They managed to pack quite a bit into their summer.

Severus was able to meet Aiyanna by way of he and Hermione taking their previously discussed trip to Bangor, Maine together in July. He had discussed a potential apprenticeship with Aiyanna while there. It turned out her best friend's ambition had rubbed off on her because despite Hermione choosing to go to university instead of staying at Ilvermorny doing an apprenticeship the young witch had accumulated quite a few hours toward hers already. Primarily what was missing was the classroom time.

Professor Brown believed if she remained at Ilvermorny where she was comfortable and familiar she could be done with an apprenticeship within two years. Would she be interested in relocating to Scotland if a position was offered to her? Professor Brown thought likely so, especially with the incentive of being near Hermione as the two were rather inseparable until Hermione's departure from Ilvermorny. Severus would have to see how her apprenticeship went, of course. Best friend of Hermione or not he would not risk the position going to someone who would not do it justice.

Albus seemed unphased by this and insisted this would be his final year as headmaster. If Severus needed assistance to do both he knew his deputy headmistress, Minerva, was more than capable of helping Severus.

Severus wondered if something wasn't wrong with Albus that he wouldn't put off leaving for one year. He had no family other than his brother who as far as Severus knew he rarely spoke to or saw. There was some bad blood between the two, something to do with their sister Severus knew. That was about all he knew, though. Albus was not forthcoming with him about such things. Certainly Severus could understand his desire to travel and see new places, but one more year wasn't going to stop that from happening.

He recalled in the original timeline that he and Hermione had altered, Albus had died at his hand at the end of June 1997. He'd put a cursed ring on the previous summer he believed was what Hermione said. One of Tom Riddle's horcruxes. Now, though, he was suspect of that being entirely true. Or at the very least the full story.

Was Albus Dumbledore ill? Had he put the cursed ring on knowing that his death was imminent anyway, wanting to expedite it for the benefit of the war?

He pondered this, saying nothing to anyone but Hermione (away from Hogwarts) about this thought.

She admitted that while going by her memories Harry had been fairly close to the headmaster with private meetings she hadn't been privy to that type of closeness. She couldn't say that he looked or seemed any less healthy at the end of her sixth year as he had at the beginning of her first year. She shared enough memories of him that he, too, would be hard-pressed until that final year to say anything was physically ailing him.

It made him wonder, though, because it certainly didn't mean there wasn't. Just as Hermione kept her MUDBLOOD scar glamoured, Albus could have, too. How often did people truly see him, after all? Especially in that timeline, during a war. Severus imagined he must have kept … busy.

And so he agreed to take the position, knowing that he may very well be serving double duty as professor and headmaster for a year or two before a suitable potions professor was found. Whether that would be Miss Running Bear or not he could not say.

Hermione returned to her second year at university having completed through year five of her Muggle Studies textbook. She hoped to have it completed by the end of the school year. Severus suspected it would be sooner if he knew his witch, though he insisted it was not a priority and that she should not allow it to take away from her actual studies. He was still floored that she managed to get done what she had with as little free time as she had.

Severus had to admit he was impressed with her drive.

He wasn't sure why as he had no doubt she could accomplish anything she set her mind to. An all-encompassing Muggle Studies book for all schools would not work. She was choosing to focus on Hogwarts first.

They'd discussed that early on, realizing that muggle cultures were too different for everyone and everything to be shoehorned into one book. She was pretty certain that she could adapt an appropriate book for Ilvermorny, Drumstrang, and Beauxbatons. It was the other schools in areas she'd never set foot that she'd have to travel to and get information that would work for their book.

That was earmarked for a time after this first textbook was completed and adopted as well as post-university graduation so she had time to visit the areas in question and stay for a while. Assuming other schools would be interested, but with the support of Hogwarts' headmaster it was hard to imagine they wouldn't want to update their curriculum, too. The various wizarding worlds were rather competitive when it came to things like that.

Harry would likely travel with her as Severus would be unable to for long periods of time. Unless she visited during the summers or holidays when school wasn't in session, but there was no guarantee professors would meet with her during their down time. (Nor should they be expected to.)

He did not like the idea of his witch trotting across the globe unaccompanied. It was not a matter of trusting her. He did, without a doubt. He was still Severus Snape, the spy who had helped bring down Voldemort, testified against many Death Eaters, and was guardian to The Boy Who Lived. He was also someone people seemed to think was wealthy as a result of that guardianship. There were people out there who would love to pay him back for his kindness.

Until recently he had no weakness for them to prey upon.

Now he did.

And if they did get married and have children? More people that could be construed as weaknesses.

Harry was different.

He had been careful publicly to stay aloof, make it seem as if he perhaps had little choice in the matter for whatever reason. Albus aided some in that perception, too, when doing interviews over the years, playing the old friend of Harry's mother card. Not to say he'd treated him poorly in public. He hadn't, but Severus wasn't an outwardly emotional or demonstrative person to begin with. He had spent the bulk of his time living with Severus safe at Hogwarts. As much as Severus might like to, he couldn't keep him at the castle forever. And to this point no one seemed to take a disturbing amount of interest in him.

She had no roommate this year.

She switched from a muggle focused major to a magical focused one so her housing changed. It was a small studio apartment that even with magical extensions didn't offer much space. She had access to the floo network, and as a result planned to spend most of her evenings and weekends with him. She'd have to floo to the Three Broomsticks, but he could meet her there and apparate them back to his quarters. It also meant he could send owls directly to her and vice versa. Perceval could live with her now even, which she seemed to enjoy.

