Taught to Wed

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Taught to Wed

Chapter 2 - Meeting Mrs. Snape

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Hermione walked silently behind the professor, the invisibility cloak clutched tightly against her by nervous fists. Where is he going? she wondered. He's definitely not headed back to his room. She kept her pace even with his. Her heart was beating rapidly. What if he catches me? She quickly shook the thought out of her head. It won't do you any good to think negatively, Granger.

After several minutes Severus stopped suddenly in front of a large statue of a humpbacked witch. He quickly looked around, checking to see that no one was in the vicinity. When he felt relatively sure that he was alone he chanted the password, barely audible to anyone but himself, "Dissedium." The statue opened revealing a long stone slide.

Bloody hell, she thought. How in Merlin's name am I supposed to follow him without him hearing me? As quickly as the worry had come to her, a solution replaced it. She carefully spaced herself from Snape, not wanting to run into him on the way down. She pointed at the slide and muttered, "Silencio." Then she quickly slid down hoping that she would not have lost him. Hermione carefully stopped herself at the end of the slide, not wanting to land gracelessly on the ground and blow her cover. She looked around noticing that she was now in a basement full of sweets. I must be in Honeyduke's. She continued to scour the room but didn't see Severus anywhere. Where are you? she thought, focusing on him extra hard, as though it would make him appear or stand out better. Her concentration on finding Snape became so intense that she closed her eyes as she felt wave after wave of something that felt close to nausea wash over her.

When the sickness faded away she opened her eyes. Where am I? How'd I get here? Wasn't I just at Honeyduke's? Is that Lucius? Her eyes quickly darted around the room, taking in everything around her. The room was rather large and foreboding. The immaculate stone walls along with the Malfoy family crest made her aware that she was in the basement of Malfoy Manor. Her eyes finally settled on Snape standing near a fireplace, and across the room, several Death Eaters. Well, at least I found Snape. Why are you so relaxed about that Granger, there's Death Eaters surrounding you. Her expression became nervous and she stood stiff as a board while her mind worked in hyper-drive. They have to know I'm here. How else did I get here? They're going to kill me. Snape's going to kill me. Oh Merlin, what have I gotten myself into? Calm down, Granger. Maybe there's a way out of here. What if they don't know I'm here? But that doesn't explain how I got here. How do I get back to school?

Hermione was too caught up in her mind's ramblings to notice Lucius Malfoy's eyes resting upon her cloaked form.

"Now, what do we have here?" asked Lucius, his lips curling in disgust as his eyes drifted upon a pair of shoes that were peeking out of thin air.

The shoes let out a yelp that sounded more like a girl than a pair of shoes.

"Looks like we have ourselves a spy, gentleman," Lucius sneered looking around at those gathered at his estate. "Severus, go and see who our guest is."

Severus Snape approached the shoes with frustration. He knew quite well to whom the yelp belonged. "Miss Granger, what a surprise to see you," he said sarcastically as he pulled the invisibility cloak off the young girl. "What brings someone such as yourself out of Hogwarts after hours? Shouldn't you be in bed?" Why does she always have to break the rules in such ways, thought Snape. I hope this will teach her a lesson.

Hermione looked up at her professor, not sure what to say. I knew I shouldn't have followed him, she thought. Where's Harry when you need him? "I, um, I...," Hermione stuttered, trying her best to fight speaking at all. She had only taken enough Veritaserum that she would only be able to say the truth, but not enough that it was forced out of her.

"Well, what is it? Out with it, Miss Granger," Snape said as he led her across the room to the circle of Death Eaters, draping the invisibility cloak over his arm.

"I don't know?" she squeaked. Well, I don't know what I'm doing here. And that is what he implied.

"You don't know, Mudblood? What kind of answer is that?" Lucius growled.

Hermione turned bright red in frustration. Nice one, Granger, real nice. What a great way to get yourself into even more trouble. "Um..."

"Well then, Miss Granger, is it?" Malfoy asked, his lips curling in disgust once more.

Hermione nodded. She didn't know how else to respond.

"We can't just have unexpected visitors drop by. Do you know what we do with unexpected guests, Miss Granger?"

Hermione gulped as Malfoy pointed his wand at her.

"No, you can't do that this time, Lucius," Snape interrupted, stepping between his pupil and Malfoy's wand. Bloody hell, lesson or not, I can't let a student die. But how can I save her? The fact that she's a student is not enough to save her.

"Move out of the way, Severus," Malfoy stated calmly, his wand still pointed at the girl through Snape. "I should hate to have to kill you too. Being that you're our link to Dumbledore."

"I'm sorry, Lucius, I just can't." Well, I did always rather like the girl. She is rather, dare I say, attractive. I just hope this girl is smart enough to go along with what I say. Not even Dumbledore will be able to disapprove. Severus had begun to notice the girl at the end of last term, just before the leaving feast, but had pushed the thoughts aside; she was his student. Upon seeing her this evening those forgotten thoughts flooded back to him.

"And why is that?" Confusion spread across Malfoy's face.

