A Perfect Match

Disclaimer etc. see chapter 1

A/N: thanks for the reviews, I\'m glad you\'re enjoying yourselves. If you should come across some grammar and/or spelling mistakes, then please forgive me. English is only my third language. (actually, it\'s my fourth officially)


A PERFECT MATCH
By Geena


Chapter 35: The Wrath of a Death Eater

“But that’s impossible!” Pomfrey looked astonished.
×I know, but I still w lik like you to do a test. I’m pretty sure though.” Hermione was terrified.
“Maybe it merely looks like a pregnancy because you want it too much.”
At first Hermione was hopeful, but realised soon it could not be the case.
“No. I never longed for a baby, I knew Severus isn’t able to … Oh Poppy, what am I going to do ?”
“Ssshh, hush hush, no time for panicking just yet. I’ll do the test first.”
Pomfrey carried out the test and left Hermione alone for a while. It seemed to take ages before she returned, when in reality she only had been gone for a few minutes.
When she came back in Hermione stiffened, afraid the news would be bad.
“The test was positive. You are approximately one month pregnant.”
Hermione sighed.
“Do you want me to get Severus ?”
“NO!” Hermione cried out. “No, give me some time first. I’ll call for him later. Can you leave me alone for a while ?”
“Of course.” Pomfrey left the room, looking very worried. This was a very strange situation. She had given Severus a complete check-up when he got back from the battle at Malfoy Mansion and his condition had been the same, so how was it possible … Well, they had to deal with it themselves, for the moment her primary occupation would be keeping Severus out of the infirmary.

Hermione laid quietly on the bed. How long had she suspected she was pregnant ? She had tried to block the thought, knowing it couldn’t be possible, but now she would have to face it. She clenched her fists. How cruel that this should happen when they had just made up ! Would he believe the baby was his ? Given the facts, she couldn’t really blame him if he doubted being the father. Maybe he loved her enough to put on an act and tell her he believed her, but there would always be doubt and she feared it would come between them. Above all that, he didn’t even want children, he had said so himself ! Oh no … Tears started to run down her cheeks as the implications of her pregnancy became clear to her. In time he might grow to resent her for imposing what he would consider to be an illegitimate child on him.

Hermione kept torturing herself with these worst case scenarios when she heard stumbling outside the infirmary. Someone shouted and the door flew open, a mean looking Severus storming in. When he saw her, his expression changed into a caring one, but she knew it would only be a matter of seconds before he would give her that same mean look he had shot at Pomfrey.
“Hermione, what’s wrong ? Why wouldn’t Poppy let me see you ? Is it that bad ?” The concern in his eyes was killing her and she couldn’t keep him in the dark any longer. She started crying again when she told him.
“I’m pregnant.”
At first she thought he hadn’t heard her, so she told him again. He kept staring at the same point in front of him, his mouth partly open, his hands gripping the sheets until his knuckles whitened.
She swallowed and prepared for the worst.
Slowly he turned his head and she read confu in in his eyes.
“How ? … I mean, it’s impossible, no ? Poppy examined me only recently and she assured me …” He kept holding on to the bed, trying to recover from the shock. Then he saw her tears and the fear in her eyes.
“Hermione ? What’s the matter? Why aren’t you happy ?” And it hit him.
“You think I won’t believe it’s mine, do you ?”
She started sobbing. “How could I blame you ?”
He pulled her into his arms and kissed her on the top of her head.
“Oh Hermione, of course I don’t question your fidelity. I was your first, that was more than clear, and I know you too well to think you would sleep around, even if we had broken up.”
She raised her head to look into his eyes and saw he was not trying to make her feel better, but meant every word.
“Oh Severus …” She wrapped her arms around him and a little smile broke through. He loosened his grip, kissed a tear from her face and caressed her cheek.
“Albus” was all he said and he stood up.
“Wait !” she said and climbed out of bed. He turned around and assisted her, watching out for her.
“I’m fine. You’re right. He might know something and I’m tired of breaking my head over this !”
They left the infirmary and went to Dumbledore’s office. When they entered, he didn’t look surprised to see them there.
“Ah, Severus, Hermione. I take it congratulations are in order ?” They both gasped. Did he always know everything ?
“Don’t look so surprised. I heard Severus took you to the infirmary because you fainted, and now you’re here … Doesn’t take a genius to know what you’ve found out.”
“ But how …” Hermione started. Then she saw Dumbledore going towards Fawkes, patting him on the head.
“Of course !” she cried out, laughing now.
Snape looked sour. “Would any of you care to enlighten me ?”
“Yes! Oh, how stupid of me not to think of that before, I must be retarded to have missed it.”
“Or in love.” Dumbledore chuckled.
“You were going to explain.” Snape still could not see why those two were so cheerful, although he was glad Hermione didn’t cry anymore.
“Well, you remember that potion I brew to bring you back ?”
“How could I forget ?” he smirked.
“Then you also will remember Fawkes being there when you woke up.”
“Mmm, yes I do recall seeing him there.” Something was dawning upon him.
“You see, I didn’t think it would help at the time and that’s probably why I have forgotten about it, but when I was brewing the potion, Fawkes cried and his tears fell into the cauldron.”
Snape’s eyes grew bigger as he realised what Hermione was saying.
“You knew about this Albus ?”
“Indeed. I wanted to tell you both, but then things seemed to get worse between you and it didn’t look to me like Hermione was pregnant, so I left it there. I must say I’m very happy I was wrong.”
“You are happy ? HAPPY ?? Man ! You scared the living daylights out of me !” Snape yelled. “And have you got any idea what it did to Hermione ? She thought I wouldn’t believe the baby was mine !” He was getting fired up now and Hermione felt she needed to do something before her fiance would say something he’d regret later on.
“Severus, it’s all right. I’m fine. Albus only did what he thought was right. We should be grateful.”
He stopped his tirade and put an arm around her.
“You’re right dear, come, let me escort you back to the dungeon. You need to lie down.”
“Er, actually, I have a class to teach in about ten minutes, so that’s where I’m going.”
“Out of the question ! You thi think about your health and the baby‘s. Come, don’t tire yourself.”
And before she could even protest, he had scooped her up into his arms and carried her out. She looked over his shoulder at Dumbledore for help, but he only grinned and waved, his lips forming the words “good luck”.
Somehow she managed to convince Snape to let her teach the afternoon classes. She apologised to Flitwick, but he smiled and said: “I knew you two would work things out !” Nobody knew about her pregnancy except for Pomfrey and Dumbledore, so now they all assumed she and Snape had spent the morning together in bed … which was true of course, but she had been forced to drink a light sleeping potion and she didn’t think anyone would believe she had been asleep during the entire morning. It seemed like everyone was talking behind her back and by the end of the day she was so embarrassed she couldn’t look anyone in the eye.

