One Life to Live Together

Disclaimer: Not mine and all that good stuff.

Thanks go to my brilliant beta, Charmed_Nay.

Hermione gently rubbed her bulging stomach with both hands in slow, small circles, grinning broadly as she did so. She was well into her second trimester of pregnancy, and at certain moments, she still couldn't believe that there truly was a little miracle growing inside of her. The previous scan she'd had the day before had measured the baby's growth and enabled her to see her soon-to-be son's developing form, guaranteeing her that this was happening, that she and Severus would be parents soon.

"I don't know that I've ever seen you this content," Severus commented.

"Well, I'm sure that I have been," she said with a small smile. "Hmmm," she added, "perhaps just not in the same way."

"Sometimes it's still a little surreal," he agreed, tossing his book aside. "Why don't we take a walk this evening? We've not left our chambers all day."

"All right," Hermione agreed, extending her hands to him as he offered to help her up from her seated position.

Walking in companionable silence, they made their way up into the castle and over towards the headmaster's tower, on which its roof held one of their favorite spots to sit and watch the different shades expand over the horizon near dusk.

"Good God!" Hermione said, pausing mid-stride.

"What is it? Something wrong with the baby?" Severus asked in alarm.

"No," she said in a whisper, pointing a shaky finger towards the doorway nearest them. "After seven years, it's back!" Just as she stepped towards it to investigate, Severus pulled her back.

"Certainly not. You don't think I'm falling for that again!" He pulled his wand and moved it about in a series of flicks and swishes. "I detect no enchantments whatsoever," he said after a moment. "However, we won't be going in."

"But there must be something it wants us to do," she said, curiosity getting the better of her. "We can't just pass it by and not see what it wants!"

"Yes, Hermione, we can and will," he said firmly. "The last time we were in there, we were there for three nights...or so we thought...but no time passed here." His voice softened. "While I'm grateful it had its part in helping us to get to know each other, I simply can't condone something that I don't fully understand, something that manipulated our time and lives."

"You're still bitter that the headmaster, nor anyone else for that matter, doesn't believe us about being locked in a nonexistent room." She placed a hand over her mouth to stifle her giggles. "To this day he thinks a student Confunded us!"

"Do you want to go in there and risk being stuck in there for a couple of months? How would you like to remain there until you've birthed our son...without any potions to help the pain or without medical assistance? Only then to come out and have things go back to how they are at this exact moment?" He arched an eyebrow while awaiting her answer.

"Not when you put it that way. No. I would never endanger the baby. I just wan..." She began looking around frantically. "It's gone!"

He turned back and glanced at the solid stone wall in surprise, no evidence of a door ever being there. Pulling his wand again, he tested the wall much as he had years before. "And so it remains a mystery," he said softly. "Come."

Hermione followed him up to the tower where they sat together and watched the different hues in the sky overlap as day fled in night's wake. Though he was quiet, she was certain that he was thinking of the room and what it meant that it had shown itself to them once again. There had to be a reason.

"It's been seven years," she said softly. "Maybe it appears every seven years?"

"For only an instant?"

"Well, last time, when you pulled me in, it's possible that it had just appeared." She frowned. "Though time passed for us, it didn't pass for the castle. If we'd stayed in the corridor watching for a while, we might have seen it appear again, which is what it did last time...to let us out."

"Perhaps it only appeared again because it had to let us out," he replied.

"Possibly," she conceded. "I just hate not knowing."

"We never could find any information on it in any of the Hogwarts books, but it's as the headmaster said. There are many things about the castle and its magic that we will never know."

"I wonder," she said after a moment, "if it works something like the Room of Requirement. What were you thinking of as we walked down the corridor? Was there something that needed to be addressed or remedied?"

"Thinking about? Well, if you must know, I was thinking that we haven't much time left together before the baby arrives, and I was planning to make the most of it." He shrugged. "It's not that I think things will change. Actually, I know they will, and I suppose that does bother me on some level." He cast a nervous glance at her. "Not that I mind having this child. It's just..."

"Just what?" she prodded gently.

"It's only been us for all these years, and now I'll have to share you." He looked into the distance. "That sounds completely selfish, doesn't it?"

