Circling

I trust everyone has caught up with my chapter snafu! So many thanks to karelia, Beth, and Maria. You gals rock! Please review!!!

***

Severus was quite pleased with himself. He had managed to get Hermione alone where they could talk as adults from one grown witch to another grown wizard. She was as delightful as she could be, and he felt a connection towards her that felt... right. He was in a glorious mood as he walked towards the castle; however, the buoyant, fuzzy feeling dissipated when he passed the gates. The memory of Hermione's voice in his brain nagged at him. That dimple. Hermione must be Alice's mother. But who was the father? He pushed it back into the corner of his mind. After all, if Hermione had a child, it didn't matter. She obviously didn't want it, so it would not affect a future relationship. His thoughts were broken as he observed Potter being chatted up by the bossy Miss Longbottom. As usual, his immediate sighting of Potter vanished all rational thought from his mind, and his mood soured.

He tried to ease by them undetected, but Alice halted him. "Professor! Look who came to visit my mum and dad!"

He stopped and stiffly turned around to answer the little baggage. "Yes, Miss Longbottom, I am acquainted with Mr. Potter, as I was Mr. Potter's teacher as well," he replied. "If you will excuse me." He turned on his heel, ready for a quick getaway.

"Professor Snape, I would like to have a word with you." Potter's voice rang in the older wizard's ears, and he could detect a migraine coming upon him.

Severus turned mid-way and looked at him, tired and wary. "I shall be in my office," he said as he swept away from them.

Not even five minutes later, there was a knock on the door.

"Blast!" he muttered. He took his wand and slashed through the air to open the door.

"Potter," he spat. "What could you possibly want with me?"

Harry walked in without fear or signs of looking intimidated. "Look, I know you and I aren't chummy, but we worked hard to find the missing during the last days of the war. I know it bothered you that Hermione was missing, and I know that you cared a great deal about her safety, just as you were for the others like Hannah and Cho."

Snape glared at him. "What has all of that have to do with anything? I know Miss Granger is living in wizarding Paris and owns her own shop. She is quite content."

Harry leaned towards him. "Y-You've been to see her?" he said, his eyes huge with disbelief.

"Of course!" he snapped impatiently as he sorted through his mail. "Miss Granger is a player in a very lucrative field that is a branch of a potion maker's life. I would hardly be on top of my game professionally if I did not ascertain the extent of her talents. Besides, at the Moscow Symposium this year, every Frenchman there was grumbling about a bossy, little witch who was trying to take over the field of procuring ingredients for that region. She's been quite the success too, much to their displeasure. There could only be one witch to fit their criteria."

Harry blinked a few times and shook his head before coming back to his purpose. "Professor, you and I had spoken about this before, and I would like to revisit it again. We agreed that Hermione had lied to the Order about her disappearance. We knew how Greyback operated, and we knew how long she had been missing, and we both know her story didn't add up. Now, I know this sounds ludicrous, but when I was visiting Luna and Neville just now, I couldn't get Hermione out of my mind each time I looked at Alice. The way that little girl talks, walks, her mannerisms, her..."

Snape was still sorting his mail, trying to ignore his unwanted visitor as much as possible when he interrupted him. "...Potter, has it even occurred to you that the child just might be more like her great-grandmother than her parents?"

"Snape, look at me!" he said sharply.

Severus looked up slowly and narrowed his eyes. "You forget yourself, Potter," he warned.

Harry leaned heavily onto Snape's desk. "That little girl has Hermione's dimple. I saw it. It's on the bottom half of her left cheek. I think Alice is Hermione's daughter."

Severus placed his mail down slowly with a resigned sigh. "I know," he confessed. "I saw the dimple when the girl was four. I was aware of the fact when I saw her parents smiling; the Longbottoms do not have dimples, and this girl does. It is a fact of nature that she cannot be their biological child."

"Snape," Harry pressed, "I did the math. Hermione was gone for three days in January, and Alice was born on the fourth of October that same year. I know these types of calculations because I did it with Ginny when she was pregnant with our son. Alice had to have been conceived on either January the eighth, ninth, or the tenth...somewhere during that week. Luna had told Ginny she was due on October the second, so according to the St. Mungo's Due Date Chart, it had to have been one of those days! And coincidentally, it just so happens that Hermione was missing precisely during those three days."

Severus felt all the blood drain from his face as Potter continued.

"Hermione said the saddest thing to me when I tracked her down in Paris. She said all she needed was to succeed in business. She said that she didn't want a family or lovers. She told me that physical love was a 'pain-filled, humiliating experience that brought about another larger pain-filled humiliating experience called childbirth.' Now, tell me. How would she know that unless she had experienced it? I think someone hurt her, got her pregnant, and in fear or shame, Hermione gave the baby to Neville and Luna to raise."

Snape widened his eyes as he felt his temper rising dangerously. "You have a very active imagination, Potter," he snapped. "I dare you to repeat what you just said to Miss Granger and see where it gets you."

Harry matched Snape's glare, refusing to back down. "I will!" he replied. "What I want to know is...who is the father? It must have been a Death Eater or someone in league with Voldemort. Otherwise, why keep it a secret? Can you tell me of anything that happened during those three days that stick out in your mind with the other Death Eaters?"

Snape turned from him. He was absolutely petrified the truth would show through his eyes. "Potter, you know as well as I that that particular week was the most dangerous time in all of my years as a spy. More people died that week than the past twenty years put together. Do you think I kept a damned itinerary of each day's activities?" he snarled.

"There is no call to get vicious," replied Harry. "I know you have the most organized mind in the universe, so I am sure if you tried, you could think of something useful!"

