Hermione stormed into the castle and fired into the potions classroom,
slamming doors behind her and flinging her cloak, scarf and mittens as she
went.
"What the hell is the matter with you, Severus?"
Snape had popped his head out of his office at her entrance and was now leaning against the doorframe, sipping a glass of whiskey and examining his wife with a rather defiant gaze.
"Did you decide to come in from your 'play' and act like an adult, Mrs. Snape?" he queried. "Are the rest of the children upset with the loss of their little playmate?"
Snape moved to his desk and sat down, setting his highball glass down and picking up a quill and a sheaf of parchments. Hermione remained at the door of the classroom, staring at him in disbelief.
"You're going to grade papers?" she hissed. "Our marriage is falling apart, you're accusing me of being a poor mother, you're drinking straight whiskey at three in the afternoon - and you are going to calmly sit there and grade papers?"
Snape took a swig of his drink and looked at Hermione.
"Yes."
He turned to his paperwork and ignored her presence.
Hermione decided to calm down a bit before proceeding with this conversation. Looking for a distraction, she began to nose around the potions classroom. It had been a long time since she had been in it - since she finished her potions NEWT, actually. When she and her younger Snape had moved and made Hogwarts their home, he had spent many hours studying under their old potions master, but she had spent the better part of the last two years at Oxford honing her Transfiguration skills. Snape watched her under lowered lashes as she walked to the potions he had bubbling over fires in one corner. She leaned over and sniffed each one, attempting to discern what he brewing. Eventually, she worked her way over to a neatly organized area where Snape was apparently grinding down and preparing various roots, moss and winter berries he had gathered from the Forbidden Forest. She dipped one finger into a bowl of crushed purple berries and was shocked at the reaction of her hitherto silent company.
"Hermione! What are you doing? You stupid little girl! That is a poisonous berry you are toying with!" he cried, racing across the room. He grabbed Hermione's hand and pulled her over to the row of sinks. He was shaking slightly as he scrubbed her hand clean of the crushed berries.
"Will you not get it through your head? You need to be careful! You have more than just yourself to worry about now," he said, anger and sarcasm slipping as his concern mounted. He visibly forced his temper down and brought one wet hand up to her chin running a finger over her lower lip slowly, almost seductively. "Don't you want the baby, Hermione?"
Hermione didn't know whether to be touched, annoyed or furious with his concern and sudden devotion. As she hadn't managed to calm down much yet, she chose fury.
"What do you mean, 'don't I want the baby,' Severus? You are the one, if you recall, that is planning to disown the baby and her mother the moment she comes into this world. You are the one that wants so little do to with us that you moved us to live in another part of the castle. YOU are the one that wants to pretend that the past never happened," she stormed, backing him across the classroom in her anger. "You are the one who needs to be giving me some answers, Snape. I know this situation is difficult and far less than ideal, but I'm here, she's here and we aren't going away so you damned well better get used to it. You need to resolve your issues and move on."
Finally, backed against the dungeon wall, he grabbed her upper arms and pulled her roughly against his chest.
"I had better get used to it? ME?! I think you are the one with the 'issues,' my dear wife. I'm not the one that risked traveling through 17 years of time with an antique time turner that was shakily spelled, while six weeks pregnant, to check up on my spouse. Well, you're here and I'm a Death Eater. Surprise! I was an active one for quite some time, Hermione. I created potions that killed and maimed and destroyed people and their lives. After my defection, I attended meetings as a spy and participated in the deaths of countless more souls on both sides. And I'm not personally convinced that the spying and the act of ridding the world of Voldemort has redeemed me, as my esteemed peers and colleagues seem to think," he growled into her ear.
"So, my dear, if you thought you had issues with my wearing the Mark before, you might reconsider your oh-so-hasty decision of last night to accept me as the father of your child. You might find, after some reflection, that she needs a parent that isn't touched by evil," he finished.
"I've read all about the final battle, Severus," she said. "I've spoken to Harry and Dumbledore and I am certain you have redeemed yourself. My earlier fears weren't completely justified, Severus. You are the man I want as the father of my child and you are the man I want to spend the rest of my life with. I'm sorry for leaving you all those years ago, but we need to move on. We're going to be parents, for Merlin's sake!"
"Do you want to be married to a man like me? Or have our daughter to grow up with a murderer and Death Eater for a father?" he asked incredulously.
