Who Do You Want?

Who Do You Want?


Chapter Six
\"Guess Who\'s Coming To Dinner?\"


Disclaimer: With this disclaimer, I proclaim that I do not own any of the concepts, ideas or intellectual property related to Harry Potter or anything else created by J.K. Rowling. No money is being made from this endeavor.

==========================


\"Mum?\"


\"I thought that was you, honey. I almost didn’t recognize you.\" Hermione\'s mother smiled at her daughter and her much older companion. Stepping away from her own shopping trolley, she walked over to Hermione and gave her a brief one-armed hug. When their embrace ended, Wanda Granger looked at Severus with an unreadable look. He wasn\'t sure if she was going to smile or scowl at him.


\"Aren’t you going to introduce me to your little friend, dear?\" Wanda asked.


He wanted to cringe from that phrase. So did Hermione; Severus might be her friend, but he was not her “little friend.” It made them both sound like they were five years old.


\"Um, Mum, this is Severus. Severus, this is my Mum, Wanda Granger.\" Hermione tried to look cool and calm, but the slight shaking in her voice told him otherwise.


Wanda extended her hand and he took it, giving her a slight bow. The bow seemed very formal to Muggles, but it was a common practice among wizards who used it to show respect to women, when meeting them for the first time.


\"Madam,\" Severus greeted her a little stiffly.


\"My, how gallant, Hermione. I think this one\'s a keeper.\"


Hermione turned four shades of red, as she buried her face under a fall of hair and one hand. She clutched her other hand against her stomach, hoping to make herself as small as possible.


Severus felt embarrassed for Hermione, and vowed to try his best to avoid giving his love further mortification.


\"So,\" Wanda said, with a twinkle in her eye, \"are you two an item?\"


Hermione looked to Severus, unsure how to answer. They hadn’t planned for him to meet her parents so soon, since they weren\'t sure yet if their one-day-old relationship was going to last.


He answered for her. \"Yes.\"


She relaxed a little bit by his side, and discreetly gave his hand a squeeze.


\"Oh, good. Your father and I are having a dinner party tonight,\" Wanda said, looking from Hermione to Severus. \"Why don’t you two come over. That way you can meet Hermione\'s father, too. We expect to see you at home tonight at seven. You can Apparate into Hermione’s bedroom, so we Muggles won’t see you arrive.\"


\"Actually, Mum, Severus and I had plans tonight. Maybe we can come over another night?\" It sounded more like pleading than a request to bow out.


\"Nonsense,” Wanda beamed at them both. “You must come tonight. If you don’t, your father will be disappointed. After all, since school ended, you haven’t spent any time home at all.\"


Hermione leaned over towards her mother, and said with whispered impatience, \"You know I\'ve been busy with the war.\"


\"Well, you look like you need a break, dear. I\'m sure no one will miss you for one night,\" Wanda countered.


Severus never saw Hermione\'s nervous tic until that moment. It was a slight twitching of the left side of her mouth.


\"We\'ll see, Mother,\" Hermione said, with as much politeness as she could muster against the one woman who could press all her buttons in a single encounter.


\"Fine, then,\" Wanda said, patting her daughter\'s arm. \"See you both at seven. Ta.\" Hermione’s mother then pushed her trolley to the checkout aisle and disappeared from their sight.


Hermione practically collapsed against Severus and whimpered, \"Hold me.\"


He stroked her hair a little bit before she regained her composure.


\"I\'m sorry,\" she whispered. He didn’t say anything; what could he say? \"My Mum loves to…manipulate me into things at times, and it just drives me absolutely bonkers.\" She pulled her head away from his chest and asked, \"Notice how she didn’t take \'no\' for an answer?\"


\"You mother uses the same tactics as Narcissa Malfoy, I\'m afraid to say.\"


He watched her shake her head and give out a great sigh of exasperation.


\"Let\'s just get back to your place,\" she said resignedly.


Once they queued up in the checkout aisle, Severus remembered he only had wizard money. He started to panic, wondering if he could discreetly transform some of his galleons into pounds, when Hermione reached into her pocket and pulled out her wallet.


\"I can’t let you pay for this,\" he said quietly.


