Disclaimer: None of the Harry Potter characters belong to me, but Helena does! I fully credit (and respect in large ways) Mrs. JK Rowling for her brilliant imagination, allowing us to have her world to fantasize in. And thanks to Robyn and Lauren for doing super quick beta reads over AIM for me!

Chapter two

"Harry, mind if I speak with you for a moment?", Dumbledore asked as Harry had been walking down the hall to his next class.

Stopping in front of Dumbledore, Harry looked up, "No, Sir. Not at all.".

"Follow me then.", Dumbledore ordered, and they made their way to Dumbledore's office. When arriving, Dumbledore welcomed Harry to a chair and a drink, and made his way to behind his desk.

"You are probably wondering about Professor Snape and this new information you have been taught about him…", Dumbledore said, catching Harry's eyes.

In truth, Harry had pondered this, not much on "Snape had a wife", but, more like, "Who would marry Snape?". He doubted very much the marriage wasn't arranged.

"Yes, in ways.", he replied.

"Well, Harry. Professor Snape is a complex man, he has been through so many terrible things in his life, and this is just one of them.", Dumbledore started. Harry just sat back, nodding his head. "Back when I first appointed Severus as the Potions teacher years ago, he had a student in his third year by the name of Helena…", Harry just nodded, hoping that Snape didn't have sexual relations with a third year. "Helena wasn't a very…bright pupil. And Severus was a brand new Professor, didn't know the ropes quite as well. When she continued getting terrible marks, she asked for some extra assistance.".

"Snape gave after class help?", asked Harry- stunned at this.

"Well, to only those whom he felt like needed it. And he figured that Miss Helena was in desperate need of it.", Dumbledore told him.

"Oh…continue, forgive my interruption.", Harry apologized.

"Understandable. Back to where I was. Snape said that he would help her out, and he did. By the end of her Fourth year, Miss Helena was an excellent Potions pupil. A few years went by, and the two of them remained in the mutual student/teacher relationship. Towards the end of her Sixth year, she had made a complete transformation, physically and educationally. For one of Snape's lessons, she was caught into a rut, a terrible one- because he had decided to give the Sixth years a terribly hard lesson. I have reason to believe that he did in hopes she'd come back to him…"

"And she did…"

"Yes, Harry. Helena came back to Severus, asking for his help. Over time, they got closer to each other, and I believe that they started to fall in love with each other…"

Harry's face made an emotion in between shock and disgust.

"Now, now, Harry. Severus and Helena were only about ten years apart, and as you know, in the Wizarding world, that is next to nothing…", Dumbledore informed him.

"Of course…", Harry said, not at all turned from the emotion that this was quite disturbing.

"Over the course of that Summer Vacation, they spent much time together. And I told Severus, I warned him about falling in love with a student. And he listened, he told her- not until you are no longer my student, then we can be together. But, of course, love conquers all- even rules- and they continued seeing each other. I only let them on Severus's strict word that she was as consenting as he was, and I made sure I knew both sides of the story. Personally, I let him because I had never seen him happier…", Dumbledore opened what looked like an Altoids can and put two of the mints in his mouth, and sucked on them thoughtfully.

"Sure enough, after she left the school, they were married. Severus was…so happy. He had always been an outcast during his school years, and as an adult, his years with Voldemort made him inward. But, under all the walls he built up- there was a man that was intelligent, interested in everything, and willing to explore. Helena was beginning to be the same way, he had given her the gift of learning, and although she wasn't as smart as him, or even Miss Granger, she would listen to him, take in what he said, ask questions, and stand as this pillar of knowledge for both of them."

Harry sat there; stunned that the same Snape he had spent the last seven years with could be anything but cruel, evil, and just rude.

"Then Voldemort somehow must have found out about Snape's decision to leave his side. Around a year later, the Death Eaters captured Helena, and we tried, we really did, to get her back. But, as each attempt failed, Severus started to lose all hope, started to fear the worse. I believe after a while he started to believe it, and learned it as true, as the years went by. The walls she had started to break were coming back up, and the man was at a loss of life. That's how he came to be the way he is today. I have a strong reason to believe that if she was not taken, you would have a drastically different Potions teacher today…", Dumbledore eyed Harry, and Harry just continued to look on in amazement.

"Why did you tell me this?", Harry asked. "I doubt Professor Snape would want me to know.".

