The death of a git, the rise of a hero...

The next few weeks were awkward ones. Hermione and Snape were sure to stay out of each other's way, if they should happen to be in the same room, one would leave.

The first of which had been the day after the meeting. Snape was in the kitchen one early morning, hoping to get a chance to speak with Miss Granger. He knew he'd been horribly rude, and merely wanted to explain that this was for their own good.

She'd come down, bleary eyed and it looked as if she'd been crying. He gave her a sharp look as she came into the kitchen, and was about to speak when she gave him one well placed glare and left the room instantly.

He'd fallen into a bad mood then, deciding that it was stupid for him to appease to the little brat, and that his services would be better used at the dungeons of Hogwa mak making spells that would assist the Order.

The meetings of the said Order had been cancelled after Snape informed Dumbledore of the current events. Dumbledore had wished to continue the meetings, in meager hopes of a salvation but Snape being in an irritable mood promptly dismissed all of the Order's plans, claiming it to be a stupid and irrational plan.

During the weeks he returned to his place at Hogwarts, working on various spells and such and glad to be away from the suffocating burrow. He returned there only on weekends (at Dumbledore's forceful suggestion) to survey the family that was residing there, and to see that Hermione hadn't done anything drastic.

His visits were short and concise, one could imagine a clipboard in his hands as he went to the rooms, saw the people and left in a huff of smoke. More than once he viewed Potter and Granger together, playing chess or talking together snugly. Sickening really.

A part of him was smugly satisfied with that though, and he knew he shouldn't be. He was perversely pleased that he was going to have one thing that ugly little Potter wanted. Granger. All to himself...he frowned as he recalled Dumbledore's speech - - -



"As you know Hermione, Severus." Albus had said as the two were shoved into the meeting room one uneventful Saturday. "You are to be married by Wizarding standards...as Voldemort himself insisted."

Snape nodded, a few callings back Voldemort had insisted he and Hermione - 'the little Mudblood'- be married by Wizarding standards. Snape still couldn't figure that one out.

"Yes."

The two looked sadly at the ground, deciding their fate with papers and rings. The whole supposition of marriage was a farce. Snape had given a shrug as Hermione rolled her eyes at his lazy attitude towards the whole thing.

"Which means no divorce, I assume?" Hermione said scathingly, looking pointedly at Snape who looked away. She'd read that much of the marriage book and then tossed it in the fire calling it rubbish. One of the few times she’d refused to read a book in her life.

"We'll be married until we die. And even then, we'll never be able to remarry."

"Perhaps." Albus said, "But hopefully when all is said and done, and we've conversed with the Ministry, you two may have the marriage lifted. Annulled. I'm in the process of devising a plan for that right now."

Hermione and Snape had looked hopefully at each other at this, seeming a bit more relaxed with this news. Hermione even had a trace of a smile upon her previously down turned lips.

"Well that's alright." Hermione chirped happily, "I bet we won't eve-"

"Finally, some good news." Snape interrupted irritably. He looked thoughtful a moment as Hermione looked off, trying to ignore his foul mood. Snape shot the meddling Albus a withering look and turned his snake-like movements on the vulnerable Hermione. If anything, he should have a little fun.

"I assume then Miss Granger, we shall have to come to an arrangement."

"Arrangement sir?"

"Lovers Granger."

At this Dumbledore had gone a bit red, muttering about lemon drops under his breath as he looked over the papers in front of him. Hermione herself had gone scarlet, looking to her hands and not meeting his dark eyes. What the hell was he on about? Was he joking?

"I'm...I-"

"As you well know," Snape interrupted the flustered girl. "We won't be satisfying one another. It's unreasonable to assume so."

Hermione gulped, shooting looks from the Professor at her right to the Headmaster in front of her at the end of the table, busying himself with reading.

'What do I say? That I agree? That the mere thought of shagging him sends me into shudders?'

Hermione looked to Snape a moment, then finding she couldn't hold his gaze without nervously giggling, looked back to her hands and swallowed thickly as Snape continued his tirade, getting worked up in the process.

