Hilltop Cottage

A/N: Thanks to Kizzy for the beta, and to everyone who's reading and reviewing. All appreciated!

---

Severus was trying to do the crossword, but every couple of minutes he would glance at the clock on the mantle and wonder just how long Hermione would be. She had already been gone for two hours, and in that time he had made four cups of tea, written an apologetic letter to Minerva for keeping her in the dark, and perused the dug over garden behind the house, planning his first attempt at growing things on a large scale.

He had gone to the shop as soon as Hermione had left, gathering groceries, a couple of bottles of wine, and a Muggle newspaper. He tapped the end of a ballpoint pen on his upper lip as he pondered the next clue, but he was getting nowhere. He was much too preoccupied. He looked up in relief as Hermione walked through the door a few moments later.

‘Hi,’ she said, walking over to him and planting a gentle kiss on his cheek. He smiled a small smile but said nothing. He would not pry, and she was certain to tell him herself in her own good time.

‘I was beginning to worry,’ he said quietly.

‘I know; I’m sorry I took so long. I wanted to go and check on my parents’ old house. The tenant is moving out soon, apparently.’ Hermione shrugged off her jacket and left it on the back of the sofa as he went to make tea. Severus folded his paper and followed her, leaning against the door and watching her as she moved around the room.

‘Are you quite alright, Hermione?’ Severus asked her.

‘Of course,’ she replied, but she didn’t look up at him. ‘I think I won’t be seeing Harry for a while.’

‘Ah.’ Severus took his proffered mug of tea from her. ‘It didn’t go well, I take it?’

‘Better than I thought it would, to be honest. I didn’t have to draw my wand, anyway.’

Hermione shot him a grin, and he relaxed, smiling warmly back at her.

‘He tried to make me see sense. He thinks that you would hold me back, stop me doing the things I may want to do in the future.’ Hermione said it as a statement, but Severus could hear the question in her voice.

‘Such as?’ Severus felt a little chill run down his spine as he anticipated her words. He didn’t quite like where this was going.

‘Well, going back to work would be the main thing, I suppose. I was in the middle of research –– spells, mainly. I used some of them to protect the house. They have a different vibration each time they’re set, so they are harder to break down. I just abandoned it all. It’s caused a few problems, according to Harry.’ Hermione shrugged slightly.

‘Just work?’ Severus’s brow furrowed. Of course he would never get in the way of her work. If anything, he would encourage it. Her intelligence was too powerful to waste.

Hermione paused mid-sip and raised her eyes over the lip of her mug slowly. ‘Well, Harry did mention, you know, having a family… that sort of thing.’ She turned away and rinsed her now empty mug under the tap, and the silence between them stretched until she was the one to fill it.

‘I don’t suppose you’d want children anyway. You never liked them when you were teaching, did you? And anyway, they can be a bind, can’t they? It’s a total lifestyle change, having kids.’ Hermione was babbling, and she stared out of the window, watching the birds as they pecked at the remains of her morning toast.

Severus’s mouth had gone dry. Children? She wanted children? Of course she would want them. She was young, capable, and bright. Good genes to pass onto a child, he was sure of that. But his children? It was very early days as far as their relationship was concerned. He didn’t even know what he was to her. A boyfriend, or a partner? How had they leapt from learning to be lovers to having children? Bloody Potter.

‘You want children?’ Severus whispered hoarsely.

‘One day, perhaps. I hadn’t really thought about it, to be honest with you. Not until Harry and I talked earlier.’ Hermione turned to him, her face a study in confusion. ‘I’m not backing you into a corner, Severus. I was just telling you what we talked about, that’s all.’

Severus stared at her for a moment, then walked back into the lounge and lifted the crossword again. He hid behind it for a good twenty minutes, and when he put it down, Hermione was sitting on the sofa, curled up reading a book. He hadn’t even noticed her walk back into the room; his mind was such a jumble of thoughts.

‘You would want my children?’ he asked her softly.

Hermione looked up at him and brushed her curls from her face. ‘If the time was right, if we were still together then, and if it was something we both wanted, then of course I would want your children, Severus,’ she said, smiling slowly. ‘But we’ve only just started, well, you know…’ She blushed as Severus raised an eyebrow at her.

‘Yes. Procreation takes practice, I believe,’ Severus said lowly. He stood and held his hand out to her, and she giggled as he pulled her to her feet.

‘Where are we going?’ she laughed as he dragged her towards the stairs.

‘To practice,’ he said firmly.


***

Over the next few months, Severus all but moved into Hilltop Cottage, and slowly, subtle changes were made to the décor and furniture that showed it was a shared home. The bedroom had a new, larger bed set in the middle of the back wall and away from the sloped ceiling, giving Severus more headroom. The garden now showed signs of life growing in the previously bland, brown earth, and Severus spent hours with his head buried in his Herbology book, much to Hermione’s joy.

After the initial flurry of interest generated by the Daily Prophet, the wizarding world became bored with them. They settled into domesticity, and contact with the magical world only happened when it was absolutely necessary. They had everything they needed at home and in the town.

They were seen on occasions in the local pub or the small Italian restaurant in Hayfield, and while people may have looked twice at the couple, because the age difference was obvious even to the untrained eye, eventually they were just Hermione and Severus who lived in Mellor’s old house.