Epilogue – January 1999

A/N:

This story would never have happened without Severus Snape, and it is to him that I owe the greatest thanks for the experience of writing this story. It was his original prompt, while I was revisiting The Crystal Cave, that set the whole thing in motion. There I was, reading Mary Stewart's description of young Merlin when suddenly my mindscape was invaded by a rather impatient, insistent wizard whose forceful enunciation of "Sound. Familiar?" precipitated an avalanche of plotting and a personal adventure that I wouldn't trade for worlds.

My sincere thanks also to Justice for beta reading the early chapters, linlawless, who stepped in to help, and TeaOli, who broadened my grammatical horizons fit to leave me speechless (and is probably sorry she ever introduced me to the em-dash), and an unknown number of Administrators form Ashwinder and The Petulant Poetess. Thanks also to AmyLouise for advising me in the proper use of the French language and to bleddyn for verifying my geographical description of the Welsh countryside.

Thank you to everyone who has taken the time to read and to those who have reviewed. I really enjoyed sharing the story with you all.

Hermione's reference to a locked garden and a helpful robin is drawn from The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett (1911).

Pugsley Addams is the property of the cartoonist Charles Addams. I make no profit from his character.

Senior Auror McPhee is adapted from the character Nanny McPhee in the film Nanny McPhee, Universal Pictures, 2005.

Canon characters are the property of J.K. Rowling. I make no money from them.

My thanks and gratitude to my beta, TeaOli, who very kindly offered to beta read several years (!) ago. Tea, your advice, knowledge, wonderful sense of fun, and talent for giving a touch of class made writing, editing, editing, and editing both an education (believe it or not) and pleasure. I salute you!

Eileen heard the cracks of multiple Apparitions and hurried downstairs, excited and apprehensive at the same time, while being thankful that Toby was not too far away. After so many years spent in largely silent contemplation, her confidence with strangers was still a little tenuous. Seeing the number of visitors, she was also relieved that Hermione had legalised her Portkey arrangements to a proper international arrival base serviced by Australian Wizarding Customs and Border Protection – and now had a designated Apparition point in an outdoors location.

She need not have worried about her capabilities at offering hospitality; Jean Granger followed, wiping her hands on a kitchen towel.

"Madam Snape, I presume?" a cheerful, grey-bearded wizard called with a genial wave. Behind him, a small retinue of Magibotanists – burdened with the paraphernalia of their profession – looked about them with expectant delight.

"I am," Eileen answered, remembering to raise her voice a little. "And here is my friend, Doctor Jean Granger."

"Professor Leif Bellamy at your service, mesdames!" The professor bowed gallantly. "I hear that the experimental site is a reasonable hike from here?"

Eileen smiled. "That depends on how fit you are. Toby can do it in twenty minutes, but it takes me nearly half an hour."

"It's quite a pleasant walk after a good cup of tea," Jean said, coming to Eileen's side. "We've just managed to tame a real meatosaurus of a woodstove into producing a decent batch of scones, if you'd all care to join us for morning tea?"

Eileen gave Jean a grateful smile at the very English chorus of "Ooh, yes, please!"

She summoned Tocky, who appeared at once with soap suds clinging to his fingers. "Fetch Toby and Andrew from the work shed, please. Tell them the kettle is on and we have Magibotanical company," she instructed.

"How's the water?" Hermione called.

Severus withdrew his hand from a ceremonial dip in the River Severn. "Bone achingly cold," he called back. Climbing up the bank, he proved his statement by placing his benumbed hand on Hermione's warm cheek, cutting off her shriek of protest with a captivating kiss.

The ninth of January had dawned clear, crisp and bright, and it was still early enough for only the hardiest souls to be out and about. In a daze of complete happiness, Hermione struggled to pay attention to her surroundings. She tore her eyes away from the engagement ring adorning her left hand. Sneaky wizard. You knew I'd never have refused you, especially on your birthday! "It's lovely here," she said, looking across the Severn's shimmering breadth. "It's sad, though, to think that Eileen played by the river with her brother when they were children... but at least they were happy memories. Enough for her to name you after it."

"Hm," Severus responded. "Now that I've personally met the geographical feature, I think it's time to show you what I've been thinking of." He smirked at Hermione's sigh of impatience and firmly took hold of her left hand. "So you don't keep looking at it and fall over something. Come along." He wended along the riverbank in what Hermione suspected was an extended route. Gradually, he began to work his way uphill.

