I'll Be Home For Christmas

Thanks to all my reviewers, especially SickPuppy for metaphorically holding my hand, and to Yuki_of_the_Kamikaze for your review, which gave me the incentive to continue on.

Don't Know How To Deal With This


"Heavens, Severus," Poppy Pomfrey said as he and Harry entered the Hogwarts Infirmary the next morning, "I do hope you won't be scowling at your child like that!"

Severus only scowled deeper and cocked an eyebrow at her, saying nothing.

"Congratulations, by the way," she snickered at him, "I certainly never thought I'd see this day."

"I'm sure you didn't," he said sourly, and she laughed at him. "May we begin, please?"

Poppy rolled her eyes at him and motioned Harry to sit down on one of the beds. Severus followed, scowl still in place.

"Now then," Poppy asked, "how are you feeling today? Any morning sickness when you woke?"

"No," Harry replied, "not yet. I had a little dizzy spell yesterday, but other than that, I'm fine. I feel great."

"Good," Poppy nodded, "as I told you, if you recall, dizzyness is not uncommon, nor would be morning sickness." She turned to Severus and asked, "Have you explained..."

"Only about the creation. I've explained how he came to be pregnant. About the bond that must be present in order to create the child," Severus said, "not about the pregnancy itself. I'm afraid I'm not all that familiar with wizard pregnancy."

"That's because it's rather uncommon," Poppy said to Harry.

He beamed at Severus and said, "Yeah, he told me that."

Poppy smiled indulgently at him and said, "Well, it's not all that different than female pregnancy, really."

"I don't know much about that, either, " Harry said, "I've never been around a pregnant woman...well, except Fleur, and she didn't seem any different, just....larger."

"As you will also be," Poppy smiled.

"But...erm...I'm not a woman....I don't have....," he stopped, annoyed with himself for blushing. Poppy had treated for everything from simple colds to broken bones over the years, had seen him in all stages of undress at various times, knew he and Severus were lovers. He shouldn't feel embarassed, but for all the things she'd treated him for before, nothing else had ever been quite this intimate.

She sniggered at him and voiced his thoughts saying, "Really, Harry, after all this time? I am a professional medi-witch after all, you needn't feel embarassed to ask me anything, you know."

Harry smiled sheepishly and said, "Right, just...I didn't know men could get pregnant, and when you told me I was, I was just so....awed. But now, talking about it...well, it's stupid, I mean, you know Sev and I are together."

"Well, as you know, Muggle men cannot become pregnant," Poppy said, "because they lack the magic necessary to create the bond, the child, and the conditions necessary to sustain the child. The bond creates the child and therefore the means to sustain it, which means that you have the magically created equivalent of a uterus in which your baby is growing, the same as a woman naturally possesses, although you are. of course, a man. After the baby is born, this will disappear, your body will re-absorb it, until you become pregnant again."

"So I can become pregnant again," Harry said, "it's not just a one time thing."

"Of course not," Poppy said, "once the bond has formed you must use contraceptive precautions if you do not wish to have more children. The bond is permanent, Harry, it doesn't go away. That is why wizard pregnancy is so uncommon. Not every wizard couple can conceive children, because not all of them create the bond."

Harry nodded, "Yeah, that's what Sev told me."

Poppy smiled and leaned forward to pat his hand saying warmly, "That means it was meant to be, Dear," and Harry couldn't help the smile that crept across his face. Even Sev's mouth had turned up at the corners a bit, Harry noticed.

"Alright, lie back and we'll see how this baby is faring," Poppy said, "I can tell you the sex of your baby if you'd like."

"I think I want to be surprised," Harry said.

"That would be appreciated," Severus said at the same time, and he and Harry looked at one another in surprise.

"You don't want to know?" Severus asked.

"You don't want it to be a surprise?" Harry asked at the same time.

"No!" they both said at once, and Severus shot a glare at Poppy who was quietly laughing to herself.

