Compatibility

Compatibility
Chapter 4: There's Danger In Frustration




The Hogwart’s library was full of a great many things, and deep within the recesses of the Restricted Section she found what she was looking for. It was hidden away from the younger, more foolish, students, as if that would be enough to prevent anyone from using it without thought of the consequences. Hermione wasn’t sure that her plan wasn’t foolish in a way, but at the very least she thought it was somewhat logical.



Taking out a blank piece of parchment she quickly did a spell to duplicate the pages she needed, then packed up her books and left quickly for the privacy of her own bedroom.



“Hello, Clare,” said Hermione excitedly. “The password is ‘I solemnly swear I’m up to no good.’”



“Hello dear!” said Clare sweetly. “I daresay no one would guess that mouthful. It hardly suits you.”



“You’d be surprised,” mumbled Hermione to herself as she entered her room.



Taking out the bit of parchment, Hermione looked down at the copy she had made. It had taken a good deal of looking, but finally she had found a spell that would work without having to take the time to brew a potion for it. It was, for lack of a better description, a soul mate spell, and it was the closest thing she would get to her having an answer spelled out for her. She just hoped that whoever it was wasn’t already taken. Such things had been known to happen, and if that was the case then not only would she be completely out of luck, but she’d worry herself to death with ‘what-ifs.’



The spell did require the use of a mirror though, and so she took her wand and the scrap of parchment into her bathroom. Pointing the wand at her heart and saying “Amabimus Aperio,” Hermione then took her want and touched the surface of the mirror. The text had said that your soul mate would appear in the mirror behind your right shoulder, and Hermione was not kept waiting.



The moment she touched the mirror with her wand, her match appeared. And despite her usual level head in bad situations, Hermione promptly gave in to the temptation to pass out cold.



-x-x-x-x-x-



She came to a few minutes later, repeating the spell over to make sure it hadn’t all been a bad dream. Upon discovering that it was very much reality, Hermione went immediately to the Headmistress’ office.



When she got there she found Minerva in a meeting with one of the teachers. Severus Snape rose from his chair when Hermione entered, nodding politely and then turning back to the Headmistress. “I see your students need you. I can continue this later.”



Hermione studied him in horror as she watched him leave, memorizing every feature and mannerism. “Oh Merlin!” she said finally, falling in defeat into a nearby chair. “You won’t believe what I’ve done.”



“After seven years of you breaking school rules in the most intelligent way possible,” said Minerva with a patient smile, “I’m quite certain I can believe whatever it is you have to tell me.”



“I thought Neville and Hannah were barmy when they talked about it. I mean, me? And him? It couldn’t... It can’t work. Ever. But there I was buying into what they were saying for a split second because, after all, I did have a slight crush once years ago. But I never expected--"



“Dear child,” interrupted Minerva. “What exactly did you do?”



Hermione looked up at the Headmistress in horror. “I did a soul mate spell.”



Silence filled the room for several moments while Minerva stared at her, then finally responded. “Well, actually that sounds like a perfectly reasonable thing to do. Why exactly has it turned out to be a bad thing? Did you not get an answer?”



“Oh I got one,” said Hermione, playing with the hem of her blouse worriedly. “It’s him.”



“Who exactly is him?” asked Minerva. “Contrary to what you may have been told, I’m afraid that I do not read minds.”



“It’s Snape!” Hermione cried. “Severus Snape! Of all the illogical, unfeasible, impractical, unattainable, insane, unworkable, not to mention impossible, unusable--“



“It’s brilliant!” said Minerva enthusiastically.



“Excuse me?” asked Hermione, amazed.



“Well, Hermione, I’ve known for a long time that it’s unlikely you could be happy with a wizard your own age. You are just far too mature for the lot of them. Severus, on the other hand, could use a young witch to help him liven up a bit and have the life that he’s never been able to have before. You both are highly intelligent, valuing learning above most things, have a reserved manner about you though you are perfectly able to take the lead if necessary,” explained Minerva. “Really, it’s perfect.”



“Even if that were true,” said Hermione carefully, “he’d never accept it. I’m not even sure I can.”



“You leave that to me,” replied Minerva with a wink.



-x-x-x-x-x-



Hermione returned to her rooms slowly, determined to eat yet another meal in her rooms so that she wouldn’t have to talk to anyone while she recovered from the shock. She was lost in thought as she walked, not even recognizing those she passed.



Was it as crazy as it had seemed at first? He was nineteen years her senior, but Minerva was right in saying that boys her age just weren’t mature enough for her. Especially of those boys still left available. Snape wasn’t particularly good looking, but he did have decently handsome features if you actually paid attention.



After all, there had been a time within her few years at Hogwarts that she had thought very highly of Snape. His speech from her first day of potions class was still perfectly clear in her memory. “You are here to learn the subtle science and exact art of potion-making. As there is little foolish wand-waving here, many of you will hardly believe this is magic. I don't expect you will really understand the beauty of the soft simmering cauldron with its shimmering fumes, the delicate powder power of liquids that creep through human veins, bewitching the mind, ensnaring the senses... I can teach you how to bottle fame, brew glory, even stopper death -- if you aren't as big a bunch of dunderheads as I usually have to teach." From that moment on she’d always felt the need to prove to him that she most certainly was not a dunderhead.



