Hermione wakes up the next morning to an owl pecking at her window. She rolls out of bed to get the letter. She reads it out loud.
"Hermione,
My parents wanted me to inform you that Aleksandr is awake and talking.
Sincerely,
Severus Snape."
She gets dressed, takes the tube to the hospital, and heads up to Aleksandr's room, where Willem, Gillian, and Andrea give her hugs.
"Aleksandr, look who it is," Gillian says.
"Mother, who is she?" he says after looking at Hermione for a long time. Everyone looks at her then at him.
"Oh no, he's got amnesia," Willem states just as Aleksandr lies his head back and closes his eyes to sleep.
Everyone steps outside while the doctor explains Aleksandr's condition to them. Hermione decides that she just can't keep up the façade any longer.
"I'm sorry. I have to tell you something that is really important. I was never-"
"Pregnant?" Gillian says cutting her off. "We know, Severus told us."
Just as Gillian finishes, Severus arrives, and they head back to see Aleksandr as Hermione trails behind them.
After Aleksandr wakes up again, the family explains to him what happened and that he's engaged to Hermione. He becomes terrified that he can't remember her and starts wondering what else he has temporarily forgotten. The doctor says that he's had too much excitement for one night and sends everyone home. Willem asks Severus if he could see to it that Hermione makes it home safely. He doesn't agree right away, but decides that maybe he should.
On the train ride home, they don't really talk. Each are lost in their own thoughts.
"I'll walk you to the door," he announces.
She nods her head as they start walking.
"Umm…Severus, I wanted to say thank you."
"What for?"
"Just for being someone I could talk to."
"You mean argue with," he corrects and she smiles.
"As crazy as it sounds, I've missed that. Since I left everything and came to muggle London, things have been difficult for me. I'm alone here. I have no one to talk to or even argue with."
"You have Aleksandr."
"I really don't have anyone." He looks at the ground, then back at her. "Good night, Severus."
"Good night, Hermione."
She gives him a half smile and goes inside.
Over the course of the next couple of days, Willem encourages Aleksandr to spend more time with Hermione and perhaps propose to her again. He agrees to give it a try.
She comes to see him a week before he's supposed to be released from the hospital.
"Hi," she says.
"Hi, Hermione."
She sits down in the chair next to his bed.
"I brought you your things. I thought you'd like to wear your own clothes when you go home."
"Thank you. That was very nice of you." She smiles and he smiles back. "You know, I think I'm starting to remember you."
"You are?" she asks worriedly.
"I remember your smile." He reaches for her hand. "Hermione, I remember I loved your smile. Call me crazy, but I know that I don't want to wake up another day and not see you smiling at me…Will you marry me?" She sits their frozen. "Hermione?"
"Uh…yes," she answers finally.
He smiles and pulls her into a hug. That is how Severus finds them. He clears his throat. Hermione pulls back from Aleksandr to look at his brother.
"I thought I would see how my brother was doing."
"How nice," Aleksandr says, his voice going cold. He looks at Hermione and smiles. "But if you care to know, I am fine. No, I'm better than fine. I'm going to marry Hermione."
Severus snarls, and glares at his brother, before turning around and leaving.
Hermione goes back to her apartment later that night and sifts though her closet to find a dress to wear for her wedding. She asks Crookshanks for his opinion, but he just looks at her annoyed and goes back to cleaning himself. Hermione starts to look for a pair of shoes to go with her dress, when someone knocks on the door.
"Severus?" she asks surprised when she opens it.
"I wanted to stop by and give you this so no one else sees it."
He hands her a beautifully wrapped present, decorated in crimson and gold, with a green and silver bow attached to it.
"Thank you. Do you want to come in?" She steps aside for him to enter.
He steps through doorway and looks around as she sits on her couch and opens his gift. It is a black leather bound book of rare potions.
"I know you don't want anything to do with the wizarding world, but I thought that if you ever decided to come back, this could be a start to the library that I know you'd want to start."
"Severus, this must have been very expensive," she comments. "But thank you." He looks at her for a few minutes.
"I better get going," he says.
Before he can apparate, she gently puts a hand on his shoulder to stop him.
"Severus, can you give me any reason why I shouldn't marry your brother?"
"I can't," he says softly, then steps away from her to apparate back home. Hermione sighs, curls up on the couch, and starts looking though the book he gave her.