Say You Love Me

{epilogue}

Severus shifted from heel to toe as he stood on a platform he hadn't been on in many, many years. It was a foreign sight, so much having happened since he was seventeen. Teaching, service to two masters at once, a wife, a child, and his days had never been quiet, bar the few years alone on the beach he'd earned. Still, this menagerie of children and parents alike was even more horrible than the damned Weasley Christmas's. 

"Dad?"

The title never fit him, but neither had any of the others. Father was too strict, Daddy was diminutive, and Papa might as well have proved he was old enough to also be his child's grandfather. 

"Yes, my love?"

"Tell me about mum before I go?"

They were there considerably early, but Severus had so much to say of the girl's mother, it was cruel to only give her a few snippets as she was about to be off. Matilda knew a lot, he'd made a promise to Hermione and had kept that, but she liked to hear everything on repeat, like she was studying it. 

"Well, she was very bright, just like you are... and quite the bit younger than me-"

"You taught her in school, right?"

"Right..." he stuttered. What else was there?

"She was cursed accidentally by your Uncle Ron," Severus cringed whenever he addressed the boy like that, but there was so little else he could imagine his daughter calling her extended family. 

"Right, and then you thought you had a cure but she wouldn't let you do it."

"Yes, your mother was a very kind woman, and didn't want me to have to deal with her loss if it indeed, did not work."

Matilda sighed, and hugged him. Severus breaking down in front of the people around him was only because his daughter was allowed to see him this way and he refused to act different around her. 

"Thank you, I just wanted to be reminded that she was brave, so I can be brave too."

Severus chuckled, "Don't forget your mother also helped Uncle Harry defeat the most tyrannical wizard Britain had seen in a long time."

"You helped too!" She said, popping up and shaking her black curls all over the place. Unmanageable, just like her mother's hair had been. "You were both brave, and so I shall be too! I love you, Dad! I'm going to do you both proud, I promise."

Severus felt a million weights lift from his shoulder, and somewhere up there in the heavens, he knew Hermione was proud of their little girl. It certainly made putting her on the train a little easier. 

He hated to think of that April night now, where Hermione had stood before him and then he cast the curse, but she put up a shield, more quickly than he'd meant the curse, and then pushed his wand aside, jumping into his arms. 

"I've had enough," she said. 

"What do you mean, this could work," he hissed at her, angry that she was thwarting the attempt for salvation. 

"And it could fail," Hermione spoke softly. "Just say you love me, and when I'm gone, then I am gone. I could not bear to see you shoulder the guilt if it doesn't work."

She was right to stop him, however, for that night he'd cast the spell on her sleeping form and meant it, yet a few months later he still lost her. 

Which is why he adored Matilda so much. She was everything Hermione was, and yet there was also a lot of himself in his child. A snappy wit that was characteristically Snape, as well as the black hair and sharp nose. 

"I love you, Matilda," he said back to the little girl still wrapped about his torso. 

She nodded, running off to chatter with everyone in sight, a quality obviously earned from her mother, no doubt. So all wasn't well, but most of it was, and that was all Severus could ask for. 

A/N

I tottered on this ending for SO LONG folks. I was going to have her die in the end, I wasn't, then I was again and so forth. Well, this was the original decision, so here we have it. I hope you enjoyed this little story, I know it wasn't what I wanted it to end up being, but I hope there was enjoyment nonetheless! I don't have anything lined up yet, but we'll see what pops up! Have a good one, lovelies!