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Chapter 11: The Early Bird...

The New Year began quite well with plans and more plans. Hermione was elected to conjure the best possible wedding she could for Ron and Sallie and although she was busy preparing for the eventual birth of her unborn child, she happily obliged. The nursery that seemed so completely empty only the month before was filled with things so cosy and beautiful. Upon first entering the room, there was a mahogany crib from Africa where she and Wallace had spent some time researching. The colours for the room were neutral and ambiguous with deep yellows and whites. She'd wanted to create a sanctuary for her baby and also herself considering she would be spending a great deal of time in the room as well. At night, she would think of nothing but the baby, what he or she would look like or names for the baby. She hadn't really saddled any she genuinely liked or felt like she could call a child. Poor Wallace had been named after his great grandfather and had hated his name. Henry had been named for his grandfather as well, but his name was at least tolerable. Many mornings, absentmindedly, Hermione talked to her baby about the day's plans. She soon came to really love being pregnant, but the looming delivery frightened her more than she would admit freely. One major relief from the baby's impending arrival was the fact that when Ron left her house to be with Sallie, she would have a constant companion in life.

January was a month Hermione always enjoyed. She loved the snow, the warmth of the fire and the sparkling air. The month had been filled with plans. Severus and Hermione had sort of ganged up on Ron and Sallie on having the wedding at Hogwarts instead of Snape Manor. Although Sallie hadn't attended the school, her parents had and Ron's history was all Hogwarts. When February began to creep upon them, Hermione sat down with both Ron and Sallie separately and had them fill out a sort of questionnaire about the other. The questions were all based on their history, their favourite things, and their lives both together and apart. Surprisingly, Ron knew quite a deal more about Sallie then she knew of him. To rectify the situation, Hermione devised a plan to have them to have a weekend away from the planning and the families. She offered to take care of Harrison while they were gone and waved with quiet relief as they apparated from her doorstep. While the weekend had been an eye opener to the life of a three year old, she had enjoyed every minute of him. It seemed every time she looked into his blue-grey eyes, he stole a bit more of her heart and it grew easier for him to get what he wanted with her. On Sunday, when Ron and Sallie were due to return, Hermione prepared a nice tea for a welcoming and gathered Harrison's belongings so he could take back all his things to Snape manor.

"I've made tea, make yourself at home." She called down the stairs as she heard a door close. She heard heavy footsteps walk stealthily through the house, stop in the kitchen and then come through the doors to the stairwell.

"I'll be right down, I have Harrison taking a nap." Hermione's voice carried through the house as if it were empty.

"Was Lajes nice?" She called out, not hearing the footsteps any longer.

"Ron? Sallie?" She stopped folding the clothes near the changing tables. She'd been buying some clothes for the baby every now and then, making sure she'd have plenty without having to do wash. The air around her stilled as she turned to the door separating her from the rest of the hallway. Faint breaths were emanating from whoever was on the other side and Hermione could see shadows of a pair of shoes. Without speaking she placed a disillusionment charm on Harrison and aimed her wand at the door, waiting for whomever it was to open it. She took a soft step towards the door and waited for the other person to act. This was something she'd been prepared for since her first lessons in Defence Against the Dark Arts. Many ideas on whom the person could be entered her mind, but vanished as the doorknob turned. In a matter of seconds, Hermione was face to face with someone she remembered quite well, and the spells she thought to cast were whittled down to one.

"Expelliarmus!" Hermione cried aiming her wand at Peter Pettigrew. His mousy face contorted as his wand flew from his hands into her own. In the years since she'd last seen him, he'd grown even uglier and homely than she recalled.

"You have a great deal of nerve coming to my home, Pettigrew." Hermione yelled, thinking of the best spell to cast to keep him apprehended.

"We need information from you, Madame Stuart." Pettigrew mumbled, his thin and rancid mouth squeaking the words out.

"Petrificus totalis!" Hermione shouted with all the power she could, sending his body into the wall behind him.

"Isn't it perfect timing that Albus Dumbledore should be coming for tea in, oh, twenty minutes." She paused and brandished her wand in her hands with a tighter grip, snapping his in half and throwing it in the fire. It shrieked hauntingly and melted into the flames.

"Hermione! We're Back!" She heard Ron call from the front door.

"I'm up here, Ron and I have a surprise for you." She called back, noticing the trying look of horror on her intruders face.

"No more surprises, Hermione, we've been through a lot this weekend." Ron called back, his voice growing ever closer as he spoke. When he came to the top of the stairs, he stopped and looked mournfully down the hallway to the last door where an old man and a very pregnant woman were.

