sekkoon

CHAPTER 2

November 17, 2002

Hermione didn't speak to her husband for the next week. Severus was mad at her approach to their--could he call it this--fight and refused to even try to understand why she was even mad at him. As such he found himself in his office, alone, not knowing what he could do with his entire Saturday afternoon but to spend it in his office, reading. He had always spent Saturdays in his rooms with his wife--the only large amount of time in which they spent together--mostly doing nothing while sitting by the fire, or brewing something in his labs with her, or maybe discussing a book or getting her fired up on a new potion's article seeing as he enjoyed just how well she could match him with her debates and even while she reminded him of Hermia. He missed his usual Saturday. Oh, good gods, he wasn't getting attached to her!

He heard footsteps and looked up, glad to be rid of his former thought. Who wanted to see him, now? No one ever seeked him out on the weekends, not that many people seeked him out save for one person. He opened the door, looking at a tall messy haired, bespectacled man. Harry Potter. Severus groaned.

"Severus." He said.

"What do you want, now, Potter?" Severus growled.

"I didn't know who else to go to." Harry said, stepping into the office. He looked around it as if he had never been inside it, making Severus groan. "It looks so much like it did back then. Why don't you change it, add a couple of your creepy jars."

Severus glared at him. "Potter, if you are here to share tips as to how to decorate my office you may leave, if not, I would rather you discussed whatever it is you're here to share--Merlin knows you love doing that--and then leave."

Harry looked at him sheepishly for a moment, before speaking again. "Luna's pregnant."

Severus raised an eyebrow. "I don't know how it is any of my business that your wife is pregnant, Mr. Potter, if you wanted a celebration you have gone to the wrong man."

"Harry." Harry told him. "Not Potter. Harry."

Severus let out a small growl.

Harry grinned at him. "Severus, I don't know what to do. I've always wanted a family, don't get me wrong, but I, I don't know."

"You will leave me alone and go celebrate with your friends, now will you leave, Mr. Potter?"

Harry glared at him this time, not quite getting the point across.

Severus let out a chuckle. "Potter, get out. I don't care that your wife is pregnant, and neither do I care about whatever cowardly thoughts that are going through that big head of yours."

"I'm not going to leave her or my unborn child." Harry said, angry. "I would never."

"And yet the thoughts remain." Severus said. "And yet you are here."

Harry said nothing.

Severus groaned, "Why are you wasting my time?"

"I'm not." Harry said offended, "not that it matters but time is a fickle thing, if I were in fact, as you said, wasting your time, that would imply that perhaps you had time to be wasted but as I see it, it is Saturday and you were sitting in your office reading--" he walked to the desk and picked up a book. "--The Fellowship of the Rings. Tolkien. Really? All that is gold does not glitter,/Not all those who wander are lost;/The old that is strong does not wither,/Deep roots are not reached by the frost,/From the ashes of fire shall be woken,/A light from the shadows shall spring;/Renewed shall be blade that was broken:/The crownless again shall be king." He quoted as he set the book down on the desk.

"You've read it, then."

"Only about a hundred times. Frodo was so much like me, you know."

Severus nodded, but rather than to continue talking about The Lord of the Rings, Severus decided to make a clever comment, "Frodo, however, did not get the girl pregnant." He said.

"No, Aragorn would be the one doing that. I always thought of you to be like him, the darkness surrounded him, you know."

Severus growled. "Hermione, though, is not pregnant."

