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And They Didn\'t Live Happily Ever After	By : ElizabethStump Category: Harry Potter > Het - Male/Female > Snape/Hermione Views: 90306 -:- Recommendations : 2 -:- Currently Reading : 2
Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter, nor any of the characters from the books or movies. I do not make any money from the writing of this story.

Chapter List
- 99
- 100
- 101
"And They Didn't Live Happily Ever After"

Chapter Ninety-Nine
"Confessions: Free with a Slice of Pie"

Disclaimer: Ninety-nine stupid disclaimers I'll post,
Ninety-nine lame disclaimers
Rowling own this
I've mangled some bits
One-Hundred stupid disclaimers I'll post...

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

Normally, Severus would have been invited over to the Finaus' home for Thanksgiving, but given that Mounga's father, brother, his brother's wife and their two kids were coming for the American holiday, he was on his own.

He wasn't going to spend it alone anyway. Draco and Ginny invited him over. As Jerry was living in a rented house for now and he didn't want to spend it alone either, the Malfoys invited him over for Thanksgiving as well.

Since Thanksgiving was a foreign concept to the British witch and wizards, Jerry promised to cook and prepare all the fixings and introduce his boss, Severus, and the Malfoys to a proper traditional Thanksgiving feast. The Malfoys offered their home for the celebration.

Severus was drinking something called a Brandy Alexander, made with vanilla ice cream. It was a rich drink for such a tropical climate, but Jerry insisted that they try all the traditional things he grew up with in New York. Given that Jerry was Muggle-born, they were going to get the full Muggle American experience. The former Auror still had some friends in the Auror division in Los Angeles. Through them, Jerry was able to get a broadcast of a Muggle American football game to pipe in over one of the Wizarding Wireless stations. Jerry insisted it really needed to be experienced on a television to fully appreciate it. Severus and Draco didn't understand most of the terminology and had little desire to learn about it.

Ginny tried to help with the cooking, but Jerry only let her stay in the kitchen to observe. He insisted on doing all the cooking, since they were gracious enough to invite him. Even Draco took notes, since he had been continuing to expand his cooking repertoire.

Jerry had brought over a centerpiece he'd bought at the florist, since the Malfoys bought all the food, with a list given to them by the cook. The centerpiece was a pumpkin-tom turkey. A neck and head and tail feather arrangement were attached to the orange squash. The center of the pumpkin was carved out, and a flower arrangement of asters, mums, and carnations in autumn colors filled the display. Jerry charmed the turkey neck and head part of the centerpiece not to move like they were charmed to by the florist, since it wouldn't normally move in a Muggle household.

Around five o'clock Jerry announced dinner was ready. The table was laden with a bountiful spread. There was a beautifully roasted turkey with a dark golden hue indicating a crispy skin over succulent meat. There were mashed potatoes with gravy, sweet potatoes with tiny marshmallows dotting the top, stuffing with chestnuts, roasted small potatoes, roasted squash, glazed carrots, green bean casserole with a homemade mushroom sauce and almonds, roasted Brussels sprouts, jellied cranberry sauce, rolls and butter.

"My word. You eat this much every year?" Severus asked in astonishment, now understanding Lucius' remarks about Americans being so fat.

"No," Jerry said, "usually it's one or two starchy sides and one or two vegetable dishes. But since this is your first year, I thought I'd give you the chance to try all the classics, since I wasn't sure what you guys would like. Besides, there will be so many leftovers, you won't have to cook for a week," he added, looking over towards Ginny.

"That will be nice, thank you" Ginny replied.

"Please, sit," Jerry said.

Once seated, Ginny, Draco, and Severus started dishing up food, but noticed Jerry was waiting for something.

"Normally at this point, my family would say grace." Jerry knew that religion wasn't a big part of the wizarding community, but he grew up as a Catholic, and it was still part of his upbringing.

The three others stopped and folded their hands in their lap, willing to observe a traditional Thanksgiving the way Jerry experienced it.

Jerry folded his hand, bowed his head and closed his eyes. Out of rote, he recalled the words his mother used to say at every Easter, Thanksgiving and Christmas dinner growing up. "Bless us, oh Lord, and these Thy gifts for which we are about to receive through Thy gracious bounty." He paused and added, "And thank you for my father's safety, and the new home I have found here with good friends in Malu Palekaiko. Amen."

