Maternal Instinct

The next day, Hermione tried her hardest to forget the dream. She had got out of the shower and, even though it was hardly passed midnight, she had gone to sit in the living room until Corrin had woken up.

But there was something wrong with that dream. It had been so vivid that she was still feeling uneasy as called Corrin in from the garden that night.

The girl came running into the house and Hermione pointed to the stairs, "Time for bed, I’m afraid."

Corrin smiled, "Only if you bring me some warm milk."

Hermione nodded, "Of course I will. Go on."

She watched Corrin go up the stairs, then went to get the drink. When it was made, Hermione went up and found Corrin in bed. She put the drink on the bedside table and tucked the girl in.

"Why didn't you play with me today?" Corrin asked.

Hermione sighed, "I'm just tired, sweetie." She smiled and kissed Corrin's forehead, "We'll have fun tomorrow. I promise. Good night sweetie."

Contented, Corrin wiggled down under the covers and Hermione turned out the light, shutting the door slightly. Deciding that she too should probably go to bed, Hermione went down stairs to check that everything was locked up and warded, and that all the lights were turned off.

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Friday mornings breakfast was the first meal of the year that found Severus feeling happy. It was Friday and, as soon as his last lesson of the day was over, he was going home.

No more Longbottom twins, no more Albus and no more potions for a whole weekend.

Next to him, Albus cleared his throat, "Severus, Minerva has asked me to ask you to stop taking unnecessary points from her house."

"Tell her that I will, if students from her house stop blowing up my dungeons." Severus answered dryly.

The old wizard turned to his right and the aged witch sitting there. They spoke in whispers for a moment before Albus turned back to the younger wizard on his right, "Minerva wishes for you to leave the disciplining of Gryffindors to her."

Severus sighed, set down his toast and look Albus straight in his twinkling eyes, "You can tell that crabby old hag that she can leave my Slytherins alone first. Then, and only then, I may consider leaving that abomination of a house to get on with its antics."

Albus' smile was more than like a smirk as he turned back to the woman on his right.

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Corrin looked at the clock on her newly painted pink wall. It was after lunchtime. If she wasn't up by twelve o'clock, Hermione usually woke her. Why hadn't she today?

Corrin shrugged and got dressed quickly. She quickly left her bedroom, "Hermione?"

When she got to the top of the stairs, she noticed a hand on the floor at the bottom, its arm disappearing out of her line of sight. Perhaps she had left one of her dolls out. Hermione usually tidied them up, but she had been feeling ill yesterday, and Corrin didn't mind picking up a few of her toys. Her old mum used to shout at her for not picking them up.

Sighing, she made her way down the stairs. She rounded the corner and froze. It wasn't one of her dolls; it was Hermione. Perhaps she had gone asleep standing up and fallen over.

Corrin knelt down and nudged the woman’s shoulder, "Hermione?" When Hermione didn't move, Corrin shook her, panic rising slowly, "Hermione? Are you asleep? Wake up! Why aren't you waking up?"

Corrin stood up shakily and it was then that she noticed the blood. Screaming, she ran to the front door, but it was locked and the key was too hard to turn. Unsure of what to do, she scrambled into the living room and stared at the fire.

Corrin knew there was something people could do with a fire to get in and out of the house, but no one had ever shown her how! Screaming and making as much noise as she possibly could, she pulled at the backdoor, but it was locked and the keys weren't even in the lock this time!

Nobody was coming! Why wasn't anybody coming? Why hadn't anyone shown her what to do? What was wrong with Hermione? Why wasn't she waking up when Corrin was making so much noise?

Crying, Corrin went back to Hermione and tried to wake her up again, shaking her and calling her name, but she wasn’t waking up. And the blood was scary; Corrin didn't like it. She wanted her daddy to come and make everything okay.

Slowly, the girl curled up and buried her tear stained face in Hermione shoulder.

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Her body was on fire with pain. Struggling to sit up, Hermione became aware of the red liquid surrounding her.

This was impossible! Every time that she had slept with Severus - except the first - she had made sure she was protected. He had even watched her do it.

This couldn't be happening... not again...

She felt tears coming to her eyes as she shook her head in denial. Then some one was tugging on her arm. She looked down and found Corrin looking panicked.

"What's wrong? Why's there so much blood? You wouldn't wake up! Why wouldn't you wake up?"

Collecting herself as best she could, Hermione took a deep breath, "Alright, Sweetie. I know it's scary, but... I need you to be a big brave girl... and do exactly what I say, okay?"

Corrin nodded and got out of the way as Hermione pulled herself to her feet, trying not to let her pain show and frighten Corrin. She took Corrin into the living room and threw some floo powder into the fire.

Hermione pointed to the emerald flames, "I need you to go to through there in a moment... You know Albus Dumbledore, don't you? He's the old wizard." Corrin nodded frantically, "I need you to... to tell him everything that you've seen... and tell him that you've gone to St. Mungo's to sort myself out... okay? Can you do that for me?"

Corrin nodded again, "And get daddy?"

Hermione nodded and pushed her gently into the green flames, "All you have to say is 'Hogwarts, Professor Dumbledore's office'. It might feel a bit strange... but you'll be alright."

Corrin took a deep breath and repeated the destination that Hermione had told her, then she was gone. Hermione slumped against the fireplace, tears rolling thick and fast from her eyes.

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Severus looked up as someone knocked on the door. A first year Hufflepuff slid into the room. The girl ran up to the desk, not looking at his fifth year class. She pushed a piece of parchment across his desk towards him, then left as fast as she could.

Severus glared around at the few students that were glancing up from their cauldrons, until they looked away again. Slowly, he unfolded the parchment and scanned the note written there.

Albus wanted to see him? What did the old meddler want now? It better not be something to do with Minerva!

He warned his class against messing around, but there wasn't much chance of that, as they were Hufflepuff's and Ravenclaw's. Finally, he got to the Headmasters office, but the door swung open before he could do anything.

Slowly, he stepped in. The first thing that he noticed was that Albus, seated behind his desk, was looking unusually grave. Then he looked around and was shocked to find Corrin crying and curled up in a chair.

When she saw him she jumped up and ran over, wrapping her arms around his waist, "She's really ill! There was blood! And I tried to wake her up but she wouldn't!"

Albus moved over and picked the girl up like she weighed nothing. He set her back in the chair and turned to Severus, his eyes sad, "I am sorry to have to tell you this, Severus, but, from what Corrin can tell me, it sounds very likely that Miss Granger has suffered another miscarriage."