10 Years After
folder
Harry Potter › Het - Male/Female › Snape/Hermione
Rating:
Adult ++
Chapters:
22
Views:
7,058
Reviews:
114
Recommended:
0
Currently Reading:
0
Category:
Harry Potter › Het - Male/Female › Snape/Hermione
Rating:
Adult ++
Chapters:
22
Views:
7,058
Reviews:
114
Recommended:
0
Currently Reading:
0
Disclaimer:
I do not own Harry Potter, nor any of the characters from the books or movies. I do not make any money from the writing of this story.
Chapter 13
10 Years After
Chapter 13
Disclaimer: I own nothing of what you’re about to read, with the possible exception of the plot, although I’m sure it’s been done before. The places, characters, etc. belong to JK Rowling. Thanks.
A/N:
Estrilda – Of course her wards allow Severus in! Mine would, too :)
Deb – you’re a doll to review so regularly. You make me want to write a better fic!
Spaz – thanks so much for the “wow”. I’ll treasure it always.
RickyRoo – This fic will probably go up to the start of her internship, then I just might have to expand on that period of her life with another fic :)
Rilla – I love your work, thank you for reading mine.
mayrz , aprilgrey, BeautifullyMalicious, Andrian, redsugg, geekgoddess, deblovesdragon, dotti, kate, Michelline, fish, Kiyasha, Helena, and anyone I may have forgotten - Thank you for taking the time to read and review. Reviews may not seem important to people, but they truly do help me see where to go. Some of your comments may seem insignificant to you, but they give me a little plot kitten (cuter than a bunny) to roll around in my mind, as well as the occasional toss out line that works so well. So thank YOU.
Aberdeen Scotland: April 16, 2008, morning; St Damian’s Wizarding University.
Severus awoke early, knowing that he had to be back at Hogwarts for the morning classes. He groaned as he rolled out of Hermione’s bed, the noise waking the young witch beside him. She watched through half opened eyes as Severus stretched, wincing a little as he did so.
“A little stiff, Sev?” she said playfully.
“Feeling my age,” he replied with a smirk.
“48 is not old,” she pouted, “just more experienced.”
Severus laughed, a wonderful sound that she could never hear enough of. Hermione had decided last night that his voice wasn’t silky. It was more like velvet. Rich Slytherin green velvet brocade that cascaded over her body. His voice was an instrument, ranging from soft and sexy to downright deadly. She smiled at the thought that the voice that made her quake when she was a student was now the voice that helped make her climax.
“What’s the smile for?” queried Severus.
“Just thinking about what you do to me,” she replied, “I still can’t quite believe that it’s been less than a month and I am this much in love with you. In this short time I’ve had an affair, gotten divorced, and am now hopelessly addicted to you.”
“You’ve not had time to mourn your marriage,” said Severus, looking into her eyes.
Hermione thought for a moment before answering.
“I think I’ve been mourning my marriage for quite some time. Severus, it just never should have been. I tried for so long to ‘save’ it, it just took being with someone who truly wanted me as a woman, not only as a best friend with benefits, to make me understand that it shouldn’t be saved. That it couldn’t be saved. I couldn’t save my marriage, I could only save myself, and being with you helped me do that.”
“I’m afraid you left one relationship and fell headlong into another, though. You need to find you.”
“I’ve found me. Do you think that I’ve ever realized that I am an extremely sexual person? I’ve never been aware of that before. It was like you opened up the floodgates of my sexuality. Along with that came the realization that I am desirable. For so long I’ve felt like there was something wrong with me because sex with Harry always seemed srfunrfunctory. Like it was something to do and get over with. To be quite honest, had I still been married to Harry, I would never have taken the internship at Hogwarts. It would have become a huge bone of contention between us, with Harry wanting me to ‘settle down’ and not go off attempting to start another career at 28 when I should be bearing children. In the end, I would have simply continued teaching and finding odd times to do my research. And I would have borne the children he wanted.”
“Do you not want children?”
“I don’t know. I just know there’s so much out there to explore, and I’m afraid that I wouldn’t be able to devote the time I need to a child. Is that selfish?”
