Disclaimer: I sadly don't own any of the Harry Potter characters, just Janie's personality, J.K. Rowling does. And I'm also not making any money off of this either. I would also like to note, that I do not own Ever the Same; I'm just borrowing the wonderful lyrics for a short time.
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"Just let me hold you while you're falling apart.
Just let me hold you and we'll both fall down.
Fall on me; tell me everything you want me to be.
Forever with you…forever in me…ever the same."
-Lyrics from Ever the Same by Rob Thomas
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Only two things could be heard around the castle the next day: the Quidditch match and the Halloween prank. The corridors were filled with an endless buzzing about how Janie caught the snitch or how Dumbledore still hadn't figured out who had successfully pulled off the Halloween prank.
When the Gryffindors awoke on Sunday morning, they had found an enlarged picture of Scott Narls and his friend's face after the lights turned back on, posted on their bulletin board. Needless to say, Scott's friend had learned his lesson after one of the older students copied the picture and had it charmed all the way down the Slytherin table. It took Dumbledore and Snape nearly three hours to get all the posters off of the table. After they were done, it had turned out that the charm was one that the Weasley twins had come up with, making Severus even angrier at the whole thing.
It wasn't until after the picture incident that Snape was finally able to go back to the Hospital Wing. When he arrived, he found Janie in the same position, but couldn't see Hermione anywhere. He was just about to open his mouth, when Madam Pomfrey came out of her office and stopped him.
"Ssshhh," she told him, pointing towards the other side of Janie's bed.
Severus walked over towards where Madam Pomfrey had pointed, only to find Hermione sound asleep, sitting on a chair with her head on Janie's bed.
He was just about to move her into a more comfortable position, when a hand grabbed the back of his cloak and turned him around.
"Severus Snape," she whispered. "Don't you dare touch her. That poor girl has had hardly any sleep since yesterday and if you touch her, she's going to wake up. The last thing I need around here is a tired and crabby mother who can breakdown at any moment," Madam Pomfrey said.
Severus stared at her blankly for a moment before arguing, "But if she sleeps like this, she will be crabby."
"Leave her," Madam Pomfrey said as she walked away, leaving no room for any more disputing.
Seeing as the crazed medical worker would tear his head off if Severus woke Hermione up, all he could do was magically put a pillow under her head.
An hour and a half later, Severus felt his eye lids getting heavy, until he heard somebody coming into the Hospital Wing. His eyes lids immediately snapped open and looked out the Hospital Wing's door, only to find a hesitant student.
Scott Narls was standing in the doorway, one foot in the Infirmary, with a card in his hand. When he saw Snape's eyes flash open, he froze.
"Umm, sorry to disturb you Professor," Scott said, cautiously walking in. "I just wanted to drop this off for Janie," he said, placing a card on her table, which was already full of gifts and cards and then quickly left.
That boy needs to grow a backbone, Severus thought to himself.
Twenty minutes later, Madam Pomfrey came in to check on Janie and accidentally bumped into Hermione, making her eyes snap open.
When the Mediwitch turned around to find Hermione sitting up, Severus could have sworn that it was the very first time that he had ever heard the old witch curse loudly with students in the room.
"Janie…is Janie up yet?" She asked groggily.
"No," Severus replied softly.
Hermione's eyes started to well up with tears again, but blinked them back when she saw that Madam Pomfrey was in the room.
The previous day, it seemed like Hermione was an endless water fountain. It had gotten to the point where Madam Pomfrey had embarrassed her by asking her in front of Severus and several other older male students in the Hospital Wing, if she 'needed a potion to help her with her time of the month.' This of course, had shut Hermione immediately up; until later when Poppy had told her that if she wasn't going to take it, she was going to give her a potion that would dry up her tear ducts. Severus just sat there, deciding that anything he said would probably end up being used against him later.
"Ms. Granger, it would be wise for you if you got some more sleep," the old Mediwitch said.
Hermione nodded and pretended to fall back asleep until she left the room.
"Hermione, she's right; you really do need to get some more sleep," Severus said.
"But what if Janie wakes up?" She asked.
"You'll still be right here," he pointed out.
Hermione looked at her daughter and then rested her head on Severus's shoulder.
"Promise?" She asked.
"Promise," he said.
---
For the next twenty minutes, the Hospital Wing was incredibly silent; Madam Pomfrey didn't even emerge out of her office. Severus silently watched his daughter; his attention was shifted however to looking out the Hospital Wing's door.
Coming towards the Hospital Wing, was the entire Hufflepuff Quidditch team, still with their brooms, being chased by Professor Sprout.
"Mr. Filler! What did I tell you? Do not go into that Hospital Wing!" She shouted from across the hall.
The boy turned around, "But Thompson's unconscious; he fell off of his broom and landed in the stands."
"I told you to come to me with any injuries," she said as the team stopped right outside the door. "Besides, you're all loud enough to wake the dead."
"No we're not," he replied, making Hermione shift in her chair and Madam Pomfrey come scurrying out of her office.
"What's all this racquet about?" She asked, looking from the Professor to the team.
The Quidditch team shuffled around so that the unconscious boy was in front of the group.
"Oh dear," Madam Pomfrey said, "not another one. At least his mother isn't around," she added quietly, while levitating the boy to the other end of the Hospital Wing, from where Severus and Hermione were currently sitting.
Severus watched as Madam Pomfrey had a conversation with Professor Sprout, in which he was pointed at or motioned to three times.
After Madam Pomfrey had kicked out the rest of the team, she turned around to find a weary-looking Hermione, sitting up in her chair again. Deciding not to over there right away and let Severus handle it, Madam Pomfrey quietly slipped back into her office once she had woken the boy up and made sure he was alright.
---
"C'mon Lyss, we have to go and drop these cards off for Janie before dinner," Matt said, making his way down to the infirmary.
"But I don't want to disturb her parents," Lyss said. "When I passed earlier, her mum was sleeping."
"She's not now," Matt said. "I passed by there fifteen minutes ago and they're both wide awake," he said over his shoulder as he turned the last corner.
They walked the rest of the short way in silence, until Matt walked into the Hospital Wing and noticed that Lyss wasn't following him.
"Lyss, we'll only be a few minutes; maybe even only a few seconds," he said, continuing down the center isle of the Hospital Wing.
Right before Matt was going to turn to where Janie's bed was located, Madam Pomfrey came bustling out, muttering something about slipping Hermione a dreamless sleep potion under her breath.
Turning the corner, Matt was slightly relieved when he only saw Hermione sitting in the small area. When the twins walked into view, Hermione looked up and her face softened.
"Good evening, Professor Granger," Matt said, "Sorry to interrupt, but we just wanted to drop off some things for Janie," he said, setting down a small package on the table.
"Thanks Matt," Hermione said, watching as Lyss did the same thing a few moments later. "I'm sure she'll love them," she said, a little absentmindedly.
"Thank you, Professor Granger," Matt said as he went to leave, but stopped again when he noticed that Lyss was still looking around the room.
"Anything wrong?" Hermione asked Lyss.
"No; I just thought that Professor Snape would be here too," Lyss said, earning a glare from Matt.
"He will be; he's just checking on our kitten," Hermione said.
Before leaving, Matt looked at Janie and then walked back into the small area.
"Professor?" He asked.
"Yes?"
"Janie will be alright, won't she?" He asked sympathetically.
Hermione looked at Janie, "I don-"
"She's going to be fine," a voice said from behind them, making the two students and Hermione snap their heads over towards the door, only to find Severus standing there with a blanket in his arms.
