Chapter Eighty-Eight
Spotlight by MuteMath
Back at Glencoe, the increasingly hostile conversation surrounding dinner came to a halt while Hermione and Narcissa watched Severus and Draco leave the table. When the sound of the main door closing reached them, the flatware held by Draco's mother clattered to the table as she shielded her worried face with her hands, and Lupin's shoulder. Hermione's arms came around her swollen belly protectively as she slowly closed her eyes and turned her head towards the ceiling. Theo watched as her chest rose sharply before deflating several times as she visibly struggled to control herself, and pull the shields around her mind into place.
Her last breath out made a whisper of a sound as she leveled her head back out and asked, "How bad has it gotten?"
"During February's moon cycle, Severus will be extracting another pint of my wolf's blood to soak Draco's signet ring in, in order to create an improved version of your garnet amulet," Lupin answered. "It would be sooner but Dumbledore is sending me to speak with the packs not yet aligned with a side this cycle. He thinks bringing them the gift of Wolfsbane will help sway them."
"And who the fuck does he plan to have brew that much Wolfsbane?" She demanded.
Theo gave her a pointed look which only made the blooming anger on her face grow.
"You can't be serious! Severus is stretched thin as it is. No, I won't allow it. Tell that manipulative arsehole, I'll do it. He can just excuse me from classes while I tend to the what, twenty or thirty doses that need to be made? When do you need to leave so I can get the lab set up?"
"Forty-two wolves," Lupin answered. "I leave on the eighteenth."
"Fan-fucking-tastic," she grumbled. "As for Draco, I told him I want it back but Cissy, he is more than welcome to keep it. Severus wouldn't have even been able to make that for me without your help, so of course I'm going to give it to your son. I know it's not exactly ideal for him but it's ready and he doesn't have to wait and risk anything between now and then. Besides, I'll be at Hogwarts nearly full time and when I'm not, I'll be with Severus or here. What's the worst that can happen?"
"You mean aside from being kidnapped and tortured by Bellatrix?" Theo offered, casually leaning back in his chair as he looked to Black. "Or being in a classroom with unstable potion cauldrons because Slughorn is shite at classroom management? Oh and don't forget the rampaging incompetency that fills the Defense classroom, despite Sev's best attempts at trying to drill life saving skills into them all."
Narcissa's usually graceful movements had turned shaky and stilted as the legs of her chairs scraped against the floor. Her trembling hands reached out to steady herself on the table as she stood. Further collapsing under her worry for Draco, she stepped out of her heels and left them forgotten under the table as she walked around to Hermione and enveloped her in a tight and awkwardly positioned hug. Theo watched as she ran her hand over Hermione's hair several times, quietly speaking in her ear, before kissing her cheek and stepping back.
"I will be in the cellar preparing for Draco's return later tonight," she announced with a thick voice. "Harry love, it was a pleasure to meet you and I hope next time it will start and end under much better circumstances. Stay as long as you would like and help yourself to anything in the house. Tillie, my elf, will get you anything you wish and Remus will bring you back to the school when you're ready."
Without anything further she pushed her way through the door that separated the dining room and kitchen, the cellar door slamming closed behind her, making Hermione jump.
"Theo, are you ready to go?" She asked him.
"Yeah, the last thing I want to do is sit here and break bread with him," he sneered.
Waving his wand over the linen napkin, he transfigured it into a take away box and scraped his half eaten meal inside. Doing the same to hers and Severus's plates, he tied them together with enough slack to hang from his hand. Finishing with the food, he walked over to Hermione and tucked her hand through the crook of his elbow, ready to guide her out of the manor.
"I'll see you tomorrow at breakfast, Harry," she said in parting, her eyes turning hard as she looked at Black. "Sirius, you'll do well to remember the terms we came to the other night, so be a good boy and behave."
"Do you need me to take you back to the school?" Lupin asked, getting ready to depart the table as well.
"No, thank you though Remus. I'll just call for Tippy and ask her to bring us to Severus's chambers. I'll see you tomorrow morning as well."
"Looking forward to it," he laughed, before following after Narcissa.
Turning to walk out of the dining room, Theo looked at Black over his shoulder, his eyes narrowing as he saw the man smirking at Hermione's retreating backside. His left hand itched to reach for his pocketed wand and at the very least jinx the wizard. Though he hadn't seen anything of what was to come with Sirius being alive, he had whole heartedly been on Severus's side since seeing the events unfold the prior summer. The only thing that had stopped him from telling his professor turned guardian had been getting a crystal clear vision of how those events would unfold. It would be better for everyone, at least for the time being, if they allowed Hermione's plan regarding Potter's godfather to unfold. With any luck, Black could still die in the end.
