Chapter 65: In Which We Begin Planning A Wedding

Severus walked into his kitchen after a long day in the lab and found the smell of dinner, warm and welcoming, to greet him. On top of that, a cuddlesome woman was in his arms, kissing him. I could get used to this.

When Hermione pulled away from him she went back to dinner, some sort of stir fry. "So, how did today's research go?"

"Quite well. If you hand me a drink, I'll start to think I've fallen into a fifties television comedy."

"Don't get too used to it. I was just feeling rather domestic today. I helped Ginny and Deirdre with the kids, and felt like cooking when I got back here."

"You're welcome to be domestic whenever you choose. What's on the menu?"

"Beef and broccoli, rice, and some egg rolls."

"Yum. Will it be ready soon?"

"Ten-twelve minutes."

"I'll go pop in the shower and be down in eight."

"Good, you're a little stinky." She made a face at him. He winked back at her.

Hermione made finishing touches to the meal and set the table. The night was warm, not too humid, so she decided they'd eat in the garden. Good dinner, a nice bottle of wine, and now all I've got to do is get us talking about the wedding. She cast the spell that sent the tableware outside. Why is this so hard? Everyone else you know managed to come up with a wedding and vows. Everyone else I knew didn't have to ask herself if she loved her fiancé.

She gently lowered the egg rolls into hot oil. Well, that's the crux of it. Do you love him? Does he love you? And is either one of us willing to say anything about it? She used a spell to hold the eggrolls under the surface of the oil, thankful for the chance to collect her thoughts. It's easier if we don't say anything. It's easier if we just stay good friends who live together and enjoy the same things and like to shag. She placed the rolls onto a draining rack. Well, you can't avoid it forever. You need vows, and love's usually at the top of the list.

She stood in what was now their kitchen, indecision wrought on her face. She gathered the food and put it on serving plates. That done, she ran out of things to do to keep her mind from moving to the next logical thought. So, have I fallen in love with him?

"Something bothering you?" A damp, tousled, shower-fresh Snape walked up behind her and wrapped his arms around her waist.

"No, yes, sort of… many thoughts… some questions… not too many answers."

"Sounds ominous. Shall we eat and talk it over?"

"Let's eat…" She handed him the serving platter with the rice and beef on it. "I need to think a bit more before I go into talking about it."

"More ominous, yet." He kept his voice light, but she could see him wondering how bad this mystery subject that had her upset might be.

"It's nothing bad… I just need some time."

"I'll press no more. Want to hear about my latest forays into the world of professional potioneering?"

"Only if you don't mind that I'm only half listening."

"I can live with that."

They walked out to the porch and served the food. While Hermione ate, thoughts raced through her mind. Do you love him? You know, for most people this isn't a hard question. It's either YES or no. It's not a hard question. You know the answer, you're just afraid to say it, even in your own mind.

If I say it, it becomes real. And if it becomes real, I can lose it. And if I lose it, will I ever find myself again? Will there even be a me left?

She watched Severus eating, talking about his latest project. This is a good man. He's talking about a subject you'd find fascinating if you were paying attention. He's brave, and smart, and if not exactly handsome, he's in good shape. This is a man who cares about you. This is a man who doesn't press when you ask him to back off, and will go to the wall for you if you need him to. This is a man who has voluntarily started a relationship with a group of people he disliked because they are your family. Hell, he, Harry, and Arthur were hanging out and talking Quiddich the day before yesterday. He's let you into his home and his history. This is a man who deserves to be loved.

Does he love you? Well, if he doesn't he bloody well should! She smiled mentally at that cocky response. Seriously, does he love you? Yes, I think he does. A thrill shot up her back at the idea. Can he say it to you? Only one way to find out… Hermione began to listen to what Snape was saying, and let him finish his tale of potions woe. Apparently skunk weed is a valuable ingredient in blindness cures, but while trying to do something about the smell, he had caused his cauldron of bubbling skunk weed juice to explode upon him.

"…which is why after two scouring spells cast upon myself I was still rather stinky when I came in the house."

"Ahhh… well, who knew that skunk weed, arnica, and eye wort would do that when mixed with vanilla seeds?"

"I do now. I can cross vanilla off the list of potential ways to make the stuff smell better. So, did you finally make up your mind about what you were thinking on?"

"Yes. You noticed when I started paying attention?"

"It was hard to miss, especially for someone who spent twenty years watching for things like that."

"I was thinking it might be a good idea to have a wedding plan already in mind before we see my parents."

Snape looked surprised. "So much angst over wedding plans?"

"Vows, over wedding vows."

She saw he didn't get it at first, and then a familiar look of caution spread over his face.

"Oh, I see."

"Yes, I can't see a way to get married without some sort of vows, and I was working through what to say to you about them."

"Ah. We don't need them right this second do we?" She could see that he needed the time to do the same mental calculus she had just finished. She didn't push him.

"I suppose not. A date might be a good start though. How about October 10th? It's the second Saturday in October."

"What about Halloween?"

