It was a hot, muggy morning in late July. A man paced in the hall upstairs, outside of the bedroom he shared with his wife. There was a groan from the other side of the door, not very loud or expressive, but still enough to make him stop pacing for a few seconds and listen. Then there was nothing but the low hum of quiet, soothing talk on the other side of the door, words he was unable to make out or properly understand. So he started pacing again, and the floorboards beneath his feet creaked under his steps.
Inside the room, three women were hard at work. One was boiling water over the fire and checking it constantly, wetting rags and conjuring towels. The oldest of the three was folding the dry towels neatly and stacking them beside the bed, talking quietly to keep the girl in the bed calm. And the girl in the bed was sweating, breathing hard, clenching and unclenching her fists as she worked at the beginning of delivering her first child. She gasped quietly and reached for the hand of the older woman, who was beside her, and gave it a squeeze. Rather than saying anything, the older one brushed her own graying red hair behind her ear and gazed into the younger woman's face reassuringly.
Severus, too, was clenching and unclenching his hands. He continued pacing, unable to keep still; he was furious with those women. As soon as the mother and daughter had arrived to help Hermione with the delivery, they had shooed him out the door and made him leave. He actually started in surprise and turned to look at the plump, motherly face that peeked around the partially-open door and glared at him. "Goodness, man! You're going to wear a hole in the floor! Be still, will you?!"
He glared at her. His tone was biting, sharp as a knife and unkind. "Woman," he spat, "If you would allow me to see my wife, I would stop."
She glared right back, perhaps even more fiercely. "Your pacing is making her restless. And if you were allowed to come inside and see her, you would only panic and overreact and be in the way."
His face changed dramatically, very quickly. Rather than retorting some cruel, hasty comment or remark, he looked alarmed. "Why? Is there something to panic about?"
Molly Weasley pulled an amused face. "My, my, Severus, I daresay no one has ever seen the hard, cold potions master looking as concerned and near hysteria as you are now. It's a real honor to see you in this more vulnerable state." And with that, she shut the door in his face.
It wasn't that he couldn't simply use a spell to unlock it and open it and walk in as much as the fact that Hermione had asked him to listen to whatever Molly told him to do once the two Weasley women arrived. He had grudgingly agreed to do so and much as he regretted it now, he felt that he could not go back on his word to his wife. He was however, at the moment, feeling quite useless and unable to help or do anything beneficial to the situation. And so he resumed his pacing, unable to keep still and wondering if it really did make Hermione restless or the redheaded woman had only said as much to keep him quiet and calm.
Back in the room, the hot water and towels were ready, and they were as prepared as they would ever be for the arrival of the baby. Ginny went and sat on the edge of the bed, holding Hermione's hand. Hermione had wanted to have the mother and daughter there for the delivery because Molly had brought plenty of children into the world, enough to know what she was doing, and because Ginny was her best friend and had wanted to be there. She had neither agreed nor disagreed when Molly sent Severus out of the room, and while she wanted him to be close and lend her his strength, she was unsure of whether she wanted him to see her like this.
Things were ready, Hermione could feel that something would happen soon, and the two women there to help were prepared. And so they waited. Things in the room grew deathly silent, so that the women could hear the creaking floor and quickly-placed steps as Severus continued to pace.
He caught on to the silence in the room and stopped pacing, straining to hear something, anything. And then they seemed to be moving within the room quite a bit, and there were too many separate noises to discern between them. He leaned against the wall and listened, closing his eyes as he focused with all his might on making something out of the sounds behind the door. Fear gripped him, leaving him paralyzed. His mind was filled with questions, a chaotic mess of fears and unanswered questions and worries and regrets.
It seemed like an eternity, and still the women in the room did not cease to move about. Neither of the Weasleys came to the door to tell him what was happening and he thought he might go mad from the waiting. And then the noise continued from the other side of the door, but a new sound joined in, splitting the air and seeming to drown out the rest. Severus jerked his head in the direction of the door in surprise when a baby's cry rent the air. It wasn't that much of a shock; what was he supposed to have expected? And yet still, the chills, the thrill, the fear and the awe that came when he heard the noise were something he was hardly prepared for.
