sekkoon

PROLOGUE

Hermia Dumbledore was his first love, his only love--Lily Evans would never come even close to Hermia Dumbledore. After Hermia's death Severus Snape has vowed to never love again but when the Marriage Law comes into place, Severus has to marry his former student and a woman who reminds him so much of Hermia. Hermione Granger isn't too pleased to marry her former Professor but over time grows to respect him until one mistake puts fate into place and Severus begins to realize that after 21 years he has to move on but is it too late, after all Hermione Granger was dead.

CHAPTER 1

The Course of True Love Never Did Run Smooth

Two Years Later

November 9, 2002

The creak of a door made Severus look up from his place on the bed, reading a potions' journal. His pajama clad wife entered the room and turned away from him, walking to a closet, where she began to rifle through robes.

"What were you doing in there, you've been in there for--" he consulted the muggle clock next him "--an hour. It doesn't take you that long to shower."

Hermione turned to look at him. "I have a stomach flu." she told him. "I had the urge to empty my stomach and then I took a bath."

He frowned and then got out of bed, walking towards her. He placed his hands on her arms and ran his hands over them. "I'm sorry, are you alright, now? Should I get you a potion?"

She shook her head. "I'll drink some tea and later a potion if I'm still unsettled." she told him.

Severus nodded before he walked to the bathroom to take his shower.

Hermione in their bedroom sighed in relief. She didn't know how she would tell him. It wasn't that she was scared of him, that wasn't it at all but just that she didn't know what his reaction would be. He knew it needed to happen eventually, that had been the reason behind the law in the first place but, for some reason, she felt like he would take it bad. She finally picked out her robes for the day and pulled them on, heading to her vanity, as she did she couldn't help but look down at her flat stomach. What would it be like in the months to come? She smiled slightly to herself before sitting down and running a brush through her messy hair. She had just about finished getting all the tangles out when the bathroom door opened and Severus walked back into the room, fully dressed in his long black robes.

"Breakfast?" he asked.

"I'd rather not be around food." Hermione said. "See you later."

He nodded and walked out of their room to the small sitting room and then out to the cold dungeons. He walked briskly, his cloak billowing behind him, while he thought about his wife. Two years married with Hermione had done nothing to change him, unlike what Minerva had proposed. Hermione wasn't Hermia; no one would ever replace her, even if Hermione was much like Hermia. How many times had he seen her do things that reminded him so much of Hermia? Their names even sounded alike, for that matter and they even looked somewhat alike, if he admitted the truth to himself, they could have passed for one another if only for the subtle and simple differences between them.

He entered the great hall through the teacher's entrance and took his place in the middle of the table, looking around at the sleepy students.

Hermione made her way into her classroom directly from her rooms. It was there that she called Dobby to bring her some tea to settle her stomach. She then took her seat at her desk and pulled a pile of essays towards her. She hated grading essays, especially those from the younger years, which were messier and less well research save for a few that usually came from the more studious bunch. She sighed as she began to read the first essay, shaking her head as to how everything mentioned in the essay seemed to be somehow wrong.

She had gotten through five essays before her first class had filed in. The Gryffindor and Slytherin fifth years all looked at her with sleepy, bored gazes.

"Continue working on your potions from yesterday." Hermione told them. "Instructions are on the board, if you have any questions just ask me."

She watched them levitate their cauldrons and continue with their potions, hoping that no mistakes would happen. After finishing another essay she began to walk around them, looking at their potions. Some of them had it right but most of them had the wrong shade of blue, some going as far as to having a purple or pink color.

The rest of the day went on as normal. No accidents happened, a surprise to Hermione seeing as at least one mishap seemed to happen per day in one of her classes, usually a stupid mistake by one of the morons that she usually found in her class. It was as such that she found herself in a good mood as she made her way to dinner. Once in the great hall Hermione took her seat and began to pull food her way, she was famished.

"I see you're eating." Hermione jumped at the remark from her husband.

He took a seat, chuckling, and piled food on his own plate. Neither said anything to the other throughout the rest of the meal. Severus left the table first, Hermione following after him a few minutes later.

In their rooms the usual nightly routine began.

Neither talked as they relaxed in front of the fireplace, Hermione marking essays while Severus read from the potion's journal he had that morning. Every night was usually the same to them, save for the weekends when things changed a little with all the time they had to spend in their rooms.

Soon, like every night, Hermione finished her grading, as she set it aside she looked towards her husband, taking in his form as he read, relaxed. She smiled slightly and thought about what she had to tell him, maybe she could tell him and maybe he wouldn't take it badly or maybe she didn't need to worry after all. She stood up, stretching her arms and allowing a small yawn to form. She walked out of their room, headed to their bedroom.

