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Hermione Granger was observant. She was always a curious child, wanting to know the reasons behind everything she encountered and she sometimes drove her parents crazy with all of her questions. It had been almost a relief to her parents when she was 11 and had received her acceptance letter to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, knowing that they wouldn’t have to try to navigate her teenage years as her curiosity was sure to only grow in leaps and bounds.
It was the first day of third year Potions with Professor Snape. If anyone had asked Hermione who her favourite professor was, they would be shocked to learn that it wasn’t her Head of House and Transfiguration professor, but it was actually the dour Potions Master! Snape challenged her in ways that no other professor did, likely due to her not only being a Gryffindor, but also being muggleborn.
She watched, and gasped in shock as she saw a glimmer of metal on his finger.
“Professor Snape got married!” Her exclamation came out as a hiss to her companions, Harry Potter and Ron Weasley. Harry, looked up, caught Snape’s eye by accident and quickly turned his eyes back to his text. Ron, on the other hand, spoke out.
“Who would marry that?”
“Who, indeed, Mister Weasley,” Snape sneered. The man arrived quietly and Ron nearly fell of his stool in response. “Detention tonight, Weasley.” Snape stalked back to the front of the classroom an began the lesson.
When the loud gong sounded indicating the end of the class period, everyone rushed to clean up their stations and shove their belongings in their bags except for Hermione. She told her friends not to wait for her and she approached the desk. Snape looked up from the parchment he was reading and raised an eyebrow at her.
“Miss Granger, class is dismissed.”
“Yes, I know,” Hermione said, now flustered. “But I wanted to say congratulations on your marriage.” Snape’s lips grew thin.
“You are fifteen years late with those wishes, but I thank you.” Hermione’s eyes widened.
“Fifteen years, sir? But you’ve never worn a ring before.”
“And now I am. Miss Granger, my personal life is none of your business.”
“Of, course, sir.” Hermione shifted her weight from one leg to the other and Snape let out an exasperating sigh.
“What is it?”
“I was only wondering if you had any children?”
“Yes,” the response was curt, indicating the conversation was over.
Hermione frowned. She had hoped for a little more information than that. She wondered if his children were at Hogwarts, or perhaps they had been sent to Durmstrang. Draco Malfoy had always been bragging about how he had almost gone to the school that was more focussed on Dark Arts than Hogwarts and so it made sense to her that the dark man might have sent his children there.
Hermione wondered about the type of woman who would have married Snape. Fifteen years ago would have been a year before she was born and surely her professor hadn’t been very old. She was curious, but she nodded at her professor and thanked him before picking up her overfull satchel and leaving the classroom.
Harry and Ron had been waiting for her in the corridor.
“What took you so long,” Ron asked. “I’m starving!” Hermione rolled her eyes.
“You’re always hungry, Ronald. I was congratulating Professor Snape on his marriage and he told me he had been married for fifteen years! He must have been married quite young,” she pondered. Ron scoffed.
“Bet it was an arranged marriage.”
“Arranged?”
“Sure,” Ron replied. “It’s a pureblood thing, innit? All the dark families do it. I bet Malfoy already knows who he will marry….bet it’s Parkinson.” He made a face.
“But why would Professor Snape suddenly start wearing his ring?” Ron shrugged.
“Mum got mad at Dad once when he forgot to wear his.”
“But he never wore a ring before,” Hermione said, more to herself than to her friends. She needed to know. It was like a strange fire had been lit inside her. It really didn’t matter at all to her in the long run, but her curiosity was going to get the better of her. She wondered if old editions of the Daily Prophet would have marriage notices. She swiftly turned away from her friends and headed down the corridor that lead to the library.
“Where are you going,” Harry called after her.
“Library.”
Ron rolled his eyes.
“Ugh, come on, Harry. I don’t want to miss Lunch.”
###
The classroom for the first Defence Against the Dark Arts class of the year was loud. Mostly, it was the females in the class discussing their currently absent professor, with a few comments here and there thrown in by some of the boys.
“Did you see his eyes? They’re so unique.”
“And his hair looks like spun gold with flecks of silver in it. I want to run my hands through it!”
“Did you see he has an eyebrow ring? I wonder if he has any other piercings!”
“I bet he’s hiding lots of muscles under all those robes!”
“Oooh, I bet he’ll roll up his sleeves while teaching and we’ll see them.”
“His fingers are so long.”
“Did you see his scars? I wonder if he was an Auror and he got them fighting Death Eaters!”
“How tall do you think he is? I bet he’s taller than Professor Snape!”
“I heard him speak to Snape this morning. His voice is so growly and sexy.”
“He was ill the first day of classes. I hope he’s alright.”
“Did you see his arse? It’s well fit.”
“You know what they say about men with big feet, right?”
“I caught a glimpse of a tattoo on his wrist. I bet it’s kushty.”
“I bet he has an earring, too.”
“Maybe he got his scars fighting dragons!”
“I heard he used to be an unspeakable.”
“Pity he’s wearing a wedding ring.”