After that night together, they were both obscenely happy. Waking beside each other, making love again and dressing together felt so natural and they had waited so long to do it. They of course still needed to maintain some decorum in public, however. She was, after all, still married. They never walked together, sat together at meals or were seen talking.

It wasn't that hard to see for anyone paying attention, however. Hermione absolutely glowed, and Severus not only had more coloring than ever before but actually unnerved his students by having a pleasant expression in class. He was his usual self otherwise, but the students could easily sense a difference within him.

They stayed together the next few nights, relishing the long, steamy nights in bed and waking in each other's arms every morning. They once or twice had ordered the house elves to bring them their meal rather than go to the Great Hall. One particular night, they ate in Severus's chambers; Severus, in his bathrobe to receive the food, and Hermione lying on her stomach, nude under the bed sheet. They picked at their food and chatted the night away. Neither could remember ever being happier.

Early the next morning, Hermione was woken by an owl at the window. She sleepily stumbled to the window and fed the bird a bit of bread. Yawning, she unfolded the parchment.

Ronald is here.

-M

Gasping, she dropped the note as she scrambled to put her clothes back on. Severus rubbed his eyes and stared at her questioningly.

"Ron's here. I must go! I'm so sorry." She said hastily. She snatched her robes off the floor and darted out the door. Severus watched her leave and sat up slowly once she had gone. The past few days had been so wonderful he'd almost forgotten about that boy. His heart felt heavy, but he tried to tell himself that she only left because she hadn't yet ended things. He slowly got up and readied himself for breakfast in the Great Hall.

Hermione made it to her rooms, thankful to find them empty. She stripped quickly and ran to the bathroom for a quick shower. Once she was out, drying her hair and brushing her teeth, she heard his unsure voice.

"'Mione?" She peeked out of the bathroom to find Ron standing uncomfortably by her bed, suitcase in hand. Upon seeing her, he smiled a bit and set down his bag.

"What are you doing here?" She asked. He took a step towards her.

"I have been thinking a lot and decided we don't need space. We need to sort things out. And that means being together. So, I took a leave from work to be here with you." Hermione's heart sank. There he was, willing and eager to put aside everything to work on their marriage and she has been cheating on him. How could she have done this? The guilt was overwhelming. She nodded and withdrew to finish getting ready.

Several minutes later they were seated at the head table – Minerva had set another place beside Hermione's for Ron – and currently Hermione was looking at Ron with thinly veiled disgust as he stuffed his face going on and on about how much he missed the food. Turning away, she caught a glimpse of the dark, billowing robes she knew so well.

Severus strode quickly down to the head table, sat, and started on his food, all while carefully avoiding looking anywhere near Hermione. She gazed at him for a while but he never looked up. She worried that he might be hurt that Ron was still there.

Soon it was the weekend, and Ron announced that he wanted to do nothing but talk and work things out while she had nothing else to do. She had no excuses to give him, so she sent Severus note after note begging him to be patient. She had just returned to her rooms after visiting the owlery for the most recent message when she saw Ron sitting dejectedly on her bed, looking down at a vial of her monthly potions.

"Ron?" She asked quietly. He lifted his head and she could see he had been crying.

"How long have you been taking this, Hermione?" She felt a tear roll down her cheek as she shook her head. He let out a quiet sob and stood, still clutching the vial.

"You never stopped, did you?" He whispered. She looked at the floor. "You lied to me all those months. How could you?"

"I…I was unhappy, Ron. I didn't want to start something I didn't know I could finish." Ron gasped.

"What?" His voice barely audible, "Were you so unhappy you wanted to leave me?"

"Oh Ronald…" Hermione's voice trembled. "I've been unhappy a long time. I…I didn't know how to tell you but… I think we should divorce."

"Divorce? Are you serious?" Hermione nodded, unable to stop the flood of tears. Ron stood a moment, staring at her incredulously. He exhaled sharply, shook his head, and pushed past her out of the room. Hermione sank onto her bed, body shaking with sobs.

Severus had spent the last few nights sitting in his armchair, gulping down Firewhiskey. He knew from her frequent owls, she was trying to end things, and asked him to be patient…. But after those few precious evenings when she was all his… it was torture.

