A Ritual of Courtship

Auntbecky: Thanks, I think so to. It is rather Slytherin isn’t it?



Experience My Dreams: I like different; that’s what drew me to this pair.



Angelnomiko: Yes, it did start sad didn’t it? Don’t worry it gets more humourous as the story progresses.



Snapeslave: I hope that this is fast enough for you. I also hope that this continues to hook you.



Lexy Malfoy: Thanks, and I hope you continue to like it.



EmmyloveDraco: This is the update; sorry it couldn’t have been that immediate.



Idancer: It is sad but it will get funnier I promise. Most comedies do have that element of sadness in.



La Bibliographe: I can see that tragedy happening. Perhaps I should have said no one in the Wizarding World knew. Besides, there is more to Mrs Johnson than meets the eye. We use the term Draw for any type to put things in. In England we use Chest of Draws but just say draw to indicate one. I used to have one, but now I have all my clothes in the Wardrobe... The only Americanism I can’t stand (apart from Prideful... Tell me, what’s wrong with proud?) Is when Hermione and Ginny go Mom... that turns me off the story immediately... I like the word Mum. I hope I didn’t offend you with that. It’s just that I am an English girl who is extremely proud of her language. As for Rudi’s situation I imagine he would be stinking rich because Bellatrix Black married him. We know from Sirius home that the Black family weren’t exactly poor, and would Lucius have married Narcissa if she came from a poor family? I don’t think so... So, yes, I deduct from Lucius/Narcissa that Rodolphus is as rich or thereabouts. Age gaps don’t bother me that much either. I’d like to think of it as Homosexuals that hide it for so long and then all of a sudden in one fell swoop actually comes out of the closet and declares it to the whole world. Hermione is the same. She decided to tell the Wizarding World on a very important occasion because she couldn’t hold it in any longer. I am so glad that you aren’t put off by the idea of Snape as a Matchmaker either. As for where the name Jolyon came from I am not sure exactly; all I know is that it’s one of my mums favourite names for a boy. She never got to use it. As for the main couple... you’ll see.



Dee Dee: I thought you did like all the Slytherin men. But yes Severus won’t have a dunderheaded son. Hmm, might or might not use your idea... not sure yet... I hope you like this chapter.



Sampdoria: I don’t know or remember exactly when I got into this couple it kind of slowly crept up on me. I am glad you like this couple to.



Just a little note to say that if you feel that I am writing them Out of Character don't say it in your review. I feel that Character Perception is personal to the reader. I feel that what I am writing is completely in Character. Sorry for this little note but I had a review from the last chapter stating I should have put OOC as a warning, and as I said Character Perception is completely personal, which is why I don't ever put OOC as a warning.



The Morning After



Hermione woke up the next morning with a thumping headache. She turned around in her sheets and sighed with relief at the knowledge that she was alone. She rolled around and laid her head back on the pillow. Hermione tried to remember what had happened after she left the Great Hall and a small smile crept lazily along her lips. She had a wonderful evening with Rodolphus Lestrange.



“I have never been one for big occasions and parties, Mia,” he said over a glass of wine at her flat.



She giggled. “Neither have I.”



She observed him carefully throughout the evening. He had admitted to being sixty, which shocked her rather. She gasped unable to contain her surprise.



“Why, Mia, how old did you think I was?”



Hermione blushed and diverted her gaze to the floor.



“At a glance, I’d say forty. Forty five at most,” she stammered.



He laughed that lovely raucous laugh of his. A laugh that sent tingles inside Hermione and made her wonder other – rather naughty thoughts. She decided to quell them as soon as she could. She swigged down some of her wine.



“If I could I’d marry you for that one statement alone,” he said ruefully; his dark summer blue eyes growing warmer by the minute. Hermione found herself drowning in their glow.



“You surely can not be sixty?” she asked.



“You can check my birth certificate if you like,” he said, sipping the last remnants of his wine. He gently placed the glass on the table and got up. “Well, I had some fun this evening after all.”



