Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters in this story. The back-story is also not mine. This story is compliant until the seventh book. I refuse to let Severus die or let Ron live (calm down, it's only for the sake of the story).
Author's Note: Severus/HermioneThis is just a quick oneshot whilst I chase down all my plot bunnies for Corsa di Tempo. This story line caught me on the way home from work and it had to be written before I could even think of writing anything else. Enjoy!
She Fought For The Ones She LovedIf there was one thing Hermione Granger hated, it was social events. It had a stigma to her, after the Yule Ball in her fourth year.
Now, however, Ron was dead. She had nearly died to save him and she had failed. She had thrown herself between that horrid flash of green light and Ron. Unfortunately, she had been a split second too soon, and the curse flew over her shoulder and hit him. The man she had loved. The man she still loved.
She had locked herself away from the world at that point. She only came out when there was some crisis, like that time Harry had fallen off his broom while he was playing quiddich with the Weasleys. He had nearly died and she had been at Saint Mungo's so fast she made her own head spin.
And then, as if her life was not bad enough, in her hands she held the morning mail: the Daily Prophet and a piece of official looking parchment.
The first announced that a new marriage law had been instated: all of the eligible people had been sent invitations for a chaperoned ball. The chaperones were supposed to break up any arguments that may ensue at such an event.
The ball was the beginning of the week that everyone had in which they had to become engaged on their own before the Ministry of Magic chose someone for them based solely on blood status.
The official looking parchment was her invitation.
She groaned and threw the parchment on the kitchen counter. She did not want to go to this ball, but she was required to. If she did not attend, she would be fined. Oh joy.
She nearly broke down in tears at the thought of replacing Ron. She did not believe that she could do it. She would simply have to find someone to marry with whom she could actually talk about her interests and whatnot. She needed someone who was an intellectual like herself.
She exercised her considerable brainpower trying to think of any and all possibilities. Ron was gone, Harry and Ginny had just gotten engaged a month ago, and no one else met her standards. She growled.
In the back of her head, she heard a voice that had plagued her for years. It was the voice of her Potions professor, Severus Snape.
'Such an unladylike sound, Miss Granger. Ten points from Gryffindor.'
The very thought of that man had made Ron go gaga, and Harry did not like him, either. Hermione had always been the one to defend him. She smiled wryly. If Harry only knew she heard his voice in her head!
Then a thought hit her. Why not Professor Snape? He was an unmarried intellectual. She could see herself sitting down in the evenings and discussing Potions with him.
She smirked for a moment, and then floo'd out of the house. She needed a green dress and some silver jewellery. Harry wouldn't even be there to complain about her Slytherin colours and choice of company.
SSHG SSHG SSHG SSHG
Hermione smiled at herself in the mirror the evening of the ball. She was determined to be punctual (so that Professor Snape could not criticize her) and the ball began in ten minutes.
Her dress was a floor length forest green taffeta number. It had a modestly cut sweetheart neckline, off the shoulder sleeves that reached her elbow, and it flared out at the waste. There was a short silver chain with no pendant sitting softly about her neck, and she wore only silver studs with emeralds in her ears.
She smiled at herself one more time before she grabbed her small silver handbag and she apparated to the entrance to the Ministry of Magic. She plucked the invitation out of her handbag and handed it to the doorman. He smiled and let her in.
She walked in and was absolutely horrified. It was like being at a zoo where the displays were well-dressed humans!
Draco Malfoy was grinning wolfishly at a leggy blonde, who was dancing with Blaise Zabini, who was looking at a petite brunette, who was nearly sitting on the lap of… was that Neville? No. It couldn't be.
And there was Parvati Patil, clearly drunk, grinding into a confused Dean Thomas to a waltz tune. Oh my.
Hermione studied the room for the one person that she was looking for and did not see him. She continued to look around the building for several hours and never once did she spot him.
She finally decided perhaps it was time to give up and go home. He was not here and he was clearly not planning to come at all.
How wrong she was. As she headed for the door to gather her cloak, she ran into someone. Someone tall, thin, and wearing black robes.
She looked up and smiled. Guess who?
SSHG SSHG SSHG SSHG
"Miss Granger, if you would kindly take your rather overlarge grin elsewhere, I would be incredibly happy."
