A/N…well, in anticipation waiting for Friday to come (I've got the book on reserve at Borders for midnight!) I thought I'd give you guys an update. I'm really sorry for making you wait, but I've already felt what that does to a writer, I haven't had a review in months, and its my own fault. So enjoy this chapter! (I'd suggest maybe reading the last two chapters if you're a bit lost, they might clear things up)
Disclaimer…if you haven't figured it out yet…I give up.
Hermione smiled into the mirror over the sink in their bathroom as she put on the finishing touches of her make up. Draco had locked himself in their bedroom to put on his costume, which he hadn't let Hermione see yet, so the brunette took to the bathroom to finish getting ready.
Her long dress fell to the floor covered in crushed red velvet, a train following her everywhere she went. The neck was in a halter top and the decorations were very simple, gold flowers that wound their way around her body, they glittered every time she moved into a different light. It wasn't much of a costume, she knew, but with a mask that matched the color of the dress, with a golden outline, it seemed a little better. The truth was that she couldn't resist buying the dress, it fit her amazingly, bringing out every curve of her body beautifully.
She finished putting the crimson eye shadow on and stepped back to admire the work she had done on herself. Behind her, she heard the door to their bedroom open and couldn't resist going out to look at her husband. But it was too late, the door to the hall had closed before she could see him. On it was a note for her to meet him in the Great Hall. She laughed as she grabbed her mask and walked to the nursery.
"Haley, mommy loves you." She smiled toward her baby who was taking her bottle from Fiona in the rocking chair. She leaned down to kiss her daughter on the forehead before leaving to go down to the Great Hall.
Hermione was surprised when she got down there because there were already many students sitting at the tables. She smiled as she took her place at the head table, next to an empty seat where her husband should be sitting.
"I wonder what he has up his sleeve." She mused aloud.
"Pardon?" Albus looked over at her.
"My husband," She laughed, "He told me he'd meet me down here."
"He'll be here, I'm sure." The old headmaster said with a glimmer in his eyes. Hermione got the feeling that he knew more than she did.
The ball began with dinner, and Hermione ate quietly, still wondering exactly where her husband was. Suddenly, the doors opened and something green flew in the door followed by a trail of golden glitter.
"What the?" She said, then once she got a better glimpse at the green intruder, she understood.
The entire student body watched as the blonde man soared effortlessly around the room, not aided by a broom. He landed in his seat next to Hermione as everyone applauded.
"Peter Pan?" She laughed as she surveyed the costume, "Spandex are not your thing, darling."
He was covered from head to toe in a green leotard and green tights, his blonde hair wasn't slicked back, but fell loosely to the sides, it made him look like a child again.
"How in the world did you manage to fly without a broom though?"
"With a little help from Albus and Severus."
Hermione looked over at the Headmaster who just smiled and winked at her, then she went back to her dinner.
Once dinner was over and the tables had been cleared from the room, the band set up on the platform where the Head Table once was. Hermione and Draco walked around together, watching the students in their groups, laughing about the past dances they had attended.
Narcissa and Severus came in together after dinner was over, they strolled toward their younger coworkers, hand in hand. Hermione smiled as they approached.
"We had a more, private, dinner." Severus explained at Draco's questioning glance. Hermione giggled and Narcissa's face lit up.
The two were dressed in matching costumes, Narcissa in a black and white accented ball gown, and Snape looking no less than the Phantom of the Opera, his face half masked. Hermione complimented their choice in costumes as Snape inspected Draco's.
"Peter Pan?" He laughed.
"Green is your color, Draco." His mother said, brushing a strand of hair away from Draco's face. Hermione couldn't help but stifle a laugh as Draco shot her a death glare that quickly faded into a smile.
The music began and the student couples began to move onto the dance floor, their bodies seeming one big, twitching mass of colors. Severus and Draco both escorted their partners out onto the dance floor as a slow waltz began.
Hermione rested her hand on Draco's shoulder and looked into his eyes, but it was easy to tell within the first few steps that Draco was never really a waltzer.