Hermione narrowed her eyes at him and watched as he set the bundle at the foot of Janie's bed and then opened it, revealing their new kitten.
When he was done, he turned to Hermione, "Janie's going to be fine."
Hermione looked at Janie and then out the curtain's opening at Madam Pomfrey's office, "And how do you know that?" She asked.
Severus remained silent.
"See, you don't know Severus; nobody knows if she's going to be alright…Madam Pomfrey doesn't even know," she said, standing up and turning to look out the window.
Matt started to slowly back up towards Lyss, but what happened next, shocked them both.
Hermione turned around and looked at Severus, tears staining her cheeks, "She was too young to play Quidditch; she shouldn't have-"
"Hermione," Severus said, "Potter was younger than Janie was and we all know that he was in the Hospital Wing more-"
"But what does that have to do with anything?" She exclaimed.
"He's living and breathing now, isn't he?" Severus pointed out.
"But that's different! Harry's Harry, but Janie's my daughter!"
When Hermione's words had hit him, Severus fully realized how hard on Hermione this must be. Sure, it was hard on him, even though he didn't show it, but it seemed like the world might end for Hermione, if Janie didn't make it out alright.
"It's been more than one day now, Severus; she should at least be up by now! This should have never happened; Janie's too young for this to be happening to her…it should be me on that bed – not Janie."
Severus couldn't bear to watch Hermione continue on any longer. He walked right up to her and stopped her gesturing hands with his own.
"Hermione, look at me," he said.
Hermione looked up at him with heartbreaking eyes.
"Janie is going to be fine, don't doubt yourself about it," he said softly.
After this, it was hard to tell whether Hermione's knees gave out or if she simply just gave up, because she fell forwards and grabbed Severus for support.
Madam Pomfrey passed the room and watched as Severus and Hermione sat down on their daughter's bed. Just as she was about to pass the room, she noticed two heads, that weren't supposed to be there. Walking behind the twins, Madam Pomfrey grabbed the collars to their robes and dragged them out.
"Now, what are you two doing here when dinner's just about to start?" She asked, making the two look at each other and then scurry out of the Hospital Wing.
As the Mediwitch passed the two again, Hermione had her head on Severus's shoulder, so she closed the curtains the rest of the way around their area.
"What was that?" Hermione sniffed out.
"Madam Pomfrey just shut the curtains," he said, smoothing down her hair on her back.
"It's not fair," she quietly cried a few minutes later. "Nothing's ever fair anymore."
Severus securely tightened his hold on Hermione and right when he opened his mouth to speak, a feeble voice cut him off.
"Life's never fair," Janie said weakly.
"JANIE!" Hermione exclaimed, almost falling off of the bed.
As soon as Severus released his hold on Hermione, she lunged at Janie, enveloping her in a bone-crushing hug.
"Umm Mum, I can't breathe," Janie said, which seemed to go unheard, because Hermione didn't move.
"Hermione," Severus said, trying to tug Hermione away from Janie, "she can't breathe."
Hermione immediately pulled away from her daughter, "Sorry Janie; I'm just so happy that you're alright."
"It's alright Mum," she said and turned to her father and hugged him. "Thanks Dad."
"I'm really glad that you're alright, Janie," Severus said, returning the hug. "So you know, you had your mother worried sick."
"Sorry Mum," Janie said, bringing her hand up to her forehead. "Why do I have something on my head?"
Hermione and Severus looked at each other.
"Janie, I know it's probably a bit much for you right now, but what do you last remember?" Severus asked.
"My broom was hit by a…my broom!"
"We'll worry about that later," Hermione said.
"The last thing I remember is seeing the bludger coming at me and then hitting me. The very last thing I remember is hitting something hard and then this pain shot through my body. This was all after I was reaching for…THE SNITCH! Did I catch it?" Janie asked, looking from both her parents.
"Yes-" Severus started.
"Did Gryffindor win?"
"Yes," Hermione said proudly, looking at Severus out of the corner of her eye.
"Sorry Dad," Janie said.
"But that was the last thing I can remember," Janie said, "until about five minutes ago."
Hermione sighed and looked at Severus, "You're going to want to know what happened soon, and I guess this is the best moment to do so," Hermione said.
A little while later, Madam Pomfrey cautiously peeked through the curtains, only to find Janie sitting up against her pillows. Walking through a small opening, Madam Pomfrey made her presence known.
"Ah good, I see you're up, Ms. Snape," she said, closing the curtains.
The Mediwitch then turned around and saw that Hermione wasn't crying, but sitting there at the edge of her daughter's bed.
"How long has she been up?" She asked.
"Not long," Hermione replied almost instantly.
"I thought that I was supposed to know as soon as she woke up. Don't give me that look, Ms. Granger, I know it has been a while; you're not acting like you have been all day. Now, I need everybody out, except for you, Ms. Snape; I need you to stay right where you are."
Hermione got off of the bed, but as soon as she was at the curtain, she opened her mouth.
"I need to run tests on your daughter to make sure that she'll be alright. Now please go back to your quarters and get a good night's rest," she said, closing the curtains, which blocked the two out.
---
Dumbledore sat in his office, thinking about the day's events, when McGonagall knocked at the door.
"Enter," he said softly, from his place at his desk.
"What's the matter, Albus; you're never usually this quiet," Minerva said, after several moments of silence.
"Just thinking about the necklace," Dumbledore said.
"About that, I was going to ask you-"
"What had happened," Dumbledore interrupted her.
McGonagall nodded.
"That's one of the more-genius ideas of mine," Dumbledore said, "putting the melted phoenix feather in Janie's necklace. You see, it will protect the wearer from any sorts of minor magic or even minor injuries. But, the true magic, lies within the wearer's heart. The special ability of the melted phoenix feather is that it works off of love and loyalty."
"So the feather healed Janie, because when Severus and Hermione touched her, it felt the love that Janie had for her parents and the loyalty to them?" McGonagall asked.
"Yes, but that's not all of it. It really only worked the way it did, because it sensed the love between her parents and the strong need to protect their daughter. That's the true magic of it; it looks in your heart, not your head, because only your heart holds the true answers," Dumbledore said, gazing out his window at the stars.
---
After Janie was let out of the Hospital Wing, it seemed like the entire month of November, passed in a blur. Before anybody knew it, the next Hogsmeade weekend had arrived.
It was early in the morning and Hermione was already up, drinking coffee, and savoring that she was actually out of bed, before Severus.
When she was walking back to her room to get ready, she heard Severus muttering something about their cat sleeping on his bed again. Deciding to bask in the glow that she was up before him, she sat down on their couch and waited for him to come out.
She was just about to go in and see if he had fallen back asleep, when she heard a crash.
"Damn cat! Get off of me or I'll-"
Not knowing what was wrong, Hermione got up and cautiously made her way over towards Severus's door, when she heard him call.
"Hermione, wake up and get your bloody cat!" He yelled, opening the door, only to find her waiting for him.
As soon as the door was flung open, Hermione sensed that something wasn't right. For one thing, he still wasn't dressed yet and for another, he was holding the kitten awfully close to his chest.
"Severus, why is Matches-" she stopped when he removed his hands from around the furry creature and held them out, as far as they would go.
"You cat…is stuck on me," he seethed.
"What?" She asked disbelievingly, wrapping her hands around Matches, only to find out that he really was stuck, causing a look of horror to spread across her face.
"Oh my God Severus; his nails are imbedded in your chest!"
