Vagary

{Twenty}

Severus shut the door behind him, apprehension tugging at his spine to leave, but his headache had quieted, and he had to wonder if their bonds had indeed started to fray. This really was awful.

Hermione looked pale, down-trodden, and his heart sunk to have missed what had happened to force her here to this place. She hated Mungo's, hated the clinical feeling of the healers, and he could only imagine it was still the same considering she'd endured a war with injuries and hospital visits to spare.

By Merlin he loved her, truly, even if she wasn't quite what he recalled her to be, she still had the same body, same eyes, same help-me expression she did when she was sick.

Training on him, she broke into tears. It had to be his fault, he knew that, whatever reason she was here, the headache he'd had, this was something to do with him, and guilt was certainly one hell of a shot. Not that Draco hadn't slapped some sense into him.

He rushed towards her with all the pent-up compassion he'd hoarded over the past week and embraced her, holding close so she might feel the love, even if he wasn't brave enough to speak it yet. One arm firmly wrapped about her waist and the other gently cradling her head.

Their magic soothed and his headache went away completely.

Fuck, he'd hurt her in more than just his words.

"What happened?"

Drawing back reluctantly, he looked into her eyes and saw the sadness there, anticipated whatever she was going to have to say, so he cut her off.

"Did they give you a reason why?"

To say he was worried that the end of their child's life was his fault would not only be true but harder to admit than the fact it happened at all.

She took a deep breath and released it, her jaw tremoring.

"A plain, inexplicable, miscarriage. No magic," Hermione whispered.

Severus was too heartbroken to be relieved, pulling his wife forward and kissing her head.

"I love you. No matter what. There is no fault to this, merely... existence pushing us forward as it was meant to."

"Over-explaining," she mumbled, but it held no malice. "Draco told me it means you're lying."

He couldn't help the small chuckle this time, succumbing to the fact that somehow this really was still his wife. The two shared quite a few similarities at least.

"It is no one's fault, but I do harbor guilt."

Hermione nodded.

"Yes, well, I certainly feel like shite about it, too."

"That is why I shall be taking some time away from the castle. Draco will fill in for me, he did it for our honeymoon..." There was a pause, then humbly he added, "I am unaware of what you have been informed."

"We need time to grieve, if he's willing, I think it would be lovely for the both of us to take some time off and discuss it all. I'm sure the minister will understand after we tell him everything-"

"Everything?" Severus interrupted unaware this had been a part of her plan.

"Our friends and families have a right to know. Harry and I agreed earlier it's the right thing to do," Hermione said.

They pulled back and looked at one-another. Severus regarded her with the utmost care, his wife, finally before him again, tempering him and his magic from the tidal wave of the past week. He was a fool to have left her, and maybe if he had not, then they wouldn't be sitting in Mungo's-