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Epilogue: A Promise Kept

It wasn't Iceland or Scotland where they finally wed, but in Bath in a quiet ceremony with Rose and Hugo in attendance as their witnesses. They kept the event simple and ate a small brunch with the kids before walking back to their vacation home to meet up with Ron and Joanna. When the Weasleys came to go with Ron, Joanna, and the children to Lyme, Severus and Hermione decided to take a few days in the Highlands for a short honeymoon. They made a yearly trip to India to refresh their minds and rejuvenate their souls. In typical fashion, Hermione kept her name and they retained much the same relationship with the homes until Hugo graduated, when Hermione, Ron, Severus, and Joanna sat down to discuss what they should do about Lavender House.

"Rose and Teddy want to get married here, so we'd have to keep it until July at least." Hermione thought out loud, looking around the backyard which stretched for a while, filled with rape seed and lavender. So many of the memories with Rose and Hugo were there, both learning to fly, Hugo even learning to walk; it seemed a waste to sell now when they had so many memories and it wasn't as though the situation between the four adults had changed much, aside from becoming even more comfortable with each other. And it wasn't as though they all saw each other too often, an odd weekend or weeknight found them all in the same area, but often Hermione and Severus used the kitchenette in the morning and sat together in the guest area, or they were at Spinner's End.

"Perhaps we should table this for a year." Ron suggested, seeing the look on Hermione's face.

"Perhaps we should." They all filed back into the house and ate dinner together. She just couldn't sell just yet.

Years later, when Hugo was finished training with Severus to be a healer, his apprenticeship completion celebration brought up the discussion again.

"There's really no reason to keep it now, Hugo has moved out." Ron said, pouring them all wine as they finished cleaning up the party.

"I guess, but what about Thea? She loves the creek and the swingset her Grandpa and Bop built her, it'd be a shame to have to figure out whose house it would go to or how we'd even do Christmas now. Am I crazy?" Severus and Ron nodded adamantly, but couldn't disagree with her words about the house. Thea, Rose and Teddy's daughter wobbled over to them, bringing Severus and Hermione wildflowers. Hermione scooped her up and kissed her sweet cheeks, handing her over to Severus who pulled bits of grass and twigs out of her hair. Thea had really cemented their unique family, loving her odd arrangement of grandparents. Teddy had said once that Severus and Joanna made up for Remus and Tonks in an odd way, since his parents hadn't survived the war.

"What do you think Thea? Do you want us to stay?" Joanna asked as Thea toddled over to her and looked around, most likely confused about the conversation.

"I guess that's a yes." Ron joked as Thea took off towards the field, her dress stuck slightly in her tights and her curly red hair a serious mess.

"Somehow I think your daughter produced a red-haired you." Severus whispered, watching his granddaughter romp around and chase butterflies.

"I wonder what the next one will be like, maybe she will be like Tonks, wouldn't that be fun." Hermione remarked, as Rose walked out onto the portico with baby Helena, her hair a shade of blonde no one expected. Hermione took Helena from Rose and snuggled her close, she loved how sweet they were when they slept, wrapped in soft blankets, and happy to be held. Severus put his arm around her shoulder, watching Rose catch up to Thea who had discovered a thicket of briars.

"We'll have tears in a minute." Severus warned, pointing to Thea.

"Better get your potions, Bop." Hermione replied. Ron pulled out his wand and expelled all the briars from her tiny legs as Severus returned with his kit.

"It hurts, Bop." Thea said in the saddest voice he'd ever heard. He gave her some pepper-up and something else to heal the skin before also giving her a chocolate frog, which she promptly tore into.

"Bop!" She exclaimed, holding up Severus' wizard card from the chocolate frog. She kissed him leaving chocolate residue all over his cheek, and then cuddled against his shoulder, playing with his shirt color.

"It's amazing that she's ever clean." Rose said, sighing, using a spell to clean her up. Staying still for a moment, she started to fall asleep quickly, running her tiny fingers on Severus' collar, over and over.

That night when Rose and the kids left for York, Hermione sprayed Severus' shirt to make sure the chocolate would come out in the wash, then sat down to write Hugo about his new job at an apothecary in Leeds, close enough to Rose they ate dinner several times a week. She felt Severus put his arm around her, kissing her necks as she wrote.

