Hello everyone,
I finally got to read all your reviews. Thank you all so much for your kind words xxx
I am really glad you all enjoy the story.
Chapter 8 doesn't move the plot forward very much, but I find it quite important for the establishment of their friendship. Let me know what you think!
Enjoy reading xxx
Song Recommendation
ANNIE'S SONG - SCOTT MATTHEW
Hermione walked into Grasse on Monday morning to buy food at the market. It took half an hour to get there and, as it was still early in the day, it wasn't too hot. On her way home however, she decided about halfway up the hill to apparate back.
She put the food away and took the stasis charm of the chocolate mousse and fire tongue pastries that she had bought yesterday after she'd left Severus. She also put fresh linen on her parents bedding and put some flowers onto the kitchen table.
She was reading on the balcony, when she heard them shut the car doors on the other side of the house. Walking into their bedroom, she summoned their bags and made sure the front door stayed open for them. A moment later her mother entered the bedroom, where she could see all her things putting themselves into cupboards.
"Sometimes I am really jealous of all the things you can do with that little wooden stick of yours!"
Jane laughed and went over to give Hermione a hug. "Look at that tan, have you done anything else than bathe in the sun and read all day?"
Hermione laughed. "Actually, I have!"
They heard a surprised snort and the tap being turned on downstairs.
"Ah!", Hermione exclaimed. "Dad has found the fire tongue pastries."
They went and saw George Granger gulping a large glass of water.
"That won't help!", Hermione laughed. "It has to sizzle out."
Funnily enough, George the Mighty laded outside the kitchen door right at that moment and dropped some Charms magazines for Hermione.
"Mum, Dad, this is George the Mighty", she introduced the owl. The bird looked as proud as ever. "Before you ask, no I didn't name him. He was a present from George Weasley and I had no say in the naming process."
Her dad looked at the bird all smitten. "Well, I think it's a very appropriate name for such majestic creature."
"Don't let yourself be fooled, he's very fussy", she scowled.
He went up to the bird and to Hermione's utter surprise the owl looked more endearing than ever before, tilting its head and letting her dad stroke it. Her mother joined them and George the Mighty relished in their undivided attention. Then she could swear she saw a wicked glint in the birds eyes.
"Unbelievable", Hermione cried out and both her parents looked at her in surprise. Hermione just snorted.
"At least Crooks is a loyal pet. How is he doing?", she asked her mother whilst she poured them some of her home-made lemonade.
"Ginny came to pick him up on Saturday. He's as grumpy as ever."
"He is not grumpy! It's just what his face looks like", she corrected her mother.
"Believe me, I can tell the difference between a grumpy face and an outright evil creature", Jane remarked.
Hermione pointed at George the owl with her finger and opened her mouth, but she didn't know what to say.
They spent the afternoon sitting in the garden, drinking lemonade and eating fruit. Her mother cut some of the bushes and generally spruced the garden up a bit, and Hermione helped her dad with some repairs on the patio floor boards. She had offered to help them magically, but all three of them enjoyed doing their work by hand.
She and her dad made a quick trip in the car to get some ice cream from town, and when they sat at the table eating it Hermione remembered something.
"I might not be around tomorrow. I'll be leaving early and I'm not sure when I will be back. Definitely in time for dinner, though!"
"That's fine, honey. We might head down to Cannes. What are you doing?", her dad asked.
"You remember the wizarding place I told you about. Arraxy? I'm going to see a friend there."
Her dad nodded and wasn't further interested in it. Her mother however, jumped at the first clue.
"What kind of friend?", she asked.
Hermione rolled her eyes. "Not that kind of friend."
Why did everyone think she had or needed a beau to spend her time with?
"So? Then what kind of friend?", her mother insisted.
Hermione sighed. "Well, actually I still know him from Hogwarts. He's moved here years ago and we've lost contact. But we happened to run into one another in February."
"Is he one of your former classmates?", her mother inquired.
