AN: I don´t own Harry Potter and don´t make any profit.
I had to divide the big finale. So here it goes Part 1.
By the way I was thinking of writing a spin-off revolving about Draco, Andromeda and Teddy, if anybody would be interested.
Late spring was followed by an uneventful summer. Hermione was writing and revising her book and trying to find a decent publisher for her work. Severus was working at St. Mungo´s, studying and meeting with Draco every so often. She met her friends and life finally seemed to fall into a routine, being uneventful and quiet, which made her feel content, after the years of war. Just when Severus mentioned her parents, she got angry with him, would rush out the room and slam the next door she could find.
It was the end of August, and Hermione and Severus were sitting in their back garden, which was now a lovely spot. They had converted all of the concrete into a lawn, which made their back garden live up to its name, actually being a garden. They had a couple of vegetable patches, a few berry bushes, herbs and one flower bed, which officially belonged to Hermione, since a former death eater couldn´t have a flower bed. But Hermione caught Severus once or twice standing in the back garden, looking at the flower bed and smiling. It was a warm evening, the crickets were chirping and they just finished their dinner.
Hermione leaned back and sighed contently, "I love the sun. It´s a shame we don´t live were we would have more of it. Speaking of which, where is your study trip going to, again?"
"Um … New Zealand!"
"Really I thought Draco said Australia."
"No! It´s New Zealand," Severus replied a bit too quickly.
That´s weird. I´m sure Draco said Australia. She just shrugged it off and moved to the deckchair, to let the last rays of sun caress her face.
"It feels so good?" she sighed.
"What does?" he asked slumping down into the deckchair next to her.
"I finished my book today?"
"Why didn´t you tell me?" he jumped up in surprise.
"I just did," she smiled.
"You should have told me earlier," he huffed.
"I wrote the last lines about two hours ago. What more do you want?" Hermione asked a bit annoyed.
"I thought you wouldn´t finish for at least another week," he replied.
"Well, with you working and studying non-stop over the last two weeks, there wasn´t much else to do," she laughed.
"That calls for a small celebration," he smiled and went inside the kitchen, where she could hear him rumble about. When he came back he was holding a pot of ice-cream and two spoons in his hands.
"Yumm ice-cream," her eyes lit up.
"That´s not all," he laughed and pulled a bottle of champagne from behind his back.
"Yay, champagne, but don´t we have to wait until the book is published?"
"And who made you the ´celebrations police´? We celebrate now, we celebrate when it´s published and we celebrate when you get your first money from the book."
"Don´t we need glasses?"
"What is with you today? No we don´t need glasses. It´s more fun like this," and with that he opened the bottle with a loud ´pop´, making Hermione squeal in delight.
As the sun went down it got too cold to sit outside, so they went inside snuggling together on the settee, when Hermione suddenly said, "I know now what I want to do after I´m done with my book."
Severus raised a questioning eye-brow.
"Now that I have enough money, I want to start my own newspaper. Nobody needs that bloody Prophet. I want to write what´s really going on. No gossip. Just hard facts. To start I would have it come out twice a month. I would be independent from the Ministry or other puppet masters. I actually love writing, so it would be perfect." Hermione looked at Severus with a serious expression on her face.
Severus smiled, "I´m so proud of you Hermione. You´ll be perfect for the job, but …"
"No buts, I´m doing this," Hermione glared at him.
"I know, but…" Severus started again. Hermione sighed.
"Listen to me witch," he growled, "...but you know people might give you a hard time. If you are really telling the truth you might put yourself in danger." He had a worried expression on his face.
Hermione straightened her back, her eyes had a dangerous sparkle to them and she said, "I´m not scared! I´ve been fighting! I´ve been tortured! I´m going to tell the truth, nobody is going to silence me. I´m not scared, not if I´m having you, the Slytherin dungeon bat by my side."
"And I promise I´ll be there for you. Always." He sealed his promise with a passionate kiss.
