Unwanted

Hermione stared in disbelief at her husband. She thought he'd be railing at her, yelling and seething at her audacity for daring to return home so many years later. Unclasping her hands on her lap, she extended her left hand to his cheek, raising his face.

"I have a lot of explaining to do, Severus. I don't expect you to take me back immediately."

"Of course, you're coming home with us! It's where you belong." Severus felt like a kitten, wanting to rub himself against her hand. Even while she was pregnant, she had avoided touching him as much as possible.

"We need to talk. I--A lot of things happened."

"Everyone understands about the problems you were having. I explained it to them, repeatedly. Gods! I was just in Florida looking for you, and you were knocking on the Weasley's door!"

Hermione wiped her cheeks, not realizing that she'd been crying. She closed her eyes for a moment, remembering her self-calming lessons from the hospital.


Molly watched from around the corner, having left the two of them alone in the livingroom. She had so hoped that her son's friend, the mother of the lovely little girl upstairs would return, whole and healthy again, ready to be a mummy finally. She wiped her eyes and went to prepare a pot of tea for them. She grinned as she bustled around her kitchen, waving her wand to prepare the tray for the tea and scones.

~~CRASH!!!~~ "Oh, bugger!" A small voice yelled as Molly heard something large fall upstairs. She hurried to the stairs, but Severus beat her there, running up them, taking the steps three at a time. Molly followed, then Hermione tentatively, into Ginny's old bedroom. Severus stood in the middle of the room, his arms crossed over his chest, glaring at his daughter who was hanging from the top shelf in the closet, the dresser knocked over. Evidently she had opened the drawers like stairs so she could climb up, not realizing the dresser would be unbalanced. Tristyn's legs kicked in the air as she looked over her shoulder at the adults.

"Oh, hello, Daddy. Uhm, you're home early. Did you bring me a present?" She said while trying to pull herself up to the shelf. Molly almost burst into laughter at the nonchalant tone of the preschooler being confronted by her irate father. "Rover climbed up here and I was just trying to get him down, Daddy." She offered before her father could ask.

"Tristyn Hermione Snape."

"Daddy?"

"Yes."

"Can you get me down? Please?" She swung her feet more, making her look like she was running in mid air. Severus thought for a moment, then sighed and wrapped his arms around his daughter, pulling her into his arms. He reached up and grabbed her kitten by the scruff of the neck, holding the little white furball in front of his eyes.

"Ronald Weasley is lucky I don't use you in a potions recipe, cat. Stay out of trouble, and keep her out of trouble. Bloody useless familiar!"

"I'm sorry, Ms. Molly." Tristyn turned her pouting eyes to the older witch, then they stopped at the younger woman behind her. Hermione wanted to turn and run, but held her ground as her eyes met identical ones. Tristyn's widened as she recognized the woman from the pictures Harry and Ron had given her. "Mummy?"

"Yes, Tristyn. It's your mummy." Severus said softly into her hair. "Help me get this mess picked up and we can go downstairs."

"Don't worry about it, Severus. Take Hermione and Tristyn down, there's tea waiting. I'll get this. You need some time together. Go! Shoo!" Swatting the potions master with a maternal touch on his arm, she started to right the room. Severus let Tristyn down, who went right up to her mother and held out her hand. Hesitantly, she took the smaller version of her hand into her own, looking over the girl's head at Severus. He nodded his encouragement and followed the two women of his life down the hall and downstairs. He forgot he had the kitten still until it started wiggling in his hand.

"Daddy! You have to let Rover down."

"Down a hole, maybe." He muttered under his breath, but dropped the ball of fur anyway. Tristyn kept ahold of her mother's hand as she led the woman into the kitchen. She went to the seat she had before and sat, waiting for her parents. So interested in her mother, she didn't even try to sneak a cookie from the cooling rack near her elbow. Severus pulled the chair out for his wife, then poured the two of them tea, Tristyn a cup of milk.

"You're really my mummy? But you were here before Daddy was. I saw you at the door."

"We just missed each other, poppet."

"Yes, I'm really your mummy. If, if that's what you want, both of you."

"Hell, yes!" Severus exclaimed, dropping the spoon in the sugar bowl.

Tristyn just smiled at her mother, sitting as close to her as possible without sitting in her lap. Hermione returned her smile with more confidence and reached up to touch her hair, before removing her hand.

