A/N: Hey Ya'll here are two new chapters just for you, I'm sorry that it took so long but school comes first since I get paid to do it. Thank you all so much for sticking with me, reviewing and adding this story to your alert and favorite lists, you all are the best. Much Love, Puppyluv09
Chapter 26: Trouble in Paradise
Severus and Hermione went about their lives hadn't changed in the slightest, except for the morning sickness. Hermione had owled her parents during the afternoon that she found out she was pregnant, they were both very ecstatic and gave the couple their congratulations. Soon the second week of November was upon the couple and Severus got summoned by the Dark Lord, Hermione was curious as to why she hadn't been summoned much but then she remembered the Snake's words saying that it would be suspicious if she were to go to every meeting. After he left, she went to the headmaster's office and told him and Minerva that Severus was gone, she had gotten better with him being gone and she decided to stay in her quarters for the night, she knew he would be back.
Severus stood in the circle with his 'brothers' and listened to the Dark Lord rant about his plans, no one expected him to say that he was on to who harmed Hermione's parents, nor were they expecting him to say that they would all have to stay while he questioned them all in attempts to find out who did it.
Severus inwardly groaned, Hermione wasn't going to like this, who knew how long this was going to take, maybe he could get the Dark Lord to let him go tell her what was going on. No, if he didn't summon her, that means he doesn't want her to know what is going on and if word got back to her… well let's just leave it as Bella, Rudolphus, Lucius, Narcissa, Draco and Himself wouldn't be going back to their lives outside of this circle.
He and his family went to go sit and talk about the baby and Severus' excitement as they watched their brothers go in first. They didn't know how long they sat there but the Dark Lord had only gone through ten of his followers and when Severus looked at the clock, it was two AM; he probably wasn't going home tonight.
Hermione woke up in the night with a dreadful pain in her lower abdomen, she didn't know what was going on and she started screaming, the portraits, all awoke with a start as she grabbed her abdomen, willing the pain to go away; she quickly through back the sheets and her face paled, blood. She had lost her baby, she screamed a blood chilling scream before running the bathroom, she magically cleaned up her outfit and then she braced herself to go clean up, she grabbed the sheets and pulled them off the bed with a bit more force then what was necessary, she usually had a pretty strong stomach but when the sheets fell to the floor exposing her now dead child, she couldn't bear the sight or the smell, she dashed off to the bathroom once more and emptied her dinner.
"Professors?" came a quiet voice, "Professors get up." Minerva rolled over and grunted. "PROFESSORS HERMIONE NEEDS YOUR HELP!" that got Minerva's attention. She bolted up and looked around the room noticing the picture of Cameron, the night that stood over both of the families mantles in case of an emergency.
"What?"
"Hermione is distraught madam, she is in need of you assistance."
"Did she send you Cameron?" Albus asked rising from his sleep.
"No sir, she is ill by the looks of it."
"Cameron, she is pregnant." Minerva said.
"I understand that but, she woke up crying in agony and then she screamed a scream that is still sending chills up my spine."
"Thank you Cameron." Minerva jumped out of bed and headed for her closet where her robe hung, Albus fallowed suit and both professors headed to the dungeons.
"Artium magister" Minerva said approaching the portrait.
As soon as the portrait opened, she ran into the room frantically searching for Hermione, she entered the bedroom finding the bed unmade, and the bathroom light on. She ran to it and found Hermione hugging her knees and sobbing.
"Hermione dear, what's the matter." She knelt down next to the distraught girl and pushed her hair from her face.
Hermione looked up and noticed Albus and gave him a look that said 'I failed.' And he knew what she couldn't say. "You miscarried didn't you?" Hermione nodded her head.
"I don't know how this happened; I took all the precautions that Poppy told me to with the morning sickness, I just…"
"Hermione, listen to me these things happen, you and Severus can try again." Minerva tried to sooth.
"No this is my fault, I didn't do something, and now it's my fault that my child will never enter this world br…"
"HERMIONE! You listen to me, this is in no way your fault, and nature wasn't ready for the two of you to have a baby." Hermione broke down in her mentor's arms and sobbed uncontrollably.
"I'll go take care of the bed," Albus said leaving the room for about twenty minutes.
"What do I tell Severus, eh was so excited; I don't think that I can break him like that."
"Hermione, you have to tell him, he deserves to know," Albus said, "Put yourself in his shoes, wouldn't you want to know as soon as possible rather than leading him along until he figures it out himself?"