Ginny, Draco, and Severus could certainly agree with the last addition to Jerry's version of grace, and joined in with an "Amen" out of politeness.

"Dig in," he prompted his hosts and friends.

Like the community potlucks Severus had been to before, he took a little bit of everything that interested him and he still wound up with a teetering plate full of food. He would definitely have to swim his full mile tomorrow morning to work off all that he had eaten. Severus nearly groaned when Jerry announced there was pie as well, but he promised them all they could let dinner settle for a long while before it was served.

As they all sat in the living room, silently enjoying the view of the beautiful tranquil Japanese garden, pleasantly full from a wonderful dinner, Severus broke the calm by announcing, "I've decided I'm going to England to visit Hermione."

Draco looked shocked, more so than Ginny. "What?" he asked, his voice rising at the end. "But I thought you swore you'd never set foot there again, once we were free."

"You don't want me to go?" Severus asked, feeling a bit aggrieved as he frowned at his friend.

"No, no!" Draco corrected Severus' misinterpretation to his remark. "I think it's wonderful, I'm just surprised, that's all."

"When were you thinking of going?" Jerry asked.

"Leaving Christmas Eve and coming back right after the New Year."

Ginny was the one who now protested. "But you promised the Finaus you were coming over for Christmas dinner. Rainbow said the kids wanted to have a proper English Christmas dinner, and you already promised to make the plum pudding. The children will be so disappointed, but if that's when you want to go, Hermione will be thrilled to find you under her tree this year."

"I've already made the plum pudding, so I can just drop it by the week before Christmas. Besides, Ginny, you know how to properly unseat one from its mold and make a hard sauce. I have faith it will be perfectly authentic," he assured her.

Draco put his hand on the shoulder of his mentor and friend. "Severus, I am happy that you're going, but you can't go until Ginny and I deliver you your Christmas present. We've gone through a lot of work to schedule this to come in, and we had to make arrangements for it to be brought in from abroad. And unfortunately, it can't arrive before Christmas Eve."

"Well, I intend on leaving Christmas Eve morning, since it will already be Christmas Eve night in London by the time I arrive by Portkey. Maybe it can wait until after I come back, if it's not here by morning," Severus said, not wanting to change his plans. He had mustered up the courage to finally go back, he didn't want to be delayed and have Fate possibly step in and keep them apart longer.

"Severus, we promise, you will get to see Hermione Christmas Eve, but our present to you is perishable and won't keep. It should come in in the morning, before nine. Just wait until you get it before you take off, promise?" Ginny gave Severus that same look she used when she wanted something from Draco. Of course it didn't work on him in the slightest, but he promised.

"Fine. And when you drop it off, I can give your wedding anniversary present. I would have liked to have given it to you for your wedding, but it took some time to find it and also I had to send abroad for it. You can give me my present, and I can give you yours before I go," Severus said, summarizing the itinerary.

It was all settled.

Just as Jerry started to suggest maybe it was time for coffee and pie, there was a knock on the door.

Draco got up to answer the door. All Severus could hope for was that it wasn't going to be another hostile visit like the one he'd endured when Lavender suddenly showed up on the Malfoys' doorstep and slapped him.

"Hi, Draco," Severus heard Akela say from the foyer. "Can we come in?"

Draco showed all three of the Finau children into the living room. All of them were looking quite somber, and Severus could tell that Kaimi had been crying.

"I was just saying it's time for dessert. You guys want to join us?" Jerry offered.

All three children nodded and shuffled off to the dining room.

"Do your parents know you're here?" Severus asked.

"I left a note for Papa telling him where we'd be. It'll be a while before he notices we're gone, since when we took off Papa, Grandpa, and my uncle were still yelling at each other," Akela informed him.

Severus had rarely heard Mounga raise his voice except to sing, but given his size, his booming voice and the sense of authority he gave off, Severus did not want to be on the end of that wizard's ire.

"Papa gets weird when he's around my uncle and grandpa," Iakona volunteered. "He is not himself."

"Well, no one can push buttons quite like family," Jerry said philosophically. Even Severus could agree with that, remembering how his parents would make him act in ways quite uncharacteristic to how others knew him.

