AN: Happy Halloween to all who celebrate it! I hope it's full of treats and not tricks. If you don't celebrate it, I hope you have an amazing day full of joy!

Thank you for all the support! It is very deeply appreciated.

If Hermione had given him any indication that she wanted Severus, he would have carried her to his room, placed her on his bed, savored the sensation of removing her clothing as she stripped him of everything, and made love to her until neither of them could see straight. As he held her, he considered kissing her forehead, hoping she would make the next move. Then, he remembered that Steven was with Helen, and Hermione was with another man. His arm had a dark mark, one which revolted her. The fear of her rejection was enough to convince him to forego kissing her and continue poker night as if the massages had never occurred.

Thank God he didn't make love to her! The last thing he needed was for sex to destroy the most wonderful friendship he'd ever had. If he was wrong about her desire for him, he would lose her forever. Best to keep things as they were and enjoy his deep sleep, reveling in the dreams of kissing her.

Severus stared at Steven in the mirror. It was amazing how simple Steven's life was compared to his. Steven didn't need to worry about almost ruining a friendship with sex, nor was he concerned about his best friend who was dating a dunderhead who could hurt her more than the last one did. All Steven did was teach well-behaved teenagers, be a gentleman to women, go on romantic dates, and write beautiful love letters. He didn't spend nights wondering why Helen's perfume smelled so much like that of his best friend, or wonder why Helen and his best friend bit their lip in the same way.

Did Steven have a best friend? If so, did Severus need to create a friend for him? Ricardo was reaching the end of his patience with this scheme, but Joseph may be more willing to help, especially if Severus could give him more inspiration for his act. He might know a drag queen or two who would be amenable to pretending to know Steven and pretend to be his best friend. Surely Steven supported LGBT rights, so a gay best friend wasn't out of the question.

Severus shook his head. He didn't even know if the person looking back at him knew how to brew a potion, much less who his best friend was. At least Helen liked this man, undeveloped as he was. There was a small blessing.

After taking a deep breath, Severus apparated to a park. Then, he strolled down Las Vegas Boulevard until he reached RA Sushi Bar Restaurant. Helen stood in front of the door, her complete attention on a paper in her hands.

He had to admit that Helen knew how to dress well. Her white dress with blue flowers along the hem line gave her body the perfect shape. The turquoise encrusted sandals she wore brought out the color in her eyes, though he couldn't help but note he'd seen Hermione wear shoes like that once. She had worn them with a long white dress which flowed in the unusually windy Vegas day. It was one of the most attractive outfits he'd ever seen.

Perhaps Helen wasn't as beautiful as Hermione, but she was easy on the eyes. He should focus on that instead of fantasizing about removing that white dress from Hermione, slow enough to keep her begging for more, but quick enough to where he didn't lose patience himself...

The sound of a car honking returned Severus to the present moment.

"Good evening," Severus gave her a genuine smile.

"Oh," she looked up from the flyer and grinned. "Good evening."

"Indeed," he glanced over her shoulder. "What is that?".

"It's just something someone handed out to me a couple of years ago." She handed him the flyer.

Severus' eyes grew as he saw the drag queen on the cover. Her black and purple eye shadow brought out the darkness of her eyes, and her eyelashes were several inches long. Unlike Severus' thin lips, hers were bright red and luscious. What commanded his attention was her straight black hair and long, frock coat dress. In her hands was his former cape. She smirked in a way reminiscent of a Gryffindor caught sneaking out past curfew. Above her were the words, "Whipping Winona!" in purple and pink letters.

"This is a very," he twisted his lips as he noted how much like a whip his cape appeared, "interesting outfit for a drag queen."

"Yes," Helen's lips curled upwards. "It is a very unique outfit."

"Indeed," Severus grumbled as he stared at Whipping Winona. Did he want to know how his cape was being used in this show? Did he want to know how Joseph and Ricardo experimented on it so he could perfect his act? Did he want to know why Joseph thought there was anything attractive about his appearance?

Better thought, could Joseph give him tips on how to use his cape in more creative ways? Hermione may want a little more excitement in her life, something to spice up card nights and entice her to play strip poker. He'd be willing to oblige if only she'd ask.

"Are you offended by her?" Helen swallowed.

"Not at all," his grin grew. "I would imagine Whipping Winona's show is quite entertaining."

