Chapter 8: Time Marches On

Disclaimer: All things Harry Potter belong to JKR.

A/N: Many thanks to my awesome beta, Southern_Witch_69!

Hermione sat at the little desk that Severus had finally allowed her to put into his office in their quarters. It wasn't much, hardly bigger than a student's desk really, but she'd desperately needed somewhere to work while at home.

Surprisingly, the office they shared had become a great place for her to get to know her husband. It had been one month since they'd wed, but Hermione felt they had come a long way since that horrid argument they'd had where he'd lied to her about not feeling anything. She was positive he had lied, though she knew that he'd never admit it. They'd even started calling each other by their first names in the past week, rather than Snape and Granger.

He was talking to her a little more and a time or two had even started a conversation himself. These past couple of days, he seemed to enjoy showing her articles in the various journals he kept and discussing them afterwards, much like she did. Ron always hated discussions such as those. She could talk to her husband about her work, and a few times he had offered her sound advice.

The only problem right now, as far as Hermione could tell, was that her husband had still not touched her in any kind of romantic way, not even so much as a kiss, but many mornings they woke wrapped in each others arms, and Hermione had felt certain parts of him responding to her. But he never acted on it.

To her utter amazement, Hermione found herself willing him to her lately, not daring to make the first move herself. Severus seemed like the kind of man who would want to make the moves himself, and she didn't think she could bear it if he rejected her.

Her fantasies of her husband seducing her were interrupted when she heard the door to their chambers slam shut. She quietly walked out of the office to see what was going on and found her husband standing at the mantel, tossing a drink back, then pouring himself another. Something was terribly wrong. She'd never seen him drink alcohol before dinner before.

"Severus?"

"What is it?"

"Um, are you all right?"

He turned to look at her then, and the look in his eyes caused her insides to turn to ice. "I'm just fine and dandy," he said sarcastically as he downed his second drink.

"No, you're not. Please tell me what's bothering you."

"I don't want to tell you! I don't want to speak with you about this or anything else this night. Leave off, Hermione."

So back to square one it seemed, but damned if she'd not know why. Folding her arms across her chest, she told him, "Obviously, I've done something to anger you. I can't correct it if I don't know what I've done. Or, if not correct, then at least explain it!"

Severus threw his glass in the fireplace and whirled on her. "You, you, you! Not everything is something to do with you! I realize that I have tolerated you this past month, but that does not give you the right to begin prying into my personal business!"

Hermione reared back as if he'd slapped her. "Tolerated me? Why, you arrogant arse! You've enjoyed this past month as much as I have; don't even try to deny it. I realize you're very upset about something, but damned if I'll stand here and be your punching bag." She turned then and walked out the door, heading for the Great Hall.

Try as she might, Hermione couldn't think of anything that she'd done to upset her husband that way. As soon as she opened the doors to the Great Hall and saw the decorations, it hit her. It was Halloween...the anniversary of Harry's parents' death. More specific to her husband, Lily Evans' death. It should have occurred to her, she'd sent an owl to Italy for Harry from work that morning.

Hermione turned to go back to Severus, but stopped short when she watched him walking down the hallway towards her. "Severus, I'm so..."

He held up a hand to stop her. "No. Don't say whatever you were about to say. Just leave it, as I told you before. If I wished to speak of it, I would go to Minerva."

Hermione's heart fell. "All right," she said and walked inside. She sat beside Neville and ate without tasting anything.

After eating, both she and Severus went back to their quarters. He walked straight into his office, and she decided to stay in the living room and read. He'd hurt her, and even though she'd understood why, it didn't make her pain lessen at all.

Hermione startled when she heard a slight tapping on the door. When she opened it, she found an owl with a letter. Thinking it must be a reply from Harry, she went to take it, but the owl flew past her and into the office.

After a bit, curiosity got the better of her, and she went to investigate. Severus was just finishing a reply and tying it to the owl when she walked to the door. "Something from Minerva?"

"No."

She stood a moment longer, not saying anything, and he finally looked up. "Something else, Granger?"

Granger. She lowered her eyes to hide the pain in them and told him, "No. Nothing else." Sighing, she went to take a shower and ready herself for bed.

After she'd laid there about an hour, Severus finally came in to go to bed. She didn't say a word while he changed and got into the bed, and after his breathing steadied, she got up and walked into their office. She spotted the letter and picked it up to read it, but she then dropped it just as quickly. It was from a woman...a lover...wanting to get together!

"Curiosity killed the kneazle, Granger."

Hermione jumped as if he'd hexed her. "Oh! Um, I was just, er..."

"Nosing in things that are none of your affair?"

She turned to him then and couldn't stop a few tears from falling. "Yes. I'm sorry. For everything."

"Oh, for the love of Merlin! Are you crying?"

Finally, Hermione couldn't hold her anger in any longer. Throwing up her hands in defeat, she screamed, "Yes! I'm crying! Unlike you, I am a human with feelings, not some doppelganger! When I am hurt or upset, occasionally, I cry!"

"Damn it! There is no need to cry over that letter. I don't plan to go out with her, or anyone else, during the year I have to be married to you, so calm yourself this instant. It was not a serious entanglement at any rate. I don't have anyone I see seriously, so there is no need for your jealously."

