Chapter 38

Everything was prepared. She'd written letters to her parents and even Malfoy after Snape had assured her that he could keep his thoughts to himself. While saddened that she couldn't do the same for Harry and Ron, she knew Dumbledore would tell them something about her to appease them.

Severus had already taken her things for transport to the prison. Books for reading, study materials for her last few NEWTS, paper and ink for letters …. And her crotchet supplies. She'd decided that if she were going to have endless hours that needed filling, she would gift her little girls with handmade blankets, hats, booties, and whatever else she could finish before they were born. When she'd shared that hope with Severus, he'd gone out and retrieved a veritable chest of soft yarns. He'd even included a book on crafting magics that she could use to rune the blankets when she was allowed to leave the prison.

All that was left was her exams.

Hermione was as prepared as she would ever be.


"Quills down!" Professor Vector called to the hall. "That concludes this exam. If you didn't finish, condolences; I hope all your other answers were correct."

Exams were stressful, but normally Hermione could relax afterwards. Instead, the flight of the parchment towards the front of the room signified the end of the simple school problems and the beginning of the end of a passage of her life. Her back tensed as she left the school door, only to come across her friends.

"She's out and alive!" Ginny wrapped her arms around Hermione and squeezed delicately. "Your exams are done! Are you feeling okay?"

"Just fine," Hermione said with a tired smile. "I wish I had time for a nap."

They shared with each other about their final exams, the boys gaped as she told them that she'd taken a few NEWTS instead of sixth year exams, and finally, the bells tolled in the tower.

"I'm sorry, guys, but I have to go." She pulled them all in for a hug, kissing the boys on the cheek.

"Hermione, where're you going?" Harry asked worriedly. "We were going to have a big party in the common room. You're still a Gryffindor, really."

There was nothing but a smile that she could offer them in return. "I'm sorry, Harry, but I can't go. The Headmaster wanted to talk to be about next year. But don't worry, you'll see me soon."

"If she wasn't, she'd be coming with us."

Malfoy and his friends swooped in, his blonde hair gleaming pompously but his sneer less than it normally was in Harry's presence. If anything, he wasn't looking at Harry. He was instead looking right at her with a look of concern.

He quirked a brow, hiding his intent. "Skipping on the Slytherin party too, Granger? Well, we won't get in your way. But I've been informed you're spending the summer holidays with my family. You won't mind a little get together then, would you?"

Draco Malfoy. She offered him a small smile, but it was half-hearted. "I certainly wouldn't mind. But really, everyone, I have to go. Just go enjoy the end of the year. Don't you worry about me."

Goodbyes said, she made her way down to the side-courtyard just above the dungeons. Severus was there, disguised as the Headmaster himself with his permission. It was necessary and they both agreed on that. No one wanted Severus to end up dead because someone told Voldemort he was the one who'd taken her from the school.

When he saw her, he barely managed a smile which still was completely wrong upon the aged face.

"Miss Granger," he greeted. "Are you prepared?"

"Yes, of course," she laughed. They began walking down and Hermione tried to distract herself from her dread by giving her companion an amused look. "So, you're wearing colours today."

Severus gave her a scathing look that looked completely wrong with Dumbledore's face. It actually got a short guffaw from her. "The Headmaster's taste is appalling. And I smell like an old man."

That sent her into tittering giggles. "How long do you have until you turn back?"

He checked his pocketwatch, the only remnant of his former apparel.

"Thirty minutes," he replied, shooting her an amused look. "You took a long time to waddle down the corridor."

"I have leg cramps!" she cried in outrage. "You try walking with two cantaloupes in your stomach!"

Severus had thankfully had Hagrid hitch up an adult thestral to carry her into the forest. Severus may make fun of her speed and even smirked at her swollen feet, but he knew she wouldn't be able to walk the whole way past the wards in the forest. If the thestral had been less sturdily built she would have felt much worse about making it carry her heavy body to the border, but the thestral didn't seem too burdened by her as it trotted along. Severus led it and her through the paths of the forest with care that Hermione had become accustomed to until they finally crossed the invisible boundary of Hogwarts.

