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The Ties that Lead to Trust	By : GoldenFeather Category: Harry Potter > Het - Male/Female > Snape/Hermione Views: 32471 -:- 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
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When they walked through the garden and through the columned entranceway, they were greeted by a middle aged woman dressed in a sleeveless white robe that hung elegantly from her shoulders with flat bottomed leather sandals adorning her feet. She looked like she had walked off the pages of a history book. Holding her arms out in welcome, the woman said, "Welcome to Villa del Alba. You are the Snapes, yes?"
Severus nodded to the woman, "We are. Has our luggage arrived?"
"It has been sent to your rooms already. Come, I will show you," she replied and motioned towards a corridor before moving ahead of them.
The hotel seemed to extend in all directions from the entranceway and they walked down many corridors before ascending a small flight of stairs that led to a branched hallway with a door at either end. Turning right they approached the door with a small brass plaque proclaiming the room beyond to be the dove suite and a small mounted figure of a dove in a nest of olive leaves peered at them curiously. The woman from the hotel leaned close to the bird and whispered a password in rapid Italian. The door clicked and swung inwards, revealing their room. Stepping past the hotel clerk, she and Severus glanced around the spacious sitting room. There was a large sofa facing a wall with floor to ceiling windows looking out on a lush garden. Against one wall was an elegant writing desk with a painting of an elaborate fountain with colourful birds flitting back and forth from the edge of the basin. There was an open door, through which she could see a full king size bed and another door which was shut, but she presumed was a bathroom. Their bags were sitting neatly beside one of the comfortable looking arm chairs, as promised.
After looking around for a minute, the hotel clerk gave them an enquiring look, and asked, "Is this acceptable?"
Severus nodded and Hermione continued to look around the room, while the woman continued speaking. "There is a modest bath in this room. The full public baths are downstairs from the front hall and open from six in the morning until midnight. You may also book a massage any time during these hours and we have both male and female masseurs available. The restaurant is located directly behind the front hall and our kitchen has full menu room service. The two way mirror is in the desk drawer. There is information regarding Apparation locations and local attractions in the package on your desk. You may set your door anytime in the next thirty minutes by tapping the inside door guard three times and speaking your password. Is there anything you need?"
"No, that will be all," Severus told the clerk and the woman left.
Glancing back at him, she shook her head and said, "This is a massive flat in London, not a hotel room."
"This is one of the smallest suites in the hotel. It does have a private garden, however," Severus informed her.
"Oh," she said, a little dazed.
Severus moved across the room to where she was standing by the window looking out at the garden. He stood beside her and put an arm around her shoulders, glancing out the window as well. She leaned into him and he tightened his arms around her. When she glanced up at him, he leaned in and kissed her tenderly. They kissed leisurely for several minutes before breaking apart. Severus� hand brushed across her cheek and through her hair before settling at the back of her neck where he toyed with the soft hairs there.
"What would you like to do first?" he enquired.
She considered this for a moment. "The Forum, I think. Once we get settled here. It�s down in the city centre, so we can find other things to do there as well."
***
Though it wasn�t his habit, Severus found himself enjoying the chaos of the tourist attractions in Rome. Years as a spy had trained him to people watch, and there were so many colourful characters, Muggle and Wizarding alike, at the Forum that he couldn�t help but be entertained. He also found it amusing to watch Hermione�s reaction to the whole setting. Where Muggle tourists only saw ruins and fragments of the past, she could see the fully intact political buildings of ancient Rome. Buildings which, as the tour book informed them, held the longest continuous seat of Magical politics in Europe. He found the site interesting for its own merit, but watching his wife delight in her surroundings was far more gratifying. It also stifled any grumbling he might have indulged in over the relentless heat in the city.
Around them, tourists scurried from place to place, snapping photos and moving on quickly out of the sun. After a prolonged consultation with her guide book, Hermione looked up at him and smiled embarrassedly. "I�m doing it again, aren�t I?"
Severus quirked a brow and felt the corners of his mouth turn up very slightly. "Doing what?"
She let out a small sigh that was half amused and half exasperated. "I�m trying to Know-It-All again. Walking around with my nose in a book and ignoring everything around me. I can read this silly book anywhere and here I am making you stand out here baking in the sun while I�m sorting out which Scipio conquered which nation when this building was built. I must be tedious company."
Severus plucked the guide book from her hand and gestured around them. "What do you think I am looking at? What do you think I notice when I look at these buildings?"
