Okay, so this is my first One-Shot. I hope you like it.

Their Choice

This was her wedding day. The day every little girl dreamed of. It would be the best day of her life. Except there was one thing that annoyed her. Because the truth was, that this marriage wasn't her choice. It was the ministry's. And that made her mad every time she thought about it.

They had decided to enact a marriage law to bind people together so they would get nice little wizard babies, as Hermione referred to them.

It just wasn't fair.

She wanted to marry out of love and not because some stupid bloke told her to. After she had read the name of the person she was supposed to marry, she had written a letter to the ministry, letting out all her anger and hate for this stupid law.

How could they pair her with someone like Severus Snape?

He had been her teacher for God's sake. He didn't even like her and she surly couldn't imagine him trying to be romantic.

He was a total dungeon bat and didn't know anything about things such as joy and happiness. They had to be kidding her.

However after Severus and Hermione both had talked to each other about their feelings and opinion towards the law, they had soon realized they at least agreed in this one point. The law had to be repealed.

Spending days and even weeks trying to fight the law they finally stopped after realizing it wouldn't be repealed and decided to make the best out of their situation.

Hermione had to admit though Severus was no way acting romantically towards her – or anyone in general – she started liking him, the way he lived, everything about him. He was a man, who had his own scars to deal with, but he certainly was nice to be around with.

Once she had even managed to make him smile while making a joke about Dumbledore chocking on his lemon drops. That had been one of the moments when she had adored him most.

And he had made efforts to be nice to her as well. Whenever she was around her would pay her a compliment or two. The first time he had done that, she had been so shocked; she had accidentally dropped her glass, which had been filled with orange juice. It had been a good thing he had waved his wand in time and had stopped it from falling.

After a month of being with him, Hermione finally realized she had fallen in love with him and now she hoped he was at least attracted to her. Surely she couldn't expect a love declaration from him, but maybe he did like her.

However, today they would get married.

Hermione sighed and sat up to get ready for the day, when suddenly the door burst open and Ginny came into the room carrying the daily prophet.

"Guess what!" She said and closed the door behind her.

"What." Hermione asked and climbed out of her bed. Ginny smiled and sat down on the bed.

"The marriage law was repealed."

Hermione froze.

"Apparently too many wizards and witches tried to hex the ministry so… voila."

That was exactly what she had feared. To lose Severus because they now suddenly saw how stupid this law was. Why did they do that? Now he would never marry her and she would have to go on with her boring life. How could she have been so silly to fall for him?

The thought brought tears into her eyes.

"Mione, are you alright?" Ginny asked worried.

"Of course."Hermione nodded and tried to blink the tears away. But they started falling anyway.

"Then why are you crying? I thought you hated the marriage law." Her friend said and pulled her down onto the bed.

"I still do." Hermione choked out and wiped some fresh tears away.

"Then why…"

As Hermione looked at Ginny, her friend finally understood.

"Oh no, you love him, don't you?"

Hermione nodded and eventually let her tears flow. Ginny went out to let her have some space.

Ten minutes later she had calmed down a little bit, but then suddenly remembered that she would also never bear Severus children and started crying again.

After half an hour Hermione was able to stop her tears and stood up to dress herself. Now that she wasn't going to marry she needed to find something else to wear, then cancel the wedding -

Suddenly there was a knock at the door.

"Come in." She said, but froze when she saw Severus entering the room.

"Hello." He said and she couldn't help but notice he was nervous. His hands were buried in the pockets of his black jeans and he frowned.

"Hello, Severus." She answered. Maybe this was the last time she could use his given name.

"I guess you already heard that the law was repealed."

Hermione nodded and forced herself to smile.

"The ministry didn't win." She said and Severus felt his hope die. The last month with her had been the best of his life and he had started to like her. More than he should.

How could he have been so stupid to think they actually had a chance?

She would never willingly marry him. He was her ex-teacher, the old dungeon bat and nineteen years older than her. Not a good option for a happy future.

God, it was just silly. He hadn't even known he had still a spark of hope left in his heart.

"Yes." He nodded. "Yes, they lost. We don't have to marry." But we could.

It was an unspoken ending that Hermione didn't quite catch in that moment.

"Then I guess it's goodbye now." Severus remarked and Hermione felt the tears again. She turned away so he didn't see her crying and nodded. She didn't trust her voice anymore.

