The usual disclaimers apply...

A/N...Oh, no...please don't pull out the pitchforks...or hex me! But I am pleased as punch with all the reviews! It has given me inspiration to get another chapter out as quickly as possible (maybe even two if you are lucky).

All editing/grammar mistakes are my own. My unofficial beta did not have time to look at it for me. I guessed that you would rather have the chapter now instead of when I came back from vacation ;).

Chapter 13

Some Answers

He looked down at her, then sighed. Of all times for her to faint.

"Rennervate," he pointed his wand at her as he spoke. He watched her closely, expecting her to start asking questions the moment she awoke. But after several minutes passed, and she still wasn't conscious, he started to become concerned. He reached down towards her neck to check her pulse, and realised it was much slower and much fainter than it should have been. He tentatively placed his hand on her stomach, and was both shocked and reassured when he felt a push back.

Dammit, wake up Hermione!

He quickly put his head in the floo, and called Minerva's office. He hoped she was actually in her office since she had the only floo that had access outside of Hogwarts. He was very relieved when she answered him.

"Yes, Severus?"

"Minerva, please help me with Miss Granger. She has fainted, and is not responding to Rennervate. I need to get her to St. Mungo's immediately."

"Oh. my. Bring her thru, then you can floo her to St. Mungo's from here."

Severus gently reached under her to pick her up, and cradled her to his body as he quickly stepped towards the floo. He was surprised by how light she was, considering she would be having the baby in just a couple of months. Surely she is supposed to weigh more than this, he gently chastised her in his thoughts. He stopped his musing as he felt gentle kicks against his chest where Hermione was cradled against him. That is the baby...that is my daughter.

He arrived in Minerva's floo, but did not step out. Minerva had a concerned expression on her face as she spoke to him.

"I've sent my patronus to St. Mungo's to let them know you are coming. Please let me know how she is once you get there." She stopped for a moment, then gently grasped Severus's arm. "Please take good care of her."

Severus simply nodded, then quickly floo'd to St. Mungo's.

-ooOOoo-

Severus paced outside Hermione's room, waiting for an update from the Healer. After waiting almost ten minutes, the Healer finally came out to talk to him.

"Hello, Professor Snape," the Healer spoke cautiously.

Severus knew the Healer must have been a former student to address him so nervously.

"How is she? How is the...baby? I need to contact her...friends, and the Headmistress is concerned as well."

"She and the baby are fine. Her blood pressure was quite low and that is why she fainted; that is quite common during pregnancy. Stress and dehydration can contribute to it as well. We have given her fluids, and she can have visitors as long as long as they do not upset her. She is asleep at the moment, so I suggest waiting until morning so she can rest."

"Thank you. I will contact everyone and let them know how she is doing." He nodded, and walked towards the floos.

She is going to be okay. The baby is going to be okay. He let out a breath that he didn't know he had been holding. He had been so worried when he couldn't revive her in his office. He was concerned that something had been wrong with her or the baby. The baby...my baby. He had not had these type of feelings in many years; not since his parents...and Lily.

-ooOOoo-

Although it was late, Minerva was waiting for him as he stepped out of the floo. "How is she? Is the baby going to be okay? She seemed so excited about the baby when we were talking on the way to your office, earlier."

"She and the baby are going to be fine, Minerva. The healer told me that she fainted because her blood pressure was too low, and that it was quite common." Severus looked into Minerva's eyes, then suddenly felt very uncomfortable. "If that is all, I am quite tired and would like to retire to my quarters."

"Severus," she gently grasped his arm, "I know you care for Hermione. I think she is really enjoying working with you, and I know that you feel the same way. I think you both could use a really good friend right now, and possibly eventually more."

Severus pulled his arm slowly away from her. "Minerva...please. I am tired; it has been an exhausting day. Please contact the Potters and Miss Lovegood and let them know about Miss Granger. I bid you goodnight."

As Severus stepped out of the floo and into his quarters, he tried not to think about the much too perceptive Headmistress. Apparently, Minerva had the gift for interferring in others' lives just as much as Albus had.

