Chapter Thirty: A Tour of the Past

Author's Note: If you read the previous chapter and thought it cut off in a peculiar place, it did. It seems to have happened after I initially posted it, however, so if you read the chapter early...or after I corrected the glitch...you probably didn't notice anything wrong. If you did, however, you lost about a third of the chapter, so you likely ought to pop back and read that now. Apologies for the inconvenience...and many thanks to KingPig for pointing out the problem to me!

Chapter Thirty: A Tour of the Past

Saturday, 6 March 1999

"I hope you don't mind eating in the kitchen," Gareth said as he dished up the lasagna, two large portions for each of them.

Severus shook his head, then realised that Gareth had his back to him and couldn't see him. "No, this is fine."

Gareth put two small bowls on the table and gave them each some spinach salad. "There's Stilton in the salad...I hope that's something you eat...and a lemon juice and olive oil dressing."

Severus nodded, and the two wizards began to eat. Gareth glanced up occasionally to look at Severus, who was eating his way first through the salad then his lasagna.

Finally, Gareth said, "So?"

Severus looked over at him, an eyebrow raised, then he understood. "It's good. Thank you."

"What's wrong with it?"

"Nothing is wrong with it," Severus replied, taking a sip of water.

"Does it need something?"

"Nothing. I do not cook. This is good."

Gareth let out a short laugh. "I suppose from you, that is sufficiently high praise to feed my ego."

Severus quirked a small smile. "It is actually the best lasagna I remember eating."

Gareth laughed again. "No need to be that effusive, but I do appreciate it." He shrugged, smiling. "I'm afraid I'm a bit needy about my cooking. I could fix someone a boiled egg, and I would need to hear that it was cooked to perfection. I try not to be too annoying about it though."

Severus nodded, amused by Gareth's statement. "I will try to remember that. The salad is very good, too," he added, thinking of Gareth's generosity toward him. A few words could cost him little.

"I have fruit, if you would like dessert," Gareth offered. "We also have some ginger newts on hand for when Aunt Minerva visits."

Severus shook his head.

"More lasagna, then?"

"That was more than I normally eat," Severus replied. "It was good, but I don't think I could manage more."

"Very well, then, how about that tour of the house?"

Severus hesitated. He had become much more comfortable, but he didn't think he wanted a tour.

"Come on, I'll show you around," Gareth said encouragingly, rising from the table.

Severus followed reluctantly as Gareth showed him the dining room, which was strewn with parchments, books, charts, and tables.

"This is where Hermione and I do most of our work, so we usually eat in the kitchen," Gareth said. "Mum's study is through there." He pointed at a closed door.

Gareth led Severus up the stairs. "That's my mother's bedroom, Hermione's there, at the end of the hall, there's another guest room here, and I use this room as a study," he said, opening a door to reveal a small, cluttered room with a desk, two chairs, and bookshelves along the walls. He opened another door to a large, bright room. "And this is my bedroom."

Severus felt sick. The lasagna was sitting like a rock in his stomach. That had been the room in which they had found Professor Gamp, about to prepare for bed.

"It used to be my parents' bedroom," Gareth said, "but my mother prefers to use my old one. It's a little smaller, but it has a nice view to the back garden and is part of the extension Dad put on when she was expecting me. This one looks out front." He walked over to the window and looked out, then turned around and looked at Severus.

Severus was standing stock-still just inside the doorway, pale and sweating. The room looked almost entirely different than it had when they had surprised Professor Gamp, but it seemed that an image of it overlaid his vision of the room as it was currently. He closed his eyes. He heard Gareth's footsteps as he crossed the room. He felt Gareth take his hand. Without resisting, he let Gareth pull him across the room to the bed.

"You need to lie down. Come, lie down," Gareth said gently as he steered Severus toward the bed.

Severus lay down as directed, then he felt the bed move as Gareth sat beside him.

Gareth caressed his forehead. "Can I get you anything?"

Severus shook his head and opened his eyes. "You shouldn't be kind to me. Don't be kind to me. I deserve to be punished for what I did here." His voice came out a harsh croak.

