After the rehearsal dinner, the girls reluctantly said goodnight to the guys and remained in the Great Hall with Headmistress McGonagall, until Filch assured her the grooms were safely tucked away in the guest quarters. Luna Longbottom and Vanessa Malfoy convinced their husbands to go home without them, since they wanted to spend some time with the brides.
Confident that none of the grooms were skulking around, McGonagall escorted the woman to Gryffindor Towers. Before leaving them to their own devices, McGonagall looked at Hermione and warned them all that the corridors would be guarded and an alarm would sound if anyone decided they wanted to lurk about. Then she informed the two visitors that one of the house elves would be standing by to escort them to her office, where they could use the Floo Network to travel to their respective houses. She patted her hair, anxious to return to her office, so she could have a cup of tea and bring Dumbledore up to speed on everything that had occurred tonight. Offering them a hasty goodnight, she quickly departed.
"I might just be paranoid," Hermione confessed, when the portrait swung closed behind the Headmistress, "but I think she was looking right at me, when she warned against lurking about in the corridors."
Ginny snorted with laughter and said, "No you're not paranoid. She doesn't trust you not to sneak out for a little rendezvous with your man." Ginny was batting her eyes and making fish kisses at Hermione, as they all took a seat around the fire.
"Whatever," Hermione laughed, hitting Ginny with a sofa pillow, "Severus doesn't even know we are staying here tonight. Hell, I didn't even know we were staying here until after the guys left. Why didn't we go back to the Burrow?"
"Apparently, this was a last minute deal between the Minister and the Headmistress. Something about making sure everyone would be on hand, tomorrow, for the ceremony." Ginny said with a shrug.
Vanessa smiled knowingly as she whispered, "Well, I heard that Snape and Harry were whispering about a plan to snatch you girls out of the Burrow tonight and fly off with you, so you guys can elope."
"Why, that's the silliest thing I've ever heard," Hermione replied with a laugh, "Where did you hear that?"
"Draco said he overheard Kingsley telling McGonagall that the three grooms were making plans while waiting for the rehearsal to begin. I think Harry was reluctant at first, so Snape smacked him on the back of the head." At Ginny's surprised gasp, Vanessa threw her head back and laughed. "Draco said they were just kidding around, but I guess the Minister took them seriously and panicked over what the papers would say in the morning, when it was reported that all the brides had been snatched away in the middle of the night."
"Oh, zat would be so romantic, no?" Gabrielle asked the small group with a huge dreamy smile on her lovely face. However, her smile disappeared when she saw the look on Ginny's face.
"Uh, no, not actually...First of all, my mum would explode into a million pieces," Ginny said while frowning, "and secondly, I have put too much time and effort into picking out my dress, sitting still at the spa while the painted every nail I own, and having to put up with my mum crying every time someone mentions that her 'baby' is getting married."
"Besides, no matter how romantic it may seem," Hermione interjected as she patted Gabrielle's arm, making the girl smile again, "Severus has spent a lot of money on making tomorrow special for us. The guys are looking forward to..."
"Yeah, I know what those naughty guys are looking forward to," Vanessa said with a smirk, eliciting a laugh out of everyone but Luna, who looked around at them with her normal dreamy expression.
Since it was a special occasion, Hermione didn't roll her eyes when Ginny called Tippy and asked her if some food could be brought to them. Ginny confessed that she had been too excited to eat, and now she was starving. Tippy and two other house elves returned shortly with several trays laden with food. There were small sandwiches, wings, and other types of finger food available. There was also a pitcher of Pumpkin Juice and several glasses. Tippy beamed when Hermione thanked her profusely and smiled as she snapped and disappeared with the other two house elves.
Vanessa and Luna were suddenly glad they had decided to stay and join the three brides for their small impromptu party. Normally, they would have been out celebrating, however, it was decided that all members of the wedding party would not be indulging in any type of bachelor or bachelorette party. It was hard enough keeping them out of the papers, as it were. Hermione had laughed, when Severus confided in her that McGonagall believed a bachelor party only consisted of half-naked women throwing themselves at men and didn't want the grooms to be corrupted. Apparently, there had never been a scandal like that at Hogwarts, and it wasn't going to happen on her watch.
