Disclaimer:- I neither earn nor own anything from this story except my plot. Harry Potter and his world are the intellectual property of JK Rowling and her associates.

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A/N:- Thank you to LadyWinterlight for her beta work on this chapter, and thank you all for your reviews and alerts. I appreciate every one. My apologies for taking sooo long with this chapter, it just wouldn't come… However, now it has, perhaps some of you will be disappointed, as it does not address the Harry/Ginny issue, but I thought the characters deserved a day to themselves. The next chapter will be completely devoted to finally getting the complete truth of what happened out there, I promise. The first scene has been edited slightly for , but the full text is available as usual on AO3.

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Chapter Twelve – Time To Breathe

Hermione and Severus turned away from the Floo as Draco left with his son, and they started towards the stairs.

"Do you think Draco going to live with his parents is a good idea?" Hermione asked.

Severus snorted. "No, but he's not going to listen to me. I'll give it a week before he's back here, Lucius will drive him insane, just like he used to, and Narcissa's over-protectiveness—while good for Scorpius—will not be tolerated by Draco for long."

"Oh dear," Hermione sighed.

They started walking and Severus shrugged. "Scorpius could do with the kind of stability that Narcissa can offer. He's an ill-behaved little brat, so perhaps…" and he left the sentence open.

Hermione snuggled into him as they mounted the stairs, and she changed the subject. "Maybe tomorrow will be more settled," she said, and sighed.

Severus chuckled softly and said, "I hope so. There are several tasks I'd like to complete in the main garden, and the last few days have been unexpectedly busy. It would be nice to have a quiet day; just us."

"Mmm," Hermione agreed as they approached their bedroom, she knew that Severus loved being in his garden, and that he'd lamented the day before that now spring was here there were many things to do. "I'm happy to follow you around and help," she offered.

He glanced at her. "I would enjoy that very much, but do you think Alice will want to…"

Hermione tightened her arm around his waist, and she snickered softly. "We'll have to see," and she glanced back at Alice's new bedroom door as they passed it, wondering if she should check on her once again, but she decided to trust their spells. Then she remembered Severus' earlier surprise, and her love for him spiked, spiralling through her like a living entity as she recalled the care and planning that must have gone into creating Alice's new bedroom.

"You're amazing," she murmured as they entered their shared new domain, giving him a quick smile to back up her statement. She was far more comfortable this time as she entered what had—up until hours ago—been his private section of the house.

Looking around, she saw her belongings seamlessly placed amongst his by their ever industrious elf, and her smile grew. She wound her arms around his waist, and looked up at him. "I love you," she told him earnestly.

He gave her the smile she'd only ever seen him give her and Alice, and his head dipped down towards her. "I love you too," he murmured in his most rumbling velvet whisper, his hand resting on her cheek, and his eyes drinking her in as she looked up at him adoringly.

His voice was one of his most seductive tools, and Hermione shuddered slightly on hearing it. "Oh, Severus," she murmured, overcome by her need for him.

He chuckled softly. "Yes, Madam Snape?" he questioned, knowing full well what she wanted, and his mouth covered hers.

Their kiss quickly escalated and it became a race to remove clothing with Hermione tugging Severus towards the bathroom. "I'd love a bath, would you care to join me?"

He smiled, and as he followed her, he tried to remember that the first time he'd made love they'd both been in an enormous hurry, and earlier had been even quicker, but now they had all the time in the world. Yes, I would love to," and he pulled them to a stop as they entered the bathroom. "I'm going to adore you," he declared in another velvet whisper against her neck, nuzzling it. His hands started to roam over her while they waited for the tub to fill, caressing and fondling as they moved.

They were both naked now and he backed her up to the counter and started kissing down her torso, his fingers exploring ahead of his mouth. Bending his body slightly he captured the rosy peak of one breast between his lips eliciting a lusty moan from her. He snickered, and his fingers slipped further down as his mouth adored the nipple.

"Severus," she sighed, her hands coming up to hold his head in place. Her eyes closed and her head lolled back as he pleasured her.

