Disclaimer and all that: See chapters one and two.
Author's Note: Not much to say this time, I'm sorry for the cliffhanger at the end of this chapter, but it was a good place to stop. Please read and review, I need them!
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Chapter 3
Four Weeks Later…
Hermione still sat near Severus's side, losing what hope she tried so hard to hold onto. Professor Dumbledore restricted her visiting hours because she was losing too much weight, Madame Pomfrey had agreed and put Hermione on a special potion for pregnant women.
She wasn't showing yet, at only two months along, but Hermione had become very protective of the life inside of her and abided by the restrictions. She would love to spend 24 hours a day at Severus's bedside, but that just was not in the cards, she needed to eat and sleep to stay healthy for the coming baby.
Harry and Ron helped occupy Hermione in her time away from Severus's bedside. Many games of Wizard's Chess and Exploding Snap had been played, along with reliving their childhood memories. The talks were the best for Hermione. The three friends had been separated the majority of the time since they graduated, and being together again was very healing. The support system they provided was invaluable. Ron had been made to stay around because Madame Pomfrey had lingering worries about his injuries; she thought there might be more lurking under the surface just waiting to pop up.
Harry, on the other hand, was hiding from the media. Ever since the news of Voldemort's downfall came forward, which was very quickly, Harry and Hogwarts were deluged with interview requests and reporters sneaking in to catch a photo. It took Professor Flitwick an entire afternoon to put up charm barriers to not allow cameras, wizarding or muggle, onto the grounds. Harry was waiting it out at Hogwarts and trying to find a semi-reputable journalist to do one interview with. He would not have a repeat of fourth year and Rita Skeeter, which was just not going to happen this time.
Hermione had gotten into a pattern of waking up, getting ready for the day, having breakfast in the Great Hall, sitting with Severus for two hours, relaxing with Harry or Ron, lunch in the Great Hall, two more hours with Severus, more time with Harry and Ron, dinner in the Great Hall, one more hour with Severus, with her evenings being spend with more Harry and Ron time. The schedule was keeping her sane and functioning. Hermione thanked goodness that it was summer and there weren't students around to deal with, otherwise she would be teaching all of the potions classes.
She had come back to Hogwarts two years before, as a teaching assistant, and to her dismay at the time; Professor Dumbledore assigned her to Professor Snape. Before returning, she got her wizarding teaching degree at university with concentrations in charms and potions. Needless to say, her first year back at Hogwarts was filled with tension, but as Hermione soon figured out it was sexual tension, not a maliced tension. But Severus was always a gentleman and wouldn't act on it, so Hermione did.
One night after a long research session, he made one snarky comment too many, so Hermione turned around, grabbed him by his coat lapels and kissed him hard. That started a year-long affair that led up to a marriage proposal three months ago, a baby on the way, and a wedding that was supposed to happen in another month. In her free time, Hermione, Harry and Ron had been sending out apologies to those people invited to the wedding. In very vague terms it was explained that the wedding was postponed and further details would be provided at a later date. This had to be done since Severus's involvement with the Death Eaters and as a spy with the Order was not public knowledge.
So it was an afternoon exactly like those of the previous four weeks that saw Hermione once again sitting at Severus's bedside. She brought a large potions text for some light reading out loud. After 45 minutes, she started to loose her voice, so she settled for holding his hand and lying her head on the bed as she had done when he was first brought in. She started to drift off to sleep quickly.
An hour passed uneventfully, when Hermione was ripped from her sleep. She looked around, trying to find what woke her up. It was then that she realized her hand was being gripped, hard.
"Severus, are you waking up? Can you hear me?" Hermione asked, hoping to get an answer this time. Hope was flaring back into heart; this was the first positive sign in weeks! The hand continued to grip Hermione's as she wondered what she should do. Finally she decided she should yell for Madame Pomfrey, as leaving Severus was just not an option.
"Madame Pomfrey, Poppy, are you there?" Hermione shouted frantically. She was about to shout again when Madame Pomfrey came running into the room.
