Chapter 84: Sentiments Of A Drunken Fool

{A/N: Here's Another Update...}

My Thanks To My Readers and Reviewers...Enjoy-S.S.

{Nothing's wrong as far as I can see...We make it harder than it has to be...And I can't tell you why...No baby, I can't tell you why...I can't tell you why...Every time I try to walk away...Something makes me turn around and stay...And I can't tell you why...No, no baby, I can't tell you why...}I can't Tell You Why, The Eagles

Front Room, Snape's Quarters, Slytherin Dungeons, Hogwarts Castle, Wizarding World...

Broken glass and toppled furniture littered the front room of Severus Snape's quarters as Hermione Granger made her way inside. She'd been puzzled as to what occurred to incite such a violent mood in her husband given that she'd left him asleep and quite relaxed before she had to attend her classes. Snape himself had been half naked and sprawled out in the center of the floor with a half empty bottle of fire whiskey beside him. She could tell that whatever was going on it had been troublesome enough to upset him to the point that he'd been acting out. While she had not liked the idea of his drinking binges as a coping mechanism she had learned to anticipate what kind of mood he'd be in during one of them. Hermione sighed setting about getting the place right again via her swift wand movements. The minor spells she learned via Molly Weasley had come in handy from time to time and this was certainly one of those times. Broken glass had been out of the way and Snape seemed to have been unconscious as she finished straightening his quarters. Hermione had not known what took place following his being summoned via Dumbledore, but she had not expected this. It didn't take long for everything to be repaired and for her to levitate his body onto the nearby sofa. After a few moments, he seemed to sense that he had no longer been alone and his eyes opened and scanned the room.

"H-Hermione." he said coming to his senses at last.

"You've been drinking." said Hermione seemingly disappointed.

"Yep." replied Snape not in the least bothered by her tone. "The occasion called for it."

"And what occasion is that?" asked Hermione wishing to understand what had gotten himself upset.

"I love you." he said looking at her as if she were the most magnificent thing in the room.

"Severus...I know that, but that doesn't explain why you've been drinking." continued Hermione still puzzled about his behavior.

"Never mind that." replied Snape attempting to sit up, only to find that it had been a rather difficult task given his condition. "None of that matters now..."

"Severus..." began Hermione making it clear that she wasn't just going to let this go.

"We will not speak of the despot nor the old man not now." he said meeting her eyes with something akin to desperation. "I apologize for my apparent lapse in judgment concerning my current condition...but as of this moment I...I need my wife."

Hermione found herself caught off guard. Snape seized the opportunity to sway her concerns. He reached for her hand and pulled her toward him on the sofa. As planned, she landed right in his lap and he wrapped his arms around her. She had not been aware but he made up his mind to commit every moment he shared with her to memory in perfect detail. The discussion he had with Dumbledore weighed rather heavily upon him despite his determination to focus on his wife and the fleeting moments between them.

"It has come to my attention, in a rather morbid sense that most married people enjoy something called a honeymoon phase." he said getting her undivided attention.

Hermione had no idea where he was going with this as she tried not to think of just how much fire whiskey he had consumed in her absence.

"Never mind the fire whiskey, Witch." growled Snape reading her thoughts instantly.

"Git." she replied annoyed that he'd done so.

"If you could go anywhere in the world...just for a day where would it be?" he asked.

Hermione found herself once more caught off guard. She never gave much thought to travel before and given their busy schedules and the war going on she never even considered anything of the sort.

"Where is all of this coming from?" asked the unnerved witch as her husband continued to hold her close to him.

"Never mind that just answer the question Hermione." replied Snape obviously attempting to quell his annoyance at her incessant questions putting off the answer to his own.

Having been of the mind that this was merely the drink talking, Hermione decided to call her drunken husband's bluff and pick a place that he would never have guessed she'd suggest in a million years.

"How about Paris, France for a day." she said rather smugly.

Snape smirked knowing all to well that she believed him to be bluffing.

"Paris?" he asked attempting to get further confirmation.

"Yes." she replied still with the same smug expression. "Paris, France for a day."

"As you wish." replied Snape now more determined than ever to see his plans thought.

Hermione had been rendered speechless.

"We're really going to Paris?" she asked.

"Indeed we are Witch, for a day at least." replied Snape with a smirk of his own.

"But what about school and your classes?" asked Hermione unsure how he was going to pull this off with Dumbledore lurking about every corridor.

"The old man has no say in this." replied Snape still embittered about what was to be expected of him from the Headmaster. "This is my gift to you...my wife as it should be."

"Severus..." she began obviously thrilled at the prospect of spending time with him away from the turmoil that enveloped England. "Does it have to be Paris?"

"We will go wherever your heart desires Witch." replied Snape. "As I've said, this is my gift to you."

Ecstatic, Hermione found herself breaking free of his grasp in a bid to pull him into her kiss. Snape returned her new found passion with a bit of his own before coming up for air.

"I love you." she said meeting his gaze.

"I love you too." he replied doing the same.

Another series of frequent kisses later and Hermione decided it would be best for him to sleep off his latest attempt to drown his sorrows in bed. He said not a word as she lead him into his bedroom leaving behind the orange glow from the fireplace in the process. Snape's mind once more drifted back to what had been asked of him. Once more he'd been filing away the fleeting moments of happiness he'd shared with his unsuspecting wife. Her romanticized view of him had not helped matters, but he made up his mind to allow it. It was the least he could do given the impending situation.