Days later, after press conferences, Ministry questionings, a horrible
photocall for the Daily Prophet and more publicity than the little
resistance gang could have imagined, things began to settle down. Arthur,
Molly and Lupin went back to their lives and duties - however many more
owls than usual sped between Hogwarts and the Burrow nowadays. Hermione
settled in to finish her final exams and put the finishing touches on her
paper, titled "Potions and their Transformative Properties in
Enchantments." She was surprised when she was contacted by a wizarding
book publisher to document the development of the Mark potion and their
plans. She, of course, accepted - the advance alone would put Faith through
Oxford someday. The rough outline was completed one evening after a
particularly rough session with Ministry officials.
Draco had decided to skip the last few weeks of class and had taken his NEWTS early, he and his mother had left immediately afterwards on an extended trip to New York City. Ron, Harry and Ginny returned to classes - behind, but with a greater maturity and sense of purpose.
Snape's potions lessons were once again being held - and the angry, snapping voice of the potions master echoed through the dungeons once again as idiot students resumed their testing of his patience. One day in mid- May, about two weeks after the final battle with the Death Eaters, Hermione was walking past the classroom when she heard her husband bellowing angrily at her former lab partner - who appeared to have melted his 13th cauldron of the year. She chuckled at her gentle husband's display of temper as she continued on her trip to the library.
"Who would have guessed that my sweet and rather shy young husband would have turned into that vile, greasy git of a bat," she murmured to her stomach. She had taken to talking to Faith of late, as had Snape. She loved to watch him lie with his head in her lap, reading children's books to the baby, or just talking and telling her how much Daddy already loved her. Hermione was grateful that life had settled down. Turmoil was, hopefully, a thing of the past.
Speaking of the past --
Today, she was letting exams go, letting papers slide and forgetting about deadlines with publishers. Today, she had decided to spend some time in research of a more personal nature. For the past six months, she had forgotten about her mysterious trip to the past. Other things had taken precedence, but now, she could return to the conundrum that had defied solution. Her sharp mind couldn't let it go. She carried a huge sheaf of parchment - some new and some old - containing notes, diagrams, analysis and information regarding magical output readings at the scene and some notes about how she may have affected the future.
She grabbed a handful of books on time travel that she thought may be relevant off the shelves and headed to the faculty lounge off the library for a bit of work. Hours later, after most of the castle had gone to bed, she thought she might have an idea of how she wound up in the past. Darting to her bedroom, she grabbed her favorite set of dress robes from her closet. The crimson and gold gown and robes she had been carrying the day she disappeared, had worn the night they fell in love, the night they first made love, the night their child was conceived and the night of their reconciliation in the present time line - among other, less memorable nights and special occasions. She loved these robes, as did her husband, but could they be the key?
Taking the robes to the now-empty potions classroom, she ran several tests on the material and construction - Muggle and magical. There was nothing special about the garments. The only charm on the material was the usual wizarding "sure fit" clothing charm. Several charms relating to Hermione's hair or appearance, and a couple relating to love-making had left residual traces on the robes. But nothing else. Nothing.
"Dammit," she swore, as Snape exited his office and joined her at her workstation. "I just knew that somehow these had been charmed as a makeshift Portkey through time. I hadn't thought of it before, for some reason. But you and Harry creating Portkeys made me think that perhaps it could be done for time travel, as well. You see, Harry and Ron bought these for me the day that I vanished."
"I know," said Snape, sliding his arms around her - naughtily bypassing her rounded tummy to sneak a caress of her sensitive breasts. "I remember. I knew that was the day you were to vanish, as Albus had broken down and given me that information. I followed you three to Hogsmeade and then again on your way home. I had to see you vanish with my own eyes. I had to make sure that - well, that things happened as they were supposed to, I guess. And that you were unharmed in the process."
Hermione smiled and leaned back against him, while at the same time arching her breasts into his hands more fully. They hadn't made love since before Lucius was killed. She didn't know if it was because of the trauma of that night, or because she was nearly full term and clumsily awkward. Either way, she was grateful to have his touch now. She silently waited, however, sensing he had more to tell her.
