Hermione flicked the ring on her slender finger and watched it spin. She was on a break in between blocks of classes on a Friday and she couldn't be more happy to have the moment of peace.
She'd discovered something, something very, very important that morning.
Her eyes focused on the little vial in front of her. She'd come back and brewed it directly after speaking with Poppy, knowing it was important, that she would need it.
Her eyes blurred as she focused, too hard, on the vial.
She was pregnant. Very, thoroughly, incredibly pregnant.
She'd just gone for nausea medicine and she'd walked out stunned nearly out of her head.
They'd been so cautious, always using contraceptive potions and spells. Never once had she failed to make sure they were safe.
She put a hand to her still flat stomach and her eyes flicked to the vial again. She needed to drink it, it would calm her down.
She needed to calm down, she could feel the world spinning around her, dizzying and confusing.
Hermione Granger had managed to get pregnant.
It was a disturbing thought, one she hadn't planned to worry herself with for a long time yet. But a child, a child that was hers, that was Severus'.
She blinked.
Severus, what would he say?
What would he think?
She picked up the vial and tossed it into the garbage.
She'd never actually been going to drink it, she didn't think.
She thought she just wanted the option, the choice.
At the same time it probably would have been entirely ineffective.
If she really thought about it she would never take the chance away from Severus, no, the potion was probably a dud anyway.
She'd just needed to think through it, to make the decision on her own.
Her stomach twirled and she leaned over into the bin and lost what little bit of breakfast she'd been able to get down.
A house elf appeared at her side, its large eyes glittered as it stared at her.
"Ah, a baby, the Madam Snape will be so good." Hermione blinked and tilted her head as the elf vanished away the remains of her breakfast.
"What do you mean, Flicky?" She tipped her head and he smiled, a broad smile. She'd always found their grins a bit on the creepy side, if she was being honest, still she believed they had rights as well.
"Madam Snape's baby will be best, cared for so loved good." Flicky said, placed an apple on her desk, and vanished with a quiet pop. She smiled where the elf had stood and her hand drifted over her stomach again. Her wastebasket was empty, the potion gone and she was glad for it.
She felt bad for even brewing the wretched thing.
No one had to know though. No one ever had to know.
SSHG
"Severus." Hermione poked him and he twitched. "Severus." Again.
"Severus." He groaned.
"Sev. Sev. Severrruuussss…" She sang and his eyes flicked open with a groan, he'd been up all night preparing for a DA exam and was hoping to use his Saturday to sleep in.
Apparently his little fiancé had other plans.
"Yes Hermione. What is so important at seven in the morning?" He grunted, his arm over his eyes.
She smirked.
"Oh, it's very important Severus Snape. You sit up and pay attention to me right now." He moved his arm. It was rare she took that serious tone with him and he sat up immediately, worried he'd forgotten a birthday, anniversary? No.
He gave her a questioning look when she grabbed the hand that had been covering his face and grasped it tightly.
"I have something very important to tell you Sev." She pursed her lips. "I was going to tell you last night but my eyes just would not stay open." She smiled and he watched her with narrowed eyes. She was acting suspiciously.
"Hermione, love, you've not killed anyone have you?" He cocked an eyebrow and Hermione giggled shaking her head.
"No Severus, in fact, I'd say it's quite the opposite." This really confused him, the opposite?
She'd figured out how to raise the dead, to bring things to life?
That didn't sound right.
His brain was working on overtime as he watched her, tired form a lack of sleep and confused.
"Severus…" She stared at him, her eyes soft. "…We made a life." She watched patiently for the realization to light his face.
It did, as soon as she placed his hand on her stomach and his eyes were wide.
His nostrils flared and she almost laughed.
It was a rare moment she got to surprise him, she liked to enjoy it when it happened.
"How?" He blinked down at his hand on her still flat stomach, a life. There?
Now?
How?
He was reeling.
"I was shocked as well. I thought I was just getting sick but Poppy insisted she test." He blinked at her, his other hand coming around to join the first as she knelt between his spread legs on the bed.
"A baby?"
"Yes, a little Snape."
"Merlin…" He trailed, stared at her hard. "…I'm glad we're binding soon." He blinked at her and she shook her head, messy brown curls danced around on her head.
"Soon, soon as in in a week, Severus. You haven't completely lost it have you?" She blinked up at him, a playful smile on her lips and he growled, leapt on her and pushed her back, careful now more than ever to keep his weight from her.
"What was that now, my mouthy little witch?" He grunted, his mouth finding hers and latching on, his hands coming up to grasp the sides of her face.
She smiled into the kiss.
"I just wanted to make sure you were still in there." She winked, amber eyes sparkled up at him and he smiled, a real, true, full face smile.
"Gods how you honor me. My wife, my child, my perfect witch." She shivered at the words.
He only called her his perfect witch when he was preparing to devour her.
She quite liked it.
"My perfect wizard." She fired back this time, her eyes glittering as she stared up to him. He growled, low and deep in his throat and his lips took hers again, consuming her.
His hips ground into hers and she moaned, her eyes fluttered closed as he showed her, again and again how much he loved her. The stroke of his tongue against hers hot, the passion in his kisses unrivaled.
She gasped for breath when he pulled away.
"Oh please, please never stop kissing me like that." She breathed, her eyes glistening with tears, he wiped away a stray.
"As you say, witch." And his lips took hers again, possessing her, owning her, devouring her, loving her, worshiping her.
The best feeling in the world.
"You deserve only the best things I can give you." He groaned into her mouth when he broke away again and she shivered.
"You deserve so much more than the best." Her lips leapt up to peck his and he stared into her eyes, hard.
"You're giving me everything I could ever desire, Hermione. My love." He rasped into lips and she felt more tears escape, she was an emotional wreck.
His thumbs caressed her cheekbones, her temples, his eyes entranced by her beneath him, her hair spread across the pillow like a halo.
"I will continue to give you," his hand shifted between them to spread across her abdomen possessively, "you both, everything of me. I promise, my witch." She whimpered beneath him, overcome by his intensity of emotion.
And his lips took hers again, a love, a claiming, a passion that she was certain no other witch and wizard had shared.