Tevin stood still for a moment, his mind in a panic.  His father was gone when he needed him.  Where would he go?  What would he do?  Tevin blindly made his way back into the parlor.  He stared up at the top of the mantel of the fireplace.  It was at that moment that Tevin was mad that his father put the floo powder so high.  Then again, his father had an unusually tall fireplace, so it was really the fireplace's fault that the floo powder was so high, too high for him to reach. 

He tried to remember what his father told him to do when he was in trouble.  The first thing he'd been told was to find his godfather, but he could not do that because he needed the floo powder and that was out of reach.  The second person that his father told him to go to was either Professor Flitwick or Professor McGonagall.  Professor Flitwick was not in Hogwarts that day.  Maybe he was sick, or he was visiting someone.  Tevin decided that the only choice was Professor McGonagall. 

Tevin went to the portrait door and he left his Hogwarts home.  He had never been outside of his home in Hogwarts after all of the students were ordered back to their dormitories.  It was not as bright as normal.  The halls were too quiet.  Even though he had to watch out during class times to avoid being trampled by the students, Tevin would prefer the rough and busy crowded atmosphere than this dark, quiet and lonely place. 

Tevin tried to remember the way to Gryffindor Tower.  If he could find that place, he would be able to find Professor McGonagall's office or even her quarters.  Tevin walked up staircases and down staircases, his nervousness increasing by the minute.  He realized that this was a bad idea.  Not only had he left his Uncle Remus's home without telling him, but when he got home, his father was gone.  Now, he had thought that he could find Professor McGonagall, but he could not find her. 

Tevin was in the middle of a staircase when it suddenly moved!  Tevin let out a surprised shout as he fell onto the stairs, his brown eyes looking around himself terrified.  He scrambled over to the railing and clung to it as the entire staircase moved.  He looked through the balusters as the staircase moved and his panic reached such a height that he began to cry. 

Tevin continued to cry and hold onto the railing even after the staircase stopped moving.  He closed his eyes and he felt that this night could not have gotten worse.  His godfather didn't know where he was, and his father was gone and wouldn't know where he was.  No one knew where he was. 

"I don't know about you, but when I was made prefect all I wanted was to be Head Boy, and now that I am, I don't want to be anymore," said the seventeen-year-old boy as he walked alongside his classmate in their nightly patrol of the hallways. 

"Well, I was very excited to be made Head Girl," said the girl. 

He rolled his eyes as they walked down a long staircase, passing off the multitude of sleeping portraits on the castle walls.  "You would, Laurie."  It was quiet for a moment before the boy found the silence unnerving.  "Don't you find it at all, I don't know, too much sometimes?"

Laurie stopped on the staircase and looked at him with a raised eyebrow expression that reminded the Hufflepuff boy of her Head of House, Professor Snape.  "No, I think being Head Girl is really...rewarding.  And besides, do you really think the Headmaster would have chosen us if he didn't think we were responsible enough for it, Cliff?" 

"Well," stalled the Hufflepuff, "no."

Laurie smiled at Cliff before she threw her arm around his shoulders, "I knew you'd figure it out sooner or later." 

Cliff shrugged her arm off of him.  "Shove off," he laughed, causing her to start laughing. 

All too soon, though, he noticed that he was the only one laughing.  Cliff looked at Laurie in concern, seeing that her gaze was focused on the staircase to their right.  "What is it, Laurie?"

She didn't answer, but made a sharp right and headed down the staircase to the crumbled little body that clung to the railing of the staircase.  "Merlin!" she gasped. 

"What?" Cliff said, following her.

Laurie did not even turn around as she responded.  "That's Professor Snape's son!"  She knelt down next to the little boy and began to whisper to him. 

"Well, what's he doing all the way up here?" said Cliff, in a voice mixed between worry and confusion.  He knelt down next to her. 

Laurie had just managed to get the boy to look at her.  "Tevin?"  The little black-haired boy looked at her with watery eyes, but he said nothing.  "What are you doing up here?" 

"Daddy's not home.  Not supposed to be by myself," he mumbled, trying to wipe his nose with his sleeve.  Cliff winced and used his wand to produce a handkerchief and handed it to the sniffling boy. 

Laurie smiled kindly at Tevin.  "Well, you were by yourself walking through the castle, weren't you?"  He nodded.  "Why were you by yourself, then?"

He looked down at the handkerchief and began to fiddle with the material.  "Trying to go get Perfesser McGongull," he said quietly.

"Are you supposed to find her when you can't find your dad?" Cliff asked.  Tevin nodded. 

Cliff and Laurie looked at each other.  "Should we take him to Professor McGonagall?"

"Now?"

Laurie's eyes hardened at Cliff.  "Yes!  Do you want to leave him here?"

Cliff looked sick.  "We'll be waking Professor McGonagall up!  Can't you just take him back to the Slytherin dorm with you?"

Laurie looked at Cliff lke he was an idiot.  "Do you know what Professor Snape would be like if his son wasn't where he was supposed to be when he gets back, even if it's in the Slytherin dorms?"  Cliff stared at her cluelessly.  "He'd give everyone detention, most likely.  And, personally, I don't want to have detention with Professor Snape." 

"Yeah, I don't blame you."

"You're not being nice about Daddy," came a small voice.

Laurie looked at Tevin.  "We aren't saying your dad is a bad person, Tevin, just what he makes people do at detention is bad." 

"Okay," he said, though he sounded like he did not believe her. 

