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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 Twenty-Five Making Plans

The atmosphere was subdued in the Gryffindor Common
Room. The younger children had picked
up on the emotions of the seniors but as yet the news was not widespread. Neville sat in an armchair by the fire with
Ginny on his knee leaning back against him.
Both were resting their hands against Ginny�s abdomen. Dean and Lavender were sitting at the other
end of the room with their heads together.

Hermione sat down opposite Ginny and Neville. �Hi,� she said. I thought I�d just come and see how you are.�

�We�ll be okay,� said Neville. �We were taken by surprise this morning but we were pretty much
decided that Ginny was going to have my babies one day. Just not quite so soon.�

�It�s not as though we�re on our own with it. Mum and Dad are coming to Charlie�s this
evening and Neville is going to ask permission to marry me as soon as
possible.�

�It�s not like I�m a pauper. I have a share of my mother�s assets since I turned seventeen and
I inherited from my great �uncle�s will after the battle. I own a cottage in Hogsmeade and Madam
Sprout�s been encouraging me to apply for a Herbology Apprenticeship in
Wales. We could live in the cottage and
hopefully Ginny could come up here to study while the House-Elves cared for the
baby.�

�So you�d give up being an Auror?�

�I think so. I don�t
think it�s a job for a family man. I�ve
avenged my parents now since I took down Bellatrix Lestrange. I wouldn�t want my child to grow up visiting
me in St Mungo�s. Don�t get me wrong,
if another Voldemort comes along I�ll be active for the Order but until then
I�ll have my wife and our babies.�

�I think you�re right, if you want my opinion,� said
Hermione.

�Could you write that down and sign it as Professor Snape?�
he asked with a smile.

Hermione laughed.
�I�m glad you�ve been able to decide on a plan at any rate. In a way you�ve got a clearer plan than
Severus and I have. I�m doing the NEWTs
in December and then more or less just waiting for our baby to be born. What we�ll do after that I don�t know. My Mum and Dad have taken their news well
but I don�t know how Mum will manage in the Practice. They didn�t have their own surgery when I was born.�

�I wonder if it�ll be magic or Muggle,� said Ginny.

�Severus says it�s more likely to be magic than not but we
can�t be certain. He can�t get past the
idea that he�ll have so many Weasley offspring in one year group plus his own
and an in-law.�

�My Weasley baby will be a Longbottom don�t forget,� said
Ginny.

�I think he may retire.
Where�s Ron?�

�He took Susan for a walk.
I think they�ll probably end up down at the Hut. He�s proposed to her but she�s in too much
of a state to think about it rationally.
It�s probably going to hang on what her family say even though she�s of
age.�

�Well she has a little while to think. The Marriage Law is still only suspended
officially. The Appeal is based on the
corruption surrounding it so it�ll have to wait until Malfoy�s trial is over.�

�It starts next week though. It shouldn�t take long surely,� said Neville.

�I don�t know. The
evidence is being gathered still.
There�s a chance he�s going to face some other major charges,� said
Hermione.

�Well he can�t face Death-Eater charges again can he? He�s got away with that so many times now.�

�No it�s very secret.
I do know because Severus has been involved but I can�t really talk
about it. If Draco found out he might
be able to interfere with evidence.
Harry and Ron know about it.
Dumbledore told Ron so he�d withdraw his statement about our marriage
but I daren�t discuss it.�

�I suppose we�ll have to find out along with everyone else,�
said Ginny. �Does Dad know?�

�Yes. I think the
idea is to compel Malfoy to give evidence under Veritaserum. If the evidence is strong enough the
Wizengamot will take a shortcut by forcing his testimony. If the evidence isn�t strong then all the
evidence will have to be heard in trial and that could take a long time and
he�ll deny it all.�

Lavender and Dean came over to join the group.

�We�ve decided to marry,� said Dean.

�Congratulations,� said Hermione. �Have you decided when?�

�As soon as we can.
I�m a Muggle-born and she�s pure-blood so I think we are allowed to do
it straight away. We are going to tell
our parents first but we are of age so it doesn�t matter what they say.�

�The problem is money really,� said Lavender. �I have a little but Dean doesn�t have any.�

�Hopefully Dumbledore will let us stay in school until I�ve
done my NEWTs and I�ll be able to get a job when we leave. I�ll even consider working as a Muggle
labourer with my uncle if that�s what it takes.�

�Good luck,� said Hermione.

