42: Putting On A Show

Chapter 42: Putting on a Show

When Hermione entered Headquarters under a Disillusionment Charm the next afternoon, she hoped things went even half as well with Harry as they had eventually gone with Severus. Somehow, she doubted she would be that lucky.

The house was quiet when she entered, and not wanting all and sundry to know of her arrival, she kept quiet and walked through to the kitchen. Empty. The library's only inhabitant was Crookshanks, who looked right at her, blinked lazily, then returned to cleaning himself.

She walked up the stairs, hoping Harry hadn't gone somewhere for the day, that he wasn't avoiding her, and that Ron would be out to work for his brothers or something. Hermione didn't think Harry would have shared his insights with Ron, hoped he hadn't as she wasn't prepared to deal with another round of Ron's righteous fury.

Hermione made it all the way up to the attic before finding anyone in the house. Harry stood facing a white dummy in the far corner, apparently practicing silent spell casting. He waved his wand and green shot from it, striking the dummy, which ripped along one shoulder.

"About time you showed up, Hermione. I was starting to wonder if I was going to have to owl you," Harry said without turning to face her.

"How did you know I was here? I thought I was quiet." Hermione silently removed the Disillusionment Charm and crossed the room to him.

Harry slashed his wand once more and left a burn mark on the dummy, then turned to face her. His face was inscrutable, impossible to read. "I have a spell cast on the front door so if I'm in the house, I'm alerted when someone comes over the threshold. I have another ward on this room. Ron's working and I was expecting you. No one else has come up here without an invitation in weeks. I suppose they don't want to catch a stray hex."

"Very impressive." Hermione smiled, honestly pleased with his accomplishment. She definitely hadn't taught him that. They stood staring at each other for a long moment; he looked like he was waiting for her to begin, so she took a deep breath. "You didn't mention any of what happened yesterday to Ron, did you?"

He lifted his eyebrows. "Are you kidding? Now that he's finally happy seeing Luna, you think I want to have him blow up all over again? If you want to bring him into this, that's your decision. Otherwise, he'll have to figure it out on his own. You probably should bring him into it, as he'll be seriously angry when he finds out that you've been keeping it a secret, but it's not my decision to make."

Threading her fingers together in front of her, Hermione nodded. "Thanks for that. So I guess you want to talk about it."

Turning, Harry pointed his wand at one of the large purple cushions with gold trim they used for defense practice and transfigured it into a plump sofa of the same colors. He gestured for her to take a seat.

"Another impressive piece of magic. You've really come a long way this summer."

Harry grunted, but didn't meet her eyes. "I've a good teacher."

The compliment warmed her, as she had been the one doing the teaching that summer. Hermione sat at the opposite end of the sofa, toed off her shoes and brought her feet up onto the cushion.

"Just start at the beginning and tell me what you can," he directed.

So she did. She started with the moment in the library when she and Severus had first touched, glossed over their courtship, talked about the diary and their marriage at Dumbledore's requirement. She mentioned what she could of the Dark Lord's expectations from their relationship, keeping to the pertinent points, and skipping unimportant items that might anger him and were really none of his business anyway.

"So you're really pregnant then?"

A hand crept over her belly, and Hermione held it close, still overwhelmed by the idea. "I really am. It terrifies me, but part of me is excited about it. Another part of me is angry because I'm so young and shouldn't be facing this yet. And I'm still angry with him for not discussing it with me before it happened. If it weren't for the situation we're in, both with Voldemort and the bond, I probably wouldn't speak to him for weeks. As it is, I'm still entertaining ideas of how to impress upon him how serious a mistake this was. I'm trying to come to terms with everything. It's a lot to take in."

"Yes." Harry paused for a long moment, then asked, his voice hesitant, "So, is he good to you? I mean, I know you said in the restaurant that he's different when it's just you than when he's around everyone else. But then you said he was still petty and spiteful sometimes, so he can't be all sunshine and roses."

Hermione pulled a face. "A Severus Snape who was all sunshine and roses, even in private, would totally creep me out." Harry laughed at that, but she continued, "That's not to say that he doesn't occasionally make very sweet gestures. There was one night he prepared the cottage with candle light and flowers for me." She paused as she realized that was the night he gave her the potions. He was setting the mood of seduction for Voldemort. That made her a bit sick, but she pushed it back. Surely he would have done the same for her even when he wasn't trying to manipulate her.

If only she could be certain.

