AN:

I would like to offer my unending gratitude to my lovely alpha-reader/cheerleader: Morethansirius, beta-reader extraordinaire: Delphipsmith, and brit-picker/cheerleader/back-up beta: Talesofsnape. Thank you, thank you, thank you, my dears! I can't say it enough, you three are totally awesome.


Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter. I make no money here.


It was obvious that Hermione was extremely nervous about whatever it was she had to tell him. Knowing this, Severus tried to keep his reactions under control as she recounted her assumptions about the results of the Dream Memory Spell. He thought he was doing a good job until she reached the part about catching a glimpse of Malfoy leaving the room. When he felt her hand rest gently over his in a gesture of comfort, he realized both his hands were clenched tightly into fists.

She quickly went on to Harry's hypothesis that it might have been Draco rather than Lucius. This did not improve his mood. "Fuck!" he swore, half under his breath, as he stood to pace the room in frustration.

"I'm so sorry, Severus." Her words came to him softly, breaking into his whirling thoughts. He looked at her. There were no tears now, she simply looked defeated.

He pushed back the heavy coffee table so he could sit upon it directly before her with his knees bumping hers. He took both her hands in his and squeezed them gently. "Look at me, love," he said. When she raised her eyes to his he smiled encouragingly. "You have nothing to be sorry for. None of this is your doing. None of this is your fault. I am simply appalled—no enraged—on your behalf, that either of them might have used you so callously.

"I can almost understand the idea of Draco—"

"Understand?" she spluttered. "What—"

Making a soothing gesture, he hurried to explain. "I said understand, sprite, not condone. I do think Harry has a valid point, that Draco has always been drawn to you and unable to act on that attraction. That night, feeling betrayed by Miss Weasley and seeing how you were acting, he may have simply used you to sooth his own hurt feelings. I personally hope that he is not capable of doing something so callous as slipping you the Anti-Inhibition Potion himself. Perhaps he was unaware that your behavior was potion-induced and he merely took advantage of the situation. It's possible that he thought you wanted it to happen as much as he did."

Hermione sighed. "I suppose that is a possibility. It doesn't make me feel any better, but I can see how it might have happened that way." She pondered for a moment then speculated, "However, based on that tiny snippet of memory, deep down my gut tells me that it wasn't Draco there that night."

Severus' voice was hard. "If that is the case... if it was Lucius... Well, for him to use you in such a manner is unforgivable, just on basic principle alone. Not to mention that his knowing how I felt about you makes it a horrifying breach of our friendship."

"Unless..." speculated Hermione. "Unless he really didn't realize how you felt. In that case he might have been looking upon it as a game, or a competition of some sort. Which, like the Draco scenario, doesn't ease my mind, but it might at least explain his actions."

"Not to my satisfaction," snapped Severus. "Lucius and I have been friends for a long time. I cannot conceive that he was unaware of my attraction to you."

Just then a tapping sounded at the window and they both turned to see a large eagle owl perched there. Severus hastened over to open the window, took the parchment tied to the bird's leg, and tossed it an owl treat—he knew from experience not to get his fingers too close to Apollo's sharp beak.

He read the missive then tossed it to Hermione. "Well, it appears we shall be able to get answers to our questions without having to track the perpetrator down in South America. Lucius has returned and received my messages requesting to borrow his Pensieve. He says he will stop by this evening and drop it off."

Hermione paled. "I don't know whether to be relieved or terrified."


Even though neither of them had much of an appetite, Severus insisted that she needed to eat something so they had an early dinner. Afterward, pleading exhaustion from both stress and lack of sleep the night before, Hermione went upstairs to have a nap. When she awoke, a quick glance told her she had slept for several hours, and it was dusk. She rose quickly and went to use the bathroom and freshen up. As she was shut the bathroom door on her way out, she heard voices downstairs and assumed Lucius had arrived.

