“Did we come to a decision?” Eileen asked from behind her desk where she sat tall as sipped a glass of water.

               Severus walked into the study with a quill in one hand and the will in another. Harry followed him into the room, leaning against the desk when Severus paused in front of it and placed the quill and will down in front of Eileen. He crossed his arms as he glared at Eileen.

               “Yes, I’ve made my decision,” Severus said.

               “Excellent,” Eileen smiled. She picked up the will then frowned, glancing up at Severus. “You didn’t sign it.”

               “I was thinking it needed some revisions.”

               “What are you talking about?” Eileen snapped, her eyes hardening.

               “I am talking about rewriting your will, so we all get what we want,” Severus said. “I’d rather not see you suffer needlessly by walking out these doors and leaving you to your fate, but I will do just that if you do not agree with my terms. Evans and I will not be moving in with you, however, I will happily look into magi-nurses for you and find one willing to keep her trap shut about the Prince disease to other purebloods, which shouldn’t be hard if said witch is a muggleborn.”

               “I do not want treatment and care from a muggleborn,” Eileen said. “Do you know how that will look?”

               “Well, I was assuming you weren’t planning on showing her off.”

               “I still have company over now and then. Family would look much better to the public eye, you know.”

               “Or you could order her not to say a word in their presence. I’m not quarrelling over every term I make with you; we’ll be here all day. And you should start writing this down. Evans and I will not be moving in, but I will save you the trouble and make sure someone is here for your end of term care. Someone reliable and will not speak of this to any prestigious family you wish to keep in contact with. That is my first condition.”

               Eileen glared at Severus before huffing and pulling out a new parchment to revise her will.

               “As that was really the only disagreement we seemed to have,” Eileen said, “I suppose the rest of the will is up to your standards? You want everything without the labor?”

               “Of course not,” Severus said. “You can write this, too. Upon your passing, this estate will be renovated where needed and put up to market for whoever wishes to take it, magical and muggle alike.”

               “No,” Eileen said firmly. “The Prince Estate is a thousand-year-old home and tradition. What about the greenhouse? The Ural owls?”

               “We have owls, and they’d eat your puny things,” Severus said. “They can go to an owl emporium.” Severus then smirked. “But I’ll gladly take that greenhouse off your hands should you wish to endow me with such an inheritance.”  

               Eileen gave Severus an annoyed look and a quick shake of her head.

               “Of course, you’d want that,” Eileen sneered. “Anything else, my son? Seeing how you’re dictating my last will and testament?”

               “Your last will and testament was selfish.”

               “And here I thought leaving my last living blood a home, enough finances to retire, and a beautiful garden for your growing boy to play was rather an altruistic act. And what of my horses?”

               “I hear there’s a nice glue factory not far from here. Muggles have an odd affinity for using such creatures in their adhesives.”

               “Dad,” Harry started to say as he looked up at his father with a concerned look.

               “How dare you!” This time, Eileen rose from her seat and matched the furious glare Severus was shooting her. She pointed a finger at Severus. “After all I’ve ever done for you, this will be how you repay me? By slaughtering the Prince family’s pride?”

               “You really wouldn’t, would you?” Harry asked, staring wide eyed at Severus.

               Severus met Harry’s eyes, then rolled his own and gave a shake of his head.

               “No, Evans, I would not. So calm yourselves, both of you. I figured their trainers or jockeys would take the ones they like.”

               “You’d put an end to a great bloodline?” Eileen asked.

               “I’m not getting into breeding of winged beasts, thank you very much.”

               “I think it’d be pretty cool,” Harry muttered.

               Severus cuffed the back of Harry’s head.

               “Hush you, you nearly got bit by them.”

               Harry rubbed the back of his head and rolled his eyes but said nothing more.

               “So,” Eileen began, folding her arms and studying Severus. “This is how you want me to rewrite my will? Ensure everyone has somewhere to go, you get the greenhouse, and my home goes up for sale? You want me to agree to this?”

               “You don’t have much choice,” Severus answered. “Either you rewrite it my way, which benefits both of us, or you leave it as it is, I disclaim it, and then you rot in this vastly empty manor and Gringotts takes your house and sells it anyway to the highest bidder magical or muggle alike. I am doing you the honor of taking on that responsibility myself and allowing you someone who can take care of you till your dying breath. Which shall it be?”