For several minutes, Hermione stopped and surveyed the site laid out around her. He stood behind her, matching her gaze as she turned her head and noting what things her eyes seemed to rest on the longest. After the long silence, she said, "I think you are noticing how the other people are moving around, aren�t you?"
"To an extent. Anything else?"
"The different speeds. When I stop and look, all the muggle tourists are racing along, hardly stopping to take a picture or enjoy what they�re looking at. Most of the obvious wizards and witches are taking their time... like there aren�t a million other things to see and do in Rome."
Severus stepped up closer behind her, but didn�t brush up against her in the sticky heat. Instead, he leaned lower to speak softly in her ear. "I also see the buildings, still and unmoving in the sea of people. Fast or slow, the people are changing but the stone remains fixed. It reminds me of what I truly enjoyed about Hogwarts."
"The consistency?" she asked, turning back to look at him.
"The timelessness. No matter how chaotic the movement, there is something unchanging about this place, just as there is at the school. One can almost imagine being able to turn the clock back. The Italian Ministry has made rather strict policies about development and maintenance in the old districts. Even the markets have stringent guidelines. When muggles come here, they come to get a taste of the past. When wizards come, they come to step into the past. Not all the Italian magical community lives like this, but there are pockets here and there that remain as they were millennia ago."
Hermione turned fully to look at him and smiled. "It�s so shocking, you know."
"What is?"
"I have seen plenty of pictures of where we are right now, but all of them were muggle photos. I never imagined to see these ruins intact, or at least mostly intact. I half expect to see the people mentioned in my book walking down the street."
He flipped idly through the pages of her book and paused at a photograph of the Pantheon.
"There are very complex magics at work allowing both the revealing and hiding of various structures," Severus observed tapping a long finger on the photograph in the book. "And this is where it all began. The last great work of combined Roman architecture. Even with the most powerful wizards of the empire working on it, it took years of combined effort to finish the Pantheon. When they were through, everyone was astounded by it. It was the jewel of the Empire. When the Empire began to crumble, many temples were looted, vandalized, some even completely destroyed. More and more the Emperors struggled to keep hold of what they had, not replace what they had lost. When the Pantheon was vandalized, a group of magical artisans put themselves forward to do restorations. They were denied resources and funding. It was seen as a slap in the face to the magical community. Witches and wizards gathered together in anger. As a group, they decided to split from the rest of Roman society. The branches of magic developed as a result of a large empire had advanced enough for them to conceal themselves within it."
Hermione shook her head sadly. "All for pride."
"On both sides," Severus noted. "Within less than a century each pretended the other had never existed. The illusions are so elaborate in parts of Rome that you could walk side by side down the street and neither wizard nor muggle would see each other. Tourists, historians, archeologists, muggles of all kinds can interact with the ruins as if they were completely real. By the time the magical community split throughout the rest of Europe, the knowledge of how all this was created was lost. Part of that was not only secrecy, but also spite. Those who created the enchantments were determined that the split be permanent. The full glory of Rome was more easily preserved by magical means, but those to whom the legacy belong cannot see it. They see their history wearing away with time. Roman wizards, however, are fiercely proud of the city. All that was possibly reparable at the time of the split was restored."
"Is that why the Pantheon still appears in such good condition to muggles? Spite? By all accounts it should have long since sunk into the swamp," she recalled.
"It was meant to remind them just what they had lost. Would you like to go see that next?" He inquired.
Hermione shook her head. "I think it might be something better to visit earlier in the day. I think I�m too hot and tired to appreciate it just now."
"That sounds reasonable. We would have been pressed for time if we had tried to go today anyway. Our dinner reservations are for seven, and I expect we both will want to refresh ourselves at the hotel before going out," Severus observed, checking his watch as he spoke.
"Why don�t we walk down one of the market streets and then go back. There are always such interesting collections of venders all on the same street."
Severus nodded and tucked her hand into the crook of his elbow so they wouldn�t get separated in the press of the crowd down the street. The shops on the street they had chosen were indeed quite varied. Olive venders stood next to clothing shops, apothecaries tucked in between jewellery stores and a dusty looking book shop next to a rather large carpet vender. With a look, he knew Hermione wanted to explore the book store and nodded. They ducked inside and were overwhelmed by the stuffy scent of old books. Hermione grinned and ducked down one of the aisles of teetering books, keen to explore. He, on the other hand, was beginning to feel the effects of too much sun and the stifling heat of the store was oppressive.
