Thanks, as always, goes to my beta Ru.

A/N: So sorry this has taken so long... the next chapter is done and on it's way to my beta. In fact, the next chapter is called "Severus Has A Secret" and I'll give 1,000 Galleons and a dedication to the first person who can correctly guess Severus' secret before I post that chapter.

Chapter 11: The Calm Before The Storm

The next few days passed rather quickly. Molly Weasley had already taken Harry and Hermione to Diagon Alley to collect the things they would need for the upcoming school year. As usual, Ginny went with them, but unlike all the years before, Ron was missing. Severus had heard nothing from any of the other Death Eaters and he was sure that if Weasley had gone after Malfoy he would have heard about it by now. However, Severus didn't spend too much time worrying about the fate of Ron Weasley. His time was consumed with his usual back-to-school preparations as well as getting to know the two new women in his life. Vesper had been given rooms adjacent to Severus' and he spent evenings tutoring her in basic muggle academics. Chemistry was the easiest to teach her because it mirrored potions so closely. Vesper enjoyed the time she spent with her benefactor, and it wasn't long before the two began conversing casually after lessons.

"Severus, do you care for Hermione?" Vesper asked, looking up from the notes she was studying.

"I'm not sure that is any of your business," he replied curtly.

"Well it is. Hermione is my best friend. She's practically my sister and if you are going to marry her I want to make sure that she will be cared for."

"It is my job to care for her now, that will not change once we are married."

"I meant emotionally."

Severus stood up and walked over to where Vesper was seated. "I am an emotionally cold man, Vesper. You could ask any member of the faculty or any of the students and they will tell you that, every single one of them."

"Hermione doesn't think that about you. I don't either."

"What evidence do you have to support that theory?" Severus glared at the girl.

"You took me in when you didn't have to. I'm not stupid, you could have sent me anywhere but you chose to keep me close, probably to make things more pleasant for Hermione. If that's the case, I'm not going to complain, but I will point out that it shows you care about at least one of us, and that proves you have emotions."

"Be that as it may, I do not think that I could ever fall in love with anyone," Severus sighed in defeat.

"I'm not asking you to fall in love with her, I'm asking you to try to love her." The two stared at each other for a moment before Vesper let herself out.

While Vesper had her evening lessons with Professor Snape, Hermione and Harry sat in the Gryffindor common room. They were enjoying their last few nights of having it all to themselves. Hermione would have liked to use the time to read or study, but with Ron still missing Harry was awfully lonely. So instead of reading, Hermione and Harry would play Wizard's Chess or just sit and talk.

"I'm worried, Hermione. For the first time in all of our years here I'm worried about Ron."

"I keep asking Severus if he's heard anything, but he hasn't," Hermione sighed. Both she and Harry were sitting in front of the fire.

"What do you think happened to him?"

"I don't know. At first I thought that he had gone off to fight Malfoy, but now… well, maybe he did just run away."

"I hope he comes back"

"Me too. I feel like this is all my fault. I know that Ron loves me, but I honestly didn't think he was in love with me. I never meant to hurt him." Tears pooled in her eyes and a few rolled down her cheeks.

"I know. Look, Ron took it the wrong way, and if he really cared about you that much than he would have seen that Snape is the right choice for you," Harry hugged his friend. It was at that moment that Vesper stomped into the room.

"Bloody fool," she yelled.

"How was your tutoring session?" Harry asked as he got up to hug her.

"Hermione, your fiance is a lying prick."

"That well, eh?" Hermione asked.

Before Vesper could respond she was overwhelmed by kisses from Harry. The two had finally become a couple just a few days ago. When Vesper had walked into the common room after her transformation, Harry had been stunned by her beauty. Sure she was beautiful before, but now she was drop dead gorgeous. His jaw had dropped to the floor and Hermione had to elbow him so that he wouldn't drool all over himself. For her part, Hermione was also stunned, but unlike Harry, she was stunned by the complexity of the transformation. The girl in front of her looked nothing like her best friend, and it was this fact that made it easy for both her and Harry to begin to call her Vesper instead of Morgan.

In the week and a half following her transformation, Vesper and Hermione spent a fair amount of time talking. Hermione was glad that she was able to get some quality girl talk done and Harry didn't mind because he wasn't there. Dumbledore had insisted that he take Occlumency lessons from Professor Snape, and to ensure that things were productive he threatened Harry with a temporary ban from the Quidditch team and Severus with chaperoning duties at all dances and Hogsmeade trips for the entire school year. So far, things were going quite smoothly. During their girl only time Hermione offered herself as a sort of therapist to her friend. She had been concerned that Vesper was not handling the death of her family very well, but then quickly realized that the whole time they were at 12 Grimmauld Place Vesper was probably in shock. Hermione, of course, was right. It wasn't until she was no longer Morgana Draven that Vesper's emotions finally caught up with her. One night at dinner Vesper just burst into tears and she had cried herself to sleep every night after that.