Severus looked up as he heard the door close. He slumped a little in his chair and closed his book, dropping it on a table next to his chair. He ran a hand through his hair before covering his face with his hands. He was--like he had found himself doing often these days--thinking about his wife and the love of his life.

He didn't love Hermione. Hermia on the other hand, he had loved her, and he couldn't stop thinking about the fact that he was betraying her, and betraying the promise he had made himself after she had died. Just the fact that Hermione was so much like her, it killed him. He sighed, thinking about his marriage, the kind of marriage--he expected--Hermia had, too, had back then. His marriage wasn't at all like a real marriage needed to be. The fact that it was working, alone, meant that with so many things left unsaid, things wouldn't be alright for long regardless of the delusion they were living. His marriage like that of many others in the wizarding world lacked love and communication, two of the things that made marriage work. He groaned remembering how the first week had gone. Both ignoring each other and trying hard to not think about what they would need to do at the end of the week.

The wedding had been hasty, the signing of papers and saying I do's to each other without real feeling had passed quickly and then they had been finally alone. The awkwardness that had taken over them after their sham of a marriage had been terrible, neither knowing if they should speak or not to break the silence. Finally it was Severus who offered to show her their new domain, his rooms in the dungeons, they would never be mentioned as their rooms, she would be a guest, expected to leave as soon as the ridiculous law was dissolved. While they walked the long trek to the dungeons, Severus couldn't help but scowl at the thought of her in his rooms, and not just that, just even thinking about her, it made him cringe. She had been his student for goodness sake. He finally dared to look at her face, and met a frown; at least he wasn't the only one suffering.

"Your stuff is probably already through that door over there." He told her once they were in his rooms. "The door next to it is my room. A bathroom is connected to both rooms, just to warn you."

She nodded, the only sign that she was listening to him.

"My lab is through that door over there. Your office--my old office--has been cleaned out and already probably has your possessions, there is a door in there that leads out to the corridor and the potion's classroom. My private lab is not to be used by you and off limits as is my room unless you have my permission to enter. I want to make it clear that these rooms are mine until this--" he spat the next word, "--law, is repealed."

Hermione said nothing again but nodded, quietly.

"I shall see you later. Look around if you like but do not disrupt my books." He said, looking at the shelves of books that covered the walls."

In his office, still looking like it had when Dumbledore had occupied it, Severus considered his wife. He didn't know how his life would turn out with her around but he hoped that, somehow, the law would be dissolved in the near future, before anything else were to happen like the chit of a girl he had been made to marry getting pregnant. If he could put off that part of the law for as long as possible, until it was dissolved, that would at least comfort him. Severus didn't like children and much less babies and while he assumed that he would probably love his child he still didn't want any.

The first few days went on quite as the first, with Severus hiding in his lab and Hermione spending as much time as possible fixing up her office or looking through the potion's stores that would be used by the students to see if enough of everything was there, as well as adding to her own private store.

Both stayed as far away from each other as possible, ignoring each other but knowing that once Saturday arrived they needed to spend some time together to do the "deed" that would change their lives for ever, as it were.

Severus stood up, shaking himself out of his thoughts. It had made for an interesting but awkward day that first Saturday spent together, the week that had followed he had enjoyed watching the pink tint on his wife's cheeks and when that second Saturday came about, he grinned slightly, it had been that weekend that had led to them sharing a room. He walked to the fire, wondering how exactly his wife had managed to wiggle her way into his room--no--their room and rooms. He groaned slightly not wanting to keep thinking about her.

"Severus."

He turned to look at his wife. She wore a smile on her face, one of her hands rested on her still flat stomach while the other was against the wall next to the door, on which she was leaning.

"Yes?" he asked.

"Are you coming to bed?"

"Soon." He said, watching her, knowing something was odd in the way she stood.

"I wish to speak to you." She told him, after a small silence. "I've been meaning to."

Severus said nothing and instead just nodded.

She shifted slightly. He raised an eyebrow at her. Her smile grew bigger for a moment and then she turned and walked back toward their bedroom.

What did she want? They had never really talked and here she was, wanting to talk about something. He didn't need this, not while he wanted nothing more than to just go to sleep and stop thinking about her and everything else he had to deal with, like the constant visits from Harry Potter, one of which had happened earlier that day, and many other things like misbehaving students.

When he stepped into their room she was sitting up on her side of the bed, reading. She looked at him and once again, smiled.

"Severus," she began.

He interrupted her. "I don't feel like talking tonight. It's been a long day, Hermione; tomorrow you can tell me whatever it is that is bothering you."

Her smiled faded and now she was frowning, "Do you know how hard it is to even..." she trailed off and took a deep breath, no longer looking at him. "You know what, forget it, Severus Snape. I won't even bother."

She turned away from him, and he knew she was crying.

November 20, 1982

# posted by Sek Koon @ 8:34 AM