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Author Notes: Hello again, everyone, and Happy Easter if you celebrate this day :)

On 20 April 2014, we posted the 1st chapter of this little tale. Eleven years later, here is the final chapter at long last. Our deepest apologies for the very long wait from 17 July 2015 until now. My beta and I couldn't agree on a resolution that would please both Caramel and Velvet, and other interests had caught our attention and time. In the end, my beta (who voices Caramel) agreed that I could decide the ending on condition that she doesn't have to read or beta this final chapter. So, here it is at long last :)

Reminder that heavy canon events are ignored in this story.

Appreciation: My grateful thanks to my beta for working with me on this story for ten chapters (we had loads of fun writing them), and to all of you for loving this story and enquiring for updates. Again, I'm sorry this took so long. Enjoy :)

- Chapter Start –

Today was Easter Sunday.

Harry smothered a yawn behind his hand as he made his way to the Great Hall. There were no classes today, but he forced himself to get up anyway since Dumbledore had promised an Easter breakfast like he always did.

It was the same every year and Harry never got tired of it. Instead of the usual healthy oatmeal porridge, toast and eggs, there would be an amazing – Hermione would say horrifying - assortment of sugary confectioneries, all guaranteed to ruin the strongest of willpower, cause an untold number of cavities, and put the entire staff and student body in a sugar-induced coma for the rest of the day.

Harry grinned to himself. He should know better – and he did – but he could hardly wait!

"Thought you'd prefer sleeping in, mate." A familiar arm slung around his shoulders.

"Never." Harry grinned at Ron and got a grin in return.

"Oh, did I tell you?" Ron looked around shiftily as if about to impart a great secret. "'bout a month ago, Fred and George received a massive order for their most popular sweets. Guess whose signature was at the bottom?"

"Who?" Harry asked even though he already knew.

"Dumbledore's! Clear as day!" Ron exclaimed.

There was an impatient 'Tsk' and Hermione came trotting up, blowing a curl of hair out of her face.

"You'd think the Headmaster, of all people, would have more sense than to go overboard like that," she muttered disapprovingly, although not without sneaking a look around first.

"'Mione, may I remind you who is the only one with a full tin of lemon drops on his desk?" Ron countered.

She sighed and shook her head.

"Fair enough. But not more than two – alright, three kinds of sweets for breakfast, Ronald Weasley."

Ron's jaw dropped in dismay.

"But it's Easter Sunday!"

"Exactly. And you are not spending it complaining of a tummy upset all day!"

Grinning, Harry shoved his hands in his pockets as he followed his bickering best friends to the Great Hall.

- o –

Severus opened his eyes and gazed up at the green silk canopy over his bed. He was conscious of two contrasting emotions at the same time. On the one hand, he was happy that it was Sunday because it meant he was free of dunderheads for the entire day. On the other, it was Easter Sunday and all staff were required to have breakfast in the Great Hall. If that travesty of a meal could even be termed breakfast when it was void of proper, nutritious food.

Well versed with Dumbledore's eccentricities, Severus had spent some of his free time last week to brew extra Fever Reducers, Stomach Soothers and Bowel Softeners to dose the crowd of whining students – and a few adults - that would inevitably find their way to the Infirmary come afternoon.

Heaving a sigh that rose from the depths of his soul, Severus sat up and swung his legs to the floor, shoving his feet into magically warmed slippers before standing up. He stripped off the grey nightshirt he was wearing and tossed it down on the bed. It was a rag that he should've thrown out years ago… but never got around to it.

With a tiny smile on his lips, Severus strode to the bathroom to get himself ready.

- o –

When he came out to the living room some fifteen minutes later, he was greeted by two very familiar sounds.

"Meow!"

"Meow!"

Caramel and Velvet got out from their basket to greet him, twining around his legs and purring, lifting their heads for pats.

"Good morning, ladies." Smiling, Severus crouched down and obliged them. "I will put in a brief appearance at the Great Hall and will be back within half an hour. We can all have a proper, healthy breakfast then."

"Meow." (Say Hello to Harry for us.)

"Meow." (Tell him we miss him already.)

"Talking about Harry again?" Severus raised an eyebrow at them. "Remind me, please, who was it who found you two in the Forbidden Forest, starving and all alone, and gave you a good home?"

"Meow!" (He saved our lives too!)

