A/N: Thank you RavenBloom, for helping me fix this chapter up. I know that I saidthat updates would be slow, but I figured out how to do it faster than I realized and less complicated even though I do have to transfer it from my computer to my phone. Please take into consideration that this is my way of mourning the loss of my grandma. I will be posting updates to the other stories when I feel like writing them again. For now, please enjoy chapter 2.

Chapter 2 Dumbledore's Mistake

It all went downhill for Severus and Lily when he received that letter from the unnamed person, who informed him of his mother's death. After receiving the letter,he tried to concentrate on his OWLs.

He was taking a break, rereading the letter over and over as it lay on top of hisPotions book, trying to figure out exactly who had written to him to give him the sad news about his mother. He had never seen the handwriting before. It was an elegant, looping script written in forest green ink on lavender parchment paper. He sighed and cried silent tears of grief over the loss of his mother, and then screamed in shock as he was suddenly ripped off of the ground to hang upside down by one ankle in the air.

His wand, books — and to his horror —the letter all fell to the ground as he heard the rowdy laughter of James Potter, Sirius Black, and Peter Pettigrew. He didn't know whether to be furious or relieved when Remus Lupin got to his stuff before Sirius,and gathered it all up into his arms, while his mates enjoyed teasing him about the state of his dingy grey underpants.

They were just about to remove his underpants magically and leave him hanging there like a flag for all to see,when Lily came storming up and pointed her wand right between James's shockedhazel eyes. "Put him down, right now!" she snarled angrily, making her wand spark dangerously.

"Evans, we were just having a bit of fun with the Slytherin known as Snivellus. It's all in good fun," said Sirius, holding his sides as he rolled with laughter.

"It's not funny, now either let him down and give him back his trousers, or lose house points and earn a detention withFilch. Remus, you're a prefect too, why didn't you stop them from picking on another student?" she raged, spinning on the boy, making him drop Severus's things in shock when he saw her wand pointed at him.

"Fine, Evans, I'll let him down. I didn't know that you were a snake lover," sneered James as he canceled the spell,letting Severus fall in what he thought would be a hard fall.

As he felt himself falling, Severus cringed,expecting the hard impact, only to feel softness, as Lily had cast a nonverbal Cushioning Charm.

Lily rushed forward to help him up and to hand him back his things when he rocketed to his feet. He snatched his things out of her arms, angrily spitting out the first angry words that popped into his mind. "I don't need help from aMudblood!" he spat in rage when he heard Sirius and James burst out laughing and teasing him about how he was saved by a girl.

Lily's eyes widened in rage and shock before she stormed off into the castle with tears streaming down her face.

So that day, he lost not only his mother, but his best and only friend in the world. He had tried to apologize to her, but she just wouldn't listen to him.

He never imagined that it would take the rest of his school years and the night of her wedding to even get the chance to get her to listen to him and become friends again.

He had been sitting alone in the Hog's Head Pub after watching Lily get married to his worst enemy from the shadows, and was now attempting to kill his feelings on the subject with the strongest Firewhiskythat he could get his hands on, when she walked through the doors, still dressed in her wedding robes, and looking as if she had been sobbing, with her make up smeared and looking a complete fright.

She looked around the pub, seeming to be searching for something — or someone —until her eyes found the dark corner where he sat, with his face down on the table and his hand wrapped around a bottle of fire whiskey that was half-full.

Severus looked up with a jump and pulled his wand as she plucked the bottle from his hand, unceremoniously downing half of its contents after plopping herself down dejectedly into the seat across from him.

"That's not going to help anything you know. Trust me on that, Mrs. Potter," sneered Severus drunkenly as he attempted to take the bottle away from her.

"I'm a complete idiot, Sev. How could I believe in James like that?" she asked as she tried to take the bottle back from his tight grasp, only to end up staring into his black eyes with a sad expression on her face.

"No, Lily, you're not the idiot, Potter is. Speaking of Potter, why aren't you with him being shagged into next week?" queried Severus with a raised brow. "It is your wedding night after all."

"Yes, it is my wedding night, and where do you think that he is at this very moment? He's not with me, where a husband is supposed to be, that's for sure!" snarled Lily as she ripped the bottle free from Severus's grasp and downed the rest of the bottle in one go, making her head spin.

"You know, if it were me that you were married to instead of him, I would have never left you alone on our wedding night for at least a month after. You're just too beautiful of a bride for any wizard to turn up his nose at. Are you certain that you didn't marry a complete sausage loving wanker?" Severus smiled, wishing that it was he who Lily had married instead of Potter.

