It had been barely two months since Hermione had given birth to her and Severus' daughter. They had both enjoyed her presence immensely, and they certainly loved her more than anything. Of course, sometimes they loved her more than at other times, like at three o'clock in the morning...

On one such morning, at just a little after three, Severus awoke abruptly to his daughter's cries. Groggily, he stood and went to her. It was his turn, after all, as Hermione had gone the last time.

When Severus entered her room, Trina's cries became louder still, piercing his ears and causing him to cringe as he walked toward her. As quickly as his exhaustion would allow, he cared for Trina and calmed her. When she had become silent and finally fallen asleep, he gently set her down and then made his way back into his own room.

As he climbed into bed, he felt the weight on the bed shift as Hermione rolled over, sighing in her sleep. Severus turned to her and watched her for a while in the darkness. It seemed to him as if his life since last November was a dream and he would awake at any moment to discover that he had been asleep the whole time. Could this be real? He could scarcely believe that it had been barely one year since he and Hermione had gotten together. One whole year. Was it even possible, that the product of them together was the baby sleeping in the next room- a new human being that would grow to do great things? Severus held the utmost hope for his daughter, as he was sure all parents did for their children.

He was sure that with both his and Hermione's genes, she would be intelligent and fair in looks. Of course, the latter would be attributed only to Hermione. Trina did have his eyes, though, and the few wisps of hair that existed on her head were dark. It could not yet be determined whether they were brown or black. Trina's skin was very fair, however- fairer than her mother's.

No matter what she looked like, Severus was quite unable to wrap his mind completely around the fact that he felt as though his heart would burst each time he caught a glimpse of his daughter. He never thought that he would care for her this much.

And Hermione had given him this child. She had granted him this precious gift. He loved her. Never could he imagine his life without her in it.

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"Are you as tired as I am, Severus?" Hermione asked the following morning as Severus retrieved his mug of black coffee from the kitchen.

"Exhausted," he replied. Then he went on sarcastically, "It is such a drastic change from what we have both been experiencing for the past two months." Leaning over and catching her eye for a moment, he kissed Hermione's cheek and then went to the door. "I will be late."

Hermione watched as he departed, feeling that something was a bit off about him this morning. She wondered what exactly was on his mind.

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"Professor?" a sixth-year asked as she approached Severus at the end of a class.

"Yes?" he asked, glancing up at her. With some relief, he saw that it was a student of his own house. "What is it, Miss Bale?"

"I would like to congratulate you on the birth of your daughter, sir," she replied quietly.

He nodded. "Is that all?"

Carefully, she shook her head. "Well, sir, I don't know if you remember, but I came to you before the baby was born and told you that I thought Professor Granger was nothing but, well, a worthless Mudblood? Er, that she would only hurt you?"

"Ah, yes. I do vaguely recall that discussion."

"I would like to apologize. It was not my place to say such things."

"Very well. Is that all?"

"Yes, sir, I suppose it is. Congratulations, again, Professor Snape."

Nodding, he picked up his quill and began marking the papers on his desk. Andrea Bale knew that this was the sign for her to leave, and she promptly obeyed.

As he heard the classroom door closing, Severus glanced up to see that she was indeed gone. He had to admit that he was pleased that Miss Bale had acknowledged the fact that it had not been her place at all to criticize his relationship. Or any of his relationships, ever, for that matter. He knew that there was no need for him to be ashamed of being with Hermione. Well, perhaps besides the fact that he was twenty years her senior. That did not matter, though, and neither did the fact that she was a Muggleborn. He knew that. Hermione's heritage made no difference to him. He loved her. And that was that.

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Finally, they are gone, Severus thought after his last class of the day. For the next hour, he remained in his classroom, grading papers. When he had read over and marked a great deal of them, he set his quill down on the desk and stood. He was still for a moment, allowing his muscles to adjust to the feeling of standing again, after being seated for nearly the past two hours. Then he grabbed his cloak and went to his office fireplace. When he reached it, he took a handful of Floo Powder and stepped into the hearth, immediately calling out, "Diagon Alley!"

Seconds later, he had reached his destination. As he walked out into the fresh air, leaving the shop into which he had appeared, he pulled his cloak around him, as the outside air was a bit chilly. Glancing up and down the Alley, his eyes searched for a particular shop. However, he had never had a reason to visit this shop before, and so he had no idea as to its location. Therefore, he simply strolled along Diagon Alley until he spotted it.

