Again- I don't own HP. So sorry for the HUGE delay. Life hasn't allowed to me write at all. -_- Please bear with me- it's late and I'm exhausted but I just wanted to write – things may be spelt wrong…but oh, well.

Snape walked past Hermoine and over to a door across the room. The silver gilded handle gave way to Severus's strength and he disappeared for a moment. He wasn't at all sure what to do and he purposely stalled while looking for an extra pair of robes and clothes before going back out to see her sad face.

When he came back out, Hermione was in the same exact spot as he left her in. Why did the headmaster do this to her? In retrospect, it wasn't horrible, but in her own mind, she had no idea what the hell she was doing here none-the-less what she was supposed to do. And consummate the relationship? She'd never even done anything remotely like that in her lifetime- at her present day school.

Severus held out a pair of loose flannel pants with a matching green long-sleeve in front of her, but she seemed to be somewhere else. Her eyes were blank and forlorn and he had no idea what to do. He never wanted to marry and only did so because of the damn policy the ministry had recently put into regulation. All single males were supposed to marry by age twenty-one…supposedly the ministry believed that this would negate any age-appropriate male or female from joining the Dark Arts. Pffft- it seemed to Severus that a single woman magistrate probably finagled that proposal just because she was looking for a suitor herself. He had slipped through undetected for a few years but knew that one day he'd be ratted out…

Hermione took the offered spare pajamas and almost startled Severus with the light touch of her wispy fingers.

"Bathroom?," she asked.

"Erm…over there to your left." Severus felt like a complete dunderhead. "I'll be leaving shortly to go and work on some projects. Feel free to do what you like."

Hermione didn't even reciprocate at all; she just kept walking towards the door. It was awkward as heck, but she was thankful that he didn't want to…make the marriage official…so soon. After she had taken off her wedding dress and donned the loaned pajamas, she minimized the garment and stuffed it into the flannel pant pocket. It was too beautiful to just discard. As she entered out of the bathroom, she looked over to the library and started for the door. She stopped, Severus watched her, not even looking back, but snapped her fingers by her waist. Coonan immediately jumped off the living room couch and followed his new bride into the study.

Severus's eyebrows raised – the damn mutt never followed orders like that with him…