Sev burrowed deeper into his baby sling as they made their way into the dark, damp, and freezing cold dungeons. He sucked on his thumb and held his ear to Ginny’s chest, listening to a heartbeat so much like Harry’s.

“Where exactly is the Slytherin Common Room, Harry?” Ginny asked, holding Sev close as she felt his shivering.

“It’s behind a blank stretch of wall.” Harry answered distractedly.

“We’re surrounded by blank stretches of wall.”

“Yes, but it’s rather distinctive.” He stopped next to a torch and studied its stand closely for a second before heading down the corridor and making a right.

“And how exactly do you know where the Slytherin Common Room is?” Sev perked up at Ginny’s question. That was something he wanted to know as well. He peeked out of his carrier and studied Harry’s back as the teen led them through the underground maze.

“During my second year…” Harry glanced back at Ginny, “Your first year…During that whole Chamber of Secrets incident—”

“Tom Riddle’s diary.” Ginny recalled, “The first horcrux you destroyed.”

Horcrux? What’s a horcrux? Sev wondered idly.

Harry nodded and continued walking, “Yeah.”

“Do you honestly believe I could forget that, Harry?” Ginny raised an eyebrow.

“No…I suppose not.” Harry stopped to examine another torch stand before continuing on down a different corridor. “Anyway, Lockhart had just started his whole Dueling Club and Malfoy thought it’d be grand to shoot a snake at me.”

Sev shank back a bit in his sling. He recalled telling Malfoy to shoot a snake at Potter. A tingle of guilt prickled in his stomach.

“That’s when everyone found out you were a parselmouth.”

Harry smirked back at her, “Yeah. His great plan backfired on him spectacularly.”

Actually, it backfired on me spectacularly. Sev recalled. He had been looking forward to seeing Potter panic over the snake coming at him. He had been prepared to get rid of it, making himself look like a hero in front of his Slytherins. He even had an insult on the tip of his tongue that would’ve made Potter and all the non-Slytherins blush! Instead, he was taken aback when the exact opposite happened. Potter had approached the snake as if going to greet a friend, and then started speaking in parseltongue! Not only had the little unintentional display shocked everyone in the room—himself included—but it also made all the Slytherins green with envy and more than a little afraid of Potter—himself included, he was ashamed to say. Hearing the Dark Lord’s tongue from the mouth of the Golden Boy was enough to give him a new set of nightmares.

“Anyway, the entire school began to think I was the Heir of Slytherin on account I was a parseltongue, so I set myself to prove them wrong by trying to find out just who the Heir of Slytherin really was.”

“Me.”

“Gin…” Harry grimaced at the reminder.

“Sorry, sorry, go on.” Ginny shook her head, waving at him to continue.

“Well…Malfoy was strutting around the castle, hexing muggle-borns left and right and shouting ‘blood-traitor’, ‘half-breed’, and ‘mudblood’ at practically everyone who wasn’t Slytherin—”

“A disgusting, foul, vial little ferret, that one.” Ginny’s lip curled.

Harry laughed. “Yeah, that he is.” He nodded. “Anyway, Ron and I figured he had something to do with the whole Chamber of Secrets thing.”

“You thought he was the Heir of Slytherin.”

“Or at least knew who it was, yeah.” Harry stopped to study yet another torch stand before continuing on. “So Hermione came up with the idea of making Polyjuice Potion. She used one of Lockhart’s autographs to get permission to find the recipe in the Restricted Section, I ordered out ingredients from Diagon Alley under a pseudonym, and she spent an entire month brewing it in the second-floor girls’ lavatory.” He stopped, studied yet another torch stand, and continued on down the next corridor. “So I became Goyle, Ron became Crabbe, Malfoy found us and brought us down to the Slytherin Common Room, and then went on to insult your family and my mother and wish Hermione dead.”

“But he didn’t know who it was.” Ginny guessed.

Harry shook his head. “No, he didn’t. The only people who could get into the Chamber of Secrets at that point were you and me; and the both of us were associated with the soul of Tom Riddle in some way or another.”

To be associated with the soul of the Dark Lord! Severus frowned and shuddered. He couldn’t even bear thinking about such a thing, much worse being subjected to it. To even be touched by a piece of the soul of the darkest wizard of all time. The thought chilled him to the core. If that ever happened to Severus, he reckoned he’d never feel clean again!

Harry stopped yet again to examine another torch stand and Ginny snapped, “Harry! Why, pray tell, do you keep stopping to admire the torches?!”

“Ah!” Sev cried in agreement, sitting up fully in his sling to look at Harry.

“I said Slytherin’s Common Room is hidden behind a rather distinctive stretch of wall.” Harry explained, turning to look directly at the both of them. “The thing that makes it distinctive?” He pointed up at the torch stand attached to the wall, “The snakes point directly to it.” Ginny and Sev took a step closer to the stand. Sure enough, there was small snake carved into the base of the stand, where wood met wall. It was a tiny little serpent, barely detectable from a distance, and its head pointed directly down the corridor.

