With both Albus and Harry asleep after their celebration dinner, Severus wanted to relax in his usual manner with a book and some tea, but he was too keyed up. Walking into the living room, he saw Echo standing at the window looking out at the moonlit beach.

Echo wore a wine coloured, summery cotton gauze, sleeveless long tunic over a white, lace skirt. The tunic was loosely belted with a silver conch belt. Her long, black curls, which were usually caught in a loose braid, now hung free to her mid-back. Severus thought that she had looked lovely at dinner, but there, in front of the window with only candle light to illuminate the room, she was a vision of Grecian beauty.

"Miss Pros... Echo, would you care to join me for a walk?" he asked.

Echo had not heard him enter the living room, and was slightly startled by his velvety voice behind her. She turned and smiled slightly. "I'd love to, Severus. I think I need to walk off some of that baklava."

Severus opened the door for Echo and she stepped outside. He soon followed and closed the door behind them. As soon as they went through the gate, Echo slipped her hand timidly in the crook of his elbow. The dark-haired wizard looked down at the pretty witch's hand on his elbow and he impulsively put his other hand over hers.

It had only been a few weeks since he'd pulled her out of the ocean, but now that moment seemed ages gone. He had expected tears, much heartache, great depression, but there had been little of that. Whether it was conscious or not, Echo had settled in with the wizards as though she'd been there forever. She and Severus shared cooking duties in the kitchen and both of them allowed Harry to help out.

Echo turned out to be a great help with Albus. The ex-Headmaster, always known to be an even-tempered wizard, had become cantankerous with his debilitating curse. There were too many times he was short tempered, and sometimes childish. These outbursts always seemed to tread on Severus' last nerve and just when he wanted to lash out verbally at Albus, Echo would be right there to soothe everything and make it possible for the Potions Master to retreat.

The young woman also was becoming an integral part of Harry's everyday life. She had taken over some of his tutoring and brought his reading skills up so that he was finally reading just above a seven year old's level. He would now be able to go to Primary school once summer was over.

There was a lot that Severus preferred to do with Harry, such as read to him at bedtime, teach him chess, brew potions with him, and sometimes just talk. Echo seemed to know, intuitively, when her presence would be welcome between father and son, and when it wasn't.

At their celebration dinner tonight he had watched as Echo coaxed Harry into trying a sauce on his fried calamari that was a little spicier than he was used to. The taste test had elicited much noise and laughter and Severus had looked upon the little scene as something he wanted more of beyond just the idylls of summer.

When he saw Echo at the window looking out upon the stars, he wanted to do anything he could think of to keep the evening from ending.

With this beautiful, young woman walking beside him beneath the full moon, Severus was conscious of her perfume, a delicate mixture of Bergamot, Sandlewood, Petitgrain, all held together with the sweet citrus bite of tangerine. He smiled as the scents reminded him of the best part of summers when he was a child.

"Severus?" she asked quietly.

"Yes, Echo?"

"Did you always want to teach?"

"Not at all," he replied bluntly. "I never had much of a fondness for children; too impatient. The nature of my work with the Order of the Phoenix, though, made such an occupation a tactical advantage."

"So, with Voldemort dead and your responsibility is now raising Harry, will you do something else?"

"I have gotten used to teaching, but I have been re-thinking the complacency I've fallen into at Hogwarts. I'm also not entirely certain that an old castle is the best place to raise a little boy. Trouble finds Harry a bit too easily and Hogwarts has far too many hidden surprises for one parent to deal with on a regular basis." He chuckled softly at the understatement. Harry was a magnet for trouble.

"You are a very good teacher, though. The other day in the lab as you were finishing off the Burn Salve and were helping Harry with his Potions Junior Kit project..." she smiled at the memory.

"Harry, stop popping the Lindo Seeds," admonished his father with an annoyed glare.