"Who is that, Hermione?" He called out to her, afraid of the answer.

"Pettigrew, Ron. He came about fifteen minutes ago insisting I give him information. What kind of information, I know not." Hermione replied.

"Sallie, Harrison is on the bed in here, asleep." Hermione said pointing to the room behind her. She let her eyes travel once more to the heap of a wasted man before her and sighed. She had hated this man for many years, he had helped Voldemort become human again, he had helped the Death Eaters storm Hogwarts, and he, the little varmint, had killed her most beloved Hagrid. She took one last look at him before turning to see Sallie dissolving the disillusionment charm on Harrison and stroking the feathery blonde hair sculpting his young face.

"I'm sorry, Sallie, I tried my best to make sure he wasn't hurt."

"Don't apologize for that man, Hermione." Sallie retorted while pulling the blankets around Harrison and crawling beside him on the bed, her thoughts on Draco's death.

"I see we have a situation." Hermione looked from Sallie briefly to see Albus Dumbledore slowly proceeding down the hallway. "I rather expected when no one greeted me at the door that perhaps something was amiss. I am sad to see that my theory was indeed correct." There was no twinkle in Dumbledore's eyes; he seemed to have an odd look of silent triumph not unlike the look he'd carried after the fall of Voldemort.

"I don't know exactly what he wants, Professor Dumbledore, he said that he needed information from me." Hermione stood fully and placed a hand at the small of her back where some pain was beginning to grow.

"We will question him soon enough. I do hope that his presence here has not affected you poorly, Madame Stuart." He made the space between them quite small and his hands graced her shoulders. His touch was so light and loving, that of a father's touch after a regretful situation.

"I am glad we've caught him." Her words made an impact on them all. Yes, as a whole they'd defeated Voldemort and stopped his reign of terror, but his accomplices were numerous and at large. Having Pettigrew was like solving a puzzle, getting the ungettable get.

"I think I need some tea, my head is bit light." Hermione bowed slightly to Dumbledore, sighed and walked down the many stairs. Her mind was filled with questions about Pettigrew's motives. What could he possible need from her?

Hours later when several top aurors left with Peter Pettigrew, the people in number ten sat in awkward silence and waited for someone to talk. Hermione had made enough tea to flood the English Channel and wondered if anyone felt up to eating. In her condition, or at least recently, she was always insatiable.

"Would anyone like anything to eat?" Hermione asked, scanning the room for hungry faces. Ron and Sallie were sitting together on the couch, neither really paying much attention to Hermione's words. Albus Dumbledore had left prior to the aurors leaving and had taken some cherry strudel with him. Before heading to the kitchen, Hermione motioned to Remus Lupin whom had arrived soon after the aurors were contacted and he followed her to the kitchen.

"Would you mind if I stayed tonight? Albus has requested that someone be with you until we feel it is safe again and since I was here already, I didn't know if you would find it more agreeable than someone you are unfamiliar with."

"I motioned you in here to ask that very question. I would be grateful if you could stay with me." The tea bags were piling high in her strainer as she went to throw them in the dustbin. She had gone without magic for so long that the moment she forced the spells from her body, a life inside her began anew. Small spells here and there hadn't really placed any stress on her body, but in the wake of the night, her body felt quite wasted. She leaned with both elbows on the edge of the sink and breathed deep and full trying to ease the pain in her lower back. It was becoming more troublesome and frustrating the loner she stayed in the kitchen and on her feet.

"Are you in pain?"

"I think it was the magic. I have tried not to use it so much because of the baby, but tonight I couldn't avoid it." Her words were uneasy, her voice quivering through the pain of another spasm.

"Don't be alarmed, I am going to put pressure on you lower back." His hands gently massaged the area where Hermione indicated there was pain and formed small circles lightly pulling the pain away.

"I think you should see the healer tomorrow, this isn't normal." Remus frowned as Hermione faced him the dark circles under her eyes more apparent than before.

"I feel fine." She took steps to exit the kitchen, but felt another spasm quickly in her back, this time stretching from her right side to her abdomen and then back around. She couldn't feel her legs briefly, so she stopped and massaged her stomach where the pain was subsiding.

"Hermione, we're going to the house to get Harrison settled in." Ron said as she entered the room. He stroked Sallie's hand before she stood and wrapped a sleeping Harrison in Ron's cloak and moved to the cracked door.

"Are you alright?" Ron enquired, a look of concern and grief written plainly across his freckled face.

"No, I don't believe I am." Hermione contorted in pain on the cranberry chair, her abdomen in spasm again, relentlessly.

