AN: I don´t own Harry Potter and don´t make any profit.
Severus had been living up to the nickname Hermione had given him being grumpy all morning.
"Cheer up, Sev. It´s not going to be as bad as you imagine," Hermione squeezed his arm, but he shook her hand off.
"No it´s gonna be even worse," he said grimly.
"Come on, let´s get it over with," and she apparated them to the gates of Hogwarts.
Passing the new memorial near the front door of the castle Severus huffed, looking at himself as a statue and mumbled, "That´s just ridiculous."
He stopped, squinted and then said, "Is my nose really that big?" That just sat Hermione off giggling.
All sixth and seventh years, and even a few younger students, were gathered in the Great Hall.
"Welcome everybody. I´m glad so many members of the Order of the Phoenix could join us today and I ask all members to come back to my office after this lesson. And to you students, today Mister Potter is going to teach you the Patronus Charm. It´s a powerful charm to protect you against dementors and lethifolds. But you also can use it to communicate over some distance. So Harry, if you will."
"It´s my pleasure, Minerva!"
In the next hour and a half, the students tried to get hold of the charm, with the Order members walking through Great Hall watching, giving advice and helping them. Only a handful of students got the hang of conjuring a corporal patronus, the first one being a tiny fourth year girl with hazel hair and hazel eyes. She was smiling, when her patronus parrot flew around her.
"Well done Miss Jones." The headmistress said, leaving the girl beaming. After a couple of minutes Minerva loudly clapped her hands and said
"Well at the end of this lesson I would ask all Order members to conjure their Patronuses, so my students can get an impression what different Patronuses there are."
There were a lot of Patronuses filling the hall now. Hermione could see Ron´s Jack Russell Terrier, Luna´s hare, Ginny´s horse, Kingsley´s lynx was striding along the walls and Harry´s stag was parading around the room. But there was no doe. Where is Severus? Is he hiding? Ah there he is, next to Minerva. Didn´t know her Patronus was a cat, but what else would it be.
"EXPECTO PATRONUM!" Severus yelled and people gasped. Severus´ Patronus flickered between two animals, one was clearly a doe, the other one didn´t quite make it in to a real animal and suddenly the Patronus died away, leaving Severus with hanging shoulders. The room was dead quiet and all the other Patronuses were gone, since people conjuring them, weren´t concentrating anymore, but staring at the former Potions Professor looking a bit lost.
Look at me, Sev. Come on!
Minerva whispered something into his ear discretely pointing to the other side of the room, where Hermione was standing. Severus was looking over to her, while she was giving him her warmest smile and then mouthed "Together!?"
They both raised their wand and yelled at the same time, "EXPECTO PATRONUM!" Hermione gasped at what she saw and Severus gave a wide smile, which made all the others gape. There was a proud lion striding from Hermione´s side of the hall to the middle to meet Severus´, not less proud, lioness and caressed her face with his face.
Suddenly people were starting murmuring, Kingsley standing next to Hermione mumbled under his breath, so only she could hear him, "What a confession of love!"
Minerva was smiling and turning to the students she said, "Well, that was impressive wasn´t it, to actually see a Patronus change, while it´s conjured is very, very rare. Patronuses sometimes change their form, when there is … let´s say a special bond between two people."
Hermione watched Severus while Minerva talked to the students, his smile faded, his eyes went cold and his expression became grim, with long strides he left the Great Hall, robes billowing behind him, he slammed the door shut.
Hermione glared at Minerva, "Was that really necessary Professor!"
"The students have to learn something and that was a great opportunity, don´t you think so?"Minerva shrugged her shoulders.
Hermione huffed and left the Great Hall, slamming the door just as spectacular as Severus, leaving a giggling student body behind.
If I lose him over that, I swear that old windbag is gonna get a piece of my mind. Hermione was looking all over the place for Severus it took her half an hour, when she finally found him on top of the astronomy tower looking over the premises.
"Hi," she shyly said.
