Okay, here is yet another installment of this story. Hope you guys enjoy....
Jelly Tot-X= Why thank you my dear for the review. Glad it made you smile and squee alot. =] 3
MrsEdwardCullen13- I'm so glad that you loved the last chapter. Your review made me happy. XD. I am not sure how or when Severus will do it, but I believe that it will be soon!!!! XD
Snakegirl-sprockett- I love your reviews, they make me happy. Thanks for the kudo's on the scene, I was nervous about it. What did you mean by your question of how rich are these people? You do have to remember who Hermione's grandfather is [Albus Dumbeledore]
And thanks to Heidi191976 for the review my dear. It is appreciated! =]
Onward with the story. Hermione goes into details about what broke her and Severus up, can anyone tell me what chapter some details came from before? Anyways, read on!
Chapter Eleven:
It didn't take everyone long to join them in the kitchen, Kristine having to go retrieve Nik and Jacks from their room, their faces were bright red when they came down and the rest of the group laughed. Everyone put food on their plates and then went to find somewhere to sit in the living room. Their lunch went by smoothly, everyone lost in their conversations. Hermione was talking with her boys, who sat around her feet. Hermione was sitting beside Severus with his arm around her shoulders. Severus was talking with Lucius and his brothers. Kristine was talking with Severus' mother, Anderlynn, Rose, DeAnne, Kain, and Andrea. The rest of the guys were sitting in a big circle on the floor playing cards.
"Merry Christmas everyone, I'll see most of you on New Years Eve." Albus exclaimed and his statement was returned by everyone in the room. He departed the house to return to Hogwarts for a couple days, and to his sister Minerva. The groups disappeared to various rooms and Severus went up to his room, decided to read the message in the journal from Hermione. He sat on the bed and began to read the five page note, written in her elegant hand writing. By the time he was done, he was crying silently, her words having touched his heart. He knew that she meant every word of what she had written and it made his chest fill with happiness and pride. He was definitely certain that some day soon, he would ask her to be his wife. He wanted to spend the rest of his life with her. He heard a knock on the door and allowed his siblings inside. Ibraham sat on the window seat, Semptimus on the desk chair, and Anderlynn sat beside him on the edge of the bed.
They all noticed the tear trails across their brother's face and they gave him a confused look. "I am crying because I am happy." He explained to them the basics of the message and they nodded. "Hermione has made me the happiest I have ever been. I want to spend my life with her." He muttered and felt his sister hug him tightly. He wrapped his arms around her waist and held her tightly, glad to have his family with him.
"Does she know this?" he heard her murmur and he nodded his head.
"Gave her a promise ring earlier." He said, his siblings barely catching what he said. Ibraham raised his eyebrows in surprise, and Semptimus gasped quietly in shock. They were surprised at how serious that their brother was. Anderlynn just smiled in happiness.
"I am so glad that my little brother is happy. Make sure you don't let her go again." She told him when he pulled back and he nodded his head. They all sat there talking quietly and almost missed the door opening quietly. Semptimus and Severus noticed that Hermione poked her head inside, and then walked quietly backward, closing the door behind her. She didn't want to disturb their family time, so she headed down into her father' study, knowing that was where the man would be.
"Hello Daddy, Merry Christmas." She said as she closed the study door behind her and walked over to the chair beside his. He looked up from his book and smiled at her, putting his bookmark in to mark his spot.
"Hello there Poppet, Merry Christmas to you as well." He said with a smile. He gave her a hug and then sat back in his chair. "Is that a promise ring?" he asked, noticing his daughter's new ring, and she nodded nervously. "Good." He told her and she raised her eyebrow. "I knew who that man was as soon as he showed up on our doorstep the night you and your brother came home. I remember that you two were together while you were in school, and I could tell that he loved you very much. I know that you missed him and he was the reason for your depression these last five years. I am glad that he is finally getting his head together and wants to marry you darling." Her father told her and she gaped at him in shock. He was always more observant then she gave him credit for.
"So you don't mind Daddy?" she asked him and he shook his head with a chuckle.
