Convenient Truths

Thank you to JuneW who beta read this with lightening fast speed. I am eternally grateful for her patience and her advice. :)

Disclaimer: I solemnly swear that I am up to no good. JK Rowling owns it all, but I promise to return her characters in 'like-new' condition when I am done with them.

And after an extremely long wait, for which I apologize profusely, I give you the final chapter (with the epilogue included) of "A Slip of the Tongue." Thank you to all of my readers for your patience and encouragement. Merry Christmas!

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Severus stared at the ceiling. He ignored the small niggling in his head that was urging him to get out of bed and follow the woman down the stairs.

Moments later, he heard the back door slam shut loudly. He wondered if she'd used another charm to get the sound to echo through the house deafeningly or if it was simply a sign of her anger.

There was no way that her anger could match his own. Although, whether he was angrier with her or with himself, he couldn't say for sure.

It shouldn't have surprised him that she was questioning the direction of their relationship. It certainly wasn't the first time that she'd done so, but Severus viewed it as the same thing as questioning his character. What did she think he was going to do? Drop her a note in a few weeks to tell her he was bored?

He wasn't like that and, quite frankly, he didn't like that she had insinuated otherwise. However, her treatment of him was no more than what he had expected from lowering his standards and...

And what?

Was it really the issue that he had chosen to see someone so much younger than himself? Or worse, had chosen to see a member of the Terrible Trio?

What in the name of Merlin had he been thinking? Of course, Minerva had been right; there had been only one way that this liaison could have ended.

The moment Hermione had begun raising questions... questioning him and then going so far as to insult him... well, from that moment on, he knew that he was better off to destroy whatever it was that was beginning to grow in their new relationship... before he knew what it was that he had and before he grew to care too much for her.

Besides, he was only living up to his image. It could hardly be a surprise to the girl.

And she was just a girl. Only a year or two out of school.

This entire fiasco had all just been one giant mistake.

Realizing that his thoughts were now only going around in circles and satisfied with his own reasoning, Severus pushed himself out of bed, grabbed a robe and his wand, and went downstairs in search of tea... and something else to occupy his mind. There was a new article in Potions Monthly that he had bookmarked to read, or he could always brew. It was nearing the full moon, and before he knew it Lupin would be pounding on his door requesting Wolfsbane.

As he entered his kitchen and set about preparing a pot of tea, Severus tried to ignore the leaded guilt that was currently sitting in his gut.

He realized he would never be able to concentrate on reading, so fresh tea and a potion to brew would have to silence the nagging voice in his head which sounded oddly like Minerva McGonagall. Perhaps he could drown his conscience with the tea.

And when that failed, there was always firewhisky.

~*~

Hermione spent the rest of the night sitting in the dark living room at her parents' house. She hadn't wanted to return to Grimmauld Place for fear that Harry and Ginny would see her and start asking questions.

When she'd arrived at her parents' house, she'd quietly let herself in through the back door and into the kitchen where she made herself at home at the table. As if on cue, her mother came down the stairs and joined her.

Diane Granger hadn't needed to be incredibly perceptive to figure out that something was wrong. Before long, Hermione was telling her mother everything that had happened, from the disastrous event at Harry and Ginny's engagement party to the resulting hearing. She complained about the way that Professor McGonagall had treated her and admitted to the equally nasty things that she had said in return. She whined about her confusing relationship with Ron and her even more confusing relationship with Snape. Hermione found herself revealing truths that she'd not even fully realized herself, like the fact that she hated her dead-end job and that she no longer felt as if she fit in at Harry and Ginny's place.

Reflecting hours later, she decided that unloading her burdens onto her mother was very much like taking Veritaserum mixed with elf-made wine. The truths that were spoken were more shocking to her than they could ever be to anyone else.

She ended by telling her mother what had happened earlier that evening.

As mothers often do, Hermione's mum had lent a sympathetic ear and fed her daughter chocolate biscuits to go with a pot of soothing tea. She'd then given Hermione an afghan and left her in the living room for the night.

Sleep found her early that morning when her mind finally stopped puzzling over the events of her life from the last several weeks.

"What are your plans for today?" Hermione's mother asked at the breakfast table.

"Harry's birthday party is this afternoon," she said before taking a bite of toast.

Mrs. Granger seemed to think for a moment before asking, "Why don't we go shopping today, instead? I'm sure that Harry would understand if you weren't there."

"Harry is one of my best friends, Mum. I really do need to be there."

"We can make it short shopping trip then," she said with a coaxing smile.

And Hermione couldn't say no.

Besides, a shopping trip was a nice distraction, though she knew that her mother was intending on using the excursion to impart advice and wisdom to her daughter. It was, after all, another thing that mothers did best.

While they were out, Hermione didn't mention that she'd been so childish as to plot revenge against both Ron and Molly Weasley and had planned to carry through with it during Harry's party later that day. But as the morning continued to slug along at a snail's pace, Hermione realized that she no longer wished to have her revenge. She had no desire to attend Harry's party with the singular goal of humiliating her ex-boyfriend and She Who Ruled The Burrow. Hermione only needed to be there to keep Severus from doing anything that could land him back in Azkaban.

If he was even still planning on being there.

She thought of the potion vials that were sitting in her bag and decided that once she got back home to Grimmauld Place, she'd dump the potions down the drain. She didn't know if the potions could be poured into the pipes of a Muggle house or not, but she certainly didn't wish to risk causing a problem.

