A/N: Sorry it's taken so long for me to update. I've been a little focused on a few fic festivals, soooo I'm really sorry. I hope you enjoy this chapter! Much Love- Bookworm
Hermione was thrilled. It had been just a couple months ago that Severus had made an offer on a house that Hermione had fallen in love with, and now that summer was upon them, they were finally packing up Spinner's End. Severus had been quiet the past couple days as they packed, and though Hermione was excited, she needed to find out why he wasn't.
"Severus?" She asked, knocking on the library door. He had continued packing it up that morning, while she had finished packing the sitting room. The library was the last room to be done, as they planned on handing over the keys to Spinner's End that evening to the new owners.
"Yes?" He asked, not pausing in his packing of the books.
"Severus, I wanted to talk to you." She said, stepping into the room and making her way to stand next to him. He was still systematically setting books into boxes, and didn't stop until Hermione stepped in front of him.
"Yes, love?" He asked, looking at her tiredly.
"Sit down." She said, gesturing to the armchair behind him. He did as she told him, but sighed as he did so.
"Is something the matter?" He asked, raising an eyebrow at her.
"Yes. What's wrong with you? Ever since we came back you have been… well, more Snape and less Severus." She said, crossing her arms at him. "I thought you wanted to move? If you don't want this… we don't have to." Hermione told him.
"I do want this." Severus said.
"Then why have you been so quiet? So… unhappy?" She asked him.
"I'm not unhappy." He said immediately. "I.. This was my childhood home." He told her.
"I know that. If you don't want to move out, we don't need to." She said again.
"I do. I want to move, I want to leave this place. It's just…" He thought for a moment, letting out a sigh. "Packing everything away is bringing up a lot of memories I had hoped to be rid of." He explained to her.
"Like what?" She asked softly, taking a seat in the armchair next to him.
"My father mostly." He said simply.
"You never talk about your parents…" Hermione said slowly.
"No… My father was a drunk. The times that he was home from one pub or another was… unpleasant to say the least." He explained to her.
"Oh." Hermione said, looking down at the ground. She couldn't exactly relate to that, as she had always thought of her parents as perfect.
"My mother tried to protect me as much as she could from him, but she could barely protect herself. She had stopped using magic, I don't even know if she still could." He told her.
"Your dad… he was a muggle?" Hermione asked, already knowing the answer.
"Yes, and he hated magic. My mother.. She didn't leave him, even after he started hitting her. I never knew why, I got out as soon as I could." He said, shaking his head.
"He… he hit you too, didn't he?" She asked sadly.
"Yes, he did." He replied.
"Why did you come back here?" She asked, looking around the room.
"My mother, actually. She.. was sick. I came to help her while I could." He told her. "She passed soon after I came back, and left me with the house. I didn't have one, so.. I stayed."
"Severus… do you really want to leave?" Hermione asked one more time.
"Yes. I do. I apologize that I have been more… Snape, as you say." He said, playfully glaring at her.
"Apology accepted." She said, smiling a little at him. "Now, Severus, would you like some help? We have to be leaving in.." She glanced at her watch, and her eyes grew wide. It had taken her longer than she had thought to pack up the sitting room. "We have an hour to finish." She told him.
"I would greatly appreciate the help." He told her. She nodded, and they both stood, pulling out their wands. In harmony, they both made a wide sweeping motion with their wands in the air, and all around them the books began to soar off of the bookshelves and into boxes.
"Do you want to send those boxes, and I'll send these?" Severus suggested, gesturing to the two stacks of boxes that had formed.
"Sure." Hermione agreed, flicking her wand at the boxes. They were using the same charm that they used for the start of school to move the student's luggage to their dormitories, only now they were sending it to Snape Cottage. Hermione had begun using the name 'Snape Cottage' after they had put an offer in, and even though she had been using it as a joke, the name had stuck. They hadn't yet talked about the shop attached to the house, but Hermione figured that conversation would happen after they settled into their new home.
They walked through the house, making sure they had gathered everything and that it was clean, before meeting each other in the middle of the sitting room. Hermione watched as Severus slowly looked around the room and took a deep breath. She gently reached out and took his hand in hers, giving him a small smile when he looked at her. He smiled back at her, and let out a deep breath.
A knock on the door broke them out of their silence, and she released his hand, letting him free to answer the door. He greeted the man standing outside, though they both kept it very business like. After answering a couple questions about the house, Severus handed the keys over, and Hermione and him exited the house. He looked back once at the house, giving it a nod, before leading Hermione down the street. They moved away from the house, they couldn't apparate in the middle of a muggle street, and into an alley just down the street. They looked up and down the alley, making sure that they were truly alone, before Hermione grabbed his hand and allowed him to apparate them both.
