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Marriage Vows	By : selened Category: Harry Potter > Het - Male/Female > Snape/Hermione Views: 23720 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 1
Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter, nor any of the characters from the books or movies. I do not make any money from the writing of this story.

Chapter List
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Marriage Vows

Disclaimer: This
story was inspired by the Marriage Law Challenge on WIKTT. All Harry Potter characters belong to JK
Rowling and those with whom she has agreed contracts. This story was written for practice not profit.

Chapter Two
Decisions

Hermione stirred again and awoke to find herself lying on
her Potion master�s bed. Snape was
sitting at her side looking down at her intently. �Sorry Professor,� she
murmured.

�It doesn�t matter Hermione. You have had a great many shocks this morning. Your reaction is understandable. I think you had better drink some of this
coffee and try to force a sandwich down.�

�Thank you sir.� She
eased herself up a little and took the cup he held out to her. She sipped it slowly inhaling the
aroma. She looked up and caught his
gaze and her hand began to shake. He reached out and removed the cup gently.

�Professor� about what we were talking about?�

�Yes Hermione.�

�Were you serious?
Would you really be willing to marry me to save me from the Malfoys?�

�Yes Hermione, I would�

�This is a lot to take in Professor. I�m really quite overwhelmed. I always thought you hated me. I can�t work out why you would put yourself
out like this.�

�Hermione, I never hated you. I lack patience with younger children and I have always had
issues with the Potter family.
Furthermore I had to maintain appearances in front of the children of my
fellow Death Eaters. Treating you
unfairly was merely a tactic. I thought
you would be old enough and clearheaded enough to have worked that out for
yourself by now.�

�Well I suppose when we began working for the order and I
began to understand the kind of risks you took I wrote off your impatience a
bit but I can always remember you were the only teacher I couldn�t please� well
apart from Professor Trelawney of course.�

�Rest assured I was always impressed, I just couldn�t afford
to let it show. You are very talented
you know. Your NEWT results are greatly
anticipated by my colleagues and myself.
You stand a chance of breaking records in all your subjects. All the more reason for us to keep you here
to sit them.�

�Is that why you proposed?
To make sure I finished my education?�

�Well partly. You
are just eighteen and you�ve achieved so much already. Harry could not have won out over Voldemort
without your contribution you know. I
would never have developed that potion for him without your assistance. You deserve a chance to enjoy the freedom
you have fought for. Our world would be
a poorer place without you.�

�How much freedom would I have� being your wife?�

�You understand that marriage is for life in our world don�t
you? You would not be free to take
another husband until after my death.
That aside I would allow you to pursue your education and career
unimpeded. I would hope that in time
you might bring yourself to give me an heir but I swear I will not force
you. I would like for us to have an
amicable arrangement, a friendship if you will. If you did fall in love with another man I would try to
understand and would not bring charges against either of you.�

�Charges?�

�It�s a criminal offence for a married woman to have a lover
but only the husband can bring the charge.
The penalties are severe. As I
say I would not seek to see you punished though I would ask you to be
discreet. We know that this marriage
would be one of convenience but it would ill-suit my pride to have it
discounted as such by others.�

�Professor, by marrying me you would be giving up the right
to marry a woman you truly love in the future.
I�m scared you�ll be getting a poor bargain.�

�Hermione I have married and loved before. In the eighteen years since my wife died I
have had no inclination to form another attachment. I do not think I will ever have that inclination. You will be getting a shadow of the man I
could have been. You are young, fresh,
beautiful and powerful. Any wizard
should be proud to win you. This law is
a disgrace. You should have had your
choice of men and made up your mind at your leisure. Instead you are forced to make a rushed decision to preserve your
life. Understand me you do not want to
fall into Lucius Malfoy�s hands.�

At the word �hands� he realised he had grasped both of
Hermione�s and let go abruptly. He rose
and paced by the bed; tension evident in his posture. Hermione eyed him cautiously.

�Professor, would you have proposed if Malfoy were not
involved?

�Possibly� I don�t know.
It would have depended on your other options I suppose. If a Weasley had been available and his
competitors were not too dangerous it may have been the best course for him to
have you. However now you need someone
to stand up to Malfoy and as you pointed out earlier, not many people are able
to do that. I know well the things
Lucius Malfoy has done. My wife was his
half-sister and I strongly suspect him of involvement in her death. She was little more than a child and he had
no instinct to care for her� none!

My espionage may have helped the Order win its victory but
my words against powerful men in the Court are of no value in trials. So many walked free.

