"I'd like a weekend pass please," Hermione hears the next morning. She smiles when she looks up and sees Andrea and her friend.
"Hey," Hermione says.
"Hey, Hermione."
"So where are you guys headed?"
"Well, Leah is visiting from Manchester, so I thought I'd take her to Buckingham Palace."
"Sounds fun. Remember that the Green Park station is down for repairs."
"Hey, Hermione, who's this?" Eden, Hermione's friend and co-worker asks.
"I'm Andrea and this is Leah…Hermione is going to marry my brother, Aleksandr," Andrea explains.
"What, you're getting married? Why didn't you tell me?" Eden asks excitedly.
"Well, we…haven't really announced it yet."
"Hermione, we have to go now, but I'll see you later, ok?" Andrea states.
"Ok. See you later." As the girls leave, Eden asks if she's pregnant.
"Yes, I'm pregnant," Hermione says sarcastically. Leah over hears and goes to tell Andrea.
"You aren't funny," Eden says rolling her eyes.
When Andrea gets home that night she announces to her family that Hermione's pregnant. They all look over at Severus.
"Yes?" he asks already knowing what they want him to do.
"Would you go check up on Hermione?" his mother asks.
He sighs then apparates to his brother's apartment, hoping she's there. Just as Hermione is coming out of the kitchen, he appears in front of her and she screams.
"Severus!" she says holding a hand to her heart.
"I have a habit of doing that don't I?" he questions with a frown on his face.
"Not to be rude or anything, but why are you here?" she asks.
"I needed to talk to you about something."
"Could it wait until tomorrow? I was just on my way to my friend's party," she says, putting on her coat.
"I'll walk with you."
She looks at him funny, but shrugs her shoulders, and heads out the door. As they step outside, Hermione pulls her coat around her tighter as the cold air whips around her. He growls at the freezing temperatures and casts a warming spell on himself.
"Just a little cold?" she teases.
He glares at her and she laughs.
"How far is your friend's place?" he asks.
"Not too far. Just to Caroline Place."
He nods his head. They walk in silence for a while, before Hermione breaks it. "What is it that you needed to talk to me about?" He stays quiet. "Severus, you've always been one that wants to get straight to the point. Why are you stalling?" she asks. He frowns again, but still stays quiet, wondering how he should bring this up to her. Hermione notices that they're standing in front of her friend's house. "I guess what ever it is that you wanted to talk to me about is going to have to wait until tomorrow."
"What?" Severus says, shaking his thoughts away.
"This is my friend's place."
"I'll walk you to the door."
"You are acting so strange tonight."
"No, I'm not," he defends.
They reach the door and Eden greets them.
"Hey everyone! Hermione and her fiancée, Aleksandr, are here!"
Severus looks horrified as he's drug into the house filled with people dancing to loud music and drinking. Hermione goes straight to the kitchen fridge and grabs a beer. He follows closely behind her.
"You shouldn't be drinking that."
"Why not?" she says gulping down several large mouthfuls.
"Because alcohol, Miss Granger, is not good for you or the baby," he shouts so she can hear him over the music, but the music stops and everyone hears.
Hermione's eyes go wide and she runs out of the house, with Severus at her heels. "Hermione! Hermione, wait!"
She keeps going, ignoring his calls. She's just outside her apartment, when he finally catches up to her.
"Hermione!" he spins her around.
"Why? Why would you go an announce something like that to all my friends?" she says angrily.
"What? You mean you're not pregnant?"
"No! I'm not!" She rants and goes to lean against one of the pillars outside her building.
He slowly walks over to her.
"I'm…I'm sorry, Hermione."
"Why did you think I was pregnant?"
"Andrea said her friend heard you say that you were."
"And you, Severus Snape, believed a rumor?"
He pinches the bridge of his nose, feeling a really bad headache coming on.
"I don't know what to believe. My brother has always been noble."
"So the only reason your brother would want marry me is if he got me pregnant?"
"No, I didn't mean it like that."
"Then what did you mean? You haven't liked me since day one. You think I do something like that on purpose? You think I'd weasel my way into your family by becoming pregnant so I could return to the wizarding world and wouldn't have to hear someone call me a mudblood anymore?"
"Hermione, no. You're a Gryffindor. That would be something I'd expect from someone like Malfoy," he sighs and stands a little closer to her.
"Yeah, as you said before I will always be that little annoying Gryffindor Know-It-All," she says and starts towards her apartment.
"Not so much anymore," he whispers. He watches her disappear behind the heavy door to her building, then goes back home.