Nobody could quite work out how you did it; taming the moody, dark, cynical beast that was Snape. He was snappy and rude and nobody seemed to like him, yet here you were, his spouse.

The thing that perplexed most people though if the way you got him to soften. The subtle ways, the soft caress of the back of your hands when he held them, the way he so delicately tilted your chin up when you were speaking to him, the slight way he tilted his head like an intrigued puppy when you spoke. It was almost like he was a different person.

Most assumed it was the whole ‘opposites attract theory’. He, dark, brooding, sarcastic, mean…and you, bright, sunny, colourful and kind.

You had just dismissed your class- new defence against the dark arts teacher, weird how Hogwarts couldn’t keep one for longer than a year.

Like clockwork, Severus slipped into your classroom, his robes dramatically flailing behind him, the door slamming and locking shut as he rooted himself at your side, his arms enveloping you in a hug. You freeze slightly. How odd. Is he alright?

Instinctively, you hold him back, an act usually reserved for late nights, cuddled under the duvets where the world couldn’t disturb them. It worried you how he was suddenly so open about it- after all his insistence of subtlety- he had even insisted you should use your maiden name when teaching for secrecy and simplicity.

“Don’t say a word” he spoke sternly before you could even open your mouth.