DISCLAIMER - These characters and the original idea all belong to JK Rowling. It is a great privilege to be able to borrow them for fun.
After the Shadows
The man made sure no-one saw him as he approached the marquee that glowed against the summer grass like a snowbird at rest.
He would have made an incongrous sight, glossy leather shoes tramping the meadow flowers beneath his feet, ebony robes lightly brushing the warm June earth.
The fall of black hair almost hid his face but not the hooked nose or sternly set line of his chin.
He would have looked entirely out of place to the brightly dressed people clustered in the field, their eyes lit with happiness, easy smiles on theoir faces, gay music notes floating around them.
He reached the flap of the tent and extended a hand to lift it, stepped over the threshold silently.
Before him, the girl sat at a makeshift dressing table, strewn with flowers. Her hair tumbled down her back in a tangled fall of golden curls. She was applying the finsishing touches to her make up, her hand light as she faced the mirror when she caught sight of his reflection.
She was graceful when she turned but her face lit with a smile of pure joy.
"Severus."
His name on her lips was a greeting and a benediction for her voice carried notes of such affection, that he was stilled in the doorway of the billowy tent.
She stood and walked towards him, extending her hands.
"Now this really is the best day of my life."
His dark brows moved to meet in a frown but he reached out his hands to take hers just the same.
"Foolish drivel, Miss Lovegood!"
The words were completely worthy of the sarcastic, bitter Potions Master of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. His eyes gave them the lie, for they were warm as the took in the sight of the bright faced girl before him.
Luna's smile broadened to grin and she stood on tip toe to drop a feather light kiss on his cheek.
"Dad told me not to be disappointed if you didn't come. He said that you probably wouldn't but I didn't stop hoping."
"How surprising." His lips lifted in a curl.
"Luna, I never met anyone with exactly your capacity for hope, even in the face of the greatest evidence to the contrary."
"But you are here," she said, dreamy and yet confidantly justifed.
His head dipped in a small bow of acknowledgement.
"Oh Severus, I am so happy, I really can't believe it and you came and now it's perfect."
Luna looked at him with such that the tall wizard felt even more out of place than he would have out among those carefree strangers in the meadow.
"I have heard tell that weddings are meant to be perfect. It is my view that yours should be even more so."
Luna looked into his face, lined and set in harsh planes and felt a part of herself glow at his words.
He was darkly clad, hardly dressed for a cheery sumer wedding. His collar was high and she knew it hid the scar he bore from a near fatal attack by Voldemort in the last battle at Hogwarts. At his throat, a silvery glimmer was his only adornment, the clasp she had given him for Christmas many years ago.
Severus Snape, always shrouded in mystery was a truly reclusive figure these days. Retired from teaching, he lived a quiet, private and solitary life somewhere in the south east. That was as much as anyone knew about his life post War. Some were not even sure he had survived the War, the legend of his last encounter with Lord Voldemort had grown tall in the years of peace.
Luna was one of the very few people who had contact with him, though it was sparse. He was not big on conversation, company or chatter, no more now than he had ever been. Still, the girl who was once his ward, who had as a child shared his home for a time, continued to share a place in his heart that no living person could claim to.
Her wedding invitation had drawn him on a rare excursion beyond his home. Looking at the sheer joy of her made it worth it to him.
She let go of his hands and did a little twirl before him.
"So, will I do?" she asked.
Snape looked at her properly for the first time since entering the bridal tent.
She was dressed in a flowing white dress of old lace, flowering buds threaded through the flaxen tresses of her hair. He would never be able to remember what she wore but he would never forget how she looked. She shimmered, she shone and her delight was a living force that seemed to light her from within.
"Mr. Longbottom is a very lucky man."
"Dad says it's not luck so much as fecklespecks. If they don't match then you can never be compatible," Luna supplied easily.
"Ah."
The lines of his face softened, the only indicator of his indulgence.
"I want to ask you something Luna and I want you tell me the truth."
He laid his hands on her shoulders, bent his head so his eyes were level with hers.
"I have to. Look what happened the last time I told you a lie. You turned me over your knee as I remember," her eyes twinkled at him.
"I wouldn't dare do that now," he replied.
"I might crease you, or muss you or smudge your make up."
Now it was his eyes glinting at her but they grew serious as he held her gaze.
"Do you love him?"
Tears swam in the olive eyes.
"So much that sometimes I can hardly breathe."
"And he loves you? He makes you happy?"
"He really does, Severus. He does these small, funny things, like the other day, he brought me a rose, it's petals were as green as the leaves and he said it was a hybrid he grew for me. The colour matched my eyes. He laughs at my jokes but never at me and he is kind. He is everything I could have wished for. I just wish my Mum could have met him," she looked into his face, so many things she wanted to say but the words were lost in the tangled rush of emotion that beat with her pulse.
"She would have been very proud of you. As I am," he held her tear glossed eyes to his own.
Then, hands still on her shoulders, he turned her so she once more facing the mirror.
"The little girl I knew? Shy and sweet and good? Look now. You are beautiful, Luna. A beautiful young woman in every sense of the word. So go, be happy. Always."
His reflected gaze was intent and earnest.
She pivoted on her heel and rested her head on his shoulder. His arms came around her.
"You better not be crying! You will make my shirt damp and people will think horrid old Snape was mean to the bride," he intoned, his voice rich as dark chocolate in her ear.
"And that after I brought you a present."
She sniffled and rose her head.
"You are my present."
He chuckled.
"Merlin's beard. I think I can do better than that!"
He reached into his waistcoat, withdrawing a small, square box, delicately wrapped in white tissue, bedecked with twinkling stars.
He held it out to her. It was light in her fingers and she smiled and shook it lightly.
"You may open it," he said, a small smile on his lips.
She tugged the gossamer ribbon and the tissue fell away. She lifted the lid with eager fingers and there, nestled in pink velvet was a necklace of pearls, each perfectly round, tiny opaque moons forrming a cirlce that mat with a delicate clasp of silver.
"Goblin made, I am told, though it looks a little fine for goblin craft," he said.
"It was my mother's. Now it is yours."
Luna looked up at him, silenced by the beauty of the pearls and the generosity of the gift.
"Something old. That is the tradition, I am told. This is my gift to you," he said.
"I am honoured, Severus. Would you put it on for me?" She lifted the feather light strand in her fingers.
He lifted it from her, draped it around her neck and deftly closed the clasp.
"Perfect."
The single word left their lips simultaneously and made them laugh. Then she looked up into his face and she did not need to ask. He would not stay for the ceremony but it did not matter. He had completed her happiness, fulfilled the secret and dear wish of her heart on her special day.
And she had never doubted that he would, her knight of the shadows.
"Could we visit after the honeymoon? I will bring you some yekkir wax. They say it is to be found on the Island of Crete, where we are going. At least those who believe in it say that."
He nodded at her.
"That would be lovely. With or without the yekkir wax. Tell your new husband I will refrain from wearing his grandmother's clothes in honour of the occasion."
Luna giggled.
"Severus. Thank you."
"Before I go, will you do me the honour of one dance with the bride, Luna?"
He held out a hand, courtly and chivalrous.
Luna gave him her own and bowed in a matching show of grace.
Suddenly, there was the sweetest sound of harps and notes from a flute, creating a magical, pleasing harmony. Luna had never heard music like it but she let him lead around the floor, just the two of them, light dancing aorund them in accord with the uplifting tune.
The day before the rest of her life. Iin his arms, she felt that this was the day after the shadows that could no longer touch her.