...And Three Makes It Family

by Richan

Sixth in the Trick and Treats Universe.

Warnings: MPREG! Slashy bits and lots of sap. Pregnancy humor.

Disclaimer: I don’t own anything, let alone HP among others.

Harry stared at the room in awe. Severus had transformed their bathroom into the Roman bath they'd enjoyed on their vacation. Candles were lit all around the perimeter of the room, and a soft scent of roses wafted through the air.

He couldn't believe that Severus had done something so... *romantic.* His husband had never done this. Ever.

Maybe he was trying to start this new part of their life right, but Harry didn't think he could do it wrong.

"Do you like it?" he heard behind him.

Harry turned and flashed a smile at the older man standing in the doorway. There was a surprising hesitance in Severus' stance that Harry caught. Was he nervous about Harry changing his mind?

"It's fantastic, Sev," Harry exclaimed. "Is it permanent?"

Severus nodded. "Yes. This works much better than what was here when I first moved into these chambers."

Harry hid a grin. His husband *was* nervous, and it was hilarious. Not that he would ever tell anybody. He laid a reassuring hand on Severus' arm.

"We can take it slow, Sev."

"But the potion - "

Harry hushed him. "You said the potion would last four days, right?"

"Yes. It makes the drinker fertile for a total of four days. After that, the drinker will have to wait a month to take another dose."

"So we have a little less than four days, because I took the potion just before I came down. We have time."

"Poppy okayed it?"

Harry nodded. He had been ready for this since Severus brought up the idea.

He had been surprised when he and Severus had sat down for a serious talk after they arrived back at Hogwarts from Athens. His husband had been rolling an idea in his head since Valentine's Day, and Rome had cemented it. And Severus was all for it because he knew it would make Harry happy.

By this time, Harry had been totally clueless as to what, exactly, his husband had been talking about. Thus, it came as a complete surprised to hear Severus say that he wanted to give Harry a child.

Harry had been stunned, to say the least, especially as Severus had gone on to tell him that there was a potion that would render its drinker the ability to carry a child. The potion hadn't been made in over three hundred years, but if anyone could make it, it was Severus.

It had brightened Harry's life hearing that. He had long ago resigned himself to never being able to have children, what with his first relationship with Charlie, and then with Severus. Blythe had been a shining star in his life since she was born, but if he was able to have his own children.... And they would be Severus' as well. Snarky Gryffindors and brave Slytherins - the perfect combination.

Harry finally moved to stand by the bathing pool that had been sunk into the floor. He turned to Severus and gave a serene smile.

"Ready?" Harry pulled open his robe and dropped it, revealing he'd worn nothing underneath it.

Severus nodded and moved into the bathroom, unbuttoning his robe. "Anytime you are," he purred.

******

"You want what?!" Severus half-yelled.

Harry sighed. "Just ask Dobby to get the ice cream, would you?"

"You're eating bacon and pickles for breakfast," Severus stated, "and now you'd like some ice cream?"

"Black cherry, please."

"Black cherry."

"Yes!" Harry turned back to the unappetizing - to anyone sane - mess on his plate, wrapping a slice of bacon around a pickle. Severus, as well as the rest of the Great Hall, grew nauseous as Harry delightedly inhaled the strange food combination. Pulling his eyes away from the horror, he summoned Dobby to get Harry's ice cream. As the excited house elf left, he had the terrible thought that his husband was going to dip the pickle in the ice cream. Shuddering, he turned to Harry as Dobby brought in the requested ice cream.

"Do you need anything else?" he asked cautiously.

Harry shook his head. "Heading to your office?

"Yes," Severus answered. "I have to get some papers ready for class." He stood up and leaned over Harry, giving him a quick kiss on the cheek. Yesterday morning, Harry had burst into tears when Severus left the table without any gesture of affection, so he wasn't taking any chances, even if it meant having to hear the "oo"ing and "ah"ing by the older female students.

As he closed the staff entrance room door behind him, he heard mass commotion as students and teachers alike tried to escape the horror breakfast had just become. He was thankful that his Slytherin instincts had alerted him to what was about to happen, although his imagination kept on taunting him with a picture of it anyway.

It wasn't until the two of them were in their bedroom for the night when it suddenly hit Severus that the baby that was a small bulge in Harry's belly would eventually come out. In just a little over five months, a real, live baby would be keeping them awake. All night. And no sex for six months - the last two of the pregnancy and four after the birth according to Poppy.