"Yes, but…"
"No Hermione he needs to know, he has had so many people lie to him all his life, you are his wife and he expects honesty from you." Minerva said, "He may get upset but this news will not break him, dishonesty will."
"Ok."
Severus returned later that afternoon just in time for his seventh year potions class; he wasn't in the best of moods since he didn't get any sleep but he figured Hermione would welcome into their bed with open arms. He taught through his class and met his wife for dinner in the great hall, he wanted to smile when he saw her but noticed how she was quiet and distant, and he sat next to her and quietly took her hand in his and rubbed loving circles on the back of it. She turned to him and attempted to offer him a smile but it faltered.
"I have to talk to you after dinner."
"Is everything alright?"
"I…"
"Hermione, I will wait until after dinner assuming that it is not life or death." Tears welled up in his wife's eyes at the last word but she quickly blinked them away, "It's not…"
"Severus, we will discuss it after dinner."
"Oh I bring news; the Dark Lord wishes to see you on Friday."
"Will he summon me?"
"I would assume so but it is supposed to be a big event so I assume that our entire family will be there."
"Ok," was all she said and they ate in silence. They made their way to their rooms afterward and when they were seated around the fire, both in their favorite chairs.
"What is it that we needed to talk about Hermione?"
"I…" she looked up into his concerned loving eyes and found that she didn't have the heart to break the news to him, Oh yes very Gryffindor of you Snape, you can't get enough courage up to be honest with your husband. "Severus I can't, not right now, it hurts still, and I want to be honest with you so much it's killing me but I can't."
"Well don't stress yourself out; it could be harmful for the baby." Hermione couldn't breathe, her body racked with sobs.
"I lost it," she said trying to breath, but Severus couldn't understand her, he rushed to her side and grabbed her hands in his.
"What?"
Hermione took a few deep breaths, calming herself, "I lost the baby." She looked into his eyes; he was registering what he had just been told.
"What… when?"
"Last night, while you were gone."
"Well were you fallowing Pop…?"
"OF COURSE I WAS FALLOWING HER INSTRUCTIONS, DOWN TO THE TEA!" She shouted, how dare he insinuate that this was all her fault.
"WELL OBVIOUSLY NOT SINCE YOU MISCARRIED."
"GET OUT SEVERUS, THIS IS NOT MY FAULT, HOW DARE YOU PUT THE BLAME ON ME! I FALLOWED HER INSTRUCTIONS TO THE LETTER AND I HAVE ALREADY BEEN OVER THE GUILT TRIP TWICE OVER SO DON'T YOU DARE GO ON SAYING THIS IS MY FAULT!"
"OBVIOUSLY YOU DIDN'T BECAUSE OUR CHILD IS NOW DEAD!"
"GET OUT!" Hermione screamed, tears now streaming down her face, "GET OUT I DON'T WANT TO SEE YOU IN THESE QUARTERS!"
"Not a problem," Severus turned on his heal and left the room.
When the portrait closed behind him, she screamed and started throwing anything she could reach. After a good twenty minutes she went to the portrait hole and changed the password just to ensure that he didn't come back while she was gone. She grabbed her cloak and stalked up to the Gryffindor tower, every student she passed quickly jumped out of her way in fear of her plowing them over. She walked through the portrait of the fat lady into the common room. "Mr. Potter!" she called.
"Yes Professor Snape?" came his voice from the arm chair by the fire, she didn't notice him.
"Ah, Mr. Potter, I need to talk to you in private please." Instead of turning to go back to the hall, she continued up to the boy's dormitory. When they were alone in his room she turned to him, "Harry I need the map."
"But you said…"
"I know what I said Harry, please don't make me pull bad professor and confiscate it."
"Ok, hang on," he went to his trunk and pulled out the blank map and handed it to her.
"I solemnly swear that I am up to no good." The map appeared and she scanned it for the one name she was looking for, ah he's on the astronomy tower, perfect," she muttered to herself, and then she said, "Harry can I take this with me for a while please?"
"Sure, it's just…"
"Hogsmeade is coming up this weekend I know; I will have it back to you by then."
"Ok."
"Thanks Harry," she stood on her toes to give her best friend a kiss on her head. She cleared the map and headed out of the portrait hole. She headed back to the dungeons and entered her quarters. She then walked up to the fire place and summoned her mother. Bella sensed the urgency in her daughter's voice and she and Rudolphus were in her quarters in the blink of an eye.
"Baby, what is it?" Bella asked hugging her daughter.