However, Severus had more plans before they made it into the bath, and he moved to kneel in front of her on the thick bath-mat. As he lowered himself, her hands easily fell away from his head and went to grip the counter as his fingers continued their explorations while his tongue dipped and licked her bellybutton.

She moaned again. "Severus," she sighed.

To his ears, Hermione sighing his name sounded like a prayer, and even more ardent desire shot through him, but he continued his slow seduction of his lovely wife. He was determined that he would take her completely and without interruption now it was finally just the two of them. He chuckled softly as his tongue continued on its relentless mission to make her come completely undone.

She shuddered and moaned, shifting her legs and rolling her pelvis forward. Her hands—cold from being on the marble of the counter—came back to his head, and buried themselves in his hair as he worked at his mission.

No one had ever made her feel as she currently did. Yes, she had enjoyed their bedroom adventures so far, but nothing could have prepared her for the pleasure that was currently raging through her, the ache in her core that cried out to be sated, but yet escalated with every lick of his tongue. "Oh, god," she moaned, lost in the moment. Then the need for the pleasure to crest became overwhelming and she cried out. "Severus," she cried as the pleasure built to fever pitch, and she was desperate to have it explode around her. She rubbed against him as his mouth kept working her so perfectly, and she felt it coming; like a stream train rolling over her, and she screamed when it hit her.

Then he was holding her, pushing her back onto the counter and he was sliding into her. She clung to him as he pushed into her, holding her as he started to move inside her. Her still excited flesh gripped him and held him as he started moving and she heard him groan in the back of his throat.

"Oh Merlin and all his minions," he moaned, thrusting into her. "You're so perfect."

Hermione wrapped her legs around his hips and clung to him; she was afloat in a sea of sensation, and neither of them noticed that the bathtub was running over. The trickling of the water only seemed to add to Hermione's sensations, and she fell over the edge of pleasure again.

Severus felt her starting to grip and squeeze him and it was all over; it felt so delicious that he couldn't hold on any longer. He roared his orgasm, burying himself deep inside her and losing himself to the same pleasure she was panting to.

They were silent, breathing one another in as they recovered, but that was when reality started to filter in and Severus cursed.

"The bloody bath!" Severus cursed.

"Oh my," Hermione managed, lifting her head off his shoulder to look.

However, quick bit of wand waving had the mess contained, and they looked at one another. Severus' mouth twitched and Hermione smiled at him, then she started tittering with laughter, and he couldn't hold it in any longer.

He wrapped her in his arms and hugged her as he laughed. "I love you," he whispered close to her ear.

"And I you," she answered, almost overwhelmed by the lovely sound of his laughter. "Let's get into the bath and relax," she said, offering him a soft kiss after simply grinning at him for a time.

"Yes, we should use it now we've created such a mess," he said, still smiling.

"That makes sense," she giggled, and happily allowed him to carry her to the bath. "You know, you just made me feel incredible," she told him, looking up at him as he placed her in the still brimming bath.

"That was the point, I believe, dearest," Severus replied, stepping in and sitting carefully before guiding her down to sit in front of him.

They lay there against one another for an unknown amount of time, and Hermione indeed did relax completely. So much so that she was soon yawning.

"I'm sorry, Severus," she sighed as she placed her hand over her mouth.

He exhaled and kissed her ear as he said, "I believe it might be time to go to bed," and he was getting up and helping her out. He took his time drying her, alternating between rubbing her with the warm fluffy towel and placing kisses on the bits he'd dried. By the time she was dry she was giggling almost uncontrollably.

"Severus," she moaned softly.

He remained silent, but raised an arched eyebrow at her and the corner of his mouth ticked up. "Come, it's bedtime," he murmured.

He settled them into their comfortable bed, and heard Hermione's soft sigh as her head touched the pillow. She was exhausted again, recovering from the abuse that had been inflicted on her was taking longer than he'd thought it would. He sighed as he cuddled up behind her and silently swore that he would find a way to make Harry and Ginevra Potter pay for what they'd done to her.

xox

The new day dawned and as she blinked the sleep from her eyes Hermione turned and snuggled into Severus' side. He sighed and his arms went around her. She blinked, looking past him to the lovely spring day through the window.

