Foolish girl! was the thought running through Snape's mind nonstop. He pushed on through the snow, hoping to catch a glimpse of red hair or a pink dress, but the wind was picking up strength as the minutes ticked by. The child would surely die of frostbite in that thin party dress if no one found her in time. But he was going to find her. She couldn't have gotten very far.

Lily Luna was so much like her father, running off into danger like that. He could still remember every single time he'd saved Harry's neck, all in the name of Lily Evans. Harry, being James's son, had never failed to put himself in danger, chasing after the sorcerer's stone blindly, sneaking into Hogsmeade when an escaped convict was supposed to be on the loose, and not notifying him before leaving the school to save said convict two years later.

Then the snowstorm began to ease up, and Snape felt hopeful that he'd achieve his mission of finding Lily, but when the storm was completely over, he could see bright skies, he could see snow-covered trees, but he couldn't see Lily.

He walked up a bit further and saw small footsteps leading to a gate. The sign above the gate read "Godric's Hollow." His breath caught in his throat, but then he pulled himself together and walked forward. He ignored the statue and the destroyed house as he passed them by. Now was not the moment to dwell on those things. Instead, he followed the footsteps, the Christmas carols from the church growing ever louder as he got closer to the graveyard.

He looked ahead and saw a redheaded girl in a pink dress, sitting casually on a patch of ground that she had somehow dug snow out of. She had tearstains on her face and was staring at three gravestones in front of her as though she did this often, tracing the writing on one of them with her finger. She looked at the one all the way to the right of the row, which read:

Remus Lupin Nymphadora Lupin

Born 10 March 1960 Born 23 April 1973

Died 2 May 1998 Died 2 May 1998

Love is a battle, love is a war.

Young Lily looked so lost in her thoughts that Snape highly doubted she had noticed him coming at all. So, it came as a surprise to him when she suddenly pointed at the graves of Lupin and Tonks and said, "Professor Snape, I know you hated Teddy's dad, but it isn't Teddy's fault. He doesn't look as much like his dad as my dad looked like his, so he used to wonder why you hated him so much if he wasn't exactly the spitting image." She sighed to herself. "I remember how James used to joke around about that. He'd always suggest that since Teddy's situation is so much like my dad's situation with you hating both of their dads, that maybe it's like with my dad and you were in love with Teddy's mum, too." She cracked a mischievous grin and turned her head around to see a look coming from Snape that had the potential to kill, to which she hastily added, "But she was your student, so it would have never happened."

"Potter, get up and get going before an entire search party is sent out to look for us. Do you know how foolish you were to run out into the middle of a snowstorm, of all things? Why, I never pegged you to be quite as foolish as your brothers, but I'm afraid I was wrong. This stunt tops it all."

"I know, I wasn't thinking -"

Snape looked at her with distaste. "No, you never think before running off into danger, just like your bloody father at your age." He noticed how much she was shivering in her sleeveless dress and performed a warming charm on her. Eager to leave because he knew just how close he was to the very grave he regretted being the cause for, he snapped, "Come. Let's get going."

"A warming charm?" Lily said jokingly, in the same way her paternal grandmother used to speak to Slughorn. "You're more chivalrous than we all thought." She didn't look up to meet Snape's stern expression. Instead, she turned her attention to the middle headstone.

Sirius Black

Born 28 August 1960

Died 18 June 1996

It takes a hero to be one of those men who goes into battle.

Lily smiled as she looked at Sirius's name, but then frowned at the quote underneath. "My dad says if he just had thought to confide in you, Sirius wouldn't have died." She turned to face Snape. "I heard you and Sirius fought a lot, right when the Order got started up again. Why'd you have to fight so much? Don't you know how hard a life he had? He spent twelve years in jail for something he didn't even do, and then he was on the run, and then he wasn't allowed to leave his house -"

"You have no idea what you're talking about. I suppose you've only been told of how supposedly heroic Black was to risk his life. He was nothing more than an arrogant, good-for-nothing, schoolyard bully as a child, and no better as a grown man -"

He noticed the last stone, the one that Lily had been looking at when he'd come in, the one she'd been tracing with her finger earlier, the only grave in the world that Snape was able to look at with both hatred and longing.

James Potter Lily Potter

Born 27 March 1960 Born 30 January 1960

Died 31 October 1981 Died 31 October 1981

The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death.