Hermione hesitated at the top of the stairs, her stomach in a knot of nerves. Lucius looked up and seeing her there commented—rather smugly, she thought—"I see Draco was right and your lovely assistant has taken up residence. No need to thank me for my intervention between you two on Draco's stag night."

With a roar or rage, Severus lunged toward Lucius and pinned him to the wall. His forearm was jammed against Lucius' windpipe, effectively cutting off his breath and his wand stabbing into his friend's chest. "You fucking bastard, how dare you!"

Lucius struggled violently and attempted to gurgle a response. Hermione rushed down the stairs, unwilling to allow her fiancé to commit murder on her account, much though the victim might deserve it. "Severus, don't." Not even thinking to use her wand, she pulled desperately at his arm, trying to dislodge it from Malfoy's throat. "He's not worth going to Azakaban over. Please."

Hermione finally forced her way in between the two men and Severus allowed her to break his hold on Lucius. He turned away breathing hard and she wrapped her arms around him from behind, resting her cheek against his back.

Lucius, remained standing, barely. Bracing his hands on his thighs, he bent over and sucked in several deep breaths, his normally pale face an unbecoming mottled shade of red. "What the fuck is wrong with you?" he snarled. "Have you gone mad?"

Hermione whirled and her wand appeared from nowhere, pointed directly between Lucius' eyes. "You're the one who's mad. What you did to me was nothing short of rape."

Lucius' grey eyes widened in shock. He lifted his hands very slowly, palms outward, as if trying to calm a wild creature, and used just one finger to carefully push her wand aside. "Miss Gra... Hermione..." He substituted her first name as if that would somehow endear him to her. "I have absolutely no idea what you're talking about."

Severus, turned abruptly to face the friend he'd been trying to kill moments earlier. "Someone dosed her with an Anti-Inhibition Potion that night. Her actions were potion induced."

Lucius' mouth dropped open then snapped shut abruptly. "Ahhh... that would explain your strange behavior. I assure you, it was not my doing, nor did I have anything to do with any rape. What in Merlin's name is that about?"

"It was Draco, then, that took you upstairs that night," Severus said flatly, clearly disappointed in his godson.

Lucius goggled wide-eyed, his gaze darting back and forth between the two of them. "Of course it wasn't Draco. What in Hades is wrong with you two, have you been breathing noxious potions fumes? You act as if you don't know what... " His face suddenly paled. He turned to Hermione, "You did tell him... tell me you told him. You must have, else how could you have ended up together?"

Hermione looked at him quizzically. "Tell you that I told him what? What am I supposed to have told him? I have no idea what you're talking about."

"Lucius," Severus growled warningly. "What have you done?"

"Oh, for Merlin's sake! It was neither I nor Draco that took Hermione upstairs that night. It was you, you great git."

They both stared at him open mouthed, too shocked to speak. Severus recoverd first, his response a strangled shout, "I'm sure I would recall if I had spent the evening shagging the woman I'd been lusting after for months!"

Lucius responded with an ungracious snort. "Well, if you didn't shag her silly, you both must have been playing a rousing game of naked Quidditch up there, and she was obviously on the shirts team. By the time I arrived in search of you, all your clothes were scattered around the room, you were both sound asleep, and Hermione was wearing nothing but your t-shirt."

"The t-shirt!" Hermione gasped and without another word raced up the stairs to their bedroom. She pulled the drawer of the dresser out so far it fell to the floor with a crash, barely missing her toes. She began throwing nighties, bras, and knickers willy-nilly, until finally, there, all the way in the back corner of the drawer, she found the neatly folded t-shirt. Gathering it in her hands she buried her face in the soft, worn material and sniffed deeply. Dear gods, was it possible? It smelled like Severus! Why had she never noticed that before?

Hearing shouting from downstairs, Hermione dashed back down to find the two men on the verge of blows again. Severus was shouting something about Memory Charms and Lucius was saying something about his promise and a key. Hermione didn't care about any of that, she had to know for sure.