"I refuse to come to my home one night and find Potter in-between my covers." Snape spat disgusted, shaking his head at the mere thought. "And my indiscretions too shall remain discreet. For our reputation's sake."

Hermione didn't answer; her feelings were beyond hurt at his admonitions. They weren't even married and already she had disappointed him.

He seemed to be daring her to defy him with his eyes, to get into another argument and she refused. If he wanted to go off shagging every bar wench in Hogsmeade it was his business. She was a lady. If anything this was a blessing, at least he'd get his sexual dissatisfaction out of the way. She wouldn't have to put up with him because he was hornier than a blast ended skrewt in heat.

She gave a careless shrug, wanting to change the most uncomfortable subject when Albus interjected with a cough.

"Actually Severus...." He trailed softly, looking peaky from Hermione to Severus. "These are wizarding standards."

Snape looked blankly to him. "So?"

"So..." Albus trailed on again, making a grimace and letting the air out of his cheeks slowly. "There are no such allowances that approve of lovers.idelidelity may be looked down upon by Muggles Severus, but for Wizards it is the ultimate betrayal."

Snape swiveled his body slowly, until the realization that dawned in his eyes was clearly seen by the Headmaster. He made a small sorry under his breath as he thrust the papers into the waiting hands of Snape.

He snatched them quickly, holding them up to him as he read, his dark eyes going back and forth at an alarming rate. His hands were clenching the paper so tightly, the tapered fingertips threatened to go through the pages.

"No." he breathed lowly, clenching his teeth and lowering the pages from his face. "This...this is absolute rubbish."

"I assume it was done for Voldemort's sick satisfaction." Dumbledore said softly as Hermione looked on in wonder. What was he going on about? Why couldn't they have lovers? Snape although completely understood. Seems Voldemort was determined to sniff him out a traitor. Her Hermione quickly took the pages from Snape as he began to place them on the table. She scanned the words quickly, having to read it over a few times to fully comprehend the gravity of it. Oh no.

Turns out that any wizard that succumbed to infidelity would suffer excruciatingly painful boils in their… lower extremities. Hermione didn't ponder that one too long and crossed her legs again.

Dumbledore and Snape spoke a few moments later before Snape stood, shooting Hermione one more angry look before heading back to Hogwarts furiously.

Hermione watched his departure aimlessly, dropping the papers back onto the desk and utterly detached from the Headmaster's speech. She was consumed with a very disparaging though. She was going to be stuck a virgin for the rest of her life...

Or was she?

- - -

Harry and Hermione had been spending much time together during the weeks of summer. Ron and Ginny had been keen to notice the developments between the two, and neither could deny the looks of lust Harry shot Hermione.

Things had been puzzling Hermione. Things she hadn't thought of until these past few weeks. Her knees had scabbed over from where she fell, the constant reminder of Snape's cruelty. She knew they wouldn't be sleeping together, that was inevitable.

She had tried not to think of Snape's suggestion of lovers. She had never really been bothered by it before, and didn't see why now was any different. She may not have fancied the idea of sex as she was too busy with schoolwork and reading...but now as she contemplated a life a celibacy she felt her heart sink.

She wanted to know what it was like. To feel the sensation of pure ecstasy that everyone seemed to know about but her. Just because she read and liked the Library didn't mean she was a prude; it didn't mean she wasn't a woman with needs and desires.

She just hadn't acted on them because they didn't seem important at the time. But now, this was a completely different avenue all together. She was going to be a virgin the rest of hefe ife if she didn't act quickly.

What if there's just something wrong with me?

Now she sat on the large tree in the Weasley's yard, looking at the setting August sun with a heavy heart. It was nearing September, the cool wind of autumn soon intruding upon the gentle warmth of summer. It was nearing the wedding.

She was still mad at Snape's immaturity, still angry at his blatant lack of tact. She immersed herself in reading and spending time with Harry who just so happened to be coming over at that moment.

Harry walked over slowly, watching the vibrant curls illuminated in the sunset, the cheeks that were rosy, and the face that may have been plain but was entrancing to him. He got lost in every freckle, every smile she shone at him and the depth of her deep brown eyes.

