I recommend listening to music in this chapter. You'll know when c:

I woke up pretty cold the next morning and noticed why almost immediately. Severus had the entire blanket on his side of the bed. I yanked the blanket over myself in hopes that I could fall asleep again.

Severus woke up a minute later as I was about to fall asleep again and groaned at the cold feeling.

"(Y/N).. share the duvet please.." Severus sounded half awake at this point.

"No❤️" I replied cheekily.

Severus huffed and pulled the blanket back onto his side.

Jokes on him, if I can't fall asleep again, then he won't either.

I startled him by flinging myself perpendicularly across his stomach.

"(Y/N).. it's too early for this. Just.. come here.." Severus gave up and held the blanket up so that I could situate myself comfortably underneath it.

I knew I wouldn't be able to fall asleep again so I just lay there thinking about who knows what until Severus decided to get up. He placed a kiss on my forehead before walking over to his wardrobe to grab a change of clothes and then walked into the bathroom to get dressed for the day.

I did the same a couple minutes later and joined him in the kitchen shortly after.

"So what should we do today?" I asked Severus while grabbing the necessary items to make a sandwich.

"We could visit Diagon Alley if you'd like." He suggested while making his coffee.

"Sounds like a plan." I replied joyfully.

Severus and I arrived at Diagon Alley a little later in the day than we had planned. But, to avoid the early shoppers, we thought it would be best to go later. The first place I wanted to check out was a new shop that had opened not too long ago. It was a shop that sold mainly muggle items. Severus agreed to go in with me to look around.

The shop wasn't too busy, which mean't that I could take a good look around at all the cool stuff they had here. There were a couple things that caught my eye, such as the round spinning plate in one of the display windows. I had seen a large version of it in the Great Hall during last year's dancing lesson's for the Yule Ball. Except this one didn't have the phonograph on it that amplifies the music.

"What have you found?" I heard Severus' voice from behind me.

"I found this record player. It plays vinyls that have music on them. I find it fascinating how muggles can record music on these flat tire-like plates. They can't even use spells to make these." I told Severus as I inspected it closer.

"Interesting." He replied, amused at my reaction to the object.

A little while later we split up for a tiny bit to check out specific stores we wanted to both visit. I was looking at some of the new gear in the quidditch supply store when I felt a tap on my shoulder. I turned around and my mood went from good to bad instantly.

"What do you want Tyler." I said with venom in my voice.

"Damn. Not even a hello. I see." He replied with a scoff and an odd looking smirk.

"Why would you expect anything of the sort? You did nothing but make my life more difficult." I retorted before walking a bit further down the isle I was in.

Of course, Tyler followed me.

"I was merely sent to check on you and Snape. why I'm here." Tyler said.

"Why would he send you? He trusts Severus." I asked, not fully believing what Tyler was telling me.

"Well, it wasn't something he saw fit to call an entire meeting for, so he just sent me. Happy?" He said with an exasperated tone at the end.

"No, not particularly." I replied with a bit of sass in my voice.

Tyler rolled his eyes and asked yet another question,

"That's fine. So where's Snape at currently? I thought you two were basically joined at the, well.. you know.."

"First of all, that was a very unnecessary and inappropriate implication. Second of all, he's in another store. So can you just run along and leave us be?" I responded, feeling pretty uncomfortable now.

"Doesn't look like he's in another store. I bet he heard what I 'implied' isn't that right, Snape?" Tyler looked somewhere behind me with a knowing smirk.

"You have ten seconds to leave before I do something I will definitely not regret." Severus said, placing his hand over the wand holster on his leg.

"You two are just lucky that little escapade of yours works in the Dark Lords favor somehow. Otherwise, (Y/N) would have been dead by now." Tyler stated with a stupid amount of courage.

"7.. 6.. 5.." Severus threatened.

"Alright, alright. I'm going. Damn." Tyler mumbled to himself as he left the store.

Good riddance.

"I really hope you didn't hear that conversation just now." I sighed as I turned to face Severus directly.

"Unfortunately, I did. What he said to you was completely out of line. I'll make sure to bring up with the Dark Lord how reckless he has been by holding such conversations in public." Severus reassured me before we too made our way towards the front of the store.

As soon as we had both exited the store, I heard my name being called,

"(Y/N)!? Is that you?"

I was tackled in a hug before I could see who it was. But based on the voice, I already knew,

"Lucas!? It's been so long since I last saw you! How are you?"

"I'm doing very well, thank you for asking. I've actually gotten a position as a Beater for the Kenmare Kestrels!" Lucas seemed extremely happy to tell me this.

"That's amazing! I knew how much you wanted to make it onto that team." I replied with a wide smile.

Lucas looked over my shoulder and noticed that Severus was standing there, waiting for me,

"Oh! Hello Professor. I didn't see you there. How have you been?"

"I've been feeling fairly well." Severus replied curtly.

"Good! Well I wish I could talk with you longer (Y/N) but I have to be going now. I have quidditch practice tonight with the team." Lucas told me.

"Oh! Alright. See you later!" I waved at Lucas before we went our separate ways.

"So, are there anymore shops you want to check out?" I asked Severus as we walked down the main pathway.

"No, I've visited the stores I planned on going to today." He replied with a sigh.

"Alright, why don't we go home then? We missed out on a couple crossword puzzles that I want to finish with you." I offered this to Severus' and then got ready to Apparate.

