II

Disclaimer: JKR owns it all. Not mine. Never was. Never will be.

Thank you to my beta readers, JuneW and DeeMichelle. And also to my very supportive cheerleaders.

Of all people, Lavender Brown was consoling her. Hermione shook her head at the absolute absurdity of it all. Lavender was not her friend. Lavender Brown barely even liked Hermione. Yet, here they were, with Lavender wrapping her arm around Hermione's shoulders and making soft hushing sounds while Hermione sobbed.

She was sobbing! And rather uncontrollably at that. It was the pathetic blubbering and sniffling that normally made her roll her eyes and caused her stomach to turn. As Hermione acknowledged this, she finally allowed the events of the last day sink in. She sniffed and wiped away the tears. How utterly absurd it was. All of it. The spell had been ridiculously silly and now, to think that it predicted that her soul mate was actually Severus Snape. To see that his name was presently carving itself on the back of her hand for everybody to see... it was ridiculous. It was....

As she thought about all of it, she began to laugh. Lavender jerked her hand away and gave Hermione a puzzled look which caused Hermione to only laugh harder.

Several minutes later, after she finally composed herself, she used her wand to Conjure a handkerchief and began to dry her eyes and wipe her nose.

'Are you okay?' Lavender asked, with a look on her face half-way between confusion and annoyance.

'I'm fine,' Hermione replied. 'Now, about that book...'

The book, as it were, turned out to be a magazine, and not just any magazine. It was a Muggle magazine, the Tatler to be precise...a gossip publication about high society people worth millions of pounds, yet they all shared a grand total of two brain cells.

She read the 'spell' thoroughly while shaking her head. Looking up at Lavender, she raised her eyebrow and pressed her lips together tightly, imploring the other witch to simply answer the unasked question.

In response, Lavender rose again from the chair and went over to her bed. She pulled a tattered book out from under the pillow and placed it in Hermione's hand.

Hermione didn't have to ask where to look. The book was obviously earmarked and Hermione quickly flipped to the page. A quick scan told her that she'd found what she was looking for.

'You took a Muggle myth and a fake spell from a tawdry romance novel and created your own spell,' she accused.

Lavender shrugged, though her nonchalant act didn't fool Hermione. She could clearly see the glimmer in her roommate's eyes, who was obviously pleased that she'd created a new spell that seemed to work... at least on some level.

'But this doesn't mean anything!' Hermione said. 'You made up a spell. How do you know it worked like you intended? For all you know, Snape is just the last person I saw before I went to sleep, and that's the only reason that I dreamed about him or that his name appeared on the back of my hand.'

Lavender smiled. 'I don't think so. If you look at the Muggle tradition, I think that it has some merit. Usually those old myths do. Besides, who says that you are the only one who can create new spells or research this sort of thing? You may know your Potions and Transfiguration, but Parvati and I are best in our form for Divination. In fact, Professor Trelawney says that we are the best Divination students to pass through these halls since she was a student herself.' She finished with a superior sniff which Hermione scoffed at.

'So, what is this supposed to do?' Hermione asked angrily, holding up her hand.

'It's supposed to tell you who your soul mate is,' came the reply, as if it were blatantly obvious.

'And how do I get the name off of there? Merlin's balls, Lav! I look like a firstie fawning after Professor Lockhart!'

'Which we all know you were.'

'So were you! And I wasn't a firstie.' Okay, it was a lame argument about something terribly stupid, but.... Hermione sighed and rubbed her forehead. 'I need to know what this spell is going to do.'

When she heard no reply, Hermione dropped her hand from her face and looked up.

After several long moments, the blonde witch finally answered. 'I don't know yet.'

Of course she didn't.

'But Parvati is out right now doing some research.'

'What sort of research?'

'She's with her soul mate.' At Hermione's narrowed glare, Lavender amended her statement. 'Okay, she's with the wizard whose name is written on her hand.'

Hermione nodded.

'By the way,' Lavender added in a curious tone, 'when did the hearts appear?'

