Chapter 14 "Secrets"

Severus had been right to assume that Hermione had been keeping secrets. She hadn't exactly been doing the best of job keeping it from him since he started making her report to his office every afternoon. Things were getting harder for her too and Severus would've never guessed what she had actually been keeping from him.

Hermione woke with a start and her head spun as she rushed for the bathroom. She barely made it to the toilet before she promptly began to vomit. She felt heat rise to her cheeks and closed her eyes for a minute trying to steady herself.

It was still dark outside her window. She had been waking up this way for nearly a week now and the look of alarm hadn't left her face for the last four days.

She'd been throwing up randomly in the morning and periodically throughout the day and she knew she hadn't had a period since Severus and her had been together because she remembered him making a potion for her to take for the cramps. That was almost 9 weeks ago.

She got off of her knees and stood up towards the sink. She looked at her reflection in the mirror. Fearful eyes stared back at her, but apart from that she didn't look very different.

She didn't want to think about what it meant if she was pregnant. She hadn't taken a test yet because she was somehow praying it would go away.

She began to force herself to breathe steadily. She didn't want to think about it until she knew. She didn't want to deal with the guilt of what she had taken from Severus. He'd never, ever forgive her if he learned the truth.

She hadn't known….when she took away his memories…she honestly hadn't known.

Would it have stopped her if she had? She stopped for a moment. No, probably not. It was the only way to save him.

She did know that she couldn't avoid it any longer. She'd have to skip his speculating gaze in his office today and find out.

She put her hand on her stomach. It felt a little tender. She couldn't go to Pomfrey or McGongal. The question of the father was far too dangerous. There was only one person who she could tell, who she needed to tell, but she felt it was impossible. Sure, Severus would protect her secret…memories or not, they were still bound. But no, she couldn't tell him…at least not yet.

She knew leaving the castle was out of the question and far too risky. Severus was still watching her like a hawk. She was going to have to hide out in her chambers until everyone met in the great hall and then sneak to the infirmary and steal a test. Dinner was the only time she would be able to do it. All of the staff would be in the Great Hall including the Carrows who liked to scare the students while they were in there. Severus would obviously notice her absence, but he wouldn't immediately be able to start to look for her with that many people in the room.

Severus was furious. It wasn't like Hermione to be late. On the contrary, he found that she was usually annoyingly punctual so when minutes turned into hours he began to lose what little sanity the witch had left him with.

There was no other way out of the castle besides his chambers so she had to still be in the castle. He searched all over for her, but did not find her. He began to worry that the Carrows had gotten a hold of her. It wasn't likely that they would do anything to the witch since they did believe that she was his personal play thing, but they might if provoked…

When she wasn't in the Great Hall for dinner either he almost popped a blood vessel. He didn't like worrying about her. It took his focus away from things that actually mattered like helping Potter. Even as he told himself she didn't matter, he couldn't stop himself from thinking about her. That witch would have hell to pay when he finally got his hands on her.

Severus would've preferred to have remembered that he had given her a magical remebrall type ball that let her know when he was and wasn't in the castle so he could make himself one for her.

He didn't remember the day he had given it to her. It was shortly after he had somehow agreed to stop avoiding her. He also somehow had stayed true to his word and even went out of his way to point out to her that he would constantly be in and out of the castle before plopping the ball in her hands.

"It will let you know when I am here and when I am not so perhaps you can stop stalking me." He had told her. Her face had turned a lovely shade of pink with his words, but she took the gift and said nothing.

Hermione could actually feel how stormy her husband had gotten with her and she found it incredibly difficult to not go to him. However, she knew that finding out the state of herself was more important. When dinner rolled around she carefully snuck down the halls all the way to Pompfrey's magical medicine cabinet. She read several labels on the shelves and after quite an extensive search (it was amazing to her how Pompfrey was able to find anything at all with how disorganized it was) she finally found the potion that would tell her if she was pregnant. If she was pregnant a green light would shine around her stomach. If she was not her stomach would with a red hue. It was only momentarily. The potion only lasted for about five minutes, but it was best to take the test in private because anyone would be able to see the results.

Hermione hid the bottle in her cloak and silently moved back to her chambers. Once the door was secure behind her, she popped the bottle open with her teeth and downed the potion. She waited a moment, staring anxiously down at her stomach and then gasped as the color began to slowly appear.

Green.

Hermione sank to the floor, her back pressed against her door. Her mind went into complete shock. The reality of the situation slowly began to weigh on her.

She was pregnant and the father had no idea they were ever even together.

What had she done?

Author's Note: Hey guys! Sorry if this chapter is a little abrupt. I haven't published anything in so long and really want to carry on to the rest of the story, but didn't know how to get past this major plot point without just dropping it on you after not writing for so long! I will be finishing this story first and then going back and editing everything. The story will be the same after the edit, but I might just flare it out a bit before I post it as being complete. Thank you as always for reading! The next couple of chapters will be based in the past and will give you a better idea of how their relationship unfolded. -xx