It was a beautiful, clear day in Monterey, California. Snape, his gaze hawk-like over their busy surroundings, led his family across a small picnic park, down a cobbled path, and to the crowded tourist trap of Fisherman's Wharf.

At the mouth of the wharf, an organ grinder played his tinny music while his little Capuchin monkey danced, jumped, and then collected coins from the appreciative spectators. The air was filled with the brisk scent of the ocean, and the fishy scent that marked the wharf. Fat, lumbering, lazy seals barked and seagulls growing large on bits of popcorn and other assorted trash flew, chattered, and screeched at anyone ignoring their begging. A large, grey pelican, that Hermione mistook for a carving, snapped its large beak at her and she screamed and bounced into Draco's protective embrace.

They all blended in well with the Muggle side of Monterey. The teenagers wore t-shirts, jeans, and trainers while Lyrica wore a summery, sleeveless dress of yellow decorated with a green ivy pattern. She wore a light shawl over her shoulders and allowed her dark red hair to hang loosely down her back. Snape wore a pair of black Dockers, a white cotton shirt, and casual shoes. His hair had been neatly tied back in a ponytail at the nape of his neck with a piece of leather.

The first place to catch their eyes was a pink monstrosity of a shop called Harbor House. The display window held a variety of fantastic Muggle chess sets made from marble, alabaster, granite, or crystal. There were also dozens of porcelain Harlequin dolls, colourful dragons protecting glittering treasure, trolls, ogres, and wizards wielding magic. The display windows also showcased an impossible array of ostentatious jewelry made from common stone on up to precious gems. There was so much colour and glitter, Snape knew there was no way on earth they wouldn't be going into the shop. Especially since four faces and four sets of hands were currently liberally plastered against the glass of said window.

Heading for the main entrance, they joined a crowd of tourists also be-spelled by the shiny objects and soon found themselves in a store whose shelves were crammed with more of what had been seen in the display windows. By the time they exited the store, Snape had spent almost two hundred American Muggle dollars. Snape discretely shrank their purchases, pocketed them, and allowed himself to be dragged two shops down to Carousel Candies. A taffy pulling machine loaded with blue taffy had caught the eyes of the quartet.

Snape refused to spend any money on sweets, but didn't stop them from using their own allowances to buy enough Muggle sweets to rot their teeth ten times over.

Draco handed Snape a piece of blueberry saltwater taffy. "Try it, dad!"

Snape glared at the obnoxious blue piece of candy that resembled nothing more than a lump of colourful rubber. "It's blue."

Draco snorted and rummaged around in his bag of sweets until he found a Slytherin green piece of taffy. "How about this one?"

Lyrica nudged Snape. "One piece won't kill you, Severus." He sneered disagreeably at his wife, but took the piece of taffy, unwrapped it from its waxy white paper, examined it warily and then put it into his mouth.

Draco, happy enough that he'd gotten his father to try the taffy turned to compare sweet purchases with Harry, Hermione, and Ron.

Snape quickly turned away from the four, took a handkerchief from his pocket, and spit the remaining piece of taffy into it. He then tossed handkerchief and taffy into a nearby wastebasket. Lyrica was laughing softly. "That was vile," muttered Snape to Lyrica.

"Oooh, look! Tintypes!" crowed Hermione as they walked out of the sweet shop. She was pointing towards a small shop practically squeezed between two larger shops and beneath a set of rickety wooden stairs. She turned to her aunt and uncle. "Could we get one, please?"

"Whatever is a tintype, Hermione?" asked Lyrica.

"A type of old-fashioned photograph. Tintype studios have costumes you can dress up in and then they take a photograph." She led them closer to the small display window that held sepia toned, still images of people in vintage Muggle clothing.

Snape felt his upper arm being suddenly gripped by Lyrica. She pointed at one particular photo of a leggy young woman in an old west barmaid's outfit. "I..."

Grabbing his wife by the elbow, he ushered them all into the shop, "Shall we, my dear?" he grinned rather wolfishly at Lyrica. He rather liked that outfit in the photograph she'd shown him.

