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The Morning After	By : Queeny Category: Harry Potter > Het - Male/Female > Snape/Hermione Views: 58833 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
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
- 18
- 19
- 20
Chapter
19 � Sensible Shopping

Author: Queen Celestia

Disclaimer: No owning HP.

++++

Diagon Alley was nearly empty, seemingly the only people around were those
who ran the shops.

Severus� confident brisk walk, with the
hurrying steps of Hermione behind him, was a peculiar site to be seen, and was
the focal point for some time, until they took a brisk left down a road
Hermione had never noticed before. The shops, although shuttered seemed to
exude a quiet elegance, leading her to believe that this was the higher end of
town.

�A
small shop, with a small display and simple title, Lovattes,
came into view, and without a word Severus pushed in.

Upon entering the shop, Hermione was dazzled
by the display of jewelry; glittering diamond goblets, amethyst spoons, and
heavy silver necklaces to state some of the ware.

But the intent of the trip was clear, as
Severus walked purposefully towards the ring counter.

After a moment, a decrepit old man
appeared, his white cotton candy hair curling tightly against his head. His
face strongly resembled that of a particularly ugly gnome, and when he spoke
his voice was thin and reedy with a slight touch of gravel that made one want
to immediately tune him out.

�Hello Severus, it�s been awhile hasn�t it?
How�s your diamond cauldron coming along then?� the old man bustled about, but
as far as Hermione was concerned, the man seemed to be busy with nothing.

�Hello Mr Lovatte, it has been awhile, and the diamond cauldron is
coming along beautifully,� Severus was rather polite to the man, which made
Hermione take another glance at him.

�Ah, good to hear, good to hear, although I
must say I am disappointed that you did not come sooner, could have saved
yourself a lot of trouble, a lot of trouble.� the old man suddenly dived down
into drawer, large noises could be heard as the man seemed to be fighting
something locked within.

�How�s business been lately?� Severus
continued as if nothing odd was happening.

Red faced Mr Lovatte came up, a simple box in hand.

�Oh not so good, not so good,� he wheezed,
polishing the simple light tan box with a sleeve, �times are bad, very bad no
one needs the false jewels when the real ones become apparent.�

Hermione gave a start, and she inspected
the jewelry again amazed that such realistic things should be fake.

An insipid chuckle drew her attention back
to the man, who was continuing to polish the box, which seemed to shine less
every time he passed his sleeve over it.

�No no, those are
real alright, mined from the best places on earth, but those are just rocks at
high value,� at the next part the man pointed to Hermione, �While you are the real treasure, am I right
Severus?�

�Quite right, no one can put a price on
human life,� Severus� fingers were drumming against the counter, an affected air
of boredom beginning to settle down around him.

Colouring slightly, Hermione focused on a rather peculiar looking jade
broach, carved into a strange mesmerizing intricate maze.

�Ah what a fine choice, but that particular
necklace won�t be bought for another four years, although I do like to say that
whoever can find the true path out, I would give it to them for free I would.�

Spurred by the idea of a challenge, she
concentrated more, but found the more she stared at it the more confusing it
became as each of the paths melted into one chaotic mess, and the more she
concentrated the more impossible it seemed.

Frustrated, she looked up at the old man,
who was staring at her intently.

�Why would no one buy it for another four
years?� she asked.

Giving her a small smile, he replied, �No
one wants to buy something that they don�t understand.�

�Oh. I suppose we should look at rings
then?� she looked questioningly at Severus, whose mind appeared to be
elsewhere.

�No need no need, already done already done,�
Mr Lovatte interjected, as
he held out the tan box he had been polishing, it had taken on a rather dull
murky hue, and Hermione wasn�t quite sure she wanted to see what was inside.

�No worries, when I saw what was to happen,
these designs came to me and I knew that sooner or later, although later than I
wanted him to be, Severus would come to pick them up,� Mr
Lovatte continued, before opening the box to reveal
the wedding bands.

Two rings with opposite colouring
lay side by side, one was gold, inset with a ring of
small emeralds, while the other was silver inset with small rubies.

�You dreamed these?� fascinated Hermione
reached out to touch the rings which seemed to hum beneath her fingers.

�Oh yes yes of
course, it seems Severus didn�t bother to inform you,� he chuckled, �My family
has been in the jewelry business for generations, not by choice mind you, but
by duty. It�s our power you see, to craft the right jewelry for the right
people.�

�Interesting,� she murmured, before looking
around the store, �So every single piece is meant for someone?�

�Oh no, not everything, we do have our fun
little side projects, the basic generic goods for the buyers, only sometimes
will we make specific items for specific people, it comes to us in dreams, or
visions as you might say.�

�So you dreamed of us?� she whispered.

�Yes, yes of course.� the manner in which
he replied told Hermione that he would not say anymore, so she let the other
questions go.

But why would he dream of them? It niggled
at her mind, continuously drawing her thoughts to it.

When her attention was drawn back, Mr Lovatte was showing Severus
the silver ring to be his, and then instructing them to exchange rings.

