Ophion knew he was a elegant, beautiful snake. If he wasn't so small and still had his venom, he would be star under his kin. But as it was he lived in captivity, too small and weak to fend for himself in the wilderness. Not that he complained. He had been a true prisoner, a test subject in the hands of a – in his eyes – mad wizard. He had been freed with a lot of other animals. But as they slowly found their homes, he was left alone in a brown box on the desk of a Ministry employee. He had begun to grow depressed, when life came into his little world and he was transported away. There was this human, smelling strangely of different herbs and flowers and fungi. It was not pleasant to smell all this in one person. It confused Ophion and he hissed, annoyed and disturbed. Where was this strange man bringing him. Soon after he felt the cold air penetrating the thin box and curled tighter around himself, he felt a most peculiar sensation. It was like being squeezed... He guessed this was the way his food must feel, when he swallowed it. It was done after a moment and he had hoped to never feel it again. The air was still bitter cold – even colder than before, if that made sense – and the man was walking swiftly. After a few minutes they entered an area that felt warmer and soon the lid of the box was opened. A man, with dark long hair and a prominent nose looked closely at him, frowning. He had never understood this horrible thing human called 'nose'. Long and crooked was this one and looked like it could suck him in whole. Humans were ugly beasts... The man closed the lid, but returned soon and let a worm drop into it.

"Do you like that? Try it.", he said but the snake did not understand. He licked the dead worm and sniffed. It seemed alright, even though it smelled like nothing he had smelled before, so he swallowed it.

And alright it was! Marvellous, really. What a juicy, delicious treat. He hissed in appreciation and raised his head.

"More? Yes?", the man said and Ophion hissed a bit in response. He was treated to more of what the man called "Flubberworms" and swallowed them excitedly. Yummy!

Ophion had thought he had found his home with the strange, hooked-nosed man but that seemed to be a misconception. He was soon picked up, transferred into a different, more comfortable box and then transported into the air. It was the next day that excited chattering woke him up. Who was making that noise? With the dark man, there was never so much noise!

Soon a smaller man opened his box, he had messy curls and green eyes that widened, when he saw him.

"Its beautiful.", he breathed and talked to another little man with hair so red, it hurt the snake to look at it too long. Suddenly the black haired human prodded him – how rude!

"What's your name?"

The snake blinked, the child human was a parsel! Well that was interesting "Name?"

"What do I call you?"

"Snake"

"Urgh... I'm Harry."

"No, you're human."

"Yes, but... See I am human, and this friend of mine is human too. But if you want to call me, you say 'Harry' and if you want to call him, you say 'Ron'. That's a name."

"I don't have a name."

"Can I give you one?", Harry asked politely, Ophion nodded. He had heard of speakers before and all his kin knew that snakes were bound to them. So this Harry would be his new master. He kind of liked the funny human with his funny name and green eyes behind round contraptions. He seemed like a fine master, a kind master... At that moment another human came in, a female. Her hair looked alarmingly like Willow. They talked a bit and seemed to be deciding on a name for him.

"Snake! How about I call you 'Ophion', it means snake in... our language.", Harry offered and Ophion answered "Yes, that is acceptable."

His master then proceeded to wrap him around his wrist where he wound himself tightly. Yes, this was definitely nice and warm. The soft, warm skin, the pulse of the human blood underneath it. He could smell Harry's scent and warm himself at his wrist and underneath his sleeve. This was wonderful, he could get used to it.

This was how Ophion met his master, Harry. The time he spent with Harry made it clear that he had been right. Harry was a kind and fine master. He cared for Ophion, fed him regularly and took time to talk to him. He stroked his scales and helped him shed skin if he needed to. His master was a fine master indeed. Soon the snake realized that the Dark Man was his master's father. He did not like his smell, but tolerated him as an extension of Harry, the way he tolerated Ron and Hermione. But he was rather glad to be left alone by them mostly. Life in the boy's dormitory was boring, especially when they were gone or asleep. Harry liked to take him out after classes and had him around his wrist whenever he left. That felt nice and new. He had been trapped almost all his life, so he liked outings exceedingly. Especially if he wasn't in a box but wrapped around a soft source of warmth.

