Unwanted

Hermione pushed the doors opened and grinned when two gangly bestfriends almost knocked her on her bottom. She had missed them, she realized, starting to tear up now. Damn hormones.

"Gods, 'Mione! We were so worried about you. Dumbledore just told us what happened to you today. Did he hurt you? Are you alright? We can hex him right? If you say it's ok, we can right?" Ron hugged her tightly and guided her to the couch, sitting on one side of her while harry took the other. The next few minutes were spent crying and laughing, and hugging each other. They knew what had happened to her and weren't recriminating her, or making her feel worthless. She had her two bestfriends and that was best thing she could think of right now.

Snape sat at the end of the table and rested his head on his right hand, pouring a glass of scotch without looking. Multi-tasking was one of the benefits of being a teacher for so long. He lifted the glass with a sigh and downed it in one draught.

"You're not hexed so I'm assuming things didn't go badly, Severus."

"She's disassociated from reality, Albus. Unless she gets the help she needs I fear Miss Granger will have a severe breakdown. I fear for the child should she go that long without the proper care." He sighed again and tried to pour another glass but Lupin grabbed the scotch before he could. Severus glared at the werewolf and slammed his glass down on the table. "I'd change what happened if I could, dammit! If I hadn't done as he wanted, he'd have given her to someone else!" He thrust his fingers through his black hair and dropped his head down to the table. Of all the
reprehensible things he'd done to keep his position in Voldemort's circle, what he'd done to Hermione Granger was the worst, the one that haunted him the most.

"Severus, you're not to bla-"

"Bull fucking shit, I'm not to blame, Lupin! I took her innocence, I rutted between her legs and got her fucking pregnant! She's having a child she does not want, married to a man who raped her albeit to save her, orphaned thanks to my associates! I'll bloody well blame myself if I wish to." Severus flicked his wand and repaired the shattered glass. He hoped Albus had tamped down the tempers of Potter and Weasley before they catch sight of him. The house was big but not that large.

"You're her best hope for getting through this, Severus. You've had the training, and you've been through this, somewhat, before. You have the personal experience to help her. She needs you and your child needs you. Once Tom is gone, you needn't be near each other any more and can request a divorce. But she needs your protection right now."

"She doesn't know what she's feeling right now, Albus. She's going to loathe me, as she rightly should."

"Help her then! Dammit, Severus, Tom got the idea of using her from you, in that sense, yes, you hold some responsibility, but don't let her descend into the darkness like you did." Albus put on hand on the younger man's shoulder and squeezed hard, giving the potions master/spy his support.

"I will do everything I can, but I fear she needs more help than I can provide. I trust you explained the situation to her friends using small words with one or two syllables?" He sneered, back in his snarky persona.

"Ron and Harry were very worried about Hermione. They know what happened and why it happened. They were not happy but understood that if they wished to visit with their friend they would have to have some self-restraint."

The look Severus gave the 'late' headmaster told everyone how much he thought self-restraint and the names Potter and Weasley didn't belong together. Lupin slid a cup of coffee in front of the spy and smiled consolingly at him. Snape sneered back.

"I'll be taking her to Spinner's End at the end of the month, assuming her ...health is up to it. We need to have some privacy, and she needs to be trained in Occlumency now that she's my wife. My position may be a shield for her, but that won't stop someone from using Legilmency to read her thoughts."

From Marti!....Ok, I've fixed the messed up chapters. Sorry about that. It was quite late at night and I hadn't realized the upload did....that. The first few chapters are short and succinct because the true action happens later on, in about three years for Hermione and Snape. I might flesh the earlier chapters out after getting the latter ones finalized, but they won't change the future action. Thanks to everyone who's reviewed and checked out my story. This is my first Harry Potter based fanfic!