Chapter 66: A Pleasant Interlude

{A/N: Here's Another Update...}

My Thanks To All My Readers And Reviewers...Enjoy-S.S

Hermione Granger-Snape's Residence, Muggle World...

About a thousand thoughts flooded the bushy haired witch's mind per minute as she stood in her kitchen awaiting the arrival of her son Phaeron from the corner market. He had been determined to collect as many toffee nut bars as possible before his inevitable return to Hogwarts after winter break. So far his first year had been quite an interesting one especial due to the likes of James Potter II. Hermione had not stopped thinking about her encounter with Severus. A part of her wondered if it had indeed all been a dream but then she would remind herself that if Severus was truly alive and in need of her help she had to at least attempt to aid him no matter how far fetched the idea had been. Given that her husband was well verse in the dark arts it was no surprise to her when he confessed to using an ancient dark spell to transfer his soul out of his body before his life was extinguished. It was a risky plan and one that had technically succeeded, despite the various setbacks including his subsequent imprisonment by Bellatrix Black and being on the outside of his own body for eleven years.

It amazed the witch that he had survived so long in such as state. She didn't doubt that Bellatrix was providing assistance but with the news of this "binding ritual" she had been preparing, it wasn't hard to see why she was being compliant thus far. It made Hermione's blood run cold whenever she thought back to what that twisted nutter did to her at Malfoy Manor, if Severus had not been there she had no idea what would have happened to her.

She could only imagine what the nutter was doing to the poor wizard's body.

Hermione was shaken from her intrusive thoughts when the front door opened and Phaeron walked through. It took her a moment to realize who the boy was given how much he looked like his father and the attire he insisted upon wearing wither he was at Hogwarts or here at home did not help the situation.

"I've returned mother." said Phaeron making his way into the kitchen.

"So I see." replied Hermione with a smirk. "Was the trip as uneventful as always?"

"Indeed." replied Phaeron. "I got a few toffee nut bars that were in stock."

"I see and they've all managed to make it here in one piece?" she asked knowing full well that they didn't.

Phaeron shrugged.

"Well one of them met with an unfortunate accident." he replied.

Hermione arched an eyebrow at this.

"An accident?" she said not liking the word for obvious reasons.

"Yes." replied Phaeron oblivious to the way his mother bristled at the used term. "I accidentally forgot breakfast and well one of them had to suffice."

Hermione shook her head. Apparently her son was gifted with his father's dry humor.

"Alright." she said not at all hiding the smirk that filed across her face. "Put the other's away and have some real food...and don't think I haven't counted them in your pocket."

Phaeron smirked and put the bars away. He knew once he had his mother would take to hiding them so he placed a discrete locator charm upon them when he left the store. He knew his mother far too well to just hand them over peacefully.

"Any thing interesting happen while I was away?" asked Phaeron putting away the bars.

"When you were at Hogwarts or when you went to the corner market?" asked Hermione.

"When I was away at Hogwarts mother." replied Phaeron.

Hermione took a sip of her lukewarm coffee.

"As a matter of fact something interesting did occur while you were away Phaeron." she said.

Phaeron smirked already knowing what might have happened.

"Do's this something interesting have to do with my father by any chance?" he asked with a raised eyebrow reminiscent of the dour wizard himself.

Hermione shook her head.

"Of course you'd know." she said. "Why am I not surprised?"

Phaeron shrugged.

"Maybe it's a Snape trait." he replied jokingly.

"There is no maybe to it." replied Hermione. "Your father was always one step ahead of the curve and nosy than any first year in the restricted section of the library."

Phaeron laughed at this.

"I think he would prefer to think of it as being curious." he replied between bouts of laughter.

"You're one to bloody talk." said a familiar deep baritone voice that caught both Phaeron and Hermione's attention instantly. "How quickly you forget the little discussion prior to our marriage about cats and curiosity, Mrs. Snape."

"FATHER!" said Phaeron pleased to see Severus Snape at his home instead of behind some enchanted portrait.

Obsidian eyes met amber once more and this time Hermione dropped the coffee mug she had been sipping from all this time.

"Severus." said Hermione stunned by The Potions Master's sudden appearance in her kitchen. Up till now she was debating wither or not his last visit had been a dream.

"Well I should bloody hope so." replied Snape seemingly annoyed. "Whom else would be projecting into your kitchen?"

Phaeron had been pleased to have both his parents in the same room at the same time, well to almost have them both.

"Father, you came." he said happily.

Snape turned his attention toward his young son.

"One usually does that when summoned." he replied with his usual dry wit.

"Apparently eleven years of being trapped outside your body has done little to dull that wit of yours." said Hermione.

"Look who's talking." replied Snape turning his attention back to his wife.

Hermione turned her attention to her son.

"What does he mean by one calls when they are summoned?" she asked with an arched eyebrow.

Phaeron smirked.

"Well." he began. "I gave father some more of my magic and called for him to be here before I went back to Hogwarts."

"Apparently our son has the foolish notion that I wish to be brought here to spend the holiday with him." said Snape in a mockingly bitter tone.

"Is that suppose to deter him?" asked Hermione. "Not even I am convinced."

"Watch it witch." growled Snape.

"You first wizard." replied Hermione.

Snape shook his head. She was rather fortunate that he could do little to her in this state.

Phaeron smirked and made his way into the front room while Hermione went about cleaning up the pieces of broken coffee mug off the floor. Snape watched her as she worked. The dour wizard's obsidian eyes had been filled with such longing for her. It of course didn't escape her notice either.

