5

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter, I make no money here.

Many thanks to my beta dreamy_dragon73 for all her help; she made it all readable.

Instead of sitting at the bar as she usually did, Hermione sat at a table in a dark little corner. The pub was not nearly as busy as during the day; there was mostly a local crowd present. Paddy was working and tried to draw her into conversation. She politely rebuffed his attention and ordered a Powers Gold Label on the rocks, then sat, sipping her drink and ignoring the crowd around her.

After a while, a few local musicians gathered to play and sing. Someone approached her table and asked her to dance, but with a cold look, she just shook her head.

At one point after a few hours, Paddy came and talked to her quietly, "Hermione, darlin', don't you think you've had enough now?"

"Am I causing a problem, Paddy?"

"Well no, you're not, but I've not seen you like this before...so quiet and all. It's not like you, and you're startin' to worry me."

She looked him in the eye and replied, "You don't honestly know me well enough to know what I'm like. Now, if I'm not causing a problem, then just bring me another bloody drink and stay out of my business."

By the time Russ entered the bar, she'd been there drinking for several hours. She wasn't slamming back the whiskey in a rush toward drunken insensibility; it was more of a steady, strategic march into heavenly numbness. As the evening wore on, she became increasingly morose. She didn't interact with anyone around her; she just sipped each drink slowly, then ordered another as she gazed unseeingly straight ahead, lost in her own thoughts. She was diligently working her way towards self-oblivion.

Oblivion. She snorted inelegantly and giggled to herself. That was what she needed, to be obliterated...er...obliverated...er...blitzed! She chuckled to herself. Yup, that was it blitzed...that's exactly what she was...blitzed.

Paddy conferred with Russ about Hermione as she weaved her way back from the loo. While she wasn't a stumbling, falling-down drunk, she was far from steady. She plopped back down on her chair, finished the drink in front of her and promptly laid her head on the table.

"How much has she had to drink tonight?" asked Russ in quiet tones, not wanting to draw her attention to him as she still didn't know he was here. He then swore under his breath when he was told.

"But I've been waterin' 'em down a bit for the last hour or so. I know I shouldn't have, and it's not somethin' I'd ever do ordinarily, Boss. She didn't seem to notice the difference in the drinks, though."

"It's all right, Paddy. This is a special case." Most of the patrons had left already, and the bar was closing in half an hour. "Just let her sit there, I'll make sure she gets home."

"Do you think that's wise, Boss? She's never even met you, after all."

"Actually, we do know each other quite well...from England. It's been a long time since we've seen each other, though."

Paddy gave his boss a calculating look. He'd had the feeling the boss had been avoiding the girl. It couldn't have been coincidence that he'd just happened to be out every single time she'd come into the pub. It seemed like he'd finally decided to face up to whatever he'd been avoiding. "Well, then all right, if you're sure."

Russ nodded, then proceeded to tally the till as Paddy wiped up the bar and swept the floor. Once everyone had left, he sat and stared at the girl. "Oh, Miss Granger, what am I going to do with you?"

He approached her table and, reaching down lightly, brushed the hair back from her face. She looked like she was sleeping peacefully. He lightly nudged her; after working in the pub for eight years, he'd learned not to make any quick moves with a drunk. "Miss Granger... Miss Granger... Hermione!"

Her head jerked up and her eyes popped open, then she squinted up at him. "Perfessor Snape?!?"

In addition to being drunk, she looked very confused. "What're you doin' here?" Then she gasped. "Am I... dead?"

He wanted to laugh, but he didn't. "No, you're not dead, and neither am I."

"Oh, good. Tha's good." She looked around and seemed to take note that they were alone in the pub. "Good. Yer'... yer' jus' the person I need."

"How so, Miss Granger?"

She rubbed her hands over her face. "I... I gotta wand here... somewhere..."

She proceeded to search her person for said wand, patting her sleeves, her pockets, even looking down inside the front of her shirt. Then she paused to pull her shirt away and look again as if she had perhaps missed it the first time. Severus rolled his eyes. She grabbed her purse to look in there.

