The Liber Severi
Liber I - Severus Snape's True Love
Copyright (c) 2001 by Cassandra Houston
Illustrations by Gabriel (http://www.angelfire.com/art/angelgabriel/)
Author's Notes:
Most of the characters within belong to JK Rowling. Amethyst Rayne Black Snape, Lapis Meaker and some others belong to me, Cassandra Houston. I will not accept money for this book, nor any others made with the wonderful characters JK Rowling has created. I am only putting on paper my interpretation and theory of what the Rowling characters may have been like before the Harry Potter series and what they may be like after. I am not trying to insult or steal from Rowling. I am only having fun here.
If you like what you read (and I certainly hope you do), please feel free to forward a copy of this ebook along to friends, family and anyone else who may enjoy its contents.
I must take the time here to thank Gabriel. Gabriel! You are a saint and I am forever in your debt!
I now give you Severus Snape's True Love, the first in the Liber Severi series.
Cassandra Houston
Chapter Nine: Out With the Old and In With the New
Albus Dumbledore sat at his desk contemplating the two pieces of parchment on his desk. He turned and looked out of his window on the beautiful summer day outside. He could see a great many students out by the lake, enjoying the day.
He'd known this day would come. He'd hoped to be able to avoid it for another year or two, but even he had to admit that it was time.
He turned at a knock on his door.
"Enter." He said, softly.
The door opened and Severus Snape walked in.
"Please, sit down." Dumbledore said.
Severus sat in front of Dumbledore and the two contemplated each other for a long time.
"Why, Severus?" Dumbledore said.
"Headmaster," Severus began, but Dumbledore raised his hand and stopped him.
Severus nodded. "Very well." He said. "Albus."
"I thank you." Dumbledore said, his eyes twinkling.
"The time has come, Albus." Severus began again. "I have been here for many years now. You know my history, Albus."
"I do at that."
"Then perhaps you can understand why I must do this. I have nineteen years to make up. And that will just not be possible here."
Dumbledore considered Severus for a very long time. "I have watched you, Severus, for almost thirty years now. I watched you grow during your time as student here. I have been privy to your joys and your sorrows. And you have had too many sorrows, Severus. Far more than your share."
"I told Amethyst the day we met that you must have known what you were doing when you assigned me as her tutor." Severus said, remembering.
"I was saving you." Dumbledore said, mildly.
"Yes," Severus nodded. "But things did not go exactly as planned, did they?"
"No they did not." Dumbledore admitted, not in the least surprised by the insight. "I had not planned on the level of hatred that Sirius Black was capable of. But it was you who had the strength to remain true to your heart. Your strength of character surprised me time and time again. Amethysts' too, when it comes to it."
Severus nodded again. "Thank you headmaster, but it is not all my doing."
"No, it is not." Dumbledore conceded. "I cannot say my attempts at a matchmaker were a complete failure, but I think I will keep my day job." He stood and offered his hand to Severus Snape. The men shook as he said:
"Resignations accepted."
"Will you miss it, Severus?" Amethyst asked her husband as they lay together in their new home.
"No." Severus answered. "I remained a teacher at Hogwarts to be close to the memory of you." He pulled her closer and kissed her gently. "That is no longer necessary."
Severus had his family home moved to their secret clearing. The house, which had always seemed so dark to Severus all of his life seemed light in this new location. Sentimentality was not really his strong suit, he thought, but he liked to think that the love in the house is what lit it.
They lingered in bed longer than usual that morning, and were almost late for their meeting with Sirius. Severus was not in the least pleased at having to wear Muggle clothes, but both Amethyst and Sirius insisted that it was a must. They met in front of an office building on the corner of the very same block where the Leaky Caldron was located and met with the owner of the building. He was quite impressed with the trio and, with the help of a charm or two tossed out at the right moments, bought the building for five hundred pounds.
After the transaction, which was completed in record time (they had the deed to the place in fifteen minutes) they adjourned to the Leaky Caldron then Diagon Alley, where they met Harry, Ron and Hermione for lunch. They met in front of Gringotts and Amethyst ran into the bank to exchange the remainder of their money from Pounds back to Galleons.
Harry, Ron and Hermione stared at Severus, Sirius and Amethyst dressed in designer Muggle business suits.
Sirius leaned over and closed Harry's jaw for him. "That's my sister you're staring at, Harry. She's married, remember? And we all know I don't deal well with men after my sister." and Harry turned red.
