Disclaimer: All previous disclaimers apply.
Chapter 37
The week passed quickly. Dumbledore told Lily on Wednesday that Minister Bagnold had given her permission to connect the Evans' fireplace to the Floo Network. Alastor Moody and his trainee, Kingsley Shacklebolt would be coming over to ward the fireplace and Moody would be reinforcing the wards around the Evans and Snape homes. Lily sent Morgana off with a note to let her family know so Moody and Shacklebolt coming to their door wouldn't scare them.
Severus met with Dean Stanwood in the Headmaster's office on Thursday to decide what classes he wanted to take next year. Dean Stanwood had brought along the school catalog and some advise as to what Severus might want to take.
After Dean Stanwood had left, Severus met Lily in the Room of Requirement. "What classes will you be taking, Sev?" Lily asked.
I'll be taking the Theory of Brewing and a lab because I'm required to have a certain number of lab hours in order to graduate."
Lily was looking through the catalogue. "They have their own garden of potion ingredients."
"Yes, I'm anxious to see that. Dean Stanwood invited me to take a tour of the college and I asked him if you could come with me and he said it was okay."
"I'd love to see it, Sev." Lily said. "I was thinking we should invite Frank, Alice, Remus and Missy to see a movie with us this summer. What do you think?"
"I think it would be a lot of fun, Lily, but I don't know what kind of movie we should see."
"There's been a lot a talk about this Star Wars' movie, but I don't think I want to see a movie about a war in another galaxy when we're facing a war with Riddle right here," Lily said.
"I know. I'm not really interested in science fiction. I'd rather see the new James Bond movie myself although it won't be at the cinema until August."
"Lily nodded. "Well, we have plenty of time to plan it and being as Frank, Alice and Remus have never seen a movie before, it's not going to matter which movie we go to."
"That's true," Severus replied. He got up. "Are we going to be studying in my common room tonight or Ravenclaw?"
Lily grinned. "Well, you know Frank prefers to study in Slytherin because it's close to the kitchen."
"Well, I can always ask Blinky to bring us something if we study in Ravenclaw," Severus pointed out. He got up and helped Lily to her feet. "I don't really mind studying in Ravenclaw. The view's nice."
The OWL's and NEWT's were held during the second and third week of June. The Ministry Examiners were at Hogwarts for the two weeks, making for a very nerve-wracking time for not only the students taking the exams, but for the Professors as well. Finals for the rest of the students were held the third week. Severus and Lily walked out of their last exam on Thursday, smiling. Both were certain they had achieved Outstandings in all of their exams.
"I thought McGonagall's exam would be a lot harder than it was," Lily said.
"It was tough enough though," Severus added. He leaned against the wall waiting for Frank, Alice, Remus and Missy came out. They were planning to have a picnic by the lake.
James came out and glared at Severus before continuing on. "Looks as if somebody didn't do too well on his exam," Severus murmured to Lily.
"Well, I don't know what the git expected. He only decided to study last night. We've been studying for weeks."
"Well, if he flunks everything, it won't be his fault. He'll find something or someone else to blame for it – probably me."
At breakfast on the morning of the Leaving Feast, there was a sudden barrage of owls flying into the hall, carrying envelops and hooting loudly. One landed in front of Liam who was sitting at the Gryffindor table that morning. He took the envelope from the owl and gave it a strip of bacon before it flew off. He carefully opened the flap and unfolded the letter, quickly scanning the contents then gave a satisfied sigh and collapsed back in his chair with a big smile on his face.
"Well?" Severus prodded him.
"Seven Outstandings," Liam said.
"You'd best owl Tuney right away," Lily advised. "Honestly, she's been more worried about your NEWT's than you."
Liam would be staying over at school until Sunday which was graduation. Severus and Lily, Petunia, and Hal and Rose, would be coming back to Hogwarts to attend it. They would be flooing this time.
"We need to go into London and find you a light-weight summer suit and I need to find a new dress, shoes, and a hat so I don't get sun burnt," Lily said to Severus as they waited for the carriages. For once she'd taken his advice and packed her trunk the last night.
"Why do I need a summer suit?"
"Because it's supposed to be in the eighties Sunday and you know even summer robes tend to be hot and uncomfortable."
"One good thing at least," Severus said. "Potter is an only child so we won't have to run into him on Sunday."
"I overheard the lazy sod telling Sirius he going to sleep until noon every day."
