Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter, nor any of the characters from the books or movies. I do not make any money from the writing of this story.
This chapter was beta-ed by DemiDear, RandH4ever and raspberrybazaar (not sure what their user names are one this site). I'm almost done chapter 7 so it shouldn't be to much longer. Please R&R
hamie
Chapter 6
Hermione and Severus had been living in relative peace, with the exception of when the Marauders would visit, for almost a year. Hermione always tried to plan these visits for when Severus was at the Ministry working on his Masters in Potions. It was two o'clock on the morning of April 20, 1977 when Severus woke to the sound of cupboard doors slamming in the kitchen. He quietly got out of bed, grabbed his wand, and made his way down to the kitchen to confront, what he assumed was, a very incompetent burglar. He was both shocked and horrified when he found a half-naked James rummaging through his cabinets, and considered jinxing him just because James had woken him up. Then Severus remembered the sleeping Hermione upstairs and thought better of it; instead he decided to watch. After opening a few more doors, James finally found what he was looking for, and sat down at the table where they had left the pizza leftovers from dinner. After watching James inhale two slices of pizza, Severus cleared his throat to get James's attention.
When James looked up at him, Severus was pleased to see that the half-naked man at least had the decency to blush, even if he didn't look all that surprised to see him. When it dawned on Severus that James wasn't going to tell him why he was there, in only his underwear, eating cold pizza, he asked, "Why are you in my kitchen, eating my food, at two in the morning, with no clothes on?" James waited a few moments until it looked like Snape was going to yell at him before he answered. "Lily's a little mad at me; apparently when we had sex a few weeks ago…in the heat of the moment, I told Lily we didn't need a contraceptive potion because I had cast a contraceptive spell, when in reality I hadn't, and I didn't want to wait ten minutes for the potion to take effect."
Severus stood glaring at James all the way through his explanation, and then said, "This does not explain why you are in my house and not with Lupin or Black. I'm sure they would both be happy to let you stay with them." James replied, "Well, they're both out of town. Remus went to visit his parents, and Sirius went with him because he would be gone during the full moon." Still glaring, Severus stood thinking for a few minutes, then glaring for another few minutes just to make James feel uncomfortable. Severus resigned himself to agreeing to let James stay the night as, if he didn't, he'd have Hermione to answer to. He showed James to the guest room and pointed vaguely in the direction of the bathroom before going back to bed where he fell asleep as soon as his head hit the pillow.
The next time Severus awoke that night, it was to a loud scream; he leapt out of bed, grabbing his wand in the process, and ran towards the sound. Expecting something horrible, he was almost relieved to find a very naked James and a very red Hermione in the bathroom. That was, until he remembered the conversation he and James had had earlier. Severus figured out that Hermione had walked into the bathroom just as James was getting out of the shower, and it took all of his willpower not to laugh at the situation; he knew that if he did, Hermione would turn her embarrassment into anger and aim it right at him, since it was his fault. If he'd told her that James was in the house before he fell asleep, she would have knocked before opening the door.
As Hermione listened to James's explanation, her anger began to turn from finding James naked in her bathroom, to what he had done to Lily. She was just about to throw James out of the house when Severus surprised even himself by insisting that James could stay with them until Lily agreed to take him back. Hermione was fully intent upon telling them 'NO!' and that James could sleep on front lawn for all she cared, but he wouldn't be sleeping in her house after what he'd done, but before she got a chance to say anything, the phone started to ring.
She gave Severus one last glare before she turned and walked down the stairs. When she finally got to the phone and answered it, Hermione was surprised to hear a very worried Lily on the other end. "Have you seen James? We got into a big fight last night and I threw him out, and he hasn't come home yet. I called Remus and Sirius and neither of them has heard from him in days!" Hermione calmed Lily down enough to tell her that James was safe at her house, and that she would go get James so they could talk.
When Hermione handed the phone to James, he took it rather sheepishly and went to the guest room where he had slept the night before. Hermione and Severus were in the kitchen just finishing their breakfast when he re-emerged, over an hour later. James explained to them that, if it was ok, he would like to stay for a week or two; that is, until he felt safe enough to sleep in his own bed without having his girlfriend kill him.
It was settled until later that night. Hermione was in the common room, unpacking boxes of books, when she heard yelling coming from the top of the stairs. By the time she got there, Severus had James pinned to the floor and all she could hear was James's muffled, "I won't do it. She's just going to say 'no', so what's the point?" Hermione just stood there, with her arms crossed, glaring down at both of them for a minute before moving forward to pull Severus off of James.
