It had been so very pleasant to wake up in Hermione's arms. Draco looked forward to the day when he and Hermione could wake up together every morning... there was such a wonderful tingle elsewhere that responded to having the curly-haired Gryffindor nestled in his arms.

Maybe, he thought, just a taste? No one will know...

Hermione screeched and Draco cursed all the creatures of the Forbidden Forest as a bucket of ice cold water drenched the two teenagers.

"What the bloody damned he..."

"I think that's enough cursing for the day, Mr. Malfoy," intoned a silken voice tinged with laughter.

"Father!"

"Uncle Severus?"

A simple wave of his wand and Snape had the couple dried and warmed up from their icy bath. "Good morning." He smirked.

Draco eyed his father narrowly. "Were you there all night, father?"

Snape nodded. "Hermione, my dear, why don't you return to Gryffindor Tower? Draco can join you later for breakfast."

"All right." She gave her beau a quick peck on the cheek and then left.

Draco looked down at his feet for several seconds. "Thanks," he said quietly.

"For the icy bath?" queried Snape.

Draco scowled briefly, "No. For... for being there. For watching over me."

Snape stepped closer, gently cupped his son's chin, and then stroked his cheek with his thumb. "There were far too many times I should have been there for you, Dragon, and I couldn't be. That will no longer be. I will always be here for you."

His son wrapped his arms around him, leaning his head against the older man's chest. Running his fingers through his son's hair, Snape asked, "I've noticed a slight change in what you call me, Draco. Would that be the result of your visit to Lucius?"

Draco nodded. Snape led his son over to a nearby bench and they sat down, side by side. He was a little surprised when Draco laced his fingers through his, like a small child might do. Snape gave a reassuring squeeze of his hand to Draco's hand.

"All I ever wanted was to be his son," Draco said softly. "He wanted an heir... no, he wanted a piece of himself to give to the Dark Lord. I had to see him last night to be... to know for certain that there wasn't any part of him in me anymore." The young wizard looked up earnestly into Snape's eyes. "He never really was my father. You always kept your promises to me. When I was little and you came to visit with the other Death Eaters, you taught me wandless spells that saved me from a lot of hurt. You always listened to me, even when I was a right prat and started becoming like a miniature Lucius. You could have turned your back on me, but you didn't. Even after I called Hermione a... a... Mudblood."

Draco took a breath and tried to surreptitiously wipe away a stray tear. "From the first time I remembered meeting you, you've been my father. Last night I told Lucius you are my true father, and I meant it."

Snape drew his son... his child... into his side and kissed his forehead. "Always, Little Dragon. Always."

"Albus, you must hold the Halloween Ball, or the Dark Lord will know that something is up," insisted Snape.

"But, the children, Severus," Albus insisted.

"None of the lower years will be there. Luna and Hermione will be secreting them within Rowena's workroom. At eleven o'clock those attending the Ball will return to their common rooms. If any wish to retreat to the workroom, they can go then. Anyone left will slip out of the castle as soon as the Dark Lord arrives."

Albus raised a hand to stop the younger man. "Allow me to worry, Severus. I know that it is all planned." He looked down at the copy of the battle plans. His eyes skimmed over the map that showed the layout of the Bluebell Flame Landmines.

Twenty-four hours ago Remus Lupin had managed to slip away from Voldemort's side to confirm that You-Know-Who would descend upon Hogwarts at midnight on the 31st of October. There would be Death Eaters, a few werewolves, and then there would be Imps.

Imps were stick-like figures with skin that resembled burnt wood and eyes of flame. They had a tendency to smell of Brimstone, too. They were a Demonic race of mischief makers that were merely an annoyance if there were one or two to be found, but Lupin reported that the Dark Lord had gathered an army of Imps all bound to him.

"What of the restorative potions, Lupin?" asked Snape of the masquerading Marauder. He could not shake the unnerving feeling that came over him as he watched the Polyjuiced Lucius Malfoy pace the Headmaster's office. The werewolf had taken on the role of the vicious Death Eater so well, that it was eerie. He could hardly see any of Lupin beneath the exterior.

"I began adding the Brugmansia two days ago. His parnoia has increased and he is having horrible nightmares from the hallucinations that plague him." Lupin sank into a chair by the fire and stared at the flames.

Snape saw the tell-tale tremor of the after-effects of the Cruciatus Curse. Walking towards the man, he lifted one of the finely manicured hands of Lucius Malfoy. The fingers did not stop trembling.

