Poppy Pomfrey raised her brows in surprise as she saw Hagrid nervously shifting from foot to foot in her waiting room. She smiled at him, "Hello, Rubeus, is there something I can help you with?"
"I 'aven't been feelin' too well," he admitted, as if this was some shameful secret.
"Well, let's just go see what's wrong with you." Mentally relegating the Care of Magical Creature's teacher from friend to patient, she bustled him into the back room and set him into one of the beds. She immediately initiated several life function recording spells for her later study, then began to ask questions, "When did you first start feeling ill?"
"A few days back. I'm fine most o' the time, but I toss meh stomach every day right after I wake up. Ain't even been t' the pub lately."
Poppy frowned thoughtfully. Her life function spells weren't picking up any diseases or other serious problems, else they would be writing in red rather than green. She wondered if it was coincidence that a "Care for Pregnant Wizards" book had arrived for her by school owl a few days ago and now Hagrid was giving her symptoms that sounded awfully like morning sickness. Or perhaps that diagnosis was just based on the fact that she had been skimming the book a few hours ago. Just in case, though, she cast the spell that would tell whether or not a witch was pregnagnt. Hagrid, recognizing the spell, opened his mouth to protest, but snapped it shut with an audible click when a blue haze hovered over his stomach. His mouth opened and closed several more times, then gave up, looking at Poppy in confusion.
"Congratulations, it's a boy," she told him, feeling somewhat stunned herself.
"But how?" he asked.
"I expect you would know better than I would."
He blushed deeply. "'Aven't been with anyone. Not ever."
Poppy frowned. "Were you caught in the way of hex or potion that you couldn't figure the effect of?" She cast another spell, and added, "Approximately five weeks ago?" She mentally counted back, "Around the second week of term."
He shook his head, then stopped apruptly. "Tha' was about the time I gave meh dugbog a potion fer gettin' and keepin' herself pregnant, but I'm sure I didna get it on me. She still had t' . . . yeh know, with 'er mate, anyway."
"Around that time you never got drunk enough to black out or woke up the next morning with an ache in a place you couldn't explain?" she asked, not really expecting a positive on either of these. Hagrid was overfond of the pub, but he never drank enough to do something stupid. Besides which, wizards couldn't get pregnant without special potions or spells. And Hagrid and another drunk would not have access to those.
Hagrid started to shake his head, then stopped. "Meybe. Weren't drunk though. Jest kent remember Prof'sor Snape finishin' the potion and leavin' that night. Next day, I was a mite bit sore, nothin' much though, he was gone, an' the potion waited on the table. Figured I'd'a fallen asleep while 'e worked."
Worried, Poppy cast another spell, and her worry increased as she found four hours of missing memory in Hagrid's mind. She recognized the signature of a powerful obliviation spell. "You were with Professor Snape?" she asked a bit sharper than she meant to.
He nodded.
"You may go or stay, there's nothing more I can do for you right now. I need to talk to Dumbledore. Oh," she went into her office grabbed the strange book that had so ominiously appeared just as she needed it. Returning to Hagrid's side, she placed it in his hands. "You may want to look through this. Bring it back when you come for your appointment in two weeks." She had glanced through it briefly, as a curiousity, not as something she would need to deal with, and a closer look was required. However, Hagrid had a right to know what he was getting into.
"I'll stay 'ere a bit and look through yer book," Hagrid told her. "Migh' need help unnerstandin' some o' it."
She nodded her permission. "I'll be back in a little bit," she promised, then flooed right to the Headmaster's office. "Albus!"
The headmaster was, for once, doing some actual paperwork, and she felt bad interrupting him, but this was important. "I think Hagrid's been raped."
Dumbledore blinked.
"He's pregnant and doesn't remember how it happened. Someone cast an obliviate on him."
"Have you any idea who?"
Poppy nodded, and gave her accusation was absolute certainty, "Professor Snape."
The headmaster closed his eyes as if pained. "What makes you so sure?"
"He made the fertility potion for Hagrid's creature, he was in the hut at Hagrid's last memory, and when the baby's born, we can test paternity."
Dumbledore sighed and nodded, "Thank you, Poppy, I will speak with him." Recognizing a dismissal when she heard one, Poppy flooed back to answer whatever questions Hagrid might have for her.
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"You asked to see me, Headmaster?" Severus asked as he was invited into the older wizard's office. He took his usual seat, and noted the solemn, twinkleless expression. "Something is wrong."
"A very serious accusation has been placed against you, Severus."
Severus frowned and cocked his head to the side, somehow sensing that Albus did not mean anything like being a Death Eater. "What sort of accusation?"
"Rape."
Severus blinked and paled, as much as his skin could, which wasn't much.
"Against Hagrid."
"Shit."
Whatever reaction the Headmaster was expecting, it wasn't that. "Are you saying you're guilty, Severus?"
Severus glowered at him. "I'm guilty of many things, Albus. Rape is not among them. Obliviating him is. And now he can't clear me. I should have known what it would look like."
"You did have sex, then."
Severus nodded. "Yes, the paternity test will bring that out beyond any shred of doubt."
"Why, Severus?"
"He'd have died if someone didn't. I happened to be there. Between dying and having my child, he opted for the later. The potion was spilt before I could add the last ingredient to the Breeder's Reproduction potion. Hagrid pushed me out of the way, but it got him." There, most of the main points, without the fact that he had been affected, too.
"Why the oblivate?"
Good question. "Neither Hagrid nor I are gay, Headmaster. I did not want him to accidently spread false rumours about my sexual preference. Nor about the identity of his child's father for that matter. If it got back to Voldemort that I was a father, he'd either want to recruit the kid or kill me for my choice of mother. And we both know how well Hagrid can keep a secret."
The headmaster sighed. "Very well, Severus. I will cover for you with both Poppy and Hagrid. This will stay between us."
Severus closed his eyes in relief. "Thank you, Headmaster."
"But you will be publicly responsible for the potion that asexually impregnated him, and as such, I can force you to act like a father, even though there is no blood relation between you."
The potion's master blinked. "Headmaster, I can't be a father!"
"You should have thought of that before spilling your potion on him," the headmaster remarked lightly, the twinkle starting to return to his blue eyes.
"His bloody dog knocked it over!" Severus protested, "It was no fault of mine!"
"Never the less, your child has a right to a father. Hagrid has the right to have someone help him through this difficult time."
What about my other child, the one inside me? Hasn't he the right to a father? Haven't I the same rights Hagrid does? But Severus did not speak these thoughts aloud. "Isn't Hagrid a valid father? Let him choose his own mate. I reliquish all claim to that child. It is not mine."
He had not seen Dumbledore look more disappointed in him since he admitted to being a Death Eater.
"I mean it, Albus, I am not parent material." It was bad enough he was already starting to consider inflicting himself on his own unborn child instead of putting the poor boy up for adoption as he initially intended. But every time he mentally called the fetus his child, or his baby, or his boy, or, worst of all, his son, the ability to give it up lessened, and he was only five weeks into term.
Albus sighed, and Severus saw that he had lost much ground he had fought hard for in the old man's favour. "Very well, Professor, you will not be held responsible for it in any way."
Severus closed his eyes and nodded, accepting the reprieve on Hagrid's child and the loss of trust. "Thank you, Headmaster."
"You are dismissed, Professor."
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