Happy Bloody Christmas, Severus Snape!

A/N: Hello my awesome readers! Here is the next update, it is sadly drawing to a close. I had thought to keep it running till next Christmas, but we will see. It was only intended to be 2-3 chapters max when I started ^.^ Anyway. Enjoy!

As usual I do not own Harry Potter nor do I make any money off of my story. I do not own the characters, only my own original plot.

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In the beginning it had seemed like one of her more genius ideas. It wasn’t long after Christmas, on a miserably frigid morning, that Hermione had realized the morning sickness wasn’t food poisoning from the night before. It was the beginnings of a child, their child, and oh how she had cried then. No, although the thought of bearing Ronald a litter had disgusted her, the thought of a little girl with black curly hair and dark eyes was not altogether unwelcome. The problem here was that Severus had all but kicked her from his bed, and his life, because he hadn’t wanted this for her. A wife and baby wasn’t in the cards. She had tried in her way to imagine a life without Severus beside her, helping with the children, allowing her to continue her education until her mind was overflowing with all the knowledge she desired. She imagined life in the castle, a place where she had felt most at home and all the Christmas’ they could share in such a magical place. Wonderful, heart-warming thoughts, all of which meant nothing because she didn’t believe he would genuinely want those things.

Then putting aside those dreams, she went on to devise “the plan”. The plan had included an imagined flight of fancy with a boy from school, and then to return home and find a kind soul willing to look past such youthful mistakes. She thought she was all but ruined until Ronald had come back into the picture. Desperate, and alone, she fed him the story hoping once he saw the child he would not be smart enough to figure it all out. And to his credit he had taken her in, at first without any punishment or retribution, but that had lasted only too briefly. A child it seemed was not enough to stop Ronald’s anger and the violence that accompanied it. He hadn’t directly hurt the child, but all too often Hermione found herself on the floor, having been shoved because dinner had not come out as good as one of Mrs. Weasley’s. Nothing was ever good enough for Ronald Weasley.

And so she created a new plan, built from the ashes of her dreams, there was only one problem however: her pride. Hermione knew Severus would liberate her from Ronald the second he saw what was going on, whether her apparent fling angered him or not, but she wanted more. She wanted to be the only woman in Severus’ life, but she refused to allow the baby to be apart of the decision. In her heart, Hermione knew Severus was an honorable, if not backward, man who would marry her if he knew she was carrying his heir. In her mind that was completely unacceptable. She needed to know if he truly loved her, and if he could get past his jealousy about her imaginary fling, well then she would tell him…eventually.

Eventually never came. And how could she tell him now, so late in the game, he would be furious. Even if it soothed his ego to know she had sought no one else’s bed but his, for her to have lied about something so important…trust lost with Severus Snape could never be earned back.

“Hermione, is the baby alright?” Severus appeared from behind a curtain, his long fingers wrapping around her own. The concerned look on his face drove her to tears.

“She’ll be fine Severus” Madame Pomfrey said. “Just a little scared that’s all. The tests don’t show anything wrong, but if these pains continue we are going to need to keep a close eye on her.”

Severus thanked the nurse several times, promising to escort Hermione straight to bed where she could rest. It came as no surprise to her when several minutes later she was laying in bed, still unable to sleep. Between all the ‘what if’s’ and imagining Severus’ reaction to the news, her dreams were riddled with sadness and fear. Beside her Severus was still, but that meant nothing, she knew he was awake plotting out what to say.

“Hermione…”

“Severus” she cut in, hoping to subdue him. Hermione had finally decided to tell him, but not here, in their bedroom, in the castle. “Let’s go on holiday. Just a weekend, you and me, maybe it will help the baby if I get some fresh air.”

She listened to the even breathes that marked his periods of deep thought, felt him turn to face her in the dark. It didn’t matter that their chambers were at the moment pitch black, Hermione felt bared to him, to those dark eyes that could see into her falsehoods and destroy this life she had tried to make for them. If she didn’t tell him soon he would find out some other way, and that would destroy him.

“Very well” he said slowly, his fingers caressing her belly. “I think I have just the place.”
* * *

Spinners End. Severus had made the place as homely as possible for his future wife, and now as he watched the warm glow on her face he was glad he had taken the time. Hermione had been troubled the last few days, plagued by something that she could not share, not even with him. And yet, the second she set foot through the door he could feel the peace radiating from her. Someday soon, when all this wedding business was behind them, he had every intention to bring his new wife here, to live in comfort. He could see that Hermione was coming to appreciate a life not fully within the confines of the school. Here she could put rare books without fear of children tearing them apart or, heaven forbid, dog-earring them. She could decorate more to her taste, cook to her taste, enjoy the many rooms all laid out for her pleasure.

