Late One Night

Disclaimer: I only own Maria and the plot.

AffectedMangoO: Ha ha, well, there will be more Sev/Rem fluff eventually! Yeah, wouldn't it be fun to walk in on them snogging though? He he…I'd be happy about it, although if I was Harry and Ron I'd be shocked, and if I was Hermione I'd be a little disgusted at seeing me parents doing that! …I'm gonna shut up now.

Wyall Jared: Glad you liked it!

Lady Guena: He he, glad you liked them getting caught!

Piper of Locksley: I'm glad you didn't just shun this story and never come back! Is this update soon enough for you?

Fallen Angel of Hell: I'd hate catching my parents in the act too… shudders

………………………………

Don't ask why there is a refrigerator in the Lupin house but there is. Mainly cause I read that Remus was only a half-blood so he's gonna have some muggle stuff in his house. F.Y.I. JK Rowling said he was a half blood.

………………………………

Chapter 3: Butterbeer and Chocolate

It had been a week since Severus and Remus had been caught kissing in the kitchen. Ron had gone back home to the Burrow, Harry had become torn between his friends especially as he had to stay at Remus' and Hermione was miserable now that one of her best friends had turned his back on her.

………

Remus had gotten an owl from Dumbledore that morning asking him to go to Grimmauld Place for a meeting. He hated going into that house, knowing Sirius had to spend the remaining months of his life in a place he hated, it had hurt him seeing Sirius so down about being back in there when they were alone together before he died. And now he had to face the same emptiness of that hellhole that Sirius had been succumbed to for nearly a year.

He soon heard footsteps in the hallway, Ah; one of them is up. Remus only had to worry about Harry and Hermione now that Ron had gone home, Hermione had said it was because they had had a falling out but Remus was fairly certain there was more behind that. But he hadn't found out what as his daughter had been spending every waking moment of the last week shut in her bedroom with books and magazines, only surfacing for food, drinks and bathroom breaks and even then she wouldn't talk. It was starting to worry him and Harry hadn't a clue as to what was wrong with her either.

Remus had brought it up in conversation with Severus but he hadn't been much help either, he had just said 'let her cool off on her own, you know she'll only talk to us when she wants to.'

Remus looked up as the first teenager entered the kitchen, it was Hermione, she looked very pale and withdrawn, and she had dark bags under her eyes. "Good morning." He frowned at his daughter's appearance; it was obvious she was beating herself up over this whole thing about Ron.

Hermione grunted in reply and went to the fridge for a cold drink.

Remus sighed but he decided not to say anything in case it upset her, "I'm going to be going out later to talk with Dumbledore."

"Kay whatever." Replied Hermione quietly.

Remus studied the back of her head, "Can I trust you and Harry to keep an eye on your sister?"

"Yes."

Remus raised an eyebrow; "Can I trust you to stop sulking?"

"I'm not sulking." Grumbled Hermione.

………

Remus left for his talk with Dumbledore on a bad note with Hermione. On his way down the garden path Remus saw Severus materialise out of thin air. He gave a weak smile as Severus came towards him.

Severus raised an eyebrow, "What's wrong?"

Remus crossed his arms as he stopped, "I had an argument with Hermione this morning, she's still annoyed at me now."

Severus frowned and rested his hands on Remus' waist, "I thought we agree not to say anything to her?"

"I know, but I hate seeing her so down." Replied Remus almost helplessly. "I mean, she barely speaks now and she spends all day in her room-"

"She's a teenager." Said Severus cutting Remus off before he got too hysterical about it. "You were one once."

Remus sighed and nodded his head, "I know… Can you talk to her?" Severus gave him a look. "Please? She probably won't talk to me now…and you seem to understand better than I do."

Severus frowned, he really didn't want to push her, if the girl didn't want to talk then she didn't have to. "All right, I'll try and talk with her, but she may just end up being annoyed at me as well." He noticed with a silent groan, that Remus had resorted to the puppy eyes. "I said I would do it didn't I?"

Remus gave a small-satisfied smile, "Thank you." He slipped his arms around Severus' neck and kissed him on the lips. "It's just the girls by the way, if you're going in."

………

Severus saw Remus off before heading into the house, which was now only occupied by his two daughters, Harry had apparently gone to the Weasleys to stay tonight to see if he could talk to Ron about Hermione. He peered into the living room and saw that Maria was once again happily playing, she had made a quick recovery from last months full moon this time, it usually took her a long time to recover, as she was still only little.

Severus headed into the kitchen; he had already come up with a plan to get Hermione to talk. One thing he knew, was that that girl had inherited Remus' fondness for chocolate so he figured he could probably turn to bribery to get her to talk. Severus grabbed a big block of chocolate out of the cupboard, making a note to himself to replace it before Remus found out, and then he grabbed a six pack of butterbeer out of the fridge and headed to Hermione's room.

…

Hermione was sitting on her bedroom floor with her back against her bed; she had a pile of magazines and books next to her as well as half a bowl of ice cream and three empty bottles of coke. She was still in her pyjamas and very unlike her normal self she hadn't even touched her homework for school yet.

Hermione grumbled in annoyance when she heard a knock on her door, "Come in." She watched as the door opened, half expecting it to be her dad looking to apologise for upsetting her again, but no, it wasn't. It was the other one. "Oh great, my lucky day." She muttered sarcastically.

Severus raised an eyebrow, "Just as lovely as we were last time I visited hm?"

