Wooed Awakening by pookah

Wooed Awakening by pookah

I have borrowed all the characters for this little opus from JKR and the other writers in this Round Robin. Except for Vera, and I even borrowed her name!

Thank you to my beta, sweetflag. Any particulary clever turn of phrase was probably suggested by her. The charming chapter title, for example, is hers!

Thank you to beaweasley2, who not only organized this Merry-go-Round-Robin, but who has encouraged and helped me personally.

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As Vera Sappleton left the potions classroom, the card in her pocket began to vibrate. No one was looking at her; they were all looking at Domina Arcanum (poor thing!) who was wearing a full suit of armour.

Vera slipped the card out of her pocket and read the glowing yellow letters: Walk into the Great Hall and confess your undying love for Snape in front of everyone in attendance. Kneel, propose, and then wink at him.

Shuddering, she crammed the card back into her pocket. She was not going to be able to escape this time; she would get detention. Her parents would be disappointed. Oh, she was in trouble now!

***** *****

Professor Snape sat at the High Table, conversing with Professor McGonagall. He looked angry, and she looked sympathetic. Vera imagined he was complaining about the students who were playing tricks on him. The latest had been just that day; Miss Arcanum had worn armour to Potions class and clanked around all the period, making a racket and a nuisance of herself. Vera could imagine Snape's comments: Dangerous! Disrespectful! Outrageous!

Vera slowly walked between the Hufflepuff and Gryffindor tables towards the Head Table. She knew none of the teachers would think she was one of the pranksters. She had always had such a goody-two-shoes reputation. Well, they were about to be surprised, and disappointed, in her.

Vera approached nervously. She was going to get detention, but that would be better than having green skin for a year. She couldn't have green skin; she wanted to go to Muggle university. She'd already made her plans. She'd passed her entrance examination, and her faked transcripts from a Muggle school had been accepted without question. She couldn't spend her first semester at Uni with green skin!

I should have refused! she thought. Mum always told me not to play truth or dare! I should have refused to play. What kind of role model am I for the younger students? I let myself get suckered into this! I am so dead! I hope they don't take my Prefect's badge. I hope they don't write to my parents. I've never had detention before!

Several of the teachers smiled at her as she approached. No doubt, they expected her to speak to Professor Sprout or the Headmaster, but she walked past the High Seat and stopped in front of Professor Snape. He probably thinks I have something to tell him about one of the Hufflepuffs, she thought.

Professor Snape was looking at her expectantly. Soon to be dead, she thought. No good to put it off any longer.

The professors were all looking at her benignly. Vera could see every one of them expected that she had some legitimate errand concerning Hufflepuff house. Not a one of them, not even Professor Snape, expected her to tease him with a public prank.

"Professor Snape!" she declaimed loudly. It wouldn't count if people couldn't hear her. "I love and admire you so very much." She dropped to one knee.

"Please honour me with your hand in marriage!" She looked up and winked irreverently at him. Then, she sneaked a peek at the card in her hand. The lettering had turned green, which meant her skin would not!

***** ******

All of the teachers at the table looked utterly shocked, unable to equate the respectful Hufflepuff with the cheeky girl kneeling before them.

"I wouldn't have believed it of her," whispered Professor McGonagall to Professor Snape, "if I hadn't seen it myself!"

"I'll show these miscreants!" he whispered in reply. "I'll teach them all a lesson!"

He stood, glaring furiously at Vera, who rose nervously and began to back away from the table.

Vera had for several years suspected that she was a favourite of Professor Snape's. She'd always been kind to his house as well as the others, and she had turned in more than one Hufflepuff for teasing Slytherins. Now, all the trust and respect she'd earned was gone. He was beside himself with anger, and she was the cause.

The terrified girl burst into tears and bolted the length of the Head Table, towards the doors of the Great Hall.

"Stop right there!" Snape said in a voice as calm as it was deadly. The glare was gone from his face now, replaced by a smile that was not entirely benign.

Vera stopped, unable to disobey a direct order from a teacher. She was in front of the Gryffindor table, so close to her objective, the doors leading away from the terrifying Potions master.

"Where shall I go for Detention, sir?" Vera asked humbly.