She grabbed Severus, jerking him around to face her and shoved the shirt into his face. "Severus, is this shirt yours?"

He took the shirt from her hands and shook it out with a snap, examining the front. "Black Sabbath-Heaven & Hell World Tour 1980-1981. My Black Sabbath shirt? I didn't even know it was missing. I got this at one of the last concerts on the tour. Do you remember, Lucius? We had tickets for my birthday, the concert was to be in Southhampton, but it got postponed until the end of the month. Then you managed to get tickets a week or so later to one of the dates in London."

"Yes, I remember. It was at the Hammersmith, I believe," Lucius said. "We ended up going to the rescheduled one in Southhampton too."

Hermione looked at them both in disbelief. "You two were—are—fans of heavy metal bands? Muggle bands?" Before either of them could answer she rushed on. "Severus, do you know what this means? The baby is yours!" And with a huge grin she threw her arms around him to hug him tightly.

"Baby?" Lucius collapsed weakly into a chair, a look of shock on his face. "There's going to be a baby?"

"Yes," said Severus. "And up until just a few minutes ago, we thought it was someone else's, most likely yours or Draco's." He sat on the sofa and drew Hermione down onto his lap, his arms wrapped around her and he buried his face in her hair, holding her as if he'd never let her go.

"Dear gods!" exclaimed Lucius.

The three of them sat motionless for a long moment, letting the tension drain from the aireach lost in their own thoughts. Finally, Hermione broke the silence. "So what happened?" she asked. "I overheard you yelling something about a Memory Charm."

Severus cast a disgruntled look at Lucius. "Apparently this idiot cast a Memory Charm on me, then spirited me out of the room under a Disillusionment charm. He keyed it so I wouldn't remember anything of the night unless you said something to me about cuddling."

Hermione looked puzzled. "I don't understand. Why would you do something like that?"

"I was simply keeping my promise and looking out for a friend," Lucius said defensively. "When we arrived that night and saw your little group in the club, Severus made me promise not to let him make a fool of himself over you. I knew that he'd been pining for you like a besotted sixth year. But you were acting so strangely that night, I didn't trust you. You flirted and came on to everyone there—even me, and frankly acted like quite a little tart. I was worried that you were just using him or that you planned to make him the butt of some kind of joke."

"I'd never do anything like that!" protested Hermione, outraged at the suggestion.

"So I had thought, before that night. After seeing the two of you dancing, all wrapped around each other like a couple of Giant Squids, I decided I'd best get Severus out of there before he did make a fool of himself. When you went to the loo, I suggested to him that we go home and he agreed. I went to tell Draco we were leaving, Sand when I returned Severus had disappeared. I assumed he'd gone home."

"But I hadn't?" asked Severus.

"Obviously not. You had apparently waited for Hermione outside the loo and then slipped her upstairs to the room Draco had reserved for us. I went home and you were nowhere to be seen so I immediately guessed you were together and came back looking for you."

"And you found us?" asked Hermione.

Lucius shuddered in exaggerated horror. "Sweet Salazar, yes. It was obvious you'd fucked each other senseless. As I said earlier, your clothes were scattered everywhere, the room reeked of sex, you were wearing Severus t-shirt inside out, and you both were absolutely dead to the world."

Hermione blushed and hid her face in embarrassment in the crook of Severus' neck.

"I've never seen Severus let his defenses down to the extent that someone could enter a room where he was sleeping without getting hexed. I decided in case you were planning something devious that I would get him out of there while you were asleep. I didn't Obliviate him, but I did cast a charm to suppress his memories of the night from just before he danced with you until I woke him up and told him it was time to go home. But I put a key in the charm, so that if you spoke a certain word to him about that night it would restore his memories. I specifically keyed the word 'cuddles'. If you were just using him for sex or to somehow humiliate him, I figured you would avoid discussing what happened that night, but if you were interested in pursuing a real relationship you would most likely come and talk to him. At that point you would be compelled to use the trigger word which would unlock Severus' memory."

