Eleven

Hermione lay in her bed, still thinking over what to say to her parents. She had spent the entire day at Diagon Alley with Mrs. Weasley and Ginny, shopping and laughing and feeling very free and happy. They had even run into Severus once, when they passed by Flourish And Blotts. His arms were full of books, and he stopped only long enough to tell Hermione that he would not be by to see her later, but he promised that he would spend at least some of the next day with her. After that, she had gone back to Grimmauld Place with her two companions, eaten dinner, and fallen into bed exhausted.

Unfortunately, she found that she could not sleep, and the fact that Ginny was apparently deep in reverie was actually beginning to annoy her. For the first time in her life, Hermione wished that her parents were more like the Weasleys, and that they understood magic better. If they only understood the world, she would not be in such a horrible predicament at the moment, and she would not have to decide the best way to go about forgiving them before her wedding.

She sighed and rolled over, punching her pillow as she did so.

"Aren't you asleep?" Ginny asked.

"I thought you were."

"I thought you were, as well."

Hermione got out of her bed and went over to Ginny's, snuggling under the covers with her friend.

"Do you need to talk about it?" Ginny asked.

"Do you think you could help?" Ginny had a natural ability to see both sides of every equation logically, and Hermione welcomed any insight she would have.

"Even if I have no advice to offer, sometimes talking about it can help. You know that, you've told me that a million times."

Hermione related the whole of the situation to Ginny, even including what Snape had done for her.

"Parents always want what's best for their children, but I think that Snape is right. Your father knew that he made an arse out of himself, and it was only a matter of time before he began to regret that decision. If Snape had not stepped in when he did, your father may have come to this realization too late to do anything about it. You owe him a lot for that."

"I do indeed," Hermione agreed. "It must have been very difficult for him to go and speak with my father. Even though he knew he was right, an ex-Death Eater was forced into the company of Muggles for his Mudblood fiancée. No matter how you slice it, no matter how good Severus is now, those things that he learned as a child are still very much attached to him and his thinking. It must have been a mortification for him. I can only imagine how my father treated him."

"Well, he was obviously happy to do it for you, so the first thing you must do is put Snape out of your mind. You said that your father wrote to you to apologize-that must have been a blow to his own ego. It meant admitting he was wrong not only to you, but to Snape as well. He knew that you would tell Snape about his letter, and he wrote anyway. To me it shows a great amount of humility."

"That was sort of the conclusion I came to. It's just that I really want to address the issue that my father has been treating Severus unfairly this entire time, when he is just as subject to his father's will as I am subject to the Ministry. He won't listen to us when we tell him that we have no choice."

They both lay in silence for a few minutes, and Hermione began to think that Ginny had finally gone to sleep.

"If you had a choice," she said at last, "would you have still chosen Snape?"

"What do you mean?"

Ginny turned over and faced Hermione. "If this law didn't come about, and Snape had asked you out...would you have gone?"

Hermione looked up at the black ceiling and pondered this. "I honestly don't know. You know how I've been feeling about him, though. But then again, if the law hadn't happened, then Snape's name would not have been at the top of my compatibility list, and I never would have started thinking about him like that."

Hermione heard Ginny shift again. "We were all in The Order together, though. It's possible that the Marriage Law simply brought your feelings for him to the front of your mind. Mother always says that absence makes the heart grow fonder. It's possible that after having been apprenticing for a few months, you would have started missing him and thinking about him on your own."

It was possible. "But there's no guarantee that I would have done something about it. After all, it's Severus Snape."

"I don't know, Hermione. You're as brave as any Gryffindor."

Hermione laughed to herself, and turned to her friend. She could barely see Ginny's eyes shining in the darkness. "Bravery and stupidity are two very different things. Who knows what would have happened?"

"True," Ginny conceded.

"Since we're discussing relationships, what's going on with you and Harry?"

She could feel Ginny blushing next to her.

"Well, for a while, it felt like the same-old story..."

"But then?"

