Harry fled down the dungeon corridor, no sounds other than that of his pounding feet and labored breathing bouncing off the stone walls. He skidded around a corner so fast he almost toppled over but managed to regain his traction and continue his flight. He passed a trio of startled Slytherin first years, whom he heard tittering behind him as he swung around another corner. They knew why he was running.
The reason for his attempt to escape came thundering down the hallway in the form of a monumental bellow of magically magnified sound, the anger and disgust clear in the cultured tones.
"Harry James Potter, you have exactly two minutes to get your arse back to our quarters or so help me I will unleash my anger on your Firebolt."
Shit, shit, shit, shit, Harry thought in time to the beat of his still running feet. Gryffindor my arse.
"Gryffindor my arse," the voice snarled after him.
Harry pointed his wand at his throat and muttered "Sonorus" as he took the stairs to the main hall three at a time.
"You lay one finger on my broom and it's goodbye knife set," he yelled down the way he had come. He knew Severus wouldn't actually harm his Firebolt. The man knew exactly how much he cherished the broomstick. But he wouldn't put it past him to singe the tail a bit.
"You wouldn't dare," Severus's magical voice hissed after him.
Harry ended the spell on himself and muttered, "Don't try me then." He rounded the last corner to his goal, the main doors in his sight, when he crashed headlong into someone, sending them both crashing into the stone floor.
"Harry, what the hell mate?" Ron Weasley moaned as he sat up.
Harry jumped to his feet, yanking Ron up with him, and resumed his all out sprint towards tthe exit.
"What did you do, Harry?" Ron yelled at his best friend hastily retreating back.
"I fucked up," Harrt yelled back, making it out and barreling down the path to Hogsmeade.
Ron watched him go, rubbing his back with a bemused expression. He started a bit when he felt a hand close over his but smiled at the person it belonged to.
"How much do you want to bet he forgot their anniversary until just now?" Hermione grinned.
Ron chuckled and kissed her hand, pausing a moment to admire the ring on her fourth finger.
"He didn't forget," he told his wife. "He's got something big planned that just didn't get finished til today. It'll all work out great, you'll see."
"I hope so," she replied, pursing her lips in a way that reminded Ron mightily of McGonagall. "My students couldn't pay attention after that shouting started, it threw the whole end of my lesson out the window. I had to let them go early."
Ron laughed outright. "I'm terribly sorry, Professor Weasley. But trust me, Harry's got a plan."
"When does he ever though?" she muttered, leading her husband towards the Great Hall for lunch.
Harry passed the gates of Hogwarts and immediately apparated to London, reappearing in a small garden just outside of a posh little jewelry shop. The elderly owner stepped out to greet him, waving excitedly.
"Mr. Potter, we've been expecting you!" she exclaimed happily. "We're sorry it took longer than expected to finish but the spells you asked us to inlay were a tad harder than we thought to complete."
"But you were able to, weren't you?" Harry queried worriedly.
"Of course my dear," the plump little witch replied. "It is perfect, the best we've ever created." She handed Harry a small box, who laughed in relief as he viewed his purchase. He hugged the witch quickly and apparated away again.
The witch smiled at the now empty spot where he had stood. "Oh I envy the lucky man who's claimed that boy's love," she told the air before heading back inside.
Harry ran back into the school at top speed, but instead of the dungeons, he sped to the stone gargoyle guarding the entrance to the Headmistress's office.
"Sherbet lemon," he panted, and took the winding staircase two at a time as soon as the gargoyle moved away. He knocked and entered without waiting for a response.
Headmistress McGonagall was not surprised to see him.
"Potter do sit down before you keel over on my carpet. I just had it cleaned," she snapped at him, immediately levitating a cup of tea to his chair. Harry gulped it down gratefully.
"You have excellent timing," she told him. "Had you been three minutes earlier you would have collided with an exceptionally angry Potions professor." She smirked as Harry choked on his tea.
"Sorry Prof-...Headmi-...Minerva," he replied sheepishly.