Harry nodded, not quite meeting Severus' eyes, not that Severus noticed. Instead, taking the bait, he began to pace, thinking about his wife and her pregnancy while staying far away from thoughts about the Snape's own growing family.
While Harry did this, Severus was watching him, thinking about how he and Harry Potter had become friends. He walked to his desk and sat down behind it, leaning back in his chair. The friendship hadn't been because of his wife; oddly it had begun much earlier back during the final battle. When the trio had found him, moments after nagini's bite, it had been Harry who had the cure, apparently having learnt something. The bezoar that he pushed down his throat mixed with the phoenix tears had rendered him unconscious after he told Harry to take his memories. Now, Harry showed up in his rooms or office once a week to talk about the latest thing that was bothering him or just because he was bored, or because he wanted to share some news, or he wanted to just enjoy one of his wife's cups of hot chocolate, which he had never drunk mostly because he hadn't drunken hot chocolate since 1981, and he didn't understand why Harry Potter was in love with that chocolate.

"I can't be a father." Harry said, now, "I'm not even close to ready for the responsibility."

Severus laughed. "Go to your wife. She's probably feeling the same way, and I thought Gryffindors were supposed to be brave."

"I can't go to her, not now."

"Go." Severus said. "I will, otherwise, take you to my wife."

Harry's emerald green eyes widened for a moment before nodding, not really paying attention as he walked to the fire place he muttered. "I'm leaving then, and, oh, congratulations," then he was gone in a swirl of green fire.

Severus stared at the fire that had now changed back from it's green shade, wondering what on earth Harry had been talking about, unless he was being sarcastic and pointing out that he, Severus, had never given him any congratulations on the addition to the Potter family. Oh, god, another Potter. It was finally sinking in, it would be about twelve years and another Potter with messy black hair and round glasses would be walking the halls of Hogwarts, a Gryffindor, no doubt, ignorant of the rules and...No, he didn't want to think about this any longer. He had twelve more years of peace, or maybe not, considering how much time Harry was spending with him. He groaned, standing from his relaxed position on the chair and walking along his bookshelf, looking at all the books, new and old. Most of them were Dumbledore's but some were his own additions, not that these were the only books he owned. His private library at Spinner's End which he had yet to share with his wife, held more of his valuable books. Some, however, the ones he had to have at hand were in his and Hermione's rooms, covering the walls of his lab and their sitting room. Severus considered himself a bibliophile of both muggle and wizarding books, many of his books were first edition, hand written manuscripts, others rare books of which only twenty copies remained. As he walked along the bookshelf he wondered at the mystery that--to him--still was Harry Potter. So he read and clearly had a good memory, at least his brain hadn't been lost on him like that of his father's, but to recite a poem like that in the blink of an eye, what else had he read? Now the boy, no, the young man, was beginning to interest him. He stopped, his hand caressing the soft leather bound book he had come upon. A Mid-Summer's Night Dream By: William Shakespeare. He groaned as he looked at the book. Hermia. He shook his head, frowning, before walking to the window, rather than to take the book from the shelf.

He saw a figure walking by the lake. He knew his wife even from a distance. For a moment he thought of going out there and talking to her, something he would never have done before but after not talking to her for a week he was very tempted to just go out there and do that. He, however, knew better than to expect her to forgive him for whatever it had been he had done. Not listen to her? He scoffed. He continued watching her as she continued walking until she reached a tree and she sat down against it brining out a book. For the next half hour, Severus leaned out of his window into the slightly cold air and watched as she reached towards her eyes as if rubbing them and then she was closing the book and burning her head in her hands. He knew, like he had known that night nearly a week previous that she was crying and for some reason, like that night, he had an urge to comfort her. Suddenly, she had stood up and left the grounds, walking briskly towards the gates and not the castle. He wondered where she could be going but before he could even make any guesses as to where she could be expected to be heading, he heard his fire crack and then out of the fire place came Harry Potter, wiping soot off his black robes. His glasses were cracked and he had only one shoe but regardless of the he pulled himself together and managed a smile.

"What happened?" Severus asked.

"She hates me." Harry cried. "I got there and she was kind of mad. She, er, threw some hexes at me."

Severus shook his head. This was unbelievable. Why did Harry choose to go to him, anyhow? It wasn't like he had any experience or--for that matter--much tolerance for the man.