If only, he silently mused as he helped her into her coat.
The snow had continued to fall while they had been inside the manor, the gravel path becoming slick and icy as the temperature continued to drop. With their shoes fighting the elements for traction, he unwound her arm and slipped his into her coat to tightly hold her waist to him.
"You shouldn't be outside in this weather," he muttered under his breath as they crossed the gates and called for Tippy, making her laugh.
"Theo I'm pregnant, not made of porcelain," she teasingly corrected.
"Might as well be the same thing when it comes to falling on your arse," he snipped, once again releasing his hold on her when Tippy appeared.
A moment later they were sucked through space, landing gently inside of Severus's warmed living room. Taking her coat and boots from her while she disappeared to Severus's office to collect his back log of assignments and lesson plans, Theo hung their things on the tree rack beside the door. Opening their containers of food, he pulled the low coffee table closer to the couch where he propped up his feet and bent his knees creating a makeshift desk with which to eat and work from.
"Okay we have write ups on the sixth year practical from Friday, fourth year essays debating current Ministry laws, and a knowledge based test for his first years that all need to be turned back tomorrow," Hermione announced, floating over two pots of cranberry red ink and quills.
Groaning at the essays, he dropped his head onto the back of the couch while he held out his hand to her.
"I say we divide up the practical notes, you take Slytherin and Hufflepuff and I'll do Gryffindor and Ravenclaw. As for the essays, I challenge you to a duel. Winner gets the tests and the loser has to read those atrocious works."
"Here, you big baby," she laughed, tossing him the bound stack of first year exams along with his half of the student evaluations.
They passed the evening going through the mounds of marking Severus always seemed to be behind on. The small living room of his chambers held a warm comfortable, but nervous silence that they occasionally broke to ask the other's opinion over a particular grade they wished to assign or to quietly comment on the passing time. When she finally finished the most pressing of assignments, she had come around to seeing why he dreaded the fourth year essays and informed him that next time she would take him up on the duel, not wishing to ever see another pre-NEWT level essay again.
"He has a few more stacks that need to be returned later in the week," she said, trying to stretch her back while he poured more tea into their cups. "First though I think I'm going to change. Denims are becoming much too uncomfortable these days."
Theo gave her a quiet noise of acknowledgment as he stood to stretch out his own back, rolling his cramped neck around and flexing his stiff hands. Listening to her admonish Nova about her excessive kicking, he sighed and dropped back onto the couch. Running his fingers through the top of his hair and pulling at the slightly longer strands that he usually styled back from his face, he thought about his visions and the realization of who his witch was, or rather the witch because he couldn't very well call her his own any more.
He had successfully spent the weekend putting the thoughts out of his mind, but sitting beside Hermione all evening while she was free of her cloaking amulet and performing small spells, had been a test against his resolve to put Nova permanently out of his head. The feeling of her was very subtle, something he wouldn't have even noticed had he not experienced the small wave of the baby's magic and touch through her mother after freshly being inside his seer's mind. Ever since he made the connection he had felt angry, betrayed, and disgusted with himself.
Theo had been in love with the witch he had been seeing all these years, and still was, if he was being honest with himself. She had grown to mean everything to him and was the center of his own universe before ever actually meeting her. What he had told Severus about not being able to even be a normal teenager for fear of triggering a vision upon contact with a witch was partially the truth. He had however omitted a few things, thinking he wouldn't understand. Then again the man had faithfully waited for his wife to return for seventeen years so if anyone would have understood, it would have been him. He had been waiting and to an extent saving himself for this witch, only for her to be Severus's daughter.
Severus had long become more than his professor and guardian, crossing into feeling like an older brother or trusted uncle. Occasionally Theo even thought of him like a father and as children from happy homes were loath to disappoint their parents, he was too when it came to Severus. Then there was Hermione...
His third year had been spent working on several projects for Ancient Runes with her, during that time he developed a tenuous friendship with her, maybe more of an acquaintanceship for her, but still a valued relationship to him. Then after Severus had taken him in just before the start of his fourth year, he had learned just who Hermione was to Severus and by extension to him. After that he had made it his mission to become a fixture in her life, assuring they were paired together on assignments as often as possible so he could get the few hours a week with her outside of the classroom that he coveted. He had admittedly straddled the line of stalking when it came to seeking her out so that upon her return she would accept him right away. As her choice in husbands would show though, Hermione had a soft spot for men who obsessively sought her out. But it paid off when she had returned, falling into place within his life as something much more than a preferred school partner.
