Favoured Child of the Moon

I woke up the next morning, excited beyond belief. I quietly got up and dressed, went to the bathroom to wash my face and brush my teeth and then went back to the room, I, – unfortunately - shared with Ron, to grab my invisibility cloak and wand. I put a note on the pillow and closed the door behind me. Throwing the cloak over my body, I crept down the stairs like a thief in the night and waited by the door for my fiancé to arrive.

A minute after five, the door silently opened and Severus came inside. I touched his arm and he nodded in my direction. We left the house and disappeared into the park across the street to Apparate.

When my feet touched the ground, I pulled the cloak off, bundled it up and stuffed it in my pocket. Then I grabbed Severus around the back of his neck and pulled him into a heated kiss.

I pulled away after a few minutes to catch my breath. When I finally turned around to take a look at our surroundings, I saw that we were outside a manor, in the Hampshire Countryside. The house brought back so many memories of my life with Severus.

“Sev, do you really still live here?” I asked with awe in my voice.

“No,” he answered, “I don’t. I couldn’t bear to live here after everything that happened so I moved back in at Spinner’s End. I meant to sell this place, but couldn’t bring myself to go through with it.”

Severus added me to the wards and we made our way to the front door. Once inside, I saw that everything was covered with white sheets and there was a lot of dust on everything. We went upstairs and I gasped when I entered the master suite. Everything was exactly the way I had left it thirteen years ago.

The book I had been reading was still on the bedside table, covered in dust. One of my shirts was hanging over the chair and the towel I had used that day, so many years ago, was still lying on the bed.

“Why is this room the only area in the house that isn’t covered in sheets?” I asked.

Severus sighed. “I couldn’t cover up the room. I tried, but I just kept expecting you to come walking through the door, with that idiotic smile on your face.”

“I’m sorry Sev. I’m sorry that I left.”

“Don’t. Don’t apologise. It was my fault you died and we both know it,” he sighed again. “Nuhem, are you sure we should get married? After everything that happ-“

“No. I don’t want you to bring it up. I know that we have to talk about it at some point and we will, but today is my wedding day and it will be a happy occasion.”

“Okay, my love. Come downstairs, I brought breakfast with me, since I doubted that even if there was any food left here, it would be edible.”

I followed him and we cleared the kitchen from dust and threw the white sheets in a corner. We sat at the table and ate while we talked about our plans for the day. Just before seven a.m. I fire-called Neville.

When his sleepy, rumpled face appeared in the ashes, I gave a chuckle.

“Harry?” he asked.

“Morning Neville, I’m sorry to disturb you so early, but I had a very big favour to ask.”

“It’s okay, what is it?”

“Well, I’m getting married.”

“Your what?”

“Getting married. You know; with rings and vows and ever after. That kind of married.”

“Why?”

“Well, I do love him.”

“Him? You’re gay?”

“Yes and I’m marrying Professor Snape. Today.”

“Snape! Harry, if this is some kind of joke then I really don’t think it’s funny.”

“I promise it’s not a joke. I’m very serious and I want you to be my best man at the wedding.”

“Best man? Me? Not Ron? Well Harry, I’m honoured- wait a minute, Professor Snape? You can’t marry Professor Snape.”

“Why not?” I asked. Neville’s reaction really was quite funny even if Severus, who was sitting on the sofa behind me, didn’t think so.

“Well, he’s Snape! And our Professor! And he’s so… so mean! Why on earth would you want to marry him?”

“Like I said, I love him. Look Neville, I could kneel here and discuss this with you for hours. I doubt you’d ever understand why I want to marry him. But the fact of the matter is that I do want to marry and spend the rest of my life with him. It’s not against school rules for a student to be with a teacher, provided the student is of age. I really do want you to be there, Nev. No one else knows and I didn’t tell them, because they’d only try to stop me. You know my family; none of them will ever understand, but I’m serious about this and I won’t regret it tomorrow.”

Neville sighed. “Okay Harry, I know you and you’d never do anything hasty if you weren’t certain. When and where do you need me?”

“We’ll meet you in the Ministry at ten by the statue in the atrium. Wear dress robes.”

“Alright, I’ll see you at ten. I’m still not sure you’re doing the right thing, Harry, but I trust you and I’ve followed you into battle before.”

I laughed at his joke. “Thanks, Nev. And I do agree that it’s going to be a battle marrying Snape, but I’ve been victorious so far, so I’m certain I can survive with him. I’ll see you later. Bye.”

“Bye, Harry, see you.”

I got up from the floor and collapsed in Severus’s lap. He wound his arms around me, pulled me close and buried his face in my hair. I snuggled into him and sighed in contentment. We sat like that for what felt like hours, before we got up to get ready.

My wedding robes were still in my wardrobe, exactly where I’d left them years ago. After separate showers, we both got dressed and prepared for the big event. Severus was wearing dark grey wedding robes and mine were emerald green with a blackish tinge. Both robes were of the same style and had little snakes running along the collar and edges of the robes.