"What did you do to get her mad, Potter?" He asked even though he didn't really want to know what had happened to him but maybe if Harry got it out of his system quickly enough he would leave him alone.

"I don't know." Harry shrugged. "I don't know anything anymore."

Of course he didn't. He never seemed to know anything. Severus glared at him.

Harry didn't seem to take notice of it as he took off his remaining shoe and then set his cracked glasses on Severus' desk, rubbing his eyes.

Oh god, now he was getting comfortable, this wasn't good, not at all.

"She hates me." He muttered again, once he was comfortable.

Severus was once more shaking his head. "I don't know about that, Potter. However, I do have a question for you, why do you keep coming here? Don't you have any friends?"

Harry blushed. "I don't care to go to Ron about these matters and Draco..." he trailed off.

A falling out was it? It had been about time in his opinion. Ronald Weasley had never been the sharpest tool in the shed, to use the muggle expression, he had never compared to Harry and unlike his brothers, whom Severus respected to a point, especially the twins, Ron had never seemed capable of anything but following Harry Potter around like a lost puppy and now he followed his wife, Lavender. Draco on the other hand had connected with Harry in such a deeper level of friendship. He couldn't even think about them no longer being friends.

"What happened?"

"Nothing." Harry said. "Draco and I, we, um, it was an accident really. He's an auror, you know, we were out the other night getting some drinks after work and one thing led to another and--"

"Never mind." Severus said, interrupting.

"What can I do?" Harry asked, having now fixed his glasses and put them on.

"Nothing, Harry, nothing. You're also asking, probably the worst person, about these matters."

Harry shook his head. "I don't think that." He said, then, "I love her. Not that I didn't love Ginny two years back. It's different, you know, Luna just seems to fit with me perfectly, sort of like you and Hermione."

Severus snorted. "Hermione and I have nothing outside of this law. I will never love her and, no doubt, she will never love me."

Harry looked aghast.

"But I always thought." He muttered. "You have a certain, I don't know, but from how things go while you're in a room together, certain actions, the way you're always touching each other somehow, the way you look at each other half the time."

It was now Severus' turn to be shocked, but it didn't last long before he growled at Harry. "Stay out of my life, Potter."

Harry rolled his eyes. "Out of curiosity, why are you in your office, not that I mind or anything, but I went to your rooms and no one was there."

Severus considered the young man, wondering if he should confide in the younger man, not that--in the way he saw it--there was anything at all to confide. He hadn't done anything wrong but have a long day, Potter's fault at that, and tell her they could talk about it another time. He doubted he would have been more willing to listen in the morning but he probably would have given it a chance, but of course she had gotten mad, he didn't really blame her.

"It's nothing." Severus said. "Now, are you going to leave me alone or not?"

"Sev, you know I can't possibly go back home now." A grinning Harry said, now.

"I told you not to call me Sev." Severus all but growled

Harry laughed beginning to walk around the room, now, perusing the bookshelves. "Muggle novels, Severus?" He asked.

Severus gave him a look and then pointed at The Fellowship of the Ring, as he took his seat behind his desk again.

"She's mad at you, isn't she?" Harry asked, now, one of his hands lingering on Alexander Dumas' The Count of Monte Cristo. "Let's just hope that she's not with my wife."

Severus groaned. The mere thought of Hermione and Luna together, plotting against him and Harry Potter, of all people, sent ripples of fear through him. He didn't even want to think about what they could do to them together. Hermione tended to get creative about these sorts of things if she was in the mood.

"Right in one, Sherlock." He said to Harry, instead.

"What are you then? Watson?"

Severus said nothing to that and instead buried his head in his hands. Everyone knew Watson was just there for kicks while Sherlock Holmes did all the work.

Harry was laughing again. "I never actually read any of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's books, you know."

"Obviously." Severus muttered.

Harry laughed harder.

"Why are you always here?" Severus said, groaning and rolling his eyes.

Harry stopped laughing. "I'm not always here." Now he looked offended.