"You are lucky you are not a student any longer or I may have given you a months detention for that scene earlier. Care to tell me why two of my professors who really should know how to set a better example for their students caused such an unslightly ruckus? Severus was rather mum on the subject."
She watched curiously as Harry took the box out of his pocket and gasped when she saw its contents.
"He thinks I forgot what today is," he told her, shamefaced. "But it wasn't ready until an hour or so ago."
"I see," McGonagall replied breathlessly. She smiled at him. "What do you need me to do?"
"Keep him occupied until after dinner," Harry responded. "I need to get the Room of Requirement set up. Ron and Hermione will take over after."
McGonagall nodded her acquiescence and Harry kissed her cheek before tearing out of the room again. She waved her wand and sent a Patronus message to the Hospital Wing, informing Poppy of her plan, before sending a second to the dungeons requesting Snape's assistance to rectify some potions that had mysteriously gone bad.
Dinner in the Great Hall was a quiet affair. No one wanted to risk the wrath of the angry wizard at the Head Table. He was practically vibrating with fury and sparks could be seen snapping along his robes and hair. Everyone had heard the magically enhanced shouting match between their Potions and DADA professors and all preferred to keep their limbs as unmaimed as possible.
McGonagall set down her fork with a huff and turned to the raven haired man beside her.
"Really Severus, if you are that upset just go talk to him instead of threatening to set the table on fire," she chastised him, patting out one of the sparks that had landed on the tablecloth between them.
"If I could fucking find the brat I would do so immediately," Severus snarled.
"I can help with that," Hermione said primly from McGonagall's other side. She neatly wiped her mouth and set her napkin back on her lap, ignoring Severus's hiss of impatience. "Harry told Ron where he was going. But Ron is back at his shop in Hogsmeade for the evening so you can't ask him. However, he told me where Harry was before he left."
"Woman, I swear to Merlin..." Severus ground out behind his clenched teeth.
"Oh unwad your boxers. He's in the Room of Requirement," she smirked.
Severus was out of his seat and sweeping towards the exit before she had finished her sentence. McGonagall and Hermione grinned at each other and returned to their meals. The students all breathed an audible sigh of relief.
Snape stormed down the seventh floor corridor and slammed open the door to the magical room he knew he would find the object of his ire behind.
"Harry Potter, what the f-..." he trailed off and looked around himself in shock. If he hadn't known better he would believe he he walked into the living room at 12 Grimmauld Place. But this room was covered in candles, rose petals littering every surface, and Mozart floated softly to his ears.
Harry stood against the fireplace, looking more nervous than Severus had ever seen him, including in the moments before the Final Battle.
"I know that you are righteously pissed off at me but give me a chance and listen before you start tearing me a new one."
Severus growled but sat down anyway, waving at the younger man impatiently to get on with it. He moved as far down the couch as he could away from Harry as he sat down next to him.
"Today marks five years of us being together," Harry began. Severus's eyes snapped to his and he smiled softly. "I know you thought I forgot. I just didn't have everything ready yet. It's been five years and I've grown to love you more and more every day, something I didn't think possible in reality, only in those sappy romance novels you secretly adore."
Severus blushed hotly but let him continue.
"I know you're confused as to why we're sitting in our living room, but I thought it appropriate since this is where you kissed me for the first time. On purpose anyway."
"You kissed me as I recall," Severus interrupted, feeling his anger start to dissipate.
Harry grinned. "I think it was mutual," he laughed. He flicked his wand and Severus watched as a black and white movie began to play on the wall.
He gasped as he realised he was watching the aforementioned kiss play out. The scenes went by and he watched them have their first dance atop the Astronomy tower. He saw them standing back to back in the midst of the Final Battle, saw their kiss and their joy once Voldemort was gone for good. He saw himself move into Grimmauld Place with Harry and their first anniversary party. He saw them at Weasley dinners and award ceremonies and the day Harry accepted his post as the new DADA professor. He saw himself waking up just that morning and the adoration on Harry's face. The movie faded out and he turned back to Harry, tears glittering in his eyes, only to realize that Harry was no longer beside him.
He was in front of him.
