It's time for a chapter update from me, Perky-Thief! What's up guys, thanks for all the reviews. Since I got such a nice amount of them, I made it a personal goal of mine to update as fast as humanly possibly. And i feel so proud of myself to for devoting all my free time to finishing this story :)
Therefore, I give you Chapter Ten of A Marriage of Convenience. Enjoy!
Title: A Marriage of Convenience
Chapter Ten: A Reunion of Friends
Hermione lay sprawled out on her large bed, her collection of quills and sweets scattered around her feet. She sighed deeply as she mentally reviewed the events which just occurred. What had happened exactly? Even though it occurred less than 5 minutes ago, it seemed to be no more than a mere haze of a memory.
Snape had been so close to her lips. So close. Yet he didn't kiss her. Not on her lips, at least. How come? Why was that? Hermione's brow crinkled as she desperately thought of a reason. Could it be that she simply wasn't attractive enough for Snape's liking? Had everything she'd seen in the Pensieve been a total and complete lie? 'No,' she thought. There was no way that could be. 'He seemed so genuine in what I saw in the Pensieve.' Hermione thought about it for a while longer. She knew she was no beauty, but she also knew that she wasn't completely hideous. The only problem with this theory was that the more she thought about it, the more she began to doubt it. Perhaps Snape didn't think she was good looking at all.
Normally, Hermione would simply ignore the thought of herself being considered unattractive. But for some reason, she couldn't shake the desire to know what Severus truly thought. She had the urge to jump up from her bed and head directly down to the dungeons.
'Hmm…that's an idea,' Hermione thought to herself. Being Head Girl, she was exempt from the curfew that other students had to abide by. The idea became more and more intriguing by the minute. The more Hermione considered it, the more she wanted to do it.
Still lying on her bed, Hermione closed her eyes to envision how her plan would unfold. She would go down to his private quarters, knock on his door, and simply ask him why he didn't kiss her. It sounded perfect; she wouldn't refuse him an answer.
There was only one problem with Hermione's plan, however. Soon after she envisioned it, she fell into a deep sleep upon her bed, her candies still spread out on the coverlet.
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Snape sat in his office, leaning back deeply into his green leather chair behind his desk. The thought of Hermione resting in his arms continuously flashed throughout his mind. He could still smell the scent of her shampoo in his nostrils; the scent was intoxicating. It smelled of strawberries and passion fruit with just a hint of vanilla.
She felt so light and airy in his arms, as if she weighed no more then a feather. He shocked himself with how much he wanted to hold her again. Severus cursed at himself internally, "shit. She's still just a young girl."
Despite how many times he repeated this to himself, the vision of her in her silky green dress said anything but. To him, Hermione had looked heaven sent, like an angel cloaked in brilliant waves of green light. It made her eyes shine like stunning stars. The way the dress clung to her hips and the way it attached itself to her curves made Severus want to do unspeakable things to the girl. Snape cursed silently to himself once again. He knew he should feel ashamed by his current thoughts, but for some reason he didn't.
Rubbing his temples, Severus stood up from his desk and walked over to a nearby oak cabinet. He opened one of the doors and observed the numerous stores of various potions, all carefully bottled and labeled. After shuffling through them for a moment, he pulled one out with the words 'Dreamless Sleep' written in black ink on the label. He knew he had a long day of classes tomorrow, and the last thing he needed right now was to be plagued with dreams of the little-know-it-all.
Snape smirked as he uncorked the vial. 'Maybe she isn't a little-know-it-all,' he thought to himself as he downed the potion. After all, everything that Hermione knew, he knew as well. The more Severus thought about it, the more he realized there weren't many people that could keep up in an intelligent conversation with him. Hermione happened to be one of the few that could. Perhaps being married to the girl would have its advantages.
Stripping of his teaching robes, Severus went over to his bed and drew the curtains. He slowly settled into the large bed, relishing in the cool, crisp feeling of his body beneath the sheets. Snape closed his obsidian eyes and drifted off into sleep with pleasant thoughts of Hermione still on his mind.
