Disclaimer: Except for some OCs, the characters here and the world they inhabit are the creation and property of JK Rowling. This chapter takes place within the time line of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix.

Severus Snape entered Headquarters wishing that the next interview was already over. He wished someone else could take care of this discussion, or that his wife could be with him to smooth over the rougher element. Emily was clearly not herself these days, though. He had discussed her at length with Margo Smith and some sort of action would need to be taken before too long. Yet another difficult conversation he would need to have, soon.

Molly Weasley met him in the hallway. “Severus, are you here to leave a report?”

“No, Molly, actually, I am here on Hogwarts business. The Headmaster asked me to speak to Potter about a course he needs to add to his curriculum.”

“I see. Let me run along and get him, then. Why don't you wait in the kitchen?”

The rougher element himself was sitting at the table. Not unexpected, but just the sort of complication he could do without today.

“Welcome to my humble abode, Snape,” said Black. He appeared to have been drinking. The afternoon was not improving.

“Black,” answered Snape. Perhaps if he kept to one word responses, Black would stop trying to talk.

“How is Mrs. Snape these days?”

“Quite well, thank you.”

“I didn't get that impression when I saw her last.”

“I fail to see how it is your business.”

“I consider her to be a friend and I am interested in her welfare.”

“I am fully capable of looking after my wife's welfare, thank you.”

“She seems overly distressed, lately. Perhaps you haven't had time to look after her.”

“I have plenty of time to look after what must be attended, Black. Perhaps your pursuits leave you little time to look after other things...” He left it hanging.

“Emily deserves more attention than just what you can spare from other things. If she were my wife--”

“If it were left to you, Black, she would not be a wife. You had every intention of shagging her and dropping her, which would be of no value to her in the present situation.”

“I would have married her.”

“Quite a life of grandeur you could have shown her, between Azkaban and this house.”

“It would all have been different.” Black took another swig from his bottle.

Snape pinched the bridge of his nose, hoping to stop the headache he could feel coming, knowing it was useless. The only way to deal with this man was to simply not respond. The boy came into the kitchen and the ensuing argument only made the headache worse. At least Potter got the message that he was to come to the dungeon on Monday for a lesson that would be called “Remedial Potions,” but in actuality would be Occlumency.

The arrival of Arthur Weasley from the hospital gave Severus a chance to escape the House of Black. He quickly Apparated to a different part of London and entered the terraced home of his mother-in-law. Emily was helping the toddling baby to walk and looked up when he arrived. She could tell that he had a bad headache and immediately came to help him. Her face was full of concentration as she worked over him and she seemed her normal self. Perhaps he wouldn't need to talk to her after all. If he did, it seemed likely that Margo's suggestion would be the best one. At the very least, he could postpone the conversation for a few days, until they returned to the school.

---

It was late at night when Emily Apparated to Grimmauld Place and tapped on the door to number twelve. Sirius opened it and smiled until he saw just how white the face before him was.

“Emily, what's wrong?”

“Is Severus here? He was summoned hours ago, and hasn't been back. I thought—hoped—that perhaps he would be here, leaving a report...”

“No, he's not here.”

It wasn't possible, but her face turned whiter. “That's that, then. He's not coming back. Sirius, what will I do? What is to become of me, or of my children?” She slumped against the wall, shaking, and Sirius reached a cautious hand to touch her shoulder

In an instant, she was within his arms, vulnerable and pliant. For some amount of time he just held her, breathing in the scent of her hair and enjoying the feel of a womanly form held so close to him. It was different from any time he had held her before, when somehow she always stayed within herself. He tested it.

“Emily,” he asked quietly, “how do you know he's not a Death Eater?”

The story was a bit muffled, coming from where her face was buried in his robe, but nevertheless clear. “I gave him...myself...and he promised. We found out later it was an Unbreakable Vow... Our daughter was our bonder.”

It was a stunning revelation, one that would only be made under great duress, when the person speaking was open and unguarded. Sirius felt a surge of desire as he realized that this was the moment, the chance he had waited for since he was sixteen years old. He pressed her close, closer than he had ever held a woman. She was more mature than before, but still exquisite to him. All he needed to do was bend his face down to kiss her, and she would be his. Part of him wanted nothing more than to tumble her right here and now, in front of the picture of his mother. Yet she was too good to be shagged against the wall, or on the floor. From that idea, an idea that he recalled had been spoken by his rival, conscious thought returned to him.

