Dear My Hermione,

I may have inadvertently left one of the polyjuice potion articles you had published in plain view for Harry and Draco to find last month while they were visiting. Well, Draco was visiting. My quarters are, of course, still Harry's home until he decides otherwise. That may have led to a discussion of your academic career. This may have led both wizards into realizing that they have their work cut out for them if they actually wish to be the one to make an impression from the magical class of 1998. Top of Hogwarts won't mean as much if they don't have something post-academic career to brag about.

What's a wizard to do when the reading materials he lays aside in his now virtually private quarters are not very private?

What's a wizard to do when he firmly believes neither his legal charge nor his godson could come close to bettering a mind like the witch said wizard is writing to?

I hope that the beginning of your university classes find you well and applying yourself to the best of your capabilities.

I find as I look back at that sentence that I do not need to even say such a thing to you. And I know this. Yet, I still wrote it. You cannot take the years of being an educator out of me after all it seems.

As to my mood this year. Well, I find as I look out over my classes for the first time ever I do not feel despondent despite the fact that aside from less than a handful of pupils I am surrounded by dunderheads who could kill themselves or me with one wrong step.

Before I get entirely too out of character, and dare I say mushy, I will close as it is what is included with this missive that is most important.

Happy Birthday, my Hermione.

Yours,

Severus Snape

PS In addition to the gift enclosed, you will find a barn owl in your school's owlery that I have been assured will serve you well for any intercontinental postings you may have. I am sure Professor Brown as well as your friend, Aiyanna, look forward to hearing from you. He has not been named yet so choose well. Claudin will not be able to wait overlong all of the time for responses as he is needed for my potions shipments. So I thought your own owl was called for. He can be used to get letters to me as well, so I do consider it as galleons well spent.

"That was on purpose?" Harry asked.

Severus' lips curved up into his trademark smirk. "Indeed. Did you not find it odd I placed an industry periodical where you and Draco usually sit?"

"I guess not. I just assumed," he shrugged. "I don't know what I assumed. That you'd left it intentionally wasn't it."

He read the letter again, shaking his head a bit as he did.

"You're not very good at this."

He handed the letter back to Severus with that statement.

"Pray tell, expert."

"Well, no, I'm no expert. I've never written to a witch. You know that as well as I do, but you have not really said anything personal. It could be a business letter."

"I'm not comfortable…"

"Well, it seems to me if you want her to come visit you ever, or invite you to visit her, that you're going to have to get comfortable. I mean otherwise why would she think you want her here. I mean there's no emotion in what you said. You have to make her want to come to you. I'm not saying you should quote Shakespeare or say I want to shag you senseless. Though, on second thought, the shock value of you saying that may just work in your favour."

"Tone, Potter."

"Oh, don't do that. Don't throw my surname at me as if it's some sort of curse word."

He sneered. Harry was aware Severus did not care for James Potter. He'd never said so. He wouldn't do that. He wasn't going to throw James Potter to the wolves. He was dead. It would serve no purpose.

"You invited me to come with you for the day. I didn't make you do that."

"I realize this."

He and Harry were spending a quiet day at their home. He was pretty sure Harry considered Hogwarts his true home, but this domicile was, in fact, his home. If Severus left Hogwarts for whatever reason this was where his belongings would be. It was also the address he used for any documentation that required a muggle residence.

"I mean, come on, do you think Viktor writes to her this way?"

"Do not!" Severus bit out. The last thing he wanted to do right now was think about Viktor Krum trying to court his witch.

Harry huffed.

"I'm not trying to make you jealous or imply he's anything more than a friend to her, Severus. He admitted when he saw the two of you talking that they are just friends. I'm sure he's tried, though, that's my point. If you want to gain her attention, her affections, which I presume that you do. Then you are going to have to step outside your comfort zone."

Severus glared at him as he sipped from his tumbler of fire whiskey. His ward had a point, one Severus was aware of. He assumed he'd be granted some leeway from Hermione while he learned to get comfortable and adept at personal correspondence. She had to know this was new to him.

"Why her anyway?"

Harry asked this question, not for the first time. Severus was certain he had thought it way more than he actually said.

"I mean, I realize she's very smart and pretty. Obviously. There have to be smart and pretty witches around who aren't."

Harry shrugged, avoiding eye contact with him. Severus knew what the younger wizard was about to say and likely it was the crux of the issue.

"Well, my age."

Severus knew he and Hermione were the talk of Malfoy Manor. Not that anyone said or asked either of them about anything. They had rarely been apart other than sleeping the entire weekend. All who knew Severus knew this was unusual behaviour for him at any event.

