Marriage Law Madness

The day after Christmas, Molly and Severus moved to the Severus’ old rooms at Hogwarts. They would be acting Headmaster and Deputy while Albus and Minerva went on their honeymoon – even Severus wouldn’t be able to reach them as they had told no one where they were going. Once they settled in Molly put her plan into action.

Since their rooms adjoined the Slytherin common room, Molly had set up her sewing machine there. As she finished, Dobby arrived with the fabric, which had been sent down to the laundry to be pre-washed. Pulling out the package of Maternity patterns, she set the girls to cutting them out while she laid out the fabric. Having decided Gabrielle was the most in need, she started measuring. By the end of the first afternoon Gabrielle was much more comfortable in a brand new maternity robe of soft blue. The work went a little slower as Molly was learning all the special features on her new machine.

Severus disappeared for part of the afternoon and returned from Madam Malkin’s with a pattern and fabric for new uniforms – the pattern had a maternity jumper instead of a skirt, so there was no restrictive waistband. Madam Malkin herself was taking a break after the Christmas rush, but she had been happy to send the fabric home with him. From his description, she knew Gabrielle’s skirt wouldn’t make it another week until she went back to work, and she knew Molly was perfectly capable of making it.

When the dinner bell rang, Pansy was cutting out a robe for herself from deep lavender fabric under Molly’s watchful eye, while Gabrielle was sewing the buttons on one of her new jumpers. Ginny had the other one, learning how to use the automatic buttonhole maker on her mother’s new machine. Since she didn’t want to start the fourth years out on clothing when she couldn’t give them her full attention, she’d cut out the baby things last night; Fraise was helping them choose fabric for a simple patchwork baby quilt from the scraps. Molly’s magical needles were clicking away in the corner, making maternity school sweaters for all of the girls from a huge mound of dove gray wool. There were four smaller piles, one red, one green, one blue and one yellow. There would be a narrow trim of the house color on the neck and cuffs. The beauty of magical knitting was she could give them a list of all she needed, and as long as it had enough yarn, it would keep going until all the sweaters were finished.

Severus walked into the common room when he heard the machine slow down, but Ginny was merely changing sides. “Dinnertime! Take a break,” he ordered. Five minutes later he was escorting the gaggle through the doors of the Great Hall. Only one table had been set for dinner, since so many had gone home. Harry and Ron were staring at the food piles in dismay. True to his word, Dobby had created a diet for the pregnant women – which meant with so few, everyone had to eat it over the holidays. Tonight was baked chicken & mashed potatoes. That part was fine; it was the fifteen kinds of vegetables and the total lack of dessert that was bothering them.

“Spinach?” Gabrielle passed Ron the bowl.

“How can you eat that? It tastes like sewage.”

Gabrielle barely made it to the edge of the hall before she started vomiting, aiming for the planter so she wouldn’t get it all over her robes.

“What did you say to her? Severus demanded, his eyes blazing.

“He commented that the spinach tasted like sewage. Don’t know why she reacted like that.” Harry spoke up from across the table.

“Since you boys seem to be so ignorant about this, you can join the husbands in their next class. Some women react very violently to smells, sights or graphic descriptions – or other women having morning sickness. Power of suggestion,” He added as Pansy turned green and ran to join Gabrielle.

“Oh, why did she have to do that?” Molly wailed, clapping a hand over her mouth and motioning Pansy to move over. Severus followed her, holding back her hair as she lost what she had just eaten. “I agree with you about the boys needing to learn, with all these pregnant women around,” said Molly as Severus helped her back to the table. “We’re starting exercise after the holidays, they can partner the girls whose boyfriends took the easy way out.”

Severus’ ward beads interrupted their conversation; letting them know someone was trying to access the Floo from the Headmaster’s office. He quickly tapped the bead, spitting the travelers out of the Great Hall Fireplace.

The visitors proved to be Madam Maxime and a middle-aged couple no one recognized. Seeing who it was, Fraise hid her face the robes of the person closest to her, which happened to be Ron, and Gabrielle tried to hide behind Pansy. Min had gone home for Christmas – otherwise she would probably have been hiding too.

“I seem to have a missing student. We think he may have tried to follow his girlfriend here. As I have no idea what you elected to do with those little whores, I didn’t know what to tell them. They have come to find their son and take him home.”

“They are hardly whores, Madam Maxime. They were victims of an idiot who wanted to show the world he could do potions when he could not. All four girls have been enrolled here to finish out their educations, and Miss DeHarfleur has graciously agreed to fill our open Arithmancy position. And I fear that taking him home will be quite impossible, as he and Mrs. Ainsley are on their honeymoon at the moment. As you will undoubtedly refuse to have Florian back, he wishes to transfer here for his last term.” Snape was clearly attempting to be civil and failing fast.

“HONEYMOON?” the woman next to her shrieked.

“Yes, Ma’am, they were married on the twenty-second. They are currently honeymooning in the Bahamas.”

“How could they afford the Bahamas? Plus, they have no right to marry without family permission. I want to speak to your Minster of Magic.” Michael’s father was furious.

“As the Minister of Magic not only acted as the father of the bride but paid for the honeymoon, I’m sure he’ll be happy to talk to you. Shall I Floo him? Regrettably, our headmaster would handle this, but he is also on his honeymoon, along with the nine other couples that married the same day – over ½ of them due to the contraceptive potion.”

