Author's note: I did it! I did it! I completed something! It took me more than a year, but hey, I persevered! And did it! *bounces* Did I mention that I did it? Whoo hoo!

Chapter 69 – An Epilogue of Sorts

Poppy looked at the trio sitting across from her in Severus's sitting room with a tired smile.

Three days had passed since Lee's kidnapping and the boy had barely let go of his father in all of that time.

Or maybe it's the other way around, she mused.

Beside them sat Kingsley, a man she had long been proud of. A man she would be proud to call her son.

"When will the ceremony take place?" She asked.

"This summer, after things have settled down a bit more," Severus answered; pressing a kiss first onto his son's head and then following up with a kiss to his soon to be bond mate.

Poppy smiled but didn't say a word about his unusual show of affection in front of her.

"Have you told any others?"

"We thought you should be the first," Kingsley said, gracing her with a smile.

"Thank you."

. . .

Minerva caught them in the entry way, shortly after dinner. After shepherding them into an unused classroom, she sat them all down and demanded to know the reason for why Poppy had been so happy all day.

Severus looked at Kingsley and Kingsley looked at Severus, while Lee—who was now sitting atop his papa's knee—blurted out the answer happily.

"Daddy's going to marry my Papa," he said with a gigantic toothy grin.

It was one of the first times Minerva had been shocked silent in many years.

"Brat," Severus said, looking at their son with an upturned eyebrow.

"Severus," Kingsley warned. "We were going to tell you," he offered, turning back to the still stunned professor.

"Honestly Minerva, I thought that you of all people wouldn't be hung up on the idea of two wizards—," Severus started, only to be silenced by a stern glare.

"I simply cannot believe that you, Severus Snape, Slytherin extraordinaire, is planning to marry a Hufflepuff!" She said, bursting into laughter.

. . .

Lee sat in his room with Teddy and Neville, talking to them about their summer plans. Severus and Kingsley were both in the next room over, and Lee's door was slightly open in order to hear their voices.

"What about Draco?" He asked, turning to Neville.

"My gran is petitioning the courts for custody of him," was the shocking reply.

"How did you get her to agree to that?" Lee asked.

Neville blushed and turned to Teddy.

"It was Teddy's idea. I told Gran that she should consider the irony of raising a Malfoy in a Longbottom household. Between that and the idea of finally being able to put some manners into one of my less well behaved cousins, she was sold," he said softly.

"Yeah Teddy!" Lee said, engulfing his friend in a hug that made the small Slytherin boy turn pink in response.

"And you Teddy?"

"My mum saved my arse. She talked some cousins of mine into taking me on for the summer, provided I promised to work for my keep."

"Where are you going?" Lee asked curiously.

Teddy looked at Neville with a grin, and Lee's jaw dropped.

"Wait, so are all of the pureblooded families interrelated or something?" He asked, scratching his head.

"Pretty much," the other two said in unison, before looking at one another and giggling.

"Am I a cousin?"

"Distantly, I suppose so," came his father's voice from the doorway. Lee turned and upon seeing him standing there, ran over to him and pulled him farther into his room.

"Did you hear that both Draco and Teddy are staying at Neville's house this summer?" He asked Severus excitedly.

"I might have heard something about that," his dad said casually, smirking at the three boys staring up at him.

"Oh thank you sir!" Teddy exclaimed, completely out of character for his generally somber self.

Lee and Neville looked at each other in confusion.

"Gryffindors," Teddy said with a groan.

"Don't let Papa hear you moaning about the other houses like that," Lee warned.

"Kingsley can take care of himself, son. As for yourself and Mr. Longbottom, it is fairly conspicuous when the only two in the room that don't understand something are also the only two Gryffindors present. I'll leave Mr. Nott to explain what I meant by that," Severus finished, closing the door part of the way on his way out.

. . .

Ron took another unsteady step forwards. To his left was his father, and to his right was his mum, ready to catch him should he fall. Finally he reached his destination and presented himself to the family waiting quietly—for once—outside the Burrow.

"Wotcher Ginny," he said to his younger sister who was standing closest to him.

"Wotcher Ron," she smiled, and then enveloped him in a spine cracking hug. In his ear, she whispered softly, "If you ever scare me like that again, I'll hit you with the Bat Bogey hex." She was still smiling when she let him go, although he was not.

As though Ginny had managed to break the ice, the whole family was suddenly surrounding him, and before long, he found himself being dragged inside to the twins' room so they could show him their latest creation.

Percy even smiled at him and thumped him on the back in congratulations for making it back.

"It wouldn't have been the same without you," he said, a touch too solemnly for Ron's tastes.

"You're right," he said quietly, acknowledging the truth with a humble nod.

. . .

Kingsley stared in amazement at Minerva, thinking that it was her idea of a prank to get them back for shocking her the first time.

"Don't look at me like that, young man!" She admonished. "I am quite serious. They wanted me for Headmistress and I turned them down. Now they want you."

Kingsley turned to his lover questioningly.

"It would give me a reason to be around here a great deal more," he offered to the silent man beside him.

"Well, I have always wanted an excuse to say that I'm sleeping with the boss," Severus said wryly, surprising him enough to bark out a laugh and pull Severus in for a kiss.

. . .

As Severus lay in bed that night next to his sleeping lover, he found himself thinking over the events of the past year with more than a little amazement at how everything had turned out.

The drugs within their school were slowly being flushed out of the system, thanks to Poppy and the other healers they currently had on hand. Severus knew that they were damned lucky that Mr. Davies had collapsed before he could come through on his threat to harm the girl with him.

Then again, the threat had been a bit hollow, since the girl with him—a Ravenclaw girl by the name of Marietta Edgecombe—ultimately turned out to be involved with the drug scheme as well, and was therefore in no real danger.

True, Ms. Granger would be spending a great deal of time at St. Mungos for her immediate future, and Mr. Weasley was going to have to repeat his second year, but all in all, he knew that things could have been much worse.

And I have a son now, he thought proudly, happily holding the thought of his son's happy face in his mind.

. . .

Jimmy watched over his children as they slept within his rooms. One thing still bothered him about the end of the fight with Dumbledore, and he promised himself a conversation with Severus the next time that he could get the man alone.

In the meantime, what on earth had happened to Seamus Finnegan?