Part II

17 July 1998

Exhausted, Hermione Granger dropped down on the worn settee in the gloomy living room of 42 Spinner's End. Mr Snape Sr. seemed antsy in the surroundings, which puzzled her greatly. He hadn't seemed wary of magic before when they had performed the Fidelius on the property.

"May I talk to him?"

"I can take you upstairs, but I don't think he will talk. That's what worries me so about him. He doesn't care at all, no spark left. Lies in that bed, sleeping most of the day, doesn't eat. Yesterday I all but dragged him into the shower. Before he would have hexed me six ways to Sunday, but he only managed a few half-hearted punches and then started to cry."

Hermione was shocked to hear this. To her, Professor Snape had always been imperturbable, the one certainty of her school years. Well, aside from part of her would-be-seventh. But he had come through and had been the pivotal figure in this war. She was heartily glad that he had survived, thanks to a forgotten emergency Portkey installed by Albus Dumbledore. The old headmaster had the house-elves sew a special button into each of his spy's clothes, which would put him in stasis and transport him to the infirmary if his heart-rate or blood-pressure dropped below a certain level. And thankfully, Madam Pomfrey had acted on her instincts and had managed to stabilize him long enough for an anti-venin to be administered.

Somewhat healthy, fully pardoned...Severus Snape should be dancing on Voldemort's grave instead of wasting away in a dingy suburb.

She followed Mr Snape upstairs into a small room. Without his robes the Potions Master seemed very fragile. He was huddled under a thin blanket, lying on the bed facing away from the door. The white shell of an ear peaking out of the lanky strands of hair added to the general air of vulnerability.

"I'll leave you to it. A friend of mine who knows about these things will pop round tomorrow, maybe Severus will talk to him then."

Hermione sat on the bed. A quick survey of the room showed no evidence of Snape's wand; a fact that worried her more than anything else his father had told her. Tenderly, she laid a hand on his shoulder, not expecting a reaction. Rubbing small circles with her thumb Hermione sighed. There were no words. If she felt weary beyond anything imaginable...how could Snape be up and well? He had done far more, and had done it for nigh on twenty years. And still, even seeing him so small and defeated, his presence instilled a sense of security and stability she had not experienced since before Bill's and Fleur's wedding. She could not go on another yard or another minute, she simply couldn't. Hermione toed off her trainers, put her wand on the bedside table and slipped under the blanket into the bed, snuggling up to Snape's back.

...-

A small chirping sound from Miss Granger's jacket alerted Tobias to the possibility of people looking for the young woman, who was sleeping off her exhaustion in his son's bed. He had checked on them half an hour earlier. Both were deeply asleep; they hadn't even stirred when the bin lorry had emptied the dustbins noisily.

Snape Sr. patted down the jacket and found a mobile phone, thankfully a fairly simple one. He pressed the book-sign, hoping to find numbers for family and friends. There: 'Mum&Dad.'

As he had no means to contact someone in the wizarding world, he pressed the connect button and waited. The phone was picked up on the third ring.

"I told you not to contact us, Hermione! Didn't we agree that you give us time to come to terms with what you did to us? Isn't it enough that we have to sit tight in this forsaken place until YOU deem it right for us to return to our lives?" an angry male voice asked.

Tobias felt indignation swell in his chest. Miss Granger seemed to be a good person, running herself ragged in the weeks following the end of the war.

"This is Tobias Snape speaking. I'm only ringing to let you know that your daughter is safe, if completely exhausted. `Though it seems you're not overly concerned."

"Snape? Any relation to Dumbledore's murderer?"

"That would be my son, who most assuredly did not murder the old coot! I would do the job myself for everything he put Severus through, forcing him to kill him and be reviled by clueless dunderheads like you! As it is quite unlikely that he will ever be well again, I was only trying to at least spare Miss Granger's parents the same agony. Please pass this on, if her friends are calling."

