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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
- 7
- 8
- 9
‘Ron, I really need to talk to you,’ Hermione said.
She had been sitting in the kitchen of their flat waiting for him to return home for almost three hours now, and she was wound up as tight as the coil of a spring. Ron had been in Hogsmeade for over a week and the only contact between them had been the owl he had sent yesterday telling her that he would be home tonight by seven p.m. It was now almost ten and he had only just walked out of the Floo, still talking about the bloody shop.
‘Don’t worry, love, I’m going to tell you all about it,’ Ron assured her cheerfully. He waved the bag he was still carrying. ‘Just let me just dump this and make a cup of tea and we can go through it.’ He chuckled as he thought about something, then added, ‘It’s been a funny old week. We’ve had a real laugh, me and George. But I'll tell you all about that in a minute. Put the kettle on.’ He walked out of the room, his voice trailing back to Hermione as he said, ‘A sandwich or something wouldn’t go amiss either.’
Hermione sighed and stood up, putting water in the kettle and placing it on the stove to boil while she went to the fridge to retrieve the milk, then took two mugs from the cupboard and placed them on the table. By the time Ron came back to the kitchen the teapot had joined them and Hermione had taken a portion of the shepherd’s pie she had made earlier from where it had been keeping warm in the oven and put it on a plate in front of him.
Ron thanked her appreciatively before tucking in, taking mouthfuls of the hot tea between bites of the food. Hermione sat and watched him eat, sipping delicately at her own tea as she debated how she was going to approach the conversation she needed to have with him.
She knew what she needed to say, but how she was going to say it was the issue. Ron could be so touchy that the slightest thing could set him off when he was in the right mood; the last thing she needed was for him to lose his temper, especially over something so emotive. She needed to wait and judge from the way he spoke to her how best to tackle him.
Hermione was feeling a bit annoyed with Ron for making her wait, not just this evening but for the whole week, as it meant the time she had left to sort things out was so short now — it had to be done tonight. Severus would be back in the office the day after tomorrow and if she wasn’t ready to go with him then he was going to leave both her and the project completely, and then Merlin only knew what her life would be reduced to.
Knowing how wound up she currently felt, Hermione couldn’t help wondering what she would have been like if she hadn’t had her get-togethers with Lisa — and there had been several over the last few days. The other woman was as good as her word, never prying but allowing Hermione to reveal as much or as little as she wanted to talk about; and surprisingly, Hermione had found herself talking.
At first the conversation had been somewhat stilted, Hermione not wanting to open herself up to scrutiny and their relative positions within the team causing a slight barrier between them. But understanding her reluctance, Lisa had talked about herself instead, revealing some interesting and painful facts that Hermione had never known or even guessed at, in an attempt to show she was serious about being friends. This allowed Hermione, in turn, to talk of things that she had never shared with anyone else.
By the time they returned to the laboratory, Hermione felt a little better and was more than able to face the upcoming meeting with Kingsley and his advisers. She hadn’t actually discussed anything to do with her current situation with Lisa, but getting old gripes off her chest and explaining to her new friend about her relationship with Severus prior to his inclusion in the team eased the weight inside her far more than she had expected it to.
They had now met up three times more since that initial coffee date, and both women discovered a friendship that, while still in its early stages, Hermione was certain would last far beyond the current project.
She liked that Lisa was happy to listen without prejudice to anything she wanted to tell her, never pushing for more salacious or interesting information, and Hermione was the same with her new friend. They were comfortable with each other and it had given Hermione the confidence to open up and discuss things she had never expected to reveal to anyone. She liked having a best friend.
Although she still hadn’t told Lisa about her relationship with Severus, Hermione had by now discussed her marriage to Ron and her complete disinterest in his new job and his plans for their future. She had also shared her frustration that regardless of however many times she had tried to talk to him about it, Ron didn’t seem to be taking her desires into account at all. All he was interested in was in what he wanted to do.
Lisa was sympathetic and agreed wholeheartedly that Hermione shouldn’t force herself into something as serious as having a family when she wasn’t ready for the experience and reminded her that she wasn’t a bad person for not wanting to have children when her career was going so well. She also understood her antipathy to working in the joke shop and seemed surprised that Ron had even bothered to suggest it, knowing Hermione’s interests were far more academic in nature.
Only this afternoon Hermione had found herself revealing what she’d had to do to attract Severus to the team, without mentioning anything about the sexual tension and its eventual outcome. She wasn’t sure whether Lisa was more impressed or shocked at the lengths she had been forced to go to in order to get the snarky ex-Potions Master’s help; if nothing else it had definitely impressed upon her how dedicated Hermione was to the project and hopefully, if Lisa did reveal anything to the rest of the team, it would be this rather than any of the more personal stuff they had discussed.