"And no doubt wait until the last minute to do his homework."
"Of course, Sev," Lily replied scornfully.
The carriages took them down to the Hogsmeade station. To everyone's surprise, Professor McGonagall and Professor Flitwick would be riding on the train because both the Head Boy and Head Girl were staying at Hogwarts.
"Miss Downing, and Mr. Longbottom, if you would help the Prefects patrol, I would be most grateful," Professor McGonagall said.
"You know how rambunctious the children get going home for the summer," Flitwick added.
"Sure, Professor, we'd be glad to help out," Alice said volunteering both for herself and Frank.
The train ride home was peaceful, mostly due to McGonagall and Flitwick being on the train that, Severus suspected, dampened the fervor of hexing the Slytherins for both Potter and the junior Marauders.
"What are everybody's plans for the summer, other than taking the Warding classes, I mean," Alice asked.
"My dad's going to teach Sev and me how to drive. We're also going to Witches Moon for a couple of weeks and visit the house in Paris," Lily answered.
"We want to invite you and Frank, Remus and Missy to go to the cinema with us sometime this summer, too. There's going to be a new James Bond released in August. Lily and I are big fans of James Bond and we've seen all the previous movies."
Severus, Lily, and Missy spent the rest of the ride home, between patrols, explaining to Frank, Alice, and Remus about the Muggle British Secret Service. Severus owned all of the James Bond books by Ian Fleming, on which the movies were based. He offered to lend them if anybody wanted to read them. Remus decided to take him up on his offer.
The train pulled slowly into Platform 9 3/4 . As soon as it came to a complete stop, Severus opened the compartment door and hopped out. He quickly grabbed a trolley for his and Lily's trunks and owl cages. Once they got their stuff loaded, they started to search for their parents. There were many parents calling and waving, trying to attract the attention of their kids.
"Sev, Lily, over here," Eileen called, waving at them to get their attention.
"Mum, Dad," Lily said, running ahead of Severus who was pushing the trolley and keeping his eyes peeled for Potter and Pettigrew. He wasn't going to have them sneaking up on him last the previous year. Lily ran over and gave her parents and Petunia hugs and kisses. She then gave Eileen a hug and a kiss. When Severus arrived, Eileen pulled him into a hug and gave him a kiss followed by hugs and kisses from Rose and Petunia. Hal smiled and rolled his eyes at Severus as if to say 'Women!' They waited by the barrier until the attendant deemed it was safe for them to go through. Outside Hal and Severus quickly got their trunks loaded into the boot and were on their way home. Severus stretched out his long legs with a sigh, thankful for magic that enlarged the car so they could all ride comfortably. As was their custom, they stopped in Birmingham for dinner before continuing on to Manchester.
"Mum, Dad, Sev and I are going into London tomorrow to do some shopping. Can we pick up anything for you?" Lily asked as they pulled up to the Snape house.
"No dear, I'm fine. I've already gone to the market and gotten extra groceries."
"When will we be seeing Regulus?"
"I'm going to contact him tomorrow and see when he wants to Floo over," Severus said.
"Perhaps he should wait until Monday as we'll be attending Liam's graduation party on Sunday and we don't want to leave him alone," Hal suggested.
"I'll fire-call him and let him know. By the way I guess Lily and I should know the password for the Floo."
"Of course," Hal replied. "Mr. Moody told us to pick something the Death Eaters couldn't figure out easily, if at all so we decided to use Lily's great-grandmother's name which was Beathag."
"It's unusual I'll give you that," Severus said nodding. He got out of the car, helped Lily and his mum out then helped Hal carry their trunks into the house while Lily carried their owl cages into the house.
After her parents left, Severus and Lily levitated their trunks and owl cages upstairs and into their bedroom. Severus opened the windows, allowing both Aesculapius and Morgana to fly out to hunt. He left their cages open so they could go into them when they returned.
"Let's leave the unpacking until tomorrow," Severus suggested.
Lily looked at him in surprise. He usually started unpacking the minute he got home. She smiled suddenly understanding. "I see you have something else in mind."
"Indeed I do, Mrs. Snape. Indeed I do."