"Thanks for stating the obvious," he said, while Hermione tried to gently pull the kitten off, making Severus contort her face.
"What are you trying to do, woman? You're going to rip my skin off if you keep pulling like that!"
"Well I can't get him off you like this! It's kind of hard to pry him off you while you're standing," Hermione said.
"Well, what do you want me to do then?" He asked annoyed.
"First off, you need to relax," she said.
Relax…how can I relax when I have an animal stuck to me?
"Severus did you hear me?"
"What?"
"I said, sit down," she said, tugging him towards the couch and then pushing him on top of it, which made Matches cling to him harder.
Hermione sat next to him on the couch and tried to lean over to detach the kitten's claws, but couldn't really see that well. Thinking for a few moments, an idea popped into her mind.
"Severus, lay down," Hermione said absentmindedly.
"What?" He looked at Hermione like he had no idea what she was talking about.
Rolling her eyes, Hermione pushed him down, so that he was lying on his back.
"Have you lost the ability to function by yourself?" Hermione asked him, earning a glare and a scowl.
"Sorry Severus, but you're acting like you've never heard the words 'sit down' or 'lay down' before," Hermione said, kneeling down on the floor next to the couch.
Why can't I get a good view from here? It's almost like I have to see it from above- Hermione stopped, getting an idea. Yep, it's probably the best way that I can see, Hermione thought to herself as she got up off of the floor. I don't think Severus is going to like it that much…oh well; it's not like he's deciding things now anyways, she thought, climbing up onto the couch.
"What are you-" Severus stopped when Hermione sat on him. "Hermione, what are you doing?"
"You do want Matchbox off of you, right?"
"Yes, but I don't see how sitting on me will help the situation," Severus said.
"It's either this, I levitate Matchbox up in the air, until his nails pop out of your skin or I bring you up to Madam Pomfrey, exactly the way you are right now," she informed him.
"No…this is fine," he said.
"Good; that's what I thought," she said, leaning over the scared kitchen.
After five minutes, Hermione had successfully removed three paws; all that was left was his front-right paw.
"Almost done," Hermione declared.
"Thank God," Severus muttered.
Hermione was almost done with the last paw, when she leaned into the couch and accidentally elbowed Severus in his gut making Severus jump, which scared the cat.
Matchbox screeched and then tried to run, yanking the rest of his nails free, scratching Severus across the chest along the way. Hermione tried to catch the cat, but he slipped through her fingers and ran back into Severus's room.
The absence of the small animal left nothing for Hermione to grab onto, so she wouldn't fall off the couch, so she did the next best thing – she grabbed onto Severus's arms, pulling him off of the couch in the process.
Hermione landed on the floor with a thud, while Severus landed on top of her, his foot hitting the table on the way down.
"Oww; that wasn't funny, Hermione," Severus said, propping himself up with one of his arms, only to find Hermione laughing.
"Did you hit your head on the way down?" Severus asked her.
"No," she said, between laughing.
"Mind sharing?" He asked.
"It's just out of everybody I know with cats, you're the first one to experience having one stuck to your chest," she said, giggling at the memory. "I'm sorry I'm laughing at something that must have been painful, but it just had to happen this morning…"
"What's happening today?" Severus asked, fearing the answer that he was going to get.
"Don't you remember what happened before the last Hogsmeade visit?"
"You're not going, are you?" Snape asked, again afraid of what the answer was going to be.
"McGonagall dragged me into it; besides, Janie's birthday is in a week and the winter holidays are right around the corner…"
"No," Snape said.
"Yes. And what makes everything funnier is…Dumbledore's supposed to floo me with information...at any moment now."
"No," Snape repeated.
"And what's funny is the position we're in, when Dumbledore's head can appear at any moment now."
"No…"
"Have you lost the ability to speak, along with your ability to function?" She asked, between laughs.
"No-" Snape stopped when he realized he had just said the same word, four times in a row.
Dammit; how does she do that? I'm never going to win at this rate... Snape thought as he silently gave up at trying to have a normal day.
"And I just know that we're going to be late again; especially at the rate that we're going at now…" she said and then started to snicker again. "Doesn't it just suck when everything goes wrong?"
"Then let's be late for a reason," Snape said, ignoring the last part, making Hermione raise her eyebrows.
"Am I going to like this reason?" She asked.
"I think you might enjoy it," Severus said.
"As long as there's no teasing involved," Hermione replied.
"I can't promise that," Severus said, lowering his head.
"Well then, neither can I," Hermione said, pulling her arm out from underneath his body, "and that's a promise."
"Oh?" Severus asked with raised eyebrows as Hermione leaned up to kiss him.
It was short-lived however, because they both felt the warning that somebody was just about to floo them. (Due to Dumbledore's numerous interruptions, Severus and Hermione had set up numerous charms on their fireplace.) Hermione tried to get up, but Severus made no inclination that he felt the warning or to even get up.
"We have to get up," Hermione said.
Severus reached up and pushed the table over, "Now we don't," he said, bringing his feet up, so that they weren't showing anymore.
"Severus," Hermione laughed, "he's going to know we're here."
"No he won't; the man can only see through cloaks, not tables. It would be wise for you to bring your feet up," Severus said, as their fireplace exploded with green flames.
Seeing as Hermione wasn't going to bring her feet up anytime soon, as she was too busy laughing like she had a little too much to drink, Severus rolled his eyes and had to reach down and pull her legs up.
"Hermione, you have to be quiet-"
"Hermione?" Dumbledore's head called, making Hermione snigger even more.
"Hermione," Severus whispered, "you have to be quiet."
Hermione nodded and held her breath.
"Hermione?" Dumbledore called again, looking around their quarters for any source of life. "I have the information you were looking for, the ones about those islands; I also have the information about that potion-" He said, making Severus look at her strangely.
Hermione, Severus said, using legilimency. You need to breathe.
She shook her head, making Severus squeeze her side, causing Hermione to gasp for air. As soon as Hermione took a breath, Severus put his hand over her mouth; all while Dumbledore was talking to their cat, who had decided to coming out of hiding.
You have to be quiet; no more laughing. Alright? Severus thought.
Hermione was about to nod, when she got a better idea.
Don't you dare, Severus thought, making Hermione smile underneath his hand.
"Well," Dumbledore said, "I guess you both already went down for breakfast. Strange though…I never would have thought that two people, especially you two, would leave home with table turned over. That is, unless you both left in a hurry so you wouldn't be late for another Hogsmeade visit; Minerva won't be pleased if you are, you know."
While Dumbledore was talking, Hermione stuck her tongue out and licked the palm of Severus's hand, making him withdraw it immediately and Hermione laughed.
Severus looked at Hermione, who had her eyes closed tightly, face screwed up in laughter, and who was also biting down on her tongue.
You leave me no choice, Hermione, Severus thought to her.
Hermione opened her eyes just in time for her to see Severus kiss her. The giggles immediately disappeared as she wrapped her arms around his neck and his free hand went to her waist.
After Dumbledore had said that he was going up to the Great Hall and the floo connection had ended, neither one had made any movement to get up, until Hermione noticed that Severus was bleeding.
"Severus," she said, holding him up with both of her arms so she could see his chest, "you're bleeding."
"I'll fix it when I get up."
Fix it? Oh no, you're not going to fix it; there's a lesson in store here, Hermione thought to herself, hoping that Severus still wasn't listening in.
"Have you looked at your shirt?" He asked.
Hermione looked down and noticed that she had his blood on her pajamas.
"You got blood on me!"