"No, it's actually understandable. This will be a big change for us." She reached for his hand and squeezed it within both of hers. "We'll get used to things, and trust me when I say that we'll be good parents."

He nodded and placed his other hand on top of hers. "Tell me, my dear, what you were thinking of."

"Oh." Blushing, she admitted, "I was thinking that there wouldn't be many walks or peaceful interludes for us after the baby's born... not right away anyway. I was also thinking about how time is flying by so quickly and how there was still so much to do before he gets here: his room, the right equipment, his clothing, and just so many other little things that we need to do."

"So, it was time that we both wanted then. It is possible that it was trying to give us some time together. What were you thinking of last time?" he asked.

"Ha! I was quite angry that someone had written all that rubbish about me and wanted to see the headmaster about it."

"I was annoyed that I had to walk back to the staff room to fetch the papers he'd claimed were in his office in the first place. That's when I saw you." He pulled a hand away and lifted it to rub his chin. "So... we weren't thinking of the same thing at that moment. I suppose that theory is out."

"Maybe not. You became angry about the parchments as well. We both wanted to get to the bottom of it and see the guilty party punished. It's possible that it could have appeared in that instant without us knowing."

"Indeed," he agreed. "We'll have to test this out of course."

Hermione eagerly nodded her agreement, though her smile faded. "But that still doesn't explain the parchment. Who Transfigured it from the Ministry's approval papers for your time manipulating potion to that rubbish?"

"I've often thought that Rolanda and Minerva had something to do with it. They both seemed to cast knowing glances our way for a while after that," he said.

"Yes, but it would have taken more time than that to think out the horrid plot and change all those pages. Minerva's good, but she's not that good. You left with the headmaster before she joined Sinistra and Hooch. They were snickering even before that. Mind, it could have been that they were plotting it out, but I don't think so. They had the parchments already." She frowned. "Minerva walked over to them after. I'm not sure that Austrina or Rolanda is all that apt with Transfiguration."

"True," he conceded. "I suppose we'll never know." His eyes narrowed. "I'd still like to find out who was behind that, as I have a couple of nasty hexes I created just for them."

Hermione snickered as she lost herself in memory. "After all this time, you have to admit that it was amusing."

His frown lifted into a smile. "I suppose I can look back at it now and see it for its entertainment value; although I disliked it back then." He stood. "Come. Night is upon us. I don't want you to get a chill."

~o~

Watching Severus as he bent over his desk and scratched away on an unfortunate student's essay, Hermione thought back to the first time they'd made love. Just recalling the memory brought chills to her skin and tingles to her stomach. It hadn't taken long for them to approach the subject of sex, having both admitted to wanting it while captives in that room. As he'd nestled between her thighs and positioned himself, he'd lifted his head to gaze at her, black eyes heavily lidded with an equal mixture of lust and emotion. It was the first time that he'd truly knocked down all the walls surrounding him, giving her access to all of him, body and soul. She'd in turn smiled, wrapped her legs around his waist to pull him closer and slightly into her, and lovingly caressed his bare back, noting that he was trembling a little...just as she.

"And just what has you looking like the Kneazle who ate the Augurey?"

"Honestly?"

He sneered and said sarcastically, "No, lie to me. Tell me anything but what you're truly thinking of."

"I was reminiscing about the first time we made love."

His sneer transformed into a smirk. "Is that what you call it? Lovemaking? As I recall, it was a right heated coupling. Perhaps we should refer to it as lust-releasing, hmmm?"

"You loved me even then," she said confidently. "Admit it."

The chiming of the clock on the wall interrupted his reply. "That reminds me," he said, rising from his chair. "I retrieved something from our vault earlier when I went to Diagon Alley. Something for the baby."

"Oh?" She sat up straighter. "Let's see then."

"It was my mother's. He'll not be able to use it for a while yet, but I thought... I thought it might look nice on the shelf opposite the windows." He turned to pull the small portrait away from the wall behind his desk to reveal the small vault he used to store important things.

She could tell that he was trying to sound indifferent about it, but the soft look in his eyes belied his fondness for the object. Hermione quickly schooled her expression to look pleased whether it was something ghastly or not, as she could always move it later to a place less noticeable.

