Severus decided that he – and Harry – needed clarity about the night he had been conceived. So Severus did what he did best, he brewed a potion. This potion, combined with a spell, would let him dream of the night he had mentioned to Dumbledore and this time, see with his own eyes and remember those lost hours. With no small amount of trepidation, Snape prepared the potion, cast the spell and drank it. That night memories of Lily haunted his sleep.

He had received word from fellow Death Eaters that they had cornered one of the Order members in the Black forest. Severus knew immediately who that would be and wondered why Lily hadn't apparated away. But to protect the forests magical population and control the visitors, the german government had put anti-apparation wards up around the whole area. Lily had been on a mission recruiting magical beasts as allies and was now stuck there, having been followed by Death Eaters. Snape was the only one who could slip in and give her the Portkey, as the Death Eaters would not question his appearance. So he made his way to the forest and searched the parameter they had indicated. It was hard to find her but he located her in a small cave hidden behind overgrowth. The moment he entered it, he knew something was wrong. It was the smell.

As a young Potions Apprentice he recognized the Purple flower immediately but was powerless to fight it. For 24 hours he would be sucked into a hallucination and never remember what happened. After a full day his body would metabolise the poison and he'd come out of his trance. Lily must be already at the end of her cycle.

Lily was lying on her back, idly playing with her red hair and looking sightlessly to the cavern ceiling. When he came closer, her eyes flicked to him and a bright smile encompassed her whole face.

'James!' she cried and jumped up, throwing her arms around his shoulders. Severus stiffened only for a moment, before, to his own surprise, he enveloped her in his arms.

'Lily' he breathed and looked at her with such sickening devotion that the real Snape couldn't stop himself from sneering at them. Snape almost left the memory, when they started kissing passionately but thought he needed to know the truth. He dispassionately watched them make love as that was what they were doing. This was not a hook-up, not a one night stand. Lily was imagining her young, handsome, loving husband and Severus was not sure what he himself had been imagining.

He did not deny that Lily was good looking, the contrast between her hair and eyes was quite pretty and she had a nice face and figure. But he had never been in love with her. He tilted his head, watching the two people in front of him cuddling. He seemed to be more in love with the idea of being in love than with Lily herself. He shrugged and leaned back, watching them fall asleep and then after a while, he saw Lily rousing first.

He could see the confusion still clouding her eyes but also the realization and shock spreading over her face. He was sure, she did not remember what had happened, but they were in quite a compromising position together. It was not hard to put two and two together. Her hand flew up to cover her mouth, her eyes scanned the purple flower and then she carefully detangled herself from him and speedily put her clothes on. She flicked her wand in a complicated arc and delivered his clothes to his body. Shaking his head confusedly, the other Severus woke up as well. Snape appreciated Lily's acting as she politely thanked him and helped him up and out of the cave. There was no way he could have guessed then what had happened between them, especially as the power of the magical flower still had its hold on him. So Lily had decided then to keep this from him.

Snape shook his head as he left the potion induced memory and woke up groggily. But as he pondered the answers from his memory, he growled in frustration. There were more questions than answers still. Had Lily planned on telling him about Harry? Had she changed his appearance to trick James or the rest of the world? Did James know and adopt Harry?

Did it matter either way? He could answer this question quite clearly: It did not matter to him any more. It was what it was and they would have to deal with it. Snape then smiled a Slytherin smile as he thought how to utilize this new relationship for their cause… He had a brilliant idea!

Harry self-consciously brushed his hair from his face. His hair had always been an issue for him, it would never lie flat! But that problem had been solved permanently. Snape had come up with the best idea on the planet to help Harry enter the Wizarding World safely again. They had taken away his glamour and revealed his true looks. There was no better way to hide him than in plain sight. And like this, they had returned to Hogwarts castle.

Mostly Lily's features had made it through the mix, with the exception of a few things. Harry was quite glad that his face had a few male features left and he didn't look like a girl completely. His jaw and cheeks were anything but feminine but his eye shape, lips and nose were definitely his mother's rather than Snape's. But there were other things he had inherited from his biological father. Harry was glad to have grown a few inches. But he had been rather dismayed to see that he had lost his mother's eye colour. He didn't mind black so much and he knew it would help in their cover story, but he had always liked to have her expressive green. It was a constant reminder of her.