~*~

Severus swept his hand across the table, knocking all of his ingredients onto the floor in one fell swoop. He had just ruined the Wolfsbane potion he'd been brewing. It was his third attempt at brewing that potion since he'd pulled himself out of bed hours earlier.

This was unlike him.

Brewing potions was always what he did when he needed to relax, when he required his mind to focus intently on something else... anything else. It was an avoidance tactic, this was true, but it was a highly effective one. One that had served him well for many years.

The art of potion-making was the closest thing to caring for a child that a man like Severus Snape could imagine. He would pour all of his energy into that potion. Whether it was anger, frustration, or purely sexual tension, it didn't matter. Severus had learned early on that a good potioneer was one who gave everything that they had to their brews, and so he'd learned how to channel his emotions into them.

But for whatever reason, today he couldn't get the bushy-haired woman out of his head. And even though his mind was telling him that he should be more angry with her now that he'd ruined over 100 Galleons worth of ingredients because of her, he couldn't bring himself to actually blame her.

The truth of the matter was he knew that he'd been an arse. A complete and utter git.

Severus placed his palms flat on the work table as he pushed his weight against the surface. If someone else had been in the room with him, they would have seen the anger and frustration emanating from his body as if it was crackling sparks.

With what felt like exceedingly little effort, Severus tossed the large work table over and spent a few brief moments enjoying the sounds of the few remaining ingredients, the cutting stone, his best knife, and large silver cauldron...still full of the already ruined Wolfsbane potion...as they clambered and splashed against the stone floor of his basement workroom.

Not even caring to assess the damage, Severus turned on his heel and climbed the steep stairs to his kitchen. He took pleasure in slamming the door to his workroom behind him.

Although that, too, made him think of her.

He pulled his wand from his sleeve and flicked it at the door, and watched as it opened again on its own accord and slammed back rather loudly, only to again open and slam shut again.

It was rather satisfying.

And in spite of himself, he felt the corner of his mouth quirk up into a small smirk.

Glancing at the clock on the wall, he came to a decision, making his way up the stairs to change his clothes. He had a party to attend after all.

He didn't even bother to stop the charm that was currently slamming the door to his workroom.

~*~

Hermione arrived at the Burrow, wearing a new dress and new shoes, courtesy of her mother's insistence on a short shopping trip and lunch before Hermione had to leave for the party.

She walked into the sitting room, to a frosty greeting by Mrs. Weasley. Grabbing a glass of punch, she made her way to the far side of the room and placed her purse on the floor next to her chair. After a quick glance around the room to ensure that no one was staring at her, she cast a discreet revealing spell on the contents of her glass before taking a sip.

Sure, it was considered to be rude to do such a thing, but after her last visit to the Weasley family home, no one would be able to blame her. (Though, she was still likely to receive some nasty looks.)

And as if on cue, someone sat on the stool next to her chair and whispered in her ear, "I saw what you just did, Hermione."

"Hallo, Remus."

"Hermione," he said with a nod of his head.

She smiled as she looked into his tired, pale eyes. He was a constant, a familiar face that was very much like a favorite blanket. She'd had it since childhood and it provided a sense of comfort and security like little else.

"I haven't seen you since the engagement party." His words were cautious as he scrutinized her reaction to his statement. When Hermione refrained from reacting, Remus visibly relaxed.

"I have been busy and..." Hermione looked around the room. "I honestly didn't think that I would be all that welcome with everyone. I only came today because Harry was rather insistent."

"Well, he grew up without a family. To him, you and Ron are his family."

"And you, Remus. You're very important to him too."

Lupin silently nodded. He wrapped his arms around himself as if he'd felt a chill run through the room. His demeanor was suddenly solemn.

Hermione wondered if he was saddened by the idea of being Harry's family. Then, she realized that such thoughts easily reminded him of the deaths of Remus' closest friends.

"How are things with you and Tonks?" Hermione asked.

He dropped his arms back to his lap and Hermione decided that this was easily a safe topic of conversation.

"Things are going well, I think. Tonks is... easy to love, but I often find myself feeling very..." He took a breath and sighed. "Inadequate."

She looked down at his hands which were now fidgeting with one of the buttons on the front of his robes. For the briefest of moments, Hermione felt herself wondering what it would be like to be with him. To have someone as warm and caring as Remus Lupin to hold her at night and to make her feel loved. To feel his soft hands as they touched her skin. And then she focused on his final word. Inadequate.

So like Severus. Hermione instantly felt the uneasiness, tension, guilt, and outright worry as they grew in her chest and made her heart feel heavy. "Remus, when was it that you knew that you were in love with her?"

Remus looked over to where his pink-haired girlfriend was currently chatting away with Fleur, and then his amber gaze came to rest on Hermione. "Tonks is so joyful and secure and full of life. I don't know if there was ever a time when I didn't love her. She was a perfect counterbalance for my moods."

Hermione smiled, but didn't reply. She allowed the silence to settle between them as she took another sip of punch and watched the activity in the room. Her attention was drawn back to Remus when he spoke in a reluctant tone.

"The last thing about you that I heard was that you were seeing Severus."

"I was."

"Were..."

Hermione heard the pause as he waited for her to explain. She didn't want to explain. Hell, she didn't even know how to begin. And she felt all of these thoughts as they skittered across her face; judging by the look in Remus' eyes, he recognized them for what they were.

"Are.... Were.... I don't think that I know anymore," she finally answered.

Remus stood up from his chair and held out his hand to her. "Let's go take a walk."

