Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter in any way. Please hail Joanne Kathleen Rowling!



Summary: An unpleasant Christmas Holiday changes the course of Hermione's life. (SS&HG)



Author: Tiian



Authors note #1: It has been a long time since I have been this inspired to write.

ROTCGirl said that there is a fic called Fractured Triangle that deals with the same subject, rape. I searched and found the fic. I haven't read it before and so I am not going to read it now. All ideas present in this fic are something I myself have thought of. I don't want Fyrie (or Fure) to come and claim that I have copied her(?) idea. For the record the only rape fic I have read is Hinge of Fate and I am not going to follow the same plot in this one.

Hinge of Fate is a great fic though.











Towards a Brighter Future







Chapter 01:

The potion









Hermione walked towards the dungeons with Ron and Harry. They were running trough their usual argument about the best players in Quidditch, of course. She had long since learned how to shut her ears off when they even mentioned Quidditch. Now was one of those times and she had other more pressing matters to think about. Mainly her situation, which was always very depressing thing to think about. Still, she had to form a plan for her and the child's future.

She knew she was still in danger since he would not let go of her even though she had stayed quiet. And the mere existence of the baby put her in even more danger should he ever find out about it.

If she stayed at Hogwarts after graduation she would be rather safe, but that would include everyone finding out.

If she left and went home, he would come after her there and her parents would be in danger.

She needed a place for herself, but the problem with that was that she had no money and she could not rely on her parents to help her out. She could almost hear them lecture her and then state that she would have to survive on her own since she had gotten herself into this situation in the first place. Not that she would ever tell them that the child was a result of a rape.

She suppressed a sigh since she knew Ron and Harry would hear it and ask about it. They had been worried about her lately and she didn't want to lie to them any more than she already had.

She heard the change in their tones as they neared the dungeons and the classroom. Double Potions with Slytherin always required extra strength and most importantly, silence.

Why Dumbledore put them together every single year was beyond her. Being from Gryffindor himself, he should know how deep the hate run between Slytherin and Gryffindor houses. Nothing good ever came out of it. At least not for Gryffindor since they were the ones losing points and getting detentions for minor mistakes in Snape's class.

Still she liked Potions. It was a fascinating subject for there was no "foolish wand waving" involved as Snape it put. It differed from Transfiguration and Charms greatly and that was its charm. The art itself. Even though they had Professor Snape as a teacher, she could still find herself enjoying the actual brewing. No matter how frustrating it was that she got no credit for her achievements. They went to Draco Malfoy who was merely sufficient in the art and didn't put himself into studying it like she did.

Ron and Harry finally quieted down as they could see the open door. It was never wise to talk when there was a good possibility that Snape could hear them. He could make anything sound bad and took points for practically no reason at all. His dislike for Harry seemed to have grown greater with every year and they were all glad that this was the last year. He was bad enough already.

She knew that the only reason Harry and Ron still took potions at all was their standing dream of becoming an auror. For that, they needed potions NEWTs. Why Snape had allowed them to continue, was beyond her. He was known to never allow anyone continue if they didn't reach Outstanding from OWLs and she knew their grades. She was quite positive that Dumbledore had had something to say in the matter.

They stepped cautiously into the classroom for they knew that here ruled Slytherin house and their head was worst of all. Or maybe Draco was on the same level even though he lacked the authority and power Snape had.

Severus Snape was already sitting behind his desk and looked at them with annoyed look in his eyes. The black eyes swiftly took in their appearance and found nothing out of place. Ron had once forgotten his cloak and for that he had lost fifteen points from Gryffindor "for open show of disrespect towards the school rules".

Snape turned his eyes back into the paper before him and they sneaked quietly into their places nodding to those Gryffindors who were already seated. Slytherins snickered at their careful attitude. They had nothing to worry about since, if only in this class, they could do nothing wrong.

They were silent all the time till the class filled and Snape closed the door. Should a Gryffindor attempt to come late, it would be from five to twenty points from the house or detention, depending on how mad Snape was. Slytherins could enter with no worries and wide grins.

The black eyes scanned the room and took in every detail before he spoke. "Today you will all brew your potions independently." Hermione supressed her smile. She liked being able to concentrate on her own potion and not having to help others.

"In the end of this class you will all test your own potions." He smirked at the horrified looks on the faces of those uncertain of their skills in the brewing. Even some Slytherins looked slightly worried.