               Eileen remained silent for a moment longer before. She walked around the desk, coming to stand in front of Severus and leaning back into the edge of her desk.

               “What happened to you?” Eileen asked. “There was once you were so willing for greatness and power. And here I am, giving you that very opportunity by taking over as head of Prince Manor. Wizards and witches all around the world come here to marvel at the horses and owls, come to collect rare ingredients only we grow, and you are willing to throw all that away to keep your little shack? Perhaps you’d like to discuss this with Evans. Did you ask him what he wanted?”

               “His opinion has little hold here,” Severus said, ignoring Harry’s indignant look.

               “After everything I’ve done for you, this is what I get in return? Abandonment. Surely this must be elderly abuse, leaving your dear mother in the care of a stranger.”

               “Don’t get me started on “abuse.””

               “I did what I could for you . . .”

               “You did nothing,” Severus snapped, scowling furiously now, “but stand there and watch Father unleash every ounce of anger he had on me whether it related to something I did or not. And if that wasn’t enough, you were never there for me.”

               “I had to provide for you; I could not do that and entertain.”

               “Oh, I’m sorry, was that asking for too much?”

               “Dad,” Harry tried to butt in nervously, reaching up a hand to rest on Severus’s arm. Severus didn’t spare him so much as a glance as he pulled away from Harry and stepped closer to Eileen, who was not intimidated by his invasion of her personal space in the least, matching his intense stare.

               “Maybe instead of accusing me of every little thing I did wrong,” Eileen said, leaning forward some, “you could thank me for seeing you through Hogwarts and keeping you alive. Not everyone can have the perfect, fantasy mother they dream of, you know.”

               “That’s rich coming from you, considering you didn’t even try to be a mother. And a mother certainly wouldn’t force her son and grandchild into something they didn’t want, like living with you.”

               “You managed for nineteen years before; you can’t do one more year for your dying mother who brought you into this world?”

               “Something you’ve regretted ever since, and you make sure to remind me whenever the opportunity comes up. Damn it, you’re such a vile woman; why did I even consider coming here? I knew it would end like this. I should tear that will up and walk out.”

               “Go ahead!” Eileen encouraged. “You’re already having me rewrite it, so go for it. I’ll just change all my plans for your convenience, would that make you happy, darling? Then you can walk out of my life like you’ve always done.”

               “You walked out on me, you daft cow!”

               That did it. Eileen drew her hand back, ready to strike Severus across the face. Severus raised his own hand to grab his mother’s wrist but before either could touch each other, Eileen cried out in pain and dropped her hand, clutching it with the other and bending herself over.

               Severus stepped back and watched slack jawed as Eileen’s hand began swelling quickly like a balloon. The swelling spread to her wrist and then her upper arm. Eileen panted, tears welling in her eyes as she first squinted up at Severus, then turned her eyes over to Harry.

               Severus followed her gaze.

               Harry was several feet away from there, standing near the entryway of the study, and he was wide-eyed and shaking, his fingers trembling out in front of him. His eyes darted between Eileen and Severus as he took another step back.

               Slow and steady, Severus carefully approached Harry, reaching out gently to his son.

               “Evans,” he drawled, making sure Harry picked up that he was being addressed.

               Harry focused on him, but he still shook.

               “It’s okay,” Severus reassured, stepping up to Harry and kneeling in front of him. He grasped Harry’s wrists to keep him from darting away. “Relax. I’m sorry we scared you, but we are done with our disagreement. No more yelling. It’ll be okay now. Take a deep breath and relax.”

               Harry took in a shaky breath at Severus’s prompting, then closed his eyes as he blew it out.

               “I’m sorry,” Harry whispered.

               “It’s not your fault.” Severus let go of Harry’s wrists and rubbed Harry’s shoulders. “It’s ours. But keep calming down. Deep breath. In. And out. In again. And out.”

               Harry gradually stopped shaking as he concentrated on breathing. Finally, he opened his eyes and nodded his head. “I’m okay,” he said.

               Severus smiled and gave him a single nod before standing up and looking back at Eileen. The swelling had continued all the way up to her shoulder and just touching the right side of her neck, but it appeared to have stopped there now that Harry was calm. He smirked at her predicament. Severed her right, he thought as he walked back over to her, reaching into his sleeve for his wand.

               “Your son is a bloody menace,” Eileen growled.

