Chapter 11

Harry staggered to their table, one arm around a giggling Ginny and the other waving a champagne bottle.

"The hunter returns triumphant!" he crowed, plonking the bottle down in the middle of the table. "Go on, get stuck in."

"Thank you, but I will refrain," Severus told him, sipping from a cup of peppermint tea provided by an obliging house-elf.

"I'll be too pissed to Apparate," Hermione protested half-heartedly as Ginny sloshed champagne into her glass.

"Then Floo, dear Hermione, Floo."

"Severus can't Floo."

"Course he can."

"He cannot," Severus stated, "because he has no intention of spewing all over his hearth rug upon arrival. I am sure I can Apparate a drunken witch side-along."

"Good evening," said a tall wizard, pausing as he skirted their table.

Hermione squinted up into rather amused grey eyes.

"Mr Malfoy," Harry said coolly.

"Mrs Potter." Lucius inclined his head regally. "Miss Granger, Mr Potter, Mr Snape. Why, you look positively corpulent, Severus. Are you sure you have only one offspring in there?"

Severus glared but didn't reply. Lucius turned to Hermione. "Miss Granger, you may be interested to know that I have acquired a copy of Warren's Annotated Runic Inscriptions of the Celts, in which she states..."

What Warren stated went unheard, because a large wizard in disheveled robes stepped in front of Lucius with his wand raised. Lucius had to pull back his head to prevent the tip from being thrust up his aristocratic nostril.

"Malfoy," snapped Gaius Stott, "I should have known."

"Should have know what, Auror?" Lucius used a finger to direct the wand away from his nose. Stott bared his teeth in a humourless grin.

"You making plans with your Death Eater buddy, Malfoy? Think you're going to break him out, are you? I'm watching you, you bastard." He spun to point the wand at Severus. "And you, Snape. There's a lot of people want to see you rot in hell for what you did. You put one foot out of line, just one foot, and I'll have you in Azkaban so fast your robes will catch fire!"

"Guy!" A rather lumpy-looking witch hurried to him and caught his arm. "Gaius, no, don't, please!" She cast a rather frightened look at Harry and stuttered, "Mr Potter, I'm sorry, he's been drinking, won't happen again. Guy, come on! You're making a scene!"

Stott tried to shake the woman off, but she was determined. Though he must have realised he looked foolish because he muttered something very rude under his breath and allowed her to drag him away.

"He was completely out of order," Ginny said, staring at where Stott and the witch appeared to be having a fierce but whispered argument.

"Off duty, though," Harry told her, "and if I make a complaint, it won't help: it'll only make him more resentful. He already thinks I've only got where I have because of my name." He scratched his chin thoughtfully. "Didn't know he had a girlfriend. She reminds me of someone."

Hermione knew she hadn't seen the witch before, yet something teased at her memory, just out of reach; something about the slant of her head and her deep, slightly rough voice.

"I'm glad to see that the Auror corps is under exceptional control," Malfoy said. "It fills me with such confidence in the forces of good. Good evening." He nodded and strode away to join Draco, Astoria and a small party of Slytherins. The group had been clustered around Horace Slughorn, but their focus immediately shifted to Lucius as he took a seat between his son and Pansy Parkinson.

Severus touched Hermione's arm.

"I apologise for dragging you away from your friends, but I should return home." He forestalled her automatic question with an upraised finger. "Did I not promise I would tell you if there is anything wrong?"

"You did, yes, but it doesn't stop me worrying."

"Fussing, Miss Granger, not worrying. If you insist upon details, my back aches and I have indigestion, neither of which are in any way life-threatening, but which combine to make me desire my bed and a stomach potion in preference to an uncomfortable chair and more to eat."

"Stott's put a damper on the evening anyway," Hermione told him, getting to her feet. She kissed Ginny and Harry, leaving them to finish the champagne, and then she took Severus' arm, helped him to his feet and accompanied him to the nearest Apparation point. As they left, she noticed Stott with his back to them, gesticulating angrily at a house-elf that had refused to serve him more alcohol. The squat witch stood by his side, but her gaze was upon Severus and Hermione as they left.

oooOOOooo

They settled into an odd kind of restrained domesticity. Hermione spent a lot of time researching old Wizengamot cases in musty ledgers that Harry obligingly brought from the Ministry. Once a week, he and Ron would arrive to 'Snape-sit' while Hermione, Ginny and Luna planned their publicity campaign, sent owls, drank red wine and attempted to convince the Slytherins that it was in their interest to have their own war hero declared innocent.