"Beautiful, are you blind, Sev? I'm a complete mess because I've been crying over the fact that he decided to suddenly go off joy riding on Sirius's flyingmotorbike! Furthermore, you're right, Sirius is definitely a major wanker. He's in love with Remus." Lily laughed as she tooka handkerchief that Severus had enchanted to help remove her makeup, leaving her looking refreshed.

That comment earned a soft chuckle from the dark-clad wizard as he paid thebartender for another tumbler ofFirewhisky for the two of them, earning a look of confusion from Aberforth.

"Don't worry about me, Aberforth, I can handle my liquor better than my companion here," he said as he slid the tumbler over to Lily, placing his own in front of him.

"I don't care how well you can hold your liquor, you've already drank two and a half bottles — this is the last round for you, and I don't want to hear any argument out of you. Furthermore, if I see you so much as flick a wrist to make the glass refill, I'll kick you right out, am I clear?" snapped Aberforth, giving the younger wizard a stern look to say that he wasn't kidding.

"Don't worry, Aberforth, he won't do anything like that, won't you Sev?" said Lily scooting her chair closer to Severus's,so that she could reach for his hand under the table.

Lily and Severus sat and talked while she drank first her tumbler of whiskey and then his. By the end of the night, she who couldn't handle anything stronger than aButterbeer was unable to walk, let alone stand up.

Severus ended up carrying her up to his rented room and laid her on his bed while he slept on the very lumpy sofa. Somewhere in the night, two old friends became so much more in the most intimate way, and Severus awoke to find himself very naked, and her wedding veilin his hair.

Lily, however was gone.

His memory of the night before was a complete blur. The only thing that he knew for certain was that instead of Lord Potter being the man who took his wife's virginity, it was him, though he was unsure on exactly who had instigated it.

Exactly nine months later, he was reading the Daily Prophet when the announcement of the birth of Harry James Potter was announced. He looked at the moving photo with disgust, and couldn't help but feel jealous that the child wasn't his instead. He snipped the article and placed it into one of his many potions books for safe-keeping, not understanding exactly why he had done it, and then turned to see a snowy-white owl pecking at his window with a lavender envelope in its beak.

He crossed to the window and took the letter from the bird, giving it a piece of his bacon from his plate before opening the letter. As he looked down at the envelope that bore no other words except for his exact address in an elegant, looping script in forest green ink, his mind couldn't helpwandering back to the last time that he had seen this exact same color envelope, parchment, and ink.

"Dear Mr. Severus T.S.,

I know what you did nine months ago, and wanted to congratulate you on the birth of a beautiful son. He has your black hair, and his mother's eyes. I know that you can't step up and take responsibility for your son, at this time, but believe me that there will come a day when we will meet again, and I will expect for you to man up.

Sincerely,

Mimi

P.S. I'll be watching out for you son, keep your friends close and your enemiescloser. Trust no one."

Severus scowled at the letter and laughed as he crumpled it, tossing it into his fire as he wondered who was playing such a sick joke on him.

Everyone who knew Lily's mother knew that she went by the name Mimi. They also knew that she had fallen ill and had died in the hospital. Someone was having a little giggle at his expense and messing with his mind, so he made up his mindthen and there that he would not fall for these tricks again and would ignore any further letters from the person who was claiming to be someone who he knew to be dead and gone.

He had attended her funeral, for Merlin's sake! It was just sick that someone would attempt to use the memory of a dead person to get to him.

Less than a year had passed since the birth of Harry James Potter, and Severus now found himself begging at Albus Dumbledore's feet to save not only Lily and her child, but James Potter as well from the clutches of the Dark Lord, who was stuck on a prophecy that Severus had been a fool to inform him of, and now had a sick obsession of killing a defenseless child. Severus feared that Lily's child was going to be the Dark Lord's victim.

Albus agreed to save them, under the condition that Severus become a spy for the Light and spy on Voldemort, giving the Order valuable information in return.

After agreeing to the manipulative old man's terms, Severus went about his business until that faithful Halloween night in 1981 when the Dark Lord attacked the Potters' who were hiding under theFidelius Charm.

Thus came about Dumbledore's first mistake.

