DISCLAIMER:

Well, nothing much actually. Ideas go to the works of J. K. Rowling and Rick Riordan. And the Muses.

Severus Snape did not appreciate beauty in a new life. The world is bad, he reasoned, and it grows worse by the minute. Bringing in another soul into this hellhole is sinful enough.

But one glance at the object in his arms made him realize why babies were called bundles of joy.

It was a boy. A beautiful chubby blond with lovely sapphire eyes. The baby did not puke or howl like Severus thought it . . . he would. He purred appreciatively when his father cuddled him and when he was deposited in Snape's arms, curled up and fell asleep. Just like that. Didn't the baby know, when Snape touched him, the number of lives those blood-stained hands have taken? Didn't he know that Snape had about a hundred different methods to kill him? How did the the baby just . . . trust him?

Oh, but the baby knew who was good or bad, Snape was sure of it. Else how did he know that the mousy Pettigrew was bad and set up a howl to alert Snape? How like the sneaky Wormtail, Snape thought wrily, as he performed the Confoundus and Memory Charm upon him and planted a false memory for good measure. Anyway, the Dark Lord was not likely to investigate baby smuggling.

Peter Pettigrew. He never thought that a Gryffindor had it in him to be so sneaky and selfish. Cruel too. Bile rushed up in his throat when he thought about the fact that he had been the man whom Lily trusted with her life.

"You've got to hand it over to the Gryffindors," he thought bitterly, instinctively drawing the baby closer. "Manipulating hypocrites."

Of course he wasn't thinking of Pettigrew now.

Two days ago, on a warm March night, his world had come crashing down.

"We have protected Harry because it had been essential to raise him, to let him try his strength . . . " Snape did not, could not hear anymore. He closed his eyes in unendurable pain, as sobs racked his frame. Dumbledore! How could you do this to me!

"Everything I did was supposed to be to keep Lily Potter's son safe!" he snarled, in a choked voice. "Now you tell me you have been raising him like a pig for slaughter!"

He didn't even deny it, the rascal. The manipulative, calculating, heartless rascal! To think he ran to him for refuge. Why the Dark Lord was more straightforward.

Why did it not rain that night? In his mind though, the bitter rain of tears soaked every bit of his skin, the thunder clapped down painfully on him and bright flashes of lightning exposed the deceit again and again and again.

Why should he live? Lily's son was going to die anyway and there was nothing, nothing he could do about it. On the contrary, he, Severus Snape, was supposed to lure him to his death. Oh this was a thousand times more cruel than poison! Was this the punishment for his heinous crimes? But why Harry? Why not himself?

For the first time, Snape caught himself wishing Harry was more like James Potter.

"In looks, perhaps," echoed the hateful voice. "But his deepest nature is much more like his mother's."

Snape bit back the sobs. Oh how like Lily to throw her life away for the ones she loved! Harry would do the same too, Dumbledore was sure of it. He took the trouble of studying him didn't he? Just like he analyzed Tom Riddle, Minerva Mcgonagall, himself . . . and Harry Potter would become the saviour of the wizarding world.

But who would save Harry?

"I would," said a bright voice next to him.

Snape immediately knew he had drunk too much. Why else would he see a student in bright canary yellow Quidditch robes standing next to his bed?

"Wake up, wake up!" the student trilled, gently tapping Snape on the cheek.

"Aaahh, this green on the robes is lovely!" sprang another voice from his study. "Matches the décor. Hey, what do we have here?"

"Hermes do not touch anything on the shelves!" warned the yellow robed boy. "Sorry, my bro is a bit of a kleptomaniac. Any loss, I'll cough up."

Snape rose up to his full height and thrust a wand at his neck, his mind working up a plan fast. "What is a Hufflepuff brat doing in my room?" he demanded, in his soft, most dangerous voice.

"Oh, we aren't students here," he piped up.

"Gah, Apollo look, he has a gramophone here!" said the voice from the study.

"A gramophone?" he replied, oblivious to the wand poking at his neck. "Why even muggles don't use that anymore!"

Snape lost his temper. Who are these people who don't even acknowledge his presence? "If you aren't students here, WHAT THE HECK ARE YOU DOING IN HOGWARTS?"

"Severus hush! You'll bring the entire castle down with that sound!"

"We have a proposition for you," said the green-robed boy, now coming into view.

"First tell me who you are," Snape snapped irritably, pointing his wand at the two of them.

The boy in Slytherin Quidditch robes laughed, then produced his wand. It shimmered with ancient magic and was entwined symmetrically by two snakes.

"The Caduceus," Snape whispered, shock reflected all over his face as the mere glow of the wand blinded him. "Belongs to the father of Salazar Slytherin."

"Bull's eye," he retorted. "Now can we talk? And lower your wand please."

Snape could only stare at them dumbfounded. The father of Slytherin, Lord Hermes was asking for his help!

"We could guarantee Harry Potter's life if you do us a small favour," began Apollo.

"What is it?" he asked guardedly.

"You need to smuggle in our children into the Wizarding world."

"WHAT?"

"Oh, no need to panic!" managed Apollo, spluttering with laughter at the look on Snape's face. "It really is quite simple."

"Do you know that Rebecca Selwyn and Eliza Rosier are pregnant?" Hermes asked.

"Of course," came the reply.

"Both of their children are unfortunately going to be stillborn."

"How do you know?"

"Excuse me, young wizard," replied Apollo hotly. "I'm God of Prophecies."

"Aaahh, it's okay," said Hermes soothingly. "So, you must replace those babies with our children without anybody's knowledge.

"That's all?"

"Yes."

"Why me?" asked Snape, with a trace of bitterness.

"Because you were a Death Eater like them and you have done more stealth missions than any other wizard. You understand the logic. Do the task and no questions asked."

"And I do want to save Harry Potter," added Apollo. "He's so cute!"

It almost seemed impossible, it was so trivial, a piece of cake. Like a ray of golden sunshine piercing through the spent storm . . .

"If I do this, you will look after his life?"

"Yes. We both swear on the River Styx." Thunder rumbled lightly.

Distasteful. Baby smuggling! But that was a small prize to pay . . .

It was Rebecca who got the pregnancy pangs first. Apollo had handed over the boy with eyes brimming with tears.

"Look after him well," he whimpered.

"I will," he answered.

It was the easiest job he has ever done. With well-planted shadow charms, he moved straight to the cot and swapped the babies. The baby continued to sleep as Snape gently placed him on the plush leather cot.

"Goodbye," his mind said, as he left with a cold, lifeless bundle.

Eliza's turn was much later, after he became Headmaster of Hogwarts. Hmm. Never in his life had that thought even entered his head. Headmaster. But he was. Aaahh, fate. Sometimes life is so ridiculous you just can't help laughing.

It was a girl this time, with jet-black hair and lovely violet eyes. Hermes's child.

"I take it that it is no coincidence that Eliza's eyes turned violet due to an accident?" Snape enquired smoothly.

"She's a good girl. Didn't want to blemish her character. You know how Rosier's like," Hermes retorted.

After playing the replacement stork one last time, Snape vowed that Carrow siblings or no, he's got to do something about the rebellious students in Hogwarts. Maybe confounding Neville would work . . . The Room of Requirement . . .