Five Things.
StoryGirl.
There are five things in the world you love the most. Firstly, it's the way she's changed you; the way she's managed to transform you. You, who used to be a pathetic excuse for a man, with almost no backbone- with nothing worth standing up for about himself. She's crafted you into a real man- strong, and fearless; the one you've always dreamed about becoming. She's changed you, rectified your wrongs, and you love her for that.
Even though, within changing, you've killed off a part of yourself that you never could see living without. You've killed the part that worshiped the ground your father had walked on; bowed down to his commands. The part you've killed did not even shed a single tear when he beat your mother black and blue, swearing Dark curses at her shaking body.
You've lived so long under his command, it's so hard to imagine a future without it.
But you survive the first month- although shakily. There are fleeting moments that make you want to give up and run, back to the safety and protection of your Manor, back to the hell-hole you called home. She stops you, a warm hand on you arm as you pull back the door, letting the howling wind rush in. She stops you, and you have her to thank for your life because of that.
Secondly, it's Muggles. She introduces a whole new world to you, filled with movies, and video games; and best of all, books. Lots of books! Muggles books enchant you; draw you into a world you never knew existed.
You two spend your days at the video stores, arguing loudly over the movies you and she think would be the best to watch. Within days, you're certain that you've finally watched nearly all of them, and are shell-shocked when she tells you that new ones are being made all the time. You cannot fathom this, and burst with excitement. New adventures, new stories, new beginnings!
Thirdly, it's snow. Snow was illegal at the Manor, and any that fell had to be cleaned up immediately. Your Father hired hundreds of staff just for the winter months, just to clean up the snow. You suppose that is why, even though you hated it, Hogwarts had a certain appeal to you. It had snow, whilst the Manor did not. It had families, of sorts, while the Manor only had a dictator, his wife, and his pathetic excuse for a son.
The first time snow falls outside her apartment, you hurriedly dress in warm clothes, and run down to greet it; soft flakes tickling your nose. She follows, slower, and laughs happily as you build a snowman, without fear, or nerves, for the first time in your life.
She hands you a carrot for the nose, but not before taking a chunk out of it. You do the same before placing it carefully on the snowman.
"He'll melt," She says, sadly, as you wrap your arms around her. You have to hold back a laugh as she strains to peer over your shoulder. "But we'll make another one."
You nod with agreement, and hurry back up the stairs, still watching the snowfall with childish eagerness and delight.
The fourth thing you love the most in this world is your mother. After your father had killed himself upon hearing of Voldemort's defeat, she completely turned her life around; breaking free of the shell she had hidden herself in for over twenty years. She apologizes to you for her horrible lack of mothering skills with tears streaming down her face, and you take her into your arms; finally begin able to understand what having a mother feels like.
Your mother arranges Lucius's funeral, which only you and her attend. You see to his end with a single tear on your face, while your mother has none. "I've cried too many times over him and what he had done to our family," She explains, and you nod, taking her hand as you walk away just as the flames start to flicker on your father's mangled body.
Months later, and you and her sit at her apartment; you receive news from your mother; her voice croaking with unshed tears. She sobs happily on the phone, and finally, through the sobs and sniffling, you realize that Snape has asked her to marry him. You smile, and even though she cannot see it, she thanks you for it.
They marry soon, with both of you attending the wedding. Tears stream down both of your faces, and you sob like a girl, as your mother smiles with true happiness for the man she will love for the rest of her life.
And, then, even though it surprises you, you are the first person she tells about her pregnancy. She wants you to know that she will always love you, that just because this baby is Severus's, she will not love it more, and she will love you both equally.
You blink stupidly, like a Hufflepuff, for a few seconds, before smiling, and gathered her form, her stomach just starting to show, into your arms and hugged her tightly.
You know of her two failed pregnancies; of course- a son before you, who died whilst being born. A girl after you who died; her blood staining the sheets. Lucius had reminded your mother of it countless times when you were a boy, screaming at her that it was her fault you were so weak.
You suppose this is why she is guilty of her new pregnancy, and why she prays every night, to a God only she believes in, and begs him not to take her new baby away.
He doesn't, and nine months later, you have a new sister, with black curls, and very light blue eyes. She wraps her tiny pinkie around you when you first meet her, and your mother glances up at Severus, who only smiles, taking in the sight of a child he never thought he'd live to have, and the woman he'd thought he'd never be able to love.
