"I don't know," Hermione said, glancing at Severus. She remembered going to a Muggle restaurant with him once before but that was just the two of them and Sunday morning breakfast meant many more screaming children.
"Hermione, love, though I am not the most educated man when it comes to Mug – when it comes to the non-magical community, I assume that the rules are still basically the same? Don't eat with your hands and tip the waiter?" he asked in a tone that was much more Professor Snape than she was used to these days. "I would love to go to breakfast, Mr. and Mrs. Granger." he said smoothly and Hermione blushed. She'd embarrassed herself, really.
Hr mother chose a nice restaurant that they'd often frequented because it was near the church. In the garden the day before, Hermione's mother had asked if she'd wanted to go to church in the morning. She couldn't imagine Severus setting foot inside a church of any sort (Pagan or otherwise) and politely declined for the both of them. Now, she saw a few familiar faces from the congregation but Severus was so intimidating – even when he was trying to be polite and kind – that no one approached them. Hermione had never been a breakfast person, tea and toast was more her style. She didn't like that overly full feeling at all and it was no way to start her day, full of greasy meat and dairy products. She was just going to order a scone perhaps or a bowl of porridge but when the waiter came, Severus ordered eggs and bacon and toast and fruit for the both of them. She bit her tongue while they young man took their order and then turned to him ready to smack him across the back of his head – a gesture she usually saved for Ron Weasley.
"I implore you to not make a scene." he said, quietly, while she was still gathering the breath she would use to yell at him with. "You're all angles and you need to eat because I've been watching you and don't think I haven't noticed the way you push food around your plate." She stopped, her steam suddenly gone. Her parents watched with interest. Hermione had always been bossy and had never liked to stop doing whatever held her fancy to eat or sleep or shop. It'd always been a struggle to get her to eat properly and therefore she'd often been underweight and the only time she ate willingly was when it affected her ability to think. Now with all eyes on her she sucked in her cheeks angrily but said nothing.
"Good heavens, Mr. Snape, we could have used you when she was a child." her mother said, laughing a bit. Then there was an awkward pause as everyone internally acknowledged that when Hermione was being a petulant child, Severus was already an adult.
"Please, call me Severus." he said, gently, not for the first time and draped his arm over the back of Hermione's chair. She glared at him but didn't push his arm away and when the food came, she ate over half of what was in front of her. They didn't need to go back to the house and so they made another gratuitous display of affection in the parking lot and Severus was glad he didn't have to get back into the automobile again. He thought it was a metal box of death – an accident waiting to happen and most people wouldn't disagree. Hermione's parents kissed her and made her promise to visit more thoroughly when they got settled together. Severus shook her father's hand and hugged her mother awkwardly. They waved as her parents drove away and then stood looking at each other in the parking lot.
"What do you wish to do now, my love?" he asked, watching her face struggle with emotions – missing her family but the relief they were on their own again.
"I thought we might go shopping in London, if that's all right with you." she said. "I've not been to Diagon alley in ages." she cocked her head, "Since my NEWTs, I believe."
He looked at her with an eyebrow raised looking for all the world as if he was plotting something. "All right." they went back into the restaurant and snuck together into the ladies room, leaving the door unlocked and apparated away. (Later, in a line seven people deep, the manager red faced and tired on a Sunday morning knocked politely on the door. Garnering no response, he tried the handle and found the room empty, confounding several witnesses who claimed they saw the couple enter and never leave.)
Now, safely in the wizard part of London, they browsed shops, mostly window shopping more than anything else. They went into the book store for an hour or so but didn't end up buying anything and then stopped for lunch and finally, walking past the jewelry store, Severus touched her arm and said softly,
"Let's go in." She looked at him with a mixture of confusion and surprise on her face. He didn't know that she'd overheard him speaking with her father about marriage and she didn't want him to know that she knew.
"All right." she said and he held the door open for her. The shop was empty but soon enough a man emerged from a back room and offered his assistance which Severus waved off for the moment. Hermione stood awkwardly in the middle of the room while Severus circled slowly; looking intently into all the glass cases until he found something he fancied and motioned her towards him.
"What of that one?" he asked, pointing towards a ring with a silver band and a square cut diamond that was rather large.
"It's beautiful." she agreed.
"Do you want it?" he asked.
"Severus, that's an engagement ring." she said. He rolled his eyes.
"Yes." he said, patiently.
"Well, you've not even asked me." she said, though what did she expect of him? Bended knee? Roses? Hardly. He looked impatient now.
"Isn't this quite the same?" he asked, pointing to the ring.
"I suppose," she said.