Her advisor was aware of her location so if she was needed she could be found. She would not be able to take meals in the Great Hall anytime students were present when her classes were not on break, but she wasn't bothered by that. Albus assured Severus he would not require him to be at all three meals every day, but as future headmaster he should aspire to be there two of the three. She wouldn't be at Hogwarts for lunch, so that left alternating between breakfast and dinner with her.

Or eating in the Great Hall for those meals and simply sitting with her while she ate. They'd work it out, he had no doubt.

There was one thing that had been on his mind lately, though.

One piece in all of this that he didn't like.

That left him feeling as if they were doing something illicit, or that if they were caught the reputation of not just him but Hogwarts could suffer.

"Hermione," he murmured behind her in bed.

She was pressed against him, her hair a riotous swarm of curls against his cheek.

He remembered vividly seeing her, and her hair, for the first time when he was sixteen years old.

He had no idea what it was about her to this day that had captured his heart. She talked to him, listened to him, and heard what he had called his friend and stayed. Not all would be that forgiving or understanding about him using that word.

She was here with him today knowing that he'd used that word as a weapon, defense mechanism or not.

He had taken the Dark Mark.

He had sinned and committed acts against humanity with that Mark before turning spy.

And after he'd turned traitor to the Dark Lord?

He had continued those acts in the name of keeping his cover and trying to ingratiate himself into the Dark Lord's inner circle of Death Eaters. He would be most effective as one of Riddle's most valued members.

Albus preached this to him endlessly from the moment he turned spy.

That and the fact he loved Lily and was fulfilling his debt to the Potters.

So humbling that she could look past all of that. That she could love him with such, what he saw as, huge flaws in his person.

"Mm hmm," she said.

He knew she wasn't asleep yet. He could tell by her breathing. And her hair. It was always … calmer for lack of a better word when she was sleeping. As if, like her brain, it needed to rejuvenate from the day.

Maybe it did.

Like Hogwarts, Severus had stopped trying to figure out how her hair worked.

"Let's get married."

She turned to face him, fingers going to his lips. Her brown eyes looking at him with both amusement and surprise reflected in them.

"For real?"

He snorted.

"No for pretend. What kind of question is that?"

"I don't know. I just wasn't expecting…"

"I wasn't expecting to be made Headmaster, either. This year we'll both be so busy it won't much matter, but I refuse to hide you in my quarters as if we are doing something illicit or improper going forward."

"Well, we kind of are, aren't we?"

He scoffed, reaching for her hand and kissing the palm.

"We are not the first couple to sleep together before marriage."

"No, but the headmaster of Hogwarts cannot do such a thing."

"Correct."

"Severus, I don't want to get married…"

"Oh, do not do that. You knew I would ask at some point. The bracelet and ring were my commitment to doing so, barring some falling out. I had planned on waiting until you'd graduated, and I'm not saying we should go out and elope tomorrow. Your parents, my mother,, probably Harry, and I imagine Aiyanna would kill me if we did so. However, we could set a date for June or July. I'm sure Albus would remain at Hogwarts while we went on a honeymoon."

"You're serious?"

"I am. I realize it's not the most romantic of proposals, but that's not really me. I want you to be able to walk freely through our castle, Hermione, at any time. I want people to address you as Madam Snape."

"I do, too."

She was quiet and he wasn't sure if that was a good sign or not. Now that he was posing the question and it wasn't just an idea, was she having second thoughts of that sort of commitment with him?

"Are you expecting me to say no, Severus? Is that why you waited until bedtime to ask?"

"In part," he said with a low chuckle. He kissed her temple. "I also was hoping I'd think of something else so you don't feel rushed to marry me when you're still at university. I mean, the other option, of course, is to not stay here."

"I'm not sure I could do that after the entire summer with you."

"I'm not either," he admitted. "Thus the proposal."

"Yes," she whispered, reaching up to kiss him. "Yes, I will marry you, Severus."

He ran a finger over the ring she wore and a diamond was now housed in the Wampus cat's mouth. It wasn't a small diamond either and looked very much as if it belonged exactly where it was.

"Has that always been there?"

"It has," he said.

"Clever," she said.

"As I said, it was never a question of whether I would pose the question, just when."

She turned onto her back, held her hand above her and eyed it.

"Is it not to your liking? Did you want a different ring?" He wasn't entirely familiar with the rules of such things, but he thought a ring designed for her would negate the need for a new ring when he got to the point of proposing.

"No, Severus, it's lovely, and it's very us."

"It is," he said. "I think this will ease Albus' mind as well."

She turned her head to look at him, rolling her eyes.

"Not the reason I proposed, Hermione, but it will."

"I know."

She ran a fingertip along the body of the cat on her ring and then reached over and did the same to his ring.

"There is not one on mine."

"Oh," she said. She was quiet, eyeing the differences between their respective rings intensely. His was thicker in addition to his snake being the prominent animal where hers was a bit thinner and the wampus was most prominent on hers. "I'm engaged."

"You are. We are," he said.

She chuckled. "I was almost asleep."

"I apologize."

"No need to, but I'm oddly not sleepy at all right now."

"Shall I make you something?"

"No, but you could make love to your fiancee. I bet that would help."

"You drive an incredibly hard bargain, Madam Fiancee."

"Mm, I'm not a madam yet," she said, sliding her arms around his neck and drawing him to her for a kiss. "But I know. Expect me to do so for the rest of your life, Headmaster Snape."

"Not yet," he quipped.

"Well, we can pretend I'm a madam and  you're headmaster for the next year."

"A fantasy of yours?"

"You caught me," she quipped, kissing him again. "Now, I believe I made a request."

"That you did," he said.

Story ©Susan Falk/APCKRFAN/PhantomRoses.com