A Matter of Circumstance

Chapter 41 ~ Epilogue


A month later, Molly and Ginny Weasley left the Three Broomsticks Inn after having a nice lunch. They had been window shopping in Hogsmeade and were heading back to the Burrow.

As they walked toward the public apparition point, Molly’s eyes narrowed.

”I can’t believe it,” she said in a low voice.

”What, mum?” Ginny asked her.

Molly pointed across the lane. Hermione was pushing a green and silver baby carriage, stopping occasionally to look in shop windows.

”There’s Hermione,” Molly breathed, “Let’s go over and have a look at the baby.”

”Aw, mum. Leave her alone,” Ginny said, frowning.

”What? I’m not going to attack her. I’m just going to say hello. Now come on,” the witch said, walking across the street toward the unsuspecting witch.

Ginny sighed and followed. She knew her mother was going to say something bad to Hermione. She was still angry about the situation with Ron. She might not say it plainly, but it would still be unpleasant.

Hermione was looking at a pair of red pumps with a low heel when someone suddenly spoke to her.

”I see you had your…baby.”

Hermione turned to see the unsmiling face of Molly Weasley. Ginny stood beside her, looking extremely uncomfortable.

”Hi Hermione,” she said quietly.

”Hi Ginny. Mrs. Weasley,” Hermione said, her heart in her throat.

She hadn’t seen Mrs. Weasley since the washout of her wedding and knew that the witch was most likely furious about what she had almost done to Ron. Hermione couldn’t blame her really. It was a rotten thing to do.

“So how is it being an unwed mother?” Molly asked, a bit of sneer in her voice.

Ginny suddenly nudged her mother with an elbow.

”What?” Molly said to her in irritation.

Ginny nodded toward Hermione’s hand. Molly looked and her mouth dropped open. On her ring finger rested an engagement ring with a stone as big as Hogwarts. It was certainly much nicer than the little ring Ron had given her.

Severus made sure of that.

”It’s an investment,” the wizard said when Hermione protested at the size of the stone and the cost.

Severus had dragged Hermione all over the wizarding world and muggle London to find the perfect ring at the perfect price.

“I am the one who gets to pick out the engagement ring,” he said snarkily, “You concern yourself with the wedding bands. Most likely in your quest to be abysmally thrifty you’ll pick out something made of tin foil that will turn my finger green.”

Severus also wanted to be sure that everyone who looked at Hermione would know in no uncertain terms that she had a wizard who cared for her very much. Of course, an expensive ring meant nothing in actuality, but people were easily impressed by bling. And Hermione was definitely blinging.

Molly stared at Hermione.

”You’re betrothed?” she asked her in amazement, “To Professor Snape?”

Hermione nodded.

”Yes,” she said as Molly looked at the ring again.

Then the witch frowned.

”I suppose he had to do his duty or face public humiliation in court…I’m sure you would have dragged him there rather than take responsibility for your own promiscuity,” Molly said meanly.

”Mum!” Ginny said, scowling at her, “You have no right to talk to Hermione that way!”

”I have every right. Look at what she almost did to Ron,” Molly snapped back at her daughter, “Any witch who would try something like that would easily threaten to drag a man through the mud to force him into marriage.”

”I didn’t force him,” Hermione said quietly, “And I’m sorry for what I almost did to Ron. I was just afraid and knew he would be a good father. You raised him right, Mrs. Weasley. I wanted my child to be surrounded by love…and the Weasleys have more than enough love. I…I just wanted Cassia to be cared for. It was a mistake, Mrs. Weasley…a terrible, selfish error in judgment on my part. I’m just glad I didn’t go through with it.”

Molly looked at her, still angry.

”I’m glad as well, Hermione. You’re an awful person. Just awful. Why Ron still cares about you is beyond me,” the witch said, shaking her head.

Hermione didn’t say anything…there was nothing she could say. She had been in the wrong and Mrs. Weasley’s reaction was to be expected. Ginny looked at Hermione sadly, knowing that she had to have been desperate to do what she did. Desperation made people act out of character. She didn’t marry Ron in the end though, and to the red-haired witch, that’s what really mattered. Hermione did the right thing and she didn’t hold a grudge against her. Why should she if her brother didn’t? But Molly was a mother and protective of her children. Anyone who wronged them or attempted to wrong them was perpetually in her sights.

Molly looked at the carriage. It was the old fashioned type of baby carriage with a hood. An attached green silk sheet was drawn over the front so the baby couldn’t be seen without it being lifted.

”Do you mind if I take a look at the baby that you almost passed off as my grandchild?” Molly asked Hermione with a bit of challenge.

“Go ahead,” Hermione said, moving aside.

Molly walked around the carriage, lifted the sheet…and screamed, leaping back and holding her heart.

A snarling Eli looked out at her. He had been riding with Cassia and heard everything the witch had said to the Miss.

He didn’t like it.

When Molly lifted the sheet, Eli had lunged forward, scaring her half to death. Now the little elf grinned nastily as Hermione scolded him.