Tevin gave Cliff back his wet and snot covered handkerchief.  The Hufflepuff boy grimaced as he realized that it was covered in more than just tears.  He vanished it with his wand. 

Laurie stood up and looked down at Tevin, whose dark brown eyes followed her movement closely.  "Come on, Tevin.  Let's go see Professor McGonagall."  She held out one of her hands to the boy.  After a moment, Tevin took her hand and she helped him to his feet.  "There you go, come on."  She began up the staircase with Tevin holding onto her hand and Cliff walking behind them. 

Suddenly, the staircase moved again.  Tevin shrieked and flung himself into Laurie's hip, wrapping his free arm around her tightly as he hid his face in her robes.  "It's okay, Tevin," she said, trying to sound comforting, but clearly surprised that he'd thrown himself at her.  "The staircase is just moving.  They do that sometimes."  Tevin shook his head against her leg, his arm wrapped around her squeezing her.  Soon enough, the staircase stopped moving.  Laurie looked down at the little boy clinging to her.  "See?  It's stopped."  Tevin peeked out from the safety of her leg.  She began to walk away, leading the Head of Slytherin's son by the hand.  Cliff followed after them. 

Laurie led them all directly to the portrait that marked the entrance of Professor McGonagall's chambers.  However, they were soon enough confused.  "Do you know how we get it to open?" she asked Cliff.  He shrugged his shoulders.  She sighed in aggravation, trying to remember if she'd ever heard the Gryffindor Head of House say it. 

"I know it!"

Laurie and Cliff looked down at Tevin in surprise.  "You know the password to get into Professor McGonagall's home, but not where it is?" Cliff asked, his eyes narrowed in suspicion.  Tevin nodded.  "Alright, then, what is it?"

"Not supposed to tell anyone." 

The two seventh year students looked at Tevin with wide eyes.  "Are you serious?"  Cliff asked. 

"I'm sure Professor Snape told him not to say anything, Cliff.  You know how he is." 

"Yeah, and I know that right now, his kid is our responsibility, so we should be allowed to know how to get him where he needs to go!" 

Tevin watched the two older students argue for only a moment before he turned to the portrait and cleared his throat quietly at the sleeping image of a sleek dark cat.  "Wake up," Tevin said.  The cat in the portrait did not move except to open its eyes and stare at Tevin.  "If I say the password will you let me in to see Perfesser McGongull?"  The cat barely nodded, but Tevin saw it.  He turned around to look at Cliff and Laurie, and saw that they were still arguing.  "Mafdet," he whispered to the cat.  The cat closed its eyes and the portrait silently opened just large enough for Tevin to squeeze into the home of Professor McGonagall. 

When Cliff and Laurie turned around again after their argument, Tevin was nowhere in sight. 

            "Tonight I remove our greatest threat!" announced the voice of Lord Voldemort as he stalked around the inner circle of his gathered Death Eaters like a vulture searching for its next meal.  He whirled around to face a particular servant of his, his dark robes floating around him like smoke.  "And I will spare the mudblood for your amusement, Severus." 

The masked Death Eater he faced nodded.  "Thank you, my lord."

Voldemort resumed his pacing.  "Bellatrix," he purred.  The owner of the name was masked like all of the others gathered, but she shivered at the sound of her name on the Dark Lord's lips.  He stood before her.  "I want you to go to the Longbottoms.  Play with them as you wish."  Bellatrix's lips curled into a twisted delight.  "Take whomever you wish."  Then, Voldemort swept his arm out in a grand flourish.  "All of you go.  I will summon you when our victory is achieved!" 

"My lord," ventured a voice from the circle.  "Do you not wish one of us to accompany you, for your protection?" 

Voldemort smirked as he faced the speaker.  "Lucius, my slippery friend, do you think I need protection from the Potters?" 

"No, my lord, I was only thinking as a precaution, that is all."  Lucius bowed his head.

Voldemort shook his head at Lucius.  "Loyal of you, but unnecessary.  No, Lucius, I go alone."  He looked out again at those gathered.  "Go!  All of you!"  Death Eaters began to disapparate from the circle. 

"My lord, what would you like us to do to the Longbottoms?" asked Bellatrix, coming forward from the circle, those she chose to accompany her gathered behind her. 

But Severus Snape did not stay to listen. 

It was cold outside that night.  He gathered his heavy winter cloak tightly around his body as the wind tried to steal it from him.  He entered through the gothic iron gates and walked through the stones until he found the one he sought.  He stood for only a moment before it, only long enough to read the name carved into it.  ‘Lily Potter.'  As soon as he read the name, the skeletal letters that spelled her name, Severus Snape fell to his knees at the grave, a choked sob torn from his throat. 

The wind was stronger in the late hour as he knelt on the frosted ground, gathering his cloak closer around him, trying to seek warmth.  He looked at the ground that had long since settled in front of the stone, and finally began to speak.  "He's gotten bigger."  He shivered under his cloak.  He seemed to struggle for something to say.  He breathed quietly and saw his hot breath carried off by the wind.  "He's very much like you, Lily.  The older he gets, the more I notice.  He's kind, and a little too curious for his own good."  Severus let himself smile sadly.  "And he's starting to talk back to me.  Like you used to."  He looked down at the ground and curled into himself, his need for warmth becoming greater.  "He's so much like you.  And because he's like you, and he reminds me so much of you, it makes...my missing you...hurt a little more each day."  He felt the first hot tear course down his cheek.  He struggled to draw breath.  "I miss you, Lily." 