Lily awoke early the next morning. She glanced at Severus who, surprisingly, was still asleep. He was stretched out beside her with his left arm underneath her, his right arm curled around her waist and his right leg draped over hers. She studied his face as he slept. He looked a lot younger when he was asleep; not troubled by the wary expression he normally wore when awake. She blamed the Marauders, Dumbledore and McGonagall for that. If they hadn't ignored the constant bullying by the Marauders until they seriously injured him last year, he wouldn't have to have been constantly on his guard. She ran her finger lightly down his nose. It was still long, but it fit his face as he had a rather long, thin face. The bridge was straight rather than smashed looking and the tip was slender rather than flattened. Dr. Lockwood had done a really good job on it.
Severus opened his eyes halfway and saw Lily smiling at him. He was surprised to find her awake as they had been up rather late last night. "Good morning, Lily."
"Good morning, love, did I wake you?"
He smiled. Lily only ever called him "love' when they were alone. "What time is it?" He shook his head, rolled over on his back and stretched. He sat halfway up, picked up his wand from the bedside table where he always kept it at night and said, "Lumos." He looked at his watch and saw it was a little after five. "It's about ten after five."
Lily pushed him back down flat and started to kiss him. Severus ran his hands through her long silky hair. He pulled her away from him slightly and teased "So, you didn't get enough of me last night, huh?"
"Never, Sev!" Lily declared
Eileen was in the kitchen when Severus walked in. He was dressed in khaki slacks and a long-sleeved linen shirt of pale brown. With it he wore the cufflinks Lily had given him for his birthday. There was an unusual scent emanating from the kitchen that he didn't recognize and was curious to find out what it was. "Good morning, Mum." Severus said then stopped short as he saw the percolator on the counter. "Mum, when did you start drinking coffee?"
"Good morning, Sev. Healer Cromwell introduced Robert and me to coffee. He did some of his training in America and drank it there and became rather fond of it. It takes a bit of getting used to, but it's not at all unpleasant if you add sugar and cream to it."
Severus poured himself a cup once the pot had stopped percolating. He took a sip, "Whoa! That's a kick in the arse! I think I will add some cream." He poured some cream into it, stirred it and took another sip. "Not bad really."
Lily came into the kitchen just then. She was dressed in the crème-colored mini-dress she'd bought in Hogsmeade the day of their apparition test. She also wore stocking and matching heels. She sat down next to Severus at the kitchen table. "What that your drinking, Sev?"
"Coffee," Severus replied. "Here, have a sip." He offered her the cup. Lily took a sip and made a face. "I think I'll stick to tea, thanks," She said handing his back his cup.
Eileen had left their breakfast on the stove under a warming charm. Lily got up to get them, set a plate in front of Severus and sat down again with hers. "Do you need us to pick up anything for you in Diagon Alley, Eileen?"
"No, I'm fine, Lily, but thank you anyway."
Severus and Lily flooed to the Leaky Cauldron then went to Gringotts to take some Galleons, Sickles, and Knuts out of their vault and exchange it for Muggle money. Lily fancied going to Harrods to shop and Severus was perfectly willing to indulge her as she seldom asked for anything for herself. They caught a cab in front of the Leaky Cauldron and rode to Brompton Road in Knightsbridge where Harrods was located. Severus paid the driver and gave him a tip. They got out and went in the store's entrance.
Lily was amazed at the store. It had definitely had a feel of opulence to it. They headed first to the Menswear department to find Severus a suit. A consultant, as the sales people were called, greeted them as they walked into the department and offered his help, but Lily knew exactly what she was looking for and Severus stood watching her with a bemused expression on his face. She found a light grey suit with a matching vest in a pattern of grey and cream swirls; they went over to shirt and tie department and bought a white oxford shirt and a grey silk tie, and finally to the shoe department where he acquired a pair of stylish, dark, grey leather loafers. Once he was outfitted, they went to the women's department on the second floor. Severus wanted to stop in the lingerie department, but Lily pulled him away. He promised himself he'd come back at Christmas time.
"Sit there, Sev, while I look at the dresses," Lily said, pointing to a comfortable looking chair in the salon. A consultant came over and said, "May I get you some refreshments while your wife is shopping?"
Severus looked shocked for a moment then recalled both he and Lily were wearing their wedding rings. "Thank you," He replied quietly. "It would be much appreciated."
The consultant returned in a few moments pushing a cart containing a tray with a fine china teapot wrapped in a colorful cozy, two china cups and a plate of cookies on it. She set the tray on the table beside Severus' chair, poured tea and handed him the cup. "Thank you," Severus said, smiling at her.
