Disclaimer: not mine, i own nothing, not making money. Thank you to all my reviewers and sorry this has taken so long.
Chapter 8: A different present
The next morning, Hermione and Henry arose to a winter wonderland outside their home. Before opening presents or eating breakfast, Hermione and Henry went outdoors to enjoy the supreme elation they shared on having a white Christmas. As the last of the snowflakes fell, Hermione watched her son make a snow angel and delighted in the fact that he seemed happy, even if his father and mother had died. There was always a sense that your parents would never die as a child and yet Henry had lost both of his before thirteen. She sat squarely on the bench and watched him through glossy, iced eyes and wondered if he was missing Wallace as much as she was. Images of their winters together flooded her brain, had there ever been a winter without him? Before kicking a bit of snow from her boots, she caught Henry's eye, but turned quickly from him not willing to let him see her hopelessness. She didn't want him to know of her melancholy because it was weak and she never wanted to appear weak in front of him. And then suddenly, a great large cold wetness stung her cheek.
"You don't know what you've started, Henry!" Hermione called out as Henry ran behind the shrubs. She quickly cast a warming spell on her boots and ducked behind the edge of the porch. Henry tossed a couple more snowballs her way, but tried not to hit her stomach.
"Just wait, Henry Horace Webster Stuart, I will have my revenge!" Hermione ducked inside and admitted defeat to her twelve-year-old son and waited for his clumsy arrival in the kitchen.
"I was only trying to make you laugh, Mum." Henry said as he entered the kitchen and discarding his soiled boots.
"Go freshen up and we'll have a bit of breakfast." Hermione mixed the bowl of biscuit batter and sprinkled some flour out on the cutting board. She loved making biscuits, it made her feel motherly and old fashioned. And if there was ever a doubt in anyone's mind, homemade biscuits always tasted better without magic.
"There's a letter for you on the windowsill, Mum."
"Who's it from, dear?" Henry tepidly brought the letter to his Mum, the handwriting on the envelope all too familiar. Hermione absentmindedly took the letter from Henry and set it next to her pans as she prepared the rest of the biscuits.
"I am positively covered in flower, would you open it for me?" Hermione asked Henry wondering why she seemed to obviously shaken.
"Hermione,
It's Christmas and I hope you and Henry are well. They started the last round of chemotherapy I am willingly going to try last week, but it has been unsuccessful. I am writing for several reasons, the main being to tell you how much I love you and miss you. When you received your Hogwarts letter, I know I was horribly shaken and scared that I was losing my darling girl. Your father was always more optimistic than I was, but then look where optimism got him. Sorry, that was rude and I strive never to be rude in front of you.
How is Henry? I hope he is doing well in school and that he is making friends. Is the pregnancy going smoothly? I would like to come to visit one last time before the inevitable. When would be an appropriate time?
With Love, Mum."
Hermione snatched the letter from Henry's hand and threw it in the fire.
"I didn't know Grandmum was ill." Henry said, hurt and sadness in his young voice. He hugged Hermione tightly around her ever-increasing waist and kissed her soft cheek.
"I didn't know it was already in the last stages. When she was here, she said she was ill, but I never imagined it to be so critical." Hermione's eyes felt heavy with tears, she didn't understand where all of her emotion had come from and she rather didn't like the feeling. Her relationship with her mother had soured since her father had passed.
"Let's eat some breakfast and we'll floo over to see her, okay?" Henry walked to the cabinet and grabbed two plates for the breakfast.
"Happy Christmas, Mum." Henry said before filling his mouth with biscuits and jam. Hermione smiled, returned the sentiment, and ate her meal. She felt altogether confused on whether she wanted to see her Mum again, but knew if she didn't go see her she would regret the decision.
"We'll open the remainder of the gifts when we come home." Hermione stepped into the green flames and spoke, "Wyeth Granger's", but nothing happened. She stepped out of the fireplace and looked both up the floo and then to the bottom.
"How long has it been since we've flooed someone, dear?"
