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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
- 14
- 15
- 16
"And They Didn't Live Happily Ever After"
Chapter Fifteen
“Knowledge Is Power”
Disclaimer: Harry Potter belongs to J.K. Rowling, Scholastic Books, Bloomsbury, Warner Bros. and anyone else who has a huge team of lawyers with a rightful financial stake in this franchise. So don't think I would even insinuate that I own any concepts written in this story, except those inspired by a dirty imagination spurred on my hormones.

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Draco began to laugh. It sounded as if it were half way between relief and hysteria, much like Severus had felt earlier upon learning about Hermione's job.

"All that time, and it was right in front of my face," the fairer man muttered to himself distractedly.

"Now is not the time for regrets. Had I been in your position, I would have avoided knowing anything about her as well," Severus reproved. "When is your next meeting with Ginny?"

Draco gathered himself. "Next Tuesday morning. I haven't seen her since Thursday last week, when Mrs. Weasley discovered us. We've decided to mix up our meeting times to throw Potter off the scent if he gets suspicious again."

Severus nodded; that was a prudent action indeed. "We both need to talk with her. Since she has confessed seeing you to Hermione, perhaps she can tell us more of Hermione's opinion regarding the decree and its enforcement on us, as she mentioned it in her owl to you. If we play our cards correctly, I can use the indignation Hermione feels over injustice to our advantage."

"You're going to reveal yourself to her?"

The dark-haired wizard nodded. "It's the only way."

"You know this means we have to tell Ginny about Hermione's visits with you," Draco said with a mirthful predatory smile. "If Mrs. Weasley balks, we can always blackmail her."

"That is a last resort. I would have to take our dealings to a point that would be worthy of blackmail before I can play that hand," Severus said in such a way to insinuate sexual relations. "The woman has a habit of bending – and sometimes breaking – rules to suit her needs when she feels the end justifies the means. No doubt, if she can steal boomslang skin to find out if you are the heir of Slytherin, she will be easily convinced to engage in the theft of a little more."

There was a long pause of silence before Draco spoke. "You know we'll have to tell Ginny and Lavender about our plans now."

Severus snapped his head up, drawn away from his whirring thoughts. "I'm aware of our need to inform Lavender. She has delicately intoned that she would help when the time comes, without implicating herself if interrogated by the Ministry, but we need to keep Ginny in the dark as much as possible."

Standing quickly, Draco strode over to the fireplace and placed one forearm on the mantle. His fists clutched and relaxed as he kept his back towards his mentor. "No, you don’t understand, Severus. She must be made fully aware of what we are doing."

"Do you really think that we are actually going to be taking her with us when we go?" Severus asked rhetorically.

Severus knew this would be foolish; Potter would not let his wife go easily without following after her. He figured that the risk of bringing Ginny along would foil their plans. If anything, if Draco loved her, he would let her go. Besides, didn’t Draco want to be free as much as he did?

Spinning around quickly, Draco's eyes flared. "No, you don't understand." Scowling, he continued, "Remember the agreement we made? That if we found a way out you would finally tell me about your wife and I would tell you the deal I made with Lavender when I signed her contract?"

A heavy weight was pressing against Severus' chest. He would have to think about her, remember her. The only thing Draco knew about Severus' wife was the fact a witch had married him and she was dead now. There was no one alive who knew about her or her name. Albus, Minerva, even Lucius, were all dead now. And with their death was gone the reminder of her when they looked at him. He had caught the rare glimpse of pity from the headmaster and Minerva over the years. When Lucius had looked at him at times, it was with smug satisfaction of the knowledge that he was behind her death in some small way. Perhaps Severus' turning of Draco against his father and the Dark Lord was some small extraction of vengeance against the fellow Death Eater and deceased patriarch of the Malfoy family. Still, it was not enough.

"Yes, I remember," he answered stonily.

"I will tell you now. When the Polyjuice Potion is almost done brewing, you can tell me your story."

Nodding in agreement of the terms, Severus watched Draco begin to pace the floor.

"I never told Ginny of our plan of escape, as a measure of protection for her and us, especially if Potter decided to go diving into her mind. I had every intention of bringing her with us when the time came. When Lavender found me in that alley, I had already bartered away everything except the clothes on my back. I knew that Ginny was married, as I had read about their wedding in a discarded copy of the Daily Prophet a few months earlier. So the promise of money, shelter, food and a job was not enough to convince me to work for her. I wanted to die, because I knew Potter had Ginny in his bed every night." Gracefully flopping back into the chair opposite Severus, Draco explained further. "I told Lavender she had nothing of value to me, so she just might as well bugger off and let me die. And then she looked at me that way, the way she does when she knows things."

