"You asked her to marry you, Dad?" Harry shouted, bounding into the room happily.

Severus sighed heavily and glanced at his son, as he sat at his desk marking a fifth-year's exam. "I see she told you." He had thought she'd have kept it quiet until she actually said 'Yes' but he supposed her telling people was a good sign actually. At least for him, that was.

"No, actually Salazar and Phineas are telling everyone. And whoever they can't reach, the Baron and Sir Nicholas are."

Severus's head hit his desk with a loud thump. He was doomed.

"Dad?" Harry then moved closer before he hesitantly shook his father. "Are you okay?"

Okay? Was he okay? No. Not in the slightest. Everyone and their dog knew that he had asked and been promptly denied now.

"Do you want me to go?" Harry asked quietly.

"No," Severus replied, his voice muffled by his desk.

"Okay. Well, is there anything I can do to help then?"

Help? He slowly lifted his head up and glanced at his son. Just how was Harry going to help get Aurora to say 'Yes' this time? The boy was thirteen. What did he know about women? Severus frowned when the annoying voice in his head replied that Harry likely knew more than he did. He then briefly considered asking Lucius for advice. That thought was swiftly abandoned, though. It'd be the equivalent of asking his—

At the loud whoosh behind him from the vicinity of his fireplace, Severus realized that his night was going to get a whole lot worse. He watched his son's eyes light up and felt his own stomach drop as a result. His head fell back down onto his desk a moment later with a loud thump. He could die now.

"Hey, kiddo!" a guff voice spoke behind Severus before a heavy hand landed on his shoulder.

"Hi, Grandpa," Harry replied, grinning from ear to ear.

"Think ya can give yer dad and me some time alone for a bit?"

Snape closed his eyes in response, wishing he was anywhere but there. Why on earth had his father come? And who in the hell taught his father to use the Floo anyway?

"Sure, but don't expect him to be in a talking mood."

"Oh, I know, lad. Had the same flair for dramatics when he was just a few days old, too, accordin' to El," Tobias joked with a quiet chuckle.

Severus sighed a moment later when he noticed Harry moving towards the door. This night could not get any worse now. It honestly couldn't. The door then closed behind Harry, leaving father and son alone in the cold office.

"So, I hear ya asked Princess to marry ya earlier."

Lifting his head up, Severus willed himself not to react to his father's words. As if his father had any idea what was going on. The man lived in Cokeworth for goodness sake.

"And you're here to offer pointers, I take it?" Severus stated with a bitter taste in his mouth.

"Not exactly," his father replied with a shrug.

"Then why are you here, Dad?"

"To see if ya need anything, son."

Severus couldn't help but scoff. "If I need anything?" he repeated before shaking his head. "What I need is everyone to leave me the hell alone so I can think. What I need is—"

"Her to say 'Yes.' I know, son. I get it. I been there myself before."

The words started freely flowing from his lips soon after. If his father wasn't going to shy away from the messiness that his relationship always traveled down, then he'd make the man regret coming. "She wants this. She's always wanted this. So, why the hell does she keep saying 'No' to me, Dad?"

Tobias shrugged, walking around his desk before sitting across from him. "Hell if I know. Did she say anythin' to ya? Or was it just a straight 'No?"

"I don't know. She stated something about us not knowing one another. But I know her. I know her favorite flowers. Her motivations. How she's always been there for me. It doesn't make sense."

His father nodded silently for a moment, scratching his chin.

"What?" he asked his father. He didn't like the look on the man's face.

"Uh, well, it's just ya said that 'ya know her.' That don't mean, son, that she knows you, though," Tobias answered with another shrug.

"Of course she knows me. She's been obsessing about me for decades."

"No, son. It really doesn't mean that. She knows all the details that her mind's likely filled in, but she doesn't really know ya if ya don't tell her about yerself."

Severus frowned, staring at his father in disbelief. Of course she knew him. "She knows me, Dad. This—that's absurd to say she doesn't."

"Well, I could be wrong, but I'd imagine all she knows is that ya made a few too many dark choices when ya were younger and have always been tryin' to make up for it as a result. She knows that yer a bit reserved, maybe even a little awkward when it comes to dating because yer inexperienced." He shrugged. "Which ain't a bad thing, son."

His eyes narrowed on his dad. Of course that wasn't a bad thing.

"But that doesn't show who ya are in terms of potential husband, father of her children."

