An Odd Decision
Somewhere in the depths of the Alaskan forests stood a house belonging to a very powerful and capable wizard and witch, who were married and had just had two twin girls. The two were half-blooded; the wizard was muggle-born and the witch was pureblood. This would have been dealt with by The Dark Lord in due time if it were not for how against him they were and how they were ready to rise against him along with the vast majority of North America’s black and indigenous wizard population. Therefore, the two were an issue – and must have been dealt with accordingly.
Lord Voldemort stalked through the house, the bodies of the new parents left behind him in his wake. The two put up a valiant fight, but they had been no match for a wizard such as him. He took slow, careful steps up the stairs — he knew that somewhere in this house were the two little twins, who couldn't have been more than just a year old, and he wasn't planning on leaving his job unfinished.
He could hear the incessant crying of infants coming from a room down the hallway, licking his lips as excitement bubbled up in him. He pushed the door open, steps quickening as he leaned over the cradle.
“Such pretty babies,” he whispered. He knew they were twins, however, he wasn’t expecting them to look so different. Definitely Fraternal, he thought. Two girls, one with soft brown curls and the other with deep midnight black hair. He admired them, almost, as they wailed and whined, raising his hand as he held his wand in the ready–
“Lord Voldemort– !” A familiar deep, nasally voice interrupted him, bursting into the room. It sounded out of breath and just the faintest bit shocked. He turned around, all his excitement anticlimactically sapped and replaced with confusion and slight exasperation at the sight of one of his followers he was most fond of.
“Severus,” he began, a little irritated, “what are you doing here?”
“I was about to ask you the same, My Lord,” the other man responded. He stood in the doorway, panting slightly with his greasy hair in a little tussle.“This is an American household. I know your plan involves eliminating other powerful wizards against the cause, but I didn’t think you’d be reaching this far this early.”
“Ah, yes, you see,” Voldemort smiled, feeling decently annoyed now, “this family is an exception, given their exceptional standing in the magic world and the actions they've been taking as of late. I’m sure you’re no stranger to their name yourself.”
“I am not,” Severus nodded. He walked over to the cradle, peeking in. The babies' cries seemed to dull and calm as he looked over them. “The Dowanwins have been among the fiercest the wizarding world has seen in the last half-century. I’m sure these two would grow up to be fine wizards themselves.”
“Yes, hence why I’m about to kill them.” His tone was… surprisingly more contemptuous than he meant for it to be. Severus looked up, a few unreadable emotions crossing his eyes before he looked back down at the babies in the cradle as their cries slowly transitioned to soft coos and other noises of discomfort.
“Seems a bit silly, doesn’t it?” He began. Voldemort felt his blood start to boil a bit before the other man continued, “Killing off two fine witches who could join our ranks one day.”
Voldemort took pause at that. He thought, all his annoyance dissipating. “That is… actually, a lovely idea, Severus,” he finally said after a moment. “But there’s just one problem – who’s going to raise them?”
There was a moment of silence between them and very, very awkward eye contact. Voldemort hadn’t felt pain in a good long while, not in a human way at least – but this was painful. Incredibly painful.
“I could raise them,” Severus finally shrugged. “I did suggest the idea, my lord.”
Voldemort actually laughed at that. “You? Severus Snape? I mean no offense, but you’ve never struck me as the family man type.”
“Neither have I, but– ” he paused for a moment, stumbling over his words – “, if it means I can raise more followers for you, I’d be honored.”
“You sound unsure of yourself, Severus,” ,” Voldemort smirked. “If you really want to spare them, I’m sure that the Lestrange’s or Bellatrix’s would be happy to take them in.”
“No, no, I can handle it, My Lord,” he shook his head, looking back down at the two twins. “I… I’m not sure what’s motivating me to think this, but I would like to give it a try.”
Voldemort nodded, looking down at the babies himself. “If you need help, it does take a village to raise a child. The others will always be happy to help.”
“I’ll keep that in mind, My Lord,” Severus nodded. “Thank you.”
Another (far more comfortable) moment of silence fell between them as they looked at the two babies. Voldemort looked over at Severus again, noticing a certain fondness in his gaze. It was… strange, coming from him. He shrugged it off.
“I don’t know what their names are. I’m sure there’s birth certificates somewhere in this house you can look at to find out,” Voldemort said. “I have to be on my way now, however.”
“I understand,” Severus nodded. “Thank you for giving me this opportunity, My Lord.”
Voldemort nodded, putting a hand on the man’s shoulder. “I wish you the best of luck in this endeavour, Severus. I believe you may need it.”
Severus chuckled, nodding. “Thank you, My Lord.”
Voldmort gave the man’s shoulder a squeeze – very out of character for him – before removing his hand and walking out of the room and disappearing in a cloud of smoke.
