Hello everyone! I apologize for the long wait since my last update, I promise I've not abandoned the fic! My boyfriend and I have had a crazy last 6 weeks, to include uprooting and moving about 4 hours north of where we were, me applying for graduate programs and we decided to be crazy and are bringing a puppy home this upcoming Monday so unpacking and puppy proofing has been crazy (an still not completed).

Update on the Fic: I imagine this fic will be longer than I initially thought it would be so please get ready for a slightly long ride! Also, beginning with this chapter I'll have the "Past" chapters spaced out more and mostly things will be progressing in the Present, unless otherwise noted! I'm adding Draco as a listed character because aftr finally completing and tweaking my outline, the way I plan to write this fic, he's going to be a major player and I'll be honest I'm not quite sure how the fic will end. Let me know what you like and what you don't!

Chapter 6: Choices

"Headmaster?" Draco said, bowing his head slightly in respect to the man seated in front of him,

"Draco, I do imagine you are not here to inquire about classes with graduation having passed, so how can I help you my boy?" Albus asked, peering over his spectacles.

"I am unsure if Hermione made you aware of our meeting just a few days ago, but I know that Professor Chaput is interested in showing her his laboratory and I offered to escort her to France. I also invited her, of course with her other friends, to remain at the Malfoy chateau for at least a few days or longer. I wanted to make you fully aware and ask permission to escort her?"

"I do know she is considering an apprenticeship with Professor Chaput, however, I was not aware you'd offered to escort her. Should Hermione wish to have your escort and stay at the chateau she is more than welcome and does not need my permission to do so. I would suggest you take up your request with her dear boy."

"I apologize sir, I just assumed, per traditional customs that you may not wish her to be escorted by me since I've made no contractual intentions."

"And do you have such intentions?"

"I….am unsure, sir. But I would imagine that I will know quite soon."

"As I, myself am not a pureblood and was not raised as such, I care little for the pureblooded customs. I've no plans to accept any contracts for my niece and fully expect she will make her own decisions in regards to who she marries."

"Right then. Thank you sir." Draco said before bowing slightly and leaving the Headmasters office, scowl fixed on his face.

Mother,

I approached the Headmaster as Father suggested and am thoroughly perplexed as to how I should proceed. Our traditions clearly state I need permission from the Head of the Navarre household, but since there is none that falls to Hermione's guardian. He had little regard for her stay in France and had no opinion on her staying at the chateau. He simply informed me that should I wish to escort her or wish for her to visit in France that I should seek her approval. I am unsure how to handle this without risking any future Letter of Intent. Please speak with Father and let me know right away, so that I may seek an answer from Hermione.

Always Your Loving Son,

Draco

Draco,

It is such a shame this young woman has no one in her family looking out for her wellbeing. Your Father and I have spoken and in normal circumstances we would simply have you seek to court another young woman, one who's parents cared for her marital future and share our values. However, with your task, knowing the environment this poor girl has grown up in and the distaste Dumbledore holds for our customs, we've decided to forgo the normal courtship and allow you the freedom to court her as you see fit. Shall you decide, after this trip to France that you would like to make this courtship more permanent, I will speak with the girl myself and explain many of the customs that it would entail. I do wish you the best darling. Remember, regardless of your task, should you succeed this young woman will be your future bride, the mother of your heir; treat her and this courtship with all of the respect you would if there was already a contract.

With Love,

Mother

Draco read through the letter once more before tossing it into the fire. Future wife. The thought alone was terrifying, but he knew his mother was right. He would need to be married within the next year and secure an heir not long after. He has taken the mark only a few short weeks ago and knew he needed to be successful to secure his family's safety.

"Draco mate, you in here?" Blaise said with a knock on his bedroom door.

"Come in. Is it that late already?"

"No, I'm just early. My bloody Mother is driving me insane with all of these wedding preparations. I could care less what color any of the table cloths are!" he scoffed as he poured fire whiskey into the crystal tumblers. "Drink?" he asked Draco.

Draco laughed before responding, "no, but help yourself."

"Sorry, mate, rough day."

"Do you think it'll be that bad? Being married to Daphne I mean?"

"'Course not. It's just, we're barely out of Hogwarts and already expected to be getting married, having babies, taking over family businesses and serving…well, you know."

"Any news on that?"

