Winter Frost

Many thanks to Madbrilliant for the beta-ing of this fic!

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Chapter 12 – Winter Frost

When the holidays began to draw to a close, people became frantic and everyone in the Wizarding world went about preparing their return to work and their normal lives. It was as if, when the holidays came, they were different people with other lives than the hectic ones they lived daily. The guests had left the manor two days after Christmas, and Hermione and Severus lingered there until New Years before they returned to Spinner’s End for the remainder of their break to prepare for their return to Hogwarts.

Hermione and Severus both decided that it was easier if Hermione stayed as Professor Granger at school, so that the student body didn’t have anything to speculate about. It was safer to stay out of the gossip column, after all.

Stephen had decided to stay in England at his house in London for a time and visited them every few days when he wasn’t working. It was good because Severus seemed to have taken Hermione’s advice, and they had built bridges over their past hurt – properly this time.

It was actually on such a visiting day that Severus asked the question that had been burning in his mind for about a week.

“Have you seen Julia since Christmas?”

Stephen looked at him – astonished. “I haven’t. Why?” he replied in his slightly roughened voice.

“You seemed to enjoy her company immensely while we were in Suffolk; why the change of mind?” Severus commented, wisely choosing to say “mind” instead of “heart”.

“I didn’t change my mind on anything, Severus. She was lovely company, but I hadn’t even considered it,” Stephen lied effortlessly. He didn’t need to complicate his leaving by getting involved with Julia. The last thing he needed was to fall in love – but that was the problem – he was already intrigued and infatuated with her.

“Oh,” Severus said blandly, obviously not believing him.

Stephen smiled. “I could never lie to you, could I?” he said, shaking his head ruefully. “I should have known better.”

“Indeed.”

“I like her, of course. But you can’t expect me to stay in England, can you? I can’t just leave the States like that,” he defended weakly.

“You can,” Severus returned. “You left England quite easily to begin with.”

“I had no choice in that matter. You know that. And as much as I love it here, I think that I need to go back for something,” he said. “Besides, Julia could do far better for herself than me.”

Severus smiled. “I say the same thing to myself about Hermione all the time, but it was easier to accept it than reject it. You can’t put off your life any more, Stephen. You’ll end even more bitter than I.”

Stephen chuckled. “I’ll think about it, but I won’t make any promises,” he replied evenly.

“Good.”

A while later, Hermione returned from Diagon Alley after placing all of her textbook orders in Flourish and Blotts and walked into the room with a bagful of something that immediately caught Severus’ eye. “I trust you two are ready for lunch?” she asked, handing the bag of books to her husband.

“Thank you, my dear, and yes, lunch would be lovely,” Severus said smoothly, taking her hand and kissing her palm tenderly in greeting.

“Hmmm, very smooth Mr. Snape,” she said warily, taking her hand away and raising an eyebrow at him before walking out.

Stephen chuckled at that and Severus smiled at him. “That’s how you do it, Stephen,” he said with a small smirk.

“You manipulative bastard,” Stephen joked.

Hermione returned with a tray of sandwiches and a pitcher of some juice for them and sat down on the arm of Snape’s chair. She was starting to show a small swell around her middle from the pregnancy, barely noticeable, but just enough to indicate that it was going along all right. She had to go for her check-up the next day at St. Mungo’s before she returned to teaching.

“You look radiant, Hermione,” her brother-in-law commented politely.

She flushed a little more, even after already having that motherly glow about her, and ducked her head a little. “Thanks, I guess,” she said modestly.

Severus took one of her hands and gave it a gentle squeeze. “He’s right, you know. You do look quite beautiful today, love,” he said with a smile.

She felt her heart flutter at his words. It was funny how he could always do that to her still, even after so many years. She supposed that her love only grew for him every day at this stage. It was strange, however, that she had not been more moody lately.

“I’m going to go and get cleaned up. Remember, we are going to the Potters' tonight,” she reminded, standing up from the chair gracefully.

“I would never forget,” he said, feigning exasperation.

She patted him on the shoulder before walking out once more, and Stephen decided to speak again. “You’re quite the lucky one, Severus,” he said sincerely.

“You could be too,” Snape reminded.

Stephen nodded and finished off his sandwich. Standing, he straightened out his jacket and smiled. “Well, I had better leave then. I’m sure you’d like to get ready for your evening and I’ll come see you at Hogwarts this weekend.”

Snape stood and held his hand out to his brother, shaking his hand and clapping him on the back. “Take care until then and think about what we discussed. I will know if you haven’t.”

“That’s creepy, Sev,” he said.

“Get going then, you useless lout,” Severus teased.

“Yes, sir,” Stephen said before Apparating.

Severus slowly looked around and found Hermione standing in the doorway, fully dressed still. “Coming up for a shower?” she asked innocently.

“Of course,” he replied, going to her side immediately. He called on house-elves to clean up the lunch tray and went with his wife to their rooms. After a long, exhilarating shower, they left the bathroom dry and went to retrieve their clothes for dinner that night. Hermione had insisted that he wear his cream-colored trousers, and he agreed on the condition that he could wear whatever shirt he pleased and, typically, he pulled out a black silk shirt and his black Macintosh jacket to go over it.

He left the top two buttons undone and tied his long hair back neatly with a bit of black leather. Hermione had chosen a simple pair of nice brown trousers, her white blouse, and her light tan v-neck sweater to go over the top. She managed to tame her hair into a loose braid down her back.

Before they left, he helped her into her long, black winter coat that fell to her knees before pulling his own long jacket on and handing her the ruby-red scarf. He wrapped his own charcoal scarf around his neck, and they Apparated to the trees just beyond the Potter household.

“You look lovely, Hermione,” he said as they walked along hand-in-hand.

“And you do too,” she commented, eying him off in the smart, Muggle attire that he was sporting. Even though there were limited colors, he still looked sexy as hell to her. They neared the Potters' door and, before Hermione could reach over and press the doorbell, he swooped in and stole a breathtaking kiss from her.

Once he pulled away, she smiled up at him. “Let’s go inside, hmmm?” she asked softly.

“Lead the way, Madam,” he said, gesturing for her to do as she pleased. “I will follow your instruction.”

She pressed the doorbell, and then voices could be heard shouting “Just a minute!” so they waited. Next thing they knew, Hermione and Severus were engulfed by redheads and Potter.

Severus groaned inwardly. Just his luck.

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A/N – Please review! I am an addict – feed my addiction!