Hermione looked beautiful as the wind whipped through her hair. A flower in her hair flew loose and made its way down the beach as she walked towards him in her wedding gown. He couldn’t concentrate on the words that were being said, only on the woman who had promised to be his wife. The woman who was carrying his child.

For the first time in as long as he could remember, Severus realized that he could actually be happy.

Xx

Giving himself a shake, Severus Snape stared down at his daughter. It was the same beach with many of the same people, but it was her who wore the wedding dress. Three years after the war had ended Rachel was getting married.

She had been right. It had taken a long time to get everything back to normal and the Snape’s had decided to make the old headquarters their home. It had been the place where they had come together as a family and even with all of the problems they had faced there, it was their home. To Severus’s chagrin, Potter, Weasley, and Lupin had become practically live-in guests in addition to Draco. Even more annoying was that Severus did not find them annoying anymore.

It had been a matter of convenience for Ron and Remus to stay at the house. He and Hermione had labored for what turned out to be two more years before they had perfected the cure for lycanthropy. It had finally worked, though.

“Daddy?” Rachel questioned. “You’ve got that look on your face.”

“Just thinking, love. “

“Are you ready?”

"No,” Severus said, but gave her a small smile. He knew that her marriage would not make much difference in their relationship. Everyone already lived at the house.

He was certain that he was more nervous than she was as he led her towards the boy, no man, that he had tortured for years. Severus was certain that he would never truly like Harry Potter and a part of him wished that the boy would piss his daughter off so that he could kill him.

Hermione was giving him the look that meant she knew what he was thinking and he smiled at her. Toby was sitting quietly next to his mother and looking back at his sister. While everyone else had stood up to watch Rachel walk down the makeshift aisle, Hermione was eight months pregnant with their third child. She swore it would be there last, but that’s what she had said about the last one.

Severus gazed fondly at his two-year-old daughter. Danielle, or Dannie as everyone referred to her, was a miniature version of Hermione and he loved that. She had been the flower girl and was standing next to Draco. How Draco had managed to become the “maid” of honor was something Severus still had not figured out. Hermione had been unable to stand there, so the spot had been filled by Rachel’s best male friend.

Weasley was standing on the other side for Potter and all three men looked decidedly nervous. Rachel had momentarily called off the wedding the night before because she had been feeling ill. After Hermione had been to see her and given her a few potions, she had been better. His thoughts froze as he looked up at the three men again. Draco and Weasley weren’t looking at her, they were looking at him. His feet were still making him walk and he tightened his grip on Rachel’s hand.

It had been a rather sudden illness and Hermione had said her own morning sickness was acting up and had asked him to brew her potion. Now that he thought about it, he was almost certain she had not had morning sickness in months. As they reached the dais, Severus held Rachel’s hand out to Potter and he saw fear splayed across the boys green eyes.

Feeling slightly numb he went and sat next to his wife. Before anyone actually started talked he leaned over and hissed in her ear. “If you tell me she’s pregnant, I’m going to.”

“Do nothing,” Hermione said back to him. “You would be a hypocrite if you did.”

Severus stopped and looked up at his daughter. Dannie climbed up into his lap and he tightly wound his arms around her. A whole new meaning of the word fear seeped into his brain. He was going to be a grandfather.