Hermione stood on her toes as Severus leaned down to kiss her. He straightened and looked down at her, smirking at her concerned expression. "I assure you, I can care for myself for a week."
She smirked back, and the worried look clouding her face began to clear. She smiled at him. "You know, I'm sure Arthur and Molly would be more than willing to have you at the Burrow as well."
He raised an eyebrow at her, questioning whether she really believed this. She gave a defiant smirk and sighed, looking away. If anyone, it was the youngest Weasley boy Severus would have been concerned about. That one had a temper and if he was still as upset over losing Hermione as he had been the last time they'd seen him then there was no telling whether he would kill Severus in his sleep or not. Severus smirked at this thought, amused.
Hermione threw her arms around his neck and hugged him again, smiling into his chest when he pulled her closer. She stepped back when he let her go and turned towards the door. It was early in the morning and there was a thick fog in the still-dim street as she stepped off of the porch and away from the house. She walked onto the edge of the street, passing the protective boundaries around the house, and turned around to look at Severus, who stood in the window, watching her. He nodded to her and she smiled in return before she turned in place, apparating to the Burrow.
She felt her feet touch firm ground and looked around. There was no fog here, and the sun was rising over the brim of the earth at her back. She smiled at the golden light that made everything seem more beautiful and instinctively reached to the pocket of her robes to feel her beaded bag, which held all of her things for the week with her friends. She took a deep breath and walked towards the house before her, stopping in front of the door. She lifted her hand and had only knocked once when the door was thrown open and someone threw their arms around her, embracing her with such force that she was nearly knocked over backwards. She reached up and brushed the wild lengths of red hair out of her face before hugging Ginny back.
It had only been a month or so since they'd last seen each other, but both saw changes in one another's appearance. Hermione held her friend at arm's length to get a good look at her and smiled. "I think you've grown a bit," she said, finding that she didn't have to look down at Ginny's face anymore.
Ginny smiled back. "Just a bit," she agreed. Then she bit her lip, looking over Hermione. "Your hair's longer than ever. Don't you ever cut it?"
Hermione laughed and tossed her head, brushing her once-again-unruly curls over her shoulder. "No, I like it long. I thought about cutting it after the wedding but Severus wouldn't hear of it."
Ginny raised her eyebrows. "He wouldn't let you cut it?" She sounded serious, though there was a twinkle of amused curiosity in her eyes.
Hermione smirked. "He said he didn't much care for the idea of me cutting it." She smiled then. "But I'm sure if I wanted it badly enough he would have given in."
Ginny laughed as they linked arms and walked into the house, closing the door behind them. Inside there were hugs all around and Hermione got one from everyone but Ron, who was looking at her like he wasn't sure whether she was carrying some kind of disease or not. He stood in a corner, watching as if he was observing some kind of animal to see whether it showed signs of the plague. She chose to ignore this rude behavior and focused instead on everyone else's warm welcomes. When there was finally a bit of quiet after the initial greeting and polite questions about her and Severus' health and their marriage, Ginny whisked her up to the room they would share and sat her down on the bed.
Hermione waited for the interrogation to begin, and soon enough Ginny was sitting beside her looking starved for information. "What's the house like? How big is it? Is it dreadful as I've heard? Is Spinner's End as ugly and damp as they say? Have you got any friends there? What's it like, living with Sna—I mean Severus? Are there any muggle children living near you? What do you do all day? Do you stay in the house or can you leave when you like? Have you been out at all since the two of you left Hogwarts? Have you got any pets besides Crookshanks? Does Severus ever have any acquaintances that stop by? What's the house like? Do you do things the muggle way or with magic most of the time? Do you miss the Burrow ever? Did you miss me?"
Hermione smiled and hugged Ginny again. "Yes, I missed you, all the time. And I miss the Burrow sometimes. Because I miss you, your mum and dad, George, and Percy. And Bill and Charlie whenever they were in, and Teddy of course."
Ginny tried to hide it, but Hermione could see her frown slightly. "You never miss Ron?"
Hermione bit her lip. How could she explain what she felt for Ron? She took a deep breath.
