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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 Twenty-Six Sunday Lunch

Hermione woke to find herself alone in the bed at ten
o�clock in the morning. She took
herself to the bathroom for a shower and then went in search of her
husband. She found him in his private
lab with two huge cauldrons on the go.

�Good Morning,� he said.
�Coffee?�

�Please,� she answered.

�It�s on the side,� he said, gesturing to the tray on the
side bench. �Help yourself while I
watch this.�

She walked over to the bench and poured herself a cup from
the charmed pot adding milk and sugar to it.

�What are you making?� she asked.

�Potions for Madam Pomfrey.
This one is for morning sickness and that one is for the girls who are
purging the Inservire Libido from their systems. Poppy�s got them isolated in three separate
rooms and they�ll be climbing the walls without something to take the edge
off. If they weren�t pregnant I could
use something more potent but this will have to suffice. I woke up early and I saw a chance to get
this stuff brewed and bottled before we go for lunch. They need attention on and off over about five hours and I am
less likely to be distracted early on a Sunday morning.�

�Am I a distraction?�

�Not as long as you let me work whilst we speak. I haven�t brewed either of these in a long
time and I keep having to refer to notes.�

�Did you gee ine ingredients from Diagon Alley yesterday?�

�Yes, I had to duck into Knockturn Alley for some as
well. I visited several Apothecaries in
order not to arouse suspicion as to what I was brewing. I picked up something for you as well.�

�From the Apothecary?�

�From our vault at Gringotts.�

�What is it?�

�It�s over there under the aprons. I was going to try for a romantic dinner last night and give it
to you then but we got sidetracked.
It�s not a gift as such because it bgs tgs to you as much as to me now
that we�re married but I hoped it might lift your spirits to see it. Go on, have a look.�

&s]>

�Is it this box?�

�It�s the box and its contents. Open it.�

Hermione opened the wooden chest. What she found inside took her breath away. It was literally crammed with hundreds of
pieces of jewellery, rings, necklaces, bracelets, earrings, jewelled pins and
even a tiara.

�Severus, this must be worth a fortune. It�s incredible!�

�It was my great grandmother�s jewellery collection. My great grandfather was totally besotted by
her for over a hundred years. He was a
wealthy man by his own efforts as he was a younger son and it was his pleasure
to indulge her taste for finery. My
grotheother was their only child and I was her heir as my mother died shortly
before her. The estate and its income
was seized by my father claiming to be a trustee. When I turned seventeen I took control of it myself. Not all of it will be to your taste I
suppose but hopefully you will find some things you can wear.�

�I�m sure I will.
It�s beautiful. I don�t know
what to say, I�m stunned.�

�You are a wealthy woman Hermione. I find it very difficult to be interested in material
things. I like well made clothes and my
grandmother�s furniture and my books but I don�t use the money for power and
influence in the same way that many wealthy wizards do. Traditionally the Snape family has kept its
isolation. People joke that we own so
much property because no Snape can even bear to associate with another family
member. Yesterday that worthless rag
throwing mud at us upset you. If you
wanted to you have the power to destroy them.
If you wanted to install our family in political life you have the
resources to do so.�

He turned his attention momentarily back to his cauldron as
it began to simmer and stirred rapidly.
Her>Hermione isolated a gold pendant set with pearls.

�That was a wedding gift,� he said. �It�s very suitable for a young girl.�

�Do you know the history of all this?�

�Not all of it. My
grandmother told me about the pieces I liked.
The tiara always fascinated me.
He bought that to take her into European Muggle Society. There�s a long string of pearls in there
somewhere which was a gift when she came of age.�

�She married young?�

�At fourteen I believe.
The laws have changed since then.
My great grandfather was in his thirties and already wealthy. Her family weren�t rich bu saw saw her out
shopping and made enquiries. She was
full blooded but not quite the seven generations needed to make a
pure-blood. However not being the heir
he was free to choose her.�

�Did she choose him?�

�I am assured she did.
He was considered a good catch, as they say. The only sadness in their lives was the lack of a living child. It took them forty years to manage that
after countless failures.�

�That must have been awful.�

�I know. I don�t
remember her although we did meet. I
was too young. There are pictures of us
together at the Italian house. You�ll
see them one day. He had her painted by
Muggle artists too in her youth.�

�I might wear this pendant today. It�s not too much is it?�

�No. If you wear the
dark blue robes and use a short chain it will work nicely.�

�How much longer are you going to be?�

�About three quarters of an hour and then I�ll need to
change quickly. Go and sort yourself
out if you want to. goingoing to start
bottling this one in a moment.�

�Okay, I�ll take this stuff with me and start to get
changed.�

He took one of the cauldrons off the heat and turned to get
a supply of bottles from a box underneath the work bench. Hermione picked up the jewellery box and
made her way through to the dressing room.
She selected the robes Severus had suggested and changed quickly. She fastened the pendant around her neck and
assessed her appearance critically.
Choosing to leave it on she went through to the sitting room and began
sorting through the jewellery to sort out the pieces she might be able to wear
from the mortravtravagant items. This
took quite a long while and she was still occupied when Severus came in to
shower and dress for lunch.

�Have you found anything else you like?� he asked.

yes"> I never thought I�d have anything like it myself.�

�You�ll adjust.
You�re right about the museums though.
Some of the items are more valuable as works of art than as jewels. The necklace suits you. I�ll be a moment and then we�ll have to
fly.�

On arrival at the house in Hogsmeade Severus presented Molly
with a bottle of the morning sickness potion.

�A very practical gift,� she said after reading the label.

�I�ve made it in bulk this morning,� he said. �I�ve done enough for all the pregnancies we
know about. I�ve even got a bottle for
Hermione�s parents.�

�Them too?� said Arthur.

�Yes. I diagnosed
her on Friday evening when we went to fill them in on the details of the
trial.�

�How many pregnancies in total now?� asked Molly.

�Twenty three including the adults. I used my biggest cauldron.�

�If you add in our other family pregnancies that makes up a
normal year�s intake for Hogwarts,� said Arthur.

�Seven grandchildren in one year Arthur and another baby of
your own.�

�Yes it�s been quite a year. As soon as this trial business is over we�ll be seeing another
wedding as well, maybe two.�

�Are all the girls going ahead with the pregnancies?� asked
Molly.

�I can�t say. Some
have announced an intention to marry but we h�t h�t heard from any other
parents yet. If they choose to take
them out of school to have the potion we can�t stop them.�

�So you won�t be brewing it yourself?� asked Arthur.

�No. I�ve seen
enough dead children in my time. I
don�t plan to snuff out the lives of my own child�s classmates.�

Hermione reached for his hand and grasped it gently. He squeezed it in return.

�I�m sorry,� said Arthur.
�I didn�t mean to upset you.�

�No I�m a bit over sensitive about it. I�ve spent a good hour this morning
confiscating all the potentially risky ingredients from the storerooms so no
one can accidentally come into contact with them. Let�s just change the subject.�

�Gladly. Let me take
your cloaks.�

�What a pretty necklace,� said Molly. �Did Severus buy it for you?�

�It�s an heirloom.
It belonged to Severus� great grandmother.�

�It�s lovely.�

�Severus has taken some of her things out of storage for me
to use.�

�I went to Diagon Alley yesterday for ingredients and called
in at Gringotts.�

�Did you have any trouble?� enquired Arthur.

�I attracted rather more glances than I normally would,
shall we say. No one was reckless
enough to challenge me. I take it you
saw the Prophet article.�

�We did yes. I
lodged a complaint about it with the Wizengamot. It was a pretty ruthless distortion.�

�I was not pleased but I have never sought the good opinion
of the masses.�

�It was hard on you though Hermione,� persisted Arthur.

�I will get my own back in my own time. You�ll notice no one had the guts to admit
to writing it. �

�Considering you trapped Rita Skeeter in that jar that time
I�m not surprised,� said Molly.

�In a jar?� asked Arthur.

�She was in beetle form.
I wouldn�t let her out until she agreed to my terms,� said Hermione
proudly.

