The house across from her on Spinner's end was empty nine months out of the year. During the summer, a figure would come to stay, but he was never made welcome by the rest of the street. "He's an odd man," some would say. His parents had left him the house when they'd died, back when the sullen man was a sullen teenager, and since the house had become his he hadn't truly been noticed by the neighbors.
But she noticed him. She always had.
She'd just turned eighteen when her own parents had died, and their debts had forced her to sell the family home. The only place she could afford was on, as they said, the wrong side of town. She moved in without any help, and went out daily looking for a job in that area.
It was in the pub two blocks away that she met Severus Snape for the first time.
She recognized him immediately, of course; her new neighbor had taken her aside and pointed him out to her. "He keeps to himself," she'd said. "He's a teacher of some kind, though who would want their kids being taught by him who only knows."
She hadn't let the rumors get to her, however, and she walked over to him where he was taking a large gulp out of a beer bottle. "Hi," she said, only raising her eyebrows when he scowled at her. "I'm Alexis, Alexis Mills. I live across the street from you on Spinner's End." He still said nothing, and she bit her lip, rising from the pub stool she'd sat on and walked away. She'd made it a few feet when a voice came from behind her.
"I'm - Severus. Severus Snape." She turned back and smiled, sitting down next to him and buying herself a beer.
She woke up alone in her bed the next morning, despite him having been there when she'd fallen asleep.
Alexis didn't see him again for almost a full year. Not that she really thought about it, honestly; Severus Snape certainly was not her first one night stand, and she knew for a fact he wouldn't be her last. But when she did see him, towards the end of july in 1985, her heart did a little flip, and that's when she knew she was in trouble.
Alexis didn't have boyfriends. She never had been interested - her plan was to get through school and be done with it. That part had gone to plan, but everything else had gone to shit.
But seeing Severus in that same pub a year later, something made her walk up to him and start a conversation. At first he pretended that he didn't recognize her, but Alexis refused to allow that, pushing the subject. Finally he conceded, and they ended up back at her place.
This time he stayed for breakfast, but no longer.
A week later, they met in the pub again.
As the years went on, Alexis and Severus met in that pub, countless times. They made some small talk, but usually just fell into bed together. They were good in bed together, they'd realized.
She learned that he taught at an elite boarding school in Scotland during the year. "What subject?" She'd asked, and there was a hesitation before he responded, "Sciences." She got no further response from him, and so she dropped it.
She also learned that he'd been in love before, the woman had died, and he refused to let himself get that close to another person again.
This he didn't exactly tell her. This she learned from being called the wrong name early in the morning, this she learned with his actions toward her. So she didn't say those words - not once in ten years, did she risk ruining what they had with the three words he clearly dreaded.
She told him about her job; she'd found employment at a shop, which wasn't much, but for someone without university credits it was something. She mentioned how she'd begun watching the neighborhood children for a little extra money - for she had hardly any, but this she didn't say.
He tried leaving her money, once - he claimed it was a birthday present, her twenty fifth - but she refused it. "I'm not a prostitute, Severus," she'd declared, and he'd blushed, reiterated it was only a birthday present, but still she refused. He left early that night.
Then there came the day in 1991, July, when Severus showed up at her home completely smashed, ranting about some Potter boy. She listened as she made him something to eat, not saying a word as he went on and on. "He's going to be just like his father, arrogant. He can't even respond to the school to let the headmaster know he's attending, one of the teachers had to go to his home-"
Alexis sat the bowl of soup in front of him and sat down. "Wouldn't that be up to his parents, though?" she said, trying to be the voice of reason. He scoffed, but said nothing.
The next year, he came to her, claiming everything he said was true - that the boy was just like his father, after all, a rule breaker who had no regard for the safety of others. She let him complain, then attempted to calm him. When this didn't work, she snapped.
"What issue do you have against his father? Why don't you go to the man yourself and complain to him about how he's raised his son? Wouldn't that be better than taking your anger out on the child?"
"The boy's father is dead," was his only response, and he took his leave.
During that year, Alexis started dating. She was twenty seven, and the only person she'd been with she saw once a year and knew nearly nothing about. So when the new manager at the shop asked her out to dinner, she accepted.
They went on several dates throughout the year, and he seemed nice enough. In fact, when the summer came and the lights came on in Severus's home, for once she didn't head down to the pub, nor did she walk over.
She soon regretted this.