"Why exactly do you need your wand, Miss Granger?"

"I had a great idea earlier, a really good one. Really, really good. I need someone to obliterate... obliverate... err... you know what I mean!" she said jabbing her finger at her head.

"Oh goodie, here it is," she cried, pulling her wand from her purse. Sparks flew from the tip, and Severus grabbed it before she could manage to do something stupid.

"Hey, tha's mine!"

He gently pulled her up onto her feet. "Can you stand?"

"No, wait. Gimme back my wand. I need it back... I got some stuff I wanna forget." She lunged forward, trying to get her wand from his grasp.

"Yes, don't we all," he replied, holding it out of her reach while batting her hands away. "Stop that. Stop. I mean it."

She finally gave up and just leaned heavily into him.

"I'm going to Apparate you home now. Hold onto me. Can you do that, Hermione?" he asked.

She nodded and wrapped her arms tightly around his waist.

~**~

An instant later, they were standing at the back door of Bluebell Cottage. He immediately sensed what was going to happen and turned her away, supporting her around the waist and pulling her hair back from her face just a split second before she vomited all over the ground.

"Ewwww!" She stood up, turned to face him and her eyes rolled back in her head as she passed out cold.

He managed to grab her and hike her up into his arms before she slid to the ground. Too bad he didn't have any sober-up potion on him. Using wandless magic, he opened her back door and carried her into the house. He headed down the hall to her bedroom; a silent spell folded her covers back, and he laid her gently on the bed.

"What am I to do with you, woman?" Sighing, he gently removed her shoes and socks. Suddenly, he sensed a movement in the doorway behind him. Snapping his wand from his sleeve, he spun around into a defensive crouch...only to be stopped by a quickly thrown shield and a shout.

"Stop, Professor. It's me." The invisibility cloak was opened to reveal...

"Mr. Potter."

He shook his head. "It's Harry, sir. Just Harry. I've been waiting here. I was told that Hermione might be in trouble. I saw you bringing her home."

He walked around Severus to approach the bed. Looking down at Hermione, he shook his head. Opening a dresser drawer as if he were quite familiar with the location of her nightclothes, he pulled out a modest nightgown. Then, he pulled the covers up over his friend to her neck and gently Divesto'd her clothes. Using magic, with her still completely covered, he put the nightgown on her. Leaning down, he kissed her forehead.

"Harry?" she mumbled. "Izzzat you?"

"Yes, I'm right here, love. You're okay, just go to sleep now."

"Hmmm... All right."

As he motioned for Snape to leave, she called out to Harry again, "Harry? I had the strangest dream. Professor Snape was in it...he was alive, and he was going to Obliviate me."

Harry looked sharply at Snape, who shook his head in response. "It's all right now, love. Just go to sleep. Good night"

"Mmmm... goodnight, Harry. Love you."

"Love you, too."

Harry carefully shut the door and cast a spell so their conversation wouldn't disturb her. He had an idea it might be getting a little loud.

Snape felt an unwarranted surge of anger and an unexplainable urge to punch Potter in the face as he stalked down the hallway before turning to snarl, "Well, that was quite the cozy little scene. You certainly seemed to know your way around her bedroom, and for a married man you seemed very friendly there, Potter...maybe a bit more than friendly."

Before he could utter another word, Harry's wand was pointing at the dead center of his chest. "Don't you dare insult her. Yes, she's my friend...one of my closest. In fact, she is the one person, the only person who stood by me through everything. Everything." He swallowed. "I do love her, she's my family. If I'd ever had a sister I couldn't have loved her any more than I love Hermione. So I will not allow you or anyone else to cast aspersions on her."

Snape carefully raised his hand and with one finger gently moved the tip of Harry's wand aside. "My sincerest apology, Mr. Potter," he stated sardonically. "It is apparent that I may have spoken out of turn. I really don't know what could have come over me."