               “Watch what you say about my kid or I’ll leave you like this,” Severus snapped at her.

               Eileen huffed and looked away.

               Taking that as apology enough, Severus waved his wand over the length of her right arm and the swelling went down little by little. Finally, Eileen was back to normal, and she rubbed her sore arm.

               “Magic is not allowed outside of school for minors,” Eileen reminded with a glare at Harry.

               “It was obviously accidental,” Severus said, stepping into Eileen’s view of Harry, blocking his son from her accusatory looks. “An emotional outburst due to our fighting. It’s to be expected, he’s just a child still.”

               Huffing again, Eileen moved around her desk and sat down, giving her arm one last sympathy rub. She picked up the fresh parchment and a quill and began scribbling.

               “Let’s get this over with. Seeing as I won’t be changing your mind?”

She looked up at Severus. He shook his head.

“Fine. A magi-nurse who’ll keep her mouth shut, the owls to an emporium, we’ll let the jockeys and trainers see to the horses, you want the greenhouse, and you’ll manage the estate and sell it once ready. What remains of the Prince vault will be yours to deal with however you see fit. Return it to the bank for all I care. And what about the elves?”

“Free them,” Severus said. “Or they can choose to go work at Hogwarts or wherever they desire to be.”

“Fine,” Eileen said through her teeth.

Harry tugged on Severus’s sleeve and motioned him to lower down. Severus allowed Harry to whisper in his ears. A look of disbelief overcame his features though.

“And where in Merlin’s name do you plan on keeping it?” Severus asked.

Harry shrugged and Severus sighed begrudgingly. Eileen quirked a brow, waiting impatiently for whatever request the child had.

“Evans wishes to be granted ownership of Oppilamani.”

“My prized High Skies Champion?” Eileen furrowed her brows. “Absolutely not.”

“No? Glue factory it is.”

“I am not giving an expensive, well bred, champion horse over to an eleven-year-old.”

“Careful,” Severus warned. “You wouldn’t want to upset Evans again, would you?”

Eileen threw a cautious look at Harry, then rolled her eyes and glared at Severus.

“You can’t be serious?” she asked.

“I gave you your options. Glue factory or Evans.”

Eileen grumbled under her breath as she wrote out the demand, and Severus wondered if she was regretting having written a will in the first place. They could have never crossed paths again and they both would have been perfectly content with that. Why she even bothered herself was beyond Severus. She wasn’t even trying to redeem herself for all she did to Severus growing up. This wasn’t a family reunion. This was a last goodbye.

“There,” Eileen said, shoving the parchment over to Severus. “Happy now?”

Severus read over the will, making sure she didn’t sneak any last binding words. He nodded in approval and signed the will under Eileen’s signature, then handed it back to her. Eileen snatched the will from him and rolled it up before whistling lowly.

A small, beautiful pale grey owl with brown bands all along its body, wings, and tail flew into the study from the hall and landed gracefully on the desk. It had a very round face with small, dark eyes and a bright yellow beak against a pale face.

“Ministry; lawyer department,” Eileen demanded without so much as a look at the bird.

The bird obediently accepted the parchment and flew off without a sound.

“Well, I guess this is goodbye, then,” Eileen said, standing once more and reaching her hand out. “I expect an appropriate magi-nurse soon.”

“Of course,” Severus said, taking her hand and shaking it once for formalities.

Without another word to each other, Severus took Harry’s hand and practically dragged his son out of the manor, where he apparated back home once they were beyond the anti-apparition wards.

Six Months Later:

               There was no funeral, as there was no one to attend it. Severus took care of the burial in the way Eileen had requested in her will, buried near her parents, where all the Princes’ were buried. As for the property, Severus received letters from various trainers and a couple jockeys’ stating which horses they would be taking. Severus watched carefully in case any of them missed the memo and claimed Oppilamani. Three emporiums, one from Romania, one from Poland, and one from Norway were all granted permission to visit the manor and collect the birds they wanted, under the watchful eyes of the elves.

               Outis and Portia chose to work for Hogwarts, that way they could continue serving one of Prince bloodline. Severus was perfectly fine with that. As it was December now, and nearing winter break, Severus planned to deal with Oppilamani then. The greenhouse would have to wait until the spring break to even decide how he would relocate the majority of it, then the big renovation project before he placed it on the market would begin that summer. Then he would be rid of the house for good.

