Nightmares and Daydreams

By Teacherbev

AN: Sorry it's been so long but RL has again jumped up and hit me. In the middle of the move from hell, some idiot crashed into my car so I have been dealing with repair shops, rental cars, doctors and insurance agents. Then I found that my mother, who moved in with me, moved absolutely everything. I mean who need a huge box full of old plastic margarine containers and twelve hot water bottles, including several that leak? Then I stabbed myself with a sharp knife while cutting up a potato and had stitches in the palm of my left hand. They are out now but the whole outside of my left hand is numb and it's very painful to type more than a paragraph or two at a time. Well, enough whining, on with the story.

Chapter 10: Revelations

Severus Snape was brooding. It was something that he was rather good at as he had spent an inordinate amount of time in his life perfecting the art. It was galling to have to take care of the poisoned boy and yet it really wasn't Potter's fault that he had been injured, at least not this time. Every other time he had been forced to step in and save the brat's life, the idiotic Gryffindor had directly contributed to his own peril by his own thoughtless and impulsive acts, well not the time that the possessed Quirrel had hexed his broomstick, but every other time. And like that time in first year, this time he had been playing Quidditch and doing exactly what he was supposed to be doing. And Snape didn't like that. It was supposed to be the boy's impulsive and totally asinine Gryffindor nature that should have gotten him in trouble, not the ill planned and idiotic actions of one of his Slytherins. Not only was he responsible for the total care of the dunderhead now lying asleep on the bed in front of him, he was responsible for the imbecile who put him here! And if that wasn't bad enough, it was singularly unsatisfying to berate and harangue someone who was totally incapable of responding. And so he was brooding as he waited for Potter to once again wake up.

He had spent most of the morning researching through the magnificent Potter Manor library and had sent Tippy with a long list of ingredients to procure as well as a letter to Gringotts authorizing the ancient elf to access his vault as needed for supplies. He was taking a chance in sending the elf, he still wasn't very comfortable with anyone knowing where he and the Potter brat were while the boy remained so vulnerable, but the odds of a current Death Eater recognizing an old Potter family elf were so slim as to be infinitesimal. And he knew the goblins of Gringotts would allow no one near enough to overhear another's conversation so his written permission would be safe. But being overly paranoid had saved his life on more that one occasion over the years and he wasn't willing to give up on his precautions any time soon.

So as he sat and brooded, his dark eyes hooded as he watched the sleeping boy for any signs of returning consciousness, Snape plotted and planned his next moves.

Harry hadn't been willing to leave the conversation between his mother and Neville's but Snape had woken him up, or maybe Fawkes had done it, but either way he certainly hadn't been willing to awaken and leave that conversation. So when he felt himself drifting toward the house in Godric's Hollow once more, he focused on rejoining that afternoon once more. He wasn't sure he had any control over when or what he witnessed during these episodes, but he was willing to try his damnedest to return and listen in to the rest of that conversation. He heaved an internal sigh when he realized he had returned to the same afternoon after all.

Harry absentmindedly bashed a couple of soft plastic blocks together to hide his interest in the quiet conversation between his and Neville's mothers. Neville had dropped the spit covered dog and was now chewing on the corner of a plastic car, happily gurgling to himself as he chewed.

"So Lily, I know that James still doesn't like Severus. How are you going to get him to allowed Snape to raise Harry if something happens to you?"

"I gave in when he named Sirius as Harry's Godfather and I do love the man, it's just that he's so impulsive and immature. I am afraid that Harry would grow up a total hellion with no boundaries whatsoever if Sirius had total control over my son's life. Severus never does anything impulsive and he would be the best to be in charge of Harry's day to day life with Sirius as the fun-loving Uncle that keeps life fun. Hopefully, Sirius can keep Severus from being too stern and unyielding and Severus can tone down some of Sirius' worst impulsive behaviors." Lily reached over and refilled her tea cup, silently lifting it up in a nonverbal question to her best friend.

"Thanks, Lil." Alice held her cup out to be refilled as she continued. "Too bad you can't blend them both into one person. That would be perfect!"

Lily smiled wistfully, "That's exactly what James became once he grew up a little. With both James and Remus influencing Sirius, I have hopes the man might eventually grow up but I'm just so afraid there won't be enough time before something happens." She put down her teacup and reached for Alice's hand. "I must tell you of the plans we have put into effect…you know…just in case…" her voice faded as both women grew thoughtful, contemplating the horrors that might befall their little families in the near future.

