A/N - Hello again! After two weeks without my trusty computer (winces) I
finally have it back. Good news - no nasty bill because my computer was
still under warranty. Bad news - the damage to the hard drive was such that
*everything* had to be wiped and I had to reprogram it (winces again).
Thank you for your patience and as always I hope you enjoy this chapter.
Angel of the North, Arysta, Avid Reader, Beth Ann, GrintsGirl, hpz26, Ji Nu - ^*Star Goddess, Jullkat007, lollylips3, Luna Writer, Malfoy, Meeka, not sure yet, Ryoki, Saber, Sos, Tracy, Xanthos - Thanks!
Arysta, BadBoyLover, Katie Scarlette, RoseWithThorns, Spike Lover, Strega Brava, Zoe, - I'm glad you liked the proposal!
Coffee - Thanks for your comments - you want a wedding scene? (Sigh) These people who make demands.. g.
Goddess-Isis-112 - I'm glad you were cheered up!
Hasapi - Praise is welcome, thanks! I'm a firm believer in giving praise to other stories where it is due, and it's great to receive it as well.
Lucinda Malfoy, Rhiannon, - Thanks for your patience (bows).
PhoenixFeather7 - Probably not! g
Taryn - Look m'dear, there will be a future scene with kids g. But right now, having kids is the last thing on Hermione's mind even though she's with tall, dark, handsome-in-an-odd-kind-of-way Sev.
Part 28
Hermione's stomach grumbled, pointing out to her that what was the point of lunchtime if no food was directed its way?
Severus raised an eyebrow, taking the opportunity to regain some of his composure. There was no cause for acting like a lovesick fool, he told himself, even if one was feeling like..well, a lovesick fool. There was obviously no hope for him now.
Nevertheless his voice was dry when he spoke to her. "After last night the last thing you will be doing is skipping meals, Hermione."
"Yes, professor," Hermione teased him. She still couldn't believe that they were now engaged to be married, staring down at her left hand and imagining a glittering ring on her finger. She wasn't offended that Severus did not have a ring with him, for she was still touched by romantic impulsiveness from a wizard who did not seem to have an impulsive bone in his body.
"Since everyone knows about us now, I suppose they wouldn't be any more shocked when they find out we're engaged," Hermione mused.
A little insistent voice that had been at the back of Severus's head trying to get his attention succeeded, and he frowned, trying to deny it. But there was no way around its remorseless logic and so he carefully picked up Hermione's left hand, trying to think of the right way to say this.
"It may be just as well that I do not have a ring with me, Hermione..you know of course that the Ministry of Magic turns a blind eye to teacher- student liaisons now if the student is over eighteen and in her last year?" he reluctantly informed her.
Hermione looked at him in faint surprise. "Yes," she nodded. Sirius Black was a good example of someone who had taken advantage of that. "I don't think that there isn't one wizard school I can think of that hasn't lost at least a few students and teachers thanks to Voldemort. Naturally the Ministry wants as many wizard babies born as soon as possible to replace them - and if the teachers are doing the 'replacing'," she paused as she found herself blushing, with Severus taking the opportunity to look at her in a way that caused her to blush harder.
She coughed and went on, trying to ignore the way his fingers were stroking her hand. "So the Ministry will look the other way because as a rule, teachers are powerful wizards with the chance of having equally powerful children." She couldn't help but remember how intrigued Dumbledore had been at the possibility of children produced by her and Severus.
Severus snorted. "Yes - although occasionally idiots with no talent like Lockhart who are more interested in their female fans (here he gave Hermione a pointed look) get through."
Hermione couldn't help but smile to herself at the memory of her flamboyant second-year DADA teacher that she had had a crush on. Looking back she could see she had been too dazzled by his charm (and his stylish appearance) to see what an impostor he had been.
Then she looked up at Severus intently. "What are you trying to say?"
He hesitated. "It is only a short time before you graduate, but despite their stance, I fear the Ministry could make it..difficult if it was revealed that you are engaged to me before the school year is over." There was a look on his face though that clearly said he disliked the thought of the Ministry of Magic dictating terms to him.
Hermione's face fell for a moment then she recovered. With the kind of looks that had been directed her way today, perhaps it was best that their engagement be kept a secret until she had finished the school year.
