207AN: I don't own Harry Potter and don´t make any profit.
So that's my new SSHG story, I hope you like it.
Hermione was curled up in her comfy armchair in front of the fireplace reading a book. Two years had passed since the final battle and her life had fallen into a routine. After taking her N.E.W.T.s she started working in a tiny wizarding bookstore in Ottery St. Catchpole. She couldn't be bothered to do something great and amazing like Harry and Ron, being in Auror training. War seemed to have taken some of the joy and courage out of her life. She wasn't quite her old self and happily retired from the world in her safe haven, that was her work and a tiny flat in muggle London. Harry and Ron noticed the changes, but since she told them on various occasions everything was fine, they stopped asking questions but making sure to meet her regularly and keep in touch.
Hermione sighed and took another sip of the hot chocolate she had prepared for herself earlier. Sometimes her life seemed to be too quiet even for her. A tiny bit of adventure seemed to be missing in her life, she thought to herself on boring Friday evenings like today following an uneventful week.
Suddenly a loud knock on the door pulled her out of her thoughts. Hermione took her wand and made her way to the door, when she opened it, her jaw dropped. Her old potions professor was standing at her doorstep. His hair was a bit shorter and he had a haunted look on his face, but it was definitely him, Severus Snape.
"May I please come in, Miss Granger?"
If it was possible he had a pleading expression on his face. Hermione still surprised about her visitor, stepped aside to let him in,"Please Sir, come in."
He hastily stepped inside and quickly closed the door behind him, when he pulled out his wand Hermione flinched and instinctively raised her wand. But her former professor only started murmuring incantations and she felt the magic sweep over her as he was reinforcing the wards on her flat. When he finished, he looked at her and asked, "Is there a window overlooking the street?"
"In the living room," Hermione replied and pointed in the direction. In three long strides he was across her living room, staring out of the window intensively, mumbling to himself.
"Would you mind telling me, what's the matter with you professor?" Hermione asked her voice ranging between annoyance and curiosity about his odd behaviour, which did frightened her a bit as well.
Severus Snape turned around, that's when Hermione saw the huge bulge under his cloak, somewhere between his chest and his belly.
"Sorry, I just had to make sure nobody was following us, I need to keep her safe," he said with a frantic look on his face.
He obviously isn't very good at keeping a motionless face nowadays, she thought to herself but said, "What do you mean by 'us' and 'her'?"
Severus sighed and carefully opened his cloak and while Hermione tilted her head, he slowly unstrapped a baby carrier and pulled a little bundle out of it. Hermione stepped closer and looked into the tiny face of a sleeping baby.
"Where did you get it from? Did you steal it?" Hermione asked a bit worried.
He looked a slightly irritated at her comment, but didn't say anything else than, "She is my daughter Miss Granger!"
"I'm sorry I didn't mean to be rude, Professor Snape. What can I do for you two?" Hermione sounded business-like.
"Can we maybe stay for a couple of days?" Severus asked. Hermione raised an eyebrow at this unusual request or rather at the unusual visitor who made it.
"My flat is tiny, but if you can live with it, you are happy to stay." He sighed in relief and sank onto the couch, holding the baby close to him.
"Can I get you anything? Hot Chocolate? Tea? Coffee?" Hermione asked.
"Have you got anything stronger maybe?"
"I'm afraid not."
"Hot Chocolate it is!" Severus smirked.
When Hermione came back from her kitchen, Severus had fallen asleep, giving her time to study the picture in front of her. He was still holding his daughter close, trying to keep her save obviously. He put on weight since she last saw him, so he looked healthier, but the dark circles under his eyes told her about his sleep deprivation. She put the hot chocolate on the coffee table, transfigured one of her kitchen chairs into a cot and stepped closer to the couch to take the baby to lay her in the cot.
As soon as her hands touched the baby, she was thrown backwards, with Severus' wand at her throat and him growling, "Get away from my daughter!"
