Valentine's Day had never been her favorite holiday. She much preferred Halloween, when the best professors would hand out Fizzing Whizbees and other delicacies in class. Honeyduke's was always overrun on the trips right before Halloween, everyone racing to pick up the seasonal candy before it sold out. The ghosts would invariably host a party, a good place to end up even if you spent most of the night at your house's party. Valentine's Day was accompanied by the sickening decorations in the Great Hall, the love letters that would fly into classrooms, and a general sickeningly sweet air that she disliked.

Sev never much liked it either, so they would keep their celebrations to a minimum. She'd find flowers in her classroom, and they'd set aside their books and their piles of ungraded essays to spend the evening with each other. But now that he was gone, she sat alone in her office, morosely flipping through essays on boggarts. Pomona had invited her to the Hufflepuffs' party, but there was no way she could bring herself to go. The Hufflepuffs were the only ones who threw a Valentine's Day party, working with the House Elves to make cookies and decorations for everyone. They tried to make everyone feel special and appreciated, even if they didn't have special plans for the holiday. Hazel would've gone, but every time she thought of the paper hearts that covered the Hufflepuff common room, she felt like she was going to be sick.

Without warning, one particularly good line in a fifth-year's essay brought tears to her eyes. It wasn't anything special, but it reminded her of something that had stuck in her head since her own fifth year, before Sev had almost died in the Shrieking Shack.

"It's the most haunted building in Britain." Hazel had dragged Sev to see the Shrieking Shack, since he had never properly explored Hogsmeade. He'd gone to buy things, of course, but without a decent group of friends to show him around, he'd only adventured to where the Slytherins hung out. The two of them stood in the snow, watching the building as if something was going to happen. "It goes quiet for a while, but then it starts up again. No one's figured out a pattern, but it's been here forever."

"Maybe it has something to do with the people who are afraid of it, like how a boggart - maybe it imitates whatever people are afraid of, so we just think it's haunted by something evil," he suggested. "Once you know it's a boggart, once you know it isn't really what scares you, it's fine."

"Well I'm not exploring it," she shrugged.

The crunch of footsteps in snow made them spin around. Remus had found them. "Hey Hazel. Snape," he nodded. Out of the four of them, Lupin was the one Sev hated the least. Remus turned back to Hazel almost immediately, giving her a warm hug. "The guys and I were headed to The Three Broomsticks, if you want to come with."

"Umm, I was showing Sev around. We might pop by later, but I don't think it's the best idea if we all go."

Remus lowered his voice, Sev pretending to study the map of Hogsmeade he'd been holding. "You know what he's like. There's a reason we're not friends with him."

"Yeah, it's name is James Potter. Or Sirius Black, take your pick. I'm trying to be nice," she shot back. "He's always been nice to me."

"Yeah, you're the great-something-niece of Rowena Ravenclaw, of course he's nice to you. And you've only known him for what, a couple of months?" Hazel crossed her arms, Remus dropping the hostility in his voice. "Look, I'm going to drop into Scrivenshaft's and Honeyduke's later, once the guys have gone to check out the new brooms at Spintwitches'. Why don't you meet me over there? You can bring him with."

"Yeah, um, maybe. I'll see you later, okay?"

That wasn't their biggest fight about Snape by far. The little disagreements turned into bigger ones, and though she would never admit it, Snape was what drove a wedge into their relationship. They'd split up one evening in sixth year when, spurred on by the stress of impending winter exams, Remus had remarked that he was Death Eater material and he was only friends with her to get into the Pureblood crowd. Hazel had tearfully closed her book, swept everything into her arms, and told him that it was over. It was a long time coming, what with his friends adamantly hating Snape and Hazel insisting that he was only friends with the Slytherin crowd she didn't trust because he had no one else. She'd tried to introduce him to her friends, and they got along fine, but the Gryffindors didn't trust him, and the Ravenclaws never got that close with him.