Lucius loved to gossip, though. And Draco, try as he might, had not escaped that quality of his father's.

Of course it didn't help that in all of the time they'd known Severus he'd never gone out of his way to talk to a witch let alone walk through the vast Malfoy gardens or sit in the library with one.

He had in the Hogwarts library with Lily their first couple years at Hogwarts, but that was not the same at all. They'd been friends before Hogwarts and, if he were being honest with himself twenty years later, he had never considered his friend truly enchanting. At the time he thought so, but he knew now he hadn't really.

Infatuation was not enchantment.

He very much thought Hermione was enchanting. And this was not infatuation.

The reality of Hermione was far superior than any fantasy he could have concocted involving Lily.

Severus double checked that his wards and privacy protections were in place as well as ensuring his floo was closed. Not that anyone knew where his home was as it was secret kept and he never used the floo choosing to apparate instead. Accidents happened and he wasn't taking any chances if he was having this conversation with Harry today.

"Pour yourself some whiskey, Harry, and sit," he said, gesturing to the chair next to his.

Harry did as instructed, seeming to realize if Severus was checking to ensure those protections were in place and secure that whatever he was going to say was important.

"It all started June of my fifth year," he started, hoping he wasn't making a mistake.

He told him all of it.

From their first meeting in the Room to their last.

About the task she had given to him that he completed, hoping against all hope that he could somehow save his childhood friend, her husband, and infant son even if that friend was no longer speaking to, or trusting, him. The elixir he'd given Harry to rid his body of the final horcrux.

He even told him why he believed the Room revealed itself to him initially. What drove him to that corridor that day that had changed everything. He'd wanted someone who would accept him for who he was. He'd found it in a witch not even born yet when they first spoke. A witch who was willing to put her future on the line so that others might live. Harry knew snippets, but Severus had never laid himself bare before now.

Well, he had to Hermione in a previous timeline evidently, but he didn't actually recall doing that. His current past was also very different from what the original Severus who had gotten to this age had experienced. Of course, it sounded as if he might not have survived that May battle with his life. So that version of himself could very well have been dead by this point in time.

He'd like to say it was cathartic, but what he really felt was raw. And vulnerable. As if layers and defenses had been not just peeled but ripped away. He could never put them back either.

They'd made quite a dent in the bottle of whiskey as he told his story. Harry, wisely, chose to let him talk and didn't interrupt, seeming to understand if he stopped his guardian from talking at any point he might just clam up and never attempt to tell this story again.

Harry was quiet for a long time. Longer actually than Severus had been after Hermione had shared her memories of her original timeline with him.

"So, she like literally sacrificed everything and on top of it made sure I was raised by you instead of Aunt Petunia."

"Yes, well someone better than them anyway, not necessarily me. I'm sure that wasn't her intent when she mentioned it to me," he said in amusement. "If you saw how I was, the me she knew. That you knew originally. Well, I doubt you'd think she was suggesting me either."

In the memories she'd shared it was clear that he did not hold Harry Potter in high regard at all. He could only presume her thought had been Dursleys bad, someone (anyone) would be better. She trusted him to do it, though, to ensure that Harry ended up elsewhere.

Eighteen years later that still floored him. No one had ever trusted, had faith in, him like she had. No one. Not his parents. Not Albus.

Not even himself truthfully.

"Bear in mind, Harry, her life hasn't exactly been worse because of the changes made.  She has her parents, so that's obviously an improvement. Oddly, from what I saw she still has remnants of the scars I saw on her years ago, but she says that the marks suddenly appeared on her person with the memories. Nothing happened to cause them, but they are still there. They have faded since May so may go away entirely. She still carries the look in her eye of someone who has seen too much, but physically she is whole. I think mentally she is, too, for that matter."

"She didn't know that, though! She didn't know that she'd change things for the better. Not definitely. She didn't know that you might have gotten that information and betrayed the Order."

"Harry."

"I'm not saying she made a mistake or that she was wrong to trust you. Obviously, I know you wouldn't have done that, but there was nothing stopping you."

"She would have stopped me," he said.

Silence as eyes so familiar to him stared into his own. His ward's eyes widened with understanding as if it just now dawned on him. As if things slid into place.

"You love her," Harry said quietly. 

"I do," he said.

"And she loves you," Harry said.

It was a statement, not a question so Severus did not offer an answer.

"For nearly twenty years you've loved her. And I'm the only one who knows."

"Yes."

"I'm flattered you told me."

