Severus Snape thought of himself as quite a rational man. He controlled his emotions well and he never overreacted to anything. He was calm in the face of danger and he thought logically and never let his emotions take over. Well, that was until this very moment in time when the woman he was falling in love with was slumped, lifeless in his arms with a head wound and bruising on her throat that was consistent with a broke trachea. Like a bull drawn to red, he was angry. No, he was fucking pissed off.

Severus had no one in his life previous that he really cared for, not since Lily, anyway, but now he had both Hermione and Lincoln, both of whom he would protect with his life, they may as well reserve a cell for him in Azkaban because there was going to be a murder today and he cared nary for one second if they threw him in the darkest pits of Azkaban to rot away. Justice needed to be served and serve it he would

His body convulsed with the accumulated rage that was coursing through his veins, and the bile in his stomach wanted to rise as Weasley's filthy face danced through his mind. With a strength he had never known before, he lifted the girl with relative ease and took her two steps at a time to his bedroom and laid her on the bed gently. She gagged slightly and coughed up a clot of dark crimson blood. At least he knew she was still alive. He wasn't much of a healer, but he knew enough to get him through life. It was clear the wound on her head was causing her current state of unconsciousness. The fact hard cartilage in the throat appeared to be broken told him the force in which Weasley had held her was incomparable to that he had ever seen from another human before and it was consistent with that of an angered man.

Stuck in a predicament, he needed to help Hermione, but he also had to at the very minimum save his son from an unhinged psychopath who would be hell-bent on getting back at him and would know the way to do that would be through Lincoln. He needed help.

o-o-o-o-o

Groggily, her eyes opened slowly, like the first flowers of spring after a harsh winter. Skin as white as snow, she inhaled sharply, and wheezing came from her throat as she did so. It felt as if someone had ripped her throat out of her neck and she quickly pressed her fingers from where the pain was emanating, wincing as her own gentle fingers lay upon it.

"How are you feeling?" A soft feminine voice drifted across the room, causing her to sit bolt upright. Her head pounded as she did so, turning her head just so. The form of Narcissa Malfoy sat primly in a chair. The woman's blonde hair was pinned back without as much as a fly-away and her dress pressed perfectly.

Eyes wide, Hermione tried to slide to the furthest side of the bed, putting more gap between herself and the woman.

"Relax, Hermione. May I call you Hermione?" The woman asked evenly, eyeing the girl sideways.

A small nod was all she could manage, and she relaxed visibly, exhaling. "What happened?" She whispered harshly, her throat sore and dry, feeling as if someone was stabbing her repeatedly.

"Well, dear." The woman got up and closed the few steps before bending her knees and sitting on the bed primly, hands folded in her lap. "You fell into Severus's arms after apparating here. He didn't tell me much other than he needed me to watch over you, and Lucius, to help him fetch your son."

"Lincoln," she choked out, eyes wide. Worry gnawing at her very psyche. Ron still had Lincoln.

"Is that the name of your son?" The woman feigned an interest, gently placing a comforting hand on Hermione's knees that hid beneath the covers.

"Our son. Yes," she confirmed.

"Who is the other half of our?" Narcissa asked with a curious upward inflection. "You mean your husband, yes?"

"Severus. He's Severus's." She relaxed even more in the presence of the other woman. She was too weak and sore to fight anyone, even if she needed to and she knew deep down in the very pit of her being Severus would never endanger her, so thus she assumed Narcissa was to be treated as a friend and not foe.

"Oh! The scandal." She smiled widely. "He kept that tidbit of information quiet. Tell me more."

"Severus probably didn't tell you because I asked him to keep it quiet," she said huskily, and slowly, her throat burned to talk. "I told my husband the baby was his and used a glamour. Severus found out, and I allowed him to have a relationship with our son. One thing led to another, and I chose him over my husband."

"And this is how we ended up here, hey?" Narcissa asked, hovering an open hand over Hermione. "You told your husband about your affair and in a fit of rage, he lost his cool and laid his hands upon you?"

"Exactly."

