Chapter Three: Moderato
Morning came all too soon for one potions master. Snape rolled over and stared at the wall of his bedroom. He slowly closed his eyes and drank in what he knew would be his last tranquil morning for some time. The moment was broken when he heard his chamber door open. He flung himself out of bed, grabbed his wand, threw on an outer robe and peered into his sitting room.
"Professor?"
Startled and fearing the worst, Snape composed himself before stepping into the room and addressing his student. "Hermione, what is it child?"
Hermione was nervously ringing her hands in front of her. She still had on her pajamas from the evening before and looked like she hadn't slept at all. "I got an answer from my uncle. He is not pleased. He's coming to try and stop the bonding."
Snape walked further into the room and gently patted her on the shoulder, not sure what else to do. "Did he say why?"
"No, but I know Uncle Soren. The Flints must have offered him something and if I bond with you he won't get what he wants." Hermione looked up at Snape and broke out into hysterical laugher while holding back sobs. Snape her down on the couch and forced a calming potion into her hand. Hermione gulped the vial, choked, made an unpleasant face and the giggles continued. Growing impatient Snape slapped his student across the face. Her hysterical cackling stopped and she gave him a small glare before it transformed into something approximating grateful. "Thank you, I think I needed that."
Snape snorted. "It would seem so. Are you all right? Something else happened didn't it?"
"It's not your problem. I shouldn't bother you with it." Hermione started to get up from the sofa but Severus pushed her back down.
"Hermione Granger, in less then 24 hours you are going to be my wife, I think your problems will become mine. Now what's wrong so I can fix it before it gets out of hand." He sneered a tiny bit and Hermione realized with a start that it no longer intimidated her. After all he was doing for her, the threatening routine had lost its impact.
"I don't think it's fixable, sir." She eyed him carefully. "You really don't like to lose control do you?"
Snape sighed and sat down next to her. "No I don't. Every choice I've made, including the one to marry you, has been made in an effort to gain or maintain control in some way. This recent development is causing me much grief, not to mention a very large headache. It is most disappointing that today is Sunday and I will not have Neville Longbottom to take my frustrations out on."
Hermione gave a rye grin. "I am sorry. To tell you the truth I really don't want this either. I know I sounded like I was for it last night, but...I'm only sixteen! I don't want to get married! This is all happening so fast, I feel numb."
Snape gave a harsh chuckle. "It will most likely hit us next week. We'll wake up, look at one another and scream."
"Oh I tend to laugh at times of stress as you now know. Harry has often commented that he doesn't understand how Sirus laughed as they hauled him to prison. I do understand, I would have done the same." Hermione shook her head, irritated at her own habit. "Thank you for the potion, sir. If you hadn't dosed me I would have laughed till I cried." Hermione glared slightly and robbed her cheek.
"My mother is the same way. We all have our coping mechanisms." Snape smirked when Hermione's glare intensified.
"If you don't mind me asking sir, what is yours?"
"Sarcasm."
Hermione laughed and Snape raised an eyebrow. "That would explain a lot, Professor. You are almost always sarcastic and you have a great deal to cope with."
Snape nodded. "You are trying to make me forget my earlier question. What is wrong?"
Hermione starred off into the fire in the hearth. "I told Ron about all this." Snape nodded for her to continue. "He didn't take it well. He thinks I've been lying to them all these years. But I didn't! My parents really are dentists, my mum can't do a single spell and I was raised like a muggle. It never occurred to me to tell them about great-grandfather." Snape raised an eyebrow. "Oh alright, it did. But I knew Ron would overreact to Marrius. How do you tell your friend that your great- grandfather was the right-hand man to an evil dark wizard intent on world domination at any cost, a man responsible for an attempted genocide of an entire people. Voldemort at least keeps his activities confined to the wizarding world except for a few killings here and there. Grindelwald and Marrius created a nation and a muggle world war."
"Mr. Weasley should know you well enough to see that you are not your great- grandfather." Severus doubted he did, but he should.
Hermione snorted and seemed to have read his thoughts. "He should, but Ron is not always logical. He's upset that I hid things from him. And he is very mad that I would consider going ahead with any bonding."
Snape nodded sagely. "Ah, so he holds with the headmaster's idea of a typical Gryffindor solution."
"What would that be?" Hermione raised an eyebrow.
"When I first brought the problem to the headmaster's attention he said he thought it best not to inform Minerva. He thought she would tell you to shout out the truth and chain yourself to the banisters."
Hermione looked shocked for a moment and then snorted. "Ron said that I should hide out in the Shrieking Shack until it all blew over."
