Author's note: All good things must come to an end. :) This is it. I wanted to add in another chapter about Tink, who kind of gets lost in the second half of this story, but I just never found a great place to add it. So if you are wondering, Tink gets reunited with her children and the whole elf family goes willingly to work at Hogwarts where they serve happily-ever-after. Thank you again for your continued support. If you're ever looking for me, you can find me at samanthablair dot com.

Chapter 46

SPOV

Saturday morning rolled around and I found myself dreading facing her parents more than facing the Dark Lord. They couldn't be that bad, could they? Only reasonable people could have raised such a brilliant and driven daughter. My fears were not quieted when I came up for breakfast and found Hermione picking at her eggs nervously. She gave me a tight-lipped smile before serving me.

"What time did you want to leave?" she asked.

"Whenever you are ready. When are they expecting us?"

"Lunch time. Around noon, I guess."

I glanced at the clock. "We'll go at 11:45. That gives us almost three hours."

"Is there brewing to be done?" She looked almost hopeful as if an hour or two in the lab might distract her.

"Not really." The need for potions had decreased rather dramatically with the war at an end. "But we could come up with something, if it would make you feel better."

She gave a nervous little laugh. "You read me so well. I would like a bit of a distraction."

"Do you really think that they will be upset with you?" I asked, although I wasn't sure I wanted the answer.

"No. Yes. I'm really not sure. They will want what is best for me, but they will think it's too soon, and that I'm too young, and…"

"That I'm too old and miserable," I finished for her. "All reactions we've gotten before."

"We weren't engaged before."

I grunted in agreement. "I don't wish to cause a divide between you and your parents, love."

"I want to be with you. I want you above everything else, so we'll just have to find a way to get them to accept it."

I swallowed down the rest of my tea and stood from the table. "Come, Hermione. Let me distract you." Distract us both.

Fifteen minutes later, as she rode me in the bathtub with water splashing over the rim, sending a cascade of bubbles to the floor, I had completely forgotten that I had anything to be nervous about. When we were together the rest of the world ceased to matter every time.

"Please Severus," she begged. "I need more."

My hand moved up her back, gripping her shoulders and pulling her soft body down hard into my erection. "I know what you need," I growled in response. Pinning her arms behind her with my own. I held her firmly to my chest as I thrust my hips up into her.

Her legs, tight around my hips, twitched and squirmed as she fought to find release. "I fucking love it when you struggle," I whispered.

Emboldened by my words and on the verge of an orgasm, she fought harder against the strength in my arms, thrashing against my unrelenting cock until she worked herself over the edge and came with a loud cry.

Moved by the beauty of her passion, I captured her lips with mine and filled her with my seed.

She collapsed against me, and I lifted us both from the tub to dry. "Suitable distraction?" I teased.

"Mmm, very much so."

We fell into bed for a while after that, naked, neither of us having much desire to dress. Hermione told me stories of her childhood before Hogwarts, and I had to admit that I felt a good bit better about meeting her parents after hearing her positive memories. Her growing up was so different from my own. Her home had been full of love, toothbrushes, and homemade cookies, and mine was nothing like it.

I had never really been a part of a family before. The Slythern house was the closest that I'd come as a child. I'd never really felt the need to belong, but against my better judgment, I found myself hoping that Hermione's parents would accept me. I was going to marry their daughter either way, but I wanted their blessing if I could get it.

"They are going to love you, Severus," she finally whispered with a certainty that hadn't been there before. I wasn't so sure.

HPOV

"Mum?" I called, pushing the backdoor open. I was sure that they would have heard the thunder crack as we appeared in the back yard.

"Hermione!" My mother came around the corner and all at once I realized just how much I'd missed her. Being in her arms, smelling her homemade soup, and feeling the welcome of home was just overwhelming. "We missed you so much," she said.

"I missed you too."

I hugged my dad as well before realizing that it was time to make the awkward introduction.

"Mom, Dad," I said, deliberately hiding my hands behind my back. "Do you remember Severus?"

"Professor Snape, isn't it, honey?" my dad asked, reaching forward to shake his hand.

"I'm afraid that's a rather long story," Severus answered for me. "But, I've asked Hermionie to call me Severus, and I'd like it if you did the same."

"Hermione did say that she had something she wanted to discuss," my dad responded conservatively. He was perceptive, and knew that something was amiss. "Why don't we go into the kitchen where we'll be more comfortable?"

Now that I was home, in the warmth of mother's kitchen, I wasn't nearly so nervous. Why had I doubted my own parents? They loved me and had always been supportive. I wanted to have the good news out. I loved Severus, and my parents would learn to love him too. I waited until everything was on the table, and we were all seated before taking Severus' hand.

"Mum, Dad, I came home and brought Severus with me today because we have some good news to share."