"I can tell you, Severus, and not tell you, Harry," she offered, still smiling.

"I've quite had my fill of surprises," Severus said to Harry, "I would like to know the gender of the child so that we may prepare ahead of time. We would not like to be afloat in piles of pink when we find we have a boy."

"You hope it's a boy then," Harry said.

"I hope that the child is healthy," Severus said, "and preferably not a squib. It is immaterial to me whether it's gender be male or female. I would simply like to be prepared."

"He wants a boy," Harry said to Poppy knowingly, "I can tell," and they both laughed at Severus's scowl.

"Which do you wish for then, Harry?" Poppy asked, "boy or girl?"

"It really doesn't matter to me," Harry said mischieviously, "whichever it is, we can always try again for the opposite, right Sev?"

"We will save that discussion for later," Severus said imperiously and Harry and the medi-witch laughed at him again.

"Lie back now, Harry," Poppy said, seeing they were pressing their luck with Severus.

Harry did so, but then felt bad for making fun at his lover's expense. Really, it didn't matter to him, he would be equally happy with a boy or girl. He was simply thrilled that the possibility of either existed at all, and so felt that he could give this to Severus. After all, it had all been such a rude shock to him to begin with, and Harry supposed he could have chosen a better time and way to tell him if he'd really thought about it.

"It's okay, Poppy," Harry told her, smiling at Severus, "go ahead and tell him he's getting his son." The smile his lover gave him in return was worth giving up the surprise, he decided.

Poppy waved her wand over him a few times, frowned, then did it again a few more times, her expression turning to one of surprise mixed with something else. 'Well..." she said softly.

Immediately Severus's face turned from smile to frown and he demanded, " What's wrong? Is something wrong with the baby? Poppy?"

"No, Severus," she said with an odd smile, "nothing at all. Harry and the babies are fine."

"...Babies...?" Severus said in a strangled voice, his face going pale. He backed up and sat down hard on the next bed.

"I'm having twins?!" Harry said with delight, "seriously? Twins?!"

"T-twins?" Severus repeated weakly. He really didn't feel well, he thought, wondering if he were going to vomit again. He looked around for a bin or something, just in case.

"Twins," Poppy confirmed, "girl twins."

Black eyes shot open impossibly wide and then, for the first time in his life, Severus Snape fainted dead away.

***********

"Oh, there you are," Molly Weasley said sourly as Harry led an ashen Severus into the kitchen of the Burrow, "I'd wondered where you'd gotten off to," she added with a strong note of sarcasm, "after all it was only the family holiday. Nothing important."

"Sorry, Molly," Harry said contritely, settling Severus in a chair at the table, "we had some things to discuss, about the baby. Babies."

"Babies?!" Molly shrieked, forgetting all about her ire at their disappearance the night before, "you're having twins?! Harry that's wonderful!" She bustled over and hugged and kissed him, and then even threw her arms around Severus in her delight. To both her and Harry's surprise, Severus simply sat there and let her hug him.

"What's wrong with him?" Molly asked, frowning.

"He's a little surprised is all," Harry said, patting Severus's shoulder, "Poppy's just told us it's twins. Erm...girls."

Severus mouthed the word "girls", a blank expression on his face.

"Girls!," Molly shreiked again and both Harry and Severus were the target of another round of hugs and kisses. "Oh Harry," she sighed happily, "two little girls. Two sweet little girls! How lovely! Are you happy, Dear? Are you disappointed they aren't boys? Most men want boys first. Unless, of course you have six of them in a row. Then you sort of long for a girl."

Harry laughed and said, "I would have been happy with boys or girls, but now that I know it's girls, two of them at that, I think it's great! We need more girls around here. There's Ginny, and Victoire, but there's definitely a surplus of boys."

"So, we're happy, yes? And everything is good? We can let the secret out now? In the family, of course, Dear," Molly asked.