Severus allowed his tears to fall freely.  "I'm glad he isn't like me.  I hope he stays like you, because if he's like you, then he won't end up like this.  Like me."  He looked up at the hazy sky, which was filled with clouds that glowed in front of the moon.  "I'm sorry, Lily."  He looked back at the engraved name on the stone.  "I'm sorry for everything.  I'm sorry I failed you.  I'm sorry I couldn't protect you.  I'm sorry I was so...angry at you.  I'm sorry for not trying hard enough to save you."  He reached to the cold ground and grabbed the frozen grass in his shivering hand.  "I'm sorry for never telling our son about you.  I know he should know you and how much I love you, but...I can't.  I can't."  He ripped the grass from the frozen ground.  "If I told him and he said something to someone that...Ophelia is not his mother...that you were...that we were married and that our son and Harry Potter are the same child...I don't know what would happen."  He began to smooth the torn grass back against the now bare dirt.  "And the possibilities...some of the things that could happen terrify me more than anything.  And this is why I can't tell him about you.  Forgive me for that.  I shouldn't keep you from him, but...I don't have a choice." 

Severus sighed again, feeling the taste of his tears as he wet his lips with his tongue.  "If I lost our son, Lily, I do not think I could survive.  I love him as much as I still love you."  The wind suddenly gusted so strongly that it knocked Severus off balance.  He barely caught himself with his hands, but as he fell to the ground, he remembered the last time he saw his wife, the last time he would taste her lips, the last time he heard her voice...screaming.

With a quiet snap he arrived on the quiet street in Godric's Hollow.  He wasted no time in running down the street to the very house where he spent a short time with his wife.  He knew the house well.  He remembered every room, every time that he would surprise her with an unexpected embrace, an unexpected kiss.  But that was when she was his, before he was presumed dead.  Before James Potter took advantage of the false marriage and made it real, made Lily Snape into Lily Potter. 

Potter.  He suddenly remembered why he was there.  He may only have seconds.  He walked directly up to the house and pounded on the door.  From the other side of the door he heard approaching footsteps.  He opened his mouth to speak but stopped when he saw James standing in the doorway, unguarded, unarmed. 

"Snape!" he gasped, shocked to see the other man on his doorstep. 

Severus pushed James into the house and slammed the door after he entered the house.  "Are you a fool, Potter?  You are under the Fidelius Charm and you answer your door without your wand?  Are you insane?" 

James's mouth fell open.  "Nice to see to you, too," he mumbled.

Severus pushed him aside.  "Get your wand now, and put up the strongest wards you can at every entrance!  Now!" he ordered.  "Where is she?"  He did not wait for a response.  He went to the bottom of the stairs and shouted, "Lily!  Lily!"  And then he heard the one sound he missed more than anything - her voice.

"I just put him to bed, so stop-Severus!"  She froze against the top newel post, steadying herself.  "Severus, what are you-"

Severus began up the stairs, desperate to reach her.  "Lily, the Dark Lord is coming for you!"  Lily's face went blank for a moment before her green eyes slid to meet those of James Potter.  "Lily!  Get out of here, now!  He's coming for you tonight - right now!"  James nodded at Lily, before he went to the parlor and picked up his wand, quickly erecting any wards he could think of to protect the entrances of the house.  Severus stood in front of Lily and framed her face with his hands, forcing her to look at him.  "Please, Lily.  If I ever meant anything to you, please get somewhere safe.  Please." 

"Lily!" shouted James from where he stood in front of the door.  "It's time.  I'll keep watch.  It's time." 

Lily nodded and took Severus's hand and went quickly down the stairs.  She led him past James who was furiously producing spells, and over to the wall formed on the side of the staircase.  "Pay attention, Severus," she said, without looking at him.  She pressed her hand against the wall and closed her eyes.  "Iauna patefacio pro mater, pater, et filius."  Then, the shape of a door that would typically mark a cupboard under a staircase became visible with a small knob at waist level.  Lily grabbed it and yanked the door open. 

"Hurry, Lily, in case we don't have enough time!" shouted James from the doorway. 

Lily pulled Severus into the hidden room quickly, not bothering to shut the door.  The room was far bigger than a room under the stairs should be.  It was the size of a small walk-in wardrobe.  In the very center of the room stood a table upon which was a small wooden box.  Along the walls were shelves from the floor to the ceiling.  They were lined with bottles, all of which glowed with a thick milky silvery liquid.  "Lily, what are all of-"

"Shut up!" she snapped.  She whirled to face the shelves on the walls.  Each bottle was labeled clearly.  She plucked the bottle on the top shelf labeled ‘Essential: Key Truths.'  She faced Severus.  "This is important, Severus.  This room is filled with duplicates of my memories." 

"Why?"  But Severus's question was never answered. 

"Lily!" shouted James from where he was still erecting wards around the door.  "He's here!  Take Harry and run!" 

Lily gasped in terror.  She ran to Severus with the bottle held in her hands.  "I wish I could explain, Sev, but-"

They heard the front door tear from the hinges, the wards clearly having fallen.  Then, shouts began.  The voices of James Potter and Voldemort warred with each other as their spells began to destroy the entrance and parlor of Godric's Hollow. 

The curses of a duel were not near them yet, though they were still clearly heard in the tiny hidden room of the house.  He paid them no mind as she grabbed his hand, his attention focused completely on her. 

"Take it!  Take it!" she choked, her voice raw with emotion.  Desperately, she opened his pale hand and into it pressed a glass bottle filled with a milky silvery substance.  She closed his hand around the bottle, but kept her hands gently, but firmly, around his own.  She entreated him with her glassy gaze, which he met, knowing it may be the last time he could look into her beautiful eyes.  Her eyes glistened with tears, and it was then that he realized that his own eyes were beginning to sting with the saltwater. 

