Harry Potter set aside a rather nice looking if severely tarnished silver tea set with the Prince family crest on it as he sorted through a vault he had recently inherited dearly wishing that he could burn Dumbledore's portrait as it would be impossible to bring the man back from the dead just to kill him again, but special wards had been put up around the Headmasters' portraits to prevent such "vandalism" long ago.

How could that bastard do something like that to him, and to his parents?

His parents had obviously managed to get over the animosity he had witnessed in Snap...his father's memories sometime after their fifth year and eventually come to love each-other dearly - as proven by the fact that there was a rather nice looking and very real marriage license stuck in a photo album filled with pictures and mementos of a growing Severus Snape that looked like it was made by Eile...his grandmother - and then they were torn apart by Albus stinking-Dumbledore for that stupid "Greater-Good" of his.

How could Dumbledore be so cruel as to wipe his parents' memories of the love they had shared and the marriage they had risked their lives for?

If that bastard hadn't obliviated his parents and the few friends who had attended their wedding, he could have been raised by a loving father rather than those bastard Dursleys.

1979:

James Potter sighed as he sent the note telling Lily that he agreed to her conditions. Lily was just about everything to him and he would do anything to prove his love to her, even marry...

Looking on the bright side, it might even work out, if only because he would be close to the source of those heavenly banana nut muffins he used to steal as well as the blueberry scones, chocolate biscuits, lemon bars and other baked goods he would swipe after he'd found the small kitchen set up in an abandoned classroom.

If he went through with this, there would probably be a new treat for him every day of the week.

Yes, he would do this, if it was the only way to keep Lily.

&!&

Lily read the letter from James in stunned surprise. She'd only been joking when she'd made that particular condition. She hadn't expected him to actually agree to it. It would solve a particular problem that she had been trying to solve for nearly a month however.

Smiling happily, she wrote back to James accepting his proposal.

As soon as her reply was sent, she sent out a letter to her on-again, off-again best friend.

&!&

"Do you James Charlus Potter take Lily Evans to be your lawfully wedded wife for as long as you both shall live, for better or worse, in sickness and health, 'til death do you part?"

"I do."

"Do you James Charlus Potter take Severus Tobias Snape as your lawfully wedded husband for as long as you both shall live, for better or worse, in sickness and health, 'til death do you part?"

Remember the muffins. Lily's great and all, but she could burn a salad both with or without magic.

"I-I do."

1991:

Severus Snape's eyes once again flicked over the objects in his vault as he scooped several galleons into a bag. For the life of him, he could not remember how he had gotten the Prince family library and heirlooms considering the fact that his grandfather's will clearly stated that he had to marry a pureblood in order to inherit them, and he'd made a vow on his magic that he would marry Lily a year before their close-knit friendship combusted in a spectacular manner that it never quite healed from.

But somehow, inherit he had and not a moment too soon as his sponsor had died and the funding for his education had just about dried up when he was but a few months shy of his mastery.

He still had his magic, and no wife has popped out of the woodwork, so that was one mystery he'd probably never solve.