Later that evening, Harry and McGonagall were sitting comfortably in Snape's office while he loitered in his classroom, waiting for Miss Stewart to appear for her tutoring session. She arrived on time and headed towards his office. Snape called out to her to stop as they were going to be studying in the classroom.

"You are quite lovely, Miss Stewart, I do not trust myself to be locked away in my office with you." Snape said smoothly as he sat down in one of the chairs.

Elizabeth smiled seductively at him and assured him, once again, that she wouldn't mind. Snape thought he heard McGonagall make a scoffing noise. He reached out and patted the chair next to him, hoping the girl hadn't heard the small sound.

She swayed her hips as she walked over to stand in front of him and he patted the chair again. She smiled and dropped down in the chair crossing her legs. Snape noticed that she had somehow shortened the length of her skirt. He looked away from her long legs and focused on the plan.

"Hermione was bragging today that she left you sexually satisfied when you left her bed this morning," she said with little pout. Snape kept his features blank as his heart swelled with pride. He fought the urge to sneer when she added, "I wish you'd let me prove to you that I could make you forget all about her."

"I noticed that Mrs. Snape has been acting rudely towards you. I must apologize for her behavior; she is rather smitten with me, the poor thing." Only his years as a spy enabled him to say that in a silky voice.

Elizabeth laughed a soft, tinkling laugh. "It must be tough having an overweight wife who is as huge as a whale and still be expected to do your...husbandly duties," she finished almost shyly with a flush creeping into her cheeks.

Snape narrowed his eyes at her, "Hermione is not overweight...she's pregnant." He frowned at her; Lily would have never criticized someone like that, especially when Hermione's pregnancy was as obvious as the nose on his face.

"Oh, I meant no disrespect, Professor," she said with large frightened eyes, as she reached out and placed her hand over his. He was so surprised at the blatant contact that he failed to move her hand or admonish her. "I wasn't trying to be hurtful. It's just that anyone can see you married her out of pity. You are an attractive man; forgive me for saying that you could have done much better...especially if the Ministry had allowed you to wait for someone, uhm, more suited to your attractiveness."

He swallowed his overwhelming desire to tell Miss Stewart what a piece of shit she was. How dare she even say those things about his precious Hermione? This little twit wasn't worthy to even speak her name. He smiled at her and agreed that it was indeed a pity.

Harry sat in the office and kept his hand over his mouth to keep from laughing every time McGonagall rolled her eyes at what the girl in the other room was dishing out. He heard Snape say something about fetching them some tea and looked over at the tea set on the desk. Harry quickly poured two cups of tea and set the teapot back on the serving tray, just as Snape slipped inside and headed towards it. He held up one hand, to keep Snape from snatching up the tray and added three drops of Veritaserum from the small vial he carried inside his robes. He quietly indicated to Snape that the pink cup held the serum and the blue cup was for him. Snape's hands shook with barely controlled rage as he snatched up the tray. He wanted to throttle the woman in the next room. McGonagall replied to his glare with a small smirk, before Snape turned and slipped back out into the classroom bearing the tray and fixing a smile upon his face.

"Here we go, Miss Stewart, delicious tea, just as I promised. He placed the tray on the desk beside them and turned it so the pink cup was facing her. He reached for his cup when Miss Stewart suddenly blurted that she had forgotten her textbook back in her room and could they just use his copy tonight.

Snape graciously stood to retrieve the book and heard slight rustling behind him. He was certain she was taking that opportunity to spike his tea. This was how she had ensnared him in the first place.

He pretended to search for the book until he heard the rustling stop, before snatching up the book and returning to his chair. Miss Stewart smiled seductively at him and unbuttoned her blouse to show more cleavage. Snape gulped audibly and wished she would just drink the damn tea. She was reaching for her cup when his classroom door slammed open and an enraged Hermione Snape stormed into the room.

Hermione was in their quarters thinking about the night before and decided she would wait up for Severus again. She would give him something to put Elizabeth out his mind. He loved the way she sucked him off. I'll drain that man dry, she thought wryly as she stood and stretched her aching muscles. It was such a mild night. She would take a stroll out to the courtyard, for some fresh air, and then return for a hot soak in the tub before her husband returned.

Hermione was nearing the courtyard when Professor Sanguine stepped out of the shadows and surprised her. He quickly apologized for alarming her and assured her he meant no harm. He fell in step beside her and she was in such a good mood that she didn't mind him joining her on a stroll.

"How is Severus doing, Mrs. Snape?" He asked quietly, glancing sideways at her as they walked.

"He's fine, why do you ask?"

