AFTERWARDS

Hermione was sitting in the library at Hogwarts, her feet tucked beneath her on a deep armchair, surrounded by large dusty tomes that looked like they had sat on shelves for centuries, just waiting until she needed them. She turned a page of the volume she was reading, the darkening parchment crackling slightly. Frowning, Hermione lifted another book, a more modern volume of runic translation and compared the two pages.



‘Ohhh… how lovely…’ She whispered to herself quietly and smiled, her eyes misting over a little. Ever since her parents had returned and Severus proposed, Hermione found herself becoming more and more sentimental and even the most mundane thing brought her to tears.



She grinned as she remembered the day before, when she had floo’ed some more of her belongings to the house in Hogsmede, including Crookshanks. Severus was sitting reading the Daily Prophet in front of the fire and as she floo’ed in he raised an eyebrow at her.



‘I forgot you had that…’ He eyed Crookshanks warily. ‘I don’t like anything with fur. Why didn’t you get an owl?’ He muttered.



‘Crookshanks is lovely and I won’t hear a word against him…’ Hermione nuzzled he top of a furry ginger head and he struggled from her arms, jumping up next to Severus, purring loudly and attempting to climb onto his knees.



Hermione laughed as Severus stood and walked over to sit in a matching armchair they had just acquired, shaking his paper in a disgruntled way and pointedly putting it in front of his face.



Crookshanks looked at Hermione and she grinned at him, her mouth dropping open slightly when she saw what she was convinced was a wink.



Hermione flashed the memory in her mind and grinned to herself. As she had left the house this morning, Crookshanks was curled up beside Severus in bed and he was idly scratching between his ears.



Hermione turned her attention back to her book when she heard a slight cough. She knew who it was before she looked up.



‘Hello, Harry.’ She lifted her eyes from the page and smiled at him.



Harry looked a little uncomfortable as he looked at her. They hadn’t spoken since before the Yule Ball and it was a long time since they had talked about anything significant apart from James.



‘Listen, can we talk, Hermione?’ Harry looked at her and realised she must be in the middle of something as he took note of all the books scattered around her.



‘Is everything ok? Is it James, is he ill?’ Hermione closed her book and sat forward in the chair.



‘No… everyone is fine.. Well, except me I guess… ‘ He looked at her sadly.



Hermione knew what this was about and looked at him. She lifted the two books she needed and stood up, hooking her arm in his. ‘Let’s go and get some tea.’



They walked up to Hermione’s quarters. The room was as she had left it, furnished, but the bed was bare and none of her belongings were in the room, it looked stark and unlived in. Lighting the fire to inject some warmth into the room, Hermione gestured to Harry to sit down on the sofa and waved her wand, summoning tea for both of them.



‘Wow, where did you learn that?’ Harry grinned at her.



‘Staff perks!’ She laughed and handed him a steaming mug before sitting down next to him. ‘This is about Severus, isn’t it?’ She looked at him thoughtfully. She no longer felt angry with Harry, just sad that she couldn’t share her friendships and her relationship and that the one outweighed the other on her list of priorities.



‘Sort of. Ginny told me you’ve been seeing him since last Christmas. I’ve made a prat of myself, haven’t I?’ Harry sipped his tea and looked a little forlorn.



‘A bit..’ Hermione nodded. ‘I can’t believe what you said to him Harry. It wasn’t worthy of you, of all people. You saw his memories, you know how much he loved your Mum.’ Hermione’s voice was calm and Harry flushed as he recalled the look on Severus’s face the night they had argued.



‘I know… it was thoughtless and I really didn’t mean it. I can see he loves you, that’s for sure..’ Harry looked at her and smiled a small smile. ‘That dance at the Yule Ball was something else, ‘Mione. You both looked incredible.’



Hermione blushed a little. ‘Thanks…’ She drifted off, thinking about the rest of that night.



Harry looked around the room. ‘You moving out?’ He asked her, assuming she was moving into Severus’s quarters.



Hermione nodded but didn’t enlighten him. She knew Severus wouldn’t want Harry to know their plans until it was public knowledge. She would need to work on that, she really wanted Ginny and Harry to be at the wedding. But that was another secret they agreed to keep until later in the year. They just wanted to keep it to themselves, the only people who knew apart from her parents were Albus and Minerva, who had both been thrilled and more than a little emotional.



‘Tell him I really regret what I said, Hermione. I hate the bad feeling between us and now you are seeing him, it’s more important, you know?’ Harry missed his friendship with Hermione and his attitude towards Severus had just driven them further apart.



‘I will… in fact, I have to go to him now, he’s probably wondering where I’ve got to.’



They stood and Hermione hugged Harry, standing back and waving as he floo’ed back to Godric’s Hollow.



Hermione sighed and lifted her books. She didn’t know how she was going to bring Harry into the conversation without it causing bad feeling, but she knew she had to try. She pushed it to the back of her mind. There was something more important she needed to talk to him about first.







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I know its not a great chapter but I need to tie up the loose ends... more lemons coming....