Prologue
Severus Snape knew he could be dead within the hour, but that changed his course of action not one whit. He stumbled out of his meeting with the Dark Lord (oh, how the title made his stomach turn now), shot off a Patronus to Dumbledore asking for reinforcements, and then spun around on his heel. He apparated directly outside Godric's Hollow, took the steps at a run and blasted the door open with a savage slash of his wand. A red flash of light headed directly for his head. He neatly sidestepped it and shouted out his warning to the man he hated almost as much as the Dark Lord.
"Run for your life, Potter, the Dark Lord is on my heels!"
Brown eyes narrowed distrustfully behind the ugly glasses as Potter sized him up, but then good sense seemed to kick in and he turned to someone hidden in the shadows. "Lily, take Harry and go! I'll hold him off!"
Severus was momentarily distracted by the familiar red hair and beautiful face, but snapped back to reality at that idiotic comment. "Are you mad?" he began, but Potter strode forward and grabbed him by the upper arm.
"Get them out of here, Snape." The part of Severus' mind that was not already half-hysterical with panic noted that Dumbledore must have already told Potter about his switch of loyalties, the meddlesome old man. Potter frantically searched over Severus' shoulder for any sign of intruders, and then gave him a rough shove towards the stairs. "Go!" he shouted.
For some inexplicable reason, Severus paused at the foot of the stairs to look back at the man. Potter's grim gaze met his, briefly, and it occurred to Severus that this was not the boy he had known and hated for years. He ran up the stairs, to Lily and her son (Potter's son), wondering if this was what she had seen in Potter when she'd gone and married him—
A crash sounded from downstairs, loud enough that the wall of the living room must have come down. "Severus," a white-faced Lily said as he brushed past her and silently Vanished the glass and bars on the ridiculously large window. She had the boy in her arms.
"Come," he said curtly, holding out his arm to her. He had no idea if he was strong enough to make this work, but it didn't matter—he had to try, and succeed. He quickly cast Lightening Charms on all three of them before grabbing hold of her, none too gently.
He should have known better than to hope she'd come quietly. "I can't leave James!" she growled. The colour returned to her face and her jaw set with a very familiar stubbornness.
"He is dead," Severus told her coldly, pushing her back. She couldn't fight him and hold the child at the same time, so he took the opportunity to hurl them both out of the window, simultaneously casting Disillusioning charms. It wouldn't be much good against the Dark Lord, but he was hoping for reinforcements before it came down to him versus the Dark Lord. Lily gasped in his hold as they dropped sharply and then rose into the night sky. The irony of fleeing the Dark Lord using his own special power was not lost on Severus as he propelled them as fast as he could, away from the place.
It was thanks to his sharp hearing that he heard the pops signalling the arrival of the Order. He heaved a sigh of relief, and then looked down at Lily. Her face was illuminated in the lights coming from the fierce battle raging below them, and the tears even more so. He unconsciously tightened his hold on her (and the boy), and was surprised when she buried her face in his shoulder. The child held between them looked curiously at his silently weeping mother, and then blinked up at him. Severus would have recoiled in shock if he could have. The boy had his mother's eyes.