Severus had stopped brewing when his back and feet protested at standing for more than half an hour. He seemed to view the approaching trial with fatalism. His sarcasm lost its biting edge, and although far from placid, he gained a more contemplative, inward-looking air and spent much of his time reading classics of Muggle literature from his extensive library.

Hermione had always tried to preserve her own space when with Ron. He had taken for granted his right to fondle her when he felt like it, assuming that if she responded, then she must be in the mood for sex. Severus, on the other hand, whether because of his temperament, his age, or the sheer physical weight of his burgeoning belly, made no such assumption. Rather, he seemed happy for her to sit beside him immersed in her own reading and made no objection if her hand rested upon Hugo. She liked to feel the baby bumping vigorously against her fingers.

"Hermione." His velvet voice never failed to send a small quiver through her. She looked around and saw that he had put down his book and was gazing thoughtfully at her.

"Mm?"

"You once asked me what it felt like." He patted himself and his robe moved visibly as Hugo flexed against the confines of Snape's body.

"I'll never know, will I?"

"You can, if you trust me."

Hermione sat up and saw that Severus had drawn his wand. He raised it and looked quizzically at her. Her eyes widened but she nodded, biting her lip. "Legilimens," Severus said softly.

Hermione felt a sense of pressure against her thoughts. Memories flickered unbidden through her: eating breakfast opposite Severus, accompanying him to Diagon Alley for his recent appointment with Strood, watching as the Healer examined him, her fingers probing the taut skin of his now impressively bulging belly. Then she felt as though she were being drawn out of her head. There was a brief sense of falling through darkness, and then she was seeing herself. There was something slightly odd about her appearance. Hermione was sure she was not quite that tall or graceful, that her hair was untidier than this, her eyes less bright. She was seeing herself through the distorting lens of Severus' mind, and what he saw was a beautiful woman. She was rather stunned by this revelation, and only when she felt his growing impatience did she return her attention fully to what he was doing.

"Look into my eyes and concentrate," he whispered. His voice echoed, smooth and sensuous, wrapping her in dark silk. For a moment, she had the odd impression that she was two people: Hermione Granger sitting on an old sofa and staring into the eyes of Severus Snape, and at the same time, she was looking at herself. Then she was inside a different body.

There was a curious background sensation, like a low-level hum, the alien feeling of a male form. It was larger than her own, longer and leaner, and its sexuality was nearer the surface than she was accustomed to. She felt that a touch, a word or a sultry look might trigger a state of arousal. Then Hugo kicked and she gasped. He was huge, his weight pressing downwards, his movements almost powerful enough to hurt, thrusting against her intestines, kidneys and bladder. He stretched her skin and muscles, an intimate and overwhelming presence inside her. She felt full and oddly complete.

When she reached to clutch at her stomach and found it flat and unaccountably empty, the connection was broken. Severus allowed his wand to drop.

"Oh, wow," she breathed. "That was intense. How on earth do you manage to sleep with all that inside you?"

"With difficulty," he admitted, stowing his wand away in his sleeve. "However, you don't take into account that I have grown used to him as he grows; it was hardly a sudden transition."

A fluttering at the window attracted Hermione's attention. She flicked her wand to let in a brown Ministry post owl, which landed on the arm of the sofa, dropping a pale blue envelope onto the floor. Severus drew his wand and pointed it at the letter as Hermione gave the owl a treat and let it out again before closing the window.

"It's safe, Severus, I recognise the writing."

Severus began to lean down to pick up the letter, grunted, then thought better of it and levitated it to Hermione's hand.

"It's from my mother," Hermione said as she opened the envelope.

"Is she not a Muggle?"

"Yes. She sends letters to me at the Ministry; they have a Muggle postcode for families and friends to communicate with Muggle-born employees. That was one of Kingsley's innovations. The post room witch usually sends the letters on to the right department; my boss must have told her that I'm away from work."

She settled down to read the long, handwritten letter.

"Are you close to your parents?" Severus asked suddenly. Hermione realised that he hadn't returned to his reading, but was watching her thoughtfully.

"I was. I grew away from them once I started at Hogwarts and they didn't know anything about what I was doing. During the last year of the war, I modified their memories and sent them to Australia, to keep them safe."

"You modified their memories," he echoed her words softly. "When you were seventeen?"

"Yes."

"Did you know what you were doing?"

"Of course I did!" she protested fiercely. "Severus, I expected to die. I needed to know they were safe."