"How often have you been cursed, Lupin?" Snape inquired.

Lupin removed his hand from Snape's before answering, "At least once a day. I can't say how many Death Eaters will be at his side since he has been striking out at them as well. I gave you the names of three that I know of for certain that refuse to answer his summons. I believe there to be a few of the Outer Circle that are dead by his hand. The Imps also worry his followers. He has four Imps that follow him all over the manor and they are a vicious lot, attacking and biting. If I'm not busy with the Dark Lord's potions, then I'm busy healing Death Eaters."

Albus asked thoughtfully, "How strong is his control over the Imps?"

While Lupin had been talking, Snape had summoned a Cruciatus Relief Potion. He gave it to the wizard who drank it down swiftly. Nodding his thanks, he turned to the Headmaster. "It fluctuates. When he is lost in the paranoia, his mind loosens his hold on the Imps. That worried me, at first, because I was afraid they'd attack those of us he insists stay at the manor. When he loses control, their normal behavior asserts itself, and they scatter."

Snape was now staring down at the battle plans, thinking. "I would never have thought he'd ally himself with Imps. I know of nothing that can hurt them."

Lupin shook his head and with a very Lucius-like mannerism, he swept his long, blonde hair out of his face. "They're territorial, independant creatures. I believe if Voldemort is sufficiently distracted, the Imps will actually be a liability."

"To us as well," growled Snape with frustration. "Whether or not the Dark Lord has them under control, we have to have some kind of defense against them."

"Imps," Albus said with a sigh as he sank down into his desk chair. "They'll rip the castle apart before we can take a breath."

"We'll find a way, Albus," Snape assured the elder wizard.

Malfoy/Lupin rose to his feet. "I have to go, Headmaster. I won't see any of you again until we're facing each other as enemies. I'll be right out in front, so have one of our allies take me down before someone else does that shouldn't." He moved over to the Floo, but then paused. He glanced over his shoulder at Snape.

In that brief pause, Snape saw the werewolf in the wizard's Polyjuiced, grey eyes. He understood what Lupin couldn't voice. "I'll let Harry know, Lupin. Try not to worry about him."

Lupin nodded sharply, threw Floo powder onto the flame, and left for Malfoy Manor.

Dumbledore's fingers drummed uneasily on his desk. His elbow was on the desk and he was leaning his head upon his hand. His eyes weren't really looking at anything. Snape studied the old man and felt his heart clench with worry for him.

Albus Dumbledore could irritate and annoy him so easily, but never enough that he'd want to be quit of the man for good. There were far too many times when Albus had been the only person he could lean on. It hurt to realise that the Headmaster wasn't always going to be part of his life, and it worried him to see that this final battle could mean the end for him.

Snape walked over to stand beside the Headmaster and rested his hand upon Dumbledore's shoulder. He felt the older man heave a great sigh. Dumbledore's drumming fingers stopped and his hand stretched back to lightly touch the younger wizard's comforting touch.

"I would like for you to walk the wards with me tonight, Severus. I know they are secure, but... I need to be sure," said Albus.

"I'll meet you here after my last detention, Headmaster." Snape looked around at Dumbledore's collection of glittering, twinkling timepieces. In his mind, he began the countdown: five days to Halloween.

Friday October 27

"Luna! Would you please just stop it?" Harry's temper, since the night his father had explained to him, Draco, Hermione, and Ron that the final battle was coming, was on edge most days. For the first time ever he had little patience for Luna just being herself. And right now she was in fine form wearing a large lion's head mask over her own head. It kept growling at him.

Luna removed the mask and placed it carefully on the floor. Both of them had an hour free before their next classes and had retreated to a pleasant little courtyard that was easily out of the way of the main population of students. This was one of the hidden courtyards of Helga Hufflepuff and it bloomed with the hardy plants that thrived in the Autumn chill.

The ethereal Luna waved her hand over Harry's head and clucked her tongue. "You're attracting the Dour Sprites, Harry." She deftly removed the book from his hands that he hadn't read a word of and settled herself in his lap.

The sudden, and pleasing presence of a pretty girl in his lap managed to wipe the frown from his face. "Dour Sprites, huh? Sounds like something that might have called my dad home for awhile." He chuckled at the thought.