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Hermione awoke with an abrupt jump, startled by the sound of her items crashing to the floor from her bed. She bolted upright in her bed, and gazed sleepily to the large clock hanging on her wall, squinting as her eyes adjusted to the morning light.
She nearly screamed when she realized where the hands were placed on the clock. "I'M LATE!" Hermione yelled to no one in particular, as she darted from her bed. She rushed into her private bathroom, attempting to tame her unruly hair with her wand. "How could I have over slept," she growled angrily to herself.
"Accio robes," Hermione shouted, pointing her wand at her half-open wardrobe. She caught her robes in her hand as they came rushing towards her. Grabbing her copy of Magical Draughts and Potions, Hermione grimaced as the thought of not being able to shower before classes. Glancing briefly at her watch, the thought quickly left her head. She had no time to get ready; she barely had time to brush her teeth. Hermione ran out of the portrait, nearly knocking down a first year Gryffindor in the process.
Hermione ran down the corridors, disheveled and unkempt, trying desperately to make herself presentable for class. And to make matters worse, it was Potions class. The last thing she wanted was to deal with Snape right now, especially after last night.
Reaching the dungeons, she paused for a moment in front of the doorway to Snape's classroom in an attempt to steady her breathing. Hermione could only hope that nobody would notice when she entered; that the rest of the class would be too busy making potions to realize that she was late. Taking a final breath, Hermione opened the large door and stepped inside.
To her complete disappointment, the entire class was seated at their desks copying texts from their books. The room was completely silent; not a word was uttered while everyone scribbled on their parchments. Hermione tried to shut the door as quietly as she could. The gods seemed to be against her, since the door made a long squeaking noise while it swung on the hinges, and produced a loud bang upon fully closing. At that, everyone in the room, including Professor Snape, looked up from their work.
A smirk crawled onto Snape's pale face. "Ah, Miss Granger," he drawled. "How nice of you to join us. Seeing as you are nearly 30 minutes late, I believe that 30 points from Gryffindor will do. Now take your seat before I decide to deduct more points."
"Sorry, sir," she replied.
Head facing the floor, Hermione sulked over to her usual seat near Ron and Harry. Neither one of them said anything to her, which was probably the smartest idea at the given moment, for she was likely to snap at any given time.
The rest of the class went by smoothly for the most part. Hermione sat quietly in her seat for the duration of the lesson, not even raising her hand once. She didn't have a single comment, question, or remark to share, much to everyone's amazement. Instead, she simply scribbled away on her parchment as Snape dictated the rest of his lesson plan to the class.
After Snape announced that class was dismissed, Draco walked over to Hermione. She was still seated at her desk, gathering up her things and putting away her cauldron.
"Hey, Hermione," said Draco casually. "Rough morning?" she noticed how he tried to hide his smirk as he spoke.
"Yeah, a little," she replied. "I didn't sleep too well last night."
"Me neither, I kept thinking about our date last night, and how great it was."
Hermione didn't reply, she simply continued packing up her belongings. Harry and Ron had already left, leaving her to the mercy of her suitors. Before leaving, Harry had given Hermione a sympathetic look, while Ron only looked away with a sneer.
Upon not receiving an answer from Hermione, Draco took it upon himself to continue the conversation. "So," he started, clearing his throat. "I see that you're still wearing the ring I gave you. You like it, huh?"
Hermione startled, looking down at her hand and seeing the sparkling item. "Oh," she said quietly. "I guess I never took it off from last night."
Draco's smirk grew wider. "I know. It is a beautiful piece of jewelry. Picked it out my self, you know." He chuckled loudly to himself, "it's almost as pretty as you are."
"Thank you, Draco. Now, if you'll excuse me, I don't want to be late for my next class," Hermione replied, turning around to head for the door. However, before she could reach it, she felt a strong hand grasp her wrist.
