Severus walked down the street, looking for where his wand was telling him Harry Potter was. However, it had to be wrong, again. Every day for a week, he had walked down this street and he had yet to find any wizards, much less Harry Potter.
"What are you looking for?" A male voice asked.
Severus looked up to the first floor and saw a man looking down at him. He had almost black hair, but strangely, with auburn streaks in it. "I am looking for someone, I have no need of your assistance."
"I could try to aid you in that simple fact of the matter is that spell you are using is wrong." The voice stated. "If you are looking for someone, you really might try a better spell. That one was originally designed for locating stationary items, not a human who moves."
Severus wasn't sure what to say, this was the spell that Dumbledore and others used to locate a person. "I am sure I have the right spell."
"Suit yourself. Good luck." The head disappeared and the window closed. Severus wasn't surprised, it was cold outside. Snow was threatening to fall. He continued on his way. He walked up and down the street three more times and didn't get any hint of Harry Potter being in the area, beyond the spell indicating he was.
The next day:
Severus spent the night looking up different spells to locate Harry Potter and in his research, he found that the blasted man had been correct. So now he was walking up and down the street again, this time the spell kept him to the same block, but no luck in finding Harry Potter.
He was about to head back down the street again when the young man from yesterday appeared and handed him a cup of tea. "You need to get warm. I see you used a different spell, but it's only an area spell, you need to find one that will narrow your search to a meter or less. That one only gives you a general location. It was used on battlefields, not meant for closed areas like this."
Severus refrained from snapping at the man as he took a sip of tea. "I will take that into consideration. Thank you for the tea."
"You're welcome. If you give me the name of the person you are looking for, I might be able to help. I know almost everyone in this neighborhood."
Severus was tempted, but wary, what if this person was loyal to the Dark Lord? What if this wizard was a child of Death Eater? What if he was Death Eater? What if he was a supporter? The Dark Lord was defeated, again, but they feared for his return. "No, thank you, as for a new locating spell, I will take that under advisement."
"Suit yourself." The young man returned to the store he exited from. Severus looked up and saw it was a bookstore, but a specialty bookstore. He had heard of the store himself, even purchased some books from it. The bookstore specialized in rare or antique books, tomes, scroll, and parchments. He got the name from Gringotts when he had been looking into some of the older potions that had arrived recently in the wizarding world.
For the next week, it went like that, Severus trying new spells, the young man giving him tea and biscuits. Severus found he was getting annoyed with not being able to find Harry Potter, but he was enjoying his exchanges with the young man.
Severus saw the young man coming out of the bookstore, he appeared to be answering someone's question as his head was turned away. Severus was still a bit away from him, and the young man was currently walking in the opposite direction from Severus. He started to walk fast and as he passed the bookstore and crossed the street, he expected the spell to give him a signal to turn back as it had been for over a week.
He froze. No, it couldn't be? Harry never went to Hogwarts, he lived with his muggle relatives, that young man from the bookstore couldn't be Harry Potter. He watched the young man leave the florist shop and saw he was heading toward him. The spell, it didn't change. Severus ducked into a doorway, casting a notice-me-not charm upon himself.
He waited and waited, but the young man didn't pass by, he was about to move when a voice said, "you need to use the more up to date charm if you want to avoid being seeing by someone who already knows you were in the area."
Severus turned his head and looked at the young man. He began to really notice him. He saw finally, the face was Lily's, the hair was Potter's but it wasn't a messy mop, he thought it might have been because the hair was long and pulled back. The Auburn streaks were Lily's, but there wasn't a scar.
"Ah, I see, you were looking for me. I got rid of the Horcrux a long time ago." Harry responded. "Gringotts took care of it. So what exactly do you want?"
Severus wasn't sure how to answer that. They needed Harry Potter to fight the Dark Lord, however, Dumbledore had stated to him that Harry had to die for the Horcrux to be destroyed, but if the Horcrux in Harry was gone, it truly meant the Dark Lord was defeated. It meant that again, Harry Potter defeated the Dark Lord, even if it was an accident both times. "You're just like your father, arrogant."
Harry looked at him, closely. "You're wrong. Severus Snape, loyal to Dumbledore, but a Death Eater, traitor, spy, professor, Potion Master, which one is the real Severus Snape? Come let's speak."
5 years later:
"I am going to kill you." Severus snapped at Harry.
"Severus, don't push." Madam Pomfrey told Severus.
Harry kissed the top of Severus' head. "You said that last time too."
"This is your Christmas present for the rest of your life." It was exactly five years ago that he had found Harry Potter. Five years in which they had bonded, already had two children, two stores, the bookstore and now adjacent to it was an herbal remedy and potion store. "Where are Lillian and Eileen?"
"Minerva and Albus are watching them. Albus is taking them on a tour of the castle, Minerva is making sure he doesn't overdose them with those nasty lemon drops." Since Harry's return to the magical world, Dumbledore had been trying to get Harry to follow him, it wasn't working. Harry stayed neutral, but it didn't stop Harry from using the man, like today.
"Severus, when I say, I need you to push." Madam Pomfrey stated, snapping them both back from their straying thoughts.
Thirty minutes later:
"What have you decided to name him?" Dumbledore asked, the girls were sitting at the foot of the bed, while Harry was holding his son, Severus was dozing.
"Nicholas Severus Potter." Severus quietly said as he opened his eyes. "It's Christmas after all."