"Sometimes, but I don't miss us together like we were. I miss when we were friends, best friends with Harry. I miss when I could tell the two of them about anything and they could do the same with me." She saw the way Ginny had looked mildly hopeful and then the way the younger girl's face fell. "I never miss him . . . romantically . . . if that makes sense."
Ginny smiled sadly. "I know. I mean, I guessed as much. Severus probably wouldn't be too happy knowing you missed Ron anyways."
Hermione smirked at the thought of some of things her husband had said about Ron during the past few months. "Now," she said, wanting to change the suddenly dreary feel of their conversation, "About all of those questions earlier. Spinner's End isn't such a bad place. Severus let me do whatever I wanted to the house, and I fixed it up quite a bit and changed it to my liking."
Ginny cocked her head to the side, waiting. "He doesn't mind?"
Hermione shook her head. "No." She thought over more of Ginny's questions, remembering them. "I don't really have any friends there; most of the neighbors are elderly muggles who aren't very friendly. There is one family with a little boy there, but they're so much like the Dursleys I've been keeping clear of them. The house is big, two floors not counting the basement. It's nice, with two bedrooms and a study upstairs—there's a bathroom there too—and another bedroom on the ground level with the kitchen and the great room, next to the smaller bathroom. The basement is almost all Severus' office for making potions and such. The house is quite nice and comfortable, actually. Cold on rainy days and at night sometimes but not too badly. Old wooden floor everywhere but it's sort of beautiful in an ancient kind of way I suppose. There's a fireplace in every bedroom and in the great room, which joins with the kitchen. Crookshanks is the only one living there besides Tilly, Severus and me."
Her eyes lit up and she smiled at Ginny. "And books everywhere, like you wouldn't believe! Every available inch of space in those wooden walls has been turned into a shelf and is crammed—maybe that's not the right word because they're all lined and organized so neatly—full with books."
Ginny smiled back, recognizing Hermione's awe and amazement at this feature of her home. "What kind of books?"
Hermione was looking at Ginny, but she was seeing the books in the walls back at Spinner's End. "Every kind of book. Potion books; Transfiguration books; books on every subject; whether for the teacher or the student, adult or child; History books about magic and about muggles; books that hold secrets more terrible than anything in the restricted section at the library at Hogwarts; books that tell about magical discoveries or uses of spells from a different perspective; ancient journals; massive texts about Herbology and keeping a magical garden; age old replicas of some of the first magical books ever written; everything, Ginny." She smiled, finishing, "And Severus has even let me put my own collection in the great room along one of the walls near the corner. He didn't even complain about the muggle fairytales and silly muggle novels I put there."
Ginny smiled, but waited for Hermione to continue her description of married life with Severus.
And Hermione didn't need any prodding. "Living with Severus is nice," she said after a short pause. "I usually wake up first and go downstairs to make tea, and Severus will come down not much later and read the paper. Tilly is usually good at remembering to light the fires and stock them with wood every morning and to bring the paper in and leave it on the table, but she's so old, sometimes she forgets. And I think something's happened to her head; she has problems with remembering at times and will often stare blankly around her and be confused about what she's supposed to be doing. But she's a good house elf, and when she forgets to light the fires I'm usually awake before Severus so I can do it without him finding out."
Ginny smirked at her. "Are you arguing with him about freeing Tilly then, or have you realized that she needs to be tied to your home in order to have a good life?"
Hermione blushed. "I've sort of given up on S.P.E.W. in the past year, and Tilly isn't right in her mind so she wouldn't do well on her own."
Ginny nodded, grinning. "Well go on, you haven't told me everything yet I hope?"
Hermione smiled. "Hardly. Severus doesn't prefer to eat in the morning and just has his tea, so I'll eat my breakfast alone or with Tilly's company. He usually spends a few hours a day at least in the basement brewing potions and I'll spend that time reading in the great room or sitting in the corner of his office watching him. I'd never really seen him brew a potion before and it's mesmerizing to watch; he's so quick with his hands and expert with his knife when he prepares the ingredients. And he moves so carefully but with a sureness I can't really explain. He's memorized probably most or all of the potions in his books but he always is careful to read through and follow the instructions meticulously. I love to watch him work."
Hermione didn't mention that she liked the way Severus' office smelled because it brought back so many memories for her.
