Disclaimer: The harry Potter world belongs to J.K. Rowling.

Author note: Lines in italics are in the past.

Five Years Later...

The morning sun shown through the enchanted window in our bedroom in the dungeons. It always made me smile because it reminded me of one of the few times Severus compromised when we moved in together two years ago. I reached over to Severus' side of the bed and found it empty. I opened my eyes to look over at his side of the bed and found a single red rose laying on his pillow. It never ceased to amaze me when he did little things like this. Today is the five year anniversary of when we first said we loved each other and I knew this was his way of acknowledging that moment. I reached over and grabbed the rose and brought it up to my nose. It smelled nothing like a rose. It smelled like herbs and the tea Severus always made me after a long day of teaching. I knew of only one thing that could produce this particular combination of scents...Amortentia. It brought me back to a different time...

"Severus?", I said as I walked into his personal potion lab.

"Come over here, Mara.", Said Severus as he stood in front of several cauldrons.

"Is something wrong? You never tell me to meet you in here.", I said as I looked at him nervously.

"Don't be dramatic, Mara. It's not like I am giving you a surprise potions quiz."

I started to move slowly closer to the cauldrons. I knew there was a reason for this but I found myself hesitating.

"Hurry up woman!", Said Severus in frustration.

I moved across the room faster and stood next to him. He added one last ingredient to the last cauldron in the row and looked up at me.

"I want you to learn the smells associated with each of these cauldrons. These cauldrons all contain potions that someone could potentially try to use against you."

We walked up to each of the cauldrons and he had me smell each one as he explained what each potion did. There were poisons,mind altering potions, and much more. Finally, we came to the last potion. I leaned over it and smelled herbs and my favorite tea. I looked up in surprise and came face to face with Severus.

"How?", I said in confusion.

"This is Amortentia. A very strong love potion. It smells different to each person."

"But...I've smelled Amortentia before and it never smelled like this. It always smelled like old books in my youth.", I said in surprise.

"It can change over time depending on what we love. What do you smell?"

I found myself blushing. I averted my eyes and said, "It smells like the tea you make me and...you. What do you smell, Severus?"

"This isn't about me.", he said bluntly and turned away to start cleaning up.

I knew the conversation was over and I started to walk away in disappointment. I reached the door and was about to turn the handle when I felt myself being turned around and shoved against the door. Severus kissed me passionately and then quickly pulled back and looked into my eyes and said, "Your shampoo and parchment."

A loud bang startled me out of my memories.

"BLOODY DUNDERHEADS!"

Severus stalked into our room and slammed open his closet. I could see some sort of goo that looked vaguely like a pepper-up potion covering parts of his robes. I slipped out of bed and walked toward him. I couldn't help but chuckle a little.

"I'm not in the mood, Mara.", he growled.

"In the mood for what, Severus?", I said with a grin. I walked between him and the closet and began removing his outer robes. I felt him relax a little against my hands as I removed the goo covered robes. I reached into the closet and pulled fresh ones out, slipped them on him, and began to button them. I got about half way through his many buttons when he tilted my head up and gently kissed me. When he pulled back, I finished the buttoning and smiled up at him.

"Which dunderhead was it this time?", I asked.

"Does it really matter? They are all dunderheads bent on making my life hell."

"hmmm...I suppose so. Thank you for the rose.", I looked up at him and he seemed to stiffen. He had never gotten use to me thanking him for things and this was a common reaction for him.

"I should get back to the dunderheads.", he said as he turned to leave. I followed him to the door and before he slipped out I heard him say softly, "Your welcome."

Thank you for reading! Please review!