It had been a week since the circus had come to London and as Severus had predicted, Harry was still talking about it. He had told Blaise and Violetta and Ron and any other wizard kid who would listen all about Dagger and how he was proud to shake Severus's hand and had given Harry a small replica of a Chinese fireball to keep for his very own. Most of the kids were torn between awe and envy and Severus finally had to tell his son to quit talking about it, because it was starting to sound a bit too much like bragging.

"Is that bad?"

"Well, let's just say that it isn't very nice to point out the fact that Dagger gave you something and not all the other children who came to see him that night." Severus explained. "They might think you're getting above yourself."

"Huh? What's that mean?"

"It means that you think you're better than they are, because Dagger gave you a dragon figurine and not them." He and Harry were sitting on the sofa in the den, it was just after supper and Severus had been intending to have this discussion earlier, but inbetween supper and Harry needing help with homework, the opportunity hadn't presented itself until now.

"But Dad, you always say that I'm special. So why's it wrong if Dagger thinks so too?"

Severus remained quiet for a moment, then replied, "Harry you are special to me, because you're my son and all parents-almost all parents-" he corrected himself swiftly, "-think that their children are special. Because they belong to them and are unique and everyone is special in his or her own way. But that doesn't make you any better than Blaise or Ron, and while it was kind of Dagger to give you the dragon, I don't think you ought to go around telling other children about it nonstop, otherwise they'll become jealous and refuse to play with you."

"Oh." Harry pondered this for a moment, his little brow crinkling. Then he said, "But what if I share the dragon with them, Daddy? Then they won't need to feel bad or jealous or anything, ‘cause they can play with it too."

"That is an excellent idea, Harry, and I'm proud of you for thinking of it."

Harry beamed, when Severus said he was proud of him it meant he'd done something extra special and good. "But I'll watch and make sure they don't break it, cause some of ‘em don't know how to play right with things like that," he added and Severus had to turn away to keep from laughing at the way he said that, with a touch of exasperation and utter sincerity, like a teacher who had repeated a lesson to distracted students one too many times.

"You do that, Harry," Severus said, and reached out to finger comb his son's dark hair. Harry had inherited James's wild hair, that never stayed flat and looked rumpled even after Severus had just combed it. Severus knew it needed to be trimmed again, but even that didn't tame it for long. Still, he would have the child no other way, and he continued to gently detangle Harry's hair while Harry curled up next to him.

This nightly ritual usually served to calm and relax his little mischief maker, who sometimes had trouble remaining still for more than five minutes, even when he was exhausted. Severus could tell Harry was tired, however, by the way his eyelids drooped over the sparkling emerald orbs and how he kept lowering his chin to rest on his chest and then quickly jerking his head up. He had done the very same thing as a toddler, hating to sleep because he might miss something.

Severus patted his knee, inviting Harry to put his head down on his lap. Harry yawned and did so after a moment, and Severus resumed running his hand through his son's hair. He did that for several minutes, then moved his hand from Harry's head to the little shoulders, rubbing in a small circular motion. Harry began to relax even further, his breathing evening out.

Severus could remember Eileen doing this to him when he was a child, on the nights she wasn't working and Tobias was down at the tavern drunk. It had always made him feel warm and safe and loved. He had learned much of gentleness and kindness from his mother, who like him had been abused verbally by his father. It was yet another thing Severus resented Tobias for and something else which he would bring up when he went over to have the long-awaited talk with him. Eileen had died when Severus was eighteen, but she had tried as best as she could to counteract his father's legacy of alcoholism and violence. She had stressed to her son the value of thinking first and then acting and trying to find nonviolent means to express emotions, meditation, and controlling one's temper.