Severus stepped out of the fireplace and nearly fell back in again, by the force Hermione with which Hermione had just thrown herself into his arms.
"I´m so glad you are home. I´ve missed you so much," Hermione squealed.
"Have you forgotten the age difference in the two weeks I´ve been away. You nearly killed my back, by jumping on me," Severus growled, but a smile tucked on his lips and he whispered in her ear, "I missed you too, my love."
"How was your trip?" Hermione asked curiously.
Severus guided her to the settee and pulled her down with him, "I tell you in a minute. But first things first. I hear it´s your birthday tomorrow. So what do you want to do?"
"I don´t really care. I just want to be with you," she sighed and snuggled closer to him.
"Hey if you snuggle any closer, you´ll push me off the settee," he laughed.
Hermione came down the next morning, drawn by the smell of bacon and chocolate.
"So did you have a good night´s sleep birthday girl?" Severus asked taking her in his arms kissing her nose.
"I did, it was a bit short though," she winked at him.
"That it was," he said with a mischievous grin on his face.
"So please sit down," he ushered her to her chair. "I won´t sing to you, but I wish you a happy birthday, my little bookworm."
"Thanks," she smiled. When she looked at the table there was a tiny chocolate cake with chocolate icing and a candle on her plate and a couple of presents next to it.
"Did you bake that?" she raised an eye-brow.
"I did," he grinned. She softly blew out the candle and closed her eyes for a moment.
"Did you make a wish?" Hermione nodded her eyes still closed, "Two actually." She cut the cake in half and put one half on Severus´ plate.
"Mmmh, that´s really delicious. I love it. Actually I love you. You are becoming my official ´birthday cake maker´."
He laughed, "That´s not even a word."
"It is now," she said with a full mouth.
"Three owls came this morning for you with presents, but I defended your bacon and they had to leave without a treat."
"You are my hero!"
She opened Ron´s present first and a tear ran down along her nose, when she held a beautiful notebook in her hand, where on the first page he had written:
Dear Hermione,
For all the important thoughts you want to remember. So you might be able to write another book someday. I´m proud of you.
Thanks for your friendship, Ron
"I have to admit he is quite alright," Severus mumbled.
"He is. He is a really dear friend," Hermione sniffled and turned to Harry´s and Ginny´s present, which was a photo album with pictures they obviously had collected over the years. It was a testimony of her time in the magical world, there were even two pictures of her and Severus at Minerva´s party. One where they were dancing together and on the other one Hermione was whispering in his ear and him starting to smile.
"I love that photo," she whispered and brushed her fingertips over Severus´ face on the picture.
"Hermione I do really envy you for friendships, they seem so genuine and you do care for each other deeply, I can see that now."
"Thanks Sev."
She opened Molly´s and Arthur´s gift and it was a handmade patchwork quilt, in Gryffindor and Slytherin colours. Molly had written on the card:
Dear Hermione,
Happy birthday! I made the quill especially for you, so you can cuddle under it with your handsome Potions Master.
Love, Molly and Arthur
"She didn´t write that! Arthur signed that?"
"Yes she did write it, but I think she just put Arthur´s name under it, but it seems I´m not the only one considering you handsome," she laughed. There was only one present left on the table.
"That´s from me. It´s one of my three presents. Happy birthday, my love," Severus smiled. When she opened it, she gasped, inside a jewellery box she found a white gold bracelet with diamonds.
"It´s beautiful. Thank you so much, Severus." She got up, stepped around the table and kissed him.
After they finished breakfast she followed him to the living room and he asked her to sit down on the settee.
"I have another present for you, but it doesn´t come gift-wrapped. Since you like when I play the piano, this is for you. Please enjoy!" He sat down and began to play.
After the first couple of notes she whispered, "It´s Beethoven´s Moonlight Sonata. Wow!" Her words were making him smile.
When he finished he just sat there and didn´t turn around, so Hermione got up, rested her hands on his shoulders and her chin on his head and whispered, "Thank you. That was beautiful."
