Disclaimer: I own nothing you recognize. Making no money.

A/N: Thank you all so much for reading and reviewing. Special thanks to my superBeta, MissM, for correcting my horribly embarrassing mistakes and helping me iron out plot details.




Chapter 6


The next morning Severus and Hermione arrived at the Ministry, marriage certificate in hand. She felt slightly chilled at the prospect of meeting with Fudge without her wand, but handed it over just the same. She was quite secure in the knowledge that he wouldn’t try anything ridiculous in the Ministry. She walked a few paces ahead of Severus, deliberately. Every witch and wizard in the building seemed to be staring at them and she did not want to leave them with the impression that she was not fully in charge of the situation.

The rush of quiet whispers that filtered to her ears as she held her chin up defiantly and strode through the halls left no doubt in her mind that tomorrow morning’s Daily Prophet would be slanderous indeed. She wondered how many Ministry workers were already on their phones, trying to be the first to report the news that Hermione Granger had shown up with a husband in tow. She laughed a little to herself; Severus’s father must quite senile if he thought she would be a willing bride for his son, given the Prophet headlines that usually bore her name.

“Are you amused with the situation?” The snarl from behind forced her to regain her composure.

“Not at all,” she replied flippantly, stopping before Fudge’s office door. Taking a deep breath, she knocked twice.

“Excuse me, ma’am, but you can’t just – Miss Granger!”

Hermione spun around to face the secretary who staggered back a few steps at the sight of her. Snape let out a snort of amusement and Hermione had to bite her tongue not to laugh out loud. One would think the poor girl had just come face to face with Voldemort himself.

“It’s Mrs. Granger now,” she corrected curtly, hoping to get her point across without having to go into detail. She loathed calling herself “Mrs.” anyone, but she might as well use the temporary title as long as it was convenient.

“Oh,” said the nervous secretary, raising her gaze to look at Severus as her eyes widened. “OH! Go right in then. He’s been hoping to speak with you.”

“Yes, I’m aware of that,” she said, nodding her head once before swinging open the door.

“Miss Granger!” Cornelius Fudge nearly leapt from his chair as they entered the office.

Severus briefly mused that the two of them could cause more havoc in the wizarding world than any Dark wizard ever had.

“Stay right where you are,” said the Minister, his wand trained on her. “There will be Aurors in here to arrest you any minute.”

“I don’t think you can do that,” she said calmly, pacing toward his desk and slapping the marriage certificate onto it. “I have broken no laws.”

He picked up the certificate and examined it carefully. Setting it down again, he looked from Hermione to Severus before speaking in a low voice.

“I don’t know what the two of you are up to…” he trailed off thoughtfully. “I suppose, Mrs. Snape – “

“Granger,” said Severus flatly. Hermione bit back a smile.

“Pardon?”

“I didn’t change my name. It’s right there on the certificate. I’m still Hermione Granger.”

“Indeed,” said Fudge slowly. “I suppose you are here to see about your friends, the Weasleys?”

“Yes, I am. I cannot believe you would have the nerve to arrest the son of a Ministry official when he has done nothing wrong.”

“Mr. and Mrs. Weasley have clearly broken the New Act of Marriage Law by joining in a pureblood union. It was clearly against the law.”

“Minister Fudge, I am sure you are aware that both couples were carrying on a serious relationship before this law went into effect. Therefore, I refer you to section 301a, article 1, which states that if proof is made of an ongoing relationship lasting more than twelve months, the couple is relieved of their responsibilities with regard to this law.”

“Hmm,” he said, carelessly thumbing through a stack of papers on his desk. “It appears you are correct, Miss Granger. I suppose we’ll have to remedy that at once.”

“Enough of the act, Fudge. We are quite aware that you only arrested the Weasleys with the hope that Hermione would return,” said Severus.

“Actually Snape, I had no idea that she would come back, and I certainly didn’t believe she would do it in this manner. Tell me, Miss Granger, just how do you think your loyal minions will react to the news that you cracked under the pressure and turned to your devoted fiancé, and former Potions Master, for support? Wouldn’t they like to know that you couldn’t handle the pressure of fighting a battle you just could not win and decided to give in and obey the law?”

“It wasn’t like that,” Hermione hissed through clenched teeth.

“Oh, but I can have word out on the streets within minutes that says it was exactly like that.”

“You wouldn’t dare,” said Severus, realizing why wands were confiscated at the front desk.

“You got what you wanted, Miss Granger,” Fudge continued, ignoring the other wizard. “Your friends are free. And I got what I wanted. You will no longer be a thorn in my side.”

“If you think this is going to stop us, Minister, you have another thing coming – “

“Who is going to look to you for leadership now, Miss Granger? You’ve given up your high ideals and decided to settle down, get married, perhaps have a few children?”

Hermione’s eyes narrowed. She turned to Severus.

“We need to leave, now!” she snapped, and without another word to Fudge, pushed her way through the door. Severus cast one last bitter look at the Minister before following her.

For a small woman, Hermione moved with an amazing amount of speed when she wanted to. Severus found himself hard pressed to keep up with her. Once their wands were retrieved and they were outside the Ministry, she grabbed his arm.

“We’re apparating to my flat, now!”

“Hermione – “

“I need to get to the M.U.F.F. supporters before Fudge does.”

He nodded, realizing it was an appropriate time to hold his sharp tongue. Instead, he simply asked, “You are capable of double apparition?”

