Author note: Sorry, I forgot author note in previous chapter. I thank you guys for the reviews. It means a lot to me, but I guess you already know that. :-) I hope you will enjoy this chapter, although there will be no past scene this time. Thank you for reading. Please, let me know your thoughts. :-)

Chapter 10

Peace talk

29 July 2002

The members of management glared at him with mouth wide open. His words like many bombs plummeted on the room, and their explosion left a deep silence behind.

"You can't do this, Weston!" The marketing manager, Brad Sommerhault was the first who gathered his wits. "I am not going to lose my position, my job! Care to explain, what this madness is anyway?"

"Typical" Margaret Smith, the human resource manager snorted. Greying strands that escaped her messy bun were framing her thin face, and she was scornfully staring at Sommerhault through her glasses that slipped down on her nose. "You only care about your own fat ass. What is going to happen to our two hundred and fifty employees who work in the factory? Their livelihood is endangered. Mr Weston, you can't do this! Please reconsider your decision." The woman now turned to him, and gave Severus her most cutting glance. For that matter, her manners and moral strongly reminded him of Hermione, perhaps this is why he employed her then, and he had never regretted to do so.

"Everyone calm down!" Severus stood up and leaning on the table with both hands looked up and down the six people in the room, whom in the past three years helped him stand his ground in the muggle world. "I have no intention to fire anyone, and no one's position is in danger at the moment" he informed them when their temperament slightly calmed down. "I will either sell the company, or move the head office into London, I will definitely make sure that our employees won't lose their jobs. You have my word on this, Mrs Smith. We still have plenty of time to work out the details. I think it will be quite enough for today."

Cacophony erupted in the meeting room. Like they never heard his last words, his co-workers swamped him and each-other with questions at the same time then they started to argue with each-other. Severus looked around with a sigh then slammed his fist on the table in front of him.

"I said it was enough for today!" he snapped at them peremptorily whereon the members of management hurriedly collected their dossiers and left the room as fast as possible.

Severus locked up the meeting room in a rush. The meeting was drawn out. He was already late, and that was not the best ground for a peace talk. While he was sitting in his car on the way home, he pulled the wrinkled piece of parchment out of his pocket so he could read it the hundredth time.

Severus,

I thought over all that you said. I can't ignore the fact that Toby's future must be discussed. I'll see you about it on Monday evening, if it is agreeable to you.

Kind regards,

Hermione

She sent the letter two days earlier, and while the cold, dispassionate words clenched his stomach tight, the thought that he could welcome her in his home raised hope in his heart which consequences Malvina had to suffer whom in the past two days had been commandeering a team of hired cleaners. For Severus's demands then they were scrubbing, dusting and polishing every existing surface in the house, most unnecessarily of course, as the place was immaculate as always. Meanwhile the housekeeper had to plan the dinner and procure the special ingredients even if she doubted that Miss Granger was going to come for dinner, or that she would accept it.

Hermione was looking around in awe when she got out of the cab. In the suburb area where the upscale, Victorian house stood was stuffed with beautiful villas. Although most of them were hidden in their meticulously manicured and exemplarily tidy gardens and parks from intruding eyes, some of them stood on a small hill and from the open driveways anyone could see the houses that were reeking of wealth and comfort.

The house where Severus lived was hidden by the tall hedge that ran along the fence, but the gate was wide open, as they were waiting for her arrival, and perhaps that was the case. She anxiously straightened out her little black dress before she rang the doorbell. The huge door soon opened, and a tiny, white haired lady inquisitively looked her up and down then a wide smile spread on her face.

"Miss Granger, if I'm not mistaken. You are very welcome. My name is Malvina, please do come in." Hermione entered the hall then shook hands with the woman.

"Hermione Granger. I'm pleased to meet you." She discretely looked around while the housekeeper led her to into a drawing room. The light colours that surmounted the house astounded her. It wasn't how she imagined his home.

"Severus bought this house shortly after he came over to Australia. He made very few changes, it mostly mirrors the previous owner's taste" Malvina commented as if she could read her mind. "Please, make yourself comfortable, Miss Granger. Unfortunately Severus was held up by his duties, and he will be late. He asked me to tell you, that he will come as soon as he is able to excuse himself. May I offer you a coffee or a tea while you are waiting for him?" Hermione looked at her with a frown. She wasn't pleased with him being late, but she didn't believe he would make her wait on purpose.

