As soon as school got out, and Snape had finished teaching a class to a group of overexcited first years, he retreated to his office again. He knew somebody was going to ask Meg out again, and it was only to be expected that she would say yes, since teachers needed dates.

He wondered what he should do to Meg. Maybe he should do a Love Potion on her…He had always been good at those, and since he had gone to school with her, he made one for her once, and she hadn't been able to get herself off him until three days, when the potion wore off. Snape decided not to try that one again. It would be hard to smuggle the Love Potion to her, anyway.

Maybe I should try the Imperius Curse, thought Snape. The thought went away from his mind as soon as it had come. Meg was an Auror, after all; she would be good at resisting any curse of his. And if anybody ever found out, Snape would be facing a life sentence in Azkaban.

His only option left, he discovered, was a Romance Charm. Those weren't illegal, they weren't hard to smuggle, and they certainly were hard to resist if you did them right. Snape thought he would be able to put a Romance Charm on Meg. It wouldn't wear off, either; the only way the Charm would go was if Snape lifted it, died, or Meg saw her true love, but she had none. So Snape decided he was going to put a Romance Charm on Meg, but only for the Yule Ball.

He wondered how he was going to get into Meg's office without her getting suspicious about what he was up to. Then he had an idea. He went to his desk and pulled out a little bag. Inside it was some powder, Floo Powder. He put into his fire and said, "Meg's office."

He didn't go inside the fire, but he could still see what Meg was doing. She was sitting on her bed and talking to a house-elf Snape knew was called Dobby.

"Dobby," she said, tears running down her face. "I don't know where he is. Nobody knows where he is now, not even Harry and his friends. He could be dead, for all I know."

Where WHO is? thought Snape, but he didn't hear a name.

"Meg Winston must not worry, ma'am," said Dobby in his squeaky little voice. "He is not dead, Harry Potter would know if he were dead. He is in hiding."

"I always liked him," said Meg sadly, as Dobby patted her arm helplessly. "When I asked him out when I went to school with him, he said no, that he didn't want to go out with me. He didn't say it meanly, but he was too involved in avoiding getting caught to bother with me. There was that other kid who liked me, I forget his name, he was pretty nice, but we never went out."

I should go into the fire, Snape thought. I have to keep her from seeing this person. She doesn't know where he is, but it sounds to me like she really likes him. First, though, I have to get rid of that dumb house-elf, so there can't be anybody to bear witness to my Romance Charm.

Snape went into the fire and emerged in Meg Smith's office. "Hey."

"What are you doing here, Snape?" Meg asked. "I thought I told you I wasn't ever going to go to the Yule Ball with you, and that was final. So just go away."

"I'm not here because of the Yule Ball," said Snape coldly. "I found somebody else to go with, and I like her much better than you, if you'll let me be frank." He hadn't, actually, but he thought if he made her think so, she would listen to what he was going to say to her next.

"What are you here for then?" Meg looked pretty even when she was crying.

"Dobby, please leave," said Snape. "We're going to be having a moment here, and we want to be alone, thanks very much. So can you get out of this room right now, please?"

The house-elf obliged, leaving Snape alone with Meg, who said, "So?"

"Well…I was just thinking I might have a date for you. You know, because you don't have a date, and you need one in a few days." This statement was also a lie.

"You have a date for me?" said Meg. "Who is he?"

"Turn around," said Snape simply. When she did, he pulled out his wand. Meg turned back around and said, "I don't see anybody, Snape, what are you playing…"

She never got to finish her sentence. Snape hit her hard with the Romance Charm. Her brown eyes went wide for a second, and then she collapsed onto the floor, completely unconscious. He wondered if that was supposed to happen after you just got a Romance Charm put on you, or if she had just fallen down due to the fact that Snape had hit her much too hard with his spell.

Snape reached tentatively for her hands and pulled her up to a standing position. Her blonde hair curled around her like it always had, but now her eyes were closed. Her hands gripped Snape, but he was sure she didn't know anything about what was going on around her.

Snape took her out of her office and Apparated with her to his office so nobody would see them in the halls together, certain it would arouse suspicion, and jealousy on Lockhart's part. Then he sat her down in a chair in his office and got some water from the washroom in a cup. He poured it over her head, and it fell on top of her. She would notice him standing here any second…

"Severus!" she squealed. Snape did a double take as Meg jumped into his arms. "You saved me, you really did! Something big hit me on my back, and I fainted! And then you poured water on me, I'd have died if you hadn't saved me!" She looked up into his eyes.

"Will you go to the Yule Ball with me?"