an unlikely match...

\"Ouch.\"

\"It wouldn\'t hurt if you didn\'t move so much Miss Granger.\"

\"It also wouldn\'t hurt if you stopped poking me with your blasted needles.\"

Hermione crossed her arms angrily, looking furiously down at the muggle tailor, stubborn crass old woman. The miserable fossil was telling her that she simply had to wear a strapless dress...Hermione hated to be ordered around...but did find that a strapless idea was even better than her original plan.

She didn\'t dare turn to see what she looked lin tin the mirror, but Ginny\'s readable face assured her that all was well. Fanny was in a sweat, they had been working for a good two hours without a break, was this woman a muggle?

Hermione looked off into the distant space of the ballroom, thinking of how it was soon to be filled with guests. They were to have a dance in the ballroom the night before the wedding, it had been Lady Snape\'s idea.

I wonder if Snape\'ll come...he probably won\'t dance if he does.

Yes. Those horrible needling thoughts hadn\'t stopped since she let Fanny stick pins into her side on occasion. Severus Snape, in all his strange and brooding attractiveness had managed to invade her mind, and she was sick to death of it. Since when could she even stand him? The worst part was, what were all these dreams? These suffocating visions?

Why did she remember their detail as if they were memories? She was plagued by these onslaughts of perversions every night, and the most disturbing part was she was quite addicted. Sexy Snape dreams were becoming quite enjoyable...poor Austere.

Perhaps it was cold feet, manifestations of fear and anticipation. That\'s what it had to be. And there was only one way that she could stop all this idiocy.

She just had to avoid Severus.

Good plan. Decision made, Hermione nodded resolutely to herself, looking at Ginny and smiling. Moments later when the pins had finally been stuck in all the right places, Fanny turned Hermione around to face the mirror. Hermione felt her face flush as she felt Fanny and Ginny\'s eyes on her...they were both looking at her in awe.

The dress was a creamy white, almost invisible design on the trim of the strapless gown. It\'s shimmering silky overtop flowed magnificently down her legs and stopped at the base of the stool. It was so regal looking, and Hermione looked so elegant in it.

\"Wow.\"

Perhaps it was the dress set off her wavy hair, or the way her face was flushed and her eyes sped. ed. Whatever it was Hermione no longer looked like the bushy haired know-it-all that everyone knew...she looked beautiful.

\"You look...wonderful, Hermione.\" Ginny gushed, clapping her hands excitedly. Even Fanny looked impressed with the now quite attractive Hermione Granger.

Hermione smiled serenely, she even would have pulled off the term, \'graceful\' if she hadn\'t nearly tripped off the stool when she heard her name being called from behind her.

\"Hermione, darling you love marvelous!\"

\"Oh,\" Hermione steadied herself and looked to the mirror, seeing Lady Snape slowly making her way over to her. \"Thank you.\"

Lady Snape hobbled closer, looking into Hermione\'s eyes as she looked down from the stool. For a moment Hermione\'s heart stopped and she couldn\'t find words. When she stared into the bottomless eyes of Lady Snape, emotions and feelings began surrounding her, suffocating her until Ginny spoke.

\"Have you seen Austere, Lady Snape?\"

The eye contact was broken as Lady Snape smiled and shook her head, Hermione\'s stomach returning to normal. \"No dear, sadly he and Severus have gone to Hogsmeade.\"

Ginny nodded, squinting a bit. Didn\'t Severus tell Austere that he was going to Hogsmeade alone? Hmmm...perhaps he was scouting out a location for a bachelor party, which reminded Ginny that she needed to get cracking on Hermione\'s.

Hermione swiveled a bit, ignoring the pearl pins that held the dress in all the right places...my it was gorgeous. She felt like a princess. Lady Snape asked Fanny to accompany her out into the hall to speak about prices.

\"Oh no,\" Hermione had insisted, \"I\'m paying for my own dress. You and Austere have been more than kind.\"

Lady Snape had smiled and winked back, still leading Fanny out the door and leaving Hermione smiling but feeling a bit guilty about taking such advantage of their good will. Strange, Austere was a man very much concerned about money, Lady Snape on the other hand was so giving the coins seemed to slip from her fingertips.