"That is true,", Dumbledore stated. "But I feel you have the right to know why I asked you to save someone for someone you do not care for. You already have a huge weight on you now, as the man who defeated the Dark Lord both when he was a baby and now, as a man. I felt as if it were my responsibly to tell you why I added more.".

Harry took a few minutes to let this sink in. And then he nodded. "Yes, sir. I'm thankful for it. How is she doing, by the way?".

"Very well. She has made a miracle recovery, and today they will meet each other for the first time in nearly twenty years. Lord help them both…", Dumbledore sighed. "That means you need to get to class, Helena should be arriving at any minute…", he noted, and Harry took his cue.

"Oh, alright. Thank you, Sir. I will talk to you later.", Harry stood and walked out. Opening to door, he ran into Helena and Professor McGonagall. Helena did look healthier. Wearing a white robe, and her now short black hair pulled back, she smiled at him. Her eyes still had bags and rings around them, indicating she hadn't slept well, and she looked older than she actually was, which Harry guessed would be about thirty-five.

"Are you Harry Potter?", the woman asked. Harry shook his head 'yes'. And she hugged him, "Thank you, Harry. I owe endless debts to you…", she whispered, and then walked into the office.

~*~

Snape nervously glanced in a reflective piece of metal on the wall, wrapping his hands around themselves; he waited until Dumbledore's office door would be opened.

Nineteen years, he changed as much as she probably had. She would be what? Snape did some quick mental math, thirty-six. Nineteen years of worry and depression paid their price on his body, he no longer looked the youthful self of twenty-eight, when they married. Even then, he thought, he looked worried and stressed. What was he going to say to her? Dumbledore warned him. This would be like meeting a stranger. They did things to her…he didn't want to think about what they did with his wife. He frowned- probably the same things he did to the female prisoners when he was within their ranks. He shuttered at the thought.

Would she still love him? Would she remember the good times they shared? It had only been a few years of good memories attached with them, surely nineteen years of being brutally raped in the name of "Severus Snape" would change her views on him.

"Severus…", the voice of the Headmaster brought him back to reality, and he looked at the man, standing in the doorway- the last barrier. "You can come in now, she's on the Observatory."

~*~

Helena had walked in, and after greeting the Headmaster, she walked up to the Observatory, to look out on the grounds. Right now, emotions went through her faster than water. She still loved Severus; the thought about seeing him had gotten her halfway through the time she spent in Voldemort's servitude. She remembered the nights back when she was a student, sneaking to his room, where they talked and debated issues throughout the night. She remembered the look in his eyes the mornings they woke up together, the look on his face after they made love.

She smiled to herself with these thoughts- and then the thoughts of cell came to her. With them brought anger. Why hadn't he come for her? Why did he wait? Was he too scared? Did he want to keep his self alive while she rotted away in an unknown cell, victim to so many things, waiting for the unmarked grave that was just within reach?

She frowned, how many nights had she wished to die, wished to just let it end? Those nights she hated him, hated him for running, and hated him for hiding. She knew, she knew while she laid there- getting abused, he was in his chambers, possibly with another woman, another girl, another student.

"I want to see him, I want to see him now!", she called.

~*~

He walked up to the Observatory, each step lasting a lifetime. His heart in his throat, he could just see her. He saw that her hair was cut, and that her frame was thinner, he saw her stuttering in the spot she stood, filled with a emotion, her couldn't see her face, so he could not tell what emotion ran through her body.

Reaching the landing, he stayed back, and watched her from behind. He could feel the anxious tense atmosphere as McGonagall and Dumbledore waited, busying themselves with matters of the school so it would seem like they weren't eavesdropping.

After what seemed like an hour, he finally had enough courage, the moment he dreamed about for years. "Helena…", he whispered. He watched as his wife's body stiffened, and waited for her to turn around.

When she finally did, it was like meeting up with a stranger he had once known. Her face had grown older; her body weaker, a glazed look had been placed in her eyes; as if she lived in another world to escape the one she was trapped in. Gone was the vibrant, youthful, young woman he had once known, and here was reality, here were his sins, paid for through an innocent, and he was forced to stare them in the face. Her expression unreadable, they stared at each other for minutes, sizing each other up in their eyes.

She was as shocked as he was. The man had grown older, worried, lines around his face indicated he looked much older than he was. His eyes were now blacker, meaner, and more distinct. She searched for the man she had once known so well, only to see him through thick walls, thicker than when she met him romantically for the first time years ago.