Severus yawned and glanced at the clock. "Mmm, we slept in until seven," his sleep affected voice rumbled.

Hermione snickered. "The quiet won't last too much longer," she said sighing.

As if she'd heard them, Alice started babbling baby-talk in her cot. Both Severus and Hermione laughed, and Severus kissed Hermione's temple before starting to sit up.

Hermione stopped him. "No, she's happy prattling away to Mister Bobo, let's just lay here for a bit longer," she murmured, running her hands over his chest and pulling him back down.

"Who am I to complain when my wife pulls me down to stay in bed with her," and he captured Hermione's lips in his, rolling her onto her back. They were just settling into their kiss when Alice's chattering changed.

"Mum, Mum, Mum, Mum," she started chanting, She was not upset, but they both knew that if they left her she would end up being upset.

"Peace over," Hermione snickered, and she slipped out of bed. "Day started," she added grabbing her robe.

Severus watched lovely body disappearing under the material of her robe and he sighed and rose as well. He walked to his wardrobe and started dressing. "You bring Alice in and I'll mind her while you dress."

She turned at the door and smiled. "Isn't it glorious?" she asked.

"Glorious?" Severus questioned, walking over to meet her.

"Us," she replied.

He smiled. "Yes, it is glorious. You are glorious, Alice is glorious," and he kissed her.

She snickered, "And you are glorious," she told him as she slipped out the door leaving it open.

Severus smiled as he watched her go to the room just down the hall before he turned back to his dressing, considering that he'd never thought anyone would call him glorious.

He dressed quickly; he was eager to see what the Prophet had to say about the Potters this morning. He would be able to read between the lines to ascertain something of what was going on before they met with Kingsley and Abigail the next day.

He started buttoning his shirt as he wondered if what they learned from the paper would settle Hermione until she found out the whole story. Severus pulled his frock coat from the wardrobe and turned as he heard Alice coming, guided by Hermione.

"That's it, Baby, in here. This is mummy and daddy's room," he heard her say as they entered.

"Daddy!" Alice cried happily, already dressed for a day in the garden in overalls, a soft long-sleeved tee, and a soft cardigan. She attached herself to his leg and gazed up at him.

"Good morning, daughter dear," Severus murmured, picking her up and nuzzling her raven curls with his nose as her little arms squeezed around his neck.

She giggled. "Tickles, Daddy," she told him.

Severus smiled at her, and glanced at Hermione as she placed her robe on the bed and stood there for a moment smiling at them before starting to work out where her underwear was. It didn't take long for her to find the appropriate drawer; Shotsie had been very methodical in her placement of things. She dressed, knowing Severus' eyes were on her as she did so.

It didn't take Hermione long to be ready and soon they were helping Alice down the stairs as they moved towards the kitchen for breakfast. They separated in the entrance way, and Severus said, "I'll just get Argus' potions from my workroom," and he kissed Hermione before turning into his study to go down to his lab.

"Okay," Hermione answered and steered Alice towards the kitchen. When they entered the warm kitchen, Shotsie already had porridge bubbling along on the stove and the teapot stood on the table steeping. "Good morning, Shotsie," Hermione said, picking Alice up to place her in her highchair.

"Good morning," the elf replied as she started to prepare the tray for Severus to take to Argus with his potions.

Hermione spooned Alice's porridge out of the pot and placed a cooling charm on it while she filled her juice cup and gave it to her before pouring tea into the three cups that sat next to the pot. She prepared them as each person preferred it and placed one cup on the tray of breakfast for Argus.

She took a sip of hers and removed the cooling charm from Alice's porridge before adding some milk from the jug on the table, as well as some sugar. She sat down next to Alice, testing the first mouthful of porridge on her lip before feeding it to Alice.

Severus arrived as this was happening and after taking a sip of his tea and smiling his thanks to Hermione for having it ready, he said, "I won't be long," and picked up the prepared breakfast tray, setting it to levitate behind him as he moved to the back door.

When he returned, Hermione asked, "How is he this morning?"

Severus looked relieved as he said, "Much better," and sat down immediately opening the paper.

His intake of breath on reading the headline made Hermione look up from her tea and toast. "What?"

