He was suddenly very aware of the fact as she turned back the covers, that he had an exceptionally beautiful woman climbing into his bed, wearing his shirt and nothing else and inviting him to lay with her.
"Severus... are you coming?"
'Hermione, You have no fucking idea'
With a flick of his wand he changed his trousers to the black sweatpants he slept in , then froze.
Usually he would sleep bare-chested, not wanting the tops to irritate the scar on his neck, and any shirts that he could sleep in were now being utilised by his house-guests.
Well done Severus.
"Severus?"
"Apologies. I may have made a slight oversight, could you transfigure this shirt for me?"
"What for?" She asked with a scrunched brow
Once more he found himself fighting the colour in his cheeks.
"I usually go without, but I do not have any more spare T-shirts now"
"Then go without Severus, I don't want to be any more of a disruption to your routine than I already am"
Suddenly Hermione realised it might not be for her sake that Severus was asking, so she flicked her wand and managed to transfigure the dress shirt into a t-shirt.
He inclined his head in responce, then nervously eyed the bed until she lifted the quilt for him.
"Nox" He whispered , as the all but one of the lights in the room shut out as he climbed into the bed.
He had expected her to try and keep her distance from him, the king-size bed was large enough after all, so was surprised when instead he almost instantly found himself with an armful of witch.
She buried her face in his chest and wrapped her arms around him in a desperately tight hug, and sighed deeply when he hugged her back.
"I feel like a failure" She whispered to him.
"You're not a failure, do not ever blame yourself for his actions." Severus growled as he pulled her tighter to him.
"I feel like I should've known...should've sensed...God how could I have been so clueless?"
Her hands were fisted in the back of his T-shirt and he could feel the tension in her frame.
"How could he be doing that right under my nose, without me noticing?"
Her voice was miserable, and she had her face buried in his chest as his hands ran up and down her back.
"You did notice" He whispered emphatically. "You knew something was wrong, even if you didn't know what, and you were already trying to fix it"
She was still sniffling in his arms when he braced himself for what he was about to say next.
"You knew that boy was no saint, I've seen Rose's memories Hermione, I know about the... arguments you had"
She froze in his arms, but he continued to stroke her back as he spoke, purposely keeping his voice level to hide his anger at the boy.
"You knew he had a temper, and the one time he even began to unleash it on Rose you nipped it in the bud before it could escalate, put him in his place and put yourself between the two of them."
Here he held her at arms length, so he could look into her eyes in the dim light of the room.
"What he was doing was so wrong, so immoral that it didn't even enter your head it was a possibility. There's no shame in that...He's a predator Hermione. People like that know what they are doing is wrong, which is why they take great pains to hide it from you"
Watery cinnamon eyes met his , and she answered in a small voice.
"I still feel like a failure"
"Never. You could never be a failure. You are probably the best mother I've ever seen. Would that all children had a mother like you"
He held her for a short while longer, until she heaved a shaky breath and then planted a kiss on his cheek.
"Thank you Severus, for everything"
She smiled at him, as he simply nodded and turned off the last light.
He didn't know how long it had been when the days events finally caught up with her. The bed was shaking slightly as her small frame shook with sobs. He was still awake, he'd purposely not gone to sleep as he knew this was going to happen eventually, and he pulled her into his arms as she sobbed into his T-shirt. Harsh wracking sobs, as she wept for her daughter. Doing what he could to comfort her, he held her close and made all the appropriate soothing gestures, as she clung to him like a lifeline until she fell into an exhausted sleep in his arms.
oOo
It was early morning, very early morning judging by the broken light coming in through the window. 5:03 read the quick tempus he'd cast. Hermione was still sleeping the sleep of the exhausted. She was physically and emotionally drained after the events of the past day. It took him a moment to wonder what had woken him, when he heard it again. A muffled movement and soft noise, coming from the room across the hallway.
Climbing out of bed carefully, so as not to wake Hermione, he gently padded across the hall. He gently pushed the door open to see that Rose was out of bed, she was sniffling as she was attempting to pull the bedding off the bed, but being too small to do so.
"Miss Rose, what are you doing?" He asked softly, so as not to startle the girl.
The girl whipped round and tearful blue eyes met his. She whimpered in distress, and much to Severus's dismay her soft sniffles became full blown sobs when she saw him.
She immediately dropped her eyes from his, and began shaking her head 'no', as she offered him a sign he was unfamiliar with.
Her hand pressed to her chest in a fist, she kept moving it around in a circular motion.
"Rose. What's the matter, shall I go get your mother?"
The girl only cried louder then, desperately shaking her head 'no' as she kept repeating the sign.
He was at a loss what to do.
"Rose, what's the matter-"
When he knelt down to her level , she cautiously raised her eyes to his , though she was still crying harshly.
He used legillimens on her, very gently and just enough to find what he was looking for.
Sorry.
The sign meant sorry.
He suddenly realised what the problem was when he noticed the large damp patch on the mattress.
The girl had obviously wet the bed, and had been trying to strip the bedclothes off, he remembered from her memories the way Ronald had called her names and shouted at her for doing such things in the past. Before taking her into the bathroom.
A lurch in his chest brought forth a very old memory.
oOo
It was his first night at Hogwarts.
Alone in Slytherin. A half-blood Northern, mill town trash, Manc boy. In the house full of preened and cultured pure-bloods.
A ten year old Severus, thin and pale with dark bruises hidden under his worn pyjamas is desperately trying to hide the damp mark on his trousers, and mattress.
To no avail when another boy sees him.
"Ugh Gross, Snape wet the bed!"
