Met19 – I'm glad you said something, I hadn't realized how confusing my prologue might have seemed. It was set at the end of 6th year, before 7th. Hence Harry still has a summer with the Dursleys and his 17th birthday to look forward to.
MetroDweller – You're so kind! blowing kisses
'A Harry and Ginny Dreamer', NOXlumos, anna – I'm glad you're enjoying! Please, keep reading AND reviewing.
Chapter 1
Severus Snape scowled harshly at his own reflection. "It's a bloody Welcome Feast, not a Death Eater meeting," he muttered to himself. "What am I, a Gryffindor?"
"Hey, I resent that," a female voice laughed at him from the next room.
He snorted and resisted the urge to mumble something else under his breath. Sonora had somehow developed far too sharp ears for him to sneak a childishly satisfying comeback without her knowing. Instead he drew his black robes about him and swept out of the bathroom and into their bedroom.
His woman smiled up at him from where she leaned against the bed, slipping the last fastener through its loop on her plain black professorial robes. "Come, come, Severus," she chided. "You act like you're going to your funeral. They're just students."
He glared at her. "Students who hate me and love you, and will want to turn me into one of my own potions ingredients," he muttered. The light from the enchanted torches on the wall flashed through the stone on her hand as she lifted her arms to secure her long rope of dark hair. Severus caught himself watching her with a great sense of satisfaction.
All his protests and grumblings to the side, he had never felt as blindingly, well, happy as he had the day he'd put that ring on her finger. The Snape family ring was a surprisingly delicate piece, a swirl of opals and emeralds wrapped in gold that suited her like nothing else he could have thought of.
It was quite satisfying, he thought, this having her completely. No more dodging around the students, no more playing down his claim on her for proprieties sake. No, Sonora was truly his now.
His lips quirked at that thought, and he couldn't resist looking down at his own hand. And if she'd given herself to him so freely, she'd just as ferociously claimed him as belonging to her. His smile widened. What a night that had been…
"Severus, darling?" her voice intruded sweetly. "If you're quite done fantasizing, we do have a feast to go to."
Severus looked down his nose at his wife, something that was very easy to do, considering she stood a full foot shorter than he. "I believe it was I who was waiting on you," he pointed out before offering her his arm. "Now that you are finally ready…" he baited.
Sonora pursed her lips at him. "Oh, and who was the one who has been cowering in the bathroom, talking to the mirror?" she asked, before grinning and going up on her toes to press a sweetly tender kiss to his lips. He savored it a moment before gently easing her to stand on her own, checking to make sure she had her cane.
"Well, let's get this over with," he said with a sigh. "I'm sure Dumbledore's going to do his level best to make tonight completely dreadful."
Sonora laughed as they started out through the Potions classroom. "Now, now," she said, clearly laughing at him and even more clearly enjoying it. "He's just a kind, loving old man." She laughed again as Severus snorted. Bloody hell, this was going to be a near unbearable evening.
Harry Potter stretched his legs under the table and surveyed the Great Hall with satisfaction. Bloody hell, it was good to be back. No matter what happened during the school year, no matter how bad it got, all it ever took was a summer of magic-free time with the Dursleys to make him appreciate being a wizard.
He grinned to himself as Ron muttered something about there being a whole hell of a lot more first year students than when they were sorted, and couldn't McGonagall bloody well hurry up, some people were hungry. Of course, the summer had gotten a whole lot more interesting once he'd turned seventeen. His birthday had been heralded by an onslaught of owls, including one lovely package of items from Fred and George Weasley. They'd informed him that as their now-of-legal-age silent partner, it was his job to test their new inventions and report back on what happened. They didn't think any were permanent, they'd added, but he might want to try the red ones on that fat lump of a cousin first, just to be safe.