"Helena…say something…anything…please…", he begged. Snape wasn't used to begging, but the way she stood before him scared him.

"Severus…oh, God.", she breathed, and she watched as he let out a breath, he probably feared she was mute. "You…bloody…bastard…", she gritted through her teeth, and she watched him sharpen up, taking offense to the words she said to him.

"You left me for dead…you left me for them to take!", she yelled, stronger than she attended. She didn't walk to him, didn't make a move to reach him, but stood her ground, and yelled. She watched the hurt and pain go through his face, as the feelings he feared were becoming a reality.

"Why didn't you come and save me! Why didn't you!?! Did you fear you would lose your own life to save mine?! Why didn't you help me when I needed it the most!", she shook now as she yelled. "I need a cigarette…", she mumbled, and went to a table, pulling out a pack and lighting one. Inhaling deeply, she faced him again.

" I was an enemy of Voldemort's! I wouldn't have made it past the gates! They would have killed me before I got the chance to even know if you were there!", Snape argued back. His hands in tight balls, and his expression hurt and abused. Didn't she know how many nights he tortured himself, in hopes of somehow matching the pain she must be going through?

"An enemy? An ENEMY, Severus?", Helena flickered away the ashes on the end of the cigarette, she noticed in the corner of her eye McGonagall coming up the stairs quietly, in case needed, Helena laughed a shallow laugh in his face, "I was Voldemort's slave. I was at his call. I…", her face screwed up at memories, "I was…I was his slave, Severus!", Snape's face contorted into a painful expression as he knew, he knew what she had been through, "I have done things- I have done things to that…to that…THING, and to his followers! I have done things- that you can't even begin to mention in proper conversation!", her eyes flickered to McGonagall, who had a hand over her mouth, trying not to cry, "I have done so many things…to so many different men…and things that are not even human,", tears ran down her face as she shakily reached for another cigarette, "that you only wished I ever did to you!!", she yelled, and turned away from him, sobbing at the memories of the parties, and the abuse.

"I know what they did to you! I know it! I did it to others! I did the same thing!", Snape yelled at her back, crying. "If I could, if I could- I would have rescued you, Helena! Helena- you have to understand! If I went to get you- not only would they have killed me- but also they would have killed you! Regardless if I proved to be loyal to Voldemort again!", he continued yelled.

Helena spun back around, now sobbing openly and freely. "Killed me!?", she yelled, "I would have rather died then to live another day in there! Only by a miracle did that Harry Potter boy save me!", she sobbed, and Snape's face hardened.

Without realizing it, he growled under his breath, "Will the Snapes always be in debt to the Potters?". He only realized what he said when he noticed McGonagall hiss and Helena stop crying, and his wife looking at him with hate.

"Is that what it boils down to? Are you still focused on that incident in your past? You aren't happy to have me back?! Because that means you are now not only in debt to his father- but to him?!", she sobbed.

"No…no…that's not it…", he went to put his arms around her- but she shoved him off.

"How dare you touch me!? After all you put me through?! Leave me alone!", she yelled, and went over to McGonagall, sobbing. McGonagall looked at the distraught Helena, and the helpless Snape. Taking Helena in her arms, she shot daggers at Snape, as if to say: "How dare you say such a thing!?". He watched in silence as she led Helena down the stairs, and away from him again.

Standing there quietly for minutes, he relived from the moment he stood on the landing, to the moment she walked away from him. And, soon, without knowing it, he collapsed to a mass on the floor, sobbing.

"Severus…don't cry…it's a rough time for her…", he heard Dumbledore's voice beside him.

"She doesn't love me anymore…she doesn't understand…Ohhhh, Albus….", Snape cried. "How stupid could I be? How stupid? I should have saved her, why was I afraid? I don't deserve her…I should be dead instead of her alive and in this much pain…"

"Hush, boy.", Dumbledore scolded, and Snape quit almost immediately. Dumbledore crouched to his level on the ground. "Look at me,", and Snape's face lifted to meet up with his, staring in the all-knowing blue eyes, Severus heard him say, "Time, it's going to take time. She loves you, and you do deserve her. So much time has passed in between you two. But the love is still there…but it's going to take time for her to open up to you again. Give it time…Severus, give it time…".