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
- 5
- 6
- 7
Hermione switched on the lights in the laboratory and made her way to her office. Her stomach was doing that familiar swirly thing that it had been doing almost constantly since Severus had given her his ultimatum. This morning she would have to give him an answer and she still had no idea what she was going to say to him. Whatever he thought, five days really wasn’t enough time for her to make a decision that was going to affect the rest of her life.
She had tried to think sensibly about the future but she was still having difficulty putting anything before her work on the virus. It was, and would remain until the cure had been confirmed, the most important thing in her life, and spending the week leaving the office early in order to avoid another confrontation with Severus had done nothing but make her worry that her control of the team was slipping as she wasn’t there to obsess over every little thing that happened.
Despite she and Ron spending more time together than they had done for many months it hadn’t been as helpful in making her decision as she had hoped it might. Although much happier since his decision to work for George, and clearly pleased that Hermione was spending some time with him outside of the bedroom, things still grated between them, especially when he kept trying to bring up the subject of children, the one thing that had always kept Hermione working late. Even the potential move to Hogsmeade had lost her interest and it was all she could do not to shout at him to shut up every time he started talking about it.
Sunday lunch at the Burrow had been a painful experience, as Hermione grimaced her way through Molly’s well-meaning but ultimately frustrating questions about Ron’s new job and their future prospects, and hearing Ron postulate for the millionth time about how wonderful their life would be when they could finally settle down and begin their family.
As expected, everyone seemed to agree with Ron and it had left Hermione feeling distinctly depressed, so much so that she’d had the urge to run screaming from the house just to get away from it all. She hadn’t, of course. Instead, she had spent hours trapped with the Weasley women talking about Ginny’s pregnancy and Angelina’s wedding plans and watching with a shiver of disgust as Audrey fed and changed her baby daughter, Lucy.
Back at home, things were no better. Leaving the office early hadn’t signalled a resumption of their sex life or even increased their intimacy that much. Although Ron talked to her now, incessantly and almost always about what he was going to do now he was leaving the Ministry, the frigidity between them hadn’t really thawed. They still fell into bed with little more than a brief hug and a kiss goodnight, and Hermione couldn’t help wondering how Ron expected her to get pregnant when he wasn’t actually interested in having sex with her. Not that she was all that interested in having sex with him.
Even in the early days of their marriage the sex hadn’t been much to write home about, but Hermione, being so much more naïve then, hadn’t realised that sex could be exciting and so much more pleasurable than she was experiencing with Ron. It was hard to summon up the enthusiasm for something that was probably going to end up leaving her unfulfilled and she wasn’t yet ready to take things into her own hands to try to spice up their love life. It all seemed like so much hard work that she really didn’t have the energy for when her time could be better spent working on the virus cure.
That brought her back to Severus. Unfortunately, Hermione did want to have sex with him. In fact, if she was honest, she had really missed the illicit stolen moments they used to share — although not enough to prove him right and revert back to staying at the office late, not until she had made her decision, anyway. But she did miss the glorious enjoyment that came from a damn good fuck, initiated because it was wanted rather than because it was something that it was felt should happen by default because it was a part of marriage.
But although the sex with Severus was good — all right, it was great — was it really enough to consider giving up the stable life she currently had for a punt on something distinctly unstable and unknown? What guarantee would there be that her life would be any better with Severus, especially if he expected her to decamp back to the Muggle world and the dreary house at Spinner’s End with him?
Hermione was as certain as she could be that choosing Severus would enable her to achieve even more in her career than her current lofty status, but at what cost? Would he try to push her too far and would she crack under the pressure? More to the point, would their relationship be able to stand the arguments that would surely ensue from the stress that would thus be generated? They already argued enough and they weren’t yet a real couple or pursuing career dreams together. Additionally, Hermione was annoyed that Severus was effectively blackmailing her into choosing him — his comment about leaving the project if she didn’t make the choice he wanted was almost enough in itself to make her turn him down, even though she knew her team and the others around the world would probably never forgive her if he did leave.