Living in the dormitory and travelling with Harry meant that he saw other pets as well. There was the toad that tried to escape almost everyday. There was a very bushy, ugly cat, that he tried to stay away from as much as possible and a rat. A really strange smelling rat. When Ophion lay curled in his terrarium one day, he thought about that strange rat. It slept a lot too and it seemed like no other rat Ophion had ever seen. It was not like the other test subjects in the laboratory where Ophion had been held captive. Something about him was distinctly... human. With these thought running wild in his imagination the snake fell asleep.

Ophion blinked lazily into the green light that shined into Harry's room. He slowly uncurled himself and came out of the moss covered little cave Harry had bought for him. He slithered onto the highest point of his hills and then saw to his great surprise that the lid wasn't fully closed. As Ophion always only travelled on his human, he missed experiencing different textures on his skin and slithered out. Slithering out of his terrarium he made his way down the table and left Harry's room. He silently crept through the living room, where his master's father was reading a journal in an arm chair. Unnoticed, Ophion slipped under the next door and left the rooms. Here, outside of the carpet covered living area, Ophion felt much colder. He quickly tried to reach warmed quarters when he slithered up the stairs. It was difficult, but he managed. No one noticed the small, colourful snake making his escape as he followed the rays of sunshine outside onto the grounds.

Ah! Finally, grass. That felt much better, disguising and soft and smelling faintly of rain. He loved grass. Content with his little exploration he slithered up to the wooden cabin to which his master always brought him. The giant man and giant wolfish dog weren't there. He slithered inside coming closer to the still warm grate. Ah, there had been a fire lit here and he felt warm and comfortable, curling up beside it. If snakes could sigh, he would give a sigh of contentment now. But he only lazily rested his head on the curls of his tiny body and blinked, taking in the cabin. It smelled of wood and rain and the creatures and plants of the forest. It felt and smelled homey. A Flubberworm now and his life would be perfect. Just as Ophion wanted to fall asleep, he saw a movement.

He opened his eyes again, his predatory instincts awakening. He sharpened his senses and heard scurrying footsteps. There was another, rather clumsy creature in here with him. Ophion slowly uncurled himself, coming closer to the source of the vibrations on the wooden floor. His other senses slowly caught up, bringing in the smell of wet rat and strangely - human. He slid forward and when he had reached the corner in which the rat was shivering, his eyes roamed its figure. Ah, a toe missing, it was the redheads pet rat. Ophion would have given a feral smile if he could, but as it was he hissed a satisfied tone. He had found his snack. Sneaking up on the miserable creature he opened his mouth wide, wondering as he did so, why he was suddenly a lot bigger than the rat. The old rat gave a terrified squeaky sound before his teeth sank into its middle. While blood gushed into Ophion's mouth – warm, fresh and tasty – the rat still struggled, kicking its hind legs in the air, slashing its tail. Inside Ophion's mouth he could feel Wormtail's last helpless movements. It did not take long until Ophion was slowly but gradually swallowing the fainter and fainter fighting Wormtail. When the snake closed its mouth around his prey, the animagus was already dead. Slithering back contently, he lay by the grate, warming in its dying flames and feeling content all around. What a successful day!

It was a loud bang that rattled Ophion awake. His master rushed into his room and retrieved a long package that was lying on his bed. He gave an excited squeal when he unpacked it and rushed out with the high class broom. Ophion gave an annoyed hiss at his master's antics. He was having such a nice dream!

Harry was quite nervous about the trip they were having. What did you wear at this? Did it matter? Should he wear black? Would Severus care either way? Well, orange or yellow might not be appropriate, but blue jeans should be alright... or was it? He felt stupid asking Severus about something banal like that and just got over himself. Dark jeans, black T-Shirt, his school shoes. That should be good enough. Now hair. What should he do with that mess? He actually liked it and people always commented on how he looked so alike James. He would like that... But maybe his mum wouldn't. Maybe she would have tried, like Petunia, to flatten his unruly locks all his life. He frowned at his reflection. Did it matter?

"Shall I help?"

Harry jumped when he heard Severus in his door frame and looked at him through the mirror. He shrugged, feeling a blush creep up on him. Severus came forward, combing Harry's hair with his long fingers.

"What a mess.", he murmured, wetting his hands before running them through Harry's hair again.

"It won't help.", Harry murmured miserably, Snape looked like he was up for a challenge and summoned "Accio hair gel"

"You have hair gel?", Harry asked surprised

"Even the Muggle kind.", Snape answered, catching the round little plastic box "I may have enhanced it a little though."

