Chapter 10

Disclaimer: All things Harry Potter belong to JKR.

A/N: Hey! Stop trying to look through that keyhole! You'll never find my awesome beta! Cough Southern_Witch_69 Cough Not until after voting!

Hermione stretched and yawned, feeling rested and much better. Something had woken her, and she looked about the room, disoriented. She wasn't surprised to find herself sleeping on the couch. No, what surprised her was to find that Severus had stayed with her. Suddenly, she heard a hissing noise coming from the direction of her fireplace.

"Hermione? Hermione Jane Weasley! Come here this instant."

Hermione groaned. Ron. Carefully rising so that she wouldn't wake Severus, she walked to the fireplace and knelt down.

"What?" she asked irritably. "I was sleeping." Then suddenly, she gasped. "Ron, the kids. Are they okay? Has something happened?"

"No. Calm down, Hermione! I just wanted to ask you something. Rose and Hugo tell me that you're pregnant and that you're not saying who the father is."

Hermione narrowed her eyes, a sign she was becoming angry, Ron knew. "I certainly don't see how anything to do with my personal life is any of your business." Actually, Hermione was rather surprised that his family hadn't told him by now.

"See, that's where you're wrong. Anything that reflects badly on you will reflect badly on my children. What were you thinking? All you had to do to prevent a pregnancy was swallow a potion, for Merlin's sake!"

Hermione leaned forward. "Reflects badly on the children? You mean, unlike an extra-marital affair would?"

"Right. Well, at least I could hide that. You can't hide a huge belly, Hermione. Who is the father?"

"None of your damned business!" she yelled, forgetting she was trying not to wake Severus. "Just who in the hell do you think you are? You can't just pop in here at seven in the morning and demand things from me! Hold on," Hermione said as a thought popped into her head. "You stayed up until two just so you could speak with me about this?"

"Yes, I did. I have to wonder what you're thinking of, Hermione, and what's wrong with you. Does the man who put you in this condition even know that you're carrying his child?"

"As a matter of fact, yes, he does. I will not discuss this with you, Ronald. As I've said, it's none of your business. Besides, that's Molly Weasley, and perhaps Lavender Brown, talking...not you. What? Your mum was afraid to ask me these things herself?"

"Lavender Weasley! And anything to do with my children is my business! They're worried about you!"

"There's no reason for them to be, and I'll absolutely speak with them about my situation when they come home. But what I refuse do to is speak with you about it!"

"What will people say?" he asked as if she'd not said anything at all. "Rose and Hugo will be teased about having a bastard brother or sister."

"That'll do, Weasley," Severus said in a low, threatening growl. "I won't allow you to call my child a bastard."

"Snape's child?" Ron looked to Hermione for confirmation, but her eyes were on Snape. "What the bloody hell is he doing there this early? As a matter of fact, what is he doing over there at all? Are you telling me that you're actually pregnant with Snape's baby?"

"At the moment, getting ready for a spot of breakfast," Severus answered only the first question before Hermione could speak.

"Hermione?" Ron asked. "Honestly, what's going on?"

Hermione rose, turning back to the fireplace. "Go to bed, Ron. I'm not discussing this with you now." As Hermione walked away, following Severus into the kitchen, she heard Ron yell, "This is not over!"

"Do you mind if I prepare us something to eat?" he asked her.

"No, you go ahead. I have to admit, I was surprised when I woke and found that you were still here."

He looked over his shoulder at her. "We weren't finished with our conversation. What are you going to do about your ex?"

"Do? Nothing. This situation does not concern him in the least."

"We agree there, but I don't think he'll give up. He's like a hippogriff with a ferret."

Hermione shrugged. "I can deal with Ron. I've been doing it for years. He likely wouldn't even have bothered contacting me about this at all...or perhaps through owl only...if his mum hadn't harped about it. And as far as my children, well, they were perfectly fine until they'd gone on holiday with their grandparents."