"Is that Armani?" Hermione breathed.
"Definitely." Sirius said. "We needed to dress to impress." They began to walk towards the Apothacoffee, a new coffee shop that'd opened in the last year.
They were impressive. They were drawing stares from the wizards on the street. Severus scowled at all the attention, loosening his tie, Sirius flirted with every attractive woman to pass them by and Amethyst just grinned, watching Sirius and Severus being watched.
Hermione got Amethysts attention. "What have you been up to dressed like Muggle business people?"
"We just bought a building." Amethyst explained. "We're going into business part time, you see."
"Business?" Ron said. "What business?"
They'd arrived at the Apothacoffee. They sat and ordered. Hermione ordered two meals, which caused Harry, Sirius and Severus to look at her in astonishment. "What?" She said, handing the waiter the menu and staring back. She'd turned pink.
"Hungry Hermione?" Harry asked.
Amethyst looked at Hermione carefully and began smiling and nodding.
"What?" Harry asked again, beginning to sound frustrated.
Ron turned as red as his hair. "Well, Hermione is eating for two these days." He said, rather quietly.
Congratulations came at Ron and Hermione from all around the table. "Why didn't you tell me?" Harry demanded to know. "I'm supposed to be your best friend."
Hermione stayed pink. "I would have, eventually."
Amethyst kicked off her high-heeled shoes. "Those things hurt." She sighed. She looked at Hermione, "You will be a wonderful mother, I don't doubt."
Their drinks came. Everyone had tea except Amethyst, who'd ordered coffee.
"How can you drink that stuff?" Ron asked, almost desperate to change the subject.
"You get used to it, Ron, when you're in America a long time. They have forgotten their British roots. I couldn't find a decent cup of tea anywhere in the eighteen years I was over there." She said, smiling. "Every once in a while, I just get a feeling for one."
Sirius looked at her sharply. "Cravings?"
Amethyst rolled her eyes at him. "Give me a break, Sirius. Hermione is the only pregnant one around here, unless you've managed to bang up one of your little floozies."
Sirius threw up his hands, defensively, "No way! Not me!"
But Hermione was looking at Amethyst. "Why don't you have a baby?"
"Hermione!" Ron almost shouted. But she hushed him.
"I know we've been used to the horrible Snape, but now that we know the truth, I can't see why they wouldn't want children. I think it would be wonderful!"
Amethyst was mumbling something about hormones, pregnant women and romantic hallucinations.
Snape raised his eyebrows at Hermione. "I'm almost forty years old, you know."
Hermione waved the sentence away with her hand. "Age has nothing to do with it." she sniffed. "I assumed that the two of you quit teaching to settle down and finally have a family."
"Hermione!" Sirius said, irritably.
Fortunately their lunch arrived at that moment and the conversation switched to the quality of the food.
After the meal, Hermione asked Amethyst if she would like to go shopping. It was obvious that she wanted to get the woman alone to talk. The men agreed to meet them at the Leaky Caldron for dinner and the women left the Apothacoffee.
Ron was shaking his head. "Women. I'll bet she's going to find a bookstore and buy more books on pregnancy."
The other men laughed at him. "I don't think she'll really learn much about pregnancy out of a book." Harry said, thoughtfully.
"Oh, you know her. She'll read all about it and expect hers to go right along with the book." Ron laughed. He sobered and looked at Severus. "I'm sorry about that stuff about you and Amethyst having a baby. Hermione would love nothing more than to go through this with someone besides my mother and my sister. There aren't any other women in my family. All my brothers are players."
Severus grinned. "We haven't discussed having children in about nineteen years." He said. "The last time we talked about it at all was, well," he looked at Harry "It was when you were about a year old. She took one look at you and wanted one of her own." His face turned dark for a fraction of a second. "It just never happened."
Harry blushed. "Well, why don't you?" he said. "You're wizards. Your still young for wizards."
Sirius sighed. "I still don't like thinking about it, but I suppose I would like to be an uncle someday."
Severus grin turned slightly evil. "Then don't think about it and we won't invite you to watch, all right?" he said, silkily.
Ron and Harry almost fell out of their chairs with laughing at the look on Sirius' face.
"Hermione, how many books on pregnancy do you need?" Amethyst asked, marveling at the tottering tower of books she was speaking to.
