Disclaimer: Not mine.
Hermione's Son
Hermione's Story: February 1999
"You are Mr. Severus Snape?" Dr. Gordon reached out his hand in greeting. "I am so glad you got the message. We are rather at a loss here."
"I have been out of the country and have just returned. " He shook Dr. Gordon's hand and sat in the chair the doctor had indicated with a wave. "I do not live in Spinners End any longer and just happened to be there and learn that you had sent a post."
"Several months ago. I must say, we had given up hopes of identifying her. I do hope this is not a waste of your time."
"I will be glad to help," Snape said flatly. "However, I know very few in England any longer, and fewer still from London."
"Nothing adds up with this patient. I am hoping you could shed some light on her. To be honest we have been going through the phone directories. You are not the first to come."
"It is not an uncommon sire name," he commented politely.
"As the letter explained, none of the names she speaks of, well… speaks to is more accurate as she does not speak to any of us, but none of the names have as of yet panned out. Only yours and we are not even sure if it is you that she sees."
"I take it that what you need is merely an identification of the patient?"
"Yes, and if possible offer some insight into her medical history if you are aware of it. We are not completely sure if her mental condition is the result of obvious trauma she has been through or if she is predisposed to this sort of thing. Without a medical history, it is impossible to decide on the correct treatment. If it turns out that you do know her, we will contact her family. As I said, she does not communicate."
"Is she close?" Snape said, wanting to hurry this along before he needed his next pain potion.
"Yes, yes, just upstairs. I am sorry to take your time. Someone close to her would better monitor the type of care she needs. That's one reason we want to find her family. We are not set up for full time care. Sometimes they respond to loved ones where everything else fails. If not, she will be moved to a government run facility that can deal with her. I must say, we are not even sure she is British. What little we have made out is not enough for any of us to discern her accent. All we know for sure is that her tox screen was negative…rather a surprise I must say. Generally, young girls of this age that live on the streets use rather freely."
Snape stood stiffly. "I am not a well man. I myself have been on bed rest for the past few months. If we could hurry this along I shall like to return home as soon as possible."
"Yes, please, follow me." Dr. Gordon opened the door and stepped aside to allow Snape to exit first. "She calls you Professor, or rather refers to a Professor Snape. The night nurse recognised the name. We had a hard time making it out. Is it possible she was a student?"
"My students come from very sheltered and somewhat reclusive families. I would be indeed surprised if one has gone unidentified for this long that I was not aware of."
Severus followed the doctor through the institutes green tiled hallways, assaulted by the smell of disinfectants and urine. Crinkling his nose, he wanted nothing more than to pull his wand and clean the air and to cast silencing spells against the cold metallic sound of luncheon trays and clicking carts. He had his own memories of Muggle hospitals that he would rather forget. Now, they crashed down on him, bringing long forgotten scenes to his mind. His father as he laid dead and cold after suffering a massive heart attack, his mother as she had looked hooked up to feeding tubes and intravenous needles that had only kept her alive long enough to suffer more pain.
He considered his hatred for these places as he followed the doctor, thrown back in time and the memory of following other doctors down similar hallways. He had followed almost gladly to his father's deathbed, needing to reassure himself that the man was gone at last. The man with the large beefy hands that had made his and his mother's life a living hell, had lain covered by a pristine sheet, as if in death his sins had been absolved. Severus had resisted the impulse to spit on the unmoving face as he had taken his mother by the arm and lead her away.
"In here." Dr. Gordon opened a door and waited for Severus to walk in before joining him.
He did not need to wait for the light switch to be turned on, although the doctor did so as he entered behind him. He did not need to see the patient's face to know to whom the crop of bushy hair belonged and he did not need to read her medical chart to know that she was not as he remembered her.
"Miss Granger?"
Her eyes fluttered open at the memory of his voice, and found his dark eyes inches from her own. Reaching out with her right hand, she touched his face and smiled.
"Can I come with you?"
"Miss Granger, you are…"
"You are dead, are you not?"
"No, Miss Granger, despite what you …" he was cut off by the sound of a baby's mewing cry, and turning he saw that in the room lay a tiny new born. He spun back to see Hermione had closed her eyes and retreated inside her mind.
"It would be best if we left," Dr. Gordon said quietly. "She becomes agitated on occasion. We are trying to wean her off sedatives. She reacted quite strangely to her labour. As soon as she delivered we thought it best to keep her calm, but now she seems to have retreated even further."
"She … she is a niece…a friend's niece." Severus thought furiously of what he had heard, but could recall nothing more than the fact she had left after the final conflict. "The child…surely the father has been contacted."
