Chapter 53:
A melodious warble woke Hermione from her sleep. She stirred under the blankets with a lazy stretch like a cat. Severus' arm was still around her and it took a great deal of willpower to sit up instead of burrowing back into his embrace and hiding there for the rest of the day. Day?
She waved her hand over the small stone orb on the bedside table. It glowed faintly in a slightly orange red. Almost night. You would think, she thought to herself, that being under the effects of a Living Death spell would have made it so she would not have to sleep as much rather than the reverse.
She turned and placed her hand in Severus' hair, soothing it with her fingers. The thrum of the bond snapped tighter and a shiver of pleasure rewarded her that started over her body but ended in her mind like the sound of a tuning fork being struck inside her.
Prince warbled again, and she finally disengaged herself from Severus' arm. His face was peaceful in sleep, almost downright youthful. The mask he held tightly over his face at almost all times was absent. The hardened lines of his control had softened, taking away the customary morose expression that had become a default.
Prince flapped his wings up and down as he clung to the perch by the hearth. His primary and secondary feathers were emerging through his fluffy down. His proportions were starting to become more regal. His neck was elongated slightly. The crest of feathers on his head were more delicate at the shaft and flared out towards the end. Even his tail had started to sport the telltale fan of his species, cascading down to the floor with a miniature version of the future.
Prince fluttered his wings, reverting to the baby peeping sounds as she approached. His beak opened and he rocked his head back and forth to let her know, in case she had forgotten, that his stomach was indeed empty.
"Yes, Yes, my lovely prince," Hermione answered. "Let me at least put a robe on."
She grasped the dark robe from the chair and pulled it over herself. As she walked over to the table which was now conveniently stocked with fruits and vegetables at all hours of the day or night, she silently thanked the house-elves for their efficiency. She picked up a banana from the bowl and unpeeled it, breaking off a piece and offering it up to the starving pit of famine that the little phoenix had come to incarnate.
He chewed on the piece of soft fruit awkwardly, getting mashed banana all over his beak before he managed to swallow it. Hermione giggled and offered him another piece. He chomped on it, maneuvered it into a better position, and made it disappear more swiftly. Opening his beak again, he vibrated his wings. Still hungry.
"I swear," Hermione said to him. "Molly would be hard pressed to keep you sated." She offered up the rest of the banana piece of piece until all of it was gone. Prince looked like he was contemplating seconds, but yawned and roosted with his eyes half closed on the perch.
"At last, he is full," Hermione giggled slightly, massaging the bird on the head crest with her fingers. He rewarded her with a soft peeping and a warble and a mental rush of contentment.
Hermione yawned. "No, not again, I just woke up!" She shuffled over to where Severus kept his tea set and scooped up some loose tea into a tea ball and put it into the pot. She grasped the water kettle off the hearth and poured the steaming water into the teapot. Severus had enchanted the water kettle to always be cool to the touch, but it always remained full of perfectly hot water. She was pretty sure Molly would have adored one of her own.
She replaced the water kettle and stared at the tea pot blearily. No magic for a day or two didn't seem like it was going to be hard. She barely had enough energy to avoid falling asleep standing up.
She bought the tea tray over to the chairs by the fire and sat down, waiting for the tea to seep. Her eyes closed without her permission.
"Woman," Severus' voice rumbled. "You are wearing my robe."
Hermione opened her eyes blearily. "Mmmph?"
She looked up into Snape's dark black eyes. His expression was calm as he stared down at her. He had his doublet pulled on, but his buttons were only half fastened. He leaned down, pressing his forehead to hers. "Mmmmph," Hermione restated.
Severus stood up straight and began to fasten his buttons on his cuffs going up his arms. Hermione stood and came up to him, her fingers fussed with his buttons, going up to his collar. He stood still, watching her with his eyes, as if he was memorizing every action she made.
As her fingers fastened the last button at his throat, he clasped her fingers with one of his hands, staring down at her face with no words passing between them. She smiled at him sleepily and yanked her hands free to work on his cuff buttons. Severus gave her a puzzled look, wondering if he looked so tired that he couldn't dress himself properly.
As she finished all of his buttons she grinned up at him and sloughed off his robe with a giggle. She held it out for him so he could place his arms in, then gently tugged it over his shoulders so it draped elegantly to the floor. She placed her hands around his collar, straightening it so it encircled his neck stiffly in the way she always remembered it to be.
She looked at him appraisingly, smiling at how he always stood so still. His outer robe draped upon him like folded wings. He looked elegant.
Severus stared back at her watching him. Her eyes gained that faraway look as her thoughts drifted to the memories she was revisiting. "Unless you wish to greet Minerva and the Aurors in your chemise," he rumbled softly. "Might I recommend a change in attire?"
Hermione blushed and made a step towards the wardrobe Minerva had filled with her things, but the dizziness came shortly after her.
Snape's arm was around her waist before she even realized she was staggering, pressing her close to him until she stabilized. He helped her to the bed and walked over to the wardrobe himself, pulling out a set of her robes. He laid them down for her, and she shooed him off, embarrassed that she couldn't even walk across the room by herself. He allowed her the moment of inconsistency, feeling through her touch that she was frustrated at being weak… not that he would ever consider her weak in any incarnation.
He went over the hearth and poured the tea. Prince warbled, rocking his head back and forth for donations to the empty stomach fund. "Where DO you put all that food?" Severus asked the phoenix. He picked up a couple of strawberries from the table and deposited them into the incoming donations beak and smirked as all three disappeared within a second. He scratched Prince's head with his fingers and drew his hand down his back and down his growing tail. Prince peeped and tested out another string of notes. "Hrmph," Severus commented, rubbing the bird under the chin.
Hermione came up behind him, gently pressing her head against his shoulder. "I think I'm ready," she said with a small smile.
"Tea first," Severus said, handing her a cup and saucer. "I do not intend to sit in a room with Weasley and Potter without tea first."
Hermione's shoulders quaked in silent laughter that bubbled over into a chortle. "Merlin forbid you ever get along."
"That would require… a lot… more… tea," Severus said as he sat down in the chair by the fire.
Hermione let out her breath with a laugh and sat down in the opposite seat.
"I see Lily in his eyes," Severus admitted quietly. "But I see James in his face."
"James?" she questioned, curious. "Potter?"
"He and his… Marauders," Severus recalled, "Did their best to thwart me at every turn. Of them all, James was… by far… the worst of them combined. He managed to bring out the worst in me, even now when I look into his son's face."
Hermione grasped his fingers from the other chair and held them silently, but he did not pull away from her.
