A/N: I apologize in advance to the half dozen or so of you who read Chapter 2 right after it posted; it was Chapter 3 by mistake. Therefore, if this seems familiar, you might want to back up a bit and then return to this one.

Disclaimer: The characters here and the world they inhabit are the creation and property of JK Rowling.

January 9, 1999

She would have chosen the Atrium of the Ministry or some back alley today, but not St. Mungo's. Anything would be better than having her mother flutter over her this way, but Poppy insisted the hospital, and Druella's spies had done their work. She would have preferred anything than to have the heart-wrenching effect of Severus's arrival, too. When she heard his voice outside the door, her heart gave a leap, but when she saw his face, it was worse than what had brought her to the hospital. You asked for this, she reminded herself.

"Hello," she said quietly. She turned to the woman who gave her birth. "Mother, could you give us some privacy?" That witch looked as though she might say something, but after looking into her daughter's face, she nodded and left.

Andromeda smoothed the sheet over herself. "Thank you for coming."

He rearranged his features and spoke kindly. "Are you all right?"

She nodded. "The healers have given me some good pain potions. There's just this ache that comes and goes, now."

"Poppy made me come," he said.

"I'm sorry if it's a bad moment. I asked her to find you."

"It's not that I don't want to be here. I just don't think I belong here."

"We'll know for sure in a little while now, but I don't have any doubt. We've explained it to you—"

"Anna, I'm a Death Eater."

"Former Death Eater."

"Yes, I'm a former Death Eater. I participated fully. I've murdered, maimed, taunted, and tortured. I've done it all. I don't see how I possibly could..."

"Yet somehow you have."

His answer was lost when he saw her face twist in pain. "Are you all right?"

"Yes," she said, although he could tell she was lying. Her hand reached for him, and he couldn't disobey. Before he realized what was happening, he was sitting on the bed. She pressed herself up against him. He was making soothing sounds into her hair while she held his hand. He tried not to notice the tears in her eyes, but they decided him. If she needed him here, he would stay in place of the man who he thought really belonged.


March 1998

Andromeda felt that the first full day of her widowhood had been productive if nothing else. Waking up in the arms of a man who turned out to be Severus Snape had been a bit of a shock, but she was not a Black for nothing. Clearly she and he had done something together Somehow, as it all had come flooding back, it was awkward but not horribly so. Some day she would have a chance to process everything that had happened since the Snatchers had caught them. Right now she didn't feel that she could let her guard down.

Severus had been her guest for a couple of weeks just about a year before. He had come to teach her to make Wolfsbane. She had finally accepted that Remus would be her son-in-law, or her daughter would die of a broken heart. Perhaps having a ready supply of the potion would change the werewolf's mind about his future. Andromeda wondered in passing what he would do this particular month.

Then her thoughts returned to Severus. He'd had the weight of the world upon him when he was her guest. She had done everything she knew to charm and cheer the dour wizard. In his preoccupations, he had hardly noticed her, yet she was aware of him, perhaps more than she should have been. She had been deliberately provocative on one occasion. She was putting the laundry on the line to dry and her hair was wet from recently having taken a shower. Instead of braiding it or twisting it up, she had left it free to dry in the spring sunshine. She knew she should have been ashamed; Ted used to say her hair entangled him from the first moment he had seen her. Severus was in the garden looking over some of her soothing herbs, but he never once looked at her. Andromeda sighed when he went back to Hogwarts, wishing she could have done something to distract him from his concerns, but not knowing, in truth, what more she could have done.

When Nymphadora had brought word that he had killed Dumbledore, she was horrified and then unsure. Something had not added up, but she thought she would never know what it was. All she could figure was that he already knew, when he was her guest, that he would commit this horrible crime. Yet he must have dreaded it, which confused her no end. She knew Trixie would have approached such an event with glee. Then Remus finally admitted that he wanted to marry her daughter, and the next weeks were a blur of wedding plans and issues.

She watched curiously as he handled his meetings that morning. He was quite fair with the one group that lived within the castle and firm with the other. He kept the two sides in a state of détente while managing to make the one group feel as though they ruled the roost. House pride surged in her as she realized only a Slytherin could handle things so masterfully.

When Severus slipped out of his office to attend some issue in the castle, Andromeda wondered what she should do next. She juggled the scrolls sitting in her hands and looked around the room.

"They belong in the cupboard over there."

Startled, she turned around and discovered that the portrait of Phineas Nigellus Black was looking at her. He said, "There are little pigeon holes for the specific issues."

