The Werewolf's Child

The Washing Up

And he always felt better after spending the night with Remus. After a lifetime of loneliness, to wake up in his boyfriend's arms, feel the baby kicking in it's watery world, smooch lazily in the early morning light, drink coffee together before the sun was properly up - these small rituals and intimacies filled him up more than he ever would have expected they would.

He apparated from Spinner's End to the Leaky Cauldron, and went through the portal. Diagon Alley was more dreary than ever. The streets were filled with grey wintery slush. More windows were boarded up. More posters of Harry and Remus, their faces magically moving, leered from every abandoned storefront. There were Dementors at either end of the alley, easily picked out because there were hardly any people on the street. An old woman, her feet wrapped in rags, lay begging in the boarded up doorway of Eeylops Owl Emporium. "Muggle born, am I," she crooned, seeing Sev. "Please help, sir. Any coin will do." Sev dug in his pocket for a sickle, her stench rising up to meet his nostrils as he bent to hand her the coin. Her ragged thank yous followed him, echoing down the empty street as he hurried toward Gringott's.

Even the wizarding bank seemed under siege. A dementor was guarding the entrance. People were hurrying through their transactions as quickly as possible, not looking around or meeting anybody's eye. Sev had been coming here all his life. He was accustomed to the large marbled room, lined with dark counters, filled with the hum and bustle of wizarding folk as they went about their business transactions, got their errands done, ran into friends and acquaintances. The high ceilinged room usually echoed with soft voices and murmured laughter, the click of heels on the marble floor. Now all that was gone.

He took a cart to his vault, and retrieved a good percentage of the gold that lay within. Sev was not rich, but he was a saver, and there was a substantial pile. Then, praying that the privacy statutes of the goblins were still being honored, and that this transaction would not be reported to the ministry, he went to the window and changed half of the money for Muggle cash.

Back on the street, he turned down Knockturn alley, to an elderly locksmith who owed him a favor. There he purchased a magical lock box, with a key that could be charmed to open only for specific individuals. It had an extra charm on it that turned it invisible with a single wand tap. These tasks accomplished, he hurried through the depressing streets back to the Leaky Cauldron, where he took the Floo portal to Hogwarts.

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At Hogwarts Sev hurried to his first class. He was running late, of course. He'd missed breakfast in the Great Hall, an increasingly frequent occurrence. Minerva, hurrying to her own class amid the rush of students, gave him a raised eyebrow. He knew he would have to meet her before lunch at their fourth floor bathroom.

The morning was tedious; first year potions, then fifth years. By the time lunch came Sev's good mood from earlier in the day had vanished and he felt harried and irritable. As he hurried through the halls, against the flood of students chattering their way toward the Great Hall for lunch he wondered what Minerva had to tell him.

"You were wanted last night, Severus," she said, when he arrived. He was winded and his armpits felt damp.

"I......I was at home," he said. "Spinner's End. What happened?"

"Oh, nothing serious," Minerva said. "Some Slytherin fifth years had got their hands on some firewhiskey and were getting a bit rowdy in the astronomy tower. I covered for you," she said. "But you're headmaster, Severus. You need to be here when things come up."

Sev didn't really know what to say. "Thank you, Minerva," he said at last. "I have my reasons for being away more frequently lately."

"It's risky, Severus."