Hermione looked out at the stormy summer day and immediately wished she'd picked a different day to obtain her dress robes for the wedding. It was Saturday, nearly a month until the wedding, and she was stuck under one of the awnings in Diagon Alley far away from the shop she had intended to go to. 

Stopping in for a quick biscuit, she had not expected the sky to open up. 

Glancing about the shops she was located near, Hermione's heart skipped a beat at the sight of Mr. Samsen's potions store. She needn't get excited, there was no need for her to think that he worked there every day, even if most of the wizards who owned their business did. 

She loved the stuff he'd given her for her hair, in fact, it worked better than anything she'd ever tried before. Hermione would certainly be stocking up on it, and she was quite sure he wouldn't mind a compliment about it. 

That was what propelled her to go out in the downpour, also testing how the product in her hair held up against such terrible rain. She put her wand in the air to protect her somewhat from the falling water, but it did not completely help.

Her shoes were soaked when she barged into the pristine shop, and she looked up abashedly at Mr. Samsen. 

"Hello," she said quickly, attempting to dry off with a few charms as he chuckled.

"Hello. Get caught in the rain?" 

"Obviously," she moaned, "But stopping in here was not a coincidence. I wanted to let you know that I will be back for more of your hair product. I am thoroughly impressed by it."

He smiled at her comment, and Hermione realized exactly how starved of the dating life she was when her entire chest blossomed with heat at the sight. And why did she have a thing for older men? 

"Thank you."

He bowed his head slightly with the words. 

He was wearing slightly less black than the previous day, but the change was only in the grey suit pants he wore. 

"Do you mind if I loiter for a moment? I really don't care for walking in the rain. I'm here for a dress for the wedding."

"Ah yes, for Draco and Luna." 

"Right," Hermione said, "Are you... invited?" There was no tactful way she could ask such a question and settled for mere direct delivery. 

He did not seem disappointed, however, so she assumed that that was a yes. 

"I am invited, yes. I have not decided on whether I will be in attendance, though."

"Well why not?" Hermione found herself far too interested in his motives, "I mean, it isn't like you have people there who would begrudge your presence, yes? And if Draco invited you then he obviously wants you there." 

Mr. Samsen looked as though Hermione had hit just a bit too close to home, "It is still up in the air for me is all. I would have to keep the store closed for the day." 

Hermione forgot about that. Taking a day off from the ministry was far less inhibiting than losing a whole day of business. 

"And," he added suddenly, "There will be people there I would like to avoid. You must understand that? Right, Miss Granger?"

"Yes, but it's no reason to miss out on a wedding! I think they're quite lovely, myself. I'm years from one, to be frank, but vicariously living through them is plenty for me."

He scoffed, looking at her as though she'd said something odd. 

"I highly doubt it will take long for you to obtain a suitor, Miss Granger. If not only for being who you are."

The words were overly kind, she felt, and the heat on her cheeks had no place being there. 

"I would like to attract someone for the person they do not see in The Prophet, though."

He grinned, "That is what I meant."

"You hardly know me," she replied, not entirely sure why it mattered. He was Draco's friend, he shouldn't matter to her, nor should she be finding him attractive. 

It seemed as though Mr. Samsen wanted to protest. She watched him go to do it, too, but he stopped blank, closing his mouth as though something embarrassing had come from it. 

"You are correct, Miss Granger. Forgive me."

She felt bad for shooting him down, but she knew she was right overall. 

Sem Samsen really did appear to be a nice person... not like others she knew who thought that by reading The Prophet they knew all they needed to about her. It was ludicrous for some of the men to even think that she would fall for their cheesy lines or awful smiles. Hermione could not care one lick about looks, and her heart wanted something more than some random wizard with a good face to keep her company for the rest of their life. 

"I did not mean to shut you down, Mr. Samsen. I just... I hold a lot of pride in who I am, and I won't compromise that, not ever."

"Good," he replied, and Hermione smiled, happy to know she hadn't completely torn him down. 

"So, how did you meet Draco?" She'd been curious for a while now, and what better way to sate such curiosity than the captive rain outside? 

"He knows my benefactor," he answered slowly, as though he wasn't entirely sure of his won answer. 

"And who's that?" 

-

Severus felt the weight of that question almost immediately. Did he tell her and let her hate them both, or did he lie? 

Both dismal options, but he chose the more comforting one. 

"Severus Snape." 

He saw the ramifications of such a reply quicker than he had said his own name, and he sighed when she clammed up. 

"Miss Granger... Hermione," he implored, but she put up a hand, effectively silencing anything he could have hoped to say to rectify the situation. 

