Becoming Familiar with a Man of Misery

Chapter 53 ~ Discrimination

Hermione returned to university with her hours and recommendations and was initially well received. But in the passing weeks, she noticed a difference in the way her professors were treating her. She was showing her state now, and there was no ring on her finger. What was happening was that her questions were being passed over for the most part, and her marks were lower than what they should have been. She was doing the same quality of work as she usually did.

Fed up, she approached her Potions Professor with her latest marks, and asked him why they were so low.

Professor Floodsworth looked at her, his gray eyes resting on her belly with a look of distaste.

“Miss Granger,” he said, “emphasizing the ‘Miss’, “I gave you the grade I felt you deserved. You must realize that at the university, we focus on students that have a promising future and serious drive. Your current state shows that you are no longer in the running as a witch of consequence. Despite the quality of your work, your situation shows me you are unsuitable for pursing working in the Potions field. I will not give you marks that encourage pursuit in that field.”

“You’re giving me lower grades because I’m pregnant?” Hermione asked him incredulously.

“I’m giving you the marks you deserve, Miss Granger. It isn’t the point you are pregnant. It is that you are unwed and pregnant, and as such show a lack of morality, ethics and virtue. You have disregarded the principles of conduct. Without morality and ethics, you will not make a good candidate in any field of magic, all of which require those particular qualities. You will find your other professors in agreement with me on this. You’ve thrown a perfectly good career away, Miss Granger, through your promiscuity. No one will send you out of university to serve in any position of worth. Your character is not suitable.”

“How dare you question my character when you do not even know my situation?” Hermione said, frowning at the professor.

His eyes dropped to her belly.

“I know all I need to know,” he responded with a sneer, “Do you even know who the father is?”

“Of course I do,” Hermione said, seething.

“Well, he can’t be much of a wizard if he would leave you in this condition, about to rear a bastard on your own,” the Professor said. “Perhaps it would be best for you to withdraw, Miss Granger, place the child up for adoption, then return to us. Still, there would be the shame, but you might manage to get higher marks than you will while carrying this…this child. You are setting a bad example for the other witches who attend university. We don’t want to send them the message that it is all right to be unwed and pregnant after all.”

Hermione glared at him.

“But professor, you know I have the ability to excel in the field of Potions, regardless of my personal situation. Doesn’t intelligence, hard work and drive account for anything? I’ve kept my grades perfect throughout my three years attending school. Doesn’t that mean anything? It has to mean something,” she said, her hand trembling. She felt like hexing the wizard, but that would get her expelled.

“It meant something before you threw your life away bearing a child out of wedlock. How do you hope to accomplish anything when you have such a responsibility? No one will want to hire you anyway, Miss Granger, once they discover your shame. An unmarried witch with a child is considered little more than a whore. That is the way you are and will be viewed. Now I am finished with this discussion. The marks I gave you will hold,” he said.

“This is blatant sexism!” Hermione said, outraged.

“This is the way it is in the wizarding world, Miss Granger. I am aware of your muggle roots. Your condition may be acceptable in that world, but not this one…I assure you. There has always been a different standard for witches in our world. It is accepted. Perhaps you should return to the muggle world. It will be easier there for you than here,” the professor said, picking up his notes and preparing to leave. “That being said, good day Miss Granger.”

He exited the classroom. Hermione leaned back against a desk, her eyes filling with tears. She had noticed the drop in marks in all her classes. Even the ones with female instructors. This couldn’t be considered remotely fair. She gathered her books and walked over to the Administration building and asked to see the Dean.

The student behind the counter looked at her belly, then at her hands. She frowned slightly and told her to take a seat rather dismissively. Hermione did so, aware of the aura of disapproval radiating from the young woman. She also noticed that aura wafting from everyone who looked at her, always from the belly to the hands first, then the slight frown. She sat there for about forty-five minutes before she was called to the Dean’s office.

Dean Wankton was an older wizard, balding on top with gray hair rolling around it his head in a fringe. He had a thick gray mustache, and an air of dignity. His eyes dropped to Hermione’s belly and her empty ring fingers, but he had the good grace not to frown, though his blue eyes took on a worried look. He had a folder on his desk in front of him. He cleared his throat, then addressed her.

“Good afternoon, Miss Granger. How may I be of assistance today?” he asked her.

“Thank you for seeing me on such short notice, Dean Wankton,” Hermione said, her hands twisting in her lap nervously. “I’d like to talk to you about unfair treatment I am receiving from my Professors. They are purposely giving me low grades because of my condition. Surely you don’t approve of this, sir?”