Only moments later things had settled down some, and he quite literally jumped into the doorway when the door was opened. Molly stepped out of the way and closed the door, following him to the bedside, where Ginny was standing. Severus saw first the face of his wife, whom he thought beautiful even now, despite her appearance; her cheeks were flushed pink, but the rest of her skin seemed extremely pale, and there were beads of sweat on her forehead. Severus brushed a stray, damp curl of hair out of Hermione's face and saw that in spite of her exhausted, sickly appearance, she was beaming up at him.
He took a deep breath and let his gaze fall to the bundle that was wrapped safely in Hermione's arms. She lifted it towards him gently, pulling the baby away from its nursing. Severus took the bundle carefully and looked down at the small body wrapped in the blanket. He watched the bright red little face contort in a comical display of fury and upset, and only a moment later the baby was crying loudly again. The baby was small enough to fit in one of Severus' large hands, and he marveled at how detailed, how perfect, how delicate everything about the tiny thing was.
And then there was the knowledge that he had helped to bring this little person into existence, this screaming, squirming, living thing. It was a crippling, staggering thought, a wonderful and awe-inspiring idea. Severus stared at the baby for another moment, taking in every detail that was available to his eyes. Even more frightening and terribly wonderful was the sudden realization that he had actually made something good, something beautiful, for once. He set the baby in Hermione's arms again and smirked at the silence that fell as soon as the child had again found its mother's breast.
The silence was broken when Ginny asked quietly, "What'll you name her?"
It occurred to Severus for the first time that he hadn't known the baby's gender. So it was a girl. He had a daughter. The words were strange in his mind, the idea of him being a father even stranger. He returned from his thoughts when his wife smiled up at him a broke the silence. "Her name," she began simply, pausing to look down on the baby and brush a fingertip against the child's soft wisps of brown hair. Severus realized that their daughter had inherited her mother's hair.
They had agreed on names for both a boy and a girl to be prepared, and Hermione had chosen the girl's name. Severus had been surprised by her choice, but looking down on the child, he thought that the name fit her well. He was brought back from his thoughts when Hermione spoke again at last.
"Her name is Lily," she said, smiling at Severus again. "Lily Eileen."
"Lily Eileen Snape," Ginny said softly, gazing down at the now-sleeping baby and then at its mother. "It's a lovely name."
The Weasleys left the room to allow the new family some time to themselves. They stayed the night to be there for Hermione and then Molly left. Ginny stayed a total of three days after the birth of Lily Eileen at Hermione's request. When she, too, had left, there was only Severus and his wife and child.
Lily was her father's pride and joy, and she became his reason to live. He loved Hermione just as passionately as ever and was still just as protective, but she was nowhere near as delicate and breakable as Lily was. The baby girl never failed to bring a smile to her father's face, and he loathed being away from her for any length of time. It was as if the warmth, the flame that had leapt up with the new life of their child, had somehow thawed whatever far reaches of Severus' heart that Hermione had failed to before.
It was difficult, living with a small baby; Hermione got little sleep throughout the night and because of her worrying and desire to be near the child, and Severus enjoyed no better. But even with the few hours of sleep, the constant worrying and being careful and pleasing the upset baby, both parents agreed that they had never been happier.
They took Lily to meet her grandparents when she was three weeks old, and nothing had ever brought such joyous, happy smiles to the two people's faces before. They were in love with their granddaughter from the start, taking turns holding her carefully and letting her take hold of their fingers or hair.
Lily was small, but not unhealthily so. Severus knew that she would grow to be a short, petite woman like her mother, and he didn't doubt that she would inherit her mother's beautiful features as well.
When Lily was around seven months old her eyes began to change from baby-blue to something else, and Hermione was beyond thrilled when they discovered that she had inherited her father's eyes. Severus was mightily pleased, though he refused to say so. He had hoped that Lily would have Hermione's eyes, but didn't really mind all that much that she had his instead.
Teddy Lupin was three years old, almost four, but he and Lily liked each other from the start and as they got older, they played together often. Hermione didn't work at Hogwarts the year that Lily was born because taking care of a new baby and teaching would not work well together. However, Severus needed to provide for his family and taught at the school as the potions master for another long year.
Hermione and Lily came and visited when they could, but it was the longest year of school either of them could ever remember going through. Hermione had waited at home patiently, and had enjoyed her time with her daughter, but she missed her husband terribly. And he missed both of his girls just the same as they missed him.
When at last the seemingly never-ending school year was over, Severus was able to return home and stay there. Even with the all the visits during the year, Lily had grown since he'd last seen her. Now that he was home for the summer, life seemed to resume a normal pace at the Snape residence and things settled down. Severus made potions and sold them to Saint Mungo's and the Ministry of Magic and to several small apothecaries during his time away from the school.