Hermione grasped his hand as she stood. She followed him out of the sitting room and out into the yard which was surprisingly empty in the hot July sun. Well, maybe not all that surprising, she acknowledged. There weren't nearly as many guests today as there had been for the engagement party a few weeks ago. Also, many guests were inside so they could see the newest home improvement. Mr. Weasley was rather proud of the "air freezing machine" he had received as a gift from Harry earlier that summer. He did like to use his new toys.

"What has happened between you and Severus?" Remus asked as they walked towards a grove of trees on the far end of the property.

"We were at his house last night, having a perfectly pleasant evening, when somehow...in the matter of a few minutes...I found myself being thrown out of his house and into the street. I'm not even quite sure how it happened."

Her companion mumbled something under his breath which Hermione believed was, "Why am I not surprised?"

Instead, he turned to her and said louder, "What happened before that? Before you wound up on your arse in the street."

She took a deep breath and sighed, leaning against one of the trees in the shaded grove. "I somehow managed to askhimwhereourrelationshipwasgoing," she finished in a hurried rush.

Remus narrowed his eyes at her. "Is that so?"

She was surprised that he had even managed to understand her. "Don't even start with me, Remus. I know that it's too soon for talking about things like that. We are just getting to know one another and we've only seen each other a handful of times since the engagement party."

"If you knew it was too soon, Hermione, then why did you say anything?"

"I didn't mean to! He asked me what I was thinking and I foolishly stumbled my way into it!" She pushed herself away from the tree and began walking again. "And then he quickly became nasty and next thing I knew, he told me to leave."

"May I ask what you were doing before this argument occurred?" Remus asked as they slowly began walking towards the house together.

"We had been sleeping."

"Ah. My fault for asking, I suppose."

"I know, it was too soon. But I am afraid that I wasn't thinking all that clearly and then I suddenly began questioning my feelings, his feelings, and it was all a jumbled mess in my head. It still is."

He nodded. "And forgetting all of the other things, how do you feel about him?"

"I like him, Remus. I mean, I really like him. He's intelligent, witty, and I adore his smile. Not that he smiles all that much, but I have seen him do it a time or two and it positively melts my insides. And even when he's being a complete arse, I enjoy his company." She paused and thought for a moment. "Except when he's shutting me out. Which, I got the distinct impression last night that that was what he was doing. Pushing me away to protect himself."

"That sounds like a very Severus-like thing to do."

"Yes."

"So, what do you plan to do about it, Hermione?"

She sighed again and looked at the Burrow where there was now a tall, thin man dressed in black robes with long, black, greasy looking hair, standing in front of the door. With him was a younger man, with green robes and white-blond hair. As she watched them, the older man looked towards her and she felt completely lost. "I don't know, Remus. I'm torn between telling him that he's right and that I think it's best that I go spend some time growing up. Or if I should tell him that he can't scare me off so easily."

At that moment, Severus looked back towards the door and entered the Weasley home.

Hermione and Remus walked in silence for a moment more, then he said, "You will make the right decision."

She turned to him and smiled. "Thank you, Remus. And Remus, you are anything but inadequate."

~*~

Severus stood on the doorstep of the ramshackle old house with Draco by his side as his eyes began to survey the yard. There she was, walking with none other than Remus Lupin.

She looked comfortable, and at peace. And as a pair they looked incredibly... cozy. Severus wondered what Remus' multicolored-haired witch would think about that. He took a moment's pleasure in thinking about the irrational ways that Nymphadora Tonks was likely to act, before the front door was opened and he was welcomed into the house by Arthur Weasley.

He walked in and looked at the other people in the magically enlarged main floor. The house was nearly full of redheads, when the yard was nearly empty. But Severus quickly realized why they were all inside, as he felt himself nearly shiver from the cold breeze that seemed to be blowing from a Muggle-looking box sitting in one of the front windows.

And in his long black robes, he could appreciate the coolness of the house versus the heat outside.

July and August always were miserable months.

Somebody tell me again why I even bothered to show up here today? He didn't say that aloud, of course, but damn, he certainly thought it. He'd had no intention of coming to the party at all when he'd risen from his bed hours before. (Hell, it seemed like he'd been up for days.) And in that time, he'd accomplished nothing. He'd ruined potion after potion, he'd not been able to focus on a single article and he'd nearly fallen asleep in his plate of bangers and toast. At that point, he'd decided he should go back to bed but found that he could not even tolerate being in the room. It smelled of her. Her perfume lingered in the air and on the sheets, and all he could think of was how abruptly he'd ejected her from his house and from his bed.

He wasn't even sure why now. He knew what he'd been thinking, for certain, but he also realized that sometimes the thoughts that hit us when we first awaken are not the rational ones that should be acted upon.

At this moment, as he was standing in the Weasleys' living room, his anger and hurt began to bubble up. He was angry with Hermione for making him feel obligated to attend a party honoring Harry Bloody Potter. Severus wanted to walk up to Minerva, who was pleasantly nattering with Molly about God only knew what, to tell her what he really thought of her and to quit his job. He wanted to do far more than simply cuff Ronald Weasley on the head for the way he'd treated and had ultimately hurt Hermione. Severus wanted to scream at Hermione for taking him at his word and actually leaving him last night. And finally, he wanted to take her in his arms and kiss her senseless.

