This morning, though, she was an adult and Dumbledore had promised to re-evaluate their situation once she came of age. The ring felt warm on her finger, like it always did. Like it was alive and she suppose the spell did bring it to life. The emerald stone always seemed to shimmer even when there was no light. The little snakes and lions were still this morning, still asleep, their little chests rising and falling. Quietly, as to not wake her suite mates, she pulled on a pair of jeans and a button down black shirt. She pulled on her black shoes that had a bit of heel and pulled her hair back in a silver clip. She pulled her cloak over her shoulder - it was cold in the castle before all the fires really got going - and fastened the clasp that Severus had given her. She picked up her wand and silently left, the door closing behind her.
She wondered if Dumbledore was even awake yet, if his chambers were anywhere near his office. It was early and it was a Saturday. She stood at the base of the Gargoyle.
"Lemon Drop." she said. There was no movement. "Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Beans. Licorice Whip. Chocolate frog. Peppermint Stick." But the stone stayed still. "I don't bloody know." she sighed. "Caramel. Ice cream. Pumpkin cakes. HA!" Pumpkin cakes worked and soon she was standing in his office that was empty except for Fawkes who was sleeping peacefully. He'd saved her once and she felt safe with the bird in the room. She sat in one of the squishy arm chairs and waited. It wasn't long before Dumbledore came in with a cup of tea for them both.
"One of the portraits told me I had a visitor. I thought it might be you, Miss Weasley." He said.
"I'm seventeen, today." she said.
"So you are. Happy Birthday." he said.
"Thank you."
"You still have a year and a half of being a student here." he said.
"A bit less." she amended.
"Ginny..."
"Please." she said. "Please lets work something out." He started to speak but then stopped, and nodded.
The whole school was a buzz with the impending trip to the village when Ginny walked into the Great Hall for breakfast. Someone, probably Hermione, had charmed a banner to hang over one end of the Gryffindor table that read "Happy 17th Birthday Ginny!" and it fluttered in a pretend breeze.
"Thanks guys." she said, and sat down to eat breakfast.
"You're coming with us to Hogsmeade, right?" Ron asked through a mouthful of food.
"I don't think so." she said.
"What?" Hermione said. "What fun could you possibly have in the castle?" Ginny glanced at Harry who looked angrily into his food. He had kept his word and not told Ron or Hermione but he still did not approve.
"I'll tell you guys later." she said. She was thankfully interrupted by owl post which dropped a few packages into her lap.
"From mum and dad and Bill, and this one is from Charlie." she said.
"Nothing from Percy? Git." Ron muttered.
"Nothing from you either, Ronnikins." she said and he blushed.
"I have to go to town first!" he said. She just rolled her eyes. Gathering up her gifts and a few pieces of toast she bid her friends goodbye and went back to her tower. Predictably, Snape was lingering around the Gryffindor portrait hole, taking house points to whoever was stupid enough to get in his way or, merlin help them, ask any questions. He saw her approach and actually looked relieved.
"Miss Weasley." he said in greeting.
"You can't go in there so I don't know what you were doing terrifying all my house mates and raping us of our points." she said, feigning irritation. In reality, Ravenclaw was so far ahead in points that everyone had rather given up.
"I do not want to go in there." he sneered. "I wished to speak with you."
"Well, come on then." she said. They'd adapted a very brisk manner of speaking to each other when in public. Like it was a chore for both though not one that was bad enough for the halted conversations to stop.
"Let me help you." he said, snatching a few of the gifts out of her burdened arms.
"That's why I was going to my dormitory." she pointed out under her breath. He just glared at her sideways. Finally, Ginny opened the door to an empty classroom that was mostly storage for old desks and blackboards. Severus cleaned two of the desks off and they both perched on them in the dusty morning sunlight while they students below laughed and twirled towards the town for a day of freedom. Ginny's freedom was here, though, with him.
"Go on, open your gifts." he said, the edge from his voice completely gone.
"They're from my family." she said explaining in case they were embarrassing or weird. Bill had given her gift certificate to Flourish and Blotts, a muggle fad that the wizarding world was starting to pick up. Charlie had sent her new dragon hide gloves, small enough to fit her hands. She'd been using hand-me-downs forever now.
"Nice." Snape said, taking them to examine them. "Very nice."
"He works with dragons." she said. He smiled gently at her.
"I know." He had been Snape's student once, after all. Last was the present from her parents. Inside was a beautiful new set of robes. They were pale green and actual wizarding robes, very adult and probably very expensive.
"Oh," she breathed, holding them up to her frame. "This is beautiful."
