Disclaimer: Yet again, I find myself here. I try to lie, but the truth always comes out. Harry Potter is not mine...ect...belongs to J.K. Rowling...ect ect.

A/N: Playin' the name game this chapter ::grin::

Thanks bunches to everyone for all your reviews and suggestions!

JeanMarie: Algernon? I had a white mouse named that...ever read Flowers for Algernon? Great story sniffle real tear jerker. And stop with the compliments...you're making me blush! ::grin::

Gin: You've a definate point. But I tend to lean to the more strange/ancient names than traditional ones. Anything modern is outta the question for them.

June W: You've got good ideas...and you're getting closer to what's going to happen...but you're underestimating Dumbledore and the Prophecy. ::hums innocently::

Damia - Queen of the Gypsi's: Hm..nice ideas. May use some, writing this 'final battle' is proving difficult. But it'll be good.

the-sexy-flower: Eh, spelling is a matter of opinion really. If I were to read the italian version of the book, it'd be Voldemorte. Hope that dun bother you too much. ::shrug:: And I'm glad you approve of the Dumbledore-bashing. Hehe.

Nikki Crawfort: Periwinkle....::LAUGHS:: Oh my...::grin::. Me likes.

Severus strode into his quarters. He didn't look like he was in a good mood. Well, he was rarely in a good mood. But at the moment, his mood was exceptionally horrible.

He walked into the living room, intent on getting a nice, stiff drink. He stopped dead in his tracks, taking in the sight before him.

On the leather couch was Hermione, curled up into a cosy position on the couch. Silly girl, thought Severus, almost tenderly. She looked so..peaceful just sleeping there so quietly. She had stayed up for him. Or tried to at least.

He leaned against the wall, just watching for a moment. Things were so blurred. What ever happened to right and wrong? Things used to be so easy to decipher, the whole world was white and black. But Hermione...

Hermione was grey all over. Figuratively, of course. Marrying her in a platonic sense was the right thing to do, but anything more than that was wrong. And now? Now his whole perception of her had changed. She wasn't the quiet, timid girl he had previously known. She was something completely different. But what?

What was Hermione to him? That was the main question, one that he still couldn't answer. He didn't know what he was feeling. There were simply too many elements at work here.

Dissatisfactorily content with his conclusion, he went over to the couch, hovering over Hermione's sleeping form. She was just starting to show a bit, nothing too noticible if you didn't know what to look for. But he did. That was his son in there, of all the crazy things.

How had he gotten to this point? These were things he never thought to have, to even want. A wife, a son...not exactly in the traditional sense but there they still were. He wasn't exactly opposed to having a baby. It still seemed rather surreal.

He pushed Hermione's chestnut hair out of her face, contemplating wether or not to move her from the couch. Finally, he scooped her up in his arms, cradling her against his chest. It was slightly unnerving how well she fit there.

Severus pushed the door to the bedroom open, and then deposited Hermione gently onto the bed. He took her slippers off, and as she was already in her pajamas, he simply put her under the covers. He'd be damned if he let her get sick. Not that he wasn't damned already.

He pulled off his shirt and climbed into bed, suddenly very tired. It felt like the weight of the world was on his shoulders and it was almost a relief to lose himself in dream.

Hermione woke up with a jolt. Severus was the first thought that came into her head, accompanied with a sense of dread.

She sat up in bed, rubbing her eyes and taking a deep breath. Wait...she was in bed. Relief flooded her, evident in every muscle. Severus must have brought her here last night.

Hermione hopped out of bed, or well, hopped as well as a pregnant girl can anyway. She got out her white dressing robe and put it over her midnight blue satin pajamas.

Severus was sitting on the couch drinking coffee, black of course. Hermione had learned by this point not to try to talk to Severus until he had a good amount of caffeine in his system.

"Sit. I ordered breakfast." he said, jerking his head twords the tray of food on the coffee table.

"Thanks." she said, sitting next to him, indian-style on the couch. If Severus was annoyed by her almost-cheerful tone, he didn't show it.

Hermione poured some tea, while under the scrutininzing gaze of Severus. She sipped it quietly, appreciating it's warmth. She sat there, not looking at Severus, anywhere else in fact. He was still watching her.

Finally, when she had enough she put down her teacup and turned her body to face Severus. "Something for you?" she asked cheekily.

Severus raised an eyebrow at her tone, though he was slightly amused. He had wondered how long it was going to take to get to her. "Are you going to actually eat something? As interesting as it is to see you consume tea, I'm sure some toast wouldn't go awry. And perhaps some fruit."

Hermione 'hrumphed'. "Yes, mother." She grabbed a plum from the fruit basket.