�I think we�ll need it.
We�re going out for a walk then we�ll settle down to OWL our
parents. At least only Lavender�s
parents are able to send Howlers in return.�

�I think I�d better get back to Severus. He�s up to his eyes in it. We�ve got rather a lot of pregnancies among
the fifteen and sixteen year olds over there and they�re not coping very well.�

�What I don�t get is how it�s happened to everyone,� said
Neville earnestly. �I mean when people
are trying to have a baby it usually takes more than one attempt. We�re supposed to have fertility problems.�

�Do you know I hadn�t even thought of that,� said
Hermione. �I suppose the magic must
have reversed the effect of the potion instead of merely suspending it.�

�So instead of being a contraceptive potion it became a
fertility potion,� said Ginny.

�And we all got caught.
It�s ironic really. Everyone was
taking advantage of the fact that you were keeping Professor Snape
occupied. If you�d have married
Professor Martin or someone he�d have been prowling everywhere in a foul mood
like he used to and no one would have got away with any hanky-panky,� said
Neville.

�That�s true. I
hadn�t thought of that either. Oh God
we caused the magic too. It�s almost
our fault when you think about it.�

�Don�t get carried away,� said Neville calmly. �No one was forced to have sex with anyone
else, at least not as far as I know.
Acts of love between Witches and Wizards potentially make babies. We can try and delay them or space them out
but at the end of the day we�re all created by our parent�s love and now we�re
creating new lives ourselves.�

�That may be true of Hufflepuffs and Gryffindors but I�m not
so sure about the Slytherins. Sex for
them is about power and politics.
Severus remembers that all too well from his own schooldays.�

�We saw the Prophet,� said Ginny. �It did mention something about that.�

�I haven�t seen it yet.
We�ve been too busy with all of this.�

I think you ought to see it,� said Neville. You won�t like it but you have to know what
everyone has read.�

�I think you might want to read it in private,� said
Ginny. �Take it back to your
quarters. Here you are.�

&n]>

She handed the paper to Hermione who stood and made her way
back to Slytherin.

When she got back to the Office Severus was still
elsewhere. She made her way into the
downstairs sitting room before unfolding the newspaper. The front page headline hit her.

HOGWARTS LOVE SCANDAL UNCOVERED

Her hands shaking she sat down to read the article
thoroughly.

�The members of the Wizengamot were stunned yesterday at the
revelation of the sordid love life of Hogwarts Professor Severus Snape. Snape was called to a hearing to determine
the legality of his marriage to his pregnant seventeen year old Muggle-born
pupil Hermione Granger. During
questioning he was forced to admit to a longstanding sexual relationship with
his brother-in-law Lucius Malfoy beginning during Malfoy�s schooldays. This relationship soured and ended in a duel
over both men�s interest in Miss Granger.
Readers will remember the notorious Miss Granger�s involvement with
Harry Potter and Victor Krum when she was barely fifteen years of age. As ever she showed no shame over her actions
even going so far as to refer to herself as a �whore�. Snape was released at the insistence of
Albus Dumbledore but surely having friends in high places is not sufficient to
justify this man holding on to a position of influence with our community�s
children. Remember, this former Death
Eater is a man our new Minister saw fit to honour! Questions need to be asked.�

Hermione felt cold and sick inside. Since the final battle she had become rather
more used to positive mentions in the press owing to her role in Voldemort�s
downfall. She couldn�t bear the idea of
her parents and friends reading such filth about her. She heard a noise, which proved to be Severus coming in through
the storeroom entrance. He took one
look at her and the paper in her hands and assessed the situation.

�I see you�ve found a copy of the Prophet,� he observed.

�Have you seen this� this rubbish?�

�Albus showed it to me yes.�

�And?�

�I don�t know what you want me to say but please try to keep
yourself calm. It is series of random
half truths leading to a completely false impression of reality. It is designed to sell their wretched
so-called newspaper to the lowest common denominator of our society and no one
of any importance will believe it for a moment. Even the children know that we had to marry quickly because of
the Marriage Law.�

He walked over to her and sat down beside her taking her
hand in his.

�Aren�t you angry?� she asked incredulously.

