Redemption II

Chapter 87

oO One Week Later Oo

"Come on, you need to get ready. I promised my parents that we would have dinner with them once we got the house back in order." Hermione huffed, holding a nice button up shirt in her hand, glaring down at the man who hadn't budged from his reading chair all afternoon. She knew this from the tea set that was sitting on the side table and the plate that was now empty beside it.

Shacklebolt had suspended her from work for two weeks as 'punishment' for harming two foreign officers but she knew by the smirk on his face that she hadn't actually gotten in any trouble. In fact, he'd very 'sneakily' hinted to her having a nice vacation with her parents as a way of softening the blow. He also made a comment about how he had so much paperwork and that he hoped he wouldn't lose her suspension papers before they were filed in her permanent record.

Her parents had stayed with Harry for the week and Hermione had spent nearly all her daylight hours with them. The relationship between them was slowly rebuilding but her mother's stance on her joining the muggle world was starting to return as well. She'd even offered her a job at the practice they were working on reopening. Hermione wanted nothing to do with dentistry, she never had. Before she'd become a witch she had her heart set on becoming a librarian or something scholarly, or even a humanitarian.

Hermione had promised them that she would come by once a week for dinner after work and even invited them to come see where she lived now. As excited as they were about seeing her home, they had both seemed wary about traveling by portkey but it was a step in the right direction.

"Why do I need to change?" He didn't even give her the courtesy of lifting his eyes from the page he was reading.

"Because we're going to a muggle neighborhood and I would have thought you'd want to make a good impression with my Mum." Her Dad hadn't had much interaction with her knight in black armor either. Though he had thanked him for saving his life during their brief interaction after they'd landed. Severus had made a very good shadow up until the time where they'd returned home. He'd been increasingly grumpy all week, a reason to which Hermione had yet to find.

"I do not care what they think of me." He turned the page in the book he held to accent his deadpan words.

"Wrong answer." Hermione reached over snatching the book from his hand snapping it closed before tossing it carelessly across the gap onto their couch, snapping the fragile binding of his first edition copy of Self-Reliance. Before he could even retaliate she had come to stand in front of him dropping the shirt she'd brought down into his lap. They shared an intense glare, a battle of wills before Hermione's brow softened.

"Severus, please tell me what's wrong." Hermione's tone had lost it's sharp edge, smoothing out to the kind caring tone she was known for.

"There is nothing to discuss." Severus pursed his lips turning his eyes away from her piercing look. He, himself, couldn't really identify what had been bothering him since their return. It wasn't like he'd missed her, she was gone all the time during the week for work, so why did he suddenly feel like he'd been pushed aside? Forgotten? Why did these feelings even bother him at all? It wasn't like he wasn't used to those thoughts. Why did her absence suddenly feel more lonely?

"Severus...look at me." Hermione had had an idea as to what was causing his distress all week but she hadn't been able to pin it down until now. The look of sadness and loneliness that she'd seen in him, what felt like lifetimes ago, had started to cloud his beautiful dark eyes. She actually found it somewhat humorous to think that he might have been jealous that she'd been spending her time with her parents but the sad reality of his relationship with his own had snuffed it out rather quickly. She knew she needed to show him that all parents weren't like his own. That he too, could have a family that loved and cared for him. That he wasn't as alone in the world as he believed himself to be.