Chapter 9: Teatime
"Oh, you are early.", Ginny said, when they arrived. She had James on her hip and was currently making tea. "Actually I wasn't sure you'd visit at all." Ignoring her comment Severus strode past her. "Where is your husband?", he asked looking around. Ginny cocked her head at his tone but sighed in response.
"He is outside getting some wood for the fire." Severus immediately went for the door, but Hermione stayed with Ginny who had a worried look on her face now.
"What happened? Why is he so peevish and what does Harry have to do with it?"
Hermione sighed after taking a quick look around the room. She had never been here before, but it looked lovely. Like a home. "I bet he'll explain it as soon as they come back. But basically we have a hint on what might have happened to me and so far we are at a dead end." Ginny's eyes widened."Really? That's good news. I mean… not the part about the dead end obviously, but if you know more now that's cool.", she said and put James into his play pen.
Hermione sat down at the dinning table and Ginny immediately served her a cup of tea. "Thank you." She took a sip and let the liquid warm her body. Before Ginny could say anything else, the backdoor opened and Harry strutted into the kitchen, followed by an angry looking Snape. The boy who lived quickly stacked the firewood in the corner and then went to the table to take a seat as well. Severus himself chose the chair to Hermione's left. Ginny was the last one to sit down and eyed the men with a raised eyebrow.
"Somebody is going to tell me what's going on here, right now.", the redhead said crossing her arms in front of her chest.
"Do it, Potter.", Severus demanded with a snarky voice.
Harry let out a breath and then stared at Hermione. "First of, I'm sorry I didn't come to see you. I might have been helpful, but I didn't know you hadn't told Severus," he started and Hermione frowned. Where was this headed? She thought Harry should help them and now he had valuable information?
"I can see you are confused so I'm gonna start at the beginning. About a week before you lost your memories, you made this connection between the Sleeping Draught and Felix Felicis and you ask me to look up the current patent owners of the potions. I found out that both of them belonged to a wizard called Barnabas Mayhew who runs a potion shop in Wizarding London." Green eyes focused on Hermione to check if she was following his story.
"We went there together one afternoon and you confronted Mayhew, but he assured us he didn't now anything about the cuckoo's potions, a term you invented. And to be honest he seemed pretty trustworthy. I used Legilimency on him and he really seemed not to know." He bit his lip and looked at Hermione and Severus apologetic. "I didn't realize this might be important. I'm sorry."
Hermione gave him a small, understanding smile and clutched her cup tighter. This was more than interesting. Why had she not told Severus anything about it? It seemed weird. After a minute of uncomfortable silence where no one dared to speak and everyone was lost in thoughts, Severus huffed.
"This must have something to do with it. I'll be damned if I just ignore this visit. We are going there again tomorrow and then we will see how much the man really knows." His expression darkened and for the first time since school Hermione thought of him as a Death Eater again.
Harry frowned at him. "Do I have to come with you to make sure you will let him live?"
Severus rolled his eyes. "Really, Potter? I'm not even going to touch the man."
"That's what I'm afraid of.", Harry mumbled in response and his wife shook her head. "Harry, please. Severus and Hermione will handle the situation just fine. I'm sure." She stood up and with a flick of her wand set the table.
"It will all work out. I have a good feeling about this. Let's not worry too much about it. You know, someone once said: To worry means to suffer twice." She affectionately patted Hermione's shoulder and her friend nodded.
"You are right. We can't visit the shop now anyways. So lets enjoy the rest of the day and wait what tomorrow brings." She shot a look at her husband who seemed to be still deep in thought. She was also anxious for this to be over, but her friend had a point. They couldn't go there now and one day of waiting would probably not hurt anyone. Also if what Harry said was true the patent owner might be a dead end as well.
"So, who wants some cake?", Ginny asked and filled the table with all kinds of sweets.
"Severus could we talk for a minute?", Hermione asked two hours later. Ginny was busy putting away the leftovers and Harry was cuddling James and making all kinds of funny noises to keep his son entertained. Severus, who had been very silent during their meal, looked uncertain for a second but nodded and stood up. He went into the living room, which was separated from the kitchen by a lovely wooden door, and his wife followed him swiftly. He looked tensed as he stood there, something Hermione noticed though she had only been around him for three days now. There relationship had changed and Hermione had the feeling that she had rarely, if ever lied to him before. Hearing that she had taken such risks without telling him, must have been shattering for him.