Harry was seated at the work area Severus had set up just for him. In front of Harry was his own small, iron cauldron, stirrers, pipettes, three knives, and unbreakable spelled glass phials in which to bottle his potion. The child was still working on preparing his ingredients, but had discovered that the cloudy-grey, blister looking Lindo Seeds made a wonderful popping noise when squeezed between the fingers. Fortunately, the seeds weren't ruined by being popped, but Harry had only needed ten and he'd popped three times that many.

Severus added an ingredient to the Burn Salve, set the heat to simmer, and then rose from his work table and walked over to Harry's. With his long fingers he separated out ten popped seeds and then scooped the rest into a preserving jar.

"Are they 'spensive, Daddy?" asked Harry.

"Expensive, Harry, and no, thankfully they aren't." He looked over the other ingredients that he'd sliced. "Very good, but you've only sliced the fish skin, you haven't diced it."

Harry scratched his scalp and rested his chin in the palm of his hand as he glared at the slippery fish skin. "I tried, but I can't keep the slimy skin where it's supposed to be and diamond cut it." He pointed to the waste bucket that held several ruined slices."

Echo was in the lab that day brewing Pepper-Up Potion. She was helping Severus to refill the Hogwarts Infirmary stores. While her potion cooled, she quietly observed as the tall wizard carefully guided Harry's hands and showed him how to keep the fish skin from sliding all over the table so he could properly dice it. As Severus stood behind his son, the child, although taking care to pay attention to the lesson, had leaned back against his father's chest. In the midst of the instruction, the older wizard couldn't resist an affectionate kiss to the top of his child's head.

"You're a very good teacher to Harry," she remarked.

"My students would drop dead if I taught them in the same manner I teach my son," he commented wryly. He then smirked. "Although, that might be fun to do once just to see one of them have a conniption."

"Not known for your sweet demeanor as a Potions instructor?" Echo teased.

"Hardly!" he sneered, a hint of a smile in his black eyes.

"I'm guessing you must absolutely terrify your students, Severus," she observed.

"That I do," he agreed so seriously she cast a curious sideways glance at him. "The nature of Potions is dangerous," he began to explain. "I am a strict taskmaster in my classroom and have the reputation of leaving no room for negotiation as far as my rules go. Despite that, I still have students constantly doing their best to destroy my classroom with exploding cauldrons and trying to kill me, or their fellow students, with all manner of noxious fumes and ghastly substances. I am... pleased... to say that in my entire time of teaching, not a single student has lost a body part or died."

"Urgh. Now I think I remember why I didn't do well in Potions."

"Ah, how many cauldrons did you decimate?" he teased.

With her free hand on her hip, she arched a delicate eyebrow at him. "I'll have you know, Professor Snape, that I never once blew up a cauldron." She then looked away, "I did, however, cause 3,000 galleons damage to my Potions teacher's classroom."

Severus stopped dead and stared at Echo. "You didn't!"

Echo shrugged as a nervous smile tugged at her lips. "It was only my second year!" she protested.

"Merlin forbid what you must have done in the years after!"

She frowned. "That was it, I'll have you know. At the very least I scraped by with an 'E' on my NEWTs, so there."

When he'd stopped, Echo had let go of his arm and he felt somewhat bereft of her touch.

"So, what was your specialty? Did you ever take an apprenticeship?" He led her over towards a large piece of driftwood on the beach and they sat down upon it. A quick flick of his wand and he cast a Cushioning Charm that made the dried out piece of wood a bit more comfortable.

"At one time I thought of pursuing an apprenticeship in Charms but when I came to Solonus and saw that empty shop I was consumed with filling it with books. I suppose you might call me a 'professional bookworm'." Without thinking Echo laced her fingers through his and smiled at the sparkle of magic that seemed to crackle at their touch.

Severus also felt the spark and tightened his fingers gently over Echo's. "Despite having blown up your classroom, did you not care for Potions at all?"