He turned to Draco to tell him that this entire thing was pointless and that they were leaving. Instead, he was interrupted when one of the Weasley twins – God only knew which one it was – smiled at him in greeting and handed him and Draco each a glass of pumpkin juice just as Hermione and her companion entered the house.

"Good to see you here, Professor," Fred or George said jovially. "We're going to say a toast to Harry."

Severus groaned. It was the last thing that he wanted to do and there was a very real possibility that Hermione had already slipped her potions into the juice.

As if hearing this thought, the young witch walked up to him and whispered, "I've decided not to go through with it. You and Draco can leave... but please stay for the toasts. Despite what you think, I know that Harry would like you both to be here."

She stepped away from him silently. For whatever reason, he stayed.

~*~

As soon as she stepped away from Snape, Hermione felt a cup being forced into her hands as well, and she looked up and smiled at George... until she noticed that her cup held water. She shot a worried look back at her now open bag which was still on the floor in the corner; she could clearly see the vial of Babbling Beverage Concentrate. The vial was full and she breathed a sigh of relief, but she wondered why George had bothered giving her a different drink if he hadn't poured the potion into the pumpkin juice. He nodded to her cup, grinned, and mouthed something that she couldn't understand. She shot him a puzzled look just as they heard Arthur clang his glass with a knife, calling attention all in the room.

"I wanted to thank you all for coming here today," Arthur said. "Harry Potter has been an integral part of all of our lives. In the years that we've known him, he has become another member of our family. And he is about to become an even closer member of our family when he marries our daughter this Christmas." Arthur paused and smiled at Harry and Ginny.

"But we aren't here today to celebrate that joyous occasion," the Weasley patriarch continued. "We are here to celebrate Harry. It hasn't been very long since he helped lead us into our final battle against Voldemort and his Death Eaters and when Harry single-handedly brought down the Dark Lord himself. This birthday marks an important time for our friend. It is the start of the first year that Harry Potter will be able to live a life without being treated like the miserable offshoot of a disgraced family, and a time when he will no longer have to live in fear of an evil Dark wizard with the desire to kill him." Then Arthur smiled. "He'll only have to worry about treating our Ginny as she deserves, and the repercussions from his soon-to-be in-laws if he doesn't."

Arthur raised his glass and finished by saying, "To Harry."

"To Harry," the majority of the people crowded in the house said in unison, and then they sipped from their cups.

Even Severus and Draco drank to the toast, though Hermione doubted that they were truly drinking to Harry. It was more likely that Severus was miming the actions of everyone else so that he could leave as discreetly as possible.

She didn't realize that George was still standing near her until she heard him whisper, "Now is when the fun begins."

Hermione whipped her head around and stared at him in surprise. "What did you do?" she hissed.

"Oh, you'll see. Let's just say that we found something much more beneficial than the Babbling Beverage that you came here prepared to inflict people with. Still, the love potion that you had intrigued us and we could tell that it was specially designed with specific people in mind, so we thought we'd slip that in too just to see what would happen."

"What? George! I decided not to go through with any of that," Hermione said as loudly as she dared without drawing attention to them.

"Yeah, we kind of figured that. So, we thought we'd do it for you. No guilt and all of that."

God, that mischievous grin on his face is growing annoying! she thought. "What, exactly, did you do?" she asked, instead, in a tone that bore no mistake that she was deadly serious and that she was on the verge of losing the final remnants of her control.

"It's something new that we created, a little potion that we like to call the Inconvenient Truth Serum," George said proudly. "It's not quite like Veritaserum which will make someone answer you a bunch of questions. Nah. With our Inconvenient Truth Serum, the drinker will simply spout two or three secret truths to someone before it wears off. This was our first chance to test it on a wide variety of people. We had to take advantage of that. Look, Hermione, I think that our first victim is about to reveal something."

Hermione looked on in horror as she watched Minerva McGonagall approach Molly and say, "I have always found you to be an obnoxious, loud-mouthed, bossy cow who didn't know how to keep her legs together, and I feel the need to tell you that what you did to Hermione a few weeks back to be unforgiveable and absolutely appalling."

And that was just the beginning. Within moments, after the initial shock had worn off, people were approaching each other and revealing their deepest secrets. Most of the secrets told were some of their vilest thoughts about people who were their family and had been friends.

George stood stock still with his mouth gaping open and a horrified look in his eyes. This obviously hadn't been what the twins had planned.

"You and Fred must not keep very many nasty secrets from each other, do you?" she asked him snidely.

"Er... no."

"Don't you have some way to stop this?"

George shot her a worried look and shook his head. "It should wear-off very quickly."

For everyone's sake, she hoped that he was right. She didn't hear most of what was being said in the large room as she watched the lives of her friends be turned upside down by their words. When she saw Minerva move on from Molly to Severus, Hermione's heart fell into her stomach, but she couldn't stop herself from moving closer to hear.

"I hate you, Severus," the older witch said. "I hate you for what you did to Albus. I don't care if he asked you to kill him. I don't care if it was only your devotion to him that made you do it. I hate that you took him from me. But even more than that, I hate him for leaving me like that. For not telling me that he was dying and for not confiding his deepest plans to me." Tears were streaming down Minerva's face. "And I hate him for hurting you the way he did. For the way that he manipulated and coerced you into carrying out his most vile and horrid plans."

Hermione stood in silent awe as Minerva sagged into Severus' chest and sobbed.

His arms came up around the old woman and soothed her with soft shushes and reassurances. "It's all right, Minerva," he said softly. "I hate you too." And Minerva gave a soft laugh as she hugged Severus tighter.

