All I Want For Christmas

Disclaimer:: I don't own any of this, JKR has all claims to Harry Potter and it's characters, and I am unfortunately not getting paid; not that I write well enough to receive money for this story or any others I happen to write.
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The week came to a close, leaving the couple nervous and eager to see one another. Early Thursday morning, two days before the wedding, Dumbledore visited Severus. The Potions master had never been quite a mess as he was now; the headmaster only remembering one other time that this young man looked so slovenly. That other time had been the night Snape had come to him for help when he wanted out of the fold. Both times, he had looked unshaven and downright dirty. "Severus, have you showered today?" Dumbledore asked with a chuckle.
Snape jumped at the voice, his eyes wide, and shook his head. "Nope. I can't. I'm afraid I'll do something really stupid and be found merely hours later drowned."
Dumbledore nodded with a smile. "Are you at least going to shower for the wedding then?"
"Yes. I...I have to. Hermione probably would realize what a mistake she's making if I showed up at the wedding looking like this and decide 'What am I doing. He's not worth this.' and walk away from me."
"Well, though I'm pretty sure she would ask to post pone the wedding, I am almost positive that she would never call off the wedding all together." Snape groaned to himself. "Now then, I want you to make sure that you are equally shaven and showered Monday morning."
"Er...Why?"
"Do you really want your students to see you looking like this?" Snape's eyes grew wide. "I didn't think so."
"You're letting me come back?"
"Yes, my boy. Yes, indeed."
"Not that I don't appreciate it, but...why?"
"Well, you're no longer a threat to the student body. You will be a happily married man and I don't suppose you would ever cheat on your wife with one of the other students."
"My God, this truly is an amazing week," Severus chuckled. "Really, Albus, did you ever see this coming..."
"I had hoped that it would. Not with one of the students, of course, but you deserve it, Severus. You've more than paid your dues and still are. Speaking of Voldemort, have you heard of him lately?"
"No, sir. I wonder if he knows of Lucius's discrepancies."
"Probably, though I suggest you not find out until you are either called or until after the wedding. I'm sure you actually want to see your wedding."
"Well, in that case, I'd prefer not going to find out for another nine months."
Dumbledore chortled. "Ah, I hope you get that wish. Everything we had earlier discussed of the wedding is prepared. You realize that, as Miss Granger wishes this to be, it will be held in the garden." Snape nodded. "She must have really put a lot of thought into this. Even her gown is of her own design! She is having it specially made by the same woman who made her mother's dress apparently."
"Indeed?"
"Hmm. And her father would like to meet you. Obviously you have met; however, he wishes to get to know his daughter's fiancé better."
"Yes, I suppose that would be okay. Not really as if he can do anything to stop us now."
"Now, Severus, I want you to be on your best behavior."
"Of course, Albus. I don't want a bad report getting back to Hermione."
"Severus, there is another matter I would like to discuss with you. You remember when I asked you when this relationship between Miss Granger and yourself began?" Snape nodded slowly, raising a brow in curiosity. "Oh, don't worry, Severus. As you two are getting married I see no reason to fire you or expel her. I was simply curious as to when your relationship began."
"Well, I don't remember the exact date, you should, though. Remember that day when that substance was in the air and everyone went erratic?" Dumbledore nodded. "I found Hermione; I saved her from Mr. Weasley. He was apparently trying to rape her and she, for some reason, like myself, was not affected. We went to my office and things just began happening. Truly, sir, I never meant for that to happen; but to be completely honest, despite her age I am extremely glad that it did."
The old man smiled, "off the record, so am I. I've never seen you happier, my boy. Now, you're sure that neither of you were being effected by the unknown substance?"
Severus nodded, "absolutely. I tried talking to others who were obviously being affected. They could only say things of a...sexual content."
The headmaster's eyes twinkled, "oh my. To whom did you talk to?"
Severus smirked, "Minerva." A chuckle answered him and Snape told him of the morning before he found Hermione. He blushed slightly when he told the older wizard that he had seen him with someone. When asked who it was, Snape was sure to act as if he hadn't stayed long enough to find out. "Sir, I was thinking, what if Lucius's escape from Azkaban and the unknown substance are somehow connected."