A shake of the bed indicated that Ginny shrugged. "I don't know...we were in the garden, and he was trying to help me with a Quidditch play, and then everything sort of got awkward between us, and we avoided each other for a few days."

"That sounds like Harry," Hermione decided with a laugh. "Did he work up the nerve, or did you?"

"Actually, it was you and Snape that brought us together."

Hermione turned and rested her head in the crook of her arm. "Really? How so?"

"Well, the other night when you both Apparated here, I was in our room, and I don't think you saw me."

"I was pretty distraught," Hermione agreed.

"Well, Snape sort of kicked me out, but in a nice way, so I went down to the kitchen to look for something to drink, and Harry was in there, reading a book and drinking some butterbeer. We just sort of started talking, and then he brought up about my first year and how I used to fancy him. It was rather embarrassing, but he wanted to know if I still felt the same."

"We both know you did," Hermione finished.

"Yeah. We agreed to give it a go, but we're going to wait to tell Mum and Dad, just in case. I don't really want Ron to know, either. You know how he is."

"Ron's always liked the thought of you and Harry together, I actually think he'd surprise you." During their brief stint, Ron had confided to Hermione that he hoped his best friend would end up marrying his sister some day. This was the closest Hermione had ever come to divulging that information.

"Still, we want to keep it hushed for a while. Besides, it's only been two days!"

Hermione laughed. "Severus and I were discussing marriage on our first date."

Ginny started to laugh as well. Soon afterwards, both the girls fell asleep, utterly exhausted.

When Hermione and Ginny awoke, they made their way down to the dining room, surprised to find Snape already there, drinking coffee as though his breakfasting with the occupants of Grimmauld Place was an every day occurrence.

"Severus!" Hermione said happily. "I didn't think I would see you until much later."

She sat next to him, and he gave her thigh an intimate squeeze. "Sorry to disappoint you."

She squeezed his thigh in return and gave him a smile. "I'm hardly disappointed."

Ron and Harry thundered into the kitchen, their boisterous manners deftly taking the place of Fred and George as the noisy ones in the house.

"Why won't you tell me?" Harry asked, his voice almost as whiney as Ron's could be on such an occasion.

"Maybe it's just none of your business," Ron answered, taking a seat at the table.

"What's this all about?" Hermione asked, not wanting to be forced into an argument with her two best friends so early in the morning and in front of Snape, but unable to keep out.

"Ron went out with a girl last night. I'm trying to get him to tell me who."

"It doesn't matter," Ron protested.

"If it didn't matter, then you wouldn't hesitate to tell," Hermione reasoned. "Who was it?"

Ron turned red and looked down at his plate. "Gabrielle Delacour," he answered quietly. "She's here visiting her sister for the summer, and Bill wanted me to double with him."

Harry looked very surprised at this admission, and Hermione found herself laughing.

"What's so bloody funny?" Ron asked, his temper now getting the better of him.

"Oh, it's just that you always used to comment about my terrible temper, and here you are, trying to make nothing about a girl who's part Veela, and who is obviously something special to you indeed."

"She might be part Veela," Ron answered, "but I doubt she's anything compared to you when I don't finish my homework."

Hermione had to smile. It was probably true. "You always did have a crush on Fleur, as misguided as it was."

"Misguided," Ron scoffed. "You don't know misguided until your best friend dates a boy who can't even pronounce her name."

"Viktor and I never dated," Hermione protested for what felt like the millionth time. "We were..."

"Just friends," Harry, Ginny and Ron all finished off in unison, rolling their eyes.

"Of course you were," Ron said after taking a vicious bite of his toast. "How could you have liked him? What an idiot. Not for you at all."

"I only hope that Gabrielle is not like her sister in that she expects the entire world to be handed to her on a platter, simply because she's pretty. It would never do to waste your brain only because your body is good enough."

"You know, Fleur is actually very intelligent," Ron said. "She speaks four different languages, and Bill said that they were reading a book the other day..."

"More like Bill was reading the book to her," Hermione countered. "How she ever was chosen to be the champion for her school was a mystery to me, since she couldn't even make it past the grindylows!"

