Nesting Invasions

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~o 46 o~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Nesting Invasions

The soft pop by her bedside jolted her awake, only to see Pepper standing by her bed with a letter in her hand. "Master is expecting you to replies, Miss," Pepper said, handing her the envelope.

Hermione stretched, still sore from her evening before. She'd slipped from Severus' bed at some ungodly hour and sneaked back to her dorm unnoticed, except for a few portraits who'd admonished her for being out so late. She finally sat up, looked at the house-elf who'd been waiting patiently, and accepted the letter from her. Taking a quick glance around the room, she noticed that only Deborah and Nadine were still in their beds. Hermione broke the wax seal, withdrew a note card, and smiled at the curt reply.

Mrs. Snape,

Talfryn Prince

"Give me a moment, Pepper, and I'll write a response for him," she said as she slid out of bed and opened her trunk, searching for a decent piece of parchment. Finding a suitable stationery card, she wrote:

Dear Mr. Prince,

Hermione Granger-Snape

She stuffed the card in its envelope and handed the letter to Pepper. "Thank you for carrying our missives, Pepper. How is he? Is he doing better?"

"Oh yes, Miss!" Pepper said exuberantly. "He even takes his chair downstairs and is walking on his cane, Miss! He tells all the wizards who works on the house how he wants his house and nots to gets the furniture dirty, Miss."

Hermione, although confused on how Mr. Prince took his chair downstairs, was thrilled that he felt better – enough to go downstairs and supervise the repairs. "Oh, Pepper, I'm so glad," she said. "I'll tell Severus; he'll be happy to know he's doing better."

"Thank you, Miss," the elf said and vanished with a soft pop.

Hermione dressed and headed down to breakfast. The portraits and suits of armor were already decked out with garlands and bows for the holiday, and the Great Hall was decked out in full Christmas splendor. As usual, twelve huge trees were covered with shimmering decorations and magical candles. Garlands of evergreens and icicles hung from the beams of the vaulted, magically-enhanced ceiling, and lacy snowflakes drifted downward through the floating candles, disappearing before any of the flakes touched anyone's head.

"Good morning, sleepy-head," Wendlynne said as Veronica passed her the pumpkin juice. "Did you have a nice lie-in?"

"Hardly a lie in, she sneaked in at three in the morning," Veronica chided her as Hermione helped herself to toast and marmalade.

"I'm sorry if I woke you," Hermione said and turned to look at Severus. He was watching her, but quickly lowered his head so that his hair obscured his face.

"You'd think he'd be in a better mood this morning, considering you... Well, he's been scowling all morning, and I heard that he was biting off everyone's head who greeted him on the way to breakfast," Veronica said in a hushed voice.

"He put four of our second-years in detention for laughing," Wendlynne said softly.

Hermione gave up trying to catch Severus' eye, even though she had the feeling he'd been staring at her the whole time.

"So how was the ball?" Wendlynne asked, thankfully changing the subject.

"It was lovely," she said and told her friends about the botanical garden, the hall and answered their questions about the ball. "Then we took a walk along the lake before coming inside," she admitted and blushed.

"That sounds like a terrific night! And you obviously had a nice time after, so, he should be in a good mood!" Veronica said, frowning.

Hermione was interrupted from answering when Pepper popped in under the table and tugged on her robes. Hermione leaned down and retrieved the envelope Pepper held up on her lap as the elf said, "My master wants me to gives this to you, Miss. He wants an answer so Pepper is to waits."

She opened the card, smiling at the curt response to her letter in the precise yet shaky handwriting:

Oh, hogwash, don't be ridiculous! Imposition, yes. Inconvenience? I've house-elves, girl. They will do all the work.

Talfryn Prince

Hermione pulled a piece of parchment from her bag and wrote out her reply.

Mr. Prince,

Hermione

She handed the note to Pepper and looked up at the staff table, smiling as the elf disappeared with a pop that made a few students nearby glance under the table. Severus was talking to Professor McGonagall. Sighing, she realized she had plenty of time to inform Severus that they'd be visiting Mr. Prince as planned. "Have either of you seen Ginny?" she asked, turning back to her friends.

Veronica nodded. "She's still at Quidditch practice," she stated.

Hermione rose and decided to seek out Ginny.

