A/N: Thank you all SO much for the wonderful reviews! I will definitely work to update this at least once a week. It's not completely written, and I honestly don't know how long it will end up being, so please hang in there with me.

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter. Sadly. I wish I could write like J.K. Rowling. I really wish I could.

"And here I thought you were the brightest witch of your age," he spat at me. "But this," he held up the piece of parchment in his hand, "proves otherwise."

I looked at him with an emotionless face, choosing to not back down from his confrontation. The room around us had dropped into a tangible silence; several people looked at me instead of Snape. "Were you that desperate?" He continued. "Do you even understand what this means?"

Everyone was looking at Severus and me, switching between us, with looks of utter confusion. Remus looked at me, a small smile of encouragement on his face. Ginny reached over and grabbed my hand under the table. I didn't respond to Snape's questions. I wasn't sure if my voice would be as emotionless as my face. He stared me down, trying to see if I would break before him. The silence stretched between us, his questions sitting in the air, waiting to be answered.

Arthur broke the silence. "Come now, Severus. What's the meaning of all this? Why don't you grab a plate from the cupboard and join us for dinner?"

Severus glanced at Arthur before he looked back at me. His eyebrows were raised in surprise, but his eyes remained icy. I squeezed Ginny's hand; she squeezed mine back. I can do this, I thought to myself. I lifted my eyebrows in response. "Thank you, Arthur," Severus responded curtly, "but I need to speak with Miss Granger."

Ginny squeezed my hand again before letting it go. I stood up slowly from my place at the table. I walked around the table towards Severus, keeping my head high. He didn't need the satisfaction of knowing just how scared I was of him in that moment. He stood unmoving, his body held in rigidity. I walked through the door, and he followed silently after me, shutting the door with precision behind him. I walked through the hall and up the flight of stairs into my room. He followed me in, and I turned around swiftly, trying to keep my bravery. He closed the door behind him, not taking his eyes off of me.

We stood there for a minute, assessing each other. He held out the letter in his hand. "I know what it says," I told him, putting as much force as I could into my voice. It came out firm but not harsh. He looked me over again.

"Then I am owed an explanation," he told me darkly, "especially of why the rest of the people downstairs do not know."

"They know I made my decision this morning," I spat back at him.

"Why didn't you tell them it was me?" He raised his voice slightly, just above a comfortable conversation volume. "Did your bravery leave you, little girl?"

I glared at him. "It's none of their business who I choose!" My voice rose to match his. "Why should I live with the awkwardness of that before I have even spoken to you? I'm not marrying them! I'm marrying you! Shouldn't I speak to you about everything before I announce to the world who I chose?" I balled my hands into fists at my sides.

"When did you plan on telling them? The day before you rush off to Hogwart's to begin your apprenticeship?" His voice grew even louder. I could feel him attempting to control himself, to make sure that he was coherent in his thinking.

"I'm going to tell them once we discuss it," I returned. I purposely kept my voice lower than his; of course, mine was still nearing a scream.

He paused for a moment, glaring darkly at me. "Why did you choose me?" He annunciated each word with absolute clarity.

"Why wouldn't I?" I asked before I could call it back. "You're Headmaster of Hogwart's. You're Potions Master. You have an Order of Merlin First Class. I can become Slughorn's apprentice with minimal stress."

He raised his eyebrows. "Headmaster? Potions Master?" He spit the words out bitterly, his voice loud enough that I was sure the rest of the house could hear him. He pulled up his left sleeve. "How about Death Eater? The Dark Lord's favorite? The murderer of Albus Dumbledore?" He showed me his left forearm. The Dark Mark—bright green—seemed to glow against the paleness of his skin.

I recoiled automatically from the mark. He smirked in satisfaction. "Again, girl, you show your ignorance. You think only of the positives, ignoring entirely the things that are clearly a warning, no matter how many there are. "

I took a deep breath, lowering my voice. "The proposal is legally binding. There's nothing either of us can do about it."

His eyes narrowed. "Then why don't you tell me why you really chose me, then?" He screamed at me.

"WHY DID I CHOOSE YOU?" My control broke; I screamed the question at him, all the anger and resentment unleashed in my voice.

"YES!"

"RESPECT!" I hurled the word at him, absolute venom in my voice.

He laughed bitterly. "BECAUSE THIS IS RESPECT!" His voice, despite its volume, was dripping with sarcasm. I glared at him.