"The potion is quite simple, but requires a good timing. If you are even a minute late in adding a new ingredient, the potion will fail." He continued calmly with his voice filling the silent room.

Hermione nodded to herself. Timing wouldn't be a problem for her, still she hoped that the potion wouldn't be something dangerous. Probably not since Snape would be fired and punished should any one of them suffer serious harm.

"You will brew a potion that works as a pregnancy test." He finally stated.

Hermione stared at Snape and prayed that she had heard wrong. Pregnancy test?

Oh, no!

Her thoughts flew around in her head, but she couldn't really catch any of them.

Pregnancy test?

She was in so much trouble. If she brewed this correctly, she would have to test it and then everyone would know. She would have to fail, no matter how much satisfaction Snape and Slytherins would take of it. The others would wonder as well, but she could just say that someone must have added something in without her noticing. It had happened before, just not to her.

"--but when used on a man, it merely causes them to momentarily act like they would be drunk. That is if it is properly brewed. If made wrong..." He smiled evilly at Harry and Ron. "--the consequences can be much, much worse." The boys looked really worried, since they were on the bottom of the class.

She had been so deep in her thoughts that she had missed a part of what Snape had said. She had never even read about this potion, she had no idea what it was like or what it did. Not more than she had just heard.

"The potion reacts to the extra hormones in a pregnant woman body and for a moment the woman will glow green. One month is one minute, two months is two minutes and so on. A woman who is not pregnant will glow red for about half minute. No harm will be caused to the unborn child." He continued his explanation.

"After the potion has been tested, those successfully brewed will be sent to Madam Pomfrey. This potion is useful only for a year after brewed and then it loses its reliability."

*So you use your students to fill her up every year. Thank you very much!* Hermione swore in her head. If Snape would be a little more diligent and would do this potion himself, she would be free of this new problem.

"You will all take one page from this pile--" He pointed at the corner of his table. "--and after reading it you will pick up and handle the ingredients yourselves. There will be no speaking or asking advices during these two hours. I expect you to work in complete silence." He said the final words staring at Hermione then when she was sure he would say something nasty to her, he suddenly returned to his desk and sat down.

When nothing happened, he raised his eyebrow. "Well, what are you waiting for? Potion not finished by the end of the second hour automatically fails. And I would say that you have only just the time you need."

His words caused a sudden panic in the room as everyone moved at the same time to get themselves notes and ingredients. Snape smirked at the panic filled faces.

Hermione managed to get herself notes and then the ingredients. Unnoticed in the crowd of students she took some extra ingredients to help her in failing the potion. She didn't want to simply make it poor, because she would have to drink it. It would have to be explosive. Failed potion could be bad for the baby, so there would have to be no potion left for her to sample.

She read the note carefully and started chopping the items. In her head she processed all that she knew about potions and what could make it first explode and then evaporate. Snape had no need to glance in her direction to keep her from helping Harry and Ron. She needed all her concentration and time just to help herself.

Finally she settled for a simple potion used often for childish bombs. She had once brewed it for Fred and George when they had been trying to invent new things to sell in their joke shop. It would be rather hard to transform the potion she should be making into it so that it would look like an accident.

No matter how much she disliked Snape, she knew that he was a very smart man and knew more than enough of potions to see through her cover if she would make it possible. The man knew what he taught. She was only sad that he would probably punish her for this rather that congratulate for job well done.

She worked hard for the next one and half an hour before it was time to wait a while before the last item could be added. She like so many others laid back to enjoy the pause. It was still over an hour till dinner, but she was already starving. She had kept her breakfast small as she always had because changing her habits would alert others. If not Harry and Ron, who could be quite thick sometimes, then someone else.

The time flew by too soon in her opinion. Snape was aware that the potions should soon be ready and was staring at the class. More importantly, he was staring at the Gryffindors. One mistake and he would nail them. Unfortunately, Hermione knew she would be the one making the biggest mistake. She had considered different ways of failing the potion and some would indeed cause most misfortunate combinations. But still she doubted that no other potion would blow up and then evaporate.

*So today Harry won't be the one Snape will torture. It will be me.* She thought miserably.

The time ended and slowly she saw as her classmates started one by one adding the final item. Her time would be a little later than theirs and so she hoped that they would be able to finish bottling before her potion would blow up. She didn't want all their potions to fail as well and that they would if some of her potion found its way to their cauldrons.

Hand trembling a little, she dropped the last ingredient. It melted into the potion. She saw as her classmate bottle their potions as hers started to turn into different colours. Black, red, blue and finally ill green. After two minutes, it would blow up.

