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Chapter 4

Due to the fact that Harry had already started planning his fortieth birthday the year after, that work had run away with both Hermione and Harry over the last two weeks thanks to Severus Snape's reappearance, and that family issues meant that Ron had other things on his mind, they didn't all get to meet for Harry's birthday until a week and a half after the day itself.

It was to be a small gathering with Hermione meeting up with only four couples. Ron and Daphne, Neville and Hannah, and Luna and Rolf were all invited to Harry's house along with her and his wife Ginny. Hermione was used to being the spare wheel, but she'd been close to all eight of her friends for such a long time, that it didn't matter to her or them. Daphne Weasley (née Greengrass) and Rolf Scamader were the newest additions to their friendship group, but she'd been friends with them for fifteen years, so felt like she'd known them forever.

Molly Weasley had kindly taken on most of the kids, with Xenophilius Lovegood looking after Luna and Rolf's three children. Harry and Ginny had their three, Ron and Daphne had two and Neville and Hannah had four. With twelve children between all of them, Hermione didn't feel that she was missing out on children when she saw so many of them all the time, was godmother to five of them, and most of them called her Aunt Hermione.

She'd had more than a few rows with Ron over the last twenty years as he unthinkingly pointed out that she should be married with children, but in truth she'd never met a man she wanted to marry, and never had that urge for children. Maybe if her own parents had remembered they had a daughter she might have been more inclined to want children, but she could never really remember a time that she particularly felt like she needed to start a family.

Her friends had set her up on so many dates, she'd lost track. She was sure that she'd been in contact in some way with almost every eligible wizard in the country at some point or the other, and a fair few outside of the country. The problem was that Wizarding society was at times stuck in the nineteenth century, and that she was a successful woman without a family made some men think there must have been something wrong with her. Which there most definitely was not.

She'd even dated a few muggle men. In fact one of her longest relationships when she was in her late-twenties was with a muggle man she'd met on an internet dating website. Ryan had been very good-looking, incredibly funny, and perfectly normal. He was just over six foot, with dark blond hair and brown eyes.

He worked as a police officer for the Metropolitan Police, and his unusual hours suited her. She spent more time at his house than hers, due mostly to the fact that she had to hide the magical elements of her flat when he came over, and he had asked her to move with him after that'd been dating for a year and a half.

It was at that point, however, that she realised it couldn't work. She had genuinely fallen in love with Ryan, but he'd never met her real friends, and he didn't know the truth about her. It was no basis for a lasting relationship. She had considered telling him that she was a witch, and of the magical world, but after her last attempt at memory charms, she didn't want to risk it as she had no intention of destroying Ryan's life like that.

She had tried to let him down gently, but it hurt both of them. She'd been a wreck for a week after she ended it, and it was another year before she even considered another date. And she certainly wasn't ever going to date another muggle man. She did see Ryan around five years later in Richmond Park. He was holding hands with a pretty lady who was heavily pregnant while pushing a pram holding a child who was around eighteen months old. She felt nothing but happiness for him, and although he didn't see her, she wished him well.

Hermione had decided that maybe she wasn't destined for love. She had worked incredibly hard to get to the position she was in, and wasn't sure there was anyone who would be able to cope with both her and her job. However even though she was incredibly happy with her life, there were certainly days when loneliness did set in. She had twoenormous half Maine Coon, half-Kneazle cats in honour of Crookshanks named Elphaba and Willow, but even their company wasn't enough at times.

However she was happy with her life, and incredibly proud of the work she'd put in to become Minister of Magic by the age of forty. It had been her plan, after all.

.

Hermione apparated directly into Harry's garden having being keyed into his wards many years ago. He lived in a large house in Godric's Hollow the other side of the village to the house where his parents had been killed, and he had been made an unintentional Horcrux. The house had a large garden lined with tall evergreen trees, a perfect lawn, and a vegetable and herb garden in one corner. The house itself was charming and perfectly fit Harry and Ginny.