"No, we weren't friends. He's a Slytherin, you know, the green house. And he wasn't in my year." She didn't want to spill too much.
"Aren't they the ones you didn't like?"
"Well, yes. I was younger then, and prejudiced. They're not all terrible."
"They always sounded pretty awful to me", her dad commented.
"Well, anyway. We started working on a project together", Hermione said. She wasn't going to discuss house politics now. "It's about finding a medication or possibly cure for lycanthropy."
Her dad always found wizarding topics extremely interesting and asked: "That has not much to do with your mastery though, has it?"
"No, you're right."
Hermione loved telling her dad about her work. He was genuinely interested and understood quite a lot about it, once Hermione explained it. Her mother was more practical. She found it interesting, but she couldn't apply it herself, therefore she wasn't too bothered with the details.
She explained to her dad what Septimus and Guillaume had worked on, resolving to use Severus's pseudonym, and how they thought they could optimise it.
"So how will your charm work tie into that?", he asked.
"I don't know… " Hermione looked as frustrated as always when she reached the dead end. "We haven't really thought about it yet."
"Well, you better get your thinking caps on", her dad replied with a grin. "Sounds like a big undertaking, but if you find a cure for that…." He looked impressed.
The evening was lovely and they decided to go out for dinner. When they returned, they sat outside for another half an hour and finished the bottle of wine they had taken home from the restaurant. Hermione had apparated them back home, and her parents always got extremely excited about it. They were all giggly as they drank their wine and Hermione's heart ached with affection at the sight. She was so lucky to call these two people her parents.
They retired early, but Hermione had only just fallen asleep when her alarm woke her up again. It was half past three in the morning. She didn't have a shower, as she didn't want to disturb her parents and she also thought, that she'd end up all sticky and sweaty again anyway.
She put on shorts and a tank top, but also transformed herself a warm jumper out of the extra blanket on her bed. She was cold from being so sleepy and it made her extremely moody.
You wanted this. Now cop on and get going.
She made herself a cup of coffee and collected her things before she apparated to Arraxy at ten to four.
Severus was already waiting for her. He stood outside the back door and she was shocked when she saw him.
"You smoke?" She couldn't hide the reproachful sound in her voice.
He rolled his eyes, inhaled one more time and crouched down to stub the cigarette out on the ground. Then he made the butt vanish with a slick move of his hand.
"I can't believe it", she nearly yelled.
"And why is that?", he sneered. "Am I otherwise such a model character that an irksome habit such as this stains my reputation?"
"I would have thought you take more care of your life and health after…"
She didn't finish her sentence and just looked at him in disbelief and anger.
He sighed heavily. "I really don't want to discuss it at this moment in time, or at any moment in time for that matter. We have a potion to brew and we need to start in seven minutes."
She wanted to talk back at him, but just didn't know what to say. She was incredibly angry. How could he… she just had no words for it. She tried to convey as much and if looks could kill, he'd drop dead instantly.
They went inside and he started instructing her on the potion. She did as told, but didn't say a single word to him. He seemed to notice and he didn' try asking her any questions.
At about six in the morning they came to a point where the potion had to rest for an hour.
"Hermione…", he started, sounding dead serious. She looked at him coolly, but inwardly she smiled at his use of her name, he rarely did.
"If you are planning on being angry over nothing for the remainder of the day, you can leave now."
"Over nothing?", she retorted sharply. "You are seriously damaging your health and considering that you are more than lucky to have another chance at life, I would have simply expected better of you."
"I think it's time for you to leave", he said, and she could hear the anger he tried to hide in his voice. She didn't want him to be angry, because it could end very badly for her, but she simply had to make her point.
"Don't send me away, just because you don't want to face justified criticism", she said.
"Your criticism does not matter to me", he barked. "And in case you hadn't noticed, I will joyfully shatter every single expectation you might have of me."
He walked up to her and spat every single word, his face contorted in rage. Or was it pain? Or fear?
