An Author's Musing: Have you ever planned something out and then halfway through the execution realized that your plan was flawed? I find myself at a precipice with this story. I had promised myself, and you, that I would not have Hermione and Snape get together while she was in school. I also decided that she would not learn of her heritage until she and Snape were together. Now I see that if I don't move things along, this story will just stall out. I have noticed my last few chapters had very little plot involvement and a lot of filler fluffiness. I had also originally planned this story to be a Harry/Ginny but I have written them into such a comfortable spot until the final battle that there is little else to write. I also love writing Hermione, which is why she has become the main character. I hope you will all still want to read this as I am going to move the plot along. Thank you all for your reviews. I hope you'll all stick with me and still enjoy my writing. Redfrog
Chapter 36: Hidden Truths
Severus sat and contemplated the mystery that was Edison and Emily Granger. They were supposedly muggles who had never been told about Hermione being a witch. This caused him to have many questions then. Why not tell them? Why were they not shocked by magic? How did they really meet Alexandria Longbottom? Emily was familiar enough with magic to request he shrink her husband's recliner and easily used floo powder. Edison also was not surprised by their sudden appearance, apparating or using the floo. He wondered if they were magical or even possibly squibs. He knew Lexie Longbottom would never voluntarily befriend a muggle so there had to be more to the story. There was also the fact that Jade called Emily 'My Lady' that confused him. He knew he had all the pieces to the puzzle but there was something keeping him from putting them all together. Like someone had put a confundus charm on him so he couldn't figure it out, almost like it was a secret that couldn't be found out.
"That's it!" He said triumphantly as he rose from the sofa. "A fidelius charm, which would explain all the inconsistencies and why I can't figure it out, the charm won't let me." Remus sent him an interested look from the other side of the room where he and Tonks were reading. Minerva stood and walked over to him.
"What are you mumbling about over here Severus?" She asked him with a smile. She could tell that he had just solved some sort of puzzle in his mind. You could almost see and feel the cogs turning in his mind.
"Nothing important Minerva," he said with a smile. "I just need to go speak with Emily Granger for a moment." He then excused himself and hurried over to the Granger's area of the house. It was only an hour after lunch so he assumed she would be there, hopefully with Lexie as well. He knocked on the door and waited.
Edison opened the door for him and invited him inside. "Hermione, Pip and Tori are touring the greenhouses if you are looking for them."
"I was actually hoping to speak with your wife if she is in?" Severus asked politely.
"She is in the sitting room with Lexie," he said motioning to the door on his left. The two men made their way in and sat down facing the women.
"Severus, what a surprise," Emily said with a smile. "What can I do for you?"
"I have been trying to piece together a puzzle and kept coming to blanks until I realized that something was preventing me from accessing all the information that I knew." He said watching her expression. Emily appeared unfazed but upon closer inspection, she was impressed and amused. Lexie was starting to fidget and he knew he was definitely on to something. "Something you said to me the first time we met finally clicked. You asked me how the charm failed. I was too worried about Hermione at the time to even realize the implications of that question. Are you under a fidelius charm madam?"
Emily smiled at the son of her best friend, impressed by his deductive reasoning skills. "Your mother always said how smart a boy you were," she told him. "I had hoped it would take quite a bit longer for anyone to have figured it out. Yes, I am under the protection of a secret keeper."
Severus processed the information as he watched the two women across from him share a look. They knew each other very well, almost as if they had known each other their entire lives. He couldn't remember ever hearing that Lexie had any friends other than his mother and the queen, so how did Emily Granger fit in? She said she knew his mother as well. He knew his mother would never associate with muggles, ever. She was a snobby pureblood through and through. Yet here was a muggle woman who was friends with both his mother and Lexie and under a fidelius charm. He knew his thought process was dampened by the charm so he kept running over everything he knew.
"Millie, I'll call us all some tea," Lexie said with a smile and summoned a tea set from Winky.
"Millie? That is an odd nickname for Emily." Severus commented still processing all he knew.
"Well Emma or Em just seem too impersonal, I have been called Millie for years." She told him with a smile. It was amusing to watch him muddle through. She knew he was close to figuring it out and if it wasn't for the strength of the charm he would have had it long ago.
Severus decided to change tactics and see just how much she knew about the wizarding world. "So you knew my mother and Alexandria," he commented. "I was unaware my mother had any other friends than Alexandria and the queen."
"I met your mother at the same time I met Lexie," Emily told him with a smile at how close he was to the mark.
