The Truth About Hermione Granger

Slowly, Severus walked through the extravagant gardens behind the castle. Irish castles had something that English castles didn't have. Even Snape Castle was missing something, though he was never able to put his finger on it.

Walking through the gardens proved very relaxing, just as Hermione had predicted. She was right so often. How she was right as often as she was was beyond him, but somehow, she seemed to know things that she shouldn't know. His headache even seemed to diminish in mere moments. Severus passed many other people in the gardens, most of them patrons of the hotel/castle, he supposed, though some, he was sure, were there solely for the gardens. He didn't pay much attention to any of them, but one girl caught his eye. She looked so familiar, but he couldn't quite place her.

Just then, she looked his way. Her eyes grew and she quickly hid her face and tried to sneak past him. Upon seeing her face, Severus knew who she was, but almost didn't believe it.

It was none other than Alyssa King, the mother of his child.

As she walked past him, he grabbed hold of her arm. "Not so fast, Alyssa!" he said.

Quickly, she twisted free of his grasp. "Don't touch me!" she exclaimed. "I don't know who you're talking about. You must have mistaken me for someone else!" she added quickly.

Severus lowered his voice. "I SAID 'Not so fast, Alyssa'" he repeated.

She clenched her jaw. "Fine," she said. "What do you want?"

"An explanation would be nice," he said, dangerously. When she wouldn't talk, he dragged her back through the gardens and into a small abandoned parlor on the ground floor of the castle. He quickly made sure the door was locked and forced her to sit into a chair. "Now," he said, leaning over her. "Are you going to tell me why you faked your death?" He realized that that's what she had done, but why alluded him.

She just stared at him for a moment. "Why do you THINK I did it?" she asked.

"It doesn't matter what I think," he snapped, straightening and staring down at her.

"I did it to keep HER from you!" she exclaimed suddenly.

Severus could feel his blood boil at that. She had wanted to keep his own daughter from him? "Bloody hell, Alyssa, WHY?" he exploded.

"I KNOW what you do, Severus, who you work for and I didn't want THAT for our daughter!" she exclaimed, fear apparent in her eyes. "BECAUSE OF WHAT YOU ARE! I knew you'd claim her if you could and the only way to keep you from her was to die and let her be adopted by muggles! That's why I went to a muggle hospital to give birth to her! My parents knew about it, which is why they refused to take her! They knew you'd get her from them! So we all let her be adopted by muggles." She quieted significantly and looked down at her hands. "Then you couldn't find her and she'd be safe...." she added.

"Then YOU obviously don't know me half as well as you thought you did!" he hissed.

"What are you talking about?" she asked, looking up at him, tears in her eyes.

"What do you THINK I mean?" he asked mockingly, allowing the poison he felt to drip from his voice. "YES, I wear the Mark, this is true! But is all you see an ugly scar and an equally ugly person that goes with it?"

"No, Severus," she said, almost whining. "I love you! I always have and it hurts to know for whom you work! I didn't want that for our daughter." She looked down again. "I DO love you.... I don't think you're ugly at all...." she whispered.

"And do you honestly think that after what you DID to me, the feelings would be returned?" he spit out. "That I would still LOVE YOU?" He scoffed at the very idea.

"I was AFRAID, Severus!" she exclaimed. "For our daughter AND for myself!" She started crying. "And I didn't really care if I ever saw you again. I didn't plan on it!" she added quickly.

"Then don't plan on it ever again!" he snapped. "I gave my heart to you and you RIPPED it out and STOMPED on it! My daughter and I are happy. We don't need you!" With that, he turned to leave, seething.

"Well, I'm SORRY! But, you work for my worst enemy!" she shouted after him. "How do you think THAT made ME feel? I was horrified when I found out. I didn't want to believe it, but it's true isn't it?"

He whipped around to face her. "What?" he asked icily. "That I wear the mark? Or that I do his bidding?"

Suddenly, fear came into Alyssa's eyes. "You aren't going to... kill me... are you?" she stammered.

"THINK, Alyssa, for once!" he hissed. "Are you so certain of everything?"

Alyssa swallowed hard and tried not to look up at him. Severus lifted his chin arrogantly, his dark eyes glittering coldly. Finally, Alyssa looked up at him. "I'm not sure of anything any more," she said quietly.

