Grimmauld Place

Eternal thanks to my beta, Madbrilliant, for the editing of this chapter, as well as WriterMerrin for picking up on what we missed once again!

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Chapter 6 - Grimmauld Place

To say that Grimmauld Place was brimming with energy and the joy of the season would have been a serious understatement indeed.

Severus thought, as he held the Potter child at arm's length, that this was going to be one of the biggest mistakes of his life; agreeing to attend the party, that was. The child gurgled with delight, reaching her arms out to him as if to cling to his person, which made Severus cringe and hold her out to Luna Lovegood, who was currently seated nearest him in the sitting room. He had been there a total of one day and three hours and had already been handed the job of holding Lily Potter as both parents of said child were busy attending to guests that were arriving.

As he and Hermione had made their way to the house the day before, he had told her that he was sure some child would be passed to him. It was the Potter brat – but at least it was better than Ronald Weasley's child any day. He hated that particular redhead. He didn't mind the others, but thought that Ginevra would have had better sense than to marry the dunderhead boy who lived. Apparently she didn't.

"Professor," Luna spoke from beside him.

He turned to look at her. "What is it, Miss Lovegood?" he asked drolly.

"Lily really likes you, I think," she replied as said child struggled in her arms in an effort to get back to Severus. "Please, will you take her back? I feel that she is in need of your inner energy today."

Severus snorted inwardly. Inner energy indeed! The Lovegood girl, although not quite as dreamy, was still as scatterbrained as ever, spouting that Divination rubbish to him. In the end though, he nodded and took the girl back, who immediately calmed and crawled up his torso, bracing herself in a standing position with her little hands on his chest. He put his large hands on her back to steady her a little and almost jumped out of the chair when she embraced him.

It was then that Hermione walked into the room, arm-in-arm with Ginny Potter, smiling and laughing as they walked. They both stopped in front of him, Hermione looking surprised, and Ginny grinning like a cat. He didn't like that grin, and scowled up at her because of it.

"Would you like to take your child back?" he asked a little bit tersely.

Ginny smiled and reached for Lily, who apparently didn't want to go and clung to Snape like he was her security blanket. "Apparently she likes where she is for now, so if you don't mind, Professor, I think I'll leave her with you," she replied merrily.

With that, Ginny dragged Hermione across the room with her to sit down on a vacant couch where she could still see Snape, but it was unlikely that he would hear them. She then turned immediately on Hermione with a determined, yet predatory look in her gleaming brown eyes.

"Hermione, I want you to be completely honest with me now, okay?" she asked, grasping her friends' hand in both of hers.

"Okay..." Hermione agreed hesitantly.

"Harry and I have been talking over the last couple of days, and Minerva has been saying some things as well," she began slowly. "I want you to tell me, honestly – do you have a thing for Professor Snape?"

Hermione's jaw dropped slightly before she could catch herself, but she closed it again just as quickly. "I – What brought that question about?" she stammered a little helplessly.

"Well, you have always defended him whenever Harry or Ron insulted him or called him names behind his back, and ever since you went back to Hogwarts to teach, you've spent a lot of time with him, especially when you became his Deputy," Ginny explained quickly. "And the other night at the Yule Ball, when you were dancing with him, you were smiling, and it wasn't the way you smiled at Ron when you two had a thing back in your sixth year, it was – you were smiling with him the way that I smile when I'm with Harry, or the way that Julia smiles at Ron."

"You think I fancy Severus?" Hermione asked softly.

"I don't think, Hermione – I bloody well know you fancy the arse off the man," Ginny answered in a whisper.

Hermione blushed and looked across the room at him, holding Lily and seeming a little less worried than he had when the girl had first been passed to him by Harry. It was sweet seeing the way that the little girl was naturally drawn to him. She wondered if – but that was a ridiculous thought.

"Lily really likes him, and I think when he becomes more comfortable, he might open up to the idea of having his own kids one day," Ginny said, wiggling her eyebrows suggestively at her.

Hermione went even redder. "Ginny, don't be silly. He doesn't like me that way, so don't even try to get my hopes up," she whispered seriously. "I have fallen for him alright – but I really don't want to talk about it right now."