Harry grinned at that and then watched with horror as Snape scooped up an amount of the goo that should be forbidden. Harry clasped his hands over his hair quickly "No way! I'll look like... I dunked my head in glue or something."

"You won't, hands away.", when Harry didn't obey directly he said "Trust me... Harry!"

Slowly he took away his hands but the sceptical frown stayed in place. Snape just dumped the goo on his hair and started combing it in with his hands from front to back. Harry slowly felt drowsy with the skull massage he was getting. He lazily recognized that Snape wasn't making a parting, which he quite liked. Not middle nor a side parting would look good on him. Severus just sleeked his hair back completely. One or two of Harry's stubborn locks sprang back onto his face. Snape tried to push them back but Harry said "No, I like that."

Snape grinned at him over the mirror, but Harry explained "I'm not vain! I just like them to hide my scar."

Snape raised an eyebrow at that, but didn't comment further. Harry rather thought he had distributed the product enough by now, but the massage felt so good, he didn't complain. While Severus washed his hands, Harry examined his hair in the mirror "That does look kinda good."

Because his hair was messy, it had a lot of volume and forcing it back the way Severus had, made Harry's face look more prominent, especially his eyes. He thought, it'd look better without the glasses, but as there was no way he could see clear for a meter without them, there was no chance for leaving them away.

"Why don't you do that?", Harry asked Snape, who was drying his hands by now.

"I do, seldomly."

"Never seen you with it."

"And you probably won't in the near future."

"Why though?", Harry asked, following him out of the bathroom.

"Too much trouble, I'm no pretty boy, I don't give much... I mean I do not care about appearances."

Harry grinned as he imagined what colourful words his father had left out, when he stopped mid-sentence and corrected himself.

"When do you care enough then?", Harry said, pulling on his coat, mittens, hat and Gryffindor shawl.

"When I go to a gala, ball or such."

"When do you ever go to something like that?", Harry asked, stopping in the middle of pulling on his hat. Snape took it from him and put it on carefully, as not to destroy his handiwork.

"They are part of certain gatherings related to potions. They like to make a fuss about it and you have to somehow fit in."

Harry grinned, imagining his father in tie and suit with sleeked back hair, making small talk "Can I come too?"

"As my apprentice you are excepted to, Mr. Potter.", Snape said and raised an eyebrow at him, before he threw him his invisibility cloak "Now vanish from my sight, please."

Harry rolled his eyes before hiding under the cloak.

Snape led him out of the wards, then casually held his arms away from his body until he felt Harry hugging him tightly. He glanced up and down the street before he apparated away. When they arrived at the graveyard Harry had last seen during the funeral, he felt his stomach clench. Severus led the way to the graves and they looked down on the freshly dug.

The headstone read "They that love beyond the world cannot be separated by it. Death cannot kill what never dies."

Harry felt dully surprised.

"You didn't use one of the bible quotes?", he asked quietly and his father answered, staring at the carving he had chosen.

"He was never very devout. It was only in his last time that he turned to his religion, it was not genuine as far as I can tell. And I believe he would have liked the fact that I chose these words for him."

Harry agreed to the last part of this statement but not the first "You never know. About the religion I mean."

"What's done's done.", Snape murmured and sighed. He conjured up flowers and set them on the grave. To Harry's surprise he conjured up another bouquet and held it out to Harry. Harry took off his cloak before receiving them.

"A few rows up, there is my mother's grave. Go set these on it."

Harry took them and nodded. Severus had not specified the row and he suspected that he wanted Harry to search for a while so he would have time alone at Tobias' grave. Harry left quickly to give his father some privacy.

When Harry had walked a few paces, Snape looked back to Tobias' grave and then knelt down on it.

"How can I be so lost without you, when you never were my haven?", he asked quietly "I loved you when I was a child, but all that drained away. The last years we spent together were a necessity. There was no affection, nothing that can resemble love. I believed you when you said you loved me. You did as much as you could. I was all that you had left. But I... I could not love you back, father and I feel bad for it." He gulped, stroking the earth on the grave "Even though after all you did, you hardly deserved my love. And still..." He looked up to spot the boy at a distance "I love Harry and I always will. I hope I can be a better father than you, I hope I can stray from your path."