"No, I want her to grow up with her father, the man who learned from his mistakes and earned an Order of Merlin defeating Voldemort," she said with more than a little bit of venom left in her voice.
Snape's eyes narrowed dangerously at her tone.
"But you don't want to be married to that man, I take it?" he said. "No matter, we can have a marriage in name only, if you wish."
It was Hermione's turn to glare. She considered his words for a moment and spat:
"So you can go and have your way with the women who are lined up to shag the potions master and hero, I suppose? What a great pick up line, 'my wife doesn't really care,'" she said.
"It's more believable than my old line, 'my wife and I met when she went back in time, I'm teaching her twelve-year-old self right now and could use a good shag before she's legal once again,'" he retorted, his voice intentionally cutting and hurtful.
Hermione reared back as though slapped. Harry, she thought wildly, Harry said that Dumbledore believed he hadn't touched anot - She looked at Snape's smug grin and began to doubt. It appeared he had fooled even their perceptive Headmaster.
"I was under the impression that you had remained faithful to me in my absence," she finally choked out.
Snape laughed and glared at her. He narrowed his eyes, hiding his hurtful lie under his lowered lashes.
"You were gone for 17 years, Hermione, what did you expect?" he hissed.
They stood silently for a moment, her arms still caught in his vice-like grip and their bodies crushed together against the cold dungeon wall. Suddenly, Snape dipped his head and captured Hermione's lips in a brutal yet passionate kiss. Very unlike the kiss they had shared with so much love and emotion in the Hospital Wing just days ago, this kiss was about frustration, pain and anger.
After a moment's struggle, Hermione gave in to the feelings that the kiss was stirring in her and kissed him back. He nearly lifted her off the stone floor as he crushed her tighter to his chest. In response, she tore her arms from his grasp and put them around his neck - pulling herself up to wrap her legs around his waist. He briefly lost his balance and leaned back against the wall to anchor himself more firmly as he began a frantic exploration of her body through her robes. Hermione broke away from the kiss to mutter a quick charm and suddenly, they were both undressed, their bodies touching and the proof of his arousal hot against her thigh. With no further preliminaries, he grasped her backside, lifting her briefly up, before settling her firmly down on his erection. They stopped their insane movements for a moment and both gasped at the feeling of finally being connected once again. Then, all thoughts of parenting, babies, Death Eaters, time spent apart or other women that might have shared Severus' bed were gone as they began moving together, awkwardly, against the dungeon wall. Not willing to break the spell that had somehow been cast, neither made an attempt to move their activities to a desk or the floor. Snape knew he wouldn't last long after all the time he had spent missing her, and he cleared his thoughts long enough to recall and mutter a long-unused spell in his lover's ear to ensure they both reached climax. At that, Hermione stopped moving and pulled away from his demanding lips.
"Hermione, what -" he asked, looking more than a bit frantically at her and attempting to continue the somewhat erratic rhythm they had established.
"Tell me the truth, Severus," she looked deeply into his black eyes. "Tell me."
He knew what she was asking and for a moment, the hurt part of him considered lying to her once again. After a moment, Snape found his voice and choked out:
"It's only you, Hermione. It's only ever been you."
Once again he captured her lips in a bruising kiss and they began to move together once again. Soon, both were shuddering and Snape was grappling for purchase on the stones with his bare feet as he lowered his precious cargo to the floor.
"I love you, husband," Hermione breathed. "Don't ever doubt that."
"And I love you, Angel," replied Snape, panting rather heavily and burying his red face in her hair. After a few moments, he raised his head and looked into Hermione's eyes. "Dearest?"
"Yes, Severus?"
"Next time I get carried away like that, please remind me that I'm more than 40 years old and this old body can't do that the way we did as teenagers," he said, with more than a hint of self-deprecation.
Hermione laughed, earning a half-hearted scowl from her husband and lover.
"I will, love," she said. "You know, I kind of like the older version of my husband, actually."
"Oh and why is that?" he asked, twirling one of her curls around his finger.
"I've always had a thing for bad boys - you know, James Dean, the villains in movies, lead singers of bad metal bands, reformed evil git potions masters," she said, grinning. She leaned in to kiss him gently, sweetly. "Shall we move this to your quarters, my darling, cunning Slytherin?"