Finally, Hermione considered a third option, one in which she dumped both Ron and Severus and continued with her career at her own pace, doing whatever she wanted without having to worry about men who wanted to control her. At the moment this seemed to her like the most agreeable option, but she was aware that this was only because she was feeling pressurised by both her husband and her lover and knew that yet again she couldn’t really make a decision on something so final until she knew what options were available to her once the current project finished.
Sighing, she picked up the paper cup containing her coffee and took a sip. She shuddered as the strong-tasting liquid slid down her throat, making her cough. Hermione had added a double espresso to her usual latte this morning, feeling the need for the extra caffeine hit as she was already jittery about the upcoming confrontation with Severus, and having had yet another bad night’s sleep she needed to make sure her brain was firing on all cylinders. She was suddenly realising that this might have been a mistake and she would probably end up being hyperactive, which wasn’t going to help for sleep later, but it was too late now. There was likely only another couple of minutes before Severus arrived. She was sure that he would arrive early, wanting to talk to her before the others made it into work.
Fighting the almost overwhelming urge to flee, Hermione forced herself to stay seated at her desk and open the folder with the most recent work updates. She couldn’t concentrate, couldn’t read the words, but she had to try. She had to stay where she was and face Severus, however hard it was to do so.
As the clock on the wall chimed out the hour, Hermione felt her stomach lurch and her hands clenched. She noticed they were clammy. Her heart was racing so she tried to implement a slow breathing technique designed to stop her from hyperventilating. That coffee really had been a mistake.
Her breathing was cut off abruptly with a sharp intake as she realised Severus was there, coming towards her through the office door. She let out the breath quickly before she choked and tried to look serene and carefree although she knew she wasn’t succeeding.
‘Good morning, Hermione.’
Severus’ voice was calm and warm but Hermione was certain that it was as much of an act as her trying to appear unconcerned was.
‘Hello, Severus.’
He closed the door and Hermione felt her heart make the same clunking noise that the door made. She had the urge to throw herself at him, wanting to feel his lips on hers and his arms around her holding her tight, but that wasn’t going to happen. Hurriedly she moved her hands under the desk to stop the show of nervousness as she began to wring them, unable to stop moving thanks to the boost of caffeine.
‘Are you ready to talk now?’ Severus asked, immediately moving onto the subject Hermione was dreading.
She stared at him for several seconds, a whole raft of emotions running through her, so many that she couldn’t disentangle them. There was lust, the first emotion that had flared as soon as she saw him. There was terror at the thought of having to finally talk properly, and sadness that things were going to change, that she was going to say things that Severus wouldn’t like. There was anger, too, that he was forcing her into this situation in the first place when it was the last thing she wanted.
‘I don’t really have much choice, do I? Not after you gave me that ultimatum last week,’ she replied, a little surprised at how bitter her voice sounded.
Severus stared at her carefully, having picked up on the tone.
‘You know we can’t continue as we are, Hermione,’ he told her, trying to sound reasonable. ‘It’s not just a quick fling anymore, at least it’s not for me . . . and I don’t believe it is for you either. We make a great couple — we’re good for each other, but if we don’t seize the moment and take our relationship to the next level it’s going to deteriorate. It will make working together difficult, if not downright impossible, and that will affect the rest of the team even if we don’t want it to.’
‘I don’t see why,’ Hermione lied. ‘We’re still working on the project exactly the same as we’ve always been. Why can’t we just concentrate on that for the time being? We’ve no idea what’s going to happen after the project finishes so it’s pretty difficult to make decisions on what to do.’
‘You don’t need to know what’s going to happen in the future,’ Severus retorted. ‘This decision is about us, about you leaving your husband and coming to live with me; about us being a couple openly and without needing to creep around every morning and night. I just need you to say yes.’
Hermione felt her heart thump into her stomach at the thought of giving Severus an answer but she knew she had no choice.
‘I’m sorry, Severus, but the time you’ve given me isn’t enough for me to make a decision this important.’ She saw his look turn to anger and added, ‘Ron’s going through changes, too. He’s leaving the Ministry to go and work with George. Eventually he’ll be running a new shop in Hogsmeade, where Zonko’s used to be.
‘Obviously that’s going to affect things between us and I need to work out what the best course of action for the future is. But I really can’t do that until I have some idea of where I’m going when this project ends . . . and I can’t even consider that while I’m still working on the virus. I know it’s not what you want to hear but it’s the only answer I can give at the moment.’