"Of course not." Sarcasm dripped off his comment. "Just like you aren't here at least once a week."

"That's not always." Harry retorted, his lips beginning to quirk into a smile.

Severus growled, stood and walked to the window, looking out at the sunlit grounds. A couple of students lingered out, some walking in groups of friends, others in couples, however no one was alone. Not like he had been for his last two years at Hogwarts. It hadn't really been that he didn't have friends but that the mere acquaintances of Slytherin were just terrible companions. His thoughts were thrown aside when Harry spoke again.

"Anything interesting out there?"

Severus turned away from the window. "No, Potter, the grounds."

"You're an amusing man, Severus Snape." Harry stated, now.

"Good gods, man," cried Severus, "why do you bother me so?"

"I do no such thing." Harry denied.

Severus gave him one of his penetrating looks to which Harry seemed to laugh, before becoming focused on the pictures of former headmasters, one in particular. He approached the sleeping portrait of Albus Dumbledore and tapped it softly. Dumbledore shook himself, looking for a moment confused before spotting Harry.

"Hello, Harry."

From where he stood, Severus began to mutter to himself. This really was just too much. It was turning into an old party, wasn't it? Soon Neville Longbottom, whom he was glad to admit he had not seen since his graduation, would be joining them along with--it was just too much to hope that he wouldn't be involved--Remus Lupin. He did however, upon imagining how that meeting would go, break out into a grin, it would interesting to see them together with him in their midst, scowling at whatever attempt to do something they all enjoyed was tried. He sighed, what was he doing thinking about such things?

"Severus."

He looked towards Harry who had now stopped talking to the portrait of Dumbledore and had stepped to the right so that the piercing blue eyes--how they managed to still have that twinkle in them even in a painting was beyond him--were looking at him.

"We haven't talked in a while, Severus."

"I had no need of conversation."

"Of course," Dumbledore said, once more turning to a grinning Harry.

"Albus, before I forget, you told me once that when the ministry passes laws, said law had to have been around for at least two years, rather than be passed out of the blue unlike what Fudge was doing back in 1995. I have found a way to perhaps get rid of the marriage law all together but only if the law had been around before that. Sir, did you hear of it before your death?"

Dumbledore seemed to think about it for a moment before he answered, "I believe sometime after Fudge was taken out of office, the law came up, however the idea had already been there. Fudge had wanted to pass it but never had a chance to actually go through it. Scrimgeour did advance the law, it was polished and ready to be put into place at the end of your sixth year but he didn't have enough support."

Harry looked thoughtful for a moment before nodding, "Thank you."

Dumbledore was suddenly gone from the portrait and Harry shrugged. "In just a few months, I think, the law will be dissolved."

Severus was surprised to find that he wasn't at all happy but rather confused and worried. He didn't know why but the thought of Hermione not being in his life, not being in his rooms it was something he couldn't even imagine. He was getting attached to her, wasn't he? It still would never be love but she was his wife.

Severus was just about to respond to Harry's comment when out of his fireplace; a blond woman with radishes for earrings entered his office. "Harry James Potter." She screeched.

Severus could have laughed, had the moment warranted it, at the expression on Harry Potter's face. It appeared that the man who could face and defeat Voldemort could not face his wife. The coward.

The small cottage in the middle of a forest looked quiet and peaceful, perfect for someone that wanted to escape their troubles but it wasn't generally so. A young boy of about five, his hair a bright purple color, was running in front of the house, his mother chasing after him, her laughter resounding through the forest. From the door of the cottage a tall, thin looking man smiled, the scars on his face not being a care in the world to him as he looked on at his wife and son. It was at this moment that a resounding crack made them all stop. Hermione Snape stood in front of them, a dazzling smile lighting her face as she looked upon her two friends and honorary nephew.

"Hermione." Nymphadora Lupin who still preferred to be called Tonks, said, grinning.

"Tonks." Hermione said. "I am so glad to see you."

