"Severus," Hermione laughed, attempting to ward off his kisses on her neck without dropping the pan. "I can't- Come on, we have important guests coming."

"You know Nick and Esma adore you, they aren't going to say no just because you burn the sauce."

"I'm not going to burn the sauce just because you- hey!" She protested as he gently plucked the saucepan from her hands and placed it on the stove, casting a Statis Charm in the air above her.

Hermione grumbled. "Come on, Severus. This is important to me."

"This is important to me." He took a few steps back to admire his witch. As she often did on Sundays, she was dressed only in an oversized t-shirt that dropped to mid thigh, a pair of knickers, and a hairband. In a lower voice, his eyes still toying with the hem of her t-shirt, he added. "You are important to me."

"Sauce," she growled, cancelling his charm with a wave of her hand and flicking her wrist to start the whisk over it.

"Are you really this nervous?" Severus' voice deepened as he became more serious.

"Last time we ate with them was at their house. The time before that we were at the Malfoy's, eating elf-made food. How can my meager cooking skills possibly compare to theirs?"

"Hey, hey." He captured her hands, which were gesticulating wildly, and pressed a kiss onto the top of each of them. "They love you. Both families are completely and utterly entranced by you, and you know it." Hermione pouted and Severus chucked her under the chin bringing her eyes back to his. "You don't always have to earn people's affection, love. It isn't always about what you can do or what you know. Sometimes they just love you because of who you are."

Severus was made aware he may have said the wrong thing because rather suddenly her eyes were watery and overflowing with tears and she was staring at him over a flushed nose. She burrowed herself into his arms, her wild, curly locks tickling his chin.

"I'm sorry I'm being such a control freak over this," she finally said through a mouthful of his shirt, her cheeks drying against his shirt. "It's just that I'm so worried. I've been working on my PortaLibrary for over a year now and it's as good as it's ever going to get, it takes only a few spells to manufacture…" She trailed off and stared at him beseechingly. "If we don't get funding tonight I'll have to go and sell to people I don't know." If Severus hadn't been a spy, he might have missed the subtle shiver of fear that chased down his wife's back, which was the only sign that something was wrong. Well, that and the tears and the frantic mess she was making of their kitchen, anyway.

"They are going to love the book." He tucked an errant curl behind her ear and tilted her chin up so that she was looking at him. "They are, really."

There was a beat where she just smiled sentimentally into his eyes before it faded into a rather cheeky grin as she withdrew. "We really ought to go see my parents this weekend."

Severus groaned. He knew it was a cliche to want to avoid being trapped in the same room as one's in-laws but in his case, he rather thought he had reason. Every time he saw them he was reminded how much closer in age to Hermione's parents than he was to her. He understood the jokes and references to Muggle culture that went sailing over her head and whilst every single one was a reminder of just how lucky he was that she loved him - she loved him, for Merlin's sake - they might just remind her that he was double her age.

So, he avoided reacting to her parents for the most part even though it made him look cold and uninterested. The balance was difficult to maintain and every social event where he was forced to interact with them became painfully awkward as soon as Hermione stopped talking.

The sauce began to bubble on the hob and Hermione spun back around to it, lowering the temperature with nimble fingers even while she levitated the pan a centimeter above the heat.

"It isn't that bad," he heard heard her mutter.

"What isn't?"

"Sunday dinner with mum and dad." Hermione turned her head to the side so she could see him, even as she kept most of her attention focused on the silver pan which was reflecting fluorescent lights directly into his eyes.

"I can feel them judging me every time we are in the same county," he drawled, averting his gaze so that she wouldn't see the insecurity he knew would be shining in them. She'd become scarily adept at reading his mood over the last year.

Hermione rolled her eyes and set the pan back onto the low burning fire. Checking that the sauce didn't immediately start boiling once more, she turned to face Severus. Her fingers brushed his sleeve and ran up the length of his arms, before cupping his shoulders.

"They are not judging you," she stated defying him with a weighty stare when he raised a sardonic eyebrow. "They're not."

Her tone was insistent and it held that nugget that told him she knew she was right. Reluctantly he met her gaze and inclined his head, asking the question with body language because he knew his voice would crack if he said it aloud.

