Fic: The Marriage Clause (Severus Snape/Hermione Granger, PG-13) Ship: SS/HG Word Count: 2015 Rating: PG-13 to be on the safe side Warnings: Suggestions of sex between an early adolescent and an older teen or adult Summary: Sometimes muggleborns and their parents don't agree about whether or not they should attend Hogwarts. The school has two ways of dealing with that. This is the less common one. Author Note: Originally this was meant to be a response to this prompt on Potter Kink Meme. I never quite got to the actual sex though. Oh, and I'm going with Hermione's age as it would be if the cut off date for birthdays was consistent.
Severus knew as he rushed up the spiral steps to the Headmaster's office that he wasn't going to enjoy the next few hours. Only once before had Dumbledore asked to see him immediately and that had been at the height of the war. He hoped that this time it wouldn't involve tearful teenagers seeking a way to avoid being sent to the Dark Lord by their parents.
It was for this reason that he allowed himself a quiet hiss of frustration when he entered the room and was faced with a small girl sitting in a chair across from Dumbledore's desk. A child. Brilliant. Well, at least she didn't appear to be crying.
"Headmaster?" Severus did his best to ignore the girl. "You wished to see me?"
"Ah, yes, Professor Snape." Severus narrowed his eyes at Dumbledore's tone. The old man's "jolly grandfather" act never meant anything good. At least not for him. "Please, have a seat. We are just waiting on Professor McGonagall."
Severus nodded once then sat and began to try piecing together what might require both himself and Minerva to drop everything a month before the start of term. Obviously it had something to do with the girl, but he couldn't imagine why. He knew by looking at her that she couldn't be more than a muggle-raised half-blood. Her clothing was entirely muggle and she was glancing about in utter fascination. No child raised around magic was that entranced by the Headmaster's office. No, at best the girl had a magical parent who had run off before she had a chance to know them.
He was musing on whether or not she resembled any of the wizards he knew (half-bloods with magical mothers were far more likely to know about magic, as he knew from experience) when McGonagall walked in.
"Albus, really, I was half-way to Hogsmeade when your patronus swooped down on me. Could you not at least teach it manners if you're going to insist on not using an owl like everyone else?"
Severus raised an eyebrow as Dumbledore chuckled. One day the batty old crank was going to catch Minvera in one of her worse moods and be reminded of why she was Transfiguration Mistress. Severus hoped he was there to watch.
"Professor McGonagall, please, have a seat." Dumbledore motioned to the empty chair between Severus and the girl. "As you can see, we have a student here rather early. Miss Granger, this is Professor Snape and Professor McGonagall. Professors, Miss Hermione Granger. Miss Granger's parents appear to be immune to Obliviate."
Severus stopped listening to what Dumbledore was saying after that. If it was true that the girl -- Miss Granger's -- parents were muggles who were immune to Obliviate he had a sinking suspicion he knew what would happen next.
He wanted no part of it.
Quickly, he tried to find a suitable way out. He couldn't simply refuse; the magic protecting Hogwarts students was old and stern and set in its ways. If he outright refused to help the girl the castle would consider him a possible threat and begin working against him. It would be easier to simply throw himself off Gryffindor Tower. Faster and likely less painful as well.
No, he'd have to find an acceptable replacement. Someone trustworthy, someone responsible, given Miss Granger's age preferably someone young. Someone the castle would have to see as a better candidate. If they were handsome then all the better. It might make things easier on the girl.
Severus was part-way through the D's with no hopeful prospects when he heard his name.
"-- and as Professor Snape is the youngest man on the staff I thought he was the obvious choice."
"Me?" Severus tried to sound flattered. It wouldn't work on Dumbledore or Minerva, but it might make the girl more likely to listen to him. If she agreed to another choice even the castle would have to oblige her.
"I may be the youngest on the staff, but there are other options. Why not one of the Weasley boys? They would understand and I'm sure Mrs Weasley would love another daughter," he glanced at the girl, "Their third son, Percy, is only a few years older than you and he has a sister and brother around your age. Percy would, of course, require his parents' consent, but Mrs Weasley has never been able to say no to a child who needs help."
Severus watched as the girl began considering his words. Good. Percy would not have been his first choice, but he was a polite enough boy and his mother would keep him in line. Besides, he hadn't had time to come up with anyone better.
Of course, he should have known that Dumbledore would not have called him away from his summer brewing only to give up that easily. He shook his head and gave Severus a mournful look that everyone except the girl knew was fake.
"Percy, Severus? You would leave a task as...delicate...as this," he nodded in the girl's direction, "to a fifteen year old boy?"
Severus grit his teeth. No, he would prefer not to, but a teenage boy was still better than a grown man like himself. "Charlie, then. Or Bill. They're both old enough to understand the sensitivities involved, but Miss Granger would still have the benefits of a family."
This time it was Minerva who dashed his hopes. It seemed the elder Weasley boys were abroad fighting dragons and mummies or some other Gryffindor idiocy.
