J.K. Rowling hasn't given me the rights to H.P. as yet, so I don't own anything 

Many, many thanks to AngelAuthor14, my awesome beta

The Dinner Party

The next morning Severus woke up with a smile on his face (probably for the first time in his life) and a song on his lips (definitely for the first time in his life).

After his first cup of coffee he went to the fireplace and floo-called Stephanie. When she answered her he asked if she was free for dinner that evening. She smiled and accepted at once and after talking for a few minutes he said goodbye and went into his study. After writing several notes and addressing the envelopes he called Dobby. "Would you please deliver these for me right away and wait for the answers?"

When Dobby left he picked another envelope and headed for Dumbledore's office. Climbing the steps of the circular staircase he could not erase the silly smile from his face. This was a most unusual state of affairs for Severus Snape but he found that he liked it. He knocked on the door and after hearing the invitation to enter he walked in and found himself looking at the Albus he remembered, there was a smile of the old face and the blue eyes were twinkling like stars.

"Come in, come in Severus, you are just in time for coffee. When they were seated with their coffee Snape said "you certainly look as if you feel better this morning."

"Yes," replied the elder wizard. "I know you have been worried about me and I do apologize for putting you through that, but I had very serious things on my mind. Now that they are resolved I can tell you about it."

"Please do so Albus, all of us have been extremely concerned about you," replied the younger man.

"I had a great-niece Severus. I was very close to Amy, but didn't see her frequently because of the danger to her. I arranged for her to move to Australia many years ago because I knew it would be much safer for her. She met and married a wizard over there. He was much older than her, and though he wasn't one of the followers of Voldemort, he was evil. A year ago he murdered her and disapppeared with their twin daughters. I have been trying to find them, indeed I had almost given up. I had exhausted all means, both magical and non-magical, to no avail."

"Last night I received a message from Albania. It seems that he met his end while traveling through that country, illegally, it would seem. The twins were found by an older squib couple who recognized their magic. The girls were so afraid that the ones who killed the father would come after them that they hid with the couple until a few days ago when they heard that they had a relative who was searching for them. They contacted the Albanian Ministry who in turn contacted our Ministry and the girls are on their way here as we speak!" With a satisfied smile the old Headmaster leaned back and took a sip of his tea.

"I'm so glad to hear about this Albus, but why did you not let us help you? You know anyone of us here or in the order would have wanted to help you."

"I know Severus, of course I knew that. But I did not want Count Vladimir to hear about it. He would have tried to use it to do harm to our cause. It was much better for me to handle the whole thing from behind the scenes. Now, would you like to tell me what brought you to see me this early in the morning?"

With a broad smile the younger Headmaster announced, "I asked Stephanie to marry me last night Albus and she agreed! You are the only one we are telling until this evening. We are inviting a few close friends and would be so happy for you to come."

"Of course, I'll be there with bells on. This is certainly a happy day for Hogwarts isn't it Severus," the old wizard replied with much twinkling of the eyes.

Leaving the Headmaster's office Severus returned to his quarters where he found his son at the breakfast table. After obtaining a cup of coffee from Daisy he sat down with Harry.

"Son, I have something else to talk to you about," he began. When Harry looked at him inquisitively he continued, "last night I asked Stephanie to marry me and she accepted my proposal. I intended to talk to you about this before I proposed but it just happened without my even realizing I was doing it until after it was done. I really hope that you are ok with all of this coming so soon after our talk yesterday."

Harry grinned at his Dad. "Of course I'm ok with it Dad! I've always wanted a mum, and I'm getting a really cool sister too. How could I not be ok with it?"

After Severus told Harry about the surprise at the dinner party and asked him to keep it quiet he went to find Daisy and Dobby to make plans for the dinner.

That evening saw an eclectic group of people in an elite muggle restaurant in Paris. The tall dark potion master and his son. The beautiful psychologist and her daughter. An older gentleman with a long white beard (true to his word Albus had a scarf with bells on the fringe), a small man with brown hair and a kind expression, a tall man with black hair and a devil may care attitude, an older lady with a grim expression and spectacles, and a large quiet man who was accompanied by his short, round, red-haired wife.

The group of wizards and witches actually blended in with everyone else in the muggle restaurant, thanks to Stephanie's knowledge of muggle clothing. Albus looked just a little eccentric with his purple velvet jacket with silver stars on it and his scarf with bells, but then Albus usually looked eccentric in a group of magical people too.

After everyone had a wonderful meal the waiters appeared to pour champagne for everyone, even a tiny bit for the children. Severus stood and after gaining the group's attention he smiled and said, "all of you here have shared my life, for good and bad, for the largest part that I can remember. This is one of the two most important events in that life and I want to share it with all of you. Last night Stephanie consented to become my wife."

The table went absolutely chaotic! "What? What did he say?"

"That's not our Scrouge of the Dungeons! What did you do with Severus Snape?"

"Severus, getting married? Oh my stars!"

By this time Stephanie was standing and laughing with her soon to be husband. What? Laughing with who? Snape?

After the laughing and joking and congratulations were over Dumbledore, eyes twinkling again, looked at the two children. "So Jaelle, Harry how do you feel about all of this?"

Jaelle smiled up at him and said, "I like it Sir. Now Harry is my brother and he will have to share his broom with me."

Harry grinned, "I like it too sir, cause now she has to share all of her games with me!"

After the group had returned to the castle the children were sent to bed and the adults gathered in Snape's sitting room.

Albus stood by the mantle and looked at the faces before him. "I really hate to bring up unplesant news on an evening like tonight but I fear that I must. We have heard from our agent and the information is extremely grave."

"For years there have been murmurings that before apprehension Voldemort experimented in the oldest, darkest magic. This magic is so dark that the even the darkest wizards are afraid of it. They say that Voldemort split his soul to make horcurxes. A horcrux is used to bring a soul back into a body. To make a horcrux you must murder another person. Only one wizard has been known to have attempted this spell, and while it succeeded in bringing him back from death, it also destroyed him."

He paused and looked at the group, "Voldemort is said to have made seven of them. Count Vladimir is hoping to find them. But not to bring Voldemort back to power. Vladimir wants to use these abominations to make himself immortal."

"Right now the Count does not know what was used to make them, and he certainly does not know where to look for any of them. Indeed, we cannot be sure that any even exist."

"Unfortunately this is not all. The Count for some reason has convinced himself that his father left a piece of his soul when the killing curse rebounded on him. He is convinced that Harry is a horcrux!"