This standard story is written for THC/The Houses Competition (Round 6 - Spring Awakens).

House: Slytherin

Class: Transfiguration

Prompt: [Location] Montmartre, Paris

Link/Title: Betrayal of a Lost Love

Word Count: 2,898

Betas: shy-n-great, Hucklebarry, and Butterflies765

Note: This is a Muggle!AU where Lily is a former MI6 agent who is supposedly dead. Severus, another MI6 agent who turned into a criminal, is her former partner and love interest. None of the Marauders know each other in this universe, and the only one truly relevant to this story is Remus Lupin, who is Severus's best friend. James is only mentioned as Lily's ex-husband. Lastly, the story takes place in 2018.

Warning: Mentions of suicide.

Severus tugged his overcoat tightly around himself as he observed the small village shops. It was too dark to discern the homes individually, but he did notice that each second-floor window had a bush of poppies. He was standing on a large staircase, and it was just past midnight. There was no one else in the village of Montmartre but him.

He shivered as a cold wind blew through his hair. He was petrified at the thought of meeting Lily Potter after all these years of thinking her dead. Severus remembered the night he had received word of her committing suicide as a night of drunkenness, isolation and pain. When he had received word of her supposed death, all Severus had wanted to do was to travel to the beach in which she had drowned herself to look for her beneath the choppy waves.

At the time of Lily's alleged suicide, she had been seeing a Russian man — or rather, she had been assigned to him — who had been working for the KGB. In addition to the KGB assignment, she also had a cover husband, James Potter.

Severus had been on a mission in Yugoslavia when he had gotten a call from an unknown number. Lily had been frantic as the sounds of her hyperventilation were heard from the other line. After Severus had calmed Lily down, he had learned she had given birth to a son, Harry, four years prior. Subsequently, he had also learned that the Russian man his lover had been assigned to had kidnapped Harry and taken him back to Russia, mistakenly thinking he was the father. Severus had promptly packed his bags upon hanging up and left for Moscow as soon as he had finished the tasks MI6 had assigned him. Once he had arrived in the foreign country, Severus had set off to find Lily.

It was when he had finally located her that things had spiraled downwards.

He closed his eyes, beginning to remember that fateful night.

…

All the blood drained from Severus's face as he saw the Russian's house engulfed in flames.

"LILY!" screamed Severus, sprinting to the scene. He ran faster when he saw his love's red hair in the distance.

"He's dead!" shouted Lily, her voice hoarse. Severus's eyes widened at the thought of Lily's son, but he let out a breath when Lily elaborated quickly, "T-the Russian. I tried looking for Harry — your son — b-but I —"

"My son?" Severus shouted back, grabbing Lily's shoulders. "What do you mean?"

"When Harry was born, I-I got a paternity test done. He matched your DNA —"

"Oh, my God…" whispered Severus, adrenaline beginning to course through his system.

Roughly pushing Lily to the side without a second thought, the agent sped into the burning wreck.

"HARRY! YELL IF YOU CAN HEAR ME!" Severus hollered as soon as he was in the house. The agent's head whipped around frantically, trying and failing to locate his son amidst the smoky area. He coughed from the fumes as he searched for his child.

"Are you here to save me?" a small voice called back as beads of sweat started running down Severus's face. Relief surged through the agent's veins as he rushed to the source of the voice. He soon found the child sitting in the burning sitting room, tears streaming down his cheeks. Next to him lay the body of the Russian…and a gun.

"Oh, God," breathed Severus at the dark implications of the weapon.

"He was hurting Mummy!" Harry sobbed as Severus scooped his son up and started running back to the front of the house. In the agent's haste, the end of his coat caught on fire. He only realized this at Harry's screams. Cradling the small child, Severus pushed on and escaped just as the house collapsed. Unfortunately, he wasn't careful enough, for a piece of wood fell and hit Harry's head, cutting his forehead slightly.

Once the father and son were safely away from the house, Severus quickly set Harry down and dropped to the ground, rolling on it to snuff out the flames.

It was only when he stopped moving that he realized Lily was gone.

"Mummy!" cried Harry, who was looking around wildly. "MUMMY!" he screamed when there was no response.

"Shh," Severus found himself saying, new paternal instincts beginning to run forth within him. Despite the excruciating pain in his back, he managed to get up and crawl over to his son. He still couldn't believe he had a child. If Lily had only told him earlier, maybe none of this — the fire and the kidnapping — would've happened.

"Come here, Harry," said the new father, holding his arms out. Harry immediately ran into them, catching Severus unawares. He felt a bit disgusted when the boy began dispensing snot onto his shirt, but he didn't say anything. Now wasn't the time to begin teaching his child manners. Harry had just been through a traumatic experience.

