Chapter 7 -Of worries and hesitation-
Hermione's heart raced with fear. Snape's grip around her wrists was bruising, and the tip of his wand was pressed painfully to her throat.
She could hardly breathe this way and couldn't understand his reaction at all. He seemed to have been quite nice to her the last evening. He had even placed his own blanket around her. And now – this unexpected, excessive reaction to her slight touch.
Certainly, she didn't have any right to intrude his privacy like that, but she had only meant well. He needn't be this offended.
Helplessly she stared up into his face. From all she could tell in the dim light, his eyes were a blazing black fire, which would have caused her to shrink deeper into the armchair, if she had only dared to move at all.
The very next second though, she saw his eyes widen with realisation. "Hermione," he gasped, "it's you!" His voice was all hoarse, from sleep and shock, and there was an odd look on his face. A bizarre mixture of surprise, worry and disbelief. "Hermione-" He let go of her hands and lowered his wand.
This was when she started trembling. All the day's tension broke free in a desperate sob and she curled up inside the armchair, burying her face in her hands. She barely noticed him kneeling down in front of her.
"Hermione," he muttered worriedly.
At this another sob escaped her lips. His left hand touched her right upper arm in a hesitating, almost timid movement. Very gingerly, he started to rub her shoulder in tiny circles.
"Hermione, look at me," he pleaded softly, his voice was barely a murmur. Disbelief and surprise caused her to slowly lift her head, but when he grabbed her wrists to pull her hands away from her face she flinched in pain. A reaction he obviously mistook for fear.
"I'm sorry," he whispered and withdrew his hands from hers, "I didn't mean to - I – won't harm you."
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She just stared at him out of frightened brown eyes, tears running silently down her cheeks.
This wasn't going to be easy at all. She was terribly distracted and scared. He had to do something about it. With a grave sigh, Severus pointed his wand at the armchair and she tensed once more.
"Engorgio," he muttered to widen the seat beneath her. He wasn't sure if this was the right thing to do, but he had to calm her down in some way. Very carefully, so he wouldn't distract her any further, he seated himself next to her and closed his arms around her trembling body. He picked up the blanket she had placed around him earlier and wrapped her inside.
"Now, now, it's all right," he muttered a little awkwardly. It was probably quite obvious that he wasn't used to comforting anyone.
"I'm sorry, I didn't mean - to frighten you. I'm - just not – used – to being touched while I'm asleep, that's all. I thought you were – Never mind. I didn't recognize you – Hermione. Do you hear me?"
She simply nodded, unable to speak.
Hesitatingly his hand came up to stroke her hair and he felt her tense in his arms at the soft touch. The very next second though, she leaned in to him. Very lightly she placed her left hand across his chest and he hardly dared to breathe at first. But when her fingers clenched into the thick material of his robes all of a sudden, as if seeking a purchase, he inhaled sharply and audibly. He felt an overwhelming urge to make her feel sheltered, to comfort her the best way possible.
He was just so very unsure of what to do. He wasn't used to holding frightened, crying young women in his arms. He wasn't used to holding any woman like this to be precise. Not in the slightest. At the very few occasions that he had experienced any intimacy with a woman there had been no room for this kind of – affection and tenderness. This was all different from everything he knew.
Following an impulse, he gingerly placed his hand above hers and pressed it softly, but withdrew it immediately when she flinched back and whimpered in pain.
This time he didn't suppose it to be out of fear, though. Stunned, he looked down at her hands and inhaled a sharp breath when he discovered the reddish marks his fingers had left at her wrists. A pang of guilt hit him at that sight. He hadn't intended to hurt her, he hadn't even noticed.
Carefully so as not to distract her, he pointed his wand at her wrists and healed the injuries. The left wrist was all red and swollen and probably sprained. This must have happened when he had pushed her behind the armchair earlier. He swallowed hard at the memory of how much he had worried about her safety and how she had refused to leave him.
With a tight feeling in his chest he placed his arms around her once more, and to his surprise he felt her right arm shoved in between his back and the back of the armchair. Her left hand came up to touch his chest again. He could hardly believe it himself, but she actually returned his embrace and snuggled herself closer to him.