"She pays no attention to it. As far as the father is concerned we have no idea who he is. We had hoped that having him in the same room might trigger some … memory, some need on her part to hold him, to interact with the world. The midwife seemed to have the idea that her maternal instinct would take over. However, as I said, since his birth she seems even more distant. Mr. Snape, I am not even sure she is fully aware of not only where she is, but also the fact that she has given birth. As I said when she was in labour, she reacted quite violently. We had to restrain her. She kept screaming that we were torturing her and something about chains and dungeons."
"How long has she been here?" Severus kept his face a mask, showing nothing that could be construed as an understanding what she had referred to.
The doctor flipped open her file and quickly scanned the information. "Intake was back in June, late June...the…25th. She collapsed on the streets and was brought in to emergency then transferred to psychiatric. The records indicate she had tried to take care of a rather serious injury herself and the resulting infection was out of control."
"What type of injury?" Snape stood with his arms folded staring down at her, unable to fathom how she had been able to get from Hogwarts to London unattended in this condition.
Everything he knew of the aftermath of the war he had heard only from second hand stories. As a spy, Severus had learned never to trust what he had not observed with his own eyes. Memories were convenient and all too often twisted and skewed to make the teller more than he was. What Severus had seen was only the darkness of near death.
He had been spirited away by the son of his childhood friend. Draco Malfoy, after overhearing Harry speak of the horror of seeing Nagini rip out the professor's throat, had been the only one to rush to his aid. Aid, that if it had come only moments later, he would not have needed. Now he stood looking down at the bed, wondering if she was beyond help or if she wasn't, would she want to survive.
"She wouldn't or couldn't tell us of its source, but a nasty infection had necrotized the surrounding area. We had to remove a great deal of tissue. Her left breast is still seeing the scar tissue seep on occasion. Nasty infection that we cannot get a handle on. We thought she would lose the baby but it managed to hold on. Quite lucky in that."
"Miss Granger… was indeed a student of mine, "," Severus said coldly, making a fast decision. "I will contact the family and suggest she be moved closer to their home. I am afraid the distance to London would make it difficult for them to visit her here."
"I am afraid that we need to notify the father before we release the baby. That is of course if there was a marriage. You did say Miss Granger. Is there any chance that may have changed? If there is no legal claim we could release him to whoever takes over the responsibility for…Miss Granger you said"
"Yes, Miss …Victoria Granger," he muttered, aware that with her first name he could trace her back to a Muggle birth record. "As I said, I have been out of the county and have had little contact with the family. However, I have no knowledge of a husband nor am I aware of any…predisposition to her behaviour."
Severus stalked back into her room and walked over to the crib. Unable to detect any family resemblance to Ronald Weasley or Harry Potter, he turned back to look at Hermione. "Her…boyfriend was killed in an accident last May. It is possible that this is his. However, without proper tests I am unable to say, nor, I am sure, would you accept a guess."
"That would put the time about right," the doctor mused. "The baby was early…yes, yes May would fit."
"I will tell her family they will need their personal physician to run the tests. However, asking the potential father's parents to come here is not advisable. They lost two sons the same day."
"Is it possible that she was in the same accident? Perhaps going through a windscreen of an old auto or something else equally as sharp would explain her injuries."
"Again, I am at a loss," he said quietly. "May I take a moment with her?"
"Of course," Dr. Gordon nodded. "Take your time. Although don't be disappointed if she doesn't respond."
Severus waited until the doctor disappeared down the hallway before going back into Hermione's room. Pulling a chair close to the bed, he sat, leaned forward and tipped her head until he could see her face.
"Miss Granger, you need to listen to me." He saw her eyes flutter open again and meet his, holding a blank stare with no recognition this time. Smirking, as she responded to his voice then close her eyes to shut him out, he leaned closer to command her attention. "Miss Granger, please focus."
He sighed and glanced at the door then laid his forehead against hers and whispered "Legilimens."
He was confused, lost, unable to find her memories only the sound of waves, the smell of honey and a gentle push, as if she wanted him away but did not want to use force. He turned and walked along a green tiled hallway only to find all the doors on either side locked. Seeing a red sign flashing the word exit, he smirked and turned the opposite way, aware that she knew he was present and wanted him gone. Suddenly, a blast of magic so strong it took his breath away, hit him full force as it pushed him out of her mind, throwing him to the floor next to her bed.
"Fuck," he muttered, as he painfully pulled himself back up to the chair seeing that she had not moved. "You are not going to get rid of me that easily, Miss Granger. I fought too hard to save our world to have you throw it away. We need to move you somewhere to insure your secrecy and you will cooperate. "
Stalking back to the bed he pushed her off her side and onto her back, pulled her hospital gown away from the throat and looked inside to see the injury. He recognized the scars of the Sectumsempra atonce. Clenching his jaw, knowing what she must have gone through and was still going through as the pain would not diminish until there was a complete magical healing.
