Hermione sank to the floor, her hand covered over her mouth as she sobbed. "It's not worth it.. its not worth it…" she mumbled through her tears. She was so tired of Ron and his negativity. The first time they had fought was over a man dancing with her at a ministry event when they first started dating. She refused to speak to him for days. She had a sinking feeling that this was going to be the case again.
Hermione was so distraught that she didn't hear her floo activate once more, but she did notice when a cold hand grasped her elbow, causing her to jump and try to blink back her tears.
"Professor?" She quickly dabbed her face with the edge of her skirt. "What are you doing here? How did you know where I live?"
"You put your address on the forms I made you fill out. Now, up you get." He helped her stand and then sit in one of her mismatched kitchen chairs, then he turned to the stove to turn off the burning meal she had forgotten. "What was all this about?"
"Ron come by and we had a fight. He wants me to quit working for you."
Severus gestured toward the tea kettle, and when Hermione nodded, he flicked his wand, pouring two steaming cups of jasmine tea. "And what did you tell him?"
He sat across from her and placed the chipped mug in front of her. If Hermione was in a better mood, she might have been shocked that Severus Snape was in her home, having tea with her, like an old friend.
"I told him that it wasn't an option. I don't want to lose my job with you or at the ministry. He's upset that he can basically pick his own hours and I can't." she sipped her tea and sighed.
"I see." Severus took a sip of his own brew. "I'm going to tell you something that my mother told me many years ago. Granted, she was speaking of friends at the time, but it still applies. If they cannot support you in all that you do, they are not worth your time."
Hermione smiled a little and wiped the remaining tears from her eyes.
"And if he makes you cry, is he really worth it?"
Hermione stirred another spoonful of sugar into her tea. "I would say not. But he can be kind."
Severus smirked. "So was my father, until he wasn't and beat my mother and myself."
"He what?" Hermione was aghast. She had heard of parents abusing their children, but she never thought she would meet a survivor.
"Oh, I had assumed it came out in the trial." He twisted the mug in his hands. "Yes, he was a monster, to me and my mother, but going to Hogwarts was a godsent. The abuse lightened for my mother at home when I wasn't there, and when I was home for the summer, I stayed out of the house as much as possible. It just made things easier. My original point, was that it is not worth jumping through hoops for those who won't return the favor."
Hermione reached across the table and lightly touched the back of his hand.
"It was not mentioned as a point of pity, Miss Granger," He took another sip of his tea.
"Yes… well, speaking of things not mentioned, not to be rude, but why are you here?"
Severus cleared his throat. "Oh, that, you left your jacket on the chair in my living room, and I thought I would bring it back." He looked a little embarrassed, as there was a little color high on his cheeks.
"That was very thoughtful of you, Professor." Hermione smiled and got up from the table. She stood by the stove and picked up the pot, examining the contents. "Well, this is useless. I have to restart dinner, would you like to stay?"
Severus looked touched and then with a small smile, he nodded. "That's very kind of you, Miss Granger."
"Please, call me Hermione. We're co-workers now, its only fitting." She tossed the pan into the stove and turned on the tap, preparing it to soak in hot water. "I know you don't like me or my friends, but for what it's worth, you weren't a bad teacher. We all really learned a lot from you."
Severus leaned against the counter with the cup of tea in his hands and raised an eyebrow. "Really? And here I was, only trying to make everyone's life as miserable as possible." He chuckled a little.
"Did you just make a joke?" Hermione pulled another pan out of the cabinet next to her sink and filled it with water. Getting a clean knife, she started to dice an onion and prep to make tomato soup. "Is tomato soup alright? If not, I could make something else."
"That's perfect. I would have made sandwiches like I usually do after work."
"You don't have a hot meal after work?" Hermione turned shocked. "Well, then, I will have to cook for two then."
"Truly, you don't have to do that." Severus finished his cup and placed it on the counter, filling with more tea. He took up a knife and started to dice tomatoes.
"I don't mind, Professor. I cook in large batches anyways. I can just as easily make food in your kitchen or bring meals over when I come in the afternoon."
"If I am to call you Hermione, then you may call me Severus." He tipped the chopped tomatoes into the soup pot. "Why are you boiling water?"
"I'm making beef stock for next week. I try to cook as often as I can to save money." Hermione dropped beef bones into the water, covering the pot with a lid. "I make soup and freeze it so I'll have it when it's get cold, I have good hot soup without having to slave over it all the time."