She had become to him what Narcissa was to Severus, and it was a relationship he was determined to hold on to at all costs. Where things had been awkward and slow to progress with Severus, Hermione's open love and acceptance was like a gravitational pull for him, filling the empty spots within himself from where he had never received a mother's love.
Merlin, I'm a fucking pervert, he silently groaned.
Theo was quickly spinning into another spiral of self hatred when he heard a screech come from the bedroom.
"Oh my God!" Hermione yelled, her voice frantic.
"Are you okay in there?" He questioned, jumping up from the couch.
"Oh my God, oh my God, oh my God," she cried repeatedly, her voice breaking around a sob. "This can't be happening, there's no way this is happening to me."
"What's going on?" He asked, approaching the door with caution.
When her panicked, repetitive speech broke into hysterical sobs and hiccups, he pushed the door open and crossed into the room. Assessing the room around her and seeing everything in order with the exception of her discarded clothes on the bed, his eyes landed on her. Seeing her in only her underthings as she frantically scrubbed at her bum in the mirror, he quickly turned his eyes up towards the ceiling as he spun away from her.
"Can you please put some clothes on?" He desperately asked.
"No, I need you to look and tell me how bad it is!" She pleaded.
"I am not looking at your bare arse, Hermione," he stressed in return.
"Oh come on, please Theo!"
Grumbling to himself as she began to cry harder and try various vanishing spells and glamour charms on herself, he steeled his nerves in preparation of doing as she had asked.
"Turn around," he said, twirling his finger behind him. "And cover the mirror while you're at it."
"You're not making me feel better about myself," she snapped.
"Yeah, well I'm not overjoyed about the idea of dying a virgin if your husband ever finds out about this."
"Just come here and look, the mirror's covered."
Peeking over his shoulder he saw she told the truth and so he turned around and stomped over to where she stood.
"Now what am I looking for?" He asked, annoyed.
"The fucking stretch marks!" she answered in exasperation, looking over her shoulder at him. Pointing down to one cheek she added, "Those disgusting purple and red tiger stripes I seem to have developed. I want to know how bad they are. Do you think Severus has noticed?"
Theo couldn't believe his ears and started laughing at her question.
Struggling to speak around his breath stealing guffaw he said, "Hermione with how often you two were locked inside your room this weekend, yeah I think he noticed and it didn't stop him one bit."
"This is not funny Theodore Reynard Nott!"
"It's hilarious actually. You honestly think Severus cares about any of this?" He asked in disbelief, waving his hand in the general direction of her bum. "Hermione the man is covered in scars. I once heard Madam Pomfrey say during his yearly exam that she estimates as much as forty percent of his body has scar tissue. Your stretch marks from growing your baby are nothing to him. Fuck, knowing his possessive arse he probably gets off on the idea that you'll wear a permanent reminder of growing his kid.
"Like all scars, they will fade over time and soon enough you won't even care about them. Besides, it's not like they detract from everything else you're bringing to the table."
"And what exactly is it that she's bringing to your table Theodore?" Severus's cold voice asked from the doorway.
Hello to spending my afterlife as a virgin...
Rubbing his hand over the back of his neck, he slowly turned around to face Severus.
Scrunching up his face he said, "Nothing, trust me. I've got enough issues on my plate without adding an Oedipus Complex. Just objectively speaking, she's beautiful."
"And you needed to tell her that while she stands in our room wearing nothing but scraps of lace?"
"Severus, be nice!" Hermione admonished, coming between the two of them. "Theo go on to the dorms, I'll deal with Mister Death Eater here."
Not needing to be told twice, he came around Hermione and hurried to the door to collect his things before leaving for the night.
Squeezing past Severus he mumbled, "Since you already want to kill me, pay extra attention to her arse. She's a little sensitive about it right now."
His only response was to raise an eyebrow at him before looking at Hermione as she began to pull on one of Severus's shirts, her face clearly showing that she had been crying recently.
"I'll meet you out in the corridor by the classrooms in the morning," he called out to Hermione before racing out the door.
Severus smirked as the door to their chambers slammed shut. Straightening up from where he was leaning against the door jamb, he lazily flicked his hand at the shirt Hermione had pulled on and banished it to the hamper in the bathroom.