Severus was all too familiar with Lavender's sense of intuition.

"So," Draco continued, "she says, 'Oh, but I think I can offer you something you do want. I can get you Ginny and a way out of the country.'"

"Wait!" Severus interrupted. "Ginny didn’t start seeing you again until December 2001. And you started working for her in July 2000. How did she know…"

Severus trailed off. Either Lavender was clairvoyant, or she had hedged some big bets on certain events falling into place just so. Either way, it baffled him that Lavender had known this would happen… or had arranged it so it would happen. Even Dumbledore hadn’t had this sort of foresight, despite his age and power during Severus' tenure at Hogwarts. He had learned during his last years teaching at Hogwarts that Albus' appearance of omnipotence was created by his very own network of spies, namely the portraits and house-elves, who reported to him the gossip and goings on around the castle. It also helped that his image on all those Chocolate Frog trading cards provided a bit of reconnaissance during the war, as well.

"Women's intuition." Draco shrugged. "That and the fact she put the pieces into place. I grilled her on how she knew about Ginny and me. It seems that she remembered when I ordered some custom made soaps for Ginny for Christmas during Lavender's first year in business before the house-elves were freed. She was still taking custom orders at the time. I’d ordered them to be delivered to Ginny directly. Lavender remembered that. She also saw Ginny and me out in Muggle London one time after the end of the war."

Shifting in his seat, Draco ran his hands through his hair. He seemed to sense that Severus, under other circumstances, would have taken him to task for being so careless with his personal activities with rogue Death Eaters still on the lose during that period, but now was not the time.

"So when I told her that Ginny was married and her efforts were pointless, she said in that knowing voice of hers, 'Oh, I don’t think Ginny is too happy being married to Harry.' I asked her how she would know and she told me she that just knew. Then she whipped out the clipping from the Daily Prophet with a picture of Ginny's wedding. She says, 'Does this look like a happy bride?' " Draco gave a great shuddering sigh and swallowed hard. "I was so… upset when I read about it originally, I never bothered to really look at the picture. When Lavender showed it to me, I really looked at it and knew Ginny was unhappy. That gave me hope, enough hope to accept Lavender's offer to work for her… in both capacities."

Black hair hung in a curtain over Severus' face. He felt many emotions at once and nothing at all. Lavender had helped them towards their goal of freedom and, at the same time, used them for her own purposes. She had manipulated people and yet had done nothing much in changing the course of events. The former Head of Slytherin House wasn't sure if she was more cunning than he gave her credit for, or was extremely lucky and noble.

Draco had held up his end of the bargain. He had finally told Severus the terms in which Lavender had gotten him to work for her. One thing still didn't sit well with the older man.

"How did she know that one day Hermione, or someone in her position, would come along?"

Shaking his head, the blond replied, "I don't know. She either was privy to information, had a good hunch or both. It will be interesting to ask her. I’ll let you do the honors of getting that little tidbit out of her."

Severus wanted to know what other information Lavender had been holding out on. It would be something to ask her when the time was right. Perhaps ‘interrogate’ would be a more appropriate term. However, he could not argue that Lavender had made this opportunity possible through well timed words and suggestions to Ginny and Hermione. Perhaps a nice talk, with some charm thrown in, would loosen her tongue. In all fairness, Lavender was a very equitable employer, and had found a way for him to continue working in Potions – bending the law without breaking it, per se. No, he could not find Lavender with fault, as the plan he and Draco had talked about for years could now come to fruition. Though, it would have been nice if it had happened sooner.

'Perhaps if Miss Brown was sorted today, she would have been placed in Slytherin,' Severus thought to himself as he stared at the fire.

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

Blinking at the morning light streaming through the curtains, Hermione awoke feeling more rested than she had in ages. After carefully rising from the bed so as not to wake Ron, she padded into the kitchen to make a quick cup of tea.

Standing in front of the cooker, while lost in thought as the water was brought to a boil, she began humming to herself. Despite Ron's typical less-than-stellar performance in the bedroom, she had a decent enough orgasm in the shower to compensate, due, in no small part, to the fantasy she was having when to her husband arrived home early. Mostly though, it was from the mental euphoria she was still riding.

