Chapter 7

It had been close to seven months since Lily had found out she wasn't pregnant, and Hermione, James, and Lily were all sitting around in Hermione's living room. They were talking about the upcoming wedding, which was planned for the following August. They had been there for almost four hours looking at magazines that Lily's mother had sent her, that were full of wedding dresses and tuxedos. Beings as Lily and James had decided to have a muggle wedding so Lily's family could attend. They had just decided on which style tuxedo to buy (the last wedding-related issue James planned to have a part in), when a letter arrived from the ministry. Hermione quickly took the letter from the owl before giving it some water and a treat and sending it on its way.

Hermione just looked at the letter for a few moments before looking up at Lily. "It's marked URGENT but Severus won't be back from looking for his rare potions ingredients for another four days and I don't know if he'd want me to open his mail."

"If it's urgent you should open it. I'm sure he'll understand." Hermione looked a little worried as she ripped open the top of the envelope.

Mr. Snape,

Due to unforeseen circumstances your viva for your Masters

in Potions has been moved to 9 am tomorrow morning. We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause you.

We shall see you tomorrow. Please being your final report and finished potion for testing.

Sincerely,

Dr. Michael J Hartman,

Potions Master and Head of the Department for the Control of Dangerous Potions

When Hermione had finished reading the letter she handed it to Lily before running to Severus's office to look for the itinerary he had left for her. When she finally found it she ran back to the living room and over to the fireplace. She threw a hand full of Floo powder, into the fireplace, before stepping in and yelling out the name of a small Irish village. Hermione just hoped that Severus hadn't already left for his next destination yet, since that would mean she wouldn't be able to get a hold of him for two more days while he was traveling.

When Hermione came out the other end she landed on something or more accurately someone very soft. She looked up to see who she had landed on, when she saw Severus's confused face looking back at her she let out a breath she hadn't realized she'd been holding. She climbed off him, helping him to stand back up.

"Hermione, what are you doing here?"

"You got a letter from the ministry. I opened it because it said it was urgent. I hope you're not mad, but it said that your viva has been moved to tomorrow morning, so I guess you can't be mad that I opened your mail because otherwise you wouldn't have known about the meeting and…" Severus put his hand over Hermione's mouth to stop her from talking.

"Hermione, I'm not mad. I was just getting ready to Floo-call you to see if there was any mail for me. Give me a minute to gather my things and we'll both head home."

Two weeks later, Hermione found herself sitting in a room just smaller then the classrooms at Hogwarts waiting for the Minister for Magic to finish his speech about the great responsibility of being a Potions Master and how big an achievement it was to reach the position of Master of any field. The Minister had been talking for almost an hour when he finally stopped and called Severus to the front of the room. After a brief exchange of words and a hand shake Severus turned and walked back to Hermione.

"Let's go, we're supposed to meet James and Lily in twenty minutes." Hermione looked up at him from where she was sitting.

"That's it, no party, no reception, just here yah go, have a nice day?" Severus looked at her before letting out a laugh.

"It might be a big accomplishment but not many people in the wizarding world care about who is a Potions Master until they need something. Now let's get going I want to stop at home before we go out." Hermione nodded her head in understanding before she took Severus's hand and started walking toward the fireplace.

When they had both finished changing into their formal robes Severus took Hermione's hand and tuned her towards him. "I was thinking this weekend we could go to the Ministry and get married." Hermione looked up at him in shock.

"NO absolutely NOT!" Hermione turned away from Severus and stomped over to the fireplace. She grabbed a hand full of Floo-powder and before Severus could even get his thoughts together she had disappeared.

Dinner that night had gone as well as could be expected with Hermione refusing to even look at Severus and Severus was deep in thought, trying to figure out why she was so mad. When they had finished eating, Hermione and Lily went into the backyard so they could talk in peace and James and Severus both went into James's office to do the same.

"Hermione, talk to me, I've never seen you so quiet, even when you're mad you love to talk." Hermione looked over at Lily from where she was sitting beside her.

"It's Severus"

"What did he do now?"

"He proposed!"

"Most women would be happy that their boyfriend wanted to marry them."

"It's not that he proposed, it's that he did it in the most unromantic way. He just took my hand and said 'let's go to the ministry and get married this weekend'. I mean I don't need a big wedding or even a big proposal but I'd like a little more effort then a quick stop at the Ministry, as if he was going shopping for a wife."

"Look men can be real idiots sometimes and, trust me I'm marrying James Potter, I know stupid!" Hermione couldn't help but laugh at this, no matter how upset she was, Lily had a point, and no man could out do James Potter when it came to random acts of utter stupidity.

While the girls sat outside talking about how stupid men can be sometimes and planning Lily and James upcoming wedding, the men were inside having a similar conversation.

"What did you do to Hermione? She looks ready to kill you!"

"I don't know, I asked her to marry me and the next thing I know she's storming off. I thought women wanted to get married."

"Look I don't know what to say, I may be getting married but that doesn't mean I have any idea how women's minds work. I just blunder along and hope I don't do anything profoundly stupid! Why don't you just wait a few days and try again maybe it was just to much of a surprise for her."

