January is for Lovers
"Miss Arthur." A deep voice, awfully familiar, cut into my sleep. I pulled my head farther under the covers. "Miss Arthur. I require your assistance." Not going away. No; I remember this voice not going away before. I pried one eye open. The black form of Severus Snape loomed awkwardly at my bedside.
"G'morning Severus." I mumbled.
"Good morning." He stepped back and shot his gaze firmly toward the window as I sat up. "I will…await you in your study." He turned on his heel and fled the room. I grinned to myself. Severus is afraid of my pajamas. Heh.
"I'll just be a minute." I mumbled in his direction. I rubbed my face forcefully, trying to wake up. Only after I was dressed, washed and combed did I realize fully that Severus was in my study. What on earth?
I put my shoes on with a little more haste and walked into my study, where Severus was sitting in an armchair with his fingers steepled and his eyes staring into the middle distance. "Coffee, Severus?" I offered. He started when I spoke.
"Thank you." His face seemed even paler than normal. Maybe it was just the light? I handed him a mug and sat across from him. "I have come to a decision," he began. I nodded. "I do not wish to put off my proposal any longer."
"How can I help?" I asked earnestly. He looked at me keenly for a moment and appeared to come to some sort of conclusion.
"Distract Potter this evening. I do not wish to be interrupted." He paused, and a faint but discernable series of emotions crossed his face. "And if you would…"
"Yes?" I prodded.
"Speak to him."
"I'm sorry, Severus, I don't quite…" I began.
"I believe he will not..." He shot his eyes to the window and back again. "He will not react well to our engagement, should Miss Granger accept me."
I blinked. It hadn't crossed my mind that Hermione's friends wouldn't be happy for her. Severus watched my thoughts echo on my face. "I—I'll try. I mean—well. If he says anything bad I might just yell at him."
"Quite." Severus' mouth curled into a near-smile.
"I'll contain myself." I added earnestly. "I'll just keep him talking."
Those words ran back to me that evening at dinner. I had maneuvered myself into a seat between Remus and Harry. I had started an inane conversation about school pranks. That was my first miscalculation: Harry didn't seem at all distracted. Well, that's not true. He did, but he was distracted away from what I was saying, not by it. Okay, Arthur. Do it for Hermione and Severus.
"Harry, would you mind helping me check on Hagrid's animals later? I promised him I'd do it, but I think I'm in over my head." I smiled at him, trying not to let on that I was behind Hagrid's absence in the first place.
"All right," he agreed. "I'm surprised you've been doing it alone. Hagrid used to ask all three of us—Ron, Hermione, and me—to look after them."
"Oh, it's not so overwhelming." I demurred. "Mostly it's the bats that are difficult." He nodded, and we returned our attention to our pie and to Remus' stories about Tonks.
Miscalculation number two reared its head as soon as we got to Hagrid's hut. With two of us there to corral the bats and fill the food dishes, taking care of the animals hardly took any time. It certainly didn't take long enough to cover a proposal. I fretted as I watched Harry slip the latch home on a pen of brightly-spotted lizards.
I dragged my feet as we started up the path to the castle. Finally, he turned to face me. "All right," he demanded, "what are you up to?"
"I'm—Well. I guess I'm caught." I caught my lower lip in my teeth for a moment. "I'm supposed to be keeping you busy for the evening." I darted my eyes back to him to find him struggling not to laugh.
"It's not going as you planned?" He raised an eyebrow.
"No, not really." I frowned.
"Why?" He asked.
"Because you figured it out." I said incredulously.
"No, not why isn't it working. Why are you trying to distract me?"
"I can't just…" I started. Then I thought about it. Severus practically asked me to tell him. "Fine. Walk to the pitch with me?"
"All right." He turned toward the pitch and I fell in beside him. When I glanced at him again, I noticed him grinning.
"What?" He turned to me, a questioning look on his face. "What's funny?"
"When I was here people walked to the pitch to snog." He smirked at me. My stomach gave the familiar twist. I could feel my face heating.