"I neither am the flawless individual you would like me to be, nor do I intend on ever being anything like it. I am not living for some greater cause anymore, and I see no need to care about a healthy lifestyle, or a life in general. And if that destroys the pretty little world you have created in your head, so be it. I shall rejoice greatly in that achievement."
He knew exactly where to stab the knife, and it hurt.
Hermione realised that he was lashing out at her because she had hit a sensitive nerve, but she couldn't quite tell what exactly had set him off. Still, his comment made her thoughtful. Had she created a world in her head that wasn't real?
"I am happy you are alive", she said quietly, not looking at him. However, it seemed like it was the right thing to say. The tension in the room decreased. "I can't understand why you would hurt your body like this."
"My body has been hurt much worse", he said calmly. "It doesn't even notice trifle like cigarettes."
She lifted her head and looked at him, pain and compassion in her eyes. She didn't want to be reminded off what he possibly had to go through during the war.
"I have seen you die, Severus", she whispered it. "Seeing you stupidly playing with your health and life like this… I cannot bear it. I cannot bear being reminded of the sight of you… that night."
There was a long silence between them.
"I will not do it in your presence again", he said sincerely.
"That is not the point", she said and he knew it. "Do you think I want to be coming here one day, hearing you cough or wheeze. You coughed and wheezed when you died, do you remember?"
She sounded panicked now. "Do you think I want to come here, to sit at your bedside and see you succumb to a lung disease or cancer? No magic on earth can cure that!" She was swallowing heavily and suddenly felt very emotional.
"You don't need to come here at all", he said a tad aggressively.
"But I want to!" She sounded hurt now and Severus felt increasingly uncomfortable.
"I enjoy working with you, talking to you." She looked at him desperately.
He said no word, but his silence spoke volumes.
"I care about you", she said candidly. "Even if you hadn't nearly died, I still wouldn't want you to waste away your health like that."
He had the decency to lower his head, then he nodded.
"It's a bad habit. I shall work on it."
There was another short silence, then he left the room. She cared about him. He couldn't cope with the upheaval that had created inside him.
Hermione sat down and buried her face in her hands. She didn't know where he went, but she was happy to have a moment to herself. She didn't want to be this emotional, and she needed a chance to cool down.
Why did they always end up fighting? Had she been too forthright in her statement?
She did care about him, oddly enough. She knew from the first time she'd been here, that she was incredibly happy he was alive. She wanted him to have a good life. People might argue whether he deserved it or not, but in Hermione's opinion everyone did. Everyone deserved to experience happiness. It didn't matter to her what he had done during the war.
He had been made to do bad things, but he always knew it was for the greater cause and that was the reason he did it. He took up that burden, and he hadn't complained a single time. He dutifully did what he was told to do, and he stood strong where others might have crumbled. She admired him. And she wanted him to lead a happy life.
He was brilliant and they thought in the same patterns, she sought to work with him. He had a lot to say and she liked discussing ideas with him. She did want to come here in the future. And should they ever finish the wolfsbane project, she would want to find something new to work on, with him.
She couldn't finish her thoughts, because Severus came back into the room and placed a cup of coffee in front of her.
"Black with a spoonful of sugar?", he asked.
She nodded.
"Will you help me grind the moonstone? We have ten minutes left."
They worked alongside one another quietly, and at exactly seven o'clock Severus changed the heat on the cauldron and started stirring again. Without using words, they came to an understanding that morning, and neither of them questioned it.
Hermione took notes while Severus worked for another two hours. When he finished up, he went to wash his hands and she automatically handed him a towel.
"Any plans for today?", he asked her, trying not to sound desperate for her to stay, although that was exactly what he hoped for.
"Not really. My parents are in Cannes all day. I thought about joining them, but I can't really remember it, so I can't apparate there and I am a little bit too lazy to take the bus to be honest", she shrugged her shoulders, finishing her cold coffee.
"I can apparate you there", he said.
She shook her head. "No, it's fine. But thank you."