At the sound of the word 'baby,' she broke down in her mother's arms, the family sat down on the couch and Hermione relayed the events to her parents. Bella held her daughter while Rudlophus rubbed small circles on her back; neither knew what to make of it.
"Oh my angel, this is in no way your fault, your father and I tried for years to have a baby, it just didn't happen, I miscarried three children before you, you will have children. Give him time to come around he will, he was just so excited for the baby." Bella said trying to reassure her daughter.
"But… what if he's right, what if I didn't fallow Poppy's instructions to the letter, what if…"
"No Hermione, I know you, you fallow every instruction to the letter, you are my daughter after all, sure you have some of your father's traits but most of them are mine. I want you to listen to me," She pushed her daughter away from her so that she could look into her eyes; "This is not your fault."
"That's what Minerva said."
"Then see; now you have two extremely intelligent women looking out for you and reassuring you that this is not your fault." Her father said pulling her to him.
"I know Daddy, but it still hurts that he's not being supportive, this is hard for me too." She leaned into her father's chest and breathed in his scent, trying to relax herself.
Suddenly there came some shouting from the other side of the portrait hole, Hermione cast a one way looking spell on the door and saw that it was Albus and Minerva trying to calm down the one they viewed as a son.
"No you two don't understand, she lied to me!"
"No she didn't Severus, she told you the day it happened." Minerva said.
"No she told me this evening, almost twenty four hours afterward."
"So simply because she knew better then to attempt to contact you while you were with Him and then she had to build up her courage to tell you something that was killing her on the inside, she betrayed you and it's all her fault?" Albus said angrily, Hermione could see that this upset him too and he was not taking Severus' reaction too well. "You were raised better than this Severus Tobias, and I will not have you upsetting this girl anymore then you already have!"
"Well she is my wife, I…"
"Was an ass and she needs time to get over what you said, and you both need each other to get through this."
"Obviously not, she…"
"SEVERUS, LISTEN TO ME!" Minerva yelled, Severus fell silent at her tone and she lowered hers as well, "She was in those rooms with your father and I for a good two hours this morning muttering how this was her fault, it took us those two hours to get that ridiculous idea out of her head, just for you to put it in her head almost fifteen hours later. You need to relax and cool down before you go talk to her."
Severus hung his head sighing, then Hermione was surprised by his next actions, he placed a hand upon the portrait looking apologetically at the portrait, "your right Minerva, I just, I don't know why I blamed her, I suppose the idea of a baby around the house got me more excited than I thought, I…" Albus put a comforting hand on the younger man's shoulder, "I just want to hold her, tell her I'm sorry, and tell her that I love her." He quickly composed himself and turned away from the portrait and started to stalk down the hall fallowed by the two older professors.
Hermione quickly stood and ran to the door, "Severus?"
All three turned to the small voice coming from behind them, "Hermione," Severus whispered, she looked like she had been crying but she smiled at him and then ran into his arms crying softly into his neck.
"I'm sorry Severus… this is my…"
"No Hermione, this is my fault, I was angry and jumped to conclusions, Maybe it's best if we don't have a baby right now with the war and everything anyway, we can always try again after the war," He whispered.
Hermione shook her head, "I know that it would be smart to wait but the Dark Lord wants an heir, it wouldn't be smart to defy him and…"
"I know Love; just take it easy, we will take this in stride."
"Ok," Severus carried his wife back to the rooms with Minerva and Albus in tow where they were greeted by Hermione's parents.
"Hello Bella, Rudolphus."
"Severus," Rudolphus said shortly.
Each family member took a seat around the room, the Lestranges stayed on the couch, Albus and Minerva took the love seat, and Severus and Hermione sat in his chair and Hermione sat on his lap with her head on her shoulder. The family sat down and quietly talked to the couple about the choice of having a baby, Bella relayed her attempts at starting a family to Severus and he nodded that he understood. The family eventually went their separate ways, Severus held his wife that night as they slept.
As predicted, Hermione was summoned at the end of the week; she and Severus went to Malfoy Manor and ate dinner with the other death eaters as they chatted about families and their work. Hermione stayed silent for most of the meal and only spoke when she was spoken to. Eventually the Dark Lord turned all the attention to her.
"Why so quiet Hermione?"
"I'm sorry sir, I suppose it's been a trying week." She offered him an apologetic smile.
"Well I imagine that the first go around with a child isn't the easiest."
"I imagine not sir."
"What do you mean that you imagine so?"