"Professor Snape is terribly good at cultivating a temper that would attract ten dozen Dour Sprites, but they know better than to bother him. You, on the other hand, are just what they prefer and you mustn't let them get the better of you." With a slim finger, she traced his eyebrow.

"Luna, you've lost me," he sighed leaning his head against her breast.

She combed her fingers soothingly through his mess of black hair and cast a silent spell to tame it. "All of us are afraid, Harry, not just you. Do you see us grumping about with harsh words for those we love?"

Guilt bloomed within his chest like a vine of thorns. He had been an absolute pill, but Luna was right; he was scared. Voldemort was coming. Supposedly he was destined to kill the bastard, but he was just a kid, wasn't he?

"You have a right to be afraid, Harry, but strike out at your enemies, not your friends."

"I'm sorry, Luna. I didn't mean to shout at you but all this talk of costumes for the Halloween Ball seems so... stupid to me. Some of us will die that night. You might. Ron might... and... I..." he couldn't say it.

"And you might die, too. Wouldn't you say that's even more incentive to smile and laugh while we can, Harry?" Tipping up his chin, she kissed him so deeply he could have sworn his toes curled tightly in his trainers. She then smiled knowingly down at him. "Look! The Dour Sprites are fleeing!"

Harry's gaze followed Luna's and to his astonishment, a silvery blue glittering of tiny, winged creatures were scattering upward and dispersing into a dozen different directions. "Luna! How did you do that?" he gasped in awe.

"It's magic, Harry." She kissed him a second time removing all thought of Dour Sprites, Halloween, and dark thoughts from his mind. He pulled Luna closer and just briefly, mentally gave himself a kick for having been so stupid as to have ignored this lovely, Fey creature before him for even one second.

Harry sat in his brother's bedroom on the end of Draco's bed with a jewelry catalogue open in front of him. Draco had his Transfiguration homework on his lap.

"I can't help thinking Dad's going to smack me in the back of the head and tell me I'm too young to be even thinking this," Harry muttered.

"I don't recall him smacking the back of my head when I gave Hermione my promise ring on Christmas in 1898. I think he was rather pleased."

Harry looked up at his brother. "I do kind of remember him looking a bit pleased with himself."

Draco grinned. "See? That's not head slapping!" He snatched the catalogue from Harry. "Honestly, brother, do you have to worry about everything? I mean, you are certain about Luna, aren't you?"

"I am certain, Draco, but that's the thing. I'm only sixteen. In the Muggle world parents are always telling teenagers not to settle for the first girl that comes along, that there are... 'plenty of fish in the sea'."

Draco sneered, "I don't see what fish has to do with it, but you're only part Muggle, Harry. In the wizarding world it's different for us. It's not unusual for children as young as seven or eight to realise they're meant to be together for the rest of their lives. That's what a soul mate is. There are sparks and touches of fireworks, but what matters is knowing that when you're with someone who is your soul mate, you feel like you're with the only person in the world that understands you completely, faults and all. To be in the same room with that person makes you feel complete."

Harry sniggered, "Draco Malfoy waxes poetic!"

Draco smacked him with the catalogue. "I'm serious, Harry. Try and tell me you don't feel like that when you're with Luna. Haven't you ever had one of those days where you felt like the roof was just going to fall in and bury you, and at the very last moment, when you thought you had no place to turn to, there was Luna, making everything all right with a simple smile, a laugh, or a kiss?"

Harry nodded thoughtfully. There had been several times Luna had been there at the right moment and she'd fixed his worries by telling him about some fantastical beast, smiling at him, or kissing him with one of her wonderful, entirely perfect, healing kisses.

Draco gave his brother a smug smile. "Don't answer. I can see it on your face. Luna really is the one, isn't she?" Harry blushed, but didn't say anything, so Draco persisted. "Have you lain awake at night imagining how Luna might be with your kids? Have you imagined going home after work and finding that she's right there to greet you? When she's far away in Ravenclaw, and you're hurting, do you still talk to her in your thoughts?"

"You and Hermione?" Harry whispered in awe. Draco nodded. "Us, too."

"So there you are then, Harry." He summoned the catalogue from the floor where it had fallen. He returned it to his brother. "You do know you're stressing over this a bit much, don't you? It's just a promise ring. I don't know if Muggles even have such a tradition, but a promise ring simply means you're committing yourself to that one person in the hope that it leads to more."

Harry gulped. "Marriage."

Draco nodded. "But you're not magically bound. If it doesn't work out, then it doesn't."

