Severus Snape's Wedding

In Which The Lonely Come Together

-Or-

Group Therapy

Disclaimer: Well, if you haven't guessed by now, I guess I'll tell you the sad truth: Harry Potter and all his compatriots do not belong to me!

Author's Note: I'd first of all like to thank all those of you who have stayed with me through my sporadic writing and to all those of you who have been so encouraging! But I'd also like to draw your attention to something you may not have noticed: My writing has undergone a change as I realised that I didn't want to write a gentle parody or a humour story. I'm just to serious for that. So, while there will be humour, that genre has changed to general / romance because this is a story not a comedy routine. Thanks!

Tonks rose from her window extremely discouraged. She hadn't been completely sober at that Weasley party and as such had let her greatest secret slip: She was in love with Remus Lupin. She knew that she, at 28, was at least a decade younger than he was and that he'd never seen her as anything but a friend, a younger friend. She knew that he was a werewolf: Everyone knew thanks to Severus Snape's spiteful "slip" and Rita Skeeter's tactless blathering. But she didn't care. She wasn't what people, even wizarding people, called "normal" either.

She walked into her kitchen and began to boil some water. She would make a cup of tea. Then she would go to bed until she woke the next morning, ready to work. She remembered a time several years earlier when she had been young and full of energy and everything had made her laugh. It wasn't so anymore. It hadn't been since the year she had brought Harry Potter away from his "home" on Privet Drive when he was only 15 or 16 years old. I was only twenty-four then, she mused to herself. In the training that they had taken before the mission she had met Remus Lupin and her world had changed forever.

He had remembered her because she had been a year younger than his brother Markus. He had said "With a name like Nymphadora, you aren't easy to forget." She had always treasured his words though she had feigned anger at the use of her hated first name.

"Why am I alone?" She wondered aloud. It wasn't as though she was ugly – she could be anything she wanted but even in her natural form she still possessed the graceful, lithe form and impressive carriage so common to the entire Black family. It wasn't from seclusion either. She had been quite the flirt during her Hogwarts days and throughout her early twenties she had switched boyfriends as often as she changed her hair colour. But ever since Remus Lupin had walked into her life it hadn't been the same. No, she rephrased that. Ever since she had run into the training session late, having just apparated near 12 Grimmauld Place and was trying to tie back her hair and put on her shoe and had run straight into the quiet, reserved man who was sitting by the door. That was when her life had changed. He had helped her up and she had asked if he was Markus's brother, seeing a resemblance between them. And he had laughingly agreed and commented that she must be Nymphadora Tonks because no one else could ever match the stories he'd heard from his brother. She had agreed, blushing, that the stories he'd heard about her boisterous personality were true and he'd offered her a seat beside him. She'd been smitten ever since with the way he held himself, his sense of humour that he kept just below the surface (He hadn't been a Marauder for nothing!), the way he could be serious about something she was interested in. But she had never had the courage to try and move past being friends.

Sighing dejectedly, Tonks finished her tea and went to bed, dreaming of a man that she loved but could never approach.

An owl flew up to the window of Markus and Elaine Lupin's house in Durham, England where it was promptly relieved of its burden, given a treat and sent on its way. This unpromising start would soon reveal a most marvelous event…

"Markus!" called Elaine from her kitchen where she was reading a Muggle newspaper and drinking a cup of tea, "There's a letter here from Remus!"

"Coming, hun!" called Markus from the upstairs bathroom where he was washing his hair. "I'm just getting out of the shower."

He soon came down the stairs in his dressing gown, toweling of his hair. At age twenty-eight, he resembled his older brother a lot, but his face was not as careworn and his clothing not as shabby. Life had dealt much more kindly with Markus than his brother, sparing him the curse of lycanthropy, the shunning of the magical world, the reign of Voldemort and the pain of James and Lily Potter's deaths. But he was still much like Remus, in his studiousness and his sense of humour, the two things that had attracted his wife of three years, who now called him to the mail.

"Here you go, dear. The owl just left. I wonder what it could be? We just heard from him Monday about his new job… Well open it!"

Markus did so, quickly reading the attached note and turning to the card felt himself reach for the table to steady himself. "You are not going to believe this," he turned to his wife in shock. "It's a wedding invitation!"

"What! For Remus? He's getting married? Let me see that letter." He handed it to her. She read:

"Markus and Elaine:

Well, this may come as a surprise to you, but I'm finally getting married. Her name is Nymphadora Tonks, no doubt you remember her from school, and I've never met anyone that I've cared more about. We realise that this is rather short notice but our wedding planner, Severus Snape, assures us that five months is plenty of time to get ready for a wedding. Markus, I'd be honored if you'd be my Best Man, as Sirius and James are no longer with us. I'm thinking of you and I hope you aren't still fighting over remodeling the kitchen, as I'm too busy to play Elaine's agony aunt again.

Your brother,

Remus"

Shocked silence lingered a moment in the Lupin kitchen until Elaine recovered enough to ask, "What sort of name is Nymphadora?"

Mornings at the Malfoy house were usually quiet because Narcissa liked them that way. Coming from a family of older sisters and having a cousin like Sirius, it had been seldom her house was quiet. Now that she was older and married with only one child, her morning silence was still bliss. But this particular morning was going to be interrupted.