The manager - Eric, his name was - was an angry drunk. Alexis hadn't known that, until the day he got fired and came to her house. She'd tried to calm him down - she'd calmed Severus down, and he was much angrier than Eric, after all - but Eric's response was to slap her in the face.
And then he didn't stop there.
She screamed, and screamed, but he continued to hit her, beat her, whatever inch he could reach, and she was on the verge of blacking out when her front door burst open and a flash of red light shot into her home, Eric collapsing next to her. She struggled to keep her eyes open as Severus knelt down to her, whispering words she didn't understand, a stick he held in his hand somehow glowing. And then she blacked out.
In between snatches of consciousness, she was vaguely aware of police coming in her home, of Eric being taken away, screaming something about Severus punching him for no reason, of a kind officer kneeling beside her and asking if she wanted to go to the hospital. All she could do was shake her head, feeling as if someone was drilling into her skull. "Severus," she whispered. "Severus was here." From their murmuring, she came to understand he'd been taken to the station for questioning, and she just turned her head away, closing her eyes.
The next time she was awake, Severus was there. In a quiet whisper, he explained what had happened - he'd heard her screaming while he was passing by and knocked in the door in time to see Eric on top of her, knocking her head into the wooden stair. He'd gone into a rage and punched him, knocking Eric unconscious before calling the police. When she asked about the red lights and the glowing stick, he got a strange look on his face and told her that must have been the concussion. "You really should have gone to the hospital," he told her.
"I knew you would be back to help me," she whispered.
It took the rest of the summer for her to recover. The cuts and bruises on her face slowly healed, but the constant headaches didn't go away. Severus was concerned; he wanted her to go to the hospital or make some kind of appointment and get it checked out before he went back to school, but she kept refusing. "I can't lose work," she said finally, and he dropped the subject.
But the last week in August, he came over with a goblet in his hand. She looked at him strangely as he held it out to her. "It's perfectly safe," he reassured her. "I've done all the research, I promise you I have." She accepted it slowly, taking a tentative sip and making a face at the taste. "I know it tastes gross, but it'll help. Once I go back to school, I won't be able to help you."
So she did as he asked.
The next months passed by slowly. Alexis spent her time in between work and watching television and sleeping - her headaches had gone away but she found herself more tired than she'd been in the past. In December, she learned why- she was pregnant.
She was absolutely sure it was Severus's; she and Eric hadn't had relations in the time they'd been together, and she and Severus had just before he left for the school. She was three months along, and by the time he came home she'd be so far along there was nothing that could have been done. She did regret that she had no way of contacting him to tell him the news, but he'd told her on more than one occasion that the school's address was a secret due to the children who attended it. "Celebrities kids and such," he'd said.
In fact, when she gave birth in May she was completely alone. One of the neighbors picked her up from the hospital and she took the baby home - took little Fleming home. She'd named him after Alexander Fleming, realizing, not for the first time, how little she knew about Severus. She knew of his profession, of course, but even that she wasn't clear on. She disliked the secrecy, but she'd learned to live with it.
She only hoped he'd accept baby Fleming.
When he knocked on her door in early June, she'd just gotten the baby to sleep and quietly crept to the door, brushing her blonde hair out of her face and smiling at him. "Hey," she said quietly, inviting him in.
As he talked - telling her about his school year in sparse detail and noting that she certainly looked better - she found herself wondering how she was going to explain the sudden baby to him. But she soon found she didn't have to use words - just as she opened her mouth to attempt to explain, Fleming started screaming in the other room and Severus looked up at her, startled.
She chewed on her lip, looking at him. In a quiet voice, he asked, "Mine or someone else's?" She quietly told him, "yours," and went to check on the baby.
When she looked up again, she was surprised to see Severus at the bedroom door, watching her as she fed the child. She couldn't manage a blush; he'd seen her breasts before, after all, and she just gestured with her hand quickly for him to sit down across from her. He did so, still staring at the child.
"What is his name?" he whispered to her, and she told him. He laughed a little. "Alexander Fleming, I take it?" Alexis just nodded.
When the baby was done eating and had settled back into sleep, mother and father went into the kitchen, sitting across from each other at the table. And it was there she learned the truth about who he was, what he really did.
He was a wizard, and she was what his people called a muggle. At first she didn't believe him, but when he pressed on, she remembered that awful day now a year ago, and realized he'd been using his magic to heal her, in fact, had used his magic to knock Eric out. He explained that he'd gotten into some trouble with his ministry over everything, but that they'd hushed it up due to his boss, a man called Dumbledore, and the fact that she'd thought she imagined it all. "But I didn't," she said softly, and he shook his head. "Why are you telling me now?" And she learned that there was a high chance Fleming was a wizard, as well.
