A Matter of Circumstance

Chapter 39 ~ Eli

Even Cassia stopped nursing for a moment as Hermione looked up at Severus, who returned her gaze imperiously, almost posing dramatically. Then the baby began suckling again as Hermione arched an eyebrow at the Potions Master then looked back down at the baby again.

Severus waited for her response.

And waited.

And waited a bit more.

Finally he snapped, “Don’t you have a response?”

Hermione said, “A response to what, Severus? You didn’t ask me a question. You made a statement, and it’s been duly noted.”

Severus frowned at her.

“Duly noted? I just told you I want to marry you and your response is it has been ‘duly noted?’ What kind of answer is that?” he demanded.

Hermione looked up at him, then switched Cassia to her other breast. Severus was too put out to admire her full bosom as he scowled at her.

”It isn’t an answer. I haven’t been asked a question to answer,” she said calmly.

Severus continued scowling. He thought if he told the witch he wanted to marry her, she’d say yes without much fuss and he could avoid actually asking her to marry him and risking her rejection.

“Saying I want to marry you is almost like a question, Hermione. You simply have to say you’ll marry me, and that will be the end of it,” he stated firmly.

Hermione sighed and looked back up at him.

”Severus, why do you ‘want’ to marry me? To ease your conscience? To do the ‘noble’ thing? I don’t want to get married for those reasons. I want to marry for love. Because I love my husband and he loves me…not for cosmetic reasons,” she said to the wizard.

Severus looked at her. Now was the time to say, “But I do love you, Hermione.”

But he couldn’t do it.

Instead he said, “Hermione, if you marry me all your problems of being a single mother will go away. You will not be considered immoral, Cassia will not be considered a bastard and you can have the respect you deserve as a married woman. It’s a win-win situation. Surely you can see that.”

Hermione scowled at him.

“So I’m supposed to put away my dreams of marrying a man who loves me for convenience, Severus? I know Love isn’t important to you, but it is to me. I won’t marry you if you don’t love me…not even if it would make life easier for me and Cassia,” Hermione said.

“Why are you so damn unreasonable, witch?” Severus snapped at her.

Cassia finished nursing and Hermione covered herself up, then lifted the baby to her shoulder, gently rubbing her back and bouncing her slightly. Cassia let out a tiny burp. Hermione stood up.

”Why are you?” she replied to the Potions Master, then headed down the hall to Cassia’s nursery.

Severus stood there a moment. What was he to do? If he said he loved her now, most likely the witch would believe it was because he was trying to manipulate her into marrying him rather than he was speaking the truth. Maybe he should have gotten down on one knee after all.

He waited until Hermione settled the baby in and returned to the living room, this time sitting down on the sofa and looking at him. She sighed again.

“Severus, you already know that I love you. If I didn’t, I wouldn’t even be here. I would have found a way to get away from you. I didn’t want to get away from you,” she said softly.

Severus strode across the room and sat down beside Hermione.

”If you love me, why won’t you accept my proposal?” the wizard asked her.

”First off, like I said before Severus…that was NO proposal. That was a statement you made to get around making a proposal,” Hermione said, “You can’t even admit to me that you want me, because you know that it’s a lie. You said that because you feel a sense of duty, not because you want to spend the rest of your life with me. Suppose I agree to marry you and later on you do meet someone you can love? What then, Severus? I’ll tell you what. Either you’ll be miserable or you will cheat on me. Neither is an option. Let’s just leave it as it is for now. I’ll be returning to Hogwarts soon and working again, as well as attending university. In a couple of years I’ll be self-sufficient enough to take care of myself. You can still support Cassia though. Your responsibility will still be met.”

Severus blinked at her. He understood her reasoning now. But again, to just come out and say he did love her wouldn’t be enough. Hermione wouldn’t believe him.

Eli crept out of his cupboard and was now standing behind the kitchen door, listening intently to his master trying to reach the Miss.

”Tells her master,” the elf said in a low voice.

Severus hesitated, then in a strained voice said, “I do love you, Hermione.”

Hermione stared at him for several moments, then snorted.

”Severus, you’ll say anything to try and get your way,” she said, her eyes narrowed, “It’s easy to say the words, but what about feeling them? Really feeling them? If you loved me, you would have told me before I told you that was what I needed. You’re simply trying to manipulate me. Well, it’s not going to work. You just can’t suddenly love someone at the drop of a wand.”

