April in Paris

Disclaimer: Except for OCs, the characters here and the world they inhabit are the creation and property of JK Rowling and her assigns.

Charles arrived at the cafe indicated in his note at approximately eleven in the morning, local time. It was in the middle of Magical Paris between a book store and an emporium that appeared to sell wands. They weren't sure about the latter shop. The sign seemed to indicate them but the pictures in the windows were of scantily clad women with smiling men. Katherine remembered the book shop but did not recall the other. They hoped it would be unimportant.

Katherine and Severus knew when Charles arrived because they were watching the cafe. They also watched several of the buildings in the area and assessed the likelihood of anyone else watching the small restaurant. As they watched, Charles ordered two coffees and then made a great show of arranging them perfectly on the table, along with a small nosegay of daffodils and narcissus.

He placed an order and then stood and slowly turned, looking all around himself. "What's he doing?" asked Severus.

Katherine sighed, her one hope dashed. "If I had to guess, I'd say he's looking for a contact. His spot at the table faces the direction I usually arrive from, so I don't think he was looking for me."

The Snapes let him sit there for a while. Katherine wanted to go straight over and speak to him, but Severus wanted to be sure of her safety, first. "I don't want you to go down there. Let me do it."

"This is our chance to find out what's going on."

"I would rather get you onto our island and keep you there."

"For how long, Severus? When will it be safe to come back to civilization? Will it be before or after our daughter's Hogwarts letter arrives?"

"I don't like this."

"We have to do it, and the fact that there are people around the area shopping should keep anyone from shooting hexes all over the place."

"I'm not so sure."

She kissed him. "You know this is the best way to do things. I love you."

He pulled her close and kissed her some more. Finally, he could see no danger that would offset the potential value of the information his wife would obtain. He adjusted the key pendant hanging around her neck and whispered a charm as he tapped it with his wand. Then he kissed her and watched her walk away on a circuitous route that would take her behind the wizard she planned to meet.

He watched as she made her way to the meeting spot. It was a risk they had to take, and she was trained in defense. He had also done much to protect her, but somehow watching his whole life walk up to her former lover and whatever dangers were in the area was unnerving. He started making his way to a spot where he could still watch unseen yet closely enough that he could participate if any trouble started.

"Hello, Charles." The wizard jumped when he heard her voice and his table jiggled. He quickly stood and turned around.

"Katherine!" He would have taken her in his arms, but her hand was forcefully in his way, so he took it in his and bent to kiss it. "How are you, my darling? You left me in a lurch in Monte Carlo. I was left all alone to cry in my champagne. Imagine my surprise at hearing about the lovely Mrs. Snape who went up and down the Golden Circle with her friend, Mrs. Malfoy."

He was trying far too hard not to look at her middle as he spoke, so she made things easy for him by smoothing the front of her robe from just under her bosom to the middle of the bulge in her belly. There could be no doubt about her condition. "Surprise, Charles? That I went shopping with a friend? You must explain this riddle to me."

The witch sat down in such a way that her back was to a wall. She couldn't see anything out of the ordinary, but she kept looking. The street was full of the normal people, shopping, sightseeing, or stopping for a bite to eat. She barely could make out the shadow that was her husband as he moved into a spot that was just within wand range. Katherine wasn't sure whether to be nervous or relieved. She touched the key below her neck just to reassure herself.

"Have some coffee. I ordered your favorite." Charles sat as close to her as he could. "I was surprised that you were married, dear. I distinctly remember you saying once that you couldn't imagine getting married again, but if you did, I would be as good a choice as any."

"I did say that, didn't I?" At his nod, she shrugged. "I guess that goes to show how colossally wrong a person can be, Charles."

"You can always divorce him." He was tapping the table nervously. "Do drink your coffee."

She chuckled and shook her head. "No, Charles. This is the sort of marriage I always dreamed was beyond my grasp. There's no way I could leave him. I'd as soon cut off my wand arm."

"But you're the only one I can imagine being married to."

"Surely that's not so. There must be others who would love to be your baroness."

"Exactly. They all want to be a baroness. You enjoyed being with me."

"I wouldn't enjoy it now that I've met Severus. Not at all, Charles."

"I'm richer than he is."

"Been checking up on us, have you?"

"That island of his would fit inside my estate."

Katherine sat up at that. "How do you know about the island?"

"No one can find it; I know that much. There's a full description of everything except its location in your marriage records."

She took a breath and let it out. This was not the time to let him see that he had shaken her. "Where were you ever looking at my marriage records?" The smile on her face was a bit stiff, but he wasn't really paying attention.

"I went to the Ministry in London, where they're filed. I tried to see you, but everyone said you never went out." He fiddled with his napkin. "Actually, I was hoping it was made up, that you were pretending marriage for the sake of a job, but I stopped in at the cafe on Diagon Alley that has a reading room. Too many back issues of the Prophet show you two together for it to be a fake."

She shrugged and decided to let that part of the conversation die. She counted to sixty before saying, "I don't care about the money, Charles."

"Then what is it, Katherine?"

"We have similar backgrounds. We understand each other. Most of all, we simply have whatever it is that fate gives us when the right two people are together. I'm sorry, Charles."

