Special Delivery

Sadly I do not own any characters from Harry Potter nor Mister H. Potter himself (;_;) I would make it my life's mission to own these wonderful characters, but alas...I fear that would be an impossible task.

"I love you Hermione. You are my only family, be careful. Call me as soon as you can before 7 our time...and please be careful with the Malfoys," he added. "If you don't call I will come looking!"

"I love you too Harry," Hermione said before her portkey pulled her away from her best friend.

"She's going to give them quite the scare," Harry muttered to himself.

lOvE*LoVe*lOvE "Toto, I have a feeling we are not in Kansas anymore..." LoVe*lOvE*LoVe

Idaho's mid-morning winter sun looked down upon a battered and bruised young woman who looked like she had just been through a war. Which in fact she had. Hermione Granger had a very deep purple bruise just above her left eyebrow. There was a thin deep red line, that had been a gash she had attempted to heal herself, that went just below her left ear and down her neck and chest, and a green bruised right cheek. In short, she had been through hell and back.

The short walk uphill to the colonial safe house gave Hermione time to reflect and meditate on past events. The war was over. Light had won against the dark, but at great costs...Fred, Remus, Tonks, Sirius, even Professor Dumbledore. The light had lost many great witches and wizards.

A tear escaped and slid down Hermione's cheek. 'Later,' she said to herself. Before she knew it she was standing at the Malfoy's front steps. 'Here we go,' she thought, and climbed the twenty-five steps to the front doors, then raised her hand to knock. It took what felt like forever for someone to answer the door, but in fact it was only a minute or less.

"Hello Draco," Hermione greeted softly to the young blond.

"Who..." Draco drifted off. "Merlin Granger!" He grabbed Hermione into a big hug, taking her by surprise.

"I didn't know you cared," Hermione tried to joke light-heartedly. Draco took in her pained expression.

"Draco, who is at the front door?" Narcissa asked between the woman's parlour entryway and the entrance hall. Draco released Hermione to give his mother a full view of their visitor. "Hermione!" Narcissa gasped and grabbed Hermione's hand pulling her towards the kitchen. "Let's get you a cup of tea. You are freezing!" Narcissa exclaimed, while passing the entryway of the parlour room, and claiming the attention of Lucius.

"Cissa who is here?" Lucius called and removed himself from his favourite brown chaise to follow his ex-wife and unknown guest a few minutes after they passed. They didn't receive visitors that often and he was naturally curious.

"You really surprised me at the door," Draco said before looking up from the breakfast table to see his father enter the kitchen. Hermione followed Draco's gaze.

"Hello Mister Malfoy," Hermione greeted to her teacup.

"Hermione," Lucius whispered breathlessly.

"Come Draco," Narcissa said. "I need your help in the drawing room."

Lucius took Draco's empty seat, "Hermione," he breathed.

"Yes," she whispered to her tea, her eyes becoming filled with unshed tears.

Lucius knelt by her side and placed a hand on her knee, "Hermione." She finally looked into his eyes. She couldn't help the tear that fell, and then another, then more came. She turned away, a sob escaping her lips.

"Hermione," Lucius said a fourth time before pulling her from her chair and onto his lap, holding her close, offering her his comfort. More sobs escaped her treacherous lips gradually becoming louder, and eventually reaching the drawing room. Draco caught the sniffle his mother made, and reached for her hand. Lucius held the frightfully malnourished girl in his arms, and let her cry herself to sleep.

"Thank you," Hermione whispered, opening her eyes after a while. "You could have woken me up. You are probably very uncomfortable sitting here on the floor." Lucius kissed her.

"Never," he whispered. Narcissa and Draco chose this time to enter this kitchen, thinking it empty.

"Enjoying the tile, I see," Narcissa lightly joked. Hermione blushed and stood up from the floor rather quickly. Lucius chuckled softly and stood up after her.

"Granger," Draco smirked. "There are potions and pastes to help with the bruising and pain, you know."

"Yes, I know, but there are people who need the healers more than me," Hermione said. "I did not need to occupy a bed that someone else needed a lot more than myself," she explained while taking out her beaded bag, pulling out newspaper clippings from The Daily Prophet and The Quibbler, and placing them on the table. "Everything is there," Hermione said with a relieved but heavy heart.

"Voldemort's been defeated. Harry made sure it is for good this time," she said ignoring the three Malfoys flinch at the sound of Voldemort's name. Hermione pulled out a tin can, "A gift for you Mrs. Malfoy."