Hermione immediately let go of his hand, only to clasp her own together at the sight of their home. Wanting to be surprised, Hermione had insisted on not seeing it in person, so Severus had been the one to go and make sure everything was in order before he had actually bought the house.
"Home." She sighed softly, gazing at the building in front of her. Severus let out a low chuckle, and shook his head slightly.
"Would you like to go inside?" He asked, placing his hand gently on the small of her back. She grinned at him and nodded. He led the way inside, opening the door for her.
She was in love. They walked through the house, and Hermione felt her excitement growing with every room they walked through. Severus, being the smart man he was, saved the study for last. When they walked inside, Hermione smiled widely. It was larger than it had seemed in the picture she had seen, and she felt her excitement bubbling over at the sight of the bookshelves lining the walls around them.
"Can we unpack now?" She asked, turning to the boxes next to them.
"Maybe we should unpack the rest of the house first?" Severus suggested, raising his eyebrows in amusement.
"Right, of course." Hermione agreed enthusiastically.
It took two days for them to unpack everything, but finally they had the last dish placed in the cupboard, and the last book slid into place on a shelf. Neither of them had yet entered the shop, and Hermione was now itching to see the rest of the building they had bought.
"Severus… I was thinking, maybe we could go look at the shop today?" Hermione asked as they were drinking some coffee in the sitting room. Severus lifted his eyes from the book in his hands, and nodded.
"Of course we can." He agreed. "But… I thought we agreed, I would open the shop after this year ends?" He asked.
"Well… yes, that's what we talked about, but I was thinking, you already brew some for St. Mungo's, why not just open it this summer?" She asked.
"I told Minerva I would be back this year." Severus said.
"Severus, you know that she would understand. I can take over the classes. It wouldn't be a problem, and you can start the shop up." She told him.
"Hermione…" Severus said, shutting his book and letting out a breath. "I can't open the shop right now." He told her.
"Why not?" She asked, setting her coffee down and staring at him.
"It's not a good idea." He said.
"What? The shop? Or opening it now?" She asked, slightly confused.
"The shop." He sighed. "What was I thinking? I can't open a shop. I'm a Death Eater! Nobody will buy anything from me." He said angrily, glaring at the floor in front of him.
"Severus…" Hermione said his name gently, and scooted closer to him on the small sofa. "Severus, look at me." She said, smiling gently when he did as she told him.
"What?" He asked.
"Severus. You are an amazing wizard, and a wonderfully talented Potions Master. You are not a Death Eater. You were cleared of all charges, and that is part of your past. The people who matter will only see your talent, and they will be your customers. All the rest of them can bugger off." She insisted. "Besides, you don't even have the mark anymore."
"Hermione, I don't even know how to start the shop." He told her, finding another reason to not open it.
"Easy. You already brew for St. Mungo's. Make them give you a contract, and you can build on that. It's easy enough to make flyers, and we can ask the busiest shops if they would be willing to have some. Severus, you don't have to do this alone, I can help you start up." Hermione told him, placing a hand on his.
"You would do that?" He asked.
"Of course I would." She said, rolling her eyes at him. "All you have to do is name the shop. And get the contract with Mungo's drawn up." She added that as an afterthought.
"I forgot… a name.." He groaned.
"Well… maybe you don't have to think of one. I've been thinking about it actually, and I think I have one." Hermione admitted.
"Oh?" He asked, raising his eyebrows in surprise.
"Prince Potions." She said it as though it was the most obvious thing in the world.
"But my name isn't Prince." He said.
"No, it was your mothers. Who, if I remember correctly, passed her talent for potions onto you?" She asked. He nodded slightly, and finally set his book aside. She was pleased that she seemed to have ebbed his fears of opening the shop a bit.
"Besides, I need you to brew my potion and sell it. It's my patent, and I'll give you the rights for it. You will be the only Potions Master with the rights to sell it. And it's too complicated for anyone to brew at home." She told him, and his eyes went wide.
"You'll let me brew your potion?" He asked, and she nodded.
"People need it. I've brewed it a few times in my spare time for people who asked, but it's time consuming. I can't keep up with the people who are asking. They'll have to come to you." She explained to him.
"Wait, people have been asking you to brew it for them?" He asked, surprised at the news.
"Yes. People from the war mostly. Severus, people need you. They need the shop." She told him.
"You really think I should open it?" He asked.
"I really do." She said, nodding.
"I think… maybe. I need to think about it." He said. She nodded in understanding, and stood.
"While you think about that, can we go look at it?" She asked, holding her hand out to him. He took her hand carefully and followed her out of the room, down to the door that led into the shop.
"Hermione! Could you come in here?" Severus asked from his study. Hermione set down her quill, she had been working on her lesson plans for the upcoming year, as the start of term was now only a month away. She and Severus had not talked any more about his opening of the shop, and Hermione had actually resigned herself that he would just have to wait until next year to do so. She walked into his study, and smiled at him.
