Marriage Law Madness

Severus insisted on going to see Molly alone for a few minutes before everyone else came in, so Lucius and Harry went up to the fifth-floor teashop for a cup of tea. Hermione said that she needed to rest and would visit Molly later.

Unbeknownst to them, she had waited until they left, then snuck out towards Molly’s room. Despite what Lucius had said, her insides still burned with guilt. Perhaps apologizing to Molly herself might help a little. Putting her ear to the door to see if she was alone, she heard Severus and Molly talking.

“…and so, we find ourselves with yet another child – I’m sorry, Molly, I know the last thing you need right now, particularly with all the restrictions you’re going to be under for the next few months…”

Hermione pulled her ear from the door, stricken. They didn’t want her. And she certainly wasn’t going to inflict herself on them – not when this whole mess was her fault in the first place.

Where would she go? She had no wand, and her house would probably still be crawling with Aurors. Diagon Alley it was, then. Surely Tom could be persuaded to open the archway for her. She could get a wand and some money from her Gringotts account, and then figure out her next step. But how on earth was she going to get there? The entrance to the Leaky Cauldron was on the far side of London from St. Mungo’s!

~~~

“Severus!” Lucius whispered urgently from the doorway of Molly’s room. He didn’t want to worry Molly, hopefully they could find Hermione quickly and no one would have to know.

“What is it, Lucius?” Severus was extremely irritated at being pulled from Molly’s bedside.

Lucius pulled him out into the hall, then cast a silencing bubble around them so there was no chance Molly could overhear. “Hermione’s gone. I’ve checked to whole hospital, and she isn’t here!”

“Oh, Sweet Merlin, this day just gets worse as it goes on. Do you have any idea where she could have gone?”

~~~

It took three days for Hermione to walk across Muggle London. She was still very weak, and she could only walk a short distance before having to rest. Plus, she kept seeing people she knew. What was Hestia Jones doing in Muggle London? She got lost after ducking down an alley to avoid Kingsley Shacklebolt. She supposed that he had been on a raid the night before, as it was just after dawn. She had managed to sneak into the back room of a shop the first night, but spent the second night out in a park, wishing she had a cloak or a coat or something to keep warm. Thank Merlin it was unseasonably warm.

Finally, weak, cold, wet and starving, she stumbled through the doorway to the Leaky Cauldron – and right into the arms of a lividly angry Severus Snape.

“Give me one good reason why I shouldn’t turn you over my knee right here and paddle you so hard you could sit on a knut and tell me which side was up! Where the hell have you been? I’ve had the whole bloody order out looking for you! Molly damn near miscarried when we had to tell her, your siblings are frantic… I want some explanations and I want them NOW!” he roared at her, causing everyone in the bar to stare. She had only seen him this angry once, that night in the Shrieking Shack that now seemed so long ago, even though it was only three and a half years.

Tom came bustling over, wrapping her in a spare blanket. “How long has it been since you’ve eaten, sweetheart?”

“Three days – when I had breakfast with my parents.” She said weakly.

“I suggest you feed her first, Severus. If you wish to carry out that threat, however, room eleven is free.”

“I’ll take the room. Can you take her up and give her a menu? I’m going to go down to the apothecary and get her some potions to make her feel better.”