"I believe you have punished yourself enough over the years, and you have paid for your choices in the past."

Severus closed his eyes again. "I should be punished. I should be repaying you. I should be giving you whatever you want. Instead, you are . . . you are being good to me. I don't understand it."

"What would you have me do, Snape? Treat you with disdain? Take some kind of vengeance against you? Punish you? That wouldn't help me...or my mother...and I don't believe it would help you, either."

"I feel . . . I need to . . . I don't know," Severus said.

"Think of all you have done to help save the wizarding world. I know that if you hadn't made the sacrifices you did, we would all be much worse off. Much worse."

Severus shook his head, trying to think about what Gareth said. He opened his eyes, then he slowly raised his hand and caressed Gareth's face. His hand shook as he touched Gareth's chest. He watched his hand, feeling detached from it, as he brought it lower. He swallowed, then whispered, "I could bring you pleasure, do whatever you wished me to do."

Gareth stopped his hand as it drifted toward the front of his kilt. He raised his hand to his lips and kissed it gently. "No, Severus. No."

"Why? You..."

"I wanted to help you and bring you pleasure for your sake. I did enjoy it. I care about you. I find you attractive. But you are talking about letting yourself be used."

"But I want to, I need to," Severus said.

"You said you needed to be punished," Gareth said, looking pained. "I don't want you to use being with me as a punishment. How do you think I would feel? I don't want that from you or from anyone."

Severus turned his face away and closed his eyes. He felt ashamed.

"Now I will never know whether you are accepting my touch, my friendship, because it is bringing you warmth, because you like me, or because you see it as punishment," Gareth said, sighing.

Severus looked back up at Gareth. "I do appreciate your friendship," he whispered. "I enjoy your company, even when you're being aggravating."

Gareth grinned. "That's good, I suppose."

"And what you did earlier, the way you touched me, I did like that. It was difficult to accept at first, but I liked it." Severus swallowed. "You saw my reaction. I don't think I would have reacted that way if I didn't like it."

Gareth shrugged. "Some people get off on being humiliated or hurt."

"I do not." Severus recalled again his brief relationship with Bella and what he had tolerated in order to gain her attention and to feel more like a genuine Death Eater. It had only felt nasty.

Gareth looked into his eyes. "I believe you, or you would not see touching me as punishment." He looked away for a moment. "I do wish you didn't see it as being so dreadful, though."

"Touching you isn't dreadful," Severus said. "It isn't." He raised his hand to the other wizard's face again. "Really. It's just that . . . I was willing to do whatever you wanted, even if it wasn't something I wanted. But just touching you is fine. And I enjoyed having you touch me," he added very softly.

Gareth smiled and nodded. "How do you feel now? Better?"

"Still sick." Severus stared at the ceiling. "I stepped into the room, and I could see it just as it was all those years ago."

"I am sorry."

"We thought she would be asleep. She was not. We thought she was a weak old teacher. She was not. We thought she would be alone. She was not. We thought we were powerful and clever. We were not."

Gareth looked away and closed his eyes. After a moment's struggle, he asked, "Why? Why her? If she was just a weak old teacher?"

"She was Dumbledore's friend. A friend of Dumbledore was a target for the Dark Lord, whether they were dangerous in themselves or not. And he said that she was a blood-traitor. That she was a Muggle-lover. That people like her were insidious, like a poison to the wizarding race."

"But you knew her. She had taught you."

"I didn't hold any personal animosity toward her. I hadn't given her a thought since she retired, though I would sometimes see her on a Hogsmeade weekend from a distance. It wouldn't have mattered how I felt, though. Even if she had been my favourite teacher. The Dark Lord wanted her killed. He said that she was a blood-traitor. That was sufficient."

"My father and Robert's father were both pureblood wizards."

Severus shook his head. "It wasn't just marrying a Muggle or Muggle-born that made you a blood-traitor in his eyes. Supporting Muggle protections, believing that Muggle-borns were equals with purebloods, that would also make you a blood-traitor. Eventually, it was sufficient simply to oppose him to be considered a blood-traitor."