As soon as The Dark Lord had left, Severus let out a deep sigh of relief, the tenseness in his bones instantly dissipating. The moment didn’t last long, however; his brow furrowed as he looked down at the two twin girls. Why the hell did he use that as his reason to talk Voldemort down from killing children? He began to pace the room, head spinning. He didn’t know anything about raising kids, his own father was lackluster at best, how was he supposed to handle this situation?? Well, he could always take them to an orphanage after saying they died young due to complications, but would Voldemort really believe that? His head was spinning, he felt like he was about to vomit, he didn’t know what to do–
One of the twins cooed at him, breaking him from his spiral. He looked back to the cradle, seeing that they were both standing (using the support of the cradle’s side rails) and staring at him. He walked back over to them, taking slow, gentle steps so as not to scare them. Their gazes followed him in strange, almost uncanny unison, and he found himself looking down at them as they both looked up at him.
“Um, hello.” His voice was stiff; he’d never really interacted with this young of children before – at least, not in this way.
“He-llo,” one responded back. Midnight black hair covered the top of her head, and while it was easy to miss at first glance, she seemed to have heterochromia – her right eye was a dark blue and her left was a bright green. He titled his head, and the other twin tilted her head with him; her hair was a dark brown with lighter skin, and her eyes were a deep hazel. Wordlessly, he reached a hand out to them. Almost instantly, two small hands wrapped themselves around his ring and index fingers.
Something in him changed in that moment. It wasn’t like a click or the flip of a switch, not entirely instant – rather, in the seconds following, he felt a shift. His heart warmed to the point it hurt, tears pricking at the corners of his eyes as a lump in his throat rose with his surprised, pained yet somehow affectionate gasp. His brows knitted together, his whole chest felt so warm yet so tight, and suddenly he felt as though he didn’t make a stupid decision when he threw himself into this position.
Later that night, the silence and tension between him and Albus Dumbledoor as they stared at each other in the headmaster’s study – after Severus begged for them to meet and he now stood before the other man, holding the two twin girls in his arms – was… palpable, to say the least.
“Severus, I do hope you recognize how incredibly reckless and risky your decision is,” Dumbledoor finally spoke. His tone wasn’t scolding or even all that upset, moreso surprised and amused.
“They looked at me funny, okay?” Severus snapped in defense. “Or, well, I looked at them and then moved my hand closer to them and they grabbed it and– listen, you had to be there.”
Albus laughed, his eyebrows almost disappearing under his pointed sleep-hat. “You’re attached to them?” he stated incredulously.
“I– yes, I’m attached to them,” Severus grumbled.
“You’ve never struck me as the single father type, Severus.”
“Nor have I,” he sighed, looking away. One of the girls babbled incoherently at him, small hands grabbing at his hair. “But… I… Albus, I genuinely don’t know what struck me at that moment. I just… I’ll figure it out. And I won’t be raising them as Death Eaters. I don’t– I don’t know what I’m going to do. But I’ll figure it out. I want to figure it out. I've never wanted to figure anything out more than this.”
Albus stook a few steps closer, looking at the two twins in his arms. He smiled down at them fondly, extending a hand to one. “I’m no stranger to the call of fatherhood, Severus. Or, at least, the human desire to nurture something. I hold no blame against you for that.”
The baby reached her hand out towards Albus’s, grabbing onto his finger tightly and wildly moving it around. “This decision… It’s a gamble, even without Voldemort’s involvement. Are you really sure you’re prepared for raising two girls all by yourself…?”
Severus was silent for a second, considering Albus’s words carefully. “I… may ask for or want your help at times. I don’t think I can do it entirely on my own. But… yes. I think I am. At least, as prepared as I can be.”
Albus nodded, looking up at Severus. “I’ll be with you every step of the way. With them.”
Severus smiled a bit, nodding back. “Thank you.”
They fell into a comfortable silence, Albus eventually pulling his hand away from the baby girl and eliciting a dissatisfied squeal out of doing so. “What are their names?” Albus finally asked.
“Ophelia and Evelyn,” Severus answered. “Ophelia has dark the hair and Evelyn’s is lighter. I think I’ll be keeping the first names their parents gave them, but I’ll be changing their middle names. Along– along with their last names too, of course.” It didn’t quite strike him until then that before this night he planned on ending the Snape bloodline. Maybe that much was true, but this… this decision would keep his family name alive.
“What will their middle names be then?” Albus asked.
“I was thinking of Ophelia Lily and Evelyn Eileen,” Severus responded softly. “After the two most important women in my life.”
“Well, now those two will be the most important women in your life,” he chuckled. “I wish you the best of luck, Severus. I've heard that raising girls is… not so easy.”
“Nor has anything else been for me so far,” Severus shrugged. “This feels far more worth it than all that.”
Albus rested a hand on Severus's shoulder, giving it a reassuring squeeze.
“It will be.”