Severus was slowly getting used to being the Potters' slave. They treated him better than he could have expected - since two weeks they wanted him to eat with them. He had expected that master Potter would want to have his revenge on him - he certainly did remember that he was not his favorite teacher.

That did not happen, and his duties were not many - mostly taking care of little master Teddy. Cleaning, table service, washing-up and so on were done by an old house elf by the name of Kreacher - and the slave would not dare to want anything from a creature of a higher station than himself.

Now Kreacher was doing the laundry, and Snape was minding little master Teddy. Master Potter was in the kitchen, preparing something that was to be a surprise for his wife. Snape wondered briefly, why a man is lowering himself to take care of the kitchen - he was taught that it is a woman's role - but he didn't dare say anything.
His owner walked out of the kitchen, carrying steaming dishes.

"Don't worry, it's edible" he said, misinterpreting his shocked gaze.

Severus bit his tongue because he suddenly had an urge to ask how much better are Potter's dishes than his Potions were.

"I can cook. I learned long ago" for a moment a shadow Severus could not interpret came to his eyes "and Ginny did not inherit her mother's simply magical skills in the kitchen"

Barely did the surprise snack appear on the table when the flames in the fireplace were tinged green. Snape showed no surprise - he was told that it is the date of Miss Granger's wedding, and the Potters are the best man and the bridesmaid. Instead of showing shock, he continued setting the cutlery on the table.

"By Merlin!" a voice that seemed very familiar to him, yet did not belong to the bride, exclaimed.

The slave controlled the desire to turn around and finished his task instead, standing still and staring at the floor at his owner's feet.

"Professor McGonagall… we did not expect you to manage to come" Potter said in the meantime.

"Since I became Headmistress, my lessons are not as taxing as they once were" the familiar voice replied "You should get going if you have such important functions…"

"Is is ten already?" mistress Potter peeked out from behind the closest door "Harry, Professor is right… What is wrong with your tie?"

"I didn't manage to tie it the right way…" Severus heard traces of held back laughter in his owner's voice.

"Eh. I'll bet those Muggles did not teach you anything…" Ginny Potter waved her wand and her husband's tie knotted itself anew. "Is Severus coming with us?"

Potter shrugged his shoulders and turned to him with a questioning look. Snape took a deep breath but said nothing. How could he have an opinion about anything? It was his owner's decision.

"Severus Snape?" Minerva McGonagall recovered her voice "What are you doing here?"

"I am doing whatever my owner wishes me to" he replied in an even tone, glad that he does not have to answer mistress Potter's query.

The Headmistress hissed like a furious cat.

"A slave?! I thought Severus dead! But this… this is unimaginable! If your mother could see this, Mr Potter…"

"My mother is dead. Were she alive, she would have done the same. I wanted to free him, but… the law…" Potter scowled.

Minerva hissed again. Severus did not dare to look into his former colleague's face. An uneasy silence followed, broken by mistress Potter thanking her husband for the unexpected snacks, and then Disapparating with Minerva. Potter extended his hand to him.

"What a pity you don't have a wand…." He sighed.

Snape was glad for the Disapparition coming immediately afterwards, because he was sure his face betrayed his thoughts about this sentence. His own wand was destroyed… Nobody else would have even thought about giving a wand to a slave… not just a slave, but a murderer…

Severus took the place his owner pointed to him and watched the proceedings absent-mindedly. Master Potter wore emerald green dress robes and a matching tie - the slave could guess that it was mistress Potter's idea. Mistress Potter herself wore a golden dress that did not look new at all.

Everyone was outshined by the bride's entrance, though. Snape tried to focus his gaze on the silhouette of Miss Granger - anything just not to watch the man who was becoming her husband. He was not sure how master Ronald Weasley would react to his being here…

Suddenly instead of the wedding of Granger and Weasley he saw another one in front of his eyes. The bridegroom had messy black hair - the bride, red. Severus knew it was not his owners' wedding - he was not present then. Whose then was it? Then the bride turned around and he saw green eyes - the eyes of the woman who haunted his dreams.

He shook his head, trying to get rid of the stubborn memory. He did not want to think about it, he didn't. He did not want to remember the woman whose name was Lily… He felt someone's hand on his shoulder.

"Are you well?" his owner asked.

His owner. Potter. Lily's son. Snape felt like he was about to be sick. He dug his fingers into his hair, as if he was trying to pull out the stubborn memories. He wanted to forget, forget…! "Sev…" he heard her voice in his mind. No… he was Sev no more. He was a slave!

Severus did not even notice when the wedding ended. He tried to calm down; breathing slowly didn't help; so he started to list the ingredients for the Potions in his mind, yet each and every one only served to remind him how he had worked with Lily in Slughorn's classes…

When he was a little more aware, he heard a female voice.

"Severus, what happened? You look like you've seen a ghost"

Another face appeared in his field of vision. A familiar face, yet Snape saw only green eyes in this moment. Lily's eyes. Lily. Lily is here - he thought and before he could wonder about that, he started to speak in a frenzied, emotion-filled voice.

"Lily, you cannot marry him… you can't… he'll lead you to your death… Lil, you've got to run away… do not trust the Marauders… Black and Pettigrew are not trustworthy… you can't, Lily… take the boy and run… V-Voldemort is looking for him…"

Severus heard a loud intake of breath.

"I am not Lily." the voice said "I am not Lily Evans"

Snape felt blackness encompass him. He heard like from behind a wall:

"It could be expected… I could have expected it… Severus!"