“I think it’s anything but selfish, Hermione. You’re the type of woman who needs to give her all to everything you do or it’s just not worth doing. I would imagine that you would feel the same way when it came to raising a child. If you couldn’t give everything you were to raising that child, you would feel incomplete.”
“How is that you understand me so well?”
“As frightening as it may seem, we’re a great deal similar, Miss Granger,” he said, smiling at her, “both driven to success, both trying to outrun our pasts – you as a muggle born in a world that does not embrace muggles and me as a Death Eater, a shining example of the very worst of that muggle prejudice. We’ve both been fighting all our lives to prove to ourselves and to others that we’re more than merely the sum of our parts.”
Severus got up from the bed and dressed, then sat back down to put on his boots. Hermione sat up and wed hed her arms around him from behind, resting her head on his shoulder. She nuzzled his neck, causing him to smile again.
“I do have to get back to Hogwarts. I have first years first thing this morning. Not that I wouldn’t rather chuck off my clothes and crawl back under the bedcovers with you, my dear.”
“I only one month left of teaching, then final exams. I wish I could start my research and move to Hogwarts then instead of waiting for June.”
“Why don’t you simply ask Albus? I’m sure he wouldn’t mind. You’d be ensconced in my…our…private labs. Hardly in the way.”
“Good idea. I’ll owl him after my morning classes.”
Severus smiled as he stood up, pulling Hermione to her feet. He hated having to say goodbye to her. He always hated saying goodbye. At least this time he knew it would only be for two days as he was coming back to give a guest lecture on extending the shelf life of volatile potions. He pulled her close to him and brushed an errant lock of hair out of her face as he gazed into his liquid brown eyes. With a reverence usually only displayed for rare potions ingredients, he cupped her face in his hands and dipped his head to kiss her lips, first barely brushing them with his, then pressing harder on them, sweeping his tongue across the lower lip. Hermione parted her lips to admit his tongue and enjoyed the feeling of his tongue against hers. She pressed herself tightly against him, feeling his cock jump to attention. With a groan, Severus broke apart from the embrace.
“As much as I would love to stay, I do have to go.”
“I know, you will have to stay and help me with my morning bath one of these days…”
“Yes,” he smirked, “I shall. Now, where’s your floo powder? It’s too late to apparate, no time for the walk to the castle from the gates.”
Hermione pointed to a small bowl behind the picture of the couple in Corforinu. She wrapped her arms around him and kissed him again.
“I love you. And remember, my wards are always set to recognize you, so feel free to surprise me like you did last night any time.”
“I love you, too. I’ll see you on Friday and no doubt we’ll continue to wear our Nicander and Galen.”
“Those poor owls,” smiled Hermione.
With a toss of floo powder and a whoosh of green light, Hermione watched Severus depart. She smiled and contemplated getting back into the bed they had spent almost the entire night making love in. She didn’t have morning classes on Wednesdays and was not expected anywhere until after lunch. As she decided that wrapping herself in covers that smelled like a heady combination of Severus and sex with Severus was the best idea she’d had in a long time, she was disturbed by a knock at her door. Looking at the clock on the mantle, she was hard pressed to imagine who could be visiting her at this early hour. She opened her door a crack to see her ex-husband standing there. With a sigh, she opened the door to admit Harry into her cottage.
“Good morning Harry,” she said, “what brings you to Aberdeen this early in the morning?”
“I needed to see you and I have to be in Canada in a short while.”
“Is something wrong? Ron? Ginny? Arthur or Molly?”
“No, I just needed to see you. Hermione, I made so many mistakes in our marriage. I took you for granted. I didn’t understand how important your career was to you. I should have been supportive.”
Hermione sighed and walked to the kitchen to put on the tea kettle. She’d been expecting this. Harry was nothing if not predictable. While they both knew the divorce was for the best, Harry hated being alone. It wasn’t so much Hermione he wanted back, it was having someone there.
She walked back into the sitting room to find Harry holding a black leather journal in his hands. He tuned the journal over in his hands and fingered the finely tooled leather cover. He opened it to the first page and spied the familiar strong lettering of Severus Snape.
