Chapter 23 - Midnight Revelations

Many times over the duration of the next week, Severus felt as though he had come up against a hundred foot brick wall.

The Daily Prophet continued to spew forth drivel all throughout the week as though there were not some other important event in the Wizarding world to write about other than the Headmaster of Hogwarts and his wife. Severus was starting to understand just how annoyed Hermione was with the whole thing, and had been totally tied down with all of the work he had to do around Hogwarts, the Ministry and all of the hate mail he had been receiving from “concerned citizens”. He just knew that someone devious, someone shameless, and someone with an agenda had to have been behind it all.

Severus had seen the man who had supposedly written the report one since the initial one appeared in the paper, but he was not convinced it was him. If he didn’t know any better, he would have thought it was written by Rita Skeeter. It was certainly the same style of writing as she was famous for, and as of yet, he had been unable to get out of Molly Weasley exactly who it was she had gone to. His patience was wearing thin, and he had little time on his hands as it were.

Hermione was unable to do her jobs plus his own on top of that, and with the pregnancy approaching the next stage, she was even wearier than usual, not to mention had a larger appetite. She had been in control of her emotions better in any case, which meant that he was able to allow her to investigate into the articles more than he had been. Originally she was either bursting into tears or going into a rage over it, so he had kept her away from the case. But now he was too weary to object.

‘Severus? Love, are you coming to bed soon?’ Hermione asked from the doorway to their bedroom which she was leaning against as she looked at him sitting in an armchair in front of the fire in thought.

He nodded and stood from the chair, walking over to her. ‘Come, lets sleep pet,’ he murmured softly, gently leading her back into the room with a warm hand on her back, pulling the door closed behind him.

‘You’ve been working too hard,’ Hermione complained as she lay down on the bed above the stifling covers.

‘We’ll be able to take a break soon,’ he murmured, thankful that the end of the school year was fast approaching.

Hermione nodded, snuggling up against him despite the warmth. It was well and truly into spring, and the weather had become pleasant and a little warmer than usual, which was a nice change from constant rain during the spring. Severus lay on his side, turned so that he could look at his wife as he stroked her pleasantly rounded belly. Her bump had become significantly more rounded than it had been a month before, and she was starting to look like a pregnant woman now, confirming that she was well and truly Severus Snape’s wife and the soon-to-be mother of his children.

Soon enough, Severus drifted to sleep, and Hermione was able then to gaze at him openly, tracing the sharp angle of his jaw. He was the most beautiful man she had ever seen in sleep. He was so serene and peaceful, she had no idea how she could have ever found him repulsive. Besides, no man had ever loved her the way that he did, and she loved that too. Closing her eyes and snuggling up closer, she let herself fall asleep in the arms of her husband.

The next morning, the pair of them woke and showered before dressing for the day in their teaching robes. Hermione’s robes were just voluminous that the roundness to hr belly was not yet visible, but her lesson plans had all been altered to lessen the danger that she would be in if something went awry in class. The students did not need to know that she was with child just yet, and she was happy to let them all find out gradually anyway.

They left Severus’ office together, heading to the Great Hall together for breakfast. On the way they passed many of the students who were simply ambling their way along slowly, still sleepy. One student, however, was not so tired, and had actually bounded up to them with seemingly endless enthusiasm. Megan Cabot was smiling broadly as she approached them to walk next to Hermione.

‘Good morning, Professor’s!’ she exclaimed, slipping her hand into Hermione’s with the ease of familiarity. Hermione just wanted to hug the girl just because she was so incredibly adorable when she did that.

‘Good morning, Miss Cabot,’ Severus said politely.

Hermione however, was not so formal and restrained. ‘Good morning to you too, Megan,’ she said brightly. ‘I take it you are well?’

‘I am very well thanks, Professor Snape,’ she answered with a grin at both her Professor and the Headmaster.

‘I trust you slept well, Miss Cabot?’ Severus asked, which made Hermione beam at him for being so darling for her.

‘I would have slept well, but the girls in my room were up talking all night,’ she answered with a small shrug. ‘It doesn’t really bother me, but I managed to hear what they were talking about, and I thought I would come and talk to you about it this morning if you have time. It’s really important.’

‘Is that right?’ Severus said carefully. ‘Well in that case, you should come up to my office straight after breakfast. I will excuse you from your first class. The password for the stairs is Caligula.’

The girl nodded and then slipped her hand from Hermione’s, running ahead a little to join a group of girls as they entered the hall. Severus led Hermione around to the staff entrance and stopped her just before she opened the door to go into the Great Hall. He led her to the window and sighed heavily.

‘I had a brief little look into Miss Cabot’s mind to make sure she was serious about the importance of this matter, and it appears that she has information about the article in the Daily Prophet,’ he said quietly.

‘Oh Severus, this is good, isn’t it?’ Hermione asked hopefully. ‘Although, that was still a little rude digging around in Megan’s head that way.’