Severus sighed. "Wearing the Mark and doing His bidding are two ENTIRELY different things..." he said softly.

Alyssa just stared at him and he could see the fear leaving her eyes. "You...." she started, narrowing her eyes in thought. "You... aren't... I mean, you...."

Severus took several deep breaths to keep down the pain and hurt he felt at having been betrayed by the only woman he'd ever loved. "I haven't TEARS enough for what you've done to me," he whispered harshly.

She looked away from him sharply. "I'm so sorry, Severus," she said softly. "I didn't know.... Why didn't you tell me?" She slowly looked up at him. "Why didn't you...? Why... it would have saved us so much... pain.... WHY?"

"Because I couldn't," he answered.

"But, why couldn't you?" she asked.

"I was bound by law and by promise," he said matter-of-factly. "And I never break my promises."

She just sat there for a moment, sobbing softly and staring down at her hands. Slowly, he reached out to touch her, but quickly withdrew his hand only halfway there. He wanted to take her in his arms and hold her, but he was still hurt. He was still terribly angry with her. He could not forget so easily.

Finally, she sighed. "I'm sorry, Severus," she said, looking up at him. "Can you ever forgive me?"

"No," he growled hatefully. "I would sooner cut off my hand than reach for you again. The one time I DID try to reach out and touch someone, it backfired in my face!"

She just stared at him for a moment, but then suddenly jumped up and hugged him. He stiffened at first, but before even a moment had passed, he felt all the hurt, pain and anger pouring out of him and all he could think of was that he had her back! All the years of mourning what might have been and what he could have had suddenly didn't matter because here she was! He pulled her into his arms and held her tight, squeezing his eyes shut in absolute ecstasy. "I would have given you the world," he whispered into her ear. "And our daughter the universe."

"I know that now," she whispered back.

They stood there for a moment, lost in each other's arms. Finally, though, Alyssa pulled away and looked up at him. "So, you've found her, have you?" she asked.

"Yes," he answered softly, brushing a stray strand of her hair out of her face. "Hermione and I are very happy."

"That's good, then," she said. Then, her eyes turned dark. "I hope she understands...." she trailed off.

"She might," he said, unsure of how Hermione would take it. The girl was smart and would certainly understand what Alyssa had done for her, but why may be beyond her. "She looks so much like your mother!" he said, not wanting Alyssa to ask anymore about it. "And she has my attitude!"

She smiled, but he could see the fear in her eyes as she asked, "could I see her?"

He regarded her solemnly for a moment, wondering if possibly he should warn his daughter first, but then deciding that it might be best coming from Alyssa. "If you wanted to," he said.

"Of course I do!" she said.

He could do nothing more but smile down at her and take hold of her hand. With that, he led her up the stairs of the old castle/hotel and to the suite that he shared with his daughter.

* * * * * * * *

Finally, almost half an hour late, her father walked into the sitting room.

"Where have you BEEN?" exclaimed Hermione. "I've been worried sick!"

"Hermione," he said sternly. "Sit down. I have someone for you to meet."

Without a word, Hermione sat. She wasn't sure what was going on, but if he'd met someone, she wouldn't complain. She thought that was just what he needed to completely mellow him: a woman.

As soon as she sat down, he opened the door to reveal someone who looked oddly familiar. "Hello, Hermione," she said.

Suddenly, Hermione recognized her. She had seen this woman only once before and that was in a picture. But, she couldn't be here, she was dead!

"Mother?" she asked, voice cracking.

The woman only nodded as she sat next to her daughter and took her hands in hers. Hermione only half listened as she explained that she had thought Snape was a follower of You-Know-Who and that she had faked her death to keep Hermione safe. She never would have done it if she had known the truth.

A thousand thoughts rolled through Hermione's head at once so quickly that she couldn't put voice to a single one of them. Finally, all she could do was look at her mother and say, "I'm so glad to have you!"

Her mother threw her arms around her and wept about how happy she was to finally have her daughter and how sorry she was for having abandoned her and how she would never do anything like that again.

Finally, though, she pulled away and dried her eyes.

"You will join us for dinner, won't you Alyssa?" asked her father.

"Of course," answered her mother, beaming at both of them in turn.

As the three of them headed down to the dining room, Hermione thought that she was the luckiest girl in the world!