Bloody hell! Sev gasped internally, eyes widening with surprise. I’d never noticed that before! Since when had those been there?!

“I noticed them as Malfoy led us down this way five years ago.” Harry continued, turning and strolling back down the hallway, “I’m not sure many people know they’re there. Slytherins are most likely the only ones who come down here; and they’re shown the way down here as first years. It’s probably been years since someone’s genuinely used them to locate the Slytherin Common Room.” He began walking under the torches, pointing to the carved snakes. “See? This snake points forward… forward… forward… left… forward… forward… forward… right… right… and…here we are!” He stopped before a bare stone wall that Severus recognized as the entrance to the Slytherin common room! Harry walked over to one of the grey stones in the middle of the wall and dusted off a bit of dirt with his thumb. Glancing back at them, he beckoned them over with a crooked finger.

When Ginny stepped close enough, Severus found yet another aspect of the dungeons he had yet to discover—a small snake was carved into the very center of the center stone. Its head pointed directly back at them, its eyes bore into theirs. “This is the little guy the Slytherins talk to when they say the password for the common room.”

“It’s miniscule, Harry.” Ginny pointed out, “Barely noticeable if you’re not standing with your nose to the wall. I highly doubt most Slytherins know they’re talking to the snake when they recite the password. They probably think they’re merely talking to a stone wall.”

That’s what I thought, but obviously I was mistaken. Severus thought, leaning back against Ginny’s chest. How was it that I walked these halls for twenty-seven years and I never noticed these things, but Potter walks through once and catches every single one of them?!

Harry shrugged. “Just pointing it out.”

“So what’s the password, Mr. Observant?” Ginny asked with a raised eyebrow.

Harry looked clueless. “Um…let’s ask the snake.” He turned to the serpent’s carving and made a ghostly hissing sound that bounced off the dungeon walls.

Sev swallowed and shivered at the noise, shrinking back against Ginny’s chest and gripping the sling tightly in his fists. He felt Ginny wrap an arm protectively around him and run a comforting hand through his hair. “It’s just another language, Sev, nothing more. Like French…or being able to talk to dolphins.”

“I thought dolphins could understand English.” Harry commented offhandedly. “To freedom, to victory, to Harry Potter.” The wall slid aside and Ginny burst into laughter next to him.

“I imagine the password was changed rather recently. I can’t imagine any Slytherin actually reciting that as a password a month ago.”

“You gotta love Slughorn. He has such a sense of humor.” Harry replied, shaking his head.

“Harry, I don’t think Slughorn was trying to be funny.” Ginny smirked, stepping though the doorway. “I just think that’s how he is…Merlin’s beard! This place is gorgeous!” Ginny exclaimed as she took a good look around the Slytherin Common Room. “You can almost see the merpeople’s castle from here!” Her eyes widened at the windows. “Of course, the skulls overdo the motif terribly, but that’s nothing you can’t change. The furniture could do with a repainting, at least the tables do. There’s too much black in here. The couches, those can all stay black. The chairs…I think the chairs and the tables could do with a burgundy finish. We could move these couches over there. All the chandeliers and candelabras need a good polishing…”

As Ginny drawled on and on about how she wanted to redo the Slytherin Common Room, Sev buried himself back into his sling. The moment they entered the room, Sev felt as if he was being assaulted by a strange, dark energy. His body began shivering, his heart clenched, his stomach knotted up, and a strange voice began echoing in his ears, screaming at him from a distance. It didn’t sound human. Severus stuck his thumb in his mouth and began sucking on it with a vengeance. His left ear attached itself onto Ginny’s chest, listening for her comforting heartbeat, while his other hand covered his right ear, trying to block out all other sounds.

“Sev? Are you alright, love?” He heard Ginny ask. Her arms wrapped themselves around him protectively. 

Severus whined and shook his head, screwing his eyes shut and willing the dark feelings to go away. He felt on the verge of tears. “Mmmmmmm! Mmmmmm!” He felt the temperature in the room drop yet again. The voice screamed bloody murder in his ear. Out of impulse, he began to buck wildly in his sling, batting Ginny’s breasts and whining nonsense words. “Mmmmmmaaaaaaa! Babababa! MA! Baboooooo! BA!” Deciding to run on pure instinct, he abandoned his thumb and his ear, instead settling for grabbing onto Ginny’s breasts and mashing his face into them.

“Severus! Honey---” Ginny struggled to calm the panicky infant. “Baby, I’m not—” Then a thought occurred to her. She actually had tried something last night, but she wasn’t entirely sure if it had worked. Well…no time like the present to test that, isn’t there? Ginny shrugged. “Here goes nothing. Harry! Help me for a bit, would you?”

Harry was by her side almost immediately. “Is he alright?”

“I think it’s this room.” Ginny answered distractedly. “Here…just support him for a second, would you?” Harry did so.

“You want me to take him?”

“No! He wants to feed—”

“I have a bottle.” The teenager looked towards the pocket that housed the shrunken diaper bag.