"That's all right," she said quietly. "I understand. I don't mind waiting for a ring."
Severus kissed her softly, his breath warm on her face. He had an idea. "No one would object to a ring they cannot see on a necklace under your uniform," he murmured, smiling faintly when he saw her face light up. "So you will stay here and eat your sandwiches as well as that appallingly cream-filled doughnut that I know you have wrapped in your bag, if you must. And no, do not look at me like that. Meanwhile I will go and fetch an item from my quarters that no fiancée of mine will be without."
Still holding her hand Severus rose to his feet, pulling her up firmly as well and ignoring the various pieces of grass at the bottom of his robes gave her a final look from his gleaming eyes and then swiftly departed the rose garden the way they had entered.
Smiling to herself Hermione sat down on the bench and hunted in her bag for her lunch. Severus had no right to mock her for having a doughnut - she had observed him enough times at dinner to know he had a preference for sinfully sweet desserts.
As Hermione munched on her food she wondered what her engagement ring would look like. But then, she thought, you didn't have to be a genius to realise that a Slytherin would give a silver ring with a green stone. Then her face grew thoughtful. If he already had a ring then he must have already planned to propose to her (which was possible). It was also possible that the ring was one that had belonged to his former fiancée, Clara and kept as a grim reminder of what had been..
The sideways looks were easier to ignore for Severus as he swept along the corridors back to his quarters. He was mentally berating himself for proposing before Hermione had finished her schooling. In the back of his mind he had had things planned - after her graduation there would have been a dinner at a suitably refined restaurant, with a (rehearsed) declaration of his feelings for her when she was in a suitable mood, for he believed in planning and always being two steps ahead of everyone.
But with Hermione around, all reason and planning seemed to fly out of the window at times and after her stubborn declaration of love for him before, warts and all, he had been moved to propose to her. Perhaps part of it was due to realising how much she had meant to him after he had found her unconscious at the foot of his stairs last night.
There was still a sense of unreality about the fact that she had said 'yes' and that he was on his way to bring back the engagement ring he had in his quarters. A ring that had been passed down through various generations in his family..whose previous wearer had been the unlamented Clara.
His face darkened slightly. He had resolved never to think of her again if he could, but some memories could not be easily banished. After the death of Clara in Azkaban Prison the ring that he had given her (in mockery she had worn it until the end) had been returned to him with the few other personal effects she had had in prison. Everything but the ring he had destroyed, and he had even been tempted to melt down the ring into a lump of metal. But no, he had kept it on his dresser as a reminder of betrayal. When fury had chilled to bitterness he had put the ring out of his sight at the back of a drawer..
When Severus reached his quarters and entered his bedroom he crossed over to the dresser and bent down to open the bottom drawer, his hand eventually closing around a small box. His fingers tightened for a second around the box then relaxed, and he put it in a pocket in his robe.
Severus then went to his storeroom and removed from a small, heavily warded box a leather bag filled with lumps of silver he used in alchemy experiments. After frowning over several for their obvious unsuitability, he finally found a piece he felt would do, and with his wand Encouraged the silver to reform itself in his hand into a fine silver chain that would not look out of place at a jewellery shop. He then took the chain over to a bench.
Hermione was finishing off her lunch while studying one of her textbooks when Severus returned to the rose garden. She found herself holding her breath as he approached her, and his eyes never leaving her face Severus sat down slowly besides her. Without speaking he pulled out a small dark box from a pocket in his voluminous black robes and carefully opened it. She gazed down upon a silver ring set into a bed of faded green velvet, with a silver chain that had been threaded through the ring lying in a gleaming pile around it.
"It's...I don't know what to say," Hermione said softly. The ring was a silver band with a twisted Celtic-knot style pattern engraved upon it and small, dark, almost sullen-looking emeralds spaced around the ring that seemed to stare up at her.
There was a sense of great age about the ring, and when she reached out to touch the ring reality seemed to bend in a strange way around her. For a moment she seemed to see all the times that the ring had been presented to brides-to-be from past generations of his family, could sense the emotions of all the women who had worn it before her as they accepted it - gloating triumph, indifferent acceptance, successfully hid fear...and sometimes love.