"Oh my God, you're pregnant," my father blurted out. I couldn't help it. I laughed.

"No, Dad. Not pregnant, engaged to be married." I lifted my left hand from Severus' to show them the ring on my finger.

"Oh thank God."

"Married?" My mother choked out. "I'm very happy for you, dear, but isn't this a little sudden."

"Not really," I responded. "Like Severus said, it's a rather long story, but if you'll give me a minute, I'll tell it."

SPOV

Now I knew where Hermione got her talkative and inquisitive nature. Her parents never shut up. Between the three of them, it was less of a conversation and more of fast-paced, three-part lecture that never stopped. It would give the most patient of wizards a migraine.

I mostly kept to myself and let Hermione handle their reactions, trusting her to know them better than I did. She told the story well, omitting the really nasty parts, and making it all seem more romantic than it truly has been. Or was that how she really saw it? Perhaps her glasses were rosier than I thought. Mine certainly were not.

They asked an exuberant number of rapid-fire questions, but my brilliant little submissive had an answer for every one of them.

"So, Severus, how do you feel about all of this?" her mother asked, catching me off guard in the wild storm of conversation.

The following silence seemed to stun the whole table for a moment. "If I hadn't been there—been an active part of the last year of my own life—I wouldn't have believed it," I said slowly. "But, I love your daughter like I have never loved another human being, and I am looking forward to spending every day of the rest of my life making her happy."

Jean Granger burst into tears.

Truthfully, it was all a little overwhelming to me, but I made it through lunch and when her father asked me to step outside with him, I was mostly relieved. He was a quieter man without the influence of the women in his family.

He gave me the standard father speech about not hurting his little girl. His or else was interesting though. He threatened to tie me to his dentist chair and give me a root canal. I was genuinely intimidated. Muggle dentistry did not look pleasant.

"Kidding aside, Severus, I'm not sure that you're making the right decision. I don't know you well. I don't even live in the same world as you, and you certainly aren't what we pictured for Hermione. However, I learned around the time Hermione was four that once my girl made up her mind, it was nearly impossible to change it. She's got a good head on her shoulders. She wouldn't make this kind of a decision lightly," he said, looking me over from head to toe. I fought the urge to scowl.

"So, instead of standing in your way," he continued. "I'd rather offer my assistance. If Hermione wants to marry you, then I want you to be successful. If you need anything, please don't hesitate to come to us."

"I am grateful for your support," I responded. "I know that Hermione really wanted your approval, and so do I."

We stayed until suppertime and then promised to visit more frequently. It was a promise that I found myself wanting to keep. I'd never had parents who supported me, and if her parents want to fill that role for both of us, then maybe it was time I opened up to that idea.

Later that night as I untied Hermione from my bedposts and curled myself around her soft, naked form she asked me if her father had been hard on me.

"Not really," I responded. "You have a lovely family, little one. I'm looking forward to belonging with them." It was not a lie.

HPOV

I lay awake into the night, thinking about all of the people that I knew. Some approved of my relationship, some didn't. I wasn't sure that Ron and I would ever really be on speaking terms again, and that left a dull ache in my chest, but I had Harry's approval, Ginny's, and that of my parents. When push came to shove no one else really mattered.

I breathed deeply and snuggled further into my Master's arms. I felt so safe here, with him, so protected, so loved.

Focusing on my N.E.W.T.s would consume my life for another month, and I wanted to do well, but even the tests didn't seem so important any more. My mother had mentioned how much I'd grown over the last year, and while I hadn't stopped to think about it, it was certainly true. War and love had a way of challenging your priorities.

Wanting me to do well, Severus continued to drill me mercilessly on my test questions after the new of our engagement had quieted down. I found submitting to him, when he told me that it was time to stop studying and rest, was often difficult, but I learned to trust him. When the time came, I was well enough prepared. I passed with flying colors, and it seemed as if no one was surprised but me.

My application to the school in America was accepted—they were all accepted, actually—but I thought the dry heat and blue skies of the southwest would be a pleasant change. So after our small and intimate wedding in my parents' back yard, we left for a honeymoon that would carry us through the next three years and my undergraduate degree. They were years where we really learned to lean on each other. Far from our friends and family, we found strength in our relationship and developed the pattern for how we would survive when death and war were no longer our primary concerns.

Harry and Ginny visited us in America frequently and even lived there for a stretch of a few months before Ginny became pregnant with their first child. They are on the second pregnancy now, and I doubt they'll stop before they have a family to rival the original Weasley clan.

Tomorrow, we will return to where it all began. Severus and I have been invited to be the new Poisons Master and Charms Mistress at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Convincing Master to return to teaching dunderheads was a bit of a stretch, but secretly, I think he missed the sadism of terrifying the first years. I for one couldn't wait to see the bat of the dungeons back in action. He had always been sexy in black.