His heart raced with an odd mixture of joy and excitement. He didn't understand her reaction at all, nor did he have a clue what his own uproar of emotion was supposed to mean, but there would be time and occasion to sort all these disturbing thoughts and feelings out in the morning.
Right now all he wanted to do was to hold and comfort her. It was a strangely wonderful experience to feel her soft, warm body snuggled against his. Very careful, not to distract her again, he wrapped the blanket around them both. He continued to mutter words of comfort to her and this time she didn't complain when he took her hand in his.
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Hermione snuggled herself closer to the man beside her. She felt him reach for her hand and couldn't help but sigh. His other hand was still gingerly caressing her hair. All the fright she had felt a few moments before faded into nothing and a warm feeling of comfort rose inside of her chest.
How stupid of her to touch him while he had been asleep. A man with his past had had to expect the worst. In fact, she was lucky to be still alive.
But surprising as it might be, she didn't feel afraid of him. Not at all. She felt safe and sheltered. She knew, he hadn't meant to harm her. Neither now, nor earlier, when he had pushed her out of his future self's reach. He had just meant to keep her safe back then and had been caught by surprise at her unexpected touch now. He had been shocked and very sorry to have hurt her. She was still stunned how carefully he had healed her injuries.
With a soft sigh, she snuggled herself a little closer to his chest and inhaled the very same scent she had noticed, when she had first stepped close to him back at Dumbledore's office.
When they had started their troublesome, eventful journey this morning, she wouldn't have expected to end up in his arms, but now, she couldn't think of any place she would rather be.
It felt so good to be held by him like this. So right and wonderful. Her head rose and lowered softly with his every breath and listening to the sound of his heartbeat, she finally drifted into sleep.
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Severus knew, he wouldn't be able to fall back asleep again that night. He just held the sleeping young woman in his arms. She was so very young, he thought - and given the recent revelations this troubled him a lot. He still couldn't imagine how a relationship of the kind their future selves were sharing could have developed between them - and how on earth it could have started in the first place. How could she possibly marry someone like him, he wondered. How could she love him?
She deserved far better than him – a man who was haunted by the failures of his dark, troublesome past. A man who was twenty years older than her, and completely unable to show any emotion other than anger or dislike.
Not to mention that he was in mortal danger as a spy. How could he dare to bind any woman, but most of all an innocent, young, muggleborn girl like her to him in a situation like this? He didn't even dare to think of what Voldemort and his followers might do to her if they ever found out about his betrayal.
He had been horrible to her and her friends during their years at Hogwarts. And he had even physically hurt her twice today. But despite all of this, she seemed to feel comfortable and safe with him. Her head rested peacefully at his shoulder, the rich mass of her chocolate-brown curls surrounded her shoulders and floated down her back in thick, wavy ringlets.
It was far too dark to recognize any detail, nor could he see her face, but for some reason he was sure she was smiling. Maybe he had felt the movement of her lips against the skin of his neck.
Careful not to wake her, he pulled the blanket further up to cover her shoulders and tugged it safely around her. It was strangely wonderful to hold her like this. It was pleasant and calming and seemed to put all his troubles at ease. Her every breath tickled his neck, but he didn't mind this at all. In a strange way it felt very right and welcomed. With an odd feeling of comfort and satisfaction he leaned his head against hers and closed his eyes.
But lots of thoughts whirled around in his mind and kept him from sleeping. This day had been the strangest experience of his life and he had never expected to find himself in a situation like this at its end.
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The soft creaking noise of the door made him look up.
It had to be morning, he realised with surprise. The first, pale rays of light already crept through the round light-wells. In less than half an hour the room would probably be lit by sunlight.
He had to have dozed off for some time, he supposed, but he hadn't moved during the night. Neither had she, he noticed. Her head still rested at his shoulder and her left arm was placed across his chest. He clearly felt her other arm in his back. It was kind of uncomfortable, but he realized that he didn't really care.
This was the position in which his future self found them. After a short glance in their direction his eyebrows rose in surprise and his lips curled into a mocking smile.
