AN: I'm sorry it took me so long and I'm afraid I have to say it won't be possible for me to post more than once every other week. Work and life are a bit hectic at the moment.

I don't own Harry Potter and don't make any profit.

Meanwhile Hermione met with Neville at the Three Broomsticks.

"Hermione, hi! I'm glad the trial was over so quickly, that gives us enough time to have a close look on the house I found," Neville said hugging her.

"Well it was really just the proclamation of sentence today, everything else took place yesterday already," Hermione replied.

"So do you want to have lunch first?"

She nodded.

"Very well then. You can tell me all about the trial over lunch."

Once the two friends had finished lunch, they stepped out onto Hogsmeade's main road.

"So I found a house here in Hogsmeade actually. It's a bit further away from the village centre, but I personally think it would be perfect. Come on Hermione! I'm really excited."

Hermione grinned and followed her friend, who used to be a timid school-boy, that now was this very confident young man, down the road. After they had been walking for ten minutes, Neville came to a halt at the high fence of an old Manor. They peeked inside the garden and Hermione's heart jumped.

"It looks perfect, at least from the outside. The garden is lovely, well at least once it's been taken care of. And the house is huge."

"Come on, let's have a look inside. The wards have been set, to let us have a look around. Keep in mind there hasn't been anyone living in there for quite some time now, so it's all a bit dusty and run down."

"Oh look there is a gazebo and a pond, what's that building over there, it looks like stables?"

"I think it is."

"You know what would be great, to have some animals, some goats, a horse, maybe some bunnies, a few cats. You know the Muggles have something called pet therapy. Animals can help traumatized people to open up and maybe develop some new skills. Something like that, I'm not quite sure. I wouldn't do it professionally, but I think it would be nice, to have some pets around."

"I like the idea, it sounds interesting. I'm so glad to have you on board, I knew you would come up with some good ideas."

Hermione blushed.

"But it was your idea in the first place," she said trying to hide how much she enjoyed his compliment.

Neville just shrugged his shoulders.

"Come on let's have a look inside."

"Wow, that's worse than Grimmauld Place," she said once they stepped inside. The place was literally breathing dark magic.

"I know it's bad, but I've already talked to Harry and Ron, they would look after it on their weekends and so would Molly, Arthur, Minerva and Severus."

"That's good. May I ask who's manor it was, I'm guessing some death eater's?"

"Yes, let's just say I'm getting my ultimate revenge." His face showed an evil grin.

"No! Really? It's Bellatrix' manor!" Hermione gaped at him.

"Not anymore, it now belongs to Teddy Lupin,"he said.

"But wouldn't he want to live there maybe later," Hermione asked.

"I talked to Andromeda and she said, it's not the only manor he owns now and so she would sell this one, for him to have some more money on hand until he is off age."

"Hhm. I didn't know the Lestrange's lived at Hogsmeade," she said.

"They didn't really, just during the summer months. The manor was actually a wedding gift from Rodolphus to Bellatrix. And since they both died and Rodolphus brother died as well, the ministry gave it to Teddy Lupin, since he apparently is the only heir there is."

"What about Andromeda, Narcissa and Draco?"

"Well Narcissa and Draco, I guess the ministry didn't think them worthy of inheriting anything. And I'm not sure about Andromeda, maybe she renounced in favour of her grandson. So let me show you what there is."

They walked through the entrance hall into the drawing room, which Neville thought of turning into a common room, with the library that was right next to it. The drawing room had a big patio, which that led into the garden.

"It's beautiful, a bit dark, but with friendlier and lighter colours, it shouldn't be a problem,"Hermione said taking everything in.

Neville showed her the dining room and a couple of smaller rooms downstairs, before they went upstairs.

"So it's mainly bedrooms and studies on the first floor. All in all, there are seven rooms up here, some of them are so big, we could divide them into two rooms and there would still be enough space. I guess we could accommodate ten to fourteen people. By the way I already had some inquiries of people who asked if we would have a place for their relatives."