"Severus was always such a loner. I mean he had Lily as a friend. Everyone knew he loved her, hell, everyone loved her. You know, she was a lot like you." He confided.

"How do you mean?" She asked, not sure she liked where this was going.

"Well, you're brilliant, caring and extremely beautiful. I was glad to hear that after all Severus had suffered, he had finally found someone to outshine his boyhood crush. He does appear to be quire smitten with you, which is why the rumors are so disturbing. I personally don't believe what she is claiming..."

"What claims, who is claiming...I'm sorry, what exactly are you trying to tell me?" Hermione had come to a stop and he turned to face her.

"Well, it's just that one hears things and I was wondering how he was handling all the rumors, I mean I am confident they aren't true; however one never likes to be the subject of such scandalous gossip." He said softly, "Severus doesn't deserve to have his reputation tarnished in such a manner."

"What rumor are you talking about, Professor? I haven't heard any rumors, regarding my husband." She said, stepping closer to him.

Sanguine appeared shocked and suddenly looked away in obvious embarrassment.

"I apologize, Mrs. Snape. You seemed so distraught yesterday; that I surely thought you had heard the rumors."

"What rumors, Professor?" Hermione hissed reaching into her robes, "don't make me pull my wand on you. I am six months pregnant and hormonal...not one member of the Wizengamot would condemn me."

Sanguine held his hands up in a show of surrender. "Forgive me, Mrs. Snape. Miss Elizabeth Stewart has been spreading about the school that your husband kissed her during their study lesson on Tuesday night and that Severus is in love with her. She has gone so far as to say that he is planning on asking for a divorce from you so that he can be with her. As a matter of fact, I overheard her telling Miss Allen that she plans on going all the way with Severus, tonight."

"Oh, she did, did she? Well, we'll just see about that!" Hermione snarled, turned on her heel and stormed up the corridor towards her husband's classroom.

Professor Sanguine watched her race away and found himself impressed with the young woman. He would have to change his opinion of her. She was no Lily Evans that was for sure. This woman was a hellcat. She would definitely keep his old friend on his toes. He smiled as he turned away; thinking fate had given Severus Snape just what he needed in a mate. His guilt over being the one to tell her about the rumors quickly subsided. Miss Stewart had started a nasty rumor and deserved whatever punishment Mrs. Snape doled out to her. He whistled as he walked back up the corridor, hopefully, the Ministry would find him a mate like Hermione Snape by the time the deadline rolled around. Severus was indeed a lucky man.

Snape and Elizabeth jumped to their feet when Hermione stormed into the room. Snape was alarmed to see how angry Hermione was. It appeared as if her soft curls were becoming frizzy and were actually giving off sparks.

"How dare you spread rumors about my husband, you vile, disgusting, little worm," Hermione shouted as she advanced on the shocked girl.

Harry and McGonagall both leapt to their feet; however, they hesitated to enter the classroom and blow Snape's chance to get to the truth.

"How dare you tell Katherine that my husband kissed you!"

"He did kiss me, Hermione, ask him yourself. He kissed me and he loved it." Elizabeth fairly sang with a smug grin.

Snape groaned audibly and wished the floor would just open up and swallow him.

"I'll deal with you later," Hermione hissed at Snape before turning back towards Elizabeth and pointing a finger in her face.

"He may have kissed you, but he will never love you like he loves me. You can get that little fantasy of shagging him out of your mind, right now. That is never going to happen. Severus has too much class to sully himself with filth like you." Hermione snarled, shaking with rage.

Snape froze when Elizabeth slapped Hermione across the face. He shook with rage as he moved to grab Elizabeth and shake the shit out of her; however, Hermione had reared back and punched the girl in the face so hard she stumbled and fell against his desk. Snape heard the crunch of Elizabeth's nose breaking when Hermione's fist made contact.

"You broke my nose, you cow!" Elizabeth cried as she clutched her nose. "You're just too stupid to realize he doesn't want your fat ass anymore." Her glare turned to fear when Hermione lunged at her.

Snape sprung into action and grabbed onto Hermione to keep her from killing the stupid twit.

Hermione became a wild animal in his arms. He was amazed at her strength as she struggled against him and let loose with a slew of curse words that shocked him. Snape realized that he had lost control of the situation and called out to Potter.

"Damn it, Potter, get out here!"

Harry raced into the room and wrapped his arms around Hermione, pulling her aside. She clung to him and wept uncontrollably as he whispered soothing words in her ear and rubbed her back.

McGonagall took Miss Stewart's arm, guided her back to her seat, and transfigured a towel for her bleeding nose. She turned to Snape and they quietly argued about what they were going to do now. Snape looked over at Hermione and felt like a heel. He should have told her about the kiss. She deserved to hear it from him, not the stupid twit that was smiling deviously at him as she sipped her tea.

