Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter. Any recognizable characters (besides Healer Kaylee my recurring OC), places, or items are the work of the wonderful and fabulous J.K. Rowling. Any of the text that is bold or italicized when Hermione is teaching a class is directly copied from Harry Potter Wikia.

Beta: The ever amazing Aimless Wonder.

Pairings: Hermione/Severus, Harry/Ginny, Ron/Draco, Neville/Luna

OC's: See profile

Chapter Word Count: 1,527

Story Word Count: 19,399

~Enjoy.

Years Ago…

He sat on his throne, frowning as his followers slowly trickled out. Nothing was moving fast enough. They had come no closer to locating where the dreadful Potter brat was. He had sat through more than a few meetings where the only thing keeping him from murdering the lot of them was the fiery look that Bellatrix sent him whenever she thought he wasn't paying attention. He knew that she would gladly lay on her back for him, but he had made it clear to her that she would never be his consort. He had made her barren so that she could never let such thoughts into her mind again. Just the thought of it made his lip curl up in a deadly smirk.

Hearing the door shut behind the last straggler, he stood from the throne before he noticed the lone figure that remained in their chair. "Bellatrix, what is it that you want?" he asked coldly.

"My lord..." she started, hesitating at his obvious irritation. "As a descendent of the Ancient and Most Noble House of Black, when you gave me the... cup for safe keeping... I knew instantly what it was."

Her words brought on an infuriated chill and he watched in satisfaction as she visibly shivered.

"What?" he hissed at her audacity.

She surged forward in fright. "In an effort to please you, I too have made—" She stopped, eyes widening in fright when he raised his wand, but then slumped slightly in relief when he only cast a silencing charm.

"Continue," he hissed, "but know that whether or not you live past this conversation will depend heavily on what you say next." His threat was echoed by Nagini, who had slithered over to curl around her feet.

"I have made a Horcrux as well, so that if I perish for the cause, I may rise again and help to defeat the—"

Voldemort chuckled, and she stopped speaking, frozen in fear. "You've split your soul to please me?"

She pulled a book out, and placed it gently on the table in front of him. "Yes, my lord, so that I may serve you, even after my death."

He picked up the book, and instantly felt what it was. He had, after all, created several of his own. "And whom, pray tell, did you kill to create this?"

"The mudblood that married my sister."

Chapter Eleven

Hermione was nervous, she didn't know if she was ready for this. Severus however was at her side, and reached over to grab her hand. "Darling, I'm sure the baby is fine. We'll just be in for a few scans, then collect your vitamin potions and get a copy of the ultrasound to show everybody."

Hermione ran her free hand over her stomach gently. "I know, I just can't help but worry that something is going to go wrong."

"Of course something is wrong," Severus replied, and she looked up at his face having heard the sneer in his voice. She raised an eyebrow in question and saw his mouth pull up at the corners, forming a smile.

Severus pulled her against him and leaned forward until his lips were a breaths distance away from her ear. "What's wrong is that instead of being able to bring you back to our quarters and having my wicked way with you, you will be out with Harry and Ron."

She shivered against him. "I have to go to find out what Harry is so concerned about. That letter sounded pretty urgent."

Severus let out a heavy sigh. "It's almost time, we wouldn't want to be late to our first appointment now would we?" he said, grabbing her hand as they made for the door.

"No, but… I just have a feeling that something bad is going to happen today."

They left the room and began their journey through the castle before Severus said, "If you'd like, I could join you—I promise to stay out of the way."

Hermione frowned at that as she thought back to Harry's letter. He'd written that it would be best if she came alone.

She forced a smile on her face, and leaned her head against his shoulder as they walked. "No, you're right, I'm worrying over nothing."

'At least I hope so,' she thought to herself.

~St. Mungo's~

"Hello, I'm Healer Kaylee," was the first thing the female physician that had entered the examination room said. "I'll be overseeing your pregnancy and birth."

Kaylee held her hand out towards Hermione. "You must be Mrs. Snape, it's lovely to meet you." After Hermione shook her hand, she extended it out to Severus. "And it's nice to see you again, Severus." At Hermione's questioning gaze, she said, "We've corresponded a few times when I've had to commission some extra potions for the department."

"Yes, I do recall," Severus replied as he took Hermione's hand.

Kaylee took that as a signal to begin, and so reached into her sleeve and brought out her wand. "I'm sure you both already know this, but for the sake of professionalism, I'll explain anyway," said Kaylee, before she began to give both of them a run-down of what more was expected to happen during Hermione's pregnancy. All the while her wand waved harmlessly through the air, various flickers of lights appearing and disappearing, and she noted the results of the charms on a conjured chart.

"Everything looks good," she said almost ten minutes later. "Both you and your baby are healthy. Your date of conception was on the 26th of August, which would put the due date at May 28th. All that's left now is your ultrasound and your prescription for your pre-natal potions." Kaylee turned to Severus. "I'm assuming you'd like to prepare the potions yourself, Severus?"

He nodded. "I would."

"Then I'll give you the proper references. Just give me a moment," said Kaylee as she moved towards the cabinets against the side of the room.

As Kaylee bustled around for the literature, Hermione felt Severus squeeze her hand in reassurance. She'd been on edge the moment Kaylee had mentioned the due date, and knew that Severus, too, had recognized its significance.

Her bad feeling from earlier in the day intensified, though Hermione hoped that it was merely a coincidence that the due date for the baby coincided closely with the anniversary of the final battle.


Ron watched anxiously from the couch as Harry paced around the sitting room in silence. He'd been the first to arrive at Harry and Ginny's place, and when he had asked about what was going on, Harry had simply said to wait until Hermione arrived.

He sighed in relief as he heard the knocking on the door. 'Finally,' he thought as Harry went to answer it, before he returned to the sitting room with Hermione behind him.

"Ron," Hermione nodded as she greeted him, before she took a seat next to him on the couch whilst Harry took his seat on the couch across from there's, the coffee table between them. As he and Hermione waited, Harry reached into his pocket and brought out a small black book and placed it on the table.

"I've already gotten permission from Kingsley to let the two of you in on the case." Harry let out a heavy sigh. "I dread what she could be planning."

"What who could be planning?" Hermione asked as she looked from the book to Harry. At his indication, she picked it up and began slipping through the pages. Ron saw her brows furrow before she closed it.

"What is this about?" he asked as he took the book from her and did the same. He frowned when he found that all the pages were empty. There wasn't a smudge of anything on any of them. Shutting it, his eyes were immediately drawn to the swirls at the bottom of the back cover. "Is this parseltongue?" He sensed more than saw Hermione look at him. "It looks kind of like the scribbles on the door down in the Chamber."

"It is," Harry answered. "It reads 'I am the most faithful, and I will rise again'." He waved at the book Ron held. "That was found at the Brunsmans' house."

From beside him, Hermione had frozen in place.

"The Brunsmans told me that it was Damien's," Harry continued. "It's also the source of the dark magic that was present in the house."

"He was using dark magic?" Ron asked. "But he was just a child."

Harry shook his head. "Neither Damien or his parents knew what it was. His mother said he'd received it as a gift on his birthday. Kingsley and the department are doing everything they can, and they've already managed to find traces of a magic on the horcrux, though they haven't been able to match it up to any known signature."

Silence followed his explanation, and Ron knew that if he could see himself at that moment, his freckles would be standing out against his ashen face. Hermione's reaction was no better, her shocked exclamation seemingly turning the atmosphere several degrees colder.

"HORCRUX!?"