Startling Revelations

A big thanks to Madbrilliant and Alliean for the beta of this chapter!

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Chapter 17 - Startling Revelations

The Hogwarts staff all sat around the long table in the staffroom, looking around at each other in bewilderment, wondering what was going on.

It was Thursday morning, and a staff meeting had been scheduled by the Deputy Headmistress to be held before breakfast in the Great Hall that day. And so they all sat in waiting. Hermione and Severus had yet to arrive, both of them still in his office, squabbling over how they were going to break their news. Hermione wanted to be straightforward and just tell them while Severus still wanted to go about it subtly, giving them only enough to figure it out on their own. She thought he was being a drama queen and a giant prat about it.

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'Schedule a staff meeting for tomorrow morning, would you please, love?' Severus requested of Hermione as he went through the paperwork on his desk.

He smiled, pushing his glasses back into place on the bridge of his nose. 'Love you too,' he murmured.

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When the Floo lit up in the fireplace of the staffroom, everyone was relieved that they had finally decided to make an appearance and both were smiling, which indicated that it was not bad news. Hermione sat down at her usual seat before Severus sat down at the head of the table so that he could see everyone there.

'I suppose you're all wondering why I had to ask you here this morning?' he asked, and there was a soft murmur of assent around the table. He swallowed a little thickly and cleared his throat. 'I had you all come here because I wanted to alert you all to some... changes in the staff.'

'Whatever do you mean, Severus?' demanded Hooch, impatient as ever.

'There have been some changes concerning Hermione here,' he answered, looking to his wife in question and receiving a nod from her.

'You aren't leaving, are you, dear?' piped Pomona Sprout after a moment of silence with a worried expression on her face.

'No, no, it's nothing like that,' Hermione hurried to reassure everyone.

'What kind of changes are they then?' Filius asked, finally making an input into the conversation. Severus had been wondering why the man was so silent.

'Well, to begin with, I'm not Hermione Granger anymore,' she explained, smiling at her husband and reaching over to take his hand that rested on the table. 'I got married on Sunday, actually.'

There were several loud gasps in the room, and Hermione saw more than one person cover their mouth in shock. Thankfully, though, nobody had fainted, so it seemed that the prospect of her being married to Severus wouldn't be too hard for them to accept. Oddly enough, Filius and Poppy Pomfrey were the only two in the room who did not react in a shocked manner and simply sat there with self-satisfied smiles on their faces. Severus eyed them both curiously, sensing a bit of Albus behind this scheme.

'I suppose by now you realize that when I said I was married, I meant that Severus and I married each other,' Hermione continued, ignoring the shocked look that was still on Sybill Trelawney's face. Her eyes were larger than usual, which was generally an unimaginable concept.

'Why did you only choose to inform us of this now?' Rolanda asked briskly, returning to her state of level-headedness.

'It wasn't as though we planned to get married so soon,' Severus answered. 'It – it just happened to be what Hermione and I wanted. It's not as though we ran off without telling anyone. The Potters and Minerva were at the ceremony.'

'I must say, this is rather a lot more of a surprise than I had actually expected,' Aurora Sinistra said airily. 'Although, the stars are aligned in a particularly romantic pattern for this time of year, what with Valentine's approaching.'

Severus inwardly snorted at that. Romantic stars indeed. He didn't need bloody stars to figure out that their impulsive marriage had been a wholly romantic notion on both of their parts. He listened distantly as questions were fired at them, with Hermione obliging every one with answers. People certainly were nosey beings, weren't they? He sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose, preparing to interrupt the question and answer session in favor of directing his staff to the Great Hall.

'Alright, alright, everyone get out and go to the Great Hall,' he said curtly. 'You've asked quite enough questions already, and you're getting on my last nerve. Hermione and I are married, we love each other, now move on.'

Everyone stood up, grumbling at Severus, and began to move towards the door to exit. Just before he left, Filius turned back to ask one more question. 'By the way, you said that your marriage was the first surprise,' he started. 'What was the second surprise you had for us? I was never able to figure that out.'