"Thank you." He whispered, kissing her again.

"What for?" She asked, sealing her letter and giving it to Thaddeus.

"If you'd never taken a chance, if you hadn't saved me, I'd never know days like today." His words brought tears to her eyes. She turned to kiss him, to hold him tight.

"I told you they'd love you."

"Right as always." She snickered at him, remembering the night Rose went into labor. Severus has been quite concerned about her healer, some person he had worked with a couple times. But, Hermione could tell it was something else that really bothered him. When she took him to get coffee, he did nothing but fidget, tearing the napkin he was holdings into tiny shreds.

"Okay, what's going on?" Hermione asked, point blank.

"Nothing." He replied, continuing to tear the napkin over and over, finally grabbing another.

"Severus Snape, stop right now." She put her hands on his, forcing him to stop and finally look at her. "Tell what is bothering you so much that you are destroying a napkin." He looked embarrassed, as though what he was about to say made him uncomfortable.

"Hugo accepted me first, but Rose took longer, years in fact. She may have been kind when we were married, but she would've rather had her parents together. I worry that this birth will take us back steps, I'll have to figure her out again." Hermione sighed, knowing on some level that he had misgivings about baby Lupin and her sweet mother.

"Are you worried Rose won't let you be a grandfather to her child?" She asked, her hands still on his, his ring tickling the underside of her finger every so often.

"Yes and I'm worried about being a grandfather at all. My only experience with babies is holding baby Harry Potter and Draco once for a portrait; literally the end of my experience."

"I'll show you, I promise. If I can become an adequate parent, you can be a stellar grandfather. Besides, Rose loves you, Severus, in her own way. Hugo and Rose both love you. You're their Bop." His grin made her see he was just worried about something they would ease into over time. No new parent or grandparent knew exactly what to do.

When Theodora Jean Lupin was presented to her grandparents, each of them took a turn holding her, her bright red hair the first feature everyone noticed, then her sweet dimples. When Severus held her, Thea opened her eyes, looking at him quizzically before cooing and stretching. He handed her back to Teddy and Rose, beaming first-time parents, and put his arm around Hermione.

She felt him pull her into a standing position, his arms at her waist, swaying with her slightly.

"You're never going to sell this house." He said, his hands clasped tightly around her.

"No, I don't see that happening. What if Hugo gets married and gives us more grandchildren, where would we put them in Spinner's end? No, that's our retreat. Besides, there are too many good memories here, I'd hate to leave."

"You think Rose will stop with Thea and Helena?" Severus asked, twirling her a bit more, loving the way the light made her hair glow.

"No, I think she wants a son. I hope she doesn't go the route of her great grandmother have have six girls before a boy comes, or worse." They both laughed, imagining Rose with seven children.

"We would never sleep." He added.

"But we'd laugh a lot." He caught her in a kiss then, holding her tight, and wishing everyday could be like that day, filled with happiness and laughter, nothing false or contrived.

"I owe Seamus 10 galleons and he won't stop writing me." Hermione said as Thaddeus waited to take letters to Seamus and Hugo.

"Whatever for?"

"He bet me we'd bet married in Scotland, in some feckin' Scottish moor, were his actual words and I said Iceland, but since we didn't, he says he is owed half. Logically, I told him he would own me 10 galleons as well, and that he should just keep his, but he sent it to me and now he keeps demanding 10 galleons. I think he's just enjoying annoying me, more than anything."

"Well he did always love that." She have Thaddeus the letters and returned to her husband, hair growing grayer by the years, but his face softening somehow. They retreated to bed, curling up with a book before turning out the lights. As he almost always did, Severus pretended to read his own book, but really read hers over her shoulder and tutted anytime she got too far ahead of him.

"You know I love you, but if you don't read your own book I will hex you." She threatened in response to his tutting. He closed her book and his, catching her in a soft kiss and snuggled her close to him.

"I'll just have to hold you then, forever."

"Do you promise?" He acquiesced with a kiss, turning the lights out with the flick of his wand, refusing to let Hermione turn away. He took her left hand in his and that spark, the same one she had felt in India all those years ago, ran through her, reminding her how much she loved him and how far they'd come since.