Snape nudged McGonagall; she looked over to see Miss Stewart drinking her tea and smirking in their direction. Harry guided Hermione behind Snape's desk and gently pushed her down into the chair. It wouldn't hurt to have something between her and the smug little hussy that was looking at them now as if she was the cat that just ate the canary.

"What do you have to say for yourself, Miss Stewart?" McGonagall asked with an intense glare.

"What? I think I was very clever. I managed to fool the great Severus Snape." Her eyes snapped open wide as she realized what she had just admitted.

"What have you been adding to his tea, during each of your study lessons?" McGonagall continued with her grilling.

"I added a drop of Amortentia to his tea, every time we met for our tutoring sessions." She admitted, unable to keep the words from spilling out. "I wanted him to come to the belief that he loved me and divorce his wife." She paused as if contemplating her words. "It should have worked long before now. He must love his wife more than I realized—I should have added two drops."

Hermione gasped and Harry squeezed her shoulder gently. He knew Hermione would be happy to learn that her husband hadn't been truly in love with another woman.

"Miss Stewart, why would you do such a thing?" McGonagall asked as she stared at the girl in disbelief.

"My father died in Azkaban, because of him. He was a damn death eater, just like my father. However, he made up some stupid story about being on the side of the light," Elizabeth spit angrily. "He doesn't deserve to live happily ever after with a woman who obviously loves him and worships the ground he walks on."

Snape glanced over at Hermione and basked in the smile she bestowed upon him. He never thought he'd have someone love him to that extent, but his wife obviously did.

His attention Snapped back to Miss Stewart when she continued.

"I heard about his fascination with Lilly Potter. I've been told that I look like her, so I colored my hair red and changed my eye color to match hers. No one remembered that I use to have brown, mousy hair and blue eyes."

"Wait a minute," Harry interjected, "I remember you. You use to sit in the corner of the common room and make snide little comments about Hermione being the Gryffindor Princess."

Hermione stared at her and realized Harry was right. She went by the name, Beth, back then. She didn't socialize with any of the other girls and seemed to keep to herself, when she wasn't slandering Hermione. Hermione had tried to talk to her once, but Beth just blew her off. Hermione had chalked it up to jealousy and just ignored the girl. It made sense that if her father was a death eater, she would hate everything Hermione and her friends stood for. How did I not see it? Hermione wondered. Because you couldn't get past the thought that she looked like Lily Potter, her inner voice whispered.

"What was your plan, in the event that you did succeed in taking Professor Snape from his wife?" McGonagall asked.

"I would have insisted that he marry me and we'd move far away from here. I would have made the rest of his life a living hell. He'd still love me, but he would slowly come to hate the very sight of Lily Potter. It would be too late by then. He'd be my husband and regret his miserable existence, every day. Oh, I'd stop giving him the love potion one day, so he could see how royally he had screwed his life up. He'd cry for Hermione every day and I'd tell him he did it to himself." Elizabeth finished smugly and stared at Snape with pure loathing.

Snape shuddered at the thought of being married to that horrid creature and knowing that he would indeed cry over the loss of Hermione and his sons every day. He slumped down in the nearest chair, when he realized how close he had come to making her vision of his future a reality.

Hermione grabbed Harry's hand and he helped her to her feet so she could scoot around the desk and wrap her arms around Severus. He felt her arms reach around him and wrapped his arms around her, placing his head against her stomach and felt comforted by her embrace.

Harry saw Elizabeth reach inside her robe and whip out her wand. Snape leapt to his feet and whipped Hermione around, shielding her with his body.

"Avada—" The hex never came, as Harry cried, "Expelliarmus!" and disarmed the girl, sending her hurtling back in her chair, before she could finish saying the killing curse. Her wand flew over their heads and Harry snatched it out of the air. McGonagall gasped and clutched her throat in shock at the girl's attempted murder of Hermione Snape.

"Sorry, Professor, but this has just become an official matter," Harry declared as he used his wand to send his Patronus to the Ministry. He requested that Headmistress McGonagall go to her office and open the Floo to allow the Auror's, he had just summoned, to come through. McGonagall nodded and hurried from the room.

Hermione began sobbing as she realized just how close her husband came to being killed, because he was shielding her. She clung to him and shook uncontrollably. Snape sat down and pulled her into his lap and held her against him, comforting her with small kisses on her face and loving words whispered in her ear. He hoped she didn't go into labor; this was upsetting, even for him. The thought of losing Hermione made him want to choke the life out of the furious girl that was shooting death threats at them with her eyes.