"Why hello," he sneered, "That's some surprise. I certainly didn't expect this, when I spoke of sleeping arrangements. Why on earth didn't you choose the couch?"
Severus didn't dare to move, afraid to wake Hermione, but he sent a dark scowl at his older self for that comment.
"Well, I have a favour to ask of you," that one told him in a more serious kind of voice and he looked up in surprise.
"Would the two of you have breakfast at the Great Hall in our place?" At his younger self's stunned look he explained. "Hermione is quite sick and I don't want to leave her alone like this. I'll get us some food from the kitchens instead as soon as she is feeling better."
Severus was about to snap at his other self, but realized just in time that he wouldn't want to leave the girl who was sleeping in his arms, either, if she weren't well. "Well, all right," he growled mournfully.
His future self smiled with relief at that. "Well that's a good thing. Oh and would you take Tina with you, please? It's far better, if she finds her 'Mummy' well this morning, don't you think so?"
Severus opened his mouth to protest, but stopped himself once again. "Is there anything else I can assist you with?" he sneered sarcastically. To his horror his future self's features lit with delight at that. "Oh well, since you're asking – You couldn't possibly teach my first class today, could you?"
Severus narrowed his eyes at the other man. "And for what reason should I possibly do this?" His other self just smiled at him. "Because I'm planning to speak to Albus after breakfast to find out if he knows about the potion, too. And it would just raise a lot of unnecessary questions, if I didn't teach my classes this morning."
"Ah, I see. And what do you plan to discuss with Albus about the matter?" Severus asked.
"Well, first of all I want to find out, if and what he knows about your mission. In case he does know about it, it would solve a lot of problems for us."
At Severus' confused frown he continued: "It's far too dangerous for the two of you to sleep in the study, where Tina can walk in any second. She's too little, she might accidentally slip some information in the wrong place. She mustn't know of this. It would be far better, if you stayed at Albus' guest room instead. You could come to the study and work on the potion while we're teaching."
"Yes, all right," Severus agreed after a moment of thinking. "I can definitely see the advantages of that plan."
"Well then," his other self smiled, "After that matter has been cleared, there's just one thing left – Did I already mention, you need to take Tina with you, if you teach the class? No, obviously not," he grinned at the shocked expression on the younger man's face.
"But it's really necessary, you see? Hagrid can't keep her any earlier than from 11 o'clock on, today. He has a Care Of Magical Creatures class to teach right after breakfast and I don't want Tina to be around the various beasts he supposes to be – erw - cute," he sneered.
Severus' mouth hung open with surprise at that.
"Don't worry," his older self remarked cheerfully, "she's no trouble at all. Just let her hand out some spiders or beetles and she'll have the fun of her life. But don't allow her to cut or slice anything. And look out she doesn't step too close to the hot cauldron. That's far too dangerous," he told his stunned, speechless younger self.
"And why doesn't Herm- your wife - look after her?" Severus frowned after he had recovered from the first shock.
"Well I don't know, when she'll feel better, that's why. She has no classes to teach this morning and could certainly need a little rest, but if she feels up to it, she will probably help your Hermione to prepare everything for the potion later on."
"She isn't –my- Hermione," Severus snapped, startled.
His older self let his eyes wander across the sleeping girl in his arms. "No, of course not, I see-" he sneered. "Well, whatever. These are fresh robes and undergarments for the both of you."
With that he placed a pile of clothes on the couch. "They should fit, I suppose. After the lesson, it's double Potions for the first year Hufflepuffs and Ravenclaws, you can leave Tina at Hagrid's and return to the study to work on the potion. I should be back from my meeting with Albus by then."
For the first time in his life Severus was completely and utterly speechless. No one had ever treated him like that. He would have gladly called that insufferable man an arrogant bastard, if he hadn't been another version of himself. So he just scowled at the other man, until that one left the room.
Severus looked down at – his - Hermione as his other self had called her. She looked so peaceful in her sleep. A slight smile played around her lips and she shifted slightly and snuggled herself closer to his chest. After what had to be several minutes he finally drew his eyes away from her face.