"You do know what he is, right? He played for both sides of the war like someone... with both hands in two different pots of gold. I can't... cannot," she was flustered now, "Believe anyone would take his money, let alone you." 

Severus could have laughed at the irony, but her disappointment was stark against his heart, and he realized what the past few days of thinking of her had done to his feelings. 

"He is very invested in potions, Miss Granger. Does it come as much of a surprise that he would take to the venture? I went through all of my proceedings with Draco, however. No need to worry that I spent an over-bearing amount of time with him."

Hermione was not any less flustered than before, but her options were limited as the storm raged on outside. How fitting that there be two storms going on before Severus's eyes. 

One quelled, however, and it wasn't the one thundering against the windows. 

"Sorry," she muttered with only half meaning behind it. "I think I over-reacted a bit. While I do not care for Snape in the slightest bit, I am rather inclined towards you."

If she meant even a tiny bit of what that implicated, Severus was going to have to make waste to his own identity and become Sem Samsen forever. 

He knew life couldn't go on like that indefinitely, however, and he shrugged back the thought. 

"Well, it seems that we share that feeling."

She gave him the warmest smile, and he supposed that with someone else's face, and, if he was being honest, someone else's personality, that is what possessed him to round the counter and walk up to her. 

He offered her his hand, checking to make sure the rain had not dulled, and relished the soft touch of hers. 

"You wouldn't happen to need a date to the wedding, would you?" Severus wouldn't believe himself, wondering where the courage had come from as he gripped her hand just a bit tighter. 

"I am in need, as it would seem."

"Then I would be honored to accompany you if you so wish it."

She blushed, and with just slight disbelief, Severus watched her smile too. 

He couldn't believe his luck, and neither could Draco when Hermione was finally gone from the shop and he'd popped in to see how it had went. 

"So you're going to the wedding?"

"Is that all you got out of this?" Severus questioned, his patience with the boy infinite considering how high up he was floating. 

The emotions hadn't even come to light fully until that day, but now that they were there, Severus could do little to deny them. He was infected, and something in this felt different than anything he'd experienced before. 

"No, but people and their RSVP's are egregiously untidy. It's good to know at least the two of you are showing up! Luna is far less worried than I, which makes little sense. I love her dearly, though, and I'm glad one of us is sane."

Draco seemed to contemplate that statement, for no one really ever considered his bride sane, but it was one of her endearing qualities. Besides, she was the sanest person he knew. 

"Well, count us down for two, then. I don't know how much further than the wedding my little charade can go, though. Hermione is a brilliant witch. I honestly thought she would have found me out by now."

"She's too taken with you..." Draco said with his face pinched into thinking. "Did you add a love potion into the polyjuice?"

Severus looked up from his parchment books and glared. 

"Right, of course not. Regardless, you're absolutely right. You can't lead her on forever lest she get attached to someone who doesn't exist."

"I know... but for now it will be nice to go to an event and not feel as though someone wants to spell my brains out." 

Draco smiled reassuringly, but it did nothing to make Severus feel better. Sure, he could pretend all he wanted for the next few weeks, but after the wedding it would be best to break it off with Hermione. 

He had no idea how hard that would be in the future, though. 

"Why don't you test the waters of how she feels for you by running the shop as yourself one day and hope she pops in?" Draco suggested. 

Talk about circumstance. 

Of course, the idea did not sound all that bad, and a few days later, he spent the day as himself, no one seeming to care all that much as far as normal patronage went. 

That was until Hermione Granger came through the door at lunch time. 

She stopped dead in her tracks when she spotted him, his normal hair and facial features on display for her disgusted eyes. Regret filled him instantly. 

"Miss Granger," he greeted, her frozen posture quite the sight. 

"Snape."

He felt loathed, to say the very least. 

"Can I help you?"

"No!" She said quickly, her tone prideful, "I was here to see Mr. Samsen. Where is he?" 

Interrogation? What did she think? That he'd revoked the "loan" he'd given himself and took the shop for himself. 

"He needed a day off, he said. Time to prepare for the wedding."

Why he brought that up, he had no idea, but she seemed to stiffen at the mention of it. 

"Right, well." She ruffled a bit, as though she had feathers to preen. "I will come back another day to see him. Good day."

"Good day," he answered warmly, but she wouldn't catch it, not with her back turned and halfway through the door already. 

Why he was even trying was beyond him, but with the wedding so close and no possible way he could rescind their conjoined adventure at the event, Severus decided to stick it out. He wanted to make Draco happy anyways, even if he couldn't go as himself. Severus also wanted to make himself happy too, he just hoped it wasn't at the cost of anyone else's happiness. He'd done that once before, and that was one mistake he would never repeat. 

{2/4}