A Muggle Solution

Disclaimer: Except for OCs, the characters here and the world they inhabit are the creation and property of JK Rowling and her assigns.

As predicted, Uncle Sonny was very happy. He was also concerned. Severus explained the reasons he worried and to Katherine's annoyance, her uncle sided with her husband. She was admonished from taking risks, even after she pointed out, repeatedly, that she was trained to take reasonable risks and use those risks to her benefit. The two men in her family just looked at her as if she were speaking another language. She pointed out that she had been living and working around the world without getting killed, and Severus waved his hand. He pointed out that everything was different now while Uncle Sonny nodded. It was hard to be upset with two men who so overwhelmingly wanted to protect her, but it was also annoying to have her movements curtailed in this way.

She was expected to stay within the confines of their flat until they left for Venice. There was plenty to do, overseeing the last bit of papering and packing for their trip. The plan was to possibly continue on to their island if they completed the job for Lucius. There was a great deal to do around the flat, fixing things up and explaining how to manage it to the house-elves. It was important work that needed to be done, and Katherine hated it.

She smelled the cool air and looked carefully around her as she made her way to the chemist's shop. Packing for a delightful trip was not the delightful part. Plus, she was anxious. Having thought of a way to calm her nerves, she was eager to make use of it. Now the greatest danger lay not in those who would do her harm, but in one who wanted her to stay within their safe flat.

She walked carefully past certain stores and alleyways as she went, feeling a certain relief as she got past them. She got to the chemist's shop and made her selections. The check out clerk raised his eyebrows at her, but the look she gave him in exchange did not allow for comment.

Once outside again, Katherine breathed a sigh of relief and hurried on her way. Her goal in sight, she was not as careful as she should have been. She was not careful to check one of the alleys she passed and as she did, a hand reached out an pulled her into the darkened space.

Granger was bubbly, Weasley was morose, and Potter watched worriedly between them. It had started early in the morning and continued as the lunch hour approached. Snape pinched his nose between his eyes and finally said, "I realize that you're all teenagers, but is there a particularly good reason for this bit of drama?"

The three looked between themselves, looked at him, and shrugged.

He continued, "I'm not sure I see the point of this study session if you're not going to concentrate."

Ron stood and went to the window, still morose. Hermione blushed and turned away. Harry opened his mouth. "It's like this..." He shut his mouth quickly when Hermione quickly turned back and shook her head. Ron looked over from his window and shrugged.

Severus looked at them all in turn. Weasley was facing the outside again, Granger was turned away and blushing, trying hard not to smile. Potter was the weak link in this case, and an easy one at that. It had always been fairly simple to get the boy to let out more than he intended.

"I see. Well, if you are unable to study, I'll bid you adieu. My wife and I were planning to travel soon and I'm sure she could use my assistance on the plans..."

"It's your wife's fault," said Ron. "She put ideas in Hermione's head."

"No, she didn't," answered the girl. "I was already planning to visit Viktor. You're just looking at it all wrong."

"Is there a right way to look at it?"

"I'm just taking some time to sort myself out. I don't need to jump into anything."

"Who's asking you to jump into anything?"

"Aren't you?"

"No! I thought you wanted..."

"Well, I don't!"

"How was I supposed to know?"

"You might have asked."

"You might have told me."

"You seem to be jumping to Bulgaria fast enough..."

Her wand came out. "That's not fair!"

Severus and Harry looked between the two. One was annoyed while the other was embarrassed. As he glanced toward Ron and the window during one part of the exchange, Severus noticed a shadow walk past. Moving toward the window, he watched the shadow as it furtively glided down the street.

He turned and removed Granger's wand from her hand, while Summoning Weasley's from his sleeve. "If you don't mind, I'm going to leave this scintillating discussion. It seems I have something to look after." He handed the wands to Potter, hoping that the-boy-who-saved-everything was also the-boy-who-could-referee-between-his-friends.