“What is this doing here?” he asked.
“Severus must have left it here.”
“When was he here?”
“I can’t see where that’s your business, Harry.”
“You’re my wife, Hermione.”
“I WAS your wife, Harry. We’re divorced, remember? It was an amicable uncontested divorce that we both were in agreement with. I owe you no explanations.”
“And why am I unable to apparate or floo into your cottage?”
“Because my wards are set to secure.”
“Even against me?”
“Even against you, Ron, Ginny…”
“I couldn’t even floo you last night to let you know I was coming to talk today.”
“I had access blocked last night.”
“HE was here, wasn’t he?”
“Harry, what is this all about? We are NOT married anymore. I am free to see anyone I wish, as are you.”
“He’s the reason we’re not married anymore.”
Hermione got up when she heard the whistle of the tea kettle. She made two cups of Earl Gray and walked back to the sitting room. She placed one of the cups next to Harry and sat on the settee opposite her ex-husband.
“You know he is not the reason we’re not married anymore.”
“You left me for him.”
“I left you for me, Harry. For us. We were stagnating. Neither of us was getting what we wanted out of the marriage and you know that as well I as I do. Yes, I am with Severus now. But he didn’t cause the end of our marriage. He just happened to be there when I realized that I had to do what I had to do. Had we stayed married much longer, we would never have been able to regain any friendship. And that would have been horrible after knowing each other for 17 years.”
“Hermione, did you sleep with him when we were still married?”
Hermione looked into her teacup and took a deep breath before answering.
“Yes, Harry, I did.”
“So the son of a bitch seduced my wife. And I thought we were past his petty jealousy of me.”
“Actually, Harry, I seduced him, if you’re looking for technicalities here. I’m the one who practically threw myself at him in New York. I needed him. I needed proof that I was missing something in my marriage. I started out using him to prove to myself that I was desirable. That I was worth the passion. I never expected to feel the way I did about him. I never expected him to crawl into my soul the way he did, without even trying to. He’s a good man. You’ve said it yourself. And you know that it’s true. You know what he sacrificed all his life and all that he did to save the students of Hogwarts. You know that Harry. You also know that we didn’t have a marriage. We had a friendship with occasional boring routine sex thrown in for good measure. We were BOTH guilty of the lack of passion in our relationship. I imagine that sleeping with me was like sleeping with Ron, only my equipment was a little different.”
Harry sat there looking at Hermione, seeing the passion in her eyes when she spoke of Severus Snape. She was in love with the git. Harry could see that clearly. He never remembered seeing that look in her eyes when she looked at him. It pained him, but he could see that she was right.
“It’s one thing to say that you married your best friend. It’s another thing for that friendship to be even more,” he said quietly, “you love him. He’s not only your friend, he’s the man who makes your world spin, isn’t he, Hermione? He’s the man you would give up everything for.”
“He’s the man who would never ask me to give up anything.”
“And I asked you to give up your dreams to be what I needed you to be.”
“Yes Harry, you did.”
“So it really is over, our marriage, isn’t it?”
“Yes Harry, our marriage is over. As I said, I would like to salvage the friendship and I know it won’t be possible right now.”
“Hermione?”
“Yes Harry?”
“Did you ever wonder how you got that fellowship to Trinity Wizarding University?”
“I thought it might have been you. You were the only person with the kind of money to provide a private fellowship like that.”
“It wasn’t me. When I was briefly working for the Ministry, I used my contacts to find out who funded your education.”
“And?”
“It was him, Hermione.”
“Who?”
“Snape.”
Hermione stared at Harry as his words sank in. Severus. Severus gave her Trinity. Severus funded her dreams. She blinked back a tear as more love than she ever thought possible filled her heart. All along she thought it had been Harry when it had been a man she never dreamed it could have been. He did that for her. For a bushy haired know it all student who drove him insane throughout her years at Hogwarts. He gave her a future that she chose for herself. Hermione walked over to the fireplace, picked up some floo powder, and looked back at Harry.
