Hermione Granger caressed the flower petals gently and lifted her Gryffindor-coloured watering pot to see to her plants. She loved her flower shop. More than anything in her life. Hermione started walking around the tables, talking to cacti, encouraging the capricious white rose to bloom at once, caressing the petals of lavender, closing her eyes for a moment, and admiring the ethereal beauty of her cherished little kingdom.
Hermione was quite proud of herself and her achievement. During the past five years after the Battle of Hogwarts, she has been fighting constant fights with the Ministry, trying to show them that she definitely knew better and that they, in fact, had been a bunch of baboons. As Minerva referred to them when Hermione happened to visit her beloved Head of House and now - a mother figure. It was Minerva who suggested that Hermione should leave her useless battles and start, in fact, living for herself. Hermione laughed at her Head of House words at first. She spent the entire two weeks mulling over her words, and when the third week of Hermione's musings had been through, she banged at the gates of Hogwarts and thanked Minerva for her advice and insistence.
It was a surprise for everyone when Hermione announced during one of the usual gatherings of the Weasley-Potter clan that she was intending to open her own Floristic shop at the very center of Diagon Alley. Harry traded glances with Ginny, nodding quite satisfactorily at his own thoughts. Ginny just shook her head and mouthed to her husband: "Mark my words: she will find her happiness there!". Both, Ginny and Harry, knew perfectly well who else owned a shop in the Diagon Alley, thus their little intrigue at persuading Minerva to suggest to Hermione to open her business, started. Ron Weasley was the only one to greet his best friend heartily and to wish the fulfillment of her plans.
Hermione didn't regret that things between her and Ron never worked out in a romantic sense of the way. They'd both been young, naive, and desperate for human touch and warmth, maybe they might have spent a few romantic nights together, maybe they might have roamed endless shops of Diagon Alley together, and maybe they might have confessed to each other that it would be the best if they just might remain as best friends. Hermione smiled to herself: she was happy with the direction their relationship with Ron took - they were best friends and they would always remain as such. So, it didn't surprise her when he was the only one to take her into a warm embrace and greet her happily with the opening of her shop. After all, both Harry and Ginny were quite persistent in their attempts in finding her a decent boyfriend.
Hermione didn't feel like she needed one, truthfully. She quite liked her small flat in the east of London, she liked her flowers and her gathering with Potter-Weasley clan once a month. What she liked even more, though, was her unexpected neighbor who worked in his own apothecary across from her shop. "Sarcastic Herbs" was the name of the apothecary, and its owner was indeed a walking epitome of sarcasm, dark brooding facade, and endless knowledge of herbs, plants, and, quite surprisingly, flowers.
Severus Snape has been Hermione's favorite neighbor for the past five years they worked facing each other's shops. Quite surprisingly to Hermione, Snape has been of great help during her first year as a florist and a shop owner. He has been giving her clever advice on how to care for the plants. He helped her get through the endless struggles with bureaucratic stuff which was inevitable in both Muggle and Magical Worlds when one wanted to create their own business. Snape made her his famous lavender tea and listened to her endless complaints and worried thoughts. Snape fixed her lock and taught her how to cast the spells for greenhouses. He supplied her with growth-and-fertility-potions for her flowers. He was there for her in times of need and in times of happiness.
Severus has been lonely, and so was she. So, it didn't surprise him when she banged at his door on the eve of the anniversary of her shop, a bunch of sunflowers in her hands, and proclaimed that she came to his apothecary to celebrate the most important day in her life with the most important person in her life. Snape stared at her for three seconds, his jaw hanging open, and welcomed her inside and into his warm embrace at the fourth second. Thus, starting their tentative relationship.
Neither Hermione nor Severus wanted to dwell in their not-so-bright past, they didn't want to reveal their dark secrets or unfortunate past relationships, they decided to be happy and to face the future as it was. So, they cared each for their own shops, met on Wednesdays and Fridays for traditional herbal tea, roamed endless roads of London at weekends, and spent every night in each other's arms. Severus decorated his apothecary with sunflowers of Hermione's creation. He confessed to her during their six-month anniversary, that the sunflowers always reminded him of her: they reached for the sun no matter how dark it might be, they shone brightly and they lit his days as she did. It was as close as confessing his love to her, as she could ever get. Hermione was quite satisfied with his answer.
Now and then Hermione glanced at his windows and waved her hand at him roaming his shop and attending to his brewing. Today was the day when they were going to proclaim their engagement to the entire Potter-Weasley clan, and it made Hermione a little bit nervous. Of course, every one of their friends, the Malfoy family, and Minerva included, had been knowing about their relationship after their first month spent as a couple, but still, Hermione couldn't help but feel butterflies fluttering in her heart. She felt as she won a lottery: this handsome, dark, extremely loyal, and brilliant wizard was hers! And she was his.
Severus had been acting strangely these days: he spent endless hours in his apothecary creating something, at her attempts to find out the reason that kept him awake till the wee hours in the morning, he just smiled mysteriously and told her to stop worrying. Hermione shook her head at his enigmatic behavior and let him be. It was Severus after all: a mystery wrapped up in an enigma.
When the hands of the wall clock were nearing three in the afternoon, Snape tentatively opened the doors to her shop and froze at her doorstep hiding something behind his back.
"Hi, love," Hermione greeted smiling at him, "Ready to go?"
"Not before I give you the reason for my staying up till dawn," Severus answered and almost hesitatingly showed her the small flower pot with a single snowdrop growing there.
Hermione reached to touch the flower with her fingers and looked at Severus, her eyes shining with tenderness. Once in the past, she mentioned to him her desire to grow an enchanted snowdrop: it was the magical plant blooming once a year, right before Christmas, and it possessed an enormous amount of healing properties. A true rarity and breathtakingly beautiful flower.
"I managed to convince it to bloom right before our anniversary, changing its regular cycle. I used every possible potion I knew to do so," Severus continued his humble explanation, but Hermione refused to listen to him. She gently took the plant out of his hands and threw herself into his arms, peppering his cheeks and lips, and neck with kisses.
"I love you, I love you, I love you!".
"I named it "Schneeflocke" for it is as stubborn as me, as unsure and me and as happy as me. I wanted you to have something that would forever remind you of my feelings," Severus muttered after being thoroughly thanked for his gift.
"The Snowflake" Hermione translated, smiling at him - she always liked that German word - enigmatic and charming, tender and strong, fierce and loyal as her Severus.
Hand in hand they left her shop to face their new life together. Snowdrop and sunflowers smiled at them from the windows.
End.