Chapter 10

A/N: My dear readers, raise your tea, coffee or cocktails, whatever it is that you keep close to you, to the beta who ended the seven-week draught and had this chapter returned within twenty-four hours!

Groveling, praise and endless amounts of appreciation go out to my last-minute Super Beta notsosaintly, who swooped in and rescued me so heroically and at such a huge risk to her own sanity that I think I may just owe her a Wizard's Debt.

Chapter 10

When Severus had imagined holding his goddess within his arms that evening, this was not exactly what he had had in mind.

They had strolled leisurely to her townhouse from the Ministry, chatting casually about this and that. Hermione had had to repeat herself on more than one occasion though, figuring that Severus was lost in thought, puzzling over the events of this afternoon.

He was in a way, only he had not been puzzling over the attack and break-in at ROAM. He was too busy marvelling at how the dusk sunlight reflected off Hermione's curls and the way it danced around her face with such animation as she spoke. It made her look so beautiful and full of life. She was everything he desired and more: intelligent and expressive, mature beyond her years and oh so physically desirable it almost pained him to look upon her. He could not wait to get to her home. He had no intention of just escorting her safely to her door. Severus was finally going to take things further.

Unfortunately, things did not go as Severus had planned.

When the pair arrived on her doorstep, Hermione knew something was totally off. Furrowing her brow in confusion and biting her bottom lip, she cast a glance sideways at Severus. Hermione could not feel the wards tingling with her magical signature.

Severus had known instantly what the problem was. He had checked out her wards when he had first learnt where she was living. You could never be too careful, what with a young (not to mention his) witch, and war hero to boot, living on her own. He was not willing to take the risk of someone trying to get even or simply wishing her harm. This was why he had added his own wards as a precaution and how he had known something was wrong... He could not feel his own wards either.

Through his contemplation, Severus' spine stiffened and his shoulders went back. He looked every bit the formidable wizard who spent years in the Dark Lord's service. He turned and bore his eyes into Hermione's, and some agreement seemed to pass between them. Hermione gave a curt nod, and they both moved forward, with Severus taking the lead, as they relied on their experience from the war to conduct their movements.

Cautiously, Severus raised his wand and checked the apartment for foreign wards and alarms. Glancing over his shoulder, he gave Hermione an indication that all was clear and gently eased the front door open in case the intruder was still within.

Closing the front door as quietly as he could manage in his haste, he spun around abruptly and faced Hermione. "You will stay here," he stated in a tone that brooked absolutely no argument.

Hermione...being who she was, the absolute essence of Gryffindor pride and stubbornness...straightened her shoulders and lifted her chin in what could only be the prelude to a rather heated debate.

Seeing her hackles rise instantly and taking his time to admire the fiery glint shining in his witch's eyes (gods, but he could not wait to see that gaze looking up at him from a bed), Severus softened his expression and laid a placating hand upon her folded arms.

"Hermione. Please, trust me."

She relaxed her stance a little, gave a reluctant nod and watched as Severus slipped through the front door and entered her home.

****

Finally, things were getting back to a form of normalcy. Well, what passed for normalcy in the Wizarding world, Molly thought to herself with a chuckle. Molly Weasley could not be more pleased by this fact as things were looking up indeed.

It had hardly been two weeks since she had signed a contract of employment with St Mungo's. Molly was to be their new external mediwitch, which meant that she would be handling home births and checkups for those families who preferred not to use the hospital or simply didn't want the trouble of going all the way into London if nothing was seriously wrong.

After the war, there had been a great influx of marriages and births now that the dangers had passed, and the Ministry of Magic had been only too happy to provide more funding for St Mungo's to accommodate the steady growth in population. It was in the Ministry's best interests, after all, that their numbers increase and expand after the massive loss and decline they had suffered due to Voldemort's second reign.

Molly had held a position at St Mungo's many years ago before she and Arthur had decided to start a small family, which got a bit out of hand and had somehow ended up resembling their very own Quidditch team. Molly shook her head ruefully at her thoughts. She loved her brood dearly, probably a little too much if she were to be completely honest with herself, and wouldn't swap a single one of them for all the gold in Gringotts. However, never in her wildest dreams as a youth did she expect to have such a large family. She'd thought that maybe one or two would suit her just fine, while she continued with her career at the hospital, healing and fussing over the Wizarding population.