'I'm pregnant with twins,' Hermione said, blushing.

Filius smiled, reaching up to pat her hand. 'Congratulations, my dear. You will make a wonderful mother,' he said kindly. 'And to you as well, Severus.'

'Thank you, Filius,' Severus replied politely, and the three of them exited the staffroom and caught up with the others as they entered the hall through the staff door.

Breakfast was quite the usual affair, save for the fact that there was a lot more talk amongst the staff than was usual. Severus didn't need to ask to know what they were talking about. No doubt Poppy had found out about the pregnancy from her Healer friend and was spreading it around. And with telling Filius, he was sure that the small man would have a few words to say to Pomona about it, which in turn, would spread it about the entire table and then the school by the end of the day.

'You're going to announce it to the students then?' Hermione asked from beside him. 'I want to be Professor Snape.'

He smiled warmly at hearing her say that. She always knew what to say to soothe his nerves, just when he was getting cold feet about things. 'I will announce it at the end of breakfast, my love,' he whispered so that only she could hear. 'You will be Professor Snape to those students before the end of this day, I promise.'

The chatter during breakfast was usual until the point where most of them became too hungry to talk and eat at the same time, at which point, they would go silent. During this time, Severus contemplated addressing them, but then he realised that it probably wasn't in his best interests to shock his students into choking on their food. He had no need for any more Ministry business at Hogwarts than there already was. And so, when the time for breakfast came to a close, he stood from his seat, and the entire hall lapsed into total silence. Everyone knew better than to talk when the Headmaster stood up to say something.

'Students, this morning, your professors were alerted to some developments that have occurred at the school that are most important indeed,' he addressed briskly. 'It involves Professor Granger and her changed status within the school,' he continued. 'I will spare you many unnecessary details, however, and simply tell you that from now on, Professor Granger will be addressed as Professor Snape. I am sure you are all competent enough to come to a conclusion for yourselves.'

The silence continued for a moment as Severus resumed his seat at the table, looking a little smug at so successfully confusing them into silence. Hermione rolled her eyes. His penchant for the dramatic would be satisfied for the time being, however, which simply meant that she would not have to be bothered with it for another good while. She saw the comprehension dawning in their eyes, and soon the hall was filled with talking, whispering, and many sets of eyes flying up to the Headmaster and the Deputy Headmistress.

'Well, now that everyone knows, Molly is bound to find out and come to find me and attack me for not telling her,' Hermione said with a sigh.

'Love, you knew that keeping her out of the loop from the beginning was going to result in that,' Severus drawled as he once more stood from his chair, this time to leave the hall. He held a hand out for her also.

Hermione accepted his hand and stood, allowing him to lead her from the hall amongst the whispers and gossiping. People were going to be late for classes if they continued to speculate that way, so Severus went back into the hall and stood with his arms crossed over his chest with a scowl on his face.

'If any of you are late for your classes, you will not be allowed to go to Hogsmeade this coming weekend,' he threatened snappishly. 'Stop gossiping and clear out for your classes.'

Hermione giggled as he returned to her, having heard everything that he had said. He was still her snarky and demanding Potions professor. But she was more than happy to know the other side to him. He was perfect for her in every way, after all. They walked together down to the dungeons, where some of the first year students in her first class of the day were already waiting for her. She smiled at them all, waving them to go into the room, while dragging Severus into her office, laughing softly. He was still trying to intimidate them even then. She didn't mind. She thought it was quite endearing actually. But she was expecting a whole lot of questions in class that day.

'Behave, love. You needn't scowl at them to remind them that you're not soft just because you married me,' Hermione teased.

Severus huffed and crossed his arms, but Hermione wasn't having any of pouty Severus Snape that day.

She wrapped her arms around his neck and lifted her face up. 'Now, how about a kiss, and I'll see you later?' she asked.

He relented and kissed her, watching her go into the classroom for her first class as Professor Hermione Snape.