Custody Battle

The sound of fabric rustling together, more specifically the soft cotton sheets of the hotel room, was the sound that roused her from a blissful slumber. A warm body was beside her, moving, and she snuggled closer to the source of heat, feeling her naked legs rubbing against one another, a day’s stubble irritating her skin. Strong hands were stroking her hair, fingers threaded in her locks, and she smiled, feeling the warm breath on her neck. “Morning,” she whispered, eyes closed.

“Good morning, Hermione.” His deep timbre filled the room, his lips soft and warm against her cheek.

Blinking a few times, she cleared the sleep from her eyes and then pulled the sheets over her chest, gazing around the room before she allowed her eyes to settle on him. “I’m in trouble, aren’t I,” she whispered, the question sounding more like the mockery of the novelty of the situation than anything else.

“I would assume so,” Severus said, fingers still carefully playing with her hair.

“What time is it?” she asked, rolling onto her back. She closed her eyes and heaved a great sigh. “Fuck,” she muttered. “Fuck, fuck, fuck.”

He snorted, and then reclined back onto his back.

“It’s not funny, you know,” she said, though her voice carried a hint of amusement rather than the note of anger that should have been present. “He’s going to bloody murder you…”

“I’m a wizard, Hermione, I think I can handle him.”

“You’re not killing my husband,” she said and then closed her eyes again.

“He’s your husband now?”

“He hasn’t stopped being my husband, regardless of what adulterous activities I’ve involved myself in. He’s still my husband, just because I let you have me doesn’t mean that signed the divorce papers.”

“Are you saying you didn’t want it?” Severus pushed himself up onto his elbow and gazed down at her.

She flushed a bit, turning her cheek into the pillow, avoiding his gaze. “No,” she muttered. His arm wrapped around her torso and he pulled her back against his chest, spooning into her figure. “I feel awful.”

He pressed his lips to the back of her neck. She did not pull away from his tender kiss, and sighed. “This is bad in more ways than I can count. I’m married, Severus.”

“I believe we established that.”

“You cannot be having witty comments and sarcastic remarks while I’m trying to be serious!” she said and rolled over, facing him. “Stop it.” She said sternly.

“Not bloody likely,” he muttered and kissed her lips, but she turned away. “Hermione,” and again he tried to press his lips to hers, but she ducked her head against his chest. When he tilted her chin up, and made a third attempt, she gave in and returned his kiss. “What happened, happened. You can’t do anything about that.” She opened her lips but he pressed a finger to them. “And no, you’re not going back with that bloody time turner.”

She frowned. “I could fix things…”

He sighed. “It’s not so simple, to really truly fix things you’d have to give up the family you have now, and lose all of those beautiful children, or give up Caterina and hope that Blake and the rest came along. I won’t have you doing either.” His voice held a severe not that she dared not to challenge.

“I have a feeling that I could lose both either way I go. Blake is going to no doubt divorce me.”

“Isn’t that what you want?” he asked.

She turned her eyes away from him. “Please don’t ask me that now, Severus.” He fell quiet, but did not push her from his embrace. “I just feel as if I’m caught in two worlds, and up until you came along it was just one world; one world with me and my five children, and Blake.”

“So this is my fault?”

“You’re putting words in my mouth, Severus.” She cast him a sharp glare, which he seemed to match in intensity. “Now it’s two worlds. One with my four children and Blake, and then there’s one with Caterina and you. And it seems like Cat has somehow found herself outside of that first world and I don’t want that. She needs you too, taking her away from you isn’t fair, and I don’t want that either. But I don’t know what to do. I cannot believe that I’ve been unfaithful to my husband, I should be disgusted with myself.”

“Hermione,” he said slowly, pulling the sheets up over her figure a bit more. “I am going to be brashly honest, as you’ve always found me to be. Snide, arrogant, and brashly honest. You may feel guilty because you know it was wrong, but you wouldn’t still be lying here in bed, pressed against my body, if you truly were disgusted with yourself. You’d be running frantically around the room, trying to get yourself cleaned up and back to his bed, hell you wouldn’t have slept here if that were the class.”

Her face flushed a terribly shade of crimson. He couldn’t have stated it any more bluntly, but he couldn’t have been any more right. And then the question of time came plaguing into her mind. She’d never be able to convince Blake that the kids had been up all that time, but perhaps if he hadn’t woken from bed yet, she could convince him that she’d fallen asleep in the common room after tucking the girls in. At least she could tell him that until she’d made up her mind about what to do and how to break the news. “What time is it?” she asked again.

Severus turned, craning his neck over his shoulder to glance at the nightstand. “Fuck,” he hissed and rolled back over to face her.

“What?” she gasped, and sat up, practically climbing over him to gaze into the glowing green numbers of the digital muggle clock. “Fuck!” she shouted, and fell back on him.

“What’s with all the swear words?” Caterina, who’d pushed the door open, stood there with her arms crossed over her chest, eyes gaping at her mother who was completely naked, save for the sheets around her waist, collapsed atop her father in the bed. “Oh my God, you guys did it.” She said.

“Fuck!” Hermione shouted again.

Severus glared at his daughter, though the color seemed to drain from his face. “Out.” He spat. “Now.”

Turning quickly around, she practically flew from the room, not bothering to close the door behind her. Falling back onto the pillow, he sighed. “Fuck.”

Hermione turned to face him as he turned to face her, their eyes searching the other’s for answers. “Well this is going to be a hell of a day,” she said. He nodded slowly. “Fuck,” she repeated.

“Word of the day?”

She nodded. “Yeah, I think so.” Sitting up, she pulled the sheet up around her shoulders and then pulled her knees up to her chest. “Well this is going to get ugly really quickly,” she muttered. “How exactly is it that we both managed to sleep right through my alarm?”

“Your alarm is in your room and we’re in my room?” he offered and then pinched the bridge of his nose. “I was assuming that we’d be sleeping in separate rooms and you’d be coming to wake me to assist you with the children, as we didn’t have to meet Blake and the boys until much later.”

“Yes, well, things didn’t go exactly according to plan, did they?” she asked, her face still red. “I cannot believe its half past nine.”

“Yes, well I don’t suppose you have much choice in the matter, the clock seldom lies,” he said and then pulled himself completely out of the bed. “I think I’m going to shower. And safely say that if one of them are up, they’re all up. Perhaps you should clean up as well.”

Hermione practically collapsed into herself. “Fuck. This is not happening. It’s just not. Fuck.”

“I think it very much is,” he said and placed a hand on her back. “Now get up, clean yourself up, you’ve got three girls in there who are expecting Animal Kingdom.”

She pulled herself slowly from the tangle of the sheets. “And a husband who—”

“Who we’ll deal with after we’ve showered, and dressed and gotten the girls ready.” He said sternly. “Together. We’re in this together. It’s not your fault, it’s not my fault. It’s our fault, Hermione, and that’s how we’re going to deal with it.” With that, he strode to the small bathroom that was attached to his bedroom and turned on the faucet. “For all intents and purposes I think it’s probably best if we don’t shower together, though know that I find the idea very erotic.”

She sighed, rolling her eyes. “I’m not going to disagree there,” she muttered. “I’ll be in my bathroom.” Hermione picked herself up off the bed and quickly transfigured the sheet into a suitable robe before leaving his bedroom, crossing the common room, and entering her own bedroom and master bath. It was going to be a long day in Animal Kingdom. Fuck.