Ginny landed next to Hermione the moment she sat down on the stands in the Quidditch pitch. "So, it's a perfect day to go to Severus' house," the redhead said, brushing an errant strand of hair out of her face.

"And if I say no?" Hermione asked, shaking her head.

"Oh, c'mon! I'm dying to see his house, and you're being ridiculous!" Ginny answered with a laugh.

She hadn't let up about going to Severus' house all the way up to the dorm room, so right after Ginny had changed from her Quidditch gear into jeans and a jumper, Hermione followed Ginny down the tunnel behind the one-eyed witch. At least the Liquid Luck Potion seemed to be working; Hermione had the lightheaded feeling that this was absolutely the right thing to do, as ludicrous as that sounded, even in her own mind.

They entered Honeydukes without a hitch, purchased sweets, and then slipped out of the store. "We're out. Where to first?" Ginny asked.

"Grimmauld Place," Hermione stated confidently. Well, Felix was confident enough for both of them. "I want to get a few things first." She took Ginny's hand and Apparated to Harry's home. They shrunk a few boxes from the attic and took as many of Hermione's belongings as she felt comfortable taking. Once on the street again, Hermione took hold of Ginny's hand and Apparated them to the place Severus had told her to use. They arrived in a dark alley between two brick houses. Hermione led Ginny out onto the narrow cobbled street under a broken street lamp and turned left.

"Not a very inviting neighborhood, is it?" Ginny asked.

"No," Hermione replied, wishing Ginny would walk faster and not be so distracted by the other houses and weeds.

"These are Victorian worker's houses," Ginny stated.

"What does that mean?" Hermione asked, trying to understand the significance. Even though she had a good feeling about being here at this precise time, she couldn't shake the memory of the Death Eater she'd killed here – well, a few streets over from this street. She shook her head to dispel the memory.

Ginny was looking around as if she were a tourist. "His house will be small, like two rooms on the ground floor and two rooms, possibly with a box room, upstairs. Most were renovated with small loos when modern plumbing became more common for homes, but when they were built, most of these homes had a privies outside and a common or communal bath house."

Hermione nodded as she visualized Severus' home. It made sense, only his house was larger than what Ginny described. She stopped at the last house on the street "This is it," she said, taking a deep breath and reaching out for the latch. "It should open to my touch since he keyed it to my magical signature."

Hermione gingerly tried the front door, not at all surprised to find it locked. She couldn't remember ever having heard Severus pronounce the spell that opened the door, so she assumed it was a nonverbal one. After trying a few unlocking spells, she tried the Middle English word, unloken, nonverbally, grinning when she heard the bolt turn. She took Ginny by the hand, the way Severus did with her the last time she was here, and pulled her friend inside.

~S~

Severus hated staff meetings. He'd tolerated them as a professor because he could always do the crossword while the meeting droned on, but as Headmaster, he was responsible for conducting them. Therefore, they were as short and to the point as he could make them, even if that meant reigning in a few of the others. He glanced at the clock for what seemed like the hundredth time. "Hagrid, I can sway the school governors to allow you to include any animal that the students might face on their travels – that means common encounters, not the highly unusual. You may cover the practical aspects of avoiding confrontation with the more rare creatures in your lectures, but your subject is not Defense Against Monsters."

Hagrid crossed his arms and opened his mouth about to protest, but Severus cut him off.

"Have the students write essays if you must, but it's bad enough you requested a graphorn from the Edentaggart Magical Creatures Zoo for last month's lesson," Severus said in as patient a tone as he could muster. "I know mongoloths have been spotted in Northern Ireland, Scotland, and Wales, but the school governors think that they are just too dangerous to have at the school. However, if proper cages can be erected, I'll submit your request again. Now is there anything else?"

"No, Headmaster, sir," Hagrid said as he hung his head, and Pomona raised her hand.

"Yes, Pomona?"

Severus scratched out sesame and sunflower off his list of possible seeds on the side of his parchment as Pomona stood up to give her monthly report. "We have a few new additions for the greenhouses. You may remember Neville Longbottom? He ..."