"My mother met my father while they were both at university. He was the only black student in the dentistry program. My mother was-" She paused, flicking her lips with the point of her tongue before continuing. "My mother was the teaching assistant. When at first she turned him down, he started asking her for help with preparing for procedures - laying out the tools, reviewing x-rays and such. She realised he was asking her help for things he already knew… she accused him of wasting her time."

She flicked her wand to slow the whisk before continuing to speak, feeling the heavy weight of Severus' eyes on the top of her head. "He said that spending time with a beautiful woman was never a waste of time and she was charmed into a coffee date. That was all well and good but when he started the next course, he realised she was the lecturer! She wasn't 'just' a teaching assistant, she'd just been subbing in for a professor whose class load had gotten too big and who couldn't find a student to help him."

"Ah," he drawled, a smile gracing his lips. Perhaps he could tolerate seeing his inlaws for their anniversary, now that he knew that any judgement they felt towards him would be tempered somewhat by the fact they were judging him for the very thing they had once done. "So in a way, she was his teacher?"

"Exactly."

"Apparently the Grangers have a type." He stretched out the word, a smile twisting the corners of his lips as he teased her. She rolled her eyes, her fingers toying with the palm of his hand, drawing intricate designs across the delicate skin.

"You never explained it to me," she said suddenly.

"Explained what?"

"How you killed Nagini. You didn't have your wand, you didn't say anything; hell, you were looking at the Dark Lord when she lunged for you."

Severus wet his lips with the point of his tongue. "That was actually a bit of misfortune," he admitted. "A prototype charm that George, Fred and I were working on. Bottled death, in a way - a Sectumsempra carefully charmed into a button." His lips twisted wryly. "It was supposed to go off before I was bitten but I knew we hadn't had a chance to test it. I knew it might fail to go off at all… It was the only chance I had to take care of the blasted thing from right under the Dark Lord's nose. Well, what counts as a nose for him. So I took the risk."

Hermione shuddered at the thought of how close she had come to losing him, and captured a hand between her own, pressing five quick kisses against the knuckles.

Severus ran his free hand through Hermione's riotous curls and allowed himself to be distracted by the way it curled seductively around his hand. "Have you heard from Potter?" he heard himself ask, licking lips that were once again dry with desire. He needed her thinking of something other than that final battle. It wouldn't do to have her dwell on things which neither of them could change.

"Harry rang yesterday," she nodded at the mobile phone on the kitchen counter, pulling her hair free from his fingers as she did so. "Molly is still not speaking to either of them but Ginny doesn't seem too upset."

Severus and Hermione shared a secret, wicked smile. Harry and Ginny's actions had been one of the few things they hadn't orchestrated in revenge upon the Weasley matron, but they were blamed for it just the same. Just as she blamed them for the protected garden gnome colony which had taken up residence just outside of the garden at the Burrow, and the fact that the Daily Prophet had reported with glee the name of the informant that "nearly cost the Light the war when they risked Severus Snape's life" as Molly Weasley.

Severus had taken Hermione's animosity for the Weasley matron and distilled it into sweet, cold drops of revenge, doling them out slowly over the year. It never failed to make Hermione smile knowing Molly was constantly looking over her shoulder, waiting for the next explosion. Although that might also have been because Severus had persuaded the Weasley twins to take the piece of land on the other side of the Burrow to use as their experimental lab.

"Ginny found a flat about a five minute walk from Grimmauld Place," Hermione continued, turning so that she could focus on the various pots and pans before her, checking the recipe stuck to the cabinet above with a sticking charmas her hands moved busily. "But I think Harry is starting to regret asking her to move out now the baby has started to grow on him. We'll see…"

Severus waited patiently to find out what would possibly be seen , but his face cracked into a smile as he realised Hermione had gotten lost in her cooking and forgotten that she had been speaking. A habit that, in anyone else, would have infuriated the old Potions master; in Hermione it simply indicated that he was home. He snaked his arms around her body and drew her close to him, immeasurably pleased when she melted into his arms.

"Harry seems happy, though - Draco asked him on a date."

"Did he now?" Severus drawled, his face deadpan. He'd been the one to suggest the move to Draco following Potter's divorce from the Weasley chit. The boy had seemed dejected, a sad lump of black hair hovering around Severus' new flat every weekend, staring wistfully whenever Hermione and Severus so much as brushed hands. It made it hard to indulge in married life.

The boy had been lonely and he'd only ever perked up when the Malfoy heir was visiting, verbally jousting with this strange flash in his eyes.

