Hermione was happy. It was a strange occurrence, for she hadn't thought the possibility of happiness was even plausible while living at Spinner's End.

The place was creepy, if she was going to be honest. She knew nothing that had went on there, and Severus only spoke vaguely of what had happened during the war, hating to dwell on it.

The worst thing about the whole ordeal was the fact that Hermione cared for Severus. It only took her a couple of weeks, really, but just over her third trimester and she realized that it wasn't the pregnancy which made her care for him.

When he'd told her to call him his first name, she'd shied from it, but it grew on her the first time she snapped at him. Severus was a wonderful cook, and Hermione only wanted to make her own food once. Regardless, they'd gotten along very well besides her strange changing in emotions every so often.

There was a wonderful dynamic that they had which was beyond anything that she shared with Ron or Harry. It was the intellectual part of her that had begged for an appropriate partner for years, and now that it finally had it the damn thing had gone and got attached.

Hermione was attached to Severus Snape, living with him in small quarters made it very hard not to be attached to such a man.

He'd apologized almost the moment she'd gotten there for the tiny space, but honestly, she loved it. After months of camping and being out in the open, the lovely confinement of a small house was probably one of the best things for her. She'd kept all of her apartments small over the years, not daring to live like Harry did in Godric's Hollow with Ginny. Their house was large and very homely, but it gave Hermione anxiety and being cozy by a warm fire where walls were seven feet away was preferable to vaulted ceilings and twelve rooms.

His apology for his home was followed immediately with an apology for how he'd treated her and her peers over the years. He gave them as though he knew they wouldn't mean much to her, that that time was merely nothing now, it was void because even she did not act her usual self at Hogwarts during those years. How could she when she had such bad influences upon her named Ron Weasley and Harry Potter?

Severus told her everything about him, and it was... disconcerting to Hermione as she took the few weeks to adjusting knowing everything about one man. Especially a man who'd been her professor but a few years back. She knew his past, the torment he'd gone through in his home... how terrible his past was. She almost felt bad for disrespecting him in school, but all the odd comments he'd berated her with during that time evened out the feeling.

So knowing all of this, she'd told him everything about herself of course. The strangest part of it wasn't the doing it, no telling him she actually had no problem with. It was even easy to divulge all her secrets to him, even some she probably shouldn't have. The odd part of the exchange was that he listened so intently she could have mistaken his silence and stillness for a Petrificus Totalus charm. Every once in a while there was a slight nod or hum, but besides that he was engaged and listening. Despite its oddness, Hermione reveled in not being interrupted to ask what something meant or to elaborate. It was refreshing and exhilarating.

What else could she say than that she cared for Severus Snape? It wasn't love per se, it was moreover the complete attachment she was having for him, and the fact that he was admittedly an attractive man. There was grey in his hair now, and he held himself higher than when Voldemort had controlled his life. Although Dumbledore had done the same thing, so poor Severus Snape hadn't had free will in years.

Hermione couldn't exactly say she loved him. No, love couldn't come yet her heart was still too hard from Ron's idiocy. He'd played her, and Hermione was remiss to trust her heart to someone else, but right now all Severus had signed up for was her child. He didn't want her, and from the living circumstances that she was in, it was obvious to her he did not have the same inclinations. She didn't know for sure, but Hermione didn't think he'd just give in to her.

Severus was a smart man, and currently he was looking for a woman to be with anyways. He wanted to raise a child, and he didn't mind doing it alone, but apparently with someone was preferred.

Besides it all, Hermione would have to go out on a few formal dates with him to know if we really wanted a relationship with him. Although the the dim dinners at Spinner's End were about as close as it got to a romantic candlelit outing one paid for in a restaurant. She adored talking to him, and even better yet, Hermione really liked who he was now.

The tenderness in the care he gave her and the wit with which he gave to the outside world was astonishing. She knew two different men, the man who was soon to raise a child, and then the one who interacted with the world and the people in it. He still thought almost everyone else was an imbecile, which to his advantage, he tended to be right, and he was still a stick in the mud at times, but Hermione could see the charisma he'd been hiding all those years. It peaked out at the strangest of times, and his caring side was almost frightening it had such an intensity to it.

So there she was caring about Severus Snape... but she also cared about something else she certainly shouldn't. The child inside her was not only growing but growing on her. Every time she felt the flutter of movement or it affected her in a certain way, she decided it was charming, and with Severus as a father one day, she was sure the child would be everything that encompasses grace.

Maybe she could act as the young aunt who visited on weekends and brought chocolate?