Severus thought back to the reunion between the two women and remembered them saying they hadn't seen each other in 20 years. 20 years ago was his 7th year at Hogwarts … and the year the royal family went into hiding! Severus looked with wide eyes at Emily Granger. Emily… Millie… Amelia, Queen Amelia Kensington and her husband Edward. Ah Edward is now Edison. Their son is Phillip and that was the prince's name, his wife was Victoria and Mrs. Granger goes by Tori.
If the Granger's were actually the Kensingtons… that would make Hermione the princess. Damn, he should have known! She was way too powerful and intelligent to be a muggle born. She radiated such power that even his Slytherins were drawn to her. She met every one of the profiling characteristics that they had established for the princess as well. Jade could understand her and there was that answer to a game question that finally made sense. Hermione had jokingly said she her children would be Kensingtons and the ball let her get away with that answer. He had been plagued by confusion by that for a while and now it made sense.
Emily could see that Severus had made all the connections and was processing the fact that he had just found the royal family. "Will you be able to remove the charm when the time comes?" He asked them after he calmed his thoughts some.
"Yes, our secret keeper is alive and well," Emily said with a wink at Lexie.
"Why not tell Hermione from the start?" He asked them the only question he had no answer for.
"She needed to be protected. We thought by her not knowing we could keep her safe. We should have realized that she would still get involved in the war we were trying to protect her from. I was never surprised that she became friends with the Potter boy. Now she is in danger for being a muggle born just as much as she would have been in danger for being who she really is." Emily told him with a resigned sigh.
"The dark lord would have stopped at nothing to destroy her had you not gone into hiding. I still feel you made the right decision. When will you tell her the truth?" He asked.
"When she is ready to hear it," Ed told him. "Her powers are growing; she is becoming the woman we all knew she could become. After the final battle she will be who the wizarding world looks to for guidance."
"Are you aware of the prophesy of Harry Potter?" He asked, and they were not. "It is said he is the only one who can defeat the dark lord. He is supposed to have a power that the dark lord doesn't know. What if Hermione is this power and she is never told?" He asked feeling burdened by the knowledge that he couldn't even tell his best friend who she really was.
"She can still come into her powers without knowing who she is," Emily told him. "The power manifests itself when needed. It is not called upon so she will have it if she needs it."
"You know that you cannot reveal this to anyone, not even Hermione," Lexie told him.
"I am aware of that," he told them as he rose to go back to his rooms and think. "My lady," he bowed. "It is good to know you are alive and well. Merry Christmas."
Hermione had spent the morning and early afternoon with her parents exploring the house. Her dad was so excited about being around all the magical things. They even spent two hours in the Greenhouse. She decided to go see what Severus was up to since all of her friends were busy with their families or significant others. It was hard on her to have all her friends paired off. She was the only one other than the Creevy brothers who wasn't with anyone. Colin and Dennis were inseparable so they didn't need her either. Charlie and Severus were the only others close to her who were single. She liked Charlie as a friend but they just couldn't spend hours together like she could with Severus. He was her best friend. She had always thought that no one could be a better friend to her than Harry, Ron or Ginny, but he was. They had so much in common and their discussions were some of the best conversations she had ever had.
She found him staring into the fire deep in thought. She didn't want to disturb his musings so she just settled next to him and waited for him to speak. Something was weighing heavily on him, she could tell.
Severus felt her sit beside him. He was still processing everything and knew if he started talking that he would break his word and tell her the truth. He turned towards her and saw the caring in her eyes. It was his undoing and he pulled her to him in a tight embrace. He had never been one in the past to need or even desire physical comfort from someone, but with her all it was almost natural. She burrowed into his chest and just held on to him, feeling his need to hold her. She liked that he was comfortable enough with her to take comfort in her embrace.
He turned back to the fire but kept an arm around her. She smiled, sensing he still wasn't ready to talk, and summoned a book to read. They stayed that way until dinner, him staring into the fire and she reading quietly with his arm around her and her head resting against his shoulder.
He lovingly kissed her forehead before releasing her to stand, "Come it is dinner time. We cannot miss the Christmas feast or Harry will have our hides."
She smiled tenderly up at him before wrapping him in a tight hug. "I hope you know I'll always be here for you when you need me." She told him seriously. "Anything you need." She then lightly kissed his cheek, grabbed his hand and pulled him down to dinner.
"Where is Hermione?" Ron asked as they were all heading into the dining room. He saw her parents and grandparents and wondered where she had run off to. "I thought she was spending the day with her parents."
"She took them on a tour of the house but afterwards I saw her when Ginny and I were in the drawing room. She said she wanted to leave us to have our holiday together and went off somewhere else in the house." Harry told him.
