Hermione blinked blearily at the Ministry guard standing in the room. She embarrassedly wondered if she'd done anything undignified in her sleep before she stretched her arms and shifted under the heavy bedclothes.
"Are you finally awake, Hermione?" Luna was already sitting up in her bed as Ginny groaned and stirred in hers.
"I am, but I'm not sure she is." Hermione nodded to Ginny in amusement.
"She's been awake on and off for hours." Luna snorted as Ginny made several rude noises about having to get up.
"Oh, come on!" Hermione laughed. "You two are going to meet the Amazons and be a part of all this!"
"Are the boys going to the Brotherhood, then?" Luna asked curiously. "I would imagine all the societies in the world would be clamoring for him."
"I'd never thought of that," Hermione shrugged. "I suppose we'd have to ask, but I thought you had to be related by bloodline."
"No one's said anything to me about it." Ginny yawned and poked her head out from her covers, her head a tousle of red hair. "But Harry's got an awful lot of mail to go through. Told him he needed a secretary."
A pained look ran over Hermione's face.
"What's wrong?" Ginny asked.
"Harry's seventeen," Hermione said, wincing. "He shouldn't have to have a secretary. Or a funny face. And you should have all your fingers. I shouldn't be married."
"You regret getting married?" Ginny breathed in shock.
"No." Hermione shook her head. "But doesn't it seem like we should be doing all of this in ten years or more?"
"The rules change when there's a war," Ginny said flatly. The guard grunted in agreement.
"I suppose you're right," Hermione admitted with a smile, throwing a look at the guard. They weren't supposed to recognize them in any way, ignoring them as if they weren't even there, but Hermione had a hard time ignoring a man in her bedroom.
"I expected Professor Snape to be here," Luna said as she peered around the room.
"Did you think he'd agree to anything besides commuting?" Hermione chuckled as she slipped out of bed and into her slippers.
Ginny snorted. "At least he won't be teaching us anymore."
"You'd be surprised to know how much we collaborate." Hermione winced at Ginny's scowl.
"Ah," Luna said dreamily as she climbed out of bed and waved her wand at herself, going instantly from bedclothes to day robes. "Well, I don't mind Professor Snape. I mean, potions are just like cooking, aren't they?"
Hermione felt a pang of guilt for realizing her knowledge had a gap in it. "Erm… I guess so."
"You don't know how to cook?" Ginny asked, her eyes widening. "Seriously?"
"Well, it's not like we have kitchen duty at Hogwarts," Hermione said grumpily. "And my mum was never very good in the kitchen."
"Well, it's just like cooking," Luna assured her.
"Cooking is easy," Ginny snorted sarcasticaally.
"My point is that there are different levels of skill for everyone. You just need to practice more." Luna pointed out.
Hermione and Ginny both pulled faces at her and they all laughed as Ginny began rooting around in a sack near her bed.
"When are we meeting with them?" Ginny asked as she came up with a toothbrush in her hand.
"They said three quarters of morning," Hermione said uneasily. "I think that means 9 o'clock."
"Well, getting ready early just means we'll have more time to explore," Ginny said mischievously.
The girls laughed and quickly prepared themselves for the day, Luna finally settling on a floppy straw hat.
They skittered through the manor on their way to the kitchens, looking at the guards and paintings as they went.
"And what trouble are you three up to?" An accusing voice called out of a room they had just passed.
"Exploring," Hermione called out sheepishly.
"After breakfast," Ginny offered, as if this made everything all better.
"Well, that sounds like quite an adventure!" There was a rustling as someone set down a newspaper and Jacob popped his head out of the study. "Now that I can move like I used to, I wouldn't mind doing poking around!"
Hermione recoiled at the sight of him. Ginny tilted her head. Luna fixed him with a curious look.
"I know," he said sheepishly. His hand went to the large bumps on his forehead and down to the ones forming on his chin and cheekbones.
"So that's what happens when you take them improperly," Ginny remarked as she pursed her lips at him. "Huh."
"Severus says I'll have a few more days before I go back to the way I was," Jacob admitted.
"Does it hurt?" Luna asked.
"No. Just ugly."
"Come on then," Ginny said with a half-yawn.
Jacob looked delighted as he joined their group, Hermione still eying his bumpy face.
"And where do you think you are going?"