He nodded. "You're a remarkable witch, Hermione Granger. How did they react when you brought them back?"

"They weren't very happy, as you might expect, and we've been very wary around each other ever since. I've been trying to think how to explain about Hugo, and I keep putting it off. I've only just told them about the divorce, and this is my mum's reply. She likes the Weasleys, so she's rather upset."

"Are you intending to wait until he is here and then present them with a grandson? Because I doubt they will be very happy about that, either."

"I know." Hermione pulled distractedly at a lock of her hair.

"I suggest you visit them and tell them in person."

"Yes, you're right. I'll ask Harry when he'll be available to stay with you."

"Why?" Severus asked blandly. "May I not accompany you?"

"I – what – of course you can! I just didn't expect you would want to."

He shrugged. "Why not? I assure you, despite the house's reputation, there have been plenty of half-blood and a few Muggle-born children sorted into Slytherin. As Head of house, I have paid visits to Muggle households and explained about magic to some very sceptical people. I doubt your parents will be as suspicious and defensive as some of those."

"Explaining male pregnancy to a pair of dentists is going to be rather simpler if they actually have a specimen of a very pregnant wizard in front of them," Hermione agreed. "They'll have to believe me then."

oooOOOooo

"So Molly cast a charm to help me and Ron have a baby," Hermione explained. Her parents sat opposite her at the kitchen table, sipping coffee and listening intently. "She knew we'd been trying for a family and she just thought she was helping, but I can't have children. That was the biggest reason why Ron and I decided to split up, actually."

"Are you absolutely sure you're infertile?" her mother asked, a depth of sadness in her quiet voice.

"Yes. I was cursed during the battle of Hogwarts, and I didn't know until it was far too late to reverse it."

"Have you seen a gynaecologist?" Mr Granger asked.

"The curse was Uterus calyx. It is irreversible," Severus said. He sat beside Hermione, as completely out of place in the Grangers' airy modern kitchen as a condor. He wore wizard's robes, a travelling cloak and an air of impenetrable calm. "I wish that it were not so."

"So what happened when Molly Weasley cast her charm?"

Trust her mother to pick up on the most important thread in the conversation.

"It attached itself to me, although I didn't know anything about it. Ron and I agreed to divorce, so it remained dormant until I next slept with someone."

Thomas Granger leaned forward slightly, his intent gaze upon his daughter. "So are you telling us that you're pregnant?"

Hermione shook her head. "No, I'm not. I don't know if the charm would have been strong enough to overcome the curse, given the chance, but my partner cast a contraceptive charm. He's a very powerful wizard and the charm rebounded onto him."

"So that he would impregnate the next woman he slept with ..." Her mother's question tailed off as Hermione shook her head.

"No, Mum, he's carrying the baby."

"Gosh," said Marion Granger faintly after a long pause. "Your baby? From your egg?"

"Yes, your grandson."

"That's incredible," her father muttered, sounding very dubious.

"It's magic, Dad."

Both of Hermione's parents looked at Severus, who gazed back impassively.

"Professor Snape, I assume you are involved in this rather far-fetched tale in some way," Marion said in her brisk, businesslike voice. "Would you care to explain how?"

"I am an expert in the Dark Arts," Severus told her, sounding no less professional than Mrs Granger. "I taught Defence Against the Dark Arts for a while at Hogwarts. I can assure you that Hermione is quite correct: there is no cure for her infertility. The charm cast – most ill advisedly – by Molly Weasley was very tenacious, but was deflected by the contraceptive charm. It was inevitable that it would impregnate whomever Hermione slept with, male or female, being unable to act upon her doubly impervious womb."

"Is it possible for a male to carry to term? Would he survive?" Thomas asked with a little shudder.

"The charm has created a womb, so yes; there is not much more risk than there would be for a witch of equivalent age and health."

"What will happen to the baby?"

This was the question that concerned the Grangers most of all. Hermione saw her parent's arms move as they clasped hands beneath the table.

"I very much hope that he'll be raised and loved by both his parents," Hermione said softly. She saw her mother's gaze flick to Severus. Her eyes narrowed slightly as she caught what must have been an infinitesimal change in his expression.

"Professor Snape," Marion said carefully, "are you carrying Hermione's baby?"