"Well, what type of pie would you like?" Ginny offered. "Jerry made pumpkin, pecan, and apple."

The girls each asked for pumpkin while Iakona asked for pecan. All three of them took theirs a la mode.

As Severus bit into his own slice of pecan pie, having never tried it before, he nodded, liking the taste of it, noting the hint of maple flavor complementing the flavor of the nuts.

Out of the blue, Akela said, "I swear, I don't see how our father can be related to Uncle Papahi and Grandpa. They're both such assholes. And our cousins, what spoiled rotten little shits."

"Language, young lady," Severus warned her sternly, sounding very much like his professorial self from his days at Hogwarts.

"Why should I watch my language when few other words accurately describe them," Akela snipped.

"Ah, but you're young," Draco said jovially, a twinkle in his eye. "There is a whole vocabulary you have yet to be introduced to."

"Such as," Iakona prompted him.

"Such as, 'He has the effervescent charms of a troll with gastric distress and the warmth of a lamprey,'" Draco said with dramatic flair.

All three children bust up laughing at Draco's choice of words. The fact he said it with his British accent made it all the more funny to them.

"Or, 'With family like this, is it any wonder why someone invented the Obliviate spell. Being related to you, I would want to forget such a thing as well.'" Severus jumped in with a detached air of haughtiness. He'd decided this sort of word-play would cheer up the children and teach them alternative ways to voice this displeasure rather than resorting to vulgarities.

Akela and Iakona groaned with delight, knowing what a viscous, low blow Severus had dealt with his choice of words. They relished it, now contemplating if they could lay that insult on either their uncle or grandfather and not be grounded for over two weeks. For Akela and Iakona, even being grounded for just a week with extra chores would be worth it to see the look on either of their unwelcomed relatives' faces.

The two older children bantered about a few choice phrases of their own, until Kaimi said with great seriousness, "I wish Papa was an only child, and it was Grandpa that died, not Grandma." The Finau children never knew their grandmother, and only knew of her through stories from their father.

"I sometimes wish that too," Mounga said, suddenly appearing in the archway to the dining room.

There was a collective gasp as everyone suddenly noticed Mounga there, not knowing how long he had been observing their conversation.

"I hope you don't mind that I let myself in, Draco. Akela's letter said she took her siblings and herself over here," he explained for his barging in unannounced.

There was an awkward silence that was finally broken when Mounga walked into the dining room and sat down. "Your grandfather is taking a Portkey back home to North Dakota this instant, and Papahi and his family already went back to the hotel. They're leaving first thing in the morning."

There was a huge sigh of relief from all three of his children.

"Oh, thank God," Akela sighed dramatically with exasperation in a way only a teenager could.

Kaimi went over to her father and hugged him, and he hugged his youngest back. This only prompted Kaimi to start quietly crying with her head buried against her father's chest.

Severus was feeling quite uneasy being an observer at this private family moment.

"As a matter of fact," Mounga added, "I don't think we're ever going to spend another holiday with them ever again."

This was a source of great news to all three children. Akela and Iakona both rushed over to their father and hugged him fiercely, Kaimi now buried under one of her siblings in a group hug.

"If I may ask," Draco spoke, breaking the moment once he sensed the hugging part was done, "if your father and brother bring such discord to your family, why do you bother to invite them, or visit them?"

"It's a long story," Mounga said. His eyes discreetly glanced down towards Kaimi, indicating this was something she was still a bit too young to hear and understand.

Ginny stood and held her hand out. "Kaimi, how about I finish fitting you for your new belly dancing outfit. And then you can help me with ideas for decorating the baby's nursery."

Kaimi gave her father one last hug and went off with Ginny to another part of the house.

Mounga decided that Iakona was old enough to hear the tale. Akela had already heard part of it after she had her own outburst back in April, when her hormones were making her irrational and she called Severus an asshole.

Jerry offered Mounga a cup of coffee before he begun his tale.

Cradling the fresh cup of coffee in his hands, Mounga said, "I was not exactly the most well behaved teenager." He cast his eyes down and bit his lip nervously as he gave a chuckle at the irony of it, given he was the town judge. "After my mother died when I was twelve, things got more tense in the house growing up. Papahi was the perfect child who could do no wrong in my father's eyes, and at times my brother blamed me for things he did, though my father wouldn't believe me. My father was town judge at the time. And had you guys come to Malu Palekaiko when my father ran things around here, you would have found it a far different place."

