Chapter 4

Silently, they crossed the room towards the only source of light in the room, a glowing blue crib. Reaching into the crib Hermione stroked the face of the child.

"My baby…elissa… I'm so sorry, we never should have left you, please forgive us. Mummy loves you"

"And daddy" the soft baritone reminded.

Looking up into the eyes of her husband, Hermione was shocked to once again see tears streaming down the man's face. He looked at the crib and sank to the floor; kneeling next to him she wrapped her arms around him and let him take some of her strength.

xXx

"Harry, stop pacing your going to wear a hole in the floor!"

Chastised, Harry stopped and slumped onto the nearest chair. "I can't stand this, what happened! How did this happen! She only came for a vaccine!"

Minerva reached over and pulled the boy/man into a fierce hug. She comforted him whilst he cried as Albus looked on. The headmaster, stepped forward before stopping, turning and striding off out of the corridor….

5 minutes later, Harry had composed himself again and the 2 remaining in the corridor were waiting for Hermione and Severus to leave the ward. In strode Dumbledore, closely followed by none other than Remus Lupin. Looking around, Remus ran forward and pulled Harry into a hug.

"I'm sorry"

Harry assured his "godfather" that he was ok and they should be looking out for Sev and 'mione.

Just then the two walked out of the room and rejoined the men and Minerva.

"You can go in now – if you want to say goodbye….we need to see the Mediwitch in charge of the baby ward."

Those gathered nodded their assent and left the two grieving parents alone.

xXx

"May I ask who is in charge in this area?"

The Mediwitch frowned, she hoped these two weren't very intelligent and would accept her excuses. She would have no such luck.

"I'm afraid she's busy at the moment, maybe if you come back some other…no ok then….erm….I'll go look for her"

"You do that"

She returned surprisingly quickly for someone unaware of their superior's whereabouts.

"I'm so sorry about your loss – it is a dreadful shame… We have no idea as to what happened."

"Oh, I beg to differ." Severus was on the point of snapping and Hermione hoped that the Mediwitches refrained from testing his patience much more.

"You see…erm…maery…. I invented those vaccines you were giving my child…."

"you…your.. M.mr Snape!" the Mediwitches looked horrified and were praying he hadn't run a magic scan on his daughter.

"Yes, I am. And I'm just dying to know why you used magic to wash my daughter when everyone knows perfectly well that there would be horrific, often fatal consequences….well… you see I don't understand how you could have forgotten about it because the bottles it is packaged in screams "NO MAGIC" at you until you recork them"

Hermione, who previously had been listening patiently, was growing more horrified by the second. She took one look at the Mediwitches and knew her husband was telling the truth.

"No answer, well maybe I an supply one… you idiotic no-good excuses for witches thought that using a little bit of magic couldn't hurt…after all lunch time was underway and you really wanted that sandwich on offer today….you thought that nothing serious would happen…she might just get a rash or something…didn't you? Well let me clarify…when you use magic within ten minutes after administering the vaccine...The patient's muscles begin to spasm. Then they begin to seize up and tighten so that it is impossible for the patient to move. Then, slowly the patient's muscles begin to snap at first it is reasonably painless then larger and larger muscles snap until the patient dies as the heart and lungs snap. The death is long and definitely not pain-free and you subjected my 3 week old daughter to that kind of torture. If my wife were not present I admit that right now I would be testing that vaccine on you."

Hermione had been listening avidly until that point, but now she could no longer control herself.

"HOW DARE YOU CALL YOURSELVES MEDIWITCHES? HOW DARE YOU! YOU'RE SUPPOSED TO KNOW THESE THINGS! YOU…YOU FOUL EXCUSES FOR HUMAN BEINGS! YOU MURDERED MY BABY…YOU KILLED HER!"

At this point she had attracted the attention of a great many people in the reception, who were all looking slightly warily at their own Mediwitches as if frightened they would be their next victim. Severus gently placed his hand on her arm and she swung round to face him mid-tirade. One look at him however and she stopped and embraced him fiercely sobbing. He looked surprised but hugged her back, giving his own strength to her.

The rest of the Hogwarts party came up behind them – having heard most of the outburst and steered the pair towards the floo throwing dirty looks at the Mediwitches as they went.

xXx

Back in Hogwarts – Minerva left the group to go report about Elissa to the rest of the staff. The students were still confined to their common room and so Harry, Albus, Remus and the Snapes headed for the dungeons.

Inside the Snape chambers Harry collapsed on the chair he had recently claimed as his own and beckoned to Hermione who ran to him and sat on his knee with her head tucked in his shoulder.

Albus and Remus claimed the sofa and Snape went to his cupboard for some firewhiskey. He poured 5 glasses and they disappeared within seconds. He refilled his own and went to stand by the enchanted window, staring out. Long ago he would have been jealous at Harry and Hermione's closeness but now he knew they would only ever be friends.

"Dwayne and I broke up today"

Everyone stared at the boy-who-lived-to-save-them-all.

"When? Why? Where? Tell Me Harry!"

Chuckling at his best friend's outburst, Harry proceeded to tell them all how Dwayne had decided that having the great Harry Potter for a boyfriend was a danger for him and maybe they should "just be friends"

"It's ok 'tho, he was a bit clingy anyway – and he couldn't accept our relationship. No matter how many times I told him that as a girl you really didn't appeal to me"

Hermione choked as she laughed and half-sobbed.

"Well, potter I can't say I'm surprised, Dwayne Purdie always struck me as the kind who preferred the quiet life, and he certainly wouldn't get it with you now would he?"

"No, sevvie I daresay he wouldn't"

Snape growled at the nickname but otherwise ignored it, which signified just how far his and Harry's relationship had come since his marriage.

The group sat in companionable silence, until Harry motioned that Hermione had fallen asleep.

Sweeping forward, Severus once again scooped her into his arms and laid her gently in the bedroom. He undressed her and laid her under the covers before returning to the living room.

"She'll be asleep for a couple of hours now I suppose."

Silence fell once again, broken only by the occasional chink of glass as one of the 4 refilled their glasses.

By one in the morning only Severus and Harry were still awake. Albus and Remus lay asleep on the sofa snoring quietly.

" you not tired yet Sev?

"Don't call me that and yes in fact I'm shattered but I can't bring myself to sleep."

"Why..?"

"I invented the potion that killed my daughter; Hermione may have blamed St. Mungo's but…"

"stop it, how many others have died because they had the vaccine administered with magic?"

"none but.."

"EXACTLY...oops sorry…no-one else has died, everyone else read the instructions, and you made it obvious enough. Blame St. Mungo's not you"

Severus sighed a long sigh and lifted his arm to point a slender finger towards a closed door.

"you can sleep in the spare room if you want, blow the candles out when you go to bed, I'm going now. Night"

"Night"

xXx

Sorry it took so long to update, but I've had writers block! I'm going to Tenerife for a week so this should keep everyone happe till then. Please review! Love Chloe XxX p.s. I will be using a beta next time but didn't have time at moment.