"I am truly sorry to hear that, Severus. I really am, but you know, things don't just go away on their own. You can't just stay here in your chambers forever just so you don't have to face her. Believe it or not, I do believe that there is a chance of her being your mother, but to find out the truth you have to talk to her."

Hermione's soft brown eyes were looking the tired and worn-out looking man over. She really hoped that this all was going to work out soon. She wasn't sure whether he would be able to stand this much longer. He had to be strong his whole life and even a man like him can only take so much.

"Don't be, Hermione. There's no way to change this. I do think I have to talk to her soon but not today. If you don't mind, I'm quite tired. I'll probably head to bed now. I wish you a good night."

Although being a bit disappointed, Hermione bid him a good night and went to her assigned room to get a good night's rest.

Severus really was tired and fell asleep right after he checked on the children. His head had barely hit the pillow when his eyes closed, and he fell into a rather deep sleep.

+++++++++++

"Sev. Seeeev!" He felt small hands slapping his face and arm. Not really happy with that he just turned to his side.

"Sev! Wake up!" Severus obviously didn't see the two small children crawling up the big four-poster bed with his eyes closed desperately trying to find some much-needed sleep.

"Ahh!" shouted Harry and Draco as they crawled near him and started to tickle him.

"What is going on? Harry, Draco, stop it!"

Now wide awake, Severus sat up in his bed with the two little monsters sitting next to him.

"Sev, you need to come. Someone shouts here!"

Still completely baffled Severus got to his feet, carefully to not hurt the children next to him before rushing out of his own bedroom in search of the shouting the children had described. Quickly he realized that the shouting was coming from Hermione's room, and so he made his way over rushing into the room.

Hermione was thrashing around in her bed, crying and whimpering, repeating the same sentence all over again while clutching her arm.

Severus sensed that Harry and Draco had been following him, and so he turned around, picked them up and brought them back to his bedroom. Closing the door behind him, he went back to his apprentice.

"Hermione, calm down. No one's going to hurt you. Hermione," he tried to calm her down while sitting on the edge of her bed. Gently, he took her into his arms finally succeeding in soothing her.

"Severus? What...?" She looked confused and disoriented and the tears were still freely flowing down her cheeks as she woke up.

"The children woke me up and told me that someone was shouting and crying. You were thrashing in your bed, repeating the same sentence over and over again. Now go back to sleep. It's not even three in the morning."

"Can you stay? Until I'm asleep at least?" She looked lost and frightened, and so he decided to stay seated on the edge of her bed watching her slowly falling asleep again.

He, too, began to feel sleepy, but he knew that she wasn't asleep yet, so he sank to the floor next to her bed and rested his head on the mattress slowly falling asleep, too.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Wake up. Sev, Hermione. Wake up."

The two children were climbing up the bed and tried to wake the adults up.

"It's time for breakfast!" said the black-haired boy, trying to pry open the older man's eye which earned him an annoyed growl and a swatting gesture in the general direction he was lying in.

Draco meanwhile tried to wake Hermione up by pulling on her arm causing her to turn her back to him.

Severus opened his eyes after several more times of swatting Harry's hands away.

"What is going on?"

For a few seconds the old, stern Professor Snape made his return until Severus properly oriented himself and realized where he was and with whom.

"Harry, Draco, what is the meaning of this?"

"It's time for breakfast. You need to get up!" said Draco jumping on the bed with Harry following suit.

"Fine, but please stop jumping, boys."

Severus tried to get up, quickly regretting moving his head that fast. A jolt of pain soared through his neck probably due to the position he'd fallen asleep watching over Hermione. Still in pain, he stood completely and sent the boys to his room to go and get ready.

After that, he woke Hermione up before going to his bedroom to change.

++++++++++

"Good morning, Severus."

He had just entered the great hall to enjoy his black sugared coffee and maybe a piece of toast when the headmistress immediately greeted him with a smile reminding him of the late former headmaster he was forced to kill not so long ago.

"What is it, Minerva?" He rolled his eyes earning himself a stern glare from the woman next to him.

"I just wanted to remind you that you and Hermione will be monitoring the Hogsmeade trip this afternoon and that maybe you should think of getting yourself some sort of costume, too." The elderly woman's eyebrows were both raised as he just looked at her in confusion.

"What? Did you forget that you have to attend any ball or feast as a master together with your apprentice and as such you will have to attend the masquerade ball in a costume? Surely you were aware of that?" smirked the Scottish woman slightly amused at the black-haired man's discomfort.

"Well, thanks for ruining my morning, Minerva. If you were so kind to let me get at least a sip of coffee until you ruin it further? Thank you very much."

Severus was clearly not amused by the recent revelations made by his long-time colleague.

++++++++++

Four hours later, Severus found himself helping his blonde godson into a warm jacket before leaving his quarters with his apprentice, Harry and Draco in favour of monitoring the students' trip to Hogsmeade.