Compatibility

Chapter 13: Give A Heart Away

Seventh year ended finally and Hermione's N.E.W.T. scores didn't disappoint. She had considered numerous positions at the Ministry of Magic but in the end had accepted Minerva's old position as Transfiguration instructor. At first she had been set against it – until she discovered her husband had no intention of leaving Hogwarts. Overnight, it seemed, he had changed his opinion of the place and now wanted to remain as Professor. Minerva offered him the Defense Against the Dark Arts position he had wanted all those years ago but he declined. Severus Snape had seen enough of the Dark Arts in his time and he'd just as soon forget about it.

One morning in August, Severus was in his Potions classroom checking his inventory for the upcoming school year. He was doing more waiting for Hermione than he was reading the jar labels, but he needed something to at least attempt a distraction. Hermione had gone to see Madam Pomfrey and her apprentice, Hannah Longbottom. His wife seemed to think she was coming down with the flu though Severus knew better and would have said as much if he didn't find it so humorous to watch her denial.

He'd known it was coming at some point and truth be told – though he would never admit it to anyone - Severus had been looking forward to the day Hermione would come to him and say she was pregnant with his child. There had been a great deal of healing for him in the past few months. Finally having someone who he knew would stand by him and accept him had had its affect. For the first time in his life, Severus Snape was learning how to let go of the past.

Over the summer he had taken Hermione home to Spinner's End where they had begun cleaned every inch and begun to make it the home it should have always been. All signs of his father were removed, while his mother's belongings that they found were boxed up and put safely in the attic – out of sight but never quite out of mind. He had never been able to quite forgive her for being a witch and yet allowing his father to treat them as he did.

Everything had become a new beginning for him. At first Severus had thought he would want to leave his days as Professor at Hogwarts behind him, but that was until he began thinking of the children they would have who would grow and attend Hogwarts when the time came. The more he thought about it, the more he wanted to be the one to teach his Slytherin son in Potions. It didn't occur to him that he would have anything but a son, who would of course be like his father and be sorted into Slytherin.

-x-x-x-x-x-

Hermione walked slowly towards the dungeon classroom, lost in her own thoughts.

Pregnant.

That wasn't a word she'd expected to hear, but she wasn't sure why it hadn't occurred to her. That was, after all, the Ministry of Magic's intention in the marriage law. She and Severus were nearing a year of marriage and had never used a contraceptive charm or potion. It was only reasonable to expect it would happen eventually. And yet she hadn't really given it any thought before. That was always for later down the road, not for the present. Hand on her stomach, Hermione imagined the life growing inside of her and what it would be like. She envisioned a petite girl with her own unruly brown hair and Severus' dark eyes. The girl would love books, but her favorite subject would be Potions, and she would be sorted into Gryffindor.

How would Severus take the news? That worried her perhaps the most. Her fears regarding parenting could be solved through reading copious numbers of books on the subject, but that would have little effect on his outlook. Would he be happy? Angry? They had been growing closer but that didn't mean she could predict him. Hermione knew his own childhood had been miserable. Would he disapprove of her pregnancy thinking their child was doomed for a miserable childhood as he had been? Or had all these years of teaching dunderheads made him just disdain children altogether?

She did think he'd be a wonderful father, if a bit stern. He'd always been good at watching out for children, even during the time he was also working as a spy and under extreme stress. And besides, people always said it was different when it was your child. She hoped that was true. She hadn't exactly been longing for a child herself.

She knocked on Severus' classroom door softly though the door was already open. His head was in one of the cabinets surveying potions stores and she didn't want to startle him. She walked in and he met her halfway across the room, slipping his arms around her waist and kissing her forehead. "What did Poppy say?"

Hermione tried to think of ways to break it gently but all that came out was, "I'm pregnant."

Severus kissed her forehead again. "How do you feel about that?"

"That's it?" she asked, shocked. "You don't seem very surprised."

"Well that's because I'm not surprised, Mrs. Snape," he said with a smirk.

She looked up at him wide-eyed. "So… you are okay with it?"

"It is acceptable," he drawled like his old self then smiled. "Yes, Hermione, I'm okay with it."

"Any thoughts on what to name her?"

Severus frowned. "You mean him."

"No, her," said Hermione, smiling. "I'm sure it will be a girl."

"I don't think so," said Severus. "Can you imagine a man such as myself producing anything but sons?"

"Yes," she answered smugly. "It's going to be a daughter."

"No, dear, a son."

"Daughter."

"Son."

"Daughter."

"If you say so."

-x-x-x-x-x-

Their first child, a daughter, was placed in Slytherin. But their second, a son, was a Gryffindor.

Life doesn't always turn out like you expected, but Severus and Hermione wouldn't have changed theirs for anything.

After chapter twelve I thought a lot about where I wanted the story to go and realized that I had, essentially, finished it. I never intended to tell the story of their entire marriage, just what led to it and what it took for them to begin coming to terms with what had happened and how they felt for each other. I hope that this chapter served to close the story appropriately and didn't disappoint anyone. I have several concepts for other stories that I want to move on to working on and I think after a year of writing and a lot of things in my personal life that have happened that its just time for a clean slate and a new story.

Compatibility was originally inspired by Miranda Lambert's song "Desperation." It was the source of the emotion I wrote into this story and what I often played when I felt stuck with writer's block.

"Desperation"

Throw a dog a bone,
I'll take it if i have to
Go real fast like there's somewhere we can get to
What's the use of standing right there on the edge
if there ain't nowhere to fall
What's the use in hanging on tight to the phone
If nobody might call

[Chorus:]
Desperation
There's danger in frustration
Complicated words / slipping off of your tongue and ain't one of them the truth
I'm still desperate for you

Tell it like a lie,
live it like a movie
Give a heart away like it don't mean nothing to me
What's the use in making all the plans that we made if you weren't gonna go
What's the use of slapping on a smile for a face if your eyes don't wanna show

[Repeat Chorus:]

Well it's too damn bad you didn't have a chance to make me your best friend
You were too caught up in giving too much up and not doing what you should have been