Severus inclined his head and, without speaking, ran his thumb down the front of his robe, releasing the row of black buttons. He was wearing black trousers and a white shirt, originally voluminous in cut, but now fitted snugly around his girth. He placed a hand flat upon the side of his belly and pressed inward, probing with his fingers until he achieved his objective: waking Hugo and causing him to kick strongly. The outline of a tiny leg and foot appeared momentarily under the taut fabric of the shirt. Severus rubbed soothingly to settle him again.

"Good God," Thomas said faintly.

"I hope," Marion said through tight lips, "that you don't intend to rush into marriage simply because of the baby."

Severus gave a startled little snort. "I wondered if you would insist upon marriage," he said when she raised her eyebrows at him.

"Professor Snape, my daughter has only just ended a marriage in which she was obviously unfulfilled. We like the Weasleys very much, but Ron, for all his virtues, is not someone who appreciates Hermione's interests or her intelligence. We saw her increasing restlessness and unhappiness, but unlike some, felt we shouldn't interfere. Would her marrying a much older man, a man about whom, if you'll forgive me, we've heard some terrible things, simply be leaping from the frying pan into the fire?"

Hermione felt her face heat up. She had indeed said some rather awful things about Severus back in her schooldays when they had all believed him a traitor.

"I do not intend to leap into anything," Severus informed them. He gave a flick of his fingers and his robe fastened itself neatly again. "Hermione and I are still in the process of getting to know one another, although for my part I find myself hoping that this will become a more long-term arrangement."

Hermione gaped at him. "Severus, that almost sounds like a proposal!"

His black eyes held a glint of something she could not identify.

"I would not ask you to marry a man for whom Azkaban is still a distinct possibility, Hermione."

"Azkaban? Isn't that the prison?" Thomas demanded. Hermione sighed and began another long explanation.

oooOOOooo

Severus lowered his bulk onto the sofa and groaned with relief.

"Thank you," Hermione said, hanging up their travelling cloaks.

"For what? Not hexing anyone? Do you not trust me to retain my self-control in front of Muggles? I'm not Lucius Malfoy, Hermione. Besides, your parents seem intelligent and surprisingly broad-minded."

"What's surprising about that?"

He shrugged and Hermione perched on the sofa beside him and began massaging his shoulders. He rolled awkwardly so she could rub his back.

"Perhaps my experience of Muggles has given me a jaundiced view."

"Your father?"

Again, he shrugged. "He and his friends were not inclined to discuss poetry or literature, shall we say." He gave a derisive snort. "Broad minded or not, I note you did not mention Lucius."

"Yes, well, I thought I'd already given them enough to think about."

"Promise me that you will not attempt to introduce Lucius Malfoy to your parents without my accompanying presence."

"You think it'll take two of us to hex him into good behaviour?"

"No. He is capable of behaving himself when he feels that it is in his interest to do so: I just don't want to miss seeing him do it. A little lower if you would ... yes, there."

He sighed and kneaded the jutting curve of his belly. "I have had more than enough of this. Strood had better get him out soon or I shall burst."

"Healer Strood says you're doing brilliantly," Hermione said. "He's growing really well."

"Are you patronising me?"

"Merely repeating what she told us at the last appointment."

Hermione got up, walked to the end of the sofa, sat down again and drew off his boots and socks. He had long, thin, white feet with delicate blue veins. She enjoyed massaging them and Severus never complained. He pushed himself over onto his back and rested his feet in her lap, his fingers running back and forth over his abdomen.

"Feeling uncomfortable?" Hermione enquired as she swapped feet.

"That is my permanent state of being," he muttered. "The Braxton Hicks contractions do not help."

"Do they hurt?"

"They are mild cramps, annoying rather than painful."

"Only six weeks to go, Severus."

"I hope she'll get him out before then." He glanced at her face and raised an eyebrow. "What, no protests about having to do what's best for the sprog?"

"I know you'll do what's best for him. There, would you like me to rub the potion into your stretch marks now?"

"You just want to fondle my belly," he muttered, unfastening his shirt. "Insatiable perverted woman."

"I like your belly; I like all of you, actually."

He gave her a mildly disbelieving look and sprawled with his head thrown back. "Go on then, do your worst. I shall lie here and bulge unbecomingly."

Hermione snorted and summoned a vial of potion, which she tipped into her hands and began smoothing onto his pale skin. The faint pink striations faded as the potion soaked in. Severus shifted slightly and when Hermione looked down, she saw the predictable tent in his trousers.

"What was that you said about bulging?" She allowed her hand to trail downwards, and the sensitive skin flinched under her fingers as she unfastened his flies.

