A/N: Hi readers. I'm glad that you are all responding to this well. It makes me happy. For former readers, there a slight plot change here. I wanted it this way. Also I apologize about how long it took to get this one out. It was just difficult to get out. It was the first time around too.

I would like to address a guest who has stated that Severus is OOC, since I cannot respond personally. I am a firm believer in Severus' soft side, I'm not suggesting that he's entirely in character, simply that there is a side of him we never got a chance got to see. We never got to see him alone. And because we know in the end that he has a heart, some where that soft side is going to come out. But, this is also only four chapters in. There are events that will take place very soon and events that will happen later. I need to get these guys to do what I want them to for once. But also, this is MUCH darker than previously written. Anyway, I still am happy to hear you enjoy reading and I am done here. So story time!

Chapter Four

Severus woke long before he needed to. And he couldn't fall back asleep. It felt a curse to him, the entire situation. And yet, it he knew that his part was the easiest. He had long since mastered pushing people away. He knew in the end, he could push her away, no matter where the path that fate had for them led.

But the path they tread new would be hard. If it were any other woman, Gryffindor or not, Severus was sure they'd never be able to handle it. But Hermione was...different. She was strong and brilliant, no matter how much he tried to deny it.

Still, it seemed sleep would evade him for the time being. He got himself out of bed and found his way to the bathroom to shower.

Hermione had tossed and turned all night, plagued by nightmares every time she closed her eyes. What was worse was that she didn't understand them. She was terrified of him, not of losing him. Yet every time she closed her eyes, it was the same thing.

Hermione stood at the edge of the forbidden forest, watching, waiting. Fear racked her body, but she couldn't move. She couldn't run. She had to stay. She had to be there for him. Even as the chaos around her threatened her very existence, she waited.

Even as the acromantula crawled from beyond the trees, Hermione was stuck in one spot. As the centaurs rushed by her in a herd, she stood her ground. She should have been trampled, eastern, or hit by the numerous spells that were flying around. Yet everything bent around her.

Then suddenly, she was walking, turning away from the forest. She walked in between duels and curses. She walked under the acromantula as they leapt for their prey and she walked past arrows shot by the centaurs.

Her friends and classmates fought around her, matched against death eaters. Many of the children she grew up with fell to the ground, never to get back up.

Yet she wasn't phased by any of it. It was like something else had taken control of her.

A few hundred yards in front of her the snake, Nagini. They locked eyes for a moment before the snake began slithering away. Hermione picked up her pace, following the snake down the winding path towards the Womping Willow. She didn't bother to duck as the branches swung at her and easily found her way into the tunnel.

The snake was no longer in sight, but she didn't need it anymore. She knew where she was going.

When she found herself inside the shrieking shack, everything stopped ignoring her existence.

"Sseverusss, your little mudblood has arrived."

She doesn't know how, but she's in the middle of the room, Severus standing just behind her, Voldemort staring her down.

"I think it'sss time you gave her up. I'm going to kill her now." He raised his wand, meeting her gaze, she couldn't move again. "Avada Kedavra!"

Then she was on the ground, but it wasn't because of the spell, Severus had pulled her back and taken the spell himself. His lifeless body lay next to her and she cried. Her heart shattered. She was so busy crying over his death that she didn't notice the snake slithering closer until Nagini was striking.

Then she'd wake up, sweating. Why was she crying over him? Were her dreams trying to explain something to her?

Either way, it left her shaken, and she didn't sleep hardly at all. She woke feeling exhausted, but she refused to try and sleep anymore.

Instead she got out of the bed and went straight to the rest room, turning on the water for the bath. She needed to relax and the closest she figured she'd get was by taking a hot bath.

Severus heard the water running as he sat at the table in his kitchen. He had just finished a bowl of cereal and put it in the sink. Then he made his way upstairs, to his own room.

Hermione and Severus sat outside the court room in the Ministry. They sat a few feet away from each other in silence, though before they left, Severus had bound her powers so she wouldn't be able to escape. It had been a silent thirty minutes of waiting before the trial would start. The only sounds came from puerile passing by, staring confused at the couple.

And then clocks chimed noon and the doors opened. Hermione stood and took a seat in the chair at the center of the room. Severus followed in and stood behind her.

The minister filed into the room and prepared to speak.

"We are here today for the trial of Hermione Jean Snape for violating Wizengmont Law 3,321 article 1 subsection 3. Is it true that seven days ago you had a abortion without consent from the ministry?"

She looked up from her lap to face the ministry, . Tears forming in her eyes. This was supposed to be behind her. But instead it was coming back to haunt her. She took a breath, and tried to swallow the tears as she spoke, "I did."