"Sev, what do you think of this?" Lily asked. She was wearing a Kelly green, silk wrap-around dress that tied at the waist with a plain neckline, capped sleeves and came to just above her knees. She twirled around, the dress skirt floating around her.
Severus noticed right away that it accented her breasts very nicely. "I think you look absolutely ravishing,"
"Okay," Lily said nodding. She went back into the dressing room and came out again in a few minutes wearing the same dress, only it was royal blue. "How about this one?"
"That looks great, too. The blue really sets off your hair."
"I don't know whether to buy the blue or the green. I love them both," Lily said, a frown clouding her pretty face.
"Lily, buy them both if you want. We can certainly afford it."
"Oh Sev!" Lily exclaimed, throwing her arms around his neck. "You're the best husband ever!" She straightened up again. "Let see, I need a hat next. I don't need a purse since I can borrow one from Tuney. She got about a million of them. Purses are her weakness and shoes are mine."
"I've noticed," Severus said wryly.
By the time they left Harrods, Lily had bought the dresses, two pairs of shoes, a hat, and the necessary undergarments. Severus had bought three tins of Harrods tea, their Breakfast Strong Tea, Afternoon Loose Tea and their Opulence Assam Gold Rush Tea. Even though he did like coffee, he still preferred tea. They took a taxi back to the Leaky Cauldron and went inside. Since they had been around Muggles constantly, they hadn't been able to shrink their purchases. Severus' new suit and shirt were in a zippered vinyl bag with Harrods on the outside of it and he carried it slung over his left shoulder and carried a bag in his right hand containing his shoes and other purchases. Lily carried her two dresses, also in a zippered vinyl bag, over her arm, and her shoes, hatbox, and the bag containing her undergarments in both hands. They were about to step into the floo when they heard a familiar voice yell, "Hey, Lily-flower, I heard your parents got connected …"
Severus knew immediately what Potter was going to blat out and thought, "Langlock!
James' eyes widened and he halted so suddenly that Peter who was trailing behind him ran into him and squealed loudly. He grabbed at his face, trying to figure out why he couldn't remove his tongue from the roof of his mouth.
Severus strode over, grabbed James by the front of his shirt and growled, "You idiot! There might be Death Eaters in here!" He thrust James away from him and into Pettigrew and both landed on the floor with a resounding thump.
Sirius was sitting at the bar, a Butterbeer in front of him, talking to Tom and wasn't paying any attention to James or Pettigrew, but turned as he heard the thump and saw James and Peter sitting on the floor. He just caught sight of Severus as he stepped into the floo.
"Stupid arse!" Severus said as Lily and he stepped out of the fireplace in his living room. "He was just about to announce to the entire Leaky Cauldron that your parent's fireplace was connected to the Floo System and there could have been Death Eaters hanging around in there!"
"Ooh!" Lily said angrily. "I swear I'm going to use the Comburo Irrito spell on him the very next time I see that toerag!"
"Mum, we're home," Severus called.
Eileen came out of the hallway that led to her lab. "It looks as if you did some shopping. I have lunch ready. It's in the refrigerator and Rose bought over a cherry pie she baked this morning."
"Thanks Mum," Severus said. "We'll be down after we change and put away the clothes we bought."
Lily looked at the closet in dismay after she changed and was going to hang up her new dresses. It was packed due mostly to the fact that she had twice as many clothes as Sev did. "Sev, would you mind if I enlarged the closet?"
Severus came over and looked over Lily's shoulder at the closet. "Go ahead. We definitely need more room."
When Lily was finished enlarging their closet, her clothes hung neatly on one side of the closet and Severus' on the other side. She had cast a permanent enlarging spell on the closet so it would automatically enlarge whenever new clothes were added. She had also transfigured two logs into shoe racks for each of them and cast enlarging charms on them so they would enlarge anytime a new pair of shoes was added. There was also plenty of room to store both of their trunks.
"You did a great job, Lily," Severus said complimenting her. "I think you should consider getting your mastery in Charms once you get through healer training."
"That would compliment being a healer nicely," Lily replied thoughtfully, tapping her bottom lip with her finger.
They came downstairs to find Eileen kneeling before the fireplace and saw Charles Potter's head sitting in the flames. "Your son is a menace and a bully, Mrs. Snape."
