There were many things Severus Snape never thought he would be able to do in his life: fall in love, get married, have a child, and yet alone, even have a life. Somehow, someway, Severus was able to do all of these things which caught him off guard considering his life had been far from normal. Most of his life he spent regretting the past, or trying to make up for it, but now he lived in the present. On some level, Severus realized that maybe he was alive for a reason, even though he should have been dead. Maybe this was the life he was truly supposed to have.
If Severus had never survived, he never could have saved Paige that night in the hotel, saved her from the abusive father that she had. In retrospect, she never would have saved him, and to be honest, Severus was in desperate need of saving, on more levels than one. Despite the life he had lived, he needed saving on the levels of love, emotion, and even the redemption of his soul. Paige had managed to save his soul somehow, he wasn't sure how, but she did and to say the least, he felt like for the first time in his life, that his life meant something and he had purpose.
Getting up from bed slowly and walking into the main hallway, he ventured into one of the extra rooms in the house, opening the door and seeing his beloved Paige, a tiny baby in her arms wrapped in a pink blanket. If there was one thing that Severus never expected, it was being a father, and he definitely never expected his child to be a girl. It's not that he didn't think about having a daughter, he had always pictured a boy in his mind, but nevertheless, he was happy to have a child, even if it was a girl.
Trying to stay as quiet as possible, Severus walked over to Paige, wrapping one arm around her waist while he leaned in to look at the beautiful girl in her arms. Celest, they had named her, since Severus wanted to give her the universe and the thought of celestial beings came to his mind. He just thought it was the perfect name for her and Paige thought so too.
Severus leaned downward, pressing his lips to Celest's forehead and kissing it gently. "She's beautiful, like her mother." He gleamed with joy as he smiled at Paige. Then he raised his hand and rubbed it gently over the spot he had just kissed her, also feeling her feathery soft brown hair that was barely there at this point since she was still only a few weeks old.
Paige smiled back at him before setting the baby back down into her crib gently. "She's asleep. I've never seen a baby behave so well at so young an age." She almost cooed, looking happier than ever.
After the baby was back down, Paige left the room without making a sound, letting Snape shut the door behind him. The two went downstairs since it was morning and the time that Paige usually made breakfast for the two. Letting Paige cook in the kitchen since she enjoyed it so much, Severus sat at the table staring at Paige contently. While he stared at her, a memory came back to him from their wedding day: a memory that was the very moment he had let go of the past.
Severus stood in the groom's chambers, standing in front of the mirror with a black dress robes on, trying to straighten his tie. Failing successfully at this point, he heard a knock at the door before a young messy haired boy came in, a former student of his by the name of Harry Potter. Working at the Ministry of Magic in the Aurors Department had given Snape a chance to know Harry in a whole different light. On some level, Severus even considered Harry a friend, regardless of their past history.
A slight smirk spread across Severus' lips as he noticed Harry's untamed hair, remembering how the boy could never do much with it. Giving Harry a questioning glance and forgetting about his tie for a moment, he finally decided to ask why Harry was even here. "Are they waiting for me or is there some other reason that you're here right now?"
"I just came to see if you needed help." Harry replied thoughtfully, smiling at his former Potions Professor. "You look nice by the way." Noticing that Snape had failed with his tie, Harry stepped in and was able to tie it perfectly before straightening it. "There. Now you will be ready."
Standing there awkwardly for a moment, Snape turned to face Harry, looking rather nervous. "I'm not sure how to be a husband." He admitted, which was something he never would have dreamed of doing before his life had completely changed. Being that close to death and surviving changed his life and so the things he normally wouldn't do, he did now, or did on some level that was able to be deemed appropriate.
"It's probably just a trial and error type thing," Harry explained to the best of his knowledge since he had no experience in the subject either. "I'm just glad to see you happy. I'm sure she would want you to be happy too."
The words caught Snape off guard since he wasn't sure who Harry meant when he said "she". "Who do you mean?" He asked, having a gut feeling already about who his former student had meant.
"My mother," replied Harry. "She would want you to be happy, no matter what happened between you two."
