Chapter 66: In Which Snape Meets His In-Laws.

"Are you ready?" Hermione asked, a tinge of nervous impatience in her voice.

"Almost, I just need to finish packaging up the seeds." Snape had decided to create a collection of wildflowers for his Bride Price. Magically modified wildflowers, they held their own water much longer than usual, could stand temperatures about ten degrees warmer than usual, and too much sun wouldn't burn them. He had chosen to do seeds instead of plants because he didn't know how a long Apparition would affect flowers, and he wanted to leave as much freedom as possible to the Grangers. If they didn't want to plant them right away, it wouldn't be a problem.

"I'm ready," Severus said, walking towards Hermione. "Have you got the papers?"

"Yes." She patted the back pocket of her jeans.

"Then let's go."

She took a hold of his arm, turned to face him, snuggled into his embrace, and began the spell. Two hours later, they were in her parent's garden. When they left, it had been night and summer; now it was mid-afternoon, and a cold, wintry drizzle was falling. Hermione led him quickly out of the garden and into the small, modern house.

"Hello!" She called out after stepping into a mudroom. Two people bounded in shortly after her voice went silent. The Doctors Granger were in their early fifties. Hermione was very much a composite of both of them. She had inherited Robert Granger's bushy hair, nose, and height. Jean Granger's eyes, mouth, and build had also found their way to her daughter. Both of them were embracing their daughter. Snape stood behind her, watching them, wondering how much Hermione would look like them as time went by. When they broke from their hugs, Hermione turned to him, took his hand, and said, "Mum, Dad, this is Severus."

He offered his hand, along with the correct pleasantries, while they looked him over. He had never felt so much like a specimen in a lab. They aren't smiling, but they aren't scowling either. It could be worse.

"Severus, that's a unique name," Jean said as she led them into a well lit and cosy kitchen.

"Yes, it's a family name. The Princes were very attached to their traditions, and Severus was the name of the first male of each generation."

"Do you think you'll keep the tradition?"

Severus looked at Hermione. She looked back at him, and gave an almost imperceptible shake of her head.

"I don't think so. I'm happy with it as my name, but there's no need to saddle another child with it." Jean seemed to think about that while setting the table with tea things.

"I suppose this is usually where we'd ask how you two met, but I guess that's not exactly the right question," Robert said while stirring milk into his tea.

"I suppose not. The first time I noticed Hermione was when she was eleven. I was teaching her first year Potions class, and she was almost jumping out of the seat to answer the questions. I remember wondering why she had ended up in Gryffindor, usually children that bright are Ravenclaws. You could say the second time I noticed her was after the War. I was in Flourish and Blotts, looking for something to read, and I saw her name on American Magical Education. It was because of that book I didn't just move when I saw her name on my list after the Marriage Act passed. Anyone who could make a book on the training of young witches and wizards that interesting was worth meeting in person. So we had drinks, hit it off, and now I'm here in your kitchen."

"Why didn't you look her up after you read the book?" Jean asked, offering him sugar to go with his tea.

"I wasn't exactly the most popular professor at Hogwarts. I didn't think any of my students would want to see me again. As to Hermione specifically, I didn't think she'd welcome my attention. In fact, I was rather stunned to see she was still single when the Act passed. I was sure I had heard she had married one of the Weasley boys."

Hermione looked at him, confusion in her eyes. "Really?"

"I don't read the Prophet all that carefully, but I could have sworn I had seen you mentioned in one of the wedding stories. Maybe as Harry's best woman?"

"Maybe. I was in George's first wedding, too."

"Could have been that."

They sat silently around the Granger's kitchen table, fiddling with cups and saucers.

"Harry tells me you're avid gardeners?" Severus asked to break the silence.

"Yes, we are. We've been adding to the back since we moved here. Last summer we decided to go organic, and to add a vegetable patch. The biggest problem is water. The vegetables love the light, but it gets so dry here, they just wither up and die. But we've got plans for a drip irrigation system this summer. Less water is wasted, and the plants get more at their roots. We should have a bumper crop of tomatoes and cucumbers this year. Jean wants to add strawberries, but I'm not sure how they'll do. Do you garden?" Robert asked.