On one knee.
With a box.
Harry watched Severus's eyes widen as he realized what was happening. "Severus Snape, will you do me the absolute honor of marrying me?" Harry breathed and opened the box.
Severus reached out a trembling finger and ran it over the beautiful ring before him.
An emerald sat at the center of it, surrounded by tiny onyx stones. The band was two platinum snakes entwined around each other and around the stones. Severus couldn't imagine a more perfect ring he would want to wear.
"It's got a whole bunch of spells on it too," Harry blathered quickly into the silence. "Protection spells, poison detection, a find me spell so you can always track me down when I fuck up." Harry laughed nervously. "Is it no good? I can get a differ-oomph!" He was cut off by Severus throwing his arms around him and kissing him ferociously.
"So is that a yes?" Harry panted when they broke apart for air.
"Yes, you daft Gryffindor," Ssleverus growled. "I cannot believe you did all this. Yes I'll marry you. Even if you had done this in the bloody loo this morning I would have said yes."
Harry laughed uproariously and grabbed his fiance, swinging him around and kissing every inch of his face he could reach.
"Potter," Severus spluttered indignantly. "Put me down this instant. I am far too old for such nonsense."
Harry rolled his eyes. "You're twenty years older than me. Considering our life expectancy is, like, two hundred, that's really not old enough to not be silly every once in a while."
Nonetheless he set Severus down and watched him straighten his robes with a sniff.
"You'll pay for that ridiculous loss of decorum later," he sneered lecherously.
"But wouldn't that lead to a further loss of decorum?" Harry blinked up at him innocently.
Severus laughed. "Indeed you are correct. I suppose I can deal with it since the benefits outweigh the negative greatly."
Harry took the ring out of the box and slipped it onto Severus's proffered finger. He grinned happily as he watched his love admire it on his hand, but frowned when Severus looked at him with an expression of barely concealed panic.
"I wasn't going to tell you until next week because I was so angry with you," Severus started, running a hand anxiously through his hair. "But I saw Poppy earlier and...well...I know it's too soon and I don't want you to hate me but..."
Harry took his hands and rubbed them reassuringly.
Severus sighed and kept his eyes downcast. "Harry I'm...I'm pregnant."
He was not prepared for his fiance to hit the floor in a dead faint.
Harry groaned and wondered why he was on the floor when he came to.
"All right, mate, up you come," he heard Ron say as hands grasped his and started leading him towards the couch.
Harry snatched his hands away as his memory returned and spun, eyes searching for Severus's anxious ones. He lunged toward the taller man and kissed him hard.
"Harry," Severus stuttered but was cut off by another kiss.
"I am so out of my mind deliriously happy right now, I love you so much," Harry whispered fiercely against his lips.
"He Patronus called me frantic when you fainted," Ron laughed. "Hermione is probably worried out of her mind, I'll go reassure her. Come over later and tell us why you keeled over, yeah?" He waved over his shoulder as he left, closing the door behind him softly.
"When you fainted I was so...so scared," Severus whispered.
"It's all right, Sev," Harry said, hugging him close. "I'm not angry or upset or disappointed. I know we weren't planning it yet but I could never be unhappy about having children with you."
"Children? As in plural?" Severus yelped.
"Oh yes," Harry purred. "I want at least three. I'm just a little shocked that you're the one pregnant since I only top once in a blue moon." He laughed as Severus continued to splutter out denial and kissed him gently on the nose.
"Shall we go tell McGonagall?" he asked.
Severus sighed. "Yes. Let's get it over with. It is the weekend and I don't intend to let you out of our rooms let alone the bed until Monday morning."
Harry's breathing hitched audibly and he bit his lip with a moan.
Severus smirked at him. "This was your idea. And your fault for involving her in the first place. Don't think I don't know you had her keep me busy today. Now the quicker we inform her the quicker we can go home."
He laughed as Harry practically dragged him from the room, only pausing to tell the Room thank you before leaving. No one was witness to the contents of the room fading away into mist, nor the ghostly hand that formed from it, waving goodbye.