'What do you mean? Does it matter?'

'You know as well as I do, that it's highly possible that everything matters. We just don't know. But you are the only one with hearts so far.'

The only one with hearts? Hermione methodically ran through the events of the afternoon and tried to piece together when the hearts had first appeared, but the answer quickly became clear to her.

'It was when Professor Snape touched my hand,' she all but murmured.

'Professor Snape held your hand?' Lavender asked in disbelief.

'No! Well, he did, but it wasn't like that! He was just looking at my hand to see what I'd written because he thought it read 'Seven' for my detention tonight and then the 'u' appeared along with several hearts.'

By the time Hermione finished her little spiel, Lavender had a disgustingly happy grin on her face. 'How long have you fancied Professor Snape?'

'What? I don't fancy him! There is nothing about my feelings towards him that are amorous in any way, shape or form! I respect him. That is all!'

Lavender gave her a look that clearly implied that she thought that Hermione was protesting a bit much to be convincing. But it was true. Hermione didn't have any secret feelings for her professor. She respected and admired him, but it certainly wasn't a crush and she hadn't had any silly schoolgirl fantasies about him. Well, at least not in quite some time.

Back when they were still fighting Voldemort and she'd been helping the Professor as he brewed Potions to stock the infirmary, she'd had a few fleeting thoughts along those lines, but that had been several months ago, and she got over it. Now, she simply wanted to finish out the rest of her school year, take her N.E.W.T.s and leave school. She was certain that she'd meet someone nice and her own age where ever it was she ended up working.

This entire ordeal was ridiculous. Hermione walked over to the desk in the corner of the room and pulled parchment, quill and ink out of one of the drawers; then walked over to Lavender. 'Here. Write down everything that you did to the spell and why you did it. Include any non-verbal spells that you may have cast without telling us. Hopefully, if we analyse everything, we'll be able to determine the purpose and how to end it, or at least know if everything will simply end on its own.'

'No.'

'No? Lavender! We have to figure this out!'

'No. We don't! I'm happy. Everyone is happy. Merlin! After the initial shock, even Hannah seems happy at the prospect of pursuing Draco Malfoy. Apparently he was rather flattered when he saw his name written on the back of her hand just a bit ago. Besides, I have a dance to get ready for.'

Hermione groaned. And now that her detention was cancelled, she figured she might as well get ready for the ruddy dance as well. Then she could sit down and try to figure out how to remove the bleeding spell.

Hermione wrapped her hands in small bandages that she had Conjured. It had been an attempt to avoid others from staring at the damage she'd done with the vigorous hand washing. Gathering her things for the evening, she made her way to the Prefects' bath to ready for the evening's festivities.

~*~*~*~*~*~

Ninety minutes later found Hermione clean, refreshed and ready to deal with whatever was to come. For the brief amount of time that she'd been able to privately lounge in the bath, she had allowed herself to forget her present problem. The aromas from the soaps, oils and bubbles that the tub provided had truly served to alleviate her tense muscles, even after others began to arrive and disturb the quiet.

She headed back to her dormitory to finish dressing for the night in a much calmer and relaxed mood than she had been in before. Though, she had to admit that she still dreaded the idea of seeing Lavender Brown any time soon. By the time she returned to the room, she was almost pleased to note that Parvati had returned. That is, until Hermione heard the constant giggling and squealing that the two girls were emitting as they dressed for the dance.

Ignoring them as best she could, Hermione put on the new set of dress robes that her parents had given her for Christmas. 'Now that that dreaded war you told us about is over with, perhaps there will be more opportunities for you to wear these,' her mother had said.

It was almost as if her mother had known that Dumbledore was going to have this ruddy dance. Hermione had even heard rumours that the headmaster was also planning to have a dance after the Leaving Feast this year.

'Merlin, Hermione, if you pull on that zipper any harder, I'm sure that you'll tear your robes,' scolded Lavender. 'Here, let me help you.'