But Severus was only partly attentive, well, not exactly actively listening as she droned on about Mr. Longbottom's current adventure and his gift; he was concentrating on his list. Neither sesame nor sunflower seeds would work in the potion. Safflower is grown chiefly for the oil obtained from its seeds, as is Allium. Candytuft, Mignonette, Nasturtium are weighed – not counted. Hyacinth Bean is shucked and chopped, same as Lupines, Melampodium and Sweet Woodruff... He wrote down Seddiumn and crossed it out. He'd already considered it, and the directions now clearly stated 'crushed to remove the husk and press' the seeds. One thousand of them... and they can't throw off the balance of the potion at that stage either... or the potion could explode. Flaxseed? Minerberries? They were crushed to remove the husk or ground... He scratched off both.

"Point of order, Headmaster," Filius said, drawing Severus' attention.

He crossed Panicum and Calandrinia off his list before looking up at him. "I am already aware of the gift from Mr. Longbottom and have approved the addition of the plants. I trust that Pomona will segregate the rarer and more dangerous varieties into the greenhouses that hold the plants for the advanced students," Severus said calmly, and Pomona nodded adamantly. He hated parliamentary procedure, and as such, he rarely succumbed to it. "So there shouldn't be any need to discuss the addition. Was there any other new business? If not, happy holiday to you."

"Headmaster, I understand that you will be away from the castle during the holiday break," Minerva said before he could stand up.

"Yes, Hermione and I shall be gone at least a week," he stated. "Hermione wishes to see her friends, and we have obligations we must attend. When I know the exact dates, I'll inform all of you. Is there anything else?" Thankfully, Minerva shook her head, as did a few of the other professors. "Good. Meeting adjourned." He rose to go before Filius called point of order to put it to a vote.

Suddenly the stone he kept in his pocket vibrated.

Someone had entered his house.

~H~

The room was exactly as she remembered: the threadbare carpet on the floor, the sofa and two chairs with soft blue cushions around a small glass coffee table. The small bowl of aromatic herbs still sat on the table; only they weren't as aromatic anymore. Between the chairs and on one side of the sofa sat the rickety small side tables. Two standing lamps were placed on opposite corners, one by the sofa and one by a chair, where the light from the window and the candelabra didn't quite illuminate well. Hermione began pulling her boxes out of her pockets, setting them on the coffee table and on the floor as she enlarged some of them back to their normal size.

"The sitting room isn't too bad," Ginny said, looking around as she took a few boxes out of her pockets as well. "In fact it's rather pleasant – for Severus."

The room had the inviting feel of a used bookshop to Hermione and smelled faintly of orange oil. "I think it's the room Severus uses the most when he's here," she replied, turning her head, realizing that all the books were still dust free and the wood of the shelves, mantel, and floor still shone with a warm polish. "At least he's keeping the room clean." She tied back the curtains underneath to let in the daylight. The window had obviously been recently cleaned.

"Show me the rest," Ginny urged her.

Hermione opened the concealed doorway in the bookshelves. "The kitchen and dining area and the door that leads to Severus' potions lab," she stated, leading the way to the elongated kitchen area. She walked between the small, scrubbed wooden table and dish cupboard to stand by the kitchen counter and opened up one of the cabinets, inspecting the few plates and few glasses lined up there.

Ginny opened the dish cupboard. "Not much in here. But then he lived alone, right?" She peered into another cabinet. "So you'll need dishes and some glassware. But you seem to have enough mixing bowls for now." She turned and smiled at the copper bottom pans on the rack that still shined almost like new. "And it's obvious that he likes to cook."

"I think he does, although there is never any food in the place." Hermione opened the door to the next room, leading Ginny into a room full of boxes that led to the sunroom and Severus' potions lab. She opened the door to her right, letting Ginny peek in at the efficient layout of the lab with its ample workspace and storage shelving.

Ginny examined the wall near the doorway. "He's added stone bricks to the walls," she said, her gaze going up to the ceiling, "and to the ceiling – to protect the house."

"I'll show you the rest," Hermione suggested. She closed the door and they walked into the sunroom. The windows were still clean, and the rows of herbs and flowers on the shelves and gardening bench looked tended to. Hermione leaned over the shelf to peer through the glass. "There is a back garden but it's completely overgrown, and the plants have grown quite wild." She led Ginny back into the sitting room and through another door that opened to expose the landing of the narrow staircase, walking ahead of her friend up to the upper floor. When they entered the upstairs hallway, Hermione pointed to the doors, identifying each one. "That room's full of boxes and stuff, the loo, and Severus' old room from when he was a boy, and the master bedroom."

