I'm evil, I know. FOUR MONTHS! I know! I'm such a terrible, eevil , eevil woman! However, I have returned with the long awaited sixth chapter! And today, we may even see Mr. Draco Malfoy! I'm not sure how you'll appreciate having yet another gay person in the fic though... Meh, I might make him bi instead...
Disclaimer, warning, summary and such are all in the first chapter.
I have decided, for the sake of propriety (and because even I can't remember) I shall list all the couples so far.
Sirius/Remus, Charlie/Harry, Hermione/Severus, Severus/Sirius/Remus (mentioned), Twins/Lee, Oliver/Percy, Ginny/Neville, Tonks/Moody (inferred, not quite sure if anyone really noticed that one), Severus/Remus (mentioned), Harry/Draco (mentioned), Hermione/Lavendar (mentioned), Hermione/Cho (mentioned), Hermione/Parvarti (mentioned), Bill and Fleur (mentioned).
Happy Haloween, My Dear Marauder!
Chapter Six, Baked Beans and Ginger Ice Cream.
Hermione felt quite guilty when she crawled into bed with Severus. It was two days after Christmas, and they were all once again at Grimmauld Place for the holidays. Remus, who was now two months pregnant, had laughed at her when she'd begun complaining drunkenly that Severus still wouldn't let her bring Draco (who'd become quite close friends to the Golden trio in recent months) to bed with them and kept being a snarky git. Remus had asked her why she stayed with him if he was so terrible. This question still burned in her mind. Why did she stay with Severus? She'd decided almost two months ago that she couldn't stay with him, and yet here she was, sleeping with him, again.
They still weren't really serious, however they did seem to meet every day or two and have sex. They never went on dates, or really got to know each other, but Hermione found that she was still loyal to him anyway. She also found that she was falling deeper in love with him the longer she stayed with him. It was terribly stupid of her, she knew. She should have left when she'd had the chance, really.
It was when he began to pay special attention to her tender breasts, being more gentle than usual with them, that she understood it. How many men her age would be so considerate of her body's changes? She frowned as she pulled her favourite jeans on, they were a lot tighter than she remembered. Damn, this was not the time for another growth spurt. She was tall enough already!
Hermione groaned as she rolled out of bed. She felt like she hadn't slept at all. And that horrible metallic taste had returned, she'd managed to get rid of it last night with a lot of chocolate. She was beginning to worry that she may be ill, but she pushed it aside. She never got ill!
"Morning Hermione! Coffee?"
"Gods no, stop being so bloody perky, Harry." She growled mutinously. "Just because you got some last night." Harry smirked.
"Yeah, like you didn't?" He teased. Hermione was about to answer when she felt a loving caress across her cheek.
"Morning love, have a good night's sleep?" Hermione groaned but nodded anyway.
"You don't look any less exhausted than you did last night. I'm beginning to worry that you might be ill." Hermione stiffened, but at that moment Remus stumbled in.
"Arrgh! Stupid baby, I'm so tired. Pass the orange juice, Hermione." He groaned. Hermione frowned and passed the juice along.
"Don't you usually drink tea in the morning, Remus?" She asked. Remus nodded and grimaced.
"Yeah, but I've gone off tea and coffee. It's a standard reaction to being pregnant, don't worry. That and the tender nipples. And the exhaustion, gods, I could sleep the rest of the week and still feel drained. My magic's off too. Are you alright, Hermione, you've gone awfully pale." He suddenly said, looking concerned. Severus frowned and ran a hand down her cheek.
"Hermione's a little ill, Lupin." He said, glancing concernedly at her. Hermione shook her head, all the pieces falling in to place.
"No, I'm not ill."
"Hermione -."
"No, listen. I'm not ill. I never get ill. I can't get ill!" Her voice began to raise a little in pitch - she was due back in school in a week and she had so many exams, she couldn't afford to get ill.
"It's okay, Hermione, it's probably nothing serious, just a little run down. Don't worry about it, you'll be fine with a bit more of a rest." Hermione nodded, sniffing slightly and embarrassedly brushing away tears.
"You're so good to me, Sev." She mumbled as he gently caressed her lower back. She moaned lightly - his touch was doing wonders for relaxing her. After a few more second's indulgence she pulled reluctantly away from the touch and went upstairs to get ready for the day.
Sirius watched Hermione leave the room with amused concern, before leaning over and whispering in Remus' ear "When do you think she'll admit that she's pregnant?" Remus choked slightly on his orange juice. He had hoped it was only his imagination.