Lily walked over to her desk and pulled out the top right side drawer. She then reached her arm in to the back of the hole and made an odd movement. A click sounded and the bookshelf beside her desk moved away from the wall just a crack. Lily grabbed the left hand side where it stood closest to her desk and pulled it towards herself. The bookshelf swung away from the wall like a door opening and Alice stood up quickly, her curiosity fully aroused.

"What…how did you do that?"

"There's something called a 'remote control' fixed to the back of my desk. It's kind of a small black plastic box with a single button on it. I stole this one from my sister's disgusting whale of a husband's garage door opener." She giggled softly as she thought of how long and hard the disgusting man might have to look to find his precious gadget.

"I thought you had nothing to do with them. I remember some of the letters she sent to you at school. Is she still calling you a 'freak' and threatening to hurt you if you ever show up around her house?"

"Yeah and she's even worse now that she and blubber man had a boy. Uggh, the mental picture that brings to mind, not only did she have to touch that flobberworm, she had to let him touch her."

"Yecch, Lily! Now I won't be able to eat all day. Why'd you have to conjure that mental image for me?" A decidedly green cast showed on Alice's slightly pudgy face at the thought.

"I really didn't want to but Dumbledore insisted that I find out where they live and then leave a trunk full of things for their son in the attic. He said it was just in case their son turned out to be a wizard. Can you believe that 'Tunia named her son Dudley Dursley? And she says she's the normal one? I don't believe Dumbledore for a moment but I really can't figure out what he is doing. That man is so manipulative that I don't think he has had a single straight thought in the last century. And I know that he hasn't given a straight answer to any question harder we've asked than what he wants to eat for his next meal to us. It's gotten so that I hate to see him coming through the door."

Alice was nodding her head in agreement as she peeked around her friend's shoulder trying to look into the black recess behind the now open bookcase. "I know what you mean. He's the only one that can ruffle Frank's mother. She was actually muttering curses under her breathe the last time he came to visit. She was trying to get more information out of him about that bloody prophecy but he just talked around in circles. Well enough about him, what happened when you went to your sisters?" She clutched her hands together as she leaned over the desk, anticipation evident in every muscle.

"Not much, they were all asleep. I just snuck in and up the attic. I put the trunk that Dumbledore insisted I leave there, cast a few notice me not and muggle repelling spells and snuck back out. But I couldn't resist stealing the remote control from the dash of his car when I left. I had already found this space behind the bookshelf and I knew I needed something to lock it that no Death Eater would be able to figure out."

Alice giggled softly, "You've got that right. No self respecting Death Eater would even touch that thing. It might contaminate their fingers to come in contact with something 'plastic' you know. Frank's mother is almost as bad, I still don't understand how Frank grew up to be so mellow and laid back with his domineering and utterly prim and proper mother."

Lily shared a laugh, "I know what you mean. James had to get away from his Mum and Dad to grow up. I think his Mum would still be cutting up his sandwiches and wiping his face after his finishes his lunch if they hadn't died. Sometimes I wonder if I would have ever liked him at all if his parents hadn't passed away." She sobered down and the conversation became more serious once more as they turned back to the space behind the bookcase.

Harry stood up in the corner of the playpen, stretching his neck as far as possible to be able to see past the two blocking his view of the dark alcove. Luckily his Mum opened the bookcase wider then and waved her wand at a couple of wall sconces to light the gas torches, illuminating a small room, actually little more than an oversized closet, with a bookcase from floor to ceiling on one wall, a series of shelves crammed with boxes, bags and stacks of interesting things on the other two walls.

Harry couldn't really see what was in the small room very well, but he could hear the conversation between the two witches clearly over Neville's soft and happy humming noises.

"We put all of our research in here to keep it safe. This room has so many spells on it that even if the house falls, it will survive. This is all of James' intelligence on the workings of Voldemort's inner circle, bank records, surveillance evidence…"

"What's that and how did you manage to get the records from the goblins?" Alice asked curiously, sometimes she understood Lily's muggle references after spending seven years in the same dorm, but sometimes she was still clueless.

"Death Eaters are stupid when it comes to muggle technology. James has managed to insert small microphones into the pockets of some of the suspected Death Eaters with a switching spell and used these big reels of tape here to keep track of their conversations. And he has all kinds of muggle photos, the wizarding kind is so much bigger and so they aren't looking for a small cassette camera. And you knew that James is the Heir of Gryffindor since his father died didn't you?" At Alice's nod, Lily continued, "Well, that has a lot of clout with the goblins. It seems that they had a treaty with the Gryffindor clan long before our Ministry of Magic even existed and since no Gryffindor has ever broken it, they still honor it. Godric Gryffindor led his personal liegemen into battle to help a besieged goblin enclave and drove off the enemy and the leader of the tribe and Godric swore blood brotherhood and that mutual defense treaty still stands."

