Chapter 5

Chapter 5

It was still raining outside, weather to make Severus thankful for his cloak. Certainly worth the bother of putting it on while holding Hermione's hand, shunting his pride aside in order to accept her help with such a supposedly simple task. True, he could cast a charm to repel the water, but to him that was foolish wand waving. After all, no need to waste magic when he had a perfectly good cloak.

He glanced at Hermione, suddenly aware that although he didn't mind the rain, she might. It was also possible – although unlikely, she was the nightmare know-it-all in her year at Hogwarts – that she didn't know the Water Repelling Charm.

Clearing his throat to attract her attention, he asked: "Does the rain bother you?"

"Not really," Hermione replied, "I can always cast a Drying Charm when I get home." She gently tugged his hand and walked down the steps to the gravel driveway, the pebbles crunching and squeaking beneath their feet. She paused abruptly, and would have come close to being pulled flat on her face if Severus hadn't been watching her. "If I have a home, that is."

"You were living at your parents' home before you fell ill, sometimes visiting Hogwarts for private lessons." Severus blinked, and frowned over at Hermione. "You mean to say that St. Mungo's released you without checking that you knew where to go?" He growled under his breath at her hesitant nod. "I'll be having words with their staff."

They resumed walking down the ridiculously long drive, with no sign of the albino peacocks. Presumably the ornamental creatures were sensible enough to seek shelter in wet weather.

"I did manage to restore my parents' memories and bring them back home after the war, then? I know I intended to as soon as it was safe."

"You did," he affirmed. For a moment he was tempted to tell her the whole truth, but coming from him it might sound rather much like bragging ... the sort of thing a boy like Weasley might do. He restrained himself to saying, "Will and Helen are looking forward to seeing you. They would have visited you in St. Mungo's if they could, but the only Muggles the hospital allows inside are magically injured ones."

"I thought that might be the case, I mean, I hoped they were back in the country..." Hermione halted, stumbling when Severus didn't stop fast enough. "'Will and Helen'? You're on first name terms with my parents?"

Severus watched her intently, and wondered how much to tell her. "Our friendship formed in a time when you were doing your best to heal the inevitable rift between your parents and yourself. They were not best pleased about the magical interference in their lives, or the secrets and lies about the war. We were able to convince them that your actions were both necessary and justified."

She raised an eyebrow, clearly sceptical about something in his explanation. 'We?' she mouthed. Severus just smiled slightly, squeezed her hand, and continued down the drive, toning down his usual long strides so that Hermione could keep up without running.

They walked in silence for the remaining hundred yards, although Severus could almost hear Hermione thinking. No Legilimency was necessary for that, just observation of the frown furrowing her forehead. The mere thought of intruding inside her head without permission repulsed him, and not merely because he did not want to lose her trust. Good grief. He really was showing decidedly Hufflepuff tendencies. Still – it was worth it. Severus allowed his eyes to wander up and down his newly acquired fiancée's body. Oh, yes, well worth it. He smirked.

His eyes were drawn back to her still-frowning face, and his smirk faded. A fine figure, to be sure, but combined with that mind ... Lily Evans, eat your heart out.

Hermione's lips twitched. Her frown melted away. "Stop it, you're making me blush!" Indeed, her cheeks were slightly reddened, although not nearly as much as she probably thought.

"My apologies," Severus murmured. He turned to look at the now nearby gate.

The gates parted for them like smoke. But the effect was lost on Severus as he knew exactly what was behind it. Once a year, Lucius came to him for the potion used to douse the iron in order to meld it to the whims of the master of the house.

It took a moment for Severus to realise that now they were outside the bounds of Malfoy Manor. He slowly relaxed his grip and slid his hand out of hers, strangely reluctant to let go.

"Well, I guess I should be going. I need to find Harry," she said. Severus stiffened at the mention of the insufferable boy, incensed that she would rather spend time with him. Hermione rolled her eyes. "To give him an earful! Would you rather that I gave you one instead?"

Ah. Yes, come to think of it, she had mentioned something about that before they had left Malfoy Manor.

"I thought as much. Send me an owl tonight, then I can let you know when you and Lucius can meet my parents."

Severus nodded reluctantly, a knot of fear twisting his insides, something he'd last felt in the presence of the Dark Lord.