Snape let a small smile show. "I would like to see him spend the next thirty years in that dump."
"My thoughts exactly professor." Hermione turned back to gazing at the fire. "He said that I wasn't a true Gryffindor because I was going along with this. But what choice do I have? If I don't bond with you I have to marry Flint or I put my family in mortal danger. Well, my mother and father. I'm sure Uncle Soren would find a way around getting killed. Perhaps he'd join Voldemort himself."
Snape considered for a moment. "It would be possible even if he is a half-blood. The training Marrius must have given him would prove useful to the Dark Lord. I wonder why Soren hasn't been approached?"
"He has but he declined on the basis that the MOM keeps a close watch on him incase he should ever decide to pick up where Marrius left off. For some reason Voldemort did not press him."
Snape pondered for a moment. "Soren is a half-blood like the Dark Lord, but the Dark Lord tries to forget that little fact as often as possible. And the last thing needed is another Deatheater under MOM scrutiny. Most of the inner circle is under surveillance already. The Dark Lord wants followers that are free to move around and mingle with regular wizarding society. If Soren is unable to do that, then he is not as valuable as he would seem. It is still unusual for the Dark Lord to let someone not join once asked, however."
Hermione frowned. "What bothers me, Professor, is the order to eliminate the Penwraths. Why would Voldemort have neglected Uncle Soren then let him get away with not taking the mark? It doesn't make any sense."
"Soren must have offered something else to the Dark Lord to buy his life. It is not unheard of." Snape's eyes grew large. "The parchment." Snape stood and went to his desk and retrieved the aged manuscript he had received the night before. "Prior Dominus" A list of the previous owners of the potions recipe appeared above Snape's wand. Under the name Tom Riddle (Lord Voldemort) appeared the name Soren Wales.
Hermione walked up behind him and looked down at the parchment with something close to awe. "Uncle Soren had Slytherin's potions manuscript?"
"Look at the name under his, Marrius Penwrath. If Marrius had this recipe I wonder what else he owned. Perhaps I have found the lost chronicles of Salazar Slytherin." Snape's eyes glazed over as he stared at the sheet in his hand.
"Little good that knowledge would do you, Professor. If my great- grandfather owned them they would be stored in the manor and I can't get you there without my uncle knowing."
Snape snapped out of it. "What should it matter if he knows? You're of magical age and the legal heir to the family and all its possessions in holding for your son and heir. If you so chose you can depose Soren and take over the administration of all the Penwrath lands and holdings."
Hermione blinked. "I can can't I? Wait, I can't but you can. Once the bonding takes place you will have control of all I own. That's why Uncle Soren wants me to bond with Marcus Flint! He must have made arrangements to keep control of the Penwrath Household after the marriage. It wouldn't surprise me to learn that he also made arrangements to get custody of my second son, the Penwrath heir, so he could raise him in his and Marrius' image."
"That is a distinct possibility." Snape's eyes had returned to their cold state and Hermione's had started to dance around as she plotted her uncle's plans.
"So if you have control of the House and you give me free reign I can get rid of the bastard and reclaim what he does not want me to have. Oh, he should not have messed with me. I am Rosemary's great-granddaughter and I know her tricks. Of the entire wizarding world Marrius Penwrath only feared one magic user, his wife. I have Rosemary's diaries and the will to use them. Dear Uncle Soren should have learned from his father's mistake, you do not mess with a female Weasley."
Snape started. "I had forgotten Rosemary Penwrath was a Weasley. That did not help matters with your friend did it?"
Hermione's eyes lost their glee. "No, Ron and his family never really liked her. She married Marrius willingly and had been sorted into Slytherin, the only Weasley to have ever been. There is something about black sheep that seem to flock to the Penwrath name. Rosemary, Salze, and you."
"Me?"
Hermione smirked. "If rumors are true your parents are not pleased with your life choices, sir."
Snape snorted. "They are not, to put it mildly. If they had another child I would have been disinherited."
"Did you owl them about the bonding?"
"Yes. I doubt they will pose a problem. Mother has been after me to impregnate ANYONE so long as I produce an heir. To have me link with the Penwraths will most likely cause her fits of happiness. Father will just nod and go back to building his rose gardens. The man is addicted to the useless plant. So what do you have in mind for your uncle, and why did Marrius fear Rosemary?"
