Summary: Settling into life in Germany.
A/N: Thanks for reading! Hope you enjoy this trip into a magical place we're not familiar with in canon.
Chapter 29
Severus made his way down the street to Madam Groeberg's Apothecary. He carried a large bag filled with the plants he'd found in Australia for her. He hoped she would be pleased. He wanted to make a good impression on his first day.
Opening the door, a small bell dinged, announcing his arrival. This would be his first time meeting her in person. They had spoken through Floo, but he was looking forward to putting a real face to her voice.
A middle-aged woman emerged from the back. She had dark blonde hair, tied back in a bun, and was slim with purple robes that fell straight down her body. She wore black-framed glasses and had a huge grin on her face.
"Ah, Severus, welcome to my Apothecary."
Severus smiled at her. "It's a pleasure, Madam Groeberg."
"Come in, come in. What have you got in the bag?"
"These are from Australia," he advised.
"Oh, you were able to find everything?"
"That and more."
"Fabulous. Set the bag here and let's go through it," she advised as she motioned to the back counter. She oooo'd and ahh'd at everything in the bag and was especially impressed by the Kangaroo paw flower. She looked up at Severus once everything had been unpacked.
"You've done well," she said. "Let's prepare the live plants for storage in the back."
She grabbed the bottles of prepared items that Severus had bought and Severus put all the plants back into the bag and followed her in. He got a quick tour as they made their way to the back of the lab, Groeberg pointing out where the ingredients closet was and the place for cauldrons, stirring rods, and the bottling area.
She disappeared into the storeroom for a minute while Severus unpacked the bag again on the back table. Coming back out of the storeroom, she looked over at Severus.
"Instruments for prep are back here in the desk," she said while opening a drawer, and showing him a selection of knives.
"You can explore later. Grab a knife and let's get prepping."
Taking a small paring knife, he moved back to the table and began to strip the Desert Flame of its leaves.
"How is your German coming?"
Severus frowned. "I haven't had a lot of time or opportunity to practice as I've been in Australia most of the time that I've been out of the UK."
"Well, you'll learn quickly."
She started talking to him in German, some of which he understood.
"I don't know…"
"Ah, ah, ah. Auf Deutch," she directed.
Giving a quick sigh, he thought about what he wanted to say and responded in German.
"Gut, sehr gut," she said before switching back to English.
"We'll speak both for a bit, but I expect you to be fully fluent including potions terminology within a month if not sooner."
Severus gave her a quick nod of his head.
As they prepped the plants and flowers, she gave him a more in-depth rundown of what she expected and what they would cover in the next year. Thankfully, she spoke in English for all of that before asking him in German if he had any questions. He was filled with excitement for all he would do in the next year. She had explained everything fully, so he had no questions.
He shook his head. "Nein," he answered.
They finished up, and she directed them to the storefront and began speaking solely in German.
"We have a large mail-order clientele. We do have people who come into the store, but as you can see, we were in the back for about an hour and no one came in. Did you understand what I said?"
Severus nodded. "Mostly," he replied in English. "What did you say about us being in the back?"
She repeated it in English. As she showed him where everything was located in the shop, she did so in English, repeating the potions in German so he could begin to learn their names in his new language. They were almost finished when the bell on the door rang and an older gentleman came in. Severus was introduced, and he stood there trying to absorb the conversation going on before him in German. He caught about half of it. Soon the man had a small bag, had paid for his purchases, and was heading out the door.
Madam Groeberg looked over at Severus. "Well?"
He shook his head. "I feel like you were speaking a totally different language than the one I learned," he said in English.
Groeberg threw her head back and laughed. "It will get easier, Severus. We will practice, and just being out in the town and speaking will help you. I promise you will have it in a month."
"I certainly hope so. I felt a bit useless not knowing what he wanted."
"It'll come. Let's head back. We have some stock to replenish."
He followed her back, excited to learn.
"So, how was it?" Hermione asked as he came through the door.
"Fantastic! I already learned a ton. But my German sucks. We have to go out and practice."
Hermione stood and came up to him, putting her arms around him and kissing him soundly.
"Can we say hello first?" she asked when she pulled back.