Her magic tingled in discomfort, but only minimally as they passed through the wards. Like a slight itch in her brain. It wasn't pulling her back, it wasn't making her anxious, but it was discomfiting. Finally, a fair distance from the edges of the protections, Severus stopped and lifted her from the back of the black beast. His face had changed back at that point, leaving him in the bright, twinkling blue robes. If only she'd had it in her to laugh.

"Thank you," she murmured as he set her on the ground. His gentle side still sometimes stopped her in place, but she was starting to see it more and more. "This is it?"

"It is."

He took a moment, assessing her, before he pulled the vial from his robe to present it to her.

"This, at least, I can promise is safe for your children," Severus said with a forcibly calm façade. "You have my word that I will do everything I can to have you released before they are born so we can put them through a restorative regimen."

She gave him a smile. "You've already promised to help me with them if they don't have magic, and then if they do. Stop feeling guilty. It's out of our hands now."

They both took a moment to ponder everything before Severus took a deep calming breath.

"Are you prepared?"

Prepared to betray him? She'd never be. But as she cuddled her belly, stroking it with her deepest wishes in her heart, she accepted the vial. For the girls. For Harry. For Malfoy. For Severus. For the future.

"See you on the other side?"

Severus gave her a look of absolute sadness. "You needn't do this. There is still an opportunity to turn away."

He was blaming himself for this and Hermione knew it. She could sense it in the feeling of his magic, she could see it in his eyes. But there was no comfort she could give him besides to trust him to take care of her, and to hope her children came out alright. But still ….

"There were never any guarantees," she said with a sad smile. "But … can I have a hug? Before?"

She'd asked this before – not often because it tended to make Severus morose and stiff – but Hermione needed that last reassurance. Severus, in a rare moment of insight, moved closer to her held her cheeks in his hands to look into her eyes. It felt oddly intimate, more intimate than anything she'd experienced with him before and more intimate than the hug she'd requested.

"I will do everything I can," he promised, his eyes blazing. "Every provision has been made for you, and if anything happens I … I want you to know you can ask for me. Even if I can't come, I will send someone in my stead to tend you."

Then he wrapped her delicately in a hug, softer than he wanted because of her prominent baby-housing but also because of his own reticence to get involved. Still, one thing was bursting from his throat with little hope of him stopping it. Instead, he focused on telling her what she needed to hear.

"You're doing the right thing."

She gulped, but managed a breathy, "Thank you. Thank you."

"It is I who should thank you," he murmured. "God knows if the Headmaster would have carried out his threat, but with the plans finalized …" The rest left unsaid. With the plans set, he needed his spy less than ever before. Especially with his godson now a set member of the ranks and fellow double agent. If Snape wasn't going to follow orders, what use did Dumbledore have for him? And if he did hold it over Severus until the last minute, what made them think there would be time for him to be released before he died?

"This isn't just because of you," Hermione pulled away from his chest to pierce him with her fierce amber eyes. "It's for everyone. For them."

When she put her hand on her stomach, Severus lost some of his composure. He leaned over and pressed a delicate kiss to her forehead.

Hermione's heart stuttered in her chest. The comfort she sought from the Potions Master was a set fixture in her life, but she knew – knew – that this was different. And from the look on Severus' face when he observed her shock, the shame that crossed his features and his eyes like a shadow, he knew it too. A profound sadness filled her chest as she wondered whether, when this was over, she could ever return the affection in his eyes or whether she would disappoint him.

Unspoken, they both seemed to agree that now was not the time to talk about it. Severus pulled the vial from his pocket, its violet hue dancing through its complex mixture and telling of its hypnotic, knock-out properties.