"I'll do that. I'll give it a few days then try again." After a few more minutes of talking Severus excused himself to go find Hermione so they could head home.

It had been almost two weeks since what Hermione had taken to referring to as the 'incident' and the only talk of weddings was Lily and James's. Hermione and Lily had spent almost everyday looking at churches and reception halls, talking to caterers and trying on, literally, hundreds of dresses. It had only taken Lily two days to find the perfect bridesmaid dress for Hermione but, she was having a hard time finding her dream wedding dress. And worse every time she mentioned the wedding to James, he would change the subject until she gave up and left him alone.

After a month of trying to get James to help plan the wedding Lily gave up and decided to play it the way she wanted, and if he didn't like it to bad. Hermione helped Lily with anything she could, taking it upon herself to get all the boys their tux's, Sirius, Remus and Severus all gave in and went to get their tux's as soon as they were told. Although every time Lily or Hermione mentioned it to James he would change the subject and walk away saying he was too busy.

It was two weeks before the wedding and James still hadn't gone to get his tux. Hermione had ordered his tux when she had ordered rest; all James had to do was go for his final fitting. Hermione had tried almost everything to get James to go, with only two weeks left she only had one option left and that was to trick him. She had Remus write James a quick note explaining that he needed to talk to him and for him to meet him for lunch at the 'Dorthamet Café' in Diagon Alley. There Hermione would be waiting to take him for his fitting. After that everything was ready for the wedding and Lily could spend her last two weeks of single hood in peace, with out having to worry about anything since as a wedding present her parents had told her once she had made all the arrangements they would take over checking in with various people to make sure everything is going ok, and on the day of the wedding making sure everything went right.

It had taken a lot of kicking and screaming, and the use of 'that look', but Hermione had finally got James into his tux on the understanding that it was the only time he'd have to wear it except on the 'big day'. And so it was that when Hermione woke on the day of the wedding it was to utter chaos. She could hear Lily down stairs arguing with her mother and James and Severus doing what they do best, yelling at each other, from what seemed to be, just outside her door. "Severus I'm up whatever he wants me for just let him in! Honestly you two!" They didn't take another telling, before she even had time to get out of bed let alone find her robe, both Severus and James were in the room. "Hermione I can't find my shoes, Lily's mother won't let me talk to her and Sirius can't stop throwing up! It's a disaster already!" Hermione looked up at him in complete disbelief, clicked her tongue and sighed.

"Your shoes are still in the box by the front door. It's a muggle tradition that the groom can't see the bride before the wedding and Severus, for goodness sake … can't you deal with a simple hangover potion! Oh and make sure he showers really well, he is the best man after all!"

Despite that fact that Lily's parents were supposed to be in charge of the wedding everyone seemed to be asking Hermione to solve all their problems. By the time Lily walked down the aisle the wedding had been called off thrice and both Lily and James had stormed off vowing to never come back at least twice each. Every time one of them left Hermione either went after them or she would send Severus (depending on whom left and why). She was afraid to send Sirius, what with his habit of talking before thinking. He was also more likely to add to the problem rather then fix it. So it was Hermione, who, with tears streaming down her face, cheered loudest of all at the words … 'You may kiss the bride!'

It had been almost two weeks and Hermione was starting to believe that Severus had forgotten all about proposing. Severus had started work on a new potion to slow the affects of arthritis on the few maladies that affect both muggles and wizards/witches. When Hermione had found what Severus was trying to do she had volunteered to help with the research of similar potions and why they didn't work.

It had taken Hermione 72 straight hours of looking before she found an article that had been published almost 100 years earlier about a wizard who had come very close that curing arthritis. Hermione put the other books she had been reading back on the shelves before picking up the large tomb of a book and heading off to find Severus.

Hermione walked into Severus's study and walked over to him, it was the second night in a row he had slept at his desk. She placed the book on his desk before laying her hand on his shoulder.

"Severus, Severus wake up" she whispered shaking him slightly. He woke with a groan and looked up at her groggily "Hermione?"

"You fell asleep at your desk again, if you're going to make a habit of it you should at least get a decent chair." She scolded pointing at the hard wooden chair he had taken from the kitchen, it had a high back and no arm rests. Severus sat back and sighed heavily.

"You should go to bed." She turned to leave but Severus reached out and grabbed her hand, he pulled her back, and then down so she sat sideways on his lap.

"I will, if you come with me." he said wrapping his arms around her and resting his head on her shoulder.

Hermione could feel his erection through her thin dressing gown. She stood up freeing herself from his arms and the straddled him, linking her hands behind his neck and rubbing herself against him.

"Sweet Jesus," Severus groaned kissing her hard, grabbing her waist, and pulling her to him. Desperate to increase the pressure Hermione undid his tie and quickly discarded his shirt.

"I'm naked under this gown you know." She purred in his ear.

(rest for scene deleted (just them haveing sex and going to sleep) can be found on AFF under same user name)