Severus clenched his teeth together at the mention of Lily Potter since he knew how horrible he had treated her in the past and the terrible falling out they had. "I am happy." Severus admitted, letting a sigh escape him. "It took me a long time to let her go, a lot longer than I ever thought. To be honest, I never thought I would be able to let her go, but then I met Paige and my entire life changed. Sometimes I think your mother may have had a doing in all of this, no matter how ridiculous that sounds. A part of me thinks that she might have sent Paige to me when I needed someone the most."
Every fiber of Severus's being believed that as he watched her cook breakfast. His life was somehow complete with her and she gave him a child, making his life all that it could be, especially with the job he had at the Ministry. He didn't think life could be any more fulfilling until 11 years later when his very own daughter was going off to Hogwarts. Never in his mind had he ever imagined little Celest Snape going off to Hogwarts to learn the very same things he had once learned.
********************
"Daddy! Come on!" Celest shouted as she held her father's hand, dragging him over to where the train was now boarding. Paige followed closely behind, several witches and wizards staring at the sight of Severus Snape being with a muggle, and most of all having a family of his own.
As he tried to keep up with his daughter, Snape allowed himself to be pulled along, being rather amused by his own daughter's excitement about going to Hogwarts. He remembered when he had wanted to go, already knowing magic before he got there, but wanting nothing more than to fit in. However, Snape had fallen into the wrong crowd when he was at Hogwarts so a part of him feared that his daughter would go through the same thing, but with Voldemort and all the other threats out of the way, Severus figured she would be okay.
Once they reached the train, Celest stopped and Severus kneeled down before her, brushing a bit of her long brown hair out of her face, hair similar to that of her mother's. The more his daughter had aged, the more he realized she looked more like her mother, but her personality she got from her father. Celest's eagerness to learn and do new things bothered Severus at times, causing him to worry that she would fall into the wrong crowd or do the wrong things, but he raised her the best way he knew how and realized that everyone has to make mistakes in order to live through life. Severus sure knew he had made enough mistakes of his own, but those mistakes had made his life better on some level.
"Just try to get along with everyone okay?" Severus questioned slightly, giving her some advice that he never received and probably would have benefited from.
Celest looked at him with her big brown eyes. "What if the other kids don't like me?" She asked with worry in her voice, afraid that she wouldn't fit in and make any friends.
Snape smiled at her sadly, wanting his daughter to fit in more than anything but also because a part of his heart was wanting to just pull her way from this train and take her back home, not wanting to let her go since she was the only child he ever had. "Don't worry about it honey. I'm sure they're going to love you." Then he leaned in and kissed her forehead. "Remember to write us at least once a week or your mother and I will go insane." A slight smile crept across his lips when he said that.
A smile crept across Celest's lips too, just like her father's. "Alright. I'll try if I'm not too busy." Then she smirked and held up her hand, showing that her middle finger and pointer finger were crossed. "Here's hoping I get into Gryffindor!" She shouted with excitement.
Severus chuckled. "I'll be happy with whatever house you get into." Snape truly meant those words since he knew that a lot of Slytherins didn't turn out right, including him at some point, and all of the other houses seemed like better options, including Gryffindor since most of the members of Gryffindor were brave and had turned out decent.
Hugging his daughter one last time tightly, he then let her go, trying to hold back the tears as he let his daughter hug her mother. Before he knew it, he was watching her board the train, searching all the windows with his eyes to see which compartment she had sat down in. Finally finding the one, he saw her waving out the window so he waved back, a huge smile on his face since his daughter was so happy.
As he watched the train disappear into the distance, he wrapped his arm around Paige and smiled at her, realizing that his life was complete and he was perfectly content with what he had been given, or in this case, what he had found, depending on whether or not Lily had actually sent Paige to him somehow. The thought had always crossed his mind so he was grateful for that, because on some level, it allowed him to leave Lily in his past.
While he walked back to the apparation spot with Paige, a huge smile spread across Snape's face, causing it to light up like never before. His life was full of happiness and people that made it so. No matter how Snape looked at his happiness, or tried to explain it to himself, he just figured that everything happens for a reason. Paige saved his life so obviously he was meant to live, live to save her and be with her and have a child. Nothing more could make Snape happier than he was now, knowing that his life was complete and that in all aspects, he had truly lived on.