"We eat lunch and dinner together and he always complains because I like to cook things the muggle way often and I only use magic to clean up afterwards. He thinks it takes too much work when I could just use magic for all of it, but I like cooking without my wand; it makes me feel more accomplished knowing I had to work for the result.
"I spend most of my day reading or watching him work because I'm free to go where I like but I enjoy being at home. Or sometimes we spend whole days talking and not doing anything useful. It's nice. Severus goes out occasionally to buy or collect any potion ingredients he's running low on or needs—though he does this very rarely because he has such a vast store of ingredients in his office—and when he does I sometimes go with him. If I don't go along then I stay home and read or plan lessons for this year's school. I've visited my parents more than once since the wedding and Severus has come along twice but I don't mind going alone.
"Severus doesn't mind leaving me home alone so much but he seems more than hesitant to let me go anywhere alone." Seeing the frown on Ginny's face, she added quickly, "But not because he doesn't trust me or something like that; I think he's just protective, afraid something will happen to me. It took me a while but I caught on and he seems more nervous about something happening to me when he's not there than ever before. And he feels like he failed me because of what happened in the Chamber of Secrets. I still don't think he's forgiven himself for being unable to protect me."
They were quiet for a few moments, both of them thinking, and then Hermione brightened. "I convinced him to come on picnics with me twice already, when the sun was out."
Ginny looked eager to hear more. "Where do you go?"
Hermione realized she hadn't given Ginny all the details of Severus' proposal and told about the place where he had picnicked once with his mother. Ginny seemed charmed by the idea of the place and what memories it held for Severus between his mother and Hermione, and was more than interested in the story of how the picnics had gone.
Hermione spent the next hour describing the area where the picnics and the proposal had taken place but eventually gave up trying to put into words the beauty of the forest and the perfect little clearing. She grabbed Ginny's hand and said, "Shall I just show you, then?"
Ginny nodded, looking excited, and the two of them ran downstairs to tell Molly that they were leaving but were stopped when they found breakfast on the table. They ate quickly, leaving everyone else at the table and yelling gleefully over their shoulders, "We'll be back before lunch!" as they ran out the door.
As soon as they reached the boundary of the protective enchantments around the Burrow, Hermione squeezed Ginny's hand and turned in place, and the two of them disapparated to the clearing where Severus had proposed. Hermione took them to the very place where she and Severus had apparated to; the edge of the clearing. When they arrived and Ginny had taken in their surroundings Hermione led her to the place in the middle of the clearing, the place where Severus had proposed and where the picnics had all been. Ginny was awed by the beauty around her just as Hermione had been the first time she saw the place, and the older witch knew she would never quite get used to how stunning the forest and the grass and the perfect blue sky and the puffy white clouds and the flowers and the birds were.
They sat down in the grass, gazing around them in wonder for a few moments. Eventually they ended up flat on their backs in the grass, staring up at the sky and pointing out shapes in the clouds. Ginny's turn came to tell about her life for the past month and a half without her best friend and they talked for hours.
When they stood up to leave, Ginny sighed and looked around sadly. "It's so perfect and pretty here," she said, gazing around once more before they apparated back to the Burrow, "I can't imagine what it would be like to have the man you love proposing in the midst of all of it. I'd be completely overwhelmed with happiness."
Hermione smiled. "That about sums up the experience, yes."
Ginny grinned and linked arms with Hermione and they disapparated.
When they were walking towards the Burrow, now inside the protective boundary, Hermione saw Ginny's wistful look behind them as if she hoped to see the place they'd come from.
"We can meet there and have picnics of our own in the future," she promised, and a smile brightened the redhead's face.
They entered the house just in time to see Molly waving her wand lazily at a group of platters and trays of food setting themselves on the table. Everyone looked up and smiled at the two girls when they walked in and closed the door behind them. "How was the outing?" Arthur asked.
"Good," the girls chorused.
Seeing their questioning looks directed his way, he explained, "There's not been much going on in my department at the Ministry lately, so I'm home early today."
The girls nodded and smiled. Both of them looked even happier when a familiar boy with red hair walked into the room. "Percy!"
He grinned at them and glanced at his father. "You could say that not much has been happening in quite a few of the departments at the Ministry, or at least not enough to keep all of us in for today."