"Thank you, and it is Miss Black, but you will call me Cissa," Narcissa smiled and opened the tin can. The aroma of the mint leaves filled the kitchen. "Mmm," Narcissa said. "Your special blend? I can already taste it." Draco started to pull Hermione out of the kitchen.

"Come on, we have some pastes that will clear those bruises up. Why didn't you have Professor Snape make you some potions?" Hermione stopped, making Draco turn.

"Oh stars. Professor Snape was your Godfather," Hermione tried not to let the tears fall, but failed miserably.

"What do you mean was?" Draco asked slowly. Hermione looked wildly about the kitchen for an exit. She found the back door and bolted, tears falling, sobs escaping as she ran.

"Granger!" "Hermione!" The three people she left behind yelled after her. Hermione found a small empty shed, and magically locked herself in.

"Hermione," Lucius called after a few minutes of searching the grounds for the mourning witch. "I know you are in there. Unlock the door please." Hermione never moved. She heard Lucius sigh after a few moments, and the door opened.

"I do know how to magically unlock doors you know," he said whilst entering. Lucius sat down and pulled Hermione onto his lap. "Would you like to tell me?" He asked softly. Hermione buried her face in his chest, and cried some more. Her tears and sobs pulling at the blond's heartstrings.

Finally she lifted her head and whispered of her potions professor's demise. "As you know, Professor Snape was a spy for the Order-" she hiccuped from all her crying. "A few days after you left he learned that Voldemort wanted to use Draco to kill Dumbledore, but you all were gone..." she paused. "Voldemort knew that Draco wouldn't be able to complete the task he had planned for him. He wanted to use him to punish you for getting caught at the Department of Mysteries.

"After he found out about your betrayal, he gave the task he planned for Draco to Severus Snape." Hermione shed more tears for her former Professor. "He made him take an Unbreakable Vow," Hermione said after a few more minutes of sobbing. "Voldemort wanted his strongest enemy dead, and either the one he fixed with this task would do it or die."

"He did not go through with the task," Lucius finished prematurely.

"No. He did go through with the task," Hermione cried. "Severus betrayed the Order. He killed Albus Dumbledore." Lucius was speechless. Severus betrayed the Order.

"During a pause in the battle when Voldemort allowed us to gather our fallen," Hermione choked but continued after a minute. "Harry, Ron, and me went looking for Nagini. The snake, as you mentioned, was the last horcrux." Lucius was still trying to process the information of his best friend's betrayal. Hermione went on with Severus's tale, "We found Voldemort conversing with Professor Snape.

"We all thought he betrayed the Order," she paused to let that sink into the dazed blond. "Voldemort ordered Nagini to kill Professor Snape...with his last breath, he requested of Harry to take his tears in a flask. Harry placed the tears in a pensieve in Dumbledore's office. Professor defected from Voldemort after he learned of his plan to kill Lily and James Potter, and their son, Harry Potter.

"He still loved Lily Potter, they were childhood friends." Lucius's breath hitched. After all that time Severus still loved Lily. "After making the Unbreakable Vow with Voldemort, Professor Snape went straight away to Dumbledore. He was willing to die instead of going through with the Vow, but Dumbledore knew his own time was limited.

"A curse was taking over his body, killing him slowly. So Dumbledore made Professor Snape promise to kill him to fulfil his task, as he was going to die anyway, to cement his position among the ranks of Voldemort's Death Eaters. In the end it was all for nothing," Hermione sobbed into Lucius's chest again. Lucius buried his face against Hermione's neck. He was also crying. Severus Snape was his best friend. He was crying for his best friend...his brother Severus Tobias Snape.

After an hour to let the news sink in Lucius decided it was time to head back inside. "Hermione," Lucius whispered. "We have to let Draco and Cissa know."

"I can't...not again."

Lucius kissed Hermione, "Come on. I have also called a doctor for you."

"You called a muggle doctor?" Hermione asked, stunned.

Lucius chuckled, "No, he is a wizard. They call Healers, Doctors here in America. The first time I asked for a Healer here, I was sent to an Indian wizard Healer. It was quite funny. We still have a good laugh about that one."

Hermione smiled through her puffy eyes.

"Come on love. Let us not keep them waiting any longer," Lucius said pulling Hermione to her feet.

"Love?" Hermione asked, her head becoming light. Lucius smiled and pulled her back to the house.

I think Hermione cries a lot...but then how would she react in these circumstances? She has, after all, lost so many wonderful people in her life. Ms. Rowling never gave us that insight to her characters' personalities post-war, so how do we know how they dealt with it?...

Sorry this is a short chapter (=^.^=)