Thank You

SeverusxLily

Rated T

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or its characters from the franchise. That honor belongs to JK Rowling

Thank You

Severus Snape stood on the balcony of his bedroom at Prince Manor, watching the sun rise beyond the horizon one morning at the end of July. A small breeze was in the air, blowing over his bare chest and through his black locks and chilling his bare toes, his legs protected by his pajama bottoms. He always enjoyed this time of the day; it was the most peaceful for him and it gave his mind a sense of peace.

A soft moan caught his ear and he turned his head back into the bedroom to look over towards the bed. Severus smiled as his black eyes gazed upon the love of his life, his best friend and his wife, Lily Snape née Evans. And his smile grew as he laid eyes upon her nine month pregnant stomach that currently housed their first child.

Lily and he had become friends when they were ten years old, bonding over the fact they were both magical human beings. Even though they came from different family backgrounds and seemed the most unconventional kind of friends, they had each other and were always there for each other. She was the only other person he cared for other than his mother. However their friendship was tested to the max when they entered Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. They had been sorted into rival Houses and Severus was always bullied by Lily's fellow Gryffindors. It didn't help that his fellow Slytherins gave him a hard time about always being with Muggleborn, or as they would say a Mudblood. On top of that they were recruiting him to be a Death Eater for the Dark Lord. With the pressure of that and him being bullied not taken seriously by Dumbledore because he favored the Gryffindors, Severus had found it almost worth it to join the Dark Lord's ranks and take the Dark Mark. Eventually he had when his mother passed and Lily had abandoned him because he had called her a Mudblood in a moment of embarrassment and anger. He was sure she would never speak to him again, no matter how much he apologized. But unbelievably, she accepted his apology and they started over, their friendship renewing and for Lily, the feelings deepening into love; that in itself was ironic because she had been seeing James Potter at the time and they were known as a power couple and it was said that Severus Snape would never get anyone to love him. He was after all a Death Eater, but reconnecting with Lily had him going to the Order of the Phoenix and being a double agent for Dumbledore. After Lily broke it off with Potter, she admitted her feelings to her best friend and they began dating, which eventually led to him proposing, and them getting married a year later. And now here they were living in his ancestral home and expecting their first child, a boy. Severus didn't think he would ever get so lucky.

Green eyes fluttered open and Lily stretched her arms before rubbing the sleep out of her eyes. Feeling a draft she looked over towards the balcony door and saw her husband smiling at her whole leaning against the door-frame. Smiling she said, "Good morning, Sev."

"Good morning, Lily-flower," Severus replied as he walked towards her. Sitting on the bed he caressed her red hair and pulled her into a sweet morning kiss before wrapping his strong, bare arms around her in a hug. Pulling away he asked, "How are you this morning? Did he give you a hard time sleeping last night?"

"No, I slept well. And he wasn't kicking as much as usual, but I can't tell if I'm experiencing Braxton Hicks still or if I'm having real labor contractions."

"Well, we are getting closer to our little boy being here."

"I know, and I'm so excited."

Severus chuckled as Lily rubbed her stomach with a grin. Looking up at him she asked, "And you are sure that you like the name I picked out?"

Nodding he answered, "Yes, I'm sure, just like I was when I knew you were the only one for me."

Lily smiled and gave her husband another kiss before saying she needed to head to the bathroom. Severus helped his wife out of bed and towards the bathroom before leaving to give her privacy. A few minutes later Lily exited the bathroom and they both got dressed before brushing their teeth and heading downstairs to the dining room. They stopped by one of the many parlors in Prince Manor to speak to Roderick, Severus' grandfather, in his portrait. Roderick's wife Muirrean was with him as well and after a brief talk, Severus and Lily continued their way to the dining room. When they arrived food was already waiting for them, courtesy of the Prince family House Elves.

Sitting down to eat Lily asked, "Are you going to be busy today?"

Shaking his head Severus answered, "I don't believe so. Why? Is something going on?"

"Well, I was hoping that if it wasn't too much trouble, we could go into Muggle London and spend a day there together."

"That sounds nice," Severus replied with a smile.

"So yes?" Lily asked hopefully, her green eyes shining.

"Yes."

Severus and Lily had a good time going around London later on after breakfast. They hadn't visited London, Muggle or Wizarding, in a while and if they could remember correctly, the last time they were there was for a date when they began dating. At the moment they were inside a baby store getting some last minute onsies and nappies. Lily even picked up a cute little black one that said Daddy's Little Troublemaker; Severus wasn't sure how to feel about that one in particular, considering he was not about nonsense. As they were leaving the store a voice called out, "Lily? Snape?"

Turning their heads black and green eyes landed on a blonde woman pushing a baby carriage. Blinking Lily smiled and said, "Hi, Tuney."

"Petunia," Severus said politely.

Petunia walked over to them with the baby carriage and said after clearing her throat, "Fancy seeing you two out and about. I would have thought you would be at home resting. It's getting time for the baby to be born, no?"

Lily nodded and replied, "It is, but I wanted a bit of fresh air away from home a bit." Looking into the carriage she smiled down at her nephew and said, "Hello, Dudley."

Dudley looked up at with sleepy eyes before turning his head to the side and closing them. Petunia and Lily chuckled at the sight as Petunia said, "He just loves to sleep all day."

"Yes, it would seem so. I can't wait for him and our son to meet and play with each other in the future."

"Yes, that would be nice."