He quieted then, kneeling on the grave and absent-mindedly looking at the headstone and carving.

Harry had found Eileen Snape (née Prince) and awkwardly lay flowers on her eternal bed.

"Hi.", he murmured, feeling stupid for it "I'm your grandson, I guess." He glanced behind him, seeing Severus head behind Tobias' headstone. He must be sitting "Severus adopted me. And I was with your husband for a while too. He was nice to me but Dad said he had been a git to you two, when he was a child. I'm sorry for that, I wish you had been happy then. But you know what? I think it was you, you were the one who taught Severus to be a good person." Harry looked back over his shoulder, making sure Severus was still where he had been before "He is a great Dad and he learned being a good parent from you. And I wanted to say: thanks. Thank you a lot for that. Without you I might still be at the Dursleys and unhappy. But now I have everything and it is all thanks to you, because you loved my Dad."

Harry shifted restlessly and glanced back again. Severus had gotten up and was moving closer to him.

"I think I would have loved you.", he said to the grave "And you would have loved me. I wish you had lived."

With these words he turned around and walked to Severus "I'll go to Tobias, then."

Snape nodded and walked up to his mother's grave. This time he did not kneel down. It was not the first time he was here "Mother. You've met my son. He is special, don't you think? You always wanted me to have children, always wanted to be a grandmother. And I know you tried to match me with Lily, to my intense embarrassment. Well, now I have her son. He is not born with my genes, but he is my child more than he was James' I think. He knew an infant and cared and loved his son. But I know Harry. I know his personality and I love him as a person. I have chosen my child and it was the best decision of my life." He kissed his fingers and touched the headstone "I love you."

He turned back and saw Harry, arms wrapped around himself, the invisibility cloak bundled up between them. He was shivering but Severus did not walk up to him, for he could see he was murmuring something to the grave and he wanted to give him privacy. Severus strolled casually down the rows, looking for names he would recognize and occasionally glancing at his son.

Harry stood in front of Tobias and said "I miss you. You were the only grandparent I ever had. I felt safe and good with you, like I could trust you. It was such a shock to learn how mean you had been to Dad. You know how Dad defended you? He wanted me to love you and be nice to you, it was important to him. I think I have never respected him more than then. He didn't care one wit for his feelings, he only cared for us. He's a great Dad, even though you were a git to him. I know you tried at the end, but that does not make better what you did before. I think he never believed you, you know, that you actually cared for him. But because you were nice to me he could not hate you any longer. Strange, isn't it? How we are connected to each other. Severus said that he believed he could only take me because he had overcome himself in taking care of you. He could tell you he loved you, because he saw you being nice to me. And I was nice to you because he told me to. He said he loved me back then because you made him, you were trying hard to make us come together and without you, I just know, he wouldn't have adopted me so soon. Well, thanks for that."

Harry shivered slightly and stared down at the grave. At first he had felt silly for talking to earth and stone, but he felt lightened now and it had come quite easily and fluently once he started. Marty was a genius, really. If he was selfish he would probably try and have Marty make advances to Severus, because if they married he'd have her around forever. He smirked at that thought and then saw at the corner of his eyes that his father was coming to him. Harry raised his head, when he was close and Severus put his hands on Harry's arms, rubbing warmth into them.

"You're cold, we should go on.", he said and Harry nodded. When Severus wrapped his arms around Harry again, he leaned gratefully into the embrace and closed his eyes. They apparated but didn't separate immediately. He felt quite drained after talking to his grandparents and dreaded going up to his parent's graves. Severus was rubbing his back to warm him and held him closely. Harry had almost made up his mind to ask Severus to go back home, when he received a kiss on his temple and his father whispered "I know its hard, but you are a brave young man."

He let Harry go and nodded to the graveyard.

"Aren't you coming?", Harry asked with a small voice.

"If you want me to.", Severus said and accompanied him inside. He knew where the Potter's graves were and lead him there. He stepped back a bit and let Harry approache them. When he saw Harry kneel down and sit cross legged in front of them, he walked out of hearing distance. But there was nothing to hear anyway, Harry just stared at the headstones, comparing the dates on them. Out of nowhere he felt tears welling up and choked them down. He didn't know what to say, he didn't want to stay but didn't want to go either. He looked up to search for his father who came to him immediately, reading what he wanted from his eyes.

"Harry?"