Severus and I had finished all the crossword puzzles by around 3 in the afternoon and didn't know what else to spend our time doing. An idea popped into my head at the sight of the dark living room,

"What if we got a Christmas tree?"

"In here? There is hardly any space as it is, (Y/N)." Severus replied, looking unsure about this idea.

"It doesn't have to be too big. A medium sized one. Maybe one of the pine trees in the field we practiced apparition at." I offered.

Severus agreed, so we got warmer coats on and apparated to said field.

There were plenty of trees to pick from, but the majority of them were either too big, too small, too wide, or too thin. But then I saw one that I believed to be just the right size.

"What about this one, Sev?" I asked while pointing at the tree and making a b-line for it.

"That'll do." Severus replied, wand in hand.

"Ok, you cut the tree, and I'll stabilize it. Ready?" I held onto the tree to make sure it wouldn't fall on any of us.

Severus nodded and pointed his wand at the base of the tree,

"Diffindo."

I miss judged how heavy the tree would be, because it tilted quite far to one side before I caught it.

"Was that absolutely necessary?" I heard Severus ask from the other side of the tree.

I slowly lowered the tree onto the ground and then looked at him. He was covered in the snow that had fallen off the tree. With the grumpy look he had on his face, it only made the situation funnier to me.

I responded with a laugh and wiped some of the snow off of his hair and shoulders.

"Oh don't be so grumpy, it's just snow. C'mon, let's bring the tree back home and decorate it." I waved Severus over to help pick up the tree.

As soon as we got back, the sun was beginning to set. I conjured up some simple ornaments for the tree and handed one of the boxes to Severus. An ornament dropped here and there, some of them breaking from a long drop, but in the end, the tree looked quite nice.

After taking in the finished product of the tree, I decided to go up to my luggage and take out the gift I had gotten Severus a couple days ago so that I could place it under the tree.

"What do you say we celebrate tonight instead of in the morning? We have to go back to Hogwarts tomorrow after all, so it would be nice if we could rest in the morning instead of rush to get ready." I offered while placing the gift down.

"I believe that is a smart idea." Severus agreed.

We both changed into what we considered comfortable clothing and met up again in the living room where Benny was eagerly perched on top of the tree. I chuckled at this and called him over to sit on my leg. After just sitting and talking in front of the fireplace that had been lit, I decided to hand Severus my gift to him,

"I hope you like it."

Severus unwrapped the gift carefully to reveal a navy blue box. He pulled the lid off of it and his eyes widened slowly.

"It's a custom clasp for your cloak. I thought your current one seemed a bit worn out, so I had this one made for you." I explained to him.

"It's beautiful. Thank you, (Y/N)." Severus replied while taking it out of the box to inspect it closer.

A short while later Severus stood up from the couch, gift in his left hand and held his other hand out toward me.

I took his hand with a curious expression on my face. Severus in turn, lead me up the stairs and into our bedroom. I looked at Severus for a hint as to why we were up here and he responded by gesturing at the wooden chest under the window.

On top, sat a smaller wooden box. I walked over and crouched in front of it. Upon opening it, a smile formed on my face.

"You got me the record player!? How did you even get it up here without me noticing?" I asked while fiddling with some of the knobs.

"I apparated home with it after purchasing it yesterday. You were most likely busy in the Quidditch Supply store while I did so." Severus explained and walked up to me, hands crossed behind his back.

"Well, thank you so much for this. I love it." I smiled at him.

"I am pleased that you do." He responded.

"There are a few vinyls next to the chest, (Y/N)." Severus pointed at the bag that sat against the left side of the chest.

I picked out the first vinyl I saw and placed it on the record player. I then situated the needle on the outermost part of the ring and turned it on. The first song began playing, which I didn't know the name of, but definitely liked the tune of. It sounded like something one should dance to.

So, the next motion I made was standing up from the record player and taking both of Severus' hands. I pulled him toward the center of the room where there was the most space and attempted to get him to dance with me.

Although it took a few tries, Severus finally gave up and followed along. It was cute really. He didn't know how to just.. dance. I guess he only ever learned formal dancing.

Severus seemed much more comfortable than I expected him to be, which in turn made me even happier and energetic. After around an hour of this, the needle on the record player reached the center of the disk and the music ended.

I sighed and let myself fall back on the bed, Severus doing the same.

"I don't believe I've ever been that active in my entire life." Severus chuckled and turned his head to give me a smile.

I turned over on my side and smiled back at him,

"Well I'm glad you had fun."

"That I did." Severus replied, turning on his side to face me as well.

The staring became a bit awkward after a while, so I just leant forward and pressed a kiss against his lips, which he reciprocated soon after. I felt him place his hand on the back of my head and pull me closer. There was more meaning in this kiss than I had ever experienced before.

I pulled away for a second to look Severus in the eye. He seemed comfortable and relaxed. As was I.

I brushed my thumb across his cheek and felt as Severus rested his hand on top of mine, closing his eyes in the process. I pulled him back in for another kiss, this time letting myself fall back against my pillow. My hand held onto the collar of his shirt and tugged at it lightly.

Severus looked down at my hand and then back up at me. In a calm voice, Severus asked me,

"Are you certain about this?"

I smiled and replied,

"Definitely.."