His Greatest Wish, by AndromedaMarine

A/N: This is a fairly short chapter compared the last several.

49. I Have Loved You for a Thousand Years

December swiftly arrived, and it seemed as though just a split second had passed between graduation and the nearing wedding. It was exactly one week away, and Lily, though excited, was also very nervous. She couldn't pin down why, since she'd been imagining marrying her best friend for quite a while—at least since she was fifteen, perhaps earlier. She couldn't remember when she'd first thought of herself walking down the aisle towards Severus. She voiced her anxieties to Alice, at the last dress fitting, while the seamstress went to find more pins.

"Every time I think about it I get these massive butterflies in my stomach, and I can barely soothe them."

Alice faced her friend, adjusting the short sleeves of Lily's dress. There were, thankfully, no ruffles—but it had been a hard negotiation with the seamstress, as ruffles were apparently in fashion in the Muggle world. "Remember what I told you ages and ages ago when Sev was lying to you about something, apparently with good reason?"

"Remind me," Lily said, knowing what Alice meant but wanting to hear it anyways.

"That even though we were only fourteen, it was clear as Veritaserum to anyone who cared to look that Severus Prince is utterly, completely in love with you, and has been probably since you first met. Your butterflies are normal, Lily. Your life is changing, in a big way, in just a week. Trust me, you don't have to worry about anything. It's going to be a perfect day."

Lily bit her lip. "I suppose you're right."

"I'm always right," Alice joked, and then her face softened. "I have to admit that I envy you a bit. I love Frank with all my being, don't get me wrong…but there are some moments where I wish that he and I had the kind of connection that you have with Sev. Where he can just look at you and know something's wrong, or when you're apart, if something bad happens, you'll both know immediately that the other's in danger, or whatever. You two have the kind of bond that romance authors wish they could put into books."

"Oh, Alice… There's someone for everyone, I truly believe that—and Frank's yours. Severus…Sev is, I think, perhaps the most unique person on Earth. I don't believe there is anybody else like him. You don't need to compare your relationship to mine, since they're both perfect in their own ways."

They were interrupted by the seamstress returning, and adjusting only a couple folds of fabric before declaring it ready to be finished. Lily went back into the dressing room and slid off the gown, pulled her own clothes back on, and took the dress out to the woman so she could sew the folds and finally give it to them. It had already been paid for, including alterations, and so they were able to take the dress and Disapparate back to Prince Manor, where the wedding preparations were in full swing.

Molly, leaving Arthur to tend to their five children, teamed with Rose and Eileen to do the food. With the gathering being a small one, no great amount of food was needed, but Molly was a Weasley, and Weasleys didn't skimp on food. The guest list consisted of their Circle friends (with some parents, such as Remus's), Cordon, the Weasleys, Renly, Hagrid, Professor McGonagall, Madame Pomfrey, and a few other friends from school, like the Prewett twins and Amos Diggory. Molly baked a cake that would feed twice as many people, and baked it into the shape of a doe—the Patronus shape shared by Lily and Severus. Of course, the House-Elves helped too, and being such good cooks themselves, both the rehearsal dinner and the reception meals were ready and preserved with stasis spells with plenty of time to spare.

On December 20th, the friends gathered for the rehearsal dinner. Most, if not all of them, were staying at the manor, as was Rose—since she could not Apparate—and so it made the dinner that much easier. After the dinner came the rehearsal part, where they went through the procession that would happen the next day, where everyone would stand, the timing, and so on.

Though Renly was not in the wedding party, he came to the dinner anyways. Severus and Lily learned from him that Taylor had made Captain of the Gryffindor Quidditch team, and that Renly himself felt fairly certain he'd make Captain the next year. Lily didn't want to hog all the attention—despite the fact it was the rehearsal dinner—so she inquired after his family.

"How are Mycroft and William doing?"

"We call him Sherlock, but they're both definitely Holmes boys. Deducing everything from your hair to your fingernails down to the weave of your socks. Honestly I'm not sure where they get it—I mean, Siger and I are more intelligent than most, but Myc and Sherlock are impressive, far more than we were at their ages." Renly scratched his chin. "Sherlock's really bonded with Dora, though. They're the best of friends, and I think that's a relief for both Siger and Vi, because Myc has repeatedly told them that ordinary people are boring."