"And you believed this?" Gareth asked, looking back at him.

"I wanted to be superior." Severus snorted. "I believed I was superior. I thought that becoming a Death Eater would confirm my superiority, that it would show everyone. I thought that Dark Magic was more powerful than any other and that it would protect me from my enemies. My enemies were enemies of the Dark Lord. I was angry with the world, and I wanted revenge and power. It seemed all to fit. But I just grew more disgusted with myself."

"What about your family? Half of them were Muggles."

"My father left us when I was about nine. My Grandfather Prince had never approved of his daughter marrying a mere Muggle. He made life misery for us all. He used to try to beat the Muggle out of me. My mother was more intimidated by her father than she was in love with mine. I think she had thought somehow that marrying my father would help her escape a life she hated, but she found herself in a life that was worse. My parents seemed to fight all of the time. As for me, I tried to be the best little wizard my grandfather could ever want to see, and I rejected my father even before he rejected us."

"But where are they now?"

"My grandfather died the summer before I entered Hogwarts. I never was able to show him what a good little wizard I was," Severus said bitterly. "My father died later my first year. Of liver cirrhosis, I think my mother said. My mother killed herself when I was seventeen. It was a lovely coming-of-age present for me."

"Leaving you to join the Death Eaters."

Severus shrugged. "I loved my mother, but I also hated her. When she killed herself, I hated her for doing it, but I also felt freed. I thought I could create a new Severus Snape who had never had a drunken Muggle father and a cowed, beaten mother. I felt freed, and one of the first things I did was sign over my life and my soul to the Dark Lord."

Gareth cupped Severus's face. "You will be more than all of that. You already are." He leaned forward and kissed his cheek.

Severus pulled away and Gareth sat up.

"Time for us to finish the tour. The back garden is next," Gareth said.

Severus rolled away from him and got off the bed. "You are too fucking persistent, McGonagall."

"Come on. I'll show you my magical acanthus."

"It won't be in bloom yet," Severus replied caustically.

"It has some nice new shoots," Gareth said, ignoring Severus's tone. "I was pleased, since we only put it in in the autumn. I didn't expect any new growth until next year. I've been giving it lots of loving care, though, and Rosemary helped me set a microclimate around it, and it's doing very well."

Severus followed Gareth through the hall and down the stairs. When they reached the hallway leading to the back of the house, Severus stopped.

Unaware that Severus wasn't right behind him, Gareth said, "Back here is a storeroom, a plant room where we start seedlings, and my dad's old study. It still has all his stuff in it. We don't use it, really, but we don't keep it closed up, either. There's some stuff there that you would be really interested in, I think...Snape?" He turned around. "Coming?"

Severus nodded stiffly. As Gareth opened the backdoor, Severus asked, "Don't you know what happened here?"

"Many things happened here, Snape," Gareth replied. "If I thought of it only as the place where you cut off Mum's arm, I don't think I could manage. It does pass through my mind occasionally as I come in or go out, but I cannot dwell on it. It was harder for my mother, of course, but she is living here again. I should think you could manage to walk through the door."

Severus reflexively looked at the floor as if expecting to see evidence of his crime.

"No spot there, friend. Long gone," Gareth said softly, opening the door.

"If your mother lived on that island for years, what happened to the house? You didn't live here."

"I spent a few weeks here during the summer the first two years. Aunt Minerva stayed with me, and Albus was here part of the time, too. We left it vacant after I left Hogwarts. Every so often, Robert or one of our other relatives would send a house-elf to check on it and perform maintenance, and Aunt Minerva and Uncle Albus also kept an eye on it. There were wards in place. My mother thought that after I finished my apprenticeship, I might like it, but I saw no reason to move back here. If she had returned after Voldemort's first defeat, I might have done, but she didn't. I stayed with Robert and Thea, and then did my apprenticeship, and she was still on that island. Why return? It wasn't the right time yet."