My son's a bully!" Eileen shouted. "Merlin, give me patience! Your son's the bully, Mr. Potter and Madam Pomfrey has plenty of injury reports on Sev to prove it!"
"Your son cast some curse on James and now he's unable to speak!"
Severus stepped over to the fireplace and got down on his knees. "What I cast on the dunderhead is a jinx that should wear off by this evening. He was about to tell the entire Leaky Cauldron something that I didn't wish the Death Eaters who probably hang around in there, to know."
"I demand that you give me the jinx and the counter-jinx immediately!"
"What? So your bully boy of a son can use it on me. Let's just call this partial payback for the insinuations you made about my fiancée." Severus got up from the fireplace and Eileen ended the call with Charles still yelling and demanding the jinx and counter-jinx.
"What was that about, Sev?" Eileen asked
"And what insinuation did Mr. Potter make about me?" Lily demanded.
"I did just what I told Potter I did. I used the Langlock jinx on Potter because he was about to tell the entire place that the Evans were connected to the Floo Network. I suspect Death Eaters hang out there because of all the gossip they can pick up." He turned to Lily. "Potter told your dad that you were of less value since we were sleeping together. He said you would need to see a obstetrical healer before you could be betrothed to Potter to make sure you weren't pregnant because he didn't want my genes polluting the Potter's pure bloodline."
Both Lily and Eileen saw red when they heard this. "Why that bigot! The Prince bloodline goes back to Merlin! And there's nothing wrong with the Snape bloodline either despite Tobias. Your grandparents, Francis and Maeve Snape, were good, decent people!"
"Was he implying that I'm easy?" Lily raged. She wanted to floo over and hit both father and son with Comburo Irrito hex.
"Lily, don't worry. Nobody who's your friend would even think that. He's just a farty old windbag. I told him I'd sue him for slander if he didn't keep his mouth shut." He put his arm around her. "Don't even worry about those arsehole Potters."
"I won't, Sev, but Potter better stay completely out of my way next year!"
The next morning Severus, his mum, Lily and her family flooed to Hogwarts to attend Liam's graduation. Petunia looked very elegant in a Chanel sheath dress that was of a mauve color. It was her favorite style of dress as she was tall and slim and the color went very well with her blue eyes and ash-blond hair. She wore a pillbox hat the same color as her dress and carried a light brown clutch purse under her arm.
"Doesn't Tuney look elegant, Sev? I can hardly believe she's my sister; she looks as if she could be a model." Lily whispered. She was wearing the green silk wrap-around dress with matching green heels and a broad-brimmed hat with a green silk scarf tied around it and ending in a bow and tails in the back. She carried a tan clutch purse under her arm.
Severus nodded. "She does look very stylish. I wouldn't be surprised if Liam gives her an engagement ring for Christmas."
"Do you know something I don't, Sev?" Lily asked shrewdly.
"Not at all, but I do know you look absolutely gorgeous in that dress." He looked at the graduates who were seated in front of the podium behind which Dumbledore stood. "Just think this time next year it will be us up there."
Lily sighed then said softly. "I've decided I want to use my legal name on my diploma when we graduate."
"That's fine with me, but don't be shocked if half your housemates and mine drop dead of heart failure," Severus joked.
"Let them," Lily said firmly.
As the ceremony ended and the area was flooded by the graduates and their family, Severus and Lily heard the nauseous call, "Hey Lily-flower!"
Lily turned and glared at James. "You have a lot of nerve even talking to me after you nearly let the entire Leaky Cauldron know my parents' home was connected to the Floo Network. How did you even find out about it?"
James puffed out his chest. "My father knows a lot of important people in the Ministry. He knows people in every department so of course his contact on the Floo Regulation Panel let him know that your fireplace was connected."
Severus who was standing behind Lily wanted to gag. Potter never missed a chance to brag no matter what the circumstances!
"How come you're attending the graduation today?" James asked. "Did you know I was going to be here?"
"Not that it's any of your business, but Sev and I are attending because Liam invited us. He's dating my sister."
"I'm here because the McKinnon's invited us. Marlene graduated today you know. We know all the best families, of course, the McKinnon's, the Bones, the Prewitt's, the Weasley's …"
Lily turned away from James. "Sev, we'd better find my family and your mum so we can floo over to the Hollywell's. We don't want to be late."
