Snape's Declaration

So one of my anticipated moments. Snape finding out. Lol, this should be amusing.

On Monday Grace seemed a bit anxious. Draco couldn't figure out why. Every time he saw the ring on her finger, he would smile. She had only taken it off while showering and then it was right back on again. He didn't get the chance to ask her anything because they had separated at the Great Hall since Hermione had dragged Grace over to the Gryffindor table to show the other girls her ring. He didn't have any classes with her until the afternoon.

Of course, it didn't take that long for him to figure out what had his fiancé in a slight worry. Half way through second period, he got dragged into Snape's office and he finally figured it out.

"I've heard things, Draco." Snape said. "Things that involve you, Grace…and a ring on a certain finger."

"Uh huh…" Draco said.

"Didn't I tell you to be careful?" Snape asked.

"It's not like I planned this whole thing." Draco said. "I only came up with the idea on Thursday."

"Draco you…" Snape started.

"With all due respect professor…" Draco said. "There's really nothing you can say to make me take it back." Snape gazed at the younger man for a long time. Draco held his eye steadily. Neither would back down from this.

"You may go back to class." Snape said. Draco got up and left, knowing this wasn't over.

Grace was surrounded by the Gryffindor girls at lunch time so there was really no way to talk to her then. Draco sat with Blaise at the Slytherin table. He looked at the other boy and raised an eyebrow.

"What?" Draco asked.

"Oh nothing." Blaise said.

"Liar." Draco said.

"News spreads quickly." Blaise said. "You proposed to Gracie." Draco just nodded. "So am I to understand that the two of you finally…"

"If you shut up, I'll tell you what happened." Draco said. Blaise smirked. Draco spent the rest of lunch telling him some of the events on his birthday. They met up with Grace, Hermione, Harry and Ron outside of Defense class.

"Let's see then." Blaise said, taking Grace's hand from Ron and looking at the ring. "Wow…good pick Drake." Grace giggled and pulled her hand from Blaise as Snape rounded the corner. She slid her hand behind her back casually, not sure of how Snape would react to this and decided against causing a scene in the hallway.

"Do none of you realize that the door is usually unlocked?" Snape asked, walking between the teens and opening the door easily. The class stood outside the room, looking stumped.

"I told you." Grace said, hitting Ron's shoulder.

"Ow!" Ron said. Grace led everyone into the classroom. She sat down and Draco and Blaise sat either side of her as usual. The class went on as usual…not! Draco was deciding to be mean and he was on the right side of Grace to do it. He had his hand on her leg the entire class and more then once she had made a move to dislodge it without drawing attention but every time Snape would look at them and she had to settle for glaring at her fiancé while he just smirked and took down the note.

"Grace." Snape said, as the class filed out. She stopped. "Mr. Malfoy, you may continue on to your next class."

"Uh…alright." Draco said. Grace watched him leave then approached Snape's desk.

"You'd be amazed at quickly things spread in this school." Snape said, taking hold of her hand and examining the ring on her finger. The longer he remained silent, the more uncomfortable Grace got. She chewed on her lower lip as she watched his face for any sign of any emotion. Snape technically was considered her guardian now, even though she was over the age of maturity and she felt as if she should have his approval of this.

"Don't you have a class?" Grace asked, hoping for some form of distraction. Snape lifted his eyes from the ring to her face. Grace shifted from one foot to the other. "I…I have potions to get to and…umm…"

"I'm sure your partner can deal without you for a few minutes." Snape said. He let go of her hand and sat back in his chair. Grace chewed her bottom lip. There was silence that lasted a few minutes in which Snape was calm and Grace fidgeted more and more. "Are you quite sure you know what you're doing?"

"Huh?" Grace asked, lifting her eyes from the desk to the professor. "Why are you acting like this? You're the one that put us together in the first place. Neither of us really planned to feel this way, I definitely didn't. But it happened."

"Undoubtedly." Snape said.

