Written for kerravonsen as part of the Winter 2013 SS/HG Promptfest

The Prompt: Severus Snape isn't Tobias Snape's son. Instead, he is half magical being (e.g. Selkie, Veela, Faerie), but Eileen died before she could tell him. His near-death in the Shrieking Shack triggered his non-human heritage. Not only is there some subtle physical change, but he realizes that Hermione Granger is his Destined One: he must mate with her or die. Naturally, being Severus Snape, he'd rather die. (HEA please!) (SS/HG)

Author's Note: A huge thanks to my betas araeofsomething and of_anoesis for a job well done. They helped hammer this into shape and (in my opion) made it better than the original :)

PART I

Severus woke up and found himself staring at a familiar ceiling. One of the last things he remembered was Nagini biting him, causing him to reach up and stroke the spot where he had been bitten. He was surprised to find smooth skin, and not a bandage like he had been expecting. Afraid of what this meant, he raised up his left arm and saw that his Dark Mark had disappeared as well. Unsure if he had actually managed to make it through the battle unscathed, he knew there was only one way to be completely certain.

"Poppy!" He bellowed.

The matron poked her head around the curtain and smiled at him. "I'm glad you finally decided to rejoin us." She filled up a glass with water from the pitcher on his nightstand and handed it to him as he sat up. "A lot has happened since the Final Battle. For one, you have been pardoned for all your crimes."

Sipping the water, Severus said, "Seems like the old man kept his word after all." His voice was a little hoarse, but sipping the water help clear his throat.

Poppy shook her head in a disapproving manner. "It also helps that the young Mr Potter vouched for you." She took his empty glass and refilled it. As she returned it to him, she said, "You have also been relieved from your post as Headmaster, and you no longer strictly fall under the purview of the Ministry."

He studied her pinched lips and furrowed brow in an attempt to understand what she was telling him. Giving up, he asked with exasperation, "What do you mean by that?"

"I'm sure you've noticed by now that your Dark Mark is gone and your neck isn't a mass of scar tissue."

"I had noticed that, yes."

"That's because you had an unknown magical heritage that manifested itself when you were dying." She took the empty glass from him. "At least, I assumed it was unknown to you."

"I never knew." He closed his eyes and pinched the bridge of his nose. Taking a deep breath he asked, "Did you happen to figure out what it is?"

"Without doing blood tests, I would guess Fae." When he glared at her because she didn't give him the answer he wanted, she added, "I would never take your blood without your permission, and the blood from your wounds was tainted by that snake's venom."

"Why is Fae your best guess? Have I suddenly become blindingly beautiful?"

Poppy glared at him. "No, but a lot of you imperfections seemed to have disappeared: your teeth have straightened, your skin tone isn't as sallow, and your hair has lost its oiliness. Those are the things I can see. I'm sure if I was able to do a second, more in-depth examination, I would find that your organs are working in peek condition." She grabbed his clothes off the chair sitting beside his bed and handed them to him. "If you want to know for certain, get dressed and I'll run the blood test."

Once Poppy ducked behind the curtain, Severus threw the covers off and began searching his skin to see if all his scars had faded. His hands were now devoid of any marks and the one from the inside of his left knee had disappeared as well. He dressed in his slacks and shirtsleeves and draped his frock coat over his forearm. He made his way to her office and was surprised to see Hermione Granger sitting in a chair just outside the door. "I was under the impression that the school term was over," he snidely remarked.

"Oh, Professor, I so glad to see you've awoke!" A smile broke over her face before she answered his question. "It is, I was just helping Madame Pomfrey until you were well enough to resume some of your duties." She rose from her seat and indicated that he could sit in it if he wished. "Will you let her know I finished the rest of the basic healing potions?"

Severus nodded and watched her exit the infirmary. He saw her pause before the door and shyly glance back at him before she went on her way. There was something about her that seemed different, but he was unable to ascertain what it was exactly. He rapped on the door with his knuckles and when Poppy gave her assent, he entered her office. "Miss Granger asked me to tell you she finished the last of the healing potions."

"I'm glad to hear it; she has been so helpful since the end of the war," she commented absentmindedly as she pointed at the chair across from her, "Now, take a seat and extend the ring finger of your left hand."

Doing as she bade him, he placed his frock coat on an empty chair and sat in the other. He pushed his sleeve up a little and extended the requisite finger. He winced when Poppy poked the tip with a knife, but didn't pull away. She placed three vials in front of him. "Am I to assume that I need to put a drop in each one?"

"If you would be so kind. There are only three magical beings that would change your appearance for the better: Veela, Selkie, or Fae."

