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Marriage Vows	By : selened Category: Harry Potter > Het - Male/Female > Snape/Hermione Views: 23720 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 1
Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter, nor any of the characters from the books or movies. I do not make any money from the writing of this story.

Chapter List
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Marriage Vows

Disclaimer: This
story was inspired by the Marriage Law Challenge on WIKTT. All Harry Potter characters belong to JK
Rowling and those with whom she has agreed contracts. This story was written for practice not profit.

Chapter Fifteen Investigations

On retiring to bed that night Hermione and Severus made
love. Hermione had tried to question
him about what he had read in Professor Martin�s book but he was in no
emotional state to discuss the matter.
What was obvious was his need for loving physical contact and Hermione
had not hesitated to satisfy him. The
sex was different from that they had shared before and it was the first time
she had not been shaken by pleasure and the release of her orgasm. It was a pleasant enough experience
though. He was less restrained than
usual but not violent. He had not hurt
her and she relished his weight and the completeness of his presence inside
her. She held him afterwards as he
lapsed into sleep and was lulled by his quiet breathing and the warmth he
radiated.

Next day they awakened early. He attempted to apologise for his thoughtlessness the evening
before. She would have none of it.

�Severus you were distressed. You needed me. Please
don�t feel bad. You do know we have to
talk about what you read though. It
must have been bad for you to react like that.�

�It was bad.� He
rolled over onto his back and breathed in deeply. �It said that the magic was absorbed from the blood as it was
drained from the sacrifice. The incantation
causes multiple haemorrhages. To seal
the power inside the recipient part of the heart must be consumed raw while it
still beats. Apparently the victim is
magically sustained until this point and remains conscious throughout. I care for you Hermione. What he could have done� It makes me ill to
picture it. I have experienced finding
the woman I love bled out on the floor.
Losing Olivia nearly killed me and the idea of anything like that
happening to you is unbearable.�

�Don�t torture yourself.
We don�t know for sure that Lucius wanted to do that.�

�I know� I feel like I know. What else could it have been?�

�We can look into it later.
Whatever it was Severus you�ve already stopped him. You have kept me safe and you nearly died
doing it. Only last night I told Harry
I was terrified at the idea of you duelling ever again after the run in with
Malfoy.�

�Do you think me foolish?�

�No. Never
foolish. It�s the binding magic buzzing
around your system still. We can�t
stand to see each other threatened.�

�Do you remember what I said to you last night as we made
love?�

�You said that I was yours and no other man would have me.�

�I�m sorry about that, and not just the use of the
clich�. I made it quite clear to you
that you were not to consider yourself under that kind of obligation to me.�

�I don�t mind the obligation truly. I can�t imagine wanting another man like I
want you. I find it hard to believe
that any other wizard would want me to be his either. Besides you freely offered me your fidelity in the ceremony.�

�I am not a man who seeks intimacy with random women. I never was. Last night I was not considerate of your needs.�

�I considered yours and you will consider mine next
time. You would have considered them
earlier if Albus hadn�t come in when he did.
You can�t always be the one who is the most affectionate or the most
generous. I won�t allow it.�

�You are a truly remarkable woman Madam Snape.�

�Gryffindor, what did you expect?�

�You are reminding me of something Melissa said on our
wedding day. She said that Gryffindor
women �love what is theirs�.�

�She was right. Not
that I approve of you quoting another woman in our bed, especially on that
topic. How come you and she are such
friends anyway? Most of your ex-pupils
tremble when you look their way.�

�I knew Melissa when she was an infant. Her parents ran an Apothecary shop in
Hogsmeade. I often shopped there. She used to follow me around sometimes when
she was a child here and I a student and she was more than tolerably competent
with potions when I taught her. I was
always relieved the Death Eaters missed her that night. I never told Voldemort about her survival. She was my first act of deceit and I was
only about seventeen then.�

�She�s Charlie�s ideal woman.�

�I think so. She�s a
few years older. I think she was a year
or so above Bill. If it hadn�t have
been for that they might have married straight from school. Whilst we�re discussing another woman in our
bed I ought to mention that I�m going out with her tonight.�

�To the Abbott�s?�

�Yes. I�m unsure
about how to handle this actually. I�m
probably going to have to break it to that child that her parents have been
dishonest with her. If it weren�t for
the Malfoy connection I might be tempted to let the whole thing go until she�s
older. She�s a bright little thing and
I�m sure Filius would find room.�

�Could I come with you?�

�I don�t see why not.
You probably have a better grasp of Muggles than any of the Staff. We agreed to go at seven o�clock. It may be a wasted journey because we have
not warned them of our arrival but if we take them by surprise they won�t be
able to hide anything.�

�How are we travelling?�

�Broomsticks down to Melissa�s house in Hogsmeade and then
Apparate from there.

�I didn�t know Melissa had a house.�

�It�s the old family home.
Wilhelmina is there looking after the livestock and Percy and Penelope
live there too.�

�Livestock?�

�Rare insects and spiders mostly. It�s what she was doing before Dumbledore pulled her back into
the fold.�

�I don�t like broomsticks.�

�It�s not far.
">
You�ll be fine. You don�t even
have to go very high. No one expects
you to be Quidditch standard. It�s the
best way of getting there with the wards up.
Much healthier than travelling by floo.�

�All right. I�ll ask
Madam Hooch if I can borrow a broom.�

�Are you telling me you haven�t flown since first year?�

�Not on a broom.
Hippogriffs, Thestrals but no brooms.�

�I�ve got some old brooms.
You can use one of those. Lucius
liked to keep the Quidditch team well supplied. If you can fly something which flaps wings, a broom should be
easy.�

Later that evening Hermione had to acknowledge that flying a
broom was not as difficult as she remembered it. The flight took moments and they were soon walking up the driveway
to the Abbott�s house. They had
transfigured their outer robes to Muggle type coats in case they were seen on
the journey between the Apparition site and the house. Both Mr and Mrs Abbott were in when Melissa
rang the bell and on recognising her the group were allowed in and settled down
in the sitting room.

�May I introduce Professor Severus Snape who teaches Potions
and is your daughter�s housemaster and his wife Madam Hermione Snape. An issue has come to light during Maria�s
first week at school and we were wondering if you could help us get to the
bottom of it. Professor Snape would you
like to explain?�

�Certainly. Mr and
Mrs Abbott I believe that Professor Graceworthy-Plank explained something of
our House system to you on her previous visit.�

�She did mention it yes, but it was all rather a lot to take
in,� answered Mr Abbott.

�If I may summarise then; soon after Hogwarts was originally
founded the four founders had a disagreement about how to choose students. In order to avoid dismantling the school
they agreed to run a house each and select their own students. Since the death of the founders all new
students go through a Sorting Ceremony when they arrive. This is a way of assessing their character
and background in order to decide which house they should join. Salazar Slytherin founded the house I now
run. He believed that only children
from established wizarding families who would seek to rule and govern our
community should receive a magical education.
That means that all children in Slytherin House come from established
wizarding families. This has been the
rule for over a thousand years so when we realised a child from a non-magical
family had been put in Slytherin House we decided we needed to investigate
further.�

�So you�re investigating Maria?� asked Mr Abbott.

�Yes,� said Melissa.
�Please don�t be alarmed. As far
as we can tell your daughter has the makings of a competent witch. Her teachers are fairly impressed already.�

�Is she happy?� asked Mrs Abbott.

�She seems to be coping quite well at the moment but we are
concerned about her because my house tends to collect children who have been
raised to look down on children who are not from what they call pure-blood
families. If she were not in my house
there would be no cause for concern as there is little prejudice in the other
houses.�

�So some wizards are prejudiced against witches born into
ordinary families?� asked Mr Abbott.