Which led Hermione to ask George, "Why isn't Severus saying anything else to her?"

He snorted. "Do you think we're stupid? We didn't give Snape or Malfoy the potion."

Hermione wasn't sure if she was happy about this revelation or saddened by it. She didn't have much time to think about it though before she saw Ron move away from his mum. The Burrow's queen had just been berating him for being such a disappointment – first for dosing Hermione with the Veritaserum a few weeks ago, and then for pursuing someone like Hermione in the first place.

Hermione could only imagine what Molly would say next. She poked George in the side and told him to watch as Ron walked directly to Draco Malfoy and kissed him.

"Oh my God." Hermione looked with surprised eyes at Severus and then back at the now lip-locked Ron and Draco. "Severus!"

George turned to her and clapped her on the back. "Oh, Hermione, that is priceless. Well played!"

"But I didn't... He wasn't supposed to... Severus!"

Severus, meanwhile, was now pulling the two young men apart. Draco looked surprised, while Ron was still trying to get close enough to kiss him again.

Before Hermione could get any answers, Molly had stormed across the room and was again screaming at her youngest son. At this point, Hermione actually was feeling sorry for Ron.

She walked closer to Severus. "What happened? You said that he'd just profess his love for him, not that he'd try to snog him senseless."

"I don't know enough about the other potion that they ingested. None of them are acting as if they've consumed a Babbling Beverage."

"They didn't. It was some invention of Fred and George's. They are calling it Inconvenient Truth Serum."

"Of course it would have something to do with those two morons. How long does the potion last? Did they say?"

"George said that each person will reveal two to three truths to someone before it wears off. But instead I'm seeing people tell a few truths to one person, and then move on to the next person, and the next – it's not wearing off."

"Where is a natural disaster when you need one?" Severus mumbled under his breath. "And did George tell you why you and I aren't currently professing our deepest secrets to all and sundry?"

"Yes. He and Fred were wise enough not to dose us or Draco. I think that they value their lives and careers too much for that."

"Mm. I believe that the problem with your previous beau is that he really does have a hidden infatuation for Draco."

And Hermione laughed. The very thought was so amusing, so ridiculous, so absolutely ludicrous.... And, oh God, it was probably true. For whatever reason, this made her laugh even harder.

Unfortunately this drew attention to her – Molly's attention. It appeared, by the look in the woman's eyes, that Molly had a third little something that she wanted to say and that Hermione was the perfect target.

Apparently, Hermione wasn't the only one to recognize that she was about to fall under attack by the Weasley matriarch. By the time Molly said a rather loud, "You!" while pointing at Hermione's chest, several heads were turned towards them and conversations had stopped.

If she hadn't been gearing up for the sure-to-be loud shouting match to come, Hermione would've been impressed by the fact that Molly's face was nearly the same shade of red as her hair. Instead the brunette was more concerned about what to say to the woman to finally put her in her place once and for all.

But she didn't have to. Like the knight in black shining armor that she was always certain that he could be (though she never would admit that to anyone else), Severus stepped between them.

"Do not even think of setting your nasty claws into Miss Granger, Molly," the Slytherin growled. "She is a feisty and powerful woman who has more intelligence and wit than you could ever even dream of possessing. She would eviscerate you in only a few moments." He turned to Hermione, grabbed her arm, and began to lead her to the door. "That is a warning, Molly. Not a threat."

Hermione stumbled after him, mildly surprised at the way he had just spoken about her. "Wait," she said. "I need my bag."

Severus stopped as Hermione relieved herself of his grip and went back to the corner of the room where her bag was. As she walked back to Severus, she saw both Ginny and Remus smiling at her reassuringly. She joined Severus by the door and took his arm again.

"Is Draco coming with us?" she asked.

"I believe that he will be able to take care of himself," Severus answered while nodding towards Draco and Ron, who were both engaged in what appeared to be a rather intimate conversation.

"Ah. Then, shall we?"

Severus nodded and led the way out of the house... leaving the much calmer but still somewhat chaotic house behind them.

~*~

Moments after leaving the Burrow, Hermione found herself on a familiar looking back stoop – the same stoop she'd been on less than twenty-four hours before, when she'd arrived at Severus' home. The memories of what had occurred in the house the night before were fresh, as were the wounds, but Hermione knew that she now had her chance to repair the damage inflicted and it might be the only chance she ever got. She just didn't know where to start.

He pulled away from her to unlock the back door.

Silently, she followed him through the door and into the kitchen, where she stood still, staring at him. Her humor from the events at the Burrow was quickly slipping away.

Severus, for his part, wasn't looking her at all, but instead busily setting up a tray of tea things.

Slam!

Hermione jumped. "What was that?"

Severus said nothing, but pulled his wand and waved it in the direction where the noise had come.

"Is someone else here?"

"No."

It was presently a warm summer afternoon and there was no draft in the house. She smirked when she thought of the mindset Severus must have been in to have cast her Door Slamming Charm.

Severus waved his wand again and Levitated a tray and began to walk towards the sitting room. "Come. It's time for tea."

Hermione followed him into the sitting room and sat on the sofa while Severus poured the tea. She busied herself by adding milk to her tea... it didn't busy her very long. A splash of milk and then another, a quick stir with her spoon and she was done. Finally she could either keep her mouth occupied by drinking said tea, or she could quit stalling and deal with the giant pink elephant in the room.

"I'm glad that you came today, Severus."

