A Month Later

The castle was filled with boxes. Mostly they're all from Wayne. He sets his belongings wherever Daphne would say would be okay. He didn't want to smother her with his things. Wayne fell in love with the place, Devon was a beautiful place to stay at.

Lucas had stayed behind in France since he had a family of his own, his soon-to-be wife and his son, Regulus Cox. He wanted Daphne to keep the castle. And if anything, if she needs any help, he'll be there within a snap.

Wayne looked around the huge place, the walls told so many stories to him. The grief, the pain was written all over. He stepped into Daphne's old room, the one that they now share. Drawings, old assignments, letters, potion ingredients were spread across the room. He picks up a letter and reads it, it was from Blaise, it mentions how much he misses her and if everything was alright. That was written in her fourth year, the year she got the mark.

"Sorry for the mess." Daphne comes in carrying a box, setting it on her desk.

"Nini! What did I say about carrying these? You'll hurt yourself and the baby." Wayne places the letter down, grabbing the box from my hands. Right, so, I am pregnant. Shocker. It just happened all of the sudden. Was this a setup? No, it wasn't. Trust me on this okay? Wayne grabs my hand, twirling me around.

"I'm sorry, I just wanted to help."

"No need to apologize my dear." I moved on from the whole Marc blackmailing me. Wayne would never do anything bad to me and I trust him. I do. He would never get involved, he's too innocent.

"Oh uh, my friends, Blaise and Lisa are coming over. They have been dying to meet you."

"I'm excited honestly. I finally get to meet your friends." Lisa and Blaise didn't know about the engagement or the pregnancy. We were all so busy. They were traveling, helping out around the world, and well, I was getting engaged. Things didn't work out but now that I came back, everything will go back to the way it was.

"I'll be back." I scrunched up my nose as a smiled and walked out of my room. I headed to my father's old office. My hand hovered over the doorknob, scared to go in. It's been so long. You can do this Daphne. I pushed the doors open and reviled the dusty office. With a flick of my wand, the room was being cleaned. I can feel my father's presence in here, it felt warm, calming. "Hello father. I'm home." I whispered softly. I made my way to the desk and sat down. I started organizing the top, placing photos of us and Wayne, Lucas, Katherine. I opened a drawer and saw that there was a letter in my name. My hands started to shake as I held the envelope, ripping it slowly, unfolding it. It was my father's handwriting.

𝘔𝘺 𝘥𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘵 𝘋𝘢𝘱𝘩𝘯𝘦 𝘓𝘪𝘭𝘵𝘩,
𝘐 𝘸𝘢𝘯𝘵 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘵𝘰 𝘶𝘯𝘥𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘺𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘐 𝘥𝘪𝘥 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘵𝘰 𝘬𝘦𝘦𝘱 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘴𝘢𝘧𝘦. 𝘌𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘺 𝘴𝘢𝘤𝘳𝘪𝘧𝘪𝘤𝘦 𝘐 𝘥𝘪𝘥 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘵𝘰 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘨𝘰 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘭𝘪𝘧𝘦 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘭𝘪𝘧𝘦, 𝘢 𝘩𝘢𝘱𝘱𝘺 𝘰𝘯𝘦. 𝘕𝘰 𝘮𝘰𝘳𝘦 𝘭𝘰𝘰𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘳 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘴𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥𝘦𝘳. 𝘐 𝘥𝘰 𝘩𝘰𝘱𝘦 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘧𝘪𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘨𝘪𝘷𝘦 𝘮𝘦 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘸𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘐'𝘷𝘦 𝘥𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘶𝘯𝘥𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘸𝘩𝘺. 𝘐 𝘸𝘪𝘴𝘩 𝘸𝘦 𝘩𝘢𝘥 𝘮𝘰𝘳𝘦 𝘵𝘪𝘮𝘦 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘯 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘵𝘪𝘮𝘦 𝘸𝘦 𝘴𝘩𝘢𝘳𝘦𝘥, 𝘐 𝘸𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘳𝘦𝘱𝘭𝘢𝘺 𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘳 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘳 𝘣𝘦𝘤𝘢𝘶𝘴𝘦 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘮𝘺 𝘩𝘢𝘱𝘱𝘪𝘯𝘦𝘴𝘴. 𝘙𝘦𝘮𝘦𝘮𝘣𝘦𝘳 𝘮𝘺 𝘭𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘭𝘺 𝘋𝘢𝘱𝘩𝘯𝘦, 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘨𝘰𝘰𝘥, 𝘤𝘩𝘰𝘰𝘴𝘦 𝘸𝘩𝘢𝘵𝘴 𝘳𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘯𝘰 𝘮𝘢𝘵𝘵𝘦𝘳 𝘸𝘩𝘢𝘵, 𝘐'𝘭𝘭 𝘣𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘺𝘰𝘶. 𝘈𝘭𝘸𝘢𝘺𝘴.

