A/N: You all make it so hard for me not to write a new chapter for you as fast as I possibly can, so I am worked on this one even during my class. I shouldn't have, but since I knew the material already anyway I figured at least you could get something out of that time if I couldn't. I am still going to try to get my cousin to review and if you guys could pm her about it I would greatly appreciate it.

I just received the Dragon Speaking software, so if there are typos in the next several chapters, that is why. I am not used to using it yet, but I will get better.

Here is the new chapter!

Picture Proof

Chapter 17

The next two days went by without any more developments or events of note. Hermione had planned to go back to class on Monday, but she really didn't feel up to going to class. She was sure the headmaster wouldn't mind her skipping a few classes to adjust to the new circumstances a little better. Nothing much really happened and the only thing that seemed to change was the atmosphere of the other students when the couple walked through the hallway, which was rare. The students seemed to be waiting for something to happen as they watched the two pass them. Severus had already snapped at several of the students, but it hadn't seemed to help any. Hermione had kept him from snapping several times at students who had been staring and whispering as they passed. She hadn't been able to get up to the Gryffindor tower for the last two days, so she figured that something had happened in the tower because most of the whispering and staring students were Gryffindor or were friends with a Gryffindor or two.

The mates were currently sitting in their common room on different chairs and reading their own books about potions. Hermione was researching potions for a few reasons, mostly for personal use, because of how she had been feeling the last 24 hours. She knew that she had come into contact with an unknown potion so she wanted to make sure that it hadn't affected her in a bad way. So far she hadn't found any potion at all that could show a true love whether it was placed in a vessel, touched, or even drank, but she was still hopeful that she could find the necessary information. She put her book down on the coffee table in front of her and got to her feet, frustrated by not having found anything. Severus looked up with a question on his face which Hermione read easily.

"I'm going to go visit everyone up in Gryffindor tower. I haven't been there for a few days and I want to see what's going on." Hermione answered, moving toward the door to the common room. Severus looked back at his book and continued reading with a nod. Hermione allowed the portrait to swing closed behind her before she continued on her way to Gryffindor house common room. Tomorrow was Monday and the first day that she and Severus would be in class together with her fellow students. She wasn't sure how it was going to go and she didn't know if she really wanted to be anywhere in the vicinity of Severus when her friends began asking questions that they hadn't been able to ask. In public, Severus had said that he wouldn't change his behavior or he might lose the credibility that he had worked years to build up with the Slytherins. Hermione continued to contemplate his possible behavior towards others as she walked down the hallway until she reached the fat lady's portrait. As soon as the occupant saw who was approaching she began to giggle behind her hand. She still hadn't completely stopped when she began speaking to Hermione.

"Hello, dear. How are you?" She said, trying to stifle her laughter. Hermione eyed her, trying to figure out why she was acting so strangely. Finally she gave up and shook her head.

"Hello, I am doing better than I thought I would in this circumstance. Severus is being very understanding about all of this, so that is a plus." She replied causing the fat lady to begin giggling again. Even when Hermione said the password and she began to swing forward, the lady continued to giggle uncontrollably. Hermione shook her head as she walked through the doorway into a loud common room. She looked around at all of the people sitting in their little groups laughing and talking and she completely forgot about the fat lady. She smiled at Dean and Seamus who were in the corner of the room in their own little world with their heads close and two of their hands missing. Hermione knew that they were holding hands and didn't want anyone to see them doing so. She shook her head and continued on looking around the common room until she finally reached Ginny, Neville, Ron, Harry, and, surprisingly, Draco sitting on the biggest couch in front of the fireplace. Ginny was sitting on Neville's lap and resting comfortably against his chest, while Ron was on the opposite side of the couch making faces of disgust at the display. Harry and Draco were in a similar situation except Harry was on the couch with Draco sitting on the floor leaning back into his legs. Hermione didn't know how Ron could be okay with Harry and Draco's relationship and yet still have a problem with his sister dating his friend. She knew he would eventually get over it, but it would take a little time.

All of a sudden, Hermione realized the common room had gone silent. She smiled at all the occupants of the room as she moved towards her friends.

"Hello, how is everyone doing?" She asked, hoping to get everyone moving and talking again, but when they didn't she slowed her walk before completely stopping. "What is going on here? You all keep talking when you see me and then stop when I get near you. Have I done something wrong or odd that you guys don't like that I need to know about? You have never done anything like this before to me. Now that I think about it, you have done this several times to Harry. I think it is time you all grew up." She finished, clearly angry at everyone.

The room was completely silent for so long that Hermione was about to turn around and just leave, when Ginny stepped forward toward Hermione.

"We're sorry, Hermione. They didn't mean to make you feel like they were abandoning you, at least, I hope you don't think I did. We just… Didn't know how to react to the information we were presented with." Ginny said, stopping to stand only a foot in front of Hermione.

"You mean, the information about your former potions professor and I being mates? You seemed to take that just fine, in fact you asked me that ridiculous question and made that ridiculous comment." Hermione responded, believing that Ginny meant their meeting about when the two first became bonded, but Ginny shook her head.

"No, not that information. More recently than that we all got visual confirmation and proof that you two are getting… comfortable with each other. Some of us wish we had never seen it, but others are enjoying it greatly." Ginny continued to explain, but was stopped from going any further by Hermione raising her hand.

"What proof do you have now, that you didn't have before? We haven't done anything in front of anyone, so how…" She began to ask a question, but stopped herself and asked a different question. "Where is this proof? I would like to see it for myself."

