A/N: Hello readers. This goes especially to Claude Amelia Pond, who has been reading several of my OTP because it's hers to. I hope you enjoy. Also, an assignment.

Hogwarts: Arithmancy, assignment 5, task 2: Write a story featuring 7 years of a character's/couple's life. (This can be about 7 years at Hogwarts; about what happens in 7 years of a relationship, etc.… just make sure to write sth for each year.)

Extra Prompts for said assignment: 1) Word: Secrecy 2) object: invisible ink 3) Characteristics: pessimistic, sarcastic, insecure

Soulmate AU: You see in black and white until you make eye contact with your soulmate for the first time, after turning 17. It is the body's way of protecting the young from any possible stress or other dangers of finding love young.

Word Count: 2921 (Microsoft word)

First Year

Severus Snape had spent his young life waiting for his seventeenth birthday to come and prove that he and Lily were soulmates. However, he never saw her after the incident in fifth year and had found out through their wedding announcement that she and James were each other's. His hopes and dreams gone, he fell into a dark spiral and gave up ever hoping to find a soulmate, especially as the years dragged on. But he had never expected that upon making eye contact with the eleven-year-old muggle girl sitting next to Harry bloody Potter would cause color to bleed into his world. It started with just her eyes. Her chocolate brown eyes. And then from her peach skin to her fizzy brown hair. Then the objects around them. It took everything in his power to continue the class as he knew he needed to.

But he was shaken to his core. He was disturbed and he was worried. When the class had finally left, he made his way straight to Albus Dumbledore's office and explained what happened and why he needed to be free to leave.

"Severus, my boy," Albus had started, "you simply cannot leave us. Fate clearly has a plan for you. The girl will not know for years to come. We will deal with this when that happens."

"No. This cannot be. That girl is going to learn. She'll be disgusted, horrified."

"Severus, do not make the mistake of pushing your own feelings on her. You know nothing of this girl yet."

"She is twenty years younger than I am, Albus. Twenty years."

"Many witches and wizards have found their soulmates in those even older or younger."

"Right. And there's nothing wrong with the fact that a young girl is going to walk into class one day and discover that her soulmate is her teacher. No, she'll be perfectly fine with that."

"Your sarcasm is noted, Severus. But for all you know, she will be fine. You don't know her yet."

Severus seethed, though he forfeited the argument. Then he vowed to make Hermione Granger loathe him so much, that he could not be her soulmate.

Sixth Year

Hermione, despite Harry's best attempts, did not hate her Potions professor. She in fact tried to argue in his favor when she could. She did not think he was a wholly bad person. She knew that something awful must have happened to make him as mean as he was. But she never expected the "gift" she received on her seventeenth birthday.

Upon walking into Severus Snape's Defense against the Dark Arts class in her sixth year, she made eye contact with the man and suddenly everything changed. Her heart stopped as she realized that his eyes were truly black, and only realized this as his skin took on a pale pallor which the slightest touch of color. The man she had only ever seen in black and white, truly was black and white in his clothing. If it weren't for the coloring slowing bleeding into the other objects around them, she might never had known what was going on. Color was truly beautiful, and it stunned her.

"Mione?" Harry questioned, grabbing her shoulder gently. "Everything okay?"

"Oh!" She said, pulled out of her stupor, only to be met by the stark green eyes of her friend. "Yes, I'm fine. Just spaced out for a moment, that's all."

Hermione followed Harry to their seats and pulled out her jar of invisible ink. Harry watched as she scribbled, unable to decipher what was being written. Hermione herself wasn't sure what she was writing or why. But she knew she had to say something.

Once class was over, and after placing necessary protection charms on the paper, she walked up and left it on his desk, for him to read later, only his name visible.

Professor Snape

Colors are beautiful.

Hermione.

Seventh Year

The color was bleeding out of the world. Hermione's heart was racing as things began to lose their color. Everything was black and white, everything except the blood staining Severus's skin and clothes. Black and white surrounding the crimson life force. Harry asked her for a vial, and she struggled to get enough of a grasp on reality to grab one for him.

Then Harry and Ron tried to leave, and she couldn't move. She could still see red, he wasn't dead yet.

"Come on, Mione, let's go!"

She shook her head, tears that she hadn't realized were forming falling down her face. "I can't just leave him here to die."

"He's gone," Harry answered softly.

"No, he's not," she responded without thinking about what she would be revealing. "He's not dead."

"Yes, he is."

"No. Harry, you don't understand. I know he's still alive, barely, but he is."

"How?"

"I can see the color of his blood still."

Her friends' eyes widened, and then stopped, as if they thought they understood and then didn't.

