A/N Sniffff…when I had posted the last chapter of Unleashed Madness lots of people got angry! But be at ease…I had already been planning a sequel to it. (Yes, even though I denied it. Evil me. Sorry.) This is it. The first chapters are a bit fluffy, but I promise to reduce the fluff to more manageable levels soon.

Till Travelling Days are Gone

Neville stalked out of the Ministry building. As soon as he was well out of sight, he apparated to Hogwarts, where he bustled through the people busy with cleaning up the aftermath of the battle.

Minerva had survived, as had Remus Lupin. Shacklebolt hadn't. The Auror had fallen protecting Draco from Lucius. Lucius had killed his own son, but died from the wounds he had sustained. The Weasleys, through some miracle, hadn't lost anyone, though Molly and the twins were badly hurt and would need lots of time to recover. Professor Flitwick had died. Neville felt the most pain over the death of Professor Sprout. She had encouraged his love for plants and spent a lot of time teaching him in his first years at Hogwarts.

His head bowed, ruminating on the losses, he reached the empty library. He pressed the button and entered the secret chambers of Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff. Hermione sat in the library, reading quietly. He smiled at her and moved to the painting of the thankfully awake dragon. Tickling it and giving the password, he entered.

A bed had been set up in the room. Minerva and Harry sat next to it.

"How is he?" Neville asked. The Headmistress smiled. "Still weak, but improving." A shaky voice came from the bed.

"So, you did pull it off, mr Longbottom."

Neville grinned, and moved to the bed to grasp the hand of the prostrate man on it. "We all did. It's good to see you awake again, Severus."

Minerva left. Harry had agreed to finally do a press conference. He lingered by the bed a while longer before taking his ex-professors hand from Neville.

"I was an ungrateful brat to never thank you, sir," he said, blushing, "for saving my life so many times. I can't ever repay you enough. Thank you for looking out for me."

Severus smiled and squeezed lightly. "That's ok, Harry. You did save all of us."

He closed his eyes a second, and a familiar sneer appeared on his face. "Just don't let it all go to your head, Potter," he said, but there was no more malice behind it. An old joke now. Harry grinned and gently put the hand back on the bed.

"I better go and see that bloody press," he said, chagrined. He handed Neville a mirror.

"Half of the two way mirror Sirius gave me," he said, "thought you might like to see me sweat in front of the assembled press."

Neville laughed. "You sound like you fear the press more then Voldemort," he teased.

Harry nodded. "Infinitely more," he confessed, "do you think there's a prophecy somewhere about someone destined to kick Rita Skeeter's ass?"

Severus chuckled. "I think that would be Hermione," he said, "she told me about catching her in fourth year and locking her in a glass jar."

Harry's face brightened. "Oooooh good idea, if she annoys me, I'll just drop a slight reminder in my answers to her, that should keep her at bay. Thanks Severus."

He nearly danced out the door, no doubt already formulating 'slight reminders' for the Skeeter cow.

"HARRY!" Neville yelled, "Remember that Severus is supposed to be dead, ok? Don't let anything slip in your excitement to get back at that old cow." Harry nodded and danced on.

Neville enlarged the mirror and levitated it so it hovered a few feet above the bed. They watched with interest as they saw Rita Skeeter in the front row.

"Mr Potter," one of the reporters began, "You are the Hero of the Wizarding World now. What was it like, to defeat Voldemort?"

Harry sighed. "Well, in case you didn't notice, I wasn't the only one fighting. I could never have done it without my friends. Some of which did not survive. I couldn't have fought Voldemort if Ron and Hermione hadn't been there to keep other Death Eaters away from us. Not to mention the Order and the Aurors. But most of all, I owe Professor Severus Snape. He saved my life on so many occasions, even when I was too blind to see that. Without him, we would never have stood a chance to defeat Voldemort. He risked so much. He had to endure so much in his short life. His father, Albus Dumbledore…"

here the whole room gasped. Severus was looking at the mirror, his face pale, but never averting his eyes from the boy, no, the man that stood there, telling the whole wizarding world how much they owed him.