"Yes, Hermione, it's just like yours. A right pain to get situated in the morning." Severus said softly, willing her to touch her daughter, the first time at her own instigation. Hermione reached out again and brushed some of Tristyn's hair from her eye.

"Your hair's beautiful, Tristyn." Hermione whispered. Tristyn beamed up at her mother. She had her mummy! Not that her Daddy was bad, but now she had both of them, and maybe Daddy wouldn't be so sad anymore.

"So's yours. Uncle Ron said he used to call you a bushy haired know it all. And he was ascared of you."

Hermione laughed. "He was a little bit, especially after I punched Draco Malfoy in the nose."

Tristyn looked from her mother to her father.

"She hit Mr. Draco?"

"I believe I heard something about that in third year. Not that the little ferret didn't deserve it."

"She knows Draco Malfoy?"

"Hermione, both Draco and I were exonerated for what happened that night. He helped send his father away and is a productive member of society. He even married three years ago and has not only a two year old daughter, but another child on the way. He and Potter are trained Aurors." Severus finished for the wide eyed woman before him. They did indeed have a lot to talk about.

"I have a lot to learn."

"Yes, you've missed a great deal, but everyone will be pleased and relieved by your safe return. The last time anyone saw you...you weren't quite....yourself."

"I know." She whispered, recalling some of her earliest memories of the hospital in which she'd woken five years before. She sipped her tea slowly, keeping her eyes on her daughter. She couldn't believe that this was the child she'd birthed, sight unseen before she'd disappeared.

Severus watched his wife, silent as Tristyn told her mother all about herself and how she'd gone to the Halloween Ball and danced on her father's feet, then falling asleep in his arms while he'd talked with Uncle Albus and Aunt Minerva near the refreshment table. Then she started talking about her kitten and her extended family, people Hermione knew, but she didn't say anything to Tristyn. Hermione just wanted to listen to her talk.

Both Hermione and Severus smiled at their daughters diatribe about her day school teacher, their eyes meeting over her head. Severus turned away first, not sure what he had seen in her eyes. His first thoughts were to apologize and beg her forgiveness, now he wanted to...to pull her into his arms and never let her out of his sight again.

"Do you want to leave, Hermione? We can go back to my home...or Hogwarts. Whichever makes you feel the most comfortable."

"Hogwarts. I'm not...ready for Spinner's End, yet." She'd take it slow, like Welson said.

Severus nodded and turned to Tristyn. "Go get your useless ball of fur and your winter cloak. We'll be back this weekend, so we'll pick up your bag then." He waved his wand and cleaned the table for Molly as Tristyn rushed to gather her outer cloak and the kitten who was sleeping in front of the fireplace.

"Molly!? We're going to the school. We need some time alone, but I'll bring Hermione back around on Saturday." He called up the staircase to the Weasley matriarch. Molly understood and wished the small family well.

With his daughter in his right arm, her arms around his neck, and his left holding his wife's Severus apparated the three of them to the front gates of her alma mater. For the first time since stepping foot on British soil, Hermione felt at home again. Severus put Tristyn down and she started running up to the castle, leaving her mother and father alone together. Severus noticed that she didn't let go of his hand.

"Thank you."

"Whatever for, Hermione?" He turned to look into her brown eyes. She smiled softly at him.

"For a lot of things. For not giving up on me after...the incident, for trying to help even though at the time I was beyond help, for trying to find me all these years, and for not hating me like so many other men would."

"You had no choice or control over what happened to you. I commend you for holding on as long as you did while pregnant. Most adult men would have snapped long before considering the circumstances. You're a strong woman who just...needed a lot of time to focus and find that strength again." He rubbed her knuckles with his thumb and gazed into her eyes before turning to see what their daughter was up to. He chuckled warmly. "She should be about ready for a little nap. I hope. She's been outgoing them for the last couple of months, but Molly usually keeps her fairly busy, but the excitement of having you here." Severus lifted her hand with his and kissed the back of it. "I want us to start over, Hermione. We are a family, and divorce isn't possible once the wedding night occurs."

"I know. I want to, I'm afraid, but I want to."

"One step at a time, Hermione."

a/n~~I told y'all they'd get back together LOL! Only a few chapters left, with some nice lemons ahead. I modeled Tristyn after my own children. My daughter gets into about that much trouble, but my oldest son has the smart-ass attitude and intelligence beyond his age to pull off the nonchalance. And yep, my daughter did the same thing as Tristyn when she was three!
Thanks for the reviews, keep em coming! Until the next update,

Marti