"I've been able to see color since my seventeenth birthday. And right now, everything has gone black and white again, everything except his blood, and the blood on all of us from everything happening tonight. And as long as he is alive, I will be able to see that. So, I cannot just leave him to die."

"Hermione, he's a bad person," Ron tried to coax her as she began ruffaging through her bag.

"No, I don't believe he is. And either way, he'll have a trial if I can save him. I can't just let this man die. He's my soulmate whether we like it or not."

Eighth Year

Severus Snape was a free man, and, though it had never been expected, was back to teaching potions at Hogwarts. Though Harry Potter had fought hard to prove his innocence, and won, many people did not want to fire him or work with him. The only reason they were remotely trusting him to teach was because he was excellent at potions and he would be under the watchful eyes of Minerva McGonagall.

He knew he shouldn't have been surprised when he saw Hermione Granger be the first student to walk into his classroom, even before classes officially started, yet he was. She stood there in a cornflower blue dress, her pulled back and approached his desk with caution.

"I thought perhaps we should talk before classes started," She said calmly.

"We have nothing to discuss, Miss Granger."

"Yes, we do. And I am aware of the fact you knew that fact for six years before I did. And last year was far from suitable. But now, we are about to deal with each other every day. And I would like to discuss the fact that we're soulmates."

Severus looked at the papers on the desk in front of him, refusing to meet her gaze. "I'm rather busy with planning classes right now, Miss Granger."

"I knew you would fight this. I'm calling in the life debt you owe me. I saved your life, and in exchange I want one year of a real attempt to get to know one another."

At this, Severus met her gaze and regretted it. Those piercing brown eyes, the same as they were so many years ago, "No."

"You cannot control the fact that we are soulmates. Now I'm sure that neither of us ever planned on anything remotely close to this happening, but it did. We're both adults, and I for one want to see what could be. So, I'm calling in the life debt for one year of courting or dating or whatever. Obviously not this year, after I graduate."

"Miss Granger, I will do no such thing. We will not date. I am twenty years older and you and your friends spent your school years hating me. Why would you think this was a good idea?"

"I didn't hate you. Despite their best efforts, I never hated you. And I'm sure a lot of that has to do with the soulmate thing. And I was horribly confused after the end of sixth year. Because as much as I tried to believe that were an evil person, my heart refused to accept it. And I-I've seen the memories. Harry, felt I should. And I saw that you did what you had to and I stopped being confused. And I want a chance with my soulmate, especially since the ministry will not let me marry anyone else since we have found each other."

"Well I have no intentions of getting married, ever."

"Doesn't matter. A life debt is owed and I'm calling it in, after I graduate."

Tenth Year

Hermione shoved Ron away almost the moment he pressed his lips to hers.

"Ron, what are you thinking?" She nearly shrieked.

"I just don't think that you should be with him, of all people!"

"I get that you are upset you still haven't met your soul mate, but I have. And I'm trying to make it work. And I do not want to be with you Ron. I don't want to be with you when you find your soulmate and then begin to resent me because you're with me. Besides, the ministry would never allow it."

She turned away from her friend before he could argue and went inside the little restaurant where she was supposed to meet Severus. After waiting twenty minutes, she realized he wasn't coming, so she went to him.

Severus answered the door to a furious Hermione and started to close the door, except that she blocked it with her foot.

"You stood me up," She stated simply.

"I'm done with this charade."

"Why? Why now? Why not when your year was up?"

"I'm sure I don't know what you mean. I've simply decided that I've had enough of playing pretend."

"Pretend? Is that really what it was? Because I was getting the feeling that you enjoyed our time."

"Well it's abundantly clear that you haven't."

"What do you mean? How awful do you have to be at reading body language to get that?"

"Miss Granger I really don't have time for this, excuse me."

"Miss Granger? What happened to Hermione? What happen to the shocking yet pleasing to hear, 'My dear'? Why are you doing this out of blue after two years?"

"Because I don't care to have my time wasted. You said you wanted to see if things could work. You clearly no longer have an interest in that end."

"Why do you keep saying that?"

At this point she had pushed the door open and they now stood just inside Spinner's End.

"I saw you. I saw you kiss Weasley."

Realization dawned in Hermione. "You must not have paid attention, because if you had, you would have seen me shove him away and yell at him."

"I'm sure," he sneered.

"Are you," she started, a grin forming, "Is Severus Snape jealous?"

"I can assure you that I would not waste my energy being jealous of a silly boy. There's nothing between us, so why would I be jealous of someone else?"

"Really? There's nothing between us? Would you care to prove it?"

"Gladly. Get out of my house and I'll close the door and never look back."

"No, that's not what I had in mind."

