Disclaimer: I own only my own characters and storyline. All recognized characters/names, events, places etc. belong to their respective owners.

Spoilers: This is a Harry Potter, Vampire Diaries, and Originals crossover! So there are some plot spoilers for The Originals season 2 (family background/history for the Mikaelson family!)

Rating: T for now (though it may change to M later on for sexual content and dark themes/violence)

Preface: Halloween

The only One with the Power to break the Curse comes

Born in Secrecy to the Mother and the Traitor, she will be the Key to the Family

It will be she who Unites or Destroys the Original Witch

For she will have Powers that no other Witch has before been Granted

For she will have the Gifts of Nature and Sprit Combined.

In the years that followed he would remember with startling clarity the day that Lily first came to him with news. The prophecy that he had so foolishly given to the Dark Lord, the one about her son, was only the first. The fated seer had made another prophecy, and this one was linked to Lily's second child, the daughter that he had sired and, whom they had vowed to keep a secret. He had denied the fated words, already fearing for Lily's safety as the mother of one fated child, but with this second foretelling he doubted that there was anything that he could do to prevent what was becoming increasingly evident: Lily Evans and her children were irrevocably bound to the fate of not only the wizarding world but rather, the entire supernatural community.

September

Severus still felt wary when entering the house declared to be the Order's Safe House. It was better than going to the Headquarters, as the Headmaster had originally suggested, but still, there was always the chance that the Safe House would not be empty and, the thought of anyone finding out that he was involved with the Order made him cringe inwardly.

"Albus?" The voice that called out to him from the kitchen made him freeze and, as he mentally cursed the older meddling wizard, he lost his chance to apparate away. A second later she stood there in front of him in the doorway.

"Severus." Lily's beautiful green eyes widened in shock and then her wand was in her hand as she went on the defensive.

"Lily." He croaked, lifting his empty palms so that she could see he was not about to attack her.

"How did you get in here?" She demanded, her voice rather shrill.

"Albus." He replied, then hastily scrambled to elaborate as her expression grew more suspicious. "We meet here." The subtle flex of her throat as she swallowed was the only indication that she registered what he had said as the rest of her body remained tense. Her emerald green gaze remained hard, her wand arm unwavering as he waited for her either to attack or stand down.

"Albus sends you here? Why?" She demanded, refusing to back down, though she was smart enough not to attack him.

"Because I am trying to make amends." He replied.

"Amends for what?" She demanded at once.

"For telling the Dark Lord the Prophecy." His voice sounded broken, even to his own ears.

"You were the one that told Vo-"He jumped on her in a second, without any thought, a hand covering her mouth as his body forced her wand arm out of the way. She struggled against him, but he was unshakable, easily overpowering her smaller frame as her eyes went wide in fear.

"Do not say his name, it is cursed." He warned, and she froze instantly against him. "Or it soon will be. If you say it then they can find you regardless of whatever enchantments have been used to protect a person or location." She nodded slightly, her eyelids half-lowering in an acknowledging blink, and he released her, taking a step back as he tried to calm his whirling mind. She was one of the targets. Lily was unafraid of using the Dark Lord's name, and Merlin knew what might have happened if he had not been there to stop her. She probably would not have been saying his name if I was not here, he told himself but, regardless of his presence, she would eventually have either used the name herself or been close to someone who did, and he knew what would have happened. He knew the Death Eaters who would have come and, he knew first hand the violence that followed wherever that certain cadre went. Never would he want Lily to be anywhere near them and, no matter how much she might hate him, he would die to protect her.

At the same time, he could not help the very physical reaction that he had experienced when her body was pressed so tightly against his. He had felt the softness of her belly from her pregnancy, the exemplified swell of her breasts pressing against his chest. He had always loved her, had always wanted to touch her beautifully shaped lips, to run his fingers through those crimson red locks. No, he told himself firmly, as he jolted back to the present to find her standing mere centimeters away from him.