Another thing that was discussed was Hermione's upcoming marriage to Severus. With each passing day Hermione would begin to worry a little bit more. Vesper was always there, like a true friend, telling Hermione that she was being ridiculous. Currently, Hermione's main fear was the reaction from the school. While she knew that the Headmaster would make it clear that they were getting married because of the law, she didn't doubt that she would be teased and harassed by the Slytherins and possibly the Ravenclaws.

Hermione had to toss a throw pillow at her two friends to break them up. "Hey, nobody wants to see that," she said.

"I don't care," Harry said. "Vesper, do you?"

"No, I couldn't care less," she smirked.

"Well I do so stop it please," Hermione said sternly. Normally she wouldn't mind, but seeing Harry and Vesper snogging made her think of her impending wedding, and although she had already kissed Severus, Hermione had agreed with him and thought it was best that they waited until they were married.

"So what did Snape do to you?" Harry asked Vesper after they untangled themselves from each other's arms.

"Nothing really, I asked him a question and he gave me a bullshit answer that happened to be a lie." Vesper caught Harry's look. "That's it Harry, I swear."

"Well what kind of a question was it?" Harry asked her.

"The kind I don't want to talk about."

"Come on, tell me," Harry said, giving Vesper his best puppy dog face.

"Maybe later. I do have some good news. Severus has given me tomorrow off and he said that you can take me flying."

"That's great!" Harry cheered, "You'll just love flying."

"Did he say why he was giving you the day off?" Hermione asked.

"Yeah, he said he'll be spending the day with you."

"WHAT?"

The next day Hermione woke up early. Today was the last day that she would have Hogwarts all to herself and she was being forced to spend it with Severus. At first she was curious as to why he would cancel lessons with Vesper to spend time with her, but then it hit her full force; she was getting married to him in two months and they hardly knew each other. With all the other students around it would be hard for them to get any time to meet alone. Shrugging at the thought of them needing alone time, Hermione got herself ready for the day. The Gryffindor seventh year girl's dorm felt lonely and was far too big for just her. While normally the Head Girl had a room to herself, she would only be occupying it for two months, so it made no sense for her to have one. She would just share the dorm like she had for the past six years and then move out when she married Severus.

Hermione continued on the same track of thinking as she made her way down to the Great Hall for breakfast. She sat there, munching happily on her toast and jam when Severus came in with a scowl on his face that effectively ruined her good mood. Even though she knew it would be a good chance to get to know her future husband, Hermione already was not looking forward to spending the day with Severus, and by the look on his face, she could tell that the day would be highly unpleasant. For his part, Severus was able to hold Hermione's gaze while keeping the scowl on his face, even though just thinking about his future bride made him want to smile, forget about even looking at her. Keeping his resolve he marched up to the head table and stood in front of her.

"Severus." Albus, who was next to Hermione greeted.

"Headmaster." Severus replied with a slight nod of his head.

"Surely you will join us for breakfast, Severus."

"Not today, Albus, I've come to collect Hermione. We have lots of things to do today."

"I'm not finished with my breakfast yet." Hermione said upon hearing her name being brought into the conversation.

"I'll order you some food when you get to my rooms. Now let's go, I have something to tell you, and I have a feeling that the discussion that will no doubt follow will be agonizingly long." He turned to leave.

"No, Severus," Hermione said sternly, "I will finish my breakfast here and then I will join you in your rooms."

Severus spun around, mouth open as if he were about to yell. He was, in fact, about to yell, but he saw the look on Albus' face and quickly dismissed the idea. It wouldn't do to yell at his fiance in front of the entire faculty. Instead, Severus took a moment to collect himself before addressing said fiance.

"Very well. I expect that you will be in my chambers no later than 9:30."

Artemis MoonClaw: I hope this was happy enough, I was going to make this chapter longer, but I realized that it was just better to break it up into two chapters. As you can tell by the name of the chapter, something is own it's way.

Chainmailgrl: Thank you so muchཀ

mysticdarkraven: Thank you, and I hope this was soon enough for you.

Anonymous: I'm glad you like the progression, and yes, there will be a wedding... eventually.

Makalani Astral: Thank you so muchཀ

Sarahamanda: Thank you.

Sammy Riddle Voldemort's Baby: Thank you so much. I love hearing people say that they like the story.

Dedanaan: I took Morgan's name from a character that I role-played, Morgana Draven, so when I wanted to delve into what happened to her family, I just plucked the names from the movie, actually, as I have never even seen a copy of the comic.