‘You’re saying you don’t want to be with me. You’re choosing Weasley,’ Severus stated, his voice husky.
Hermione shook her head. ‘That’s not what I’m saying at all. I’m just saying that I’m not willing to make a decision this important at such short notice. I know you think it’s clear-cut. For you it is. But I have so many things to consider and I need the time to make sure that I make the right choice.
‘You trying to steamroller me into choosing you isn’t any better than Ron trying to force me into having kids. If I’m honest, at the moment part of me wants to tell you both to sod off and leave me alone so I can concentrate on the project.’ She sighed, then continued, ‘I don’t really mean that either, not deep down, but at the moment it’s the most dominant feeling that comes to mind with you both trying to force me into decisions that I’m not yet ready to make. I’m sorry.’
‘You know we can’t continue as we have been,’ Severus warned.
Hermione shrugged. ‘I don’t know what you want me to say, Severus. I’ve told you how I feel and if you can’t understand that then I’m not sure where we go from here.’
‘I told you last week what I would do,’ he warned.
Hermione stared at him, trying to fight down the panic. It was tempered with anger that he was still trying to force her into a decision she didn’t want to make.
‘I don’t want you to leave the project because of this, Severus. It’s not fair to everyone else if you go. I don’t know if you understand what effect you have on the teams. You boost everyone’s morale. Everyone’s willing to work harder and smarter just because you’re part of the team. I don’t want to lose that, especially when we’re so close to winning.’
Severus considered her words, his lips pinched, the scowl she remembered so well appearing on his face.
‘I don’t want to let everyone down but I would do if I stayed,’ he told her honestly. ‘I can’t be near you if I can’t touch you, and I’m not willing to be a bit on the side, skulking around hoping not to get caught out any longer. As you say, the project is progressing nicely so it’s a good time for me to bow out and leave you all to it.’
‘Severus, please reconsider,’ Hermione pleaded, a sudden cold feeling creeping through her at his words. ‘The project needs you. You’ve no idea how upset everyone will be if you go.’
She almost said I need you but managed to stop herself, knowing that it would only reopen the argument.
‘It would be best for everyone if I left,’ he averred.
Hermione shook her head. ‘No, it wouldn’t. It wouldn’t be best for anyone and now really isn’t the time to quit. You might think it would be best for you but I know that beneath that harsh, sarcastic exterior you exude there’s actually some decency there, and eventually you would regret walking out on the project.’
Severus sighed loudly. ‘All right, I won’t quit. But I won’t be coming to the laboratory either.’ Hermione went to reply but before she could speak he added, ‘I will come here one day a week. Wednesday would seem to be the opportune day as it’s the day we have our team catch-up meeting. The rest of the time I will work at Spinner’s End. But I do not expect to be disturbed there unless it’s something life-threatening.’
When Hermione continued to stare at him, looking unhappy, he shrugged and told her, ‘It’s the best I can offer, Hermione. Take it or leave it.’
‘I really wish you would reconsider,’ Hermione said, her voice as unhappy as her expression.
‘I wish you’d leave your husband, but that’s not happening either, is it?’ Severus batted back coldly.
Hermione picked up her now almost cold coffee and took a sip. She grimaced and put it back down on the desk.
‘I suppose I have no choice but to accept then, although it’s not going to make things any easier, especially if we can’t contact you.’
‘I’ll be here once a week,’ Severus pointed out.
Hermione stared at him for several long seconds.
‘All right. If that’s what you think you have to do then I accept . . . but I’m not happy about it.’
Severus shrugged again. ‘You know what will make me change my mind.’ Hermione’s eyes narrowed. He continued, ‘I’m going to leave now. I’ll come back on Wednesday. It’ll give you a chance to explain the new arrangements to everyone.’
‘You’re not going to stay and tell them yourself?’ Hermione asked, sounding surprised.
‘No. You’re the head of the project, you can tell them.’
‘Coward. What’s the matter, worried that you’ll change your mind when you see how upset they are by your news?’ Hermione said, her anger rising.