"Good, then. Have a look around and see if there is something better but I think this suits you quite well." he said, standing back and watching for the shop keep who appeared as soon as he was needed. Hermione shook hear head.
"That one is more then fine." she said and the man nodded and took it out of the case, handing it to her. She slid it on and it shrunk to fit her finger perfectly. Sometimes, she loved magic. Severus took out his wand and paid for the ring and then took her hand to inspect it.
"Beautiful." he said. He looked up at her. "The ring, too." He led her numbly out of the shop, looking at her hand.
"Wait a minute, what just happened?" she asked. "Are we getting married?"
He drummed his fingers against the small of her back as he led her out of a throng of people to a clearing where they could apparate without risk of splicing themselves in the process.
"Yes." he answered. "Shall we return to Italy?"
"Severus, the one person I told about us was Harry and he's dead now. How is this going to… I mean, do we have a wedding? Or… how do wizards get married? And I've not even seen Ron or the Weasleys… I don't…" she said, sitting down on a bench nearby while she caught her breath. He kissed her head, her cheek, and let her be silent. Her wheels were turning.
In Italy, she unpacked while he went to town to gather supplies and do whatever it was he did when she wasn't with him. She unpacked quickly – she used magic which was not her style as it tended to wrinkle more then not – and wrote a quick note and left it on the mirror in the bathroom. He returned home and called her name a few times, a little mystified when he didn't receive a prompt reply. He wandered around and pulled out his wand just in case. All the suitcases were empty and the clothes hung in the closet. He poked his head in the bathroom and saw the piece of parchment charmed to the mirror. He snatched it down and read it, her script tidy and too familiar.
Severus –
I've gone to the Weasleys for a few days. I'm not leaving you, please don't overreact. I just wanted to show them the ring and tell them the news in person. I love you,
Hermione
He crumpled the piece of parchment in his fist and sighed. He, of course, would have to go after her and spend a miserable, undetermined amount of time with Molly and Arthur Weasley and all their sniveling children. He paused, smoothing the note out and reading it again. He would give her a day or two and then he would go.
The Burrow looked just the same. Still teetering and ramshackle, it looked like a stern Finite Incantatum would bring the house to ruins. She felt immediately guilty that she'd waited so long to come see them; to come see Ron. Harry's death still seemed somewhat unreal to her but Ron had lived months with it already. She'd received a few owls from Mrs. Weasley telling her that everyone was okay – Ron had been scheduled to start auror training in the fall but decided to take a year off of school and Ginny was at her last year of Hogwarts. Hermione hadn't seen her, hadn't thought, but then she'd done well to avoid the students.
She straightened her shoulders and went to knock on the kitchen door. She could see Mrs. Weasley cleaning up from either lunch or breakfast over the sink. She turned to see who was at the door and her face melted into a smile.
"Hello, dear, I was hoping you'd come." she said, but not in quite the same excited, bustling way Hermione was used to. She seemed a little too tired.
"I didn't owl ahead, but, I wanted to surprise you, I guess." she said, hugging the plump witch fondly.
"This is just fine. It's good to see you up and around. You're so thin." she said, already fretting. "We came and saw you at St. Mungo's and then again at Hogwarts but we were so afraid… well, that's all past now." Mrs. Weasley took both of her hands and gave them a squeeze. "You can tell me all about that ring after you go see Ron." she whispered and pointed up the stairs.
"Ron." she said, feeling scared all of a sudden.
"He's been unwell since Harry died. It will be good for him to see you." Mrs. Weasley said, giving her a push. She took the stairs two at a time and found herself swiftly outside Ron's firmly closed door. She knocked and was told to go away but entered anyway.
"I said, I'm not hungry, Mum." he said. He was facing the window, sitting on a wooden chair that Hermione recognized as belonging to the kitchen table downstairs.
"Ron, it's me." she said, and he turned around and looked her up and down.
"Oh. Hullo." She had a flash of memory – Snape's utter lack of excitement at seeing her awake and upright for the first time in months – and she felt the anger flair. She was tired of everything being hard and sad and this wasn't where she thought she would be at this time in her life. Perpetually picking up the pieces.
"I wanted to come see you." she said, flatly. "Make sure you were still alive and to show you that I was still alive, too." He didn't respond, just pulled his robe more tightly against him. "I'm getting married." she said.
"What?" he asked and she felt a little smug seeing the surprise in his face. "To who?"
"Snape." she said, deciding that calling him Severus would be too shocking in Ron's fragile state. She also decided to leave out the affair with him before graduation completely.
"WHAT?" he repeated, standing up and walking over to her, putting his hands on her shoulders. "I thought that was a rumor!"