"What about Krum?" Ron asked, his voice growing loud. "How many times do you have to be hexed by a person before you figure out that someone's out to hurt you?"

"Hermione! Ron!" Harry hissed.

They looked at him quizzically, and then Hermione realized that Harry was indicating Snape with his head. Looking at her fiancée, Hermione noticed that he looked rather uncomfortable. She knew why as well. She and Ron always fought when they talked, and she knew that she sounded jealous of Fleur as Ron sounded jealous of Viktor. Really, it wasn't a proper topic of conversation to have in front of the man one was about to marry in two days.

Snape did not say anything to her or the others at the table, he simply stood up and left the room. Hermione did not even hesitate a moment, she was up and after him in a flash.

"Severus, wait!"

He turned around abruptly, and she bumped into him.

"I'll ask you one last time, Hermione: are you sure that you don't want to call this whole thing off? I won't be made a fool of by you, and I won't be used as a puppet to make Weasley jealous."

Hermione almost wanted to laugh at the absurdity of it all. "Severus, I promise you...oh, hang it all. In here, I can't talk to you out in the hallway like this." She pulled him into the nearest closet and turned on the light, then warded the door. "Severus, I promise you that there is nothing now, nor has there ever been anything more than friendship between Ron and me. There was a time when we both wanted more, but I can assure you that we soon realized how improbable it would be. I love Ron, yes. Just as I love Harry and Mrs. Weasley. That doesn't mean I want to marry him. I want to marry you."

She could feel herself blush when the words escaped her mouth, but she could not lie to him. Almost desperately, she pulled at the front of his robe and attempted to pull him down to her. She hated the look on his face, so blank and cold. He looked as though he were very angry with her.

"I'm sorry," she whispered. "Can you possibly trust me after that?"

His face flickered for a moment before he gave her a genuine smile. "Now it's my turn to appreciate the irony," he mused. "Of course I can. I would just hate for you to ever regret this day."

"I don't want you to ever regret it, either. Tell me, Severus. Tell me why you are so insistent that I reconsider? Is it you that has the doubts? Would you be happier if I told you that I want out?"

He grasped her shoulders and bent down to look in her eyes. "Is that what you think?"

"Well..."

He pulled her against him, his hands caressing her hair and down her back. "No...I don't want to break the contract."

It wasn't an emphatic "No!" followed by a declaration of undying love, but it was enough for Hermione.

"Severus...if it weren't for this Marriage Law, and we were simply left to our own devices, would you ever...that is, if I were to have owled you some day in the future..."

She trailed off, suddenly realizing how silly she sounded. "No, of course you wouldn't have. You would have simply thought I was being silly or stupid."

"There's no way to know," he said logically. "A year from now, five years from now, life would be different. It's highly doubtful that you would have entertained any feelings for me, however, were it not for our current situation."

Hermione looked up into his eyes and smiled. "You can't know that. Neither can I. I do respect you, Severus. I want you to know that."

He granted her a smile. "I have found us a suitable flat. I wonder if you would like to have a look at it with me today?"

"I'd love that."

He took a step towards her and placed his hands on her face, giving her a wonderful kiss.

"I like it when you do that," Hermione said when he pulled away.

"Do what? Kiss you?"

She could feel herself blushing. "Well, yes, that too. But when you hold my head...I don't know. I just like it."

Snape laughed at her as he opened the door to the closet. "That is very interesting to know," he murmured.

"Oh, and Severus?"

He pulled her against him so that he could Apparate them both. "Yes?"

"I promise that the next time I feel the up-flaring of my temper, you will be the sole recipient."

He leaned down and kissed her nose. "Your temper flaring is not my concern, so much as your jealousy. If you wish merely to yell at someone, by all means find Mr. Weasley."

Hermione looked up at him, shocked. "You thought I was jealous?" She gave a little laugh and kissed his cheek. "I'm not jealous. I just know Fleur, and if Gabrielle is anything like her, I don't want her involved with my best friend. Ron is superficial and silly enough as it is without exacerbating the situation further."