"No sense in you putting it on for me to just take off," he purred, stalking towards her.
Reaching out, he fingered the frilly lace detail on the straps of her bra. Tracing the pattern down over the sheer cups, he grazed her nipples, his smile turning even more devilish as she sucked in a breath of air. Coming to the valley between her breasts, he teasingly ran his fingers down the center of her body, around her belly, and over her flared hips, reaching behind her to grasp the bottom that had offended her so.
Using it to pull her closer to him, he tilted her chin back with his free hand and murmured along her ear, "Now, why are you so distraught about your delicious arse?"
"Severus, what happened to your face?" She breathed out, reaching to stroke the bruise that had bloomed on both his cheeks. "Are those... fingerprints?"
"Later," he said, nipping at her earlobe.
Though he wasn't as deep into his occlusion as he would normally be after meeting with the Dark Lord, he took care to layer his voice with the cold seduction she relished. Ever since the one evening he had come home to her instead of seeing Cissy and slowly coming up from his submersion, it had become a game they enjoyed playing. It had taken him some time to separate the trauma of his childhood from their occasionally more aggressive activities though. However once he had accepted and believed that he was different from his father, it was a role he slipped into for her with or without having needed to attend a gathering prior to taking her to bed.
Severus tapped his finger against Hermione's chin where he had been tilting her head back to indicate that she should hold her current position. With the rest of his fingers, he took his time to slowly graze the length of her throat. He watched as her shoulders slumped with relaxation as he began to retrace the same path his other hand had traveled earlier. When he reached her breasts again, he circled the peak of her right nipple and lightly pinched at it making a startled gasp sound from her that was followed by a moan as he repeated the action to her left.
He bent closer to her, his mouth kissing along the side of her jaw and down her throat where he began to suck at the corded tendons in her neck. A series of soft whimpers came from her as he began to rake his teeth over the spots he kissed, and suck at her flesh. Releasing the hold he had on her bottom, he slipped the straps of her bra down her shoulders and worked the clasp free, allowing the delicate pink lace to fall to the floor. With her bra gone, he continued to move his mouth lower, dropping to his knees before her so he could comfortably give his attention to her growing breasts.
His hands glided down the sides of her body as his tongue circled her nipples like they were her small little bud, making her pant as her fingers went to thread through his hair. Sliding her knickers off her hips, he steadied her as she stepped each foot out and kicked them away.
"Now we can begin," he said with dark intentions.
Standing up, he took a step back from her and canted his head to the side while his eyes traveled the length of her body. Motioning for her to turn for him, he carefully appraised her from every angle before stopping her when she faced him again.
"Still fucking perfect. Absolutely stunning."
At his declaration, a beautifully shy smile spread across her face, a faint blush coloring her cheeks. Cupping her face between his large hands, Severus leaned forward and pressed a gentle kiss to her lips, finishing it off with another nip of his teeth as she kissed him back.
Pulling away from her, he snaked one of his hands behind her head and tangled it into her hair. Summoning a pillow, he gave a tug on her strands and began guiding her down to rest on her knees between his legs. When she looked up at him through her lashes with dilated eyes, a faint rumble of a growl came from his chest.
"Suck," he commanded silkily, as she continued to look up at him.
He didn't miss the excited smile on her face as she eagerly worked to comply, her hands running up his denim clad thighs towards his straining zipper. As she undid the button and pulled the metal teeth free, a small groan of relief left him at the added space he now had for his erection. Though he stood tall and his face seemed impassive, his body betrayed the cool demeanor he was giving off when his cock jumped at her first touch.
Severus's breath hissed and stuttered when her finger glided over the slit on his head. He looked down at her and watched as she collected the moisture that was there and rolled it across the flared head. Her lone finger was slowly joined by the rest and eventually her whole palm as she continued to coat her hand with him. Just when he was about to growl with impatience, she gripped his length and gave him a firm downward stroke, twisting her wrist as she went. And when the side of her hand connected with the base of his cock, she brought her mouth down to engulf him.
Another hissed out breath left him and turned into a moan as her tongue worked a circling pattern over him. She licked and massaged him in a lazy manner, slowly drawing out his pleasure while her hand continued to work the end of him, occasionally reaching lower to lavish attention on his sack. When her head began to bob up and down on him, her cheeks hollowing out with suction, his hold on her hair tightened. The resulting moan she let out, vibrated his cock and pulled an involuntary jerk of his hips forward, making him bump the back of her mouth.
