I wanted to thank everybody who reviewed my first story There they were. I really appreciated all of your kind words. I wanted to write a short little continuation and a sort of they lived happily ever after type thing. I would like to write a final installment for this series, but I can't promise anything. I hope you like this.

All characters belong to JKR. I own nada!



There they were – In love


He sat quietly among the others. They were all there, friends and family trying to pass the time. He looked among them and briefly thought of how this motley crew of people had come into his life. The two he referred to sometimes as ‘the boys’, and more affectionately as Potter and Weasley were her best friends, sat next to him. Near the corner was a very pregnant Ginny Weasley sitting next to a very doting Draco. Molly and Arthur were making themselves busy talking to her parents, Hugh and Rita Granger. Then there was Albus and Minerva talking amongst themselves about how they remembered just as if yesterday she was in her first year, and now she was going to be a mother.

Severus closed his eyes and leaned his head against the wall. He had married Hermione a little over one year ago. Their wedding night had been quite an eye opening experience for both of them. He chuckled when he remembered her reaction upon seeing him naked.

“Well that’s not going to fit inside of me I can tell you that much.� He made sure she ate her words that night, among other things.

That night they talked at length about the kind of marriage they wanted. They both decided they would never say they loved each other unless they really meant it. Neither wanted to pretend. They had been thrust into an uncomfortable situation but there was no reason they should not make the best of it. Hermione had decided that she would take her university courses via owls because she wanted time to get to know her husband, and he admittedly wanted to get to know her as well.

He found that he quite liked her company. He had been alone for so many years and he hadn’t realized how comforting it was just to know there was another person in a room with you. And he also found her quickly becoming his favorite lab partner.

In the first couple of months of their being together there grew a fondness towards one another. She also found herself wanting to spend as much time with him as possible. One day she began to feel nauseous. She attributed it to having spent the early part of the day crushing toad kidneys and thought no more of it. But after several days of the same feeling she went to see Poppy. Within a minute she confirmed to Hermione she was pregnant.

Hermione just stared at her. She had only missed the contraception spell once. Poppy laughed.

“Once is all it takes, dear.� Then she sent her off with some instructions and some potions containing vitamins. Hermione walked slowly to the dungeons. They had never discussed children, either having or wanting them. He was going to be furious with her she had thought.

When she told Severus he just stared at her blankly. After a while she felt the familiar sting of tears forming in her eyes. She readied herself for the worst. They had been getting along so well. There had even been times in which she felt he cared for her more than he let on, that he wanted to be more than just friends and she found herself thinking she could be in love with him. He noticed a tear fall down her cheek then kneeled down in front of her and took her small hands in his.

“Are you sure, Hermione?� he had asked hopefully.

“Yes, Poppy said I’m about seven weeks along. I’m sorry, Severus, I forgot the charm at some point, it was an accident.�

“Why are you sorry?� he felt a stab at his heart. He thought she was sorry because she did not want to carry the child of an ex-Death Eater.

“You aren’t upset with me?�

“You’re crying because you think I’ll be angry?� she bowed her head.

“Yes. I know you don’t like children.� He pulled her chin up and looked into her watery eyes.

“I don’t like other people’s children. This is our child, Hermione, we have created a life.� He smiled and suddenly grabbed her and swung her around the room. “I can’t believe I’m going to be a father.� She wrapped her arms around his neck and laughed until she felt herself growing dizzy and nauseous once more.

“Oh, put me down, Severus. Put me down, I think I’m going to be sick.� He immediately put her down and she ran to the bathroom.

He smiled as he thought back on that day. How they had spent many days in that bathroom. She with her head over the toilet and he holding her hair up and rubbing alcohol on her neck. He loved her then, he knew that was the start of it. There had been growing feelings for her since that first week of marriage, but the minute she told him he was to be a father he knew for sure he was truly and desperately falling in love with his wife. From that moment on it would be little things that she did that made him love her even more.