He was highly intelligent, and Hermione wouldn’t feel the need to hide her own intelligence for fear of causing problems in the marriage. He’d be able to handle her, and she highly doubted he’d find her personality in any way threatening or feel the need to prevent her from excelling further.



Really, when she thought about it, there was a lot more in Severus Snape’s favor than there had ever been in Ron’s. If only she could get over the initial revulsion that had been more or less conditioned into her. And what if Minerva was unable to convince him? Hermione had little confidence that she could manage it if Minerva failed. Oh, it was all hopeless.



-x-x-x-x-x-



Minerva was grinning broadly as she walked through the halls to the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom where Severus was to be found. She wondered why she hadn’t thought of it first. It was too perfect, that’s why. Her cheerful attitude frightened half the students she passed, but Minerva was so lost in her thoughts that she really didn’t notice.



She closed the classroom door and warded in against eavesdropping when she arrived, earning a rather confused and suspicious look from Severus. Walking over to the desk where he sat, Minerva handed him the parchment she had taken from Hermione. “I do believe this is the answer to your marriage law problems,” she said with a grin.



Severus studied the spell for a minute before looking up at her incredulously. “You cannot be serious?”



“Completely,” she assured him. “Think about it. It’s perfect.”



He began mumbling under his breath about foolish spells fit only for teenage girls, but went in search of a mirror regardless. He set the mirror up against the wall when he managed to locate it, and quickly proceeded with the spell after insisting that “I hardly think this will provide any insight into my present difficulty. That difficulty being that there is no witch suitable.”



Sure enough, as soon as his wand touched the mirror, an image of Hermione Granger showed up in the reflection behind him. He was quiet for a moment, then straightened his robes and turned to face Minerva. “You really can’t be serious,” he drawled.



“You really are well suited, and you aren’t even her professor this year. Just think about it, Severus,” she said gently, then left him to his thoughts. With a bit of luck he would come to the correct conclusion all by himself.



-x-x-x-x-x-



Just when things in his life really started to come together for him, something would happen to turn it all upside down. Severus wasn’t really sure why he had expected this time to be any different. In the end, his life would always wind up to be a miserable one.



When he’d first heard of the marriage law he’d dismissed it outright. He’d assumed it would only be for the younger generation, never stopping to think that he himself might be included in with that younger generation. He hardly thought of himself as young, or as suitable for marriage, and to find that the Ministry thought otherwise had been enough to leave him dumbfounded. He had immediately contacted Kingsley to see what could be done, but with every attempt he got the same reply. Nothing could be done. It wouldn’t be fair. He had to comply or give up his wand, and he’d be damned if that was going to happen.



So he had resolved to comply, thinking that somehow, somewhere, there would be a witch that he could tolerate well enough to marry. He tried not to think of what came after the ceremony, as if he didn’t have to deal with enough dunderheads at Hogwarts without having them at home as well. It was all just too much. And even when he did try, it didn’t work out. The Ministry told him that his prospective matches weren’t ‘compatible.’ Yes, he knew that. That’s what he’d been trying to say all along. He wasn’t compatible with anyone. But they insisted, and he had decided there was little left to do but wait for the sixty days to expire and see who the Ministry matched him with. It would be miserable, certainly, but surely couldn’t be worse than his years as a spy.



Now here he was with a bloody soul mate spell that had the nerve to suggest Hermione Granger. Personally, Severus felt he was permanently traumatized by the know-it-all’s incessant questions and hand-raising. Really, it was absolutely absurd to think that the two of them might marry without making each other miserable. Severus had always been of the opinion that marriage was designed specifically for making wizards miserable, but he’d rather not be so much more miserable than most that he felt the need to kill himself or his wife to escape it.



And how could he not be miserable? She was best friends with Harry Potter, even if she was currently attending Hogwarts without him and the Weasley boy. She was nineteen years his junior, which meant she’d likely be insufferably giggly and childish and the most inopportune times. She would expect a man who was romantic and thoughtful, not to mention nice to look at, and Severus really thought that anyone who held their breath waiting for him to be any of those things would pass out quickly from lack of oxygen. No, it was quite unsuitable. He wouldn’t even be able to have an intelligent conversation with his wife, if wizards actually do such a thing, without being questioned so thoroughly about it that he found he no longer held any interest in the subject.



It really wouldn’t do at all, he affirmed finally, and he was determined to tell Minerva so the very next time he saw her. Not tonight, though, he really didn’t think he could stand being in the same room with the Headmistress and Hermione Granger while attempting to eat his dinner, however large that room might be. He walked back to his rooms in the dungeons with such thoughts running through his head, thinking the matter to be quite settled.

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A/N: ‘Amabimus’ is Latin for ‘we will love,’ and ‘Aperio’ has been used elsewhere in the HP and means ‘reveal/make clear.’ Part of Hermione’s arguments in support of Severus are based on one of my favorite quotes from Robert Jordan’s “Wheel of Time” series:



“If a woman is stronger than her husband, she comes to despise him. She has the choice of either tyrannizing him or else making herself less in order not to make him less. If the husband is strong enough [...] she can be as strong as she is, as strong as she can grow to be.”



Thank you to everyone for all the lovely reviews!



Ebony Price -- I would love to take credit for the white doe and say it somewhere fits into the plot... but really, it's unintentional. I've just always loved Waterhouse's work and Clare was who I had in mind when I wrote that chapter... the doe is just a weird coincidence.