Molly seemed to be a natural at that sort of thing. Therefore, she should not have really been surprised after she had Bill and could not bear to be away from him for even one afternoon. This is how Molly found herself to be a stay-at-home witch. With every red-headed, sweet-rounded, freckled-faced addition to her family, she thought less and less about leaving them in the hands of another.

***

Arthur Weasley smiled ruefully on the inside as he watched his wife make a fuss over their youngest son, Ron, while eating dinner. He really did not want to be the one to burst her bubble later on, but Molly was going to need her eyes opened if the Weasley family was going to continue to view Hermione Granger as a part of their clan.

When Arthur was about halfway through his sixth year, he had been summoning small breezes to lift the girls' skirts as they strolled past him and his little group of friends. They were sitting upon a low residing wall outside the castle; that was until Molly Prewett turned back towards them, eyes blazing, lids narrowed, and threw the most vicious Bat-Bogey Hex he'd ever encountered. She had flipped her hair and flounced away, wearing the most cheeky, self-satisfied smirk he'd ever seen cross the normally demure girl's features. He knew at that moment that he had to learn more about this young woman. Of course, he later learned a lot about her stellar qualities: kind, friendly, helpful and very studious, not unlike their lovely, young Hermione. Arthur had spent the next eighteen months pursuing Molly relentlessly.

Molly was a very open and loving woman, and he had never seen a woman made of stronger stuff than his wife. The fact that they had more children after the twins came along should be testament to that alone. The only flaw he had seen her display on numerous occasions during their marriage was the rose-coloured glasses she wore when it came to their brood.

Molly could sniff out any hint of mischief her children were up to quicker than you could say, "Quidditch," and she was far more reliable than any Remembrall. However, when it came to their children's happiness and well-being, she could become a little short-sighted. Take the issue with Ron and Hermione, for example. Of course her ideal image of the situation was quite a lovely tale, and it did paint a rather romantic little picture: Best friends, coming together after all of the turmoil and uncertainty they would have suffered through together. Having always danced around one another, but never really taking that final step. Finally finding their way back to each other after the greatest of evils was defeated. Having the perfect bonding, settling down and breeding for Molly a large number of grandchildren to dote upon.

She was well intentioned, Nimue bless her soul. Molly just failed to see through the picture-perfect painting she had created in her mind's eye.

Arthur knew exactly what would happen should that scenario take place... He loved his youngest son as equally as the rest, he really did, but he was hardly blind to his personality faults.

Ronald could be very self-centred and had a tendency to be quiet sulky. The woman who finally married the boy would need to be extremely patient, very reassuring and be willing to make Ron the centre of her world.

A lot of it was probably their own fault, having had so many children. They had spread themselves thin among the lot of them, but that could not be changed now. Sure, they had many children, and sometimes you just could not be there every step of the way for each of them. None of them were permanently scarred for it though, and they had all turned out to be fine young people in the end.

In no way was Hermione built to handle the youngest male Weasley. The emotional sieve the poor boy would attach to her would be disastrous to her sanity. She was bright...too bright, he thought sometimes...dedicated and determined at whatever she put her mind to accomplish. Hermione would be a great mover and shaker of the purebloods within the Wizarding world, he was sure of it. She would need a partner who was there for her when she needed it, but would not need her constant time and attention. Someone willing to let her grow as a person and a scholar without making her feel guilty or neglectful because of it. As far as Arthur was concerned, Ron was waaay too high maintenance for what Hermione would need in a beau... besides which, he had a feeling his son wasn't quite sure of what he wanted yet.

The only thing he needed to do now was to convince Molly of this... Arthur grimaced minutely to himself, hoping a Bat-Bogey Hex wouldn't get involved.

****

The Weasley twins, Fred and George, were currently bunkered down in their office, which was located behind the counter and out the back of their joke shop, Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes.