"Ah, yes. I was thinking the same thing. I think that you will be needing to make a nice batch of Veritaserum after you're settled back in as Potions professor. Wouldn't you agree, Severus?" Snape nodded. "Well, I suppose I'll be off. You have permission to go to Miss Granger's room this evening, to see her father. Though she will be there, I must ask you to not do anything that wouldn't normally be permitted between a student and their teacher." The headmaster stood and opened the door. "Perhaps a simple good night kiss could be permitted. You are, after all, to be married."
Severus stared at the fire well after Dumbledore had left. Who exactly did he plan on using the Veritaserum on? When the grandfather clock in the corner struck seven, a house elf appeared with his dinner. He ate, his nerves getting the best of him halfway through the meal. Snape ran to the bathroom, feeling as though he would see his meal again. Standing in front of the mirror, the Potions master found that he did indeed look horrible and thought of that fateful night so long ago. It amazed him how much he hadn't changed in so many years. 'Still a worn and torn greasy git.' He frowned at his reflection. After throwing water on his face, Snape decided he would finish his meal after he took a shower. An hour later, the Potions professor was making his way to his fiancé’s room. He was dressed much like he had been the last time he had seen Hermione, a cloak thrown over his shoulders to still give the impression of the "big, bad Potions professor."
He took a deep breath and knocked on the door. It took a while for an answer, but a moment later a rather battered looking man answered the door, leaning on a cane. In a thick Irish accent, the man greeted the Potions master. "Well, you must be Severus Snape. I'm Tadigan Granger; you're welcome to call me Tim. Please, come in, I've heard so much about you."
"Nothing good I hope," Snape joked, stepping through the door and taking the offered hand. "Hermione isn't around, is she?"
"Oh, the poor dear, "Mr. Granger said leading Snape into a room with an arrangement of red and silver chairs. Severus would have rolled his eyes if he hadn't been worried about Hermione. "She's freshening up. I'll let her know you're here. Please, have a seat," he added as he went to a door off the bedroom. Snape sat with a frown firmly in place.
/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\
Dumbledore walked through the halls of his school with a soft smile. His talk with Severus had ended exactly as he had hoped: his former student and current spy thinking along the same lines as he. He knocked on Hermione's door, humming a popular muggle tune. "Miss Granger," he greeted as she opened the door. "I was wondering if I could perhaps talk with you."
"Please, Headmaster, have a seat. Would you like some tea?"
"That would be nice, thank you." He waited for Hermione to settle herself in a chair with her own cup of tea before continuing. "Well, first off, I would like to ask how you're getting along with Messrs. Potter and Weasley. I seem to recall that you were going to try inviting them to the wedding."
"Um, yeah. I asked them to talk with me after dinner tonight. I'm a little nervous. I don't think Harry will have too many problems with it, but seeing as he kind of blames Severus for Sirius...I'm not so sure anymore. And well, everyone knows Ron is going to have a conniption fit."
Dumbledore chuckled softly. "I can only imagine. Speaking of Professor Snape, I asked him to meet your father tonight. Do you suppose it will be a problem?"
"Not at all. Dad is up with Madame Pomfrey right now. He's been doing wonderfully! Just a bit of a check up."
"Good. Good. Well, I suppose that is all. I will be by tomorrow," he said softly, standing and opening the door. "I hope for your sake your friends accept the path you've chosen to take with Severus. Good luck." Hermione smiled at the door as it closed.
As dinner came to an end, Hermione left her father in her room as she met her friends in the Entrance Hall. "Hey, Guys!" She said waving them over to her. "Um, can we go somewhere private? I have something really important to tell you."
The boys nodded, "sure," Harry said. "Where to?" Hermione shrugged. "Um, how about we head outside? You know, by the lake. That's private."
"Okay," Hermione nodded and walked between her friends out to the lake.
They settled themselves on the grass, Ron immediately questioning her. "Okay, so what is this about?"
