Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or the Harry Potter series of books.
I am making no money from the distribution of this fanfiction. Anything you
recognize is not mine.
Author notes: thank you Bansidh for your great review!!! It made my day yesterday. I am glad to know that someone is enjoying my fic.
Chapter 7: Some Truths
"Hermione, Poppy wants to see us in the infirmary as quickly as possible." Christopher yelled from the bathroom of their guest quarters. He brushed his teeth frantically and helped his emotionally drained wife get ready to meet any problems with Fletcher. Hermione couldn't cry anymore for her son. It had been nothing but colds and fevers since his birth and she wondered if it would ever change. To make matters worse she and Christopher been fighting almost constantly about Fletcher's care and which doctors to see. When they weren't fighting, they didn't speak, which to Hermione was a welcome interlude to the fighting. She no longer looked towards her husband and thought of his qualities, she looked towards him and thought about their differences. As they raced towards the infirmary, Hermione traced the scar on her cheek and worried she was losing another child.
"You won't believe it, no fever, no rash. He is completely cured." Madame Pomfrey bellowed as Hermione and Christopher entered the infirmary.
"What? You can't be serious!" Christopher demanded, running to the crib.
"Feel him, his temperature is completely normal. His rash has completely gone away." Madame Pomfrey stated as Christopher held Fletcher in his arms, checking for any abnormalities.
"There's nothing." Christopher yelled. Hermione took her son from her husband's arms and held him tight to her. As she did, she smelled a strong sense of lavender along his entire body and something like calamine as well. She held him tight to her own body and kissed his soft hair.
"Poppy, did you put any lavender or calamine oil on him?" Hermione asked handing the child back to her husband. "No, I haven't done anything since yesterday evening." Madame Pomfrey replied. Hermione let out a frustrated breath and began to gather Fletcher's things to be burned for decontamination. As she did, a bunch of wildflowers and a sprig of lavender fell from the blankets. At once, she recognized the flowers and asked Christopher to go ahead and pack their belongings that she was going to take Fletcher on an outing. She bundled him in great layers and headed towards the forest.
"This is your brother's tree, Fletcher. His name is Julius." She held Fletcher tight against her chest and stared at the tree. Someone had cleared the area a bit and taken a small handful of flowers, though she knew no one else knew of the tree besides Dumbledore. And she believed she still had protection spells against anyone taking flowers or leaves...
"Your father really loves you Fletcher, but I think something is going to change soon that could make it where we don't see him as often. He's not a positive influence in our lives anymore." She stood and closed her eyes to take in the brisk air. Fletcher still smelled of lavender and calamine, which she assumed meant he'd had Chicken Pox and not pneumonia. Whoever had managed to discover this was in her highest regard, if only she could figure the person out. Before leaving, she traced her fingers across the inscription she'd placed on the tree fours years ago. She stopped when she reached the our and fell, Fletcher tight in her arms, to the ground. At first she thought she'd simply misread the word and then it suddenly dawned on her; Severus knew.
She returned to the castle in great speed, her mind now having answered the question of whom had saved Fletcher but still full of questions on how he had discovered Julius. How long had he known? Why hadn't he said anything to her or was she right all along that is wouldn't have mattered anyway; Severus could never love a child. "Enter." She heard Severus mutter from his office.
"Professor, I just wanted to thank you." Hermione said as she opened the door and faced him. Immediately, she saw more of the wildflowers pressed beneath the surface of his glass hood on his desk. "For what, Mrs. Hopkins?" Severus replied in a bark. He closed the book he was writing in and sneered towards her. "For the lavender and calamine. The fever broke and the rash is gone, thanks to you." "It could've been anything, Mrs. Hopkins. Poppy was giving him a potion that..." "You brewed, Severus. Please accept my thanks and also my apologies." He stood, arms folded across his chest and stared at the young mother holding her tiny child. She looked enchanting holding the infant, but he folded that thought in his mind and dumped it in the dustbin to be forgotten. "Apologies?" He inquired, yet knew exactly what she might say. He knew she would've found the wildflowers in the child's blankets and known where to find them. He knew she would go into the forest and see the new inscription and discover that he had uncovered her secret. Hermione twitched uncomfortably in his doorway, but then turned to close his door, not wanting all of Hogwarts to hear her confession. "I owe you more than an apology, Severus, I owe you four years of explanations. I just don't have it in me to give them all today. I went to Julius's tree today because I knew these were his flowers and I had to know who might've cut them or who would've known to cut them. I saw that you changed his inscription and I had to see you. How long have you known and why didn't you tell me. I guess I really can't expect you to feel the same way I do about him, but I guess I just expected you to want to know the story." She sat down on his couch softly and placed Fletcher in the bassinet she had transfigured from a cushion. Her eyes followed Severus from his standing position to his red chair across from her. "I only