"Oh, you must be kidding me," he all but growled. "The Wizarding World saviour, Harry Potter has sad breakdown," he read, brandishing the paper in his hand.

"Mmm," Hermione replied, her lips thinning. "I kind of knew that it would say something like that. That's why I didn't read it."

"But it's wrong, Hermione," Severus replied passionately.

Hermione sighed and her hand came forward to cover his. "I know, but you know very well that justice takes time."

He squeezed her hand. "I want justice for you, love."

She smiled. "I know you do, but my best revenge is already happening," she replied.

"What is that?" Severus queried.

She sighed and looked from him to Alice and back again. "I am blissfully happy." She smiled at them both again. "Certainly, it doesn't stop me from wanting both of them," and she glanced at Alice occupied with her toast before leaning forward and whispering, "to rot in hell…" She leant back again and tousled Alice's curls. "But I have you and Alice, and a supportive army of people around me. What do they have? I am so rich in spirit and happy in heart, and no matter what Kingsley and Abigail tell us tomorrow it will not change what I have now."

Severus leaned across the table and kissed Hermione. "Yes, you are correct. They have nothing," and he sat back down and went back to reading, but muttered to himself as he did. "It still doesn't stop me from wanting to make them both suffer."

"Don't read it, you know it's dribble. Have your breakfast so we can get outside, it looks like a beautiful day."

xox

They'd been out in the garden for just over an hour when they heard the unicorn stallion calling, and even Hermione could tell that he sounded distressed.

Severus' head came up immediately. "That's unusual," he mused, turning to Hermione. "Perhaps we best take a look, Nester was close to foaling last time I visited. There may be a problem."

Hermione wiped the sweat from her brow and nodded. "He does sound upset." She glanced at Alice, busily holding a tea party on the grass with Shotsie and Blotchy as her guests. "It might be best to leave Alice here."

She had only just said it when Argus shuffled around the corner calling for Severus. "Talon be callin' yu."

"Yes," Severus answered, "we heard, we're just wondering about Alice."

"I'll watch little'n. You go and see what's wrong," Argus offered.

Severus looked to Hermione, and she nodded. Over her time here she'd come to trust Argus, something that she'd never have thought would happen, but more importantly, Severus trusted him. She stepped up to Severus and he apparated the both of them to just outside the forest.

It was a tricky business approaching a unicorn, but as soon as they arrived, they could both see that there was a mare laying out flat, and she was straining. She looked exhausted and her eyes were filled with panic.

"Follow my lead," Severus whispered, and he bowed his head to the panicked unicorn stallion. "It's a lot like approaching a hippogriff, they have to accept you before you can help them."

"Okay," Hermione replied, also bowing her head as she'd leant to do to Buckbeak years ago, and wasn't that a mixed bundle of more innocent times to open in her head.

However, she remained very still as Talon approached them both and brought his soft muzzle to the top of her head. He snorted gently, and a shiver went through Hermione. It was strange, she somehow instantly felt better. She watched out of the corner of her eye as he did the same thing to Severus and then stepped back bowing to them in return.

Severus reached for her hand and said, "Move slowly, no sudden movements or loud sounds," and they crept forward. The other mares parted to allow them through. "She should allow us to assist her because Talon has allowed us through. I can already see the problem, there is only one front foot and the muzzle has already presented. The other front foot should be present before it appears, something must be out of alignment. I'll need to push what's already out back a bit and pull the other foot free before she can have the foal," Severus stated.

"Have you done this before?" Hermione asked nervously. This was all new and a bit frightening to Hermione, and she needed to know that they would not do any harm by interfering.

"I've assisted Hagrid many times," he reassured her.

"Should I go and collect Hagrid?" Hermione asked.

"No, we'll be fine," Severus stated confidently.

Hermione still wasn't completely convinced, but as she saw him going to work, he seemed to know what he was doing. "Oh, then what should I do?" she asked, watching him cleansing his hands and arms. He'd already shed his heavy jacket while they'd been working in the garden. The cleaning spell gave off a slight aroma of pine as it worked and Severus knelt down slowly behind the mare.