He still hesitated to wake her up. Once she awoke, he would have to let go of her. He wasn't supposed to hold her like this. And to his very shock he realized that he didn't like that thought at all. With a last, regretful look at her he began to softly wake her up.
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Hermione woke with a smile on her lips. She had just had the strangest dream ever. She had actually dreamed, she would be married to Snape in the future. She had even had a little girl with him in that dream and -
Someone – a male voice – whispered her name very softly. A gentle caress at her cheek caused her to slowly open her eyes. She blinked with surprise and closed them once more. She was definitely still asleep.
When she had opened her eyes, she found herself looking straight into the deep black ones of the man she had dreamed about. This had to be one of these strange dreams in which one woke up without really doing so.
But something felt odd about this dream – well even more odd than its content – She wasn't alone. There was someone next to her, whose arms held her close. And her own arms were wrapped likewise around this person.
Very slowly she opened first one, than the other eye, pinched them shut once more and opened them again. It didn't help at all. His face was still there, inches apart from hers.
There was a warm shining brightness in his black eyes and a very faint smile played around his lips. "Good morning, Hermione," he muttered softly.
With a dizzy feeling in her head and a sensation of her stomach doing somersaults, she stared at him.
"So-o – it's true?" she stammered confused. He didn't answer, just looked at her.
"It's true, isn't it?" she muttered, "It hasn't been a dream- "
"What's true, Hermione?" he asked softly. His voice was barely a whisper.
"We're married and I'm umm-" her hand reached down to touch her stomach and it was just then, it occurred to her that they were seated in an armchair.
"Why aren't we in bed?" she frowned in confusion.
"Well, I dare say because we're – not - married, that's why," he sneered but his voice had a gentle note in it that didn't fit the sarcasm.
With a shocked expression she let go of him and sat bolt upright, fully awake all of a sudden.
"Professor Snape!?" she gasped.
"I thought we were over this address, Miss Granger," he mocked and she flinched slightly.
"We have another task to fulfil and it might be best to call one another by our first names for that."
"What task?" she stammered, bewildered, her cheeks burning with embarrassment.
"We are supposed to have breakfast at the Great Hall and take our –erw- the girl - with us."
"Ohh-h, why that?"
"You – Your future self seems to be plagued by morning sickness and I – He is determined to stay and hold her hand" he sneered with a trace of nervousness in his voice.
"Oh," Hermione breathed.
Despite his sarcastic remark, he seemed to be equally disturbed by that idea. "I, ewm, he – damn thing, - whoever - the other one - left some fresh robes for us," he babbled.
Hermione, who saw a chance to get back at him for the embarrassment he had caused her, rose her eyebrows. "Who?" she asked innocently.
He glared at her. "You know who-"
"What," she gasped in mocked surprise, "'You Know Who' left fresh robes for us on the couch? Well one couldn't say that wasn't nice of him. How many other surprises does the future hold?"
His eyes narrowed into small slits at that. "Are you trying to annoy me on purpose?"
"What would you do if I said yes to that?"
"You wouldn't want to find out," he warned with a low voice that made her heart race with excitement all of a sudden.
"How can you be so sure of that?" she asked softly and felt him tense next to her. He looked at her with an odd expression on his face before he got up out of the armchair.
"We had better hurry if we don't want to be late," he told her and walked across the room towards the pile of clothing on the couch.
He picked up the ones that were obviously his and flinched slightly, when his eyes fell onto a dark-blue bra and matching panties amongst the fabric. With an unreadable expression he turned his head at her. "I think I'll take a shower. Will you get her in the meantime?"
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When Severus returned to the study, he was greeted by the sight of a beaming little girl, who giggled at some question Hermione had asked her. "O-of course I can dress myself, Mummy. I just need help with the buttons. Don't you know that anymore?"
Their eyes met above the little girl's head and Hermione clenched her teeth and sent a helpless smile at him that seemed to say 'Oops, bad question-'
He couldn't help but chuckle at that. With an amused twinkle in his eyes, he turned towards the child. "Of course she knows, Serpentina," he smiled, "Mummy is just teasing you."
The little girl whirled around at that. "Daddy," she laughed and hurried towards him. After he had recovered from the first surprise he picked her up in his arms.