"Yes, part of my business requires me to keep a good supply of rather rare plants on hand, so I have them growing behind the house. It's easier to keep the quality level high if I grow them myself."

"Do you grow anything just for the fun of it?" Jean asked.

"About a third of the garden is just there for my pleasure. Mostly the ornamental flowering shrubs that make up the hedges, but there are some herbs, one Japanese Maple, and my asparagus plot." He paused, drank from his cup of tea, and then said, "It's traditional in the magical world for the soon to be groom to give something to his in-laws. Harry had mentioned that both of you liked to garden, so I took some of my seed stock, and modified it to grow down here." He handed the pouch to Robert and continued, "They're mostly wildflowers, violets, forget-me-nots, buttercups, some clover, but they'll live in full sunlight with almost no water."

"So, they're magical?" Jean asked him. Robert had opened the pouch of seeds and looked at them carefully.

"Well, yes. I suppose I could breed wildflowers that might like full sun and no water, but it would have taken years."

"How will we explain them to our neighbours?" Jean was looking more concerned by the moment.

Snape exchanged glances with Hermione. Neither of them had anticipated this response. "Ummm. Your son-in-law is very good with plants, magic, you could say, and he gave you the seeds?" Snape smiled at them, trying to look more comfortable than he felt.

"Would this present be the Bride Price thing Arthur and Molly told us about?" Robert asked.

"Only if you accept it as such. If not, then it's just a nice gesture," Hermione answered her father.

"Why should we accept anything as a 'Bride Price'? Just the name alone makes me angry," Jean shot at Hermione.

"You should accept it because doing so will allow us to have the wedding we want, and it will make us happy. And, because, this is very much not an attempt of Severus to buy me from Dad. This is an attempt to jump through the necessary hoops so that come the second week of October we can stand up, bind ourselves to each other, and be married. Instead of having to go to a Magistrate to get a wedding license, jump through a whole different set of hoops, send it into our Ministry, and then jump through more hoops, before we can have the ceremony we want."

"What do we have to do?" Jean asked.

"Accept the flowers with good grace and sign the form showing that you received them and you will accept Severus as part of our family," Hermione answered, annoyance beginning to tinge her speech.

"And if we don't?" Jean Granger asked, staring at Severus, a challenge in her eyes.

Severus rose to the challenge. "Then, Dr. Granger, we'll go to the bloody Magistrate, get the wedding license, and get married the second week of October anyway. Look, I understand that I'm not your ideal of a son-in-law. In your place I wouldn't be thrilled to see me, either. But I'm the man who's here, and I the man your daughter wants, so how about we do all we can to make this easy for each other?"

"You're right. We are not thrilled to see you here. We wanted a man who was her age. We wanted a man who took the time to court her properly. We wanted a man who wanted her for her, a man who was swept off his feet by her mind. We wanted a man who decided on his own that making a life with her was the most important thing in his world. We didn't want someone who settled for her because she was the best person on his list." Jean's face was rigid as she spoke.

Snape gritted his teeth. He did not want to be having this conversation with the Grangers. He didn't want to be having it with anyone, for that matter. But he knew what Jean wanted, and decided he had to provide it. "I did not settle for Hermione. I was planning on moving when I saw her on my list, and decided to take a chance on her. Had I not been 'swept off my feet' I would have moved. I'm not so attached to England as to get into a bad marriage to stay there. As for time, I don't know too many Wizards who court for a long time for no particular reason. Harry married Ginny as quickly as he could. Arthur and Molly were married shortly after school. Tonks and Lupin? Two months?" Hermione nodded at him. "The longest engagement I can think of was a little over a year for Bill and Fleur. Once you know you've found the right person, what's the point of waiting?"

"How can you know she's the right person? You've been together for less than three months." Jean looked appalled at the idea. Snape wasn't sure if it was the idea that one could be certain so quickly, or that it was him in particular, but he knew what he had to do next.

"I know." His eyes held Jean's, neither of them blinked for a long time. Finally she looked down and reached for a pen. Hermione squeezed his hand under the table. He gave her a quick smile.

