Chapter Four

AN: Many kisses to my wonderful beta, Lariope.

In the weeks that followed, there were a few repercussions from Ester's firing, but in his usual poker-faced manner, Severus coped with the Ministry buffoons who were sent to investigate the claims that his potions weren't what they were supposed to be. It had gotten to the point that Miss Anderson, the person in charge of that particular department, merely owled for a sample of the current potion under attack instead of wasting all their time with a full-blown investigation.

"Honestly, you'd think Ester would show a little originality in her accusations," Severus remarked dryly while looking over the newest violation. "This is the third time the user's hair has fallen out. She could at least try to make it entertaining."

Hermione, however, was of a different frame of mind. After the fourth anonymous complaint to the shop owner about the assistant who couldn't keep her hands off the male customers, she was ready to make sure Ester's hair had help in falling out. Skeeter's article, published just a few days prior, insinuating that Hermione had used blackmail to get her position at Severus' shop hadn't helped. There were small details in the article that only someone who had been in the shop would have known.

"I'll gladly give her a few new ideas to use if you'd like," Hermione offered darkly as she pounded the pestle she was using into its mortar.

Severus would have been lying to himself if he hadn't admitted...in the dark, shadowy recesses of his own ego...that he was enjoying the stench of Ester's disappointment. To have a witch...a beautiful witch at that...go to those lengths because she fancied him was quite a heady experience. The bat of the dungeons, the greasy git, Snivellus himself, actually had a beautiful witch who was panting for him. It couldn't get much better in his opinion.

His only regret was that he couldn't rub a few Gryffindor noses in it as he did in the idle daydreams he allowed himself while tending a routine potion. In those, James Potter and Sirius Black, with an occasional cameo by Lupin, wore gobsmacked expressions as he strolled by with Ester on his arm. Potter would preen, Black would toss his hair, and Lupin would look completely pitiful, but Ester would ignore them all and concentrate on Severus. Even Lily wasn't spared the humiliation of being thrown over. She would beg and plead, but Ester would win every time, and he would watch with a small satisfied smirk as Lily shuffled her way back to Potter. It was quite refreshing to be alive and in charge of his own destiny.

"Did you hear what I said?" Hermione asked for the second time.

Coming back to the present, Severus lifted his brows and shook his head before turning it in her direction. "Actually, no, I didn't. I was contemplating what to get Andrew for his upcoming birthday," he lied easily. "What would you suggest?"

Hermione rolled her eyes before starting to pack away the ground scarab beetles she'd been readying for the next batch of Wit-Sharpening Potion. "He's going to be two, Severus. He'll be happy with anything as long as it's wrapped in a lot of bright paper that can be torn off and scattered all over the floor."

The chime indicating a customer had entered the shop filled the workroom. Hermione sighed, took off her work apron, and started walking toward the door when it opened and Lucius Malfoy stepped through. The expression on her face was frozen for a moment before she flashed a tight smile and said, "I was just on my way into the shop if there's something you need, Mister Malfoy."

"While I've no doubt that there are numerous things I require, Miss Granger, in this particular instance only your employer will do," Lucius advised with a gentle smile of his own. "Please, don't let me interrupt your work. Continue on as if I'm not here."

"What do you want, Lucius?" Severus growled quietly while checking his potion for the proper consistency. He didn't care for the way Lucius watched his lab assistant don her apron, nor the way the smile lingered on those aristocratic lips. It wasn't predatory in the slightest, and it made Severus uneasy.

"You've refused my offers of tea and dinner several times over the last few weeks, Severus," Lucius stated as he removed his traveling cloak and flung it over a vacant lab stool.

"I've been extremely busy. We're short-staffed at the moment, in case you hadn't noticed," Severus shot back as he removed the cauldron from the flame and stirred in the last ingredient.

"Be that as it may, we need to talk. I decided, rather than send another invitation that would be tossed back in my face, to chase you to ground," Lucius replied as he moved closer to the other man. "You're reneging on our agreement."

"I am not," Severus said indignantly.

"Mister Smothersmith informs me you have dismissed his services. Does he lie?" Lucius questioned. He proceeded to dust off another stool and then took a seat across from where Severus toiled.

"I refuse to be saddled with an ignorant twit who doesn't know his arse from a hole in the ground," Severus stated quietly with a sideways glance toward Hermione. He rather hoped that she was concentrating on her beetles and not listening to their conversation.

"Strange, he's always managed to locate exactly what I require," Lucius purred while reaching over to pick up a packet of daisy roots. "These are quite nice. It's rather difficult to find them this fresh in the fall."

Snatching the roots out of Lucius' hand, Severus stowed them in the lower cooling cupboard before straightening up and raising a brow. "What you require and what I can afford exist on two different planes, Lucius."