"Meow!" (More than once, in fact!)

"I know." Severus stood up. "I'll be back soon. Be good now."

"Meuw." (We're always good. Aren't we, Caramel?)

"Meuw." (Yup, good as gold, Velvet).

- o –

"Don't look now, but he's here," Ron muttered just as he was about to bite off the head of a Chocolate Frog.

Harry turned around at once, munching on his own frog.

"What did I just say? Honestly!" Ron threw up his hands and lost his grip on the frog. It made a bid for freedom by leaping away only to land in the lap of a first year whose shriek echoed throughout the Great Hall.

"Blimey. Sorry, my fault!" Ron called to the girl. "You can have that with my compliments!"

"Not that you paid for them," Hermione muttered and mouthed 'Sorry' at the girl who nodded and gave a weak smile. "Happy Easter, Professor Snape."

"Goo morgin'," Ron garbled, having unwrapped and taken an overly large bite out of another frog.

"From the looks of things, I am sure that two of you will be crawling to the Infirmary come noon, begging for a Stomach Soother."

"One, you mean," Harry corrected. "Hermione has only eaten a Cauldron Cake."

"I wasn't referring to Miss Granger and you know it." Snape looked down his nose at Harry who just grinned up at him.

Ron rolled his eyes at Hermione who smiled and sipped her pumpkin juice.

"But I don't have to queue up at the Infirmary and you know it," Harry countered.

Snape's face did a curious thing like it wasn't sure what expression it should show. Then he snorted and whirled around to stride up to the Head Table, cloak billowing behind him.

Harry watched him go.

"Someone's still got it bad." Ron shook his head and reached for a Canary Cream.

- o -

Half an hour later, the door to Severus' quarters opened.

Caramel and Velvet who were grooming themselves looked up at once and uttered happy meows.

"You'd think they haven't seen you for a month," Severus groused and strode to the fireplace.

Chuckling, Harry closed the door behind him and crouched down to pat the two felines.

"Good morning Caramel, Velvet."

"Meowr?'' (How much chocolate did you eat, Harry?)

"Meow." (Not more than two, I hope)

"Three Chocolate Frogs, two Cauldron Cakes and a Fizzing Whizbee," Harry told them. He had found a spell a while back that allowed Severus and himself to understand the speech of domestic animals like cats.

"Meow!" (Good boy!)

"Meoww!" (No, that's way too much sugar!)

Chuckling, Harry got to his feet and went to sit on the sofa. A second later, Caramel and Velvet leaped into his lap.

"Oof! You two are no longer kittens, you know."

Caramel and Velvet were young adult cats now, but still retained their curious, mischievous nature.

"Breakfast." Severus set down a laden tray which had sandwiches, coffee, assorted pastries, grilled fish and a saucer of milk and before sitting next to Harry.

"Thanks." Reaching up, Harry pressed a kiss to that lean cheek. "Let's eat."

"Surely you're not hungry already?" Severus raised an eyebrow.

"I'm not, but the pastries smell lovely."

"Very well, you may have one," Severus conceded. "You'll need the energy for…"

"For?" Harry's eyes gleamed and he scooted closer, peeping at Severus from under his lashes. "We have the whole day off."

"Marking your DADA assignments, of course," Severus said mildly. "Don't think I didn't notice the pile of scrolls in my study."

Harry pouted at him and took a bite of his treacle tart.

"Our study, Professor Snape."

"My study, Professor Potter." Severus flicked a crumb from the corner of Harry's mouth.

Caramel and Velvet ignored them with the ease of long practice as they devoured their own breakfast of fish and milk.

It had been ten years since Harry and Ron found Caramel and Velvet out on the grounds of Hogwarts while searching for Ron's dropped gloves.

It had been eight years since Harry graduated from Hogwarts and boldly strode up to the Head Table to confess his feelings to a blustering, red faced Severus.

It had been seven years since Severus proposed to Harry on Valentine's Day and got a shouted "Yes!" and a smacking kiss in front of everyone in the Great Hall.

It had been three years since Harry resigned as an Auror to take up the Professor for Defense Against the Dark Arts role.

All in all, it had been ten wonderful years for Caramel and Velvet, staying with the two men they loved the most, who also loved each other.

- Story End -

A/N: And that's a wrap! Thank you for reading and I hope you enjoyed this little epilogue :)