Meet the Grangers
Standing apprehensively on the doorstep of the house where she had grown up, Hermione Granger was thankful that her mother and father had not jumped into parenthood early in their lives. Combined with the fact that Harry had come along shortly after Lily and James Potter had graduated school - and as Severus had been their contemporary - it meant that the Potions master was not quite as old as the Grangers.
Although the age-gap didn't bother her personally (she appreciated him predominantly for his mind, although she couldn't help but admit that the professor held a certain amount of peculiar sex-appeal for her - even back during the days when she had been his wide-eyed student), it did help that he was just a smidgen younger than them. She thought it might help slightly ease the awkwardness of her rolling up at their house with an ex-teacher in tow to introduce as her (relatively!) new boyfriend. As opposed to if she had brought say, Horace Slughorn home on her arm for example, and he started rambling on about his experiences in the First World War or something! Even given the uncommonly long lifespan of Wizarding folk, she didn't think her family would quite manage to cope with that.
She doubted Severus would want to reminisce in much detail about his own childhood at the best of times anyway, luckily for her. He'd turned out to be a surprisingly conscientious and perceptive man at his core, and seemed acutely aware of not causing her any more embarrassment as a consequence of their unconventional relationship than was avoidable.
Tugging down anxiously on the hem of her pink cardigan in an attempt to smooth over the slight bulge created by her belt underneath, Hermione fretted at the tall, dark figure beside her, who she was slightly exasperated to notice, looked very much the same as the first day she met him.
"You could have found some Muggle clothes to wear?!" she muttered admonishingly at him, last-minute nerves setting in, though her tone was more amused than anything. She hoped the neighbours weren't curtain-twitching - her mother would be forced to invent some sort of excuse to tell any snooping old ladies who enquired about the unusual appearance of her daughter's new beau, that Hermione had fallen for a charming older Amish man or something.
How the Statute of Secrecy hadn't been breached a thousand times over on a daily basis just by stubborn old wizards not wanting to take their overly flamboyant robes off for five minutes, she had no idea(!)
"At least I left my cloak at home... What more do you want woman?(!)" The professor murmured softly in her ear; she could hear the slight smile on his face projected in his words.
"Oh I don't know - maybe some jeans and a sweatshirt would have done fine? Molly knitted you that lovely green jumper at Christmas?! You don't have to try and intimidate my parents with your stern 'Potions master' persona as well you know - even if they may not approve of my choice in men(!)"
She shifted from foot to foot rather huffily and continued, "It's none of their business quite frankly: I'm a perfectly independent adult capable of making my own decisions. And even if they did disapprove, they're too nice to show it anyway Severus, so you can relax."
"Granger, I'll have you know that I haven't worn a pair of jeans since before you were born... And why in Merlin's name would you think that your parents wouldn't approve of... us?" He stared down at her with his head cocked a fraction to the side, an eyebrow raised questioningly in bemusement.
"You used to wear jeans?!" Now it was her turn to smile. "Now that I would like to see! I somehow can't quite picture you in denim...?"
Snape cleared his throat quietly. "Don't change the subject, Hermione. But yes - I never had a particularly exciting wardrobe, but I believe I owned several pairs of threadbare jeans in my youth, although usually it was whatever my mother could beg, steal or borrow from the neighbours." Seeing her still staring at him with mild incredulity, he added, "Or perhaps you imagined I were born in black robes...?(!)"
He leaned over and kissed the top of her head affectionately and placed a sinewy arm around her waist, pulling her to him closely.
Fortunately for the pair of them, before Hermione could retort, they noticed movement inside the house as her parents came to the door, beaming as they saw their daughter.
"Hi Mum! Hi Dad! How are you both?"
"Mr and Mrs Granger, a pleasure... Severus Snape." He extricated his arm from around Hermione's middle, and proffered a hand stiffly to greet both the dentists. Rather formal, but nevertheless polite; Hermione was relieved he was behaving himself.
Mr Granger nodded at Snape. His wife beamed back at the tall wizard, just as she had upon seeing her daughter.
"Hello Severus, nice to finally meet you. Hermione's told us... quite a lot about you over the years!"
Hermione cringed slightly - possibly not all of what she had relayed of Severus to her parents during her time at Hogwarts had been totally complimentary! Although she'd trusted him on a fundamental level for many years, you didn't have to be a rabid Death Eater to get moaned about by your students. And Severus had certainly not been the most personable member of staff at the school by a long shot! Hopefully he hadn't come to the same conclusion about what they had already knew of him, although she doubted it. He was exceptionally astute, and only too aware of his reputation among the pupils. She was glad that she couldn't see his face right at that moment, although she imagined as per usual he would be concealing any overt signals of his inner thoughts anyway.
Her parents beckoned them on into the house, her mum bustling off to go and put the finishing touched to the roast dinner Hermione could smell cooking away in the kitchen.
Her dad asked Severus if he fancied a beer before lunch. "A whisky please, if you have it?"
He'd be disappointed, she knew: Muggle spirits weren't a patch on his usual Firewhisky, and her father wasn't much of a connoisseur when it came to alcohol anyway ('full of sugar, bad for your teeth!'). Likely Sev would end up with something resembling Hippogriffs' piss(!)
She suppressed a smirk, stretching upwards to plant a quick kiss on his jaw to show him her support, and gratitude for overcoming his inherent anti-social tendencies.
Slipping his arm back behind her again, Snape placed a hand gently but firmly on the small of her back and guided her through her parents' front door ahead of him, sliding his hand down and slipping it into her back pocket and giving her arse a sly squeeze.
With a casual wave of his free hand, the door swung shut behind them, and the quiet Hampstead street looked a picture of normality once more...