               As it turned out, Harry’s new friend from the book club, Giovanna, who happened to conveniently live on a farm, was a muggleborn witch. Harry had visited their farm during the summer on a few occasions and had been present when Giovanna received her Hogwarts letter. She was sorted into Ravenclaw, and the two became closer friends and she would occasionally hang out with the Golden Trio.

               Severus had asked her parents if they would be willing to house a winged horse on their twenty-nine-acre property, and they agreed after much convincing on Severus’s behalf that it was no different than caring for the three horses they already had. Over the Christmas break, Severus planned to take his son and Giovanna home for the holidays in order to take Oppilamani over to his new home and get him settled with glamour charms and wards to keep him secured on the land. He needed a rest from the craziness occurring at the school currently and was sure Harry would be happy to go home for the holidays.

               Finishing his grading, Severus set all of his work aside and sent his lesson plans ahead to his house with a quick charm. He grabbed his cloak and threw it over his shoulders while exiting his study. There was a knock at the door of his quarters before it opened halfway. Harry peeked his head through.

               “Hey, Dad, are we leaving?” Harry asked.

               “Yes, is Miss Bassani with you?”

               “Yeah, can she come in?” Harry asked, opening the door all the way to reveal a petite first year with brunette hair and blue eyes adorning the blue and bronze Ravenclaw emblem on her cloak. She smiled up at Severus as she clasped her hands together in front of her.

               “Good afternoon, Professor Snape,” she greeted.

               “Good afternoon, Miss Bassani,” Severus returned. He looked around for a suitcase or bag then eyed the girl suspiciously when he did not see one. “Are you packed to head home for the holidays? I am sure you must have homework that needs to be completed over the break.”

               He knew that he had assigned the first years a three-foot essay on the uses of aconite.

               “I completed all my homework throughout the week. And I have clothes at home I can wear, so I’m all set.”

               “I see.” Severus looked at his son. “And what is your homework status?”

               “Err, well,” Harry stammered.

               “I see. You would do well to take a page out of Miss Bassani’s book and complete it ahead of time, perhaps this weekend, even. Come in and shut the door. We’ll be leaving shortly.”

               “Thanks a lot, Giovanna,” Harry muttered as he closed the door.

               “It’s not my fault you didn’t finish your homework,” Giovanna shot back. “Besides, I want to have fun over Christmas break, not be stuck inside studying and writing essays.”

               “Now you’re making me wish I had done them all before we left today.”

               Severus smirked as he grabbed an envelope of muggle money he had converted at Gringotts from galleons. The Bassani’s had refused money when he had first asked them to house Oppilamani, but he would insist when he arrived. He did not want to seem like a negligent owner, and the money would be enough to cover for a few months’ worth of hay and oats. Once he had pocketed the envelope, he walked back into his living room where Harry and Giovanna were waiting by the fireplace, throwing jokes back and forth at each other.

               “Are we ready?” Severus asked.

               “Yes, sir,” they both said.

               Severus held the floo powder container out to them. They each grabbed a handful and stepped into the fireplace together, announcing Severus’s address before flooing away. Severus followed right after and was pleased when both kids were sitting there waiting for them. From there, Severus apparated to Giovanna’s farmhouse, where she ran up her long driveway to her waiting parents and hugged them both. Her father swung her around in his arms before releasing her so she could hug her mother as well.

               Severus and Harry walked up the driveway at a slower pace. Mr. Bassani met them halfway, reaching out a hand to shake Severus’s.

               “It’s great to see you and Harry again,” Mr. Bassani said. “How have you been, lad?”

               “I’ve been good Mr. Bassani,” Harry said, shaking his hand as well.

               “Please, it’s Marco,” the man said, waving off Hary’s formality. Marco was a tall man, about as tall as Severus, but with a much broader and thicker build. His hands were calloused from the rough farm chores he completed daily, and he wore a black jacket, a buffalo plaid shirt and khakis.

               “Polo,” Giovanna said as she skipped back over to them. She explained to Harry, “Daddy used to get really annoyed when we’d joke about that.”

               Harry laughed, then his eyes were drawn to the white winged horse flying above the trees, flapping his wings fervently as he circled the farm a few times in his descend. He landed on the driveway and trotted a few feet as he brought his wings in, pausing next to Severus.

               Outis, the house elf, jumped off the horse’s back, then handed the reins to Severus.

