AN: So I'm at a crossroads. As many of you know, I take a week off from my original works to post some of my older works on Archive of Our Own. There is no more old works to post, however. So, I'm torn as to what the do. I have 60 more chapters written, meaning I could post weekly for a couple of months and still not run out. Still, I want to make sure in the future the story isn't interrupted if I become busy. So, I'll leave it up to you readers. Do you want me to post weekly now or continue the every other week schedule knowing I may run out at some point in the distant future? Just let me know in a review!

Once again thank you for your support! It is very deeply appreciated!

Hermione felt like the biggest dunderhead alive.

Against her better judgment, she had decided to leave work early in order to dress up for the evening. It had taken less time than she'd expected to tame her matted hair into face shaping curls and apply some tasteful makeup. As a finishing touch, she wore her black dress. Satisfied that she appeared presentable, her next course of action was clear.

She would warm up some leftover spaghetti and eat half a tub of strawberry ice cream.

As she watched the plate of pasta turn in the microwave, she wondered if Mr. Snape could ever forgive her for the consequences of her actions. Had she damned him to a century of flames and smoke filled corridors? If they showed him a television of his life, would they include his afterlife? Would he be an astute enough spy to detect that she didn't mean a word of what she had yelled, or would his pain preclude him from ever wanting to see her again?

The room warmed.

Her heart raced as she pulled out the plate. The room seemed to have more light. Dare she hope they had allowed Mr. Snape to return?

"Ms. Granger?"

Hermione spun around, dropping the plate.

"I apologize for startling you," Mr. Snape's glow dimmed. "It seems that all I have done recently is make one blunder after another."

"No, you're fine."

"I see that you were expecting a visitor." His glow was a dull blue. "I will not keep you for long."

"Don't leave," she bent down and began sliding the spaghetti back onto the plate.

"I do not want to interfere with your evening plans."

"I'm not doing anything actually."

He raised an eyebrow. "If you are not busy, then why are you in that dress again? Surely you don't lounge about as if you are expecting a man to sweep you off of your feet."

"It's a long story, but please stay. There are some things I need to tell you."

"There are things I need to tell you as well."

She stood and cast a cleaning spell on the floor.

"Are you going to eat the food that just came off the ground?" His frown deepened.

"Why should I let it go to waste?"

"Because it's been on the floor and is probably infested with germs."

"I have a ten second rule."

"I cannot keep track of time anymore, but that felt more like thirty seconds."

"Fine, it may have been longer, but the floor isn't that dirty."

"I do not mean to demean your cleaning abilities, but I doubt it is as clean as you believe."

Crookshanks marched over and sniffed a clod of tomato sauce.

"I believe that eating that spaghetti is inadvisable," Mr. Snape concluded.

"Even if it is, I don't have much of a choice." She sighed. "There isn't much food left, and I doubt you're going to teach me how to cook tonight."

"We have more important things to focus upon than a cooking lesson."

"Agreed."

An awkward silence fell between them.

"So you dressed up for no one?" Mr. Snape asked.

"Maybe." She bowed her head.

"I see."

"You think I'm pathetic, don't you?"

"No, but I am not being articulate." He put his hand on his head. "I am honestly at a loss to explain my recent behavior. I can navigate the intricacies of Death Eater politics and can endure the chaos of an Order meeting. Yet when I see you, I am clueless as to what constitutes socially acceptable behavior."

"Why?" She stepped closer to him.

"I'm sure it's the effects of being deceased, though as Sirius would love to point out I was never adept at talking to women, especially ones wearing black dresses."

"What are you saying?"

"I mean to say." His glow was white. "It means I struggle to apologize in front of anyone, especially you."

She sat at her table.

"Ms. Granger, I am truly sorry for implying you were a waste of time. You are anything but a waste of time. I enjoy every moment of being with you," he sat across from her.

"You do?"

"Yes, and it was horrendous of me to imply otherwise. You are the closest thing I have to a friend, perhaps the only earthly one I've ever had." His voice softened. "If you can ever find it in your heart to forgive me, I would be forever grateful."

