Arrivals & Meetings

Hugs and chocolates go to Madbrilliant; beta extraordinaire.

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Chapter 9 – Arrivals & Meetings

The guests began arriving around midday, and the hosts were left with more than enough people to greet and with which to talk. Severus had become rather distracted with the members of his family that were very unlike him and talked a fair bit more than he ever did. Hermione thought it was rather humorous to watch him surrounded by people that looked nothing like him.

Hermione had managed to find Ginny and Harry throughout the time between chatting to members of the Order and watching her husband try to escape the family cluster.

“Hermione, this house is positively amazing!” Ginny exclaimed, hugging her tightly.

“It’s a bit excessive though, isn’t it?” she asked with a laugh.

“Hermione, you look great,” Harry said as he hugged her also. “And Ginny’s right, this is a really beautiful place, but I have to ask one thing.”

“What?”

“Who are those people that are surrounding Severus?” he asked, pointing towards the cluster.

Hermione looked over to where he was indicating and smiled. “Those are his relatives,” she answered. “Speaking of which, I have to go play hostess and actually meet them.”

She waved to her two friends as she left them and headed towards her husband, who was beginning to look uncomfortable with being so confined between relatives. He looked at her with relief and held out a hand to her as she walked towards them, accepting her and drawing her to his side.

“May I introduce my wife, Hermione,” he said with an adoring glance at his beloved witch.

Each and every one of his family either hugged her or shook her hand in both of theirs, proving to her yet again that none of them were anything like her stiff and stern husband.

“Hermione, we are all so glad that Severus could find such a beautiful light to even out his dark side,” his cousin, Anne, said kindly. “He has become much more polite with you in his life,” she added teasingly.

The cousin in question was only slightly shorter than Hermione herself and had long blonde hair that was straight as the result of the Prince family genes and had a pert nose and bright smile. She seemed to look a lot like Severus’ mother in the pictures she had seen of her. But that might have been because Severus’ mother and Anne’s were twin sisters.

“Thank you so much, Anne. I am so glad that you could come,” Hermione replied politely, holding the older witch’s hands in her own. “It is so good to finally meet some of Severus’ family.”

Anne would only have been ten years older than her, only a few years younger than Severus. Hermione noticed that Dumbledore had dragged Severus away across the hall to Minerva and they were all talking amiably and familiarly to each other. She turned back to his cousin and bid her goodbye so that she could greet her parents as they walked through the front doors.

“Mum,” she said as she rushed into a loving hug with the older woman. “You’re finally here! I was getting worried.”

“No need to be, dear. Your father was trying to be smart and lost the instructions for the portkey that you sent us and I had to figure out how to work it myself,” she answered.

Hermione laughed and let go of her mother, getting pounced on immediately by her father. “Hello, daddy. I missed you!” she squealed, hugging him ferociously.

“Hello, muffin. How’s my girl?” he asked, kissing her on the crown of her head.

“I’m smashing, but I heard from a very reliable source that you misplaced something this morning,” she teased.

“Goodie,” he said sarcastically.

She grabbed on to both of her parents hands and led them to where Anne and Theodore were. “Come on, I want you to meet some of Severus’ relatives,” she said with a grin.

They finally made it to the other side of the hall, and Hermione approached a smiling Anne and her charming husband. “Anne, Theo, this is my mum and dad, Jane and Philip,” she introduced. “Mum and Daddy, this is Severus’ cousin Anne and her husband Theo.”

They all shook hands and Hermione left them there to mingle. She could tell that her mother would get along great with what she knew of Anne already and had a feeling that practically anyone could get along with the extremely amiable Theodore. After she bid them to talk and get to know each other, she looked around to see if she could find her husband anywhere, but he was nowhere in sight.

She had a look into the parlor and happened upon most of the Order members and the Weasleys as well as their spouses, but he wasn’t there either. Finally, she went back into the entrance hall and saw the door open again and watched as a man of supra-average height walked through the door. He had dark brown hair, a nose of similar yet not so desirable proportions as Severus’ and had the same stiff posture and cool air.

This must be the infamous Stephen Prince. She did not know much about him, but he looked enough like a Snape that it could be none other than a Prince. She walked across the hall and met him as he removed his winter coat.

“You must be Stephen,” she said, holding out a hand to him and smiling brightly.

He smiled slightly back and accepted her hand, shaking it firmly before bring it to his lips and kissing it. His hands were smoother than Severus’, and he looked to be only a few years younger than her husband. His lips were fuller than the ones she knew and she felt the difference on her knuckles.

“And you must be my sister-in-law, Hermione,” he said smoothly.

Hermione noticed immediately that his voice was different than her husbands’. It wasn’t as deep, or silky, or even seductive as his, but was slightly higher and a little more rough. “It’s a pleasure to finally meet you,” she said at last.

“The pleasure is all mine, Hermione,” he said easily.

“How long will you be staying in Britain?” she asked as they walked further into the house, towards the parlor, where everybody seemed to have retreated.

“For a while,” he answered. “I will be staying in the house I own in London and doing business here before I return to Jersey.”

“Is it nice in New Jersey?” she asked politely, trying to keep up a conversation with him. “I hear it gets chilly there in winter.”

“I like it there but I like it here better. I grew up in Britain, after all,” he replied with a chuckle. “I might be persuaded to stay longer, but I might need to find a reason first.”

“That sounds like a wonderful idea,” she responded with a grin. “I’m sure that Severus would love to see you more often.”

“I wouldn’t be too sure of that, Hermione,” he replied darkly.

Hermione noticed a hint of sadness in his words and sought to comfort him. “Why do you say that?” she asked as they took a seat.

“When we were younger, Severus and I had a falling out. We did resolve some of our differences, but not everything, it seems, can be fixed,” he answered.

“What was it about?” she pressed.

“His dark mark,” he replied. “It was my fault he went to get it. I was supposed to stop him, but instead, I pushed him and it drove him to Voldemort.”

Hermione gasped, and Stephen pushed up his sleeve. “I took the mark, too,” he said, showing her the faint outline the ex-Death Eaters had in memory. “I was stupid and young, five years younger than him. When I took the mark, he went to Dumbledore and pleaded a second chance, sending me to America in hiding and falling under Dumbledore’s protection, becoming a spy. We were both so stupid and young.”

Hermione bit her lip and looked across the room to where Severus was standing, regarding her and his brother with a blank mask of indifference. She flashed him an apologetic look and stood up from the chair, leaving the room without another word.

Severus would not be happy with her, and she needed some space to clear her mind…

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