Chapter 27: In Vino Veritas
"Shall I hex your Ex?" Severus inquired.
Rose giggled: a result of rhyme and wine. "Which one?" They were finally eating dinner, drinking the wine he had brought home, enjoying the bouquet especially designed by Violet Watkins for a night like this.
"Both," Severus was living up to his name. "To abandon commitments and shed responsibilities like soiled linen is cowardice."
"You say that because you are a man; they were only boys." Rose was in a forgiving mood. "I was sufficiently able to deal with it."
"Any male over 18 is much too old to behave like a boy, Rose, and you are too gentle. A heart is not to be crushed underfoot, and certainly not three hearts in one blow. Just because one can cope, is no reason for one's partner to hare off."
"No, but it is the new, corporate American way. I'm not at all gentle, just a realist. You can't get love from a stone, and murder is a crime. I will leave their punishments up to their wives. I am sure that the father of my children had a lot of explaining to do, when he had to ask her for money to pay his overdue child support to avoid jail." Rose sighed. "Besides, if things had worked out differently, I wouldn't be here, now, with you."
"There is that consideration," said the wizard, but he inventoried his memory for some spells sufficiently efficacious, in the event he ever had an opportunity.
"It would be very amusing, though, to meet up with 'Boy' Number 2. He thought I was a witch, because I could anticipate and counter every sleazy little game he tried. He never realized that I had a doctorate in bad guy behavior by then. I also needed to develop my observational skills, to deal with a stone-faced husband and an autistic child. He was such a poor dissembler, but he tried, damn him! They both did." She took a prolonged drink from her wineglass.
"I am not yet convinced you aren't a witch, Rose, and neither is Professor Dumbledore," Severus frowned. "Perhaps only a squib, but there is more to you than meets the eye."
"Nobody could have such bad luck as I have and have a drop of magic," Rose replied, "Unless there is a kind of anti-magic. I have gallons of that."
There was a pause. "When shall I meet your children, then?" Severus said gently.
"They come over at Christmas to visit. John brings Sarah, and bitterly complains all the time about it, but as long as I'm paying his way, he co-operates." She sighed. "If you could put the best parts of the two together, I would have one perfect offspring."
"That is the flaw in sexual reproduction," Severus remarked. "There is no lifeguard in the gene pool. A joke, courtesy of the Internet."
Rose got rather pale. "Russ, I am well past the best childbearing years. I may not be fertile at all any more. You don't have any children yet, do you?"
"No, and that may be a good thing," he replied. "I am not in need of children for myself, and there is no other family to nag me about it. Whatever happens, as long as you and I are together, will be fine. I want you: not your genes, or money, or connexions; just you." He rose, and pulled her to her feet. "Ready for dessert?"
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Saturday morning brought sunlight pouring like liquid gold across the bedclothes. Rose awoke and stretched like a cat. She hadn't felt so relaxed and well in a long time. She contemplated the dark-haired wizard in her bed. He was warm and still as a sleeping child. She was still afraid to wake him. She did not yet know what his startle reflex would be, and didn't want to find out by accident. She slipped out of the room for a bath.
"Good morning, Mistress," chirped Dobby.
"Dobby, could you call me Rose? Where I come from there are no House Elves or any servants, and I am not used to this."
"Of course, Mistress Rose! Dobby is honoured!" Dobby bowed deeply, beside himself with glee. "There is a letter from the Floo for the Master."
"He's still asleep," Rose replied. "Let him get a little more rest, if it isn't urgent."
She was blanketed in bubbles when there was a knock on the bathroom door. "What is it, Dobby?" she called.
"It's not Dobby, Rose," Severus replied. "Will you be very long?"
"I can be out in five minutes if you wish."
"I just have something to ask you, several things, in fact." Severus sounded amused.
"I'd invite you in, but the door is locked," Rose replied. "Force of habit, I suppose."
