I stared at my own reflection in the mirror, seeing my cheeks polished with something to make it shine a little brighter, my lips with a little more pink. The last few days of winter break felt like the end of the world and in some way it was, for my freedom atleast. Barely breathing, I watched my mom braiding and curling my hair.

'Now, you know what you must do, don't you?' she asked me, I nodded firmly, but she still found it necessary to spell it out for me.

'No drama, no attachement, just follow his lead. Do not ask any questions, ever. Also, do not get involved with any other man. Ever. It will hurt you more than it will do you good,' I followed the movement of her hand through my blonde strings of hair. She has been telling me the same old horrifying story over and over and over again. Finally the time was here and I would never have to hear about it again. She made it sound like I was to be crowned queen of the kingdom and it wasn't even near something extravagant as that. After I was all dolled up she went through my clothes one more time and ended up changing the dress she chose out for me to wear for the one that was "too old" 40 minutes ago. I didn't have to go all out for it, really, It's not like any look of mine would repel him and change his mind before it's too late. And there's no reason to fish for any compliments, they would be forced either way.

Quickly we went out of the room to hallway, to the door, waiting for my father to be ready too. He came from work late and he wouldn't want to change the appointment to tomorrow. The sweat was coming from his hair, streaming down to his eyes from, well, all kinds of emotions that I did not want to get associated with. No matter how many times we'd clean that face, it would just be a mess again minutes later.

We apparated away from our home, in the middle of an abandoned street. Total silence. No muggle, no wizard around. Just the quiet of a night spend inside with family and the snowflakes falling slowly, almost completely melted before it hit the ground. Following my father's direction, we came to an old home, it almost looked as abandoned as the street we walked on and it wasn't anything fancy either. A cold breeze whispered in my ear and send a shiver to my spine. My mother seemed to freeze once he knocked on the door three times. Her anxiety must've gotten the better of her. We stood there for a solid three minutes before anything happened, I was about to assume that they fled, or worse, got killed. I was proven wrong when something clicked behind the door en it slowly moved open. Half a head was appearing from the halfway, hiding behind the door. Then the door shut again with an aggressive shove. Immediately we began to wonder if this was really the right place, but we got relieved from our doubts once Severus came sliding through the door and stood in front of us.

'It's better to do this at the end of the street, there is an old abandoned shop over there,' he told us and without waiting for any answers he started strolling onto the streets, not even buttoning his coat to protect him from the cold. After some annoying grumbling from my father, who did not appreciate to be ordered around, we followed his footsteps that started to magically disappear once we passed them. It didn't take more than 3 minutes to arrive at the torn down building he told us to meet. I wouldn't have recognized it was a shop if he hadn't told us; the glass of the windows were almost completely sealed off, the words that were carved above the barricaded door were completely covered with black ink. The only way inside was from the right side, where the wall was broken down which allowed us to crawl underneath it. My parents were tempted to use magic to create another way in, but kept themselves from it knowing muggles lived in this street and even those who weren't muggles aren't supposed to know of this meeting. When we were all inside, there wasn't much room for small talk. Instantly, Severus and I had to take positions.

'Are you certain this is a good idea?' he asked unsure.

'It is the only way to be sure you will play your part, boy,' my father answered coldly, it was obvious he didn't trust him much. Although he had every right.

'Please go on your knees and hold eachother's right arm both of you,' my mom instructed us. Without having to tell us twice we did what she asked of us. Dad came next to us, looking down at our hands, even correcting Severus' to hold more tightly. Then, he took his wand out and pointed it at our holding hands. It shined a bright, red light and strings slowly came from the tip, wrapping itself around our wrists. I didn't expect it to sting. I looked at my mom for guidance and she started hinting that this was the right moment. I took a deep breath and locked eyes with the boy in front of me.

'Will you Severus Snape, commit to our future marriage after our graduation, to fulfill your duty as my husband, to act in my family's best interest and to be loyal to me and only me as I will be to you?'

'I will,'