"Indeed," Helen gestured for him to give her the paper.

"You seem overly interested in her." He returned the paper to her. "Is there a particular reason?"

"There's no real reason," she shrugged. "She just has an interesting costume. I haven't seen many like it."

"Neither have I," Severus admitted, afraid to say someone in a very similar outfit stared back at him in the mirror every day.

"I know someone who dresses like that though," she continued.

Severus' eyes grew as he looked at Helen. Her eyes grew too.

"Who?" Severus drawled.

"I don't know his name," she bit her lip in the way that made Severus' heart flutter. "He was someone Draco was close to, or so I was told. I saw his picture once, but I didn't ask about him."

"You didn't?"

"No, I only saw this man's picture on his desk. Draco was in the middle of a conversation so I just placed the documents on his desk and left," She fidgeted. "There wasn't time to ask about him."

"I suppose if he had a picture of this man on his desk, he could not be such a terrible person," Severus glanced at the picture again, "though I'd imagine Whipping Winona is much more attractive than he was."

"Whipping Winona is beautiful, but this man," Helen's pupils dilated while a slight blush came over her.

"This man is what?"

"Let's just say he's in a league of his own," there was a faraway gleam in her eyes. "He's a striking man who demands your attention the second he steps in a room."

"You seem to admire him for that."

"I do."

"Is there anything else which attracts you to this man?"

"I mean," she twisted her foot. "I guess he isn't hard on the eyes."

Severus' eyebrow was raised.

"I'm hungry," She shook her head and tore her attention away from the picture. "Do you want this flyer, or should I keep it?"

"You want to keep that?"

She nodded.

"Why?"

She looked at the flyer again. "I think it's an interesting outfit. In fact it's so interesting I want to see Whipping Winona sometime. I need to know where she performs in order to do that."

"I think I need to see Whipping Winona too," Severus answered before muttering, "Or at least to speak to Ricardo about her."

"What?" Helen leaned closer to him.

"Nothing," he held the door open for her. "Let's go inside."

"Sure," she folded the paper and placed it in her purse, oblivious to Severus' stomach churning at the very real possibility of her looking up Severus Snape and reading all about his sordid history.

Then again, who cared what she thought about Severus Snape? Steven Turpin wasn't Severus Snape. They didn't know each other. As long as he was Steven Turpin, Severus Snape was irrelevant.

The next time he saw Ricardo, he needed to ask for more hair.

"Draco?"

Draco glanced up from his spreadsheet and suppressed the urge to sigh. He'd wanted to finish this paperwork by the end of the morning, but something always interrupted him, whether it be his father complaining about the drop in Malfoy Industry profits or his mother complaining that the house elves were making substandard chocolate tortes. Draco's tongue was bleeding from how much he had bite back his comments.

"Is this a bad time to talk?" His wife stuck her head into the doorway.

"For you," he relaxed, "never."

"Good," Ginevra stepped into his office, only for her eyes to fall on a pile of documents, leaning precariously to the left. "I thought I told you to clear those off before they fell."

"They won't fall."

One slid out of place onto the floor.

"Okay, they won't fall yet." He gave her a sheepish grin.

Ginevra crossed her arms over her chest in a way reminiscent of her mother.

"What do you need to discuss?" Draco asked.

"I have a dilemma which needs your attention."

"Okay." He stood. "What would that be?"

"Do you have a pensieve?"

"Yes, it's over there," Draco pointed to his left.

"Good," Ginevra reached into her dress pocket and pulled out a vial. "I need you to look over this memory with me and tell me if I've gone round the bend."

"Don't worry about your perception. I'm positive you've remembered everything exactly how it happened," Draco answered.

"No, I know this memory is correct. In fact, I'm counting on to being correct," Ginevra led her husband to the pensieve.

"But…"

"There's one detail that's been nagging at me, one I hope you can clarify."

"Okay, I'll see what I can do."

She put the vial over the pensieve. "I want you to pay close attention to the letter on Hermione's bed and tell me if the handwriting looks familiar."

"Okay," Draco drawled.

Ginevra popped the top off the vial. The memory mist floated into the pensieve. Draco stuck his head inside.

At first, this memory seemed only to be a conversation about Hermione's new boyfriend. By all accounts, he seemed kind enough, though he would never hold a candle to Uncle Severus. Then, he saw Hermione put the letter down. The handwriting came into view.