She could also seem to see the black-clad men who had given the ring before Severus - gaunt, black haired men with darkness in their eyes, pale haired, coolly handsome men with smiles that never reached their eyes (were there Malfoys in his family tree?).
A cloud passed over the sun and for a moment Hermione Granger wondered what she was doing getting engaged to Professor Snape. A professor who had snapped at her in her first day of class, who had found countless ways to belittle and mock her, Harry and Ron, his sallow face gloating with triumph when sometimes the three of them got into trouble no good luck would rescue them from.
Then the sun came from behind the cloud, making the emeralds gleam like that of trees at the secret, sun-lit heart of a forest. No, she wasn't just marrying Professor Snape, Hermione realised, she was marrying a man with his own code of honour whose sometimes harsh ways of teaching had been his way of preparing them for the world which contained wizards like Voldemort, who had a mind that dared hers to match itself against the width and breadth of his. He could be impatient with her at times but he had not mocked her inexperienced body the first time they had made love. He was a wizard who loved her and whom she did indeed love, would one day marry and perhaps bear his children. The sudden image of a harried Severus chasing after a curious, bright-eyed child in his office made her smile and she noticed tension leaving his face, for he saw he had been watching her carefully.
What was she doing, she scolded herself. He was probably a bundle of anxious nerves inside and now he was probably wondering if she did indeed have second thoughts.
"The ring looks beautiful," she said for she saw it had its own beauty. "I would be honoured to wear it." She picked up the chain and opening its clasp reached up to her neck with her hands and managed to fasten the chain around her neck.
"Here, let me.." Severus said softly as he moved to tuck the necklace underneath the collar of her uniform, the ring sliding down to hang between her breasts. He had felt momentary alarm before when he had seen a strange, frozen look on Hermione's face - was she having second thoughts? But whatever it was it had passed, for her cinnamon eyes were dancing with happiness and then her hands were reaching up to touch his shoulders and her warm mouth was kissing his.
With the warm sunshine on their faces and the drowsy, contented hum of the bees nearby it didn't matter that they were the most unpopular couple in Hogwarts. Let them stare and whisper behind their backs - they had each other and the world could go hang.
TBC
A/N - Well, I had originally written this part of the story with it being revealed to others that Herm & Sev had become engaged, but for some reason it didn't seem to 'work' and so I went back and rewrote it. Don't blame me, blame my muse! g
Angel of the North, Arysta, Avid Reader, Beth Ann, GrintsGirl, hpz26, Ji Nu - ^*Star Goddess, Jullkat007, lollylips3, Luna Writer, Malfoy, Meeka, not sure yet, Ryoki, Saber, Sos, Tracy, Xanthos - Thanks!
Arysta, BadBoyLover, Katie Scarlette, RoseWithThorns, Spike Lover, Strega Brava, Zoe, - I'm glad you liked the proposal!
Coffee - Thanks for your comments - you want a wedding scene? (Sigh) These people who make demands.. g.
Goddess-Isis-112 - I'm glad you were cheered up!
Hasapi - Praise is welcome, thanks! I'm a firm believer in giving praise to other stories where it is due, and it's great to receive it as well.
Lucinda Malfoy, Rhiannon, - Thanks for your patience (bows).
PhoenixFeather7 - Probably not! g
Taryn - Look m'dear, there will be a future scene with kids g. But right now, having kids is the last thing on Hermione's mind even though she's with tall, dark, handsome-in-an-odd-kind-of-way Sev.
Part 28
Hermione's stomach grumbled, pointing out to her that what was the point of lunchtime if no food was directed its way?
Severus raised an eyebrow, taking the opportunity to regain some of his composure. There was no cause for acting like a lovesick fool, he told himself, even if one was feeling like..well, a lovesick fool. There was obviously no hope for him now.
Nevertheless his voice was dry when he spoke to her. "After last night the last thing you will be doing is skipping meals, Hermione."
"Yes, professor," Hermione teased him. She still couldn't believe that they were now engaged to be married, staring down at her left hand and imagining a glittering ring on her finger. She wasn't offended that Severus did not have a ring with him, for she was still touched by romantic impulsiveness from a wizard who did not seem to have an impulsive bone in his body.
"Since everyone knows about us now, I suppose they wouldn't be any more shocked when they find out we're engaged," Hermione mused.