"I see." Severus continued to add to the soup they were making before it was due to simmer for a while. The pair went back to the living room for the remaining time, Severus walking among the shelves, looking at the titles she possessed.
"These are some rare titles. Where did you get them?" Severus pulled a book off the shelf, titled, The art of defense potions.
"My advisor gave them to me upon my graduation." Hermione had traded her tea for a glass of white wine, and she walked around the room, lighting the lamps.
"Who was your advisor?" Severus placed his cup down and was flipping through the book, slowly sinking into one of her armchairs.
"Douglas Nickleson. Why?" She sat next to him on the sofa next to the armchair.
"He was my advisor." Severus was miles away as he read the book on his lap. "I haven't seen him in years."
"He's doing well. I say him two months ago, his daughter just had a little girl."
Hermione stood and walked into the kitchen, doling two helpings of the soup. "Would you like to eat in here or the living room? Wherever you choose, you can bring the book."
*S*S*
Hermione walked into the kitchen of Severus Snape's home, a large tote over her arm. Making good of her promise, she had brought several meals for the man, so he didn't have to cook for the next week. She had dug through her freezer, selecting meals that she had made that she thought he would like, the dates of their expiration on their lids. Stuffed chicken, baked ziti, soups and breads of all kinds, and any other item he could want were in the glass to go containers she had in her home. She was no Molly Weasley, but she could fend for herself.
She walked into the kitchen where Severus was seated, his hands cupped around a mug of tea. His eyebrows threatened to take up residence in his hair line when she pulled out container after container of meals.
"You do know, I can cook for myself and I do have working hands. I can navigate myself around a kitchen."
"I know that, but, now you just have to wave your wand and it's like you cooked them fresh yourself. It's the least I could do." She placed the tote on the chair nearest her. "I also brought a few bottles of my parents' homemade wines and some of my mother's cheese and garlic bread. I figured it would be a change from the plain white in the house." She pulled four full bottles of wine and a loaf of bread out, placing them on the counter.
"You didn't have to bring me wine, Miss Gra- Hermione. I can bake my own bread. Plain white is easier and cheaper in the market anyways."
"Well, I make bread fresh on the weekends. I am more than happy to bring you some on Mondays. I also make scones, biscuits and pies on Saturdays, which I could, again bring to you Monday mornings. I also wished to extend an invitation to my home for Thursday night. Professor Nickleson is coming for supper at 8pm."
"I wouldn't want to impose. Have a good time, you don't need to worry about me."
"Well, even if I didn't want you there, which isn't true, he did ask for you by name to come and visit. He wrote me this morning." Hermione surrendered a letter to her former professor to read.
Dearest Hermione,
It has been much too long since we have had proper time to rehash the boring normality that is our lives together over a glass of strong mead. I have several pictures of Amber, the newest addition to my family to show you, and I am sure you have many complaints about that Ronald boy you are seeing that you would like to share with me.
I also have heard through the grapevine that you are now the working with my ex-student Severus Snape. He is a wonderful person and you will learn a great deal from him. He was one of my most special students and I am so glad that he agreed to take you on and make you even better than you already are. You should bring him to one of our dinners, as I would like to catch up with him as well. I am free this Thursday, and if it suits you, we could meet at my home or yours at around 830pm?
All the best,
Professor Nickleson
Hermione took the paper back and folded it in half. "I responded on our behalf. I told him that my house is always open and that I would try to make sure you were there."
Severus steepled his fingers and rested his fingers, contemplating the idea of a night with his employee and his old advisor. He had not seen Nickleson since he was a student, completing his mastery, and while they had written back and forth, there was little effort on Severus' part for them to meet.
"It would be a… pleasant change of pace. I assume that this is a formal occasion?"
Hermione chuckled. "Merlin, no. The last time he and I got together, I sat on my couch with wine in my pajamas. Wear something comfortable. And no, you do not have to bring anything."
She finished putting the meals away, tucking the loaf of bread into the bread box. The wine was sent to the rack on the bar in the potions master's dining room, waiting to be opened at a later date. "Have you eaten yet?"
"I can feed myself, Hermione." Snape finished his mug of tea. "And yes I have eaten. Now, we have work to do in the lab."
*S*S*
Hermione swiveled in her chair after lunch, writing out labels for the shipments that would go out that day. She was careful to keep the addresses neat and clear, while her 4 cauldrons of blood replenisher simmered for another 30 minutes. Professor Snape would not allow her to start another potion until the four were finished, as he didn't trust her not to blow up the lab with five cauldrons going.
