AN: And now, finally we get a chapter from Hermione's perspective. Just FYI: This chapter is mostly flashback. We're almost a month into the fic, and I just want to say thank you to everyone who reviewed, especially those that wished Dragoon a happy birthday. We aren't done yet!

Present:

Severus Snape, held her to his chest, his firm body aligned with her own in a way that made her breath catch, bent down and let his voice tickle her lovely ear. "We are friends. At least. The question is, Hermione, is that all you want to be?"

Six Weeks earlier:

"You need to get out more, Hermione." She rolled her eyes at Harry and stole a chip from his plate.

"I'm quite content, thank you."

"Working seventy hours a week, and you haven't had a date in…"

She frowned at him fiercely. "Not since you set me up with Oliver Wood."

Harry laughed as he dipped his chip in a frankly obscene amount of ketchup…a habit picked up from visiting American Aurors and one she found rather unnerving. Sauce really shouldn't be so red and thick in her opinion.

"Wood said you fell asleep on that date."

She rolled her eyes as she packed up her trash from her healthy lunch and snagged another chip from his plate. "He talked about Quidditch for three hours! Three hours straight, and I'd been up for thirty six hours testing…something." She really couldn't say. Damn bindings.

"Neville?"

"He's busy at Hogwarts and he wants to spend his summer doing research..." The boy was fit, but he'd be more interested in Harry than he would be in Hermione…but very few were privy to that in their circle. Neville was a very private man and wasn't exactly sure what his true inclination was. Luna had been the one to mention it so she didn't repeat that tidbit to Harry.

"Research huh? Sounds like a man after your own heart."

She sighed, refusing to throw Neville under the bus just to get Harry off her back. "I really am not looking for anyone right now Harry."

"Hermione, I am worried about you, locked up in that dungeon all the time with potion fumes. I don't want you to look up one day and realize that you are eighty and your only companions are kneezels." She gave him a truly dirty look. Harry sighed and ignored her completely as he contemplated a tart on his tray in the Ministry canteen. It was really the only place they saw each other since she'd hexed Ron Weasley for seducing a couple of girls who were still in Hogwarts. Being around the other Weasleys was just…awkward.

Harry motioned the elf for a cup of coffee to go with his treacle tart. It must have been his early starvation; it was the only explanation about how the boy could eat everything in sight and not gain an ounce on his slim seeker's physique.

"How about Seamus?"

Damn, she thought the tart had distracted him. She shook her head wearily. "No. I don't fancy combusting for real." Not unless a certain black-haired potions master was involved. Then it might be worth it. She stilled her thoughts so Harry didn't pick up on her lust and set her up with an Irish pyromaniac instead of the man she'd been lusting over for…well, longer than she cared to admit.

Harry frowned. "You aren't pining for Ron are you?"

She tossed him a nasty look. "I have officially started calling him the redhead-who-shall-not-be-named."

Draco Malfoy walked into the commissary and smirked. "I just came from the spell damage ward Granger." Draco contracted directly to potions departments both at the Ministry and St. Mungo's. Hermione sighed. They were not friendly, but he and Harry had made peace at least.

Draco pulled a chair up without asking and motioned the elf in charge for his normal tea service. You could take the pure blood out of the mansion…

"I have to congratulate you. That was some spectacular spell work. They just tried a new treatment. Made the pustules turn bright orange. Clashed with his hair terribly."

Harry met her eyes, pleading. "You don't think you could…"

She cut him off. "No." There was no give in her tone, no softness. Harry rubbed his face for a moment and picked up his tray. "Time for me to get back. Find a date Hermione for the next Ministry ball, or I swear to Merlin I will start setting you up." And with that threat, the-boy-who-apparently-didn't-want-to-live walked away.

Malfoy was eyeing her with frank speculation. "Is Potter serious? He's almost as bad as my mother. She could make a playboy stop dating with her ultimatums."

