Hermione Snape and the Divergence Point: Volume #1

Chapter 1: Early Childhood

Chapter One

Dumbledore let Severus raise the girl at Hogwarts and allowed him to continue both his roles as a teacher and within the Order. Any gratitude he felt at his generosity was tempered by the constant frustrations with the other staff.

"Oh my!" McGonagall cooed over Hermione. "How old is she?"

"A year," he clasped her to his chest. "Old enough, perhaps, to feel objectified by the constant crooning, I'm sure."

"Oh, come now, Severus," McGonagall scoffed. "She doesn't seem unhappy."

"She's a year old," he reminded her. "She can't really tell you can she?"

"Children are so sensitive to messages from beyond!" Trelawney said. "You should hone her skills while she's still young."

"I thought our energy clouded your third eye?" Severus grumbled.

"But I have to think about what's best for the child!"

"I believe that's my job," he hissed.

Dumbledore chuckled. "I did warn you, Severus."

"I didn't expect a room filled with adults to treat a child like a pet. I thought the point of this was to simply tell them all that Hermione would be living with me."

"Don't blame them for wanting to meet her. They'll be spending the next seventeen years with her, too," Dumbledore noted.

"She's nearly a year old, headmaster," he said. "She's not ready for such a fuss."

"Is it that she's not ready or is it you?" Dumbledore asked.

To answer for herself, Hermione burrowed her face into Severus's shoulder, shying away from Dumbledore's touch.

"You have a very empathetic little girl," Dumbledore observed.

He didn't know how true that was. She had picked up on her birth parents' stress easily and when he himself was uneasy Hermione would attempt to comfort him. But he was certain right now that she had felt the same way he did about this welcoming.

"Did you say nearly a year?" Sprout asked. "When's her birthday?"

I never asked... He hesitated holding his child closer to him.

"Let's see the child," Trelawney approached the two of them.

Hermione locked eyes with the bug-eyed woman wrapped in shawls before turning to him with teary brown eyes. He noted as Trelawney drew closer Hermione returned to burying her face in his robes.

"There's something of September about this child."

"You're right about something," he said. "She turns one on the first of September. A very busy day indeed, so, unfortunately, your efforts are best placed elsewhere."

Did you just make up a birthday for Hermione so no one would acknowledge her? She'll never know...

"The instructions were on the board, Mr. Duke," Severus groaned.

"Sorry, Professor," the small Gryffindor muttered.

"It's your classmates you should apologise to. This abysmal potion cost them five points."

"Thanks, Daniel!" the class of first years hissed.

"I can make it more, Gryffindors," he responded.

That shut the lot up. He turned to Hermione who sat very still on his desk. He thought this would be a disaster, but the little one fared much better in the classroom than she would in the care of Hagrid or house-elves. Something he was advised to do, but she was fine. Even around the bumbling idiots meant to make sorry excuses for potions.