"Professor, I was wondering if I could –" Hermione's soft curious voice broke Severus out of his reverie. Before she even had a chance to ask, he had already interrupted her.
"No." He snapped while looking at her with what appeared to be disdain, but if Hermione looked close enough she could be sure that she saw something else flicker across his face.
That bastard is teasing me! I will show him!
"I was just going to ask if you wanted me to leave… But since you said no, you are stuck with me a little longer." She smirked at him, a playful gleam in her eyes as she stood defiantly.
"Fine." He spat and turned his back on her so that he could walk down the hallway into his daughter's bedroom.
Peaceful. That was the word that Severus used to describe his sleeping daughter. Her black curls fanned out on her pillow, eyes closed, long lashes sitting delicately on her soft cheeks. It was still hard for Severus to believe that this little girl was his, all his… and Granger when she was around. They had a kid together – almost. Merlin's beard, wouldn't that cause some havoc… A snarky little Know-it-All. All brooding and intelligent. Poor kid. Severus thought as he watched his little girl sleep.
"Beautiful, isn't she?" Again, Hermione broke the Potions Master out of his reverie and stood in the doorway beside him. She could feel the warmth radiating off him and felt an irregular urge to lean into it.
"Who would have thought that I could be a father?" He asked, although the question was rhetorical Hermione felt the need to answer it.
"Not many people in the wizarding world." She whispered, trying not to seem harsh.
After a moment of comfortable silence Severus turned to the woman beside him, "What was she like? When she was a baby?" He queried, a slight urgent tone became evident in his voice.
"Come into the living room. It might take a while to tell you." Hermione placed her hand hesitantly on Snape's arm and lead him into his living room.
Severus took his usual chair, while Hermione sat across from him on another armchair. Taking a deep breath Hermione had to remind herself of the day that her goddaughter was born.
"It rained the day that Annaliese was born. Imogen wanted to call her Ingrid, but the name seemed too harsh for such an innocent little girl. So she settled for Annaliese or Anna for short. She was always tiny, even as a baby she was only 4 pounds and nine ounces when she was born. A beautiful mop of black hair, soft pale skin. The longest eyelashes I had ever seen. She looked like a perfect porcelain doll." Hermione's mind began to wander as she spoke her memories like a commentary on a film.
"She was two weeks premature. Imogen was sick so the doctors gave her a caesarean. I was left to look after Annaliese for a week while Imogen recovered. She had pneumonia, and coupled with a caesarean she couldn't look after Anna.
She was five weeks old when she gave us her first smile. She started crawling at twenty eight weeks, and took her first steps on her first birthday. Her first word was No. Her first solid food was mashed banana. She hated having her hair done. Never wanted to wear clothing, and would only sleep to the sound of rain, or piano music. She has developed more in her time spent with you and me, than she did when she was with her mother."
Severus sat and listened to the stories about his little girl's infancy and her cute little personality traits. They sat for hours, Severus listening to Hermione share her memories and seemingly endless stories of the start of her little life. It was 2am when they fell asleep, exhausted and emotionally strung out. Severus' breathing was deep and even, and Hermione's was soft and relaxed as their bodies slunk back into their separate chairs and they slept.
Hermione awoke half an hour after she fell asleep with a shocking urge to use the bathroom, but her urges were quelled when she looked across at a slumbering Professor Snape. Relaxed, gentle, approachable, some might even say that he was attractive. The dim light made his features seem less harsh, and a lot younger. His hair hung in a curtain around his face, and Hermione felt drawn to him. She shook her head in dismissal of her thoughts and went in search of the toilet. After finding it, Hermione contemplated whether or not she should leave, or whether she should stay. She couldn't go home now – her aunt would have her hung, drawn and quartered. No she couldn't return to her house. Annaliese's bed invited her back again, and the little girl didn't take up any room, so Severus wouldn't mind if she went to sleep with her goddaughter.
Trudging into Annaliese's bedroom, Hermione lied on the bed and snuggled up to the small body cuddled into the blankets. It didn't take her long to fall asleep again, so when she woke she was surprised to find her eyes trained on the black eyes of Severus Snape.
"Where's Anna?" She asked him urgently.
"With Minerva, in Diagon Alley." He told the Gryffindor sternly, letting her know that Severus was most definitely not in a good mood.
"How DARE you!" Severus snarled at the girl.
"How dare I what?" She asked shrilly, sitting up and throwing herself out of bed, ignoring the dizziness of getting up too quickly.
"How dare you just assume that you can sleep in my house, with my daughter, in my daughter's bed?" He bellowed at her, leaning forward in a brooding manner almost nose to nose with Hermione.
"In case you failed to notice, you great git, I am Anna's godmother! If you weren't fit to look after her, she would be in my custody! I have a right to see her. I have a right to love her! She is as much mine as she is yours! Stop being such a bastard all the time!" Hermione's finger landed in a sharp poke on his chest as she rose onto her tiptoes to make herself taller.
Good gods she is attractive when she is angry.
"She is all I have left of my best female friend! To me, she isn't just the result of a quick shag with a hooker! I knew when Imogen was pregnant; I was there when Anna was born! If you want to push me any further you can, but I will hex your bollocks off!" She yelled at him, her hair wild and magic crackling around them.
"She is not just the result of a quick shag for me! She is my only family! Unfortunately for you, I don't have the luxuries that you do. I don't have parents that love me; I don't have any family other than my daughter!" He roared back, making Hermione's eyes well up with tears and a strangled angry sob escape from her throat.
"You think you are so courageous because you survived without loving parents? Well Snape, I have news for you! My parents did love me, yes, but I have no fucking clue where they are. They don't even know that they have a daughter. For all I know, they could be dead. I had to take their memories before the war so that they would be protected from me. I was a danger to them. Me, their own daughter. We all know that you have had a hard life Snape, but you don't have to be such a prick about it!" Hermione screamed, slapping his chest repeatedly until he caught her hand and stopped it from hitting him. Tears streamed down her face as she looked into his eyes, surprised at what she saw. They weren't harsh or mean – they were gentle, apologetic.
"I apologise. It was none of my business… Merlin, we need to sort out our differences. She needs you." Severus admitted in defeat, his hands still holding Hermione's wrists so that she couldn't hit him.
"What she needs most is a father and a godmother who can get along at least long enough to raise her."
Severus let go of Hermione's wrists, his hands tingling from where his skin touched hers, unknown to him that Hermione's skin was doing the exact same thing.
"I need to go." Hermione whispered to him, walking around his body and out of Annaliese's bedroom.
Before Severus could stop himself he was in the hallway after her, following her to the front door.
"Granger… Have dinner here at 6 tonight. We need to talk. Don't be late." He ordered gently, watching her nod and then take off down the street towards the abandoned alleyway where he could faintly hear the crack of her apparition.
What have you gotten yourself into?
