Epilogue

15 years later

"Remind me again," Severus said drily, "why we're at Kings Cross when we live in walking distance of Hogwarts."

Severus and Rose stood outside the lavatories beside a trolley, stacked with two trunks that were both labeled 'E. Snape.' A cage sat atop the trunks and a barn owl hooted lazily within.

They had apparated from their home in Hogsmeade to come to London in their muggle attire. They crossed the barrier between platforms nine and ten where the Hogwarts Express waited eagerly steaming.

Rose smirked at her husband. "Ephraim said that it was critical to ride the train to school once," she replied.

"Ah," Severus said, massaging his temple. He looked around him at all the loud children, wondering what awaited him this year. "Then I will apparate back home with you, only to walk up to the school which will take me less than ten minutes."

Severus could grumble and complain all he wanted, but Rose knew that he would do anything to appease his family. "You could always ride the train," Rose suggested.

"That wouldn't be cool." Esme emerged from the loo having changed into her Slytherin robes. She sent her father a playful grin. As Severus had feared, Esme had grown up into a young woman as pretty and charismatic as her mother. Although, as similar to Rose as she was, Esme always had a special love for her father. She strived to make him proud by pushing herself academically. Today, she smugly flaunted her 'Head Girl' badge pinned on her chest. With or without her efforts she could do no wrong in Severus's eyes. None of his children could.

Esme flipped her silken black hair over her shoulder. Severus caught sight of a couple male students staring in his daughter's direction. He glared at them and they quickly looked away.

"Is Papa complaining again about being here?" Esme played.

"Yes," Severus told his daughter.

"Ephraim said we had to do it once," Esme said. "This is my last year at Hogwarts and Eileen's first. It's the perfect time."

"Where is your sister?" Rose asked looking over Esme's shoulder.

"She's really nervous," Esme whispered to her parents. "She's stalling getting her robes on."

Severus and Rose exchange a meaningful glance.

"There she is," Rose said as Eileen appeared in the doorway, wearing her robes and cradling a black cat close to her heart, one of Morgana's offspring.

Eileen produced a tiny nervous smile. She was thin for her age and greatly resembled Severus, although, she had the type of childish beauty that came from being deeply cared for and cherished by her parents.

"I'm sorry," she mumbled.

Severus shook his head gently at her. "We're in no rush," he told his daughter.

"Okay," Eileen said in a small voice. She looked around her, hugging the cat closer. "Ephraim said he would come."

"Yes," Severus said with mock coarseness. "Since it was his idea that you should ride the train, he should better well get here to see you off."

"He'll be here," Rose assured Eileen.

Eileen nodded unsurely and apprehensively played with her hair. Over the course of an hour, Eileen had put her hair up into a ponytail, had Rose braid it twice, and then let it down again. Esme always wore her hair down and she always seemed to achieve effortless beauty like their mother.

"Esme," a girl in Hufflepuff robes called out from several yards away.

Esme turned towards her friend and waved. "Be right back," Esme said over her shoulder as she hurried towards the other girl.

Eileen watched her sister walk away and then looked from her mother to her father.

"What do you want to say, sweetheart?" Rose asked her youngest daughter, kneeling slightly so that they were more at eye level.

"It's just…" She glanced over at her sister again.

"Eileen?" Severus said softly.

"What if I'm not in Slytherin?" she asked, dropping her eyes.

Severus knelt too. "Is that what you've been worried about?"

Eileen nodded.

"Eileen," Rose said, "we don't care about that."

Eileen's brows knit together. "But Esme is in Slytherin and Ephraim was, and dad is head of Slytherin."

Severus gave his daughter a little half smile. "Eileen you are smart, kind, brave, and you can be cunning if you want to be," Severus told her. "You would do well in any house."

"I don't feel like any of those things," Eileen told her parents. "Esme is all those things. I'm not like Esme.

"No one feel like any of those things when their 11," Rose chimed in. "And you're not like Esme; you're Eileen and you are a very special girl."

"You have to say that," she said down at her shoes.

"We don't," Severus told her ironically.

"But will you be disappointed if I'm not in your house?"

"Of course not," Severus told his daughter firmly.

Eileen nodded once.

"I promise," Severus said, stroking through her hair once.

"Okay," Eileen said, starting to relax.

Severus straightened himself. "Now, let's not linger around the toilets any longer, shall we."

Rose winked at her daughter and then pulled her into a quick hug before standing up herself.

The family walked deeper into the crowd. Severus pushed the cart with the girls' trunks. Eileen stayed close to her mother, eyeing the other students somewhat suspiciously.

"I see someone who will cheer you up," Rose said down to her daughter.

Eileen looked up at her mother. "Ephraim?"

"No, look," Rose said, pointing into the crowd.