"Ah, there is that, I suppose," Lucius remarked with a slight frown before he twisted around on the stool and asked, "Miss Granger, what are your thoughts on the matter?"

"She doesn't have any thoughts on the matter, Lucius," Snape hissed in warning as Hermione's head turned in their direction.

"Oh, come now," the blonde-haired wizard stated as he slid off the stool. "Surely she has an interest in what type of..."

"No, she doesn't," Severus growled while glaring at the other man.

A wicked little smirk grew on Lucius' face while Severus' glare increased. "I'm quite sure that Miss Granger knows her arse from a hole in the ground, Severus. It could be the perfect solution to our little dilemma."

"I can find what I need without anyone's assistance."

Lucius snorted and rolled his eyes. "If I left it entirely up to you, you'd find another hidey-hole instead of a home."

"Lucius, I'm warning you!" Severus said in desperation.

"What are you going to do, Severus, toss another cake in my direction?" Lucius asked with an elegant lift of his chin before he lowered it...and his tone...adding, "That reminds me, I should thank you for that vulgar display. Narcissa and I had quite an interesting time when she decided to help me bathe."

"You can thank me by dropping the topic and leaving," Severus hissed before placing a Cooling Charm on the potion and pulling out several fresh vials for the bottling.

Lucius raised a wicked brow and stated, "I said I should thank you, not that I was going to."

Severus watched with no small degree of frustration as the other wizard approached Hermione. Smugness edged the frustration over when he noted that the expression on the witch's face wasn't exactly welcoming.

"Haven't you better things to do with your time than annoy my employees, Lucius?" Severus asked, making one last effort.

Tilting his head to one side, Lucius narrowed his eyes and then nodded. "You do have a point, old man. It would be rather rude to discuss what I want to discuss with Miss Granger while she's supposed to be working."

Severus breathed a small sigh of relief and had just finished bottling the last of the potion when Lucius added, "The obvious solution is to invite your both to lunch; my treat, of course."

Glancing at the clock, Severus stated, "It's too early."

"Nonsense," Lucius said while gesturing with his hands. "You've just finished with that lot, and Miss Granger has pulverized the last of... whatever it was she was pulverizing. The timing is perfect."

"That's quite all right, Mister Malfoy," Hermione tossed out. "You and Severus can go, and I'll stay here and mind the shop."

"That will never do, Miss Granger," Lucius said and shook his head. "I'm sure you'll want to be a part of the conversation. After all, it concerns Andrew," he added in a gentle tone while sending Severus a gloating look.

"What concerns Andrew?" Hermione asked sharply, sending a questioning glance in the same direction.

Shooting Lucius a murderous glare, Severus tossed the lab cloth down and walked toward the other two. "Lucius is referring to the house I intend to buy, Hermione, nothing more."

"You're buying a house?" she asked in amazement.

"If I ever find one that will suit," Severus stated dryly.

"That's where you come in, Miss Granger," Lucius purred. "You can assist Severus in the search for the perfect abode."

"Miss Granger has enough demands on her time," Severus growled, purposely ignoring Hermione's delighted expression.

"I'm sure she'd make the time," Lucius shot back.

Severus folded his arms and stated, "It's not necessary."

"It's vital," Lucius replied with narrowed eyes.

Hermione slapped a hand down on the work bench, and once she was sure both wizards were looking at her, stated, "Excuse me, gentlemen, but I'm right here and can speak for myself!" Meeting Snape's eyes, she smiled and said, "Severus, I'd be delighted to help you find a house."

Lucius turned, picked up his cloak, and wagged a finger in Snape's direction. "There'll be no undue pressure because she's your employee, correct?"

Hermione glanced at Severus and answered, "Correct."

"Excellent," Lucius said and then whipped the cloak around his shoulders. "I'll leave you to it, then, shall I?"

"That will be the proverbial cold day in hell," Severus muttered as he moved back toward the cooled potion to finish the bottling process. As soon as the other wizard had left the work room, Severus mentally braced himself to be on the receiving end of what he was sure would be an endless stream of questions. When they weren't immediately forthcoming, he sighed, turned his head, and raised a brow in Hermione's direction. What he found was his assistant busily measuring powder into small packets and paying no attention at all to him. "Are you ill?"

Hermione looked up with a slightly puzzled expression on her face. "I'm fine," she said softly before returning to the packaging of the ground scarab beetles.

"Something is decidedly not fine, so out with it," Severus demanded.

"I said I'm fine," Hermione returned with an edge in her voice.

"I disagree," he stated with a slightly raised brow.

"Good on you!" Hermione shouted before tossing the last of the packets of ground scarab beetles into the basket on her table. "Is this the point at which I'm supposed to get all snivelly and whinge and cry and beg for your forgiveness?"

Slightly taken aback, Severus asked, "Whatever are you on about?"

