The day before the students were due to arrive on the train, Harry found himself abandoning what little work was left to be done at his Master's insistence that he needed a break. Wandering the castle, he grew bored, and decided a visit to Hagrid's was in order. It seemed like a lifetime had passed since he'd seen the half-giant, who had been unable to come to the celebration at The Burrow because he'd been visiting a certain Headmistress in France. Going out onto the grounds, Harry almost ran bodily into the resident Potions Master on the front steps of the castle. He chuckled as those long arms wrapped immediately around his waist.
"Hello, Severus," He said, smiling as he was kissed lightly.
"Hello, Harry," Severus returned. "I've been looking for you."
Harry chuckled again. "Odd, since you always seem to know where I am, or where I'll be. Sometimes even before I do. I was just going to visit Hagrid."
"I have just departed there myself, in my search for you," Severus said. "He is busy with the Centaurs, who have come to him for help settling a land dispute with the Bowtruckles."
Harry chuckled. "See, I didn't even know I was going to Hagrid's until a few moments ago, and you knew I'd be headed that way. Why're you looking for me?"
Severus offered him his handsome half-smile. "I wished to engage your company this evening, before the term forces us to spend much of our time apart. Would you join me for a walk?"
"Sure," Harry said. "Anywhere in particular?"
The half-smile transformed into a mysterious smirk. "We shall see."
They turned together towards the grounds and walked hand-in-hand onto the summer grass. It was warm, as the sun sunk towards evening. As they walked, Harry realized that Severus was in Muggle clothing, and this sparked his interest. They had seen each other a few times since the party, but upon their return to the school he had seen the man in nothing else but his usual teaching robes. When they reached the gates and Severus continued through them, Harry found his curiosity doubly peaked. They left the grounds of Hogwarts, and halfway to Hogsmeade, Severus came to a stop and held Harry to him.
"We will need to apparate from here," The Potions Master informed him softly.
Harry raised an eyebrow curiously. "Alright," He said.
He tightened his grip on the man's shoulders, closing his eyes as they apparated on the spot. When he opened his eyes again, they were in the Muggle park where they'd first really begun together. Harry looked immediately to be sure no Muggles had witnessed their arrival on the park path. The park, or what he could see of it, was starkly free of anyone else under the evening glow of the fluorescent lamps and sinking sun.
"Why're we here?" Harry asked.
"An evening stroll," Severus said, stepping away and retaking his hand. "If you'll recall, I asked you to join me for a walk."
Harry smiled. He could have pointed out that they could easily have walked the grounds of the school to their hearts content, but he bit his tongue. Severus rarely did anything without good reason, and there was something strange about the man's demeanor. The normally aloof Head of Slytherin seemed almost strained, as if he were carrying an invisible weight. And, it was sort of nice to return to the park. The place, objectively no different from any other park, held a certain magic of its own, hidden in each blade of grass and in the leaves of every tree. This was where their relationship had first begun to transform, where they had first looked and really seen one another.
Harry sighed wistfully as they walked the concrete track that surrounded the park.
"I came here last summer," He commented idly.
"Did you?" Severus asked. Harry noted that he sounded mildly distracted.
"I did," Harry continued, eyeing the man beside him. "Hermione invited me to dinner with her parents, and I came here afterwards. By then, I'd already started to realize just how deep my feelings for you ran. I was…I was a bit bereft, to be honest. In spite of the anonymous gift you'd sent me for my birthday, I had half-convinced myself that you had forgotten about me. Which terrified me, because I could do nothing but think of you. I actually sat on our bench for a time, hoping you would come along and steal me away."
"Had I known of your presence, I would have," Severus assured him.
"I know that now," Harry said. "But…I'm sort of glad you didn't."
"Why?"
The Gryffindor ducked his head bashfully. "Because I was still scared, of my feelings and of what they might mean," He admitted. "It took until we were back at the school, that first time I joined you in the gray before dawn, for me to come to terms with everything. I had to accept that what I felt wasn't going away, and that it wasn't going to kill me if you really had forgotten about me or moved on."
"And what of your feelings now?" Severus queried gently.
"Stronger," Harry admitted thoughtfully. "More overwhelming. I didn't realize I could feel this much about anything, and certainly not anyone. It's…odd. I can't imagine life, the future, without you in it. I know, ostensibly, that life would go on and the world would keep on spinning, but I think some part of me would die if you left me tomorrow."
"I feel the same," Severus said quietly. "My feelings for you have grown tenfold since your persistence forced me to look closer at the young man behind the Boy Who Lived, and they grow exponentially each morning I awake and recall that, for whatever reason, you have chosen me to be with."
Harry chuckled. "Severus Snape, did you just admit that my stubbornness has its upside?"
"In so many words," Severus teased with a playful smirk.
With another chuckle, Harry turned back to watching the park as birds flitted in and out of trees, and summer bugs leapt through the grass. They continued to walk in silence, still hand-in-hand. It surprised him that they had yet to run into anyone. It had been about this time the last time he had come here, and the park had seemed as bustling as it was in the early mornings then. They rounded a stand of trees and bushes, and neared their bench. It seemed so long ago that they had spent nearly every morning of a distant summer sitting on this bench, talking of worldly affairs and drinking coffee from paper cups. At the time, he had felt no promise for them. He still didn't, really, knowing that life itself held no promises.
Severus stopped in front of the bench, and Harry immediately moved to sit down, only to be pulled back up by the hand in his. He had a moment to frown before his mouth was consumed in a fiery, passionate caress of thin lips and a warm tongue. He felt his knees weaken, as they so often did when he felt the stringent intimacy of Severus' devotion. When the Potions Master pulled far enough away to breathe, Harry smiled.
"What was that for?" He queried. "I'm not complaining, but…"
Severus smirked. "I am about to embark on something terribly Gryffindor and foolish. It was necessary to steady my courage."
Harry lifted an eyebrow in confusion. "What're you-" He broke off when the rigid Potions Master stooped gracefully onto a single knee in front of him. He stared in astonishment at the kneeling man he cherished so deeply.
"Harry," Severus began softly. "I am a man of few words, in more ways than one. I am not a kind man, and before I knew you, I would not have even believed myself a good man. However, in our time together, you have shown me the man I could become. You have shown me that I have much to offer, and much to gain. I implore you now to allow me to prove the depth of my devotion before those we both hold dearest. I ask that you join with me in eternal wedlock."
Harry's throat worked noiselessly. No words were forthcoming, and his mind ticked by in disbelief. Finally, realizing there were not words, had he even been capable of any, he nodded ardently. The muscles in his neck creaked with each rise and fall. Severus rose as gracefully as he had knelt, and Harry fell into the kiss desperately, trying to convey the words he could not find. As the kiss continued, he felt something cold slip over his finger. A ring. He had agreed to marriage, something he could have sworn just a few months earlier would never happen between them. As this realization finally struck him, as his mind began to clear of its skeptical fog, he pressed further into the mesh of their lips.
When Severus pulled away again, Harry stared wistfully into the adoring onyx gaze for a moment before looking down at his hand. The silver band sat in testament of what had just happened, it's cold metal grounding in the surreal moment. A small inscription curled in a looping scrawl across the glistening silver. Aeternus Caritas.
Harry chuckled as he leaned up and kissed the Potions Master fondly. Severus pulled away sharply, frowning.
"No, don't…" Harry snickered. "It's not you. I'm awestruck, really. I just…I just realized that now I have to tell everyone exactly how long we've been seeing each other. C-can you imagine the look on Hermione and Neville's faces?"
Severus paused for a moment before chuckling darkly. Harry pulled him into another kiss, both of them still laughing.