When you leave the hospital, she clutches at your arms, whispering into your ear, "I want one."
Finally, the fifth thing you love most of all in this world is her. Her, with her broad smile, and her sparkling eyes, who looks at you like you're the only one she wants to love, the one she wants to spend her whole life with. No one who comes across the pair of you, hand in hand, could ever begin to imagine that you two hated each other one upon a time. You are in love, and it shows, blinds your flaws, and hides them from spectators. She shields you from the nasty comments written about you at the start- from the jeers and shouts in the street, but slowly you learn to overcome them; and defend not only yourself but her as well, from the nasty comments and letters she receives. All of them ask why, she, brightest witch of the present time, has fallen for you- a man whose family is worth nothing more than the dirt on the street.
She is your light in the darkness, no matter how much of a cliché that is. Soon after your sister turns one, pudgy hands clapping gleefully at the lone flickering candle on her pink-iced cake, you propose, startling the birds nesting on the tree outside your window. She accepts with a tear, and soon after, you marry, in a quiet ceremony that could still have rivaled your parent's elaborate affair. You didn't want it of course, wanted a big ceremony, but she said it would be chance to show everyone that the Malfoy's could do something quietly- and still do it well, that it wasn't all about the money or how many useless things you could incorporate into the ceremony. You mother weeps, as it expected, resting a shaking hand on the soft swell of her stomach as Severus shushes a squiring Jacqueline. When the priest announces you as husband and wife, Jacqueline pushes herself out of her father's lap, and crawls, slowly in her blue dress towards you, black curls obscuring her face, where you scoop her up with glee into your awaiting arms. You walk down the aisle hand in hand with two of the three most important women in your life.
Soon after, you are at St. Mungo's, her hands clutched around yours. She screams with pain, but weeps with delight, as your son is born, light brown curls adorning his head. Your wife has barely a minute to press a tender kiss onto his head before she screams once more. Minutes later, your daughter is born.
You peer down at their sleeping forms in their cradles, tenderly brushing Cassiopeia's wisps of fine brown hair and Scorpius's blond locks. He will be like you, a heartbreaker, you presume, while Cassiopeia will be like her mother; quiet and bookish, but beautiful. You are surprised then, when years later, she is the first of the twins to have a snog. Your youngest daughter, Antlia, pulls on your legs and whispers to you, dying to know what exactly a snog is. You glance at your wife, and she shrugs, little Leo, a thumb planted in his mouth, on her hip.
You never do answer Antila's question, but she finds out soon enough anyway.
Your wife is the only person you will love for the rest of your life; the only one you would want to love for the rest of you life. She is the happiness that brightens up the Manor, the mother of you four children. Both being the only child, you had both decided on numerous children, as many as possible to have running around the Manor. Severus has seemed to have cured your mother's problems with pregnancies, and your children have three aunts and uncles running around, one of them younger than all of them. You love your baby brothers and sisters, and delight in the large family that has sneakily sprung up around you.
Still, you never forget April the third, and trek out to the small garden on the outskirts of the Manor, to pay your respects to your father, laying a bunch of roses at his grave. Your wife never bugs you on those days, and shushes the children as you sit in the library, moping over your father, a bottle of half-finished Firewhiskey in your hand as you gaze with unfocused eyes of into the distance, completely trapped in your thoughts.
Years ago, you never you have thought you could have loved your wife as much as you do. You never thought she would love you back, accept your feelings with happiness, not disgust, and return them with a smile.
You never thought you'd marry her, and have her as the mother of your children. Years ago, you would have laughed openly, but later shuddered with secret disgust at the thought. She was far from your thoughts at Hogwarts, but here you are together, in love, and happily married.
She loves you for the rest of your life.
And you love your Hermione.
AN: This is AU, as Snape died in DH. Also, the children are named after constellations, keeping with the Black family tradition of naming their kids after constellations. Scorpious's name hasn't been changed, because frankly, I wanted one thing in this story to be true to Harry Potter, right?
Friends Quote:
Joey: What the hell does a paleontologist need a beeper for?
Monica: Is it, like, for dinosaur emergencies? "Help! Come quick, they're still extinct!"
Edit- Major thanks to Ramenluver for pointing out my mistakes!