”Eli! That’s no way to act!” she chided the elf.

Eli’s ears didn’t flatten a bit. As far as he was concerned, the disagreeable witch deserved it for being so nasty. Hermione didn’t marry Ron so that should be the end of it. She was the master’s witch now, and Eli protected the house of Snape including Hermione. He just did it in a way that he wouldn’t get in any real trouble for.

“I is protecting the little Miss,” he said to Hermione and gave Molly another little snarl.

Hermione shook her head.

”Just move and let Mrs. Weasley see Cassia,” she said.

Scowling, Eli moved aside as Molly carefully walked forward and peered at the sleeping baby. Black hair, pale skin…no, the child definitely wasn’t a Weasley.

The house elf sat at the back of the carriage with his arms folded, looking at her disapprovingly. Molly was a bit surprised. Most house elves didn’t dare look a human in the face unless spoken to. But then again, this was Professor Snape’s house elf. That it would be less than subservient should be no surprise.

Molly straightened.

”She’s no Weasley,” she said to Hermione.

”No. She’s not,” the witch agreed.

Molly stared at her for a moment, her blue eyes flicking toward the ring and back again.

”Well, you’ve managed to land on your feet. I hope you treat Professor Snape better than you did my son,” she sniffed, then walked off.

Ginny watched her mother go, then looked at Hermione.

”It’s going to take mum a while to get over this,” she said softly, looking in the carriage at Cassia, “but she’s beautiful Hermione. I hope you and the Professor are very happy together.”

Hermione gave her a little smile.

”We already are,” she said to the witch.

Ginny smiled back at her. It was easy to see Hermione was in love and this wasn’t going to be a marriage of convenience.

“Well, goodbye then, Hermione. I’ll see you around,” the witch said.

”Bye, Ginny,” Hermione replied, watching the witch cross the street and join her scowling mother. Then she looked in at Eli, who was still frowning.

”Really Eli. You need an attitude adjustment. You can’t scare people like that,” she said to him as she began to push the carriage.

”Not me who needs adjustings,” the elf muttered, “She is a mean, nasty witch. Eli should have bites her.”

“Eli!” Hermione hissed, hiding a smirk.

The elf was just as snarky as Severus if not worse.

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Severus and Hermione were married on the grounds of Hogwarts in a small ceremony. Harry attended, as did Ron and Lavender, her mother and father and several staff members.

Lavender held on to Ron’s arm the entire time, glad Hermione was finally getting hitched. As far as she was concerned, Ron cared far too much for the muggle-born. Now that she was married, he could concentrate on what mattered…her.

Holding Cassia in her arms, Hermione exchanged vows with Severus, who was sweating profusely, constantly wiping his brow with a handkerchief as Albus performed the service. When they kissed, Eli stepped forward and bonded with Hermione, a tendril of golden light issuing from his body, wrapping around the witch and snapping back into the little elf. He bowed low.

”Welcome to the House of Snape, Mistress. I is bound to you and yours forever,” the elf said soberly, his eyes shining.

”Thank you Eli,” Hermione said, smiling at him, then handing him Cassia. She took Severus’ arm.

”Shall we go, Mr. Snape?” she asked him softly, her eyes full of love.

”Indeed, Mrs. Snape,” the wizard purred back at her, his heart full.

In Olympus the ceremony was watched with great interest, Aphrodite cheering profusely as Hera smiled with satisfaction. The mortals were married and had the blessing of the gods.

They would have a long and happy life together.

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Veterinarian Jeremy Colcox and hunter Ernie Hunter sat downwind in the woods, eyeing a group of deer, trying to choose what buck they would take. Or Ernie would take rather. Jeremy didn’t hunt. He was just along because Ernie asked him to come.

Ernie offered Jeremy a toke of the joint he was smoking. The vet scowled at him.

”Damn it, Ernie, you know I don’t smoke that stuff,” he said to the glassy-eyed hunter, “You just be sure you’re aiming that gun at those deer when you take one. Anyway, aren’t you worried they’ll smell it?”

The weed was definitely pungent and by the mellow way Ernie stared at him, good too.

”Naw, they won’t smell it. We’re downwind. Anyway, I’m not smoking this for fun, Jeremy…it’s a … a hunting aid. Helps me concentrate. I can shoot a flea off a bear’s ass at a hundred yards when I’m buzzed,” he drawled.

“We’re hunting deer, not bears Ernie. Now, go on and take one. I’ve been gone two days. Sahara’s going to skin me when I get back,” he hissed.

”All right, all right,” Ernie groused, putting out the joint and sticking the rest of it behind his ear under his hunting cap, “Come on.”

They began to inch forward moving closer to the unsuspecting herd. Ernie chose a ten-pointer.

”Oh yeah. There’s the baby,” Ernie said, raising his gun and looking through the scope, about to target the animal.

Suddenly Ernie blinked, and lowered his gun. He pulled the piece of joint from behind his ear and looked at it suspiciously before turning to Jeremy, who was staring at the herd in amazement.

