Six

Hermione tried desperately to not stare at her food. She was sure that there was something witty and intelligent that she could say to make Snape not only smile, but begin to talk to her. So far, he had asked her how she was, what she liked to eat, and if her food was prepared correctly. Other than that, he hadn't spoken.

Professor McGonagall sat close by at another table, a "gentleman caller" sitting across from her. They were speaking easily and laughing now and then. Hermione felt quite jealous.

"Professor..."

"Miss Granger, as it is painfully apparent that we will be spending an inordinate amount of time together from now on, perhaps we should forget the pretense of formality."

Hermione felt scandalized. "I can't call you by your first name!"

Well, at least she finally said something that made him smile. Too bad the smile was sardonic and challenging.

"Miss Granger..."

"You may as well call me Hermione if you wish me to refer to you as Severus."

He was no longer smiling now. "Very well. Hermione."

She sighed. "All right. Severus. Your father wrote to me."

"Really? How lovely. Welcoming you to the family already, I presume." His voice was sarcastic and biting as his hand reached out and took hold of the wine goblet in front of him, bringing it to his lips. Hermione could only assume that he wished to become inebriated.

"He was rather welcoming, now that you mention it. He seems quite determined."

Snape shrugged and placed the goblet back on the table. "My father always gets what he wants."

Hermione felt horrible on the inside, but she refused to show it. This conversation was not going the way she wanted it to at all. She wanted him to talk to her, to make a true effort to get to know her, and behave as though he weren't condescending to be with her.

"I have some say in the matter."

Snape snorted. "Hermione, you saw very well first-hand how Lucius Malfoy bought his way through the Ministry of Magic. Do not think he is the only wizard with connections. My family is old and wealthy and quite powerful. It is not so much a question of if we will marry, but rather when."

Hermione suddenly did not feel very well, and she certainly wasn't hungry. She knew that Snape was right, if a wizard was determined, he could make his case, and where argument left off, money always stepped in. It was a corrupt system, but it was the system.

"Then I suppose I'm sorry," she told him at last.

"Sorry? Why? What have you done?"

Hermione dared herself to look at Snape's face. He was staring at her intently.

"I don't know...I'm sorry that you will be forced to marry me."

Snape gave a noncommittal shrug. "There is no need to apologize. It is done, and I have resigned myself."

Hermione could feel herself flushing from anger. "Resigned?" she repeated a little louder than she meant to.

She could have slapped the confused look he gave her off his face. "Yes. Resigned. Content. Sanguine. Whichever word fits best, that is how I feel."

Hermione narrowed her eyes at him, her anger growing more with every word he said. "I know very well the message you are trying to convey, Severus," she said with venom in her voice. "And I am so deliriously happy that you have considered your own happiness in this match and have not in any way consulted my feelings in this matter. I am not resigned, not content, and most certainly not sanguine. Lord, I don't even know what I'm doing here!"

She threw her napkin at her food and rested her face on her hand. Slowly, the sound of chuckling brought her head upward, and she was soon staring at Snape irritatedly, wondering what was so funny.

"My dear Severus, won't you please enlighten me as to what you find so humorous?"

He raised an eyebrow at her sarcastic tone. "Well, my dear Hermione, since you asked, I will tell you. I am laughing at you. I have often heard of your temper from others, but have never experienced the pleasure of you unleashing it on me. I must say that you are quite lovely when you are angry, as the saying goes. And don't even think about slapping me!"

His hand closed over her wrist faster than she could think, and she only looked down at it.

"I'm not Draco Malfoy, Hermione. I won't run away if you threaten me."

"I'm not threatening you," she answered, trying to pull her wrist away from his grip. His fingers felt as though they were made out of steel.

He did not let go of her, but he did loosen his grip and pulled her arm so that she had to bring herself closer to him if she didn't want her arm yanked out of the socket.

"Hermione, I think that you and I need to come to an understanding. We will be married as soon as my father wants us to be. We will have children. With any luck, we will live happily ever after as you women are so wont to do. Once you resign yourself to this fact, you will soon find that you have grown almost content in that knowledge. The more you think on it, you may find yourself growing sanguine, or, I daresay, even happy in it."

Hermione looked down at his hand, still gripping her wrist gently, then up to his face. "But what about love and passion? I do not want to be merely content for the rest of my life, and I know that I cannot resign myself in only one day."