He waved his hands to stop her before she could speak again. "I don't want to hear about his seduction capabilities. I'm trying to pretend you're pregnant by immaculate conception."

That made Hermione laugh. "You go ahead and believe that if you like; it's fine by me. He is gentle with me most of the time, far more than you would think possible. And his spite is mostly to cover up insecurities, really. Having an inside track into his emotions gives me a whole other insight into the man."

"There's an insight I really don't want to have into him, but at least I understand it because I have the same thing with Ginny. And what about him calling you my paramour? What was that all about?"

"Obviously, he knows better than that. He knows his little spell works wonderfully well, and he's seen us touch, so there's no question that I'm far more sister to you than anything else. And I'm sure he's aware Ginny's your soul mate. He knows Ginny's life would be at risk if Voldemort knew you still loved her, so he's covered by making it look as though you were in love with me."

"Which would only increase how angry it would make me to learn you had been, er, amorous with him." He pulled a face at the idea.

"Exactly."

"So where do we go from here?" Harry asked after a moment.

"Your reaction to him in the restaurant was spot on. We want Voldemort to think you're angry and disgusted by my relationship with Severus, feeling betrayed even. Angry enough you don't want to trust me ever again."

Harry shifted uncomfortably in his seat. "Voldemort doesn't know about your marriage, does he?"

"No, he doesn't know about the soul mate thing either, which is why I had to make it so the subject couldn't be discussed outside of Headquarters and the Burrow. If he gets so much as a whisper that Severus is tied to me, and not just manipulating me, we'll both be dead." The very idea filled Hermione with dread.

"So earlier this summer it wasn't Remus Snape was in contact with, was it? It was you all along. That's why he insisted he would only give the vow to you." Harry lifted his wand and Summoned a couple bottles of butterbeer from a magical cooling cabinet on the other side of the room. He pulled the lid off one and passed it to Hermione, then took the lid off the second and downed a few swallows.

"Yeah. It was always me. We communicate through the diary I carry around. Anything either of us writes in it is duplicated on the other side."

"I've looked over your shoulder when you wrote in it. Looked like Charms notes to me."

"Only I can read my copy, only he can read his. It's safer that way." Hermione took a long pull from her bottle. "So what did you tell people last night?"

Harry shrugged. "Ron, Tonks and Remus asked where you were, I told them you were spending the night with your soul mate, that I was upset with you about something and didn't want to talk about it."

Hermione played with the top of her bottle, running her finger around the rim. "We could tell Remus and Tonks the truth, and Ron a partial truth, at least that Severus came in and saved us, helped put things to rights."

"You want to tell the whole truth to Remus and Tonks?" He lifted his eyebrow in surprise.

Licking her lips, Hermione set back against the sofa and looked him in the eye. "Remus already knows everything. Well, everything except for the pregnancy part. Tonks knows I've been bringing the info in for all these months, and I think she's figured out about me and Severus, though she doesn't know for sure and has never asked about our personal relationship." She saw Harry begin to protest and hurried to explain to calm him. She told him about Remus catching her and Severus in Flourish and Blotts and their later meetings to discuss her relationship with Severus, and his requirement of the vow. Then she had to explain how Tonks knew about her involvement.

"So do we tell the Order that there's not really a problem between us, that we're just pretending, or do we act as though you and I are really at odds?" Harry asked when she had finished.

Hermione stood and walked to the small window that faced the miniscule back yard of number twelve, Grimmauld Place. "I don't know. I've been thinking about it all morning. We might try a combination. Those who are completely trustworthy might be let in on the truth, or at least the portion of it that pertains to our friendship still being intact. For others of whom we're a bit less certain, we might put on a scene so they believe we really have fallen out...especially those inclined to gossip."

"Fallen out about what?" Ron asked coming into the room.

"When did you get here, mate?" Harry asked in surprise.

"Flooed over from the shop. Fred let me go early; it was quieter than usual." Ron snagged a bottle of butterbeer and sat on an enlarged cushion on the ground and looked at Hermione. "So Harry said you were fighting. Is it all worked out now?"

"Looks like you forgot the Floo," Hermione said, looking at Harry. It could have been really bad if Ron had walked in a few minutes earlier and heard about Severus. She thanked her lucky stars for small miracles.

He ran a hand through his hair and nodded. "I'll take care of it tonight. You want to explain about our falling out?"

"Hmm, where to start." What to admit to, is more like it. "Harry and I didn't really have a falling out. We went to that Chinese restaurant yesterday and our lunch was interrupted by the arrival of Death Eaters."

