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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.

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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 Nineteen Family Loyalty

On the Friday evening Hermione successfully completed both
batches of the Wolfsbane potion with Harry as a witness. He helped her to siphon the mixture off into
an array of single dose vials. When
that was done she placed a stasis charm over the whole so that they would have
an extended shelf life.

�Congratulations Hermione,� said Harry. �I gather it�s a rare achievement.�

�Fairly. I don�t
want to count my chickens though. Next
month Remus will have enough of the potion in reserve for us to risk me doing
the brewing unsupervised. If I manage
that I can be recorded as a brewer for it.�

The pair turned as the door opened. It was Ron.

�I was wondering where you�d got to,� he said, shuffling his
feet. �You missed Quidditch practice.�

�Sorry Ron. I was so
busy helping Hermione that it went right out of my head. Was it all right?�

�Not bad. We tried
out quite a few younger players. Ginny
wants to leave it another week before choosing her team. Are you okay Hermione?�

�Noallyally. I take
it you saw that performance earlier in the Hall?�

�Yeah. Not like you
to let loose like that. You must have
been really upset.�

�Of course I was upset.
Severus is going to have either a trial or a hearing over this. I don�t see why he should have to suffer
when he was protecting me from their stupidity.�

�Well it�s good they�re trying to sort things out isn�t it?�

�I�ll need some convincing.
Severus is gone for I don�t know how long. This awful Healer came to examine me this afternoon. I had to take all my clothes off for him so
he could document any bruises and then he produced this awful metal thing. Believe me you don�t want to know where he
stuck it. Then he asked me embarrassing
questions and told me that I�ve been �unlucky� enough to conceive my husband�s
child.�

�You�re pregnant?� exclaimed Harry.

�Not quite. Our
cells have joined but it�s too soon to tell if they will stay in my womb and
grow or not. Healer Binns said that if
I hang on to it for another two weeks it can count as a pregnancy.�

�The potion didn�t work then?� said Ron.

�The Healer said that it isn�t always reliable during a
binding. I suppose strong magic
interferes with it.�

�Who brewed the potion?
Snape?� said Ron.

�No, I did. I did
lots of Infirmary stuff last year when we worked together. He wouldn�t have let me hand it over if it
wasn�t up to scratch. I really wish
you�d stop trying to cast aspersions Ron.
You don�t like him, fine. I�ve
fallen in love with him so deal with it.�

&n

�I don�t see how you can have. You can see why we�re concerned surely?�

Hermione froze.

�Who is �we� Ron?� she asked icily. �You�re behind this aren�t you? The Aurors said people were
�concerned.� You�ve had my husband taken
to prison.�

�Ron, she�s upset.
Come on tell her you had nothing to do with it,� said Harry.

�I can�t tell her that.
I did do it. It was Percy and
me. You can�t blame us. You�ve been acting so differently ever since
you took up with him. You�re not
yourself Hermione.�

�I don�t believe this.
Ron I�ve grown up that�s all.
Yes I had to marry Severus because of Malfoy. I admit that but it�s not hard to love a man who�s ready to die
for you, especially when he�s shown such gentleness and generosity over the
whole thing. I sleep with him and I
like it. It was pretty inevitable I�d
need to marry someone who was a scholar and a soldier. How many men like that do we know? Remus?
Dumbledore? Would they have been
better matches? Would that have made
you happier? I hope you weren�t
nurturing hopes that you would be better for me. If I married you you�d never make another decision again. I thought we were friends��

�Slow down Hermione,� said Harry. �I thin nee need to take this to Dumbledore. He has to know what Ron and Percy have
done. Perhaps he can stop this thing if
Ron retracts whatever he�s said.�

A knock came at the door.
Hermione strode over and wrenched it open. It was Maria Abbott.

�Hermione,� she said, �I was in the Hall earlier and I felt
I ought to come and call on you to see if you were all right.�

�Come on in Maria. I
could use some company right now.�

�Why are you letting her in? We�re in the middle of something here,� said Ron heatedly.

�I�ve finished with you Ron Weasley. Go and explain yourself to Dumbledore. I�ll have nothing more to do with you until
I�ve got my husband back and if I choose to spend my time with Severus� closest
living family member I will do so. Why don�t
you ask her how she felt when she saw him taken away?�

�Hermione I was only��

�Save it Ron. I�m
not interested. Harry will you take him
to Albus for me?�

�Yeah I�ll take him.
Come on Ron.�

Harry led Ron out of the dungeon. Hermione sat down with Maria.

�What does this potion do?� asked Maria curiously.

�It�s for a werewolf friend. Changing into a wolf makes him ill. If he takes this potion he doesn�t get as much pain and he�s tame
instead of vicious in his wolf state.
He�s coming to collect it tomorrow.
Severus was teaching me how to make it but I�ve had to finish it off
myself.�

�At lunch Professor Dumbledore said he�d had to go with
those men but that he hadn�t done anything wrong. I didn�t understand.�

�Your brother Lucius paid money to people on the emergency
council to make them pass a law. This
law meant that the Ministry would force Muggle-born witches like me to marry
any pure-blood wizard whoposoposed.
Lucius wanted me to marry Draco.
We think he wanted to use a spell to take my powers away but we can�t
prove it. Severus offered to marry me
instead and I agreed. Lucius was angry
that Severus had spoiled his plan after he�d managed to get the law passed, and
tried to kill him. Now the Ministry
knows that the Council was bribed they�re going to take the law away again but
Severus and I have already married.
Severus has a lot of enemies because he worked for Voldemort years ago
and because he gets bad-tempered with people.
These people are trying to say that Severus must be involved with the
law because he used it to marry me.
Does that help?�

�I think so. You�ve
told me some of it before. You did want
to marry Severus though didn�t you?�

�Lucius was making me marry Draco. Severus was trying to help me find someone else. I told him that I would rather die than
become a Malfoy and that upset him because we knew each other quite well. So he asked me to marry him. I knew I could trust him and he�s been very
kind to me.�

�Do you love him?�

�Yes I do. I�ve
known him since I was your age but it took me a long time to get to know
him. He�s not the kind of teacher who
wants his pupils to like him. Potions
is a dangerous subject and he wants you to worry about making a mistake. He was the right man for me to marry but it would
have take us a long while to come to that conclusion if I had not needed to be
protected from Lucius.�

�It�s a bad thing to be a Malfoy isn�t it?�

�Only because it means being near Lucius and Draco. Severus adored your sister. Professor McGonagall and the Headmaster
remember her too. I know Severus is
worried about you. You should have had
money from your father�s estate but to get it Draco and Lucius will have to
know about you.�

�That would be a bad thing wouldn�t it?�

�I think so.�

�I wouldn�t be safe would I?�

�Possibly not.�

�Do you think my mother gave me away to keep me safe from
Lucius?�

�We think she might have done. Severus was going to sound out Professor Martin to see if we
could find out anything about how your mother died but he�s not here at the
moment. I don�t quite know how to go
about it. I�m sorry.�

�Don�t worry Hermione.
You�ve got other things to worry about at the moment. You�re going to be teaching us all aren�t
you? I can wait for Severus to come
home.�

�Thank you. I�m
going to have to go and see the Headmaster before dinner. I should really have gone with Ron and Harry
but I was much too cross with Ron.
Hopefully we�ll be able to sort something out quickly for Severus.�

�I hope you can.
Shall I walk out with you?�

�Come on then.�

When Hermione reached the Headmaster�s office Ron and Harry
were still there. Dumbledore was aware
of her presence and came outside to bring her up.

�Hermione my dear,� he said. �I was just about to send for you. Young Mr Weasley has come to me with a very interesting tale.�

�I�ve heard it, or some of it at least. He and Percy expressed �concerns� about my
marriage to the Ministry.�

Ron was seated in the chair opposite Dumbledore and looked
very crestfallen. Harry looked very uncomfortable.

�Apparently Ron and Percy have convinced members of the Family
and Heritage office that you were under some kind of spell when you agreed your
marriage.�

�What?!!! Ron were
you trying to put me back on the market for Draco?�

�No of course not. I
worked out that you were under a spell when you started talking about having
his kids. I didn�t do anything until
the Law got suspended and I sawhanchance to get you out of this mess.�

�Ron, I�m not under a spell. I didn�t really talk about wanting babies when I wasn�t in a
relationship but that doesn�t mean I didn�t hope to have them one day. Severus� wife and baby were murdered before
we were born. Don�t you think he�s
earned the right to have some happiness?�

�I just don�t get how you changed so quickly.�

�I fell in love Ron.
I watched Lucius Malfoy try Avada Kedavra on him because he was
protecting me. I saw his reaction when
we worked out what Lucius Malfoy had wanted to do to me. The man you see in the classroom doesn�t
exist when we�re alone together.�

�What was Malfoy going to do to you?�

�We think he was going to drain my power. The spell requires consent and as my husband
Draco would have been able to give it.�

�Would it have killed you?� asked Ron in horror.

�The ritual concludes with the recipient eating my heart out
of my chest.�

Both Harry and Ron were now looking green.

�Can you prove it Hermione?� said Harry.

�No we are trying to gather as much information about Lucius
as we can, or rather Severus was, so Lucius can be properly questioned under
Veritaserum. He was investigating other
things too.�

�What things?� asked Ron.

�I think we can trust them with this information,� said
Dumbledore. �Please bear in mind that
any indiscretion in this matter may result in serious consequences.�

The boys nodded furiously.

�This has to do with young Miss Abbott. When she arrived at school we were under the
impression she was Muggle-born. However
we were compelled to investigate when she was sorted into Slytherin. We used a spell to discern her family tree
and discovered that she is in fact Claudia Malfoy half sister of Lucius and
Olivia. She was placed under an
enchantment and substituted for a Muggle baby.
Miss Malfoy�s father was killed the month before she was born and Mrs
Malfoy died a few days after. We are
still investigating the circumstances of her death but it is no secret that a
wizard murdered Claudius.�

�And you think Lucius might have a hand in it?�

�It is not unlikely.
If it can be proved that he committed patricide he and consequently his
own heir Draco will forfeit membership of the family and Claudia will be head
of the line. We are keeping this quiet
at the moment for her safety. However
we are faced with time constraints. The
trial date is fixed and we cannot afford for Severus to be tainted in this
manner when he is playing such a significant role in bringing Malfoy to
account. I am satisfied that Severus
has not misused his powers and I am not happy that Hermione is facing so much
additional pressure at this time.
Additionally Severus is young Miss Malfoy�s brother-in-law and ally and
she is also facing the loss of her Muggle family as well as acquiring a
dangerous inheritance.�

�So what are you going to do about it Ron?� said Harry.

�I�ll owl Percy,� said Ron.

�I think we need to have a meeting,� said Dumbledore. �I�ll floo Percy and the Weasleys and we�ll
meet at Grimmauld Place. Hermione can
you floo over there when you�re happy the Slytherins are settled. Minerva will come out with us and Charlie
and Melissa will be on call in case of emergency.
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Marriage Vows