Hermione walked along side her professor in a state of shock not really looking where they were going but not caring. She would soon be married to one of the cruelest men that she knew and she had agreed to do so willingly. She had lost her mind she was sure of it. Snape's robes billowed darkly illuminated by the moon's light. It had to be after 11 pm by now and she was ready for bed. Strangely enough she knew that if she tried to go to sleep she wouldn't be able to so she just followed her professor without complaint. They had apperated to some unspecified place and were currently walking along a long winding dirt road that obviously hadn't been traveled in some time considering all the tracks of any previous cars had been blown away in the wind.
She pushed back the tears that threatened to overwhelm her and instead concentrated on the bright stars that somehow seemed brighter here than anywhere else she had ever been. Or maybe she just never really looked at the stars enough. They passed rows and rows of what might've been apple trees but it was hard to tell in the dim light. Snape's pace had already been fast but it seemed to be steadily increasing so she had to abandon her attempts to distract herself with her surroundings and concentrate on not tripping in any unexpected bumps in the road.
"Can we slow down?" She asked panting slightly from the quick pace. He glared at her and ignored her question but did slow down just slightly but it was enough for her to catch her breath.
"What kind of wedding shall you want?" He asked formally the question sounding as foreign to him as it did to her. She frowned not ever having though of such trivial things as getting married. She had always planned on being a career women a family would have just held her back.
"Oh I don't know something small and simple I know you don't make much as a teacher so I won't drain your wallet for a marriage you don't even want." He frowned, his pace slowing a little more as he thought much to her relief.
"No I don't suppose a teacher would make very much would they?" He said snarkily. Somehow she had offended him by trying to take into consideration his low finances. This marriage was going to be very tricky she could already see it. She sighed and pushed her loose strands of hair behind her ear nervously trying to think of a way to sooth his hurt pride.
"I don't mind that you don't make much professor its okay really, money isn't important to me." She told him softly hoping that he believed her. She could make her own money didn't need a sugar daddy to support her that wasn't why she agreed to marry him at all. She just wanted to save him from getting killed not take him meager earnings. He ignored her comment and instead just looked forward his face a closed book. She felt horrible for hurting his feelings but if he wasn't even going to be an adult and acknowledge her apology she wasn't going to worry about it.
A large iron gate appeared out of the blackness of the night about twenty yards from them and she gasped in surprise. It was silver and about as big as most houses were. It rose about 70 feet off the dusty road and was the most magnificent things he had ever seen. The golden gates at Hogwarts had nothing on this gate. There were intricate cravings in the middle made of twisted silver metal that formed beautiful designs on each side of the gate that mirrored each other. Even in the dim light the gate was nothing less than astounding.
"Where are we?" She asked as he waved his wand in front of the gate doing intricate spells she had never seen before obviously taking the wards down. He smirked at her shocked look looking very smug indeed.
"We, my fiancé, are at Prince Manor. " She startled surprised at this declaration.
"Whose house is this? I've never heard of anyone named Prince?"She questioned as the giant gates finally started to draw open creaking as they did so. Snape put his wand away and started through and Hermione quickly followed after him.
"My family is the Prince family. It was my mom's name before she married my father. This is the manor I have built for my summers and since you are my fiancé and now kicked out of your house it is only fitting that you stay here with me until school starts." He said sounding unsure of his decision to bring her here. What did he think she was going to do ruin all his things? She was hardly a kid anymore. She felt annoyed and a little stupid for assuming he didn't have money. His family must have been wealthy. The manor loomed out of the darkness and if she though the gates were impressive they weren't anything on the manor.
It was old Victorian style and had to be at least four stories high with even taller towers coming off the sides. It was perched on a small mound higher than the surroundings and she could help but feel like it would be a shame if it hadn't been raised up. It was grand enough it deserved to be set apart from the orchards and gardens that surrounded it.
"It's beautiful!" She exclaimed in wonder amazed at his, for lack of a better word, castle. He simply nodded in agreement stopping at the front wooden door and performing another complex set of wand movements that was well beyond her level of understanding. Snape put his wand away after a moment and open the weighty door for her letting her go through before himself. She stepped across the threshold nervously. She was greeted by a room that was two stories high and at least 1200 square feet. The floor was a brilliant white marble and the walls were smooth unlike the stone outside of the building and painted white. In the center of the room was a large silver chandelier that was about 20 feet across and gave the whole room a rich elegance. There were photos on the wall that moved animatedly in their black frames that stood out brilliantly in the light colors of the room.
She was in awe. He had to be a millionaire she was sure of it. He wasn't just rich, he was filthy rich. He came up behind her and stood so close to her that she could feel the breath on the back of her neck and it sent tingles down her body and she felt an odd warmth spread through her that felt very foreign and made her feel uneasy about his close proximity.
"Still want a small wedding?" He asked softly tickling her neck with his breath. He sounded very pleased with her reaction and maybe even a bit relived.
"This is amazing Professor, who decorated it? The colors go so well together!" She asked relived when he walked around her and his breath stopped doing inappropriate things to her body. He didn't answer but she was getting used to his ignoring her questions and was eager to see the rest of the castle so she obediently followed his long strides. He led her down hall after hall of brightly lit marble floors and gorgeous paintings of landscapes and people she had never seen before. There were torches every few feet so even in the darkness of night every brilliant detail of the master pieces were visible. She had very quickly lost count of the number of doors they passed and very quickly felt lost in the jumble of hallways.
