Part One, Day Five

I make no money with this story. Thanks to my dear beta, Dacian Goddess, for preventing me from embarrassing myself.

At seven a.m., they met as agreed in the restaurant to have breakfast together. Severus had had another muscle incident just before going down to join Hermione. His wrist had been the victim this time, leaving him, if not limp and incapacitated, at least feeling the weakness in his limb. He wasn't sure he would have been able to grasp anything securely and hold it without dropping it. He was glad that he had been able to take care of it himself. These unannounced incidents were starting to be really bothersome. He wondered if he should not hire a personal aide for disabled persons, with Miss Granger filling the position. She would be with him all the time, and he would be able to influence her in choosing him over Weasley. All he needed to do now was to convince Miss Granger, and he had no doubts that he could do it.

"Good morning, sir," she greeted him. Her eyes scanned his Muggle attire approvingly. It was black, of course, but completely appropriate for moving about in the Muggle world.

"Good morning, Miss Granger."

They ate their breakfast rather quickly in order to catch Hermione's parents before they left for their dental practice.

"I only changed their surnames from Granger to Mansfield," she explained while they were checking the names at the door of her parents' building. "Ah, here they are." She pushed the button labelled "Mansfield, William & Josephine."

"Who's there?" a feminine voice not unlike Hermione's asked over the intercom.

"This is Hermione Granger, your landlady." Severus raised an eyebrow at that "revelation". "I came to see if everything was in order and to inform you about the new renting conditions."

"Oh." Mrs Granger sounded surprised. "Well, in that case.... It won't take long, I hope? My husband and I need to go to work." Merlin! Severus thought. Now, I know whence Miss Granger's insatiable need to speak comes from. The woman can't wait for us to climb up to her flat to start the conversation.

"No, I promise you it will be a short visit," Hermione answered in a reassuring tone.

At last, Josephine Granger opened the door and let Hermione and, unwittingly, Severus in. The flat was on the third floor, and the door was already open when they arrived. Hermione knocked firmly.

"Come in," answered the same voice they had heard on the intercom, though it was much more agreeable without the cracking of the device. They entered a straight corridor, which split the flat into two parts. A woman about Hermione's height with brown hair...obviously dyed since greying roots were showing...was standing near the door leading to a living room on their left. Though she looked surprised to see Severus, she invited the both of them to take a seat in the living room.

"Let me introduce you to Severus Snape, my partner," Hermione said.

"Nice to meet you, Mister Snape."

"Likewise, Mrs Mansfield."

They shook hands.

"William will be ready shortly," she informed them.

"I'm here," said person announced from the doorway. He was a tall man, with a crown of salt-and-pepper hair covering his head, and it was obvious Hermione had inherited her brown eyes from him. He came to stand near his wife.

Hermione drew her wand out, pointed it at the startled couple, and intoned, "Delere Obliviatum!"

The Grangers remained unmoving for a second then looked around, clearly trying to regain their bearings, until their eyes settled upon the young woman in front of them.

"Hermione!" they exclaimed. They rushed and embraced her tightly. Mrs Granger was sobbing overtly, mumbling words like "my dear girl", while Mr Granger was unsuccessfully trying to keep his tears in check. Severus opted to wait patiently for the family embrace to stop on its own. A few minutes later, William Granger collected his wits and looked around him.

"Where are we?" he asked.

Hermione disentangled herself from her mother's arms and set to explain the situation to her parents. "You're in your flat in Sydney, Australia."

"What?" the Grangers exclaimed in unison. "What are we doing here?" her father boomed. He narrowed his eyes. "Does it have something to do with the events relayed by the Daily Prophet last week?"

Josephine Granger remembered Severus's presence and, squinting at him, took a step back. "You! You were in the newspaper! You..."

"Mum! He's with me!" Hermione interjected. "Things are not what they seem. Let me explain them to you. You've been here for nearly a year."

"What?" For the second time, the Grangers had spoken their astonishment in unison.