"I can fix that," he said suggestively. "Besides, it was your cat that did it anyways."
That's it! He's going to learn a lesson about whose cat it really is.
"They're my silk pajamas, Severus; in case you haven't noticed and guess what, I haven't found a spell to completely fix them yet! And I'm serious Severus; we're going to be really late, we can continue this later…"
"Oh contraire, I don't have to go; you signed yourself up," he said, making Hermione's anger boil.
Ooo, I swear, if we were still on the couch right now, he'd be on the floor, Hermione thought, hoping that he was listening.
"Severus, get up," she said.
"What?"
"I have to get ready," she said, pushing him over onto the flipped over table, but not before grabbing his want from his pants.
When Severus felt Hermione's fingers at his elastic waistband, he froze.
"What are you doing?" He asked, looking down at her hand, "I thought you didn't want to be la-." He stopped when he saw his wand in her hand.
"You see this, Severus? It's your wand, which you won't be getting back for a long time."
"How am I going to heal what your cat did to me?" He said, making Hermione's face turn red.
"My cat? Matches is yours too, Severus! How can you say that he's mine; he's attached to you like glue! This is why you're not going to get your wand back," she said, getting up.
"But-"
"And you're going to Hogsmeade with me today to shop. Yes Severus, I said shop; so don't look at me like that," she said, retreating to her room and slamming the door.
The only thing running through Severus's mind was Harry's words about Hermione holiday shopping and how long he was going to spend trying to fix what just happened. So, with a groan, he got up and retreated to his bedroom door.
Half and hour later, Hermione walked out of her bedroom, only to find that Severus was nowhere to be found. Stopping outside his bedroom door, Hermione listened for any source of life and she found it, when she heard him emit a slew of curses. Figuring out that he was most likely still trying to heal his cuts, she decided to see if she needed any help.
Cautiously opening his door, she walked into his rooms and then over towards his bathroom. Peaking around the corner, she found him trying to bandage up his wounds, while wearing a shirt. Hermione silently laughed as he swatted away the shirt, trying to clean out the large scratch. What made her smile even more was that Matches was sitting on the floor, looking up at him in curiosity and waging his tail.
Deciding to make herself known, she walked over to where Severus would see her through his mirror and put on an angry face with crossed arms. As soon as Severus saw her in his mirror, he whirled around.
"Do you need any help?" She asked.
"Are you going to give me my wand back?"
"No," she said and Severus turned his back to her again.
She watched as he tried to clean out the large scratch, but wasn't getting very far, while using the mirror. Deciding to help Severus out, she spun him around and grabbed the cloth from his hand.
"I don't need any hel-" he stopped when Hermione ripped the bandages that he already put on, right off of his chest.
"Oh please; you hardly have any hair on your chest," Hermione pointed out.
"That doesn't mean that it still doesn't hurt!"
Hermione glared at him through narrowed eyes, while turning on the hot water and rinsing off of the cloth. She then stuck it under hot water and without wringing it out, put it on his chest, making him jump.
"Merlin, Hermione! Why don't you just stick me in the shower with the hot water on?"
Pressing the cloth harder against his chest, she reached over and pushed open the curtain to the shower, with her free hand.
"I wasn't being serious!" He said through clenched teeth.
Hermione turned away and again using her free hand opened up Severus's medicine cabinet and started rummaging around. When she didn't find what she was looking for, she took out her wand and transfigured a bar of soap into a bottle of clear liquid.
She took the cloth off of Severus's chest, cleaned it, and then soaked it with the liquid. When she pressed it lightly against the scratch mark on his chest, Severus jumped about three feet in the air. Deciding against commenting or questioning her, Severus just decided to watch Hermione work and keep his mouth closed. After five minutes of silence, Hermione finally spoke.
"Why did you put a shirt on, when you're trying to clean your cuts?"
Sighing, Severus replied, "Because when I was done, all I had to do was button it up and throw on my robes, and it hopefully would have saved some time."
Well, good thing he did have something on or he'd get his wish; we wouldn't be going at all, Hermione thought.
Fifteen minutes later, Severus and Hermione made their way up to the Entrance Hall, Hermione leading the way. When they entered the Hall, no one was anywhere to be found.
"Good," Severus said, "maybe we don't have to go after all. All that rushing was for nothing."
"Severus Snape!" McGonagall exclaimed, while Hermione glared daggers at him. "You're late again!"
"But I didn't-" He started, while Hermione's glare grew in intensity.
"Just because you two stay up late with each other, doesn't mean that you have to be late for already-scheduled things!" McGonagall said, making Hermione's face turn pink.
"You two have been late for every single Hogsmeade visit so far, doing – well, I don't want to know what you two were doing."
Hermione was just about to say something, but Severus had already started up again.
"It's none of your business what we do, Minerva," he hissed.
"Good, because I really don't want to know what you do behind closed doors-"
Before Hermione was going to tell McGonagall off, she stormed out of the Entrance Hall, making sure that the giant oak doors slammed on her way out. Severus stood rooted to his spot; staring at the last place he had seen her.
"Trouble in paradise?" McGonagall asked, making Severus glare at her. "You better go and fix it, Severus; she doesn't look to happy."
"I wonder why, Minerva," he said sarcastically. "Se was all worried about being here on time and then when we get here, you make everything worse."
"Well, I wouldn't have, you two didn't-"
"Didn't what, Minerva? Stay up late? We didn't stay up late; we haven't done anything at all!"
The old witch looked like she was going to say something, but Severus didn't care.
"Hermione still has her own room! Do you want to see why we're late?" He asked, while Minerva just stared back at him.
"This is why we're late," he said, somehow managing to expose the top of several bandages.
"Oh my God, Severus; what happened?" She asked.
"It's none of your business what we do behind closed doors, remember?" He asked, storming out of the Hall after Hermione, also letting the door slam on his way out.
"Never a more perfect match," McGonagall said, turning around, only to find several students, including Janie and her two friends, watching the door in awe from the staircase.
---
After Severus had caught up with Hermione, it had taken two shops for him to get her to talk. She finally decided to listen when they were outside the ice cream shop, because Severus had asked her if she wanted any chocolate ice cream.
Sitting down inside the shop, he told Hermione about the conversation he had with McGonagall while she ate her ice cream and surprisingly, she started talking to him again. Hermione, of course, had brought up Severus's wand and how and why he wasn't going to get it back anytime soon.
After Hermione had finished her ice cream, she dragged Severus into almost every shop in the town. The only time she stopped, was when the shops were overflowing with students, to the point where Hermione couldn't even get through the door to some of them. Instead of going into one of the pubs or restaurants, as Hermione had suggested, Severus lead her back to the clearing that they had once visited before with Janie.
While they were there, it started to softly snow, making the scenery look even more beautiful. When it was time to go back into Hogsmeade, Hermione reluctantly agreed. On the way back into Hogsmeade, Hermione told Severus all about her love for snow; especially when it was falling.
"I love snow," Hermione announced.
"You do?" Severus asked, raising an eyebrow as they slowly walked back to Hogsmeade.
"Everything just seems so peaceful, not to mention romantic; especially when it's falling down softly. It seems as id the world just stops and all of its problems don't exist anymore…" Hermione said, stopping to look up at the tops of the trees, which were starting to slowly collect the falling snow.
Severus watched as the snow got caught in Hermione's hair and then noticed her rosy cheeks and he realized how beautiful she looked like that. All different thoughts started to pop up in his head again, like they have been all week and he didn't notice that Hermione had walked away.
