Thank you for reading! Please let me know if you enjoy! I don't own any of Harry Potter! Updates every Saturday!
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Harry and Ginny put a lot of effort in over the next two weeks to pull their plan together.
Vow renewals, like weddings, were hard enough to plan, but surprise vow renewals?
Those were even more complicated.
In between their scheming, grieving the dead, and helping with the clean up from the war, the young couple were quite busy.
But it was all worth it to the two Gryfinndors.
After losing her brother so recently, Ginny enjoyed focusing her time on something positive.
She even learned a new spell that would dress Lily in a fine wedding gown, no fittings or alterations sessions required.
Harry had tried his best to plot a way of getting Severus into a suit, but all of his ideas had fizzled out.
Harry eventually accepted that Severus's heavy, damask robes were formal enough to be passable attire at the event.
The details were finalized.
The invitations were secretly sent.
The decorations were ordered.
Severus and Lily had no idea what their son had in store for them.
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Nearly a month after the end of the war, Severus and Harry apparated to Hogwarts late one summer morning.
"I'm certain that I have plenty of lavender root in my old stores." Severus said as he traipsed through the stone corridors with Harry following along, "Though I don't understand why you have to have it right away. What on earth are you trying to brew that's so urgent?"
Harry shrugged as they walked along, "You'll see soon enough…...It's very important."
Severus wasn't fond of his son's cryptic reply and he glanced over at Harry with an untrusting scowl.
Becoming headmaster didn't mean that Severus no longer kept an eye on Hogwarts' potion making supplies.
Once they made it to the supply closet, Severus went straight to the necessary jar and began to pour a small supply of lavender root into a glass vial for Harry.
Harry watched his father as he worked and he asked him curiously, "You really love mum loads, don't you?"
Severus stopped what he was doing and looked up at Harry. With one definitive motion, he snapped the metal lid on the lavender root jar shut and Harry blinked as a look of pained desperation came across his father's face.
"'Loads'?" Severus echoed with a mirthless scoff, "I do not toss the word 'love' around as carelessly as a school boy. It is not a fleeting declaration concocted and spewed to garner attention or sympathy. My feelings for your mother are a statement, not a guarantee, not a promise. My feelings for your mother are an immutable fact of this world, as unchanging and eternal as the rising of the sun itself."
Severus spoke in his low, slow voice though his tone was severe and he enunciated every syllable with the intense, restrained emotion he had bottled up for years.
By the time he finished speaking, his face was inches away from Harry's. Severus hissed his last sentence so forcefully that Harry once again forgot that he was talking to his father and instead felt like he was about to receive detention from Professor Snape.
Despite the serious conviction with which Severus spoke, Harry cracked a wide grin from ear to ear.
"Do you think that's funny, son? Does my devotion to your mother strike you as humorous?" Severus spat, clearly annoyed with Harry's reaction.
"No, dad." Harry replied with a laugh.
Dad.
Severus visibly flinched at hearing Harry address him by the correct title.
Harry thought it was strange that Severus's dark eyes softened even as he frowned, as if Harry had both offended and complimented him at the same time.
"I just think you're going to have a really good day today." Harry said with a warm, genuine smile.
Severus blinked at Harry and his lips curled into a worried scowl at his erratic behavior.
"...Are you feeling alright?" Severus asked with concern.
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"Mum said you two used to study in the courtyard together." Harry spoke as he and Severus left the potions supply closet a few minutes later.
"That's correct." Severus replied stoically.
Out of his peripheral vision, he eyed Harry suspiciously.
First, Harry had shown up at his and Lily's home an hour earlier imploring Severus to aid him immediately in obtaining some lavender root. Now, he berated him with one annoying, personal question after another.
"That courtyard, there?" Harry asked, pointing at the clearing that came into view ahead.
It was the courtyard with green grass encompassed by intricate stonework.
The courtyard that was one of Hogwarts' most popular places for students to gather and socialize.
Harry already knew that it was the right courtyard, but he didn't want his father to realize that.
"Yes, that courtyard." Severus replied sarcastically with a nod.
"Why don't we walk over there for a moment?" Harry asked, diverging off of their straight path when they came upon the opening from the corridor to that intricate breezeway of stonework.
Severus scowled at Harry but he followed, looming out into the patch of grass.
"Right here?" Harry asked, standing in the middle of the courtyard.
