Chapter One
For the Best
The memories of New Years Eve 1998 were a bit of a blur as Hermione Granger and Severus Snape would tell you. That single drunken night was spent in Severus's chambers with a number of good, large bottles of Fire Whiskey, a large bed with warm sheets that were made warmer by the presence of two bodies, and the end of eight years of a respectable student teacher don't touch each other relationship which was accompanied by a short lived partnership.
However, neither Hermione nor Severus could have predicted the outcome of their drunken night. On March eighth 1999 Hermione went to Poppy Pomphry sick to her stomach. After a few complicated wand movements and mumbled Latin, Poppy informed Hermione that she was in fact pregnant and for that matter exactly three months and seven days along. And that's when the memories of New Years Eve became a lot less blurry and a whole lot clearer.
The one night stand that had turned into a 3 month and seven day relationship had on the first and only unprotected night created the child that Hermione was now carrying in her womb. She was happy. She truly was, ecstatic even, but deep down inside she knew brining a child up in the relationship she and Severus currently had going was not fit for raising a child.
'So…' she thought. 'My options are I can marry the git, dump the git, raise the child myself, or give my baby up. Merlin, why?'
That night Severus came to Hermione's rooms. For the first time since their relationship had begun drinks were not lain out and Hermione was not already in bed or lounging on the couch. No instead she was sitting on a soft red and black chair in her purple dressing gown. She looked tired and worn out. For a moment he did not know what to do or if there was anything he could do. Silence fell on the two of them, and hung there uncomfortably for a while until severus cleared his throat a bit too loudly. This seemed to do the trick and Hermione turned towards him.
"Hi," she said meekly with a small, tired smile.
"Hermione, are you alright?" Severus asked as he took a seat across from her.
"No… yes. Oh I don't know anymore, Severus. I… need to tell you something rather important. But first I need to know what you see this thing we share as? I need to know what I am to you."
Severus thought a moment before he replied to Hermione's questions.
"You're my colleague, my partner, my lover, and my friend, Hermione. And I find that at times in our bliss you complete me. What is it that you need to tell me? I'm listening."
"Severus, you may want to sit down before I tell you."
"Hermione, I am sitting down," he said in disbelief that she had not already realized such an obvious thing. It just wasn't like her.
She looked up at him, her eyes wide with fear she said, "Oh right. Okay so I'm not going to sugar coat any of this, I'm just going to flat out tell you." Here she paused and took a deep breath before going on, "Severus, I'm pregnant."
A cold silence fell between them. A silence that had to be broken, "You're pregnant?"
Hermione only nodded.
"How can this be?"
"Would you like me to draw you a map to the female anatomy, Severus? Or how about I give you a lesson in biology? How do you think it happened?..." silence, "The first time we had sex we were drunk, in your chambers and did not think of using a contraceptive charm like we have every time since then," Hermione explained looking away from him hoping the situation would just disappear.
"Obviously. Merlin! Hermione, you realize that we cant keep this child. We're not fit to be parents. It's just not a logical thing. We don't even really love each other. we cant be parents, Hermione," Severus said in a smooth tone that held all the emotion he could possibly show to anyone.
"Severus," Hermione said turning to face him again, "we're teachers we know all about dealing with children. This would be no different."
"Wrong, we know all about teaching children, not raising them. It just wouldn't be fair to bring any child into a life with out a regular family. Trust me I would know."
Hermione knew full well about Severus's life when he was a child. She knew how he heard his mother's cries of pain as his muggle father beat her. She knew how he felt when he had to grow up in a family with two parents that did not both love each other. She couldn't bring herself to do that to her own child.
"So we give our baby up, Severus?"
"Yes, for the sake of the child's happiness and its life, we will give it up."
Hermione got up and sat next to Severus who wrapped his strong arms around her shoulders. They fell silent and soon asleep content to be where they were together happy for the last time.
The pregnancy was smooth and no one asked either parent any questions, but Hermione and Severus grew distant over the course of the six months remaining in the pregnancy. They only spoke when there was no escaping it and if they had o discuss the child they never went into detail and kept all conversation to a maximum of five minutes in length.
Finally, in the middle of August Hermione went into labor. Severus was there giving Hermione a hand to death grip. It was the most physically exhausting time of Hermione's life. The child, a baby girl, was born at dawn on august seventeenth after the painful seven hours of labor in the hospital wing at Hogwarts. Poppy magically cleaned the baby and wrapped her in a soft pink blanket. She handed the bundle to Severus, for Hermione was fast asleep.
He didn't know what to do with her. Never before had he held a child let alone his own daughter. The baby looked up at him and did not cry as he had expected she would, but instead blew little bubbles out of her small pink mouth. Severus sat in a chair for half an hour before Hermione woke up. When she did, he silently handed her the tiny pink bundle he had been cradling.
"What sall we name her?" Hermione finally asked.
"Does it even matter?"
"Yes, it does. Even if the next time we see her is when she is eleven."
"When she's eleven?"
"She'll be a first year. There's no doubt with her paternity that she will be a witch."
Silence fell between them until Hermione spoke again, "How about naming her Persephone?"
"Brilliant, we can hope to Merlin she marries Hades."
"Fine if you think you're so smart you name her," Hermione retorted looking a bit smug.
"Maleficent," Severus finally said after a minute or two of not so serious thought.
"Erm… are you planning on scaring a child for life? You're not naming her. How about Gwyneth Elizabeth?" Hermione asked not really caring about Severus's opinion at this point.
"Yes, I believe that that is a very fitting name. Only what shall we do about her last name?"
"Combine our last names into something like Snanger or Gnaper."
"The former I think."
"Gwyneth Elizabeth Snanger it is then," Hermione said as she looked at her daughter with a sad smile on her face.
"It's best for her, Hermione."
"I know it is. But, Merlin help me, I still don't like it at all."
"I know."
The following morning Minerva McGonagall brought her goddaughter Gwyneth Elizabeth Snanger to an orphanage in London. Not to see her again before Gwyneth's eleventh birthday.
AN: There's the first Chapter. I hope you liked it. I am thinking of getting the next one up in a week or so so keep and eye out! Dont foreget reviews equal more chapters...