Taking her hand in his Severus looked at
Hermione, his expression unreadable as he slipped the golden ring upon her
finger, a tingle shot up her finger as the ring sized itself perfectly, as she
slipped Severus ring on, she watched it widen a little, fitting his long
fingers the rubies colouring like deep drops of
blood. A strange pull between the rings could be felt, as a small hum eminated, and a glow from each ring reached out to the
other, before the golden tendrils shot back into the rings with a snap, the
humming stopping immediately.

Looking up at Severus, she noticed his look
of concern, before their attention was drawn back by Mr
Lovatte.

After settling the bill, the two of them
headed back to Diagon Alley, and upon leaving the
street they had been on, Hermione noticed the sign with strange loopy writing
telling her she had just been on Warlock
Street.

�

�Is there anything you need?� Severus�
voice brought her attention back to him, his pace had slowed somewhat, his eyes
focusing on some vague location in the distance.

�Oh, uhm,� she
paused quickly running through her mind the things she might need, before
remembering that a book title she heard mention to one of her various research
subjects could be possibly be found here. �Yes, I need to stop in at Flourish
and Blotts.�

�Why am I not surprised?� she heard him
murmur, before he continued his walk towards the book store.

Flourish and Blotts
had a positively gloomy atmosphere as if, no one seemed to visit it anymore,
and upon entering the store, the emptiness seemed to reflect in the faint feel
of neglect that seemed to permeate throughout.

Severus told her to be quick, as he idly
picked up an edition of Potions Weekly;
giving him a nod, she went off in search of the book, at the other end of the
store.

Lost among the titles, she did not feel the
presence of someone behind her before a small scared voice, either cracked by
age or fear, suddenly sounded.

�Oh miss, miss why you be
coming here with him?�

Giving a little shriek, and quickly shoving
the book back onto the shelf she had been perusing, she took in the form of a hunched
over woman, with wiry black hair peppered with white, thick brows overset black
crazed eyes, spittle coming out of her mouth. A faded red balaclava was set
upon her head, ragged torn robes that could have once
been another colour were now only noticeable as a blacky brown. Her smell of unwash, closely resembled
that of an unwashed horse stable.

Her gnarled hands reached out and grabbed
the hem of Hermiones sleeve, �He be very bad, he is,
oh so bad.� the crazy eyes looked at her, disturbing Hermione.

�Excuse me, Ma�am, but I don�t know what
you�re talking about,� Hermione replied kindly, deciding that the best way to
deal with this poor soul of society was kindness, for no doubt this woman had
been through enough pain.

�Those Snapes are
bad, very bad miss, leave while you can, miss, leave him, leave.� The womans voice had taken on a sort of shrillness, the genuine
intent on saving her becoming increasingly evident with her agitation.

�Who is that?� his voice came from behind
the two, a growl evident. The beggar woman gave a terrified shriek, before
scurrying behind Hermione, trying to hide.

A black expression was on his face, his
eyes lingering on the woman behind Hermione. �What are you doing here?�

The woman clutched at the back of Hermione�s
robes, her entire body trembling in fear.

�Speak to me, woman, what are you doing
here?� Severus took a step forward, a look of intent murder upon his face, his
wand hand twitching.

�Murderer.�
the womans voice seemed to penetrate every ounce of
the store, and with the courage gained by the silence, she repeated the words
again and again, her quivering gnarled finger pointed directly at his heart.

�Murderer! Murderer! MURDERER,� with each utterance of the word, her voice
became higher and shriller, her eyes wider, as she came out from behind
Hermione, accusingly throwing the word over and over at Severus, as a sense of
empowerment came upon her.

Severus stared at the woman, a brief look
of horrified disgust flickering across his face, before it was quickly replaced
by rage.

�SHUTUP!� he yelled, starting towards the
woman, who kept shrilly shrieking Murderer.

Hermione was in shock, the demented look of
rage on Severus� face brought forth her memory of her third year when Sirius
had got away.

�What�s this about then?� a voice sounded
behind them, and Hermione recognized the face of the store owner.�

At the voice of the owner Severus swiveled
around, his eyes alighting on the face, and with a considerable amount of
effort, he turned away from the shrilly shrieking mad woman, before he gritted
out, �Get this crazy woman out of here.�

He turned his dark gaze to Hermione, �Have
you your book, I want to leave.�

Giving a quick nod, Hermione finally
spotted the book she wanted, grabbed it and followed Severus to the till,
leaving the owner to deal with the demented woman.

Once out on the street again, the curiosity
too much to contain, Hermione blurted, �Who was that woman? What did she mean
murderer?�

Severus� stride became longer, his face
closed off from her.

After a silence so long, that Hermione was
beginning to believe that he hadn�t heard her, she heard a curt, �No one.�
before he grabbed her arm and apparated.

The feeling of being sucked down a
particularly dirty small tube, left Hermione off
kilter for a moment, before noticing that they were most definatly
not at Hogwarts.

�Where are we Severus?�

To which he simply replied, �Home.�

+++++

AN: This has been in my head for over a year, such a relief to let it
out! Can anyone guess who the crazy lady was? :)

@ A_reader � Hermione is a nerd, she
doesn�t have fashion. [ and neither do I !]

@ Dresoul � I just wanted to move the plot
along. Smut will appear again! Have no fear!
- 18
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The Morning After