Severus followed Gareth through the garden, which seemed larger than it was due to the clever layout of the winding path and some visual tricks played using different raised beds and plants of different heights and shapes.

"Mum and Gluffy do most of the work on the garden. After all that time alone together, they work together in an almost uncanny way. They don't even speak, and watching them, you would think they had choreographed everything in advance. It's a little weird."

After Gareth had shown Severus the ornamentals, including the acanthus which he was so proud of, the herb garden, and where a vegetable garden had been started at the side of the house near the kitchen, he brought him back into the house through the kitchen.

"Tea?"

"I should go. I have work waiting for me."

"Just a quick cuppa," Gareth said, opening a cupboard and taking out a tin of tea.

Severus hesitated. He didn't have any immediately pressing duties, though he should be at dinner. That wasn't for a while yet.

"All right." He looked around. "Can I do anything to help?"

"You can get the milk from the cool cupboard behind you."

Severus put the bottle on the table. Gareth had put out teacups and saucers and was now pouring hot water into the teapot over the tea leaves.

"I got this pot in Amsterdam for my mother several years ago, before my apprenticeship. It's charmed to strain the tea leaves, and it has an automagical Cosy Charm, too. I bought it to make things easier for her, but I must say, I have grown spoiled by it myself."

When Severus was at Spinner's End, he just used Muggle teabags and a big mug and cast a rewarming charm if it cooled. He didn't mention that, though.

"You mentioned Gluffy before, and so has Hermione. He's your house-elf?" Presumably the same house-elf whom Wilkes had disabled when they attacked Professor Gamp. The loyal creature had first crashed a dresser down on Tovin, killing him before he could finish casting a Mace Hex at Gamp, and then he had deliberately Apparated directly in front of his mistress just as Wilkes cast a curse at her, giving her the opportunity to Petrify Wilkes and flee to the stairs. Malfoy had already cast a curse at Gamp, opening up one side of her face, but in return, she had Stunned him. Only Severus had been left to chase the witch down and murder her, and she had been ineffective in casting any spells that would hit him, though she had taxed his defensive magic. When he went to retrieve Malfoy and Wilkes, Severus had left the house-elf lying where he was. Could have been a piece of furniture for all he'd cared at the time.

Gareth nodded. "Yes, one of Mum's, actually. Never took one with me. Too peripatetic. Gluffy's at the Gamp estate today, visiting relatives."

"Whose relatives?"

"His, of course. The house-elves at the estate are all Gamp elves, so most are relatives of Gluffy's. I suppose I should call it the MacAirt estate now, but force of habit. It belongs to Alroy and Rosemary. Actually, it's still Mum's until she dies, then it passes to Alroy, as her older brother's grandson, but she obviously didn't need it when she was on Eilean Tèarmunn, and she has this house, so after Grandmother Columbine died, Mum told Alroy to take it and treat it as his own. Alroy doesn't make any major changes to the house or grounds without asking her, but as long as he leaves her room and the library alone, I don't think she would give a fiddle what he did with the rest. Rosemary has really done a lot with the gardens."

"Rosemary . . ." Severus remembered that Poppy had pointed out a Rosemary at the Merlin awards, and he'd heard her name several times since, but he couldn't remember how she would be related to Gareth, and he hadn't remembered her from school, although she had apparently been at Hogwarts around the same time as he.

"My cousin on the McGonagall side. She's actually Melina's daughter, but she's closer to my age. She's an Herbologist."

"So your cousin married your other cousin?"

"My mother is Alroy's great-aunt. My father was Rosemary's great-uncle. They aren't cousins themselves. They married last summer and they're expecting their first child soon. You must remember Rosemary. She was only a couple years behind you at Hogwarts. Rosemary O'Donald. She was in Ravenclaw. Black wavy hair, very fair skin, dark blue eyes, looks a bit like her mum?"

Severus shook his head slowly, but then he said, "Was she a prefect?" When Gareth nodded, he said, "Yes, I remember her. She took her NEWTs before I began to teach, though, so I don't have more than a vague memory of her." If she had tormented him or had offered him some access to power, to the Dark Arts, he would have remembered her. Everyone else had been beneath his notice, so unless they were on a Quidditch team or had done something else to distinguish themselves, he never spared them a second thought.