"Yes, I can see that woman going on and on. Still, I think it's a good idea that he knows. As a matter of fact, I don't think the fact that it's my child should be kept secret any longer now that I know," he told her as he fluffed the eggs.

"I see," she said as she watched him cook, deciding not to comment any further until they'd decided what exactly they were going to do.

"You enjoy that," she said, remembering the lunch he'd cooked for them the first time they'd been together.

"What? Cooking? Yes, somewhat. I've learned to prefect my skills over the years cooking for Liam."

"Speaking of Liam..."

When she hesitated, Severus turned completely around and looked at her, gesturing for her to continue.

"Where is his mother, Ireland?" she asked.

"No," he answered quietly as he turned to put the eggs onto plates. After setting Hermione's in front of her, he sat down and looked at her.

Suddenly, Hermione was very nervous. Severus had had a child with this woman, so she must have meant a great deal to him at one point. But if that was the case, where was she? Was Liam the product of a one night stand? Of a situation similar to the one that herself and Severus had been in? She rose and put the kettle on. "You forgot the tea."

"Yes."

She could feel his eyes boring into her back as she prepared the tea. The thing was, she didn't know if she wanted to hear this story or not. Of course, she wanted to know Severus' past, but she couldn't imagine leaving her children for any reason. What kind of woman was Liam's mother? Why had she left, leaving Severus to raise the child alone? Well, there was only one way to find out.

After setting the tea on the table, Hermione took her set and looked directly into Severus' eyes. "Where is she then?"

Severus picked up his cup and took a long drink of the tea, slightly burning his tongue. "I am going to tell you of Shannon, how we met and things about her before I get into where she is now."

Hermione nodded, taking a bite of her eggs. She sensed his urgency of wanting her to know the details. "All right."

"When I first met Shannon O'Leary, she was living in the same condo that you did." Severus smiled slightly. "She was young and full of life. A painter."

"Those paintings in your condo?"

"Yes, she'd painted them. She was very talented. After living beside her for about a month, she came over to my condo one day, out of the blue, asking to paint me." Severus chuckled at that memory. "I, of course, slammed the door in her face."

"Of course."

"At first I'd thought that she'd merely recognized me and, in turn, wanted recognition for herself, but that was not the case. She kept stopping by from time to time, and I kept telling her no until one day, she'd brought a painting to me that she'd done. It was me all right, with the deepest scowl I'd ever seen.

"She'd saucily informed me, 'Here's your portrait, you rotten bugger! It's the way I see you every time we speak.' Well, that had earned her tea in my kitchen."

Hermione smiled. "I'd like to see that painting."

"I still have it. Anyway, she got into the habit of coming for tea everyday, and we'd talk and talk. I'd learned that she had two older brothers, but that she was a Squib, and her parents, though they'd tried to hide it, were ashamed of her. So, due to that, she'd left Ireland."

"How terrible for her!"

"Yes. She didn't leave Ireland on good terms with her family and hadn't spoken with them in years. It pained her, but she tried to act as if it didn't matter to her. Sometimes I'd encourage her to owl them, but for the most part, I left it alone. At the time, it was really none of my concern, and she didn't really seek my advice in the matter."

So he'd been someone whom Shannon could not only talk with but also count on to try and help her. Hermione couldn't count the times that she'd actually wanted his advice but to no avail.

"Well, as you can imagine, our relationship progressed."

"You fell in love with her?"

"Not at first. At first, I fell into lust with her. How could I not? She possessed such a... zest for life, despite her family problems. I don't think she even minded the fact she'd been a Squib.

"I remember the day she burst into my lab and exclaimed, 'Severus! I'm pregnant!' She was so happy and proud."

"How did you feel about it?" Hermione was starting to feel jealous, and it was making her uncomfortable. She didn't even feel like this when she'd walked in on her husband in her bed with another woman.

"Everything you can imagine. Gobsmacked, thrown, angry because I'd never wanted a child, and just a small, tiny bit in awe. But Shannon? She was thrilled from the beginning."