Snape took a deep breath and continued, seriously.
"And I wanted to see you one last time, as well, in case you weren't destined to ever come back to me. And I nearly blew my cover, so to speak, in the clothing store. You had on those robes and this gown - modeling them for Harry and Ron. They had played an important role in our lives in the past. You were so damned gorgeous in them - and you knew it, you were practically twirling in front of the mirror like a ballerina," he smiled into her hair. "I wanted to grab you right then and there and ravish you. But you *were* still my student - "
"I'm not your student now," Hermione said seductively.
Snape raised one eyebrow and turned her to face him. "Hermione, are you sure? I know it is difficult for me and - well, I'm not the one who is pregnant. Isn't it uncomfortable for you? I want you but I do not want to hurt you, I can wait until after the baby gets here."
"I have an idea," smiled Hermione. "How are you at warming charms?"
Her husband just smiled and allowed her to lead him from the classroom through the main doors and outside. She proceeded to a secluded nearby area of the lake and stood on the shore, slowly stripping off her robes and underthings in the shining moonlight. She turned to face Snape, who was standing dumbstruck and breathless at the sight of her ripe form in the pale illumination.
"Merlin, Hermione, you are an angel," he said. "A goddess."
She snorted at his flowery compliments - a very un-godesslike thing to do. Smiling, she picked her wand up off the shore and directed it at Snape. A charm later and he was also nude in the moonlight.
"If I'm a goddess and an angel, then what does that make you," she said, fully expecting a devilish reply from her mischievous, and very obviously aroused, husband.
He strode to her and pulled her into his arms for a long, lingering kiss. Breathless, he broke their kiss to murmur: "It makes me a very lucky man, Hermione. That's what it makes me."
Hermione handed him her wand, he took it and muttered a warming charm targeted at both of them. They then walked into the lake, waist -deep on Snape and nearly shoulder-deep for Hermione. He gently kissed her and lifted her - fitting her legs easily around his waist, the water giving them the ease of motion and the grace that a bed couldn't at this stage. She leaned back in his arms as he slowly and tenderly made love to her pregnant body - in the lake where their child had been conceived so many years ago.
Later, they were dry and curled up in their cozy bedroom, drinking hot cups of herbal tea and talking quietly about the future and the coming birth. Suddenly, Hermione sat up in bed.
"What is it? Is it the baby? We shouldn't have had sex tonight, should we? Was I too rough with you? What is it? Hermione?" Snape stammered in one panicked breath.
"It's not the baby," she reassured him. "Breathe, Severus. I'm fine. I just thought of something. You said you were on the path with us when I vanished."
"Yes, I was a few steps behind you."
"And you didn't see anyone else?"
"I was pretty focused on you at the time, Hermione," he said. "I thought I might never see you again, so I was drinking in every second I had of you. Why?"
"Something that was in Albus'notes. He said that only the four of us appeared to have been on the path at the moment of my disappearance. That the charm that sent me back was unrecognizable and very complex and there were those magical output readings, too, that were odd. I thought perhaps - I don't know. Maybe that there was someone else there, or that you saw something. No flash of light, no Portkey rock that I stumbled over, no one popping out of the bushes to brandish their wand at me?"
"No, the only people there were you, me, Harry and Ron," said Snape, uncomfortably. "Those magical output readings Albus conducted should tell you that."
Hermione looked at her husband for a moment. He sighed and put the cup of tea down on his nightstand and returned her gaze, waiting for the storm. She struggled with her thoughts for a moment and then asked.
"Severus, did you send me back?"
"No, Hermione, I did not. I thought about it, but I didn't. I decided that it would be best if I not intervene," Snape said. "Besides, I didn't know a charm that would work."
She believed him. She told him so, kissed him lovingly and they fell asleep in each other's embrace. But she was still bothered by the mystery. Hermione Granger Snape hated not being able to solve a mystery. A few days later, she was once again going over Albus'notes when it hit her. Not what the notes said, but what they didn't say. Suddenly, the pieces of the puzzle fit together. She sped from their quarters to the Headmaster's office.