"Please, call me Hermione" she smiled at the old lady at last. "And please, don't trouble yourself. I hope Severus will be here soon, and I also hope" she added after a second of hesitation "that Miss...Reynolds won't find my visit as intruding her home" she tried to discretely ascertain the "other woman's" whereabouts. She wanted more than anything to face the one who took her place in Severus's bed and perhaps in his heart too. She wouldn't have admitted for her life, but jealousy filled her heart whenever she imagined the two of them.

"Miss Reynolds?" Malvina seemed surprised. "Oh, so Severus never told you? He ended their relationship with Cassandra approximately two months ago. He should have never brought that gold digger harlot here, if you ask my opinion." She embarrassedly covered her mouth with her hand, like she spilled more than necessary, and the witch smiled at her kindly. The housekeeper already had a room in her heart.

"Perhaps, you could show me around while we are waiting" she suggested. "If it's not a problem for you, that is. I don't mean to be intrusive."

"Intrusive indeed! Come now, my dear, you should be the mistress of this house." Malvina trying to hide her embarrassment turned away, grumbling to herself for she couldn't just button up her mouth. "Please, forgive me! Would you come with me upstairs? Perhaps it would be more convenient to start the tour there."

Hermione followed her up on the wide stairway, meanwhile wondering what could have been behind the elderly woman's remarks. She sounded like she wanted to play the matchmaker which was surprising, considering that they only met, and Malvina couldn't really know much about her. She hoped that the housekeeper didn't plan to be their marriage broker in the future.

Malvina saw to it that even the tiniest sign of Cassandra Reynolds would be removed from the house. She was a romantic soul, and she always hoped that Severus would finally found the girl and brought her here into her home, where she should belong. Naturally she didn't know about the child up to a few weeks ago, but his existence only affirmed her hopes. A happy and loving family that was all she wished for him.

After a couple of guest rooms the last they entered was Severus's bedroom. It seemed entirely different from the rest of the house. It ten times rather reflected his personality. Floor to ceiling bookshelves ran along the wall, showing the dark wooden panels here and there. A simple, white bedspread covered the gigantic mahogany bed, and a comfortable armchair stood in front of the fireplace.

Hermione slowly walked through the room, her fingers stroking the bedspread, the furniture wherever she went. She visualized as the man sat in the armchair in the evenings, a book in one hand and a glass of scotch in the other, or as he woke up in his bed in the mornings. Malvina quietly left the room. Somehow it was embarrassing for her to see the girl as she gently touched Severus' personal belongings.

"This room reflects him the most" Hermione appeared in the door at last, and she blushed a little under the housekeeper's scrutinizing eyes.

"Hermione" she said, "there is something I definitely have to show you before Severus gets home, but you have to promise me not to mention it to him.

"All right" she nodded, uncertain, "if it's not something..."

"I can assure you that it is nothing immoral or wrong" Malvina interrupted her. "Please, follow me! He will be home soon, and no doubts, you need to see this."

They walked down the stairs without a sound then along a long corridor, and much to Hermione's astonishment they reached a stairway that led to the basement. Malvina urgently glanced back over her shoulder when she hesitated to follow her, then she hurried along the dimly lit basement corridor. Suddenly she stopped in front of a hardly noticeable door that greyly melted into the stone wall and putting her hand on the doorknob she turned to Hermione.

"I didn't know of this room for the longest time. Severus warded it with magic, especially while Miss Reynolds was around. He spent a lot of time down here, but I could never find him when I came down after him. Then one day he forgot to replace the protective charms, and when I came to the wine cellar to get a few bottles for dinner, I unexpectedly found this door here." She opened the door and walked into the vast room. "Since Miss Reynolds left, he can't be bothered to hide it. My husband and I never come here, well, apart from this one occasion of course" she added with a smile.

As the door opened, a dozen of torches lit up and spread their muted light in the room. Hermione entered and looked around quite astonished, like she entered her former professor's study. Simple, cold stone floor, uncovered walls, bookshelves everywhere welcomed her. Across the door was a huge fireplace and when she neared it, flames flickered alive in a second. Her eyes were drawn to a cabinet that stood in a corner and was stuffed with vials and bottles. There stood a desk front of the cabinet with a steaming copper cauldron on it accompanied by books left open and parchment wrinkled into balls.