Before she knew it, Severus had gone back to the school - Hogwarts, she now knew - with the promise to write. And write he did, and she did, for the first time in ten years keeping contact throughout the full year, her sending him little details on Fleming's growth, and him ranting and complaining about his students. There was some competition going on, and so he couldn't come visit during the weekend like he'd wanted to, but he assured her the next year he could.
But when he came home that summer, something was different. He was quiet, moved slowly, and kept to himself. He still came over to visit with her and Fleming, who was walking and had said his first couple of words, but he barely interacted with her, disappearing for days at a time and coming back quieter and quieter. Finally she snapped, and demanded he tell her what was going on.
She learned that there was an evil wizard, so evil they didn't speak his name, who was determined to take control of the wizarding world and the people like her - the muggles - were in danger. He set his hand on Fleming's head, and told her it would reassure him if she were to take him and leave, leave the country and go far away, out of his reach. "If I go will I ever see you again?" She questioned, and the look on his face told her how unlikely that was. So she steeled herself, and told him that she was staying, and he would have to deal with it.
As that year passed, he came by once a month, and was there for her birthday and Christmas and his birthday - and Fleming's. And when he came that summer, it was with news that the evil wizard was now out in the open, and nobody was safe. He also told her that he wouldn't be able to come over often - he had a fellow wizard staying with him, a man named Pettigrew, who would report to the wizard. "It would put you and Fleming in danger if he were to find out you exist," he whispered, giving her a kiss before leaving - just popping out, disappearing in front of her, something he'd told her the name of but she couldn't pronounce.
She spent that year concentrating on Fleming. He was just now two, and had more words and was running around the small house. She loved being his mother. And it was that year he used magic for the first time - scaring her when the bottle floated from the counter to his outstretched hand. And she couldn't even tell Severus about it; he was back at school, but his mail was being searched. The evil wizard didn't know Severus wasn't on his side and so he was more at risk than anyone else, he'd explained. He would be trusted more by the following summer and be able to visit more - but he couldn't tell her why, turning his face away whenever she asked.
He came home in July, with the news the evil wizard trusted him more than anyone else, along with the fact he would be headmaster at his school the following year, and would be able to visit whenever he wanted to. When she asked what happened to the old headmaster, he refused to say until almost September, when he finally snapped out that he'd killed him. Alexis had frozen, sending Fleming to his room and standing up to Severus, until he broke down and confessed everything - the headmaster had been dying, a child - a sixteen year old boy - had been commanded to kill him, and the same headmaster had extracted a promise - a promise that Severus would be the one to end him.
That year, Alexis quit her job. Severus had asked this of her, asked her to stay home. He opened a bank account in her name and put enough money to last her for awhile - more money then she'd ever seen in her life, and then he went back to the school.
She got to stay home with Fleming, a bright three year old who was interested in everything around him. Her neighbor, who'd never learned who Fleming's father was, now suspected, and tattered on about how he'd never marry her if he hadn't yet, and it had taken all her energy to not kick her out of her home. She never minded Severus hadn't married her - he'd never said he loved her, either, though she knew that he did, even if he hadn't realized.
She certainly knew she loved him.
She wasn't sure when it had happened. Perhaps during their many trysts throughout the years, or perhaps when he'd saved her from Eric who certainly would have killed her if he'd been allowed to continue. Maybe it was when he'd seen Fleming and instantly accepted him - when he'd finally been completely honest with her - but the fact remained that she loved him. She feared for his safety, for his health. There was a spell, Severus had told her once, that caused the other person unbearable pain. And it was a spell, he'd added, wincing, that the evil wizard liked to use frequently on his followers.
She only hoped that it wasn't being used on Severus, now that this wizard trusted him.
The year crept by, December turning into January. January ninth passed by without a word from Severus, but she and Fleming lit a candle for him anyway. "It's daddy's birthday," she whispered to the little boy, who had grinned up at her. January faded into February which in turn faded into March, and it was in March she happened to glance out the window and notice the lights were on in the Snape home. She was hurt that he didn't come to visit her, but she let it go. "Daddy's busy," she told Fleming.
April passed, and then May began - May began with a figure appearing suddenly in the street outside her home. She saw him appear - a dark messy haired boy who looked apprehensive at being there. She clutched Fleming to her as the boy walked up to her doorstep, and, after a brief hesitation, banged on the door. She sent Fleming to his room - instructing him to be quiet and not come out until mummy said it was okay - before going to the door, heart beating in her chest. She opened it, looking at the boy. "Yes?" she managed.