"Wow that's great. It's really exciting. One question though, will we be able to afford it all?"

"Well, the manor we can afford. Andromeda doesn't want, what it's actually worth. She said it's important to her, that we can establish this facility, so she only wants the money to enable Teddy a proper education and a life that's not as poor as his dad's was. But still we need employees, the rooms need refurbishing, the garden needs to be done. I found a magical construction company, which only would charge us half of the costs. But still we need to think it all through. Why don't you come back to my quarters and we can talk some more over a cup of tea."

"That sounds good. By the way I think you are doing a wonderful job and this manor will be the perfect place," Hermione said and smiled at him.

"Let's go back to Hogwarts."

Later that evening Hermione was sitting at her desk, looking through the notes she had taken, while she was going through all the details with Neville. Everything looked promising, but they still had a lot of work to do.

All of a sudden the fire in her fireplace flared up green and Severus asked, "May I come through?"

"Please come through," she answered him with a smile on her face. When he came through she realised how stressed he looked.

"What's wrong my love?" She asked getting up from her desk.

In two long strides Severus went over to her and gathered her in his arms, burying his face in her hair and holding onto her tightly. She heard him breathe heavily and started to soothingly stroke his back.

After a couple of minutes of stroking him, she whispered, "Talk to me Severus. Tell me what's wrong."

He sighed and let go of her.

"Sit down, I'll make some tea," she added and ushered him to the settee. When she came back with two mugs of tea, he was leaning back on the sofa one hand covering his eyes.

"Here is your tea, Severus, " she said putting the mug down on the coffee table.

"So tell me what's wrong."

"Mister Rowle," he replied.

"Hasn't he been behaving?"

"Quite the contrary. He has been on his best behaviour and he also came up with a plan how to occupy himself, while we are gone. He said he could brew some potions for Poppy and he could collect ingredients and help Neville in the green house. And he said that he wants to become a healer, so he could already start on some books. So that's settled. But he reminds me so much of myself, Hermione. It hurts seeing him like this. He has nobody, his dad is in Azkaban and will luckily stay there for a long time and his mum is at St. Mungo's. She would actually be a good candidate for your nursing facility, since she won't recover. They confiscated their house, so he literally has nothing, but the clothes he is wearing. I think it's a bit unfair that the Ministry took away the house from him. It's not his fault his dad is a death eater. I mean he was what … fifteen years old when that happened. Why didn't anybody take care of him, no wonder he became what he is now. I really need to talk to Kingsley. Something is really wrong in our society, if a fifteen year old boy, that is clearly been traumatized by a war, is being left alone. I'm so mad. Especially with myself, why didn't I see it?"

Hermione found his hand and rubbed circles on it with her thumb.

"It's not your fault. Don't look back. Think about what you can do for him now, how to help him."

"When I think about his mum I feel nauseated. Lalita was such a fine woman… " his voice trailed off.

"What happened?" Hermione inquired.

"Sorry, but that's not my story to tell. Hermione, can I maybe stay at your place tonight?"

"What about Elena?"

"Oh I totally forgot, okay will you please stay at my place tonight."

"Certainly."

When they were lying in his bed half an hour later facing each other Hermione was playing with his hair, every now and then stroking over his cheek with her thumb.

"Can I ask you something Hermione?"

She nodded.

"Do you want to move in with me? I like sharing a bed with you, going to sleep next to you and waking up next to you. It's annoying to have to find somebody to watch Elena, when I want to see you in your rooms. I would love to live with you."

"Me too, just not down in the dungeons," she said making him chuckle.

"Fair enough. Now, tell me about your meeting with Neville," he said stifling a yawn.

"Tomorrow, my love. You are tired and you need some rest," she smiled and kissed his cheek.

"I'm looking forward to our holiday," he mumbled and closed his eyes, drifting off to sleep immediately.

AN: I hope you enjoyed it!