Once outside, he spotted his wife and followed as she went to the chemist's shop. He stepped into an alleyway and waited. She came back after a few minutes, carrying a paper bag. She had an odd look in her eye and wasn't watching around her as well as she might. It was all too easy to reach her sleeve and tug her into the alleyway with him.

Katherine knew instantly that it was her husband. She squirmed to pull back but his arms were like iron, pinning her against him. Her cheek was held against a wall of rage, and she realized that there was nothing she could do or say at the moment. She stood still and waited while the anger and fear drained from his body and his hold on her softened but did not relax. Finally, he trusted himself to speak.

"Have you any idea what went through my mind when I saw you walk past?" he asked.

She shook her head.

"I know you're capable. I know you can get to the chemist's shop and back with little trouble. I know that you can blast a hole through anyone who would hurt you. What I don't know is what I will ever do if they get lucky and blast you first. Katherine, it's not just you, anymore. Please think about me."

She had been defiant, but now she was chagrined. "I'm sorry. I just had to...and I was very careful."

"Until this last minute, you mean." He sighed. "Well, why don't we see what was so important that you had to get it without me." He plucked the bag from her reluctant fingers and looked inside to find three smallish boxes. "'Know Now?' 'First Friend?' 'TBD?' Katherine, what do you need these ridiculous kits for?"

"We don't know for sure," she answered, blushing hard and turning to look anywhere but his face. "I was packing and taking care of things, but I've been fretting all day. What if it's true? What if it's not true? Then I remembered that the Muggles have these kits and then I couldn't wait another minute to find out."

"And thus ends my career as referee between Granger and Weasley as they play out yet another of their arguments." She was relieved to see him smirk at her. "Very well. Is it any use to beg you not to do something like this again?" She shook her head, causing him to sigh. "I shouldn't think so, although I do hope you would take better care in the future." He hugged her tightly, but gently, now. "Supposing you Apparate straight upstairs and find out what these kits will tell you. I'll send the trio out on a long lunch and join you in a few minutes. She smiled at him and he kissed her before holding her tightly again. "I wish you could know what went through my mind when I saw you."

"I'm sorry for causing you distress. I'm so tired of waiting and having to stay safe. You can't imagine what it's like."

"Well, now I'll be waiting for something else. Get on with it." He released her and she Disapparated.

When he returned to the Potions lab, Granger and Weasley were sitting on chairs close together and speaking in soft tones to each other.

"I had no idea," she was saying.

"I thought you knew everything," he muttered.

"It's not the sort of thing I could read in a book."

"Well, then, how was I supposed to know?"

"I guess I should have told you, but I wasn't sure."

"But now we both know."

"Will you come with me to Bulgaria?"

Potter was a little apart from them, looking through a Defense Against the Dark Arts book. He stood up, relieved, when he saw Snape enter the room.

"You certainly seem happy to see me, Potter."

The younger wizard sat down again, discomfited. He gave his friends a sidelong glare which went unnoticed by the objects of that look. "I was hoping to get back to studying."

"I'm sure, and I would be surprised if Granger wasn't at least as eager. Circumstances prevent me from continuing right now, unfortunately... for you. Why don't we take a long lunch and come back at, say, one-thirty?" He turned his back before they could disagree and hastened up to the flat he shared with his wife.

He was unprepared for the sight that greeted him in their bedroom. There were no signs of packing, just little plastic test kits on every flat surface of the room. Some were shaped like flat squares while others were like little wands. Some had two lines showing through little windows while others had plus signs. One wand-shaped one had nothing showing in its window. He pressed the button on the wand and read the word that flashed on the little window. He couldn't help feeling surprised and excited, despite the fact that he had already been as sure as he could.

He tried to get control over himself. It appeared that she had been quite busy that morning and must have gone to the chemist's shop several times before he caught her at it. He found that he was unable to summon the proper demeanor with which to confront a wife who had been so reckless. Somehow the message on all the little tests overrode his worry and fear. "Katherine?" he said, sure that she was in the bathroom.