Harry flipped open the pages of the catalogue. "I know I should be happy, and I am, really Drake, but I can't help feeling that if something happens to me, is it fair to let her know how I feel?"

"Harry," Draco huffed in exasperation, "I could slip and fall in the lake tomorrow and drown. Then, Hermione and I would never marry, we'd never have the boy and girl we want, we'd never have the lives we dream about together." He held up a hand to keep his brother from interrupting until he finished. "What we would have is the knowledge that we both loved each other deeply. Hermione would be able to live on knowing that she was worthy of love, and she'd be able to find someone else worthy of her heart until she could join me beyond the Veil. Give yourself and Luna something to treasure and to live for. It's a mistake to go out there with nothing to look forward to but Death, Harry."

Harry stared down at the catalogue and flipped the pages. Draco was right. There was an indescribable feeling deep in his soul he could feel knowing that he'd be promising himself to Luna. Did he want her to one day be his wife and mother to his children? He ought to only be thinking of grades, his OWLs, and Quidditch, wasn't he? He did think of those things until he was with Luna. Once Luna was in the same room, all he could think of was being nearer her, talking to her, and he'd only admit it to himself, but he had wondered what it might be to be married to Luna. Harry couldn't help the smile that always gave him. He'd be very lucky to have Luna as his wife, someday.

"Drake? Did you know Hermione was your soul mate when we were back in 1898?" asked Harry as he flipped through the catalogue again.

"I knew we were meant to be together, and so did she, but I felt a connection to her way before then." Draco had retrieved his Snape Quidditch player and was watching as he flew around the bedroom.

"Really?" asked Harry. Draco grunted an affirmative at his brother. "Was it when she punched you in third year?" smirked Harry teasingly.

"Ha ha, brother," he sneered. "No. It was on the platform at the train station in our first year. I saw Hermione with her parents." He smiled at the memory. "Her hair was real bushy, and she was so skinny, and looked a bit lost. Hermione saw me staring at her and then she smiled. I think my heart stopped beating right then and there as time froze. I couldn't really explain what a soul mate was back then, but I know now it was that connection I was feeling." He grimaced and caught the Snape flyer. "Then Lucius had to open his big mouth and ruin it all."

Both young wizards were quiet for a moment. Draco let his Quidditch flyer go back to his flying and then he asked, "When did you feel the connection for Luna, Harry?"

"At the Sorting Feast, her first year," he grinned. "I couldn't believe it when everyone realised she was actually having a chat with that stupid Hat while everyone was waiting to find out where she'd be Sorted."

Draco snorted. "Oh, Merlin! I wanted to kill her I was soooo hungry! Do you remember the look on McGonagall's face, though? That was priceless!"

Harry laughed. "Oh yeah. Like she ate a bag of lemons!"

The brothers were both lost in a ridiculous fit of giggles that finally ended with them both breathless and wiping tears from the corners of their eyes.

Harry breathed out slowly. "I don't know. Maybe I am over-thinking this."

"Yes, you are. Harry, it isn't like you're asking Luna to do something no one else is doing. It's a promise to commit to each other, date only each other and to get to know each other. It isn't an engagement ring, for Merlin's sake!"

Harry sneered with a challenge, "Tell me who else has made a promise to each other?"

Draco leaned back against the headboard of his bed, "Well, Neville and Pansy did this summer. Ginny and Dean did a few weeks ago. Ron's been thinking about it with Milli, oh and Lavendar Brown was promised to Harlan Mills in Ravenclaw two weeks ago, but now she's promised to Seamus Finnegan. I think by next week she'll probably be promised to Blaise Zabini."

Harry rolled his eyes. "Sounds like Lavendar is using the promise as a reason to... uhm... you know."

His brother snorted. "I just hope someone taught that girl the Contraception Charm or she's going to have more trouble than just a string of broken promises." Harry frowned, not quite getting Draco's meaning. "Too many boyfriends and too many promise rings," he quickly explained.

"Ah hmm." Harry leaned over and picked up one of the jewelry catalogues. "So, any idea what ring I ought to get Luna?"

Draco snorted. "Sorry, but you're on your own there, brother!" He then leaned over and chucked Harry lightly in the shoulder. "Don't put so much worry into it. You'll know the right ring when you see it."