"You're telling us this now?" She was demanding, her eyes blazing with fury. "Did you know any of the McKennons? They had children. Three of them and, she had just told us that she was pregnant again. Do you know what happened to them?" He flinched. He could not help it. He knew exactly what had happened, knew because he had been there. "This is why isn't it? No one could figure out how they were discovered, how their defenses were breached." Lily's eyes were slowly filling with tears and their effect, her hurt, was like a physical blow to him.

"I did not know. I told Albus to be careful, that there was rumor of such a spell but, I did not know that it had been activated until it was too late. I came tonight to tell him for sure that it is being used and, that they were killed because of it." He confessed, and she paused, her gaze filling with an emotion that he slowly realized was a mixture of horror and pity.

"Were you there?" She asked, her gaze meeting his, her breath stilling as she waited for his answer.

"Yes." The word fell from his lips, and they both flinched.

"Did you enjoy it?" She asked coldly as she took a step back, her tears coating her increasingly icy gaze.

"Never." He replied, his voice hoarse and sincere. "I made a mistake falling in with that crowd at school, and I have been doing everything that I can to make up for it." He took a step forward, reaching for her as though to somehow demonstrate his remorse but, she shied away.

"Don't." She warned, crossing her arms over her chest as though to protect herself.

"Please, Lily, I am sorry." He said, and she glanced back at him.

"I'm sure that you are but, that doesn't change anything." She said briskly and, before he could say anything to protest, or to promise her his love and loyalty, a baby began to cry from somewhere upstairs in the house. Her gaze jerked up immediately and, she moved before pausing to glance back at him with indecision written in her gaze.

"You are safe Lily, I swear it on my my life, I will never hurt you." He said wearily and then she disappeared up the stairs to tend to her son.

Once she was gone he headed back to the kitchen, searching the shelves for firewhiskey. After discovering a bottle of Ogden's cleverly hidden behind a wealth of new food in the pantry, he poured himself a few fingers of the golden liquid before sitting down heavily at the table. He was still there, staring into the depths of his drink, when Lily returned with her son in her arms. The boy looked over at him with wide eyes that were the same shape and hue of his mother's. Other than his eyes, however, the boy was a replica of what Severus assumed his father must have looked like as a baby.

"Lily?" The door had opened again, and this time it was the Headmaster who swept into the kitchen. His sparkling blue gaze lit first on Lily and her son and then on him, as he stood hastily.

"I did not mean to intrude her Sir." He spoke at once. "I was not made aware that I was to meet you elsewhere." He explained softly.

"Not at all, my boy. I did not instruct you to meet me elsewhere because I did not intend for you to meet me anywhere else." The Headmaster said, waving his apologetic excuse off.

"Then you intended us to meet." His gaze shifted quickly to Lily in confusion, and then returned to the Headmaster.

"I did indeed." The Headmaster made himself comfortable at the table. "I wanted you, Severus, to remember exactly what is driving you, to reaffirm not only how important your information is to our success, but also what it means to the individuals. I know that you do not trust us enough to make your position public, nor would I support your open presence within our organization in case it should put you in jeopardy, but I also want you to have a connection outside of me to the Order." Severus nodded, silently raging at the wizard and the tumult that he had apparently unknowingly created.

"Meaning no disrespect Sir but, why me?" Lily interjected, still rocking her son on her hip.

"Because you deserve to know. You're the one that he is doing all of this for. Severus is a good man, he's a talented wizard, and you are the real reason why he approached me." The blue eyes turned back to him before refocusing on Lily. "We are at war now, my dear and life is too short to have regrets." Lily's gaze darted towards him, before flickering back to the Headmaster.

"Well, I'd best be on my way, I had only meant to give you a heads up that Severus was going to stop by." The Headmaster got to his feet and began to leave the kitchen. "Oh, and Severus, from now on, Lily is going to be your contact. Give your information to her. If you need me, you know where to find me." They stood frozen in the kitchen as the front door closed behind him, and then slowly they looked at one another.

