Unforgettable

A/N – Let me just say that I’m so loving all the reviews. They keep my glued to computer and writing. GinnyW – Don’t worry. Hermione will discover everything in due time. Hmmm? Who should she be pissed off at more, Severus or the twins? Fallenrose -- Thank you for the compliment. Sometimes I feel as though I sacrificed Hermione’s development so that I could focus more on Severus. Gannet – You should really enjoy this chapter, then. Stormi – You should hear me cackle when I write. Thanks! Mary – Don’t worry. Severus will find her. June W – Insanity helps when writing fanfiction. (Evil laughter). JTBJAB – I’m a sucker for happy endings. Hopefully, they will get it right in the end. Eddie The Black Maru – Blush! Thank you for the thoughtful feedback. Nina – I have a really weird sense of humor, hence the angsty slant. MysticRaven – Next update will be Tuesday. Sorry for the delay. Sierra – Eeek! The pressure. I was hoping to start wrapping this puppy up in chapter seventeen, but Severus just won’t cooperate. Miki – Minerva is not pregnant. I’m glad you’re enjoying this story.

I think that’s everybody. If I’ve missed anybody, I’m sorry. On with the show!

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Chapter Fourteen –

“There’s another duvet in the closet if you get cold tonight,” Hermione’s mum called out from behind the door.

Hearing the unasked questions in her mother’s voice, Hermione sighed. She’d Apparated to her room, knowing he’d never think of looking for her here, and startling her parents. They’d thought they’d been burgled. Once they had realized it was their daughter, they had welcomed her home with open arms.

“We’ll see you in the morning,” her mum announced and walked away.

It would not do to worry her parents further if they heard her crying. Hermione took her wand out of her pocket and cast an Imperturbable Charm on her door. Sitting at her vanity and giving in to the urge, Hermione let the tears fall.

“What is wrong with me?” she asked out loud, sobbing. Surely, it wasn’t pregnancy hormones already.

“It appears that you are distraught,” answered her reflection in the vanity mirror, sniffling in disgust. “Yet, here you are after you abandoned me. You grew up and moved out, leaving me behind. Look at you! Look at me! We look fat. Are you ever going to do anything with your hair? I’m tired of the bushy look. No wonder boys won’t come near us.”

Hermione started, forgetting that she had purchased the enchanted mirror after her third year at Hogwarts. “Of course, I’m distraught,” she replied, wiping tears away. “I’m pregnant, I don’t know who the father is, and I can’t seem to keep my knickers on around Severus Snape. My career is probably ruined. Once Snape contacts Eglerns and tells him that I didn’t complete the assignment, I’m finished.”

“Surely there are other jobs,” the mirror stated, trying its best to comfort its owner. “Didn’t the Ministry offer…Pregnant!” it shrieked.

Holding her fingers up to her lips, Hermione shushed the mirror. “I don’t think the neighbors down the lane heard you,” she whispered loudly, even though she’d cast the charm.

Hermione’s reflection stuck out its bottom lip and scowled. “My figure! My poor ruined figure! Think of what a child will do to my figure. And you don’t know who the father is?” the mirror questioned caustically. “How did you manage that? You’re on the Potion, for pity’s sake. Did you get pissed one night and decide to ruin my figure and your life? Did you –”

“Will you please be quiet and stop carrying on?” Hermione snapped, glaring at her reflection.

Pouting, her reflection gave Hermione a scornful look.

“I’m pregnant.” Hermione stood up and began to pace while her reflection remained still in the mirror. “You might as well get used to it because I’m keeping it.”

The reflection looked at her with an incredulous stare. “So let me see if I can summarize your current situation. You’re pregnant. You don’t know who the father is. Your career is in the toilet. And you’re planning on keeping the baby. And you can’t seem to keep your knickers on around Severus Snape.”

Hermione blushed wildly and said nothing. She knew her mirror would bring up her schoolgirl fantasy sooner or later. The blasted enchantment knew everything about her.

“Disgusting! Severus Snape! Do you mean to tell me that you would actually welcome the big greasy bat if he did come here? Do you --”

“I despise him as surely as he despises me,” Hermione spat and started to pace. Perhaps my animosity toward you is something else in disguise, his words repeated in her mind. Her head clear now, she examined the meaning of the words closely. What could he have meant?

Her reflection sat down and crossed its arms over its chest in annoyance.