�Don�t ever make her angry Severus,� said Arthur solemnly.

�And run the risk of him slipping something in my coffee?�

�I�d like to see who�d get the upper hand in a duel between
you two,� said Arthur.

�Sibling wands,� said Severus. �I couldn�t bring myself to throw a forceful hex at her anyway.�

�No hexing until after the baby is born,� said Hermione
primly.

�I should say not,� said Molly. �I�ve told Susan and Ginny that very thing.�

�I�m just glad we got Voldemort out of the way in time,�
said Arthur. �Can you imagine trying to
go up against him with so many of our women out of commission.�

�If we nail Lucius next week that will be the most we can do
to finally draw a line under it all,� said Severus. �How are we doing with the evidence gathering?�

�We have undeniable proof that Lucius sought to kill you in
the duel. That will give him at least
five years in Azkaban plus he would have to serve the rest of his previous term
which he was excused after the Ministry lost Azkaban. We have some evidence of the corruption but it�s hard to gather
much because people are frightened to incriminate themselves. People he threatened are coming forward but
people he bribed are a different matter.
The Aurors have found an annotated copy of the spell you found, at
Malfoy Manor, which is strong evidence he knew about its potential. They�re still there searching. He�s got some ingenious hiding places.�

�What about Maria?� asked Hermione.

�We can prove that she is a legitimate heir of Claudius
Malfoy. The spell you have used is
admissible evidence. However there is
no one who saw or knew who murdered either of her parents. Him being the only person to benefit is not
proof enough in itself.�

�We need to pull something out of the hat quickly,� said
Severus. �Otherwise Maria may as well
write her will when she gets her inheritance because she won�t live to
benefit.�

�Have the Aurors questioned people at the hospital where
Selene died?� asked Hermione.

�Do you mean Muggles?� said Arthur.

�Yes.�

�Well no. We were
able to access a report from the Muggle legal system about the death. It gives enough evidence for us to conclude
that the deaths were by Avada Kedavra but it mentions no witnesses. The deaths occurred in the daytime and the
bodies were found within moments.�

�Well doesn�t that just mean the witnesses were Obliviated?�
said Hermione.

�I suppose you could be right,� said Arthur, �I don�t see
what we could do about that. You need a
strong Legilimens to even find an Obliviate, let alone undo it.�

�I am able to do it,� said Severus. �I�ve done it for Voldemort in the past
during interrogations. I�m sorry to say
I taught him how to do it himself.�

�Isn�t it a difficult process?� asked Arthur.

�It�s not pleasant.
I could Obliviate them again afterwards.�

�I don�t really like the idea of messing with Muggles like
that but I could offer your services to the Aurors. If one of them is willing to accompany you then you might be able
to. Although how you�d go about
tracking them down I don�t know.�

if]>

�Perhaps he won�t have to,� said Hermione thoughtfully.

�Explain,� prompted her husband.

�Well we already know Mrs Abbott had an Obliviate. We assumed it was because she was present
when the babies were swapped. What if Selene swapped the babies while she was
in the loo or something? She would have
had time to choose her moment. On the
other hand Lucius had to be in and out very quickly and had to kill Selene
before she could strike at him. She could
have been there at the time.�

�She is easier to access than a normal Muggle. She already knows about the magical world
because of Maria,� said Severus. �She
already knows me and has let me use Legilimency on her before.�

�This could be the break we were looking for,� admitted
Arthur. �But how are you going to
manage it without breaking the news that her own baby died?�

�I wish I knew,� he said slowly. �I wish I knew.�

Molly left the room to check on the food and the
conversation turned as other members of the household filtered in for lunch.

A/N

Thanks to mother, azulkan2 and Sabrina for reviewing the
last chapter.

Nightqueen- Sadly there are no limits to what some people
are capable of. My story touches on the
themes of social breakdown and child abuse in a number of places. The fate of the girls isn�t finally resolved
within this story but they are indirectly involved in a later element of the
plot and I have plans for one of them in a companion piece.
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Marriage Vows