A/N: Don't give up on me... I may be slow, but I will get us there. It's a promise. =)

Luna de Papel, you made my day!

Disclaimer: All characters belong to the brilliant J. K. Rowling.

Chapter Twenty-one - Cross Road

Severus was secretly ashamed of himself when he was startled by the familiar soft pop coming from the living-room. The tea kettle almost slipped off his hand. He grimaced and looked up at the clock on the wall - it was only half past seven.

"You're early," he drawled. There was a soft sigh coming from the other room, followed by the sound of one particular young witch dropping her handbag on the floor.

"Why do I sense a bit of disappointment in your tone?" Hermione appeared in the doorway, a half smile on her face. "Aren't you excited to see me?"

Severus turned his head slightly and returned the greeting with a twitching of the corners of his mouth, offering a reluctant smile. "I'm just about to make tea, and I haven't even cracked the eggs yet," he murmured.

"You know I don't come here every weekend for food," she huffed as she pulled out a chair and sank heavily into it. "In fact, I'm not even hungry. If it weren't because I wanted to finish cleaning up my office, I would have surprised you last night."

"Is that so?" He picked up the tea kettle again and set it on the stove. With one tap he filled the container, with another tap he heated the water to the perfect temperature. And then wordlessly, he proceeded to make tea.

"Look who's talkative this morning," she tilted her head and studied him. "Didn't sleep well last night?"

Severus drew in a deep breath. "Weasley stormed the neighborhood last night, accusing me of kidnapping you," he mumbled.

"Oh, Ron . . ." Hermione rolled her eyes. "I'm sorry. I should have let him know that I wasn't going last night. The ball was just not that appealing to me. You know . . . too many people . . ."

"Potter came with him, too," Severus cut her off. "And he shared with me some apparently recent decisions that you've taken concerning your career."

"Oh." Hermione's eyes widened. But it didn't take her long to recover from the surprise. She let out a sigh and smiled back at the wizard. "I didn't expect Kingsley to have such a big mouth. Oh well, it doesn't matter. That just saves me the effort to give you the entire background for the surprise that I'm about to present to you today."

Severus frowned. This was exactly what he was worried about. He kept his eyes fixed at the carton of tea and said, "I'm never fond of surprises."

"But you'll like this one!" Hermione got up from the seat and walked up to Severus, a big smile on her face. "I promise."

"I think not," the wizard scowled. "Want to bet?"

"Oh, come on!" The young witch gave the wizard's shoulder a light slap before threading her arms with his. "Just hear me out, okay? So now that we've established the fact that I quit my job, let's just say that I need to start a new endeavor. I need something that's challenging enough for my mind and profitable enough for my pocketbook. So here I stand before you, Severus Snape," Hermione stood up straight and put on a serious expression on her face. "Would you like to be my business partner in a mail-order potion business? I can get us the initial capital investment, and you've already got us a well-established lab. With your expertise in potions and my hardworking nature, I see no reason why we won't soon have a few popular mail-ordered products."

"Do you realize what are you saying?" Severus frowned. "I thought you said you didn't want to brew potions in a lab for the rest of your life."

"Circumstances change," Hermione pulled the wizard with her to the sofa in the drawing room. "I've decided on a new career. What do you say?"

"Don't you think this career changing decision came a bit hasty?" He ignored her question.

She only shrugged in reply.

"And what do you mean by capital investment?" Severus narrowed his eyes at the witch. "I hope this doesn't involve liquidating your assets."

"Ah, I see, doing due diligence on the offer already. One should never be careful enough with a business move. I like it," Hermione smiled sweetly. "Let me confess. Even if I did liquidate everything under my name, I wouldn't be able to come up with any respectable capital. So no, you don't need to worry about me selling my worldly possessions. I'm borrowing from my dad to start our new adventure."

"Running back to daddy as soon as you run into problems at work, I see," Severus mumbled.

"Hey, be nice!" Hermione frowned, biting her bottom lip hard as she tried to control her quickly rising temper. "I'm taking out a loan! I'll be paying interests, at market rate!"

"But I'm certain your father wouldn't have the same criteria as the goblins at Gringott's when it comes to lending requirements," Severus countered.

The witch's face turned bright red at the wizard's words. "Why do you have to be such a . . ." But she caught herself in mid-sentence and swallowed the rest of the words. She drew a deep breath and began again, "Of course he had specific requirements to lend me the money." She looked into his deep dark eyes and sighed, "And it's looking like a challenge by the minute," she mumbled the last few words under her breath.

"What are the requirements?" Severus arched a brow.

Hermione stared at the wizard intensely, considering her words. A moment later she answered, "My father is requesting that I have your commitment to the business as well. He would like you to be the co-signer of the loan. Since you'll also be a co-owner of the business, I hope you can see that this arrangement is only fair." She looked at him searchingly, uncertain about how he would react to the request.