Snape gathered his composure and pulled his Occlumency walls up around him before turning back to the whelp.

Harry sat down in the chair opposite from Snape and waited for his reply.

Severus glared at him for what seemed hours before capitulating. He sighed and sat down behind his desk. "It was quite the week; as I had told you, each day was full of summons. I spent a great deal of time at the Dark Lord's side, advising him, trying to stop Lucius from getting killed, while many of us were being slaughtered by Aurors. Plans began on the fourth to attack Hogwarts. I was immersed in my work, going back and forth from the castle to Malfoy Manor constantly."

Harry sighed and folded his arms across his chest. "Snape," he said as he shook his head, "you are evading. I know you. Now why are you being so bloody difficult?"

"Perhaps," he replied softly, growing in agitation, "it might be because there are some things I would rather not discuss with you. In fact, I don't know if your delicate ears could stand to hear the things I would have to say." He glowered at the younger wizard as he sat frozen in his chair.

"Tell me about the girls," Harry whispered. "Cho Chang, Alicia Spinnet, Katie Bell, Romilda Vane...do I really need to go on?"

"Fine," Snape conceded, his rage at Potter's interrogation getting the better of him. "There were many girls...you named some of the witches...but there were Muggles as well. We used Muggles to incite fear into the captured wizards and witches. Uncooperative witches were tortured for information, then branded for sport until deemed...useless. I never witnessed a branding, but you know as well as I the mark was a 'V' on their back, near the shoulder blade." He moved his left arm to place it on the spot.

"I was a part of the interrogation process. When certain potions needed to be administered or when delicate Legilimency needed to be performed, I was summoned. By the time I got to them, they would look at me and cry to me for help. I did what I could to minimize the pain."

Harry spoke low and gently as he continued to press him. "When we captured Wormtail, he spoke of a system to the tortures. Can you tell me the process?"

Severus sighed and closed his eyes. "Prisoners would be brought in and paraded in front of the Dark Lord. Usually, they would be bloodied and scraped up from the fight that had taken place during their capture." He slammed his fists on his desk as he shot out of his chair. "I begged Moody to give out poison so no one would have to be taken alive, damn fool!" he snapped.

He calmed down and continued. "We wore our masks, so no one would be identified. After the initial introductions had been made, I came forward at that point and healed those the Dark Lord ordered me to – to lengthen his enjoyment. The first part of the process was clear. The Dark Lord would say, 'Tell us what we need to know, and I will kill you without pain. Refuse me, and you will suffer greatly before your death.'"

He rubbed his forehead. "Those children knew nothing!" he continued. "I was sure even if they knew anything, they would have spat it out the minute the torture started. Only a handful had been Order members, like Miss Chang and Miss Bell. The rest were just eager infants, wanting to help the Order. I tried arguing my point, but I was not amongst the majority by any means. Besides, by this time, the Dark Lord was too vengeful and bloodthirsty to care.

"Once I had healed them, and the refusal for the choice of a quick death had been given, they would be taken down into the dungeons. It was required of me to stand by to check vitals, degree of consciousness, and monitor their blood pressure...I ensured the prisoners did not die during the interrogation. During this process, the list would be followed to the letter. First came the stripping of any warm clothing, followed by physical torture, beatings or lashings...all forms of physical humiliation. For the witches, the hair would also be cut...this is one reason I do not share your theory, Potter. If Miss Granger had been with them, her hair would have been hacked off! Then came the branding. I would administer salve and some potions for the victims. After that, the prisoners were herded again in front of the Dark Lord like dazed sheep." Snape grimaced as he stared into the distance. The disgust of those days would never leave him.

He snapped out of his memories and continued, "After another round with the Dark Lord...which was always varied...the psychological torture, the mind-raping took place which did not require my talents, unless someone had cracked. Then I would perform the Legilimency that dictated a calmer head and gentle prodding. Then, I would come to them, with my mask removed, and begin to heal certain parts of the body. Seeing my face would be enough to make most of them break down completely. I would caress their skin and touch their faces. I calmed them and made them relax. Some cried for their mothers, some for death and others pleaded for me to save them, to take them back to Hogwarts. I promised I would take them away from all of this if they would tell me what they knew."

Snape shook his head sadly and clenched his fists in impotent rage. He looked up at Harry and said in frustration, "The problem was that they couldn't! They knew nothing."

Snape sank down into his chair, looking defeated. "I was not in charge when some information finally broke free. Miss Bell had been the one who had finally revealed the location of the remnants of Dumbledore's Army. Then it had been Dean Thomas who'd revealed the secret of the Protean Charm on the Galleons. That helped the Dark Lord to locate more of the students in the Army. Colin and Dennis Creevey, Ernie Macmillan, and Seamus Finnegan. It had been merciful that others, like Longbottom and Miss Lovegood, had been patrolling when we fell upon them."

"Hermione had been staying with them during the time of her capture!" Harry yelled.

Snape glared at him. "I assure you, Potter, if Miss Granger had been with the lot, I would have known about it. Every person captured in the end always came to me. Mr. Thomas said there were more, but out on patrol!" he hollered back.

"You never saw her?" Harry asked him pointedly.

"I did not," Severus whispered. "Now get out. I have indulged your curiosity enough. I do not relish in reliving these memories."

***

After Harry left, Snape cleared his desk with one clean sweep of his arm. Furious and sickened, he strained to recall...but he didn't want it to be true. Not Hermione. Anyone else but Hermione!

He collapsed in his chair, slumped and defeated. He couldn't be...it just was too horrific to think that he... that Hermione... Alice!