The morning of the funeral dawned dull and grey with an eerie mist covering the town. The family donned their best suits and in the case of Severus and Lily their best robes and opened the door to be greeted by a soberly dressed wizard and witch who apparated them to the graveyard where the rest of the Prince family were buried.

The small crowd of mourners stood in silence with Lily and her parents supporting him enveloped by mist listening to the speakers recounting her life. Several teachers attended the service, including the heads of house and Professor Dumbledore, along with several witches and wizards who he had not met before who all offered their condolences. Professor Slughorn remembered her fondly as a good student with a talent for potions, Professor Flitwick recalled her thirst for knowledge and love of gobstones while Professor McGonagall recalled her being happy and full of life and laughter. It was a side of her that he had not seen enough of in his young life and a total contrast from the tired, world-weary figure he had known.

He laid a posy of flowers by her grave, all of the Evans family had contributed and chosen some that they thought fitting and Severus knew that he'd chosen some of her favourites. There were pink Acacia, Giliflower, yellow Irises, white Lilac, Pansies, Rosemary, Sweet Peas, and Wormwood amongst others and all held together with moss

"Are you ok?" she asked with concern

"Yeah I guess, I just can't believe this is really happening" he replied, sighing and leaning into her.

"I know it's been a hard couple of days for you but you've done very well. I know she'd be proud of you" she told him, rubbing his back. He nodded "I guess" he mumbled back.

She glanced at her husband, he caught her eye and nodded at her "actually Severus there was something we wanted to talk to you about" he looked up at her puzzled "you see now your mother's gone we were thinking we'd need to make some more permanent living arrangements for you"

"Oh I see, I guess you don't want me anymore now that I'm an orphan" he said despondently, hanging his head.

They looked at him in shock "what no of course not, we'd never abandon you, particularly not after what you've just been through. We said you'd always be part of our family for as long as you wanted to and we meant it" she reassured him as he slowly looked back up at her, breathing a sigh of relief.

Mr Evans stepped in "actually we were doing a lot of thinking this week. We talked things over and well we wondered whether you might like us to adopt you"

"Adopt me?" he repeated in a daze.

"Yes dear" she assured him gently, "I know it's a bit sudden and of course you wouldn't have to if you didn't want to, and we certainly don't expect you to decide right now, it's a big decision after all, but it would mean you'd always be part of our family and we'd be your legal guardians so we'd be better able to protect you if anyone wanted to take you away" she explained hurriedly.

"Like my father" Sev clarified the last part.

They nodded " yes, not that you've got anything to worry about now that he's securely behind bars and serving a long jail sentence."

He nodded "you'd really adopt me?" he asked.

"Yes, if you're sure that's what you want"

"I'd like that, really I would" he assured them, tearfully half thrusting half-collapsing forwards into their welcoming embrace. They stayed like that for a minute before something occurred to him "would I have to change my name?"

"Not if you don't want to, although you'd be welcome to use our last name if that 's what you wanted"

"I'd like that, I'd prefer to be an Evans than a Snape, I hate people calling me Snape, it reminds me of him and everything he did to us" he said with a distasteful expression his face, he contemplates for a moment "actually do you think I'd be able to use my mother's name? If that's alright with you of course" he added hurriedly, not wishing to offend them by not using their name.

She looks thoughtful "well I guess we'd have to check with someone like the headmaster to check it was ok, but I don't see why not in fact, I'd say that's a very good way to honour her memory"

"I'd like that, my mother was proud of her heritage and the fact that I was keeping the Prince line alive. I think she'd like for me to keep the name alive" he said decisively.

"I'm sure she would like that, it's a very good idea and I'm sure that she'd be very proud of you"

After a short discussion with the headmaster and the changes were approved. Lily and all of their teachers were delighted to hear that the Evans family were planning to adopt him and that he would be getting the stability of having a permanent loving family. it seemed that there really was a silver lining to this most gloomy of days.

The rest of the weekend was spent having some much-needed time together as a family and starting the task of sorting through the old house. He was reminded of just how horrible and depressing their house had been. Fortunately, Mrs Evans had gone round and helped clean it up a bit clearing out all the old bottles and other trash but it still had a gloomy oppressive air to the place, not helped by the fact that no one had done any maintenance work on the house for years. There was truthfully not much to salvage but they did unearth some of her old things in the attic, a trunk full of her old school things including some dusty old tomes and some more advanced books on potions and a good quality set of potions equipment as well as some Prince family heirlooms and documents. Severus agreed that they should look to sell the house and put the money from it away for his future as it certainly didn't hold any happy memories for him.

notwritten:

Thank you. Yeah it's tough, I'm autistic so I deal with things in my own way, I'm not big talker and I only told one person about my Dad before he passed but yeah it's never easy, I know what it's like to watch people deteriorate and pass away. I like to think that sometimes in these circumstances passing way is the better option as they're at peace and no longer suffering but it doesn't make it easy

Author's Note's:

I'm not sure when the next chapter will be posted as I will be camping for a week from tomorrow and I'm not sure whether I want to include the next chapter which is is kind of him healing/learning Occlumency and I'm not sure if it's a particularly good chapter or just to skip ahead to a later point in his school life. I'm also undecided as to whether to add something in where he meets his mother's parents and they attempt a reconciliation, if I were to do that this would be the natural point to include it

I added the flowers as a last-minute thing, below is a list of them along with their meanings according to the section on Floriography the secret language of flowers and their meanings in my Garden Spells book. Some of them are probably more appropriate than others but I have included the ones I thought were most relevant, arguably Asphodel could be included as well.

Acacia (pink): You possess a Queen's majesty

Giliflower: Affection. You are very dear to me

Iris (yellow): Sorrow. I mourn with you

Lilac (white): Innocence, a tribute to you beauty and spirituality. The scent of Lilac blooms were said to transport mortals to fairyland

Pansy: Thoughts, kind thoughts of you. Purple: memories, souvenirs. the thought of happy days spent together are my greatest treasure. White: thoughts of love, I cherish loving thoughts of you. Yellow: remembrance. Oceans part us but my hearts stays with you

Rosemary: Temembrance. Your cherished memory will never fade from my heart

Sweet Pea: Tenderness. Your memory is a lingering fragrance

Wormwood: Sorrowful parting. Even the best friends must say farewell

Moss: Maternal love. How sweet is the bond between mother and child