Severus looked away from the young witch's eager gaze, knowing exactly what her father was trying to do. Jonathan Granger probably didn't know about the situation his daughter was dealing with at the Ministry. But the smart muggle must have a sense that his little girl was rushing into a big decision. This could be Jonathan Granger's way of fishing for Severus' opinion on Hermione's career change.

Severus hadn't had any communication with the older man since he went to Australia the previous year with Hermione to restore her parents' memory. He was, however, aware that Hermione had informed her parents of their relationship. Hermione had told her parents that she was in a serious relationship with Severus, but would like to keep their affairs private at this stage. "I'll let you know when he's ready to meet you," Severus once heard Hermione talking to her mother over the phone.

So that must be the reason for the specific requirement coming from her father. Severus recalled the older man's words when they were last sharing a conversation. "Promise me you will never hurt my little girl." And that was exactly the purpose of the loan, Severus realized. Since the wizard had yet to move forward with the relationship, the father of the young witch was pushing for a commitment, only through a different angle.

Severus pulled his arm away from Hermione's hands and slowly walked away. A long pause later he said, in a soft but firm voice, "No."

"What do you mean? No?" Hermione gasped. "You don't want to be the co-signer? Well maybe I didn't explain clearly . . . we can certainly negotiate the profit sharing arrangements. We haven't even gotten to that discussion yet."

"No." He shook his head. "I won't do it."

"You won't sign on the loan or you won't . . ." Hermione frowned, not willing to complete the sentence.

"I won't go into the business with you," Severus finished her sentence for her. But he wasn't done talking. "I can't believe the brightest witch of her age would give up her dream of making a difference in our world just because of some minor inconvenience she had encountered with the people at work. Where is your reasoning, Hermione? Potions lab is not where you belong. Work with Shacklebolt. Be patient with him. Cooperate with your co-workers. Politics take time. You need to be reasonable with your goals and . . ."

"Says who?" Hermione raised her voice and cut the wizard off. "Since when have you become a career counselor, Professor Snape?" She didn't know where the wave of the anger came from. All she knew was that she could no longer control the emotions that she had been holding back for the past few months. "They are not reasonable people, Severus. They are supposed to make things right! But then their opinions got clouded by their personal interests. Luna stopped talking to me because she started dating Rolf. She must have thought that my suggestion of making mandatory background investigation for all of the wizards and witches returned from abroad would bring inconvenience to her boyfriend. How would that affect Rolf? He should have nothing to hide! I'm only targeting the people who had ties with Warrington. Harry and Ron are too busy dealing with their auror assignments. They idolize Kingsley, and think that anything the man said must be right. And Kingsley. . ." she sighed, "Kingsley is a big disappointment. He's only thinking about the election in a few months. I know the only reason why he wouldn't stand up to the US government is because he wants to maintain a friendly relationship so that he can boast about his foreign policies. I can't work with people who are so self-centered. I don't see how patience would change anything!"

"That's because you're being childish!" Severus said sternly. "You failed to bring reasoning to your proposals and you, unfortunately, seem to be the most self-centered individual here. You are the one whose opinions are clouded by personal interests. You're only considering your own goals, but not how it'll affect the society in general. Do you realize how many innocent people like Rolf Scamander would be negatively affected if you implement your proposal to vet everyone who returned to the country since the end of the war? You'll scare away good people who try to return to help with the rebuilding of our world. And what's wrong with Shacklebolt trying to maintain a good relationship with a powerful foreign wizarding government? That's the whole point of being diplomatic!"

"What do you know about being diplomatic?!" Hermione's heart was beating so fast, she wasn't sure if she knew where she was going with the argument any more. "I didn't see you showing any sign of diplomacy when Minerva came to visit you a few weeks ago. She only suggested that you consider going back to teaching because she couldn't find anyone to replace Slughorn for the next school year. And do you remember what you said to her? Let me remind you. You gave her the cold shoulder and almost kicked her out the door as soon as she brought the topic up. And you said to her, I quote, 'those dunderheads are your problem, not mine'. How diplomatic was that Severus! And now you're lecturing me?"

Severus stared at the angry young woman before him. He couldn't remember when it was the last time when Hermione was this emotional. Before he could find a proper reply, the young witch began again.

"I really don't understand why you're giving me this a hundred and eighty degree change in attitude, Severus," Hermione let out a sigh of frustration. "I'm not blind. I know you are never crazy about me taking the job at the Ministry. I know you prefer the life style of a hermit. I saw the signs. You can't accept a relationship with a woman working away from home most of the time. Don't you want me to stay away from everyone? Don't you want me all to yourself and work with only you?"

"I never said that's what I wanted from you," Severus' frown deepened.

"Oh, really?" There was a strange tone in the witch's voice. A long pause later she asked, in a strangely soft voice. "What do you want from me then, Severus? I've been waiting for you to tell me what you want since the day when you left Azkaban. What do you want Severus? What do you want with your life? What do you want from me?"