"Fuck, yes," he growled, guiding her head more and gently beginning to thrust his hips against her as he slipped further into her mouth, gliding shallowly into her throat.
Hermione's mouth sucked and pulled at his cock with increasing speed. His hand remained firmly tangled in her curls, working against her rhythm over him. With his other hand he reached down and played with her nipple. He rolled the puckered flesh under his fingers, pulling and twisting until she began to moan around him again.
"Touch yourself," he purred, when he felt her fingers begin to sink into the muscle of his arse. "Wet your fingers with your pretty little cunt and rub yourself. I want to hear you scream with my cock shoved in your mouth."
She moaned at his filthy words, her eyes darting up to look at him through her lashes again. Her eyes were hazy in her lust and while he maintained eye contact with her, the intensity of it pushing him closer to release, he knew the moment she began to stroke her own slit. The fluttering of her lashes and sighs that heated his length were unmistakable.
"Very good," he praised, petting her.
Her moans increased as her fingers worked furiously between her thighs. The vibrations stroked him while she sucked and pulled, his back stiffening as he began to feel his sack tighten and raise.
"I want you to come before I do, do you understand?"
She nodded with excitement as her hips began to bounce on top of her hand, her breaths hissing from her nose as she chased her orgasm. As she got closer to release, her throat began to relax more allowing him to push even deeper through her mouth.
Severus's head fell back, his eyes closing as the blunt end of his cock was constricted by the muscles of her swallowing and vocal throat. He could feel the need to come just below the surface and briefly went to pull her head back from him. As he tugged at her hair to signal his intentions, she glared up at him, her hands leaving his sack and herself, to dig her nails back into the muscles of his arse.
"No," she protested around him, using her grip on him to keep his hips thrusting into her mouth.
"Fuck, Hermione," he moaned loudly.
Prying a hand from his bum loose, he pushed it back down to her, urging her to continue working herself up to climax. When she resumed her frantic ministrations and brought her other hand back to massaging his sack, she looked back up to him with soft, smiling eyes. Reaching out he cupped her cheek in his hand, relishing in the tender moment when she tilted into his touch and nuzzled against him as best she could.
"I love you," he quietly said aloud, the warm touch against his mind telling him she had heard.
Hermione realigned her head with his cock, breaking the moment, and redoubling her efforts on him. Her shallow pants increased around him as her hips and hand worked faster against herself. The rhythm over his cock began to stutter and the vibration from her throat increased. Removing his hand from her face, he brought both to tangle into her hair and manipulated her head to keep the steady pace he needed.
The moans and keening noise she made grew louder and more frequent as she reached the point of shattering. Then in the blink of an eye, she cried out his name around his length, rocking over her hand in short, tired movements, before resting her forehead on his pubic bone, panting as his cock slipped out of her mouth.
A content little sigh left her as she nuzzled against him and whispered back, "I love you too."
"Hands and knees," he snapped, though he smiled down at her indulgently, happy to have won the battle of where he would release himself.
While she adjusted the pillow on the floor and got into position, Severus pushed the sleeves of his shirt up and pulled the waistband of his denims down a bit further. Kneeling behind her, he pushed her knees open a little more, then ran his hands up the back of her thighs. Curving his hands up her bottom, he pressed his fingers into her flesh, squeezing and kneading the muscles. Looking at her changing body, he took her concerns and Theo's awkward advice to heart and ran his tongue up one of her loathed markings, nipping her at the end.
With a firm slap to her other cheek that made her squeal, he spoke with command.
"Don't ever worry about your body, Hermione. Every fucking inch of you is perfect," he stressed, puncturing his words with another swipe of his tongue. "The way you've changed to grow our child is the most beautiful sight I have ever seen." Kissing as many of the marks as he could, he added, "Frankly I love seeing them on you, because long after you've given birth you'll still have these. So when this is gone," he said, reaching around to touch her heavy belly, "These will still remain to show how deep inside of you I've been."
Her chuckle at his words was confusing, but the edgy need he felt to enter her and come over ruled his question. Gripping her hips, he lined himself up with her entrance and pushed in without preamble. Her quiet laughter sharply turned into a gasp as her back bowed, her bottom thrusting back to meet his intrusion.
Curling over her to kiss her spine, he began to pump into her with a fast beat. The way she cried out and mewled with each thrust quickly drove him higher. Each stroke along her swollen walls had him groaning and grunting with pleasure. Reaching around her front, he thumbed at her bud testing the sensitivity. When she pushed down onto his hand to keep his contact there, he began to rub and roll the bundle in time with his thrusts.