There was silence for a moment before Severus asked, "Have you heard from your ex-husband in regards to your son?"

Petunia sighed and answered, "No, not sense last week. Vernon agreed to pay child support, but he doesn't want joint custody."

"Is it about you having a "freakish family" and being in contact with us?" Lily asked with distaste in her mouth.

"Yes, he especially hated it when I decided to reconnect with you, Lily. And he said that either we raise Dudley up to be normal or he was leaving. Dudley is normal but has an extraordinary aunt, uncle, and soon cousin. I can't help that and neither can he, but Vernon thinks otherwise."

"That man is a fool if I've ever known one, and I know plenty," Severus said.

The sisters giggled before bidding each other 'goodbye' with the promise to let Petunia known when the baby was born. As they headed back in the direction they were once headed, Lily said, "Sev, I'm hungry."

Severus chuckled and nodded, leading his wife over to a nearby diner, where they decided to have lunch and so Lily could rest her aching feet a bit. Though it didn't show on her face as they dined together, Lily was feeling sharp pains throughout her abdomen and was silently wondering was she already having labor contractions.

Later that evening around eight-thirty, Lily was lying on their bed groaning in pain. The pain in her stomach was worse than ever and she could do nothing to relieve it. Perhaps it was time; perhaps she was going into labor and she would have her baby. Thinking this she was about to call out for her husband when he walked inside the bedroom looking at a letter in his hand.

"Lily, we got a letter from the Longbottoms," Severus said. "Alice has gone into labor and is at St. Mungo's." He looked up at his wife to say more but stopped seeing the pained look on her beautiful face. Rushing over to her he asked, "Lily, what's wrong?"

Grabbing the man's large hand she answered, "Sev, I think the baby is coming."

Severus didn't need to hear anymore. With an instant wave of his wand he filled a bag with a change of clothes for both of them, as well as got the baby bag ready. Once everything was done he shrunk both bags and stuck them in his pocket before picking Lily up bridal style and carrying her out of the bedroom, down the stairs, and outside of Prince Manor and its wards. Holding his wife tightly he Disapparated on the spot, arriving moments later in front of St. Mungo's. Rushing inside he got a Medi-Witch to help him get Lily into the maternity ward, all the while hoping both she and his baby would be alright.

Hours later at one AM on July 31st, 1980 Harrison Severus Snape was born to proud parents Severus and Lily Snape. Before Lily had given birth, they had been alerted that Frank and Alice Longbottom's son Neville had been born about eleven-thirty PM on July 30th, 1980. Lily was happy for her friends, but her own happiness at having her child in her arms overshadowed it by a thousand.

Green eyes peered down at the little bundle of joy cradled in her arms, her finger lightly stroking his smooth face and tapping on his little button nose as he slept. His hair was black just like his father's and she had seen that his eyes were green just like hers before he had fallen asleep. Giving him a kiss on his forehead she said, "I can't wait to take you home, Harry."

"Harry?" Severus said, having been watching his wife and child in silence with a proud smile on his face.

"Yes, Harry, short for Harrison."

"Hm."

"You don't like it?"

"It'll grow on me."

Lily laughed softly and shook her head before smiling at her husband. With a grin she said, "You cried when he was born."

Severus nodded and said, "I would have been a fool not to."

They were silent for a moment as they gazed upon their son before Severus broke the silence saying, "You know, I've only cried two times in my life from happiness, and this is one of them. The other time was when you told me that you loved me."

"I don't remember you crying," Lily said.

"But I did. I had never been so happy in my life before that moment, and this moment is just as happy for me. I don't know if I've ever told you this or if this is even an appropriate time to tell you this, but I didn't think myself capable of loving someone romantically or being loved in return. But I found myself loving you, falling more and more every day. I was devastated when I had lost you, as a friend and to Potter. But before I knew it, you were my best friend again and you were returning my deep feelings for you. You even left Golden Boy James Potter for wretched old me. Not only that, but you continued to love me and do so every day, even when I don't believe I deserve it. Then I asked you to be my wife and you agreed; that was something else I didn't think would ever happen to me, getting married and becoming a husband. And then you told me you were pregnant and I never once thought that I would ever become a father until that moment. And I have all of these things and I have you to thank for that. Lily, you've given me so much that I'm just…I'm grateful. Thank you, Lily; thank you for loving me, for being my wife, giving us a child, and for not giving up on me. I know I let you down once, but I promise not to ever again. Just…thank you."

Tears had filled Lily's eyes at Severus' speech and were spilling down her cheeks. Sniffling she said, "Oh Severus, you don't have to thank me. Everyone deserves someone to love them. No one is more deserving of that than you and I'm glad that I'm the one who can love you unconditionally. And I promise to love you for the rest of our lives and beyond that, so long as you promise not to stop loving me, too."

"Impossible, because I can do nothing better than love you and will forever," Severus replied.

"Really?"

"Always."

Lily smiled as Severus wiped her tears away before cupping her cheek and pulling her into a sweet kiss. A small whimper had them pulling apart to look down at Harry who was squirming in his blanket a bit before settling back down. The new parents laughed softly before Severus moved to sit next to Lily on the hospital bed, his arm wrapping around her shoulders as they sat in their intimate moment together with their love for each other and the creation of their love. And even though Lily had said that he didn't need to thank her, Severus always would because without her love, he wouldn't be in the place he was right now, and he wouldn't trade this place and moment for the world.