"Oh that's precious," Lily said, but Renly gave her a look.

"Honestly, I worry a bit about him. I don't want him to grow up antisocial because Mycroft keeps teaching him that so-called 'normal' people are beneath them. He's a smart child, they both are—but Sherlock is only three."

"That's true," Lily replied, and thanked Severus as he rematerialized with a glass of water for her. She and Renly talked for a while longer before she moved on to chat with Regulus, and then Peter, and then Molly—at long last she grew exhausted enough that Alice rounded her up and sent her to bed, since she would be a married woman the next day, and didn't need to be sleep deprived during her wedding. Remus kept Severus downstairs, adding to the illusion of keeping the bride from her groom until the wedding itself.

In the front row on the bride's side of the aisle, sat an empty chair. It was placed closest to the aisle itself, and the seat next to it belonged to Rose Evans. The seat, of course, was reserved for the one man who couldn't attend—Lily's father, Mark Evans. When Lily told her mother of her plan for the chair, she'd broken down and cried at the kitchen table, happy tears for her daughter and sad tears for the husband she had lost to Voldemort's followers. Lily had embraced cried with her, wishing beyond hope that her father could have been with her.

Friends and family filed into their seats in the great hall in Prince Manor, all waiting for the wedding ceremony to begin.

When the time came, Severus escorted his mother down the aisle, and then stood on the right side of the hall, and watched as the music began and the bridesmaids were escorted by the groomsmen (Petunia paired with Frank, Jackie with Sirius, Emily with Regulus, and Molly with Peter). Last of all were Alice and Remus, the Maid of Honor and Best Man, and behind them came little Bill Weasley, their ring bearer. Arthur watched from the seats with pride, the four other members of his brood with him.

The bridal march song began, and Lily and her mother walked down the aisle in step, wide smiles cast to everyone—though Lily only had eyes for the man waiting for her up front. Severus wore a full black Muggle tuxedo, sharp and elegant, with a red kerchief tucked into the pocket, and a red orchid head pinned to his breast. His hair just barely reached his shoulders—fine but thick, and with a slight wave to it. His hands were clasped behind his back, no doubt fidgeting since Remus gave him a slight nudge as Lily and Rose approached.

Lily was a vision in white, with red and green ribbons in her delicately done-up hair. She held a bouquet of white roses and red orchids. Alice had done her hair and makeup like she'd done for the engagement dinner, and Lily felt even more beautiful than ever as she slowly approached her husband-to-be.

The ceremony official spoke when Lily and her mother stopped just short of the dais. "Who gives this bride away?"

"I am her mother," Rose answered, "and she goes of her own free will." She faced her daughter and lifted the veil over her head. "I am so proud of you, my Lily flower." She kissed her daughter's forehead, gave her hand a squeeze, and returned to her seat in the front row beside the empty seat for her late husband.

The rest of the ceremony seemed to fly by to Lily, but Severus burned it all into his memory—he never wanted to forget a single detail about his bonding to the love of his life, and kept his attention on her and the ceremony official from the Ministry.

"Ladies and gentlemen, we are here to witness the joining of two faithful souls, Lily Rose Evans and Severus Tobias Prince, in the bonding of marriage," the ceremony official began once the audience sat back down. "Friends since before they even started at Hogwarts, Lily and Severus have been on this path for many years, culminating in this union today. They have asked you all here to witness their bonding, to show your love and support for them as they enter into this new chapter of their lives." He said a few more things that Severus later forgot, since his eyes drank the sight of Lily in like a man stranded in the desert drank water. He was pulled from his distraction by the next few words. "Do you have the rings?"

Bill Weasley tottered up to Lily and Sev, holding the pillow up for them to pluck the rings from it. Grinning, he ran back to his father, who picked him up and sat him in his lap.

"You may now recite your vows. Severus?"