"Father says I'll be expected to as soon as Daphne and I are back from the honeymoon. So, at least I've got that going for me."

"Have you told Daphne?"

"Not directly, but she knows. All the girls know Draco. They all know what they're marrying in to. They've been taught from birth how to be the perfect pureblood, muggle hating, prim and proper pureblooded wives. Daphne, at least she's got a mind of her own, I lucked out there. She knows I don't have a choice, not if I want to keep the both of us safe."

"Not all of the girls have been taught that." Draco chuckled and to that Blaise laughed a little too, knowing the courtship his friend was about to begin. "And Blaise?"

"Yeah, mate?"

"I know you and Daphne don't love one another yet, but I'm glad you've both got each other. Just…try to treat her right, you know? Just because our parents picked our paths doesn't mean we have to follow exactly in their footsteps." Draco said, the silent message for Blaise to not treat Daphne like his Father had treated his mother for so long was there.

"I know. We'll all get through this together."

"Damn straight." Draco sighed. "Now, how to convince this witch to let me escort her?"

Hermione moved around her flat, wand directing individual items out of boxes, which zoomed across the room and took their rightful places. She hummed lightly as she did it, enjoying at least some of the perks that came with being of "noble birth". Since the traceable Navarre lines had slowly died out, Hermione was only one of four traceable heirs left in the world and the only one in England, thus leaving her with a sizeable Gringotts account. At first she'd thought she'd have difficulty accessing it but Albus had assured her that the spell was flawless. She questioned him on how it could be so and yet not be used quite frequently and was only given a mild reply. "We each must make sacrifices for the greater good, Hermione. With each decision comes a sacrifice and regardless, this will be worth it in the end". She kept replaying his comments over and over again in her head. She knew he was stating that there would be some sort of payment for the spell, but what exactly could that be? Before she could delve too much further a knock roused her from her thoughts. She bound towards the door, smile on her face.

"Well hello there -" she trailed off, seeing her friend and her two companions. "Daphne?" she squeaked. "I wasn't expecting you!"

"Seems like you were expecting someone, although dressed like that darling I'm not sure who!" Daphne giggled lightly and stepped into the flat. Hermione glanced down at her attire and blushed furiously at her muggle attire. She'd not been expecting guests outside of Severus and so she'd opted for comfortable summer muggle clothing, which consisted of what seemed to be much too tiny denim shorts and a tank top that exposed a bit more flesh that necessary.

"Umm, well…." She stuttered "I was just expecting Ginny. We were going to make a girls day of unpacking me new flat."

"It's quite cute, although I still don't understand why you didn't want to stay with me at the Manor. You Uncle should've at least released one of your estates to you, this place is absolutely tiny!" Daphne said, wrinkling her nose. While she did truly love Daphne, the girl was ever the pureblooded princess and struggled to understand Hermione's want to live unnecessarily frugal.

"I already told you Daphne, he released them I just don't see the point in living in such large estates on my own! I'd have invited you to live with me but seeing as there are only a few weeks until you'll be married…" she trailed off giving Daphne a defiant look.

"Oh, alright! Anyway, I came to steal you for the afternoon. Draco here wanted to check in on escorting you to France and I'm here to make sure you say yes so that I don't have to listen to all of the other girls drone on and one about my wedding. You'll come and save me, won't you darling?" she said, sticking out her bottom lip and pouting.

"I am not a pubescent teenage boy Daphne, that wont work on me!" Hermione chuckled. "But yes, I suppose I'll come with you. I was going to have Sev..Professor Snape escort me but I'd love to get a way a bit before deciding where to apprentice."

"Yes, yes, we'll deal with your apprenticeship as soon as we've enjoyed at least 3 days in the sun at the chateau!"

"Perfect!" Hermione smiled genuinely at her friend. Only when someone cleared their throat did she remember the boys were standing to her left. She snapped her head to the left and looked a Draco who clearly struggling to keep his eyes from constantly drifting.

"Since Daphne has already asked what I came along for, would you ladies allow Blaise and I to treat you to lunch?"

"That would be lovely, Draco." Hermione smiled.

"As soon as Hermione here changes." Daphne said, grabbing her friend by the arm and dragging her into what she assumed was the bedroom.

"Was that honestly necessary, Daphne?" Hermione said with a huff.

