Adult-FanFiction.org : Harry Potter

Twenty Four Hours	By : Dazzlious Category: Harry Potter > Het - Male/Female > Snape/Hermione Views: 10678 -:- Recommendations : 2 -:- Currently Reading : 3
Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter, nor any of the characters from JK Rowling’s fantastic books or films, I’m just borrowing and playing with them for a little while and get no monetary reward for doing so. Original Characters are mine.

Chapter List
- 1-Prologue
- 2-One
- 3-Two
- 4-Three
- 5-Four
- 6-Five
- 7-Six
- 8-Seven
- 9-Eight
- 10-Nine
- 11-Ten
- 12-Eleven
- 13-Twelve
- 12
- 13
A/N: So, we're finally at the end of another story. Thank you to everyone who has been reading along. I'm glad you stuck with it and I hoped you enjoyed it. As always, I'd like to thank my wonderful beta, Mamacita, for everything she does. Dx

‘I thought we’d give work a miss today,’ Severus told Hermione as they were lying in bed having just made love.
‘Oh you did, did you?’ Hermione sounded half amused, half exasperated.
Severus kissed her.
‘It’s been a long time since we’ve both had a day off,’ he pointed out. ‘We could do with a day of doing nothing just to recharge our batteries. And if we’re not going into work then there’s no reason why we should get up yet. I can think of far more entertaining things to do without us needing to leave the bed.’
‘That’s a lovely idea, Severus, but we’re really busy at the moment—’
‘We’re always busy, Hermione,’ Severus said cutting her off, ‘and that isn’t going to change anytime soon. But taking a day off will be good for our mental wellbeing and in the long run it will help us to work better than ever.’
‘But what about everyone else?’
‘I’m sure they can cope without you for one day, my love. You’re a manager, not a slave foreman cracking the whip every five minutes, and you know your team can work perfectly well on their own.’
‘I meant why should everyone else have to work if we’re taking a day off?’
Severus sighed. ‘Why do you always have to be so bloody argumentative? Let’s face it, if we all kept having days off every time anyone else took a holiday we’d never get any work done. Everyone else has had plenty of days off this year, it’s only you who never takes a holiday. All I’m asking is that you take one day off with me. I don’t think that’s too much to ask . . . is it?’
‘Actually, can I just point out that I’m your boss and I didn’t give you permission to take the day off today,’ Hermione said.
Severus held her down on the bed and started tickling her.
‘I suggest you grant me permission now, then. I’ll stop tickling you when you say yes.’
‘Severus!’ Hermione was almost crying from the tickling.
She writhed, trying to get away from him, but Severus was merciless.
‘Say yes and I’ll stop.’
‘Yes, all right, you can have the day off! Now stop tickling me, it hurts.’
Severus hugged her. ‘And you’re going to take the day off too, yes?’
Hermione sighed. ‘Honestly, it would be lovely, but I can’t. I’ve got a meeting with—’
‘Erm, no you haven’t,’ Severus cut in. ‘I rearranged your appointment until tomorrow. In fact, I cleared everything from your calendar today so you could have the day off.’
Hermione stared at him, anger coursing through her at his interference, but she forced herself to calm down. Severus wasn’t being malicious or trying to usurp her authority, he was just trying to provide her with the means to have a day off by leaving her day clear and free of work. It wasn’t something to get annoyed with him about.
She gave him a hug and kissed him.
‘Thank you for being so thoughtful. We’ll need to tell them we’re not coming in, though.’
‘Don’t worry about that, they already know.’ Hermione frowned at Severus’ words. He shrugged. ‘I told Lisa before she left last night that we wouldn’t be in.’
‘That wasn’t your decision to make,’ Hermione said as she sat up, the anger spiralling again.
Severus pulled her back down. ‘No, but it was the only way I was ever going to get you to take the bloody day off. Now stop sulking and come here. I want to make love to you again and I don’t need you being a moody mare. A day off is supposed to be a good thing, not the cause of an argument.’
‘It was how you went about it that annoyed me,’ Hermione said. ‘Why do you men always think that you can just arrange things the way you want them without any thought about what anyone else might want? You’re all the bloody same.’
‘I’m sorry,’ Severus said, crestfallen now. ‘If I’d known it was going to upset you so much I wouldn’t have done it. I thought it would be a nice surprise — an unexpected day off — but I was obviously wrong.’