"It appeared that you didn't need me," he replied with a sniff. "Though it was almost enjoyable."

She smiled and took a sip of her tea. "I notice that you said 'almost.' You'll have to thank Draco for me."

He said nothing, but he pulled a small bottle out of his robes and placed it on the tea tray.

"What is that?"

"A new variation of Veritaserum that I've been working on."

Panic began to fill her as she looked between the bottle and the cup of tea in her hand. It took every ounce of control for her to keep from dropping the cup onto the floor. "So, you decided to douse me up with your sample brew so you could harass me further?" she asked, each syllable louder than the first.

"No."

"No? Then what are you doing? Attempting to threaten me?" She placed her cup and saucer onto the tray with a clatter.

"If you would forgo the hysterics, Hermione, you would have the chance to hear that I am offering the chance for you to question me."

Hermione snorted. "And then you will proceed to tell me whatever you want while Occluding the potion. I did rather well in Potions class, Professor, if you'll recall."

"If you would have listened to what I said, Miss Granger, you would know that I said that this is a 'new variation' of Veritaserum. I had been working on it for several years, but after your experience with the house-elf wine a few weeks back, I've had a breakthrough. There is no Occluding this variation." He sat back in his chair as if to study her. "In fact, unlike traditional Veritaserum, this potion can be absorbed through the skin. There is no spitting it out, or stopping oneself from swallowing. And once skin contact has been made, no amount of handwashing will render it inert."

Hermione listened raptly. Was he truly offering himself to her for examination? "What's the catch? What do you want in return?"

"Nothing. I only wish for you to listen to what I have to say."

"You're a Slytherin. Do you really expect me to believe that?"

"You just said it. I'm a Slytherin. Which means that I am cunning, and I have multiple angles and multiple reasons for the things that I do and the way that I choose to do them. Just because you don't fully know all of those reasons does not mean that I am lying to you now. It simply means that I have decided that this is the best course of action for me in order to secure what I want."

"And what do you want?"

He picked up the bottle and handed it to her. "Don't you think that is a question best asked once it's been administered?"

Hermione took the bottle from his hands. "But what's to prevent you from talking your way around and twisting every sentence simply so you don't have to blurt out any truths?"

"Nothing. Except that it's easy to tell when someone is doing that simply by what they say. If you don't like my answers, you simply have to ask for me to be more concise and I will do my best to accommodate you.

"And, I cannot lie."

She knew that this statement wasn't exactly true, however. The problem with Veritaserum was that if a person knew that they were under the influence of the potion, then they could carefully avoid direct answers by the way that they answered the questions. It had been that way when she'd been under the influence of it. However, he was right. At least she'd be able to tell that was what he was doing. And sometimes that told just as much as the words.

She took the bottle from his hands, carefully opened it, and placed a drop of the potion on Severus' outstretched hand. It instantly vanished through his skin. If she hadn't been worried of a bit of the potion rubbing off on her, she'd have touched the skin to see if it even felt a bit damp.

"How long does it last?" she asked.

"Fifteen minutes."

"That's not very long."

"Another dose can be given, but I would rather not have to do that."

"It was just an observation." She readjusted herself in her seat. "Okay. What are your feelings for me?" she asked baldly.

"You don't beat around the bush, do you?"

"Gryffindor. Remember?"

"How could I forget?"

"And you are attempting to hedge the question, Severus. I'll ask you again: What are your feelings for me?"

"I find you to be clever, witty, and enjoyable to be around. I had not given you much more than a passing thought up until the night that you spent the majority of the evening in my potions lab. However, from that point on I have not been able to eject you from my mind." He paused for a moment before his next words and took another sip from his tea. "I can easily see myself with you for a very long time."

"Then why did you throw me out of your house last night?"

"You mean, why did I throw you out of my bed, don't you?"

"You're avoiding the question, Severus. But fine. Why did you throw me out of your bed?"

"You began treading on a subject that I felt was far too soon to contemplate."

"That's not the only reason. I knew it was too soon, but sometimes we can't stop ourselves from wondering. And that's still no reason to treat me the way that you did."

"You're right. It wasn't."

"Then why?"

He said nothing, but Hermione noted that his face was growing paler than usual for him.

"Severus, answer my question or be sick all over your sitting room floor. But you'll likely wind up telling me something more than you have to," she said without an ounce of pity in her voice. She wondered how she'd been able to do that because in reality she was feeling terribly guilty about forcing him to reveal something that he wasn't ready for. She was just about ready to give him an out when he answered her.

"I did not like the fact that you were getting too close and that somehow my barriers were crumbling around me."

"I..." she began.

"I'm not finished." Severus stood up from his chair and began pacing in the small room. "You have to understand what life was like before the end of the war, Hermione. I was not supposed to survive the end of the war. In fact, Albus told me that after I'd accomplished all that he'd ordered of me, then I could finally be at peace and die. It was my reward for all that I had done."

"How can that be a reward? When is dying a reward?" she shouted.

He snapped around and walked towards her. "When the majority of your life has been lived in serving penance for your past sins. When you are the one responsible for the deaths of the only people that you ever loved!"

"Oh, God, Severus," Hermione said with a soft sob and she stood up and moved to put her arms around him.

"I don't want your pity, Hermione," he said snidely as he pushed her away.

"Damn it! It's not pity! No one should have to live the way that you did. No one! You made mistakes as a child. My God, Severus! We all make mistakes, even as adults!"

"And you know this because of your advanced years and wisdom?" he sneered.