He could only nod before reaching into his robes and producing a thin vial, no taller than the length of his index finger.  With his eyes still locked onto hers, trying to memorize them in these moments, he held it between them and spoke in a trembling voice, betraying his fear, "Take this.  This will protect you from everything.  Even Avada Kedavra.  Swear to me you will drink it!" 

She hesitated.  Her eyes darted to the door for an instant, before he reached to cup her cheek drawing her attention back to him.  "Swear it!"

"It will be taken," she replied, taking the vial from him.  He tucked her glass bottle into the heavy folds of his robes.  

From the front room, the shouted curses grew louder.  It only meant that the fight was coming closer to them.  She ran from the room, tearing her hands from the other man, reaching the doorway to their hiding place.  He followed her closely, directly behind her as she sprinted up the stairs, and into the second bedroom.  She immediately dashed to the cradle, where her son stood, holding onto the bars and grinning toothily at his mother.  She desperately reached for the child, lifted him from the crib, and clutched the boy to her bosom.

 He placed his hand on her shoulder and she looked up into his dark eyes.  Then, a murderous shrill voice screamed the Killing Curse, followed by the dull sound of a lifeless body falling to the floor.  Her eyes looked into his, now filled with terror.  The tears began streaming down her face, her arms around her son tightened.

 "Take it," he urged her as gently as he could.  He forced down his tears.  He drew his wand, and took a deep breath as he prepared himself to duel.  His features hardened, his muscles tensed, his lips set in a firm line.  He began to turn towards the open door as the menacing, heavy steps of death began to approach them.  With a harsh flick of his wand, the door slammed closed, and the lock was drawn.  He heard the steps growing closer, his every thought on defeating the approaching monster. 

He heard his name whispered by her voice, constricted in obvious fear.  He turned to look upon her again, and he noticed the empty vial on the floor, carelessly dropped in favor of more important things.  Her eyes had cleared with determination, her grip on her son loosening.  Through the connection of the longing in her eyes, and the pain in his own they drifted closer together until their lips met, expressing everything that defined them.  Their heartbreak, their adoration, their regrets.  Everything. 

They separated and the steps were drawing ever closer.  "I'm sorry," she whispered, her voice breaking.

"I know," he said, his heart breaking.  He framed her face with his hands, one of which still clutched his wand.  His dark eyes found hers.   "I love you," he reaffirmed, before he took her lips again, their tears combining into a single torrent of emotion.  As their kiss ended, he moved his lips against hers, breathing his eternal promise into her body, as though giving her his soul.  "Always." 

The footsteps were deafening now, and the shadowy distinction of someone on the other side of the door was visible.  Her eyes closed, as she held out her right hand and barely spoke the spell she must.  "Expello..." Suddenly, his feet were wrenched from beside hers, and in the back of his mind he heard the crash of glass shattering, as the door burst from its hinges and the darkest wizard of the age stood in the now destroyed doorway, laughing shrilly.  He saw her clenching her eyes, clutching her now crying son in her arms as she spun to face this monster.  He realized, in an instant of horror, that she had forced him through the window to protect him and there was nothing more he could do as he fell to the ground landing on his back still gazing up at the shattered window, paralyzed in helplessness and terror.  He could do nothing but listen.

"Not Harry, not Harry, please, not Harry!"

"Stand aside, you silly girl...stand aside, now."

"Not Harry, please no, take me, kill me instead-"

"Stand aside - stand aside, girl-"

 "Not Harry! Not Harry! Please, I'll do anything-"

"This is my last warning-"

"Please...have mercy...have mercy-"

He could not hear her voice anymore, for it was drowned by the sound of shrill, cruel laughter.  His vision clouded as his tears intensified, and poured from his dark eyes.  His mouth was open in a silent scream of despair as the room above suddenly exploded in green light and the chilling sound of a woman's scream and a monster's laugh.  His world turned dark as his eyes closed in desperate denial of the feminine voice abruptly cut off by Death.

Minerva McGonagall's head shot up when she heard her portrait door unexpectedly open.  Her sharp eyes glanced at the clock on her desk where she was busy grading a desperately attempted answer on her last Transfiguration exam.  It was unusual that anyone would want to visit her at this time of night, despite that it was only ten o'clock.  However, those who would visit her at this hour would certainly have notified her in advance.   She set down her quill and gathered her tartan robe around herself a little tighter, before she left her bedroom and went to investigate. 

She heard nothing amiss in her kitchen, nor her parlor.  She was just beginning to think that Peeves was playing a joke on her when she noticed that the blanket that she usually had draped over the back of her armchair fall behind it, followed by the sound of something heavier than the blanket hitting the hardwood floor.  She went over to the armchair and saw that there was something moving under the blanket.  She drew her wand and aimed it at the moving mass before grabbing the edge of the blanket and yanking it away. 

"Tevin Snape!" she shouted, surprised.  "What in Merlin's name are you doing here at this hour without your father?" 

Tevin looked terrified with her wand directly pointed at him, and he looked at her with watery brown eyes.  "Daddy isn't home.  He said that if he's not home I'm supposed to find you." 

McGonagall lowered her wand and looked at the boy concernedly.  "Where are your parents?"

Tevin looked saddened by the question.  "I don't know."  After a moment he looked up at the older witch.  "Can I stay here until they come back?" 

