Severus didn't really pay attention to Lily's siblings; he was much more interested in Lily to bother with them, especially Petunia. The other one, Basil he thought his name was, always stayed out of the way. One day in the summer, just to be polite, he asked about him.

"How's your brother doing?"

"That branch there." Lily pointed "Probably wondering how much flour is absolutely necessary for Victoria sponge."

Severus looked. Where she had pointed he could see a flash of red hair and a dark blur through the trees.

The conversation soon moved off Basil.

Severus was bored. He was a fourth year, why did he care about the small first years that were bound to get on his nerves?

A flash of red hair caught his attention as he looked vaguely in the direction of the first years.

"Evans, Basil."

So Lily's brother was a wizard. That might mean he would have to pay more attention but "Hufflepuff!" was called and he figured he could be excused for not paying a Hufflepuff any attention.

As Severus hung upside down cursing Potter and Black and himself for insulting Lily he saw someone come up and tap Potter on the shoulder.

"You aren't being very nice to him."

"Why should I be nice?"

"Because my sister will never agree to go out with you if you're a self-centred bullying git. Let him down would you?"

"Hmm." Potter considered "I'm not sure I will." He turned back to Severus. Something happened he didn't see but Black yelled.

"What did you do you little…!"

"A very basic potion. A bit like pouring lemon juice on a paper cut." Basil answered easily. "Could you now ask your friend to let Severus down please?"

"Do it James." Lupin ordered. James frowned but let Severus down.

"Go back to your common room where they can't get you. I'll get back at you for yelling at Lily later." Basil ordered. Severus looked at him and decided that what he said made sense, aside from that small bit at the end where he suggested that he would somehow get back at Severus for insulting Lily. He left.

"And that is why the Imperius Curse is illegal." Severus finished reading the passage in the textbook he'd nicked from a seventh year.

"Hey." A voice said in front of him. Severus lowered the book and the stranger tugged it out of his hands, set it down without losing Severus' place and knelt on his lap.

"How did you get in here?"

"By telling the wall the password."

"How does a second year Hufflepuff know the password to the Slytherin common room?"

"I'm not stupid. You just hang around outside until some very nice Slytherin tells you the password." Basil Evans answered him "Now. You are going to come with me and apologise to Lily."

"For what?"

"For suggesting that she and I are inferior to yourself."

Severus just glared at him, daring him to say it.

"You called my sister a Mudblood. You are now going to come with me and apologise."

"No."

"Aww." Basil smiled menacingly at him "That means I'll just have to get you there without your permission."

"How?"

"Guess. You're the resident Potions expert around here right?"

Severus considered. There were one or two potions that Basil could use to make him obedient and just follow Basil out of the room but all of those required the potion to touch someone's mouth even if they weren't swallowed and why did Basil think he'd just drink anything he was given?

The answer came when the ridiculously brave/reckless, stupid Hufflepuff that really should have been a Gryffindor, only they made such idiotic moves, kissed him. As Severus' higher thought processes decided to take a short break he thought it was an inventive way to get the potion on somebody's mouth.

When his brain decided to reengage he was standing in what looked like an abandoned classroom. Basil was standing near the door and opposite Severus was Lily.

"Go on." Basil ordered "Apologise."

"You're very bossy for a second year aren't you?"

"All in the name of being loyal and protecting my friends."

"Apparently you count as one." Lily put in, glaring at Severus "Why I don't get but you do."

Basil cleared his throat and looked meaningfully between Severus and Lily. Severus got the message and complied given he was now slightly scared of this small boy who'd managed to get him out of the Slytherin common room without his cooperation.

"Lily I'm sorry for calling you a Mudblood. I did…" he suddenly couldn't talk.

"Slight variation on Veritaserum." Basil smirked "You might want to word quite carefully, you can't say anything untrue."

"Fine. I did mean it but only because I was angry. I would never say that ordinarily."

"I don't care, you still said it. Basil let me go."

Basil apparently knew a lost situation when he saw it and let her go.