As he entered the shop, a bell above the door chimed, signaling to the store keeper the arrival of a new customer. A second later, a young woman appeared behind the counter and sent him a small smile. "Welcome to Victoria's Charms and Trinkets. Can I help you find anything?" she asked as his eyes wandered the shop, taking everything in- the glittering diamonds and the metal glinting as the lights from the ceiling hit them sharply. Severus peered at the woman for a moment, and then shook his head. Shrugging, she promptly disappeared behind a red curtain which apparently led to the back of the store.

As Severus walked around, he peered through the clear, polished glass at the jewelry beneath it. There were several necklaces and bracelets, but the majority of it was rings- for weddings, anniversaries, and simply as gifts. Although Severus failed to notice, his heart began to beat a bit quicker as he neared the items that he had been seeking. Severus stopped when he reached the engagement rings.

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"Where have you been?" Hermione asked once he had returned to their chambers that night.

Removing his cloak, he replied, "I needed to retrieve a potions ingredient from the Apothecary. I apologize."

Handing him the baby as she left the room, Hermione asked, "Could you hold her for a moment, Severus?"

Sighing, he sat down on the sofa, his small daughter in his arms. Glancing behind him, he pulled a small, plain box out of his pocket and flipped it open. When he showed to Trina what it contained, she smiled and giggled at her father.

"It's for your mother," he whispered, gazing down at her.

Trina's eyes lit up as she stared at the diamond ring. When she reached for it, however, her father pulled it back, as he had heard Hermione's footsteps, and quickly stuffed it back into his pocket.

"Where are the ingredients that you got?" Hermione asked once she had returned.

"I beg your pardon?"

Hermione looked at him for a moment. "I was speaking of the potion ingredients that you went to Hogsmeade to purchase. Where are they?"

"I've already placed them in my classroom," he answered.

Nodding, Hermione took Trina back in her arms, kissing Severus as she did so, and made her way into Trina's room.

However, Severus did not follow her. For the next hour or so, he was seated at his desk, grading papers. At one point, he noticed that he may have been going a bit soft on the students, and so he spent the next half hour scribbling particularly nasty remarks in the margins of the papers.

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Hermione lay in bed the following morning, thanking Merlin that it was Saturday. Sunlight from outside entered the room and bathed her in its warmth. For several blissful minutes, there was only silence in her home. The crying began only shortly thereafter. Then Hermione caught the sounds of Severus in the living room with Trina, and the wailing became quiet.

Although she was aware that she should get up and help Severus in caring for their daughter, Hermione still remained in the bed. She did feel a bit selfish doing this, but she hardly ever had time for herself anymore. She was also exhausted from looking after Trina. She wondered if her own mother had been this weary when Hermione had been a very young child.

At this, Hermione reminded herself once more that her mother and father would be expecting a visit from Severus, Trina, and her very soon. She was sure that they would also be expecting Severus to propose marriage to her very soon, as well. The Grangers had been dropping hints for this since they had been informed that Hermione was pregnant. Not to say that she blamed them for doing this, of course. After all, she had, more or less, been wondering the very same thing.

Perhaps she should speak to Ginny about it. She wondered if Harry had proposed to her yet. Surely not, or Hermione would have been contacted by the happy couple.

This was when she made a mental note to also visit the Burrow fairly soon. She felt a bit guilty for not having done it sooner.

Now, it was complete silence in their chambers. She heard Severus enter the room quietly, and then she felt the bed shift. Rolling over, she met his eyes.

"Good morning," he said.

Smiling, Hermione nodded. "I am sorry for not waking sooner, but I was just so tired." She paused, and then continued, "I heard you in the living room with Trina. It sounded like you were doing wonderfully with her."

Lying back on the bed, Severus sighed and stared at the ceiling. "I suppose so."

"What's the matter?" Hermione asked quietly, reaching over to touch his arm.

He shook his head. "It's not important," he replied, sitting up again.

"Severus, tell me-"

"It does not matter, Hermione. Leave it alone." At this, he stood and made his way out of the bedroom and back into the living room.

Hermione rolled back over and closed her eyes. She had no desire to get up today, as it would not be long before she would have to return to her teaching position and leave Trina behind during the day, and this idea saddened her a bit.

When she thought of these past two months, she could not believe how quickly they had passed. In her mind, it was as if she had just been released from the Hospital Wing yesterday. And it seemed as though, the day before that, Ginny had given birth to James.

