Notes: Mention of a miscarriage. Nothing graphic but consider yourself warned!
In the drawing-room of the Malfoy mansion, logs crackled merrily in the fireplace, the best Indian tea was cooling, almond trees were blooming in the courtyard, and peacocks were pompously pacing. Severus felt as if the walls of the manor were narrowing around him, promising to bury him beneath them at any moment. The room was hot and there was no air to breathe. He suppressed the urge to turn and run out of this house. He wanted to open the window and take a deep breath, but he knew that the oxygen wouldn't draw away the terrible news. Severus was terrified of what would happen when Hermione awakened. Most of all he was afraid to meet with her condemning gaze. Be that as it might, it was their mutual tragedy.
Two days ago, Narcissa's Patronus had brought him news that Severus would never forget. His morning with Hermione began as usual: they had breakfast, Snape sorted out the correspondence, answered several letters, approved the schedule changes, and assured Minerva that the school would definitely survive a couple of weeks without her presence. After dinner, a Slytherin-Gryffindor match was to take place, and Snape grudgingly admitted that he could well have done without Quidditch.
Hermione was methodically spreading cheese on her toast and re-reading her theses: she was going to present her own reform program for Muggleborns in front of Kingsley and the rest of the ministers, so she was terribly worried about her upcoming meeting. She was seriously puzzled by her husband's proposal to make changes to the curriculum for children from non-magical families, but she did not know how such bold views would be perceived by a society that was ossified in ancient traditions. Snape was more concerned with his Quidditch play.
"I don't understand why you're so worried," Hermione wondered, finishing her breakfast. "It's just a match."
"No, these are tribunes full of hormonal teenagers, these are two faculties that have recently been at enmity, this is Gryffindor, temporarily deprived of its dean because of the full moon, and this is me, the Headmaster. Ah, yes, these are also Potter and Draco, who promised to drop by. Can you imagine that dam that would burst when the children meet two of the best Seekers in Hogwarts history?"
"In my opinion, you just do not like sports. Still, you can always cancel the match."
"Minerva will bite my head off. Spare me, I will refrain from such a possibility. What's with your theses?"
Hermione poured tea into a cup and scratched her nose.
"I have a bad feeling: I'm sure that I will not be able to convince anyone, and I'll only make the Ministry angry."
"Do you want me to go with you and remind Kingsley with the help of whom he got his post?"
"This already sounds like bribes and threats, but I want to get to the bottom of the truth on my own."
"Your perfectionism ruins your life."
"Perhaps, but I'm not the smartest witch of my generation for nothing," Hermione replied, kissed Snape on the cheek, and hurried away from home.
The match was not as troublesome as Severus imagined: the children were much more concerned about the visit of the famous Harry Potter, who unexpectedly became friends with Malfoy, than about what was actually happening on the field. Draco wittily commented on the game, Harry looked after the Gryffindors, and Snape already began to think that he was worrying in vain, and that his intuition let him down for the first time in his life when suddenly a peacock Patronus from Lucius flew right in front of him, and Narcissa's ermine came right after. Snape had to urgently cast a silencing charm.
"Sweet Darling, please, try to stay calm: Hermione is with us, she is bleeding. The meeting with the Ministers did not go as expected. Finish your match and Apparate to us."
The message from Lucius was even less reassuring: "Ancestral magic ritual is needed. Black is on his way. Waiting for you. Take courage"
The Malfoy family, despite their tremendous influence, possessed an amazing ability to express themselves in florid sentences that did not carry any meaning. The fact made Snape immensely frustrated. Wasting no time, he waved his wand and dictated a message to his raven: "Black, what the hell happened there?"
The silver dog was not long in coming: "Your wife has lost her child. She's with the Malfoys. They need my help. I'm going to the Malfoys."
Only years of endurance and iron will helped Snape not to lose his control when Sirius unleashed such news on him. How? How could this happen? Hermione managed to get pregnant, and he didn't even know? Did this mean that he managed to remove the curse from her? Severus' head was spinning from this mixture of shocking news. Harry and Draco were already standing at attention in front of him: both guys were very good at reading faces, and they did not like the expression on the face of their former professor.
"I need to…" Snape began and stopped short in mid-sentence. "I really need you both to bring the game to the end and not allow the children to place Hogwarts apart if their favorite team loses. I should be with your parents, Draco."
"We understand, godfather. We realized that the Patronuses had brought bad news. We'll figure it out."
Snape shook his head in disbelief, but Harry stepped forward.