"I´m sorry about that, I didn´t mean to hurt you, by just leaving you there."
"You didn´t hurt me at all Sev, quite the contrary," she coyly looked up at him.
His smile was back, when he pulled her closer and whispered "I love you, Hermione."
"I love you, too, Severus." And they kissed, a sweet and gentle kiss at first, which heated up, leaving them both a bit breathless, when they broke apart.
"Tell me, what you were annoyed with. Was it, because your patronus changed?" Hermione asked timidly, not looking at him.
"How can you think that, after what I just told you?" He sounded hurt.
"Sorry, I´m not very good at the relationship thingy," she gave him a small smile.
"No, that wasn´t the problem at all. But just so you know, Lily will always have a special place in my heart, being my first friend and the first girl I loved. I hope you don´t mind."
"Not at all. The first love is something special," Hermione smiled.
"But please tell me what the problem was earlier."
"Well I liked seeing our Patronuses, yours wasn´t a lion before, was it?" She shook her head and smiled.
"I just would´ve loved if we wouldn´t have been on display for that and Minerva´s explaining didn´t help. I wasn´t ready to go public with our relationship. We just started it. It´s not the easiest of relationships."
Now it was her who looked hurt.
"Sorry, that did come out all wrong. It´s easy for me, if it´s just the two of us. I love you and I really care for you. But honestly the ex-death-eater and the Princess of Gryffindor, as the call you now. They are going to make our lives miserable."
"I´m not a princess," Hermione huffed, her eyes flashing dangerously.
"I know, you are a little bookworm, and I´m glad about that. Not the point though. I would have loved for us to grow more as a couple, have a steady relationship, before everybody else knows. I´m fine with Andromeda, Neville and I guess Ginny knowing, but does the whole wizarding world need to know?" he sighed.
"So what are we going to do now?" Hermione asked.
"Well we could just leave …"
"… or we could present them a show, they´ll never forget," Hermione grinned mischievously.
"Whatever do you mean, my little know-it-all? I´m intrigued." Severus smirked.
"We could retreat like Hufflepuffs or we could attack and show them that we´re in love, they don´t need to know that´s it´s only been about a month for us as a couple and that we are both still insecure and vulnerable about it."
"Point taken. I think I like the idea," Severus grinned, holding out his arm for her, "Shall we, my little Miss Know-it-all." "
I´ll be delighted my grumpy old bugger," she answered taking his arm. He laughed. His laugh is really beautiful. Who would have thought?
They were standing in front of Minerva´s office.
"Let´s get it over with," he sighed.
"Quick as a band-aid," she mumbled to herself.
"Is that your new mantra?"
She elbowed him in his ribs, "Oh ha ha!" and opened the door.
It went really quite when Hermione and Severus holding hands came through the door of the headmistress´ office, which had been magically enlarged.
Minerva ignored the tension that suddenly had built up in the room, "So that we are all here. I´ve got a little announcement to make. I guess you are all wondering, why invited you here today. Well it´s been exactly a year since Voldemort was defeated and I think it would be nice to have a little celebration. But I didn´t want make a big thing out of it, nothing too formal, so please have fun and relax."
The headmistress waved her wand and a dance floor with a three man band appeared in one corner of the room and a buffet and some comfy chairs and coffee tables appeared on the other side of the room.
"Well let´s give them something to watch. Care for a dance with the dungeon bat?" Severus whispered in her ear and placing a small kiss there too.
"Always," she smiled sweetly at him, ignoring all the watching people. Severus guided her to the dance floor and they started dancing. Soon there were other couples dancing Mrs. and Mr. Weasley, but also the headmistress and the Minister for Magic. Neville was twirling around with Luna and Harry was guiding Ginny through the dancing couples to dance as well.
After a couple of faster songs, the band introduced the dancers to a slow one. Immediately Severus pulled Hermione closer, who placed her head on his chest, sighing contently.
"Do we have to stop dancing, can´t we just dance, until everybody has left, so I don´t have to speak to anybody, don´t have to answer any questions," Hermione mumbled into his chest.