"You must remember my cousin Morgana, though," Gareth said. "She was in your House."

"I remember her existence, and I remember that she was quite striking looking, she and her twin both were, but I was not particularly sociable. I didn't really know her at all. If I wasn't in a class with someone, I probably didn't know them, and I only got to know a few of the older students, even in Slytherin." Almost all of whom became Death Eaters, he added to himself.

"That's too bad. You would have liked her, I think. She's got a biting wit." Gareth poured them each more tea. "She had a hard time of it after she left school, though. She was quite brilliant and very ambitious. She went to work for the Ministry. A lot of people, non-Slytherins, took an immediate dislike to her because she was a Slytherin, and they identified Slytherins with Death Eaters and pureblood ideology, which she never cared about. Purebloods in the Ministry who sympathised with Voldemort, or who even may have been unidentified Death Eaters, didn't like her because she wasn't a Voldemort supporter. After five years of frustration at the Ministry, never receiving promotions despite her excellent work, she left. She didn't just leave the Ministry, either. She emigrated to Australia, where people think that whatever House you were in at Hogwarts is simply quaint or amusing. I spent almost a year there with her not long after my apprenticeship, but it was too far away from home even for me. She's done well there, though. She's Deputy Minister for Information Sorcery in the Australian Ministry. She's aiming to be First Minister one day...if that's enough of a challenge for her. She's still very hands-on, loves research, doesn't just do paper-pushing. I think she should go into private business."

"She had a brother, too. In Gryffindor. He was also a prefect." Severus began to remember more about them, recalling a time when the McGonagall boy had broken up a confrontation he'd had with Black and Potter. He'd been surprised that the prefect hadn't automatically taken sides with his fellow Gryffindors, but had just told Snape to get out of there and then begun to yell at the other two about fair sport and not setting ambush for someone, two against one.

"Yes, it made for quite a bit of friction when David and Morgana were made prefects and Aiden and Branwen weren't."

"Aiden?"

"David's twin." Gareth grinned. "My grandmother has always thought that Uncle Morgan and Aunt Fiona must have used a potion or a spell to have all four at once, though they swore they didn't. Two sets of identical twins, though, is pretty unusual, especially simultaneously. Needless to say, my aunt and uncle decided that four at once was enough. Aunt Minerva calls them 'the litter.'"

Snape quirked a smile. He could easily imagine that. "I knew that Minerva had family, of course, and I had seen Melina occasionally, but until last year, I didn't realise how large her extended family was."

"We're a little scattered, I suppose," Gareth said with a shrug. "What about your relatives, Snape?"

Severus shook his head. "My mother had no siblings. A couple elderly cousins of my Grandfather Prince's may still be alive, but I haven't any real family. My Grandfather Prince was estranged from most of his. He was not a pleasant person, and when my mother married my father, she was even more cut off from his side of the family. I never knew my grandmother, but she was a Black, so I'm distantly related to the Blacks. Narcissa is my third cousin, I believe, but I didn't know her or her sisters until I came to Hogwarts."

"You're related to more than just the Black family, I'm sure. We may even be related somehow, the way the families all intermarry. I think my mother's maternal grandmother was a Black, in fact...and there are Princes in the Tyree family somewhere."

Severus just snorted at that.

"What about your father's family?"

"Even if there are any, I never knew them. He was an only child. My grandfather died shortly before I was born, and Bubbie...that is, my grandmother...died when I was very young, and I didn't see her often. I have only a vague memory of her. My father spoke of his parents and grandparents occasionally, but after he left us, my mother . . ." Severus just shook his head. "There's no one."

"Have you ever told Hermione about your family?"

"I have told her that I haven't any. There is nothing to tell her."

"You could tell her what you told me today," Gareth said.

Severus snorted again. "As if being a former Death Eater weren't enough ugly truth. There would be no point to it."

