Chapter Text
Minerva was awake.
She felt the most delicate of caresses on her cheek. A soft kiss had been placed upon it quite gently, almost shyly, and it sent shivers down her spine.
She kept her eyes closed. As she started to miss the small gesture of affection, Minerva felt her hand being lifted and slowly wrapped around a very familiar warmth, one that she had missed for many months, yet one that she would never, ever forget.
Her slender fingers squeezed his as she willed herself to open her eyes and see the person before her, no matter how much the light assaulted her, or how much effort the mere action took.
The sight of a broken man met her green and weary eyes, and it almost broke her, too. Minerva inhaled sharply as a sudden surge of pain attacked the left side of her head and made her jerk involuntarily, making her feeble hospital bed tremble in turn.
Albus jumped, tearing his teary eyes off her hands, and looked up on instinct.
Their eyes met.
It was almost as if time itself had stopped on its own accord. Minerva’s pain waned almost magically as she found a different kind of suffering in his eyes, which reflected on the way that Albus looked at her. His entire old self seemed gone, replaced by the image of a man who had been at the brink of losing what mattered in his life the most.
All of the sudden the warmth that surrounded her hands left her as he moved close to her, closer than he had been in a long time. Both of his hands cupped her face, and Minerva did not protest.
“You’re awake.” His voice was shaky. His light blue eyes admired her as if for the first time, taking in every detail of her face as large thumbs caressed her cheeks, gently wiping sudden stray tears away. “You are awake!” The reaction that came after this exclamation sounded like a laugh, yet what started as such transformed into erupting sobs. The unconscious and delicate smile that had spread across Minerva’s face when he approached faded as he gasped for breath and let himself go, sobbing bitterly against her chest. Tears escaped her own eyes as she watched his big shoulders shudder, uncontrolled by him, being powered by an immense, deep suffering rooted on what could have been.
Minerva had never seen him so vulnerable, so utterly broken, and it scared her.
She willed herself to comfort him, feeling his pain and bringing into the moment a bit of her own to join him in grief. The grief of what could have been, had Albus not reached both her and Severus in time. The mere idea of fatal tragedy that had almost sprung to life paralyzed her more than words could tell.
“I missed you so…” Albus whispered against her chest. Her hospital gown was wet there, from both his tears and her own.
Minerva sniffed.
After a short pause, in which she could only caress his hair, she took his face in her hands and pulled his head up quite gently, so he would look at her.
“W-where is Severus?” She asked tentatively as she wiped tears off his cheeks with her own thumbs, just like he had done with hers moments ago.
Albus pulled himself away from her embrace and gazed at her with such weariness, but with such loyalty and love too, that it broke her heart to remember how long they had been apart from each other, and how much damage this entire ordeal had inflicted to their relationship.
“He is safe.” Albus gulped, regaining his ability to speak as he conjured a handkerchief and dabbed at his eyes. “Poppy is with him.” Tears did not seem to stop flowing, despite his best attempts at stopping them.
“How… how did you know where to find me?” Minerva asked weakly, trying to put herself in a more comfortable sitting position, and still feeling a sharp and agonizing pain on her left temple. Albus, quite knowingly, disposed of his handkerchief and approached again, helping her move to a more comfortable position with such gentle care that it made Minerva’s vision blurred once again. He kissed her hand when she had settled and then sat next to her once again on the hospital bed.
“Filius told me about the letter you received. He saw it was sent from Spinner’s End… and I immediately knew what you tried to do.” He responded.
Memories of what had transpired flooded Minerva’s mind’s eye and she realized she wanted to know more about her baby, she wanted to see him, hold him; but he was safe, and the scene before her, she knew, was more pressing. Every other thought left her as she met those light blue eyes again, so hurt and defeated, puffed up and red.
She nodded.
“Al—“
“Oh, Minerva.” He cut her off at once, his eyes shining, his voice pleading, “I would never have forgiven myself if anything had happened to you, or to Severus—“
“I was incredibly foolish…” She cut him off, tears streaming down her cheeks. “I am terribly sorry… I… I should have never trusted that woman…”
“You were trying to protect him, to protect our family, to protect us all—“
“And look where it got us!” Her accent grew thicker, her cheeks redder, the pain on her temple stronger. “I cannot believe I put him in so much danger… I did that… it was my decision…” She covered her face with her hands, angry tears never leaving her. “I am the reason we almost lost him f-for good…”
Now, in retrospect, Minerva felt outraged at her own mindlessness. How could she have trusted Eileen so easily, and by doing so repeating Albus’ same mistake that had almost costed them their marriage? To put Severus at such risk, just to prove a point, to try and put an end to a cycle of their lives, as if life were that simple—
Her train of thought was stopped by Albus’ hands regaining contact with hers. He slowly removed them from her face, kissed each one, and squeezed them gently.