"And I didn't, so he never remembered," whispered Hermione, sadly. "Oh, Severus..."

"It's not your fault, sprite. There's no way you could have told me."

Lucius frowned. "I don't understand. It's clear that you do care for Severus. Why didn't you speak to him about what happened that night?"

"Because I have no memory of that night either," said Hermione.

"What? Impossible. I did not botch up that charm!" said Lucius emphatically. "I cast it only on Severus. There is no way it could have leeched over onto you."

"Lucius, calm down. It wasn't your charm that did it. Hermione's memory loss was from a totally different cause," said Severus.

"What cause?"

"Remember I said earlier that we believe someone slipped a dose of Anti-I into Hermione's drink at some point?" At Lucius' nod, Severus continued. "Anti-I is a fairly harmless potion when taken by itself, merely causing a person to lose all their normal inhibitions. There have been studies, however, indicating that when mixed with alcohol and combined with a Lust Potion it can have the serious side effect of short-term memory loss."

"A Lust Potion?" Lucius raised an eyebrow, "Really, Miss Granger, I would hardly have expected you of all people to be taking Lust Potions. Perhaps the only person I'd expect it from less would be Severus."

"I didn't do it intentionally," she said crossly. "Pansy had a huge crush on George Weasley and wanted to hedge her bets by dosing him with a Lust Potion. She hadn't told any of us about her plan or we would have tried to stop her. I didn't learn what she'd done until much later."

"Ah," Lucius said. "Miss Parkinson. Now that does not surprise me at all."

"When I came back to the table after dancing with you, I grabbed the closest glass and took a huge drink. It was George's drink, I had no idea it was laced with Lust Potion. I remember the first part of the dance with Severus, but after that everything is a blank, I remembered nothing until I woke up the next morning with... errm... well, nothing except for a few flashes of wild crazy sex. I couldn't recall who my partner was, though. It was very disconcerting. I managed to convince myself that it was all just a dream."

"And," said Severus picking up the story, "thinking it all a dream, Hermione tried to simply put it behind her and forget about it. Until that is, she started having symptoms and realized she was pregnant. When she decided to keep the baby, it became imperative that she find out who the father was. We assumed, wrongly so, that whoever had slipped her the potion had done so with the intent to seduce her. We were worried that whoever this was might be stalking her..."

"We?" questioned Lucius. "Who is we? You and Hermione, or someone else?"

"Potter," admitted Severus. "Naturally, she went to him for help as soon as she realized."

Hermione was grateful that Severus had downplayed Harry's involvement and not revealed that she had briefly believed Harry to be the baby's father. Needing to stretch a bit, she scooted off Severus' lap to sit beside him on the sofa.

We convinced her to move in here for her own protection and one thing led to another and, well, we've become involved." He rested his hand on Hermione's knee and patted her affectionately. "Still, we have continued to work on finding out who gave her the potion, believing that person to be the baby's father."

"Hence your need for my Pensieve," said Lucius.

"Yes. We'd planned to review memories of that night, in an attempt to learn who had put the potion into her drink."

Hermione slipped her hand into Severus' and twined her fingers through his. Lucius couldn't help but notice the mutual signs of affection between the two, as well as the ring on Hermione's finger and smiled to himself.

"But what in all Hades, made you think it was me? Or Draco?"

"Earlier today, I recalled a snippet of a memory, I was of seeing someone leaving the room that night. A tall man dressed in expensive robes and a flash of platinum blond hair. Our natural assumption was that it was either you or Draco. Personally, I believed it was you."