Beaming with curiosity, Ginny opened each door to peer inside. Hermione watched as Ginny seemed to ponder the layout of the house, her brow furrowed as her finger moved in the direction of each room.

"He didn't show you all of it," she finally said, opening up the door to Severus' old room. "Something's not exactly right." She peered into the loo and then into the room full of boxes. "These three rooms match the space from downstairs, the sitting room," she said, indicating the box room and then pointed to the other two doors. "The loo and Severus' old bedroom – these are about the same size as the kitchen area." She opened the master bedroom. "But this one – it looks like it's about the same size as the kitchen area..." Ginny walked over to stand by the door to the storage room and faced the wall. "There should be another room in the front of the house, here." She touched the wall then jumped back in shock.

"What?" Hermione asked in alarm.

"Dark magic, I think," Ginny said, frowning. "There is something here that we're not supposed to know about."

"Very good, Miss Weasley," the cool voice of Severus made both girls jump and turn around. "Now will you please tell me why you are not in school where you are supposed to be? And why you've invaded my house unannounced?"

"Ginny and I brought some things to make the place a bit more... comfortable," Hermione stated, feeling slightly guilty for being caught.

Severus arched an eyebrow and crossed his arms. "Comfortable? I can assure you that this house is perfectly comfortable."

"This house does not feel comfortable to me, Severus. If this is going to be my home, I wanted to have some of my things around me here – as if I actually belong here," she explained, facing him, refusing to be made to feel chastised.

"I see. Move away from that door," he said coolly.

Hermione turned to face the blank wall. "What door?"

His voice became hard as granite as he ground out, "Now, Hermione. Back away."

"No. Tell me what's in there," she demanded refusing to be intimidated. It took all her resolve to stand there and face him without backing down.

"No," Severus said softly in his cold as ice warning tone.

Hermione crossed her arms stubbornly. "I will not live in a house with a room full of Dark magic."

"Well then, you apparently know what's in there, so move away. Now," he said with a warning growl and hardened expression.

Hermione stood defiantly with her arms crossed, and even though the magic emanating from the wall made her skin crawl, she shifted so she was closer to the apparent 'door.'

Severus's eyes narrowed, and he clenched his jaw, then spoke, his voice still dangerously low. "It's my study. Yes, there are Dark Arts tomes, Dark Arts implements, and such – nothing I want you touching. I am allowed to retain them since I cooperate with the Aurors when they require my assistance. Satisfied?"

Satisfied with his answer for now, Hermione backed away, and he smiled smugly in approval. "Now, what did you bring that you feel you needed to decorate the house with?"

Hermione shrugged. "A vase, a couple of paintings... not much really. Some rag rugs that my grandmother made me years ago for the kitchen. I really just wanted to look around again."

"And see where you could decorate," he said with a smirk. "You may do whatever you please with the sunroom – I will not go in there. Feel free to add to the kitchen, as long as it's functional. I do like to cook. I will not tolerate anything with kittens or chickens. The bedroom and sitting room are negotiable. This room is off limits as is my lab. Is that fair?"

Ginny was trying very hard to suppress a giggle. "You didn't tell him about the pictures."

"What pictures?"

"For the mantelpiece," Hermione said, raising her chin.

~S~

He'd known of course that this idea of nesting – making the home hers – was inevitable, but he'd never considered that Hermione would break the school rules to do so. He'd thought she'd at least wait until holidays started. Nevertheless, now that they were here, assuming that the all the boxes downstairs were hers, he might as well get it over with and see how much stuff she owned. He moved back with his arm outstretched toward the stairs. "Show me."

Hermione and Ginevra bounded down the stairs to his sitting room. The girls enlarged the rest of the boxes they had dumped around the room and started to pull things out that Hermione must have saved from her parents' house. Hermione carefully extracted a heavy frame out of one box, showing him a reasonable still-life painting. "My mum did this when she was in college."

Next, she took out one small frame after another and set the pictures on the coffee table as she identified the people in the images: "This one is of my grandmother, mother and her sister, Aunt Julianne, when they were young. This is my Aunt Anise and Uncle Herbert. They aren't really my aunt and uncle, just a really close friend of my parents. Dr. Myers, his wife and my friend Julie; I took you to their house once. This is Julie and me at the beach, the summer before I got my Hogwarts letter..."