found out yesterday, Mrs. Hopkins, and considering everything that has been going on with Fletcher, I didn't want to bombard you with questions. Yes, you are right, I did put the lavender and calamine on Fletcher, but I assure you I had no idea it was him. And as for the statement you made about your feelings for Julius, I can assure you that I feel many things, one being great loss and the other being great spirit." He folded his hands in his lap and tried to appear to be the snarky potions master he had always been, but somehow in that moment, he wanted nothing more than to hold the only other person who could understand his loss. "Oh, Severus, I thought you could never love him as I did because of your adamant dislike for children and I kept him a secret because I thought it wouldn't matter. It was one more thing that would make you turn away from me." He looked towards her in shock; did she really believe he would've loved her less if she had told him of Julius? "When did you learn you were pregnant?" He asked. "Before the Wood wedding. When I met you there that night and we reconciled, I was afraid it would make you leave me again so I kept him a secret." She replied. Suddenly, as if he had always known, he thought back to that night and was astonished that he hadn't seen the glow on her face for what it really was. "You knew then and didn't tell me? Well, I have no doubt I would've been surprised and probably distant, but it wouldn't have changed that way I felt, at all. I know we decided that we were never going to have children, but I would've raised him and loved him because he was ours, Hermione." Severus felt awkward in divulging such personal beliefs and feelings. He reached for her hand sometime during their talk and held it tightly. He cared not that she was married or that her infant child was sitting but two feet away from them. "I am sorry, then, Severus, that I never told you. I hope that someday you can forgive me for all of this." "I am sorry that I made you feel as though you couldn't tell of the child. It was never my wish to hurt you in that way." He stroked her hand with his and averted his eyes towards a wall of books. Had he nothing in the room but books? "Christopher will be wondering where I've been. Thank you for everything, Severus." Hermione whispered, leaning towards him and brushing her lips lightly over his. His brain simply refused to function after the kiss, instead be watched Hermione move from his side to collect Fletcher and leave his rooms once more. When she gathered Fletcher and changed his bassinet back into a cushion, she walked towards his door. "Goodday." He replied, but as she walked from his room, he noticed a bruise at the base of her neck that seemed odd. "How did that happen?" He asked, moving her hair from her neck. "I was lifting the boxes of dishes from our old house and a couple fell back at me, we're moving to Hogsmeade." She replied. "You were never a good liar, Hermione." "It will be over soon." With that she left Severus in his office to stare at an open doorway and wonder suddenly why he was jealous of her husband and how he was going to make sure no bruises ever appeared on her body because of said husband.
Author notes: thank you Bansidh for your great review!!! It made my day yesterday. I am glad to know that someone is enjoying my fic.
Chapter 7: Some Truths
"Hermione, Poppy wants to see us in the infirmary as quickly as possible." Christopher yelled from the bathroom of their guest quarters. He brushed his teeth frantically and helped his emotionally drained wife get ready to meet any problems with Fletcher. Hermione couldn't cry anymore for her son. It had been nothing but colds and fevers since his birth and she wondered if it would ever change. To make matters worse she and Christopher been fighting almost constantly about Fletcher's care and which doctors to see. When they weren't fighting, they didn't speak, which to Hermione was a welcome interlude to the fighting. She no longer looked towards her husband and thought of his qualities, she looked towards him and thought about their differences. As they raced towards the infirmary, Hermione traced the scar on her cheek and worried she was losing another child.
"You won't believe it, no fever, no rash. He is completely cured." Madame Pomfrey bellowed as Hermione and Christopher entered the infirmary.
"What? You can't be serious!" Christopher demanded, running to the crib.
"Feel him, his temperature is completely normal. His rash has completely gone away." Madame Pomfrey stated as Christopher held Fletcher in his arms, checking for any abnormalities.
"There's nothing." Christopher yelled. Hermione took her son from her husband's arms and held him tight to her. As she did, she smelled a strong sense of lavender along his entire body and something like calamine as well. She held him tight to her own body and kissed his soft hair.
"Poppy, did you put any lavender or calamine oil on him?" Hermione asked handing the child back to her husband. "No, I haven't done anything since yesterday evening." Madame Pomfrey replied. Hermione let out a frustrated breath and began to gather Fletcher's things to be burned for decontamination. As she did, a bunch of wildflowers and a sprig of lavender fell from the blankets. At once, she recognized the flowers and asked Christopher to go ahead and pack their belongings that she was going to take Fletcher on an outing. She bundled him in great layers and headed towards the forest.
"This is your brother's tree, Fletcher. His name is Julius." She held Fletcher tight against her chest and stared at the tree. Someone had cleared the area a bit and taken a small handful of flowers, though she knew no one else knew of the tree besides Dumbledore. And she believed she still had protection spells against anyone taking flowers or leaves...