Sev's hands trembled as he took Lily's, but his voice was strong. "Lily Rose Evans, from the moment I laid eyes on you I knew my life would never be the same. I came from a broken house, and I envied the stability and love you had in yours, and later almost couldn't believe the hospitality when your parents took me in. The day before we started at Hogwarts, I'd had a terrible nightmare, in which I saw terrible things, including a vision of your death, for which I had been responsible. When I woke I knew I could never let it manifest, and did everything in my power to keep you safe from the thing that killed you. Lily…I have truly loved you for a thousand years, if not more. You are without a doubt the other half of my soul. There are no words—nothing I can say that really tell how much it meant and still means to me that throughout everything, you always chose me. I vow to be your rock when the waves of chaos find us. I vow to stand by your side during every trial, and every triumph. I vow to be yours in everything—in sickness and health, for richer or poorer, and in death itself. I take you to be my forever bonded wife." He slid the white-gold diamond and garnet encrusted wedding band onto the ring finger of Lily's left hand.

Lily's tears of joy were streaking her makeup a little, so Alice covertly cast a glamour over her friend's face so the guests wouldn't see it, but that Severus still could. "Severus Tobias Prince, throughout every trouble, trial, and trauma I've faced, you've been the only one I've turned to. You know me better than I know myself. I've known you since we were nine, and for every minute of that you've been my best friend. I want nothing more than to grow old with you, to wake up each morning knowing that the man next to me loves me with every fiber of his existence. I vow to be your pillar when things crumble around us. I vow to stand by your side through every tribulation, and every victory. I vow to be yours for all time, for all things, in all ways—in sickness and health, for richer or poorer, and in death itself. I take you to be my forever bonded husband." She slid the white-gold band with Celtic knotwork etched and emeralds set in the metal onto the ring finger of Severus's left hand.

By now most if not all the audience were in tears, Rose most of all.

"It is now my honor as Bonder to proclaim you husband and wife. You may kiss your bride."

And Severus did. Lily clung to him fiercely, returning the kiss with just as much passion as she was getting. Sirius wolf-whistled, and the hall erupted in applause.

"May I present to you Mr. and Mrs. Severus Prince!"

Everyone stood and continued clapping as Sev and Lily Prince clasped hands and walked back down the aisle and out the door at the end of the hall, and down another hallway until they were utterly alone, and could hear the beginnings of people moving to the reception hall, also within the manor.

Lily took Sev's face in her hands and kissed him, walking backwards until her back was against the wall and Sev leaned into her, practically pinning her there. Her dress flowed out on either side of her, framing them perfectly. Alice, who had surreptitiously followed them, took this opportunity to produce a camera and silently take a picture of them before tiptoeing back to the reception.

"Lily Prince," Severus said when they broke apart, "I love you so completely."

"Severus Prince," she replied, "I love you with every part of me."

The happy couple returned to their guests a few minutes later, where they stood for the receiving line and shook hands, gave and got hugs, and occasional cheek kisses for Lily from her male friends, and for Sev from his female friends. Soon they were eating, drinking, and laughing, reminiscing with their friends and family about childhood stories, and also each privately looking forward to their fast-approaching wedding night, opening of gifts, and honeymoon, which they'd decided to take in Italy, for the last week of break before returning to their higher studies.

Here, amongst their friends, life was happy and good. Severus had been chasing his greatest wish for so long that it took him until his wedding night to realize that his greatest wish had been granted the moment he'd woken that fateful day in August of 1971. He'd destroyed Voldemort, ruined Umbridge, cast down Greyback, and sent James Henry Potter to what would most likely be an early grave. Their foes vanquished, they were free to live their lives without the worry of a divided civilization and war. Severus Prince had Lily, and Lily Prince had Severus.

All was well.

A/N: Here ends the story part of His Greatest Wish, my "what if" story following Severus Snape's life had he been given the chance to start over. Thank you immensely to every single reader, every single reviewer, and every single person who passed this story on. I know it couldn't possibly have gotten this massive without that kind of acknowledgement, so thank you from the bottom of my Gryffinclaw heart. Hereafter only comes the epilogue, which is not like any other epilogue I have written for my other stories, and I hope it is well received. In the future, should I be struck with the inspiration, one-shot stories may continue in this unique universe of Severus Prince's.