Severus was suddenly unsure of what to do. He did know that he loved Harry and that he wanted to spend the rest of his life with the brat. And he knew that Harry adored children. It was just... he wasn't all that fond of children at all, even if he did teach them. Especially the younger they were.

Still, he could tolerate Blythe, even if he could only stand her parents a short while. The little Weasley girl, though, was only the first of the next generation. That meant that *his* child would probably be her friend. All simply because of their parents. And Merlin forbid that his son or daughter marries a Weasley.

"Sev?"

Severus jumped slightly. He looked down at Harry, who was sleepily rubbing his eyes.

"What's the matter?" Harry asked as he sat up beside Severus.

He shook his head slightly. "Nothing is wrong, Harry. Go back to sleep."

Harry sighed and wrapped his arms around one of Severus' and laid his head on the other man's shoulder. "Something's wrong if you're awake at - " he paused as he looked at the clock - "three in the morning."

Severus looked at the clock himself, surprised at the time.

"Sev?"

He bowed his head, noticing that he was twisting the covers in his left hand.

"What if I can't like the baby?" he asked, his voice a bare whisper.

Harry squeezed his arm reassuringly before he let go to turn more towards Severus.

"Sev," he said in a caring voice. "Don't worry about it. I know that you had troubles growing up. But remember, your mother loved you very much. And you are very much alike when it comes to family."

He recoiled at the comparison. "But...."

Harry sighed, cupping Severus' cheeks with both hands. "Sev...." Another sigh. "Severus Snape, you are a caring man who, I suspect, will fall in love at first sight of his child. I already love this child because it is a part of *you.* Please, believe me when I say that you don't have to worry."

Severus wrapped his arms around his Harry and held him close, thinking over everything. He *would* work through this before the baby came. He did have a while yet.

******

"Are you sure you want to go, Harry?" Sirius asked him as Severus and Remus pulled together the Christmas things together for the trip over to Ron and Hermione's, shrinking things as necessary.

Harry nodded. "It's morning sickness, Siri," he answered. "I'm not dying or anything like that. Poppy says that it's perfectly normal for pregnancy to produce morning sickness, even for a male pregnancy."

"Well, you could have told us that you were thinking of getting pregnant, instead of letting us hear about it from the article about the Great Hall Massacre."

"What?" Harry asked.

"That is what the Daily Prophet has been calling it," Remus answered, coming back for the last package to shrink. "When you had the bacon-wrapped pickles and ice cream."

All four of them turned slightly green at the thought.

Sirius turned to Harry. "I thought you said it tasted good, Harry. Why are you looking like that?"

Severus glared at the questioning man as Harry replied, "It's still too early to mention food, considering I just visited with last evening's midnight snack."

"Oh," Sirius said as Remus pulled him towards the fireplace.

"It's time to go, Sirius," the amber-eyed man said. "Don't interrogate him."

"Yeah, yeah." Sirius and Remus disappeared through the floo, the bag of presents going with them.

Harry looked at Severus. "It won't be that bad, Sev."

The look that crossed said man's face told Harry that he thought otherwise.

"Bill's going to be there, and Ron said that he found a really old potions book in the latest tomb they opened."

Severus' eyes lightened up at that. "Very well. But if Fred and George try something, I will not be liable."