Severus smiled a little, walking back to the door with her. ‘What I will never understand is your fascination with that young girl. She is just another student,’ he said, shaking his head.

Hermione sighed. ‘You don’t understand because you just don’t want to see it for yourself,’ she said with a huff as they walked into the hall and along the Head table to their seats. ‘She is just like me.’

Severus knew she was right – they were both Muggleborn, bright, cheerful and enthusiastic. Both of them were orphaned because of the war. They were different in appearance but still very alike. He knew what Hermione wanted as far as Megan Cabot was concerned. He supposed he could get used to the girl being around. She was rather pleasant to be perfectly honest. They would just have to wait until all of the troubles with the articles were cleared up before he did something.

Breakfast was over faster than Severus could have imagined, and soon he was in the dark hall near the staff door, kissing his wife soundly before she would head to the dungeons, and he would head back up to his office to see Miss Cabot. He went up the spiral staircase and entered his office to find her standing over near the stand where Fawkes ws perched, stroking his feathers.

‘Miss Cabot,’ he said by way of announcement.

She looked up and saw him, smiling as she did and walking over to his desk. He sat in his chair behind the desk, and then gestured for her to sit opposite him. She did as she was bid immediately, and that was when Severus noticed the grim determination on her face that he knew so well. Hermione had looked the same way when she was that age. He had not liked her much at that age to be honest, but he admired her determination. It made him feel a brief flash of guilt over Hermione’s age in comparison to his, but he shook the thought away. Hermione and he were different people from the ones that they had been all those years before.

‘So you’ve come to tell me about the article in the Daily Prophet that day?’ Severus asked, getting straight to the point.

She nodded. ‘Yes Sir,’ she answered immediately. ‘The girls were up al night talking about it. They didn’t have anything to do with it, but they had overhead a few Slytherin boys in the halls talking about it at lunch yesterday.’

‘Do we know the names of these boys?’ Severus asked, leaning forwards and resting his elbows on his desk in his interest.

‘Yes sir, Simon Green, Jared Garfunkel and Julius Mulciber,’ she said, numbering them off on her fingers. ‘The girls said that they heard the boys mention a woman – some reporter for the Prophet. They couldn’t quite make it out but Amelia Jones said that it sounded like one of them said the name Skeeter.’

Severus’ eyes went wide and he knew he had finally gotten her. ‘And did they happen to mention anything else?’ he pressed further, eager to get as much information as he could so that he could begin setting up his trap.

Megan nodded. ‘I heard the girls mention a Weasley and they also said something about a beetle flying around the school and meeting the boys in the halls in the Dungeons,’ she said with finality.

Severus nodded. He had her by the antennas. ‘You have been very helpful to me and my wife, Miss Cabot,’ he said a little stiffly, uncomfortable with showing gratitude to a student. ‘I will not forget what you have done for us.’

‘I was happy to be of help, sir,’ she replied, getting up from her seat. ‘Can I ask you to write me a pass for class?’

‘Certainly,’ he said, swiftly doing so. He would do anything for that girl. She had just saved him and Hermione a huge amount of trouble and had practically solved the entire case for him.

He handed her the note and with a nod, she left the office and Severus settle back into his chair to relax a little bit. All of the tension in his body seemed to melt away, and it was all because of what one little Gryffindor had told him. He recognized that the young girl respected Hermione immensely, and that she seemed to be mild-mannered and rose well by her deceased parents. There was really only one thing he could do to make his Hermione happy in this case.

‘Albus, what do you think?’ Severus asked suddenly, spinning his chair to face the former Headmaster.

‘I think that Megan Cabot will make a fine addition to your new little family, Severus,’ Albus said with a cheerful smile on his face.

‘I suppose you’re now going to say that I would make an excellent father figure for her too,’ Severus grumbled a little sarcastically. ‘I could hardly replace the empty space that her true father left behind.’

‘Ah, but who said anything about replacing her true father? I merely meant that it will be nice for her to have someone there – a male to protect her, watch her grow and scold her when she is dressed inappropriately for her first date with a young man,’ the older man said with a chuckle. ‘And you will be the kind of man who would do that – mark my words Severus.’

Severus almost smiled in spite of himself. Even the thought of a daughter of his going on a date with any young boy made him get protective, and his daughter had not yet even been born. He turned a scowl on the Headmaster, who, guessing what was going through his mind, laughed a little harder in his frame.

‘You take care of that family of yours,’ he said, stroking his beard. ‘Hermione is the wonderful woman and witch – it almost makes me wish that I had someone like that when I was young. I would have snapped up such a woman in a second in my younger days.’

Severus felt a little wave of sadness rip through him at that. How could he have forgotten? The Headmaster had not known the love of a woman as he had, and he was the far more deserving of them. ‘I promise I will do my best,’ he said softly.

At that, Albus nodded and walked out of his frame, no doubt to go and have a chat with one of the other Headmaster’s.

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