"Severus," Hermione said. "You can stop looking at me like that now…Severus!" She exclaimed, making him jump.
"What?"
"You were still staring at me when I wasn't there," she said, referring to the split second that she had walked away.
"I was just thinking," he said absentmindedly.
"About what?"
"What?" He asked.
"What were you thinking about?"
"Why?"
"I was just curious," she said innocently, hoping that he would answer her.
Severus looked up at the sky and then down towards the path; sticking his hands inside his pockets, he said, "You."
"Me?"
I knew I shouldn't have told her, Severus thought to himself.
"About what you said about the snow…" He added.
He's lying, Hermione thought; he's definitely leaving something out.
"You're lying – there's more," she said, looking up at him.
He looked at her strangely.
"You're avoiding making eye contact with me," she stated.
He looked at her and then looked ahead of where he was walking and smirked.
"Do you really want to know?" He asked her.
"Does Dumbledore need help? Yes I want to know!"
"Well, I was just thinking about what you left me hanging at, after you pushed me onto the table."
"About that-"
"And then, I was wondering, if that person would like to continue what we were doing later…"
"Really? That's what you were thinking about?" She asked hopefully.
"No," he said.
"Severus!" She exclaimed, pushing him, which surprisingly made him smile. "You got my hopes up…for nothing!" She said, as Severus regained his ability to walk straight again. "So, now, I'm going to go and get that hope restored," she said, grabbing onto his hand, "because we're going into Honeydukes."
---
Hours later, when all the students were eating dinner, Severus and Hermione returned, full of snow. By the time Hermione had pulled out her wand to get rid of the snow, it had already melted. She would have dried them both off with a quick spell, but the sight that met their eyes, made Hermione almost drop her wand. Putting her wand safely back inside her pocket, she looked at the spectacular sight before them.
"Merlin; he decorated while we were gone," Severus said, gawking at the Entrance Hall, which was brightly decorated with lights, snowflakes, other holiday things, and a large Christmas tree in every corner.
"It's better than when I was here at Hogwarts," Hermione said, staring in awe at the decorations. "He even put up more mistletoe," she pointed out, making Severus glance above his head.
"Do you want to go into the Great Hall, for something to eat?" Severus asked, trying to change the subject.
"You can if you want to; I'm fine right now," she said, continuing to look at the Hall.
"No, I was just seeing if you wanted anything, before we went back to our quarters," he said.
"No, I'm fine; thanks though," Hermione said, as Severus turned and started to walk through the Hall.
Hermione went to follow him, but stopped when she saw mistletoe hanging at the entrance to the dungeons. Getting an idea, she took out her wand and moved it towards the inside of the corridor, right before the wall and then whispered a spell. Seeing another one nearby, she levitated it to the center of the same corridor, right near the one she had previously levitated. By the time Hermione had caught up with Severus, he was already in the corridor.
"Severus," Hermione said, moving over towards his right side. "You better watch where you're going," she said, pointing at the ceiling, a few feet in front of him.
When he looked up at the mistletoe, his eyes grew slightly larger and then he moved towards the left, about to walk under one that he hadn't seen.
Perfect, Hermione thought.
Hermione smirked to herself at what was about to happen to Severus, thanks to the wonderful charm she had used. Hermione kept on walking, even after she had heard that Severus's footsteps had stopped and then a groan. Hermione spun around to find Severus with his arms crossed, glaring at her.
"Severus, what happened?" She asked, sounding confused.
"What does it look like?" He asked, gesturing to the object above his head and then crossed his arms again.
"Sorry Severus, but it looks like you're stuck," Hermione said, turning around and biting the bottom of her lip, to keep herself from laughing at the look of annoyance on his face.
"Albus has never put any of these wretched things here before and no student has ever had the brains to charm it so only one person would get caught under-"
Hermione wiped the smirk off of her face and then turned around to find him glaring at her again.
"Hermione," he said through gritted teeth.
"What; I didn't do anything," she said.
"You…you did this," he said. "Can you please get me unstuck now, seeing as I don't have my wand."
"Sure, I can get you unstuck, but there's only one way to do it," she said, slowly moving towards him.
Before Severus could say anything else, Hermione pushed him against the wall, his arms flying to his sides and kissed him. When she pulled herself away, she saw a mysterious glint flash across his eyes and before she knew what was going on, he grabbed her arms and kissed her back.
After they had pulled away, they just stared at each other, a longing in both their eyes. But before either one of them could speak, they were granted with an unwanted presence.
"What do you two think you're doing?" McGonagall asked, waving a roll of parchment in the air. "I thought you two already had the discussion about what is appropriate in the corridors."
"But it wasn't our fault," Hermione, pointing above their head, "we got stuck."
"Stuck? Oh please; I saw you two from down the corridor – you sure didn't look stuck to me. Now, let's see, that'll be detention for the both of you – seven o'clock on Monday night; come to my office," she said and walked away. "And don't be late," she called from over her shoulder.
"Detention? Professors can't get detention!" Hermione exclaimed, with an angry look on her face.
"Apparently, they can," Severus said.
---
When they returned to their quarters, they found Janie sitting on their couch. When they came in, she looked up.
"Hi Mum. Hi Dad," she said.
"Janie, what are you doing here; how did you get in?" Hermione asked.
"Nice to see you too, Mum. McGonagall had me floo into your quarters, because she wants to speak to you about something," Janie told her.
"Do you know what?" Hermione asked.
"No; she wouldn't tell me," Janie replied. "But she did say that she wanted you to floo to her office and that Dad can't come. I believe her exact words were, 'And tell them that is your father shows up at my door with her, Dumbledore will find out exactly what happened in the corridor,' whatever that means."
Severus looked amused, "She even got McGonagall's hand movements down."
"Severus!"
"You have to admit, Hermione, she does do a good impersonation of Minerva."
Hermione rolled her eyes as she walked over to the fireplace and grabbed a handful of floo powder. Pulling out her wand, she ignited a fire and then threw the handful of floo powder into the now-roaring flames. Before Hermione stepped into the fire, she shot Severus an apologetic look.
"Oh Janie, before I leave, is there anything else you needed to talk about?"
"No, not really; just remember that my birthday's in a week," Janie said, using a sing-song voice for the last part.
Hermione smiled and shook her head, before disappearing in an explosion of green flames.
---
Hermione had returned a few hours later, only to find out that Janie was still there and that she had talked her father's ear off, the whole time. Deciding now to break-up their discussion, Hermione went to her office to finish grading papers. When she returned an hour later, Janie was still there.
After several unsuccessful attempts at getting Janie to go back to her dormitory for the night, she only ended up spending the night.
Almost all day Sunday was spent with the two trying to finish grading their papers and for the very first time, Hermione had more to grade than Severus did (this was partially because Severus had lost a bet from Janie and he couldn't give any of the first years homework for three days). Hermione had tried giving him papers to correct, but after he had made a few rude comments on some of the papers, she told him that she didn't need his help and for him to go and plan his lessons.
Monday was almost as uneventful as the previous day, except for Hermione worrying what McGonagall was going to make them do for the detention. The Head of Gryffindor had needed Hermione Saturday night, to help her with her Transfiguration supplied. While doing that, the old lady decided to bring up certain things with Hermione, about her activities in the corridor that she never wanted to hear again (and she certainly wasn't going to tell Severus any of it).