"What' s wrong? Is it the baby?" Sallie asked, placing Harrison back on the couch.

"I think I'm in labour." Hermione winced as she spoke, the pain was almost unbearable.

"Let's go to the Manor and floo to Osgood's." Sallie said helping Hermione stand. She knew apparation was out of the question, obviously she'd used enough magic throughout the day.

"Here, let me carry you, Hermione, it will be easier." Remus pulled her arms around his shoulder and lifted her as if she weighed no more than a quill and walked as swiftly as he could to Severus Snape's house. She had tried to protest, but in later thoughts she remembered werewolves had super human strength.

"Uncle Severus, can you come here please?" Sallie called out into the darkness of the home. She knew she should've contacted him earlier after Pettigrew was captured, but she couldn't bear to leave Harrison and didn't want Ron to leave either. He stalked towards them as if their mere presence in his house was ridiculous.

"Pray tell why do you need my services now?" He asked, as Ron floated in through the door with Harrison and Remus followed shortly after.

"Has she exhausted herself again?" He asked, but the look Hermione gave him as Remus helped her stand was something that tore his blackened heart from his chest. She was in pain.

"What has happened?"

"We returned from Lajes to find Hermione in hall in the second floor of her house, an apprehended Peter Pettigrew in a body bind at her feet. He was trying to gain information from her. Aurors have taken him away, but we still aren't quite sure why he was sent or what he wanted." Sallie sent Harrison away with Michael to be put to bed and watched her Uncle pace the floor in front of them, his arms folded Indian style against his chest one hand resting on his chin.

"Pettigrew?" He questioned, the name still conjuring thoughts of the darkest days in his mind. The return of a Lord no one, or least he, wanted to return. The resuming of his spy life and the retirement of one he had come to endure.

"Why are you injured?" His eyes met hers briefly, wondering if she could sense his concern for her. Before she could reply, as the pain was growing stronger and her breathing weaker, he answered for her.

"The magic. You cast a powerful spell. The healer said to avoid magic, Hermione." Hermione's eyes squinted trying to breath through another spasm, but the pain seemed to lesson when she thought of her baby and how she'd inadvertently hurt it.

"Uncle, we need to floo to Osgood's." Sallie interrupted, motioning to the stairs.

"Yes, but first I have something that may help." In a furry of black robes, he was off up the stairs and down the corridor to the potions laboratory he kept upstairs. He'd brewed a potion for her in December when he thought she might experience pain or discomfort from the loss of her Mum. He came quickly down the stairs to her side and uncapped the beaker.

"This will stop the contractions and ease the pain." He murmured, taking the beaker back once she'd consumed the lot.

"It tasted like lavender." She said, wiping her mouth with her sleeve and leaning a bit on the banister. Instantly, she felt the potion taking effect. It travelled snake-like through her body and without hesitation, the pain in her abdomen and back subsided.

"Luckily I brewed the potion in advance for just such an occasion." His voice seemed edgy, tired, he hadn't expected a gaggle of people in his foyer at eight o'clock at night.

"Let's get to Osgood's to determine where everything is." Remus said, finally able to speak clearly and coherently. It had been many years since he'd been around a pregnant woman. He helped Hermione up the stairs and handed her the floo pot as she entered the slytherin green flames.

"Osgood's." She said plainly, but everyone in the room noted the hint of sarcasm in her tired voice.

"I will stay with the children." Severus said, ushering Sallie and Ron towards the fireplace.

"I will stay, Uncle, the healer will want to know what kind of potion you gave Hermione. If she needs me we can change places later." Sallie signalled for Severus to go next and as he stepped into the flames, she met his eyes. She'd never noticed before how similar his eyes seemed to her fathers. She recalled sitting with Severus one spring day when he'd been able to come to Easter dinner and she'd stared into his onyx eyes. They were always dark and dreary, as if something agonizing was always happening when he looked at her. She recalled another time, when she was younger when she had accidentally called him Daddy at Christmas dinner. His face was so similar to her fathers, that she sat right on his lap, kissed his cheek and wished him a happy Christmas, calling him Daddy.

"Osgood's." The sound of Remus's voice broke Sallie from her trance and left her staring into the green flames wondering how she hadn't noticed before that she had the same eyes as well. They must have been a very dominant gene in the Snape family gene pool.

"You'll have to remain on bed rest for the duration of your pregnancy, Madame Stuart. I am afraid there is no way around the subject." Healer Eleanor said, casting a warming spell on Hermione's socks.

"As long as you don't engage in more than necessary magic, the pregnancy should go full term."