He's crying now, though trying to hide it, but in that way that tears are want to do, they only come harder when he tries to suppress them.
"He's crying like a girl! Snivellus Snape! That should be your name! you don't belong in Slytherin Snivellus"
The boy is mocking him until he reacts like the Manc boy he is. He punches him straight in the face,breaking the pure-blood boy's nose, who would never even consider he could be attacked without magic.
Now that boy is bleeding and crying, and Severus is still crying both from shame and the fear he's going to be expelled as the prefect comes in, brought by the other boys from the dorm.
Prefect, 14 year old Lucius Malfoy assess the situation quickly, seeing the crying boy in damp trousers , and the crying boy with a bloody nose.
"Snivellus wet the bed, then he punched me!" The bloody boy cries out.
A cultured eyebrow raises at Severus and asks
"Is this true?"
Severus juts his jaw, despite his tears, and nods at the prefect, meeting his eyes.
Malfoy looks at his feet and shakes his head.
"You're a disgrace to Slytherin" he says to the floor, and Severus heart falls to his shoes.
Then he's turning to the other boy and hexing him, hard, as the other boy cries out in shock and pain.
"Slytherin lesson the first, Do not start fights you cannot win"
Another hex and the boy is crying harder now, as Severus looks on in awe.
"Lesson the second. Slytherins look after their own. We have enough enemies outside these dorms without fighting amongst ourselves"
Another hex and the boy crying harder as a damp patch appears on his pyjama pants.
"Go to the Hospital wing. If Poppy asks, which is doubtful, you had a nightmare and fell out of bed. Now MOVE"
The last word is snarled and the boy practically falls over his feet as he shoots out of the dorm-room.
A sharp look around the room is all it takes for the other boys to jump into their own beds and draw the curtains round them.
Severus looks at the boy, and doesn't flinch , accepting his fate as the wand is drawn on him.
A motion and his pyjamas are clean and dry.
"The spell is scourgify, and the wand motion is thus" The pure-blood demonstrates the motion for him , as he casts the spell once more over the mattress.
"Practice until you can do it yourself, until then summon a house elf, they shall do any cleaning you require discreetly , scourgify Is fine for clothes but not good for the furniture...understand ?"
He nodded to the older boy."Thank You"
"Don't thank me little snake. Slytherins look after their own"
oOo
He took in the crying little girl in front of him, and gently waved his wand at the bed with a softly spoken 'scourgify'.
They would get a new bed tomorrow, but at least for tonight the bed was dry and somewhat cleaner.
"It's OK Rose, it was an accident you don't have to be sorry, see it's all better"
She looked from the bed to him with wide tearful eyes.
"May I clean your nightshirt Miss Rose?"
She sniffled then, and her eyes flicked to the bathroom down the hall as she once again gave the sorry sign to him with a few tears.
He gently placed his hands over hers, she was signing so emphatically he was worried she'd hurt herself.
"I will never...ever do what he did to you Rose. No matter what you do, I will Never hurt you like that , I promise...do you understand?"
His words were firm , but gentle as he held the little girls hands in his, still crouched on the floor so he was at her level.
She nodded softly , though he wasn't sure if she truly believed him.
"Now...may I clean your nightshirt, with my wand, just like I did that mattress?"
Another nod from the little girl and he flicked his wand, cleaning and drying her.
"There, see, all better ok ? "
She nodded and he gently wiped her tears with his thumbs.
"There is nothing to be ashamed of for having an accident Miss Rose, All children wet the bed, even I did...until I was much older than you in fact. "
She seemed to calm a little at that and he held he pressed her knuckles to his lips impulsively, dropping a small kiss on her hands that made her smile softly.
"Now I think we need to buy you a much prettier bed than this boring old one I have here, and if you have any accidents in the future you can come tell me and I will fix them for you, just like I did tonight Ok, what do you say to that?"
She nodded and he smiled softly at her and he tipped her chin up with his knuckles, which made her smile.
"Do you want me to go get your mother for you?"
Once more she shook her head 'no'.
"You're sure?"
A nod, then with a whimper she threw her arms around him in a hug.
She grabbed his hair, and He could tell she was breathing in his scent.
He had to fight the lump in his throat , as the girl hugged him tightly, as though he was as lifeline.
"Alright, back to bed then Miss Rose, it's still very early and I will see you in the morning"
She nodded and wrapped her legs around him, obviously wanting to be picked up, so he did.
Standing with her in his arms he walked over to the bed, fixing the sheets with a flick of his wrist, and he tucked her back into the bed.
He made sure she had the bear within reach, and as he bent over her to tuck the quilt in, she dropped a kiss on his cheek then stuck her thumb in her mouth.
Trying once more to hold back his tears, he dropped a kiss on her forehead which made her smile up at him again.
"Goodnight Miss Rose"
oOo
When he returned to the bedroom, Hermione was sat on the end of the bed.
She had tears running down her face.
"How much did you see?" He asked with Chagrin
"Everything. You woke me when you got out of bed"
"Hermione I'm sorry...I never wanted to assume but-"
"Rose takes hours to calm down when she's had an accident"
Hermione said softly, the cringed. "I'm sorry I forgot to ward the mattress"
"It's no consequence, I had already planned on replacing it for Rose"
She nodded at him then looked directly into his eyes, as though truly seeing him.
"Just now, she smiled at you more times than I've seen her smile at Ronald, Ever."
He looked bashfully down at his feet, so was taken completely by surprise when she slung her arms around him and kissed his cheek, just as rose had.
"Severus Snape" She said with a shaking voice "You are the most wonderful man I've ever known, now come back to bed"