"Your previous room has been occupied. Follow me." he said. They by passed the staircase and went down a long hallway and through a big portrait of a sour looking wizard who sneered at the site of Ginny. She glared back. "My great-great-uncle." Snape said. Through the portrait whole was another ornate hallway. "The house is large but less complicated than Hogwarts as the stairs don't move and the portraits are, for the most part, not password protected." he explained.
"I'm sure I'll be fine. But why move me?" she asked.
"This is more permanent and comfortable, not to mention a bit more private." he said. He stopped in front of a set of double doors. Inside was a huge, four poster bed covered in a lilac comforter. There was dark, wooden furniture that gleamed and she could see there was a walk-in closet and a connecting bathroom.
"Oh, Severus, it's extraordinary." she said, walking in. "Are you quiet certain?" she asked.
"I took the liberty of getting you a new wardrobe. You can't borrow clothes forever and I wasn't sure you'd want to go back to the burrow." he said. "I don't know a thing about muggle clothes so I got you robes." he said, pointing to the closet. Inside were six sets of wizarding robes in different colors: black, purple, burgundy, green, navy, and a set of black dress robes with silver lining. She reached out and touched the sleeves gently.
"They're beautiful. I don't know how to accept all this." Ginny said, looking at him.
"This is your home now. I want you to be comfortable." He said.
"Where is your room?" she asked, shyly.
"Do you see that door?" he asked, pointing to a curtain against one wall. She hadn't noticed before but she saw a door obscured by the purple fabric. She nodded. "If you go through there, there is a sitting room that connects to my chambers." He said. She was surprised, in a house this large, that he had put her right next door to him. It made her feel safer, though, and wanted. He didn't put her at the other end of the house. He wasn't trying to pretend that she wasn't there.
"Just the two of us then." She murmured.
"For the most part. There are people who reside her part-time." He said. "Draco Malfoy has been staying across the hall for quite some time." He admitted. Ginny couldn't help but make an exasperated face. "I know you and Potter were always at ends with Draco but ever since Lucius disowned him, he's had no where to go. He's not a dark wizard, Virginia." Snape said. "You should get to know him."
"I trust your judgment." she said, not agreeing to anything. He nodded.
"Goodnight, Virginia." he said.
The first night in her new room, she marveled first at the silence. In her previous rooms at the burrow, at Hogwarts, and at the manor in what Severus called 'the ward', she could always hear people coming and going, bumps in the night. Now, the air was thick and quiet and she was restless with her thoughts. She missed Ron. She could still see him in the dark forest – mid-air, leaping in front of Harry. She sat up – she felt feverish. Working at the ministry had tired her out but she couldn't sleep. She wished she had a fireplace in her room. At school, people would always find her in the mornings in the common room, asleep in an easy chair, the fire still burning – kept alive by noiseless house elves.
She had yet to go into the shared sitting room behind the heavy, purple curtain. She pulled it back, her feet bare on the cold, wooden floor. She wore a white nightgown she had found, with a light, cotton robe. Severus had thought of everything. The door was unlocked and she pushed it open expecting darkness. Instead, the room was warm with the fire she had hoped for. On the lounge in front of it, she saw him sitting there with a book and a cup of tea. He waved her toward him and patted the cushion next to him. She stepped softly over and sat, her hair falling around her like a shield. He handed her a cup of tea, like he knew she would come. She sipped it slowly. It had cream and one sugar, just how she liked it. But, how did he know? He must have watched her take her meals at Hogwarts. Otherwise, how? He read his book. She watched the flames reach toward the sky. After nearly an hour, he closed his book and said,
"Would you like to talk about it?" She looked at him. He looked much less severe in the glow of a fire. His hair was pushed out of his face, behind his ears, and he looked his age, not the old man he made himself out to be. His outer robes were gone. He wore a white collared shirt and black slacks. He looked comfortable in his home. Hers too, now, if she decided so.
"I'm not sure." she answered honestly. "You were there. How did you… get through it?" she asked. "Because, what I remember is fragmented at best."
"I did the same thing you did. I stayed low. I fought people I knew I could defeat only. I let a 21-year-old boy fight the hard fight." He said, rubbing his face tiredly. "Not my proudest moment but who am I to intrude on fate, right?"
"I think I hid." she said. "I would have laid there until I starved to death, at home." she admitted.
"And I just couldn't have that." he said, not unkindly.
"So you say." she murmured. "I think I'll stay here." she said. "For as long as you'll have me. Goodnight, Severus." she stood and retired back to her bed, where she slept. Severus felt relived.