A strong female voice rang out and Jacob and Hermione both winced as Anastasia stormed out of an alcove where she had been reading a book.
"The girls were curious about the cellars. I was going to accompany them—"
"You'll do nothing of the sort." Anastasia sniffed at him. "Young ladies bring out the teenager in you and you'll never survive all the trips to the infirmary at your age!"
She scowled darkly and Jacob smiled at her. "You used to love all my stunts!"
"That was before you nearly killed yourself trying to hunt down a kraken!" Anastasia put her fists on her hips and glared at him.
Jacob sighed in resignation. "Hermione, you know where Severus keeps his laboratory. Go down the corridor that goes off to the left before you get to it. Go to the end and start moving boxes. There's a passageway behind it."
"There is?" Anastasia asked blankly.
"I have discovered something you don't know?" Jacob asked sarcastically. "Maybe we should alert the media."
Anastasia whipped out her wand and hit him with a body-bind curse. The girls gasped as he fell to the floor, his brows furrowed in annoyance.
"Perhaps I should join you," Anastasia suggested happily as Jacob made mean sounds at her. "It sounds like fun!"
Suddenly Jacob's nose turned blue and his noises became more irritated.
"What's that?" Hermione asked, wondering if something had gone wrong.
"It's a timed curse. Fifteen minutes. It changes color every five so the victim knows how long they're in for. It will go to indigo and violet before he's freed." Anastasia smirked at her husband and he growled at her. "Not in front of the girls! There's enough time for your sweet words later."
He let out a muffled 'harrumph' and his eyes relaxed. She bent over to kiss him, and Ginny let out a giggle.
Hermione had to bite her lower lip, but Luna looked curious. "Is this what you'd call a time-out?"
"A timed time-out," Ginny snickered.
"Then let's go!" Anastasia said happily. "I think we'll summon food when we get down there. I wouldn't want to lose precious time eating or packing breakfast."
Hermione let out a quiet snort as they headed off towards the subterranean levels of the house.
0
"Your mother is insane!"
Severus snorted at his father, who was sitting on the low leather couch in the Snape quarters at Hogwarts; a bump on his head and a scowl on his face.
"I could have told you that."
"Then they ran off without me!"
"Where to, exactly?"
0
Severus Snape tore through his family home in Russia, not trusting himself enough to Apparate into the cellars. He knew the girls would be walking and crawling and he hoped they hadn't gotten very far.
When he saw his mother wander through a room down the hallway from him he got a sinking feeling.
"Mother!" Severus said, trying to cover his wheezing. "How… unexpected. I thought you all went exploring."
"We did!" she said proudly. "And we even found something!"
"Small black casket. Charmed with a permanent sticking curse."
"Is that what that was?" Anastasia chortled. "You were always such a clever boy!"
"Where are they?" Severus practically squeaked in fear. "Where's the box?"
"Is it dangerous?" Anastasia looked alarmed.
"Only to me if Hermione gets it open." He winced.
"They took it upstairs to the girls' room. Darling, if I had known—"
"Trust me, mother. The contents of that box are nothing I want to talk about now, let alone when I was sixteen."
"Was it a trunk of love tidings?" His mother teased him, batting her eyelashes.
His red face confirmed it and her face contorted into one of horror.
"Run!" The spun him around and pushed him. "They might not have gotten it open!"
Severus practically flew upstairs and to the room the girls shared. He could hear quiet weeping and soothing sounds punctuated by Luna saying things like: 'you're being silly' and 'it was long ago.'
Well, at least Lovegood had his side.
The guard, who had decided to stand outside during a teenaged emotional breakdown, gave Severus a very judgmental look.
He took a deep breath and opened the door. Then he frowned.
The contents of the box were spread out over the bed. He had never thought about breaking the box open, leaving the seal intact. He looked down and winced at what he saw.
He felt his face burn.
Gods, of all the ones to be looking me smack in the face.
He stared down at Lily Evans' face: her bright eyes, her pretty smile, and the freckles on her cheeks.
All four of them.
Severus had forgotten about how lovely her bum had looked to him when he'd snapped that picture. Another lay nearby, showing a laughing Severus and Lily sharing a pillow. Their shoulders were both bare.
"Um…" Ginny faltered. "Hey Luna, why don't we go check out that blue room we saw earlier. The one with all the glass figurines."
Luna gave Hermione's shoulders a quick squeeze before leaving the room with Ginny.
