Author's Note: Hello everybody! I will try to keep this brief, as I know how tedious it can be to scroll through rambling author's notes. I just wanted to thank all of those who are reading my story. I was amazed to see how many hits I've had so far. However, I don't know if I should take the lack of reviews as "No News is Good News", or "If You Can't Say Anything Nice, Don't Say Anything At All". I'm not one to beg for reviews, and I intend to continue the story regardless. However, as this is my first attempt at fanfic, I would appreciate some input ~ whether good or bad. If you could just take a minute and give me a "Thumbs Up", or a "Thumbs Down" in a review, it would be greatly appreciated.

Oh, and just one more note. I am having trouble with Word documents and HTML, so I keep losing my formatting. Where I had intended to use italics to indicate Severus's thoughts later in this chapter, I have instead used ***asterisks*** to indicate internal dialogue.

Thank you again for reading... now, on with our story.

*****

Disclaimer: Harry Potter and the characters from the books in the series are copyright JK Rowling, and are not being used for profit, only for personal enjoyment.

Chapter 4 ~ "Reflections"

"He's got your eyes," she had said as she looked at Severus before falling asleep.

Remus gaped at Severus in shock, as Severus looked on at Hermione in confusion.

"Clearly, the trauma of birth has rendered the girl delusional. Whoever IS the baby's father, by the way?" he asked, eyeing Remus suspiciously.

"It's not for me to tell, even if I knew, Severus. I'm her moral support only," Remus replied as he removed the baby from Hermione's arms and gently placed him in the cradle at Hermione's bedside.

"If you insist, Lupin," Severus replied dryly, sounding thoroughly unconvinced.

Remus was fighting to keep his temper in check. Fatigue over the evening's events, coupled with concern over Hermione and the baby, only increased the agitation that he was feeling with the rise of the moon. "Look, Snape, I've got a date with the moon tonight, in case you have forgotten," he snapped.

He took a few calming breaths before continuing, "She needs someone to stay with her now, Severus. It can't be me, so it will have to be you. Besides, I think the two of you may need to have a little chat."

"Just what are you implying, Lupin?"

"The same that you were implying of me, Snape!" Remus whispered sharply as he turned away and rushed out of the house.

*****

Severus managed to change the bedsheets and discreetly redress Hermione in a clean nightgown with a few flicks of his wand. Satisfied that she could now rest comfortably, Severus sat down in a chair close to the cradle and looked down at the sleeping infant, wondering who Hermione might have seen in the child's eyes.

The baby's eyes were closed, so Severus focused his other features.

A small patch of silky black hair. That could be anybody. Certainly not a Weasley, but maybe Potter.

**'No, not Potter. That bloody Gryffindor is too noble to abandon a pregnant girlfriend. Unless she never told him. But why would she NOT tell him? Surely, she would have known that Potter would "do the right thing".**

It just didn't add up. Besides, Severus was fairly certain that Granger and Potter had no relationship aside from an extraordinary friendship.

His eyes traveled down the boy's face, lingering briefly in contemplation over the sleeping eyes, before moving his gaze down to the child's nose.

**'Well, not much to tell there. It is a baby nose. No definite shape yet, though maybe just slightly... large, for a baby nose, and a premature one at that! But what do I know of baby noses? It's not as though I've ever seen one.'**

The child stirred and finally opened his eyes. Ah yes... the eyes. Now he could take a good look at them.

Somewhere, Severus had heard, or more likely had read, that babies often have blue eyes at birth, changing color as they age. These eyes were indeed blue, but not the typical light baby blue he had heard of. As he looked down, he found two deep, dark orbs staring directly back at him. Sapphire eyes that would surely darken to near black as the child aged. He observed also the familiar shape and set of the eyes.

Hermione was right. They were HIS eyes.

Stunned, he sat in silence, staring at the child. As the baby began to fuss, Severus gently lifted him out of the cradle.

"Who ARE you?" he asked the child.

At the sound of Severus' voice, tiny hands and feet began to flail, kicking the receiving blanket loose from around the tiny body. Severus carefully unwrapped the child and the newborn instinctively worked on finding his thumb, sucking vigorously once he managed to get it into his mouth. Severus gently placed his own thumb in the palm of the infant's other hand, holding it gently as he inspected the tiny fingers. Those hands look familiar, he thought as he glanced down at his own hands. **'MY hands.'**

His hands. His eyes. That silky black hair.

The child, indeed, resembled a Snape.