Eileen's eyes found who her mother was indicating and her thin face split into a smile. "Frank," she called out. It made her feel proud to have someone's name to shout into the sea of strangers.

Frank Longbottom turned at the sound of his name. Hannah and Neville turned too. Little Alice was too distracted by her surroundings to be bothered by someone yelling out her brother's name. Frank grinned as Eileen and her parents approached.

Frank looked just like his father with a kind, round face. Frank had been a frequent visitor to the Snape house ever since infancy.

Hannah and Rose had enjoyed being pregnant together and were delighted to see that their children got on so well.

"Hi," Frank said to Eileen when they were face to face.

"Hi," Eileen said back, grinning.

"Hi Rose," Frank greeted sweetly. "Professor Snape," he turned his attention to Severus.

"Hello Frank," Severus said in a polite, straight tone. Severus could not look at young Frank Longbottom without thinking of his mistreatment towards Neville as a child. Frank's constant presence around their house always felt a bit awkward. Despite this, Severus took extra care to be kind to the boy as to not make his boggart reflective of his father's while in school.

Eileen quickly said hello to the Longbottoms before the two children walked off together without another word.

"Merlin, I hope they're in the same house," Hannah muttered.

"Perhaps it would be best for them to have a little distance from each other," Severus returned flatly. He watched his little daughter shoulder to shoulder with the boy. It was all innocent now, but eventually it wouldn't be. Severus knew that Rose and Hannah were already thinking about the two children getting married off. It was bad enough watching Esme's string of boyfriends and she was of age now. At least being the daughter of the potions master meant that no boy would dare mistreat Esme, not that she couldn't handle herself. Eileen was a bit more delicate.

Rose took Severus's hand and brought it to her lips. "She'll be fine," she assured him.

"Of course, she will," Severus said defiantly. He would personally make sure of it.

Unlike Ephraim, the girls would live in the dormitories. Esme thrived amongst her peers and wouldn't think of living at home with her parents. Severus did assure both of his daughters that if they hated it they could come right back home at any time.

"I wasn't expecting to see you all here," Rose said to Hannah and Neville.

"We hadn't planned on it," Neville told Rose. "I was just going to take Frank up to the school with me tonight." Neville shook his head. "But when Frank heard that Eileen would be riding the train, walking to Hogwarts with me was not an option."

Rose and Hannah grinned at each other.

"Slow down," Severus hissed at Rose. "It's bad enough that in 6 years all our children will be of age."

Rose leaned into her husband and Severus wrapped his arm around her possessively.

"Have you considered, Professor Snape," Rose played in a tone that only Severus could hear, "that for the first time since we've been married, we will be in a house without children?"

Severus smirked. He had been so focused on the girls going to Hogwarts, he hadn't thought about that aspect of it all. "Just us two," Severus hissed in Rose's ear. "Whatever will we do with ourselves."

Rose laughed and glanced up at Severus. He would never cease to be stunned by all the love he found in her eyes, more so, that that love was directed at him. It took Severus several years, but he finally began to believe that he might deserve it.

"Where are the girls?"

Rose and Severus pulled apart to turn towards their son. Ephraim was grinning at his parents. He had been such a small child that grew into such a large man. He was just as tall as Severus but much broader. He had always been internally strong, but that strength had to manifest to the outside too in order for him to become a curse breaker for Gringotts. In his worn leather jacket and wayward sandy hair, Ephraim had grown into the wizard Indiana Jones, Rose had once said; no one got the reference, but she assured Ephraim that it was a complement.

Rose hugged her son. It would never stop feeling odd to be small in his arms. She would forever imagine him as the little eleven-year-old she first met.

"The girls are around," Rose told Ephraim as he moved to hug Hannah and shake hands with Neville.

"Hi Dad," Ephraim said gently.

Severus smiled lightly at his son and patted him once on the back.

"I'll come around next week," Ephraim told his father.

Severus nodded once. Despite physical differences, the two men shared so many similarities. Rose doubled that either of them would ever find a better friend than in each other. Severus had such an influence on Ephraim and Ephraim naturally was a perfect match for Severus's wit and stubbornness.

"Ephraim!" Esme called. She abandoned her group and weaved through the crowd to throw herself in her brother's arms and planting a loud kiss on his cheek.

Hearing her brother's name, Eileen hurried forth too, closely trailed by Frank. Ephraim hugged Eileen too lifting her feet off the ground.

"You're late," Eileen told him as he put her down.

"I know," Ephraim said animatedly, "and I'm very sorry. Please forgive me, Ms. Snape."

Eileen rolled her eyes. "You're forgiven." She laughed.

"Where's Gabi?" Esme asked, Looking around her brother for her sister-in-law.

"Gabi is resting," Ephraim said. "She sends her love and said that she was sorry she couldn't make it; apparition has been making her feel ill now that she's getting closer to her due date."