"And is it true that the father had not been informed prior to the decision?"

"That is true."

"Thank you. Now, everyone who finds the defendant-"

Severus swept forward. "Hold on a moment. You did not give the woman a chance to defend herself."

"Very well, let her attempt to do so."

"As her husband, I will be laying out the defense, starting with a statement about why she had not told the father."

Hermione looked at him in confusion. What was he playing at? "She did tell me after the fact. She has not told me because I have made myself to be a man that prefers facts. When she went to St. Mungo's she had taken a test at home, but wanted a full confirmation. She told me after the fact and was extremely distraught about the event."

"So you are the father in question? Weren't you only married two days ago?"

"Yes. I am. For obvious reasons, our relationship has been kept under wraps. After what happened, we decided to get married, to make things easier when we were ready to start a family. But I am not on trial here and I have a witness to the event in question."

"Very well, bring them in. Mrs. Snape, please take a seat," the minister said while gesturing to the front row of seats.

She nodded and got up, still trying to stop the tears as they fell.

In Wales her doctor, confident and going straight to his seat.

"Dr. Pomphrey, it's it true that a well ago you received a visit from Hermione?"

"Yes."

"And can you tell us what happened?"

"She came in for a simple pregnancy test. There were a few red flags so we checked her womb and it appeared that it was tubal."

"So her health was at risk then?"

"If we let it continue, she would have died. As it was, she also could have lost all reproductive ability. See, it was fraternal twins, so both tubes would have been destroyed."

"And the consent form?"

"There want a lot of time for her to think anything over, I filled out the form for having performed an emergency one."

The minister stood up,"No such thing was done!"

Severus flicked his wand and a piece of paper floated up to the minister's face. "This document says otherwise. In fact, it even has a ministry stamp of approval on it."

The minister stumbled to find words.

"I think there is sufficient evidence to prove her innocence," Severus said, waving his hand as a final gesture.

The minister stood, "We shall take a vote. Those who find the defendant not guilty?"

Hermione looked in awe as a majority of the hands went up.

The minister was clearly upset.

"It would appear that you are cleared of charges. However, as the population in the wizarding world is small, and you are now married, we shall expect you to start your family immediately."

Hermione sobbed.

"Minister, clearly you can see how distraught this ideal has made my wide. Surely you do not think it wise for he to try beginning a family immediately."

He was trying to buy as much time as he could, there was no reason they should be forced together.

"You have a week. Then you will start your family."

Hermione sobbed as everyone filed out of the room.

Severus placed a bowl of spaghetti on the table in front of Hermione. She hadn't said a word in the hours since they returned to Spinner's end. He himself hadn't said more than enough to get her to join him for dinner.

Her face was red and splotchy and reminded him of more than one occasion from her school years. That thought alone disturbed him.

They ate in silence for a few minutes. "Why did you lie to them?" Hermione finally asked, her voice quiet and weak.

Severus looked at her before going back to looking at the bowl on front of him. "It made things easier. If they were told the truth, they'd drag Mr. Weasley into it."

"Oh."

"And they would question our marriage. The Dark Lord has his spies and allies in the ministry, enough to keep me out of the hands of the Aurors."

"Oh."

They ate in silence once more until their bowls were empty. Hermione felt a need to do something other than sit so she got up from her seat and took her bowl to the sink. Then she turned on the water and grabbed the sponge and began cleaning.

Her hand guided the sponge in a circular motion around the bowl, watching as the water rinsed away the red blood-like sauce. But even after everything was gone, she continued to wipe the bowl down. She was lost and far away and needed the mindlessness of the task at hand.

"Hermione, the bowl is clean, you can stop."

But she didn't. She kept cleaning, applying more and more pressure to the bowl in her hand.

Severus stood and stepped towards her. "Hermione, stop, the bowl is clean."

Still she couldn't hear him, couldn't stop. Then the shattering of ceramic brought her out of her daze. Severus turned off the water and grabbed her hand. She hadn't noticed the sting of the cut, and when she realized that he was touching her, she tried to pull back.

"Calm down. I'm not going to hurt you."

He led her to the downstairs bathroom and turned on the sink, placing her bleeding hand under the flowing water. She pulled back, from the sting, and he held her hand there until she stopped fighting it. Then he opened the cabinet and pulled out a bandage and a salve.

Severus opened the salve and grabbed her hand. He died it off and then applied it gently before wrapping her hand.

"Be more careful," he lectured.

She nodded, her mouth open slightly.

He led her back to the kitchen and sat her down in the chair she had sat in previously and walked to the fridge. He pulled out the cake he had made the previous night and pulled two plates down from the cabinet and served them.

"Don't look so surprised. Baking is not that far off of potions."