It was the first time Hermione had seen him since the wedding and she hurried to hug him. "I thought I wasn't seeing you until tonight," she said.
He nodded. "I thought so too!"
They laughed as they sat down for lunch and Molly hollered for George, Ron, and Harry, the latter having arrived while the girls were gone. Hermione jumped up from her seat as soon as the three boys entered the room, throwing her arms around Harry. He hugged her back and sat down beside Ginny, grinning at them. Hermione had seen George that morning but she playfully hit his arm anyways, coming to an awkward halt with the affectionate greetings when Ron was the only boy standing before her.
There was a moment of silence as everyone at the table tried to look busy with loading their plates and beginning to eat their food. Then Hermione took a deep breath and said, "I didn't get to say a proper hello this morning," and held out her hand to shake.
Ron looked hesitant to take her hand.
In his moment of indecision, Molly asked, "Where did you girls go? You were gone for a while."
Ron reached out to take Hermione's hand just as Ginny said cheerily, "Hermione showed me the place where Severus proposed."
In an instant everyone at the table became very loud and interested in hearing about the place. None of them noticed when Ron recoiled sharply from Hermione's outstretched hand as if she had turned to some disgusting object. His expression was hard and a grimace was set firmly in his features as he walked around Hermione, giving her a wide berth and taking his seat, across the table from where she was so he didn't have to be close to her. He refused to look at her as she sat down and began putting food onto her plate. She glanced at him occasionally but he never looked up from his food, which he was glaring at quite ferociously. She frowned at her own food and managed to enjoy it even though she hadn't much of an appetite all of the sudden. Why had Ron looked at her that way? As if she had been dirtied, contaminated? He had never looked at her that way before.
He'd been glaring murderously at Severus long enough, looking sour around Hermione, but never recoiled from her as if she was unclean. Was it because she was married now, because she was living with Severus, that she was suddenly in his eyes filthy, different?
Her thoughts were turned away from Ron's behavior when George—who was sitting beside her—poked her in the side and asked how "Old Snapey" was doing. She laughed out loud at this nickname, replying, "He's quite well. And I'm sure he'll be simply thrilled with the affectionate label you've given him."
George made a show of nodding once, so dramatically that his nose brushed the pool of gravy on his plate, and said, "Of course." After he'd straightened, a spot of gravy was shining on the tip of his nose. Hermione couldn't keep from laughing when George was around. "How's Angelina?" she asked.
Ginny dropped her fork quite suddenly and looked up. "Oh, I forgot to tell you, Hermione, George has-"
She was silenced by George's expression, which clearly said Let me tell her myself. Ginny blushed deep red like her hair and bit her lip, grinning down at her plate as George turned to look at Hermione, head held high with pride. "I've asked her to marry me."
Hermione's mouth fell open in surprise, but she was smiling. "Really? That's wonderful!"
She hugged George, who grinned at her unabashedly. "Indeed it is. She doesn't even think she'll mind living in the flat above the joke shop."
Hermione let out a laugh at the idea, smiling even wider at George, who was beaming. She looked around at the people at the table, wondering what they thought of George and Angelina's engagement. Arthur and molly were smiling, looking proud and pleased even while they shook their heads at the idea of George taking his wife to live above a joke store.
George went into detail about his plans for his and Angelina's future and everyone at the table forgot everything but their food and what he was saying. After the meal Ginny helped her mum clean everything up with magic while Hermione took Teddy and held him close, grinning down at his hair, which was green at the moment. She had noticed him gazing often at the Weasley's flaming red hair, and more than once his own had changed to that color as well. Now he reached up, muttering and mumbling the words he was learning as she made faces at him. She realized how big he was and remembered that he was now over a year old.
This brought on another wave of memories from the past year and Hermione sighed and smiled at the baby as he waved his arms at the other side of the room, where Harry and Ron were standing. Harry had been spending plenty of time at the Burrow—he lived there, after all—and he was Teddy's favorite person. Teddy looked longingly at the young man with the lightning scar and Hermione walked over in spite of her desire to keep away from Ron. Harry had his back to them but he saw Ron looking over his shoulder and turned around, a grin brightening his face when he saw the baby. He swept Teddy up into his arms and turned a few circles, holding the baby high while the green-haired child squealed and laughed in delight.