"Your husband is a brute of a man. I saw him at the World Cup, so I can imagine the strength in which he laid his hands upon you." She shot the younger woman a sympathetic look. "But don't you worry, Severus is nothing like that. He's hard on the outside, but once you work him out, he's a selfless person on the inside. He'd give his own life to anyone whom he trusts. I remember when Draco was only a baby and Lucius had to…" she stopped and cleared her throat awkwardly, "when he went away on business. Severus was there for me. I was a young, first-time mother with no one around, and he spent his days keeping me company and helping me with the baby. He's a good man. Great, actually," she corrected herself.

Silence filled the air. Hermione tentatively rubbed her throat, wincing as the sear pain snaked down the length of her neck. A pain in her head throbbed relentlessly, blurring her vision slightly.

"You don't think they will kill Ron, do you?" She asked worriedly, eyes glazing over as she spoke, mind going into overdrive.

Narcissa sat gathering her thoughts and dissecting them before she spoke to the girl. "I've seen Severus angry and seen Severus at his lowest. I've seen Severus go through every emotion possible for a human, but I've never seen him that angry, Hermione. I wouldn't want to be your husband right about now."

o-o-o-o-o

Lucius Malfoy and Severus Snape stood at the gate to Hermione's home. Severus tried to sort his emotions from the rage he was feeling but found it almost impossible. "Should we go wands blazing?" Lucius asked, looking sideways at his friend.

"I think if I go in alone and give him enough rope, he will hang himself," Severus confirmed.

Lucius nodded his head curtly. "I'll wait out here," he whispered as Severus pushed the gate open and led the way up the path.

They reached the door, Severus's large hand reached out to the knob. Taking a steadying breath, he pushed the door open silently.

"Is she ok?" Ron asked moments later, slumped over in a chair, hands hiding his tear-stained face. The shadow of Severus cast over him and he didn't jump. He didn't move. He just sat awaiting the fate that would befall him because, deep down, he knew he deserved whatever came his way.

"What do you care?" Severus bit, jaw tight with tension as he held back every fibre of his being not to pull the dagger from his pocket and slit the man's throat without a second thought. He could do it and he wouldn't hesitate.

"I care because she is my wife," his voice rose a few octaves as he shook violently, springing to his feet to face the man who stole her. "She is my wife. I married her, not you. Do you always swoop in and take other men's wives when they are happily married?" His teeth gnashed with ferocity.

Severus snorted loudly. "I can assure you; she was not happy, only married. She was utterly miserable; all I did was help free her from the shackles that were the toxic hold you had over her under the veil of a marriage certificate."

Ron's whole demeanour changed. Standing to his full height- he and Severus were the same height but where Severus lacked bulk and muscle, Ron made up for them both.

"Don't even try," Severus warned through gritted teeth, pulling his wand from his pocket and aiming it squarely at the other man when he saw his muscle tense beneath his shirt and hands balled into fists.

"Fight me like a man," Ron snarled.

"I have little desire to fight you with my fists as a neanderthal would. However, to level the playing field to your range of magic, I will let you snap my wand. You still won't be a match for me, but the sentiment is there."

Ron took a step back, realising the height of the situation. Yes, he could probably snap him in half like a twig, but Snape could also, easier and faster, snap him in half with magic.

"Where's Lincoln?" Severus asked evenly.

"You're not taking my son!" Ron bellowed, voice reverberating off the walls. "He's not yours, he's mine. I tried to remove the glamour, and nothing happened, so you and Hermione are lying to me!" He punctuated his sentence with a slam of his foot against the floor like a petulant child.

"Because, Einstein, only a child's biological parents can remove the glamour when the child is under eighteen. You aren't his father, so you can't remove it."

Ron's heart sank, and his face fell. He had forgotten that minor detail.

"You've a few options here. I can kill you and make it look like an accident. I can kill you and make you disappear, or you can go to the press and tell the world that you nearly killed your own wife with your bare hands. Driven out of your home for fear of her life, she found herself on my doorstep where sanctuary was offered."

"I'd rather kill myself than tell anyone that. I've got an image to uphold. Besides, it wouldn't take them long to work out you killed me. The lover of a married woman driven mad by the fact she chose me in the end and not you. The child she told you was yours, in fact, mine. It's enough to land you straight in Azkaban. It might not be the whole truth, but the second my blood is on your hands, the authorities will see it exactly like that."