“I have something better.” Ginny began unbuttoning the top half of her shirt and lifting her bra.

“Ginny!” Harry’s eyes widened and his gaze quickly shot towards the ceiling.

Ginny rolled her eyes. “Oh, don’t be such a prude!”

“I’m not!” Harry squeaked. “What are you doing?!”

“Remember those ingredients I borrowed from your stores last night? I brewed a potion with them when I got home and drank it before I went to sleep.” When she was ready, Ginny once again supported Sev with her own arms and began directing a nipple towards his mouth. “It was to help me lactate. Harry, for Merlin’s sake, stop staring at the ceiling! Do my boobs offend you?!”

“What?!” Harry’s eyes widened as they met hers once again. “No!” He squeaked, “No, of course not! I happen to like your boobs—breasts! I mean…I don’t like them…I mean, I do, but…Oh, for the love of…I just thought…I—I didn’t…” Harry inhaled sharply and turned his attention towards Severus. “Never mind.” He muttered, his face and ears turning bright red from embarrassment.

Ginny couldn’t help herself, she giggled at his discomfort. “You’re funny, Harry.” With that, she too turned her attention back to Severus. The baby had now stopped kicking and fussing, instead holding his mouth open and moving his head around to find the nipple. “Come on. I need to position his head correctly. His nose has to be free so he can breathe.”

Harry cleared his throat. “O—Okay.” He replied hoarsely. He took a wary glance at Ginny’s face, but she was too focused on getting Severus to latch on.

“Come on, sweetheart. A little higher…” Ginny murmured soothingly. Harry gently took hold of Sev’s head and guided it towards the nipple Ginny was holding out. “Come on, baby…come on…” Ginny felt her heart racing. Would this work? Would this not? Would Sev want to nurse? Would he not? What if she had completely misinterpreted his cues just now? How embarrassing would this be to the both of them?

Finally, after what seemed like forever, Sev latched onto her nipple properly and began sucking for all he was worth. Soon enough, she could feel milk begin to flow from her breast. “Oh, baby…” Ginny breathed a huge sigh of relief and felt tears spring to her eyes. She wrapped her arms around Severus, holding him as only a mother could, and began swaying him gently. Her eyes met Harry’s. “I…wanted to do this, Harry.” She breathed, giving him a watery smile. “I wanted to do this…so badly. I can’t explain it.” She looked down into Severus’ trusting eyes and the first of her tears trailed down her face. “Hi, sweetie.” She bit her lip and gave him a nervous smile. Sev cooed and smiled back at her around her nipple before taking another long drink. Ginny chuckled and sniffled at the same time. She turned back to her boyfriend. “I had to.” She murmured, swallowing in an effort to control her emotions. “I don’t know why. I just…did.”

Harry met her hazel eyes and saw something in them he hadn’t seen before. There was a yearning, a need in them that hadn’t been there earlier. Severus awoke something in her that put that yearning there. An instinct shone behind her hazel eyes and Harry had a very good idea of what that instinct was. “I think I do.” He whispered, giving her a gentle smile. Reaching up, he brushed a few of her stray tears away with his thumbs. Ginny smiled up at him and the two exchanged a short, sweet kiss. 

Pulling away, Ginny whispered a, “Thank you,” before taking a seat on one of the leather sofas. She began to hum quietly to the nursing Severus as her fingers ran soothingly through his soft baby hair.

In that moment, as he leaned onto one of the pillars and continued to watch her, Harry found himself falling in love with her all over again. Ginny was an amazing woman. Severus was not born to her, in fact he wasn’t even a real baby, yet she still treated him as if she had carried him to term and pushed him into the world; she still treated him as if he were her very own. She was nursing him, for Merlin’s sake! She was nursing her own former professor and headmaster! And she had wanted to do it! It was as if the past few years had not happened. She saw past the baby exterior to Severus Snape the man, but she also saw past Severus Snape the man to see Sev the infant. It was confusing and more than a little disconcerting, but she had found the strength to sort through it, and she had even been willing to do what she was doing right now.

Harry couldn’t love her more than he loved her right now.

“What do you suppose it was?” Ginny’s question broke through his thoughts and Harry refocused himself to find her staring up at him.

“I’m sorry?”

“Something about the room spooked Sev when we first came in.” Ginny elaborated. “That’s why he started fussing and everything just now. This is a comfort feed.” She adjusted Sev so that he was secure in his sling and firmly latched onto her breast before standing up and walking to the middle of the room. Sev’s eyes were closed so she wasn’t too worried about him having another panic attack, but she still kept her arms safely around him just in case.

“It’s most likely the dark magic surrounding this place.” Harry answered offhandedly as he stepped down the stairs and headed to the far side of the common room.

Ginny spun around to face him. “Dark Magic?!” She hissed in alarm.

“Not that kind of Dark Magic, love.” Harry replied placatingly. “Kind of a…dark energy, if you will.” He motioned towards the infant. “This version of Severus Snape seems to be more sensitive to the aura of the magic present in a place.”