"Aunty Mione!" Teddy Lupin said, hair changing to that of the same brown as hers.

"Teddy," Hermione said, opening her arms. Teddy grinned and ran into her arms. She let him go after a moment, having taken some comfort from his embrace but wondering how she would feel when it was her own child hugging her so. A smile crept onto her face.

"Can you play with me, Aunty?" Teddy was asking, now, looking at her innocently.

"Honey, I think your father wishes to play with you." Tonks said, now, smiling.

Teddy shook his head. "I want Aunty Mione."

Hermione took his hand, "come on, Teddy, I'm not going to play with you, but you can sit by me while I talk to your mummy and daddy."

Teddy seemed to consider it, before nodding. He pulled at her hand as they made their way inside.

"Hello, Hermione." Remus said.

"Hi, Remus." She greeted her former teacher.

Once they were all seated in the drawing room, Hermione seated with Teddy's head on her lap, Hermione heaved a great sigh.

"Hermione you look a little upset, don't try to hide it, what happened?" Tonks said.

"I don't know what happened. Maybe I'm living some sort of delusion and maybe I, maybe I tried to care for him, to make my situation better and in turn I have hurt myself." Hermione said. "I care for him, I admit at least that much and I had hoped that at least he cared only a bit or that he might listen to me."

Tonks stood up and walked around the room. "You're pregnant." She stated looking at Hermione, excited.

Hermione nodded.

"Have you told him?"

"No." Hermione said. "I attempted but it's impossible to even talk to him. I have been ignoring him all week, in fact, that might make him talk."

"Want me to go annoy him into talking to you?" Remus asked, looking a little like the marauder he truly was.

Hermione smiled. "Of course."

Remus grinned. "I won't say a word, I'll see you later, Dora." and with a kiss on his wife's cheek, Remus walked to the fire place.

Remus stepped into the chaos that had erupted in Severus' office and couldn't help but start laughing at the scene before him. Severus was leaning against a bookshelf, laughing hard, holding his stomach from the pain while Harry Potter hid behind a desk, his ears elongated to look like that of a rabbit's ears, while his wife was yelling at him, her wand pointed at him, ready to kill. His laughter seemed to have alerted his pressence in the room and everyone turned to look at him. Luna sent him a smile and Harry a look asking for help while Severus continued laughing.

"Can't we just talk about this?" Harry was asking his wife.

"No!" Luna said.

"I'm sorry. I was confused, I, I'm sorry, please, Luna?"

Luna glared at him, before making a decision. "I need to talk to Hermione."

"She's with Tonks." Remus told her. "At my house."

Luna nodded, before walking the fire place, shooting Harry a last glare.

Harry looked relived, his ears flopping upwards as if excited, and yet he couldn't help but worry. "All those women plotting and planning." He muttered.

"I think," Severus put in his two cents. "That we should stop talking about our wives and perhaps you--" he motioned to the two men "--should leave me alone."

"I love her." Harry muttered as if he hadn't heard a thing.

"Yes, I get that." Severus said. "However, I would like to get back to my book."

Harry rolled his eyes "You don't really want that."

How was it that he couldn't get rid of him, and now Remus Lupin was in the mix, Severus just couldn't believe it and to think that earlier in the afternoon he had wished to find something to do other than read and that was now all he wanted to do.

"We could go out to a pub or something." Remus proposed. "You must be tired of being in this office all day."

Yes, he was tired but he would rather be in the office than to go to some pub where, no doubt, Harry and Remus would end up drunk while he had to deal with getting them home. He didn't feel like dealing with something like this.

"I'm sorry but I will have to decline." He told them, instead.

"The Prancing Pony will do." Remus said, ignoring Severus.

"Yes. Come along, Severus." Harry said, taking him by the arm and pulling him to the door.

"But I don't want to go." Muttered Severus as he was lead out of his office.

# posted by Sek Koon @ 8:29 AM