I felt a bulge in the pocket of my trousers and when I took the object out, I saw the small box containing Severus’s wedding band. I had put it there all those years ago to make sure I didn’t lose it. It seems it was a good idea after all.

After checking my appearance, I turned around and took a look at Severus.

“Fuck, Sev, you look gorgeous. Let’s skip the wedding and stay here…” I suggested.

He laughed and said that he hadn’t gone through all the trouble to put the damn things on, only for me to rip it off five minutes later.

“Oh alright, but the minute we get home, I expect you to fuck me in that bed.”

“The bed? I don’t think I can wait that long… What about on the stairs? Or against the wall in the entrance hall?”

I smiled, “if you must…”

We shared a long look and decided to get going before we didn’t even make it to the ceremony.

Before we left, I cast strong Glamour and Notice-Me-Not Charms and then we Apparated to Diagon Alley.

From there we made our way into Gringotts to buy the contracts of three house-elves. We sent them home and told them to start clearing away the sheets and to get rid of all the dust.

Forty-five minutes later, we Apparated to the visitors entrance of the Ministry, entered the phone booth and went down into the atrium.

I spotted Neville immediately, standing by the statue, looking nervous and out of place in his fancy robes.

After meeting up with him, we submitted to the search at security, had our wands checked and registered and then ventured deeper into the ministry. We stepped into the gold lift and got off on Level Five. Then we headed to the International Magical Office of Law, gave the secretary our names and stated our business.

She looked a bit shocked when she saw me, as I had removed my glamour after leaving the lift, but I just gave her a tight smile.

I couldn’t understand why people always had to be so bloody nosy about my personal affairs. Was I not allowed to marry whomever I wanted when I chose to do so?

“Councilman Jennings will be with you in a minute, take a seat in the meantime,” the secretary informed.

We sat in the uncomfortable chairs in silence. Severus looked immensely bored – as if he got married everyday – and Neville looked a bit green at having to sit next to Sev.

I thought it was all rather funny. It did seem a bit strange that I had asked Neville to be my best man and I knew that he was originally Harry’s friend, but the boy had grown on me and he wasn’t nearly as insufferable as Weasley and Granger.

A couple of minutes later, a man in his fifties, wearing a disturbing shade of orange robes, poked his head around the door of his office and invited us inside.

“Right then, gentlemen. Helen informs me that you’ll be wanting to get married.”

“That is correct,” Severus informed in his teacher voice. The one that said you are being an idiot and wasting everyone’s time. I hid my smile behind my hand. Sev’s humour was one of the reasons why I was marrying him.

The Councilman shuffled through the papers on his desk.

“Do you have a witness?” he asked.

Severus drawled an ‘indeed’ and Neville raised his hand.

At this point, Jennings was looking rather out of place in his own office and I didn’t even bother to hide my smile this time.

He pulled a marriage certificate out of a file and asked for our full names.

He seemed even more startled by my name, than Helen, the receptionist had, but wisely said nothing as he also recognised that Sev was an ex-Death Eater. Smart man.

He asked us what our new names would be and Severus answered him again.

“I will be Severus Aahmes and my husband will be Nuhem Aahmes. No middle names.”

“Name of the witness?”

“Neville Longbottom.”

“Alright. Do you have wedding bands?”

“Yes.”

“Let’s proceed then. Severus Tobias Snape, do you take this man as your bondmate and husband? Do you promise to be faithful and honourable for all the rest of your days?”

“I solemnly promise so to do,” Severus replied while looking in my eyes.

“Harry James Potter, do you take this man as your bondmate and husband? Do you promise to be faithful and honourable for all the rest of your days?”

“I solemnly promise so to do.”

“The rings?” Jennings requested.

My ring to Severus looked exactly like my own, except instead of onyx stones for eyes, they were emeralds.

“These rings are an outward symbol of an inward bond. By the power vested in me by the International Magical Office of Law and the Ministry of Magic, I now pronounce you married. Please seal the bond with a kiss.”

Severus, who had been staring in my eyes this whole time, bent his head to mine, closed his eyes and gently kissed me. We broke apart after a second, neither fond of public displays of affection, not even on one’s wedding day. We signed the certificate, along with Jennings and Neville. The certificate disappeared into thin air and Jennings informed us that it was now archived and all official documents with our names on it – birth certificates, Last Will and Testament’s, etc. – would bear our new names. He wished us a happy day and we departed his office. At the lift, I reapplied my Glamour Charm, before stepping into the gold cage.

Neville got up enough courage to talk in Severus’s presence and asked me what the rest of the plans were. I thanked him for helping us get married and then apologised that we weren’t inviting him over for tea, but the entire house was covered in dust and we didn’t even have tea or any other types of food.

Neville looked immensely relieved that he didn’t have to spend any more time in his hated Potion’s Professor’s company and we greeted at the floo’s before going back home.

Once there, we changed into muggle clothing and went into the nearby muggle town to buy groceries. Severus made us lunch and then we enjoyed the wedding night a couple of hours early. We did have thirteen years to make up for after all.