Not only had their ex-professor torn them a new one, but their mother had given them a hefty tongue lashing too. They would be in the Crup house over this one for a while, especially since they knew their mum was planning on Hermione being her daughter-in-law in the future. Rolling their eyes at each other, they both highly doubted that dream would ever come to fruition. Ron wasn't man enough to take on Hermione as a wife as far as they were concerned; besides which, they figured their mum was just upset because in the process of one of their pranks, Hermione could've been 'compromised' by Snape of all people.

As soon as they had found out who the Potions master had felt an... 'inkling' to kiss, they had barricaded themselves inside their office quicker than you could say, "Quidditch." They were not exactly looking forward to the ramifications of that little stunt at all.

The young men had been shocked senseless when they discovered that their ex-Potions professor, the ever formidable poster child for all things dark and evil, Severus Snape, had a decidedly wicked sense of humour!

It had been purely accidental, of course, that they had witnessed this perversion of nature occur. The war had still been in full swing a few months before the final battle had taken place, if they recalled correctly.

How they had managed it, they would never know. It was not easy to get one past the Weasley matron. Especially for them. Mamma Weasley seemed to have a sixth sense for mischief when it came to her troublesome twins.

They'd overheard Mrs Weasley delegate the job of cleaning out the basement to Harry and Ron so that it could be used as a makeshift Potions lab to brew any elixirs that may be of help in the upcoming battle.

The atmosphere inside of the Order's Headquarters at number twelve, Grimmauld Place had been rather stressful and depressive. Death Eater attacks and revels had been happening constantly, families were being torn apart over loyalties and some families wiped out completely in a matter of minutes for their open defiance of He Who Must Not Be Named. Fred and George had decided that a little stress relief was in order, by way of their own brand of magic.

Their first targets...or victims...had been Harry and Ron as they went about clearing the basement. They'd overheard their mum saying that she would send down lunch when the time came. Seeing as how the basement was needed for the labs fairly quickly, the pair of them were going to have to work flat stick straight through lunch and probably dinner as well.

Fred and George had Disillusioned themselves and waited at the top of the upper stairs leading down to the basement. As predicted, Mrs Weasley was too busy bustling around the kitchen and fussing over the older Order members who were at Headquarters for lunch. Therefore, she had charmed Harry and Ron's lunch trays to float on down the basement stairs towards the boys.

Moving as quietly as they could so as not to be discovered, the twins deftly tipped a satchel of fine powder into each of the two pumpkin juices that were sitting upon the trays. They snickered quietly to themselves as they awaited the events to unfold. As they watched the unsuspecting pair, Professor Snape approached, about to descend the stairs so he could hurry along Harry and Ron's progress with a well-placed snide comment or two.

He had not survived as a spy all this time out of sheer luck, that was for sure. Severus approached the stairs stealthily. No point in giving the dunderheads notice of his arrival; it did not have the same effect. Once he reached the doorway, he could feel the faint tingle of magic in the air. Severus knew Harry and Ron were not the source of the magical vibrations as they were still underage wizards and unable to perform magic outside of school.

Severus snorted to himself derisively, like something as flippant as rules would apply to 'The Chosen One'. He knew damn well that Albus would find a way for the boy to get away with it... Bloody Gryffindors always got an easy ride, he thought bitterly to himself.

Concentrating briefly, he identified the spell as a Disillusionment Charm, and there were two sources of magic behind them. Severus smirked when he realised it was the twins he was sensing and cast a weak Notice-Me-Not Charm so he could observe what the Troublesome Two were up to now. Though he would never admit it aloud, he respected the identical lads quite a bit. Their minds were quick, and they were quite adept at some impressive magic when they really got going. Severus thought it a pity they were not scholars. With their imagination and talent, the Wizarding world would have been in for many breakthroughs. Unfortunately, they had this inbuilt sense of mischief no amount of nagging from their overbearing mother or detentions from their professors was able to stamp out.

Therefore, he slunk along the wall in the shadows as he took the first few steps down. What he saw in the middle of the basement drew an unexpected but appreciative laugh from the dour wizard, who normally retained such control of himself.

Kneeling over Harry, who was lying on the floor in the middle of the room, was Ronald Weasley, using all his might to pin the saviour of the Wizarding world down so he could not escape. All the while, the youngest Weasley alternated between declaring his undying love and trying to snog his best mate senseless.