Professor Snape walked swiftly around the table, stopping only briefly to seize a silver spoon and tap it once with his wand. It turned into a ring, set with an enormous, clear stone; the sight of it set her gasping for breath, her mind unwilling to fathom what that garish and unsightly ring hinted at. Severus Snape was approaching with a calm that was somehow more frightening than a temper tantrum would have been.

"I accept your offer of marriage, Miss Sappleton," he said in a clear, carrying voice as he approached her.

"Severus!" protested Dumbledore.

Professor McGonagall leaned towards the Headmaster and whispered, "He's doing it to scare the lot of them, Albus. Who can blame him?"

Dumbledore's face broke into a wide smile.

"Wonderful, Severus!" he exclaimed in a booming voice. "We'll have the wedding here at Hogwarts!"

Professor Snape captured Vera's left hand and slipped the transfigured ring onto her ring finger.

"We shall be married after you leave school," he announced loudly and brought her hand to his lips.

Vera tried to snatch her hand away from his, and he allowed it after she struggled a few seconds. She pulled at the ring, but it would not budge.

"I can't get it off!" Vera cried, tugging harder at the ring.

"This ring will not leave your hand, Miss Sappleton, until you have wed me or I have released you from our betrothal."

Vera stared at him, aghast. He was looking at her with a smile that was in no way comforting.

That smile! It might pass for kindly, if one merely glanced at Snape, but the more she looked at him, the more she saw in it. There was smug amusement at her discomfort, and something other than kindness or affection was sparkling in his eyes – anger.

"But...but...but..." she stammered out, tugging in vain at the atrocity on her finger.

"Let us discuss this in private, my dear," he said. He marched her slowly across the front of the Head Table past every student table. As Professor Snape forced her along, she heard the comments of her fellow students.

At the Gryffindor table, Fred Weasley whispered to his twin. "That's the game we made. That girl will kill us if she has to marry Snape!"

"Nah, I know her," replied George. "She wouldn't hurt a fly."

Vera glared at the miscreants before turning a startled look towards Snape. Had he overheard them? Did he know it was their game? The terrifying man gave no sign.

"I think Vera Sappleton ought to be made an honourary Gryffindor for having the courage to propose to Snape!" declared Angelina Johnson, raising her pumpkin juice high.

"Not to mention the courage to want to marry him in the first place!" added Alicia Spinnet merrily.

A number of goblets were raised to 'Vera Sappleton: honourary Gryffindor.'

Vera's co-conspirators were not as amused about the situation, since they knew Vera did not actually want to marry Snape.

"If she does end up married to Snape," said Austrina Limia, "you younger ones need to hold to this honourary Gryffindor thing and give her a place to hide out when her husband gets crabby."

"That's a great idea," agreed Bernise Bedsworth. "He'd look for her in Hufflepuff. Someone could transfigure an extra bed in one of the Gryffindor dormitories so she'd always have a bolt hole."

"She could use my bed!" leered Cormac McLaggen. He was surprised by the smack he received from Margarite Black.

Many at the Hufflepuff table cheered for the 'happy couple'. The most delighted were the youngest students. "Vera will be staying at Hogwarts next year!" they rejoiced. "I bet she'll come to the common room and help us with our homework while Professor Snape prowls the halls at night!" "She'll never have to leave Hogwarts! We'll have her with us 'til we leave school!"

"Maybe Professor Snape will be nicer once he's married," mused the older Hufflepuffs. It did not strike them as odd that their feared professor would love Vera. When they considered it, the affectionate, gentle peacemaker seemed like the only type of wife that would be right for the fearsome Potions master.

Vera's friends rolled their eyes.

"Oh no!" wailed Marianne Branstone. "She's going to marry Snape!"

"I don't believe that he'll really marry her," replied Fern Freebush in an anxious voice that belied her optimistic words.

"He can't be serious," said Tracie Davis. "He's just trying to scare her."

Marianne still looked doubtful.

Vera looked longingly at her friends, hoping Tracie was right, that he was only trying to scare her, to scare all of them.

As they passed the Ravenclaw table, Phyllis Steek looked crestfallen. "I'm sorry," Vera mouthed to her friend, who had long cherished a crush on their Potions professor.

"I think he must be doing it to scare Vera, and the rest of us," reasoned Sadie Fawcet.

"But he could be taking the very logical view that this is the only chance he has to get married, so he will seize it," countered Robin Banks. "That would be sensible of him if he wanted to marry."