"How?" he whispered quietly.

*****

The sound of the baby wailing a short time later woke Hermione from her short slumber. Severus approached the bed, delivering the child into his mother's arms.

"I do believe he is hungry," he said.

"Thank you, Professor," She replied, avoiding his intense gaze as she unbuttoned the top of her nightgown, lowering the material down over one shoulder so she could hold the baby to her breast. She smiled nervously as she leaned back against the pillows, closing her eyes a few moments later after the baby succesfully latched on and began to suckle contently.

Giving the new family a few minutes of privacy, Severus busied himself mixing a potion to administer to Hermione, a blood replenishing potion with a mild pain reliever and a sleeping draught. He gently supported her head as he urged her to drink, then sat back and watched mother and son through those first precious moments of bonding.

"Miss Granger?" he asked hesitantly a short time later, as he noticed that the infant, now satiated by his mother's milk, was beginning to drift of to sleep as he continued to suckle.

"Yes, Professor?" Hermione replied sleepily.

"Perhaps... Is there... something that you would like to tell me?"

At this, her eyes flew open. She looked around the room nervously before closing them again and replying, "Whatever are you trying to ask me, Professor?"

"Miss Granger, you mentioned something peculiar about your child before you fell asleep. Something about his eyes. Something about MY eyes."

A single tear slid down her cheek, as Hermione continued nursing her child in silence, her eyes closed as she contemplated her answer.

She knew it was time. She had never intended to tell him, but now he was here and she realized that it was inevitable. She swallowed hard and replied in a weak voice, "Yes, I think I may remember saying something to that effect."

"And why would you dare to make such a comparison?"

Brown eyes met black, as she looked at him and flatly stated, "Because, Professor, you are his father."

He bowed his head into his hands momentarily, reeling from this seemingly impossible revelation, though sensing that it was, somehow, true.

"Would you care to explain to me, Miss Granger, how I am to believe that I possibly fathered this child, when we never..." he paused for a moment, not knowing how to continue his line of questioning.

"That is, I do not recall an act that would have resulted in our conceiving a child together," he finally stated.

"Professor, I..." she began in a choked voice. Realizing that, in her weakened condition, Hermione did not have the strength to continue, he decided not to press her for answers tonight. Yes, he wanted the to know the truth, but he'd wait, just to assure that he received the full and honest truth from the girl. It could wait until morning, when the sleeping draught would wear off.

"Get some rest, Miss Granger," he spoke as he lifted the sleeping child from her arms and placed him back into the cradle, "we can continue this discussion in the morning."

*****

Severus once again seated himself in the chair beside the cradle for the next few hours, keeping vigil over the sleeping infant and contemplating the mysteries of life.

When he first assessed the situation at the cottage that night, Severus was looking forward, from a biological standpoint, to assisting in childbirth. He'd always been curious about the birthing process. And during the delivery, that's all he felt... a clinical sense of curiosity. But now, sitting here contemplating the night's events, he was overwhelmed by the feeling of wonder, that HE had delivered a life into this world. And not only did he help deliver this perfect creature, he may have been responsible for creating the child in the first place. After being responsible for taking so many lives in his dark past, he had now, possibly in more ways than one, taken part in the miracle of life.

In his lifetime, Severus had never known love. He had an abusive childhood, grew up with no true friends, and then spent a few years in the company Death Eaters, entering into service to the Dark Lord as a young adult before turning spy for the Order. All of his adult life, he never allowed himself to love. Partially out of fear for the safety of the unfortunate soul that might make the mistake caring about him, but more so out of guilt and shame for the sins that he committed during his service to Voldemort. He knew that he did not deserve love, so he convinced himself that he did not need or want love.

Looking down at this child in wonder, he could not hold back the flood of new emotion rushing through his soul. The longer he watched the sleeping infant, the stronger those feelings grew. Could this truly be his son? He could not allow himself to admit to the strange and wonderful emotions that this child stirred within him until he knew for sure. Yet, he couldn't help feeling protective over the tiny being that was sleeping before him.

When the child stirred once again and began to cry, Severus could not resist lifting him out of the cradle and holding him gently in his arms. Consciously, he did not know how to comfort the child, yet he instinctively cradled the child to his chest and began to murmer soothingly as he moved to sit in the rocking chair by the window, and rocked the child to sleep under the soft glow of the moonlight that was beaming through the window.

He was unaware of the soft brown eyes gazing at him in awe from the across the room.