She glared in return and swished her wand, apparating them both to the alley beside her building. The street was crowded with an angry mob of witches. Before they had a chance to apparate directly into her flat, one of them spotted her.

“There she is! It’s true! She’s with him!”

“Shit,” Hermione cursed under her breath as she stepped out into plain sight.

The group immediately accosted her shouting questions and accusations. Severus stayed behind, in the fairly dark alley, it was clear that the last thing she needed was to appear to need him.

“Just a minute!” she shouted, holding her hands out over her head. “Please, everyone, listen to me for one moment!”

The crowd quieted a little and Hermione took a deep breath.

“Nothing has changed. M.U.F.F. will continue its work as it always has. Getting this law repealed is still our top priority. The important work still needs to be done.”

“Then why did you get married in accordance with the law?” asked one young witch in the front.

“Ron and Luna Weasley were arrested…they needed my help…I – I had to return – “

“You sold out to protect yourself!” snapped another witch, and Hermione took a step back, stricken. “You led us to believe in you and went back on your word.”

“Hypocrite!”

“How do we know we can trust you now?”

“Well, I suppose you’ll just have to believe in me,” she said staunchly.

A tall blonde witch to her right shook her head. “I don’t believe in you anymore,” she said, her eyes were sad, lacking the anger the rest of the group seemed to possess. “There’s no way out of this law and you’ve just proven it. We’re all going to be auctioned off like property.”

She gave a small bark of bitter laughter before turning and walking away. The rest of the crowd peeled away slowly, following the lead of the first witch, as Hermione stood and simply watched. There was nothing she could say without making more of a fool out of herself. They were right, she was only thinking about keeping herself out of Azkaban. She should have found another way to get Ron and Luna released. Turning around and stepping up on the curb, she was vaguely aware of Severus quietly following her up to her flat.

Once they were both inside, she threw herself on the couch in disgust and buried her face in her hands.

“It appears the perfect Miss Granger has finally made a mistake,” he said, the gloating in his voice strong enough to cover his discomfort with the situation.

“Now is not the time, Severus,” she said flatly, “I am perfectly aware of my failures.”

He groaned. It was obvious that he was going to have to say something to make her feel better. He hated to think about the power she had over him; she knew infinitely more than he did about muggle divorce proceedings and if she became despondent, she might lose interest in getting this over with as soon as possible. He sat down beside her.

“Perhaps…this setback is merely temporary.”

“No, they’re right.” She sniffled a little bit and tried to straighten her shoulders. He gently placed an arm around her. “I set out to do the impossible and I failed. I bit off more than I could chew. And now…everything I stood for…I’ve just thrown it away by getting married. They’re right not to believe in me anymore. I have no idea what I’m doing.”

“Stop listening to Cornelius Fudge and those beetle-brained nitwits out there!” he said, lifting her chin to face him with his fingertips. “You will get the better of them, I promise you that. I have never seen Hermione Granger give in without a fight and I don’t believe that is what you’re going to do now.”

“I’ve been doing this alone for so long. Harry and Ginny have been helpful, but it’s all fallen on me. And everyone expects that I can handle it alone. I’m just so tired.”

She leaned into his arm and closed her eyes. Giving comfort had never been a strong trait for Severus, and he patted her awkwardly on the arm. Hermione laughed.

“Oh yes, that makes it much better, thank you.”

He stiffened beneath her and began to move away when she sat up abruptly and grabbed his arm.

“No! Don’t leave. I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to be rude. I know you were just trying to make me feel better.”

He watched her as he settled back into the couch.

“Can I ask you something?”

“Yes,” he answered.

“Why were you running?”

“I thought I made myself quite clear that I did not wish to be married.”

“It’s more than that. I know it is.”

“If I had refused the engagement to you, Hermione, do you know what would have happened?”

“You would have been given your choice of unengaged muggle-born witches from a master list, correct?”

“In order to…enter into that process…certain information had to be disclosed to the Ministry. It is seen as just a rote procedure by most but…”

“There are forms to be filled out about your family history, right?”

“Yes.”

“And they are released to the Daily Prophet. I’ve seen a few scandalous family trees printed there in the past year. Is that what you were running from?”

“In a way.”

“So you’re hiding something about your past?”

“Insightful.”

Hermione’s mind quickly recited the questions on the forms she’d studied so well.

“There is something in your family history, then! You have to prove that your pureblood heritage goes back three generations. Is that it?”

He was silent and she grinned, momentarily forgetting about her own shortcomings.

“That is it! What is in your family history, Severus? What are you hiding?”

He looked at her seriously and she shook her head. “I won’t tell a soul,” she said. “You know that.”

“My father’s name is Maxentius Snape. My father’s parents were Arcadius Snape and Fausta Willowwind. Something amuses you?”

She smiled meekly. “Are all the men in your family named after Roman emperors?”

“Pretentious, isn’t it?” he asked with an amused sneer.

Her smile relaxed. “Quite. Now please, go on.”

“Very well.” He paused for a moment, considering to whom he was about to give this information. Perhaps it wasn’t such a good idea to share this with the best friend of the little twit. On the other hand, he had no reason to believe she’d go back on her word. Gryffindors were purportedly honorable. “Fausta’s parents were Starkley Willowwind and... Emily…” His voice trailed off involuntarily. He wasn’t sure if he could bring himself to say it.

“Yes?”

“Emily Potter.”



~~~