"You´re welcome," Severus smiled.
"I didn´t hear you practise?" she asked with a questioning look.
"Silencing charm at night, while you were sleeping."
Hermione laughed, "And I was already wondering why you hardly played anymore."
"Are you ready for your last present?" Hermione nodded.
"Ok, you have to trust me for this one."
"I do."
"Come on, oh you might want to take your new photo album with you," he smiled and kissed her. "
I need to apparate us both, " he said and wrapped his arms around her waist, she nodded and they were gone with a quiet `pop`.
Severus apparated them to a lonely alleyway. As soon as Hermione took in the surroundings she said, "No you haven´t?"
"Yes I have," he laughed. Suddenly her expression changed from disbelieving and joyful to scared and sad, "I´m not going!"
"What? Why?"
"Because I´m not going."
"You make me go to that stupid ceremony!"
"That´s something totally different."
"Yes that´s right, this is so much more important," he glared at her with an angry face, when he noticed she was about to cry hanging her head, his eyes softened, he gently put two fingers under her chin and tilted her head up. Burning tears were running down her face.
"Aww Hermione, please don´t cry. You´ve been so brave facing Lucius and now you are scared to face your own parents. My little brave bookworm, they are waiting for you." He hugged her until she stopped crying.
"Come on now," he said softly and took her by the hand, like a little scared girl.
"Do they now about us?" she whispered. "No," he replied.
After a two minute walk the were standing in front of Hermione´s childhood home, she was about to knock, when suddenly the door opened and Hermione was pulled into a hug by her mum and a moment later Hermione´s dad was at their side, hugging Hermione and his wife. They were standing there crying for a couple of minutes, with Severus standing there not knowing what to do. He felt a pang of jealousy witnessing this parental love he never knew. So he turned around and quietly left the scene.
"Hermione my girl, how are you?" David asked with a shaky voice, closing the door.
"Much better, now that you are back," she sighed.
"Are you mad at me?" Hermione´s voice was trembling.
"No honey, your Professor explained everything," Jean stroked over her cheek. Hermione smiled, hearing her mum address him as her professor, when she herself didn´t think of him as her professor anymore. He was so much more now.
"Where is he gone to, by the way? Didn´t he come in?"
"I guess he just wanted us to have time alone."
"That´s a shame I thought I would get to know him too. Wasn´t he the professor the boys hated so much. He was always a bit grumpy and unfair. I have to say he was quite nice to us though. He spoke highly of you, come to think of it very highly actually," Jean Granger said with a curious look on her face.
Suddenly she tilted her head and squinted looking at Hermione´s throat, her hand came up and she carefully touched the scar.
"What happened? You didn´t have that before we left, actually before you made us leave for Australia."
David Granger just came back from the kitchen with tea and biscuits.
"So my girl you have to tell us everything, that happened?"
"Sure Dad, let me just inform Se… Professor Snape, that he is welcome to join us, at any time." She conjured her Patronus and silently gave it a message for Severus.
"Hey, I forgot what you call that, what you just did, but didn´t you always tell us your thingy was an otter? And how much you loved it," David asked.
"Yes Dad, that´s right, my Patronus changed, but let me start at the very beginning."
And Hermione started to tell the story. She started the day when she obliviated them and stopped the day Voldemort had been defeated by Harry. Her parents were listening intensely, the tea was forgotten, when they followed her story, that seemed like a tale, very dark at some points, adventurous and dangerous, but mostly sad, when Hermione came to the end.
"You were so brave my girl," David said, hugging Hermione tightly, while tears were streaming down her face, when she talked about her friends who were killed in action during the final battle.
"So tell me, how did Professor Snape find you? What happened?" Hermione asked.
"Well he managed to find us through the Dentist Association of Australia and he followed us home from work. He simply knocked on our door and said he was a new neighbour and so we let him in. He pulled out his wand, by that time we didn´t know what it was, and started murmuring strange words. He did that a couple of times and suddenly it all came back. And your Mum suddenly said ´Where is Hermione?´ and the man seemed to be really relieved when he heard the question and then I asked a very inappropriate question," David said.