She brought her mouth up close to his ear. \"And do you have any Muggle money on you?\" She looked him in the eye, his face answering her question. \"Besides, you promised to cook. You can always take me out to dinner someplace nice to pay me back, if you insist.\"


\"I\'d take you someplace nice even if you didn’t pay for this.\"


\"Fine, you can pay me back with galleons when we get back. I know the exchange rate,\" she offered.


He nodded in agreement. It was a fair offer, though he felt less than gentlemanly for letting her pay for the groceries at all. It was most fortuitous that she always had a stash of Muggle money on her person, just in case. He had known that Hermione would be prepared for every contingency.


~_~_~_~_~_~


When they got back, she helped him put away the groceries in silence. She assisted him with casting stasis charms on some items, and cooling charms on those they would be using soon.


Once they finished, she plopped into a kitchen chair, and laid her head down on her arms. \"I should have never taken you to the market. I think we would have done fine on peaches and pickles.\"


He rubbed her back as he stood over her. \"If you\'re afraid I don’t want to go to your parents’ dinner party, don’t worry. I\'ll go with you tonight if you want.\"


\"I really don’t want to go. I just want to stay here with you,\" she whinged.


He wanted to do what she wanted, but if they didn’t go, he could foresee problems developing between her and her parents. Severus did not want to be the cause of a rift between them, though he sensed the estrangement from her parents was already beginning.


\"Your mother did say your father would be disappointed by our absence, and the war is over,\" he reminded her. He didn’t want to go either, but if indeed this relationship became long-term, dealing with her parents would be inevitable. They might as well show up when her parents requested, instead of causing them to speculate about Hermione and her “little friend.”


\"I know,\" she said morosely.


\"Besides, after evenings at Malfoy Manor, I think I can handle dinner with a few Muggles.\"


\"You think so?\" She eyed him suspiciously.


\"Yes,\" he answered, as he stood confidently with a stern face.


Hermione realized she had left all her clothes at Grimmauld Place, and would need something to wear that night if they were going to her parents’ home for dinner.


Severus dropped the wards once more, and Hermione left to fetch her trunk.


~_~_~_~_~_~


Hermione Apparated to the bedroom she shared with Ginny, and hoped no one would come in on her and start asking questions. A quick packing charm stowed away all her things. She Apparated back at Severus\' house with her trunk next to her.


\"Miss me?\" she asked him.


\"You were gone for five minutes.\"


\"So?\" She looked up at him with those big brown eyes.


\"Yes, I did,\" he said grudgingly.


\"Then give me a hello kiss,\" she demanded.


\"Back to being bossy, I see,\" he commented dryly. He kissed her anyway.


They fixed themselves a simple lunch of sandwiches and cranberry juice.


As they ate, Severus asked, \"Do you think your parents will say anything about the fact I\'m much older than you?\"


\"Are you kidding?” she snorted with a laugh. “I think my parents would be thrilled if I dragged home Albus and introduced him as my boyfriend. Ever since I broke up with Viktor Krum after the Triwizard, my mother has been harping on me to get a new boyfriend. Every year it\'s the same.\"


Taking the same lilting tone as her mother, she began, \" \'Hermione, did you meet any nice boys this year. Maybe if you wore some make-up, they might notice you more. Please do act more lady-like; the boys will notice you more. You know, since there are no wizard universities, you should really find a husband before you leave school.’ \"


Severus tried not to choke on his glass of juice when Hermione said the word “husband.”


\" \'The chances rapidly diminish for dating once you\'re out in the work world,\' ” Hermione finished imitating her mother, then reverted to her own voice. “Just because my mother was constantly dating from age thirteen and onward doesn’t mean I was cut out for that.\"


Hermione sighed and looked up at Severus. \"I\'m sorry, I\'m ranting and complaining. Not exactly compelling company for lunch.\"


\"It\'s all right,” he said as he patted her hand. “If I\'m correct, aren\'t friends supposed to listen? I did ask you, after all; you were just warning me.\"


They moved on to more pleasant conversation, and after lunch moved to the couch where they both immersed themselves in reading. Hermione was devouring a rare edition on early mediaeval Charms, and Severus was catching up on his latest issue of \"Journal of Potions Quarterly.\"


~_~_~_~_~_~


At six o\'clock, they both set about getting ready for the evening. Hermione was fretting over what to wear. She knew her mother would eye her choice of clothes as a reflection on how serious she was with Severus. She really did want to look nice for him, but didn’t want to overdress for the occasion.


