How about a game yes? If you can find a picture of what I describe I will take a prompt from you :who, where, and a prop of your choice- for a future chapter. Here is the prompt: Alan, table, orange, folded. Send me a PM with your link if you can find it. Good luck! And as always I don't own this and reviews make my inner Severus smile.

It took Hermione three weeks at Spinners End to figure out what was off about the narrow front of the house. With errands being run in the late afternoon after the daily storm (all hours of the day it seemed to drizzle) everything about the house seemed bleak and damp and dark.

However one day after a early morning healer visit, (" You call this coffee woman? I might have eaten a sugar plum fairy for the amount of sugar in here!") as well as picking up the shards of broken drink-ware, Hermione stopped in her tracks as she caught a glimpse of off-white on the brick. It wasn't a unfamiliar sight in this neighborhood but it was very uncommon in the estate she had grown up in.

"Severus?" she asked softly. The growl in response didn't even make her blink. Seven, going on eight, years with the man had taught her that he wasn't in a temper- yet.

"Why does the brick look like it had been white-washed?"

Severus paused. He was halfway between the door and Hermione, but she saw the tension increase in his shoulders. It wasn't much but it displayed more emotions than his face, which had gone quite still. "That is none of your concern Miss Granger."

As the dishes were being washed, by hand since she couldn't manage household charms and he had quickly lost half of his plates in discovering this, Hermione thought over the day. It was still early, half past one, but it felt far more later.

The healer visit hadn't gone smoothly. Leaving the house was like getting the Dark Lord to wear a birthday cap covered in confetti. She managed to run to the shops and grocery to get most of the provisions. She had Harry pick-up whatever potion ingredients that Severus requested. Her friend was more than willing to do anything for the man who had loved his mother so dearly, even though she thought he was just softening Severus up for questioning about Lily later.

So when he had to go into St. Mugo's, there had been a swarm of people that had blinded him with questions and cameras and even accusations that their family members had been put in there because of him. It took fifteen minutes for them to be swept into a private room, and with bruises to show for it later, he had never let go of her hand. The healer had prattled on for about an hour before she had to grab Severus' wand so the healer didn't turn into a pile of soot. There was nothing new added to his care instructions. "Keep on and keep calm," the healer had said as they walked out the door.

When they had returned she asked about the door and suddenly Hermione had become 'Miss Granger' again. She gripped the sides of the sink tightly, steeling herself against tears that had threatened to fall, breaths turning into quiet gasps.

She hadn't expected that night looking at the stars to change anything, for feelings to be announced and flowers to cover every tabletop. The hope for something more had been kindled in her heart though, the idea was like a vine finally creeping toward the sun.

"What in the world did you do to him dear?" The stern voice of Eileen startled her and made her jump with her wand at ready. Taking a deep breath, and as a added measure a glare at the portrait, "I didn't do anything other than ask a simple question."

'He must get that eyebrow technique from her,' before adding softly, "I asked him about the white-wash on the door."

Like Severus' growls, Hermione had quickly learned how to read Eileen's brushwork. The droop in features and the defeated tone that took her voice took her by surprise. "After he had killed that wretched man," she started as Hermione took a seat on a spindly chair. How things in this house weren't in pieces already... "Order members had taken to writing 'murderer' with magical paint. Took him ages to finally get it off and they did it so often the charm to remove it actually started to break down the minerals in the stone."

Hermione frowned, there was no way he had known who had done the paint. It could have been anyone in the magical world. As if reading her thoughts: "He knew it was them dear. Do you really think he hadn't left the house warded? Besides, only three people knew where he lived. That snob Malfoy woman, Albus bloody Dumbledore and Minerva."

Hermione sat with her chin in her hand, staring at the painting for a moment. Her body was exhausted, her mind was flickering between insomnia and exhaustion. The math added up in this instance, but she still found it hard to believe one of her professors had done such a thing.

The slamming of the basement door shook her out of her thoughts. As she was gripping the handle to turn it a voice slipped almost unnoticed into her thoughts. "I know you won't hurt him dear, but please be careful with my boy."

"Severus?" Ah so his time-machine had worked, all of a sudden an annoying chit was calling him by his first name (without his consent he might add) and wouldn't leave him well enough alone. Oh wait- that was his reality.

"What Miss Granger? As you can see I am very busy." Busy meant currently trying not to suck air in from doing two flights of stairs from his room to the basement but she didn't need to know that. "Would you look at me please, I would like to tell you something." The cracks in her voice made him turn to her with wide eyes.

The light made her hair turn almost copper and her eyes were dark honey. The Muggle clothes she was wearing left little of her curves to the imagination. He found he was quite fond of the dark boot-cut jeans and long sleeved textured shirt. Emerald is quite a stunning color on her. Not that he cared of course. Severus stood as she came within a foot of him, her height was perfect (again, not that he cared) as she came right below his chin. She looked nervous and he tried not to fidget as silence seemed to steal all sounds from their bodies. Their hearts and lungs seemed to be the only sounds that punctured the air.

"I never thought you were a bad man. A snarky git, yes. But never a bad man. You protected us, including Harry even though you hated him. You brewed for the school and the Order with little or no thanks, you taught me the grace of a single finger while creating potions. You taught me when it is time to be a hero and when to be unnoticed," with this she took his hand. Severus couldn't have been more shocked at this than if a naked and blue Queen of England walked through the room. No one had ever touched him without seeming to retch, even though it was without merit, he did shower and wash his underarms daily.

His attention was brought back as her other hand touched his cheek, "I do not think you are a bad man. You may have done terrible things," His eyes closed painfully, she had no idea what he had been made to do- how screams of the victims woke him up almost every night. "But you are a brave," She kissed his cheek softly. "Wonderful and brilliant man," her lips touched his hairline and finally his other cheek after finishing before pulling back and gazing strait into his eyes without fear- "Who is not a murderer. And who saved our lives, many times over and who I will stand by and protect you as best I can at the stones that are thrown at you." Tears reached both of their eyes at this point, the shell Severus had weaved throughout decades was cracking in minutes due to these simple words. No one had cared about him, only the mission.

Her gaze left his face and into the dark floor, her arms going limp at her sides. Concrete had never seemed this fascinating before now it seemed. "That is... I suppose, if you will have me," Hermione said softly, voice cracking from the tears.

The next thing she knew, Hermione was pinned between a wood beam and the firm lips that belonged to Potions Master and Hogwarts professor Severus Snape.