Ron's attention was completely fixed on her as she explained about their fight, Severus Snape's arrival and the way he made it look like Hermione trusted him and Harry didn't. That it had caused a rift between Harry and Hermione. "Because Voldemort wants nothing more than to cripple Harry any way he can. He saw splitting us up as one of the ways to do that. Snape and I have had this planned for a while, actually." Hermione hoped she had managed to talk around the issue enough that he was happy, but only knew what she wanted him to know.

"Wow, so what're we going to do?" Ron said after he'd had time to take it all in.

"Set it up," Harry said. "Two meetings; first, at tonight's Order meeting, we put on a show when she shows up. Then we either corral certain people to stay afterward or get together for another quiet meeting later. It might be best if we hold it at the Burrow again to prevent the wrong people showing up."

"The usual suspects? Or do we be more selective than with Snape's Vow?" Hermione asked.

When they had pounded out the solution, Hermione left before anyone else came by. She would spend a little time in her garden before the meeting. This could tax her acting ability significantly, and gardening seemed to sooth her, or at least being in the cottage soothed her, and she needed something to keep her hands busy.

*****

The Order meeting was already well underway when Hermione arrived back at Headquarters later that night. If they were going to make a real scene, best do it when everyone would be forced to watch. She was nervous, her hands shook, and she knew her face was pale, but that was an advantage in the long run as she should be concerned about going to the meeting if she and Harry really had a row the previous day.

The hall was quiet when she entered and walked down toward the kitchen where the meeting was being held. The door was open and she poked her head into the room which had a yellow cast from the light bulb hanging above the group of thirty or so witches and wizards. The twins, Bill and Fleur and Professor McGonagall were all missing, but they would be invited to the other meeting the trio had planned for the following night, so it was of little consequence. Tonks sat in a back corner; Remus was nowhere to be seen.

Mundungus Fletcher finished his report and sat back down, then Mad-Eye stood and turned to her. "Granger, anything new to report from the traitor?" He had never forgiven Remus for not inviting him to the Vow ceremony and took it out on Hermione sometimes, as she was the recipient. As it was as much her fault as anyone's, she didn't hold it against him.

Harry stood and whirled around, his eyes narrowing in anger. "What are you doing here? I told you, you aren't welcome here anymore."

"Now, Harry, I know you've had a row of some kind, but you've argued before and everything has come out right in the end," Arthur Weasley said. He gestured for Harry to be seated, but Harry didn't pay attention.

"This is different. We're not going to patch it up, and she's not welcome here." Harry lifted his wand, not pointing it at her, but in her general direction, a suggested threat.

"Harry, I..." Hermione was interrupted by Mad-Eye.

"Harry, you aren't the head of the Order, and you don't get to make those decisions."

"No, but I do own the house. It belongs to me, and she's not welcome in it anymore. Never again."

Tears poured into Hermione's eyes and down her face. Harry's acting was so good she found herself hard-pressed to remember that it was an act. "You don't understand, please..."

"I understand perfectly. I was there, wasn't I? I saw...I can't even talk about what I saw. It makes me sick to think about it."

"Come now, Harry. How about if you let her explain, then we can discuss this like adults instead of hot-headed children." Moody thumped over to where Harry stood and placed a hand on his shoulder. Harry shook it off.

"If she wants to tell you, let her. Another time." Harry turned back to Hermione and lowered his voice, put every ounce of venom in his face he could muster, and finished, "For now, I want you out. And don't come back. You can meet with someone somewhere else to give your reports. I never want to see your face again."

Bursting into tears, or at least making a noise that would sound like she was bursting into tears, Hermione covered her face with her hand and turned, running from the kitchen. She slammed the front door on her way out of the building, then immediately Apparated away before someone could come looking for her.

When she landed in her cottage garden, she smiled at the memory of everyone's shocked faces, wiping the few tears that had actually slipped down her face. A few deep breaths calmed her before she walked to the cottage and inside. Severus was in the front room, settled down on a sofa with a book.

He looked up. "I take it all went as planned?"

"Perfectly. I probably should have waited a little longer before showing up as I doubt they will get much done at the meeting now. Harry looks like the biggest git who ever lived, but they'll get over it."

Severus smiled and held out a hand, inviting her to snuggle up beside him. "Next meeting tomorrow, then?"

Hermione nodded but didn't accept his invitation. "Tomorrow evening. Ron worked out for Tonks and Remus to be at Headquarters in the morning though, so I'll swing by there and lay out the true scenario for them before the meeting. And we've got some errands to run."