She looked up from her work to see the man moving between two tables of cauldrons, his movements fluid and graceful. His wand flicked over ingredients and he had books and other paperwork flying around the room to their proper places without even a bat of the eye. She was aware of the eyes that would look at her every few minutes, but she was trying her best to ignore the man who was still hesitant around her.
Hermione propped her head up with one hand and sighed a little. Her relationship with Snape had changed a little since her appointment as his assistant two weeks prior. He still would not call her by her first name easily. He always looked like he was in great pain when he did so. She could understand, as she was a thorn in his side for many years and she was one of the large reasons he was no longer in Azkaban. While he had only been there for a week, she still felt horrible that they were unable to get him out sooner.
Harry, Ginny and Hermione had brought him good food and blankets for his stay there, and since the guards were now wizards and not the Dementors that once lurked the halls, it was easier to pull some strings and be granted daily access to the man to go over his trial and to give him meals. He had lost weight do to the stress of war and the stay in a damp, cold and stressful environment. When he appeared in court, he was a shell of himself.
Hermione waved her wand and the finished labels flew to their appropriate boxes, before she stood to bottle the mixture she was making. The bottles landed into the labeled boxes, settled into the packing material that was placed inside. She rubbed a hand across her neck, trying to relieve the ache that had settled in it. When she looked up, she noticed that the potions master was looking at her with his dark eyes. She gulped and returned to her brewing.
*S*S*
Hermione shifted in her heels, her dress robes open to reveal the purple shirt and black pencil shirt she wore. She had a half dozen folders in her arms waiting to be dropped off on Minister Shacklebolt's desk. In the last week, she had been handed the job that Percy Weasley had dreamed off for many years, Senior Under-Secretary to the Minister. It took up a lot of her time, and often, she found herself bringing her paperwork to Snape's house to read through while the potions simmered. She had large purple bags under her eyes that she fruitlessly covered with concealer, biting back yawns in board meetings.
When Hermione heard the man hang up the floo call, she walked into the room, knocking on the door with one hand.
"Good morning, Minister!" She forced cheerfulness into her voice as she placed the folders on his desk and placed a steaming mug of tea onto the cork coaster he had for all his beverages.
"Hermione, you look like hell. When was the last time you had a decent night's rest?" Kingsley took a careful sip of his tea.
"To be honest, sir? It's been a while." She rubbed her hand over the back of her neck.
"What are you up to? Are you and young Ronald alright?"
"Yes, sir, we're alright." Hermione smiled a little. "I got a new job with Prince Potions about three weeks ago and I'm still getting used to the hours."
"I'm worried Hermione. You come here, dead on your feet, then you rush out of here at close to go to another full time job. You're going to burn out eventually."
"I will be fine sir." Hermione bowed out of the room and went to her new office, sitting heavily in her seat. She opened her desk drawer and pulled out a vial of pepperup potion, one that was formulated to not give the telltale signs of the user ingesting it, like the smoke coming from one's ears. As she swallowed the mixture and felt her energy return, Harry Potter, dressed in his Auror robes poked his head in, holding two breakfast burritos and tea.
"I figured you would need a pick me up." He sat in her chair for visitors and handed her the meal.
"Thank you." She took a sip of the tea before unwrapping the burrito and taking a bite. "I am so tired. I have no idea how I am going to get through the day."
"How late were you out last night?" Harry started to eat his own meal.
"I got home around 1:30 am." Hermione shook her head. "I should have gone home sooner. He usually only keeps me till 8, but we were so close to catching up to all the orders, we kept working until it was done." She looked into the mirror on her desk and pulled at her bags. "The minister is going to send me home, I can feel it. I feel fine, just a little tired. Snape wants me to take the night off anyways so I can sleep."
"I thought you weren't going to have nights off for another 5 months?" Harry wrapped more of his food, prepared to take a bite.
"I thought the same thing. But he was falling asleep standing up. He doesn't want to work tomorrow and therefore, neither do I." She sighed. So tonight, I get to sleep and tomorrow, Professor Nickleson and Snape are coming to my house to have dinner. He and I both had Nickleson as our advisor in school."
Harry shook his head. "Ron is going to go spare. He's been ranting about how you don't want to spend time with him and such for the last two weeks."