But now she waited impatiently for Ron to finish his meal so she could finally break the news that she should, if she was honest, have given him months ago, probably before he even left the Ministry of Magic.
‘The shop is looking really good,’ Ron said happily, after a large burp that Hermione assumed he was using as a means of praising the shepherd’s pie rather than actually complimenting her on it. ‘There was loads that needed doing to it — those blokes that ran Zonko’s left the place in a right old mess — but between me and George we got it all cleaned up and decorated. That’s why I was gone for so long. Is there any more tea, love?’
Hermione pushed the teapot towards him, then went to the fridge to get the milk out once more.
‘Do you want another?’ Ron asked, waving the teapot in the air.
Hermione didn’t really want another drink as she was feeling sick, the anxiety of what she had to say making her stomach roil, but her mouth was getting dry and at least holding the mug would give her something to do with her hands to disguise her nervousness.
She nodded, then watched as Ron poured a stream of dark tea into her mug, spilling a little onto the table. Giving a low sigh, Hermione left the table again to retrieve a dishcloth and wipe up the spilt tea before throwing it into the sink.
‘Are you okay, Hermione? You seem a bit tense tonight,’ Ron commented. Before she could answer he continued, ‘I’m sorry I didn’t let you know about what we were doing at the shop but we were really busy and just wanted to get it finished. Neither of us thought about anything but getting it done.’ His expression turned shamefaced. ‘I probably should have warned you I was going to be away for so long. Still, no harm done, eh? And at least the shop’s all ready to go. It looks amazing — honestly, it does.’
He smiled at her and took a sip of his tea. ‘We’ve completed all the decorating and tomorrow we’re going back there with a load of stuff to start filling the shelves. I reckon with a bit of luck we’ll be completely stocked by this time next week. George is putting an advert in the Daily Prophet and The Quibbler — we’re going to have the grand opening a week this Saturday. It’ll be the perfect time because it’s the first Hogsmeade weekend of the year at Hogwarts so the place will be rammed to the gills with all those students desperate to get all the stuff their parents wouldn’t let them buy in Diagon Alley!’
‘Wow, congratulations,’ Hermione said.
She was slightly overwhelmed by the news that the shop was already completed and ready to open so soon. She had expected it to be another couple of months yet. She was trying to show some enthusiasm for Ron’s news but was having trouble. All she could think about was what she needed to say, and how her news was going to burst Ron’s bubble in the worst way possible.
Then again, he wasn’t actually showing any interest in what she really thought. As usual, Ron assumed that she was happy to go along with what he wanted, regardless of what her plans might actually be.
‘Yeah, I know, we’re way ahead of schedule,’ Ron said happily. ‘Anyway, I know you’re not ready to work in the shop full time yet as your project’s still ongoing, but you can dip your toe in the water, so to speak, and if it all gets a bit much for you — selling is much harder than it looks, you know, Hermione — then you can always nip upstairs and begin to sort out the flat.’
Hermione stared at him quizzically, not sure she understood what he was saying.
‘Dip my toe. When are you—’
‘Next Saturday, of course,’ Ron interjected enthusiastically. ‘You can help me and George in running the shop and get your first taste of retail life. We’ll need your help with the amount of people we’re expecting through the doors. I’m going to ask Harry and Ginny if they want to come along too. We might have to get them helping out as well — especially if you want to get sorted with the flat.’
He stopped for a moment, took another mouthful of tea, then continued, ‘I was hoping you might be able to get a couple of days off, actually — a long weekend, you know. You must be due one all the hours you put in at that bloody place. It’s going to be a bit of a push to get all settled in and get the shop up and running so you might want a few days to do it in.’
Hermione frowned. She was completely confused now. ‘What needs doing to the flat? Is it uninhabitable or just in need of a good clean? Surely it won’t take that long, will it?’
Ron laughed good-naturedly. ‘There’s nothing wrong with the flat, it’s good to go. We redecorated it at the same time as the shop . . . and we even decorated the spare room as a nursery.’ He beamed as if he had achieved something magnificent. ‘I’m talking about getting all our stuff unpacked — I know it’s a bit ambitious doing it all in the same weekend, but it’ll tell everyone that we’re serious about the place.’
Hermione closed her eyes and counted to ten before speaking. Ignoring the mention of the nursery as she wasn’t yet in any way ready to deal with that, she enquired, ‘When you say all our stuff?’
‘You don’t have to worry about anything, I’ve arranged it all already,’ Ron told her, still grinning like the Cheshire Cat. ‘I knew you’d be too busy with your work so it’s all been taken care of. I’ve even arranged for someone to come and pack everything up for us. You won’t need to do anything at this end. It’s just a case of unpacking at the other. That’s why I thought a long weekend—’
‘Are you telling me that you’ve arranged for us to move out of this flat to the one above the shop in Hogsmeade and you didn’t even discuss it with me first?’ Hermione asked, clenching her fists below the table as she tried to keep her temper in check.