"Good morning, princess," he smiled. "Did your tomcat behave well last night? I didn't notice him to have caused any trouble."
Tina giggled at that. "Yes, he slept all the time. Why do you call him 'tomcat', Daddy?"
"Well, because he's one, isn't he?"
"Yes, but his name is Crookshanks."
Once again Severus' eyes locked with the ones of Hermione. "Indeed?" he asked with a mocking smile and set the girl down to her feet again.
Tina just giggled at that. "Of course it is."
She then stepped back to look at them out of narrowed eyes. "You're kind of funny this morning-"
Hermione's head snapped up in alarm at that remark, but Severus just smiled at the little girl. "Don't worry," he told her. "We're just happy, that's why."
"Because we're getting the little siblthing?" she asked with a trace of jealousy.
"Yes, we're very happy about the little sibling," Severus told her softly and picked her up once more. "But we're just as happy to have such a big girl, who can even dress herself alone and tame that reddish tiger over there."
Tina just grinned at him. Hermione chose this occasion to silently slip into the bathroom. But he had already seen the slight smile that had spread across her face.
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Severus clearly felt her insecurity when they were about to enter the Great Hall, and placed a comforting hand at her shoulder.
"Don't worry, we'll manage," he told her softly as he shoved her through the huge wooden door.
As soon as they had stepped into the vast room, curious glances hit them and excited little whispers passed from student to student. It was obvious that the latest news had spread throughout the school by now.
A brief side glance at Hermione told him she was just as uncomfortable with the situation as he was. He heard the sharp intake of her breath and felt her posture get all tense beside him.
Without further thinking he drew his hand back from her shoulder, reached for her hand and pressed it softly. It seemed to be the natural thing to do; the panicked look in her eyes made him wish to comfort her in some way.
At the high table they were greeted by the cheerful glances of his colleagues. "Ah Hermione, Severus," Minerva McGonagall smiled, "there you are. We were just talking about you."
"Why doesn't this surprise me in the slightest?" Severus muttered sarcastically as he pulled out a chair for Hermione.
She took the seat and looked up at him, her eyes twinkling with amusement.
"We've heard the good news, my dear," Liana Sprout addressed her all of a sudden. "Is it true, you're expecting again?"
Hermione's cheeks flushed bright red with embarrassment at that. "I emm, yes. Yes that's true," she croaked out.
"Oh yes, that's wonderful news," Sybil Trelawney smiled, "not that I wouldn't have known anyway," she added in her usual misty voice and for the first time Severus wondered if she might indeed have known of this before they themselves – their other selves – had fallen in love.
Very soon, his attention was drawn to the scene around him again as all their colleagues started to give their best wishes to them.
"And what are you thinking of your little sibling, Tina?" Madame Hooch asked the little girl in the chair next to her. Tina just shrugged and giggled. "I don't know, Utah. Daddy says, it'll take some time till I can play with the siblthing, but he'll get me a dog," she exclaimed proudly.
"A dog," Hagrid inquired with interest. "Well that's som' good news, too. Ye'll 'ave to tell Fang 'bout that when ye' com' to visit' us later on. That is, only if ye're dare to com' after the mess ye've created before," he growled in mocked anger, but Tina just giggled at that. "Of course I'll come, Hagrid. I want to finish my 'potion', but I'll assist my Daddy at his lesson first. Yesterday, I assisted him as well."
"Yea, I've 'eard of that," he growled. "I've searched half of Hogwarts for ye', after ye' 'disapperated' so quickly yesterday."
Tina's eyes went all round at that. "Are you mad with me, Hagrid?" she asked worriedly. "Well, a littl'," he told her still frowning.
"Won't you take me and Fang into the Forbidden Forest with you now?" she gasped.
"Well maybe I will, but only if ye' promise not to run' away again. In the forest that can becom' really dangerous, Tina."
"No, I won't, run away," she told him seriously, "I promise."
"All right, then ye' may com' with 'us nonetheless," he smiled.
"The Forbidden Forest, Hagrid?" Hermione asked in alarm.