"May I?" Severus interrupted. "Draco, maybe your mother could teach you a thing or two." He laughed as he took Hermione's hand and swept her across the floor. Draco sighed and walked over to his mother.
"If there was one thing I always wanted to teach you, Draco, it was how to waltz." She smirked as she instructed him on the proper way. Draco couldn't help but feel a twinge of jealousy as he watched his coworker waltzing with his wife across the floor, the laughter in Hermione's eyes shone brightly.
"Now come on, you know as well as I do that there's nothing to be jealous of there." His mother said, reading his thoughts as she took him and began to waltz.
To Draco's relief, the song didn't last much longer, and Hermione and Snape returned to their partners. Draco demonstrated his new found knowledge of waltzing to Hermione, and she winked toward his teacher.
"You've still got a thing or two to learn, Draco." Snape laughed as he took Narcissa's hand.
"Yes sir, I do. But, one thing I have learned from you is this." He muttered a charm and pointed his wand at both himself and his wife. The two shot up and began floating around the room together. Hermione screamed and grabbed onto her husband.
Severus smiled at Narcissa, "They're meant for each other, he looks at her like she's the only woman in this room."
The woman laughed, "I know, do you remember when we were like that? So in love." She gave a small sigh and the spark in her eyes glittered with remembrance.
"I've never gotten over that," Snape said, a touch of bitterness in his voice, "The night you…broke it off with me…" He stopped, and looked up at the head table where Dumbledore was sitting. "Hang on, stay right here."
Narcissa watched as he walked toward the head table and as her son and his wife came down right next to her.
"What is he doing?" Draco asked.
"I…I'm not sure." She grinned as Severus made it up to the table and grabbed a glass and a spoon and began tapping the two together to gain attention.
Everyone in the hall stopped, even the band stopped playing, and looked at Severus.
"Thank you," He began. "As I'm sure you're all well aware, I have a very special guest with me tonight, your classmate's mother, Narcissa Black." The student body all looked to where Narcissa was standing and Draco swore he could see a faint blush on his mother's cheeks. "Many years ago, Narcissa and I were in love, and she was stolen away from me by her late husband." He stopped and looked straight at her, "Narcissa, I never told you this, but that day I was going to ask you to marry me." Draco heard his mother's breath catch in her throat.
Snape walked down off of the platform and over to where she was standing, he got down on one knee before her, the students were still completely silent. Draco and Hermione stood holding each other and smiling next to the other couple.
"Narcissa, will you do me the honor of so many years ago, and be my wife?" He pulled out a ring, undoubtedly the one he had bought for her when they were still in school.
"Yes." She answered simply, tears brimming in her eyes.
One person began to clap, Harry up at the table, and then slowly the entire student body began to clap as the two hugged each other. Draco went over and hugged his mother as the tears ran down her face.
"I love you, mum." He whispered in her ear.
7 Months Later
"And do you, Severus, take this woman, to have and to hold, to honor and to cherish, for richer for poorer, in sickness and in health, until you are both separated by death?"
"I do."
Draco watched as Dumbledore handed the rings to his mother and Snape, blessing them and finishing up the ceremony. The two turned to face the hall.
"I now present to you, Mr. and Mrs. Severus Snape!" The student body roared in applause as the two walked down the aisle out of the great hall.
"Seems like just yesterday, doesn't it?" Hermione whispered to Draco.
Her husband looked at her and smiled, "Just yesterday." He picked her up and she put her arms around his neck and they walked down the aisle after the rest of the bridal party.
"Thank you, Draco, for everything." Severus said, shaking his hand once they had reached the reception out in the school gardens. "You've given me my life back, and I don't know how to repay you for it."
"There's no need to repay me, Severus, really, it just took a little bit of luck, and some magic." He winked as he went over to join his wife.
"Congratulations, mum." Hermione said to Narcissa, the woman smiled and gave her daughter-in-law a hug and kissed Haley on the forehead.
"She's getting so big now," She smiled. "To think, I'm a grandmother just getting married."
Hermione laughed, "And you don't look a day past 30."
