"Mum!" Vivica eloped her mother in a tight squeeze. Lily laughed and hugged her daughter back.

Lily held her at arms length. "My little Gryffindor!" she grinned and hugged her again.

"Where's Harry?" Vivica asked, wanting to show her brother all around her new school. "He's with Remus. I want Hogwarts to be a surprise for him when he comes." Lily winked at her.

Vivica chuckled. "Oh mum!"

"So what teachers are we going to see first?" Lily asked looking at the list Vivica was showing of the order she had to go in. "Professor Flitwick in Charms," she announced.

"Let's go then. Does Professor Flitwick still have his pillows?" Lily said.

"Oh yes!" Vivica drawled out and lead her around the school.

XXX

After receiving positive reviews from all of her teachers, especially Professor McGonagall, Madame Hootch and Professor Flitwick and meeting Angelina's parents they headed down to the dungeons.

"Hello professor," Vivica said, all of a sudden shy.

"Hello," Snape smiled at her directly. "You've bought your mother,"
Lily gave him a cool glare.

"Yes sir," Vivica was getting a hint of the awkwardness in the room.

"Have a seat," Snape gestured towards the seats in front of his desk.

"Thank you," Lily said with a cold politeness.

"Vivica is easily my best student and if I could put her up to the third level, I would."

Vivica beamed at her praise, but Lily raised a brow. "Why can't you move her up?"
"Because she does not turn twelve until the first of November," Snape said smoothly, challenging Lily's attitude.

"You know my birthday?" Vivica asked in surprise. "Even mum forgets some times!"
Lily gave her daughter a quick look of warning before looked straight forwards again.

"Mmm," Snape thought. "It isn't that hard of a date."

He retreated his teasing antics after receiving a death glare that rivaled Lucius Malfoy's.

"She has your talent, Lil-I mean, Mrs. Potter." Snape said genuinely, hoping it would help sugar-coat the situation.

"I taught her every thing she knows," she said smugly, then frowned as a pained look flashed across his eyes. "She does have your patience and comprehension though,"

"Thank-you," Snape even dedicated a small smile to her, then Lily realized what she said. "I mean-" she said hastily and looked at her daughter with frightened eyes.

"What? Mum?" Vivica shook her knee.

"She can get skills from her uncle too, Mrs. Potter." Snape laughed distractively. "Even if I am distant and on James side,"

"Yes of course," Lily breathed out in relief. "I just for some reason-"

"Lets just leave it mum," Vivica assured her, feeling a bit embarrassed.

Snape glanced up at the clock. "It's half-past nine. I don't want to be responsible for having you out after curfew, Vivica. I believe you should head up to the dorm rooms now,"

"Alright," she said, relieved to get out of the awkward room. "Goodnight mum, it was great to see you! Promise you will come to my Qudditch Intramurals?"

"Of course," Lily squeezed her tight. "Good night Baby Via, see you on Wednesday,"
Vivica pecked her mum on the cheek and turned to Snape. "Have a good night sir," she smiled at him and skipped off.

"A good night to you to," he called off to her. She waved before she left and shut the heavy door behind her.

"Severus," Lily said quietly.

"Yes, Mrs. Potter?"

"You can drop that now, she left," Lily reminded him, then continued. "You wanted to kiss her good night to huh?"
He nodded solemnly.

"Honest to god, you love her Sev?"
Snape felt some sort of reassurance when she used his nick-name. "You know the answer very well Lily,"
"I do," she said softly. "I've hurt you so much," her emerald eyes became glazed with tears.

"Yes," Snape mused, willing for her to continue with what he believed to be was a 'lily-pology,'

"But you've done the same with me too," she challenged, shaking off tears.

"And I was the mature one and took action for it," he snapped.

Lily hiccoughed.

"I mean I realized what I did was wrong and said sorry," he said in a more controlled tone. "You were just to blinded my hate to accept it.

"I know you have apologized. I re-read all of those old letters last night and finally realized what you said. Vivica respects you so much; she writes to me every day saying that you treat her like a very rare and special student and how you are the most fun teacher she has,"

Snape felt a grin crawl up his face crossed his arms on top of his desk.

"You know why I can't tell Vivica?" she said through angry tears. "Because, I'll be the bad guy. I will be the person that kept her away from her father for years because I was blinded by hatred for your Death Eater days."

"I am a double agent for Dumbledore you know," he reminded her.

"I do!" she snapped. "I know that you went straight to Dumbledore after you knew You-Know-Who was after us. I know that you were the one that told You-Know-Who to not kill the parents since you knew the baby cannot be spared! I know everything now that I took the time to read the letters! I'm angry with myself for holding the grudge against you! You messed up by joining the Death Eaters, but it ended up hurting the both of us!"
Lily put her hands on her face to hide the steady flow of how tears. Snape got up and eased her crying figure up slowly. She managed to give him a questioning look and took her to his quarters. He sat her down on the black leather sofa, conjured up some tea and sat down beside her, one arm going around her shoulders the way he had been doing since he was nine to calm her. Once she was all cried out and sipping tea, Snape decided that it was his turn to talk.

"I know you hate me for what I did but do you know why I became a Death Eater in the first place?" Snape questioned, still holding her close.

Lily shook her head.

"I was loosing you. With the stress of school, careers and our little baby that we had to support all we did was fight. To calm me down, I became immersed in the Dark Arts because they fascinated me and drew me away from our chaos. The Dark Arts was my James Potter."
She nodded sadly. "After James died, I missed him so very much. I suppose I still do. But then, I thought about what I had left. I had Vivica and Harry and all my friends but I was missing a soul mate. I'm independent, I'm me but sometimes I just with I did not have to play the part of 'mummy' and 'daddy'. I knew that I had you but I couldn't face you again. Heck, I couldn't face you in Diagon Alley. I can write anything down, but when it comes to saying it to your face…"

Tears began to water up in his eyes now.

"Lily," he said softly. "You know I'll love you forever. Loving you is like a permanent sticking charm. It just doesn't go away,"
She gave him a small smile. "Agreed."

"So?" he continued so quietly. "Will we tell our daughter?" He looked at her straight in the eye.

"We have too," she whispered back. "And Sev?"
"Yes?"
"I love having you back," she gave him a warm hug.

"We'll never forgive each other," he said slowly.

"But we can put it behind us for now," she replied.

Lily stood up. "I'm off, I don't want it to become midnight by the time I apparate back,"

"You can stay here," Snape offered quickly.

"Severus," she gave him a stern look. "I can apparate here in the morning,"
"Remus is taking care of Harry," Snape reasoned gesturing for her to sit down. "He was the most responsible marauder."

Lily laughed. "You can walk me to the gates though," she offered.

"I'm not an escort," he snorted but lead her out anyways.

Once they reached the gate, she gave a hug. "See you tomorrow?"
"Yes," Snape grinned. "Then maybe I can give out my good-night kiss too. It'll be hard to pack ten years worth of love in though,"

"Same here," she said to him. "Good night. Sev,"
"Good night, Lil. See you in the morning,"

But he never did.