Hermione's Baby
Chapter 7
That night the great hall was filled with gossiping students, all craning their necks to get better looks at Snape and Hermione. Hermione was sitting at Gryffindor table with Ron and Hermione, and Severus was sitting at the head table, glaring at anyone who managed to catch his eye. Alida had joined Remus at the head table, and the two of them were shooting concerned looks back and forth between Hermione and Snape.
Finally Alida said "Err… Severus, you know that she had to come back. Why are you so mad at her?"
Snape glared at her before saying "The question is, why aren't you two mad at her? Or did she tell you that she was from the future? Did she tell you everything? You and the rest of you bloody Gryffindors?"
"For god's sake!" snapped Remus, "if she had told anyone it would have been you, and if you don't know that then you are a bloody idiot. And does everything have to go back to what house we were in twenty years ago?"
"How," snarled Snape, "would you feel if your wife left you with no warning? How would you feel if the next time you saw her she was eleven years old? How would you feel teaching her and having to look at her every day with her being completely clueless to what was going on in your mind? Could you really forgive her for all that in just a few days?"
"You forget," said Remus, glaring at his colleague, "That Lavender was one of my best friends. She may not have been my wife, but I still loved her-" he paused when he saw the glare Severus was sending his way. "For god's sake, I mean I loved her like James loved her, or Harry and Ron love her. And when I first saw her on that train in her third year and realized what had happened, I was so upset that she hadn't confided in us. Do you think that it was easy to teach her? Maybe it was worse for you, but don't think it was painless for me. But I realize that she had to come back. And I accept that."
Snape scowled at Remus before saying through clenched teeth, "I accept that she had to come back. I don't like it, but I accept it. But you do not have the whole story, and do not try to tell me how to feel about the whole situation until you know all of the facts."
Alida, who had been quiet for that whole exchange, finally said quietly, "Lavender told me about that Severus. And she knows tha-"
Snape cut her off. "Do not-" he snarled, glaring at her with fierce anger, "Tell me what she knows or doesn't know. And she had no business telling you-"
"Yes she did!" Interrupted Alida, "don't you realize that it was only about three days ago that she had to, well, you know… and she needed someone to talk to! She is in so much pain Severus, and she feels so bad."
Remus was looking back and forth between the two of them, extremely confused. Snape didn't say anything, but abruptly stood up and left the room. Alida sighed, and the whole staff table, who had all been listening intently to the conversation, quickly got back to talking about something else.
Hermione had seen the staff table all focused intently on a conversation between Severus, Alida and Remus, and then she had seen her husband's abrupt exit. Excusing herself, Hermione stood and quickly followed Severus, oblivious to the looks of concern being sent her way by her many groups of friends. She followed his retreating footsteps until they reached a portrait of a fat frog and a pretty princess. He paused for a moment and then spoke: "I haven't been back here since we were at school you know." Hermione jumped. She hadn't realized that he knew that she was following him.
He said "emerald lion, crimson snake," and the portrait swung forward to reveal the room the two of them had discovered. It looked exactly as it had when she had last been in it, the couches a neutral purple color, the rug soft even beneath her shoes. She glanced around the room and noticed that Severus was doing the same. This room was theirs. They had never told anyone about it once they had found it and set the password to one specific to their situation. It had been their sanctuary when their housemates were becoming intolerable about their relationship.
They both stood in silence for a few moments, feeling comfortable in each others presence for the first time since Hermione had returned. The room was for them and them alone, as opposed to the dungeons which were his territory, and her head girl's dormitory, which was hers. Neither was quite sure of what to say. Hermione knew that he couldn't forgive her straight off the bat, but she wished that he would. "Where do we go from here?" she mused quietly, more to herself than to her husband.
"Where indeed?" he replied, his voice softer than any Hogwarts student would ever suppose it could ever be, "where indeed?"
"Severus-" Hermione started, but he held up a hand to silence her.
"No. Let me talk," he said, his gaze boring deep into hers. "I am forty-two years old. You are twenty-three. Since we last met – in your terms anyway – I have been through hell. Literally. Knowing I was still married I raped and killed too many girls to count when I was working for Voldemordt. And I enjoyed it. I now look upon that time in my life with revulsion, but when I was there I liked it. The only thing that caused me to switch sides was when I found out that the dark lord was going to attack the Potters. I told Dumbledore. Not because I felt any compassion for Potter or Evans, but because I knew that you never would have forgiven me. You are the force that brought me back from hell, but at the same time, you are the one who drove me there.
"When you left I was heartbroken. And when I saw you again, when you were a first year waiting to be sorted, I felt betrayed. I didn't understand why you didn't tell me. I was your husband, and you were supposed to have trusted me with that kind of information. I would have let you go back if you had told me that it was a matter of life or death. And if you had told me that you were pregnant I would have raised the baby the best I could so that I could have something of you until you came back from the past. And if you had told me the truth, I wouldn't have turned to Voldemordt!"