"Inevitable physical reaction to being caressed by a pretty woman," he said, his voice catching slightly.

Hermione reached into the gap in his trousers and three things happened at once: Severus moved fast, drawing his wand, pushing his upper body upright and swinging his feet to the floor all in one convulsive movement; the wards on the house rippled their warning across Hermione's skin; and she snatched her own wand out of her belt.

Lucius Malfoy's lazy, cultured voice remarked, "My word, what a delectable sight," as he strolled through the doorway from the kitchen.

"What are you doing here?" Hermione demanded.

"Put my wards back up, you bastard!" Severus snarled, thrusting his wand back up his sleeve and glaring up at the elegant figure leaning on his cane on the hearthrug.

"I replaced them immediately, Severus, but I notice that they made no real attempt to keep me out."

"Of course they didn't keep you out; I coded you into them for emergencies."

"Why are you here?" Hermione stood up to face Lucius. "Unless this really is an emergency, you'll get us all into trouble with the Aurors."

"Only if they know I'm here, my dear. I have a water-tight alibi; I am currently shopping in Diagon Alley, clearly visible to any Auror wishing to check upon my whereabouts."

"And how did you manage that, Lucius? Polyjuice?"

"Exactly so."

"Who was mad enough to do that for you?"

Lucius examined his fingernails.

"Someone who owes me a favour. Draco put a young Slytherin in touch with me; she wishes to start a small business and, because of her family's rather dubious past, is unable to obtain a loan. I offered her the money at a fair rate of interest if she would allow me to sneak a visit to a friend. She has three doses of the potion, so we have just less than three hours."

"She could be up to anything; you could get into terrible..."

"My dear Hermione, do you think me a fool? We made a limited but binding wizard's oath that she would go shopping for a new cloak, books and other odds and ends while I would do nothing illegal. She does not wish to be brought to court for aiding and abetting in a crime. I told her I would visit a secret lover, which she thought was romantic. She believes that I have an interest in a married witch."

He leaned his cane against the fireplace and unwrapped his silk scarf from around his neck. "I appear to be interrupting something; pray continue."

"There isn't room on here for us all," Severus grumbled. Hermione pointed her wand at the sofa, and it creakily expanded itself until it took up almost the entire room. Lucius climbed onto the sofa and approached Severus on his hands and knees, resembling a great panther in his black velvet robes. Severus watched him over the top of his swollen belly.

"I am glad that I have not missed this," Lucius breathed. "Severus, you are exquisite."

Severus made a very inelegant and disbelieving noise.

"I am cumbersome, ugly, irritable and freakish."

"Rubbish. Hermione, you agree with me, surely?" Lucius reached out and gently caressed where Hugo kicked in his warm home.

"Yes, I agree. Severus is incredibly sexy."

"There you are." Lucius shifted slowly closer to Severus, enclosing him in a tight embrace, leaning down to nibble on his lower lip. "Now, you relax and let us pander to you."

Severus jerked a little as Lucius slid a large hand down into his trousers.

"Is there any way," Hermione asked rather tentatively, "that you can be inside Severus while he's inside me?"

Severus jerked again and gave a little groan.

"My dear," Lucius purred, "you are a brilliant witch. We are all wearing far too many clothes, however, so shall we begin with a simple disrobing charm?"

With a flick of Hermione's wand, their clothes rearranged themselves into three neat piles on the floor.

"You obviously educated her well, Severus."

"With all due respect, Mr Malfoy, I am capable of independent thought. I still don't trust you."

"Very brilliant witch," Severus said breathlessly. Lucius attempted to look affronted but could not repress a smirk.

"Let's see if she is supple enough to shag you at the same time that I do, shall we?"

However, Hugo was now too large to permit Hermione to get into position. Lucius pondered for a moment before his grey eyes widened and a positively evil leer spread over his pale, patrician face. He reached for his wand and conjured a small pink object with a flared end.

"Hold on," Hermione said dubiously, but he placed a finger across her lips. He knelt with his strong thighs apart and his balls hanging, and didn't look anything like as awkward or inelegant as he should.

"This, my dear, is not for you." He tapped it with his wand and it glistened in the lamplight. "This is for Severus. Simple mathematics, my dear witch, tell us that Severus has two needy orifices and I have only one member capable of doing the deed. Severus, assume the position, if you would be so kind?"