Her blush went from pink to strawberry red. She uncurled her feet and stood up. She was still slightly sore from his treading on her toe.



“Thank you,” she said. “Hardly anyone has managed to have fun with me since – well – it doesn’t matter.”



Rodolphus picked up his cloak and wrapped it around his body and clasped it around his throat. He smiled at her as he walked towards her door. He was pondering on whether or not to kiss her. He turned around and saw her standing there slightly hot from the wine; her pupils dilated and her hair was mussed from where she had been running her hands through it. He thought better of it, however, when she coughed.



“Well,” she said awkwardly.



“I hope life treats you well, Mia,” he said nicely.



“The same for you, Rodolphus,” she replied.



Her heart was pounding for probably the first time in ten years. A small part of her wanted to know what it was like to be kissed by an older man. He pushed the handle of her door down and opened it wide. She walked two steps forward ready to wave him down the hall.



She was glad that they had managed to get by Mrs Johnson; she wouldn’t hear the end of it from the old bag if she saw ‘Mrs Weasley;’ with a man. Her codgery old mind would be turning out all sorts of unlikely scenarios. In some ways Mrs Johnson reminded Hermione of a very female form of Dumbledore.



What a fool Hermione was to think that Mrs Johnson wouldn’t hear her door open. As soon as Rodolphus took a step out of her door he was face to face with an elderly muggle woman.



“Hello, dear, and who’s your friend?” Mrs Johnson asked.



Hermione was searching for a muggle name close enough to his real one when Rodolphus replied for her.



“My name is Richard Strangelove.”



Strangelove was the name of a Muggleborn boy in his year; a name that he rather liked. Richard was a perfectly respectable name in any society.



“Oh, what a fancy name,” Mrs Johnson said. “Well, I hope that bodes well for Mrs Weasley there. Don’t know if you know but she’s been mourning the loss of her husband for ten years you know. Such a pretty young woman don’t you think?”



Were Mrs Johnson, and the Snape’s in this together? thought Hermione whilst scrunching her fists into the material of her dress. She was sure she was the colour of beetroot by now.



Rodolphus turned his head around and swept his gaze up and down her body.



“Yes, she is,” he replied. “She is a very pretty young woman.”



“Well, mustn’t keep you two,” Mrs Johnson said as she bustled in her apartment and locked the door. Hermione was fuming. Miserable interfering windbag!



He looked at her again. She was pretty; he’d be a fool if he walked away without kissing her. He knew that now. Before she knew where she was; she found herself being swept up in a pair of extremely strong arms, and a pair of powerful lips locked themselves on hers.



He massaged her lips with his. She moaned and parted her mouth and he slipped his tongue inside her mouth. It was a very quick kiss, but it held a lot of promise. Hermione found feelings she had long since squashed surging to the surface like a huge wave cresting on her long parched shores of desire.



He broke the kiss and looked into her eyes. They were wide and unsure. He tilted her chin up.



“Now I had definitely better be going. Thanks again,” he said before making a dignified but quick exit out of her apartment. It took Hermione ten minutes to shake herself back to some semblance of normality; it took a further five before she realised she was still standing in her hallway with her door wide open. She forced herself to walk over to her door and shut it. She turned the key in the lock and made her way to her bed.



“What a kiss,” she groaned out loud. She checked her watch and decided to get out of bed. It was a Saturday and she knew that Ginny would be over soon to possibly press her for more details on her marriage to Ron. A marriage, Hermione thought, that had never truly been consummated.



She turned the shower on and hadn’t even taken her nightgown off when she heard a female voice. It was Ginny.



~*~*~



He woke up in his King size double bed all alone and in the centre. He rolled over on his right and looked out the window. He sighed. He supposed he had to get out of bed as it would seem lazy not to. He had nothing to get up to; and no one to get up for. He didn’t see the point. The fireplace glimmered green and Severus stepped out with a knowing smirk on his face.



“Where did you disappear off to last night?”