"Not at all, hopefully he just marries you sooner rather then later." He said and Hermione chuckled then.
"You know that when he does, I won't be around as much as I am now. He works at Hogwarts, and I will probably be there with him." She told him and he nodded.
"As long as you still come home for all of our wacky holiday traditions and birthday's, and you visit every couple weekends, neither your mother nor I will care. It is about time that you are happy." He said and she hugged him tightly.
"Thank you." She said and he hugged her back.
"Anything for you, Poppet. He just better beware that if he hurts you again, he will have to answer to me." Her father said protectively, and Hermione couldn't help but laugh, and her father's serious expression broke into a silly grin. Hermione stayed in the study with her father talking for hours about old days when she was younger, when she was at Hogwarts, and when she was in the Army. They didn't notice how long they were talking until Kristine poked her head into the study three hours later.
"There you are Mia, Severus has been looking all over for you." Kristine said and Hermione turned red in embarrassment.
"Sorry Mum, Dad and I were talking." She said as she stood and stretched.
"It's alright darling, now go find that man of yours so he will stop worrying." Kristine laughed and Hermione left the study, in search of her other half. Kristine perched herself on her husbands lap and wrapped her arms around his neck, while he wrapped his around her waist. "I am glad that our Hermione is back." Kristine said and Christopher murmured his agreement.
Hermione wandered slowly up to her room, where she figured her beloved would be. She was glad that her father and mother approved of her relationship with Severus, it made things easier. She was so lost in her thoughts that she didn't really register walking into her room or closing the door behind her. She mindlessly walked over to her desk and sat down, her thoughts very preoccupied. She didn't notice that there was a figure sitting on her bed, watching her. Her parents never ceased to amaze her really, they were very interesting people. She shook her head with a smirk and decided to check her email real fast. As soon as she was done, she turned around she almost shrieked and her hand flew to her chest. Severus was sitting on their bed, propped up against the pillows, with his eyes glued to her. She had moments before been leaning over her chair typing on her computer and he had a great view of her butt, which he loved.
"Dear lord Severus, you scared the hell out of me!" she said, trying to catch her breath.
"I do apologize my dearest, I didn't mean to. You just seemed so preoccupied and I didn't want to disturb you." He told her as he patted the bed beside him and she slowly crawled up the bed until she was straddling him. She looked down at him with an evil smirk.
"What ever shall I do with you, for giving me such a fright?" she asked as she leaned over and began to kiss his neck. He titled his head to the side to give her better access and his arms went to encircle her. He sighed in happiness.
"Whatever you think necessary." He told her and he almost groaned at what she was doing, it felt amazing. She smirked against his neck and bit him with a little more force then before, all the while doing her best not to leave a mark on his skin. He hugged her close to him and eventually she just laid her head in the crook of his neck and sighed.
"Hey Severus?" she asked, sounding a bit nervous.
"Yes love?" he asked, his eyes closed and his head leaning against the top of hers.
"What will happen after this holiday is over?" she asked him and he sighed.
"I hadn't thought much past this wonderful holiday, I don't want to. It would mean going back to the real world and that school full of dunderheads that seem to get more annoying as the years pass on. I would rather just find a nice quiet place some where with you." He told her and she smiled. She wound her arms around his neck and sighed as he tightened his grip momentarily.
"Okays, I was just wondering." She told him. They were both quiet again for a while before there was a knock on the dinner. Draco popped his head into the room and smiled at what he saw. They both looked so peaceful, like they were asleep, and he hated to disturb them.
"Mia, Severus, its time for dinner." He said and snickered at the pair of groans he received in return. They both slowly pulled themselves away from each other and the bed and then followed the blonde down the stairs to the dinning room, where everyone ate in an companionable silence. There were little jokes here and there, but mostly things were quiet, everyone enjoying their dinner and the company they shared. Severus' mind was still on what would happen after this holiday ended and when the perfect time to propose was. Hermione was thinking about her latest book and where she was at in the story.