Hermione sighed and closed her eyes, willing herself to calm down. It was stupid to get worked up over dances or ruddy celebrations. And what a waste. seeing as she'd been so relaxed when she'd finished with her bath.

'There. Your dress robes are really nice, Hermione. But please tell me that you're not going to wear those bandages tonight.'

'No, I'm not.' Hermione unwrapped her hands and groaned as Lavender giggled.

Her right hand now read 'Sna'. There was no denying it: by the time the name was complete, her hands would read 'Severus Snape'. At least there were no hearts covering her right hand.

'And who is your true love, Lavender?' Hermione asked snidely, hoping that it would be someone just as dreadful to contemplate as Snape.

Then she remembered what Lavender had said earlier, I'm happy. Everyone is happy. And the dreamy look in the blonde's eyes told her more than enough, but Lavender answered anyway, 'Stephen Cornfoot.'

Every girl in the sixth and seventh year had fancied Stephen at some point during the last seven years. He had brilliant blue eyes and sandy brown hair, and over the years he had grown into a tall, muscular and handsome wizard. It was quite obvious that Lavender was thrilled that he was supposedly her destined soul mate.

'Oh! Par did learn something about the spell this afternoon!'

'What?' Hermione asked as she Conjured a mirror to float in front of her bed so she could easily begin applying her make-up.

'Par got the writing on the back of her hand to disappear.'

'She did?' Hermione exclaimed, accidentally smearing her eyeliner.

'Par! Come here,' Lavender called.

Their other roommate came over from her corner of the room where it was obvious that she'd just finished styling her hair.

'What?'

'Show Hermione your hands.'

'Oh, yes,' Parvati said, smiling. She approached both girls and held out her hands for Hermione to see.

There was nothing on either side. No name, no hearts, no... nothing. Just clean, freshly washed hands.

'How did you do that? What do I need to do?' Hermione sat there with a hopeful, expectant look on her face.

The other two witches began laughing at her, as if this entire thing was some huge joke on her behalf. After several frustrating minutes while Hermione began to grow more and more irritated and upset, Lavender finally gasped out between howls of laughter, 'She snogged him senseless!'

~*~*~*~*~*~

It hadn't taken Hermione long to gather her things and go to Ginny's dormitory room. Even if Hermione hardly knew Ginny's roommates, anything was a more welcoming environment than staying with her own roommates. Though, thankfully, Hermione found she didn't even have to deal with the other sixth year Gryffindor girls; Ginny's roommates had already dressed for the ball and had gone to help some of their friends in Hufflepuff.

Ginny let Hermione in and, within moments, had finagled Hermione into helping the redhead finish dressing for the ball.

'When my hair is finished, I'll help you with yours,' Ginny said. 'I don't remember those gloves as being part of those dress robes. Where did you get them?'

Before she had left her room, Hermione had taken a pair of woollen gloves and Transfigured them into long silk gloves that perfectly matched her royal blue dress robes. There was no way she was going to go anywhere when others could see the writing on the back of her hands. 'Do you like them?'

Ginny looked at her thoughtfully for a moment before answering. 'Yes, I do. I don't believe I've ever seen anyone wear anything like that.'

Hermione shrugged. 'Muggle women sometimes wear them with fancier dresses. It's not terribly common, but common enough.' Though, inwardly she cringed, she had hoped that she wouldn't stand-out too much at the ball.

She helped Ginny cast several charms on the redhead's hair before Ginny helped Hermione with her own.

'Why didn't you use any Sleekeazy's?' Ginny asked.

'Too much work. It took me hours last time I used it and it really wasn't worth the effort.'

Ginny nodded. 'Well, I have some ideas with what we can do.'

And that she did. By the time Ginny was finished casting charms on Hermione's hair, it had been tamed from its usual bushy mass to a beautiful set of ringlet curls. Then Ginny had taken strands from each side and braided them, joining the braids in the back. Finally, she Transfigured some stones to look like pearls and then Charmed those to stick in Hermione's hair on the small braids.