Hermione wanted, beyond anything, to get back to her life as soon as possible and this kept the caring about the child at bay. She lettered her friends often enough and told them about her sabbatical, how she was doing important research or what have you and that she would be back soon. As soon as the baby came, she would leave Severus and resume her life the best she could.

The only problem was actually leaving. Every day she felt like the task was becoming more and more unrealistic.

It came to the point that she decided to tell Severus how she felt. There was no point in hiding it, and her nerves were just on edge keeping the secret hidden anyways. They shared everything now, why keep this hidden, especially when it involved him?

They were sitting at breakfast when she was to tell him, and he was brewing strong tea, demanding she drink a special kind of drink to consume less sugar.

Hermione really wanted a cup of coffee.

"How was your trip to MACUSA yesterday?" She asked him as she buttered some toast, looking in through the kitchen passageway, watching as he poured the water for their tea.

She'd made the decision to tell him while he was gone, and Hermione felt rather confident about it actually.

"Rather nice, I'd say. I had an unexpected fortunate event happen to me yesterday."

Watching him grin over his shoulder was terrifyingly enticing, and Hermione wished she'd not started with small talk.

"And what was this?"

He turned with two cups of tea in his hand and a smug smile on his face, giving her hers before sitting down and even attempting to reply.

"I made a date with a witch," he said excitedly as he laid out his napkin.

Hermione could have hurled her entire cup of steaming tea at him.

"You've what?" She asked, attempting with all her might to reign in her emotions. Why did he have such a knack for pissing her off?

"Acquired a date," he replied punctually, enunciating all the words with that dreaded drawl of his. "Is the child addling your hearing now too?"

This amused him, but it did not do anything for her at all.

"Well, that's wonderful." The comment was not sincere, but she tried her hardest to make it out to be.

"Thank you," he said, and the genuineness of it all killed her appetite.

"I'm not feeling well. I think I'm going to go lie down." Hermione pushed herself from the table, her plate almost still completely full.

"You were fine this morning, is everything all right?" He sounded so very concerned, but now she knew it was only for the baby, and the idea hurt her.

Maybe she was more attached to Severus than she thought she was.

"It's fine."

She left the room, rolling her eyes and gently grabbing onto her stomach, wishing she were anywhere but there.

The small house was a comfort, but the halls reminded her of all the sweet things he'd told her, and it was just so overwhelming.

Hermione felt like a fool. Of course Severus would try to find someone who wasn't her, she didn't want the baby, and he did, why would that be attractive to him? If they would be at odds, then he wouldn't want that. His life had been so complicated all these years, it was obvious to her now that she had overestimated the situation.

All the trouble their relationship would bring, and then throwing a child into the mix? The press would say he stayed with her out of pity, or they would rebuke him yet again for doing the right thing when it wasn't even his child. No one even knew about the child, not a single soul, so how could she ever think they could play happy family?

Her thoughts were an assured mess, amounting to nothing, and as she laid on her bed, Hermione began to cry. Surely she was taking this so much harder because of the child?

A knock on her door, and Hermione startled from her covers, sitting up and wiping her eyes as quickly as possible.

"Come in!"

Severus inched in through the door, and Hermione immediately regretted letting him in. She should have pretended she was asleep or something. Anything would be better than the knowing look on his face.

"Why didn't you tell me sooner?"

Narrowing her eyes, Hermione attempted to play the fool. She didn't want to have this conversation, not now, and certainly not ever in the future.

"I don't know what you mean."

"You've begun to fancy me, Hermione, I am not a daft imbecile that walks the halls of Hogwarts and cannot tell when someone has begun to feel for me more than they should. You were careless."

Hermione huffed, how right of him to be so righteous about it.

"Careless," she said as though it were a curse, "Well, I know what a terrible situation I have put myself in, so if you would care to let it be, that would be brilliant."

He leaned against the door frame looking suave and exactly the word he'd scorned her for. Why did this not affect him?

"You shouldn't, you know? I've done terrible things that I'm not proud of now, but I was proud of them then. I took joy in the misery I produced, but I carry that remorse with me daily, and I accepted your child to prove the goodness I am capable of."

Hermione felt like she was talking to a stranger.

"And yet that's exactly why I'm here in this position," she retorted, motioning to her bed and her slightly enlarged stomach. "And why I've fallen for you."

"I have a date, Hermione."

"Right," she said with a melancholy smile, "Are you done throwing it in my face?"

He breathed in heavily, nodding as he left her to herself and shut the door quietly.

What a terrible way to start the day.