Author's Notes:

This story was beta'd by Nakhash Makashefah.

Disclaimer: J.K. Rowling owns Harry Potter and Co. I own nothing.

Lost Blood.

Severus stood in the shadows of an alley as he watched Jonathan Granger and his daughter, Hermione, leave their London flat together. He waited for the two to catch a taxi before he crossed the street to their flat. Ignoring the Muggle doorbell, he rapped hard three times on the Grangers' front door. A few seconds later, Elizabeth Granger answered the door.

"Severus, what are you doing here?" she asked, with a puzzle look on her face.

"Elizabeth, you should always check who's at the door before just opening it," Snape scolded, as he moved inside passed her.

"I thought it was Jonathan. He's always forgetting something," she explained.

"It could very well have been a Dark wizard, instead of myself," Snape irritably said. "I have put the safety of our only child in your and your Muggle husband's hands. I do wish you two were more diligent about it."

"Severus, you know I take Hermione's safety very seriously. Need I remind you that the only harm that has ever come to her was while she at Hogwarts with you. Maybe you should be the one more diligent in the future?" Elizabeth suggested with a smirk.

"That sharp tongue of your is precisely why I never asked for your hand in marriage," Snape stated with a scowl.

"You didn't ask because I am a Muggle. It would have been very hard for you to be a Death Eater spy, if you had a Muggle wife in tow. Besides, what makes you think I would have excepted your proposal?" she teasingly asked. But Severus was still able to detect a hint of regret in her voice. He also felt regret, regret for the family he gave up and regret for the daughter he would never know as his own.

"I wish things were different, Liz, but fate seems always to conspire against me," he told her, as he brought one hand to her face and caressed her cheek. "You're still as beautiful as the first day we met and our daughter looks just like you."

"She may took like me, but she acts like her father most of the time. It's nearly impossible to win a argument with her, anymore," Elizabeth said, as she placed her hand on his.

"Unfortunately, I must agree with you," Severus said, as he withdrew his hand from hers. "She hadn't even completed her first year at Hogwarts before she was knee-deep in Dark wizards. Every year, she and that moronic Potter boy seem to get themselves into even more trouble."

"Hermione is very loyal to her friends. She must get that from my side of the family," Liz told him with a smile.

"I would prefer that she was more loyal to her own common sense than to that Gryffindor lot," Snape angrily suggested.

"I'm afraid Hermione is who she is, Severus. Whether you like it or not, she is definitely a Gryffindor," Liz firmly stated.

"That is why I have come, Elizabeth. She is currently incapable of staying out of trouble. I feel something must be done if she is to survive," he told her.

"And just what did you have in mind, Severus?" Liz asked, as she crossed her arms, a skeptical look on her face.

"She'll be sixteen in less than a month. At sixteen, she will be old enough to receive an apprenticeship. Her O.W.L's scores were the best Hogwarts has seen in three generations. I could easily get her on with any top wizard or witch in their field. Something outside the United Kingdom, of course. I hear the Americans are doing some revolutionary things with both Charms and Potions these days," Snape suggested.

"Severus, Hermione loves Hogwarts and her friends. She would never agree to leave," she told him.

"Then don't give her a choice, Elizabeth. I don't think you really appreciate the danger that she is now in. By helping Potter directly take on the Dark Lord, she will be marked for death. Our only option is to remove her from the Death Eaters' field of influence. At least then, she will have a chance at a safe normal life," Snape seriously said to her.

"I will not send my daughter away, Severus," she flatly stated. "It's bad enough I only get to see her three months out of year, now. Sending her to a foreign county, for God knows how long, is out of the question. Besides, we both know it won't guarantee her safety. You've told me yourself, the Death Eaters have killed people all over the world."

"If she is no longer seen as a threat to them, they will not brother with a simply Muggle-born witch. They will continue to concentrate on Potter and Dumbledore," Snape heatedly told her.

"You don't know that for certain. They may see her as more vulnerable by herself, away from Hogwarts. I prefer knowing that she is safely under your and Dumbledore's care," she told him, refusing to give a inch. She and Hermione were so much alike at times like this. Severus sometime wondered how Jonathan Granger had ever survived.

"I cannot protect her, Elizabeth. I must keep her at a distance from me. I won't be there to help when she is in danger," he explained to her.

"Why must you keep her at such distance, Severus. You're not a spy anymore. The Dark Lord knows that you will never return to him. Why not tell her who you really are?" she asked in an almost a pleading voice.

"I must still present the appearance of neutrality in this war. I will no longer be able to gather any intelligence for the Order if I acknowledge a Muggle-born child," he told her.

"Severus, she needs to know you're her father. She needs to know where the magic in her blood comes from. Before you're found dead in some alley after one of your late night reunions," Elizabeth said, as a tear ran down her cheek. Severus pulled her close in a tight hug.

Whispering in her ear, he said, "I wish she knew, as well. But her safety is what I must concern myself with. She has a father now that she truly loves. Who am I to take that away from her?" Severus sorrowfully asked.

"You're her real father, that's who," Elizabeth answered.

"I wish it were that simple, Liz," he said, as he pulled away from her.

"It can be, Severus," she said with teary eyes. "I've already discussed it with Jonathan. He agrees that Hermione should know the truth. He doesn't want his relationship with her to be based on a lie, anymore."

Snape ran his hands through his thick hair as he turned away from her. He wanted Hermione to know as much, or even more, than her mother. But he just couldn't take the risk, not now. "Maybe after the war is over she can be told. After she has left Hogwarts," he suggested.

"After the war?" Liz irately asked. "Severus, we both know your living now on borrowed time. I have no intention of telling my daughter who her father was at your funeral."

"That might be the only way," Snape said in a low voice, as he headed for the door.

"No, Severus. She deserves better than that. If you won't tell her, then I will," Elizabeth firmly stated.

"Then I will leave it to you," Severus told her, as he opened the front door. Without looking back, he stepped out into the night.

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I personally think that a story with Severus as Hermione's father makes a lot more sense to any kind of romantic story between them. They both have a lot in common, if you ask me. They're both smart, talented know-it-alls, that think they have all the answers; most of the time they're right. Hermione also loves to play the spy. She did come up with the Polyjuice idea in book two. And what she did to Marietta Edgecombe was very Snape-like.

I think this kind of story would make a great challenge.

So, what does everybody think?