After Kingsley was gone, Hermione took Snape on a tour of the house. Upstairs there were three bedrooms. The master was the same size as the sitting room below with large walk in closets and a bathroom that was clearly magical. 'I decided to spoil myself' she had told him when he noticed the bathtub that was large enough for six and even sported a waterfall in the far corner. The shower was large enough for four. He noticed the both of them had rock floors instead of the tile that was laid around the rest of the bathroom.

The other two bedrooms were large for a Muggle house, and shared another magically enlarged bathroom. The bath would only seat two, but it had jets and Severus couldn't wait to try it out. He picked the room that looked out over the ocean. The white walls and light blue accents were a far cry from the dark decor of his rooms at Hogwarts, but he thought they matched the house.

"Would you like to go shopping for clothes and get something to eat?" Hermoine asked. "We can Apparate to London, or there is a town, St. Ives, not too far away."

"I know we are in Cornwall, Ms. Granger, but can you tell me a little more about where we are located?" Severus asked.

"Of course. We are a little north of the village of Zennor on the north coast of Cornwall. St. Ives is about four miles away."

"I think St. Ives will be fine for dinner and shopping for tonight. As soon as I am able to access my vault, I will pay you back for tonight and any other expenses. As well as rent until I find a place of my own."

"I will let you pay me back for the clothes, but I don't need rent money," she said. "The house is paid for. You can just chip in for groceries and help me with cooking."

"I can do that." He grabbed her offered hand and allowed her to Apparate them to St. Ives.

"Shopping or food first, professor?"

"I am no longer your professor. You can call me Severus. And food first, please."

"You can call me Hermione if you like. Indian okay?"


After Snape, Severus, was in bed for the night Hermione made a cup of chamomile tea and thought about the day. When she had shown Kingsley the amulet, she thought that figuring out what to do with it would be the hardest part. How was she supposed to deal with being responsible for a human that was brought back to life? Even if it was for just a few days before he left her house.

Sighing, she placed the cup on the table and went to the fireplace. One thing at a time, Granger. Throwing Floo powder into the fireplace she stuck her head in and yelled "Malfoy Manor!"

As soon as her head stopped spinning, a small house elf appeared. "How's may I be helping yous?"

"Hello. May I please speak to Draco?"

Without a word, the elf was gone and Draco appeared.

"Hermione?" he asked, shock on his face.

"Hello, Draco. Are you working tomorrow?" she asked.

"No. Astoria and my mother are gone for the weekend so I am home with Scorpius. Do you need something?"

"I do. I have a top secret project I am working on for the Minister and we need a healer with your training," she told him. "It will only take a few minutes of your time and you can bring Scorpius. Can you come over tomorrow?"

"It can't wait until Monday?" Draco asked. "Or I can get my boss to come help you. I was really looking forward to spending the whole weekend with my son."

"It really can't wait, and I only trust you with this, Draco."

Hermione watched as he swelled with pride at her declaration of trust. "Okay, I will be there around eleven tomorrow. What is your Floo address?"

Reaching her hand out, she gave him a paper with her information. "It's secret kept, so please make sure you are alone when you come through and destroy the paper."

"See you tomorrow, Hermione."

She watched as he used his wand to light the paper as her head was whipped from the room.


It took Severus a few moments after he woke up to figure out where he was. He lay in bed for a few minutes, bright sun shining on his face, thinking about the previous day before the scent of coffee coming from the kitchen pulled him from bed. As he stood and stretched, he was shocked that he had no aches and pains from his sleep. Before he died, he awoke in pain every morning. Most of it was lingering nerve damage from repeatedly being exposed to the Cruciatus curse.

After getting cleaned and dressed for the day, he made his way into the kitchen where Hermione was just finishing up a pan of fried eggs.

"Good Morning, Severus. Did you sleep well?" Hermione asked.

"I did. That mattress is very comfortable," Severus replied.

"I'm glad. I wasn't sure what you liked for breakfast, so I just made coffee, eggs, and toast. But I can make you tea or something else."

"This is perfect. Thank you."

They ate in silence for a while until Hermione spoke. "Draco is going to come over around eleven. His wife is out of town, so he is going to bring his son with him."

"Draco has a son?" he asked.

"He does. Little Scorpius is a few months old," she told him.

"I remember when Draco was a few months old." The idea that Draco had a baby made him feel old.

"Have you always been close to the Malfoys?" she asked, trying to imagine what Severus would look like with a baby in his arms.

"Lucius and I met when I was a first year and he a fifth," he said. "He was the one that introduced me to the Dark Lord. When Draco was born, he and Narcissa named me godfather."

"So, what was Draco like as a child?"

"You went to school with him Hermione. I am sure you remember. He was that way from about age five on. Before that, he was a sweet boy."

Hermione tried to imagine Draco as sweet, but couldn't. They were friendly with each other now, but he was not a warm and fuzzy kind of guy. Taking a sip of tea, she asked "Have you noticed anything strange this morning? Any lingering side effects from what happened?"

"You mean from dying then coming back to life six years later?"

Hermione blushed. "Yes. I mean that."

"I feel better, physically, than I did before I died. Also, I don't feel as angry as I used to be. Even the thought of Harry Potter doesn't make me mad. Before if I heard his name, I felt rage."