She smiled kindly, feeling a little foolish about forgetting the date. "I'm sorry Severus. I just didn't remember. I felt like an absolute idiot when Ginny pointed out why you might not be hot on a Halloween wedding."

"I didn't want to make you feel foolish, but I'm not too much of a Halloween person anymore."

"No, you wouldn't be. And now that I remember, I don't expect you to be. Does the tenth suit?"

"It's fine for me. What about your teaching schedule?"

"This year I don't have weekend rounds. I've still got Monday and now Tuesday and Thursday nights as well."

"What about a honeymoon?"

"Do you want to go on one?"

"I asked you first." He smiled at her.

"I was thinking we just got home from a honeymoon. And, the only way I can see us fitting in time for another one is to get married before school starts, but I want to have as much time as possible before we've got to make up our minds about having kids, which means an October wedding… So, I'll go with no on a honeymoon, unless you really want to do one, in which case we need a new wedding date."

"I'm fine with no honeymoon or doing something over winter hols."

"We've got the Weasley-DeLacour wedding in France this December; maybe from there we can find something."

"I like France."

"Then I'll put you in charge of planning the trip. That's a traditional groom's duty. Plan the honeymoon."

"So, October 10, 2004 we get married. Any ideas on where or how?"

"Where? No. Every wedding I've been to has been a home one, but I don't see how to do that here without getting your garden trampled. How? I was talking with the girls and we tossed about some ideas as to how."

Snape made a 'tell me more' gesture with his hand. "Such as?"

"When George and Deirdre and Angelina got married they bound themselves, and they used a modified version of the Unbreakable Vow. Then they also had everyone from their families tie their hands together to symbolize how they had become one huge family. I liked that quite a bit. Granted with all the family members that took quite a while, and untying them took even longer, but maybe if just Ginny tied us…"

"Ginny? Not your parents?"

"I love my parents, but the Weasleys are my family. Whatever ceremony we do, Harry'll be standing next to me. 'Man of Honour', 'Best Man', 'Holder of Flowers and Warmer of Cold Feet', whatever you want to call him. So, Ginny, as the one who kind of MC's and welcomes us into their family, would be my choice."

"That works. So, I suppose I'll need some sort of 'Best Man'?"

"Not if you don't want, but it is traditional."

"It might not be so much a matter of want as a matter of will anyone stand with me? You've claimed my two first picks at this point."

"Oh…" Hermione looked embarrassed.

Snape continued on, looking thoughtful. "Arthur might be a good choice. He's been helpful so far, and he's been married for a long time. He's closer to my age than the rest of you… And I probably won't have to worry about waking up from my stag party with six floozies, a hangover, and no memory of where I am or how I got there."

"Sounds like the stag parties you've been to were rather… exciting."

"I've only been to two, but I hosted Malfoy's, and yes, it was rather…" He smiled at her. "Exciting."

"Do I want to know anything more than that?"

"Probably not." He grinned evilly.

"Well, every one of the Weasley men have showed up for their weddings on time and sober, but how much that has to do with the kind of parties the night before, or the fact that George brews the world's best Sober Up and Anti-Hangover cures is a whole other story. I know Harry's party was rather sedate, but I think that had quite a bit more to do with the fact that I hosted it, and I actually followed Ginny's instructions regarding what level of good time the boys were allowed to have."

"Which is why women should not host stag parties."

"At least why women, who are very good friends with the bride, should not host stag parties."

"So, your stag party aside, do you like the idea of being formally added to the Weasley family?"

"Yes." He paused and thought about what he said for a moment. "You do realize that Salazar Slytherin, Voldemort, the entire Prince Family, both Malfoys, Sirius Black, and the Lupins all just rolled over in their graves?"

"Seismometers all over Britain have picked up on it. It'll be all over the news tomorrow."

They chuckled quietly, and Hermione thought of one other person who would be spinning in his grave. She saw him very clearly in her mind, the way he was before the Horcrux hunt, the way he was at another wedding, long ago. She heard his voice in her mind, "It's all right, Hermione. You deserve this." She shook her head. I'm getting batty if I'm hallucinating a fake Ron, let alone a Ron who would be fine with this. She focused once again on Snape.

"When I got my gown for the Graduation Ball, the Patils made me an offer. Well, really it's an offer for you. They'd like to make your wedding suit."

"Why?" Snape looked genuinely puzzled. He couldn't imagine that any of his previous students would like to see him again.

Hermione decided to be diplomatic. They think you'll make a mess of it if you dress yourself, wasn't a kind thought. "They do very good work, and they want a chance to make sure that you look as good as possible for our wedding."

"Aren't they dressmakers?" Snape was still trying to figure the angles on this. Were they going to try and humiliate him?

"Yes, but I can't imagine they'd ask me to ask you if they didn't know how to put together a suit. Did you have somewhere else in mind?"

"No, but… I'm not sure I want to be in the hands of any of my former students. I don't recall any specific problems with the Patil girls, but I wouldn't put some sort of revenge scheme past them."