“Better get her some Pepper-up, too, she’s probably starting a nasty cold from being out in the cold that long.” Tom looked concerned as Hermione struggled up the stairs.

~~~

Severus returned from the apothecary laden with bottles and jars, plus a package from Madam Malkin’s Robes for All Occasions. He’d stopped and bought a few things, so she could at least have some pajamas and a pair of clean underwear.

He stopped in the doorway of room eleven. Hermione had thrown herself across the bed and was sobbing miserably. Tom sat on the edge, stroking her hair and trying in vain to comfort her. Seeing Severus, he got up and headed out the door. “Severus, maybe you should do what you said. It can’t be worse than all the guilt that is eating at her right now. She’s going to self-destruct if someone doesn’t do something soon.”

“I know. I haven’t decided what to do, other than that tonight I’m going to try to get her to talk to me. Other than getting her fed and physically back together, I’m at a loss. Plus, she’s going to have to get through her parents’ funeral on Friday.”

“There’s a full bath in this room, I recommend a bath, food and healing potion before you try to get her to talk. I’ll be downstairs – just tell Lady Genevieve when you want to eat, and she’ll pop downstairs to let me know. No hardship on her part, she’s got a thing for Lord Nicholas anyway.” He indicated the snoozing portrait hanging over the desk and the menu on the nightstand, and then headed back down to the bar.

“ ‘mione..” She didn’t seem to hear him, her head buried in the pillow. He lifted her up, carrying her to the bathroom. He cast a quick Obscura charm, and then helped her out of her torn and filthy clothes. ‘Might as well bin these, no amount of Scourgify spells will get them clean.’ Severus made a mental note to take her to Malkin’s in the morning to get an outfit. If Molly saw her in these who knew what would happen. Turning to the task at hand, he ran a bath; checking the temperature after selecting some soothing bubble bath; and finally helped her in. He settled himself on the bathroom floor, as he wanted to be close in case she needed help.

She just sat in the water for a while, then picked up the sponge and began to wash. Reaching up to unpin her hair, she gasped in pain and dropped her arms back down. Severus got up and sat on the side of the tub, removing the pins that were holding her hair into a braided bun. Obviously the hairdo had been held up by magic; while the rest of her was torn and tattered, her hair, although dirty and with a little bit of grass in it, was still as neatly pinned as she had done it three mornings before.

“Let me ask Tom if he has a pitcher or something I can borrow. Be right back.” Severus walked down to the bar, returning with a large empty butterbeer pint mug. He ran his fingers through her hair, removing bits of grass, leaf and twig before he took a flask of shampoo from the basket beside the tub. Gently placing a washcloth over her eyes, he tipped her head back, wet the hair and began to massage until he had a cap of bubbly foam. He rinsed, then massaged in some conditioner. After rinsing that, he washed her shoulders and back as she couldn’t reach those without great pain either.

Draining the water,he helped her out of the tub. Once out of the water, the light concealing mist of the Obscura charm made her look like she was wearing a bikini made of soft, opaque fabric. While she towelled off, he used a few charms to dry her hair. Leading her back to the bedroom, he sat on the edge of the bed and pulled her across his lap.

Instead of the angry smack she expected, his hand came down gently, covered with a silky cream. ‘Oh, Merlin,’ Hermione thought. ‘That feels like heaven.’ Everywhere the cream touched, she could feel absolutely no pain. He covered her with the cream from head to toe, then sat her up and handed her the menu while he took another pot of cream and dabbed a fire red goo on her various cuts, scrapes and bruises.


“You really didn’t think I’d punish you when you were in this condition?” he asked. She didn’t answer, suddenly her menu was awfully interesting. She picked something to eat, then he handed her the package containing her new Pajamas. “Get ready for bed. I’ll go get our food so you can have some privacy.” He had an ulterior motive for not simply asking the painting as Tom had suggested.

He returned a few minutes later with a tray bearing two bowls of soup, two flasks and a large loaf of crusty bread. Severus removed one flask and set it on the night table. They ate in silence. Hermione still had not uttered a word since her one sentence answer to Tom’s question an hour earlier.

Opening the second flask, Hermione was surprised to see him pour some wine into her glass. “Drink it, it kills the taste of the second healing potion. The cream will keep you from feeling pain, but this potion will heal the muscles that were damaged by the Cruciatus curse. Tastes awful, but if you take it right after the wine, it kills the taste. He was also, admittedly, hoping the wine might loosen her tongue a little when he started asking questions. Hermione drank it down, shuddering at the taste even with the wine.

“Now, dear, why did you run off like that? Don’t bother trying to lie; I put enough Veritaserum in the pumpkin juice to force you to answer honestly. “ Knowing Hermione, she wouldn’t have told him the whole truth if it would hurt someone’s feelings.

“But we drank from the same flask…” Hermione finally spoke, confused.

“That will force me to be honest with you, as well.” He then repeated his question, looking into her eyes.

“I heard you talking. I know you don’t want me, and I will not be a burden on you. All of this is my fault, and I hate myself for my parents being dead and Molly being hurt. Then you tell me she almost lost the baby because she was worried about me. I hate myself, and I know you dislike me.”

“Now I really am going to spank you, you little eavesdropper. If you had hung around a few seconds longer, you would have heard Molly rake me over the coals for that comment. And I said another child was the last thing we needed, not that we didn’t want you! And why on earth do you think I don’t like you?”

“You treated me like dirt for five years. And this year, you have only been civil in the potions lab. And Molly doesn’t like me much either.”

“What are you talking about?” Severus was astonished that she would think this. “Molly loves you.”

“No – she loves Harry, but not me. Every year after our first year, when I found out about the sweaters, I hoped all year that I would get one. Harry got one every year. After our fourth year and how disgusted with me Molly was after that stupid Witch Weekly article, I gave up any hope of ever being worthy of a ‘Weasley sweater’. It would have hurt less if she hadn’t sent me anything for Easter during our fourth year – it was the first time I got anything from her, and it was to show that she was angry. Harry and Ron got eggs the size of Dragon eggs – and mine was the size of a golf-ball – and didn’t have any sugar.” She started to cry again.

“Oh, Hermione.” He gathered her into his arms and carrying her to the rocking chair in the corner. “Molly does care for you, I know she does, she told me so. And I don’t dislike you, I promise. Ask Albus, I tell him all sorts of cmplimentary things. Really, until you asked for that apprenticeship, I was ready to leave. In your beginning years of school, I had to pretend I didn’t – you were a friend of Harry’s, and a Muggleborn to boot. You can bet if I had even said anything nice, it would have gotten back to Voldemort. And you were an insufferable know-it-all until you matured a little.” He laughed.

“But I always knew you tried to get the other Gryffindors to be nice to me - I am sorry for the remark about your teeth, by the way. My point is, even if I had hated you, I still would have taken you – you are family. I promise, as soon as we get Molly home and things with your parents settled, I’ll take you to meet your mother.” She hugged him tighter, resting her head on his shoulder.

He paused a moment, than said softly, “If you want to meet your father, I’ll give you the name – but after the way his family treated my sister, don’t expect a cordial response. You need to rest now, we can talk more later. You can sleep in a little; visiting hours at St. Mungo’s don’t start until ten.”

He carried her over to one of the beds, handing her a vial of Sweet Dreams potion. She was asleep when her head hit the pillow, never feeling the light kiss on her forehead as the covers were tucked under her chin.