Ginny knew Hermione well, and as soon as she'd arrived her friend had thrust a large glass of white wine into her hand. Hermione took a large mouthful and drained half of the glass.

"Thanks, I needed that."

"I'm not surprised, Minister." Her friend gave her a deep curtsey, bowing her head as well. Hermione rolled her eyes.

"You can stop that."

"Or what? You'll have me thrown in Azkaban?" Ginny grinned at her.

"Tempting as that is, I'll let you off this time as you brought me wine. Next time however…"

Ginny punched her lightly on the arm before linking it with hers and heading over to where Harry, Rolf and Neville were surrounding the lit barbecue. The smell of cooking meat was making her hungry, and she realised that she'd missed lunch so hadn't eaten anything more than a snack of fruit and nuts since her breakfast of porridge eleven hours ago.

The early evening sun was warm on her skin, and she settled into a comfy chair next to Luna and Hannah. The boys hadn't taken any notice of her arrival, being far too engrossed by the primordial task of cooking food over a flame. Ginny had noted many times that these barbecues were the only time Harry would offer to cook, finding normal everyday cooking a task he did not enjoy.

"How's it been this month?" Hannah asked as she topped up Hermione's wine glass.

"Busy. And eventful." That was an understatement, but as yet no-one knew about the events of the last month.

Hermione had received a panicked floo call from Minerva McGonagall two weeks previous to say that Snape had upped and left Hogwarts with Lucius Malfoy. She had sent senior Unspeakables to Malfoy Manor to interview him, and according to their reports he was cooperative but short tempered and inpatient. He answered their questions, but he did not want to give them much of his time. However, nothing had been heard of him since, and as long as he stayed out of trouble and away from the spotlight, she was happy enough.

"I don't remember reading about any events," Luna commented softly in her dreamy voice. She hadn't changed at all since her time at Hogwarts, and Hermione was only grateful for that. She was someone who made any troubles seem far away, and Hermione always found her companionship comforting. Luna's husband Rolf was perfect for her, although he was equally eccentric and could be very odd at times in his own way.

Hermione didn't answer having learned years before that Luna often didn't require a response.

"Are Ron and Daphne coming?" Hermione gently asked Ginny. Ginny's eyes instantly showed the strain she was under concerning her brother and his wife.

Hermione too and been really concerned about Ron. His sister-in-law Astoria had been dying slowly of an ancient blood curse for years, but she had taken a severe turn for the worse over the last month or so. Ron had told her in confidence that no one in the family who had suffered the curse had lived beyond the age of forty, with most barely making in into their mid-thirties. And Astoria was thirty-seven.

She liked Astoria Malfoy a lot. She was kind and had a genuinely very sweet nature, although she certainly had the Slytherin bite to her if crossed, and she had an immensely sarcastic sense of humour. In her healthier days she had teased her husband Draco mercilessly. It was clear as day that he worshiped her, and they appeared to be greatly in love. She worried for him when the worst happened.

Hermione had become friends of sorts with Draco during their eighth year at Hogwarts, and they had remained friendly in the years since. However if Harry or Ron were around Draco, all three of them instantly turned into twelve year old boys again. Either Daphne, Astoria, Ginny or her usually ended up throwing a jinx or hex their way when they became particularly childish, or it looked like they might start to curse each other. On one particularly memorable occasion, Ginny had hexed the three of them to inflate to three times their size and have pink skin with large yellow spots. A spell that took two full days to wear off and didn't appear to have a counter-curse. Or so Ginny claimed, anyway.

Ginny took a large gulp of her own wine and placed the glass back down on the table. "Ron sent an owl a few hours ago to confirm him and Daphne would be coming, but would be a little late."

"Is everything okay? Well, as okay as it can be."

