Chapter 6
Hermione was nervous. It was a strange vision indeed to see her two men in the unassuming Granger cul-de-sac. Severus seemed unflustered by the odd surroundings, which made sense to Hermione due to the nature of his muggle upbringing. But it was Lucius that made her twitch.
Never did her two worlds seem so at odds until Lucius Malfoy was in the room. It reminded her painfully of the time that she had encountered Lord Malfoy, in all his glory, in Flourish and Blotts shortly before the commencement of her second year at Hogwarts. She remembered through child's eyes, the grand wizard who stood in shocking contrast to her own muggle parents. And now he was here in her house- eyeing up her Mum's dvd collection.
They had both insisted on escorting her to her family home when she expressed that she wanted to collect some of her things before heading off to Paris with them. Since the final battle and the destruction of her little beaded bag, she had only the clothes on her back. A faded pink hoodie that had certainly seen better days; a trusty button- down top and some boot-cut jeans. Which had been fine for a few days, as she had grown accustomed to wearing the same clothes on the trott when she had been on the run – but now she longed for some properly clean jeans and not just ones that had been charmed free of gore.
As she had obliviated her parents at the beginning of the war and had not ventured back to the family home, the Granger residence had a thin layer of grimy dust on most of the surfaces and floors – which she was a little mortified about. Sensing her trepidation, Severus had pushed a gawping Lucius into the living room whilst Hermione made her way up the stairs to her childhood bedroom. Everything was the same. She had been a little anxious that one day she would return to this little safe-haven and not recognise it, but it was the same.
She hung by the door-frame feeling a bit at odds with the glaring normality of the room. Of course, there were bookshelves everywhere. Her pine desk still had pride of place by the window, so she had a good view of the cherry trees that bloomed in the lane during spring. The pretty mint wallpaper she had selected at fourteen still matched her duvet and pillows on her twin bed. She flushed at the thought of Severus and Lucius seeing this room, it was such a clear indication of her age and lack of sophistication. Yes, this was definitely the bedroom of a child.
With that thought Hermione shook herself into action – there was probably only so long Severus could keep Lucius entertained before he came snooping upstairs as well. Crouching underneath the bed to retrieve her trusty old suitcase, Hermione began to fling in whatever she deemed respectable enough to go with her on their trip. She sighed heavily as she did. There wasn't a lot to go on if she was being honest.
It was a truth universally acknowledged that Hermione Granger was not really a girly girl. She had never really gone out of her way to make her wardrobe alluring – the only exceptions had been at the Yule ball and Slughorn's horrible Christmas party; it had both annoyed and pleased her to no end that her peers had been shocked by her appearance on those occasions (it wasn't like she was such a troll 364 days out of the year – was it?). She was a jeans and t-shirt kind of girl, unless the occasion called for her to take a little more time with her appearance. But in that moment, she stood in her bedroom wringing her hands wishing she hadn't dismissed Lavender's fashion magazines as frivolous now that she was faced with properly spending time with Severus and Lucius, who were always immaculately turned out. Then a gentle rapping alerted her to the door.
"Hermione? May I come in?" Called Severus.
"Oh – erm, yes!" She replied once she scanned the room and had made sure that nothing too embarrassing or infantile was on show.
Severus seemed to sense her awkwardness and leaned against a wall, not moving any further into her sanctum, watching her with his dark eyes. "Stop it." He said.
Hermione stared back at him. "Stop what?"
"What you always do – you overanalyse everything. Merlin Granger! I could hear your cogs turning from downstairs. You don't need to have everything figured out. You don't need to be perfection incarnate at all times!"
Hermione looked down at the floor.
"You're forgetting, not only was I once your teacher – which I think gives me a pretty good handle on the way that you think witch; but I was also once in the position you're in now. I know how overwhelming Malfoy's wealth can be…" Severus sighed and walked over her to cup her shoulders in his steadying hands. "But Lucius and I find your company charming. You are still a very young woman and despite this we have engaged you. We are not expecting a finished product. To be perfectly honest – I'm pretty sure you could wear a tea cosy to dinner and that man wouldn't bat an eyelid."
Hermione exhaled and marvelled a little at Severus' ability to talk her down from the edge. "I… I hadn't realised before." She smiled up at the usually aloof man.
"You hadn't realized what?" Severus played along tipping his head to one side.
"Just how well you know me." She grinned.
He snorted at that. "Of course I know you – you cheeky bint! Spymaster remember." He said with a gentle tug on her earlobe.
Hermione laughed and danced out of his arms to creep backwards to her bed. Severus followed her path with his darting eyes, sensing the mischievous switch in her mood.
"So, oh great spy – there's nothing I could do that would shock you?" She pouted flirtatiously.
"I think it would very much depend…"
"And what if I asked you to come over here and kiss me?" She asked as she dropped onto her childhood bed.
"Hm… I think I could be amenable." He replied, then with agonizing slowness he clambered on top of her and began to nip at her throat. "Although," he said with a waggle of his eyebrows, "I might feel a little awkward meeting your father one day, knowing how thoroughly I've ravished you under his roof."
"Stop talking and get to the ravishing." She growled and grabbed him by the collar to fuse her lips to his. In terms of a distraction technique, making love to her was a stroke of genius – and she wondered at how much quicker they may have won the war if Severus had been camped in that smelly tent too.
When the pair of them resurfaced a short time later and decided to take her luggage downstairs, Hermione felt ridiculously calmer – until she saw what Lucius was doing.
"Hecate help you if you're holding my baby book Lucius!" Shrieked the witch, broken out of her revelry with embarrassment.
Malfoy looked up from his position, sprawled out on the couch, with a devilish expression. "Well I had to find some way to amuse myself while you and Severus were busy."
Hermione rubbed her face with her hands.
"Goodness you really did have very bucked teeth, didn't you? I always thought Severus and Draco were exaggerating." Continued Lucius as he waved around a picture of her at seven on a holiday in Cornwall, licking an ice lolly.
"Are you quite done?" Severus asked, amused.
"Of course not! I've not even shown you my favourite yet." With a flourish Lucius produced another picture from the book.
This time Hermione made to grab it, but Lucius was too fast. Severus looked on at both of them quizzically.
"Ahhh yes Miss Granger, I wanted to ask you- do all muggles torture their young or where you just especially privileged?" And then he held up a picture. The picture, really.
"Miss Granger…" began Severus, barely able to contain himself. "Why are you dressed as a lobster?"
"Second lobster." She answered from beneath her hands.
"Second lobster? Are we supposed to know what that is?" Asked Lucius looking towards a baffled Snape.
"It was for my primary school's nativity. It's a play about Jesus being born – children act it out and the parents come to watch around Christmas time. The part I got was second lobster." Hermione offered weakly.
"There was more than one crustation present at the birth of the Christian God?" Smirked Lucius.
"I guess they ran out of barn animals… Merlin Lucius! You are so horrible!"
Lucius Malfoy winked at her. "Yes my darling, I am." Then he returned the cursed book to the shelf. "Are we ready to depart?"
Severus nodded an affirmative and the two men walked into the hall, leaving Hermione momentarily standing in place and contemplating murder.