Ron stared at her as if he couldn’t understand why she was making a fuss.
‘We’ve been talking about this move for ages, Hermione, so I thought the best thing to do was just to go ahead and arrange it. I know your project hasn’t finished yet but you’ll be able to Floo to work from Hogsmeade just as easily as you do from here. You never know, once you’re in and helping out in the shop you might realise you don’t need all those late nights in the laboratory and someone else can finish off the project for you. I mean, everything’s set up — the shop, the nursery, we just need to move in.’
Hermione took a sip of her now cold tea in order to give herself a moment to calm down and to cut off the hex she was sorely tempted to send her husband’s way. It had been bad enough when Ron had just been talking about their future life as if it was a done deal, but the grinning idiot had actually gone and arranged it all behind her back.
‘Moving isn’t that easy,’ she tried to point out. ‘It’s not just a case of packing everything up and going—’
Of course it is,’ Ron said with a grin. ‘You can sort out what you want to keep or get rid of when you get there, that’s why a long weekend would be good. We need to be out of here by next Friday, anyway.’
‘Why do we need to be out of here by then?’ Hermione asked, dread growing inside her.
‘Because the new people move in that day,’ Ron answered as if it was obvious. ‘There was no point in paying rent on a place we weren’t going to need so I told the landlord he could get someone else in straight away.’
‘I can’t believe you’ve done all this without asking me first,’ Hermione said, sounding stunned. She was shaking with rage and could feel tears of anger welling up.
‘I don’t really understand why you’re so upset,’ Ron said. ‘I’ve done it all so you didn’t have to take time out of your precious job to arrange the move. I was being considerate.’
‘No you weren’t. You were just thinking of yourself and what you want again,’ Hermione retorted, wiping away the tears that had now started to fall.
‘But we agreed,’ Ron said, sounding bewildered. ‘A new start and a family. We agreed it was the right thing to do, Hermione.’
Hermione shook her head. ‘I never agreed to any of this, Ronald. You kept talking about it — you almost drove me insane the way you kept going on — but I never agreed to it because it wasn’t something I was ready for. It isn’t what I want.’
‘I have no intention of moving to Hogsmeade while I’m still working on the project, as I must have told you at least two dozen times now if not more. And while we’re at it, there’s absolutely no way I am helping you in the shop — not now or in the future. The idea leaves me completely cold and I can’t think of anything more boring than being stuck in a shop all day, except for being stuck at home with children. The problem, Ron, is that your vision of a perfect life is an absolute nightmare for me,’ Hermione concluded.
‘But I thought we had decided,’ Ron said again, weakly.
‘No. We never decided anything — you just kept telling me,’ Hermione pointed out. ‘At no point did I agree with you about anything, except you leaving the Auror Office. That was obviously the right decision for you because you’ve been so much happier since you’ve been working with George. But the rest of it was still under discussion as far as I was concerned and wasn’t going to even be considered further until the project was over and I knew what I was going to do next.’
Looking glum now, Ron said, ‘I thought you were going to give up working for the Ministry at the top of your game, were going to help me in the shop and raise our children.’
Hermione shook her head sadly. ‘You never bothered to ask me what I thought about these great plans of yours. You just kept foisting them on me and getting your family to reiterate what a great idea it was. That’s why I kept telling you to wait until the project was completed before making any firm decisions. I love my job, Ron, and I want to keep achieving things. I don’t think this is the pinnacle of my career. I think I can achieve more and so does Severus. A quiet family life in Hogsmeade isn’t what I’m ready for.’
‘Severus? Oh, yes, of course. I should have known Snape would come into it somewhere,’ Ron said bitterly. ‘You’ve changed so much since he joined the team, Hermione, and not for the better either.’
‘Severus joining the team was the best thing that could ever have happened — for me and the team,’ Hermione batted back, unable to stop herself. ‘At least he listens to me and gives me the chance to make my own decisions. He doesn’t decide what’s best for me and force me into things I don’t want to do. He loves me and wants me to do great things, not fester away in some backwater with a brood of children, slowly stifling because of the interminable boredom.’
Hermione knew that what she had just said was disingenuous as Severus had, in his own way, been every bit as controlling as Ron — but at least he hadn’t ignored all her concerns and moved her into Spinner’s End without telling her. She also realised with a start that she had given away her secret. This was not how she had meant her husband to find out about her relationship with Severus.
‘He loves you.’ Ron stared at her coldly. ‘What do you mean, he loves you?’
Hermione sighed and rubbed her eyes. ‘Severus and I have got closer since we’ve been working together,’ she admitted much more quietly. ‘You and I have such different visions of our future, Ron, so much so that it’s clear we’re not suited to each other any longer. We want such different things—’
‘Why is he in love with you?’ Ron growled asking the question again. ‘What’s happened between you to make him fall in love with you?’