Tonight, at their impromptu party, the women began reminiscing about their time as students of Hogwarts and especially how Professor Snape used to make their lives' miserable. Ginny's eyes sparkled as she grinned at Hermione and asked, "On that first day, when Snape swept into your classroom and gave his speech about bottling fame and putting a stopper in death, did you look at him and say, 'Oh, be still my heart...there's my future husband?'"
Hermione saw the smile Vanessa was trying to hide behind her hand, and laughed as she admitted, "No! I thought he was a big jerk who kept taking points away from Gryffindor just because I knew all the answers. I despised him for making me feel like a know-it-all."
"How long did you feel that way about him?" Luna asked.
"I don't know," Hermione said with an exasperated sigh, "I guess up until I started wishing he would stop taking points and just bend me over his desk..." Hermione suddenly stopped talking. She realized what she just blurted out and saw her friends staring at her, all but Luna, reflecting the look of shock and horror she knew must be on her face.
"You wanted him to spank you instead of taking points?" Luna asked in surprise.
Ginny laughed so hard she slid out of her chair and was lying on the floor, still laughing. Hermione could feel her face burn with embarrassment as everyone except her and Luna were laughing now. Then Luna's face lit up and she said, "Oh wait...oh, I get what you mean now," with a knowing nod and wink making the other girls laugh harder.
"What?" Hermione asked, feigning indignation, "you think I just woke up one day last week and decided I was in love with him?" Hermione's voice dropped to a whisper as she confessed, "No, my lovely friends, my obsession with Severus Snape began a long time ago."
Still lying on the floor, her laugher having subsided, Ginny reached over and patted Hermione's leg. Hermione had shared with her the torment she had endured, when she thought she had failed to save Professor Snape and had lost him forever.
"Sorry Hermione," Vanessa said while drying her eyes. "When I look at him, I still see the deplorable teacher that basically told me not to give up my day job for potions. Of course, now that I am chemist at one of my husband's muggle companies, I feel a bittersweet vindication."
Hermione snorted, "I'm sure charming his ass to hurt for two days took a little sting out his words, as well...at least for you."
"Oh no!" Vanessa said with a guilty smile. "You didn't tell him it was me, did you?"
"Give him some credit...Severus is smarter than he looks. I mean..."
They were all laughing at her again, prompting her to declare, "Hey! My Severus is intelligent, handsome and hot as hell." The girls stopped laughing and looked at her, with small smiles still gracing their lips. "Well he is." She decided to push the envelope a little, "The way he looks at me sets my skin on fire and when he touches me...I ache in places..."
"On that note," Vanessa said as she jumped up and pulled Luna to her feet, "we better get going before you go into details, and it burns holes in my brain. Don't look at me like that, Hermione, Snape is perfect for you, I just don't want the image of him, in the throes of passion, running through my mind." She shook her head as if to clear it.
"Are you sure?" Hermione asked sweetly. "Even though we haven't gone all the way, he is well endowed and I could describe to you how awesome he looks naked, and how he likes to have his..."
"No stop!" Vanessa cried in fake distress. "I can't watch you two take your vows tomorrow and practically know what he looks like naked, and the naughty things you'd like to do to him while he lays helpless, unable to stop you from ravaging him...oh wait that last part is what I want to do to my husband when I get home. He'll probably be asleep on the couch waiting for me to come home. I'll slide my hand down the front of his pants and…"
"Okay, okay! You win! I'll stop talking." Hermione squealed, "Draco's like a brother to me."
"I just tell Neville to wake up because I need something only he can give me." Luna confessed.
"Zat is so sweet." Gabrielle gushed.
"Yes, and then I ride him until he begs me for permission to come." Luna said dreamily.
You could almost hear crickets in the background as the other girls stared at her in shocked silence.
Misinterpreting their silence, she quickly added, "Oh, I always let him come. I don't make him wait too long."
Vanessa made eye contact with Hermione, a smirk on her face as if saying to Hermione, "bet that burned holes in your brain, didn't it?"
"I'm sure that is how I got pregnant." Luna was stating matter-of-factly.
Gabrielle, Ginny, Vanessa and Hermione all squealed and hugged Luna at once.
"Why didn't you tell us you were expecting?" Ginny demanded.
