Present day

"And so he helped me make a new me. We put it in the Forbidden Forest close enough to the edge that someone would find it soon. And you know the rest," Harry shoved his hands in his pockets. "D'you want to come inside now?"

Hermione looked at Harry with an almost angry look in her eyes, but then they softened and she gave a small smile. "Show me your house, Harry."

The house was small; just big enough for two. She was surprised at how comfortable it seemed. Frankly, she was surprised that the two of them could live there together and not kill each other. Snape sat at the kitchen table where he had laid out breakfast for three. Hermione realized how hungry she was.

"So," she began after swallowing her first bite of eggs, "what have you two been doing all this time?"

Severus raised an eyebrow as he took a sip of tea.

"What do you mean?" Harry asked, pausing from cutting his bangers.

"You know, day-to-day," she clarified. "To keep from getting bored. To buy food."

"I run a free-lance Owl Post Potions business," Severus answered. "I have done so since before the Dark Lord's demise. It has always been under an assumed name."

"Oh," Hermione sounded surprised. "That makes sense." She turned to Harry. "What about you?"

"I'm writing," he told her.

"Writing?" definitely surprised, now. "Writing what?"

"Different things. The story of how we defeated Voldemort, for one. A Defence text – a do-it-yourself-er."

"That's brilliant, Harry! Good for you!" she smiled broadly.

She began asking questions about Harry's writing and Severus's most popular potions, and throughout the rest of breakfast, she watched. She watched the way Harry looked at Severus, but more importantly, she watched the way Severus looked at Harry; how his eyes lingered on Harry's face when he wasn't watching or how he would almost smile when Harry laughed. It didn't take her very long to begin to come to a conclusion about how they could live together without hexing each other every five minutes.

"Can I come back?" Hermione said a she and Harry stood outside the cottage.

"Sometimes," Harry agreed. "But not too often."

"Of course," Hermione assured him.

"Thanks for keeping our secret," Harry gave her a hug.

"Of course," Hermione said again. "And I'm so glad you and Professor Snape are…getting along."

Harry's eyes narrowed at her pause. "What do you mean, 'getting along'?"

"I think you know, Harry," she smirked.

"Not really," he admitted. "But I know that tone. What do you mean?"

"Oh, Harry, it's obvious that you two care for each other," she placed a hand on his arm. "I'm just happy for you. For both of you. I can't begin to imagine how it happened, but it makes sense."

Harry just stared at her.

"You can't tell me you didn't think I'd notice," she sounded almost insulted. "I mean, the way you look at him. The way he looks at you! I bet you don't even know how he looks at you. He mostly does it when you're doing something else," she paused, then her eyes widened. "Never tell me you didn't know!"

"Oh," Harry looked chagrined, "I know. We just tried to hide it. I guess we didn't do a very good job of it."

"Not really, no," she laughed. "I'd love to hear the story someday, but I should get back to Ron before he starts to worry. I didn't know how long I'd be here, so I told him I'd gone away for a few days. I know he'll be going spare already."

"Probably," Harry agreed. "Come back soon, though."

"I will," she promised, and she reached out to squeeze his hand. "Take care of yourself, Harry," she smiled softly and her eyes began to water. "We miss you."

"I miss you, too," he said gently.

Her hand still holding his, she asked, "Do you think you'll ever come back?"

"I'm not sure," he told her truthfully. "It's nice being here, by ourselves, without having to worry about anything."

"I imagine it is," she nodded with understanding. "Thank you for letting me come see you."

"You're welcome," he dropped her hand. "I'll see you."

"Goodbye, Harry," she wrapped her arms around him in a tight hug before stepping back and Disapparating.

Harry made his way back inside the cottage, wiping his eyes.

"Are you all right?" Severus asked him as he walked inside.

"Yeah," he assured him.

"You can go back any time," Severus walked over to Harry and enveloped him in a hug.

"I know," Harry replied. "But I still don't want to. It was just hard seeing her, knowing that she has to go back and everyone else thinks I'm dead. I miss her. And Ron."

"Are you sure you want to be here?" Severus rested his chin on Harry's head.

"I'm sure," Harry pulled back to look Severus in the eye. "I miss them, but I'd miss you more." He tilted his head up and gave Severus a gentle kiss. "She figured it out, by the way," he rolled his eyes. "So much for pretending."

"I thought she might," Severus stepped away from Harry and sat down on the couch, taking a book from the end table. "She does have extraordinary powers of observation."

"A compliment? Severus how gallant of you," Harry chuckled. He sat down next to Severus and picked up his own book from the opposite end table. "Maybe next time she's here I'll tell her the whole story," he smiled as he flipped the book open to the marked page.

"I think that might be a bit much, even given how close you two are," Severus looked up from his reading.

"Well, not the whole story," Harry waggled his eyebrows. "Just enough to explain how we made it from me screaming at you and you throwing jars of cockroaches at my head to preferring each other's company over anyone else's."

"Then in that case, I think she will handle it just fine," Severus gave a rare smile and looked back down to his book.

"Do you think you'll ever want to?" Harry asked after a few moments of silence.

Severus looked up. "Want to what?"

"You know, go back," Harry shrugged.

"Probably not," Severus admitted. "Solitude agrees with me."

"Yeah," Harry agreed absently.

"You miss your friends," Severus guessed.

"Maybe a bit," Harry relented. "But not as much as I'd miss you if I went back."

"You'd move on," Severus scoffed.

"But I don't want to," Harry pointed out. "Anyway, I'm not interested in going back right now, anyway. Solitude agrees with me, too."

"It's only been a few months," Severus said. "Give it time. You may find you wish to return."

"So might you," Harry countered.

"True," Severus answered. "In time."

Harry made his way over to the couch to sit next to Severus and snuggle into his shoulder. "But I'm happy here, with you, now. And that's what matters."

"Indeed it does," Severus mused, then placed a soft kiss on the top of Harry's head.

They passed the evening quietly in front of the fire, enjoying the freedom they both deserved.

FIN

A/N: I went ahead and finished this story because I promised that I would. I would just like to say that having written it, it did not turn out as I had planned in my head. It just didn't develop the way I thought it would when I started it. I know it's not the normal caliber of story my readers have come to expect from me, and for that, I apologize. I'm working on a new story that I hope will be back up to par. Thanks for reading!