That surprised Hermione. How could someone so thrilled about having a baby completely abandon it? She just couldn't make any sense of what Severus was telling her.

"What did you do?"

"We eloped," he said with a chuckle.

"You married her?" Now Hermione was completely confounded. If they'd married, then what had happened? He speaks of her so fondly, whether he realizes it or not.

"Oh, yes, Shannon had gone to our local library to research potential elopement places, something you'd be familiar with," he teased without noticing she frowned at the comparison. "She found a little chapel in Rome and made all the arrangements. We went one weekend, got married, and took a two-day tour."

Hermione could picture it so perfectly, except that it didn't sound like her Severus at all. Her Severus was cold-hearted, distant, and cutting. Shannon's Severus sounded fun-loving and attentive. Hermione sighed and shook her head.

"Sounds romantic."

"It shouldn't have been for what we could afford, but we made it memorable."

"Lovely for you then." Hermione rose and started putting the dishes in the sink, trying to hide how hurt hearing about his life with Shannon made her.

"Hermione, you don't have to do that now, do you?"

"I can do this and hear about Liam's mum at the same time." She refused to call Shannon his wife. It made her feel as if she'd been no better than Lavender. Only, Shannon wasn't in the picture any longer, was she? Did they divorce? His words broke through her musings.

"As soon as we'd gotten back, she moved into my condo and got permission from the owner to paint the nursery. She'd painted both wizard and Muggle fairytales throughout the walls. It was wonderful. Liam never did want paint over them as he got older."

Hermione turned to look at him. "I don't understand any of this, Severus. You sound as if you loved her. If that's the case, then where..."

He held up a hand to stop her question. "Patience."

Hermione simply turned back to the dishes. "All right. Continue, please."

"She did all of the typical things pregnant women do, I suppose. Nursery and clothes shopping, things of that nature. She insisted that I attend every doctor's appointment with her, but that wasn't a hardship on me.

"The pregnancy wasn't hard on her at all. If anything, it made her seem more vibrant. She never got sick, and when her belly got big, she was overjoyed."

"Wow, what a saint," Hermione said sarcastically. "Did she knit booties and blankets, too?"

Merely raising an eyebrow at her sarcastic tone, he told her, "She tried. That didn't turn out very well."

"Oh, you mean there was something that she didn't excel at?"

"Careful. Your green is showing."

"Just finish." Hermione was getting upset. Damn hormones. She'd wanted him to talk about his past, but she'd had no idea that he'd go into this much detail. Not sure how much more she could take, she told him when he only stared at her, "I said finish it."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes."

"Positive? I don't want hearing about this to upset you. I'm only trying to paint you a picture of my life with her," he confirmed once more. When she nodded that she still wanted to hear, he continued, "Her labor was rather difficult because of her small frame, and lengthy with it, but after seventeen hours, Liam John Snape yelled his way into the world. John is her father's name."

Severus stopped talking, and when Hermione turned to look at him, he was staring off into space with a pained expression on his face. Hermione realized that this was the part where she would learn what had ended their marriage.

She left the dishes to dry and walked back to the table to sit back down. As much as hearing the first part hurt her, she intuitively knew that what he was about to tell her was going to hurt him so much more.

He took a deep breath and continued. "When Liam was about six weeks old, Shannon wanted her parents to know of him. I encouraged her to write to them, but she thought, justifiably, that telling your family that you'd gotten married and had a child deserved a face to face consultation."

"Yes, I can see that."

"She booked a flight to Ireland. I'd tried talking her into letting me get her a Portkey, but she refused. I honestly think that was some form of rebellion on her part because of her being a Squib. She did as little magical things as possible."

He stood and walked to the kitchen window, gazing out. "The day she left, Liam and I had just gotten in from our daily walk, and I flipped on the telly she'd insisted that we get as I was walking through to grab a bottle for his lunch. It was all over the news."

Hermione braced herself for what he was about to say.