She stepped close, looped her arms around his neck, pulling him down slightly as she stretched up on tiptoe. Then her lips, even softer than her cheek, touched his.

He stood stock still, unresponsive, until Hermione began to withdraw, spurring him into action. He put his arms around her, drew her against him, one hand on her back and the other cupping the back of her head.

Hermione leaned further into him. She parted her mouth beneath his, inviting him to deepen the kiss. Before he could, a choked gasp behind them made them jump. They broke apart, wands drawn and pointing at ... Potter?

"Her-Hermione? What the hell do you think you were doing?" Potter demanded, fists clenched at his sides.

"It's a free country, Harry. A girl's allowed to kiss her fiancé if she wants to," Hermione grumbled, stepping between Severus and Potter.

Potter's jaw dropped. "Fiancé?" he spluttered. His mouth opened and closed a few times, emitting only incoherent noises. "But what about Ron?" he asked. "He loves you, and you're just going to rub his loss in his face like this?"

"Even if Ron hadn't lost that duel, I would not have married him. As far as I'm concerned, he's a friend, not husband material." She put her hands on her hips. "And besides, you're not the one who has to marry two men in the very near future, Harry."

"But I will have to share Ginny with someone else!" Potter wailed.

"Blame the Wizengamot. Just try not to get into any duels over her." Hermione looked over her shoulder at Severus. "See you soon." She turned back to Potter, strode over to him and took hold of one of his arms. "Come on, Harry. Let's have a little chat."

In the moment before she Side-Along'ed Potter away, Severus glimpsed something to warm the cockles of his heart: Potter's face falling, eyes wide with what could only be described as dread.

* * *

Hermione had been home for almost a week when she broached the subject of inviting guests over.

"Just two. I know you'd keep me all to yourselves, but just two?"

Will Granger had been aware of daily (or nightly, rather) visits from an owl bearing messages, but a man grew accustomed to such things when he had a witch for a daughter. Her friends obviously wanted more contact with her than letters.

"This is your home as much as it is ours, my darling," Helen simpered and laid her hand over their daughter's.

Will rolled his eyes. Although to be fair, he'd been spoiling Hermione too ever since she'd come home. But then Severus had made it very clear exactly how serious that disease had been. Hermione was the Grangers' only child, and they'd come very close to losing her. That was enough for even the strictest parent to allow said child however many sticky, sweet, tooth-rotting sweets she wanted.

Not that Hermione had wanted sweets. No, it was books for her, as it always had been. It was certainly a pleasure to see Hermione curled up on the sofa reading a new book. The minor demon masquerading as her cat was happy to have Hermione home. He flopped on top of her, purring, malevolent eyes on Will whenever he was in the same room.

It only occurred to Will when Hermione's guests had arrived that he really should have asked more questions. Two guests had implied that it would be Harry and Ron; Will knew that Severus only got on with Hermione, not with the boys. Although Will had to admit that he didn't blame Severus. Harry was all right, but Ron ... He grimaced. The boy was a real trial. He and Helen felt only a little guilty about being glad that Hermione couldn't remember being Ron's girlfriend. They dreaded her making the same mistake again.

So when Will opened the front door to see Severus and another man standing there, he breathed a sigh of relief.

"Severus, good to see you." Will held out his hand for his friend to shake. He was puzzled when Severus grimaced slightly and took it reluctantly, shook it briefly and pulled away.

After he shot Severus a quizzical, somewhat hurt look, Will turned to the other man, who had even longer hair than Severus, a very pale blond. His clothes looked like they were made out of expensive fabric, silk lining visible at the cuffs and collar of his jacket.

Will noted that Severus's friend stood very stiffly, something he often saw in his patients at the practice. Perhaps he feared dentists, and Severus had told him of Will's job? But that couldn't be the case, as the man bared his all-but-perfect teeth in a rather fake smile.

Taking a second look at this stranger's face, Will realised that he'd seen him before. Years back, in that wizarding bookshop ... coming to blows with Arthur Weasley. What was his name? Manly? Yes, something like that. And his first name, it was on the tip of his tongue...

"Lucifer Manly, I presume," he said, and held out his hand again.

Judging by the way Severus spluttered into a coughing fit, Will's memory had played up.

The man took his hand anyway and shook it firmly. "Lucius Malfoy. Charmed to meet you, Mr Granger."

"Please come inside. Dinner won't be long."