One night Hermione stepped into the nursery and found Severus sitting in the corner in the rocking chair, slowly rocking back and forth as he read muggle stories to their daughter. He turned his gaze from the book in his lap to the child in his arms and his expression softened even further. He failed to notice his wife's presence, so she stepped back out of the room, peering at them one last time before she tiptoed back down the hall, smiling. Seeing Severus reading muggle stories had reminded her of a time before she loved him, a time when he had laid in bed, too weak to rise or even feed himself, and she had read muggle fairytales to him.
She had once thought that there was no man she disliked more than she did Severus Snape. Except perhaps for Voldemort himself, but she had never truly considered a man as much as a monster. She had believed with everything in her that Severus had been a hero, but that he was perhaps the cruelest man she'd ever met. And now that very same man was sitting in the corner of a nursery, rocking his baby girl and reading her a muggle book. And when he had turned his eyes to his daughter, they had melted for her more than they ever had before, even for Hermione. But it was more than just his eyes that did the melting. His entire face had radiated pure adoration and love for the child in his arms, revealing just how melted his heart was as well.
Hermione entered her and Severus' bedroom and slid under the quilts on their bed, smiling into the darkness as she thought, once again, over everything she'd been through with Severus since she had returned to the shrieking shack after the battle at Hogwarts. There wasn't a single day when she didn't think back over it and marvel at how completely impossible and miraculous the story of she and her husband's romance was. And though she didn't know it, there was never a day that passed without Severus remembering the same things and pondering how strange and unlikely their history was together.
Severus was still unable to comprehend why Hermione loved him as she did, but he had at long last truly accepted that she loved him with everything in her and there wasn't a bit of her heart that wasn't his. No matter how deeply he had fallen in love with her, and she with him, even after their wedding he had experienced doubts and fears about her true feelings for him, not because he doubted her or her love, but because his entire life, he'd never known a love as steady and constant as hers. And then she had carried his child for nine months and eventually brought it into the world. Lily's birth had erased any fears or doubts he that lingered in his mind; if his wife loved him enough to bear his child and provide him with a family, giving him even more of herself, then how could there be any doubt at all in her love?
He laid his daughter in her crib and slid the book back into one of the many shelves of muggle stories and children's books before turning to the door. When he reached it he turned, gazing for a moment at his sleeping child, and then dimmed the lights with his wand and closed the door softly. He walked down the hall, to where his wife was curled up in their bed. He entered the room quietly even though he sensed that she was awake and waiting for him. He joined her in the bed then, pulling her close and kissing her forehead as she laid her head on his chest.
"I love you," he said so quietly that it was scarcely more than a whisper.
Smiling into his chest, Hermione closed her eyes. "I love you."
There were never goodnights said in the Snape home. Though Hermione had never actually voiced her dislike for the word since their wedding, he hadn't said goodnight to her in a good long while. He didn't mind so much, having never needed to bid anyone goodnight before Hermione. Because she was the only one, he never felt any loss at giving up the practice. Instead, they would say farewell in the late evenings with a murmured expression of their love.
And so the days and nights passed. That September Hermione was back among the staff at Hogwarts, and Ginny, who was taking a bit of time off from her new Quidditch career, was allowed to stay at the school as Lily's nanny. Lily did of course sleep in Severus and Hermione's rooms in the teacher's quarters in the dungeon, but Ginny was just next-door and she was with the baby at almost every waking hour of the little girl's life.
Things were a bit different at the school now. The students had all finally accepted Hermione and Severus' love and their marriage the year before when Hermione wasn't teaching. All of them, even the Slytherins, were glad that Hermione was teaching again, and all of them adored Lily. The students had also noticed that since their potions professor had married, he wasn't quite so unkind. But he was always a bit grumpy because his wife and daughter had to stay at home and away from him. Now, though, with Hermione and Lily there at the school all the year long, he was always in a rather good mood and was in fact lenient and not so cruel and unkind as the old Snape had been.
Lily stole the hearts of everyone at the school, whether they were staff or student. Hermione had proudly gone to Minerva's office to show off her daughter to Dumbledore and he had gazed at the child with a twinkle in his eyes. She had then smiled and said, "Thank you, Sir, for what you suggested a long time ago."