"Allow me to help you sit." He provided her the additional support as she lowered herself to the ground carefully, her legs cramping the very moment she was on the grassy carpet. "This may take a moment to absorb. Once you drink, I will help you lie back so you need not fall. The potion itself will wear off within a few hours, but your body may use the induced rest to keep you asleep awhile longer, especially since we are unaware of the effects of being in Nurmengrad as of yet. I have a midwife staying with you once you arrive, and she will be there regularly during the next month or so. If anything goes wrong, she will be able to help."

Hermione nodded seriously and took the vial from his hand. He stopped her before she continued, his face severe.

"I was only ordered to get you there," Severus said seriously. "If you contact me at any point having changed your mind, I will do everything I can to get you out."

The gesture was sweet, but Hermione knew what was at stake and how Severus would suffer if she ever did that. There would be no change of mind. She unstopped it and lifted the purple concoction to Severus.

"Cheers."


Her prison room was … nice. It was small, but it had a bookshelf packed with the books they'd picked from Severus' shelves and books for the baby, there were journals and muggle pens for her notes, and there was always a bowl of snacks sitting on her bedside table. The little chest of yarn was on the end of the bed next to a rocking chair and she had laughed at it. So stereotypical and silly, but it was comforting to see something so normal there. All in all it was a kind of cozy space, and she had more room to move around than she'd thought she would have.

There was a guard who came in to talk to her every now and again. It seemed she was the only guard, Hermione really couldn't tell. Her name was Emma and she was kind, but very dry. She only came in to see how she was doing, deliver her meals, and then sometimes to calm her down when she cried. Hermione never told her about her situation or why she was there, and from what Emma had told her she had very little clue as to the true reason she was there either, but it was the little bit of human interaction she needed to keep her sane.

Every now and again, Hermione was seen to by a midwife but it was always clinical and done quite quickly. She seemed … afraid, not usually of her but of being in the same building as Grindelwald and eager to leave whenever she arrived. Hermione understood. Grindelwald was the floor beneath her – exactly the floor below.

Her big comforts were the children resting inside of her. Among the books Severus had left her were works of muggle fictions that she took great comfort in reading to her unborn babies. They kicked happily as she read them The Little Prince, and only acted up a little while when she read them the story of Frankenstein. Apparently he was a C.S. Lewis fan, or maybe he thought that would be good for her, because she read the entire Chronicles of Narnia to her oversized belly before beginning on any of the others.

The Problem of Pain made her cry. Warm, cathartic tears. The religious language didn't always appeal to her, but the man's warmth and hope broke her heart. Then came the words. "The creature's illusion of sufficiency must, for the creature's sake, be shattered […] And this illusion of sufficiency may be at its strongest in some very honest, kindly, and temperate people, and on such people, therefore, misfortune must fall."

The words crushed her already broken heart. She had seen Voldemort as good enough to her to justify her own heart, but she knew better. It was sufficient, not good. It was enough to earn her pity and in that regard her feelings, but that wasn't enough. If it was, she wouldn't be here.

"Love may forgive all infirmities and love still in spite of them: but Love cannot cease to will their removal." Another quote from the book, and it just reaffirmed the feelings she already knew. She was unable to really write to anyone, only occasionally receiving letters from Severus, that the books were her only companions in her prison.

Every few days, she fell asleep while reading and woke clutching the book to her chest.

She prayed it would end soon.


The silent, red curse hit the black-clad spy dead on, and he didn't try to avoid it. This part of the experience was inevitable. He might even die today. It was the worst Cruciatus he had ever been under with stabbing pains erupting all over his body and only increasing over the period he was held. The Dark Lord was angrier than he'd even been at his spy.

"Where. IS SHE!?" Was the roar of fury. "She BELONGS to me!"

The pain ebbed for a moment, and Severus was able to prop himself up and croak. "Dumbledore …. Had her taken … He won't say-AAAAGH!"

The pain returned and he rolled back, trying to move from the pain involuntarily. There was nowhere to run.