Several days ago, Ginny had written Hermione a letter concerning her son. She had commented that James had the Weasleys' ginger hair, and Harry's green eyes. Or Lily's green eyes, depending on how one wished to look at it.

Trina had dark hair, dark eyes, pale skin... Already, she resembled Severus. Hermione smiled when she thought of this. Severus would never admit it that he saw the resemblance, of course. Hermione was not even sure that he wanted to see it. So set was he on hoping that their daughter did not inherit his physical features, that perhaps he could not see them, even though they were indeed there. Even so, Hermione was sure that Trina would be similar in appearance to Severus quite a bit.

Pulling herself out of bed, Hermione made her way into the living room, where he and Trina were.

As she entered, Severus' eyes left his daughter and came to rest on Hermione.

"I am glad to see that you are you awake. I was quite afraid that you had died in there."

"That is very funny," Hermione replied, smiling at her daughter. Severus did not delay in handing Trina over to Hermione the moment she was close enough to do so.

"And how are you, Trina?" Hermione asked in a happy, high-pitched voice. "Oh, you're so beautiful. Look at you! You are so very pretty!"

Severus' lip curled into a sneer. "That is sickening, Hermione."

"She's an infant, Severus. I'm sure that she doesn't think so."

With some difficulty, Severus held back a spiteful reply. Then, deliberately changing the subject, he said, "You must eat breakfast; or lunch, really. Would you like for me to call on the house-elves?"

"No, thank you. I can do that myself."

"Very well. Do as you like."

Smiling, she leaned over and kissed Severus on the cheek. "Have you eaten breakfast?"

Staring at Trina, he answered quietly, "No, I haven't. I'm not hungry."

"You should eat, Severus."

Shaking his head, he stood up and made his way to his desk.

"What are you doing?" Hermione asked him.

"Now that you are awake to deal with Trina, I am going to grade papers."

"All right. When was the last time that she was fed, by the way?"

"It was not very long ago," Severus answered, not looking up as he took his quill and dipped it in his pot of ink.

Sighing, Hermione began to rock her daughter back and forth, humming softly.

At the back of the room, Severus sat, marking papers that his students had turned into him the previous week. Every few minutes, he glanced up at Hermione and his daughter, and a smile appeared on his face.

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Later, Severus sat alone in his office, thinking things over. All was quiet, as he had performed a charm that made it so. The only sound was that of his own breathing. On his desk, set before him, was the ring that he intended to give to Hermione. For the past half hour, he had sat staring at it, a thousand thoughts racing through his mind. He had not yet decided when, where, or how he would propose, though he was trying to sort those details out now.

Severus was certain that he wanted to do this. He loved Hermione, and felt that he would perish if he was to be deprived of her presence. Still, though he knew it was somewhat preposterous, he could not help but doubt Hermione's feelings toward him. What if she declined his marriage proposal? It was not as if it would be an enormous surprise to anyone, including Severus. He himself still could not quite believe that Hermione had remained with him for so long. He feared at times that this was due only to Trina's existence. If Hermione had not gotten pregnant, would she and Severus still be together, nearly a year later? It was unlikely, in Severus' opinion. He would have driven her away long ago, either with his miserable shack that was his excuse for a home, or simply because of his cruel, snide comments that he sometimes made to her.

This brought another thought to his mind: would he be this way with his daughter, when she was older- cruel and belittling her at every opportunity? He was afraid that he would treat her this way without even considering it. If he was at all fortunate, he would have Hermione there to help prevent him from doing such things. That is, if she wanted to be there.

And he hoped that she did.

Snapping the ring box closed and placing it in the bottom drawer of his desk, he spoke a spell to lock the drawer. Then he made his way into the bedroom, where Hermione was lying down. After he had removed his clothes, Severus slipped into bed beside her.

As he lay there, he thought of the ring in his bottom desk drawer. Tomorrow, he would set a date on which to present it to her.

A smirk appeared on his face. Five years ago, nobody would even have thought that "Severus Snape" and "marriage" belonged in the same sentence together.

Silently, he shifted closer to Hermione, and for once, his sleep was peaceful.

A/N: Thanks to everyone who reviewed! You make me so happy!

Special thanks to my beta, SwissMiss1!

Disclaimer - I don't own any of the characters, places, etc. in this story. They are all products of J.K. Rowling's imagination.

Review, please! Even if you don't like it, tell me what you dislike and I'll try to work on it in the future! Thanks!