It seemed the wizard couldn't completely let his past go. Hermione was examining the content of the cauldron with interest, but Malvina didn't give her much time to goggle. She grabbed her arm and dragged her to the farthest corner of the room. A huge, solid, wooden desk blocked their way with an old fashioned but comfortable looking living chair behind it. She raised her eyes to the wall behind the furniture when she met the life-sized portrait of herself. From the wall a seventeen years old Hermione Granger was waving to her happily. Her school uniform in a slight disorder, hair tousled, and with an expectant gleam in her eyes, she opened her arms up wide as waiting for to be embraced. The time stopped, or maybe she just forgot to breathe. She wanted to be that innocent girl just for a second, to warn her what was to come to her in the following years, but the real importance of the picture only hit her after staring at it for minutes.

"You can imagine my surprise. Until that day we knew very little of Severus' past. Needless to say, he caught me red handed." Malvina quietly watched the emotions that shown on the young witch's face. "He seemed extremely angry, but at last he told us everything. Since then we hoped that one day Severus will find you again, but he said it was impossible, and you would be better off without him, and that we shouldn't pry into it unless we wanted to incur his wrath. Obstinate, headstrong man..." she was shaking her head in disagreement. "Trust me when I say, this kind of love comes only once in a lifetime, if it ever comes at all..."

"I can see, Malvina already showed you around." A cool voice interrupted her.

Severus was standing there, leaning to the doorframe, arms crossed, his narrowing eyes pierced through the elderly housekeeper. Both women stood frozen like they were hypnotized by a snake, the silence was thick and uncomfortable. He pushed himself away from the doorframe at last and slowly started off towards them. Hermione swallowed hard, almost expecting his velvety voice to give her detention or deduct points from Gryffindor. The thought made her shiver, but she couldn't decide if it was the frightful or the sensual kind of shiver. This voice was capable of lighting her on fire or drowning her into ice if it liked so.

"And history repeats itself..." Malvina murmured under her nose, while she scurried out of the room as fast as her short legs let her, leaving the girl behind traitorously.

"I apologize; I didn't mean to intrude your private life, I just..."

"I'm not angry with you, Hermione." Severus stepped closer and smoothed and escapee strand of hair out of her face. "I don't want to keep anything from you; I merely would like you to ask me, if you want to know something." Hermione had not the heart to tell on the kind housekeeper, not after she was so well disposed to her. "I believe Malvina is ready to serve dinner" he suddenly changed the subject and offered his arm in a gentlemanlike manner.

"It's really not necessary" she tried to refuse immediately. "I'm only here to talk about Toby."

"Indeed, but we could do that in a company of good food and wine like two civilized human beings, or am I wrong?" he raised one eyebrow.

The dinner was light but delicious, and the white wine heated her up, and she finally let herself go a bit. Once in a while she felt his intense gaze upon herself and that set her blood on fire, but he behaved like a gentleman all evening, he didn't even try to touch her. She was slightly disappointed and confused as for her feelings. It couldn't escape her observation as the slim, white fingers slid around the edge of the wine glass, or the way he loosened the buttons around his neck. Fortunately she was able to hold her composure, so he couldn't take notice of how much she wanted him to touch her.

Severus was watching Hermione all night and very much hoped that she didn't see him ogling her décolleté. It was not like he did it on purpose. He couldn't help but she drew his eyes like magnet. He involuntarily wondered how many lovers she could have had taken in the past few years, and he envied and hated them the same time. He envisioned as he was sweeping everything off of the dinner table to investigate what she hid under that enticingly curve-hugging, black dress, and make her his again right on the top of the aforementioned table. Meanwhile he fervently hoped that he managed to hide his dishonourable thoughts and play the role of the distant and perfectly polite gentleman. He knew if he were to ravage her that would ruin everything, albeit his self-control was firmly tested when she started to stare at his half exposed chest after a few glasses of wine. Then when her eyes slid down, it came as a literal low blow.

The rest of the evening, on the other hand successfully and very quickly threw cold water on him and his lustful thoughts. Hermione was ready to say good bye when they had an unexpected visitor. Malvina unseeingly opened the door, and she had not the presence of mind to prevent the blonde cyclone to enter their home. Cassandra Reynolds, wearing an expensive, teasingly tight dress, and the perfect coiffure, stopped only in the middle of the dining room and glared at Hermione with narrowing eyes.

"I see you managed to replace me with a..." she said bitingly "...librarian..."