Ginny frowned. "I last spoke to Ron a few days ago, and nothing had changed. Astoria was weakening more each day. Daphne has been spending most of her time at Malfoy Manor, so Ron's had the kids as they want to try and protect Rose and Hugo as much as they can. Ron doesn't think she'll last until the end of the month."

Hermione sighed. It was devastating that a woman in her late thirties would die in the way she was, and she felt so sorry for those close to Astoria, particularly her family. And that even included Lucius Malfoy, who she'd never been the biggest fan of. It seemed that with all of Malfoy's money, nothing was able to help her.

And thinking of Malfoy made her think of Snape. And not for the first time in the last few weeks. Maybe Lucius has told him about his daughter-in-law and he had gone to the Manor to be a friend to the Malfoys? She understood that he'd been Draco's godfather, so he was clearly close to them.

"I think it will be okay," Luna said pleasantly as she stared at an invisible something at the edge of the lawn.

Hermione couldn't help the sharp look she gave Luna, who didn't notice, but managed to hold her tongue. Hannah too seemed to give her a glare. Ginny, however, was not so polite, moving closer to Luna so that she was inches away from her face.

"Are you fucking serious? How is it going to be okay? Daphne's sister is dying from a curse no one has been able to cure for generations. Ron is really close to Astoria. She's his family. How is any of this going to fucking well be okay?"

Ginny had become very loud and animated in her admonishment of Luna, and Harry appeared at her side gently pulling her away from Luna and whispering something in her ear to try and calm her down. Hermione couldn't blame Ginny for her outburst, and knew redhead had a temper on her, but shouting at Luna wasn't going to help matters. She was sure that Luna was only trying to make things better.

"Why do you say that?" Hermione asked her as calmly as she could. Rolf had appeared at his wife's side and sat down next to her.

"No particular reason, I just think that everything will all be alright in the end. And if it's not alright, then it's not the end."

Hermione was used to Luna not making a lot of sense, but that was odd even for her.

.

Tensions were still raised when Ron and Daphne arrived an hour or so later. They'd timed it well as Harry and Neville were distributing the food, while Rolf was topping up drinks. On Ron's arrival he made a beeline for the food and seemed to have inhaled a burger before anyone had chance to say hello to him.

Hermione watched Ron closely for any sign of what was going on, but couldn't read him. That alone was unusual as she'd been able to read Ronald Weasley like a book since he was eleven. Him and Daphne were sat slightly apart from the others, both sitting curled up on a loveseat together. Ron had his hand on her upper leg and they were talking quietly. However she didn't get the feeling from them that something was wrong.

After they'd all eaten both barbecue food followed by Harry's choice of jelly and ice cream for dessert, they relocated to Harry and Ginny's open plan kitchen as dusk set in.

"So …" Ron started, his eyes trained on Hermione. "Severus Snape."

Hermione gasped and couldn't help but look at Harry who looked equally surprised. For some reason it had completely slipped her mind that if Snape was staying with Lucius Malfoy, then in all likelihood Ron or at least Daphne would run into him while at Malfoy Manor. Maybe keeping his reappearance quiet wasn't going to be as easy as she had hoped.

Ron raised an eyebrow at her as he quietly waited for a response. It was funny some of mannerisms he'd learned from his Slytherin wife, and that was definitely one of them.

"Ronald, you know I can't discuss what happened. And you really shouldn't be telling everyone he's back."

She looked around the table to gauge the reactions of the others. Ginny and Hannah looked confused, Luna was smiling, Rolf had a neutral expression as he hadn't been taught by the man, and Neville looked more than a little sick.

"How is he back? He was killed at the final battle." Neville asked, a slight tremor in his voice. She knew that Neville was still terrified of Snape, and that he had remained his boggart even after all these years.

"Time jump, apparently," Ron answered earning himself a glower from Harry and Hermione. Both of them were going for their wands to silence him when Daphne spoke up.

"He's saved her."

Hermione paused and frowned at the attractive blonde Slytherin. "Saved who?"

