an unlikely match...

A wide eye peered through two small eyeholes in a muggle painting, peering in on the two that stood in each other\'s uncomfortable presence.

Severus doffed his robe, feeling heated in the room and stood with traditional arms crossed and a sneer placed upon his pale face, in his dark eyes he held a shrewd calculating look as he stared, no, bored his eyes into that of Hermione\'s Granger\'s back. She refused to look at him.

Hermione herself had stood on the stool and gulped softly, finally lowering her eyes to him as her reflection in the large mirror before her did the same. Severus nodded and glared, as if attesting to her lies.

\"Because,\" he drawled lazily, \"A certain book of mine was misplaced.\" He was circling her on the pedestal again, peering at her and frowning deeply.

\"Oh?\"

\"Yes. I found in it my closet...strange wouldn\'t you say?\"

\"No sir.\"

He was angry now; she could tell it by the way his nostrils flared a moment and how he swerved on one heel to completely face her. She felt her breath leave her, and she internally prayed for someone to walk in on them.

She hadn\'t even a moment to speak again when he suddenly countered and grasped her wrist, dragging her off the stool and down to his level, where he could properly glare down at her. Her dress ripped in the process and she struggled further, looking at him with utter hatred.

\"Let go of me you overgrown bat!\"

He had pulled her close, so close that with every warm breath of his upon her face, he brushed away stray strands of hair over her face, ticking her cheeks in the process. His voice was laced with something icy, something of a warning. Each word was said slowly, deliberately as if he were addressing a child. She was terrified.

\"Not until you tell me what you saw.\"

Her heart thudded painfully as she stared up at her captor, her dark eyes widening as she realized that he wouldn\'t let her go until she confessed. Which she couldn\'t.

\"Nothing sir.\"

Sir. The word kept popping into her mouth, she felt so helpless. It was like she was back in Hogwarts and getting a sound earful from her despised Professor.

She felt his anger as he gripped her wrist tighter, his knuckles turning whiter if possible in contrast to the already whitened skin, she whimpered feeling his torso against her own as he held her close to him.

The eyes in the portrait widened as the spy wondered whether or not to intervene. In the end perverse curiosity won over reason and compassion, and soon the spy was peering closer, wanting to hear more.

If it were at all possible, those eyes of his darkened and this did nothing to ease Hermione\'s already downhearted spirits. She was trembling and he felt it as her body was drawn to his. He was staring at her, into her eyes. Seeing past her eyes and shifting about in her mind, she felt it...him mixing about in her memories and she squeezed her eyes shut, shaking her head to get him out.

\"No...don\'t.\"

He scoffed at her, \"What?\"

\"Don\'t...\" she paused, wondering whether or not to venture her speech. \"Don\'t read my mind.\"

\"You have something to hide then?\"

Hermione looked to him indignantly clenching her teeth and cursing him in her mind.

\"No. I haven\'t anything to hide. I just don\'t wish to have strangers rooting about in my mind.\"

She again tried to pull her wrist from his grasp, using her other hand to push against his torso in the process. In a fluid movement he had grasped her other wrist in his smooth hand and held her with strength. She knew where he had acquired such strength.


\"I\'m a stranger then?\"

His voice was light, but she knew the words held meaning. Suddenly a reason leapt into her mind, it was the piece that made the whole puzzle come together...and in a flash his eyes were permeating hers, and it was gone.

\"Your as much a stranger as anyone else.\" she still struggled, refusing to meet his eyes again. \"You\'re deliberately cruel...you\'re horrid to me when I try to be kind. You\'re worse than a stranger, at least a stranger would have some tact.\"

\"I saved you and your worthless friends from Voldemort.\"

This was true...partly. Her friends were certainly not worthless, but Snape had played a part in her survival. She really didn\'t wish to go into this whole tirade and simply shrugged with a nod.

\"I suppose you did.\"

There was silence, and in a disgusted movement and sigh he dropped her wrists, having them fall to her side. She was still close, and he peered down at her, leaning closer.

She backed away, notisteistering the hurt look on his face that he masked almost instantly. Again his lips were set into a scowl, again his arms were crossed and again he was cold.

