Erised Revealed

Feelings

As the door closed to the bedroom behind Ginny and Hermione, Ginny let go of her best girlfriend and turned to her before speaking.

"Oh My Merlin! You are going to have to sleep with that gorgeous man? Lucky girl! But are you really okay with all this?" Ginny asked to the astonishment of Hermione.

"Ginny! You still think he's cute, now that you know who he is?"

"Well, of course! Snape has always been hot, and now he is closer to my age AND hot! Too bad he's taken. But I am sure you will have some fun with all that newly nubile lushness." Ginny continued. "And you didn't answer my question. Are you okay with this?"

Hermione moved to sit on the edge of the bed. "I don't know. I mean, I have never hated him, but I have never... okay I can't say never, but only for a brief period of time, have I had a crush on him. The one thing that I wasn't going to tell anybody is that when I looked into the mirror, I saw him kissing me."

Ginny sat on the bed and put an arm around Hermione as if to comfort her. "I didn't know that you liked him that much."

"That's the thing though, I don't. I mean, yeah, he is very good looking and that voice and those hands are to die for, but..." Hermione started.

"No buts. That is all you have to think about. If fate has said that you two will be together, then I really don't see what you can do about it. Just make the most of it and enjoy the envy of all the girls in this school." Ginny interrupted and effectively ended the conversation.

As soon as the door closed to the bed room, Harry seemed to come out of his daze.

"Wow, this is not what I expected to happen today, or you know, ever!" Harry said, and stood up. He started to pace as he continued.

"What did Hermione ever do to deserve this? I mean, she has always been the smart one, and now she is rewarded for her hard work by being stuck with the greasy bat of the dungeons as her future husband and a life of misery and disregard. I mean, I know that Ron and I have always took her for granted and all that, but is this what she gets for dealing with the war and surviving it? She was the one who helped the most with ending it. I mean, I did too and Ron as well, but she figured out things that neither of us did and..." Harry would have continued to rant if Ron hadn't stood up from the couch, walked over to Harry, and stopped his pacing with a hand on his shoulder.

"Don't worry, Harry. Everything will be okay. I know it doesn't seem like it but it will." Ron said, patting Harry on the back in a calming way with his other hand. After a few minutes, Harry pulled away from Ron's calming hands.

"Thanks, Ron." Harry said, smiling. As if he just remembered the others in the room, he looked around and blushed slightly. Walking to the couch again, he moved the conversation back to the original subject of Hermione and Severus' new living situation.

"What did Dumbledore say about you teaching?" Harry asked.

"Well, I know Miss. Granger stated that I wouldn't be teaching, but Dumbledore didn't in fact mention me teaching or what would be done to keep Potions a class. We are just assuming that he doesn't want me to teach in the form that I am now in. I can only guess that he will get Slughorn to teach in my place for the time being." Severus answered. "Now are there any more stupid questions that you need answered or repeated?"

Harry reared back as if struck. "That wasn't a stupid question. We needed to know that. You..." He tried to argue, but was interrupted by Ron.

"He's right. It is never good to assume something, but to ask the questions you need to know positively." Ron said, surprising everyone.