When Fanny and Lady Snape had left, closing the door behind them, Ginny walked closer to Hermione, smiling at her dress and then looking to her with a question in her light eyes.

\"Hermione, do you feel you\'re ready to settle down with Austere. I mean really commit yourself?\"

Hermione contemplated this a moment, nodding slightly as she spoke. \"Well yes. I have always been one to stick by my word.\"

Ginny winced at her insipid response, \"Surely you\'re joking.\" she drew nearer, \"Hermione, marriage isn\'t an obligation.\"

\"I said yes to him Ginny. I made an oath and I care for him.\"

\"You didn\'t sign your life over to him Hermione, for God\'s sake do you want to be trapped in a loveless marriage for the rest of your life?\"

\"I love Austere.\"

\"You love Severus.\"

Silence descended quickly, and harshly. Hermione felt her teeth grinding as she looked to Ginny with unbridled fury whilst the younger woman shrank back under the stare.

\"You don\'t know what you\'re talking about Ginny.\"

Ginny gave a small snort, \"Oh right Hermione. I\'ve seen the looks you shoot at each other when you think the other isn\'t looking. You think I\'ve missed the way you look when you talk about him, or the way you try not to smile when you\'re fighting with him. The way you dream about him and blush when he walks by you?\"

\"That doesn\'t prove anything.\" Hermione retorted, crossing her arms angrily. Ginny stamped her foot in disbelief, didn\'t this know-it-all know anything outside of books?

\"It proves everything you dolt!\" Ginny hissed, not wanting the outsiders to hear, \"You\'re in love with Severus Snape Hermione. You picked the wrong brother, and now you\'re going to be trapped in a sham of a marriage. Now, I don\'t know what went on with you and Severus bu-\"

\"Nothing ever went on.\" Hermione said halted, her dark eyes shooting daggers at her young friend. \"I don\'t care for him. He\'s mysterious and I am curious. That is all.\"

Ginny shook her head, trying to think of words that would convey what she needed to say to the deluded young woman. Hermione and Austere...could they\'re be a worse match? Hermione needed to see the real Austere, the one they all could...was she so blinded by love? Confused? Or just afraid?

\"Why are you being so thick about all of this?\" Ginny finally asked in the silent room, immediately regretting her choice of words. Hermione winced at her harsh speech and shook her head, finally dragging her eyes to meet those of the indignant woman before her.

\"I want to be alone for a little while Ginny.\" Hermione finally uttered darkly, motioning towards the closed ballroom doors. \"Please...I\'ll speak with you later.\"

Ginny sighed, nodding as she tried to wrap her mind around the fact that Hermione was bornborn, she always had been and hated to be proved right. But was pride worth all of this?

\"Alright then. I\'ll see you tonight.\"

She slipped out the door, shutting it gently behind her, she had to find Harry. The moment that she left Hermione broke out into a loud sob, the tears nearly bouncing off her face.

She couldn\'t even look at her dress in the mirror anymore, instead she covered her face with her hands, stopping the tears. No point in crying over something so stupid.

When she had finally composed herself she stood upright once more and wiped her eyes until they were a bit glassy and she sniffed slightly, blinking away the excess tears.

She looked to her reflection once more, no longer feeling as beautiful or as elegant as before. Her hair fell from it\'s loose bun, her eyes and cheeks a bit red. Her lips were darkened from being pursed together.

So much for glamour.

Ginny must be furious. Hermione looked to her hands, clasping them together as she shut her eyes, thinking of a way to make it up. Ginny after all had only been trying to be helpful.

“Is that really the appropriate color for your wedding dress, Miss Granger?”

Hermione whipped her head up, looking in the mirror and nearly gasping as she viewed Snape\'s lanky frame, leaning against the closed door reflected behind her. They were alone. Their breathing was the only sound in the room until Hermione broke the unknown hypnosis.

“I’m not in the mood for childish bantering Professor.”

“Good, neither am I.”