Taking notes, Hermione wrote down everything he said. "I want to see if this matches up with anything in the tome we found," she explained. "I haven't finished with it yet, but I skimmed it and didn't see any side effects listed."

"Are you able to bring the book here so I can look at it?" Severus asked.

"I should be able to. I will talk to Kingsley about it. If not, he should be able to get you access to the Floo in the DoM so you can go in with me." Seeing that he was finished eating and they still had a couple of hours until Draco arrived she asked, "Would you like a tour of the gardens? Or we can go to the beach. It is a lot closer than it looks."

"I think the gardens first."


Severus was impressed with not only her kitchen garden, but her potions garden too. She grew enough here that she could work as a full time potioneer if she wanted to. Bending down, he looked at the aconite.

"Hermione, this is excellent quality," Severus said, not hiding the awe in his voice. "What do you do with it? Sell it?"

"No. I brew Wolfbane every month for children that were bitten by Greyback," Hermione told him. "Actually, I need to give it back to you, but in one of your books there was a recipe to improve it. I have been working on it for the last three years. So far, I have made it taste better, but that is all. I think I am close to improving the shelf life though. I was surprised how many improved recipes you have that you never published"

"Have you sent your findings in to be peer reviewed and published?"

"No. I didn't know I could, I am not a Master."

"It doesn't matter," Severus explained. He could feel himself getting excited like he always did when there was an advancement in potions. "Anyone can do it. If the reviews are successful, you are given royalties for it. If you want, next time you brew, I can help you."

"That would be great, Severus," she said. Excitement filled her at the thought of brewing with someone as experienced as him. "It is a lot of work and if you're helping it will be so much easier. Obviously my other friends aren't able to help."

"I wouldn't trust them in my lab," he told her. Hermoine may be bright, but her friends were idiots.

"Draco wouldn't be too bad," Hermione said, half to herself and half out loud. "Why didn't you ever submit your improvements?"

"I was always too busy with students during the school year and the summers were filled with conventions," he said. "I always thought about it, but never did. Speaking of labs, where do you brew?"

"Oh, I can't believe I haven't shown you!" Hermione exclaimed, then led him towards the greenhouse. "I was going to put it in the basement of the house, but I figured if I blew something up, I would rather it ruin just the greenhouse and not my home."

"Have you ever had something blown up?"

Hermione opened the door to the greenhouse, then another door made of steel, before leading him down a flight of stairs.

"No, but just in case," she said. "I have it warded as well, but I didn't want to take a chance."

Severus walked through the steel door at the bottom of the stairs and stopped as he took in the lab. Just like the main house, Muggle lights turned on and he was able to see everything. He would have to ask her how a secret kept house was able to have electricity. The lab was nothing short of perfection. The walls were made of stone, but Hermione had painted them white. There were exhaust hoods, reminiscent of chemistry labs he had seen on television. The workbench was probably ten foot by five foot, enough to have multiple cauldrons going at the same time. The far wall had built in cubbies that held cauldrons of multiple sizes, at least twenty of them. The fifteen foot wall to the left was a bank of small cubbies, each filled with potion ingredients.

"How do you make sure the ingredients are fresh?" he asked. He had a lot of questions, but that was the one that came out first.

"Each cubby is designed for the specific ingredient. I have charms to alert me when one is going bad, or if I put it back in the wrong place. Here, let me show you." Moving towards the wall she took out two bottles and placed them in opposite spots. As soon as she moved her hand, a red light appeared around the cubby. "If something is bad, it will light up orange."

"And you only brew once a month? You have done so much in here."

"I brew at least once a week. I brew all of my own potions, as well as potions for my friends," she explained. "I also brew healing potions for the werewolf children, and when I can, I donate potions to the orphanage that was set up, Lupin House. Chopping is a good stress reliever."

"I'm impressed."

"You are welcome to use the lab anytime you want. I already added you to the wards." Hermione gave him a shy smile. "Plus, all the potion books, cauldrons, stirring rods, and most of the ingredient jars are yours."

"Really?"

"Minerva gave me everything that you had at Hogwarts. The new Potions Master they hired wanted to use all of his own equipment so she had no need for it. In return, I brew her Sober-Up potions for the staff."

"I have been itching to brew for a while. If that makes sense. I didn't get to brew much the last year I was alive. I think I will come down here after Draco leaves."

"Speaking of Draco, my wards just pinged so it is either him or Kingsley," she said. "Give me about ten minutes to prepare him before you come up?"

Severus nodded, but didn't watch her leave. Instead, he turned to examine the lab in more detail. If he could design a lab, this is exactly what he would have created. It was as if she had plucked his dream from his head and brought it to life. The right hand wall, unlike the left, was left blank except for a large trough sized sink, and a small picture frame. Walking towards it, he tried to take it from the wall before realizing it was attached with a sticking charm. Moving closer, he recognized the drawing she had framed.

It was a drawing of a potions lab he had done right before Voldemort came back. He had drawn it up one night when he was sick of students and wanted to quit Hogwarts to brew full time. He had put everything he wished he had into the drawing. No wonder this lab is perfect, she made it to the specifications I created.