Echoes

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Echoes

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Chapter three: Secrets

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"How the hell can you keep this from him?" Hermione yelled at him.

"Language, Ms Granger, or there will be points taken off," said Severus, although he didn't really mean it. She could blackmail him into doing whatever she wanted at the moment, so getting her even angrier with him would do no good.

Sandra began screaming in his arms.

"And please," Severus added, "Keep it down. She doesn't like loud voices."

Hermione glared at him, but decided that it was true. She reached out and touched the baby's cheek. "I'm sorry, sweetheart."

She turned her gaze up to Severus again. "You need to tell him."

Unconsciously, Severus' grip on his daughter tightened. "How can I? And what good will it do?"

"She's his daughter," Hermione said, her voice now soft. "That's what good it will do."

Fighting with himself to not break down - especially not in front of this particular student - Severus said in a small voice that didn't sound like his own, "He'll hate me."

If Hermione was surprised by his admission of weakness, she didn't show it. "He won't. You know he won't. In fact, he'll lo-"

"Don't say it, Ms Granger," Severus said, regaining his self-control.

She watched him for a few moments, before she finally said, "All right. But you know it's true."

Then she turned on her heel and left the room, the sound of her footsteps echoing through the corridor.

Severus looked down at his daughter, who met his gaze evenly. "You have created some problems, love," he said to her. He sighed, "None of it is really your fault, though. Your father - one of them anyway - just seems to be unable to do anything right. Maybe I should tell him."

Sandra looked at him and smiled. "Daa," she agreed.

~~~~~

Ronald Weasley

I was out with Harry under the Invisibility Cloak one night, when we heard someone come suddenly. It was some time 'round Christmas, I know 'cause the castle was decorated with red everywhere. I don't remember the exact reason Harry and I were out, but I think it had something to do with our inability to sleep. Harry had been having trouble sleeping for months; he kept having these vivid dreams that he wouldn't tell me about and they'd wake him up. Sometimes, they woke me up too, like this night, and we went out for a walk.

When we heard that someone coming, we pressed ourselves to the wall and tried our best to stop breathing.

Of course, with our luck, it would have to be either Filch or Snape coming.

It was the latter.

He was breathing sort of heavily, which I thought odd. I looked over at Harry at the same time, but he seemed to be off in la-la-land, staring at Snape all of a sudden.

Snape walked right past where we were standing. When he'd come about ten feet away from us, he suddenly ran to the wall and grabbed it for support. Then he promptly emptied the contents of his stomach onto the floor.

Gross.

Really, really gross.

He cleaned it up with a spell and continued walking. As soon as he was gone and the footsteps had died off, I turned to Harry.

"Did you see that?" I asked him, pulling a face.

Harry didn't reply. He looked sort of odd, as though he was confused as to where he was.

"Harry?" I asked.

He shook his head. "Sorry. I must be tired," he said. "Maybe we should head back up."

"Yeah," I said slowly. "Maybe we should."

The next morning when we woke up, Harry barely even remembered that we'd been out walking. Or at least that's what he said.

~~~~~

Three days later, Hermione's words still hung over Severus' head like a dark cloud. His mood had become worse again, something his daughter definitely noticed. She fussed more than usual. Especially at night, the results of which were Severus getting barely any sleep and thus his annoyance and anger increased even more. It was a bad circle and it would have gotten even worse, if Hermione hadn't come to the rescue.

She was quite nervous as she walked down the hallways towards the Professors quarters. But then she heard the familiar cries of the last three days and she was sure that this was the right thing to do.

Still, her hand shook a bit as she raised it and knocked on the door.

The door flew open and her Potions Master, his hair on end - even more so than usual -, dark shadows beneath his eyes and a raging baby in his arms, stood in the doorway.

"What do you want, Granger?" he snapped at her, trying to soothe his daughter but only serving to make her more upset by speaking in a less than friendly manner.

"Um, I was wondering..." Hermione said, her eyes wide as she watched Snape get angrier and angrier with Sandra.

"Well spit it out!" Snape barked at her.

"I was wondering if I could baby-sit Sandra for the afternoon." There, she'd said it. Now it was up to her Professor.

His eyes became slits as he watched her, although the screaming and fighting baby in his arms diminished the effect of the glare. "Why would you want to do that?" he asked suspiciously.

Hermione put her hands on her hips and met the glare squarely. "Because a) she can spend some time with Harry if I take her for the afternoon, b) she needs to get out some and c) you need a break."

He continued to glare at her. "Why would you care if -?"

"Professor, with all do respect," Hermione said with a sigh. "It's not you I care about the most. I want Harry to be with his daughter for a little. Still, you need to have some time alone without Sandra right now. It's the truth, sir."

He stared at her. "Fine," he said finally and held the screaming baby out. "Take her."

Hermione took Sandra in her arms and held her close. "Shh, sweetie," she mumbled, hugging her close, "Don't cry."

