A/N: This chapter was rewritten, reviews always welcome, flames can go shove themselves. Again, not mine, no money, etc.
Hermione sighed exasperatingly, "Really, guys, it's not that bad." She had just finished telling Harry and Ron what was going on, and that they were less than pleased was an understatement. They were currently in the ROR, as Hermione thought it prudent to talk about this without the chance of others hearing about it. It was their lunch break on Friday and seeing how she needed to give her final decision to the headmaster after classes that day she thought it best to tell them about the plan. "Professor Snape is an honorable man, and this union will help both of us in terms of the war."
"Binding yourself for life to the Greasy Git of the Dungeons is not that bad?" Ron exclaimed. "Why not marry me? You know I'd take care of you, Hermione!" He pleaded with her.
"You're sweet Ron, but really, Voldemort isn't going to stop until I'm married to a Death Eater, so it makes sense to marry the one who is actually on our side." She explained quite calmly, though she was starting to get a headache from explaining the same thing repeatedly.
"But I thought the whole point of you getting married before the law went into effect was to avoid the law completely?" Harry asked confusedly.
"Well, yes, that is mainly to bypass the pregnancy clause, because I have no notions to be having babies right now. It's a time of war, why would we bring living things who are completely dependent on us into a world where we cannot control the environment around us? With raids, kidnapping, and the like, it's just completely impractical to do so." She expounded on the subject, "But, if I marry anyone other than a Death Eater then they will fight the marriage, and though there is little you can do once a bond is made, there is always killing the husband and making it look like an accident, then I am caught up in the Marriage Act again. Hence why I need to marry Professor Snape. I don't know about you, but I really don't want to have to keep looking over my shoulder every single moment of every single day. Would you really want that for me?" She told them. Really, is this all that difficult to understand? She rubbed her temples. She'll need to grab some headache reliever from her room before class.
At her last question, Harry took a great interest at his trainers, whereas Ron looked at her, dumbfounded, "But, 'Mione, I-I" He started, gulped and blurted out, "I love you!"
Hermione looked at him sadly, shaking her head, "Ronald, I think you love the idea of me. But really, think about it, we aren't suited for each other. We fight all the time, there is no way either of us will be happy in marriage to each other. We have no common interests." She calmly explained to him.
"B-b-but," He started.
"No buts Ronald, but I do believe that I explained the reasoning pretty well. It needs to be Snape. Will we be happy? Will our marriage work? I don't know, I'm not a Seer. But, do we have a better chance of surviving this war? Yeah, I believe we do. This is the best chance we have. Now, you guys should get to lunch, I'll meet up with you guys later in the common room. I need to grab something from my rooms before class." And with that, she got left the room, leaving behind two dumbfounded guys sitting in armchairs.
"Do you reckon he's got her spelled or under some sort of potion or something?" Ron wondered aloud.
"Really Ron, you've seen her explain problems before, this is her logical side talking. Plus, I don't think a potion or spell would get past Dumbledore for long." Harry reasoned.
"He's a Potions Master Harry! He could have invented a potion that creates these effects and makes her want to do something crazy like marrying him!" Ron exclaimed. He knew something had to be going on here and told Harry as much. Harry just shook his head.
"Look, Ron, I don't like it any more than you, but once Hermione has her mind made up, has anyone successfully changed it? No. It just doesn't happen. Hermione does what she wants, and she gets away with it because she's always right." He sighed, put a hand on his friend's shoulder, "I know you think you love her, but maybe it just wasn't meant to be." He said with a small sad smile. "Plus, weren't you just in here the other week with Susan Bones?" He asked him, trying to get his mind off Hermione.
"Yeah, and Susan's great in all, she's great in the kitchen and the sack, but," he trailed off with a wistful sigh.
"She's not Hermione. I know. But maybe that's a good thing. Like Hermione said, what did you two have in common anyway? You hate research, books, and studying, and she hates flying and quidditch, so what would you guys talk about?" He tried to reason with his red-headed friend.
"We didn't have to talk." He mumbled miserably.
"Really, Ron, there is more to a relationship than just snogging and shagging. Do you really expect Hermione to be okay with just a physical relationship anyway? Why not go out with Susan again? You said she likes to cook, and you love food, to me that's a match made in Avalon." He tried to rationalize. "Come on Ron, let's get to lunch before the House Elves vanish all the food." He said getting up. The redhead sighed and stood as well.
"Yeah, maybe you're right Harry, but it doesn't make it feel much better," Ron said miserably.
"Well, let's see how you feel after a couple of chicken sandwiches?" Harry said, trying to tempt his friend.
Ron gave a lopsided smile, "Yeah, alright." And they went down to the Great Hall.
All the while, Hermione located the headache reliever in her room and drank down the potion. In an instant, her head went from feeling like it was in a vice to feeling free. "Ah," She sighed in relief. She then scorgified the bottle and put it with her other empty ones. She should restock her stores soon. She rather enjoyed potion-making as it relaxed her at times. Maybe it's a good thing I'm marrying a Potions Master. She thought with a quirk of her lip. She made a mental note of which potions she needed to make and then started to make her way to Charms class.
