A/N: Thanks again for all the great reviews. I'm glad you guys like it so far. There is more Snape/Hermione interaction in this chapter, so i hope you like that. Please let me know what you think. Enjoy!

Rumors

Hermione felt his eyes on her. She couldn't explain it, but Malfoy's stare was penetrating. "Hermione, Malfoy's staring," Harry said, looking over her shoulder at the Slytherin table.

"I know," she sighed. "I imagine he received word that I've signed a contract with Snape. I don't understand why he cares." she muttered.

"Well, watch out. He looks lethal." Harry warned. "I can't believe any of this is happening. It's so...archaic."

"Tell me about it," Hermione said with a heavy sigh. She looked up at the head table, her eyes immediately going to Professor Snape. It was hard not to think about him constantly. In a few weeks, he'd be her husband. She could make the words come together in her head, but she still couldn't wrap her mind around it.

She saw him staring in the direction of the Slytherin table, and wondered if he noticed Draco's leering at her. Would he care? She was being silly, she knew. He'd protect her, she was sure, but she doubted he cared about her in the least.

"I've got yo get out of here," Hermione said, pulling her book bag onto her shoulder. "I'll see you guys in Potions." Harry and Ron nodded at her, unable to say anything to comfort their friend.

Severus watched as Draco glared at him and then Hermione. He wasn't happy, so he assumed the news of the contract made its way to the Malfoys already. He fully expected a howler from Lucius before the day was out. He really didn't know what Draco's motive was with Granger. He seemed to hate the girl, but for some reason, he really wanted her. He'd never picked up the attraction before, but there was no other explanation for it. Perhaps it was all about possession, but he wouldn't know for sure without some further investigation.

Hermione flinched under Draco's scrutiny, and Snape sighed. It was something he'd have to deal with eventually. If the boy kept it to just glaring, everything would be fine, but he agreed with Dumbledore. Draco and his father weren't going to lose this battle without a fight.

He watched as Hermione quickly got up from the Gryffindor table, and hurried out of the Great Hall. He groaned when he saw Draco get up and follow her out. "I must take my leave," he said to Dumbledore, looking pointedly at Draco's retreating form.

"Of course, Severus." Dumbledore smiled at him.

Without another word, Snape moved from the Head table and down the main aisle out of the room. He silently trailed Draco all the way down to the dungeons until he saw the boy stop behind Granger where she was standing along in the Potions hallway. It was her first class, but it wasn't to start for an hour.

Hiding behind a pillar, he watched, ready to step in if she were to become in danger. "Granger," Draco called out. He saw her body tense before she turned around, eyes blazing and preparing for a fight. At least she was smart enough to know a risk when she saw one.

"Leave me alone, Malfoy." she said through gritted teeth. He only advanced on her in response.

"I'm serious. Back off." Hermione warned.

"Or what?" Draco purred, leaning in close to her, his breath skimming over her skin. "What will you do if I don't?"

"I'll hex your balls off. Now, leave me alone." Hermione repeated. Snape couldn't help but notice how vulnerable she looked. As good as she was with a wand, she was tiny in comparison to Draco. She was a small girl to begin with.

"I want to know something, Mudblood." Draco said, just loud enough for Snape to hear. "Why would you want Snape, when you could have me?" his tone was taunting, but Snape knew he was honestly astonished. The thought made him a little smug. Of course, she was only marrying him because she had no other choice, but she still would rather spend her life with him than Draco. For a man who was considered generally unlikable, it was a little flattering. Not that he'd mention that to anyone.

"I'd rather spend the rest of my life with a Blast-Ended Skrewt than you, Malfoy," she spat, and Snape was tempted to smirk, but didn't. It wasn't a flattering statement, but the girl was a spitfire.

Draco growled and gripped her by the upper arms. "You don't know who you are messing with, Granger. A Malfoy always gets what he wants."

Hermione's eyes went wide for a moment as she tried to move from his grasp. "Get off me, ferret." she hissed. "You have no right to touch me."

"I can do whatever I want to you, and you can't stop me," Draco said, leaning in closer. Snape knew what he was planning, and moved into action.

"Malfoy, Granger, what the hell are you two doing?" He boomed.

"Sir, he cornered me," Hermione stuttered, moving out of Draco's grasp when he loosened his grip. Snape's eyes shifted to Draco, where he put on his facade and angry lover. He honestly wasn't jealous. What had he to be jealous of? He and Hermione were not in love. They could barely coexist together, but for this to work, Draco had to feel threatened.

"Mister Malfoy, I suggest you leave Miss Granger alone. She does happen to be betrothed." He sneered.

"So I've heard," Draco snapped back, looking at his professor with honest hatred.

"You may go. Miss Granger, I'd like a word with you." Snape said, motioning for her to enter his office next to the Potions classroom. She nodded and followed him into the room.