“There must be something wrong with me,” Hermione stated, waving her arms about in the air. She stopped in her tracks as errant snippets of logic and thought collided. “It’s as though there was an external force. Something compelling me to act on the my feelings for him.

Snorting, Hermione’s reflection laughed. “And you’re the brightest witch of the age?” it asked sarcastically. “Did it ever occur to you that the external force might be magic? And just what did you do?”

Hermione grinned, knowing her vain reflection would throw a tantrum. “I shagged Professor Snape, and –”

Her childish reflection gagged and rolled its eyes.

“And I enjoyed it!” Hermione shouted.

Her reflection sobered. “That’s it! You must have been poisoned. He must have poisoned you with some lust potion for you to be so…impulsive.”

“Don’t be absurd,” she retorted. “Severus would never stoop to such measures to bed a witch. He may not be classically handsome, but he’s …talented,” she finished wistfully, remembering his particular talents in bed. “And insatiable.”

“If I could slap you I would,” the reflection huffed. “You’re talking about the great bat of the dungeons, Professor Severus Snape, as if you’re in love with him.”

Hermione sat on her bed and made no reply. She refused to let her reflection get the better of her. He knew she loved him. That is what made it so difficult, right now. He had offered her a marriage of convenience and she had turned him down. It had been one of the most difficult things she had ever done. She had no doubt that she could survive in a loveless relationship with him, but to condemn a child to that was…unspeakable.

Her enchanted reflection looked ashen. “That’s it! Dark magic indeed! Severus Snape is the type of wizard who wouldn’t be content with a simple physical binding, he would take your love as well. He will use your love against you and bend you to his will.”

“What are you prattling on about?” Hermione asked, closing her eyes and trying to ignore the mirror. Exhaustion had finally caught up to her and she laid on her bed and pulled her favorite duvet around her. “You’re focusing on the wrong thing. Severus is the least of my concerns. I’m pregnant,” she said with a yawn.

Her reflection sniffled. “Don’t remind me,” it murmured, getting in to the bed of the mirrored room.

“Things will be better in the morning,” Hermione muttered sleepily. “He’ll never find me here, and I’ll have time to think things through without trying to shag him senseless.

--

Yesterday had definitely not turned out the way he’d intended, Severus thought to himself as he stormed down the lane toward the Ministry of Magic. The day before yesterday, he had returned from classes and nightly rounds, expecting a more-than-willing Granger to be lounging in his bed, waiting for him. Instead she had been gone, leaving behind his reticent pride and bewitched libido.

Yesterday he had tracked her down and shagged her into submission. Or, at least, he’d thought he had. What was going through her ever-churning mind right now? She is pregnant and, most likely, confused. More importantly, where was she?

Severus had sat outside her apartment all night, waiting for a sign of her return, but she had never appeared. His frustration growing, he had left.

Damn the Weasley twins and their lust potion to hell!

She’d spurned him based solely on the lie he’d perpetuated. A chance for redemption had flashed briefly before him, but he couldn’t resist his Slytherin urges and had fed into the falsehood, trying to convince her that he was her salvation. The Fates were weaving some tangled threads throughout his life, threads he would need to manipulate to his advantage.

He would make it impossible for her to leave the wizarding world. She may have slowed his pursuit by burning his clothes, but he would catch up to her soon enough. She’d sworn an oath to marry him. It may not have been a traditional oath, but it was a wizarding oath nonetheless. He would drag her before the Wizengamot and make her honor her pledge.

But first, he had to file the complaint.

Stepping into the red telephone box, he dialed six two four four two.

“State your business,” the welcome witch stated.

“I’ve come to lodge a complaint,” Severus replied.

A silver badge appeared. Severus removed it and placed it on his robe as the booth began its descent to the Atrium. The booth opened and Severus strode across the polished wooden floors to a set of golden gates.

Pulling his wand out, Severus handed it to the watchwizard, Eric Munch. It was early in the morning, therefore Munch didn’t feel the need to comment or greet the visitor.

Severus walked down a corridor and into an elevator. He pressed the button to the second floor and waited, his impatience with the mundane growing.

The elevator door opened and he walked out onto the second floor and sneered.

Behind the first desk of a long line of desks sat his nemesis and possibly the Auror who could get Hermione back for him. “Potter,” he greeted the young wizard with barely concealed contempt.

Green eyes bored into him, and Severus noticed Potter draw his wand. Reflexively, Snape reached for his and pointed it at Harry.

*****