*~* Disclaimer- I don't own anything you recognize…It all belongs to the goddess J. K. Rowling. I'm just letting them play on my playground. *~*
A/N: Here we begin the next chapter….
~ Chapter 14 ~
"Ron, let me tell Harry," Hermione said looking across the table at him. He nodded while shoving food into his mouth. "Have some broccoli, Mel. It's good for you."
"Mom!" She wrinkled her nose at the little tree-shaped vegetable. "Ick! They look like little trees and you know I can't stand it when food looks like plants. I'm not a rabbit, ya know." Dumbledore chuckled. Hermione glared at her.
"You are the pickiest eater I have ever seen. I have no clue where you got it from but it wasn't me. At least I try things," Hermione scolded then looked up at Severus.
"Don't look at me. I eat plenty of things," he said. Dumbledore made a sound like a snort. She rubbed her temples. "Mellody, at least try it for your mother. If you don't like it then you don't have to eat it."
"No if she doesn't eat it she will get salad. She needs to eat green vegetables," Hermione told both her daughter and Snape with an air of finality.
"Told you," Dumbledore whispered to Minerva as Mellody picked at the plain broccoli. He conjured up some cheese sauce and passed it to his goddaughter. "It makes it taste better."
"They still look like the miniature versions of the trees in Tara's backyard," Mellody grumbled.
"Who's Tara?" asked Professor Sprout.
"She's my best friend. Her family used to live next door in America. They're muggles but extremely cool," she said looking sad. "Mum always said that if I didn't watch it I would be marrying her twin brother, Timothy. Or even their little brother, Michael."
"Hey! I can still send you right back there. I'm sure Timmy can find a nice big mud puddle." Hermione teased.
"Don't remind me. I think I've seen enough of those for a lifetime," Mellody said rolling her eyes. "Pushing me into puddles was Timmy's favorite thing." Hermione saw an odd look on Severus' face and decided to change the subject. 'When did his face become so expressive?' she thought. Dessert appeared on the table and everyone dug in.
"So what have I missed around here?" Hermione asked.
"Well, Oliver Wood is back as our flying instructor. Madame Hooch's sister needed help at home so she retired early." Professor Flitwick told her.
"Harry's been doing auror work with me," said Ron, "and he and Ginny were dating awhile back. They broke up about six months ago. Now she's moved onto disgusting things." Hermione's eyebrow rose up. "Draco Malfoy."
"What? But I thought he…did he…is he on our side?" she asked. 'Good one Mione.' She blushed. Ron just grunted.
"Draco was disowned by his father in his seventh year when he refused to join the death eaters," Severus said quietly.
"That's good. I wouldn't have wanted my worst enemy to join them." She paused thinking over her comment. "That didn't sound right..." Mellody yawned. "Well I guess I should get her to bed."
"I'll take you to your rooms," said Minerva getting up. Mellody looked at her father.
"Dad? Can you come tuck me in?" she asked. He nodded and followed them. Ron burst out laughing. The idea of Snape tucking anyone in was just too much to comprehend. Severus turned and glared at him. "So are we going to be close to you?" Mellody asked him.
"I don't know but I think we can arrange it," Severus told her. Minerva turned down the steps to the dungeons.
"As long as it's not in your rooms," Hermione said. "I'm not quite comfortable with that idea." Severus whispered to Minerva. They stopped in front of a door.
"Dragon scales," he said and the door opened. He led them inside. "You can stay in here. There is two rooms downstairs to sleep in." he pointed at a small staircase. Minerva hugged Hermione and Mellody and left the rooms. Slowly he descended them to a landing. Severus took out his wand and tapped the wall. A door appeared. "This leads to my rooms. If you need anything the password is 'Roman Empire'." He continued down the stairs to the bedrooms. The first was done in black and silver and the second was in deep greens.
"Mum, can I have the green one?"