“Oh.” Ginny nodded in realization. “Okay. That kind of dark magic.” She breathed a sigh of relief. “Why didn’t I sense the dark magic when we first walked in?”

“You probably did.” Harry replied, searching behind the tapestries for the entrance that led to the hallway containing Snape’s old office. “But you’ve had almost a year to learn how to deal with being able to sense magic. Sev…” Harry glanced at the nursing baby. “I don’t think he’s even aware he sensed magic when we first walked in. He probably thought he was being bombarded by an evil force. Hence, the panic attack.” He met Ginny’s eyes. “To you, though, it’d feel like what you’re used to when you typically sense dark magic.”

“We’ve all been surrounded by dark magic for most of this year.”

“Exactly! So to you, this feeling is almost normal. To Sev…who’s just awakened to the world of magical senses…it’s terrifying.”

“Like being smothered by evil.” Ginny murmured, recalling what it felt like the first time she sensed dark magic over a year ago. She looked down at the child in her arms. Severus still nursed hungrily, but his eyes were wide open now, and looking up at her with an expression so trusting Ginny felt an uncontrollable urge to move heaven and earth to make him feel safe. “Harry?”

“Uh-huh!” Harry cried triumphantly, flinging aside one of the tapestries to reveal a plain stone wall. “Found it!” He brushed some dust aside on one of the center stones, just like he did at the entrance to the common room, before addressing Ginny. “Yeah, love?”

“What if we change the magical aura of this room?” She suggested, giving Harry a pleading look. “Show Sev how to take the darkness and turn it into light.”

Harry glanced back at her, surprised and intrigued at the same time. “Ehm…Yeah, sure! Absolutely! You wanted to redesign the Slytherin Common Room anyway, didn’t you?” Ginny nodded and smiled. “First, we have to take care of Snape’s old quarters, though. I’ll make quick work of it. I promise.” With that, Harry turned back to the wall and began speaking to it in parseltongue.

Ginny glanced down at Severus worriedly. At Harry’s words, he began shivering once again and his sucking intensified. “Harry, why don’t Sev and I just stay out here, eh?”

Harry looked uncertain. “I don’t know. I need him to distinguish what he wants to bring to our quarters, what he wants to store, what he—”

Sev began fussing once again at Harry’s response. He unlatched from Ginny’s breast and began whining in distress.

“Hey, hey now, cub…” Harry approached the duo and began trying to soothe Sev in conjunction with Ginny. “I thought we went over this…” Sev’s cries merely intensified and he looked on the verge of tears.

Ginny’s arms tightened around the infant as she glared at her boyfriend. “Can’t you just use your judgment, Harry? He obviously feels extremely uncomfortable around anything with a dark aura, so just do something with the dark objects and decide what you want to do with the rest. He doesn’t want to go back in there, Harry!” She hissed, “He doesn’t even want to be here!”

“Alright, alright, I’ll do it alone.” Harry conceded. He placed a hand on Sev’s forehead and willed some calming energy into the child. A flash of white light passed from his hand to the infant’s forehead and Sev immediately began to relax. “Attaboy! That’s my cub.” The baby began to make cooing sounds and soon opened his mouth and started batting at Ginny’s breasts once more.

“Here you go, angel.” Ginny made sure he was latched on and feeding properly once more before turning back to her boyfriend. “Just…do what you have to do, Harry. We’ll stay out here and…” she looked around the Slytherin Common Room, an impish gleam in her eyes, “…redecorate.” She smirked.

Harry rolled his eyes and sighed. “Alright.” After passing one last calming wave to Sev, Harry turned, accessed the secret doorway, and disappeared from sight.

Ginny took a seat on one of the black easy chairs and waited patiently for Sev to stop nursing, talking to him all the while. She stared into the baby’s trusting, chocolate eyes as she explained his newfound ability to sense magical auras. “I suspect Harry hasn’t explained this to you yet.” She started. Sev gave her a curious look as he drank. “The exercise he was showing you last night—the one in which you ‘felt’ the white magic that surrounds the castle at night…” Sev blinked and nodded, as if encouraging her to go on. “Well…it seems to have awakened a sort of…sixth sense in you, if that makes sense.” The infant smiled at her and it was then that Ginny recognized the pun. She chuckled and ran a comforting hand through his hair. “Over a year ago, when Harry and I first got together, he showed me how to do that as well. We were in the middle of my parents’ field of wheat…it was twilight…” Ginny’s eyes glazed over as she recalled the happy memory, “…and he held my hand...”

“Close your eyes, Gin…” Harry whispered in her ear as she leaned back onto his strong chest, “Listen to the music…and feel the magic with me…”

“I’ve been sensing it ever since.” She looked down and met Severus’ eyes, “And now you are too.” A droplet of milk leaked down from the side of his mouth and Ginny wiped it away with her thumb. “But white magic, unfortunately, is not the only kind we can sense now.” The baby’s eyebrows furrowed. “Yes…we can sense dark magic, too.” Sev unlatched suddenly and gazed up at her with wide eyes.