He was speaking with Arthur Weasley and merely looked at Hermione when she arrived at his door. She looked at him in astonishment for a full minute, startled by the twinkle in his eyes.
"You, I - you had to have known - it's -- "
"I suspect you have solved your mystery, Mrs. Snape?" the old wizard interrupted.
Another gaze locked for a revealing moment. It all finally made sense.
"Yes, yes I have."
Draco had decided to skip the last few weeks of class and had taken his NEWTS early, he and his mother had left immediately afterwards on an extended trip to New York City. Ron, Harry and Ginny returned to classes - behind, but with a greater maturity and sense of purpose.
Snape's potions lessons were once again being held - and the angry, snapping voice of the potions master echoed through the dungeons once again as idiot students resumed their testing of his patience. One day in mid- May, about two weeks after the final battle with the Death Eaters, Hermione was walking past the classroom when she heard her husband bellowing angrily at her former lab partner - who appeared to have melted his 13th cauldron of the year. She chuckled at her gentle husband's display of temper as she continued on her trip to the library.
"Who would have guessed that my sweet and rather shy young husband would have turned into that vile, greasy git of a bat," she murmured to her stomach. She had taken to talking to Faith of late, as had Snape. She loved to watch him lie with his head in her lap, reading children's books to the baby, or just talking and telling her how much Daddy already loved her. Hermione was grateful that life had settled down. Turmoil was, hopefully, a thing of the past.
Speaking of the past --
Today, she was letting exams go, letting papers slide and forgetting about deadlines with publishers. Today, she had decided to spend some time in research of a more personal nature. For the past six months, she had forgotten about her mysterious trip to the past. Other things had taken precedence, but now, she could return to the conundrum that had defied solution. Her sharp mind couldn't let it go. She carried a huge sheaf of parchment - some new and some old - containing notes, diagrams, analysis and information regarding magical output readings at the scene and some notes about how she may have affected the future.
She grabbed a handful of books on time travel that she thought may be relevant off the shelves and headed to the faculty lounge off the library for a bit of work. Hours later, after most of the castle had gone to bed, she thought she might have an idea of how she wound up in the past. Darting to her bedroom, she grabbed her favorite set of dress robes from her closet. The crimson and gold gown and robes she had been carrying the day she disappeared, had worn the night they fell in love, the night they first made love, the night their child was conceived and the night of their reconciliation in the present time line - among other, less memorable nights and special occasions. She loved these robes, as did her husband, but could they be the key?
Taking the robes to the now-empty potions classroom, she ran several tests on the material and construction - Muggle and magical. There was nothing special about the garments. The only charm on the material was the usual wizarding "sure fit" clothing charm. Several charms relating to Hermione's hair or appearance, and a couple relating to love-making had left residual traces on the robes. But nothing else. Nothing.
"Dammit," she swore, as Snape exited his office and joined her at her workstation. "I just knew that somehow these had been charmed as a makeshift Portkey through time. I hadn't thought of it before, for some reason. But you and Harry creating Portkeys made me think that perhaps it could be done for time travel, as well. You see, Harry and Ron bought these for me the day that I vanished."
"I know," said Snape, sliding his arms around her - naughtily bypassing her rounded tummy to sneak a caress of her sensitive breasts. "I remember. I knew that was the day you were to vanish, as Albus had broken down and given me that information. I followed you three to Hogsmeade and then again on your way home. I had to see you vanish with my own eyes. I had to make sure that - well, that things happened as they were supposed to, I guess. And that you were unharmed in the process."
Hermione smiled and leaned back against him, while at the same time arching her breasts into his hands more fully. They hadn't made love since before Lucius was killed. She didn't know if it was because of the trauma of that night, or because she was nearly full term and clumsily awkward. Either way, she was grateful to have his touch now. She silently waited, however, sensing he had more to tell her.
Snape took a deep breath and continued, seriously.
"And I wanted to see you one last time, as well, in case you weren't destined to ever come back to me. And I nearly blew my cover, so to speak, in the clothing store. You had on those robes and this gown - modeling them for Harry and Ron. They had played an important role in our lives in the past. You were so damned gorgeous in them - and you knew it, you were practically twirling in front of the mirror like a ballerina," he smiled into her hair. "I wanted to grab you right then and there and ravish you. But you *were* still my student - "
"I'm not your student now," Hermione said seductively.