Akela butted in with her own commentary. "Yeah, I've heard Grandpa was real strict, and tried to keep the Muggles segregated from being involved in the community."

"Yes," Mounga confirmed her assessment, "and he wouldn't even let them run for town council, unlike now."

"You changed that rule?" Severus asked, already knowing the answer.

"Yes. My father ran this island more like a penal colony. And if you two had come here back then," he said, looking at Draco and Severus, "he would have assigned you each to a one-acre lot on the far side of the island with a warning to not come into town unless you needed supplies. And you would have had to make your own shelter."

Ginny grabbed Draco's hand and squeezed it, suddenly realizing the island wasn't always the same warm and welcoming paradise that she and her husband had come to know.

Looking at Jerry, Mounga said, "And you, despite your noble and good intentions, would have been treated little better."

Mounga heaved a sigh. "Growing up here, there was little to do other than teenagers playing with potions to amuse themselves, lost in a fog of euphoria, or screw around. There used to be a lot of teenage pregnancies back then. And because there was no formal schooling, there was little chance to make something of one's self and get away. Just like some Muggle small towns, teenagers entertaining themselves with sex and drugs to fill the boredom of living in a town with little sense of community and nothing to do."

"Muggle camp, the festivals, summer Friday night movies – these were all your doing," Severus correctly surmised.

"Well, there has been an Oktoberfest and a Pele Festival around for decades, though both were much smaller and less inclusive, but yes. And admittance to all these community events for the underage population hinges now on if they behave, given that some kids need an incentive to keep on the straight and narrow."

"Something you, yourself, had trouble doing?" Draco asked succinctly.

Mounga rubbed his hand along the back of his meaty neck before taking a large sip of coffee. "Put it to you this way, if I'd had the opportunities to keep me busy and entertained, and incentives to keep my nose clean, I wouldn't have done half the shit I pulled as a teenager."

Now Severus was really interested in hearing the rest of the tale. Mounga was a pillar of the community who commanded a lot of respect, especially from the older inhabitants who had lived here a long time and most probably knew Mounga during his teenage years.

"Like," Jerry prodded, his own curiosity piqued.

Mounga looked at Iakona meaningfully before answering. "Like hopping on a broom at two in the morning and flying through the 24-hour drive through at Jack-in-the-Box fast-food restaurant in Honolulu, ordering a bunch of food over the intercom speaker and then watching the look on their faces when I pulled up to the drive-through window hovering on my broom."

Draco, Ginny, Iakona, and Akela burst into hysterics while Severus' eyes went wide with disbelief that Mounga was the sort of teenager to pull such a stunt.

Jerry's mouth fell open and his eyebrows furrowed, suddenly aggravated. "I hated doing clean-up when little shits pulled stunts like that back in New York. The violation of the International Statute of Wizarding Secrecy, the Memory Charms, the paperwork. Punks like you made my life hell!"

Mounga took another sip of coffee, looking repentant. "Yeah. I was bored and I wanted the attention from my father. I was also fascinated by Muggle culture, given that my father tried to keep it from 'tainting' our community. Needless to say, he tended to ignore how one of his own grandfathers was a Muggle-born."

"I didn't know Grandpa was biased against Muggle-borns," Akela said with sudden disdain.

"Not biased, but let's just say he viewed the Secrecy Statute as a means to exclude Muggle culture from wizarding society and island life, given how most Muggles are not privy to us." Mounga looked deep in thought as he added with a shake of his head, "He would not have let Matt be buried on the island. He would have forced Lorraine to go find a Muggle plot on another island."

A somberness stole over the room as they remembered the surfing Muggle's recent funeral.

"So what finally inspired you to fly the straight and narrow?" Severus asked, wondering what the impetus was to make Mounga change from who he was as a teenager into the wizard he was today.

"I ran away when I was fifteen," he admitted as he gave his eldest daughter a meaningful look.

Severus saw the look between them. He wondered if, back in April, Mounga had told her about this since she did not seem shocked at all, but Iakona, his son, was.