After battling her hair with some magical hair crèmes and mousses, she was able to get her bushy mop up into an elegant French twist. She applied a small amount of make-up to her eyes and lips. She transfigured a plain cotton shirt into a silky plum-colored jewel neck blouse. Hermione finished dressing in a simple knee-length skirt that she transformed into a long elegant A-line skirt. A simple pair of black flats needed no adjustments.


Emerging from the bathroom, she saw Severus looking at his wardrobe and pondering his choice of attire for the evening. He had twelve outfits exactly the same. Hermione chuckled.


Not looking at her, he said in a silky low voice, \"Amusing you again, am I?\"


\"In a manner of speaking. Your wardrobe reminds me of a very famous Muggle,\" she stated.


\"And what Muggle is that?\"


\"Albert Einstein.\"


\"Never heard of him.\"


\"One of the most brilliant minds of the twentieth century. He came up with the Theory of Relativity, and is the father of quantum mechanics,\" she said.


\"Never heard of either of those; you\'ll have to explain them to me sometime. But how does my wardrobe remind you of him?\" he asked.


\"Well, he didn’t like to get bogged down in the little details of life,\" she explained. \"He liked to spend his time thinking and concentrating on his theories, so instead of having to decide what he was going to wear every morning, he would just grab something out of the closet. He had several sets of the exact same outfit, so he wouldn’t have to bother with thinking about what to wear.\"


\"Sounds like my type of person.\"


\"Why did I have a feeling you would say that?\" she mused.


\"I hope I\'m not becoming predictable?\" he responded.


\"Never.\"


After deciding that his usual wardrobe might not be appropriate for mixing with Muggles for the evening, Hermione transformed his outfit again. This time it was dark slacks, a dark grey dress shirt, and black oxfords. She attempted a tie, but that definitely did not suit him. Standing next to him, she noted in the mirror that they could pass for a Muggle couple going to the theater or to someplace nice for dinner.


Thoroughly looking her over once, he cocked his head to one side. \"Yes, something is missing,\" he contemplated, as he tapped one finger on his lips. \"Got it.\"


Walking over to one of the bookcases, he reached up to the top shelf and brought down a box, setting it on his bedside table.


\"These belonged to my mother; she gave these to me to hold on to before she passed away. And since I have no use for them, and she specifically demanded that I never get rid of them, you might as well make use of these,\" he said in a rather emotionless manner.


He opened the lid of the hinged box, and Hermione gasped. Inside the black velvet-lined box were jewels of various colors and sizes, set in different settings.


\"Let me see…ah, this is the one.\" He lifted out a gold necklace with an obscenely large emerald pendant hanging from it.


\"That\'s not real, is it?\" she asked, her eyes wide as saucers.


\"I can assure you, the Snape family through the generations has never purchased anything that wasn\'t real.\" He stepped behind her and was thankful her hair was already pulled up from her neck, though he did note a stray tendril had escaped fetchingly down the nape of her neck.


Clasping it closed, he stepped away and looked at her. \"Yes, with that blouse on and your hair, I think the color is suitable.\"


Hermione looked down at the pendant, and couldn’t believe anything so large or expensive would ever find its way onto her person.


\"This is too much,\" she gasped.


\"Don’t think that I am giving it to you,\" he said in a firm but gentle tone. \"These are all Snape family heirlooms. Let\'s just say that I\'m letting you borrow this for the night.\"


Hermione breathed a sigh of relief. She didn’t know what she would have done if he had given it to her.


\"Ready?\" he asked, as he extended his arm in a courtly manner. His other hand patted his trouser leg to make sure he still had his wand.


She nodded her head and took his proffered arm, and they Apparated together.