"Give me the paper," Jean said, and very quickly signed it, handing it to Robert, who likewise signed his name. "Now what?"

"Have fun planting them in the spring?" Severus shrugged.

"Where will you live?" Robert asked.

"I've already moved into Severus' home."

"Why his home?" Jean asked.

"It's a bit bigger, and it was easier to move Hermione's library into my home than to move my lab and garden into hers," Severus answered. Once more the only sound that filled the kitchen was the clinking of china.

"So, Severus, tell us about your family," Jean said after an awkward moment.

"These days I'm it. I've got some cousins, but we're not in touch anymore."

"Why not?" Robert asked.

"They're part of the muggle side of the family, and as such I had to stop seeing them when Vold War I started. It's been more than twenty years, and it would be rather difficult to explain why I dropped off the face of the Earth and then suddenly came back. I imagine they do not think of me often these days. We were not terribly close when we were younger."

"Speaking of the war, I understand you were also part of that vigilante group." Jean pounced when the opportunity presented itself. Bloody hell, Harry warned me about this, now how do I get out of it?

"Yes, I was a member of the Order of the Phoenix. I was their spy among the Death Eaters, and, like your daughter, I am a decorated veteran."

"And how do you justify joining an illegal group for the purpose of killing another human?"

"Mother!" Hermione's eyes went wide. She wasn't sure if she was more angry for the question, or embarrassed that her mother would ask it. She spoke through gritted teeth, "Severus, you don't have to answer her rudeness. We have the paper we can leave now if you want."

"I'd like to try and answer her. I believe that the primary purpose of a government is the protection of its citizens. When the Ministry refused to acknowledge the re-appearance of Lord Voldemort, they abdicated their responsibility. When the government will no longer protect its people, it is the job of every citizen to protect themselves and each other. As such I rejoined the only group that was fighting Voldemort and reprised my role as spy. As to the legality, or illegality, I am under the impression that the French Resistance was illegal as well. That did not make it immoral or wrong.

"As for killing another human, there are times when killing is the correct answer. This was one of them. Voldemort could not be reasoned with. He could not be imprisoned. Traditionally, in our world, instead of the death penalty, the soul is sucked from a heinous offender, leaving him alive, but incapacitated. This would not have worked on Voldemort. He had so little of his soul intact the loss of another bit would have done nothing to harm him. The only answer was to kill him, and as such, I am proud to have helped him die."

Hermione's mother broke into a big smile. "It's a good answer. So, more tea anyone?"

Hermione glared at her mum, so angry at how Severus was treated she didn't think she could speak without screaming. Snape was beginning to understand why Hermione spent most of her time at The Burrow; he felt like he was going to have a case of whiplash from Jean's rapid mood shifts.

"What?" Her mother was now an image of sweet innocence. "Just because you're convinced he's got a spine of steel doesn't mean I was. Besides, I wanted to see what kind of moral thinker he is. Looks like a good one at that. Not to say I'm condoning killing or a bunch of seventeen-year-olds…"

"I was eighteen."

"Ah, yes, that makes a huge difference now doesn't it? Not to say I'm condoning a bunch of seventeen and eighteen-year-olds going off and doing what you did, you should have let the adults handle it, but that's long past. So Severus, what do you do now that your cloak and dagger days are over?"

"I'm a Potions Master. I run a consulting business. When different manufacturers want to create a formula, and can't quite get it done, they send it to me and I make it work."

"And is that a secure line of work?" Jean asked.

"Yes. I have contracts well into the year after next and no shortage of new ones coming in."

"And when you aren't in the lab?"

"I read. I listen to music or watch telly. I watch the occasional Quiddich game. I've been known to write. And for the last few months I've been spending time with your daughter. We did some travelling before coming here. That was enjoyable, and I'd like us to do more of it."

Snape had been almost on the verge of starting to relax when Jean dropped another verbal bomb on him. "Do you volunteer?"

He thought carefully about his answer, because in truth the answer was no. But, really, there wasn't a better way to say it without trying to sound dishonest. "No. I give money to organizations I support, but I feel my time is better spent in my lab or with your daughter."

