Hermione had been suspicious of Severus after the days he had returned home. She felt as if he were different, but a ghost of the man she knew and loved and she knew and she knew it was because of her. If she hadn't had been so stupid and remembered to take a contraceptive potion then she wouldn't be in this situation right now. But then again, how many girls would plan on ending up with their Potions Professor in a more than platonic way? Exactly, none.
While her actions were stupid and she kept beating herself up over it, she could hardly turn back time... Well, maybe she could but she didn't think it wise to meddle with time, not now, anyway.
Every morning Severus would spring from bed, kiss her gently on the cheek, dress and leave. Hermione had cornered him one afternoon on his return and demanded to know where he was and why he was leaving her. The devil flickering behind her eyes told Severus that perhaps he might be in danger of a tongue lashing at the least and a clip around the ear at worst.
He had assured her it was nothing to worry about at all and had managed to defuse the situation after she had basically accused him of running off with another woman. He had to laugh at that one, he was lucky to have the one woman in his life, let alone push his luck and find another.
So, on the eighth morning, Severus had disappeared, Hermione was ready and waiting to follow him. With stealthy finesse, she followed him, one tentative step after the other, senses overdrive trying to work out her next move. It wasn't easy to keep up with Severus Snape's brisk pace, especially when you were trying to go undetected. Many a time she had found herself darting behind a brick wall or ducking behind a hedge, it wasn't long before he had stopped, looked left and right before turning up a dirty back alley and apparating away, leaving her standing there, none the wise to where he had gone.
Giving up she threw her hands in the air, sighing haughtily and heading back home. She had an appointment at St Mungo's to attend and being pregnant, she didn't want to risk splinching the baby so had to travel by Floo, which was cumbersome and annoying but it was for the best.
Prior to getting pregnant, she didn't honestly realize how many pre-natal appointments one must attend, she felt as if she spent more time at appointments than at home. She also thought that the person she was having a child with would be by her side at all of these appointments, stroking her hair and telling her everything would all be okay when she was scared and thwarting all of her fears, and so far, her well thought out plans in her head had been little more than a fairy tale.
She had soured her own mood thinking about him the whole walk back. He was so distant lately and she didn't know why. She knew the whole shift had happened when they had found out she was pregnant so she could only assume he was still with her under sufferance and under the guise of showing the world he was doing the right thing by not abandoning the young girl, barely into womanhood who was pregnant with his spawn.
She had stepped ever so softly into the fireplace and threw down her floo powder, feeling the all too familiar sensation of being pulled into a vortex, blinking rapidly as the bright lights of the stark hospital met her gaze. Stepping out into the waiting room she dusted off her clothes, not even a person in the room lifted their gaze to meet her, obviously so used to someone manifesting from a fireplace it wasn't even worth their notice.
Just as she went to take her seat, she noticed a flurry of black robes whip past the door and out of sight. A raised eyebrow was all she could muster up. Surely it wasn't him she thought to herself as she strode with purpose to the door, peering precariously around the wall only to see his black robes whip out of sight once more. Could she have honestly been any luckier to end up at the same place he was? Time to continue her sleuthing.
With ninja-like finesse and agility, she tip-toed after him for a few hundred meters as he turned one corner, then another. She looked at the signs above as she went, she had walked this path once or twice before when she had come with Harry and Ron on occasion and Neville on others to visit his parents. He didn't want to go alone and Hermione wanted to be there for him.
Why was Severus heading down this way? She knew the ward for long-term patients was down here, often those who had lost their memories and she knew that he certainly wouldn't be down here for Neville's parents or Gilderoy Lockhart. As well as the magical maladies and reversals unit.
Her breath caught in her throat and tears pricked at her eyes, was this where he had been coming daily? What was here that he had to lie to her about? She felt broken and upset, angry that he had never told her. Was she not worthy of knowing any of his information and whereabouts? Did he have to lie to her because he was ashamed of her or because he hated her with such intensity in his heart for bearing him an heir that he had just given up on her?
She watched as he turned left into the magical maladies unit as she followed in hot purist. The door shutting behind him with a resonating thud. Her hand hovered over the door handle for a moment. Did she want to know who he was visiting or what he was doing? What was so important that he felt the need to hide her from it? Was she ready to confront him and face whatever, or whoever it was that he was visiting here? She nibbled harshly on her bottom lip, maybe she was jumping the gun here too, maybe this wasn't where he was coming, maybe he was just delivering a potion, Afterall, she knew he brewed particular potions for the hospital.
Her heart beat in her chest like a tribal drum, she could turn now on her heel and leave and pretend none of this happened, or she could follow him and find out once and for all what he was up to. Was she ready to face what might be on the other side of this door? The question she had to ask herself was could she handle what was on the other side? Maybe he had a long-lost lover he was reconnecting with.
She inhaled a deep, shuddery breath, her hand shaking on the handle as she pushed it open and stepped in. The ward was deathly quiet, she could hear her own heart beating in a rapid manner, pushing her blood around her body ten-fold. A nurse looked up and gave her a small, meek smile and then went about her business.
Hermione actually had no idea where he was or what room he would be in she slowly began to walk the long hallway, room after room of sad, empty looking people staring back at her as she peered in, their eyes almost pleading with her to help them. She tried to push the harsh images to the back of her head when she heard him, his voice. Her palms began to sweat, her heart beating even harder. Was this stupid? Was he going to be upset with her that she had followed him? Part of her knew she shouldn't do this but the other part of her needed to know what he was doing.
Blinking quickly, she closed her eyes, stepped into the room not exactly sure what to expect. She opened her eyes just in time to see Severus turn towards her, mouth agape as he tried to stumble for something to say.
The two other people in the room blinking rapidly at her with deep regard and wonder. Her breath hitched in her throat and she began to shake before she burst into tears falling hard to her knee's. She never thought she would see them again, she never thought she would be in the same room as them.
"Hermione?" The woman whispered as she stepped tentatively closer to the weeping girl on the floor.
"Mum?" Hermione sniffed through a deluge of tears as the thin woman looked down at her with deep affection in her eyes.
"Severus?" Hermione choked out as if waiting for an explanation. He knelt down before her, taking both of her soft, white hands in his bony calloused ones.
"When I went away for that week and never told you where I was going... I went to get your parents. I couldn't marry you without at least trying. I know it would have meant the world to you to have them at your wedding, to have them back in your life. I managed to almost reverse the memory charm you put on them, and it wasn't easy. They remember for the most part but there are still something's they forget but daily, daily the healers are breaking down the walls and healing them."
She looked at him with adoration in her eyes as she lunged forward, he managed to catch her in her arms and balance the two of them in the precarious position.
"No one has ever done anything like this for me," She sniffled into his robes.
"I wanted it to be a secret, I wanted to bring them to you when they were fully healed, I knew you were getting angrier by the day and your over-active imagination probably had you placing me in the bed of another woman but that was the furthest thing from the truth."
"What do they remember?" She whispered into his robes, almost inaudible.
"They know you are their daughter, they remember me as your professor from school, they remember Harry and Ron but they don't remember much else... They don't know of your magical capabilities and we really need those thoughts to come back sooner if you were to tell them or show them you could shock them enough that they revert to their previous memory loss."
All Hermione could manage was a whispered thank you, as he brought them both to their feet.
Hermione was never, ever going to be able to repay him. Not now, not ever.
A/N: Just a little filler chapter, getting closer to the end now... Trying to do my best at the moment after my muse went on an adventure and didn't take me with it, so some chapters...I may not do them justice. -Aliasmel1