~_~_~_~_~_~


Hermione wished she had picked a room other than her bedroom to Apparate to with Severus. The décor hadn’t changed since she was eleven and first headed off to Hogwarts. Her room still had wallpaper with big pink cabbage roses, white daisies, and blue polka dots. Stuffed animals still covered her bed; it seemed as if her mother had placed them there to remind her of her little girl who was away at school. Each summer, Hermione came home from Hogwarts and placed the animals in a box in her closet, only to find them occupying her bed when she returned home the following summer.


Severus did his best to hold back the curl in his lip. This was a very frilly little girl\'s room, and it made him feel very old and very lecherous. He would definitely not be snogging her on that bed, with all those pairs of plastic and button eyes staring vacantly at him.


\"I picked out the décor when I was eight. I haven’t had much of a chance to update it,\" she hastily commented.


\"I can see. I do hope you don’t think this wallpaper has any redeeming quality to it?\"


\"Haven’t thought so for years.\"


\"Good. At least your tastes have matured like your mind and body,\" he added.


The light had already been turned on in her room when they arrived, as her mother expected them to come regardless of Hermione\'s blatant hints otherwise. From downstairs, the sound of people chatting away rose up and seeped into Hermione\'s bedroom. The party had already started. Taking one last steadying breath, she grabbed the door handle and opened the door.


Severus had never really been in a Muggle house before, so his eyes kept wandering to the cottage cheese acoustic ceiling, the light fixtures, and then to the odd little plastic rectangles located in the wall, some with holes, some with toggle switches. The pictures on the wall did not move, and this disconcerted Severus; it was like they were all frozen in time.


The couple made their way down the hall and descended the staircase.


At the foot of the landing, Hermione heard her father.


\"And just how is my little pixie doodle?\" He pulled her into a great bear hug.


Severus tried not to flinch at her father\'s pet name for her. There was nothing affectionate about being named after the fecal matter of a magical four-inch terror with wings.


Hermione said in a pleading and stern tone, \"Dad, you know I asked you not to call me that after my second year.\"


Severus\' mind flashed back to the story of Gilderoy Lockhart and his feeble attempt to educate the DADA class on Cornish Pixies. It was at that moment he remembered that it was Hermione who had the good sense to quickly dispatch the Pixies.


\"Aww now, you\'ll always be my little pixie doodle,\" Lester Granger affectionately cooed at his daughter.


\"Dad, I\'d like you to meet Severus,\" Hermione said, licking her lips nervously as she introduced her lover to her father.


Severus extended his hand, as he knew that males in both the wizard and Muggle world shook hands the same way. \"A pleasure to meet you, sir. I\'d like to thank you and your lovely wife for extending the invitation.\"


\"Didn’t catch your last name,\" Lester said as he took his hand and shook it while eyeing his daughter\'s suitor.


\"Snape, Severus Snape,\" he answered crisply.


Severus saw the light go on in Lester\'s eyes making the connection. At that moment, he wondered just what Hermione had written about him in her letters to her parents. He knew he had been cruel to her for many years, and he hoped that ruthlessness wasn\'t going to come back to haunt him.


\"Aren’t you a professor at Hogwarts?\" Lester asked, his eyes narrowing slightly.


\"Yes,\" he answered perfunctorily. Hermione sensed his back go very straight and rigid.


\"An academic. Well, we always knew Hermione would be attracted to the bookish type.\" Lester\'s manners relaxed, and he smiled slightly at the raven-haired man. \"Come on in. I\'ll introduce you around and fix you a drink.\"


They followed Lester. She gave his hand a reassuring squeeze, but Severus squeezed back knowing she needed more strength than him to get through the night.


~_~_~_~_~_~


Three hours later, they Apparated back to Severus\' house. He immediately headed to his bathroom for a vial of the headache relief potion that he kept in a cabinet over the sink.


Hermione shortly followed after him. \"Got one of those for me?\"


He looked at her and saw the strain on her face; the furrow in her brows looked like it might become permanent.


Severus offered her a vial, and they both downed theirs at the same time. They were relieved when the potion\'s effects quickly removed the throbbing sensation that went from their temples to the base of their necks. They both had the exact same headache.