‘Don’t call me a coward,’ Severus replied coldly. ‘It’s not me who’s forced this decision so I don’t see why it should be up to me to tell the team.’
With that he opened the office door and left, leaving Hermione staring after him, trying to decide whether she wanted to kill him or run and get him back so she could kiss him. In the end she did neither but instead let him go and pulled the folder towards her to read as she waited for her team to arrive, not wanting to give them the news she had to impart.
At least Severus hadn’t left the project completely. They would still get to see him once a week and have the benefit of his experience so there was no reason that things would significantly deteriorate.
For the first time ever Hermione wished that the project was completed, but not because of the lives it would save.

Hermione slammed the door as she entered the laboratory, then sighed wearily. She was tired and grumpy and if she was being honest, she would rather be anywhere than here this morning. It had now been over two weeks since Severus had given her his ultimatum and left, and while there hadn’t been any major problems in the wake of his leaving she knew the team blamed her for his absence even though they must have had no idea why he had chosen to isolate himself once more.
It didn’t help that when he had turned up for the Wednesday meeting the previous week he had been as friendly as anything with everyone except for her. With Hermione, he had been civil but distant and had made no attempt to talk to her alone or even at all, confining his movements to the main team area where Hermione heard them all laughing and joking, seemingly louder than usual, while she had sat at her desk alone in her office trying desperately to calm herself and prepare for the meeting ahead.
Once the meeting finished her team all left the laboratory, taking Severus with them to a local pub for a lunch date to which she apparently had not been invited. Once the team returned without Severus, all of them now belligerent and accusing, the afternoon had been extremely uncomfortable and only increased Hermione’s feeling of exclusion.
No one said anything to her about it directly but Hermione had felt their anger. She hadn’t known what she could say that would improve the situation, particularly when she had no idea what Severus had told them.
She knew her mood, too, had been affected by Severus’ leaving. How could it not when she was desperately missing both him and the time they used to spend alone together and was now also fighting against the hostility of her team? This hadn’t helped to make the atmosphere any more pleasant and Hermione had ended up scheduling as many meetings outside of the laboratory as she thought she could get away with in an attempt to stop the bad feeling escalating.
Things hadn’t improved on the home front either, her less than positive work experience leaving her drained and fretful by the time she got home in the evening. Ron, not knowing what was going on, wasn’t able to provide much in the way of support although he had cooked her a meal every night without complaining, for which Hermione felt grateful.
Annoyed with Severus for what he had caused to happen, and knowing that for the time being there was nothing she could do to improve the work situation, Hermione had decided to focus on her life outside of work; the uncomfortable atmosphere at the laboratory had given her a jolting reminder of how easily things could go wrong and leave her as unhappy in her job as Ron was in his. Perhaps Ron was right and she should take a break once the project was finished. Maybe a move to Hogsmeade with babies and the joke shop would be good for her after all.
But for that to happen she needed to significantly increase the standing of her relationship with her husband, and that meant a resumption of their sex life and more intimacy than they had shared for several years. The problem was that Hermione had grown used to the rough and ready handling by Severus during their fumbles in the office, knowing that even in bed his actions were never dull or repetitive. Ron was a completely different kettle of fish; his style of lovemaking just didn’t do anything for her any longer.
Hermione tried to tackle this by becoming more proactive in their lovemaking, a dominant side that she hadn’t previously known she had emerging to take control. At first Ron seemed quite excited by the prospect but it hadn’t taken Hermione long to realise that for him this was something that he would tolerate only occasionally, and then only when he was in the mood, rather than it becoming a regular part of their lovemaking.
Most of the time he was quite content to end the evening with nothing more than the usual hug and kiss. Although sometimes Hermione was able to elicit a brief bout of foreplay, it did nothing to increase her arousal and was followed by the missionary position, generally consisting of a few rapid thrusts and a loud groan that signalled Ron’s satisfaction and her disappointment.
It was in this melee of broken feelings that Severus would be joining her and the team for their next weekly meeting and Hermione wasn’t at all sure she was going to survive the experience. She was already dreading a repeat of the previous week, but at the same time she knew there was nothing she could do to improve the situation.
There was only one thing that would bring Severus back to the office on a regular basis and at the moment it was something that Hermione couldn’t even consider agreeing to.