               “Thank you for bringing him,” Severus said.

               “Outis is pleased to serve Master Snape whenever it is needed.” Outis bowed deeply before he popped away, startling Marco, who jumped back then laughed.

               “You guys must be quite used to things like that happening all the time,” he said. He eyed Oppilamani. “What a beautiful horse. Look at those wings! You’ll have to explain how the glamour works again. So, my wife and I will be able to see him as he really is, but no one else will?”

               “Yes.” Severus nodded. “It is for his and your safety really. And no one else can know that he exists, obviously. It would be too much for muggles to take in and they’d be all over him for study or who knows what else. I’ll go over his diet and schedule with you, then walk you around the wards as I put them up. Don’t worry, I’ll explain those, too. Meanwhile, perhaps Miss Bassani and Harry can take Oppilamani to the farm and get him settled in.”

               “Yes, sir,” Giovanna said, accepting the reins from Severus and leading the winged horse toward the barn, Harry following behind her.

               For the next hour, Severus explained what diet Oppilamani had been on and the times he’d be let out to the pasture and when he’d usually take off to fly. He answered questions about his social behavior, and whether he might be interested in the two mares that currently lived on the farm. Severus explained that Oppilamani would have no interest in the horses as they were not winged and Gorgobreds had very religious mating rituals that involved air acrobatics. The other horse, a gelding, would also cause no problems for Oppilamani, as well as the other farm animals which included four cows, seven goats, a pig, and several free-range chickens.

               “What about our potatoes?” Marco asked. “That’s what we do here. We’ve got six acres for potatoes alone and come season, we will be planting. He won’t be getting into our crops, will he?”

               “I can set up the wards so that he is unable to get to that part of your land,” Severus said. Show me where, and we’ll have this completed in no time.”

               Marco and Severus rode around the borders of the property line in one of Marco’s atvs. Severus used his wand to build enclosure wards, security wards, and a block ward around the crop fields. Halfway through, Severus paused, staring up at the sky.

               “They did not,” he growled under his breath before he jumped off the atv and began whistling a sequence of high, short shrills.

               Marco hopped off the atv and looked up as well, his jaw dropping at the sight of the winged horse soaring high in the clouds above them.

               Oppilamani hesitated in the air when he heard the whistles, then began climbing down from the sky at a steady pace, following Severus’s whistles as he had been trained to do. He circled Severus and Mark briefly before landing in front of Severus, trotting up to the man before turning to the side slightly, revealing Giovanna in an English saddle on Oppilamani’s back, and Harry sitting behind her.

               “Hey, Dad,” Harry greeted with a guilty smile.

               “I thought I told you to take Oppilamani to the stable and get him settled,” Severus growled, “not take off to the sky while I’m setting ward boundaries!”

               “It’s my fault, sir,” Giovanna said as she slid off the horse, Harry following her lead. “I got on him first to see how he was trained to ride.”

               “Only because I asked you,” Harry said to her, then to his father said, “It’s my fault, it was my idea.”

               “Well, consider yourselves both in trouble,” Marco said, his hands on his hip. “Giovanna, you know the dangers of riding a new, strange horse. You are in big trouble, young lady. Put the horse in his stall and go to your room.”

               “Yes, Daddy.” Giovanna took Oppilamani’s reins and began to lead him away. She gave Harry one last small smile. “Bye, Harry.”

               Harry gave her a quick goodbye before looking up at Severus.

“You can go wait on the porch. I’ll deal with you when we get back home.”  

Harry gulped. He turned and headed for the porch.

“Kids these days,” Marco said, shaking his head. “They just love pushing boundaries, don’t they?”

“Tell me about it,” Severus grumbled as he stepped back up in the atv. Marco drove while Severus finished setting up all the wards they would need to keep Oppilamani safe from prying eyes while allowing him the freedom to fly as well. Finally, they stopped in the barn to place a complicated glamour on him so any muggle that wasn’t Marco or his wife would see him as an ordinary large, white horse. The tasks completed, Severus thanked Marc once more for taking Oppilamani for his son as they walked up to the house, then shoved the money into Marco’s hand.

“Time to go, Harry,” Severus said once he was sure Marco wasn’t going to try and hand the money back to him.

“Bye, Marco,” Harry said politely. “And sorry about . . . flying Oppilamani.”