"Because," You can do it, Severus. "Miss Granger is to be my wife." There, see, that wasn't so hard.

The room erupted into a low murmur. "Silence!" said Malfoy. The room went silent. "Step aside, Severus, so I may speak to the girl." Snape obliged, his hand resting on her shoulder. "Is that so, Miss Granger? Does Severus speak the truth?"

"We're not getting..." Hermione began. Snape's grip suddenly tightened. Hermione winced. "What I meant to say, Mr. Malfoy, is that we are not getting married until June." Snape loosened his grip and allowed his hand to rest on Hermione's back. What the devil, did I just say? Harry and Ron are going to die when I tell them this. That is, if I see them again. Did the serum wear off? How else could I have answered that? Unless... no, that's just silly.

"I never would have thought, Severus, that you would marry," Lucius said looking pointedly at Snape. "Let alone marry a young Mudblood." At that, Lucius turned and walked off, the other Death Eaters following him. "See yourself out, Severus, and don't bring your Mudblood fiancée around again."

Hermione's eyes burned with anger as she balled her hands into tight fists. Don't you ever call me a Mudblood.

"Now, love," Snape whispered, gently holding the girl by her shoulder. "You wouldn't want to do that."

"Thanks," Hermione said, looking guiltily up at her professor.

"You're welcome, Miss Granger. Though I can't say it was my pleasure. While I find a sense of duty to my student's lives, this was insurmountable." He looked down at her, a sneer plastered across his face. Liar. You knew this was the opening you needed. "How did you get here?" he asked, finally letting his curiosity get the better of him.

"I'm not quite sure, exactly. I followed you through the secret passage to Honeyduke's, but by the time I got there you were gone." I'm going to have to yell at Ron big time about this. Him and his damn ideas. 'Let's take Veritaserum. It will make the game extra fun.' Fun my arse. Look where I am now.

"And?" Get to the point we don't have all night. How is it that Gryffindors always manage to sidestep the question?

"Then I looked around for you, but you weren't there. I just focused on you and then I started feeling sick so I closed my eyes and then when I opened them I was here." Well, that's dead on, there's no way the Veritaserum wore off.

"I see," replied Severus. "It seems that you apparated here. I assume by your lack of understanding that you have not yet gotten your apparition license. It is beyond me how a person can apparate for the first time and not lose anything in the process." He raised his eyebrow at her, his eyes sweeping slowly across her body.

Hermione stared at him in disbelief. Is he checking me out?

"Enough gaping, Miss Granger. It is time to return to Hogwarts." Snape grabbed the girl by the arm and pulled her close to him. "I know this might be a bit uncomfortable, but you will have to trust me. I need you to close your eyes and try not to think of anything at all until I let go of you." Hermione did as she was told, as the waves of nausea brushed over her again.

When she felt Snape let go, they were at the Hogwarts gates. Snape set off at a quick pace across the grounds. Hermione struggled to keep up with his long strides and her wrist, which he still had in his strong grip. "Ow! Professor, can you slow down a bit?" Hermione groaned.

"Stop your whining, Miss Granger." Snape's pace only quickened as they entered the school and made their way up to Dumbledore's office. "Chocolate Frogs," he said upon reaching the secret door. Why must he insist on these silly passwords? Does he not realize anyone can get up there? The two stepped on to the spiral staircase and patiently waited for the staircase to reach the top.

"Come in," said Dumbledore, before Snape had a chance to knock. The door opened. "Have a seat you two." Dumbledore motioned towards two armchairs, his blue eyes sparkling with knowing curiosity.

Hermione and Severus made their way to the chairs and only upon sitting down did he release her wrist.

"Lemon Sherbet?" Dumbledore offered holding out a dish of lemon sweets. Hermione eagerly took one while Severus declined. Dumbledore took one for himself. Snape recounted the events of the evening while Hermione sat there looking at the floor.

"I see," said Dumbledore. "While I don't suggest this as a strategy for getting rid of enemies, I see no way to go back now. The two of you will have to keep up this charade until we can be assured of Miss Granger's safety." The two looked at him gravely and nodded their heads. Turning to Hermione, Dumbledore continued, "Miss Granger, may I ask why you were following Professor Snape this evening? You will not be punished for telling the truth."

Hermione let out a sigh. "We were playing Truth or Dare. I was dared to follow Snape."

"And if you didn't follow through with the dare?"

"I would have had to take more Veritaserum. They would have been able to ask me anything and everything they wanted."

"More Veritaserum?" Snape interjected. "I assume the effects have yet to wear off?"

Hermione nodded.

"Very well then," said Dumbledore. "You may return to your room, Miss Granger. I am quite sure you've had enough excitement for one evening."

"Thank you Professor. Good night." She said as she turned to leave the room.

"Forgetting something?" Snape said holding out the invisibility cloak. "I should really keep this, but if you are to return to your room unnoticed you will need it."

Hermione turned and grabbed the cloak; her cinnamon eyes meeting Snape's black ones, before she quickly left the room.