Epilogue: Who Needs the World?

EPILOGUE: Who Needs The World?

Severus brought her red roses every morning and watched with delight as she studied them and took in their fragrance. It seemed as if Hermione cried every morning as she walked through the fields around Minerva's country house, watching the trees and grass sway in the autumn breeze. She came back afterwards with flowers woven through the curls that were now trailing over her shoulders. Her smile was radiant each time she saw him, and she continually touched his face and hair.

"Come here, and let me see your eyes, love," he said softly as they sat in the sitting room watching the rain falling outside. Hermione sighed and smiled as she moved closer and opened her honey-brown eyes wide. Studying them with a serious look, he touched her hair comfortingly. She had gotten used to this nightly ritual.

Severus smiled softly and kissed her forehead after he finished examining her. "They have healed completely. It's almost as if you never received that curse."

Hermione stared out the window for a long while, tracing designs on the back of his hand. The rain pelted against the window as the wind blew the branches of the tree against the side of the house. It was their last night in the country before returning to London. Hearing the rain-and seeing it after all these years-made sense to her. After all, Severus had opened her soul so many times as the rain poured down around them.

"I love you so very much," she murmured, leaning her head on his shoulder. "May I ask you something, Severus?"

He kissed her hair and nodded. "Of course you can. I will never keep anything from you, my Hermione." He held her hand tightly and felt his heart begin to pound in his chest.

She smiled and slipped her wand from her sleeve. Concentrating, Hermione pointed it at the table in front of them and conjured a red rose with a black ribbon tied around the stem. She took the rose in her hand and held it out to him. She looked very young and shy as she waited for him to take the flower from her. A sweet blush rose over her cheeks as her mind whirled, trying to get her thoughts together.

"It's been almost eight years since you came to London to protect me. You gave up teaching to care for me. You spent countless hours creating a potion to help me get my sight back. For Merlin's sake, you put up with Harry and Ron every day for me. No one has ever done so much for me or cared for me as you have, Severus. You gave me my life back, and I can't thank you enough for it." She sighed and glanced back at the rain as if she were seeking the strength to continue. She took a deep breath and plunged on. "Marry me, Severus?"

~~~HG~~SS~~HG~~SS~~HG~~SS~~HG~~SS~~HG~~SS~~HG~~SS~~HG~~SS~~~

They were married outside Glasgow in late November with all their family and friends around them. Harry was surprised that Severus approached him with the request that he be the Best Man. Ron... poor, pitiful Ron... sat between his mother and Minerva on the front row, sulking with all his heart. He'd given up any hope of having Hermione as his own when he found out about the curse, but he couldn't understand why she would have fallen in love with Snape.

"Why won't you be part of the ceremony, Ronald?" Hermione had asked the day she announced her engagement to them. "It would mean so much to me if you celebrated with us."

"Because you're marrying Snape, that's why. Sorry, 'Mione, but I won't have any part of it." His eyes clouded over with anger and jealously as he pushed Crookshanks out of a chair and sat down. "I think you're bleeding mad, really, but I'm not allowed to say anything because Harry'll write my mum!"

"Shut it, Ron. You're being a wanker," Harry replied, picking up the displaced animal and soothing it with a scratch behind the ears.

"Bugger you, you little traitor!"

Of course, Severus had found the lack of a Weasley in the wedding party as one less headache to deal with. Hermione was hurt, but refused to let Ron and his stupid pride ruin the beautiful wedding that Severus had promised her. There were roses everywhere, each with their own black ribbon tied to the stem. Hermione carried a bouquet of roses and tulips.

~~~HG~~SS~~HG~~SS~~HG~~SS~~HG~~SS~~HG~~SS~~HG~~SS~~HG~~SS~~

I stared at the photo as my mother finished her story. The couple in the photo were holding hands and smiling as they waved up at me. The woman had long curls that trailed down her back beneath the lace veil she wore. Her wedding gown flowed around her, barely covering her swollen belly and spilled out in a wide arch on the floor. The man beside her was tall and good-looking. His eyes were focused on the woman next to him, and his black hair glittered in the light of the sun.

"Would you like to keep that, Beata?" my mother asked, brushing her black hair away from her face.

Nodding, I looked back at the man in the photograph. Mother had his eyes and his hair, but she had the warm smile of the woman beside him. The longer I stared at the man waving up at me, the more I began to relive memories of when I was a little girl. I could see him as clearly as if he were standing in front of me.

His black hair was shorter than it was in the picture and peppered with gray. He had smile lines around his eyes and a deep laugh that rumbled through his chest. Each time I saw him, he swept me into his arms, kissed my forehead, and straightened the ribbon in my hair. He never failed to bring a new book for me, many of them with her name written in neat, cramped writing on the inside.

"They are rightfully yours, my Beata," he would say as he pulled me onto his lap like he always did when he told me about her. "She would want you to have them. You are so much like her, my lovely girl."

Mother left us alone when he came to visit. She always said that I reminded him of her, and that was why he loved me so much. He loved to wrap my curls around his fingers. He said I looked just like her and that she would have been proud of how smart I was. I can still remember when my mother took me to see him after I got my Hogwarts letter. He was so proud, even though he always told me that I would go to Hogwarts and be the best witch of my age.

He gave me roses every time he visited, too. There was always a black ribbon tied around the stem. "She gave one to me many years ago, Beata. Now I give them back to her because she lives in you now. You have much to live up to, but you are a very smart and talented girl. Whenever you feel lonely, these roses will remind you that we love you very much."

Mother says that I met her when I was very little, but I don't remember much about her. The pictures I have and the books he brings me are all that I have of hers. She died when I was three, and Mother said it broke his heart. She went to visit her Muggle parents, but she had a terrible car crash. She died instantly. He never got to say goodbye.

"Beata?" It was my mother's voice. She was standing in the doorway, smiling softly at me. "You have a visitor." She stood aside and touched his arm as he passed. "She's been waiting for you, Dad."

He smiled and pulled me into a warm hug. He kissed the top of my hair and arranged her veil softly. "You look just like her, my beautiful Beata. She would have wanted to be here for this day."

I wrapped my arms around him and held on tightly as the tears stung my eyes. "Thank you for everything, Grandpa," I sniffed. I stood on my tiptoes and kissed his cheek softly before he led me to the doors of the church.

I'm sure you have figured it out by now. Severus Snape and Hermione Granger were my grandparents. My mother is Eileen Elizabeth Granger-Snape, their only child. She grew up loved and happy, playing with the many Weasley and Potter children. She married Nicolae Leroux when she was twenty-five and spent six wonderful years with him before he died in a flying accident. I was born a month after my father died, on Severus and Hermione's thirtieth wedding anniversary. As her gift, my mother handed me to my grandparents and asked them to give me a beautiful name. The name they gave me was this: Beata Noel Granger-Snape Leroux. My life, however, is another story.

Notes fromt The Mistress: Here's a bit of a Thanksgiving surprise for you all. I was allowed to come home to spend the holiday with my family, but I will be returning to the hospital tomorrow afternoon. I'm doing much better now, and hope to be home for good before mid-December. Thank you all for your thoughts and prayers, Gerard has faithfully brought your emails to me. He is so thankful for my readers and your support. Writing this chapter is about the only thing that has kept me from getting depressed during the last few weeks. Thank you so much, and I love you all so much! I hope you enjoyed this chapter, it's something I'm really proud of.