The Dean leveled his eyes at her.

“Miss Granger, up to this point in time you have been an exemplary and extraordinarily gifted student. Your marks were phenomenal, and we had high hopes for your placement. However, in view of your condition as an unwed witch, you have rendered yourself unsuitable for placement now. You have no one else to blame for this but yourself. To give you grades that belie your lack of moral fiber and questionable character would be misleading to the public, Miss Granger. No Professor is going to promote you, despite your marks in the past. Were it in my power, I would remove you from university as you set a bad example for other female students. But it is not. It would be best if you withdrew,” he said evenly.

The Dean certainly didn’t mince words. He believed as Professor Floodsworth did. He too viewed her as little more than a whore and wanted her out of his school. It was as if everything she had ever accomplished was reduced to nothing because of the child she carried in her womb.

“I can’t believe that my carrying a child makes everything I’ve accomplished null and void. My mind is just as sharp as always, and the quality of my work remains unchanged. Surely you can see the unfairness of this, Dean Wankton. I can accomplish great things with my degree,” she said to the Dean, who was looking at her with distaste now.

“Your lack of virtue certainly does change everything, Miss Granger. You are a witch. It is hard enough for a witch of excellent character to make it in an established field dominated by wizards. You will not be accepted as an unwed mother. You have not only let yourself down, but your sex as well. You may have opened doors for other witches in the more prominent fields of magic where they are sadly lacking. No one could have questioned your abilities, your intelligence and your knowledge.”

The Dean looked at her, shaking his head dolefully for a moment.

“Unfortunately, once you have shown a lack of moral fiber, no one wants you, no matter how brilliant you are, Miss Granger. The only positions available to you now are unskilled ones, and you may have a problem getting gainful employment even then. Perhaps you should withdraw. Once the board finds out your condition, your scholarship will be withdrawn. There is a condition of your enrollment which states you cannot indulge in immoral activities. You have obviously done so. I have hesitated reporting you, hoping you would withdraw on your own. But after this conversation I think I would be lax in my duties if I did not make them aware of your state of expectancy without a husband. I will contact them this afternoon,” the Dean said, closing her folder.

Hermione was aware of the terms of her scholarship, but students engaged in sex constantly. Obviously, the crime was getting knocked up. She looked at the Dean.

“I can’t believe this is happening,” she said, her lip trembling.

“You should have thought about what having an illegitimate child in the wizarding world would mean, Miss Granger. You have been relegated to a status occupied only by women of the most reprehensible character,” he said.

“Meaning whores and prostitutes,” Hermione replied, scowling.

“Precisely,” the Dean said, looking at his watch. “Now, Miss Granger, I have an appointment in five minutes. If you would kindly show yourself out.”

Hermione looked at the Dean a moment more, then rose to her feet and exited his office wordlessly. There was nothing more she could say. If the Dean of the school ascribed to this archaic belief that a witch who had a child out of wedlock was unsuitable for a professional career, then certainly the Professors would not be reprimanded. She realized that it was all a concerted effort to get her to leave university.

She had one more class to go to, but what was the sense? She headed for the main floo.

“My home,” she said, tossing floo powder into the flames and stepping through.

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Eli had a time trying to get Hermione to eat that evening. He offered her the blackened shrimp, baby peas and buttered corn several times to no avail. Hermione was in no mood to eat. Finally, tired of the elf nagging her, she whipped out her wand and pointed it squarely between Eli’s eyes, which crossed as he looked at the tip of it.

“I…don’t…want…it,” she seethed at the stricken elf. Eli had never had a wand turned on him before, and found it quite distressing.

“But…but…the baby, Mistress. He needs feeding. Only you can feed him,” the elf said imploringly.

At that moment, Hermione’s belly bounced.

“You see, Mistress? He is hungry. He wants food,” Eli said, as Hermione’s hand went to her belly. “If not for you, Mistress, then for the child inside you.”

Hermione lowered her wand. Eli was right. She couldn’t neglect the child because she was in no mood to eat. She sighed and took the plate from Eli.

“For the baby,” she said, spearing a shrimp, putting it in her mouth and chewing, forcing herself to swallow it down. It was tasty, but that didn’t make it any easier to eat.

“Yes, for the baby,” Eli agreed, nodding his head and sitting opposite her to make sure she ate every drop. He was relieved she didn’t hex him. Pregnant witches were quite dangerous. But something was troubling the witch. Eli’s ears moved forward a bit.