"If she does marry Professor Snape, at least she'll be able to obtain a nice untraceable poison for Fred and George Weasley," said Domina Arcanum with a wry smile.

"That may be a good wedding present for you, my dear: poison for those imps." Professor Snape whispered in Vera's ear.

Oh, God! Snape heard them! she thought. She looked up at him in alarm and was surprised to see genuine amusement in his face.

Now, they were approaching the Slytherin table to a mixture of applause and a few jeers. There was one whispered, "Mudblood!"

Vera didn't care, but she felt Snape freeze in his tracks. He turned to search out the culprit.

A number of Slytherin students hung their heads, unwilling to let their Head of House see that they were in agreement with the lone student who had had the courage to call that upstart a Mudblood.

Vera was distracted by movement at the Head Table. It appeared as though a game of 'telephone' was going on. Each teacher received some message from the centre of the table, grinned madly, and was suddenly bursting to speak to the person on his other side.

Professor Sprout was shouting angrily at Dumbledore when Flitwick quieted her with a few whispered words, upon which, she turned and waved gaily to Vera, throwing a kiss to the dumbfounded girl before whispering excitedly to Professor Sinistra.

Meanwhile, Professor Snape had ended his perusal of the Slyterin table and begun his harangue.

"Miss Sappleton is my choice," he said to his students. "I have known her for years, and she is well worthy to be the consort of a king, let alone the successor of Salazar Slytherin.

"She has always been fair and generous with you, and you will show her all the respect due her, not as my betrothed, but as a fellow student, as a Prefect, and as a Witch, which she is, in spite of her Muggle parents."

"If Professor Snape decides to marry Vera, he will be doing very well," said Emma Whitby, who caught Vera's eye and gave her a sign that Vera took to mean, 'not gonna happen!' "She may be Muggle-born, but she's a fine person."

"And our friend, so lay off!" added Angharad Marchbanks in a no-nonsense voice. The other co-conspirators nodded in approval.

"Really, if he's going to get married, he could hardly do better than Vera," whispered Catherine Smith rather loudly. "She has the temperament to put up with anything."

Quite a few Slytherins nodded at that. The woman who married their Head of House would need to be able to tolerate a fair amount of disagreeable behaviour.

Thomas Higgs raised a finger. "You know," he said, "even if a man is looking out for his own best interests, he wants his wife, the mother of his children, to be doing what's best for him and the kids. So it would be in his best interest to marry a woman like Vera Sappleton. Someone like that wouldn't turn you in if you broke the law. Not even for a reward."

Several young men looked thoughtful at that. "And she's not bad looking, either," added Blaise Zabini, "though, not pretty enough to tempt me."

By this time, Professor Snape had begun to drag his unwilling fiancée behind the Head Table, the denizens of which burst into delighted applause, much to Vera's chagrin.

"Thank you," Vera managed to get out as Snape pulled her through the door behind the Head Table and into a comfortable room with a warm fire.

"Thank you for defending me. And I'm so sorry." Now that Vera had recovered the power of speech, she was making up for lost time. "Please let me explain..."

"Yes, please do, Miss Sappleton," Professor Snape said, his eyes glinting with malice. Vera was struck silent again and could only gape fearfully at him.

"No doubt some busybody will follow us before long to chaperone," said Professor Snape. "Now, what did you have to say to me, my dear?"

"It was a joke, sir," Vera said piteously.

"I do not enjoy such jokes, Miss Sappleton. Or may I call you Vera? I hear you cried up as motherly and affectionate. You will make an excellent wife and mother."

"It was truth or dare, and I couldn't live with the forfeit," Vera explained feverishly. "I would have turned green for a year. I can't go into the Muggle world with green skin!"

"I had not ever thought to marry," he continued, as though she had not spoken, "but I think you are wise in choosing me. I can be very loyal, and we will have highly intelligent children."

"I won't marry you, Professor Snape. You're mad!"

"Yes, I am mad," he hissed angrily. "And you have foolishly placed yourself not only in the path of my ire, but in my power as well.

"As a Muggle-born, you are obviously not aware of all our laws. But the breach of promise law is very strict in the Wizarding world. You asked me to wed you; therefore, I am the only one who can break the engagement."

Vera stared at him in shock.

"You are eighteen, are you not?"

She nodded numbly.

