Chapter 60: In Which Snape Prepares A Nest For His Lady

Snape didn't remember where he had come across the phrase the first time, but somewhere, somehow, he remembered reading, "Key to a happy marriage: Make sure she has her own desk, and keep your hands off it." This stuck Snape as a rather sensible plan, which he intended to do one better.

So, as Hermione spent the day chatting with the Potters about their trip, he decided to make sure she had at least one spot of her own in his... their home.

Above stairs the cottage had four rooms. His, our, bedroom, bathroom, his library, and a room he was currently using as a storage space, but could easily be cleaned out, and turned into a library for Hermione.

Cleaning took a few moments. Well, not really cleaning, relocation. Don't think about the attic. Should probably do a few spells to reinforce the beams though. Several moments of concentration and wand work reassured him that his attic was unlikely to collapse anytime soon.

Now he sat in a small, square room. An empty, small, square room. An undecorated, blank walled, bare floored, dirty, small square room.

Windows first. Scouring charms to the insides and outsides had them gleaming in a matter of seconds. Now, with the brighter light, he could see his earlier view of the room was a bit more charitable than warranted. Light. She'll need light to read or work. And a desk to work at. A place to sit and read. A place for her books.

A few cleaning spells had the worst of the grime off the walls and floors. The room had gone from abandoned-horror-show-attic to just old, unloved, and dingy. I can do the bookshelves myself. His walls groaned, but complied, and soon he had an impressive set of bookshelves along the inside wall.

He eyed the bookshelves, and decided that they were up to the task ahead of them. The walls were also fairly easy; he could change the color on them without too much effort. Dingy off-white became bright fresh cream, and the shabby, peeling mouldings were now a rich blue. The floor was wood; at least he was fairly sure it had been. Using a very strong scouring charm he took the old, dried, dirty top layer off the floor, and found that yes, it was indeed wood, nice wood, underneath. Some polishing spells and a bit of varnish took care of the finish.

Which left him with the big job, furniture. Snape was a man of many talents. And for the most part transfiguration was one of them. However, part of transfiguration was starting with something of about the same mass as the thing you wanted to end up with. He didn't have a desk sized or chair sized pile of stuff he didn't need at the moment.

So there was no way around it, he had to go shopping. Preferably for something of a chair and desk-like nature that could be modified to Hermione's taste once she took over the room. As he was leaving the house, it occurred to him that perhaps an electric light or two might not be such a bad idea as well.

Snape did not go to Diagon Alley. He didn't see the need to buy lovingly hand-crafted magical furniture. Not when his plan was to get something of roughly the right shape and then transfigure it into what he thought she'd like. Then she could modify it to the shape she preferred best. Instead he went to a muggle furniture store. This particular store, with the rather odd name of IKEA, was very busy, and worked on the premise that you'd get your furniture, load it yourself, and then put it together once you took it home. This was perfect for him, because very few people would notice if his packages got a bit smaller or a lot lighter or if he just vanished once he collected them.

With that in mind, he found himself among what appeared to be thousands of people, all slowly milling from one furniture display to the next. He intellectually understood why muggles would take such a long time looking at everything and discussing it, but it was still frustrating to be caught behind a pack of them. Finally he worked his way to the desks, and quickly grabbed the first ticket for one of about the right size. He had almost left the area when he remembered that he needed a chair to go with the desk. Severus grabbed one more ticket. He then milled his way with the rest of the muggles to the lounge chairs, and likewise grabbed the first ticket for a correctly sized one he saw.

After finding his way to the lights, he decided to actually look at them. They were rather small and intricate, and if Hermione preferred electric, he didn't want to mess with them too much. Transfigured electrical equipment rarely worked once you got done with it. So after an hour with the lights, he had two that he thought she would like.

An hour later and he was lugging a hand cart, a pile of boxes, and his tickets toward an even longer line of people, all slowly shuffling though the payment process. Finally, after spending much more time standing in line then he had ever wanted to, he was done. He found himself outside, and very casually, very subtly, began to modify his purchases. By the time he was done he had one easily handheld box, and he began to walk off nonchalantly. Only one person, a child, noticed when the man with the box and the dark hair vanished off the sidewalk. She decided not to mention it to her mum. She'd already been spanked twice this week for 'telling tales.'

When he arrived home, he took the boxes up to the room and laid them on the floor. He then looked at the box the chair was in, focused intently on what he wanted it to look like, and began the transfiguration. He did it again with the desk: a few moments of concentration and it was in perfect working order. Which just left him with the lights.

He opened the boxes containing the lights and let out a sigh. They were in parts. Lots of parts. And, worse, the only directions he saw were pictograms. He looked at his watch. She should be back in an hour, and if he was lucky, he'd have them done by then. He looked at the pile of pieces in front of him. Make that one of them.

He settled himself on the floor, and began to look for the roughly rectangular piece of metal that would be screwed onto the long metal pole…

"Severus?" He heard Hermione's voice just as he placed the second light on the desk.

"I'm up here."

"What are you doing up there?" Hermione poked her head though the doorway.

He stood up from the desk and gestured to the room. "I wanted you to have a place of your own. You can change it to suit your tastes."

She was smiling broadly at him. "It's lovely. I'll get my books." She stared at the comfy, cushy, easy chair. She flopped down into it and curled into her favourite book reading position. "In a minute, I'll get the books in a minute."

He sat on the floor and rested his head on her knee. "You like it?"

"Yes, I really like it. I might lower the desk a bit, I'm not as tall as you are, but it looks good." She looked around some more. "I like the lamps." She kissed him, and he kissed back.