Glancing down the aisle that Hermione had disappeared down, he called, "Hermione?"
Her head appeared from around a shelf. "Yes?"
"I think I�ll step out to the apothecary we saw down the street. Is half an hour enough time?" he queried.
She blushed slightly and ducked her head. "I�ll be ready to leave whenever you come back."
Again, a smile tug at the corners of his mouth as he watched her delve into the precariously stacked shelves around her. Nodding, he added, "Do enjoy yourself."
***
Back out on the street, what had been an uncomfortable warm breeze was refreshing on his face. Severus picked his way through the people in the busy market, trying his best to avoid the worst of the crowd. The dim front to the apothecary was blocked by a small group of women exclaiming over something in the window of the jewellers shop to one side. Having no desire to push his way through the giggling young women, he paused for a moment and glanced into the less ostentatious display window of the other jewellery shop that sandwiched the apothecary. Listening to the ladies patter on in rapid Italian about the various baubles they fancied, Severus shook his head. He was glad his wife was not particularly concerned about such frippery. In fact, he hadn�t seen her wear so much as earings in a long time.
Severus frowned. Of course she hadn�t. Given what had happened with her necklace, he understood her keeping it in a small box in her bedside table, and from what he could surmise, she didn�t have much else in the way of jewellery. There was a box no bigger than a ring box in front of her mirror he knew contained earings and he noticed today that she had brought her nice watch. That was all. Giving a thoughtful glance at the ladies outside the other store, Severus ducked inside.
The man behind the glass fronted display case said, "Boun giorno. Posso aiutarlo?"
"Parlate inglese?"
"Ah! English. Welcome to my store. Is there something you are looking for?"
Severus surveyed the display case slowly. "I�m not certain. I was thinking of something for my wife."
"I see, I see. As a souvenir? Or perhaps something to get you out of trouble?" the salesman teased.
Severus shook his head distractedly, not looking up from the case. "No, no. She is here with me. Perhaps something for her to wear to dinner tonight."
The man nodded. "Is it a special dinner?"
"I suppose it is our anniversary tonight," he commented distractedly. There were several pendants he thought might suit her, though nothing particularly grabbed his attention.
"Congratulations to you. Perhaps this might suit?" the salesman asked, bringing a heavy gold necklace hanging on a velvet display stand down from a cabinet behind the counter.
Severus examined it for a moment, then shook his head. "Perhaps on a witch of fifty, but it is far too bold and heavy for her."
"What sort of jewellery does she wear?"
"She doesn�t wear anything very often. She had a pendant much like this," he said, pointing to a small golden oval with a jewelled flower, "however, I would like to find something more special."
"Something young, something light, something beautiful. Yes. Perhaps this." the shopkeeper muttered, using his wand to open another glass case and float down a few more velvet display stands.
Severus frowned as he surveyed the different necklaces before him. They all looked very similar, and like something Hermione would wear, but he was beginning to wonder if he shouldn�t just go back to the bookstore and bring her here to look for herself. Then she could choose whatever she wanted. He shook his head at the idea. No. Given the choice, she would choose a book, and he had decided when he first came into the shop that this would be a surprise.
The shopkeeper had taken the shake of his head as a no, and pulled out another necklace. Setting it on the table, he stated, "This is perhaps more simple, but if this is a holiday, it is good for remembering Italia."
The pendant was a fine, golden arch, a stem with delicate leaves and finely cut emeralds. It looked like an olive branch. Severus arched an eyebrow. It was certainly more unique than the typical cut diamond pendants the man had been showing him. "Perhaps."
"There is also a brooch and a ring to make a set," he commented, floating the mentioned items down to the counter.
The brooch was much like the pendant, only larger and less delicate, but the ring caught his attention. Creating a perforated band, the leaves and stems intertwined with the same finely cut emeralds interspersed, glittering in the carefully placed shop lights. It was elegant and well made, but didn�t look so much like it would break if worn. Severus removed it from the velvet finger and examined it from all angles. Glancing at the shopkeeper, the man was smiling broadly.
"The olive is a gift from the Gods in Italia. A wonderful gift for any woman."
Severus turned the ring over in his hand, contemplating. Oddly, it seemed to suit Hermione. She would see the olives and understand without the need for explanations. Hopefully it would appeal to her intellect, even if she didn�t like the piece itself. Inwardly deciding, he turned to the salesman and began to barter.