The corners of Snape's mouth twitched. "Love and passion can be managed, Miss Granger, or as we shall say now, My Dear Hermione. Despite what you have heard, there is no such thing as love at first sight, and passion is so often put in the same category as lust. True love and true passion are possible, even in a contracted marriage."

"This is madness. You do not even want to be married to me! How can you even hope for passion when I know very well that you despise me."

"And yet you agreed to this meeting because of your deep abiding love for me and your wish to be my wife? Come now, my dear Hermione, do you tell me that you have been harboring feelings of passion for me?"

Hermione felt her cheeks flush and began to struggle against his grip once more. "Let me go!" She tried to use her other hand to pry his off of her wrist, but his other hand lashed out and grabbed it as well.

"Come, come, my dear Hermione, do tell me about it. We are not to have any secrets from each other now."

"Why don't you go get yourself blown up in a potion accident!"

Hermione's eyes grew wide as Snape's expression changed from mildly amused to dangerous.

Snape narrowed his eyes at Hermione. As of yet, he had managed to get through their rather tedious conversation without resorting to insulting her in any way, and she had just turned the tables on him, lashing out in a most childish way.

"Perhaps I have been wrong to think so highly of you all these years," he said quietly, studying her face.

"We both know you hate me," she spat back.

"You have the uncanny ability to annoy the life out of me, yes. But that does not breed hate. A teacher cannot hate his best student, she makes him look too good to his superiors."

He knew that his words hurt her. Cold and impersonal, he had given her what she most feared. Indifference. He knew that she could not bear the thought that he did not feel either hot or cold about her, the thought that she did not matter to him in any way. Hermione was a passionate girl, she felt extremes about everything, and she wanted the same courtesy from others.

He watched as her face almost melted, her emotions going from fiery anger to supreme sadness, and then to a semblance of control.

"Is that not the answer you wished to hear?" he goaded. "You hope that I will be apathetic towards you to give you reason to hate me."

Hermione's eyes flashed at him. "I do not! How impudent of you to suggest such a thing!"

"Impudent!" Snape echoed with a raise of his eyebrows. "My dear Hermione, you do not know impudence until a young girl walks into your class and very happily explains your lessons to all of the other children present."

Hermione quailed a bit at his words, but soon came back full force. "Don't call me that!"

"Call you what?"

"Don't call me your dear. I am not your dear; we have already established that you are merely resigned to our impending situation. That does not make me dear. If anything, it makes me despised."

Snape wanted to laugh. At least she didn't mix words. "Hermione, I must chide you for the first time ever for not listening to me. I said that at first I was resigned, then I grew content. Now I am sanguine. I hope to be happy soon. You are not helping."

"It is your life, and you choose to accept it, is that what you're telling me?"

His hands were growing sweaty holding her arms, but he wasn't about to let go. "It is my life, and there is nothing I can do to change it. I have no choice but to accept it. That does not mean that I am averse to it."

"Why aren't you?" she asked at last. "Why do you simply accept this? Why are Ron and Ginny also so easy about the situation? Why is everyone humoring the Ministry and this stupid law?"

Snape felt a little shocked. It was the closest he had ever seen Hermione to coming unglued, and most out of character, in his opinion. She wasn't crying or whining, but she was clearly disturbed. She could kill and watch her friends falling around her, and help Harry defeat Voldemort, but she could not bear being told what to do.

"We are going along with this law for the same reason that you are, Hermione. Because we love our world, and we wish to see it thrive. We wish to give the generations after ours the power of choice that we cannot have at this moment."

He let go of her wrists and sat back in his chair. He felt a little guilty as she rubbed her arms where bright pink welts were growing. He hadn't meant to hold her so long or so hard, but he had been afraid that if he had let go of her, that she would have fled. A quick glance at McGonagall let him know that she was rather upset with him as well. He paid the bill quickly and decided to escort Hermione back to Hogwarts. He would let her think things over and come to him when she was ready.

As they walked, McGonagall and her friend trailing behind, Snape put his hand on Hermione's arm, lightly encircling her elbow with his hand. He made a conscious effort to walk slower than he was used to and hoped that Hermione would notice. Certainly the situation was unpleasant, but that did not mean that it would stay that way.

"Severus."

Snape turned around, the familiar voice of Lucius Malfoy in his ears.