Severus placed his blood in each vial and watched as only one reacted. Looking at what was written on the label, he turned to Poppy and said, "It looks like your hypothesis was correct." He sat back in his chair, slightly puzzled. Of the three, Fae was the one he knew the least about.

She pulled a piece of parchment to her and began scribbling something down. When she was finished, she looked at Severus and asked, "Do you, Severus Snape, swear that this is the first time you are learning of your half-Fae heritage?"

"I so swear."

Poppy tapped the parchment and handed the newly made document to him, then sealed the other in an envelope and efficiently tied it to the leg of the waiting owl sitting on the window sill. "Take this to Kingsley Shacklebolt at the Ministry of Magic. He'll know what to do with it."

After the owl flew off, Severus turned his attention to Poppy and asked, "Why did you send the results to Shacklebolt?"

"He's the interim Minister at the moment. He's hoping he won't have to tell the Wizenmagot about your new-found status, but he would like to hold something back in case they decided to force his hand."

"My new status would be problematic at best. It would be worse for me if I had knowingly used my status as half-Fae to escape justice." He rose from his seat and grabbed for his frock-coat. As he put it on, he said, "It appears that I need to make use of the library. After all, it has been quite some time since I've had to know anything about the Fae and I'm feeling myself somewhat at a loss as where to go from here."

Poppy followed him to the door. "I'm sure the library has quite a few tomes on Fae lore and laws. You may find something that even leads you to your father."

Narrowing his eyes at her, he asked, "How are you certain that my father was one of the Fae?"

"My dear boy, you forget. I cared for your mother when she was a student here and you have always been the spitting image of your mother."

As Severus entered the library, he bowed his head to Madame Pince, then made his way to the section containing information about the Fae only to find that the collection wasn't as cohesive as it used to be. The Battle of Hogwarts had caused the library to be hit by a few stray curses, causing entire sections to be obliterated. This meant that the section pertaining to magical creatures, one that originally contained nearly five hundred volumes, had been reduced to two bookshelves. Hoping that the books containing extensive information about the Fae had not been located in the middle, Severus opened up one of the newer books and scanned it to see if there were any entries.

The blurb he found was as follows:

The Fae people have slowly gone into hiding. The only things known for sure is that they are a beautiful race and can be hurt by iron.

He set the book aside and grabbed another. And another. After finding the third book with the same two sentences, misplaced next to an entry about house-elves that mentioned the S.P.E.W. Group Miss Granger had started in her third year, he moved down the shelf to see if any of the older books contained any information he could use. After quickly scanning the titles, he was certain he had hit a dead end. He quickly exited the library and, after scribbling a quick note on a scrap of parchment, he headed to the owlery to send off his missive. He retired to a suite of rooms that had been set aside for him once he recovered and began pouring over potions texts to see if he could find one that would give him a clue to his paternity. He found several that would work, except they also needed a DNA sample from his mother, and he was certain that Tobias Snape had burnt everything belonging to his mother in a fit of rage after her death.

An owl tapped on his window, so he rose to retrieve the message attached to the bird's leg. The answer was simple.

You're welcome to peruse the library.

Severus hastily scratched out a reply that he was on his way and called for a house-elf. When it appeared, he handed the scrap to the creature and requested the elf to deliver the parchment to Lucius.

The house-elf bowed and popped out. Severus wrote down the book titles he had perused within the Hogwarts' library so there would be no wasting of his time on those same titles at Malfoy Manor. Stuffing the small scroll into his pocket, he exited his rooms; he paused long enough at the doors of Hogwarts to glance at the date on the Daily Prophet sitting on a table beside the door—July fifteenth—and noticed the headline proclaiming that Hermione Granger and Ronald Weasley were seen snuggling in an alcove at a restaurant. Shaking his head, Severus continued on his way to the Manor, eager to find anything about his condition.

"I think you have nearly exhausted our vast resources," Lucius said as he handed his friend a snifter of brandy. "Have you managed to find anything in the past two weeks?"

Severus studied his brandy for a moment before answering. "I've learned that the Fae have the inability to lie, are harmed by iron, usually glamour themselves to fit in with society, and apparently influence fertility when numbers are low. What I have been unable to figure out is a way to ascertain the identity of my father because all the potions I can find need something of my mother's as a catalyst and Tobias had managed to destroy everything."