Tobias disconnected. Poor girl. He busied himself with making leek and potato soup, in case his charges woke up hungry. If Severus were up tonight, he wanted desperately to attend a meeting as the house and the memories connected with it made him positively itchy. He didn't crave a drink but felt himself off balance, which was the first step to falling off the wagon; a lesson life had taught him more than once. This time Tobias had stayed sober for nearly nine years, and he really wanted to stay that way, now that he had his son back.

Who just then made an appearance in the kitchen. Barefooted and bleary-eyed, but at least he was up and had even put on trousers.

"What's Miss Granger doing in my bed?"

"She did that complicated spell to hide us and literally fell asleep while checking on you, mumbling something about feeling safe near you."

Severus only nodded, looking around.

"Your wand's in the drawer."

"I should check on her."

"After you've had some soup. Her colour and pulse have been improving over the last few hours. I guess she just needs sleep and sustenance. Poor girl, looks like she hasn't slept properly in months."

The boy stayed put and managed half a bowl of soup before he pushed himself up on his arms, away from the table, and shuffled towards the living room with a nearly inaudible "Thanks, Da."

Tobias was heartily glad that he had arranged for one of his AA-acquaintances, a retired psychiatrist from the RAF, to come over to talk to his son. Miss Granger's mobile rang again. He picked up, resolved not to listen to abuse from her parents. "Snape on Miss Granger's mobile."

"Good day, Mr Snape, this is Monica Granger speaking. Please accept my sincerest apologies for my husband's behaviour, and our thanks for caring for our daughter."

Tobias was slightly mollified. "That's all right, Mrs Granger, these are truly trying times."

"Thank you. How is Hermione?"

"She hasn't woken up, but her colour is better. My guess would be complete exhaustion."

"Should I come and get her?"

"Nothing can happen to her as long as she stays in the house. They haven't apprehended all the bad guys, and your daughter and my son are prime targets – as are we. It would be safest if we all stayed put."

"Well yes, I am sure you are right. Will you please tell Hermione to ring me when she wakes up?"

"Will do."

"Thank you, goodbye."

At least the girl's mother seemed to have come around enough to lend her daughter some support. Severus came back into the kitchen, looking crestfallen.

"What's wrong with Miss Granger?"

"Nothing, as far as I can see. I could not do a diagnostic charm." He put his wand back in the drawer.

"Give it time, Severus. You've been through an awful lot."

---

The emergency Portkeys had saved Severus, as had the appearance of Dumbledore's familiar, who had donated some tears and helped quite a lot to convince the general public of the spy's comparative innocence. Afterwards, Luna Lovegood had hidden the still unconscious - and not yet pardoned - Potions master at her aunt's house. He had woken up after a week, weak and shell-shocked. Acting minister Kingsley Shacklebolt had delivered a pardon after Potter's testimony in front of the Wizengamot. Severus had not shown any reaction then, but a week later had refused Lucius Malfoy's offer to recuperate at Malfoy Manor and instead asked Miss Lovegood to contact his father.

Thankfully, Tobias had been able to take time off from his job to look after his son. Miss Lovegood had deposited an uncharacteristically silent Severus at his house. He had then vanished into his room, refusing to talk or eat. A week later, Luna returned and had been worried that neither Severus nor anyone else had enforced the wards on the Spinner's End house. Her vacant air had been replaced by benevolent focus, and she'd sent some magical messages to friends of hers.

While she had waited for them, she had remained in the living room, not quite in battle stance but the air was almost humming with magic. Then, Miss Granger and a young man called Neville Longbottom had arrived. Severus seemed to have sensed them and had shuffled downstairs in all his unshaven glory, briefs and Led Zeppelin T-shirt. After seeing him like that, the two new arrivals had adopted Miss Lovegood's sense of urgency and had heatedly debated the best course of action - a spell called 'Fidelius', with Longbottom as Secret-Keeper. The young man had protested, sneaking anxious glances towards Severus, who had been watching the discussion with eerie detachment from the sofa until he had spoken, voice gravelly from disuse, "Please, do it, Mr Longbottom."

The other wizard's eyes had widened in surprise. "But, sir, what if I am caught?"

"You have managed to avoid detection admirably during the last year, you have withstood more torture than anyone so young I know, and you've killed that bloody snake...who else?"

