She smiled broadly as she let out air through her nose, a breath she had been holding for much too long. This was it, this was the day she would no longer be Hermione Granger, instead, she would be Hermione Snape. Married to the man she never thought she would ever even remotely like, let alone agreeing to take his last name. The world moved in mysterious ways.
She smoothed a soft palm over the cloth covering her expanding midsection, growing the small child within her that the two of them created together, quickly coming to terms with the small being growing within her and she had to admit, she was not just a little bit excited. A new chapter in her life, no, in their life.
Her auburn hair with ringlets cascading down her back as the late afternoon sun played in her locks joyfully. The white of her simple dress giving a little colour to her rosy cheeks. The plunging neckline allowing the heat of the quickly vanishing sun to kiss her skin gently.
Her hand tangled with Severus's as they stood in the forest of Dean, the silence only being broken by a flutter of bird wings or the snapping of a twig in the distance. The two did choose to elope, as far away as possible from prying eyes. The last thing Hermione wanted was the be splashed across the front of the Daily Prophet for marrying the man she loved and having it twisted and skewed into a story so far from the truth it was laughable.
Draco had offered them the Manor in which to wed, but Hermione quickly knocked that idea on the head faster than Ron could make it to the great hall at mealtime. She thanked Draco for his amazing and generous offer, but it wasn't for her. Not only did she loathe Narcissa with every fibre of hatred coursing through her veins, she just couldn't see herself in such a place marred by so many terrible memories.
Her mother and father were here, albeit grudgingly. Whilst they had come to terms with not only her love for the snarky and dour Potions Maters, the large age gap and the fact Harry and Ron were total arses, but they also wouldn't lie when they said the prospect of a grandchild was titillating. They had always wondered if Hermione would give them a grandbaby, or if she would be too involved in her studies and then career to give them one, so the had to thank Severus for that at least.
Draco was here too, of course. Out of all the people in the entire world, she would have never thought Draco Malfoy would be standing there watching her marry Severus Snape. She didn't think she would ever see herself marrying Severus Snape and it was at this moment she realised the world really did work in the most mysterious ways.
Draco had become her friend, not in the same way Harry and Ron were her friends, or even in the same capacity or with the same intimacy. She was still wary of him, Afterall he wasn't the most pleasant person to her over the course of her life, but she could see he had turned over a new page in his book of morals and decency and was fast becoming one of her favourite people. Who needed Harry and Ron when you had an amazing friend like Draco? He had honestly gone above and beyond lately with the fully supporting her choice to quickly elope and showing up at a moment's notice, to entertaining her when Severus spent long nights at the shop he had recently opened, right through to just being there and listening to her pregnant rants about everything.
But most of all, the thing that she loved the most was that they could both sit down and talk about all of the stupid things about Harry and Ron and she felt she finally had someone on her side. In fact, Draco showed much enthusiasm and glee in their trash talking sessions and she knew that is what cemented the bond of their friendship.
Sure, she still missed Harry and Ron, and she always would, and they would always be a huge part of her life. She still loved them both platonically of course, in the way really good friends did and she would always be open to having them come back into her life, in fact, she would love that, but she wasn't going to chase them anymore. She was in a great place right now, she had Severus and Draco, her parents were back, and she wasn't far off giving birth to her first child. Life was good and drama, she didn't need that.
Hermione had chosen the forest of Dean because she knew how secluded it was and she knew that having it here would invoke memories of Harry and Ron and that they would somehow be part of her day even if just in the smallest way. She had come to peace now and held no grudges against them and she could only hope that one day, they would come to realise what they were missing out on and make peace with her, but she wouldn't hold her breath.
An official from the Ministry stood just in front of Severus and Hermione. Severus had sworn he would hex him to death if he even as much as breathed a single word of what he had done today to anyone. A worried look had crossed the officials face as a glint of malicious crept into Severus's gaze and Hermione knew she wouldn't have to worry about word of this getting out to anyone anytime soon.
The official, a short, greying portly man clapped his hands together, the sound reverberating and echoing through the forest loudly. "Let's get started," The man spoke slowly, nervousness edging into his voice, the apparent fear of Severus was palpable, and Hermione could only stifle a small giggle, now that she had spent so much time with Severus, she found this hard to see his scary side anymore.
Severus gently took her hand, the warmth of her skin welcoming to his sense. A small jolt ran up his arm and he hoped he felt as in love with her every day for the rest of his life as he did right now in this situation. He smiled a genuine smile, broad and proud. For once in his life he was truly happy.
A business, a wife, and a child on the way, could he be any luckier? All the galleons on the world couldn't replace any of this right now, or ever. The dour, evil and snarky Potions Master was finally getting a second chance in life, a shot at happiness. Sweet serendipity.
He was so enthralled in his thoughts and staring lovingly at Hermione that he almost missed exactly what the official had said, he shook his head and brought himself back to reality and managed to smoothly say, "I do."