“I cannot do this, Emily. I have come to admire your love for your husband and your virtue. I want more than ever to make love to you, but I would destroy what I admire most about you. You have to leave before I forget myself and lose control. Go back to the school. He will look for you there. Don't worry, he will fight the fires of hell itself to get to you. I know I would.”

As he spoke, he loosened his hold, and putting his hands on her shoulders, pushed their bodies apart. He guided her back to the door. His hands were trembling with reluctance as he opened it and set her onto the step.

---

Emily found herself back out on the front walk, facing the square. She Apparated with blurry vision and walked quickly back to the quarters that had been home for so long. Mindlessly she went through her evening routine, long overdue. She dismissed the elves who were watching her son. He fretted and she rocked him in a chair. Already he seemed enormous compared to that small bundle she first held less than a year before. Her ears strained toward the dungeon hallways. If only she could hear that footstep and could stop dreading that it would never come!

After she was sure the baby was soundly asleep, she put him in his crib and went to brush her teeth. Severus came in as she finished preparing for bed. She was tying the sash of her dressing gown when she saw him in the sitting room.

“Are you hurt?” she asked as she launched herself at him.

“No, it wasn't like that at all, today.”

She was checking for herself, unfastening buttons and untying knots with an agility he seldom saw. When she saw that he was unharmed, she unfastened her own clothing and took him on the couch, gasping and crying as her raw emotion and need became a physical act. He met her need with tenderness, gently making love to her until they were both spent.

After a while Severus picked up his weeping wife and carried her to their bed. He held her snugly and kissed her hair.

“Emily, I've been speaking to your mother. It's time to go back to the hospital.”

She lifted her head and looked into his eyes. “I can't.”

He ran his hand along her face. “It would just be part time. They can always use your skills, and it will be good for you. You need the distraction. You need to feel like you're doing something. It's time, Emily.”

“But I can't leave Brendon.”

“It will be just like with Hope. You can take him with you on daytime shifts and at night the house-elves and I can handle things.”

“What about Hope? She needs me nearby.”

“Emily, there are hundreds of students here whose parents are nowhere near. She will be fine.”

“What if you're hurt?”

“I will know where to find you.”

“Severus, you were gone so long today that I was sure you weren't coming back. I went to headquarters looking for you, and...and Sirius sent me home.”

His arms tightened. He took a deep breath, willing himself to be calm. “What happened between the first and second 'and'?”

“I was so upset. He was trying to comfort me and then he was hugging me and then he was saying that he didn't want to destroy my virtue and he pushed me out the door.”

His arms relaxed as he pulled her closer. “Why are you going to him for comfort instead of me, Emily? Why have you pretended nothing is wrong when anyone can see that you've been struggling?”

“I thought you might be there making a report, and when you weren't, I was sure you were gone forever. I don't want to trouble you. You have so much to deal with—”

“Haven't we always shared our troubles? Haven't they always been easier to bear when we take them all into account, together?”

“But they were so much smaller, before. Severus, it's not the same.”

“That was practice and now this is the real thing. Emily, if this is eating you alive, I need to know.”

She buried her head and then nodded. “I'm sorry.”

“I'm sorry that I didn't ask you about this before.”

“What happened today? You were gone for hours.”

He sighed. “Ten Death Eaters were broken out of Azkaban today. The Dementors helped. He wanted me there as he waited for word, and then he wanted all of us to celebrate. I left as soon as I reasonably could.”

“I was so worried.”

“I knew you would be, but I couldn't get away, nor could I send word.”

She sighed. There was nothing he could have done. She sighed again. “Do you really think I should go back to St. Mungo's?”

“I think that if you're helping others, you won't feel so helpless.”

“I'll give it a try.” She shifted to a position where they could look at and caress each other. “I'm sorry to have attacked you like that.”

He smiled. “I love you however you come to me.”

“I didn't get a chance to ask. How did the Occlumency lesson go?”

“As I expected, Potter is a open book. He'll never make a spy. What little of his emotions he manages to keep off his face are easily found with Legilimency within seconds. I don't know how to show him to shut himself off the way Dumbledore wants.”

“I'm sure you'll find a way, if anyone can.”

“I hope so. It's just too important.”

A/N: Back when the idea for this story came to me I had no idea that it would go over sixty chapters and still be far from finished. Of course at that time I had no idea of our family increasing either, yet here I am and both things are happening. At any rate, this story has provided a fun diversion while I've been forced to slow down the pace of my life. Thank you to those who have read, and a special thanks to all who have reviewed. I'm very grateful, too, to beta reader Trickie Woo.