The young man had seemed to grow a few inches and acquiesced immediately. It had been decided that Miss Granger - as the most powerful of the three - should perform the spell, Longbottom would be the Secret-Keeper and Lovegood the binder. Severus hadn't stayed to watch but had asked his father to thank them and give them sweetened tea and sandwiches afterwards.

Lovegood and Longbottom had left soon afterwards, but Granger had stayed to put on some additional layers of wards able to detect any wizard in a 100-yard perimeter from the house. Then she had dragged herself upstairs to check on Severus and promptly passed out.

...-

"Severus, can you please look after Miss Granger for me for the next two hours? I really want to go to a meeting."

Severus looked up. "I do not think it is safe for you to go out. They might lay in wait."

"I'd rather be blown to pieces than start drinking again. I plan to go through the back gardens until the tracks. Do you think a wizard would know enough about the area here to wait there?"

"No, I don't think so. And I suppose they do not know about you helping me. They would look for a wizard. Still, I'd rather not have you taking any risks."

"I will be careful, and I will take something from Miss Granger with me that alerts me to any magical person nearby." Tobias was pleased that Severus took an interest and decided to push his advantage. "If I am to stay here for a while longer you might think about redecorating. The house brings up terrible memories. Why didn't you change anything?"

"I couldn't be bothered."

He looked at his son with a raised eyebrow.

"Right. I didn't think I deserved anything better. Not after I got Lily killed."

"You could not have known that your madman would take the damn prophecy seriously. That Riddle fellow could just as well `ave read the 'oroscope in the Mirror and planned world domination accordingly. Perhaps, Miss Granger has access to a car and could drive us to IKEA."

"IKEA?"

"Yup. Swedish. Sells cheap furniture you have to assemble yourself. Very cheerful colouring."

Severus shuddered but seemed to get the joke.

"Right. Meeting starts in half an hour, I should be back by ten o'clock."

"Take care."

---

Tobias came back safely from his meeting; Miss Granger declined going to IKEA on account of having neither a driving licence nor a hand for interior decorating and went back to her friends.

Severus' magic came back a while later, helped along by quite a few sessions with Col. Dr Ryan McGough, some spectacular shouting matches with said doctor, Tobias and even Kingsley Shacklebolt, who made things worse by trying to hug the irate Potions master afterwards, mumbling "Ah, good, you're back."

---

Three years later, March 2001

Tobias Snape was uncommonly silent during his weekly tea with his son. Severus did not notice at first; he was busily detailing the pros and cons of buying the adjacent building and installing a state of the art potions lab in there. He could use St Mungo's facilities for brewing and research but loathed the distractions there.

Tobias decided to take the plunge. "Buy it, do the lab, and I'll live upstairs."

That had Severus looking at him. He recovered fast, however. "It would be big for just me, but why now?"

"The council is forcing me to retire, and I will lose my little flat in the school then."

At 69, Tobias was long past the age of retirement. It had been his choice to continue working, and all headmasters and headmistresses had been glad to have him. He did all the necessary repairs (and often more), kept the children in line without being nasty or crass and was valued by staff and parents alike.

"When?"

"This June. And no, I didn't think of moving in with you until you mentioned the Singhs' house."

In truth it hadn't been the Singhs' house for more than twenty years, but that's what long-term residents of Spinners End still called it, in memory of the first Indian family moving here after the mill had closed.

"I would buy it tomorrow if two houses weren't too large for me."

"I think you would get good money for the bigger property if you decided to move one day. The prices beyond the tracks are already going through the roof; in a few years even our dead end will be sought after."

"If I connect the two houses and install the lab, I won't move, ever."

"Spinner's End is better now than it was in the Seventies, but still not an ideal place to raise children."

"Children?"

"Yes. Now that I have to retire, I would have time to look after my grandchildren."

"Of course. You have that planned nicely. Do I know their mother yet?"

"Seriously, Severus, it was a spur of the moment idea, but I'd say we both think it over. I suppose with me contributing you won't need a mortgage at all, and the property is large enough that we won't have to see each other for days if we don't feel like it."