"If you don't want Tarrant to have a chance with Hermione, you will need to open yourself up."

Severus shook his head. "We are friends. I cannot interfere with her relationships. Not even with that dolt."

"I am not talking about interfering with her relationships. I am speaking of making yourself an option for her, letting her know how you feel about her."

"I am too old for her. And I am not a nice person. I would not be good for her. I barely can manage a friendship with her; anything more would be disastrous. I would hurt her, or simply fail at providing her what she needs, what she deserves to have. Besides, you said that she likes Tarrant. Very much, you said."

"I never said that," Gareth corrected. "I said that she likes one of the two wizards very much. I think she may very well return your feelings. But she may give up hope if you don't do something. You don't have to rush into anything. Just let her know how strongly you care for her, that she is important in your life."

Severus didn't respond to that. He knew that Hermione had become fond of him when she was a student, much to his surprise. Even more surprising, he had found that he enjoyed her company, that he looked forward to seeing her, and that he wanted to protect her. When he had been half-conscious after being bitten by Nagini, lying with his head in Hermione's lap, one of his first thoughts was that he had certainly died. As he drifted in and out of consciousness, he was aware of her gentle touch and her words, begging him to stay, to live, to breathe. And when, later that summer, he found her address and went to visit her, she hadn't asked him why he was there. She was simply glad to see him.

Gareth cleared the tea things away, then he turned back to Severus. "You should tell her, Snape. Make some overtures. She would be pleased, I am sure, and I don't think you would be disappointed."

"We go to lunch a few times a month," Severus said. "And she writes me letters. Long letters."

"Do you write back?"

"Not really. Sometimes. I send her a note occasionally if she asks my advice." Severus quirked a slight smile. "As she did when she was frustrated with your method of beginning her apprenticeship."

Gareth laughed. "Ah, yes, she was unhappy about that, having to restrict herself to basic Arithmantic calculations, standard conversions of letters and numbers, and not using any other symbols and no spells. What did you tell her?"

"I told her that mastering the fundamentals of a discipline is important and that returning to basics and really fully understanding them as though they were second nature to her would give her a foundation for the more advanced work. I also pointed out that she had greater intellectual maturity than she had when she took her first Arithmancy class and so her understanding would likewise be more mature." Severus stood. "I also told her that for the first month of my apprenticeship, I did nothing but brew Boil Cure Potion every day, six days a week."

"Boil Cure Potion?" Gareth asked, laughing. "That is basic. You must have hated it."

"I did at first, but then as I grew bored, thinking I could brew it in my sleep, the quality declined although I did not do anything that I could identify as wrong. I learned that my attention was necessary even with the simplest of potions. I became obsessed with the potion and with becoming more and more precise in my timing, measurements, and intention. It was a valuable lesson, although I do not believe that if I were to take an apprentice, I would proceed in quite that way."

"Well, as I said before, you needn't dive headfirst into a relationship with her, and you needn't make any long-term plans or make any pledges, but I think you should explore it. Try doing some little romantic things for her. Bring her small gifts. They don't have to be expensive or flamboyant. Just little things. Flowers are always nice, or chocolates."

Severus remembered the chocolates that he had given Hermione during her sixth year. He had been under the Actus Adfectus spell and hadn't been himself, but he still remembered how her eyes brightened when she realised that the heart-shaped box of chocolates were for her. It had been a very large box. He couldn't do that again, that had been overly flamboyant, but he could buy her a small box.

As Gareth led him back into the sitting room, he said, "Or you could begin by giving her little gifts that were thoughtful but not necessarily romantic, if you want to take it even more slowly."

"I suppose I could. And if she only wants a friendship with me, it wouldn't be as embarrassing."

"Ah, I think they're back," Gareth said as a soft chime sounded somewhere above them. "That's the perimeter charm."

"I knew I should have left. I'll go out through the back door," Severus said, agitated.

"No, you won't. You can't Disapparate from there, so you would have to walk around the house to the front gate. Anyone who saw you would find it more startling to have you apparently lurking around in the gardens. You stay here, just have a seat on the couch, and I'll go let them in and let Mum know you're here."