-ooOOoo-

Hermione slowly opened her eyes, and realised she was not in her bed. As she quickly glanced around the room, she noticed she was at St. Mungo's. She tried to think back to the last thing she remembered...meeting Severus at his office at Hogwarts. Oh, God, she thought, as the conversation started to come back to her.

She started to get out of bed when one of the healers entered the room. "Hello, Miss Granger. I am Healer Parkinson, and I work with Healer Smythwick in the obstetrics department. Healer Smythwick is off today, so I will be taking care of you."

"What happened? The last thing I remember is being at Hogwarts. I had a meeting with Professor Snape."

"You fainted, and you were unresponsive when he tried to use Rennervate on you. He brought you in last night. Before you ask, the baby is fine. But you do need to drink more water if you don't want this to happen again."

Hermione just sat there for a minute, trying to process everything the healer had told her. Severus must have been really worried when she did not awaken. She felt guilty for putting him through that, especially after only being released for a few days since her last hospitalization.

"Wait...did you say your name is Healer Parkinson? Are you any relation to Pansy Parkinson?"

"Yes, she is a distant cousin. I don't know her very well, though. I did not go to Hogwarts...I attended Beauxbatons." The healer gave her a reassuring smile.

"You will be able to leave this evening, and I will return in a little while to check on you and the baby. I believe Professor Snape is waiting outside to talk to you. Would you like me to go ahead and send him in?"

"Um...y-yes," she replied nervously.

A few seconds after the healer left, Severus came into her room. As he sat down beside her bed, she noticed the dark circles under his eyes.

"I...I did not mean to upset you so much last night, Miss Granger," he said in a voice much more reserved than his usual tone.

"Hermione."

"Pardon?"

"We agreed to be less formal. Please call me Hermione." She took a deep breath, then looked up at him nervously. "Tell me how you knew that my obliviated memories involved a pub. I have never spoken about it to anyone except to Harry."

"I have just recently remembered it," he glanced over at her shocked expression as he spoke. "Please let me start at the beginning, Hermione."

"O...okay."

"I began working on the memory potion, or at least the idea of the memory potion shortly after I was released from St. Mungo's after the war. I started noticing missing blocks of time, but I was unsure as to whether it was an after-effect of Nagini's bite, or from experiencing the cruciatus curse multiple times. I would often wake up, and then not remember what I had previously done. Most of the time it was just a few hours that were missing, but occassionally it would be a whole day. It happened quite often for about two years after I was bitten. I started working on the potion, but then quit work on it when the episodes stopped. It was only when I had an episode more recently that I began working on the potion again."

"So you didn't create the potion specifically for St. Mungo's, or for Neville's parents."

"No. It was entirely for selfish reasons, but when St. Mungo's expressed an interest in my research, I was more than pleased to try to help the patients and do potions trials."

Hermione studied him for a moment, before finally asking him another question. "But I have read all of your research notes. You never tested the potion on yourself. Or...or did you just not give me a copy of those notes?"

"I did not test it on myself until you were in the hospital. I did not know what type of memories I would recover, and," he paused momentarily, then spoke much softer, "I did not want to have to share those notes with you."

"So you have now recovered some of those memories?"

"Yes, not all of them, but parts of most of them."

Hermione started twisting the sheets of her bed nervously with her fingers. She chewed on her bottom lip for a moment, then looked up at him apprehensively. "How did you know that my obliviated memories were from the pub?"

"At first, I did not know. You could say that I started putting the puzzle pieces together. You told me you needed to recover an obliviated memory, then I accidentally overheard you talking to a healer when you were admitted to St. Mungo's the last time."

"What did you hear?"

"I heard you say that you did not know who the father of your baby was."

She blanched for a moment, "But that still doesn't explain-" She suddenly stopped when he interrupted her.

"At first it was just an educated guess based on all the information that you had told me, and that I had overheard. I wasn't certain, though, until I recovered some of my memories."

"So how did you know about the bar? Did you see me walk in? Did someone tell you that they saw me there?"

He took a deep breath before he replied, "I know because I was there."

A/N... A cliffie, but not quite as evil as the last time. Only pull out the pitchforks if I don't update before I go on vacation ;)

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