"The plane hadn't been in the air an hour when it had crashed; no survivors. I didn't believe it, of course. I flooed Narcissa, and she immediately came to stay with the baby while I made an illegal Portkey to take me directly to where she was. I didn't trust myself enough to try to Apparate."

Hermione stood and walked to him, gently rubbing his back. "I'm so very sorry, Severus."

"I won't go into the details of what I found at the site of the crash, but suffice it to say that she hadn't survived. Wanting to honor her last wishes, I took Liam and went to the O'Learys' a couple of days before her funeral."

He rubbed his hands roughly over his face, and Hermione thought that he looked incredibly tired. "They were heart-broken, needless to say. They came for the funeral and have kept in touch with Liam ever since then."

"Well, at least they got to meet their grandson. That was very noble of you, Severus."

"No, it wasn't. I did it for Shannon and Shannon alone. It was the least I could do for her."

"No, you're doing the least you could do for her now. You've been doing it the past eleven years. You're raising your son with love while honoring his mother."

"He's been everything to me. He's a lot like her in some ways, but also reserved like me. I'm proud of him."

Hermione smiled. "It shows."

"Hermione," he said softly and took her hand into his. "I'll not love our child any less."

She squeezed his hand. "I believe you, Severus. So, I've come to a decision."

"Yes?" he asked, moving just a bit closer to her, watching her lips as she spoke.

Hermione took a step back. She couldn't think with him looking at her like that. Before she even knew what was happening, he licked his lips, and her nipples tightened and tingled in response.

She took another step back, needing the distance. "I'm willing to go see the barrister with you as soon as you can get an appointment."

"I was hoping that you'd... Wait! What did you just say?"

Hermione cocked her head to the side. "I said I'm willing to go see the barrister with you. You know, to draw up visitation papers and things of that sort."

"That's want you want? Exchanging our child every other weekend and a few days during the week?"

"Well, I don't see any other alternative since I'm not willing to part with my baby much longer that that! It's going to be hard enough as it is with me breast feeding."

"You don't see any other alternative? What about us becoming a family, Hermione?"

"You mean get married?" she asked incredulously.

"Yes, that's exactly what I mean."

"Are you mad? Do you think I would marry you...or want you to marry me...just because I'm pregnant? I can't honestly believe that you actually love me. Besides, it's over between us, Severus. I can't continue on with the way things were. You hurt me too badly."

"I wouldn't want things to be the way they were before! Don't you believe in second chances?"

"Second chances? I gave you dozens of second chances! You threw each and every one back in my face."

"You're right. I did," he agreed. "And I'm sorry for that. Sorrier than you'll ever know. But I'm asking you to give me a second chance now that I truly want one. Now that so much at stake."

"It's not just us, Severus. We've children to consider." She laid a hand protectively over her stomach. "I'm glad that you've confided in me about Lily and Shannon, and truly, it does help me to understand you better, but I still say it does not excuse the way you've treated me."

He raised an eyebrow and folded his arms across his chest. "I wasn't looking for an excuse. Don't you see? I've loved two women before you and both have died. Tragically."

"Yes, that's true. And though it's extremely sad and wasteful, that was still not a good enough reason for you to treat me so cruelly at times."

"I wanted to spare us both the heartache."

She sighed. "Well, you only succeeded in increasing mine. And to be perfectly honest, I don't see how hurting me spared you any heartache either. I've got to open my shop, Severus, and I need a shower. Would you like to make an appointment or shall I?"

"We'll discuss this tonight over dinner."

"No, we won't."

"I'd like to take you out."

"No."

"Say, around sevenish?"

"Severus! I'm not going out to dinner with you!"

He walked over to her, grabbed her shoulders, pulled her to him, and kissed her thoroughly. "Goodbye, love. I'll see you this evening." Then he walked out of her flat without waiting for a response.

Hermione shook her head. No, she'd not go to dinner with him. She just couldn't put herself through that again, however badly part of her wanted to believe him.

A/N: A battle of wills begins!