"I don't want to sound like a self-confident upstart, sir, you have always reproached me for this, but I was in command of Dumbledore's Army, and if I managed to hammer at least some sense into the heads of my friends back then, I think, I can handle a bunch of hormonal teenagers now."
"For my part, I work in the library, I command the kids on a daily basis," Draco grinned, "and besides, we are still their heroes, no matter which team wins today. Go, godfather, we can handle it."
Collecting some potions from his own first aid kit, Severus Apparated directly from the Potions room. Only Occlumency's shields kept him from losing control of the situation.
He understood perfectly well what ritual Black was telling him about. Be that as it may, he would again be in Sirius' debt. The Ancestral magic made it possible to take under its protection the wizards or witches balancing on the brink of life and death. Loss of blood was considered the most terrible ailment because blood was directly related to magic. He almost became a squib after Nagini's attack, and if not for Hermione's intervention, who knew how that fight with the snake might have turned out. But he did not have a potion of Life-Giving Blood on hand, and it took months to prepare such a remedy. Lucius, present on the Board of Governors, where Hermione spoke today, correctly assessed the situation and made the right decision.
The Malfoy family could have accepted the Muggle-born witch under their protection because they were already to some extent connected with Snape and Hermione through the mating ritual. In the wizarding world, everyone was somehow linked by bloodline, or debt, or vows. Severus considered Narcissa and Lucius to be his second family, he was Draco's godfather, which already made him a part of their family. Hermione saved Black's life, and Sirius was the only Head of the Family so far. Along with Lucius, Sirius was able to invoke ancient magic and ask it for protection.
In these worldviews purebloods were different from Muggleborns: many generations of wizards and witches stood behind them, they were subject to the original power that could be used to save lives. A similar ritual of separation of power and magic once tied Snape to Lily and forced him to protect Harry. Now Black was going to help Snape and Hermione.
Severus hesitated at the gate, catching his breath: never in his life had he felt so desperate and helpless. They won and lost at the same time. Why did his wife bleed? Who harmed her? A hundred ideas swarmed in his head about how to take revenge on an invisible enemy: for some reason, Severus was sure that someone from the Ministry had injected poison on Hermione. Someone was very unhappy with her success in politics and sought to prevent their marriage. Internal confusion prevented him from thinking rationally, so when Narcissa left the house and practically took him by the hand and led him inside, he was not even surprised. They never needed unnecessary words of consolation and stupid pretentious assurances that everything would be fine.
Lucius and Black went to the Ministry to look for evidence, to interview witnesses, and have a heart-to-heart talk with Kingsley. They, much as Snape did, came up with the idea of Hermione's enemies, and they were in a hurry to figure it out: in the end, having a godson in Aurory and connections in politics, one could count on success.
Severus went to his wife. His own despair and helplessness stifled him. He had never been dependent on other people in his life, and now it turned out that both the Malfoys and Black came to help him when he least expected it. Snape's own world was crumbling before his very eyes.
Hermione was teetering on the edge of consciousness. When, during her speech at the Ministry, she was hit by some vicious spasm, she did not immediately realize what was happening. Lucius Malfoy instantly appeared next to her and shouted something about urgently needing access to the nearest Floo network. He also threatened that if at least one single soul would dare to write to the Daily Prophet that Madame Snape had lost consciousness, they would wish they were never born... Lucius did not have time to finish his threat when Kingsley suddenly nodded understandingly and promised to contact the Malfoys if he could find out anything. And he wished Madame Snape a speedy recovery.
Everything that followed happened as if in a fog. Narcissa cast a healing charm on Hermione, sending out patronuses to her cousin and Severus along the way. Lucius discussed in an undertone with his wife the critical need to keep this tragedy a secret. Saint Mungo's was out of the question. There would be hype. Gossip would scatter in a matter of hours. Someone was very unhappy with the Marriage Law. Someone really did not like the new reforms of the Ministry. Someone decided to interfere in politics. They had only to find out who exactly and for what purposes.
Miscarriages were not uncommon among Muggleborn war heroes, but together with the Marriage Law, it raised suspicions.
Severus entered the guest bedroom, lit by the dim candlelight, and peered into his wife's pale face. He would manage to find out the truth and punish those who were responsible for her condition. Of that he was sure. But what about Hermione, whose dream of motherhood was shattered into pieces again? Snape knew that thanks to the ritual of the Malfoys and Black, she was now protected by ancient magic, her life was not in danger, and they could try again, but despair was overwhelming him.
He took his wife's hands and pressed his forehead to them.
It was time to remember his espionage past and take revenge.
"I'm with you, my Dearheart. I'm here."