A/N: This is one of two chapters I uploaded today, so if you didn't read the other one, go back :-)

Severus Snape was patrolling the grounds after curfew on the last night of the term. He wasn't sleeping well these days anyways, so he might as well be doing something useful. Argus Filch had been quite grateful when he had told him he could go to bed. While checking the courtyard, he just happened to look up towards the Astronomy Tower - it was coincidence that he saw a small figure outlined against the darkening sky before it disappeared into the shadows. Those dunderheads never learn, he thought. It always has to be the Astronomy Tower, doesn't it? How original.

Well, those little rule breakers would be in for a very nasty surprise tonight, he thought with savage pleasure as he started climbing the stairs.

- - - - -

Marya leaned against the wall at the top of the tower. The end of term had almost arrived. Tomorrow would be her last day as a teacher at Hogwarts. Soon, she would leave, back to St. Mungo's, back to the city.

She knew she wouldn't go to sleep easily tonight, and so she had climbed up for one more look at the clear, star-encrusted night sky. She would miss the stars. She would miss so much.

She stood lost in thought when the door forcefully opened and a voice snarled,"...and what do you think you are doing here?" Marya spun around, startled.

Severus Snape stopped abruptly when the light falling through the doorway illuminated her face. Flustered, he turned to leave. "I apologize, I didn't realize..."

"Stay, please," her voice interrupted him, with something like pleading. "Don't go."

Reluctantly, he stopped. Not knowing what compelled him, he walked up and leaned against the wall next to her. "It's a beautiful night," she said softly. Severus said nothing.

As they watched together, a small sliver of silver started to show above the mountains, growing larger by the second. Moonrise.

"I forgot. It is the full moon tonight, isn't it? Somewhere, Remus is transforming right now...," she said wistfully as the moon rose, so bright that it was casting shadows.

Severus' hands had balled into fists. So she wanted to talk about the werewolf, did she? He knew he should have just left. Too late now.

The image of her waking up, calling for Lupin, flashed before his mind. Then the image of Lupin and the Metamorphmagus. He had to let her know the wolf's true nature. She deserved to know all the facts before making a mistake.

"I saw him looking rather... cozy with Nymphadora Tonks," he finally said diffidently, and then firmly shut his mouth. There. He'd said it. The rest was up to her.

Her response startled him.

"I know, isn't it wonderful?" She looked at him, delighted. "The night we both were hurt, Tonks got so worried... turns out that she has been in love with Remus just about as long as he has been in love with her. And that night they were finally scared into being able to tell each other." She breathed a contented sigh. "It's... lovely. I love happy endings."

Before he had time to think, he blurted out, "But I thought that..." He closed his mouth with a snap.

"You thought what?" she asked. For once his face, usually so unreadable, looked perturbed.

"You thought... what?" she asked again.

Finally, reluctantly, he said, "I was under the impression that you and he..." Again he stopped.

Marya looked at him, and the dots finally connected in her mind. She started to laugh. "You thought we are together? Remus and I? Whatever gave you that idea?" She giggled. "Heavens, no. That is too funny."

"Well, I am glad that I could amuse you," Severus said stiffly and turned to go.

"Please don't go." There was a note of something in her voice that compelled him to turn around. The smile had dropped off her face. Her eyes looked dark and shuttered now.

"Do you know that it is my last day at Hogwarts tomorrow? I am leaving tomorrow night." For a moment she paused, her face white in the bright moonlight. "There is something I want to tell you, but I don't know how to go about it."

She couldn't stand too look into his immobile face any more, it hurt too much. She turned away, looking at the moon with unseeing eyes, one hand nervously kneading the other.

"Severus, I didn't laugh at you. I am so sorry if I gave you that impression. I laughed because it just struck me as funny that you of all people should think that... because, for what seems like forever, I haven't thought about any other man except you." She swallowed hard.

"I know you don't think very highly of me, and I have reconciled myself to that. I just wanted you to know that before I leave. I don't even know why, but I wanted you to know. That I think you are the bravest, most wonderful man that I know. That I love you, so much..." Her voice broke. "I better go now."

With her eyes on the ground, she quickly moved to the door. She had done it now. She needed to leave, leave before he could answer, and devastate her further.

"Wait." His voice stopped her dead in her tracks. Her heart was pounding. She heard him walk up behind her, felt his hands on her shoulders, turning her to face him.

Ever so gently, he laid one hand on each side of her face, and tilted it up to look at him. Slowly, his thumbs wiped away the tears that had started to run down her cheeks. For a long moment, his black, glittering eyes looked into hers, an inscrutable look on his face.

And then he kissed her, tentatively, questioningly, his eyes never leaving her face.

What he saw there astounded him. It was like watching the sunrise. It amazed him that he could do that, make the light come on in her eyes like that. Whatever question his kiss had asked, that is where he found his answer.

Marya looked like she still hadn't grasped what was happening as his thumbs continued to caress her cheeks.

"You don't hate me then?" she asked in a small voice.

"No. I don't hate you," he said with an amused voice as his face broke into a smile, a real smile that lit up his face and crinkled the corners of his eyes.

It was that smile that undid her, more than even the kiss. She slung her arms around his waist, laid her head against his chest, and burst into tears.

Severus wrapped his arms around her and just held her, gently rubbing her back. He rested his cheek against her hair, inhaling the clean fragrance. He could have stood like this forever.

His Marya. To think that he had thought it all an act... he shuddered slightly. So much wasted time.

But now she was here in his arms, the most perfect and right thing he could recall. Her tears were starting to subside, and she nestled her face against his neck. Gently, with a fingertip, he tipped her face up to look at him.

His lips found hers again, and the tremble that ran through her body as they touched delighted him. He kissed her firmly and leisurely, savoring each moment. And this time, she kissed him back, sweetly, passionately. She had waited for this moment for so long.

For Marya, it was all a kiss should be, with butterflies in her stomach, weak knees, and stars in her eyes. As for Severus, for just a moment, a picture flashed in his mind, of coming in from the cold to a roaring fire, a good meal, and a warm bed. Sanctuary. Home.