"I'm here." Hermione said, as soon as the food was doled out. She made her way back to the living room to where Severus was sitting on the thick carpet, contemplating.

"Good, Darling." he said, giving her a rare smile.

"Now where are these presents?" she asked coyly.

"Minx."

"Yes I know, now where are my presents?" Hermione practically pounced on the big rectangular box beside him.

"Now, now," he chided, "that one is opened second."

"Fine." she sat back and pouted a little bit, rousing another smile from Severus.

"I love you, Hermione Olga Granger, even though your initials are hog. But please, please do me the favor of making it plural."

"Plural? What are you getting at, love?" her delicate face formed a little frown.

"If you do that, I promise I will try to be the happiest man in the wizarding world. Please become Mrs. Hermione Granger-Snape." He said quietly, pulling the little blue box.

"Oh, Gods." she sighed, opening the box, "I want to be HOGS! Yes, darling." Her eyes moistened as she started to cry, muttering the word hogs over and over. She started laughing and all Severus could do was hold her tight.

"I love you, I love you, I love you." he repeated over and over. "I love you."

"I think she said yes." Parvati whispered to Ginny from the doorway. Ginny turned around to give the rest of the table a big thumbs up, at which the small group burst into cheers, including the reluctant Ron.

"Here's the next part." he said, handing over the long flat box. "I was only going to give it to you if you said yes. It's from my mother."

Hermione opened the box, carefully unwrapping the gold and silver paper. She drew the top off and pulled off the top layer of tissue to reveal a perfectly white gown. As she inched it up and out of the box she gasped.

"You like it?" Severus asked cautiously.

"Like it? I love it!" she cried, her hands trailing along the hand beading. The long sleeves were trim, ending in a point above her middle fingers with a little loop for the finger. The scooped off the shoulder neck was embroidered painstakingly with loops of ivy in pale green thread. A wide light green ribbon completed the empire waistline, opening up the bottom of the white brocade dress to find the same shade of pale green, making up the insert in the pannier gown. There was a long train, and at the end of which was more ivy detailing.

"When will you marry me, to-be Lady Snape?" he asked, brushing rogue curls away.

"Hold on, going a little fast aren't we?" she asked, "Lady Snape?"

"Yes, the family owns a title. I am technically Lord Snape right now, so as my wife you would be Lady Snape. And besides, the war is coming. And I want to make sure the world knows how much I love you. And I want to marry you soon. Not to get it out of the way, but to make sure this is all real."

"But when?" she asked, looking around, maybe to find a magical calander that would give her the anwser.

"The sooner the better. We could be married by nightfall if you wanted."

"You've already talked to Dumbledore?"

"Yes. But I assume that tonight is too soon for you to get ready."

"I want to hold Aissa, make her really a part of it all."

"You can do whatever you want, darling." he said, planting a kiss on her creased forehead.

"Night after tomarrow?" she asked, nuzzling her new fiancé.

"Perfect." he sighed, pulling her close. "I'll get everything ready. You just worry about showing up."

~*~In the Present~*~

"That is so perfect!" Minerva cried as she opened their bag for the Magical decoder to scan over the ancient parchment that the spell to open the veil was on.

"Thank you." he said, angry with the stupid spell. But the flame that kept him going was still there.

"You really love her, don't you?"

"Is it that obvious?" he smiled

"Very." she replied, looking him in the eyes.

"Hermione is the only thing that keeps me going. She's the conscience I have that pushes me to be a better man. I am so grateful for her. She's my Albus to your Minerva."

"Black to white, spoons in a drawer." she interjected.

"Yes, quite." he laughed a little, "I was once in a muggle amusement park called King's Island in America. At the time there was the largest wooden roller coaster there in the world. It was, or is, I should say, called the Beast. I went there with my American exchange student when I visited him."

"Does this have a point?" Minerva interjected again.

"Yes. Brian, the exchange student, and I got in line for it. So we got into the little car that seemed to be held onto the rails by nothingness. And I was so petrified when we got to the top of the first hill. With Hermione, it's like that. It's so much anticipation for what she will do or say next. When she said yes to me, I felt like I was going down that first hill, the exhileration, the freedom, the wind in my hair. With her, it's not a roller coaster of ups and downs, it's a roller coaster of.... well, I don't really know." he said, sounding sheepish.

"I understand."

"Do you?"

"Yes, I do." she replied, "because that's how I felt, or feel, about Albus. It's a roller coaster of being in and out of control."

"Maybe," he mused, "maybe."