"Whatever you want, hunny," Hermione said. "I wouldn't want to sleep in a slytherin-colored room anyway." She followed her daughter into the room. Hermione transfigured her robes into pajamas and helped her into bed. Severus tucked the covers around her and kissed her forehead.
"Goodnight Mellody," he said.
"Night Daddy, night Mom."
"Sweet dreams, Sweetpea," Hermione said.
"Pleasant nightmares," Mellody said grinning.
"Night Mellody," she said and walked out of the room with Severus.
"We need to talk," he said after closing the door behind him.
"I suspect we'll be doing that a lot from now on," Hermione told him as she climbed up the stairs. She peeked in the small kitchen. "Ah ha," she said as she eyed the tea. "This is just what I need." She started making it. Severus leaned against the counter. Hermione had never seen him so relaxed "So what's the first topic of discussion?"
"Why did you leave? Albus told me they asked you to stay here." She sighed and looked down studying the counter like it had the answers to the universe.
"Well, when I went home on the Hogwarts Express I had every intention of coming back here the following year." She paused and choked back a sob. "To say that my parents freaked would be an understatement. My father told me that I would have to put her up for adoption as soon as she was born. He only saw it as a disgrace that his daughter would have a child out of wedlock. I never told them of Voldemort or this ongoing war. They would have pulled me out of Hogwarts faster than you could say witch. He said I didn't know the first thing about taking care of a baby and when I told him I could do it he told me to get out. He disowned me so I grabbed all my stuff and jumped into the car they had gotten me for Christmas. I was lucky I had saved all my money since I was a little girl for college. I needed to get away and Hogwarts wasn't far enough." Tears were now flowing freely down her face. He hesitated but pulled her into a hug.
"Everything is turning out ok now," he said trying to comfort her. She pulled away.
"We're nowhere closer to bringing him down, are we?"
"Well, it depends on how you look at it - no were in the same position as we were." She shook her head and poured a cup of tea.
"Want some?" He nodded and got a cup for himself. "So what else did you want to talk about?" Severus led her to a chair by the warm fire.
"What now? What happens after this?"
"Well, I go back to London and on September 1st, Mellody starts school here."
"Do I get a part in this family?" he asked.
"Of course. And you will get to see her during the school year and on the weekends over the summer holidays." Hermione reasoned.
"Let me fix these things. Lets do the right thing. Marry me, Hermione, and we can be a real family."
"I…I can't. I won't marry you out of some obligation you feel the need to fulfill. If and when I get married it will be for love and nothing less." She pulled out her wand and a pocket sized dufflebag. After re-sizing it and getting out a magically run CD player and CD case, she pulled out Lila McCann, a muggle country singer, and put it in. Hermione put on 'Yippy Ki Yea' and fast-forwarded it to the second verse.
'Would it hurt so much to open my door,
or send me a flower or two.
Cause I believe in love like the good book says,
not the gospel according to you.
You can't two-step around step number one,
and skip down to three and four.
You can't touch me with a ten-foot pole,
Unless you back up a little bit more.'
She turned off the song and looked at him. Severus sat there with his head in his hands. "I know you mean well but I've given up too much of my life to this war and to the little blessing down there. I need to keep this wish for myself," she explained.
"I understand," he said looking up at her. Snape stood to leave.
"Severus, wait," she called after him. "If you're still willing, I'd like to give us a try, the right way." Severus nodded and Hermione walked over to him. She cupped his cheek with her hand and kissed the other one. "Go get some sleep. We'll still be here in the morning when you wake up. Pleasant dreams." With that said she went to her own room and crawled in bed.
A/N: Yes, yes, I know its been forever since the last time I updated but my computer died and I haven't been able to get to the already typed chapters or online. Wow 105 reviews! I remember when I used to think it'd be nice to reach 50... There's a nice surprise to try and make up for my absence: a link! Well sort of, check out my profile thingy for it since they won't let me put in the link or it is story id: 1376607