Severus nodded unhappily. He supposed that was better than having her meet him unawares. A minute later, and he heard voices as Gareth greeted his mother and Hermione. The sound of Hermione's voice made him nervous, but he also felt the same slight sense of imminent arousal that he sometimes felt when he first heard her voice after not seeing her in a while. He looked up. To his surprise, Professor Gamp was the first person through the door to the sitting room. She was dressed in Muggle clothing...trousers, in fact. Severus stood.

She looked at him, pausing slightly as though assessing his appearance, then she nodded and said simply, "Professor Snape."

"Professor Gamp," Severus replied, cringing inwardly at the slightly rough squeak in his voice, but his mouth and throat felt parched, despite the two cups of tea he had just drunk.

"I am not a teacher any longer. You needn't use that title," she replied. "And you are long out of school, yourself."

He nodded in response, unsure what to say. Severus could see Hermione standing in the doorway behind Professor Gamp, and Gareth, behind her...too close to her for his liking. She edged her way into the room.

"Madam Gamp and I went into London today. We wore ourselves out," she said brightly.

Gertrude looked down fondly at Hermione. "You mean you wore me out." She looked back over at Severus. "She is being kind to an old wreck."

Severus felt frozen in place.

"You are not an old wreck, Madam Gamp," Hermione said. "I had a good time today."

"So did I," Gertrude said quietly. "But I am tired. I think I will go upstairs now." She looked at her son, still standing in the doorway. "I would like to speak to you."

Gareth nodded and followed his mother when she left the room. Severus felt as though his legs were completely numb.

"I'm surprised to see you, Severus," Hermione said as she put a large, striped paper bag down on the floor. "Surprised, but pleased."

"I doubt that was the reaction that Madam Gamp had when she learned I was here. Surprised, no doubt, but not pleased."

Hermione shrugged. "I don't know. I didn't hear what Gareth told her, but her expression never changed. But then, getting her to show a reaction of any kind can be difficult. She seemed to enjoy the musical we saw this afternoon, though."

Severus nodded.

"So, would you like some tea?" Hermione asked.

"No, thank you. We just had some. I was just leaving."

"Do you have to? We haven't had a real visit in a couple weeks, I think."

Severus hesitated. "I should get back to Hogwarts for dinner."

"Oh. That's disappointing," Hermione said. "But if you Apparated to the gates, you wouldn't have to leave right away, would you? We could talk for a little while."

"I don't think I would be comfortable doing that."

Hermione's face fell, though she masked it quickly. "I'm sorry. I don't want to keep you."

"I had thought to be gone before Professor Gamp returned," Severus explained.

"I see. It was convenient that we were out all day, then," Hermione said.

"No, no, it wasn't. I was in town, and I came to see if you wanted to go to lunch. It would have been more convenient if you had been in," Severus said.

Hermione smiled brightly. "I wish I had been, then."

"You had a good time in London, though."

"Yes, but still, I wish I could have had lunch with you, too," Hermione said. "Can't you stay for just a little while? Madam Gamp is upstairs now. She knows you're here. She never says anything bad about you."

"I doubt she sings my praises, though," Severus said drily.

"She wouldn't be likely to do that, anyway. She is not very effusive." Hermione sat down on the couch, patting the cushion beside her, indicating that Severus should sit beside her. "Did you and Gareth have a good afternoon?"

Severus fought the flush he felt building. He swallowed. "It was interesting."

"What did you do?"

"We talked. He showed me the house." He stripped me nude, and I let him touch me and kiss me, he thought to himself. Severus sat when Hermione patted the couch again. "He gave me lasagna for lunch."

"He's a good cook," Hermione said.

"The lasagna was good."

Hermione giggled. "I hope you told him."

Severus gave a brief smile. "I did."

"I have an entire act I do for him to tell him how wonderful his cooking is...just to tease him, you know."

"You still enjoy living here with them, then?"

