And Thou Shalt Not: A Question of Right or Wrong
(p.s. I don't own anything you recognize)

"Good morning, Severus. What brings you here?" Dumbledore asked, peering over his half moon spectacles.

"I was just wondering about the new change to the faculty this year." I said, putting my fist onto Albus' desk with a thud.

"Control yourself, man. You know why I did it." He remained calm and looked into my eyes, managing to keep the twinkle down.

"I know, but, couldn't you have had Potter do it, or I would have settled for Longbottom with me." Anyone but her.

"Miss Granger is the best for you. Wouldn't Potter's best friend be the most ironic spy? Voldemort must think that she has gone over to the dark side. Since you are currently on the dark side, you are the best known person to do so."

"She's only what, 16?" I tried to sound incredulous.

"You mind wanders, Severus, you know as well as I do that she graduated six years ago last May. She currently lives in London working at the apothecary in Diagon Alley. You know the new one, Granger and Weasley?"

"Yes, I know. I saw her there when I went. It really is a brilliant little shop, had the finest selection of Boomslang skin I've seen in a long time. And Bill was very knowledgeable."

"Any who, lemon drop?" Professor Dumbledore offered a muggle sweet to me. I finally slumped down into one of the armchairs to listen to him.

"But really, Albus, Hermione Granger? She's a mess. I hope she isn't as know at all and buck toothed and bushy haired, although my luck she is."

"You must have seen her if you went into Granger and Weasley." Albus sucked on his lemon drop, his face puckering on the sour candy.

"To tell you the truth, I just saw her from a little way off. I was not paying attention." Not paying attention to her? That's likely. I only know that she could probably hear my heart beating from where she stood behind the counter.

"Well, I believe that you will be fondly surprised." he chuckled.

"Surprised, Albus?" I acted distrustful of his appraisal.

"Yes. I believe Miss Granger has become very pretty."

"Yes, when she sprouts wings and Peeves stops being a nuisance."

"I think that he's been quite good lately."

"Oh, please. Stop now. At least I'm not going to have to share chambers with her." I said more to myself than to Albus.

"Oh, yes you are. Very sorry, Sevvie, but you are going to have to pretend that you and she are very close indeed." Albus chuckled again, looking at the horrified man sitting in front of him.

"Please refrain from calling me Sevvie." I screwed up my face into what I hoped was anger.

Albus was quiet for a moment, completive. Then he spoke: "You know that if there was anyone else available to do this, I would do it."

This hit me with a clash. I missed her, I genuinely missed her. "How is she, really?"

"I believe you will find her much altered." He said, the hard lines on his face relaxing into mere creases with his sadness.

"What has she been doing?" I tried to act casual.

"The usual. Getting married. Reproducing. Working, the like." Albus said, trying to act casually as well.

"I saw the ring." I stayed at the shop for three minutes and thirty-eight seconds after seeing the band of gold on her left hand. "Weasley, eh? Always thought either he or Potter would marry her."

"How many times have you seen Hermione since…" He trailed off.

"Just the once, in the shop." It took all my courage to go in, even just that once. I don't know if she even saw me. She wouldn't have wanted to.

"It wasn't Ronald that she married. It was Bill." Albus informed me.

"Oh." I remembered Bill Weasley from some of my earlier classes. He was the eldest of Molly and Arthur Weasley and by far the smartest, most hard-working and the most talented of the bunch. Worthy, as much as I hate to say it, of Hermione's mind.

"She's also a mother. A daughter by the name of Mairwen, I believe."

"No. It can't be."

"Severus?" Hermione whispered to me under the cloak of night in my bedroom. It was just before September 1, when the term started. Hermione had graduated the year before this past one.

"Love?" I asked, opening my eyes to look at her.

"I'm pregnant." she let loose a huge sigh that she must have been holding in for a while.

"Pregnant?" I sat up straight in the bed, the sheets falling to my lap.

"I'm sorry, Severus. I didn't mean to." A bit of moonlight caught her face and it was glistening with tears.

"You know you have to leave, Hermione." I said, my voice coming out of my throat far different than what I wanted. I wanted to sound gentle and comforting, but instead I sounded harsh and unforgiving.

"I wouldn't." she cried harder.

"You have to. I wouldn't let you stay. It's far too dangerous, Hermione. You know that you should have taken care of the potion. If you would have, we wouldn't be in this place." I leapt from the bed and began pacing the floor.

"Fine. You don't want me, you don't want our child. Have it your way." I would have expected her to look silly screaming at me naked, her belly just barely rounding, but she didn't. I was terrified of her.

I tried contacting her in the following days and months. I was never replied to. In fact, she never took the letters. Seven months after she left Hogwarts and I, a letter did come. It was a copy of a muggle birth certificate, made out to Mairwen Elizabeth Granger. Mother: Hermione Jane Granger. Father: Severus Raphael Snape. Mairwen Elizabeth Granger was born April 23 at 11:13 am, at 6 pounds, 3 ounces, 19 inches long.

"And she's coming to Hogwarts to spy for the Order?" I gulped down my fear when I said this.

"Yes." Albus said simply. I stood suddenly, looking around for an exit when I knew exactly where it was. "Severus?"

"Yes?" I stood taller and straightened my teaching robes.

"She'll be here this afternoon at four o'clock."

"And she'll be living with me? What about Mair-I mean, the child."

"Mairwen will be safe in Oxfordshire with The Weasleys at the Burrow. Bill has arranged to be 'away' on business in Egypt as a cover story. Percy, one of the younger Weasleys and his wife Penelope, formerly Penelope Clearwater, will be managing the apothecary shop. It's all taken care of, Severus. She will be here at four."

"That's only seven hours." I muttered, sweeping from the office and down the stairs. I practically flew down the stairs and out past the gargoyle. I followed the labyrinthine corridors and staircases to the dungeons. I stopped at an ancient suit of armor and muttered the password to let me into my rooms.

Mairwen."

I shuddered as I entered my bedroom from the living room. It seemed the same, save which clothes were draped over the chair and what knick-knacks were on top of my bureau, as the night she had spirited out of Hogwarts, never to be heard from again. Well, I never heard from her again, at least.

And now, after almost five years since she left, she was returning.

"Maybe I have been here before
I know this room, I've walked this floor
I used to live alone before I knew you
I've seen your flag on the marble arch
Love is not a victory march
It's a cold and it's a broken Hallelujah"
-Rufus Wainwright