The wizard suddenly felt it hard to breath. He was not prepared to answer those questions. After a very long pause, he finally opened his mouth and gave her the truth, "I don't know." His words were quiet like a whisper.

It was only then tears rushed down the young witch's cheeks. The dam that was guarding the stress and frustration from the past weeks and month finally crumbled. Between her sobs Hermione screamed, "But you always know, Severus. You always know what to do. All these years, you've always been the one who knows what is best. How can you not know about this? Or you know what you want but you're not telling me? What are you not telling me?"

Hermione choked on her words. She swallowed hard and shook her head. Without another word the young witch turned on her heels and ran out of the drawing room. Severus felt completely paralyzed as he listened to her grab her bag and ran out the door. It wasn't until minutes after the pop outside the door that Severus realized that he had made a terrible mistake by only addressing her career choice. The core of her decision to resign from her job had everything to do with his attitude towards her work and their relationship. She had tried everything she could to accommodate him. But in the end, it was him who could not make a commitment. And what terrified him even more, was that even at that moment, Severus honestly didn't know what he would do with his life, and how he could make her happy.

Severus sat idly in his kitchen, with a cup of tea in his hand and a chattering Arthur Weasley sitting across the table.

If this was a year ago, Severus couldn't even imagine tolerating the father of seven for more than a minute of small talk. Their shared experienced in their stone cells however, had completely changed the dynamic between the two. Even though more than half of Arthur's words completely escaped Severus' attention, the dark-haired wizard simply sat there in silence, as if forgetting he had a choice to get rid of an unwanted guest.

He vaguely heard Arthur's apologies on behalf of his youngest son, and almost missed the mentioning of an invitation to join the Weasley Clan at the Burrow for the holidays. Severus wasn't sure if his guest was aware of his absentmindedness; but he couldn't have cared less. All he could think about these days was only one thing – where is Hermione? And what is she doing?

It had been two weeks since she stormed out of his door. In the beginning he had thought she would calm down in a few days, and expected to see her notes in his black-leather bound notebook. But not a single word had appeared between the magical pages. She never wrote to him.

Severus had never felt so unsure before. He felt as if their relationship, if there was still any left, was dangling on a thread. What was he supposed to do? He thought about apologizing. But then he wasn't sure what he should say. He was right about her shouldn't give up on her career just because she had trouble finding common ground with her superior and her colleagues. But she was right too that he was not the one to lecture her on diplomacy. Was she expecting him to do something? He wanted to talk to her, but was so very afraid that he would disappoint her, or say something that would push her even further away from him . . .

"Are you listening to me, Severus?" Arthur reached across the table and placed a hand on Severus' shoulder.

"No," the dark-haired wizard pushed the hand aside. "I'm not coming to the Burrow," he mumbled.

"I'm not talking about that anymore!" Arthur shook his head, but went on patiently. "I was asking if you two had a fight." When Severus didn't answer Arthur sighed. "I knew something was wrong when Harry told us Hermione applied for a portkey for one to Australia for the beginning of January."

"She's going to Australia?" Severus frowned.

"Yes, apparently." Arthur gave him a sympathetic look. "But soon after I walked out of the floo I decided you don't have any travel plans in the New Year. Or do you? Do you want to talk about it?"

"No," Severus answered quietly.

"That's the answer she gave Harry, Ginny and Ron, too," Arthur nodded. "So it looks like not only the two of you are not talking to each other, you are not talking to your friends, either."

"I don't have any friends," Severus mumbled.

Arthur arched his brows and picked up the cup of tea before him. "But you do! You are just not willing to accept them."

Silence fell between the two wizards for a long moment. In the end, Arthur Weasley gave out a sigh and put down the cup. "Listen to me Severus, do you have any idea how Molly and I can make it this far with our marriage?"

"Not interested."

"But I'm going to tell you anyway," Arthur said. "We don't always see eye to eye either. We have arguments, loads of them, especially in the beginning. But we always talk about them, even if we don't always agree. You'll do the same, Severus. Talk to Hermione. If she's not talking to you, then you'll have to give in a bit and be the first one to offer the olive branch. It may take a little time and a lot of patience. And you may need to compromise on certain things. But in the end you'll find your common ground, and take a step further in your relationship."

"How do you know that'll work? What if she doesn't want to talk?" It was the first time Severus acknowledged Arthur's suggestion. "And taking a step further . . . how do you know that's the right thing to do?"

"Because she loves you. And you love her." Arthur smiled as he got up from the table. "And I have faith that neither of you is willing to give up on each other."

Severus didn't move when his guest disappeared into the green flames. But Arthur's words kept repeating themselves in his head.

That night, Severus couldn't sleep. By the time the sun came up in the morning, he had a plan.

He's a good Slytherin after all. And Slytherins always have thoughtful plans.

TBC

Hmmm... still with me?