"Well, what do you have to report?" Lily asked, and Severus shot a pointed look at the baby that she held. She glanced down, and excused herself, and a few minutes later she returned without her infant son.

"He's not old enough to really understand, but I do thank you for your sentiment." She said as she took a seat across from him, simultaneously summoning a sheaf of parchment, quill, and ink bottle.

"What I report is not pretty. Whether or not he understands, they are matters that I want a child to hear, and to that end I expect your utmost discretion." He replied, and she nodded, swallowing slightly, in what he remembered was indicative of her nervousness.

"I can handle it. I'm a part of this war too." She replied, as she dipped the quill in the ink, and then looked at him expectantly.

"Severus." Her eyes were shining when she finally set the quill aside.

"Do not." He cut off any further sentiments, swallowing the last of the firewhiskey from his glass. "I do not expect nor want your sympathy. I made my choices and I will live with them. The best that I can do is to help this way, by telling you, by warning you."

"When will I see you again?" Lily asked after several long minutes of silence as they both regrouped from his graphically detailed report.

"When I have enough information I will send a message." He replied.

"I'll be here, so just come by." She blurted and then she blushed.

"Here? Is Potter living here too then?" He asked, his lip curling in distinct distaste.

"No. Just me and Harry." She replied, dropping his gaze. Harry, so the brat had a name, he thought rather savagely, before he could help himself.

"What happened with Potter?" He asked tersely, and she tensed.

"It's none of your concern." She replied in an equally stiff tone.

"Promise me that you will be careful, Lily." He said before he could stop himself. "I need to know that you are safe."

"I will be. I have Harry to look out for. He keeps me from doing anything particularly Gryffindor." She replied, offering him a small smile.

"Good. I will be back when I have more information then." He said, standing.

"Sev?" She called after him, and he paused at the use of his old sobriquet. "I'm sorry for what happened at school. I've missed you." She said, and it was all that he could do to incline his head ever so slightly before he left the room with a soft swish of black fabric.

Two Months Later

Severus no longer feared the Order's Safe House. At least, not the way that he had first feared it. Now he rather looked forward to his visits and, if his reports came more frequently than were strictly necessary, well, no one besides Lily ever knew.

"Sev." She smiled as he appeared in the doorway to the kitchen. Harry was in his high chair, finishing his dinner and, she stood quickly to fetch him a plate before he could protest. Severus joined them at the table, even managing to smile at the boy. He was very clearly James Potter's son but, so long as Severus had Lily with him he could tolerate the sting that came with that knowledge.

"How have you been, Lily?" He asked, and she beamed back at him before launching into a discussion about the various healing spells and potions that she had been researching. He loved the way that her eyes brightened, and the little mannerisms; the use of her hands to illustrate what she was explaining. He found himself smiling without thinking much about the gesture, and if Lily noticed it then she tactfully said nothing.

In the months since Severus had first encountered her, he had come to learn that Lily had left James because of his desperate attempts to keep her at home with Harry. James was, to Severus's chagrin, stiflingly overprotective of Lily and their son. Of course Lily still had to let James in to see his son but they always met at the Potter Mansion and, it was never up for discussion whether Harry would be staying with Lily or James. Severus did not like the thought of her returning to James, but he never voiced that opinion. Lily would not want to hear it, especially not from him, nor could Severus honestly say that Potter was a bad father.

Lily was filling her time by self-teaching herself about healing and practicing her potion making. Severus felt a twinge of pride every time that she talked about her potion skills getting better. Lily's intentions did not stop at simply practicing from home as she fully intended to enroll in healing school once Harry was old enough to go to the nursery there. How that would be possible with the prophecy looming over hers and Harry's heads, neither of them discussed. Severus thought that it was a subject better left in the do-not-discuss pile; the way that James, Sirius, Remus, and Peter had all been put there. By unspoken agreement, so too had Severus's attraction to her.