She moved as far as she could without raising suspicion and opened her bottle. She saw others lining before Snape's desk. Her bottle was tightly shut which was good for her. She really had to fight to get it open and that took time. Soon...

Just as she had managed to open the bottle, her potion exploded. The green liquid showered all over the room staining everything before starting to evaporate. The students jumped and some screamed at the sudden bang. Through the green mist she saw Ron drop his bottle and his potion swirling across the floor.

Snape on the other hand stood up and moved to find out what had happened while shouting that the mist wasn't probably poisonous and that everyone should stay where they are.

Hermione looked around. The mist had cleared to show the ugly grease marks all over the room. She had miscalculated somewhere... There shouldn't have been any marks left. Perhaps whatever Ron had managed to make, had somehow mingled with the mist and caused the grease as a side effect.

"Miss Granger."

She gulped and turned to look at her Potions master. His dark eyes burned and his lips were a thin line. He was tall, much more so than she. His black eyes, hair and clothing made him appear scary and ruthless. He was angry. She could see it in the way he looked at her, in the way he had said her name.

"Would you care to explain why you saw fit to shower us all with... grease?" He sneered. And Hermione found that she could only open her mouth but nothing came out. Just like everyone and everything else in the room, he also was covered in grease. In some other situation she might have found it funny, but not now. Not when he towered above her and stared at her with furious fire in his eyes.

"I am still waiting so start talking. I take no pleasure in watching the insides of your mouth. I am sure that you have the most ... fascinating explanation as to how this happened." He continued and Hermione flushed furiously.

"I do not, sir. I don't know what went wrong." She managed to mutter. She had thought that changing the potion into another one would have been the hardest part, but found it not so. Meeting Snape's black eyes staring at her as if she were some disgusting vermin was hard, much harder than she had thought.

"Oh, is that so? The little annoying know-it-all doesn't actually know it all." He said with a glee and turned to the others. "We have just witnessed a great event. Miss Granger has admitted that she is no better than others. Now you can all thank her for this grease that hangs over all of you."

Then he turned to Hermione. "Twenty points from Gryffindor for this and detention. You will stay here and clean the mess you have caused. Without magic."

She could hear the terrified gasps from her classmates. Twenty points merely because of her. And now Snape would be in so bad mood that everyone that failed, would lose more points than usually.

She sat down in her chair and listened to the sounds. She could feel the mocking glares she received from Slytherins as well as their anger at what she had done. During the testing she heard Snape strip fifteen points from Gryffindor. Luckily, the potion was so easy that most had succeeded in it. The men left the room in a happy drunken state while the women stared at her with different emotions playing on their faces their bodies glowing red. She refused to look at them, but since she hadn't heard any surprised gasps or such, none were probably pregnant.

She didn't open her eyes until she heard the door close. She was now alone with Snape. He stared at her and then spoke. "Come here Miss Granger." She frowned at his calm tone, but did as he said.

"Sit down." He said and pointed at one of the front chairs. He looked at her with a strange look in his eyes, one she had not seen before. At some point he had cleaned himself, but she had not noticed.

"How far along are you?" He asked suddenly and Hermione started.

"Excuse me, sir, but what do you mean?" She said carefully. She didn't want him to know how much his words had scared her. She had thought that he had somehow found out.

Snape gave her a piercing stare. "I asked how far your pregnancy has proceeded?"

Hermione stared at him her thoughts running wild for the second time that day. He couldn't know... He could not!

"I am not pregnant, sir." She stated and was surprised at how calm she sounded. Snape snorted.

"Then you don't mind drinking this." He said and handed her a small vial. And she just knew what was in it. She stared at the bottle, not saying yes or no.

"In my time here, I have often been asked to brew this potion using students so that those hiding their pregnancy would be found. Many desperate women have failed their potions intentionally, which has lead to some very interesting results. Yours is one of the most interesting ones since you decided to make sure that there was no trace left of the potion." He spoke calmly with the same voice he used when teaching.

"This potion is very simple and while it is possible to fail in brewing it, you are too talented for that." He stated. In her surprised state Hermione was hardly able to register that he had just complimented her work. "Also, I already knew that you were the one pregnant and so this was merely a test."

Hermione stared at him. *No way. This can't be happening... Not now. Not him.* She knew that she had no way out. If she drank the potion, he would know. If she refused, he would know. She was trapped and he knew it. She sighed tiredly and pulled her hair from her face. She stared at the floor unable to look at him for the longest of times.

