You propose marriage to Severus to offer him the protection of your Pureblood family.

You and Severus drifted apart after Hogwarts, but you were close friends at one point. Best friends, even. But he became a Death Eater and you never believed in blood supremacy, despite coming from an ancient Pureblood family. You joined the Order of the Phoenix and began spying on the Pureblood upper crust.

And then you learned Severus was a spy, too. Severus, the boy you thought was too far gone to save, was now risking his life for the Order. You worried about him. As a half-blood, you knew that many Death Eaters looked down on him and that alone would make him disposable.

So you asked him to marry you, thinking it might help keep him safe. But did you really only ask him for the sake of helping a friend? Or could Severus be something...more?

Time period: First Wizarding War, shortly after Severus turns spy for the Order.

"She was his oldest friend, after Lily. The only other person he had ever truly trusted. They drifted apart after graduating from Hogwarts as Severus found himself pulled deeper and deeper into the Death Eaters and she lived the life of a Pureblood socialite, attending balls and (presumably) breaking hearts. He had never taken her for the frivolous sort, but then, he had never taken himself for the kind of person who would become a double agent in a war that seemed impossible for either side to win."