"I know," said Hermione quietly, "But don't forget that I knew the future. I knew that you were 'the evil git of the dungeons Professor Snape,' and I accepted that. I also knew that you had no son. And I had to make sure that that was because you had never known rather than because something had happened to him. Don't you see? I knew that you had to not know. I couldn't change the future. Honestly Severus, do you realize all of the things I had to keep to myself? I couldn't tell Lily and James not to trust Peter; I had to pretend to like Peter, and when I was with you I kept wondering what had happened to me and why you had never had a wife or a girlfriend or something. I was so worried that we had broken up. But then when I realized that I had to come back to live, it all clicked, and I did what I had to, despite how much I loved – love - you. I'm sorry. God I'm so sorry Severus!"
He looked at her for a moment, not saying anything. Then he said slowly "I know that you're sorry. And I understand. But I can't help being hurt. And – it's been so long since I've seen you, that it's hard. I loved you with all of my heart once. But now I'm confused. Two weeks ago I was teaching you, and you were oblivious to what was going to happen and who you would become. I can't all of a sudden forgive you. Lupin and Reynolds might be able to, but I can't."
Hermione nodded. She understood, but that didn't stop the tears from coming to her eyes. She tried to stop them, but to no avail. She briefly closed her eyes, aware that the wetness was sliding out from under her closed lids. It wasn't until she felt a warm hand wiping them away that she opened her eyes. Severus was standing right in front of her, his hand resting gently on her cheek. Then she completely broke down. She knew that she had been crying a lot in the past few days, but this time she cried harder than all of the previous times. Her whole body racked with the force of her sobs. She barely registered that Severus had hesitantly put his arms around her and was holding her gently against him as she cried. All she could think of was that she had messed everything up. She could have stopped Lily, James and Sirius from dying. She could have prevented Severus from becoming a death eater. But she hadn't.
She didn't know how long she cried for, only that it seemed like hours until she was able to stop. As her sobs began to quiet, Severus gently led her over to one of the couches and just held her to him. It had been so long for both of them – especially Severus – since they had been so close. "S-sorry" Hermione muttered against his chest when her sobs had finally stopped.
As she moved to pull away from him, Severus placed his hands on either side of her face and gently lifted her head up so he was staring into her tear-stained face. He then gently kissed her softly and whispered "good night" before getting up and leaving, closing the portrait softly behind him.
Hermione put her hands on her lips, lay down, and fell asleep on the sofa with a small smile playing around her lips.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
The next morning Hermione woke up to the sun shining on her face. She was slightly stiff from lying on the sofa all night, so she groaned slightly as she got up. She then headed towards the bathroom attached to the room and took a shower before transfiguring herself a new set of clothing and heading towards the Great Hall. It was still quite early, so only a few students were there when she reached the hall. Hermione, seeing Alida and Remus sitting at the head table, smiled and walked towards them.
They both greeted her and looked at her curiously, obviously wondering what had happened between her and Snape. Hermione sighed, sat down next to Alida and said: "we talked. He hasn't completely forgiven me yet, but he's no longer angry at me. I cried for god knows how long, and he held me during that. Then he kissed me and left." She then reached out and grabbed a piece of toast.
"He hasn't forgiven you?" Alida asked, smiling slightly, "Then what do you call what he did?"
"It's complicated," said Hermione, and they knew that the matter was now closed. They talked about other things, reminiscing about the past, and Alida told Hermione what she had been up to since Hermione had last seen her. They talked and talked, the Great Hall slowly filling up as they were immersed in their conversation.
"Remember that charms class when Sirius accidentally charmed James' shoes so that he couldn't take them off and every time he tried to walk he ended up doing ballet?" Remus said, laughing.
"And to think," said Hermione, an amused smile on her face, "The spell we were doing was meant to make a person immune to boils."
The three of them cracked up, and it was almost like old times. "So that was why Potter looked like a frog trying to do the polka?" said the amused voice of Snape, "We all thought it was his newest attempt to get Evans to notice him. Of course, there were others who hadn't noticed a difference…"
Hermione mock glared at him and said "you're the one who, when trying to transfigure a quill into a snail ended up creating a dildo! Or maybe you were trying to get a point across…" she faded off, smirking at her now blushing husband.
"You- you WHAT?" gasped Alida, actually howling with laughter, and earning herself some strange looks from the students. Remus was also looking extremely amused.
"You weren't supposed to tell anyone about that!" complained Snape, actually blushing.
"Yeah, well… you deserved it," she said cheerfully, taking a bite out of her toast and grinning at him.