"I want to read up on it." Hermione said, breathlessly. The books were very heavy. She dropped them on a table and paid for them. She had to use a shrinking spell before she could get the books into the bag she'd brought with her.
The two spent the afternoon looking at everything and nothing. Amethyst listened quietly as Hermione rambled about her pregnancy. She was terrified, but didn't feel comfortable about talking with her mother and sister in law. Since they and Amethyst were the only women Hermione really knew, Amethyst was the one she turned to.
"You are such a great listener," Hermione said, as they entered Fortescue's Ice Cream Parlour. Amethyst ordered nothing, but watched as Hermione ate the largest sundae she had ever seen.
"What you call listening others would call being completely unsupportive." Amethyst said, a very slight grin on her face.
"Oh no!" Hermione said, between huge spoonfuls of sundae. "You are listening aren't you?"
"Yes, but I can't offer you any advice. I don't know anything about pregnancy and babies and all. I honestly have no idea why you choose me to talk to of all people." Amethyst admitted.
"Well, because I like you. I consider you a friend, or almost anyway. You aren't my mother or mother-in-law, you aren't my sister-in-law." Hermione lowered her spoon. She looked thoughtfully into the half eaten sundae and said quietly. "Your probably my closest female friend that isn't related to me."
Amethyst raised her eyebrows. "You may not believe this, Hermione, but I don't have a lot of friends either."
Hermione nodded. "But you could have been very popular if Sirius hadn't tried to smoother you when you were at school." She said. "Sirius said so himself."
"I suppose that's part of it. I did a lot of hiding. Spent most of my life doing it, if it comes to it." Amethyst said.
"That's why you and Profess, I mean Severus are such a perfect match. You're like one in the same person." Hermione said, sighing and getting back to demolishing her sundae.
Amethyst nodded and thought what she could possibly say next. Casual conversation was still a new concept for her. But she didn't have to ponder long.
"Not like Ron and I." Hermione was saying. "We argue all the time. Have since we met, seems like."
Amethyst, who had never seen Ron and Hermione having an argument, raised her eyebrows again. "You seem to get along all right." She said.
"Oh, things have been pretty quiet lately." Hermione finished her sundae. "But we can really get bad."
"It is interesting." Amethyst said, thoughtfully. "The six of us hanging around."
Hermione was following her thoughts. "Yes." She said. "Harry is so famous he can barely leave the house. Sirius is a stud, and he won't settle down. Plus he's trying to live down Azkaban, still. You and Severus are so very sober and serious most of the time. Severus will always be suspected as a Death Eater. And Ron and I have always been losers." She sighed.
They left and headed in the direction of the Leaky Caldron. "Your saying that we all have very legitimate reasons for never having made friends, or that when we do they are few and far between." Amethyst said as they walked.
Hermione bit her lip. "Sounds awful, doesn't it?"
Amethyst half-smiled. "The truth often does. You are right, of course. At least about Sirius, Severus and I. None of us, especially Severus and I, trust easily or often. We may not be evil, or anything, but we definitely aren't nice."
Hermione sighed and looked at her watch. "We're late. They'll be wondering after us."
Amethyst shrugged. "They won't worry about us. And Severus can always find us if it means that much to them."
Hermione stopped and looked Amethyst. "Why did you ever let him talk you into performing the Iunctius Charm?" she asked. "Agreeing to let him spy on you whenever he wants! It's terrible." She was looking angry.
Amethyst looked at Hermione in amazement. Her voice was only slightly chilled when she spoke. "The decision to perform the Iunctius Charm was mutual, let's start there, shall we? You seem to forget that we'd been, basically, forcibly separated. We also thought, at the time, that my brother might just try to do the same thing again. The original idea, however, was mine, not Severus'. He said he didn't want people to think he didn't trust me or something. Go figure."
Hermione turned red. "I'm sorry," she said. "I'm afraid I jumped to conclusions. Forgive me?"
Amethyst gave Hermione a smile. "Nothing to forgive. But you know why it is so frowned upon among wizards now. It is not illegal. It is just something many wizards consider themselves too moral to use. It's highly unethical, as you have pointed out, but ethics are not something Severus and I allow to get in the way of things we want." She chuckled.
Hermione sighed and they continued their walk. "You know. Severus has turned out to be nothing like I thought he was." She said. "I think you two ought to have children."