But what really miffed him was the hair, he had obviously inherited the Snape's oiliness. He gave a frustrated growl. There must be something he could do against it. No amount of shampoo or soap seemed to solve anything. Harry frowned at his reflection.

'There must be some spell...' he murmured and pointed his wand at his head but nothing came to mind. What did he want? He had water and he had no idea how to conjure shampoo strong enough to suck away the oil. Maybe some styling gel would help? If his hair was oily anyway, he'd put in some gel to make it shine as if that was exactly what he wanted… But how would that spell look like?

'Err… Gelato!'

Something poured out of his wand and for one second Harry's face split into a grin, because he thought he had done it. But the moment the mass connected with Harry's head he gave a surprised shriek – it was cold. He heard footsteps running and then the door to the bathroom was yanked open. Snape stared at him, the white mass in Harry's hair was dripping down onto his shoulders lightly, which made the boy shiver. A 'Finite' stopped the flow from his wand.

'What the…?' Snape began and then his nose picked up the smell – citrus. Snape carefully extended a finger and scooped up a bit of the stuff from the top. He smelled it and to Harry's surprise then licked it off his finger. Harry thought he'd faint, when Snape burst into laughter suddenly. Harry took some of the stuff from his head as well and tasted. Ah. Damn.

Ice cream.

Reddening, Harry cast a cleaning spell. Snape had gotten himself under control and left, shaking his head, still smiling. But if Harry had thought this was all of it, he had been very wrong. For at the next opportunity the headmaster whipped out his wand at dinner and proudly sang 'Gelato fragaria' at his empty dessert glass – it filled with strawberry ice cream and Dumbledore looked around encouragingly. Other teachers followed suite, none of them realizing how red Harry was going. They were happy with their different coloured ice cream, comparing and tasting off each other's creations. Snape smirked at him and Harry gave him a tentative smile back, when he said 'Gelato iridis' and a colourful ice cream mixture filled his glass.

Even though his hair problems were quite annoying, they were hardly the worse thing to face in his new persona. Snape had decided he wanted to call his son 'Alexander', 'Alex' for short. Harry had shrugged at that but insisted to have 'Henry' as his middle name, desperate to keep some connection to his old life. When they entered Diagon Alley, they had a very distinct plan in mind.

Harry was supposed to be seen with Severus and introduced as his son before word got out, that Harry Potter had 'died'. This way no one would doubt it and put together the real story.

The infirmary was currently housing a very ill looking copy of Harry. It was little more than a ghoul made of Harry's flesh and blood – a rather disgusting procedure. As Madam Pomfrey was in on the story and no teacher would cast diagnosis spells behind her back, there was no way the staff would find out. And they had seen Alex eating in the Great Hall with his father.

They entered Florish and Blotts, getting a clerk to help them find his books. Harry had given the one's he had bought from working at the pub to charity – there was a fund for poor students, who couldn't afford attending Hogwarts on their own. The clerk knew Severus.

'Ah, Hogwarts business?'

Snape raised an eyebrow 'In a sense. Patrick, this is my son, Alexander. Alex, this is Patrick, a former student.'

Harry shook the stunned assistant's hand.

'Never knew you had a kid, Professor! Well, he does look like you.' Patrick's eyes shot up to Harry's hair and he self-consciously brushed it behind his ear 'What year are you in? Don't look like a firstie.'

'Third, I will have Divination and Care of Magical Creatures as well' The clerk groaned and put on the Dragon Hide gloves.

'Just a mo' he mumbled, starting to tackle the books, that started fighting back. Harry felt slightly bad for him and went around the shelves to collect the other books himself, he did know where to find them.

When he had a considerable pile together his father bent a little and relieved him from his burden

'Go and get two books you like.'

'For what?'

Snape raised an eyebrow 'Light reading.'

Harry stared at him 'You mean, as a present?'

Snape frowned 'No, this is a necessity. Your mind needs food as much as your body.'

Harry didn't know what to answer, so he turned and picked out two books, one about Quidditch and another about DADA. When he added them to the pile on the counter, Severus gave him an amused look 'Wait here.'