"Idiot," he hissed, pulling up her gown and walking to the window. He looked out at the lawns while he fought to steady his breathing and wondered how this could have gone unnoticed at the battle. Surely, he thought, Poppy would have recognized it and stopped her from leaving. He thought of Potter and wondered what had been so important after finding his best friend's body that he did not seek out the witch. He turned back to the bed and could only assume she had left in a fit of grief and pain, unable to think clearly and unable to meet the future without Weasley.
"Mr. Snape?" The doctor returned and opened the door softly. "Oh, good…so glad I caught you. Where did you say her family is?"
"Scotland."
"Fine, I will provide a list of suitable private hospitals. I only know of two off hand. I will see she is ready. You have come quite a distance. Perhaps Friday?"
"No, not at all. I will be able to acquire what I need locally. Shall we say tomorrow at ten?"
"Until tomorrow morning then," Dr. Gordon said, looking at his watch. "I have an appointment I am afraid. If you care to stay with your niece you may…"
"No, I have much to do," Snape said crisply as he turned and walked away.
He returned to Hogwarts and sought out Minerva who had taken on the position of acting Headmistress until a suitable replacement was appointed. She greeted him stiffly, nodding politely when he asked to talk to her, directing him to the chair opposite her desk and ordering a tea service from the kitchen.
"That is quite unnecessary," he quipped.
"It is late and I have not eaten, you will join me," she ordered, waving to the elf to put the tray on the desk. "I am sorry it is not more but the kitchen is still under repair. We no longer are free to order at any time we want so I am afraid it will be cold sandwiches. Now, what do you want?"
"I have just come from London. It seems one of your former students is in desperate need. She is being held in a government run mental ward."
Minerva leaned back in her chair and studied Severus. "Why are you not contacting her parents?"
"As far as I know they are still in Australia."
"Hermione? Hermione Granger?" she gasped.
"From what I understand they have searched for those she has mentioned. However, since I am the only one that still owns property in the Muggle world, I was the one they managed to reach. Upon returning to Spinners End, I found they had sent a post several months ago."
"You have seen her?"
"Yes, I was not sure of her identity before, but I can assure you it is Miss Granger. Her mental state is …uncertain. She does not seem to be in the present, nor recognizes what is around her. However, she is still under the effects of a Sectumsempra. My guess would be she was either drugged to the point she cannot think, which is unlikely since she was pregnant, or that the pain makes her escape reality. She did respond to my voice, and recognised me so it is possible her doctors have misjudged her condition...that or she is truly locked in some horror of the past."
"That poor child," Minerva shook her head.
"She has also given birth recently."
"Surely the father is with her."
"He is not, nor do they know who he is. The spells that I know to determine parentage require the presence of the father or close family member and as such, I was unable to cast them. However, St. Mungo's will have other methods available. Other than Potter and Weasley I have no idea of whom else to check."
"Nor do I. if it is not one of those two…" she murmured.
"She needs to be transferred to this world."
"Surely you do not expect me to bring her here," Minerva scowled. "Not only is school in session but this is no place for her if she is as you say."
"She needs to be taken to St. Mungo's, and since I am no longer welcomed there, I will leave it in your hands. I have already informed her Doctor that she is a friend's niece. I am sure if the child turns out to be a Weasley she and the child will be enthroned at The Burrow and worshiped as a deity, which will free you and Hogwarts of any responsibility."
"Potter is training in the Ministry, I will contact him," she said hesitantly. "Perhaps he can do something about her parents. I had assumed she had gone to bring them home as did Potter."
"Perhaps," he sighed. "I am sorry Minerva. However, I was brought into this much as you have been. I only worry that in her present state any improvement she makes may uncover the fact that for seven years she was a practicing witch. "
Minerva picked up a quill and wrote a note to Harry, telling him she needed to speak to him at once and gave it to Snape, asking him to make a trip to the owlery before he left. After discussing possibilities, it was decided that Hermione would stay in St. Mungo's with the baby until Potter could find her parents and reverse the memory spell Hermione had placed on them. In the meantime, Minerva would be the person on record with the hospital and assume responsibility until Hermione and the baby could be sent home.
"Severus," she said as he turned to leave. "I am still working to have you reinstated to your full position. Give it time. At least they were open to returning you to potions."
"It is all I had hoped for, Minerva." He nodded stiffly, not wanting to get into their ongoing conversation of dwindling staff and budgets.
"That may be. However, until they find a new Headmaster I am stuck here and I would very much like to retire. Do try to be polite if they contact you," she sighed. "It is not just your future you tend to destroy with your….pride. Others are also being held in limbo."