Disclaimer: I don't own the characters, just any OCs I throw in.

This chapter dedicated to Azure83!

Obsidian

Chapter 2: Acta non Verba, or It's Not What You Say, It's What You Do

Severus Snape was unequivocally, totally and definitely done with being stuck underground. He had begun contemplating eating Nagini's husk as a means of sustenance. Sheer will and an aversion to knowing if viper really did take like chicken kept his jaws firmly away from that…treat.

After a few days of steady, slow dirt moving, the air was starting to taste a bit less stale. On a break shifting soil, Severus carefully tore a strip of cloth from the collar of his undershirt, wrapping it close around his eyes to keep them safe from the light he knew he was approaching.

Severus contemplated talking aloud to himself to pass the time and chucked the idea as a bit too close to insanity for his comfort. Instead, he turned his thoughts inward. To important things.

Like changing his clothes. Bathing. Eating.

Where to go from his early grave.

The flat was aggravatingly quiet and clean with Ron gone. Hermione worked long hours and a variety of coworkers from the Department of Inter-Magickal Relations were falling all over themselves to keep Hermione's mind off her loss.

"No, really, I'll be fine. I need a good night's sleep now, is all," Hermione begged off the third office girl that day to declare Hermione needed a girls' night out.

"Ae you sure? I mean, it must be lonely without him there now," Mathilde Baggleprop stepped closer to Hermione, causing the brunette to back off a bit.

"Quite sure, Mathilde. Besides, I've got my books and hobbies to keep me busy," Hermione replied, grabbing her tote and turning to leave. "Ah, do remember to file those notes you borrowed this time. Last time I search for three days and had to enlist the help of two poor houseelves before I located what you'd used."

"Yes, yes, Hermione. I filed them last time, you just didn't look in the right place!" Mathilde called after her as Hermione left the office.

If you put them where I'm not going to look, that's not filing, you twit, Hermione thought to herself, plastering a small, sociable smile on her face as she left the building that housed the Department of Inter-Magickal Relations. The Ministry of Magic had grown since the war and now encompassed not one but four large buildings. Hermione walked to the main building to check her inter-office post, found nothing of interest and popped into the nearest flue, arriving home in seconds.

"Well, well, Crooksy, looks like its just you and me tonight!" Hermione called out.

"Twenty-four and already a cat lady? For Merlin's sake, 'Mione!"

"Put some tea on next time you decide to break and enter, Ginny," Hermione groused from behind her bedroom door. Ginny and Harry had been waiting in her living room when Hermione popped into the flue. How quickly this flat went from ours to mine.

Hermione changed quickly from her office robes into yoga pants and a soft sweater, twisting her hair back into a tail before heading into her kitchen, where Harry was putting water to boil in a kettle and Ginny stood, tapping her foot with her arms crossed.

"You know, you should have flue'd that you two were having problems. I could have set that git straight," Ginny fumed. Harry shrugged helplessly, obvious that he'd already listened to the tirade. "I mean, bloody, Hermione. You've been together for ages. You had your spats but you know, Harry and I got married, the idea was for you two do the same. When did that change?"

"Um, somewhere between meeting at school and…yesterday," Hermione said dryly, accepting a mug of tea from Harry and sitting at the table with a dull thud. "I don't know when it changed. I don't think these kinds of things change just once. A lot of things change. People change."

"It's been ages, though. I guess you just needed yet another break before finally settling down, right?" Ginny asked hopefully, sitting opposite Hermione and squeezing her hand in what would have been a sympathetic way. "What did that idiot brother of mine say? We'll get this lot fixed, won't we, Harry?"

Harry shook his head. "I am staying out of this one, love. I know better than to get involved in Hermione OR Ron's lovelife, I'm surely not going to get involved when it is their joint lovelife."

"That's it, though. It really isn't, not anymore. It's over," Hermione said, taking a long sip. "I mean, I watched him pack his things, told him he didn't have to take it all at once, he said he did, and when it was done, he left."

The three friends sat quietly, nursing their tea for a while. Harry held Ginny's hand loosely, his other hand on Hermione's shoulder. Hermione finished her tea and collected the mugs from her friends. Harry and Ginny gathered their cloaks about them and turned for the living room.

Before stepping into the flue, Ginny turned around and sighed, opening her arms for a hug. Hermione hugged her best friend tight before reaching for the flue powder.

"Hermione – well, you see, except for dropping his stuff off at the Burrow, no-one's seen Ron. Where was he going? What did he say?" Giny asked softly.

"My father always said it's not in what you say, it's in what you do," Hermione replied. "So I imagine he's at a pub, or with some other witch. I can't figure where else he'd be, he surely wasn't going to tell me."

"Thanks, 'Mione," Harry said, taking Ginny's hand and pulling her into the flue. Hermione waved, even though she knew they couldn't see her.

"Hm. Where are you, Ronald? And why are they asking me?"

After what Severus determined to be another three days of removing dirt, he finally broke the surface. As his luck would have it, which was quite unusual for him, it was dark out. A faint sliver of moon was the only light, and even that cause him to close his eyes tight against it.

With a grunt, Severus heaved himself out of the hole and lay next to it quietly, catching his breath from the effort. He transfigured a rock into a goblet and summoned up a clear, cool firewhiskey. He took a shot, then another, and another, till the fire in his throat was worse than that in his eyes.

With that distraction in place, Severus carefully removed his makeshift blindfold so he could get a bearing of his surroundings.

"Lucky, lucky me. I'm a full meter from where I 'died'. Now I know Weasley did most of the decision-making involving my burial," Severus groused. He righted himself, sitting on his bum on the cold earth. "Blasted…I don't even know how long I was down there. Or rememeber where there is. Well, first things first…safe house till I get my bearings."

Severus closed his eyes and thought of the last place he'd felt safe, many moons ago in a woman's arms, apparating with a soft breath.

Godrick's Hollow.

AN: There it is. Where's Ron? What am I doing with that idiotic plot bunny? What's Hermione's plan? Why the hell is Severus going to the home his lost love shared with her husband and infant son? Why the hell did it take me so long to start writing again?

Much love, please read and review. First review= chapter dedication!

Love, Kyo