"Underage and on the run. Your father must have had a fit," Jerry said plainly with little sympathy.

"For starters," Mounga said, nodding his head as he became more reflective. "I made an illegal Portkey, went to Los Angeles, worked a bunch of different Muggle-type jobs, which I didn't seem to hold for more than a week, considering how unfamiliar I was with Muggle culture. Plus, I had to take off after I'd do something stupid, and then Aurors had to come in and clean up some mess I'd left behind when things would happen, even without the use of my wand."

Jerry shook his head with disgust. "We had a term for kids like you in the Auror Department in New York: Teen Trolls. Barge in, break everything, and leave a mess for everyone else to clean up."

"Oh, I am not denying I behaved terribly when I was younger, but at the time I thought it was a far more constructive way to keep myself busy. It was better than knocking up some teenage witch or losing myself in an endless haze of potions and elixirs. I Apparated into movie theaters and concerts, since I didn't have the money to pay, because I was in between jobs all the time. I even got to see the first Star Wars movie in 70-millimeter when it came out in 1977," he said with sudden great fondness.

Jerry, who was of the same generation as Mounga, gave an empathetic sigh, while the cultural significance and collective experience of the film on the rest of the company was lost.

"That's why I have movie nights in the summer, Muggle Camp, and the bands come in to play at Oktoberfest. I don't want kids pulling the same stunts I did out of sheer curiosity to go to Muggle events and cause trouble, then the thrill of getting away with it. And I've been trying for years to get the films for the first three Star Wars movies to screen them here, but no luck so far." Mounga heaved a troubled sigh of disappointment.

"Does the rest of the island know about your exploits?" Severus asked, wondering why Mounga was volunteering all this rather embarrassing information about his youthful follies.

"Oh, when I came back when I was seventeen, broke and without my wand, my father didn't literally pillory me, but he might as well have," Mounga said with a grave look on his face, remembering that time of his life. "Everyone on the island knew chapter and verse all of my misdeeds, since he put me up as an example of what happens when you let witches and wizards dabble with Muggle culture."

"Even Mom?" Akela asked.

"Your mother knows everything, and so does the rest of the island. My father made me stand up on the stage of the community center, drink a vial of Veritaserum, and confess my crimes, so he could show the whole town that not even his own screw-up of a son was beyond justice. He was going to make an example of me." There was a smile that curled at the corner of Mounga's lips, indicating that there was an interesting turn of events.

Severus and Draco both picked up on his sly smirk.

"I'm sensing that you weren't exactly locked away in the island's equivalent of Azkaban," Draco guessed.

"Yep. I knew my father would do something like that, so at the end of my confession in front of the whole town, I then said that I was willing to knuckle down with my studies for the next year, and take my SATs. If I didn't pass to go on to study law so that I could become a judge myself someday, then I would submit to any punishment he saw fit for my crimes."

Iakona sat back and whistled. "Whoa, Papa. You said that to Grandpa?"

Mounga gave a very self-satisfied smile. "Yes, and I got the distinct impression he didn't like the fact that not only did I pass, I passed with one of the top ten scores in the Western SAT Testing Division."

"What about compared to Mid-West and Eastern Divisions?" Akela asked.

"I was in the top-twenty when compared to Mid-West and Eastern Division scores."

Severus had become familiar with the testing and ranking scores of the U.S. National SAT ranking of scores, since he had become part of the Board of Governors for the new school they were building on the island. He was duly impressed by Mounga's admission, since over a thousand students took those tests each year nationwide.

"If you were so brilliant, why didn't you apply your great talents towards your studies from the beginning?" Severus arched his brow sardonically.

"Because my father had already said my brother was the brilliant one in the family and that I was the screw-up. At first, I merely lived up to his expectations and proved him right. But when I came back, I did everything I could to prove him wrong." Mounga pulled out his wand and Summoned the coffeepot so he could refill his cup before continuing.

Severus sat back and looked at Mounga in a slightly new light. Ever since his wife's death, Severus had tried to do everything to prove he was not the same stupid, foolish boy who had willingly taken the Dark Mark. "This is all very interesting. Very. But that still doesn't explain why you force your children to suffer the company of your father, brother and his family," Severus pointed out, trying to bring Mounga back to his original question.