Severus silently pushed himself up onto his hands and knees. He was breathing fast, trembling slightly, his erection bumping against the lower curve of his belly. Lucius ran a hand over his narrow arse then slapped it lightly. "Good man. Take a deep breath and push back ..." he placed the rounded end of the plug on the furled bud of Snape's anus and began to press it inside. Snape wriggled until it was seated inside him with only the very end, where it flared out, still visible. "There. It is exactly the right size and shape to stimulate the prostate gland, which, in case you are not aware, is the source of much pleasure for the discerning wizard." He tapped the plug with his wand and Severus gulped and began to pant. "Now, Hermione, if you would care to apply your talented and delightful mouth to our lover's erection, I shall slip into the silken depths and we will see if he expires from sensory overload..."

"Shut the fuck up and get on with it," Severus growled.

Hermione wriggled between his arms, shuffling until her face was beneath his cock. His hanging belly brushed against her breasts as she conjured a pillow under her head and licked the end of his foreskin. She felt his hair tickle her thighs and then her bottom was hoisted upwards on more cushions and his nose burrowed into her bush.

He tasted of salt: bitter-sweet and faintly yeasty. He groaned and rocked back and forwards as Lucius entered him and began to thrust with long, even strokes that were relayed to Hermione through the movements of Severus' cock against her mouth and his own mouth along the moist folds of her sex. That delicate, fluttering tongue on her clitoris, his rhythmic groans, the sight of him above her, shining with sweat and trembling with the exertion of holding himself on hands and knees, were enough to bring her to the brink of climax. She braced a hand against Hugo, who flexed so powerfully that she could see the shape of Severus' belly change. She wondered what it felt like, to be so filled with sensation; to have his body stimulated from inside and out: in his anus, his vagina, his cock and his belly. She massaged Hugo to make him writhe and licked along the vein on the underside of Severus' quivering cock, then sucked the droplets that seeped from it.

Hermione ran her tongue around the rim of his foreskin and Severus shuddered, and her mouth was suddenly flooded with hot, bitter fluid. He gave an inarticulate groan and threw back his head. Lucius' arms came around his chest, holding Severus up as he gave the last few convulsive jerks and then lowered Severus down onto his side, so that he didn't crush Hermione. He lay curled, completely limp; his eyes rolled back and mouth gaping. Hermione took the opportunity to spit out the mouthful of semen. Was she supposed to swallow it? It was not as revolting as many of the potions she had ingested, but not something she had particularly enjoyed.

She wiped her mouth then gave a squeak as strong hands caught her thighs and she looked down to see Lucius Malfoy's broad shoulders and tousled blond head. He gently pushed her legs apart so that he could kiss the inside of her thighs, moving closer, teasing her, and then he blew apart the damp curls and inserted his tongue inside her.

"Or would you prefer this?" he enquired, his voice slightly muffled, as he lapped delicately at her clitoris, which was thrumming with anticipation.

"Oh God..."

He chuckled and held her down as she bucked and tried to press closer to his mouth. She came within minutes, and Lucius allowed himself to flop back with a satisfied sigh.

Severus kicked him on the ankle.

"Malfoy, banish the bloody plug."

"Oh, sorry, is it too much for you?"

Lucius twirled his wand, and Severus' breath came out in a great whoosh of relief. He pushed the heels of his hands into his sides, staring down at himself.

"He's moved."

"Yes, I could see him kicking away," Hermione said.

"Changed position."

"Is that good or bad?" Lucius asked, lifting himself up onto one elbow and trailing a finger around Severus' protruding navel.

"Good, I believe. Strood said he was breech, but ..." he rubbed the top of his tummy and nodded, "he is now kicking my ribs. He's turned so that his head is down. Not that it matters, since he will be removed magically."

"It means he's developing normally," Hermione said happily, pressing to feel Hugo kick against her hand.

"With luck, he may stop dancing on my bladder."

Lucius moved abruptly, shifting to sit behind Severus, one leg on either side, and wrapping his arms around him, holding his belly and rubbing it gently.

"Hermione?" Severus held out his hand, and when Hermione took it, he pulled her against himself, so that he was sandwiched between her and Lucius. Severus allowed his head to roll back, resting against Lucius' shoulder, and closed his eyes, hugging her as she sat sideways on what remained of his lap. Hugo struggled, not yet settled into his new orientation, but as all three placed their hands on him, he subsided into gentle undulations that didn't even ripple the taut skin.

"There, now," Lucius murmured, leaning against the back of the sofa, "you see? All will be well."

"I'm almost daft enough to believe you," Hermione told him. Severus merely snorted.