The Herbology Assistant

Chapter Forty

"I'm so glad you are all here safely. I can't say I wasn't worried because I was. People tend to get lost out this way." Clarice smiled while taking Gwen's bags and welcoming her kids inside. 

"Woah! It looks like winter wonderland in here!" Marnie exclaimed and Clarice smiled. She wanted the kids to have the best Christmas. 

"Look at all these presents!" Dylan said while nearly belly flopping onto the floor to count the presents. 

"You really went all out huh?" Gwen laughed while watching her happy children. 

"It took us all day to get it exactly how she wanted it." Severus chipped in. 

"Let's show you to your rooms." Clarice said as she took everyone up the stairs. 

"Gwen you can stay in here with Sophie," Clarice showed her to a pale blue room with a queen sized bed and crib in the corner. She dropped the mountain of bags onto the bed. "All of the dressers are empty."

"Dylan and Marnie will have their own rooms. They aren't too big, but it gives them their own space to play." Clarice showed them to the other rooms. Marnie's was a sunset orange color and Dylan's room was a light green. Both had twin sized beds and dressers. Clarice hoped they had packed their toys since she didn't have anything to keep them occupied other than the presents she picked up for them to open tomorrow morning. 

"I'll let you guys settle in. Please holler if you need anything. Oh! Gwen, the kids have a shared bathroom in between their rooms and yours is across the hall." She informed her as she bounced back down the stairs to resume dinner. 

"You okay?" Severus asked while she sautéed green beans.  

"Yes," She said stiffly. 

"You're stressed."

"Non sense." She replied. 

"Claire, what's going on?" He asked. 

"Nothing, I just want the holidays to be over so we can go back to school." She told him. What she really wanted  was to talk to Gwen in private and ask for some guidance on what she was doing with her life. 

"You're that ready to go back? It's barely been two days." He questioned her sanity. 

"I guess I'm just anxious. I don't know." She said while placing dinner on the table. She summoned up a high chair as the kids came down. 

"Smells yummy!" Dylan said. 

"This looks better than you're cooking Mommy!" Marnie said. Kids were so brutally honest, Gwen only chuckled. 

Dinner went quickly and they all mostly spoke about work and school. They explained the wizarding world to Marnie and Dylan in the most kid appropriate way possible. 

 Before they knew it, the kids were sound asleep and Severus had gone upstairs to write lesson plans for when they returned. That left Gwen and Clarice sitting by the fire, curled up under a blanket, while giggling to stories they were reminiscing about. Clarice summoned two cups of tea and took a deep breath. 

"Gwen I need to tell you something..." Clarice said seriously after a laughing fit. 

"Oh we're getting serious now? You can tell me anything. You know I'll always give you honest advice." Gwen said. 

"I- I'm pregnant. I don't know what to do." Clarice stuttered and eventually spit it out. 

"Severus is the father, right?" She whispered and Clarice smacked her. 

"Of course he is!" 

"Ouch! Okay, sorry!" She held her hands up in defense. 

"I haven't told him yet. I- well we had an argument, well it wasn't really an argument, just a disagreement really. About our future. How I want to get married and have kids and he wants the same thing, just not now." She said. 

"Ahh I see. So now you think he doesn't want this baby because it's not the right timing?" Gwen asked. 

"Exactly. And I really do want kids, but I'm not going to guilt him into it just because I'm pregnant now." Clarice said. 

"How far along are you?" Gwen asked. 

"About six weeks." 

"You could always make the potion to terminate it." Gwen suggested. 

"I've thought about that."

"So what's stopping you?" Gwen asked. 

"I don't know. I guess I just wanted to talk it out; work it through my head to make sure I didn't do anything rash. Would it be wrong if I never told him?" She questioned herself. 

"No, it wouldn't. But even if you don't tell him you're pregnant... Well it doesn't mean he's not going to notice the pain from the potion, the change of your body, and even the way you act." Gwen informed her. She didn't realize the potion had such severe side effects. She was too engrossed in her own thoughts to see the man they were talking about standing right in the doorway.  

"Clarice, you're...?" He trailed off. Her eyes shot up from her cup of tea as her mouth opened to say something, yet nothing came out. 

"Well, I think that's my cue. Goodnight!" Gwen said while getting out of that room as fast as she could. Clarice stood up and brushed out the wrinkles in the red dress she had been wearing. Severus didn't move.  

"You're pregnant Claire?" He questioned her and waited for a response. 

"Yeah, but I'll have the thing out of me in no time. Don't you worry." She told him flatly. She was clearly upset that she had to explain herself to him. She went to turn away to clean up the blankets and cups. 

"Clarice, we can talk about this." He walked over to help aid her in the clean up. 

"Talk about what? I got your honest opinion about what you wanted earlier. I'm not going to force you into fatherhood when you made it very clear about your intentions." She snapped. 

"You wouldn't be forcing me to do anything." He defended himself. 

"Severus, you can't even tolerate the students during school hours. How are you going to tolerate having one with you constantly?" 

"It's different." He said. 

"I'm not keeping it." She told him. 

"I just want you to do what makes you happy." Severus said and Clarice rolled her eyes. 

"Don't be daft. I'm going to see Poppy as soon as I get back to the school." She stated. 

"Okay," He said. "I love you, you know that right?" 

"I know. And I love you too." She paused. 

"And I'm not doing it because of you, I can hear your thoughts." She told him. "Our world isn't safe right now. I'd be an idiot to keep it." She told him. 

"You would not." He hushed her. 

"It would be stupid,"  She said. 

"Stop Claire, it was an honest accident. We're both not ready. Perhaps in a few more years, we will be. Alright?" He brushed her long hair away from her face and caressed her cheeks with his thumbs. 

"I'm sorry I wasn't going to tell you." She said. 

"I understand why you didn't want to. I forgive you." He kissed her nose. 

"I think it's midnight."

"Happy Christmas then," He hugged her tightly to his toned chest. 

"Shall we go to bed? St. Nick will be coming shortly." She grinned while leading him to their bedroom. She had always loved Christmas and now she had someone extra special to celebrate with. Like a child, it took her a while to fall asleep. Severus wasn't able to stand all of her tossing and turning. He grunted while getting out of the bed and rummaging through her supplies. He came back with a vile. 

"Drink this. Please for the love of Merlin." He told her and she only giggled before taking the sleeping draught. Within mere minutes she was snoring soundly with drool on her pillow. 

Severus thought it didn't get any better than this; she was the most important person in his life, and he would be damned if he ever let anything or anyone hurt her.