"As I said, I did everything to prove my father wrong. And I did." Mounga smiled at his children, but it was bittersweet. "But despite me getting excellent test scores, going on to study law, do my time as a defense attorney and then a prosecutor, and finally coming back to Malu Palekaiko to become town judge, my father still wouldn't accept the fact I did turn my life around. He wouldn't admit that I could redeem myself, or that other people who came to this island after making mistakes in their life could redeem themselves and turn their lives around."

Iakona jumped in, understanding shining bright on his face, "Oh, so that explains why Grandpa said you turned this place into a freewheeling asylum run by the lunatics."

"Exactly. He thinks that once you have done wrong, you can't be redeemed."

Akela jumped in, "I still think you should have spiked Uncle Papahi's wine with Veritaserum, make him spill his guts about all the crap where he did things then blamed you."

"Yes, but at this point, what purpose would it serve, Akela?" Mounga reached across and put a large hand on his daughter's shoulder. "Sometimes we have to let go of the bitterness of the past. Besides, your grandfather would probably not acknowledge the misdeeds Papahi did. He would merely notice that I slipped my brother Veritaserum in order to embarrass him in front of his own family." Most everyone around the table snorted at the irony that Mounga was not spared that indignity with the berating he received from his own father in his own house, in front of his own family.

"To hold on to anger and resentment serves no one, not even those who have caused you your pain. They do not suffer, you do. That's part of my approach when people come here for sanctuary. Forgiveness, as long as they truly are sorry for whatever they have done to cause them to seek it here."

Sitting up and looking at Jerry, Mounga added, "Well, maybe not in your case Jerry. While you may have broken the law, I can fully back you up on your course of action since it was a rather last resort, and it did seem there was nothing else you could do to protect your father. And having him run away and close shop, it just means that others who would have taken over his shop would have continued to be hurt."

Jerry nodded very somberly in agreement, since he had searched every option and was left with only one moral course of action to take.

Turning back to Severus, Mounga said, "I have tried to prove to my father time and time again that I have become the upstanding citizen and model to the community he always admonished me to become, but he still sees the boy seeking love and attention from an emotionally distant father who played favorites between children. I now see, after the way he and my brother behaved tonight, and especially to Rainbow and my own children, nothing can ever change their minds. I forgive them, but I won't forget what they've done. So no more contact with them, no more holiday dinners filled with screaming and tears, no more visits to or from them. I love them; they are family, and I will always love them, but I do not like them."

Jerry raised his coffee mug and said, "Amen. You can pick your friends, but you can't pick your family."

Severus, Draco, and Ginny could all empathize with Jerry's assessment of family versus friends.

Iakona lifted his half-full glass of milk and said, "To the family we choose to have, not obligated to by blood."

Severus thought that was a very astute and wise thing for such a young wizard to say, and he lifted his own cup of coffee, having been chosen by Mounga's family to become a part of theirs. "To the family of our own choosing."

Everyone lifted their glasses and mugs and clinked them.

The mood had lightened considerably until Akela said, "Uncle Severus?"

Severus turned to acknowledge her with a raised brow as his mouth was busy sipping his coffee.

"I remember the morning after Papa had granted you sanctuary. I distinctly remember sitting at the table having breakfast when you walked in looking dog-tired," she recalled, turning to look at her father. "And you said, 'There, but before the grace of God, go I.'" Turning back to Severus she said, with great care to be respectful, "I know it's none of my business why you came and I'm not supposed to ask, but was my father's experience similar to yours?"

Severus' face became calmly impassive. His face was a blank canvas, and Akela slightly recoiled at the sight of all warmth draining from him with her question, as if he was a book that had closed.

Mounga, knowing Severus' whole history and seeing the discomfort his friend was feeling towards his daughter's question, decided to answer her question while honoring his oath to reveal nothing. "Akela, you know that it is up to Severus if he chooses to share any part of his past or why he came here. You know that you should not prompt him, as that is discourteous, but I can understand your wanting to understand what I said in context." Mounga's eyes flitted towards Severus' briefly before he looked back at his daughter's.

