A/N: I don't generally italicize flashbacks and the like, but I think that it will perhaps make this chapter a bit clearer. So, as should be obvious, anything in italics is a flashback and anything that isn't is present-day.

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Minerva excused herself and left shortly after Maggie went to her room, leaving Katrina and Severus in the silent kitchen. Katrina grabbed the bottle of wine and refilled her glass, "Well, that went about as well as I expected." She sighed and took a large swallow of wine before again topping off her glass. She offered the bottle to Severus who took it and refilled his own glass.

"Surely you didn't expect it to go smoothly?" he asked in disbelief, raising his own glass and taking a long swallow.

"Well," Katrina responded, raising her glass to him, "at least she didn't scream and yell at us." She downed a considerable portion of her wine and refilled her glass again. She glanced at the clock, "I'd better make sure the students haven't destroyed anything. I'll be right back if you'd like to stay and talk…"

He met her eyes and nodded. He thought back over the evening and he was also glad Maggie hadn't yelled. In fact, the girl had taken everything extremely calmly, all things considered. He took another sip of wine and remembered that when Katrina had asked her if she still wanted to go to Hogwarts for a week, the girl had enthusiastically said yes. He had been concerned that she wouldn't want to go, now that she knew the truth.

Katrina entered the room and he watched her sit, "Those kids are a nice change from the headaches the other houses gave me." She laughed and shook her head, "Were we ever really that young?"

"It feels like it was a lifetime ago," he agreed quietly, his long fingers playing with the stem of his wine glass.

Katrina smiled at him, "Do you remember the graduation ball?"

He gave her an enigmatic look, "Of course I do. Who could forget the scandal we caused by going together?"

They both fell silent as they remembered the ball…

-- --

"Damn it, James, stop preening or you will miss the ball entirely!" Lily shouted from the Gryffindor Common Room.

Katrina laughed as she and Lily watched the other seventh-year couples slowly trickling from the room to the Great Hall. She could hardly believe that her seven years at Hogwarts were at an end. Tomorrow she would be on the train home and in two weeks, she would be married and living in her new home. Only two of her friends knew of her impending marriage – Lily and Remus. These days, it was too dangerous to have too many people know your secrets.

"Oh, for Merlin's sake!" Lily huffed, storming up the stairs to the boys' dormitory.

Smiling, Katrina listened to Lily berating her date for being so slow. She glanced at the giant hourglass over the fireplace and frowned. They were certainly cutting it close to the beginning of the ball.

The sound of running feet alerted her to the men coming down from their room. They were followed by an irritated Lily who was making exaggerated shepherding motions behind them.

Remus gave Katrina a loud wolf whistle as he openly checked her out. Sirius did the same a moment later as James draped an arm across Lily's shoulders. Peter said nothing as he stood behind his friends.

"So, Kat, where's your date?" Sirius asked, running a hand through his hair.

"Not here, obviously," she replied with a smirk. "C'mon, or we will be late." She led the way from the tower towards the Great Hall.

"Who is your date, Kat?" James asked for the millionth time.

"Yeah, who is he?" Sirius asked, moving so he was walking next to her. "You know if he stands you up you could always go with me…"

Kat laughed, "So you've said, Sirius, only like a hundred times! And he's not going to stand me up." She stopped in front of the Great Hall, "Look, I'll meet you guys inside, okay?"

James and Sirius looked prepared to protest, but Remus and Lily silently prodded them into the Hall. Peter cast Katrina a quick glance before following the other boys.

Releasing a relieved sigh, Katrina turned and lightly ran to the entrance to the dungeons. She had arranged to meet Severus at his Common Room. She had done this to insure that he couldn't chicken out. Not that she thought he would stand her up, but she knew he was dreading the ball.

As she approached the stairs to the dungeons, she slowed to a walk. She passed a handful of Slytherin students who all gave her threatening glances. Only her inclusion in the Slug Club – Professor Slughorn's exclusive club for the 'upwardly mobile' and well-connected – saved her from anything more dangerous than a glance.

She came to a jarring stop at the top of the stairs, her eyes meeting the obsidian orbs of her lover. While not classically handsome, Katrina loved his dark, dangerous-looking coloring and his keen intelligence and sharp wit. She slowly appraised him as he gradually ascended the stairs towards her.

He had grown his soft black hair long enough to be tied back. A silver ribbon held it at the nape of his neck. His dress robes, while not new, were still quite striking on him. Black with silver trim at the neck and cuffs, they flowed gracefully as he walked. His boots, the same he wore on a daily basis, had been treated to a fresh polishing.

As he reached the landing and gave her a small smile, she realized there was no one she would rather spend her life with.