McGonagall sighed.  She nodded brusquely and offered Tevin the large blanket.  He took it and held a section up as he tried to figure out how to best wrap himself in it.  McGonagall shook her head with a tired smile and picked up two of the ends and wrapped the boy in the heavy blanket.  When he realized he was wrapped up enough in it, he looked at her with a beaming smile. 

"Come on, now," she said, beginning to walk back to her bedroom.  "I'm sure it's far past your bedtime."  She looked over her shoulder and saw that the bundled up boy was shuffling his way awkwardly down the hallway after her. 

"Yep!" he said, as though proud he was staying up later than he was allowed to stay awake. 

McGonagall shook her head as she entered the bedroom.  "Go on, Tevin, into bed with you."  She sat back down at her desk to resume grading the pitiful essay. 

Tevin tried to run while wrapped in his blanket cocoon, but his legs were restricted and could only go so far.  He stood at the side of the bed for a minute before he spoke to her.  "Perfesser?  I can't get up there without messing up the blanket.  Can I sleep somewhere else?" 

She looked at him from over the lenses of her glasses.  "And where would you like to sleep instead?" 

Tevin chewed his lip as he thought.  "The sofa?" 

"You want to sleep on the sofa?" 

Tevin nodded, shyly smiling.  McGonagall sighed, and removed her glasses.  She found herself wondering how Severus managed with the boy.  Who had ever heard of a boy who would rather sleep on a sofa than a bed?  What other strange preferences did the boy have?  She did remember the day he asked her if he could name his pet kneazle after her.  How could she not like the boy after that?  Despite the odd requests, she did know that she enjoyed when Severus brought his son to watch the Quidditch games.  From the first day Tevin and Severus sat next to her in the stands, she discovered that she liked the boy.  From that day on, every time Tevin and Severus attended a game, they sat next to Minerva.  She was just glad that she did not have to watch him all the time. 

"Alright, then.  Sleep on the sofa.  Go on."  Tevin began to shuffle out of the room.  "I better see you sleeping, and not trying to steal a snack from my kitchen!" she shouted after his retreating form, as she put her glasses back on intending to return to grading. 

"You won't!" he replied.  "I'll go right to sleep!"

"We both know better than that, Tevin!" she said, in her normal voice.  When she heard him laughing in the parlor, she wondered if she said that as quietly as she thought. 

A loud snap from a piece of burning wood in the fireplace woke Remus Lupin from his sleep abruptly.  His eyes opened and his whole body jerked from the unexpected sound.  He dazedly looked over at the fireplace as it crackled quietly, bathing the room in a soft orange glow. 

Then he saw it.  One of his kitchen chairs near the fireplace!

Remus flung the covers away from his body and propelled himself from the transfigured bed.  He was now instantly and fully awake.  As he neared the chair, he realized that there was a faint dusting of powder along the chair.  He knew what it was instantly.  Floo Powder. 

Remus spun around and stared at the bed.  He didn't see a lump on it, other than where the covers piled after he flung them from himself.  He was at the bed in two strides, and he searched through the bedding.  He found no trace of a little boy in the bed anywhere. 

"Tevin?" he called.  When he heard no answer he began to get nervous. 

He left the parlor and went into his kitchen, his eyes searching the room frantically.  "Tevin?"  He ran to the doorway of his little bathroom, and gripped the doorjamb tightly.  He did not even bother calling for the boy since the room was so small.  Remus ran a hand through his hair as he staggered back into the parlor, his eyes staring fixedly on the chair dusted with his Floo Powder. 

Then, he had an idea.  Remus went to the single bookcase against the wall, and found an old, folded, weathered piece of parchment.  He hurriedly reached for his wand and pressed the tip to the folded surface of the paper.  Remus took a deep breath, and pushed down the memories involved with this ragged piece of paper before he said, "I solemnly swear that I am up to no good." 

Slowly, ink began to appear on the parchment.  He began to quickly unfold it, searching every moving name on the parchment for one particular one.  Then he saw it.  ‘Tevin Snape.'  It was unmoving on the moving staircases...with two people heading towards it!

The pieces began to fit into place.  Remus closed the parchment, but the ink remained visible on it.  Without hesitating, he pinched more powder than was necessary and flung it forcefully into the flames.  "Snape Home, Hogwarts!"  He stepped into the green flames and spun away from his little flat.

Ophelia Fay came through the fireplace with her arms burdened with large, spiky-looking plants.  She made her way over to the kitchen table and put them down, hoping they would land safely on the surface.  She sighed in relief after succeeding and leaned heavily on the table, willing her stiff arms to loosen again. 

It was only a few moments later that the fireplace erupted again in green flames and someone stepped out, holding a folded piece of paper.  She spun shakily to face the intruder, raising her wand in alarm. 

The man who stepped through the fireplace looked around crazily before he spotted her in the near darkness of the parlor.  "Ophelia!" he snapped.  He strode to her quickly in a way that reminded her of Severus.  "Where's Tevin?" 

Ophelia looked at him with furrowed brows.  "What do you mean, ‘where's Tevin?'  Isn't he with you tonight?" 

Remus shook his head.  "He was, but he must have left after I fell asleep."

Ophelia crossed her arms and stared hard at Remus.  ‘Tevin doesn't just run off for no reason, Remus!"

Remus didn't say anything and instead quickly began to unfold the parchment.  "I know where he is...but...I can't go get him."  He pointed to Tevin's name, which was currently in Professor McGonagall's parlor.  "He's here."