Lucius sighed and rubbed his hand across his face, his fingers covering his mouth for a moment as he gazed at them wearily. "Of course, it was me. I had Disillusioned Severus to protect him if we were seen leaving the room, but I didn't bother hiding myself." He shook his head. "I am very sorry that you had to go through all of this when I could have easily given you the answers. Well, most of them, anyway—I have no idea who may have slipped Hermione the the Anti-Inhibition Potion, or why. I hadn't planned to be gone so long, you see, but my business trip was delayed due to Draco and Ginevra's wedding, then there were complications in South America, and then... Well suffice it to say that I wish I'd been more diligent in keeping in contact with Severus and perhaps I would have figured it all out before now."

"I can see that you were trying to protect Severus," Hermione said softly. "Although I swear to you I would never use him or hurt him in such a way, I can see why you would have thought so from my actions that night."

Severus frowned. "I agree with Hermione that your intentions were true, and I will forgive you this time. A caveat, however, Lucius, for future reference: should ever try to tamper with my memory or that of anyone in my family's, I will make very sure you regret it."

"Point taken, my friend, point taken," replied Lucius. "I must say, although it's been a harrowing journey for you two, at least there is a happy ending. Considering the fact that Hermione could have chosen not to keep the child, it could have ended quite tragically."

Hermione gasped and her hands closed protectively across her belly. "Dear Merlin, I did consider it."

Severus placed his hand over hers comfortingly and said, "But you didn't, sprite. You opted to keep the baby, just as I chose to claim him, not knowing that I was laying claim to my own child."

Lucius smirked. "It seems that the fates were hard at work to bring you two together."

"Yes," agreed Severus. "I am still worried about the identity of whoever drugged Hermione that night, though. I won't feel at ease until we figure that out."

Just then the Floo flared to life and Harry called out, "Hermione, are you there?"

Hermione rose and went to kneel at the hearth as Severus and Lucius continued to talk in low tones behind her. "Hi, Harry. I have good news."

"So do I. Can you come through so we can talk? Umm... and could you come alone, without Severus?" Hermione frowned. She glanced back over her shoulder and, seeing Severus deep in conversation with Lucius decided that whatever Harry had to tell her she could easily relay to Severus later. "Sure. Just let me tell him where I'm going."


A few moments later Harry greeted her as she stepped through into his living room. "Hermione, I'm so glad you came," he said, giving her a quick hug and leading her to a chair. "You'd better sit down. I've learned who it was who spiked your drink that night."

Hermione sat down rather abruptly, feeling shocked and a little apprehensive. "You have? Who was it? Have you taken him into custody? Has he been charged?"

"Not yet, but I give you my word that I will, if that's what you want."

"If?" she cried. "After everything I've been through, of course I want whoever it was to be punished."

Harry nodded and Hermione couldn't help but notice that he seemed sad. "I promise to carry out whatever you think is just. But before that happens, he wants to speak to you."

"Harry, no!" she exclaimed. "I don't want to meet whoever it is! I don't... Oh, gods. It's someone I know isn't I?"

Harry nodded grimly and called out to someone in the hallway. "You'd better come in now."

Hermione sprang to her feet, facing the doorway, only to collapse back into chair in disbelief when she saw who it was. "Ron?"

He rushed to her side and threw himself at her feet. "Hermione, please forgive me. Please! I am so sorry," he begged as he grabbed her hands, kissing her fingers in supplication.

Hermione snatched her hands away from him and stared in shocked horror. The pain of betrayal brought a heavy ache to her chest and for a moment she couldn't draw breathe. As the reality sunk in, a sudden fury overwhelmed her. She slapped him hard, then shoved him away from her.

She saw Harry flinch, but he didn't interfere, though he kept his wand at hand in case the situation escalated.

Ron rubbed his hand over his stinging cheek. "I deserve that, and more. I know I do."

"How dare you?" she cried. "How could you do something like this to me, Ron?"

"I'm so sorry, Hermione. It was a joke, that's all. It wasn't meant to be malicious or bring you harm, it was just a stupid, stupid joke." Ron stayed on his knees before her, his eyes bright with unshed tears.