"Where is your Gryffindor courage gone to my little bookworm?" He asked smiling.
"One more dance and then, I´ll get myself a firewhisky. I really need one, to calm down."
"You seem very calm and collected, to me."
Severus huffed, "On the outside maybe. But you know I learned how to hide my emotions. So, no I´m not at all calm," he nervously smiled at her.
After another dance they broke apart and made their way towards the comfy seats, when they were stopped by Kingsley, who gave them a genuine smile saying, "Congratulations! I´m happy for you two. You must be quite serious about each other, considering your Patronuses."
He winked at them and before they could answer, he kissed Hermione on the cheek and gave Severus a quick hug, making the latter one shudder and was gone to dance with Luna. They stood there dumbfounded for a couple of seconds, before Minerva came up behind them and passing them by she whispered "I told you just give it some time. Congratulations!"
"Did you talk about us to her?"
"Well she is reading the Prophet. And apparently I didn´t make a good job of hiding my true feelings for you."
"Ah, ladies and gentlemen, the man who fooled Voldemort for years, the spy of the century," she laughed.
"Oh shut up!" and he kissed her.
"The Princess of Gryffindor and the Snake of Slytherin," a cynical voice broke them apart.
"Hi Ron," she tried a smile, feeling Severus stiffening beside her.
"So what is this little play, you´re in love or what?" Ron gave a nasty laugh, holding onto a glass of firewhisky.
"Yes Ronald I am. Have you got a problem with that?"
By now Harry and Ginny joined the group and ushered them outside to one of the corridors of the castle.
"Look Ron. If you haven´t got anything nice to say, just leave me alone. Come on Severus, I need some fresh air." she turned around and was about to walk away …
"Couldn´t find anybody your age, Snape," Ron snapped.
Severus turned around his eyes cold, his voice dangerously low, "Mr. Weasley I don´t know what your problem is. But I know one thing for sure you didn´t care for your friend, maybe even girlfriend back then, when she needed you the most, and that´s just inexcusable. It was Miss Weasley who finally checked on her and saved her life. Thank you by the way," he gave a small smile towards Ginny who mumbled, "Please call me Ginny, Professor."
He quickly shook her hand and winked at her, but turned his attention instantly back to Ron and Harry.
"Not even you Mr. Potter found the necessity of checking on your friend, who was at your side all the time fighting Voldemort."
"Sorry, Hermione!" Harry lowered his head in embarrassment and stared at his feet.
"Is there anything else, you have to say Mister Weasley?"
"MY BROTHER HAD JUST DIED. MY BROTHER WHO I LOVED." Ron roared with anger and sadness in his voice, making Hermione turn away and run towards one of the hallways windows, looking out. Only the shaking of her shoulders gave away that she was crying. Ginny hurried over, comforting her.
"Your girlfriend nearly died as well, because of your carelessness." Severus said now a bit calmer.
"And then you stepped in and just stole her away from me," Ron spat.
"That´s not true Mr. Weasley and you know it. I offered her the comfort you couldn´t give her, when she was in St. Mungo´s and then she went back to you and it didn´t work out. But I didn´t have anything to do with that."
"Whatever mate, you´re screwing my girlfriend!"
"Ronald Bilius Weasley, what has gotten into you!" Molly, drawn by the shouting of her youngest son, was suddenly standing next to Severus.
"Just leave me alone all of you!" Ron barked and left.
"He´ll come to his senses," Harry said quietly.
"I doubt that," Severus growled.
"I´ll make him come to his senses," Molly said with a grim expression on her face and went back to the party. Severus chuckled still with a cold expression on his face, which instantly changed when he turned around seeing Hermione crying into Ginny´s shoulder.
He went over, placed a hand on Ginny´s shoulder and quietly said, "I´ll take it from here. Thank you Ginny."
"You´re welcome Professor," Ginny let go of Hermione, who immediately clung on to Severus, burying his face, into his chest.