Her voice had trailed off as she stared at the picture, and Severus wondered what had happened that that picture of her childhood friend would make her seem sad. At least she wasn't in one of those nothing-but-string bikinis.

"Hermione, are you okay?" Ginevra asked.

"Yes, we were excited that – we were both going to go to the same school and live in the same dorm. But that didn't happen, obviously." She set the frame down and picked up more pictures, the smile returning to her face. "The DA and all my friends from sixth year, and this is one of Harry, you, Ron, and I, of course – Colin took this one of us in the common room, remember Gin?"

Ginevra took the frame from Hermione and smiled at the image. "I remember this; we'd been discussing Harry's tattoo." Severus raised an eyebrow as she showed him the picture. "He doesn't really have one... you had to have been there."

Severus picked up one of Hermione, Ginevra, and Luna. "From her wedding," Hermione pointed out unnecessarily as the frilly yellow robes she and Ginevra sported and the flowing white robes on Luna made that plain enough. "I have three from that day."

She picked up two silver picture frames out of the box, showing him two pictures: one of a young man in uniform, and a picture of a woman holding a baby. Both looked like the color had been added as an afterthought. "This is my real grandfather, Roger Danielson. This one is my Grandmother Merle and my mother as a baby. Grandfather Danielson died at the invasion of Normandy in 1944. My grandmother was a nurse." She set down the two pictures and picked up another old photograph of the same woman with two little girls, but with a different man, also in uniform. "She met my Grandfather John Wellington when my mother was four. This was taken at their wedding." She set down the pictures and picked up three more. "This is my father's family: my grandparents, his brother and sister. This is my Uncle Christian and Aunt Maureen, Debbie and Catherine," she said, pointing to one photograph of a smiling family, possibly taken at Christmas since they all wore red jumpers. "And Aunt Cynthia, Uncle Marciel, and my cousin, Jean-Alexandre," she said, handing Ginevra the picture as she pulled out yet another picture frame. "This last one is my Great-grandmother Lelia and Great-grandfather Peter."

Severus looked at all the pictures and smirked. "And you want all these on the mantelpiece – they won't fit," he said, handing back the antique silver frame.

"I thought I could put the smaller ones on the shelves, with my figurines."

Severus' eyebrows shot up in alarm at the pronouncement. "Figurines?"

"My Llardo mermaids and centaurs," Hermione chirped gleefully as she carefully pulled out a porcelain figurine wrapped loosely in bubble wrap. "Mum and Dad bought me this one when I received my Hogwarts letter."

He smirked that there was a protective magical bubble around the porcelain figure even under the bubble wrap. Severus stared at the mermaid figurine with a pink tail and was grateful that it was at least small.

She carefully unwrapped the next figurine and terminated the magical protection. "And I got this one during the summer after my third year." She set a unicorn, staring at a bird sitting on its tail, on the table. Ginevra opened a box and took out three centaurs, two sitting with their legs folded under them and one standing as Hermione unwrapped and ended the protection on two more small mermaids. "My grandmother gave me these, one a year until she died," Hermione said.

As she set each one down carefully, Severus examined them with a look that wasn't exactly disdainful. "That is quite a collection," he said with a subtle sneer. "Where exactly are you planning on putting them?" he asked, glancing up at the shelves, wishing he had all his books back so there weren't so many gaps on the shelves.

Hermione jumped up and began to set her figurines about, smiling happily as she set, shifted, relocated each one, deciding where she wanted them. Ginevra placed the larger frames on the mantel, handing the smaller ones to Hermione.

Severus picked up one of the centaurs, examining it closely. It was a delicate piece of porcelain with tiny flowers that looked nothing like a real centaur female. But then the mermaids were a romantic facsimile as well. He looked up as Hermione added sticking charms to keep her precious collection in place. "You will have to be the one to dust them."

"Of course," she said, smiling in delight.

He closed his eyes and hoped she didn't collect any other type of figurines. He noticed that she hadn't placed any of her precious belongings on the bookshelves that functioned as the doors to the stairs or kitchen. He followed the girls as they carried several items, including the painting, into the kitchen. The two rugs were enlarged and set on the floor, the crystal vase on the dish cupboard, and a low bowl on the table. So far, it wasn't too much of an invasion. He wondered idly where she intended to hang the painting and decided to put it up on the wall near the table. He shook his head. There will be more of this, I'm sure. This can't be all of her precious decorations. Hermione left and returned with a china tea set. "My Grandmother's," she said proudly, setting the tray on the dish cupboard as well.

