Unforgettable

Chapter Fifteen –

Severus glared at Potter, unable to resist baiting him. “How is Miss Weasley?”

Harry’s wand shook with unbridled anger. “Just give me one good reason why I shouldn’t hex your bollocks off right now, Snape,” he murmured dangerously.

“Harry?” Nymphadora Tonks asked worriedly, unable to see who Harry was talking to. She walked around her desk to see wands drawn. With a gasp, she pulled her wand out and alternately pointed it at her fellow Order members. “Wotcher, guys?”

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

“In the name of Merlin! What the blazes is going on here?” Alastor Moody asked as he limped toward the scene fraught with drawn wands and threats. “Sheath your wands this instance!”

Tonks lowered her wand first, looking from Harry to Severus. “Harry,” she warned softly.

“I don’t care, Tonks,” he growled. “The prat is going to get what he deserves for defiling Ginny.”

“Potter! Snape! Lower your wands before I have you both arrested!” Moody growled, getting closer to the scene.

“What are you talking about, Harry?” Tonks asked, keeping her wand at the ready.

“Ginny’s pregnant and this git is the father,” Harry muttered under his breath, sheathing his wand.

Lowering his wand, Severus continued to glare at Potter. “As much as it pains me to end the charade,” he admitted grudgingly, “I had nothing to do with Miss Weasley’s current condition. I would have thought that you would have had more common sense and taken better precautions against unwanted pregnancies. I have a potion Miss Weasley can take to rid herself of your spawn. Hopefully she will be sensible enough and terminate the pregnancy so that I will not have to suffer teaching your dunderhead of a child. After all, it seems you are incapable of taking responsibility for your actions.”

Severus smirked knowingly, seeing Potter’s green eyes flash in anger.

“Unsheath that wand again, Potter, and I’ll personally hex your ass into tomorrow!” Moody chuffed. “What the hell is wrong with you, boy?” he asked, his tone low. “State your business, Snape.”

Severus turned toward Moody, his obsidian eyes still focusing on Potter. “Moody,” he acknowledged slowly, drawling the senior Auror’s last name as though it was distasteful to him. “I was unaware you had come out of retirement. When did the big event take place?”

Alastor grinned, his magical eye no longer rolling around in his head, but firmly focusing on Hogwart’s Potions Master. “Did you come here to aggravate me or my Aurors, Snape?”

Severus’ smirk turned into an almost wounded look of pain. “I’ve come to lodge a complaint.”

“Against?” Moody asked professionally, seemingly forgetting Snape’s attempt to taunt Potter.

“Miss Hermione Granger,” Severus announced solemnly.

--

Drumming his fingertips on the wood table, Severus dabbed at his lip. Leave it up to Potter to resort to low-level tactics such as Muggle violence. The bloody prat was fortunate that he didn’t file a complaint against the entire Department of Magical Law Enforcement! But Severus needed Potter to find and convince Hermione to come back to him.

The door to the visitor’s lounge opened and closed with a soft click, and Tonks walked in and conjured a chair to sit in.

“Where’s Potter?” Snape asked sharply, his patience already worn thin.

Conjuring some parchment, Tonks flipped it open with a snap and pulled a quill from behind her annoyingly pink hair. “In Moody’s office, probably being reprimanded, no thanks to you.”

She had made no effort to conceal her contempt, and Severus smiled. She was a woman, after all. All women could be charmed. “Obviously you’ve listened to Potter’s side of the story and formulated your own opinion of me. How unlike you, Nymphadora.”

Tonks eyed Severus suspiciously. “Don’t try to play the victim, Severus,” she emphasized his first name and leaned back in her chair. “I could probably picture Voldemort in a tu-tu easier than buying into you being victimized.”

The mental image Tonks portrayed actually made Severus smile. “Isn’t it fortunate that your partner vanquished the Dark Lord, then?”

Tonks looked down at the parchment and sighed. “What is your complaint?”

“Hermione Granger reneged on a wizard’s oath,” he stated simply as if it was an everyday occurrence. “I demand her immediate arrest and restitution.”

Arching her eyebrow dispassionately, Tonks scribbled his words on the parchment.

If he didn’t know better, Severus could have sworn she was stalling.

“What was the nature of the oath, and what proof do you provide?” Tonks questioned, dipping the quill into some ink.

“She agreed to marry me,” he announced. “I’ll need to use my Pensieve to provide you with the necessary proof. You must understand, though, that it was a delicate time between us, and –”

“We’ll need to view the memory in question, regardless of its delicate nature,” Tonks interrupted, scribbling notes as quickly as possible. “Unfortunately, until you provide the Pensieve memory or a written contract, we can not do anything.” She folded the parchment in the shape of an airplane, waved her wand, and sent the complaint on its way.

“Now if that’s all, Professor Snape.” She made to stand. “I have more important things to do with my time than entertain some delusional wizard over some lover’s spat.”

Severus grabbed her wrist, feeling the chance to find Hermione slipping away. “Please,” he whispered, his voice ragged with fake tears. “I fear for her state of mind. She’s distraught and…with child.”