"You can't blame a fellow for trying, can you? Why aren't you drinking your coffee?"

Katherine was going to pat his hand, but hers paused half way across the table. "Charles, surely you realize I'm pregnant. Caffeine is bad for babies, you know."

He looked stricken. "It's true? You really are pregnant?"

It was her first genuine smile of the conversation. "Yes, I am. I'm really married, and I'm really having my husband's baby."

He mumbled to himself. "I was so sure that it was just a lie they told me." Aloud he said, "You always told me you would never be able to have children."

"I couldn't," she said. "Then I came here to Paris, actually, and was badly injured. I went home and Severus made a potion that cured me. It healed those old injuries as well, and now I'm able to have children."

A church bell started tolling the hour. Charles looked worried. "Please, Katherine, you have to drink that coffee. I'll make it up to you, I promise."

Something in his face made her determined to never drink that coffee, if she had to force it down his throat. That wasn't a bad idea. She slid her wand far enough into her hand to use it, but was unable to actually cast a spell due to the arrival of a third person.

A voice on her other side said, "Yes, Katherine, do drink the coffee. It will be so much easier, and far less painful and obvious than my other methods of dealing with you." Katherine turned slightly to see Silvia Greenlee walking toward them. The false Auror smiled and said, "Confound her, Charles, force her to take the potion!"

"It will be the last thing you do, sir." Katherine looked toward Silvia again to see that Severus was standing behind her. She smiled up at him and was able to grip her wand more firmly. He smiled back, but never took his eyes from their adversaries.

Silvia broke back into the conversation. "It doesn't matter about him, Severus," she said. "Once your wife takes the poison, both she and her brat will be dead. Then you and I will conceive the heir to the Prince Legacy. It will be a bit of a squeeze, but I'm sure a Healer can be convinced to bring the baby a few weeks early."

"Then what? Severus is only half-blood," said Katherine.

"His child with me will be more than half. The baby will inherit, but I will find a way to be in charge of the legacy. It shouldn't be too hard to dispose of a disagreeable Daddy, if necessary. That would just make a larger inheritance."

"So you would kill Severus, too?"

"I don't see the point in discussing it. Charles, kill her."

Charles followed the conversation with annoyance in his face. "The potion was supposed to only cause the baby..."

"The baby and the mother. The love charm I have in mind works best if there's no rival around to complicate things. Although love is perhaps overstating the ability of the charm. Once I cast it, Severus would be unable to stop thinking of me until the deed was done."

"You're sick." Charles stood up.

Silvia laughed. "You didn't mind when you thought it would get you what you wanted. Now that you learn that your precious Katherine is going to die, you suddenly get a conscience?" Her eyes went ice cold. "Kill her."

"I won't," he answered.

She sighed. "Why did I have to pick someone who's in love with you?" she asked Katherine. "There must have been some other way to get you into the open." She turned to Charles again. "Do as I say, Baron!"

"I won't. I was willing to convince her to run away with me, but this... This is..." He saw Silvia's wand swish through the air and moved in front of it. An instant later, he was lying on the pavement at Katherine's feet. The patio that had been crowded seconds before was suddenly filled with popping noises and then just as suddenly was silent and empty.

"Why do men have to make such long, boring speeches about how much they love other women?" This time she spoke to Severus, whose wand was out. He watched the witch carefully. He took a step toward his wife when the witch aimed her wand in that direction. She stepped closer to him and purred. "You can tell me anything you like once your wife is dead, Severus. You can whisper anything you like as you impregnate me, if you enjoy it. Anything to further the cause."

"It won't happen," he said, confidently. "I can't imagine that I would even be able to touch you."

"That wasn't the case on the train," she trilled. "If I could have had ten minutes before your wife had to come along..." She was reminded of what she was doing and suddenly whispered a curse and aimed it right at Katherine's breastbone.

The spell hit the key full on, and fireworks seemed to erupt as the spell backfired onto the witch who cast it. She fell to the ground but got up again. Severus took the opportunity to move next to his wife, who used his cover to once more scan the neighboring buildings for dangerous shadows.

Silvia hissed at them. "The protective spell wasn't supposed to stay once I said the counteracting curse! The sales clerk lied to me!"

Severus chuckled. "Did you honestly think I would leave it as purchased? Of course I placed some charms of my own upon it."

The witch smiled. "Then it should be fairly easy to find the counter-curse. As I recall, you had some favorite spells..." She lifted her wand.

"Incarcerous!" shouted a familiar voice from the edge of the cafe's patio.

Silvia ducked and ropes sailed past her, wrapping around a chair at the next table. The back of the chair was completely twisted by the force of the ropes pulling around it. She looked at the source of the spell and laughed. "I'm an Auror! That spell doesn't work on me!"

The wizard set his chin and raised his wand again. Katherine shook her head and reached for the other witch with her hands as Severus pushed his wife backwards. An instant later they were forced to the ground as Silvia cast a Revulsion Jinx and Disapparated.

"Uncle Sonny!" Katherine saw her relative standing near by.

"Do you think I would allow you to have all the fun?" He walked over to give her a big hug. "How's little Corinne?" he whispered.