"I flooed when we first moved, but after that we always walked everywhere."
"I can't apparate, maybe Severus will allow us to use his floo." Hermione looked out towards Severus's house and sighed. She didn't want to interrupt his day with his family or their morning routine, but she needed to move quickly to her mother's home.
"Wrap your cloak around tighter, it's positively frozen out there." Hermione's tears ebbed slightly, but continued as she thought about her Mum and Dad. She would be completely without family when her Mum passed. She would know the sting of being an orphan, to be like Henry without blood relatives aside from quite distant ones that cared little about anything. She wiped her eyes with a handkerchief, one of Wallace's with his initials in the tiniest corner of the fabric, and pulled the hood of her cloak tighter around her face. Before she reached Snape manor, she slid slightly on some ice, but regained her composure before knocking on the grand door. Although she had willed them to stop, her tears would not cease. She felt naked before her classmates, she felt too open for ridicule. Adults are not supposed to cry like children, but she was going to lose her mother and for that she could cry.
"Yes, Madame." The little house elf said opening the door.
"I would like to see the Master of this house." Hermione replied, coldly.
"Just a moment." Hermione waited on the doorstep, Henry entertaining himself with an icicle hanging from the awning.
"Why would our floo not work, Mum?" Henry asked, thinking of the many times they'd used the floo when he was younger before his Hogwarts days.
"I don't know, darling, perhaps I just need to have it checked." Hermione's shifted her weight to her left leg and felt a sharp pain travel from her ankle to her thigh, perhaps the ice had done more than she thought.
"Madame Stuart, how may I help you so early this morning?" Hermione heard as she lifted the hem of her dress and cloak to look over her ankle. The snarky professor's voice had returned.
"Pardon the earliness of this visit, Sir, but my floo is not functional and I was hoping we might be able to use yours." Hermione wiped her eyes again, her tears growing far worse the longer he sneered at her. She wondered where the man of the previous night had gone.
"Where do you need to go so desperately at this early hour?" He asked, his eyes slimming to tiny slits. He couldn't bare a woman crying. He rather wanted to return to his breakfast and forget about the previous nights pleasantries if at all possible.
"My mother's, Sir." Hermione shifted her weight back to her other foot and then turned to see why Henry had gone quiet.
"We've just begun breakfast and as the fireplace we use to floo is in the breakfast room, it would not be reasonable to shoot floo powder into the air. Perhaps you can come back later, when we have all dressed and finished our morning routines." He replied, not wanting company that morning.
"That will be quite alright, Sir, I will just apparate." Hermione replied, her eyes not able to meet his. Why wouldn't he just let her use the floo?
"Mum, you can't apparate. And grandmum needs us now."
"Come along, Henry, we'll have to leave from our home." Hermione caught Henry's arm and they walked towards their home. She used him as a crutch as the swelling and pain in her ankle had worsened. She couldn't imagine why someone would be so cruel as to turn her out from their home, to not let them use something so insignificant as the floo. As they walked, Hermione's emotions became overwhelming, she couldn't see through the air as her tears had become torrential.
"Henry, I need to change my dress, you can go ahead and open the presents under the tree." Hermione said as they stepped onto the porch and then through the door. The more she thought about Severus, the more she wondered why she had hoped to see a different man, and the man she thought he really was. She tried to climb the first steps, but her foot gave quickly.
"Bloody foot, mucking up everything." She swore beneath her breath. She leaned down to examine her foot more thoroughly and realized it was worse then she originally thought, but before she could call out to Henry a swift blackness enveloped her and she fell forward.
Henry walked back into the foyer to see if Hermione needed help climbing the steps, but instead saw her sprawled atop the stairs like a throw rug.
"Mum?" He called out to her, shaking her head between his trembling arms. He didn't know what to do. The floo didn't work and the owl would take too long. He sat beside her, thinking as Austen the kneazle rubbed against his thigh.
"Go away, you daft cat, I need to think quickly." Brusquely he stood and covered her in a light blanket to keep her warm and then ran to Snape Manor. He vowed not to return until someone helped his Mum.
