A/N: I think it's an unwritten law that every Severus/Hermione fan must do a marriage law fic at some point. Couldn't come up with a new twist so I thought I'd give you a small snap-shot of married life. Hope you enjoy.

Thoughtful Dreams.

By Lady Mimi Alice de Yorke

Hermione sat at her dressing table, absentmindedly brushing her long curly hair, thanking Merlin once more that her hair had become more manageable over the years – she honestly didn't have the time, or the inclination to tame the once wild curls every day. Beside she knew that her husband had somewhat of a soft spot for her curls, even if he found the rest of her slightly annoying.

Marrying at the age of nineteen was never part of the plan and given that her marriage was due to a stupid law – her husband having been selected purely on compatibility, didn't make for a happy marriage, something she knew her husband agreed with her on. For once.

"You'll have no hair left id you carry on brushing," a snarky, deep voice remarked from the doorway, startling Hermione from her thoughts.

"Sorry, I was rather lost in thought" Hermione remarked as she placed her brush on the table in front of her.

"Obviously," Severus said as he moved further into the room, his long pale fingers making easy work on his frockcoats many buttons. Sighing in slight frustration, Hermione turned in her chair and watched her husband get undressed, removing layer upon layer of clothing and not for the first time, she wished she could so something similar to the man himself; remove all the obstacles and walls he had put up between them the moment they receive their betrothal letters. "Do you plan on watching me all night, or will I be able to finish undressing in peace?" he asked her, looking over his shoulder, his dark eyes looking down at her, making her feel like an errant child even from the other side of the room.

"How was your day?" Hermione asked, moving over towards their bed and settling back against the pillows.

"Filled with dunderheads and melting cauldrons, as always," Severus told her as he finished undressing before joining Hermione in bed. "And yours? You visited the healer, correct?" he asked as he picked up his book, knowing that today was his wife's annual healer's visit, as the law demanded.

"Yes," was all Hermione said, her short vague response alerting Severus to the fact that his wife was not okay.

Despite the fact their marriage was a product of stupid laws and arithmacy equations (which when they were revealed to him, even he couldn't dispute there accuracy), Severus knew that he was lucky to have been matched to Hermione. And while he struggled at the beginning of their marriage to see her as anything other than his former student, he didn't make the early days of their marriage easy.

"We won't have been the first former student and professor to have a relationship and we certainly won't be the last," Hermione told him, her eyes following him as he paced their sitting room, the morning after their wedding night.

"Perhaps, but they have had a choice, they've not been forced into it," Severus pointed out angrily before storming out the room. When he returned later in the night, Hermione was fast asleep, already at ease in his cold quarters.

Severus liked to think that in the two and a half years they had been married, he had learned how to read his wife's emotions, so he knew there was more to her response than just her one-word answer. "Well are you going to tell me what happened, or am I to root around that chaotic mind of yours to discover the answer," he told her turning back to his book.

"I'm pregnant."

He couldn't believe it. Turning to look at Hermione, Severus hoped she was joking, but one look on her shocked face, he knew she was telling him the truth. Realistically, Severus knew this moment was bound to happen sooner or later; providing children was an integral part of the law that brought them together, the reason they continued to have sex at least twice a week, not to mention Hermione's fortnightly healer's visits to ensure they were abiding the rules of the law. He had hoped that since they had lasted this long, there luck would continue. But now their luck had run out.

When Severus failed to respond, she continued. "They said that I'm approximately five weeks and suggested waiting on telling people until twelve weeks, but everything looks healthy," Hermione told him. "Severus, please say something?" she asked him when he continued to just stare down at his open book, obviously in shock.

"I'm sure you'll make a wonderful mother," he told her before placing his book on the bedside table, extinguishing the lights and rolling over to sleep, leaving a thoroughly confused Hermione in the dark – literally and figuratively – staring at the shadow that was her husband, wondering why Severus had reacted the way he had. Shouldn't he be happy? Excited? Anything?