"We'll find your mummy soon," Severus tried assuring, but his vocal delivery only made Harry's grief worse as his gut-wrenching sobs increased in volume and snot production.

God, was Severus ready to be a father? He didn't know if he'd be able to parent Harry like Lily must have. He didn't feel confident enough to. Harry was already four years old. Severus had never been there from the beginning, so how would he be able to start now?

Oh, where was Lily when he needed her?

…

Severus had promptly taken himself and Harry to a nearby hospital to get their respective injuries treated after the events of the fire. Even after Severus had successfully been treated and cleared to go home, and even after he had decided to leave Harry temporarily with his good friend, Remus, while he investigated the fire, Lily had never contacted him.

Not long after the fire, Severus had been framed as a traitor to England who had sold sensitive intelligence to the Russians, causing the senseless killing of one hundred seventy-one of Britain's finest military men.

The accusation had come seemingly out of nowhere. Severus hadn't known what he had done or whom he had angered. All he had known then was that the world viewed him as a traitor. Two weeks after he was framed, Lily had committed suicide. Allegedly, Severus knew now, but then, he had thought it was true.

Severus had known at that point he had had no choice but to leave his child — his only familial link left — with Remus permanently. He had known that his dear friend would take good care of Harry, and he did. Excellently.

After Severus began to investigate the fire, his framing, and Lily's suicide, he had learned about the Legion of Death — the people Lily had actually answered to. It was a global criminal organization that had a hand in almost everything one could think of — governments, banks, educational institutions, and even agricultural businesses.

With more research and investigation, Severus had discovered an even more secretive group: the Phoenix Resistance. They were yet another global organization, but instead of personal gain and world domination, this one was solely focused on defeating the Legion. Of course, Severus had joined. He had wanted answers, and he had known that only the Resistance would have been able to give them to him.

Over the years, the former MI6 agent would form a criminal empire as an operative for the Phoenix Resistance, determined to become the man the world thought he was. He would become feared in the criminal underworld while his son would grow up, oblivious to the sharks that would surround him day and night. And then, after twenty-three years of avoiding capture, Severus would manage to reunite with his son. His world. His life.

Except, Harry hadn't known Severus as his father. Not exactly.

In reality, Harry had somehow become interested in joining MI5 when he attended secondary school. It had been a very strange and concerning revelation for Severus when Remus had told him on the phone one night. Eventually, Harry had earned a bachelor's degree in Criminology and a master's degree in Criminal Justice. Severus had watched his son's graduation ceremony from an undisclosed location nearby.

It had been in the fall of 2013, when Harry had finally been accepted into MI5 as a criminal profiler, that Severus had known that he had to turn himself in. So, he did.

It had been the Deputy General, Minerva McGonagall, whom he had spoken to first. He had spun a very real tale of how the elusive terrorist, Quirinus Quirrell, had come into the country with plans to kidnap Susan Bones, the niece of Commissioner Amelia Bones of Scotland Yard. He had subsequently demanded McGonagall to bring him Harry Potter — or rather, Harry Lupin, since Remus had been the one to raise him.

Harry had been very distrustful of Severus at first. He only trusted the criminal somewhat by the time they managed to stop Quirrell from kidnapping Susan Bones. But Severus had known he had to stick with Harry, so he had provided McGonagall a list of criminals that worked for the Legion in an effort to keep himself free and his son close. It hadn't been a physical list, of course, but it had been enticing enough for McGonagall to accept the offer.

Eventually, as Severus proved to Harry that he had him in his best interests, he finally began to bond with his son as they caught criminals together. It had been when he received a letter from Lily five years later that his world, yet again, had been turned upside down.

That was why Severus was here, in France, away from Harry and MI5. He had come at Lily's request. He wondered whether he was being set up by one of his enemies, but only Lily could have looped the L's and crossed the T's the way they were looped and crossed in the letter. No one could have forged her handwriting so well. The criminal felt a sense of nostalgia overcome him as he thought of all the times he and Lily had spent time in Montmartre back when they had been MI6 agents.

A head of reddish-gray hair stopped Severus in his tracks. Perhaps his eyes were playing tricks on him, but he could've sworn that he saw a woman in the near distance.

"Lily?" Severus called tentatively. The wind grew stronger as he ran down the large staircase he was on to catch up to the woman. He couldn't believe that, after all these years, he'd finally be reunited with his love. The woman stopped walking and turned around. Once Severus got close enough to see her face, he knew that he hadn't been set up after all.

No one else in the entire world had Lily Potter's green eyes except Harry.

"Severus…" Lily murmured, climbing back up the stairs in the criminal's direction. "Oh, Severus, it's been much too long."

Severus didn't know what to do at that moment. Could he really have what he once had with Lily all those years ago? Could he really forgive her after she painted him as a traitor to his — and her — country? He wasn't even sure whether he was dreaming or not.