"I know, he came to my house two or so days ago to yell about my jobs and how I should quit. But, I'm doing this for him and I. This money is going to pay for a house for the two of us. This will pay for the wedding he keeps bringing up that he wants to have, but he hasn't proposed yet, mind you. Also, he hasn't been putting money into the joint account, so I drained it of my money and put it into my independent house fund." She swiped at her eyeshadow. "I'm not sure if it was the smartest move, but it was a gut feeling."
"It's for the best. Ron isn't the smartest with money. He blew quite a few galleons on dinner the other night."
"You all went out the other night?" Hermione picked up her tea again.
"He didn't tell you?" Harry looked down at his own tea. "He said he was going to."
"I assume he figured I wouldn't be going out regardless. Long hours and such." She took a long sip and drained her mug.
"'Mione, we want to hang out with you. Tell you what, on Friday, come over to my place. Ginny will be there, and we can catch up like old times. We don't even have to tell Ron."
"Can I let you know how I feel on Thursday?"
"Of course. Ginny always cooks too much. We planned on inviting George. He's been out of sorts for a little bit and we want to get him away from everything."
*S*S*
Hermione walked into Severus' house, hanging her bag up on the hook along with her sweater, taking out the folder of paperwork she had to do for the minister for the next morning. "Hello, sir." She gave Dover a pat and moved to the cellar to begin her work.
Severus watched her move down the stairs, closing the door behind her. He had noticed that she was starting to burn out, which was not good. He had seen her like this once before, when she was working in her third year, trying to finish all of her school work, going backwards and forward in time, struggling to stay awake during his lessons and during meal times. He knew there was a chance that her ruining her career over this, as he had done the same once before, but he was willing to help her along the way as much as he could.
He took a moment to feed Dover and to clean up the kitchen before he too went down into the lab, where Hermione was seated at her table, with labels filling out behind her and sticking to the boxes, while she chopped newt tail, jarring it for later.
"Miss Granger," Severus started, "Is everything alright? You seem very tired today and if I am honest with myself, you have been tired for the past week, to the point where I am getting worried."
"I'm fine, sir." Hermione tipped the tails into the jar and started on the beetle eyes, popping them out of their casings and dropping them into the jars, with the preservation charms on them. She stifled a yawn, trying to keep her eyes from dropping closed. She had slept a full 12 hours the night before, but she was still tired, which frustrated her to no end. She had to leave a little early to get the food prepared for the dinner she was hosting, but she figured that she could make up for the lost time by speeding through the prep with a little magic. She hated using magic when she was cooking but they planned on eating by 830.
"Are you sure you will be ready to host myself and Professor Nickleson?" Severus sat down at his desk and started at the paperwork that needed to be done.
"Yes, I will. I just need to leave a few minutes early so I can get everything ready for the meal, which is mostly just the prepping. I have some of it done, but not all." Hermione wiped a hand over her face and took a deep breath. "I need about fifteen minutes for prep, that's all I need."
Severus took his glasses out of the case and put them on his nose. "I can help you with that, if it makes things easier. I know how to cook, I just don't do so often. But I can work my way around a kitchen, and I can take direction from others."
Hermione smiled a little and nodded, as the labels finished writing themselves. With a wave of her wand, the labels attached themselves to the boxes, and the remaining potions bottled themselves. The bottles made it to the boxes and the boxes sealed themselves. With her jobs for the time being done, she started on her paperwork, the work that was needed for her job at the ministry, which she had neglected for the last day. She needed to get her work done, or run the risk of another getting her job. She needed the money for her house fund, and she desperately wanted to buy a real home in the next few years.
She watched from the corner of her eye, Severus pack up for the day. There were no new orders and there wouldn't be until tomorrow the earliest. With a sigh, she packed up her papers and filed out of the lab, gathering up her items. Her heels clicked on the floor as she walked to the floo with her items.
"How do you work with those heels?" Severus packed away his jacket and robes, choosing to stay in his white pressed shirt and his black dress slacks.
"I work a desk job for the most part. Heels don't hurt me like someone who works on their feet every day."
Hermione landed on her feet on her living room rug and moved out of the way for Severus to come through. Once he was in, Hermione went to her shoe rack and kicked her shoes off, placing them where they should be. Severus walked to the kitchen, ready to begin cooking. Hermione followed behind him, waving her wand to light the lamps and to uncovered the vegetables that she had prepped that morning before work.
"So, what are we cooking?"
