"There you are," Draco said as he walked out of Hermione's house, Scorpius on his hip.
"Sorry, I was in my lab," Hermione told him, reaching out to take Scorpius from him. "Hello, gorgeous. Have you been a good boy?"
"So, what is this top secret thing you need me for?"
"Draco, when I say this is top secret, I mean it. I will have to have you agree to an Unbreakable Vow before I can tell you more."
"Are you serious, Granger? An Unbreakable? I thought you said you trusted me."
"I am serious. I can't tell you why now, but after I show you, you will understand." She paused as she saw his hesitation. "I do trust you. You know I wouldn't ask you of it if it wasn't necessary."
"Fine. We'll need a bonder though."
"He is here, just in the lab. Before you see him, I just need a Wizard's oath that you'll take the Unbreakable before you leave."
The magic swirled around them and Scorpius giggled at the colours, trying to reach out and grab them.
"Now spill," Draco demanded.
Hermione explained all about Morgana's amulet and Kingsley's error without telling him who had been brought back. Just that it was someone that died in the war and he would need to give them a full exam to make sure nothing was wrong.
"Hermione, the Ministry has to be careful," Draco said with concern and worry clear on his face. "What if that fell into the wrong hands? They could bring Voldemort back."
"I know. It scares me," Hermione agreed.
"So, who did it bring back? Obviously, someone we know if they died six years ago."
Hermione looked up at the motion that caught her eye. Behind Draco she could see Severus walking towards them. "It is someone you know. I am going to leave you two to talk. Scorpius and I will be in the house. Take all the time you need."
She heard Severus' deep voice call out his name and she heard Draco call out "Uncle Sev?" and a deep sob escape his throat before she closed the door to the back garden. She hoped that they would find her before the exam, she was fascinated to see what the scans would show, but she wanted them to be able to reconnect privately.
More than an hour later, she was laying on the sitting room floor playing with Scorpius when Draco and Severus entered.
"Uncle, this is my son. Scorpius." Draco said, leaning down to picked him up from the floor. "Scorpius, say hi to your uncle."
Severus reached out and pulled Scorpius into his arms. "Hello, young man."
Scorpius was still too young to talk, but he reached out and grabbed Severus by the nose then smiled as the adults laughed.
"He is a good looking baby, Draco. Looks just like you did at that age. Who is his mother?"
"Astoria Greengrass."
"Well done, son. She was a smart girl and never fell into the blood supremacist crowd."
"We are very happy together, Uncle," Draco said as he turned to Hermione. "We figured you would want to be present when I do the exam. Merlin forbid you miss an opportunity to take notes."
"I know you're teasing me," Hermione said, "but thank you for letting me be here for it."
Draco scanned Severus for half an hour, checking for everything he could think of. Occasionally he could stop to write something down, but other than that he cast spell after spell at his godfather.
"Are you done yet, Draco?" Severus was quickly losing his patience. He had always hated going to the doctor or healer.
"Almost, I just want to check something, but you will need to remove your shirt."
"Why in Salazar's name do I need to take my shirt off? I don't know a single diagnostic spell that requires me to be undressed."
"Stop being a pain in my arse. I want to check something with my own eyes."
Severus huffed but took his shirt off. Hermione was impressed with the muscles he was hiding under his clothes. He had always seemed so gaunt to her, but nothing in his physique showed that. He was wirey, but the muscles were there. Almost like a body of a swimmer. Looking at him I closer, she realized his skin was no longer sallow, but a healthy shade. His hair was also not the greasy curtains she remembered, but a shiny, healthy black.
"Well, you are in perfect health, Uncle," Draco said. "And you didn't age while you were dead. The scans came back that you are thirty nine and a half years old."
"But?" Severus knew he was holding something back.
"Well, I remember you had a bright purple scar on your back from a hex you said you received from the night you joined the Dark Lord. It's gone now."
Draco waved his wand an conjured two full length mirrors so Severus could see. The scar on his back was gone. Strange. "Was there anything else?" he asked.