Suddenly he stopped in front of a particularly detailed door with carvings of at least five snakes twisting and winding around themselves the carvings moving with more grace then she thought wood could have.
"Passsssword?" One of the bigger snakes asked Snape looking straight at them.
"Pig Latin." He stated formally not looking at her but she could have sworn she had seen a bit of pink on his cheeks. He was obviously embarrassed by his not so complicated password but she didn't comment. She was so tired by the time the door swung open that her only thoughts were to go to sleep and not wake up for days. Today had possibly been the longest day of her life and she was ready for it to be over. At first the abandonment of her family was just an action that had happened during the course of the day but now her tired mind couldn't shake off the hurt she felt and she almost felt overwhelmed by her grief.
She barely even looked at the dimly lit large room before she headed straight to the dark wooden bed and got under the covers not even waiting for snape or asking for permission. The covers weren't silk like her but more like a high quality jersey knit and was soft nonetheless and soothed her aching body. Her eyes closed almost as soon as her head hit the pillow and she was drifting off to sleep when the other side of the bed dipped noticeably and she shot up all thoughts of sleep forgotten in an instance.
"What are you doing?" She exclaimed in shock at the figure slipping under the covers next to her.
"Going to sleep…" He drawled as if she was a complete idiot ignoring her outrage and shifting around to get comfortable.
"In the same bed as me? Were not married yet!" He glared at her though she could've sworn she saw a bit of amusement in his black eyes but it was gone so quick she couldn't be sure.
"Well this is MY bed and since you so kindly put yourself in it if you didn't want to share it with me you might have wanted to choose a different bed." He lectured her rolling over ignoring her sputtering. She had just assumed he would show her a bed for her to sleep in first then go to his room. Unless he wanted to sleep with her and knew she would just collapse into the first bed she saw. She huffed in annoyance refusing to lay down with him.
How dare he try to sleep with her? Sharing a bed was something married couples did and she only had less than 30 days of being free and she didn't plan on spending it acting married already.
"Well take me to my bed now!" She commanded to her professor surprised at herself a little. She had never used that tine with a professor before and felt a little rebellious. He ignored her and instead started to snore pretending to be asleep obviously. He couldn't have fallen asleep that quickly especially when she just yelled at him to take her to her bed.
She grabbed his shoulder to shake him to force him to take her to a different bed but as soon as her hands touched his shoulder he shot up in bed a murderous look on his face and she realized she had made a mistake. He had been so human before she had forgotten he was indeed the most feared man at Hogwarts for a reason.
"Don't touch me." He snapped at her his voice low and deadly." She opened her mouth to apologize but nothing came out for a good minuet she was so shocked at his sudden turn around.
"I...I…I'm Sorry." She stuttered meekly feeling like a little first year again under his harsh glare. Slowly his glare softened and his body which had tensed up instantly upon her touching him eased into a more relaxed position.
"You can't just grab me Ms. Granger." He told her his voice stern and completely serious a frown on his face making him look years older than he really was. She was lost why didn't he like being touched?
"Why not? I was just going to shake your shoulder and get you to take me to a different bed, but I've never seen anyone jump like that before." He ignored her comment and slowly eased himself back under the covers turning away from her snuggling down in the pillow like no man should but they were so soft she didn't really blame him.
"Professor…why'd you react like that? I'm not going to just let it drop." She stated firmly intent on getting to the bottom of his weird behavior. They were going to be wed and that meant he needed to open up to her. Not hold everything in and skirt around the questions. He didn't answer but just pulled the covers up over his shoulders not that it was really nessicary considering he was fully dressed and it was summer.
"Stop ignoring me will you! I'm not any happier about this then you so just answer the damn question!" She practically yelled at him frustrated and being in a bad mood only making her frustration worse.
"There are some things you don't want to know Granger, now get to sleep." He stated emotionlessly not bothering to even open his eyes let alone turn over. She fumed determined to not let him just brush her off like some annoying student. She would demand to be treated like his equal and that means actually talking to her for goodness sakes!
"I will not let it drop, now you can either turn over and talk to me or I can keep you up all night bugging you about it, which one would you rather have!"She exclaimed what little was left of her patience running out. Still he didn't turn over or face her and she was about to lose it when he finally started talking in barely more than a whisper.
"My father would come into my room at night when he was drunk and dragged me out of bed to punish me for whatever wrong doing I had supposedly done during the day. Happy now Granger?" She sat next to him in stunned silence and felt an overwhelming sympathy for the prickly man. She was blessed with a good childhood; obviously his had been anything but good. She understood now why he was so detached emotionally from everyone and everything. The people who were supposed to love him the most had betrayed him. That was something you never fully heal from.
"I'm sorry professor I didn't know." She said softly looking at her hands ashamed of her outburst and stubbornness. She felt him shifting beside her and finally sit up and face her. He raised her chin and turned it so she got trapped in his endless black eyes. She thought he was going to rebuke her and say she needed to just let him tell her things when he was ready to but he did no such things.
He slowly lowered his lips to her so gently she could barely feel them at first. She felt a spark of electricity go through her the instance their lips meant and she leaned forward deepening the kiss feeling her heart melt in an instance.