She remembered during her walk home, from the building that she now mentally referred to as The Red Ginseng, her usual evening urge to engage Ron in conversation when he got home later that night had been sated. It seemed as if Calleo was just what Hermione needed to make her happy with this marriage. Calleo would satisfy her mind in a way Ron could not, while stimulating her physically through her fantasies, enough to make sex with Ron more enjoyable.

The thought of marriage counseling had popped into her mind before, but she knew Ron's stance on the idea. His motto was, ‘if it wasn't broke, don’t fix it’. And in Ron's opinion, their marriage wasn't broke at all. A little tense at times, but nothing a good shag and a job with better money couldn’t solve, he surmised.

Hermione smiled secretly. As long as Ron was unaware of her new Thursday evening activities, everything would work out just fine. And if he did become enlightened about her visits with Calleo, she would justify it by honestly stating that nothing happened. They just talked about things in which he had no interest in at all, so what harm was done? Knowing Ron's temper and his fragile ego, it was best if she did her damnedest to keep it from him though.

"You're in a good mood this morning," Ron said from the doorjamb to the kitchen. "Flourish and Blotts start handing out free books?"

For some reason, instead of finding humor in his jibe, it irritated her. There was no way Ron was going to ruin her good mood with an insensitive remark. Instead she gave him a tight smile and jabbed him in the ribs.

"Oi! Watch it there. You and your talon fingers just about took a chunk out of me!" he complained loudly.

Turning back to the now-whistling kettle, she poured water into two mugs.

Before she could pick up the mugs and bring them to the kitchen table, Ron grabbed her arse, giving her a good goose as he passed by. "Maybe there's another reason why you're so happy this morning," he said with a twinkling leer.

'Yes, and you're not the reason,' she mused, her bitter thoughts making her mouth tighten at the corners once more. Hermione hoped he would not bring up the situation in which he had found her last night.

"Do you always do that while I'm away at work?" Ron asked with a nudge and a wink.

Doing her best not to let the exasperation sour her face, she plastered on a shy smile. "No. I just… well," she professed in believable tones, "I just needed to, you know… relax." She hoped he would drop the matter.

Despite Hermione's experience with sex – even if it was limited to one partner – she found the idea of masturbating with Ron watching her embarrassing. She had performed fellatio on him and he had reluctantly performed cunnilingus on her a few times, they had sex in a few interesting positions and rarely did anything adventurous in the bedroom. Once or twice, he had tied her down, yet despite Ron's intimate knowledge of his wife's body, Hermione couldn't bring herself to masturbate while Ron watched. It seemed like a very private and personal thing to do, away from prying eyes. Actually, it was more that the idea of masturbating while Ron watched did not arouse her instead.

"Well, if you ever want to relax again, please… let me know. I'll be more than happy to witness that."

Hermione wanted to fold her arms over her chest and petulantly tell him no, but instead kept sipping at her tea instead and fought the urge to roll her eyes. Maybe if he would just be quiet and not say a word, she might let him watch sometime. She just hoped she would never call out Calleo's name in the heat of her own self-induced passion.

After finishing her tea, Hermione made breakfast for them both. It seemed that not only lunch out with the girls would have to go, but her morning scone habit as well. Some egg and toast was much cheaper to prepare. She had lunch with Harry today and needed to find other ways to save every Knut she could for what she would come to think of as her 'weekly habit.'

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

Severus was in a better mood than his usual Friday post parole meeting black mood. There was a light at the end of the tunnel, and for once it was not the Hogwarts Express coming his way.

Lavender could tell that Severus' mien was different, but decided to keep her observations to herself. Knowing Severus' private nature, it was best that he brought it up if he wanted to discuss something. There was nothing that irked a Slytherin more than to out-Slytherin him.

It was during lunch that Severus finally talked of something other than Potions. "I had the most interesting conversation with Mrs. Weasley last night."

Lavender lifted her gaze from the plate of poached salmon with cucumber-dill sauce before her. "Hmm? Do tell."

He prodded at a small pile of greens dressed with a light vinaigrette, before spearing it. "Yes, she works at the Department of Standards and Regulations."

"Hmm. Yes, that is interesting." Lavender was not going to take the bait.

Severus threw down his napkin in disgust. "No more subtlety, Miss Brown. Now is the time to come clean with what you know. If you are going to help, then Draco and I need to know what other information you have been withholding if we are going to be successful in our goals. I must know all that you can tell me, as you seem to know much more than you have alluded to. How did you know you could get Draco and Ginny away from here when you didn't even know about Hermione? How is it you promised Draco such a thing?"