"A joke?" she said in disbelief. She looked from Ron to Harry and back. "Do you have any idea what you've put me through because of your little joke?"

"I do now, Harry's told me some of it. Please forgive me, Hermione, please. I'm so sorry."

"Stop saying that. Stop!" she cried. "It doesn't help, it doesn't fix it. Why? Why would you do something like that to me, Ron? At least tell me why, make me understand."

Ron lowered his head. A half sob escaped his throat, but he swallowed hard and tentatively placed his hand next to Hermione's on the arm of the chair, close but not quite touching. "When we broke up I know it was a mutual decision, but I thought we'd still be friends, like Harry and Ginny. But you seemed to slip farther and farther away. I missed having you as my friend, Hermione, and I suppose I was a little angry. I swear I wasn't trying to hurt you, though. That night I saw you and thought how you're always so straight and proper and I thought it would be funny to see you acting wild and crazy for a change. I swear I never meant to hurt you, I didn't think—"

"That's exactly it, isn't it, Ron? You didn't think, you never think, you just act on impulse and damn the consequences. Well, I'm going to spend the rest of my life living with the consequences of your little joke. Did Harry tell you that I'm pregnant now, because of my lack of inhibition that night?"

Ron gasped and his eyes flew to hers. "Oh, gods, Hermione. I'm sor—"

"Don't you dare say it again," she snarled at him. Laying her hands over her stomach, she continued in a calmer voice, "I'll never regret having this baby, but I admit if I'd had my choices it certainly would have happened differently." Suddenly her rage was gone and she just felt exhausted, she slumped back and sighed as she looked up a Harry. "Well, at least we can stop worrying about some crazy stalker."

Harry nodded. "Do you still want to press charges? Ron has agreed to take whatever punishment is doled out."

Hermione thought for a moment, then shook her head. "No, I won't press charges, but I won't lie to Severus either."

"Severus?" asked Ron, confused. "Severus as in Snape? What's that greasy git have to do with anything?"

Hermione waggled her ring finger in front of Ron's face. "Severus, as in my fiancè," she replied.

Ron's face paled and he turned to Harry. "Bloody hell, Harry. I think I'd rather take my chances with Azkaban than Snape."

Hermione chuckled. She would probably feel the same way if faced with the wrath of Snape. She stood and reached for Ron's hand and pulled him to his feet. "As I said, Ron, I won't lie to him, but I can probably manage to put off telling him until tomorrow. I suggest that you go visit Charlie—where is he now? Estonia?—or someone else equally far from here and stay away for a good long while."

"George has been wanting to explore locations in the states for some new stores, maybe I'll volunteer for the job," replied Ron hastily. "Hermione, I'm really sorr... well, you know. And thanks for not pressing charges, though I wouldn't have blamed you if you had." He bent and brushed a quick kiss on her forehead before turning to leave. "Harry, I'll be in touch, mate."

When he was gone, Hermione sank back to the chair. "How did you figure it out?"

"Remember when I told you Pansy had offered to let us use her memories of that night, and she said she'd check with George too? Well, I guess George said something to Ron and when he got all weird about it, George suspected something. He confronted him outright and told Ron he'd better come and talk to me or he would."

"Who'd have guessed that George of all people would encourage someone to come clean about their misdeeds?" Hermione mused.

"You know, Hermione, I'm glad you didn't press charges. It would have been difficult for me to arrest Ron. But I almost wish you hadn't let him off so easily," confessed Harry.

"Maybe not as easy as you think. Don't forget, he'll be constantly looking over his shoulder wondering if Severus is going to come after him."

Harry laughed. "Well, there is that," he agreed.

Hermione's let her head fall back against the chair and stared at the ceiling. "Good Godric, I'm so glad this is all over."

"When I Floo'd, you said you had news, too. What is it?" asked Harry.

"Well, it turns out there was a Malfoy involved, but not quite the way we thought..." Hermione explained what they'd learned from Lucius.

