A/N: This is my story for Round 13 of QLFC! We had free rein this round, but my prompts were: 'launch', 'honest' and the occasion, 'Hug-A-Ginger Day.
This little story is AU and OOC.
Many thanks to thosedarndursleys who beta'd this fic and my last two; I was remiss in not thanking her earlier. She was invaluable!
I still don't own anything JKR has written.
Hermione and Severus walked closely together through Diagon Alley, quietly discussing their shopping plans. They were a striking pair—he the looming, all-in-black, unsung hero of the second wizarding war, and she the light, happy, colourful hero in her own right. It's no wonder people stepped to the side as the pair walked along the streets, both in awe and fear. Hermione would shake her head in amusement, but Severus preferred to be left alone.
They had been dating for six months, and the desire to be exclusively in one another's company had yet to fade; they were always seen together in public. Although Severus preferred little to no open displays of affection, he did allow Hermione to curl her pointer finger around his little finger, hidden among the voluminous sleeves of their robes, as a token of his desire to please her in all things.
When she suddenly scampered away from him, he at first thought she saw something in a shop window, but he became confused when she stopped to speak to a little ginger-haired girl in front of Fortescue's and then—by all that's holy, what on earth is she doing? he thought—hug the creature. Further confusion set in when she returned to his side, smiling widely, curled their fingers together again and continued on their way.
Only to stop eleven minutes later (he had checked his pocketwatch to make sure they hadn't spun into another reality), to watch her again scurry over to a redheaded, snot-faced little oik and give that child a hug.
When he pulled her away, seven minutes after that, from a rather portly red-head who was obviously enjoying having the witch's soft body in a hug (the man's hands were wandering dangerously close to the beautiful arse Severus considered his and his alone), he spluttered, "What the hell are you doing, woman?" and was infinitely pleased to see the portly man dash away.
"I'm hugging him, Severus."
"I see that, but why?"
"I told you this morning. Weren't you listening?"
Severus looked off into the distance, attempting to recall the conversation…
"Morning, love", said Hermione.
"Muffphsphfhf", replied Severus from under his pillow.
"Come on, you said we'd go to Diagon Alley today. And, since it's 'Hug a Ginger Day', I'm sure I can find a few to hug. Of course there's always the Weasley's…" her voice trailed off as she shut the bathroom door.
Severus whipped the pillow off. "We're going to the Weasley's today?" he asked of Crookshanks, who was cleaning areas that should not be cleaned in a human's presence. The cat simply purred in response.
A pinch on his arm brought him back to the present. "You weren't listening, were you?"
"We're going to the Weasley's today?" he asked, hoping he was right.
"No!" She stamped her foot, and Severus smiled. He lived to see her mad; her magic crackled and her skin glowed. It was lovely. "Today," she huffed, "Is Hug-A-Ginger Day. You're supposed to hug a red head when you see them!"
"I will do no such thing, and nor will you!" he exclaimed, rather horrified at the idea.
"Well, we could go to The Burrow. Molly has issued us a standing invitation for any time. Today would be perfect!"
"We will not go to The Burrow today, and you will not, I repeat, not hug any more gingers!"
"It's just a hug, Severus."
"Just the same," he said. "Besides," he continued sotto voce, "I'm the only one you should be hugging."
"Oh, Severus, of course you're the only one I hug. The redheads are more a just a friendly, squeezey sort of hug."
"Mr. Portly Redhead was not a friendly, squeezey hug," Severus flatly stated.
"Are you jealous?"
"No."
"You are!" Hermione sing-songed to him. Severus growled, snatched his hand away and stomped off. "Severus! Come back! I'm sorry!"
Hermione hurried through the street after Severus and spied him entering the book shop. She slowed down to give him time to find their usual spot, as well as to cool down a moment. If she had learned anything about her wizard in the six months they'd been together, it was that he needed to decompress a bit before addressing any problem between them or he'd say hurtful things. One argument like that very early on taught them both a painful lesson.
She entered the shop and then slowly wandered around, picking up a book here and there, reading the jacket and then setting it back down. After ten minutes, she purposefully headed to the far back corner where the shopkeeper, knowing his two most regular customers' shopping habits, had placed chairs and a table for them. As Hermione expected, Severus sat, glowering at, but not reading, a book.
"I really am sorry, love," Hermione said as she sat in the chair beside him, casting Muffliato Charm and a Notice Me Not Charm
Severus sighed, "I know."
"Why did you get so mad?" "..." he said so quietly Hermione had to lean toward him to hear.
He dropped the book into his lap, and ran his finger along the spine as though reluctant to speak. "I guess I'm a little jealous," he said, so quietly that Hermione had to lean toward him to hear.
"Jealous? Why?"
Severus turned to her and took her hand, kissing it before speaking. "I've always admired your free spirit. That, despite everything you've been through, you still manage to be light hearted and smile. You do such simple things, like observing a made up day of recognition by acting instead of just acknowledging."
"You are certainly capable of it; why don't you?"
"Years of ingrained evil dungeon bat persona, I imagine."
"I suppose," said Hermione thoughtfully. "You do seem, erm, impulsive with me, though."
"Think about when those moments occur," he chuckled.
Hermione did think and realised they occurred only when they were alone in their quarters. "Why are you so hesitant to be demonstrative?"