"You mean James will be able to get the goblins to help against You-Know-Who?"

"Not openly, no. But if he formally requests their assistance as the legitimate Heir of Gryffindor they will help him as much as they can without directly going against the Ministry. They aren't anywhere near as dumb as most wizards think they are. They are really quite crafty and very astute, especially concerning things that will benefit or harm their society. So no matter what Voldemort promises if they will follow him, they know he is lying and would just use them before destroying them. And they don't trust the Ministry at all; they keep trying to take away more and more rights. You would think those idiots at the Ministry would know you don't make allies by classifying sentient beings as animals."

Alice gave a slightly rueful snort as she agreed with her best friend's assessment. "Sometimes you wonder if it wouldn't be better if the Ministry collapsed and we just started over. Of course I wouldn't have even begun to think that way without you teaching me all about how muggles and muggleborns are so discriminated against by the wizarding world instead of that useless rubbish they pass off as Muggle Studies. I guess we just think that that's how it's always been, so that's the way things should be."

Harry could see his mother got close enough to the other woman to give her a squeezing hug before they separated once more. "Well, we surely got off topic here didn't we? Well, all of this is things that will work against the Death Eaters, you know, things inspired from muggle technology. We were so bored when we first came here that I started asking James about why wizards didn't have magical equivalents of some of the muggle weapons and he didn't even know what I was talking about. And when I finally explained it he got really excited and started designing all kinds of things to use. Unfortunately he hasn't been able to convince anyone in the Magical Law Enforcement department to even give him an appointment to come in and show them what he's developed."

Alice tipped a large box off a shelf and looked inside at the small individually wrapped globes.

"Careful, Alice. Those spell globes are filled with a powerful sleeping agent that has to have a specific antidote to counter!"

Alice turned and raised an eyebrow in question after pushing the box safely back onto the shelf. "How does that work?"

"Well, you just have to toss them to explode on contact and spread the potion as a gas, like a cloud or you can place them carefully all over a room or area and then set them to a trigger word so that they all explode when you say it. James is working on a delay time spell so that you have enough time to get away and not put yourself to sleep with your enemies but he hasn't managed it yet."

"That is so wicked! What else is in here?"

"Well, this is a box full of healing potions that have been dried, powdered and then packed into muggle capsules so that you can carry them with you. And these are things that we are working on to set up instant anti-portkey and apparition wards when you tap them with a wand to activate them. Sirius and James are working on them so that they are keyed to a specific word or wand so that if the bad guys get a hold of them they can't be used against us. Remus is researching other spells that will break through those same wards or even stronger warding spells to see if they can be adapted to a device. Can you imagine how many lives could be saved if the Aurors could wear an arm band that allows them to escape through the wards the Death Eaters set up in ambushes?"

Alice had to lean against the bookshelf as the ramifications of such a device hit her. "That would be so wonderful…and you can't get the Ministry to even look at your inventions?"

"Well, James has a reputation as a pranking goof-off and then he had the audacity to marry a mudblood…" her voice trailed off as she let Alice draw her own inevitable conclusion.

Alice nodded in understanding. "And the bigots at the Ministry are so stuck in their traditions and the sanctity of the wizarding culture that they won't even consider something based upon the savage muggles."

Lily sighed as she ushered her friend out of the small alcove and pushed the bookshelf back until an audible click sounded loudly in the room. "Yeah, well, their insistence on keeping everything muggle out of their world will end one way or another. Unfortunately I'm beginning to believe it will be after Voldemort wins."

As the two picked up their sons out of the playpen, Harry reached up his arms around his mother's neck and gave her a big hug with a sloppy kiss. She smiled softly down at him and patted his back as he snuggled his head down into the crook of her neck.

"Oh, I almost forgot. If anything happens to us Alice, all of the information on our research and our wills and the information that James and Sirius insisted that the little rat be our secret keeper instead of Remus like I wanted is in there as well as all of my journals and the documentation that I was able to get proving that Severus is my twin brother and that neither one of us are Snapes. I can't believe that bastard killed our real father after mother conceived us and then tricked her into marrying him. It's too bad that miserable bastard was able to shoot our real father and then blackmail mother into staying and not hurting him by keeping her drugged and cowed."

"I don't think you've ever told me the whole story before Lily. Can you tell me now that we are in hiding or are you still too afraid about people finding out about you and Severus?"