Ophelia looked at where Remus indicated.  "I thought you were going to tell me that he was somewhere in danger or something.  He's...Is he really in McGonagall's home?"  She looked suspiciously at Remus.  "Is that...true?"

Remus looked at her firmly.  "The map never lies.  It can tell you where everyone is in Hogwarts."  She looked at him doubtfully.  Remus flipped the folds of the map until he found what he was looking for.  He pointed to the parchment.  "There we are, right now, in this room." 

Ophelia looked and there were two names side by side on the paper.  ‘Remus J. Lupin' and ‘Ophelia Fay.' 

Remus flipped the folds over again until he found Tevin's name.  "Looks like Professor McGonagall found him." 

"She's going to come here looking for Severus or me."

Remus nodded.  "And when she does, she can't find me here." 

Ophelia sighed.  "So, I'll be blamed for being a bad mother." 

Remus looked at her.  "I know I should have watched him closer, Ophelia.  I know that you leave Severus alone on Halloween so that he can deal with-"

"You can't be expected to stay awake forever making sure nothing happens to him any more than Severus or I can." 

It was quiet for a moment as they watched the map to make sure that no one left the Head of Gryffindor's home.  After several minutes, Remus broke the silence.  "Severus told him, Ophelia." 

"Told him what?" 

Remus clenched his jaw as he continued watching the map.  "He told him his mother died on Halloween."  He looked up and met Ophelia's eyes, a look of dread passing between them.  "And then when he was with me..."  Remus hesitated.  "I...I showed him a picture of Lily."

Ophelia took this in for a moment.  "And...what happened?"

Remus smiled bittersweetly as he looked at the boy's name on the map.  "He said that he wishes he could remember her."  He looked up and met Ophelia's dark eyes.  "He should know about her."

Ophelia smiled sadly.  "He does now."

Severus opened his eyes and realized that he was lying on the ground.  It was still nighttime, still dark...and very quiet.  Severus sat up and ignored the pain in his whole body as he moved.  He saw the house in front of him.  His house.  The house he'd chosen for his Lily.  It looked as though disaster had struck it. 

And then he remembered everything.

With a soft groan, Severus managed to get to his feet.  He was unsteady, but he did not care as he made his way to the remains of the front door.  He entered the house and thought he was prepared for what he would see inside, but he instantly found that he was not.  All of the Death Eater meetings in which he'd seen people struck down lifeless by the Killing Curse could not have prepared him for what was in the home in Godric's Hollow. 

The first thing he saw was a body at the bottom of the stairs.  It was crumbled and pushed aside as though it had been kicked aside postmortem.  As though even in death, James tried to stop Voldemort from going up the stairs.  Severus looked at James, really looked at him.  His glasses rested on the carpet several feet away from the body.  His eyes were open in death but his expression bore no fear, only fierce determination and a firm visage of courage.  Severus reached out to close James's dead eyes with the realization that the other man had died like a true Gryffindor - brave to the very end. 

Severus looked up the stairs, hoping to hear any sound.  It was still too quiet in the house.  He stepped over James's body and climbed the stairs, his muscles growing stiffer with every step.  And then he was there.  He barely took in the door thathad been torn from the hinges.  All he saw was the crumbled form of his wife.  He could not have sobbed if he had wanted to, as his throat closed in grief at the horrible sight of her body. 

His legs became limp as he looked at her.  He fell to his knees and could not stand again.  And so Severus crawled to Lily.

His hands shook as he gathered her into his arms, her limp body shifting like draped fabric.  He cradled the back of her skull with his quivering hand.  Her eyes were closed.  He was grateful that he did not have to see her green eyes dulled with death.  It would be unbearable.  He smoothed her red hair back from her face which was quickly losing the last traces of warmth.  "Lily," Severus choked on the name.  "Lily."  With his hand cupping the back of her head, he held her body to his as he began to rock back and forth.  "Lily..."

He looked at the floor and saw the bottle he had given her.  It was empty.  How had his potion failed?  Maybe it took longer for a person to absorb the effects than it did for the toad.  "Lily," he whispered into her ear.  "Wake up, Lily."  He peered at her motionless face, hoping to see the flutter of her eyelashes.  "Please, Lily."  He cradled her to himself again, and held her.  "Please, wake up..."  He closed his eyes to prevent tears from falling. 

And then he heard a shaky breath.

Severus's eyes snapped open and he leaned away from Lily's face.  "Lily!"  He began to hope, to believe she was alive again.  He cupped her cheek and looked at her.  "Answer me!" he encouraged.  "It's me.  Severus."  He heard a small, quiet moan.  "That's it, come on," he said.  Then he realized something. 

Lily's lips never moved.  She was still cold. 

Severus looked up and then he realized what had happened as he had faced the door before she threw him from the house.  The answer stared at him with his wife's green eyes in the form of her son...He was alive. 

Minerva McGonagall was standing in her parlor staring at the little boy currently occupying her sofa in a rumpled mess of a blanket, a throw pillow, and his four limbs splayed all over the piece of furniture.  She couldn't understand why Severus and Ophelia would leave their son by himself.  Did they neglect the boy?  Was it an accident? 

She knew it was probably not the best course of action, but she wanted to find out how Tevin came to be by himself.  However, she also knew that she couldn't leave him alone in her home either.  She decided to take him with her and wait for either Ophelia or Severus to return home.  She would question them then. 

The aging professor waved her wand and quietly whispered some incantations that made the sleeping boy deaf to any noises, and kept the blanket wrapped tightly around his body.  Then, she waved her wand again and had Tevin floating in the air and drifting ahead of her towards her portrait entrance. 