"Hello Hermione." he said happily, bringing himself up to a branch nearby. She smiled serenely at him, feeling her pulse quicken at his broad, manly chest and strong jaw. She looked at him observantly, thinking that maybe Harry would be the perfect help.

"Harry I have a favor to ask of you..."

* * *

They seated themselves in the empty Library in the Burrow. The Weasley's were out for the evening, and Ron and Ginny were immersed in Quidditch practice outside. - "It'll help me get Neville's attention" was Ginny's excuse - leaving Hermione and Harry alone.

Hermione looked at him squarely, her eyes falling over him and his handsome features, illuminated by the firelight. His glasses reflected the hearth and distracted her. She slowly raised her hands and gently removed the spectacles, closing them and placing them on the table.

"What are you doing?"

Hermione made a face, grasping Harry's hand in her own and saw as he drew in a shallow breath. She felt her own breath fall short and tried to stop the frantic shaking in her hands.

"Harry, I need your help."

"Is it Snape?"

"Well sort of it-"

"Because if it's Snape, I swear I-"

"Harry I need you to shag me."

Harry stopped mid-threat and looked to Hermione -as well as he could without spectacles- and gaped. Here she was, the woman he wanted nothing more than to shag, offering herself to him.

She hadn't meant to blurt it out like that. She had simply panicked and said the only thing she could think of. Now out loud she felt like a harlot of sorts and dropped her eyes to her clasped hands.

Harry had prepared to say something smooth, something brilliant and crafty but when her dark eyes fell upon him he said the only thing he could think of;

"W-Why?"

Hermione quickly explained what had occurred in the meeting with Dumbledore, her and Snape. She explained they weren't to have lovers, and that she didn't want to die a virgin. She ended with a dramatic gusto of;

"If I'm going to be entered into a loveless marriage Harry, I want to at least know what it's like to be made love to."

Hermione saids sls slowly, coming over to the still seated Harry as he looked up at her in shock as she grasped his spectacles in her shaking hands. How long ago it seemed she had helped repair such glasses, how they had been enemies and then friends and now...lovers? It seemed the obvious path to take, for she trusted him more than anything.

"When I marry Snape I will be magically bound to him, and even if I could cheat on him I wouldn't. I have my honor. But until that ill-fated moment arrives Harry..." She blushed as she spoke, refusing to take her eyes away from his own. "I want you...I need you...you're the only one I trust to...you know...please?"

Harry still wasn't moving, only had his lips slightly parted as he looked up into her blushing face through large emerald eyes. She wanted him...here in the Library? Hermione tilted her head a moment, surveying Harry as her dark eyes became squinted and then shot open in recognition.

"I don't mean right here." She said with a nervous laugh, sitting next to him on the sofa and grinning a bit crookedly. She was beyond worried and would be truly mortified if Harry said no. "But tonight...if you're ready."

Suddenly Harry licked his dry lips, staring pointedly at Hermione's own. She was captivated with those eyes. All Snape had were horrible blackish eyes, no depth only emptiness.

But Harry, his were alive and sparkling and all too easy to get lost in. His boyish face once rounded was more defined in the way of manhood, dark hair intrastrast to such amazing eyes...it was easy to see how many a girl had fallen for the hero.

Harry two was enraptured with Hermione, his Hermione that sat in front of him, begging for him to take her. All this time he'd been pining for her, the years of Cho's useless kisses, the way she'd gotten mad at him she she found he cared for Hermione. Now she was his, if even for one night.

Soon his lips were upon her own, soft and tentative. Hermione smiled against his lips and felt her eyes shutting softly, lazily. She detected the familiar scent of outdoors from the Quidditch practice, and fresh soap upon him, and she felt so safe with him. He would protect her.

Soon his muscular arms came around her, enveloping her as she slid her arms around his neck, trying to kiss him deeper, feel the urgency. They could be caught at any moment.

Harry was shaking, and she felt his trembling around her as a cold hand slid up her blouse emitting goosebumps all along her body, sending her rock hard and allowing a small intake of breath to greet her. Worried that he might have scared her, Harry stopped, breathing heavily and peering into her face.

"No." She smiled serenely, although a bit confused. "It's alright. Your hand's just a bit chilly."