"Give me a second and you'll find out, Ronald," Hermione smiled at him. He rolled his eyes with a smile. "Okay, everything I am about to tell you is not only important but extremely private. I need you to promise to not tell a soul." The boys nodded. "No. I need you to swear to me, please." She was answered by verbal promises. She nodded and continued, "I know this will be very hard for you to take and I'm almost positive you will refuse to speak to me. Probably even hate me."
"Oh, Hermione. We won't hate you! We can't, you're our friend." Harry gave her a lopsided smile.
"Yeah, I can't imagine hating or not talking to you."
"That's great to hear," she said with a small cough.
"Hermione, what is it? It couldn't be that bad."
"Yeah, I mean, it's not like you're doing anything crazy."
"Well..." Hermione began, but was cut off by Harry.
"What's the worst it could be?" He asked Ron.
"She could be marrying Snape. That would be bad," Harry said with a nod. They both made a disgusted face. The look quickly turned to that of horror as Hermione stood, running away. Harry ran after her, catching her arm. "Hermione, what is it? What did we say?"
She tried to pull away, but Ron was blocking her. "Mione, its okay! We promised to be good."
"No, you promised to not tell. There's a difference," she said crying. "I don't want to lose you guys. You're my best friends. As far as I'm concerned, you're my only friends. I can't...I can't tell you."
"Please, Hermione? I promise to be good. I won't get cracked."
"Thanks, Harry." She sighed. "I just...don't know where to begin, "she shrugged sitting back down.
"As long as its soon, I don't care. I can imagine it now. We're sitting out here after dark and Snape finally comes back and flaps his wings at us," Ron said, rolling his eyes.
"He can't. He's on sabbatical," Hermione muttered.
"What? Where did you hear that?" Harry asked, his eyes wide.
"I'm the reason he's on sabbatical."
"Way to go, Mione!"
Hermione blinked away a tear as she continued, "Professor Dumbledore caught us."
Harry frowned, "doing what?" Hermione didn't answer. "Hermione, doing what?"
"Kissing," she whispered.
Ron jumped to his feet, "that bastard! Kissing my girl!"
"Ron, I'm not your girl! I haven't been for a while!"
"I don't care! He shouldn't have forced-"
"What makes you think he forced me!"
"Who would kiss that willingly?"
"She would," Harry said, a sad smile on his face. Hermione nodded. "That's why you've been so upset lately. That's why you tried running away just now." Hermione looked into Harry's emerald eyes. "You're getting married to Snape," he said with a smirk. Ron made a gagging noise as Hermione nodded again. "Are you happy?"
"Why wouldn't I be? Am I the type of person to make a decision that makes me unhappy?"
"You went out with Ron," Harry said with a scoff. Ron punched Harry's arm and turned around. Hermione frowned, "he didn't make me unhappy. I just found out the hard way that I wasn't attracted to him like that."
"You cheated on me, didn't you." Ron said, turning around; Hermione started sobbing again. "You bitch," he muttered.
"Ron, I'm sorry! It just kind of happened and-"
"It just kind of happened. You know, I think I might have been able to handle this if it had been another student, but Snape?"
"I love him!"
"And I love you! Hermione, you're nothing more than his whore and that's all you'll ever be. You deserve each other."
"Ron, take that back!" Harry yelled after his friend.
"And you! You're supporting this. Do you realize that he could use her against you?"
"He wouldn't do that, Ron. He's better than that."
"I remember a time when we all hated him. When we just knew he was out to get us. To get Harry. What happened? What happened to us and our adventures?"
"We can still be us, Ron. Nothing between us is going to change."
"It already has. Soon you'll have your husband telling you to stay away from us because we're bad influences. Forget this. Look, I promised I wouldn't tell anyone about you, so I won't; but I can't be a part of this, its...its too weird. I'm sorry. See ya later, Harry." Ron walked away to the castle.
"I knew this would happen. Are you going to leave me, too?"
"I'm keeping my promise, too, and to be honest I kinda figured something was up. How about this, I go talk to him, try to get him to apologize. Maybe we can at least get that out of him."
Hermione nodded, "I was hoping you could be witnesses to the wedding. Now I just don't know! I have two days to find witnesses."
"Two days? Wow! Well, I'd be honored to. This is kinda weird, kinda hard to take in, ya know? So, uh, I'm gonna go." Harry pulled his friend into a hug.