"Yes, your Dark Mark is gone as well." Draco rolled up his sleeve to show the light grey mark that was still on his forearm. "See, mine is faint but you can still see it. Look at your arm."
Severus looked and his arm was unmarked, no trace of a Dark Mark. Glancing at his hands, he noticed he still had the scars from potion accidents throughout the years, cuts and minor burns. "I still have my other scars, so it just cleared up any magical ones?"
"It appears so."
"Was there anything else, Draco?" Hermione found this intriguing.
The tome had mentioned that all magical injuries or curses would be healed. She had not heard about it healing old curse or hex scars though. Even though most of what Draco had said she had been expecting, this was still interesting to see.
"Well, I ran one test that scans for past curses. It tests the tissues in your skin for the last year and gives me back a reading about what curse you might be under, how long ago it happened, things like that. I am hoping it will help the Aurors be able to test if someone's was under the Imperious when they are committing crimes. Now, I wasn't sure if it would work on you since your body was gone for so long, but I did find a few that were attached to you, but have been removed. Some of them were placed on you a long time ago."
"What were they?" Severus felt his anxiety heighten. Who had cast a long term curse on him?
"Well, the oldest one was from the seventies."
"From when he was at Hogwarts?" Hermione asked, shocked.
"That is what I am reading." Draco replied. "It seems to be some kind of beauty charm, but it is not one I am familiar with. It looks to be a simple one, but I am not seeing a break in it. It has been working on you since it was cast."
Hermione stood up to look at his paper. She recognized the spell at once. It was one she used frequently on her own hair. "That is a spell that makes your hair produce more oil than normal. It is for people like me who have dry hair." Hermione thought for a moment. "I bet it was one of the marauders. They would have thought it was funny to give you greasy hair."
"Those fucking arseholes!" Snape was livid. He had spent years washing his hair twice a day and nothing he tried would keep his already fine hair from being so oily. If James Potter and Sirius Black weren't already dead, he would kill them. "What else?"
"Let's see. There were just two others. Both from around eighty or eighty-one. And both very powerful. A compulsive and an obsession curse each. The compulsion curse appears to be attached to the caster, while the obsession to someone, or someones, else," Draco said, frowning at his paper. "I am still working on perfecting these diagnostic scans, so I am not positive."
"I think you are correct in your assumptions, Draco." Hermione's tone was icy.
Severus glanced up at her, confused by her anger. "What are you thinking, Hermione?"
"I think Dumbledore placed both of them on you."
Draco turned to look at her so fast his neck popped. Rubbing it, he asked, "What makes you think so?"
"Well, the timing for the curses is right around the time Severus came to Dumbledore for protection," Hermione said and Severus agreed with her. "And, Severus you can be mad at me or Harry if you want, but we watched your memories. Lily Potter was a sweet girl when she was a child, but she cast you aside like you were trash when you made a mistake. After being bullied and humiliated in front of half the school, mind you. Your obsession with her never matched the tone of your memories. It was too strong. I never understood why you would risk your life for her, get tortured for her memory, even fifteen years after she died. It never added up for me."
Draco glanced at his notes again. "The person who cast them had them tied into your magical core, Uncle. It would have been a powerful person."
"I think you might be right Hermione," Severus said.
Severus had listened when Hermione was talking and trying to find that need for Lily, the desire to do anything for her, and it was gone. He still felt the pain of a long lost friend, but nothing like the pull he had towards her before. It was just a dull sadness he felt when he thought about her. Had Dumbledore been manipulating his feelings the entire time?
"Do you still feel the pull towards her? Or a hatred towards James?" Hermione asked.
"I don't feel the pull towards Lily. But I still hate James." Severus hesitated, really looking into his feelings so he could explain it. "Somehow it feels different though. It is the same hatred I felt towards Sirius Black. I hate them because they were bullies. I no longer hate him because he married Lily."
"Did you find anything else, Draco?" Hermione asked.
