Chapter 44: In Which We Prepare For the Ball

"Oh. My. God. Do not stop that!" Snape's fingers were amazing, sending tingles throughout her body. Her eyes rolled back as her body sagged against the wall. She jerked back from it rather quickly, as it was wet and cold. Then he moved an inch lower, and she felt her knees go weak.

"If I had known you liked having someone shampoo your hair so much, I'd have done this a lot earlier."

"If I had known I liked having someone shampoo my hair this much, I would have told you sooner. Merlin's pants! You are good at this."

"One summer, I worked as a shampooer at a local hair salon." Severus didn't manage to say the line with a straight face, but since she was facing away from him, Hermione missed his grin.

"Liar. It must be natural talent."

"No. Seriously, every day I'd be there, and women would come in left and right asking for 'Steve' to do their hair, because no one else could do it like I did." He turned her around so her head was under the shower faucet, water rinsing away the shampoo. He was laughing.

"How much time did you spend working on your concentrated opium today?"

"Oh, six-seven hours. Then I had to sample each and every dose to see if they were stronger than the ones I made up yesterday. Actually I don't think I'm in the shower with you. I'm fairly sure I'm still in my lab."

Now she was laughing as well. "You are most certainly in the shower with me. Now, turn around and I'll do your hair." She began to fiddle with the shampoo and his hair. "You know, this would be much easier if you were about twenty-five centimetres shorter."

"I can sit down if you like."

"That would be easier." She began to rub the shampoo into his hair. "So, what has you in such a good mood today? You're almost giddy."

I'm going to give you your ring today! "I did have a rather nice breakthrough with my opium work. I was able to isolate the poppy latex and remove it from the mass. That cut down the volume by almost two thirds. I need to concentrate it further. Rght now a dose is about 250 mL. That's still too much to administer easily, but I think it's strong enough to properly sedate a dragon at this point!"

"Lovely!" She had finished his hair and spent a moment massaging his neck and shoulders.

He relaxed against her hands. "That feels so good."

She kneaded a bit longer while the water from the shower beat down upon them. After another minute her hands stilled. "Up you get. We've got to get dressed soon or we won't get to the ball on time."

He stood under the faucet, water streaming down his body, looking like he wasn't going anywhere. "I'll be out in a minute. I need to shave."

"Fine." She stepped out and began to towel off. "Why shave?"

"Looking like I'm wearing black sandpaper on my face isn't appropriate at a ball."

"While that's true, that's not what I mean. Why not use a depilatory spell?"

"It's a matter of skill really. There's a sense of accomplishment that goes with being able to handle a straight razor. Most wizards do use a spell rather than put their skin at risk with a razor. Plus the day I cut my face to bits is the day I know I can't safely go into a potions lab anymore. It's an early warning system of sorts."

He stepped out a moment later, and she tossed him a dry towel. He dried off while watching her work on her hair. She was rubbing something into it, and next to her sat a pile of pins, some plain bobby pins, some with little gold and red sparkly tips.

"What are you doing with your hair?" He kissed the side of her neck.

"I'm going to pin it up. It should take me twenty minutes or so to do it, though. It takes even longer if I straighten it first."

"I like your hair down."

"You'll like it up, too. Now, off with you. I don't work well with an audience."

Snape walked into their room and decided he had time to do a bit of reading before getting dressed. Before settling on the bed with a book he stopped at the mirror and combed his hair. Then he checked the left hip pocket of his dress trousers. Ring is still there. Where else would it be? Just want to make sure. You'd look like an idiot if it fell out or you put them in the wrong trousers. Yes, well, that was a good answer the first two times you checked. By now you know the damn thing is in there. He flicked open the box, stroked his finger over the stones, and smiled. He slid the box back into the pocket, hung his towel over the bed post, and settled down to read.

At some later point Hermione came out of the bathroom. "You're not dressed yet?" She sounded somewhat nervous, but he didn't know why. He figured since he was reading naked in bed it had to be a rhetorical question.

"Neither are you."

"My hair is done." She had been right; he did like her hair up.

"So's mine," he pointed to his neatly combed, damp hair.

She made a sound he took to mean she was exasperated. So he put his book aside and began to put on his clothing. She grabbed a small bag that had begun living on his vanity lately, and went back into the bathroom.

She was still in there when he finished dressing, leaving the robe on its hanger for now. He ran his fingers over the ring box one more time and returned to his book.

When she came out this time, her lips, fingernails and toenails were all deeply red. He found the toenails especially fascinating. Little crescents of red winked at him every time she took a step. He hoped she was going to be wearing sandals to go with her snazzy red toenails. Part of his mind registered that the rest of her face had been made up as well, but he had a hard time drawing his eyes away from her toes.

She was mildly amused by how much he liked her painted toenails. I'll have to do that again. Do I have an anklet here? No, but you've got a bracelet that could be modified. She fished around in her things. I need my own bureau. The bracelet was just a thin, gold chain, but with a few seconds of wand work, it was a thin, gold chain long enough to fit around her ankle.

She held out the anklet and her right foot. "Would you put it on me?"

"Oh, yes." He fastened the chain, and placed a soft kiss on the top of her foot. "I like the nail polish."

"I noticed you liking the nail polish. Now let's see if you like the rest of it." She gathered her underwear and the bag from Patils' Pretties. He sat on their bed and watched her dress. There was a delicious intimacy that went with being able to watch a woman get ready to go out. He had never realized he wanted it before now, and now he never wanted to be without it again.

She was standing in front of the mirror, placing a cuff on her arm that matched the pattern on the red silk of her dress. He stood up, feeling his heart beating very fast, and walked behind her. He kissed her neck where it met her shoulder. For a second he didn't know how his voice would sound when he spoke, but speak he did.

"You look almost perfect."

She arched an eyebrow at him, watching him in the mirror, not turning to face him. Something was off about him, but she wasn't sure what. Hermione decided to play along. "Almost?"

Fantastic, she's looking at me in the mirror! She can't see what my hands are doing.

Hermione jumped slightly when she felt his hand on hers, and something cold slip around her fourth finger. She held her hand up and saw the ring glinting on it.

"Now it's perfect." He whispered into her ear, his arms wrapping around her waist, while her eyes met his in the mirror, "Marry me, build a life with me, grow old with me, share my home and my bed and my name. Be my comfort and joy, and let me be yours until we quit this world."

In later years, he didn't know for sure that she ever actually said, 'Yes.' But he did know that by the time he finished speaking she was crying, and laughing, and had turned around in his arms and was kissing him, so he figured that was close enough.