Severus glared at her. "Call me that again, and I will make sure that you do not live to say it again."

Hermione chuckled lightly. "Yes sir!" She saluted him mockingly. He hated it when she called him 'sir', and she knew it too.

If Severus was in the habit of rolling his eyes, he would have surely done so. But as it were, he settled for putting on a disdainful look.

The plum maked crisp squelching noises as Hermione bit into it. Severus was a bit hesitant to start talking to her. He would have to take her from Hogwarts this evening.

"Mm...Severus?" Hermione inquired, licking excess juice from her lips.

Severus' eyes transfixed to her tongue darting gracefully across her lips. He realized what he was doing, and hastily made eye contact. He coughed discreetly and answered "Yes?".

"Have you thought of baby names yet?" She asked nonchalantly, trying to make it sound like she really didn't care but failing miserably.

Severus was rather shocked, to tell the truth. Whatever he was expecting, it wasn't that. "No." he said all too quickly. He caught himself. "That is to say, I don't really care."

"Oh." replied Hermione. She looked disappointed, but recovered herself. "Alright then. Just don't complain to me when your son is named Periwinkle."

Severus, who was in the process of taking another sip of coffee, coughed terribly. "Have you gone mad?" He asked increduously.

"I was considering it." Hermione answered delicately. She wasn't, but that didn't mean he had to know.

"There is no way any child of mine will have the name "Periwinkle". God, I don't even know what Periwinkle is!" Severus said exasperatingly.

"It's a rather nice blue actually." Hermione said, and Severus frowned deeper at her in return. "Fine then, Periwinkle is out of the question. What about Harry?"

Severus blinked, as if he hadn't heard her right. But to Severus' misfortune, he had. He took a deep breath, not wanting to start screaming, as he was wont to do when it came to the marvelous boy-who-was-a-bloody-pain-in-the-arse. "Hermione, dear. I understand that Potter and Weasley are your friends. But their names are completely out of the question." he said with forced calm.

Hermione opened her mouth to say something but Severus cut her off. "You wanted my input? Remus, Sirius, Remus and Albus are all out of the question."

He thought that Hermione would protest, but she merely smirked at him. God, he was rubbing off on her more than he'd thought. "Very well, then. What about Alan?" she asked.

"No."

"James?"

Severus glared at Hermione, narrowing his eyes dangerously.

"I'll take that as a no then..." Hermione said. Honestly, she had really forgotten about him being Harry's father! "Augustus?"

Severus winced. At Hermione's inquiring look he just said "My father."

"Alright. Lloyd?"

He shook his head. Hermione sighed. "Must you be so difficult?"

"Yes." Severus replied.

Was he teasing her?! Oh..it was war now. "What about Severus, honey-darling-sweetie pie?" she batted her eyelashes at him.

Severus stared blankly at her. Did she just call him honey-darling-sweetie pie? "Are you sure you're feeling alright?"

"Just fine thanks." She smiled brightly at him.

"No way in hell am I forcing my name onto another unfortunate individual." he said, still a bit shaken.

"If you're sure..." Hermione said. By Severus' look, she knew he was. "Alexander?"

He didn't answer right away, taking the name into consideration, which Hermione took as a good sign. "Perhaps."

"Well do you have any ideas?" Hermione asked, leaning back onto the couch.

Again, he took his time in answering. "Adrian?"

Hermione smiled. "I like it."

Severus allowed himself a smile back. Not a big one, but one nonetheless. "Middle name?" asked Hermione.

"You can decide." replied Severus, putting his coffee cup back onto the tray. It disappeared with a slight popping sound.

"Hmm..." said Hermione thoughtfully. "Is Julius alright?"

"Adrian Julius Snape." Severus said, a confirmation. His son had a name. He named his son. It was a rather nice feeling. Hermione smiled at him.

"Oh, before it slips my mind." Severus said conversationally. "We'll be going to the Manor tonight. I thought it might be nice for us to get a chance away from here." He had already decided that the easiest way to get Hermione to comply was ignorance. He could deal with the consequences later, after she was safe and all was said and done.

Hermione looked at him disbelievingly. "You're certainly being sociable this morning."

"Do you want to go or not?" He said curtly.

Hermione grinned at him. That's more like it. "Or course. It sounds lovely."

Well...that was one problem out of the way. All he could hope was that Dumbledore wouldn't get too pissed.

A/N: That was fun.. I had meant to put alot more in...but I just kinda stopped. Eh, oh well. I like how comfortable they seem in this chapter.

Now about the names...

Adrian is courtesy of Saffron and Julius is courtesy of Kimara. They prolly have really cool meanings but seeing as I'm too tired at the moment to go find them, you'll just have to use your imaginations.

R/R