He quickly began to doubt their relationship. Perhaps she was just confused, not sure that she wanted to leave him. Perhaps she had allowed herself to get caught up in their "forbidden" affair and was now reminded of what she had…. Perhaps she discovered she liked the familiar better. After all, Ron surely knew how to please her by now. And Severus, well, based on her reactions he had thought he had done well, but maybe not well enough.

He paced his rooms on Saturday waiting for another message (he usually received two or three each day), but none came. He finally grudgingly decided to head to the Great Hall for dinner. Immediately upon entering, he saw that Hermione's and Ron's spots were vacant and remained so while he was there. He couldn't stop the sharp pain of jealousy that spread through his body.

He had begun working on his potions project again when an owl finally came.

I've told him.

-Your Hermione

His heart was beating wildly, unable to believe his eyes. He instantly wanting to run through the castle to find her but stopped himself just in time. She would send for him once she was ready, he reasoned. It probably was too soon to show themselves to the world just yet, out of respect for Ron. And it could be that they were still finalizing things and he would make it worse by arriving in the middle of it.

He tried hard to work on his potion project but found he couldn't concentrate. He once again fell asleep in his arm chair after downing a few glasses of Firewhiskey. He awoke early the next morning with an uneasy feeling and his glass lying in shards beside his foot.

Ron had found himself wandering the corridors after leaving Hermione. He had walked all night and had begun transitioning from being heart-broken to being angry and suspicious. How was she all of a sudden so sure she wanted to leave him? Had something changed? Was there someone else? His mind was whirling as he was about to round a corner. Hearing voices and a mention of Hermione, he came to a stop, listening carefully.

"Did you see them though? Hand-in-hand walking into his rooms? I can't believe it." A girl giggled.

"I know! What she sees in him I'll never know. She could do some much better! She HAS done so much better!" A high voice answered.

Ron felt his anger rise. Hermione and another professor? How could she? He thought of all the male professors wondering who it could be. The voices grew louder as the girls got closer.

"He always looks so unpleasant. Like something crawled up his nose and died!" The girls laughed loudly. "I cannot wait to not have to take his class anymore. He's the worst!"

"I don't know. I rather like his classes." A small voice responded. The footsteps stopped for a moment.

"That's because you're, like, a genius in potions. Of course Snape wouldn't be mean to you." The girls rounded the corner and continued gossiping, not noticing Ron leaning against the stone wall.

So it was Snape. That slimy git. He had always hated the man, and now he had even more reason to. His first thought was to head straight to the dungeons and give him a piece of his mind, but instead, he found his feet moving towards Hermione's rooms. He wanted to hear it from her. He deserved the truth.

Hermione hadn't slept at all. Once she had cried herself out, she sat on the floor beside the fire and got lost in her thoughts. She was vaguely aware of a house elf bringing her a tray of food, but she didn't go near it. She felt terrible. She had thought she might perhaps also feel relieved, but in the absence of that feeling, she began to wonder if she was doing the right thing. Maybe she should force herself to become devoted to Ron. She'd made vows, after all.

The door opened and slammed shut. Hermione looked over her shoulder numbly and saw Ron standing, face red a few feet behind her.

"Why is this happening?" His voice was shaking with anger. Hermione rose slowly.

"I told you, I've been unhappy for a long time."

"How long?" His voice was quiet. She fidgeted a bit, looking down at her hands.

"Since before you proposed." She whispered. She heard Ron exhale sharply and looked up in time to see him drop into a chair. He looked sick to his stomach.

"How did you….why did…all that time? Why on earth did you marry me then?" His face was scrunched in confusion. Hermione slowly approached him and sank down on the floor beside the chair, looking up at him.

"I wanted so badly to make it work. I love you so much and thought I could do it. I see now that it was a foolish way to think, but I couldn't say no." Ron just stared at her for a few moments.

"Is there someone else, Hermione?" His voice was uneven and dangerously quiet. Hermione's eyes instantly misted and her lips trembled as she tried to answer him.

"I…I…" She stuttered. She looked down and drew a deep breath. "Yes." She heard Ron begin to cry and felt her heart breaking for him.

"How long?" He managed. She shook her head, crying along with him. Reluctantly she raised her eyes to his.