“What is it, love?”

“Ah!” Sev pointed all around the room and then started tapping his free ear with his hand. “AH!”

“Oh, yes…” Ginny smirked. “The screaming, right?”

“Ah!” Sev signed ‘yes’.

“Yes, I remember finding that incredibly terrifying as well.” Ginny related, “It was like being haunted by a rather angry Peeves.” Sev smiled and tried to sit up. “So is that it? You done?” Ginny asked, supporting his back. Sev nodded and signed ‘full’. “Remember to try to pronounce it as well, Sev.”

“Foo.”

“Thank you.” Ginny made sure the sling was secure before getting up. “Anyway, all you need to do from now on is make some sort of indication that the dark magic is bothering you and Harry and I will try to help you as best we can. Alright, love?”

Sev nodded enthusiastically. He tapped his forehead and looked at Ginny questioningly. “Wa Haweh ooo?”

“What did he do?” Ginny translated. Sev nodded. “He just sent you some calming energy to help you relax and put a ward or two around you to help block out the darkness.”

“Mmm.” Sev shrugged and leaned back onto Ginny’s chest once more.

The teenager fixed up her clothes and then took out her wand. “Now…how about I show you how to make yourself feel better by turning the darkness…” she waved her wand and all the candles and lamps in the room instantly lit up, chasing away the eerie shadows, “…into light?” She bounced Severus on her hip lightly, drawing a shy smile from the infant. “How does that sound to you, eh?” Sev began chewing on his pointer finger and, with a bashful smile, nodded against her chest. 

“Excellent!” She moved towards one of the windows that looked out into the Black Lake. “First and foremost—do you need help burping, or can you do well on your own?”

As if in response to her question, Sev heard his body release a rather big burp.

“Okay! That answers that.” Ginny chuckled, pulling up next to the window. “Oh…I think I can see the merpeople’s castle from here. Can you?”

Sev smiled as he pushed himself up against her chest and looked out the underwater window. “Uh-uh!” He shook his head.

“Are you sure?” Ginny asked playfully.

“Uh-huh!” Sev’s mirthful eyes mirrored hers.

“You’ve looked for it before, haven’t you?”

“Mm-hmm!”

“Yeah, I should’ve known.” Ginny chuckled. She then held a hand up against the glass, indicating Sev should do the same. “Come on, love. I want you to feel something with me.” Ginny stepped closer to the glass until Sev was able to reach up and rest a tiny hand next to hers. “Okay…” Ginny leaned in and nuzzled his ear, whispering softly. Sev smiled for it tickled a little. “Do you feel that, baby? That tingling on the tips of your fingers? Reach out, honey…just like Harry showed you last night…”

Sev leaned his head against Ginny’s chest and tried to stretch his senses like before. The steady heartbeat relaxed him, and he found his eyes drifting shut and the rest of his senses expanding out in a circle around him. Ever so slowly, he became aware of something playing across his fingertips. It seemed like it was coming through the green glass, from the lake just beyond. A tingling sensation, it felt like; not unlike the wind that rolled through his fingers last night.

“It’s white magic.” Ginny murmured into his soft baby hair. “It’s hard to detect, I know. Surrounded by all this darkness, it seems virtually impossible to be able to sense any white magic anywhere. But know this, love: there can be no dark without the light, and all the darkness in the universe cannot extinguish the light of a single candle.” Sev pushed up, removing his hand and his attention from the glass to meet Ginny’s eyes. “Even if there were no windows in this room, and we were surrounded by dark magic…there would still be light. You know where?” Sev inclined his head curiously. Ginny pointed to his little chest. “In here.” Sev looked down at her finger. She then pointed to his forehead. “And in here.” Sev looked up. After a moment, he grasped her finger in his little fist, brought it into his mouth, and began chewing on it.

“You remember what it felt like, don’t you?” Ginny continued, regardless of the finger chewing. “You remember what it felt like to be surrounded by white magic? To sense it everywhere, feel it in everything? Do you remember how absolutely amazing it felt to be immersed in it? How free and alive you were when Harry showed you how to sense it last night?”

Sev stopped chewing Ginny’s finger and settled for sucking on it instead. He did remember what it felt like. He did remember how amazing it was and how free and alive he felt, and how he positively loved being immersed in it. He remembered the sensation of white magic as it danced around him. He remembered taking his first real breath after drowning for so long. Severus gave Ginny the most serious look his baby face could muster and nodded.

“Then there’s your candle.” Ginny murmured with a smile. “It’s inside you!” She rubbed her nose against his baby nose, generating a fit of childish giggles from the infant. “All the darkness in this room would not be able to extinguish this candle.” Ginny pulled her finger out of his mouth and tapped him gently on the lips with it. She leaned her forehead against his and her hazel eyes met his chocolate browns. “And I want you to promise me something, love.” She whispered. “I want you to promise me that you’ll never let it.” She moved her hand down and laid it on his baby chest. “That you’ll keep this candle burning…‘til the end of your days.” She began backing up, “And promise me…that you’ll always try…to use your candle…” She stopped next to a dirty candelabra, “…to turn the darkness…” and reached a finger out, “…into light…” She touched the candleholder and, from her finger, a wave seemed to spread across the surface of the candelabra. Within seconds, what used to be a dirty, crusty candleholder was gleaming in its own candlelight and radiating a presence that felt white.

