The Edge of Nowhere

Chapter 5: A Perfect Day

"Life is but a day;
A fragile dew-drop on its perilous way
From a tree's summit." ~ John Keats

The next morning Conor's wife, Angie, knocked on the door of her room. Hermione answered from beneath the warm comforter.

"Come."

Angie set a tray on a table near the wardrobe.

"T'ought ya might be havin' a lie-in so I brought some tea, porridge an' toast."

Hermione raised her head from the pillow. Angie was a lovely woman with long black hair and bright blue eyes. Her cheeks were the kind of pink that accompanies natural beauty.

"How kind, thank you."

Angie stopped before leaving the room. Looking over her shoulder at Hermione she said,

"Doc's a good fella, Miss."

As the door closed Hermione sat up in bed and pondered the woman's comment. 'How curious.'  The town's people thought highly of Severus Snape and were not ashamed to say so. They did not know his past. She wouldn't be the one to tell them.

Hermione reached for her phone. 8:30 a.m. She had time to eat and get ready for her day out with him. Oddly, she found herself looking forward to it, even excited. A bit anxious too if she were honest.

Having finished her breakfast and shower Hermione pulled back the heavy fabric drapes at her window. The old radiator pinged, its warmth immediate. The thermal rise only enhanced the bright sun's effect, high in an azure sky. As the Eleventh hour drew nearer her excitement grew.

Leaving her room she saw him at the bottom of the stair, waiting at the bar. This Severus looked younger than the Professor Snape she remembered. Maybe it was the shorter hair and the absence of the constantly perturbed expression. Perhaps it was simply no war, no masters, no mask. 

The unshaven shadow mollified the sharp cut of his jaw. He turned to look up at her. His black eyes lined with thick black lashes. His complexion no longer the sickly sallow of his past life. His cheek wore a reddish hue as if newly bitten by a Winter wind. He smiled that half-smile half-embarrassed-someone-caught-me-smiling thing she noticed he does now. Hermione has no reason to like him. But she does. Something stirred inside her, like a shift in the universe.

"Good morning."

She smiled,

"Good morning."

Stepping out into the bright sunshine the cold salty air rushed into her sinuses. Something about the smell of the ocean that cleared the mind, she thought. Even with the sun's touch it was still Winter. She pulled up the collar of her coat. Severus noticed,

"The hike will warm you soon enough. I have a few stops to make along the way, if you don't mind terribly."

Hermione was surprised he asked. She wasn't sure what to expect from him but she was willing to find out.

"No, that's fine. It's a lovely morning even with the chill." 

The little village was much different in this light. Conor and Angie's pub, Doyles, was painted the colour of salmon. No doubt easier to see when the men were out fishing, visions of heavy pints and good craic waiting for their return from a day at sea.

A gray ocean reached out to the blue sky and fluffy clouds. The sea breeze rolled over the water creating white caps on the low waves. Gulls , gannets and terns flew above the water, some searching, some diving, all calling out.