“Merlin’s beard! How far along is she?” Tonks tried to ask casually, leaning back against her chair.

“Approximately four weeks,” Severus stated.

“Bloody hell!” Tonks blanched. “There must have been something in the punch that night,” she muttered under hear breath.

If he hadn’t spent all those years as a double agent, Severus would have gawked at the Auror in front of him.

“I am assuming that you are the expectant father.” It was more statement than question.

Pondering his answer, Severus scowled. This was his own doing, right? Did he dare admit that he had Obliviated his lover and that was the reason Hermione was walking around with no knowledge of their first passionate night together?

“I need to speak to Potter,” Severus declared.

--

Harry glared at his former professor. What the hell was the greasy git up to? Tonks shifted uneasily next to the door, unable to hear the conversation due to the Silencing Charm Snape had insisted upon. How he managed not to hex the hell out him was beyond him. “Get on with it, Snape,” he hissed. “And try to explain to me why I shouldn’t hex you where you sit.”

Severus leaned forward, clasping his hands and scowling. “I suggest you put your animosity toward me aside for the sake of your friends…and Miss Weasely.”

“What do Ginny and Hermione have to do with this?” Harry asked, his suspicious eyes unwavering as he glared at Snape.

“You must understand, of course, that what I am about to tell is to remain between us and strictly off the record.”

“Will you stop stalling?” Harry spat.

The wizard before him was quick, and Harry was startled to see Snape place his wand on the table.

“You must swear an oath.” Snape’s dark eyes bore into Harry’s, causing Harry to look away.

“What have you done?” Harry asked.

“Swear to never repeat what I tell you,” Snape coerced.

Begrudgingly, Harry unsheathed his wand and tapped it on Snape’s. “I swear.”

Seemingly content with the magically binding properties of the oath, Severus removed his wand from the table and leaned back. “Fred and George Weasley spiked the punch at the Second Annual Celebratory Ball with an experimental potion. The potion is a combination of several love and lust potions. You, Miss Weasley, Miss Granger, and I are all victims of this experiment.”

“What does Hermione have to do with this?” Harry asked, his eyes wide with wonder.

“If you would let me finish, I will explain what I know.” Severus stared at Harry.

Harry nodded.

“Some lust potions employ fertility ingredients.”

“Those bastards!” Harry slammed his fist on the table. “I’m going to hex them! Ginny’s pregnant and they are responsible!”

“Will you be quiet!” Severus commanded. “I have no interest in your impending fatherhood. Hermione is pregnant with my heir and I am unable to find her!”

Harry didn’t know whether to laugh or be disgusted, a visual image of his friend with Snape playing in his mind.

Snape held his hand up for Harry to remain quiet. “There’s more,” Snape continued. “The morning after the ball, Hermione was hysterical. Words were exchanged. I was unable to make her see reason.”

“What did you do to her, Snape?” Harry asked softly, fearing for his friend.

“You should understand that what I did was for her own good,” Severus stated.

“What did you do?” Harry warned.

“I Obliviated her.”

*****

A/N – Dum de dum dum! Yes! Another evil cliffie! I’d say I’m sorry, but I’m not. As I explained to Patrick, I have a sitcom mentality and can only write a few pages at a time. I honestly don’t plan the cliffhangers. They just turn out that way. Honest. Again, I’d like to thank the time for everyone who reviewed. Now I shall attempt to answer the reviews with questions in them.

Nina – I had written ten chapters of this before I started posting this. I’m currently on chapter seventeen. So if the updates get a little slow you know why.

CocoaChristy -- I thought that the potion the twins used only worked if you already had feelings for the person and they already had feelings for you and you both drank the potion? I didn\'t think it was a love or lust potion, per se? Will Molly and Luna be pregnant as well??? When will Hermione find out the truth, and what will she do? Does Harry still think Severus and Ginny are lovers???? Yes. The potion only works between two people who are already “interested” in one another. It is a combination love/lust potion. The reason you’re not reading move “love” in this story is because Severus is a stubborn git and having a difficult time realizing that he just may love her. Here’s a preview of the next chapter -- Hermione will realize she’s under the effects of a lust potion. I think your last question is answered in this chapter. Cheers!

June W -- I just don\'t understand why she woke up that night and was all mad at him. Shouldn\'t she have still been under the potion\'s influence? She was madder at herself than him. Just because you’re lusting/loving after someone, you can still be angry with him. I know this from personal experience because I can love/hate my husband in the same breath.

Ginny W -- HA HA! I loved Hermione\'s discussion with her reflection in the mirror. Very funny. Hmmmm...now what is Harry gonna do? Does he know that Snape tried to take Ginny to the twins or is it something else? Hmmmmm....Keep writing! LOL! I’m glad you enjoyed Hermione’s reflection. I enjoyed writing it. As far as Harry is concerned, he’s going to regret what he did in this chapter. Smirk.

Stratyllis – I leave what Severus’ badge said up to the reader’s imagination. But I like your idea best. Whineing! He he!