"No. You aren't going out without an escort again, not even Disillusioned or in disguise. Your wandering days are over." Severus closed his book and stood beside her, his face carefully bland and his emotions shielded.

Glaring at his demand, Hermione put her hands on her hips and looked up into his face. "It's perfectly safe for us to go about Muggle London; it's not like we're going into Diagon Alley where everyone will recognize us. I can't be seen with Harry anyway, not if we want this to come off."

"It's perfectly safe in Muggle London?" He lifted his eyebrows at her. "I believe you were in Muggle London when Draco saw you with the twits you call friends and decided to visit your parents? And you were in a Muggle restaurant two days ago when you were beset by Death Eaters, were you not?"

Feeling the blood drain from her head, Hermione took the chair nearby. "That's low, bringing up my parents like that."

"Be that as it may, you cannot go out alone anymore. The boys shouldn't be out without guards either. I know Potter thinks he's invincible, but the four Death Eaters at that restaurant didn't have too much trouble taking him down, even with you and the proprietors to distract them, not to mention the Muggles."

"You cannot dictate to me..."

"I can and I will if you force me to. I'd rather not. Think, Hermione. Just think for a few minutes about the danger you put yourself in, our baby in, me in, if you get caught out with those boys. We can't afford to be foolish. Things are getting desperate here, and Potter's dueling skills need some work."

"Thanks, I hadn't realized that." Her sarcasm was laid on as thick as possible. He didn't so much as acknowledge her comment.

"You look tired. Perhaps it is time we turned in for the night." He closed his book and set it aside, then offered a hand to her.

Still irritated with his high-handedness, she looked at the hand, then up at his face. She stood and turned away, heading toward the bedroom. "So long as you don't think you're going to be doing anything besides sleeping in that bed tonight."

"Hermione, we didn't do anything interesting last night either." He reached out and ran a finger down her neck, bringing shivers to her back.

"And we probably won't be doing anything interesting in it tomorrow night, or the night after that. In fact, we may not do anything interesting in it again before this baby enters Hogwarts." Hermione used her wand to change her clothes to a pair of flannel pajamas.

"Be reasonable, will you. I'm sorry I kept it a secret from you. It was wrong."

"Yes, well you aren't the one who will suffer from swollen ankles and indigestion, are you? You won't be blowing up like a balloon or waddling to the bathroom every half hour because the baby is sitting on your bladder." She slipped between the blankets and turned her back to him. "And you won't be getting up to breast feed the baby at two and four in the morning, either."

"You're just being overly dramatic now." He stood behind her; she could see it in the mirror as he set his hands on his hips, anger rolling from him.

She really didn't care. "Good night, Severus. Sleep well." Then she practiced her wandless magic, guttering all the candles in the room at once.

He grumbled and mumbled behind her, changing out of his clothing the slow way, then grabbed his pillow from the bed and took it to the living room. Hermione smiled to herself and thought about all the ways she could make her husband's life miserable as her pregnancy progressed. And to top it, she couldn't believe he was going to dictate to her about where she could go.

Now that she had been put more or less under house arrest, she wondered how she was to get those books on pregnancy. With her final conscious thought, she decided to ask Tonks to pick them up. It would be good to have another woman to talk to who knew everything about her situation.

*****

The next morning, Hermione showed up at Grimmauld Place at breakfast time. Severus spent the night on the sofa, which he had transfigured to a bed. The room was narrow enough, however, that there hadn't been room for a particularly wide bed, and he had acted more than a little disgruntled when she met him over the breakfast table before leaving.

Hermione felt the tiniest niggling of guilt for that, but it was easily pushed aside. She hadn't kicked him out of the bed, after all. He was welcome to stay, he just wasn't welcome to do more than sleep in it.

She had Disillusioned herself before leaving the cottage and making her way across the street to Headquarters. Remus and Tonks were sitting with Ron and Harry at the breakfast table when Hermione arrived. She looked around and came to stand behind Harry, placing a hand on his shoulder.

"Hermione," he said after he jumped at her touch. "No one else is here, just show yourself."

She turned her wand on herself and came back into view. "Hey." She sat beside Harry and reached for the plate of bacon. "Glad you two could meet with me this morning. We've got a lot to cover."

Remus stared at Hermione, then looked at Harry, who had turned back to his breakfast again. He returned his gaze to Hermione again. Finally, he looked at Tonks, as though to ask if he hadn't understood her explanation of the previous night's events.

