Harry Potter and his brother in law, Ron Weasley, stood in front of the quarters that were once occupied by Severus Snape. When Horace Slughorn opened the door, the Auror waved an order signed by Robards in front of his face.

'Of course, m'boy. It's such an awful situation. If only Severus was alive, everything would have been explained immediately. He's known Miss Evans so well…'

'Where are Professor Snape's things?'

Slughorn pointed at the closed doors at the opposite end of the hall.

'I've got to go. If you could pass my regards to your wife… your wife is extremely talented, if you allow me to say so…'

Ron made a face when the teacher left. As usual, the Potions Master had not even spared him a glance.

'Alohomora' Harry murmured and pulled out what was contained in the cupboard.

Severus Snape's earthly belongings were crammed into several old tattered trunks and then covered with protecting and locking spells. Merely disabling them took the Aurors half an hour. Harry took one of the trunks and Ron the other one.

Inside, Snape's clothing was stored – mostly black, albeit some in Slytherin green too – and some trinkets. A Slytherin scarf from the Professor's school years. Random bits of parchment. A gold-and-red scarf. Gold and red. Harry's fingers clenched on it. An old framed photo was wrapped in it, and a lock of hair that still retained the original red color.

The young Auror lifted the scarf to his face, imagining his mother – Lily Evans – in Gryffindor colors. The lock of hair was undoubtedly hers too.

'Oy, that's a Gryffindor scarf! What's it doing there?'

'Observant as usual. That scarf was my mother's. Snape has also kept a lock of her hair and a photo of himself with her. Look. "Lily & Sev, 1972". They were in their second year at Hogwarts.'

'Y'know, I think he went a bit mental about your mum. This trunk contains a Muggle book signed "For Sev – Lily" and several letters from him to her or the other way around. Oh, and an extremely old Potions books with margins written on and some more notes about Potions.'

Harry glanced into the trunk that Ron was talking about. His friend was right.

'Trinkets from his school years, connected either to Potions or to my mum…' Harry thought aloud. 'Nothing from later years?'

'Nah. He must have kept his secrets well hidden… Hey, what's this?'

Harry dug his fingers into the corner of the trunk. Something caught his attention. He extracted a piece of simple paper, with pen writing in Snape's trademark penmanship.

'That's impossible!' he exclaimed, showing the paper to Ron.

May 30, 1998

Tom Riddle is gone. Lily- Lily has waited for it for so long. "Sleeping Beauty". My sleeping beauty. Will a kiss wake her up?

'What rubbish' Ron said, but Harry was not listening.

He reached for the book signed from Lily. Just as he expected, it was a collection of fairytales. A bookmark stuck out. He opened the book on the marked page. "Sleeping Beauty". He cursed.

'What's the matter, Harry?'

'That's a Muggle story about a princess who was enchanted and was asleep for a long time. It was a prince who woke her up with a kiss. That's what Snape alludes to in the note. He must have read it many times over – look at the tattered corners'

'The thirtieth of May, 1998' Ron pointed out the date. 'If Snape has survived the battle, he probably is still alive. That's not parchment. If I remember well, his wand was destroyed. Reckon he's somewhere in the Muggle world?'

'That's a thought! Both Snape and Lily were brought up among Muggles. Snape is half-blood. I bet he can get by…'