"Thank you, Eleanor." Hermione turned on her side slightly and waited for her friends to come in and talk with her about the progress.

"Hermione, are you feeling better?" Ron asked, opening the door and floating in to her side.

"Yes, better. She said there is no permanent damage and thankfully my water didn't break or otherwise I would have had to have the baby tonight." She paused and wondered if Severus had come to the hospital, but threw the thought aside knowing he would stay at the Manor to watch the children.

"If Severus hadn't given me that potion, I would have a month premature baby to be taking care of now." Hermione whispered, wondering if Ron understood how different Severus seemed from their younger days.

"I am very glad he brewed it, blimey it would have been terrible having the baby early. The wedding's only three days away now, we can't have you stressing out and going into labour early." Ron said, smoothing the fabric of the hospital blanket around her stomach.

"I think you're having a boy." He said, laughing a bit at her large belly. Hermione hadn't been a skinny girl, but she had never been so large either.

"I don't know. Some Mum's say they can feel what they are having. Why do you think it's a boy?"

"Well, Wallace already has one son and he had two brothers and one sister. The odds of having a girl are small."

"I want a healthy baby, I don't care either way." Hermione smiled thinking of her baby. And although she was relieved to be safe from early labour, she wanted her baby in her arms.

"If it's a boy, you should name it after Snape since he did have a hand in saving it after all." Ron rested his hands back on his legs and looked to the door. She looked at Ron; amazed at his honest thought about a man he had once referred to as a greasy git.

"Yes, Severus did help me out quite a bit. I wonder what his middle name is?"

"On that note, I am going to say goodnight and let you get some rest. Get better and see you in the morning." Ron squeezed her hand and floated out towards the desolate hallway where three grown men stood in silence, neither acknowledging the other.

"She is growing tired, best hurry this along." Ron said matter-of-factly. Without thinking of Remus's or Harry's closer relationship with Hermione, Severus stepped to the door and looked in on the woman. A flood of emotions hit him. He couldn't look at her without imagining how odd it was to imagine her so pleasing and agreeable. She was almost always disagreeable as her opinions were something so steadfast and strong that no one could sway her, aside from close friends and even then it was difficult. His eyes travelled her form, her pregnant body was growing larger by the day and he found that quite beautiful.

"Sallie asked that I come to make sure the healer knew of the potion I administered." He said, stepping through the door. He noticed her initial glance of shock towards him and then something like comfort or familiarity settled instead.

"Thank you for that potion, I believe you saved my child." Hermione said, trying to ease herself from her side and onto her back.

"It is my duty to follow orders." He replied, immediately realizing how cold it had sounded, as if he had no real incentive to perform his role for the order.

"Oh, yes, well, thank you all the same."

"I am glad that I could help."

"It's your job, I mean I know Albus Dumbledore had asked that you keep an eye on me and Henry when he's home. With the incident today, I imagine it will become infinitely worse." Her words now sounded as cold as his. It wasn't as though she expected a bloody confession of love or like or whatever, she just wanted to know that he at least didn't hate her anymore. She didn't really understand where her sudden need to know how he felt about her had come from, and she honestly didn't know if she liked the feeling. On some level, she felt as though she was betraying her deceased husband by thinking of another man so intimately.

"I am at your disposal, Madame Stuart." He bowed mockingly and Hermione realized he'd actually made a joke. Her laugh resounded in the room like a great whistle and shocked both she and Severus.

"Sorry, I needed a good laugh." She blushed a bit, but reclaimed her dignity and curled her hair in the crevices of her fingers.

"Until tomorrow." He was unsure of what courtesy to perform, should he bow or kiss her hand as before?

"We need to discuss the menu again since we couldn't agree on the side dishes." He dismissed his idea of pleasantries and headed to the door.

"By the way, if you don't mind me asking, what is your middle name?" Severus faced her sharply and snorted, thinking of the horribly feminine name he'd received from his father.

"Why is that necessary information?"

"I have to use it for the ceremony. Your name is on their legal document as the person giving Sallie away. I need your full name." Hermione patted herself on the back in her mind and watched as he turned back into the man she'd formally known.

"Severus...Snape."

"What, I didn't quite catch that."

"Severus Aureliano Sidney Snape." Hermione instantly replayed the name in her mind, rolling the name over her tongue.

"Thank you." And with that, she decided if she had a boy, he would be Oliver (Wallace's middle name) Aureliano Granger-Stuart and if she had a girl, she would be Anya (Wallace's favourite girl name) Sidney Granger-Stuart. As he exited, both Remus and Harry came in the room, but she quickly feigned sleep and they continued to talk of things that didn't involve her or her situation.