\"I owe you BIG time,\" Hermione commented.


\"I know,\" was all he said.


\"How about I start off by giving you a nice massage. If you are as tense as me, then you definitely need it,\" she offered him as part of reparations.


\"That\'s a start,\" he growled tersely.


They made their way back to his bedroom, where they removed their clothing. The vexed wizard flopped face-down on the bed. Hermione came over and straddled his back, and began working on his neck and shoulders. A low grumbling groan escaped the back of his throat from the first wave of pleasurable tingles, as his strained muscles began to relax.


\"I am so sorry. I had no idea,\" she apologized.


\"Please. You have nothing to apologize for. Let us never speak of this night again; that\'s all I ask,\" he mumbled into a pillow, as she began working on the knot of tension trapped in his lower back.


They would never speak of how her parents had announced to their dinner guests that their daughter was a witch and her \"boyfriend\" was a wizard. Nor would they ever bring up the horrendous memory of the other dinner guests begging for them to perform a magic trick. Nor would they ever, ever discuss when one obnoxiously drunk guest yelled \"Abracadabra\" with slurred speech, and Severus nearly jumped out of his skin thinking he was about to be hit with the killing curse. Hermione quickly calmed him down and removed Severus\' wand from being pressed against the drunk man\'s chest, but that is exactly when they fully realized what a hideous mistake she made in her parents\' judgement.


They both considered calling in the Ministry to have a slew of memory charms performed, but neither of them wanted to deal with the questions arising from why Hermione and Severus were together at her parents’ house at a dinner party; especially questions on how a bunch of Muggles had been enlightened about the wizarding world. Instead, Severus used his threatening presence to ensure silence, lying to them by saying that he would be able to know if they spoke about it to another living soul.


Hermione\'s parents didn’t take too kindly to Severus\' attitude, but Hermione thought everyone was getting off rather easy. They could have called the Ministry if either of them felt that her parents\' friends wouldn’t hold their tongues.


Up until the \"Abracadabra\" incident midway through the evening, her parents rather liked Severus, though they were slightly distressed when they learned how old he really was. But when Wanda dismissed it — when she launched into regaling her guests about how she had dated a college professor while she was in high school — Hermione knew it wasn\'t that much of an issue. She was still embarrassed by her mother\'s tales of her plethora of boyfriends before she married Lester, tales she broadcast to the whole room.


Hermione nearly hexed one of her father\'s colleagues who decided that, since Hermione was \"into older men,\" he wanted to see just how far up the age ladder that older man thing went. Instead of hexing him, she resorted to good old physical violence and coldcocked the man with a right hook, after he violently pinched her arse in the hallway. She was thankful Ron had taught her that little swing a few years ago, as it served her very well at that moment. Hermione had to almost restrain Severus with her wand so he wouldn’t perform a Crucio on the unconscious man lying in the hallway. A quick explanation of her actions to her parents, and she and Severus ran off to the backyard to Apparate away from her parents\' house under the cloak of darkness.


~_~_~_~_~_~


Once the first layer of muscle knots had been massaged away, Severus rolled over onto his back.


\"Give me your hand,\" he gently commanded. She gave him her right hand, and he kissed it tenderly. \"Why didn\'t you hex him?\"


\"For the same reason I didn’t let you perform a Crucio on him. I didn’t feel like dealing with a Ministry inquiry,\" she explained.


\"Fair enough.\"


\"I thought you didn’t want to talk about it.\"


\"I don’t; I just had the one question. It’s answered, so the matter is now closed. Would you like me to do a healing charm on your hand?\" he asked.


She nodded. Her hand was a bit tender and she could see it begin to swell slightly, as she was not used to fighting. A gentle tapping of his wand and a few murmured words, and her hand felt much better.


Standing up from the bed, she announced, \"I don’t know about you, but a hot bath sounds perfect right about now. Care to join me?\"


It sounded exactly like what they both needed.


~_~_~_~_~_~


Hermione had rinsed out the hair gels in the shower, as Severus filled the huge tub that could easily fit four of him. As she stepped out of the shower, dripping wet, she moved straight over to the tub just as Severus was lowering himself into the stinging hot water.