Hermione stepped back, watching Harry and Teddy play, and glanced up at Ron, who seemed to be unable to take his eyes off of Harry but at the same time completely uninterested in what his friend was doing. Hermione's attention was dragged away when someone touched her arm, and she looked up to find Percy grinning at her. He had looked at Harry and Teddy but looked back at her and smiled even wider. "So I heard you were doing well," he prodded.
She nodded and they walked over to lean against the wall and talk. After giving a brief description of married life with Severus she asked, "What about you, hmm? George is engaged, Harry and Ginny seem serious, and Bill's married; how about your romantic life?"
He grinned but shook his head, shrugging. "No one for me at the moment. Not even a girlfriend. And it's not that I'm too busy; just haven't found anyone yet."
Hermione nodded. They were silent for a moment and then she elbowed him playfully in the arm. "Well get a move on or you'll have a younger sibling married before you even have a girlfriend!"
He laughed and raised his eyebrows, staring at the floor for a minute. "I don't doubt it. Harry will wait another year or two, I'm sure, but after that he and Ginny will be engaged, getting married. And George and Angelina aren't waiting two more years. They'll be moving out, living above the joke shop." He had turned to watch Harry and Teddy again and added in a quieter tone, "and having children." Then his attention was drawn to Ron. "And Ron . . ."
Hermione laughed at the way he trailed off and made a face. "And Ron . . .?" she prodded, wanting to know what he was thinking.
"You were good for him," Percy said, shrugging and looking up at her from the floor as he grinned. "But he managed to lose you," he shook his head and licked his lips, "and I think it'll be a while before he moves on."
Hermione bit her lip but Percy gave a genuine smile, brightening the suddenly serious topic of conversation. "But he will move on, it's just gonna take a bit of time for him to come to grips with the fact that now he really can't ever get you back," he said. Then he sniggered. "I mean who wants to challenge an ex-death eater for the one thing in this world that makes his life worth living? Even Ron knows it would be a stupid idea. And you're never going to look at anyone without comparing him to Severus. Ron will probably end up with . . ." he narrowed his eyes, smirking at his younger brother as he thought ". . . Pansy Parkinson," he said.
Hermione choked in surprise and they both laughed, hard. "Of all the girls you could have named," she spluttered, still laughing.
He grinned. "All right, maybe I'm joking. But he won't end up with Lavender; they just don't have the right personalities to get along well together."
Hermione nodded. Both of them were still recovering from their laughter when Ginny joined them leaning against the wall and before long Harry brought Teddy and came to talk as well. They eventually moved to the table, all of them pretending not to notice when Ron glared at his siblings and Harry for deserting him, and stalked up the stairs. He would not be in Hermione's presence if he could help it.
Hermione bounced a laughing Teddy on her knee until he started to get tired and then cradled him in her arms until he fell asleep. She handed him off to Molly, who took him to her room to sleep, and then the friends got back to talking and didn't have to worry about whispering because of the sleeping baby.
Hermione was awed, holding Teddy in her arms; she had always dreamt of having children but now she actually could. She was married, she had the ability and the right to raise a child of her own, and it was a strange new feeling that sent a thrill through her. She smirked, thinking back with amusement to Argus' drunken comment about Snape children. She would very much like to raise a little boy who looked somewhat like his father. She wondered if Severus had ever even held a baby in his life and if he had what he had felt looking down at it. What would he feel holding his own flesh and blood, the physical thing that had come of his and Hermione's love?
She smiled and slipped back into the conversation with her friends again, wondering in the back of her mind what Severus was doing at that moment and hoping that Tilly remembered to feed Crookshanks and light the fires during the week that her Mistress was gone.
I am so sorry I haven't updated in so long. I was sick with a bad bug for the last week and couldn't write or do much, so please forgive me for making you wait! I know this chapter isn't the longest but the next few will be nice and long and hold some pleasant surprises and perhaps George and Angelina's wedding in a bit. Thank you all for sticking with me this long and please review if you have any questions, comments, corrections or advice! Thank you all so much for reading my story, it means so much to me! Love you all! ~Taelr