She humored him during his tirades after he would read his newest issue of Potions Monthly. She knew that he hated to talk to anyone in the mornings until after he had brushed his teeth and had stood at least several minutes under a steaming hot shower. Whenever she went out with Ginny she would always come home with something for him, be it a new ingredient she found at the Apothecary or a particularly hard to find book. He often looked at her sleeping next to him and wondered what his life would be like without her, then shook the thought away. He loved her, but he couldn’t bring himself to tell her. They had become so close, but she could never really love him he thought and he couldn’t bear to hear her tell him his love was not returned.

For Hermione it was the little things Severus did that made her fall in love with him. Like coming to their rooms between classes to share a particularly funny story about what some first year did to his cauldron, or when they went to a bookstore he would come to her with a book he knew she would like. But best of all was when they would go out to eat somewhere, ‘No, my wife prefers Merlot, please make sure her steak is medium rare, her vegetables have to be al-dente and not boiled to the point of mush.’ He knew all her likes and dislikes. He even took to sitting with her in the Gryffindor section during Quidditch matches when Slytherin wasn’t playing. She was sure it was only because they had spent so much time together he would inevitably learn her little eccentricities as she had learned his. He was always very observant anyway, so it would have been easy for him to know those things now that they had been living together for a few months. She could never tell him she loved him; she couldn’t bear not hearing the same from him.

This was their life was, two people too afraid of being hurt that they were doing what did what they said they would not do, they were pretending.

It had now been almost twelve hours since Hermione had gone into labor. Severus was torn from his thoughts by a loud cry of pain. He bolted out of his chair and ran towards the closed doors. Molly and Rita came to him and reassured him that it was normal, that he had to realize she would be in a lot of pain. There were some things that magic could not be used in, and the natural process of giving birth was one of them.

Severus turned and sat back down. He leaned forward and covered his face with his hands. She was in pain and he was the cause of it. Had he not gotten her pregnant she would not be in pain. His head began to swimming with horrible thoughts. What if something happened to her and the baby? What if she died? Dear Merlin, what if she died and he never had the chance to tell her he loved her? Seeing the look of anguish on his face Albus walked over and sat next to him.

“She is a strong young woman, Severus. She will be fine.�

“I don’t know what I would do if something happened to her, Albus,� he said.

“Have faith, Severus, for I gather you will be in this position a few more times in the coming years.� He smiled and patted the younger wizard on the back and took his place next to Minerva once again. After another two hours the door of the infirmary opened. Everyone looked anxiously at Poppy who now began walking towards Severus with a smile.

“You can go in now, Severus. They are both doing very well.�

Severus needed no prodding. He all but flew past her and across infirmary to the last bed. He opened the curtains, which surrounded the bed and saw her. She held a small bundle in her arms, and all he could see was a dark mop of hair peeking through the blankets. She smiled when she saw him, her heart alive once more.

“Look at him, Severus, isn’t he beautiful?� She turned slightly as Severus approached. He sat down beside her on the bed and looked at his son.

“My son.� He carefully drew away the blanket from the baby’s tiny face. She was right- he was beautiful. His hair was the blackest of black, just like his father. His eyes were still new and had the milky film newborns have, but he could see right way they would be brown, just like his mother.

“I’d like to name him Santino. It means little angel.� She said as she stroked her child’s fine hair. He chuckled as he held both mother and child.

“I think you are tempting the fates, Hermione. I doubt our son will be nothing less than a little devil.� He kissed her on the temple then carefully settled himself further on the bed next to them.

She smiled at Severus, knowing what he meant. Having him as a father and her as a mother was practically a guarantee their son would get into more trouble than either of them could possibly even imagine anyway.

“Thank you, my love,� She looked at him wondering if she had heard him correctly, “I love you, Hermione. I am nothing without you. I should have told you sooner, for I have loved you all these months and was too much of a coward to say the words� He kissed her lips lightly and began to stroke her hair, then he felt his cheek grow wet. He pulled back slightly and noticed she was crying.

“I never thought I would ever hear you say those words to me. I love you, Severus, I love you.� She laughed and peppered his face with tiny kisses. Soon after their friends and family, joined them and all agreed that Santino was beautiful.

True to his word, Albus was to join Severus outside the infirmary doors several more times during the first few years of the Snape’s marriage. And, by the way, Santino never did live up to his name.