He Must

*Hogwarts, 16.10.1997*

Severus had started his research quite unsurprisingly from the various potions that had been used. When the school had opened its doors again at the beginning of September, he had had a good start at listing the properties and possible faults of each potion. At that point he had found it necessary to familiarize himself with the genitalia that made it possible for women to carry a child, in detail, as he had noticed that his knowledge in that area was limited to the potions to cure possible ailments, and the general biology of humans. He had found that some of the potions had actually counteracted themselves, while the others didn’t seem to have anything wrong with them. He had to find the reasons.

As the school had gotten in full gear, however, he had come to notice that his time to do the research had diminished remarkably. He had to brew potions to the infirmary, supervise detentions, and look after his slytherins as their Head of House. Then there were the staff meetings and chaperone duties at Hogsmeade. There had been days he didn’t have the energy to concentrate properly on the research, which meant the progress he made was getting near nil. He was getting more and more frustrated.

This Thursday had been exceptionally bad. An unscheduled staff meeting in the morning. Three exploded cauldrons before lunch. Two melted cauldrons after lunch. And the final class had been 7th year Slytherins and Gryffindors. By then his patience had been extinct, and he hade tde the big mistake of the day: he had given a detention, and not with Filch but with himself. The fact that the reason of the detention had been idiotic – Potter had prevented Longbottom’s cauldron from exploding – didn’t help. He felt a headache building. Well, Potter was a seventh year student, he shouldn’t need full time watching. He could give him something quiet to do so he could continue his own work after all. Yes, that he would do. There were still twenty minutes before Potter would arrive, so he could get his notebook and books here…

When there was a knock on the door, just on time, everything was ready; both for the teacher and the student.

“Enter“ Severus snapped, and Potter came in.

“Your task for the evening is to sort those ingredients. Throw old ones away, and make a list of everything there is and how much. You can start.“

Potter nodded and went to his table. Severus watched him work for a few moments before turning to his own task, soon totally engrossed in it.

When he looked up from the notes he was making about two hours later, he jolted to notice Potter standing beside his desk neck crooked, reading some notes he had made earlier. The list of ingredients was on the corner of his table.

“Potter! What do you think you are doing?!“ Severus was livid.

Potter jumped. “Sorry, sir. I just a loa look. I didn’t want to interrupt your concentration.“

“Keep your nose out of my papers, Potter!“ Severus snarled. “You have absolutely no reason to read my notes! That will be twenty points from Gryffindor, and if I ever find you doing that again it will be a week’s detention with Filch!“

“I’m sorry, sir, I didn’t mean to pry! The headingt cat caught my eye…“ Potter said pointing to the underlined line that read: Possible Ingredients to Enable a Male Pregnancy.

“It doesn’t matter why you did it, boy! Now, if you are finished with your appointment and don’t want to loose more points, get out!“

Potter bit his lip but didn’t move. “Is male pregnancy really possible?“ he blurted out just as Severus was about to deduct more points.

Severus was about to ask what did it matter to him when he remembered the headlines the Daily Prophet had had the previous spring; the Boy Who Lived was a gay, too. He forced himself to calm a little.

“Might be. Now out, Potter.“

“But…“

“If you want to know more, come back on Saturday after lunch. And I recommend you don’t talk about this to others.“ Severus said massaging his temples, the headache was coming back.

“Thank you, sir.“

And then Potter finally left. Severus leaned back in his chair and let out a long sigh. Damn brat, cout ket keep out of others business. He tried to relax. Why had he told him to come back later? Because he couldn’t deal with him today. Maybe he wouldn’t come… Which wasn’t likely, as the boy was more curious than ten cats. Another sigh. Well, he would deal with him on Saturday, now he was in dire need of a hot bath.


*Hogwarts, 18.10.1997*

There was a quiet knock on Severus’ office door soon after lunch. So, Potter had come as he had guessed. He had had small hopes he would not come as it was a Hogsmeade weekend.

“Come in.“

Potter poked first his head in and then slinked in the rest of the way, closing the door behind him. Severus gestured him to take the chair in front of him. After a moment of silence Potter started to fidget. Severus bores eys eyes to him.