* * *

"With Muggles like that, the Dark Lord would have had more than he bargained for in either ridding the world of them, or in enslaving them," Lucius commented, still picking bits of glass out of his clothes and hair. They had left the Grangers' house with limbs thankfully intact, and were on their way to the Apparition point concealed in an alleyway further down the quiet street.

Severus snorted. "Apart from the initial explosion, that went quite well, really."

Lucius gave him a filthy look. "You didn't have a glass thrown at you by that harridan of her mother."

"I ducked." Sometimes Severus could be infuriatingly smug. This was definitely one of those times.

"So did I! Yet I still got a shower of broken glass." Lucius gingerly touched a scratch across his cheek. He winced at the resulting tingle of pain. That had better not scar ...

"Stop moaning," Severus snapped. "Hermione did her best to restrict the damage, but a full-blown shielding charm might have endangered her parents by hurling the glass at them. They do not have intrinsic magic to protect them, remember."

"They'd have deserved it," Lucius muttered sulkily. "I need a drink."

"You just had one," Severus scoffed. "Will's finest whisky at that."

"It was merely passable." Lucius sniffed. As if a Muggle whisky could compare to Old Ogden's finest! "What's more, I couldn't finish it. Rather hazardous when it contains shards of glass, you know."

The Muggle street they were walking on was fairly clean, he supposed, but littered with white and grey marks on the pavement. Lucius poked at one with the tip of his cane, and was most disgusted when part of the white mess stuck to it. When one or two attempts to scrape it off didn't work, he gave up. After all, one of the elves back at the manor would clean it.

He picked another fragment of glass out of his hair. To his horror, it came away with a few strands of his pride and joy.

"Can you honestly say they," he said, and gestured behind them in the direction of the house and its terrifying occupants, "won't give you nightmares? I'm not even marrying the girl in anything more than name, but they almost scare me more than the Dark Lord ever did."

The Grangers even had something in common with the late, unlamented Dark Lord: Lucius couldn't attack them. Or defend himself.

Severus shuddered. "You don't know the meaning of fear. Did you see the look in their eyes when they offered me free dental treatment when we made our farewells?"

Lucius stifled a chuckle. "Yes. Rather like Greyback when youngsters were around." He grinned at Severus, flashing his near-perfect teeth in a Lockhart-esque manner. "Makes me thankful that I can't be threatened in such a way."

"Despite the lack of a real marriage, you do realise that you will have to see the Grangers again? And not just at this Muggle ceremony they demand takes place."

'Hmm, Severus is slacking. A better retort would have been to remind me of Helen's offer to cut my hair.' Lucius ran a hand over his sleek locks, a cold shiver running down his spine at the thought. He blinked. Perhaps that had been Severus's intention ... there was no worse enemy than oneself. Severus was bound to know that, the cunning bastard.

"I hope you realise, old friend, that this Muggle thing they want means that you'll have to attend two weddings," Lucius said frostily. "There's no need for me to attend that one."

Muggles would count the requirements of this law as whatever the feminine version of bigamy was called. Therefore illegal. As the true husband, it would make sense for Severus to be the groom in the Muggle one. Particularly as Lucius did not exist in the Muggle world; he had no identity there. Very ... convenient.

"Indeed." Severus gave Lucius a worryingly calculating look. "But as you will be my Best Man, you cannot escape this Muggle ceremony either."

"I'd be delighted," Lucius said, lying through his teeth. He followed Severus into the dimly lit alleyway.

After a cursory check to see that there were no Muggles to be spooked by suddenly vanishing men, Lucius closed his eyes and thought of home, of the biting tang of Firewhisky on his tongue ...

Before he could Disapparate, Severus clapped a hand onto his shoulder. "You wanted a drink. It's the least I could do to give you one. Spinner's End might not be as grand as Malfoy Manor, but it's cosy enough."

Damn. It would be boorish to insist on Malfoy Manor instead. "So kind," Lucius murmured, his shoulders slumping slightly as the prospect of his Firewhisky became more remote. "Spinner's End it is."

* * *

"Mmm," Lucius smacked his lips appreciatively. "If I'd had any idea of the quality of your liquor, I would visit your humble home more often."

Severus saluted him with his half-full glass. "For a man with an infamous wine cellar and a substantial share in Old Ogden's, that's quite a compliment."