“Be a love and let yourself out, Harry.”
She tossed the powder on the fire, stated her destination clearly and disappeared into the fire, leaving Harry sitting in her cottage, smiling sadly as he realized that he had just handed Hermione to Severus on a silver platter. And the thing was, he didn’t regret it.
Chapter 13
Disclaimer: I own nothing of what you’re about to read, with the possible exception of the plot, although I’m sure it’s been done before. The places, characters, etc. belong to JK Rowling. Thanks.
A/N:
Estrilda – Of course her wards allow Severus in! Mine would, too :)
Deb – you’re a doll to review so regularly. You make me want to write a better fic!
Spaz – thanks so much for the “wow”. I’ll treasure it always.
RickyRoo – This fic will probably go up to the start of her internship, then I just might have to expand on that period of her life with another fic :)
Rilla – I love your work, thank you for reading mine.
mayrz , aprilgrey, BeautifullyMalicious, Andrian, redsugg, geekgoddess, deblovesdragon, dotti, kate, Michelline, fish, Kiyasha, Helena, and anyone I may have forgotten - Thank you for taking the time to read and review. Reviews may not seem important to people, but they truly do help me see where to go. Some of your comments may seem insignificant to you, but they give me a little plot kitten (cuter than a bunny) to roll around in my mind, as well as the occasional toss out line that works so well. So thank YOU.
Aberdeen Scotland: April 16, 2008, morning; St Damian’s Wizarding University.
Severus awoke early, knowing that he had to be back at Hogwarts for the morning classes. He groaned as he rolled out of Hermione’s bed, the noise waking the young witch beside him. She watched through half opened eyes as Severus stretched, wincing a little as he did so.
“A little stiff, Sev?” she said playfully.
“Feeling my age,” he replied with a smirk.
“48 is not old,” she pouted, “just more experienced.”
Severus laughed, a wonderful sound that she could never hear enough of. Hermione had decided last night that his voice wasn’t silky. It was more like velvet. Rich Slytherin green velvet brocade that cascaded over her body. His voice was an instrument, ranging from soft and sexy to downright deadly. She smiled at the thought that the voice that made her quake when she was a student was now the voice that helped make her climax.
“What’s the smile for?” queried Severus.
“Just thinking about what you do to me,” she replied, “I still can’t quite believe that it’s been less than a month and I am this much in love with you. In this short time I’ve had an affair, gotten divorced, and am now hopelessly addicted to you.”
“You’ve not had time to mourn your marriage,” said Severus, looking into her eyes.
Hermione thought for a moment before answering.
“I think I’ve been mourning my marriage for quite some time. Severus, it just never should have been. I tried for so long to ‘save’ it, it just took being with someone who truly wanted me as a woman, not only as a best friend with benefits, to make me understand that it shouldn’t be saved. That it couldn’t be saved. I couldn’t save my marriage, I could only save myself, and being with you helped me do that.”
“I’m afraid you left one relationship and fell headlong into another, though. You need to find you.”
“I’ve found me. Do you think that I’ve ever realized that I am an extremely sexual person? I’ve never been aware of that before. It was like you opened up the floodgates of my sexuality. Along with that came the realization that I am desirable. For so long I’ve felt like there was something wrong with me because sex with Harry always seemed srfunrfunctory. Like it was something to do and get over with. To be quite honest, had I still been married to Harry, I would never have taken the internship at Hogwarts. It would have become a huge bone of contention between us, with Harry wanting me to ‘settle down’ and not go off attempting to start another career at 28 when I should be bearing children. In the end, I would have simply continued teaching and finding odd times to do my research. And I would have borne the children he wanted.”
“Do you not want children?”
“I don’t know. I just know there’s so much out there to explore, and I’m afraid that I wouldn’t be able to devote the time I need to a child. Is that selfish?”
“I think it’s anything but selfish, Hermione. You’re the type of woman who needs to give her all to everything you do or it’s just not worth doing. I would imagine that you would feel the same way when it came to raising a child. If you couldn’t give everything you were to raising that child, you would feel incomplete.”
