I was woken up by the sound of someone sobbing quietly. I opened my eyes and turned to look at Severus who was holding his wand in front of himself. His eyes were stained with tears and his facial expression gave me the impression that he was suffering. Not a moment later he began to speak words I'd never thought I'd hear from him.

"Avada Ked-"

My eyes widened at what he was about to do. In this moment of shear panic, I yelled out for him to stop and smacked his wand out of his hand, seconds before it shot a beam of green light at the wall. I looked at the hole that the dangerous spell had created and held my hands over my mouth. I realized just how close of a call this had been and began sobbing at the thought of Severus killing himself.

Behind closed eyes, I could feel a blinding light shoot off to my right. I opened them, realizing I had been stopped from doing what I had planned to do. (Y/N) sat there, face burried in her hands, sobbing. I desperately pulled her into my arms and felt tears start to fall from my own eyes. They were silent tears. Tears of both relief and sadness.

(Y/N) looked up into my eyes. Seeing her in this state broke me.

'I had caused this.' I thought.

"What happened Severus?" She asked her question with a sound that resembled a whimper.

I remembered everything that had happened and was confused by the fact that (Y/N) was clearly not dead.

"I.. Voldemort had.. I thought you were dead!" I stuttered out.

"What do you mean dead!? I woke up and saw you pointing your wand at yourself, ready to say the killing curse!" She exclaimed with puffy eyes.

It all made sense now. I had been asleep all this time. I had nearly killed myself over a hyper-realistic nightmare.

"It was all a facade.. a mere nightmare.." I whispered to myself, just loud enough to the point where (Y/N) could hear me.

"Severus.. Tell me what happened."

"So.. your saying Voldemort killed me because he found out about us through Tyler?" (Y/N) questioned me.

I nodded and sighed, trying to make sense of this outlier of a nightmare.

"What do you think this could mean?" She asks me.

"No idea.."

I had been summoned to the Manor after the sun had set. I walked into our common meeting room only to realize that no one else was present. (Y/N) hadn't been called either, which made the entire situation much stranger. The Dark Lord was seated at the end of the table.

"My Lord? You called?" I addressed my summoning from the doorway.

"Ah Severus.. sleep well?" The Dark Lord asked with a knowing smirk.

"You know?" I asked, feeling wary about this situation.

"Of course I do Severus. I am the one who placed that nightmare into your head!" He said with a chuckle that sounded too sincere to be normal.

"And what would be the purpose of putting me through that monstrosity? For me to kill myself?" "No! To see whether the girl has become a weakness to you!" Lord Voldemort interrupted, his voice coming across as both a whisper and a yell.

"I can assure you she is no weakness of mine." I replied.

"Ah.. but that's where you're wrong. Because it seems to me that you cared deeply enough for her, to the point where you would end your own life to cease the suffering derived from her death.." The Dark Lord explained his thoughts on the situation.

I remained silent, not knowing how or what I should respond with.

"I will give you a choice. Either, you use this.. infatuation the two of you share for one another to your advantage, or what has only been dreamt, may become reality.." I sense the threat that is being subtly stated.

"Did you propose this same threat to Lucius and Narcissa when they first joined your ranks? Or is this a special occasion?" I asked, my voice a bit more demanding now that a threat has been made.

"Of course I did Severus. And to prove their allegiance to me, they've vowed to raise their child in a way that will make him automatically loyal to our cause." He explained.

What the Dark Lord said seemed plausible. Lucius would agree with a task of that sort in a heartbeat. I clasped my hands in front of myself on the table and thought back to the Dark Lord's previous statement.

"In what way are you implying I use this to my advantage?" I inquired.

"Make (Y/N) loyal to us. She has a gift that only the Dark Arts can hone. She would be a powerful asset to us, so I am leaving to you, the task of teaching her as much as you can about the usefulness of the Dark Arts." Lord Voldemort orders me.

"It will be done." I say before standing up from my seat.

But before I could leave, the Dark Lord spoke once more,

"Severus.. You brought to my attention another possibility when mentioning Lucius and Narcissa."

"And that is?" I acknowledged him.

"The (Y/L/N) and Malfoy bloodlines are known to produce powerful and gifted witches or wizards. If you and (Y/N) were to have a child, perhaps, I could see Draco and said child coming together to form a powerful bond between both bloodlines in the coming years." Lord Voldemort explains.

My face contorted into one of disbelief.

'I would have better luck passing as a house elf than raising a child..' I thought to myself.

I had trouble thinking of ways to respond to what the Dark Lord had suggested and decided to keep my peace.

"All in due time.. You may go now. But think about what I have told you Severus.."

I quickly took my leave and Apparated home. (Y/N) had been waiting for me in the Living Room, but seemed to have fallen asleep. I noticed her sketchbook lying on the floor and picked it up. Her drawings never cease to amaze me.

I set her sketchbook down on the table and turned back to where she was sleeping. But instead of seeing her sleeping form, she was very much awake.

"Sleep well?" I asked her.

"Mhm." She replied while rubbing her eyes and smiling at me.

"What did Voldemort want from you? Was it about your nightmare?" She asked me.

"Well.. apparently my nightmare was in actuality a scenario Lord Voldemort had placed into my mind himself. He wanted to find out whether you were a weakness of mine." I summarized the beginning of our interaction.

"So what did he say?" (Y/N) asked hesitantly.

"He gave me a condition that we would need to follow in order to be able to continue this relationship. He's asked of me to teach you about the Dark Arts and make you loyal to him. Apparently Lord Voldemort sees a quality in you that he does not with other witches or wizards." I replied.

(Y/N) sighed and looked rather disappointed about the situation.

"I'll do it if it means that we can be safe and remain together. Is there anything else he told you?" (Y/N) inquired.

I remembered the last thing the Dark Lord had told me. The memory caused my face to redden, which

(Y/N) clearly noticed.

"You're very red Severus. What is it he said?" She restated her question.

"I believe this answer requires a bit of backstory." I responded.

"Explain all you need to." (Y/N) replies.

I composed myself before beginning my lengthy explanation,

"As you know, Lucius and Narcissa have a son. Draco. Lord Voldemort thought it would be a brilliant idea to mix both your bloodline and theirs, so he proposed that we.. have a child of our own and.."

(Y/N)'s eyes widened, causing me to stop mid-sentence.

"I didn't think you would approve of the idea either, so I-" "Wait, Severus, slow down. I'm just baffled by the fact that Voldemort would propose such an idea in the first place. I'm not opposed to it.. just, surprised. And to be honest, I think you would make a great father. The way you communicated with (B/N). Last Christmas showed me that."

I looked at (Y/N) with a shocked expression of my own. (Y/N) chuckled at this and smiled at me,

"I didn't want to make you uncomfortable talking about this. I just wanted to let you know that I'm not opposed to the idea. Whether that time comes in a year or five years doesn't matter to me. All that matters is that we're both committed."

"I wasn't uncomfortable per se. I was merely shocked that you would agree to something like this." I responded to her.

She smiled and took my hand in hers,

"I understand. Why don't we go to bed now though and talk about this some more another time?"

I nodded my head in agreement and followed her upstairs to retire for the night.