"Here it is," he said, pulling a small snow globe from within. "It's something my father bought her. She liked it even though it did nothing fantastic, save snow if it's shaken or play music if this is turned." He quickly wound the small golden rod beneath it, eliciting a soft melody from the globe.

Hermione was certain it was something she'd heard at one time or another and smiled, feeling tears in her eyes. It definitely had to mean something to him to save a Muggle gift and for him to give it to their baby. "I'll make certain to play it for him often. I like it very much."

"See how the maiden dances while the music plays?" He arched an eyebrow. "It broke, and she had to fix it with magic to make certain it worked. I'll just pick it up until we're finished with everything in the room."

"All right," she agreed, wiping her eyes.

"Heh, look at what I have here," he said as he placed it back inside.

She saw him extract a large stack of parchments. "Those aren't those Ministry approval sheets?" she asked incredulously. "It's been years since you've tossed them inside!"

"Along with the phial of potion that I never could get to work properly," he said sourly. "Perhaps I should look into it again."

Suddenly inspired, Hermione laughed loudly and said, "Goodness, but I've got an idea."

"Oh?"

Pointing her wand at the stack, she Transfigured the used parchments into blank sheets. "What say we have a bit of fun, Severus?"

"Explain."

"Let's try to reconstruct that ghastly story."

"You want to waste time writing something so ridiculous?" He cocked his head to the side and arched an eyebrow. "I am certain I can think of something else to occupy us."

"Later," she said and moved to sit next to his desk. Holding out her hand, she said, "Come on then. Give me some of that. I'm sure it doesn't matter if our plot is in order or not. Whomever wrote that other one didn't do a good job with that anyway." She smirked. "Having just read Lord of the Rings again, I think I want to try to write out that whole me going back in time to save Middle Earth plot. Always did fancy Legolas, you know."

Severus glared at her and sat behind his desk again, dipping his quill in ink. "Since you are obviously so fond of men with long, blond hair, I shall write that part about you and Lucius, making certain he looks the fool."

After two hours, Hermione stretched. "I think I need to get up for a bit and maybe use the loo."

"I'm a bit tired. We can always pick up on this in the morning," he replied.

"Oi! What's this?" she asked, pointing to his parchment.

"Whatever do you mean?" he asked defensively.

"Making your male bits into something outrageously large, are you?"

His eyes narrowed. "Are you trying to imply that I am not large?"

"No, not implying that at all." She waggled her eyebrows. "But if any man undressed and showed me something this big," she indicated the parchment, "I would run screaming from the room."

"The point is to be extremely absurd, is it not?" he asked, still slightly offended.

Changing tactics, she said, "Yes, so don't forget to make certain to be absurd with everything else: pastel colors in your room and the like." She yawned. "Best we don't read what we've each written just yet. We can piece them together and sit by the fire after it's all done and have a laugh... like we did in the room."

"I agree," he said thoughtfully before looking down at his parchment and quickly beginning to scratch away, obviously inspired. "I need to name it, and I've just remembered the other name: Plonker."

Hermione simply grinned and left him with his muse.

~o~

"Severus? Are you there?"

"I'm here," he replied, moving into view of his fireplace. "What is it, Headmaster?"

"Hermione let slip to me that you were thinking about looking into your potion again?"

Severus glared at the closed bedroom door, wishing she could see his expression. He'd told her to mention their decision to no one else...in case they failed. He didn't feel up to admitting his failure to Dumbledore again, as then he'd have to answer the man's pesky questions and detail everything.

"I'm not certain," Severus finally said. "She shouldn't have said anything at all until we made a decision for sure."

"Believe me, Severus, it was an accident," Hermione said as she came into the room.

"Come up to the staff room and have some tea with me," Dumbledore said. "Bring your notes and what you have of the potion with you."

Once the headmaster's face left the flames in the hearth, Severus turned to Hermione. "I don't appreciate this."

She passed by, unimpressed with his scowl, and picked up her stack of parchment from the table. "Have you finished the last thing you were writing up?" she asked sweetly, attempting to sway his mood.

"Yes, I did." He pulled his wand and summoned his stack. "We won't have time to do this now. It seems we have to go discuss the bloody potion with Albus in the staff room."