"Your father really loves you Fletcher, but I think something is going to change soon that could make it where we don't see him as often. He's not a positive influence in our lives anymore." She stood and closed her eyes to take in the brisk air. Fletcher still smelled of lavender and calamine, which she assumed meant he'd had Chicken Pox and not pneumonia. Whoever had managed to discover this was in her highest regard, if only she could figure the person out. Before leaving, she traced her fingers across the inscription she'd placed on the tree fours years ago. She stopped when she reached the our and fell, Fletcher tight in her arms, to the ground. At first she thought she'd simply misread the word and then it suddenly dawned on her; Severus knew.
She returned to the castle in great speed, her mind now having answered the question of whom had saved Fletcher but still full of questions on how he had discovered Julius. How long had he known? Why hadn't he said anything to her or was she right all along that is wouldn't have mattered anyway; Severus could never love a child. "Enter." She heard Severus mutter from his office.
"Professor, I just wanted to thank you." Hermione said as she opened the door and faced him. Immediately, she saw more of the wildflowers pressed beneath the surface of his glass hood on his desk. "For what, Mrs. Hopkins?" Severus replied in a bark. He closed the book he was writing in and sneered towards her. "For the lavender and calamine. The fever broke and the rash is gone, thanks to you." "It could've been anything, Mrs. Hopkins. Poppy was giving him a potion that..." "You brewed, Severus. Please accept my thanks and also my apologies." He stood, arms folded across his chest and stared at the young mother holding her tiny child. She looked enchanting holding the infant, but he folded that thought in his mind and dumped it in the dustbin to be forgotten. "Apologies?" He inquired, yet knew exactly what she might say. He knew she would've found the wildflowers in the child's blankets and known where to find them. He knew she would go into the forest and see the new inscription and discover that he had uncovered her secret. Hermione twitched uncomfortably in his doorway, but then turned to close his door, not wanting all of Hogwarts to hear her confession. "I owe you more than an apology, Severus, I owe you four years of explanations. I just don't have it in me to give them all today. I went to Julius's tree today because I knew these were his flowers and I had to know who might've cut them or who would've known to cut them. I saw that you changed his inscription and I had to see you. How long have you known and why didn't you tell me. I guess I really can't expect you to feel the same way I do about him, but I guess I just expected you to want to know the story." She sat down on his couch softly and placed Fletcher in the bassinet she had transfigured from a cushion. Her eyes followed Severus from his standing position to his red chair across from her. "I only found out yesterday, Mrs. Hopkins, and considering everything that has been going on with Fletcher, I didn't want to bombard you with questions. Yes, you are right, I did put the lavender and calamine on Fletcher, but I assure you I had no idea it was him. And as for the statement you made about your feelings for Julius, I can assure you that I feel many things, one being great loss and the other being great spirit." He folded his hands in his lap and tried to appear to be the snarky potions master he had always been, but somehow in that moment, he wanted nothing more than to hold the only other person who could understand his loss. "Oh, Severus, I thought you could never love him as I did because of your adamant dislike for children and I kept him a secret because I thought it wouldn't matter. It was one more thing that would make you turn away from me." He looked towards her in shock; did she really believe he would've loved her less if she had told him of Julius? "When did you learn you were pregnant?" He asked. "Before the Wood wedding. When I met you there that night and we reconciled, I was afraid it would make you leave me again so I kept him a secret." She replied. Suddenly, as if he had always known, he thought back to that night and was astonished that he hadn't seen the glow on her face for what it really was. "You knew then and didn't tell me? Well, I have no doubt I would've been surprised and probably distant, but it wouldn't have changed that way I felt, at all. I know we decided that we were never going to have children, but I would've raised him and loved him because he was ours, Hermione." Severus felt awkward in divulging such personal beliefs and feelings. He reached for her hand sometime during their talk and held it tightly. He cared not that she was married or that her infant child was sitting but two feet away from them. "I am sorry, then, Severus, that I never told you. I hope that someday you can forgive me for all of this." "I am sorry that I made you feel as though you couldn't tell of the child. It was never my wish to hurt you in that way." He stroked her hand with his and averted his eyes towards a wall of books. Had he nothing in the room but books? "Christopher will be wondering where I've been. Thank you for everything, Severus." Hermione whispered, leaning towards him and brushing her lips lightly over his. His brain simply refused to function after the kiss, instead be watched Hermione move from his side to collect Fletcher and leave his rooms once more. When she gathered Fletcher and changed his bassinet back into a cushion, she walked towards his door. "Goodday." He replied, but as she walked from his room, he noticed a bruise at the base of her neck that seemed odd. "How did that happen?" He asked, moving her hair from her neck. "I was lifting the boxes of dishes from our old house and a couple fell back at me, we're moving to Hogsmeade." She replied. "You were never a good liar, Hermione." "It will be over soon." With that she left Severus in his office to stare at an open doorway and wonder suddenly why he was jealous of her husband and how he was going to make sure no bruises ever appeared on her body because of said husband.
