****I do not own Harry Potter or any of the characters…I merely play around with them for my own enjoyment ***

This is my first story, so please bear with me. Feel free to leave suggestions, but go easy on me. I'm definitely not an English major. Reviews are definitely helpful ;)

This is the beta'd version of Chapter 10 :) Thanks again to the wonderful Lupin's Mistress for being so amazing!

I woke up the following morning with a renewed sense of self-worth and decided that I needed to take control of both my life and the situation at hand. I decided then and there that I absolutely needed to talk with Severus and figure out what we were going to do. We needed to make wedding plans. Despite his unhappiness, the Ministry had made their choice for us and there was nothing we could do, but go along with it.

Fully decided as I was, I quickly dressed myself and then strode down to the Great Hall with purpose. I found an open seat beside Severus and took it. He stiffened for a moment before taking a deep breath and relaxing.

I took a few bites of my breakfast, mentally preparing myself, before turning to him, "We need to talk."

"Indeed," he replied stiffly.

We sat there in an awkward silence for a few moments before I responded, "Will you come by my rooms after breakfast is over so we can discuss our situation?" I asked, breaking the silence.

"If I must," he said curtly.

Wonderful. This is going to be tough. I wouldn't let him get to me. I sighed briefly, "Thank you. I will see you in a bit, then." With that, I quietly finished my breakfast and excused myself, headed back to my rooms to await Severus.

It felt like I had been sitting there for hours waiting for Severus, even though I knew it had only been about half an hour, when I finally heard a knock on the portrait and opened it to let Severus in.

"Hi. Please make yourself comfortable," I told him, meekly, and let him head inside.

He nodded and took a seat on the couch quietly while I sat in the armchair. We sat in the awkward silence for a few minutes until we both decided to break the silence at the same time.

"So," he began.

"I..." I said.

We both stopped. I looked down, embarrassed.

"Please, continue," he told me.

I collected my thoughts before responding, "I'm sorry. I know I'm not your first choice, but I think the Ministry paired us together for a reason. I promise to do my best to make you happy. Even if that means staying out of your way."

He looked at me for a moment, as if he were looking straight into my soul. "Is that what you think?" He asked at long last.

I was surprised by his question. "Well, yes. When we got our letters, you seemed angry. You just stormed out."

He chuckled darkly, "I was angry. I'm not happy with the Marriage Law, but I had enjoyed the time we had together getting to know one another. The letter made this entire situation, this idea that we have to get married to a person of their choosing far more real to me. Suddenly it wasn't' just an idea, it had been presented to me. I don't want you to get the wrong impression. I was…am pleased that they paired me with you, but I would have preferred to get to know you in my own time and court you over a period of time. This isn't the way this should happen."

I'm sure the shock was evident on my face. "So you're not upset that the Ministry paired us together?" I asked.

He thought for a moment before responding, "No. It's bittersweet. I enjoy spending time with you. I just wish that we could have taken our time getting into all of this rather than being rushed into it."

For the first time since I received the letter from the Ministry, I felt hope spring up in my chest. I was relieved and excited that this man wanted me.

I smiled at him. "Well, I suppose we'll have the rest of our lives to get to know each other. I'd like to think that regardless of Ministry laws, we would have gotten to that point eventually. I am happy, however, that we were paired," I answered.

I could swear I saw the corner of his mouth lift in a brief smile. "I am glad we are in agreement," he told me.

"I know we should be discussing the wedding and all of those arrangements, but, maybe we should get to know each other a bit more first," I suggested.

He nodded, thoughtfully. "Would you accompany me out to dinner tonight? I would like to start getting to know you properly before the students arrive in a couple days."

"I would love to," I beamed at him. This was going much better than I had anticipated. I couldn't believe that it had all been just a misunderstanding, that there had been absolutely no reason for us to no have been talking and getting to know each other since the arrival of the letters.