"That is revolting!" exclaimed Snape, disgusted by the crumbs falling out of Hermione's mouth. However, this only served to make her grin wider.
Just then, a voice called "Hey Hermione!"
"What?" called back Hermione, raising an eyebrow at Ron.
"We have to go to Herbology!"
Hermione looked at her watch and said "shit!" earning herself a disapproving look from her husband and amused glances from Remus and Alida. "See you later, bye!" she said to the three of them, and took one more bite out of her toast, opened her mouth widely so Snape could have a good look, and ran out of the hall with Ron and Harry.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
"Where were you last night?" Harry asked as they were walking out to the greenhouses, "We waited out by your room until like 11:00 and you never showed up!"
"I was with Severus," Hermione said simply.
"Are you – erm – back together now?" Asked Ron, trying to mask his disapproval.
Hermione smiled slightly at him and said "I can't really explain now. But it's better than it was." And that was all that she would say on the subject, despite Harry and Ron's attempts to get her to say something else. She knew that they weren't satisfied, but she also knew that they wouldn't push her. And she, quite contentedly, pulled open the door to the greenhouse, greeted Professor Sprout, and grinned at the Hufflepuffs who were all looking at her as though she had fungus growing out of her ears.
*
**
***
****
*****
******
*******
********
*********
********
*******
******
*****
****
***
**
*
A/N: Hey everyone!!! Look, I'm sooooooooo sorry I took so long to update! I know! I know! It's been about a month or something! Lol! J anyway, I hope that you liked this chapter, and I promise that I'll update again w/ the next one sooner. Or at least I hope… J and seamus will find out soon…. Just hang on! Please r&r… it makes me feel loved J anyway, tell me what you love, what you think sucks, and what you think should happen. And give me ideas for how to make it funny!
hi ~~~~~ alic3-in-wOnd3rland ~~~~~ headncloud ~~~~~ Stacey Pointe ~~~~~ Rylee Smith ~~~~~ readreadread ~~~~~ MidiMalfoy ~~~~~ duckiesaymuah ~~~~~ Princess Bemida ~~~~~ Granger21 ~~~~~ BLUmaRuu ~~~~~ Sarie ~~~~~ Anarane Anwamane ~~~~~ Sannikex ~~~~~ Draco-FutureBF ~~~~~ Jordanz ~~~~~ Orenda1 ~~~~~ gaul1 ~~~~~ piper ~~~~~ Dragon's Dreamss ~~~~~ emvon2000 ~~~~~ Veggie-runt ~~~~~ little-lost-one ~~~~~ Melwasul ~~~~~ Moon Assassin 13 ~~~~~ Zoella ~~~~~Brigd13 ~~~~~ Tessa ~~~~~ Dragon's Dreamss ~~~~~ Distinct Vagueness ~~~~~ Michelline ~~~~~ TonTonSoup144 ~~~~~ Aredhel Tasartir ~~~~~ ancient elf ~~~~~~ Samantha ~~~~~ Spaz141 ~~~~~ F75 ~~~~~ EuphoniumGurl0 ~~~~~ Katrina Tonak ~~~~~ rose petel ~~~~~ THANKS!!!!!
Sammy~~ Thanks! Well… we'll get to Seamus pretty soon, don't worry. And I'm not sure when, if ever Malfoy Sr. will show up. But who knows….
Distant Luver~~ Well… I'm sorry that you think it's OOC, I've been trying to make it as in character as possible, but it's kinda hard. And seeing as how they were/are married, I think that Snape would act at least a little differently w/ her. At least, I would hope that he would!! J
Samna~~ wow! You actually read it three times in one day and didn't get sick of it?!?! Cool! Thanks for the compliments!!
Goth Kitty ~~ Thanks! Well… she's getting out of the classes because the teachers are aware that she's confused and having a hard time about everything and stuff. And the teachers taught her before, so they know that she's done it all. And the students are probably confused, but they know that she has already taken them, so, well… I don't know!! J lol… As I said to Sammy, I'm not sure when if ever Malfoy Sr. will make an appearance, but maybe he will…. Who knows!!! And don't worry, Seamus should find out pretty soon!!! J
v-weasley ~~ Um… I kind of picked Seamus randomly. I wanted it to be someone in Gryffindor who we know some things about, but not tons. That basically left Seamus, Dean and Neville. And I didn't think it could have been Neville. Although it would have been amusing if Snape found out that Neville was his child and he's been so mean to him!! Heehee!! J
Sphinxey ~~ thanks! Um… wiktt is and you go from there.
PinkTribeChick ~~ I'm glad that the way I write the Snape/Hermione thing works for you! And I'm sorry! I keep not telling Seamus! I really do mean to!! J