Hazel set her quill down, thinking back to the night when she had run up to Astronomy Tower, still crying as she dropped her books in front of Snape, who had been carefully brewing a silver liquid in an equally silvery cauldron. It was one of the few times he'd hugged her before their seventh year. After that, they studied together almost exclusively, unless she had a major exam coming up in a class that the Ravenclaws and Slytherins weren't in together. She looked to the rose hovering over the corner of her desk. She'd found the last one he'd left her in the rubble of her classroom and enchanted it so it wouldn't wilt. It was the last gift he'd given her, the day before the battle that had claimed him. She stood, thinking she would walk down to the makeshift grave she'd set up by the edge of the forest. She didn't get far.

The classroom door opened, McGonagall stepping inside. "I thought I would find you here. Are you going to Pomona's party?"

"No, I don't think so," Hazel sighed.

Minerva gave her a sad half-smile. "When I first lost my husband, it felt like the world had fallen out from beneath my feet. Continuing to teach... You really are a strong one. I would've been proud to have you in Gryffindor."

"Thank you. It hasn't been easy. I knew it was just a matter of time. We both did. The war was closing in on us." She paused, trying to keep herself collected. "I knew that he knew he probably wasn't going to make it. Neither of us wanted to believe it, though."

McGonagall nodded sympathetically, offering her the slightest sliver of hope. "His portrait still refuses to move. Filius looked at it again, and he has no idea why. He reanimated all of the others that had been damaged, but the charm won't work on Severus. The Charms Master wouldn't make a mistake."

"He's dead, Minerva. Harry saw him die."

"We both know that things aren't always what they seem. Like the bat and the bird that would appear around Astronomy Tower when you two were in school. Though I'm sure you wouldn't know anything about that."

"And I'm sure you wouldn't know anything about the cat that would hide in the shadows of Astronomy Tower every so often," Hazel smiled. "I'll tell you what, I'll meet you at the party. I'm only staying for a little while, but first I have to go wish a gravestone a happy Valentine's Day."


More than anything, he wanted to reach out and dry her tears, pull her into his arms and tell her that everything was going to be okay. There was no way he could do that, not yet. So Snape was stuck watching from the forest while Hazel wept at his makeshift grave. He kept an eye on her until she went into the castle.

With a sigh he turned back to the forest, something shiny catching his eye. A ring had been discarded on the forest floor. Normally he would have left it there, a memento to the forest that someone had lost in the battle. But curiosity got the better of him. He picked it up, turning it over in his hand until he heard an unmistakable voice.

"Severus." He froze, turning around to see the woman who had been gone for so long.

"Lily?" She stood there, glittering in a silver light, a soft smile on her face.

"Thank you for watching over my son. I'm proud of you. And I'm thankful - I'm glad you've moved on. She was always an angel. It's good to see you happy with her. You should've seen how she would smile about you back in our seventh year."

Before he could say any more, Lily dissolved, replaced by a woman who he had last seen even further in the past. She no longer looked ill, instead taking on the ghostly image of herself a couple of years before he had left for Hogwarts. "Mum?"

She nodded, reaching out for him, though her ghostly hand passed straight through his arm. "Severus, I'm sorry. I'm sorry I was ill for so long. I'm sorry for that last Christmas -"

"It's alright, Mum," he managed, half of him wanting to throw the ring away so he could stop seeing the ghostly apparitions. Part of him wanted to keep it, though, wanting his mum to stay for just a little while longer. It was good to see her healthy again, even if it was like this.

"I should have stood up to your father, Severus. I should have… I am so proud of you and everything you've become. I see the way you look at that girl and," she sighed, shaking her head. "I hope the two of you can end up together. She's a good person, Severus. And she loves you beyond measure. I want you to be happy. I want both of you to be happy. You two… will be nothing like your father and I. Take the time you need to be sure you're safe, but go back to her. You deserve to be happy."

