AN: Thank you for all your wonderful reviews and all the likes/favs. This one is a bit fluffy (not that anyone seems to mind fluffy), but don't worry, we'll get back to the last item on the list soon. Enjoy!
Chapter 18 - The Engagement
Where is he taking me? Hermione held Severus' hand as they walked down the moonlit path. Wait, there's no way we could be going to… She stopped walking, but held onto Severus' hand, causing him to stop and look back at her. She could see him raise his signature eyebrow, assuring her that she would enjoy whatever surprise lay in store for her would surely be one she would enjoy. She grabbed his hand a little bit tighter as they walked back down the dock and into the boathouse. As she caught sight of the spot where he had been laying the night she watched him get attacked by that horrible snake. I can't even imagine what my life would be like today if he hadn't survived. As she noticed the blood still staining the window she felt cold spread throughout her body, as if it was lining whatever layered right below her skin. The only place that wasn't cold was her hand, still in Severus', which served as a reminder that he had survived and was alive and well at her side.
They stood for a second, looking down at the ground that had changed both their lives. She was startled out of her recollections of that night when Severus took her other hand and pulled her body to face his own as he began to speak. Oh I could listen to that voice forever. As his silky words wrapped around her, the cold slowly disappeared and was replaced by the warmth of his sweet words, his love for her, and the light in his eyes.
Her heart ached for him as he described how he had accepted death that night, and how he had felt he didn't deserve more than he had gotten. He's wrong! He deserves everything! The aching in her heart transformed into a swelling feeling as he began describing the way he saw her. Could this possibly be me he's describing? As she heard him say that she was his reason for living, she began to notice a heavy feeling in the pit of her stomach. These are all good things, why do I feel nervous? He looked so amazing standing there in the moonlight, his dark eyes shining as she had never seen them before. Her question as to why she was so nervous was answered as she heard the words 'I will spend the rest of my life making sure you don't regret that choice', the heaviness of her stomach seemed to quadruple. He's not doing what I think he's doing. She was too absorbed in the look on his face to notice the tear sliding down her cheek.
As she saw him move to kneel down, time slowed down almost to a halt. She saw in slow motion as his knee hit the ground, she listened with rapture as he said the words she had come to love about never wanting to leave her side, and she knew what was coming as he reached into his pocket and produced the most beautiful ring she had ever seen. She finally rejoined the moment as she heard his final question to her.
"Hermione Jean Granger, will you marry me?"
He saw her eyes light up as he finished what had been the most nerve-wracking monologue of his life. Before he knew what was happening his beautiful witch had joined him on her knees. He felt her delicate fingers cradle his face as she looked deep into his eyes.
"Yes. Of course." He saw the tears dissipate as her face split into an earsplitting grin. He felt his face reciprocate in the split seconds before his lips met hers. This kiss was pure ecstasy, not slow and sensual, not hard and heated, simply the physical incarnation of two people mutually feeling the purest form of joy a human soul is capable of experiencing. When he felt her lips moved on his, he felt that his heart would burst. She's going to be mine. I never have to lose her.
As they broke apart, his shaking hands moved to put the ring on her finger. As soon as he felt it slip past her knuckle, she wrapped her arms around his neck and held him to her. It was fortunate that her healing spells had run their completion on the scars on his neck; she held him to her with a force one would not expect a witch of her size capable of producing. He intertwined his arms around her waist and pulled her in with equal force.
In that second, the blood on the wall ceased to matter. The thirty some years he had spent lonely, miserable, and alone were no longer of any consequence. The fact that she had been overlooked, underappreciated, and cast aside by her undeserving peers no longer seemed like a hardship. The war they had just fought did not weigh on them as it previously had. All that mattered was that she was his and he was hers.
When they finally broke apart, she looked at him and couldn't stifle a giggle. To her surprise, he joined her. Laughing together, they rose, still too completely enveloped in their own happiness to notice the rest of the world.
"I have one more surprise for you, my beautiful fiancée." He appreciated the look of amazement on her face as he took her hand and began to lead her out of the boathouse. As they approached the castle, he couldn't help but think of all the times he had made this walk by himself. He had walked into the castle with nerves, with loneliness, with fear, but never with this much joy and, more unfamiliar to him than any other emotion, hope. With Hermione by his side, he was able to open himself up to all the things he had resisted for so long: hope for a long life with someone who loved him, hope for a family, hope to actually live at his property at the Meadows, hope to grow old and grey and sit on the rocking chair on his front porch. He looked at the beaming, young witch at his side and knew it was all because of her.
As they neared the castle, Hermione began to hear the dull sound of chatter coming from the open doorway to the great hall. Severus offered her his arm, in another old-fashioned gesture, and lead her into the room. Hermione gasped as she looked around the room to see a sea of smiling faces and reddened as they all burst into applause. The first to sprint forwards and hug her was the long, red hair that could only belong to Ginny Weasley. While Ginny was hugging her, Hermione saw Harry step forward to shake Severus' hand. In the overwhelming next few minutes the newly-engaged couple was passed around by the entire Weasley clan, including a surprisingly supportive Ron, who blushed as he and Hermione shared an awkward hug. From the arms of an enthusiastic hug from Minerva McGonall, Hermione saw the twinkle in Albus Dumbledore's blue eyes as he congratulated Severus on his excellent choice of partner.
Hermione was surprised to see some of the other Hogwarts professors in the mix. When his turn came, Hagrid swept Hermione and a very startled Severus into a bone-breaking hug that lifted both sets of feet off the floor. Finally, the last pair to greet them was Remus and Tonks, As Hermione gave Tonks a side hug, as the latter had baby Teddy in her arms, Severus shook Lupin's hand.
