"Hermione, how did we end up in this bloody mess? I love you, but I don't want to marry you!"
Hermione looked at the pacing redhead and huffed. "We told your mother if we weren't seeing anyone seriously, we would marry each other in five years the last time she asked and now our five years are up! You should have known she'd have a wedding all ready to go!"
Ron sat down on Hermione's sofa and put his head in his hands. "I-I just can't disappoint her, Hermione. Not after her reaction to Harry and Ginny telling her they weren't getting married."
Hermione knelt down next to her best friend and ran her fingers through his hair. "We can't do this, Ron. We will end up living separate lives or worse, and then what?"
Suddenly a voice rang out from the kitchen. "Well, Hermione, you could just run away. Then Mrs. Weasley doesn't blame Ron and once she calms down, then you could explain it to her."
Ron looked at Hermione pleadingly. "Please, Hermione?"
Hermione stood up and started to pace. "Where am I supposed to run, Ron? Luna? Harry? Anyone? I can't just hide out forever, I have a life!"
Harry chuckled, after he entered the room holding Luna's hand. "No, you don't. You have a job you hate, Dolores Umbridge convinced the Unspeakables you were, well, Unspeakable, and you feel trapped. That is why I said to run."
"I have a better idea, Hermione," said Luna.
Hermione shook her head, then shrugged and plopped back down on the sofa next to Ron. "Anything has to be better than this. Tell me your plan, Luna."
Hermione took a deep breath and walked slowly toward Ron, who was waiting for her at the altar under the bower that Molly had created in the backyard of the Burrow. "The whole thing is beautiful, too bad I really can't appreciate it," she thought to herself. "Oh, good, there it is!"
Luna's entire plan revolved around a talisman Bill and Fleur had brought back from a curse-breaking trip they had taken together prior to Victoire's birth. They had said they were told it was meant to enhance true love. Luna had pulled out an old grimoire of her mother's which showed the talisman and said that it was meant to send one to their true love.
"Let's hope Mrs. Lovegood was as good a witch as everyone says she was," Hermione muttered under her breath. She reached the altar, then instead of taking Ron's hand, as everyone was expecting, picked up the talisman, and touching it with her wand, clearly stated "Khadhani 'iilaa habiyi alhaqiqi!"
Everyone stared as Hermione suddenly disappeared in a swirl of magic.
Severus Snape was in his lab in the basement of his home, when his wards were triggered. He grabbed his wand and walked slowly up his stairs, hugging the wall, suspicious of anyone Magical who might have found him.
He was amazed to see a witch in her wedding gown, looking through the books in his library. But it was not just any witch, that hair was unmistakeable. "Miss Granger, how in bloody blazes did you find me?"
Hermione jumped and spun, wand out at the first sound. Then the words registered. "Professor Snape!"
To Severus's surprise, she immediately sat down and put her head in her hands. "Miss Granger, do I take your actions to mean that you did not mean to pop yourself to my home?"
"I don't know where you live! No, I most certainly didn't mean to pop myself to you, of all people."
Severus drew himself up, visibly offended. "I beg your pardon?"
"I didn't mean that the way it sounded! I'm sorry!" Hermione looked as though she was seconds from bursting into tears. "It's just, I should have, oh, this is what I get for listening to Luna!" Her control failed at that point, and she began to sob into her hands.
Severus shook his head, then walked out of the room to his kitchen to set a teapot to boil.
Once the tea was ready, he walked back into his library and held the cup out to the still sobbing woman sitting there.
Hermione felt the steam from the tea, then smelled the leaves and looked up. "Th-hank you." She took the tea and slowly sipped it, letting the familiar hot liquid calm her down.
"Calmer now, Miss Granger?"
"Yes, thank you, Professor."
"Do you care to explain your earlier statement? Or shall I just trigger the wards and drop you in the Black Lake?"
The noise that came out of Hermione at that point was a mix of a giggle and a snort, startling Severus and making him chuckle.
Hermione looked up, wonder evident in her eyes. "Oh!"
"Yes, Miss Granger?"
"I shouldn't have agreed to it, but Ron and I really didn't want to get married, at least not to each other, and Luna made it sound so logical, and it was in Selene's journal and-"
She was stopped by a potions stained finger held to her lips.
"The beginning, middle, and then you landed in my parlor, Miss Granger. Nothing more, nothing less," Severus stated.
"Molly Weasley took a random joke between Ron and I, that we would marry this year if we weren't in other relationships, too seriously and planned a wedding neither of us wanted. Luna told Ron and me that the amulet Bill brought back from Egypt and that Molly always places on the altar in the bower wasn't really a lucky marriage stone, rather something that would take you to your true love if you triggered it properly. Her mother's journal had a drawing of it as well as the trigger words. I triggered it. Ron joked that I would end up in a library. I sort of thought so, too. I just didn't know it would be your library." Hermione took a deep breath, she had told the entire story as quickly as she could.
"You have an Egyptian port-stone?" he asked.
"All of that, and you ask about the stone?" she replied incredulously.
"Of course. Show it to me," Severus commanded.
"Manners!" Hermione replied, then held her hand to her mouth, eyes wide.
Severus rolled his eyes. "Yes, fine. Please show it to me." He held his hand out.
Hermione pulled the stone out and showed it to him.
He smiled. "Ah, good. This is an 'iimkania stone. Potential or possibility. Had it been a love stone, it would have had this symbol reversed," he pointed one small symbol on the stone out to her.
"What does that mean, sir?" She asked.
"Firstly, I'm no longer your professor, there is no need to call me sir," he replied.
This time Hermione rolled her eyes. "Fine, then. What does that mean Mr. Snape?"
"Hm, Mr. Snape is my father. He still thinks I should be called boy. Try Severus," he said.
"Are you trying to see if you like what I call you? Tell me what you know about that stone!" she demanded.
He raised an eyebrow.
"Argh. Severus. Severus. Idiot!"
"Bossy boots!"
"Are we still in the same reality where Harry was a Horcrux and Dumbledore made you kill him?" she asked "Or did this reversed amulet take me elsewhere, Severus?"
"What, you mean like the Mirror Universe, where I should have a goatee and Minerva has a torture chamber?"
"You know Star Trek?"
"Contrary to popular belief, I don't live in a cave surrounded by bats. Yes, I know Star Trek. As to this being the Mirror Universe, do you see a goatee?"
Hermione started to giggle, then it turned into uproarious laughter until she collapsed into the chair in hysterics.
After recovering her composure enough to talk, Hermione took a deep breath. "You said possibilities, so what does that mean exactly?"
"If you asked for love, it brought you to your best possible match. Whether that is me or my library is up to you to decide," he replied. When he saw the upward twitch of the corner of her lip he continued, "Don't answer that, I'm sure it's the books."
"Of course it's the books. I can't even remotely consider being with anyone who didn't have a library." She began to pace. "What happens if I decide I don't like this possibility?"
"Touch the stone again and say whatever you did to trigger it. It will take you to your next best possibility." He frowned. "I can tell you I was about to contact the Ministry to get an Unspeakable to help me with this potion I'm attempting. You would be a better choice, but I couldn't find a way to contact you. Since you've landed in my parlor, Miss Granger, would you like to work with me?"
"Hermione, please. And yes, I think I would. As long as you remember I'm a possibility… and you better be ready to comfort me when I have nightmares of Minerva in a miniskirt with a torture chamber."
Severus threw his head back and laughed.