Severus tucked his scarf inside his lapels and flipped up the collar on the same heavy woolen cloak. The icy breeze like needles stinging his face. The snow crunched under his boots on the walk down the path to the back gates. He punched his gloves in between his fingers as a gust of wind sent frozen flakes swirling around him.
Severus liked Winter in the Highlands in all its bleak, frigid brutality. There was something familiar at this time of year in the barren stillness. Something Severus could relate to, something reminiscent of times gone by. The cold, the unloved, the vast emptiness that was the story of his life.
The iron gate was ice cold even through his oiled-wool gloves.
'Should've worn the dragonhide.'
The heavy metal creaked its disapproval at being woken from hibernation. Severus forced it open pushing against the snow drift that had accumulated from yesterday's blizzard.
On the mile walk to Hogsmeade Severus welcomed the silence finding it much more pleasing than the noisy ordered chaos in the ancient school. At Hogwarts the constant assault on his ears was painful.
The gravel path ran alongside the train track divided by a double row of trees presumably to maintain the aesthetics of the castle and its grounds. An aesthetic Severus could appreciate.
Growing up in a mining town Severus was used to tracks, smoke stacks, unsightly views and thick dirty air. He preferred the Highlands especially in Winter when the land snuggled under a snowy white blanket, the air was crisp and clean and the quiet heartsease.
Seeing Hogsmeade in the near distance, Severus reflected on his reason for the short journey into town. A year or so ago Hermione Granger had reached out to him for advice on research she was doing for the Ministry.
In the six years following the end of the war Hermione had finished her Hogwarts education and had taken advanced degrees in both Psychology and Cognitive Science at Cambridge University. The Ministry immediately offered her the position of chief researcher in the Department of Mysteries Brain studies section.
The quest to fully restore her parents' memories post Obliviation drove her to find a cure. Cambridge had afforded her an entire muggle and magical library. St. Mungo's had given her consultation privileges with affected patients. There were over 100 memory charms in the Magical world and no combination of any of them had ever worked to reverse Obliviate.
Hermione knew instinctively there was some detail she was missing in formulating the counter spell. She had studied, calculated, experimented but that special combination of charms was just out of her reach. So she had turned to the leading Legilimens in the magical world, Severus Snape. No one knew more about the mind arts than her ex-professor and master spy.
He had answered all her questions concerning the discipline at their first few meetings, surprisingly. The end of the war, his near-death and the truth of his loyalties had shown him in a different light than the man she knew in her school days. She found him much more accommodating and far less...grumpy.
She had grown to admire him for his courage during the war years and she had insisted on visiting him weekly as he convalesced at St. Mungo's after the Nagini attack. Waking from his healer's magically induced coma Severus opened his eyes to see her sitting by his bedside.
Over the past year her admiration had turned to fondness especially after he accepted her offer of regular get-togethers for tea at Madam Puddifoot's tea shop in Hogsmeade to talk over strategies for the memory charm. His resonant sarcastic remark never failed to make her smile.
"That putrid pink pissoir?! The woman couldn't brew a decent cuppa if her life depended on it. One can only hope someday someone will open a real tea house in Hogsmeade."
Hermione had arrived at Madam Ling's Tea Emporium a few minutes early, anxious to see Severus as well as ask his suggestions on the memory spell. She found herself missing their twice monthly afternoon teas and intellectual conversation.
She had taken a month of extended leave from the Ministry to go to Australia. A trip that left her nearly inconsolable when her most recent attempt at the counter spell failed to work on her mother. The woman's encouraging words rang loudly in Hermione's mind.
"If I did have a daughter as bright and beautiful as you, I want desperately to remember."
The bell above the door tinkled lightly as Severus entered. The shop and café were tastefully designed in Asian minimalism and the aroma of tea and ginger spice was intoxicating.
Severus gave a slight smile when he saw Hermione sat at a table in the corner. A flood of warmth in his chest betrayed his stoic demeanor, or would have if anyone could have sensed his emotions at that moment.
Hermione's eyes rose to the door when she heard the tiny bell. She waved her arm in the air reminding Severus of the little know-it-all of years past. That was another time. Hermione was a grown woman, intelligent, and mature beyond her years.
'Quite lovely too', he thought.
Their tea was delicious with its sushi-styled finger sandwiches, Wagashi* and fruit. The steaming pot of lapsang souchong tea was expertly brewed and Hermione caught Severus a few times with his eyes closed bearing a soft grin as he savoured the elegant fare.
"This is a wonderful shop, Severus."
"Thank you. Madam Ling is a Potions Master but her passion was always tea and accompaniments. We decided to merge our two cultures and open a decent teahouse."
"In Hogsmeade?"
"Hogsmeade was a test run. Our first London shop opens next year."
"How wonderful! I'll look forward to it."
As it does in November the sun was setting early in the West by the time the pair stepped out onto Hogsmeade's High Street.
"Fancy a walk and a drink to mull over this issue with your spell? You can floo back to London from Hogwarts."
"That sounds perfect. Thank you, again, Severus for helping me with this."
"Of course, Hermione, what are fiends for if not to aid in time of need."
She couldn't tell if the flutter in her mid-section was from the satisfying tea they had or because Severus thought of her as a friend. She was sure the latter was the culprit in this instance.
~~~
The dungeons were as Hermione had remembered them, dark and cold. The only difference now there was no sense of dread hanging in the air. The war had been won six years gone and Severus Snape had mellowed.
As they approached his quarters the heavy oak door opened easily at the wave of his hand and Severus motioned her inside.
"After you."
Hermione smiled and tipped her head at his gallantry as she walked passed him into his private chambers. That flutter returned and this time brought with it a tingling sensation that began at the top of her spine traveling down and around to her nether region.