‘I told you, we—’
‘Have you been sleeping with him behind my back?’ Ron asked.
Hermione swallowed deeply, then nodded. ‘I didn’t mean for it to happen,’ she said hurriedly, trying to explain. ‘But you and I weren’t getting on, and all this crap about moving to Hogsmeade and starting a family was really beginning to get me down. I didn’t want to say no to you outright, didn’t want to burst all your dreams when there was a possibility that I would feel the same way as you once the project was over and I had a chance to assess the situation properly.
‘But you wouldn’t give me the chance to explain how I felt, wouldn’t let me finish what I was doing, and didn’t give me any support except where you thought it might help your cause. In contrast, Severus was so supportive and—’
‘Yeah, I bet he was,’ Ron retorted snidely.
‘At least he cares about what I want. He doesn’t just go ahead and make plans without bothering to tell me about them and assume I’ll just happily slot in even if it’s the exact opposite of what I want to do,’ Hermione told him, her voice icy. ‘I don’t know why you’re so worried, anyway, it’s not as if you want to have sex with me. You and I weren’t doing it at all when Severus and I first got together, and it’s been no great shakes since, even with me trying to get you to be a bit more adventurous. To be honest, Ron, I don’t know how you think we were ever going to have a baby with your low sex drive.’
‘So, what, you’ve become some slut who needs sex all the time?’ Ron bit back, stung by Hermione’s comment.
‘No, but I enjoy having sex regularly and I know you’re not bothered — yet another thing that we no longer have in common. We really aren’t suited any longer. Surely you must be able to see that?’
‘I dunno what I see,’ Ron said dully, shaking his head with disappointment.
He poured himself another cup of tea from the pot, then glowered at Hermione for several long minutes before speaking again.
‘I can’t believe that you’re willing to ruin all the good stuff that’s happening for us because of old snarky Snape. I’ve no idea what you see in him, Hermione. He’s just a bitter old man who’s done nothing but cause problems for us from the first time we met him.’
Fiercely, Hermione answered, ‘He’s intelligent, inspiring, a top rate wizard and a brilliant potions maker, and so much more supportive than you could ever be because he understands what I’m going through and cares about how I feel . . .
‘. . . and I love him, too,’ she admitted quietly.
Ron closed his eyes at these last words, a mournful sigh escaping his lips.
‘I’m sorry, Ronald. I really am. I tried so hard to give us a chance — you have no idea,’ Hermione said quietly. ‘But at the end of the day, you and I want — and need — totally different things and I don’t believe either of us would be happy if we stayed together. I don’t want to live in Hogsmeade and I don’t want to have anything to do with the joke shop. I don’t want to have children, at least not in the foreseeable future. I want to continue my research work, wherever that takes me, and I don’t think you would be any happier following my dream than I would be following yours.
‘I love you, Ron, and I always will — and I know you love me too. But I honestly think it’s time to cut our losses and separate before the love turns to hate, as it will do eventually if either of us forces the other to do something we don’t want to do. With or without Severus, I will never be happy without my work and I really do believe that Hogsmeade is the perfect place for you — I’ve seen how happy just preparing for it has made you. Once you’re settled you’ll find someone who shares your dream and you’ll realise that I’m right.’
Overwhelmed by the emotion running through her, Hermione began to sob, tears of grief pouring down her cheeks as she wept for her lost marriage, and for the friend who she was no longer sure was going to be a friend.
Ron watched her for several minutes, the anger and disappointment raging through him in equal measure. Part of him wanted to hold Hermione, to ease her pain, but a larger part, the angry part, hoped she never stopped crying. She deserved to be miserable after what she had done to him. He finished his tea, then stood up and left the kitchen.
Hermione continued to sit there, trying to stem the tears. Ten minutes later Ron was back with his holdall.
‘I’m going to Harry’s,’ he said gruffly. ‘I can’t stay here tonight.’
Hermione nodded as she stared at him morosely.
‘Tomorrow I’m going back up to Hogsmeade with George,’ he continued, sounding deflated. ‘I’ve got a shop to get stocked.’
‘I’ll pack my stuff, then the removers can take the rest to Hogsmeade,’ Hermione told him. She stood up and moved towards him.
‘Okay . . . well . . . .’ Ron looked suddenly uncomfortable. ‘Goodbye then.’
Hermione burst into tears again and before Ron could do anything to stop her she wrapped her arms around him and hugged him tightly. He patted her back a couple of times as if trying to console her, then with a huge sigh he returned the hug.
‘I’m so sorry, Ron,’ Hermione whispered.
‘So am I,’ Ron said as he pulled away.
Hermione wrapped her arms around herself as she watched Ron use the Floo, then sat down at the kitchen table, the tears flowing once again like rain.
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Twenty Four Hours