She'd never taken care of a baby by herself before, being an only child and having had mostly grown-ups as company when she grew up. Still, Sandra felt natural in her arms, despite the fact that she was still squirming, fighting and crying.

Snape, who'd left for a brief moment, returned with a bag of necessities. He explained Sandra's routines briefly.

"Can I give her back tomorrow morning?" Hermione asked, feeling like she was asking about some book rather than a living human being.

"If she's okay with staying away for that long, then yes, that is all right," Snape replied. He sounded tired.

"Good," Hermione said. "I'll see you tomorrow, then. Good bye, Professor."

"Good bye, Ms Granger."

Hermione smiled to herself as she made her way up the stairs, Sandra squirming and crying still in her arms and the bag slung over her shoulders. Now Harry was going to have to spend some time with his daughter - she'd make sure of it.

~~~~~

Minerva McGonagall

When he neared the end of his pregnancy, us on the staff had to bite our tongues to keep quiet about it. The students were not to know. Even on the staff, we were only a select few that did know. The Headmaster knew what a mistake it would be to trust Rubeus Hagrid with the information, for example. The man has a heart of gold, but he couldn't keep a secret to save his life. There was also Trelawney, our dear Divinations teacher, who would have blabbered about it as soon as she got the chance.

Poppy Pomfrey knew, of course. She was the one who had to do the check-ups. We couldn't trust anyone outside of school to keep quiet about it, so she would also be the one to deliver the baby. Professor Sprout knew as well, because she needed to grow special herbs for when the baby was to be born. Flitwick knew, as he was the one who helped Severus with the Concealment Charms. If the students had seen the huge midsection he'd developed by his eighth month, there would have been no question about what was 'wrong' with their Potions Professor.

I knew and of course the Headmaster knew. I think Albus knew before Severus did. I remember when we were eating dinner one evening and Severus was just picking his food, moving it around on the plate. This was some time in November, when the rumours about Severus being sick had just begun flying around school at an uncanny speed. Albus looked up at Severus and said,

"You need to eat, Severus."

I can't recall any time that he's ever told Severus that he needed to eat. It was just not something to be done, not even by the Headmaster.

Severus raised an eyebrow at him. "Since when are you my mother?" he asked bitingly.

No one except Severus ever speaks to Albus like that. I have never really understood their relationship, but it seems a bit like a father and son's. Except I think that Albus was always more forgiving towards Severus than Severus' own father was.

"Oh," said the Headmaster, "I am most certainly not. I leave the mothering activities to... others."

His eyes twinkled and he smiled at Severus. I blinked, because I knew there was some hidden meaning beneath those words, only to anyone but Albus himself, it was incomprehensible. I went back to my dinner as Severus stood and strode out of the Great Hall.

~~~~~

Hermione strode into the Gryffindor common room. During their walk through the castle, Sandra had begun calming down. A few tears still trickled down her cheeks and her chest heaved after the exhausting feat of crying for hours on end.

"Hi sweetheart," Hermione cooed to the baby. "Better now?"

Sandra looked up at her, her eyes huge. Hermione looked back and smiled. The baby watched and then smiled back tentatively.

"You know who you're going to play with today?" Hermione asked.

"Dada," said Sandra.

"Actually, that's right," Hermione smiled. "You're going to play with your daddy."

The common room was mostly empty. It was three in the afternoon and several classes had already finished, but most people were outside, enjoying the cool February weather. A few first- and second years were sitting around, doing homework. Harry and Ron sat on the floor with a chessboard between them. As always, Harry was losing.

Harry looked up and saw her. His eyes widened as he recognized the child in her arms. Ron turned around and looked at her, surprised. Both rose to their feet and walked over to her.

"Did you kidnap her?" Ron asked.

If she hadn't been holding Sandra in her arms, Hermione would have hit him over the head.

"No," she said with a glare, "I asked if I could baby-sit her tonight. Professor Snape seemed to need a break."

Ron stared at her. "Since when do you care if he needs a break?"

"Since now," Hermione bit back. Sandra followed the conversation with interest, but her lower lip began quivering as the tones became unfriendly. Fresh tears trickled down her cheeks and she began crying loudly.

"Shh, Sandra, don't cry," whispered Hermione to the child. "Don't cry..."

"Can I - can I hold her?" Harry asked suddenly. He looked a bit confused as to why he would ask such a question, but then he shrugged to himself.

Hermione looked up, smiling inwardly. "Okay," she said and handed the crying baby over to Harry.

The baby clung to Harry's robes as she continued to whimper. Harry held her, looking just as awkward now as he had done in class three days earlier. Sandra didn't seem to notice though; she buried her head in the fabric of his clothes. Harry patted her back gently and murmured quiet, calming words.

Ron stared at him and Hermione cheered inside as Harry went over to one of couches and sat down, eyes only for Sandra. The young girl soon calmed and fell asleep in Harry's arms.

~~~~~

To be continued...