"Maybe after I tell you what's going on," I said, trying to make my voice sound confident.
"I'll hold you to it." He said. We walked in silence the rest of the way. I ran the possible ways to start the story through my head. None of them sounded right. Well, I've always been best at winging it. We came to a stop near one of the stands, where Harry cleared a patch in the snow and charmed it into a comfortable place to sit. Looks like someone's done this before, I mused.
"Okay. Severus asked me to keep you out of the way."
"You're doing this for Snape?" Harry sounded appalled. Great.
"Wait, wait." I put a hand on his forearm and felt his muscles tense beneath my fingers. "Let me explain." He nodded. "All right. Really I'm doing this for Hermione."
"For Hermione." He deadpanned. I sighed.
"I'm not explaining this well. I'll start at the beginning, all right?" He nodded. I tried again. "When I got here, Hermione was one of my first friends. I couldn't help noticing she was alone a lot."
"She always has been." Harry mused.
"I figured." I nodded. "She seemed happy enough, but sometimes she seemed like she'd just kill for an intelligent person to talk to." Harry nodded, a thoughtful look on his face. "I got to know Severus too, because I work closely with him. Then I started noticing them together." Harry's brow wrinkled. "No, they weren't in a relationship or anything. Just, when I first got here I noticed Severus was the only person smart enough to keep up with Hermione."
"I've seen that too." Harry mused.
"So I'd tease her about it a little. Remus did too. But I didn't think anything of it, really. I mean, Hermione has a lot of friends. Anyway, you know all about the marriage law." Harry nodded. "It didn't change the way they acted. It just made me notice it in a different way."
"So they…" Harry began.
"Yes. I think so. At any rate, Severus came to me a while ago asking for my help. He said he wanted to propose to Hermione." Harry let out a strangled sound, but stayed still. I took that as a positive sign. "I didn't end up being any help to him, I don't think. But that's why I told him I'd try to keep you distracted. He's proposing to Hermione."
"What do you think…" Harry said quietly. "What do you think she'll say?"
"She's happy around him. She is." I sat up straighter and looked him in the eye. "I want her to say yes if she'll be happy." I paused, and looked away. "And it'll keep her from having to worry…about the law."
Harry looked down for a moment, then leveled his gaze out across the pitch. "Does Ron know?"
"I don't think so. I haven't said anything."
"He'll have a fit."
"I think she knows that." I said. We fell into silence for a while. Finally, Harry spoke.
"What did you get out of it?"
"Sorry?" I asked. Get out of what?
"For helping Snape. What did he offer you?" Harry looked at me pointedly.
"Same thing as the twins." I chuckled. Harry looked puzzled. "When I talked to Severus, he offered to introduce me to all the unwed wizards he could."
"What does that have to do with the twins?" Harry looked bewildered.
"Oh. I guess I didn't tell you." I shrugged. "The twins made me promise to give them a month before agreeing to pose for PlayWizard."
"To give them time to develop the film. Tonks told me that." Harry confirmed.
"During that month, they planned to introduce me to all the unwed wizards they could round up." I grimaced. "I don't know if any of that counts as 'getting something out of it.'"
"Awkward, is it?" Harry gave me a half-grin.
"Like you wouldn't believe," I laughed. "Ron had to save me from the dullest banker in Britain the other night."
"Ron's in on this?" Harry chuckled.
"I think the twins coerced him." I smiled. We fell into silence again. This time I broke it. "Harry, I want you to know: Severus respects her. Very much."
"But does he love her?" Harry asked.
"You know we'll never know that." I scoffed. "But Hermione will." Harry frowned. "Come on, Harry." I urged. "She's smarter than us."
"She is." Harry shook his head. "I know it's her decision." He declared, meeting my eyes. I nodded.
"Good."
"Anna." Harry said abruptly. I looked at him. "When is the month up?"
"Soon," I sighed. "And before you ask, it was a complete wash." To my surprise, Harry reached an arm around me and gave my shoulder a brief squeeze.