"Harry sent me a letter yesterday," Hermione said, talking to assuage her excitement. "He was feeling a bit glum because he's starting to enjoy working with Senior Auror McPhee, which means that he mightn't have much more time with her."

"He'll have her for a while yet, Hermione." Severus glanced at her wryly. "Inside knowledge," he said in answer to her unasked question. "But he can't keep her – Senior Auror McPhee doesn't work that way. She'll go to wherever some goose-cap scapegrace needs her guidance."

"Have you heard any more from Draco?"

"You are getting fidgety, aren't you? Draco leaves for Borobudur tomorrow night. Yesterday evening, Kingsley himself escorted him and Narcissa back from visiting Lucius in Azkaban and then took Draco back to Hogwarts for a few parting words of wisdom from Pugsley and Mr Longbottom."

"Draco's mother doesn't object to him going overseas? I gather she was a bit clingy," Hermione said, recalling Professor Addams' opinion that Draco really needed to get away from maternal apron strings.

"A little. The prospect of an empty nest troubles her, but her compulsory rehabilitation sessions and part-time work at Madam Malkin's will see her through the adjustment."

"Professor Addams has worked wonders with rebuilding the reputation of Slytherin House – there's pride there now. Good pride, not the arrogant kind."

Quirking an eyebrow, Severus patiently picked a route through a copse of trees. "Indeed. Pugsley will never take any grief from the stuffier elements of the Pureblood set – as some have already found out. Titles and wealth carry precious little weight with him."

Hermione fidgeted with building anticipation. "Wasn't it good news for Petrus?"

"Yes, Irma and Minerva said that he now enjoys something of a rock star status with the students."

Hermione frowned quizzically. "Does he? I was referring to the Ministry granting him full rights as a British citizen so he can travel whenever and wherever he wants to – but he said he really loves the library and wants to stay there. He's even got a dual nationality passport, now. And a Gringotts account!"

"Being a paid staff member, he'd have to put his earnings somewhere," Severus pointed out with exaggerated patience.

"And Madam Pomfrey says that Moaning...Miss Myrtle is a lot happier now that she has Paulus to float around with. They've been inseparable – Madam Pomfrey told me that they're a tremendous help to the younger students who need someone to talk to about the war. Or just school in general."

Rolling his eyes, Severus pushed through a ramshackle hedge and murmured an incantation. The air ahead of them rippled and settled.

Hermione gasped.

"I've put a holding deposit on it," Severus explained. "Of course, I need to know that you're happy with it before we proceed any further."

"It's gorgeous!" Hermione breathed, taking in the two storey stone house, a row of walled gardens, and a view across the Severn into England. "Was this your mother's family home? I wonder if one of those gardens has been locked for years and years and only a robin redbreast can help find the key?"

"You haven't seen inside, yet," Severus cautioned, handing her a small bundle of keys. "No, this wasn't where she lived – it was a few miles downriver and was demolished over a decade ago. This property has been under Muggle ownership for over a hundred years. No resident ghosts or house-elves," he clarified as Hermione eagerly opened the door. "It's been extended from its original two-up-two-down construction – which was built by a tea and spice merchant as a holiday retreat and, I suspect, to strategically stockpile merchandise – but most of the original features are still in place. As for the gardens, I haven't found any of them to be locked. And why would you require a robin's assistance when Alohomora would do the job far more efficiently?"

Hermione smiled happily as she went inside. "It's just a story I read, once. Actually, I read it so many times that the book fell apart."

For a moment, Severus lingered at the front door, listening with growing satisfaction to the rapid, shallow echo of Hermione's footsteps in empty rooms and her delighted exclamations over stone fireplaces, mullioned windows, exposed oak beams, and the tasteful incorporation of modern conveniences. He sauntered into the hallway and braced himself as Hermione charged down the stairs and flung herself at him, covering him with kisses and words of love.

"But will it be the right choice for you, Severus?" she asked, catching her breath. "You said you wanted a laboratory for your potions work."

"Present and accounted for," Severus affirmed. Leading her into the kitchen, he opened a wardrobe-sized cupboard and lifted a hatch concealed in the floor. "Lumos."

Hermione counted thirty steep steps before reaching the floor of a generously proportioned, stone-lined room. The air carried the faintest scent of black tea, cloves and bergamot. "I can picture this with workbenches, mazes of glassware, row upon row of neatly labelled, impeccably ordered ingredients – and softly simmering cauldrons," she said. "It's you, Severus."

"Thank you, m'lady," Severus intoned with a half-bow. "Bewitching and sensually ensnaring as that vision is, I was thinking of housing something else in here as well." He pointed to a featureless side wall. "The dragon mosaic from the villa would fit perfectly there. I can't, in all conscience, leave such a work in the open air."