She took a bite and couldn't hold back her smile at the pleasant taste."

"Perhaps we should talk. I cannot very well promise not to touch you again. We don't have a choice at this point. I realize that I have done things that have frightened you, but at this point, we are going to have to try to move past that. Of course, we could just use potions. I have several that can cause blackouts."

"NO!"

Severus was shocked at the vehemence in her tone. "May I ask why?"

"I-I-memories are important. They make up who we are. They affect our impressions on people. Memories have power."

"That's unusually wise for someone your age."

"There's a reason I'm called the brightest witch of my age," she snapped back.

"It's also a bitter subject for you. What happened?"

Hermione sighed and took a bite of the cake. "I will go to any lengths to protect the ones I love. So I erased my parents memories of my existence and I made them want a new life, far from here."

"That would be an incredibly difficult thing to do."

"It's done."

They returned to the silence once more. Their plates were soon empty. Severus grabbed the plates and set them into the sink for the time being.

In order to make things more comfortable for Hermione, Severus knew that she needed to feel at home, or at least as at home as she could given the circumstances. And he knew the best way to appease her.

"Hermione, follow me," he told her.

She looked up, and saw the usual scowl in his face telling her that she didn't have a choice. So she stood up and followed him. They walked down the hall in further silence until they reached a room.

"This is my library. As long as you treat the books correctly, as I'm sure you will, you may come in here anytime you wish."

Hermione's mouth dropped in awe. It wasn't the biggest library she had ever seen, not even the nicest, but it was unexpected. Many of the books were old and clearly valuable. She walked towards the shelves, a hand tentatively raised as she read the titles. Everything from muggle novels to potions texts and studies on dark magic.

She saw a novel that she had always loved, A Wrinkle in Time and took it off the shelf before making her way to the edge of the couch in the center of the room.

Severus gave her a moment to get comfortable before walking to the opposite side of the couch and picking up the on the end table next to it. It felt odd how almost normal they could appear to an outsider.

There was a certain pleasure to be found when reading silently with company. You had all the benefits of not being alone without having to communicate. The only noise aside from the near silent breaths was the partial turn of a page. It was relaxing and tranquil. Hermione felt herself actually relaxing for the first time in over a week. She almost felt terrified of it, but so far out seemed her professor actually cared a little bit. It was nothing she had ever seen in him before, and she couldn't be sure why he was showing her now, but inside a part of her was thankful.

She wasn't ready to give up yet. She'd find a moment and free herself from the prison she was in, but until such time, she had to learn to make the most of the situation. And she needed to get over her fear of being touched. Although Severus and Draco were the only men to have ever touched her against her will and roughly, even the thought of hugging her two best friends terrified her. And that held a power she had no desire to let either man keep.

Both of them had lost track of time, and Hermione had fallen asleep on the couch just as Severus' mark began to burn. He took her up to her room and locked the door, making sure that she was unable to attempt anything. Then he made his way to Malfoy Manor.

"Sseverusss, I'm so glad you could join usss," Voldemort greeted as Severus entered the dining room. "Where is your mudblood?"

"She is locked away in her room asleep. It was a long day to say the least."

"I am aware. And I wasss sshocked to hear that you asssked the minisstry for more time. I would have thought you'd take her immediately. I thought you would thank me for assssissting you."

"My Lord," Severus said with a bow, "of course I am grateful to your endeavours. And under normal circumstances I would have. However, as you told me, I need to make her be willing. She's already been kidnapped, tortured, assaulted, and raped in a very public setting. Even one week would not be enough to make a woman willing have sex with a man, though I am confident I could pull it off with her."

"Yesss, I ssupposse you're right. Asss a wedding gift to you, I'm giving you that week of total sssilence. You shall not be called here. But after that, I expect you to have completed thisss tassk."

"Yes, my Lord."

"And I expect to sssee some training of the dark artss. If sshe isss the witch everyone claimss, sshe sshould pick up the ssskill very quickly."

"Of course, my Lord."

"Then be gone, enjoy your honeymoon."

Severus bowed once more before leaving the room. He should have known the trial was instigated by one of their moles in the ministry. He should have realized it much sooner. He had always been a mysterious man, one who intervened in plots because of curiosity.

Severus shook his head as he left the manor. This was an impossible feat, yet he had to succeed. He had to make Hermione want him. She had to actually want it. And he would be lying if ssh he said he didn't. She was lovely note that she had grown. He could choose her. But could she chose him? Hermione had to choose to be with him or they would both suffer the consequences. He didn't particularly care to be punished for not managing to get a former student to sleep with him. Just the thought itself disturbed him. He never thought he'd be put in that situation. The thought had never even crossed his mind.