Amethyst laughed out loud. "Here we go!"
"Well, it's true." Hermione pressed, grinning a bit herself. "Who knows how many children you two would have had if Sirius, I mean if you had gotten married when you'd wanted to in the first place."
Amethyst saw the Leaky Caldron ahead. Harry, Ron, Severus and Severus were standing and talking in front of it. "You are a hopeless romantic, Hermione." She said. "I do not ever hope to understand hopeless romantics." She laughed again. "I am a skeptic and a realist. I am not nice. I am cunning and crafty. So is Severus. What kind of parents would we be, really?" She held up her hand as Hermione opened her mouth. "Drop it Hermione. Severus and I don't know what to do about the subject. We've never talked about it and it just hasn't come up before today. I am sure it will come up now. And I don't know whether to thank you for it or curse you for it."
Hermione bit back her words as they came within hearing distance of the men. She kissed Ron who saw the bag. "Books." He said. "Figgers that's what took you so long. Hermione, we're going to have to have a house built, just for the books!"
Hermione said nothing, but looked over at Amethyst and Severus. As usual, the only signs that they knew each other was how close together they were standing. Neither of them was much for public displays of affection. The romantic in her was severely let down.
"We were gabbing, actually." And she looked over at Amethyst, who only nodded.
"Dinner then?" Ron said.
"I can't." Sirius said with a smile. "I forgot, I have a date." He said. "But why don't you all come over to my sisters house on Saturday. We never did get to tell you about out new business."
"We haven't seen the new place." Hermione said, clapping her hands. "I can hardly wait."
Severus and Amethyst were both looking shocked. "What new house?" Severus said, taken aback. "Same house. Different location is all."
But Amethyst said. "Well, that's fine and mucky of you to invite people over to a house that isn't even yours, Sirius Black!" and she hit him in the arm, laughing.
"You two need to lighten up and socialize." Sirius said. He straightened his tie in the window. "Now I'm off. Serenia loves to see me in Muggle clothes." And he disappeared with a pop.
"See you Saturday, then?" Harry asked with a smile.
"Yes, yes. Fine." Amethyst said, smiling faintly. "I reckon he's right. Saturday, then."
Liber I - Severus Snape's True Love
Copyright (c) 2001 by Cassandra Houston
Illustrations by Gabriel (http://www.angelfire.com/art/angelgabriel/)
Author's Notes:
Most of the characters within belong to JK Rowling. Amethyst Rayne Black Snape, Lapis Meaker and some others belong to me, Cassandra Houston. I will not accept money for this book, nor any others made with the wonderful characters JK Rowling has created. I am only putting on paper my interpretation and theory of what the Rowling characters may have been like before the Harry Potter series and what they may be like after. I am not trying to insult or steal from Rowling. I am only having fun here.
If you like what you read (and I certainly hope you do), please feel free to forward a copy of this ebook along to friends, family and anyone else who may enjoy its contents.
I must take the time here to thank Gabriel. Gabriel! You are a saint and I am forever in your debt!
I now give you Severus Snape's True Love, the first in the Liber Severi series.
Cassandra Houston
Chapter Nine: Out With the Old and In With the New
Albus Dumbledore sat at his desk contemplating the two pieces of parchment on his desk. He turned and looked out of his window on the beautiful summer day outside. He could see a great many students out by the lake, enjoying the day.
He'd known this day would come. He'd hoped to be able to avoid it for another year or two, but even he had to admit that it was time.
He turned at a knock on his door.
"Enter." He said, softly.
The door opened and Severus Snape walked in.
"Please, sit down." Dumbledore said.
Severus sat in front of Dumbledore and the two contemplated each other for a long time.
"Why, Severus?" Dumbledore said.
"Headmaster," Severus began, but Dumbledore raised his hand and stopped him.
Severus nodded. "Very well." He said. "Albus."
"I thank you." Dumbledore said, his eyes twinkling.
"The time has come, Albus." Severus began again. "I have been here for many years now. You know my history, Albus."
"I do at that."
"Then perhaps you can understand why I must do this. I have nineteen years to make up. And that will just not be possible here."
Dumbledore considered Severus for a very long time. "I have watched you, Severus, for almost thirty years now. I watched you grow during your time as student here. I have been privy to your joys and your sorrows. And you have had too many sorrows, Severus. Far more than your share."