Looking at herself in the mirror, she thought that the braids looked almost like an unobtrusive and tasteful crown. She smiled at her reflection, deciding that she liked what she saw.

'Blue really is your colour,' Ginny observed.

'Thank you. That green really suits you.' Hermione noted, however that the shade of Ginny's dress robes bore a shocking resemblance to the green of Harry's eyes. Ginny was already going to the ball with Harry, but for whatever reason, Ginny still felt that she had to do things to ensnare him.

And Hermione thought that it was rather unlikely that Harry would even notice the shade of Ginny's robes, let alone recognise the significance behind them.

'So, Hermione, what's going on?'

'Nothing. Well, there is tonight's ball, which I'd rather not attend...'

Ginny smiled. 'Well, yes. But that's not what I meant. What is wrong?'

'There is nothing wrong. I'm just annoyed.' Hermione began fidgeting with her hands and pulling at her gloves, which truly looked beautiful and glamorous, but really they were downright uncomfortable. Her hands were beginning to sweat and they were sticking to the insides of the gloves. 'You know how I feel about Valentine's Day. It's an utterly ridiculous day to celebrate and the fact that the Headmaster suddenly feels the need to encourage it...' She growled. 'It's almost as if he's trying to play matchmaker. Incredibly annoying. And, I believe it to be highly inappropriate.'

At this, Ginny began to laugh and shook her head. 'Well, surely you don't think that it's that bad! Professor Dumbledore just wants us to have a chance to enjoy things for a change. Look at everything that Harry's been through in his life. And I'm not saying that this is all for Harry, but for all of us really. The last few years, since Voldemort returned, there has been very little chance to celebrate. I think that tonight's ball was a brilliant idea.'

Of course Ginny did. She and Harry were destined to be together. Hell, Harry had shown both Hermione and Ron the necklace that he'd bought for Ginny for Valentine's Day. The pendant on the necklace was a crystal Snitch with fluttering gold wings. It was beautiful. And he definitely deserved bonus points for the fact that he hadn't forgotten.

Unlike Ron, who was set to go to the ball with Luna, the witch he'd been seeing for the last six weeks. He had approached Hermione yesterday, asking if she happened to have an extra book or something lying around that he could give Luna.

'Since she's a Ravenclaw and is really smart like you are, Hermione,' he'd said.

He really could be a bleeding, clueless twit at times when it came to dealing with women. Hermione idly wondered how Luna would react the first time he tried making some comment about her being useful for her knowledge. But then Hermione remembered that Luna actually liked things like Quidditch, and therefore had already earned a form of respect from Ron that Hermione had never been able to attain.

Hermione closed her eyes for a moment and tried to figure out why she was suddenly so worried about everyone else's relationships.

'So, are you going to tell me what's really bothering you?'

Hermione sat down hard on Ginny's bed, earning a glare.

'You're going to wrinkle your robes,' Ginny scolded.

'I don't particularly care.'

'Harry and Ron said that you had detention tonight. What happened?' Ginny asked, sitting down next to her. Apparently Ginny wasn't nearly as worried about wrinkled dress robes as she pretended to be.

'It was postponed... or cancelled. I'm not sure which, Professor Snape never really said. All he told me was that the Headmaster was insisting that he and I attend the ball tonight and that detention wasn't a suitable excuse for missing it.'

'He didn't tell you whether it was postponed or cancelled? That doesn't seem like Snape to cancel a detention.'

'Professor Snape. And no, it really doesn't, but he never told me when I was to make it up.'

'That still doesn't sound like him. Are you sure it was really Snape?'

'Professor Snape,' Hermione said automatically. 'He was distracted.' Hermione turned her head, unable to look at her friend.

'So, what aren't you telling me?' Ginny asked after a long, thoughtful pause.