After dinner the family went outside for another round of football and they all enjoyed it. Hermione's team won once again and Severus kept snickering at Draco's remark about being too pretty to play football. What started as a football game, turned into a snowball fight and Severus figured out that Hermione was NOT sorry when she 'accidentally' threw a snowball at him that hit him square in the chest. Soon the entire group joined in, even his family and Lucius and they spent two hours in their snowball fight. They were drenched and shivering by the time that Lucius, Kristine, and Miana decided that everyone should go inside and go to bed.
Severus and Draco quietly followed their counterparts up the stairs as the two talked. "So Mia, how goes this latest book?" he asked and she gave a hesitant smile.
"I decided finally to go with the idea that you suggested, and you were right. It is much easier to think about it all now, once I get it written down. I mean hell, the memory is still pretty painful from that year, but it is better that I don't keep it bottled up inside." She told him and he nodded sympathetically. He gave her a one armed hug and then the quad parted ways and headed into their bedrooms.
Hermione felt arms encircle her waist as soon as the door was closed. She leaned back into his chest and sighed happily. "My beautiful, beautiful Angel, I do love you so much." He whispered into her ear and he noticed her smiling widely. He had buried his face into her neck, but looked at her when he told her this, loving her reaction.
"I love you too Severus." She murmured, wrapping her arms around his neck.
"What story were you and Harry talking about, if you don't mind me asking." He asked and he felt her tense. She slowly extracted herself from his arms and hesitantly walked over to where her laptop was at and he watched her turn it on. He thought he had said something wrong, until she walked over to the bed with it and motioned him to join her.
"I talked with Minerva a lot that year." She said as she gestured for him to read. He began the first chapter and realized that the story was very similar to their relationship in the beginning of her seventh year, almost the exact details that he could remember. It took him all of an hour to read the nine chapters so far and when he was done he just sat there in shock. She was retelling their story, though she had completely changed all the names and there was no way to trace it back to who was really involved. He thought for a moment that he should be mad at her for writing this without telling him, but that thought passed by quickly and was replaced with the knowledge that she had needed to write it because she couldn't keep it bottled up anymore.
He was shocked to know all of what really happened, he had only known the basics, that the Weasley boy had raped her in her seventh year when he found out about her and Severus. Now Severus knew that Weasley had been furious when he found out why Hermione didn't want him and he figured the only way that he could take Hermione from Severus was to do exactly what he had done. "If I can't have you then no one can" he had said. Severus didn't find out until about six months later what had really happened, and he felt like a total ass, he was ashamed of himself and furious at Weasley, but the Headmaster had already had him expelled for 'causing severe trauma to a fellow student.'
Severus looked over at his beloved and felt his heart break all over again. She looked so lost and scared and he pulled her into his arms and held her tightly. "I didn't know until months later, though I guess I knew from the beginning that I had made a huge mistake. Minerva figured that I knew what had really happened from the start, but I knew only what everyone else had known, that you had been severely injured by another student and Ronald Weasley had been expelled. I had been so wrapped up in my stupidity that I hadn't put two and two together to figure out that he was who had hurt you, and then I hurt you too. Minerva let the truth slip one night when we were both pissed out of our minds, and of course the only reason I knew what she was saying was because I can speak French." He told her as he rocked her gently in his arms. She clung on to him for dear life.
"I was so terrified." She whispered to him and he shook a little with guilt and shame and sadness. "We had just had a fight about him that day and I went storming off, after you said that you never wanted to see me again. He figured that it would be the perfect time for him to put his plan into action and that when you found out, you wouldn't want me anymore. He didn't know that we had just ended it." She continued, silent tears running down her face. He attacked me in a hallway when I was doing my rounds, he luckily managed to stun me and then drug me off into an unused classroom, we were in the dungeons actually." He realized that she was going to tell him everything, he knew that there were some things that she hadn't even written in the book so far.