In return, Lily was always asking about his own welfare. She wanted to know how he was doing and was even starting to mother him in a way that Severus had not realized he had missed until she started. She used to do it all the time, but after the fifth year catastrophe he had never expected her to do it again. Nor, he supposed, had he ever expected anyone to care for him again. His mother was never overly affectionate, and it was only once Lily had become his best friend that he realized how important she was to him. Now, for him to be back in her graces; he had no words with which to describe how lucky he felt.

In his mind's eye Severus cast back over the past two months. Lily had been understandably cool towards him at first and, their meetings had been brief up until the first time that he arrived right after a Death Eater meeting. A planned raid on an outpatient station attached to St. Mungo's was averted, and Lily had begun to soften towards him. The next time she had invited him to join her for a late night dinner and from then on it had become somewhat of a routine. He would arrive, she would put Harry to bed, and then they would eat dinner. The last time that he had been there Harry had joined them for dinner and she had written down his report afterwards as they enjoyed the end of a bottle of fine red wine. When she saw him out, they nearly kissed but he left before they could go there.

"Sev?" He was drawn back to the present by her soft question. She stood in the doorway, having returned from putting Harry to sleep while he was lost in his own wonderings. Instead of the jeans and emerald sweater that she had been wearing earlier, she had on a short nightdress and, was clearly surprised to see him there. Then again, it was to be expected he supposed. He had told her goodnight when she left him there a good half an hour ago or so.

"I am sorry. I will leave." He said, rising, as her brow furrowed.

"What's wrong, Sev?" She asked, stepping forward.

"I just-" he trailed off, as his gaze ran over her again. The night dress was rather low cut and ended well above her knees.

"Should I change?" Clearly he had not been as subtle as he had hoped about the glance over.

"No." He said, and then winced. Too fast, he cursed himself as her eyes narrowed suspiciously.

"Sev?" She questioned again, taking a step forward and catching one of his hands. He felt a rush of heat go through his body as she stepped even closer, their bodies just brushing. He tensed as his body reacted to her nearness.

"Lily." He ground out as she tilted her head up slightly; her emerald gaze meeting his obsidian one. "I should go."

"What if I invited you to stay?" She replied, her voice soft and husky, her eyes hooded.

"Would you?" He replied, his own voice much more raspy than he was accustomed to.

"Sev, will you stay?" She asked after a heartbeat of silence, several white teeth appearing to nibble on her full red lip. Severus had never thought to hear such an invitation from her.

"I want you, Lily." He said, drawing ever so slightly closer; a moth to a flame. Instead of recoiling as he still half-expected, Lily leaned up towards him and planted a kiss on his lips. Severus felt himself responding in kind even though he knew that it was not a good idea, that he should not be kissing another man's wife. Lily, her name reverberated around his head, my Lily, he thought as he deepened the kiss.

30 August

It was sheer luck that he was alone when the patronus came, but then again he was sure that she would have taken precautions so that it would not come to him if he was with anyone else.

"It's time." The doe announced in his Lily's voice, and then it evaporated. In a moment he was on his feet and exiting the room with long measured strides that did not betray his inner nervousness. A scant ten minutes later he found himself directed into a room where he was told to don pale blue sterile scrubs and, feeling a little foolish in the periwinkle blue, he followed the attending into the birthing room. Lily was already there, her red hair plaited down her back; Alice Longbottom at her side as she paced the room. She was connected to an IV, wearing in a horrible white patterned hospital gown while Alice was also clad in scrubs. Both women looked up at him, and the clear relief in Lily's eyes was all Severus needed to ignore any residual awkwardness at his attire.

"Lily." He murmured, stepping forward to take her other hand in his as his eyes searched hers. "Are you in much pain? I brought something in case these muggle drugs do not work." He offered, showing her the small vial of pain potion that he had brought.

"It's alright, Sev. It hurts, but it's supposed to. I'll let you know if I need the potion." Lily assured him with a small smile, although he was not comforted much by her words.

"I do not want you to hurt at all." He told her and, she smiled up at him.

"It's a good pain." Lily assured him. He continued to frown and, as the night progressed he believed less and less in a 'good pain'.