Her shimmering form seemed to melt, turning into a man whose last words had been a plea for death. Dumbledore looked just as he had that night at the top of Astronomy Tower, save for his now-healed hand. "Severus, she's right. We are all incredibly proud of you. I do owe you an apology. I am sorry I used you as a pawn in this war. You ultimately took over the game, but I should have let you control it from the beginning. I should have had more faith in you."

Snape couldn't find the words to process how angry he still was, but he tried. "You never thought for a moment what that did - I have been destroyed in every facet of my life. You left me with one good thing, one bright spot, and only because she chose to believe -"

"Go back to her. As your mother said, you deserve some happiness, my boy. Goodness knows you've earned your rest. And now it is time for mine."

There was so much more he wanted to say to all of them, but Dumbledore too dissolved into pure light, leaving him alone in the forest. The stone. The Resurrection Stone. Realizing the power he held in his hand, Snape took out his wand, levitating the ring out of the forest and over the lake. He dropped the spell, the ring falling down into the cold water, sinking to the bottom of the Black Lake, where it would remain for the rest of time.


With Eileen off to her first year at Hogwarts, the house got much quieter. The bubbling of a cauldron was a constant, but this evening, the fireplace was just full of logs, the crackling flames the only noise in the room, save for the boiling kettle. Hazel made herself a cup of tea, pouring one for her husband. He was cooped up in his study, working on another manuscript. Or so she assumed.

When she opened the door, a silver bat was flying through the air. "What are you doing?" she asked, handing him a cup of tea. She knew full well what he had been working on for the last few weeks, though she had yet to ask. Tonight was the first time he had managed the spell completely. "Are you practicing a new spell?"

"The Patronus Charm. It's changed. For the longest time, I had to ensure that every memory met the Dark Lord's scrutiny," he explained as she sat down on the desk, her eyes following him as he paced the room. "I kept things simple, unquestionable. Lily was the first one to master the charm, if you remember. My happiest memory at the time was with her. She - our friendship was everything. And then so much changed. I haven't tried to cast one in a while, and when I did, just to see if I still could… it was weak. It was hardly the form of anything at all. Much more like a ball of light than an animal. That's when I realized that my happiest memory was much different."

"What memory are you using now?" she asked, taking a sip of her tea.

"New Year's Eve, when Lee was four. I had taken her out to play in the snow while you made dinner, so she was exhausted. She fell asleep on the sofa with us, and I had to carry her to bed. You and I sat up in front of the fire until midnight. It wasn't the first time I felt...completely loved." It took him a moment to find the words. He still detested vulnerability, but he was trying. "You had taught me what that felt like long before. But it was the first time I - we - were completely safe, the first time in a very long time. The last of the major Death Eater holdouts had been captured over the holidays. We could finally live, and go back to being our real selves if we wanted."

Hazel hopped off of the table, abandoning her cup of tea. She took his hand and led him back downstairs. Without a word, they took their spots on the sofa, Hazel winding an arm over his stomach and Severus putting an arm around her shoulders. She tilted her head, leaning up to kiss him. "I love you, Sev."

"I love you too."

The two of them sat there for an eternity, frozen in the moment. Though they would face their problems, they would never again need to stare down the Death Eaters, the tragedies of a wizarding war, or anything worse than a gnome infestation in their garden. They tried to keep a happy house, a warm one, full of love and care for each other and their daughter. The brand on Severus' arm faded over time, until it looked much more like a scar from a removed tattoo than the jet black mark that would sear every time he was being summoned. He kept it as a reminder of everything he had been through, but every time he looked at it, he would smile a bit, noticing the silver wedding band that sat on his left hand. Though the silver shined brightly for the rest of his life, the Dark Mark never burned again. It had been years since the tattoo had last coiled on his arm, calling him to the Dark Lord's side. As he lay there with his wife, wrapped up in a moment of complete peace, he smiled to himself. All was well.