Hermione sighed. ‘It was a lovely thought, but you know how much I hate being forced into doing stuff that I don’t want to do.’
‘Why don’t you want a day off?’ Severus asked. ‘And don’t say it’s because we’re too busy because that’s not true, as I’ve proved. What’s the matter, don’t you want to spend time alone with me?’
‘I didn’t mean I don’t want a day off, that came out wrong. I’m just fed up with my life being managed by men who think they know what’s best for me all the time. Why couldn’t you just ask me if we could take today off and let me rearrange my own meetings?’
‘Because you wouldn’t have done it,’ Severus said bluntly. ‘If I’d asked you to take today off you’d have told me you had a meeting. If I’d suggested moving it you’d have said you couldn’t. We could have gone through your calendar for the next three months and not found a single day that you would consider suitable for a day off, so I had no choice but to do it for you. I’m sorry you don’t like it, but it’s done, so I suggest you make the best of it. Don’t worry, you’ll be back at work tomorrow — bright and early, no doubt.’
He got out of bed and disappeared into the bathroom, closing the door just a little too hard.
Hermione stared after him, feeling as if she had just been slapped.
When had she become so unreasonable? Severus had taken the time to rearrange her diary so she could take a rare day off, a chance to spend some time alone with him, the person she loved most in the world, and all she had done was criticise him and treat him as if he had committed some heinous crime. She was an idiot, and the worst thing was that Severus was right. If he had asked her instead of taking it into his own hands to arrange she would never have taken the time off. He’d had no choice but to force her into it.
She waited, hoping that Severus had just gone to the loo and was coming back out soon. She couldn’t bear him being angry with her, especially when he hadn’t done anything wrong.
The door opened.
‘I’m sorry, Severus. I’m an idiot,’ Hermione said before he even made it into the bedroom. ‘You did a wonderful thing for me and I was being ungrateful. Please come back to bed. I want to show you just how grateful I am.’
‘Now that is the sort of apology I am more than happy to accept,’ Severus told her.

Hermione had expected Severus to want to stay in bed all day, but it seemed that despite his promise of a day of doing nothing he obviously had something planned as by eleven a.m. they were out of the shower and getting dressed.
He hadn’t told her where they were going, which Hermione was trying not get annoyed about, instead attempting to treat it as the nice surprise Severus presumably intended. Unfortunately, she wasn’t very good at surprises and not knowing what they were going to be doing was making her anxious.
‘If you’d just tell me where we’re going, I’d know how to dress,’ she pointed out as she watched Severus buttoning up one of the many black frock coats he owned. ‘It’s all right for you, you always wear the same bloody thing.’
‘Do you want me to choose you an outfit?’ Severus asked mildly. He turned from the mirror. ‘I’d be more than happy to do so, but I don’t want to upset you again.’
‘I just need to know how to dress,’ Hermione said.
Severus came over and gave her a hug.
‘This isn’t something to get upset over, my love.’ He led her towards her wardrobe, opening it and looking inside. ‘If you don’t trust me to make the decision for you, how about I choose three outfits and then you pick the one you want to wear? Is that fair?’
‘But I still don’t know what we’re doing.’
‘Hmm, let me see: a bit of walking, a bit of standing, a bit of sitting and some eating and drinking,’ Severus replied.
‘That tells me nothing,’ Hermione grumbled.
Severus chuckled. ‘It tells you everything you need to know. Now stop worrying.’
He rummaged around in the wardrobe for a couple of minutes as Hermione watched him anxiously. Eventually, he pulled out three coat hangers and laid each of the garments on the bed for her perusal.
‘We’re going out to lunch,’ Hermione said, sounding happier as she looked at the dresses.
All three were smart-casual in style and were summer-weight, perfect for a nice lunch at a decent restaurant on a beautiful day like today. She felt instantly happier, feeling her grip on the situation become firmer.
Severus smiled but didn’t reply. Instead, he moved to the dresser where her underwear was kept, choosing a pretty set in white lace. He put them on the bed.
‘Have you decided yet?’
Hermione had been holding each dress up to her as she looked in the mirror, trying to decide which one she preferred. She dropped the current dress back on the bed and picked up the first one she had looked at. It was a pale blue short-sleeved, scoop-necked fitted dress with an ombre print lace overlay, the colour running from pale blue at the top through to purple at the base.
‘This one, I think.’
Severus smiled. ‘It’s perfect.’