Dudley had spent the rest of the summer afraid to eat anything, and had consequently dropped quite a bit of weight. That hadn't stopped him from turning several shades of magenta, sprouting wings on the back of his head, growing a five-foot nose and talking in Ancient Babylonian for about a week. Aunt Petunia had been hysterical for weeks, Uncle Vernon had blustered and threatened and also lost several pounds. It had been the best summer yet.
Finally, he'd gotten bored at the petty revenge he'd been extracting from his blood relatives, and informed them with about a week to go that he was stopping the pranks and wouldn't be bothering them again as long as they let him alone. They'd done so with a vengeance, not even looking at him in the hall on the way to the bathroom.
The Sorting Hat was up to 'P' now, and Hermione was hissing at Ron to be quiet and not ruin his first day as Head Boy. Frankly, Harry hadn't been surprised that his two best friends had gotten the top honors. Hermione had been a shoo-in, and Ron, well, there was no one better in the school to bring people together and lead than Ron. His friend had argued with him when he'd said that, claiming that Harry should have gotten the badge, but Harry'd set him straight. His job was to fight, not to lead.
Tuttle, Amanda, had just been sorted into Ravenclaw, and Harry glanced around, curious to see if anything had changed over the summer. Malfoy was still sprawled elegantly alone at his end of the Slytherin Table, watching the proceedings with cool, narrowed eyes. His housemates looked darker and grimmer this year, if possible. He felt a moment's pity for the eleven-year olds going into that house. It couldn't be easy.
Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw, he was glad to see, didn't seem to be missing any faces. No students had died this summer, something he'd been mildly amazed about. Then again, it hadn't completely surprised him. He had the feeling that Voldemort was waiting, waiting for him.
And here at Gryffindor… he looked fondly about his housemates. The Creevy brothers, Seamus and Dean, Lavender and Pavarati, Neville. All those familiar faces, smiling and laughing and happy to be back. Ron and Hermione, sitting across from each other and arguing in whispers yet again, and Ginny and Cara smirking about something behind their hands. It all felt good.
He glanced up at the teachers' table and studied the faces there. Bill was back as Defense teacher, a minor miracle. Hagrid was solid and sprawled along one end of the table. Flitwick and Sprout were whispering, and down the other end of the table, Snape and Professor Stone were watching the sorting.
Harry's eyes caught a glimpse of something different there, however, and his eyes narrowed. Was that… for a split second, it was like a sharp, cold breeze rushing through his mind, and then his eyes widened. Holy hell, the old bastard had done it.
Harry nudged Ron with his elbow, interrupting the fight. "Oi," Ron muttered at him, annoyed. "You mind?"
"Look at Snape," he said softly back, looking at Hermione and nodding toward the table. "Do you see it?"
Ron squinted toward the head table. "See what? Bloody hell, mate, you're starting to get annoying with this knowing everything bit," his best friend grumbled.
Hermione had her brows knit together as she tried to decipher Harry's meaning. "What are you talking about, Harry, I don't see anything."
He grinned and leaned over to Ginny and Cara. "Do you guys see it?" he asked, careful to keep his voice casual and light, and not to touch at all. He'd learned a few things this summer about how to keep his act solid and unbreakable. "Look at Snape."
Neville heard as well, and now there was a whole section of the Gryffindor table peering curiously at the Potions Master. Who, in turn, realized he was being stared at and glared back at them.
"I don't see…" Ginny started, frowning. Just then, Professor Stone realized what was going on from her spot next to Snape, and grinned. A big, highly amused grin. She said something to Snape that made him scowl bigger and blacker than ever, and then lifted her hand and waved it at them. Her left hand. And it was backward.
Hermione gasped, as did Ginny and Cara. "Oh my goodness," his friend whispered before looking at Harry and beaming. "He didn't."
Harry smirked. "I think we're about to hear a speech from Dumbledore that will tell us he most definitely did."
Ginny giggled. "Oh, Snape's going to hate that," she said, a little gleefully. The Potion Master might not be as bad as he had been in the past, but he was still no one's favorite teacher. Well, no one but perhaps Draco's, and that would be a close tie with Professor Stone.