After what seemed like an eternity (to her at least) of Hermione going back and forth between them, she was finally able to come to the conclusion that Severus had been trying to force James to propose to Lily. After Hermione had finished laughing at the two of them, she pointed out to Severus that he couldn't make someone propose. He stood looking at her for a few moments before saying, "I'm not trying to force him to propose; he already had plans to propose. He just has himself convinced that if he proposes now Lily will say 'no,' because she will think he is only asking because of the baby.
Hermione told James to propose as he had planned, and if she said 'no,' Hermione pointed out, "You could always wait a few months and propose again." James agreed, which set Severus off grumbling under his breath, as he knew there was no point in continuing to yell, especially with Hermione standing right there. At this, James just grinned at him and walked away.
When James was out of sight, Hermione took Severus's hand and led him downstairs to the living room, where he sat down, somewhat sulkily, on the couch to watch her as she unpacked the rest of the boxes scattered around the room. By the time Hermione was finished unpacking boxes, he had fallen asleep. Hermione sat down beside him, wrapped his arm around her shoulders, and snuggled in, exhausted. When Severus awoke from his nap, he could both feel and hear Hermione next to him. As he started to get up, she started to talk louder and clearer than she had been, but he could tell she was still sleeping from the way her body was completely limp.
As he lifted Hermione into his arms, he could hear her whispering "Yes, of course I will!" over and over again, each time saying it in a slightly different way as if practicing how she would say it. By the time he laid Hermione down on the bed he had figured out exactly what she was dreaming about. She was dreaming about getting married or, more to the point, being proposed to. Severus just hoped it was because they had been talking about James and Lily getting married, and not that she had overheard him talking to the jeweler he'd commissioned to make him a custom made engagement ring with which to propose.
James had been gone for almost a week when Hermione got a call from a very excited Lily, who was yelling into the phone that she was getting married. It took Hermione ages to calm Lily down enough to congratulate her. It was after gushing with joy for several more minutes, that Lily finally mentioned that they were having a celebratory meal on Friday night and that she'd just die if she and
Severus couldn't come. Naturally, Hermione accepted her invitation, telling her they would both be there. That was, of course, easier said than done, and it took several days to convince Severus to go. In the end, it was Lily who convinced him to go, telling him that if he didn't attend dinner and at least pretend to enjoy himself, he would have two very angry women on his hands. Severus knew from experience, when it came to Lily Evans's temper, you didn't want to be on the receiving end.
It had been almost two weeks since Lily and James's engagement party, when Hermione got a Floo-call from Lily, who was crying. She calmed Lily down enough to find out what had happened, and then she told Lily to step back so that she could come through. Hermione quickly wrote a note to Severus explaining where she was, and to come over when he got home. She left the note where she was sure he would find it and then headed through the Floo to Godric's Hollow. As soon as she stepped out of the fireplace, she was assaulted by Lily, who started to cry again. Hermione calmed her down as much as she could before she asked just what had her so upset. Lily looked at Hermione for a moment before she said, "I'm not pregnant. I went to St. Mungo's this morning to meet with a mediwitch, and she said I wasn't pregnant. She said that, sometimes, the potion I used gives a false positive and that, what I thought was morning sickness, is just a virus."
Hermione reached over and gave Lily a hug, before pulling her down so they were both sitting on the couch. They sat talking about what Lily planed to do now, what James had thought when she told him, and when Lily had had enough of talking they just sat in silence, letting the other's presence comfort them. It was almost three hours before the sound of someone Flooing into the room forced the two to look up. When Hermione saw who it was, she let go of Lily and moved to give Severus a hug and a kiss. After quietly talking to Hermione for a minute, Severus moved over to Lily to see how she was doing. Lily told him she was doing much better now that she had talked to Hermione, but she would really appreciate it if he could go talk to James. She had been unable to get contact of either Sirius or Remus, so he was in the study all by himself. Severus gave her a hug before standing up and heading down the hall to see how his worst enemy was handling not having a child.
James couldn't believe his ears, or his eyes for that matter. Not only was Severus Snape willingly standing in his study, he was talking as if he really cared how James was handling the news. They both sat talking for most of the night, neither one wanting to leave for fear that this sudden unspoken truce between them would be gone the next time they saw each other.
When Severus finally left, it was almost three in the morning; when he returned back to his house that he shared with Hermione, he found all the lights off except for a light glow coming from the bathroom. When he opened the door he found Hermione soaking in a tube full of lavender-scented water and rose petals. She turned her head so she was looking at him, and said, "I thought I would give you a little treat for being so nice to James last night." Severus smiled at her before saying, "I appreciate the thought, but rose petals and lavender isn't really my thing." Hermione smiled back at him while saying, "This isn't your surprise. This is mine. Yours is going to be in the bedroom as soon as I'm finished with my bath."