"He managed to use some muggle drug on and then proceeded to beat me, saying that I was nothing but a Slytherin slut and that I should be lucky that he wanted me, though he said that he was doing me a great service by what he was about to do. Even though I was drugged, I fought his as best as I could, I know that I scratched the hell out of his arms a couple times, and he had a black eye from where I managed to kick him in the face. We must have fought for two hours, he seemed amazed that I was fighting so well under the drugs that he gave me, but he didn't know that you had trained me in defense, and he failed to realize that my sense of self preservation had kicked in. Eventually he beat me enough and gave me one hell of a concussion, then he bound my hands together and then bound me to the frame of a bed that he some how had conjured." Severus could feel his rage building, as well as his guilt and sorrow.
"I kept hoping and wishing that you would realize that something was wrong and come find me, until I remembered that I had thrown my necklace in your face before I stormed off. He told me that he had placed silencing charms around the room and that even if I screamed, no one would hear me." She was sobbing and he told her that she didn't have to continue telling him, but she silenced him. "I do have to tell you, you need to know." She said as she buried her face against his chest.
"He kept me there for two days, raping me at least four times and beating me. He didn't feed me, only gave me water, so I was weak as hell, I hadn't eaten much the day before he got me. He would leave me alone while he went to class, but I was floating in and out of consciousness and he checked on me when he could. I guess he forgot to put the charms back on the room, he had left in a hurry. There were footsteps in the hall and he didn't want to get caught. He promised me that he would be back and then ran off, he forgot the silencing charm as well as the locking charms. As soon as I could, I left there and then headed off to find Poppy, who then alerted Minerva. Once they figured out that he had raped me, they called the Headmaster and I finally told them who had done that to me." She murmured against his neck as he rubbed her back comfortingly. He had started to cry silently as he listened.
"I hadn't been with anyone before him, as dumb as it sounded, I was saving myself, and eventually, while we were together, I had decided that I was saving myself for you." She told him and he felt that his heart broke again right them. He hugged her close to him and they sat there silently for a couple minutes.
"I am so sorry Angel, so sorry that I was so stupid. I guessed that something was wrong when you hadn't shown up to any meals that day, and I figured you were just ignoring me, but I guessed that something was wrong when you didn't show up to my class, I knew that no matter how much you and I fought, you would never skip a class. I was so worried, and then Dumbledore said that he was doing all that he could to find you, I half expected him to fire me for being in a relationship with a student, and was surprised when all he said was not to worry, he would find you, and things would be okay." He whispered against the top of her head.
"I was relieved when Poppy mentioned that they had found you, and went to see you, but Minerva suggested that it was best that I just stay away. I knew that she knew as well and couldn't figure out why I couldn't see you. I talked to Poppy and she told him the basics. Poppy had said that you had been kidnapped and held hostage for almost three days, that you hadn't eaten since then, and that you were badly beaten. She wouldn't tell me the extent of your injuries, but she said that Minerva didn't want me to know anything, but she figured that she ought to tell me something. Minerva was just pissed that I had hurt you, so she wanted to keep me out of the loop. She was so furious when she realized that Albus told Poppy to tell me something." Severus was having a hard time speaking.
"Poppy let me sit beside you at night, when you were sleeping. I held your hand and begged for you to wake up and come back to me, I whispered how much I missed you and I kept apologizing for my stupidity. If I hadn't said what I did, then you wouldn't have left my rooms, and you wouldn't have been attacked. Then you avoided me when you got out of the hospital wing, and it hurt so much. I could see the pain in your eyes. Not a day went by that I did not regret having ended my relationship with you and not a day went by that seeing your pain didn't rip away at my heart." He told her and he realized that she was clinging to him like he was her life line, and he was doing the same to her.
"I am so sorry Hermione." He whispered as he cried silently, his face buried against her hair.
"I am too Severus, I am too." She told him. They stayed that way for a while, until they both fell asleep, curled up in each others arms.
Kristine sneaked a peak into the room later and almost squealed in joy. She took a camera from her pocket and took a picture of the sleeping pair. She waved her hand and their clothes magically changed into pajamas. She felt Miana walk up behind her and she made an almost unheard "aww". With Miana's help, they used magic to life the pair and put them under the covers, leaving them in the position that they were in.
How did you like it?