Ron was looking blank, Neville perplexed, and other people were starting to whisper. "I don't get it," Neville said. "What are you guys talking about?"
Ginny laughed and slung an arm around Neville sitting next to her. "Neville, old buddy old pal, you're a boy and consequently of inferior observational powers," she informed him. Harry felt the slow twist of his stomach, and had to pause a second to straighten it. He'd spent too much time and effort on this over the summer to fail now that he was back at Hogwarts. Hermione and Cara smirked while Ron gave his classic sputter of insulted objection.
"Harry's the one who pointed out whatever it is to you," Ron said, sounding defensive for all the guys listening.
Ginny smirked. "Harry's special," she said. Harry sat back and watched as the two siblings disintegrated into a good-hearted spat over boys-vs.-girls, all the while turning the new development over in his mind. It was a risky thing, what Snape had done. Frankly, Harry didn't understand how he could do it, not if he really cared. Of course, Professor Stone really couldn't get much higher on Voldemort's hit list, probably right there in the top ten after the events of two years ago, perhaps Snape thought he couldn't make things any worse than they were already.
Meanwhile, the sorting had finished and Professor McGonagall had taken the hat away. Dumbledore was now standing up to make his speech.
"Welcome back to another year at Hogwarts," the Headmaster said, gazing around with a smile. Harry watched him, remembering despite himself how awed he'd been by the old man his first year. He'd thought Dumbledore knew everything. "I will be brief, since I suspect many of you are more than eager to begin the real business of the evening." Those aged blue eyes twinkled. "First, I would like to welcome back for another year Professor Weasley, who will serve as our Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher yet again." Harry joined his housemates, and indeed, most of the school in whooping and hollering for Bill. Frankly, they were all just pretty glad he hadn't died or something. Their Defense teachers had a habit of dropping off the face of the earth.
"Second, I would like to congratulate our new Head Boy and Head Girl, both of whom hail from Gryffindor this year. Ronald Weasley and Hermione Granger." Harry cheered louder than anyone as his friends stood, Ron the color of a brick and Hermione serene and smiling.
"Finally," Dumbledore announced once the two had been seated once more, Harry not able to resist nudging Ron in amusement. "I have a very pleasant announcement." Harry smirked and looked toward Snape, who looked like he wanted to slide off his chair and turn invisible. Oh yes. This could be good.
"I am most pleased to be able to welcome back our Potion Masters, after a very eventful summer," Dumbledore said. Snape tried to melt more. "This summer, it was my great privilege to be present at a most joyous occasion, a moment of deep emotion and heartfelt feeling." Snape couldn't get any lower, Professor Stone had him by the arm. "I speak, of course, of the wedding of our dear Professor Snape and Professor Stone, who will now be known by her husbands name. I'm sure the school would like to join me in wishing the happy couple well."
There was dead silence in the hall as every single student jaw hit the table and every eye was fixed incredulously on Snape. Harry wanted to laugh and had to struggle not to as he caught stray thoughts flying about the room.
Then Draco Malfoy rose gracefully to his feet and standing alone, began to applaud. Harry shoved to his own feet and joined him, fairly sure it was something worth applauding. If only to see Snape glare.
In a wave, then, the rest of the students began to stand and clap as well and a roar of approval and cheers broke over the hall. Professor Stone, rather, Professor Snape now, laughed in delight, and to the students' deep glee, leaned over and managed to plant a smacking kiss square on the Potion Master's glaring countenance. Catcalls and whistles joined the uproar, only to get exponentially louder when Snape scowled and retaliated with a heated kiss of his own.
It was nearly ten minutes before Dumbledore was able to get the students settled and seated again, and say those magic words that brought on the feast, 'Nimble Mimble Mumbus'. The tables nearly groaned at the sudden onslaught of food and hands began to shoot forward.
Harry sat back and watched, waiting to fill his plate. He smiled. Ah yes. It was good to be back.