It would be several more years before Severus Snape would meet Aunt Susan again. Unfortunately the occasion would not be a happy one. Severus would often remember the time he spent in the Lake District as one of the happiest holidays he’d ever had. Lily and he had helped with the sheep, had gone fishing on Lake Windermere, go tramping through the valley and up towards the top of The Tongue, lazing around near Trout Beck and play with some of the other children in the village. The tricky moment had come when Aunt Susan had seen their homework, and wondered just what sort of school made you write with quills and on parchment. They had decided to tell her about magic and Hogwarts. Aunt Susan had loved it, and the children had delighted in telling her about the hidden world. Now however things had changed. Severus had ruined his friendship with Lily. They had both graduated from Hogwarts, and Lily had been married to that awful Potter boy a few months before. And now here they were, gathered in the cemetery.

Severus was all the way back, on the outside of the crowd. He didn’t want to be seen by either Petunia or James Potter. He wasn’t entirely sure if being seen by Lily would be a good or a bad thing. He could vaguely hear the vicar going on and on about the tragic accident which had taken two good people from this earth, but all he could think about were the kind and loving people that had always tried to help him and his mother Eileen. It had been pure luck that he even knew about the funeral of Mr. and Mrs. Evans.  His own father had passed away last month, after drinking himself in a stupor and never waking up. Not that he cared all that much. Not after his mother passed away a few years ago. But Severus had needed to sort out the house, the dreaded house that was now rightfully his. Having stayed in Spinner’s End to clean it up, he caught sight of a headline in the local paper, when he was going out to the corner store. It had drawn his attention for some reason. ‘Drunkard kills beloved couple’ it had said. On purchasing the paper and reading the article, he had felt sick. It appears that Mr. and Mrs. Evans had been in their car driving back home, when a driver who was completely drunk had swerved into their lane, killing them on impact. The drunken man died later in hospital. There would be no justice for the couple. After he had recovered from the shock, Severus had made inquiries about the funeral. And so here he was, lurking in the back of the crowd.

Once most of the mourners had gone, Severus carefully stepped forward to the freshly dug grave. He had brought with him a white lily and a rose, the two flowers they had loved the most. Dropping them on the caskets, he was about to turn away when a voice came from his right. “I’m glad to see you again Severus. It has been entirely too long.” Even after several years, he still recognized her voice. “Hello Ma’am. I’m also glad to see you, though I wish it wasn’t at this occasion.” She gently squeezed his arm, turning him around. And there she was, Aunt Susan, still small and delicate looking, her hair nearly completely grey, and several age lines added to her face. “What have I told you to call me, young man?” she smiled, although Severus could tell it was slightly forced. “To call you Aunt Susan. But I figured you might not want me too, not after my fight with Lily.” “Pfft, Lily should come to her senses eventually. And she is not my owner, I can decide all by myself who I like or dislike, and who gets to call me aunt. Besides, Sam has never judged a person wrong before in his life.”  Severus managed a small smirk in memory of the Border Collie that had greeted him at the farm. “Is Sam still around then?” he asked her. “No, my dear boy. He passed away last year. But I have one of his sons, called Sammy who is doing fine in his stead. Now come and join me on this bench here.”

She led Severus to a bench that was tucked out of the way, probably meant for mourners to come and sit in the cemetery. “Shouldn’t you be with Petunia and Lily? After all you’re a close family member.” Susan sighed and seemed to pale a little. “I’d better wait for a while before doing so. Petunia would rather not see me at the moment, if ever again. She blames me for this you know.” Severus raised his eyebrows. “How could she do that? I read about it in the local paper, it was a drunk driver who killed them, not you. How could you possibly be responsible for that?” Severus noticed he was getting angry. He’d never liked Petunia and now she was hurting her own aunt. “Well, she feels it’s my fault as they were going home after visiting with me. They’d been over for a few days and were going back home when the accident happened.” Aunt Susan sat in silence again, her face showing just how hard this accusation was hitting her. “I always knew Petunia was an idiot, this just proves it even more.” Severus growled.

Susan put a calming hand on his arm. Slowly he felt himself relax again. She had managed to do the same to him when he was staying on her farm. At one point a ewe had managed to really hurt him, and he had wanted to hurt the stupid animal back. Aunt Susan had just placed her hand on his arm, calming him down. Sometimes he felt that she had a magic all of her own. “Eventually she should realise this as well Severus, but she is just as stubborn as her sister, and it could be several years before she comes to this realization. Just as Lily will eventually patch things up with you dear.” Severus stiffened. “Do you know what I said and did to ruin our friendship?” he quietly asked her. She nodded. “ My dear brother in law told me a while ago. They mentioned the fact that you still had the courage to visit them the summer after it happened. How you had waited until both Petunia and Lily had gone for the day, and then showed up on their doorstep nearly in tears.” Severus tried really hard to control himself, but could feel his cheeks heating up slightly. He had been desperate for Mr. and Mrs. Evans to hear him out; although he’d been terrified they would throw him out of the house on first sight. “They told me the story from both Lily and your perspective, and we agreed the both of you could have handled things differently, but that it was up to you to reconcile. I just hope that with that awful war going on in the magical world you will be able to do so in time.” Severus twisted his head around in shock. “You know about that?!” She just looked at him as if he was the idiot. “Of course I do. Do you honestly think Lily wouldn’t tell us?” Severus just shook his head.

“Now, before I go back to all the people that showed up, I want you to promise me something.” She looked Severus firmly in the eye. “Promise to let me know what is going on in the wizarding world, and promise to keep in touch, just so I know that you’re still alive. I’d like your address too, so I can contact you if I ever need to.” Severus agreed quickly, and wrote down his address at Spinner’s End. “My mail will be magically forwarded to me, so don’t worry about how to send it. If I can I will send you an owl, or otherwise I will use the Royal Mail.” “Good.” With that firm word Aunt Susan stood up. She shook his hand, and then gave him a quick hug. He watched her walking away, towards the gates of the cemetery where he caught a glimpse of Lily’s red hair. Blinking back the tears in his eyes, he softly apparated away.