Hermione went pale and didn't dare to breath.
Severus eyes focused again, he lowered his wand and horror struck his face, "I'm sorry Miss Granger, I didn't mean to scare you, I must have fallen asleep and I guess I forgot I was at your place."
Hermione was sitting on the floor, shaking violently, and her face still pale. Severus carefully put the baby in the cot and held his hand out to Hermione. She slowly reached out and he pulled her up.
"If it's gonna be like this every day you live here, we need to get some firewhisky tomorrow. Hot chocolate just won't do," she tried a small smile.
"I agree. I'm sorry again."
"I just wanted to put her in the cot, so you could get some proper sleep. You do look exhausted. What's her name?"
"Elena Lily Snape."
"That´s a beautiful name," Hermione said looking at the tiny baby.
"She is tiny, how old is she?"
"Two weeks," Severus sighed.
Hermione gaped at him, "Where is her mother?"
"She died," Severus reached out stroking Elena´s cheek, who wriggled in her sleep, at her father's touch.
"Hermione you were right, I need some proper sleep, can I maybe take a shower first and I'm really hungry too," he said with a pleading tone.
"No problem, S…S… Severus. Sorry I need to get used calling you by your first name. So while you take a shower, I'll get your bed ready and make some sandwiches, if that's fine with you?"
"Thanks Hermione! And I thought first names would just be easier under these circumstances, if you don't mind?"
"No not all. The bathroom is over there," she pointed to the door next to the kitchen.
When Severus came out of the bathroom half an hour later, Hermione was sitting on the couch holding Elena in her arm and singing a lullaby to her. He sat next to Hermione and smiled.
"She woke up and was grumpy, so I changed her…"
"You changed her? How did you know how to do that? Where did you get the nappy from?" His eyebrows were raised in surprise.
"Well I'm a witch so I just transfigured a napkin into a nappy! And changing a baby is not really that difficult. I don't have a baby, but to me it seems changing a baby is the easiest part about having a baby. It´s beyond me why in films men always struggle to change a baby," Hermione said.
"I totally agree, although I have only been a father for two weeks. I wish they would come with an instruction manual," he sighed.
Hermione laughed, "The sandwiches aren't quite ready, because she woke up before I could finish them. But please just help yourself. There is also some lemonade in the fridge."
"That's very kind of you. Thanks!" Severus got up and made his way to the tiny kitchen.
When he came back with his food, Hermione smiled and said, "Your daughter is really cute. It's a miracle."
"Why? Because I'm a mean old bastard," he said sarcastically, his brow furrowed.
"Listening to you speak, yes maybe it is a miracle that you have such a cute daughter. No, what I actually meant was that all babies are miracles. They are tiny, but everything is already there. Tiny fingers with even tinier nails. And look at her black hair. She looks like you. I think she is cute!"
"I´m sorry, I didn't mean to be rude. I just get very defensive when it comes to Elena. It's funny we have just known each other for two weeks, but already I wouldn't know, what to do without her." Severus gave an apologetic smirk.
"I think you really need to get some sleep. So you can have my bed …"
"No. I won't allow it."
"You won't allow it? It's not like I'm giving you my kidney. It's my bed and you will sleep in it tonight. So tomorrow hopefully you will be well rested and not unintentionally rude all the time and you will tell me what the hell happened to you!" Severus jaw dropped at the self-confident tone in Hermione's voice.
"Now what you are going to do is, you are going to levitate the cot into the bedroom and then you two go to bed. And if you need something during the night don't hesitate to wake me up." Hermione's tone didn't leave room for arguing, so he shrugged his shoulders and moved the cot to the bedroom.
Coming back he picked Elena up and said, "Good night, Hermione!"
"Good night S… Severus."
A few minutes later Hermione curled up under a blanket on her armchair, which she magically enlarged into a settee and mumbled to herself, "Maybe that's the tiny bit of adventure that was missing in my life."