"Oh, come off it, 'Mione. It'll make you feel better to get it off your chest. I'm your best friend – you can trust me," Ginny insisted.

Hermione sighed and took another peek across the room at the dour man. Contrary to his usual dress, he was wearing a white button-down under his black waistcoat, tucked into his customary black trousers. She liked this look on him. He was so repressive with his full teaching robes on, and she wondered how he remained in them in summer, especially with all the heat.

She glanced back and saw Ginny smirking at her. "Ginny, I know what you're thinking, but please, please don't try and interfere this time," she pleaded quietly. "Last time it was a total disaster, and it was someone that I didn't even know. Imagine how much worse it would be with someone that I work for and know well."

Hermione remembered back to almost three years before when Ginny had tried to set her up with a guy that she used to work with. It had been awkward, and Hermione had left before the main meals had arrived, simply because he had been coerced into the date just as she had been. Both had apologized and left without feeling any regrets, and Hermione had written Ginny a howler the next day. Hermione did not want Severus to be coerced into something he did not want.

"If – and only if he was amenable to a relationship with me, and arranged something with me himself, would I truly accept," Hermione said finally.

Ginny nodded understandingly, but crossed her fingers behind her back. She wouldn't set up a blind date, obviously because they knew each other already, but gentle nudges in the right direction never hurt anyone. Severus just needed a little bit of encouragement. It was Christmas Eve tomorrow, and if she didn't have them heading in the right direction by then, she wasn't a Weasley.

"I won't try anything, Hermione," Ginny said with a bright smile.

She looked up and saw Severus approaching them with Lily, who was whining by then and obviously was either hungry or in need of a nap. Ginny took her wordlessly and left the room, knowing just what she needed. Severus then dropped into the vacated spot beside her and released a heavy sigh.

"How I ever got talked into watching that girl is unknown to me," he said wearily, looking at her through the slits of his eyes.

"She's darling," Hermione said, thinking of the girl's black hair and bright green eyes from her father. "But I suppose being her Godmother makes me biased."

"Please – she is as troublesome as her father," Severus said dramatically, rolling his eyes even as he smirked.

Hermione felt her breath catch a little, but smiled at him. He was joking now, she could tell, but she still felt as though something wasn't right. "Do you think you might ever consider having children one day?" she asked.

Severus looked at her stunned. "I – I have never considered children as a possibility before," he stammered nervously under her questioning gaze. "But perhaps..."

Hermione nodded. "I felt the same way once – but now when I look at all of my friends with their children, I feel a little bit jealous," she admitted. "But before, I had seriously thought that I was going to die in the war, and then I was too busy studying to think about it, but now I have all the time in the world, when I am not too busy with teaching or running your errands."

Severus looked at her in surprise. He had no idea when they had become so comfortable with each other as to be speaking of such personal things, but inwardly he was glad that she was. "You surprise me," he said quietly.

"Why?"

"Because you are still unmarried, and I have no knowledge of you having any sort of relationship with a male," Severus answered. "I don't mean to offend you or make you uncomfortable by saying this."

Hermione waved him off dismissively. "I don't mind really. It's true that everyone expected me to marry Ron or someone by now so that the Gryffindor Trio would be able to raise a whole new Quidditch team for Gryffindor," she said dryly, rolling her eyes from the irony of it.

"But you went off and made your own life instead of conforming to the expectations of everyone else around you," Severus finished for her. "Honestly, I understand your dilemma, and I am pleased that you did not listen to the dunderheads that tried to plan out your life for you. Could you honestly see yourself happily married to Potter or, god help us, Weasley?"

Hermione laughed a little at that. "No, I couldn't. They are both like brothers to me, and I am glad to have figured it out for myself," she answered.

Severus nodded and looked back out across the room to where Ginny Potter was reentering with Lily in her arms, who was gurgling and pointing towards him once more. Apparently the girl was going to be hard to get rid of, at least for that afternoon, he thought as Ginny walked towards them. Hermione smiled at the scowl on his features, and as soon as Lily was back on his lap, she played with and talked to the girl as a favor to him.

When she looked back up at Severus afterwards, she could see that he was grateful.