I walked up to him, putting my face as close to his as I dared. I made sure my voice was at a normal volume before I spoke. "At least we care enough to fight. Any other man on my final list would have rolled over and submitted to me." I stared him down, putting all that I felt for him—as innocent as it was—into my eyes, willing him to see it; I didn't pause in my explanation. "You have done far more to be proud of than any other man I could have chosen. You are a man that has made difficult choices and has seen them through, no matter how painful. You have followed your passion." He began to interrupt, but I cut him off. "And, honestly, you're willing to call things as you see them, whether your perception is accurate or not." I pulled the list from my pocket. "No other guy on this list would be willing to do that." He reached out and took the list from my hand. He opened it, scanned it then looked at me again. His eyes were softer than I'd ever seen them. I continued, "That's why I chose you. I knew I could respect you for choices made, even if I couldn't stand you as a person. A relationship has got to start somewhere. From what I've been told—and experienced —respect is a pretty good place to start from."

He was silent before me. His eyes bore into mine. I began to feel uncomfortable—something was beginning to slowly bubble in my chest. I had no name for it. Suddenly, he looked down at the list again. "Who was the last person aside from me?" His voice was much softer now, as if he was trying to be civil. He looked back up at me.

"Seamus Finnegan," I told him, my voice without emotion.

His eyes rose in surprise.

"Who were you expecting?" I asked, my voice as brittle as ice.

He looked back down at the list. "Weasley—Um, Ron—would have been my first guess, following quickly with Krum."

I snorted, stunned. "I haven't spoken to Viktor since fourth year. I could hardly marry someone I haven't even seen in almost four years. Besides, I wouldn't be able to stay in England. It would make becoming Slughorn's apprentice very difficult."

He said nothing—not even his body told me what he was thinking. No nod of the head, no shrug of the shoulders, no rising of the eyebrows. It was like talking to a wall. "And Ron…" I let out a heavy sigh. "Ron only offered the Ministry his name for me because he wanted to let me have an easy out. He's a wonderful young man, but he knows that picking him would not save me from misery. Why make two people miserable? At least now he has the chance at a happy marriage."

Snape's face remained emotionless, but I saw his eyes harden. "Are you saying that you have no problem making me miserable?"

I held eye contact. "You already are, Professor," my voice had lost its strength; it came out in the smallest of whispers.

"My name is Severus, foolish girl," his voice snaked out of him with cold hatred. It felt as if he had slapped me.

I didn't apologize, though I should have. I stood there, staring at him, trying to figure out what was bubbling in my chest, when he folded up the list and put it in his pocket along with the letter from the Ministry. He sneered at me before turning around and walking swiftly through the doorway. I heard him go down the staircase.

Arthur's voice floated up to me. "Ah, Severus, is everything alright?"

I did not hear his reply, only the slamming of a door a moment later and a loud pop. He was gone. I stood there, feeling the cold move outward from the middle of my body, as if it had been waiting to overtake me again. The little hope I had felt before dinner quickly dissipated. In its wake, utmost despair. I felt as if I was sitting in the bottom of a hole, looking up in hope, only to find that it was too deep to ever escape.

After hours of trying to convince myself that I had made the right choice, I finally allowed myself to admit how rash I had been. Sure, I got to become an apprentice under Slughorn. Sure, I got to return to the school with which I had fallen in love. Sure, I was setting myself up for a future of success and of following my passion.

But I'd had to surrender the idea of a happy marriage—one built on mutual desire for the other. I'd had to surrender a pretty house in the countryside. I'd had to surrender the idea of ever being wanted by my spouse. I didn't think Snape would ever show me civility, much less affection.

My knees collapsed under me, and I fell without grace to the floor. I felt the tears begin to fall as I looked through my door into the empty hallway. There were no individual tears; there were too many stored from hours and days and months of emotional stress that I had buried to keep from going crazy. A solid wall of tears fell sideways down my face. I pressed the side of my face against the cold hardwood; it seemed to be the only thing that reminded me that all this was real.

I was to marry Snape. I knew not when, but I knew it would have to be soon. The school year would not be allowed to be disrupted for a wedding he didn't even want. A month. Six weeks at most. And then I would have to face living with him. The idea instantly revolted me. A shared bathroom and shared living room. My thoughts froze. A shared bed. The idea was so absurd. He wouldn't even say goodbye to me before leaving; how on Earth could I be expected to share a bed, however large, with him?

The sobs tore through my chest, escaping through my mouth at volumes that described only the worst of agonies. Vaguely, I heard someone coming up the stairs; multiple footsteps echoed off the hallway walls. I felt a cool hand press itself to my soaked cheek. It brushed my hair out of my face and gently wiped the tears away from my eyes. I heard the door close gently on inquiries coming up from the living room.

