Ember's and Envelopes

Thank you to Madbrilliant and Alliean for the beta of this chapter.

..................................................

Chapter 19 - Embers and Envelopes

Save for the sound of bubbling cauldrons and the chopping sounds that one would associate with cutting up ingredients, the classroom was dead silent.

Hermione was using the clear end of the desk in the first row of student tables as a workbench for her own Potion brewing while simultaneously watching over her first-years work. This was her Gryffindor and Slytherin class, who, despite their house rivalry, shared the same classroom seamlessly. She supposed it was mostly because, after the war, nobody really cared too much about house affiliations, or they simply did not have enough energy or drive to keep the conflict alive.

Pleased at the quiet, she made the decision to let them out early for the day. Being the last class of the day, naturally the students would be eager to get out and back to their common rooms for a rest and to clean up before dinner. Besides, they had been so good the entire lesson.

'You may all finish up the step that you are on in your potions before you cast that stasis over it like I taught you to last week,' she commanded firmly from her position at the front of the class. 'Once you have cleaned up your benches, you are free to go for the day; now hop to it.'

A wave of cheer seemed to sweep through the classroom at the announcement, and suddenly the students were very energetic and hurrying around to pack up and leave. It was not that they didn't like Professor Snape nee Granger, but they loved being let out early. Five minutes later, the cauldrons were all charmed and set aside neatly on the shelves in the classroom that were specifically for that purpose. Most of the students, she noticed, had already fled.

'Hello Professor!' exclaimed Megan Cabot as she skipped up to the front desk. 'What is that you are making?'

Hermione looked up and smiled at her, continuing to stir the potion with one hand while tossing in ingredients with the other. 'I'm making a Vitamin potion for myself and for the hospital wing,' she explained.

'Is that because you are going to have a baby, Professor?' she asked.

Hermione almost laughed at the familiar innocent curiosity that she recognized as a characteristic of hers when she had been a first year. 'Yes, but not just one baby,' she answered with a soft chuckle. 'I will be having a girl and a boy.'

'I wish my parents had given me a brother or sister before they were taken away,' she said wistfully, seemingly undisturbed about talking of her parents.

When Hermione heard her say that, she immediately felt sad and wanted to grab the dear girl and hug her breathless. They remained silent, however, as Hermione completed the rest of the potion, not even speaking as Megan assisted Hermione in bottling the potion in skinny flasks. She even helped Hermione with packing them into boxes and cleaning the knives and brewing implements.

'Would you like some help getting these up to Madam Pomfrey, Professor?' she offered generously.

There were three boxes, and Hermione didn't see any harm in letting her carry one of them, so she agreed. 'You take one, and I will take care of the other two,' she directed, going into teacher mode.

Once they had dropped off two of the boxes at the hospital wing, Megan left, skipping up the stairs and off to her common room to clean up before dinner. Hermione walked the remainder of the way to see Severus in his office, thinking things over in her head. When she arrived, he was seated at his desk with his glasses on, a furrow forming deep between his brows in concentration.

She grinned, placed her box on a clear spot of his desk, and walked around to him, plopping herself down on his lap gracefully. He had been concentrating so hard that he had not noticed her, and so her landing on his legs had startled him. Wrapping her arms around his neck, she kissed the end of his nose adoringly.

'You look so sexy with those glasses on,' she murmured provocatively, running her fingers through his silky hair lightly.

He smiled at that. 'Love, you could be wearing nothing at all and look sexy as all hell,' he replied, suddenly looking smug. 'And all of that is mine.'

She threw her head back and laughed long before sitting back up with tears of mirth in her eyes. He loved her laugh. It was like a faerie bell. He wrapped his arms around her hips and pulled her to rest close against his chest. She smelled of spring and vanilla – like an exotic and enticing dessert.

'How was teaching today, love?' he asked, nuzzling her neck.

'It was actually quite nice,' she said, moaning softly when he suckled a sensitive spot behind her ear. 'The students were very good while you were away. Speaking of which – how was Arthur at the Ministry today?'

'He's just fine,' Severus said seriously, pulling back to look her in the eyes. She seemed to be stressing over it a little now that it had been brought up. 'Molly is making it very hard for him at home because he is working with me.'

'I should write him a note to apologise,' she said softly.

'Hermione, look at me,' Severus said, turning her to face him. 'You are not to blame for any of this. Molly has narrow opinions, and they are hers and hers alone. She will come around and then everything will be resolved. Someday soon, she will realize how awful she had been to Julia and all will be well. You'll see.'