�If the person who wrote the article were in the room with
me you would see a display of anger the likes of which you have never seen for
impugning your reputation after all that you�ve done. There is no point in me wasting my energy on such a display when
you are the only one to hear it. Of
course the fact that Lucius is a major shareholder in the Prophet is not
something we can ignore. This is
probably a ruse to attempt to discredit us before the trial.�

�My parents will have read this. What must they be thinking?�

�Hermione, your parents know you are not a whore. They know you were not involved before your
wedding, not even with me.�

�They don�t know about you and Lucius.�

�Your father does. I
saw no point in withholding it from him.
I knew it was likely to be in the newspaper although I admit I had not
anticipated this nonsense alongside.�

�You told my Dad yesterday?�

�While you were in the kitchen.�

�What did he say?�

�He said it was common for friendships to get out of hand in
boarding schools.�

�That sounds like him.�

�He�s a sensible man, your father. Very open-minded for a Muggle.�

�What are we going to do about the article?�

�Rise above it until we get a chance to strike a blow
back. I think they�ve shown bad
judgment in trying to bring you down.
I�m an easy target and I always will be but you, my love, are
special. They owe you and they know
it. �

�Do you really think so?�

�I do. If you took
it into your head you could probably storm the offices and hex the entire
editorial staff. You should probably
steel yourself for some more flak in the short term though because this
pregnancy epidemic is going to be a big story if it leaks out.�

�Which it will. We
might delay it for a few weeks but it�s unrealistic to suppose that we can hide
it for eight months. I could really do
without this.�

�I know what you mean.
I always thought that if by some rare chance I survived to the end of
the war that life would slow down for a while like it did when he fell the
first time. Back then I knew he�d come
back eventually but I had a normal life for some time, at least during
term. In the holidays I was busy
keeping up with my contacts, persuading them about how clever I�d been fooling
Dumbledore and getting off the hook.
Keeping in with them for when he came back. After the Tri-wizard of course I had to go back to Voldemort
again. That first time I really thought
I�d be killed.�

�How did you survive?�

�Luck. He had an
immediate use for me so he contented himself with some punishment.�

�Do you mean torture?�

�Yes. Quite a lot of
it as it happens. I used to sneak out
at night to go to him. It needed to be
done. Sometimes I used to wish he�d go
too far and kill me so it could be over and the rest of the order would believe
I�d done everything I could.�

�I can�t imagine what you went through. The fact that you survived is a
miracle. What kind of life do you want
now you have your freedom?�

�I�ve been thinking about leaving Hogwarts. I think I�ve had enough. I�m a competent teacher in my way but nobody
enjoys the lessons. Even I don�t like
them. Maybe when I�m older I�ll have
more patience but at the moment I resent the demands the job makes. Right now I should be giving you all my
attention but I�m tied up with pregnancies, trials, investigations, all on top
of the teaching.�

�I do understand.
The things you do are important.�

�We�ve been married for three weeks and one day. I�ve spent more than half of it in
prison. You haven�t seen any of our
homes yet. I�ve got you cooped up in my
dungeon and we haven�t even managed to sort out the new rooms. Would you be upset if we left?�

�I don�t know. Where
would we go?�

�I was thinking about the Welsh house. It is the biggest. I lived there with my parents when I was a child. It�s quite isolated. I�ve let some of the pasture to the Ministry
for a dragon reservation but the wards don�t allow them near the house. If you don�t fancy that I�ve a house about
ten miles outside Hogsmeade. It�s
smaller, fourteen or so bedrooms but we won�t entertain too often. Or there�s Cornwall, the Irish house is good
for fishing�.�

�How many houses do you have?�

�Five major ones and lots of smaller ones. We did have a lot of land in Russia and
Eastern Europe but it didn�t all escape Muggle interference. Like the Malfoys my family has made a policy
of not producing too many heirs and the wealth attracts wealth when it comes to
Marriage.�

�Don�t you visit them?�

&nb>

�Not often. You�d
enjoy the libraries I�m sure. I�ve got
lab facilities too, and botanical gardens.�

�It sounds interesting.
I wouldn�t mind seeing some of the houses certainly. Severus, I�m not going to pressure you into
staying here. I was planning to go
myself in June until we married. I�m
sure we won�t get bored. I can have the
baby and then we can see what happens.�

�I�ll wait a few days and then we can go and see Albus. Perhaps we might host a Christmas house
party for members of the Order and your family.�

�I wouldn�t know where to begin.�

�That�s the beauty of house elves. It means the lady of the house can be accomplished in other more
interesting areas.�

�Professor Snape, I don�t know what you mean.�

�One day we�ll have enough time for me to explain but for
now I�ve got to pop out for an hour or so.
Do you think you can manage?�

�Where are you going?�

�Diagon Alley. I
need to pick something up.�

�Don�t be too long.�

�I won�t. May I
steal a kiss?�

�I think so.�

He leaned over and kissed her before grabbing his broom and
cloak and making a hurried exit.

A/N

Thl>Thanks to innogen, Elbereth, GEmory and Raija for reviewing
the last chapter. I�m glad you�re all
staying involved in the story.
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Marriage Vows