The next morning, Hermione tries not to make a sound as she slowly makes her way down the stairs and into the sitting room to retrieve her gifts before she leaves to go home. Severus, having always been a light sleeper hears someone rustling about downstairs and decides to get up. He tosses on his robes and starts down the stairs. He sees that it's Hermione making all the noise and thinks how much fun it would be to scare her as she's leaving. He grins slyly to himself and sits at the top of the stairs that face the front door.

"Miss Granger," he says in his most stern voice as Hermione starts to open the door. She jumps as she screams, then turns around.

"Professor Snape. You scared me," she says, her voice still not quite back to normal.

"I hear you're marrying my brother."

"Umm…that's right."

"Tell me, do my parents know that you are my former student and were the one who defeated the Dark Lord?" Hermione looks at the ground. "I didn't think so."

"Please, Professor, I'm not ready to tell anyone about what happened that day. The only people who know about what really happened are you and Dumbledore."

"And why shouldn't I tell them? After all, you are going to be their daughter-in-law. What will they think of you if they know you lied to them about who you truly are?"

"Professor, I realize I have no reason to ask this of you, but please, don't tell them. I will explain everything to them when I'm ready."

"Dismissed, Miss Granger," he scowls.

Hermione swallows heavily and hurries out the door. She goes back to her apartment and feeds her cat. As she puts back the cat food, she remembers the box of Aleksandr's things that the doctor gave her. She picks it up and goes to sit on her bed to look though it. The last thing she looks at it a crumbled brown paper sack. She opens it and a can of cat food falls out. She grabs his keys, the can of food, and immediately heads over to Aleksandr's apartment.

His apartment building isn't anything fancy, but it looks like a nice place. She hurries up to his apartment and starts searching for the cat. Little does she know that Severus just apparated into the apartment. He hears her calling for the cat and goes to see if he can scare her like he did that morning. Hermione walks though the kitchen, opens the door, and hits him square in the face. She shrieks, then opens the door slowly.

"Professor, I'm so sorry."

"You stupid girl. You should know that you just don't go barreling through doors, but I suppose that is one thing that you will never learn, no matter how old you get," he yells angrily at her.

Hermione rolls her eyes at him, deciding that she's lived far too many years being afraid of him.

"Why are you here? You hardly ever talk to your brother, let alone drop by to see him."

"I didn't come here because I wanted to. My parents asked me if I'd look in on his…" Severus looks around and snarls at his brother's extremely bad taste in décor. "place of living," he finishes, glaring at her.

"Look, I hate you and you hate me, but we're going to have to learn to be civil to one another because I'm marrying your brother. We'll have to see each other sometime no matter how much we'll detest it."

"As much as it pains me to say it, you do have a point."

She looks at him completely shocked. He actually admitted that she was right about something.

"But just because you are marrying into my family does not make you special in anyway. You still will always be the annoying Gryffindor Know-It-All."

It's her turn to growl.

"Does it make you feel better when you put other people down? Is that why you are so mean to everyone? Do you feel that insecure about yourself that you have to pick on people that are younger than you or ones you think aren't as smart as you?" she yells at him.

"Miss Granger! You're treading on thin ice."

"I don't care. It's about time someone stood up to you. You tell me that I have a lot of growing up to do, well take a look at yourself."

With that, she storms out of the apartment to go see Aleksandr. Severus sighs heavily.

While at the hospital, Hermione runs into Willem, who asks her to dinner. She accepts and smiles at the thought of getting another chance to piss Severus off.

"So, Hermione, what was it about Aleksandr that made you first notice him?" Gillian asks.

"It was…his smile," she says remembering the first time she saw him.

"Where did you guys meet?" Andrea asks, entering into the conversation.

"It was at the Queensway station. He came though my booth one day and smiled at me. After that, I couldn't stop thinking about him."

Both Andrea and Gillian smile. Severus rolls his eyes. Willem sees it and glares at him. He reluctantly looks back down at his plate.

"You don't think you could help me find a nice girl for Severus, do you Hermione?" Gillian asks. Hermione looks over at the man in question, who looks at his mother, horrified at the thought.

"I don't know. I might know a few girls," she says flashing Severus a smile.

He grips his fork a little tighter.

"I think that's just what my son needs. Maybe a woman in his life would teach him not to be so uptight all the time," Willem states.

"Father, I am doing just fine on my own," Severus says though almost clenched teeth.

From that point on, dinner is kept to talking about how everyone's day went.

"Gillian, once again, that was a lovely dinner."

"Thank you, my dear."

Hermione smiles and starts to get on her coat. Willem pushes Severus to open the door for her. Not happy about it, he jerks open the heavy wooden door.

"Goodbye," he says rudely.

"Severus, be nice," his mother warns.

"Thanks again," Hermione states as she moves closer to the door.

"Oh look, you guys are under the mistletoe," Andrea points out. The two look up and see it hanging right over their heads.

"Go on, kiss her," Willem says.

"It's tradition," Gillian encourages.

"And it has to be on the lips," Andrea adds.

Hermione and Severus wince, but decide that his family isn't going to let it go. They both move forward and kiss lightly.

"Good night," Hermione says before she leaves.

Severus hangs back and watches her walk away. He shakes his head, wondering why he hasn't had the urge to run and throw up yet. He goes to join his family in the sitting room after she disappears around the corner.