After her last class of the day, she made her way to the Headmaster's office, pausing to tell the gargoyle the password, and made her way up the stairs, knocking on the door. "Come in," came the reply, and she opened the door and went in.
"Hello Headmaster," She said walking in, and she found the headmaster filling out forms at his desk.
"Hello, my dear! So, have you made your decision?" He asked, his eyes like stars, twinkling so madly they were.
"Yes, Professor Snape and I will be getting married once I complete my N.E.W.T.s." She said calmly.
"Very good, very good. Will you like me to tell your parents?" Dumbledore asked kindly.
"No, I actually put them in hiding last summer after the events happened at the Ministry; I thought it the prudent thing to do. I will fetch them again when this whole war is done with." She explained.
Dumbledore was visibly taken aback, "They've been in hiding for a year? My dear, you could have come to me about that, we would have put them in a safe house if you felt the need."
Hermione fought a smile at seeing the great Albus Dumbledore stumbling over his thoughts. You couldn't put people in a safehouse that don't exactly exist. She thought to herself amused. But she didn't let on what she said. "I just wasn't sure about the safe houses, so I put them in another country with new memories where I don't exist, so if I don't make it out of this war," Her voice broke, "They won't be hurt." There, that ought to have sold the farm.
Dumbledore looked shocked. "Well, if you change your mind," he said in a way that basically said this was far from okay, and that he needed to investigate this. Hermione smirked inwardly, go ahead and look, my dear Headmaster, you will only find what I want you to find.
"I'll let you know," she said earnestly, drying her eyes.
Dumbledore cleared his throat, "Well now, I would like to discuss the wedding particulars, but I think we should wait for Severus. Ah, here he is," And just then the door opened and in swept Professor Snape.
"You called for me, Albus—," He then saw that Hermione was standing by the fireplace. He groaned inwardly. "I presume you want to talk particulars about this wedding?" He said emotionlessly.
"Please, sit down you two," he gestured to the cushy chairs in front of his desk. Once the couple was seated, he smiled, "Now, with a bonding ceremony—,"
"I'm sorry to interrupt headmaster, but does there really need to be a ceremony? From what I've read, there only needs to be a mediator, a witness along with the couple to be bonded. Why can't we keep this as low key as possible? If someone asks about it, we can just say we didn't see the need to make things public, and that should be convincing as both the Professor and I are both rather private people in the first place." She reasoned logically.
Albus looked slightly dumbfounded, just for a moment, sat back in his chair thinking over her plan. Severus smirked at that. Being outwitted by a girl. A girl who he didn't know, as recalled. He discreetly looked over at her and studied her. She looked and acted like the same Hermione Granger. When he tried to tentatively prod her mind her face immediately whipped over to face his and she cocked her head slightly to the side and raised an eyebrow as if to say, 'Yes?' He immediately pulled back and faced Dumbledore again, but not before he caught the small, almost invisible smirk on her lips. Was she toying with me? He didn't have time to think about that as Dumbledore started to speak.
"Yes, I think that could work. I must admit I don't think I would have thought about that myself. Now, who would you like to witness?" He asked the couple in front of him.
"I don't have anyone for me. I assume you want one of the gruesome twosomes?" Severus drawled.
"Well, I don't think Ron will be willing, but Harry might be." Hermione said thoughtfully,
"The-boy-who-lived-to-annoy-me, part of my wedding. Fan-fucking-tastic." Severus bit out snidely.
"Severus," Dumbledore admonished, "You should watch your language in front of your intended."
"Why bother? She's going to be living with me soon enough, she'll hear much worse than the word 'Fuck'." He said unapologetically.
"It's fine Professor. Being around Ron, I've heard much worse. But thank you for your concern." She said with a slight smile as if all this was amusing to her.
"There, you have it. Now, are we done?" Severus said rather rudely. He was in desperate need of a drink.
"Yes, I do believe that is everything. Will you inform Harry about witnessing?" She nodded her assent. And he clapped his hands together, "Splendid!"
And with that, Snape went to the fireplace, threw in some floo powder, called out his rooms, and disappeared in a whirl of robes.
Hermione was a bit surprised that Severus didn't walk out with her, she was almost certain that he would have tried to drill any information about his prodding her mind, or even the encounter in his office earlier. But then again, her protection may have been pushing against him strongly, though it was only a matter of time. She sighed, not wanting to think about that conversation.
Later that night found Severus working in his private lab on his research, well attempting at least. He sighed and looked at the third smoking mess in his cauldron and vanished the contents before just giving up with the research for that night. He couldn't sleep because of his interactions with Granger, or whoever that girl was as he wasn't certain that it was the same witch that has been gracing these halls these past six years and thought some potion work would help calm his mind, as it usually does, but that does not seem the case tonight. Instead, he took to his study, poured himself a rather unhealthy dose of firewhiskey and collapsed rather ungracefully into his armchair by the fire, and took a gulp of his drink.