"The only other thing of note was your nervous system," Draco replied, looking at Severus. "I know you received more Crucio's than any Death Eater, but you have no nerve damage at all. It is like you were never hit by the curse at all."
The trio sat and talked for a long time after Draco was finished, Scorpius sleeping in Snape's arms. Severus had acted as bonder for the Unbreakable Vow, even though he didn't think it was necessary. Hermione had made them salad from her garden for lunch, but it was nearing dinner time.
"Before you leave, Draco," Snape said. "I was wondering if you could help with one more thing."
"What do you need?"
"We need a cover story for me for the last six years. Do you have any properties outside of England that your family hasn't used? One that I could have been living at?"
Draco thought for a minute. "I have a property in Iceland that was given to me from the Blacks," he paused before continuing. "My parents have been on house arrest until last year and I know they haven't been there since. My father has never been there actually. I went with my mother a few times, but not since my fourth year."
"That is perfect. May I use that as a cover?" Severus asked.
"Of course. I will command the house elves to lie for you, just in case."
"Thank you. And thank you for coming over for the exam."
Draco took his son from Severus before pulling him into a hug. "I am glad you are alive, Uncle. I have missed you."
Hermione smiled at the two men. "Draco, you, Astoria, and Scorpius are welcome to visit anytime. No invitation required."
Draco nodded before covering his son's face with a blanket and Flooing back to Malfoy Manor.
Severus turned to face her. "Hermione, thank you for having Draco over. It means a lot to me that you would open your home for me."
"Of course! But Severus, don't start saying 'thank you' too often. I will start to think you are a nice person who likes me," Hermione told him as she winked at him.
"Well, I don't hate you," Severus said, stopping for a moment to think. "In fact, I don't hate Harry anymore either. I feel like all the anger I was carrying around with me before is gone."
Yesterday, he'd let his temper get the better of him. He'd been rude, but he was more frustrated than angry. He was a man that liked control and order. Suddenly waking up and being told he had died then been brought back was jarring. Luckily, it didn't look like Hermione would hold it against him.
"Do you think that is because both of your masters are dead, or do you think you were so angry because of one of the curses on you?" Hermione asked.
"Probably both, but mostly I think it was the curses. When the Dark Lord was gone before, I was still angry. And during that time, Dumbledore wasn't demanding of my time like he was after the Dark Lord returned," He paused. "Do you really think Dumbledore would have cursed me like that?"
"I think Dumbledore would do whatever he thought would create the outcome he wanted," Hermione said. "That includes cursing you to be obsessed with a dead woman and a compulsion to do whatever he asked of you."
"It sounds like you are not a fan of his," Severus said, surprised.
He thought all Gryffindors worshipped the man and that rainbows shot out of his arse.
"Well, I know he did what he thought was right for the Wizarding world. But when a man you thought was your leader sends the boy you love like a brother to die with no warning, you tend to not like them. If you hadn't have given Harry your memories, he wouldn't have known what to do." Hermione was getting angry just thinking about it. "Not to mention sending three children out to hunt horcruxes with almost no information."
Severus didn't answer her. He sat at the table, lost in his own thoughts as Hermione prepared dinner. After they were done eating, Severus stood, ready to head to the lab.
"Hermione, are there any potions I can make for you today?"
"Ready to get to work?" Hermione asked, making her way to the pantry. "Let's see. I need hangover, headache, and contraceptive. I am low on all three. Do you know where the recipe books are or do you need me to help?"
"I will be fine, they are easy potions." Severus hesitated, not sure if they were friendly enough for it to be appropriate. "Speaking of contraceptives… You and Kingsley?" He raised an eyebrow.
Hermione laughed.
"Yes, me and Kingsley," she said. "It was about three years ago now. We tried dating for about a year, but it didn't work out. We were both too busy with work to dedicate energy to a relationship with each other. It would have worked if one, or both, of us weren't workaholics, I think."
"And now you two are?" he trailed off.
"Now we are friends that dated once," Hermione shrugged. "Other people don't believe us, but we both know we'll never get back together."
