Two nights came and went before the three of us were feeling almost one hundred percent our usual selves. That day was the twenty third, and, being the day before Christmas Eve, I decided to make Harry and Hermione’s gifts. Because Minerva was busy, Albus was going to look after them while I worked on "potions". He didn’t even know what I was really doing; I had not informed him for fear of him accusing me of going soft or him flashing that irritatingly knowing smile he tends to wear. Old coot!

***

"Do you like my underpants aren’t they nice they have butterflies on them I quite like them oh sorry I should be getting dressed but I just thought I’d show them to you aren’t they wonderful?" spouted Hermione, looking quite ridiculous standing in the middle of my sitting room in nothing but her pants.

I did feel a bit sorry for the older Hermione at that point; she certainly would have a nice pile of memories to look back on and cringe about. However, I could not deny the fact that this would be hilarious when she was re-aged.

"Hello Severus!" called the headmaster as he opened the door.

"Couldn’t you knock?" I inquired irritably. Albus did not hear me however for Hermione had bounded over to him in a flurry of babbling.

"Aren’t they nice Mr. Dumblebore they have butterflies on them-’

"Hermione! Go get your trousers on; it’s not polite to show off your knickers." I scolded, placing my hand over my face and feeling rather mortified that she would do such a thing.

"But they’re so pretty Uncle Sev!" she replied in a hurt tone.

"No buts young lady, go get your trousers on," I said firmly, pointing to her and Harry’s bedroom.

"Oh alright but they are very nice-" Hermione said, crossing her arms as she made her way into her room, shooting dirty looks at me every few steps.

Albus looked at me with a bemused expression.

"Uncle Sev?" He said, eyes twinkling furiously.

"Shut up. Harry wanted a nice uncle," I said venomously as I practically felt the fire erupt behind my eyes. "Speaking of which, we need to talk.’

"About what my dear boy?" Dumbledore said, smiling at me benignly.

"Harry’s home situation," I growled.

"Now?" He asked, surprised. "I was under the impression you wanted me to look after the children for the afternoon while you worked on their potion."

"We will talk later. Eight-o-clock, my office," I told him. "You will be there."

"Very well Severus. Ah, are you two ready?" said Albus as the children came into the

"Yes yes what are we gonna do Mr. Dumblebore bye Uncle Sev have a good afternoon-" Hermione shrieked excitedly, dancing over to give me a hug; I was extremely grateful that she was wearing trousers this time.

Harry looked at Albus warily, inching closer to me as he did so. I knelt down and scooped him up into a hug, trying to help him relax. He stayed tense however, and would not stop staring at his feet once I let go of him.

"Harry, look at me," I whispered, kneeling before him, my hands on his shoulders. (Albus had tactfully distracted himself and Hermione with a bit of magic) "Look at me."

Little green eyes peeked up at me sadly.

"I gotta go back don’t I?" he whispered.

"Back where?" I asked, knowing full well what he meant.

"Back to my mean uncle and aunt," shuddered Harry. I felt my insides well up with sadness.

"You are never going back there Harry. I will make sure of that," I told him. He looked at me with a confused and hopeful expression on his face. "Mr. Dumbledore is only looking after you this afternoon while I work on potions."

"Really?"

"Yes."

"I’m not going back?"

"Never."

"Do I get to stay with you?" he asked eagerly.

"We’ll see Harry. There are a few people I have to talk to first," I sighed truthfully, proceeding to whisper the next part in his ear. "But I would like it if you stayed."

"I’d like it too," Harry told me through a smile. He threw himself into my arms once again, burying his messy head in my robe. I held him like that for a moment.

"Ready to go Harry?" Albus smiled, holding hand out for Harry to take.

I held very still as the little boy let go of me and slowly crept toward Dumbledore. Harry smiled as he took the older man’s hand, making his way out of the room and into the corridor. And as I watched the three leave, Harry turned his head to give me one last wave, smiling sweetly all the while; tugging on my heart as he went.

***

Once Albus was gone I set to work on making Harry’s gift, digging around papers and books to find that little box I had kept so long. Inside the box were photos of Lily and I as children. And there it was, right on the top shelf of my closet, waiting for me amongst the papers. Waiting, just as I had waited for her, only to find I could not last the race … All because of a stupid mistake and the word mudblood.