Harry sighed and holstered his wand. "No need to be sarcastic, sir. And I told you in there: it's just Harry. And what do you prefer now... Mr. Snape or Mr. Spaveene... Severus or Russ?"

"Hmm... and I had actually convinced myself that Miss Granger had not come here to expose me."

"Oh, she didn't tell me about you. I'm sure Hermione had no idea you were here and still wouldn't if you hadn't revealed yourself to her tonight. Although, I'm sure she would have figured it out eventually. In a village this size, she couldn't have gone forever without spotting you."

"Then how..?"

"I've known you were here for quite some time... What should I call you?"

"In private, Severus is fine I suppose."

"All right, Severus. I've known that you were here for about the last six years."

Severus looked shocked. "How? And if you knew, why did you not release that information to the press or come here to confront me?"

"How? I'm an Auror, and a damn good one, if I do say so myself. The mystery of what happened to Professor Snape's body after the final battle plagued me for months. I couldn't stand not knowing. I believed you might have survived, I hoped so. It took me nearly three years, but I finally tracked you down. Plus, why would I want to expose you? You aren't wanted for anything back there. You've been cleared of any wrong-doing; in fact you're considered a hero. Honestly, I admire you; you're the bravest man I've ever known, and I say that with complete sincerity. That the war was won was more due to your efforts than any other single person's, more than Dumbledore's, more than mine. After all you have been through, if this is where you choose to live, why would I stop you?"

Looking about the peaceful cottage of Hermione's Muggle aunt, Harry said, "I can't help but feel a bit envious. I married a witch, and her whole family is part of the wizarding world. If not for that fact, I myself might have chosen this. Living in the Muggle world is not the nightmare most wizards assume it would be. Oh, my childhood was horrible, but not everyone is the Dursleys. And even though you live here in a Muggle village, I am fairly sure you haven't given up your magic entirely, am I right?"

At Severus' nod of agreement, he continued, "So you do still use magic privately and probably even visit the magical world on occasion...incognito in your case, I'm sure. I do have one question, though: of all the places you could have chosen, why this place, why Ireland?"

Severus seemed to ponder his answer for a moment, then replied seriously, "No snakes."

Harry burst out laughing, and suddenly Severus was laughing too. "In all the years I've known you, Severus, I've never seen you laugh. It's good to see that you've been able to find that part of yourself here in your new life.

"I think in the long run Hermione might actually be happier here, too, if she decided to stay. I remember her telling me about coming here during her childhood; she had very fond memories of it." He sighed. "Maybe that's why the Muggle world doesn't really seem half bad in comparison.

"You know coming to Hogwarts was a very difficult transition for her, it was a struggle to fit in from the very beginning. She was just a young girl thrust into an alien world where the customs were totally different, trying to fit into a place where a large portion of the population didn't really want or accept her. The only thing she had going for her was her incredible intellect, and she was mocked even for that. Then she was forced through her friendship with me to battle an inconceivable evil because she never would have abandoned me, you know. She would have died first; that's just who she is.

"Did you know she used a complex memory charm on her own parents and relocated them to Australia for the duration of the war to protect them?"

Severus shook his head.

"Well, she did. Then, after the war when she restored their memories, they weren't very happy about the whole thing. It's been years, and they've just recently started to reconcile. She nearly lost her family as a result of it all, even though she probably saved their lives. So even after being a driving force in beating Voldemort and saving our world, even now nearly a decade later, things haven't changed all that much, have they? She's still not accepted, not really.

"You probably don't realize it, but she's had a very tough time of it lately."

"I know more than you think," replied Severus. "When I realized that she was living here, I of course suspected that she might be a threat to me. So I did a bit of investigating of my own."

tbc

AN: Just wanted to mention, my beta pointed out that she had previously read a similar comment about Snape's choice to move to Ireland due to the lack of snakes, in a fic by dickgloucester titled: A Fresh Start. I haven't read Dickie's fic yet. I just thought this was a funny comment due to Severus' obvious aversion to snakes and Ireland's reputation for not having any.