"It's true." she said, showing him the ring. "And I would appreciate if you were happy for us." Ron looked a little green but nodded. The old Ron would have never given in so easily and Hermione hugged him lightly. "I'm sorry I couldn't be with you when… after the… you know, with Harry." she said.
He stiffened and drew away. "I thought you were going to die too." he said.
"So they tell me."
"You look really different." he added. "Why did you come here?"
"I was worried about you. I hadn't heard from you." she said. "Would you like me to go?"
He thought about it for a while. "No, I'd like you to stay." he said.
"All right." she said. He sat back in his chair and she sat down on his bed and they watched the landscape until – two days in – Severus came.
Hermione had let Ron call the shots. Mostly they stayed in his room and didn't talk. She got him to start eating downstairs with his parents which was a step in the right direction and they went for a walk every once in a while but mostly they stayed upstairs and said very little and sometimes Ron would get very angry and start to cry which made Hermione cry and she realized, abruptly, that Harry wasn't going to come back. She'd come to the Burrow to put things into perspective and to help Ron but instead she was letting his depression overtake her – she was mourning Harry's death in a most unhealthy way.
Ron was asleep on his twin bed when Hermione saw Severus coming up the front walk of the Burrow. She was in the uncomfortable chair at the window and she spun the engagement ring around and around on her finger, biting her lip. He looked a little irritated and he wore his black teaching robes which billowed ominously behind him in a way that still gave her a little stab of irrational fear. She'd known three Snape's since her time at Hogwarts; The frightening professor, the loving professor, and her fiancé. The one approaching her now was definitely the first.
Arthur Weasley had left for work and Hermione vaguely recalled Molly calling up the stairs about the market or some other errand – regardless, Ron and herself were the only people home. She heard his rapping on the door and then she heard him open it. She could hear him stalking around the small, cozy home and then his feet on the stairs. It was only a matter of time before he found them. She jumped with the knob to Ron's door turned slowly with a light creak and then the door was open and he was standing there glaring at the both of them.
"Shhh," she said, putting a finger to her lips and motioning towards the sleeping boy. Man, now, she supposed. But Ron hadn't been sleeping well at all and she didn't want to rob him of the few hours he would get today. Snape, looking even more upset, pointed out the door and Hermione, not in the mood to argue, stood and padded out of the bedroom, closing the door behind her. She looked frightful compared to his perfectly tailored black robes. She was in a pair of old jean cut offs and one of Mrs. Weasley's sweaters – belonging to either Ginny or George, she wasn't sure – and her hair was beginning to grow out in earnest now so it was wildly protruding from her head and the ensemble was topped off by a big pair of wooly socks that she'd knitted herself. He followed her downstairs and when they stood in the living room he looked her top to bottom and shook his head as if to say that she would never do.
"What are you doing here?" he asked, finally.
"I left you a note…"
"I got your bloody note." he snarled. "It's not like you to just up and leave like that."
"Ron needed me." she said.
"You couldn't give me the courtesy of a goodbye?" he asked, tired, pinching the bridge of his nose. "I had to come here to fetch you?"
"I told you I would be home in a few days." she said. "In the note."
"Yes, yes, the note." he said. "I was tired of waiting. Have you helped Weasley?"
"I think so." she said, uncertainly.
"Then you can return to Italy with me." he said.
"So soon?" she asked. "I don't think he's ready."
"It looks like he's dragging you down with him, not you pulling him up, Hermione." he said, his voice losing its sharp edge. She couldn't argue with his assessment because she'd drawn the same conclusion her self so she just stood there and looked miserable. He sighed and opened his arms. She hugged him tightly and he patted her back lightly. "What's wrong, love?" Ahhh, there was her Snape.
"I miss Harry and Ron is sad and I don't know how to fix any of it." she sobbed into his chest.
"It's not something you can fix." he told her. "He needs time. So do you. The war is fresh, the whole world is still reeling. The most we can do is to keep on living."
"I'm trying to do that." she said. "But I don't think Ron knows how. And, and, Mrs. Weasley just lets him sit up there all day and mope."
"Perhaps he ought to leave this place, then." Severus suggested, knowing that he could never stand a place like the Burrow even in his most stable state of mind.
"Severus!" she exclaimed, stepping back and getting that expression she got when she just realized something incredible. He found that look of brilliance most delectable. "You're absolutely right!" He wasn't sure to what she was agreeing but he was pleased to see she'd stopped crying. "Ron'll love your manor and Italy will be just the relief he needs!" she said and shot upstairs to wake and inform Ron. Snape's mouth fell open. That wasn't what he'd meant at all.