He just nodded once, but she noticed a slightly sulky look on his face.
"The potion needs to stand outside tonight and then it's done."
"Well, thanks for letting me watch. It was a pleasure seeing you work", she said.
There was a bit of a silence between them, before she spoke again.
"Do you have any plans?"
He shook his head. "The shelves are stocked."
"I shall be reading some Charms magazines in the sun today. I wouldn't mind someone to discuss some of the articles with." She smiled at him. "Only if you want to, of course."
"That would be acceptable." He went to open the door into the pharmacy, and only when the fresh air hit Hermione she realised she's been very sweaty again.
"I might take a shower first and then join you", Severus said.
"Good idea. I will do that too, and lift some of the wards", Hermione laughed. "You may apparate straight into the corner of the garden.
He inclined his head and Hermione left the work room.
She met Clemency and Jerome outside, and she had clearly interrupted them. Jerome wandered off and pretended to be busy rearranging potions on a shelf, and Hermione grinned mischievously at Clemency.
"Hermione! I didn't know you were here!" Clemency rubbed her hands nervously on her robes and greeted Hermione with kisses on the cheeks. "Oh dear, you smell like a potions mistress!"
"Believe me, I am glad I am not into potions. The humidity and odour are nearly killing me." Hermione laughed. "I spy with my little eye…" She wiggled her eyebrows and shot a glance in Jerome's direction.
Clemency blushed and tried to hide a smile. Then she remembered something.
"Mum wants to meet your parents. She is all business and thinks that things for healthy teeth might sell well."
Hermione was positively surprised.
"That is a brilliant idea. I will tell my parents, I am sure they'd be delighted. I shall let you know!"
She left the pharmacy and disapparated.
As soon as she landed, she took down the ward that caused the loss of magic. She hadn't given the charm a name. It had a long and complicated incantation and there was no need for it to have a name anyway.
She hopped under the shower and the feeling was simply amazing. She hadn't felt clean all day, as she didn't have a shower when getting up, and the stickiness form the potions lab was unbearable. She spent more time under the water than she had to. Only when she felt another magical presence on the property she realised that she'd been dawdling and hurried to get out and downstairs.
"Sorry you had to wait, I didn't think you'd be that quick", Hermione said through the open kitchen door.
"Would you like some coffee?"
"Later maybe, thanks."
She got some lemonade and fruit from the fridge and took it outside. She had to stifle a surprised gasp when she saw him. Severus sat at the table and seemed to be reading a book he brought.
He noticed it and looked at her, cocking an eyebrow.
"Yes?"
"Nothing", she lied and busied herself with cutting up a melon.
He didn't say any more but she could feel how he taunted her with his glance, quietly forcing her to speak.
"Would you stop staring at me?", she snapped.
He didn't try to hide it and even intensified his questioning glare. She snorted and put the knife down.
"Alright!" She surrendered. "I just didn't expect you to look so… casual."
She could feel her cheeks blushing and started cutting the melon again, so she didn't have to look at him.
He wore black cotton trousers, blue espadrilles and a dark green shirt, the sleeves were rolled up to his elbows. It was a perfectly decent ensemble, but if one only knew Professor or Potions Master Severus Snape, it could indeed be a shock to see him like this.
He rolled his eyes. "And I thought for a moment, I was growing some ghastly excrescences or had lost a leg without noticing it."
"You might as well have. That would have been less of a surprise than seeing you without that black frock", she chaffed him, faking a shudder.
They sat together all morning, Hermione read the recent papers published on charms and Severus read a book on Muggle chemistry.
"I found it in Geneva. Some of the things you left for me sounded quite interesting", he explained.
Around noon Hermione dozed off on the lounger and Severus transfigured a canopy out of a blanket that was hanging over a chair, to make sure she wouldn't catch a sunburn. It was peaceful and he found himself caught up in his thoughts.
How did this happen? Why was he sat in the Grangers' garden, reading a book on muggle chemistry, drinking homemade lemonade and having the know-it-all Gryffindor Princess slumber a few feet away from him?