Right before he was about to drift off to sleep, Harry recalled a ring he'd seen in the fourth jewelry catalogue he'd gone through. He leapt out of bed, attacked the pile of catalogues on the floor until he found the right one and then he flipped madly to the page it was on. He stared down at the ring. THAT was the right one! He quickly filled out the order, dug through his trunk for his Invisibility Cloak, and made his way up to the Owlery. By tomorrow afternoon, he'd have Luna's promise ring.

Saturday October 28

"Harry James Potter-Snape, you're going to wear a hole in the carpet if you don't stop your pacing this instant." His father chided laconically. Snape sat at his desk grading quizzes and essays.

Harry threw himself down heavily onto the sofa. It squeaked in protest.

"And do you think you might refrain from breaking the furniture? Repairing Spells are not infinite."

"Dad, do you think you could just drop the James Potter when you're yelling at me?" he groused.

Snape slapped his quill down on the desk. Harry's bundle of nerves were stretching his own last nerve tight. "I didn't raise my voice to you."

"Yelling's different for you. You don't ever have to yell at someone to make it feel like a yell. Anyway, aren't I Harry Snape now?"

Snape frowned slightly at the abrupt change in topics. "You certainly are free to change your name as you wish, Harry. I kept your middle and surname because I thought you'd prefer to keep them."

Harry shrugged. "I don't know. I'd like... well, I'd really like to be Harry James Snape, but... gah!"

Snape left the desk and sat down on the sofa beside Harry. "Just spit it out, Harry."

Harry stared so hard at the carpet, he could have burnt a hole in it. "I can't remember my parents. I've tried to, really hard, but there's nothing. Except for when the Dementors attacked me and Sirius in third year. I remembered mum screaming." He shuddered involuntarily. "I wished for a long time they weren't dead because I needed to know what they were like. I feel like the worst person in the world sometimes because you and mum feel closer to me than they do."

Snape placed a hand on Harry's arm to stop the stressed twisting of his hands. The boy took a deep breath and then continued.

"I don't ever want to forget them, but I'm finding it harder and harder each day to think of them as... as... well, they're Lily and James when I think of them. I want to be Harry Snape, dad, but I'm afraid they'll be mad if I don't call myself Potter anymore. It's really stupid, isn't it?"

"It isn't stupid at all, Harry. And, there's no reason to forget where you came from. If you want to be known as Harry Snape, it doesn't mean you must take Potter from your name. Even if you did remove the Potter from your name it doesn't erase where you came from. You will always be the son of Lily and James Potter, whether you're called Harry Snape or The Boy Who Forgot To Brush His Teeth."

"I... what?" he clapped his hand over his mouth and leapt up from the sofa and ran to the bathroom.

Snape chuckled quietly and went back to his desk. He resumed his grading until Harry emerged. "Dad, you really aren't as funny as you think you are," he glowered.

"I never claimed to have a sense of humour, son." He looked up as Harry leaned against the other side of his desk and looked down at the essays. "Harry, in case I never stressed this enough, Lily and James, your parents, would want you to be happy first and foremost and it honestly would not matter to them what you chose to call yourself. What is important is not to forget the sacrifice they made for you and that everything they did was because they loved you."

Harry traced an old gouge scar in the desktop. "So, I can be a Snape and still be a Potter, too?"

Snape motioned his son over and straightened his robes and cast a spell to neaten his hair. "You are a Snape and a Potter, Harry." A soft chime announced someone at the door. "And you have a young lady waiting at the door."

The colour suddenly dropped from Harry's cheeks and he froze. With a nudge, Snape directed him to answer the door.

After dinner, Harry's parents retired to their private sitting room to give Luna and Harry the time they needed alone.

Luna was very pretty... no, thought Harry, she was beautiful. A portion of her pale blonde hair had been plaited into a crown around her head and decorated with little blue flowers. The dress she wore was of light blue velvet that matched the flowers. Asserting her own quirkiness, she'd left her shoes behind in her dorm and had chosen to remain barefoot instead. Since she had earlier refused an offer of slippers, Harry cast a Warming Spell every now and then to keep her bare toes from suffering the dungeon chill.

"I don't suppose you'll let me see it now, Harry?" she smiled sweetly at him.

He frowned. "See what?" Harry then scowled. "Oh! Wait! Draco didn't tell you, did he, cause if he did...!"

Luna sat next to him. "I like it when you're nervous. You're so sweet." She leaned over and kissed him.