\"Tell me now...\" this was said in a dangerous tone, \"When you took the book, what exactly did you see?\"

Why bother with more lies? Evidently he\'d hound her until it built up into one giant confrontation that surely Austere would get involved in, Lady Snape as well. She couldn\'t put the ones that had been so kind to her through that.

She licked her lips, trying to gauge his reaction. Not that she had seen anything of interest.

\"I didn\'t see what the little gray boxes were.\" Hermione said grimly, hearing the air that whooshed past his own lips. From relief or anger she couldn\'t quite tell. \"So you really haven\'t anything to worry about.\"

\"Ah, but I do.\" Snape sneered, drawing closer to her. \"If you do recall, you silly little girl there was an inscription.\"

Hermione blanched, she had hoped he had forgotten about that. S.S. & H.G. The thing was, she wasn\'t sure she really wanted to know about it. Perhaps what lay beyond it...really wasn\'t worth losing Austere over. She loved him.

\"Erm...what inscription?\"

Snape rolled his eyes, \"Honestly Hermione, I\'m disinteinted in you.\"

Did he just call me Hermione?

The voice was velvety, almost inviting and Hermione almost got drowsy frhe whe way it sounded when it rumbled from him like that. She stared at his clothed chest and gulped again. Should she ask him about the dreams too? No...he didn\'t know anything of them.

\"I\'m...I\'m afraid I didn\'t really understand it sir.\"

He \'hmphed\' at that, scowling deeper if possible and glared down at her with unmistakable contemptuous anger.

\"What did it read?\"

Hermione shifted from foot to foot, uneasily looking down at his shiny boots. Did he have house elves do that for him? He really shouldn\'t...thoughts of S.P.E.W. clouded her mind a moment before his cough brought her back.

Her head snapped up and she felt their eyes lock. \"It read...something like to Severus, goodbye. Hermione. Why did it say that sir?\"

The spy behind the portrait noticed the passing in time, their eyes trailing interestedly over Hermione and Severus before resignedly placing the false eye cover back behind the picture and leaving silently out the trap door.

Severus was staring at Hermione and didn\'t seem to note that she had left out certain words...mainly \'all my love.\' Didn\'t really seem appropriate. He was looking quite uneasy himself, and he didn\'t seem too impressed with her ambiguity.

\"Well...what does it sound like?\" he ventured, coming closer until Hermione had almost backed up against a wall. \"Can you think of what must have happened Miss Granger?\"

\"Happened?\"

He sighed, rolling his dark eyes as gazed into her eyes, wanting to tell her something but not finding the right words. Finally et oet out a heavy sigh, looking away from her a moment. \"I should have known. The spell...\" he trailed off and Hermione looked suddenly very intrigued.

\"What spell?\"

He looked to her dimly and was about to go into more detail when the door to the and Fanny and Lady Snape walked in, the latter looking to Snape in question, wondering why he was here.

Fanny on the other hand looked to the statuesque man and blushed pink with pleasure. Evidently she was a fan of men...the same horrid woman that had been poking Hermione with pins suddenly came over, looking to Snape with interest.

\"You must be the infamous Austere.\" she went on before the three in the room could object, \"I can tell right away...you two have a sort of aura about you. You believe in auras? No matter, you\'re simply a darling pair. Where did you two meet?\"

Hermione was blushing madly, sputtering with a response as Snape glared at the woman and promptly stalked out of the room, not listening to his mother who informed him he had left his robe behind.

Fanny looked to Hermione in question, the scowl back. \"Not very talkative is he?\"

Hermione frowned, shaking her head and explaining to Fanny that Austere wae bre brother of the sullen looking creature that had just departed from their company.

Fanny tsked as she looked at the newly acquired rip in Hermione\'s gown from when Severus had dragged her off the stool, frowning and muttering that she hadn\'t done the pins right. That was a relief.

Still, Hermione looked past the curious looking Lady Snape, to the door where Severus had just left. As much as she was curious, and God knew she was. She didn\'t really want to know what lay in that book. She was to marry Austere soon...she loved him. Severus Snape...this was all probably a ruse. He was trying to ruin her wedding...this is what came of his hatred for Austere! Well, she would not fall for such an easy, cruel trick.

She would do everything possible to stay away from Severus Snape.