The Ministry buries its head in the sand and pretends that
amnesties and emergency laws will smooth out the problems Voldemort
exploited. They are fools. They think they�ve outgrown Dumbledore�s
wisdom but I don�t think any man is that old.�

He sat down on the bed with his back to Hermione. She sat up and reached out to him, touching
him gently on his upper arm.

�Professor� can I ask you about your wife?�

�Understand Hermione, I do not want everyone in school to
know about her. Some of the older
members of staff know. Many of them
remember her as a pupil but I don�t allow her to be mentioned in my
hearing. I think about her all the
time. It was her memory that gave me
the strength to carry on my work with all its dangers. If I share her, my memories of her, with you
I need your assurance that she will not become common matter for discussion for
people who care about neither of us.�

�I promise.�

�I first really knew Olivia Malfoy when she was a second
year. I had seen her before that but
she had no desire to be around her brother if she had a choice. She was in Ravenclaw, much to the disdain of
Lucius, who was effectively her guardian although Claudius their father was
still alive. He had already left
Hogwarts and I was in my final year. I
was already involved with Voldemort through my friendships with Lucius and
Bellatrix and he was encouraging me to develop my interest in potions. Consequently I spent all my free time down
in the potions lab working on projects and advanced potions. My professor was keen to encourage me and
asked me to tutor a very gifted younger pupil, that pupil being Olivia. As you will probably surmise I was not
keen. However when I saw Olivia and
realised that she was NEWT standard in Arithmancy and Potions at barely twelve
years of age I overcame my objection.
She told me years later that she had a crush on me at that time but I
was unaware. She was my only friend now
that Lucius and Bellatrix were gone and I enjoyed her approval. We worked together a lot during that year
until I left.

Over the next few years I continued to work for Voldemort
and became a trusted ally. However his
actions became more and more extreme. In
my heart of hearts I had concerns. I
was too fastidious to enjoy the sexual excesses of the revels and I have never
had a great love of society. I was
seeing less of Lucius since his marriage to Narcissa. He grew concerned about me and offered to give me his sister who
was now just sixteen. He made it clear
he was doing me a favour and that he was sure I could train her not to give any
trouble.

I considered the matter and accepted his offer. The alliance with his family was a good one
in terms of bloodlines. I felt she
would make a goodistaistant and my father would have no call to make any more
criticisms about my manliness.

We were married under the old contracts, which had lapsed
until Voldemort revived them. Olivia
was not present at the ceremony and my father and Lucius provided the consent
element. Olivia did not know she was
married until Lucius and I turned up at Hogwarts to remove her. I took her to my house in Italy.

I was very anxious about how I would control my wife. My fathad bad beaten my mother severely
throughout my childhood and I knew I couldn�t stomach the idea of treating
Olivia in this manner. I decided to
control her with my skill at Legilimency.
I made my first attempt to invade her mind on our wedding night.yes"> She tried to persuade me to see Dumbledore about my
concerns. I was too proud to see
him. She accepted that it was my
decision but I felt I was failing her.
I went to Voldemort two days later when he summoned me. He detained me for several hours. When I got home Olivia was dead. As far as I could tell she had received
multiple doses of Cruciatus, which triggered a miscarriage and caused her to
bleed to death. Her notes were gone and
a message on the wall said Unforgivable Cures.
It was written in her blood and�.� He broke off and twisted his hands
together.

�And you suspect Lucius?� prompted Hermione.

�I do. He alone had
access to our home. I couldn�t think of
a reason to deny him. It would have taken a specific spell to bar him because
of the bloodlink between he and Olivia.
She and I shunned visitors but the general wards we set up would not
apply to family. I didn�t for one
moment think he would take her from me.
When I saw him at the funeral Narcissa passed a comment about her being
too headstrong. I decided that they
thought she had deceived me and was working against me. I don�t know how I didn�t kill them both
there and then.

It was then I approached Dumbledore. Olivia had been a favourite of his. He trusted me. The rest of my story you
probably know, vaguely at any rate.�

�I think so. I don�t
think I�ve been told in full detail about Death Eater practices. Dumbledore wouldn�t want us to know about
that kind of thing, I�m sure. Unless I
want to find out about them first hand I suppose I will have to accept your
offer.

I see now why Dumbledore had such faith in you. You have proved yourself time and time again
with the sacrifices you made for the Order.es">
I know I need you on my side.�

He turned around to face her. His eyes seemed
brighter than usual as though hinting
at tears. He took hold of her hand as
if to shake it. She held it in both of
hers and looked him in the eye.

�Severus Snape,� she said quietly, �I will accept your offer
and I promise to give you a child, in return for your sacrifice, if I am
able. I hope we can be friends.�
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Marriage Vows