"Nor should you!" Hermione agreed. "It's part of your heritage. What's going to happen to the rest of the villa?"

Severus wrapped his arms around his witch and held her close. "Now it's part of your heritage as well, my dear. Oriens is taking care of the villa. He's having it incorporated into an existing nature reserve as a protected area for the staged reinstatement of magical creatures – which will also give an extra layer of protection to the link to Merlin's cave. And, apparently, there's a pair of pine martens living by the villa now, which delighted Oriens greatly." He held her at arms' length to look into her eyes. "Are you happy with it?"

"I am, Severus. It feels like home already."

"Good. Now there's just the nuptials to get through," he said through a sigh of sufferance. "We should have a centaur-style ceremony," he teased, thinking of Firenze's description of what would take place as, on Bane and Esnyë's behalf, the palomino centaur invited Severus and Hermione to the springtime celebration. "It would be far less fuss."

"Yes, I'll just quickly go and build a stone circle out the back – complete with a crystal heart stone. Then we'll stand before the heart stone, and you shall place thereon a sprig of holly, and I'll put beside it a sprig of ivy, we'll pledge each other in mead, feast all day and consummate our vows under the stars," Hermione replied evenly while wandlessly casting a rather complicated charm.

Severus raised his eyebrows. "Firenze didn't say anything about consummation." Glancing upwards, he beheld a velvety night sky dotted with bright stars and animated constellations.

"Ah, but if we really did have such a ceremony...," Hermione murmured, seductively running her hands down his chest and stomach.

Severus felt his pupils dilate as her quick fingers found a path to his skin. He hoped that he would never lose the sense of amazement that came with the very physical evidence of being desired and loved – it was like a secret ingredient that enhanced the passion of his response. Now there's a bit of glory that cannot be bottled, he concluded before his rational mind went elsewhere.

Having cleaned, oiled, and neatly stored the tools he had first arrived in Australia with, Toby clattered up the stairs for lunch, remembering to leave his boots at the door and reminding Andrew to do the same. "Just shake 'em out when y' want to put 'em on again," he advised. "The spiders 'round 'ere could eat an Acromantula for breakfast."

"Yes, I met one of them behind the bathroom door last night – you don't have to convince me." Andrew spread his fingers to show Toby that the spider known as a grey huntsman easily measured a handspan. "It was a good idea to hide out in the shed," he said, catching a glimpse of the perfectly laid table and neatly transfigured interior. "The ladies have been busy, and I have a real knack of getting under foot."

"Yeah, same 'ere."

"Besides, rebuilding that old Triumph's engine was far more interesting. I've never done anything like that before! Arthur will be delighted at how well it's come up."

"I 'ope so. 'E wants to get t' whole thing ready for that Potter bloke's weddin' – in June, I think 'e said. Plenty of time, yet." Toby stepped inside and shook his head in wonder. "Look at this... I wouldn't recognize the place from what it was yesterday. Magical coolin' and all." He accepted a tankard of chilled pumpkin juice from Tocky, then blinked at a loud crack from outside. "Gunshot, Apparition, or another bloody gum tree droppin' a branch," he said as Eileen and Jean rushed to the window to look.

"Apparition," Andrew affirmed as he listened in on the women's excited whispers. "The birthday wizard has arrived..."

"It's the tenth today," Toby groused airily.

"Steady on, Toby, he's a wizard, not a Time Lord. He's arrived exactly when he said he would. Our young folk would've had a lot to do, I suspect, and there are some things you just shouldn't rush," Andrew said with an indulgently hopeful smile. "Look! Hermione is glowing! Good Lord, Severus looks so different when he smiles – I'd say he's gone ahead and asked her."

"Smilin' is 'e? Quick! Take a photo!" Toby sneaked a look at the couple over Eileen's shoulder, affectionately sliding an arm around her waist. "If Sev'rus ain't scowlin', she must've said yes. Good on you, lad!"

Severus took Hermione's left hand, holding it so that the yellow gold of the summer sun burnished the white gold of her engagement ring and made the three small, practically sensible diamonds sparkle merrily.

Hermione watched him study the tiny rainbows of dancing light and smiled. "Some would say there's magic in that," she said.

Severus gave a half-smile and tucked her hand into the crook of his arm. "They're probably right. But I always knew that there was more to magic than foolish wand-waving."

Together, they made their way to the house, where two sets of parents eagerly awaited their news.