As she, Lucius, and Draco sat to breakfast, an excited house elf entered with a letter. "Please, Mr. and Mrs. Malfoy, masters, there is a letter come from your niece, Miss Tonks! I is knowing that she is not writing often and I is thinking you should see letter as it is big and heavy!"

"Thank you, Moxy," said Lucius, taking the letter, "You may go now." The house elf scurried off to the kitchens. "Well Narcissa, it's not often your niece writes. I wonder what it could be?"

Narcissa accepted the letter from her spouse, lightly squeezing his hand as she did so. No matter what he had been accused of, she still loved her husband. But before she allowed her mind to wander she turned back to the matter at hand: Nymphadora's letter. It wasn't often that she wrote, usually only on someone's birthday. And the size of the parcel seemed quite unusual. She opened the letter and began to read:

"Dear Uncle Lucius, Aunt Narcissa, and Draco:

This may seem a strange letter and an even stranger request, but I hope you'll bear with me. You see, I'm getting married in July to Remus Lupin, a man I have been in love with for some time. I'm sure that Draco will remember my fiancé from the days when he taught school at Hogwarts. Even now, he is still teaching, though at a grammar school in Muggle London. I know this is sudden and the betrothal time short, but we are assured by our wedding planner, your old friend Severus Snape, that five months is plenty of time to arrange a wedding. We hope to be married in mid-July and I hope that you will not only attend my special day but participate. I would ask that Aunt Narcissa be one of my bridesmaids and that Uncle Lucius and Draco some of the groomsmen. I know that Remus is not one of your favourite people, but I hope you can accept his as a member of the family and show him the same affection you show me.

With much love,

Nymphadora."

Lucius was the first to recover his tongue. "Is she serious?"

"It seems so," said Narcissa, slightly dazed. "Here's the wedding invitation."

"Let me see it," said Draco. "Is Professor Snape really going to arrange the wedding? Are we going to attend?"

"Of course we are. She's still your cousin and I for one would be proud to be part of her wedding," said Narcissa, full of the famous Black family pride. "Lucius?"

The usually imposing man just smiled. He always loved a wedding.

Harry Potter is extremely smug, decided Hermione Granger as she surveyed her friend finishing mailing the invitations. Those letters to the families were quite the piece of work. I never would have thought he was that literary. But I suppose that he has a right, this plan is going off without a hitch. He even got Remus and Tonks to sign those letters. I can't wait until this evening! We have our first consultation with Professor Snape.

But as excited as Hermione was, Severus Snape was seriously contemplating suicide to escape the night's "festivities." He couldn't remember the last wedding he'd attended, for Merlin's sake, so how was he supposed to plan one? He mentally added slow burning to the list of possible deaths he'd like to inflict on both Potter and Dumbledore. This list also included disembowelment, drawing and quartering, boiling alive, and being pecked to death by chickens. He sat down and reviewed the list he'd composed for the evening consultation with Hermione Granger, Narcissa Malfoy, and the lucky bride herself. These women decided they would "advise" him on the "female aspects of a wedding that you, as a man, obviously do not understand." Well, if giggling and blushing and trying lacy dresses meant being a female, he was very glad he wasn't one.

He was glad of the etiquette book Mme. Pince had helped him to locate or he would have had no inkling of what to write. He picked his list off his desk and read:

For the foolishness known as the "Lupin – Tonks" wedding, I Severus Snape hereby propose the following things be done:

· The bride shall sport a tasteful, long white gown. (Unless her moral behaviour makes it impossible for her to do so and in which case she shall wear off-white.) Said gown shall have long sleeves, a high neck, and the material shall be muslin, in keeping with the summer season. Her shoes shall be of such a height that she is exactly four inches shorter than her intended. The flowers she will carry will be a tasteful shade of yellow with white accents.

· The groom and all his attendants will wear the same three piece suit with the groom wearing a larger corsage composed of flowers from the bride's bouquet and possibly a cummerbund.

· There will be a religious ceremony following the doctrine the woman practices. Should she not practice any, they will be married in the groom's faith. There will be no photographers, singers, or motivational speakers present at the ceremony. There must be at least three bridesmaids and one maid of honour. There shall be the same number of groomsmen as there and bridesmaids and there must be a best man.

· Children under the age of twelve will not be admitted.

· There will be a reception to follow where a traditional orchestra will provide the music. The first dance must be a waltz.

· There will be a catered four-course meal prior to the dance.

· All parties must leave by eleven in the evening.

· Intoxicated persons will not be allowed to remain.

· The bride's mother will pick out her lingerie for the couple's wedding night.

· The honeymoon will take place in France. Most probably Normandy

Satisfied that he had covered all the problems that might occur and all questions that might be asked, he sat down in a receiving room on the castle's main floor to await his guests. But, just as he heard them approaching in the corridor he thought of one thing he had forgotten. The ring!

Author's Note Two: I just have a small request. If you review this story, please instead of putting "I like this! It's funny!" please tell me what you think of the characterization, the realism, if anyone is too out of character. These things could very much help me improve this tale. -Eolande