A/N Sorry in the delay, I had real writers block in this chapter. I'm not a fan of writing a lot of dialogue but I kind of felt it was the only way to get through what I needed to cover here!

"Don't."

He gave her a single word warning and a venomous look, before he promptly doubled over and emptied the meager contents of his stomach over the flower beds. He didn't want her words or pitiful looks - so she stood frozen in the spot where she had landed. It was at this point she realised how dry her mouth was, yet her palms were sweaty. Leaving the confines of the ministry had suddenly made everything feel real. They were alone, and she was moments away from opening up her life to a man she had once disliked. He had treated them terribly, and with hindsight she could understand why, but that didn't change the fact that her 12 year old self had cried herself to sleep because of him.

The sickness abated eventually and Severus was finally able to take in his surroundings. He was almost bowled over by the fresh air, not only the stark difference from the suffocating cell, but also from the fact they were clearly somewhere remote in the countryside. It was a million miles away from what he'd been used to in Cokeworth - there the houses had been built so close together that if your neighbour even sneezed, you'd know about it. But the small cottage in front of him was isolated, quickly looking round he could not see any immediate neighbours at all. They were in a small courtyard garden with a variety of plants he mostly recognised, though it had been a while since he'd spent any meaningful time in nature. He was also acutely aware of the tingling present of magic in the area which he could only assume were protective enchantments around the house. Granger, it seemed, was as much of a hermit as he was.

"Let's get inside and I'll get you some water," she said, making her way towards the front door and gesturing at him to follow. Inside the stairs to the first floor were directly opposite the entrance, and two doors led off the hallway - kitchen on the left and lounge on the right.

Severus was immediately drawn to the lounge, where a floor to ceiling bookcase flanked the longest wall. Hermione suppressed a smile as she saw the professor's eyes widen and his fingers began to twitch. Azkaban would be Hell for her due to the lack of books alone, never mind anything else!

"You're welcome to look through my collection if you like," she offered. "None of the books bite!"

Severus ran his fingers over the spines of her books - it was quite an eclectic mix. He noticed quickly the lower two shelves were muggle fiction, traditional classics like Jane Austen and Thomas Hardy. Amongst the wizarding publications were some potions books and journals, some of which he had not read. He plucked a book from the shelf "Arithmancy in Potions; Predicting Unpredictable Brews" and he flicked open the cover.

Hermione re-entered the room with two glasses of water and offered one to Severus. He went to replace the book in it's place on the shelf.

"Take it," she said. "Whilst you're here these books are as much yours as they are mine. I trust you to treat them with respect so read what you wish."

He bowed his head in thanks, tucking the book under his arm and taking a long sip of the water. He wondered at what point simple things like a glass of cold water would stop feeling like a novelty and a luxury to him.

"I'll show you to your room now, you must be desperate to freshen up. There are two bedrooms upstairs, mine is the master obviously but yours should be plenty big enough," she said, leading him up the stairs. "My room is ensuite, though, so you will have sole access to the bathroom."

She pointed him towards a door to the right of the stairs with the bathroom directly opposite, and she disappeared back downstairs leaving him to settle in alone. He immediately noticed that the decoration was nowhere near as feminine as the rest of the house. There had been floral wallpaper in the hall downstairs, and the sofa had been adorned with an array of fluffy cushions. This room, however, had a statement wall of navy blue with a light grey elsewhere. The large window let the light in, balancing out against the dark wall colour. Whilst not what he would have picked, it was tasteful and strangely relaxing. It also seemed most unlike a decoration she would have chosen, and he began to wonder if she had redecorated specifically for him (if so she surely would have picked green) or whether perhaps she had a partner.

She left him to shower and change, pointing him in the direction of the bathroom. The water cascaded over his body, going down the plughole a vile brown colour as the dirt and grime built up over years washed away. It was wonderfully warm, and Severus almost felt relaxed, if he could forget the fact he was naked in the home of a former student. Strange that it was only this morning he'd woken in his cell, none the wiser as to how his life would change in just a few hours.

Stepping out of the shower and wrapping the towel tightly around his waist he silently cursed as he realised he had no clean clothes to change into, certainly not in the bathroom with him. He hadn't checked the wardrobe in his room - he'd been so eager to cleanse 5 years worth of dirt from him that he'd merely grabbed the towel and headed straight for the bathroom. However, after making the short dash across the hall to his bedroom, he found a small pile of clothes folded neatly on the end of the bed topped with a note - Come downstairs when you're dressed. Appropriately the clothes were all black, a pair of loose denim jeans with a lightweight polo neck jumper.

He took as long as he could to get dressed, wanting to delay whatever it was he was going to have to deal with downstairs, he wanted to spend as little time with the Granger girl as possible. However, the smell of homemade cooking began to infiltrate his room and his rumbling stomach won over so he begrudgingly left the confines of his room.

She had laid the table for 2, and whatever she was plating up in the kitchen smelt divine.

"It's nothing special, just lasagne. Oh goodness, I didn't even think to ask, you're not vegetarian are you?"

"Lasagne is fine, thank you," he said as he accepted the plate in front of him. But he sincerely hoped this wouldn't be a regular, he didn't have enough small talk in him to cope with 3 meals a day.

They both tucked into the food as an awkward silence settled over them.

"I'm glad the clothes fit, it's been a while since I've done any alterations to clothes." Severus raised an eyebrow inquisitively. "They were old clothes of my father's I had, but I changed the colours and had to shrink the size a little. They'll have to do until we can get you some clothes of your own."

If Severus was honest, he'd rather face The Dark Lord in a duel a million times over rather than go shopping, unless it was for potions ingredients. And he did his best to convey this feeling to her in his facial expression.

"I've made arrangements for us to go to Diagon Alley tomorrow" - she held a finger up to silence him before he could even voice his protest, "and before you say anything, we'll be going before the shops usually open. The Daily Prophet isn't being notified of your release until tomorrow lunchtime, and I called in some favours from the shop owners. There won't be any reporters or media circus there."

In true Hermione Granger fashion, she really had thought of everything it seemed. But Severus couldn't help feeling uneasy about the situation. He had no money for any purchases for his Gringotts account had certainly been emptied and deactivated upon his sentencing.

"It'll be an early morning, I'm afraid. We have an appointment at Ollivander's at 8.."

Severus' eyes snapped upwards from staring at the table to meet her gaze. He could feel his pulse quicken with excitement. Magic had been part of his life forever, and he had started to feel his magical core dwindling over the last couple of years. He had decided that when he was released he was going to leave the entire Wizarding World behind and live as a muggle - he'd persuaded himself it was what he wanted. But this absurd turn of events proved quite the opposite. His fingers were quite desperate to hold a wand once more.

"Well, you can't work without a wand."

HIs head was swimming. He'd just assumed that whatever his employment would be, there would be no magic involved. He was a criminal, the ministry wouldn't be crazy enough to entrust him with magic once again.

"And what exactly will I be doing for work?"

Hermione placed her cutlery delicately back on the table in front of her, steeling herself for what she was about to reveal. For all of the bombshells that she had dropped on the Professor today this was undoubtedly the biggest and the one he would least expect. She stood up from the table and beckoned him to follow as she approached a door in the kitchen Severus had not yet noticed. He became slightly nervous as she led him downstairs to the basement. But the sight that met him at the bottom of the staircase left Severus both euphoric but also the most confused he'd been all day. He must be hallucinating, he thought, because he found himself in a Potions lab so large it rivalled his private lab from Hogwarts.