"Each person's journey is unique despite all of us coming to the same destination," Mounga continued. "Some of us reach the bounds of extremes before returning towards a safer path. My journey went in such a way that I practically eschewed all wizarding life and culture. But just as easily, had I some of the same experiences as Severus, I could have easily been drawn in other directions. His experiences are his own; they make him who he is, just as Draco's and Ginny's are their own, as well as Jerry's. One day they may share, or they may never. But if one day you grow up and stay here and become a town council member, and process those who seek sanctuary, then you will have to listen without judgment just as I have done, and as do Halulu and Gary."

Draco reached out and patted Akela's hand. "There are things I have done I am not proud of, but the fact is, I made my own mistakes when I was young, and then I grew up and moved past them. I realized they were the wrong choices – though in some ways I didn't have much of a choice," he added in a sotto voce voice. "You don't have to know our pasts to appreciate the people that we are now."

Akela turned to Severus and said, "I'm sorry for being nosy like that, Uncle Severus. It's just that phrase sort of stuck in my mind all this time and has been bugging me."

He could not begrudge the girl wanting to know more about his past in relation to that phrase, but would have preferred it if she had brought it up in private, especially without her brother or Jerry in the room.

"The matter is settled. Let's talk about something pleasant, like this New Year's Eve Ball Draco mentioned earlier," Severus said to change the topic, even though he wouldn't be around to attend it, instead looking forward to ringing in the New Year with Hermione, with champagne and lots of kissing.

Severus could have said something to Akela about curiosity killing the cat to stem her inquisitiveness, but decided the cold look he'd given her was warning enough not to broach the subject again.

Thinking of cats, he would have to make sure he asked Jerry to pack up the roasted turkey giblets that didn't get incorporated into the gravy, so he would have a treat for the cat back home.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Coming back into the greenhouse with the loppers slung over her shoulder after she'd finished trimming the fruit trees and maples for the winter, Hermione spotted the couple in a tender moment.

"Oh, I'm so sorry, I'll come back later," Hermione stammered. She tried to make a quick exit, embarrassed to have come across Neville and Luna snogging.

A few months after Hermione and Neville's regretful interlude, Neville and Luna had started dating again. There were a few times where the blatantly honest blonde witch had stopped by on Saturdays to bring her beau lunch and greeted Hermione, but Hermione still felt guilty over the moment of weakness in Neville's arms, and bed, and tried to remove herself from Luna's company as often as possible.

"Hermione, your timing is perfect. Neville and I were just about to go find you," Luna said with all the sincere sweetness that pervaded her personality.

"I was just going to drop off these loppers and then head home," she said, unable to look Luna in the eye.

"Hermione, there is nothing to be embarrassed about," Luna said plainly as she reached out to stop Hermione from practically throwing the loppers on the ground and bolting from their presence.

Hermione and Neville had been very professional with each other since that June evening, but the warmth and camaraderie that was once between them was lost, the void filled with a stilted awkwardness.

"I'm not embarrassed, though what I'm supposed to be embarrassed about, I'm not quite sure," she tried to say, but came out sounding more awkward.

Still holding onto Neville's hand, Luna grasped Hermione's with the other. "It's okay. Neville told me about you and him having sex last summer. And I'm fine with that. Neville and I were not together at the time, but Neville did tell me why he brought you into his bed."

Hermione had talked very openly about sex with Severus and even with Ginny somewhat, but Hermione was not exactly close to Luna, and here the blonde was discussing it with a frank manner as if it were a current event. In some ways, Luna's ability to talk about that which was difficult for others, including death and other somewhat taboo subjects with a clarity and unabashedness, is what made Hermione love Luna as a friend. She suddenly wished she spent more time to become better friends with Luna over the years, since she had an insight that was unparalleled and she was always honest.

Mustering the courage to get past his nervousness around Hermione, that had grown since that night together, Neville said, "Back in August I told Luna that I had tried to find something to fill the space in my heart left by her, and even though I tried to fill it with you, despite our friendship and what a lovely person you are, Hermione, you are still not her."

Luna squeezed Neville's hand and smiled up at him when she added, "So, in a way, if it wasn't for that time you were together, Neville would not have realized that he still loved me so deeply. Being a Gryffindor, he had the courage to come see me, and we had a long talk, even though I was the one to originally end our engagement."