"I'll be right out."

He took out his wand and went to work. When Katherine came out of the bathroom, holding another flat one and two more little wands, she found that her bedroom had been enchanted. Where there had been little tests lying on the dressers and nightstands there were now candles. Severus stood near where he had pulled the drapes.

"Let's see those," he said, walking toward her.

"All positive," she said. He looked with her and as soon as she set them on a bookshelf they became tea lights. "It's like a fairyland in here," she said. "I know I should have waited, and I know that one or two would have been sufficient, but once I started..."

His fingertip was over her lips and she quieted. "This is much better. Did you use every brand they had?"

She nodded.

"All positive?"

She nodded again.

"Do you finally believe it, then?"

She kissed his finger and moved her mouth away from it. "It's not that I didn't believe you, before. I just... I don't know how to explain it."

"Don't try. Somehow it's more real to me, now, too." He held her close, all the better to unfasten her robe. "Have you ever used one of those things before?"

"Once."

His fingers stopped working. "And?"

Her hands moved over his robes, opening the fastenings as she went. "Of course it was negative. It was a huge relief. The man was a complete jackass. It turned out that he had given me a potion to cause certain symptoms, hoping I would marry him before having it confirmed."

He slid her robe over her shoulders. "And the time that you were?" He felt her shiver as he slid his hands around her waist and started tugging her blouse from her skirt.

"They didn't, um... make... oh that's nice... There weren't home tests, then."

He met no resistance as he brought her to the bed. Indeed, she turned the tables upon him, pressing him to his back and moving her lips over his body. After a very enjoyable time, he pulled himself to his side next to her. He looked into her eyes.

"That was a bit different. What got into you?"

"Do you have to ask?" she smiled. "Perhaps I felt as thought I should thank the part of you that has given so much to me." She knelt up and looked at him. "Suddenly I feel powerful, and capable, and free."

"How about hungry?"

She thought for a minute and her stomach growled. "I suppose I can eat."

He laughed as he leaned up and wrapped a sheet around them both. "We'll call Fern, then."

When he returned to the laboratory, Snape had the same predatory air that they had long known from him. They saw from a look in his eye that their own affairs must stop immediately. Harry was relieved until he was the first victim. The teacher started asking questions on every subject, circling, pouncing, and drilling when they erred until they thought they would become dizzy.

His questions were clear except when they obscured some point that they would have to figure out. He watched them think, raising an eyebrow from time to time as they surprised him with their knowledge or lack of it. The methods were playful and the students knew they were being toyed with. They didn't know how to make it stop. The wizard they had known as professor pushed and prodded for the entire afternoon, until the world outside the window was dark. Severus noticed the time and nodded to each of the three. "Very good progress. I suspect you know what to study, now?" When Hermione nodded, he said. "Excellent. Until tomorrow, then."

He swept from the room, leaving Ron to ask, "What was that?"

Hermione's face was full of delight. "That was the best study session I've ever had. It was amazing, the way he led us through the material, showing us exactly how it all fit together. I've never seen it that way."

Harry was surprised to find that he was sweating from the exertion of the previous several hours. "I wonder whatever got into him."

Ron nodded. "It must have been some lunch. Do you suppose..."

Glasses flew as hands moved to rub tired green eyes. "Ron, I said I couldn't take that mental picture!"

Upstairs, Severus was kissing his wife awake. "I'm almost surprised to find you here," he said.

"Didn't you tell me to stay right here? I'm the picture of obedience."

He snorted. "More like the picture of exhaustion, I suspect."

"Perhaps you wore me out at lunch."

"If I had known that's the right way to keep you safe, I would have worn you out like this before." He quickly removed robe, boots, and trousers. He sat on the bed and pulled his wife close.

A/N: Thanks to Trickie Woo for beta reading.