Harry held his hand and the room quieted. "His father, Albus Dumbledore, wanted a happy and long life for him. We buried him next to his father in the grave on these grounds. When paying your respects to Albus Dumbledore, please remember that there is another person who deserves your respect just as much as our beloved late Headmaster."

Harry removed his Order of Merlin and held it up. "So, I give up this Order of Merlin to him. To you, Professor Snape."

They would miss Harry's clever remarks to Rita Skeeter. Severus stared at the mirror, tears forming in his eyes. Neville sat down on the edge of the bed, facing him, and gently drew him in a hug. Severus' arms encircled Neville's waist, holding on desperately while he buried his head against Neville's shoulder and cried. Neville rocked him softly, rubbing his back.

After a while Severus drew back. "I'm sorry," he whispered, voice tight. Neville conjured water and a soft cloth and washed the pale face.

"Don't be sorry, Severus. It was about time you had a good cry. Come on, you need to rest."

Severus curled up on his side, facing Neville, who tucked the blankets around him and continued to rub his back when he saw the older man was still shaky from his outburst. A deep sigh. "You would be a very good healer, Neville," Severus said.

Neville grinned. "I think I'd like to be one," he confessed.

Severus nodded. "You'd be great. Oh and mr Longbottom," he added, menacingly, but Neville beat him to it.

"Yes, yes, I know, if I ever tell a living soul that you cried, you will slowly poison me and flay me alive and all that. Or complain to Minerva that you can't hand out detentions anymore."

Severus smiled wryly. "I'm sorry. It's not easy to stop being a jerk all of the sudden. I never was a nice person to begin with."

Neville chuckled. "Oh I dunno. Maybe not, but Dumbledore loved you. McGonagall loves you. The Trio has at long last learned to care about you. And I have considered you one of my friends ever since fourth year."

Severus sighed sleepily. "Yeah, I never quite understood…No matter. I bet Minerva will offer you Herbology now. Will you take it if she does?"

Neville shook his head. "No. Definately not. I'm way to young to be a teacher, and I was serious about becoming a healer. I've already consulted with St. Mungo's. They will take me in to their advanced program two years from now. In the meantime I'm gonna be travelling, both in the Wizarding World and the Muggle world to learn some useful skills."

He hesitated. "If you have nothing planned, you could join me," he said lightly, "I'm sure that there are many interesting potions to be discovered while travelling around."

Severus opened his eyes. "You…are you serious?" he asked. Neville nodded.

"Well, it's not like I had anything to do, being declared dead and all," Severus mused, "And I never expected to survive anyway, so I never…never thought I would have a future. It might be nice, travelling with you…getting away from it all. But my accounts…Now that I'm considered dead, they're probably frozen until my will…." He paled.

Neville smiled. "Your will has already been read. I'm sorry I didn't tell you before now. It was read at Gringotts this morning, they had only invited me. The Ministry's not happy with me at the moment, but everything got arranged in the end. I was quite surprised though, that you named me as your heir."

Severus fidgeted with the sheets. "I have no one to leave my possessions to. The only persons I could think of were Albus, but after…after…I changed my will, and the only other person I cared about was you. I…you…I hope you don't mind."

"Mind! I'm honored, Severus. But your accounts are your own, of course. I will have to keep them until we create another identity for you and then I can sign them back over to you."

Severus sighed contently. "Thank you. It's a relief, you know, to be presumed dead. I feel finally free," he said, smiling. Then he remembered something. "Why aren't they happy with you at the Ministry?"

Neville blushed. "I broke Scrimgeours nose when I punched him."

He caught the stunned look on the potions masters face and grinned shyly. Severus snorted, grinned and finally roared with laughter.

"Oh Merlin, I wish I could have seen that," he panted as he lay on his back on the bed, exhausted.

Neville's eyes twinkled. "It was a very satisfying thing to do," he said. Then he pulled the covers back over the older wizard and patted his shoulder. "Now go to sleep. I'm gonna talk to McGonagall and the Trio and arrange for us to leave as soon as you're well again."