"GET HIM TO SAY!" The Dark Lord screamed. "I don't care if you are caught and killed, you waste of breath, you WILL find HER!"

He would tell him. Well, he and Draco would. It would take Dumbledore another few weeks to manoeuvre everything into place, but once the forces were in place it was their responsibility to inform the Dark Lord and keep Dumbledore informed on any military developments for that confrontation.

If he lived that long. With the sheer homicidal look in the Dark Lord's eyes, that was getting more unlikely by that second.

"I … will – AAAGH!"

He writhed and twisted under the fiery blue eyes of his Master. There was nothing more he could do.

"I wasn't ASKING!" Voldemort hissed. "You had better find her before she gives birth, or I will slaughter you where you stand. Get out. Go!"

Severus didn't wait. It was painful to move, but experience told him it would not do to linger in pain when the Dark Lord was so enraged. He stumbled towards the exit as quickly and stoically as he could, ignoring the looks of his brethren grinning at his punishment, or hoping they weren't next. Fools. They would not escape his fury. If he cared for Miss Granger the way Severus suspected, every Death Eater would be mobilized to find her. All would fail, and all would be punished equally.

There was nothing more he could do but apparate back to the dog's hovel for a pain potion and a conference with the Order.

He limped into the ancient house and headed straight to the Potions room, flinching away from the loud voices of the dining room. There was nothing more unappealing than dealing with that lot while in pain, and especially knowing what the discussion was centered around: their pregnant witch-bait in Nurmengrad.

There was a minute or two to himself after downing the only pain potion that wouldn't leave him too groggy for the meeting. A few minutes where he could gather his thoughts about the turn of events.

He could still see Hermione Granger taking his potion on the dewy grass of the meadow, her eyes fluttering closed as she slowly lost consciousness and slipped under. Her eyes were trusting, understanding, and warm whenever she looked at him. Even when the tell-tale haze entered her face, a small smile grazed her lips as she looked up to him.

His breath shuddered, his emotions too much for even his shields. Severus had used a portkey to take them to Nurmengrad, but without magic he had needed to carry the witch through the prison. He refused to let the guards handle her, only giving up on the exertion when a stretcher was offered for her transport. Even then, he stood vigil next to her as long as he could. He checked on her guard, Miss Daniels, and wished he could think of someone better to replace the witch. Surely she wasn't skilled enough, surely something would happen to Hermione and he would be to blame for trusting the twig of a witch.

But he had no choice, as he never did. All he could do, he did; he had left her a letter on her side table, unpacked the maternity clothes he had procured, put the last few books he could onto her shelves, and tucked the blanket over her one more time.

Her lying there, on a simply small mattress in a prison cell, still lingered in his brain. Hermione Granger did not belong there; Severus would not let her remain.

His mind once again focused and the pain potion beginning to work, he was finally prepared to go speak with the Order.

Their loud discussion had been muted since he walked past – presumably they had started talking about topics unsuitable for the tiny ears of the Weasley brood – but he was not deterred. He walked into the room and was immediately put upon by the twinkling Albus Dumbledore.

"Severus, how was Tom?"

Snape sneered. "Murderous. Miss Granger is quite important to him as are the heirs she carries. I will be shocked if every last one of his allies is not mobilized to find her by the end of the night.

"He has threatened to kill me if the girl is not found by the birth of his children." He leaned against the wall impassively, keeping himself cold and aloof. "He will keep this promise, Headmaster; I suggest we get this offensive ready as soon as possible if you wish to avoid the untimely death of your spy."

Everyone seemed to mute at his mention of his death, but he wasn't a fool enough to believe they would mourn him.

"Of course, time is of the essence," Dumbledore agreed. "Miss Granger has given us a wonderful opportunity to end this before it escalates further, and we should use it fully."

His plan was still slow-moving and would takes weeks to fully mobilize. Remembering the image of Hermione drugged asleep in Nurmengard, he silently prayed her children would hold on to be born until she was free and in Mungo's.