"I'm just patrolling the outer parts, 'Eermione, don't worry," he assured her.
"Oh, that's good to hear," she breathed and leaned back in her chair.
Minerva McGonagall, who sat opposite to her, smiled at her younger 'colleague'.
"You're looking far better this morning," she told her.
Severus decided it would be best to play along this line, if he didn't want to rise anyone's suspicion.
"Yes, it's a lot better today, isn't it Hermione?" he smiled. Visible to everyone's eye he placed his hand above hers on the table-cloth. "Won't you try a peace of toast, Darling?" he asked softly.
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Hermione's head snapped up in surprise. Her gaze was greeted by the velvety blackness of his eyes. She had never expected to see so much warmth and caring in them. It made her feel all funny and slightly dizzy.
"Oh-ewrm, I," she stammered but got a grip on herself very soon. "Yes," she smiled, "Yes, I think I will try. Would you pass me the jam please, S-Severus?"
"Of course, Love."
This time she didn't flinch at the endearment, but managed to give him a what she hoped was a loving smile. A jolt of electricity hit her, when his fingertips brushed along hers as he passed her the dish. "Here you are- Hermione," he muttered and fixed her eyes with his once more.
"T-thank you, Severus," she breathed softly and this time the smile came out just how she intended it.
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Severus thought his heart would skip a beat when she looked at him that way. Completely unnecessarily since she was doing so fine, he sneaked his arm around her back and leaned towards her. To an unaffected visitor it had to look as if he were placing a little kiss on her cheek.
"Try to play along with it, or they might notice," he whispered and nodded in return.
"Of course, Dearest," she muttered softly.
This time it was his turn to flinch at the unfamiliar address and when he noticed the slight smile that was playing around her lips, he was sure she had done it on purpose. For a few seconds they just stared into each other's eyes as if seeking the answer to an unasked question therein.
Then some giggling brought them back to reality. "Well, just look at these two," Filius Flitwick chuckled in amusement.
"When is the baby due?" Professor Sprout asked all of a sudden and both of them flinched. Once again, they looked at each other, but this time there was a matching insecurity in their eyes. "Em we're – er – not quite sure," Severus told them. "Around April, or May, I suppose."
"Well, I could easily tell you, if you would only ask me," Sybil sniffed and attacked her egg with her spoon.
It was just then, Tina decided to explain proudly that she knew where the baby was hiding right now. "Oh it has to stay some more time in Mummy's belly before it's ready to come out," she exclaimed. Severus almost choked on his toast.
Her beetle-black eyes searched for his and gave him the oddest feeling he had ever experienced. These were his eyes and his hair, straight and black, with the only exception that it wasn't at all greasy, but soft and shining. Luckily she seemed to have inherited a lot from her mother as well. Her features looked very much like Hermione's. She had the same nose and mouth and would probably get the same heart-shaped face once she was older. She even had the same little whirl in her right eyebrow – just her smile was his.
It took him a few seconds to recover from this revelation before he smiled at her. "Of course, that's right Serpentina."
She returned the smile and looked back at his colleagues again. "I've been in Mummy's belly as well."
"Oh yes," Poppy Pomfrey smiled, "we remember that quite well."
Without looking at her, Severus could sense Hermione flinching at that comment, but when he finally looked at her, his smile turned out to be rather mischievous. After the first shock, she returned it in just the same way.
It was just then that he suddenly noticed the thoughtful glances Albus and Minerva were exchanging with each other. It was certainly a good thing that his future self intended to speak to the headmaster later on.
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When they parted in front of the potions classroom, he passed Hermione a piece of parchment.
"I've listed the ingredients that are required to finish the potion," he told her. "Perhaps you could look for them in the meantime?"
It was no order, she noticed, it was far more a question. She couldn't help but smile. It was just a minute detail, nobody else would have noticed, but it meant a lot to her. It told her that they had reached a new level in their 'relationship', if one could call it as such. He wasn't just commanding her to collect the ingredients, like he would have done only the day before. He was actually asking her. She was no longer just a student to him but – Well, actually she didn't know, what exactly he saw in her right then.
"Of course, I'll see what I can find," she agreed.