Curling his back some, he looked down to watch himself disappear inside of her. The erotic sight held him transfixed, engaging a multitude of his senses. Loving the juxtaposition of voyeur and privacy he summoned the mirror she had been crying in front of earlier and positioned it before them. When it settled into place, Hermione looked over her shoulder at him with a mischievous grin and a quick nod of her head.
Bending over her once more, he curled his arms under hers and pulled her against his chest, lifting them both to kneeling so they could see.
"Oh Merlin," she breathed, meeting his eyes in the reflective glass.
He sucked on her neck as he watched her play with her enlarged breasts. Bringing his other hand around her, he worked to slowly open her up more while thrusting up and into her from behind. They both moaned at the sight and watched with rapt attention as he continuously pistoned into her.
"Shite Hermione, that's enough to make me come," he growled in her ear.
She nodded in agreement before turning to capture his lips with her own. She wound her arm around his head to keep him sealed against her and worked her tongue into his mouth in a desperate kiss.
I love you Severus, she silently chanted inside his mind.
Reaching out into hers he began to caress along the parts of her mind that registered her pleasure. Within minutes, her muscles started to flutter and her plush channel constricted around his length. Breaking their kiss, he could feel his back begin to tingle as the sharp pulses as his release started to spiral and hurtle forth. Looking back to the mirror, he watched her breasts bounce and his cock struggled to continue thrusting as her walls choked him. When her own hand reached down and started to flick at her exposed nub and her eyes caught his in the mirror as she fell apart for the second time, he came with a shout of her name.
Severus brought her with him as he fell back onto his heels, heavily panting. He wrapped both his arms around her, creating a cage as he fervently kissed every part of her that he could reach.
Laughing again as her breathing began to slow, Hermione said, "I'm glad I didn't make a bet with Theo."
Puffing out a chuckle at her random thoughts, he asked, "What the hell does that have to do with anything?"
Moving to his side and summoning several more pillows to the floor, she looked into his eyes with exasperation as she answered, "He said you're so possessive that you would probably get off on my stretch marks since they are a lasting reminder of having been pregnant."
Severus couldn't even pretend to protest the accurate observation as he smiled at her, shaking his head.
"Damn kid is too perceptive. However he would do well to remember the adage about glass houses. You should see how he guards his visions about his mystery witch."
He relaxed under her touch as she lazily mapped out more of his scars. He watched her brow furrow in thought as she mulled over her opinion about Theo's secrets. Her fingers methodically pressed into some of the more rough patches of scar tissue to knead the perpetually stiff muscle beneath, making him hiss as she worked at the ever present knots. He did his daily stretches, applied his creams and did his bath soaks as required, and had been diligent in his exercise regime to keep his gnarled muscles as loose as possible. The only thing he didn't actively engage in was regularly giving his muscle groups a deep tissue massage. Hermione however had no qualms about forcing the therapeutic and highly uncomfortable touch on him.
"What are you thinking?" He asked as she remained silently contemplative.
His question clearly startled her as she jumped, ending her torturous massage with a gentle pat to his reddening muscles.
"That you also live in a glass house. After all, you don't enjoy disclosing thoughts of me to the Dark Lord. Theo will come around in his own time, I'm sure. I mean I'm sort of new to all of this and still in disbelief, though less skeptical now. I imagine though, that even with a lifetime of visions of her, he's probably worried he'll reveal too much and lose her," she reasoned.
"When did you get so wise, witch?"
"I don't know," she said lightly. "Probably helps that my husband is ancient," she teased.
"Ancient? Seriously, angel?" He asked incredulously before rolling her onto her back. "I'll show you ancient," he threatened before sealing his mouth over hers.
The following morning, Hermione stirred in the bed as the mattress dipped. Prying an eyelid open she was met with the indulgent face of her husband as he leaned over her and kissed her forehead.
"I have to attend a rather mind-numbing meeting with the other heads of house and Poppy this morning before breakfast," he whispered, smoothing back her hair. "I'll see you in the Great Hall and maybe during your free period this afternoon, you'll come to my office."
Giving him a sleepy smile, she nodded her head. When he went to ease off the bed, she grabbed a hold of his wrist, her sleep numbed muscles not fully cooperating, as she tried to tug on his arm. Relenting to her feeble demands, he lowered back down to her so she could properly kiss him, before sending him on his way to begin what was sure to be a busy day full of whispering students.
