Hindered Love (A Severus snape love story)

Chapter Eighteen - New Beginnings

Chapter Eighteen - New Beginnings

7 months later...

Hestia sat drumming her fingers subconsciously on the table top, scattering sugar from the cracked porcelain container across the wooden surface. Glancing at the clock she sighed exasperatedly, seemingly waiting for someone.

She tucked a strand of golden hair behind her ear and fiddled with the opulent pearl earring impatiently. Sighing again, she propped her head up with her elbow rested on the table, other hand flattening the tailored green dress that hung tightly from her frame, accentuating her curves.

She dabbed at some stray granules of sugar, drawing no shape in particular, as she watched the seconds hand on the clock tick by excruciatingly slowly. Her gaze wandered from the clock to the other customers in the coffee shop, to the man working behind the till, to the busy street outside the window. Oddly enough, even though muggles passed the shop every day, they never noticed it was there.

The bell above the door chimed lightly, resonating around the room as a gaggle of young teenage girls stumbled into the shop and immediately began to try to chat up the bored looking till worker. She frowned as she saw the smug look on their faces as they saw her sitting on her own. One of the more confident strutted over to her table and sneered at her.

"Feeling a little jealous are we?" She asked in a mock cutesy voice, pouting slightly, before bursting into laughter, the other girls joining in. Hestia just rolled her eyes and returned her gaze to the strange muggle automobiles zooming past the window. "I'm sure that he wouldn't be interested you though." The girl hissed nastily, eyes narrowing as she saw the dark look Hestia was giving her.

"Why would he be interested in a little twelve year old brat like you?" Hestia snarled, causing the girl to flinch. She gave her one last grimace before flouncing away from the booth table and to the other end of the large shop, the other girls following after her obediently, occasionally giving her dirty looks as they passed.

Hestia growled frustratedly before closing her eyes and taking a deep breath. She didn't need to lose her temper with some immature school girls. She clasped her hands in her lap and swallowed, focusing on her breathing. She heard the bell clang as the door opened then slammed shut. Still she didn't open her eyes as she was too busy focusing on keeping calm.

Finally, she heard footsteps coming steadily towards her booth table. Hearing the person stop beside her she smiled, listening to their slightly heavy breathing.

"You took your time. Honestly Draco, how long does it take to get a coffee?" She laughed as she opened her eyes and looked up at the man standing beside her table. Her face was drawn of any colour and she swallowed, allowing tears to well up in her eyes.

"Severus?" She whispered disbelievingly, placing her hands palm downwards on the table.

"Hestia." He growled. His voice was deep and rough though caring, robes seemingly too large for his now extremely thin frame. His skin was a sickly shade of grey but his eyes still sparkled brightly when he saw Hestia.

"Here you go Hestia, I- oh..." Draco dropped the tray of coffees he was holding and the frothy liquid pooled by his feet. Standing staring at Severus he had to quickly close his mouth as he had been gawping too much. "You're free?" He whispered as he slid into the bench where Hestia was sitting and wrapped an arm around her shoulders, squeezing her arm comfortingly. That was when Severus saw the ring glistening on Hestia's finger. A thin silver band studded with a cluster of tiny sparkling emeralds. An engagement ring.

"You two are...are... I CAN'T BELIEVE YOU MOVED ON SO QUICKLY!" Severus yelled, his voice so loud it filled the Coffee shop. All the other customers stopped mid drink, mouths hanging open, watching the scene unfold.