 Severus valued her teachings and tried to follow them as best he could, one reason why he had opted to become a Healer rather than an Auror at seventeen. As she lay dying and Severus had held her hand, he had told Eileen of the career choices he had to make and how he wasn't sure which one he should take. She had squeezed his hand and whispered, since a whisper was all she could manage, "You and you alone can decide what path is best for you, Sev. The choice must come from you, but you need to know where that choice will lead you. Think carefully, son. But remember, if you choose wrong, it's not the end of it all, you can always choose again." In Eileen's view, one wrong decision should not brand you for life, she believed in giving people second chances, which was one reason, perhaps why she had stayed with Tobias. Severus never had a chance to ask her about that.

But he had considered her words carefully and ended up becoming a Healer rather than an Auror. Both were useful occupations, but the path of an Auror was hard and lonely, filled with danger, and while Severus knew he could've dealt with it, that the job would have allowed him to release some pent-up aggression, it might have proved to aggravate his temper as well and encourage his more violent side. The path of the Healer was much more rewarding and he would never be alone there, for a Healer was part of a community, of doctors and patients, and he truly enjoyed helping people with his magic. It was also one more way in which to distance himself from his father's legacy.

He continued rubbing Harry's back, the boy was almost all the way asleep now, and he moved his hand slightly, gently patting Harry's bottom. He could remember doing that too when Harry was smaller, and cradled against Sev's shoulder.

He could also recall Lily doing much the same thing to him whenever he'd had a particularly hard night on call, only she had interspersed the rubbing with a massage on some nights. Lily had been another who had helped heal him, for in the beginning months of their marriage he had been self-conscious and insecure, not wanting to let her see him without clothes, embarrassed and ashamed of the scars he bore from Tobias's beatings. Not that they were so visible, or so many, but they were there and Severus knew it. He had always undressed in the dark or in the bathroom, so Lily would never see them, until one evening, she had walked in without bothering to knock, he had just finished a shower, and she saw.

Severus blinked, that unexpected side trip down memory lane had nearly caused him to fall asleep as well. He shook his head, gently picked up his son, and tucked him into bed.

But tonight he wasn't tired, and he sat up, looking through old photo albums of himself, Lily, and Harry. He smiled reminiscently at some of the pictures, Lily had been so pretty, and he had loved her with a deep undying passion. I miss you, Lil. Now and always. You were my rock and now I just hope I can stay afloat and raise Harry like we planned. I never figured on doing this alone, y'know. I hope to God I don't screw up the way my father did. He brushed a few stray tears from his eyes, even after two years, seeing a picture of Lily could make him tear up and get a huge lump in his throat. Tobias wants to actually be apart of my life-of our lives-Lily. I don't know what I should do. Should I let him back in? Can I trust him not to hurt Harry? Or me either? What would you do, Lily?

Oh, how he wished his wife were beside him now, so she could hold and reassure him that allowing Tobias to become a part of his life once again was not a huge mistake. What kind of can of worms was he opening by letting the man near his son and himself again? Could Tobias really change for the better? Or was it all a sham?

His thoughts tumbled over and over in his head, like leaves blown in the wind, and he shut his eyes and tried to organize them. It all came down to one thing-he was afraid to trust Tobias fully. Tobias had to earn his trust, Severus decided. Mere words were not enough. Even actions were not enough. No, there had to be more, something else that Tobias could do to ensure that Severus could begin to trust him, that he was sincere in his desire to change for the better. And it was more than just attending AA meetings and abuser counseling.

He chewed his lower lip thoughtfully. The problem with trusting Tobias was that the man had never really tried to understand where Sev was coming from, he had never viewed what he had done to his son as abuse-back then Tobias had considered it discipline, no more than Sev deserved. Severus wondered if a part of him still did, and pondered on what he could do to make sure that mindset was erased from Tobias's memory. A simple Memory Charm would do it, but that's illegal and would get me nothing but a swift trial and a one-way trip to Azkaban. I can't risk that. No, there has to be something else. Lily, you were always an ace at charms, I wish you could help me.

He nodded off over the photo album, still trying to come up with a way he could have Tobias prove his trust and sincerity.

He was awakened around dawn by Harry crying out in his sleep.

He rushed into Harry's room, "Harry? What's the matter?" he called, and his son sat up and held out his arms.