He left it to Lily to make that decision for him.

In a matter of seconds, he felt soft lips on his own. Almost instinctively, Severus brought his hand to Lily's cheek, intensifying the kiss. Goodness, he hadn't kissed someone so deeply in years. Her lips were as sweet as they had been when they had worked in MI6 together. Though they were kissing with great fervor, it remained gentle. Severus felt Lily's tongue slip into his mouth, and at that moment, he felt as though everything was all right in the world.

When they pulled away, however, Lily had tears in her eyes.

"I'm so sorry, Sev."

Butterflies erupted in Severus's stomach at the sound of his old nickname being said through Lily's voice. However, something told him that this was too good to be true.

"Why?" whispered Severus, his voice cracking ever so slightly. He began to worry as his old instincts began to kick in. "If you need help in any way…"

Lily shook her head, letting her tears fall.

"God, I wish that things were normal," she moaned, resting her forehead on Severus's shoulder. "I wish I could've seen Harry grow up. I never forgot about him. Or you."

"Come back with me, Lily," Severus replied, taking her hand in his. "You'll be able to see Harry for yourself. He's turned out to be a bloody good agent for MI5."

At that, Lily laughed lightly.

"Goodness," she whispered, gripping Severus's hand tightly. "It's just like the maths we used to do back in school. Remember how a negative and a negative creates a positive?"

Severus stifled a chuckle at that, realizing that the two negatives were himself and Lily. They had both turned out to be criminals, but Harry had ended up on the good side of the law.

"Remus Lupin, my dearest friend, took excellent care of him," replied Severus. "I had to leave Harry with him after…you know." The criminal couldn't finish the sentence. It pained him to think that Lily had been the one who framed him. But even then, he knew he loved her with all his being.

"I'm sorry, Severus. It's just…they wanted to kill you. They thought it was best that you were neutralized, but I obviously didn't want you dead. I-I never meant for any of it to happen."

"Yet, it did," Severus countered solemnly. "Come back with me," he implored again, this time a plea coating his tone. "I need to prove to Harry that his father isn't the only one who cares about him."

"But would Harry really want to know a mother who betrayed his father?" asked Lily brokenly, her voice very, very small. When she began to cry again, Severus brushed her tears away with his thumbs.

"He doesn't know that I am his father," said Severus in a low voice. "But he knows you are his mother." He had planned to reveal his connection to Harry soon after the Quirrell case. However, he had backtracked at the realization that Harry might have hated him even more if he were to learn that he was a criminal's son. Seeing this, he had decided that he wanted to build a solid relationship with Harry before informing him of their connection. He had finally been ready to tell his son this important information when Lily had sent him the letter. Now that he had his old flame in his radar again, maybe — maybe — they could be a happy family at last.

"Oh, Severus," choked Lily, beginning to sob. "If only I hadn't done you wrong like I did…"

"Shh," murmured Severus, taking his love into his arms. "What's done is done." Suddenly, he felt very tired. Severus was far from finished with the task he had set out to do when he had joined the Phoenix Resistance, but with Lily by his side, he knew he'd be able to complete it. He'd be able to take down the Legion.

"I'm so sorry," Lily repeated, and Severus slid his fingers into his former lover's hair, looking over her head to see the moonlit roofs of the houses on the tiny Montmartre street in front of them.

"I think we should eat something," suggested Severus, spying a cafe with a sign that read, La Halte. "I'm very hungry."

Lily broke their embrace to check her watch. "But it's one in the morning," she said with unmistakable confusion.

"And yet, La Halte's lights are on, there are people walking in and out, and I smell food," the criminal replied, pointing at the bistro at the left side of the staircase. For the first time in a long time, Severus grinned impishly.

"You were always the resourceful one, Sev," reminisced Lily, a trace of her younger self evident in her inflection. "I'm hungry, too. Maybe we can discuss Harry while we're at it."

"Of course," returned Severus fluidly. He beamed at the prospect of sharing a meal with Lily like he used to when they had been naïve agents, cluelessly thrown into a world of treason, terrorism, and espionage.

As Severus climbed down the stairs with Lily, he thought of the conversation he had had with Harry when he had first met him in the MI5 headquarters. The criminal remembered how earnest he had felt when he had said that his son was his way home. He hadn't seen his child in so many years; it had been surreal for Severus to see how his son had grown into such a wonderful young man. But ultimately, Harry hadn't been the full puzzle piece. There had always been a hole in his heart reserved especially for the love of his life. But now that he found her, though, that hole in his heart was filled at long last.

After twenty-eight years of being on the run and twenty-three years of being away from his son, Severus finally had both members of his family in close reach.

He finally found his way home.