"I see your parents over there talking to Dumbledore and mum's talking to Slughorn," Severus answered. He took Lily arm and they walked away leaving James looking stunned. "Merlin! What a braggart! I thought I was going to sick up if I had to listen to much more of it," Severus said.
"I would have sicked up right beside you, Sev," Lily replied. "He's really too much!"
After they flooed home and changed their clothes, Severus made a light lunch for Lily, Eileen and himself then he and Lily decided to start on their assignments. Severus worked on Arithma=cy while Lily worked on Charms.
"I told Paul if he was having any problems with any of his assignments he could owl me and I help him," Severus said.
"I can help him, too," Lily offered. "What time is your appointment with Dr. Lockwood tomorrow?"
"It's at ten. Do you want to do anything afterwards?"
"Nothing we can do in London," Lily replied archly. "What time is Regulus coming over?"
"I told him to come around six so mum would be home."
Severus' appointment with Dr. Lockwood the next morning took only twenty minutes. He examined Severus' nose, and asked if he'd had encountered any difficulties with breathing or sleeping. Severus was able to reply no to both questions. Dr. Lockwood showed Lily the before and after pictures he'd taken. He asked Severus if he could use his surgery as a case study for the class he was teaching and Severus gave his permission.
They were back home by eleven and Regulus came through the floo promptly at six accompanied by Orion who asked Severus if Eileen was at home.
"She's in her lab. I'll go get her," Severus said. He walked down the hall and stuck his head into Eileen's lab where she was brewing. "Mum, Regulus is here with his father and he'd like to speak to you."
"Really?" Eileen replied. She put her potion in stasis and followed Severus to the living room where Orion and Regulus were seated. "What can I do for you, Mr. Black?"
"I want to offer an apology for the last time we met at the Potter's last summer. I know we appeared uncaring about what Sirius was doing to your son, but I want to explain if you'll allow me."
"All right," Eileen nodded, sitting down on the couch.
"It's not that Walburga and I were unwilling to control Sirius, it's that we couldn't. You see Sirius has always been a rebel. When he was sorted into Gryffindor his mother was very upset because as you probably know the Blacks, like the Princes' have been in Slytherin for centuries. She suspected Sirius asked the Hat to put him in Gryffindor just to spite her. They fought constantly about it and then Sirius left home when he was fifteen and moved in with the Potters. At sixteen, he petitioned the Ministry to emancipate him and was successful. Walburga's younger brother, Alphard, died and left him his vault and he became completely independent. With his emancipation, we no longer had any control over him. My wife is a very proud woman and she did not wish our family troubles to be known."
"That's understandable," Eileen said. "And I do accept your apology."
"I also owe you an apology, Severus especially since you're helping Regulus which puts you in danger."
"No need, sir. Sirius is a lot better behaved than he used to be and his has apologized for his previous behavior."
"Well, I'm happy to hear that," Orion said.
"Are you ready to floo over to the Evans' house?" Severus asked.
Regulus nodded. They stepped into the fireplace taking Regulus' trunk with them. Severus threw down the floo powder and said, "Evans' House."
Hal, Rose, Lily and Petunia were all waiting in the living room when Severus, Regulus, and Orion came through the floo. Delicious smells were emanating from the kitchen. Severus introduced Orion Black to the Evans then with Lily leading the way, helped Regulus carry his trunk upstairs. Regulus was staying in the guest room; it had been freshly painted a pale green and had green bed linens with a comforter with a green and silver motif.
Rose called everybody to dinner, consisting of roast beef, Yorkshire pudding, roasted potatoes, carrots, green beans and thick brown gravy. There was a pumpkin custard crumble for dessert.
"Sev, is Eileen coming?"
"No. She's brewing. Lily and I are going over to help her after we finish eating."
They sat down to eat. Regulus ate with relish while Orion and Lily's parents conversed softly, talking about Riddle and his rising influence. Orion revealed that he had once arrested Tom Riddle, but unfortunately had to let him go.
Severus and Lily walked back to his home after dinner. "Okay, Sev you managed to find a way to explain my absence for one night. What about the rest of the time?"
"Lily, Regulus knows nothing about Muggle culture. He'll just assume Muggle betrothal customs require a couple to live together after their betrothal."
"Sev, that could really work and he won't find out we're really married."
Severus smirked. "Besides, that's what I told your family to tell him if he does notice." He yelped suddenly as Lily punched him hard in his arm.