The snows of winter had finally started to melt, and flowers were taking over every available piece of landscape. As Hermione and Severus braved the still-chill dawn to gather ingredients in the Forbidden Forest, shadows protected scattered piles of snow.
"This is beautiful," she breathed, her cheeks pink with cold.
He nodded in response, only halfway agreeing: he was looking at her, thinking about how lucky he was to have this woman next to him as a lover and a friend. His heart rate increased with every step, as today he would find out if what he suspected was true.
They hiked deep into the woods, pausing to gather whole and partial plants for their stores. Her thoughts flittered around the ticklish fact that she hadn't slept a single night alone in her rooms since last year… that they now shared both ingredients and lab space, as she was just as driven in research as he… that he now habitually smiled when around her, though he was very circumspect around any students. Their colleagues and her friends had started to refer to them as a single entity for the most part, and she was constantly surprised by his gentle acceptance of such presumption and invasion of privacy. In fact, she sometimes caught his hidden smiling when people referred to the two of them as "they" or "you". She thought it was curious: the changes in him since she'd become his friend - and more - were astounding, deep, and hopefully not temporary.
How they had managed to come together so quickly was a matter that still puzzled her: they'd danced around each other whilst working on various projects, rarely letting their hands meet as, when they did, a scalding heat overtook both their beings.
Late one night, when they had perfected a drawn-out experiment, she had flung her arms around him in joy and kissed him. He had kissed her back with unmitigated passion, and the resulting activities had nearly destroyed their workspace. They decided to avoid that in the future by taking every opportunity to slake their passion for one another before working from then-on. And sometimes after. And occasionally in other places... but never in the lab again. Well, usually.
He brought her out of her thoughts with a whispered word. "See," he said, and gestured with his eyes. There, in the clearing, a unicorn stallion and mare were engaged in their mating ritual. Their dashing, prancing, sparring match was the thing of legend: few were honored to witness this rare occurrence, for unicorns were few and only mated once a century. As they continued their dance, she felt his embrace and his lips caressing her neck. She leaned into him, her breath tightening from arousal at his touch and the sight before them.
"It is said that only those destined to be forever bonded to one another will be allowed to witness this sight." His whispered words sent chills down her spine as she watched the stallion with his mare.
"Do you believe that?" she whispered back, her pulse thundering at his closeness and the response her body was having, watching the erotic equine display.
The intensity of his voice resonated deep in her. "With all my soul."
Her startled gaze met his calm one, and she realized that he had planned this, as much as it was possible to plan an encounter with mating unicorns. As he dropped to one knee, she began to shake. His calm smile enabled her to take a deep breath and hush the rushing that had filled her ears.
"Hermione, I never thought I would live past the fall of Voldemort, never thought I would find myself free enough to ask what I plan to ask you today. I have always had a dark side, and it has made me unsuitable for so many years, unable to engage in a relationship that was more intimate than just sex… Even then, I was shuttered and closed, rarely giving and taking but brutally."
He took a deep breath, and continued.
"You have managed something no one in my life has ever done: you have invaded my heart, gently: become my friend, my confidant, and my lover. With you, I have let down the guard that I thought had been fused to my being, and gratefully let you in further than I ever thought possible –" he gave a little laugh "– or wise. Your mind engages and excites me, I long for your body when we are apart, and your open and giving heart has healed things in my spirit I thought permanently disfigured. Your smile warms my coldness; your laugh lifts my moribund countenance; I have no wish to ever let you out of my life, and to that end I ask that you become my wife."
He produced a silver band with a red and green stone settled on it. "This is a blood emerald, imbued with a measure of my blood. As long as you wear this, I am bound to you in heart and in soul, never able to betray you, harm you, or abandon you… save in death, which you know I would not do willingly."
Her eyes welled with unshed tears, and her smile was luminous. His breath was taken away as she knelt in front of him, taking his hands in hers.
"With all my heart, Severus Snape, I want to be yours forever."
His eyes glistening suspiciously, he slid the ring onto her finger. The tug they felt assured them the magic in the stone had worked, and the fullness in his heart threatened to overflow as he possessed the woman who would soon be his wife… in the dark forest, surrounded by unicorns and other imaginary creatures.