A few hours later the doctor handed him a blanket-wrapped infant and Severus Snape became a father for the first time. She is perfect, he thought, looking down at the tiny newborn in his arms. He passed her to Lily, feeling almost relieved as she accepted the baby with knowing arms, positioning the infant against her breast to feed her.

"You can do this, Sev, you will be a wonderful father." Lily said once they were alone.

"I hope so." He murmured. They had not talked much about what was going to happen after her birth.

"I'll come as often as I can." Lily promised, looking at him with sad green eyes. They loved each other, not the passionate whirlwind attraction that she and James shared, but the love that develops over time. That was no question, but she had a son to think about as well; an impressionable young boy who wanted to be with his father. What had happened between them could not happen again. Lily did not try to pass Severus's daughter off as James's, neither one wanted that, but she had also told Severus that she was going back to James at least until the war was over. She understood that Severus could not protect her, Harry, and the new baby. At least, not as well as James could protect her and Harry and, since she had come to him, seven months pregnant with a second prophecy they both knew that neither child could risk being put into more danger.

That was the night that they first made their plan. Lily would give birth in a muggle hospital and, afterwards Severus would take the infant with him back to the estate that he inherited after his grandfather, the last true Prince, had passed: Prince Mansion. He would care for their daughter with a house elf to help. He would pretend to continue to live at Spinner's End for appearances until Lily could leave James for good. She would go to Prince Mansion and, when he could, Severus would join them. That was the plan at least because they could not all disappear at once. He was still a Death Eater. If anyone asked, the baby was to be his maternal aunt's child; a half-blood baby that he was raising but, they both hoped that no one would have to find out.

When the new day dawned, Lily was discharged and the two figures separated. One returned to a strange house, his newborn daughter cradled tight to his chest and, the second retreated to an increasingly love-less marriage and a toddler son. Neither one of them could have guessed what would befall their new family in the months to come.

31 October

His daughter would not stop crying. For that matter, neither could Severus. It was almost like his daughter knew that her mother was dead. Severus knew that Lily was gone, knew that the Dark Lord had gone to the house, and knew how much Lily loved her children. Lily would never let the Dark Lord hurt her son; she would die for Potter's son and, now that he himself was a father, Severus understood the love that a parent bore for their child.

A single knock on the door of the mansion sent a chill through his body. Severus knew without having to check who it was going to be. The figure had materialized one night when Severus was at Spinner's End with a proposition. Severus had declined the stranger's offer to take his daughter and raise her. Together with Lily, they had been given a month to come to a final decision and, before this night, their answer was going to be no, but now he was alone. Lily was never coming to join him and the Headmaster had already whisked the boy away to Lily's sister's home. Severus had already asked the headmaster, mere hours before to take in the boy but, the Headmaster had been firm. It would not be allowed and so Severus was alone and the night that should have been the happiest of his life, when he was finally free, had become a living nightmare.

"Severus Snape." The figure stood before him in the dark corridor. He had let himself in and now he stood before Severus like a dark angel.

"Take her." Severus managed to say, his voice tight with anguish as the figure took a step forward. "Take her and protect her. She is the only thing that matters to me now. Do not let anything happen to her." Severus carefully transferred his crying child to the stranger's arms.

"I give you my word. She will want for nothing. I will protect her with all of my resources, and with my very life if need be." The man vowed.

"Thank you." Severus murmured as his baby's cries grew louder. "Please, take her and go, lay low until this is all over. Go before I change my mind." Severus all-but-begged and the stranger nodded, turning away.

"Her name, it is Rowena. Rowena Naomi." Severus called softly after the stranger, and the figure turned partially and nodded.

"She will know who you are. I do not intend to become her father. You will always be her father. I will let you know where we are once we are settled." The stranger said and then, with nary a sound, he was gone and Severus Snape was left utterly alone.

A/N: Thanks for reading! Please favorite, follow, and review! Constructive criticism and suggestions welcome! There's more to come (some already written)! Also looking for a beta reader if anyone is interested!