"What did you ask?" Hermione asked with wide eyes.
"Aren´t you the greasy git the boys always referred to?"
"No you didn´t," Hermione said giggling, "What happened then?"
"He merely chuckled and said that it was indeed him and then he told us all about you being too scared to restore our memories, but he knew you needed us, so he came to do the job and he begged us not being too hard on you, to erase our memories."
"I knew Draco said Australia," she mumbled to herself and to her parents she said, "What are your plans? Are you staying in Australia?"
Jean Granger smiled at her daughter and said, "I don´t think so. When we were in Australia we always thought something was missing in our life. We know now it was you. So we are definitely coming back, but we have to sort things out in Australia first. So hopefully we will be back before Christmas, but we will join you at the ceremony at Hogwarts. You receiving an Order of Merlin First Class. We are so proud of you. Isn´t that what you always dreamed of, when you just started at Hogwarts?" Hermione beamed and nodded.
"So tell me Hermione! Voldemort was defeated over a year ago, what happened since? What have you been doing?" Her mum wondered.
Now I have to tell them about Severus. I hope they are fine with it.
"Well first of all I had to go the hospital, it just all had been a bit much. I did recover with the help of a friend and now I just wrote a book about the war and it´s going to be published in a couple of weeks. With the money I got from receiving the Order and for compensation for helping to bring down Voldemort. I´ll be doing my own newspaper…" she said, before being interrupted by her mum, "Wow I´m so proud of you honey."
Hermione sighed, "That´s not all mum. There is more. I´ve actually fallen seriously in love."
"Who is the lucky guy? One of the boys maybe?" Her dad asked.
"No, it´s … the greasy git."
Her parents gaped at her, when suddenly Jean said, "He was talking rather fondly of you, I wondered why. So he is more than a professor to you?"
Hermione nodded, pulled out the photo album and opened the page with the photos of Severus and herself.
"Isn´t he a bit old?" David Granger said carefully, knowing how his little girl would react, when she had her heart set on something and others didn´t agree with her.
Hermione sighed, "I guess, but it doesn´t matter. He was the one who took care of me at St. Mungo´s and somehow we grew close over the last year. And to be honest I´ve been through a war, I´m just glad I survived, I can´t be bothered if it befits or not. I love him."
David smiled, "Look at my girl all grown up. I thought you might throw a tantrum, when I said he seems a bit old."
"Daad. I´m not seven anymore," Hermione glared at him.
"I know, I´m sorry. Can we look at the rest of the photos?" Hermione settled between them and they looked through the album, making Jean sigh, "I wish muggle photos would move."
Hermione grinned hearing her mum to refer to herself as muggle. They doorbell rang and David went to open the door, coming back he was followed by Severus who had a blank expression on his face.
Hermione jumped up, hurried over to him and flung herself into his arms, "Thanks for bringing them back, Sev!" She kissed him soundly on the lips.
"I guess they know about us now," he mumbled in her ear and letting go of her he straightened his back, turned to her parents, saying "Hello Mrs. and Mr. Granger! We didn´t have the chance to catch up before. How are you doing?"
"Please call me David, my boy, and that´s Jean." Hermione´s dad pointed to his wife. Severus was taken aback by this warm welcome.
"I´m Severus," he said with a small smile and reached out to shake David´s hand.
"Should we go out for lunch? It is after all your birthday today, honey, " Jean said.
"Er … before I forget, we have a little something for you. I´m afraid it´s nothing too personal though. We only came back yesterday and remembered it´s your birthday today. So we had a little help from Severus," David said handing her an envelope. She opened it and revealed a voucher from Flourish and Blotts.
"Thanks, I love it," she smiled at her parents.
AN: I hope you enjoyed it! Part 2 (of 2) only needs proofreading, so I will update soon.