By the time Severus arrived for the meeting Hermione’s mood was toxic, and she decided she needed to face him down and make him understand the problems he was causing by being so bloody selfish. One way or another she would make him feel guilty for what he had done, would make him see that he had to return to working in the office regularly.
As soon as he arrived in the laboratory Hermione ordered him to come into her office so she could talk to him in private. Severus blatantly ignored her command, instead turning to talk to the rest of the team in his usual friendly manner. Humiliated in a way she had never felt before, Hermione had no choice but to back down; she retreated to her office, crestfallen, knowing that she had now totally lost control of her team thanks to Severus’ shoddy behaviour.
It took her fifteen minutes to calm down enough to join the others for the weekly meeting, and she made it clear throughout that she was not in the mood for anything but hard facts. Reports about their work and that of any of the other teams were welcome, anything else was not.
At the end of the meeting Hermione told Severus icily that she wanted to see him in her office immediately. For a few seconds it looked like he was going to refuse and Hermione knew if he did that she would have no choice but to dismiss him or completely lose face, but fortunately he eventually assented with a slight nod of his head although the expression on his face made it quite clear that he was attending under duress.
Hermione knew the rest of the team were talking about them as they made their way into her office but she didn’t care. She was furious with Severus and his behaviour towards her and she had every intention of letting him know it.
‘Why didn’t you come in here like I asked you to before the meeting?’ she growled, unable to keep her tone even.
Severus shrugged uncaringly. ‘From your expression it was clear that you weren’t going to be saying anything I wanted to hear, so there was no point in either of us wasting our time.’
‘You completely undermined me by doing that,’ Hermione pointed out. ‘I am still your boss while you remain a member of this team, however little you participate and whether you like it or not. If I tell you I want to see you in my office you come here straight away, you don’t ignore me, do you understand? You came close to being dismissed today because of your attitude.’
‘I don’t know why you wanted to see me, anyway. We haven’t got anything to say to each other that can’t be said in front of the whole team, have we? You haven’t changed your mind. Have you considered that it might be your attitude that’s causing the problem, not mine? I have no problem with everyone else. They all love me.’
‘And hate me,’ Hermione retorted angrily. ‘I don’t know what you’ve told them, Severus, but they’ve lost all respect for me and it’s only been since your ultimatum. It’s not fair what you’re doing to me. You’re ruining my career because you’re not getting your own way.’
‘I am doing nothing of the sort. It’s not my fault that the team don’t see you as anything other than their boss, and not a very good one at the moment, either. I haven’t said anything to them, they’ve picked up on the tension all on their own,’ Severus said, far more in control than Hermione.
She didn’t believe him. ‘I’ve seen you, chatting away to them all, having a laugh and a joke — at my expense, no doubt.’
‘They’re my work colleagues. How am I supposed to react?’
‘But you went to the pub with them and I wasn’t invited. When they came back I could feel the animosity so I don’t believe you didn’t say anything,’ Hermione insisted angrily.
Severus shook his head and sighed. ‘You’re being paranoid, Hermione. I’m not doing or saying anything to the team, but they are a bit wary of you. You’re unstable at the moment and it’s making you extremely difficult to be around. That’s why they didn’t invite you to the pub — because they didn’t know if the bright and breezy Hermione or the taciturn and argumentative Hermione would show up. You need to sort yourself out before you lose them all.’
‘You need to come back to work,’ Hermione stated. ‘If you came back to the office everything would be all right again.’
Severus stared at her ruefully. ‘You know that’s not true. It would just make everything worse. At least we only have to go through this once a week.’
‘But if you were back here their attitude would change, I know it would,’ Hermione pleaded.
Severus’ voice hardened slightly. ‘Are you saying that you’re ready to leave Weasley and come and live with me, then?’
Hermione stared at him unhappily for several long seconds before she slowly shook her head. ‘No. I’ve told you before I can’t make that decision at the moment, not without some proper time to consider.’
‘You’ve had another two weeks,’ Severus pointed out. ‘How long does it take to realise that you don’t love your husband, don’t want his dreams of joke shops and children? How long until you realise you’re letting the best thing in your life slip away because of your stubbornness?’
