Hilltop Cottage

A/N: Because you left me such lovely reviews - and I wish I could respond to each of you individually, but I can\'t here sadly - here\'s another update. This will be last for a couple of days - I really need to concentrate on my submission to the SSHG Exchange :) However - I will post more as soon as I can, I promise!

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One Year and Nine Months later…



Severus looked down at the letter in his hands in disbelief. It had been quite some time since he had heard from Sam Parker, the estate agent from New Mills. He had taken on the tenancy in haste, purely because he couldn’t bear the thought of any other person living in what he always thought of as Hermione’s home. Never the less, it had been useful, because it meant he still had access to the garden. He had only entered the house once, just after collecting the keys. It had been difficult, and to add insult to injury, he had found his letter to Hermione propped up on the mantle piece, unopened. He kept it still. And now this.



‘Dear Mr Snape,



In accordance with your tenancy agreement on Hilltop Cottage, I am writing to inform you of your one-month notice to vacate the property.



The owner and her family are due to return and wish to use the house as their permanent home, and it is unlikely we will be marketing this for rental at any time in the future.



However, I do have other properties ready for immediate occupation. Do not hesitate to contact me.



Yours faithfully,



Sam Parker

Rowcliffe Estate Agents’



Severus stared into the air in front of him, his mind a complete whirr. There were two things that immediately struck him. Firstly, that he would need to approach Hermione for continued access to her garden. Some of the plants he was cultivating were essential for Minerva’s continued survival. They were no closer to discovering her illness or a cure, but at least his replenishing potions, strengthened and improved by his tireless experimenting with his plants, had increased her physical strength somewhat. Severus visited her daily, more often than not at the end of a long school day. He gave some thanks that he was only running the damned place. He would have broken before now if he’d had to teach classes into the bargain.



The other thing he couldn’t stop mulling over, because he’d had the letter for a week now and was unable to stop thinking about it, was the reference to the owners’ family. The bloody witch must have got herself married and pregnant in America, and now she was back to flaunt it and play happy families, right on his bloody doorstep.



Truth be told, he wasn’t actually living in Spinner’s End. He’d hardly stepped foot in the place since he had taken over for Minerva, and instead he had taken quarters in the guest wing close to the Astronomy tower. He rather liked his new rooms, mainly because he had a window and didn’t have to light his quarters with candlelight during the day, unlike the dungeons. He had even been able to set up a full lab in one of the spare bedrooms. But that wasn’t really the point.



The point was that Hermione still filled most of his waking thoughts, and plenty of his night-time ones. His anger towards her had dissipated over the past year, because he loved her, and he knew that he always would.



So how could he gain access to the garden without bumping into her new man and hexing him into next week?



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Hermione paused to breathe deeply before opening the door of the taxi. The cottage looked almost the same, save for the hedgerow, which had overgrown quite a lot since Severus had cut it the last time. She realised that the last tenant probably hadn’t had the time to do anything with it. She glanced over at Donovan, asleep in the baby seat beside her, and smiled softly.



‘Thanks Mike,’ she said quietly, opening the door and lifting Donovan out slowly so as not to wake him.



Mike smiled and nodded, climbing out of seat to open the boot. He lifted out the three large suitcases and wondered silently how the young woman had managed on the train with the baby and all of her belongings. He also wondered when the baby had arrived and where the poor mite’s father was, but he said nothing.



Hermione had forgone the train in favour of Apparating in stages over most of the distance. It had exhausted her magic, but it meant she could shrink her luggage and concentrate on keeping the baby quiet. Landing in a secluded archway at the station had been ideal, and she hadn’t been at all surprised to find Mike still working his cab.



Pushing open the gate, Hermione sighed as she heard a familiar creak of rusty hinge. Donovan started to wriggle about in his seat, and she hurried up the path and opened the door, walking inside and placing him on the sofa. After a moment, he settle, his lower lip pushing out in a pout as he breathed in and out. Hermione shook her head. She couldn’t believe she had made such a miracle. She turned back to the door as she heard Mike huffing up the path.



‘You should have left them, Mike, I’d have done that,’ she said, staring as he hefted the third suitcase next to the others.



‘That’s all right, Miss Mellor. I don’t know how you managed them in the first place, what with the little one and that,’ he paused, obviously waiting for an explanation.



‘I had some help,’ Hermione said, averting her gaze and reaching for her purse. ‘Here you are.’ She smiled as Mike stared down at the money in his hand. She had given him a little extra for his effort, and also to encourage him to leave as soon as possible.



He didn’t disappoint her. With a cheery wave, he went back down the path, and Hermione waited until he was well out of sight before withdrawing her wand and sorting out the overgrown hedge.



When she went back in the house, Donovan was fully awake and looking eagerly around the room. His thick black hair was getting a bit too long, and he rubbed his fists in it, in an attempt to get it out of his eyes.



‘You’re awake, little man,’ Hermione cooed. Unclipping him, she lifted him from his seat and sat him comfortably on her hip. ‘Welcome home, Donovan,’ she said, kissing him on his soft cheek. Donovan giggled and took a handful of her curls gently. Hermione was always amazed that he knew not to pull her hair too hard, and he loved to hold it, almost like a comforter. ‘Let’s have a look around, shall we? Then we can decide what to do first.’



Hermione walked up the stairs and around the top floor of the house. In the small box room, she told Donovan that when he was bigger, he would sleep here, with a bookshelf for all of his storybooks and a big box for all of his toys. Being only a year old, he only giggled and gurgled a bit, but she told him anyway.



When she reached the door of her own room, she poked her head around it slowly. It was exactly as she had left it, which surprised her no end. The bed hadn’t been moved, the books she had left by the bed as a welcome for the new tenant sat untouched, with a thin layer of dust on top of them. She frowned, feeling puzzled, but carried on with the tour and reacquainting herself. After living in her spacious apartment for over a year, the house felt a lot smaller than she had remembered it to be, but in a homely, cosy way. She was starting to feel at home.



Back downstairs, Hermione fumbled to open the back door with the bulky key while juggling Donovan at the same time, but eventually they made it through and into the garden. The bird table was still standing but was sadly free of crumbs.



‘We’ll have to start to feed the birds, Donovan. You can help me with that, can’t you sweetheart?’ she said, smiling as he tried to grab at her nose.



They took a stroll around the side of the house, and Hermione took a breath before looking at the three neat plots she had dug out for Severus all those years ago. She expected them to be overgrown and uncared for, and she gasped when she saw quite the opposite.



Each garden plot was weed free, lush with vegetation and tidy to the point of being almost unreal. Hermione tried to understand what she was seeing, but deep down she knew.



Severus was still using the garden at Hilltop Cottage.

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A/N: For information, Donovan means Little Dark Prince.... :D