"By all means," Snape replied, shaking his head and laughing at his beautiful wife. "By all means."
"What the hell is the matter with you, Severus?"
Snape had popped his head out of his office at her entrance and was now leaning against the doorframe, sipping a glass of whiskey and examining his wife with a rather defiant gaze.
"Did you decide to come in from your 'play' and act like an adult, Mrs. Snape?" he queried. "Are the rest of the children upset with the loss of their little playmate?"
Snape moved to his desk and sat down, setting his highball glass down and picking up a quill and a sheaf of parchments. Hermione remained at the door of the classroom, staring at him in disbelief.
"You're going to grade papers?" she hissed. "Our marriage is falling apart, you're accusing me of being a poor mother, you're drinking straight whiskey at three in the afternoon - and you are going to calmly sit there and grade papers?"
Snape took a swig of his drink and looked at Hermione.
"Yes."
He turned to his paperwork and ignored her presence.
Hermione decided to calm down a bit before proceeding with this conversation. Looking for a distraction, she began to nose around the potions classroom. It had been a long time since she had been in it - since she finished her potions NEWT, actually. When she and her younger Snape had moved and made Hogwarts their home, he had spent many hours studying under their old potions master, but she had spent the better part of the last two years at Oxford honing her Transfiguration skills. Snape watched her under lowered lashes as she walked to the potions he had bubbling over fires in one corner. She leaned over and sniffed each one, attempting to discern what he brewing. Eventually, she worked her way over to a neatly organized area where Snape was apparently grinding down and preparing various roots, moss and winter berries he had gathered from the Forbidden Forest. She dipped one finger into a bowl of crushed purple berries and was shocked at the reaction of her hitherto silent company.
"Hermione! What are you doing? You stupid little girl! That is a poisonous berry you are toying with!" he cried, racing across the room. He grabbed Hermione's hand and pulled her over to the row of sinks. He was shaking slightly as he scrubbed her hand clean of the crushed berries.
"Will you not get it through your head? You need to be careful! You have more than just yourself to worry about now," he said, anger and sarcasm slipping as his concern mounted. He visibly forced his temper down and brought one wet hand up to her chin running a finger over her lower lip slowly, almost seductively. "Don't you want the baby, Hermione?"
Hermione didn't know whether to be touched, annoyed or furious with his concern and sudden devotion. As she hadn't managed to calm down much yet, she chose fury.
"What do you mean, 'don't I want the baby,' Severus? You are the one, if you recall, that is planning to disown the baby and her mother the moment she comes into this world. You are the one that wants so little do to with us that you moved us to live in another part of the castle. YOU are the one that wants to pretend that the past never happened," she stormed, backing him across the classroom in her anger. "You are the one who needs to be giving me some answers, Snape. I know this situation is difficult and far less than ideal, but I'm here, she's here and we aren't going away so you damned well better get used to it. You need to resolve your issues and move on."
Finally, backed against the dungeon wall, he grabbed her upper arms and pulled her roughly against his chest.
"I had better get used to it? ME?! I think you are the one with the 'issues,' my dear wife. I'm not the one that risked traveling through 17 years of time with an antique time turner that was shakily spelled, while six weeks pregnant, to check up on my spouse. Well, you're here and I'm a Death Eater. Surprise! I was an active one for quite some time, Hermione. I created potions that killed and maimed and destroyed people and their lives. After my defection, I attended meetings as a spy and participated in the deaths of countless more souls on both sides. And I'm not personally convinced that the spying and the act of ridding the world of Voldemort has redeemed me, as my esteemed peers and colleagues seem to think," he growled into her ear.
"So, my dear, if you thought you had issues with my wearing the Mark before, you might reconsider your oh-so-hasty decision of last night to accept me as the father of your child. You might find, after some reflection, that she needs a parent that isn't touched by evil," he finished.
"I've read all about the final battle, Severus," she said. "I've spoken to Harry and Dumbledore and I am certain you have redeemed yourself. My earlier fears weren't completely justified, Severus. You are the man I want as the father of my child and you are the man I want to spend the rest of my life with. I'm sorry for leaving you all those years ago, but we need to move on. We're going to be parents, for Merlin's sake!"
"Do you want to be married to a man like me? Or have our daughter to grow up with a murderer and Death Eater for a father?" he asked incredulously.