"Help, please!" He screamed knocking the door with fervour. He continued to knock until he heard light footsteps approach the door.
"Henry, what has you knocking the door this early?" Sallie asked, looking to the boy who was obviously distraught.
"Mum has collapsed and I don't know what to do. She slipped a bit on the ice coming over here earlier and I think her ankle is broken. She wouldn't stop crying..." Henry stopped talking as Severus came to the door.
"When I said later, I meant around lunch time, Mr. Stuart, not ten minutes." Severus barked, his eyes returning to the slits they were not long before.
"I don't know what to do Sallie, she won't wake up."
"Hold on, dear, I'll grab my cloak." Sallie walked swiftly past her Uncle and into the closet inside the hall. She returned with speed and followed Henry back to Hermione's house. Severus watched in awe as they disappeared into the white nothingness. As he stood at the door and watched them, he finally heard Henry's words,
'She won't wake up'. He yelled for Michael and then went to Hermione's house as well.
"I covered her so she wouldn't get cold. She told me to open the presents under the tree that she was going to change. I never heard her climb the stairs so I came to check on her." Sallie felt Hermione's head and surprisingly, it was cold.
"She hasn't a fever."
"What was she upset about?" Sallie asked, going to the kitchen to brew some tea.
"Grandmum has cancer. She wrote us about it and said she was dying. Mum seemed upset about it because we couldn't floo to go see her. Something's up with it so we walked to your house to see if we could floo from there, but Master Snape said it was too early." Henry watched Sallie towel Hermione's face and cast a spell he didn't recognize. Before he could ask about the spell, Severus Snape came through the door and cast the spell again.
"I've tried that, Uncle, she won't awake." Sallie pulled the blanket from Hermione's body and lifted her with another spell and walked with her up the stairs. Henry followed and pointed her to Hermione's room.
"She's in shock, I think. Her hormones are so strong and her emotions so strong that she's just over taxed herself. I'll contact Ron and Harry and see if they can come by." Sallie walked out of the room leaving Severus and Henry string at the woman, her face still red from crying.
"Mum, please wake up, I can't do this without you." Henry whispered in her ear, trying his best not to cry himself.
"She is exhausted, Mr. Stuart, not dying." Henry eyed his superior and wondered what his Mum would want him to say in return.
"Not her, no, but her Mum is and that's why we needed the floo. Mum's twisted her ankle walking to your bloody house and now she's conked out. I have no one, Master Snape, no one except her and I'd like to keep her." Henry scared himself with his words, but he didn't want the man before him to misinterpret the situation. He loved his Mum and wanted her well even if no one else was willing to help him.
"You should not speak to your superiors in that manner, Mr. Stuart." Severus glared at the boy wondering where his sudden animosity had come from.
"Excuse my speech, Sir, I did not mean to be foul, only to explain my situation." Henry placed a pillow under Hermione's ankle and waited for the usual remark from Severus.
"She is fortunate to have you around, Henry." Severus said moving beside the boy and whispering incantations to heal Hermione's ankle. Henry watched in wonderment as the man who had seemed so cruel before healed his mother's ankle as if he truly cared for her. He couldn't understand how someone could one minute seem so harsh and awkward could become so compassionate and adoring in the next.
"What are you doing to her?" Harry asked coming into the room. He eyed Severus suspiciously and walked to Hermione's bedside.
"Healing her ankle, Mr. Potter." Severus stepped away from Hermione and then the room. He chose to remain out of contact with Harry Potter as much as possible and rather thought waking to see Harry was more affable then to see him. He recalled the morning and noted that perhaps he could've been more accommodating. He could've just allowed her to use his floo, but he was afraid her idea of his personality was becoming tarnished and he just couldn't have someone believing he was more than a sadistic bastard.
"Hermione, it's Harry, please wake up." Harry took her hands in his and wondered what could've caused her to go into a self-imposed coma of sorts. After caressing her hands for a bit, he ran his hands through her hair and down her arms. He loved the feel of her skin, but he noticed it seemed rather cold.