“I begs your pardon, Mistress, but why is you so sad you don’t eat?” he asked furtively.

Hermione sighed. She didn’t know how much the house elf understood about the way things work in the wizarding world, but he had two big ears to listen.

“They want me to leave the university because I am having this child and am not married,” she said to the elf, who cocked his head.

“Do you wants to leave uni-ver-sitee?” the elf asked. He didn’t know why it should matter that she wasn’t married, but obviously it did.

“No, I’ve worked very hard to get where I am,” she said.

“So gets married,” the elf said as if that would be the answer to everything. “Master has rings.”

Hermione looked at the elf. If only it was that easy.

“The Master doesn’t love me,” Hermione said, “He cares for me, but doesn’t love me, Eli. I don’t want to marry him if he doesn’t love me.”

Eli looked at the witch as if she were mad.

“Master does love the Mistress!” he said, “But Master has a broken heart. It is hard for him to say love. But he shows love, yes? He brings you home. He buys you all. He shares his bed. He asks Eli constantly what you eat and do. He gives you good in-outie. I hears it. It is very good for both of you. Why you think he doesn’t love the Mistress?”

“Because he won’t tell me he does,” Hermione replied, wondering at the house elf’s perception of his Master’s love for her.

“I have known my Master since he come to the world, Mistress. I have seen him in love before. He is the same now. But is scared to say it. Scared of hurt. He loves you, Mistress. Marry him and things will be good again at uni-ver-sitee,” the elf said earnestly.

“But the things he does could be because of the baby, Eli, not because of me,” she replied, hoping the elf had an answer for her that could prove her wrong.

“Master told me that you was to come before you was with child. Master has never brought a female to this house. He wants you for you before the child. I see the love in his eyes, Mistress…not in his mouth but his eyes. Look at his eyes for love, Mistress. You will see what words cannot say,” the elf encouraged.

The elf sounded so sure, so sincere. Was she so stuck on wanting to hear him say he loved her that she couldn’t see it?

“Is Severus coming tonight, Eli?” she asked the elf, who nodded.

“Yes Mistress, Master tells Eli this by floo when he checks to see if you has eaten breakfast,” he replied.

“He checks to see if I eat?” Hermione asked the elf, bemused.

“Every day he calls Eli to check,” the elf responded, beaming. “He likes round. Wants you nice and round.”

Hermione had noticed how Severus’ eyes lingered on her belly and breasts whenever he saw her. In bed, he refused to let her wear a nightgown, and constantly caressed her belly. He paid quite a bit of attention to her breasts as well. Many nights she felt as if he were trying to nurse rather than arouse her. And when she complained she was fat, he would tell her she was beautiful, then show her he meant it in no uncertain terms.

She considered what Eli had said. He had helped raise Severus after all, and served him all his life. He probably knew the wizard better than anyone else alive. And the elf believed he loved her.

“Eli, you believe your Master truly loves me?” she asked the elf, wanting confirmation.

“Yes Mistress. But Eli not believe. Eli knows,” the elf said, his brown eyes fixed on her.

The two stared at each other across the kitchen table.

“Look deep. Then Mistress knows too,” the elf said softly.

Suddenly they heard a ‘foomph!’ signaling someone had entered by floo.

“Eli?” Severus’ voiced bellowed, “where are you and the Mistress?”

“In the kitchen, Master,” Eli called back. The elf looked at Hermione.

“Looks deep,” he said to her in a whisper, “You will see it.”

Severus walked through the door, directly to Hermione and kissed her. He looked at her half eaten plate and scowled.

“Eat,” he said imperiously, sitting at the table and leveling his black eyes at her.

Hermione stared at him searchingly, trying to see what Eli saw.

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A/N: Another chapter. Will Hermione see what Eli sees? And how about that school? Grrrrrr! She should have hexed the Professor AND the Dean. Well, maybe not…she has a lot invested in her education. Wonder how Severus will react to what’s going on there? We’ll see. Please review.

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The Burning Pen

Becoming Familiar with a Man of Misery
by Ruth Solomon

The story content is adult in nature and can contain graphic sex and violence. Those under the age of 18 are asked to leave this site immediately. You are not welcome here. The author is not responsible for those under-aged who view these works.

CHAPTER 54

Disclaimer: All recognizable characters belong to JKR. All situations are mine. No $$$ is being made from this fanfic.
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