Sev’s eyes widened in disbelief. “Darkness fears the light. It is its vanquisher by default, unless the light allows itself to be put out.” Ginny commented before turning back to meet the infant’s gaze. “Promise me you’ll never let that happen, Sev. Ever.”

Severus pulled back and looked down at Ginny’s whole face—her flaming red her, her bright brown eyes—and, for a moment, he saw Lily.

“Promise me, Sev—whatever happens, you’ll stay with me.” Lily said, her bright green eyes gazing at him pleadingly. “I mean, I know you’re in Slytherin and everything, and they’re recruiting Death Eaters in your house like mad, but promise me, Sev! Promise me that you’ll stay with me; that you’ll stay in the light.” She grabbed both his hands and pulled him closer to her. They stood practically nose to nose now. Sev’s breath caught in his throat. “Promise me you won’t buy into that load of rubbish they’re feeding you in the dungeons. Promise me!” Her emerald eyes bore deep into his soul. “You told me it didn’t matter. Promise me it never will. Stay with me in the light, Sev.” Her grip on his hands intensified. “Promise you’ll stay with me.”

“I promise.”

“Meh pomeh.” Sev murmured, slipping his focus back into the present once more. And this time, I’m going to keep it…even if it kills me. He swore to himself.

Ginny beamed at him. “Thank you, love.” She brought him close and gave him a big kiss on the cheek. Severus giggled. “So! What do you say we…” she picked up her wand and showed it to Severus, meeting his gaze with an impish gleam in her eye, “…redecorate this room a little bit, eh?” She winked at the grinning infant and took off towards the entranceway, where she planned to start her overhaul.

Over the next hour and a half, Ginny—with Sev on her hip—sprinted from one end of the common room to the other, touching her wand to various pieces of furniture and decorations, redesigning them as she saw fit. Sev merely watched from his perch, eyes wide with fascination. Every time Ginny touched her wand to an object, not only did its color change, not only did it clean itself, but the energy radiating from it transformed from one that was stifling to one that was liberating. Ginny was quite literally turning the darkness into light! All the dark magic in the room was being converted to white magic right before his eyes!

By the time they were through, all the easy chairs were dark burgundy and arranged around the fireplace, all the couches remained black but gleamed with fresh polish, the desks shone with a new dark cherry finish, the niches that used to house skulls now housed depictions of mythological figures, creatures, and stories, the tapestries and carpets looked bright and new, the candleholders and chandeliers sparkled in their own candlelight, not a single grain of dust nor spot of grime lay in sight, and the newly constructed enchanted skylights bathed the room in the glorious light of day.

Ginny took a deep breath and spun around, admiring her work. “Well…what do you think, Sev? This place feels a lot better now, doesn’t it?” She smirked at the infant. Sev smiled around the finger he was chewing and nodded.

“Ah!” The infant freed his hands and signed ‘more’ and ‘light’.

“Oh, absolutely! Lots and lots and lots of more light!” She grinned, giving him another big kiss on the cheek. Sev giggled.

“Whoa! What happened here?!” Harry cried incredulously as he emerged from the hidden hallway that led to Snape’s old quarters.

“Isn’t it fabulous?!” Ginny grinned. “Severus and I redecorated. We thought the place could use a …lighter touch.” She winked at Sev, who laughed at her in return.

“Haweh!” Severus leaned over his sling and reached out for Harry in a universal request to be held.

“Yeah, just hold on a second, Sev. Please?” The baby leaned back against Ginny’s chest as Harry took out three shrunken boxes from his pocket. “Alright. Your quarters are entirely packed up. There’s nothing left in there except dust and cobwebs.” He held up a box in his left hand. “This stuff is full of fundamentalist pure-blood propaganda which I think is completely inappropriate for anyone to own unless they’re running a wizarding historical museum.”

Sev blushed furiously and ducked back into his sling. “Harry!” Ginny hissed, glaring at her boyfriend.

Harry took a deep breath and softened his voice. “Sev…” He started gently, approaching Ginny with care. “I didn’t mean for it to sound like that, cub. Come on…” He peeked in and found Severus looking up at him sadly. Ever so slowly, the infant signed the words ‘no’, ‘like’, ‘no’, and ‘more’.

“He doesn’t believe in that stuff anymore, Harry!”

“I know! I know, Gin. I just…” Harry turned away and sighed. After a moment, he turned back and met their eyes. “I’m sorry. I didn’t…have the best time in the world in there. Maybe…I think it was a good thing you guys didn’t come along. It was quite…dark.” Sev began fussing beneath them and they found him burying his face into the side of the sling.