Hermione's eyes danced dangerously and her smirk deepened. "Rosemary kept him in line with several two part poisons. She would slip him the first half and then inform him of what she had done. If he didn't do as she said she'd eventually slip him the second half, sometimes months later. None of them were deadly, only painful and long lasting. He learned to give her what she asked for to avoid being incapacitated for days on end. As for my Uncle, I think Rosemary's poisons to be a little drastic. But her idea of suffering is correct. I think I should just make sure that Uncle Soren loses his livelihood, his books, his prestige, his money, and his will to live. When he comes crawling, literally, back to my feet apologizing for all he has done I may, may give him back his stewardship. He has done an excellent job with the family fortunes; I have kept track since I was old enough to do the math. I like to play with the numbers."
Snape shook his head in wonder. "You sound like a one of my Slytherins."
Hermione smiled, taking his words for the compliment they were. "Uncle Soren not only took me to wizard museums but he taught me edict, rhetoric, and strategy. I don't often openly use what I know. If I started displaying old style table manners and speech structures I would have had difficult questions to answer."
"So you've been hiding all these years?"
"No. The hiding starts now Professor. The past six years I have been myself. Now I must be Lady Penwrath the last of the House and wife to Professor Severus Snape. Hermione will disappear." The Gryffindor looked and sounded resigned and bitter.
"No she will not. In these rooms you will not pretend, understood?" Snape paused and took a deep breath. "Feel free to bring Potter or Weasley in here when you feel the need. Just please give me warning so I can work late. And don't let them touch anything." Snape grimaced at the thought of spending an evening in the company of the golden trio.
Hermione smiled. "That would be nice, sir. I am not looking forward to the rest of the school finding out. I don't see how we could keep this a secret since I will be expected to live with you and socialize."
"I do not see a way either. The Dark Lord knows so there is no real point in the charade continuing anyway. I do look forward to seeing the look on Draco's face when he realizes you're not a muggleborn and you're related to him."
Hermione giggled. "Imagine the look on Ron's face when he figures out that his great-great aunt's son married a Malfoy." Both the potions master and the sixth year grinned.
Snape sat back down and called a house elf for tea. He noted the disapproving tilt of Hermione's head at the appearance of the creature. He made a mental note to investigate further at a later date.
"So your uncle gave you lessons in old wizarding customs?"
Hermione nodded. "Just the basics. I understand now why he did it. If he's been planning on bartering me off for all these years then he needed to have me be able to hold my own with the wives of the other Houses and to properly host a dinner or ball."
Snape snorted. "That is an important function of your customary place, although I will not expect you to organize lavish dinner parties for me. How much of all this do you understand? Being in Gryffindor I doubt there has been many discussions on the old ways."
Hermione frowned. "None actually. I only know what little I have read about and what my uncle told me."
Snape paused to sip his tea. "The rules for this bonding come from the traditions dating back to Salazar himself. The founding families of Slytherin House had their own set of customs when Hogwarts was founded. Many of these customs have become wizarding law or at least tradition, such as the bonding as opposed to a muggle wedding although in resent years the words have become interchangeable. The rules governing heirship differ for the old houses and the general public now. The fact that you retain your name after bonding and your second son's heirship of your line derive from those earlier rules of heirship. Most of the wizarding world would not consider such a thing, but the old houses, the Slytherin families, still follow the old ways. There in lies the reason why Mr. Weasley and Minerva are incapable of understanding what is going on. The Penwraths along with the Malfoys, Snapes and Lestranges helped Slytherin start the house here. They drafted the basic outline of modern pureblood life. But the original Gryffindor houses: Potter, Weasley, and McGonagall, never followed that outline. The other two houses did to varying degrees but there are very few who still do outside of the traditional Slytherin families. Not that everyone in my house abides by these rules, only the oldest of the Houses in the house still practice what I call the old ways."
Hermione shook her head and added sugar to her tea. "You do realize that your excessive use of the word houses makes that very confusing?"
"Yes, but you should follow along quite easily if you have a modicum of intelligence. Should I repeat it slower and with smaller words?" Snape raised an eyebrow and mocked his soon to be wife.
"Your sarcasm has resurfaced." Hermione smirked. "What are you coping with at the moment?"
"Besides an annoying know-it-all, a splitting headache, archaic customs and rules, a dying caste system, and a Dark Lord - nothing much."
"Point taken." Snape nodded and Hermione continued. "So let me see if I've got this straight. Besides the founders themselves there where Houses that helped found the four Hogwarts houses. The ones that made Slytherin up drafted their own rules and society leaving the other Houses out. Over the years the number holding to those rules dwindled and expanded and dwindled again until today there are only a handful that remember or follow them and I happen to be lucky enough to be in one, correct?"
"I wouldn't say you were lucky, but yes you are correct."