"You think that is what I'm upset about?"

"You're standing here crying after reading that invitation, so what else am I to believe?"

"God, Severus! You had a life before me! You dated, had lovers! Now, because of me, everything is ruined!"

He raised an eyebrow, the only show of emotion on his face. "You seem surprised that I had friends of the female persuasion."

She shrugged. "I am."

This time, it was Severus who crossed his arms over his chest. "Indeed? Impressed that the bat of the dungeons could get a date?"

Hermione stomped her foot in frustration. "Why do you do that? Of course I didn't mean that I thought you couldn't find a date. I just never thought of it! You've been my professor most of my time here. Students never think of their professors as having a personal life. That's all I meant...nothing more!"

"I see. Well, now you know."

She buried her face in her hands. "I've ruined your life," she mumbled.

"Stop the theatrics, Hermione. It's one fucking year. I hardly think that constitutes the ruination of my entire life. Furthermore, feeling sorry for yourself is not very attractive."

Hermione! "You mean as you were before dinner? Can I just say, sounding heartless notwithstanding, it's been a little over twenty years, Severus. Stop the theatrics," she told him, mimicking his words. "She would not want you to despair like this."

He nodded and went to sit behind his desk. "You think that I feel she is the love of my life, and with her gone, I won't allow myself to be happy."

"Actually, yes, that's exactly what I think."

"You couldn't be more wrong."

"Oh, after your behavior earlier tonight, I beg to differ."

"I see." Severus steepled his hands under his chin and looked deeply into her eyes for a moment. "Close your eyes, Hermione."

"Close my eyes? Why..."

"Close them!"

Hermione sighed and obeyed his command.

"Imagine this, if you will. You've been very close friends, and more, with Weasley since you first came to Hogwarts. I met Lily before we started, but just as the two of you, she and I were very close and at one point more than mere friends. Much, much more.

"I refuse to go into all of the details with you, but suffice it to say that when I started in with what she considered the wrong crowd, she became closer to James and his lot. We had many arguments and grew apart. Inevitably, she married.

"Now, picture if you will, hearing a prediction. Although you have no idea of the identity of the people that the prediction is about, you are so eager to please, to be accepted, that you run to your Master to tell him what you've heard. Irrefutably, this causes the death of one of the people you cherish most, such as you do Weasley...even Potter.

"A person that you loved with your whole heart is dead... dead, mind you...leaving an infant son in her wake because of your actions. Define irony? Joining a group who believes that only pureblood witches and wizards are worthy, when you are only a half-blood yourself, that is controlled by a half-blood madman."

Hermione shuddered. "Oh, Severus. It's too much. If I had purposely caused Ron or Harry to be killed, I'd..."

"Yes. Exactly. So, everyone can think that I'm pining because I'm still in love with Lily. As a matter of fact, I do still love her, and I always will. If it were merely that, I would have been able to move on long ago, but the depth of my pain goes way beyond that. Simply put, she is dead because of me, and that is something I will always have to live with." He shook his head. "Obviously, I'm too much into my cups this night. I'm off for bed."

When he walked past her, Hermione grabbed his arm. "Regardless, she still wouldn't want you to grieve this way."

"You know this how?"

She shrugged. "Because if it were me, I wouldn't." She stood on her toes and kissed his cheek. "'Night."

He nodded once and then left for the bedroom, leaving her standing in the office, brain too busy to sleep.

~*~

Ron lay in his bed, arms locked behind his head, gazing at the ceiling. He couldn't believe he'd been married a month! At first, he'd tried being cold to his unwanted wife, but his unwanted wife made it almost impossible.

Besides the fact that after a couple of weeks, she'd informed him that although she understood she was at fault where their marriage was concerned, she would not be his doormat...no matter how much she loved him. He'd decided not to comment on that last part; he refused to believe that she could've actually been in love with him all those years.

It seemed that Luna made it home before him every night and prepared his favorite dishes. She chattered away while they ate and, to his amazement, even seemed to know quite a lot about Quidditch.

On the few occasions that he'd mentioned a problem with a new product that he and George were trying to create, after a couple days, she'd come up with a solution. It was easy to forget with her unusual ways that Luna had been sorted into Ravenclaw and was extremely smart.

Ron sighed, rubbed his eyes, and got out of bed. Perhaps some warm milk, or hell, a Butterbeer, would help him rest. He'd been restless the past few days and unable to keep Luna off of his mind.

Walking into the kitchen, Ron stopped short when he spied Luna sitting at the table, chin propped on her fist, stargazing out of the window.

What struck him first was her beauty. Her long blonde hair looked positively luminous in the moonlight, and her silvery eyes practically glowed. He shook his head to clear it and stepped behind her.

"What's that Howler doing here? I thought I burned it."

"Oh!" Luna jumped. She turned to her husband and smiled dreamily. "It wouldn't burn. When I came into the kitchen, it was lying on the table."