"I told Amethyst the day we met that you must have known what you were doing when you assigned me as her tutor." Severus said, remembering.
"I was saving you." Dumbledore said, mildly.
"Yes," Severus nodded. "But things did not go exactly as planned, did they?"
"No they did not." Dumbledore admitted, not in the least surprised by the insight. "I had not planned on the level of hatred that Sirius Black was capable of. But it was you who had the strength to remain true to your heart. Your strength of character surprised me time and time again. Amethysts' too, when it comes to it."
Severus nodded again. "Thank you headmaster, but it is not all my doing."
"No, it is not." Dumbledore conceded. "I cannot say my attempts at a matchmaker were a complete failure, but I think I will keep my day job." He stood and offered his hand to Severus Snape. The men shook as he said:
"Resignations accepted."
"Will you miss it, Severus?" Amethyst asked her husband as they lay together in their new home.
"No." Severus answered. "I remained a teacher at Hogwarts to be close to the memory of you." He pulled her closer and kissed her gently. "That is no longer necessary."
Severus had his family home moved to their secret clearing. The house, which had always seemed so dark to Severus all of his life seemed light in this new location. Sentimentality was not really his strong suit, he thought, but he liked to think that the love in the house is what lit it.
They lingered in bed longer than usual that morning, and were almost late for their meeting with Sirius. Severus was not in the least pleased at having to wear Muggle clothes, but both Amethyst and Sirius insisted that it was a must. They met in front of an office building on the corner of the very same block where the Leaky Caldron was located and met with the owner of the building. He was quite impressed with the trio and, with the help of a charm or two tossed out at the right moments, bought the building for five hundred pounds.
After the transaction, which was completed in record time (they had the deed to the place in fifteen minutes) they adjourned to the Leaky Caldron then Diagon Alley, where they met Harry, Ron and Hermione for lunch. They met in front of Gringotts and Amethyst ran into the bank to exchange the remainder of their money from Pounds back to Galleons.
Harry, Ron and Hermione stared at Severus, Sirius and Amethyst dressed in designer Muggle business suits.
Sirius leaned over and closed Harry's jaw for him. "That's my sister you're staring at, Harry. She's married, remember? And we all know I don't deal well with men after my sister." and Harry turned red.
"Is that Armani?" Hermione breathed.
"Definitely." Sirius said. "We needed to dress to impress." They began to walk towards the Apothacoffee, a new coffee shop that'd opened in the last year.
They were impressive. They were drawing stares from the wizards on the street. Severus scowled at all the attention, loosening his tie, Sirius flirted with every attractive woman to pass them by and Amethyst just grinned, watching Sirius and Severus being watched.
Hermione got Amethysts attention. "What have you been up to dressed like Muggle business people?"
"We just bought a building." Amethyst explained. "We're going into business part time, you see."
"Business?" Ron said. "What business?"
They'd arrived at the Apothacoffee. They sat and ordered. Hermione ordered two meals, which caused Harry, Sirius and Severus to look at her in astonishment. "What?" She said, handing the waiter the menu and staring back. She'd turned pink.
"Hungry Hermione?" Harry asked.
Amethyst looked at Hermione carefully and began smiling and nodding.
"What?" Harry asked again, beginning to sound frustrated.
Ron turned as red as his hair. "Well, Hermione is eating for two these days." He said, rather quietly.
Congratulations came at Ron and Hermione from all around the table. "Why didn't you tell me?" Harry demanded to know. "I'm supposed to be your best friend."
Hermione stayed pink. "I would have, eventually."
Amethyst kicked off her high-heeled shoes. "Those things hurt." She sighed. She looked at Hermione, "You will be a wonderful mother, I don't doubt."
Their drinks came. Everyone had tea except Amethyst, who'd ordered coffee.
"How can you drink that stuff?" Ron asked, almost desperate to change the subject.
"You get used to it, Ron, when you're in America a long time. They have forgotten their British roots. I couldn't find a decent cup of tea anywhere in the eighteen years I was over there." She said, smiling. "Every once in a while, I just get a feeling for one."
Sirius looked at her sharply. "Cravings?"
Amethyst rolled her eyes at him. "Give me a break, Sirius. Hermione is the only pregnant one around here, unless you've managed to bang up one of your little floozies."
Sirius threw up his hands, defensively, "No way! Not me!"