Lily sighed and used her wand to refill the teapot. She put Harry down onto the floor with a teething biscuit and turned to her friend. It looked like she was having an argument with herself before she nodded her head, resolution showing in her beautiful green eyes as she began to speak.

"I guess I really want someone else to know the whole story. But you have to give me an oath that you won't tell anyone while there is still danger to everyone involved."

Alice sat Neville down beside her and pulled her wand out. "I promise on my life and my magic not to reveal anything that Lilly Potter tells me today until it is safe to do so or she releases me from this promise." A swirl of magic engulfed the two before sinking into their skins. As she put her wand back away, Lily took a deep breath, clasped her hands together in nervousness and began.

"Okay, I'll just begin at how I found out and just wait until later to ask questions please."

At the blonde's nod Lily made a rueful face and then looked down at her hands. "Well, I got a letter from my birth mother that was sent to me after she died when Severus and I were in our fifth year. In it she explained about how her first husband had been murdered by a muggle outside of the Leaky Cauldron and how the muggle police though it was a mugging because they couldn't find any identification or wallet on him after he was shot but she never believed it. She thought her current husband had murdered her husband because he wanted her but she didn't suspect him until it was too late. She had been pregnant when her husband was murdered and then she met this very charming muggle man named Tobias Snape who took care of everything and just seemed so wonderful. She didn't explain how she met him or how he knew about magic so I have no clue. Of course her family disowned her when she married a filthy muggle but she didn't care because she thought she loved him so much and that he loved her."

She looked up and met the soft and sympathetic blue eyes that were watching her so intently. "And then everything changed. She found out he was dosing her with lsd in the 'vitamins' he had made her take every day. And she couldn't get away because she was pregnant, disowned and addicted to the drugs. But she managed to have her twins when he was on a three day drunken binge and convinced the midwife to take the baby girl away and leave her at a muggle orphanage. She didn't dare do anything to help Severus but since she hadn't known she was having twins and we were several weeks early she thought it would be safe to send me away. She told me it almost broke her heart but she was afraid he would molest me in ways he wouldn't a boy."

Alice moved closer and put a comforting arm around Lily's shoulders. "At least you know he wasn't your real father Lily and she did protect you from him."

Lily's smile barely touched her lips as she gathered herself to continue. "Yeah, but he made Severus life hell and kept our mother browbeaten and drugged until she finally died. She told me not to grieve for her…that she was finally free and able to rejoin her first husband who had truly loved her and been a wonderful man."

The two sat in silence for several long minutes while Harry was almost holding his breath, hoping his mother would forget he was sitting there and continue with her startling revelations. "The way Severus was treated, it's no wonder he fell under that git Malfoy's influence. It was just too bad I didn't find out soon enough to be able to tell Severus. If only I had been able to tell him that's why he felt drawn to me and was so jealous of James. I never was able to tell him that I love him and that I will always love my brother even if we weren't raised together. But I don't dare tell him, if Voldemort or any of his followers found out they would kill him. And I can't do that to him…not until the bastard is dead and can't hurt him." She looked sadly down at her hand and spoke so softly that Harry had a hard time hearing her even sitting just at her feet. "I just hope he will listen and forgive me."

Alice handed Lily a handkerchief to wipe her eyes and dry her tears as she kept a strong arm around her in comfort.

"Do you know who your real father is? Did your mother tell you?"

Lily nodded and spoke softly. "Yes but his family doesn't even know about us. My father had left the Leaky Cauldron to go and get a bottle of muggle champagne to take to his parents that night. They were on their way to tell them they were going to be grandparents. And then he was murdered and Eileen was so distraught she didn't know where she was or who she was with until it was too late. Tobias never left her out of his sight long enough to contact them and then she was too afraid to admit to them what had happened. She said Tobias threatened to kill Severus in front of her if she ever told anyone."

"Well, tell me Lily, I'm dying of curiosity." Alice was almost bouncing in anticipation. "Do I know your grandparents? And do they know about you?"

"You do know them but they don't know about Severus and me. It would break their hearts to know about Severus now that he is a Death Eater and I can't tell them about me without telling them about him."

Harry began to feel funny as the two continued to sit quietly for a moment. And just as he was being pulled toward consciousness he could still hear his mother saying, "My mother's parents were…"

Harry blinked his eyes open against the brightness of the room he was in and tried to scream "NO!" at Snape but all that came out was a loud moan of frustration.

AN: Okay, don't kill me or I can't type any more. And I would be curious to hear your guesses. Have I made it too obvious or to obscure? Who do you want Lily and Severus' parents to be? Thank you again for continuing to read even if this has taken me forever to update.