"I'll make tea," he volunteered as the girls unwrapped teacups and saucers, all mismatched and none that matched as a set to the teapot.

Hermione prepared the teapot and let him pour in the hot water. When they sat down, Ginevra looked up at him, and he knew she was going to ask questions.

"I noticed that the houses here are the usual eighteenth century mill workers houses, two up and two back – judging by the spacing of the windows and doors in the row – but your house is wider," she said and blew on the tea before sipping.

Severus knew where the line of thought was going and smiled, knowing that Hermione would barrage him with questions later about the house if he didn't explain it to her satisfaction now. "My mother acquired the house next door when her father passed away. I was a teenager – it was sometime just before the end of my fourth year. She said I needed more room for a desk and wanted to give me a potions lab."

"So she remodeled the house?" Hermione asked as if amazed that was possible.

He sipped his tea as he contemplated on how much to tell her, deciding that she should know about it. It was one of the few times I'd been proud of Mum's gumption – standing up to him, sort of, even if it had led to... He set down his cup. "My mother was very adept with Transfiguration, Hermione, it was her best subject. She apparently knew how to do renovation spells, like turning sections of a wall into a door. Originally, the upstairs only had two rooms and an elongated closet that also served as a storage room for linen and things. My mother moved me into their bedroom; my bedroom then became a workroom, and the old elongated box room, magically enlarged, became the bathroom. My parents moved across the hall. And of course, my magical study. My study was a place where I could do magic – practice my spells because only those with magical ability can sense the room. My father wasn't able to enter the lab or the sunroom either, and thought that the house was normal for a while. Like Ginevra, he eventually figured it out, but by that time he was sick – the drinking and heavy smoking has that effect on Muggles. Still, he was furious about it, but my mother tried to alter his memory to make him think it was how it had always been. He died just before I turned nineteen. Mum passed away that summer..." he said, not wanting to tell her what really happened, especially in front of Ginevra.

"I'm sorry," Hermione said, her eyes downcast before looking up at him. "It must have been difficult for you."

"It doesn't matter how old you are, it's not easy losing a parent," He set his cup down and crossed his arms. "Have we finished decorating?"

Hermione and Ginevra both smiled, and Hermione shook her head. "Nope."

He dreaded asking but couldn't help wanting to know just how far this was going to go. "What else?"

Hermione held her cup with both hands. "Is this going to be my home?"

"Of course," he said smoothly. "It has been your home since we consummated the Bonding."

"Then we'll have to buy bedding," Hermione announced.

"Bedding?" he asked, caught off guard.

"Yes, bedding," Hermione sated emphatically. "New sheets, pillows, and a quilt."

"You didn't mind it before," he stated, ignoring Ginevra's snicker.

"I didn't think I'd be living here either," Hermione persisted. "And the curtains. How old are they?"

"I'm sure they were put up before I was born," he stated, dreading how much this was going to cost him.

"Would you like me to go so you can... talk?"

Turning her attention to the redhead, Hermione said, "No, Gin, it's fine," then turned to face him with her arms crossed. "If it's the cost, I can buy the bedding myself. I've got my money saved up from working for George, and he's paid me for a one of my inventions..."

He was not going to win this battle. "The money isn't an issue unless you expect something extravagant." He only knew of one place to buy bedding... Narcissa had mentioned it before. "Fine, we'll go to Filberts and Swags."

Ginevra's face lit up, but Hermione frowned slightly. "I was thinking about Marks and Spencer," she said and turned to Ginevra. "It's a Muggle department store. You'll like the place. I know there's one in Manchester."

"All right, on one condition," he said firmly, and both girls looked up at him. "No pink, no flowers or any lacy stuff."

"Sure," Hermione agreed. "Gin, you should probably do Side-a-long Apparation again since you've never been there."

"No," Severus said firmly. It was too much of a risk, and he was fully capable of Apparating himself and both girls. When they were standing in the alleyway, he turned to face Hermione. "Picture the place where we are going to Apparate to in your mind, a memory of the last time you were there, and allow me to look. I will not rifle through any of your other memories, only for the location."

Hermione agreed without hesitation. "It's St. Ann's Gate, Manchester City Centre," she said, looking him boldly in the eyes.