�Unfortunately yes,� said Severus. �I have heard it compared to some Muggle attitudes towards races
and religions. It rears its head every
so often but the school has no control over what parents have taught their
children.�

�Why do you run a house like that then?�

�I come from an old pure-blooded family and was sorted into
Slytherin as a child myself. I am the
only member of staff who belongs to the house as teaching would not be a career
of choice for most Slytherins. I do not
choose the students I receive they are allocated during the ceremony.�

�So do you have a problem with our little girl being a
�Muggle-born� then?�

�I do not have this prejudice myself. My wife is Muggle-born and was the most
gifted student I have ever taught.
People who despise Muggle-borns do not generally associate with
them. If they did they would revise
their opinions.�

�So you married your teacher?� said Mrs Abbott to
Hermione. �You seem very young to be
married.�

�Witches tend to marry younger than other people because we
are a small community. We recently had
a civil war which caused great loss of life and, now it�s finally over, we�ve
had a spate of marriages because we all want to settle and have our families in
peace,� replied Hermione carefully.

Severus shot her a look of approval for her answer. �My wife and I both fought in the war. We do not have armies in our world. Those who are in a position to fight do so. She ran away from school to take part in her
first battle when she was sixteen and has since received the highest honour
awarded by our government. She aided me
in my research to undermine the enchantments protecting the enemy.�

�My grandmother was a war bride,� said Mrs Abbott. �She married someone she had only met a few
days before but he was killed before the end.�

�I couldn�t wait either.
I didn�t want me or Charlie to die without us having married,� said
Melissa. �Luckily we survived though.�

�Did you fight yourself then?�

�I was stationed up at the school keeping watch over the
ones who were too young to fight,� said Melissa. �Fortunately the battle didn�t get as far as us.�

�You allowed children to fight then?� said Mrs Abbott.

�We had intelligence that Lord Voldemort intended to attack
Hogwarts in order to execute the children of his enemies and all those who were
Muggle-born. The boy who was prophesied
to be the only one able to successfully challenge Voldemort was sixteen. He had already fought him three times. Many of our older children made their own
decision to follow their teachers and classmate into battle. Some members of my own house chose to fight
against us. We were able to pre-empt
the attack and clear the way for Harry to engage Voldemort on an equal footing. Some of our numbers fell but our losses
could easily have been greater. We are
now recovering as quickly as possible but over the last twenty five years
Voldemort wiped out large numbers of younger wizards and rebuilding our society
will take time. Professor Graceworthy-
Plank kept her husband this time but back in the early days she lost both her
parents and her five older siblings.
Voldemort brought terror to our society and it is our continuing
responsibility to ensure it does not happen again.�

�Professor Snape, I have severe reservations about sending
my child to this school of yours. I
have to be honest. She�s going to leave
with no qualifications, never go to university and now I learn she�s going to
face discrimination. Why should I not
just withdraw her?� asked Mr Abbott.

�She will be able to take examinations in the subjects we
teach. There are opportunities for a
university education in this country and the USA where she may combine her
studies with traditional Muggle subjects if she wishes. There is also the option of an
Apprenticeship which is also a more traditional method of further education in
our world. Your daughter will be a
witch irrespective of her attendance at Hogwarts but an ordinary education will
be irrelevant for her needs. Knowledge
of magic makes many things Muggles learn completely unnecessary.yes"> I still find some elements of wizarding cultureangeange but I
can�t imagine ever giving it all up.�

�How do your parents feel about you getting married so
young?� asked Mrs Abbott.

�They were shocked at first but they spent time with us and
I think they came to realise that marrying Severus was a good thing. I was in danger from a war criminal who was
still at large and our engagement drew him out into the open so he could be
tried. My dad realised that it was a
good idea for me to join with an established wizarding family instead of trying
to go it alone.�

�Family is an important factor in our society. What your name is and those you are kin to
is very significant. Which brings me
back to Maria. When we realised that a
child from a non wizarding family had been assigned to my house we were
concerned so we put her through the sorting ritual again to try and work out
why she had been put there. The ritual
showed that she may be related to one of our Slytherin families. Now I know this family quite well and I�m
confused as to how this could be but our methods have hitherto been completely
reliable. I wondered therefore if the
tie could be in a previous generation.
I wonder if the name Malfoy means anything to either of you. The family has a tradition of using Roman
forenames to emphasise the fact that their family history goes back that
far. The current head of the family is
called Lucius. His father was Claudius
and his son and heir is called Draconis.�

� I haven�t heard it,� said Mr Abbott. My brother did our family tree some years
ago and I�d remember if we had a French sounding name in it.�

�I can�t really say,� said Mrs Abbott. �My father was adopted and my mother never
had anything to do with her father�s family.
They weren�t happy about the marriage.
I wish I could help.�

�There may be another way you can help Mrs Abbott,� said
Severus gently. �It would seem that any
wizarding blood is more likely to have come through your side of the
family. One of the standard methods a
wizard uses to protect himself from discovery by Muggles is to work a memory
charm on them to erase or alter their memory of what they have seen. If you have had any contact with a witch or
wizard other than us or your daughter you may have been a recipient of such a
charm. With your permission I can
examine you to see if your memory has been interfered with.�

�What would this examination entail Professor?� enquired Mr
Abbott.

�I would perform a simple spell to give me access to your
wife�s thoughts. I do not need to touch
her and you can be present throughout.
It won�t hurt her but it usually results in a flood of memories
surfacing during the examination which can be confusing. If you feel it is more than you can cope
with and want me to stop at any time, Mrs Abbott, you only have to cover your
eyes and I will break the spell.�

�I�ll do it. Can we
do it here?�

�Here and now. Make
yourself comfortable in your chair and look me in the eye. Try to relax. Try to think about a family gathering where you had your own
family members present and that should give me a starting point. Ready� legilimens!�

Mrs Abbott sat in her chair maintaining her eye contact with
Severus with a startled look on her face.
Severus looked toward her with an expression of concentration on his
face. This continued for several
minutes until Mrs Abbott closed her eyes tightly and raised her hand to cover
them.

�Well?� asked Mr Abbott.

�I could see evidence of one small Obliviate spell which is
the spell I was specifically looking for.
You have obviously come into contact briefly with someone who felt the
need to make a very minor adjustment to your memory. Looking at the size of it I would say you have lost a memory of
around thirty seconds in length. This
is unlikely to have had a lasting effect on you. If a family member of yours were concealing magic your brain
would be littered with this kind of thing.
We shall have to look for a connection elsewhere. I feel we have taken up enough of your time
this evening so we really should be on our way. I will make it my business to ensure that Maria writes to you
regularly and that she has as few negative experiences as possible. Thank-you for your hospitality. Mrs Abbott are you all right?�

�Yes, just a little tired, all of a sudden.�

�Thank-you for your help.
We can see ourselves out.
Goodnight.�

When the party reached Melissa�s house in Hogsmeade Melissa
turned to Severus. �What did you see?�
she demanded. �You couldn�t get out of
there quick enough.�

�I am no expert on infants but I would lay money that the
child Mrs Abbott took home from hospital was not the child she herself gave
birth to. She however doesn�t realise
it.�

�They were swapped?
What witch abandons her child to Muggles?�

�Presumably one who wishes to keep it safe. What a mess!�

�What are you going to do?� asked Hermione.

�I�ll consult with Albus of course but I think we are going to
have to conjure the child�s family tree to see if it sheds any light on who she
really is.�

�Does she really need to know?� asked Hermione. �I mean they think she�s their child and she
thinks they�re her parents.�

The two purebloods looked at her scandalized. �Hermione,� said Melissa, �She has to know
her blood. It�s unthinkable. They were nice enough people but that woman
didn�t even know her own blood. Now
Muggles may have forgotten its importance but we are not like them.�

�But Maria has been raised as a Muggle. She won�t know it matters unless you two
teach her that it does.�

�I�ll let you sort this one out Severus. Hermione�s your wife and Maria is in your
house, but you know my view. I�m going
now. I�d like to catch up on Charlie to
do the patrol. Goodnight!�

Melissa grabbed her broomstick and whizzed off into the
night. Severus looked at Hermione and
noted her agitation. �Come on,� he
said. �I�m going to meet with Albus and
I�m sure you have your own work to do.
We can discuss the matter later.�

They mounted their broomsticks and flew home.

A/N

Thanks to Sabrina, kat1441 and kishkitten36. I hope this gives you a little more room for
speculation.
- 15
- 16
- 17
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Marriage Vows