"I trust your occlumency skills are sufficient to keep that information from falling into anyone else's hands."

"Are you really worried?"

"If information were to get out that the Room of Requirement could potentially be used in such a manner? Yes. That worries me. That someone might … harm her for what she did, what she stopped? Yes. That worries me. Albus saw her at Hogwarts the night I showed it to her and I admit that in and of itself worries me. He recognized her name and will likely eventually remember that I asked about a Hermione years ago if he didn't upon meeting her. I don't want him digging in my mind, or yours, for information on her."

"Very well. I will keep it closely guarded."

Evidently, Harry hadn't learned occlumency in Hermione's original timeline. Severus had apparently tried to teach him but had not been successful. Hermione did not know why. Severus obviously didn't either. Now, though, in this timeline, Harry had grasped the art. Severus had to presume the difference in both of them played a role in the younger wizard being able to learn it this go around.

"Thank you, Harry."

"Thank you for trusting me."

"Her patronus," he said, taking another sip of his whiskey. He thought on the gorgeous Thunderbird she'd sent to him and sighed heavily. "Is among the most impressive things I've seen in my lifetime."

"Really?"

"Not even its form. That was impressive in its own right. No, the corporealness of it. If it hadn't come through a wall I would have thought there was truly a Thunderbird in my bedroom."

"That would have been a little unsettling."

"Quite," he agreed, taking a sip of his whiskey.

"This letter, though, Severus," he said, pointing at the parchment that had led to this entire conversation.

"Yes. I am not a romantic by nature, Harry. I also don't know the security measures in place at Edinburgh and don't want to put her in a position where she might be embarrassed by the contents of my letter. There are muggles and magicals mixed."

Harry seemed to think this over.

"I can understand that," he said with a nod of his head. "You have to work on it, though, Severus."

"I will take it under advisement."

In truth, he wanted to work on it. He wanted to court and woo her properly to the point she never regretted her decision to agree to be his witch. He knew he had a lot to learn.

"May I see the gift?"

Severus scoffed and summoned the jeweler's box to him. He handed it to Harry who opened it almost hesitantly.

"It's not going to bite you, Harry."

"I know. Well, I guess I don't know given the world we live in. It's just. Jewelry?"

"It's not an engagement ring! Even I have more brains than that."

In truth, he would gladly purchase such an item now but he knew it was too soon.

"Is this from a muggle jeweler," he asked, obviously not recognizing the store's name on the box.

"It is. I did not feel … comfortable going to a wizarding jeweler."

"I can see that," Harry said, nodding his head as he opened the box.

Likely he did because he knew if Severus set foot in a wizarding jeweler the Prophet would report it ad nauseum. The same was true for Harry. It was, Severus believed, one of the reasons his ward had not chosen a witch to this point. Again, assuming the wizard wanted to choose a witch.

"Oh," he said. It didn't sound like a bad utterance, which relieved Severus.

It was a charm bracelet. The charms consisted of a door, a witch's hat, a cauldron, a lion, a snake, and a rose.

"She was Gryffindor, too," he tilted his head as if thinking on that. "Of course," Harry said after examining the bracelet and its charms.

"She was. That was how you became friends originally. Her current house is represented by a Wampus, but I wasn't going to find a charm of that in the muggle world."

"No, I should think not. Maybe a mountain lion or a cougar?"

"Shockingly, neither of those was a choice."

"Oh. Well, maybe you can find one somewhere and order it."

"What?"

"Well," Harry said, gesturing to the lion charm. "The point of a charm bracelet is that you can add or take charms away. Right? Witches get them who have had children and one would get added as a new child came. So you could find one I'm sure. Somewhere. They're native to America so maybe over there. Maybe magical Salem would have an actual Wampus."

"I hadn't thought of that. Thank you, Harry," he said.

That he had no clue and hadn't thought of the fact he could order for, add to, the bracelet bothered him. He hadn't even thought of that.

"Sure, and I understand about the letter. For your purposes, and for you, I think it's acceptable."

He chuckled at that. "Acceptable?"

He shrugged. "I don't know her beyond our conversations at Malfoy Manor over my birthday celebration. She was nice and polite, I enjoyed talking to her. I think she will be overjoyed at the bracelet because you clearly put thought into it. That will make up for any opinion she has on the letter."

"Very well."

"What would you have done if I didn't want to read it?"

He shrugged. "Sent it anyway I suppose. I certainly wasn't going to ask anyone else to read it."

Silence for a while as they both sipped on their whiskey. Harry was still obviously processing everything.

"They really made me live in a cupboard?"