“Nothing like getting to the point,” Rodolphus remarked dryly. “Give me time to wake up first; it’s early.”



Rodolphus was used to Severus appearing in his fireplace; he had done so for as long as the older Wizard remembered. He used to illegally floo over on weekends, especially after a huge humiliation from those arrogant Marauders. Rodolphus had always wanted to protect Severus; now it seemed that the tables were turned.



“It’s eleven o’clock in the morning,” Severus replied his mouth curved up again in a leer.



“Well, I just woke up, and I’m an old man.”



“Oh, stop with the old man talk,” Severus said. “So, where did you slip off to?”



“Nowhere,” the older man said gruffly. “Not that it’s any of your business.”



Severus rolled his eyes and resisted the urge to giggle. He looked at this man that he considered to be an older brother. In truth Severus felt sorry for Rodolphus, of all the Death Eaters that had been betrayed Rudi was the one that least deserved it. Rodolphus had loved Bellatrix, though it was a mystery to Severus why or how he could love that Bitch.



“You’re not going to squirm out of this one, Rudi,” Severus said before he looked at his friend. “Come on, please. What have I done for you?”



“Been a pain in the backside,” Rudi suggested. Severus snorted. He whipped his wand out and charmed two mugs of steaming coffee to appear. Rudi took his and sipped it gratefully. “All right,” the older man sighed. “It seems interfering comes with being Hogwarts headmaster;” Severus snorted. “Miss Granger didn’t want to be there anymore than I did. We apparated to her flat and had a glass of wine and talked and that was it.”



“Talked?” Severus asked a tone of incredulity crept in that one word. “You are telling me you were alone with a beautiful, intelligent, young woman and you talked?”



“Maybe you should marry her!” Rodolphus exclaimed. “Start collecting a harem of young, vulnerable Gryffindor witches who lost their partners in the war.”



“Miss Granger’s not my type,” Severus said urbanely and candidly. It was sort of true. Perhaps, if she was a red head, but crazy haired brunettes weren’t really his type. They were, however, Rudi’s. Severus penetrated slightly into his friends mind before Rudi pulled out and glared at the man.



“All right, all right, we kissed. Okay. We bloody locked lips and kissed!”



“Really,” Severus sneered. “Is that all?”



“Yes it bloody well is, Severus, now will you please leave me alone to let me tend to matters of estate!”



Severus laughed. He’d have to ask his wife what had really happened. Severus grinned when he thought of his young sexy wife. He could not believe he had been twice blessed with a beautiful wife and a clever son. Ginny had said that she was not going to be like her mother and churn out a coterie of children year after year.



“I know what you’re trying to do, Severus, and it’s not going to work,” Rudi said. “Mrs Weasley is a very pretty, young woman but; like me, she’s still in love with her dead spouse.”



“How you could still be in love with her is beyond me, especially after what she did to you.”



“She was my wife, Severus, and we were happy for a time.”



“She was a bitch,” Severus said honestly. “Sorry, Rudi, but I don’t understand and I never will understand. Look, I happen to have a deep respect for Hermione. You could say I like to view her as my favourite niece or something. You’re my best friend. Come on, Rudi, give her another chance.”



“Sorry,” Rudi said shaking his head. “It won’t work. I can see it ending in abysmal failure. She’s not even thirty yet.”



“What’s that to do with anything? neither is my wife,” Severus replied. “Rudi, come over for dinner. Before you ask, yes, my wife should be inviting Hermione over this very minute. You can’t dismiss this as a failure before it even starts. If I thought like you I wouldn’t have invented those spells, which gave you so much fun.”



“Why her? Surely you could have set me up with someone less likely to say no to me.”



“I can’t believe that bitch has reduced you to this!” Severus exclaimed getting up off the bed. He threw his empty mug at the wall. “Where is the swaggering, confident, man I once knew? Where is Rodolphus Lestrange the man who could make any woman’s jaw drop as soon as he strode into the room? The man that made most women come with just a smile?”