"I never said that. I make mistakes all of the time," she said. She wanted to add: I'm probably making a mistake right now. But she held her tongue there. It wouldn't do to antagonize him any further. "What you're not understanding is that I think I'm starting to fall in love with you and I hate seeing you hurt. I would give anything to take away your pain and to show you how important you really are."

He turned his head to the side so that he was no longer looking at her.

Hermione took a deep breath and sighed. "Do you even want to try to have a relationship with me or is this entire exercise for naught?"

She was wholly unprepared for his quick movements as he crossed the small span of carpet to her and grabbed her face with his hands. His eyes bore into hers and even without the skills of Legilimency, she was able to read the pain, hurt, and... hope that was swimming in his eyes.

Severus' face lowered to hers. Soft, warm lips met her mouth and she instantly felt a tingle down her spine. His kiss was needy and Hermione wanted nothing more than to feel the void in his heart. And despite all of their recent trials, she knew that she was the one who could do that.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Five months later...

Hermione dipped her head back into the warm spray of the shower as she began the long process of rinsing the sudsy shampoo from her thick, bushy hair.

Things had come a long way in just five months, and even the simple memories of that journey brought a smile to her face.

For starters, Remus and Tonks were married. Apparently the incident at Harry's birthday party hadn't been all bad, as the Weasley twins' Inconvenient Truth Serum had caused Remus to profess his undying love to Tonks. In turn, she had told him that he had best stop feeling sorry for himself and worrying about hurting her, because she wasn't leaving his side for anything.

They went off and eloped eight days later.

Severus quit his job at Hogwarts. He and Minerva had made up, as it were, and were actually quite close now. However, he said that he had only taken the teaching job after the war because he'd felt duty bound. Minerva had tried to convince Severus to stay, but she let him go when he insisted on it.

With the patching of Severus and Minerva's relationship, came the repairing of Hermione's relationship with the Headmistress. It had been Minerva's anger with Severus that had caused the animosity between them and once that had been resolved, her relationship with the younger witch had begun the healing process.

Severus was now running his own apothecary in Diagon Alley, and his little shop was giving Slug & Jigger's a run for their money. Especially since Severus had created and patented his new variation of Veritaserum and was now selling it to the Ministry of Magic. As the inventor, he was the Ministry's sole supplier.

Hermione had quit her job at the Portkey office to help him. Lately she'd been managing the sales end of the shop while he worked on the brewing and research side of it. Then, with Harry and Ginny's wedding approaching, she hadn't wanted to remain living in their house as a third wheel. So, at Severus' insistence, she'd moved in with him at Spinner's End. That was when she'd found that the amount of time they were together was a bit excessive. At her suggestion, they were going to hire someone to brew the basic potions for them at the shop, and Severus was going to continue brewing the specialty potions at Spinner's End.

Fred and George had perfected their own truth revealing potion and had released it before the Christmas shopping season as part of a new party game. Both she and Severus agreed that they would never attend a party where that was a game. She'd already seen the disasters left in wake of truth serum used before large audiences and she had no desire to see it again, thank you very much.

The hardest thing for her to believe was that Ron really was deeply in love with Draco. At first, Hermione was convinced that she'd botched the love potion somehow so that it wouldn't wear off. However, Severus examined it quite thoroughly, and also combined the love potion with the twins' Inconvenient Truth Serum; he believed that the only thing that had resulted was that Ron was no longer suppressing his deepest urge. Even harder for her to believe was that Draco was equally devoted to Ron, which explained why he'd been so willing to go along with her crazy plan. Molly wasn't pleased, of course, but she was coming to terms with it and really, she had other things to worry about.

Like Ginny's wedding today to Harry.

It was also Christmas, but that holiday only seemed like a minor blip on the radar for Hermione right now. The wedding was to take place at the Burrow and Hermione was not looking forward to returning there. She'd not been back since July, even though she had made peace with Molly since then. That, however, had been done in neutral territory.

Thinking of the wedding in a few hours, she knew she had to start getting dressed. Hermione shut the water off and climbed out of the shower, grabbing the fluffy red towels that she'd stocked the bathroom with when she had moved in just a fortnight ago, to wrap around her body.

Spinner's End was nothing like living with Harry and Ginny. It was an adjustment learning to live with her boyfriend. Well, being with Severus Snape in any fashion took some adjustments. But he was a good man, and he loved her. And she loved him, too, with all of her heart.

That didn't mean that she didn't want to pull her hair out by the roots any number of times during the day, however.

Just last night he had suddenly grown surly with her about everything that she did, from the way she chewed her food to the way she turned the pages of her book. It wasn't until later that she learned that the reason for his attitude was because he'd been upset about the way she'd decorated the Christmas tree. Of course, it had taken him five hours of discomfort and annoyance before she'd learned that Severus preferred to have candles on his Christmas tree rather than fairy lights. He'd muttered something about "dozens of tiny fairies' ears listening to our every word," and belittled her theory that the noise from the fairies' wings prevented them from clearly hearing human voices. "There are still dozens of fairies' eyes watching us!" he said petulantly.

In exasperation, Hermione told him to fix it himself if it bothered him that badly and had gone upstairs to bed. Alone.

She'd lain in bed for nearly two hours before she'd finally been able to fall asleep. When she awoke this morning, Severus had been there beside her. She had no idea when he'd joined her, however. She let him sleep while she prepared for today's event at the Burrow.