Harry cupped his cheek. "Fine by me."

~~~

Harry was comfortably ensconced in the muggle easy chair Hermione had insisted upon. Severus didn't like the thing for the simple fact that they would probably have to go shopping for one on the weekend. He had resigned himself to sharing the sofa with Lupin, who was eagerly chatting with Charlie Weasley over something to do with the last book out on werewolves.

Still, all of that didn't matter. As soon as dinner had gotten over, Bill had gotten out his copy of the potions book he had recovered from the tomb of Thutmosis III's high priest. The copy had already been translated twice, so it wasn't grammatically correct. Severus read it anyway, though he would have learned the Ancient Egyptian of the original, or even the first translation into Arabic.

Some of these potions would have come in handy during the short, second war against Voldemort. Still more were considered horrible even by Death Eater standards.

One potion caught his eye, having made several variations of it over the years. The most recent variation was the one he and Harry had used to conceive. It was very interesting to learn that the original potion had been used to produce multiple births - terrifying, but interesting.

"Sev?"

He started out of his musings, looking over the top of his book to find a horde of amused grins pointed in his direction. Only Harry, Gra - Weasley, he corrected himself - and Lupin didn't look as if they were hiding grins.

"It's time to open the presents, Sev," Harry said as he put the footrest down on his recliner. "We're just waiting for Arthur to find his camera."

"Camera?" Black asked, slightly echoed by Bill's fiancé and Charlie's boyfriend.

Molly nodded. "He was intrigued by what Hermione's father, Mike, was saying about Muggle cameras that take moving pictures."

"They take movies," Hermione added. "Dad wanted to use one when Blythe was born, but she came early."

Most of the Weasley men paled at that as Severus held back his laughter.

"So, how is the baby going to come out?" one of the twins asked.

Severus laughed, having expected the question to have been asked earlier in the evening. So much for the vaunted Gryffindor bravery.

"The usual way," Harry said in a laughing voice, as the Weasley family looked dizzily on at the potions master's good mood.

"Harry!" Ron managed to gasp out. "Does this mean your - " Molly reached over at his next word and slapped her youngest son up the head - "is gone?"

Legs were crossed.

"No," Hermione stated. "According to what I've read - "

Severus held back a snigger.

" - when the time comes for the baby to come out, Harry's body will create a birth channel. After the birth, his body will resume its natural chemistry, because the potion they used is time-released. Once the delivery is over, the rest of the potion is released with the afterbirth."

There was a mass of green-colored, manly faces.

Charlie recovered enough to say, "Ouch!"

Molly glowered at her sons. "When your wives go through childbirth, you won't feel that way."

Ron shook his head. "Yes, you will!"

Molly cuffed him again. "Ronald!"

"Mum!" whined Ron.

Severus started laughing again, and every single Weasley male stopped breathing. Even if the company wasn't intellectually stimulating, at least it was humorous.

~~~

"Sev?" Harry asked as they lay in bed that night.

"Hm?" he answered, laying down his book to look at his husband.

"What are we going to do after the baby comes? Will I have to stop teaching?"

Severus wrapped his arm around Harry. "What brought this on?"

Harry nestled into Severus' shoulder. "Ginny and Hermione were asking if we were going to hire someone to take care of the baby. A... a wet nurse? I think it was."

"Well, there is a potion I can make that will make you lactate. But we can also use formula. That is what Weasley provided for Blythe, was it not?"

"What about classes, though?" Harry asked after nodded. "I really do like teaching, and I don't particularly want to give it up if I don't have to."

Severus thought for a moment. "If we can get Albus to agree, we can change both of our schedules around for the next term. Your due date is med-May, so we can try it out for June." He paused. "Did you want someone in particular to cover for you?"

Harry nodded. "Remus is going to help when I have the baby. Hermione offered, but I think she would confuse my students. Even if she did take the time off from her own job at the Ministry."

Severus snickered. "Yes, she does tend to talk over your heard."

Harry nodded again. "Remus won't do that, and he can help me get the exams ready." He yawned.

"Go to sleep, Harry," Severus said as he put his book on the bedside table. "We had a long day today."

******

Harry woke up, not sure what had brought him out of a sound sleep. It was another three weeks to his due date, so it wasn't that. Then he heard a sound out in the hallway. He turned and saw that Severus wasn't in bed - hadn't been to bed, even - so he must be prowling.

Grabbing his robe, he lumbered out of bed. He shuffled into his slippers and then out the door. He almost waddled down the hallway to the nursery they had set up next door to the bedroom. Looking around the door, he saw Severus sitting in the middle of the floor, trying to put the mobile Ron and Hermione got them for the, embarrassing, shower Hermione and Ginny had thrown yesterday. Harry thought it was sweet of him to put it together, even if it was out of character for Severus to even want to try.

"Sev?"

The other man startled. "Harry?" he asked as he turned to the door. "Why are you out of bed?"

Harry smiled and carefully eased himself into the rocking chair. "You weren't there."

Severus grumbled under his breath about brats who needed somebody to sleep with them to keep monsters away.

Harry quietly laughed before the room settled into silence.

"So, why are you putting this together now?" Harry asked. "It can wait until morning. We don't having to do anything on Sunday mornings, other than show up for food sometime before noon."

Severus pursed his lips slightly, and if Harry weren’t eight months pregnant, he would get off the chair and kiss him.

"I was thinking about what we're going to do after the baby comes," Severus finally admitted.

Harry stared at him, surprised. "What do you think?"

"I think I will stop teaching after the end of this term."