"So, I'll leave now, okay? And don't worry about the wedding. I'll cancel it all and talk to our guests."

He turned to leave, but decided against it. Something deep inside him told him he had to see her face one last time. Carefully he grabbed her shoulder and turned her around.

It all happened so fast Hermione couldn't react in time. He saw her tear streamed face.

"You're crying." He simply stated and felt guilty immediately.

She nodded.

"Did I say something wrong or hurt you in any way?"

She shook her head.

"Then why are you crying?" He carefully wiped some tears away and again Hermione was amazed by how soft he was when he was with her. In front of the others he still behaved like a cold unpredictable man, but with her…

"I'd rather not tell you."

"Why?"

Hermione hesitated.

"I… would make a foul out of myself." She admitted and wiped her face clean with the sleeve of her night dress.

Severus smiled.

"I bet you wouldn't. In fact I have made a foul out of myself so often, I don't believe there is someone with more mistakes than me."

Hermione frowned. What if he would laugh at her?

But then again he had his own past and he knew how it was to love someone who didn't return your feelings.

"Okay." She bit her lip and thought of a good way to tell him. She couldn't just say: Hey I love you. Surly you don't mind, do you?

No. That wasn't her style.

"Today…I wouldn't have married you because of the marriage law." She finally said and Severus frowned.

"I don't understand…"

"I would… I would have married you because… because… I love you." Hermione chocked out and saw Severus eyes widen.

"Do you really mean that?" He asked, his voice shaking with emotion.

Hermione nodded. All of the sudden she felt self-conscious.

A smile spread over Severus face and then he hugged her.

"I love you, too." He whispered into her ear.

Hermione's heart jumped at his words and soon she found herself kissing him hungrily.

After a few minutes they both caught their breath and smiled at each other.

"So, what do you say? Do you still want to be my wife?" Severus asked and saw Hermione nodding immediately.

"Yes, more than anything."

"Mrs.…Snape?"

"Yes, that's me." Hermione said and stood up carefully. Severus was right behind her to support her.

"Please wait a moment the doctor will come soon." The assistant said after leading them to the room.

"God, I'm so nervous. What do you think? A girl or a boy?" Hermione asked and touched her swollen belly.

She was in the sixth month now.

"I don't know. But I think it's a strange idea to go to a muggle doctor. We could have found out much easier." Her husband replied.

"No. It's how my mother did it. And we also went here the three other times I was pregnant. And it went well. So stop being so mean." Hermione said.

They already had two sons and a daughter.

William was the oldest with eleven years, then Jenna with six and finally Jake with two years.

Severus sighed and wanted to reply when suddenly the doctor came in.

"So today we want to find out the sex of the baby, right?"

"Mommy, you are back." Jenna smiled and ran to her parents. Her dark curls bounced as she jumped on her father's arm.

Two year old Jake was carried by William who approached his parents with a frown on his face.

"And? What did the doctor say? A girl or a boy?"

Hermione smiled.

"We'll get another girl."

"Yeah." Jenna clapped her hands. "Then I can play with her. That will be fun."

William sat his brother down and frowned again.

His calm, mysterious way often reminded Hermione of her husband.

He even looked like him except his hair was a little bit shorter. Severus had cut his, too.

"What is it?" Severus asked, reading his son like no other person could.

"Well, I won't be here the next years because I'm going to Hogwarts, but I'd really like to see her."

With her he meant his unborn sister.

"Yes. We already have a solution for that." Hermione smiled.

"Your father was asked to teach at Hogwarts again and we thought about moving there."

"Of course only if you agree." Severus added.

William thought about it for a moment.

"Okay. But don't embarrass me. It's hard enough to be the son of a teacher."

Hermione smiled.

"Actually it's two teachers. In a few years I'll work as a teacher too."

"God, why me?" William said, turned around and disappeared into his room.

Hermione and Severus laughed and Jenna gave her father a kiss on the cheek and giggled when he started to tickle her.

Hermione took Jake's hand and they played with his magically flying cars- a gift from Harry.

While she sat there and thought about how nicely her family had turned out, she remembered the moment again when she told Severus she loved him.

If she hadn't she wouldn't be that happy now.

She was really lucky she had been that brave.