Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author.
A/N - Sorry to all of the readers of chapter 11 who pointed out the beta comments to me. I accidentally uploaded and posted the wrong one.
Kudos go to Alliean for beta-ing this for me.
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Part 12 - Amor Vincit Omnia
Two Years Later…
A fresh gust of wind rustled the dark cream curtains and swept the scent of wild flowers through the window. Summer was a delightful time of year, and the summer vacation for Hogwarts staff and students alike was at its peak. It had been just over two years since the defeat of Voldemort and his followers, and while many brave people on the side of good had been lost to the darkness, the rest had to learn to live on without them. It had taken Hermione quite a while to learn this, but she had progressed so far.
Every summer since the fall of darkness, Severus had brought Hermione to his large cottage in the French countryside for a holiday. They had both enjoyed it together so much that he decided that it would be prudent to continue doing so.
Severus walked out and sat on a green hill nearby the cottage and watched as his beautiful wife walked through the tall grass and wild flowers with their daughter, Emma Jane, in her arms. Emma had been born the day before Christmas seven months after the fall of the Dark Lord, and was almost two years old. She had inherited his pitch black, straight hair, but possessed her mother's lovely looks, and especially her nose.
'Severus, come out here and dance with us!' Hermione called out merrily, her voice drifting over to him in the wind like a bell.
He smiled and stood, making his way to his two ladies and wrapping them in his arms tightly.
'But what shall we dance to, my love?' he asked as he nuzzled Emma's cheek with his nose, making her gurgle with delight.
'The music of the wind, Severus,' Hermione replied, handing their daughter to him easily and leaning up to kiss him on the cheek. 'Can't you hear it? It's singing us a love song, my dear.'
He chuckled at that, and supporting Emma with one arm, he wrapped the other around Hermione and drew her close to them, swaying them gently to the breeze and letting her hug him around the middle and rest her head on his chest. He sighed contentedly, and lazily took them around in circles. When he felt Emma grow drowsy and fall asleep in his arms, he finally moved away from Hermione, and indicated they return to the house silently so that they didn't wake Emma up.
When their daughter was finally tucked away in her bed, they went to the sitting room together with a book, and Severus sat on the couch sideways with Hermione between his legs, resting mostly on his chest so that they could read together.
'Severus?' she asked softly.
'Yes, Hermione?' he replied quietly.
'Do you want more children?' she asked suddenly.
He closed the book and put it aside before pulling her further up him, and spinning her around to face him on the seat.
'Why do you ask, my love?' he asked, with more than just a little curiosity.
'Because I was thinking that it was nice having just Emma,' she answered with a sheepish smile. 'I don't think we need to have a house full of kids to be happy like the Weasley's. I know it sounds selfish, but I like being the three musketeers.'
'Exactly my sentiments, darling,' he said warmly, leaning forwards to kiss her soundly, cupping her face in his hands gently and pouring out his love for her.
She pulled away smiling, and curled into her husbands chest, closing her eyes and sighing contentedly. This was all she had ever wanted, and more – to be loved and married to the man of her dreams, with their little girl, and on holiday in France. After all, when they returned after the summer, she would have to go back to her work in the Department of Experimental Potions and Curses.
It wasn't the most brilliant job, but she had only been working there for six months, as soon as Emma was one, and it was challenging to an extent. Besides, she only had to work there for a year before she would have a good enough recommendation to be transferred to an important Ministry Department. After the war, she had been offered an immediate place as the Head Healer in St. Mungo's, but had turned it down, insisting that she would work for the job and earn her way to that position. So, in six months, she would be there anyway. But it still made her feel better to know that she earned it instead of getting there just because she was a war hero.
Severus had been offered a place in the Department of Mysteries as an Unspeakable also, but he too had turned it down, insisting that he would stay at Hogwarts until the end of his contract, which had conveniently just ended at the end of the school year, only a few weeks earlier. So, he would be moving to work as an Unspeakable at the end of the summer, and the new Potions professors, Draco and Ginny Malfoy, would be taking over the Junior and Advanced classes.
Harry, as expected, had gone on to do Auror training, and was working in that department in memory of Ron, who had aimed to be an Auror once too. Hermione was so proud of the man Harry had become, and was delighted when he and Luna had finally decided to get married only two months before. Luna had gone on to follow in her father's footsteps and became a journalist for the Evening Prophet. Severus still called it a pile of Thestral crap, which never failed to earn him a slug on the arm from Hermione, but made them both laugh.
'Hermione?' he asked softly from outside her thoughts.
She turned and looked up at his face, gazing meaningfully into his eyes, letting him see her love for him. 'Yes?'
'I love you,' he said with a small smile.
'And I love you,' she said, kissing him lightly before getting up and closing the window to stop them from catching a chill as the afternoon breeze became cooler.
He heard a gurgling sound from the bedroom, and sighed as he watched Hermione leave to attend to their daughter. She was right; they didn't need any more children to make their lives wonderful. They had the most magnificent baby girl that any parent could wish for, and he had never felt so complete before. He heard the two of his ladies return from the other room, and opened his arms out to receive Emma as Hermione handed her to him.
'Okay, now you be good for daddy while I go get dinner ready,' Hermione crooned to the beautiful, brown-eyed little girl, kissing her on the end of her cute nose. 'And you be a good daddy to Emma,' she added, kissing Severus on the nose too.
Scowling, he swatted her on the bum proprietarily as she fled from the room, giggling, and leaving him alone with Emma. He smiled as he bounced Emma up and down on his knee gently.
'You're going to be a genius, one day,' he murmured as he watched Emma reach out for the book he had set aside earlier.
He retrieved the book and held it open, cradling Emma between his thighs and holding it open for both of them to see as he read to her. It was never too early to begin educating his child. She would be the brightest witch in her year, no doubt. Hermione, meanwhile, watched this whole exchange from the kitchen doorway, smiling at her husband and daughter. He was a wonderful, generous father, a loving husband, and a passionate lover – everything she had ever admired in a man. She mused that her parents would have loved him, had they been alive to ever meet him.
Sighing, she set the timer on their dinner cooking, and silently snuck around to the study and pulled out a fresh piece of parchment. Grabbing ink and a quill she penned a short note to Harry and Luna, inviting them over for dinner later in the week. She hadn't seen him for a while, and she had no doubt that he would want to see his goddaughter. She signed off, and folded it neatly before dropping a bit of navy-blue wax on it and pressing her seal into it. She admired the strange seal, then, and remembered that she had meant to find out what the strange motto had meant on it. She put the letter down, and summoned her copy of Latin mottos and searched for the English translation. When she spotted it, she knew that it was truly meant for her.
Amour Vincit Omnia – Love conquers all…
It had been there in front of her the whole time, and she hadn't even noticed it. If it weren't for love, she would not be as happy as she was at that very moment. If not for love, Voldemort would never have been destroyed. If it had not been for love, Harry would not have been saved as a baby by his mother's unconditional and never-ending love for him. She had never really noticed just how great an impact love had on her life. She had been through it all with her husband, and they had never stopped loving one another. It was also a true miracle that Emma was born of, and was a symbol of, their love for one another. Love really did conquer all for her, and it seemed that love would never stop blessing her for as long as she lived.
She left the study and went to the sitting room, then, spying on her wonderful husband and adorable little girl, grateful for every good thing that had come from the bad. Severus looked up at her as he read to Emma, and smiled.
'I love you, Hermione,' he said adoringly.
She walked over to him immediately, and kissed Emma on the head, and him soundly on the lips.
'I love you too, Severus Snape,' she replied.
End.