Just as Severus said this, however, there was a tapping at the window, and Hermione saw a vaguely familiar barn owl flapping around outside. Realizing that it was carrying a letter, she quickly got up from Severus' lap and went to let it in. It flew inside and dropped the letter on the desk, before swooping back out of the office, with Hermione closing the window to keep out the cold. When she turned back to Severus, she realized that the envelope was actually red and smoking.

He quickly levitated the howler into the air, simultaneously casting a shield bubble around it and casting a silencing charm. Not long after, the envelope exploded and set on fire inside the bubble, turning to ash before their eyes. He levitated the bubble to the fireplace, and released the charms, allowing the embers to settle on the fire that was already going.

'Looks as though Molly is a sight angrier than I had suspected she would be,' Severus mused, looking a little put out.

Hermione wrapped her arms around herself, not moving from where she was standing, feeling more than a little bit saddened. Severus, seeing this, went straight to her and wrapped his arms around her, walking them over to the fireplace and sitting in one of the armchairs before it, settling her across his lap. She snuggled into him, pressing her cheek to his coat, even though the buttons poked her.

'Molly is so upset, and Ron – well, I don't even know what to think about him at the moment,' she said, trying to sniffle back tears, but was unsuccessful. 'Everyone else has accepted this for what it is except for them. I mean, he seemed perfectly fine about it at Christmas time.'

'It is just as Ginevra said – it hadn't really sunk in at that point,' Severus murmured, hugging her in a tremendous show of support. 'But now that it has, his penchant for acting without thinking in a way that is harmful to others has over-ridden his common sense. Honestly – his jealousy is unwarranted.'

Hermione sighed heavily, tears still leaking from her eyes. They sat together like that for what seemed like hours, but was really only minutes. 'I am so lucky to have you, Sev,' she said softly.

'And I am equally so to have you,' he said, squeezing her and pressing a kiss to the top of her head, and then after a moment, he smiled. 'What would you say if I suggested we go and vent some of our emotions elsewhere?'

Hermione frowned in thought for a moment before she caught on and smiled widely through her tears, sitting up on his lap to look at his face. His wicked expression was all that she needed for confirmation of what he meant by his words. She slid off his lap, standing and taking his hand to tug him up from the chair and drag him in the direction of their chambers.

'I think your idea has some merit,' she said airily as she touched the wooden panel keyed to both her and Severus, making the portrait swing open.

They stumbled through it together and down the hall to where the sitting room was warm and glowing from the fire before bypassing it completely in favor of finding the bedroom. Severus pleasured and took her twice, exercising all of the negative emotions out of her for a while, and relaxing her to a lethargic state. Even if it were only a temporary fix, Hermione definitely thought that it was worth it. But she was a damn sight more tired than she usually was afterwards due to the pregnancy.

She flopped onto her back, still a little breathless from the exertion, and Severus collapsed in a boneless heap, half covering her with a long arm and leg flung across her, pinning her to the mattress. He turned his head to look at her, a shock of black hair falling into his eyes as he did. She looked at him and smiled sleepily, reaching a hand over to lazily stroke his cheek.

'Ginny was so right about pregnancy sex,' she said suddenly with a short laugh. 'It is fantastic.'

Severus could only nod in agreement. Despite the fact that the knowledge of pregnancy sex had come from Ginny Potter, he had to agree – it certainly was something special. It was somehow even more intense than normal sex. A lazy smile spread across his lips, ending in his eyes, which twinkled. He finally understood what it meant to love someone unconditionally, and Hermione had been the one to teach him, however unintentionally she had done so.

'I love you,' he said, leaning in and kissing her sweetly.

'I love you too,' she replied in kind.

They lat there in silence for a while before Hermione's mind drifted back to some time earlier that day. She was thinking about little Megan Cabot again. She found herself thinking of the girl more and more often lately and wondered why that was. She knew it had to be more than just sympathy she felt for the girl. It wasn't pity, but she was unable to put her finger on what it was. In any case, she thought it would be best if she figured out what it was before she talked to Severus about it.

'I have to get up for a shower,' Severus groaned softly.

'I'm too tired for any of that,' Hermione moaned in protest as he sat up and slid off the bed, summoning random bits of clothing to him.

'You don't have to go, love,' he replied, walking over and giving her a kiss. 'Stay and sleep here. God knows you deserve a good sleep. I will make your excuses for you.'

'You're good to me, Severus,' she said with a warm smile, pulling his head down for a longer kiss.

'Not good enough,' he said, taking off to the bathroom before she could protest.

Hermione shook her head as she heard the shower turn on. He would always be more than good enough for her.