The weeks and months went by, and it soon was nearing the end of November. It would not be long until the first snowflakes would fall on Hogwarts' grounds.

Hermione, who had been feeling sad and lonely lately, had opted for putting on her cloak and taking a long walk in the chilly afternoon wind to get her mind off of the matter at hand.

Severus had been acting really strange the last two months. He had rarely been in their chambers, but instead was nowhere to be seen and whenever Hermione asked him where he was, he was just avoiding a direct answer. There was something he was hiding from her, and it drove her crazy not knowing what it was he was so busy with.

She had something very important to tell him, but she just did not know when. The only times she saw him nowadays were in the morning during breakfast and on the weekends, although he was not even home most of the weekends. He often came home late in the night, lying down next to her in bed and falling asleep immediately after his head had hit the pillow.

Hermione had been walking for the better part of this Saturday afternoon, but slowly the cold was getting harder to ignore, and so she went back inside, fully knowing she'd be alone in her shared chambers with Severus.

But on her way she thought better of it and instead of walking down into the dungeons, she went up the stairs to the library.

There she got herself a book and sat down in a small niche with a window, so she could look out when pausing reading her lecture.

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"Professor Granger? Excuse me, it's time for dinner, so I have to close the library now if you don't mind," said Madam Prince, who stood next to her.

Hermione barely reacted other than standing up and putting her book away. She still condemned the older woman for what she did to Severus, to her own son.

Severus was still missing during dinner, and it did really bother Hermione. She did not talk to anyone, not even Minerva, who tried to engage her in a conversation more than once.

Still in a foul mood, the young professor climbed up the stairs to the seventh floor, where she entered the room of requirement. She had not been in there since she was nearly killed by fiend-fyre during the battle of Hogwarts.

Other than back then, the door she walked through was not a tall oakwood door, but instead, it was a normal black door you would see everywhere in the muggle world.

She had expected to find herself in a room resembling a room of her former home when she lived with her parents, but she was not really concentrating on what she was thinking.

To her surprise, it was not her family's living room she walked in, although she knew the furniture and the style the room was decorated in.

It was definitely Severus' living room in his home in Spinner's End where she had spent the last summer.

She remembered her time there and how happy she was back then, but so much had changed over the last three months.

The happy thoughts were quickly replaced by tears of anguish rolling down her cheeks. She sank down into the armchair that looked like Severus' usual armchair, and she cried out all the frustration and sadness she felt at that moment.

Hermione sat there, crying for quite a long time, and it was late at night when she decided it was time for her to go down to her chambers, whether Severus was there or not did not matter to her at that moment.

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As soon as she entered their chambers, she knew Severus was there. It was warm, and she could hear the crackling of a fire which meant that someone must have lit it.
She put away her shoes and started making her way over straight into the bedroom.

"Hermione! Where have you been?" asked Severus as soon as he caught sight of her small form, standing up from the couch and walking over to her.

"Don't act as if it matters to you. I know it doesn't," answered Hermione sounding icy as she walked on.

"What do you mean? Of course, it matters to me. It's not like you to just be gone without telling me? What's wrong?"

"Why should I tell you where I was? It's not as if you told me where you've been the last two months! I've been all by myself for two months without ever getting anything close to an explanation so why should I tell you?!" screamed Hermione, tears already threatening to fall before she stormed into the bedroom, trying to slam the door shut, but Severus had already put his foot between the door and the threshold, keeping it from closing.

"Hermione, please, what's the matter? You're not like yourself," said Severus.

"I am myself and you know that. I kept silent for two months but enough is enough. I've been wanting to tell you for so long now, but you were never there to listen. I did not plan on telling you like that but since all you do is being away or sleeping whenever you are here I have no other choice. I'm pregnant with your child, Severus!" said Hermione, her voice shaking and her body trembling, tears falling down her face.

Severus was shocked at what she had just told him - so shocked, that she used the chance to slam the door shut and ward it so that he would not be able to enter.

She sank down, her back against the door, not even trying to stifle the tears and sobs.

She heard him beg on the other side to let him in, but she knew she would not be able to handle that, and so she sent him a pillow and his blanket to the living room, clearly indicating that he'd be sleeping on the couch that night.

Sometime later, Hermione got up and walked to the bed, falling down on it and crying herself to sleep that night.

However, sleep did not come as easy to the black-haired man who was lying on his back on the couch in the living room staring at the ceiling.

He was not sure what to make of it. Was she really pregnant with his child? Or was she trying to guilt-trip him? Should he tell her or should he wait?

There were so many questions going through Severus' mind that he already knew that he would not get much sleep that night and if he got any at all it would not be very peaceful and good for his body. Sleeping on a couch was something he had done way too often in the past decades and his back did actually hurt from time to time, most possibly because he had slept too often on the couch instead of enjoying the comfort of a bed.