Lackluster

by anne-writes

Five years after the war, Hermione and Snape unexpectedly cross paths in a small cafe in Diagon Alley. Both broken and falling apart, can they build a whole relationship in a tiny cottage even when no part of themselves is whole?

10. Chapter 10

Disclaimer on 1st page

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I wound up in the alley behind my flat in London, breathing heavily and with my bag of books weighing down my arm. I sat down, leaning my head against the dirty wall behind me, letting my shoulders sag down and my spine unclench. I had spent so much time running away, I hadn't ever come to terms with what any of those weeks, or that night, meant.

I shook my head, my eyes tearing up, and picked up my bag and walked up to my flat. And I didn't cry.

Weeks went by. I stayed in my flat, ate tea and toast and Indian takeout. I gained back some of the weight I had lost over the years. It was summer again, and as the sun shone slightly brighter over dreary London, I caught myself dreaming of my wicker chair in the rosebushes, of my big queen bed and my little potions lab. I missed that window seat with the blue fabric. I missed my little village. I wanted to be home.

I thought it over for another week. It took me days before I could leave, because one minute I would pack and then the next I was putting everything back in the cupboards. But one sunny Monday morning, when the building was quiet because everyone was either on vacations or at work, I packed everything at once, left the key in the landlord's mailbox along with the last month of rent, and disapparated.