When she finished, Harry stared at her with a goofy grin on his face. "So the baby actually is a little Snape or Snapette. Who would have ever thought it would all turn out like this?"

She chuckled, "I know, Lucius says it must be fate. Perhaps he's right."

Hermione rose and stepped to the Floo. Harry gave her a quick hug and then she went spinning off on her way home.


Lucius was still there when she got home, but there were no violent altercations going on now. The only thing being killed was a bottle of whisky. He and Severus were engaged in a game of wizards chess with glasses of Old Ogden's finest resting at their elbows. Hermione leaned down to wrap her arms around Severus and hugged him tightly before giving him a lingering kiss. "I love you," she whispered in his ear.

Then she addressed them both, "You two finish your game. I'm really knackered, I'm going up to bed. Good night, Severus. Lucius."

"Good night, my dear," Lucius responded, his eyes darting from Severus to her as she hurried up the stairs.

She was nearly half way up before Severus' voice stopped her. "Hermione? What was it that Harry wanted?"

"Errm... it turns out we won't need Lucius' Pensieve after all. Harry figured out who slipped me the potion."

"Who was it?" barked Severus, black brows coming together in a frown.

"It's a very long story. I'll explain it all tomorrow, love. Good night." She scampered the rest of the way up before Severus could say any more.

Lucius stared at Severus speculatively for a moment. "Well, aren't you going to go after her and demand to know who it was?"

"My guess is Weasley," replied Severus.

"Weasley? Which one?"

"Ron, ex-boyfriend, third member of the trio, Weasley," he said.

Lucius considered for a moment. "And what is it exactly that brings you to this conclusion?"

"If Harry had made an arrest she would have said so and revealed the culprit. If he didn't make an arrest it could only be because she did not press charges, leading me to believe it was someone close to her. There are only a handful of people with whom she has that type of friendship. I'm positive it wasn't Potter, or Lovegood. Neville Longbottom is a good friend to Hermione, but he definitely isn't the type to play that kind of joke on someone, and besides I don't believe he was present that night. I'm fairly certain it wasn't Pansy or George, although either of them are totally capable of something like that, they were both much too wrapped up in each other to spend time on extracurricular activities that night. This leaves Weasley as the most likely candidate."

"And she hides this from you because...?"

"She is putting off telling me until tomorrow, probably to give him a chance to make a safe getaway from my wrath."

Lucius again considered for a moment. His fingers ghosted lightly over his throat, as though recollecting his near strangulation at the hands of he friend earlier. "And will he? Escape your wrath, that is?"

Severus took a sip from his glass and smiled. "I rather think he shall. If anything, I might be inspired to thank him for his assistance in inadvertently helping me finally achieve my happily-ever-afters."

Lucius chuckled and lifted his glass in a toast. "The very best to you and the future Mrs. Snape. I must say, you never seem to take the easy route in anything you do, my friend."

"Easy? No. It was certainly was a roundabout route to happiness, but then some things are worth the struggle, Lucius. And my sprite is certainly one of those things. She was definitely well worth the struggle." He lifted his glass in a return toast, "Here's to strange bedfellows and happy endings."

~Fin~


AN: I promised to post the original prompt at the end of the story, so here it is. The Prompt was from pigwidgeon37 and the prompt was: For reasons known only to her and the author, Hermione had a drunken fling with *author's choice, but make it improbable and embarrassing*. A fling whose consequence will be born a few months later. Severus offers to make an honest woman of her - the kind of relationship they've had so far is up to the author. Does she accept? Refuse? What becomes of their relationship? Can be either dark or comedy.

Obviously I twisted the prompt a bit, but I did at least make Hermione think the fling had been with someone unexpected (Harry at first, then of course later she was thinking Lucius or Draco). But in the end I stayed with my ship, it's just that neither of them remembered it themselves.

I hope you've enjoyed reading the story as much as I enjoyed writing it.