Logically she knew that he would never jump up and down in celebration, but she had thought they had developed – if not love – but some form of affection towards one another. Although she'd never admit it aloud she had definitely developed feelings for the surly man lying next to her, even if he'd never return the sentiment. It was obviously apparent that she would be the only one excited about their child. It was with that thought that Hermione lay down herself, her hand gently resting on her still flat stomach, her hopeful thoughts turning into dreams of a happy future.

Feeling his wife roll over to sleep, Severus laid very still and waited for Hermione's breath to even out as she succumbed to sleep, before he quietly got out of bed and moved into the sitting room, collapsing in a chair, large glass of firewhiskey in his hand as he tried to make heads or tails over his wife's announcement. Pregnant. They were going to have a baby. They were bringing a child into a loveless, arranged marriage. And there was nothing he could do about it.

He thought back to his own childhood, filled with shouting, crying and fists. When he was younger he vowed that if he were ever to marry and have children of his own, he swore it would all be for love.

"What am I going to do?" Severus muttered to himself, downing the rest of his firewhiskey, looking over at the door which his young pregnant wife slept behind. She's too young for all this, he thought.

Out the corner of his eye Severus saw the door to his private lab, and for reasons he didn't quite understand, he entered the room looking around all the rare and valuable ingredients and potions he had collected over the years. Would his child be as fascinated by all of this as he was? Given its parentage though, he imagined there child would be born with potions ingrained in their brain. Maybe this would be a nice bedroom, Severus thought before conjuring some boxes and starting work on packing up the vast quantity of ingredients. "If I can't love its mother, I can at least give them a nice bedroom," he told himself as thoughts of standing behind a small boy brewing potions made a home in his mind. "Maybe it won't be too bad," Severus thought, closing the lab door hours later, satisfied with his work for the night, before heading off to bed.

Hermione couldn't quite believe what her husband was showing her. There in front of her – where she'd never dare venture before thanks to her husbands' welcome speech when she first moved in – was her surely husbands empty, spotless lab, and right in the centre looking unbelievably out of place was a rich mahogany crib, patiently waiting for its future occupant. The remainder of the room was left plain, ready to be decorated, but Hermione couldn't focus on anything else but the fact that Severus had willingly given up his private lab so their child could have its own bedroom. It was incredibly thoughtful, and she didn't know what to say.

"You can decorate the room as you like," Severus told her, his eyes resting on the sizable swell of her seven month belly. "The entire room has been sanitised, there's no trace of potions or ingredients remaining. The room is perfectly safe for the baby," he told her looking around the bare room.

"Thank you Severus," Hermione told him, "This is wonderful." She told him with a smile, reaching up to kiss his cheek before moving further into the room, an excited smile on her face as she thought of all the possibilities.

As Severus stood and watched as Hermione ran her hands over the crib, an excited smile on her face and Severus honestly thought that perhaps parenthood wouldn't be so bad after all, especially of he had Hermione by his side.

She had the most beautiful eyes Severus had ever seen, blue still for now, but he knew whatever colour they turned in the coming months, she would still be beautiful. He was amazed someone so lovely could be his, but here he was with a gorgeous little baby girl in his arms while his wife slept in the next room.

"Severus, come to bed. Alicia will still be there in the morning," Hermione told her husband from the door. "You need to sleep, come on," she told him making her way back into their bedroom. Placing Alicia back into her crib Severus followed his wife back to bed, looking at his amazing, strong wife in a new light.

Since the arrival of little Alicia three weeks ago, both he and Hermione had grown closer and closer as they looked after their daughter, even sleeping in each other's arms as exhaustion took over, something they did again that night, husband and wife tucked in each other's arms.

"Who would have thought that parenthood would make you feel so peaceful and content," Hermione breathed sleepily as she snuggled further into Severus arms.

"It's all due to you; you have a nasty habit of bringing out the best in people, especially me," Severus whispered when he thought Hermione was asleep. "Thank you Hermione, for everything," he said placing a soft kiss to the crown of her head before sleep too claimed him, his thoughts turning to dreams of the future. A future he never thought he'd had, but one he was eternally thankful for.