Nearly two hours later the large family had added five tintypes to their collection of purchases. The western costumes were the most popular. Harry, Draco, and Ron had all dressed up as gunfighters for their tintype. Draco looked rather dashing in a costume called 'Black Bart'. The entire outfit, with a knee length frock coat of wool, was all black. Harry had gone for the rugged 'John Wayne' costume. Ron really liked the Mexican bandito look with a crossed bandolier of bullets over his chest and a droopy moustache.

The next tintype was of Draco and Hermione dressed rather regally as a Spanish landowner and his beautiful Spanish wife. Hermione wanted one in a barmaid's costume, but Snape wouldn't let her near those costumes. She finally settled on a rather prim looking, more Southern Belle style costume. It's scoop neckline that revealed her bare shoulders enthralled Draco much more than the more risque costumes did.

Harry and Ron then dressed up as the Clanton brothers from the OK Corral, Draco dressed as Wyatt Earp, and Snape was bullied into dressing as Doc Holiday with pencil moustache and a thin cigar dangling from the corner of his mouth. His bad-tempered sneer only added to the photograph's final result.

The last tintype was the one that Snape wanted of Lyrica in the barmaid's costume. However, he had discovered a beautiful green gown of silk with a magnificent beaded peacock down the front of it. The photographer explained that it was a genuine antique costume created for a rather infamous Painted Lady from Tombstone, Arizona. Snape really didn't know what a Painted Lady was, but Lyrica was mesmerising in the dress and in the tintype.

Lyrica quickly shrank the carefully wrapped and framed tintypes and hid them away in a pocket. Snape retrieved his pocket watch, popped it open, and looked at the time. "We need to be on our way to Nereid Gardens, so come along."

They traced their path past the picnic park, down the short, cobbled path to a wide, circular plaza with a heavy, stone fountain at its center. In one part of the plaza, bleachers had been set up around a large, square stage that resembled a chess board. People in homemade costumes stood on the squares.

"It's a human chess game!" chuckled Ron at the novelty of such a thing.

They watched as the two kings, one oddly dressed like a rabbit, the other like a duck, were arguing. A pawn, a young woman in black leotards and a short black dress, jumped up and ran across the board.

The pawn-lady began shouting, "Pawns for peace! Pawns for peace! Your majesties, why don't we just negotiate?"

The duck king and the rabbit king both stared at the prettily dancing pawn. Both kings removed old fashioned pistols from their belts, and two, deafening shots rang out, scaring everyone. A look of astonishment came over the pawns face, and as she fell to the stage floor, she pouted, "Oh fine then! It's war!"

The crowd laughed and applauded as the pawn was dragged by other pawns back to her square.

Harry mumbled in Ron's ear, "I thought they really killed her."

"Would you idiot children come along?" demanded Snape testily. "We haven't time for this nonsense."

Snape ushered his family towards an old adobe building dripping with ivy. A weathered sign proclaimed that the building had once been the Custom House for Old Monterey. They didn't go inside the building but through a narrow arch into the courtyard behind the adobe. Their destination was a giant, draping pine tree in a corner of the courtyard that slightly resembled a drunken mountain troll. Making certain no one was in the courtyard to see them, they hurried behind the tree where Lyrica tapped her wand on the crumbling wall.

As the entrance to Diagon Alley worked, so did the entrance to Nereid Gardens. The wall split apart allowing them through and then quickly knitted itself up behind them.

Where Diagon Alley was a series of connected streets, Nereid Gardens was a series of courtyard gardens connected to each other like a honeycomb. Flowers grew everywhere and many of the quaint, old buildings were heavily festooned with varieties of climbing ivy.

Where they stood now was a wide plaza, very similar to the one they'd crossed that had the human chess game. A fountain in the center of the plaza of a mythical Neried on the back of a dolphin spouted glittering, crystalline water. At the edge of the plaza were arched niches that led to various other parts of Nereid Gardens.

A bent, old witch with an apple-dried, wrinkled face smiled up at them. "Welcome to Nereid Gardens. Is this your first time?"

"Malva, is your memory fading?" asked Snape with a sardonic expression that was touched by a long time affection for the witch.

The old witch cackled which caused her face to wrinkle even more. "Memory's fine, Master Snape, it's me eyesight that's fading."

"Maybe you need to visit Alastor's Oculist, Malva."