"Yes. First of all, you cannot wear this in public and have any hope at a decent marriage prospect and before you run off and tell me you don't care, you do. I know you weren't raised with pureblood customs Hermione but any of the men that will be looking to court you were. Second, if Narcissa Malfoy saw pictures of her son escorting you around in this," she said using a finger to point up and down Hermione's frame, "she may die on the spot and you don't want that."

"Still don't understand what the fuss is about."

"Gods Hermione! You're Dumbledore's niece! You and I both know that you have to pick a side. We've been discussing this for months! Here it is, here's the time to choose. I know what you believe in, I know that you don't want to let your Uncle down because he's your only family but if you choose what we've discussed, then you need someone who can protect you and that means marrying in to a wealthy and powerful pureblooded family, like the Malfoy's. It's okay to not choose your Uncle, he's kept such a large part of your history a secret from you, he's kept you away from a culture that you were entitled to and born in to, all because he wasn't. You can have all of that, you just have to make a choice." Daphne chided.

"I know." Hermione said, looking down at the floor and forcing a single tear to slip down her cheek.

"Hey now, none of that! We've got a lunch date to attend!" Daphne said as she turned around and began sifting through the summer dresses Hermione had that would be appropriate for a potential pureblood courtship outing.

"I'm glad you said yes to the chateua." Draco said quietly as the looked over the menu at some upscale wizarding restaurant that she couldn't even pronounce the name of.

"Of course." She blushed, glancing down, "I appreciate the offer, and that you spoke to my Uncle."

He frowned slightly before responding, "So he spoke to you about me coming to properly ask?"

"Yes and I do apologize that he didn't respond in kind. I know enough to know that how he responded was very rude and considered a slight against any courtship. Oh! Um…" she stuttered, "not saying this is a courtship, but if it were to be…Oh never mind!"

Draco chuckled, admiring the light blush that her embarrassment elicited, "It's not your fault Hermione. I want you to know my family and I in no way blame you for your Uncle's response. And for the record, I very much intend for this to become a courtship, assuming you feel the same after we've been able to spend some proper time getting to know one another this week."

Hermione smiled and was about the respond until the waiter came over to take their order. She smiled and asked that Draco order her something he thought she'd like since there were simply too many choices and she trusted his taste. Glancing across the table she caught Daphne's approving stare.

"Thank you again for lunch, Draco."

"It was my pleasure, Hermione. I'll be here Friday morning to escort you to Professor Chaput's laboratory and then I'll come back in the afternoon to escort you to the chateau. I promise that as soon as you'd like to leave I'll bring you home, we're connected to the international floo network there so you'll only be a step away. Is there anything you'll require for your time there?"

"I don't believe so, but thank you. I'll make sure I've got everything I need with me."

He leaned down and placed a kiss across her knuckles, "Until then." And then with a soft pop he dissapparated.

Closing the door to her flat, Hermione reached down and pulled the short heels off of her feet with a sigh.

"I take it your... outing went well?" Severus drawled from her kitchen.

"Goodness!" Hermione said jumping, "you scared me, Severus!"

"I apologize. I've been waiting here for quite some time, I wanted to make sure you arrived home safely before taking me leave." He said stepping towards the door.

"Severus, don't." she said reaching out and lightly placing her hand on his arm.

"I should go Hermione; everything is in place, everything is going better than we could have hoped."

"Not everything." she whispered.

"We discussed this, Hermione."

"Yes and we said no attachments, so fine. If this starts impeding my ability to perform the task at hand then we will stop it, but until then, I love you Severus Snape and whether or not you say it back, whether or not you even admit it to yourself and whether or not I'm fucking you, will not change that!" she said with a huff. They stood there in silence, both looking at one another but neither moving, nor willing to give in. Hermione sighed after what seemed like an eternity and walked towards her front door.

"Fine." She responded, opening the door, indicating that he could leave. He moved to leave but stopped just before.

"I'm bad at this." He stated, starring into the hallway.

"I know."

"I can't promise you anything."

"I know."

"This will complicate everything."

"I know."

"I can't say it back."

"I know, and that's okay." She said, reaching up and touching his face. "I love you."

"I know." He whispered back.

*Little side of the jealous Severus and this is just the beginning…Let me know what you think. I'm thinking every 3rd or 4th chapter will be a past or at least contain a Flashback section.