But Hermione was looking at Amethyst. "Why don't you have a baby?"
"Hermione!" Ron almost shouted. But she hushed him.
"I know we've been used to the horrible Snape, but now that we know the truth, I can't see why they wouldn't want children. I think it would be wonderful!"
Amethyst was mumbling something about hormones, pregnant women and romantic hallucinations.
Snape raised his eyebrows at Hermione. "I'm almost forty years old, you know."
Hermione waved the sentence away with her hand. "Age has nothing to do with it." she sniffed. "I assumed that the two of you quit teaching to settle down and finally have a family."
"Hermione!" Sirius said, irritably.
Fortunately their lunch arrived at that moment and the conversation switched to the quality of the food.
After the meal, Hermione asked Amethyst if she would like to go shopping. It was obvious that she wanted to get the woman alone to talk. The men agreed to meet them at the Leaky Caldron for dinner and the women left the Apothacoffee.
Ron was shaking his head. "Women. I'll bet she's going to find a bookstore and buy more books on pregnancy."
The other men laughed at him. "I don't think she'll really learn much about pregnancy out of a book." Harry said, thoughtfully.
"Oh, you know her. She'll read all about it and expect hers to go right along with the book." Ron laughed. He sobered and looked at Severus. "I'm sorry about that stuff about you and Amethyst having a baby. Hermione would love nothing more than to go through this with someone besides my mother and my sister. There aren't any other women in my family. All my brothers are players."
Severus grinned. "We haven't discussed having children in about nineteen years." He said. "The last time we talked about it at all was, well," he looked at Harry "It was when you were about a year old. She took one look at you and wanted one of her own." His face turned dark for a fraction of a second. "It just never happened."
Harry blushed. "Well, why don't you?" he said. "You're wizards. Your still young for wizards."
Sirius sighed. "I still don't like thinking about it, but I suppose I would like to be an uncle someday."
Severus grin turned slightly evil. "Then don't think about it and we won't invite you to watch, all right?" he said, silkily.
Ron and Harry almost fell out of their chairs with laughing at the look on Sirius' face.
"Hermione, how many books on pregnancy do you need?" Amethyst asked, marveling at the tottering tower of books she was speaking to.
"I want to read up on it." Hermione said, breathlessly. The books were very heavy. She dropped them on a table and paid for them. She had to use a shrinking spell before she could get the books into the bag she'd brought with her.
The two spent the afternoon looking at everything and nothing. Amethyst listened quietly as Hermione rambled about her pregnancy. She was terrified, but didn't feel comfortable about talking with her mother and sister in law. Since they and Amethyst were the only women Hermione really knew, Amethyst was the one she turned to.
"You are such a great listener," Hermione said, as they entered Fortescue's Ice Cream Parlour. Amethyst ordered nothing, but watched as Hermione ate the largest sundae she had ever seen.
"What you call listening others would call being completely unsupportive." Amethyst said, a very slight grin on her face.
"Oh no!" Hermione said, between huge spoonfuls of sundae. "You are listening aren't you?"
"Yes, but I can't offer you any advice. I don't know anything about pregnancy and babies and all. I honestly have no idea why you choose me to talk to of all people." Amethyst admitted.
"Well, because I like you. I consider you a friend, or almost anyway. You aren't my mother or mother-in-law, you aren't my sister-in-law." Hermione lowered her spoon. She looked thoughtfully into the half eaten sundae and said quietly. "Your probably my closest female friend that isn't related to me."
Amethyst raised her eyebrows. "You may not believe this, Hermione, but I don't have a lot of friends either."
Hermione nodded. "But you could have been very popular if Sirius hadn't tried to smoother you when you were at school." She said. "Sirius said so himself."
"I suppose that's part of it. I did a lot of hiding. Spent most of my life doing it, if it comes to it." Amethyst said.
"That's why you and Profess, I mean Severus are such a perfect match. You're like one in the same person." Hermione said, sighing and getting back to demolishing her sundae.
Amethyst nodded and thought what she could possibly say next. Casual conversation was still a new concept for her. But she didn't have to ponder long.
"Not like Ron and I." Hermione was saying. "We argue all the time. Have since we met, seems like."
Amethyst, who had never seen Ron and Hermione having an argument, raised her eyebrows again. "You seem to get along all right." She said.
"Oh, things have been pretty quiet lately." Hermione finished her sundae. "But we can really get bad."