“He was nice and happy before you came along and started yelling at him, Harry!” Ginny whispered heatedly.

“I didn’t yell at him!” Harry retorted.

“You did too!”

“No, I—” Harry stopped abruptly, pulled away, and ran a weary hand down his face. “Sev,” he addressed the infant softly, “look at me, cub. I’m sorry. I didn’t mean for it to come out like that. All I wanted to say was that the stuff in this box has an incredibly dark aura and I think it’s best if we just went ahead and got rid of it all, alright? I mean…it’s not you anymore. What’s the point in keeping it, eh?” He turned back to Ginny and whispered, “Most of this stuff is from the seventies, from when he used to be in school and Riddle was recruiting in his house. I found something Lucius Malfoy gave him among his things.” He turned back to the infant. “What do you say, cub?”

Sev signed ‘no’ and ‘more’ over and over again.

“So it’s alright if we burn it now?”

The infant signed ‘yes’ without looking at him.

“Would you like to watch?” Harry murmured in his ear. The baby could hear a slight smile in his voice. “Or even better…would you like to do it?”

Severus’ eyes flew open at the implication. Ever so slowly, he shifted in sling to look up at the pair of them. Both Harry’s and Ginny’s eyes shone with mirth. “You just spend the last hour and a half watching Ginny turn the darkness into light. Why don’t you work a little magic yourself, eh?”

Sev’s eyes widened. “Meh?”

Harry smirked. “Yeah, you!”

Severus didn’t know what to say. He didn’t know how to do what Ginny did—how to magically transform something from radiating darkness to radiating light. In his mind, that used to be impossible! An object was either inherently dark or inherently light and it was made that way and couldn’t change. Well…a light object could become a dark object, but never the other way around. Hot always moved to cold and never vice versa. Of course…that conviction now rivaled fiercely against his new experiences that dictated a dark object can indeed be made light again. Ginny just proved that to him. However…the task in and of itself sounded incredibly hard. Severus didn’t know if he could do it.

Harry correctly interpreted his hesitant look. “Come on, cub. It’s not too hard. You and I were doing it in your mind just…yesterday, wasn’t it?” He turned to Ginny for confirmation.

Doing something in my mind is entirely different from doing something in the real world, Potter! Sev rolled his eyes internally.

“Are you sure your mind is entirely separate from the real world?” Harry asked with a raised eyebrow.

Sev paused abruptly, turning to Harry with wide eyes. Did he just hear me?!

If he did, the teenager gave no indication. “Come on, cub. I’ll help you light this pile of rubbish up.” He gave the offensive box a small shake. “Let’s watch it burn with sweet satisfaction, shall we?”

Harry pocketed the two other boxes before moving to lift Severus out of his baby sling. The infant gripped his robes tightly as Harry made his way to the ornate, newly redesigned fireplace. “Hey! I like the new design, you two! It’s better than the old one.” He jiggled Sev playfully. “Skulls are so overrated, don’t you think? Hey, it’s Remus!” Sev looked at him curiously and Harry pointed to one of the newly-carved figures directly over the hearth. “Remus and his brother Romulus—the founders of Rome. They were raised by a she-wolf, you know.” Sev sniggered around the finger he was now chewing. “The man was aptly named.”

Harry crouched down next to the empty hearth and placed the box—which radiated with dark energy, Sev now realized—at the center of a pile of dried wood. He then adjusted his position until he sat cross-legged on the floor with Sev in his lap. Harry scooted back until they were a safe distance from the hearth.

“Alright…” Sev tipped his head back to look up at the teenager behind him. “Okay, cub, this is going to go just like yesterday, only this time it’ll be out in the real world and not only in your mind.” Harry tapped the back of Sev’s head gently. “Look back the hearth, Sev. We’re going to do a little meditation exercise. Are you paying attention?”

Sev turned back and glared at the little black box in the fireplace, signing ‘yes’.

“Alright, child…” Harry’s voice had taken on a more calming note, one that Severus remembered from the trip into his mind yesterday. Despite his unwillingness to do so, Sev found himself relaxing at the sound. “Close your eyes and hold out your hand…” Sev’s eyes drifted shut and he melted back into Harry’s strong chest. His hand held itself out of its own accord. He barely noticed. “You know what to say. Come…” Sev felt Harry cup his large hand under his tiny one. “…say it with me.” 

“This is my past.” This is my past.
“This is not my fault.” This is not my fault.
“I am no longer this person.” I am no longer this person.
“I have atoned for these sins.” I have atoned for these sins.
“Now it’s time to move on.” Now it’s time to move on.

Sev repeated it over and over in his head like a mantra, each time saying it with more conviction. Finally, after what seemed like forever, he felt his fingertips begin to tingle with the familiar sensation of white magic. “Alright, I’m going to give you a little boost now, okay?” Harry warned right before Sev felt the tingle intensify around his fingers, palm, and wrists. Soon enough, Sev felt like he was holding a cool fireball in the palm of his hand. His nerves buzzed at the feeling of light.