He stared down at her for a long moment. "That was completely redundant, Hermione. But all right, I believe you."

"Exacerbating further is not a redundant term!"

"If you say so. Now, would you like to see the flat?"

Hermione huffed. "Well, I suppose. But it had better be good!"

Snape had to work hard to keep from laughing. He had been truly disturbed by Hermione's reaction to Ron's new supposed girlfriend for reasons that he could not point his finger to. Certainly he could reason that she was marrying him and had no business flirting with others, especially in his company. But the truth was that it went deeper than that. She had made him feel true jealousy for Ron. He didn't like that feeling.

Pushing all that aside, he pulled Hermione against him and Apparated them to the outskirts of London where a building stood, supposedly empty. There were four stories and a basement. According to the proprietor, the basement had stood empty for two years so far, and he was anxious to have it taken off his hands. Even with his meager savings from teaching, Snape would be able to afford the asking price, and the need to accept finances from his father would be nonexistent. He also supposed that he could do enough side work to keep him and his wife quite comfortable, even through her long apprenticeship at St. Mungos. With any luck, he would not have to ask his father for anything.

"Mr. Snape," a weedy-looking man said happily as he dumped a large pail of water out the door. "So good to see you. Here to look at the flat once more?"

"Indeed. Mr. Hastings, allow me to introduce you to my fiancée, Hermione Granger."

The old wizard walked down the steps of the building and smiled happily. "Miss Granger, how do?"

"How do, Mr. Hastings. Severus assures me that I will fall in love with the flat."

"That you will, Miss Granger." The old wizard led the way down a short flight of steps on the side of the building and magically opened the door. "You have a garden just here," he indicated a rectangular area next to the steps that was just now at eye-level. "Perfect for growing potion ingredients or cabbages. This is the entrance, you have a cloak and boot cupboard just here so's you don't go tracking mud all over, and a lovely kitchen just there, and this nice room. The master bedroom ain't nothing ter sneeze at, neither."

Snape watched at Mr. Hastings pulled Hermione all over the flat, pointing out the various necessities, and how easy it would be to charm any alterations into the magical walls.

"We put the fireplace there, but naturally, you can move it about," he explained after bringing her out of the master bedroom. "And ower here is the second bedroom, and the laundry is back there." He brought her back to stand in front of Snape, and Snape mused that Hermione looked dazed. "Whaddaya think, Miss Granger?"

Hermione managed to break away from the wizard and practically fell against Snape, her arms slinking around his ribcage. "It's lovely, Mr. Hastings. Really, I love it." The last sentence was directed at Snape. He smiled at her.

"Then we'll take it, I suppose?"

She nodded. "Yes, most definitely."

Snape held out his hand to Mr. Hastings. "Syngraphae Propriatis," he said.

"Lex Legis," Mr. Hastings agreed.

A light sprang up from between their gripped hands, and Snape saw Hermione shield her eyes against the glare. When the flash subsided, Snape smiled and said, "I'll have the money transferred from my account at Gringott's into yours."

"Very well," Mr. Hastings said with a grin. "So glad to have this flat bought up now. So very happy. It's no good having an empty basement, you know," he winked and lifted his finger.

Snape gave a wry smile. It wasn't often that he found someone who was superstitious about his or her basement being empty. He was again entertaining the idea of making one of his usual callous remarks to this man, but Hermione's presence at his side stopped him from lashing out in a tirade about age-old wive's tales and how ridiculous they are. Instead, he only nodded. "Thank you, Mr. Hastings. I assume that we may begin moving in immediately?"

"Right-o, Mr. Snape. I'll leave you to it, then," he said happily, whistling as he left.

Snape turned to Hermione and gave her a genuine smile. It felt good to do something independent like this.

"That's all?" she asked him, bewildered.

"Yes, of course." She looked positively dazed to him. "Hermione? Are you all right?"

"What was that light about?"

