Disclaimer: I do not own any part of HP…to bad though…would be nice wouldn't it?

Thank you to all of you who read and reviewed, I'm still in shock with the response I have gotten for this story. Also a box of Berty Every Flavored Beans for my awesome BETA Sindie. Now on with the show…

Chapter Thirty-Four

Consequences

Severus was miserable. He felt so ashamed of his actions; how could he have participated in such juvenile act of delinquency? And towards his sweet, wonderful Lily? They had originally planned to use it on some of the professors, mainly Dumbledore and possibly McGonagall, so why did he even suggest testing it on Lily and Narcissa? He had plenty of time to reflect on what he had done, for he had been grounded to his room for several days, but he did not argue, for he knew he deserved it. He just couldn't wrap his mind around what had caused him to act so…well…childish. He was a grown man for Merlin's sake, and he hated pranks; he loathed them. Perhaps he was spending too much time with Potter. Perhaps he needed to distance himself from social activities and concentrate on his school work and his other projects.

His parents had told him about Julia, his poor baby sister. He would have to begin research right away to see if he could help her. He had never heard of a witch or wizard having the Cerebral Palsy; then again, she was half Muggle, just as he was.

XXX

Narcissa had kept her word and went straight to her Aunt Walburga; Sirius and Regulus ended up with a long lecture on propriety and shaming the family name. They were also disciplined by their father, and both boys had difficulty sitting properly for several days after that. They had gone to their youngest cousin and apologized, though it didn't do much; she had refused to speak to them, and in fact, she sent several hexes at them for good measure.

Narcissa's emotions were already in an upheaval; she didn't need the added stress of her stupid, insensitive cousins to make her feel worse. Then again, were they really her cousins at all? No, they weren't, at least not by blood. The thought made her begin to cry; she had been doing that a lot as of recent. She really didn't know who she was anymore.

XXX

James didn't get in trouble for the prank, not really anyway. Mrs. Snape had flooed his mother and told her what the boys had done. His mother's response was simply to tell him not to be so insensitive and to think about how his actions affected other people. James nodded and said he would, but he really didn't mean it. It wasn't his fault some people didn't have a sense of humor.

XXX

Remus hadn't expected the girls to react the way they did. He thought they would simply laugh it off. Both Lily and Narcissa seemed like easy enough going people, but perhaps he was wrong. He did feel bad that he had upset them; it had never been his intention. He had written them both letters of apology and made a mental note never to prank oversensitive girls again.

XXX

Lily was sitting on the couch watching the telly with her sister when there was a knock at the door. Rose, who was just coming down the stairs, went to answer it.

"Hello, Mrs. Evans," Severus said softly. "Is Lily home?"

Rose sighed, but answered, "Yes, she's watching a movie with Petunia."

Severus simply nodded and made his way into the front room.

"Lily."

The young redhead turned at his voice, her eyes narrowed, her lips pressed together in a tight frown, and as angry as she still obviously was, Severus could see the underlying hurt that still lingered in her emerald eyes.

"What do you want?"

"I was hoping we could talk." His eyes traveled to Petunia, who was also glaring at him. "Alone, please."

"Fine." Rising from the couch, Lily headed up the stairs to her room, and Severus followed. "This had better be good, Severus." Crossing her arms over her chest, she sat down on the edge of her bed.

The ex-Slytherin's dark eyes drifted to his feet. "I made a mistake," he spoke softly. "It was juvenile and cruel, and I honestly do not know what got into me." Slowly, he lifted his gaze to hers. "I would never do anything to purposely hurt you, Lily. I love you."

"Oh, Sev," The young witch's eyes suddenly began to tear as her emotions over took her. "I love you, too." She opened up her arms, and Severus wasted no time in sitting beside her on the bed and then slipped into her embrace.

Lily had been angry, there was no doubt about that, but more than that, she simply couldn't understand why her Severus would do something so mean. She was far from being an old prude who couldn't take a good ribbing, but to humiliate her and Narcissa like that, and in front of his friends and her family, she just didn't understand what had driven him to do it.