Hermione didn't know what to say. Luna was saying that because Hermione and Neville fucked that they were now back together and that was supposed to be a good thing. Luna may have seen it as a good thing, but for Hermione, remembering sleeping with Neville only brought painful memories regarding herself and Severus, not to mention the tragedy of errors that came along afterwards tied to some assumptions and loose tongues.

"I don't know what to say," was all that Hermione could utter.

"Say you'll come to our wedding." Luna beamed brightly as she handed over an envelope with Hermione's name beautifully written on it.

Now Hermione felt truly awkward. Wasn't it bad form for past lovers to show up at a wedding? Though Hermione, Neville, and Luna had been friends for years, that one night had changed the dynamics of their friendship, at least in Hermione's eyes and Neville's.

"You want me there?" Hermione asked, still bewildered how Luna could be so cavalier about the fact that she had slept with her former and now again current fiancé.

"Even before, weren't we all good friends?" Luna asked as she stood between them, holding their hands once more, acting as a bridge between them, joining them all together. "All that we had been through together? School? The war? The rebuilding afterwards? You went to Ron's wedding after you divorced. Even Neville and I remained friends after I ended the engagement last time, but I've overcome some of my own fears and hesitations, realizing that they only stood in the way of my relationship with Neville. Don't let your own fears come between our friendship now, Hermione."

Hermione understood what Luna was saying and even wanted to embrace her philosophy, but still could not let go and put it entirely behind her. However, for Luna and Neville's happiness, she would try and put forth her best effort.

"Oh look, there's the Gumblesons," Luna said brightly as she pulled out another invitation from her patchwork satchel before trotting off and out of the greenhouse to deliver yet another wedding invitation by hand.

Left alone in the greenhouse together, the awkwardness between Hermione and Neville returned, but Neville's was far less than it was before, now that the air had been cleared.

Hermione decided that since this was a time for confessions, she should also clear the air a bit as well. "Ron knows about my own affair. He knows who it is."

Neville's face, which had been holding a nervous smile turned somber. "You said it was complicated. What were you waiting for before you could tell him?"

"I told him before I fixed that matter." Hermione kept her eyes fixed upon a small pile of overturned terracotta pots that had been stored away for the winter. It was better than looking at Neville who was studying her with great interest, as if she was some rare and exotic plant he was trying to understand.

"And what was the problem you needed to settle anyway, since it seemed to make little difference in the end in telling Ron?" Neville asked, his tone not quite so kind.

Hermione lifted her head and looked Neville in the eye squarely. "I had to clear his name in front of the Wizengamot."

Neville's face morphed from confusion to comprehension upon to whom she was referring to and then finally shock. "Him?" he whispered in a croak. He leaned against a potting bench for support, looking like he would have fallen over if he didn't have the greenhouse equipment to hold him up. "Why?"

Hermione should have been upset at the look of disgust that was beginning to make Neville's lip curl, but she could not blame him, given that he only knew Severus as a teacher who had made his life hell, and was the butt of Gryffindor boys' jokes.

"Because I love him," she said firmly, as if her tone could remove any doubt Neville had against her declarations, "and he loves me."

Just then, Luna came back into the greenhouse, humming softly to herself.

Neville lifted a finger and pointed it at Hermione, as if accusing her of a crime, and said with an edge of incredulous hysteria in his voice, "Did you know Hermione is in love with Snape?"

Luna merely blinked and looked at him, and without missing a beat said, "Well, I'm glad he's found someone to love him." Ignoring the stunned look on her fiancé's face, she turned to Hermione and asked very simply, "Does he feel the same way about you, Hermione?"

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

A/N: And this is why we love Luna.

Thank you to my glorious betas for this chapter, JuneW and Hope.

Papahi is a Tongan boy's name meaning mischievous, smart.

In addition, shortly after I posted the last chapter my mother passed away. I want to thank everyone who posted words of kindness and support that were greatly needed and appreciated. My husband was far away for a very rare and extremely important client meeting for a product they had been working years on and was busy scrambling to fix things late into the night, and he was unable to be there for me until he flew home a few days later. Your words helped me greatly until my husband, my rock and best friend, returned and could be there for me. It is amazing the huge heart the fanfic community has, when I needed it most. Thank you for your warmth and love.
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And They Didn\'t Live Happily Ever After