"You just watch for the moment," he replied, his hand patting the mare's flank. "Don't concern yourself, Nester, you'll be a mother again in a moment," and he slowly pushed back on the protruding muzzle as he slid his other hand up inside the mare.

Hermione watched concern appear on his face, but then his expression settled, and his hand appeared again with the stuck leg. "Now you'll manage, old girl," he told her, waiting to see what happened with her next push.

The contraction hit her and as she bore down, but Severus could she that she was too tired, and he started pulling on the foal's legs to help her.

Hermione watched a moment, her lip caught between her teeth, but then slowly sank down next to him. It appeared to be very hard work and the mare seemed exhausted.

"She's very tired," Hermione murmured. "It might be easier if we both pull," she suggested, having seen that what Severus was doing was helping.

Severus watched her cleaning her hands, and he nodded, and with the next contraction they took a front leg each and pulled.

It took six more contractions before the head was completely out, and Severus said, "The shoulders are the hardest bit, so a good pull with the next one then she should be right."

They watched as Nester started to bear down again and they pulled the already snuffling foal. The shoulders came through and the rest of the body followed in a whoosh of fluid.

Severus pulled the newborn foal around on the grass so that Nester could see it, and then he came back around and grabbed Hermione's hand, pulling her away. "Let's leave them to bond. They'll be fine now."

They stood back watching as Nester sniffed the foal and then started licking it. After a little time she got to her feet and continued cleaning and nuzzling at the foal. Finally the little creature took the hint and staggered to its feet also.

"Wow," Hermione gasped, clearly in awe of what they'd just done. "Is it a boy or a girl?" she asked.

"It's a colt," Severus replied. "We may be witnessing the beginning of a new era for our herd," and in answer to her puzzled look he added, "The alpha unicorn mare only has a colt every fifty years or so."

Hermione knew that unicorns—like many other magical creatures—were very long-lived, but she hadn't known that they remained fertile for that long. "So this little man might grow up to lead the herd."

"Perhaps, but it's more likely that we will have to expand our herd," he replied, taking her hands to clean them, and then slinging an arm around her. They stood there watching as the new arrival was greeted by every member of the herd, and after a time they heard a sound behind them and looked around, and there was Argus getting down off the buggy and then helping Alice down.

"Little'n wanted to see," he said, holding Alice's hand tightly as they approached.

"Oh, Argus," Hermione said, "Were you well enough to hitch up the buggy and drive all this way?"

"Elf helped me," he stated, glancing at Shotsie, who was holding Alice's other hand. "Everythin' all right?" he asked, looking past them to the herd.

"Nester was having trouble foaling. One leg was stuck, but we helped," Severus stated, squeezing Hermione closer. He was so content at this moment. Dumbledore had moved this herd here from Hogwarts many years ago when Talon was of age, and the fact that they were still thriving filled him with joy.

In fact, everything about his current life filled him with joy. Hermione had been right with what she'd said this morning, no matter what happened from here on in they all had each other and nothing else mattered.

He turned to Alice, and placing his hands on her little shoulders he squatted down beside her. "Do you see the new foal, Alice?" he asked. Her curls flapped at she nodded at him, her mouth tightly closed, and he realised that she must have been following Argus' instructions to stay quiet. "It's all right, little one, you can speak quietly," he told her.

"Yes," she answered, her eyes sparkling. "Can I pat him?"

"No, sweetie," Hermione said sadly. She would love for Alice to be able to have a pet she could love, but a unicorn foal was definitely not the right choice.

As if he'd seen Hermione's thoughts, Severus intervened, glancing up at her. "Maybe we can talk about some kind of pet for your birthday," he told Alice, catching Hermione's eye and winking.

Hermione smiled. "Yes, we could take you to The Magical Menagerie," but then her expression faltered. "Could we go to Diagon Alley?"

It never ceased to amaze Severus how Hermione flitted from confident witch to being so uncertain in the blink of an eye, but he smiled in return. "Certainly," he said.

Hermione smiled, but realised that it must almost be time for Alice's morning nap. "Well, we best get Alice home for her nap before lunch," she stated.

They all piled into the buggy, leaving the unicorns to welcome the newest member of their herd, and they went back to the house.