"It´s Severus." he said, smiling at Ginny.
"I´m glad you´re taking care of my friend. And don´t be too strict with Ron. It was a hard year for him." she gave an apologetic smile.
"But I guess it was a hard year for you too and I don´t see your running around and being such an …"
"I beg you not to finish this sentence. You know I make other mistakes. Everybody makes mistakes, especially when it comes to people we care about."
"Wise words," he muttered.
"Well I hope I´ll see you two later," she grinned and pulled Harry by the hand back to the Headmistress´ office.
"How are you?"
"Dunno", she mumbled into his chest.
"Ron was your first love, wasn´t he?" he softly asked. She nodded and started crying again.
"He really hurt me."
"I know he did. But hopefully he´ll come to his senses. Ginny is right you know, everybody makes mistakes, especially when it comes to people we care about or even love."
"You think he loves me."
"I don´t know. But please just take in account he lost his brother. I´m not sure why I´m defending him, after what he said to you … to us actually."
She gave a weak smile, wiping away a tear, "I guess because you love me and you know he means a lot to me."
"Should we get you that firewhisky now?" she asked after a couple of moments of silence.
"I thought you´d never ask," he grinned.
There were only a couple of people left, the comfy chairs and settees were now arranged around the fire-place and Severus seemed relaxed, as there were only people he trusted and he would have considered friends, maybe not friends, but companions. Arthur and Molly, were snuggled together, looking so peaceful and content. The holiday they just came back from, obviously agreed with them. Opposite of them Minerva was smiling happily, it looked like she knew she achieved her task with making this party a casual, relaxed and informal event. And Kingsley looking relaxed hanging in his chair, knowing for these people he was Kingsley and not the Minister for Magic, because they knew him long before he became Minister.
Hermione got up and made her way to one of the windows. She was standing there for a couple of minutes, overlooking the lake, hearing them laugh as Minerva told a story about one of her students.
She suddenly felt Severus´ hands on her shoulders, "Why don´t you join us?"
"I don´t feel I belong there, it´s Ron´s parents, so they could easily be my parents, Minerva she is ancient,… "
"What about Kingsley he is not that much older than you are, well he is at least younger than I am. "
"He is the Minister for Magic, for crying out loud."
"He wasn´t when you met him."
"I know! I guess you were right all along when you talked about our relationship not being the easiest," Hermione whispered. Severus chuckled and took her by the hand guiding her back to the settee, they were sitting earlier.
"Are you alright Hermione?" Molly asked, looking concerned.
"Yes … This… um … feels just a bit awkward … You are all …," her voice trailed off.
"Old!" Minerva said with a twinkle in her eyes, that rivalled Dumbledore´s.
"Well yeah," Hermione admitted embarrassed.
"Hey, I´m not that old," Kingsley protested.
"Told you," Severus mumbled.
"See it from this side, being with Severus means you can have both, the deep insightful conversations with us and the parties with your friends," Arthur did a little jiggling with his hips, prompting Molly to say, "You´re embarrassing yourself, honey."
Hermione laughed, "Sorry, I didn´t mean to be rude, I just have to get used to this situation. So bring on the deep insightful conversations then."
"Before the deep insightful conversations start, please Hermione let me thank you for arranging this lovely holiday for us. I heard it was your idea in the first place and you also partly paid for it. We had a lovely time. It was really necessary to spent time together, to talk and have time to mourn Fred …" Arthur´s voice trailed off and he wiped away a tear.
"And we are really sorry, we didn´t take care of you right after the battle, when you actually have been like a second daughter to us. Sorry Hermione! By the way I think you two make a really nice couple, and I promise you I will take care of the `Ron-situation´," Molly smiled.
"Please look after Ron, I think he really needs help and all the love you can give him," Hermione said with a sad smile and snuggled close to Severus, who placed a kiss on her temple.
AN: So I hope you enjoyed this chapter. I know the part with the Patronuses was a bit tacky, but I just couldn´t help it! ;)