Epilogue

The little girl stuck her lower lip out and blew a puff of air upward. Her dark bangs fluttered in the small gust and resettled against her forehead, out of her eyes for the moment. Being only seven years old, she was still several years from attending Hogwarts, but her quick mind was impatient for the stimulation this new schooling would provide. Of course, her parents had taught her the basics of magic already, but school just seemed like so much more fun than sitting at the kitchen table with her dad and his many cauldrons.

She had found a box of her mother’s old school things tucked away in the back of her parents’ closet. She thought she might be able to sneak away one book at a time without either of her parents being the wiser. As she dug deeper into the box, she came across a pile of loose parchments—notes, equations, even old shopping lists in her mother’s neat handwriting. Buried beneath it all was a plain, white envelope.

Absently chewing on her lower lip, the girl opened the envelope and pulled out a stack of parchments, her mother’s handwriting all over these as well. A cursory glance over the first page told her that these weren't notes, but a story.

“Anna!”

The girl turned around, clutching the parchments to her chest when she heard her mother’s stern voice at the closet door. “I was looking for books,” she responded, dropping her guitly eyes from her mother’s gaze.

“It isn’t polite to go through my things without asking first. What is that you have there?” her mother asked.

Anna shrugged. “Just a story. Is it yours?”

Anna watched the color drain from her mother’s face and knew she had gotten herself into even more trouble.

“Hand it over, Anna,” her mother said.

With a sigh, the little girl did as she had been told and gave the stack of parchments to her mother just as her father appeared in the doorway.

“What’s all this fussing?” he asked.

“I was looking for books,” Anna said, appealing to her father. He was much more lenient than her mother.

“Give the girl some books, dear,” he replied, looking at his wife. “At the rate she’s been reading this summer, she’s surely exhausted the lower shelves of the library.”

Anna watched her mother tuck the mysterious parchments under her arm. “When you’d like to borrow something, you should ask first. Do you understand me, Anna?”

She nodded eagerly at her mother, keeping an eye on the parchments that had been confiscated. “Yes.”

“Now,” her mother said with a smile, “you may gather all of the books you’ve scattered across my closet floor and take them to your room. If you’d like to read them, they are yours.” She knelt down beside Anna and playfully tucked the girl’s glossy, black hair behind a dainty ear.

Anna grinned broadly as she organized the schoolbooks into a tall pile on the floor. She just managed to carry the leaning tower out of the bedroom and down the hall to her own room.

“Why are you upset, Hermione?” the father asked when his daughter had left.

“That was close. I told you we should have burned this, Severus.” She held up the parchments and waved them in his face.

Severus snatched them from her hand and glanced at the first page. Just as it had with his wife, the faint color drained from his pale face when he recognized the manuscript from so many years ago.

“Did she read it?” he asked with trepidation.

“No, I don’t think so. I caught her just after she found the envelope.”

“Thank Merlin,” he mumbled, looking down at the abandoned romance novel penned by his wife. Hermione watched a sly smile tilt the edges of her husband’s lips up. “I haven’t seen this in ages.”

She couldn’t help but return his smile. “I hid it well. At least until Anna decided that our closet was an excellent place to hunt for books.”

Severus stepped closer to her, forcing Hermione further into the deep closet. “Perhaps it shouldn’t be hidden. Perhaps we should frame it. It does kindle fond memories in me, you know?”

“Where in Merlin’s name would we hang it, Severus? In the hall by the door? I hardly think that would be appropriate.” She placed her hands on his chest as he used his body to push her against the hanging robes near the back.

“In our bedroom, of course. I could spell it to resemble a painting. Perhaps something atrocious like kittens playing in a field of sunflowers. No one need know this was what initially fueled my desire for you.” His voice was soft and deep in her ear as he held the loose parchments up to wave them by her head. "You never did finish it, you know."

"Why would I finish it when the first three chapters gave me what I wanted?"

She felt Severus lips brush over her cheek. "And what was that?"

"You," she replied with a muffled giggle. Coming to her senses, she made to push him away again. “Severus, Anna could come back in here at any moment and see us…” Hermione’s voice trailed off when her husband’s warm lips traveled down her throat.

“You gave her books, and she’s your daughter. She’ll be locked away in there for hours. You worry too much,” he mumbled against her skin. Without a second thought, he kicked the door to the closet shut and captured her lips in a passionate kiss.

Author's Note: This is for everyone who asked for an epilogue. I don't normally do them, but this little scene popped into my head, and I couldn't resist. Because DH is nearly upon us and I wanted to get this posted straight away, I didn't have it beta-ed. My apologies to the unfortunate TPP mod that has to pick through my measley nine hundred words for the myriad of mistakes that are no doubt there. Thank you to everyone who has reviewed and left me encouragement. I know I've been missing-in-action the last couple week and have not responded to reviews as I usually do, but I promise I will get around to it when life calms down somewhat.