***
At the end of their first day in Rome, Hermione was exhausted. It was hard to believe they had arrived just that morning and seen so much already. The Forum was fascinating, not only for its incredible architecture, but also for the variety of people navigating its streets. She had never really considered how magical Rome and muggle Rome interacted with each other. She had gotten used to there being segregated magical communities and areas concealed from muggles, like Diagon Alley, but in England the boundaries between these areas were very neat and distinct. Exploring the Forum, she discovered just how fuzzy the boundaries could become.
The complex enchantments and illusions that preserved the Forum and hid it from view while allowing muggles to interact with it were astonishing. It also saddened her to think of how much was lost by Magical and Muggle societies living separately. The pristine marble buildings that housed the heart of Wizarding society in Italy were at the same time crumbling shells of the past for tourists to explore. Bustling markets were completely hidden from the non-magical eye by ancient spells that had been forgotten with the passage of time. She also discovered in their wanderings that the classical flowing robes the woman at the hotel had been wearing were not an out of place uniform of their hotel, but everyday summer robes of the magical community. In many ways, it seemed, witches and wizards here clung to the past and tradition with a near religious fervour.
The market had been enjoyable, though she did regret dragging Severus through it during the late afternoon heat when they were already hot and tired from a long day on their feet. When they returned to the hotel, he did look a little off, most likely from too much sun. She had to admit that she was feeling the effects of the hot climate as well. Still, he seemed to have enjoyed his visit to the apothecary while she browsed through the cramped bookshop.
That evening, Severus took her to a rooftop restaurant that looked out over the city. When the sun had set, the lights of the city twinkled around them as they savoured the meal and each other�s company. Severus surprised her with a bottle of champagne, filling their glasses before lifting his own in a toast.
"What are we toasting to?" she asked, raising her own glass.
"To surviving the past year?" he suggested, raising an eyebrow.
She shook her head a little, "Just barely, anyway. Perhaps we could toast the end of your teaching career."
"And the beginning of your Charms career," Severus added.
"My as yet theoretical Charms career. I have yet to survive the first encounter of my apprenticeship," she said with a sigh.
Severus set down his drink, reached across the table and took her hand. "You will. You won�t have an easy time of it, but you will make it. I have no doubts in that regard."
"I�m not so confident, but I suppose being humbled is good for me," Hermione said ruefully.
He gave her hand a squeeze before releasing it. "Regardless of how much you learn, or how good you become at something, there are always others who can do it better than you. It does not diminish your own abilities, only puts them in perspective."
She gave him a half smile. "I know. However, I still think toasting my Charms career is premature."
"Then I shall simply toast to my wife, an unexpected, yet wonderful companion," he said softly and raised his glass.
Hermione drew in a quick breath and met his gaze. With a slightly trembling hand, she lifted her own glass to his. "To my husband, a friend unlooked for."
Their glasses clinked, and Severus drank without breaking their eye contact. He seemed to be watching her more intently than usual, and she tried not to squirm under his gaze. He wasn�t invading her thoughts through Legilimancy, though he seemed to be looking into her very soul. After a long moment, they were interrupted by the server arriving with their meals and the exchange ended. They chatted through their meal about what they had seen during the day and what they would like to do during their time in Rome.
When they had finished dinner, they found the nearest Apparation point and returned to the hotel. Hermione opened the sliding door to the garden and slipped off her shoes to walk barefoot on the soft grass. Away from the city the air was clean and she could smell the heady aroma of blossoms in the garden. The grass was cool beneath her toes and the heat of the day had abated. After a few minutes, Severus joined her in her perusal of the garden, also barefoot.
She smiled at him. "You don�t seem the barefoot wandering type."
"I was curious. You seemed to be enjoying it," he commented.
Hermione extended a toe in front of her and skimmed it back and forth along the top of the grass. The tips of the blades felt vaguely ticklish on the sole of her foot, but in a delightful way. She turned to look up at him. "I am. It�s like the opposite of walking through sand. Instead of coarse and hot this is feathery and cool. I like both. This is nice after tramping around all day."
He took a few more steps in the soft grass, watching his feet closely. After a few moments of analysing, he nodded. "You have a point. This is pleasant."
She chuckled softly. "You need to spend more time smelling roses, Severus. Sometimes I think you�ve forgotten all the simple pleasures."
"Like a hot cup of tea on a cold day or a good book you stay up all night to finish?"