She chuckled in her tea. "Harry is not subtle about wanting me to move on." And she would, but she suspected that Severus was busy with a certain blond witch…a witch whose name had just come up in conversation. And a perfect source of information happened to be sitting right beside her. Hmm. Must be fate.

"How is your mother? I haven't seen much of her since…" The trials. Narcissa had been aloof, but grateful, more for Draco's sake than her own.

Draco cleared his throat. "She's well. She's been dating a lot more than either of us though. Between you and me, I think she's seeing my Godfather, though Blaise swears she's been going through Italian wizards half her age…"

Hermione felt her heart crack and shatter with those simple words. She felt her throat constrict, so she took a sip of her cold tea. "How serious are they?"

Draco shrugged. "Not bloody serious enough to distract her from trying to arrange a match for me. I'm not interested in marrying at the moment…but I'm about to have to begin looking. The bloodline has an heir clause…single heirs have to be engaged. I have less than a year before the age limit kicks in and I have no idea how to find a witch I can live with, much less one I can love."

"That's barbaric. What happens if you don't get engaged?"

"You die. But not to worry Granger. I wouldn't. I'm a bloody coward." He looked rather unhappy. She couldn't help herself; her mind began trying to find ways around the clause.

"What you need is a fake engagement…someone who doesn't want to actually marry you, but who is willing to act as a place holder while you look for someone who will suit."

Draco snorted. "I'm more likely to find witches who are willing to bed me in hopes of getting pregnant with the next Malfoy heir."

"Malfoy. Fake engagement! You aren't supposed to sleep with them! What part of fake do you not get?"

"The part where I have a witch on my arm all the time and I can't lure her into my Slytherin green sheets."

She snorted. "Seriously?"

"Fine. I will admit it." He leaned back in his chair roguishly. "Sometimes they are silver." His grey eyes danced merrily as they bantered. All the while, her stomach felt queasy. Severus was in a long standing relationship with Narcissa. She'd guessed he was pining after someone. Whoever the witch was, she'd apparently claimed his affection entirely. Hermione watched him when he wasn't looking. He didn't show even a hint of interest in anyone. He was so formal…he was probably just postponing until some archaic pure-blood waiting period was over before they came out as a couple.

Merlin.

Severus would want to wed her. It was the proper thing to do and he wasn't a man who loved lightly. She ruthlessly buried a sob that threatened to break past her lips.

"Are you alright?"

No. She was never going to be alright. He was going to get married to Draco's mother and she would only have him a few hours a day. He might even set up a private lab and quit the ministry. She'd be left with an empty flat and forced to work with a dunderhead like Winifred Anderson (a witch who'd blown up nearly as many cauldrons as Seamus, but without the wizard's cheerful acceptance of his own flaws.).

She battled down the panic. It wouldn't do to break down in front of Draco Malfoy.

"I'm just thinking about my latest project…"

"It must be something special, if you make that face."

"Gee, thank you Malfoy."

"My pleasure Granger." He looked thoughtful for a moment as he fussed with his cup and the sugar bowl on the tray. The canteen table was slightly too small for the massive tray and he was using one knee to steady it.

"You know…Potter told you to date someone."

"We've agreed Harry is a bit high-handed if he thinks he can dictate my love life."

"Well, if you want blokes to notice you, dating someone is a good start."

She raised a brow. "Why Malfoy, what circular logic you have."

He smirked. "That sounded vaguely dirty Granger."

"What I meant was that the idea of dating someone to get a date is circular logic…the reference was from a Muggle children's tale…a little girl and her grandmother get eaten by a wolf."

Draco shuddered. "I will never understand some of the stories people tell to children."

"It's cautionary."

"It's a good reason to wet the bed."

Her voice was teasing. "Are you trying to tell me something Draco?"

"Yes…no, I didn't mean that you minx! I am just saying, you would like to go out and perhaps find a nice bloke of your own to settle down with and raise little bushy haired swots."