Lucius watched his friend stare into the fireplace and contemplate the fire. The last time he had seen his friend this troubled was when he had returned to the Manor after the Dark Lord last returned. He swirled the brandy in his glass, hoping he could find the answer in the liquid. Keeping his gaze on his glass, he asked, "What else did you learn?" He felt, rather than saw, Severus' gaze snap to him. "Something is troubling you more than the inability to locate your father."

Downing the contents of his glass, Severus turned back to stare at the fire. "If anyone could understand, it would be you." He watched the flames for a moment, unsure of how to begin. "I managed to find a footnote in one of your great-great-granduncle's journals. Apparently, he had to mate with one of the Fae because he was her destined partner. He only relented when the woman let him know that she would die if he didn't comply."

Lucius refilled Severus' glass then set the decanter back. "Is there anything written beyond that?"

"According to the journal, he and the young lady had many happy years together; their children weren't so lucky. Only one managed to live past their forty-fifth birthday and it was the only one that had a love match instead of an arranged marriage. It continued until your father's generation."

Lucius walked over to a bookshelf and pulled out a slim volume. He handed it to Severus and waited until the other man opened the cover before he said, "I inherited this from my granduncle's estate when he passed. There is only one other copy and it belongs to my cousin." He watched his friend slowly turn the pages and finished his brandy. "It's enchanted so only those with Fae blood can read it. It has always looked like Gobbledygook to me."

"I think I'll retire to my room." Severus headed toward the door, turning back at the last minute to look at Lucius. "I'll be sure to let you know if I find anything."

Lucius shook his head and poured himself another drink. Severus always knew how to make an exit.

Using a brisk pace, Severus quickly made his way to Lucius' study. He walked up to the other man's desk and set down the slim volume he had been given three days previously. "I managed to find a solution."

Lucius raised an eyebrow at Severus' statement before he picked up the book and replaced it on the shelf. He gestured for the other man to sit and when he did not, Lucius shrugged his shoulders and resumed his seat. "Well, I'm listening."

"I need to go to the Being Division of the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures at the Ministry. They are the ones who are supposed to keep track of hybrid offspring."

"Good luck then." Lucius reached for a quill to begin marking something in his ledgers. "Do you think you will be returning this evening?"

"I should be. I'll let you know of what I learned in that volume you loaned me once I return," He arched his eyebrow and grasped a bit of Floo Powder from the mantel near Lucius.

Severus casually tossed out a handful of Floo Powder and Flooed away to the Ministry. Once he arrived, he followed the protocol and handed over his registered wand before continuing to the department he needed. He took the lift to the proper level, then followed the signs once he reached his floor. When he reached the door, he took a moment to rehearse what he wanted to say, then chided himself for acting like a first-year. He reached for the doorknob and as he did so, it was suddenly wrenched open and he found himself with an armful of woman. Something about the smell of her hair seemed familiar, but that feeling paled in comparison of the touch of his hand on her bare elbow. Instantly, something deep inside his being felt complete for the first time in his life, as if he had finally found some instrumental piece of himself he didn't know was missing. He helped steady the woman and knew that this was it, she was the one for him. He spun her a little bit so he could see her face and felt elation turn to confusion.

Miss Granger looked up at him, all wide brown eyes and riotous tawny curls. "I'm sorry, sir. I didn't see you there." Her breathy words returned him to reality with a cold, hard slap.

Severus stiffened his spine and dropped his hand from her elbow. He stepped back and said, "It's quite alright, Miss Granger." He let her pass him by, before entering the room that contained some of the answers he needed.

"Mister Snape. The Minister told me you might be making a visit." The unremarkable clerk shuffled through the pile of folders on his desk. When he located the one he needed, pulled it out of the pile, handing it to Severus. "You can keep this one. It contains a copy of your entire file as well as instructions on how to contact the parent that falls under our department. I hope all the information contained in the folder answers all your questions; if not, you are more than welcome to return." The clerk gave a toothy smile and waved Snape away.

Severus muttered his thanks to the clerk, then exited the room, intent on leaving the Ministry as soon as possible. Making his way to the welcome desk, he purposefully bumped into a few witches to see he had the same reaction as he did to Miss Granger. He felt disappointed when he felt no stirrings as before with Miss Granger. How inconceivable, he thought, that the insufferable-know-it-all would be the 'one'. He felt as if the Fates were testing him; for as he was leaving she happened to get on the same lift as him. Somehow, she managed to be standing on his left side and when the lift came to a stop on his floor, he brushed past her and casually touched her arm as he exited. When he felt the same feeling of completeness as before, all he could think was that he was doomed.

He snatched his wand from the greeter and Apparated to Spinner's End. He threw the packet onto the table and proceeded to drink himself into oblivion.