Hermione sighed and turned her gaze back up at her friend. 'That I received my detention for helping Lavender & Company up to the Astronomy Tower last night, where they performed some spell that Lavender bloody well MADE UP! And now Snape's name is writing itself on the back of my hands, which...according to Lav-Lav...means that he is my true love. And Snape saw a letter write itself and he saw a bunch of little hearts appear, and he must think me to be one of the biggest idiots in this school. And I tried scrubbing the markings off and all I got for my efforts were two raw, sore and nearly bloody hands. And now Parvati and Lavender tell me that the only way they know of to get the ink off of my hands is to snog him senseless!'

By the time Hermione was finished with her emotional outburst, she realised that she was pacing the floor in front of the bed and waving her hands about wildly. Turning around to face her friend, she found the redhead smirking like a proud kneazle kitten who had just caught his first mouse.

'Professor Snape,' Ginny corrected.

'Oh, bloody hell!' Hermione exclaimed as she stomped her foot with exaggerated dramatics. 'Fine. Lav-Lav and Par think that I should snog Professor Snape senseless! Are you happy now?'

Ginny shook her head, her smug look having melted back to one of sympathy. 'Not particularly. I can't believe you'd trust Lavender Brown to perform a spell. What sort of spell was it anyway?'

'I told you. It was supposed to divine our true love. Give us a vision or something.'

'You know as well as anyone that there are no such spells like that.'

Hermione gave her friend an exasperated look. 'Of course I know that. I didn't ask her to cast the spell. I was just there, and for whatever reason, I decided that it was easier to join them than to argue. I didn't expect anything to result from it anyway.' Sitting back down on the bed, Hermione sighed and then proceeded to tell her friend what all had happened since the spell had been cast, causing Ginny to grow more than just a little bit amused at Hermione's plight.

'So, you have to snog Snape senseless?' Ginny asked, with a smile.

'Apparently so.'

'Is there a time limit on this?'

'I don't know. Lavender showed me where she derived the spell from. There were two sources.'

'Okay. That's reasonable. What do those spells do?'

Hermione made a face. 'One of them was taken from one of those smutty little romance novels that she's so fond of. And the other came from the Tatler.'

Ginny made an odd face.

'The Tatler is very similar to Witch Weekly. They have write-ups on fashion, gossip and the like.'

'But how could she get a spell from something Muggle?'

'There was this old tradition where women would apply rose water and bay leaves to their pillow and say a little rhyme with the hopes of dreaming about their true love.'

'Let me guess, you used the magical forms of those ingredients and said a little rhyme?'

Hermione smiled. 'It is a bit ridiculous when you think about it.'

'Well, yes. But something happened, so obviously it held some merit,' Ginny observed.

'It's the other spell that's worrying me,' Hermione finally admitted. 'I don't fully understand it. But what I saw in the book involved a five-pointed star wand motion, a shower of sparks... erm... and then the Latin words that we spoke.' She closed her eyes for a moment as she tried to remember. 'Quos amor verus tenuit, tenebit.'

'What does that mean?'

'"Those whom true love has held, it will go on holding." It is an old quote by Seneca, a Roman playwright, politician and philosopher from about 30 AD. But I'm not sure what that really has to do with a spell to determine one's soul mate.'

'So, did Lavender draw a five-pointed star with her wand?'

Hermione shook her head. 'No, it was more complicated than that, though I don't remember it exactly. And this doesn't even begin to consider that she very well could've cast a non-verbal spell through the entire thing which could've done something else.'

Ginny looked at Hermione sympathetically.

'But Lavender did say that we'd know our true love by midnight tonight. I don't know if that was in reference to the names on the back of the hands or if it was something else. Or maybe I have to kiss him to make the name disappear before midnight.... Or maybe I should just leave it and after midnight this entire mess will end on its own.... Or maybe...'

'Or maybe the answer will become obvious and you won't have to worry about it,' Ginny said, interrupting her. 'But no matter what, it's time to head down to the Great Hall.'

Hermione glanced at the small clock next to Ginny's bed and gasped. There were only five minutes until seven. Harry was probably downstairs pacing by now, waiting for Ginny. She jumped up, and took a quick glance at herself in the mirror. With a brisk wave of her wand, she eliminated the wrinkles in her robes and then did the same for Ginny. Smiling, she asked, 'Are you ready?'