Before Severus could respond she stood on her tips toes and pulled his face to hers, pressing her lips softly against his. Ron's kiss had made her feel sick to her stomach, and she was sure it was because her body and her magic knew she had a soulmate and she was betraying them. But his kiss made her feel safe and warm. She knew that if he truly didn't care, he would push her far away. Yet to her surprise and joy, he wrapped his arms around her and pulled her close and it was she who had to end the kiss.

"If there is nothing between us, why are you holding me so close?" Hermione teased softly.

Severus gave a rare half smile. "Fine, witch. You win. This time."

Twelfth Year

"Severus, you do realize that people are going to have to come to the wedding. The secrecy is going to have to end. No matter how hilarious the guesses are in the prophet."

"I don't know why there needs to be a wedding announcement. It seems a silly outdated idea," Severus grumbled. "Besides, it's sure to lead to nothing but negativity from the prophet."

"I don't particularly care what that paper has to say. It's gotten better, but until Kingsley finishes reforming everything, which will take years, I refuse to take it as a credible source. But to answer your question, because my mum and dad want to share their excitement with the world."

Severus shot her a glare before going back to the papers in front of him. Winter break and she barely managed to convince him to spend some time at home since he was given the choice.

"Severus, four years of nobody except friends and family knowing is pretty lucky. But we can't keep it up. Between the wedding, the fact that my last name will be changing, and children, it's going to get out. Wouldn't you rather it come out in a tasteful manner with caring words? Or in a gossipy manner that takes into question how you must have imperiused me and how I am clearly continuing my streak of seducing men in places of power to further my agenda."

"You? Hermione Granger needs men to further her agenda?"

"Only if you ask Rita Skeeter. She is so convinced that I'm a lose woman who only goes after powerful men to keep myself in the spotlight and rise even further."

Severus scoffed at her comments as she sat on the edge of his desk.

"Severus, in all seriousness, what is the harm? I personally am sick of the secrecy. I want to be able to walk out in the wizarding public with you. I want to be able to go out with worrying if I'm being followed, and when I am, you brushing me off. What is the worst that is going to happen?"

"You could lose your job. I could lose mine. We could be stalked. You could be ridiculed."

"Always the cynical pessimist," she teased. "For one thing, I won't lose my job. Kingsley himself has assured me that he would defend my character. Two, you won't lose your job. Minerva wouldn't be that nice to you. Three, even with those, we wouldn't lose our jobs because everyone knows that you can't control your soulmate. You can't control who they are, when or where or how you meet them. In order to be ridiculed, I would have to be embarrassed, and I'm simply not. It won't happen. And no one is stupid enough to stalk either of us."

"You have an answer for everything, don't you?" he grumbled.

"Of course, I do. I'm not going to argue with my fiancée without proper preparation."

"Fine, if it means that you'll leave me alone to grade, go ahead."

Fifteenth Year

Hermione smiled as she watched her husband lay their year-old son in his crib, sleeping peacefully. She laughed as she remembered him being angered, and then terrified of the idea of being a father. She remembered all the crap Ron spewed about how she'd better be prepared to just leave the ministry and stay home because Severus would be rubbish at the dad thing. And yet, he seemed comfortable in his role. And he was there always, supportive and loving.

"You coming to bed?" she whispered softly.

He walked out and closed the door behind them softly. "If you had woken him, I would have cursed you witch."

She giggled a little, covering her mouth with her hand and followed him to their bedroom. As he began to dress for bed, she crawled under the covers. As soon as he was under the covers, she curled up next to him. He'd given up protesting it a year after getting married. And though he'd deny it if asked, she woke up more than once to him holding her in his sleep or in the early mornings.

"So, remember the other day when you were commenting on how you were sick of tripping over our books and his toys?" she started softly. "And how you think we need to move out of this abysmal house? And I said I didn't want to?"

"Yes, and I still think we need to. This house is far too small," he replied matter-of-factly.

"Well, I've changed my mind."

He shifted and looked at her with a raised eyebrow. "Are you actually not arguing with me stubbornly on something? What going on?"

"Nothing. I've just given it more thought and realized that you are right. We both buy books like crazy. We need more shelf space. And it's not fair that you lost your study for Klaus."

"Are you attempting to try reverse psychology on me?"

"No. I really want to go look at some of those houses you were talking about. I swear it."

"Hermione, what is going on?" he asked sternly.

"Nothing."

"Hermione."

"Why are you fighting your wife agreeing with you?"

"Because I get the sense you're hiding something."

"Well I'm not."

He pulled her close. "Fine, I'll call an agent tomorrow."

"Good," she said, snuggling close. After a moment of silence had passed she added, "By the way, I'm pregnant."