Under the Potions master's glare, she set her fork down and dabbed at the corner of her mouth with her napkin before meeting his penetrating gaze. "All right. I'll tell you what I know and when I knew it. When Ginny wed Harry, I knew she was unhappy and figured she was pining for Draco. Before I came across Draco that fateful day in the alley, I already knew that Hermione worked for that particular department. So when I promised Draco a way out, I figured some method of escape would come to light, though I didn’t make the connection to Hermione till later.

"If you had made the same plans that I would have in your situation, I would guess Polyjuice Potion as a means to your goal. Consider your inclusion to Draco's escape a fringe benefit, as our original contract did not include this clause. You have helped my business beyond measure, so if or when a way became possible, I considered it a given that you would go as well."

"So it was a guess? The luck of the draw that the situation presented itself?" he asked.

"Partially. However, I have my own plans afoot. I have certain goals where Hermione is concerned. It was as time went by that I thought of how to use her to help you, Draco, and Ginny."

Severus stared at her for a long moment wondering if he should violate parole and use Legilimency to see if there was anything else she was hiding. "And what are your plans for Hermione?" Perhaps Miss Brown's plans for her would give light to more information.

"That is of a very personal nature," she calmly answered.

"Damn it!" he snarled, leaning over the table set for two. "Considering the personal nature of my night job, I would think a Gryffindor such as yourself would find the exchange of information a way to make things a bit more equitable. You women always love to talk. Tell me!"

Lavender found it quite amusing that Severus would want to know what she had in store for Hermione. A week ago he was reluctant to have anything to do with her, and now he seemed concerned. Then again, if Hermione was his means for escape, she was sure that he wanted to know that her plans would not interfere with his own.

"I assure you, Mr. Snape, what plans I have concerning Hermione will not stop you three from fleeing. As a matter of fact, your flight from the country just may serve my ultimate purpose," she said with a smug smile. "If that answer still does not meet with your satisfaction, then I will eventually tell you what you want to know. Until then, I prefer to keep my own counsel on the matter."

Severus was not wholly satisfied with Miss Brown's answers, but it would suffice for now. It was a combination of luck and insight that directed them all to this point in time. He would have to make use of her natural talents, as he did not want any mishaps in the execution of his plans.

One last question needed to be asked. "Do you know why Hermione is still doing the same job after four years?" He watched her closely, looking for any signs she might be hiding more information.

"Why don’t you ask your Tuesday afternoon client?"

He had already thought to ask Calpurnia, but Miss Brown's statement merely confirmed his suspicions that she was the right person to ask.

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

Glancing at her surroundings, Hermione figured that Harry didn’t want to talk about marriage counseling in any wizarding establishment, and that was why she was meeting him in another Muggle restaurant. Any witch or wizard who had an incentive to eavesdrop, namely a reporter from any number of publications, would find the news of Mr. and Mrs. Harry Potter in counseling too good to pass up.

The crisp linens and small vase filled with a couple stems of miniature carnations decorated the table. It seemed a bit posh for Hermione's budget, but if she were going to go out to lunch only when Harry invited her, then she supposed a place like this once in a great while wouldn't stress her budget too much.

Harry strode into the restaurant in Muggle attire and raised a hand in greeting from across the dining area.

"Hi," Harry greeted his friend enthusiastically with a smile.

She returned the smile with one of her own that was equally warm. "Hello, Harry. I take it that all went well last night?"

Giving her a shy smile, he nodded. "I'm sorry that we had to get to this point for us to get into counseling, but at least we're both talking to one another. I guess I haven’t been very fair to Ginny in that I haven’t bothered to get to know her as much as I should have and I’ve taken her for granted in some ways. We also addressed my problems with trust. I'm seeing the same psychiatrist for my personal counseling for Monday night sessions starting next week. He's dealt with a lot of Vietnam, Falklands, and Gulf War veterans. The circumstances are different, but a lot of the symptoms are the same."

"I'm sorry about having to yell at you like that," Hermione apologized, "but considering the circumstances, if it wound up helping you and Ginny get on the road to patching things up… well, then…" She shrugged, her gesture finishing her unspoken sentiments.

Harry wore a repentant frown. "I guess I was a complete berk the other night, being drunk and all. But after the session last night, I have hope that things will get better. I feel better than I have in a while. We both got quite a lot off our chests last night." His face became more serious, as his voice became slightly choked with emotion. "Some of it stung, but…" He closed his eyes and shook his head, as he gave another weak smile. "Anyway, how have you been this week?"

