A/N: Hello, thanks for the reviews. Not much else to say. Thursday was a bad day…

Everybody's Changing

"Hermione? I'm in here, I haven't gone anywhere." Ron poked his head around the door of the bedroom,

"Don't worry; I just thought I heard someone in the corridor."

"So did I, but I thought it was you doing something…"

"I was in here the whole time, oh never mind. Here, you feed him."

"What?" Ron looked at her wide-eyed and staggered back as she thrust the bottle to his chest. She ran up the hallway and opened the door. She looked out, but whoever had been there had gone. She closed the door and went into the lounge. Despite what Severus had said the room was mostly tidy, but on the coffee table were two glasses, and nestled into the corner of the sofa was a handbag; not Hermione's, but she had a fairly good idea of who's it was.

"Hermione? What am I supposed to do?" Ron stood in the doorway holding Spiritus in the crook of his arm and balancing the bottle on his open palm.

"Honestly Ron! Hold him up; careful of his head, and put the bottle in his mouth, it's not that hard." She sighed and cleared away the empty glasses. Then she took the handbag and put in on the table in the hallway, where she knew it would be visible as soon as anyone opened the door.

She went back into the lounge to find Spiritus happily gulping down his bottle. "We're going to start him on solid food after Christmas, the Healers said we should wait a bit longer because he was so early."

"Well good luck, my mum always goes on about how messy we all were, apart from Percy and Ginny of course." Hermione smiled, she couldn't imagine a baby Percy spilling food all over himself.

"I think we'll have our wands at the ready." She took Spiritus from Ron and winded him. Then she put him on the floor and let him play with the teddy bear she had enchanted for him.

"Hermione, is this really want you want?" Ron suddenly burst out.

Hermione turned to look at him, "what do you mean?"

"I mean going out with a teacher who is old enough to b your dad and having a baby with him, whilst you're in your NEWT year. I mean it's not very Hermione-ish."

"You can say that again," she stretched her arms out in front of her. "I never meant for any of this to happen, it was all just a stupid mistake, but if I hadn't made that mistake Spiritus wouldn't exist. I couldn't forfeit his life, I love him."

"Do you love Snape?"

"I don't know… It's so different now."

"We've noticed that, me and Harry that is, you've changed, you're living almost automatically. You eat, go to lessons, look after Spiritus, do homework and go to bed, every single day."

"I have realised that, but it's not me that's changed, it's my life, I'm still the same person inside. But I admit you never see that. Everybody's changing and I don't feel the same." She pulled her hair out of her face, "There's not much else I can do."

"You need some time to yourself, to relax. You're working too hard."

"I don't have to live with him. Severus has to use a time-turner to look after him all the time; he has to live each day at least twice; that's hard work. Taking a break now is selfish."

"Maybe you should go away together and someone else could look after Spiritus, what about New Year? You could go away together, just for the two days, or longer. Why not get your parents to look after him?" Ron suggested.

"That's a great idea, but I don't know if I could persuade anyone to let it work. And I don't know if Severus would want to go. But at least getting rid of Spiritus, I'll write to my parents in the morning." She smiled at him, "I'll put Spiritus to bed; I won't be a minute."

She took Spiritus into the bedroom and put him in his crib. She walked back into the hallway and let her eyes drift onto the handbag on the table; she shut her eyes for a second to purge it from her mind and went back into the lounge.

"I better go; I think I should make a start on that Potions essay."

"Ok, I'll see you later." She showed him to the door, "Don't tell anyone I let you in here,"

"Wouldn't dream of it, see you." She watched him leave and then went back into the lounge.

She sat on Severus's favourite armchair and let her hot tears spill out of the hands that she held up to her face. Why couldn't she have noticed before, or perhaps she hadn't wanted to believe it, why hadn't she said anything? Why hadn't she confronted him, before it got this bad?

She heard the click of the front door, and she smeared the tears from her face with the cuff of her jumper. She stood up and walked to the doorway.

"Hermione? Are you still here?" he called as he hung his cloak up,

"Yes," she murmured,

"Why have you been –" she saw his eyes light upon the handbag.

"See what I found in the lounge? Along with two glasses," she whispered angrily.

"Hermione, please calm down, be rational. I told you not to go into the lounge."

"I wonder why?" she spat,

"Ok, so you went in, but listen, I don't know what you think is going on -" His voice was trying to stay calm but his pale cheeks were growing pink.

"I know what's going on Severus, I accept that we don't love each other anymore, but you could have told me that you'd started to see someone else." Tears bean to flush from her eyes again.

"What! You don't love me anymore?" he looked at her stunned,

"Are you trying to tell me that you still love me?" she stared at him,

"More than the earth and all its wonders. But you don't?" he looked unsettled,

"I thought…oh I don't know. What do I know about love? I don't understand…" she tried to wipe away her tears,

"Hermione, please, why didn't you tell me this before?" he clasped her hand,

"You're always off with your fancy woman –"

"Hermione, I'm not seeing anyone else. I promise."

"What?" she looked up at him, "But all these things, you meeting women in the dark, handbags, glasses…"

"Hermione, there are some things that are better left alone, but occasionally they resurface and you have to deal with them." He sighed,

"What do you mean?"

"I think there's something you should know."

A/N: I think that you should know that this is going to probably be the last chapter for a while. I think both the story and my imagination have gone a bit limp. So I'm having a break this summer to read Half-Blood Prince as many times as I can before I have to give it to my sisters and to write some better fics (including plot from the beginning). So please tell me if anyone desperately wants more of this fic soon, otherwise I'll leave it until I feel ready to continue it, and I'll bring you some new fics.