Lenore Snape danced in the moonlit garden. Her hair was the classic oily black that merely hung there, no matter what was done to it. Tonight, though, white blossoms were laced through the young woman's hair, making it look like a depthless pool of liquid obsidian. She wore here hair long as she always did.
Laughing she lifted her skirts to run over to where her 8 year old brother sat on the love seat under the ivy arch. "Do you like it, Sevi? Tell me truly, now."
The boy smiled. "Of coarse I do, Len. You look beautiful, for a girl."
She sniffed. "You'll like us one day, you know."
"Never!"
She ruffled his hair. "So say you now. So it will not always be."
He sneered slightly. "Talk in verse must you do?"
She rose quickly. "You'll understand in 10 years, little worm. Go and get Father, I want a decent opinion."
After another rude comment, afterwhich Lenore threw a series of fireballs, which exploded into pink flowers over his head, Severus finally went to fetch his father.
He found him in the old study, a pile of books over his desk. He knocked once, waited until the other looked up to say, "Lenore wishes to see you, father, in the garden when you have a free moment."
Mr. Snape nodded. "The wedding dress came in this evening, did it?"
"Yes, father. She wishes to know your opinion of it. Mother even did up her hair like she'll have it next month."
The elder Snape smiled slightly. "I don't think there is a more proud moment for a father than when the first born is married. You'll know that in time, Severus. I have several young ladies in mind for you."
Severus shifted uneasily. "Yes, father. If there is nothing else…" He backed out, bowed and left the study.
He had always viewed arranged marriages as the same as breeding cattle. Oh, he knew the reasons. The family was pure 14 generations, and his father would become a vampire before one of his sons or daughters married a mudblood. His sister was marrying back into the Malfoys. The family was above all.
Severus was back in the entrance to the garden when a shriek rang through the house. His blood turned as cold as ice in his veins. Lenore!
His father made it into the garden just after Severus did.