Malva shook her head. "Not yet, not yet, Master Snape." The witch pulled parchment maps out of a small basket on her arm and handed one each to the youngsters. "Just in case you get lost, touch the parchment with your wand and ask the map, 'where am I'."

"Thank you, ma'am," Hermione acknowledged politely.

Harry tried out his map. He tapped his wand to it and was delighted when the blank parchment began to fill itself in with a beautiful ink drawing of all the courtyards and their interconnecting paths. He was able to see his name on the map in front of the entrance to Nereid Gardens. Each courtyard was a hexagon with five shops or restaurants on its edge.

"This is really great!" mused Harry. "Where do we start, dad?"

"Bitters Apothecary and then we'll be free to explore," replied Snape. He pointed to an area on the map. "Care to lead the way, Harry?" he smiled very briefly.

"Yeah!" He marched out ahead of his family and then waved his hand just as Draco ran up beside his brother. "Follow me!"

Madame Bitters was a striking looking, sharp-faced witch with one eye. The other eye was covered with a black, silk patch. She was stern and brooked no nonsense in her shop. She was quite content to deal with Snape, whom she had dealt with before in the past, but her patience, what little she had, grew quickly short with the teenagers. It wasn't long before she'd magically tossed the four teens out through the door of her shop.

Lyrica had been sitting on a bench in the courtyard when the four teenagers were so rudely ejected. "Scary witch isn't she?" commented Lyrica as she rose to help Hermione to her feet.

"That's putting it nicely, mum," grumped Draco.

"Too true, Draco," she smiled. "Instead of sitting here and waiting, why don't all of you take a look at the other shops in this courtyard?"

A quick glance around the courtyard revealed that there was a sweet shop, a toy store, and two clothing shops. Since they had all the sweets Snape would allow, the toy store seemed the most interesting shop to look into.

The Imaginarium, as the sign in the toy shop's window said, was a place of sparkle, splendor, and noise as Lyrica followed the teenagers inside. There were a few delighted children scattered here and there, but the shop was not crowded. An elf, dressed as a clown, greeted them by showering them with glitter that didn't cling to their skin or their clothes. The elf then handed each of them a sugar quill before vanishing.

The boys were instantly captivated by a display of a miniature Quidditch pitch and two teams currently playing. They found that one could collect professional teams, and to Harry's surprise there were also house teams from Hogwarts.

"Look, Harry!" exclaimed Ron as he held up a boxed figure. "James Potter, Chaser for Gryffindor, 1972!"

Harry took the box, almost reverently, from Ron, opened it, and gently removed the figure. The mini James Potter grinned up at Harry, saluted him, then mounted his broom and darted over to the other players over the Quidditch pitch.

"Does he have a stats card?" asked Draco as he watched the small James Potter flying impressively around the other players.

Harry checked inside the box and found a narrow card that had statistics for James Potter's playing career at Hogwarts. "Doesn't look like Gryffindor did well at all against Slytherin. They came close, though."

Draco began rummaging through the Hogwarts past Quidditch game players. He knocked over the one of Lucius Malfoy and had a brief flaring desire to crush the box and figure under his foot. He was close to doing so, when he saw an interesting box behind the place where the elder Malfoy's box had been upright.

"Dad!" crowed Draco in delight. "I didn't know he ever played!"

Ron snatched the box from Draco's hand and the blonde boy gave him a narrow, sharp look. "Severus Snape, Seeker for Slytherin, 1972."

Draco ruthlessly snatched the box back from Ron and gave the redhead a withering glare reminiscent of their days before they'd become friends. Ron just shrugged off the blonde's irritation and began looking through the Chudley Cannon figures.

Silently, the younger Malfoy made his way over to the proprietor of the shop, a rather ludicrous looking round figured man with bright red cheeks, a button sort of nose, and a balding pate trimmed by short, white hair. As Draco handed the overweight wizard his desired purchase, the proprietor's smile dimmed somewhat as he saw the figure.

"You a collector, boy?" asked the rotund proprietor with a distinct British accent.

"Not really," replied Draco, wondering at the man's odd look at the figure in his hands.

"As the Hogwarts set of figures go, this one isn't very popular. Little value and undoubtedly it will be worthless as collectibles go."