Ron winced remembering the harsh words his mum had yelled: "RONALD WEASLEY! HOW COULD YOU? HOW COULD YOU DO THAT TO THAT POOR GIRL...FORCING HER TO STAY THE NIGHT IN THAT PRISON! AND THEN HAVING TO CONSUMATE THE WEDDING THERE? YOU SHOULD BE ASHAMED! I KNOW I AM! YOU ARE NOT WELCOME HERE UNTIL YOU RECTIFY THIS!"

Then, the Howler had turned to his wife and said: "Hullo, Luna dear. Welcome to the family."

Ron had waited and waited for it to burst into flames, and when it hadn't, he'd simply thrown it into the fire himself. He had no idea what he could do to rectify what had happened.

"The sky is lovely this time of night. Wouldn't you agree?" Luna asked.

Ron looked out of the window and shrugged. "I've never thought that much about it."

Luna nodded. "Not many people do, but I simply adore the stars and moon. Rings are on sale at Regency Jewelers," she added and threw him off guard.

Ron let out a breath. "Luna," he said kindly, "there's no need for us to have rings. After a year, we'll be divorcing."

His wife went on as if he hadn't said anything, although he noticed a hitch in her voice. "The wedding sets are buy one, get one half off. I went to see, but I really wanted you there."

Ron shook his head at her. "Do we have any Butterbeer?"

"Sure. Have a seat and I will get you some."

After they were both seated, she asked, "Trouble sleeping?"

"Some."

"Horrid thoughts?" she asked with resignation.

"Just thoughts," he said, not wanting to admit that it had been thoughts of her that were keeping him up.

Luna nodded. "You miss her terribly, eh?"

"Don't, Luna. I don't want to talk about, or even think about, her."

"I'm sorry."

"Stop apologizing!" Ron screamed. He felt guilty all of the sudden. He'd been an arse from the get-go, he knew that, and with her apologizing night and day, it only added to his guilt.

Luna threw up her hands and then slammed them down hard on the table, causing their bottles to shake dangerously. It was the first sign of anger she'd shown since they'd married the month before. "What the hell do you want me to say to you then? I'm trying to be understanding and sympathetic, but you make it so damn difficult."

"So stop it! I never asked you to be understanding or sympathetic, did I? I never asked for any of this, yet here we are."

"Come off it. This 'poor me' routine is getting old. You've said several times that you knew that charm wouldn't have picked you for Hermione, so you know what that tells me? It tells me that deep down, you knew something wasn't quite right between the two of you."

"Okay, I'll admit it. I did know her feelings were changing. But why couldn't she just come to me?"

"She may have done before the wedding if we hadn't done that charm. Who knows? My question is this: why didn't you say something to her? You're quick to lay blame and judge, but when will you take responsibility for your own actions? Or could it be you like playing the victim?"

Ron's face reddened with embarrassment and fury, and he balled his hands into fists in his lap. "Well, one thing's for certain. I'm certainly the victim in this relationship, having to be married to you!"

Luna jumped up from her seat hard enough to knock her chair over. Angry tears fell from her eyes as she yelled, "That's it!" and flung her arms out, much like an umpire yelling, 'Safe'!

"I have tried and tried with you. So far, because of how guilty I feel, I have overlooked your snide comments about how disgusting it is for you to be married to me. I'm finished overlooking! Do you hear me? Finished!"

Her last word broke on a sob, and Ron couldn't stand it any longer. He stood and pulled her roughly into his arms and kissed her. When she tried to pull away, he only held onto her tighter.

Soon, her protests turned into passion, and she was kissing him back with equal fervor, biting, nipping, and sucking his lips, mouth, and tongue as if she couldn't get enough of him.

When she groaned, Ron came to his senses and pulled back as he gently pushed her away from him. Knowing he was about to contradict himself, he told her, "I think that shows you just how disgusting you are to me." With that, he turned and walked back into his bedroom.

Despite herself and her raging hormones, Luna shakily smiled after he'd walked away and thought, Well, you have to start somewhere, and passion isn't that bad of a place to begin.

~*~

It had taken him a month, but Harry had finally gotten his desk cleared enough so that he could go to Italy. Kingsley had returned home a couple of weeks before and briefed him on the case there.

It seemed that there was a serial killer on the loose, something that was highly unusual in the wizarding word. When he'd asked Kingsley how long he would be there, the Minister had informed him it would be indefinitely...until the case was solved.

That was just fine with him; it would do him good to get out of England for a while. It seemed he couldn't open the Prophet here lately without seeing Wood in there for his amazing Quidditch skills.

And in every fucking picture, there was his Ginny in the background, smiling proudly.

Harry shook his head. He was tired from making the trip and a bit hollow inside, especially after reading the owls from Hermione and Ron earlier, but he wanted to stop by the Ministry of Magic to touch base and inform them he had arrived before settling in at the hotel.

He smiled when he realized that the Auror department there was not much different from the one at home. Once he entered, he introduced himself to the receptionist, silently thanking Kingsley for the chain around his neck that helped a person to understand different languages.

As he waited for the Head Auror in charge, Harry suddenly heard a very familiar voice lividly say, "Harry effing Potter. What in the name of Circe are you doing here?"

A/N: Well, well. Who could be so displeased to see Harry?