Hermione glared at him, "If you've only come to mock me then leave me alone."

"I have not come to mock you, Hermione." Said Severus entering the messy room properly. "I'm here to talk."

"Oh god, you're even worse at that than dad is, and he is understanding." Scoffed Hermione, she crossed her legs and scowled at the ground.

Severus sighed, I should have known this wouldn't be easy. He went over to Hermione and sat down on the floor next to her, then he put the chocolate and the butterbeer in front of her. "I come bearing gifts."

Hermione eyed the chocolate and the butterbeer in front of her before turning her brown eyes to her father suspiciously, "Are you trying to bribe me?"

"Yes, I am."

Hermione shrugged and opened the block of chocolate, "Fine with me."

Severus watched her for a moment and smirked, "So, will you talk?"

Hermione glanced at him out the corners of her eyes; "Do I have to?"

"I think it would be best, don't you?" Replied Severus as he opened a bottle of butterbeer.

Hermione sighed; there really was no point in trying to argue with this man, he always got the last word no matter what. "Fine…"

…

"You want me to come back and teach." Repeated Remus staring at the Headmaster of Hogwarts like he was mad. "But…they all know about me. I'll probably scare the students."

"No more than Severus, I dare say." Replied Albus smiling slightly. "Remus, I have been going through all of the applicants and I still feel you are the best man for the job, you have plenty of skill in this area…plus, I think it might be best if we have more Order members in the school. Myself, Minerva and Severus are not enough."

Remus sighed and reluctantly nodded, "All right, I'll do it. But…what are the students' parents going to think, and the School Governors?"

Albus held up his hand to stop Remus from asking anymore questions, "I will deal with that my boy, don't you worry. Now, there is one more thing I wanted to talk to you about." He saw Remus raised his eyebrows curiously. "It involves Sirius…"

…

"That's the thing though," Said Hermione as broke off a few more chunks of chocolate. "Ron's always been a prick, he's always had some prejudice…he's even jealous of Harry, which is stupid, just like him."

Severus was beginning to wish he hadn't asked, but he was quite interested to know what went on amongst Hogwarts' most infamous trio, the Dream Team.

Hermione huffed quietly, "He doesn't like werewolves…that was made obvious in the Shrieking Shack when I told everyone… He called me a Mudblood in fourth year."

Severus raised his eyebrows, "Really?"

Hermione shrugged and nodded, "Yeah, even if I'm not a Muggleborn it's still offensive. Stupid bastard…can you give him lots of detentions?"

"That would be a little unfair don't you think?" Replied Severus; "Even I won't give detentions out as favours, the student has to do something wrong in front of me first."

Hermione rolled her eyes, "Oh like you need a reason."

…

Remus couldn't believe what he had just heard from Dumbledore, "Y-you mean you can bring Sirius back?"

Dumbledore nodded at Remus over his cup of tea, "I think so, yes. I will have to look into it a bit more but the possibility is there." Remus nodded slowly. "But I will ask you not to mention this to Harry, I don't want to get his hopes up too high in case we fail in bringing Sirius back."

Remus nodded again, he gazed at the table thoughtfully for a moment before looking back to Dumbledore, "…If you are able to bring Sirius back then what about-"

"James and Lily?"

"Yeah." Remus nodded, "Well, I was thinking more along the lines of James but yeah."

Dumbledore placed his cup of tea back on the table and he folded his hands in his lap in thought. "Well, I was really looking into bringing people back from beyond the veil but, if we succeed with Sirius then I see no reason why we can't try and bring others back."

…

It was around three hours after Severus had turned up now and quite unusual for the Potions Master, he was still chatting with his daughter and listening to her moan and bitch about her friends and her life. And to be completely honest, he was quite enjoying his time with the fifteen year old, she reminded him so much of Remus when he was fifteen as well.

…

Hermione shifted and put her head on her father's shoulder, "I was wondering…"

"Mm?"

"Did you want me?" Asked Hermione quietly. She had always wondered this considering her father's great dislike of most people under twenty.

Severus glanced at the top of her head, "What do you mean?"

Hermione sighed, "When you found out I was on the way, did you want me?"

Severus bit his bottom lip, she had to ask the one question he really didn't want to have to answer. "Well…honestly?"

"Yes."

"Okay…" Severus sighed. "When I first found out you were on the way, I must admit, I wasn't too fond of the idea of becoming a father…especially at that time."

"Because of Voldemort?"

Severus raised his eyebrows, he had never heard Hermione say Voldemort's name before. "Because of him, yes, and because I wasn't expecting it…I'd never really thought about having children, especially with another man." He noticed the silence from Hermione, he was hoping he didn't just upset her. He moved slightly and put an arm around her. "It doesn't mean I don't want you now though."

Hermione cuddled up to him; "It doesn't seem that way sometimes."

Severus kissed her on top of the head, "You know why I'm like that, it doesn't mean I love you any less."

Hermione smiled, "I know."

………

"What did you say to her?" Questioned Remus that night after he got home, he had seen the smile on Hermione's face and now he was very curious.

Severus just smiled innocently, "Nothing. Nothing at all, I just asked her what was wrong like you begged me too."

Remus watched his lover leave the kitchen suspiciously, after contemplating Severus' answer for a moment Remus just shook his head and followed the dark haired man to the bedroom.

……………………………………

A/N: Yes, I know, that took a while to get written.

Next Chapter: School is back. Ron is still being nasty to Hermione.