Love Story by Verity

"Well," said Mrs. Severus Snape, as she and her husband looked upon their two-day-old son.

"Well," said Mr. Severus Snape. They turned to gaze into each other's eyes - not so much with love, but with bewilderment.

Mrs. Severus Snape's thoughts ran as follows: Why on earth did I forget that an extra pinch of comfrey nullifies contraceptive potions? He (her husband, current Potions Master at Hogwarts, and formerly her teacher) is never getting within an inch of my knickers again, and I'm not going to be able to sit down for weeks, truly I'm not.

Mr. Severus Snape's thought ran as follows: She (his wife, formerly Hermione Granger, formerly Head Girl of Hogwarts and Gryffindor role model) named him Harry?

Mr. and Mrs. Severus Snape were very loving parents, to correct any other thoughts you may have had. Immediately upon Harold Albus Snape's birth, his parents had both beamed at and admired him, despite the fact that he was rather red, wrinkly, and ugly. In fact, he still was, but Mr. Severus Snape was certain that the boy would grow out of it. (Mrs. Severus Snape, noting that her son had his father's nose, was not so sure.)

They were an unusual couple, surely. All of their neighbors would have told you so, but then again, all of their neighbors were staff members at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, and thus looked down upon teacher/student interactions of a more, ah, physical nature. (Except for Minerva McGonagall, who had had a more than passing fancy for one Oliver Wood some years back, but it took several shots of good Laphroig whiskey to get her to admit to such indiscretions.)

There had been an Honors project dedicated to curing lycanthropy in Soon-To-Be-Mrs. Severus Snape's seventh year, which required her to spend extensive time under the tutelage of Mr. Severus Snape, more commonly referred to as "Professor." The majority of Hogwarts's staff were of the general opinion that if there were a cure, it would have been found sometime in the intervening thousands of years between the present day and the first werewolf, but Mr. Severus Snape seemed keen on the idea of the honors projext. In addition, the staff were also of the general opinion that standing in the way of anything a former Death Eater happened to be keen on was probably the sort of mistake that one didn't live or regain consciousness to regret, and they were not particularly eager to test the accuracy of this hypothesis.

It soon became apparent (to the Headmaster, at least, and whether on the account of his almost supernatural omipotence or penchant for voyeurism, no one was sure) that despite their vast dissimilarities, the Potions Master and his student were getting on quite well - if by "getting on quite well" one meant shagging on all availible flat surfaces whenever their shedules allowed. However, the student in question kept her grades up (her Potions grade, in fact, being a record high for her), and nothing seemed amiss until a young house-elf named Dobby found her sobbing in the Prefect's bathroom one morning, clutching a Muggle pregnancy test.

Headmaster Dumbledore pronounced them Mr. and Mrs. Severus Snape before either of them were quite aware of what was happening, and Mrs. Severus Snape's parents seemed pleased, if a bit teary eyed. So the two newlyweds settled into what had formerly been Mr. Severus Snape's quarters during Christmas holidays. They enjoyed what portion of their honeymoon Mrs. Severus Snape did not spend throwing up in the privy.

It was a generally happy marriage, as marriages go. They tended to spend most of their spare time reading different books in different corners of the bedroom, and this occurance of this pastime increased gradually as the burgeoning of Mrs. Severus Snape's belly inhibited their more wild sexual gymnastics.

Eventually, however, all good things come to an end.

Mr. and Mrs. Severus Snape looked upon their two-day-old son, and wondered what the hell they were supposed to do with him.