“You’re forgiven,” Marco said with a smile. “I can’t imagine what the temptation must have been like. You know, I’m tempted myself.”

Marco winked at Harry, earning a smile.

“Stay safe, Marco,” Severus said. “And don’t do anything you wouldn’t let Giovanna do.”

“Of course, Severus.” Marco grinned.

Severus rolled his eyes. He grabbed Harry’s arm and pulled him close, apparating off the property and back to his own. He didn’t let go of Harry’s arm as he dragged his son into his house.

“What were you thinking?” Severus asked as he pulled Harry to the living area. “Taking off on that horse like that—how did you know it was even broken to accept a rider?”

“Giovanna tried him out first,” Harry explained, tugging weakly against Severus’s pull as he saw they were headed for the sofa. “She went really slow as she saddled him up and really slowly crawled up his back to see how he would react, but he was perfectly fine! He let her ride around and he did everything she asked him. Then she pulled me up and . . . well . . .”

“Yes?” Severus encouraged as he sat on the sofa and stood Harry in front of him.

“I remembered how Eileen had gotten Oppilamani to fly and told him to go up.”

“So you’re the one who put yourself and your little girlfriend up in the sky without so much as an anti-fall charm?”

“Yeah . . . hey, she’s not my girlfriend. She’s just a friend.” Harry’s cheeks were red.

“I told you both to take the horse to the stable, not fly around the property. You deliberately disobeyed me. And even worse, I was putting up wards of all kinds while you guys were up there. If I had sent up a ward right under you guys, Oppilamani would have slammed into it and stunned himself. You three would have fallen from several hundred feet in the air. Do you have any idea how close you were to death just because of that?”

“No,” Harry admitted softly. He lowered his head. “I’m sorry.”

“Sorry doesn’t cut it,” Severus said. “You disobeyed me, Harry. And you put yourself, Giovanna, and Oppilamani in life-threatening danger. I hope your little joyride was worth it, because you won’t be riding that horse for the next several months, maybe even years.”

Harry sniffed, though didn’t look too surprised by Severus’s words. Of course, Severus had also banned Harry from certain things for life before, so the child was probably learning that Severus was a lot of talk than anything else.

“Are you going to, you know,” Harry asked.

“Absolutely,” Severus said, and he pulled Harry over his lap. With a wave of his hand, Harry’s trousers and shorts lowered themselves. “You are far overdue for it. When I tell you to do something next time, you better obey me.”

“Yes, sir,” Harry said, already crying softly as he buried his head in the crook of his arm.

Severus landed twelve hard swats, leaving Harry a sobbing mess over his knees before summoning the hairbrush from Harry’s room. He tapped Harry’s reddened bottom in warning with it. Harry tensed and cried, “Please don’t, Dad. I’m sorry.”

“You will get three with this,” Severus said. “One for each life you put in danger.”

Severus raised the brush and brought it down sharply.

Harry winced and hissed loudly, his legs kicking out.

Another swat, and Harry yelped and apologized once more.

Finally, Severus landed the third swat and he set aside the brush and waved his hand once more, righting Harry’s clothed. He pulled Harry up into his arms and squeezed his son to his chest. Harry wrapped his arms around Severus’s neck and sobbed into his shoulder, apologizing all the while.

“You know,” Severus murmured softly, “this isn’t exactly how I wanted to start our Christmas break.”

“Me neither,” Harry agreed. He pulled back and looked at Severus. “I am really sorry. I didn’t think about you putting up the wards or falling off or anything.”

“Obviously. You weren’t even in a proper saddle.”

“I know. We just wanted to fly with him. We were so excited and he was doing everything we asked. Well, mostly what Giovanna was directing him to do. She didn’t actually want to fly.”

“Smart girl.”

“Yeah,” Harry agreed, then glared at Severus’s knowing look. “She’s not my girlfriend.”

“If you say so,” Severus said with a shrug. He patted Harry’s bottom lightly as he said, “Go change out of your school robes and bring your homework to the table. You can work on that while I make dinner.”

“Can’t I do my homework in my own bed?” Harry asked, his cheeks flushing.

“And be comfortable? Why, of course not. The hard chairs will remind you to mind me.”

Harry groaned but went to collect his things. Severus took in a deep breath. He did not regret the choices he made though regarding Eileen’s will. In time of test, family truly was the best. And he picked his family over Eileen. Blood or not, she had never been his family.