"So is this age of consent and inheritance part of the old ways or wizarding law?"
Snape considered his answer for a moment before speaking. "Both, it is one of the customs that actually made it on to the record books. But it is considered in bad taste to force a child to marry in this time. Although as you can see, arranged marriages are common place in the older families, even non-Slytherin ones. Frankly there is already talk of who will arrange Mr. Potter's marriage."
Hermione rolled her eyes. "Harry won't hear of it. He refuses to even date because he is worried that if he gets involved with someone Voldemort may use them to hurt him. He is scared that one day Ron or I will get hurt or killed to get back at him."
"Potter does have a mind then. Perhaps there is hope he will one day live up to his mothers sacrifice." The professor ignored the hard glare he received and watched in amusement as his student clenched her fists and resisted the urge to hex him.
Hermione growled to herself before shaking off her irritation and re-focusing back to the matter at hand. "I have another question. Is all of the wizarding world as sexist as these proceedings are?"
Snape sighed. "It is getting better. If not for your family's status as old purebloods you would inherit directly and not through your husband and not in holding for a male heir. Families like the Longbottoms, Cornfoots, and Hopkins have had female heads instead of the normal paterfamilias in the past. But Molly Weasley is an excellent example of how far there still is to go for even liberal Houses. She wanted to be an auror but her family demanded she be a proper 'lady'. So while she married for love she ended up spending her life raising a gaggle of children and cooking." Snape's tone reflected his disgust. "I hate waste and Molly Bones would have made a fine auror. I hope little Susan will not be made to follow her aunt's path."
"Susan Bones is Molly Weasley's niece? I'm getting a headache. Is everybody related to everybody else?"
Snape smirked. "Yes to be frank. Even you and I are related somewhere. I believe my Great-great-great-great-grandmother was a Penwrath. Normally we would have an even closer relationship, both being pureblood, but the Snapes have made a practice of marrying outside of England in the last few centuries. There was concern of over breeding. The Malfoys are having that problem, as did the Penwraths. That is why there are so few heirs anymore. The lack of new genetic material has reduced the number of healthy offspring." Snape frowned deeply. "Speaking of relationships, we might be more closely related depending on who your father is."
"That would only pose a problem if we mean to procreate. Which is also something I wanted to discuss with you before Dumbledore calls us." Hermione bit her bottom lip. "Do you expect an heir and how soon?"
Snape sneered in disgust, not at Hermione but at the fact she had to ask the question. "No I do not expect you to give me a child, you are a child. I have no patience for young children and little for the older verity." He eyed her carefully. "Do you wish to have children?"
Hermione grinned happily. "No not in the slightest. They annoy me. You do realize that both of us are expected to though."
Snape smirked. "I have made it a habit to do the opposite of what is expected of me."
"Then we shouldn't have any worries about the possibility of being more closely related. You look nothing like my father so I doubt you were the one my mother slept with."
Snape snorted. "That is quite obvious. If you are related any closer than I mentioned, it would be a distant cousin at the worst. Executable even by muggle standards let alone wizarding which allows for half-siblings to marry."
Hermione cringed. "You know I think that is just...wrong."
Snape smirked. "I would agree. Crabbe and Goyle are wonderful examples of why it's such a bad idea."
Hermione almost spit her tea out. "That was more information than I ever wanted...I have to tell Harry and Ron."
Snape fiddled with his cup. "As good as it is to know that neither one of us wants to procreate we do have to consummate the bond to make it legal."
Hermione sat still for a moment. "I am beginning to really hate awkward conversations held without sleep. I'm probably going to regret this later, but...that is the least of my concerns, professor. You're more then attractive, I doubt I'll mind much."
Snape did spit out his tea, "Attractive?"
It was Hermione's turn to smirk. "Yeah, once the girls in the school get old enough to realize it you transform from evil potions master and a bloody git to an evil Slytherin sex god with a voice that should be made illegal. Not to mention you have the wounded bad boy thing down pat. There is a joke going round that listening to you read an account of the goblin rebellions would be enough to make any girl orgasm without a single touch."
Snape tried to hide his indignation and surprise...he failed. "I do not appreciate your sense of humor Miss Granger."
"I'm not joking, sir. True - your manner puts us off of ever SHOWING what we think and your appearance could use some work, but your wardrobe and that swooping thing you do makes up for your hair and teeth. You know I bet a little whiting treatment and…" Snape's glare cut her short. "Nevermind. Too many years in my parents' dental office."
Snape was quite. "Potter hexed me."
"What?"