"You're right; the idea has some merit, sans the wife and children."

---

Severus and Tobias Snape had several lengthy talks, which sometimes ended in rather tempestuous arguments. Severus' sessions with Col. McGough had enabled him to voice a handful of unpleasant truths he didn't hesitate to throw into his father's face. Tobias, on the other hand, had years of experience with AA-meetings under his belt, which let him stay calm and focused longer than his son. A fact that often enough drove said son 'round the bend.

Both knew they had to work through these grievances before they even could think about moving into adjacent buildings. Painful as this process was, father and son were equally grateful to get the chance of fighting for a semblance of family life.

Severus had found that the end of the war, his survival and subsequent breakdown had given him a new taste for life. He was mostly content to live peacefully, supporting himself with the sale of complicated potions and research projects. Meeting regularly with former pupils of his house, seeing them strive, sometimes struggle, but pull through in the end, helped him to make peace with himself and his actions during the Voldemort wars.

Neville Longbottom showed to have the courage of a Gryffindor as well as the tenacity of a Hufflepuff in maintaining contact after their initial meeting as quasi-peers during the warding of Spinner's End. Luna Lovegood was an often funny and surprisingly insightful penfriend, travelling with her fiancé Rolf Scamander and sending home various plants to both Neville and Severus.

Tobias would be the last person to be blinded by his son's faults – it took one to know one – but thanked whoever was watching over them daily for their second chance at a relationship. Personally, he believed it to be Eileen's gentle presence. The elder Snape had dreaded living out his days in a bedsit with only his thoughts as company. A prospect that promised relapse and doom. He kept his resolve however not to pressure Severus for grandchildren.

---

Monica Granger was visibly surprised to see her daughter when she answered the door.

"Sorry, I haven't rung, Mum, but my battery is empty, and I was nearby."

"Hermione, you don't need to phone in advance. We are not alone, however."

The ministry employee needed only a moment to recognise her parents' visitor. "Mr Snape! It is good to see you again. How are you?"

"Fine, thank you, Ms Granger, fine." He held up his bandaged left hand. "Just a bit of a strain. I am thinking of retirement, actually."

"Hermione, would you like some tea?"

"Yes, mum, thank– duck!" The witch went into battle stance, casting wards and protection spells. "A wizard has Apparated onto the grounds. Stay put, I'll have a look."

"Ms Granger!" Tobias tried to make himself heard. "Ms Granger! Hermione! That's Severus; he's come to take me home."

"Oh." Hermione looked a tad embarrassed. "Well. I'll go and dismantle the wards, then."

Monica and Wendell Granger got up from the kitchen floor, sharing a look with their visitor.

Snape was standing next to the garden shed, arms crossed. Thankfully, he looked more amused than upset. Hermione hadn't seen him since her short stay at Spinner's End and, to tell the truth, hadn't thought a lot about him either. This - combined with his manner of dress: trainers jeans, an oxford shirt and a tweed jacket – made the transition from teacher to man easy.

"Constant vigilance, eh?"

Hermione couldn't suppress a sheepish smile. "Sorry about that, I acted instinctively."

"No need to apologise. I gave my father a black eye when he wanted to wake me up once."

"Oh. Well, I think I scared my parents just now. It is one thing, I suppose, to hear about one's daughter having been in a war and quite another to see her in battle-mode."

"My father doesn't tell me a lot about his visits to your parents, but I gathered that it started when he had an argument with your father after the war when your parents were still very much upset about your Memory Charm. They meet about every two or three months."

"Mum never mentioned it. But then, I do not see them all that often. Today's visit was a spur of the moment decision. Do you always Side-Along your father here?"

"No. He strained his left wrist and therefore couldn't drive."

It occurred to Hermione that one reason why she didn't know about Mr Snape's visits was that she never asked her parents what they did on weekends. She asked about their practice and about old family friends, but otherwise mainly talked about herself. Could she have fallen in the age-old trap of considering her life, her magical life, superior?