Snape warninrning into an overprotective father-to-be. He never let her out of his sight and made sure she had enough vegetables and fruit at the dinner table. He even suggested they’d move out of the dungeons to make her more comfortable, but she settled for a few adjustments to his rooms. She liked hingeongeon !
After a week, the entire school knew about the renewal of their relationship, but nothing more. They wanted to tell their friends and colleagues about their engagement and the pregnancy at Christmas. Hermione knew it would be difficult to keep it a secret for much longer, especially if Snape kept carrying on like he did. She had a talk to him about his fussing over her and he had looked a little hurt, but agreed to give her some space.

So things were pretty much back to normal when the day of the reception arrived. It was the Saturday before Christmas and the decorations at Hogwarts were already in place. Hermione liked this time of year very much and made long walks with Snape in the snow, after he had cast a warming spell of course, he couldn’t let her catch a cold !

Hermione had chosen a deep-blue, low-cut dress for the occasion and felt her cheeks redden when she walked out of the bathroom and saw Snape waiting in his chair, his mouth dropping and his eyes growing bigger.
“You’re not going in THAT, are you ?” he gasped. He was mesmerised by the curves of her breasts popping out of the velvet fabric, barely covering them.
“Of course I’m wearing this dress. Don’t you like it ?” She whirled around and stopped right in front of him, slightly bending forwards, displaying a tempting view.
He growled and reached for her, grabbing her by the waist.
“You temptress ! When we get back, I’ll teach you !”
“Oh, only when we get back ?” She looked disappointed and he sighed. “Alas, I’m afraid we would miss the entire ceremony if I were to start on what I have in mind …”
She giggled and looked him over.
“Well, you look very handsome yourself.” He rolled his eyes.
She looked at him again when they stepped into the fireplace. He did look good today. He wore black boots, a pair of tight black trousers, a long black shirt with wide sleeves that were tightened around the wrists, a leather belt with a silver buckle that made his shirt look like a medieval tunica and a long black cloak hanging around his shoulders to top it off. Yes, he did look rather dashing, especially after she had loosened the three top buttons of his shirt. He let her do it without arguing, but managed to slip a sjawl around her neck. She raised her eyebrows. He shook his head and said: “You wouldn’t want me staring into your dress the whole night, would you ?” Then he took some floo powder, said “Ministry of Magic, cloak room” ahey hey disappeared into the green flames.