"I've been doing quite a bit of reading." said Hermione breaking the silence at last. "On your current condition I mean."

Snape continued to stare at his wife as she moved about the kitchen. It was clear she had become quite the woman in the wake of his absence. It surprised him that she didn't have suitors lined up outside her door.

"So "Penelope", I suppose "little Telemachus" is the reason you have no one lined up at the door baying for your hand." he said with a trace of bitterness at the thought of anyone else trying to get their hands on his witch.

Hermione turned to face him taking a second or two to realize the extent of his comment. She recalled her husband had been a half-blood and thus knew a good deal about muggle literature, possibly more so than he would ever let on. Though the reference caught her off guard for a bit, Hermione had a passion for muggle literature just as much as she had for anything literary in either world.

"No "Odysseus", I should say that he is not." replied the witch focused on him with her amber eyes unwavering. "I never felt the need to remarry and since you are not actually dead that proved to be the right decision after all...besides I already told you when the war ended I still wanted my husband."

Snape smirked recalling just when that conversation took place. Of course they had both been naked within the darkness of his private chambers and she pregnant with their unborn daughter at the time.

"Just checking." replied Snape. "Wouldn't want some unnamed suitor to have an unfortunate "accident."

Hermione shook her head.

"You and your son are definitely cut from the same cloth git." she said. "I do wish you both would stop using that euphemism, I can't stand it."

"Who are we to argue when something just works so well." he replied casually.

Hermione rolled her eyes.

"That word makes me cringe every time I hear it Severus." she said serious. "It's what Dumbledore had the nerve to call Harry's attempt to murder you."

Snape's eyes suddenly widened as he shifted his gaze toward the door.

"Shhhh!" he said. "Are you trying to give that information to the boy."

The witch considered what she had nearly done.

"Cast the silencing charm if we are going to discuss this." he said.

"I don't wish to discuss it." she replied. "I was just making a point."

"Duly noted." replied Snape.

After a few more moments of silence he spoke.

"I'm rather glad you are his mother." he said.

Hermione turned her attention away from staring out the kitchen window.

"What?" she asked caught off guard.

"Phaeron...I'm rather glad...well thankful that you are his mother." said Snape in a serious tone. "He's...well...extraordinary."

"Well, I didn't make him by myself Severus." she replied. "As I recall you had a hand in his creation as well."

Snape treated her to a knowing smirk.

"More than a hand I'd say." he replied with heat behind his obsidian eyes.

"Git." said Hermione with a knowing smirk of her own.

"Insufferable know-it-all." he replied teasing back.

The witch let out a sigh as she took in the sight of her husband. She tried her best not to let out how much it pained her that he had been so close and yet so far away from her. It did little good to hear his voice and know he was there and not be able to touch him or have him hold her like she long for him to for so many years.

She wondered briefly if he felt the same.

"We have to find a way to bring you back." she said.

"There is nothing that I would like better." he replied meaningfully.

"Really?" asked Hermione with an arched eyebrow.

Snape smirked once more knowing all too well what she had been eluding to.

"Well, I'd have to get my body back witch." he reasoned. "Then of course you'd have to cancel any day time plans for a few days...as I recall you seem to love when I...how did you put it..."make you feel good."

"Is that a promise?" asked Hermione in a tone mocking innocence.

"It is most definitely a promise witch." replied Snape still with heat behind his obsidian eyes. "Unfortunately, I must go before "Calypso" returns."

Hermione knew exactly whom it was that Snape was referring to this time.

"How appropriate." she said.

Snape shrugged.

"Be careful." said Hermione meaningfully.

"I can take care of myself." he replied still with a smirk. "Tell the boy, I shall speak with him another time."

"Will do." she replied trying to keep him from seeing how much his departure from her to return to Bellatrix hurt her.

Snape disappeared and Hermione turned her attention to cleaning the breakfast dishes.

Phaeron appeared shortly there after curious as to where his father had gone.

"Mother?" asked the raven haired boy. "Where has father gone?"

"He had to return to Calypso." replied Hermione bitterly.

Phaeron arched an eyebrow at this.

"Calypso?" he asked caught off-guard. "The nymph from Greek mythology?"

Hermione shook her head.

"It's what he calls the one that keeps his body." she explained. "Something of a joke coming from your father."

Phaeron shook his head this time.

"Father is a strange man." he said taking this all in.

"You are just like him, Telemachus." replied the witch unable to resist the quip Severus had set in motion.

"I guess that makes you, Penelope in this little story then doesn't it mother?" asked Phaeron with a smirk reminiscent of his father.

"I guess it does." she replied ruffling the boy's raven locks. "Your hairs growing quite a bit."

"I like it this way." replied Phaeron trying to undo the damage her ruffling caused.

"Makes you look even more like your father." she said.

"I know." replied Phaeron. "That is the general idea mother."

"Alright." said Hermione. "Between you and your father I've had my fill of snarky Slytherin for today...I'm going to my office to read."

"See you at supper mother." replied Phaeron as he made his way toward his bedroom. "I have a bit of studying to do as well."

"See you at supper." Hermione called from the kitchen.

The both of them spent the rest of the evening leading up to supper reading all the dark arts tomes they could get their hands on in a bid to find the spell to reverse what Severus Snape had done to himself and bring him home. Sadly, by the time supper rolled around, neither of them had such luck in finding the answer but that did not mean they would give up. They were both determined to make the dour wizard whole again and bring him home for the first time in years.