Ever since that day, he'd developed a sort of secret camaraderie with the mischief makers; sometimes he was given a barely noticeable nod to let him know something was about to happen. A meaningful look would be cast at Severus and then to something in the room, be it food, drink or sometimes even furniture that they were advising he not get near if he did not want to be embarrassed. For his part, every now and then Severus would slip the boys some rare Potions ingredients or lend them large tomes with suggestive pages marked. Needless to say, it was a happy partnership. Fred and George got plenty of fresh ideas and hard-to-find ingredients to work with, and the Potions master got entertained at everyone else's expense and never his own.

That was until the stunt they had pulled with the ink.

So, while the twins were hiding out in the office in their store, they were feeling decidedly paranoid. They had every reason to feel that way too. The Potions master had a vindictive streak when crossed, they shuddered simultaneously, and Hermione was not the cleverest witch of her age for nothing. They really had fucked up this time.

**

After Severus had gotten a quick glimpse at the inside of her apartment, he had immediately stopped Hermione from entering. Severus had known exactly who had breached Hermione's wards and home in that moment. There was no way he could let his witch view her beloved familiar in such a state. The loyal, if not hideous looking, cat had been pinned by all four paws to the middle of the lounge room wall. Its head had been removed clean off, and there were splatters of blood all over the flat. After reassuring that she would stay put while he went to investigate, he entered the flat fully and started to look around.

Severus could not understand how so much blood could come from such a small animal, though to be fair, Crookshanks had been at the larger end of the scale for a cat; he supposed the Kneazle genes he had inherited accounted for that fact. The metallic stench of blood was ripe in the air, and the Potions master gently gathered a sample of blood on his fingertips from the familiar's neck wound. Rubbing his fingers together, he noted that the blood was still warm, which meant that this had happened just a few scant hours ago. Severus scowled blackly as he viewed the blood-written message across the wall:

NEXT TIME TRAITOR

He knew exactly who was behind this. Severus would bet the deeds to the Manor that Lucius Malfoy was behind this display, as well as the breach at the Ministry Department. It smacked of Lucius; he had been his partner in crime long enough to recognise his style.

Although they had remained friends since the Dark Lord's demise, how did you end a friendship that started in nappies? The incident involving Draco and his witch had caused a seemingly giant rift between the two; in fact, they had not exchanged words since the meeting of tempers in the Headmaster's office. Sneering to himself, Severus thought, fuck the Auror's this time, he would handle this himself. It was time he paid his dear old friend a visit. First things first, though. He cast a Scourgify, banishing the remains and stains of Hermione's familiar from her flat. He strode determinedly back to the front door, intent on taking his witch back to the Manor for safe keeping.

**

Notes: Credits to The HP Lexicon: A Crup is a magical creature that strongly resembles a Jack Russel terrier, except that a Crup has a forked tail. Crups are extremely loyal to wizards and ferocious to Muggles. They also eat anything.

A/N: Ah shucks, you guys, I've had so many e-mails full of congratulations and pleadings that I just don't know where to begin. I will endeavor to make more writing time, I promise. I am so terribly sorry if I haven't had time to answer your review. I am not ignoring you, I just have noooo spare time lately.

'Madam-Fluffy-Pants' is doing very well and has the whole house wrapped completely around her little finger. *Chuckles* She's even managed to cut her first three teeth, at the same time I might add *rocks backwards and forwards* in the last two and a half weeks. I've had to rearrange my whole household and spend a tidy sum on cupboard, drawer and fridge locks. I swear to Severus that my oldest two never caused me this much trouble!

I've managed to enter myself into the Winter/Christmas Round 2006 of exchanges over at sshg_exchange. I'm feeling completely out of my depth and extremely nervous about the whole affair, but am determined to give it a go at least this once... If anything (since I'm supposed to tell you nothing), *laughs* you will be pleased and delighted no doubt to know that I am having lemons forced out of me. *grins cheekily*

On that note, I'm going to inform you that I have a LiveJournal now, which I'm gradually becoming addicted to. If you want to pester, nag or be a sounding board you are more than welcome to stop by and friend me. You can find the link to get there in my profile. =D