"Oh so it's ok when we're just together but when we're engaged it's…I don't think this is about me and Draco is it." Grace said, suddenly thinking of something. "I think maybe this is more about you and a certain red head that was the mother of one of my friends." She crossed her arms. Snape went completely still. "There are a lot of differences. I have to go to potions." She didn't even wait for him to dismiss her or anything, just turned and left.

Potions class was widely uneventful. They had made a few potions already by now and Grace was beginning to get bored. It didn't seem too challenging to her anymore. Draco and Blaise told her not to complain because if she got harder stuff then so when they, as her partners for the year. She had to settle for just instructing them.

"I don't like having Snape against this." Grace said, curled up on the couch later that night. Draco had her feet on his lap and he held a book up to his face. He just made a noise in response. "Draco I'm serious here. He's like…my father or uncle or something now. I don't want him against this."

"He won't stay against it." Draco said, not taking his eyes off the book. Grace tilted her head and tried to see the cover but she couldn't make out the title.

"What are you reading?" She asked.

"Just a book." Draco said.

"Yeah…but what's the book called?" Grace asked. Draco didn't reply. "Draco." He bit the inside of his lip to stop from smiling. Grace reached for the book and he held it away from her. "Let me see!"

"Who should I?" Draco asked. Grace leaned across him, stretching for the book. This time Draco did smile as she knocked him onto his back and climbed on top of him to grab the book. He dropped it and grabbed hold of her wrist. Grace looked down at him.

"Sneaky buggery jerk." She said.

"Hmm…maybe." Draco said. "But I got what I wanted." Grace shook her head and pulled her arm out of his hold before crossing her arms over his chest and resting her chin on them. "So…when do you want to do this?" He tapped the ring on Grace's finger.

"Hmm…I don't know." Grace said, turning her head so that her cheek was on her arms. "After graduating, that's for sure."

"Mmhmm." Draco said, nodding. He ran a hand through Grace's hair. She yawned. "Tired?"

"Yeah." Grace said.

"I doubt Snape will give you a hard time if you haven't gotten the homework done." Draco said, looking over at the Defense homework that sat on the table. Grace made a noise and nodded slightly. "Alright, let's get you to bed." It took a while to get Grace up but they finally managed it into their bedroom.

Draco was partially right about Snape. The professor didn't give Grace a hard time about anything…he didn't even talk her. He practically seemed to ignore her. Hermione and Draco were the only ones that really noticed it however.

"What happened?" Hermione asked. "One day Snape acts as if you're his favourite person and next he's ignoring you." Grace looked from her to the others.

"We'll catch up." She said. Harry, Ron and Draco nodded then continued on. "He's not happy about the engagement."

"Well that's odd." Hermione said. Grace nodded. "Maybe it's just a big shock."

"Hopefully." Grace said. "I don't want him to be against it. He's like the only parent I have now." Hermione nodded. They caught up to the boys outside of the Great Hall. Grace wasn't very hungry so she went and sat with Draco at the Slytherin table. Hermione and Ginny took her away after they finished eating.

"Is she ok?" Blaise asked.

"Snape was ignoring her during Defense class." Draco said. "Grace doesn't like that he doesn't think the engagement is a good idea."

"Oh." Blaise said. He looked down at Draco's plate. "And you're mad about it and taking it out on the beef."

"Yeah I…what?" Draco asked. He looked down to see that the food he hadn't really touched all during the meal had been mutilated. He put his knife and fork down and sighed. "What the bloody hell am I gonna do?"

"Do you know why Snape doesn't like the idea?" Blaise asked.

"Yeah but it makes no sense to me." Draco said.

"Well…try making him see reason." Blaise said. "You're so obviously the best thing in Gracie's life since…well, probably before she was captured. She's practically Snape's adopted child. All parents want their kids to be happy."

"Yeah…I guess." Draco said. "I'll keep that in mind."

Well let's see…should we keep the happy or bring on the evil?? Decisions, decisions.