He moved closer to her, his dark eyes dancing, as he looked to her mercilessly, his dark hair swinging in his face as he finally stepped forward from the shadows. His robes danced out behind him, his cheeks were tinged with slight pink having just come out from the cold. Hogsmeade she supposed. Why would he apparate here of all places?

“Tired Granger?”

\"No.\" Hermione answered primly, \"Just thinking.\"

\"Don\'t strain yourself.\"

Hermione sighed, looking over her shoulder and truly facing him then. \"Why don\'t you just sod off? I’ve hadorriorrible enough day as it is, I don’t need you coming in here and buggering it up further.”

Snape looked genuinely taken aback, his eyebrow precariously raising and falling as he drew closer to her, his shoes making soft clacking sound on the glossy hardwood. She could never gauge what he was going to say, and when he did speak it was always the last thing she expected.

\"Hmmm...quite hot tempered this evening. Could this be the infamous Muggle disease, ‘cold feet’?\"

God, she wanted to wipe the supercilious sneer right off his pale face as he smirked at her. Always referring to being a Muggle born…at least she had someone. She noticed as his eyes trailed over her, looking at her with intensity, stopping on her bare collar a moment before coming back to rest on her eyes.

\"No.\" she replied tersely, \"I\'m just agitated is all.\"

\"And why would that be?\"

Oh if you only knew...

\"Nothing of your concern or interest.\"

Snape chuckled deeply and darkly at this, still eyeing her naked forearms, able to smell the fresh fruity smell emitting from her skin. He stood beside her, looking to her with arms still crossed. As she was standing on the stool and he beside her, she was for once able to sneer down at him, and did so.

“Perhaps it is.” He murmured silkily. He noticed as the skin on Hermione’s left arm stole into goosebumps, and he hid a smug smile as he looked to her. “What’s the trouble?”

Well you see Professor, Ginny is convinced I’m secretly in love with you but marrying your brother because he’s the closest I’ll ever get. At first I thought it sounded like a horrid Muggle drama but then I realized…what if she was right? So…whadda you say Severus, shall we hop on the good foot and do the bad thing? See if there’s any sparks?

Oh yes, that would go over splendidly.

“How was your trip to Hogsmeade?” Hermione rattled on trying to switch subjects, adjusting her ball gown and looking to him airily. “Eventful?”

Snape ‘tsked’ under his breath, looking up to her face as she tried to still the constant hammering of her heart. “A sloppy change of subject if I do say so myself, especially for a know-it-all like yourself.”

Just go away you boorish prick.

She put her hands on her hips, the crinoline from the dress crinkling under her fingertips. She was looking grimly to him and frowning. “Either we can make polite conversation for both our sakes or you can get the hell out. I’m to be married in less than two weeks an-“

“Yes, you keep saying that.” Snape interrupted smoothly, his eyes holding a sudden predatory gleam in them. One Hermione found to be unnerving and quite arousing. “I am the best man you know.”

Hermione broke from his eyes, nodding and adjusting her gown again. She couldn’t look at him, so much for her brilliant plan of avoiding him.

“I’m tired, I think I’ll go to bed.”

She waited for him to move, to leave so that she could have some solace. Instead he stood in her way with a look that clearly stated, Not so fast… She grimaced at him and waited, bloody drama queen always had something to say.

“Why are you here?”

Snape didn\'t seem fazed, only intrigued by her actions and words. He gave a dejected sigh of impatience, and crossing his arms across his chest he spoke. “I came to ask a question.”

“Well then.” Hermione said nodding impatiently. “Do so, and then please leave.”

Snape’s eyes darkened at the tone she took to dismiss him, in his own home. Little wench. But he paused, seeing the worried look on her face, the circles under her eyes that had been sloppily covered with make up. Perhaps he should lay off…

Then again, he was Severus Snape.

“Miss Granger.” He started, looking to her with hidden exasperation and anger. His words were slow, as if relaying them to a child, and when he spoke his last sentence she felt her flesh crawl with pure unadulterated fear.


“You didn\'t happen to see who snuck into my private room last night, did you?\"