“I spent time here, lots of time actually, when you were gone at school” he said softly, remembering the aching in his chest that he had, at the time, been unable to identify. When his work was complete though, he decided that Love was a splendid thing. He had turned a dirty, ratty house filled with memories he would rather forget, into a place of hope and love. He had poured his soul into this house, his dreams of bringing Hermione here, and now at last it had come true.

“Oh Severus” she said softly, throwing her arms around him. Severus smiled, a rare accomplishment in his mind, laying his head atop hers. “I don’t know how I can ever…”

“Shh” he whispered, pulling her toward the stairs. “You haven’t even seen the baby’s room yet. I came back and had it repainted after you decided that you wanted yellow”

He led Hermione up the stairs, interested in the way she trembled, but expecting that she would be excited by the amount of thought and planning. There were five rooms at the top of the stairs, the house now that his father was gone was alterable, but the first door on the right was reserved for the nursery. When he opened the door little butterflies fluttered about, strictly magic, but a fine bit of charmwork if he did say so himself. There was the cradle and changing table, both made of strong mahogany, and a rocking chair. That had been a later addition, Hermione loved rocking chairs. He hadn’t decorated too much, wanting to give his wife that private nesting pleasure.

“Severus” she whispered, running her hand over the rocking chair. “It’s beautiful. How could you have done all this in time?”

Severus stood proudly, admiring her as she took to rocking. She was on the verge of tears.

“The moment you left that Christmas I knew I wanted nothing more than to have you as my wife. I still say I did the right thing” he said gruffly, “but I knew one day you would be back and finished with your studies. And when you were I wanted to be ready.”

* * *
They spent that night making love in their newly established love nest without a care in the world. No worries that a student might catch them out of bed, or that Filch would stumble upon them. No, there were no worries at all, until Severus’ sleep was disturbed by crying. He stumbled into the nursery before remembering that the baby had yet to arrive, but it didn’t matter, for that was where he found Hermione.

Hermione was sitting on the floor, her eyes red and puffy, after crying for what was left of the night after Severus had tired himself out. She had debated how to tell him, when to tell him, if telling him was a good idea at all. But seeing how he had prepared for a child, for his child, she could not bear to keep her secret any longer. The thought occurred to her that if she would have told him from the start they could have avoided this whole mess, but all it did was make her cry harder. Pregnant and emotional was never a good combination.

“Hermione?” he said groggily. “What is it?”

“Severus, I’ve done something…kept something from you.” Her eyes darted to his, just in time to see them narrow. Severus was fully awake now, and preparing for anger even though he didn’t know what there was to be angry about. Well, she would give him his reason. “It’s yours Severus…the baby is yours.”

“What” this whisper was quite unlike the loving tender whispers of earlier that night. Severus was going to strangle her. She could feel it.

“Surprise!” she said weakly, trying her best to smile, but instead crying as he seemed to grow another two inches. Mistake.
“Surprise” he bit out. “Is that all you can say?”

Hermione wiped a few tears off her cheek. “I thought you would be pleased. The child is yours Severus.”

Severus turned away, counting softly to ten, before striding to the doorway. He wanted to leave, to escape from this nightmare. Hermione was right, he should have felt pleased, but all he felt was betrayed. She had lied to him about something of such importance, who was to say she even loved him. As usual the joke was on him.

“Pleased. Pleased that I’ve suffered through months of self blame because I thought I’d pushed you into the arms of another man? Suffered through the ridicule of the general public and watching your good name be tarnished?

Hermione stood up, a defiant look in her eye. He had suffered? It was her good name being tarnished, not his.

“I thought what everyone else said didn’t matter. That you loved us even if it was another man’s child”

“Yes, if it was true! I’ve spent months listening to you being called a slut and myself a half-witted cuckold when all this time it was mine.”

Hermione shoved past him and into their bedroom, finding her suitcase and throwing her neatly hungup clothes inside. She didn’t care that Severus had followed her in and was now watching her pack with that pathetic look on his face. She knew he was already beginning to see what a mistake he’d made, knew that he was sorry. She also knew that in her anger she was testing him. If Severus came after her, if he loved her enough to chase after her, well then she could forgive him. But she would be damned if he thought there was no consequence to raising his voice and being a stubborn ass.

“So that’s what you think, is it Severus? That I’m a slut.” She closed her suitcase and practically tripped down the stairs as she headed for the front door. “Well excuse me for interrupting your perfect life Severus. This slut will show herself out.”

Hermione flung open the door and strode to the street. In the midst of their fighting she hadn’t noticed it was raining. And she was too upset to notice the strange pair of men headed right toward her in the street. All Hermione was concerned about was getting away from Severus.

“Hermione that’s not what I meant! Come back, I love you, I’m sorry.”

She could still just hear his voice as the stunning spell landed her head first into the pavement. The last image she was able to make out was Severus running toward her, spells shooting out of his wand without any care of Muggle sightings, or what the authorities might say if he was caught. And then…she was gone.