January

The end of January found Hermione testifying against Malfoy in front of the Wizignot. Malfoy was found guilty of attempted murder and sentenced to life in Azkaban. But, the worst of all of the mess; was the fact that it brought Hermione and Severus marriage to the front page of the Prophet and things weren't nice.

Skeeter mentioned the fact that Severus was a former death eater and practically called him a pedophile; along with bringing up questions of favoritism in his grading of her papers. It became so bad that the Ministry brought in a Potion's specialist from America to test Hermione and let her set her Newt's in potions early.

The report that the American Potion Master released help to kill some of the rumors but not all; Severus became more and more snappy at school. Most of the students were afraid to be in the class room with him; they all dreaded Potions. The only good thing that came out of all of it was that Minerva and Hermione became closer.

By early February they had reconnected and were closer then ever before. The weekend before Valentine's Day Hermione, Minerva and Severus all apparated to Minerva's ancestral home; so that Hermione could learn about her other family. It hadn't really occurred to Hermione that she was the last of the McGonagall line until she walked into the castle. It wasn't that far from the school, it was in the wild Scottish Highlands; it was a very old castle that had been there since what seemed like the beginning of time. It was very well maintained with an ancient library with Tomes from Merlin's time.

Hermione was very quiet as they walked through the halls looking at the portraits of her family. What amazed her the most was the fact that her great-grandmother and she were almost identical in looks and coloring. The older woman in the portrait; looked Hermione over and then looked at Minerva; "so this is the child you spoke of?"

Minerva nodded to the portrait; the woman continued to stare at Hermione, "Well turn around girl so I can see more of you, and who is this man next to you Minerva?"

Minerva watched as Hermione started to get angry; "I will not turn around for you; and for your rude question this is my husband Severus Snape."

The portrait snorted, "Snape that's not a pureblood name but I suppose since you have muggle blood it's the best you could have done."

Hermione went totally white except for 2 red spots on her cheeks; Severus was laughing under his breath he was starting to enjoy Hermione's anger with the portrait and couldn't wait to see how the portrait responded when she blew. Severus had learned early on to be wary of Hermione's temper; he had felt the wrath once and found that it was very much equal to his own. When Hermione had finally calmed down; they had both agreed it was best that they control it with each other.

Minerva seeing the warning signs quickly stepped into the void; "Grandmother Arabelle, Hermione's husband is part of the Prince and Malfoy line. He is very much a pureblood, and he is also a well known potions Master. He has invented various potions that are used to save lives. And our Hermione is earning her Mistress license by her apprenticeship with Severus."

The old woman in the Portrait did seem slightly mollified, "well I suppose if she has the brains to do that she must be part of our clan." With that last statement the woman in the portrait got up and walked through a door at the back of the portrait with out even looking at them again.

"Well Hermione you have now met your Great Grandmother, we are a line that passes all of the holding to the maternal line instead of the paternal side. This started in the Middle Ages when we found that we consistently only had women to pass the inheritance to; by the 1400's it was set into our family charter, and it has been so since. If you had been a boy the holdings would have never passed to you instead they would have been in trust to be given to your oldest daughter on her 17th birthday. When I pass on the castle and all of the holdings will pass to you; you are the last of the direct line. You have numerous cousins Miss Bones, Mr. Longbottom and several other of your classmates are distant cousins. I believe if you go back a little further you will find that you are also distant cousins of Mr. Potter and Mr. Weasley."

Hermione stared at Minerva with her mouth partly open, "Minerva I didn't think that I would be in the postion to inherit all of this. Shoot I didn't think I had any living relatives at all until I discovered that you were my mother. Now you are telling me I'm related to most of the students that I am in school with are some how related."

"Hermione as you are aware the wizarding world has intermarried for years so that if you look far enough into the lines you are going to be related to everyone. I'm sure if we cared to trace it you and Severus are related some where down the line."

Hermione nodded, "Yes I am sure but to go from absolutely no relatives to being related to at least 98 of the wizarding population of Europe is a big step."

Minerva laughed as did a few of the portraits on the wall. The group continued to walk down the corridor stopping occasionally to talk with one of the Portraits; this corridor was all of the women of the line that had inherited. As they completed that corridor they entered one that was the male of the line. Once again several of the portraits spoke to them as they continued down the hall. About 1/3 of the way down the hall Hermione stopped, the portrait bore a striking resemblance to Severus.