Severus crossed to him immediately and gathered him up. Harry buried his face in his dad's shoulder and wept quietly. "I-I had a bad dream!"

"Shhh. It's all right, scamp. You're okay, nothing's going to hurt you, I'm here." Severus walked about the room, holding Harry and patting his back, letting him cry until he was finished, then he sat him up on his lap, conjured a handkerchief, and gently washed his son's face and handed Harry a tissue to blow his nose. "Do you want to talk about your dream, Harry?"

Harry sniffled and said, "Yes, but I gotta go potty first."

Sev let him off his lap and Harry left the room at top speed, returning a few minutes later to once more be cuddled on his father's knee. "Okay, I'm ready," his son took a deep breath and said quietly, "In my dream, the masked men had come back here, and they-they shot spells at you and Grandpa and they killed you both dead and I saw it and I cried and they laughed and laughed at me and said now I was an orphan and I'd have to go live in the orphanage like Oliver. It scared me so bad that I-I woke up." He buried his head in Sev's shirt, trembling.

"There now, son. It was just a dream," Severus soothed. "The Death Eaters, that's the name of the masked men, can't come here, Harry. Moony and Padfoot put up extra-strong wards around here so no evil men can come here and if they do, the Aurors will know and they'll come here and arrest them."

"And put them in Azkaban, like the rest of the bad wizards? With the dementors?"

"Yes, scamp. They'd go right to Azkaban for trying to hurt us a second time. Some of them are even in there for attacking us the first time. So you don't have to worry about the Death Eaters hurting me or your grandfather or making you into an orphan, Harry mine."

"Really and truly?"

"Really and truly." Severus patted his back, then said quietly, "Can you fall asleep on your own, or would you like some warm milk and me to stay with you?"

Harry considered for about ten seconds before he answered, "Milk, please. And you after."

Severus summoned a small cup of milk, heated it with a warming charm, and handed it to Harry, who sipped it while leaning against his father. Severus remained silent while Harry drank, knowing the warm milk would further soothe and calm the little boy and make him sleepy.

But once the milk was all gone, Severus tucked Harry back in bed, and sat next to him in a transfigured desk chair. He'd enlarged it so he could sit and keep watch over his son.

Harry kept his eyes turned toward Severus, reassuring himself that his dad was there before slowly drifting off to sleep. Severus remained until he was certain Harry was soundly sleeping, then he went back into the den to watch TV before going to bed.

His own sleep was none too peaceful, since tomorrow he would return to Spinner's End and speak with Tobias about his intentions towards Harry and himself. Hopefully, they could talk like two rational adults and not end up arguing like angry Dobermans, the way they usually did.

God grant me patience and help me keep my temper, so I don't hex him into next week, and help me to find a resolution we all can live with.

* * * * * *

Severus Apparated to Spinner's End after he'd brought Harry to school . He could have allowed Harry to take the bus, he'd done it before, but ever since the Death Eater attack, Severus felt that extra caution was needed, and so he walked to school with his son. Mabry Primary School was about ten blocks or so from their house, it would have taken Harry longer to get there on the bus, since it had to stop and pick up the other children, but with Severus, Harry could get to school in about fifteen minutes, especially if the Master Healer cast a Quickstep Charm on them.

The Quickstep Charm was Severus's own invention, it was a spell that made you move at three times the normal rate, but looked as if you were merely strolling along, the illusion was for Muggles, it was built into the spell weave, and it was impossible to dispel.

Severus made sure Harry had his lunch, homework, and signed permission slips for day trips in his backpack and Inky as well. Harry played with Inky at recess and slept with the panther at naptime. Harry's teacher, Miss Wilkins, believed it was necessary for her students to have a bit of a lie-down in the afternoon, and provided soft mats and pillows and blankets. Severus thought Miss Wilkins was a smart teacher, her students were probably more manageable after napping, six-year-olds tended to be cranky if they didn't get their rest.