Harry nodded, gulping as he smacked his lips against hers clumsily making his hand up the small of her back until he felt the fabric of her bra and the tiny snaps within. He was having a terrible time with it.

How do these bloody Muggle boys do it without magic?

Hermione gasped a bit as Harry's hand slid under her bra cup, feeling around a bit as a curious forefinger brushed against her nipple, sending shocks of electricity all through her abdomen. My my my Mr. Potter...

With this thought in her mind she kissed his lips again, reveling in his tender caresses. He was just as she imagined he'd be, soft and sweet and tender. Although, a bit on the dull side. Hermione had always imagined sex would be much quicker at first, so much more passionate. Suddenly Harry's tongue slipped into her mouth and she held in a gag.

He's doing this spur of the moment...with me... Hermione Granger; Professor Snape's fiancée. He’s just nervous.

Soon her own hands began reaching for his trousers and bit back a blush as Harry stopped what he was doing to see what Hermione was up to. With one hand still under the bra cup and the other on her waist Harry broke off the kiss and stared at her in surprise.

"What're you doing?" he asked raggedly as Hermione looked up to him from her position on the sofa. What did it look like she was doing? Playing wizard's chess? Suddenly a million jokes about Harry's 'wand' came into her mind and she stopped a giggle that threatened to spill.

She could only offer a humbled shrug from her spot on the sofa, a nervous giggle and a feeble, "Erm...sorry I was....well...never mind."

Harry nodded, a bit wary but continued to kiss her, now moving to her neck and down her unbuttoned blouse's entrance. She shifted a bit under his weight, feeling too stuffy and too uncomfortable. She gave a low and deep exaltation of breath wondering if it may be a wiser decision to just get married and die a virgin.

It was around that moment though that she realized just how much she didn't feel.

Was it really supposed to be this dull? Harry was taking his sweet time, obviously enjoying his time groping along as Hermione lay slack under him looking to the ceiling and mentally wondering if she'd still had that book on Herbology.

Soon her boredom turned to curiosity. Maybe Harry just needed the proper motivation? Smiling slyly she reached around and unbuttoned the bra, seeing that this time there were no objections. If anything Harry looked immensely relieved. Pulling the offending object out of the side of her blouse sleeve she looked tentatively up to Harry to see the poor boy's eyes as wide as saucers. He was staring at her breasts the same way Ron stared at the newest line of Firebolts. Awestruck.

She suddenly wanted nothing more than to cover herself up, and did so readily, pushing him lightly off of her and closing the opening to her blouse as Harry watched in mute fascination.

"Perhaps this was a bad idea." she said haughtily, looking around for her bra and becoming frantic. It was her favorite one. "Perhap-"

"No." Harry said a bit desperately, wanting to see those glorious breasts again. He was a man dying of thirst in front of an oasis. "I was just nervous. We can try again..."

Hermione was about to decline when Harry suddenly grasped her face in his hands, bringing her back down on the couch as Hermione gripped onto him, hoping to feel something. Nothing.

Harry's hand soon traveled back to his favorite part of Hermione and began squeezing her breast...a little too hard then and he ked ked a nipple harshly. Hermione felt her body twitch at the contact and she grimaced openly.

"Ouch." Hermione said, wincing and shifting a bit. "Harry y-"

She hadn't even time to critique his performance because all of a sudden the doors to the Library swung open and in marched Snape looking beyond furious. He looked even more formidable with the light shining behind him, showing himself to be a mere inky outline in the doorframe.

"Just what is going on here?"

Harry moved slowly off of Hermione who squealed in fright, closing her blouse the best she could but noticing as Snape's eyes rested along her barely covered bosom and took their time leaving.

Lecherous old pervert.

"Hermione and I were just...studying." Harry said lamely, tucking in his shirt and trying to cover the bulge in his pants. Snape raised an eyebrow of distaste at the pathetic 'hero' and held back a supercilious smirk. So...Granger and Potter wanted to have a go...how remarkably unsettling.

"Indeed? Must have been quite enlightening."