"What are you saying? That our shared link with one another isn't proof enough that we should be together?"

"Nah, I ain't sayin' that, Severus. I'm just, well, ya know, there's more to it than just that. Dating is all about getting to know one another. Becoming comfortable with each other. Seeing if ya can make a future work. You and Princess have done yer best to skip over those steps, though."

"Forgive me for not wanting to waste any more of our time with foolish frivolities."

"You're scared, son."

"Of course I'm scared. I've nearly lost her not once but several times since we moved to the dating step."

"It was easier when she was a just a friend, wasn't it?"

"It was," Severus admitted with a sigh.

"That's love, though, lad. It screws ya up inside, plays with yer fears, makes ya question yerself constantly." Tobias then shook his head. "If ya think yer scared, think about her for a minute, yeah? She had just started datin' ya when she was taken, tortured, and a whole load more shit done to her than that. And, now, she's got that whole business startin' to be put behind . . . when ya ask her to marry ya."

"Are you suggesting that my asking her is the equivalent to her being tortured?" He was mad!

"Hell no, son. I'm just sayin' that she's got to be wonderin' when the shoe drops, you know? When some other baddie comes along and tries to fuck it all to hell for ya two."

"We can't live our lives in fear, though."

"Yer right. Ya can't."

"So, then, what?" He searched his father's eyes for the answers, seeing none. "I love her, and I want to spend the rest of my life with her."

"I ain't arguin' against that, Severus."

"Then what are you saying, old man?" he said, glaring at his father.

"I'm sayin, son, listen to her. Hear what she's tellin' ya."

"But . . ."

"She says she doesn't know ya."

"But she does. She's spent half her life . . . that doesn't make sense."

"She's spent half her life, son, on the outside lookin' in when it came to ya, the way I understand it. That don't mean she knows ya, though. She knows what her mind's created for her. That might not be who ya are, though."

"So, what are you saying? That I step back from her?"

"I'm sayin, Severus, listen to her. Hear what she's tellin' ya. Focus on that. Not on yer fear of losing her. Focus on her words, her fears, and help her get past it." Tobias then sighed. "Shit, son, after yer mum and I left ya three, it wasn't roses for us either. El and I had to relearn about one another. Spend time listenin' and really understand each other. We've got different experiences, but it boils down to the same thing with ya and Aurora. She was taken from ya. That fear's rooted in ya now, rooted deep in her as well." He ran a hand through his hair. "There were many nights when I wondered if I'd ever see ya and yer mum again. If ya two were even alive. If I had failed her by breakin' our promises to one another, to always be there. We've taken the time, though, relearned about one another, leaned on each other, bared out souls, Severus." He then stared deep into his son's eyes. "Has she told ya what she went through yet? Have ya told her how scared ya were? Have ya said anythin' about that time?"

"A little," Severus replied with a shrug. "I don't want to push her, though."

"Ya two are, like, rubber bands, son. Eventually, one of ya is gonna snap." He sighed. "That healer ya were seein', did ya open up to him at all?"

"Are you suggesting that we blew him off?"

"Did ya?" his father replied, holding his son's outraged look.

Severus opened his mouth to shout back that his father could kindly go to hell for even suggesting that, but his mouth promptly closed a moment later. Maybe they hadn't tried as hard as they could have with McCoy.

"Yer mum and I didn't want to do it either, Severus. To let some kook in our heads, analyzin' us like some lab rats. But it's helped. Honest, it has. And all the awkwardness and uncomfortableness is gone now with that healer of yers. He does good work."

"I want to marry her, Dad," he repeated, staring at his father.

"I didn't say not to, son. I'm just sayin' listen to her. Cause I promise, Severus, she's screaming inside. Ya both are."

Severus thought for a moment on his father's words. Was he screaming inside? He was terrified, yes, but that was normal. Wasn't it? He had been doing much better than he had last year when she was missing. And it wasn't as if he needed to be by her side constantly. But he had found himself touching her whenever he could, just little touches . . . as if to convince himself that she was really there and not an illusion. Which, he realized, in itself was rather frightening to think.

"Don't go to her tonight with the whole 'convincin' her to marry you' speech. She ain't doubtin' ya love her. Just go to her and show her yer listenin', that she ain't alone in bein' scared shitless, son." Tobias shrugged, standing once again. "It's worked so far for yer mum and me." Severus sighed, closing his eyes when his father gave his shoulder a gentle squeeze of reassurance. "You got this, son."