"Is she alright?" I heard Harry's voice ask.

"What was with Severus? I have never seen him act so strangely before," Arthur asked.

"What in the bloody hell did he do to her?" Ron's voice was the most outraged, but I couldn't understand why. I heard a baby's cry.

Another sob tore through me. I was beyond comprehensible thought. I was consumed by the emptiness in my chest and the hatred I felt towards everything that had happened in the last year. Curse Voldemort and this world he had caused to come into creation.

"You need to tell them, Hermione. They won't be able to help you if they don't know what's wrong," I heard Ginny whisper desperately into my ear. I shook my head, the tears coming down harder than ever. How could I tell them what had made me into this mess?

I heard the baby's cry grow steadily louder. I saw Tonks's feet standing at the threshold of my room. "Remus, we need to get Teddy home. It's long past his bedtime."

"I know," he whispered quietly. "Give me one moment." There was a pause. I felt a new hand touch my shoulder. "Hermione, I know that this is difficult for you right now. Would you be alright if I was to give the official news? Ginny will be able to keep people out of your room for the night. We can all deal with it anew in the morning."

I slowly nodded. Yes, better to have Ron and Harry hear it from Remus rather than from me. Remus would be better equipped to handle their questions. And at least it would give me a chance to convince myself yet again that I really had made the right choice.

He patted my shoulder a couple times in sympathy; a moment later I head two sets of footsteps heading back down to the living. Teddy's cries became distant again. I lay there on the floor, my cheek pressed into the cool floorboards that were now wet with my tears, trying to calm myself. I tried to keep my breathing quiet with limited success. I wanted to hear the reactions as Remus told the truth.

"Guys, can I get your attention, please?" Remus spoke over the chatter and crying baby. It instantly quieted, aside from Teddy. The child was insistent on going home. "Hermione's decided to spend the rest of the night preparing for the coming weeks. She has asked me to tell you the specifics of her decision concerning the marriage law."

"Finally," I heard Ron mutter.

"Do we get to know why Snape showed up unannounced?" George asked.

"And why he looked like his underpants had been hexed?" Fred added seriously.

"Oh hush!" I heard Mrs. Weasley quiet her sons.

"Come now, Fred," Angelina reproached her husband.

"I ask that you please refrain in your responses," Remus prefaced the news. Great. Now they knew it would be bad. "Hermione told me when I came to check on her at lunch the man she had chosen. She asked that I not share until they had a chance to discuss it between themselves." There was a pause.

"Well she obviously baled on that idea," Ron commented.

I could imagine the look on his face when he said it; a slight eye roll and a look off to Harry.

"Actually, she didn't." Remus let that sink in for a moment. "Hermione chose Severus Snape."

There was silence in the room below for a moment.

"WHAT THE—" Ron was cut off by Harry.

"NO FUCKING WAY!" He screamed.

Others joined in, annunciating their disapproval clearly with well chosen words.

"He must have hexed her!" George reasoned.

"Used a love potion!" Fred said in agony.

Ginny scrambled to the door and shut it quickly; It hit the doorframe with a ring of finality. She was shutting out those who didn't believe it would work. She muttered a spell, pulling out her wand. Immediately the noise that was bleeding in through the old floorboards disappeared. It was as if there were no cries of outrage ensuing in the living room below.

She ran back to me and gently helped me off the floor. "Forget them," she whispered to me as she cleaned off my face. She began gently brushing my hair. "Trust your instincts." Her hands deftly pulled my hair into a thick ponytail. She pulled some pajamas out of my dresser and helped me into them.

She played with my hair a little. "Get some rest. You'll need it." Slowly, she stood up and walked to the door. Before opening it, she looked back at me. "I've got your back, remember?"

I nodded slowly, trying to not cry again. I watched her open the door, slip into the hall, and then close it. The spell remained. Even when the door was open, I could not hear what was happening downstairs. I was suddenly very grateful for Ginny and the gift she had given me for the night.

I went to open the window so that Pumpkin could fly in whenever he decided to return. I caught my reflection in the mirror. My eyes were bright red; my face pink and puffy. It looked as if I had not slept for several nights.

Maybe Ginny was right. Maybe this was the right decision. Maybe my instincts were to be followed.

That didn't change the reality, though. Tomorrow I would have to face everyone with them knowing the entire truth.

I was now officially engaged to Severus Snape.