"I swear, he followed me," she said, looking up at Snape, hoping he didn't get the wrong idea about what he saw. It could have looked like they were going to kiss if someone didn't see the whole thing.

"I know exactly what he was doing," Snape drawled. "This isn't going to stop. I'm not sure what Draco's obsession with you is, but he's not going to give up without some sort of fight."

Hermione sighed. "This is all so ridiculous," she muttered to herself.

Snape said nothing for several minutes, trying to figure out what he should say. He was supposed to be kind to her. How could he? He didn't know how to be kind. He didn't want to be kind. Truth be told, he resented being forced to be the girl's keeper. But these things would not help either of them.

"Have you made plans for the binding?" He asked, awkwardly changing the subject.

Hermione was thrown a bit by his u-turn in conversation, but caught up. "N-No, sir. I wasn't sure who to tell. I-I don't know what's happening. I assumed we'd do it soon. Within the next few weeks."

"I don't think you need to worry about telling people. I've got a feeling that Mister Malfoy will make sure it's around the school before the first class of the day even starts." he said, his tone bored.

Hermione's breath caught. She hadn't considered that. Part of her was naive enough to believe this could all stay a secret.

Snape rolled his eyes. "You are marrying your professor. You'll be moving into my quarters. The whole school will know of our night time arrangements," he said, pausing to sneer at her. "Did you really think no one would have an opinion about that?"

"No, sir. It's just, all of this is happening so fast. I haven't had time to process it." She said, ashamed that she had hoped that nothing would change much.

"As far as the binding goes," Snape said. "I'd prefer as few people there as possible. I shall have no guests on my side."

Hermione sighed. Would it always be like this? Could he not even show the slightest humanity to the woman he was going to marry, forced or not? "I'm only inviting Harry, Ginny, Ron, and Professor McGonagall." she said. "I'll make plans, the sooner the better. If we are married, Draco can't do anything."

Snape wanted to laugh at her naiveté, but he also wanted to get the charade over as soon as possible too, so he let it go.

"That is suitable. I shall send you an owl later this week to introduce you to my quarters," he said formally. Hermione gulped and nodded. She couldn't make her words work. The thought that she'd be living with him in a few weeks time was too much.

"Is it true?" Pansy Parkinson giggled at Hermione. The Slytherin girl never spoke to her, so she was taken a little by surprise for a moment.

"I'm sure I don't know what you are talking about." Hermione said stifly.

Pansy giggled louder. "You know what I mean. You, marrying your Potions Professor? No wonder you get 'O's all the time." Hermione cringed at the volume of the girls voice. The whole room stopped what they were doing and turned to her.

"Miss Parkinson, 10 points from Slytherin. Back to your potion." Snape barked. But the damage was done. Everyone knew.

Hermione took a few calming breaths, refusing to cry in front of her class and turned back to the potion she was working on. Snape didn't even offer her the slightest bit of comfort. Sodding git. Her anger at the situation quickly turned to her fiance. Did he not know how hard this was for her? She didn't ask for this.

She scowled into her caldron as she added ingredients. A life with that man was going to be impossible. He couldn't even talk about the simplest things without acting like a total arse. He probably expected her to call him 'sir' or 'professor' in the privacy of their chambers. Well, bugger that. He might be her professor, but if she was going to be his wife, he was going to treat her like an equal.

Yeah, right. She couldn't even imagine that. But she couldn't stand the thought of being his submissive wife. The man was impossible. Ten bleeding points, for spreading rumors about the two of them in his own class. If Harry had pulled Parkinson's stunt, he'd have gotten 100 points taken off, and probably a semester's worth or detentions. Stupid, moronic, assholey Slytherin.

By the time she was done with her potion, she'd completely ruined it. Bottling what she had, she moved to the front of the class, handed it to him and stomped out of the room. If he was going to act like a prick about being her husband, then she could be just as much of a bitch.

"That girl is impossible, Albus!" Snape snarled. "She just walked out of class. I swear, I'm going to take off 500 points!"

"Severus, will you sit down, you are giving me a headache." Dumbledore said warily.

"Are you going to do nothing about her behavior?" Snape snapped.

"What would you have me do? Hermione is going through something very life changing. You have to cut the girl some slack. I know you don't want to do this, but she doesn't either. Blame me, not her." The older man said.

"She's annoying, and she thinks she knows everything. A life with her is going to be miserable. She's the more infuriating person I've ever had the displeasure of knowing," Snape ranted.

Dumbledore just grinned at him. "There's a thin line between love and hate, Severus," he said.

Snape stared at the Headmaster, shocked into silence. "You cannot be suggesting that I love that annoying girl." he said.

"I didn't say that." Albus said. "Listen, just give her a chance. If you were a little kinder to her, she would probably have an easier transition."

