Chasing Destiny

Thanks for the reviews everyone!!! hope this makes up for the tiny chapter 16!

The next morning, Hermione awoke to find Severus standing over her. She sat up and smiled at him.

“I told you I’d come to see you.” Snape smiled back and pulled her out of bed and into his embrace. His smile faltered however, when he noticed the glimmering stone that hung around her neck.

“Hermione, where did you get that necklace?” He reached for it and she pulled away.

“It was a gift from Lucius. I have to wear it until the wedding is over.” Severus looked confused.

“I don’t think you understand, its powers…” He trailed off realising from the look on her face that she did indeed know the powers of the necklace. “Why would you put it on?”

“Because he told me just a few of the many things he could do to me, us if I didn’t.” She pulled him close once again and Severus enveloped her with his arms.

A few minutes passed and there was a knock on the door. Hermione went to answer it while Severus made them both some tea. Hermione was surprised to find her parents at the door.

“Mom? Dad? You’re here?” She smiled as they both reached forward to pull their daughter into a hug.

“We knew you’d come to your senses and marry the father of your child darling.” Her mother said proudly.

“Yes and from what we’ve heard, he’s a very wealthy boy. You must remember to introduce us at the end of the ceremony.” Her father added. They both stepped into the room and noticed Severus standing in the middle of the room. They all looked expectantly at Hermione.

“Oh… er… mom, dad, this is Hogwarts’ Potions Master, Professor Snape. He’s a good friend of mine also.”

“Friends with your professor?” Her mother looked confused.

“Yes. He is the one who’s giving me the apprenticeship when I’ve finished my schooling.”

Hermione smiled while her father walked over to the professor and shook his hand.

“Hermione can I talk to you in the bathroom for a moment please?” Snape motioned towards the room and Hermione smiled uneasily at her parents questioning looks and followed him in there.

“What’s wrong?”

“Don’t you think that you should tell your parents the truth about us? Or at least some of the truth. They’re going to be a little upset when they hear from their daughter that her marriage collapsed after less than a year and she’s marrying her former… or current as the case may be, Potions Professor.”

Hermione was speechless. “Severus Snape, are you proposing to me on the day of my wedding in a bathroom?”

“Of course not my love, I would never do that. I’d do it in a much more romantic way.” He smirked at her.

“Well maybe we should tell them something. Just go with what I say and that’s the story that we’re going to tell everyone.” She turned to leave the room when Severus reached out for her arm.

“Why are you always stopping me from leaving by grabbing my arm? You’re going to give me a repetitive strain injury.” She turned to face him.

“Well as you are about to invent the story upon which the rest of our lives is to be based, I would like just a small amount of insight.” He looked at her expectantly.

“Will you stop dropping marriage hints at me. Merlin what has gotten into you? Anyone would think that you were being almost playful.”

“Well just make sure that isn’t in the story.”

“Fine. This is a brief overview of what I’ve been thinking about saying to Harry and Ron, before I was taken, we had gotten to know each other extremely well and I found myself falling in love with you. When I was taken, you were the one to rescue me from Lucius, he found us and knocked us out and took us to the see Voldemort.” He cringed. “That was the night you told me that you loved me and when we were rescued, we slept together. There was a mix up with my contraceptive potion and I became pregnant. We were happy about it until the new law came into action and you know the rest.” She looked up at the man she loved.

“Hermione, you don’t have to paint me as the most wonderful man in the world.” He sat on the edge of the bath.

“But Severus, that’s just what you are to me.”

They were interrupted by a knock at the door.

“Hermione honey. Shouldn’t you be getting ready for your wedding instead of hiding in a bathroom with your teacher?” She heard her mother shout from the other side of the door.

Hermione opened the door and smiled at her. “He’s a lot more than that mom and I think that it’s about time you knew just how much.”

Severus sat there as she told her mother and father just how much she loved him.

They sat and listened as she explained everything and at the end, her father looked over at Severus and reached out to him. Severus shook hands with the muggle while Hermione and her mother hugged.

“Well I think that explains a lot my darling. I knew you weren’t as careless as I thought. And you, Professor Snape must be extremely fond of our daughter to risk going to prison so that she doesn’t have to marry someone else. I just hope that you’ll make an honest woman of her when this is all over with.”

Severus didn’t quite understand whet he meant by ‘honest woman’ but he promised anyway.

Once they had all left, Hermione took on the task of preparing herself for the wedding, both mentally and physically. She had to convince everyone there that she was madly in love with Draco Malfoy. It was going to be hard. A knock on her door bought her out of those thoughts and she answered it while putting the finishing touches to her makeup.

Hermione opened the door to see a young house elf she didn’t recognise from the castle standing there.

“Young miss must come down to her wedding now. Master Malfoy’s orders.” With that he scurried away. He must have belonged to her future family.

The ceremony was a large affair. Extravagant and vulgar. Hermione hated every second of it. The after party wasn’t much better. She saw Harry and Ron wave goodbye as they left and the evening continued. She had yet to find Severus, but after nearly half an hour of attempting to look and getting accosted by well wishers with fake smiles, she finally found him sitting at a table with her father. They seemed to be getting along well but that might have had something to do with the half empty bottle of firewhisky sat in front of them.

Her father was laughing at something Severus had said and as she approached them, she heard her father wheeze.

“A cat you say?! She seems to have forgotten to mention that to us in her letters home.” And he continued to laugh.

Hermione groaned inwardly and continued forwards when a hand on her arm stopped her. It was her husband.

“Hermione darling come, the minister and his wife want to talk to us.” The necklace warmed against her skin and she felt the urge to do whatever Draco wanted.

At the end of the night, Hermione and Draco made their way up to their new rooms in the dungeons. She hadn’t seen Severus all evening but she would see him soon. After all, she had potions on Monday. The rooms had been created especially for a newly married couple. With a large double bed and even a small bathroom that Hermione thought that she would be glad of in the next few months of her pregnancy. Her new husband looked over at her and smiled. She could smell the firewhisky on his breath as he leant in to her still smirking. It was an eerie smile that could only cause Hermione to feel wary of what he was thinking.

Finally he spoke.

“Did you know that the wedding is only complete when the marriage is consummated?”

He sneered at the reclining woman before him.

“Of course when my father told me, I was disgusted. I thought why would I ever want to taint myself with a filthy mudblood?”

She seemed slightly relieved but there was still something in his eyes that didn’t quite look sane.

“But I suppose I should take a go at you. Seeing as though it’s going to help me get my money and all.”

“You know Draco, that’s quite alright. I don’t want you. We could just pretend that we did it.” Hermione edged towards the bathroom door and as he went to grab her, she ran inside and warded the door behind her. His movements were slow due to the amount of alcohol he had consumed.

Crap crap crap. All he had to do was order her to come out and she would have to. Stupid necklace!

Hermione was hyperventilating. She had no idea what to do.

There was a bang the next room and the newest Malfoy stood with her back flat against the wall. She held her wand out as the door handle turned, it rattled and Hermione felt the wards go down.

The door burst open and Hermione froze. Standing right in front of her was Narcissa Malfoy.

“W…what are you doing here Mrs. Malfoy?” Hermione spotted Draco on the floor behind her. “And what happened to him?”

Narcissa put her own wand away.

“Hermione, we need to have a chat.”

A/n – phew! That was a long chapter!! As always, please review. Not much left now anyway!