"Er - I'm Harry Potter -" he began, and she had a flash of memory of Severus complaining about the Potter boy, and realized this was one of his students - who had no reason to be at her doorstep unless Severus had told him about her - or that evil wizard had found out. "I - Professor Snape-" He hesitated again, seeming to feel awkward about standing at her door. "Voldemort's dead," he said finally, and she stared at him blankly. "Er. Right. You wouldn't have known his name, right?" And so she finally had a name for the evil wizard, but that didn't explain what this boy was doing at her doorstep unless Severus was - he couldn't be -
"Severus - is he okay? He's not-" She couldn't bring herself to say the word, and the Potter boy quickly shook his head.
"He's alive," he said, and she sank to her knees, letting out her breath. ""He's alive, but he - he was hurt, really badly. He wanted me to get you and - and Fleming?" So he didn't know who Fleming was. Even with the evil wizard dead it seemed Severus was still cautious. And so was Alexis, as she called Fleming to her. The little boy stared at the older boy, who looked shocked to be met with the tiny version of his professor - for Fleming took after Severus completely. "He's in the wizarding hospital- I have a friend coming soon, Hermione, she's bringing a portkey to get you guys there. I was just coming ahead to warn you."
Alexis was going to speak, but a popping sound from down the street surprised her, and she saw a girl walking towards them. She must be Hermione, Alexis thought. And she was right. The girl came up to them and, without even a hint of surprise at seeing Fleming, informed them what a portkey was and what it would feel like. Alexis steeled herself, accepting the small book that Hermione held out, holding Fleming close to her as she felt her feet lift up off the ground and she was spinning in the air. When she landed again, she was on her side on the ground, her breath coming out rough. She heard Hermione say above her, "They did say it was worse for muggles." And Harry's response - "Still can't believe Snape had a kid with a muggle." When she looked up he was shaking his head, but he didn't say it with menace, it was merely a small comment on his surprise.
She got to her feet, calming down Fleming, who had been frightened by the - what was it? Portkey? - before she turned to the other two. "You said Severus was here," she said, struggling to keep her voice calm. "Where is he?"
She followed Harry, who walked up to what must be the reception desk. "We're here to visit Severus Snape." The receptionist looked up, startled.
"Mr. Potter!" She exclaimed, leaving Alexis confused. So Potter was known here, apparently. She remembered Severus's comment about celebrity children, and wondered if that wasn't entirely a lie. She looked down at a stack of paper in front of her. "Erm. What was he brought here for?"
"Snake bite," Hermione piped up, and Alexis looked at her in surprise. Snake bite? But the receptionist didn't blink, instead pointed to a sign next to her.
"First floor, Dai Llewellyn ward." She looked over at Alexis. "And you are here for?"
"She's with us," Potter said quickly, and gestured for Alexis and Fleming to follow.
They got strange looks as they traversed through the hospital, and eventually they stopped at a door. "Professor Snape is in there," Potter said, nodding toward the door. "But I should warn you - it is really bad. The healers are doing what they can, but he's lost a lot of blood and he's really weak."
"A - a snake bite?" Alexis stuttered, gripping Fleming's hand in hers. "I'm not sure I understand."
So he explained. Explained how the evil wizard - Voldemort - had called Severus to him and set his snake, Nagini, on him - to kill him, to get control over a wand. This part Alexis didn't understand, exactly, but she understood what Hermione said, about how Voldemort was dead, now, and Potter - Harry - was the one who had killed him. The snake was dead now too, she added as an afterthought.
"He's being held with aurors," Harry told her. "But they're aware of who you are and your - relationship - with the professor, so you'll be okay."
"What are aurors?" Alexis questioned. All of this was a lot of information to take in at once and she was having trouble keeping track.
"Wizard police," Hermione said gently. "Professor Snape - well, we all thought he was on Voldemort's side until the end, so he's got to go to trial and if they find him guilty, he'll go to Azkaban - wizarding prison."
"But he - he can't," Alexis stuttered. "He's - we have Fleming to raise. If he was on Voldemort's side he wouldn't have been with me, right?" she looked between them, and Harry nodded slowly. "Because Voldemort hates - hated - mug-muggles. And I'm a muggle, so if he followed Voldemort really he would have hated me."
