Epilogue

Elaine stood in front of a mirror, watching Molly and Narcissa converse quietly behind her. Even though it had been six years since the end of the war, it was still strange to see those two getting along. But they both had become her best friends, and she couldn't imagine anything without them.

While Severus spent a year getting over the torture and then the later curse, Molly had come over frequently with cooked meals for the both of them as a thank you for Severus saving Fred's life. Narcissa would often visit, and without the war looming over them the two of them were able to sit back and actually have a conversation every once in a while, which, to Elaine's surprise, led to the two of them often going out for dinner on their own every now and again.

Narcissa and Draco had even been invited to Harry's wedding to Ginny two years prior, while Elaine was surprised to be asked to attend as a bridesmaid. Now the pair would be coming to her wedding, with baby James in tow.

Her wedding. Elaine looked back at the women again as Molly came forward to adjust her veil. "You are beautiful," the older woman told her, and she smiled.

Severus had proposed officially right after Harry's wedding, while they were sitting off to the side from everyone else. They'd discussed marriage prior, but they hadn't been prepared; money had been an issue with Severus's remaining St. Mungos bills. But Severus's apothecary and research lab had opened and was making quite a bit of gold, and so he'd finally been able to propose without feeling ashamed. Elaine had immediately said yes.

She'd spoken to Rowan privately later and explained things to him. He didn't seem to mind his mother was remarrying; he'd known Severus for years at that point and trusted the man. The ten year old knew a lot of what his mother and soon to be stepfather had done during the war, but the one thing he was never told about was the death of his father. Severus and Elaine had discussed it, even going as far as bringing Chester in, and they'd all agreed that that was a detail he didn't need to know, and so as far as Rowan knew, his father had been killed by a death eater on the dark lord's - Voldemort's- orders.

There was a knock on the door then, and Harry peeked his head in. "Everyone decent?"

"Yes, Harry," Elaine said with a laugh, and he fully entered, taking in the sight of his sister in her wedding dress.

"You look amazing."

Elaine smiled. "Thank you Harry." She fidgeted with a loose strand of hair. "What time is it?"

"It's nearly time," he responded, offering his arm to her.

Harry was giving her away. She and Harry had grown close over the years now that the war was behind them, and though he sometimes had a hard time getting along with Severus, he did his best for Elaine's sake. They had actually come to find out they had things in common, and often Severus and Harry would take Rowan and Teddy out to a Quidditch game together. They'd had a few spats, of course, no sibling relationship was perfect, but those were few and far between.

Elaine and Harry walked to the double doors. Behind them stood all of her friends, all of Severus's friends, including the majority of the Hogwarts staff. Madame Hooch had been unable to make it, and Elaine and Severus had never been that close to her, anyway.

The first thing she saw when the doors opened and the music began was Rowan standing next to Severus as his best man. Elaine couldn't help but smile at the sight of her son looking so determined in his suit and tie. But then her eyes drifted to Severus, and everything else felt like a dream.

Afterword, after she had become Elaine Snape, she walked around the crowds and greeted all of the guests with her new husband by her side.

Fred and George were there with their wives, Angelina and Alicia respectively, Angelina's belly looking like it was going to burst. Elaine congratulated Fred, for she hadn't known the two were expecting. He just grinned at her and took his wife to the dance floor.

Draco and his fiancee, Astoria Greengrass, sat quietly at one of the tables, lost in each other and the small girl that sat in between them. Much to everyone's surprise, Draco had ended up adopting Delphi Riddle, who was now Delphi Malfoy. They'd taken Narcissa aside and promised they'd tell the girl about the fact they weren't her true parents and that the people who'd conceived her were dead, but they would wait until she was older to know the truth about what they'd done, and how she'd come to be.

Teddy sat with Andromeda Tonks and his mother, and she briefly said her hellos. She and Teddy weren't as close as she and Harry, due to the vast age difference, but she loved her little brother, and was pleased he had his grandmother to help raise him after their father's death. She and Tonks had spoken in private after things had settled after the war, and she'd asked Elaine to take in Teddy should something happen to her. Elaine had, of course, agreed. She had lost too much family already not to agree.

Elaine and Severus swept through the dancefloor, eyes on each other, as the music played around them. This was it, what they'd done all they had for: this peace. And as they swept into the garden, Elaine took the moment of privacy to whisper the secret she'd been hiding for weeks into Severus's ear, and he'd grinned at the news.

"We are having a baby?" he asked, and she nodded, smiling.

Yes. They were at peace. And all was well.

It's all over! *sniff* *sniff*

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