A/N: Here's a SS/HG multi-chapter fic that I've been working on - in between the MM/HG fics. This fic was inspired by Lady Gaga's "Brown Eyes," but this is not a song fic.

Enjoy!

- Draughts

P.S. I still don't have a beta reader, so all mistakes are my own.

Disclaimer: I don't own any of this. I wish i did.

It was late Saturday night when Severus Snape apparated from his apothecary to his house at Spinner's End. After the Order had won the war against Voldemort and Severus' role as a double agent was revealed, life had fallen into place for him.

He had an apothecary.

He had renovated the house on Spinner's End and made it liveable.

He was now successful and well-respected within his field.

And yet, not everything had worked out as he'd hoped.

Opening the door with a deep sigh, Severus flicked his wand to light his modest fireplace and summon his cheapest bottle of Odgen's from a cabinet in the kitchen. He drank straight from the bottle, squeezed his eyes shut in a wince, and flopped onto his couch without a care.

An eye fluttered open reluctantly and gazed longingly at a solitary picture on the mantle. The picture was muggle in nature, but - since she had entered his life - he chose to ignore his previous misgivings toward all things muggle.

Previously, on nights like this night, Severus would listen to muggle radio with her and sing along to the muggle tunes he vaguely knew from his childhood. He even learned to like her favorite muggle songs.

Tonight, the radio sat quietly in the corner, untouched for weeks.

Working his other eye open, Severus turned his focus to the quiet intruder in the corner, the muggle radio. He gave a little smirk and, feeling rather nostalgic, turned the machine on.

The first notes of a song fought static, and Severus remembered.

He knew this song.

Wasn't it by "Lady Baba?" "Baby Gaga?" He was sure it was a strange performer of the the muggle persuassion, but he couldn't remember the name of the performer.

All he could remember was her.

Her smile.

Her laugh.

Her wit.

Her fiery temper.

And, worst of all, her brown eyes.

Those brown eyes haunted his dreams, consumed his thoughts, and left him a shell of the man he used to be.

At least, with Lily, he knew - deep in the recesses of his subconscious - that Lily didn't love him the way he loved her.

But she was different from Lily.

She loved him unconditionally.

She defended him when her friends questioned their relationship.

She had brown eyes.

Lily's were green.

They did, however, have one thing in common: she and Lily both left him.

Both left because of his behavior.

"But," Severus thought, "Lily wasn't married to me or carrying my child."

She was.

His Hermione was carrying his child when she left.

"My daughter," he croaked, fighting back tears.

He thought real wizards didn't cry, but he found himself tearing up often - when thinking about the family he was supposed to have, the baby daughter that would grow up without him, and his beautiful wife. His Hermione.