"Perfect," she whispered back. "They wanted me to drink poison, but I wouldn't touch a drop of it."

"Good girl."

They waited for the Gendarmerie Magique as Uncle Sonny loudly ordered himself a glass of the house red. They sat at a nearby table and discussed nothing in particular.

"Has anything interesting been happening at home?" Katherine said, a little louder than necessary.

"Nothing except the oddest train accident. One car detached from the train and fell down a steep embankment."

"Great Helga!" said Katherine. "Was anyone hurt?"

"The authorities thought a woman might have been killed, but the attendant told the authorities that the witch who was supposed to be in the car had never actually been on it."

"Really?"

"She was seen to get on it, but the attendant never saw her; he only saw her husband. The accident occurred shortly after he went to the saloon car."

"So he wasn't hurt, either?"

"Where did he say his wife was?" asked Severus at the same time as Katherine's question.

"The husband insisted that the Ministry keep looking for his wife's body for a day, but then he disappeared. The owners of the train car are now pressuring the Aurors to uncover the truth of what happened, but let's face it, the Aurors are not what they once were." Sonny gave Severus a look.

Severus took his wife's hand. "Do you know, my dear, I have the oddest desire to learn more about this bizarre story. I think that I shall send a letter to some friends back home to see if they can fill me in."

She smiled and patted his hand. "Whatever you think best, dear."

The gendarmes came and took their statements, which perhaps didn't match the facts perfectly. However, in the absence of other witnesses to come forward, this did not raise any questions. They went back to their local Ministry office convinced that the charming witch had stopped to have coffee with an old friend. A rival stopped by and created a scene during which the unfortunate wizard was killed. Such a shame that people will get so agitated over their personal affairs. They took a detailed description of the other witch and thanked the trio who answered their questions.

Katherine tried to put words to the dozen or so questions she wanted to ask her uncle, but Severus took her arm and Apparated. He took her underneath a bridge and straightened her hair and robes. Then he straightened his own.

"We've just had a lovely walk through town, and now we're a bit tired. You're going to go to the spa for a salt-wrap or whatever it is you women do, and I'm going to lie down for a while near the pool. Then we're going to have tea in our room and after that we're going to have dinner somewhere elegant."

"A salt-wrap?"

"Isn't that what it's called?"

"You know very well that it is not," she said to him. "I probably won't get any sort of wrap. It would be bad for the baby." She warmed up to her subject. "Just manicure, pedicure, and perhaps a facial..."

He smiled as they went through the door of the hotel. "Are you sure?"

She realized that he had been teasing her so that she wouldn't try to discuss what had just happened while they were in public. "You've been particularly Slytherin in your methods, lately."

"All the better to keep an eye on things," he replied. His hand rested on the small of her back as she went to the concierge desk to make her spa appointments. Then he asked for advice on restaurants, and the staff later recalled that the Snape couple seemed to be enjoying their visit to the City of Light. They tipped well, too.

Katherine didn't get a chance to broach the subject until they were dressing for dinner. "Every time we figure something out, there are more questions."

"Such as?" He didn't really need to ask, but now he would let her get them all out.

"How did Uncle Sonny know where to be? How did Silvia get to know Charles? If the Weatherfields are the ones who engineered the train accident, how did Silvia and Charles get involved on this side of things? And why was Uncle Sonny's binding spell so strong?"

Severus considered the last point first. "In your experience, did you ever see a binding spell work that way?"

"Never."

"So the answer is obvious."

"But he wouldn't."

"Are you sure?"

"Well..."

"I believe he would do a great many things when you're involved, my dear."

"Perhaps. I guess we'll have to ask him the next time we see him."

"Don't fret over it. It might be weeks from now."

"Or at dinner."

He smiled at her. "Suppose we tackle the easy questions. Your relationship with Charles was no secret."

"No, I suppose Silvia probably knew about it."

"And since Silvia was high enough in the Auror ranks to be on security details, her connection to Gustav Weatherfield is easily seen."

"They must have been using each other. What would have happened if they managed to get both Silvia and Audrey pregnant?"

"Hm, we might have saved Audrey's life with that matchmaking."

"I know it's a good match, but I wish it could have gone at a normal pace."

"There's no use worrying about that, now."

"So why was Uncle Sonny so close?"

"My best guess is that he asked his friends to look after you... or to look for Silvia. Most likely he was having you both followed." He leaned behind her to zip her dress.

"There's one last question."

"What's that?"

"Why does everyone want to kill our baby? If she's half blood, wouldn't they be just as well off to pretend she doesn't exist and go straight to seducing you?"

He brought her his studs so she could thread them through his cuffs. "I've never understood the truly criminal mind, myself. Perhaps they just want fewer people around who could be executors of the legacy."

"I guess so."

"Well, suppose we forget all that for now and go have our marvelous evening on the town? Let's be the tourists we want people to think we are." He leaned up and looked over his appearance in the mirror. Satisfied, he turned to his wife and offered his hand. She smiled, and he helped her stand. Together they set the suite to rights and put their wands away before going out.

A/N: Thanks as always to Trickie Woo, and also to my kind readers and reviewers.