"We saw her earlier too," Gabrielle said with a sly look to Draco. "I think we might have startled her as we were heavily snogging on the couch when she walked in."
They were all cut off from wondering when Hermione walked in dragging Snape behind her. They all chuckled at how their evil potions master let his apprentice pull him through the room. She sat down next to her dad who happily greeted Snape.
"She didn't give you too many problems this afternoon did she?" Pip asked him with a chuckle.
"No, her presence was tolerable as usual." He said and smirked as she beamed knowing that meant he had enjoyed their afternoon even if it had been spent in companionable silence.
"What did you and mum do for the rest of the afternoon?" Hermione asked her dad.
"We were reading some of the books in the library," he told her. "I wanted to look up a few of those plants you showed us."
Albus had taken over Harry's eager mood and made crackers appear in piles on the table. They all had a great time talking over the delicious food Dobby and Winky had prepared. Severus pulled a cracker that had tiny black bats fly out of, much to the amusement of the students. There was also a bat shaped badge with the initials SLS in gold on it. He placed it on his robes before Albus decided to enlighten everyone what the L stood for.
"SLS?" Draco asked him with a smirk. "I thought you didn't have a middle name." Earning a glare from Snape.
"What is your middle name Severus?" Remus asked him curiously. "How come you never mentioned it before?"
"I am afraid our dear Severus is not that fond of his middle name and refuses to use it in his monograms." Albus told them with a smile knowing they wouldn't let it go.
Hermione placed her hand on his gently, "What is your middle name?"
"Leontes," he told her and Charlie gasped from across the table. Severus glared at him.
Hermione was staring at him contemplating. "As in King Leonets from Shakespeare?" She asked him wondering at the odds of that.
"The very same," he told her with a small smile.
"Which play is that from?" Draco asked them.
"A Winter's Tale," Tori told them with a smile.
"That's the same one you said your name was from Hermione," Gabrielle told them looking at her with a raised eyebrow.
"That is correct," Pip told them. "We named her Hermione after the wife of King Leonets in the play." This earned interested looks from many at the table.
Remus could tell that Severus didn't want to discuss his name anymore and decided to distract them all by pulling another cracker. They spent the rest of the night telling stories about Hogwarts.
Remus approached Severus with a sifter of brandy one night after dinner. The two were the only ones in the room and he was determined to ask his friend some tough questions while he had the opportunity. "Remus," Severus said in acknowledgment. "What is it you wanted to know?" He could tell by the wolf's behavior that he was planning on prying into his private life and decided to just get it over with.
Remus sat and stretched his legs. "Tell me about you and Hermione," he said while looking into his brandy glass.
Severus sighed; he knew his friend was much more observant than everyone gave him credit for. "She has become the best friend I've ever had."
"Then why do you appear so melancholy?" Remus asked knowing there were much deeper levels he had to get to.
"How did you feel keeping the secret that you were a werewolf from Potter and Black?" Severus asked him. "I have something weighing on me that I am not at liberty to share with her or anyone rather."
"Nothing life threatening I hope," Remus said observing the man who usually seemed so put together.
"No, it is nothing that could harm anyone. It is just information that I now wish I was not privy to." He told him.
"Will this get between you and her?" Remus asked.
"Perhaps," he responded. "It doesn't change anything for me, but it may for her when she learns of it. She will be upset that I never told her."
Remus noticed the look on his face when he imagined her being mad at him. "Hermione is very loyal to her friends. She won't let you go that easily."
"I hope that is true," Severus said. "I have come to depend on having her presence to sooth my damaged psyche." Remus just raised an eyebrow and Severus decided he needed to talk about this with someone. "She is so young yet she is more mature and intelligent than any woman I've ever met. I fear that my old bitterness will rub off on her and we will lose one of the brightest lights in the wizarding world."
"You care for her deeply then," Remus commented with a small smile. "I have never seen you respond to anyone they way you do to her. She's good for you."
Severus looked at his friend for a moment deciding the best way to say it. He just sighed, placed his head in his hands and whispered, "I love her."
Remus grinned; this was what he had wanted to talk about. "You two are perfect for each other. I am sure once she finishes school you two can have a promising future."
"It's not that simple. There are complications that I cannot talk about even if we both survive this war. I fear it is hopeless," he told him. "She deserves so much better than me. Yet I don't know how I would survive to see her with someone else. Just watching Charlie stare at her makes me want to gouge his eyes out."
"How long has this been going on?" Remus asked curiously.
"I only realized it Christmas Eve but I should have noticed earlier," he replied. "When she kissed me I felt the strangest sensation. I never wanted to let her go. I figured it was just because it had been so long since a woman wanted me that my and body was just over responding. Now I realize my folly. I should have distanced myself while I had the chance. Now it's too late, I am addicted to her presence."