"Oh, Severus." She leaned close and stoked his face. "It's nothing like that. They're my friends. They're Ginny's friends. Even if they hated you, they wouldn't threaten to mess up my wedding. Unless you just want to invite family, they'll be at the ceremony. And they certainly don't want their business to look bad by making you look bad."

He kissed her palm. "You want to invite more than just family?"

"I wanted to invite my friends as well. Buffy, Spike, Willow, Xander, any dates they might want to bring, Anya, Giles, Padma, Parvati, their husbands, Neville, Luna, and Daphne. I'm really not that close with the rest of my co-workers. The rest of my friends are part of the extended Weasley clan. How about you? Anyone you want to invite?"

He arched an eyebrow at her.

She rolled her eyes. "Well, you could have potions associates or someone I don't know about."

"I could, but I don't."

"Any family members left?"

"A few cousins who wouldn't know me if I bumped into them on the street. I don't think I'd know them either."

"I'll take that as a 'no' then?"

"No one for me."

Hermione summoned a pad of paper and a pen and began to write. "Okay, we're inviting family and some friends, all in all, probably fiftyish people. I'd rather not invite the kids, though. I'd be nice to have something with just the grown-ups. Let everyone have a night off…"

She doodled on the paper next to her first set of notes. "How about colours, I was thinking a very soft cream and hunter green."

"Hermione, my dear, no man in the history of the world has ever cared about what colours, flowers, centrepieces, or other frills were at his wedding."

Hermione looked horrified, then smug. "Harry helped Ginny pick her flowers."

Snape raised an eyebrow. "Harry went with Ginny to a florist and helped her select flowers?"

"No, they went out into the fields behind the Burrow and picked lots of wildflowers."

"Was anyone else present?"

"No."

Now it was Snape's turn to look smug. He felt certain that if Harry and Ginny were frolicking about in an empty field right before their wedding, picking flowers was the last thing on Harry's mind. Hermione didn't get it for a moment. Then she did and she gave him a playful slap on the arm.

"I rest my case," Snape said.

"Hmp… Well, what do you want to be involved in regarding wedding planning?" Hermione asked, a cute little pout on her lips.

Snape thought about it while chewing a piece of beef. "Food, music, location, and the ceremony: that's pretty much it."

"How about the budget?"

"I meant it, do whatever you like. We've got the funds to cover it. Consider it the groom's gift to his bride."

"Really?" Her smile had a surprisingly Slytherin look to it.

"Really." He sounded a whole lot less sure than he had a moment before.

"What are you doing on Monday?"

"More potions, why?"

"I think I might be able to get us a chance to see somewhere that may work as a location."

"I thought you didn't have any ideas."

"Now I do."

They continued to eat. Hermione took the last egg roll while Snape snagged the last bit of the beef.

"I was thinking about music," Snape said. Hermione gestured for him to continue while chewing. "Neither of us really likes wizarding music, and we'd have to obliviate any muggle band that played for us, so how about we get a CD changer that can hold a lot of CDs and just put it on shuffle."

"That sounds good, or maybe we can do one better. While you were drooling on Xander's satellite radio, Spike was telling me about something that might be better: an iPod."

"iPod?"

"It's a tiny little thing that stores huge amounts of music downloaded from a computer, usually it works with earphones, but you can also attach it to speakers and then everyone can listen to it."

"Cool."

"Yeah."

"We'd need to get a computer."

"Not necessarily, I think Spike and Buffy might be willing to let us use theirs."

"Even better." Snape grinned. He and Spike had talked quite a bit about music, and he'd be more than willing to let Spike choose the playlist. He finished his last bite of food. "I suppose a huge buffet of sushi may not go over all that well with our guests?"

"I don't think Molly is a huge fan, but the rest would eat it to be polite. Of course, we could do the sushi during the cocktail hour as nibbles, and then do somewhat more common British food for the main course."

"Who were you planning on catering this? We can't do a muggle caterer for the same reason that a muggle band would be a bad idea."

"I was hoping to call in Kreacher and Winky and some of their friends and see if I can get them to do it."

Snape's eyebrows shot up into his hair line. "The President of S.P.E.W. wants to use house elves?"

"With proper recompense, of course. I've grown up a bit since those days, and I've gotten to know Kreacher and the Hogwarts' house elves, and as much as I hate to admit it, they really do like to serve humans. They really are insulted by offers of payment. I have also noticed that grateful thanks and thoughtful non-clothing gifts make their day. So, I've always got some goodies for them when they clean my rooms and office."

"What 'goodies' does a house elf like?"

"Odd stuff really: Kreature likes Christmas Tree ornaments, the shinier the better. Winky likes miniature glass unicorns. Arnie, he usually tends my rooms, loves scented candles, the more exotic the scent the better. Bubble bath usually goes over well. And playing cards. I don't know if they spend their off time soaking in the tub playing poker to the light of scented candles, but if so, more power to them! I figured I stock up on gifts and see if they'd want the job."

"Sounds like a plan. How about we talk more about the menu when you show me this location you've been talking about. I'll have a better idea of what's good to eat in the area if I know the area."

"Wonderful. So, how are the seeds you've been working on for my parents coming along?"