‘For what?’ Hermione asked hopefully.
‘For what we’re doing once you’ve got dressed,’ Severus said infuriatingly.
He was back at the wardrobe, now examining her shoe collection. Eventually, he pulled out a pretty pair of flat blue diamante sandals.
‘Will these be suitable?’ he asked.
Hermione stared at him archly. ‘I don’t know, Severus. You tell me, are they suitable?’
‘I think so, yes. But if you don’t like them—’
‘I assume we’re going to be doing a lot of walking?’
‘What makes you think that?’ Severus sounded surprised.
Hermione indicated the shoes. ‘They’re flat. Normally you’d wear heels with this dress.’
‘I just like the shoes and I thought they went well with the dress,’ Severus admitted. ‘If you’d prefer to wear heels then do so. We’re not going to be doing anything particularly strenuous. I just want you to feel comfortable.’
Hermione started to put the sandals back in the wardrobe but stopped. She still had no real idea about what they were doing so she didn’t know whether the shoes would be suitable or not, but that didn’t matter. Severus liked them and he had picked them for her to wear. She put the sandals on and looked at herself in the mirror. They actually looked quite good with the dress, better than she had expected. It gave her a slightly more casual look and she quite liked it.
‘What do you think?’ she asked, turning to show Severus her final choice.
He smiled. ‘If we didn’t have to leave shortly I’d be inclined to take you back to bed. You look lovely.’
Hermione blushed. ‘Thank you for the compliment. I still wish I knew where we were going, though.’
‘You’ll find out soon enough,’ Severus said. He watched her for a minute, then added, ‘I’m going to let you finish getting ready. I just need to nip out for a couple of minutes. I promise I’ll be back by the time you’re ready to leave.’
‘More surprises?’ Hermione asked.
‘Sort of,’ Severus shrugged. ‘Nothing that you need to worry about, though. Now finish getting ready, we need to leave soon.’

Hermione looked around her in surprise. Although she’d had no real idea where Severus was taking her, this was not what she had expected.
‘Where are we?’ she asked.
‘Brockwell Park,’ Severus said. ‘This isn’t our final destination but I wanted to talk to you for a few minutes before we move on and this was the most beautiful spot I could think of that wasn’t going to be too busy.’
‘It is lovely,’ Hermione confirmed. She looked at Severus anxiously, her heart suddenly beating like a drum. ‘What do you want to talk to me about?’
Severus took hold of her hand and led her towards an empty park bench that provided a stunning view over London.
‘You look so worried,’ he said.
‘I’m just a bit unsettled. You know I’m no good with surprises and stuff,’ Hermione admitted.
Her stomach was swirling dangerously as she waited, worried that Severus was going to tell her that he didn’t want to be with her any longer. She was trying to convince herself this wasn’t the case, that what was coming was going to be good, as he had told her, but everything he had done today was completely different from how he would usually act and she felt so unsettled that she couldn’t help fearing the worst.
‘Please, Severus, just tell me,’ she begged once they were sitting down.
‘You have absolutely no patience, do you know that, Hermione?’ Severus said mildly. He smiled at her.
Hermione grimaced back. ‘You know I don’t deal well with these sorts of situations.’
‘You mean you’re a control freak.’
‘No . . . well . . . yes, a bit, I suppose. I just like to know what’s going on.’
‘And you will, I promise. You just need to relax.’ He shook his head fondly. ‘Gods, I love you so much, Hermione. Even when you’re really frustrating you’re endearing.’
Her anxiety quelled a little by those words, Hermione stared at Severus.
‘So what did you want to say to me?’
‘What was far too long ago now, I asked you to be my wife. At the time I had every intention of marrying you—’ Severus began.
A tight band of pain crushed Hermione’s ribcage as panic overwhelmed her once more. She took a deep breath, trying to force down the scream that was building inside her. Part of her wanted to block out Severus’ words, knowing that he was about to devastate her, but she knew she had to keep listening and she had to keep it together, whatever Severus was going to tell her next.
‘—but then the new job and moving to the new house got in the way, and before I knew it we’d been together for what seemed like forever and it seemed pointless to get married when we already had everything that goes with that state. I thought you were happy with that. You never said anything to me, and the few times I heard you talking about weddings you always seemed adamant that you didn’t want one, so I stopped thinking about it and moved on.’