"Yes?" She asked, raising her eyebrows at him. He looked flustered, his hair was uncombed and his tunic was off by one button as he scribbled on a paper in front of him.
"If I opened in say, a week, do you think we would have customers?" He asked, surprising her.
"You made up your mind?" She asked.
"Yes. I want to do this. Are you still sure about it?" He asked her.
"Of course I am. What do you need?" She asked him.
"You said I should get a contract with St. Mungo's, so I need that done, and you suggested flyers. I have a list, I need to get suppliers for a lot of this. For now, I can get some of it from the apothecary, but I'll need to find my own." He said, shaking his head and crossing something out on the paper.
"Let me see what you need." Hermione said, holding her hand out. She quickly read over the paper, and sighed as she sat it down. "It's a lot to do Severus." She said softly. He deflated a little, and brushed his hair out of his face.
"We can't do it…" He said sadly.
"That's not what I'm saying Sev." She said quickly. "It's just a lot of work, so I think we might want to ask Draco if he would be willing to help?" She suggested. They had invited him and Neville over for dinner a few times, the same invitation had been extended to Harry, Ron and Ginny, but Harry had come a couple times where Draco and Neville had come every time they had been offered. She now loosely considered him a friend, but trusted him completely when it came to Severus.
Severus agreed to asking Draco for his help, and Hermione immediately stood and walked into the sitting room to use the fireplace.
"Malfoy Manor!" She called out, stepping into the fireplace. She was spit out onto the carpet of his own sitting room, she stumbled a little on landing, but found her footing quickly enough before dusting herself off. "Draco?" She called out. She hoped that he was nearby, she had a feeling that this house was too big to hear someone across it.
"Miss? Can I help you?" A small voice said, Hermione jumped slightly, and quickly found the source of the voice in a doorway on the side of the room. A house elf was standing in the doorway, staring at her with wide eyes.
"Oh, hello. Erm… I'm looking for Draco?" She asked, nervously looking around the room. She hadn't been in this house since she had been tortured.
"I could take you to him, Miss." The house elf offered.
"Actually, could you ask him to come here?" Hermione asked. She felt glued to the floor, and she felt her heart start to pound against her chest. She slid her wand into her hand, wanting the small amount of comfort it offered her.
"Hermione?" She heard Draco ask after he walked into the room. She looked at him, and opened her mouth to speak, but no words came out. "Hermione? Are you alright?" He asked, sounding concerned. He stepped closer to her, but as if it was instinct, her wand twitched.
"Master?" Hermione flicked her eyes to the elf, who was staring frightfully at Hermione. She then realized just how many doors were in the room, and began to watch them intently.
"It's fine Willow. You can go." Draco said evenly, keeping his eyes trained on Hermione. "Hermione… It's just me. Nobody else is here. It's just me. Willow just left, it's just me. Nothing is going to happen." He assured her, holding his hands up slightly to show he didn't have a wand.
"I- I want to go." Hermione finally choked out.
"Okay, let's go. I'll follow after you, it's just going to be me coming, alright?" Draco assured her. She stepped back, but realized that to leave the house she would have to turn away from the room. The entire time, her eyes had been flickering from one door to another, ensuring that she wouldn't be caught by surprise.
"Can we apparate?" She asked, now looking directly at Draco.
"Of course. Where to?" He asked.
"Home." She said, turning on her heel and closing her eyes tightly as she was pulled away from Malfoy Manor. As soon as she felt her feet hit the floor, she kneeled down. She gasped in a breath of air, and felt relief flood through her. She heard Draco appear next to her, and the relief was replaced with shame.
"Hermione, are you alright?" Draco asked, kneeling down next to her on the floor.
"I'm so sorry." She whispered. "I just- don't tell Severus." She said, looking up at him.
"Right. Of course. But, I need to know that you're okay." Draco said softly, placing a hand gently on her arm. She flinched away, but nodded.
"I'm alright…" She said after a moment. She took a second to gather herself before standing up. Draco followed suit, watching her carefully. "I just.. Being there." She said.
"I'm sorry… If I had known that you wanted to talk, I would have just come here." He told her.
"I know… I should have just sent a patronus." She said, shaking her head.
"What happened?" Draco asked her.
"Just… being there. I felt like someone was going to pop up and start attacking…" Hermione said, closing her eyes.
"I know… I've been trying to sell it." Draco said, surprising her.
"Really?"
"Yeah, I don't need that place, and there's still traces of dark magic all over, I need out of there." He told her. They looked at each other for a moment, until he cleared his throat. "So, what did you need?" He asked.
"Right." Hermione said, taking a last deep breath to calm herself. "Severus wants to open the shop in a week. We need to get a lot done, and I was wondering if you could help?" She asked.
"What do you need me to do?" He asked.