"Yes, right here. What are you doing?" Severus asked shrewdly.
"I'm not doing anything." Harry shrugged.
Ginny was hiding in the shadows of the stone so Severus didn't see her cast the spell that made several chairs and an aisle runner appear.
Severus's eyes narrowed as Harry tapped his wand to his jacket and his ordinary clothes changed into a dapper, black suit and white shirt.
"What are you doing?!" Severus demanded.
Before Harry could answer, pops rang out in the courtyard.
Severus's eyes darted around as he watched the Weasley family appear, then the Malfoys, Luna Lovegood, Hermione Granger, Neville Longbottom, most of Slytherin and Gryffindor house, Hagrid, Minerva Mcgonagall, Professor Flitwick, along with the rest of Hogwarts' faculty……..
"What is all of this?!?!" Severus shouted at Harry.
It took some doing to get Severus Snape to shout.
Severus watched warily as everyone shuffled to their seats and an angry scowl marred his face as he understood that Harry had clearly planned something behind his back.
"Stand here." Harry directed Severus. When Severus failed to obey, Harry walked around and positioned himself so that Severus was more towards the center and he was more towards the side.
A Ministry official came smiling down the aisle and Minerva took the time to drift past and nod at father and son, looking directly at the current headmaster of Hogwarts as she said warmly, "We're all so happy for you, Severus!"
"Minerva……" Severus nodded with a frown, then he glared accusingly at his son.
"What have you done?!" Severus hissed to Harry after Mcgonagall walked away.
"Lower your voice, here she comes." Harry whispered.
Harry stopped looking at Severus as his attention was turned in the opposite direction.
Severus realized that everyone was suddenly turning their heads towards the back of the courtyard.
Severus followed the direction of everyone's gazed……...
When he looked over and his eyes landed on Lily, with her beautiful, red hair splashed across her shoulders in shimmering, crimson waves and her gorgeous flowing gown of white gossamer and embroidered lace, his knees nearly buckled.
In her arms, Lily carried a bouquet of flawless zinnias. Ginny knew that Professor Snape knew the language of flowers well and so, she felt the flower that symbolizes affection, remembrance, and endurance had been a fitting choice for his beloved bride.
But beyond the dress and the flowers, it was Lily's flawless smile, accentuated by the bright burst of life in her green eyes………..
Lily's eyes…...that was what melted Severus Snape to his core.
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Harry expected Severus to shoot him angry looks in the seconds that followed. Instead, he found himself deeply moved by the look on Severus's face that served as proof of how enraptured he was by Lily.
Ginny trailed behind Lily, flinging rose petals here and there, and when the bride met the groom, the youngest Weasley stood over to the side, assisting Lily discreetly with the flowing train of her exquisite dress.
Harry went to sit down, but he heard the cutting rumble of his father's low voice when Severus distinctly murmured, "Stay."
Feeling a wash of pride, Harry happily stood beside his parents and looked on as they joined hands with one another.
The ceremony was brief. The surprised couple had not written vows to each other, so the officiant just went over a simple renewal of the ones they had previously taken, but it was lovely.
Severus finally got to publicly declare his love for his darling Lily, unafraid of mortal harm befalling them for it, and to see her in a gown that suited her beauty.
A proper wedding, nearly twenty years late.
"Do you renew your promise to love and obey this man? To cherish him forever?" The wedding officiant asked Lily.
"I do." Lily said, beaming happily at Severus.
Severus had to fight very hard not to completely let go of what was happening around him and fall into the temptation of losing himself in Lily's emerald stare.
"And do you renew your promise to love and protect this woman? To cherish her forever?" The wedding officiant asked Severus.
"Always~." Severus replied with a low purr.
"Then you may kiss what you have already claimed." The officiant said.
Lily and Severus both leaned in and as their lips met, the officiant held up an arm and announced, "I present to everyone, Mr. and Mrs. Snape!" Then he glanced over at Harry as he added, "May their love for each other never be forgotten!"
As his lips met Lily's, Severus barely heard the applause that erupted from behind them.
And he certainly didn't see the tears that started to roll down Harry's cheeks without his consent….
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Severus had been so preoccupied with his and Lily's recovery that he hadn't held much of a presence at Hogwarts since the battle.
That had given Harry and Ginny the perfect opportunity to orchestrate all of the day's preparations.
After the ceremony concluded, there was a reception held in the ballroom, complete with a dance floor and refreshments.