“That man no longer exists,” Rodolphus replied back hotly.



“Oh he does,” Severus growled. “I wanted to be so much like you, Rudi. I am going to jerk you off your butt and get you to your old self again if, and that’s a definite if, it’s the last thing I do.”



Severus stepped through the fireplace before Rodolphus could reply back. He sighed and looked at his watch; he was about to get out of bed when Severus poked his head through the fireplace. “It’s at eight,” then left.



Rodolphus growled at the fireplace and decided to do what he said he would do and look over the accounts. Although, he thought, they were easy now; and getting easier every day. He was the only one that had to be fed, clothed, and kept warm. He hadn’t brought any new robes for a while.



“Well,” he sighed. “I am not going to start now!”



~*~*~



Hermione had showered, dressed, and walked to her kitchen where Ginny stood frying sausages and eggs. She placed them on a plate and handed it to Hermione who squirted ketchup on the food and ate.



“Well,” Ginny said. “What happened last night?”



“Nothing,” Hermione said.



“Oh, you expect me to believe that?”



Hermione sighed. “All right, we kissed.”



“Oh,” Ginny said, her brown eyes widened.



“It was rather quick, hurried,” Hermione explained. “Like he wasn’t going to do it and then changed his mind.”



“Was there any tongue?” Ginny asked. Hermione blushed and played her feet against the leg of the stall. She smiled a little as she remembered the tongue slipping inside her mouth. “There was, wasn’t there?” the red haired witch assumed eagerly.



“A little,” Hermione said. “But, really, Ginny, whatever it is you and Severus are up to I don’t want to be a part of it. I love Ron still.”



Ginny sighed. “Do you think that I don’t love Harry? Because I do! Severus knows I do, but he’s alive and Harry’s dead. I know Harry wouldn’t have wanted me to be miserable.”



“I didn’t know that,” Hermione said a little sheepishly.



“I am not asking you to stop loving Ron. I am asking you to start living, and not act like a zombie for the rest of your life. You were a beautiful, passionate woman at one time; I want to see some of the old Hermione back.”



“Its just not that easy for me, Ginny. Rodolphus Lestrange is a sophisticated man with taste and discernment, what makes you think that he’d show any form of favourable interest in me?”



“Oh, by the way he was looking at you last night,” Ginny said.



“He was not looking at me in any way last night,” the brunette denied.



“So,” Ginny began. “What led up to the kiss?”



Hermione groaned, it looked like short of a hex; Ginny wouldn’t leave until she heard all of the juicy gossip. She launched into the tale. Ginny listened attentively to her friend’s story. She smirked a little at the part where Hermione guessed his age wrong. She looked at her watch.



“Oh, Severus and I are having a dinner with a few intimate friends. We’d love for you to come!”



Hermione narrowed her eyes suspiciously. “What are you up to, Ginevra Molly Weasley?”



“Snape!” Ginny snapped. “I’m a Snape and I’m proud of it. And what makes you think that I’m up to something?”



“You may be a married Snape but you’re a birth Weasley and that’s what makes me suspicious.”



Ginny grinned. She shook her head. “Eight! Don’t be late!”



She gathered her bag and walked out of the door. Hermione sighed. She was just about to sit down and look over some of her ideas for new Ministry rules when her intercom buzzed. She frowned and walked up to the phone and picked it up off its rest.



“Hello?” she asked.



“Hello, Mia, we need to talk.”



She sighed with relief. She had explained to him the night before what it was and how to use it.



“Hello, Rodolphus, I’ll let you up.”



A few moments later Hermione was sipping a cup of tea with this man.



“I take it you had a visit from Severus?” Hermione asked.



“And his equally interfering wife came to see you then?” Rodolphus asked sitting as far away from her as he could.



“They wanted to know what we did, as if it’s any of their business anyway!”



He liked her indignant attitude over this. “I would have expected this from Mrs Snape, but I would never have thought that Severus would stoop so low as to be a matchmaker.”