As the liquid burned down his throat he closed his eyes and leaned his head against the back of the chair and contemplated on the Granger girl. Who was she? He thought she was the Gryffindor golden girl, resident Know-It-All, hands-in-her-homework-two-weeks-early Hermione Granger, the girl whose hand was permanently attached to the air above her head. But as he truly sat and thought of her, he realized that this is just a persona. Just like his Greasy Git routine, the Great Bat of the Dungeons. Now, he was an arse, he knew it. He never claimed to be a nice person, but he also wasn't naturally a bully. He created a persona, one that he could survive being the double spy. He knew personas, and he just realized that he had been seeing one for who knows how long and didn't even know and that knowledge bothered him.
He should go to the headmaster about this, but the Slytherin in him thought it best to watch her first. He was not about to confront her about it either, at least not yet. He was no Gryffindor, he wanted to catch her off guard. He had a month to watch her carefully, and if she slips even slightly, he will catch it. She may have been doing this for who knows how long, but he will see if she can keep it up.
With his mind made up on the matter, he figured he could get some sleep. He glanced at the clock seeing it read 4 am he sighed, rolled over and closed his eyes. At least tomorrow was Saturday, and he could get a slight lie-in.
While Severus was having his epiphany moment down in the dungeons, the middle of the night found Hermione Granger in her bed with the curtains locked and silenced, along with a mild Notice-Me-Not charm on them, making use of the time with her auto-quills at work on the essays due in a couple of weeks, as she sat back on her bed, with her right leg naked, baring what looked like a metal garter around her thigh. A closer inspection of the object showed that it was a golden asp, with rubies for eyes, wrapped around her thigh as if it were connected to her flesh.
Hermione inspected the asp for a moment, then petted it gently on its head, "Lassamque amicus," She said rather lovingly to her asp garter. At first, nothing happened, she just kept petting the snake, then the gold scales started to move, as the asp slowly slithered off her thigh, and onto her bed, rearing up to look at her.
*I am here my mistress,* the snake said directly into her mind.
She smiled lovingly at it, "Shall we begin then?" She asked the snake with a calm countenance, holding out her bared arm, which was riddled with what looked like henna on her upper arm. At her words, the asp hissed then slithered up her arm until it came to her armpit, which it quickly bit into, and she leaned back onto her bed as the snake drank her blood. Once the snake was done, and had slithered down her arm back onto the bed, she ignored the wound bleeding in her armpit, but instead began chanting in a low voice, "ostende mihi viam meam," She chanted over and over, as blood slid down her arm, moving in intricate motions that went around her arm sizzling as if burning into her flesh, creating new patterns on her arm. After repeating the chant seven times she stopped, and the wound closed. She looked down at her arm, inspecting the new pattern. "Serpents, that's a bit obvious, don't you think?" She murmured to the asp, who hissed in response.
*Mistress knows what is to come, what needs to be done.* The Asp told her. She looked at the asp calmly.
"I know, but that doesn't make it any easier to do." She sighed resolutely, "You know he will not take it well, at least at first," she sighed, "He never does."
The Asp hissed in a manner that sounded as close to a laugh that a snake can get, *He is a man, they never understand fully. No matter how intelligent they claim they are, they will never understand the intricacies of women, namely you, my Mistress.*
"Well, seeing how I'm supposed to be dead," The Asp hissed violently at those words, "Or not exist, is there even a difference?" She grumbled, giving her snake the look of 'Happy now?' and when the Asp nodded, Hermione shook her head slightly and sighed.
"This is the first time in centuries that I've been a witch, first time in being British. All their marriage matters are so bizarre. Why bind your magic to another? Whatever happened to finding soulmates and binding souls? That at least lasts over lifetimes. But no one listens to me." She said with what could almost be called a pout, then let out a sigh as if tired of a conversation.
"Well, from what I saw from our encounter earlier, I do believe he is starting to see the façade for the mask that it is. I told you he was intelligent, though I do not believe he knows what is behind my persona. I've been playing Hermione Granger for 17 years now, I don't see why I couldn't continue for a little longer? I've rather liked this one, she's brave, extremely smart, friendly, and kindhearted, if not just very young, the youngest one I've had to ride into battle within a long time, but I do believe I've lucked out with this incarnation. Even with the pale skin. I can't even go for a stroll without getting a burn. But still," She said with a slight smile as if already missing the girl who she just described.
She then shook herself, getting back on track, "We need to end this blasted war. Ugh, I despise wars, nothing but work, work, and more work." She sighed, resting her chin on her palm, as her elbow was resting on her knee. Ponderingly she said, "Hitler was so out of his league that time it was almost boring, but this Tom Riddle, he may be a bit more of a challenge. But nothing we can't handle, isn't it, my friend?" She reached out and stroked the Asp's head lovingly, Then, with a flick of her wrist, the auto-quills stopped writing, and the parchment rolled up and flew into her schoolbag, then said, "I do believe it's time for bed, my friend, don't you agree?" And as she said those words, the Asp hissed in response and slithered back up her thigh and once it was in the position it was before, she turned back into the gold jewelry with ruby eyes and Hermione climbed into bed and fell asleep.
A/N: 'Lassamque amicus' means "Awaken My Friend"
'ostende mihi viam meam' means "Show me my path"
This was done with google translate, so if there is anyone who is proficient in Latin and sees something wrong, I'm sorry! Please let me know, and I'll change it!