"Wizard's Agreement," he said amicably, stalking into the front room, getting a feel for the place already. "We are now bound to a contract. It is now in the Department of Mysteries at the Ministry. A lot like the prophecies, only without the threat of madness if someone else takes a look at it. You've never seen a Wizard's Agreement?" He turned to her so suddenly that he almost knocked her off of her feet.

"No, I haven't. We do things differently in the Muggle world."

He thought about that for a moment. "What's it like?" he finally asked, his arms crossed over his chest, his finger tracing the line of his bottom lip.

"What's what like?" Hermione countered, her face red. She seemed uncomfortable all of a sudden.

"What's it like to suddenly be dropped into a world that you know nothing about? Surely your parents always told you that wizards and witches are evil and out to cast spells upon you, or worse, that they don't exist at all."

She turned away from him and began examining the counters in the kitchen. "I never thought much about it. I was always too practical for magic and fairy tales, you know. But I always hoped that it was true. When I got my letter, I thought it was a joke of some kind, but so many things had happened, that it made sense at the same time. It took all of us a while to warm to the idea, and after that, I just...well...you know me."

Snape felt it was impossible for her to grow redder than she was. "I do know you. And I'm getting to know you better with ever passing day, but from what I've learned about Muggles, it must have been difficult for you to fit in with us all at first."

"It was," she admitted, still looking down at the countertops. "It was very difficult. Everyone else in Gryffindor was Halfblood or less, and I was the only Muggleborn. Even Harry...well, he had Ron with him at first. We didn't become friends until Halloween, and so I had two entire months of coping with my new life the way I cope with everything. I read. It was all I knew to do. I read before even getting on the train. I read since my first day at Diagon Alley. I still wasn't ready for it."

Snape walked up the few steps that lead to the kitchen proper and pulled her against him. She immediately burst into tears.

"It was so hard," she admitted. "Everyone hated me, even Harry and Ron. Especially Ron. Especially Malfoy. He would whisper about me being a Mudblood in my ear constantly, and I never said anything, because who would I tell? And then when I did become friends with Harry and Ron, I couldn't tell them, because I didn't want them to hate me for being a Mudblood, too. I didn't even know what a Mudblood was-I had to go and look it up in the library."

"Draco and Lucius are from typical Pureblood families. The Weasley's and Sirius Black are some of the few that I know of who were willing to put aside their bloodlines and look on what is right." Snape wanted to add himself to that list, but he didn't feel that he belonged in the same category as Sirius Black. "And if Sirius hadn't hated his family so much...who knows? He could have been the most fearsome Death Eater ever." Snape almost shuddered at the thought. As a member of the Order Sirius had been formidable. If he had been encouraged to use Unforgivables as the Death Eaters always were, he would have been worse than the Lestranges. Snape was sure of it.

"What about you?" Hermione asked. "You've given up that idealism, haven't you? Isn't that difficult? After all, everything you've ever learned about Muggles has been filtered through prejudice and hatred...it must be insufferable for you to have to think about marrying a Muggleborn, let alone do it."

Snape hadn't wanted to get married, period, Muggleborn or not. If she didn't feel so good against him, he probably would have taken up on her earlier offer to be done with the arrangement in full, even though it would have meant the eternal disdain of his father. Besides, she smelled fantastic. "I probably knew about as much about Muggles growing up as you did about Wizards. Only, instead of pretending that they didn't exist, I was taught that Muggles were the source of all problems, and that Muggleborns were the greatest example of what was wrong with the world. I know that a lot of people who were against Voldemort have romanticized my participation with Dumbledore to great extent, but the truth is that my turning away from Voldemort was just as gradual and subliminal as my turn to him. Then one day, I realized that he would never find his end, and it just grew from there. It took me a long time-a long time-afterwards to truly understand that Muggleborns are not lower than Purebloods, and that they can be just as powerful and intelligent."

"When was that?"

"Again, there was no epiphany. It was a very gradual adjustment that I attribute to being locked in with Pureblood Slytherins for many, many years. I started to recognize the stupidity of their way of thinking and to find fault with what they thought were their advantages. Having a Halfblood brother-in-law didn't hurt, either, even if he was a Death Eater, the idiot."