‘But when I saw you at Ron and Catherine’s wedding, watching them as they danced, and I realised it wasn’t just you reminiscing about your wedding day with Ron but thinking of the one you’d never had, it made me realise that I had really let you down. I hadn’t meant to do it, but without meaning to I had hurt you.
‘I love you so much, Hermione, far more than I had ever expected to love anyone. I don’t ever want to be apart from you, not for a single minute, and the last thing I ever want to do is hurt you.’
Severus stopped for a moment because for some reason that he couldn’t quite understand he was shaking. As he stared at Hermione he could see the tears in her eyes. He took hold of both her hands.
‘I know I’ve already asked you once, but will you marry me, Hermione? Will you marry me today . . . right now? I don’t mind if you want to organise a big party for thousands of people once we’re married, but I really don’t want to wait any longer. I want you to be my wife. Please tell me you’ll have me, because I don’t want to lose you.’
Hermione wasn’t sure she could breathe and talking was completely out of the question, although the unbearable pain had vanished as soon as Severus issued his proposal. She stared at him in complete shock.
‘Hermione?’
‘Oh my god, I thought you were going to dump me,’ she said, on the verge of hysterical laughter. There were tears rolling down her cheeks.
‘I must be doing something wrong. I sort of expected a yes or no answer,’ Severus said. ‘Are you okay, Hermione?’
Hermione was sobbing now. She grabbed Severus and hugged him, weeping on his shoulder as she tried to calm herself.
‘So, is that a yes or a no?’ Severus asked, confused.
He pulled a handkerchief from his pocket and gave it to Hermione so she could dry her eyes. She blew her nose loudly, the tears still continuing to fall.
‘I must look a right mess,’ she said several minutes later, once she finally managed to get herself under control.
‘You might need to touch up your makeup a bit,’ Severus admitted. He looked at her avidly. ‘So, my question. Yes or no? What do you think?’
‘You want to marry me now?’ Hermione asked.
‘Yes. Right now, in fact.’ He paused, then said, ‘Shall we try this again one last time?
‘Hermione Granger, will you do me the very great honour of marrying me today?’
Hermione smiled at him. ‘Yes, of course I will, Severus. But I need time to redo my makeup first. I can’t get married like this, I must look an absolute fright.’
‘You look beautiful, you always look beautiful,’ Severus told her. He looked at his watch. ‘You’ve got five minutes before we have to go.’
Hermione pulled her mirror from her bag and stared at her mascara-streaked eyes and her nose, red from where she had been blowing it.
‘I don’t look beautiful, I look awful,’ she said quietly as she got to work, trying to repair the mess.
‘One last thing before we go,’ Severus said once she finished and they were ready to move on. ‘I thought you might want to wear this during the wedding.’ He pulled a floral headband from his pocket and handed it to her.
Hermione smiled as she took it, studying the small blue and purple flowers speckled with diamantes, then put it on. She looked at herself in the mirror again, checking that it looked okay.
‘It’s beautiful. Thank you, Severus.’
‘Are you ready to go?’
‘Yes.’
Hermione’s heart was beating like a drum again, but this time with excitement. She couldn’t believe that she and Severus were really about to get married.
Severus wrapped his arms around her waist, then he kissed her.
‘Let’s go,’ he said, and they Disapparated.

Hermione almost cried again when she realised that Lisa and Derek were waiting for them at the Register Office and she couldn’t hold the tears back during the short ceremony that followed, particularly when Severus presented her with a beautifully engraved platinum wedding ring.
By the time they reached their final stop, the laboratory in which they all worked, where the rest of her staff, who were all apparently in on the plan, had decorated it fit for a wedding celebration, Hermione didn’t think she was ever going to stop crying.
She was overwhelmed with love for Severus and what he had done for her.
Hermione hadn’t realised that he had picked up on her sadness during Ron and Catherine’s wedding; long before that day she had given up any hope of ever becoming his wife. But today he had made all her most cherished dreams come true and she didn’t care that there were only half a dozen people there to share it with them. Almost all the important people were there — the ones she cared about and who cared about her in return.
‘I hope you don’t mind but we invited a couple of other people along,’ Lisa said as she gave Hermione a glass of champagne. ‘There were a few people we thought needed to be here.’
She pointed towards the door. After a couple of awkward seconds it opened and Ron and Catherine walked into the room, followed by Harry and Ginny. Harry was carrying James and Ginny was so pregnant she looked like she was about to give birth at any moment.