"Indeed." he said. "Something an adult would wear." he pointed out.
"An adult." she repeated. "I feel like I've been waiting so long, Severus." He looked at her a moment, her hair sunlit and stunning, holding those beautiful robes up to her looking lost and found all at the same time. Finally, he reached into his pocket and handed her a gift.
"Happy birthday, Ginny." he said.
"You didn't have to." she said. "In fact, this is how this whole thing started." He didn't say anything so she took it and opened it. Inside was parchment, legal documents. "What?"
"It's, ah, the deed to Snape Manor as well as a marriage licence." he explained, suddenly shy. "I want everything that is mine to be yours and you're an adult now." She stared at him, her mouth hanging open. "Do you accept?"
"Yes, yes of course, I'm just shocked." she said. "And happy. You're not ever going to leave me, are you?"
"Not if I can help it." he promised. "Now put on your new robes. I made an appointment at the city hall and if we apparate, we can probably miss most the students." he said.
"Right now?" she asked. "But what about... what about my family?"
"I thought they didn't know." he said.
"Well, yes, but I always imagined they'd be invited to my wedding." she said, already pulling off her clothes to put on the new robe. All of the buttons were down the back and he moved to do them up for her, his fingertips brushing her back.
"This won't change very much. If you want a... a real ceremony after you graduate, then you shall have it." he said. "This is just for right now."
"Okay." she said. He finished her buttons and she twisted up her hair to fit under her cone hat. "Let's go." He didn't want her confidence to waiver anymore so he left the empty classroom and her discarded clothes and gifts and marched them out of the school. She fastened her cloak, careful not to drag her robes in the soft, March earth. As soon as they were out of school grounds, past the looming iron gates that looked anything but inviting, he opened his arms and she stepped in close to his body. He wrapped himself around him and apparated into the lobby of the city hall of Hogsmeade.
"You should take your apparation test." He commented as she looked around. "It will make things easier."
"I'll have to practice a bit first." she said. The place was devoid of any Hogwarts students. Feeling confident that they wouldn't be recognized, he took her hand and led her down the hall.
"Do you have the papers?" he asked.
"Of course." They stopped outside a window in a narrow hallway. Snape knocked on the window and the shade went up. A bored looking witch was there.
"Papers?" She asked. Ginny slid the piece of parchment through the window. The witch looked over the paper and slid it back. "Wands?" Snape handed over his wand and so Ginny did the same.
"She's verifying that we are who we are and that we're legally entitled to this marriage." He whispered. She handed the wands back.
"True Love Spell, eh? Congratulations." the witch said, reading a print out that came from each of their wands.
"Thank you." Ginny said.
"Sign your names." She said, motioning to the license. Snape signed and then Ginny, with no hesitation. Snape smiled at this. "Congratulations Mr. and Mrs. Snape." she said and closed the blinds.
"That's it, then?" she asked.
"That's all." he said. "What would you like to do now?" he asked.
"I don't know." she said. "I've never belonged to anyone before."
"Ginny, I want you to know that you will never be poor again." he said. "If I lose my job and you don't graduate, we never, ever have to worry." he said.
"That's comforting, but it doesn't matter to me." she said, reaching up to touch his face. "Let's go back. I'm rather overwhelmed. I think I'd like to lie down." Nodding, he wrapped his arms around her and apparated them back to school grounds. Most everyone was still gone and Ginny was beginning to feel dizzy at the enormity of the situation. What would she tell her parents, her brother, and her friends? Dumbeldore wasn't going to be pleased that they went behind his back and suddenly she realized that the threat of her being expelled was real as was her teacher-now-husband's dismissal. She understood why he had felt in necessary to point out earlier that they would never be poor should the worst happen. He said it because the worst probably would. The ground, still partially frozen was rocky and uneven and she felt herself stumble. He grabbed her before she went face first into the mud and carried her the rest of the way back to the castle.
The dungeons, as most dungeons do, had their own entrance that she'd never noticed. He entered there into the dank, deserted hallway and eventually set her on his (their?) bed.
"Do you regret it?" he asked. "It's not too late."
"No." she said firmly, sitting up and taking deep breaths. "But I've waited long enough. I need to tell my family."
"And I need to inform the headmaster." He said, looking almost sheepish. He was so different around her. Where was the cold hearted potions master that had made her cry her first year?
"Have I told you that I love you, Severus?" she asked, pulling him down onto the bed with her, curling into his body that was always warm and safe and dry no matter the weather.
"No." he said. "No, you're the first." She was silent for awhile. Telling the world could wait a few hours. She was his wife and he her husband and for right now it was more than enough.