Snape apparently noticed her pensive mood but didn't say anything. It crossed Hermione's mind fleetingly that he must have been a very good Head of House. She shook her head ruefully. "Just thinking. It seems I will need to have a talk with my parents. I knew they were terribly hurt by what I did, but it looks like I was not sensitive enough to realise how they truly feel."

"While I think both your parents and my father gain from talking about their experience of living with wizards, hardly any Muggle-born manages to integrate both worlds. Usually, it is all right during their time at Hogwarts, the child is away for most of the year like in any other boarding school and magic is forbidden during the holidays. The problems start later when students choose careers and marry in the wizarding world, and finally have magical children. Then, the Muggle parents get more and more marginalized."

Hermione considered this and had to concede that Snape was right.

"Mhm. I can think of only two acquaintances who haven't had problems, but both have married Muggles and live mostly a Muggle life."

They had reached the conservatory door and, after the Potions Master declined an invitation to tea, the Snape men said their farewells.

---

Three months later, Hermione was at a point in her career where she knew something had to change, change drastically. She had spent more time with her parents lately. They had talked a lot, about sensitive issues like the still smarting break of trust her parents felt, but also about more trivial matters. Monica and Wendell had taken up golfing of all things. Meetings with Mr Snape had indeed started after the war. The first few had been pretty tense, with Monica the only one keeping the conversation going. But a mutual friendship had been growing. Last week Wendell Granger had even travelled up to Kidderminster on Saturday to help the Snapes knock down some walls, a task better done without magic. Hermione listened with fascination as her father described their plans for the lab, the garden and the remodelling of the adjoining houses.

Therefore, when her Portkey to a much needed holiday, which she'd planned to spend with Viktor Krum and his family, had malfunctioned, Hermione decided on a whim to offer her help with the building-work for the three days she had to wait for another Portkey to Sofia. She couldn't quite remember the alley she'd Apparated from nearly four years earlier and opted to take a public Floo to Birmingham's main station and a bus from there.

---

The sight was priceless. For the first time in her life, Hermione felt the need to whip out her mobile and snap a picture. Her former Potions master was standing on a ladder, carefully chipping away plaster around a first floor window. He wore work shoes, cut-off jeans and nothing else save a bandana. There were some scars on his back, but none too noticeable under the tan and dust. The jeans went down to barely mid-thigh, showing off lean runner's legs, also far from pasty white. Whatever Snape nowadays did in his spare time, it obviously involved sunlight and casual clothing. He didn't seem to notice her, and after two minutes, Hermione began to feel stupid, standing there and staring. She cleared her throat. The man on the ladder didn't turn around.

"Good morning, Ms Granger. I will be down shortly. Feel free to look around but stand clear of the garden wall; father is demolishing it."

Hermione realized that he must have felt her presence due to the wards, which obviously still included her. She supposed that he used personalized wards, so her inclusion flattered her a tiny bit. She made her way round to the back of the house where indeed Tobias Snape was carefully bringing down the wall between the two lots.

"Ah, Ms Granger, good day! Did your father tell you about our project?"

"Hello! He did indeed; he even might become infected by a do-it-yourself virus, so my mother fears."

"He is welcome to putter around here where he can't do much harm."

"I have three days off, do you think I might be of use here?"

Severus had joined them. He had thankfully put on a short-sleeved shirt. "You are very welcome, if you really want to help, but I have to warn you, at this stage a lot of things have to be done by hand. Magical masonry comes into play a bit later."

"A few days of manual work will do me a world of good. I am thoroughly fed up with my job at the moment; it will be nice to do something, which has a logical and clear purpose and outcome."

And so Hermione Granger sorted and cleaned the bricks from the garden wall. It was monotonous and mindless work, but that was all right. When Tobias went to the chippy for lunch, she took on his sledgehammer with a ferocity that made Severus cringe for whomever she might be thinking about right now.

Lunch was eaten on a few mismatched chairs in Snape's garden. Hermione could not remember ever tasting such wonderful fish and chips, but then she had never wielded hammer and chisel for hours before. When Severus went inside to make coffee, Tobias stretched his legs, put his cap over his eyes and promptly fell asleep, right in his chair. His son chuckled softly as he came back, carrying two cups of Italian espresso and whispered to her, "Serves him right if he wants to impress young women. He's worked twice as hard since you came."