Hermione's smile grew. The very idea of a happy Severus Snape was enough to make someone have a heart attack. Thankfully, Hermione was more resilient than that.
"Hello, sir."
"Miss Granger," he said, with a curt nod.
"How have you been, Professor?"
He scowled and said bitterly, "I am no longer a professor, Miss Granger, nor am I interested in small talk."
She smirked at him in a manner that reminded him strongly of Draco, his godson, when he was plotting something truly devious. He immediately put his guard up against whatever scheme she may have.
"Nor am I, sir." Still with that blasted smirk!
Severus' eyebrows began to head for his hairline. The Gryffindor princess was up to something. Something that would not go over well with him. He just knew it.
"What is it you want, Miss Granger?"
Her smirk turned into a triumphant smile. "For you to call me Hermione, dance with me, and marry me."
Severus found that his rather ingenious mind (if he did say so himself… which he did) was rather at a loss. "Run that by me again."
Hermione smiled ever wider. "I would like you to call me Hermione."
"I caught that part."
"I would also like you to dance with me."
"Why would you want that?"
"I'm bored. Humour me."
"And that last bit?"
"Call me Hermione and I shall repeat myself. Although," she added with a bored look, like the one he had given students and said in an almost perfect imitation of him, "I do not like to repeat myself, Mr. Snape."
He scowled before realizing that he was playing right into her hand. "You clearly have no desire to speak with me. I believe you may have had too much to drink. If you will excuse me…" he trailed off and turned to walk away.
Hermione quickly reached out and grabbed his sleeve. "I said that I wanted you to marry me."
"That is the saddest proposal that I have ever heard, seen, read, or heard about. Even if you decided to rewrite it and study it for hours, as you are apt to do, the answer will be the same: No."
Severus smirked. "Miss Granger, I am here as a chaperone."
Her face fell. "Oh."
"Indeed. Former Death Eaters are not considered 'good enough' to be held under the marriage law. In fact, I am not allowed to marry at all," he said, with more than a trace of bitterness.
Hermione studied him for a long moment. "Surely they know that you are innocent. Dumbledore left the pensieve that proves you innocent!"
"In this war."
"Oh," she said again.
His snarkiness returned to him. "If you cannot find something even the slightest bit intelligent to say, Miss Granger, do not speak at all."
"Hermione," she corrected in response. "So, if you could get married and have a family you would?" Seeing his face, she added, "Assuming the wife and children were not complete dunderheads, of course!" She smirked slightly.
Severus felt his pale cheeks warm. "Provided that wife and children were not complete dunderheads," he repeated in order to agree.
"Am I a dunderhead?"
He blinked. What?
"What?"
"I asked if I am a dunderhead."
He blinked again. "For someone called the brightest witch of your age, you are rather slow, Miss Granger."
Hermione smiled. "Hermione," she corrected again.
The corrections were beginning to bother him. "How is this relevant. I could not even marry you if I wanted to."
"Do you want to?" she asked bluntly.
"Of course not," Severus snapped.
"Pity. I wanted someone smart and you need either a politician-" he shivered at the thought "-or a war hero who can pull rank and have your status changed so that you can marry. Of course, I would have thought that me being a war hero would tip things in my favour…" She trailed off and turned to walk away.
Severus gaped, openly gaped, at the woman walking away from him. She would do that?
SSHG SSHG SSHG SSHG
The next day found Hermione sitting on her couch, flipping through a magazine. She figured she might as well let the Ministry choose someone for her, and was enjoying a quiet afternoon at home, rather than out on the town looking for her soul mate (or at least someone she could tolerate).
As she thumbed through it, a tapping sounded at her window. She smiled as she looked up and saw a large black owl. Severus? She hoped so.
She rose, opened the window, took the letter from the owl, and smiled when it did not fly away. Whoever it was seemed to want a response.
She read,
Miss Hermione Granger (A compromise, she noted.)
You have made an excellent point last evening. I was somewhat shocked by your proposal. I would like to meet up with you for dinner. If you agree, the dress will be somewhat formal, as I have a longstanding reservation with Cleo's. Please send your response with Peaceful, my owl.
Severus Snape
Dinner at Cleo's? Wow. Cleo's was a new restaurant in Diagon Alley. It was very upscale and very expensive. He wanted to take her there? He had a longstanding reservation there? Oh my.