Hermione looked at him, she really didn't want to relay this to the inner circle, it was private but she knew if she lied it would end with at least one curse, "I miscarried sir." She looked down at her hands folded in her lap under the table.
"Oh well my apologies, you will try again of course."
"Of course my lord," Severus said.
"Good, now everyone finish up and head to the sitting room, we have business to discuss." He stood and went to the sitting room. Since Hermione was no longer hungry, her parents, Severus and she were the first to arrive to form the circle. Within five minutes, the circle was formed completely. The Dark Lord went on about the final battle and how he felt that it would be best if they attacked during finals week, Potter would be so preoccupied with his studies that he would be caught off guard. "Madam Snape, when are finals?"
"They are going to be the second week in May sir."
"Perfect." He went on to say that he would call the next meeting with everyone to discuss plans and tactics, "… But it seems that w have one matter of business to attend to." He looked at Hermione, "One of our own has been betrayed and she deserves justice does she not?"
"Yes my Lord."
"Yes she does, and we as her trusted family must give her that, bring him in!"
Hermione stole a quick glance at Severus who looked at her with cautious eyes, she knew what was coming.
"Hermione dear step forward and have your wand at the ready." Hermione did as she was instructed. "Hermione, you have been wronged and I am going to give you the opportunity to right that wrong," Hermione's eyes widened when she saw who they brought in, "Do you accept this opportunity?"
"Yes sir." The prisoner was thrown at her feet.
"Then he is all yours Madam Snape."
"Thank you sir," she bowed and turned her attention to the prisoner, "Connor Jacobs, wow I expected better from a Hufflepuff, the hat has never been wrong until it sorted you, you belong in Slytherin, what you did was extremely cunning. Or maybe you belong in Gryffindor, it took courage to go against the Dark Lord, but it took even more courage to cross me. How'd you do it Connor?"
"Do what?" he said smugly.
Hermione's hand came in contact with his cheek, "How?"
"You'll have to kill me."
"Oh don't worry, she will eventually," the Dark Lord said.
"Imperio!" Hermione said, "Now Connor, tell me exactly how you killed my family."
Connor looked like he was fighting the curse but still said, "I entered the house, no one looked to be home so I continued to go through the house, I was looking for you, I was surprised that you weren't there. Your parents came up and surprised me, I used the cruciatus curse on them to make them tell me where you were, but they still said that they didn't know, that you had left and they hadn't heard from you since. I took a knife and cut your mother's arm, just enough to cause her pain, then I went up to your father and asked again, threatening his life if she didn't tell me. She looked like she didn't want to die but she continued to say that she didn't know, so I disposed of him by cutting his throat. She screamed you know, then I gave her one last chance to give you up and she didn't so I used the killing curse and I watched the light leave her eyes." He fought the curse every step of the way but Hermione knew that because she wanted answers that the Curse would stay.
"Oh Connor, too bad I'm not going to be as easy on you. Severus, my mother's knife please." He handed her the black handled knife with the Black Family Crest upon it. She had tried to maintain control but when he laughed at her attempt to scare him she turned and slapped him with the knife, it left a gash on his jaw line, and he gasped a the pain. She pulled her wand out and pointed that at him as well, "I'll gladly tell Sprout what happened to her student when I get back, I think I will play this memory for your mother, lord knows her heart couldn't take it, she would probably die."
"No Please, leave my mother out of this, she has nothing to do with this." He pleaded.
"NEITHER IDD MY PARENTS AND YET YOU FOUND IT ENJOYABLE TO TORTURE THEM AND KILL THEM!"
"I did it to…"
"Raise yourself up into the circle of worthy followers, to win his trust?" She glared at him, "Let me tell you something, having his trust is nothing if you don't have that of your brothers, any of us could easily concoct some Bull Shit story about you going against him and then you'd be dead anyway. Enjoy Hell Connor, I'll send your mother your love, Avada Kadavera!"
"No!"
The light filled the room and then nothing. "Very good my child, you have avenged your family." Hermione felt empty, it didn't do what she wanted it to, and she wanted her mother back, though she knew that the dead were gone and that they would be seen again in time. She stood next to Severus and the meeting continued.
When the meeting was over, the two headed back to Hogwarts in complete silence. When they arrived, Minerva and Albus were waiting for them, Hermione didn't stop to chat she continued down to the dungeons without another word.
"Is everything alright Severus?"
"No but I will allow her to tell you what is bothering her at the meeting, it is something she has to own up to even it is difficult," he stalked off not saying another word.