His arms came around her. "Absolutely. We don't have to go this minute, but I feel so inadequate not being able to pick up everything that is said to me."
"German is hard. I've been studying some while you were gone. I'm hoping I can pick it up soon."
"Let's go out to dinner and practice, but first, let me tell you about my day."
He moved to the sofa and settled both of them onto it. Hermione leaned into him as he began to tell her about all he'd done.
"She loved the potions ingredients, and we spent the first part of the day preparing the live ones for storage. She taught me a new potion using them and we made enough to stock the shelves with the new offering."
"What does it do?"
"It helps wounds to heal. A deep cut can be knit together in a few minutes."
"That's amazing, Severus!"
"You know, she reminds me of my Defense Against the Dark Arts professor during my third year. She wasn't one to be trifled with. She was super knowledgeable and happy to share that knowledge with us."
"What happened to her?" Hermione asked.
Severus frowned. "The curse got her of course. Thankfully, not in a bad way. She fell in love with a Hungarian Quidditch Keeper and left to travel the world with him."
"Well, she sounds brilliant. It's too bad so many good Defense professors were kept from continuing to teach at Hogwarts for so long."
Severus gave Hermione a satisfied smile. "Well, we helped in changing that, didn't we?"
Hermione smiled back and nodded. "Tell me more about your day," she insisted.
They spent some time going over everything that happened, and Hermione told him of visiting the grocer and getting some food for the flat.
"I just handed the attendant a handful of Marks and he handed me back some change. I didn't say a word to anyone."
"We'll learn. It will just take time," Severus mused.
Hermione nodded. "So, where should we have dinner?" she asked.
"How about a cafe somewhere? Something that has a decent clientele and where we can speak the language and not feel intimidated."
"I saw one near the grocer I went to. Let's head there."
"Sounds good," Severus said.
He stood up and reached out to Hermione, helping her off the sofa. They left the flat and made their way down the street, Hermione leading them along. They chatted in German, practicing. Severus helped Hermione, who was just learning. He pointed at the street.
"Die Strasse," he said. They continued down the street with Severus pointing out things and saying what the word was in German. Soon, they reached the cafe.
"Okay, no more English…" he said.
"Great."
Severus looked over at Hermione. "You'll be fine, and so will I."
They entered the restaurant and thus began an exercise in futility. An hour later, they left a bit depressed. Severus had done okay, but Hermione had given up almost as soon as they entered. They hadn't conversed much because the language just escaped Hermione. Severus tried, but she didn't understand much.
"Well, I thought I was ordering pork steak, not sausages," she huffed. "They were still good."
His arm went around her. "It will get better. We can practice at home."
"We need to find a friend. Maybe we should see if any of our neighbors are willing to chat with a couple of English folk trying to make it in a foreign land."
"That's a good idea. Did you notice the old lady who lives across the way? I bet she would like some company."
"Probably, but would we be more of a nuisance?"
"It's worth a try," Severus said. "Do you want to stop by when we get home?"
"Let's make some cookies or something before we stop by."
"Perhaps we should buy some. Neither one of us is good at baking."
She flipped her hand at him. "Oh, I can make chocolate chip cookies with no issues."
"All right."
By then they had reached their block of flats and headed up to theirs. An hour later, they were knocking on their neighbor's door with a plate of warm cookies. A grandmotherly woman answered the door. She had short, curly, grey hair and green glasses. She wasn't very tall but was stout and wore a light blue cardigan and white blouse over a navy skirt.
"Hallo?"
Severus introduced them and the cookies. She grinned as she accepted them. Severus explained that their German wasn't very good and wondered if they could practice with her. The woman took out her wand and cast the translator spell over the three of them.
"Sorry, I didn't quite get what you were saying," she said.
Severus reddened. "We are working on our German… and obviously failing. We wondered if we could practice with you."
"Oh! Why of course! Why don't you both come in."
They entered and settled on her sofa. The woman sat across from them and smiled.
"My name is Lotte Schneider. You can call me Lotte."
"A pleasure to meet you," Hermione greeted.
"So, what brings you to Munich?"
"I am apprenticing with Matilda Groeberg," Severus explained.
"Then you must be very good at your craft because I am friends with Matilda, and I know she only takes the best."