‘My stubbornness! I’m not the one who had a hissy fit and refused to come into work because his co-worker is trying to act like an adult and make a proper considered decision rather than rush away on a flight of fantasy just because you’re a good fuck. Don’t talk to me about stubborn.’
‘Are you going to leave Weasley?’ Severus’ tone was glacial now.
‘No! Are you going to come back to work?’ Hermione’s tone was equally icy.
‘Of course not. Nothing’s changed, so my decision stands. It’s your own fault if this all crashes and burns, Hermione. You need to stop worrying about what your team think of you and start making decisions about your life. I don’t know why you won’t just admit that I’m right. You know I am, so why keep pretending?’
‘We’ve been over this so many times,’ Hermione said in frustration. ‘I can’t make a decision like that while I’m working on this virus. But we’re never going to get a vaccine finished if you don’t come back — if you keep creating discord within the team.’
‘I’m not the one creating discord, and I’m not staying here to have the same old argument again and again. Don’t bother inviting me in for a little chat anymore . . . unless it’s to tell me you’ve changed your mind. I’ve got nothing further to say to you that can’t be said out there with the rest of the team,’ Severus told her.
Hermione stared at him with dismay.
Severus’ jaw was set firm, his lips a thin line of displeasure. ‘I’ll see you for the meeting next week, Hermione.’
Feeling as if she wanted to cry, Hermione watched him leave the office, closing the door just a little too loudly as he went.

Hermione ignored the raised eyebrows from her team that greeted her when she finally felt calm enough to leave her office. Determined to keep her pride intact, even knowing they had heard the sound of the latest argument between her and Severus, if not the actual words, she smiled at them as she headed for the door, deciding that a long walk would help to both improve her mood and keep her away from the laboratory for a while.
Once the door closed there was a flurry of conversation from the team.
‘Do you think there’s a big problem between Hermione and Severus?’ Charlotte asked anxiously. ‘They seem to do nothing but argue these days. What if he leaves completely? He’s already stopped coming to the office apart from the weekly meetings.’
Jack chuckled and shook his head, not seeming worried. ‘They’ve always argued, Charlotte. When we were at Hogwarts he was always having a go at her. The only difference these days is that this time Hermione’s the one in charge and I suspect that doesn’t sit too well with Severus after what he put her through at school.
‘He was always pretty critical of her then and he’s probably no different now, but now she can argue back with him without getting into trouble for it. Look at the way he acted today, refusing to go to her office when she wanted to speak to him before the meeting and staring her down afterwards. I reckon it’s all just a power play because he’s having trouble getting used to Hermione being the boss.
‘I wouldn’t worry about it too much, though. Hermione knows we need him for the project so she’s not going to do anything to drive him away completely. She knows what a snarky bastard he can be when he wants to be and no doubt he’s still a bit twitchy about coming out of retirement, which probably doesn’t help. It’s all still going pretty well even with him not coming into the office so much, so unless that changes she probably won’t do anything to bring him back as they’re probably better off apart.’
‘I dunno, I thought it might be something a bit more personal than that,’ Lisa said. ‘Hermione seems really unhappy recently. She always looks like she’s on the verge of tears and I’m a bit worried about talking to her in case she loses it completely.’
‘What, do you think they’re having an affair or something?’ Osbert asked with a grin. He chuckled. ‘Perhaps they’re arguing about who goes on top.’
Lisa wrinkled her nose in disgust at his comment. ‘I don’t think that’s likely, but I do think their arguments are about more than just work. I heard him talking about her husband holding her back in her career a little while ago. It’s like he’s some sort of Svengali figure, trying to control her life. I know that started an argument because she said she didn’t want to talk about it and stormed out of the laboratory.’
‘I wouldn’t take that too seriously,’ Jack retorted. ‘Severus never liked Ron when they were at school either, or her other friend, Harry. I don’t know if it was because they were Gryffindors or what, but he was always picking on the three of them and their mate Neville; I don’t suppose he’s changed his views much, especially as he always thought Ron was an idiot. As that’s the case you can see why he would think he was holding her back.’
