Coming Home

Disclaimer: I own none of this...except Ronnie and the littlest Snape. *grins*

A/N: For my lovely reviewers...

MoMalfoy: Well, lovely, here\'s your update!!! *giggles* Enjoy!

laceyweasley: I agree completely with you lacey! I think I\'d make a mad dash for Mexico! hee hee hee...

Jules: Thanks for the review! Gald you are enjoying it!!!

ON WITH THE STORY!!!

He turned to her and expected to see her smiling, but did not. “What did he have to say? It’s usually never anything bad.”

Hermione smiled, “You might want to sit down for this one, Love.”

Snape looked at her, slightly puzzled, and sat on the edge of the bed. “What?” he choked out in a whisper.

“He said I have that ‘just conceived’ glow about me.”

Severus mulled it over for a few minutes. Then he gave Hermione a look of either pure joy or pure terror and asked, “What?!?”

“He said I should go see Madame Pomfrey. He was the one who clued me in about Ronnie so long ago. Do you think he could be right?”

Hermione waited for what seemed like ever on her husband to take this news in. Finally, he patted her on the leg, “Well, Dumbledore’s never been wrong as long as I’ve been here when he tells someone they have that glow. Have Madame Pomfrey check you out to see.”

He then got up and went to the bathroom to check on Ronnie. She left some time later and went to the infirmary. Her breakfast was threatening to come up when she got there. Hermione’s stomach was in knots and she didn’t want to say a word to Madame Pomfrey. She knew if she did, it would be five months off work, and 4 laid up in the infirmary or in the dungeons. But then, if she wasn’t, she’d be losing her breakfast and a bundle of nerves, for nothing.

“Hermione, are you alright?” Madame Pomfrey asked when the young woman walked through the door.

“Not really, I’m afraid,” Hermione replied. “Dumbledore told me today that I had that ‘pregnant glow’ about me. I really, really don’t want another one right now. Please, please tell me he’s not right.”

Madame Pomfrey’s eyes sparkled with delight. “Mrs. Snape, Dumbledore has not been wrong in over fifty years. If he says you are having a child, then congratulations are in order. But, if you wish, we can check and see.”

By the end of her shift, Hermione was sick. She was scared, and she was confirmed pregnant. At 6AM, she found her feet dragging back to the dungeons. She did not want to face Severus, and she did not want to have to write Molly and Arthur. This was just getting worse by the moment.

When she opened the door to the quarters, she found Severus fully dressed and reading. He was making notes, it seemed. He looked toward her and slammed his book shut. He grabbed everything that she carried, threw it in the floor, and grabbed her by the arm to steady her. “What’s wrong?” he asked gravely.

They walked slowly toward the bedroom, and she stopped and looked at him. “Dumbledore was right,” is all that she said.

Hermione started walking again, and sat on the bed before he made an attempt to respond.

“Right?” he asked, not quite believing.

Hermione just shook her head. “Madame Pomfrey confirmed it, a girl.”

Snape helped her change clothes and crawl into the bed. He never once made any indication either way about what he thought about this. He brought her a mug of sleeping draught. “Drink this love. You’ll sleep today. No dreams, no nightmares, no worries. I’ll tell Arthur and Molly and you just sleep.”

She took the potion without ever looking at him or the cup. Within moments of draining it, she was asleep. Severus just kissed her forehead and grinned. He immediately went to Dumbledore to give him the news of the confirmation, and to take the day off. He had many things to do that day while she was asleep.

Severus took Ronnie to the Burrow. When Molly answered the door, she jumped back in surprise. “Gran!” Ronnie giggled when she jumped.

“Ronnie! How are you?” she answered, taking the leaning little boy from his step father.
“And how are you Severus?”

“Fine,” he grunted. “Ronnie, why don’t you go in the sitting room and let me talk to your gran?”

“Ok,” came his reply.

Molly scowled at Severus for running the child off, but realized that he was smiling when she turned back to him. She’d never seen him smile before. “What?” she asked.

Snape took a deep breath. “Ronnie is going to have a sister, Molly. Hermione found out last night.”

Molly just stood there for a moment. “What?? You? She?? Ronnie?”

Snape smiled even broader. “Yes, Ronnie is going to have a sister. That’s why I brought him here for a few days. Hermione is pretty shocked right now. She walked in this morning in a daze, really. She was acting like she did until she found out about Ronnie. Dumbledore told her again.”

Molly stood there not really knowing what to say. As she opened her mouth, Severus interjected with, “Don’t worry about Ronnie. He’s still going to be number one. He’s as much mine as our daughter will be. I hope that our daughter will be just as much yours as he is, also.”

Molly was dumbfounded. “Another? Ours? I…I really don’t even know where to begin.”

Severus took Molly’s elbow and led her to the table. “Can I make you a cup of tea while you sit there?”

Severus made two cups of tea appear on the table. “Molly, I really need you and Arthur here for the next few days and Ginny and Luna if they aren’t busy.”

Knowing that someone needed Molly always put her thoughts in order. “What do you need from us?”

“If you would, can you come to the castle and be with Hermione? Like I said, she’s in shock, and I know you can help her with it. And, if Ginny and Luna aren’t busy, they could watch Ronnie. I know he’s been wanting to stay with them.”

Molly agreed to help and walked to her fireplace and threw some floo powder into it. She stuck her head in as she yelled, “Ministry of Magic!”

She was finally directed to Arthur’s hearth, and told him that she would be spending the next few days with a pregnant and shocked Hermione and that he could come to the school if he wanted after work. She also told him that Ginny and Luna would be watching Ronnie. He gleefully told his wife to congratulate Snape, and said he would stop by.

Snape grabbed Ronnie as Molly was contacting Ginny. “You get to stay with your Aunt Gin, Ronnie. How does that sound?”

Ronnie, of course, was excited. It was only a moment before Ginny arrived with a POP! to get her nephew. She saw a smiling Snape and looked at him questioningly. “What happened to Hermione?” she asked quietly.

Severus put his hands over Ronnie’s ears, and answered quietly, “Dumbledore told her yesterday she was having another child. Ronnie’s getting a sister, but we haven’t told him just yet. Hermione’s kind of in shock about this.”

While Snape was telling her this, Ronnie was struggling with his large hands. Ginny just stood there with wide eyes. “Another one?” she asked.

He let Ronnie go and actually hugged Ginny. “Yes! Another!!”

She smiled, but really didn’t know how to take her old potions master’s sudden explosions of emotion. So, instead, she picked up Ronnie and asked him if he was ready to visit Aunt Luna.

Severus and Molly appriated back to Hogsmeade and made their way to the castle. He escorted her to their private chambers and excused himself to see Professor Dumbledore. Molly sat on the edge of the bed and held Hermione’s hand. “I don’t know if you can hear me, Hermione, but you know that Ron would be very proud of you, carrying on with your life like you have. He’d also be very proud of Ronnie and what you have brought him up to be. When you wake, I’ll be right here for you to talk to or shout at, or even cry on.”