There was an odd expression in his eyes, when he returned her smile. "That would be a good thing," he muttered and before she even noticed what he was up to, he had leaned forward and placed a soft kiss on her right cheek. His lips merely touched her skin, but nonetheless a wave of heat branded through her body at the slight contact.
When they looked at each other once again, his eyes were unusually bright and alive. They contained such a deep blackness, the pupils could hardly be identified from the irises around them, she noticed. She had never seen eyes so black before. They were deep and intense and strangely captivating and she couldn't look away from them. "I'll see you at the study later on," he muttered before he stepped into the classroom.
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Back at the study, Hermione told herself over and over again that he had had to fake that display of affection, but somehow she wasn't convinced of this. No one except Tina had been around to witness the little scene.
"Well then," do you know what ingredients we need?" her future self asked, completely unaware of her thoughts.
Hermione fumbled in the pocket of her robe and pulled out the piece of parchment. "Ow-em yes, Severus has listed all of the ingredients that are required."
With that she passed the parchment to her other self. "Here, have a look at it yourself."
The older Hermione let her eyes wander along the list and muttered to herself. "Ah yes, dried digitalis leaves, laburnum husks, needles of taxus baccata, that's yew tree, isn't it? Roots of aconitum napellus, daphne mezereum and convallaria majalis."
She frowned slightly. "What are the two of you planning to do - poison someone? All of these are pretty toxic substances. If I'm not mistaken every single one can cause some form of arrhythmic heart activity, but yes, I think we should have all of them. They are kept on the higher parts of the shelves in that closet over there, where Tina can't reach them."
She led the way into a small closet with high shelves that were filled with all kinds of bottles, jars and boxes. Each one was lettered in either Severus' or her own neat handwriting.
But when she was about to climb upon a small ladder to get some boxes down from their shelf, her younger self held her back. "Wait! You shouldn't do this. I'll get them."
"You're probably right. I'm getting easily dizzy these days," she smiled. Hermione flinched at that, once again reminded of what the future held for her.
While it was no surprise to her that her future self as his wife had helped Severus to letter the receptacles, it was kind of a shock to her to discover her own handwriting at the box that contained the convallaria majalis roots. They had been put onto the shelf on February the 13'th in 1998, a date when she would be still at Hogwarts as a student for sure, as it was only a month hence the day they had started their journey back in their own time.
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Meanwhile, Severus was teaching the first year Hufflepuffs and Ravenclaws, who seemed to be quite frightened by him. For all it looked like, they weren't used to such a stern, ill-tempered Potions Master in the slightest. He almost felt a little sorry for them. He supposed he would be more patient in the future, but he couldn't change old habits that quickly. The plan with names and seating arrangements, he had discovered in his desk, was of great help to him as he had never seen any of these students before. He had chosen a simple gnat-bite removing potion for them to brew, and had allowed Tina to hand out some nasty but harmless ingredients.
Everything worked out quite fine and although he watched each of their cauldrons carefully so he would be ready to interfere as soon as anything might get out of hand, he had some time to watch the little girl that would be his daughter some day in the near future. He still hadn't really accepted that fact. Like at the Great Hall earlier, when he had studied her face, he was stunned, how much she resembled Hermione. And it wasn't just optical similarities he noticed with a smile. Right now, she was - out of safety distance - trying to show an awkward little boy how to stir his potion properly and he was strikingly reminded of Hermione Granger, whispering information to a hopelessly clumsy Neville Longbottom.
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The Hermiones had already started to slice and cut the aconitum napellus roots and prepare the laburnum husks, when the younger one looked up from her work all of a sudden.
"Em, Hermione?" she addressed her older self. "May I ask you something rather personal?"
"Well, as we're the same person, I guess you might," the other one smiled at her. "You want to know, how I fell in love with Severus, I suppose?"
"Yes, ewm – don't get me wrong, but I just can't imagine – how-"
"Don't worry. I remember quite well, what our relationship was like before we discovered our feelings for each other."
Hermione smiled at her with relief. "Yes. Yes – I would love to hear of that and – most of all – how on earth I will– ewm –you did get pregnant that quickly …" she muttered awkwardly.