Sitting up to run her fingers through his freshly washed hair, she mussed up the wet strands and deepened her exploration. With the sheet pooling around her hips, she inched closer to him and allowed her bare chest to graze the fine wool of his jacket.
"Insatiable little minx," he growled against her mouth, making her smile brighter. "Save it for when you come to my office. We can christen my desk," he offered, his hand darting under the sheet to wickedly caress her dampening center.
With a teasing smirk, he sucked his wet finger into his mouth and walked out of the bedroom. Throwing a pillow at his retreating back, Hermione flopped back onto the bed with a frustrated groan. Pursing her lips, she began to rub her thighs together and lower her hand to reach between her legs.
"Don't even think about it," he called out. "I want you close to begging for it when you show up."
"You're an evil man, Severus Snape!"
"And you love it!" He yelled back, closing the door behind him.
"Yeah, I do," she admitted, checking the time on his small table clock.
Too awake to go back to sleep, she threw the blankets back and made her way into the bathroom to get ready for the day ahead. After she dressed and packed her bag, she patted her concealed belly for Crookshanks to jump up. Tucking the ginger beast under her arm and making a note to talk to Tippy about cutting back the amount of treats she gave him, she headed through the extra door in their chambers into Severus's lab and from there his closed office. Letting Crooks down and out into the school corridors through his classroom, Hermione sat at his desk and began working on the stack of assignments that she swore had grown from when she had last seen it the night before.
When the alarm on her wand went off a little over an hour later, Hermione had a newfound appreciation for Severus as a professor along with the rest of her teachers. She silently vowed to never write more than the parameters set forth for her essays ever again, feeling horrible for how much of their time she had taken up over her years at Hogwarts with her needless attempts at showing off her intelligence. Canceling the charm on her quill to mimic his spiky script, she capped his inkwell and resealed his office as she walked out through the classroom exit.
The corridors of the school still only had a slow trickle of students milling about, most lingering in their dorms till the last possible minute before breakfast truly began and with it the delivery of the mail. The reminder of what would be arriving this morning, not only to the student body of Hogwarts but to nearly every home across Wizarding Britain, made her stomach drop and tighten with nerves.
There's nothing to be done for it now, Hermione. You just need to pluck up your courage and get on with it. You can't let the facade fall before you even put it on.
Satisfied with her inner scolding, she headed back towards the dungeons to meet Theo and check on Draco before heading to the Great Hall. Coming across the boys already waiting for her at the base of the stairs, she took the steps as quickly as she could to overlook her godson.
"Draco are you okay?" She rushed out, reaching for him, turning his face in every direction as she checked for markings. "What happened? Severus would barely tell me anything last night."
He shoved his hands into his pockets, the arrogant air he always seemed to wear gone from his aura, as his shoulders rounded forward and his back hunched.
"I'm fine Hermione," he half heartedly insisted. "I was lucky that he made Severus punish me. With him not putting his full strength into the curses and your necklace absorbing a lot of the impact, it was nowhere near as bad as it has been, when it'sAunt Bella. By the way, here," he said, pulling her necklace out and letting it dangle between them.
"Severus punished you!" She nearly shrieked, prompting them to shush her. "Oh that man, no wonder he didn't tell me what happened with you," she muttered, her mind whirling with all the ways she was going to chastise him later, though she knew Draco suffering a curse under her husband's wand was far better than that of one cast by Bellatrix Lestrange. "Keep it, it'll be another full cycle before yours is complete. I'll be safe enough in the school and with Severus," she added, waving him off as Draco kept trying to hand it to her.
"Are you sure?"
"Positive. I don't know if I'll always be able to get it to you in time and the chances of you not being summoned before March are not in your favor. No offense."
"None taken, it's the truth," he said dejectedly. "And watch your back if you go into the village. Greyback was running his mouth last night and Sev may have castrated him for it. Not sure if he got the cords off his bollocks in time or not."
Rolling her eyes at Severus's twisted idea of a love language, she hugged Draco and murmured in his ear, "I'm going to get you free of this, I promise."
"Thanks Hermione... Now come on," he responded, his jovial mask firmly falling into place. "We need to get you and my future wife fed."
Giving him a shove, she linked her arm through Theo's, taking note of the scowl that slashed across his beautiful face. Filing it away for later, though it tickled at the back of her mind, she pretended not to notice as he too dropped his persona into place.
"Ugh Slytherins, always with the hidden emotions," she dramatically groaned. "Like it's a sin to have feelings."
"Basically," they simultaneously replied, making her laugh.