"Don't patronize me, dear." She said threateningly, but cracking a smile in the end. The two women laughed together as their husbands approached.
"So what are you two planning on doing now, mum?" Draco asked his mother, taking the baby from Hermione.
"A muggle cruise in the Carribean. I hear its very nice down there, and it will be nice to get away from magic for a while." Narcissa smiled, leaning into her new husband as he put his arm around her waist.
"And then we'll be coming to live with you, of course!" Snape smiled at the look of shock on Draco's face.
Narcissa elbowed her husband lightly in the ribs and they both laughed. "No, don't worry dear, we'll be moving back into the house, the renovations are almost finished."
Draco and Hermione both breathed a sigh of relief. "Well, you're always welcome to come visit your granddaughter." Hermione replied.
"And our son and his beautiful wife." Snape said, putting extra emphasis on the fact that Draco was now his son.
Draco smiled at the couple as one of the teachers came up to talk to them, they excused themselves and turned their backs. Draco hugged his wife closer to him, "Finally, a father like I've always wanted."
She kissed him chastely, and they both looked down at the baby in Draco's arms as she fell asleep.
"I'd better take her up to the nursery," Hermione said, giving her husband another kiss as she left to take their daughter up to go to sleep.
"Hermione, wait." He said, she stopped and turned around to look at him. "I love you. Just thought I'd let you know." He smiled and kissed her on the forehead.
"Always and forever." She replied, "Always and forever."
Many years later…
A brunette sat in the living room of her home, she was about 20 years old, looking through an old photo album from her parent's wedding. The pictures smiled and waved up at her from the dragon-hide album, she giggled as she saw her mother at her age, they looked almost exactly alike.
She flipped through the newer pages, pictures of her grandparent's wedding follow her parents. After that she saw pictures of her Godfather's wedding to a beautiful redhead. The redhead's brother was married to her mother's cousin around the same time, and the book included those pictures as well.
"My family." She heard someone say from behind her. She turned around to see her mother standing in the doorway, looking down at the photo album.
"Mum, what are these extra pages for?" Her daughter asked.
"Well they're for your wedding pictures of course!" Hermione smiled, sitting down next to her daughter. "You'll get married someday, and I wanted to have somewhere to put those photos."
"Tell me the story again, mum, for old times sake." Her daughter said, leaning back against the sofa.
Hermione laughed, "Which one?"
"All of them, from the beginning, when you met dad."
"Haley, that could take all night."
"I know, but I love hearing those stories." She smiled as she closed the album and set it back up on the coffee table.
"Me too." The blonde man stood in the same doorway his wife had come through, he came and sat down next to his wife and daughter. "But before we start story time, I thought a couple of guests might come and help us retell the story to our children." He looked back over his shoulder as a line of people came parading into the room.
Hermione jumped up and hugged each and every one of them, she hadn't seen them in so long. Harry and Ginny, Ron and Erin, and her mother and father in law all came into their living room. They sat around the room, on the chairs and on the floor. Their children came too, they all loved hearing their parent's stories of the old days back at Hogwarts.
"So where do we start?" Harry asked, looking at Ron.
"The beginning perhaps, the day we first met?" The redhead replied, smiling at Hermione.
"Sounds good to me," Hermione smiled, as her husband put and arm around her.
Harry started, "Well, Ron and I met each other at the platform…"
Hermione tuned out for a moment, looking at all of the faces around her, those people really were her family, some literally, and some just by luck. She listened that night to the stories, of love and hatred, of spells and potions, deaths and births, but most of all, of friendship. That was all that ever mattered, these people were all that ever mattered to her, save a few others. She knew that right at that moment, her entire life sat in the same room.
"That was when I knew," Draco smiled, looking at his wife and bringing her back into reality.
"Knew what, dad?" Haley asked.
"That I would love your mother, always and forever."
A/N…yep…its over. Sadly. I hope you all have enjoyed it, and those of you who read it in the future, I hope you enjoy it as well.
So, one last time…
Love and Fluff,
Natalie.