"Yes, like that."
He moved to her and wrapped his arms around her. Once more capturing her gaze, he added, "Like waking up to see the sun rise."
"Yes," she nodded, "or having a lie in after a week of late nights to finish a project."
"Or just sleeping beside you and holding you close," he said softly and captured her lips
She felt one hand move up to thread its fingers through her hair while the other moved down her back to pull her against him. Severus parted her lips with a gentle stroke of his tongue before slipping it inside her mouth to slide against her own. She lifted her own hands from where they had been resting comfortably at his waist to his shoulders where she used them to hold him more tightly. When the kiss ended, he brought a hand to her face and traced her cheekbone with his thumb. He watched his fingers intently for a moment, then met her eyes. This kiss was the most intense they had shared since June. Even when they had become intimate again after the attack, it had been cautious and gentle or tender, but not urgent or hungry. She was still quite a bit hesitant about sharing her body, but Severus had placed no pressure on her, though she knew it must be difficult for him to do so.
Leaning into her ear, Severus whispered, "I have something for you."
Hermione pulled back slightly and noticed Severus withdrawing something from his robe pocket. He placed a small box in her hand, gesturing for her to open it, saying, "I am afraid that I do not know the conventions for presenting such an item. Particularly as overdue as it is."
Curious, she lifted the lid on the small box to reveal a delicate, gold ring. For a moment she froze, unable to comprehend the contents. Then, carefully, she lifted the perforated band into a pool of light from the open door to get a better look. Winking green in the soft light, she noticed tiny emeralds set into the band that revealed itself to be intricately woven leaves. After turning it over a couple times, she looked over to Severus, who had retreated a few steps. His face was shuttered, an expression far less common to his features in recent times, and his posture seemed somewhat stiff. Unsure of herself, she said, "It�s lovely... but why?"
His stiffness eased somewhat and he replied, "It is a custom of yours I have ignored. A year ago you bound yourself to me in a tradition that was not your own. Now, I think it is time for me to do the same."
"Severus..." she said, for a moment at a loss, "I�ve never been bothered about that. I was never the kind of girl who had a dream wedding planned when I was seven. I hope you don�t think I ever expected-"
"-In some things you demand so very much, yet in others you expect so very little. Had I known, I would have given you a ring when we wed, for the sake of your tradition. It wouldn�t have been the right time, perhaps, but I�d like you to have it now."
He plucked the box from her fingers and extracted the ring. Taking her left hand, he carefully guided the ring onto her finger. When it settled in place, he gave her hand a squeeze and bent to place a small kiss on her knuckles.
"It�s beautiful. Thank you," she whispered.
A gentle breeze rippled through the leaves surrounding them, and Hermione gave a small shiver. It was refreshingly cool, but after the heat of the day, the night air raised gooseflesh on her skin. Severus ran his hands along the dimpled skin of her exposed arms, leaving a trail of heat in their wake. Pushing up on her toes, she softly trailed her lips along his jaw line towards his ear. Shuddering slightly in return, he slid an arm across her shoulders and guided her back inside. As she brushed past him through the door, she heard him speak softly. "I do love you, Hermione."
She turned back towards him, wrapped in light and shadow at the doorway. Smiling warmly, she told him, "And I love you, Severus. Even if it hasn�t been easy, I think we�re starting to get this right."
"Everything isn�t right yet," he observed.
She shook her head and shrugged. "No, not completely, but it will be. I have utmost faith in that."
"Then I can do no less," Severus responded. Moving with her into the bedroom, he dimmed the lights and guided the door shut with his wand.
As they lay stretched out on the bed together, touching and caressing each other tenderly, Hermione closed her eyes. Relaxing in her husband�s arms, she let herself respond to his touches. Severus paid homage to her body like it was a temple statue. Lips, hands and fingers moved across her skin tantalizingly, but occasionally caused twinges of uncertainty. In the dim light, she touched, caressed and kissed him in return, drowning any qualms she still felt in the thrill and pleasure of physical response. Unlike a year ago, when they had been nervous and unsure, this was both passionate and comforting.
It wasn�t perfect. It wasn�t all wonderful. But it was love and in the end, all anyone could do was trust that everything would work itself out.
***
A/N~ The title of this chapter has always been this, it really isn't meant to be tongue-in-cheek, though in hindsight, I am highly amused by it. This in itself can be the end of the story, though there is an epilogue yet to come.
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The Ties that Lead to Trust