Luna looked confused, "I thought I just did."
Everyone laughed and continued to talk of Luna's news until Vanessa declared they must really be going. Vanessa raised her eyebrows up and down suggestively at Hermione on her way out the door, saying she had to get home and wake up Draco so she could work on her own baby making. Hermione laughed and wished her luck.
The three brides decided they should take a sleeping potion or they would never get to sleep and look horrible on their wedding day. Hermione, who made her own version of sleeping potion, handed out the vials to each of the girls and taking one herself, went to bed. She'd put three vials in Snape's pocket earlier that evening and he agreed to take one and give one to each of the boys. Her last thought, before drifting off to sleep, was this would be the last night the world would know her as Hermione Granger.
Across the castle, in the men's quarters, Harry was walking through the common room with a glass of milk before retiring and realized he was not alone. Professor Snape was sitting in one of the chairs by the fire, his hands tented against mouth in thought.
"Would you like a glass of milk, Professor?" Harry asked.
"Call me Severus."
"Excuse me?" Potter asked, not sure if he heard him correctly.
"You're practically related to my future wife, since she thinks of you as a brother, so...in a way that makes you family. My name is Severus; you can call me by that name now."
"Wow," Harry said. "Glass of milk, Severus, Sev...Severus?" He asked trying the name out on his tongue.
Snape narrowed his eyes and thought maybe he'd been too hasty.
"It will help you sleep…big day tomorrow."
Snape sighed, "Very well."
Harry asked the house elf for another glass of milk, set it down on the table next to Snape and proceeded towards the stairs that led up to the bedrooms.
"Sit with me a moment, Harry, if you would…please." Snape whispered.
Harry was surprised by his request but quickly turned around; his interest piqued as he set his glass of milk on the table and took the chair across from Snape.
Snape looked Harry in the eye and said, "The night I died, I saw your mother."
Harry's eyes widened and he leaned forward, nodding for Snape to continue.
"She did not appear to me as the little girl who had befriended me in school, but as a grown woman. It occurred to me that she was the same age she had been at the time of her death." Snape said as he stared blankly ahead.
Harry licked his lips in anticipation. He longed to hear about his mother as she had died when he was a baby—gave her life for him actually.
"She was so beautiful. I know you saw in the pensive how much I love…loved your mother. As soon as I saw her, I went to take her into my arms."
Harry sat back in his chair, not sure if he wanted to hear about Professor Snape snogging his mum.
"But she pushed me away." Snape continued, "She told me I couldn't stay. She reminded me that she had chosen her path in life, just as I had chosen mine and that I had pretty much loved her in vain."
Snape stopped and ran his hand through his jet-black hair. It still hurt when he recalled how bluntly she had said that to him.
"I begged her to let me stay but she said a woman was saving me, and I would have the opportunity to save this woman from a fate worse than death. As I felt myself being pulled back, your mom asked me to deliver a message to you."
Harry was on the edge of his seat now, his eyes moist with unshed tears.
"She said to tell you that she loves you very much, and they are ALL very proud of you. I guess by all she meant James, Sirius, Lupin and her. That was her message to you."
The tears Harry had been holding in were falling down his face now, and Snape looked away in discomfort.
Harry wiped the tears with the back of his hand and regaining his voice said, "Thank you Prof…Severus, I appreciate you passing that message along to me."
"Well, you have always been a good friend to my Hermione," Snape admitted.
Harry laughed through his tears, still trying to get used to Snape referring to his best friend as, "My Hermione."
"What?" Snape asked looking at him with narrowed eyes.
"Just thinking about the fate worse than death part—if not for you, Hermione would have been my wife and that might have been what my mum was referring to...or it could have been Draco."
Snape looked at him questioningly.
"You see," Harry continued, "Hermione never told anyone that she could hear your voice and dreamed about you every night. She kept it to herself. The only person she seemed to open up to was Draco and even he didn't know." Harry paused not sure how much he should reveal.
"And what of Draco, what was their relationship?" Snape asked slowly.
"He loved her." Hearing Snape's sharp intake of breath, Harry added quickly, "Look, this stays between you and me."
At Snape's nod he continued, "Draco began writing Hermione as part of his sentencing. When Hermione began writing him back, they became good friends. Eventually, he began to look forward to her letters. He would stop by the Ministry and ask me questions about her. I finally realized what was happening and told him he should do something about it."
