Fate Set Right

Chapter 51

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November 3, 1996

"Hey Dad," Aurora said cheerily as she came into his lab.

"Happy birthday, Aurora," he said with a bit too much resignation.

"Thank you," she said, sitting on a stool. He stared at her, trying to decipher why she was so cheerful.

It might have been that Longbottom finally got the nerve to ask her to court. It had been an amusing afternoon when the young man came knocking on his office door. Even more so when he'd asked for Hermione first, going deathly pale when he was informed she was unavailable. But he did have to give the boy credit. He actually didn't run the words together this time, unlike when he'd asked Aurora to the Yule Ball.

But the boy had requested permission months ago, practically at the start of term. Severus had kept Longbottom's request to himself and Hermione, not wanting Aurora to feel like she had to encourage or gently let the boy down before he got the nerve to ask.

"You're in a pleasant mood," he noted.

"Am I not allowed to be? Is there a rule that says one must always be sullen at sixteen?"

"Watch the cheek. And no, I just find you uncharacteristically cheerful given the time of day."

"I passed out on my bed just after nine o'clock and slept until about forty minutes ago," she replied and seeing as how it was just after nine-thirty in the morning, Severus could understand his daughter's pertness. "Apparently, Quidditch is good for insomnia."

"Is it? I'll keep that in mind. May I have your hand, please?" he said, extending his own right hand.

"Sure, what do you need my—ow! Dad, what the bloody hell was that for?"

He smirked as he levitated the droplet of blood from her finger and brought it over to the potion sitting on his work bench. The potion that very quickly wiped the smirk off his face and he had to force himself to not cringe when thinking about Aurora consuming it.

A contraceptive potion.

Hermione's allergy to the standard was something they had easily worked around. The charm, while not as effective, was a good enough replacement when cast properly. And it had done the job and kept them child-free for the time they'd wanted. But whether or not Aurora had inherited her mother's allergy to the potion was something he'd been putting off testing for what might have been too long. He could have, perhaps, kidded himself into believing that she was still too young. He'd nearly done it when she and Fred Weasley spent three months together, figuring if they had lasted that long, then the prankster was serious in his affections for Aurora. He let it slip his mind when their break-up happened, and barely allowed it a passing thought when Longbottom sought his permission.

But then Minerva complained over breakfast about needing to deduct fifty points from her own house for catching Weasley and Miss Brown in a compromising position. She also requested that he cover their detentions. And while the prospect of doing so gave him some cheer, a long list of disgusting or laboring tasks coming to mind to punish them with, the reality that a friend of his daughter was engaging in such an activity meant that there was a distinct possibility that she might do the same thing. Be it with Longbottom or someone else, he didn't want to know, but the reality was she was the age he and Hermione were when they first had done it.

He watched the drop of blood hit the potion and waited for the adverse reaction.

Nothing happened.