"Was that worth it?" he asked Severus "Worth me extracting you from James, Sirius and the Slytherins?"

"Yes." He admitted "I think. Thank you for getting her to listen."

"You're welcome. And give this to your friend with the black hair and grey eyes will you?" he passed Severus a vial of something.

"Could you be more specific? A name perhaps?"

"I don't know many that's older than me. I think he may be on your Quidditch team."

"That are." Severus corrected "Regulus Black?"

"The one that looks like Sirius."

"Regulus then."

"You'll give it to him?"

"Yes." He agreed "How should it be applied?"

"Put a little bit on the scratch and drink the rest. See you around then." Basil left.

"If you hurt my sister in any way I will hurt you ten times worse." Basil threatened Potter in the Great Hall.

"Really?" Potter drawled.

"Really Potter and I would advise you take him seriously." Severus spoke up from nearby.

"Very well, I promise to never hurt your sister."

"Can I have that as an Unbreakable Vow?" Basil wondered.

"No." Lily answered "You may not."

"Aww."

"Hey," Severus looked around at the face in his fire. It had red hair and green eyes "I was wondering, could I stay at your place for a few days or so?"

"Why?"

"'cuz I don't particularly want to stay with Mum and Dad, or Petunia, or Lily 'cuz she's only just moved in an' I don't want to hassle her."

"Say all that properly and you can." Severus smiled.

"I would like to stay with you for a while because I do not really want to stay with my mother and father or Petunia or Lily because she has only just moved into her house and if I turned up at her doorstep it would no doubt cause her hassle."

"Come on then."

Basil grinned, took his head out of the fire and stepped through.

The pair of them were brewing in Severus' workroom when the Dark Mark burned. Severus quickly brought the potion to a state where it could be stored, did so and made to leave. However Basil caught his arm.

"Don't go." He requested.

"I have to." he gently pulled Basil's hand off his arm and left.

"Why did you have to go?" Basil asked when Severus came back. The young man was lying on the sofa watching something on the TV he'd somehow acquired and set up in their, it was no longer just Severus', living room. When Severus entered he muted it.

"Because otherwise the Dark Lord would kill me."

"He can't kill you if you aren't there." Basil told him optimistically.

"He could. Shouldn't you be in bed?" Never mind that Basil was eighteen he was still to Severus the same as he had been when he was twelve: clever, brave/reckless depending on the situation etc.

"I think I'll stay here."

"I don't. You can't spend all night on the sofa."

"Bet you I can." Basil grinned.

"I'm not taking that." Severus walked over and stood next to him "Bed."

"I don't like you anymore." Basil rolled over so he wasn't facing Severus. Sighing he tickled him. Basil gave in ridiculously easily. "Allright allright!" he yelped and wrapped his arms around Severus' neck "Love you."

Ignoring the comment he lifted Basil up. Basil wasn't cooperating and so Severus ended up with Basil's arms around his neck, his arms around Basil's middle and Basil's legs dangling. Fortunately Severus was fairly tall and Basil most definitely wasn't so his feet didn't drag along the floor. When Severus tried to put Basil down on his bed Basil decided to be uncooperative again and kept hugging Severus until he pulled Basil off. Trying to do this distracted him and Basil being the annoying brat he was decided to kiss him.

This of course had the desired effect. Severus had been wary of that move since fifth year and the apologising to Lily incident. He had of course since worked out how Basil did it. There were certain potions that required skin contact or specifically mouth contact and Basil's method managed to dodge problems such as getting a person to touch the potion or near drink it. How he managed to prevent touching the potion itself was cleverer. He had a magic layer over his lips that kept the potion off him.

What happened now was that Severus flinched back and Basil laughed.

"It isn't dangerous Severus."

"What is it?" he vaguely recognised the taste from somewhere…

"Dittany." Basil smiled "A plant with magical healing properties. Much more useful than lipstick or lip gloss or whatever else it is other people put on."