He cast the Quickstep Charm on both of them and they strode away. Harry loved this spell, it made him feel like a giant when he walked, and it was fun to travel so quickly and not have to worry about Muggles seeing and passing out in the middle of the street. He held Severus's hand obediently when they crossed an intersection, and once they were at school, Sev canceled the charm, hugged his son and told him to have a nice day.

"I will. Dad, you're going to see Grandpa today, right?"

"Yes."

"Oh good. Then maybe after you talk, we can go and visit?"

"We'll see, Harry. I can't make any promises until then. Now, go on inside before you're late," he urged, turning his son around and giving him a gentle nudge towards the blue entrance doors. "I'll see you this afternoon."

He watched until Harry was inside, then he walked swiftly away, around a corner, and behind a stand of rhododendrons. Making sure no one could spot him, he took a deep breath, and Apparated away to his childhood home.

He found Tobias weeding the flowerbeds, dressed in a pair of old jeans, sneakers, and a red polo shirt. He was gently sifting through the marigolds and tulips, pansies and geraniums, tugging the persistent weeds free of the soil and tossing them behind him in a heap.

It had always seemed ironic to Severus that a man who was so careful and gentle with flowers, so conscientious about them, could then turn around and treat his son so terribly, belittling him and hitting him for the least little infraction. He squared his shoulders and glided across the grass, keeping his movements slow, languid, and graceful, like the panther Harry was so fond of. No matter how nervous he was, Severus would never show vulnerability like that in front of this man.

Severus himself was wearing Muggle garb, a deep green shirt and black pants and casual black loafers, he'd even trimmed his hair, it was now just below his ears. When he'd been younger he had worn it shoulder length, but in his profession, long hair was a hazard and the devil to keep out of a sterile field, so Severus now wore it short, though not as short as Tobias's military cut. He had inherited Eileen's thick silky black hair, legacy of a Roman grandmother.

He approached Tobias soundlessly, and cleared his throat, having learned the hard way as a kid to never sneak up on the ex-sergeant. Tobias turned about, a weed clutched in one hand, nearly as graceful as his son in his movements.

He looked up at his son with something akin to shock in his dark blue eyes. Then he rose to his feet and dusted off his hands. "Severus. Nice of you to drop by. You could've called."

Severus shrugged. "I wasn't near a phone. I just finished dropping Harry off at school. Shall we continue this discussion inside? We wouldn't want to alarm the neighbors."

Tobias nodded and led the way into the house.

Severus seated himself at the kitchen table, it was still the same one from his childhood, with its natural maple wood grain and scuff marks from countless plates and cutlery being passed over it. Tobias had made it as a honeymoon gift for his new bride, back before he'd turned into an alcoholic. Once, when Severus was in his rebellious teenage phase, he had thought about carving his name in the table, but he'd quickly nixed that idea, for fear that Tobias would beat him senseless. Now he found his finger tracing a soft golden whorl over and over, until he forced himself to stop.

Tobias had his head stuck in the fridge, but he soon emerged with two tall ice-cold glasses of iced tea. He slid one over to Severus and the other he set in front of himself, opposite his son.

Severus took it with a nod and a thank you, the manners his mother had drilled into him were automatic, even though this was not a social call and he didn't really want anything to drink, he accepted the hospitality because it would've been rude not to.

After taking a rather large swallow of the sweetened tea, he set down the glass and said as calmly as he could, "I guess you know why I'm here."

"You want to discuss terms about me seeing my grandson," replied his father evenly.

"Yes. But I want you to know that any terms I dictate are non-negotiable, Dad. I call the shots now, not you. Any contact you have with Harry will be supervised by me, you will never be left alone with him. Any discipline of my son will be handled by me, so if he misbehaves, I will deal with it. You're not to lay a finger on him in anger, and if you do, I will cancel all further visits and you'll never see him or me again."

Tobias raised an eyebrow. He wasn't sure he liked his son's tone, it was borderline sarcastic, and he also didn't enjoy his son dictating terms to him. Still, when he'd agreed to meet with Severus, he had also agreed to listen to the younger Snape's proposal. "I told you before, Sev, that last time I wasn't intending to hit him. He woke me up from a blasted hangover and I just reacted."