Hermione dashed to her desk and grabbed a quill, and wrote on a fresh piece of parchment,
Mister Severus SnapeI would be thrilled to go to dinner with you! What time would you like me to meet you there?
Hermione
She sent it off with his owl. 'He named his owl Peaceful? He has a sense of humour, after all.'
SSHG SSHG SSHG SSHG
Severus watched as his owl returned to his home. He took the note off of her leg an noted that Miss Granger had written her response on a fresh piece of parchment, rather than writing on the back. It was something he would have done.
He read the note and smirked.
SSHG SSHG SSHG SSHG
Hermione smiled as Peaceful once again soared to her window. She held out some owl treats that she kept for Hedwig and the owl took them greedily as Hermione removed the note from her leg. As soon as she was done eating she took off. Apparently Snape did not want a reply this time.
The note read:
Hermione (apparently he could crack under pressure like everyone else did)
I will pick you up at your home at exactly 6:32. Do not keep me waiting.
Snape
Hermione laughed. Apparently he thought that she should still call him Snape. He was in for a shocker!
SSHG SSHG SSHG SSHG
That evening Hermione did not bother to dress like a Slytherin. She decided to be dazzlingly Gryffindor, just to annoy him. She had also decided that she would call him Severus as often as she needed to in order to make her point: if they were considering marriage, they should call each other by their given names.
She glanced at her outfit in the mirror quickly before moving towards the door. The red party dress and gold jewellery made her latte coloured eyes pop.
The Gryffindor princess heard a knock at her front door. She glanced at her watch and noted that it was exactly 6:32, as promised. She smiled and opened the door.
"How very punctual of you, Miss Granger. Ten points to Gryffindor," Severus said dryly.
"Gasp! Severus Snape gave Gryffindor points??" She asked mockingly.
He scowled at the use of his given name. She smirked knowingly. Merlin, he hated it when she smirked.
Hermione noticed the scowl deepen and looked away. She soon had her arm linked through his, her door shut and locked, and her face tilted upwards to look at her companion.
"Shall we go?"
Severus simply nodded and then apparated with her to the apparition point right beside Cleo's. The restaurant looked rather dead. She looked up at him for a long time, until he finally explained.
"I did not want us to be disturbed, so I reserved the entire restaurant for us this evening."
She looked at him in amazement. "Why would you do that?"
"We have some rather important things to discuss, and I assumed that you would not want everyone to know that you proposed to an ex-Death Eater."
"Severus, what people think does not matter to me or I would not have proposed in the first place. I know people won't like it, but it's us that matters."
As they talked they simply stood at the apparition point. As it turned out, this was a bad plan.
With a resounding POP! Harry Potter and the future Mrs. Ginny Potter arrived on site.
Ginny flung herself at her friend. "Hermione! We were surprised that we didn't hear from you! This new law must be terrible for you."
Harry was studying Hermione intently. "You're out of your flat," he stated.
Severus decided that it was time to make his presence known. "Always stating the obvious, Potter."
Harry looked up. "What are you doing here, Snape?"
Severus glanced at Hermione, trying to gauge whether or not he was to tell even a small portion of the truth. Her smiling face was no help, whatsoever.
"Miss Granger and I were just about to go to dinner. We have things to discuss."
Harry whirled around to look at Hermione. "What could you possibly want to discuss with him, Hermione?"
She smiled at Harry and said simply, "The new law."
"I don't understand," said Harry, confused. Ginny, however, looked like the truth was dawning. She did not look happy.
"Harry, love, I think they are discussing the possibility of the two of them marrying."
Harry somehow managed to look horrified and triumphant at the same time. "You can't. It's illegal for him to marry."
"Not if he marries me. I had it changed this afternoon," Hermione said, beginning to fidget and look nervous.
"What??" Three voices cried simultaneously.
She looked up at Severus. "I was going to tell you at dinner. I'm sorry."
He blinked. What was she apologizing for? "How long did that take you?"
She smiled at him, both of them now ignoring the presence of Harry and Ginny. "About four hours. I had to talk to the Minister, and you know how he can be. I don't think he was counting on someone as stubborn as he was fighting him, though. He gave in when I told him that we would leave the country and marry elsewhere. Merlin forbid he lose a war hero."