She went over to the cupboard and saw that it was as he said. She filed the parchments that she held in her hands and walked back over to the portrait.

"You're my great-great-grandfather, aren't you?"

"Yes."

"Do you know what Severus is doing here?"

"Yes."

"Then what is he doing?"

"I can't tell you."

"Can't or won't?"

Severus came back in then, and she couldn't continue the questioning of her ancestor. She turned and looked to the portrait from time to time, and he always nodded to her. She didn't recall him being quite so kind when she was a child visiting at Aunt Walburga's home. Of course, she and the other children were usually up to some form of mischief when she was at the Grimmauld Place house.

She felt so uncertain about her relationship to Severus. She knew he wanted her, but she also knew he wouldn't press her. More than that, she knew it had nothing to do with her heritage. He appreciated her as a man with a woman. He didn't fear her or her family connections, and he didn't seem to crave those connections, either. He simply wanted her and gave her the space to make her own decision. She would have to be careful. It was the sort of thing that had drawn her to Ted.

That second night she wore Poppy's nightgown again, and she had lain down on his bed, far over from the side on which he lay. He watched her, she knew. She wondered if he had eyes like a cat's that would see in the dark. She didn't wonder if he would pounce on her. He had given his word and she trusted it. She closed her eyes and willed herself to sleep.

The Dark Lord was waiting for her there. She saw his red eyes gleam, and then she heard Bellatrix's cackle of delight. She sank to the floor and found Ted, his sightless eyes accusing her of being the cause of his death. She shook her head and tried to get away, but Narcissa was holding her shoulders, forcing her to look between Ted's body and the Dark Lord's gaze. She tried to get away, but Narcissa was holding her and Bellatrix was pointing her wand.

In an instant, she was pressed to a strong chest. She could hear his heartbeat under her ear, and she could feel his calm breathing. "Andromeda, it's just a dream."

She curled into him in gratitude. "Not entirely," she answered.

"No, I suppose not."

She felt so cold with horror and he was so warm and strong. She burrowed right into his warmth, but it was not enough. She ran her hands up and around his shoulders, pressing herself into him.

"I need you."

"Do you know who I am?"

"Severus."

He went very still and cleared his throat. "Are you absolutely sure?"

"Yes." She whispered it and it sounded small.

"Because I won't be able to stop once this starts."

"I'm sure I want this." What did it matter, she thought to herself. She had slipped into this unreality, and she might as well play it out.

It was nothing like the instinctual coupling of the night before. She could feel an untold well of passion rise to the surface within him, yet he was as gentle and careful of her as though she was a blushing bride on her wedding night. He started with delicate kisses that teased her into wanting deeper ones. As he kissed her, his careful hands caressed the sides of her face and ran through her hair. Before long, she found herself whimpering with a wish for more.

More came in the form of his hands touching her through the nightgown as his kisses continued. Then it all changed as he started kissing her chin and neck. He worked his way down and then she felt the heat of his moist breath through the batiste. She arched her back, wordlessly begging, yet he didn't seem to notice. He was still touching her through the nightgown and now kissing her through it, too.

He finally reached the hem and slid his hands up, along the backs of her legs as she moaned her need. His hands traveled up the curve of her hips and waist as she slid her toes along his calves. He pushed the nightgown the rest of the way off and managed to trap her hands over her head in it. It gave him a chance to explore.

He moved all the way down her body, carefully seeking out her secret places. Somehow his clothing was removed, although Andromeda wasn't sure how it happened. It seemed to her that neither of his hands left her the whole time he was making her desperate for what finally came. He grunted out a word that she barely heard. She paid it no thought as she caught her breath.

When she was able to speak again, she whispered, "Thank you."

His answer was to pull her close and kiss her temple, nudging her hair out of the way with his nose. She caught a glimpse of his eyes. If she hadn't known better, she would have thought he looked stunned. Since she did know better, she decided it was a trick of the light and settled into his arms, now able to sleep without dreaming.

He had breakfast brought to the bedroom the next morning. She pulled a dressing gown around herself and sat on the bed, watching him carefully. He seemed as cheerful as a man in a castle surrounded by Dementors was likely to be. It was the best moment to ask, and she needed to know.

"Is Lily someone special to you?"

His spoon fell into his porridge with a splat. He sighed, took a napkin, and started dabbing at his nightshirt. "I don't know what you're talking about."

