Disclaimer: I swear on the shelf life of this wedge of hard cheese that I do not own Harry Potter, or any other characters and other stuffs that rightly belong to J.K. Rowling and her associates.

A/N: Yep. Enthusiasm is a wonderful thing. Although I seem to have an abundance of it lately, its divided too many ways. I have 3 stories now...well...2 that are up. My third one, On a Silver Platter, won't be posted until I have 4-5 chapters done. But, that has nothing to do with this.

Anywho, big thanks for everyone who reviewed! 200 reviews...my god...I never expected to get that many. I'm in shock.

MelissaAdams: For all your help, I present you with Juan Pablo. ::hands you a mallard duck:: he defends your honor against flamers and those reviewers who are out to kill you.

we3: I could kiss you! Hehe...such nice things you wrote about me. As per your questions: I'm almost positive that Rowling has never called Hermione "Mione" in canon. But, I felt the need to stick it in there and shut it down. You've might have noticed, but I'm not a big fan of ol' Dumbledore. He just irks me for some reason. He's too...perfect. Theres nothing wrong with him in canon for chrissake! lol drives me insane. Your comments about my characterization and all that...omg...I love you. ::chuckles::

Sunday: Latin's tough though. I'm good at language, and I'll never attempt it. Oh, and about your hair problem...you might get a wig. Or rogaine. ::grin::

Ah...and the torture continues!

Hermione was retching. Again.

And Snape, like the good husband he was, was nowhere in sight.

It wasn't that he didn't feel for her. Oh he did. She made sure of it. It was just, he was really no good at this sort of thing. What do you say to your pregnant wife as she empties the contents of her stomach anyway?

To put it bluntly, Severus hadn't a clue.

He had gone to see, scratch that, been forcibly dragged for a visit with Hermione's parents yesterday. It was the first day of break, and to recompense for the fact that she wouldn't be coming home for christmas, her parents put together an impromptu gathering of sorts.

Severus, much to his chagrin, had spent most of the day with the children, trying to avoid Hermione's father as much as possible. Tim Granger, while he wasn't exactly threatening Severus per se, he was still rather...inauspicious.

Fiona Granger, Hermione's younger sister, who was about 9 or so, Severus couldn't remember, spent most of the day tormenting him. Along with several other small beings who Severus was sure were nothing short of pure evil.

Oh, sure they thought they were being "friendly" with their games and hugs of all the dastardly things. You'd think they would have taken the hint that he wanted to be left alone, but no. He had been dragged off to play with them. They had thought he was funny.

Yes, that is what one of the little girls had called him. He had refused to play some silly game with them, something involving ducks and geese, and had sneered at the young child when she tried dragging him over to the floor where they were sitting. And then she had giggled and said "That's a funny face Mister!" and hugged him! Hugged, him. Severus Snape, Potions Master and resident all around bastard. Him.

What was the world coming to!

But the abuse didn't stop there. After that, they had watched a "movie" on one of those box things. The Wizard of Oz, was the title. He didn't really get it. Why didn't the girl just wake up if she was just asleep? But, once he had stopped analyzing it so much, it wasn't half bad. He particularly enjoyed the Wicked Witch of the West. Now there was someone with style.

Halfway through the movie, a little boy, about 2 years old Severus guessed, decided that Severus' lap was a safe place to take a nap. He was severely mistaken.

Oh, he didn't hurt him. Just scared him. Alot. So much in fact, that the child had an...er..."accident" upon Severus' trousers.

Well that was just the icing on the cake. And he couldn't even magic away the rather large mess. Hermione had made him promise not to use magic around her muggle parents.

How he wished they all would just go away. Wait..what was that thing that the Dorothy girl had done? He squeezed his eyes shut and tapped his heels together thrice, willing them all away.

Hermione, who had just entered the room, peered at him oddly. "What were you doing?"

"Wishing you away." He had replied without thinking.

Hermione blinked. "Excuse me, what was that?"

He paused for a moment, imagining all the horrible things this overly-hormonal woman could do to him.

"Wishing I was gay." he answered truthfully, but the effect had been lost on Hermione, who was listening to one of the little bastards instead. Erm..children that is.

All in all, it was a miserable experience. One that he was not eager to repeat.

"Hermione?" He called from the bedroom.

"Yeah?" Hermione croaked, her throat still raw.

"It's about time for dinner, would you care to proceed to the Great Hall?" Severus asked rather nicely. He had been making a habit of it. After witnessing Hermione's rather scary temper first hand, he didn't want to take any chances.

Hermione groaned. "Ugh, don't talk to me about food." She pushed herself off of the bathroom floor.

"You really should eat..."

Hermione sighed dejectedly. "I know! I'm the one who made you read all of those pregnancy books anyway!"

Severus grimaced, remembering their all-too-detailed contents. "And I have yet to thank you properly for that." he bit out sarcastically.

His sarcasm was lost on Hermione. She chuckled at him. "Yeah well, least you're informed."

"Much more than I ever needed or wanted, dear." He replied.

"Can we get this over with?" Hermione asked shortly.

"By all means." He said, following her out of their quarters.

A few minutes later, they were in the great hall. Instead of the single table there usually was, there were three circluar ones. There was, of course, the customary christmas decorations. Masses of garland, ornaments, and wreaths had assailed the great hall, transforming it into some kind of santa-sanctioned hell. To Severus at least.

They took the only two available seats that were next to each other. They sat at a table with quite a few Slytherins, including Draco Malfoy and his burly shadows.

It stuck Hermione as odd how many Slytherins had stayed for the holidays. At least half the house had to have stayed. There were a few Griffindors, and two or three Ravenclaws, but that was about it. Something didn't seem right.

Harry and Ron had gone to the Burrow for Christmas. Hermione had been invited, but it just wasn't right. And anyway, it wasn't fair to Severus. They had formed a rather delicate friendships of sorts, and she couldn't very well leave him all alone. It'd be quieter anyway, and without all the people that the Weasleys are infamous for having.

Most of the people were slightly nervous at the prospect of sharing a meal with their potions professor, a sight that did not go unnoticed by Severus. Hermione dug into her meal, without taking much notice of what was going on around her.

A soft voice broke into her little bubble of ignorance. "You'll want to eat more vegetables, in your condition Granger. Excuse me, Mrs. Snape."

Hermione's jaw dropped. She turned her head, looking straight into the amused eyes of one Draco Malfoy. How did he know? She wasn't really showing -yet.

But then, her brain turned on. Of course he would know! He is the son of Lucius, after all. But it was still unnerving.

She saw Severus stiffen in his chair. And automatically, she knew what the problem was. Their eyes met, and Hermione leaned over and simply whispered "Be careful."

Severus nodded to her, and took a long draught from his pumpkin juice, before excusing himself from the table and exiting the hall.

Draco Malfoy smirked at Hermione. She glanced at him uneasily and returned to her dinner, taking some more string beans. She didn't like this one bit.

A/N: Yay! All done! See...this chapter's early. And a bit longer. Sorry the recent chapters have been so short. It's hard, the past couple of chapters haven't really had much of a point to them except stalling. And setting stuff up. ::shrug:: It'll get better, I promise.

Lemme know whatcha think! Meaning...review! Or my attack duck will get you!