I shook my thoughts aside and lifted down the worn cardboard box that had been decorated with stickers and drawings from the rainy days spent making it in Lily’s attic. I smiled sadly as I brushed the dust off the top and brought it over to the kitchen table, memories engulfing me like flames to a piece of wood.

‘Sev!" a young redheaded girl laughed, lying on her stomach and pointing at her friend. "You’ve got a sticker in you hair!"

"Have not!" A thin boy said defiantly overtop of a shoebox that was covered with tape and colored paper.

"Have too, it’s right there Sev!" the girl laughed, pointing again at a dinosaur sticker stuck in the boy’s long black hair.

Sev frowned and yanked the sticker off of his hair, wincing slightly as it pulled. He smirked before sticking it on the end of the girl’s freckled nose.

‘Look Lily, you have a sticker on the end of your nose," he told her soberly.

"You rascal," she giggled, pulling the sticker off and placing it on the top of the box. "There, finished!"

The two children paused for a moment to admire their handy-work. What was once a plain box had been turned, in their eyes, into a masterpiece. Colorful paper had been pasted onto all of the sides and drawn on with crayons. Lily had even dug out a few precious stickers to decorate the top with. And in her shaky cursive the words “Lily and Sev’s Adventures” had been written across it.

"It’s great," the dark haired boy exclaimed proudly.

"No, it’s fantastic!" Lily spouted. "Now we finally have a place to put all our drawings and the pictures Daddy took with his camera"

"And all our memories from Hogwarts!" he added.

"Once we go of course," Lily pointed out.

"Well, yeah. But we should put pictures from every year at school then we can look at them when we are grown ups like what my mum’s always doing with her pictures," said Sev excitedly.

"Good idea," said the girl, equally excited. They sat in silence for a moment as the rain pelted the little window close by, listening to the steady drip drip of the leak in the roof.

"We’ll be friends forever right?" Sev suddenly asked, shivering slightly as the damp air howled through the crack in the attic window.

"Always," Lily told the boy, smiling sweetly; tugging at his heart.

***

A dark haired teenager walked quietly down the alley, treading lightly upon the cobbled walkway. He was looking for something. He had seen it earlier. The boy seemed around fifteen or sixteen, but terribly thin and pale. Black, greasy hair hung about his gaunt face, a face that looked as if it had been to Hell and back again.

"Where are you, I know you’re here…" he whispered as he quickly scanned the rubbish bins behind the houses. He paused, craning his neck. The teenager seemed to have found what he was looking for, for he had spied something rather colourful atop the rubbish in a nearby bin.

"Lily… why?" he whispered sadly, picking up the damp box and fingering the lettering across the top.

The boy opened the box, flicking through the aging photographs. A tear slid down the end of his long nose, mingling with the cold raindrops upon his cheeks. He did not notice the girl standing in the back doorway of a house.

"Get out of here," she said simply, rage bubbling in her emerald eyes.

"Lily, please, I didn’t mean it…" he pleaded weakly, clutching the box to his chest.

"No Snape. Don’t even try. Take the damn box and get out," Lily hissed. For a moment, her lip quivered, and then she slammed the door in his face. A growl of thunder shook the air as lightning streaked across the blackened sky, reflecting in the teenager’s eyes.

That was the day the world forgot about a boy named Sev, and simply turned its back on a Snape.

I suddenly became aware of where I was again, and of the tears on my face. I wiped them away impatiently as I stared at the contents of the box, agony coursing through every vain. Like a cruciatus curse it left me aching inside, my very bones screaming for what I lost. There was a reason that box did not come down often: it almost always brought me terrible pain. But I had kept it all these years, a reminder of the price I paid for my idiocies I suppose.

I sighed softly before continuing the task. I pulled out the blank photo album I had ordered through the mail and began to sort through pictures that Harry might like. I felt ready now to show him who I used to be, who his mother was and our past. For some reason I felt he needed to know now, and that was why I was making the photo album. I was in possession of a part of Lily’s childhood, all stuffed into a box that had lain dormant in her attic for so long. And with Harry I would share it.