Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter.

AN: Sorry this is unedited. Go easy on me I wanted to post as fast as possible before I forgot and it sat on my computer forever.

It had been five years.

Five years since he defeated Voldemort.

Five years since he sacrificed himself.

Five years since he watched one of the greatest heroes of the war die and five years since he heard about the deaths that followed.

Five years is a long time, but sometimes it is not long enough.

Harry Potter had been living his life as quietly as possible. As quiet as life can be when you are the savior of the Wizarding World.

He had gotten married to Ginny just the year before and they had formally adopted Teddy Lupin the same day. He brought so much joy to the young couples life and so many others lives as well. His parents may be gone but they had left behind this beautiful ornament of their love.

But that first year had been the hardest on them all. Ginny had been hit particularly hard by Tonks and Lupin's deaths not to mention Fred's, who had been one of her closet brothers. To top it all off there was reporters everywhere they went. The Golden Trio! Heroes of the War! Well, they didn't feel like heroes when so many had died.

Harry was wracked by guilt over a most unlikely character. Severus Snape was the real hero, he fought day and night and risked his life for over 20 years. They had held a private service for him but it was a lack-luster affair. When they had gone back to the Shrieking Shack they found that someone had dragged away his body (probably other Death Eaters) and it made everyone sick to think about. There was also no family to contact and all his closet "friends" had already died in the war. All that were left were a few members of the DA and four or five of the teachers. Harry himself spoke but he felt that it should have been someone who knew him better, but there simply wasn't anyone who knew the dark professor well enough. The whole thing had left Harry in a bad mood for a month.

Every anniversary was the same. He couldn't get away from it quick enough. The Ministry always threw a ball at Hogwarts to celebrate His defeat and asked Harry to speak. Every year he was forced to tell his tale over and over and every year he left as soon as possible to get away from the memories. In fact, every year Ginny found him staring at Snape's memorial hours later with tears running down both of his cheeks and a bottle of Ogden's finest lying empty by his feet.

This year though, this year would be different.

Harry vowed to not return to Hogwarts but instead he decided to take a vacation. He discussed the idea with Ron and Hermione who both agreed to come along (they too had to make an appearance at Hogwarts every year) and so a plan formed. They would travel to Greece, a place that had only been slightly touched by Voldemort's influence, and rent a villa on the beach for a few weeks to rest, relax, and have some real fun. Just the four of them (and Teddy) getting away from the memories that would be sure to assault their minds.

And so we find our heroes on the five year anniversary of Voldemort's defeat walking down a white sand beach and watching the waves lazily creep up the shore.

Ron and Hermione had decided to walk down the beach a little ways to have some time alone. Hermione's busy work schedule didn't allow them for much time to be together so they took all the time they could get.

While they were gone Harry took one look at Teddy's round eyes watching the surf and decided to take the boy down to the water. Ginny had fussed over his bathing suit and had put so much sunscreen on his face it looked white but Teddy stood there and took it. Long used to the way his mother turned into a different person when she got like this. To appease her (and hopefully get out to the water faster) the five year old changed his hair to a dark reddish color that was a perfect mix of his parents. He made it long and unruly in a perfect match of his father and made his eyes the same color brown as his uncle George (Mommy had a sweet spot for him). When Ginny's eyes began to tear up and her grin became water the little man knew his plan had worked. Soon he was sprinting down through the sand with his father close behind him towards the warm blue waters of the Mediterranean.

Soon after Teddy finally got free of his mothers care another little boy came down to the water. He had light brown skin from extended exposure in the sun and dark black hair that lay flat against his temple. His startling blue eyes took in the waves but be quickly looked around to make sure his mother was following him. They had gone sea shell collecting and his mother carried his bucket for him. Up the beach he could see his father sprawled out beneath the umbrella he had set up reading one of his manuscripts for errors. The man glanced up from time to time to check on his young family and waved when he saw his son looking at him. The boy waved back before diverting his attention back to the sand in front of him.

Ginny was the first one to spot the other boy and the woman she presumed was his mother walking down the beach. Hoping that they were locals and thus would not recognize them she never the less hurried down to the water to warn Harry about the upcoming encounter.

The woman was beautiful. There really was no other way to describe her. She was tall but not too tall and slender. She wore a long brown beach dress that flowed softly around her ankles and hugged tightly across her chest. Her sandy blond tresses hung softly about her shoulders in soft curls and fell to her mid back. Her skin was peppered with freckles and her blue eyes shown out from beneath the wide brimmed sun hat she wore. One hand clutched her dress to keep it out of the water and the other held a small child's toy bucket which Harry could see was full of shells. The little boy with her looked almost nothing like her except he too shared the same bright blue eyes. As they came nearer the woman stopped and waved at them and called out a tentative hello. When Harry replied back in kind her smile grew wider and she continued walking in their direction.

"You speak English! What a welcome relief!"

"As do you. I'm guessing that you're not from around here then," Harry replied in kind.

"No, no I'm from England originally but I've been traveling the world since I was very young. Unfortunately I just recently arrived in Greece and haven't had much time to learn the language. How about you? Where are you guys from?"