Tonks sat with her mouth open slightly, clearly unsure about what she was seeing. "Wait a minute," she said after a moment. "You two had a big argument last night, and Harry told you never to come back. Now you're best buddies again? Not that I'm complaining, but what's going on?"

"It's all a sham. We've got to put on a show, after all. Please pass the milk, Ron." Hermione poured herself a full glass and took a nice long drink. She could pass on eggs and toast, since it had only been a short time since she ate last, but she couldn't pass up bacon.

"What do you mean it's a sham? Do you want to explain yourself?" Remus set down his cup of coffee.

"Eat your breakfast. Then you, Tonks, and I will go into the library for a chat." Hermione picked up another slice of bacon and savored it while two curious adults watched her as they all ate.

When it came time to go into the library, Ron planned to come along. Hermione shot a look at Harry, and he nudged Ron up the stairs saying he needed a partner for dueling practice, and since Ron already knew the story, he didn't need to stay and listen.

After warding the library door and placing an Imperturbable Charm on it, Hermione turned to Remus and Tonks.

"So what's going on, then?" Remus asked as Hermione took the seat across from the two of them.

Hermione looked at Tonks and took a deep breath. "I'm sure you've figured out that Severus was always my contact in Voldemort's camp. And you probably made the connection that he and I, well, that he's my soul mate." Tonks nodded, and Hermione let out a breath of relief. "What you don't know is that we're actually married." Hermione revealed her ring and then gave a very brief rundown of her history with Severus. When that was through, she turned to their plans, Voldemort's decree, and the events in the Chinese restaurant. She didn't mention that she hadn't planned on getting pregnant or that it had come as a complete surprise to her. As far as she was concerned, no one else needed to know that.

"So why is it you don't want the Order to know the truth?" Tonks asked when Hermione was done explaining.

"The small meeting we've got planned for this evening is to explain some of this to those we trust absolutely. There can't be the slightest hint of the truth get out to Voldemort. We figured the easiest way to keep our secret is to only impart it to those we must."

"So are you telling the Weasleys about being married and pregnant then?" Remus gave her a doubtful look.

Hermione shook her head. "Those at the meeting tonight, which won't expand much beyond the Weasley family, will only know that we're putting on a show for Voldemort, and to spread the word of our falling out as far and wide and subtly as they can." She remembered Bill's strange behavior the other day and wondered if he had realized she was pregnant. She trusted his discretion and planned to feel the situation out a bit before bringing him into things any further.

"I hope this doesn't backfire," Tonks said, looking as though she was having difficulty taking it all in.

"Me too. I'm glad I've finally told you; I knew you had your suspicions," Hermione said.

"Yeah, and you'll need a woman to talk to. What are you going to tell your mum?" Tonks said.

Remus walked across the room to give the women privacy. Hermione appreciated his tact. "I have no idea. I keep pushing that concern away, as I could still miscarry, and it's not safe for me to tell mum about my marriage to Severus yet, though we are planning a visit so she can meet him. I'll be so glad when this is all over and I can have one story for everyone, instead of trying to remember how much each person knows."

"That must be difficult. And then to find out you're pregnant. Don't get me wrong, I'm glad to know you are actually married to him, since I know you haven't exactly been celibate, but it'll add more difficulty later, if we can't get him cleared and safe from Azkaban."

"Tell me about it. And my powers are getting weaker because of the pregnancy, which is something I hadn't counted on, but it doesn't seem to have surprised Severus." She found herself slightly bitter on this issue as the war was getting hotter and there had been a couple attacks lately that she hadn't been able to warn the Order about, either because it would point to Severus, or because he hadn't been aware of them at the time. She wanted to be active in this war.

Tonks waved her hand in dismissal. "Oh, that's temporary; by the time you reach three months, your power will return, and by the end of your pregnancy, it will be stronger than ever. Mum said the first trimester you share your power with the baby and the next two it shares its power with you."

"Really? I didn't know. After all, Muggle pregnancy doesn't work that way." Hermione bit her lip, then plowed on. "Can you do me a favor? I can't go back out into Muggle London unescorted anymore and wondered if you had time and could run to Flourish and Blotts for me?"

________

AN: My humblest apologies. I was certain I posted up this chapter the morning after posting the corrections on chapter 41, but apparently, it never made it past my wall of good intentions.

As always, a big thanks to those who took the time to review. Thanks to my beta, countrymouse, and to the fabulous admins who have so much on their plates and still take time to clear our stories.