"Goodness dear, what is it? Is something wrong?" Madame Pomfrey asked as she stopped to catch her breath. "I was all the way on the other side of the castle and heard you, what's going on?"
With her voice shaking, Hermione replied, "He's…..squeezing….my….hand. Is that good?"
"Oh goodness, it could be. You'll have to move aside dear, so I can examine him."
"I'd prefer not to, I don't want to leave him." Hermione said, starting to tear up. Madame Pomfrey walked over to her and patted her shoulder.
"It will be alright, Hermione. I'll only be a minute." Madame Pomfrey said as she took out her wand and started murmuring spells around Severus. Every few seconds she shook her head or nodded depending on the result. Hermione looked on in worry, barely holding her tears back. Emotions were threatening to overflow. Hermione could not decide if they were tears of joy or sadness. Finally she decided she had to ask, just sitting there was too much for her.
"Poppy, is he waking up? How is he?" Hermione asked tentatively.
"It appears he may be waking, Hermione. We still need to wait it out. He does have a higher level of brain activity, but it still may not get any higher. On a less professional level, dear, keep doing whatever you were doing, it could be working." Madame Pomfrey replied as she left the room.
Hermione turned back to Severus and took his hand again. "Well, what was it that you responded to? The reading or the handholding? How about I sit here and hold your hand while reading? Does that sound good?" Hermione asked with a smile on her face. She continued to read from the potions text until her afternoon time was over.
No further progress was made for the rest of that day, but Hermione kept the newfound hope in her mind. Sleeping in bed alone that night was somehow not as lonely as it had been the night before.
As the next day dawned, yet another person arrived at Hogwarts; Sirius Black, Harry's godfather. He and Harry had a father-son relationship since Harry's real parents were dead. Hermione, however, had never gotten that close to Sirius. She found him too impulsive, she preferred people who thought at least a little bit about their actions before taking them. She had worried that his impulsiveness would lead Harry into trouble, but it hadn't, thank goodness.
Hermione ran into him in the Great Hall at breakfast. Sirius gave her a quick hug, told her how good it was to see her and how sorry he was to hear about Severus. This shocked Hermione as Severus and Sirius had never made peace with each other, in fact they downright despised each other.
"Having a change of heart, Sirius? I didn't realize you cared so much about Severus." Hermione goaded him.
"I don't care about him, I care about you. He makes you happy and as Harry's best friend, I want to see you happy so that Harry's happy. I will never, ever, say that I care about Severus Snape. I will say that he was awfully brave to put himself forward in the war though, there are a lot of wizards who wouldn't do such a thing." Sirius replied.
"Well, I'll take what I can get where you and Severus are concerned and thank you for the sentiment. He may be waking, you know, he squeezed my hand yesterday."
"I know, Harry told me. Shall we eat, Hermione? I'm starved." Sirius said as he led her to the Professor's table. During breakfast, everyone was a bit more upbeat with the news about Severus, yet there was still an air of cautiousness. Hermione left as soon as possible to get up to Severus's bedside.
Hermione sat for another hour with him. She continued to hold his hand and read from potions books to him. At the end of the first hour, he squeezed her hand again. Hermione beamed and squeezed his hand back.
"Come on, Sev, open your eyes. Wake up for me, please. I know you can do this, you are so strong, just fight through it and wake up for me." Hermione pleaded. As she finished begging Severus to wake, she noticed his eyelids flutter.
"That's it, just open them. You can do this, open your eyes, Severus." Hermione continued. Madame Pomfrey was already in the room, having heard Hermione start to talk in such an emotional tone.
Very slowly, Severus's eyes opened and blinked several times to get adjusted to the light in the room. Madame Pomfrey dimmed the candles and moved over to him. She conjured a glass of water and pressed it to his lips.
"Drink slowly, Professor, do not choke." She told him. Severus looked around, his eyes falling on Hermione.
"Miss Granger, what are you doing here?"
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Thanks to everyone who reviewed! Please continue to do so!!!!