"How?" Hermione asked. "After all, Voldemort hated Halfbloods, didn't he? Even though he was one? And how come you're no longer afraid to say his name now?"

Snape sighed. She just never quieted down, did she? "Halfbloods who were dedicated to the cause were allowed to help destroy Mudblo...er...Muggleborns. It was their way to do penance for being Halfbloods."

"I'll never know what your life was like then, will I?"

He smiled at her fondly and ran his hands over her shoulders, down her arms, and back up. "Not if I can help it, no. You know enough."

"You said that we shouldn't have any secrets."

"I was wrong."

She gave him the most skeptical of looks, and he simply stared back blankly.

"Promise me that at some point, you'll tell me the 'Good Parts Version'?"

He raised an eyebrow. "Good Parts Version? What's that?"

"Sorry, Muggle book reference.

His other eyebrow rose. "All right, if you say so."

Hermione laughed and pressed herself against him, and he wrapped her up in his arms. He couldn't believe how accustomed he was growing to her constant physical contact. It was something he had always assumed would repulse him, but now that he was here, with her arms held firmly around his chest, he could not think of even one reason why it would be tiresome to have someone enjoy touching him. Even more amazing was that he loved touching her back.

"Dearest Hermione, This conversation has been most helpful, and I promise to give you a full account of my life-the appropriate parts-at some point in our marriage, but we really must make this flat habitable. What do you say? Some light cleaning charms before lunch, and then we can get down to the business of finding and transfiguring furniture."

She leaned up and kissed his chin. "Sure. Sounds fine."

As she walked away from him, her burgundy robe swishing with her movements, Snape found himself stunned. How did she do that? He followed behind her and found that she had decided to start with what would be their potions lab first. The room had odd angles, and the closet was an actual triangle. A very dusty triangle with bloodsucking pixies infesting it.

"What did Mr. Hastings mean when he said that it's not good to have the basement empty?"

Snape took out his wand and began to kill the pestilence in the closet. They had been in there long enough, though, that they had turned cannibalistic without any other donors around. Still, they were ravenous and started trying to attack him and Hermione.

"Incendio! Uh...well, it's an old superstition that if you leave the basement empty, evil will crawl in unnoticed. Incendio! Naturally, I think it's all bollocks, but some people think it's a warning worth heeding. Most wizards and witches won't live in basements. Only the wrong sort, if you know what I mean."

Hermione laughed. "Incendio! Yeah, I think I do know. So that's why you're drawn to the dungeons, to keep evil away."

Snape smirked and dispatched two more pixies. "There are many who would not agree with you."

Hermione laughed. "Don't give me any more reasons to feel like hexing people on your behalf."

He smiled and moved on to the rest of the room while Hermione got rid of the tiny dead bodies of the pixies that had been preyed upon by their closet mates. Thankfully, there were no curtains or any other fabrics to clean in the flat, it was all just long walls that were infested with insects of dubious origin that Hagrid would probably have foamed at the mouth to get close to, and a laundry area that was clearly inhabited by a Boggart. In the master bedroom, they found a few water sprites in the bathtub, playing in the drain where a leak in the tap was splashing at odd intervals.

The floors were, unfortunately, tile set atop stone, and they made the entire flat seem cold and unwelcoming. Snape was wondering about the merits of starting a fire in the fireplace when he realized that a grouping of rather large spiders were living in the chimney. He sighed. This was going to take longer than he thought.

"Come along, dearest. Let's go get some food."

Hermione looked up from behind one of the kitchen cabinets where she was battling a few large dust bunnies. Her hair was wild and she had dirt all over her. Snape almost started laughing, but stopped himself.

"Good lord, woman! What have you been doing?"

Hermione was the one who started laughing first. "Me? What about you! I wish I had a mirror...half a moment..."