"We know that," Hermione told her gently. "And Harry's going to testify for him. He stayed spying on Voldemort for you, you know." Alexis was surprised, and she looked to the door again. "Are you ready?" She nodded, and opened it, leaving Harry and Hermione behind.
Severus was in the bed closest to the window, two men standing on either side of his bed, alert. They saw Alexis and Fleming enter and raised their sticks - wands - and pointed them at her.
She raised her hands, palms forward, so they could see she wasn't armed. "I - I'm Alexis Mills," she stuttered. "This is my- my son, Fleming. Severus is his father. We're here to see him."
"You're the muggle then," the dark skinned man stated, lowering his wand. Alexis nodded, and the man looked at Fleming, shaking his head. "I never knew ol' Snape had a son. Let's go," he said to the other man, and the two left, telling her as they passed they'd be waiting just outside the door.
With the audience gone, Alexis turned to the bed. Severus looked so weak and pale she wanted to cry, but she walked over to him and took his hand. He slowly opened his eyes. "Lex," he croaked.
"Hey," she said gently, sitting on the little space next to him, while Fleming went and sat in the only chair. She rubbed his hand with her thumb, swallowing hard as she thought of how she'd nearly lost him. And she decided then not to hold it back anymore. She looked at him, straight in the face. "I love you."
A look of surprise flew across his face, and he relaxed into a smile, although she could still see the pain in his eyes. "I love you too," he whispered.
It took him months to recover, and even longer to have his trial held. They finally released him from the aurors when the verdict came, stating he was not guilty, and he was able to come home. Home, with her and Fleming, who was nearing his fifth birthday.
Things were different then they'd been in years past. For starters, Severus wasn't just a visitor - he lived with her. He hadn't wanted to go back to his own home, so they were staying in hers. He'd gone back to his at first for a few days, but he'd finally conceded to the fact the stairs were too much for him.
Alexis didn't know everything he'd been through, but she did know that when he woke up in the middle of the night after thrashing around, there was a potion for him to take. She knew when he couldn't sleep due to nightmares, there was another potion for him to take.
And she knew, above everything else, that she loved him.
On her thirty third birthday, Fleming gave her a little box early in the morning. She took it from him, confused, and slowly unwrapped it to reveal a small ring box. She stared at it in surprise. "Open it," Severus said from beside her, and, after glancing at him, she did, revealing a small diamond ring. In the top of the box was a scrap of paper, on which was written two words - "Marry me?"
They were married a couple of months later in a muggle church. Severus had left the choice up to her - a muggle wedding or a magical one, and she'd chosen what made her the most comfortable. Some of his friends - or what passed as his friends, anyway - showed up. An older woman named McGonagall, who smiled thinly at her but she was told later that's just how the Headmistress was.
Hermione and Harry - the two that had escorted her to the hospital - were there as well, with their significant others. A brother and sister, she came to understand. Ron and Ginny were their names, and she later took Severus aside to learn why they looked so sad, and learned they'd lost a brother to Voldemort. "Oh," she said quietly, looking back at them.
But then they were married, Mr. and Mrs. Severus Snape, with Fleming between them. Fleming was left with their neighbor, who was all too happy to watch him once she learned Severus and Alexis were married.
They went to Paris, visiting the Eiffel Tower and the magical part of France, where she learned more about Severus and his part in the war, the part he refused to say.
But in the end, they were happy to get home, to get back to Fleming and Spinner's end, as ragged as the home was, it was theirs.
Severus ended up selling his own family home, and with the help of some of the people from the school, they got his things moved over. It was nearing their first wedding anniversary when Minerva McGonagall, the older woman from their wedding, came to visit, asking Severus if he wanted to come back to the school and teach again.
"Your choice," Severus told Alexis, who looked over at the professor.
"Would I be able to come with him? And Fleming?"
When she confirmed that yes, she would, that in fact she'd be one of the few muggles ever allowed there, they began the process of going back to Hogwarts.
Alexis loved Hogwarts, and loved staying there. Fleming loved it, too, and half of her time was spent running after him. The house elves turned out to be handy in helping find him when he disappeared into some of the secret passages.
Before she knew it, Fleming was attending Hogwarts, and they were celebrating their fifth wedding anniversary. They spent it in Paris, much as they had their honeymoon.
"Would you ever have imagined this is how your life would turn out?" Alexis asked him softly, a glass of wine in her hand as they sat in their hotel bed together. "All those years ago, when we met in the pub?"
Severus shook his head, smiling at her. "No, I never imagined it. But I wouldn't give it up for anything in the world."