"My sister."

"He's saved your sister?"

Daphne rolled her eyes. "That's what I just said. Aren't you meant to be Brightest Witch Of Her Age?" Daphne could be quite biting at times, but Hermione knew her well enough to know she didn't mean it in a nasty way. "He's cured her."

Hermione felt her mouth drop open. She looked over at Harry, who had a matching expression, and back to Ron and Daphne who were both smiling. She could see the weight that had lifted off of both of them. She didn't doubt they believed she was cured, but just didn't know how it was possible.

Ginny stood up suddenly and levitated an unopened bottle of fire whiskey out of a high cupboard, setting it on the table with eight glasses. She silently poured one large one for each of them before sitting back down and fixing Hermione with a stare.

"I think you need to explain exactly how Severus Snape is alive, as I definitely remember you telling me you watched him die, and I definitely remember attending his funeral."

Hermione hadn't been prepared for this, and didn't know how to respond. She considered that she could get her friends' memories modified, but then that wouldn't work with Ron or Daphne if Astoria was suddenly cured. She decided that the truth (or a version of it) was probably the best option, and hoped that she could trust her friends to keep this among themselves. If not she'd have to get them to agree to a vow.

She gave a high level overview of what had happened concerning Snape and his reappearance helped out by Harry. Neville looked like he was going to pass out.

"He's not going back to teach at Hogwarts is he?" Neville was the Herbology Professor there, so it was understandably one of his concerns.

"I don't know," she answered honestly. "I doubt it though, it always seemed fairly clear he didn't enjoy teaching, and he probably only stayed because of Dumbledore's hold over him."

Neville relaxed slightly and she turned to Ron and Daphne, who had remained quiet up to that point.

"He saved Astoria?" She asked them both. Daphne gave a gentle smile and Ron squeezed her hand.

"It certainly seems that way. She looked amazing when we saw her earlier."

Daphne went on to explain that they hadn't known anything until they received a summons to Malfoy Manor earlier that day. They had both instantly feared the worst, but on arrival to the Manor they were greeted by a very much alive and healthy looking Astoria Malfoy. It seems that since Snape had arrived he'd been working secretly on a cure for her malady, aided only by Lucius Malfoy. Although they knew he was alive and staying in one of the Malfoy properties, Astoria and Draco hadn't know he was working on a cure.

As they all drank more of the fire whiskey, Daphne explained that Snape had studied blood curses while training for his Mastery in Potions, and then had continued his interest and research into them while a Professor at Hogwarts. Hermione'd had no idea that he did this, but then shouldn't really have been surprised as she knew Neville worked on his own research while a Hogwarts Professor.

As she drank more, Hermione listened flabbergasted to Daphne. She had no idea the man was such a skilled healer, although thinking about it she realised that healing and potions were very much two sides the same coin. Daphne told them that Snape had used a combination of magical and muggle healing investigations, and in realising the curse was slowly destroying her renal function, he had combined magic with muggle equipment. Once her blood had been cleaned of the curse, he was able to use traditional healing techniques to heal her kidneys.

"I think he said it was some muggle treatment called 'dyalising'?" She looked to her husband who just shrugged,

"Dialysis?" Hermione asked, remembering her days of watching Casualty with her parents on a Saturday night.

"That's the one."

"That's brilliant." Hermione took another large sip of fire whiskey, feeling the liquid burn down her oesophagus as it headed south. She was desperate to know more.

"We should go and thank him," Ginny announced to the table, standing up a little unsteadily. "The man is a genius."

Hermione couldn't remember Ginny ever being even a fraction as positive about Severus Snape as she was then, but she wholeheartedly agreed with Ginny's statement. However she also knew that going to thank him was definitely not the best idea. And particularly considering how hammered all eight of them were.

However, despite that knowledge, she was outvoted. It was only Neville that stated quite firmly that he had no intention of going anywhere near his most feared of teachers, and they were both resolute that they were not going.