The twinkling in his eyes seemed to intensify and he had smiled in return, nodding to her and winking at Lily. Hermione sometimes wondered if Dumbledore had planned all along for her and Severus to develop feelings for one another, but she never asked the portrait of the headmaster about it.
Ginny had planned on going back to Quidditch after the first school year of caring for Lily, but when that summer came she could hardly bring herself to let the Snapes leave with their little girl. Eventually Ginny decided she would stay as Lily's nanny as long as she was needed. She was being paid for it because she had taken over the job of Quidditch Referee at the school, and she had plenty of time to return to professional Quidditch later in her life. She returned to Hogwarts year after year for her job on the Quidditch Pitch and because she had come to love Lily so dearly she couldn't bear to be away from the child for long.
Harry and Ron had continued their jobs as aurors, and Ron had eventually let go of his feelings for Hermione and his hate for Severus. He was very rarely around when the Snapes came to visit the Burrow, and was reclusive and kept to himself whenever he was around Hermione or Severus, but things were better with him now.
Harry had proposed to Ginny and they were planning a summer wedding. Percy had met a girl at the Ministry who was his age, and they had been a couple for a while. Teddy Lupin was still growing and still changing his appearance often, much to the amusement of everyone around him. He was about three and a half years older than Lily, but Hermione didn't doubt that they would get along well and be good friends in the future. Bill and Fleur were expecting their first child and Charlie was still a bit of a loner, but he didn't seem to mind in the least.
Neville was back as Herbology teacher again, and though he hadn't told anyone else, he had shared with Hermione that he was planning on proposing to Luna soon. He was just as captivated by Lily as everyone else and visited her and Ginny during whatever free time he had. Draco was back at Hogwarts as well, and the students—even the Gryffindors—all agreed that he was the best Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher they'd ever had. Lily had worked her magic on him, and he had even come to visit the Snape home during the summer.
When Lily was three years old, she was toddling around the school, being followed closely by Ginny as she went on her own adventures. She did of course spend her summers at home with her parents, but she'd practically grown up in Hogwarts. She was perfectly at home walking around the castle and even though Ginny was always right there with her, she was never in danger; any student who saw her was instantly another protector for her, whether they were helping her get safely through a crowd in the Great Hall or carrying her up or down the stairs.
At the end of the school year, everyone had to come and say farewell to Lily. She waved back at all of them, smiling as she did. Even the staff came to say goodbye, and Neville came and gave her a hug before he left. Hermione and Severus were just turning towards the door when Lily, who was in her father's arms, began reaching behind him and bouncing in his arms, wanting him to set her down.
Severus and Hermione turned and were surprised to find Draco there. Severus did indeed set Lily down and then he shook Draco's hand. Hermione did the same, and they shared a smile. Draco squatted down so he could be at Lily's level and said his goodbye. Then he stood up. He looked towards Severus and opened his mouth to say something but then looked down in surprise; Lily had run forward and was clinging to his leg, looking up at him. He had been captivated by her from the start, but had never held her or picked her up. Now she lifted her arms and looked at him pleadingly.
He glanced nervously in Hermione's direction as if he was afraid that he wasn't allowed to touch Lily, but Hermione only smiled at her daughter. She trusted Draco. He bent down and scooped Lily up in his arms, and she wrapped her tiny limbs around his neck, clinging to him. He was obviously a bit surprised by this, but then he patted her back and a smile broke across his face. When at last Hermione could convince Lily to let go of him, he was blushing. He said goodbye to Severus and Hermione again and then they turned to leave. Lily was in her father's arms again, peering at Draco and waving to him over Severus' shoulder, an adorable smile spread across her face. He smiled in return and waved back until they went out the door.
Hmm, what to say, what to say. Well first off, I want everyone to know how sorry I am that I haven't updated in so long. It's literally been months, I know. I changed my profile presentation, and if you haven't seen that lately, I say there that life just caught up to me and I haven't had the time to write. That's true, but I was also having trouble with writer's block and kind of gave up after a while. But if you're still hanging with me, then here's the last chapter. I guess I will to an Epilogue to follow this, but this is pretty much the end.
I only hope you'll have a moment to review and give me some clue as to whether this was an alright chapter or not!
I want to give a massive thank you to everyone who has every read even just one of the chapters of this story, and I hope you know just how grateful I am for all the lovely reviews I got. Thank you all so very much! ~Taelr