Unbroken Ties

Chapter 2- Mr Know-it-All

Severus exited the bathroom and finished getting ready.

Thinking about his choices, he decided to walk the way instead of Flooing or Apparating.

Yes, walking would help him think, and God knows how much he needed to think.

It's not like he could use his time doing anything else except brewing... which he'd done more than enough that he pretty much finished his next week's orders. So unless a random client suddenly ordered something urgent, he wasn't going to brew anything except if it is for his own use or for his own state of mind.

But he had enough brewing for now.

No, he needed to think about his life instead of the formula of a potion.

With that in mind, he left his house and went on.

This old house that he spent his childhood in, was his only company nowadays.

His mother decided to return to the wizarding world after his father's death, and so, with the small fortune he managed to save from teaching at Hogwarts by then, he bought her a nice small house next to The Burrow where she spent most of her time with the Weasleys.

He lived alone in his childhood house ever since, or rather, spent most of his summers there.

She and Molly became good friends and he was delighted to notice how much it changed his mother's demeanour.

If only she wouldn't bother him every now and then to go live with her since 'he is living alone now, in an old house, with no wife to feed him and keep him company.' She also declared her disliking of the fact that she's no longer able to visit her grandchildren anytime she wanted, so spending as much time as possible with her only son was the only thing that'd ease her distress.

But Severus absolutely refused, claiming that he was perfectly capable of taking care of himself. Not to mention that he also didn't have a wife just twelve years ago and he could live perfectly fine. Add to that, the fact that he was a spy for many years and survived a deathly war, and one could conclude that he deserved to be treated as an independent adult.

That if being over fifty years old with two kids didn't say anything.

But then again, his mother's genuine intentions were to help him cope with the number of problems that fell on his head at once, and the sudden change of being happily married with a perfect family to being miserably alone and nearly divorced.

In fact, his journey today was another attempt to finally finish the divorce and get it over with.

But living in the wizarding world, where divorces were rarely heard of, and the fact that they both were initially reluctant prolonged the matter.

Actually, he still didn't want to finish it once and for all. He still loved his wife with all his heart, and he couldn't stand the thought of ruining his children's life by breaking their family apart.

But he figured that acting like the stupid victim, who would do anything to redeem his mistakes, using his children and love as a reason to be forgiven was something Hermione wouldn't appreciate.

Neither did he for that matter, he still didn't forgive himself to try to gain her forgiveness anyway.

If she wanted to get a divorce, he would give it to her. Doing whatever she wanted was his only way to try and lift some of the guilt he felt for what he did, and keeping up his cold persona around her would help her go on with the decision she made.

There was no denying he loved her, but he wasn't about to keep reminding her of that like a creepy idiot.

Severus took notice of the children playing in the park next to the coffee shop he was heading to. Looking at them he wondered if his children would enjoy the park as much if he brought them here tomorrow.