"Alohamora!" said Severus, and he entered. "Not a problem." He sat on the edge of the tub. "We are invited to the Weasleys this evening, the two of us, for an informal family dinner. Molly wants to look you over, I suppose. Hermione will be there, and Harry Potter, who you must meet eventually anyway. He spends all his free time at the Burrow, since Molly gives him all the mothering he never had."
"I haven't anything suitable to wear in this flat," Rose replied. "And I would really like to dress appropriately for wizarding society. Where do wizards get their robes, or aren't I entitled to wear them?"
"We'll go to Madame Malkin's after lunch; I'm sure she can suggest something appropriate. The Weasley grandchild will be there, no doubt. Do you think you are contagious?"
"I'll look it up on the Internet." Rose was excited to be going out at all after two hard weeks of recovery; going to a wizard's home was just that much more of a thrill. She had a million questions to ask. Molly Weasley might be a good source of information. "Have you ever been there before?"
"No, I haven't. I don't want to take you by Floo, so I will just pop over now to get a heading so that we will be able to Apparate."
"Do you think we could find some more of that wine you bought? It would be a good gift for the hostess."
"We will do all of that, as soon as you get out of that tub. Would you like some help?" and he untied the sash of his dressing gown.
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Madame Malkin's dusty little shop was a real adventure for Rose, a time trip to a more genteel era. Madame Malkin was attentive and fussed over every detail, from undergarments to cloak and boots. Then she and Rose were able to persuade Severus Snape, the old black bat himself, to invest in something a little less drab and severe. The transformation in them both was startling, as they stood side by side in the large mirror.
"Slytherin colours suit you so well, my dear," Madame gushed. "Of course, you would look well in other shades, midnight blue, plum, peach perhaps."
"Gold would make a suitable wedding dress," remarked Severus. "A burnished, antique gold."
"Oh, Professor and Madame, may I offer you congratulations? When is the wedding?" Madame Malkin was a bit astonished, but a sale is a sale, and an honour is an honour, and dressing a Snape bride was never less than an honour, be she Muggle or witch.
"We will be setting a date soon, after some of the details are nailed down. Would you be willing to help Rose plan a trousseau? I will give you the address and you two can communicate by Floo." Severus was not willing to let any grass grow under Rose's feet. He remembered Aidan Oldham's admonishment to his wife of 60 years: Tempus Fugit!
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"How do I look, Severus?"
Rose was becoming more nervous by the second. After an afternoon in Diagon Alley, including an engagement ring which left her speechless (emerald, of course, not small, but tastefully set in a snake motif), and a tour of Flourish and Blotts, plus an hour or two of briefing on wizard governance and the functions of the Ministry and a list of the Weasley children and their school careers (although Severus avoided stopping at Weasleys Wizard Wheezes, just on general principles), Rose was filled with new sights, sounds, faces and ideas sufficient to upset the steadiest person.
"You look like my dream come true, Rose." He smiled. "Just remember to breathe once in a while. You are going to have to start eating better, too. You must have lost a stone between the curse and the influenza. I didn't even need assistance when carrying you last night. It wouldn't do to fall ill again so soon. People would say I wasn't taking good care of you."
Rose was a bit shocked at that. How often does a woman hear that she should eat more? "I'll do my best,' she said, "and no one has ever cared for me the way you do." She stretched up on tiptoes to kiss him, and found herself fully engaged for several minutes. "Enough now, or we will be more than fashionably late at this rate!"
They Apparated in the back garden of the Burrow a few moments later. Severus took her hand and escorted Rose to the door. Molly Weasley was on the lookout with her red hair in two rolled buns on either side of her forehead; she opened the door wide, waving her hand, which was holding a rolling pin, and calling, "Come in! Come in! You've found the right place!"
Rose stopped dead in the lane. "My God!" she said. "It's Mrs. Lovett!"
Severus looked at Rose, then at Molly, and then laughed the deepest belly laugh any of the three of them had ever heard issue forth from the Potion Master's mouth.
Author's Note: A Merry Christmas to all the merry readers, and many thanks for your kind reviews. May your holidays be filled with Light!