"You can repay it by pouring me another glass." Lucius held out his glass. "A little more, just a drop ... Oh, give me the bottle, man!"

When the bottle was returned, Severus frowned at the amount left. Lucius hoped that he would cough up another bottle. Unfortunately not; his friend was more intent on talking.

"What did you make of Will and Helen?"

"Before glasses were flying, you mean?" Lucius fingered one of the cuts on his face again. "Decent enough for Muggles, I suppose.

"And Harridan Helen did cook a decent meal." Almost to the standards of his house-elves, in fact. Roast pheasant was the sort of meal they served him. "I wonder if her daughter inherited any of the same skills. Not that she'll have any need for them. House-elves are for cooking."

"Do you realise what Hermione's views on house-elves are?" Severus asked, raising an eyebrow.

Lucius frowned. Come to think of it, one of Draco's letters in his third or fourth year at Hogwarts had mentioned something about it. "Surely she's outgrown such ludicrous ideas!"

"No," Severus said flatly. "And they are not ludicrous as such. Just remarkably poorly thought out and executed for her. She will want to see you treating your elves well, or you can expect a lecture at the very least."

"The things I do for you," Lucius muttered darkly. "Next she'll be wanting me to fund her elf endeavours too."

Severus chuckled. "Probably." He emptied his glass and topped it up, emptying the bottle in the process.

They drank in silence for a while, until Lucius's glass was empty. He hoped that Severus would get the hint and produce another bottle to satisfy his guest, but the man was stingy.

"In regards to the dinnertime conversation, you charmed the Grangers very well."

Lucius smirked. A Malfoy was meant to be the epitome of charm.

"But did you mean it, about ornithology?"

"I keep white peacocks. What do you think?" Lucius asked. He gave Severus a contemptuous glance. "That they were Narcissa's, hmm? I'm not sentimental enough to have kept them if they were, man!"

He sighed. Severus's prying had not warranted being snapped at. "I have an aviary. I also have a pair of Omnioculars, those have uses other than watching Quidditch." Like catching Severus and Granger in the act of their first kiss. How ... touching.

"And what about you?" Lucius turned his attention back to Severus. He theatrically roamed his gaze around the bookshelves littering the walls. "I see no detective novels. Helen the Harridan was quite pleased to have a fellow fan."

"They're in my bedroom," Severus drawled. "You wanted to borrow one, I seem to..."

A shrill ringing of the same pitch of his peacock's cries filled the room. Lucius jumped to his feet, yanking his wand from his cane. He looked wildly around for the source of the alarm.

"Sit down," Severus snapped. "It's my telephone. If you will excuse me?" He stood up and moved over to a black box with a handle, which he picked up and held to his ear. "Hello?"

Lucius collapsed back onto his chair, shakily sheathing his wand. He did not react well to surprises, not since having the Dark Lord in his home.

"Will. I did not expect to hear from you." Severus listened to a jabbering on the edge of Lucius's hearing. "What? You don't know where she is?"

Jabber gibber jabber.

"I see. Yes, I'll find her." He put the handle back down, and started pacing. "Hermione's had an argument of some sort with her parents. They have no idea where she is; she Apparated."

"So could be anywhere. Malfoy Manor?" Lucius suggested.

That earned him a poisonous glare. "Stop thinking with your appetite for Firewhisky. She won't go there without being sure that I am. Unbearably Dark atmosphere, remember."

"Send her an owl, then. With instructions to come here."

Severus stopped pacing. "Good idea. It will take a while, though." He pulled out his wand and used it to Summon writing materials. After he'd scrawled a letter, he walked to the front door. Presumably to call his owl, but before he could, Severus seemed to hear something, his head cocked to the side.

Lucius rose to his feet and stood next to him, the cool night air causing goosebumps to rise on his skin. Sure enough, there was something – or someone – calling. For Severus.

"I thought she didn't know where your home is?"

"She doesn't," Severus breathed. "Of all the stupid things ... Apparating to somewhere you have never seen ... Pure dumb luck that she hasn't Splinched!" He stepped outside, trembling with rage. "Hermione!"

AN: Many thanks to septentrion and JunoMagic for betaing.

The first scene was written for Kribu.

This is the last chapter that I have already written. The wait for the following chapters is likely to be longer, but rest assured that I fully intend to complete this tale.