Meanwhile, Dumbledore was also getting ready to go to the reception. He would be there on official business, since he was the one to hand out the Order of Merlin. It would be a splendid celebration. Although Harry and Ron hadn’t been successful in locating Lucius Malfoy, he believed it would only be a matter of time. He hoped both young wizards would make it to the reception tonight. Then he thought about Severus and Hermione. Those two kept amazing him. Just when he had thought all hope was lost, they got back together again. He knew Severus had proposed to her. The Bloody Baron had overheard and hadn’t been able to keep the news to himself. He was glad they were reunited before knowing about the pregnancy. Now he was sure they both wanted this engagement and he would do nothing to stand in their way. He knew some headmasters didn’t allow married staff, and he wasn’t exactly thrilled about it either, but if any couple could make it work, it would be them.

Dumbledore had been so immersed in daydream, he had otteotten what time it was. With a shock he realised he was late for the ceremony and headed for the fireplace. Just when he was about to step into it, green sparks appeared and Harry and Ron emerged from the flames. They stumbled into the room and Dumbledore had to calm them down to get a sensible word out of them.
“We missed ! We’re at Hogwarts !”
“Where’s Severus ? And Hermione ?”
“Have they left yet ?”
“The reception … has it started yet ?”
Dumbledore had a lot of trouble to say something since they were talking in confusion. At last he managed to get Harry to explain to him what was going on.
“We found the place where Lucius has been hiding. Some shack in the swamps. Anyway, he was gone when we got there, but we found this on the table.”
He had rattled and needed to catch his breath when he showed Dumbledore what appeared to be a very wrinkled issue of the Daily Prophet. It was the one with Snape and Hermione on the cover. Their faces were mutilated with something sharp and a red circle of what appeared to be blood was drawn around the article. Then his eyes fell onto a highlighted section which mentioned the reception.
“He’s going to the Ministry ! That’s where you were heading, right ?” Dumbledore seemed to panic.
“Yes, we know all wands have to be left at the cloak room. It’s the ideal moment for an attack; they’re all defenceless.” Ron cut in.
“Everyone has left. The ceremony must have started by now.” Dumbledore sighed. “We must get there as soon as possible and we will NOT leave our wand at reception.” They stepped into the fireplace together, Dumbledore called : “Ministry of Magic, Ballroom !” hoping they would get there on time.

Hermione had never been to the Ministry of Magic. When they stepped out of the fireplace, they found themselves in a spacious hall. A large chandelier was hovering above their heads, the candlelight reflecting on the marble floor. They joined a queue in front of the cloak room. When their turn came, they both handed over their wands.
“Can I take your cloak, sir ?” the witch behind the counter asked.
“No. I’m keeping it on.” Snape answered and turned around, his cloak swirling over the floor. Hermione couldn’t help noticing the languishing look in the girl’s eyes. She followed him quickly and put her arm through his, making sure everyone, especially the women, knew he was taken.

As they entered the Ballroom, Bill Weasley came up to them.
“Hey! So you’ve decided to show up after all. I think they’re going to start soon. Just waiting for Dumbledore I guess.
“He’s not here yet ?” Snape sounded alarmed, but Bill didn’t look too worried.
“He’ll be here. If you like, you can join Ginny, Draco and myself. They’re over there with Alastor and my father. I was just looking for Ron and Harry.”
“You think they will come ?” Hermione asked.
“I’m not sure, they haven’t found Lucius yet, but Harry said they would try to make it. You know your friends wouldn’t want to miss your moment of glory.”
“Oh Bill, please !” Hermione laughed and started to walk towards Ginny.
Arthur Weasley looked very pleased.
“Ah, the stars of the evening.” He gave her a little wink and took her arm.
“I’ll escort you towards the stage. When Albus arrives, he’ll give a little speech and then both of you have to go on stage where he will present you with the honorary title and you will receive the Mark of Merlin as an honorary medal.”
They followed Arthur to the left side of the stage where they had a good view across the room. Suddenly they heard a hissing sound coming from the fireplace behind them.
“Ah, that will be Albus now, I’ll go and inform the committee we can start.”
Arthur left them when green sparks appeared in the fireplace and a cloaked figure emerged from the flames. Hermione stepped forwards to help him out, but drew back when she saw it wasn’t Dumbledore.

It happened so fast.

Lucius Malfoy jumped out of the fireplace and clenched his arm around Hermione’s neck. He pulled a rope from his sleeve, touched it with his wand, mumbled something and forced Hermione to grab it. In a split second, Snape understood he was not going to strangle her with it, but was turning it into a portkey. Before Lucius could escape with Hermione to Merlin-knows where, he had jumped on top of them and grabbed a piece of the rope. At that very same moment, all three of them disappeared.


TBC
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