Chapter 31: In Which Ginny Designs Something Traditional

When Severus returned to Grimmauld Place, the noise had died down quite a bit. Ginny was sitting at the kitchen table by herself, a sketch pad and pencils next to her. "Would you like a drink? Something to eat?"

"I've already eaten. Something to drink would be appreciated."

"Caffeine or Alcohol?"

He liked her direct train of thought. "Alcohol if you don't mind."

She poured him a glass of what turned out to be scotch neat. He sipped it. "Lovely."

"Firewhiskey may be flashy, but I prefer this for drinking slowly. So, show me the stones now that I've got the time to look at them properly."

He laid them out for her on the kitchen table. She eyed them carefully, touched them, and began arranging them in different shapes. "Tell me what you want to do with them."

"I don't know." He watched her position them in a triangle, the sapphire at the top, the opals on the bottom, points facing out. She looked at him, he shook his head.

"If we were talking about a pendent, I think this would look lovely." She placed both teardrops in a line, points up, with the sapphire at the bottom, and rapidly sketched a pendent around them.

"Would she want a pendent?" He did like the composition she had created. He could see it resting against Hermione's chest, just above the line of her bosom. It might be a good idea.

"She wants a ring."

Ginny tapped her wand against the sketch pad, and the pendent disappeared. "How are you going to get this from a sketch into the real world?"

She continued to play with the stones while he answered, "I was hoping you could help with that as well. If need be I can transfigure the raw materials, but if you know a good jeweller, someone who can take a sketch and turn it into the real thing…"

"Fledding's has done all of our family's pieces. Here, look at this and see if it's up to your standards." She took off her ring, handed it to him, and went back to sketching. He stared at the tiny red and green stones tied together with delicate loops of yellow and red gold.

"It's lovely. I think that level of skill will suffice for what I'll need."

She put it back on, and tapped her wand to remove the sketch she was working on.

"I didn't see that one."

"Trust me; it didn't work."

"Hello, what are you doing in here…?" Harry walked through the door and stopped short to see Severus Snape sitting at his kitchen table chatting with his wife while she drew something for him.

Ginny hopped up, hugged her husband, and spoke, sounding somewhat giddy, "Harry, we're designing Hermione's engagement ring."

"Well, that's just… wonderful." He didn't sound nearly as excited as Ginny, but he did grab a drink, and sat down next to Ginny to see what they had done.

Severus was sure some sort of small talk was called for, but couldn't really think of anything. He passed Harry the stones, "Here's what I've got to work with. Ginny's helping me figure out how to set them."

Harry eyed them, "She loves opals. But she won't buy them for herself because she considers it an unnecessary luxury. How about…" He placed the star sapphire in the middle, with the opals to the left and right, points out. Ginny looked at them, and started drawing very quickly.

She started with an S curve on its side, then did another one pointing the other direction, set so the two largest part of the curves wrapped around the sapphire. The smaller curves enclosed one side of each opal. She then placed two more S curves, smaller ones, starting at the open side of the opals. She continued around the ring, with smaller and more compact S curves until the whole circle was complete. She was shading in the curves, the first two one color, the next two another, and the next ones the original color again.

"You'll want to pick contrasting metals, so that the curves are easily visible." She finished the sketch, and waved her wand over the paper. A 3D version of her drawing began to rotate on the page. "What do you think?"

Snape gazed at it for a long moment. "I think it's perfect. Thank you for drawing it for me."

Ginny looked pleased. She ripped the sketch of the pad and handed it to Snape. He folded it carefully and put it in his pocket. They sat around the table sipping their drinks.

"Do you know how you're going to ask her?" Ginny asked, finishing her drink.

"Not yet. I'm sure I'll know the time when it comes, but I don't know when it'll be yet. As your father reminded me, time is running out, so sooner rather than later." They talked of inconsequential things for a few more moments.

Ginny looked at the clock, 'I've got to get to bed if I'm going to get any sleep before Molly wakes up again. Goodnight." She kissed Harry gently and put an affectionate hand on Severus's shoulder. Both bid her a goodnight as she left the room.

"I should be leaving as well." Snape stood.

"Stick around a bit longer," Harry said, looking unusually, at least in Snape's opinion, thoughtful. Severus sat back down and saw his drink had refilled. He took another sip, and Harry sat quietly. It didn't require Legilimency to see that Harry was having something of a fight inside himself, wanting to speak intimately, but wanting to keep his distance from the Snape of his memory. The desire to talk won out.

"There are five people in the world I love beyond all reason. I know we talked, and then Arthur spoke to you further, but I want you to understand how vitally important Hermione is to me. She is my oldest and dearest friend. She is the sister I never had. We buried Ron together." His voice cracked, and he paused to collect himself. "She deserves a man who loves her devotedly, unconditionally. She deserves someone whose life is centered on her. She deserves to feel that way about her man as well. She deserves happiness."

Severus understood what Harry was saying and spoke to him with his voice low, soft. Harry almost looked startled by it as he began."And the man who felt that way about her, and more importantly, the man she felt that way about, is now dead. And, of course, we do not get what we deserve." You'd be calling me Dad if I had gotten what I deserved, and Lily would be sitting in that chair next to us if she had gotten what she deserved. "You are correct, I am not madly in love with Hermione, nor she with me. And I do not know if that will ever be the case. But it's not impossible either. We have a good foundation, both of us fought in the war, we're both intellectuals, we have similar value systems, we've both outlived our dearest beloved, we both understand pain, and we're both ready to start trying a new life. It may not be all roses and hearts, but it's a good place to start."

Harry looked startled. "You?"

"Yes, Potter, me. Hard though it may be to believe, I was once young and deeply in love. So, like Hermione, I know I am capable of feeling that way toward another person. I was loved in return. So, like Hermione, I know how lonely it is to live without it. And, like Hermione, I have been hurt so badly by the loss of that love, that I will do nothing to inflict extra hurt on anyone else." Severus took a swallow of his drink. Harry looked at him carefully, seeing a side of Snape he had never thought could exist. Snape was taken aback by how much Harry reminded him of Lily at that moment; Harry's look of curious wonder was one he had often seen on her face when they worked together.

Finally Harry spoke, "What happened to her?"

Now it was Snape's turn to be quiet. He was well within his rights to tell Harry off for asking. It was private, after all. But he was also the one who had brought it up. He could have been very vague regarding the nature of the pain both he and Hermione shared. He'll be your brother-in-law soon. Go for a compromise, some truth, but not so much as to shock him.

"She was, despite my warnings, and protections, killed by Voldemort."

"Is that why you became a spy?" After Snape was acquitted he, Ginny, and the other Weasleys had spent many hour discussing Snape's motive. It was the one thing no one knew, and he had refused to answer anything about it during the trial. No one had suspected there was a woman. He couldn't wait to tell Ginny.

"No, I was a spy before she was killed. I became one to impress her."

"We had no idea."

"Which was how I wanted it. Albus knew. No one else needed to."

"That's why he trusted you."

Snape nodded.

"How long ago?"

Twenty-three years this Halloween. "More than twenty years ago. Knowing that, will you find me an acceptable suitor?"

Harry looked at Snape, sitting in his kitchen, drinking his scotch, and mimicked Teddy, "You'll do."

A brief conversation about where to find Fledding's Jewellery finished the evening. Harry went to bed, and Snape went home.