When she finally looked at him she saw a calm face and not a trace of glee or sadistic pleasure. She frowned. This was not the reaction she had expected.

"How far are you?" He asked again. Neither his face nor his voice betrayed any emotions as he spoke.

"Four months." She answered quietly. In a strange way it felt good to finally say it out loud, to admit to someone that she was indeed with a child. She had known it, but because of the circumstances she hadn't been able to state it aloud in the fear that someone might overhear. Now she had done it. She had said it to Snape off all people.

To her surprise he sighed and then rubbed his temples. There was a strange look on his face as he looked at her. "In that case there is nothing more I need to ask since I already know it all." He said almost whispering. He was acting really strange and Hermione frowned.

"Sir?" She said not even knowing what it was that she wanted him to say.

He stood up and told her to follow him. He was taking her to his private storeroom in his office, she noticed. She had been there last time during her second year when she had stolen Bicorn hair and Boomslang skin for the Polyjuice Potion. Not much had changed during the years. The room was still as tidy and organized as it had been five years ago. It had been a huge help then.

Snape walked with his usual graze to one of the big boxes on the floor. He muttered something under his breath and tapped it with his wand. The box sprung open revealing over dozen bottles. He picked up quite a few of them and placed them on the stone floor. Then he took one single page out and put it upon the bottles. With a charm he closed the box and then levitated the potions to his table. He took a bag from his drawer and filled it with the bottles and also added the page with them.

"Here." He handed the bag to amazed Hermione who raised her eyebrow while taking the bag. It was slightly heavier than she had thought it would be.

"In that bag are all the potions you will need to drink during the next month. There is some extra since you have clearly neglected taking them before. The instructions are written on the paper I put there as well. Do as instructed and maybe that tired look will disappear." He explained.

Hermione stared at him with her eyes wide. He was actually going to help her. "Thank you, professor." She muttered and he merely nodded. He then left the room and Hermione followed. She watched carefully as he warded the room and charmed it locked. Luckily, he hadn't had all those up when she had been in her second year. She knew some of the spells he used and none were pleasant.

Then he turned to look at the mess Hermione had made and cleaned it with one wave and few words. He did not clean Hermione, but she was too stunned to react to that pretty insignificant fact. She had greased the whole room and she had already mentally prepared to clean it, but now he had done it before her. She looked at him amazed.

He merely raised an eyebrow. "Yes, Miss Granger?"

"I thought I was to clean this up." She said before she could stop herself. *Foolish girl! Saying something like that to Snape is the same as asking for some awful work!*

"Had my guess been incorrect and you were not pregnant, you would have spent the next hours cleaning this room, but the situation has changed. You will stay here for the same amount of time, but doing your homework. I believe you have some undone." He said the last sentence with a raise of his voice. Hermione nodded.

Again Snape waved his black wand and the delicious scent of food filled the room. "You will eat here and you will eat well. I have seen the amount you normally eat and that is not enough for you now."

"Thank you, professor." Hermione said and realised then that she was actually grateful to Snape. Her Potions teacher who had ridiculed her numerous times in the past, who never gave her the credit she rightfully deserved and who never ever was nice to her. She also realized that he had had his eye on her for some time.

"I will leave now. There is a meeting and I need to report to the Headmaster--"

"NO!" Hermione screamed. "You can't tell him! Not to anyone!"

Snape raised his eyebrow and looked at Hermione mockingly. "--that Miss Granger received detention for blowing up a cauldron and we need to add that to the order of new cauldrons." He finished his sentence with some of his usual sneer. Somehow it made her feel better, this situation more like reality. This was not a dream, this was really happening.

Hermione stared at Snape and could feel her cheeks burning. Still she held her chin high. "Sorry sir. But still, please do not tell anyone. Not even to Professor Dumbledore."

Snape stared at Hermione with the same strange expression as before and then shook his head. "I have no intentions of telling anyone if that is your wish."

"Why?" She said in surprise before she could think twice, but she did not regret asking.

He looked at her for a long time and she began to fidgeting under his firm stare. Then he suddenly spoke. "Because I know." He simply said and Hermione frowned. "Know what?" She asked in confusion.

Snape looked at her with a stern look. "I know how this child came to be and who is its father."





End of chapter 01.



Continued in chapter 02.





Authors note #2: Who can guess the father? I think it is pretty obvious even though I have left his name hidden for now. It will be revealed in the next chapter.