Draco angrily slapped a few coins down on the counter and snatched the figure back. "This is my FATHER," he bit out sharply, "and his worth is immeasurable!" The young Slytherin stomped out of the toy shop, leaving a puzzled shop owner staring after him.

Harry had overheard the exchange and as he walked up to the counter he scowled at the proprietor. Behind him was Ron. Silently both boys shoved their purchases toward the fat man and paid for them. Harry wasn't planning on saying anything and so he was pleasantly surprised to hear Ron speak up.

"Don't believe everything you read in The Daily Prophet. Professor Snape's a good man."

The proprietor, usually a pleasant looking man, jolly even, narrowed his eyes as he studied the boy's red hair and freckles on his face. He then looked at the black haired, quiet boy behind him with the glasses. Then his jaw dropped in sudden recognition.

"You're Harry Potter, the son of the Death Eater!"

Harry's head shot up and his green eyes glinted with sudden anger. "He's not a Death Eater!" he shouted for all in the shop to hear.

At that moment, Snape stepped into the shop with Draco beside him. The shop owner looked toward the tall man in the black robes. His face was devoid of emotion and terrified the man.

"Harry, Ron, Hermione, Lyrica," he spoke calmly but with authority that quickly gathered his family to him. "We're leaving now."

Outside under the clear California sky a distressed Harry Potter grabbed his father's robe sleeve. "Sir, please don't make us go back home. I didn't mean to ruin everything by what I said in there."

Snape rested his hand on Harry's head. A very faint smile appeared at the corners of his mouth. "Did I say we're going home, Harry?" Harry quickly shook his head, but the stricken look was not yet gone. "We're perfectly safe here, so don't worry. I just felt it was best for us to leave that shop."

Harry let out a heavy sigh of relief and yelped as Draco knocked him in the side with his elbow. Harry elbowed his brother right back.

"Behave," Snape muttered a warning to his two boys with a smirk. He took his wife's hand and led his brood into another courtyard.

By late afternoon the Snape family was tired out, pockets full of shrunken purchases, and drowsily sated from a large lunch and far too much sugar. Snape and Lyrica were certainly ready to go home, but the teenagers, experiencing one last bout of adrenaline, had found one more courtyard to visit that held some interesting stores.

Snape wanted to follow, still conscious that even though they were far away in the United States, the Dark Lord could possibly still find them. Lyrica, feeling exhausted and in need of their comfortable bed, talked her husband into sitting beside her where she could lay her head against his shoulder. She drifted off to sleep while Hermione disappeared into a bookstore, Ron vanished into a jewelry store, and Draco and Harry slipped past the store they had told their parents they were going to in order to visit another store both were interested in.

Lyrica's breath was soft and even as she slept easily against her husband. Hermione was the first to return before the thirty minutes Snape had allotted was up. She sat down on the other side of Snape and silently perused one of her books, an illustrated book titled, The Preparation & Use of Basilisk in Potions by Eldon Wade.

Snape looked over the young girl's shoulder at some of the lurid looking illustrations and quietly asked, "Perhaps you'll allow me to borrow that book when you are finished, Hermione?"

She simply smiled and nodded. Snape then caught the title of her second book, An Essay on the Differences Between A Wizard and A Magician by M. Norrell. At that moment Ron came out and with his enthusiastic outburst he woke Lyrica.

"Sorry about that, auntie," he blushed.

"Quite all right, Ron," she yawned and stretched. "Did you find something for Millicent?"

He held out a small, velvet box to Lyrica and she opened it. "Ooooh! A charm bracelet! This is lovely, Ron."

He grinned. "She'll like it. Where are Harry and Draco?" he asked looking around the quiet courtyard. "They're a bit late, aren't they?"

Snape suddenly stiffened and rose abruptly to his feet. "What shop were they going to?" Ron pointed and with his wand drawn, the Potions Master rushed over to the shop. The windows were dark and there was a closed sign on the door. Holding out his wand, he whispered, "Point me Harry and Draco."

The wand sputtered a few grey sparks, but there was no tug in any direction. "Draco! Harry!"

Snape's heart constricted painfully as he rushed around the courtyard frantically. His sons were gone!