The next morning Celosia grinned as she stepped out of the shower, Severus quickly following behind her and grabbing her around the waist, burying his face in her neck. A giggle escaped her lips and she pushed him away, reaching for a towel. She hadn't felt this happy in so long, and she finally felt like her life was coming back to one final piece.
"Care to dry me off?" He asked with a smirk and she grinned, wrapping the towel around herself.
"Nope!" She exclaimed and walked out, crossing the hallway to her bedroom. Severus peaked his head outside looking both ways for Harry before jumping into the room as well, closing the door behind him.
"That isn't very nice." He frowned, still dripping wet.
"You can have this after I head down to make breakfast." Celosia laughed, taking her sweet time.
"I'm getting your carpet wet."
"It'll dry." She stated and slipped her clothes on, making sure she kept the towel in her grasp and away from Severus.
"You don't know what kind of trouble you'll get yourself into when you pull a stunt like this, Celosia." Severus said, lust flashing in his eyes as Celosia looked at him, clipping her hair up.
"I think I can handle whatever you throw at me, Severus." She smirked, throwing the towel at him as she walked out the door.
Severus took his time as well, composing himself and thinking back on the events of last night and that morning. He surprised himself by looking in the mirror and finding a smile on his face. That had rarely ever happened. He was genuinely happy now.
Harry sat at the table, sipping his orange juice as he finished his breakfast. Celosia was flipping another batch of eggs on a frying pan, grinning like a fool.
Severus walked down the stairs, dressed in black pants and, surprising to Harry, a grey t-shirt. "Morning, Potter."
"Professor." Harry nodded in agreement.
Severus smirked as he walked over to Celosia, wrapping his arms around her waist and kissing her neck, staring at the pan of eggs in front of her. Harry froze, taking a giant swallow of his juice. "Since when did this happen?"
Celosia and Severus both looked up, and at that moment they looked the portrait of a perfect couple. Harry felt uncomfortable knowing that Severus was that much closer to being his uncle. "Oh, it's always happened." Celosia blushed, turning the stove off and moving the eggs onto a plate. "We just…decided it was time to be completely open about it."
Severus nodded, letting go of Celosia to take hold of the plate she handed to him. "Now aren't you glad I made breakfast early?" She smiled and he sneered, sitting across from Harry.
"Your carpet is ruined." He stated and began eating, Harry staring at the couple.
"I'm gonna…go…shave?" Harry stood up, immediately bolting from the room. He locked himself up in the attic, calming himself down and pinching his cheek to see if this was all real. It surely was.
Celosia giggled, shaking her head as she sat down beside Severus at the table, taking his fork and biting into his eggs. He raised a brow. "First you refuse to give me a towel, now breakfast?"
"Sharing is caring." She grinned and handed his fork back. "What are you and Harry going to go over today?"
"Well, seeing as I did set him that essay about spells for the next time he goes driving, I believe Transfigurations would be proper." Severus replied, digging into his breakfast as he entered his teacher mode. "He's hopeless at Herbology."
"Majority of people are." Celosia agreed.
"Not me. How else would one succeed in Potions, without a basic understanding of the ingredients?"
"I was a good Potions student too."
"You were a Ravenclaw."
Celosia grinned, setting her hand on Severus' arm. "Speaking of Herbology, I'd keep an eye out on Harry and Miss Ginevra Weasley."
"Oh?" She raised a brow. "Why would you think so? And how did you know they were dating? They haven't seen each other in months."
"Potter inquired me about…proposals." Severus said, setting his fork down and avoiding eye contact. Celosia raised her eyebrows. "In the magical world."
"Oh my." She muttered and pulled her hand away, setting it to her lip. "Well, I doubt he'll want to act on his relationship with Ginny."
"It's possible. He's lived in a 'seize-the-moment' type of lifestyle while the war was going on." Severus replied, then took another bite of his breakfast. Celosia stared at the silver kitchen utensil before she broke out into a smile. "What?"
"You called him Harry." She whispered, recalling his sentence several minutes before. He had used Ginny's full name but there was no mistake- he called him Harry.
"So…?" Severus raised a brow, trying to mask his own surprise. He definitely didn't do it on purpose. He hadn't even realized he said it. Unease settled on his shoulders. He could comfortably call the Potter boy by his given name, and he didn't even know.
"I have a great idea!" Celosia suddenly grinned, standing up. "We're going to dinner tonight!"
"Dinner as in…?" Severus chewed his food slowly.
"A proper dinner, in a public Muggle restaurant." She looked down at him and Severus swore that her eyes were sparkling like diamonds. No, not diamonds- emeralds. "The three of us. It'll be nice."
"Are you sure it's safe?" Severus asked, concern seeping into him. Now that he came to think about it, he wasn't even sure his magic was restored.
"Harry and I have been out several times driving and we've never hit any problems." She insisted and froze at the look he gave her. It certainly had been a long time since they've been in hiding, and that meant it was a long time since Severus woke up from his coma.
"Do you think my magic has returned?" He asked quietly and she blinked. She obviously forgot to give attention to that fact too.
"Well it's been a while." She pressed a finger to her lip. "I suppose. We could try."
Severus' eyes lit up, and willingly let Celosia take his hand and drag him up the stairs. When they got to her bedroom, she opened the top drawer on the bedside table, pulling out Severus' long, black wand and handing it to him. "If you start feeling dizzy or anything, you need to tell me." She warned and passed it onto him.
Severus grasped the wood, feeling the familiar magical bond between his magic and his wand. A sudden warmth enveloped him as the two connected, and he instantly recognized the feeling. He fingered his wand in his hands, then pointed it towards the hair brush on Celosia's dresser.
With a non-verbal spell, the brush began to rise into the air, and Severus smirked, feeling absolutely fine. Celosia noted this and broke out into a grin. "Your magic is back." She whispered happily. She couldn't help but watch in awe as Severus played around with his wand, levitating several things and summoning them to his hand. It was as if he was a little child playing with a new toy. She had only seen him this happy a handful of times, and it brought warmth to her heart.
She wanted to make sure this man always felt like this when he was with her, and she had every intention of making it happen.