“That is the second time you’ve mentioned a potion. What the hell does that have to do with it?” Clearly, the Ainsleys had either been in shock and tuned the truth out or hadn’t been told everything.

“Everything. Unbeknownst to me, the herbs from which I brewed the potion had been tampered with in the greenhouse before I received them. I’m sure you heard about that case, it was all over the news. The result was, instead of contraceptive, it created a specialized fertility draught. All twenty six of them are pregnant with girls.”

“Twenty-six!” Mrs. Ainsley looked shocked. “We were led to believe that Florian had simply forgotten to take her potion. We had no idea there were more girls.” She shot a death glare at Madame Maxime.

“There were nineteen Hogwarts girls, plus I give my wife and daughter-in-law potion from the same batch to save time. As Beuxbatons has no potions master, the healer makes her own and ran short. We gave her enough for four doses, she also diluted her potion to make it stretch. They were lucky there weren’t more girls. Four girls were expelled from Beuxbatons and one teacher was dismissed from her position, all rather rudely thrown through our Floo in their underclothing.”

“There were two more girls. They were pregnant with boys, so they obviously could not blame the potion. They were expelled.” Madam Maxime said pompously, but lost her self-righteous air as she realized everyone in the room was staring at her lividly.

“We had no clue about any of this, and will definitely be speaking to our Ministry about Beuxbatons’ handling of this situation Second, we will definitely be apologizing to our son and daughter-in-law for our appaling behavior towards them. We will sign anything we need to for Michael to transfer here, and would like to talk to whoever handles admissions. We have three younger children at Beuxbatons and another due to start in the fall. I don’t want them under the keeping of this woman.” Mr. Ainsley was shooting daggers at Madam Maxime now, as if trying in vain to keep himself from the urge to hex her.

“It will be interesting to see how much the Minister actually knows about this situation, since our new staff member is his daughter. You’ll have to talk to Madam Dumbledore about the younger children when she returns; she handles all admissions. I don’t know whether she intends to keep her maiden name for teaching purposes, so you will either receive a message from a Madam Dumbledore or Madam McGonagall. I’ll alert her as soon as she returns and have her get in touch with you.”

They followed Severus to the Headmaster’s office to fill out Michael’s paperwork. When they finished, Mr. Ainsley said, “You said they are in the Bahamas. At the Wizarding resort, I presume?” Severus nodded in confirmation.

“Feel like taking a Holiday, dearest?” he asked Mrs. Ainsley. She agreed, and they went home to pack, promising to talk to their Minister first thing in the morning and would have him contact Severus directly.

~~~

Severus sat in Dumbledore’s office with a cup of tea, waiting for the Minister to Floo. Molly was downstairs sewing with the girls again, and Lucius had agreed to take the boys off his hands for the morning. He was taking them shopping in Diagon Alley – apparently they were working on some sort of surprise for the girls.

Suddenly the flames glowed green and the French Minister of Magic stepped through. “Good morning, Severus.”

“Good morning, Minister.”

“I contacted all the other parents involved in the Beuxbatons pregnancy problem. Not a one was told that the potion was tainted, they were all led to believe it was their daughter’s fault. All but one set have willingly taken their daughters back. The Delacours, however, insist Gabrielle be placed for adoption by someone else or sent to a reform school or distress witches home until the child is placed for adoption. They rather crudely suggested that ‘the idiot who screwed up the potion’ should raise her.”

“It would be me if it went through the system anyway, as I am her head of house I would be the first choice for our Ministry to place her with.” He tried to sound positive, but was thinking, ‘How am I going to tell Molly?’ as he silently groaned.

“Good. I’ll set up the paperwork. Madam Maxime is under investigation by the Ministry for the way she handled this incident, and the healer has been removed from her position and sent back to training. Even a novice knows you can’t dilute a contraceptive potion and expect it to work.”

“What’s going to happen to the two other girls?” Severus couldn’t seem to stop himself from asking – funny, a year ago he wouldn’t have given a damn.

“That was the other thing I wanted to talk to you about. One girl is currently in Amiens Home for Distressed Witches, the other girl’s family is keeping her locked in her room at home. We at the ministry feel that they need to finish their educations. We are willing to pay their tuition and fees plus an additional sum towards prenatal care and the like.”

“You’ll have to clear it with Minerva, but it makes sense for them to come here, since we’re already set up for it.”

~~~

Later that day, Severus called the three girls and Molly into his office. “I spoke with the French Minister of Magic. He has spoken to your parents, all of whom are livid at Madam Maxime – two of whom are now willing for you to come home on the next holiday. Fraise, your parents are leaving it up to you what to do about the baby. You’ve talked to yours, Minerva. Gabrielle’s parents, however, are still unmoved.”

“They’ve made me available for adoption, haven’t they.” Gabrielle looked fearful.

“And, as your head of house, I immediately made you unavailable. You now belong to me, if Molly agrees. Otherwise, one of the Hogwarts staff will have a chance.” He looked at Molly. “She followed me home, can I keep her?”

“I suppose.” Her smile belied her reluctant tone. “Welcome to the family, dear.”