"Shall I hex your Ex?" Severus inquired.
Rose giggled: a result of rhyme and wine. "Which one?" They were finally eating dinner, drinking the wine he had brought home, enjoying the bouquet especially designed by Violet Watkins for a night like this.
"Both," Severus was living up to his name. "To abandon commitments and shed responsibilities like soiled linen is cowardice."
"You say that because you are a man; they were only boys." Rose was in a forgiving mood. "I was sufficiently able to deal with it."
"Any male over 18 is much too old to behave like a boy, Rose, and you are too gentle. A heart is not to be crushed underfoot, and certainly not three hearts in one blow. Just because one can cope, is no reason for one's partner to hare off."
"No, but it is the new, corporate American way. I'm not at all gentle, just a realist. You can't get love from a stone, and murder is a crime. I will leave their punishments up to their wives. I am sure that the father of my children had a lot of explaining to do, when he had to ask her for money to pay his overdue child support to avoid jail." Rose sighed. "Besides, if things had worked out differently, I wouldn't be here, now, with you."
"There is that consideration," said the wizard, but he inventoried his memory for some spells sufficiently efficacious, in the event he ever had an opportunity.
"It would be very amusing, though, to meet up with 'Boy' Number 2. He thought I was a witch, because I could anticipate and counter every sleazy little game he tried. He never realized that I had a doctorate in bad guy behavior by then. I also needed to develop my observational skills, to deal with a stone-faced husband and an autistic child. He was such a poor dissembler, but he tried, damn him! They both did." She took a prolonged drink from her wineglass.
"I am not yet convinced you aren't a witch, Rose, and neither is Professor Dumbledore," Severus frowned. "Perhaps only a squib, but there is more to you than meets the eye."
"Nobody could have such bad luck as I have and have a drop of magic," Rose replied, "Unless there is a kind of anti-magic. I have gallons of that."
There was a pause. "When shall I meet your children, then?" Severus said gently.
"They come over at Christmas to visit. John brings Sarah, and bitterly complains all the time about it, but as long as I'm paying his way, he co-operates." She sighed. "If you could put the best parts of the two together, I would have one perfect offspring."
"That is the flaw in sexual reproduction," Severus remarked. "There is no lifeguard in the gene pool. A joke, courtesy of the Internet."
Rose got rather pale. "Russ, I am well past the best childbearing years. I may not be fertile at all any more. You don't have any children yet, do you?"
"No, and that may be a good thing," he replied. "I am not in need of children for myself, and there is no other family to nag me about it. Whatever happens, as long as you and I are together, will be fine. I want you: not your genes, or money, or connexions; just you." He rose, and pulled her to her feet. "Ready for dessert?"
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Saturday morning brought sunlight pouring like liquid gold across the bedclothes. Rose awoke and stretched like a cat. She hadn't felt so relaxed and well in a long time. She contemplated the dark-haired wizard in her bed. He was warm and still as a sleeping child. She was still afraid to wake him. She did not yet know what his startle reflex would be, and didn't want to find out by accident. She slipped out of the room for a bath.
"Good morning, Mistress," chirped Dobby.
"Dobby, could you call me Rose? Where I come from there are no House Elves or any servants, and I am not used to this."
"Of course, Mistress Rose! Dobby is honoured!" Dobby bowed deeply, beside himself with glee. "There is a letter from the Floo for the Master."
"He's still asleep," Rose replied. "Let him get a little more rest, if it isn't urgent."
She was blanketed in bubbles when there was a knock on the bathroom door. "What is it, Dobby?" she called.
"It's not Dobby, Rose," Severus replied. "Will you be very long?"
"I can be out in five minutes if you wish."
"I just have something to ask you, several things, in fact." Severus sounded amused.
"I'd invite you in, but the door is locked," Rose replied. "Force of habit, I suppose."