His look grew more serious. "You work at the Ministry, don't you?"

Hermione sighed. She had tried to talk with Harry and Ron about her problems at work, but neither had listened properly.

"Yes. Division of Magical Beings and Beasts. I have learned a lot since my campaign for house-elves, but I have accomplished nothing. I get praised for my diligence, and I have a good rapport with most magical beings, but every proposal, every amendment, on which I spent countless hours, gets pushed from desk to desk and then is declined. I do not know whether this is because I am Muggle-born, or because I am like I am. I know that I can come over as being a bit bossy. I get stonewalled wherever I go. At first, I thought it was a coincidence and worked even harder, but now I have to face it. After my holidays, I will ask Arthur or Kingsley and try to change departments."

"No!"

"Pardon?" Hermione was slightly startled by this emphatic response.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to get quite as loud. But will you listen to my advice? A different approach might be helpful."

"Of course I'll listen. I realize that I need help, that I have a few friends but no network."

"I will try to treat this like the career advice a Head of House would give. It would be a shame to waste your talents."

Hermione raised her eyebrows.

"Well, yes, I saw your good points, even when you were still my student. But you were a teacher's nightmare! If you were in a class, not even the Ravenclaws bothered to do their readings as you did not leave any room for their participation during class. Your essays! Didn't you realize that your teachers had to check your arguments, your footnotes? That is all right within the required length, but on two extra feet of parchment?!"

She blanched and Tobias, long since awake again, interfered, "Sev'rus, you're sputtering! Lay off!"

The man in question shook himself. "I do apologize, I got carried away. The most frustrating aspect about your work however was that you had some very good arguments and even new approaches to some problems I would have liked to try out. But there was neither time for that nor a possibility for me to acknowledge your achievement."

The last bit mollified Hermione. "It's quite all right, don't worry. I know that I overdid it, and I have since then shortened my written work."

"As for asking Kingsley for a change of department: if you do that, and he finds you another job at the Ministry, you will be in the weaker position. If, however, you are headhunted by another department, that gives you a better standing there right from the start. Another aspect is that departments execute the law; they do not propose or change it. If your boss puts forth one of your proposals, he has to leave his comfort zone; he has to find allies within the Ministry. I cannot know whether he does not think your work worth the effort, or whether he is simply un-enterprising. A former pupil of mine who works for the Wizengamot has recently complained that they can't find an employee who is up to their standards. If you want, I will put out the word that you might be open to a change in careers."

"Yes, I would like that, thank you."

By the time Hermione said her farewells to catch the new Portkey, she was on first name terms with Snape Sr. and Jr. and the garden wall was gone, its bricks cleaned and carefully stowed in the area to host the future herbal garden. Tobias found in the young woman's interaction with his son much to think about but wisely refrained from any comments.

---

Severus delayed his monthly meeting with the younger ex-students a bit – tricky potions were always a handy excuse – and bided his time in the "Silver Lining", a pub favoured for after-work relaxation and networking by the more open-minded pure-bloods. The young people treasured these meetings with their former Head of House because they were safe in the knowledge that he was the one person who would never judge them for the decisions made for them.

Due to the later hour, the Potions master knew the mid-management people from the Ministry would come in eventually. He would wait for Aloysius Greengrass, head of the Wizengamot Legal team. Aloysius was two years younger than himself, tenacious and thorough and married to his job. Ms Granger and he would get along very well. The slight unease that befell Severus at this point of his reasoning was quelled immediately. He owed it to the young woman to help her.

---

Hermione Granger returned to her job, kept her head down and started to leave on time. In her spare time, she read up on wizarding law and marvelled how well that particular subject fit in with her interests in other areas. She vowed to herself to be more open towards other people's suggestions, be it from her parents, from Snape or even from Harry and Ron, trying to get her to socialise more often. Her family and friends knew her best after all, and by now she was mature enough to realise that her weakest point was that she sometimes became so absorbed in her own thoughts or convictions that she no longer saw the bigger picture.