“How is that you understand me so well?”
“As frightening as it may seem, we’re a great deal similar, Miss Granger,” he said, smiling at her, “both driven to success, both trying to outrun our pasts – you as a muggle born in a world that does not embrace muggles and me as a Death Eater, a shining example of the very worst of that muggle prejudice. We’ve both been fighting all our lives to prove to ourselves and to others that we’re more than merely the sum of our parts.”
Severus got up from the bed and dressed, then sat back down to put on his boots. Hermione sat up and wed hed her arms around him from behind, resting her head on his shoulder. She nuzzled his neck, causing him to smile again.
“I do have to get back to Hogwarts. I have first years first thing this morning. Not that I wouldn’t rather chuck off my clothes and crawl back under the bedcovers with you, my dear.”
“I only one month left of teaching, then final exams. I wish I could start my research and move to Hogwarts then instead of waiting for June.”
“Why don’t you simply ask Albus? I’m sure he wouldn’t mind. You’d be ensconced in my…our…private labs. Hardly in the way.”
“Good idea. I’ll owl him after my morning classes.”
Severus smiled as he stood up, pulling Hermione to her feet. He hated having to say goodbye to her. He always hated saying goodbye. At least this time he knew it would only be for two days as he was coming back to give a guest lecture on extending the shelf life of volatile potions. He pulled her close to him and brushed an errant lock of hair out of her face as he gazed into his liquid brown eyes. With a reverence usually only displayed for rare potions ingredients, he cupped her face in his hands and dipped his head to kiss her lips, first barely brushing them with his, then pressing harder on them, sweeping his tongue across the lower lip. Hermione parted her lips to admit his tongue and enjoyed the feeling of his tongue against hers. She pressed herself tightly against him, feeling his cock jump to attention. With a groan, Severus broke apart from the embrace.
“As much as I would love to stay, I do have to go.”
“I know, you will have to stay and help me with my morning bath one of these days…”
“Yes,” he smirked, “I shall. Now, where’s your floo powder? It’s too late to apparate, no time for the walk to the castle from the gates.”
Hermione pointed to a small bowl behind the picture of the couple in Corforinu. She wrapped her arms around him and kissed him again.
“I love you. And remember, my wards are always set to recognize you, so feel free to surprise me like you did last night any time.”
“I love you, too. I’ll see you on Friday and no doubt we’ll continue to wear our Nicander and Galen.”
“Those poor owls,” smiled Hermione.
With a toss of floo powder and a whoosh of green light, Hermione watched Severus depart. She smiled and contemplated getting back into the bed they had spent almost the entire night making love in. She didn’t have morning classes on Wednesdays and was not expected anywhere until after lunch. As she decided that wrapping herself in covers that smelled like a heady combination of Severus and sex with Severus was the best idea she’d had in a long time, she was disturbed by a knock at her door. Looking at the clock on the mantle, she was hard pressed to imagine who could be visiting her at this early hour. She opened her door a crack to see her ex-husband standing there. With a sigh, she opened the door to admit Harry into her cottage.
“Good morning Harry,” she said, “what brings you to Aberdeen this early in the morning?”
“I needed to see you and I have to be in Canada in a short while.”
“Is something wrong? Ron? Ginny? Arthur or Molly?”
“No, I just needed to see you. Hermione, I made so many mistakes in our marriage. I took you for granted. I didn’t understand how important your career was to you. I should have been supportive.”
Hermione sighed and walked to the kitchen to put on the tea kettle. She’d been expecting this. Harry was nothing if not predictable. While they both knew the divorce was for the best, Harry hated being alone. It wasn’t so much Hermione he wanted back, it was having someone there.
She walked back into the sitting room to find Harry holding a black leather journal in his hands. He tuned the journal over in his hands and fingered the finely tooled leather cover. He opened it to the first page and spied the familiar strong lettering of Severus Snape.
“What is this doing here?” he asked.
“Severus must have left it here.”
“When was he here?”
“I can’t see where that’s your business, Harry.”
“You’re my wife, Hermione.”