Lily and Severus had their own private table at the front of the room.
Harry had listened to Ginny's urging and he let the guests choose their own seats.
However, when he and Draco ended up sitting side by side, he wasn't sure if that had been a wise idea or not.
Ginny was Harry's date and Hermione was Draco's.
That surprised Harry because he had half been expecting the couple to part ways after a date or two, but that clearly hadn't happened yet.
Harry had noticed Hermione and Draco holding hands before the ceremony but whenever he glanced at the couple, Draco threw him a glare.
At the reception, when the girls left the table, Harry and Draco were forced to confront each other.
For a moment, they glanced at one another, hoping to avoid conversation.
Finally, Harry broke the unbearable silence, "I understand that my father is actually your godfather as well."
Draco sniffed, staring out at the dance floor, pretending not to hear.
Harry went on, undeterred, "I suppose that makes us-"
"That makes us nothing, Potter." Draco sneered.
"You can't call me that anymore." Harry replied, "That's not my name."
Draco chuckled, "What am I to say, then? I refuse to address you as 'Snape'."
"I have a first name, you know." Harry suggested.
Draco scowled over at Harry in thought.
Harry's life wasn't the only one that had been turned upside down by the events of the last month.
With his father recently buying his way out of Azkaban and the girl of his dreams finally on his arm, the current world was also a strange place for Draco Malfoy.
Draco could barely imagine a life in which "Potter" would become known to him as "Harry".
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During the commotion of the reception, Severus sought out an opportunity to approach Harry at the punch bowl, whispering to him as he snuck up from behind, "How fortunate you are, to be my son. Were you not, you'd probably be dead."
Harry turned around and faced Severus with a smile, "I'm glad you're enjoying yourself, Dad!"
"Don't call me that!" Severus snapped.
Bewildered by Harry's ambush, Severus felt vulnerable. Driven by a desire to protect his pride, the only acceptable emotion Severus felt he could show outwardly was rage.
"I'm glad you're enjoying yourself then, Professor!" Harry repeated.
"Don't call me that either!" Severus hissed.
"Then what am I to call you?!" Harry asked, chuckling in exasperation.
"I…...I don't know….." Severus said, calming himself down as a few people heard his exclamation and looked over.
"I just wanted to give you both something." Harry explained quietly to Severus, "I wasn't trying to hurt anyone."
"You have attempted to use a more subtle approach." Severus said dryly.
"The next part is subtle." Harry shrugged, "Perhaps you'll like that better."
Severus blinked, asking apprehensively, "...What do you mean 'next part'?"
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Harry didn't explain but Severus noticed that as the reception lagged on, his son and his girlfriend disappeared.
Harry and Ginny had things to tend, like apparating back to the house where Harry had been born and packing a trunk for Severus and one for Lily.
Just as the party was winding down, a loud pop rang out beside Severus and Lily's table. The couple looked over to see Harry and Ginny holding onto luggage.
"Going somewhere?" Severus asked humorlessly.
"No, but you two are." Harry said as he sat the stuffed dragon that Severus had bought for him on the table.
Severus and Lily blinked.
"Sweetheart……" Lily said to Harry in eager surprise, "You didn't have to do all of this!"
"I wanted to, Mum." Harry said as his green eyes flickered between both of his parents.
Harry and Ginny sat the trunks down and Harry nodded at Severus and Lily.
"Go on." Harry nodded towards them, "We've arranged everything. You two have the next week just with each other, the dragon's the portkey."
"What are you talking about?...Where are you sending us?" Severus asked.
"It's a surprise." Harry replied.
"I'm not fond of surprises." Severus scowled.
"Dear….." Lily chastised, urging Severus not to be rude.
"You might like this one." Harry said with a nod.
Lily stretched out her hand towards the dragon but Severus hesitated.
"Go on, Dad, Mum." Harry coaxed, feeling a rush of joy as his parents both looked up at him, "You two are going to have a great time."
Lily's hand connected with the dragon first, grabbing onto the soft plush. Severus followed behind her, splaying his long, elegant fingers over hers.
For the couple, the reception room disappeared. Severus wrapped protectively around Lily as the two journeyed to wherever it was their thoughtful son had sent them on their long-awaited honeymoon.
As they whirled through the air, Lily looked up at Severus and he gazed down at her.
It didn't matter where they were going.
It only mattered that they were together.