"Then, I believe you could end up spending a year or three in Azkaban for breaking troth with me."

Vera looked horrified.

"Dementors!" she whispered in terror.

Professor Snape put his arms around her and hugged her to him.

"Don't worry," he said in a soft and reassuring voice, hugging her tightly as she attempted to escape. "I won't prevent you from pursuing an apprenticeship or a career. I even know some people who could be instrumental in helping you. Being married to me will not be as bad as you think."

The door opened and closed. They both looked over to see Dumbledore coming towards them, beaming happily.

Vera pushed Professor Snape away from her and ran to the Headmaster. "Please don't let him send me to the Dementors!" she begged, tears filling her eyes.

"Really, Severus, threatening the girl with Dementors is no way to woo!" the Headmaster said cheerfully.

"I do not need to woo Miss Sappleton; she has wooed me," Snape replied smugly.

"Professor Dumbledore!" Vera cried. "He can't force me to marry him, can he?"

"Professor Snape has every right to insist upon a marriage between you two, since you asked him to wed in front of witnesses, even declaring your love for him," said the Headmaster. "He would certainly win in a court of law. If you were a minor, your parents would have the right to object; but you are eighteen years old: an adult in both the Wizarding and Muggle worlds."

Vera burst into tears.

"There, there, Miss Sappleton," Dumbledore said cheerfully, "I know this is all very sudden, but you did ask him, so you must love him, after all. I am certain you thought he was so far above you that he would never consent, but this is a happy surprise for you. And you need not marry immediately. I would discourage Severus from holding the wedding before you finish school. And perhaps even a year or more of betrothal would not be amiss, since you are so young."

"I am not unreasonable, my dear," Snape said. "There is no reason why you may not have a few years to pursue some apprenticeship, or even Muggle university, before we consider children. You will be very happy at Hogwarts; I am certain."

"And the house-elves will be delighted to have a baby to care for, if you wish to work after the children come," added an ecstatic Dumbledore.

"I saw the perfect robes in Madam Malkin's," the Headmaster continued. "Pale gold with an under-robe of green brocade. Perfect for a Hufflepuff/Slytherin wedding, and it would suit your colouring beautifully."

"And some shoes that add several inches so she doesn't look so small and young," added Professor McGonagall, who had just entered with Professor Sprout.

Vera threw herself into Professor Sprout's arms.

"Help me!" she cried. "It was a joke; it was truth or dare! I didn't mean it! I'm sorry. Make him see I'm sorry!"

"I think a dark forest green for you, Severus." said McGonagall, seemingly unaware of Vera's outburst. "With a touch of gold embroidery. And I'm sure Filius will be happy to decorate the Great Hall for the wedding. Oh, Albus, I'm so excited! A wedding at Hogwarts!"

"Now, Vera," Professor Sprout said soothingly, "Severus is a good man under that forbidding mask. You always see things so truly. You've seen what Severus truly is, or you'd never have proposed to him."

Vera noticed that Professor Snape was suddenly interested in their conversation.

"Would you say Miss Sappleton has a true eye, Pomona?" he asked almost eagerly.

"Yes, I suppose I would," Professor Sprout replied thoughtfully. "Miss Sappleton sees past the facades people present to the sterling qualities hidden inside them."

"Miss Sappleton possesses a 'True Eye', Albus," Professor Snape said, giving Dumbledore a pointed look, which seemed to confuse the Headmaster.

Vera had heard that phrase recently, but could not place it.

***** *****

"I got here as soon as I could after I talked to Dumbledore and Snape. And Professor Sprout says she will do her best to help me," Vera said to the assembled group that evening. She had missed part of Domina's story about the armour, but she had seen it in Potions class.

The girls were all ears, wondering what had happened to their friend after Snape had dragged her through the door behind the Head Table.

"Dumbledore wouldn't listen to what I had to say," Vera complained. "He kept going on about what a good wife I would make and how wise 'Severus' was to accept me. He's obviously more gaga than anyone thinks! He simply couldn't comprehend that I don't want to marry Snape!

"Then, Professor Sprout came in; boy, was I glad to see her! And she said she would do her best to find a loophole, but that Professor Snape was within his legal rights to insist on a marriage. And then, she told me he is really a splendid fellow and not to worry; he'll make me happy.