"Yeah," Harry said, glancing at Sev, "Erm....Ginny told you then?" he asked uneasily. Molly would surely have something to say to him for his foolishness in thinking Sev didn't want the baby. Babies, he amended to himself.

"That you'd told her you were pregnant?" Molly said, "yes, she told me. I had thought you might tell her too, but we haven't told anyone else yet, Dear. It's really your news to tell. Yours and Severus's, of course."

At the mention of his name, Severus seemed to comeback to life, which was a relief to Harry. "Twins," he said to Molly expressionlessly, "girls. Twin girls."

"Harry," Molly said, eyeing Severus. The man didn't look well. "Ginny is actually still here, she doesn't have to be back until later. She's upstairs. Why don't you go tell her your news and I'll make some tea, yes? She'll be thrilled to know there's to be more girls."

"She'll have them on Quidditch brooms before they can walk," Harry smiled and went to find his best friend and share his news.

Molly set about making tea, patting Severus's shoulder reassuringly as she passed on her way to the stove, letting the man talk when he was ready. When tea was ready and he still hadn't said anything, she sat down, poured for them both, then clasped her hand over his, squeezed and said kindly, "It'll be alright, Severus. It's a surprise, I know, but really, twins aren't that much more difficult than a single baby."

"I suppose you would know better than anyone," Severus said, "but...I...I simply.." He foundered for words and then just blurted out, "Quite frankly, Molly, I am...terrified!"

"Terrified?" she chuckled, "well, that's natural, isn't it? It's always terrifying the first time you become a parent. It's a new experience. You've created a life and now you're responsible for it. Who wouldn't be terrified? But, once you realise that they won't break when you touch them, and you become accustomed to one another, it gets easier."

Severus sighed and rubbed his hands over his face. "I'm afraid I'm too old for this. One baby was daunting enough, but two? At once?!.....and.......girls?! I know next to nothing about babies, and even less about baby girls, and I can't imagine Harry knows much more, Molly! The fact that I am old enough to be their grandfather aside, how are two men supposed to raise two little girls and teach them the things that girls should know?! Like...like..." words failed him. "See?!" he exploded, "I don't even know what a girl would want to know!"

"Severus," Molly pointed out calmly, "you are a teacher after all, and really, what are parents but a child's first teacher?"

"Oh, yes," Severus said wryly, "I can see now how knowing how to brew a perfect Draught of Living Death and spending ten months of a year in a dungeon certainly qualifies me as a parent. How silly of me to have overlooked that. And I can certainly give the girls wardrobe pointers-what do I tell them? "Black goes with everything"?!"

"Well that's actually good advice," Molly said smiling, then at Severus' expression she went on, "Oh don't be so grim, Severus," she chuckled, "you've got years of experience with children."

"Ah yes, my students," he said grimly, "whom I dread the coming of every September, and am deliriously happy to see the back of every July. You do realise that everything your children told you about me as a teacher is most likely true? It is not without reason that Harry and I despised one another when he was at Hogwarts."

"And yet you love him now," Molly said smugly.

"That is beside the point," Severus snapped.

"I would say it is the point," Molly said, "if you didn't love him so deeply, you wouldn't be having children with him, you know that. You're bonded to one another, and you made your children through that bond. They are the living symbol of it, but more importantly, they are your children. What I told you before is true, Severus, it's different when they're your own."

"For their sake, I hope you are right," Severus said almost desperately. his head sinking into his hands. Muffled, he said faintly, "Girls! For Merlin's sake! What do I do with girls?!!"

"Trust me, Severus," Molly smiled, "I know more about this than you do. And it isn't as if you'll be going it alone, you know. I'll be here to help. You and Harry are family after all."

**********

That night, as Severus climbed into bed, Harry turned over and wrapped himself around his lover's frame and asked, "You really did want a boys, didn't you?"

"I told you the gender was immaterial to me," Severus said "as long as they are healthy."

"And not Squibs," Harry added, chuckling.

And not girls Severus added silently as he pressed his lips into Harry's neck.