Teardrops fell on the paper. I laughed as I remember the fun memories we had together. It's nice to be back home again. I put my letters to Draco in the drawer and headed out. Wayne was turning the corner.

"There you are!" He tried looking through the room but I closed the door before he saw anything. "This is such a big place. I lost myself getting to the garden."

"You'll get used to it dear." I patted his arm as I walked away. We stayed downstairs fixing everything. The door knocked and I shuffled myself to the door. As I opened it, Lisa jumped into my arms, pushing Blaise out of the way.

"Ha ah!" She laughs. She pulls away, takes a good look at me. "Daph! You look amazing!"

"Look at you! You got even more beautiful!" I looked at Blaise. "Blaise, come here." I gave him a hug too.

"I see that France has changed you."

"It was for the best." I shrugged.

"You're showing!" They looked down at my stomach. "This the surprise you told me about?"

"Yes." Lisa and I held hands, happy about the child I was going to have. Wayne cleans his hands as he enters the foyer. Lisa and Blaise's eyes popped out as they saw him. He looked like a taller and lanky version of Ha-

"Lisa, Blaise, this is Wayne Laurent. My fiancé." I introduced him. Lisa's mouth dropped.

"It's finally nice to meet you all. Nini has been talking about you both."

"Nini?" Blaise questions.

"Daphne, sorry." We stood there awkwardly.

"Uh Wayne!" Lisa claps, cutting the tension. "Welcome to London, we hope you enjoy staying here." She showed her famous smile.

"It's nothing like France. But I'm glad to be here with Daphne." Wayne pulls me towards him, kissing my cheek.

"How about we take Wayne here to three broomsticks?" I put out, trying so hard not to make this meeting even more awkward than it is. "Wayne, you should try the butterbeer, it's good."

"Let's go then."

✷ ✷ ✷

Hogsmeade was packed, still looks like it did years ago. As if it was never destroyed. Everyone whispered as the rumors were true, Daphne Snape was back. Can she be trusted? Lucas and Daphne were pardoned by the Ministry of Magic, but it's the thought of them actually sided with Voldemort that scared them.

"Don't mind them, they don't know what you sacrificed." Lisa whispers to me, taking my hand. Blaise and Wayne got along quickly, they cracked jokes and Blaise even told him if he wanted to play a round of quidditch one day. The bells rang as Wayne opened the door to the small place. Wayne lets Blaise and Lisa go first. They took us to sit in a booth.

"Its on me." Wayne walks with Blaise to the front, ordering the drinks.

"Soo." Lisa said. "He's-"

"Too happy?"

"He's nice." We laughed. "Oh Daph, I missed you so much. Im so glad you came back."

"I couldn't leave you behind." The men came back, giving us the mugs of the drink. We waited for Wayne to try it.

"Go on." Wayne raised his glass and took a sip.

"Not that bad." He hums. He had whipped cream on his upper lip. I cleaned him up, wiping the mess with my sleeve.

"Harry!" Lisa waves at him as he enters. He walked in with Ginny, Hermione and Ron. "Hello guys!" They all walked up to the booth.

"Daphne, you're back. Glad to have you back." Ginny tells me.

"Thanks Ginny." Everyones heads turned to Harry and Wayne. "Uhh this is my fiancé, Wayne Laurent."

"Harry Potter." Wayne takes his hand and shakes it.

"I've heard stories. The chosen one." Harry just nods. "Its nice to meet you all."

"Nice to meet you too. Welcome home Daphne." Harry said as they all went to sit somewhere else.

"Harry and his friends are nice." Lisa told Wayne. "Maybe we all can hang out one day."

"Splendid!"

✷ ✷ ✷

After we went our separate ways, I went to buy some flowers for Katherine's and my father graves. I wanted to go see them again. Wayne held the bouquet of flowers as I led the way. There was the two graves next to each other. Katherine Diana Cox, loving sister and aunt, and Severus Tobias Snape, loving father and friend. Wayne passed me the flowers. I laid the red roses on Katherines and lilies for my father. I took a step back and looked down.

A tear fell, Wayne wiping it away for me. I gave him a small smile as I tried to cover myself with laughing. He knew that this hurt me, he knew how much they both meant to me. He rubs my back, kissing my head.

"They're proud of you." He whispers. I can imagine them standing besides me, smiling, talking about I did the right thing. I still hear my fathers voice telling that everything is okay and Katherine would be smiling nonstop. Just to see them right now.