He found the images easily and broke the connection when he had a clear picture of the place. However as soon as he had, she took hold of Ginevra's hand and Disapparated. Swearing, he followed, nearly colliding into her.

Severus followed the girls as they walked through St Ann's Gate, Manchester City Centre and glared at the huge 'M&S' above a sign that read 'Marks & Spencer' in bright yellow and dreaded what was to come. Thankfully, Hermione seemed to know exactly where she wanted to go, even though Ginevra frequently stopped in her tracks when something or other caught her eye.

To Severus, a Weasley in a Muggle department store was not an enjoyable experience in the least. And at least Ginevra didn't wander off, but stayed close to Hermione.

In the area designated for bedding, Hermione and Ginevra wandered along the shelves, looking at the various patterns through the plastic bags. Most of them hadn't appealed to him. He refused to have flowers, plaid, pink, or soft pastels in his – their room, but they did agree that red, green or yellow were not an option. Unfortunately, Hermione didn't like the color black, and she thought that grey or beige were unacceptable as well.

*

Finally back home, Severus stood in the doorway, scowling as he watched the girls make up his – their bed. It was beginning to look like the bed on the picture on the plastic bag. Not that it pleased him. Two pillows, a quilt and a blanket were more than enough bedding in his opinion.

Somehow, he'd been talked into a full bed ensemble titled, Embroidered Japanese Blossom Tree, that were of several shades of blue and soft greens, that comprised of a duvet, two more shams, a bed ruffle, and a throw pillow, plus the added expense of an extra set of blue sheets. He'd also purchased, as per her request, the duvet set, which was soft and fluffy, and the four pillows Hermione wanted that were filled with some unidentified synthetic fiber.

The bed had a dust skirt now, white sheets with light blue stitching in a kind of vine leaf design, one coverlet, which was just a blue blanket, and the embroidered blue and moss green quilt, over which Hermione placed a patchwork quilt her grandmother had made at the foot of the bed. He supposed the quilt did match, in some way, to the patchwork and embroidered quilt they'd bought. Plus, there was a throw blanket folded at the foot of his bed as well, for napping or reading. At the head of the bed the girls had placed two large, square 'Euro' sham pillows, two pillow sized 'standard' sham pillows, which were not to be confused with the two bed pillows for sleeping, and two useless pillows Hermione designated as being decorative pillows.

Hermione then laid an oval, hand-braided rag rug on the floor by her side of the bed, apparently so her feet wouldn't touch the cold floor when she slid out of bed. However, once she took a few steps toward either the door or the wardrobe she'd be standing on the cold hardwood anyway, so he was hard pressed to understand the need for the rug in the first place. But Hermione was making the bedroom 'hers', which meant she'd agree to sleep in it, and that was all that mattered.

Next had been the replacement of the old curtains with the new white sheer curtains and the blue curtains that had the same stitching as the duvet on them, and the matching bed curtains, which Ginevra clasped to the bedposts with what she called 'tie backs' that did exactly that, but buttoned instead of actually tying. At least there Hermione hadn't bought the ones that tied into large bows.

A comforter with matching sham pillows in a dark blue that had something called pin-tuck detail and a border of embroidered twigs with tiny white, blue, and purple flowers was placed in the wardrobe for cold nights. He had to admit, watching her smile as she examined her handiwork almost made up for the fact that his bed had flowers on it. At least no one else would ever see the bed but him and Hermione, and of course, Ginevra, but he'd made even Ginevra swear to keep quiet about it.

Back downstairs, Hermione asked Severus about the boxes in the box room. "It's just some old stuff that belonged to my dad I haven't gotten rid of yet," he said, scowling as Hermione and Ginevra both got up to go look. "We don't have to do this now," he grumbled as Hermione opened the first box. "My father's clothes."

"Why put off for tomorrow what can be done today?" Hermione asked and handed the box to Ginevra. "Do you mind, Gin?"

"Not at all. Sitting room?" Ginevra asked, ignoring Severus' scowl.

Hermione opened another box and looked up. "More of your father's clothes?"

"Obviously," he growled with a frown. The next two boxes to go held his mother's clothes and miscellaneous items that had seen better days and one that contained some Muggle kitchen appliances he didn't want anymore. When she reached for a box on the top shelf, Severus stepped into the room. "No!"

"Why?" Hermione asked, putting the box on top of another.