"Alohamora!" said Severus, and he entered. "Not a problem." He sat on the edge of the tub. "We are invited to the Weasleys this evening, the two of us, for an informal family dinner. Molly wants to look you over, I suppose. Hermione will be there, and Harry Potter, who you must meet eventually anyway. He spends all his free time at the Burrow, since Molly gives him all the mothering he never had."
"I haven't anything suitable to wear in this flat," Rose replied. "And I would really like to dress appropriately for wizarding society. Where do wizards get their robes, or aren't I entitled to wear them?"
"We'll go to Madame Malkin's after lunch; I'm sure she can suggest something appropriate. The Weasley grandchild will be there, no doubt. Do you think you are contagious?"
"I'll look it up on the Internet." Rose was excited to be going out at all after two hard weeks of recovery; going to a wizard's home was just that much more of a thrill. She had a million questions to ask. Molly Weasley might be a good source of information. "Have you ever been there before?"
"No, I haven't. I don't want to take you by Floo, so I will just pop over now to get a heading so that we will be able to Apparate."
"Do you think we could find some more of that wine you bought? It would be a good gift for the hostess."
"We will do all of that, as soon as you get out of that tub. Would you like some help?" and he untied the sash of his dressing gown.
*********************************************************************
Madame Malkin's dusty little shop was a real adventure for Rose, a time trip to a more genteel era. Madame Malkin was attentive and fussed over every detail, from undergarments to cloak and boots. Then she and Rose were able to persuade Severus Snape, the old black bat himself, to invest in something a little less drab and severe. The transformation in them both was startling, as they stood side by side in the large mirror.
"Slytherin colours suit you so well, my dear," Madame gushed. "Of course, you would look well in other shades, midnight blue, plum, peach perhaps."
"Gold would make a suitable wedding dress," remarked Severus. "A burnished, antique gold."
"Oh, Professor and Madame, may I offer you congratulations? When is the wedding?" Madame Malkin was a bit astonished, but a sale is a sale, and an honour is an honour, and dressing a Snape bride was never less than an honour, be she Muggle or witch.
"We will be setting a date soon, after some of the details are nailed down. Would you be willing to help Rose plan a trousseau? I will give you the address and you two can communicate by Floo." Severus was not willing to let any grass grow under Rose's feet. He remembered Aidan Oldham's admonishment to his wife of 60 years: Tempus Fugit!
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"How do I look, Severus?"
Rose was becoming more nervous by the second. After an afternoon in Diagon Alley, including an engagement ring which left her speechless (emerald, of course, not small, but tastefully set in a snake motif), and a tour of Flourish and Blotts, plus an hour or two of briefing on wizard governance and the functions of the Ministry and a list of the Weasley children and their school careers (although Severus avoided stopping at Weasleys Wizard Wheezes, just on general principles), Rose was filled with new sights, sounds, faces and ideas sufficient to upset the steadiest person.
"You look like my dream come true, Rose." He smiled. "Just remember to breathe once in a while. You are going to have to start eating better, too. You must have lost a stone between the curse and the influenza. I didn't even need assistance when carrying you last night. It wouldn't do to fall ill again so soon. People would say I wasn't taking good care of you."
Rose was a bit shocked at that. How often does a woman hear that she should eat more? "I'll do my best,' she said, "and no one has ever cared for me the way you do." She stretched up on tiptoes to kiss him, and found herself fully engaged for several minutes. "Enough now, or we will be more than fashionably late at this rate!"
They Apparated in the back garden of the Burrow a few moments later. Severus took her hand and escorted Rose to the door. Molly Weasley was on the lookout with her red hair in two rolled buns on either side of her forehead; she opened the door wide, waving her hand, which was holding a rolling pin, and calling, "Come in! Come in! You've found the right place!"
Rose stopped dead in the lane. "My God!" she said. "It's Mrs. Lovett!"
Severus looked at Rose, then at Molly, and then laughed the deepest belly laugh any of the three of them had ever heard issue forth from the Potion Master's mouth.
Author's Note: A Merry Christmas to all the merry readers, and many thanks for your kind reviews. May your holidays be filled with Light!