-- --

Severus had reluctantly acquiesced to his fiancée's request that he attend the graduation ball with her. Now, though, as he stood at the bottom of the stairs looking up at her, he realized how amazingly lucky he was to have such a beautiful, intelligent woman in love with him.

He slowly looked her over, admiring her natural beauty. Her auburn hair was pulled back into an elegant twist, with a couple strands teased out to frame her oval face. Her face had the barest traces of any artificial coloring – merely a hint of color above her hazel eyes and the barest hint of red on her cheeks. On her ears were a pair of small diamond stud earrings. She was dressed in an elegant set of dress robes. They were scarlet with black trim along the neck, cuffs, and hem. On her left wrist she wore a thin silver bracelet, one he recognized immediately. He had given her that bracelet for Christmas. Her shoes were interesting, and most probably of a muggle design. They were closed-toe heels, in a shade of red that matched her dress.

He ascended the stairs until he stood on the landing before her. The heels she wore gave her an extra couple inches of height and put her almost at eye level with him. He gave her a small smile, one he reserved exclusively for her. "You look so beautiful," he whispered, leaning close to her.

"You're not half bad yourself," she responded lightly, leaning the rest of the way and initiating a kiss.

He kept the kiss light and brief, well aware that they were too close to the 'Snake Pit' – as Kat jokingly referred to the Slytherin Common Room – for either of their comfort. Pulling away, he couldn't resist the temptation to run the back of his hand down her cheek.

She smiled broadly at him and took a step back. Turning in a slow circle, she asked, "So, what do you think?"

"I think," he began, grabbing her by the waist as she stopped facing him, "That if we don't leave for the ball now we may not make it there at all…"

"Now, Severus," she teased, gently pushing him away with a hand on the center of his chest. "None of that! I'm an engaged woman!" she protested with a laugh.

That had become part of a running joke between them. "Your fiancé must be the luckiest man on earth," he said quietly.

"I don't know about him," she replied, "but I know that I am certainly the luckiest woman." She gave him another quick kiss before threading her arm through his. "Now come on. We had better go before they send out a search party for me!"

"If I must…" he griped.

"Yes, you must," she responded as they walked. "You did promise, after all."

He wordlessly grumbled, but secretly he was pleased that he would get to show up Potter and Black, both of whom had asked Kat to the ball. That alone would more than make up for his dislike of social functions!

-- --

Laughing again, Katrina sipped at her wine. "Do you remember the look on Dumbledore's face? I don't think I've ever seen him as shocked as he was that night."

Severus chuckled, a sound which would have caused hysterics had he done it in the Great Hall. "Up to that moment, I had been sure that he knew everything that went on in that school."

Katrina giggled, "I don't know who was more shocked, him or our heads of house."

"Slughorn was more outraged than shocked, I think," he responded. "I believe he and Minerva had a long-standing bet as to whether anyone from our houses would ever get together and he was forced to pay up."

-- --

Katrina led a grumbling Severus into the Great Hall. As the ball had already begun, all eyes were drawn to them as the doors opened. They froze in the doorway as an unnatural stillness fell. The band continued playing, oblivious to the shock rolling through the room. Glancing up to the staff table, which was along one of the walls, she swore she saw Dumbledore choking on whatever it was he was drinking. Slughorn was glaring at her as he handed a small coin pouch to McGonagal. Flitwick fell off his chair, laughing hysterically.

Her eyes were drawn away from the staff, though, when an angry pair of voices approached.

"What the hell do you think you're playing at, Snivellus!" Sirious growled.

"Kat, you're kidding, right? This is a joke?" James asked angrily.

Both boys had their wands drawn and aimed at Severus and before anyone else could react, Katrina had drawn her own wand and moved in front of her fiancé. "Listen to me right now, and I'll only say this once. If either of you touch him, I will hex you both so badly your own mothers won't recognize you. Do you understand me?" She glanced between the two of them, watching Remus and Lily moving behind them and disarming her two friends. "We are all adults here," she continued, "and I'd appreciate it if you could at least try to act like it." She put her own wand away, turned and took Severus by the arm, and led him to the dance floor.

She pulled him close and whispered to him, "I'm really sorry about that, love. I knew they would be angry, but to threaten you in front of everyone like that…" She shook her head before leaning close and resting it on his shoulder.

"Don't worry about it," he said leading her around the dance floor. "Tomorrow we will leave all of this behind us and neither of us will ever have to come back here."

"I can't believe we'll be married in two weeks!" she said happily. "And then, a week after that, you will begin your apprenticeship." She picked her head up and gave him a quick kiss, "I love you, you know."

"I love you too, Kat," he whispered.