Tearing off her apron and throwing it on a stool, Hermione approached him and poked him in the chest with a finger. "I've learned another dark and terrible secret about your private life, and I need to be put in my place, correct? Even though that dark and terrible secret affects my son, I'm supposed to be a good little girl and not interfere or even question where, correct?"

She spun on her heel and headed for the small kitchen off the workroom, grumbling all the way. "I'm not supposed to have an opinion on what kind of neighborhood he'll be in when he's with you, if there's adequate ventilation in his room, or even what color the damned thing will be. Are there stairs he could tumble down? What kind of fastenings are there on the cupboards so he can't get into the knives? No, there's nothing I should be concerned about, is there? Severus Snape, dastardly Master of Potions, can make all the decisions by himself that he likes, but I'll tell you this, Severus," Hermione spat as she turned at the kitchen door and wagged a finger in his direction. "I will inspect whatever house you decide to buy, and if it doesn't measure up, you'll be damned lucky to get a glimpse of Andrew ever again!"

With that, she disappeared into the kitchen, and Severus heard bangs and the mutterings of what he once had thought was quite a sensible woman. He pinched the bridge of his nose and said, "I knew this day started out all too rosy. I should have seen it coming the second Lucius walked in the damned door." He waited, quite patiently, for the bangs and mutterings to cease before he approached the door and looked around the corner. "If I enter, might we have a civilized discussion on the topic with no more yelling or finger poking?"

Hermione, from her seat at the table, glared at him before she set down the cup of tea she'd been drinking. "I don't know, can we? I'm not the one keeping such deep dark secrets."

Rolling his eyes, Severus walked into the kitchen and helped himself to a cup of the tea she'd made. He was quite thankful to see that nothing had been broken during her assault on the tea things but hesitated slightly when it came time to take a sip of the brew itself. Taking the first sip was easier when he reasoned that she'd taken nothing into the kitchen to dose it with. After sitting down opposite her, he raised a brow.

"Would it help if I apologized?" he asked.

"For what?" Hermione growled and took an angry sip out of her cup. "Your private life is your private life, and I have no interest in it. The fact that you've apparently told Lucius freaking Malfoy all about your plans that include my son, and not me, shouldn't bother me at all, now should it?"

"Apparently it does," Snape replied with a narrowing of his eyes. "I'm not accustomed to letting all and sundry know about my plans, Hermione, Malfoy included. Perhaps I should have informed you that I was considering acquiring a different house, but the only reason that Lucius is aware of any of this is because his purchase of Spinner's End is what is making it possible."

"Oh," she said before she flushed and took a slightly calmer sip of tea. "I'm sorry I lost my temper." She fiddled with a few biscuits on a plate before picking one up and nibbling on a corner. "I'm also a little jealous," she admitted.

"Jealous?"

"Yes, you're buying a house for you and Andrew, and I'd love to be able to do that," she said with a sad smile. "That's not going to happen for me for a long time. Who knows, Andrew might be grown and gone before I can afford to even look at houses."

"I thought you were content at Potter's, with Kreacher and the park across the way."

Hermione shrugged and offered the plate of biscuits to Severus. "It's all right, and I don't know how I'd manage without Kreacher's help, but Harry and Ginny are planning their wedding, and I don't want to be the gooseberry who hangs around after her welcome's been worn out, you know?"

Severus nodded his head slowly and said, "I can understand that, but what will you do? Look for a flat?"

"That's probably where we'll end up. I don't want to touch my–Oh, my!" Hermione's eyes had widened, and she suddenly grinned. "Unless... have you considered buying a flat house?"

Severus sent her a slightly puzzled look and stated, "I don't think there's any other kind is there? At least I've never seen a round one. I think they'd be slightly impractical."

"No, I mean a two flat or a three flat, maybe a four flat if you want a lot of income from it," she stated excitedly. "I have a bit of money from an inheritance that I could, maybe, perhaps rent one of the flats from you?" Hermione chewed her bottom lip while she studied Snape's face. "Are you in shock? Angry?"

"No, actually it sounds like a rather brilliant idea," Severus admitted before taking a bite out of another biscuit. "Where are you going?" he asked when she beamed and jumped up from the table.

"I'm going to pop out and get a Muggle paper to see what's listed for sale," she stated while grabbing her purse. "Then we can look over what's being offered and make some appointments to go see them."

"You don't have to have an estate agent take you round?" he asked.

"Not for the initial picking," Hermione stated while heading for the door. "This will give us an idea of what the market is like and what we want before we set foot in one of their offices. It'll give us an advantage."

"Advantages are good," Severus said to her quickly disappearing back. "Rather cheeky on her part, not even asking if she could leave in the middle of a work day," he muttered almost good-naturedly to the remaining portion of the biscuit before he popped it into his mouth.

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