"James Potter. He hit me with a Luridus hex in my sixth year. It was only supposed to last for a month but he mispronounced the last section and it became permanent. Poppy has never been able to correct it."
"And your hair?"
"If you would note Granger, in the mornings my hair is fine. Your locks would be a stringy mess too if you spent hours hovering over fumes and burned animal intestines all day. And you should not be complaining about hair." Snape reached out and ranked a stray curl.
Hermione indigently huffed. "Point taken. Sorry for bringing it up."
"You don't need to apologize. I still think you are delusional, but I appreciate the effort to make me feel better."
"I'm telling the truth." Snape shrugged and his face conveyed his lingering doubts. "Fine, I'll just have to prove it to you later tonight." Hermione chuckled at Snape's stunned expression. "Well, when else did you expect to consummate this thing? I knew we would have to when Harry ran into my room last night and exclaimed that he had a vision with Voldemort 'giving' me to you."
Snape stared at her in utter shock. "So you really aren't disgusted with the idea? I believe the world ended and I was not informed."
Hermione sadly shook her head. "You need an ego boost, professor. I doubt anyone really ever gets to know you do they? We'll have to fix that. To start with if I can't pretend in these rooms neither can you. Deal?"
He eyed her thoughtfully before nodding. "You be Hermione in these rooms, and I'll be Severus if that is what you wish."
"It is, so we are agreed." Hermione poured herself another cup of tea and hesitated. "Professor?"
"Yes child?"
She stared down at her cup and crewed on her bottom lip again. "You don't have a problem with ..me...do you?"
"Yes I do." Hermione hung her head. Snape chuckled and lifted her chin to look in her eyes. "You're sixteen. While I find you attractive, and I do," Hermione looked skeptical, "You are still my student. I make it a habit NOT to bed my students. I find it makes life difficult and I hate howlers."
Hermione smiled a small bit and nodded. "That makes sense. Glad we got that topic over with before hand. Tonight will be difficult enough. I guess I'm a bit insecure. Victor was the first and only man I've ever kissed and we never..."
Snape groaned. "Don't tell me."
Hermione nodded.
"Is there anyone you would rather have... Weasley or Potter?"
Hermione laughed. "Oh no, Professor. Ron would love the chance but I would never have sex with him unless the fate of the world rested on it. And Harry is Harry. My friend. Besides I have doubts as to whether or not Harry even likes girls."
Snape blinked. "Really?" A maniacal grin started to spread.
"Oh no you don't, sir! Harry hasn't said anything and I don't want to embarrass him." Hermione glared daggers.
Snape paused, "Oh all right. But you owe me."
Hermione smiled softly. "More then I can repay now, professor."
Snape's mouth curled into a feral grin. "That may not be true." Hermione blinked and Snape spoke quickly. "I want Slytherin's papers. If there are in you manor..."
She cut him off. "Their yours, sir, if we can find them."
Snape's eyes lit up. "The possibilities are endless..."
Hermione looked at the parchment he had bought out earlier, still lying on the desk. "Will you need help with this?"
Snape came back to earth and nodded. "The processes require dead on timing. I will need an assistant to aid in preparation of ingredients and to take over stirring." He looked her over carefully. "Are you interested? I would like to keep the number of people aware of this project to a minimum and you are of adequate talent to assist me."
Hermione took that for a compliment and almost hugged him. She thought better of it and simply nodded. "I would love to, sir."
"Excellent. Now if you would excuse me. It may be Sunday but both of us should be more presentable before we make an appearance in the Great Hall." Snape stood up and walked Hermione towards the door. "Are you going to tell everyone the truth before the ceremony or wait for it to come out on its own?"
Hermione thought for a few moments and answered, "I think I'll let it come out without help. The looks on peoples faces when they realize..." She couldn't help but grin. "Besides, I wouldn't know how to come out and say it. Telling Ron was hard enough and Harry helped me."
Snape nodded and opened his door for her. "I will see you when Dumbledore calls us. If Soren manages to get here in time to try and stop us, contact me or send Potter for help."
Hermione nodded and started to leave but stopped just on the threshold. "Sir, if Harry is supposed to be mad at me why would he be witnessing my bonding?"
Snape considered and answered carefully, "He's mad at you and he doesn't trust you but he wants to see this through. Besides, if he's thinking about learning the Dark Arts getting on my good side would be intelligent. We may have you two make-up once the whole Dark-Harry operation gets off the ground."
Hermione smiled brightly. "I thought that might happen. Good day Professor."
Snape fought off an answering grin, instead opting for his customary scowl. "Good day Granger."