Adult-FanFiction.org : Harry Potter

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
- 20
- 21
- 22
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 Twenty Head of Slytherin

On Monday morning Hermione awoke to her first day of classes
as a Professor. The meeting at
Grimmauld Place had gone fairly well with Ron and Percy apologising to
Hermione. Arthur and Molly had been
disgusted at their sons� behaviour and Molly was characteristically forthright
in letting them know about it. Arthur
had been notified of a date for the hearing, which was two weeks away and sadly
that was the earliest date possible.
Hermione was not allowed to visit Severus but she had made sure he had
clothes with him and a good supply of literature to pass his time. She also intended to write daily to keep him
abreast of events at Hogwarts.

Her first class was Sixth year potions and went very
smoothly. Her second was a class of
Slytherin and Gryffindor Third years.
They were not more than fifteen minutes in before she had to halt the
entire group�s work to impress upon them that the ingredients they were dealing
with could be dangerous without complete concentration. By the time lunchtime came around she was
considering adopting her husband�s methods of ensuring her students�
attention. After spotting the pitfalls
on the first time through the repeat run with Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw went
much more smoothly. At the end of
classes she received a summons from Dumbledore to go to his office. She made her way up quickly and entered the
office to find Narcissa Malfoy, and two other women accompanied by Crabbe,
Goyle and Draco. It didn�t take a great
leap to surmise that the two unknown women were Mrs Crabbe and Mrs Goyle.

�Ah Professor Snape,� said Dumbledore with a twinkle. �Thank-you for joining us.�

Hermione was fighting to control her expression at the looks
on everyone�s faces. It was obvious
that the Slytherins had not been informed that Hogwarts now boasted two
Professor Snapes.

�Good afternoon Headmaster, how can I help you?�

�As you can see Professor, Mrs Malfoy has decided to pay a
call on me to discuss Draco�s future at Hogwarts. She has brought Mrs Crabbe and Mrs Goyle with her for
support. I felt we had to include you
as Draco�s Head of House.�

Draco�s jaw was still hanging open and Hermione could see
him fishing for words and coming up empty.

�I think if we are to have a serious discussion at this
stage we might confine it to the grown-ups,� suggested Hermione brightly. �I�m sure the children wouldn�t mind waiting
outside for a little while.�

�Excellent idea,� said Dumbledore cheerfully, �Off you go
boys. Make sure you don�t wander off
out of the corridor.

The three Seventh years got up and left. Hermione wasn�t sure if the penny had
actually dropped with Crabbe and Doyle yet but Draco was obviously fuming.

�Pardon me, Professor, but have we met?� asked Mrs Malfoy in
confusion.

Hermione couldn�t help wondering if Mrs Malfoy was under the
influence of something or other. Her
expression was slightly vacant somehow and her speech was a little slower than
a normal person�s.

�I do not believe we have ever been formally introduced,�
said Hermione. �I have met your husband
on a number of occasions. He may have
mentioned me. Before my marriage I was
known as Hermione Granger.�

�Of course I have heard of you. You have married Severus?�

�Yes.�

�I understood you were a pupil here. I must have been mistaken.�

�I was a pupil here but I have been Severus� Apprentice for
a year now. I gained time because I was
given permission to use a time-turner for study purposes.�

�Where is Severus?�

Dumbledore jumped in to field the question. �Severus is based at the Ministry for a
couple of weeks. Fortunately his wife
is a better substitute than we could have hoped to have found at such short
notice.�

�I see. My
associates and I have come here today to enquire about our sons� futures. As you may be aware our families are
currently facing persecution from some quarters. We are all women living without the protection of our husbands so
we have been forced to come here on their behalf.�

�I assure Mrs Malfoy, no one wishes to see an innocent
family face any persecution,� said Dumbledore.
�It has always been my policy to ensure that all children of magical
ability should find the opportunity to develop their talents here.�

�If you recall Mrs Malfoy we had to send all three boys home
for assaulting a first year,� said Hermione.

�A Mudblood though.
Those children always have trouble accepting their place. �

�Actually the child in question is a full blooded witch, but
like Voldemort himself, became entangled with the muggle procedures for dealing
with orphans. In this day and age that
means that she was adopted and raised by a Muggle family. She is aware of her true heritage, but
prefers to maintain her association with the family who have cared for her,�
said Dumbledore.

�Severus and I are the only relations she acknowledges but
due to our position she prefers to play down the relationship which has led to
the misunderstanding.�

�I see. If she is
connected to Severus she must have some degree of pedigree. I am sure Draco will apologise when he
understands his mistake.�

�Mrs Malfoy,� said Dumbledore sternly. �Even if Miss Abbott had been Muggle-born I
would not accept it as a excuse for his behaviour or that of Crabbe or
Goyle. I understand that there are
difficulties for your families at the moment so I am prepared to give them one
last chance if Professor Snape agrees.�

�I will agree as long as they agree to accept my authority
as their Head of House and undertake not to interfere with any other
students. If they do not agree or break
their promise then neither I or my husband will protect them from expulsion.�

�Let�s bring back the children then,� said Dumbledore.

He went outside and beckoned up the three sulky young
men. They accepted the terms of their
return with a reasonable semblance of sincerity and were permitted to escort
their mothers down to the gates.