A little insistent voice that had been at the back of Severus's head trying to get his attention succeeded, and he frowned, trying to deny it. But there was no way around its remorseless logic and so he carefully picked up Hermione's left hand, trying to think of the right way to say this.
"It may be just as well that I do not have a ring with me, Hermione..you know of course that the Ministry of Magic turns a blind eye to teacher- student liaisons now if the student is over eighteen and in her last year?" he reluctantly informed her.
Hermione looked at him in faint surprise. "Yes," she nodded. Sirius Black was a good example of someone who had taken advantage of that. "I don't think that there isn't one wizard school I can think of that hasn't lost at least a few students and teachers thanks to Voldemort. Naturally the Ministry wants as many wizard babies born as soon as possible to replace them - and if the teachers are doing the 'replacing'," she paused as she found herself blushing, with Severus taking the opportunity to look at her in a way that caused her to blush harder.
She coughed and went on, trying to ignore the way his fingers were stroking her hand. "So the Ministry will look the other way because as a rule, teachers are powerful wizards with the chance of having equally powerful children." She couldn't help but remember how intrigued Dumbledore had been at the possibility of children produced by her and Severus.
Severus snorted. "Yes - although occasionally idiots with no talent like Lockhart who are more interested in their female fans (here he gave Hermione a pointed look) get through."
Hermione couldn't help but smile to herself at the memory of her flamboyant second-year DADA teacher that she had had a crush on. Looking back she could see she had been too dazzled by his charm (and his stylish appearance) to see what an impostor he had been.
Then she looked up at Severus intently. "What are you trying to say?"
He hesitated. "It is only a short time before you graduate, but despite their stance, I fear the Ministry could make it..difficult if it was revealed that you are engaged to me before the school year is over." There was a look on his face though that clearly said he disliked the thought of the Ministry of Magic dictating terms to him.
Hermione's face fell for a moment then she recovered. With the kind of looks that had been directed her way today, perhaps it was best that their engagement be kept a secret until she had finished the school year.
"That's all right," she said quietly. "I understand. I don't mind waiting for a ring."
Severus kissed her softly, his breath warm on her face. He had an idea. "No one would object to a ring they cannot see on a necklace under your uniform," he murmured, smiling faintly when he saw her face light up. "So you will stay here and eat your sandwiches as well as that appallingly cream-filled doughnut that I know you have wrapped in your bag, if you must. And no, do not look at me like that. Meanwhile I will go and fetch an item from my quarters that no fiancée of mine will be without."
Still holding her hand Severus rose to his feet, pulling her up firmly as well and ignoring the various pieces of grass at the bottom of his robes gave her a final look from his gleaming eyes and then swiftly departed the rose garden the way they had entered.
Smiling to herself Hermione sat down on the bench and hunted in her bag for her lunch. Severus had no right to mock her for having a doughnut - she had observed him enough times at dinner to know he had a preference for sinfully sweet desserts.
As Hermione munched on her food she wondered what her engagement ring would look like. But then, she thought, you didn't have to be a genius to realise that a Slytherin would give a silver ring with a green stone. Then her face grew thoughtful. If he already had a ring then he must have already planned to propose to her (which was possible). It was also possible that the ring was one that had belonged to his former fiancée, Clara and kept as a grim reminder of what had been..
The sideways looks were easier to ignore for Severus as he swept along the corridors back to his quarters. He was mentally berating himself for proposing before Hermione had finished her schooling. In the back of his mind he had had things planned - after her graduation there would have been a dinner at a suitably refined restaurant, with a (rehearsed) declaration of his feelings for her when she was in a suitable mood, for he believed in planning and always being two steps ahead of everyone.
But with Hermione around, all reason and planning seemed to fly out of the window at times and after her stubborn declaration of love for him before, warts and all, he had been moved to propose to her. Perhaps part of it was due to realising how much she had meant to him after he had found her unconscious at the foot of his stairs last night.
There was still a sense of unreality about the fact that she had said 'yes' and that he was on his way to bring back the engagement ring he had in his quarters. A ring that had been passed down through various generations in his family..whose previous wearer had been the unlamented Clara.