Our conversation was going so well, then I remembered that I had been in Hogsmeade with John yesterday and I should probably tell Severus about it. I'd had men in the past get jealous at my friendship with John before and didn't want Severus to hear about John from someone else and take it the wrong way.

"You should know that I went to Hogsmeade yesterday and met with someone. I was with my best friend, John. Before you worry about it though, I wanted to let you know about it and let you know he is in now way, shape, or form competition for you. He's gay and is not remotely attracted to me, nor am I attracted to him," I told him.

"Thank you for telling me. I'm glad you have John here and that I don't have to worry about him hitting on you. I will see you at lunch," he told me before standing and leaving through the portrait.

I sat there, stunned, for a moment before smiling brightly.

Lunch time came and I sat by Severus again, making small talk. It felt good, right, to be talking to him again. I caught Hermione's eye halfway through lunch and gave her a small smile, receiving one in return. It seemed as though things were starting to go my way.

After lunch, Severus walked me to my rooms and let me know that he would be back to get me at six. I had five hours to kill. I tried to entertain myself for the time I had to wait until I had to get ready.

I decided to take a shower to wash my hair and took my time in the shower before getting out and drying my hair. I felt like a teenager again, I was so giddy. I put on a little makeup before getting dressed and waiting on my couch for Severus. I didn't have to wait long before I heard Severus knock on the portrait.

"Hello, Severus," I smiled shyly.

"Hello, Elle. You look lovely," he told me.

I looked up and smiled at him.

"Shall we?" He held out his arm for me to take and we walked to the apparation point. "Hold tight."

We left the ground with a pop and appeared in Muggle London. It had been a few years since I had been here.

Severus took my hand and led me a few blocks away to a small restaurant. "I'm in the mood for Italian, is that acceptable?" he asked me.

"That sounds very acceptable," I grinned up at him. He led us inside the restaurant.

Dinner with Severus was nice. The food tasted wonderful and we were really getting to know each other better. I felt like he was really starting to open up to me. After we'd finished our meal, we stayed in the restaurant for another hour, just talking.

"If it is alright with you, I feel we need to discuss details about our wedding soon," Severus stated after we left the restaurant.

"I think that's a good idea. Would you like to come up to my rooms to discuss it?" At once I could see how this could give him the wrong idea about inviting him into my rooms. "I want to be comfortable and take notes on what we decide." I clarified for him.

"Agreed," he simply said. With that, Severus apparated us back to the gates of Hogwarts and we walked back up to my rooms.

When we got to my rooms, I grabbed some parchment and a quill to take notes on details for the wedding.

"Do you have any preferences about a date?" I asked.

Severus thought for a moment before responding, "I would prefer sooner rather than later. Students will be here soon and if we wait too long into term, we will both be overly stressed with classes."

"That's a valid point. What do you think of having it in three weeks? It will be far enough into term that the students will be comfortable with the classes, but not so far in that it would be too stressful to take time off," I mentioned after some contemplation.

"That would be acceptable. Would you prefer to take the week off before to finalize details or would you rather take the week after off for a honeymoon?" he enquired.

I smiled slightly, "I'd rather we have a honeymoon if that's alright with you."

He nodded.

We spent a couple hours figuring out the larger details of our wedding. At the end of those hours, we came to a few decisions: We decided to hold it in the Great Hall and to take our honeymoon in Greece. We had also decided to have Severus move into my rooms after the wedding as my rooms were more centrally located between our classrooms. At the end of our night, I felt like we had made great progress toward our future.

Severus stood and stretched a bit once we'd finished. I got up with him and walked to the portrait with him.

"Thank you for the lovely evening, Elle," he told me before he gave me a swift kiss on the cheek and walked out of the portrait hole.

"Good night, Severus," I smiled at him. He nodded and walked away.

I stood there watching his retreating form for a moment before closing the portrait. After, I walked into my bedroom and changed for bed. As I lay in bed, I couldn't help but smile and think about my day. Just yesterday, I had been so sure that he was not happy with me but now everything was different and I was very pleased with the change in the situation.