"Thank you for organizing this for us, Remus." Severus' silky voice was genuine and civil.
Remus replied with utmost sincerity, "it was truly the least I could do. After what you two have done for me? For our family? The least I could do."
Hermione looked at the two former-enemies with awe in her face. "You're friends now? When did this happen?" Her fiancé smiled and actually cast a small laugh in Remus' direction.
"You would be surprised how many fences are mended in the planning of a surprised engagement party." Despite the softness he had recently proved himself capable of displaying, his sarcasm was also alive and well. But his sarcasm was part of what Hermione loved about her Severus. Yes, I finally get to call him mine. She dissolved into giggles and gave her former professor a one-armed hug, carefully not letting go of Severus' hand with her other arm.
After a few more minutes, someone passed them glasses of champagne. After not too long, they could tell that someone in the crowd had already partaken when a cry of 'speech!' reached Hermione's ears. To Hermione's great surprise, the flowing chocolate of Severus' voice pierced the silence that had filled the corner of the great hall in which they were gathered.
"You all know I am not one who enjoys public words, or crowds, or public displays of anything. With this in mind, it should be quite obvious what a momentous occasion it is that I am happily standing in front of you. Tonight I have been given the greatest gift that can be given. The exceptional Hermione Granger has agreed to be my wife, and I could not be happier or more honored to call her mine. As you all have come to be both of our families, we both thank you for being here to make this night perfect."
With that, a round of clapping, cheering, and at least one whoop of joy from a mildly intoxicated Hagrid swept through the great hall. The merriment continued, but Hermione and Severus began to drift towards the side of the room. They were approached by Albus, who whispered something in Severus' ear before turning to Hermione. He congratulated her again, but before he rejoined Minerva in her conversation with Molly Weasley he quietly asked if she could stop by his office at her convenience the next morning. After Albus had gone, Severus took Hermione's hand and quietly led her out of the great hall.
"What was that about, Severus?" Hermione asked as they began walking through the castle.
"Albus simply mentioned that my old quarters had been restored to their previous condition and that we were welcome to stay in the castle tonight, and thereafter, if we so desired." He conveyed factual information, yet his tone spoke volumes more. Forgetting about her meeting with Dumbledore, she caught his mood at once and their pace slowly increased as they approached the dungeons. She followed him into his office in the back of the potions classroom in which she had spent so many hours, and was surprised as he waved his wand over a tapestry in the back of the room only to have it slowly pull to the side to reveal a spiral staircase. They ascended what felt to Hermione like at least three stories, but when Severus showed her off of the top stair he was greeted by her gasp.
"Oh, Severus, it's beautiful!" Her eyes stared out the window to her right with breathless wonder. The room was quite large. In one corner was a large four-poster bed with black tapestries hung around it, looking as if, when sealed, the bed would be completely darkened even in the brightest of daylight. In the adjacent corner there was a large sofa across the wall, with a coffee table and two cushy looking armchairs on either side. Across the entire back wall was floor to ceiling shelving filled full of books. The third corner, situated on the opposite side of the spiral staircase, featured a fully stocked kitchen complete with an island and four stools. Despite all of this, by far the most salient feature of the room was the overwhelmingly large window that covered a majority of the wall to the right of the staircase. While Hermione had only felt she had ascended three stories, they were clearly high up in one of the turrets of the castle. The window looked out across the lake, showcasing the gorgeous mountains behind it. It was the kind of view one could stare at for hours, and she had half a mind to do just that.
While she admired the view, Severus had come behind her and was now holding her to him so that while his arms wrapped around her waist her back pressed into his front. He slowly kissed the top of her head as she marveled at the expansive view.
"Is this really where you live?" She turned around to face him without leaving his arms.
"Only while school is in session," he answered softly.
"If I had this view and that library I don't think I'd leave."
"With you here I just might not." And with this, he pulled the knuckles of her hand, ring shining in the moonlight, to his lips. "Are you happy, my love?"
Her face softened as she stroked his cheek with her other hand. "Severus, you are all it takes to make me the happiest woman in the world. All of this," her eyes scanned the immense library and the gorgeous view, "this is just icing on the cake. What makes me happiest is this." And with that, she stood up on her toes to press her lips into his. He wrapped himself around her, melting into the heat of the kiss. Before she knew it her feet had left the ground and, without removing his lips from hers, he carried her over to the bed and stretched out next to her.
She pressed her body into his as they kissed, his tongue sending little electric shocks through her body as it swept against her own. He reached around her body to pull her top leg over his, his hand sliding down from her lower back as her leg hitched around his waist. She gasped at the increased level of contact this provided. She was beginning to kiss her way down his neck when she first sensed his hands trying to push her away instead of pull her in. She finally whimpered slightly as he pulled his lips from hers and looked panting into her eyes.
He answered the hurt and confusion in her eyes, still panting, "I fear you overestimate my powers of self control, my dear." In answer, she pressed herself longingly into him, eyes seeming to plead for something as she ran her fingers down his arm.
"We have our whole lives for ravishing, my dear. Sleep now." He planted a slow, lingering kiss on her lips, followed by a chaste kiss to the tip of her nose. With that, he gathered her into his arms, pulling her head onto his chest in their now-habitual sleeping position. She wanted to resist, but with all of the excitement of the day she found herself drifting slowly off to sleep. Severus remained awake a few minutes longer. He spent his last waking moments basking in gratitude to whatever deity he could think of for the beautiful witch in his arms, the fact that he now got to share the chambers in which he had so long suffered in loneliness, and the fact that she was now on the way to becoming his.