Draco gasped before raising his head above the pensieve. He pointed to the memory. "That's Uncle Severus' handwriting."

"Are you positive of that?" Ginevra asked.

"I would recognize his handwriting anywhere. Uncle Severus wrote that letter."

"Then why was the letter signed, 'Steven?'"

"I don't know," he groaned.

"Do you think he signed it Steven?"

"I know he did. That entire letter is in his handwriting."

"Why would he do that?"

"Why does Uncle Severus do anything?"

"Who knows."

Draco pinched the bridge of his nose.

"Something about Hermione and Severus' failed double date makes no sense," Ginevra began pacing the floor. "They meet up with different people, and don't claim to have seen each other at all."

"Sinatra isn't a huge place. Surely they would've at least noticed each other at some point, especially if they came in at the same time."

"And isn't it odd that they both picked random people to date? Both of them found someone at the restaurant claiming we sent them."

"What are you saying?"

Ginevra stopped. "I'm saying one or both of them is disguising themselves as someone else."

"So Hermione could be dating Uncle Severus and not know it?" Draco asked.

"Severus may be dating Hermione and not know it," she answered.

Draco groaned and put his head in his hand.

"Somehow, they put on disguises and are fooling each other into believing they are someone else."

"Are you sure about that? Uncle Severus said he was dating a woman named Helen."

"Hermione says she's dating Steven, and that's what the name on the letter says."

"Uncle Severus once told me he wished his name was Steven because it would be easier to pronounce," Draco noted. "He was tired of having his name botched, so he wished he could've been a Steven. That, and Steven was the name of some wine connoisseur Father admires. Severus has a certain respect for him."

"Helen was Hermione's mother in Greek mythology," Ginevra replied. "She would know that fact."

"Great," Draco groaned. "They're dating each other, and have no idea they're doing so."

"We have to tell them," Ginevra turned to the doorway. "We have to tell them now before they do anything stupid."

"It sounds like they've already done quite a few stupid things," Draco followed her.

"Then we have to keep them from doing more stupid things and digging a deeper hole for themselves than they already have. We have to tell them exactly what's going on."

Draco stood before her, "no."

She stopped.

"Other than a letter and some half-baked theory about names, what proof do we have that Hermione and Severus are disguising themselves and dating each other?"

Ginevra tapped her foot as her frown deepened.

"Right now, we only have a theory," Draco held up a finger, "and if our theory is incorrect, we could incite one or both of them to make the situation worse than it already is."

"How? Hermione loves Severus. She may not want to say it out loud, but she's heartbroken that Severus is seeing another woman. The second she realizes she's dating Severus, she'll jump into his arms and tell him that she loves him."

"Are you certain she'd do that if she knew Uncle Severus was lying to her? Would Uncle Severus want her in his arms if he knew she was lying to him?"

Ginevra's eyes flickered in understanding.

"If we expose Severus and Hermione's plans, we have to do it in a way that will prevent them from destroying their relationship and making everyone around them miserable."

"Severus wrote those beautiful words to Helen, not Hermione," Ginevra's voice softened. "She may never believe Severus could feel that way about her, even if it's clear to everyone else that he loves her."

"And Severus may not believe that Hermione could look past his dark mark."

Ginevra exhaled. "They've certainly made a mess of things, haven't they?"

"It's Uncle Severus and Hermione," Draco put a hand on his forehead. "Of course they've overcomplicated everything and mucked it all up. It's what they do best."

"Our first plan backfired, so we need to make sure this one doesn't."

"It didn't backfire as much as lead to unnecessary confusion," Draco ran his fingers through his ruffled hair, "but yes, if we're going to do this, we need ironclad proof that they are disguising themselves while dating each other, and that Hermione and Uncle Severus weren't trying to deceive each other for deception's sake. We have to prove they acted out of insecurity, not maliciousness."

"That's a tall order given their histories with other people."

"I know." Draco slouched.

"Still," Ginevra put a hand on Draco's back. "If anyone can think of a way to expose them while bringing them together, it would be a fiery Gryffindor and a sneaky Slytherin."

"True," Draco's lips curled upwards. "There's no team more capable than us."

Ginevra embraced her husband, confident that somehow, they would find a way to set things right, even if Severus and Hermione wanted to kill them for a few weeks afterwards.