When the classes were over, she was shocked to find Severus already sitting in their quarters; usually, he was still in his office. It had turned out that Dumbledore had kicked him out of his last two classes – double potions with the first years. Upon listening in for five minutes to one of the classes, he had found out that Dumbledore had them brewing one of the messiest potions to date. And when he had found Janie in the hallway, she told him of what a mess the cauldrons made and how Dumbledore told them not to clean up and to leave their areas alone. Before either one of them knew it, Severus and Hermione were waiting outside of the Head of Gryffindor's office.
"Ah good, you're here...and on time too!" The old witch said, stepping out of her office, shutting the door and then warding it.
Hermione gave Severus a confused look as they started to follow McGonagall, straight back down to the dungeons.
"What are we doing down here, Minerva? You could have met us down here!" Severus said.
"Then it wouldn't really be a detention then, would it?" McGonagall said, causing two glares to be forwarded in her direction.
"Oh good, you're both here; thank you, Minerva," a voice said from behind them.
Hermione spun around, but Severus didn't even have to think to know who the voice belonged to.
"Dumbledore," he growled, turning around.
"Nice to see you too, Severus; Minerva tells me that you both have earned yourself a detention. I was hoping that she was only pulling my leg, but here you both are," Dumbledore said, with the smallest trace of a twinkle in his eye.
"Now Minerva, I believe that is all; you may go back to whatever you were doing."
McGonagall looked scandalized. She looked from Severus to Hermione and then towards Dumbledore.
Severus looked at McGonagall, who still stood rooted to her spot and then glanced at Hermione, ever-so-slightly out of the corner of his eye.
"I remember what I said, Severus. Besides, since you two can't seem to keep your hands off of each other-"
"Then you're going to hate having to be in the same room working together, without being able to speak or help each other," McGonagall interrupted.
Dumbledore shot his fellow colleague an unpleasant look, "Thank you, Minerva," he said, ushering the two inside and closing the door, leaving McGonagall on the outside.
When Severus saw the condition his classroom was in, his jaw just about hit the floor.
"My…my…Dumbledore, what in the name of Merlin did you do to my classroom?"
:For your detention tonight, you both will scrub the classroom down, along with all the cauldrons, all while using no magic," Dumbledore said, gesturing to the filthy classroom. "Oh and you two cannot help each other, or anything of the sort," he added in.
Severus and Hermione looked around at the sticky classroom in shock. All the cauldrons were still on the student's tables, where they overflowed was still visible, and the tables and floor were covered in a sticky mass of purple and green slime.
"What are you two waiting for – let's get cleaning!" Dumbledore said, sitting down at Severus's desk, which made him scowl.
"And Severus, it might be a little hard to properly clean everything, while wearing those robes," the old wizard added, making Severus's scowl grow in intensity.
---
An hour and a half later, they were still in detention, but had moved onto cleaning the many cauldrons. They had tried cleaning them at tables that were next to each other, but Dumbledore had sent them to the back of the room – one on each side.
This is so boring, Hermione thought, stealing a glance at Severus, who looked equally as bored.
Smirking to herself, she pulled out her wand and whispered a spell, pointing the tip of her wand at the back of Severus's neck. A thin blue stream shot from her wand and hit him in the back of his neck, making him jump up and turn around. Seeing Hermione's reaction, he reached into his pocket and pulled out his wand, twirling it with his fingers, which made Hermione's draw drop.
"Severus, put that wand away," Dumbledore said, not looking up from the papers that he was reading.
"How did you get that?" Hermione mouthed over to him.
"You know, you look awfully cute when you're sleeping, Severus thought, with the help of legilimency.
Hermione gaped at him, "You went into my room…while I was sleeping?"
"And you're saying it's a bad thing..." he thought, making Hermione send him a narrowed-eyed glare in his direction. Well, what did you want me to do – you wouldn't give me my wand back."
"If you woke me up and scared me, you would have been at the receiving end of a hex-"
"Hex? You would have jumped me if I woke you up," Severus said.
"No I wouldn't have," Hermione defended.
"Oh please, I would have probably ended up on the floor or the bed," Severus told her.
"Not if I was too tired to see…"
"No talking, you two," Dumbledore said, still not glancing up from his paper, "even as interesting as the ending part may have been getting."
Hermione looked annoyed and then turned around, while Severus shot out a blue jet of water that wrapped itself around Hermione's legs. In one quick movement, it tugged at her legs, giving someone the illusion tat she slipped in water. Hearing a small "splash," and then a louder "thud," Dumbledore looked up.
"Are we alright, Ms. Granger?" He asked.
"Yes; I just slipped," she said, getting up, sending a glare at Severus's back, once he had resumed back to reading.
Hermione waited five minutes to fire another spell off at him. As soon as the words left her mouth, his legs went rigid. Turning his upper body around, he sent her a menacing glare. Hermione smiled at him and then turned back around.
Severus whispered the counter spell to unlock his legs and then took his wand back out, only to quickly put it away again.
"Put it away, Severus or I'll take it away," Dumbledore said, like he was talking to one of his students.
Grumbling, Severus turned back around and spotted a bucket to his left. Acting like he was going to use it, he filled it up with soap and water. Taking the bucket with him, he walked a little farther than the middle of the room and got the bucket ready.
"Hermione," he called, making her spin around.
As soon as Hermione started to turn, he threw the bucket of water at her, which hit her in the face as soon as she turned around. She couldn't think at the moment, so she just let the water drip down her face with her mouth wide open.
By the time Dumbledore heard the water hit the floor, Snape was already back to his original spot, scrubbing a cauldron.
"Ms. Granger," Dumbledore said. "What is the problem?"
Hermione shook her head and then wiped her eyes.
"Something has to be wrong, you're soaking wet and dripping on your nice clean floors, I might add," Dumbledore added.
While Dumbledore was talking, Hermione spotted another bucket and also filled it up with soap and water.
"Ms. Granger, what are you doing?"
"The problem is Professor," Hermione said, walking over to Severus with the bucket, "that someone needs to take a shower."
Severus turned around at that point and got a bucket full of soapy water in his face. He seemed to know that something along the lines was coming his way, because right before the water hit him, he closed his eyes and mouth tightly and held his breath.
"See, now I'm not the only one wet anymore," she said, shoving the bucket against Severus's chest with a smile.
Dumbledore just watched in amusement as Severus blindly grabbed onto the bucket. Once he had set the bucket down and cleared the water away from his eyes, he looked around and spotted a yellow sponge, filled with a gooey purple substance. Getting an idea, he picked up the sponge and threw it at Hermione's back, making her freeze. Her hand slowly went to her back and felt the thick substance that was now stuck to the back of her shirt.
"Tell me that you did not just throw a dirty sponge at my back," she said slowly.
"It would be lying if I did," he replied.
Dumbledore again watched in amusement as things flew across the room, until somehow, something foul smelling, hit him in the face. Cleaning the mess off of his face, Dumbledore decided to let them in on some bad news.
"I believe now, that you two are doing more harm than good to the task at hand," he said, motioning towards the once-again messy classroom.
The two stopped and looked at the large mess that they had made around them.
"Too bad too; you were just about done. It's a shame that you're going to have to do it all over again," Dumbledore said with a twinkle. "Oh and would you both do me a favor?"
The two looked at him like he was crazy.
"Please bring your wands up here; you can have them when you're done," he said and the two grudgingly made their way up to the front of the classroom, not knowing that it wouldn't be until well passed ten o'clock that they would finally be able to return to their quarters.
---
After breakfast on Saturday morning, Hermione was patiently waiting for Janie to arrive and when it was time for lunch and Janie still hadn't shown up, Hermione was beginning to worry.