"Not so fast, Hermione. I was wondering what you were doing later on tonight. I mean, we had such a good time last night that I thought that we might as well go out again."
Hermione swallowed hard, "oh, um…" She really didn't want to go out with him again, that much she knew. Thinking fast, she needed to come up with a good excuse. "Well, you see, Draco, tonight I have to-."
"I'm afraid that Miss Granger won't be going out anywhere tonight other than the dungeons." She was cut off by Snape's silky voice speaking behind her.
"What are you getting at, Snape?" Draco snarled, obviously displeased by his Professor's interference.
"Watch your manners, boy" Snape sneered back. "And if you must know, Miss Granger will be serving detention with me tonight for her lateness and total disruption of my classroom time."
"If I didn't know any better, Professor, I'd say that you seem a little anxious for your date on Friday."
Instead of snapping at Draco, Snape merely sneered at him and said, "15 points from Slytherin, for your rudeness. And I'll have you know that every decision I make involving my students is done for the better of the class. Now get out of my sight."
Draco didn't respond, but instead glared harshly at his professor and made his way out of the classroom.
Intending to follow Draco's action and leave the dungeons, Hermione walked quickly towards the door, but was soon stopped by Snape's silky voice. "Not so fast, Miss Granger."
Hermione cringed ass she heard the man say her name. Potential suitor or not, she didn't want to be trapped with him in detention for the remainder of her Thursday night. Taking a deep breath, she turned around to face her Potion's professor. "Yes, sir?" she questioned timidly.
"Follow me," were the only words out of Snape's mouth as he turned around and headed towards his office.
"Yes, sir," Hermione replied, respectfully following her professor through the door connected to the classroom and into his office. She had only been in his office a few other times in her life, and it was usually the result of her having done something majorly wrong. Glancing around the dimly lit room, she saw dozens of items and unknown mixtures stashed into large glass jars. The shelves on the walls were lined with tons of texts, parchment scrolls, and potion vials. Cauldrons and burners were piled neatly in rows in various corners of the room, giving a very organized feel to the place. Focusing back on her professor, Hermione silently waited for him to speak.
Snape had taken a seat behind his desk, hands folded neatly on top. "Well?" the Potions Master asked her.
"Well what, sir?" Hermione asked, somewhat confused.
Snape sighed irritably, "well, why were you late to my class this morning?"
"Oh," she responded, completely taken aback by the question. Of all the things she had expected upon entering his office, Snape speaking civilly to her was not one of them. "Well, sir, I guess I just over slept."
The dark man before her arched a slender eyebrow at this remark.
"I'm sorry, sir," Hermione continued. After hearing no response from her professor, she glanced down at the floor awkwardly. "So, how will I be serving my detention tonight, sir?"
Snape smirked at her question, "you are to arrive in my classroom at 7:00 sharp. I will assign you an appropriate punished when you arrive. Do not be late. It would be in your best interest to arrive on time. You are dismissed." At this he reached over across his desk and grabbed a pile of essays and a quill. Immediately, he began scribbling fiercely on the parchments, not even looking up once at the student before him.
Heeding his words, Hermione quickly turned around and left his office. She hurried through the halls as she made her way to the Great Hall. It was almost lunch time, and she would be sure to find either Ron or Harry there.
To her surprise, the Greta Hall was nearly deserted when she arrived, but sure enough, Harry, Ron, and Ginny were all seated in their usual spots. Taking a seat next to Ginny, Hermione placed her bag down next to her. "Hello, guys," she said, none too enthused.
"Hello, Hermione," Ginny said, taking a bite of her chicken and ham sandwich.
"I can't believe that Snape actually gave you a detention the night before he's supposed to take out on a date," Harry scoffed at the very idea of it. "Some suitor he's turned out to be."