He heard someone approaching him, and suddenly he found that he did not know what to do.  Severus still held his wife's body to him, but stared at the boy's eyes...at her eyes.  There were two pairs of footsteps.  One was heavy and the other pair was soft, but not feminine.  Then, there was a voice that came up the stairs to Severus's ears. 

"Poor James."  It was an old voice that the young man knew very well.  He heard the loud sniffling of the other person.  "Hagrid, go and check the upstairs for Lily and Harry...if they survived."

Then, heavy footsteps began to slowly thump up the stairs.  Severus tensed as he heard Hagrid come up the stairs.  His dark eyes darted all around the room looking for a way out.  How could he escape unseen?  He saw the destroyed door.  He saw the window from which Lily threw him earlier.  From outside of it, he heard the cracks of people apparating into the front lawn.  That window was not an option anymore.  He whipped his head around and there it was.  An undamaged window that faced the side of the house.  There was a tree just outside of it.  It would work. 

He looked down at the woman in his arms.  He knew he could not take her.  He had to leave her.  If she was not found, it would be thought she was alive.  His gaze flicked to the little boy who stared at him silently.  He knew that she had sacrificed herself to save her child.  He knew that he had to leave her here so that her last action would be known.  Severus sighed in resignation and pressed his lips to the crown of Lily's head.  Then, he gently lay her body on the floor. 

He began to get to his feet hurriedly as he heard the footsteps of the half-giant reach halfway up the stairs.  He began to walk past the boy, but was stopped by a small tug on his robes.  He looked down and saw those lovely green eyes moist with tears.  "I have to go," he whispered to the boy.  As though he understood, Lily's son let him go. 

Severus walked quickly to the undamaged side window and quickly opened it.  Then, he stepped onto the window ledge and prepared himself to exit the house.  Then, he noticed that Lily's son was gazing at the bottle that had minutes earlier contained his potion.  No one could find it.  Severus raised his wand and whispered, "Accio potion bottle."  The now empty bottle flew into his waiting hand. 

He saw the shadow of Hagrid's body on the wall as he came up the stairs.  More quickly and silently than a shadow, Severus escaped through the window and into the tree before a very quiet crack signaled his departure from the ruin in Godric's Hollow. 

"On the move," announced Remus just after he hurriedly swallowed a mouthful of tea.  He leaned forward in his chair to study the open map on the table.  "On the moving staircases."

Ophelia looked at the map with Remus.  "Is Tevin with her?"

"Yes."

"Here it comes," she muttered to herself.  "She'll accuse me of being a bad mother."

Remus looked at Ophelia from the side of his teacup and he finished the drink.  "She could also be planning to mention that Severus is irresponsible.  It's not as though you are the only one to blame in terms of his upbringing, you know."

Ophelia stood and put her cup in the sink.  "I know, but...Professor McGonagall and I never exactly got on." 

"From the stories you and Severus have both told me about how she treats Tevin I would say that she likes him."  Ophelia sighed.  "Speaking of Severus, Ophelia...Where is he?" 

She turned to face him, with a deeply troubled look.  "Remus, it's Halloween.  Where would you go if you were Severus?" 

Remus nodded.  He met her eyes.  Nothing else needed to be said.  "I'll bring Severus home." 

"Thank you."

Remus looked at the map again.  "She's almost here.  I can't be found here."  He got up from the chair and headed toward the fireplace.  "I'll use the map to see if it's safe for me to bring Severus home."  He pinched some floo powder and then tossed it into the flames.  "Give my love to Tevin, and if he asks tell him I'm not mad at him for running off."

"He will ask that." 

Remus smiled faintly.  "I know."  Then, he spun away in the flames. 

Severus's body was distorted by his pain as he sat in Dumbledore's office.  He was not sure how much more of the headmaster's voice he could take...not after everything that he'd seen that night. 

"You know how and why she died.  Make sure it was not in vain.  Help me protect Lily's son."

"He does not need protection.  The Dark Lord has gone-"

"The Dark Lord will return, and Harry Potter will be in terrible danger when he does."

There was a long pause, and slowly Snape regained control of himself, mastered his own breathing.  At last he said, "Very well.  Very well.  But never-never tell, Dumbledore!  This must be between us!  Swear it!  I cannot bear...especially Potter's son...I want your word!"

"My word, Severus, that I shall never reveal the best of you?"  Dumbledore sighed, looking down into Snape's ferocious, anguished face.  "If you insist..."

"I do," Severus said firmly.  "Please."  He lifted his tortured eyes to meet those of Dumbledore's which that night failed to twinkle. 

"Very well," Dumbledore finally said. 

Severus's head fell as he struggled to contain a sob, which only sounded like he was gagging on his own regret and failure.  Dumbledore reached out to his newest professor and rested his hand on the darkly clad shoulder.  "You need to rest."

"No," moaned Severus miserably, his curtained black hair swaying.  

"Severus..."  Dumbledore took a deep breath as he discreetly angled his wand.  "Forgive me."  Severus could hold it back no longer as a sob tore free from his throat.  It was short lived, however, with a single word from the older wizard.  "Stupefy."  Severus collapsed forward abruptly, landing in Dumbledore's arms asleep. 

It was the next night that Severus awoke in his own bed.  He looked around and realized he had no idea how much time had gone by or how he had come to be in his bed.  What he did know was that he was in Hogwarts.  He peeled the covers from his body carefully.  He managed to get his legs over the side of the bed. 

Then he tried to stand.