Both of the older Grangers seemed to think over his answer. It was, as he was beginning to realize, as usual, Jean who spoke first.

"We're glad to see you aren't without social conscious, but, with your specialized skills, don't you feel a responsibility to do more?"

Is this a trick question of some sort? What's the best way to answer? "What do you mean by more?" Good, that should at least make it easier to come up with a good answer.

"Don't you feel a responsibility to alleviate suffering? You're a Potions Master. Couldn't you be brewing up cures in your spare time?

"I could be, but I prefer not to. If I want to do my job well, my mind needs time off. I can't just spend all my time in the lab brewing away. I'll end up burned out, and in that case I can't make the money I use to give to the causes I wish to support."

Jean and Robert didn't seem satisfied, but decided to go no further along that line. Snape decided this would be a good chance to get them talking about themselves, and allow him some time out of the spotlight.

"What organizations do you support?" Severus asked.

That, it turned out, was exactly the correct question. Jean and Robert spent the next hour talking about how they had just joined an organization that travelled into the bush one weekend a month to offer dental services to the Aborigines. After she wound down, Jean began to ask Hermione about the wedding, which Snape also enjoyed because his main job was to sit there and look supportive.

And then they were in rocky waters again. It started innocently enough. Hermione had been telling her mother about the dress, and then she turned to her father. "Daddy, I'd really like it if you'd give me away."

Snape was expecting something sweet, like her father sweeping his baby girl into his arms and talking about how he'd been dreaming of that day for years. He was not expecting what followed.

Robert Granger turned a delicate shade of pink. "Oh, Honey, you know I can't do that."

Snape blinked, not sure he had heard correctly.

Hermione said, looking sad, "It would mean a lot to me, Dad."

"I know it would, sweetie, but I can't do it. You aren't mine to give. You belong to yourself. You always have, and you always will. And, even if you marry him, you won't belong to Severus, either. You can't be given or taken. You aren't some bag of goods."

Hermione took a deep breath, tears just beginning on her eyes, and Snape stared at her father in shocked horror.

"I understand, Dad," Hermione said softly, disappointed. Snape knew he could do one of two things. He could hold Hermione's hand and then talk with her about this when they went home. Or he could make an ass out of himself by berating her father in front of her.

"I don't." His voice was angry. Hell, they don't like me all that much anyway. "Your daughter's only going to do this once, and part of her dream of a wedding includes you walking her down the aisle, and you won't do it?"

Robert turned his full attention to Snape, and Snape noticed that he had just as much passion and self-righteousness as his daughter. "You are correct. I've already bent my principals enough to sign that Bride Price receipt; I have no desire to compromise them further by propping up the idea that a marriage is a deal between father and son-in-law over the future of a woman."

"But you know that isn't true."

"Symbols matter, Severus, and this is a symbol I won't be part of."

"Let me just make sure I'm absolutely clear here. You will not walk your daughter towards me on our wedding day because you think it looks like a transfer of ownership, even though, you, me, and everyone in attendance at our wedding knows it isn't?"

"Would you take Communion in a church you don't belong to?"

"If my daughter asked me to, for her wedding, certainly." Whether a Priest would serve me or not is a whole different question.

"But it would be a lie."

"That would take less than two minutes and make her happy. I've lied quite a bit longer and for significantly less pleasant reasons in the past."

"I'm not in the habit of lying for anyone's pleasure."

Hermione noticed that both her father and fiancé had similar looks of confused horror on their faces at that moment.

"I knew it was a long shot Severus," Hermione said to him. "That's part of why Harry's my best man."

"Oh. Still…"

"It's okay. Really." She looked at her parents. "We should probably get going. Thanks for having us."

The goodbyes were somewhat cooler than the hellos. But in a matter of minutes Snape and Hermione were in the back garden, getting ready to apparate home.

"That went well," Hermione said, not too much sarcasm in her voice.

"Oh yes. I'm guessing I'm not going to win the Son-In-Law-of-the-Year award anytime soon."

"Probably not, but you won a lot of points with me."