"That's personal," he growled as Ginevra carried one of the boxes of old clothes to the sitting room for disposal.

Hermione smirked at him in confused distrust. "Why is it too personal? What's in here?"

He clamped his hand down on the box as she continued to look up at him expectantly.

"Whatever it is, I won't judge."

Ginevra came to get the second box, and Severus moved out of her way. He shoved the remaining box of appliances into the kitchen for her.

"Thank you, Severus," she said with a smile.

Severus turned back to see what Hermione was doing and scowled. While his back had been turned, Hermione had opened the box and removed a well-worn picture of a very pregnant Eileen Snape. "Was this taken before you were born?" she asked, a small smile on her face as she stared at the image.

He looked at the wistful expression of his mother in the picture and turned his head. "No, my sibling – or would have been," he stated. He stood in the doorway to block Ginevra from entering upon her return – or from seeing what was in the box. From Hermione's expression, he knew she was going to ask. Thinking it would be better to tell her now and get it over with, especially since Ginevra was out of earshot, he answered her quickly, not caring if his words sounded curt. "My mother had a miscarriage two weeks after that picture was taken, from a fall – my father's abuse – he made her fall on the stairs."

"I'm sorry, Severus, that must have been awful," she said with a sigh and stared at the photograph. "Would she have been older or younger than you?"

He had no idea why she thought it important. "Younger." He glanced at the picture in her hands again and then averted his gaze, unable to look Hermione in the eye. From the sounds of it, Ginevra was still in the sitting room. He decided to tell her the rest. "She was pregnant again shortly after that, but he beat her for something I did, and she lost the baby... She was unable to bear any more children after that. That was when my grandfather disowned his only daughter because she wouldn't use her magic to defend herself against a mere Muggle." He turned to look over his shoulder again, to see if Ginevra was within earshot and then turned back to Hermione. "That box contains... Hermione, I don't want to do this now."

"We can do this later," she said softly as she set the picture back into the box and closed the lid. She stood up and replaced the box on the top shelf. "What about the other boxes?"

Severus sighed, drew his wand and levitated two more boxes to the floor. "These can go – they are nothing of import." He silently vowed to come back another day and remove the things from his past – all the stuff he wanted buried and gone.

"Severus, don't you have any pictures of your mum or friends that you'd like out?"

He looked at her and slowly shook his head. He'd had a Polaroid a stranger had taken of him and his mother one day when they had been on the Southend-on-Sea pier when he was twelve. He'd taken the Polaroid to school and had it replicated into a wizarding photograph. He'd kept the magical photograph tucked away in his trunk for safekeeping because it was the only picture he had of the two of them in which she actually looked happy. There was a picture of her when she'd won the Gobstones championship at school, but she looked sullen in that one, and one from her wedding, but again, her smile in that one was her forced-to-smile expression, not one of happiness.

He also had one of him and Lily that Petunia had taken the first year they'd been friends, one that Lily's parents had taken the first day he and Lily rode the Hogwarts express to school together, and the picture he'd found in Grimmauld Place that he'd torn in half so he could keep a reminder of Lily as a young woman... He didn't think Hermione would appreciate being reminded about Lily. There were others, but many of the young men in the pictures were dead or in Azkaban... "I don't put pictures out," he said softly.

Her smile faltered. "None? You don't have any pictures of family?"

"Hermione, my family was too poor to own a camera let alone have the money to develop prints. Besides, what part of my childhood do you think I want remembrances of?"

She looked down at the floor. "I keep – I'm sorry," she said softly and walked past him into the kitchen.

"What are we going to do with the old clothes?" Ginevra asked.

"Throw them out," Severus stated.

Ginevra looked at the pile of boxes stacked up by the door. "But they're in good condition," she said thoughtfully, making Severus' gut clench. "How about donating them to the secondhand store?"

"They are outdated," he said not believing she thought anyone would want the old clothes.

"Have you seen what wizards wear when they dress as Muggles?" Ginevra asked, laughing at him.

Severus scowled. "That is beside the point," he said, but Hermione was actually laughing.

"It would be an improvement," Hermione said, turning to face Severus. "Let's. We can have lunch at the café across from George's shop!"

Severus frowned, but knew he'd give in. It was one way to get rid of the clothes, although he hoped he'd never see anyone in them. "Fine."

~ T B C ~>

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