He sat back into the rocking chair, reeling with the ramifications of the bald statement. "What?" he managed to squeak out.

Severus stood and came over to kneel at the chair. "You don't have to stop teaching, Harry. I know that you love it. I, however, am finding that I can no longer tolerate the idiots who seem to think they can create potions with no understanding."

Harry cupped Severus' cheek and gave a soft smile. He did understand what his husband was saying. Add to that Severus' temperament, and it wasn't always the best mix.

"I think that you should talk to Albus about this, Sev," Harry said. He continued as Severus opened his mouth to speak. "He is a good sounding board, no matter how much you don't like his twinkling. Besides, he might be able to suggest a compromise. I know that you said there are a couple of promising students in seventh year that would make 'suitable' potions masters."

Severus seemed to think about it. He raised his own hand and held Harry's against his cheek. "Very well. But if he tries to keep me here under lock and key, I will hold you responsible."

Harry had to laugh. "I know, Sev. I know."

******

Severus paced frantically. Throughout Harry's pregnancy, he had thought about what he would do when the time came for Harry to give birth. He hadn't thought that it would start while he was away from the castle with Dumbledore, trying to sort out a passable potions instructor that he could train to teach.

When they had reached Hogwarts, he had felt left out of the loop to find Harry was installed in the hospital wing with Poppy and Lupin, and that they had barred the door to anyone entering until they let someone in. Of course, that had to be Black's fault, since he was still hammering at the door, demanding to be let in.

His thoughts were interrupted by a loud, pain-filled scream that Severus had heard only once before, when he'd watched the blue light of the last curse the Dark Lord had sent at Harry before he died. He stopped at the sound, suddenly terrified that something had gone wrong.

And he could do nothing.

Dumbledore came over and rubbed his back. "I'm sure it's fine, Severus. Poppy is quite a skilled mediwitch, and if there had been a problem, she would have contacted St. Mungo's if assistance was needed."

Severus snarled, not wanting the reassurance without seeing Harry for himself.

Dumbledore led him over to a chair on the other side of the door from Black, but Severus didn't notice. He put his face in his hands, resting his elbows on his knees, waiting for the outcome.

Five minutes later, the door burst open, knocking Black to the ground. Poppy paused briefly before going over to Severus.

"Come inside?" she asked, smiling.

Severus hardly noticed. Hurrying into the room, he nearly bowled over Lupin in his quest to get to Harry. He laid a hand on his sweaty forehead, and green eyes opened up and looked at him.

"Hi," Harry whispered in a raspy voice.

"Harry," came Severus' unsteady reply.

Harry looked down at his arms and Severus followed to be greeted by a wild mop of wispy, black hair and a scrunched up face.

"Harry?" Again it was unsteady as Severus reached over and just brushed the tip of his finger across a downy cheek.

"Congratulations, Severus," came Poppy's voice. "It's a boy."

Severus threw a shaky smile at Harry and then fell into darkness.

******

Harry smiled at Severus. When his husband had fainted, he had wanted to hex Sirius as soon as he heard the news. But his godfather had fainted as well, so there was mutual blackmail on either side. Well, the matter was settled enough with him.

Now Severus was sitting in a chair, a nice shiner glowing spectacularly as a result of hitting the bedrail on the way down. Still, his husband was smiling like there was no tomorrow as he held their son in his arms.

Their son.

Harry was almost bursting with happiness. For the longest time, he had thought he would never have children, and had resigned himself to that fact. Then Severus comes along and brightens up his life, and then, just when things couldn't get any more perfect, he offers the one thing Harry had always wanted.

He smiled as Hermione fairly flew into the hospital room, Ron following a lot more slowly behind, as he was loaded down with Blythe and all manner of things needed for the nearly three year old.

"Harry! Are you all right?" Hermione asked as she sat down on the other side of the bed.

"Yes," Harry said. "We're all fine, Hermione. Poppy said it was the easiest birth she's ever been part of."

Hermione narrowed her eyes. "Of course, it would be you who got it easy."

Harry laughed, knowing what she was talking about. He turned to Severus, who was watching closely as Ron finally settled Blythe down and sat himself.

"Sev?"

His husband put the baby in Harry's arms as both Hermione and Ron crowded close to look.

"Mione. Ron. I'd like for you to meet Kellen Merric Potter-Snape.”

Harry smiled at Severus, content with the newest member of their family.

******

Fin.