"Hello Lucius," she said politely, though every bone in her body wanted to hex the wizard.

"Why are you here so late?" He seemed to wonder with a glint in his eye, one that did not bode well in Hermione's mind.

The brunette witch knew what he was doing, Lucius was trying to draw her away from his son so they could do whatever it was they did. She tried very hard to not think about what exactly that was.

"I asked her the same," Draco answered for her before Hermione could even attempt to form a phrase of reply.

"Well then, did you get an answer?"

"She wanted to see me about something, Severus sent her," Draco falsified happily, pushing his glasses up the length of his pale nose.

"Ah," there was genuine disappointment in his tone, not surprising, really, "I'll be returning up then."

He left surprisingly easily as Draco laughed in his wake.

"Crazy, old buzzer. My father is a nosy bastard at his best."

"I know," Hermione decided was the correct response, and it was since the blonde laughed.

"About Harry then, what exactly did you want to discuss of my best Auror. He hasn't sent you to do business for him again, has he?"

"No, more personal matters, really," she admitted. Merlin, this Harry would probably murder her before anyone could figure out what had happened with the original Hermione Snape.

The Minster's face fell, his expression a bit gloomy, almost matching the color of his eyes. She watched him shift and gently swipe his wand over his work so it all landed in a neat pile next to his feet resting casually on his middle table.

"Hermione, Harry and I have personally discussed this," he sounded pained by the thought of such a conversation.

"Then why aren't you two together?" She wondered bluntly.

Ripping his glasses off, Draco rubbed at his eyes and looked at her in a blank look.

"What good would my laws do if I didn't uphold them?"

"Bollocks," she surprised herself in the lack of grace in her own words, "Your law states only pureblood unions are prohibited."

"Don't you think I know that?" He growled, "But if they see a pureblood wizard with a half-blood then they'll think that I don't want my own laws to work out. I want there to be a larger wizarding population, Hermione."

"I know what you want," she said frustratedly, "But you want Harry! He wants you!"

"I am happy with Xander, Madame Snape."

Now the man sounded entirely professional, but Hermione knew he was using it as his defense towards her blatantly correct assumption.

"Get rid of the law."

"If I get rid of it, all unions are null that were formed under it," he said in regret almost immediately, "When I created it, I wasn't in love with Harry."

The man regretted what he said then faster than death came from the unforgivable.

"Listen, I didn't--"

"Draco!" She fought, "Why would you create a law like that?"

"Why does it matter to you?" The blonde sneered, "You have always wanted to get your paws on that Weasley and leave my god-father. The law ending would be good for you!"

Hermione wasn't entirely sure why she felt this odd sense of preservation when it came to the bond her and Severus shared, even if they didn't truly have one. The fact she severed Hermione Snape and Severus' bond without him knowing showed that it was extremely weak if not nonexistent in the first place. What she and he shared now was no more a marriage than a muggle's form of paper and a ring. Still, however, Hermione found herself warring over the bond she had with her husband. There was a nagging behind her brain that wanted nothing to do with severing it, and the witch was scared to think she even cared for him just a little. Snape was the same man who had fought on the wrong side of the war, she reminded herself earnestly, no matter what world he was an untrustworthy man and Dumbledore had been wrong to trust him. There was no changing her mind no matter how many warm and delicious meals he brought her. Severus was not a man she cared for... though even after much convincing herself in silence Hermione didn't seem to want an end for their nuptials.

"Hermione?" Draco pulled her back into existence, looking at her with concern, "Did I offend you?"

"No, but I do not wish to see my bond broken as much as the next witch or wizard out there. There must be a way to change it?"

Pursed lips indicated a negative response.

"I don't want the law changed, love."

Letting out a deep breath that she'd been holding for a rather unhealthy amount of time, she nodded. There wasn't any getting somewhere with that wizard, not this night anyways. Maybe she would have Harry push the stubborn git against the wall and snog him.

Maybe.

"Fine," she bit, attempting at playful though Hermione was not entirely sure of her success rate.

Draco stood with her as she flattened her robes and delicately looked over the premises, smiling all the while. At least he didn't wear a scowl on his face every moment of every day.

"I shall see you again soon then?"

"Yes, I think so," Hermione replied, accepting the hug that he initiated.

"No hard feelings?"

"No, because I shall win you over some day."

"If you insist, Hermione," Draco said pitifully, but Hermione Granger was determined to prove herself to this world.

She was not, however, prepared for getting pulled to the side when the doors had firmly shut behind her outside the manor.

Looking to her culprit, she was not all that surprised to see a full head of blonde and long hair covering a curious face. If the heat of summer had dulled with the night, it had just again risen with this man's incessant presence.

"You had very late business with my son. If he wasn't bent I would have been sure you were swayed from me."

Hermione felt like a doll as he held her in his arms, pressing his forehead against hers. She hated the small feeling he evoked in her, and that was why her hands were pressing against his chest, pushing him back just a bit.