The thoughts brought to mind how very lucky Severus had been to have Hermione in his life, and he squeezed her more tightly against his thin frame.

"You know," Severus said softly into her hair, "I think I should thank the Dark Lord."

"Whatever for?" His witch raised an eyebrow.

"If it weren't for his ridiculous scheme," Severus worked his hands slowly under the hem of her t-shirt as he spoke, using the fact that her attention was torn between the cooking and his sudden need to profess his gratitude for a madman. His fingers danced in small circles against her skin. "I might not have the most attractive and intelligent witch I've ever met warming my bed."

Hermione's breathy moan echoed from the the tiles in the kitchen, and Severus smiled, edging his hands up to brush the undersides of her breasts, the skin softer and warmer there than on her stomach.

"I wouldn't be half as lucky now as I was before," he drawled the words in seductive tones with his lips close to her ear, knowing the effect his voice could have on his wife.

"Severus…" The longing evident in her voice overpowered the small bite of frustration in her tone.

"Do you want me to stop?" He asked, his fingers chasing up the swell of her breasts to roll her nipples between her thumb and forefinger. His ministrations left her squirming and he couldn't help but grin against her curls.

"Never." She grabbed her wand and turned off the flames that licked at the pans on the hob, casting a statis charm on the entire stove and half the kitchen counter in one distracted wave. Then, she spun around his arms, forcing him to cease caressing her perfect breasts but moving her mouth firmly back into kissing range. "But you should know you are insufferable." She added, pressing a long, firm kiss against his lips.

He smiled into the feeling, allowing himself to luxuriate in the silky softness of her lips against his own, before pressing her against his lean body and deepening the kiss. She responded as she always did, with matching desire, snaking her tongue out to flick against his top lip.

Severus couldn't help but devour her. He picked her up and deposited her on the counter, shoving the scales and chopping board to the side roughly. He ran his hands up and down her legs, revelling in the feel of her.

He was so damned lucky he could scarcely believe it.

Severus Snape had never expected to survive the war, let alone be honoured as a war hero, nor be married to a clever vixen. But here was the proof that dreams really did come true.

"Sweetheart," he panted, breaking free of the kiss and resting his forehead against hers. His erection pressed painfully against his trousers as his witch was using her nimble fingers to undo the buttons of his shirt. "Are you sure we have time?"

"Severus, if you beg off now, I will personally slip a babbling brew into your glass of wine when we have dinner with my parents," Hermione scolded, grabbing fistfuls of the fabric of his shirt to draw him closer to her, opening her legs so that he stood between them.

The Potions Master smiled wickedly, satisfied that he had once again driven his wife into a distracted state of desire and kissed his way up her neck to her ear lobe. Gently, oh so gently, he took it between his lips and sucked it into his mouth, his teeth just grazing the sensity flesh.

Hermione gasped, her toes curling even as her hair seemed to spark and frizz with pleasure.

"Severus…" She moaned. "Please…"

He nipped it between his teeth and felt her body react, her mouth falling open in a perfect, wordless, "oh."

"If this is truly what you want..." He rubbed the fabric of her t-shirt between his fingers before drawing it up her body inch-by-inch, teasing her with the wait as more and more of her body was exposed to him.

"Now," she growled and Severus lifted his witch up and flew them both across the tiled floor to the more forgiving bedroom. She chased kisses across his face and down his neck, nearly distracting him to the point that he flew into the closed door but Severus only squeezed her closer.

This was his paradise and he would spend the rest of his life making sure it was hers too.

AN: Thank you so much for everyone who has been along for the ride, reading the story and sending me love and support, reviews and follow. You have made this an absolute joy to explore.

Thanks especially go to LumosLyra who has been my cheerleader. Writers don't expose this side of themselves much, but really we are a bundle of needy neuroses and self-doubt, and Lyra does a great job of reading through my scrawlings and 5 am emails to tell me that she thinks the chapter is publishable and not the worst thing I've ever written, and no I shouldn't give up on writing.

So if you enjoyed this story, send love to Lyra.

Also Vixen, an irl friend who, when they found out I was writing this, demanded to read it and sent regular missives telling me how good they thought it was.

Finally, pat yourselves on the back, dear reader, for without your returns for more of The Chit, I would no doubt have given up after Chapter 5! It would have been impossible to complete without you.

Here's to you. *raises cup of tea*. You're the best.