"Me?" she squeaked.

The only thought that came to mind was the exhilaration she felt after talking with her gigolo, but that would not be proper conversation. Especially since she had told Harry's wife to stop seeing her own gigolo-slash-boyfriend earlier that week. She doubted Harry would understand anymore than her own husband. Ginny would empathize with her reasoning, but considering Hermione’s threat to the redheaded witch if she continued seeing Malfoy, it would most likely never come to light that she herself was frequenting a brothel, no matter how innocent her purpose.

"Um," she stammered for a moment, "better. I'm so glad to hear you and Ginny are doing better."

"Yeah, so am I. And it's all thanks to you. You finally got us both into counseling where we need it. Let me buy you lunch today as a sign of my gratitude."

Feeling rather guilty for her own hypocrisy, she shoved the feeling aside and beamed back at him. "You don’t have to, Harry."

"Oh please, Hermione. Just this once," he pleaded with a smile, batting his green eyes at her like he used to when they were at school and he needed a favor.

"Oh… all right," she huffed. "But just this once," she scolded him lightly with a waggle of her finger.

Hermione felt much better indeed. Not only was her resentment towards Ron lessened, but Harry and Ginny's marriage seemed to be getting back on track.

Since this was the first relaxed conversation they’d had since Harry's request for Hermione to spy on his wife, she decided this was the best time to bring up a certain topic and see if she could get any satisfactory answers.

"Harry," Hermione said casually, "I was just remembering about all the other Order members. It was nice to see so many of them on Victory Day." She saw Harry's face darken and quickly went on with her tangent. "I saw Tonks. She was looking quite well, and Dedalus Diggle too. You know he's been doing some security work for Hestia Jones in France."

"Really? I'll have to owl Hestia sometime and catch up. It's been too long."

"Ron and I had a chance to chat with Neville and Luna. They seem to be back on speaking terms with one another, I'm glad that at least they were able to remain friends, especially after she returned his ring."

"I heard Neville was seeing Sprout's niece, some Hufflepuff that graduated a few years ago." Harry looked up at the ceiling as he tried recalling the girl. "Can’t remember her name right now, but I think you'd remember her if you saw her."

"Did you get a chance to talk with any of the other Order members on Monday?" she asked, hoping the transition to what she really wanted to ask him would seem smooth.

Harry grimaced slightly. "Unfortunately no. I think next year I'm going to skip the official Ministry function – and avoid the spotlight – and have a party with all the old Order members at the house."

Now was her chance. "Speaking of old Order members, you wouldn't know what happened to Snape and Malfoy, would you?" Hermione hoped it didn’t seem to forced and appeared to be spontaneous.

He jerked upright in his seat slightly and blinked at her owlishly before a scowl began creeping across his face. "No I don’t," he said rather coldly. "And I don’t care. I hope they're miserable suffering under that Death Eater Decree."

Hermione gasped in shock. "Harry! How could you! They were on our side. You can’t mean that!"
"Are you so sure they were on our side? They are both Slytherins," he growled through clenched teeth. "And everyone knows a Slytherin only looks out for himself and no one else. Didn't it ever make you wonder why Albus and Minerva died just before the end of the war? I bet those two had something to do with it. Probably trying to save their own skins by killing off both of them in case I didn't hold up my end of the prophecy. Wouldn’t be surprised if that hooked nose bat poisoned the headmaster; he was a Potions master after all. Could make it look like a nice little accident or maybe just natural causes."

"Harry James Potter! Where did you learn such rubbish? Snape risked his life for you countless times to make sure you lived to defeat Voldemort, and you accuse him of killing Albus! What nonsense," she proclaimed with umbrage. "Albus died of natural causes at the ripe old age of one hundred and fifty-nine. Considering the average life span of a witch or wizard is one hundred and forty, though a few have been known to live until one hundred ninety, Albus lived a rather full life."

"And what about Minerva," he questioned her. "Don't tell me it was coincidence that she died shortly after Albus. And she was only seventy-three. In her prime!"

Memories of her favorite teacher flooded her memories. There were times she had missed her mentor and friend. As her eyes filled with tears, her voice quavered, "You don’t think I miss her? I do! So much! If I could have taken some of those hexes in her stead, I would have. But Snape and Malfoy had nothing to do with that."

"Don't be so sure. Come on Hermione, don’t kid yourself. How else could Death Eaters gotten into the castle unless Snape and Malfoy helped them," he shot back. "How else would Voldemort know about the passage from Honeydukes? Think Hermione! You know they had to be playing both sides so that they could save their own skins no matter which side won."