Snape raised one eyebrow and turned her to face him. "Hermione, are you sure? I know it is difficult for me and - well, I'm not the one who is pregnant. Isn't it uncomfortable for you? I want you but I do not want to hurt you, I can wait until after the baby gets here."
"I have an idea," smiled Hermione. "How are you at warming charms?"
Her husband just smiled and allowed her to lead him from the classroom through the main doors and outside. She proceeded to a secluded nearby area of the lake and stood on the shore, slowly stripping off her robes and underthings in the shining moonlight. She turned to face Snape, who was standing dumbstruck and breathless at the sight of her ripe form in the pale illumination.
"Merlin, Hermione, you are an angel," he said. "A goddess."
She snorted at his flowery compliments - a very un-godesslike thing to do. Smiling, she picked her wand up off the shore and directed it at Snape. A charm later and he was also nude in the moonlight.
"If I'm a goddess and an angel, then what does that make you," she said, fully expecting a devilish reply from her mischievous, and very obviously aroused, husband.
He strode to her and pulled her into his arms for a long, lingering kiss. Breathless, he broke their kiss to murmur: "It makes me a very lucky man, Hermione. That's what it makes me."
Hermione handed him her wand, he took it and muttered a warming charm targeted at both of them. They then walked into the lake, waist -deep on Snape and nearly shoulder-deep for Hermione. He gently kissed her and lifted her - fitting her legs easily around his waist, the water giving them the ease of motion and the grace that a bed couldn't at this stage. She leaned back in his arms as he slowly and tenderly made love to her pregnant body - in the lake where their child had been conceived so many years ago.
Later, they were dry and curled up in their cozy bedroom, drinking hot cups of herbal tea and talking quietly about the future and the coming birth. Suddenly, Hermione sat up in bed.
"What is it? Is it the baby? We shouldn't have had sex tonight, should we? Was I too rough with you? What is it? Hermione?" Snape stammered in one panicked breath.
"It's not the baby," she reassured him. "Breathe, Severus. I'm fine. I just thought of something. You said you were on the path with us when I vanished."
"Yes, I was a few steps behind you."
"And you didn't see anyone else?"
"I was pretty focused on you at the time, Hermione," he said. "I thought I might never see you again, so I was drinking in every second I had of you. Why?"
"Something that was in Albus'notes. He said that only the four of us appeared to have been on the path at the moment of my disappearance. That the charm that sent me back was unrecognizable and very complex and there were those magical output readings, too, that were odd. I thought perhaps - I don't know. Maybe that there was someone else there, or that you saw something. No flash of light, no Portkey rock that I stumbled over, no one popping out of the bushes to brandish their wand at me?"
"No, the only people there were you, me, Harry and Ron," said Snape, uncomfortably. "Those magical output readings Albus conducted should tell you that."
Hermione looked at her husband for a moment. He sighed and put the cup of tea down on his nightstand and returned her gaze, waiting for the storm. She struggled with her thoughts for a moment and then asked.
"Severus, did you send me back?"
"No, Hermione, I did not. I thought about it, but I didn't. I decided that it would be best if I not intervene," Snape said. "Besides, I didn't know a charm that would work."
She believed him. She told him so, kissed him lovingly and they fell asleep in each other's embrace. But she was still bothered by the mystery. Hermione Granger Snape hated not being able to solve a mystery. A few days later, she was once again going over Albus'notes when it hit her. Not what the notes said, but what they didn't say. Suddenly, the pieces of the puzzle fit together. She sped from their quarters to the Headmaster's office.
He was speaking with Arthur Weasley and merely looked at Hermione when she arrived at his door. She looked at him in astonishment for a full minute, startled by the twinkle in his eyes.
"You, I - you had to have known - it's -- "
"I suspect you have solved your mystery, Mrs. Snape?" the old wizard interrupted.
Another gaze locked for a revealing moment. It all finally made sense.
"Yes, yes I have."