.

"We should leave," Hermione stage-whispered to Neville as the eight of them landed in heap having portkeyed to the gates of the Manor.

Hermione had sensibly noted that not one of them was in any fit state to apparate, and therefore they should all go to sleep and reconsider it in the morning. She even used her newly found Minster for Magic voice, but they all ignored her. She suspected that outside of the Ministry, she wasn't going to get away with that one.

However her sensible suggestion was ruined by the fact that Daphne had a port key to the Manor given to her by Draco who knew she'd probably get drunk and didn't want her to risk apparition.

"Right now I'd rather Avada myself then walk into that building." Neville had a point.

She looked up towards the building and realised this was the first time she'd been here since that day over twenty-one years ago. Her hand went to her left lower arm as it always did whenever she thought of that time. She knew Harry had been back in their capacity as an auror, and even Neville, Ginny and Luna had attended a Malfoy ball or two in the past, but Hermione had always flat out refused to go.

"Hermione, Neville, come on!" There was no arguing with Ginny when she used that tone.

Daphne had opened up the gates and the eight of them trudged up the immaculate gravel pathway towards the building. She looked up at the enormous building which must have been Elizabethan in design, so was at least four hundred years old. Daunting did not begin to describe the place.

"Neville, I don't think—"

"We can do this, Hermione." She didn't feel remotely like a brave Gryffindor at that point.

They weren't even half way up the pathway when the huge front door of the Manor opened and an amused Draco Malfoy greeted them.

"Draco!" Daphne shouted as she stumbled the last few steps towards him and threw her arms around her brother-in-law.

"Are you drunk?" He asked her. "Are you all drunk?" He looked entertained as he ran his eyes over all of them. Hermione was aware that it was clear as day that they were all bladdered. "This is brilliant." As Hermione and Neville brought up the rear, Draco doffed his imaginary cap in her direction. "Minister, how lovely to see you at our humble home."

Hermione wanted to ground to swallow her up. She knew this had been a bad idea. And to make things worse, Lucius Malfoy and Severus Snape had appeared behind Malfoy Junior.

"Well, well, well," Lucius Malfoy started in his clipped aristocratic tones with a smug smile on his all too handsome face. She tried to ignore him, but that meant she had to look at Draco (who was also smirking at her) or Snape, who was giving her a quizzical look. She decided that he was the safest option.

It was odd to scrutinise him with the eyes and mind of a near forty year old woman. She'd never truly studied him as a teenager, and purely thought of him only as a teacher, albeit one she had admired and respected. She'd never really considered him as a man. Now, it was hard not to. He was tall and lean still, and dressed in his trademark black, but even in the few weeks since she'd last seen him he appeared to have put on some weight as he didn't look as gaunt and unhealthy as he did when he was her teacher.

His black hair was framing his face as it always had done, but it looked cleaner than it did when he was her teacher. His nose was as large and hooked as it was previously, but she thought now it added distinguishment. His skin was pale, but had hardly any lines. And his lips were full and kissable.

At that thought Hermione looked away, feeling her face flush. She was certain that he would have noticed, and she only hoped that he wasn't using Legilimency against her.

"To what do we owe this distinct pleasure?" Lucius asked, his eyes fixed on Hermione as she tried to ignore him.

It was Ginny that spoke up, and Hermione wanted to curse her into the next month. "Well, sir, we heard that Professor Snape had cured Astoria, and we wanted to tell him that we all think he's a genius."

Malfoy smirked at them all and nudged Snape with his elbow. "Well Severus, it looks like you're finally getting the recognition you deserve. Shall we invite them all in?"

Snape didn't answer, but Malfoy threw open the door to the Manor allowing all eight of them entry. Neville and Hermione reluctantly drew up the rear, but Malfoy remained smirking at them until they were inside.

As Draco led them into the drawing room, she heard Malfoy say to Snape that 'this will be fun."

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