“I understood you had some questions, Mr. Potter.“

“Well, yes, umm… Is a male pregnancy possible, sir? I’ve never heard of one.“

“I would be surprised if you had heard of them, Mr. Potter. And yes, I think a male pregnancy is possible, at least in theory, though there has never been a successful one.“

“What do you mean with that? Has there actually been some before? Why we are not told of those?“

“There are a few registered cases of male pregnancies through the history, the last one some two hundred years ago. You are not told of those, Mr. Potter, because none of those men have been able to carry the child to term. As the matter of fact all one one of them died as they miscarried; the further the pregnancy had gone, the more painful the death was. The one who survived was only on his third week, and was paralyzed. The pregnancies are recorded to have been extremely painful as a whole.“

“Oh… Er, how did they get pregnant, anyway? I mean it certainly wasn’t by accident… There were some potions ingredients on that list, so did they all use potions?“

Severus sneered. “No, those were most certainly not accidental pregnancies, Mr. Potter. They went through many pains to accomplish theirls, ls, and they combined different branches of magic. Potions are the only form of magic that is common for all of them. Besides them they used charms, transfiguration and curses, combined with, and in, different rituals. A couple of them used pure dark arts.“

“Curses and dark arts? Why? That must have been terribly painful as well as dangerous! Didn’t they get in any kind of trouble for it?“

“You have to understand that times were different then, Mr. Potter.“ Severus said, aiming a level gaze at the boy. “Those men being impregnated were not volunteers; usually they were serfs who had gotten on the wrong side of their land lord or poor ers ers who hadn’t been able to pay their rents to the owner of the land. As compensation they had to be in their lord’s service for a year or longer. Those lords who tried these impregnations were admittedly quite twisted, and they were few and far between, but they were still within their rights. It was their land – it was their law. Human rights were not an issue back then.“ He added wryly.

Potter looked quite shocked, and Severus let him digest the revelations in peace. After a while Potter seemed to collect himself.

“What was the point with the impregnations? Those lords don’t quite sound like mad scientists even though they were definitely not sane. Did they do it just for fun? To torture them? What would have happened if the children had lived?“

“I think the main reason was to humiliate the men, put them in the position of a woman. I’m sure you know women were considered to be lesser beings back then. If the lord was unmarried or a widower, he married the man, gave him the place of a wife. If he was already married, the man was given the place of an official concubine, meaning that other men were not allowed to touch him without permission, but the real wife had a better status than him – got better clothes, ate first and the like. Wives were expected to be submissive and their main purpose was to deliver sons to their husbands. A man carrying a child was clearly too submissive to be a real man, he would be ridiculed and scorned. That is the reason why gay marriages are frowned at these days; the one giving up his name is thought to be in the other one’s power to some extent. And the only reason he has to give up his name is because the ceremony is the same as for ‘normal’ pairs and it hasn’t been changed in at least 500 years.“ Severus paused. “As to what would have haed ted to the children… who knows? They might have been killed as abnormalities, they might have been put onw asw as the proof of the lord’s manhood, they might have lived as normal children. I don’t know. They never existed.“

Potter nodded quietly. “T’was probably best for the kids to never be born“, he said.

Severus wondered if the boy still had many questions or if he would finally be able to return to his tedious research. He gave a mental sigh as he noticed Potter fidgeting again, chewing his lip. Not over yet, then…

“Umm… sir, if you don’t mind me asking, why... why do you study male pregnancies? I… I don’t mean to pry or anything, but it isn’t a normal subject for a Potions Master to bury into, is it?“

Severus stiffened. He hadn’t expected Potter to have the guts to ask any personal questions. Potter fidgeted some more, looking nervous.

“No, it isn’t a normal subject for a Potions Master, neither for anyone else for that matter, Mr. Potter. It would be best if you kept this as a secret – for your own security as well as mine. As to why I am doing this research, that is none of your business. Suffice it to say that I have very strong personal interests for this.“

“Okay, sorry sir.“ Potter stood up but didn’t leave.

Severus raised an eyebrow. “Did you have some more questions or were you about to leave, Mr. Potter?“

“Well, uh, I was just wondering if you, er, needed any help with it…“ Potter blushed.

