That next day, a Saturday, Meg was still sitting in her office and being miserable. She was looking at all her pictures of Snape. Even when she saw his portrait's face scowling at her, it only made her miss him more, because the real Snape wasn't angry all the time, thought Meg.

He hates me, though…Why am I living in the past? Just forget him, Meg…

Just then, the door banged open. It was Snape, standing there in his red-and-gold robes, looking rather paler than usual. "Meg, I'm sorry, I don't hate you, I love you."

"No, you don't," said Meg. "Who told you to say that?"

"I came up with it by myself," Snape snapped, even though that was technically a lie. And then, he remembered what Dumbledore had told him. He made his voice nicer. "I'm really sorry. I still want our wedding to be on…Oh, Meg, don't be difficult, everything's ruined!"

"What do you mean?" asked Meg softly. "How is everything ruined?"

"You!" cried Snape. "This wasn't supposed to happen! You weren't supposed to think I hated you, something went wrong! I think I love you much more than I should…"

"Severus, what's the matter?" Meg said. "Just why shouldn't you love me?"

"I don't know," said Snape. He was getting that feeling again, that one that Meg had put him under another Romance Charm. Next thing he knew, he and Meg were hugging each other, Meg was crying again, Snape felt tears in his eyes and knew, strange as it was, that he was almost crying, too.

"It's not happy anymore," Meg told him, tears running down her face. "We just used to be so happy together…Now you do everything wrong and then everything right."

"I don't think this is enough," said Snape, trying to stop his own eyes watering. "I love you, I just never thought I could love somebody this much without being bewitched…Every time I see your face, I'm thinking of…all the good times we had together…of how much I love you."

Meg was crying harder. Snape thought he'd said something wrong. He took her hand and got her up from the chair they were at. "Come on, you need the hospital wing."

She followed him numbly out of her office, her tears coming in buckets that she simply couldn't stop, no matter how hard she tried. She conjured up a tissue to blow her nose on, but as soon as she had banished her used tissue, she started crying again, just as hard as before.

Snape didn't talk to her all the way down to the hospital wing. He thought there was some kind of hex that made you cry and not be able to stop, but then again, Meg might just be having a really hard day today. Either way, Snape thought Madame Pomfrey would know what to do about it. If she didn't have any hexes on her, maybe she could give her a Calming Drought or something.

They reached the doors of the hospital wing. Snape held the door open for Meg. He led her over to the office of Madame Pomfrey, who was reading. She looked up as they came in. "Snape, what are you doing with Meg?" She turned and addressed Meg. "Oh, you come here, sweetheart, what did he do to you? Don't worry…" She turned to Snape. "What did you do?"

"I didn't do anything, Pomfrey," Snape said harshly. "I'm engaged with her, you must know that, I think she has some sort of hex on her, I said I loved her and she's hysterical."

Madame Pomfrey pulled out her wand and tapped Meg once with it. Nothing happened, when she did, and Meg just kept on crying. Madame Pomfrey nodded slowly. "You're right, Snape, she's hysterical, but there's no hexes on her. Poor thing, I wonder why she's so upset…"

"You should give her a Calming Drought," said Snape, his worry increasing.

"Know what, Snape?" said Madame Pomfrey. "For once, you've had a good idea. Here, help me get her into a bed…Argh, Snape, what did you just do? Magic her into a bed!"

"Oh yeah, okay then," said Snape, who had been trying to help sobbing Meg stand up. "Right, how about I'll just put her into that bed, that one looks comfy…" He took out his wand.

"No!" Madame Pomfrey shouted. "I'll do it."

She muttered something, her wand pointed toward Meg, and Meg flew into a bed, her tears stopped for a moment, so she managed to speak. "Severus!"

Snape ran over to the side of her bed. "Meg, are you alright?"

"Yes, I am," said Meg, and Snape was relieved to see that her tears had stopped. "Sorry about that, you know, it's just that you're so…good to me, you know? I used to be happy, now I'm sad, and then I just randomly got happy again. Sorry if I caused you trouble."

"You didn't," said Snape. "Today I can spend as much time as I want with you, because I don't have any classes today, obviously." Snape paused. "That reminds me. Why aren't you helping Lockhart with your Defense classes anymore? You were the better teacher."

"Well…" said Meg, her cheeks turning slightly pink, "if you want the truth, they fired me out of the job because I couldn't stop thinking about you. I just kept on staring out of the window and thinking about you. Lockhart said I wasn't being a very good assistant."

"You were an excellent assistant to Lockhart in there, Meg, and I really mean it," said Snape, smoothing Meg's hair. "You used to teach the class."

"Well, that's true," said Meg. "See, this is exactly what I was talking about. You're always so sweet, you know, you make me feel…warmish inside, you know?" She sat up more in bed, pulled Snape's hands so he would sit on the bed, and moved closer to him, so their noses were three inches apart. "Like I just drank a cup of hot chocolate…the heat spreading to my toes…"

"Good feeling," said Snape, glad that for once, when Meg was about to kiss him, he didn't feel all queasy inside, more like he had just drank hot chocolate, just like Meg had described. "Very good feeling. Come on…" He heard himself talk. "Kiss me."

"That's what I'm doing," Meg whispered. And she did.

They were still kissing each other when Snape heard Madame Pomfrey's voice. "I'M COMING IN THERE RIGHT NOW, SNAPE, YOU'D BETTER BE FAR AWAY FROM THAT BED OF HERS! IF YOU'RE IN IT, I SWEAR I WILL SKIN YOU ALIVE!"

Snape pulled away from Meg. "YOU SHUT YOUR PIEHOLE, LADY!"

Meg was no longer sitting up straight. Her head was in her hands and she was giggling. She lifted her head long enough to talk. "Really, Madame Pomfrey."

As if on cue, Madame Pomfrey burst into the room. It was a sight: Meg, completely out of bed and free of the covers, giggling again; Snape lying back on her bed, over the bedclothes, hands behind his head, also smiling; Madame Pomfrey looking extremely angry. She walked over to Snape and pulled out her wand. She pointed it at his face, but she didn't say anything.

"You speak to me respectfully!" she yelled. "Out of here, Snape! Out!"

Snape left the hospital wing without so much as a word of argument of being kicked out. He shut the door behind him with a hasty 'goodbye' to Meg Smith and a rather loud bang, but not before he heard Madame Pomfrey say to Meg, "What do you see in that man?"

"I don't know," Meg said, "but it's definitely something good."