Hermione giggled. “Why is he doing this anyway?” she asked her companion.



“He said that he wanted to bring me back to the way I was or some crap like that,” Rudi leered. “Why they can’t let me alone is beyond me.”



“Ginny said the same thing to me,” Hermione said after a bit of a pause.



“What are we going to do, to head them off I mean?”



“Arrive with other people?” Hermione suggested.



“Hmm,” Rodolphus mused. “Might not work. Severus knows I kissed you last night.”



“Ginny does to,” Hermione lamented sadly. “It would seem stupid to them if we kiss one minute and not be madly in love the next I suppose!”



Rodolphus detected the sarcasm in that statement and laughed.



“We’ve got to think of something soon,” he sighed. “The dinner is at eight. Etiquette states we should be there at least five minutes late; just in case they’re not ready. We’ve got to look like we made an effort for each other.”



Hermione nodded. Her parents had told her something like that when they kept going out to dinners.



“What can we do?” Hermione asked.



Rodolphus sighed and rubbed the temple at his brow. “Whatever we do we can’t let them win, if I want another partner in my life then I want her on my terms.”



“Same here. I want him on my terms not on other peoples.”



They took another calm sip of tea quietly thinking of a way to outfox their well-meaning but extremely nosy friends.



~*~*~



Jolyon was waiting for his parents. Jolyon had wondered what it was that was so important to take both his parents away from him. When he had been dumped on Hagrid’s doorstep he looked at his mother with a hateful glare. Hagrid had always sounded stupid to him. He knew he was going to be bored for however long it took his parents to do whatever it was that they were doing.



He practically ran when he saw his father walking up to him. He flung his arms around his father’s waist and Severus picked his son up.



“Do anything interesting?” Severus asked.



“No, I want to do a potions.”



“Jolyon, how many times do I have to say this to you? There is no way I am going to let you brew a potions at your age.”



Jolyon sulked. Severus thanked the half giant for babysitting.



“That’s all righ’, Sev’rus,” Hagrid said. “Any time, I like the little nipper!”



Jolyon scowled at the nincompoop. Severus caught it and placed his son on the ground.



“Hagrid is a friend, Jolyon. You should say thank you!”



“He’s a nitwit,” Jolyon replied.



“Without Hagrid I’d be dead,” Severus said sharply. “You have a lot to thank him for!”



Jolyon grumbled. He hated being spoken to like this.



“Where were you, daddy?”



“I was visiting Uncle Rodolphus,” his father replied.



“Where’s mummy?”



“She’s visiting Aunty Hermione.”



Jolyon lit up at that. He liked Hermione she always gave him sweets and told him to keep it between themselves. She also, when they were on their own, let him help her brew a potion. It was also something he kept to himself. Hermione was cool in his eyes.



“Why?”



“Mummy and daddy want them to come over this evening for dinner.”



Jolyon sighed. He was mollified slightly. His favourite person, other than his father, in the world was going to come over this evening. He was going to enjoy it. She always snuggled him on her lap murmuring spells and ingredients in his ear. He was rather in awe of his mummy’s friend and sometimes, rather treacherously, wished that Hermione was his mummy.



Severus looked down at his son and wondered what he was thinking. He wasn’t going to probe, though; some part of him didn’t want to know.



“Daddy,” Jolyon said. “When I’m grown up I’m going to marry Hermione!”



Severus laughed. “Really,” he said. “Don’t you think she’d be a bit too old for you!”



“No!” Jolyon exclaimed. He crossed his arms across his chest. “I like her!”



Severus brow furrowed. His son sounded determined. What happened to children nowadays? He thought.



“We’ll see, my son, we’ll see.”



A/N – So, Ginny and Severus are going to bring these two in yet another social situation, and Rudi and Hermione are planning something. Sweet of Jolyon I think to want to marry Hermione I think. I remember at six or seven that there was a nice man that I felt that I wanted to marry. Childhood crushes eh?