"It's not for us to interfere. Now come on, I'm exhausted, I think I want to go back to bed. Maybe you could give me a backrub?" Remus' eyes twinkled invitingly./ Sirius dropped his toast to his plate and sprung up to lead his lover form the room. It had come to his attention very quickly that backrubs - no matter how tired Remus got - always ended up with sex of some form.
While everyone else was settling down happily to breakfast, there came a knock on the door. Harry immediately jumped up to answer it, leaving Charlie sulking at the table before his hand finally returned to the surface. A few seconds later, a grinning Draco Malfoy entered the room. He pulled up a seat next to Ron, who was glowering at Neville (apparently Ron walked in on him and Ginny in a rather compromising position). Neville whimpered a little as Ron continued his violent glares. Draco finally took pity on the quivering mass that was the remains of Neville Longbottom and leaned over to "persuade" Ron to stop glaring at him.
He laid one hand on Ron's thigh, slowly massaging small circles, while his other hand picked up a strawberry from the fruit cocktail on the table. He raised it to Ron's lips and teased it along the opening for a second, before Ron's tongue came out to tentatively caress it. His eyes dropped to Draco's face as he finally allowed the sweet fruit entrance to his mouth, curling his tongue around it before he bit the very tip off. He noticed Draco moan a little, before his tongue followed the route the fruit had taken.
Tonks, across the table from the two boys, turned to her lover. "I didn't know they were dating."
Alastor Moody finally wrenched his good eye away from the tempting sight before him (the other eyes was roving about in his head, conveniently pointing in the direction of Sirius' room) to answer Tonks. "Oh yes, Mr. Potter mentioned something about them needing to learn Silencing Charms during the Halloween." Tonks giggled.
"Maybe we should go... practice our own charms, eh, Alastor?" She murmured seductively, to which the scarred man grinned and proceeded to follow Sirius and Remus upstairs. Bill watched them go with a deep shudder, before returning to his porridge. He was so glad that he had Fleur... Even if she was in France right now and he never actually saw her...
Halloween X Halloween X Halloween
A few hours later, when Sirius, Remus, Hermione and Severus finally resurfaced from their respective rooms (no one dared think where Tonks and Moody had gotten off to) Remus decided to corner Hermione and talk to her.
He finally did it in the library, although he'd never considered that Hermione read those kinds of books. He shouldn't have been surprised, though.
"Gods, I never thought you could do that with a bar and a jar of lubricant." The Werewolf finally said as he tore his eyes away from the page Hermione was on. The young Witch "Mhmm"'ed appreciatively, before closing the book and turning expectantly to the older man.
Remus took the seat across from her, folding his hands seriously and adopting what Sirius dubbed as his "Serious Professor" persona.
"Hermione, I was wondering if you knew how long sperm can survive in the female body before death or impregnation occurs?"
"Three days." She replied promptly. Remus smiled at her and nodded.
"And therefore, the best time to do a pregnancy test, for accurate results, would be?"
"Four days after you last had sex." She returned immediately once more.
"Hermione, how long after you and Severus last had sex was it before we tested you?"
"About an hour. Why?"
"How have you been feeling, recently? Tired?" She nodded. "Tender, nausea? I bet you haven't drunk tea or coffee in over a week. How's your magic?"
"It's a little off, I'm a bit run-down, I'm afraid." She admitted. Remus sighed at the oblivious girl.
"Hermione, have you ever heard of a very serious condition referred to as "denial"?" He asked. She looked up at him sharply, frowning.
"Yes, why?"
"Hermione, you are in denial. You are not run down, nor are you ill. Your magic is not going to suddenly get better once you've had some proper sleep. I know what's wrong with you, and I think you know it too." Hermione looked down at her hands.
"I'm pregnant."
"Yes."
Halloween X Halloween X Halloween
Severus Snape was a very, very patient and intelligent man. He knew several languages, most of them admittedly dead, and was fluent in all of them. He was not phased by anything. He had a very calm exterior and he was very, very healthy.
So he really had no excuse for his response to being informed that he would be a father in seven months to be a quietly gasped "huh?" promptly followed by his fainting.
Of course, when he woke up and finally accepted that she wasn't kidding him, he did inform Hermione that "huh" meant "Marry me" in an extremely obscure dialect of Ancient Mermish and he did not faint, he merely blacked out because of a very well hidden form of the 'Flu. So she marched him off to Madame Pomphrey while she went and announced their engagement to the rest of the Order.
A/N: Well, that's it! Finished! I will write an epilogue, and I may, if people really, really want, do a sequel, but for now…
I think it's funny, really, this is registered as a Sirius/Remus fic, and I don't generally like Het, and yet the majority of this fic has been about Hermione and Severus. Bugger.