'Yep. Unless you want to take another minute to show me your hands...'

'Maybe after the ball.' Silently she added, If the ink is still there. She felt better than she had before. It was an odd, yet comforting feeling. Usually Hermione was the one to console Ginny and be the rational person in the face of drama. This time it had been Ginny's turn to keep a cool head and look at things objectively, and the redhead had done admirably. At least now Hermione felt as if, when given the time, she would be able to more carefully analyse the spell and determine if there would be any long-lasting effects.

She couldn't help grinning from ear-to-ear when they reached the bottom of the stairs to find Harry waiting for them. He could hardly keep his eyes off of Ginny as he commented on how the green shade of her robes complimented her hair colour and fair skin. Being the chivalrous gentleman that he was, Harry insisted on escorting both Ginny and Hermione down to the Great Hall. They chatted amicably and Harry even deigned to spare Hermione a glance to comment on her appearance. Then, right after they descended the final steps to the Entrance Hall, Harry tugged Ginny out of the path of the throng of students and presented Ginny with her gift.

Knowing her cue, Hermione wished them both a good evening and made her way into the Hall alone. She had no desire to see Ginny gush over the pendant, nor did she desire to witness the inevitable kisses that were to follow. She paused to take a deep breath and will herself to stay calm before entering the Great Hall. Finally realising that the night would not be overly long or trying, Hermione walked into the room.

Just as the Yule Ball in her fourth year, the long house tables were gone and replaced by large round tables. After several minutes of trying to locate her place card, Hermione finally had to cast a simple Location Charm to find her seat.

'Good evening, Miss Granger,' Professor Dumbledore said when she sat in the chair next to his.

'Good evening, sir. If you don't mind my asking, why am I sitting with the professors?'

'Ah, well, this isn't a table for just teachers. When we arranged the place settings we decided to place teachers and Prefects sporadically at different tables. We did the same mixing with the houses. You'll notice that Mr Goyle is sitting over there at that table with Mr Finch-Fletchley and Professor Trelawney.'

'I see,' Hermione said as she reached for her glass of water and took a sip.

'Those are lovely gloves, Miss Granger,' the headmaster remarked. 'I don't believe I've seen a witch wear gloves like that in nearly half of a century.'

'I thought that they might go well with these robes.'

He reached over and patted her left hand. Professor Dumbledore paused for a moment and gave her a quizzical look before smiling at her with a twinkle in his eyes. 'They do indeed.'

Hermione had the strangest feeling that he knew that something was amiss, and it made her stomach clench to think that the headmaster might know more about what was going on with her than she did. Though she quickly realised that worrying about that now wouldn't help her situation and even though she'd not been looking forward to this evening, she was determined to make the most of it. Making a conscious decision to push any thoughts about the spell aside for the remainder of the night, Hermione looked around and realised that others were already eating and so she ordered her food as she had remembered doing during the Yule Ball and soon dug into a perfectly prepared beef wellington.

During her meal, she began chatting with Luna and Ron, who were seated on the other side of Professor Dumbledore. That is, until she felt something on the back of her hands. At first she tried to brush off the irritant without bothering to look at it. But soon afterwards, it felt as if a thousand tiny bubbles were dancing on her skin and bursting at random. If she were to really think about it, she would swear that her skin was only tingling where she knew the hearts were on her left hand and where the letters that spelled Severus Snape's name were written on both.

She gasped when she looked down at her hands and saw that the writing had now gone through the gloves and was no longer hidden from view. Panic seized her. She had to leave. She had to get out of there... now.

Hermione quickly pushed her chair back from the table and stood. Turning to leave, she took two steps only to find herself blocked by a tall man dressed all in black.

A/N: Thanks to sshg316 for the lovely banner. I absolutely adore it. And I'm terribly sorry that it took this long to update. I'd had every intention of posting this before last weekend, but I ran out of time before I left on my vacation. :)