Andromeda put down her toast and started twisting the napkin in her lap with both hands. "I heard you mention 'Lily' right then at the end of—just after—well, last night. I never specifically asked you if you had a wife or girlfriend... I don't want to intrude, but it seems I must ask. I don't want to be in place of the woman you should be with..." She looked up and saw nothing in his face, so she stumbled to a halt.

He sighed and pinched his nose as if he was getting a headache. She had an urge to soothe it away. He stopped looking quite as irritated as he did when she first asked, and she relaxed, but not much.

"No, I have no wife, nor a girlfriend or any romantic entanglements whatsoever, except now you, I suppose. I can understand your wanting to know, but you might have asked before you threw yourself at me, if it worried you."

She knew she deserved that and blushed.

His face became a little softer as he continued. "Lily grew up in the same town I did. We were good friends and arrived at Hogwarts together. She sorted Gryffindor; I sorted Slytherin. She grew out of me, but I've never forgotten her. She's been gone for a long time." He took a deep breath. "So you have no fear of a witches' duel over me."

"But you still remember her," said Andromeda. "That's quite romantic."

"And foolish nonsense."

She reached to put a hand at the side of his face. "That's why we share comfort, isn't it? We've both lost someone."

She took her wand and Banished the dishes to a desk in the room. She cleared the mess from his nightshirt before sliding it up and over his head. Then she pushed Severus to his back and made love to him as sweetly and thoroughly as he had done to her. She touched and kissed every inch of his body and nearly started again with his lips when he gently pushed her over onto her back and showed her how completely she had aroused him.

That night, he blew out the candles, wondering how her nightmares would affect her this time. He didn't wonder long. She came out of the bedroom and slipped out of her bath robe to reveal the ivory lace nightgown.

"Are you sure?"

"No, but I'll figure it all out some other time. Nothing about any of this makes any sense. My whole world is a complete mess. Right now I'm scared and frightened... and you make me feel safe."

He traced the lace of the nightgown as he looked at her. She didn't shy away. Instead she slid her hand under the tie of his dressing gown and tugged. He couldn't turn back if he tried at that point. He pulled her close and kissed her. Most of his life didn't make sense to him, but right now this witch seemed to fit.


There was little enough to do during the holiday. Severus worked through various scrolls and documents for the completion of the school year and preparation for the next one. Andromeda assisted him as much as she could and spent the rest of her hours mourning her husband. Severus was surprisingly perceptive about knowing when to leave her alone when she needed it, or when to hold her and soothe her when she needed some sort of human contact.

One night the Dark Lord came to visit. He summoned Severus to the gates of the school and then sent him back to the castle. Severus arrived back in the Headmaster's quarters and instructed Andromeda to put a meal together. When their guest arrived back in the Headmaster's office, he found a well set table and a quiet witch to pour the tea.

"I'm almost disappointed," said the Dark Lord, "that you've done so well at re-educating our lost sheep, here. I was anticipating what we would do if you failed, but you have succeeded."

Severus glanced at her and thanked his master for the compliment. He dismissed her to the bedroom. The Dark Lord was almost giddy tonight. He didn't want her exposed to the type of discussion experience told him to expect. It was a good evening, but it left him concerned when Voldemort was so cheerful about anything.

The students came back, but there was little change in the pattern they had set. The days simply became longer as there were additional issues to deal with in discipline. Andromeda watched Severus temper the fates of several children as he instructed one or the other of the Carrows to remember that these were magical children and needed for the Dark Lord's plans. As he sent her to bed ahead of him some nights, she found herself wondering again about his ultimate goal in the ongoing conflict.

One morning late in April, Severus received an owl. He opened it, glanced at the contents, and passed it to Andromeda. "This is really for you."

She took it curiously, saying, "It's dated weeks ago," and read it quickly.

Andromeda,

I don't know if this owl will find you, but I don't know how else to contact you. Teddy Remus Lupin arrived safely. Dora is fine. She misses her mother and hopes you are well.

Remus

"Oh," she responded. "I'm a grandmother."

"Congratulations," he said quietly.

"It's amazing." She remembered the joy she and Ted had felt when they learned of this child. Now everything was different, but it was still a joyful occurrence. It was just the change in circumstances. She had wished to be with her daughter when this child was born, and she had always hoped that somehow Severus would let her go. Now that was impossible, and her life had taken on new complications.

"Is something the matter?"

She looked up at him, blushed, and looked away. "It's just so odd and awkward, with... Never mind."

A/N: Thanks again to Mark Darcy for beta reading!