that Potter had
been completely uneducated in the ways of the wizarding world before he came
to Hogwarts, and Snape sincerely doubted that the boy had wanted a child. He
either didn\'t know, as Snape suspected, or he was mad.

Malfoy, on the other hand, should have known full well that this could
happen, and Snape didn\'t think the boy was stupid enough to let it. Coming
from a pure blood family, he surely should have known. Snape really couldn\'t
imagine Lucius or Narcissa giving their boy a lecture on sexual conduct,
though. He took a drink of his tea, that had almost been forgotten in his
hands as he stared into the flames as they licked around inside the
fireplace.

It was safe to assume that Potter simply didn\'t know, and that Malfoy didn\'t
remember, or didn\'t care. Also, it was a sure bet that their relationship
was one held in utter privacy. If they had a relationship at all. Perhaps
they\'d just up and decided to go for a romp in Snape\'s office andt wat was
that. If they were hoping for anything serious, this would be a potential
breaking point between them, or, conversely, it would serve to bring them
together.

A pregnancy like this was usually planned, and since they obviously didn\'t
take precautions to prevent it, there was nothing to do but follow through.
He\'d have to tell them before it was too late and too obvious that there was
something amiss in Potter\'s body. Snape sighed, reaching to set his tea cup
down on the side table next to his chair. He stretched out his legs and
crossed them at the ankles, still staring at the fire.

How to tell Potter was still the difficult part, or should he confront
Malfoy? He could talk to them both at the same time, by asking them to stay
after class. No. He\'d want to get this over with so he didn\'t have to think
about it between classes on Monday. Severus sneered, remembering that he
wouldn\'t even be there on Monday. He\'d be gone for at least a week, and that
would be too long to wait on telling the boys.

Making up his mind, he decided to get on with it. He\'d tell Potter tomorrow
when he caught him. At breakfast would be too obvious and oddly suspicious
if he didn\'t make some rude remark about a failing grade in Potions, not to
mention why he would be in the middle of the students\' tables. There was no
class to hold him behind in, and he might very well hide all day under his
invisibility cloak for all Snape knew.

He could follow the boy, or tell another student to pass on the message that
his presence was requested. Either way, it didn\'t matter. In the end, he\'d
have spoken to Potter and brought him up to speed on the unexpected results
of his sexual excursions. Severus would let Potter tell Malfoy, since he was
bound to do so after finding out what was happening inside of him. As much
as it was a horrid idea to contemplate, the two of them having a child
together, they would need to take care of the unborn life.

Snape closed his fingers over the bridge of his nose. He sighed, still with
his hand over his face, he really wished he\'d had an alcoholic drink instead
of just tea. Quite frankly, if he started now, he didn\'t think he\'d stop,
and facing the Dark Lord while shitfaced was a suicidal thing to do. If that
wasn\'t the upcoming most horrible thing on his agenda, talking to Potter
would be; though at least he might get a bit of humor out of it. Oh, he
could feel a headache coming on.

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