Author's Note: Not much to say this time, I'm sorry for the cliffhanger at the end of this chapter, but it was a good place to stop. Please read and review, I need them!
####
Chapter 3
Four Weeks Later…
Hermione still sat near Severus's side, losing what hope she tried so hard to hold onto. Professor Dumbledore restricted her visiting hours because she was losing too much weight, Madame Pomfrey had agreed and put Hermione on a special potion for pregnant women.
She wasn't showing yet, at only two months along, but Hermione had become very protective of the life inside of her and abided by the restrictions. She would love to spend 24 hours a day at Severus's bedside, but that just was not in the cards, she needed to eat and sleep to stay healthy for the coming baby.
Harry and Ron helped occupy Hermione in her time away from Severus's bedside. Many games of Wizard's Chess and Exploding Snap had been played, along with reliving their childhood memories. The talks were the best for Hermione. The three friends had been separated the majority of the time since they graduated, and being together again was very healing. The support system they provided was invaluable. Ron had been made to stay around because Madame Pomfrey had lingering worries about his injuries; she thought there might be more lurking under the surface just waiting to pop up.
Harry, on the other hand, was hiding from the media. Ever since the news of Voldemort's downfall came forward, which was very quickly, Harry and Hogwarts were deluged with interview requests and reporters sneaking in to catch a photo. It took Professor Flitwick an entire afternoon to put up charm barriers to not allow cameras, wizarding or muggle, onto the grounds. Harry was waiting it out at Hogwarts and trying to find a semi-reputable journalist to do one interview with. He would not have a repeat of fourth year and Rita Skeeter, which was just not going to happen this time.
Hermione had gotten into a pattern of waking up, getting ready for the day, having breakfast in the Great Hall, sitting with Severus for two hours, relaxing with Harry or Ron, lunch in the Great Hall, two more hours with Severus, more time with Harry and Ron, dinner in the Great Hall, one more hour with Severus, with her evenings being spend with more Harry and Ron time. The schedule was keeping her sane and functioning. Hermione thanked goodness that it was summer and there weren't students around to deal with, otherwise she would be teaching all of the potions classes.
She had come back to Hogwarts two years before, as a teaching assistant, and to her dismay at the time; Professor Dumbledore assigned her to Professor Snape. Before returning, she got her wizarding teaching degree at university with concentrations in charms and potions. Needless to say, her first year back at Hogwarts was filled with tension, but as Hermione soon figured out it was sexual tension, not a maliced tension. But Severus was always a gentleman and wouldn't act on it, so Hermione did.
One night after a long research session, he made one snarky comment too many, so Hermione turned around, grabbed him by his coat lapels and kissed him hard. That started a year-long affair that led up to a marriage proposal three months ago, a baby on the way, and a wedding that was supposed to happen in another month. In her free time, Hermione, Harry and Ron had been sending out apologies to those people invited to the wedding. In very vague terms it was explained that the wedding was postponed and further details would be provided at a later date. This had to be done since Severus's involvement with the Death Eaters and as a spy with the Order was not public knowledge.
So it was an afternoon exactly like those of the previous four weeks that saw Hermione once again sitting at Severus's bedside. She brought a large potions text for some light reading out loud. After 45 minutes, she started to loose her voice, so she settled for holding his hand and lying her head on the bed as she had done when he was first brought in. She started to drift off to sleep quickly.
An hour passed uneventfully, when Hermione was ripped from her sleep. She looked around, trying to find what woke her up. It was then that she realized her hand was being gripped, hard.
"Severus, are you waking up? Can you hear me?" Hermione asked, hoping to get an answer this time. Hope was flaring back into heart; this was the first positive sign in weeks! The hand continued to grip Hermione's as she wondered what she should do. Finally she decided she should yell for Madame Pomfrey, as leaving Severus was just not an option.
"Madame Pomfrey, Poppy, are you there?" Hermione shouted frantically. She was about to shout again when Madame Pomfrey came running into the room.