"You two are a package deal aren't you?" She teased.
They both made sounds in the affirmative, while she added, "I pity the witch that tries to be with one of you. Like the twins, it'll be all or nothing won't it? Merlin, help her..."
They parted ways at the entrance to the Great Hall, the new trio she was a part of going unnoticed by the bleary eyed fifth and seventh years who ate their breakfast around their piles of notes. While still several months away, the Ministry mandated spring exams were clearly in the forefront of their minds. Sitting at her house table, Hermione glanced around and wondered if that would ever be her, or if by the time spring turned to summer this year if she would need to flee to keep her daughter safe.
Shaking the alarmingly frightful and depressing thought from her mind, she focused on fixing her first cup of tea. Seeing that Severus had yet to arrive from his meeting, she secretly expanded the inside of her cup to pour herself a double dose of caffeine. Adding her teaspoons of sugar and splashes of milk, she happily sipped away as a plate of fruit appeared before her, along with her daily potions.
"Thank you Tippy," she whispered, happy the elf remembered to check on her doses and supply her with her missed vitamins.
Picking through her fruit as she read one of the books she had purchased on child rearing, she was startled when Ron and Harry dropped onto the bench seat across from her.
"Morning Hermione," Harry happily greeted, his demeanor easily giving away the surprising and welcomed news he had received last night. "Did you have a good evening?"
'A good evening.' Godric's sweet mother Harry, you've never spoken like that in your life.
"Probably spent it shagging her old as dirt husband no doubt," Ron grumbled, spearing a link of sausage onto his fork.
"Actually that's exactly how I spent my night," she retorted, smirking at him as he choked on his food.
"Blimey, I do not need to hear about you taking some wrinkly old cock while eating my breakfast," he coughed out.
"Penis envy, Weasley?" Draco drawled as he and Theo sat down on either side of her, both staring at her on and off friend with hostility.
Taking another sip of her tea and finding her cup empty, Hermione set to work on fixing another one, raising her eyebrow at Harry as they silently suffered the stand off that was unfolding.
"What are you and your boyfriend even doing here, Ferret?" Ron seethed.
"Having breakfast with Hermione, what's it look like?" Theo coolly replied, swapping out her second cup of tea with a glass of juice.
"Hey!" She scolded, reaching for her cup while he gave a pointed look at her stomach. "Fine," she relented petulantly, crossing her arms.
"Don't you have friends of your own?"
"Weasel, you'll find she's more ours than yours, so do yourself a favor and shut it," Draco retorted.
He reached across her, not taking his eyes off of Ron, over to Theo and snagged her tea back and handed it to her, making her beam as she greedily snatched it and gulped its contents before Theo could get it back.
"How do you figure that one?"
"Well you see, Hermione here is my auntie" he explained, throwing a taunting arm around her and kissing her head while Theo absently summoned the roasted mushrooms over to her. "And as for Theo, she's basically his mummy."
"For the love of Salazar's chamber can we please not call her that?" Theo said in disgust. "It makes me feel like a pervert."
"Hermione, what the hell is going on? And why are these snakes at our table? And Harry, why aren't you saying anything?" Ron demanded, his face growing more red, as his voice grew louder with each question.
Looking at Theo as he stiffened beside her, Hermione saw his eyes partially glaze over.
"Theo..." She asked in concern, looking frantically to the head table as Severus and Minerva walked in through the side door.
"Three... two... one..." he counted out under his breath, his wand dropping into his hand from his sleeve.
On her other side, Draco caught his movement and did the same, though he didn't care to hide his defensive position as he raised it between her and Ron. A moment later a flurry of wings echoed through the hall as letters, parcels, and newspapers dropped along the tables. The growing volume of the Great Hall slowly died out as more and more people opened their copies of the Daily Prophet . Whispers and stolen glances began to break out around them.
"What do you think's in the paper this morning?" Ron asked, seeing the commotion, his anger temporarily forgotten.
"I think we're about to find out," Harry said, pointing up as Hedwig swooped down and dropped his copy of the paper in the center of the table.
Star Crossed Through Time
The Unvarnished and Tragic Love Story of Severus Snape, Acquitted Death Eater and Professor of Hogwarts, and Hermione Granger, Muggleborn Best Friend of Harry Potter and Hogwarts Student
By Rita Skeeter
Beneath the eye-catching headline, was a blown up photo of them from 1979, alongside one from the past weekend, leaving no doubt as to whether or not they were still together and if there was any truth to the breaking story.