"Thank you, Harry." He walked away from her without looking back. Hermione stood for a moment, tears leaking down her face, before she realized that Severus was supposed to come this evening. She ran back to the castle and hurried back to her room. She had barely made it back to her room when there was a knock at the door. "Dad, could you? I need to..." She mumbled heading for the bathroom. He tried to ask what had happened, but let it go for the moment. He grabbed his cane and made for the door. Opening it, he greeted the dark man standing in the doorway.
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Mr. Granger sat down in a chair across from Snape's. "She'll be out in a tick. I would offer tea, but I haven't quite learned my way around just yet."
"I'm fine." They sat in an awkward silence when a soft squeak from the other room was heard.
"Evening, Severus," Hermione said softly, coming to sit next to him on the sofa, pulling his hand into her lap. "Have you and daddy been getting along?"
"No problems so far, Pumpkin."
Snape looked between the two Grangers, studying their looks. It was quite apparent that Hermione got most of her looks from her mother. She had her mother's soft nose, eyes, figure, and bushy hair; from her father she acquired her full lips, pale complexion, and the red tint of her hair. Snape could tell that her father must have been only a few years older than he, five at the most. "I'm sorry if I come off as rude, I'm slightly distracted," Snape said glancing from father to daughter.
"Understandable. You should have seen me before my wedding'," Tim said softly, a tear in his eye. "I was so sure that if I had just one more drink, my nerves would be okay. I'll never know how I showed up to the ceremony sober." Snape chuckled, Hermione shook her head slowly. "Speaking of rude, though, it does remind me of something I was meaning to ask." Snape's eyes grew wide as he was sure this couldn't be a good thing. "I remember only a few years ago, Hermione would come home and talk madly about her professors and the thing is. Well. I can't seem to recall anything good to be said about you, sir. Can you answer me why that is?"
Snape chuckled again, catching sight of Hermione's blush. "Well, your daughter seems to have horrible taste in friends. Messrs Potter and Weasley would often drag her into their little adventures and I was always sure to find them. I guess there is little to say about someone who is constantly taking away all their fun."
"Oh, so really you were keeping her out of trouble, then, eh? Keeping her safe. Hermione, you should have thanked him."
"Oh, that would have been something. A group of Gryffindors thanking a Slytherin."
"What? You don't think I've thanked you enough."
"By far, more than was due, love." Hermione blushed. "So what was that all about?" Snape asked waving at the bathroom door.
"Oh, uh, I told Ron and Harry," she said with a frown.
"That good of a night, huh?" She scoffed and rolled her eyes. He grabbed her up in a hug and kissed her cheek. "They'll come 'round. If they love you, they'll learn to overlook me."
"But I don't want them to overlook you," she sobbed. "I want them to accept you!"
"They've hated me for about seven years now, Hermione. Its hard to change an opinion so quickly."
"You did. So did I! They're just...stupid," she muttered, slamming her fist on the arm of the sofa. Snape cleared his throat, deciding not to comment, and looked over at her father. Tim had a twinkle in his eyes and a soft smile on his face as he watched them.
"Mr. Granger-"
"Please, call me Tim."
"Tim, I wasn't exactly sure why I was told to come here tonight and though I was told you wanted to meet me, I felt that there was more to it. Perhaps you could-"
"Let you know why I asked you down?" Snape nodded. "I wanted to thank you for what you did that night in that dungeon."
"Please, sir, I did nothing."
"If you hadn't shown up they would have killed me as well, and I can't leave my baby behind without her parents. One is better than none."
"I'm sorry I couldn't do more," Severus said, obviously upset.
"Hermione, Severus," Tadigan sighed. "When I first heard that my daughter was to be married to a professor here at her school, I questioned the headmaster's morals. However, now that I have seen you with her, the way you look at her. I trust you and must congratulate you both on such a wonderful find." He held up his glass. "May your love thrive through the years." He drank to their life together and Hermione burst into tears and threw herself into her father's open arms. Snape nodded with a smile gracing his lips, tears openly seeping from his eyes. He knew that her father's acceptance was what Hermione dearly wanted, and she finally received it.