"Do you consider me your master?"

"No." His voice cracked. "I have not believed that for one second. When I become flustered though, I say things I do not mean or know are not true. It is one of the many reasons why I struggle in social relationships."

"You aren't alone in that trait." Hermione reached for him. "I tend to find the best way to make any situation worse."

"You have my situation infinitely better though, better than I could have imagined." He brushed his hands against hers, going right through it.

She blushed.

"You had every right to yell at me. I was prying when I brought up Ron, and you deserved better. Somehow, I hope you can find it in your heart to forgive me."

She smiled and withdrew her hand. "You were forgiven the moment you left."

His glow became yellow.

"I forgive you, and hope you can find it in your heart to forgive me."

His glow brightened. "Why would you need to be forgiven.

"Because you were only trying to help me by asking about Ron. Instead of appreciating your efforts, I yelled at you. I am so sorry I behaved that way."

"There is no need to apologize."

"Yes, there is," she replied. "I never meant to allow you to feel taken advantage of, but upon further reflection I realized that other than helping you reach heaven, I've offered you nothing. The relationship has been you giving everything and me taking everything. The makes me no different than anyone else in your life, and that is unacceptable."

"You are not using me."

"I don't intend to, but after some reflection I decided that if you ever came back I would start treating you like a friend."

"You have treated me more like a friend than almost anyone else has."

"That is a sad statement," she shook her head. "In any case, I am the one who screwed up. If I had been more hurtful, I could've ruined your chances of heaven. For that, I deeply apologize."

"If I had ruined my chances at heaven, I would have nobody to blame but myself."

"There were two people in that argument."

"Yes, but…"

"No." She held up her hand. "I played my role in this fight, and need to make things right."

"Very well then. What do you propose?"

"First," she sat up straighter. "I need to tell you about Ron."

"If you do not want to tell me anything I will accept that. We can discuss something else." He eyes fell on her dinner. "Or you could eat."

"No, we need to discuss this, and I can always cast a warming spell on my food."

"True."

"You are my friend, and something this important shouldn't be kept from you," She took a shaky breath. "Perhaps if I explain things it will make my situation in life clearer."

Mr. Snape nodded.

"Ron and I began dating as the war was coming to a close." She cleared her throat. "It was a disaster from the beginning. At first he wanted to become an auror, but he failed the entrance exam. I was retaking my seventh year at Hogwarts at the time. He flooed me and began blaming me for it because I didn't help him study enough. I told him where to stick it, and that should've been the end."

"Yet it wasn't."

"No. A week later he sent an owl with roses and chocolates. At the time I found it romantic, so I took him back. I had no idea it would become a vicious cycle of breaking up, making up, and then arguing until our throats were sore."

He nodded.

"Ron used his fame to get him a position on the Chudely Cannons. I think he was a keeper, but don't quote me on it." She cleared her throat. "In the meantime, I went to the university. For the next two years we engaged in a cycle of fighting, making up, having stability, only to begin fighting again, which led to another break up. It took so much of my energy and tore me to shreds emotionally but I figured we would work through everything. If we could make it through a war together, we could make it through a marriage and children, right?"

"Not at all. The Second Wizarding War was only a few years, but marriage is a lifetime. In no way should they ever be equated."

"I know that now, but the time I was naive and too in love to see straight." She took a sip of her cabernet. "Around our third year anniversary, Viktor Krum bought a second home in England. Apparently he was impressed when he spent his year in Hogwarts, and the British women gave him all the adoration he could ask for."

"Of course they did."

"Naturally, we got back in touch, just as friends. Ron caught wind of it and became jealous. He became more possessive and the fighting escalated. It became so turbulent that there were nights he wouldn't return to our shared apartment. Then there were the rumors swirling around."

He twisted his lower lip.