"She enjoys your company as well," Remus reminded him. "She knows you better than anyone and yet she hasn't run screaming. She is not afraid to show you affection. Why not give it a try?"
"She is too young and is still my student! Can you imagine what Albus would say or worse Minerva! I will not disgrace her in that way." He couldn't help but imagine what a real relationship between the two of them would be like. "She is destined for greatness not for being tied to the bat of the dungeons."
"Would you give up Hogwarts for her?" Remus asked him. "If she asked you, would you leave and go wherever she does?"
"In a heartbeat assuming the war is ended. I cannot leave while the Dark Lord lives." Severus told him sadly. "It is a mute point though, she would never want me."
They were having another girl's night. The young girls, plus Tonks and Fleur, were all gathered in Hermione's bedroom for the night. They were in their pajamas and were discussing their favorite topic, their boys. "We need to hook Hermione up with someone this year," Hannah told them all. "She is the only single one of us!"
"Fine," Hermione said with a smile. "I want someone with a great body. He has to be almost as smart as I am, have a sense of humor and be a great kisser."
"Not asking for much is she?" Angelina asked with a laugh.
"So you're telling me that there is no one you fancy now?" Katie asked her. "I heard that every single boy at Hogwarts is throwing themselves at you. Plus you have Charlie eating out of the palm of your hand and I still hear that Oliver tells everyone you were the best girlfriend he has ever had."
"What gives Hermione?" Alicia asked. "My little cousin is absolutely in love with you and so are the rest of them. Why not give one a chance?"
"I just don't want anything serious until college," she told them but something about her voice made them not believe her.
"Give me your tea cup," Ginny demanded. She was going to read Hermione's leaves and see what the deal was. "I see a great secret, true love and a crown. I'm not sure what the crown means but the other two are promising. This secret is something concerning you yet it doesn't feel like you are keeping it. The true love," she said turning the cup and then grinning. "You have a soul mate!"
"Are you sure?" Gabrielle asked excitedly. They were all jealous of the tight relationship Harry and Ginny had by being soul mates and wished they could have that for themselves.
"Do you dream about him?" Fleur asked dreamily.
"Yes," Hermione said blushing. "I have since I was like 9 or something. I never really see his face, just pieces."
"Tell us about him," Katie asked smiling.
"He's tall and dark. Thin but muscled. He has long ebony hair with piercing dark eyes. I fit perfectly in his arms." She told them with a far off look on her face.
"What else do you know? Can you hear him or smell him in your dreams?" Angelina asked her, the girls were all getting into the conversation.
"He smells of different herbs and his voice is like silk over steel. When I heard Snake talk for the first time it reminded me instantly of my dream man as it's the same timber. He wears black but I can't really see his clothes. I wish my dreams were as clear as Ginny's were." She told them and smiled as she noticed Jade slither into the room. "Hello Jade, did you come to join our all girl party?" She asked and laughed as she placed her around her neck.
"Any idea who your mystery man is?" Tonks asked her and winked at Jade while sticking out her forked tongue.
Hermione blushed as she remembered her dream from last night. It wasn't one of her normal soul mate dreams but it was intense. She remembered the sweat on her body and the feel of his hands on her. She had a vivid picture of his body in her mind and it had placed itself firmly on top of the image of her dream man. Ginny saw the blush and wondered about it. "What you blushing for?"
"And who are you thinking about to make you turn that red?" Susan asked her.
"It's just that I had a vivid dream last night, not about my soul mate but it seemed so real. I can still recall the feelings from it," she told them knowing they wouldn't think less of her as they had discussed this sort of thing before.
"Our little Hermione had a sex dream ladies!" Tonks said excitedly and they had her tell them all of it in detail.
"So who was your dream about last night?" Gabrielle asked once she had finished and the girls had calmed down.
"You have to swear you won't laugh, freak out and you are in no way allowed to tell anyone outside this room." Hermione said and they all agreed. "Now it doesn't mean anything. I'm sure it's just because we spend so much time together. It's not like I think of him in that way."
"Just tell us who it is already!" Ginny whined.
"It was Severus," she said quietly and they all stared at her in shock.
"That amazingly erotic dream you told us about. Everything you described, it was all with Severus Snape?" Alicia asked her with wide eyes and she nodded blushing and looking down at her feet.
"I wonder if he's that good in real life." Tonks asked conversationally and earned a thankful look from Hermione. "I mean we have all figured out that he is an amazing kisser so why wouldn't that extend to other bedroom activities as well?"