Severus felt his eyebrows once again shoot for his hairline. She had done what?
Apparently Harry felt the same way. This was proven when the young man splutter out, "Yo- you did WHAT??"
"I believe, Potter, that she said she would leave the country to marry me if she could not do so here," Severus said in the same dry and patronising tone he had used as Harry's professor.
Harry scowled at his former teacher, while Ginny tried to calmly talk some sense into her friend.
"You're getting married?" she shrieked.
"Not if he says no," Hermione responded patiently.
Severus, however, was not so patient. "Of course we are, you dunderheaded woman!" He declared to Ginny. "I am not too stupid to see that she wishes to marry me!"
Harry snorted. Everyone ignored him.
Ginny shrieked again and hugged Hermione. Hermione smiled at Severus as she hugged her friend.
Harry was a little less enthused. In fact, he stood in the corner and scowled outrageously. Hermione walked towards him with her head held high and gave Harry the lowest blow she could have, even if she had tried. "I think Ron would be happy that I have moved on."
Harry paled but still fought back. "Yes, but with him?" He pointed at Severus, who scowled but said nothing.
"Why not him?" Hermione demanded.
"He's a Death Eater! That's why!" Harry snapped in response.
"No! He was a Death Eater in the first war. He was also Dumbledore's spy. Remember the pensieve left to you by your mentor?"
Harry sulked and Hermione smirked. Severus had a sneaking suspicion that she was proud of herself. She patted Harry on the shoulder and looked at Severus.
"So how about that dinner?"
He smirked and offered his fiancée his arm.
SSHG SSHG SSHG SSHG
The wedding may have been a mere week afterwards, but it was perfect. Severus was forced to realize that perhaps her ridiculous wand waving had been useful, after all.
They had compromised on house colours. White was their main colour, she carried red roses and the tablecloths were red, and there was a whole lot of ivy everywhere. It may have been early summer, but the wedding looked decidedly like Christmas.
The vows were said and the cake was cut. It was time for the two of them to go away for the honeymoon that he had organized for them. She knew nothing about it.
When they were ready, he apparated her to a small country cottage in France. It was beautiful. The little white clapboard home was surrounded by fields upon fields of grapes for the wineries, and roses for the perfume companies. It was perfect.
"Well, shall we go in, Miss Granger?" he asked, actually feeling the need to tease her. For their entire one-week engagement they had called each other by their first names.
"Of course, Professor. Oh, and I am not Miss Granger. I am Mrs. Snape."
"And I am not a professor."
"Sure you are," she said teasingly. "You are a professor of all things snarky."
He smirked. "One week and you know me so well."
As they settled (quite awkwardly) into their bed that night he suddenly had a thought.
"Hermione."
"Hmm?"
"How did Mr. Weasley die?"
Hermione sat bolt upright and looked at him. "Why?" she asked nervously. She still felt like she had failed Ron. She didn't need Severus to think so, too.
"I heard that you tried to die to save him."
"I did," she admitted softly, absently tracing the pattern on the quilt.
"Why?"
"Because I fight for the ones I love," she said simply, finally looking him in the eye.
He looked at her for a long moment. Then he asked the question that had been bothering since that night at the apparition point. "Why did you fight with the Minister for me? I had not even said yes."
"Because I fight for the ones I love," she repeated so quietly he nearly missed it.
"You love me?" Severus was shocked. He had never been loved before. He had been in love, however. He did not take love lightly and did not, as a result, believe that she could already love him.
"Not yet," Hermione said, easing his fears. "I thought that I might with time, though. After our conversation through your owl I thought I should do it. You still had the choice, but I have to admit, I liked you enough to try to sway your decision with it."
Severus simply looked at her. She smiled at him.
"You know," he found himself whispering, "I think with time I might love you, too."
Her smile broadened and she suddenly said, "I have a question for you, too. If we got a dog, would you want to name it Sleepy, Grumpy, Dopey, or Doc?"
"What are you talking about, woman?" he asked in confusion.
"Did you never read Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs as a child? I thought you must have with an owl named Peaceful."
"Snow White? Is that a name?"
"Oh Merlin." Sighed Hermione. "Alright, I'll tell you the story. Once upon a time…"