Hermione felt a terrible ripping her gut as she automatically imagined a young, sallow skinned boy with her nose and Severus' slick hair…

She cleared her throat. "Eventually, perhaps. If I could find the right man."

"And Circe knows that the Gryffindorks can't keep up with you."

"Do you have a point, other than insulting me and my house?"

"I was only insulting your house, I was complementing you. And yes I have a point. If you were to pretend interest in me…say, perhaps, an engagement, I could get the time I need to find someone whose head isn't filled with sawdust. You will be seen as taken, and desirable, which would annoy your Weasel King ex and intrigue a number of other more acceptable suitors."

"That's mad."

"It's perfect. I would even sweeten the pot by guaranteeing you dates with a few of the better Slytherins."

She used a quip to hide her shock. "Do you often share your fiancée?"

"Don't be daft Granger. I mean before you get engaged to me. If you really hit it off with any of them, I will stand aside."

Hermione couldn't believe she was thinking about it…but then she thought about how lonely her life would be without Severus…and groaned.

"What happens if we get engaged and you don't find someone within a reasonable amount of time?"

Draco grinned, clearly enjoying the fact that she was seriously considering it. "You could always marry me." She whacked him on the back of the head. "Ouch! Merlin witch. Don't abuse me. Fine. If I don't find someone within two years of announcing the engagement, I'll call it off, and enter a contract arrangement with some witch overseas. The sort where I send them an owl with my sperm and they send me back a healthy blond baby in roughly nine months."

Hermione wrinkled her nose. "That's possible?"

Draco looked vaguely nauseous. "I'm joking. I was simply trying to illustrate that I could easily use my gold to get out of this mess. I'd just prefer the chance to have something a bit better."

She never thought she would feel sorry for Draco Malfoy.

How could she say no?

"Your mother is going to kill me rather than have a mudblood daughter-in-law."

Draco blanched. "Don't call yourself that. And Mother will be over the moon that I'm considering anyone as intelligent as you. She's quite disillusioned by the current batch."

"Merlin. She's going to eat me alive."

Draco caught her hand and his was warm and dry. It wasn't Severus, but she'd worked with Severus for five years and he'd never shown any interest. He was obviously in love with someone else. It was bloody well time for her to move on. At least Draco's proposition wouldn't be boring. And she wwas less likely to end up some pathetic cat lady…even if it did mean she'd probably have to attend Narcissa and Severus' wedding. At least it would mean that they would continue in the same circle and she'd be more likely to keep him in her life. She couldn't bear to lose him entirely if he left the ministry.

She could do this.

"Where do we start?"

DMDMDM

She couldn't do this.

The night before the Ministry ball she was panicking. Narcissa had helped her pick out her robes (and how Draco had managed that, she would never know). They clung and plunged and she felt entirely out of place.

"Granger. Stop. Honestly, don't think for a minute that I am leaving this up to you."

"What do you mean?"

"Drink this. It's a bit of calming drought mixed with a drop of Felix Felicious."

She took the goblet and drank the whole thing in one long swallow. She felt the effect immediately.

Draco took her hand again. It was pleasant enough, that small human contact. Perhaps it was just the calming drought that made her think that there was something missing in his touch.

He stroked her cheek lightly. "There. You'll do."

"What about you?"

"My acting is perfect. Just don't be surprised when you get a lot of attention tonight."

Her eyes flitted back to the mirror. "In these robes, I would believe it. I look like some sort of scarlet woman!"

"Nonsense. You look delectable, just like my mother hoped." His hands slid to her neck as he bushed the skin. She felt a prickle of unease.

"Draco?"

He smiled. "Don't worry Hermione. I promise, you'll be the belle of the ball tonight. You can always trust a Slytherin to manage things."

Present:

She looked at him, waiting for a response.

"What do I want Severus Snape?"

She thought about thinking up something witty to say…but in the end she just pulled his head down to her lips and snogged the man senseless on the ballroom floor.