Maternal Instinct

Impossible. Severus repeated the word in his mind over and over again. Every time she had been so careful; he had watched her use the contraceptive charms. Every single time!

Another miscarriage was impossible -

Unless...

But no. Hermione wouldn't do that. Would she?

She might, though. She did it with him last time. She cheated on Viktor with him. Why wouldn't she cheat again?

Severus shook his head, trying to rid himself of his rebellious thoughts. He pushed the ward door open slightly and looked in. Hermione was laying on her back on a bed, staring up at the ceiling. The t-shirt she was wearing was pulled up and a Healer was leaning over her, pressing around on her stomach. Another woman, with shirt blonde hair was sitting beside the bed.

The Healer stepped back and said solemnly, “It's gone. I'm sorry, Miss Granger, for your loss."

With that, the Healer turned and left. Severus moved out of the way of the door as the woman came out, but she went the other way and didn't notice him. Once again Severus listened, opening the door slightly.

"...that's what you keep telling us, Miss Granger. Are you sure that you remembered to use a contraceptive charm? It would be quite easy to forget." The blonde woman was saying, "Anyway, we've taken blood, so we will be able to analyze that and if you have, as you insist, been given some sort of potion or poison, then we will find out and give you the proper treatment." The woman stood up, saying more kindly, "You're free to leave whenever you want, but there's no hurry; take your time."

Severus opened the door and stepped in, as the woman walked over. She stopped in front of him, "Are you her partner?" When Severus didn't answer, she continued, "Well, if you are, you need to take care of her. And, if my suspicions are correct, then I suggest you make sure that you are more careful in future situations, if you understand my meaning."

Severus glared at her as she left, then turned to Hermione. She was sitting up now, with her head in her hands.

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"What happened?"

Hermione hardly heard his voice and she didn't look up, "I don't know... I don't understand..." She felt tears sliding down her cheeks.

"Whose, then?"

This time she did look up, surprised. Severus was just staring at her.

"What?" she asked.

"First Weasley's, then mine... who made number three?"

Hermione swung her legs carefully over the side of the bed, "I would have said yours, except you saw me using a contraceptive charm."

"Maybe I wasn't there." He suggested quietly.

She frowned, "What? Of course you were! You watched me!"

"Maybe you forgot."

"But you saw me!" She argued, confused with his argumentative manner, "You would have reminded me, wouldn't you?"

"I would have, had I been there." He was almost glaring at her.

Suddenly catching on, Hermione stared at him shaking her head, "No, you don't understand! I had this dream..." But she stopped when he raised a speculative eyebrow. Angrily, she wiped the tears from her face and stood up slowly, "Fine! Believe what you want; I really don't care at the moment." She walked over to the door, "I can't believe you could even think I would do that to you..."

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Severus watched her go, with some sadness. She was telling the truth, he really wanted to believe that. But there was no other way to make a baby other than having sex and contraception charms always worked. And, as she had said, he had watched her use a contraceptive charm every time.

But he knew deep down, somewhere in the region of his heart, that she wouldn't cheat on him when Corrin's feeling were so deeply involved.

Sighing, he went home. The bed covers were all twisted and her nightdress was on the ground, but he could only smell her - no one else. He went into the bathroom. A towel was on the floor and there were still bubbles clinging to the tiles and hiding in the corner of the shower. This room smelled of her, too.

But if another man had been here, wouldn't Corrin have noticed? The girl was a light sleeper - Amy had always moaned about it.

What in hell had he been thinking?

It would be impossible for Hermione to forget a contraceptive charm! She had told him, in no uncertain terms, that she hadn't wanted another miscarriage. There was no way on earth she would have forgotten something so important!

Severus closed his eyes. He knew it. He knew she hadn't slept with anyone else. Why had he ever thought that in the first place? He had only succeeded in tormenting himself and pushing Hermione away.

Just the thought of her with another man was so gut-wrenching that it seemed to have over powered his commonsense. She would never do anything to hurt Corrin or anything that had the chance of putting her through another miscarriage.

So why had she had the miscarriage, then?

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Ron stroked her hair, "Ssh... It’ll be okay..." Hermione sat back and wiped her face, as he said carefully, "Uh, Hermione? Are you...? Well... I mean... You think you've been given a potion, right? Well, don't you think it's a bit strange? I mean... you've been given a potion and you live with a Potions Master!"

Hermione shook her head, sniffing, "He's been at Hogwarts, Ron. And why would he poison me anyway?"

Ron shook his head and sighed, "Do you want anything? I'm going to get a drink."

She shook her head, "No thanks."

"Alright," He stood up and moved to the door, "I'll send Ginny up."

When he was gone, Hermione laid back on the bed. She had gone to The Burrow to talk to Ginny, but Molly had been home and had flooed Ron.

And Hermione was tired... So very tired.

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Molly hurried up the stairs, Severus following, "Oh, thank Merlin you're here! She's in a state, bless her. Ginny's just gone up, but I’ll get her out of the way. I suppose you only just found out. She came here straight from St. Mungo's; crying her little heart out, she was! It's such a shame, to lose another baby like that! I'm so sorry for you both!" They got to a room and Molly knocked on the door, then she turned back to the stairs, "Just throw Ginny out, dear."

She went, and Severus listened at the door for a moment. He heard Ginny's voice, "... done to you? Please Hermione, look at me! Just open your eyes! Don't turn your back on me! Hermione... Please, what has he done to you?"

She sighed, then there was a creak and the door opened. When the red head saw him, she stepped out of the room and shut the door.

"What have you done to her?" She demanded, "She won't even look at me! Get in there and sort your mess out or, Merlin help me, I will kill you!"

As Ginny stomped off down the stairs, Severus pushed the door open and stepped into a bedroom. Hermione was on the bed and, as he got nearer, she turned over. But her eyes were tightly shut.

"Hermione?" He said quietly. She didn't answer, only flipped over onto her back as he sat on the edge of the mattress, "Hermione?"

Close up, he realized that she was frowning, tears squeezing out from under her lashes. He brushed them away gently, noticing her skin was hot. She turned over again, her back to him, and Severus closed his eyes briefly.

He opened them, but jumped as Hermione jerked up, breathing hard. She stared blankly ahead for a moment, before jumping from the bed crying hysterically. Worried, Severus pulled her down into his lap, wrapping his arms around her.

"Get it out!" She begged him, clawing at his chest, "Please Severus! Just get it out of me! I don't want... I can't... Just get it out!"

He stroked her hair and held her tightly, "What? Get what out?"

"That dream!" She cried, resting her head on his shoulder, "He does it on purpose! He wants me to lose it!"

"Who?"Severus asked, getting increasingly worried with her alarming distress.

"That man... in the dream... He's getting me pregnant on purpose!"

"It's only a dream -" he tried to reassure her, not really believing what he was saying, but she shook her head.

"It's not! I can feel it inside me! Please, just get it out!" She moaned with frustration, "I know him, but I can't see him! Why does he want me to miscarry? It's killing me; get it out of me... I don't want to wait... he wants me to wait until it hurts... but I can't wait... I need it out of me... it hurts so much..."