"I liked it well enough in my first year, but that was very short lived. Professor Trask was just a horrible teacher. How she ever managed to become a Potions Mistress eluded me for awhile, but I am rather inclined to believe the speculation that she slept her way through her apprenticeship." She caught the distinct look of disapproval in his eyes.

"Witches have a difficult enough time facing the prejudice the Potions Guild has towards women in the field," he spoke sharply. "It is unconscionable for a witch to make it worse."

"I have to agree. There were times in class when I was certain Trask's demonstrations were going to kill us all. It also did my grades no good when the most difficult potion we ever made was Burn Paste."

"You're joking!" he scoffed glancing Echo's way to see if there was a hint of mirth on her face.

"I wish I were. Most of the potions we brewed came from The Potions Book For Young Wizards & Witches."

"Potions is a subtle science, an ancient art that expresses one's magic in a myriad of facets that cannot be expressed through any other kind of magic." He dropped his voice, turned to face Echo, and recited a variation of the introduction he gave to all his first years, "Allow me to teach you the subtle science and exact art of potionmaking," he began. "I can show you the beauty of the softly simmering cauldron with its shimmering fumes, the delicate power of liquids that creep through human veins, bewitching the mind, ensnaring the senses ... I can impart the deep secrets of how to bottle fame, brew glory, even stopper death - if you can refrain from destroying my lab like a first year dunderhead!"

Echo had found herself absolutely hypnotised by his smooth, lustrous voice that poured over her like dark amber honey. Caught by his ebon gaze, she felt blissfully trapped... until his voice cut like surgical steel.

"Merlin's teeth, Severus!" she laughed and leaned closer to him. "I think I'd take your class just to listen to speeches like that all day." Echo paused and then finished, "Although, with that ending, I think you might have drawn blood."

He raised a sardonic eyebrow that brushed the fringe of his long, black hair, "Really?"

"Oh yes," she said with mock sincerity. Echo held out the palm of her other hand. "Can't you see it? Right there."

Severus took her proffered hand into both of his, and with a deceptive air of concern he examined the palm of her hand. "Ah! So it seems I did. Do forgive me." He then leaned over and brushed his lips against her sensitive palm.

Echo felt butterflies stirring nervously and she felt pleasantly light headed. His thumb continued to stroke her palm and she felt that he must be able to hear the sudden, and rapid beat of her heart. He let go with one hand and allowed his fingers to feather lightly over her cheek until he was wrapping a stray curl of her hair around his slim finger.

Severus very much desired to kiss Echo's lovely, dark mouth, but as he looked into her deep cobalt coloured eyes he could see the very faint glimmer of nervousness. The last thing he wanted to be to her was another Oland. Gently brushing her hair back over her shoulder, he leaned closer and softly kissed her cheek.

"The collection of my winnings in the duel," he whispered into her ear.

"You cheated, Severus," she smiled.

"The reason I chose to modify the stakes." He looked deeply into her beautiful eyes, allowing his gaze to show her the truth. She understood and smiled shyly. He rose to his feet, still holding her hand in his. With a slight twist he tucked her hand back to his elbow and pulled her close to his side.

For several minutes they walked in silence, just enjoying each other's company. Echo knew Severus would do no more than flirt, and he would not force her beyond anything she was not comfortable with. She did still ache at Oland's betrayal, but here, beneath this lovely moon, she could care less about any feelings she once had for her wretched ex.

Making her decision, foolish or not, she quickly moved in front of Severus, wrapped her arms about his neck and pressed her lips to his. His arms came around her, pulling her close. The kiss lasted a blissful few seconds and then Echo pulled breathlessly away.

"I probably shouldn't have done that," she said, and Severus felt his heart sink at what he thought might be her regret at kissing him. Then, she smiled wickedly. "But I'm glad I did."

Slipping his arm across her back, he smirked, "Does this mean you still expect a week without cooking?"

"Absolutely, Severus! You still cheated to win the duel, so I get my week of leisure. Starting tomorrow morning!"