"Forgive me, Lily, please forgive me," he pleaded, nuzzling his nose into her neck.

Lily took a long, deep breath as she ran her small hand though his hair and down his back.

"I forgive you, Sev."

The former Slytherin took a sigh of relief before brushing his lips against her neck. "Thank you."

"You're welcome, but honestly, Sev, what were you thinking?"

"I wasn't," he said honestly. "But never again, I promise." He smiled sweetly at her, and moving a stray piece of her hair from her eyes, he leaned in and slowly kissed her.

XXX

Severus had spent much of his remaining summer holiday in his room, researching and making notes on several of his current projects. He, of course, made time for Lily and his family, but he had ignored his letters and floo calls from his friends. His friendship with the former Marauders was something he felt he needed to reevaluate.

He had gone to the public library and checked-out several Muggle books on Cerebral Palsy, including known treatments for the disorder; he also picked up a few on the spinal cord injuries and a general book on anatomy. As a certified Potions master, Severus had a general knowledge base of how the human body worked, as well as how it reacted to certain ingredients and potions, though he had never gained an in-depth knowledge of the human anatomy. He realized, however, that if he was truly going to help Julia and Petunia, he would have to have a much deeper knowledge base of exactly how the human body worked.

It was mid-afternoon, and the Snapes had gotten the girls ready and had planned a picnic lunch at the park. It was a great day for it; the weather was warm, but there was a strong enough breeze for kite flying.

"Tobias," Eileen said as she placed Claudia in the pram next to her sisters, "why don't you go upstairs and ask Severus if he wants to join us?"

"He said this morning he didn't." He grumbled, shoving his hands in his pockets; he was quite disappointed that his son had suddenly reverted back to locking himself in his room all hours of the day.

"I know, but it's been a few hours since then; why don't you see if he's changed his mind?"

Tobias shrugged and headed up the stairs, seriously doubting it would do any good. Ever since that prank backfired on him, he'd turned back into the hermit he was before he started school. Reaching his son's room at the end of the hall, he knocked.

A moment later the door squeaked open. "Hey there." Tobias gave his son a small smile. "We're about to head off to the park; just thought you might have changed your mind and want to join us."

Severus shook his head. "No thanks, I'm reading."

The Muggle sighed, running his thumb and forefinger across the bridge his long nose. "Son, you've been locked up in your room for weeks; you need to get out."

"I have not been locked in here. I saw Lily just this morning, and I went to the library the other day."

"What about your friends, or…or even flying your broomstick?"

"I can't fly around here, Dad. The Muggles would see."

"No, but you could at the Blacks' house or at James's place. You have before."

"I'm not in the mood to fly, or…see Black and Potter. I'm trying to research ways to help Julia and Petunia. You know that."

"Yes, and that is very honorable of you, but that doesn't mean you need to ignore everyone."

Severus sighed, running his hand though his oily hair; he really needed to wash it. "I appreciate your concern, but I have more pressing matters to attend to. Now, if you'll excuse me…"

Severus moved to close the door, but it was quickly blocked by Tobias's foot. "No. You are coming with us."

"I don't-"

"I don't care. You are heading back to school in just a couple weeks, and you will spend that remaining time with you family. Now, I want you to change and wash up, and if you are not downstairs in five minutes, I am coming up here to get you. And believe me, Severus, if I have to hogtie you to get you out of that pit you call a bedroom, I will." And with that, Tobias turned on his heels and headed back down stairs.

"He's not coming," Eileen sighed, seeing her husband descend their stairs alone.

"Oh, he's coming." Tobias smirked. "He's just changing."

"Really? Oh, that's great. I knew you could convince him." She then gave him a very pleasant thank you kiss.

A few minutes later Severus descended the stairs wearing jeans and a T-shirt, a Manchester united hat, and let's not forget the rather menacing scowl that was once known to cause first years to wet themselves.

"Wipe that look off you face," Tobias demanded. "I don't know what your issue is lately, but pull the stick out of your ass and at least attempt to enjoy the time with your family."