Harry felt his nerves calm down. Reaching into his pocket for the small, velvet box, he gripped it tightly in his hand. He had rehearsed all afternoon a speech that wasn't quite a speech, but it was gone from his head, now, and so he had to rely on what his heart wanted to say. He took several deep breaths. For half a second he panicked over whether or not he should kneel, but then remembered he wasn't proposing, he was just making a promise that came with a ring. That decision was easily taken from him as Luna moved and sat down across his lap with her arms loosely around his neck.

He flipped the little box in both hands. Luna was tempted to look down at the box, but she kept Harry's green eyed gaze prisoner. She kissed the tip of his nose, patiently waiting for him to speak.

"The first time I saw you was at the Sorting Feast. I remember being happy to see Ron and Hermione, but I hadn't felt like laughing for days. Seeing you chatting with the Sorting Hat like it was an old friend was the most amazing thing I'd ever seen. McGonagall's look was priceless; she was so annoyed with you and the Hat and that's when I laughed. I thought nothing could make me feel so good until you walked past our table and smiled... at me."

Harry's heart warmed blissfully as that very same smile immediately graced Luna's face. He broke his speech to kiss the smile.

"You are... the most beautiful, warm-hearted, girl in the world, Luna. I can look into your eyes and I am always able to find myself when I feel lost. With you, I'm just who I want to be, not the stupid Boy-Who-Lived, or that Potter kid with the scar. You make me feel as though I'm no longer broken. I find myself thinking about you every hour of the day, dreaming of you at night, and looking forward to every single time we meet."

Harry opened the little velvet box to reveal a silver ring with a setting in the shape of a crescent moon. The moon curved over two opals with diamond points that resembled small stars. One opal was a fire opal, the other was a moon opal.

Luna allowed Harry to place the ring on her finger and he held his breath as she twirled it around on her finger and studied it.

"I love the ring, Harry, but..." Harry froze at the ice trickling down his spine. He didn't want to hear 'but' during any of this! Luna tapped his forehead. "There's no need for all the promise and courting rituals. Rather silly to be doing all that formal, Victorian nonsense when I've already let you touch my breasts, don't you think?"

"Luna!" His cheeks crimsoned rapidly as he checked to see if his parents were anywhere within listening distance of Luna's confession. He hissed, "Will you watch what you say, Luna?"

She laughed and kissed his red cheeks. "Does my glittering, new ring mean I am now to be Harry Snape's traditional girlfriend?"

He let out a growl of frustration and then tickled her ribs. That elicited a squeal of delight from the girl.

"The tradition of a promise is up to you both to practice as you wish," came a deep, warning baritone. Harry hastily scooted Luna off of his lap. "However, there will be some... traditions... in regards to proper conduct I expect you both to adhere to. You are both still underage, in school, and you will behave accordingly." He gave them both his best 'teacher's glare'. "Decorum, Mr. Snape, at all times. Is that understood?" Snape gave his son a pointed look of warning. Harry nodded rapidly and gently nudged Luna from his lap. Luna moved, perfectly demurely, and sat down beside Harry.

Snape transferred his gaze to Luna. "Miss Lovegood, from now on I expect you to wear proper footwear to the dungeons. Understood?"

Luna nodded, "Of course, Professor Snape."

Snape then relaxed his stance and suggested, "Harry, why don't you escort Luna to Ravenclaw tower? You are then welcome to stay here, or return to Gryffindor tower to share your good news."

"Sure, dad," he smiled at Luna, rose to his feet and took her by the hand. "Ready to go home, Luna?"

"Certainly, Harry."

Right before they stepped out of the door, Harry looked over his shoulder and with a wide grin on his face, he said, "She loves me!" He then slipped out, missing his father slumping down onto his chair.

"I will never forgive you for talking me into allowing this, wife," he groused. "They're far too young."

"How could you have denied them when you did not deny Hermione and Draco, Severus?"

"If you recall, that willful boy did not discuss his intentions with me and I had no idea what he was up to until Christmas day." He glowered at the flames in the fireplace.

"Severus, be thankful that all four of them realise they are still children. They are, however, growing up very quickly and in five days they will need a future to live for."

Snape felt his wife's hand on his shoulder. He stretched up his hand, took hers in his, and brought it against his cheek. "It is my dearest wish that our daughter has a longer childhood than those children have had."

Lyrica leaned down and kissed the crown of Snape's head, and then his forehead, and finally his lips. "And a childhood without You-Know-Who."