Severus’ heart sunk. Hermione had reacted to his declaration just as he feared she would. Still he made an effort.

”I got you this home, so you would have a decent place to stay,” he said to her.

”Yes. You rented a place so your baby would have a safe environment, not me. If I hadn’t been pregnant you wouldn’t have done it,” she replied.

”You wouldn’t have needed it,” the wizard responded, “Besides, I didn’t rent this house, Hermione. I bought it for you. I own this house.”

Hermione stared at him.

“You bought it?” she asked him incredulously.

”Yes I did. I didn’t tell you I wanted to buy a house because most likely you would have picked out some shack in an effort to save me galleons,” he responded.

Hermione looked at him.

”Severus, you bought this house because you didn’t want to give someone else your money and would rather use it for a purchase than a rental,” the witch said, “It was a business decision, not one based on love.”

Damn it. Well, it was partially true. But he didn’t know he loved her then. Love still could have played a part in his decision.

“I got you Eli,” he put forward.

“Eli is bound to you and Cassia. Not me,” she shot back at him, “You wanted to make sure I was all right so the baby would be born healthy.”

Severus looked at her. That wasn’t the complete truth. He didn’t want her suffering or to be alone where something could happen to her. Even if he told her that, Hermione still wouldn’t believe him. What else could he do?

Eli was shaking his head. The master wasn’t doing too well. He had been cold for too long. The Miss wasn’t going to believe anything he said concerning love.

Eli’s ears flicked forward. He was his master’s servant and was supposed to serve him the best way he could.

He would serve him now.

The little house elf pushed the kitchen door open and walked into the living room. Both Severus and Hermione looked at him as he bowed low.

“Excuses me, Miss…but I has something to show you,” Eli said, quivering as he fought the inbred response of house elves to what he was about to do. House elves were to keep their master’s secrets. He was about to break that vow.

Severus looked at him.

”Eli, what’s wrong with you?” he asked the elf. Eli’s trembling was even more pronounced now. His entire body was shaking.

”It is a response to being a bad elf…but a good servant, master,” Eli said, reaching out and touching Hermione’s hand, “Now you looks Miss. You looks.”

Immediately, Hermione was drawn into Eli’s mind as if viewing a pensieve. She was in labor in the bedroom. She saw Severus running into the bathroom and frantically gathering towels, then coming back, encouraging her to push, then delivering Cassia.

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“Hello, Cassia,” Severus said to the child, “Welcome to the world, Princess.”

”Let me see her, Severus,” Hermione said weakly.

”Yes…yes of course,” Severus said, approaching Hermione with the baby when she suddenly paled, her eyes going wide.

Severus looked down to see blood pouring from between Hermione’s legs, turning the sheets red.

”No!” the wizard cried running and putting Cassia in the crib and returning to Hermione, using his wand.

Blood still flowed.

”No! No!” the wizard cried desperately, grabbing towels and pressing them between Hermione’s legs. Blood continued to pour out, covering his hands and sleeves

’NO! HERMIONE YOU CAN’T DIE! Oh gods! OH GODS! Help me! Somebody help me!”

Tears ran down the wizard’s face as he frantically tried to stop the bleeding.

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Suddenly Hermione was back on the sofa. Her eyes glistening, she turned to stare at Severus.

”You…you cried for me,” she said softly, reaching up and caressing the side of his pale face, “You didn’t want me to leave you. You do love me, Severus.”

Suddenly, Eli ran headfirst into the coffee table, cutting his head open on the sharp corner.

”Eli!” Hermione screamed, “Severus do something!”

Eli was stumbling to his feet and ready to charge the table again, greenish blood oozing down his face.

”Eli! What are you doing?” the wizard cried, pulling out his wand and stunning the elf before he could hurt himself further. He picked Eli up and carried him into his bedroom, followed closely by Hermione, who watched as Severus used healing potion to heal the elf’s head wound.

”Why did he do that?” she asked the Potions Master, her eyes glittering.

”Because,” Severus said softly, “He revealed one of his master’s secrets. Even the threat of death couldn’t make an elf do such a thing…but…”

The wizard faltered.

“But what?” Hermione asked him.

Severus looked at her soberly.

”Apparently, Love can,” he said to the witch, his eyes glistening.

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A/N: Thanks for reading. ***