Severus's mouth thinned. "Yes, you reacted all right. The same way you always reacted to me, with the back of your hand. You were lucky you didn't knock out his teeth."

"I never knocked out any of yours."

"You came bloody damn close," Severus said, feeling his temper flare. "I can't trust you not to do that to my son, so that's why I'm going to stay with you at all times."

Tobias looked annoyed. "Severus, I'm not drinking anymore, so I'm not going to haul off and slap him one just for the hell of it. What d'you think I am, an axe murderer?"

Severus laughed softly, bitterly. "No, you were a drunken abusive bastard for over half my childhood, and you used to hit me over nothing sometimes, so who's to say you won't do the same to Harry? I refuse to take that chance. So either I stay or you go. Take your pick."

"Fine. But you needn't act like you're so high and mighty, doctor."

"I'm not. I'm simply telling you how things will be. You've already proven to me that you can't be trusted, Dad. I warned you that if you wanted to earn my trust back, you'd have to work at it."

"One mistake and you hold it against me forever?" queried the older man sharply.

"Damn straight I do," Severus leaned forward, his dark eyes glittering with suppressed emotions, chief among them anger. "That's what you used to do to me, or don't you remember? The smallest mistake and you were on my back, reminding me of it every chance you got. And when you weren't doing that, you were walloping my arse for things no normal parent ever would have, like looking at you wrong. So don't expect me to just say, okay, you can have time alone with my son, since you've decided not to beat the shit out of him the way you did me. Trust has to be earned, Dad, that was one lesson I never forgot."

Tobias felt himself flush, both from anger and shame. "Look, I know what I did to you was wrong. I have a nasty temper, I get that from my father. But half of the time I was so drunk I didn't even know what I was doing or saying."

"Oh, that's a real nice excuse," sneered Severus. "I just beat up my wife and my kid because I was drunk and didn't know what I was doing. Do you have any idea what kind of hell you put me through, growing up? I used to be afraid to walk into the same room as you, most times. Because I never knew what would set you off. I used to wish I went to boarding school so I wouldn't have to come home and see my own father!"

"All right, most of how I treated you was wrong, but you can't tell me that you didn't deserve some of those thrashings, Severus. You were no angel."

"True, but I wasn't the devil either. I tried my damndest to please you, but after awhile I gave up, because you never said anything encouraging to me. It was all "you're a lazy bum, Severus, now move your arse!" or "why the hell did I have to get a son that knows more about books than sports"? Everything I did was wrong. And if you think I'm just going to forget all of that, think again, Mr. Snape! I've a right to be angry with you."

"Yes, but you had a smart mouth on you sometimes, and I had a right to correct you."

"It doesn't matter, don't you see that? Smartass or not, I didn't deserve to be beaten bloody with a Goddamn belt, Dad! Correction would've been twenty minutes in a corner or a smack or two at the most. Not twenty stripes with a belt until I couldn't sit down for three days! No normal father does that to his child!"

"Oh, really? Shows how much you know, boy, for all your fancy medical degree." Tobias snapped. "What the hell d'you think I got when I misbehaved? A pat on the head and a scolding? Give me a bloody break! My dad used to whip my arse with a belt, a switch, whatever the hell he happened to have in his hand, and back then it was called discipline and everyone did it. My father was never one for all that touchy feely crap, he worked long hours, came home, ate, and went to sleep or occasionally read the paper or went down to the pub. I barely even spoke to him, unless it was to ask permission to go somewhere, and normally the only time he ever spent time with me was when he was whaling the hide off me for something."

"And did you ever wish you had another father? Did you ever say to yourself, I can't wait till I'm old enough and I can get the hell away from him?"

"Yes, I did wish that sometimes. But he was still my father, and I owed him my respect."