Hermione dumped the veggies onto a baking tray with a little pepper, salt and olive oil. "I was thinking about having some roasted zucchini, squash, peppers and corn with roasted chicken and risotto. I made the vegetables the last time he was here, and he really liked them. I also want to make a light salad or a light summer soup, just something to tide us over until the chicken is done."
"I could use the squash to make a squash soup." Severus took a large pot and prepared to start making a little more soup than they would need in order to freeze the helpings for the coming week. Hermione laid three medium sized chicken breasts on another pan, spicing it to the tastes of her guests. Once that was in the oven, she started on the risotto which was a personal favorite of the university professor's.
"Is there something that I am missing?" Hermione started to stir the contents of the pan while Severus stirred the soup.
"Do you have anymore of your mother's bread?" Severus seasoned the soup a little, tasting the mixture with a spoon from the drawer.
"I do, was that something you liked?" Hermione smiled at him.
"Well, it was a very delicious of loaf. Some of the best that I have ever had." Severus' face tinged red at the tops of his cheekbones and on the tip of his nose.
"If you liked it, feel free to take more. I always have some in the house." Hermione opened the oven to check on the chicken before she waved her wand to allow the risotto to stir itself so she could sit. "Would you like a drink? I have wine, rum, brandy, whiskey, tea, water, beer, some muggle soda. Anything I don't have, there is a market down the street I can pop to in order to get whatever you wish."
"Tea would be nice, and I might take you up on the whiskey as the night progresses." Severus waited until she waved her wand and two steaming cups landed on the sideboard with milk and sugar being added as if by an invisible hand.
Severus took a sip and closed his eyes, relishing at the taste. He never seemed to make the tea as well as Miss Granger seemed to. He would never tell her, but in the three weeks they had worked together, he could see them becoming friends. With the Dark Lord dead, and the worst of the death eaters were either dead, Kissed, or were in Azkaban, so if they were to be friends there was little worry of the retaliation that could happen.
However, there was a little issue that he had called gripping fear of rejection. Therefore, he would never try to be her friend.
*S*S*
"Professor!" Hermione stepped across the floor, sliding across the floor a little in her pantyhose and skirt. She had yet to change from work and the only difference was that her robes were in the laundry waiting to be washed.
The old man came out of the floo with a basket in one hand and a cane in the other. "Hermione, my dear, it has been too long!" He handed her the basket and accepted the wine she handed him.
"How is the family?" Hermione led him to the kitchen, one hand on his arm and the other out to open the door.
"Wonderful, just wonderful! Severus, my dear boy, it's been nearly 20 years has it not?" Nickleson placed his wine and cane down and embraced the man who was at the stove cooking. Severus placed the spoon down and hugged the man back, patting him a few times.
"I am so glad that you and Hermione are working together. The community is absolutely buzzing with excitement. The brightest witch of her age and the youngest ever to get his mastery, ooohoo, I was excited that I could say I taught you both." He let the younger man go and then sat heavily on the chair, sipping his wine.
"Hermione and I have been having these little dinners for a while now, we usually complain about our lives and such, but now that you're here, Severus, you can join our little club." He shifted around as Hermione and Severus joined him at the table.
"So, Hermione, tell me. How are you and Ronald doing? How is the house hunting?"
"I am not even sure. We had a joint account for the fund, but I drained it a little over a month ago, as he wasn't putting any money in. I opened my own account and have been shoveling as much as I could into it every month, but Ron doesn't seem to care. We're supposed to be saving for our wedding but he doesn't seem too interested in that either." She sighed and settled a little further down in her seat. "He's more focused on the fact that I work round the clock now and I am not around to party with him as I used to. That seems to be all he wants to do."
"My dear, if he truly loves you, he'll come around. Now, Severus, what's new with you?"
"Not too terribly much. I have hired Miss Granger here, but in the past few years not much has been new." He waved his wand, and the meal plated itself and flew to the table.
"What about you, Professor?"
"Well, I have three new grandchildren and I have found out that I am to be a great-grandfather, which is very exciting, and I am to be the advisor of three new promising pupils." He took a spoonful of the squash soup and made a delighted noise. "Hermione, did you make this?"
"No, that was all Severus. He is quite the master in the kitchen." Hermione took a bite herself, and gave Severus a small smile.
Hello, I am back and I am very much alive. Yesterday was my 21st birthday so I wasn't around to update, but I am working on the other stories I have going on as well. Thank you all for being so patient with me and the fact that I don't update very often.
Lots of love,
Erectopatronum