His legs buckled and he fell to the floor.  He caught himself on his hands, but could not prevent his chest from hitting the floor as well.  When he landed, his breath left him in a pained exhale.  He'd landed on something.  He suddenly remembered.

Lily.  She'd given him something.  Memories!

With renewed adrenaline-charged motivation, Severus got to his feet and hurried to his pensieve.  He reached into his robes reverently and held the glass bottle that contained something of Lily.  These were her memories.  He had something of her.  His mind wandered to the point in which she gave this bottle to him.  She could have died just after giving this to him.  Why was this so important?  She risked death to give him this one bottle.  More than any other question Severus needed to know the answer to that one. 

Before the silvery-milky tendrils had a chance to settle, Severus had plunged his head into his pensieve seeking the answer.

Ophelia walked into Tevin's bedroom only moments after Professor McGonagall's departure.  The Head of Gryffindor had lectured her about her shortcomings for a time, but in a clever way that made the younger woman realize that she was being cautioned and warned not threatened.  No matter what, however, Ophelia did not exactly appreciate some of the remarks from the Deputy Headmistress. 

Unfortunately, McGonagall had removed the spells from Tevin once she'd set him down on his bed.  Tevin woke up immediately and heard every seething word that the older woman had said to Ophelia.  He thought that if they were making him cry then they were probably hurting Ophelia too. 

"Tevin?" she called from the doorway. 

"You okay?" he asked from his blanket cuccoon. 

Ophelia sighed and walked into his room.  "I'm fine."  She walked all the way to his bed and stood beside it for a moment as she asked, "Can I talk to you for a minute?"

Tevin nodded.  Ophelia sat down on the edge of the bed and looked at the little boy.  "Why did you leave Uncle Remus's?"

Tevin chewed on his bottom lip nervously.  He refused to look at her.  "Was he mad at me?"

"No.  No, he was very worried when he woke up and saw you were missing."

Tevin looked miserable.  "Sorry."

"He's not mad, Tevin.  But you didn't answer my question.  Why did you leave Uncle Remus's?"

He began to play with the blanket edge.  "Had a bad dream."

"You left because you had a bad dream?"

"I tried to wake up Uncle Remus and he didn't.  Daddy said to get him if someone didn't wake up.  But Daddy was gone."

Ophelia sighed.  "What did you dream about?"

Tevin looked at her then and said, "Mommy," his brown eyes trying to tell her what his mouth did not.

"Your mother."  He nodded. 

The witch and the little boy said nothing to each other for a long time.  Finally it was Tevin who broke the silence.  "You aren't my mommy."

"I know," she said, trying to keep herself composed. 

It took another few minutes for Tevin to look at her again.  "Can we pretend?"

Ophelia was struck with an emotion she didn't know what to call.  She didn't trust herself to talk so she nodded. 

"Draco says his mommy tucks him in."

Ophelia knew what he was really saying and she began to tuck the covers around Tevin's little body.  When she finished the task, she stood back to look at him.  She thought he looked a little silly and at the same time adorable.  He looked at her, though, with an expression that clearly looked as though he were nervous about asking what he wanted.  She decided to guess.  "Do you want to stay here?" 

He nodded.  "Does it help keep bad dreams away?"

"Sometimes." 

Tevin thought about it for a moment before he looked at her again.  "Stay?" he asked, with a voice filled with hope. 

She didn't say anything.  Ophelia simply scooted Tevin over in his bed enough to give her room to lie down.

He emerged from the pensieve with a struggling gasp.  He stared down at the tendrils of Lily's memories in shock.  "I'm his father," he whispered.  "Oh, Merlin, I'm his father."  The realization suddenly brought guilt as he thought back to a certain encounter in Diagon Alley.

"There is nothing wrong with him requiring a healer except his existence."  He had said that about his own son!  How could he have said that?  Then he remembered what he'd said to Lily. "Perhaps the man you knew died when he realized that you had played him false just as well as the Dark Lord delivers the Killing Curse!"  Severus closed his eyes in painful remembrance, his hand coming up to his cheek where she'd hit him for that comment.  She'd been right to strike him.  He'd deserved it. 

"Oh, Lily, why didn't you tell me?"

He could almost hear her response in his mind.  He knew what she would say.  ‘I'm telling you now, Sev.'  And in that moment, he knew what he had to do.  His jaw set with fierce determination.  He knew why she'd given him the memories that she had.  She gave him all the instruction he needed.  She gave him a roadmap for what he had to do. 

He had to return to the wreckage of Godric's Hollow and find that room under the staircase.  He had to take all of the bottled memories from the room.  He needed to rescue the boy's favorite toys if he could.  He'd seen Lily play with her son with a swan and an old ragged teddy bear - his old teddy bear.  He needed to take a baby blanket, Lily's journals, and the box that was in that room under the stairs.  But most importantly, he needed to take the birth certificate. 

Lily's memories told him where to go and what to do.  He was going to do as Lily wanted.  He was going to raise their son. 

With a snap, a person arrived in the cemetery.  There was not a sound in the quiet resting place of the dead.  Remus knew the location of the graves of his friends.  He made his way through the cemetery quickly.  Finally, he found what he sought. 

The crumbled form of Severus Snape lay on the ground unconscious in front of a gravestone bearing the name Lily Potter.  Remus almost ran to the other man and knelt beside him.  "Severus!"  He turned him over and looked at his face.  He was breathing, but it sounded unusual.  Then, Remus knew.  Severus was feverish.  "Come on, Severus.  Let's get you home."  Remus touched held onto Severus and then apparated them away from the graveyard.