"I have a better idea," she began, slowly walking towards him and then placing a hand on his cheek. "Why don't we bring the story with us? While you go over your new notes with the headmaster, I'll put these into order, and after you're finished, we'll head up to our tower and read over some of it." She placed a kiss on his lips. "All right?"

"Very well," he said, enjoying the feel of her hard, round belly pressing against him. "Take this then while I get my notes and the phial."

~o~

"But, Severus, if what you're saying is accurate, there was no reason why it shouldn't have worked," Dumbledore said, pointing to the parchment in front of him.

"I tested it several times, and the results were never the same. This last batch made something disappear, yes, but I've no idea what time it went to, and it never resurfaced again."

Hermione stifled a yawn. Severus and Dumbledore had been talking for nearly three hours, and she was certain they'd each said the same things twenty times. She'd been amusing herself with reading parts of the story that Severus had written, but she was quite tired of sitting down.

"Excuse me, you two, but I believe I'm ready to return to our chambers," she interrupted politely.

"Yes, of course, my dear," Dumbledore said kindly. "Perhaps you could explain to Severus what I've been trying to say. It seems he doesn't want to listen to me."

"I would, but I'm in agreement with Severus. We set up tests and were disappointed each time," she said with a smile.

"As I've been saying..." Severus began.

"Indeed, indeed." He stood, taking the phial from the table and holding it up to the light. He uncorked it and sniffed the contents, making an expression of distaste as he did so. Suddenly, he turned the phial upside down, spilling most of the contents on the stack of parchment Hermione had placed on the table. "Oh, dear me."

Severus attempted to snatch the parchment away before much damage was done, but with a small pop, the entire stack disappeared, leaving the three staring at each other in astonishment.

"Still works, doesn't it?" the headmaster asked with a smug smile.

"We knew it sent off items already," Severus said heatedly. "I've been telling you that. We simply have no way of knowing when or where!"

"Severus..." Hermione said, tugging on his sleeve.

"I believe that your wife knows exactly what's happened."

"We're in the staff room," she said, eyes wide.

He eyed her warily. "Yes, Hermione, I know where we are. Are you... feeling well?"

"No, I mean, that's where the parchment was...the story that they were reading that night. They'd picked it up from this table and started reading."

"Which would explain why the papers I sought were suddenly not in my office and why I'd sent you back to the staff room to search for them there," Dumbledore said.

"So," Severus began, taking the phial from the headmaster, "this potion can send something back seven years in time then. With a little manipulating of its ingredients, we could likely change that to something more recent." He frowned. "But the parchment? Where is it now?"

Hermione said, "I'll bet if we look in the vault again, it will be there...just as we placed it years ago."

"How does this all tie in with that room?" Severus wondered aloud.

"You're not still going on about that room?"

"Yes, Headmaster," Hermione said, pointing a finger, "we've been telling you the truth, and just as we said, it reappeared to us last week."

"Though nothing we've tried since has helped to open it again," Severus added.

"Perhaps then, it is simply another mystery of the castle," Dumbledore conceded.

"Perhaps," Hermione agreed. "Come. Let's go see if the parchment is truly there."

"I will speak with you about this tomorrow, Headmaster," Severus said as he took Hermione by the hand. "It seems that we should collaborate after all."

"Yes, you seem to forget that I was once a brilliant alchemist. Off with you now."

They quickly made their way back to their chambers where Severus quickly pulled the portrait away from the wall and opened the small vault. "It's here," he said, slightly shocked. "And it's back to the Ministry papers again. The story's gone." He smirked. "I suppose your Transfiguration wasn't strong enough to withstand the test of time, eh?"

"Oh, no... Do you know what this means?" Hermione asked, laughing loudly. "Good grief, but I never expected this."

Severus' smirk faded, replaced by a look of annoyance, and he shook his head in disbelief. "This means that we are the dunderheads who wrote that horrid story in the first place!"

Southern's Notes: Well, there you have it. Of course they were the ones to write this crazy story, the poor souls. Sorry it's been so long since my last update. I could list many excuses, but I won't bore you with them. Thank you for reading. I appreciate all the reviews and all the requests made to add in. My biggest thank you goes to my yahoo!group, Potter_Place. The members there helped me compile the original list of things we didn't like to see in stories, what were clichés, and stuff we wanted to poke fun at. Cheers, all!