Hermione cried out in delight and went to greet them, giving each of them a massive hug as she wept once more.
Lisa gave Severus a glass of champagne as the two of them watched Hermione with her friends.
‘You did a good job, Severus,’ Lisa told him.
He clinked glasses with her. ‘Thanks to you. If I’m ever that dim about Hermione again, please let me know.’
Lisa grinned. ‘Oh, I will. Don’t you worry about that.’
‘That was a nice little ceremony earlier,’ Derek said approvingly as he joined the couple. ‘Well done on the ring, by the way. It was a nice touch. Hermione really appreciated it.
‘So the next thing for you two will be kids,’ he added as they watched Hermione playing with James.
Severus shook his head. ‘No way. I am not having children. It’s just not happening.’
‘But what if Hermione wants a baby?’ Lisa asked slyly.
Severus watched his wife as she hugged the toddler and groaned. ‘She doesn’t want kids. She said she didn’t.’
‘She didn’t before, but that might change now. You’re both settled in steady jobs and you’ve got a nice home with plenty of space and now you’re married—’
‘So what about you two, then?’ Severus asked, trying to deflect. ‘I don’t see you saddling yourself with rugrats.’
‘Funny you should mention that,’ Derek said. He wrapped his arms around Lisa’s waist, pulling her back against him and looking pretty pleased with himself.
‘We had intended to wait until after your wedding to announce it, obviously,’ Lisa said, shaking her head in exasperation at her husband. ‘But yes, I’m pregnant. The Healer confirmed yesterday that everything is okay with it. I’ll be going on maternity leave just after Christmas.’
‘Really?’ Severus looked stunned for a moment, then he grinned. ‘Wow! Congratulations!’
‘Thanks.’ Lisa and Derek said it at the same time and then they both laughed.
‘But you shouldn’t be drinking if you’re pregnant,’ Severus chided Lisa, pointing at the champagne flute she was holding.
She grinned at him and confided, ‘It’s sparkling water. I couldn’t drink even if I wanted to. At the moment the only things that don’t make me throw up are water and green tea, and I don’t really like green tea.
‘So never say never, eh?’ Derek said.
Severus shrugged. ‘You might be right.’
As little inclination as he had towards starting a family, he suspected that Lisa and Derek were right and it wouldn’t be long before Hermione joined her friends in their desire for a baby. He had never wanted a child, but then again he had never expected to fall in love and get married, so who was to say that having a family wouldn’t be every bit as fulfilling as the relationship he had found with Hermione?
‘What’s the matter, Severus?’
Hermione had left her friends and come to join her husband, who seemed to be away with the fairies. She slipped her arm through his.
He smiled. ‘I’m fine. I was just watching you with James.’
‘He’s cute, isn’t he?’ Hermione said.
‘Uh-oh. Do I hear the patter of tiny feet calling?’
Hermione laughed. ‘God no. I don’t want a baby yet. I’ve got far too many things to do at work first. I wasn’t thinking about getting pregnant for at least another five years.’
‘Five years,’ Severus was slightly worried at how hollow his voice sounded.
Hermione studied him carefully. ‘Don’t you want children?’ she asked quietly.
He shrugged. ‘I have to admit it wasn’t top of my list of things to do after seventeen years of working at Hogwarts. But then again, I never expected to fall in love and get married, either, and look what happened there.’
‘That’s your own fault. You should have just accepted the job when I offered it to you and not insisted on that stupid twenty-four hours test. Then things might have been very different and you’d still be free and single.’
‘That twenty-four hours gave me a good indication of what a control freak you are,’ Severus told her. ‘But I don’t think it would have made any difference. I’d have still fallen in love with you, it would just have taken a bit longer, that’s all.’
He wrapped his arms around Hermione and pulled her close for a kiss.
‘I love you, and I will love the children we eventually create together just as much.’
Hermione smiled. ‘I love you too. Thank you for today, Severus.’
‘Thank you for marrying me.’
‘Ah, Mrs and Mrs Snape,’ Kingsley’s booming voice came across the room as he entered and walked towards Severus and Hermione. He was carrying a big box covered in shiny blue paper with a massive silver bow on it under one arm. Lisa handed him a glass of champagne as he passed. ‘Am I too late?’
Hermione waved at him and Severus raised his glass in welcome.
‘Absolutely not, Kingsley. Come on in, the party is just getting started!’
- 12
- 13
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Twenty Four Hours