He knew he didn't deserve it. None of it, not this moment and not his comfortable life in France. And yet, he enjoyed it so much. And he would be damned if he didn't take the chance whilst he had it. It couldn't do much harm to enjoy these few days of bliss. She would be leaving next week anyway, and then he wouldn't have to worry about it anymore.
Although, she did say she wanted to come here to see him. Would she really? She'd be busy teaching at Hogwarts, and she wouldn't just apparate to another continent and go through all the hassle that came with it, to spend a weekend off in Grasse.
Another thought crept into his mind. Could he go to England and visit her? No, that was impossible. Someone could recognise him. But it was tempting.
He missed it. He missed the Highlands, the mist hanging over the pastures in the morning and the tranquillity of the lakes all year round. He missed the bustling of the City of London, the business of Diagon Alley and the taste of The Leaky Cauldron's hot Butterbeer.
He missed Hogwarts. He wanted to know what it looked like now. The last picture he had of it was haunting him every night. Burning, roofs collapsed, towers demolished.
The sight of the castle that night had killed him inside, and he remembered that he had wept tears. Between dying and watching his home being razed to the ground, dying had seemed like the lesser evil. He'd never be able to see it again. He'd never be able to be at home again.
Hermione stirred and jolted Severus out of his thoughts.
"Oh, good heavens", she said drowsily. "I am so sorry, what you must think of me…"
"Oh no, she's back. And so the peaceful silence is over", he mocked her.
She got up too quickly and staggered a little bit, rubbing her eyes and discreetly stretching her limbs. She wasn't alert enough yet to catch his taunt.
"Can I get you anything?", she asked.
"Just lie down again."
They spent the next couple of days in a similar way, but instead of sitting on the Granger's patio, they were on Severus's small balcony. Hermione had brought some of the lemonade and she had also stopped at the bakery for some pastries. They discussed a couple of articles and Severus asked her about her muggle studies.
"How did you manage to get a muggle degree?
"There is special admissions office at Oxford for witches and wizards", Hermione replied. "Very few actually know about it or take the opportunity, I was the only witch in all the years I have been there. I think there are two at the moment."
"So you don't need muggle qualifications?"
"Not necessarily. You have to take a test, general knowledge, subject specific knowledge. You are still required to be at the same level."
"So how did you manage to get your doctoral degree at the age of… ?" Severus waited for her to finish his sentence.
"Twenty -six", she helped him out. "I began a master's degree in social anthropology at the start of my second year of Charms mastery. I was twenty-one."
She calculated the years in her head. "It took me one year and I got accepted for a doctoral thesis. I finished my charms mastery at twenty-three and spent another three years on the doctoral thesis. I wrote it on ethnicity and nationality. That was nearly three years ago."
Severus asked her more about the muggle university system and they discussed how non-magical subjects could be combined with magical subjects. When Hermione got ready to leave, Severus could tell something seemed to bother her.
"Spit it out", he said and she looked at him surprised. "I can tell you've got something on your mind. Let me know."
She played with the handle of her bag nervously. "I was just wondering…. never mind, it's nothing really."
She turned around to leave, but he shut the balcony door without even touching his wand.
"Tell me", he said. His voice sounded softer than he looked.
She let out a sigh. "I thought about the time when I am back home in London. I was wondering… I mean, I thought, maybe if you like and if you've got time… I don't know, it's probably stupid." She shook her head.
A harrumph from Severus was enough to get her talking again.
"I just thought, if you would ever felt like talking about our project or so… well, if you wanted to come and visit me in England, that erm… I think that would be nice. If you would want to. I can understand that you might not. It was just a thought. Forget I even mentioned it."
She looked extremely uncomfortable, but he couldn't believe what he had heard. It was as if she knew about his thoughts. He tried to not show his excitement.
"I will think about it. See you tomorrow?"
She smiled and nodded. "See you tomorrow."