He tried to clear his mind of the pain and sorrow he felt about Lily and allowed his hatred towards James to remain. He wasn't about to break down in front of his enemy's child.

Then it truly registered in his mind as he saw the little girl staring at the graves. She was James Potter's granddaughter. He thought of how the man would have let her get away with everything had he been alive, how he would have supported her rash decisions. And she was also Lily's granddaughter, a product of the life Lily had sacrificed herself for. Having known the woman when she was alive, he didn't doubt that she would have done the same for her granddaughter that she had done for Harry.

"I know you're jealous of him," Lily said quietly, "but don't take it out on the rest of us. Grandpa's dead now. You don't need to take it out on my dad or my brothers or me."

Frustrated at Harry Potter's daughter lecturing him like a know-it-all, he said, "Do not pretend to understand -"

"Why did you call her that?" Lily cut him off. "Why did you call Grandma that word? What makes someone do that?" Her tone wasn't even accusatory. "I'm not even muggleborn and it still hurts. I should be used to being called that by now, but I'm not. But I shouldn't care anymore. I'm proud of being a mudblood."

"Potter, refrain from using that word to describe yourself," Snape said coldly. He didn't exactly feel like having a heart-to-heart with her, but he wasn't about to let someone say that word in front of him as though it were something to be proud of. "I suggest that you wrack your brains and figure out the common sense answer to that question," he said quietly but in a tone that left no room for argument, "and do not bring that up to me ever again."

"Sorry," Lily said, sounding genuine. "I'm kind of out of it tonight. I already knew that you don't believe in…you know, what you used to believe in 'cause you're not prejudiced towards anyone anymore," a smirk came across her lips, "well, as long as they don't share my last name." She studied the graves one last time before getting up and walking out of the graveyard with Snape.

Snape and Lily both saw Harry approach them, giving a brief sad glance to the graveyard while he did so.

As Lily made to hug Harry, he said, "Lily, I'm so glad you're alright, you must be so cold -

"Actually, Professor Snape performed a warming charm on me -"

Harry smiled and said, "He did? Well, thank you." Then he said seriously, "Severus, thank you so much for finding her."

"But aren't you mad at me?" Lily asked.

Harry sighed. "It's not your fault. It's Hazel's."

"But I still thought that you'd think what I did was pretty stupid -"

"Miss Potter, I highly doubt your father would notice stupidity if it looked him in the eye, what with all the things he did at age twelve," interrupted Snape, "what with him dragging that idiot, Lockhart, of all people, down to the chamber of secrets without informing anyone else of the place's existence -"

"You mean that loony guy at St. Mungo's who insisted on giving me his autograph? Poor guy, Uncle Ron never really got around to telling me how he lost his memory," Lily added in.

Harry said, "Oh…that. Well…that's an interesting story. We'll tell you about it tomorrow." To Snape, he said, "I'm going to apparate with Lily back to the house, and I think you probably should, too. We've kept Hazel and Scorpius there because we feel you might want to have a word with them." With that, Harry side-along apparated away with Lily, and Snape also apparated back to the house.

There was a commotion to be seen as soon as he arrived. All around the living room were sighs of relief, several people rushing to Lily and Harry, and people thanking Snape.

Scorpius approached Lily and asked, "Are you okay?" anxiously. Everyone in the room stared. "Just to let you know, I would never call anyone that."

Lily looked at him in wonder and smiled. "Thank you," she said as though she couldn't believe it.

Snape didn't find it strange that Draco's son would not be prejudiced, owing to the fact that Draco himself had matured over the years.

Now it was time to deal with Hazel. "Miss Vaisey. I do not tolerate behavior like what you have just demonstrated. If you use language like that again, I will see to it that you are expelled. Floo to the headmaster's office. Now. You will explain for yourself what has just occurred, and if when he confirms with me, I find out that you misled him to believe you did nothing wrong, it will not be good for you at all."

Hazel looked hesitant and Snape added, "Detention until February. My office at six o'clock starting with when we get back from break."

She left, everyone looking at her with anger, including James.

Looking at Scorpius and Albus, he declared, "Twenty points from each of your houses for your foolish behavior."

"So," James piped up, "I'm not in trouble?"

"Don't push your luck, Potter," Snape said as he, James, Albus, Lily, and Scorpius headed to floo out.