One thing was for certain: they agreed on bath temperature. Both of them needed the heat to release the remaining tension in their bodies. He motioned for her to spin around and sit in front of him. Sitting between his legs, she twisted her hair up into a knot on top of her head, as he began to massage her shoulders. She groaned and rolled her head a bit, a few cracks escaping from her neck.


Once relaxed enough to feel that her shoulders were no longer directly connected with her ears, she nestled against Severus\' chest. They continued to sit in the bath in that position for a while, sweat trickling down their faces and hairlines from the heat, as the water was charmed with a heat-retaining spell.


Severus broke the silence. \"I\'ll understand if you want to leave in the morning.\"


He thought that that evening\'s events were a sign that maybe a relationship with this woman might not be such a great idea. It seemed like a bad omen of things to come if they stayed together.


\"Why would I want to leave someone who makes me happy? I love being able to sit in silence as we read, you not bothered by the silence. Not to be nagged that you\'re bored and you want me to come out and watch you play Quidditch, or pressured to watch you play chess against someone else. Coercing me to put down a book I\'m enjoying. You treat me with intelligence and respect; why would I want to leave that?\"


He made her happy and, in some way he was just beginning to understand, that made him happy too. \"I\'m just giving you options in case you change your mind.\"


She spun around and was now laying on top of him in the tub, looking into his eyes. \"If I\'m not happy and I want out, I will not make euphemisms or lame excuses. I will tell you in no uncertain terms. You have always been honest with me and I will always be so with you, as I respect you, too. You deserve the truth. You don’t strike me as the sort of person who would want me to soften the blow or beat around the bush; am I correct?\"


\"Yes,\" he answered her.


\"I will never be cruel, but I will be honest if I want out, and I expect the same from you,\" she said definitively.


\"I would do nothing less,\" he said in a low and serious voice.


\"Good,\" she replied, and leaned forward to give him a kiss to seal their deal.


She rested her head against his chest and he stroked her back, as they continued to soak in the tub for a while longer. It took all their strength to drag themselves out of the steaming hot water and to the bed, as the water had sapped all their energy.


They crawled into bed and both fell asleep quickly, exhausted from their trying night at the Granger residence.


~_~_~_~_~_~


Severus was running through the Forbidden Forest. Death Eaters were chasing him and shouting \"Traitor!\" as a large ghost of the Dark Lord loomed overhead, filling the sky.


\"I can see you, Severus. I can see you wherever you are,\" the apparition of Voldemort hissed through the trees.


Severus was afraid. His breaths were ragged and shallow from the fear and adrenaline pumping through his body. Just as he turned his head to look behind him to see how close the band of Death Eaters were, his foot caught on a large tree root and he fell.


Then his face hit the soft forest floor…


Severus bolted upright in bed.


\"Shhh,\" Hermione soothed him, stroking the sweat-streaked strands of hair out of his face.


He turned to look at who was there in his bed with him. He was about to call for his wand, when he remembered she was there. Hermione was in his bed with him.


His face relaxed; it was only in his dreams he ever let the terror show on his face. He was thankful it was dark so she didn’t have to see his face too clearly, as he knew his fear had not been masked when he woke from his nightmare.


\"It was just a bad dream,\" she murmured to him, kissing his temple.


Her presence was actually helping him calm down. The warmth from her body and the calming tones of her voice brought his heart back down to a sensible rhythm, instead of the staccato hammering it had been doing against his rib cage.


Hermione continued to stroke his forehead, pressing her thumb against the furrow in his brow and along his brow line to his temple. The tender kisses on his cheek reassured him he was not in the Forbidden Forest, but safe, back in his cottage with Hermione.


For an hour after he woke from his dream, he continued to lie there awake in the dark, as Hermione drifted back to sleep snuggled against his side, her arm thrown possessively over his chest. The steady rhythm of her breaths helped him find his own breathing pattern, and he was finally able to fall back to sleep without the aid of a potion.


=================


A/N: I\'ve always wanted to write about the connection between \"Abracadabra\" and \"Avada Kedavra.\" Read HP-Lexicon\'s linguistic connection between the two; very interesting indeed.