Say You Love Me

{6}

"Should we start with the bedroom?"

Hermione's eye opened wide, and she clamped her mouth shut as to not look mortified. He only smirked, obviously knowing what he said would give her such a reaction. The bastard.

"Well, you've seen this room, and the porch. I care greatly for the view," he started, his tone lacking the normal peppy inflection of a tour guide.

"How strange... you caring for something," she said, making her snark blatant. Really, she was acting like someone who had little will to live and a lot of ways to die... which, in reality, she was.

"I do not have the reputation for it. Then again, I cannot imagine what my reputation actually is these days. If you'll follow me, my room is down the hall on the right of the fireplace."

Hermione did as told, curious nonetheless to see what her professor of many years lived like beyond his sitting room and porch.

The bedroom was not at all what she expected. It was... well, it was like any normal bedroom she could have imagined. There was a four-poster bed with large grey curtains surrounding it, and a few small windows, besides what looked like a large closet.

"It's so empty in here, are you waiting for company?"

Severus chuckled behind her, "No."

"What's this door?"

Hermione pointed to an intricately painted, grey-blue door that had escaped her first notice.

"The master bath."

She walked through the door, still expecting something she wasn't getting, and realization hit her. This was probably a muggle home before he purchased it, why would there be touches of him if he hadn't built the bloody thing? Hermione looked at the plumbing and all the normalcy and assured herself of that fact. Then again... there was the door on the other side of the fireplace that they had yet to explore.

He led her out of his bedroom, showing her the small guest bathroom in the same hallway, eventually leading her to the other side of the fireplace.

In fact, he drew his wand and finite'd a spell.

"Just in case I have nosy muggles here for a visit."

"Pray tell about these muggles you would let into your home?"

He looked down at her, hand on the doorknob with an imperious eyebrow raised.

"The neighbors here are too friendly. That's for the wards as well."

She snickered, of course he would have to deal with rich and entitled muggles around him. That brought about another question, but they were headed downstairs now, completely passing a staircase ascending on their left.

"Up there is just empty bedrooms. The door originally wasn't there, but I decided it was a necessity."

Hermione understood why.

In the basement was what she'd been looking for throughout her entire time there. It was a glorious potion's lab, where there were shelves upon shelves of ingredients, and a large work table with other things that she didn't even recognize. Oh, the work he must do. There was so little she appreciated about him in her school days, but one of the things she did was the fact that he was undeniably brilliant at potions. Nothing ever failed to escape him about the subject, and while defense against the dark arts might have been his desired teaching position, potions couldn't have been any more fitting.

"This helps keep you busy, I imagine."

"That, and the wall of books I have," he gestured to the small alcove on her left, muttering a spell which bathed the dark corner in light.