Instead of being the Secret Keeper, he had tried to pawn the important job off onto someone else's shoulders, and it was believed that Sirius Black had been the Potters' Secret Keeper and had betrayed them all. Severus was ordered to follow the orders of the Dark Lord, and arrived at the house just as Sirius took off out of the destroyed house in Godric's Hollow,ranting and raving on how he was going to kill the 'pathetic son of a rat' as he swung onto his flying motorbike and flew off into the dark. Fearing what he would see,Severus crept into the silent house,praying against all odds that Lily and her son had escaped.

His hope fell as the first thing that he saw was James Potter's lifeless body at the foot of the stairs. He stepped cautiously over the dead body of his childhood rival, and picked his way through the debris until he found the nursery, where to his greathorror, Lily was lying at the base of little Harry's crib, lifeless. He clasped his hand over his mouth as a heart wrenching sob attempted to pass his lips, tears tricklingdown his face as he sank to the ground and pulled her into his arms, rocking with sobs of grief and pain over her loss.

The one-year-old little boy was laying in the crib with his tiny back to the door, and Severus was afraid to see if he truly was dead, so you could understand how his heart leapt with joy when he heard a little voice calling out a single word, making his dark eyes snap up to gaze into Lily's eyes in amazement.

"Dada!" called little Harry as he looked at the black-clad man, opening and closing his little hands in a pleading manner,wanting to be held.

Severus slowly got to his feet and tenderly reached into the crib, pulling out the little miracle child who had survived God knows how.

"Dada!" said little Harry again as hesnuggled into the black-haired man's strong arms and started to suck his thumb.

"I'm not your dada, Harry. Your dada andmama have gone to sleep for a long time, little one. I'm sorry that I wasn't here to save them," he said in a soft, soothing tone as he carefully made his way downstairs.

Once he had reached the ground floor and was just about to Apparate away, Hagridstepped into the ruined house and gave Severus a startled look. "Give him to me, the Aurors will be swarming around here in a matter of minutes. I can keep him safe and see that he is given medical care byHealer Pomfrey up at the school," said Hagrid as he reached out for Harry,carefully placing him into a sling that hung around his neck.

"Tell Dumbledore that under no circumstances is Harry to be placed with his mother's sister. I'll give my report in person after I've checked a few things," said Severus as he handed over the baby boy and ran from the house with tears of rage flowing down his cheeks.

Later that night, around midnight, Albus Dumbledore made his second mistake.

He waited outside of number four Privet Drive with Minerva, who was complaining about his plan to leave poor little orphaned Harry Potter with his Aunt Petunia.

"Headmaster, you can't simply leave him with these people, they really are the worse sort of Muggles that I've ever seen!" argued Minerva as Hagrid handed over little baby Harry, who was now asleep,wrapped in a thick blanket.

Hagrid walked behind them sniffling over the whole thing.

"They really are the last living family that Harry has, Minerva. He'll be far better off being raised away from all of the fame that comes with what he's accomplished at such a young age," he said as he tenderly placed the blanket-wrapped bundle on the front porch by the door, where he would be seen by his relatives.

"Albus, it's cold out here, what if he gets sick, or worse, what if someone else steals him away? How are you going to explain this to his relatives?" questioned Minerva,firing one question after another.

"Don't worry so much, Minerva. The blankets have been charmed to not only keep him warm, but to also not allow anyone accept for a blood relative to take him from this place. As for the explanation, I've left a note that explains everything," said Dumbledore as he grasped Minerva and Hagrid, and led them from the door.

"A note, A NOTE! Albus, have you lost your mind? Something this important can't possibly be conveyed in a simple note." Minerva frowned as she attempted to run back to the doorstep and pick up the baby boy, and take him with her.

"Calm yourselves, both of you! After all, it won't be too long before we'll see him again at Hogwarts," said Albus as he led them both away, leaving little Harry on the front doorstep.

Unfortunately for Albus, what he didn't know is that he was being watched from the shadows by a pair of soft brown eyes that were now flaming with rage over how he had treated the most precious child that had ever been seen in the magical world.

A snowy-white owl hooted softly and landed on the wall closest to where little baby Harry was fast asleep on the ground and watched over the child, adding another layer of warmth to the sleeping child using unseen means. The brown-eyed one who watched on wanted to act now, and to take the baby far away from where he was, but she knew that there was a proper time for every action and reaction, and knew that the time wasn't right to act yet.

A/N: Thank you very much for taking the time to read this story. I hope that you are enjoying it. Please leave a review if you'd feel like doing so, and be on the lookout for Chapter 3: Observations and Howlers.