Deftly, she transfigured one of the kitchen cabinets to a mirror and swung it closed so that he could see himself. They both gasped when they saw their reflections, and went to work at once, cleaning each other off. She had dust bunnies in her hair, and one even went to hide in the back of her robe so that he had to put his hands in inappropriate places in order to get rid of it, and before he knew it, they were on the floor of the kitchen, snogging heavily, grinding against each other in search of release. He was about to object to their current situation when he felt her hand on the bare skin of his stomach, and realized that somehow, his hand had found its way into her underwear and was currently stroking her into a beautiful, babbling Hermione. When his fingers stroked their way inside her, and her hand wrapped itself around his erection, he lost all train of thought whatsoever. He didn't know if she was matching his strokes, or if he was matching hers, but soon he felt the magic between them begin to grow, and he was thrusting mercilessly against her hand as she ground herself against his.

His release was sublime and longer than normal, but he was glad that his was first so that he could savor her reactions as he brought her over the edge manually, which he did with a very smug smile on his lips. He knew that he should feel ashamed of himself for breaking his resolve to keep his relationship with Hermione chaste until the wedding day, but he could not bring himself to feel that way. Especially not when she grabbed his head and pulled him down to her for a kiss as the aftermath of her orgasm continued to cause her to convulse.

"Satisfactory?" he asked as he removed his hand from her panties.

"More than that," she admitted, blushing slightly. "Much more."

Snape's hand was positively soaking in her juices, and he brought it experimentally up to his lips, sniffing the odd scent before giving his fingers a lick. He was surprised when he felt her tongue on the other side of his fingers, licking herself off of him, touching his tongue as it darted between his fingers. He moaned. If they kept this up, he may as well bin his plans to remain chaste and take her right where they were, on a cold, hard kitchen floor.

Removing his hand from between them, he reluctantly pulled away from her. "We need to stop before we go too far," he said sternly.

Hermione lay back down and rested her head on his arm. "If you say so."

"I do." He pulled his wand out again and cleaned them both off before he stood up and helped Hermione to her feet. He was surprised at how shaky she was, even her hands as she tried to smooth her hair back into an elastic, were trembling. "Was I that good?" he murmured against her ear as his hands went to help gather her uncontrollable mane into the elastic.

"Stop being so smug," she mumbled, her hands abandoning their objective as she wrapped her arms around his neck.

Snape transfigured the elastic band into a brush and tried to brush her hair instead. To his surprise, she stood still while he muttered detangling spells and managed to at least make her hair look presentable.

"You look lovely," he decided.

Hermione blushed. "Thank you. Now, are you just going to stand there and smirk at me, or are you really going to take me somewhere and feed me?"

Several thoughts about what he'd like to feed Hermione fluttered through Snape's mind, but he did not voice any of them. Instead, he took ahold of her arm and led her out of the flat, warding the door as it closed behind them, and walked her down the street to a Wizard's Pub called The Dragon's Claw. It wasn't quite the same as The Leaky Cauldron, it was a bit cleaner and the food was much better, but the clientele was considerably dodgier.

He knew in retrospect that he should have taken her someplace better, someplace where he was lightly less comfortable, but where his dear Hermione would be infinitely safer. Those thoughts were far from his brain, however, when he ordered at the counter and pulled her into a secluded corner table, next to a charmed window. They talked quietly about the flat, and he caressed her hand, his fingers moving over and around hers, sometimes squeezing her palm lovingly, sometimes playing with her fingertips. When his fingers began to caress her ring finger, the one that would hold his wedding band in a few days, his spine grew absolutely cold as a voice said, "Well, well. If it isn't the happy couple."

Hiding his discomfort and anger, he turned with an amicable smile and said, "Hello, Lucius. How are you today?"

TBC

An: Syngraphae Propriatis basically translates to an agreement to pay for property. Lex Legis means "it is agreed". According to my Latin book, any way.

The book reference is to The Princess Bride. Supposedly, the book is "The Good Parts Version", as told by William Goldman. Hilarious. Absolutely Hilarious. Much funnier than the movie, though the movie is, admittedly, awesome.