Hermione was still looking for her elusive support, growing more and more panicky with every glare from Snape directed at her, but before she could even inquire quietly to Harry to her bra's whereabouts, Snape had suddenly marched across the room, grabbed her rather roughly by the arm and dragged her to a standing position.

"What are y-"

"No fiancée of mine will act in such a manner."

Hermione's mouth gaped open as he uttered the nonsense, shaking her head and doing quite an admirable impression of a fish. Before she could even stick up for Harry or wrench free of Snape he had begun dragging her protesting frame out of the room and into the hallway of the Burrow.

"And just what was the meaning of that?" Hermione sauriouriously embarrassed, wrapping her arms around herself and glaring openly at him. Months ago she would have feared doing so, but now she felt she had earned the right.

"You're not even supposed to be here until Saturday."

"I needed to grab-" Snape started, defending himself against her accusations when he stopped himself. Since when did he explain himself to a know-it-all Gryffindor? "It's none of your business as to why I'm here Miss Granger. Only I'm glad I intervened in time."

"I don't see why you can go around shagging anything on two legs, but the momI deI decide to lost my virginity it's a big bloody-" she stopped mid-sentence, feeling the flush crawl up her neck and cheeks.

Did she just say she was a virgin? Snape wondered absently, looking her up and down irritably. Why did she have to go and blurt that out? Already the dark Death Eater in him was licking his jaws, urging him to learn more.

"It would be a shame." Snape said silkily. "If two reckless teenagers in the throes of passion forgot about planning ahead."

Hermione scowled, giving him a look of total contempt. "Just what does that mean?"

"Did you brew a contraceptive potion prior to this little...encounter?"

"You can't get pregnant the first time if you're wizards." Hermione said haughtily, crossing her arms and smirking at the aghast Professor who stood in shock in front of her. "I read it."

Snape could barely contain the chuckle that bubbled from him. Was she insane? "Excuse me? I don't believe it. Where exactly did you read this rubbish?"

Hermione suddenly paled as she looked to his bemused face, where had she read it? It had been so long she scarcely remembered. All that she ever learned about sex education had been from books...her Mother wasn't very inclined to speak so frankly about sexually oriented occurrences. Perhaps it was a British, dentist thing. Either way, it was cause for embarrassment now as she couldn't recall where she'd read it.

"I-I don't remember." Hermione said faltering a bit, "But it doesn't matter."

"But it does you stupid girl." Snape growled, "Say for argument's sake you and Pottad..ad...consummated your mutual affection." This part in the speech alone made him queasy. He began pacing back and forth as he spoke, punctuating certain words for emphasis and looking at her with a snarky expression upon his sallow face.

"Then you just happened to be impregnated, -at eighteen years of age might I add.- You're happy, Potter's happy, life is grand...except your baby's born nine months later. It has your hair -God help it- and...why are those Potter's green eyes it has?"

Hermione stomach sank at this reality. She'd been so recklessly stupid. The mere thought of being pregnant had her stomach doing cartwheels and she felt her stomach churning.

"Also," Snape went on dramatically, "What if certain Dark Lord happened to hear about this? What if you'd been caught by a spy sent by him? Did you even think about that?"

Hermione went red and lowered her eyes to the ground, shaking her head sharply. "No sir."

Snape curled his upper lip, "I thought as much." He was about to go on when he stopped. In truth, this whole situation was a bit amusing. He hadn't thought the little prude had it in her.

Besides, were had his empty threats gotten him so far? It had only driven the wedge further in-between them, and with the surely careful eyes of Voldemort's followers upon them they would have to come to an understanding. A compromise.

And so instead of reprimanding her, he decided to treat her like the fiancée she was. But how? When was he ever civil? He stood staring at the top of her head a moment before crossing his arms over his chest and speaking softer than usual.

"Think ahead in the future Granger." was all he said, his voice menacing but expected. She raised her eyes and nodded, he nodded in return and swiftly turned around and started off down the hallway. He didn't turn around, for he didn't trust himself to remain civil for long.

She watched his tall, formidable figure make its way down the hall quickly. Her soon to be husband. The wedding was less than a month away and that was man she would be spending the rest of her life with.

In the narrow confines of the hallway, she shuddered.