Severus's eyes flashed dangerously, and Ron was almost certain he saw a flash of something demonic inside of the other man. Lightning-fast, Severus closed the gap and wrapped his lithe fingers around Ron's neck with the strength of three men, pushing him backwards fast across the room until a wall abruptly stopped them both. Ron slammed into the wall with a groan and a gasp as he tried to suck in a breath. Winded, he stood frozen to the spot, waiting for whatever was going to befall him.

"Maybe you can feel what she felt," he spat, stray spittle hitting Ron in the face. "There is no scarier feeling than not being able to breathe. Likewise, there is no scarier feeling than being beaten by someone who you trusted enough to marry. Imagine being so terrified you would die and never see your child again because the man you thought loved you couldn't control his emotions."

A hellfire tore through Severus as his grip on the man's throat tightened. "I've always hated you," Severus whispered harshly. "I always knew deep down there was an evil steak buried deep down inside of you and you proved me right."

Ron's large hands pushed Severus off with gusto, watching him stumble back a few steps before righting himself.

Ron lunged at Severus again with such speed he had little to no time to react to what was coming at him. Feeling himself topple to the floor, hard, it forced any air that had been in his lungs out. The bigger man now straddling him, closed a hand around Severus's neck.

"Now you can feel what she felt," Ron leaned down and whispered into the man's ear. "I should have killed the bitch when I had the chance," he snarled, tightening the grip on his throat.

Gasping, Severus crept his hand to his robes, rummaging in his pocket for the dagger he had brought along. Fingering the short blade, he pulled it from his robes, gripping the handle in his hand and with what strength he could summon, plunged the short blade into Ron's back, sliding the blade between two ribs and straight into a lung.

Screaming as if he had been shot, Ron rolled onto the floor, gasping for air.

Severus pulled himself to his feet and looked down at the younger man sardonically, gripping the blood-covered blade.

"What's wrong?" He asked sarcastically. "Don't you hate it when people stab you in the back?"

"Please," Ron wheezed. "Help me."

"Did you help her when she was on the ground begging you? Do you help her when you broke her trachea and hit her head so hard so fell into my arms as she passed out?"

Severus crouched down beside Ron, looking at him with intent. "You can get well and truly fucked, Weasley, and there is a special spot in hell reserved for anyone who lays a hand on a woman."

Grasping Ron's chin in his hands, he swiftly, with no second thoughts or hesitation, ran the blade across the man's neck. A sickening sound Severus couldn't really describe forced its way from Ron before a stream of fresh crimson blood trickled from the wound.

"Enjoy that spot in hell." Severus dropped his chin, watching as his head lulled to the side and a gurgling sound filled the air. Tucking the blade back into his pocket, he stood once again, turning his back to the man.

o-o-o-o

Severus leaned down and placed Lincoln in Hermione's arms. Whilst her injuries weren't life-threatening, they were still injuries that she should have never sustained at the hand of a man, especially not one that claimed to love her so.

Her eyes lit up as the baby slid gently into her grip, holding him tightly against her chest and inhaling his scent. She sighed, content.

"Thank you Narcissa," Severus smiled warmly at his old friend who was still sitting with Hermione, cooing over the baby, stroking him gently on the head.

"Thank you, Lucius, for… for everything." He clamped a hand on the man's shoulder in a show of appreciation.

"I can't believe you kept this quiet, Severus. I never pictured you as the type to be a father, but you showed me." Narcissa shot a glance at Severus with feigned interest.

"I never saw myself as the fatherly type either," he admitted, "But now I couldn't imagine my life without him."

"What did you do with Ron?" Hermione interjected, worry etched into every line of her face.

"Oh, don't worry, we took care of him." Lucius smiled smugly, shooting a glace to Severus. "We took real good care of him."

"How you said that makes me think you didn't really take care of him at all," Hermione whispered as her throat burned and she wondered if she would ever find out what had become of the man she once called her husband.

"No. We took him out to lunch, wined and dined him, hit the town for a few hours," Lucius retorted sarcastically.
Severus shot her a quick glance. "We will let you rest. I'll tell you more later."

She watched as the three of them left the room, leaving her with her son and her thoughts. Would she ever know the truth?

A/N: Sorry this has taken so long. I had it written out for a while then we (Australia) were hit with rainfall we have never seen in our history which created flooding to levels never seen before in some areas. Our power was cut due to the floodwaters lapping power lines but all is well now.

-Aliasmel1