Disclaimer: It's all mine, and you can't have it till you give me a ransom of 1,000 grape skittles!
A/N: Hey everyone, I'm glad you liked the last chapter, thanks to all who reviewed! And let me apologise now- I go into some detail at describing her dress, hair, make-up, and so on, so if you don't like that sort of thing, I'm sorry. And to those who will read it, let me apologise because I don't think I'm very good at getting my descriptions down very well. This chapter is dedicated to Nesscafe for being the 100th reviewer! Now onto the story!
A/N 2: To Morona: I think I've done an okay job at keeping Snape somewhat in character. I think it's very difficult for anyone to write a love story with Snape perfectly in character, and I'm not a great writer. As I like to say, every mirror has two sides: The side everyone can see that shows them what it wants too, and the other side that's usually kept hidden. Snape has two sides- the one everyone sees, and another side that will slowly emerge as he and Hermione grow closer. Thank you for your review though, and I hope you keep reading!
Take Time to Smell the Roses
Chapter Seven
The next few weeks flew by for Hermione and Severus, and not a lot was happening in their relationship. Not that either of them thought that to be a bad thing, though. They were perfectly content with slowly adjusting themselves to life with another person, namely each other, and the whole 'marriage thing'. They ate breakfast together every morning and dinner together every evening with a little conversation, but there wasn't a lot else happening. Severus could be found working on potions or lesson plans during the day, and Hermione amused herself with studying ahead, brushing up on her dance steps, swimming, or taking walks outside. Even with what little time they spent together, they were becoming more comfortable around each other, and most evenings they could be found in the study reading quietly or talking about something that one of them had read in a magazine.
Soon it was the day of the ball, and Hermione had a bit of a lay in before actually getting up and going downstairs for a late brunch.
"Good morning," Hermione told Severus as he walked into the kitchen.
"Good afternoon," Severus replied as Hermione poured herself a glass of milk to drink with a blueberry muffin.
"Well we're going to be up late tonight, so why should it matter if I slept in or not?" Hermione replied taking a bite out of the muffin. "Mmm, these are good."
"Thank the house elves. Now, it matters that you slept in because I needed to see you-"
"You needed to see me? Does that mean you missed me? Oh I knew you cared somewhere under that big, bad, Professor act you have," Hermione said sarcastically and teasingly, interrupting him.
"This professor can still deduct points once we arrive back at school," he smirked at the pout that crossed her face. "Now I needed to see you to tell you that we will be apparating from here at seven o'clock this evening, so please be ready by then. Don't act like a typical female with the need to be fashionably late. Also, if you will please follow me, there is one other thing."
Hermione jumped up from where she had been sitting and followed him out of the kitchen, down the hall, and upstairs. Severus led her into his room and motioned for her to come in.
"These are yours. They have been in my family for centuries, and it is my hope that you will wear them and enjoy them as the reigning Lady Snape," he said proudly, stepping aside so she could see to what he was referring.
"Oh my goodness," Hermione gasped at the sight.
Lying on Severus' bed were several emerald green jewellery cloths with various glistening and sparkling items laid out on them. Walking over to his bed, she reached out a tentative hand and ran a finger over the top of a delicate looking diamond tiara that looked as exquisite as any seen in the movies. It was, like the rest of the items, made out of white gold, and had diamonds set in beautiful patterns on it. Next to the tiara there lay a diamond and emerald necklace. Spaced every inch or so along the choker-style necklace were one carat diamonds. At the centre of the necklace hanging down from an inch or so of white gold chain was a good sized emerald with small diamonds framing it daintily. The necklace sparkled from every angle, even in the dim lighting and Hermione could only imagine what it would look like in the right light. Lying below the tiara and necklace were a bracelet and earrings. The post earrings were small, but no less exquisite, and looked very much like her wedding ring. Small emeralds were surrounded by smaller diamonds and set in white gold. The bracelet was once again, made of white gold. Square emeralds were set with a round diamond on either side, with delicate gold detail in between every two diamonds and emerald. (A/N: Okay, so it goes: diamond, emerald, diamond- gold detail- diamond, emerald, diamond- gold detail- etc.)
"Severus," Hermione said breathless, "They're beautiful."
"Well I'm glad you like them," he replied, feeling something strike a chord in him when she said his name for once. "I have work to do, but I will meet you in the front hall at a quarter till seven?"
"Of course," she replied, still in awe of the beauty of the jewels. "Thank you."
"You're welcome," he said stiffly, not used to people actually thanking him for things. Usually they were cursing him, but that made sense since he usually gave out detentions and not jewels. "Blossom!"
"Yes Master Lord Snape?" a house elf appeared with a pop.
"Help Lady Snape transport the jewels to her room, please,' he requested, and before he could say, 'Black's a smarmy git,' the jewels were gone in a flash.
"I have to go get ready!" Hermione yelped after seeing the time was now almost two o'clock. She ran out of the room leaving an extremely confused man behind.
"It's only two o'clock," he said out loud to himself as he looked at his watch. "Why the hell does she need to get ready now?"