"Lucius," Snape answered, inclining his head slightly.

"What is this about?" the blond man asked, indicating Hermione and McGonagall.

"What is what about?"

Lucius sneered. "Your father petitioned for Granger there the day after I petitioned her for Draco."

Snape shrugged. "I know nothing of your offer. My father acted on his own, and Miss Granger asked her liaison to contact me. I had nothing to do with it."

Professor McGonagall stood next to Snape, who was standing in front of Hermione. They did not need to protect her, Snape knew very well how Hermione could handle her wand as did Minerva, but their protection instinct came to the fore as they stared down Lucius. Hermione put her hand on Snape's arm and tried to push him to the side and he gave a little smile, sensing how impatient she was to stand up to Lucius again.

"You'd better watch yourself, Severus. You've already brought enough dishonor to your family, not to mention the damage your sisters did to your already shaky standing in our good graces. I forgave you at the time because I thought you were my friend, but you have long been begging for my retribution for your deceitfulness."

Snape snorted. He was trying to keep Hermione behind him and stay calm at the same time, but Hermione was giving him a run for his money and his patience was wearing thin.

"Really, Lucius, one would think that you would want to thank me for destroying the Dark Lord and delivering you out of the Imperious Curse you had been afflicted with."

Lucius's face twitched and his hand stroked his cloak where his wand was hidden. He looked at Hermione with contempt, and Snape knew very well that he had been on the wrong end of many of her spells during battles. He then looked at Professor McGonagall and a few other people who were approaching, some students, to see what the commotion was about. Lucius could not let down his pretense of being under Voldemort's power in public and rarely did in private. That he accused Snape of being unfaithful to the other Death Eaters in front of anyone was amazing to Snape, for it showed a certain amount of desperation at his inability to properly display his displeasure at his former friend's treachery.

"This conversation is perhaps better postponed for another time," Lucius said at last. "But rest assured, Severus, it is not over."

"I should expect not," was Snape's answer.

As Lucius walked past them, he turned to Hermione and gave her a smile. "You'll regret the day you turned me down."

"I doubt it," Hermione answered defiantly. "I wouldn't connect myself with your family if my life depended upon it."

"I'll keep that in mind."

Minerva turned to Lucius with her wand in hand. "That is quite enough, Mr. Malfoy," she said calmly. "We are no longer interested in continuing this conversation."

Lucius smirked, then Apparated away.

"You should have just let me hex him," Hermione said in an irritated voice.

"When you are no longer a student of mine, you may do as you wish," Minerva said, taking Hermione's arm and leading her away.

Snape walked with them back to the castle. Lucius, he knew, would be true to his word. This wasn't over, and Snape knew that he would expect him to pay dearly for his deceptions.

In the following few days, Snape found that he had plenty to think on with regards to Lucius Malfoy. Draco and his friends had taken to treating him with contempt and let several threats regarding their parent's feelings about him slip by. For the first time in many years, he found himself deducting points from Slytherin, though he did not add many to the other houses.

"Professor?"

He had seen Hermione lagging behind her friends at the end of their class, and was not surprised when she approached him. He had been waiting for it.

"Miss Granger," he answered, templing his hands in front of his lips.

Hermione looked unsure of what to say, something that Snape had never seen before.

"Professor...about Saturday. I was wondering..."

She shuffled her books in her arms and shifted her feet a bit.

"Yes?"

"When you and Mr. Malfoy had your...discussion...was that," she gave a little sigh and avoided eye contact. "Was that about me?"

Snape indicated a chair close to his desk, and she walked around and sat in it, setting her books on the floor next to her.

"In a round about way, yes, I suppose so."

"That was what I thought," she said in an honest voice. "I just wanted to make sure that I'm not causing you any problems."

"Well, as you have so aptly pointed out, we are both in the same situation, and we are both experiencing repercussions from it. Lucius is unhappy that my father made an offer to you, not because he is so interested in you for Draco, but more because it was on my behalf that the offer was made. If either of us is going to experience any averse effects, I would think it would be you."

Hermione's eyes widened. "Me? Why?"

Snape smirked. "What will Potter and Weasley say when you tell them that you are going to marry me?"

Hermione fidgeted a bit. "I will always be their Hermione. After all, they will be forced to marry as well."