"She's fine, Hermione," Severus said. "I don't know why you're worrying so much."
"It's her birthday, Severus," Hermione said.
"Yes, I know; but-"
"Janie us usually down early for her birthday and the first words out of her mouth are usually, 'what did you get me'. She didn't even warn me like usual!"
"You're not around her everyday, like usual," Severus pointed out.
"Yes, but-" Hermione was interrupted by an owl dropping two letters on her plate. "It's a bit late for mail, isn't it?" She asked Severus, who shrugged.
Hermione looked at the first letter and when she went to look at the second letter, she quickly put the first one back over the green envelope.
"What's that?" Severus asked, pointing at the envelope that she was trying to hide.
"Oh, nothing, just one of my old friends; nothing really," she said, stuffing the green envelope inside of her pocket.
"Then why are you acting so weird?" Severus asked her.
"I haven't heard from her in awhile," Hermione lied quickly, opening the other envelope. "Oh no," she said, "I forgot."
"About what?" Severus asked
"My parents," Hermione said, opening the letter up. "I haven't talked to them…since only God knows when," she said, reading the letter.
Dear Hermione,
Hi dear, how is everything at the school you're teaching at? You must be very busy, seeing as we haven't heard from you in awhile; we understand that you've been probably have been really busy with everything; you're a Professor now, after all. After we sent Janie's gift off, your father asked me if you were coming this year on Christmas Eve and I had forgotten to ask you. It would be just wonderful if you and Janie could come on Christmas Eve; we really miss you and look forward to seeing you both. If you find out that you can't make it, please send a letter letting us know.
Love,
Mum and Dad
"Is there anything wrong?" Severus asked, once she was done reading the letter.
"No," Hermione said. "Hey Severus, what are we doing for the holidays?"
Severus was a bit put-off at how immediate she asked the question, because she usually danced around the questions and asked them indirectly.
"Well," he said. "I was sort of hoping that you and Janie would come and stay with me during the winter holidays," he asked uneasily.
Hermione's eyes lit up at this, "Really?"
He nodded.
"I'd love to!" She exclaimed. "Are you really sure?"
"Yes," he said, trying hard to hide his smile.
"There's one…problem; well, actually two," she said, praying that he wouldn't mind.
"What are they?" He asked slowly.
"Well, I usually go to my parents on Christmas Eve," she said.
"And the other?"
"This one, you're probably not going to like…but for Christmas, I usually go for Christmas dinner at the Burrow."
Severus seemed to consider this for a few moments and decided that doing this for Hermione was a small price to pay for everything good that has recently happened to him.
"Fine," he said.
Hermione would have hugged him, but they were in the Great Hall, eating lunch and she didn't want to draw attention, so she settled with a sincere 'thank you'.
"Thanks so much, Severus," she said.
"No, thank you," he said, making Hermione look at him curiously. "See the house I live in now, it's pretty big and it would be really lonely if I stayed there by myself over the holidays, which is usually why I stay at the school."
"How big is this 'house' that you're talking about?" Hermione asked.
"Before my grandmother died, she gave me her family's manor," he replied.
---
They weren't even back in their quarters for five minutes, when someone was knocking at their door. When Severus opened the door, he was met with the sight of a smiling Janie. But before anybody could say, "Happy birthday," she quickly walked into the room and apologized.
"Sorry I'm so late, but Lyss and Matt gave me their presents, then we went outside, and Hagrid was out and then he gave me a present too."
"Hagrid gave you a present?" Hermione asked.
"Yeah, I visit him every week; by the way, he's been looking for you, Mum. So anyways, what'd you get me?" Janie asked.
"Janie-" her father started.
"Sorry Dad, I have to say it every year; it really gets on her nerves," she said, whispering the last part to her father, while pointing at her mother.
"Before you ask me what I want to do Mum, I'll tell you. Being at Hogwarts, you don't get to certain foods and I have this awful taste for spaghetti…"
"Do you want to go out for it?" Hermione asked.
"No…"
"Do you want it from the kitchens?" Her father asked.
"No…"
"Then where?" Hermione asked.
"I want your spaghetti, Mum," Janie said. "The spaghetti you used to make…with garlic bread."
"I can't make that here," she said.
"You can conjure up the ingredients," Severus said.
"Nope; it won't taste the same," Janie said. "Can't we go back home and you make it there?"
"But Harry and Ron cleaned my kitchen out before I left for Hogwarts," Hermione said.
Figures, Severus thought to himself.
"So," Janie said, "you can go to the store."
"All my money is in Wizarding currency," Hermione said.
"I have money hidden and I also happen to know that you have money hidden," Janie said.
"How do you know about that?" Hermione asked.
"I stumbled upon it," Janie said casually.
"But there were charms protecting it," Hermione said.
"Now when I found it."
"Wait, why were you looking around in places that you shouldn't have been?" Hermione asked.
"I was looking for something," Janie said. "Besides, I'm a kid – we're supposed to secretly go through out parent's things every once in a while," she added, purposefully leaving out the reason as to why she was snooping around in her mother's things in the first place.
Oh, that's nice to know, Severus thought.
Sighing, Hermione answered Janie's previous question.
"I suppose that we can leave Hogwarts for a few hours," Hermione said, looking at Severus, who had watched the two's conversation with interest.
"Don't even bother asking Dumbledore; he'll just try to find a way to intervene," Severus said.
"Yes!" Janie exclaimed, hugging both of her parents. "Now, I think that we should do gifts, so that we don't have to lug them with us," she added, smiling.
"Are you sure, because we can just wait until we get back," Hermione said.
"No!" Janie shouted, making her parents stare at her in shock. "I mean, why wait?" She asked, putting her arms behind her back and smiling.
"Alright," Hermione said and left to get Janie her presents.
Twenty minutes later, Janie had finished opening her presents and had the audacity to ask if there were more. Even though she was joking, it had annoyed Severus and Hermione to no end, because she did not have twenty minutes of gifts to unwrap. Her explanation for this was 'I had to try it out. For my birthday, Uncles Fred and George sent me a book (among other things, she added quietly), on how to annoy your parents – and it was written by themselves!'
As Janie flipped through one of the several books she got, Severus disappeared from the room. When he came back, holding another package, he found Janie adding her new charm to her charm bracelet (Severus had had a long talk with Hermione about the 'present' that he had 'sent' her every year).
"Janie, I think you've missed a present," he said, showing her the large box, which was wrapped in green and silver paper.
When Hermione saw the box, she rolled her eyes, Typical Severus.
Janie got up and was standing next to her father in a breaking-neck speed. Hermione watched as Janie tore open the neatly wrapped package and then both of their jaws just about hit the floor.
"Oh…my…gods," was all that Janie could get out.
"Severus…" Hermione said in an angered and shocked voice.
"Dad…this is the Phoenix Feather 3000! It doesn't come out until next year!" She said, staring in awe at her new broomstick. "How did you get one of these!?"
"An old student owed me a few favors and he just so happened to be in the racing business," he said. "So, do you like it?"
"Like it? Like it? I LOVE IT!" She said, jumping up to give her father a hug.
"I can't believe you got her a broomstick," Hermione said.
"I can't believe he was able to get me this broomstick!" Janie exclaimed. "It's supposed to be the best broomstick ever made! Boy, Uncle Harry and Uncle Ron are going to totally flip their lids when they find out what my Dad for me for my birthday," Janie said, he voice full of glee.
Hermione walked up to Severus, "I can't believe you got her a broomstick, after what just happened."