"It started long before Hogwarts. The neighbourhood we lived in was all mill workers with little education but egos to compensate. It was assumed that if the father worked in the mill, so would the son, so the boys were brought up to suck it up, to be tough. My old man was no different and didn't want his only son to be a weakling. He was always at my mum to not hug me or baby me in any way. He would yell at me not to cry if I fell, and his preferred method of punishment was to smack me around. 'Gonna make a man out of you', he'd say. It got worse once I started manifesting my magic. The mill closed down and he spent his dole money on alcohol. He bullied my mum, too; well bully is putting it lightly, and then I went to Hogwarts. I believe you are familiar with what happened there." Hermione nodded and he continued, giving her details he hadn't given Harry.
"Oh, Severus," began Hermione, but Severus pulled away.
"I don't want your pity."
"You don't have my pity," Hermione replied. "What you have is my love and my empathy. I am sorry your childhood was not ideal. But what I'm most sorry about is that you feel you need to continue your life as if your father or the Marauders are still in the other room. They're not Severus, and you are your own man."
"It's not that easy to just…put all those memories away."
"I'm sure it's not. All I ask of you is to realise that they don't have to control you anymore."
Severus looked at Hermione for several moments before taking a deep breath and then standing, cancelling the charms as he did. He reached a hand for Hermione, who took it, and pulled her to him, giving her a brief hug. "We've several more places to go today, yes?"
Hermione looked up into his face and smiled. "Yes; we needed to go to the apothecary and Scribbulus'. Honestly," she teased, stepping back and grabbing her bag, "if you wouldn't grade so harshly, you wouldn't need so much ink." Severus chuckled and she continued, "Did you want to get any books before we leave here?"
Severus shook his head. "No, not today."
The pair left the shop and finished up their errands. Although there were quite a few redheads in the streets, Hermione did not approach them, and for this, Severus was quite happy.
Once back at Hogwarts and in Severus' rooms, they put away their shopping and ordered a late lunch from the kitchens. They didn't share quarters yet, but Hermione spent the night often enough that his rooms did feel like theirs. Their courtship was well-known to the staff, and the headmistress approved, provided they were discreet when interacting in the public areas of the castle and classrooms.
As they lounged together on the sofa, Hermione nestled against Severus with a glass of wine. Severus was enjoying a snifter of brandy and had an arm slung around Hermione, fiddling with her hair. When he snagged it, he murmured, "Sorry, love," and moved to a new spot on her head.
Hermione turned her head and kissed his neck. "It's all right; it didn't really hurt." She reached up and tugged a few locks of his hair. "I've noticed your hair is longer."
"I recall you asking me to allow it to grow so you could run your fingers through it," he remarked.
Hermione kissed his neck again and said, "So I did. Thank you."
The fire suddenly flared green and the pair separated as a head swam into view. "Severus? Hermione?" Molly Weasley's voice called to them before her face finished materialising.
"Hello, Molly," said Hermione.
"Molly," Severus greeted her respectfully.
"Are you coming over? We've eaten, but there's plenty of pudding. Bill and Fleur are visiting; Bill had hoped to see you especially, Severus. He has some new texts on potions he had found in Egypt."
"I suppose we could pop over for an hour or so. Let us get our cloaks; may we Floo through?" asked Severus.
A fuzzy sort of smile broke across Molly's face—the flames did tend to distort a person's image—and she cried, "Of course! See you in a few!" The flamed died quickly as her head disappeared.
Severus had no time to recover from his impetuous decision when he saw Hermione launch from her seat and wrap herself around him. "What's all this, now?" he asked.
"I can't believe you said you'd go! You never volunteer to go The Burrow; I always have to drag you after a few sexual promises."
Severus blushed but still managed a wolfish smirk before kissing her soundly and setting her down. As he tugged his waistcoat back into place, he said, "I do not consider this a frivolous visit; I've always liked Bill, and it sounds like he has some interesting documents to look over."
Hermione giggled. "Oh, you and your documents. Let's go before you change your mind." She hurried over to the pegs near the door and snatched their cloaks, heading back to the hearth. Grabbing Floo powder, she tossed Severus' cloak to him and threw the powder into the flames.
As was their habit, Severus—ever the courtly gentleman—stepped through the flames first so that he could assist Hermione as she came through. However, today, she was dismayed to find herself stumbling and grasping for the hand that wasn't there. As she stood and dusted the ashes off, she looked up, gobsmacked at the sight before her.
"Sev…Severus! What are you doing?"
Her wizard…her curmudgeonly, taciturn, uptight, repressive wizard, had his arms around Ronald Weasley, who was busy fainting. She spluttered when she heard him say, "Happy Hug-A-Ginger Day, Weasley."
Dropping the now unconscious Ron, he turned toward her. "I'm being impetuous?"
"Well, yes we've talked about that, but I expected it to be in small ways and not quite so soon."
"Yes," he agreed, rubbing his chin in consideration. "It is a little rash."
"Do you think you could Renervate him?"
"Must I?"
Hermione raised her eyebrow. "I believe Molly would prefer it. And next time you intend on being spontaneous, warn me, will you? I don't think I could stand another shock like that."
Severus laughed and pulled Hermione to him, giving her a quick kiss on the head. The rest of the Weasley's began to enter the room and greet the pair. Hermione hugged everyone while Severus Renervated Ron. Once he'd finished, he turned to the crowd, slightly worried that he'd be forced to endure hugs when he spied Bill. "Ah, Mr. Weasley! I believe you have some texts you wanted me to see?"
Bill smiled and shook Severus' hand. "Come into the study. I've got them all laid out." The pair left the rest of the family and walked down a hall. "Hermione got you hugging redheads today?" he chuckled.
"I had to pull the woman off several in Diagon Alley. She can be a bit exuberant."
"That she can, but we love her anyway."
"Yes, we do," Severus agreed, a smirk lifting the corner of his mouth. "We certainly do."