Snape sneered at Harry.
"Sorry, you weren't in the picture then. Anyway, he petitioned the Ministry to let him marry Hermione. They refused. He made plans to go to Switzerland and bring Hermione home by force, but his mother found out and intervened. He finally gave up on that idea, when he learned, even before I had, that the Ministry was only allowing contracts from older wizards to come through for Hermione. Since, her only other choices were older wizards, they felt she would feel trapped and have no other choice but to accept a marriage contract from me. Draco brought me a picture of Hermione, which had apparently been taken while she was at the Academy, and practically begged me to offer up a contract of marriage for her—to keep her safe. I told him that I wouldn't do anything until I had spoken to Hermione in person. I wrote to her and she agreed to meet with me as soon as she graduated. I still don't think she knows how close she came to being forced into marrying me. Anyway, Draco came across Vanessa's file, remembered that he had a huge crush on her in school, placed a contract on her and that is how they came about. I don't think he ever stopped loving Hermione, even if it's just as a good friend now." Harry looked Snape in the eye, "Hermione has that effect on people. Once you really get to know her…it's hard not to love her."
Snape cleared his throat, "If you had been forced into marrying her, what then?"
"I would have spent the rest of my life trying to be a good husband to Hermione and a good father to our children, but I would never be truly happy. My heart would always cry out for Ginny, you know…because of the tears."
Snape ingested all this information slowly and then told Harry the truth about the tears. Harry was shocked; he had been so certain it was the effect of the tears and not his free will.
"Think back, Harry, when did you first know that you loved her?"
Harry looked down and did not answer. Finally, against his better judgment, Snape shared with Harry that it was actually the result of his Occlumency training that had caused him to fall in love with Hermione. Harry laughed, the sudden sound surprising Snape, until Harry admitted, "All these years I thought your Occlumency training had been a big waste of time."
They sat quietly for a moment, until Harry blurted out, "In the Burrow, before second year."
"What was in the Burrow?
"That was where I first knew I loved Ginny. She came down with her hair all messy." He smiled at the memory. "She had just woken up and came downstairs. When she realized I was there, she panicked and ran upstairs to make herself look presentable. Of course I've always found her to be the most attractive when she first wakes up in the morning."
"Really—do tell," Snape practically purred.
"Oh, not that I've ever had a chance to see her when she first wakes up—not like you think I mean. Molly keeps us at arm's length all the time. Sometimes I'm lucky if I can steal a kiss now and again."
"Tell me about it." Snape complained.
"Please, Severus, you've been able to snog Hermione a lot more than I've had a chance to snog with…"
"We're not having this conversation Potter." Snape interrupted. The last thing he wanted to do was compare snogging sessions with Potter. Snape finished the rest of his milk and set the empty glass back on the table. He rose from his chair and started towards the stairs, when he remembered the vials.
"Here's a sleeping potion from Hermione. I've got one for you and one for Ron." He said putting the two vials in Harry's hand.
Harry handed one vial back to Snape. "Too late, Ron's already asleep…always could nod off at the drop of a hat."
Severus pocketed the extra vial and turned back towards the stairs when Potter called out, "Are you disappointed that we didn't get to have a bachelor party? I mean it is our last night as single blokes."
Turning back towards him, Snape said, "Not really. Why? Are you disappointed?"
"Apparently, half-naked women throw themselves at you..."
Snape rolled his eyes at the grinning man and headed up the stairs towards his bedroom.
"Goodnight Severus," Harry called up after him, "thank you…for everything."
"Goodnight Harry, pleasant dreams."
A short time later, Snape lay on his bed in the dark and grinned when he thought about what Potter had just said about a bachelor party. Potter wouldn't know what to do with a half-naked woman, if she fell in his lap. Snape moaned softly when he thought there was only one woman he wanted to see half-naked, well, fully naked... He wanted to do more than just look at her, too.
Ignoring the bulge that was starting to grow in his midsection, Snape took the potion Hermione had provided and waited for it to take effect. He told Hermione he looked forward to sampling her handiwork. The last thing he remembered before nodding off was her smile when she said he wouldn't be disappointed.