Harry reached his hand up for Severus to pull him on his feet "I want to go."

Severus looked at him surprised, he had spent a lot longer at his parent's graves than here. He looked into those green eyes, not quite understanding his reluctance to stay here. He turned Harry to face the graves and hugged him from behind, laying his chin on the boys head. Severus stared down at the graves and started talking himself.

"James, Lily. I have taken your child and made him mine. I hope you don't mind. But as you are not here, I have taken it upon myself to care for him. I am sure you would want the best for him and I doubt I am the best. But I am the only one he wants, so I will give my best. I love him and even if you yourself came to claim him, I would not give him up. I promise I will protect him and love him as if he was my own blood." He tightened his grip around the child in his arms "And I hope you can forgive me for... everything."

Harry sighed and leaned back into his father's embrace. Suddenly words did come to him and he spoke them quietly.

"I feel so bad. I could never love you, I never knew you. But you died for me and I have gone on and replaced you. I don't deserve to be standing here in front of you with Severus, when I should be mourning your death but am only glad I have him." He sobbed at that and felt his throat constrict. The head on top of his left its position and came to rest on his shoulder, long hair tickling his neck. "But they all say that you wouldn't mind, that you would be happy for me. And I want to believe them but I will never know, because you're gone. And I didn't deserve to loose you, to live in a cupboard for ten years or be treated like a house elf." Severus leaned his head against Harry's at that and whispered "No you didn't deserve that." "And I... I do deserve a parent, I deserve to be treated right and...", he hesitated and then said "I deserve to be loved and cared for and I want it. I am sorry for loosing you but I will never be sorry for gaining Severus."

"You do. You deserve all that.", Severus whispered, holding him tightly. Harry felt faintly embarrassed about it, but pushed the feeling away. He deserved it. He snuggled closer to his father and heard him chuckle.

"Sure you want me to have a relationship? You seem to be rather demanding enough."

Harry laughed at that "Can we go to Uncle Remus and Sirius?"

"Whatever you want.", Severus said, apparating from the spot, leaving two cold graves, with parents within that would have loved to raise their child but were robbed of the opportunity.

When Harry entered the dungeons today he stopped dead at the sight and a mad urge to giggle came up his throat. He managed to say “What's that?” without choking.

Severus Snape, feared Potions Master, was standing there in a white apron, in front of cauldron which was emitting fumes and filling the room with the delicious smell of chocolate. Harry inhaled deeply and closed his eyes, enjoying it immensely. Around the cauldron, different ingredients were scattered, but not the way Harry was used to. First of, there was nothing disgusting in that pile, no frog liver or snake tongue. Second, there was no order to it, the way Harry was used to.

“We are making nougat pralines.”

Harry dropped his bag at that pronouncement. He debated discussing this but then just shrugged and thanked the heavens for his good luck. He came forward eagerly and inhaled deeply again, humming in appreciation.

“That smells so good.”, he said dreamily, Snape simply raised an eyebrow

“Make yourself useful. There's a form, bring it here and hold it for me.”

Harry obliged, bringing the praline form and holding it down, while his teacher carefully poured in the chocolaty mass. The amount fit perfectly and Harry wiggled the form a bit to make the surface smooth again. He licked his lips in anticipation, when the delicious smell wafted up again. Snape waved his wand and Harry recognized the cooling charm, that would slowly drop the temperature of the chocolate until they were set. As there was no way Snape would let him taste from the form, he looked at the cauldron longingly.

“Err, sir? I can clean up here.”

Snape raised an eyebrow at him

“Well, you made the whole thing alone and I only helped in pouring it, so its only fair...”

“Indeed.”, was all that Snape had to say before he left for his living room “Join me, when you're finished.”

Harry waited until Snape had softly closed the door behind him, before he rushed to the cauldron and began scooping it up with the spoon and stuffing him before Snape could come back into the room. When he was just licking the back of the spoon for a third time he caught something at the edge of his vision and very slowly turned to it.

There he was, leaning on the door frame, looking amused and as if he was holding back from bursting into laughter.

“Cleaning, eh?”

Harry grinned sheepishly and showed his chocolate covered teeth. Snape rolled his eyes and said in a long suffering tone “If you must. But clean them properly afterwards.”

“Thanks sir!”, Harry sang behind him as Snape exited the room with a soft smile on his lips.