“Okay, now visualize the box in the hearth in front of you.” An exact image of the box flashed in Sev’s mind. The dark aura floated around it like a sinister halo. “Now hold out your hand…” Sev felt Harry direct his hand so that his palm pointed towards the evil box. “And…” Sev’s heart raced with anticipation. “Release!”

Severus felt the cool fireball jump from his hand towards the dark box with such a ferocity he flew back into Harry’s chest from the backlash.

“Whoa!” Harry exclaimed, clearly amused. A sharp crack resounded from somewhere close, startling Severus’ eyes open. “You alright, cub?” Harry straightened him up once again and laid a hand on his chest for support. “Check it out, Sev.” He gestured towards the fireplace. Severus shifted to find the box of his former possessions burning amidst the flaming wood. He could feel its black aura slowly begin to turn white.

Sev looked up at Harry curiously. “Meh?” He asked, pointing to his little chest.

“That was all you.” Harry nodded. “Except for the boost, of course. That was me.” He ran a hand through the infant’s soft hair and turned back towards the hearth. Moments later, Sev did so as well. “I’ll teach you how to do that more and more as you get bigger.” He murmured in the baby’s ear. “Soon enough, you’ll be as good as Ginny! Secret—she’s better than me.” Sev smirked internally.

Baby Snape then gave his full attention to the burning box in the fireplace. He knew what Harry put in there—his posters, pictures, books, newspaper clippings, buttons, pamphlets, papers, and everything he possessed that advocated a pure-blood first society. He had collected them long ago, when he was a young and stupid teenager obsessed with power, prestige, and pretending to be something he was not. He had wanted to get rid of them all after Lily’s death, but Dumbledore had convinced him otherwise, telling him he would need them when the Dark Lord rose to power again. Severus had been reluctant to believe that was going to be the case, but had done what the old man asked anyway. Sure enough, he had to hang them all up again when the Dark Lord appointed him Headmaster and made it necessary for all the Death Eaters in the school to hold weekly meetings in his quarters. He had hated it with a passion!

Now all that stuff was finally burning to a crisp before him. Severus couldn’t feel more liberated than he did now. Finally, after all these years, those hateful reminders of his youthful indiscretions could be banished into oblivion. He was never going to make the same mistakes again.

“This box is full of stuff in the gray area.” He heard Harry say behind him. Sev only paid him half a mind. His focus was still mostly on his burning past. “About ninety-five percent of it is just books and objects that have something to do with the Dark Arts. They’re pieces of information and I’m rather reluctant to get rid of it. So I’m putting this in my Gringotts vault for safe keeping. We can sort through it when you get bigger.” There was some shifting behind him and the sound of another small box being jingled. “This is mostly potions and ingredients from your stores. I’ll put them in my private lab in our quarters. Make use of them and all.”

Harry knew this was a big moment for Severus, so he kept himself quiet for a few minutes, allowing the infant to feel the satisfaction of watching his dark past burn in a blaze of light. After a lengthy moment of silence, Harry leaned in to murmur in the infant’s ear. “There’s one more thing I saved for our quarters, Severus. I have a feeling you’re going to want to keep it…rather close to you.” From his pocket he drew a simple picture frame that held a magical photo of Lily.

Severus completely turned his attention away from the fire and towards the picture frame Harry held out for him. He fingered the glass around her smiling face reverently, as if it was a picture of God he was touching. Severus swallowed the lump in his throat. Glancing up towards Harry, he loosely crossed his arms over his chest and the teenager nodded in understanding. Harry moved his supporting hand and placed the picture frame in its stead, allowing Severus to tighten his hold and hug the much-loved photo close to his heart.

A wave of white magic passed from the picture frame and into Severus’ soul. He felt it wrap around his body, calming his beating heart, loosening the knots in his stomach, and filling him with a sense of peace and contentment. Then…a vague yet familiar sweet scent soon began to tickle his nostrils; a musical, almost angelic voice started echoing in his ear.

Lily.

“You’re free now, Sev.”

Lily’s laugh sounded like music to his ears. Sev could see her in his mind’s eye—nine years old and beaming at him like an angel from heaven. The afternoon sun set her red hair ablaze and fit a halo atop her head. She stood in front of a field of rye.

“You’re free now, Sev. So come on! Run with me!” She turned in slow motion, flashing him a playful look before she disappeared behind the stalks of rye. “Chase me, Sev! Run with me!”

And he did.

Severus dove into the field and raced after her fiery hair, Lily’s magical voice reverberating around him as if it was the voice of the wind itself.

“Sing a song of sixpence,
A pocket full of rye;
Four and twenty blackbirds
Baked in a pie.
When the pie was opened,
The birds began to sing.
Now, wasn’t that a dainty dish
To set before the king?”

The redhead then stopped and turned, a grin still affixed upon her face. Sev gazed deeply into the pair of green eyes now watching him through the stalks of rye between them.

“You’re free…”

As Sev watched the black box burn before him, and felt its dark aura being overtaken by the light, he began to truly believe it.