For the better part of an hour Severus put forth any reasonably acceptable young man he could think of only to be disappointed. There weren't many wizards of appropriate age to begin with; most couples put off having children until after the war. Severus finally resorted to offering to brew a borderline illegal potion ("Absolutely not.") before turning to make his final appeal to Miss Granger herself.
He felt slightly bad as he did so; the girl had sat surprisingly quietly during the entire ordeal, interrupting only once to ask if she might have a cup of tea. If one had to be stuck with a child forever he supposed she wouldn't be too dreadful.
Still, he found the very idea abhorrent and that simply would not do. Had he any chance of surviving outside Dumbledore or Lucius' protection he'd simply refuse. He hadn't though and that meant he had to convince the girl not to agree. Better she be tutored privately once she came of age than be subjugated to this medieval atrocity. He pushed the knowledge that most untrained children either lost their magic or killed themselves before their fifteenth birthday to the back of his mind.
"Miss Granger." He waited until he had the girls' full attention before continuing. "You have been mislead."
As expected, Dumbledore and Minerva immediately broke in. Severus cut them off before they could finish a full word.
"No. Both of you, if you want me to be a part of this I insist on doing it my way." He turned back to the girl. "What, exactly, have you been told?" The girl hesitated for a moment, looking back and forth between Severus and Dumbledore and worrying her lower lip beneath two rather large front teeth. Then she took a visible breath and looked Severus in the eye. He tried not to be too impressed.
"There are only two ways for a minor to attend Hogwarts. The most common is for parents to give their permission. However, occasionally a parent will deny consent. In that case a minor wishing to go against their parents' wishes must be placed in the care of another. With muggleborn children this is most often done by Obliviating the parents and placing the child with a magical family.
"Very rarely a muggleborn's parents will not respond to Obliviation, thus requiring an alternative method. The first instance of this happening was in 1605 when Hogwarts created the Marriage Clause to allow Elizabeth Arkwright to attend after her parents nearly had her hanged.
"The Marriage Clause states that if a minor student marries a qualified witch or wizard they are for all intents and purposes no longer the child of their parents, but the ward of their new husband or wife. As the clause was created by the magic of Hogwarts itself it is the only known alternative to Obliviation for muggleborn students."
Severus stared for a few moments before he managed to get his thoughts back in order. The girl had just quoted directly from Hogwarts, A History. He'd have to check to be sure, but he thought she'd done it verbatim as well.
The girl ducked her head somewhat sheepishly, "Professor McGonagall left me a book when she visited yesterday."
Severus inclined his head. "I see. Miss Granger, has anyone told you what a magical wedding entails?"
She nodded. "Yes, sir. Magical weddings blend the magical essences of the people being married. We wouldn't be able to get divorced and, um," here she lowered her head again, her cheeks taking on a pink tinge, "in order for Hogwarts to know we're married we'd have to...um...have sex. Here. In the castle." She paused, and then looked up again. "Sir? Does it have to be in a special room? I think I'd be too embarrassed to go in a room if I knew everyone who'd been in there had...done that...in there."
Severus lifted an eyebrow. "It does not matter. Miss Granger, are you aware of what it is called when an adult desire to have sex with a child?" He waited while the girl thought for a moment before shaking her head. "It is called paedophilia and it is a very serious illness that no magic can cure."
He watched as the girl sank down in her seat before nodding and saying quietly, "I understand. I know I'm not pretty like other girls."
Severus pinched his brown and tried to control his frustration. He could feel Minerva glaring at him, but this was another reason he couldn't do it. He was in no way equipped to care for an adolescent girl. He didn't even enjoy teaching them.
"Miss Granger. Miss Granger," he repeated a bit more sharply, "look at me. This has nothing to do with your appearance. No," he cut off her forming argument, "it truly does not. It has to do with how extraordinarily inappropriate it is for a 31 year old man to have sex with an 11 year old little girl -- particularly when that little girl is going to be his student."
"Ten," the girl mumbled. She glanced up, "I'm not quite eleven yet. My birthday is in September."
Severus stared at her for a moment before jumping out of his chair and leaning over Dumbledore's desk. "TEN?!" he shouted. "Ten? Albus, you can't be serious. I doubt she's even physically ready yet! Send her home for a year; her parents may still change their minds and the extra magical maturity will make her lessons easier."
Dumbledore sighed sadly and shook his head. "Miss Granger? Would you please explain?"
The girl nodded. "My parents are going to send me to live with my mum's cousins in Australia. I heard them talking last night. Dad said that if Hogwarts is a British school then all they have to do is get me out of Britain."
Now it was Severus' turn to sigh. The girl's parents were right. If she was raised in the magical world then it wouldn't matter, Hogwarts would recognise British magical descent no matter where she lived. Muggleborns were different though, only a fraction of them descended from old enough lines to count. Most were very recent additions to the magical world, some even the first in their entire family history to have magic. There was a nearly 99% chance that if the girl left Britain no one in the magical community would ever see her again.
"Miss Granger," he asked as he sank back down into his seat, "tell me what you know about sex."