"Goodness dear, what is it? Is something wrong?" Madame Pomfrey asked as she stopped to catch her breath. "I was all the way on the other side of the castle and heard you, what's going on?"
With her voice shaking, Hermione replied, "He's…..squeezing….my….hand. Is that good?"
"Oh goodness, it could be. You'll have to move aside dear, so I can examine him."
"I'd prefer not to, I don't want to leave him." Hermione said, starting to tear up. Madame Pomfrey walked over to her and patted her shoulder.
"It will be alright, Hermione. I'll only be a minute." Madame Pomfrey said as she took out her wand and started murmuring spells around Severus. Every few seconds she shook her head or nodded depending on the result. Hermione looked on in worry, barely holding her tears back. Emotions were threatening to overflow. Hermione could not decide if they were tears of joy or sadness. Finally she decided she had to ask, just sitting there was too much for her.
"Poppy, is he waking up? How is he?" Hermione asked tentatively.
"It appears he may be waking, Hermione. We still need to wait it out. He does have a higher level of brain activity, but it still may not get any higher. On a less professional level, dear, keep doing whatever you were doing, it could be working." Madame Pomfrey replied as she left the room.
Hermione turned back to Severus and took his hand again. "Well, what was it that you responded to? The reading or the handholding? How about I sit here and hold your hand while reading? Does that sound good?" Hermione asked with a smile on her face. She continued to read from the potions text until her afternoon time was over.
No further progress was made for the rest of that day, but Hermione kept the newfound hope in her mind. Sleeping in bed alone that night was somehow not as lonely as it had been the night before.
As the next day dawned, yet another person arrived at Hogwarts; Sirius Black, Harry's godfather. He and Harry had a father-son relationship since Harry's real parents were dead. Hermione, however, had never gotten that close to Sirius. She found him too impulsive, she preferred people who thought at least a little bit about their actions before taking them. She had worried that his impulsiveness would lead Harry into trouble, but it hadn't, thank goodness.
Hermione ran into him in the Great Hall at breakfast. Sirius gave her a quick hug, told her how good it was to see her and how sorry he was to hear about Severus. This shocked Hermione as Severus and Sirius had never made peace with each other, in fact they downright despised each other.
"Having a change of heart, Sirius? I didn't realize you cared so much about Severus." Hermione goaded him.
"I don't care about him, I care about you. He makes you happy and as Harry's best friend, I want to see you happy so that Harry's happy. I will never, ever, say that I care about Severus Snape. I will say that he was awfully brave to put himself forward in the war though, there are a lot of wizards who wouldn't do such a thing." Sirius replied.
"Well, I'll take what I can get where you and Severus are concerned and thank you for the sentiment. He may be waking, you know, he squeezed my hand yesterday."
"I know, Harry told me. Shall we eat, Hermione? I'm starved." Sirius said as he led her to the Professor's table. During breakfast, everyone was a bit more upbeat with the news about Severus, yet there was still an air of cautiousness. Hermione left as soon as possible to get up to Severus's bedside.
Hermione sat for another hour with him. She continued to hold his hand and read from potions books to him. At the end of the first hour, he squeezed her hand again. Hermione beamed and squeezed his hand back.
"Come on, Sev, open your eyes. Wake up for me, please. I know you can do this, you are so strong, just fight through it and wake up for me." Hermione pleaded. As she finished begging Severus to wake, she noticed his eyelids flutter.
"That's it, just open them. You can do this, open your eyes, Severus." Hermione continued. Madame Pomfrey was already in the room, having heard Hermione start to talk in such an emotional tone.
Very slowly, Severus's eyes opened and blinked several times to get adjusted to the light in the room. Madame Pomfrey dimmed the candles and moved over to him. She conjured a glass of water and pressed it to his lips.
"Drink slowly, Professor, do not choke." She told him. Severus looked around, his eyes falling on Hermione.
"Miss Granger, what are you doing here?"
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Thanks to everyone who reviewed! Please continue to do so!!!!