"That's a ridiculous thing to say. You didn't owe him anything, since he proved to be unworthy of anyone's respect, let alone his son's. And furthermore, I don't buy the old excuse that the sins of the fathers are carried over to the children. History does not have to repeat itself. You and your father might have been abusive, but that doesn't mean I'm going to be. I have a choice, just as you had a choice, Dad. But you chose the old way and look what the hell happened. You made your son and your wife's lives a misery until the day she died and I moved out. Now there's something to be proud of!"

"Well, excuse me all to blazes, but I only disciplined the way I was raised, and I never knew there was another way!"

"Didn't you? You knew how it felt, Dad, so why in hell would you ever do the same thing to your kid? Drunk or sober, no child deserves what you did to me! Can't you see that? Because if not then why am I wasting my time here? So you can lose your temper one day and whip Harry for talking back to you?"

"I've never taken a belt to Harry and you know it. I already apologized to you once for what I did back then, which was more than I ever got from my father. I was a drunk nasty bastard and I'm sorry, but what's done is done. What do you want from me, Sev? Blood? My head on a stake in the front yard? You can't change the past."

"No, but you can bloody well learn from it, Dad! You want to know the one thing I learned? Not to bloody treat my kid like a punching bag and to make sure no else ever did either!"

"Well, you're a better man than I am, Sev. Congratulations."

"I won't -what did you just say?"

"You heard me. You're a better man than I am," Tobias repeated. "Now can we stop wrangling and just agree to let the past remain in the past? What about forgiving me for my mistakes?"

Severus glared at him. "You just don't understand, do you? I can't forgive you because it won't mean anything until you acknowledge that what you did was terribly wrong, that there is nothing that can excuse it, and then, maybe, I could forgive you a little. But it has to be on my terms and not yours. You've lost the right to dictate terms to me and if you're truly serious about this, you'll agree and shut your mouth. This is your last chance, Dad. I'm not like Mum, who gave you an infinite number of them. You screw this up and you won't ever see us again, then you can be alone with your bloody marigolds."

Tobias stiffened, trying to control his own temper. "I never wanted to be alone after I met Harry. He was what made me realize that I needed to change before I did something to him that I regretted."

"And what about me, Dad?" Severus rasped softly. "Do you regret what was done to me?"

Tobias nodded. "Yes, I do, or else I wouldn't be here now. What else do you want me to do, Severus? Get down on my knees and beg your pardon?"

"I want to be able to trust you the way other children trust their parent. But words and actions aren't enough. You need to prove to me that you will never hit Harry the way you did me."

"Prove to you how?"

"By allowing me to take you on a little trip using my magic. It won't take long and it won't physically hurt you." Severus bargained, revealing his hand at last.

Tobias looked acutely uncomfortable. "Magic was never part of this deal. You know how I feel about it."

"What? That you're afraid of it?" Severus shot back.

Tobias reddened. "Don't you sneer at me, buster! According to your psychology courses, it's normal to fear the different."

"Not when the different is your own son or your wife!"

"It is when your own child nearly sets you on fire," Tobias countered softly, his eyes far away.

"What do you mean? I don't ever recall using my magic that way."

"And you wouldn't, since Eileen made you forget, you were much too young to be using magic anyhow, but it had awakened early-too early, she said, you were two and had wanted something, I can't remember what, and I told you no, and you pitched a tantrum. Threw yourself on the floor screaming bloody murder, and I went to pick you up so you didn't hurt yourself, not to punish you, and you look at me and your eyes turn this weird yellow and the next thing I know, I'm on fire. My hands and arms are covered in fire. I start yelling, sure that I'm going to die, your eyes turn back to normal and you start bawling, and Eileen, thank God, cancels whatever spell you cast and heals me up after it. Accidental magic, she called it, and then she made you forget about it, said you were too little to even know what the hell you did, and she made your magic sleep for two years, until you were four."

"And I summoned a whole shelf of glasses and they crashed all over the floor," Severus recalled. "For which you called me a destructive little snot, even though I had no idea how I'd even done that, and whipped my backside. I was only four!"