William Granger did not know whom to glare at, his daughter or the... man accompanying her. What was she doing with a known murderer? His thoughts were echoed on his wife's face.

Severus sighed. "Perhaps we should all sit and discuss what happened this last year?"

"I think we should, indeed," Mr Granger acquiesced. "You," he abruptly turned to Hermione and jabbed his index finger into her sternum, "have a lot to explain."

"Yes, Dad," Hermione answered meekly. Her father still had the power to intimidate her.

Mr Granger took the time to call his and his wife's practice to inform their secretary that today's appointments were to be cancelled, and they all sat on the sofa and in the armchairs in the living room. It took the whole morning to update them about the past year's events, from the moment Hermione had modified their memories up to Voldemort's defeat a few days ago. The Grangers, especially Josephine, interrupted her every two minutes to ask questions, which seemed to irritate Hermione. She even snapped at her mother once. Severus contented himself with observing the scene, but in the end, he was invited to share his own version of things. He noticed with satisfaction that Hermione was enraptured by his account of what had happened at Hogwarts during his tenure. He also managed to show himself in a good light, insisting on how he did everything in his power to keep the students safe without provoking the Dark Lord's or the Carrows' curiosity...and he did so with perfect subtlety, of course.

"That's such an incredible story!" Mrs Granger exclaimed when Severus finished his tale. But she was looking at him with awe, her husband with admiration. Good. One of the safest ways to a girl's bed was through her mother. And father. The moment was spoiled when William Granger's belly growled. It was already past noon.

"There's a nice Chinese restaurant further down Regent Street," Mr Granger proposed. "Let's celebrate our reunion there." Hermione had the feeling that she would hear about her using magic on her parents without their consent for a long time.

During lunchtime, Severus experienced another one of those blasted muscle incidents. He was headed for the lavatory at the end of the meal when some of the muscles in his right foot slackened. He would have merely stumbled had the incident not occurred at the precise moment that a waiter was hurrying along the aisle with three glasses in his hands. As it was, the two men bumped into each other, and Severus fell flat on his face in the middle of the aisle. Some patrons laughed. They were not even impressed by Severus's withering glare, while Hermione rushed at his side to give him some Muscle-Controlling Potion. Her parents followed her and tried to help him stand, but Severus could only spare one hand in his position, as he was using the other to lift himself up from the floor, and he elected to grasp Hermione's. When he could stand on his two feet, he went to the lavatory as he had intended with his head high, as if nothing had happened, but his pride had been bruised nonetheless. He could not even cross a Muggle restaurant without being ridiculed. Meanwhile, the Granger family members resumed their seat.

"What's that?" Josephine asked her daughter, glancing significantly at the now empty bottle of potion.

"It's a potion," Hermione answered, not keen on giving too much information to her mother.

"That much I guessed, Hermione. What is it for was what I meant."

"Well," she spoke slowly, carefully choosing her words, "Professor Snape suffers from lingering effects from his injuries. He needs to take some of that potion when he has a... an incident."

"Is it serious?" her father asked.

"Not really. In fact, I'm not sure. But I know it complicates his everyday life." She really did not want to elaborate. As it was, she already felt like a nurse betraying professional confidentiality. She was saved from more questions by Severus's return at their table.

When their stomachs were satisfied, Hermione implemented her plan for her parents' return to England. Essentially, she erased every trace of their presence in Australia, including casting a charm on their practice and flat so that anyone who would try to reach them for an appointment or something would be Confounded and forget about their very existence. Thanks to magic, it only took them an afternoon to put their affairs in order, and at eight that evening, the Grangers were on a plane to their home in London, after having extorted from their daughter the promise to go and visit them as soon as she would be back.

"That could have been worse," Hermione commented as soon as her parents had gone to the international area of the airport.

"Considering that you used magic on them to alter their life so radically without prior warning...an act that, I must insist, could lead you to Azkaban for several years...it could have been worse indeed."