"Hermione, I wouldn't buy her something that she couldn't handle. Besides, that was well over a month ago and she's running around like she was before the accident even happened," Severus said.
"But I don't want it to happen again."
"She's going to keep playing Quidditch, whether we like it or not and the broom I bought her is also supposed to be the safest in the world," Severus said. "It's charmed not to break."
Hermione didn't hear the last part, because she was too caught up on his words after 'Quidditch'.
"Wait – 'whether we like it or not'?" Hermione asked.
"I never said that I felt completely comfortable with our daughter playing Quidditch; watching some of the accidents here would make even Potter afraid to mount a broomstick," he said.
"But you still got her the broom," she stated.
"Yes-"
"Dad, this must have cost you a fortune! Look at the detail on the handle!" Janie exclaimed, examining her new broomstick. "And, you got it months before it was supposed to come out, too!" She added, making Hermione send him a look that didn't seem what she was going to say to him was going to be very pleasant.
---
During dinner, Janie told her parents everything that she had gotten for her birthday, leaving out hardly any details. After dinner, while her parents put away the dishes, Janie went up to her room. When she came back down, she found her mother putting candles on a cake.
"Don't forget to make a wish," Hermione reminded Janie, right before she was about to blow out her candles.
Janie looked at her parents and then smiled.
Perfect, she thought as she blew out the candles on her cake.
After Hermione had cut the cake and passed it out, she decided to ask a question.
"So Janie, what did you wish for?" She asked casually, while sitting down.
"Mum, if I told you that, then it wouldn't come true," Janie said. "But, I do have a question…or rather like, another wish."
"Alright," Hermione said.
"Well, spending a lot of time around Lyss and Matt is fun and everything, but they fight…a lot and sometimes, I feel sort of left out. While they bicker back and forth, it makes me almost wish that I had someone to bicker with too."
Oh no, here it comes…Hermione thought.
"So, do you know the question that I've been dying to ask?" Janie said.
"What?" Hermione asked and then took a drink from her pumpkin juice.
"Where's my baby brother!?" Janie exclaimed.
As soon as the words left Janie's mouth, Hermione spit all of the pumpkin juice in her mouth, out onto the table and Severus started gagging on the piece of cake he had just swallowed.
"What?" Hermione asked incredulously.
"Where…is my…little brother?" She asked again.
Both her parents stared at her like they were dumbfounded.
"C'mon, it's not that hard; all you have to do is-"
"JANIE!" Severus and Hermione both gasped together.
"It's not that simple," Severus said.
"Sure it is," Janie replied.
Severus looked at Hermione, sending her a look that clearly stated that he was not getting involved and that it was her job.
"You're not getting out of this one," Hermione mouthed over to Severus, "she's you daughter too."
"Exactly; she's my daughter and I'm not having that conversation with her…that's your job," he mouthed back.
As soon as Janie saw the looks on her parent's faces, she high-tailed it out of the room.
"I think that I'm going to call one of my long-lost friends and have a long talk, that includes lots of catching-up," Janie said as she practically ran from the room.
"Well, that was easy," Severus said.
"Easy? Nobody even talked to her," Hermione said.
"Just let her be; it's her birthday," Severus said.
"Yes, but she's going to have to know eventually," she pointed out.
"Know what eventually? She's probably already read it in a book," he said.
"Not that," Hermione said.
"What then?" He asked.
"Our current situation."
"'Current situation'? What 'situation'?" He asked, suddenly getting an idea.
"This situation?" He asked, motioning between them, "or this one?" He asked, closing in on the distance between them, all while forcing Hermione into a corner.
"And this situation may definitely need an explanation," he said, wrapping his arms around her waist.
"Start explaining then," Hermione said. "I need some help…Professor."
"Indeed," he said, a small smirk appearing on his face, but disappearing as soon as he kissed her.
As Hermione kissed him back, she moved them away, so that she wasn't in the corner anymore. As things started to heat up, he started to move them down the hallway, ending up at a closed door, which Hermione kicked open.
They continued their way into Hermione's room, until they reached Hermione's bed and she stopped.
"Is this the situation you were talking about?" Hermione asked breathlessly.
"No, but it could work," he said, pushing Hermione backwards and shut the door.
Right as he leaned over her, they heard a noise from upstairs, which Severus ignored.
"Janie," Hermione stated.
"What?" He asked.
"Janie's coming, Severus," she said.
"So?"
"What are you going to do if she sees us like this?" Hermione asked.
"Knowing her, she'll be happy; she might even get her baby brother-"
"SEVERUS!" Hermione exclaimed. "You really need to get off me," Hermione informed him.
"But-"
"Please?" Hermione asked him, getting help from her big brown eyes.
"Mum…Dad!" Janie called.
"Dammit Janie," Severus hissed, slowly getting off of the bed, which wasn't quick enough for Hermione, because she tried jumping off of it, but kneed Severus instead.
When Hermione turned around, she found him on the floor and realized what she did.
"Oh my gods, Severus; I'm so sorry!" She said, bending over, trying to help him up, when Janie came to the door.
"Mum…Dad!" She called again.
"You can come in," he mother said.
When Janie came in the room, she froze, "Oww!" She observed, "Dad got kicked where the 'sun-don't-shine'!" Janie then turned to her mother, who was trying to help Severus up, "What did you do, Mum? I might never get a baby brother now!"
Hermione searched for what to say, but couldn't find any words. So, instead of saying anything intelligible, all that came out were a bunch of butchered words.
"Wow, the great Hermione Granger reduced to almost speechlessness," Severus said sarcastically, through half-gritted teeth.
"I'm really sorry Severus; I really didn't mean to do that," she said, once he was on his feet again.
"You know, I'm starting to think that it's harm-the-Potions-Master-month," he said.
It took Hermione several seconds for her to realize what he meant. After the cat, the detention, and what she just did to him, she started to feel slightly guilty.
"At least the holidays are less than two weeks away; I think everybody needs a break," Hermione said.
"What I need right now, is a drink," Severus said, looking at Hermione.
"Why would you think that I'd have liquor?" Hermione asked him, making Severus narrow his eyes at her.
"On the top shelf, above all the potion ingredients, in my lab," she said with a sigh.
While Severus left to go and retrieve what he wanted, Janie turned to her mother, "Mum, what are we doing for the holidays?"
"Oh," Hermione said. "We're going to you father's."
"He doesn't stay at the school?" Janie asked.
"Not all the time," Hermione said. "He told me that his grandmother gave him some sort of estate a short while ago."
"His grandmother?"
What about my grandmother? Janie thought.
Hermione nodded.
"And Dad's rich? I never knew that!" Janie said, as Severus returned and mentally laughed at the look on Hermione's face.
"Dad, I didn't know that you're loaded," Janie said.
"He's not 'loaded,' Janie," Hermione said. "Tell her that you're not loaded, Severus," Hermione said to him, out of the corner of her mouth.
"It's just some money that one of my relatives left me," he said.
"Can I ask you a question?" Janie asked her father.
"Sure," he said.
"Was your relative a pureblood?" Janie asked, making both of her parents freeze at her question.
"Yes," Severus answered slowly.
"Yep; you're loaded," Janie said, skipping out of the room.
"I can't wait until the holidays," Severus muttered.
"I know the feeling," Hermione agreed.
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A/N: Again, I hope that nobody minds that I used the song on here. Thanks again to all of you who have read the story so far and reviewed; it's really appreciated! And thanks to the people who have helped me on this chapter, it's also really appreciated - I couldn't have finished it without you!