The official turned to Hermione who looked as if she might cry right now, tears of joy and asked her if she would take Severus as her husband. She could only beam and shake her head yes.
The two exchanged rings, shakily. This was it, there was no turning back now, not that Severus wanted to, he mused as the precious metal slid easily on her finger.
"You are now husband and wife," The official choked out before bowing low, stepping back and apparating. He couldn't wait to get out of there.
Hermione shrugged as Severus stepped closer to her, a slender index finger tracing its way across the warm cheek in the darkening evening, pushing a stray hair from her cheek he leant down just so, his lips capturing hers. He kissed her like it was the last kiss he may ever get off her, he kissed her like he needed to taste her lips for survival.
Her parents awkwardly turned away, the tree's becoming very interesting right about now and Draco clapped and cheered with vigour which caused Hermione to smile against Severus's lips and then snort in a very undignified manner against him.
"I love you, Severus Snape," she whispered softly.
"And I you, Hermione Snape." He almost had to pinch himself, he always thought his wretched last name would die with him, but here he was now, just having given it to Hermione and soon to his child. The Snape name would live on, hopefully in a less dramatic and controversial way than it did for most of his life.
o-o-o-o-
The bell overhanging the door to his shop rang briskly as the soft footfalls of someone coming to the counter could be heard. His head snapped up, eye locked with a bushy browned haired girl walking his way. His lips twitched at the corners before becoming a broad and obvious smile. "It's been a while," He drawled as the girl walked closing, her curls bouncing with every step she took towards him.
"It's has been a while," She chirped happily, jumping up onto the edge of the counter and landing soundlessly, swinging her legs around and pushing herself back off into his side.
"You could have just walked around like a civilised human being," He tutted, bringing the girl into a giant hug.
"I know, but where would be the fun in that?" She questioned, stepping back from the man and beaming up at him.
"Sorry I didn't come back sooner, I wanted to stay at Hogwarts with my friends over Christmas. Professor McGonagall sends her greetings."
He grumbled under his breath as this statement, time didn't heal all wounds and he still hated her as much now as he did over a decade ago.
"Where's mum?"
"In the back." Severus inclined his head back as he watched his teenage daughter disappear out of sight. He sighed contently and looked around his shop. He had had to expand it twice now, buying out the shops either side of his, business was booming from mothers needing potions ready-made for the children with dragon pox, right down to other Potions Masters needing easy and readily accessible ingredients right through to the unsavoury types looking to deal in highly illegal potions ingredients which he may or may not accommodate…Depends who was asking him.
A squeal from the back brought him from his deep revere, Hermione had just been alerted to the fact their daughter was back, either that or a cauldron had exploded, maybe he should go check… He waited for a moment, straining his hearing, he didn't hear any further screams of agony, so he assumed he was fine to stay here and not go and investigate.
"Aria?!" Hermione exclaimed as she swooped over to her daughter and wrapping her in a huge one-armed hug, a small child with black hair and piercing black eyes babbling softly in her other.
"How are you?" Hermione asked, letting the girl go and thrust her baby brother at her. She took him awkwardly and rested him on her hip.
"How are you, Arkin?" The young girl cooed to her baby brother who screeched in delight.
"He remembers you." Hermione cast a glance at her young daughter whilst she continued to stir the potion she was making. The store was almost out of colic relief potion because it was always flying off the shelves within a day of making it.
"Of course, he remembers me, I'm unforgettable." She tossed her curls over her shoulder and away from the baby who was trying hard to clutch them in her tiny hands.
Hermione rolled her eyes and wondered if she was that vain as a teenager, or if it came from her fathers' genes. And just like that, almost on cue, Severus walked into the back room, his heart almost skipping a beat at the sight of his family all together in front of him.
"Let's say we shut early and go out tonight as a family?" He asked softly, watching the baby still trying to clutch as his sister curls and shrieking in pure delight.
Hermione smiled, "I think that is a great idea." She vanished her cauldron within seconds and took Arkin off her daughter who was having no luck deterring him from trying to pull fistfuls of her hair out.
"Let go," Severus whispered, waiting for his family to walk out before him. He looked around the room and turned out the lights with his wand. Right now, his family was more important than working.
-The End.
A/N: And that's a wrap! Thank you to everyone who reviewed and followed and left encouraging comments for this story, I was honestly not expecting the response it got. I was torn between extending it a few more chapters and risk it is getting boring real fast or ending it now… I chose the latter.
The both got their happy ending which is all that I wanted for this story and they are both happy now.
To the person who whinged and said, "All of a sudden Hermione had money to buy new furniture and Severus had money to open a business," I always said through the story Hermione had plenty of money in the bank and Severus had saved enough money to open a business and run it for a while with his savings… Not sure what story you were reading but it probably wasn't this one.
Thank you, everyone… I have plenty of other stories you can read if you feel like it xx
-Aliamel1