Hermione sighed. "Tell me about it, the last thing I need right now is to have to have detention with the man. I hope he doesn't expect me to be civil tomorrow. If he does, he's got another thing coming." She reached across the table and began to fill her plate with some casserole and steamed carrots. "I mean, honestly, it's not like intended to be late to his class. And I'm usually always on time."
"This is true," Harry commented absently.
"But why were you late, Hermione?" Ginny asked.
"I overslept. It was an honest mistake. Everybody does it at some point or another."
"I suppose you were out too late with Malfoy last night," Ron said with a grim expression.
Hermione didn't respond, but merely glared at him with an angry look in her eye. She chose to ignore his comment, completely aware that the idea of her being potentially married to Draco bothered him to no end. Instead, she simply sipped her pumpkin juice and focused her attention elsewhere.
"Oh, by the way," Ginny said, "how was your date last night?"
"I hope he didn't try anything funny," Harry mentioned, giving Hermione a sharp look. She noticed that Ron's head perked up quickly at Harry's comment.
"No," Hermione responded. "He didn't try anything he would need to be jinxed for. But he did act very strange last night. Almost as if he wasn't being his true self." Hermione chose to keep what she had seen in Snape's Pensieve to herself. It would only bring about trouble if she went around getting everybody involved in her private matters.
"What do you mean?" asked Ginny.
"I mean he was completely non-Malfoy-ish. In fact, if I knew any better, I would go so far as to say that he was one of the politest people I've ever met. He was very sweet, and showered me with gifts. It was completely overbearing." Hermione cringed at the thought of the way Draco acted the night before. He may not have been Prince Charming, but she could definitely say one thing, he had been an amazing actor.
Ginny became increasingly interested at the mention of 'gifts.' "Oh, presents," she said, excitedly. "What did he get you?"
Hermione groaned at the thought of all the gifts he'd given her, still thrown messily about her bed. "He was absolutely ridiculous. First, he bought expensive quills from Scrivenshaft's. Then we went to Honeydukes, and he brought out this giant basket filled with different sweets. I swear I'll have enough candy to feed an army of house-elves after all of these dates. Then he must've spent an insane amount of money on our dinner, not to mention that he bought me this gorgeous dress to wear for the evening."
"Wow," Harry said, sounding somewhat impressed. "Malfoy really went all out for you. I'm somewhat surprised."
"Yeah, but that's not even the worst part of it," she replied. "Here, look," Hermione said, thrusting her right hand forward for everyone to view it.
"Oh my gods," Ginny mumbled, staring at the giant stone resting gracefully on her hand. "That thing must have cost him a fortune. He really gave you that?" Everyone stared at the stone with bewildered looks, completely taken aback by the extreme purchase on Hermione's behalf.
Ron scoffed loudly at the sight of the glamorous ring, "I can't believe Malfoy's trying to buy your love with expensive presents. You would think he knows that you're not materialistic."
"Wow, Ron," his sister commented. "That has to be the most intelligent thing you've said all day."
"Shove off," he replied.
"No, Ron's right," Hermione spoke up. "I'm not materialistic. In fact, these silly tokens have completely turned me off from him. He can't buy my love, no matter how beautiful and stunning the gift. And besides, the boy can't even keep up an intelligent conversation. I'd have been better off having dinner with a tree stump than him." She glanced down at her wristwatch to check the time. Hermione took a few more bites of her meal before standing up and gathering her things. "I'll see you later, guys. I want to go up to my room and properly freshen up before my next lesson starts."
They all said their goodbyes to Hermione as she left the table and headed towards the large double doors leading to the Entrance Hall. Once in the hallway, she turned to the grand staircase, she heard a voice behind her call her name.
"Oy, Hermione, wait up." Turning around, Hermione saw Ron come out of the Great Hall rushing towards her.
"What's wrong, Ron?"
"I wanted to talk to you before you left," he replied.
"About what?" she asked.
