Hermione sat in the room she shared with Ginevra Weasley alone looking out into space. She was beside herself to the point of silence. The war was over and the side of light had won. There were celebrations abound. Even now six months later there were still celebrations. But all those would come to an end today. The Ministry Of Magic in their infinite wisdom had passed a marriage law. All witches of child bearing age and over the age of seventeen had to marry. Hermione sat on the bed with the paper scrunched up in her hand. This would end her prospects. She'd probably get paired with a wizard who wanted her to stay home. Said wizard would want her to pop out heirs like Molly Weasley. As the wheels churned at high speeds at imagining her abysmal future there was a shriek downstairs followed by the hurried footsteps of many and the door slamming open.

"Mione look!" shrieked Ginny smiling. Hermione turned and looked at her younger friend and saw the ring. Harry had proposed to her and was standing behind her beaming along with Ron.

"I'm pleased." Said Hermione faking her joy. They'll marry so young. She couldn't do that. She wanted to live a life on her own before settling down with someone she loved. Ginny picked up immediately on Hermione's glum state But she continued on.

"Who's going to propose to you I wonder?" asked Ginny thoughtfully.

"No one." Commented Hermione.

"But you have to marry too."

"You misunderstand the law Ginny. You may have been lucky to have Harry propose to you. No one will say no to the match. But no one will want to be with me. I will be assigned to a man I don't know and most likely don't like and live my life miserable." Hermione than stood and walked out of the room and out the burrow to be on her own and sulk. Her hopes and dreams were smashed to smithereens without her consent.

SS/HG

Severus Snape sat in the dungeons staring at the fireplace. He had just thrown the daily prophet in the fire and watched it turn to embers and ashes. How dare they? He'd lived on his own volition and genius in hopes of finally being his own man. In hopes of finally being able to live his life under his own rules and now he had to marry. This was unacceptable but as it was the ministry he couldn't storm in and make his voice heard. Even though he was declared innocent of all charges there were still those who sought his head on a platter. And so Severus sat and ruminate don his next moves.

"Maybe I could leave the country and start from scratch?" he thought out loud. No, they'd search him out and bring him back to British soil. "Maybe he could send out some inquiries." Then he remembered the stipulations of the law. Men and women will be assigned to each other. The only non-assignments will be matches of real love. And Severus knew there were ways to tell if a coupe were genuine so he couldn't even find someone who would be willing to fake it with him. Severus realized he would once again become victim to a system he didn't want to follow.

SSHG

For months there were pairings of Hermione and Severus with other witches and wizards. None of them panned out. The witches paired with Severus were all former students or former classmates and all were afraid of him. The wizards paired with Hermione were former classmates or much older men that couldn't handle a woman who could take care of herself in everyway. And so for three months Severus and Hermione were unsuitable. Until, through the wise thinking of one Kingsley Shacklebolt they were asked to the ministry.

Severus and Hermione were told to come to the ministry to the department of Marriages and Divorces. They were not told that the other was to come and thus at two in the afternoon found themselves locked in a room with a table between them. They were fuming at being locked in the room but surprisingly not locked with each other.

Severus had had an affinity for Hermione Granger. He admired her thirst for knowledge. Though, at first she was annoying and thought it was okay to throw her intellect into the face of others. but as the years went on and she started to become more aware of herself and her surroundings, she started to mellow out and would think before raising her hand or writing an essay. Still, she could recite any piece of information verbatim, but she could add her own opinions and assumptions and knowledge of other things to expand on the idea rather than solely relying on what was written before her.

Severus had also noted that during her time at Hogwarts, the year on the run, and the five and a half month rush to study and complete her NEWTS (which she had gotten O's for all except divination) that Hermione had not only matured intellectually and socially but also physically. After the final battle Severus had noted that Hermione had lost a lot of weight due to insufficient food and had gotten quite pale. But in the time it took her to study and take her NEWTS Severus had seen a change and finally come to realize that Hermione was in fact a woman now.

Hermione had grown to be only about three to four inches shorter than Severus. Due to living at the Weasley residence she had three healthy meals a day and didn't have the imminent threat of death hanging over her head. She had gotten some color in her skin, her hair had grown longer but more controlled and she had filled out in the right places giving her a curvier form. She was nice to look at as he sat in the room.

Hermione on the other hand had some affection for her former potions professor. At first he was the dour dungeon bat. Always making a fool of her and always making her feel inferior just because she was one of Harry Potter's best friends. But as the years went by, and she started to understand the world she lived in, she became more aware of him. She became more aware of the actions Ron, Harry, and herself had on Severus. She noted the days when he was in a particularly sour mood and how they always correlated to something drastic happening. Thus she knew long before anyone else other than Albus that Severus Snape was more than he seemed. Somehow, maybe intuition, she knew that he was not evil. Hell, there were many times where he could have simply killed Her and Ron and taken Harry to Voldemort himself but he never did.

And so Hermione had grown to like Severus. Even having the opportunity to have one on one classes with Severus for Potions and DADA. He had become more calm and affable towards her. His meanness was all an act after all. He took the time to explain ideas and technicalities to her. Of course there were the few times they got into heated arguments but they were over theories of potions.

Hermione also noted what being free had done for Severus. He looked healthier now. his skin was no longer sickly looking. He was till pale but it was a natural paleness rather than one caused by stress and living in the dungeons. His hair wasn't as greasy; he didn't spend so many hours in the lab anymore slaving over cauldrons. He had gained some weight now that he could sleep normal hours and partake a good healthy meals three times a day. And the scars from both Nagini's bite and the slashes from Voldemort were starting to blend into to his skin and not look as pink and ragged. Thankfully neither attack had caused to much damage other than blood loss which Severus easily fixed. He looked handsomer. He wasn't the conventional handsome. But now that he was healthier he definitely looked more approachable.

And so they sat there staring at each other or into Space.

"So, what do we do?" Asked Hermione as she looked him in the eye.