Hermione stopped to read the plaque under the portrait, "well Severus I would say we are related this is Artimas Prince; do you know the name?"

Severus nodded his head, "He was my great great great Uncle's son, so yes the relationship is there but very distant."

By lunch time Hermione was tired of meeting portraits and very happy to sit in the very large atrium enjoying a nice lunch. As the three some chatted over lunch Hermione could feel Severus's eyes continuing to search her face. She knew from living with him for the last 5 months that something was bothering him. When Minerva excused herself to go get some things she wanted Hermione to have, Hermione took the chance to ask him.

"Severus why are you staring at me, is something bothering you?"

"No Hermione I was just watching all the different thoughts pass through your eyes. It is amazing how quickly your mind jumps from one thought to another. I can't tell what you are thinking but I can see the thoughts pass through."

Hermione laughed, "I would be afraid I would scramble both of our brains if you used Legilimency on me right now. My brain seems to be in over drive, I knew that Minerva was a pureblood witch and that she was an old family. I just never really thought of what that meant to me; I guess even after 7 years in this world I still forget about the traditions and the, for lack of a better word, pomp that the wizarding world continues to practice."

Minerva returned in a few minutes and asked them to follow her into the main castle office; Minerva sat down behind the desk and unrolled the bottom of a large scroll. Before Hermione could sit down in one of the chairs in front of the desk Minerva asked her to come stand beside her.

Minerva pulled out a beautiful quill and filed in Castor Granger's name across from her's on the scroll and put his birth and death dates in the box. She then drew a line from their names down to another box and wrote Hermione's name and date of birth in followed by yet another line and then she wrote in Severus's first name then she stopped and looked up with him, a question in her eye.

Severus arched his eyebrow and answered her question, "Severus Tobias Prince Snape."

Minerva once again questioned him with her eyes. "No Minerva I do not want to add the Malfoy name and will not be doing that."

Minerva wrote down Severus's name then dusted the parchment so it would not smear, as soon as she waved the dusting power away the parchment began to glow. Hermione was shocked to see the glow and then it shot out a gold light and went quiet. When Hermione looked at the parchment next to her name in gold script was Lady McGonagall.

Minerva smiled when she saw it, "Well Hermione you are now Lady McGonagall, when you are presented in public now you can carry that name if you wish."

"But, Minerva don't you remain the Lady until, well you know, your death?"

"No my dear when you reached your age of majority you automatically took the title. You are the Lady McGonagall now; and even though I do retain control of the keeps and the funding until such time I'm as I'm incapable of running the family."

By 5:00 when they were ready to leave Hermione felt as if her head was going to explode. Hermione was so happy to apparate back to Hogwarts; as Severus and Hermione walked back to their quarters; Hermione sighed.

Severus looked over at his wife, "Hermione are you ok? I know today was a lot to take in; and that you seem to be slightly over whelmed."

"I'm fine it's just that it seems like every time things start to slow down and I can get my feet back under me something else comes through to knock me for another loop. I knew Minerva was from an old line but I never thought of her being wealthy; she's just my mother another part of my life. She is such a caring down to earth person, she never puts on any airs; I guess I just didn't even think about any of this. Now once again I need to relearn everything I thought I knew and understood."

Severus lead them into their quarters and then stopped and hugged his wife, he could not believe how much she had changed, nor how much she had changed him. A year ago he would have never reached to hug anyone that alone Hermione. She had really changed him in so many ways, and the most amazing was that he could love again. Hermione truly had been his rock in the sea of depression and despair. "Hermione you are the strongest woman I know you will conquer this and move on stronger then before. Just remember that I'm here and that I'll stand by you no matter what you need. I love you."

Hermione cuddled closer to the man she called husband and sighed, "I love you more then I could ever have imagined just 5 short months ago. You have been my rock through so much. Thank you."

That evening Hermione and Severus had dinner in the quarters and then enjoyed a quiet evening with just the two of them. It had been a hard day and they really didn't want to be with other people. At 9 they smiled at each other and got up holding hands they retired to their bedroom and enjoyed the comfort of each other.