Hermione of course didn't need to get ready now, but she wanted to make sure she had plenty of time to indulge herself in the whole process of making herself looking feminine. So she started off by taking a long luxurious bubble bath in rose scented bath oils that would make her skin soft and smooth. She also took time to shave her legs with a razor instead of using magic, which could sometimes miss little spots. After drying off, she put on one of the silk bathrobes hanging in her bathroom and called for Blossom to do her nails. Blossom gave her a beautiful French manicure, not that it would be seen under her gloves, but Hermione wanted too anyways. Blossom also painted her toenails a black-green iridescent to match the dress.
After making sure the top coats were dry, Hermione had blossom begin working on her hair, since hair up-do charms could sometimes wear off after a while. Hermione didn't think it would make a good impression on the Minister of Magic if her hair suddenly fell down when she made her curtsy. So Blossom began the almost painstaking process of putting Hermione's hair in several dozen very small curlers.
"Is Lady Snape wanting her hair up or down?" Blossom asked after taking the curlers out.
"Up I think. It will show off the tiara better, and also the jewellery that I'll be wearing," Hermione replied as Blossom went to work.
Blossom began by loosely twisting front sections of the hair back and clipping them in place with very small bobby pins that were charmed so that they blended in with Hermione's hair. Next Blossom began pulling up back sections of hair and pinning them in place. Once she had all the hair pinned up, she began the tedious job of arranging the curls so that they looked perfect. After finishing that, she retrieved the tiara and carefully set it back on the top of Hermione's head so that it rested brilliantly against her hair.
"Is Lady Snape liking her hair?" Blossom asked nervously.
"Oh Blossom its perfect!" Hermione exclaimed in delight upon looking at herself in the mirror. "I love it! Now do you think you could also help me with my make-up? I'm not that good at doing everything."
"Yes Lady Snape, Blossom wants to!" She said happily before disappearing with a pop, reappearing a moment later with several plastic containers that Hermione could only assumed contained make-up.
When Hermione was finally allowed to look in the mirror, she was very happy with how Blossom had done her make-up. Hermione had always had fairly clear skin, so Blossom hadn't needed to use a lot of concealer, just a little dab here and there for touch-ups. A dark green eye shadow had been minimally applied, and along with mascara, brought out the rich green colour of her eyes. A small amount of blush had been used, but with the dancing that was sure to be done later, she didn't want to worry about looking like a tomato. A reddish-brown hued lipstick had been chosen along with some clear lip gloss to make her lips look full, soft, and utterly kissable.
"Is Lady Snape liking her face and make-up?" Blossom once again asked nervously, seeking approval as Hermione tugged on her stockings and gloves.
"Yes, it's wonderful, exactly what I had in mind," Hermione said smiling at her. "Now for one last favour, if you could. Would you help me get my dress on?" I don't want to mess up my hair or make-up, and I don't want to mess up the dress."
Blossom ran over to the dress mannequin where the dress had been placed on yesterday so that gravity could go to work and smooth out the wrinkles. Blossom, using magic, helped Hermione get the dress on without mussing the dress or messing up her hair or make-up. After that Blossom helped Hermione with the jewellery.
"Oooh, Lady Snape looks very, very pretty, if you's not minding me saying so!" Blossom squealed once Hermione stood up after pulling on her shoes.
"No, I don't mind Blossom, thank you," Hermione said grabbing her wand and transfiguring a nearby rug into a full length mirror so that she could see herself. "Oh my goodness, I don't look half bad."
Saying that she didn't look half bad was a major understatement. She looked gorgeous in the dress and jewellery, and her mirror on the wall said so!
"Lady Snape, it is seven o'clock now, and Master Lord Snape is being impatient," Blossom said after disappearing then reappearing a moment later.
"Oh you're right!" Hermione looked at the clock and saw that indeed it was a minute after seven. "I guess I should be going."
Hermione tucked her wand away in a special invisible wand pocket sewn into the dress, and after one last look in the mirror, left her room and stood for a moment to the left of the top of the stairs. She could see Severus pacing lightly, looking up towards the top, waiting no doubt for her. Deciding to put him out of his misery, she nervously began to descend.
'Where is she?' he thought in annoyance. 'I specifically told her to be prompt!'
Severus was immaculately dress in a three button midnight black tuxedo with the Snape family crest on the front left lapel. His cumberbund and bow tie were a dark emerald green, and his shoes were a polished black. His shoulder length black hair had been carefully brushed back and tied with a piece of silk ribbon the same shade of emerald green. All together, he was one sharply dressed man that would easily fit in perfectly on the cover of GQ.
He turned and looked up at the sound of light footsteps on the creaky wooden stairs, and froze mid-stride.
A/N: Hee hee, I know, I know, you want to hurt me right now! But don't, cause then it will take even longer for the next chapter to come out. I left this chapter as a cliffie, so if you want to know what his reaction is, you're going to have to join in next time. Mini-poll: What do you think his reaction should be? I already have a pretty good idea, but I always like hearing other's input! Also, I'm thinking of writing/posting another story called 'Swimming in Jello' and it'd be a Hermione/George Weasley story. Any thoughts on that? So review if you want, I love 'em, but as always, if you don't, that's okay too!