A minute later his father had returned with four books, Harry read the titles. Three of them started with 'The Lord of the Rings' and the forth, which was a lot thinner, was called 'The Hobbit'. Harry looked up surprised 'That's fiction!'

'That was what I was talking about' Somehow Snape's voice didn't sound annoyed but warm and indulgent, Harry blushed 'I personally don't enjoy fantasy as much, but your mother adored this series.'

'Oh, I'll put the others back...' Snape held him back and shook his head 'No, really, this is too much...'

'Not at all.' Snape cut him off 'I intend to spend a lot more still.'

That shut Harry up and it took him a full minute until he mumbled 'Thanks... Dad.'

Snape sent him a curious look, but seemed to determine that 'Alex' was getting into his role. He simply patted him on the cheek and paid for the book. Surprisingly, Harry didn't feel the tingly sensation that touch normally elicited from him nowadays. It felt nice, actually.

When they had gotten all his supplies and a new pet for Harry – he would have to give up Hedwig sadly – they lingered in the apothecary. Snape was having a long, boring conversation with the old shopkeeper as Harry strolled through the shelves and read labels. He could hear their conversation in the background.

'...do tell me how it turns out, kid.' For some reason the man insisted on calling Snape 'kid', which Harry frankly found hilarious. His lips twitched again in amusement on hearing it 'You have a test person?'

'Yes, someone who will be able to test it every month, for a while I believe.'

The man dropped his voice low, but Harry could still hear him 'It's not the kid, is it?'

Snape paused before he answered 'No, it's an adult. Alex is not infected, I'm glad to say'

Infected? Harry wondered what that was about.

'Well, where did you get him anyway?'

'He's my son' Snape said casually

'Son!' the man exclaimed surprised 'First I hear of it.'

'I haven't known myself for long. His mother assumed he was someone else's child and just as she died, the inheritance paper revealed his true parentage. The other man refused to keep him and he was sent to me.'

'Rough' the man said and Harry could feel his gaze on him. Harry turned to the window and looked outside. He saw a man in tattered old clothes, greying hair, accompanied by another man, who was as handsome as his companion seemed poor. They entered the apothecary and turned everyone's attention.

'Alex, come here.' Snape said imperiously and Harry hastened to obey. As he reached his father's side, the man pulled him against himself, wrapping and arm around his shoulder possessively. Harry looked up surprised 'Black, Lupin. This is my son, Alexander.'

The handsome, black-haired man trained his grey eyes to him and assessed him coldly, while the other seemed curious. He smiled and reached out a hand.

'Very nice to meet you, Alexander.' He shook Harry's hand 'I will be your new professor for Defense Against the Dark Arts. This is my old friend, Sirius Black' The shopkeeper gave a surprised hiss behind them 'He will assist me.'

'Nice to meet you too, sir.' Harry answered and then turned his gaze to Sirius 'You too, sir.'

Sirius stiffened, when addressed and turned to Snape 'Nice display. Don't think this will change my mind. I never said it was his fault. But it's only right that he should not get a share into a man's fortune, when he was never his child.'

'Now, now, sir.' the shopkeeper interrupted 'As I understand he grew up with him, what is family but sharing time and love?'

Black looked at the man confused and then shortly said 'Don't interfere.'

Snape took this as their cue to leave. Probably feeling bad for Harry, he took him to have some ice scream at Fortescue's, before they returned to Hogwarts. Snape tried to lighten the mood by saying 'What a waste of time, I prefer your gelato any day', but Harry only gave a weak smile. After dinner that day, Dumbledore followed them down to their quarters and announced:

'I'm sorry to say that today Sirius' petition was waved through by the goblins. James Potter's fortune is now under nominal control of Sirius Black.' Albus sighed 'After we've killed Harry Potter, it will go over to him. Sirius intends to spend it on the order, as he thinks this is what James would have wanted.'

'Well, it's of no import.' Severus said, sounding angry 'I am perfectly capable of caring for my son alone.'

Harry looked slightly surprised by this acknowledgement of their relationship outside of the necessary role-play in public. Dumbledore's worried expression cleared at that and he smiled at Harry, his eyes twinkling again.