"Henry needs you to wake up, Hermione." He said sternly. He pulled her blankets around her body and crawled beside her on the bed.
"You can't stay asleep all day. I've brought presents and cake. Chocolate cake with loads of sprinkles and a cherry. Please, Hermione, wake up." The need in his voice shocked even himself. For months now, he'd wanted to be exactly where he was, lying beside Hermione, being intimately close to her. Months, years in fact. He'd loved Hermione for a lifetime and had watched her marry someone else. Not that he hadn't married someone else either, but he knew Hermione's wishes and knew deep down that it wouldn't have worked then. Then when he was still 'Harry Potter', wizard who had saved them all.
"You look lovely today, Hermione. When we were in school, I never noticed you because we were such good friends, but then in seventh year, it all changed. You became beautiful to me and then married someone else." He wondered if she could hear him or if she would be shocked by his words.
"Susan is having another baby. He's due in July and she wants to name him James. She doesn't understand that I don't want him to be ridiculed or treated poorly because of his name. Veronica doesn't want a brother, but I know she'll like him eventually. I want you to be his godmother and Ron his godfather. Susan got to choose Veronica's, so it's my turn this time." Harry rubbed Hermione's shoulders and hoped stimulation would awaken her.
"I know you don't carry the same feelings for me and I will never pressure you to return them, I just had to tell you even if you can't hear me. I love you, Hermione and I know someday you'll see that it's not some passing fancy; I care about you more than anyone else, aside from Veronica. I am going to let Ron take over when he gets here so you don't think I am staying because of my affections. I hope you don't feel odd or awkward around me, pretend as though I've said nothing and we'll be friends like before. I can't stand losing you again." With that, Harry kissed her lips softly and rose from the bed to find Henry.
"See you tomorrow." He said, releasing her hand, not feeling the slight tug of hers as it fell.
"Mum's still out." Henry said as Sallie walked through the door several hours later. Henry sat next to her, waiting like everyone else. No one could explain why she wouldn't wake.
"In the morning everything will be better." Sallie said ruffling his hair. Before turning the light out, Henry followed Sallie down the stairs and made some cocoa.
"She was hurt by Master Snap's attitude this morning." Henry said.
"And she misses Wallace." Sallie added. They made to the stairs once more, but stopped as a crack was heard outside the door.
"Henry, dear, please help me up the stairs." Henry's face brightened as Marjorie Granger walked through the door with Master Snape.
"Yes, Grandmum." Henry took her arm and helped her to Hermione's room.
"She cannot stay long as she needs medicine in two hours." Severus said unable to meet his niece's eye.
"Hermione will appreciate this greatly."
"It's less than she deserves." He replied bringing his hand to his temple and rubbing it in circular motions.
"Am I to believe you have no ulterior motive in fetching Mrs. Granger?" Sallie asked, grabbing her Uncle's cloak and hanging it on the rack.
"My motives are not your concern, Sarah." He bowed slightly to her and headed to the stairs.
"You care for her, Uncle, I know you do. She will know it soon as well." He paused slightly on the stairs, but continued unfazed by his niece's comment and made it to Hermione's door. As he opened the door, he saw Marjorie lean down and kiss her daughter's face.
"Thank you, Professor." Marjorie said. He nodded and sat in the chair farthest from the bed. Henry walked to his side and watched his Mum and Grandmum hoping everything was alright.
"She will wake soon." Marjorie said, feeling hermione's skin and noticing it was growing warmer. Severus nodded once more and stood, he didn't want Hermione to see him when she awoke.
"I made cocoa in the kitchen, Sir, if you'd like some." Henry said as he watched Severus leave the room.
"That would be sufficient, Henry." Turning to meet the boys face, Severus nodded and hoped that was apology enough for her son. His eyes lingered on Hermione's a moment more and saw her eyes flutter open before closing the door and walking to the kitchen to drink the cocoa.