"Yes, I don't doubt that you will always be "their" Hermione, but you will also be "my" Hermione. Your surname will change to Snape. I know too well their feelings for me."

"If my being married would break up our friendship, then it is not as strong as I thought it was. It will hurt, but I would be able to get over it. However, I think you are wrong. Harry and Ron will always be my friends, and they will always be there for me."

"I thought that I would always remain friends with Lucius."

"That's different. We're not..."

Snape felt slightly amused at her sudden floundering. "You're not evil," he finished for her.

Her eyes widened and she placed her hand on his arm. "I wasn't going to say that!"

He smirked.

"Arthur Weasley petitioned me for Ron," Hermione said when Snape didn't answer her. "And Neville's uncle petitioned me as well. There's also a man named Vince Vernon who I don't know, but he petitioned me for himself."

"He's eighty years old and a proud Death Eater."

Hermione shrugged.

"And Krum?" Snape prodded, all too aware of her rather high-profile fling with the famous Bulgarian Seeker.

Hermione gave another shrug. "We parted amicably. He said that he'd petition for me if I want him to, but...I don't know. I thought that I would have time to think these things over, but when my list of suitors grew to over five names, the Ministry started sending owls to both me and Professor McGonagall, pressuring me to make a choice." Hermione looked down at her hands, then back up at Snape. She looked very distraught. "I've had to explain all of this to my parents. You have no idea what that was like."

"No, but I can imagine." Snape was becoming rather uncomfortably aware that Hermione expected something from him, but he wasn't quite sure what.

"Professor...Severus...if I were to make a choice other than you, what would your father do?"

"I'm sure he'd try to call in a few favors, but I'd stop him."

Her eyes searched his. "You would?"

Snape thought for a moment. He had truly resigned himself to marrying Hermione, but it wasn't as though he couldn't simply walk away from her. He was too logical a man to give way to any silly fantasies. Of course she would want to marry a man closer to her age, preferably someone she knew better, like Ron Weasley. "Of course I would."

"But you've already gone through all of your matches."

"I can fend for myself, Miss Granger. I have lived this long without a wife, I can live a while longer as well."

Hermione seemed to consider his words. "And if I were to choose you? What then?"

Snape suddenly felt very confused. "Then I would marry you," he stated as though she were daft.

Hermione shrugged off his harsh tone. "No, you said on Saturday that you were sanguine regarding an impending marriage to me. Is that true?"

"I would not have lied to you." He could feel himself becoming irritated. What was she playing at? What was the meaning behind all of this?

"Professor, I have been forced to think very hard these past few days about you and me. The Slytherins won't forgive me for turning down Malfoy and have been even crueler to me since I wrote in a refusal to the Ministry. Ron and I could be happy together, if we didn't kill each other first, and Neville is not for me. He is a wonderful boy, but he is not the kind of man to make me happy."

Snape raised an eyebrow. "Am I the sort of man who would make you happy?"

"I don't know," she admitted. "I have accepted an apprenticeship at St. Mungo's starting in January. I've heard that you won't be returning to Hogwarts."

Good news always spread quickly. "I will be taking over an apothecary shop that my father owns. For now, at any rate."

Hermione seemed to think this over. "In Diagon Alley?"

"Hermione, I must be honest with you, I will be making complicated potions for my father's shop in Knockturn Alley. You can guess which sorts of potions they will be."

She nodded. "I take it they're the kinds of potions that you don't teach us here?"

"No indeed." He couldn't fathom that he was actually having a seemingly normal conversation with Hermione, and he wasn't actually causing her physical pain. "What will your apprenticeship entail?"

Hermione gave a smile. "Potions, of course. I'm sure nothing like you'll be making." She licked her lips and looked down, an odd expression on her face. "I...uh...if you ever wanted me to help you..."

Snape laughed, and Hermione snapped her head up to him quickly. He knew that it was probably hurting her feelings, but he couldn't help himself. "Forgive me, Hermione, I mean no offense. It is simply your eagerness to learn something new, even if it is illegal, that intrigues me. Your expression just now reminded me..."

"Of what?" She still looked very affronted.

"Of me."

Hermione's eyes grew a little wide at this, but she regained her composure and gave him a lovely smile.

"Does this mean a truce?" she asked, extending her hand.

Snape regarded her for a moment, then took her hand in his. "Truce," he agreed.

TBC