Chapter 5

Disclaimer: Not mine. No Money.

Chapter 5 - Resolutions & Conflicts

The flutter of wings and the scraping of claws against wood were the only sounds that signaled the arrival of the morning post. Severus took the Daily Prophet along with his other mail from the owl and slid a Knut into the pouch attached to its foot. He tossed aside the mail and opened the newspaper straight away, spreading out the front page. He ignored the moving photograph on the front that was displaying the win of the British Quidditch team against the Bulgarians.

After reading through the entirely uninteresting article that went with it, he continued through the paper, reading all of the usually unread stories. He even gave a moment to read the recent weddings column, recognizing at least half of the names and sighing when he remembered the day his own name had appeared next to Hermione's in the paper the morning after their binding.

Of course, that had been just over two weeks earlier, and that had been the last time he had seen anything to do with Hermione. She had been consciously avoiding him, as he had been her since that afternoon when he had closed the door in her face, but the one thing he did do was keep the clipping of their wedding announcement, as it was the only thing he had.

Tossing aside the paper then, he returned to eating his breakfast, getting ready for a long day of restocking the potions for the hospital wing, as was his obligation. He pushed the plate of eggs aside and, instead, attacked the plate of fruit at the table, eating the lot of it before flicking his wand to clean up after himself. He just didn't feel like cleaning everything by hand that morning.

'Poinsettia,' he said clearly, and a portrait of an elderly man jumped aside for him and allowed him entrance to his Potions workroom through the secret passage there.

With a flick of his wrist, he had three cauldrons lined up with a flame going beneath each and the ingredients floating out of his private stores to the bench before him. He hadn't had the time to do anything like this for weeks, which was another reason why he was so wound-up. Making potions always had relaxed him.

He began chopping his ingredients methodically and meticulously, deftly charming them wandlessly to float into the assigned cauldron and having the stirrers mixing the ingredients well. Sighing, he checked on each of them, smiling when each of the potions turned the correct color, and then he lowered the heat.

Letting the potions simmer, he sat down and allowed himself the leisure of perusing his latest Potions magazines and the Ars Alchemica for some interesting stories and clips, as well as a list of the latest and cheapest ingredients on the market. It was doing things like this and discussing things like these that he was most interested in doing with Hermione because he knew that she loved those things also. And that was the thing he was being denied in her unwillingness to attempt, at the very least, a friendship. Pushing aside all thoughts of his wife, he re-concentrated on the task at hand and turned the heat off the first two potions, leaving the other to simmer for another five minutes as method dictated.

He decanted the other potions into vials and placed them in the First Aid box before banishing the mess to the sink and returning to the final Blood-Replenishing Potion, turning the heat off that also and depositing equal amounts into the vials he had set out, adding them to the box once a stopper had been put into each. Then he called an elf to take it to the Hospital wing.

He cleaned up the workroom and left it in pristine order, deciding that it was about time to read his mail, now that he had managed to put it off for long enough. Sighing in resignation, he picked up the first letter, caught sight of what lay directly beneath it and mentally cursed. It was a letter... addressed to Hermione.

Hermione Snape, he read, one of his long fingers tracing over the letters. It actually looked right on the page. He picked it up with trembling fingers and examined the Ministry seal on the back and the annoyingly loopy writing of one of the annoying Ministry fumblers.

'Damn!' he muttered.

He was going to have to take it to her. Make no mistake - Severus liked the sight of his wife immensely, but she had hurt him, upset him, and above all, she had already communicated her unhappiness with their binding. Shaking his head, he decided that it was about time to pay her a visit, and just seeing her beautiful face once would be enough for him.

He walked up the stairs and finally along the corridor that Hermione's chambers were in, and when he reached the door to her office, he was surprised to hear an awful lot of shouting coming from within. The door was cracked open a little, and he could see that she was definitely one of the raised voices in there, and by the sound of it, the other was a male voice that was annoyingly familiar.

He stood there and decided to listen for a moment before he interrupted their interesting conversation. After all, it was bad manners to interrupt people while they were talking.

'- and don't you dare use Ron as an excuse, because he came and saw me last week and said that he was fine with it!' she shouted angrily.

'Hermione, you're being selfish. You knew that I would be mad, yet you still went and married that overgrown bat! Why, I didn't even find out until a week after it happened, and only because Ginny saw fit to let me know when I returned from my business trip in Spain!' the male voice roared.

'You were in Spain, you still get the Daily Prophet there, so don't use that as an excuse, Harry Potter!' she retorted hotly, feeling the tears stinging her eyes.

Snape felt a sudden realization jolt through his body when he heard the mention of Harry's name. It was Potter, and they were arguing about him. He paused for a moment, when he was about to throw the door wide and storm in to hex the boy senseless, but Hermione spoke again.

'Harry,' Hermione said in a quivering, yet reasoning voice. 'I chose to marry him. I was not forced, and I really do like him, a lot more than I thought. I hurt him two weeks ago, so very badly, and I have never regretted anything more in my life. I know you're angry, but as one of my best friends, I am asking you to be understanding.'

'Hermione, I cannot understand. He was a Death Eater! You know it, and I know it, and I will never accept him,' Harry said in a deathly low voice before it rose towards the end. 'I cannot be your friend as long as he is a part of your life. It was bad enough that you even work with him here!' he added angrily.

When Snape heard those words and the sob that escaped Hermione's throat that accompanied his hateful words, he snapped. He burst into the room forcefully with the door crashing against the wall behind it with a splintering thud, and in a flash, he had Harry up against the wall with his wand at his throat and a steady arm pinning his shoulder still.

'Give me one reason why I should not hex you seven ways to Sunday right now, Potter,' he snarled.

Hermione stood, thunderstruck in the middle of the room, eyes wide and bottom lip quivering. HE was there, in her office. It was likely that he had heard every terrible comment that Harry had said about him, and now he had Harry pinned against the wall. She shook her head and opened her mouth to speak when she heard the words of venom seep out of Snape's mouth threateningly.

'Severus?' she asked weakly, dazed and confused beyond thought.

He looked over his shoulder at her and saw her tearstained face, trembling bottom lip, and look of pure shock. His features softened, and he shoved Harry back against the wall and turned his back on him, walking straight towards his upset and confused wife. 'Hermione,' he whispered tenderly. 'Are you alright?'

She tried to nod, but failed and simply collapsed into his arms as he held them out to catch her. 'I'm so sorry,' she sobbed as he held her, and the cry that she had needed for weeks finally spilled forth from her stinging eyes.

Severus stroked her hair and muttered quick, soothing words before he looked back at Harry Potter crumpled against the wall. 'Get out of here, Potter, and don't assume you're welcome here until you come to your senses and apologize for what you have done to my wife!' he barked angrily.

Harry gave him a hateful look and pushed off the wall, storming through the open door and slamming it closed behind him. Severus turned back to look down at the crying witch in his arms and felt his temper calm and heart swell with something he didn't recognize. 'Hermione, sweet, beautiful, Hermione,' he whispered against her hair as he hugged her. 'I forgive you, but can you ever forgive me?'

She nodded against his chest and looked up at his with glistening eyes. 'Of course I can,' she replied softly before she leaned forwards and claimed the kiss that they had surpassed their wedding day.

When Severus felt her soft lips against his, he could feel the promise that the kiss held and poured his own promises back when it deepened... They were going to start again.