Author's Note: For Jenny, for GGG. Sorry this is so late. :)
Also written for...
Hogwarts Assignment #2. Lesson: Transfiguration. Task: write about a person who unnecessarily worries too much about a certain situation that turns out fine in the end. Prompts: meeting the parents, (color) peach
(Writing Club) OTP Challenge. Scenario: Meeting the parents. Prompts: lime, confirm, "Love is the Real Thing", "No one can know.", university!AU
(Writing Club) Book Club. Prompts: dress, fire, believing
Jenga. Prompt: "You are so used to your features, you don't know how beautiful you look to a stranger."
Perfection
1,436 words
"She's going to love it, Severus," Narcissa said, handing the ringbox over. He tucked it away safely in his coat pocket.
"I hope so. I keep going over what I want to say to her and I just can't get it right." Severus wrung his hands nervously.
"You're overthinking it. When Lucius proposed he didn't have a ring or a big, fancy speech. He just told me how much he loved me. From what you've told me of her, Hermione doesn't seem the type to want a big display either."
"No, you're right. I'll … I'll think of something. Thank you." He checked his watch. "Her class will have ended by now. You'd better go. And please, don't say anything about this. No one can know."
"I know, I know. Your secret is safe with me."
She got up from her chair and gave him a peck on the cheek. "Good luck."
Narcissa had just driven out of sight when Hermione took her seat at the small bistro table. She dropped her heavy bookbag by her feet, sighing.
"Long day?" Severus asked, reaching a hand out to tuck a strand of hair behind her ear, his hand unintentionally brushing against the burn scar on her cheek.
"Exhausting," she confirmed and sipped at the iced coffee he'd had waiting for her. He rested his hand on the table between them. Normally she would have reached for it but she didn't even glance at it.
"Is something wrong?" he asked gently.
"I'm just not feeling well," she said quietly, her eyes downcast. "I think work is killing me."
Severus nodded. He felt the same. Trying to drill knowledge into a bunch of dunces was draining and the precise reason he's threatened to quit just before he met his attractive new colleague.
"One more week until it's over. I was thinking ... we might go somewhere together this summer."
Hermione pursed her lips. "I'm going home this summer. My parents have been complaining that I don't get to visit often. And honestly, Severus, I'm not sure this is working."
He stared at her in confusion, sure that he had misunderstood what she meant. "What isn't working?"
She locked eyes with him. "Us. I think dating was a mistake when we're working together."
"But we hardly ever see each other at the university," he reasoned. "Where is this coming from? I thought we were fine."
Severus could see the tears in her eyes as Hermione pushed away from the table. She stumbled over her forgotten bag as she stood, trying to hide her face from him.
"Please, Severus, I just need some time away from ... from us."
She left without waiting for his response. Severus watched her go in disbelief.
:-:
"You're crazy."
Severus looked up from his phone and glared at his so-called friend. "I am not."
"She broke up with you, left school without saying goodbye, and yet here you are checking your phone for messages every five minutes." Lucius shook his head at him. "You're completely loony."
"I'm not crazy - and she didn't break up with me! She just needs some time away. She's probably overworked."
"Seeing is believing, and you've given me no proof that she's returning." Lucius leaned forward to pick up a journal that was left open on the coffee table. "And then we come to this…"
Severus attempted to snatch it from the blond's hands with no luck. "Those are my proposal notes, give them back."
Lucius tossed the book onto the table. "I would've burned that the moment she left."
"She's coming back, everything will be fine. And then all I'll need to worry about is getting up the nerve to propose."
:-:
It was a month since Hermione left and Severus was going mad with worry.
He'd done as she asked and kept his distance, but he had also checked with the other professors, some of whom Hermione was close with, and none of them had heard from her.
All of his calls and texts and emails had gone unanswered, and Severus had finally had enough. A quick internet search told him where to find Hermione's parents' business - two hours' drive away - and headed there without a second thought.
If Hermione really had gone home to visit her parents, they could tell him if she was alright.
:-:
It was easy to spot the lime green 'Granger & Granger Dentistry' sign, even if Severus didn't have the address set in his GPS.
It was nearing closing time when he arrived and hurried into the clinic, ready to demand to see either of the Granger doctors as soon as possible. He did not expect to come face to face with the subject of his worry, sitting calmly at the receptionist's desk in her favorite peach dress.
"Hermione?"
She looked up, surprised. "Severus. What are you doing here?"
He looked around the waiting room, glad to find it empty. "I was worried about you. I've been trying to leave you alone, like you asked, but no one has heard from you and I didn't know what happened. I guess you could say I was desperate."
Hermione frowned. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to worry anyone. Please let them know I'm alright."
Severus waited for some explanation but she said nothing else. She wouldn't even look him in the eye.
"Hermione, I-"
He was cut off as one of the exam room doors opened and an old woman walked out, followed by a dark-haired couple in scrubs.
"We'll see you again next month, Mrs. Coulby," Hermione's mum said. She walked the old woman to the door while her husband approached Severus.
"Hello there, we're just about to close but if you'd like to make an appointment-"
Severus held up a hand to stop him. "I'm here for Hermione."
"Dad, this is Severus." Hermione hurried around the desk and stood by her father. "Severus, this is my mum and dad."
"It's an honor to finally meet you both, though I wish it were under better circumstances." He reached out a hand to shake hands with Hermione's dad, but the man remained still as a statue.
"You're the one who cheated on Hermione?" he demanded.
"I beg your pardon?"
Hermione flushed. "I never used that word."
Severus blinked at her. "Why does your dad think I cheated on you?"
Her mother came to stand on her other side. Hermione looked to her pleadingly. "Hermione saw you speaking with a woman at your usual lunch spot," she explained. "She said she was blonde and very beautiful."
"The day you broke up with me?" Hermione nodded. "That's why you left?" Another nod.
"I-I didn't think you cheated, exactly," she said softly. "But she was gorgeous, and I-"
"You are the most beautiful woman I've ever seen," he interrupted, cupping her scarred cheek. "You are so used to your features, you don't know how beautiful you look to a stranger."
She pulled away roughly as she had every time Severus had talked about her appearance. "I'm ."
"Hermione, don't say that," her mother chastised.
"That damn fire took your confidence, not your beauty," Severus said angrily. Hermione turned to him in surprise. "That woman you saw me with was Narcissa, Lucius' wife. She was helping me with something."
He reached into his coat pocket and pulled out the ring box that he'd left there since their supposed break-up. "I love you, Hermione. I wanna grow old with you, I wanna die lying in your arms." He opened the box and Hermione stood frozen in shock between her parents. "Marry me."
The waiting room was painfully silent for several moments, and with every passing second Severus grew more worried that he had made a huge mistake in driving the long way.
"I'm so sorry," Hermione finally said. "I should have stayed and talked to you about what I saw. I didn't believe you cheated with her or anything, I just … she was so pretty and I thought … I thought you would be happier with someone like her."
Severus was absently aware of Hermione's parents slipping from the room as she stepped closer to him.
"Is that a yes?" he murmured, cupping her cheek once more.
She smiled and ran a finger over the gold ring. "I love you, Severus. Of course I'll marry you."
He grinned, slipping the ring on her finger. His elation dipped as he suddenly remembered his soon to be in-laws waiting in the next room. "This really isn't how I planned to propose, you know."
Hermione laughed. "It was perfect."