"And Professor Snape said something about a true eye," Vera continued with a shrug. "He asked Professor Sprout if I had a true eye. And she said yes, I always saw the good side of people. I don't know what that was about."

Margaret Pritchford gasped aloud. She knew.

"Well, did he break the engagement? Was he just trying to scare you?" asked Phyllis Steek hopefully.

"No," Vera said. "He didn't break it." She couldn't bring herself to look Phyllis in the face as she delivered the disappointing news.

"He is enraged at us for playing tricks on him," Vera continued. "But every time I'd think he was just trying to scare me, he'd say that Professor Sprout always brags about what a motherly person I am with the younger ones, and he thinks I'd be the perfect mother for his children. He can't be serious, but he didn't sound like he was joking."

"And maybe he'd like being married," said Carlie Cohen. "I mean, Vera's very easy to get along with. And this might be the only chance he'll ever get. No one would want to marry him!" Several girls murmured agreement, while others disagreed.

"I think he'd like being married to her," Jemima Wilkinson added.

"Oh, no!" Vera said, looking at her friends in horror. "I'm almost certain he's only trying to scare me and will break off the engagement, but Professor Sprout says if he doesn't break it off, magical law requires me to go through with it, or I could go to prison.

"Professor Dumbledore says the Breach of Promise law hasn't changed in centuries, and I might even be legally married against my will and forced to move to Hogwarts and stay here. Only, he kept smiling, as though it would be the best thing in the world. He told me what a wise choice I have made in going for substance and good character rather than flash.

"He said these laws are mostly used to keep men from abandoning women and children, but they can apply to the witch as well."

"I think that Professor Snape must be trying to scare you," said Emma Whitby. "He can't want to marry you. I mean, he doesn't know you."

"Oh, I don't know," replied, Jemima, who was ready to discuss it rationally. "He might know her better than we think. All teachers talk about their students to each other, and Snape has had her in class for over six years. So he observes her in class ... kind and well behaved ... and hears about her from the other professors."

"Yes," said Beatrise Bedsworth excitedly. "In September, I went to pick up a jacket I'd left in the greenhouse and overheard Professor Sprout telling Professor Snape that Vera ought to have been chosen as Head Girl."

"Snape said, 'Miss Sappleton doesn't have enough drive or ambition to be Head Girl'," Beatrise continued. "But Sprout said that Vera was a natural mother and loved the young students and cared for them. She went on to say that Vera would be a great mother and have intelligent, talented, happy, well-adjusted kids... Oh, Merlin! That's where he got the idea!"

Vera looked stricken. "He did say I'd make a good mother for his children," she repeated glumly.

"But I haven't told you all of it," Vera continued. "This is the worst part, the part that really makes me scared that he might actually go through with it." The girls looked at Vera expectantly. What could be worse?

"I ran into Professor Trelawney on the stairs as I was coming here," she mumbled. "She hadn't been at dinner, but she said she'd felt a disturbance in the ether. And then, she'd read the Tarot cards and come downstairs and heard the news about my betrothal."

"I always thought she seemed sort of crazy," said Sally Locke.

"I'd never even spoken to her before," Vera said, "but she seemed kind. She could tell I was upset.

"She told me I was the Page of Cups and Professor Snape was the King of Pentacles and she was the Queen of Wands." Vera shrugged.

"Professor Trelawney said not to worry because she would do her best to win Professor Snape's affections towards herself, so that he would be happy to break the betrothal with me."

"If that's your greatest hope, you're doomed!" Margarite Black volunteered almost cheerfully.

"But he knows it's truth or dare. Surely he would never marry someone who didn't want to marry him," Vera asserted.

"I'm not so sure about that," Margaret Pritchford said solemnly. "I saw how he reacted to the idea of marrying Trelawney. He was beside himself.

"And that business about the 'True Eye', that was from the Prophecy I made up!"

A murmur of dismay swept the room. No man in his right mind (and very few madmen) would marry spooky Professor Trelawney if they had pleasant Vera Sappleton as an option. All the girls stared silently at Vera.

Vera gulped after looking around at the faces filled with sympathy and concern. "Well, I guess you're next, Jemima," she said as bravely as she could manage. "I hope he doesn't get too angry with you."

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And the fun continues...

Author's notes:

The original prompt is: #26) Walk into the Great Hall and confess your undying love for Snape in front of everyone in attendance. Kneel, propose, and then wink at him.