Severus had to smile but left the room quickly. Basil said something that made him stop at the door "I wish you didn't have to work for him."

"Me too." He left.

Their relationship wasn't romantic, no matter what the neighbours or other people who saw them together thought. Occasionally Basil kissed him and Severus knew as well as Basil that what he was trying to do was remember Lily.

Basil refused to join the Order of the Phoenix. He said that unlike the others who could probably manage to face Severus in the battles where he sided with the Death Eaters he couldn't look at Severus and cast a harmful spell at him, especially when it might get him killed.

Basil never saw his nephew except from a distance. Not until the last fight that was.

"Hey." Harry looked to his side at the man standing there. He had red hair and green eyes and was about as tall as Harry i.e. not. "Harry Potter isn't it?"

"Yeah. The Boy-Who-Lived." Harry was pretty sure the other guy heard the distain he had for the title.

"Basil Evans. The only guy to try and get my best friend and sister to stop arguing."

"Did it work?"

"Nah. She married the other guy in her life. She married that James Potter."

Harry thought this over "Then are you…?"

"Your uncle? Yes. And there were good reasons I couldn't look after you."

"What were you reasons for leaving me with the Dursleys then?"

"I live with a Death Eater." Basil shrugged "I can't fight like that you see, can't fight against my best friend. If Voldemort lived, and I was pretty sure he had, then Severus would have got in trouble for not killing you."

"Severus?" Harry repeated.

"He doesn't like you much but he can't afford to. 'cuz when the day comes when he gets ordered to kill you he has to do it, not get side-tracked by his love for you."

"Severus Snape? Why would he love me?"

"Because you're his ex-best friend's son, his current best friend's nephew?" Basil suggested "He says you remind him of me. Only he thinks you're in the correct House."

"He didn't think you were?"

"I think I was. All the brave and stupid Gryffindor acts I do are all fuelled by my Hufflepuff loyalty. He thinks I should have been a Gryffindor, I don't think he sees it's the reason I'm a Hufflepuff that I managed to do what I did for six or so years."

"What did you do?"

"I was her friend and his friend. At the same time. Of course getting them in the same room after the truth serum incident was impossible."

"Truth serum incident?"

"Severus called Lily a Mudblood so I gave him a potion to make him slightly more open to suggestion got them in a room together and he apologised under truth serum. He's still annoyed at me."

"About the truth serum?"

"No, my method of delivery."

"Which was?"

"Kissing him." When Harry stared at him in shock he defended himself "It had the virtue of never having been tried."

"Who would kiss Professor Snape?"

"A very determined second year Hufflepuff who needed some way of getting truth serum into a stubborn fifth year Slytherin's mouth." Basil smiled "I've got to go now. I want to be in this battle."

"Good luck."

"You too." Basil kissed him on the forehead "That scar, we tried to get it off but it wouldn't, even if he dies it'll probably stay."

"Thanks for trying."

"You're welcome." Basil left him.

There was only one person to mourn Severus Snape once he'd died. Many people could appreciate what he'd done and such but there was only one person who honestly truly missed him. The same person that left a sprig of dittany on his grave every year on the anniversary of his death. He missed Victoire's birth, or at least the gaggle of worried several thousand Weasleys and partners waiting for news. Basil Evans missed his friend.

When Horace Slughorn decided to retire for the second, and last, time the school accepted Professor Evans.

In the Potter Household the saying "A kiss will make it better" was held as true, especially when Uncle Basil was around.

Albus was reassured by Basil that being a Slytherin was fine. Uncle Basil's best friend, and his own namesake, had been a Slytherin and he'd been brave and missed when he died. Only Basil missed him though because he was brave and clever and a spy which slightly ruined some of his chances at making friends.

Not sure the last bit made sense...oh well.

Can anyone guess the inspiration for Basil's method of delivery (the kissing)? Hint: you can't take the sky from me only I don't want to go near the sky. It has all this silly fresh air in it. Yuk. Why did someone have to invent the outside?