"I can't believe you left your wife alone when she could go into labor any minute," Esme scolded her brother. Esme had always gotten on well with her sister-in-law and made it her business to ensure that her brother was being an adequate husband.

"Don't get your knickers in knot," Ephraim told Esme with an eyeroll. "Her sister is with her."

"When the baby comes, Ephraim, will you send us an owl right away?" Eileen asked anxiously.

Ephraim grinned down at his littlest sister. "Of course, I will," he promised.

"That baby is going to be a cherub," Esme said.

"It's because I'm so beautiful," Ephraim rationalized with a nod.

"Yeah or maybe because Gabi is part Veela," Esme returned sarcastically.

"That too," Ephraim said.

"Ready to be a grandmother?" Neville teased Rose.

Rose narrowed her eyes at him. Neville sent her a toothy grin back before turning to talk to Frank.

"Everyone ready for Hogwarts?" Rose asked the girls.

Esme nodded and Eileen shrugged.

"You will do brilliantly," Severus assured Eileen. He knelt to hug her.

"And me, Papa?" Esme tease.

"But of course," Severus played along, hugging her too, "Look out for your sister," he whispered to Esme before releasing her.

Esme gave Severus a tiny nod of assurance.

The girls hugged and kissed their mother, brother and friends before heading off towards the train with Frank.

"We love you," Rose called after them.

"See you tonight," Esme said to Severus as she ran off with a group of her girlfriends.

Severus watched intently as his daughters boarded the train.

"Hey Severus," Rose whispered.

He turned towards Rose. "What is it?"

"Look." Rose indicated to a spot several yards away from them. Harry Potter was knelt before his younger son, who looked just as timid as Eileen. "I guess I forgot he would be in Eileen's year."

"I forgot too," Severus lied. Eleven years ago, Severus had received an owl from the Potter's asking permission to let their newborn son share his name. Rose responded for Severus after Severus had scowled into the distance, exclaimed that Potter could do what he wanted, and then left the room. Rose wrote back that it was such an honor.

Harry glanced in their direction. He and Severus made direct eye contact; too late to pretend they hadn't noticed each other. Harry stood and led his son over to where Severus and Rose stood.

Severus let out a deep sigh.

"Be nice," Rose reminded.

"Aren't I always," Severus shot back.

"Sure," Rose mumbled back before Harry and his son were in earshot.

"Hello Professor," Harry Potter said when they were face to face.

"Morning," Severus replied.

Harry gave Severus a tight-lipped smile. "You're seeing your girls off, Sir?"

"No, I just came here for my own amusement," Severus said drily.

"Yes," Rose chimed in with forced brightness. "Our daughter, Esme is a seventh year and our youngest, Eileen is in her first year."

"Al, too," Harry replied, resting his hand on his son's shoulder. Harry's son, who was staring intently at the ground, peered up slightly at the mention of his name. He had emerald eyes just like his father and like Lily. "Al," Harry said, "This is Professor Snape, your potion's master and the head of Slytherin house." Harry put emphasis of the word 'Slytherin.' "Professor, this is my son, Albus."

Severus looked at the boy, not quite knowing how to react. This whole situation had always bordered on being too much for him.

Rose smiled kindly down at Albus. "It's a pleasure to meet you." She held out her hand for the boy to take. "I'm Mrs. Snape." Rose glanced up at Severus.

"I trust that you will be more attentive in potions class than your elder brother has proven to be," Severus said.

Rose rolled her eyes and then smirked at Harry, who pressed his lips together in amusement.

"Yes, Sir," Albus replied mildly.

Severus's face softened slightly. "Good," he told the boy.

"Good to see you, Professor," Harry said.

Severus gave Harry a slow nod.

The train let out a whistle and the conductor began to call for everyone to board.

"Al," Frank called out of a compartment window. "Come sit with us."

Albus Potter grinned. He threw his arms around his father, kissed his mother goodbye, and rushed onto the train, nearly colliding with another first year with white blond hair.

Rose glanced off to the side to see Draco Malfoy watching his young son board the Hogwarts express. Rose gripped Severus's hand tightly and rested her head on his shoulder, forcing her attention on the train.

The train slowly began to roll forward. Severus and Rose could see Eileen seated between Frank and Rose Weasley. From the window, they saw Albus Potter and the Malfoy boy, Scorpius join their compartment.

Severus watch his little daughter laughing. She turned to the window and waved. Severus raised his hand in farewell. Soon the train was only a trinket in the distance. Severus felt a sense of loss until he reminded himself that he would see his daughters at the school for the sorting feast.

"They'll be all right," Rose told Severus as they watched the train move out of sight.

"They will be," he agreed.

Severus smiled at his wife. What an amazing gift she had given him. Despite the past, Severus Snape had found a life full of happiness and love.

All was well.