This was only the second time she had been in his personal accommodations. The first being last Christmas when she had taken him a gift for the holidays.
Headmistress McGonagall had excused him from the Christmas Day luncheon the elves had prepared for staff and the few students who remained at Hogwarts over the holidays. The Nagini attack had left Severus with nerve damage in his right shoulder and arm. The colder weather brought with it an increase in the usual pain he experienced on a day to day basis.
"Have a seat. Brandy alright?"
"Yes please."
Hermione removed her coat laying it over the back of the leather sofa by the fireplace. A fire sprang to life and was in full blaze within seconds. The sudden combustion startled her as an audible gasp escaped her lips.
"Sorry. I spelled it to sense a human presence and trigger a fire in the colder months. And it helps cut down on unexpected floo visitations too."
Hermione laughed at the puckish tone as Severus delivered that last comment.
"I imagine that is an effective deterrent."
Severus chuckled as he set two glasses on the low table before filling them from an elegant crystal decanter that looked like a giant bottle of very expensive French perfume. The label read Courvoisier L'essence Cognac . Hermione thought,
'That teahouse must be doing great business for Severus to pay out for such a high quality brandy'.
Severus caught her staring at the bottle as he sat next to her on the sofa.
"A gift from a wealthy potions client. So, your counter spell didn't work? Even with the added Legilimency?"
Hermione took a sip of the mahogany coloured liquid, appreciating not only the delicate flavour but also the warmth and moisture it brought to her dry throat. The walk to the castle had given her a chill alongside the giddy nervousness she was experiencing being in Severus' private chambers.
"No, sadly. It was all a huge bust. I went to Australia with such high hopes, Severus."
Severus nodded taking a drink from his own glass. He noticed how the glow from the fire produced a golden halo effect around her cinnamon hued hair. He heard her speak again.
"I can't seem to find that missing element. That one piece of the puzzle that would restore a person's memory. I tried adding Legilimency but I either did it wrongly or it just wasn't the right piece. No combination of any of the existing charms has worked. Your brilliant at spell creation so what am I missing? If you don't mind my picking your brain again, Severus."
A sense of pride filled him. Severus found himself enjoying the fact that she thought him brilliant. He had to think of something that would help, for her sake as well as his ego's.
Severus leant back against the sofa and rolled his glass between his hands. He gazed into the fire then to his glass then back to the fire. Hermione watched him think. She could imagine the wheels turning in his mind.
She took another sip of brandy. Without the stress of being a spy and in constant danger the creases that lined his face in the past had eased and he looked younger.
A few minutes passed before he turned his attention to her again. Hermione smiled sheepishly feeling the pangs of a school girl crush as their eyes met.
"Swooping Evil antivenin...it's an ancient recipe that fell out of favour because the creature is so rare and the venom itself deadly. It was a potion developed for the elderly as their memories faded. Brewed correctly, the antivenin could work. Perhaps it isn't that your spell is missing a charm component but rather it is missing a potion."
Raising his glass to her he said, "Maybe your spell needs a chaser."
Hermione's eyes shot wide. 'Of course'. This could be the answer she had been seeking all this time! The very rare Swooping Evil's venom, in small diluted doses, was known to dispel bad memories but an antivenom could restore lost memories. The potion working in tandem with one of her spell combinations could bring her parents back to her.
Her chest filled with warmth as nothing less than utter joy propelled her body forward. Throwing her arms around his neck she kissed Severus full on the mouth.
It only lasted a moment but the impact stunned them both for a few seconds as they sat blinking, confused, staring into one another's eyes. Then with her arms still clasped around his neck Hermione leant in to kiss him again.
This time, Severus responded. His hands slid around her waist pulling her to him. The kiss grew deeper as their tongues danced in gentle sensuous lapping.
~~~
They lay in each other's arms glancing over each other's faces, softly smiling when their eyes met. Severus pushed her hair away from her face. Hermione allowed her fingers to trace over his lips.
"So. We did that."
Severus chuckled.
"We did."
They kissed again but it seemed more tentative, guarded this time as if what happened wasn't real. As if a kiss would break the dream cycle and cast them both back into stark reality. Severus was partially in denial that their lovemaking had happened at all. Hermione wondered where they go from here.
"What happens now?"
"Sleep?"
"I mean...we were friends...and now....we're something else."
Hermione knew all too well that sex in a man's thinking was just that, sex. Nothing more. She wanted clarification even if only a vague affirmation that this could be more than just sex. She was surprised at how much she wanted more with this man.
Severus came down off his climactic high grateful to have his arms full of Hermione Granger. It was real, it did happen.
"Hermione, I'm not someone who takes a friend to bed and thinks the dynamic has not changed. If I'm honest, I have developed feelings for you beyond that of mere friendship but it was always my issue with which to grapple."
Hermione was astonished. They both had feelings for the other yet both were too afraid of rejection to acknowledge it.
"Why didn't you say anything before?"
"Fear, perhaps. I'm not an attractive man and fooling myself that an intelligent, beautiful woman could see herself with me long-term was out of the question. A protective mechanism of sorts, I suppose."
Hermione combed his hair back behind his ear with her fingers, rubbing her thumb across his cheekbone.
"Well, I find you very attractive, obviously, and I consider myself intelligent."
Severus blushed and grinned broadly as he planted a delicate kiss on the tip of her nose.
"Yes. Well. You did fall for that Weasley clod, if I remember correctly, so your judgement in this instance may be suspect."
Hermione playfully slapped Severus on the chest. They both laughed, kissed and fell asleep.
The End
Notes: "Wagashi translates to "Japanese sweets" or "Japanese snacks" and often feature beautiful and intricate designs which make them works of art along with being delicious treats."