‘Actually, I think Hermione’s going through a tough time at home at the moment,’ Catherine said quietly. ‘I was talking to Marcy up in the Department of Magical Law Enforcement the other day and she told me that Ron’s leaving the Auror office.’
‘Really?’ Lisa looked interested. ‘Did she say why?’
‘Apparently he’s just had enough — really fed up with it, she said,’ Catherine confided. ‘She said he’s going to work with his brother — you know, the one that runs Weasleys’ Wizard Wheezes. He’s going to run their new shop in Hogsmeade.’
‘Hogsmeade? Hermione’s not going to be happy about moving there, surely?’ Stephen said, sounding horrified. ‘It’s bloody miles away from anywhere.’
‘It won’t stop her coming into work or anything, though,’ Catherine pointed out. ‘It’s still only a Floo ride away.’
‘Yeah, but I bet the stress from that isn’t helping,’ Lisa cautioned, sounding sympathetic. ‘It’s quite an upheaval moving jobs and home, especially when we’re this close to finishing the project.’
‘And he’s trying to get her to have a baby, too,’ Catherine added. ‘I don’t think she’s very happy about that either from what I can gather.’
‘How do you know that?’ Lisa asked.
Catherine shrugged. ‘Marcy again. Ron’s been telling everyone that this move is going to be a new start for him and Hermione — that they’re going to be settling down and having kids, going to run the joke shop together. From what she said it sounds like they might have been having a few problems with their relationship, which he’s hoping this move will sort out.’
‘Well, you can see why Hermione might be unhappy about that,’ Stephen said.
‘And why Severus might be unhappy, too,’ Jack added. ‘You know he’s always pushing her to excel in her career, and that would make sense with what you said, Lisa — he probably thinks she’s wasting her life by jacking it in and going and having a family with Ron, which is bound to cause arguments.’
‘You don’t think she’s going to leave the project, do you?’ Charlotte asked anxiously.
‘Definitely not,’ Stephen assured her. ‘This project is the most important thing in Hermione’s life right now. There’s no way she’ll leave it until it’s successfully completed.’ He thought for a moment then added, ‘That might add some stress, though, if Ron’s trying to get her to leave because of his new job and to have a baby.’
Jack snorted. ‘He’s got no chance. There is no way Hermione will leave this project, especially to have a kid — and there’s no way on earth she’d give it all up to work in a bloody joke shop. She might leave Ron, though, if he gives her enough grief about it.’
‘Do you think that’s likely?’ Lisa asked.
Jack shrugged. ‘Who knows? I reckon we’re probably all reading too much into it. She and Ron are probably perfectly happy and planning for a baby once the project finishes. I mean, she doesn’t have to give up her career just ‘cos she’s got a kid, and her working at the joke shop is probably just wishful thinking on Ron’s part.’
‘I suppose we should try to support her as much as possible,’ Lisa said.
‘We need to do our jobs and get on with sorting out this virus,’ Stephen retorted. ‘That’s the best way to help Hermione . . . and Severus. Once the virus is contained he can disappear back to the Muggle world and the obscurity he so clearly craves. That’s probably what some of the arguing is about as well. Let’s face it, we all knew he wasn’t going to be all that eager to come and help, so Hermione achieved something major by getting him on the team in the first place, and we shouldn’t forget that.’
‘We could cut Hermione a bit of slack, though,’ Lisa said. ‘We were pretty nasty to her last week when we all went out to the pub with Severus and didn’t invite her along. I know she never said anything but I got the impression she was really hurt by that.’
‘She probably wouldn’t have come anyway. You know what she’s like, busy in meetings and stuff,’ Osbert retorted, trying to assuage his own guilt a little.
‘We still should have asked her, though,’ Lisa insisted.
Catherine nodded her agreement. She frowned, looking thoughtful. ‘We all automatically took Severus’ side that day, because he was obviously angry with her, wasn’t talking to her. We just assumed that it was her fault. But if he’s being this Svengali-like figure like Lisa said, and she’s having all this upheaval at home, it’s not surprising that they argued, and it’s as much Severus’ fault as it is Hermione’s.’
‘I still think it will all blow over,’ Stephen said. ‘You wait and see: give it another couple of weeks and it will all have sorted itself out.
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Twenty Four Hours