"Since before you proposed." Ron's mouth dropped open and he rose from his chair. Hermione scrambled to her feet as Ron started backing towards the door.

"Nothing happened back then though, it's been recent. I didn't even kiss him until last winter." Ron let out a sob and shook his head at her.

"But now something has, hasn't it?"

"Ron… I…"

"Tell me!" He shouted, anger and hurt getting the best of him. She winced and hugged herself, knowing what she was about to say would destroy him.

"We started sleeping together once I arrived here this year. I was with him the night before you arrived." She didn't need to look at his face to know how much pain he was in. She heard the strangled sound of his sobs and wished she could comfort him somehow.

"I'm so sorry, Ron. I was so caught up in not wanting to leave you that I ended up hurting you more. It was selfish and wrong and I'm so terribly sorry." She risked a glance up. Ron had his hands buried in his hair, a horrified look focused on her. She took a step towards him, and he in turn took a few steps back. After a moment of hesitation, he dropped his hands, turned and stormed out her door.

Hermione just stood there, staring after him, her heart full of pain. She had hurt him so badly. How could she have done it? She was a terrible person. Hurting him so badly only to please herself was the worst sort of betrayal possible.

Ron stormed blindly through the castle, ignoring the startled looks and whispers. He eventually came-to in the entrance hall. Seeing just a glimpse of black, billowing robes disappear into the Great Hall, he turned without thinking and rushed in. Sure enough it was Snape; striding up the aisle as though he hadn't just ruined Ron's life. Ron yanked his wand out and pointed it at Snape's back.

"Snape! You old, slimy, bastard!" He yelled. Snape froze instantly, his past instincts kicking in when he sensed danger. He slowly turned and saw the boy standing there in a dueling pose, face red and breathing heavy. Snape calmed a bit knowing his anger would make it easier to defend himself. Wizards were often clumsier when angry which, for Ron, was really saying something. Even as the students were scrambling away from the pair and screaming, he felt himself relax.

"Mr. Weasley. To what do I owe the pleasure?" He snarled. Ron looked like his head was going to explode.

"You know very well why I'm here! You had to prey on her didn't you? My wife – my WIFE! You took her from me to fulfill some sick, twisted fantasy of yours and you won't get away with it!" He raised his wand and was hit by an Expelliarmus spell McGonagall threw from the head table.

"That's quite enough of that!" She cried. Hagrid moved forward to escort the boy out but was a moment too late. Ron had lunged forward and punched Snape right in his oversized nose. Snape barely reacted, but Ron was pleased to see a steady stream of dark blood run down his face. Hagrid muttered that that was enough and dragged Ron out the front doors down to his hut. Minerva escorted Snape to her office and left him with some tea while she went to deal with the crisis in the Hall.

A short while later, she reentered her office to find Severus pacing, the blood now cleaned away. She folded her arms and waited. Severus stopped and faced her.

"Minerva. I apologize for the scene." He said levelly. Minerva's mouth twisted.

"So you deserved to be attacked." She said, eyeing him. He looked taken aback for a moment, but then dropped his gaze and ran his hand over the corner of her desk.

"I must say that I did. I do. He had every right to do much worse to me." Minerva walked up to him and put a hand on his arm.

"I hope you know what you're doing, Severus." She said softly. He raised his eyes to meet hers and smirked.

"Not a clue, actually."

He spent the next few hours roaming the grounds, alone with his thoughts. While he did feel slightly guilty, he mostly felt worry for Hermione. She must be going through hell right now. He hadn't heard from her and he could only assume that meant that she was having a hard time.

Just before he walked back into the castle, he caught a glimpse of movement in one of the windows. Looking up, he saw her. She was looking out her window, towards the lake. Her eyes were bright red, obviously from crying. Suddenly she looked down and straight at him. He raised his hand slightly in greeting, but after only a moment, she turned and left the window.

She'll call for me when she's ready, he told himself. But he couldn't help the nagging voice that told him otherwise. Why would she still want him? He had made her marriage fail. He was the source of all of her problems. She would probably never want to see him again for putting her through all of this. He tried to push those thoughts aside, but the feeling that he'd never again hold her in his arms grew and grew.