A New Story

Chapter 23

'Harry, you up for a game of late-night wizard chess?' Ron asked his best mate.

'Sure.'

Ron went up to his dorm and took out his chess set. Every one had already gone to bed but Harry and Ron loved to stay up late in the common room because they had the entire room to themselves. 

'So. My little sister Ginny just started her first year.'

'Yeah, I saw her during the ceremony. In Gryffindor too, right.'

'Mhm, she has the biggest crush on you.'

'Really?'

'Yes, she keeps talking about you and how excited she is to talk to you and all that. Bloody annoying.'

Harry gave a snort and helped Ron neatly set the chess pieces on the board. 

'Did you get the Daily Prophet of this week?' he began talking carefully.

'No? Why?'

'Oh, you're going to flip. You know that Skeeter woman?'

'Of course I do, she wrote about my dad last time.'

'She did it again. She wrote about Snape again.'

'What did she write about him?'

'Harry, is he pregnant?' 

'Shit.'

'I'll take that as a yes.'

'She wrote about that?!'

'Hey keep it down, you're going to wake everyone up.'

'Did she?'

'Yes,' he said, 'How does she know these things?'

'Damn it. My dad's already stressed enough, now most of Britain's wizarding world knows about it.'

'He's probably already knew about it, everyone was talking about it on the train and after he threw up, it was pretty much confirmed.'

'Fucking hell.'

'Come on, I haven't seen you for two weeks, let's play some chess.'

'Alright.' Harry sighed.

The next morning, Severus woke up feeling like shit. Again, he sprinted to the bathroom and threw up in the toilet. 'I can't believe it's going to be like this for five years.' he talked to himself, 'My life is over.' and he slid down onto the floor. 

He looked at his watch and saw that it was 6:15. Enough time to just crawl back to bed. He tried to stand up but my legs didn't work well and he fell back down onto the floor. 'Maybe I'll just take a quick nap here.' and he laid down onto the bathroom floor and quickly fell asleep. 

After half an hour, he woke and stood up wobbly and walked over to his potions cabinet, took out the potion that he drank yesterday before the feast. He used his sleeve to wipe his mouth and began to get ready for breakfast with Regulus. 

He got out of his living space and walked to the Great Hall. Even with the potion, he still felt like he got trampled by a group of elephants. 

As he reached the Hall, Regulus was the only teacher at the table and he waved to him enthusiastically. There were some students already, sitting there watching their new professor light up when he saw their pale potions professor, it was truly an interesting sight.

'Hi, Ben.' he greeted sitting down next to him.

'Morning, Sev.'

'Don't call me that.'

'No way, Sev.'

Severus glanced sideways at him and kicked him under the table. 'Owww.'

'Serves you right, Alden.' he gagged a bit.

'You okay? You look horrible.'

'Oh wow, thanks.' Severus said sarcastically.

Regulus chuckled. 'It feels good to be back in Hogwarts. Just like old times.' He began putting food on his plate. 

Severus spread some butter on his toast and began nibbling on it.

'Not hungry?' Regulus asked with his mouth full of food.

Severus shook his head and continued nibbling.

'Morning sickness?' he lowered his voice so that students wouldn't hear him.

He nodded. 

'Don't you have a potion for that?'

'Not helping much. If I eat, the food is going to come out during class.'

'Poor you. Are you sure you don't need to go to Madame Pomfrey.'

'No, I'm going to have class later. No time.'

'Hope you get better soon.'

'Thanks.'

Summer walked into the hall and took a seat on the other side of Severus. 

'Hello.' she said gleefully to Severus. She then saw Regulus on the other side of him and chirped, 'Hi, Professor Alden right?'

'Yes. And you are Professor Addison?'

'Yeah. It is very nice to meet you.'

'You too.'

More and more students began filing into the Hall. Amongst the children, Severus spotted his raven-haired ward with his friends. He made a mental note to talk with him later at night and ask him how he was doing. 

'Hey, Severus.' Summer began, 'Is Harry Potter your kid.'

'Uhh, not exactly, he's my ward but I treat him like my own and he calls me Dad.'

'What made you decide to be his guardian?' 

Severus shrugged and changed the topic, 'We will have our first class with the Gryffindor and Slytherin first years. They may get very aggressive with one another because of the house rivalry so help me keep an eye on them and it should go smoothly. I have told Dumbledore that Slytherin and Gryffindor do not go well together but he did not believe there was any problem. They will be brewing Cure for Boils, it's an easy enough potion.'

'Yes, I will make sure I am as helpful as possible.'

More teachers came too and Lockhart started rambling on and on about his 'accomplishments' to poor Charity Burbage who looked like she wanted to hex him to next month.

Regulus leaned over to Severus and said, 'Can you make him drink something that would shut him up?'

'I know exactly which potion to feed him but I will save that for emergencies.'

'What kind of emergency?'

'Like if he sits next to me again.'