"I know, but Azkaban was the least of my worries last year. And I couldn't really advertise what my plans were."

Severus smirked. "No, you couldn't."

They went back to the centre of the city and decided to eat Indian.

"Would you mind walking a bit before returning to the hotel?" Severus suggested at the end of dinner, which had been livened up by a discussion about the theory behind Memory Charms. "We might never come back here. It'd be a pity not to do a bit of touring while we're here." And a walk in the romantic setting of a city at night would help her to see me in another light.

Their walk was perfect: lovely city, lovely company, lovely conversation. Severus was seized by another muscle incident at one point, but it was taken care of swiftly by Hermione as soon as she noticed signs of discomfort on his part. Passers-by had had no chance to notice anything at all unless they had been paying attention to the pair beforehand.

"I'm really indebted to you, Miss Granger," Severus acknowledged. "I don't want people to take notice of my predicament...not yet...and your help has been invaluable in that respect."

"Thank you, sir. I'm sincerely sorry that nothing can be done about it," Hermione said.

"So am I. My only hope is that the incidents will become less frequent with time. At least, Madam Pomfrey thinks so, but it could take years before it becomes tolerable."

Hermione's feeling of guilt, which had been pushed to the back of her mind by the trip and the reunion with her parents, came back full force. "Is there anything I can do, sir?"

"You've already done a lot, Miss Granger." He made a show of pondering what he was going to reveal to her. "Actually, I have been thinking of hiring a personal aide."

Hermione looked stricken. "Like in 'personal aide for disabled persons'? But I've heard that there weren't enough nurses in the wizarding world to fill all the job offers in that profession. Well, that was last year...."

"Actually, a nurse would not do for the job. As you have seen, anyone with a bit of common sense and a modicum of magical skill could help me when I have a muscle incident. A nurse would be bored to tears because she...or he... would not have a thing to do between two incidents. No, I need someone who could help me in my duties at Hogwarts as well."

"But... don't you have a deputy for that?"

"Yes, but I wouldn't be surprised if Professor McGonagall chose to retire soon. Perhaps not this year or the next, but within five years, yes, I think she will. Besides, the Deputy is also a teacher and thus can't be with me all the time." Severus carefully kept his expression neutral and carried on walking as if he had just said something innocuous.

Hermione remembered how tired her Head of House had looked after the battle. She glanced sideways at her companion of travel and thought. Severus could nearly hear the cogs in her mind being put into motion. "What would being your 'personal aide' entail?" she inquired in a falsely casual voice.

"Basically," Severus answered, "being ready to act in case I was struck by a muscle incident, help me with the paperwork, help me handle my schedule, the relations with the Ministry and the school governors, essentially." He made a short pause. "And if I trusted them enough, they might help me with disciplining the students as well."

"That doesn't sound that dreadful."

Severus was giddy. She was taking the bait!

"No, it isn't. That person would get all the fun without the responsibilities that go with being the headmaster."

They were silent after that. Hermione wondered if she could fill the position. In fact, she had the inkling that Snape wanted her to fill the position. After all, she already knew about the lingering effects of the poison and had helped him out of delicate situations without a fuss. She was certain of her own abilities to handle the paperwork and anyone's schedule...after handling Ron and Harry's revision schedules for years, she could deal with three Ministers' timetables. Impersonating Bellatrix Lestrange had given her clues about the way to conduct relations with the Ministry and the school governors successfully. As for disciplining the students, her experience as a prefect proved that she had never shied away from her duties in that matter. She realised then that the job description could have been her description.

"You want me for the job, don't you?" she blurted.

"What if I do?" He was the tiniest bit defensive.

"I will think about it. But you know, you could have asked me directly." She sounded mildly annoyed with his lack of straightforwardness.

"I didn't want you to feel forced to accept it." Which was partly true: a willing aide would do a better job.

"I'll think about it."

They both knew that, in essence, she had just agreed to take the job.