"Yeah, and I was drunk, most likely, and terrified out of my wits that your magic had returned and the next time you were mad at me I'd end up a human torch. I was scared and hung over and did something I shouldn't of-like I usually did when I drank too much. And for that, I'm sorry. You're right, no father should be so scared of his son that he beats the daylights out of a four-year-old."

"Then why the hell did you drink, if you knew what the alcohol did to you?"

"Because I didn't know. Whenever I'd gotten drunk before, and it wasn't all the time, only occasionally with my mates, no one ever noticed what I was like, probably because they were so drunk they didn't even remember their own names. I wasn't married and didn't have kids. I never drank during the early years of our marriage, there was no need, it was only later, when the shipping yard folded and I was out on my ear, searching for a job where I could support my family without asking for government handouts, that I started hitting the bottle as a way to forget what a damn failure I was. No, that's not an excuse, it's simply the way things were. Then I found out what happened to me when I was drunk, because I couldn't remember much after. Fact is, all those times you recall me whipping you, I can't remember half of them."

"Well, they happened!" Severus snapped. "And being drunk when you did it is no excuse either!"

"I never said it was. But I can't feel sorry for what I don't remember, Sev. Or rather I can, in a way, but it's not the same. And I don't like magic being worked upon me."

"I'm not going to set you on fire," Severus replied with a touch of exasperation. "I've learned to control myself since then."

Tobias looked skeptical. "Well, you could always do it on purpose."

Severus flinched. "D'you think I would ever burn my own father alive? Bloody hell, Dad! I'm a doctor, I take my Healer's Oath very seriously, which is first use thy magic to harm none. That includes you, no matter how much you make me want to throttle you. I don't use my magic to kill."

"You killed that Voldy fellow."

"No. I brewed a potion that inhibited his magic. My friends the Aurors, Sirius and James and Remus-they actually killed him. I wasn't even there at the final battle, I was at the hospital, healing the casualties. The only time I use combat spells are in self-defense, and no offense, Dad, but I don't need them to take you out. A simple Body Bind would do the trick."

Tobias looked somewhat relieved at that statement and also somewhat annoyed that Severus had implied he was helpless against him. He wasn't used to feeling that way since he'd grown too old for Jeremiah to wallop, he was an ex-sergeant in the Royal Army, for crying out loud. "I still don't like it."

"Well, too damn bad. Because this is the only way I'll trust you," Severus said implacably. "You say you can't remember all those times you hit me over nothing or whatever? Well, this spell will help you with that. It's a spell where you walk into my memories and experience them the same way I did. It's not permanent, you won't go mad, all it does is give you the necessary empathy to understand where I'm coming from."

"I don't need your damn hocus pocus to see that I was wrong to whip you," Tobias argued. "I'm not stupid, Severus. I understand right from wrong."

"Yes, but as an abstract. In order for you to truly comprehend just how badly you hurt me and why I'm so damn angry and reluctant to trust you near my son, I need to cast this on you. Not for revenge, but because without this understanding you will never heal and neither will I. And if you refuse me, Dad, I'll walk out the door right now and we're done for all time. So if you truly mean what you said, that you want to be a part of my family again, then you'll make the damn sacrifice and let me cast the charm on you. Those are my terms. Take them or leave them." And he flashed Tobias one of the elder Snape's own challenging uncompromising sergeant's glares.

Tobias was silent for a long moment, his eyes bright with a myriad of emotions-anger, fear, regret, and uncertainty. At last he took a deep breath and nodded. "Fine. Do it and get it over with. I told you before I wasn't kidding, that it wasn't a trick. I want my family back. Cast the damn spell, Severus."

Severus peered hard at him. "Very well." He drew his wand from his holder on his leg and placed the tip against his father's temple, and the base against his own. Then he concentrated hard and whispered, "Legilimens memorium!"

A silvery mist shot out of the ebony wand and enveloped Tobias's head. The big man blinked, his eyes going wide and unfocused as he was pulled into a memory, and suddenly the kitchen looked much bigger, for he was no longer an adult, but a small dark-haired child.