When they had gone Albus summoned Maria Abbott to the Office
to warn her about her assailants� return.
Just as Hermione was about to walk Maria back to Slytherin house
Professor Martin made an appearance.
Hermione saw the look the little girl gave him. She turned back to the Headmaster and
gestured between Professor Martin and Maria.
Albus took her meaning immediately.

�Miss Abbott,� he said.
�I just need to have another word with Professor Snape. Could you wait for her downstairs?�

�Yes sir,� said the little girl politely and went down to
wait in the corridor.

�Louis,� said Dumbledore.
�Did you have a Selene Martin as a cousin?�

�Yes. She was the
only magical offspring of my father�s younger brother and my mother�s twin
sister. She had two elder brothers who
were squibs, Robert and Michel. They
both live as Muggles in Paris.�

�That sounds like the woman we are researching. Do you know what happened to her?�

�Not exactly. She
was estranged from her parents. They
tried to pressure her to marry my brother Gerard but she wanted to be a Healer
so she went to live with her brothers and most of the family cut them off. Fortunately the bride�s consent is mandatory
in France so she was free to go. I
remained in touch for a while purely because I frequented the Muggle restaurant
Michel ran whilst I was Apprenticed nearby.
When I went to America I heard
nothing for some years. I caught up
with Michel when I went to work at the Ministry in France and he told me she
had died. Apparently she had had a baby
in a Muggle hospital in England and both had been found dead one morning. It sounded to me as though it was by magical
means but the Muggles cannot make a diagnosis in such a case. Why do you ask?�

�We have had occasion to draw up a family tree for a pupil
here at Hogwarts. Your cousin was
revealed to be her mother. It seems
that the child who died was not Selene�s and the dead child�s parents have
unknowingly raised your cousin�s daughter.�

�Which child is she?�

�Little Miss Abbott from Slytherin,� said Albus.

�The child who just left?
This is so much to take in. Who
was the father? Was she legitimate?�

�The family tree shows her to be legitimate but I must ask
you for your absolute discretion over the matter. Miss Abbott may be in serious danger if her mother�s killer
realises she is still alive.�

�Did the father kill them?�

�No. He was murdered
some weeks before Maria was born, in France.
We can assume that Selene was attempting to live in hiding.�

�Am I permitted to know the name of the father?�

�His name was Claudius Malfoy.�

�I have heard of that family. They are not ethical are they?�

�Claudius was not a bad Wizard. Self-indulgent, thoughtless perhaps but not evil. His son Lucius was a senior associate of
Voldemort and a likely candidate for the role of murderer.�

�And we have his son here do we not?�

�Draco, yes. As you
probably know Lucius is awaiting trial for attempted murder and
corruption. We are trying to uncover as
much as possible about him so we can ensure all his crimes are taken into
account. You worked at the French
Ministry. How might we prove that a marriage
took place between Claudius and Selene?�

�There is a register.
It keeps itself. When a wizard
marriage is performed anywhere in France or any resident of France marries
elsewhere a record is made. Only people
working for that department can read the register but they will copy an entry
for a fee. I have a friend who could certify
it for us. He would be discreet about
me tracing a family runaway. My parents
would not be happy with me if they knew.�

Hermione asked, �Are your family likely to welcome Miss
Abbott?�

�I would think it unlikely.
They are old fashioned. I do not
mind but Selene could only have become part of the family if she had come back
and begged for the opportunity to demonstrate her obedience� and that she
cannot do. I can see the way you look
at me Madam. I myself think Selene was
right to marry out of the family. In my
immediate line squibs are outnumbering magical offspring but my parents refuse
to understand. Not only were Selene and
my brother double t cot cousins but our parents were cousins too and our
grandparents. If you look into this how
the Muggles do we are practically siblings in terms of our cells. Many of the family have seen reason and
married away but the primary line is dying.
If my parents could find a witch in the family for me to marry I would
be in Selene�s position myself.�

�I�m sorry Professor.
I�m Muggle-born myself and I find it hard to understand this aspect of
wizard culture. I didn�t mean to offend
you. It might be helpful if you could
teach Miss Abbott a little about your family.
We don�t have a picture of Selene to show her. We found a few Delacour pictures from Bill and Fleur�s binding
but with your family being in mainland Europe there is little chance of finding
one anywhere else.�

�I will do what I can in private. Obviously I cannot publicly acknowledge her because of the
situation. My parents already
disapprove of some of my life choices but I will not alienate the child. Perhaps when she is less at risk she might
like to meet her squib uncles. I am
sure they will be glad to know she lives.�

�Thank-you Louis,� said Dumbledore. �We understand the demands your family make
of you. I am sure I can trust you to
help Miss Abbott.�

�Bring the child back Headmaster. We should become properly acquainted. I will owl my friend in France and tell him I inquire on behalf
of Selene�s brothers. He will keep my
confidence.�

�Bring Miss Abbott back Hermione,� said Dumbledore with a
smile. �Then if I were you I would
check on your Seventh years. We don�t
want Draco enjoying too much freedom do we?�

�We certainly don�t,� said Hermione grimly as she moved
towards the door.

A/N

Thanks to ancientgirl, GEmory and Emily for their reviews.
- 20
- 21
- 22
You need to be logged in to leave a review for this story.You need to be logged in to leave a review for this story.
Report Story

Marriage Vows