"Well," he sounded hesitant, unsure of what he had to say. "I just wanted to say that I'm sorry." Ron's gaze was pointed directly towards the shiny floor of the Entrance Hall, his eyes refusing to look up at Hermione.
"Sorry about what?"
Ron sighed, irritably impatient at the fact that she didn't understand what he was trying to say. "Hermione," he started. "I'm sorry about the way I've been acting lately. I've been a real dunderhead about this whole…marriage law thing. Look, what I'm trying to say is…that regardless of who you choose to marry, I'll support your decision. Even if it is Malfoy." He said these last words with a hint of disgust in them.
Hermione smiled at her friend standing before her, and reached out her hand and placed it over his. "Thank you, Ron." She smiled kindly at him. "I know this is difficult for you to accept; almost as difficult as it is for me to be in this situation. But things are the way they are, and I don't foresee the situation changing anytime soon. The reality of the matter is that I'm going to have to choose Jordan, Malfoy, or Snape as my future husband soon, and I'm not really looking forward to any of it." Her smile faded as she said these words. "But listen, Ron, I promise that despite my getting married, you, Harry, and Ginny will continue to be an important part of my life. My husband will just have to deal with it."
"I know that, Hermione. But given your choices, we'd all feel the best if you made Jordan your final decision." His words were quiet, but at least Ron was now looking at Hermione instead of the floor.
Hermione sighed and looked away, knowing only too well whom she supposed to pick. Both McGonagall and Dumbledore thought that Snape was the best, and safest, choice given the current circumstances. "I know, Ron. But I have to look at factors other than marital compatibility in this case."
Ron's brow wrinkled inwards, "what do you mean, 'Mione?" He was obviously confused by her statement and needed further explanation.
"Um, I'll explain what I mean later. But I really got to run. I have another class soon." She turned away from Ron and continued up the large staircase before her, heading towards the Gryffindor common room, leaving her red-headed friend staring after her in confusion.
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Hermione stood in her room, gazing into the large mirror attached to her wooden bureau. She ran a brush through her hair a few times, somewhat attempting to tame her fierce curls. Giving up on what seemed like an endless task, Hermione set the brush down on the wood. The clock to her left read 6:30. 'Only a half hour left before Snape's stupid detention,' she thought to herself. For what seemed like the ten millionth time that night, Hermione mentally scolded herself for oversleeping her class.
Releasing a sigh, Hermione glanced down at her hand, taking notice of the ring which still resided there. Subconsciously cringing, she removed the ring and placed on the nightstand next to her bed. The stone glimmered beautifully in the candlelight of her room.
Hermione had no intention, whatsoever, of bringing the ring to her dentition. She could only imagine what Snape would do if he saw it. "Most likely yell at me for being so trusting," Hermione scoffed aloud to herself. "Who does he think he is," she said to her reflection in the mirror. "Giving me a detention simply for being a few minutes late! The nerve of that man. While he's supposed to be courting me, too. Completely insufferable. I don't think I could tolerate being married to that overgrown bat." Her reflection had nothing to say back to her, nor did Hermione believe that it would.
In matters such as this, Hermione knew that no one would be able to give her advice. Truthfully, she did not want to marry Snape, or Draco and Jordan for that matter. If things went her way, she would remain an unmarried witch with a proper education. Although, if she had to choose someone, Hermione would have liked preferred that it be Jordan, him being the most desirable out of the three.
But Snape's words ran loud and clear through her head. She knew exactly of what Malfoy and his father was capable of. And she did not want to be on the receiving end of their anger. 'But what about Jordan,' Hermione asked herself. She definitely didn't want anything to happen to Jordan because of a rejection towards Draco. In her head, she ran over a list of possible situations that could happen to Jordan.
'Maybe it would be better if I married Snape,' she thought. 'I would be safe and well protected, and at least nothing bad would become of Jordan.' Hermione glanced down at her wristwatch once more before grabbing her wand and heading down to the dungeon to serve her detention.
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