"Obviously there were rumors about Viktor and me, but some concerned Ron too. A few reporters saw him talking to Lavender, and others took pictures of him embracing her for much longer than was necessary. When I confronted him about it, he called me clingy and that I needed to start trusting him more. I relaxed, until the day my evening class got cancelled. I went home hoping to surprise him." She huffed. "It turns out I was the one in for a surprise."

He kept his gaze on her.

"I'll never forget the look of pure bliss on Lavender's face as she fucked Ron on our bed. He was whispering sweet nothing he hadn't said to me in at least a year. A few times he even told her he loved her."

"What an arse." Severus' glow was a dull red.

"It turned out that I was not much better."

"How could you be worse than him of you weren't cheating?"

"I was so infuriated I ran out to a bar. Viktor happened to be there. We talked, I had too many cocktails. Before I knew it we were kissing like there was no tomorrow." She groaned. "It was so stupid and out in public too. I was too drunk to even think that someone could've recognized me."

"Krum did not take advantage of you, did he?"

"No, it never went further than kissing, but the damage was done. I spent the night in a hotel room to clear my head. When I woke up the next morning." She slumped in her chair. "There I was on the front page, with Viktor."

He twisted his lower lip.

"Before I could think of damage control, Ron went to all the media outlets and told him how shocked he was. He cried about how there was no one but me, and played the victim. Of course everyone believed him. Rita went so far as to bring up my fifth year when I was allegedly stringing along Harry and Viktor. Soon, almost everyone thought I was nothing more than a slut."

"At least Harry, Draco, and Ginevra took your side."

"Harry came over the night the story ran and asked me for an explanation. When I told him everything, he admitted that he suspected Ron had been cheating, but didn't want to tell me until he had concrete evidence of him doing so. Draco had been pleading for me to dump Ron for some time, so he approved of me kissing another man. Ginny was a harder sell, but once she cooled down and listened to Harry and Draco, she realized Ron was in the wrong. When he announced that he was dating Lavender, she cut him out of her life."

"Perhaps Draco doesn't have as questionable a taste in women as I feared."

"No, he has great taste in women." She exhaled. "Anyway, I was being blasted in all the papers, and nobody cared to hear my side. The press hounded me until I moved to Australia for a year. When I came back, I wanted to fly under the radar as much as possible. I quit the university and got a job as a cashier in a bookstore. It seemed natural given my love of books. The owner was elderly though, and her children had no intention of inheriting the store. Thus when she died, I inherited it. I've been running Paradisio Books ever since."

"I am so sorry you had to undergo any of that." Severus' glow was a soft yellow.

"It's okay."

"No, it is not okay." His voice grew stronger. "Ronald was emotionally abusive, and then twisted the truth when his affair was nearly exposed. There is no excuse for his actions. You are well rid of him."

"I think I believe that now."

"You needed to be convinced of that fact?"

She shrugged. "I always figured I was the one who messed up by kissing Viktor. The breakup was in part my doing."

"Perhaps you should have gone about things differently, but it does not excuse his actions."

"No, it doesn't."

"I apologize for ever bringing him up." He leaned closer to her. "Had I known what he'd done I never would have done so."

"No, you needed to know the truth. Still, when you asked about him, I was so scared you'd judge me too."

"How could I judge you given everything I've done?"

"I'm so used to people judging me I jump to the conclusion that they will. Often, people only see me as the third member of the Golden Trio. They see my accomplishments, my scandals, and little else. After a while, I became so sick of it I closed myself off to everyone except a few people," Her voice was softer. "Including you, Severus."

"I am honored you would share that part of your story with me, Ms. Granger."

"That is my second condition," she replied. "We need to start calling each other by our first names."

His glow dimmed.

"If we are to be friends, we need to address each other as such. No more of this professional colleagues nonsense. I need to know that we care for each other as partners."

Severus stood and walked out of the kitchen. A tear trickled down her cheek. Of course this was too much to ask.

He reemerged with the pillow. "I agree to call you Hermione if you call me Severus."

She burst out laughing before shaking the pillow. "Deal!"

For a brief moment Severus' glow was pink.