Severus's scowl faded to a slight frown as he followed his family out the front door.

A short time later Severus was silently helping his mother set up lunch; he was there, but he had no desire to be and had no plans on even attempting to prove otherwise. Lina had fallen asleep and was snoring softly in her pram; she was the best napper of the three girls. Tobias was happily pushing his other two daughters on the baby swings.

"So, do you want to explain your sudden dramatic mood change, or should I simply chop it up to normal teenage adolescence behavior?"

Severus turned his eyes to his mother, who had taken the last of the food out of the picnic basket and closed the lid. He couldn't hold back a small smirk; he supposed he did seem a bit like a typical moody teenager. If that was only it… "I'm just…confused, I suppose," he spoke honestly.

Eileen scooted closer to her son and gave him a kind smile. "Confused about what?"

"I honestly do not know what got into me. I cannot rationally explain why I pranked Lily, why I planned it, and brewed the potion and…and until I saw Lily's mortified face when she realized what was going on, I actually thought it was funny. I laughed. I bloody laughed." Severus placed his face in his hands, ashamed of the mere memory of it. "I normally hate pranks; I deplore them…so why…why did I find myself to eager to participate?"

"Well," she said, placing a comforting arm around his shoulder, "my guess is that you simply wanted to fit in with your friends. I know you said James and your other roommates pull pranks all the time; I'm guessing you simply wanted to be a part of that."

He knew what his mother said made sense, but still, it just doesn't sound like something he would do. Why would he desire to be like Potter? He hated Potter; well, he hated the memories of him, most of which involved him or one of the other Marauders humiliating him in one form or another. They had called it all a joke, just a bit of a laugh, but it was far from funny, at least to him. The mental image of himself hanging upside down in the school courtyard, half the student body seeing his holey, graying underwear, suddenly came to mind.

"Not all pranks are bad," she said. "You know, I once put a Sticking Charm on Professor Slughorn's chair before the start of class."

Severus's eyes widened in disbelief. "No, you didn't." He thought she was perhaps making it up to help calm his guilty conscience.

She, however, most certainly was not.

"Oh, I did. About halfway through the lesson, he sat down to mark essays while we worked on an in-class essay, and when he stood back up, the chair came with him."

Severus couldn't help but laugh at the mental image, though he knew if that prank had been played on him, he would have seen the one responsible scrubbing dirty cauldrons for a week.

"What happened?"

"Nothing much," she said with a shrug. "The class got a laugh, as did Slughorn."

"He laughed at being fooled in such a way?"

"Oh, yes, the old goat's got quite a sense of humor."

Thinking on it, Severus had to admit she was right about that; his Potions master always enjoyed a good laugh, even if it was about himself.

"He just laughed, and with a wave of his wand, the chair slid off his backside and onto the floor." She gave a laugh of her own at the memory. "I remember his exact words: 'Well played, well played; now, back to work, everyone.'"

Severus was grinning at his mother's tale. How could he not? It was quite humorous, but still…he had done far worse than a Sticking Charm, for Lily and Narcissa had had to wait 24 hours for the potion to wear off.

Eileen patted her son's hand before rising from the picnic table where they were sitting. "You're a smart boy, Severus, but you're not perfect; we all make mistakes, and we learn from them."

"Yes, I suppose that's true."

"It is, and like I said, a joke now and then is just fine; just don't go overboard next time."

Severus nodded as he, too, rose from the table. It was just a moment later when Tobias came back with the girls; they then all sat down and had a lovely picnic lunch. When they had finished eating, Tobias pulled out a football and asked Severus for a game. He agreed. His dad had been right earlier when he had said that he should be spending his remaining time before heading back to school with his family. Besides, once at school, he would still have plenty of time for research, not to mention the entire Hogwarts library at his disposal, and that, of course included the Restricted Section…

A/N: Hello all. Hope you enjoyed the chapter. A little guilt and remorse on Sev part. Next up, a little Emily/Peter as well as a bit of Dumbledore.

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