“Alas…” He whispered, holding Minerva in his arms as she dissolved again, allowing herself to cry on him, both dwelling once again on what could have been, on their own wrongs. “We have both failed, my love. Yet, it is fair to say, not without reason...”
She sniffed and looked up at him, her lips quivering, her gaze giving away what she wanted to ask of him.
He smiled sadly.
“I only ask that you forgive me, too.” He whispered.
—
1968
Lightning illuminated what seemed to be an endless hallway that led to their chamber’s main quarters. Severus almost tripped on his way out of his own room. He could not help it, he trembled and seemed to shrink a little bit more with each new atrocious lightning strike, which kept making him jump sporadically as he strode onwards.
A tremendous sound exploded. A massive lightning. He almost felt it reverberate in his tiny chest, it must have struck somewhere quite nearby. His automatic reaction then was to bury his head in his gigantic and fluffy octopus plushie, and pray to the Celtic gods for a miracle.
“Make it stop make it stop make it stop make it stop make it stop—“ He stumbled into the correct room, the one he was looking for, by complete accident. And then he saw them.
Minerva slept on her side, quite gracefully, with a single pillow under her sensible braided black hair, and was neatly covered by a small tartan blanket. She could have almost been awake, had her glasses not been perched askew on the bridge of her nose. She had fallen asleep while wearing them.
Albus, on the other hand, laid flat on his back, with several fluffy pillows around his head and a sleeping cap sprinkled with stars covering half of his face. His mouth, Severus noted, was half open and he snore loudly. He had one arm wrapped around Minerva, while the other hung from his side of the bed.
The commotion that had been caused by Severus’ entrance combined with the roaring lightning roused Minerva at once. Naturally, she was a light sleeper.
“Severus dear? Is that you?” She straightened her glasses at once and freed herself from Albus’ arm. The headmaster gave a new loud snore in response.
Minerva didn’t have to ask what was wrong, she saw it in his eyes. Severus, still hugging his octopus plushie very tightly, looked at her with pleading eyes.
“C-can I sleep here?” He asked tentatively. Lightning struck yet again and he jumped on the spot.
Minerva didn’t need asking twice, she scooted to her side, making space on the bed, and opened her arms widely to him. Severus jumped in at once and hugged her with such force that it made Minerva’s heart twitch a little. She caressed his hair and placed a small kiss on the top of his head.
“… Huh?” They heard Albus say.
“Dad!” Severus squeaked. Minerva chuckled.
Albus had, much to their surprise, been awaken by their voices and movement. He peered at Severus with half open eyes, noticed tears, and immediately moved over as well, making room in the middle of the bed for him.
“C’mere, laddie.” He mumbled, opening his arms to him as well and getting rid of all the unnecessary pillows. Severus gently left his mother’s embrace, recovered his octopus who lay sprawled next to her, and proceeded to lie down in the new spot made for him. As he descended into the comforts of his father’s pillows, he tugged on her hand in turn, asking her silently to her leave her sitting position and join them.
The sudden lightning that hit afterwards was the strongest of them yet, illuminating the entire room. Severus shook a little, but he found that he did not feel as scared when arms were wrapped around him and hands caressed his hair. Nothing, not even Mr. Octopus’ fluffy tentacles, could ever come close to the comfort that he felt then, surrounded both physically and spiritually by love.
“…Can you tell me a story?” The child asked after a while.
“Would you like to hear one that you have never heard of, or one that you already know?” Albus whispered, his tired eyes twinkling knowingly.
“The one about us will do.” Severus replied, smiling almost cheekily. “I want to hear it again… about how mum found me, and how I got Mr. Octopus, and how we went on trips together, and how dad fought the world to rescue us.”
“He hardly fought the world!” Minerva chuckled.
“He fought the world, mum. He saved us!” He protested. “Plus, he fights the world everyday anyway, you say it yourself.” Albus eyes were no longer tired, he winked at Minerva and she rolled her eyes.
“Alright, alright…” Minerva said. Hugging both Severus and, upon Severus’ request, holding Mr. Octopus’ and Albus’ “hands”.
And thus, she started telling the tale once more. Not the real and intense story of their early years as a family of course, but a lighter and fantastic version inspired by very true events. As the journey of Baby Severus transpired and as the lightning sounds carried farther and farther away from the comforts of the castle, the eyelids of the real Severus grew heavier and heavier, until they closed at last.
There had not been a day after their last visit to Spinner’s End where Albus and Minerva did not worry about Severus. They worried about his future, his wellbeing, his happiness; but had they been able to peer into alternative universes, in which they did not step into his life at all, they would know how lucky he was to have them now, and how his life had, in truth, been saved.
“One of these days he won’t need us to get through thunderstorms anymore…” Minerva whispered, looking at Severus sleep.
“And that is when we’ll know we have done a good job.” Albus mumbled quite placidly. He blew a kiss in her direction and got ready for bed once again, snuggling quite comfortably next to Mr. Octopus.
The End.