"I gave Parkinson punishment. I asked her about the stupid binding plans. What do you want from me?" Snape asked, frustrated.

"More," Dumbledore said. "You are not the emotionless wretch you want everyone to believe you are."

Snape just rolled his eyes. "Don't be so sure."

The next week was bad, but Hermione had a feeling things would only get worse after the 'wedding'. When she explained to her Gryffindor friends that her options for marriage were Snape or Draco, they all seemed to concede the point. Well, expect for Lavender and Parvati. They just could not understand why she wouldn't jump at the chance to be the wife of the 'Slytherin Sex God'.

So, the Gryffindors were on her side. The Hufflepuffs seemed split. The ones she knew well, accepted her predicament. The ones that didn't shied away from her, likely out of fear of the future Mrs. Snape. The Ravenclaws were absolutely furious with her, with the exception of Luna. They all assumed she was some kind of slut, sleeping with professors to get good grades. She couldn't believe it. She out witted most of them on her worst day. But she'd always known many of the Ravenclaws had been jealous of her, and upset that she was sorted in Gryffindor instead of their house.

Of course, the Slytherins hated her, but they always did and always would. Draco had cornered her once more in the hall, but Ginny had been close and hexed him good. She had to deal with the whispers, rumors, and notes calling her all kinds of names from the Slytherins, but with Ron and Harry's encouragement, she began to be able to ignore it. She was a virgin for Merlin's sake. She'd only ever kissed Viktor Krum in her whole life. Some 'whore' she was.

It wasn't long before she found herself in front of Snape's office where he requested her to meet him for a 'tour' of his chambers. She took several calming breaths before knocking on the door. She hadn't spoken to him since the incident in potions, but he'd been cold to her as usual, even taking 20 points from her one day for finishing her potion before the rest of the class.

He opened the door and swiftly motioned for her to come inside. "The entrance to my chambers can be reached through my office," he explained.

"Hello to you too," Hermione muttered.

"I'm sorry, do you want to talk about your feelings while we are at it?" he sneered.

"No," she countered. She wasn't going to let him walk all over her. "I just thought an exchange of greetings wouldn't go amiss." she said, staring at him.

"Hello, Miss Granger," he sneered.

"Hello, Professor Snape," she said, not feeling comfortable calling him anything else, yet.

"Now, can we get on with this?" Snape snapped.

Hermione sighed in frustration. "Lead the way." He turned to the door in the far corner of the office and, waving his wand to drop the wards, he turned to her.

"I shall teach you how to drop the wards and reset them after the biding," he explained, she just nodded.

He turned back to the door and said, "Lily," which was obviously the password. She watched his cheeks darken as she realized that he had used Harry's mother's name as his password. She didn't know how to feel about that.

Pushing the door open, he motioned for her to enter the room ahead of him. Her eyes doubled as she saw the place. It was a mess. Cobwebs were hanging from every light fixture, and dust had collected in nearly every corner. How could it get like this? Cleaning was easy for a wizard, not to mention the House Elves loved to clean.

"This is the main sitting room." Snape indicated. It held a wingback chair and a couch, with a coffee table and two book cases, not to mention a beautiful fireplace if it had been clean. She itched to approach them, but dared not do anything without his permission. She just nodded. The place looked worse than Grimmauld Place the summer before last year.

He walked toward an open door and bid her to follow. Inside was a desk and more book cases. "This is my office. I assume you'll need a place to study, so I shall make arrangements to add a desk." Hermione nodded again. It seemed cleaner than the other rooms, but not by much.

She followed him out of the room and down a short hall toward a closed door that he opened. Inside was the bedroom. "Obviously this is the bedroom. I shall add a dresser for your uses." Hermione nodded again, and followed him silently to the bathroom attached to the bedroom.

It was not much. She saw only a bar of soap in the shower, but was pleased to note the tub was large. At least there was that. She nodded again. "Are you going to speak, or will you be nodding to communicate from now on?" Snape drawled.

"I'm sorry," she said. "I'm not sure what you want me to say. It's acceptable."

"I'm glad you approve," Snape replied, rolling his eyes.

She sighed heavily. "Can you just not do this? I didn't ask for this any more than you did, so maybe you can stop punishing me."

"I have no idea what you are talking about," he said, formally. "The binding is still set for next Thursday, correct."

"Yes," Hermione said.

"I shall have the house elves move your things here Wednesday evening." Snape said.

"Is it always going to be like this with you?" Hermione asked, summoning all her courage.

"This is who I am, Miss Granger," Snape said. "I'd get used to it if I were you."

Hermione just shook her head and bid him goodbye, showing herself out. Snape plopped on the edge of his bed, running a frustrated hand through his hair. That was him trying to be friendly. He didn't know how to do it. She'd just have to get used to it or beat her head against the wall trying to change him. Something he was positive she wouldn't have the power to do.