Inspired by reviews intrigued by the quick background image of Luna and Snape in an intimate setting in Once More with Feeling. "How would that even happen?!" LightofEvolution asked. I wrote her a drabble in response. This is a slightly expanded and civilized version of that.

Severus, of course, had retired immediately from his post at Hogwarts after the aftermath of war, not able to close the door on that sad segment of his adult life fast enough. Why go on suffering the ignorance of a continuous string of dunderheads once retribution for his beloved Lily was achieved? No longer chained to the school or its industrious late Headmaster, he returned to a quiet life at Spinner's end. Some might call that life reclusive, but very few would have the gall to do so to his face.

His initial relationship with the enigmatic Luna Lovegood was born much out of her inability to read his sarcasm. Or perhaps, due to her talent at ignoring it. She first became a fixture in his day-to-day just after the final battle. Struggling for life after Nagini's powerful bite, he was admitted to St. Mungos, where he remained for three months. During that time, Luna was one of the young volunteers assigned to his ward. Still a student awaiting her final year, she was trying to catch up on her missed studies from the disaster that was her 6th before term began, so she might finish at the traditional age. For weeks, he kept her at arms' length and refused even the most banal of conversation. By the end, he recognized a rare and clever spark in her, the only real joy he ever found in teaching, and tutored her at his bedside to pass her Potions exam.

As summer came to a close, she returned to Hogwarts, and Snape was released to his solitary life. He thought only occasionally of her in the coming years.

Minerva came to bother him often, sweeping through his dreary home and waving her wand at every window treatment, flooding the place with light. She seemed under the mistaken notion that it was the absence of sun that grew his disdain for it, rather than his disdain inspiring him to buy the thickest brocade tapestries he could manage. She was a thunderstorm of good cheer and pleasantries that made Severus dread the arrival of every month's first Tuesday, scheduled as she was.

His only other social connections were his brief, Ministry-sanctioned visits with his old friend Lucius, and the occasional encounters with random potion ingredient and necessities vendors he dealt with in Diagon Alley. Lucius, for his part, had needed to warm to Severus, feeling betrayal by his friend for never really understanding his loyalties. Snape, likewise, needed to forgive Lucius for his part in a war that took his first lover from him. In the end, they both managed it. Lucius filled his days latching on to the odd hobby in an attempt to ignore his lack of a wand. Severus wasn't interested in building muggle toy boats or other such things, but would sit drinking tea and observing Lucius curse at inanimate objects when they seemed to misbehave. Why one would pursue a frustrating hobby such as these, he couldn't imagine, but it was terribly entertaining to watch.

Four years passed, and Severus slowly warmed to Minerva's visits. She did, after all, bring biscuits and reasonably intelligent conversation. Then, one rainy day in September, she brought Luna Lovegood.

The girl was just beginning an internship at Hogwarts, Minerva explained, being groomed to take Flitwick's position upon his imminent retirement. Minerva thought to impose the girl's presence upon him on occasion, so she might gain knowledge from one of their most notable graduates and staff members. Luna, McGonagall explained, had personally requested him to be her mentor. Severus sneered at the girl and tried very hard not to remember her soothing touch while he had languished under the healers' care, nor to acknowledge what a lovely young woman she had become.

She, however, didn't seem willing to allow him not to notice. What he thought at the start to be her usual odd behavior, he quickly realized were her ethereal and confusing forms of seduction.

"You're very handsome, you know. It's a shame you allow the Nargles to surround you almost completely. They never do understand the most stoic of men and tend to turn their aura to an inappropriate depth. I would be delighted to help you with them."

Severus had looked at her like one would might be expected to look at a girl wearing radishes as an accessory and spouting nonsense.

He barked at her and told her that was quite enough for the day and that his attic she so irritatingly insisted on inspecting did not require her efforts to clear them of an imaginary infestation.

But she had soothed him with a pale hand on his jaw and settled him with the gaze of an old soul. "It's alright, Severus. I know your instincts are of the snake, but you won't scare me by lashing out. I'm too intrigued with how you might bite." And she kissed him with lips that tasted sweet like the most divine poison and molded her lithe body against his.

They didn't discuss what would happen next when she woke draped in his scratchy sheets, her feet pressed against his calf. She simply rose and pulled her jumper over her head, chatting all the while.

"It might be rather late, when I make it back after orientation tonight, but I'll be sure to bring something for dinner with me. Before I go, I'll make tea." He didn't argue and, as she promised, she returned that evening with take away from Hogsmeade. After that, she aggressively settled herself into his life with neither invitation nor reservation.

Severus, for the first time in twenty years, lets a witch make him smile. He luxuriates in her and welcomes the light brought to his life, never intrusive yet every bit as bright as the sun. Minerva stops insisting on opening the drapes when she drops by. When he mentions it, gently ribbing as though he won some undeclared battle, she smiles an indulgent smile and tells him he has more than enough sunshine in his life.

Luna, perched on the arm of the sofa to his right, nods sagely, thoughtfully chewing a biscuit. "You really must be careful with light. It loses a great deal of potency without some darkness for contrast. Best to let the sun and clouds work themselves out. They know how to share, after all."

Severus, holding a blue tea cup, the only one of its kind in their mix-matched set, and the one Luna insists coordinates with his magical core, brings her knuckles to his lips with his free hand and kisses lightly. "Well said, as ever." There is always wisdom in her words, he's decided, though he isn't always certain what it is. This time, he accepts the metaphor for what it is and lets her warmth wash over him; her sun and his darkness creating the reflection and shadow of affection.

Thanks for reading! I LOVE Severus Snape. He's just about the most tragic character in modern history lol.

Much appreciation in advance for faves and reviews!