"Oh! Well, we're from England too. Both my wife and I have lived there all of our lives and just recently decided to take a family vacation. I'm Harry by the way and this is my wife Ginny and our son is the one making a sand city over there." At this Harry pointed over his shoulder where you could just make out a mop of hair behind a towering wall of sand and shells.

"Its nice to meet you, I'm Lyra and this is my son Orion. Say hello Orion," she prompted the little boy who up until now had hidden behind his mother's legs. He stepped out silently and waved. At this his mother bent down and whispered something in his ear to which he nodded and carefully walked over to where Teddy was playing in the sand. All three parents watched with small smiles on their faces as the little boys interacted and became fast friends.

"My own husband is the back down the beach aways working on one of his books. He gets very involved when he's near to finishing them." She smiled again and pointed back down the beach where a green and white stripped umbrella poked out of the sand.

Both Harry and Ginny laughed at this thinking of Hermione who had also written a book a few summers ago and had been lost when you talked to her. "It's a pleasure to meet you as well. You have a very cute little boy over there. May I ask what part of England you are from?" Ginny said to break the silence. Not that it was awkward but Ginny was genuinely curious about this woman who didn't recognize Harry Potter. Maybe she was a Muggle?

"Thank You! You as well, and yes you may. I'm actually from London, in fact, most haven't heard of the street but its Diagon Alley? Do you know of it?" She seemed to hesitate when she said this which since Harry and Ginny knew what she was referring too immediately understood why.

"You're a witch! Oh fantastic! So are we!" Now Ginny was really curious. How did a witch from London not know of Harry?

"Oh! Wonderful! I suspected because I could have sworn I saw you making the sand castles stay up with a wand but I really didn't want to just assume."

Ginny glared at her husband for using his wand in broad daylight on a Muggle beach but he simply shrugged and smiled sheepishly.

"How old is Teddy? He looks to be about the same age as my Orion."

"Teddy just turned five a few months ago. Is that how old Orion is?" Ginny answered.

"Almost. He'll turn five in a few days. In fact that was the last time I was in England was when he was born.I had him early because it was such bad times. His father was in the Hospital recovering from an injury and I was so stressed that I went into early labor."

"Oh I'm so sorry! That must have been terrible!" Ginny exclaimed. The women quickly dove into birth stories and Harry turned his attention back to the boys. He had also started to get suspicious. Her son was born just days after Voldemort's defeat? And her husband was in the hospital at the time? She mentioned bad times and yet didn't recognize the savior? Just who was this woman?

"Hello over there!" called out a loud male voice from over Harry's shoulder. He turned back to see Ron waving furiously and Hermione wrapped up in his other arm. She was smiling almost as wide as he was and had her face partially buried in his tee shirt.

Harry looked back at Ginny and Lyra and said in his proudest voice, "I guess he finally proposed. Lyra these are some friends of our that are staying with us. They're wizards too." Ginny looked amazed yet proud and Lyra simply looked happy. When the other couple approached Ron loudly announced, "She said YES!" To which Hermione lightly smacked him on the chest and flushed to the roots of her hair. Harry's little wife simply laughed and ran over to her proclaiming that they were real sister now. It was right about this point that Ron noticed Lyra.

"Sorry didn't see ya over there," Ron said to Lyra.

"Its no trouble at all you were obviously excited. Congratulations by the way! Getting married is one of the most lovely things in life. I'm Lyra by the way and the little one playing with Teddy over there is my son Orion."

"Er thanks," said Ron who was now blushing fiercely, "I'm Ron and this is my girl- I mean, Fiance Hermione."

"Hermione! What a lovely name!" She said looking to the new girl. "So we have Harry, Ginny, Hermione, and Ron and Teddy of course. Oh!" Harry could see the exact moment where the realization of who they were hit her. But instead of seeing the surprise and excitement people normally got when meeting him for the first time he say only horror.

Ginny seemed to realize this to for she began to say something before Orion cut her off. "Daaaddddyyyyy!" he yelled running down the beach. A man not far behind Lyra crouched down to welcome the little man into his arms. The man's skin had lost its yellowish pallor and now matched the little boys he now swung around. His hair was pushed back away from his face and although it was still long it had lost its lank appeal. The pants he wore were khaki and made of a quick dry material instead of the long black slacks he was known to wear and gone were the high starched collars and many buttons of his old robes. Instead he wore a white button down short sleeve shirt with a few button open near the collar. This only showcased his white scars. Even though the man before them wore a smile and had a rich booming laugh while he carried the boy there was no doubt who it could be.

Severus Snape was alive.

AN: This one was floating in my mind for a while and I had some free time so decided to give it a try. I seriously hated the fact that JK killed off my favorite character in DH just because he's such a tragic person. I had to have something better happen to him.

So my question now is do I continue? If I do it will either be a two-shot showing Severus and Harry's confrontation or it will be multiple chapters telling the story of Severus and Lyra. Your choice just tell me in a review!

Thanks for reading!

~Mysterious Little Person