She was flustered and outraged. "And just who told you this load of tripe? How do you know it was Snape and Malfoy for certain?"

"Moody," Harry bit back. "He told me that Snape and Malfoy were probably the ones who killed the headmaster and Minerva. There was no one else who could have lead the Death Eaters into Hogwarts or get close enough to the headmaster to poison him."

Sitting very still while her mind whirred, Hermione knew Malfoy and Snape had nothing to do with the attack. They had helped defend the castle, while trying to avoid showing their true loyalties to the Order. A few well placed hexes and Obliviates on a group of Death Eaters near Gryffindor Tower had helped them cover their tracks so that no one suspected them as spies. At the time, no one knew the final battle would be but a few days away. Everyone figured that the war might drag on for a few more years. They did what they could to remain useful in their capacity as spies for the future.

However, something did not sit right with Hermione. She knew she was overlooking a bit of information, something important. Still, she could not sit idylly by and let Harry think the two Slytherins betrayed them all.

"Probably? Probably? So he doesn’t know. He's guessing," she said disdainfully.

"He's an Auror and a damn good one. I trust his hunches. I think he's right on this one," Harry asserted.

"So what you're saying is on the presumption of a man who could give conspiracy theorists a run for their money in the paranoia department, you trust what he says? The man won’t even shake my hand!" she fumed. "And I'm a Muggle-born, best friend's with the Boy-Who-Lived, and fellow Order member. It's paranoid delusions!"

"The man got locked in a trunk by a Death Eater for almost a whole year!"

"And don’t you think that did something to him in the long run? He probably needs to get himself into counseling too! As sure as I am about anything, I just know in my heart and my gut that Snape and Malfoy are innocent and had nothing to do with Albus and Minerva’s deaths. I think it's a travesty that they should have this law applied to them. After all they sacrificed, and now this," she declared with a fierce glare.

Harry leaned forward, concerned that his friend was going to get herself into trouble. He lowered his voice, "Hermione, I know what you are thinking. But even if you are right – and I doubt you are this once – don’t go and try and fix this. You'll be labeled a Death Eater sympathizer."

Hermione snorted in disgust. "I highly doubt that. I'm a Muggle-born! You and I are the last people to ever sympathize with the Death Eaters. I think that what they did to them was positively a slap on the wrist. Fudge should have stuck them all in Azkaban; all except Snape and Malfoy."

Shaking his head, Harry said, "How can you feel any sympathy for those two? Snape was horrid to you all those years and Malfoy was even worse. How can you feel the need to clear their names?"

"Because it's the right thing to do, Harry. You know it. If I can prove they are innocent, I want you to make the public declaration. Nobody would dispute you. You’re the Man-Who-Killed-Voldemort. Promise me you will," she begged, her brow furrowed with determination.

Exhaling slowly, knowing Hermione's stubborn streak, he relented. "All right. But it has to be really good and solid. Otherwise, Moody will not budge an inch." Someplace, deep down inside, he worried that she just might be right.

"Moody is not the law, just an enforcer of it," she said solemnly. "If Snape and Malfoy are innocent, then they should be released from the decree. If I do find that Moody is right in his assumptions, then I will have no problem with the idea of those two being penalized to the full extent of the law."

The waiter, waiting for their argument to abate, came over to their table. "Good afternoon. Would you like to hear our specials today?" His cheery tone was like a bucket of ice water being poured on both their heads, drastically altering the mood.

Hermione hadn’t even looked at the menu and any appetite she’d had was long since gone.

"I'm sorry, Harry. I can’t eat. We'll have lunch another time. I'm just…" She rose from her seat, wiping away a few errant tears and licking her lips which had gone dry during their argument. "I need to go back to work, I'll owl you later, bye."

All but fleeing from the restaurant, she didn’t stop until she reached a spot a few blocks away at the edge of a park. Slumping onto a bench, oblivious to the Muggle children playing in the warm afternoon sunshine, Hermione began to weep.
============

A/N: January 2005:: The plot seems to be expanding as I write this, and as I've said before, this is my first story I've posted that's a WIP, so I'm trying to set up all the lovely plot points without having to backtrack in the story.
September 2015:Well, trying to set up all the plot points and not write myself into a hole is why I held off posting the rest of the story (beyond chapter 50) when I picked it up in 2014 until it was complete so I didn't have to write myself out of any more holes.
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And They Didn\'t Live Happily Ever After