“And what kind of help do you mean, Mr. Potter? Holding the book? Asking endless questions? Tweaking the potions?“ Severus snorted. “Why don’t you just go your way, Potter? Your friends are surely missing you.“

“No, sir I thought I could do some research about the different spells; I will steer clear of the potions part. You seem to have quite a bit of doing with them and I thought I might help. Ron and Hermione spend so much time snogging these days that I have plenty of possibilities to do something useful for a change… I am quite good at the foolish wand waving, you know.“

Severus looked sceptical, but couldn’t deny the fact that he would probably need the help if he wanted to stick to his schedule.

“Very well, Potter. I’ll give you my previous notes about the charms and hexed used; I refuse to give the dark arts notes to you. You’ll have until next Saturday to study them. Come back at the same time as you came today, and if you really think you can actually help at that point, we’ll make more precise plans“, Severus said picking the notes from a stack of paper and handing them to the boy.

“Thank you, sir. I will take good care of these. And keep this a secret. Good day, professor.“

“Good day, Mr. Potter.“

Severus watched Potter leave with the papers. He wondered if he had done the right decision; the boy seemed too careless to be trusted with that information. He could get in trouble if it was found out what he was doing. Sixteen years had gone by since Voldemort was slain, but people were still being unreasonable about many things, jumping to conclusions and seeing Dark Lords everywhere. If the cranky potions master of Hogwarts was discovered to have an interest in male pregnancies, hell would brake loose; even more if it was found out that a student was helping him. The wizarding world’s Golden Boy, Harry Potter, who was known to be a gay… Severus shuddered when he thought about the headlines…


*Hogwarts, 25.10.1997*

The week had been nerve wrecking for Severus. Where was Potter keeping those papers? When and where did he read them? How did he avoid his friends’ questions? More than once Severus was about to leave his dungeons to find the boy and demand the notes back.

Finally it was Saturday again, and Potter was back in his office. Papers intact.

“Well, Potter. Did you read the notes? And more importantly, are you still willing to help?“

“Yes, Professor Snape. To both questions. These were quite interesting reading, and I think I already spotted a couple of mistakes that were done in the earliest cases. They were altered later, but still not quite right, obviously. It will be interesting to find out what the reasons are.“

Severus looked at the boy intensely for a moment.

“Very well, Mr. Potter. If you are sure. But before you get any deeper into this, I think it would be best if we cleared a few things. Firstly, you don’t take any material out of these rooms any more. Secondly, you will not talk about this to any of your friends, no matter what; I don’t care what you tell them as long as it isn’t the truth. Thirdly if you want to back off later, I will obliviate you. Is that understood?“

“Yes, sir, I understand, but could you please explain me why? It will be terribly difficult if I can’t do the research anywhere else. Why is this such a big secret?“ Potter said frowning.

“I thought that after hearing the history of male pregnancies, as well as reading the notes I gave you, it would be obvious, Potter. Attempting male pregnancy these days is strictly forbidden, as it is seen as torture and enslavement. What I am trying to do, is to find a way for the pregnancy to actually work and be as painless as possible, but regardless of my intentions, if a word of this project leaks out, at least I will end in Azkaban – you would likely be only questioned, warned and obliviated as you are a minor whom I’ve led to wrong ways. So do keep this a secret. As I said before, I don’t mind what coverage you use with your friends, but I could give you some potions texts to read on your free time if you will.“ Severus frowned. “Actually, I think it would be best if we moved to my personal study. This office is too risky a place – you are a good example of that. While most people might not look at my things, they don’t have any problems looking at your papers. Follow me, Potter.“

Severus stood up and led the stunned boy to his own quarters.

“I have a private lab here, so that would support the theory of extra studies in potions. I use it when I’m doing experiments or brewing any volatile potions I’m requested to do.“

When they reached the study, Severus motioned Potter to sit down and put the papers he had had with him in the office on the table.

“So, I ask you for the last time: are you sure you want to do this?“

“Yes, sir, I am sure. It is a bit freaky how secret this work must be, I a I am sure I want to do this.“

Severus nodded sharply and went to the book case, where he had the rest of the material he had collected.

“I recommend you start by familiarizing yourself with the changes the female body goes through at conception and during pregnancy. You can’t know what is wrong if you don’t know what the normal procedure is.”