"So she says," he said.

They were both quiet, thinking that over.

Both wizards had been in the Dursley home a few times over the years. Harry and his cousin Dudley weren't friends exactly, but they got along well enough. He and his mum were the only family Harry had so Severus tried to … nurse that relationship to the best of his abilities. Both wizards were well aware that there was, in fact, a cupboard under the stairs. Both were also aware that Petunia Dursley was not fond of anything magical. That meant Vernon Dursley wasn't either. Severus had long ago assumed Vernon just didn't understand it because he'd never taken the time to educate himself beyond what Petunia told him. Petunia on the other hand was jealous her sister had been magical and she was not.

"And Sirius died because I had a connection to Riddle?"

"So it seems," he said. "I saw evidence of her scar when we first met. She never told me what it was from. She actually, until her last visit, was quite careful about not revealing too much."

"Right," he said. "Why do you think the Room did that?"

"I have no idea. I've thought about that many times over the past twenty-two years since it first showed her to me."

He stood then, setting his now empty tumbler down before walking to a bookcase. He shifted a few books around, opened the compartment behind those books, and pulled out another book. He tapped it with his wand, temporarily ending the charm.

"This is what she was reading when we first met," he said, showing Harry the book. "I believe the Room made her forget about it. She is quite conscientious of her books the same as I am. If I hadn't seen the publisher's page with the copyright date I wouldn't have known what was going on. Not that I really did anyway. I would have looked for her, though."

Harry took the book and paged through the copy of Carrie Severus had held onto since that June day of his fifth year they'd first met. He'd never read that particular copy, feeling somehow as if he shouldn't tarnish or taint it by doing so. Her muggle sandals were in the hidden compartment as well.

While Harry was paging through the book, Severus returned the bracelet to its box and wrapped it appropriately for one's birthday before sealing the parcel with the letter for Claudin to take to her. He'd invested in an owl years ago who could go intercontinental due to his potions work. Claudin was his second and Severus had to admit he was rather fond of the bird. He'd never thought of an owl, or lack thereof, as a student at Hogwarts. It was just yet another thing he didn't have access to.

Dearest Severus,

The owl was totally unnecessary but appreciated as it can be difficult at times to find one at school that can travel so far for the times I'd like to write Professor Brown and Aiyanna. I suspect you know that from your own experiences. This frustrated my parents, but fortunately since my aunt and uncle resided in Boston I could usually circumvent the need. While they (my aunt and uncle) are No-Majs they were aware and so it was easy enough to send an owl to them. They in turn would mail any letters to my parents via the No-Maj postal system. My parents were able to go Diagon Alley and use their intercontinental owl services from there when they wanted to get a letter to me. Now obviously it's not as bad from Edinburgh to London. I think my parents are glad I'm at least on the same island as they are again.

The bracelet is lovely. You have managed to flatter me yet again. I love the lion. Truly. I say that because I suspect you were fretting over the appropriateness of that one given I am, in fact, not a lioness.

Thank you. I will wear it proudly, and have already been asked questions about whence it came. I'm not quite sure how to respond to such questions. I've answered a friend when I've been asked, but I'm sure by the blush that I feel on my cheeks they know I'm not being entirely honest. My roommate, Helena, is quite miffed with me. She thinks I'm holding back. I like her, as you know, but we're not like Aiyanna and I were.

Claudin is quite a magnificent creature. I love his name. Does anyone else know the meaning behind his name? I would presume Lucius would, yes? And Draco and Harry I would imagine do. I wonder if anyone else gets the joke or the irony of the name.

Since you gifted my owl to me I felt compelled to keep with the theme. So, you may greet my owl as Perceval when you see him. I wouldn't be so conceited as to name him Galahad, and Bors just sounds silly. I'm not going to spend the next twenty years calling for Bors.

School is going quite well, busy of course as I get used to the difference between Ilvermorny and No-Maj college.

Professor Brown and I have exchanged a couple of letters already. He, of course, misses my assistance in ingredient collecting. I suspect that Professor Brown, while disappointed I chose college, knew that I would ultimately settle on something bigger than following in his footsteps.

Looking over that last sentence I hope you don't take offense. I don't mean any disrespect to the profession of teaching. It is a noble profession and I'm not implying I'd never work as one. I may one day do just that.

His exact quote was "I knew from your sorting that you were meant to do great things for our kind, Hermione. It was my hope, of course, that I could tempt you into loving potions as much as I do since you have such an affinity for it."