During teatime she had thought about how to make a good apology. Of course she knew there was no need to apologize, but she felt guilty none the less. Apparently she had acted irresponsible. It sure seemed that way and Hermione completely understood Severus frustration with her, but at the same time she hoped he would be able to see past this, so they could keep making progress in the emotional area. She already liked him a lot and he hadn't even tried making a step into seduction. The most scandalous thing they had done so far was hugging.
Her hands displayed her nervousness as she let out a deep breath and started speaking.
"I know you are kind of mad at me," That sounded like an accusation and he immediately raised an eyebrow at her. Noticing his reaction she titled her head slightly.
"Or at your Hermione, and I feel the need to apologize to you." Now he frowned, but stayed silent, waiting for her to continue speaking. "I haven't been truthful to you in the days before I lost my memories and I don't know why, but I seriously want to smack the hell out of my older self. I feel so guilty. But I truly believe there must be a good reason for everything I have done."
She came closer and Severus put his hands on her shoulders, gently stroking her collarbone with his thumbs.
"You are correct. There is no reason for you to apologize. You are a smart witch… with or without memories." He added and Hermione felt herself starting to smile.
"There must be a good explanation for everything. I just have to be patient and that's something I'm lacking when it concerns such important matters," he admitted. His wife felt better now. So there wasn't really a conflict between them.
"I'm confident as well. Still we might be happy to have a plan B, just in case the patent owner really doesn't know anything. There has to be another way to retrieve my memories. A potions accident is likely to have happened. But what does that mean? Do memories simply disappear? Because they aren't hidden in the back of my mind, right?", Hermione asked and Severus titled his head.
"I'm not certain to be honest. It really depends on the potion. But Poppy said that she couldn't find any memories that were tucked away. Maybe we should ask her if she found out anything new."
The brunette nodded and smiled at her husband.
"I'm so happy you are so understanding and patient with me. Even though I might have caused this." She motioned to her head and a worried expression graced her face.
Severus sighed.
"There is no way you would act recklessly or endanger our child if there wasn't a good reason for it. I just hope we will find out what happened. I fear my anger about the situation will last for some time. But once you have your memories back, we can talk about it."
He let go of her shoulders and a devilish gleam appeared in his eyes. "If you did something reckless though, I promise I will spank you, witch." He leaned closer to her ear and Hermione felt his breath on her neck. "You won't be able to walk for days."
A blush spread over her skin at the same time her core clenched with unexpected arousal. Though he had been hinting on their sex life quite some times, she had always tried to ignore it. Now however she started to question what kind of man her former Potions Professor really was and why his words excited her so much.
When they arrived at home it was late enough to go to bed already. They had stayed with Ginny and Harry longer than expected, talking about the possible directions to take and making up plausible scenarios. Hermione was to tired to think about what was going to happen, she just wanted to lie down and relax. Heading straight for the bathroom it took her next to no time to get ready for bed and when Severus joined her she was already counting sheep.
"I didn't realize you were so tired, you should have said something sooner," he said and leaned slightly towards her. Hermione looked at him and turned to her side to face him.
"It's alright. I was just as interested in the conversation as you," she said and smiled at her husband. They had talked and laughed and worried together and Hermione had even held James for the first time. It had been an eventful day and she was ready to sleep and let her mind calm down now.
"There is something I realized." Severus reached out to let one of her brown curls run through his fingers.
"When you first woke up without memories, I feared you wouldn't be the same."
Hermione pressed her lips together. She knew that. It was one of her fears as well.
"But today I came to the conclusion, you are the same. You don't have all of the puzzle pieces but you are the same Hermione. The only difference is that you don't love me." He made a pregnant pause and Hermione started opening her mouth to protest.
"Yet."
AN: Hey guys, I haven't been feeling good lately, which is why this took me so long. Thank you for your kind words, favs and follows. I hope you enjoy and have a nice day.