"Well, the usual way – you know?" her future self teased her.
Hermione blushed furiously at the imagination of doing – that – with him, but continued nonetheless, "If I get things right, it must have happened while you were still at school?" she started.
"Oh yes, that's right," her other self smiled.
Hermione hesitated, "Am I mistaken, if I suppose it wasn't erww – exactly planned that way?"
"Oh –no, it wasn't planned to happen," her future self assured her. "I was completely terrified when I found out about it."
Her younger self frowned at that. "Didn't you use any form of protection? I wouldn't have supposed, I'd ever be so careless. And Professor Snape - I mean Severus- I would have expected, at least he might have thought of this – I mean," she babbled nervously.
"You're right once again," her older self smiled, "we did take precautions. Severus brewed Contraceptive Potion for me to drink every morning. But – as you can see-" she shrugged and smiled once more.
"It didn't work very well," the younger Hermione concluded, thunderstruck. She had never expected to see the day when Professor Snape failed a potion.
"Oh, it would have worked for sure, but-"
"You forgot!?" Hermione blurted out, but her other self just smiled and shook her head.
"No, I didn't forget to take it and I'm sure the potion was fine, if it wouldn't have been for Ron-" she grinned.
"Ron!?" Hermione gasped with shock. "Serpentina is Ron's daughter?!"
The older Hermione just laughed at her horror. "Does she look like a Weasley to you?" she mocked with an amused twinkling in her eyes. "No, she is Severus'. I've never slept with anyone else, but him."
A dreamy smile played around her lips. "And she looks a lot like him, doesn't she?"
The younger Hermione just nodded impatiently. "But then, why- What does Ron have to do with the matter?" she asked.
"It's a long story and it's quite funny, from today's point of view. But back then, I didn't think it was funny at all."
"I can very well imagine that," the younger Hermione breathed faintly. "Will you tell me?"
Her older self stopped laughing at that. Her face became all serious all of a sudden. "I'm not – quite sure," she started reluctantly. "If - I tell you, you have to promise me you won't do anything to keep things from happening the way they did – or will – to be more precise. You know, like taking other precautions so you won't conceive, when I did. I wouldn't have my Tina, if you were to change this part about my past and your future. She might have been completely unexpected and might have put us through a lot of trouble, but – she's my little girl now and I wouldn't want to miss her for anything. Please promise me, you won't keep her from me if I tell you how everything happened."
The younger Hermione shifted uncomfortably at this. It was kind of worrying to make a promise like that. It meant to accept the future with all its surprising, unbelievable developments - the fact that she would marry her professor and have his children. She wouldn't only have to sleep with him, but would have to let him get her pregnant, despite her better knowledge - and quite soon at that. She wasn't sure if she could make a such a promise. "You do love him, don't you?" she asked timidly.
"Oh yes," her older self smiled at her, "I'm madly in love with him."
"And you're happy?"
"Yes."
Hermione stared at her future self for quite some time. "All right," she finally agreed, "I promise."
With a broad smile, the older Hermione leaned back against the desk. "Well, it all started cause I was having a hell of a headache," she began.
A/N: Wow, this has turned out to be a rather long chapter. I hope you liked it. Thank you for all the very nice reviews to the previous chapter. And lots of thanks to everyone, who wished me good luck at my exam. It certainly helped. Now that it's done, there's hope that I'll update more frequently.
Thanks to SilentG for beta-reading.
PS. I noticed I accidentally said, Hermione would letter the convallaria majalis roots in February '97. It has to be '98 of course. They started their first year at Hogwarts in September 1991 and it's her final year now.
*Lily Ayl* Thank you for the first review to the sixth chapter.
*GaiNax.* I suppose 'ship' might be simply short for 'relationship'.
*Orange* Why would you have liked it better, if the older Severus would have killed the younger one? And who is 'Fido'?
*ally* You're referring to the dental floss scene, when he follows her into the bathroom, aren't you? Actually no, I didn't think of the film when I made Hermione transfigure the quills, but it's a funny parallel.
*sk* Thank you for your very nice review.
Serpentina