“You see her too, don’t you Jer?” Ernie said to the vet, then turned and looked back at the herd.

”Yeah, I see her. Where’d she come from? And why aren’t the deer running?” he said in a low voice.

In the field before them stood a pale woman with spiky hair, piercings, black eye makeup and lipstick. She wore high-heeled leather boots up to her calves and a short black leather dress down to her thighs. A spiked collar was around her neck and spiked bracelets on her wrists.

”Shit, I wouldn’t run either,” Ernie said in a low voice as Eris walked up to a buck and seemed to talk to it. Another buck joined them, then another.

”Ernie, I think I’ve got a contact,” Jeremy breathed as Eris caressed the neck of one of the bucks.

Suddenly all three bucks turned brilliantly white, and their antlers gold. They sparkled in the sunlight for a moment, then disappeared along with the woman.

Ernie blinked, then threw the half a joint away into the woods.

”Contact nothing. That shit had to be laced with something,” he declared, “Let’s get the fuck out of here, Jeremy.”

The vet was way ahead of him on that one. They beat a hasty retreat, promising never to reveal what they saw to anyone.

They’d be put away somewhere.

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The fates were busily dancing around their cauldron, bemoaning the wedding of Hermione and Severus and wishing all kind of ills on them. But since they couldn’t actually interfere with the witch and wizard, it was all sour grapes. Severus and Hermione were safe.

“I swear, Dad ruins everything,” Clothos complained.

”Yeah, him and Hera both,” Lachesis agreed as they circled the fire, “But at least that bitch Eris is out of our hair. Let me have the eye, Atropos.”

Atropos was just about to pluck the eye out of her head when the door to their cavern blew open and three snow white deer charged in, antlers lowered.

”HINDS!!!” Atropos screamed in horror, “There are Hinds in Olympus!”

Clothos and Lachesis screamed as well, running across the cavern, screaming for help hysterically as the deer overturned the cauldron and began ripping up everything except for the Loom.

”Aaaaaaaaahhhh!,” Atropos screamed as a buck charged her. She ran, losing her eye in the process. Lachesis and Clothos clutched each other in the corner, insane with fear as the noise of destruction rained around them.

Hind’s blood was deadly to the gods and the Fates were scared to death.

Eris stood laughing in the doorway, her thighs clamped together so she wouldn’t pee on herself. Oh, this was too fucking good.

As the bucks continued their destruction of the cavern, one of the beasts stepped on the eye, pulverizing it.

Eris sobered.

”Uh oh. Time to go,” she said, waving her hands at the transformed deer. All of them disappeared.

The three fates continued screaming for a while, pleading for their lives before they realized all the noise had stopped. They listened intently.

”I think they’re gone,” Atropos said, slowly getting to their feet.

”Can’t you see?” Clothos said, still clutching Lachesis.

”No. I dropped the eye,” the goddess said.

The fates began crawling over the floor, feeling around for the eye. After about twenty minutes, Clothos felt some powder and chunks beneath her fingers. One chunk was rather smooth and curved.

”NOOOOO!” the goddess screamed, “The eye! They’ve destroyed the eye!”

All three goddesses began wailing and tearing at their hair, raising such a ruckus Zeus came down. Eris had silenced the area when doing her dirt, but when the goddess left, the spell lifted.

“What the hell is going on here?” Zeus demanded of his wailing daughters.

”Our eye. The Hinds destroyed our eye!” the Fates wailed, letting the powder trail through their fingers.

Zeus strode over and studied the pile of dust. He picked up a piece of the eye and studied it. There was a bit of iris visible. He sighed.

”I’ll have Hephaestus make you another eye,” the god said.

“But that will take more than a year, father!” Clothos cried.

“Would you rather spend eternity in total darkness?” he asked his daughter.

”No,” she said sullenly.

“And what’s this about Hinds?” he demanded.

*****************************************

Back in the safety of her underground throne room, Eris watched Zeus and the Fates through her mirror, chuckling as they tried to tell a disbelieving Zeus that three Hinds had trashed their cavern and tried to kill them.

Of course the god didn’t believe them. Hinds were very rare and to see three of them at once, and in Olympus to boot was ludicrous.

“You’ve been inhaling too many cauldron fumes,” the god told them before he left, believing they became intoxicated and destroyed the cavern themselves, “Now clean up this mess and no more talk about Hinds.”

The god left and Eris turned off the mirror.

Oh that had been fun.

The goddess looked thoughtful. Three down and the rest of Olympus to go. She had nine visits left.

Eris smiled naughtily as she thought about all the havoc she would cause. The gods wouldn’t know what hit them. Well, Eros would…but he knew better than to tell. He was an accomplice after all. He was the one who gave her access to Olympus in the first place.

Eris began to plot, glad to have something to focus on other than the mirror and the lives of others.

All in all, it was going to be a very good year.

THE END

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A/N: Thanks for reading. ***