"No, you're safe," she forced out regrettably, swallowing the fact that Lucius made every bone in her body want to shed skin.

"Wonderful, now what business did Severus send?" He asked his his head tilted to the side, lips brushing uncomfortably against her temple, then her cheek, then her neck.

An excuse was coming to her mind, though it struggled its way through as Lucius distracted her quite disgustingly for a moment.

"Hogwarts' business, reform questions for the school year," she said on the fly, pushing him back yet again so that he would stop kissing her. Honestly, it felt like someone was putting sharp ice against her pulse.

Luckily enough she recalled the papers Draco had sent Severus that morning, so it would be very plausible... it was also where Draco had probably gotten the idea.

"What a boring man, though he does keep his abnormally large nose out of our business, so I suppose I cannot complain," Lucius drawled.

At that, Hermione did something she knew she would regret.

"Don't you dare speak of him like that."

The blonde let go of her, quite befuddled in his own grey eyes, much different than Draco's, showcasing a bit of the green monster lurking in their depths.

"Like what? I offended merely his appearance, you can't hardly stand to even look at him."

Hermione felt guilty that he looked so wounded by her defense, but this was slowly letting him down right? The little voice in the back of her head that seemed to sound a lot like Harry in the past few hours said a definite no.

"Still," she amended, "Just don't talk about him."

"I can deal with that," he agreed huskily, leaning down to place his lips on hers with a gentle press that was gentle for all but two seconds.

The kiss was probably the most revolting thing she had ever experienced, and Hermione thought it couldn't get worse until his mouth pried her jaw open, attempting to deepen the kiss.

"It's late," Hermione interrupted with a heavy step backwards, "I've got to go before Severus asks questions."

His light brows creased over aged eyes, and Hermione wondered what in Merlin's name her other self saw in this wizard.

"You're so unlike yourself tonight, my love," he noticed, "What's the matter?"

To hell with the voice that told her not to do anything immediately, she really couldn't kiss Lucius Malfoy until he decided to drop her for whatever plan she came up with to get him to do such a thing. Not that that was her plan, but holding it out any longer would be inhumane on her own account let alone his.

"I don't want to do this anymore."

"This?" He said almost laughingly, but when his grey orbs found hers, Hermione could tell the slimy git knew what she'd meant.

Merlin, Hermione should have ended it at the party.

"Is this why you avoided me at the party? And suddenly you started to defend Severus? You just looked so uncomfortable, I thought it was the people. You never were a crowd person Hermione," he said as though trying to prove he knew her and that he couldn't let her go all in a single sentence.

"I'm sorry," she lied.

"It's not him, is it? You're not suddenly falling for your husband?"

The brunette wanted to say no... she should have said no, but instead her shoulders gave a pathetic shrug that infuriated Malfoy to a temper akin to the Death Eater version she knew and was far more comfortable with. Who would have thought she would ever be comfortable with him being a Death Eater?

"Fine then, go home to your husband and that hateful brat of his, but don't you dare come back here and beg for my heart again. Thanks to you, I have none."

With a flourish Malfoy's seemed to be known for, Lucius was gone into his home, and no matter what constellation she was looking at, Hermione thanked them all. Though he'd left rather peacefully, she could have done without his final few, and very over dramatic, words.

Returning to Spinner's End that evening, Hermione looked around cautiously as she opened the door to her home, not too sure what exactly to expect from her husband as a response to her disappearance.

"You missed dinner," spoken in a calm and less-than-caring tone was certainly not it.

"I am very sorry I ran out like that and missed what I am sure was a wonderful meal."

Hermione walked into the sitting room just before the kitchen and looked at Severus as he read the paper, The Daily Prophet open in front of him, pictures moving about as articles scrolled on as well.

"Where did you go?" He asked, but the question seemed forced, as if he hadn't ever cared to ask before.

"Nowhere important."

"Ah," Severus atoned, obviously regretting asking in the first place.

Hermione, after having dealt with what she had on the Malfoy end of things, was exhausted. Collapsing on the couch next to her husband was the only logical thing to do, she thought. Hermione may not like him, but he was the only support she had right then without attempting to find Harry. Merlin knows Sagitta wouldn't be of any help.

Taking the initiative, she leaned against him as he read the last few articles of the paper, not caring of the looks his black eyes danced with, the paper in mid-turn halted in the air. Hermione took less notice to the articles being set down, his thin arms pulling her close as her eyes fell shut and his scent overwhelmed her. That was the only sense she could use, it seemed, the wonderful smell of a man who spent days looking through parchment and who spent an unimaginable amount of time with children as the Headmaster of a school. Maybe, just maybe, Hermione felt that there in that moment, this Snape was a different person.

The kiss placed on the top of her head could have proved such a theory if she hadn't been asleep already, breaths even and eyes shut tight.

A/N

Hi again!!! Please comment!

Love you all!!

I won't let them dance around one another too long, alright😉?

Besides, I'm only five chapters ahead, and I already have them getting together written! Hopefully that makes you feel better!!!