"I—I don't know what to say," Severus said, his eyes pleading.
"You don't have to say anything," Hermione said, wiping her tears away angrily. "It was before my parents had even met. It shouldn't bother me."
"Honestly, I'd forgotten about it," Severus admitted. "Until father told me where you all went off to."
"He went to get you for backup?" Hermione scowled. "Of all the sneaky—"
"He just wanted a potion for the bump on his head," Severus said, chuckling. "She really got him good this time."
"I still can't believe she did it."
"I can't believe you didn't know she had it in her," Severus countered.
Hermione giggled and Severus felt his face soften. He was glad his wife was less prone to throwing hexes than his mother.
Hermione looked down at the contents of the box: the pictures, the dried flowers, a purple ribbon, and several opened letters. Then she took a deep breath.
"Harry should have these." Hermione said before thinking. She saw Severus' face and inwardly kicked herself. "I mean, he'd like to know about this side of his mother. The girl his own age, not just his mother."
"Not all of it, I'm sure." Severus cocked an eyebrow as he picked up a picture of Lily, taken from behind. She was nude and waggling her bum cheekily at the cameraman.
Hermione burst into a fit of giggles. "Oh please! Just to see his face! We'll modify his memory so he won't be scarred for life!"
Severus gave his wife a scandalized look. "Hermione Granger-Snape, you're a very wicked girl!" He crawled over the contents of the box to get to her. He kissed her and was surprised when she kissed him fiercely, her hands going to his chest and tugging at his clothing.
"Have something to prove, do we?" Severus growled at her as she ripped his vest open, the small buttons pinging off things in the room.
When they were done, nude and panting for breath, Severus raised his wand and repaired the items on the bed that had been damaged and whisked them back into the box. Hermione raised an eye at him.
"I just want to keep it all in one place. You can always smash it open again later," he said with amusement.
"What was in that yellow envelope?" Hermione asked curiously. "We couldn't get it open."
"I wouldn't want you to," Severus said, rolling over and sitting on the edge of the bed to put his clothing back on.
"What is it?"
"Pictures of her corpse," Severus said bitterly. "One of the Death Eaters thought I might want it as a trophy."
Hermione gasped in horror. "What a horrible thing!"
"Well, it wasn't like I was spending my time with the London supper club crowd," Severus said sarcastically.
"Really?" Hermione asked in surprise. "The Malfoy's aren't?"
"Perhaps some of them are," Severus admitted. He looked at her before sighing deeply.
Hermione cocked her head at him. "What is it?"
"How do you manage to do it? Is it some sort of witchery?"
"What are you talking about?"
"You can make me laugh. Even over terrible things."
Hermione snorted. "It's not me. I'm sarcastic and you're self-projecting."
"My love is just some sort of narcissism?" Severus asked.
"Absolutely," Hermione said as she began dressing. "It also explains our age difference."
"How?" He asked curiously, his eyes beginning to dart around as if searching something.
"I make you feel youthful and alive and not the elderly old prune that you are." She whirled around and reached for her pillow, but he had it out of her reach and was swinging the other at her.
She squealed as he buffeted her firmly and tried to wrestle one out of his hand, but he refused to let go, giving her a few more swats with the other. He ripped the pillow Hermione was hanging on to away from her and threw them as far as he could.
"There," he snarled. "Now you can tell people I beat you properly!"
The door opened and Luna and Ginny poked their heads in.
"The Amazons are here," Ginny said.
"Are they going to the Ball as well?" Luna asked curiously.
"I—I have no idea," Hermione admitted, never having thought about this before.
"Is the red-haired one really Dumbledore's daughter?" Ginny asked in awe. "I've seen her, but I haven't talked to her."
"Be gone, you hens," Severus said with a scowl. "You represent from Hogwarts! Start acting like it!"
Ginny and Luna zipped out as Hermione furrowed her eyes at Severus.
Hermione waved her wand and she and Severus were both presentable. He opened the door and motioned for her to go through.
"Wait!" Severus barked. Hermione turned to look at him and he hit her with a spell that felt like a small shock. As she swore he did the same thing to himself.
"What was that?" Hermione scowled at him.
"I wouldn't want the Jotun to snap if she catches a scent of mating," Severus said stiffly.
Hermione nodded in agreement, but she felt her cheeks burning.