Elizabeth leapt to her feet, but Harry hit her with a stunning spell, resulting in her collapsing onto the floor.

A few minutes later, two Auror's raced into the room, with their wands drawn, closely followed by a harrowed-looking McGonagall. Nothing like this had ever happened in Hogwarts before and it just had to happen on her watch. Poor Severus, he could have been killed tonight.

Harry spoke to the Auror's quietly. The two Auror's nodded in agreement, before standing the girl up on her feet, placing a binding spell on her and carrying her from the classroom. Harry walked over to them and crouched down so he would be eye level with Hermione.

"She is going to be charged with using a banned substance and attempting to use the killing curse to murder you. We'll do our best to keep this out of the papers, but I can't promise anything." He moved to stand, but Snape reached out and grabbed his arm. Harry looked up at him in surprise.

"Thank you, Harry," Snape said, his voice thick with emotion, "for everything."

Harry nodded with a small smile and raced out of the room to inform Ginny. He didn't want her to find out from someone else. Unlike Hermione, her pregnancy hormones affected her temper instead of her emotions. She didn't cry, she got angry, and then she got even.

Snape lifted Hermione in his arms and sighed when she wrapped her arms around his neck and clung to him as he carried her back to their quarters. He set her down on the sofa and peeled her arms off him, quietly explaining that he was going to get her some tea. She sniffed and nodded her head, biting her bottom lip. He leaned over and used his thumb to pull her lip from between her teeth. She looked up at him with tears in his eyes. Suddenly, he wanted nothing more than to snatch her back up in his arms and never let her go.

There was a knock at their portal and Snape bid them enter. Ginny ran in and practically threw herself into Hermione's outstretched arms. They sat on the couch clinging to one another. Ginny was wearing a robe and looked as if she had leapt out of bed and ran the entire way to their quarters. Snape was strangely comforted by the thought that his wife had such a loyal friend.

Ginny looked up at him with pure rage on her face as Hermione quietly laid her head against her shoulder.

"Harry just told me what happened. I'm sorry I doubted you, Professor. Ohhh..." Ginny shook with rage. "I wish I could have gotten my hands on that little trollop. They would have carried her out in pieces."

Hermione giggled against Ginny's shoulder, obviously enjoying the sound of Miss Stewart being torn to pieces. Snape took that opportunity to call Gussie and ask her to bring them some calming tea and the little biscuits Hermione loved.

Gussie set the tray down, looked over at Hermione and burst out in tears as she ran towards the women and wrapped her scrawny little arms around Hermione. Ginny sat back and gazed down at the elf with a small smile on her face. Snape fought not to roll his eyes at the emotional women, elf included.

"Gussies jus hears what that bad, bad, witch bees doing to poor, poor Missess Snape. Gussie bees wanting to hit bad, bad witch with pan right now, even if Gussie has to iron her hands. Missess Snape is always being kind to Gussie."

Hermione dried her tears and patted Gussie on the back, ensuring her that the Aurors now had the bad witch and she would get what was coming to her. Gussie seemed to be satisfied with this bit of news and released Hermione before bowing and disappearing with a soft 'pop.'

Snape insisted that both girls drink the tea and eat the biscuits while he went to check on the Headmistress. He was sure she would be in a nervous state by now. He kissed Hermione on her lips and ignored Ginny Potter when she puckered up like she expected a kiss as well.

"Impertinent witch," he mumbled as he exited the room and was pleased to hear their laughter follow him out the door.

The Headmistress was pacing around her office when he entered.

"Oh, Severus," she cried and began weeping. Snape crossed the room and embraced her. He patted her on the back until she regained her composure, and then released her so she could sit down in her office chair. He sat, down across from her desk and they discussed what they would do if the whole story was leaked to the press.

It was late when Snape returned to his quarters. Ginny had already returned to her room, and was probably curled up with her husband. He smirked when he saw that his own wife had fallen asleep on the couch. After the day she had, she was probably too tired to make the short journey to their bed.

He undressed before gently lifting his wife in his arms. He carried her into their room to undress her and tuck her under the covers before he extinguished the lights and joined her. No matter what the papers printed, he realized they had both suffered worse and knew that they would get through this together.

He shuddered at the memory of Miss Stewart pulling her wand on Hermione. He could have easily lost her and both their babies, tonight. Thank God, Harry had been there tonight. Snape knew he could have easily been the one to die, since he had shielded Hermione with his body. The thought of Hermione raising their two sons, alone, made his chest ache. He pulled her up against him and fell asleep with her tucked safely in his arms.