His face darkened slightly. He had resolved never to think of her again if he could, but some memories could not be easily banished. After the death of Clara in Azkaban Prison the ring that he had given her (in mockery she had worn it until the end) had been returned to him with the few other personal effects she had had in prison. Everything but the ring he had destroyed, and he had even been tempted to melt down the ring into a lump of metal. But no, he had kept it on his dresser as a reminder of betrayal. When fury had chilled to bitterness he had put the ring out of his sight at the back of a drawer..
When Severus reached his quarters and entered his bedroom he crossed over to the dresser and bent down to open the bottom drawer, his hand eventually closing around a small box. His fingers tightened for a second around the box then relaxed, and he put it in a pocket in his robe.
Severus then went to his storeroom and removed from a small, heavily warded box a leather bag filled with lumps of silver he used in alchemy experiments. After frowning over several for their obvious unsuitability, he finally found a piece he felt would do, and with his wand Encouraged the silver to reform itself in his hand into a fine silver chain that would not look out of place at a jewellery shop. He then took the chain over to a bench.
Hermione was finishing off her lunch while studying one of her textbooks when Severus returned to the rose garden. She found herself holding her breath as he approached her, and his eyes never leaving her face Severus sat down slowly besides her. Without speaking he pulled out a small dark box from a pocket in his voluminous black robes and carefully opened it. She gazed down upon a silver ring set into a bed of faded green velvet, with a silver chain that had been threaded through the ring lying in a gleaming pile around it.
"It's...I don't know what to say," Hermione said softly. The ring was a silver band with a twisted Celtic-knot style pattern engraved upon it and small, dark, almost sullen-looking emeralds spaced around the ring that seemed to stare up at her.
There was a sense of great age about the ring, and when she reached out to touch the ring reality seemed to bend in a strange way around her. For a moment she seemed to see all the times that the ring had been presented to brides-to-be from past generations of his family, could sense the emotions of all the women who had worn it before her as they accepted it - gloating triumph, indifferent acceptance, successfully hid fear...and sometimes love.
She could also seem to see the black-clad men who had given the ring before Severus - gaunt, black haired men with darkness in their eyes, pale haired, coolly handsome men with smiles that never reached their eyes (were there Malfoys in his family tree?).
A cloud passed over the sun and for a moment Hermione Granger wondered what she was doing getting engaged to Professor Snape. A professor who had snapped at her in her first day of class, who had found countless ways to belittle and mock her, Harry and Ron, his sallow face gloating with triumph when sometimes the three of them got into trouble no good luck would rescue them from.
Then the sun came from behind the cloud, making the emeralds gleam like that of trees at the secret, sun-lit heart of a forest. No, she wasn't just marrying Professor Snape, Hermione realised, she was marrying a man with his own code of honour whose sometimes harsh ways of teaching had been his way of preparing them for the world which contained wizards like Voldemort, who had a mind that dared hers to match itself against the width and breadth of his. He could be impatient with her at times but he had not mocked her inexperienced body the first time they had made love. He was a wizard who loved her and whom she did indeed love, would one day marry and perhaps bear his children. The sudden image of a harried Severus chasing after a curious, bright-eyed child in his office made her smile and she noticed tension leaving his face, for he saw he had been watching her carefully.
What was she doing, she scolded herself. He was probably a bundle of anxious nerves inside and now he was probably wondering if she did indeed have second thoughts.
"The ring looks beautiful," she said for she saw it had its own beauty. "I would be honoured to wear it." She picked up the chain and opening its clasp reached up to her neck with her hands and managed to fasten the chain around her neck.
"Here, let me.." Severus said softly as he moved to tuck the necklace underneath the collar of her uniform, the ring sliding down to hang between her breasts. He had felt momentary alarm before when he had seen a strange, frozen look on Hermione's face - was she having second thoughts? But whatever it was it had passed, for her cinnamon eyes were dancing with happiness and then her hands were reaching up to touch his shoulders and her warm mouth was kissing his.
With the warm sunshine on their faces and the drowsy, contented hum of the bees nearby it didn't matter that they were the most unpopular couple in Hogwarts. Let them stare and whisper behind their backs - they had each other and the world could go hang.
TBC
A/N - Well, I had originally written this part of the story with it being revealed to others that Herm & Sev had become engaged, but for some reason it didn't seem to 'work' and so I went back and rewrote it. Don't blame me, blame my muse! g