"Yes, and the apprenticeship is wonderful. One reason I brought Madam Gamp out today was not just because I think she needs to get out, but as a way of thanking her. It's like having an apprenticeship with two people, she helps so much, and they're both so talented."

"Doesn't it bother Gareth to have his mother interfering in your apprenticeship?"

"She's not interfering. She's helping. He never minds. They work well together, actually."

"And Gareth?"

"What do you mean?"

"How are you getting along with him?"

"You know that already. After the first bumps, I like the way he's organised my apprenticeship, and he's great to work with. I love it."

Severus nodded, no more comfortable than he had been when Professor Gamp first left the room. He was acutely aware that he was sitting in the same spot he had sat when Gareth had handed him his underpants. What if Gareth said something to Hermione? Or did something in front of her? What would she think? He felt Hermione's hand on his arm and looked over at her.

"What is it? What's wrong?" she asked.

"Being in this house is uncomfortable, that's all," he said, not meeting her eyes.

"You spent the afternoon here, though." Hermione pointed out.

"And it was not an entirely pleasant experience."

"Well, you must have enjoyed yourself at least a little," Hermione said, "or you wouldn't have stayed so long. I know that Gareth likes you."

Severus nodded. He remembered how Gareth had massaged him all over. He swallowed. He had never touched his erection, though, and Severus was torn about how he felt about that. As he remembered Gareth's touch and his own arousal, he could feel his cock beginning to react. He glanced at Hermione. If she had walked in then, it would have been disastrous. He couldn't possibly ever show his face again. But if she were to walk in, alone, and McGonagall weren't there, and he had been lying on the couch, nude, his penis engorged and erect . . . she would likely be embarrassed and horrified in actuality, but then in actuality, such a thing would never happen. But he wished it had been Hermione who had wanted to touch him and kiss him, though he had to admit that he would probably have fled. He still wasn't sure why he hadn't stopped McGonagall, why he hadn't simply left the house. Had he wanted that and not known it? Did he want an intimate relationship with Gareth? No, he didn't think so. But he trusted him. And it had been very comforting, very relaxing, very safe . . .

Severus successfully kept himself from flinching when he felt Hermione brushing his hair back from his face.

"I'm sorry. I shouldn't have asked you to stay. I'm sure that it's different now that his mother's here," Hermione said softly.

He shook his head. "It's all right." He turned his head to look at her, and she dropped her hand. "Would you like to go to dinner with me?"

"Now? Tonight?" When he nodded, she said, "I thought you had to get back to the school."

"There are other teachers who will be there. I am not required to be present this evening. I simply know that Minerva likes us to be there when possible." Remembering Gareth's encouraging words, he said, "I would like to take you out to dinner, Hermione. If not this evening, perhaps one night next week?"

"Or both?" she asked with a smile. "We had a huge meal for tea, so I'm not very hungry right now, but I'd still like to go out to dinner with you tonight."

Severus smiled and nodded slightly. "Both would be fine."

Hermione looked down at her Muggle trousers and jumper. "I should change. This was fine for an afternoon in London, but..."

"It's fine, Hermione." He looked at her, into her warm, happy eyes, and tried to think of what more to say. "You look lovely."

Hermione blushed visibly. "Thank you."

"We can just have something light to eat tonight. We could go to a Muggle pub somewhere, if you like."

Hermione nodded. "That would be nice. Just let me bring my shopping upstairs. I'll be just a minute." She stood and picked up her shopping bag.

Something occurred to Severus. "Do you have a pub you would like to go to?" The few Muggle pubs he was well-acquainted with were rather seedy, nowhere he would want to bring Hermione.

"I know a couple places." She hesitated at the door, turning back to him. "I don't mean to sound dumb or impertinent, but is this a date? Like a date date?"

"I thought if you wanted it to be a date, yes," Severus said hesitantly.

Hermione grinned. "Good. I wasn't sure."

NEXT

Chapter Thirty-One: A Date with Hermione

Saturday, 6 March 1999

Severus takes Hermione on a date, but it gets off to a rocky start.

Rated T.

Characters: Severus Snape, Hermione Granger, others