That was an hour ago. Hermione finished toweling off, and then grabbed her wand to cast a quick drying charm to finish the job. She flicked her wand at the towels she used and sent them to the laundry chute in the wall. Next, she Summoned her terrycloth robe from the hook on the door and put it on before she left the bathroom.

He was likely to be awake by now, and she wondered what sort of mood he'd be in. She knew that even if he no longer was cranky about the fairy lights, he was likely to be irritated about having to go to the Burrow. She sighed, rubbing her hand over her forehead and mentally preparing herself for whatever was to come; and then opened the door that led to the bedroom.

The bed was made, which meant that Severus was up, likely in the kitchen brewing a pot of tea. She went to her wardrobe to pull out the dress robes she was to wear today and grimaced. They were white with gold trimmings, complete with a wreath of holly for her hair. She looked like the ruddy Ghost of Christmas Past from several of the adaptations of A Christmas Carol she'd seen as a child. Of course, there was no point in explaining that to Ginny, who had selected these robes for her maid of honor.

Just as she was about to pull the robes off of the hanger, she felt an arm reach around her waist as Severus moved behind her and began to nuzzle her neck.

"Happy Christmas, Hermione," he said softly in her ear.

She leaned back against him and closed her eyes. "Happy Christmas."

"I apologize for my... well, for last night." He brought his other arm around her and slipped it through the gap in the top of her robe and began gently kneading her breast. "And I want to make it up to you."

Hermione moaned softly. She quickly came to her senses and tried to take a small step forward, but he pulled her back against him.

"I would love to, but I don't have time, Severus. We have to be at the Burrow in an hour. I'm sure that Molly is frantic which means that Ginny will be on edge."

"We have time," he insisted as he lightly pinched her nipple, instantly causing the nerves in her clit to ache and thrum. "I just spoke with Draco, who said Molly is in a surprisingly calm mood this morning. It could have something to do with the sedative that one of her offspring placed in her coffee this morning, though I wouldn't know anything about that. And there are still several hours before the ceremony. Miss Weasley will be fine for a bit longer."

Despite her best intentions to stop things for now, Hermione found herself sagging against him as he loosened the tie keeping her robe shut, and his hands began exploring the exposed flesh of her breasts and stomach. She knew him well, and when he wanted to apologize in such a way, it was very enjoyable to let him. Even if this time she knew that part of his reason was to avoid the Weasleys for as long as possible.

He began kissing her neck, and then he pulled the robe off of her left shoulder and he began focusing his efforts there. His hands continued their exploration of her body, but just as one of his hands began to make its way to the pulsing crux between her thighs, he stopped and released her.

Hermione felt the cold air hit her body as he pulled her robe the rest of the way off of her, and he turned her around to face him.

"You are beautiful," he whispered.

She smiled as she wrapped her arms around his neck and pulled him down to kiss her.

Lips.

Teeth.

Tongue.

She felt as if she could devour him and still not get enough.

It was not long before he pulled back, breathing heavily, and led her again to the bed. The back of her knees pressed against the mattress and he gently eased her to lay down on her back. Then he stood in front of her and pulled off his own robe and underpants. Severus kneeled at the edge of the bed, spread her legs, hooked his arms around her knees, and pulled her towards him so that her arse was at the edge of the bed. Once there, he put his nose against her heat and inhaled deeply.

"Lovely," he said just before opening his mouth and running his tongue up to her nub.

Hermione closed her eyes and groaned at the sensation. She felt him alternately flick his tongue and then suck on her greedy clit. And just as she felt as if she needed something more, she felt him slip two fingers into her heat. That was all it took for her to come undone.

As her breathing slowed and she opened her eyes, she found him staring at her, his black eyes dancing with mischief. He was such a cocky bastard.

When Severus stood from his knees, Hermione scooted back further up on the bed. He crawled up to her, first stopping to place a kiss on her stomach, and then pausing for a bit longer at her breasts before kissing her mouth. She tasted herself on his lips and tongue, and it sent a new wave of heat through her body.

The kisses grew greedy. Hermione felt herself arching up against his erection, begging for its intrusion.

"Such an impatient little thing," he said with humor.

"Yes. Especially when you start things that way."

"That, my dear, was merely a slip of the tongue," he said as he pushed his erection into her.

Hermione gasped at the sensation as he filled her and then began to move rhythmically with her, causing the tingling in her nerves to return with even greater intensity than before.

It was only a few minutes later when she reached her plateau and her walls began to spasm around him, and only a moment after that when she felt him stiffen deep inside her.

After he rolled off of her, he pulled her tightly against him and one of his hands smoothed her unruly hair.

"That was wonderful," she said. She placed a hand on his chest, over his heart, and enjoyed the last few minutes that they would have alone that day. "Happy Christmas."

Severus pressed a kiss on the top of her head before releasing her and grabbing a small gift off of the nightstand that she hadn't noticed before. He handed it to her and she opened it quickly, heedless of the wrapping paper. The small black box within opened to reveal a sapphire ring.

"Marry me," he said simply.

Her eyes brimmed with tears as he placed the ring on her finger and said, "Marry me, Hermione, and make me happier than I ever thought possible."

Her words were stuck in her throat, but she nodded and kissed him.

The journey to heaven had taken her straight to hell and then back again, but it had been worth it. And none of it would have been possible if not for her own slip of the tongue, thanks to one Ronald Weasley.

Leave it to a former potions master to find his happiness due to a dunderhead's potion.

~Fin~