"It is interesting." Amethyst said, thoughtfully. "The six of us hanging around."
Hermione was following her thoughts. "Yes." She said. "Harry is so famous he can barely leave the house. Sirius is a stud, and he won't settle down. Plus he's trying to live down Azkaban, still. You and Severus are so very sober and serious most of the time. Severus will always be suspected as a Death Eater. And Ron and I have always been losers." She sighed.
They left and headed in the direction of the Leaky Caldron. "Your saying that we all have very legitimate reasons for never having made friends, or that when we do they are few and far between." Amethyst said as they walked.
Hermione bit her lip. "Sounds awful, doesn't it?"
Amethyst half-smiled. "The truth often does. You are right, of course. At least about Sirius, Severus and I. None of us, especially Severus and I, trust easily or often. We may not be evil, or anything, but we definitely aren't nice."
Hermione sighed and looked at her watch. "We're late. They'll be wondering after us."
Amethyst shrugged. "They won't worry about us. And Severus can always find us if it means that much to them."
Hermione stopped and looked Amethyst. "Why did you ever let him talk you into performing the Iunctius Charm?" she asked. "Agreeing to let him spy on you whenever he wants! It's terrible." She was looking angry.
Amethyst looked at Hermione in amazement. Her voice was only slightly chilled when she spoke. "The decision to perform the Iunctius Charm was mutual, let's start there, shall we? You seem to forget that we'd been, basically, forcibly separated. We also thought, at the time, that my brother might just try to do the same thing again. The original idea, however, was mine, not Severus'. He said he didn't want people to think he didn't trust me or something. Go figure."
Hermione turned red. "I'm sorry," she said. "I'm afraid I jumped to conclusions. Forgive me?"
Amethyst gave Hermione a smile. "Nothing to forgive. But you know why it is so frowned upon among wizards now. It is not illegal. It is just something many wizards consider themselves too moral to use. It's highly unethical, as you have pointed out, but ethics are not something Severus and I allow to get in the way of things we want." She chuckled.
Hermione sighed and they continued their walk. "You know. Severus has turned out to be nothing like I thought he was." She said. "I think you two ought to have children."
Amethyst laughed out loud. "Here we go!"
"Well, it's true." Hermione pressed, grinning a bit herself. "Who knows how many children you two would have had if Sirius, I mean if you had gotten married when you'd wanted to in the first place."
Amethyst saw the Leaky Caldron ahead. Harry, Ron, Severus and Severus were standing and talking in front of it. "You are a hopeless romantic, Hermione." She said. "I do not ever hope to understand hopeless romantics." She laughed again. "I am a skeptic and a realist. I am not nice. I am cunning and crafty. So is Severus. What kind of parents would we be, really?" She held up her hand as Hermione opened her mouth. "Drop it Hermione. Severus and I don't know what to do about the subject. We've never talked about it and it just hasn't come up before today. I am sure it will come up now. And I don't know whether to thank you for it or curse you for it."
Hermione bit back her words as they came within hearing distance of the men. She kissed Ron who saw the bag. "Books." He said. "Figgers that's what took you so long. Hermione, we're going to have to have a house built, just for the books!"
Hermione said nothing, but looked over at Amethyst and Severus. As usual, the only signs that they knew each other was how close together they were standing. Neither of them was much for public displays of affection. The romantic in her was severely let down.
"We were gabbing, actually." And she looked over at Amethyst, who only nodded.
"Dinner then?" Ron said.
"I can't." Sirius said with a smile. "I forgot, I have a date." He said. "But why don't you all come over to my sisters house on Saturday. We never did get to tell you about out new business."
"We haven't seen the new place." Hermione said, clapping her hands. "I can hardly wait."
Severus and Amethyst were both looking shocked. "What new house?" Severus said, taken aback. "Same house. Different location is all."
But Amethyst said. "Well, that's fine and mucky of you to invite people over to a house that isn't even yours, Sirius Black!" and she hit him in the arm, laughing.
"You two need to lighten up and socialize." Sirius said. He straightened his tie in the window. "Now I'm off. Serenia loves to see me in Muggle clothes." And he disappeared with a pop.
"See you Saturday, then?" Harry asked with a smile.
"Yes, yes. Fine." Amethyst said, smiling faintly. "I reckon he's right. Saturday, then."