Title: Hermione's Helping Hand

Lee's Visit

The same letter was greeting Hermione when she woke up. She stormed to see Minerva at once, not once changing out of her nightgown and robe. She showed the letter to Minerva, who looked shocked.

" Did Severus come to the wedding?" Minerva asked.

Hermione gave her a look that told her all that she needed to know. She didn't want one of the paintings to report to Umbridge about what she had done.

" Well then, it's something that happens when a wedding takes place," Minerva said. " If a woman, especially one that is still unmarried catches it, then the spell activates and pairs her up with someone that will make her walk down the isle. Fortunately it won't be easy to prove that you had a hand in it. Since your married to Severus, you can override whatever Draco says, which means that Severus can write his book and get it published."

Hermione bit her lip, and then said, " But I don't want to tie him down to me so that he can do that."

Minerva sighed.

" I know!" she said. " But sometimes things work out like this."

Hermione was thinking about what Severus would do once he found out, but then a chuckling made them all look up and the ghostly figure of Dumbledore appeared. He seem to find all this funny, but Hermione and Minerva didn't.

" Oh Severus is going to lose it," he stated. " He knows, he got the letter!"

Hermione groaned.

" I better go and see him before he loses it and does something to get sent back to the Ministry," Hermione told them.

And she was gone.

When Hermione appeared in his quarters he didn't look happy, in-fact, he looked as though he wanted to kill her. He drank his coffee because he couldn't take anything stronger. When she closed the door, she sat, and looked at him.

" I'm sorry about what happened," Hermione said. " I know that you didn't intend on being stuck with me."

Severus growled his response.

" I'm going to see if I can get it resolved," Hermione informed him. " That way none of us breaks the law or anything like that."

Severus looked at her.

" No law has been broken!" he stated. " You're of age and I'm no longer your Professor. The Ministry wouldn't see the case."

" And why not?"

" Because the conditions didn't cover this," he stated. " That's why I didn't want to go, but no, you made me."

" Will you get into trouble?"

Severus shook his head.

" The spell will work even if I'm not there," Severus said. " It's hard to prove that it was my presence that caused the spell to activate. Apparently the powers-to-be thought that we would make a good match, I can't understand why."

Hermione went red with anger, and Severus at once sensed it. It was strange to sense another person's emotions again, which was the only thing that he liked about what had happened.

" Look, Hermione, I'm not saying that to be mean or a bastard, but I'm just saying that I'm not good husband material. I've done a lot of things that I don't like, even if I didn't actually do the kind of things that the other Death Eaters did."

Hermione face stopped getting red and he sensed that she had calmed down.

" Well you don't have to be mean to me," Hermione muttered.

" That's the only thing that I know!" Severus stated, taking another swig of his coffee.

Several days later Lee Jordan arrived, all pomp and circumstance. Both Harry and Ron were looking forward to seeing him after all this time. They shook hands and then Lee explained why he was here.

" As you know, a wedding spell was activated during Remus and Tonks wedding," he told them. " Hermione Granger caught a banquet which caused the spell to choose a wizard that was fit for her. It chose Severus Snape."

Harry and Ron stared at him.

" What!" gasped Harry.

Lee nodded.

" The Ministry wants me to find out if Severus was in the room with Hermione at the time. However, the spell that notifies that Severus has left, didn't warn us that he had left his quarters, so we have no proof that he violated his probation. Of course, this isn't my area, and I told them that."

" So is the marriage forever?" Harry asked.

" As long as they chose to be married, it will be so," Lee answered. " However, once they have a child or consummate the marriage, then there is no turning back, even if they didn't want to be together."

Both Harry and Ron breathed a sigh of relief. They were okay!

Minerva took Lee on a tour of the castle, letting him meet some of the new Professors. Neville was returning as Herbology teacher, something that he was glad about. Meanwhile, Hermione was moving into her new quarters, something that would take time for Severus to get use to.

" I will have my own room," she told him. " I don't want you to get nervous around me. Anyway, you've had dozens of woman and I don't want to ruin those memories."

Severus said nothing to this.

When Lee left, Ron went down to deliver something to Severus. He took it and unwrapped it. Inside was a small cookie and before Ron could warn him, he ate it, bursting into feather. Hermione and Ron both laughed, but Severus didn't find it remotely funny.

" Send him a curse, Hermione," he begged.

" I will," Hermione said, though she really didn't mean it.