Anything recognizable is the property of J.K. Rowling. I do not make any claim to ownership, nor do I make any money from this.
Please do not read if you are not of legal age in your country. This is nowhere near being a happy go lucky romantic story.
Rest Up
Hermione was completely out of breath when she felt herself pass through the antiapparition wards and could disapparate to Hogwarts. She landed in Hogsmeade, and cried upon seeing the charred remains of the Hog's Head collapsed in upon itself. The Gryffindor stepped through the wreckage, not caring that coals burned her feet and that she cut herself on a hot nail. Soon the brunette reached the place where Severus had been left hanging when the fire was set. There was no trace of his body in the ashes.
Hermione wept for her former professor and her friend, smearing ash across her face as she wiped away tears. At a loss for what to do, she let out an anguished scream of hatred and frustration. Furry filled her and she picked up a metal pipe, still hot enough to sear her flesh and she smashed the already burned timbers. She screamed and choked on the ash she kicked up in her fury.
"You all just let him die!" She shrieked at the people she could feel watching from behind curtains and shutters. "He gave everything he had to save you and you wouldn't save him!"
Her energy gave out and she collapsed in the ash crying and pounding her fists on the coals. Someone reached a hand down and tried to pull Hermione's long brown hair back. The young woman pushed the strangers hand away. They didn't leave, instead they tried to force her shoulders up.
"Go away!" Hermione yelled with all the force she could muster and shoved the person away. Abruptly she stopped when she recognized the sparkly blue boots now covered in dirt. "Rosmerta?"
"Come on dear. Have to get you up to the castle." The barmaid muttered, pulling the Gryffindor up.
"But everyone let him die. They did that to him and no one stopped them." She tried to explain hoarsely.
"Shush now and come with me. I promise it will be all better once you're up at the castle."
Hermione slumped and Rosmerta carried most of the exhausted woman's weight up to the castle. The brunette didn't consciously recognize anything until she blinked and found herself laying in a hospital bed, bandages around her feet and hands. Tears began slipping down her cheeks and she tried to wipe them away, only succeeding in bashing herself in the nose with her bandaged hand. Everything was just too much and she passed out again.
In the morning, Hermione woke slowly blinking up at the mediwitch casting diagnostic spells over her. Madam Pomfrey smiled. "How are you feeling Miss Granger?"
It took a moment for her crisped throat to work. "I need an anti-pregnancy potion."
"Now now dear, I think it might be awhile before you're ready to be intimate with anyone." Poppy smiled down at her.
"Not contraceptive. Termination." Hermione gritted out.
"But but..." The witch sputtered and finally pointed her wand at the Gryffindor's stomach. "Oh dear." She cast another spell and repeated her last statement. "Oh, oh dear."
"What is it?" Hermione hissed.
"It can't be terminated." She whispered.
"Why not?" Hermione demanded sitting up.
"Purebloods developed a potion to protect fetuses since their birth rates were so low. Once it's taken the child cannot be aborted." The mediwitch shook her head sadly. "Who's the father?"
"No one! I can't keep this baby!"
"But we need children, we're a dying race."
"If this thing is born, humanity will become extinct. " Hermione swung her legs out of the bed despite the healer's protests. "I have to see the headmistress."
The Gryffindor stood and forced herself to ignore the soreness in her feet and hobbled past the curtain that had been drawn around her bed. The curtain of the bed next to hers wasn't drawn all the way and she saw someone laying face down on the bed, covered in bandages. She gasped and tore the curtain back. Severus Snape lay in the bed, unconscious.
Hermione cried out his name and knelt at his side. She gently touched one of his hands lying limply by his side, wrists bruised and torn from the ropes he had been suspended by. Carefully she pushed his hair behind his ear so she could see his face, turned sideways on the pillow. The brunette sighed in relief and pressed her face against his shoulder, weeping again.
Pomfrey tried to force her back into her own bed but she resisted. "No. I'm not going to leave him again."
"He's not going anywhere." The healer soothed gently.
"No!" Hermione said emphatically, pushing her hands away. The healer didn't give up until blue flames crackled up on her shoulders and arms, making it impossible to touch her without getting burned.
The headmistress walked in just as the mediwitch was debating how best to put out the blue flames flickering over her patient. "Oh thank goodness you're here Headmistress." Poppy bustled over. "She just won't cooperate and now she's on fire." She pointed at the young woman kneeling on the ground, holding the potions master's hand and resting her forehead against his shoulder.
"I will deal with this. There is a lad in the hallway that got a tad too close to the Whomping willow." McGonagall approached the younger Gryffindor. "This is about the worst he's seen, but Poppy has gotten very good at patching him up."
Imperceptibly her hand tightened on the older mans. "I thought they had killed him when they took me." Hermione spoke softly, allowing the blue flame to putter out.
"Would you like a chair?"
Hermione nodded and moved so the bedside table could be transfigured into a decent chair. Minerva noticed that she didn't let go of Snape's hand. "Would you tell me what happened?"
The younger woman sighed, one hand tightly holding one of Severus' and the other barely touching his hair. She began speaking slowly and clinically to keep from breaking down into sobs again. The headmistress listened closely and sighed regretfully when told about the pregnancy and that nothing could be done. Finished and emotionally drained, Hermione just sat with her head low and twisted a piece of his hair between her fingers.
"For now there isn't anything you can do. Just rest and heal, and make sure he heals too. Severus is a terrible patient."
Hermione chuckled. "I know. I had to charm his bandage to warn me whenever he tried to take it off or scratch it."
"Yes, he was never very good at taking orders like that. I think you two will be right as rain in no time." Minerva stood. "I will do some researching on my end and see what I can come up with."
With that the headmistress left the hospital wing and returned to her office. Poppy bustled back over with the intention of forcing the young woman back into her bed but upon seeing her protectively sitting next to Snape and the daring look in her eye, she wisely left her be.