Ginny reached out and grabbed her hand, pulling her toward the cork board that was used mainly by the teachers to post events and for the prefects and Quidditch Captain to post upcoming tryouts. There were actually several people standing in front of the board, as if they had just turned from looking at it when Hermione had entered the room, so Ginny had to motion with her hand to get them to move out of the way. Several of them didn't seem to want to move, but Ginny just gave them a look and they scooted away from the board so that Hermione could see the few pieces of paper attached to it. At first she didn't see anything unusual. A piece of paper that had been there since the beginning of term on September 1 still hung in the top left-hand corner, while the rules for Gryffindor tower still hung in the top right-hand corner since before any of them in that room had come to Hogwarts, probably even before they were born because they had begun to turn brown before someone had thought to put a stasis charm on them. No one really knew when they had been written, but they could all assume that it was within the last hundred years as some of the rules couldn't have been implemented in the past. The rules consisted of two pages with a total of 12 rules, which included rules such as "No boys are allowed in the girls dormitory nor are the girls allowed in the boys dormitory" and "The use of spells and charms on other students in the common room is prohibited due to the risk of injury to fellow housemates." But something new caught her eye at the bottom right-hand corner of the board. There were three small squares of paper lined up next to each other side-by-side that she had never seen before. Hermione stepped closer to inspect them only to gasp and place a hand over her mouth in surprise, a little horrified at what she saw.

The first square of paper was a photo that could have been explained away easily, because it was just Severus walking down the hallway with Hermione in his arms bridal style. The second one was of Severus just standing in the hall gazing at Hermione with her gazing back at him in awe and obvious happiness. The first two weren't what made Hermione gasped, but the last one worried Hermione majorly. It portrayed the kiss that was shared in the hallway the night she had been taken to the hospital wing, but it wasn't the way Hermione remembered it being. Severus and Hermione were indeed kissing with him holding her and Hermione's arms were wrapped around his neck. The thing that was strange and startling to Hermione was the fact that they were glowing a bright gold color and since the last one was the only Wizarding photo, she watched the kiss end and, as Severus pulled back to look around, the golden aura receded quickly. She watched again as the scene repeated and she shook her head.

"Who took this picture? Who developed it? No one should have been spying on us. No wonder Severus is always suspicious of everyone." Hermione asked indignantly, turning toward the other students in the common room. At first no one answered her questions, but when she crossed her arms over her chest and took on her prefect persona several people looked away guiltily and one person stepped forward; Colin Creevey. Hermione nodded as if she knew it would be him. Colin immediately tried to explain himself, but Hermione wouldn't hear it.

"I don't care why you took the picture, but you shouldn't have been spying on us in the first place and since you felt it was necessary to share my private life with everyone in this room and several others outside this room, I feel like I must share something of your private life with everyone. When I was given this soulmate bond that I have with Severus, I was also given the ability to discern who each person is in love with and who they are dating. From what I can see it would seem that you are double timing… No, triple timing two girls and one guy. Huh. I didn't even know you swung that way. Now let's see if any of your partners are in this room." Hermione paused and looked around, looking for the three connecting threads that led to Colin, but before she could find the ends, Colin spoke in a panic.

"NO! I'm sorry, I didn't mean to spy on you. I was just trying to get back to the common room and I heard footsteps. I was afraid it was a teacher so I hid behind a suit of armor but when I saw it was you and… Prof. Snape, I was going to come out and tell you I was there. But something happened that I should tell you about because just before I started taking pictures, I saw a pink orb following you. It didn't stay long, only a few seconds but before I had decided to come out, I saw it appear and split in two. I took the pictures hoping to see it come back so I could show them to you. Unfortunately, I got those three pictures instead of what I wanted. Please don't reveal who the others are." He implored, but the three had already realized who she had been talking about and they had stood up to walk toward Colin as he confessed what had really happened. Susan Bones, Neil Randell and surprisingly enough, Hannah Abbott were the three to approach and drag him off presumably to speak with him about his two timing ways. Well, three timing, but whatever. Hermione didn't have anything to worry about when it came to Colin Creevey and his nightly camera activity ever again. Unfortunately, now everyone knew about her soulmate gift and she knew there were several people in the room who would love to have her help them by using it.

"Now that that has been taken care of, please don't keep acting weird around us or you might just make my life even more difficult than it already is. Also, I will be taking these pictures so that Severus knows exactly why you all have been acting strange. Please tell anyone who you told about the photos that if any of them cause trouble in the hallway, I will do the same thing that I just did to Colin to all of you. I don't like being the bad person, but to protect myself, and my soulmate, of course, I'm going to do whatever it takes." Hermione finished by turning back towards the board and snatching the photos off it. She then turned back around and stalked toward the portrait hole.

As the portrait swung closed behind her, Hermione rushed down the hallway to inform Severus of the new development of their bond. Neither of them knew what the pink orb meant, but they also hadn't known that it would split. Why had it split in two? Was that significant? Should they consult the headmaster about it? Or should they keep it to themselves? If only they had more information on what was going on with their bond that would be super helpful.

Questions I leave you with:

Why did the orb split in half?

Will Hermione allowed Severus to tell Dumbledore about the orb splitting?

Why hasn't the couple been forced to kiss in a while?

Why do we still not know why and how Severus's Dark Mark disappeared?

Have Ron and Luna began dating yet?