Chapter 15

The next morning Hermione got an owl from Molly. It read:

Hermione dear,

-Molly

Hermione sat and looked at the message until Severus took it from her hands and read it himself.

“What can I tell her?” She pleaded with him for a solution.

“Explain that you are with an old Hogwarts friend and are being well taken care of. That might hold her off for a few days.”

“Not many.”

“You’re right. Plus, there are few worse people than Molly for not keeping a secret. If we tell her about me, it will be only days before the whole wizarding community knows I’m alive. I swear if that Rita Skeeter woman shows up, I will change her into a toad.”

Hermione laughed until the tears ran. “I…would…like…to…see…that,” she stammered through her gasps of breath.

Severus was amused, but he stood there glaring until she snickered and finally came to her senses.

“Hey, maybe I should tell her that I have an offer to apprentice with someone, and I am considering the offer. It’s true, isn’t it? She knows I would be then bound to the will of my new master.”

“She would never allow it without knowing who it is,” he stated bluntly.

Suddenly nervous she asked, “Can she track me through the owl, Severus?”

“There are tracking spells, but they are a deep invasion of privacy and seldom used by people who respect one another. So far I have detected nothing in my wards. But she can go to Arthur. Despite looking like a bumbling idiot at times, he is quite a formidable Wizard.”

She nodded. “Yes, he was a valuable Order member in the final battle. I didn’t see much of it, as I was busy with my own concerns, but I know he stood against some very powerful Death Eaters.”

“He did bring down Lucius,” Severus commented.

“Yes, he did. I’d nearly forgotten that.”

“What if I didn’t reply?” she asked, trying to get back to the task at hand.

“You have to. She won’t stop until she finds you if you don’t. Appeal to her—tell her you need to distance yourself from Ron’s family, if only to give yourself time to heal. Tell her it’s too hard to sit at the kitchen table or walk the rooms of the house without thinking of him. Assure her of your love for her and the family and beg for some time.”

“Maybe that would work for a while. I’ll also promise to Owl her every couple days,” Hermione murmured softly.

“You can only try,” he said, running a finger gently over her cheek before turning away.

While Hermione penned her response and sent it back with Molly’s owl, Severus fed their owl and got breakfast ready. They made plans to brew a few simple potions for nutrition and good health—potions Hermione already knew how to brew.

Hermione asked, “Some of the plants we need for ingredients must be fresh. Where are we going to get them? I really don’t want to go to Hogsmeade today.”

His face suddenly lit up, and he gave her a rare smile. He said, “Get your cloak; we are going for a walk.”

“Where are we going?” she asked, gathering her cloak and tossing him his.

“You’ll find out once you put on your cloak and walk with me.” He gave her his all-so-familiar smirk.

She knew now that he wouldn’t tell her, and she found herself excited as they wound their way down the corridors of Hogwarts. She realized they were headed for the kitchens, but they only walked through the dark rooms, and Severus grabbed a hold of the latch on the back door and slid it open.

A small, covered corridor with a dim light at the end greeted them.

Hermione had never seen this place. The few times she had been down to the kitchens for late night snacks, the door had never been open. She always assumed it went into deeper basement storage rooms.

They stepped from the corridor into another world. Here in this tomb was a place so alive Hermione gasped with delight and laughed up into Severus face. Then she danced away into a sea of flowers and green plants. Tiny enchanted birds fluttered here and there. Butterflies and bees went about pollinating the many plants that seemed to fill the tall towering green house. Full-grown trees stretched 60 feet above them, and there was a carpet of green grass under her feet. There was jasmine and fennel, basil and peppermint, and rosemary and sage. The air was ripe with the scent of spices, as well as ingredients for the potions they would need.

“Severus, why didn’t you tell me about this place? It’s wonderful!”

“I honestly hadn’t thought about it since you got here. It maintains itself, and I really have so enjoyed your presence that I just let it slip my mind.”

She felt warmed by his words and came and slipped her arms around his waist to give him a tight hug. “Where did all this come from?”

“Most of it was here. This is the garden of the original Hogwarts house elf cooks. If you go farther into the garden, you will realize it’s huge; but it’s enchanted so that from the outside it doesn’t look big at all. There are all manner of fruit trees and vegetables there, but at this time of year there isn’t a yield. Only the herbs we need will you find now and maybe a few tubers. The garden has a rest period, and you’ve come at the most barren time. There are grubs in the soil that clean and enrich the dirt during this time of year when the ground is frozen outside. In a few weeks, it will replant itself and begin a new crop of things we will be able to eat in about a month’s time. I think the house elves originally prepared by stocking the basement larders with fresh things they could cook for the staff and students. I really do have enough food right now and haven’t taken the time to put a store of items away. It’s a lot of physical work that I just couldn’t face alone. A few of the plants I brought here from the Forbidden Forest. It saves me a trip there for ordinary, but wild, plants.”

“Why do you think it was left here?” she said, cupping a beautiful lavender rose. She pressed her nose to it and inhaled a soft scent almost like a tealeaf.

“Not sure…probably only the elves knew, and they wanted to leave something alive here. All of the green house plants in Professor Sprout’s domain were removed.”

Hermione spent an hour running here and there and laughed so much that Severus just stood back and watched, feeling overwhelmed with a desire to laugh with her. He supervised as she gathered the ingredients they would need, and then with a sigh of regret, they made their way back into the darkness away from the life that teemed there. But now the darkness didn’t seem so oppressive. Hermione carried the pictures in her mind of the beautiful place, and Severus remembered the pleasure of hearing her laughter.

They spent the afternoon brewing the simple potions and talking about the healing potion they would soon start. That night, Severus taught her how to make a delicious meal out of the some of the herbs and spices and a thick pink tuber he had brought back from the garden. She realized as they ate the special meal that cooking was just an extension of potion brewing. She shouldn’t have been surprised that he knew how to cook and did a good job of it.

Later that evening she sat in his lap happy, but exhausted, as he read to her. She fell asleep, and he levitated her to their bed and tucked her in against himself before falling into another night of deep, restful sleep.