Not quite as impressive as 'I can teach you how to bewitch the mind and ensnare the senses. I can tell you how to bottle fame, brew glory, and even put a stopper in death,' I realize. Memorable nonetheless.

He's right, I do, and maybe I'll get more into college and realize I don't want to continue with law school afterward, but instead do that double apprenticeship I had in mind. I have time to decide, but college is a must. I imagine you know why it's important to me that I have that No-Maj degree available to me.

Anyway, enough about academics.

How are you? No, really, how are you, Severus? Buying such an item for a first gift had to be quite nerve wrecking. I won't lie and say I will never take it off as obviously for some things I may have to, but in general I will wear it fondly.

If I come for a visit will I get another tour of Hogwarts? I'm quite sure that turnabout is fair play. You saw Gryffindor's common room so it's only appropriate you show me Slytherin's. Maybe you could show me where your room was when you were a student?

This last sentence was magically removed, but Severus knew how to recover it and felt himself blush like a randy teenager when he read what she'd written.

I suppose you could come here for a visit and there's also that trip to Bangor we'd planned. That is if you were still planning on it. No pressure.

And I'm rambling now, aren't I? Because my life for the past seven years has been nothing but academia so I really have little else to say.

Mum and Dad sent me some flowers for my birthday and a gold necklace that will go surprisingly well with the bracelet you gave me. Aiyanna gave me some new potion vials that she used Professor Brown to purchase for her and send to me. I'd love for you to meet her one day if you were willing. She's been very loyal and a good friend.

I seem to attract a type of friend. Like the other best friend you are aware of, her upbringing is a rather sad tale. She is Native American and quite smart. And gorgeous. (So on second thought I think that I would not love for you to meet her one day!) Her parents are not the most attentive, to put it politely. No cupboards under stairs or anything, but I think being treated as if she didn't matter without abuse or cupboards is just as bad. They didn't even balk at her staying at Ilvermorny all summer.

I know that's rather odd for me to criticize since my parents let me stay. My parents didn't complain because they know me and my thirst for knowledge. They knew I was staying at Ilvermorny to learn. Aiyanna's just seem as if they don't want to be bothered with her. She is an only child and her parents are magical but they have turned their back on magic and live as No-Majs.

Anyway, that's enough of a ramble and before I say something that will embarrass me or shock you (or vice versa could be equally true!) I will sign off.

Affectionately,

Hermione

PS: You are the only Severus I know so I assure you that you can sign your letters without your last name and I'll know who they are from.

Severus read the letter probably more times than it warranted. Her owl, Perceval (he chuckled at the name because she was one of a few who he presumed would have understood his owl's name and she obviously had). He looked out toward the students from his position at the head table.

Harry glanced at him. He was no longer a student but took meals in the Great Hall occasionally and sat with the student body when he did so. He was Harry Potter after all and only a few months removed from being a student here so his presence was welcome by all.

There were times it was still unsettling looking into his eyes, the same as his mother's. Unsettling because he could recall similar looks at him by her in this very room. Oddly, seventeen years in, he no longer thought of it as Harry having Lily's eyes but the other way around.

Strange to think about, but he'd been a fixture in Harry's life far longer than Lily ever was in his. Anyone who thought he had taken Harry in because of Lily obviously hadn't stopped to think about the fact that he was making a lifetime commitment to the child of someone he'd known for only half of his life at that point.

He recognized the look he was bestowing on Severus currently. It was his curious gaze. He'd obviously seen Severus receive mail. He merely nodded in his charge's direction and Harry gave him a thumbs up in response. Why his receiving mail was considered to be such a momentous occasion for the younger wizard he wasn't quite sure.

Such was his lot in life.

He slid the letter into his robes to read again and respond to her later. It was time to get on with his day. His first class of the day was second year Hufflepuffs and Ravenclaws.

He got to his classroom and looked out at the students. Ravenclaws were reputed to be smart. Some of the brightest of the bright had been sorted into Ravenclaw through the years. He couldn't imagine a single one of these students brewing polyjuice potion even remotely correctly with the proper equipment and supervision.

How had she done it?

How had she dared?

And in Myrtle's restroom no less!

He shook his head, shuddering at the thought.

That led to the idea that there was a Basilisk slithering around in the dungeons and he knew he had to put the brakes on those thoughts or he'd go crazy. He knew at some point he'd have to address it, but he needed to figure out how to let Albus know it was down there without sounding crazy. Or revealing things he shouldn't.

"Good morning, class," he said, waving his hand at the board. "There is today's assignment. You may begin."

Story ©Susan Falk/APCKRFAN/PhantomRoses.com