"No, I want her to grow up with her father, the man who learned from his mistakes and earned an Order of Merlin defeating Voldemort," she said with more than a little bit of venom left in her voice.
Snape's eyes narrowed dangerously at her tone.
"But you don't want to be married to that man, I take it?" he said. "No matter, we can have a marriage in name only, if you wish."
It was Hermione's turn to glare. She considered his words for a moment and spat:
"So you can go and have your way with the women who are lined up to shag the potions master and hero, I suppose? What a great pick up line, 'my wife doesn't really care,'" she said.
"It's more believable than my old line, 'my wife and I met when she went back in time, I'm teaching her twelve-year-old self right now and could use a good shag before she's legal once again,'" he retorted, his voice intentionally cutting and hurtful.
Hermione reared back as though slapped. Harry, she thought wildly, Harry said that Dumbledore believed he hadn't touched anot - She looked at Snape's smug grin and began to doubt. It appeared he had fooled even their perceptive Headmaster.
"I was under the impression that you had remained faithful to me in my absence," she finally choked out.
Snape laughed and glared at her. He narrowed his eyes, hiding his hurtful lie under his lowered lashes.
"You were gone for 17 years, Hermione, what did you expect?" he hissed.
They stood silently for a moment, her arms still caught in his vice-like grip and their bodies crushed together against the cold dungeon wall. Suddenly, Snape dipped his head and captured Hermione's lips in a brutal yet passionate kiss. Very unlike the kiss they had shared with so much love and emotion in the Hospital Wing just days ago, this kiss was about frustration, pain and anger.
After a moment's struggle, Hermione gave in to the feelings that the kiss was stirring in her and kissed him back. He nearly lifted her off the stone floor as he crushed her tighter to his chest. In response, she tore her arms from his grasp and put them around his neck - pulling herself up to wrap her legs around his waist. He briefly lost his balance and leaned back against the wall to anchor himself more firmly as he began a frantic exploration of her body through her robes. Hermione broke away from the kiss to mutter a quick charm and suddenly, they were both undressed, their bodies touching and the proof of his arousal hot against her thigh. With no further preliminaries, he grasped her backside, lifting her briefly up, before settling her firmly down on his erection. They stopped their insane movements for a moment and both gasped at the feeling of finally being connected once again. Then, all thoughts of parenting, babies, Death Eaters, time spent apart or other women that might have shared Severus' bed were gone as they began moving together, awkwardly, against the dungeon wall. Not willing to break the spell that had somehow been cast, neither made an attempt to move their activities to a desk or the floor. Snape knew he wouldn't last long after all the time he had spent missing her, and he cleared his thoughts long enough to recall and mutter a long-unused spell in his lover's ear to ensure they both reached climax. At that, Hermione stopped moving and pulled away from his demanding lips.
"Hermione, what -" he asked, looking more than a bit frantically at her and attempting to continue the somewhat erratic rhythm they had established.
"Tell me the truth, Severus," she looked deeply into his black eyes. "Tell me."
He knew what she was asking and for a moment, the hurt part of him considered lying to her once again. After a moment, Snape found his voice and choked out:
"It's only you, Hermione. It's only ever been you."
Once again he captured her lips in a bruising kiss and they began to move together once again. Soon, both were shuddering and Snape was grappling for purchase on the stones with his bare feet as he lowered his precious cargo to the floor.
"I love you, husband," Hermione breathed. "Don't ever doubt that."
"And I love you, Angel," replied Snape, panting rather heavily and burying his red face in her hair. After a few moments, he raised his head and looked into Hermione's eyes. "Dearest?"
"Yes, Severus?"
"Next time I get carried away like that, please remind me that I'm more than 40 years old and this old body can't do that the way we did as teenagers," he said, with more than a hint of self-deprecation.
Hermione laughed, earning a half-hearted scowl from her husband and lover.
"I will, love," she said. "You know, I kind of like the older version of my husband, actually."
"Oh and why is that?" he asked, twirling one of her curls around his finger.
"I've always had a thing for bad boys - you know, James Dean, the villains in movies, lead singers of bad metal bands, reformed evil git potions masters," she said, grinning. She leaned in to kiss him gently, sweetly. "Shall we move this to your quarters, my darling, cunning Slytherin?"
"By all means," Snape replied, shaking his head and laughing at his beautiful wife. "By all means."