Severus colored under her praise.
"He's amazing," Hermione agreed, causing him to redden even more.
"Well, it's nice to know there's a Potioneer around if I need one," Lotte said.
"I am at your beck and call," Severus offered.
"Thank you. I may take you up on that. Now… about the German lessons… I think if I speak in German, then translate, that may be helpful. Severus, when you asked me to help, you messed up your verbs. You should have used 'helfen.'"
"I think I made up a word," Severus grumbled.
"Indeed you did!" Lotte replied.
"Severus knows some German, but I'm starting from scratch."
"Well, dear, we'll have to meet a little more often, then, right?"
Hermione smiled and nodded.
"I must say, it's an honor to have British war heroes in my home."
Hermione's mouth dropped open. "You know who we are?" she asked.
"Of course! The war was covered heavily in the papers. You two are second only to Harry Potter! Oh, and what was his name, the other one? Ronald Weasley?"
Severus nodded. "I believe they will come to visit us occasionally, would you like us to set up a meeting?"
"Could you?" Lotte asked with excitement. "Being able to tell the ladies at the senior center that I've met you and then all four of you… I'd be the queen for some time!"
Hermione smiled. "Well, when they visit, we'll have you over for dinner with them."
Lotte grinned widely at her.
Over the next few weeks, Hermione met daily with Lotte. Severus came in the evenings when he could, but mostly they spent their afternoons together. Hermione would bring lunch, and they would practice speaking together. Hermione was a quick study, so she felt comfortable after a few weeks and was able to speak well after a couple of months. Severus quickly became fluent between speaking in the shop and with both Hermione and Lotte.
Hermione knocked on Lotte's door; two plates with roast beef on them floated behind her. Lotte opened the door and smiled brightly at Hermione.
"Frauline, come in," she said in German.
Hermione entered and moved to the table, placing the plates on them. They sat down and began to converse in German about the latest news… a robbery at a bank close to where they lived.
"Honestly, It's so odd to have a robbery like that at a magical bank," Hermione mused.
Lotte agreed. "Yes, usually magical folk go for a much bigger haul when they pull off any kind of robbery."
"Well, hopefully, they find the person who did this."
Lotte nodded her head. "Now, tell me about your young man."
Hermione chuckled. "Severus? What do you want to know? He's here at least once a week."
"Yes, but he never says how serious the two of you are. He doesn't talk about you at all, and neither do you talk about him!" Lotte pointed emphatically at Hermione. "So, talk."
Hermione shrugged, then shook her head. "Well, we are in love."
"And?"
"And what?"
She wiggled her eyebrows.
"Lotte! That's personal!"
"Come on, let an old lady live vicariously through you. Is he good in bed?"
Hermione's mouth dropped open. "I can't believe you just asked that."
"Well, is he?"
Hermione put her head in her hands and shook her head.
"I'm waiting for an answer," Lotte said with a grandmotherly smile.
Grandmother my foot. My gran would never ask such private questions.
"Lotte, we're British. We're private about those things."
"Your secret stays here within these walls," Lotte offered as she waved her hand around the room.
"Merlin, Lotte. You are relentless. He's hot, all right?"
Lotte nodded. "He seems like he'd be. Good in bed?"
Hermione rolled her eyes. "Yes."
"And you love him?"
"More than anything."
"He loves you?"
Hermione blushed. "He does. He truly does."
"If you have a good man who is devoted to you, Hermione, then you have everything."
Hermione smiled. "He is definitely devoted to me."
Lotte clapped her hands together.
"That's lovely, dear. When is the big day?"
"What big day?"
"When are you getting married?"
"Oh, Merlin! He hasn't asked me that yet. I don't even know if he wants that with me."
"Of course he does. I can see the way he looks at you," Lotte cried.
"Well, we are happy the way we are. If and when he asks me to marry him, I will be ecstatic. If he never asks me to marry him, I'm happy with what we have now."
Lotte nodded. "Well, I'm hoping for an engagement."
Hermione laughed. "You are funny. Thank you for being the grandmother that I miss so much."
"My grandchildren live far away. It's nice to dote over someone again."
They both grinned at one another and continued with their lunch, chatting about many different topics as they spent the afternoon together.