Coming Home

Disclaimer: I own none of this. I write for the sheer selfishness of wanting Snape to get laid.


~*~*~*~Flashback~*~*~*~*~

It was before daylight and she and Ron had just woke up. They lay folded in each other’s arms, not wanting to ever let go. She reached up and kissed him on the chin. That kiss, an innocent one, is what began the creation of her son. The two of them, still practically newlyweds, had one romp after another that morning. They both took immense pleasure in the other physically, though they took precautions not to become parents yet. Neither wanted to bring a child into a world that still had Voldemort in it alive. As the first rays of sunlight broke the horizon, they laid on their backs slightly apart. They were both hot and sweaty. They’d been shagging like a couple of minks.
“Ron,” Hermione said, “I don’t know what I’ll ever do without you.”

Ron rolled on his side and touched her face. “You won’t have to.”

She smiled at this and pulled him out of bed. They showered together that day, which was something that they never did. As they pulled on their clothes, Harry and Snape arrived. “Ron, Hermione we’ve got to go!! Voldemort is trying to take over Hogwarts!!”

~*~*~*~End~*~*~*~

A loud knock caused her to start out of her memories. It was an impatient knock. The visitor knocked again, more urgently this time. As Hermione opened the door, she was taken by surprise. One Draco Malfoy stood at the door. Her eyes went wide at his appearance because she’d not seen him since graduation. “Draco,” she gasped.

He looked at her distastefully, “Granger…or is it Weasley? Taken to cleaning the personal quarters of the teachers here, have you?”

She surveyed the flaxen haired young man. His grey eyes still held the malice they did when they were in school together. He narrowed his eyes at her, “Where’s Severus, Mudblood?”

Hermione opened her mouth to respond to him with a string of expletives, but before she could utter a word, a low waspish voice from behind him answered, “Her name is Snape, Draco, and if I ever hear you use the word ‘mudblood’ again in my presence there will be hell to pay.”

Draco stood, rooted in his spot, what little color draining from his pale face. He turned to his old potions master and opened his mouth to query him. Snape simply brushed past him and walked into his quarters.

Hermione stepped back out of the door to watch her husband come stalking in with his cape billowing out behind him. Draco dumbly followed. She bustled over to the cabinet for Severus’ afternoon glass of Absinthe, offering Draco some. He refused. As Hermione walked away, Severus could swear he heard her mutter git before she got to the other room. It was obvious to him she was going to Ronnie’s room to ensure that Malfoy did not see the child. She fussed with this and that in his room, but was careful not to wake him.

Draco left and Severus came looking for his wife. He stood in the doorway of his stepson’s room just watching her. She looked up and saw he’d changed from the robes that he usually taught in to a pair of black slacks and a collared shirt. Always formal, Hermione thought with a smile. His hair hung down in strings around his face. With one look at her son to ensure he was still asleep, she moved toward Severus. “Draco didn’t stay long,” she whispered.

He smiled, “No, not after me telling him we’d wed. I’m not sure if he was scared or mortified when I told him. Draco muttered something about you and Weasley, and Harry, and purebloods, and then I not so politely threw him out. Git.”

Hermione gave a chuckle. She could see the absinthe working on her husband. He always lowers his guard when he drinks it. She touched his usually pallid face and realized that the absinthe also brought a little flush to his cheeks. “I’m going to get Ronnie up, Dear. I have the night shift in the infirmary and I still have to magic us up something to eat tonight.”

She tucked one particularly stubborn strand of hair behind his ear before kissing him on his very long nose, and turning back to her sleeping son. “Do you need me to make up a draught for you tonight to stay awake?” he asked her.

She looked over her shoulder with a slight blush of embarrassment, “No, that’s ok. I’ll just take a little of the invigoration draught you made this morning if there’s any left.”

Ronnie sat up in his bed, still sleepy and unwilling to wake. “Gran?” he muttered.

His mother ran her fingers through his hair, “No sweetums, it’s your mum.”

He looked at the hands that were holding his. Those hands were his mum’s, but they were different. He rubbed his eyes and moved his right hand over her left, to a new ring she wore. “It’s pretty, Mum,” he said looking from her ring to her face with a smile.

She looked into her son’s eyes and knew that he wanted to ask her where she got it. “Your Uncle Severus gave this to me. We are married now, remember the ceremony?”

The little boy thought back three whole weeks to the gathering in Professor Dumbledore’s office. So that’s what that was! He thought to himself. He examined the stones in it, there were five. There was a diamond first, then a sapphire, an emerald, a ruby, and finally, another diamond.

“Why 5 stones, Mum?”

Hermione smiled. She realized that her son was as inquisitive as she was at his age. “Well, every one of these stones symbolizes someone. The first one, the diamond, is my birthstone so it stands for me. The sapphire…”

“Is mine!” the 4-year-old added with wide eyes.

“That’s right,” his mother answered with a light tap on the nose, “and the emerald is your dad’s birthstone. The ruby is your Uncle Harry’s, and the other diamond is your Uncle Severus’.”

“Why not just two diamonds?” the little boy asked showing much more wisdom than a 4-year-old should.

Severus walked back into the doorway just in time to hear that question and he froze. Neither noticed him and he stayed silent, listening for her explanation. Hermione sat still for a moment and mulled over the fact that she’d never thought about why he had her ring made like that. “Well,” she said slowly, “I never asked your Uncle, but I suspect it’s because before we found each other, I had your dad, and he had your Uncle Harry. We both loved them dearly, and when they died we were both lost. I think it’s a way to remember them, and our love for them, even though we love each other now.”

“What about me?” the child asked.

Hermione sat there for a few moments. Snape spoke in a very low tone, “It’s because we both love you like we did your dad and Uncle Harry.”

Hermione started when he spoke, and Ronnie just looked up and smiled. “Ok,” he answered as he got out of the bed. “I’m hungry. What’s for supper?”