“I WAS your wife, Harry. We’re divorced, remember? It was an amicable uncontested divorce that we both were in agreement with. I owe you no explanations.”
“And why am I unable to apparate or floo into your cottage?”
“Because my wards are set to secure.”
“Even against me?”
“Even against you, Ron, Ginny…”
“I couldn’t even floo you last night to let you know I was coming to talk today.”
“I had access blocked last night.”
“HE was here, wasn’t he?”
“Harry, what is this all about? We are NOT married anymore. I am free to see anyone I wish, as are you.”
“He’s the reason we’re not married anymore.”
Hermione got up when she heard the whistle of the tea kettle. She made two cups of Earl Gray and walked back to the sitting room. She placed one of the cups next to Harry and sat on the settee opposite her ex-husband.
“You know he is not the reason we’re not married anymore.”
“You left me for him.”
“I left you for me, Harry. For us. We were stagnating. Neither of us was getting what we wanted out of the marriage and you know that as well I as I do. Yes, I am with Severus now. But he didn’t cause the end of our marriage. He just happened to be there when I realized that I had to do what I had to do. Had we stayed married much longer, we would never have been able to regain any friendship. And that would have been horrible after knowing each other for 17 years.”
“Hermione, did you sleep with him when we were still married?”
Hermione looked into her teacup and took a deep breath before answering.
“Yes, Harry, I did.”
“So the son of a bitch seduced my wife. And I thought we were past his petty jealousy of me.”
“Actually, Harry, I seduced him, if you’re looking for technicalities here. I’m the one who practically threw myself at him in New York. I needed him. I needed proof that I was missing something in my marriage. I started out using him to prove to myself that I was desirable. That I was worth the passion. I never expected to feel the way I did about him. I never expected him to crawl into my soul the way he did, without even trying to. He’s a good man. You’ve said it yourself. And you know that it’s true. You know what he sacrificed all his life and all that he did to save the students of Hogwarts. You know that Harry. You also know that we didn’t have a marriage. We had a friendship with occasional boring routine sex thrown in for good measure. We were BOTH guilty of the lack of passion in our relationship. I imagine that sleeping with me was like sleeping with Ron, only my equipment was a little different.”
Harry sat there looking at Hermione, seeing the passion in her eyes when she spoke of Severus Snape. She was in love with the git. Harry could see that clearly. He never remembered seeing that look in her eyes when she looked at him. It pained him, but he could see that she was right.
“It’s one thing to say that you married your best friend. It’s another thing for that friendship to be even more,” he said quietly, “you love him. He’s not only your friend, he’s the man who makes your world spin, isn’t he, Hermione? He’s the man you would give up everything for.”
“He’s the man who would never ask me to give up anything.”
“And I asked you to give up your dreams to be what I needed you to be.”
“Yes Harry, you did.”
“So it really is over, our marriage, isn’t it?”
“Yes Harry, our marriage is over. As I said, I would like to salvage the friendship and I know it won’t be possible right now.”
“Hermione?”
“Yes Harry?”
“Did you ever wonder how you got that fellowship to Trinity Wizarding University?”
“I thought it might have been you. You were the only person with the kind of money to provide a private fellowship like that.”
“It wasn’t me. When I was briefly working for the Ministry, I used my contacts to find out who funded your education.”
“And?”
“It was him, Hermione.”
“Who?”
“Snape.”
Hermione stared at Harry as his words sank in. Severus. Severus gave her Trinity. Severus funded her dreams. She blinked back a tear as more love than she ever thought possible filled her heart. All along she thought it had been Harry when it had been a man she never dreamed it could have been. He did that for her. For a bushy haired know it all student who drove him insane throughout her years at Hogwarts. He gave her a future that she chose for herself. Hermione walked over to the fireplace, picked up some floo powder, and looked back at Harry.
“Be a love and let yourself out, Harry.”
She tossed the powder on the fire, stated her destination clearly and disappeared into the fire, leaving Harry sitting in her cottage, smiling sadly as he realized that he had just handed Hermione to Severus on a silver platter. And the thing was, he didn’t regret it.